RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://pjmedia.com/columns/paula-bolyard/2022/12/08/breaking-new-twitter-files-dump-exposes-blacklists-secret-cabal-censoring-high-profile-conservatives-n1652131

Independent journalist Bari Weiss took to Twitter on Thursday night to unload a second trove of internal memos and documents exposing how Twitter officials silenced the voices of prominent conservatives on the platform. Radio host Dan Bongino, Stanford professor Jay Bhattacharya, and activist Charlie Kirk were among those Twitter censored or blacklisted, along with the popular “Libs of TikTok” account.

“A new #TwitterFiles investigation reveals that teams of Twitter employees build blacklists, prevent disfavored tweets from trending, and actively limit the visibility of entire accounts or even trending topics—all in secret, without informing users,” Weiss, a former New York Times reporter, wrote. “The authors [of the Twitter Files] have broad and expanding access to Twitter’s files. The only condition we agreed to was that the material would first be published on Twitter.”

She noted that Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, who tried to shed light on how the Covid lockdowns were harming children, was on a “Trends Blacklist,” meaning Twitter took action to ensure he would not appear in the Trending topics section of the platform.

https://issuesinsights.com/2022/12/09/i-am-a-misinformation-denier/

Misinformation does not and cannot – by definition – exist.Correct information, incorrect information, true information, false information can all certainly exist, as can partial, missing, complete, and detailed.Just not misinformation – same with disinformation, by the way.

So why is the term used with such vitriolic abandon?  Why not call something a lie and leave it at that?

Because misinformation is not about describing factual information but about dismissing and denigrating personal opinion and belief.  It is about changing when someone says “I think…” into “I know” and then claiming that person is spreading a factual misrepresentation.

Like the famous Jordan Peterson BBC interview in which the host over and over again said “so what you’re saying is …” to Peterson even though he had said no such thing (see the interview here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMcjxSThD54&t=966s ), it is a fallacious rhetorical gambit. As one of the commenters put it: if Peterson had suggested going to the movies the host would have snapped back “so you think women can’t read?” a purposefully decontextualized mischaracterization intended to dishonestly ignore and negate the actual meaning of the statement – that is how the term works.

Labeling something as “misinformation” has no bearing on its relationship to the truth of a given situation – it is labeled as such because it is not a lie but simply problematic for those who wish it to be one, or at least perceived as one.

In other words, the epithet of misinformation is used most often, begging Al Gore’s pardon, to describe an inconvenient truth.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/08/politics/house-vote-ndaa-military-vaccine-mandate/index.html

The House voted on Thursday to pass sweeping legislation that would authorize $858 billion in national defense funding and rescind the US military’s Covid vaccine mandate. The measure passed with wide bipartisan support with a tally of 350 to 80.

House lawmakers approved a final negotiated version of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2023, which sets the policy agenda and authorizes funding for the Department of Defense. Following passage in the House, the measure will next need to go to the Senate to be approved before it can be sent to President Joe Biden to be signed into law.

As part of its $858 billion topline for national defense funding, the measure authorizes $817 billion specifically for the Department of Defense. The massive bill includes a vast number of policy provisions. Among them, it would authorize a 4.6% pay raise for military service members. It includes provisions to strengthen air power and land warfare defense capabilities as well as cybersecurity. It also aims to bolster US support for Ukraine and NATO.

The provision to rescind the military’s Covid vaccine mandate comes after congressional Republicans pushed for its repeal. In a statement Tuesday night, House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy said, “the end of President Biden’s military COVID vaccine mandate is a victory for our military and for common sense.”

The White House declined to say on Wednesday whether President Biden will sign the must-pass annual defense bill if it includes the provision to rescind the military Covid vaccine mandate, reiterating that the president continues to support a mandate but leaving the door open to a repeal.

“We continue to believe that repealing the vaccine mandate is a mistake. Making sure our troops are ready to defend this country and prepared to do so that remains the President’s priority and the vaccine requirement for Covid does just that,” National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby told reporters Wednesday when pressed specifically on whether Biden would sign the NDAA if the mandate stayed in the final legislation.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/brittney-griner-goes-free-russia-vladimir-putin-viktor-bout-paul-whelan-11670536789?mod=opinion_lead_pos2

The release of WNBA star Brittney Griner on Thursday from a Russian prison labor camp is welcome news. The price was high, as the White House negotiated a prisoner swap for notorious Russian arms deal Viktor Bout, but there should be relief when any American is sprung from hostile and unjust captivity.

Yes, Ms. Griner was foolish to enter Russia in February with vape cartridges containing hashish amid rising U.S.-Russia tensions. But she was clearly treated harshly, and handed a nine-year sentence, because she is American. She was arrested shortly before Vladimir Putin’s Ukraine invasion, and he viewed her as political leverage.

Some on the American right are grousing that, at the height of the George Floyd protests, Ms. Griner called on the WNBA to stop playing the national anthem before games—implying she had forfeited her right to the government’s support. But political views should be irrelevant when it comes to rescuing Americans held abroad as political hostages.

More troubling is that the prisoner swap didn’t include Paul Whelan, a former Marine and businessman held in Russia on trumped-up espionage charges. Ms. Griner is a celebrity with prominent backers, while Mr. Whelan’s public lobbyists are few beyond his family. President Biden said Thursday that Mr. Whelan is “unjustly detained”—and vowed that his Administration will keep fighting for his release.