Some Ideas are Dangerous: Free Speech is Dead

75 Million fascists voted for Donald J Trump in the 2020 general election. That’s 12 million more fascists than in 2016 when he conspired with the Kremlin to hypnotize Americans with Facebook ads into voting for him and his coiffure. (Nota Buena: this is not the first time Russia has interfered in American political discourse, the pop ban Milli and Vanilli is almost exclusively a Russian con perpetrated on the American people). On January 6th 2021, hundreds of thousands attended a pro Trump rally on Capitol aptly named ‘Save America’. A miniscule portion of this group brought crowbars to the event, probably with the intent that should they lock their keys inside their own cars, they have a way of getting home. The storming of the capitol building by the MAGA German storm troopers commenced shortly after Trump left the podium. Selfies inside the house chamber, attendance by one Norse Nazi God, and miasma of stale cannabis under the rotunda echoed a level of organization and skill that could only have been planned by Spetsnaz. I personally attended the rally witnessing the breach of the capitol. I do not condone the actions of the rioters whatsoever just as I do not condone the rioting and looting amounting to 2 billion in property damages that occurred this summer across our country. Some years ago, I had the distinct pleasure of sitting in on a lecture at Oxford given by the late Vanity Fair journalist and noted atheist, Christopher Hitchens who reminded those in attendance, in jest, I think, that whatever disdain they may have for the United States,’ atleast the yanks have the First Amendment’ something even Great Britain does not afford its citizens. This, my dear reader, friends, comrades, is the reason for my writing you now. I believe in free markets, private business and their right to refuse service, I believe in PEACEFUL protests and the questioning of our elected officials. But what I will not stand for, what I cannot sit idly by and allow to happen is the subversion of the democratic process by way of censoring the voices on the other side of the aisle, including POTUS himself. Big tech and social media have uniformly sided with one political faction who just this summer condoned violent protests against bigotry and systemic racism ( in defiance of our lockdown measures during a viral pandemic mind you). The media and big tech’s allegiance to one political faction’s ideology and their bias censorship of defiant voices to said ideology is fascist totalitarianism. And so it begins…

There is a difference between condoning violence and inciting violence. For example, President Trump tweets, “I like hot dogs” and within minutes a Viking with MAGA painted in pig’s blood across his chest robs seven hot dog vendors on Constitution Ave before sprinting towards the Washington Monument. His bare buttocks is the last sign of him as he collapses onto the grassy mall under the heft of Park Police.Shortly thereafter, Twitter bans POTUS for 24 hours for ‘inciting violence’. The difference in ‘condoning’ vs ‘inciting’ makes trump responsible for the actions of millions regardless of substance, intent, and context. Last week, The President of the United States of America was deplatformed from social media giants Twitter and Facebook following the storming of the capitol building. The reason these private bastions of social discourse have for the censoring of POTUS? Well, here is Twitter’s explanation:

“ After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them — specifically how they are being received and interpreted on and off Twitter — we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence.

In the context of horrific events this week, we made it clear on Wednesday that additional violations of the Twitter Rules would potentially result in this very course of action. Our public interest framework exists to enable the public to hear from elected officials and world leaders directly. It is built on a principle that the people have a right to hold power to account in the open.

However, we made it clear going back years that these accounts are not above our rules entirely and cannot use Twitter to incite violence, among other things. We will continue to be transparent around our policies and their enforcement.

The below is a comprehensive analysis of our policy enforcement approach in this case.

Overview

On January 8, 2021, President Donald J. Trump tweeted:

“The 75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!”

Shortly thereafter, the President tweeted:

“To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th.”

Due to the ongoing tensions in the United States, and an uptick in the global conversation in regards to the people who violently stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, these two Tweets must be read in the context of broader events in the country and the ways in which the President’s statements can be mobilized by different audiences, including to incite violence, as well as in the context of the pattern of behavior from this account in recent weeks. After assessing the language in these Tweets against our Glorification of Violence policy, we have determined that these Tweets are in violation of the Glorification of Violence Policy and the user @realDonaldTrump should be immediately permanently suspended from the service.

Assessment

We assessed the two Tweets referenced above under our Glorification of Violence policy, which aims to prevent the glorification of violence that could inspire others to replicate violent acts and determined that they were highly likely to encourage and inspire people to replicate the criminal acts that took place at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

This determination is based on a number of factors, including:

• President Trump’s statement that he will not be attending the Inauguration is being received by a number of his supporters as further confirmation that the election was not legitimate and is seen as him disavowing his previous claim made via two Tweets (1, 2) by his Deputy Chief of Staff, Dan Scavino, that there would be an “orderly transition” on January 20th.
• The second Tweet may also serve as encouragement to those potentially considering violent acts that the Inauguration would be a “safe” target, as he will not be attending.
• The use of the words “American Patriots” to describe some of his supporters is also being interpreted as support for those committing violent acts at the US Capitol.
• The mention of his supporters having a “GIANT VOICE long into the future” and that “They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!” is being interpreted as further indication that President Trump does not plan to facilitate an “orderly transition” and instead that he plans to continue to support, empower, and shield those who believe he won the election.
• Plans for future armed protests have already begun proliferating on and off-Twitter, including a proposed secondary attack on the US Capitol and state capitol buildings on January 17, 2021.

As such, our determination is that the two Tweets above are likely to inspire others to replicate the violent acts that took place on January 6, 2021, and that there are multiple indicators that they are being received and understood as encouragement to do so.”

Now, I am in full favor of private companies being able to censor and ban anyone they wish. I also believe, however, the President of the Unites should be constitutionally exempt from such censorship. Twitter took it upon themselves to essentially deem the President, a national security threat, and because of market share over social communication they were able to silence him. This should frighten all of us, and we should take pause asking ourselves quite seriously, “Was Ted Kaczynski right about technology?” What is the difference in fighting for gay rights, for demanding racial and gender equality, and the call for constitutionally mandated equality in our election process during a national pandemic where mail-in -voting decided the general election for the first time in American History. Hold that thought, let’s continue:

On January 8, 2021, President Donald J. Trump tweeted:

“The 75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!”

Shortly thereafter, the President tweeted:

“To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th.”

Dear Reader, read, read and read again. In terms of substance implicit within the words themselves, where is the call to violence? I beg of you, educate this plebiscite for I am blind. How is stating you won’t be attending the formality that is the ‘inauguration’ a call to violence? What a bizarre interpretation. “America Patriots” implies American revolution which implies revolt? Perhaps the New England Patriots should change there name less we want 345 pound defensive lineman storming the capitol building. Remember, the word ‘incite’ implies President Trump does not have to condone or encourage violence, ‘violence’ simply must occur following his words, rather convenient.

The phrase: “They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!” is being interpreted as a further indication that President Trump does not plan to facilitate an “orderly transition” and instead that he plans to continue to support, empower, and shield those who believe he won the election.” What is wrong with Trump’s frustration that every lawsuit attempting to question the election process was thrown out not on its merits,but via procedural failings? I also loathe the inherent implication that the bad actors on the 6th are representative of the majority of the 75 million Americans who voted for President Trump. What a grotesque propagation by the new axis ofevil, Twitter,Facebook,Google,Apple and legacy media in general. Should we ban BLM rallies and deplatform their members because of a few bad actors that don’t mind rioting and looting? Let’s take guns away from law abiding citizens because some people use guns to hurt people. Again, Trump’s tweets neither condone nor encourage violence. His court filings questioning the constitutionality of the election process substantiate his belief in the ‘peaceful’ judicial process. Just a reminder, Trump asked for the national guard to be present at the Save America event and they declined. If his intention were to incite violence such a request would stand in flagrant contradiction of such a desire.

Outrage by legacy media over the January 6th riots inside our Capitol building juxtaposed with the riots this past summer and their condemnation of Covid 19 lockdown violators is enough hypocrisy to make you want to move to Mars now, before it is terraformed. During the early morning hours of January 7th, the uber handsome Don Lemon and Chris Cuomo directed their stale circle jerk in the direction of President Trump blaming him for the assault on the capitol where five people have died including two police officers, one of whom took his life days later by an apparent suicide. I would remind you dear reader it was Mr. Cuomo who stated during the rioting,looting, arson, and murders of the summer “Please show me where it says riots and protests have to be peaceful.” Alex de Tocqueville and the First Amendment would argue, they don’t have to be, but in order to be lawful under the constitution…. “Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble.” I cant help but see the parallels between Alec Baldwin’s character in Glengarry Glenn Ross and the modus operandi of journalism today, “ABC, Always Be Closing!”I also cant help but notice the synergies between the left and big tech circumventing constitutional protections such as “Freedom of Speech” that is inapplicable to private companies.

Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker had this to say about the riots on January 6th: “I join with Americans from every corner of the country to condemn the violence unfolding at the Capitol, and President Trump and his supporters must do the same immediately.” Perfectly reasonable statement, but continuity is key, in politics, skeletons can and will come back to haunt you. In May, during the downtown riots in Boston from Newbury Street all the way to Downtown Crossing, jewelry and retail stores were robbed, buildings vandalized, and a shootout with Boston PD occurred from a moving vehicle on Tremont Street across from the Common. All told there were millions in damages and more than fifty five arrests. Here is Governor Baker’s response to those incidents: “The vast majority, and I mean the vast majority of the people who were part of these protests are there to make a point and to make it peacefully. That is so obvious I’m amazed that anyone could say anything other than that, at least in Massachusetts.” Interesting, the vast of majority of Trump’s supporters on the 6th did not storm the capitol, I’m amazed that anyone could come to any conclusion other than that. Of course, the conflation in terms only stands to support the narrative, rioters on the 6th voted for Trump, therefore all Trump Supporters are rioters and so it follows Trump is pro riot. In addition, should you align your allegiances with Trump you too are a rioter, uneducated, and deplorable.

The lovely and moderate representative from NYC Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted the following on December 2, 2020: ““The thing that critics of activists don’t get is that they tried playing the ‘polite language’ policy game and all it did was make them easier to ignore. It wasn’t until they made folks uncomfortable that there was traction to do ANYTHING … The whole point of protesting is to make ppl uncomfortable … To folks who complain protest demands make others uncomfortable … that’s the point.”

I do hope Alexandria starts a bail fund for the capitol hill rioters just as Kamala Harris did for those in Minneapolis. For true equality to be reached, BLM and Antifa rioters should be treated the same as those that stormed the capitol building.

In response to the riots on capitol Hill, AOC asked for the resignation, political deplatforming, of Senator Ted Cruz stating,” Both you(Cruz) and Senator Hawley must resign. If you do not, the Senate should move for your expulsion.” Cruz was not a speaker at Trump’s rally, he also condemned the rioters as ‘domestic terrorists.’ What AOC is referencing are the senator’s objections to Joe Biden’s certification. Cruz had asked for an emergency ten day audit of election returns in disputed states. Not an egregious ask considering state and local governments across our country have forced millions of Americans to stay home, shutter their businesses, and lose their life savings all in the name of ‘public health’. The junior congresswoman’s demand for two republicans to resign their senate seats is because she wants to conflate the questioning of the election process, with crimes against the United States of America. “Because you questioned election integrity, the DC Capitol building was breached and people died, this is your fault”.

On December 9th, YouTube declared it would start removing videos alleging voter fraud in the 2020 general election. Videos on Russian Trump Collusion in the 2016 election, moon landing denials, and whether Tom Cruise is gay remain on the platform. In censoring these particular videos/voices, YouTube stated this was in keeping with their historical approach to general elections; YouTube was founded in 2005. Parler, the social media app that has been a haven for conservative voices seeking to evade censorship has been removed from the Google and Apple app stores, in addition AWS, Amazon Web Services, will no longer be hosting the site, again all of this censorship conflates the rioters on the 6th with the 75 million Americans who supported the president. Granted, even though Parler is inundated with right wing conspiracy theorists, even the flat-earthers will admit this, I do not believe their voices are any less important than yours dear reader or my own, and I’m a narcissist (perhaps my therapist Dr. Jacobs deserves a raise no? PROGRESS OF A KIND!!!!).

On January 8th, one day before Steve Bannon would be banned from YouTube, the hairy roving journalist Michael Tracey tweeted, “The new corporate authoritarian liberal-left monoculture is going to be absolutely ruthless — and in 12 days it is merging with the state. This only the beginning”. And you know what, he’s right, except about the date of the merger. It has already happened. The banning of Alex Jones, Gavin McIness, and Milo Yiannonopoulos was just the beginning of this dystopia new world order. I say ‘new world’ because in the digital world there are no borders, well China, just one giant Pangea. Moreovoer, the bifurcation of media in the big tech area has forced legacy news organizations to adopt TMZ’s playbook in order to survive. There is an even more insidious consideration regarding our intelligence services, media ,big tech and the control of information. Perhaps I will write of this another time, just remember, google in its infancy was funded by CIA and NSA research grants; well before Project Maven, but I digress.

In closing, some thoughts really are dangerous, Senator Hawley’s new book, for example, which Simon and Schuster has recently dropped under pressure from the digital mob. The Lincoln Project created in 2019 as a means of putting an end to Trumpism is compiling a database of any all associates of his administration stating, “they will be held accountable and not allowed to pretend they were not involved.” I know what your thinking, no its not McCarthyism, it’s just good bookkeeping. Lastly dear reader, I leave you with the following hypothetical. President elect Joe Biden recently likened Senator Ted Cruz to Nazi propogandist Joseph Goebbels for espousing concerns about fraud in the 2020 election. If someone were to murder Senator Cruz after hearing Biden compare the senator to the minister of propaganda in the Nazi party, would Joe Biden be complicit? Would he have incited such grotesque violence as the murder of a sitting senator indubitably is? Awe shucks, you got me, that was two questions ,my apologies, until next time.