While J.D. Vance has his own controversies, his close connection to billionaire Peter Thiel, who is poised to have unprecedented influence in a new Trump administration, should deeply unsettle every American who cares about freedom, privacy and reining in the surveillance state.
H/T: The Most Revolutionary Act
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Maria Ressa is calling for the revocation of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Revoking Section 230 would increase social media censorship and remove competition for Facebook, Twitter, WordPress, and YouTube (Google). Why? Due to threats of being sued, social media companies could ‘hold’ your posts until approved by artificial intelligence or a human. They’d also be inclined to remove more content. As for competition, smaller companies can’t afford the legal teams and/or fees that large companies can. The lawsuits could bankrupt a smaller company. Considering that Rappler is also funded by Big Tech, I’m not surprised that she’s on their side. This isn’t about hate speech, or ‘disinformation’, it’s about controlling the narrative!
In this clip, she complains about being criticized for appearing with Clinton and for being accused of being a CIA agent and a Communist. Of course, she’s not going to mention why she’s been accused of being a CIA agent (because she’s been funded by the CIA-cutout National Endowment for Democracy and other front organizations)!
Related:
AI Briefing: Hillary Clinton and Google’s Eric Schmidt both suggest Section 230 reform
Some speakers — including Clinton, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Rappler CEO Maria Ressa — also called on Congress to reform Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Ressa, a journalist who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021, also noted it’s hard for people to know what it’s like to be a victim of online harassment or misinformation until they’ve been attacked.
Maria A. Ressa, LL.D. ’24, Harvard Commencement Address 2024
Communications Decency Act – Section 230
WikiSpooks: Rappler (Sponsored by Facebook, Friedrich Naumann Foundation, Google, Internews, National Endowment for Democracy, Open Society Foundations, Omidyar Network)
A storm of controversy erupted earlier this year in Iran, after local media outlets announced that a “Mossad spy” and “Israeli infiltrator” had gained the trust of the country’s senior leadership, penetrated into the highest halls of power, and had even been employed as a writer for Ayatollah Khamenei himself.
Catherine Perez-Shakdam: The “Israeli Spy” Who “Infiltrated” MintPress
As I feared after the messages I received from the CIA/NATO friendly NewsGuard, censorship began to hit my reports on YouTube denouncing the actions of Ukrainian neo-Nazis and war criminals as “incitement to hatred” against a “protected group.
CENSORSHIP – FOR YOUTUBE, UKRAINIAN NEO-NAZIS AND WAR CRIMINALS ARE A “PROTECTED GROUP”
By Lev Golinkin | May 27, 2022
Michael Chertoff’s experience detaining Muslim Americans, justifying CIA torture, and helping to draft the Patriot Act make him an all-too-appropriate choice to advise this Orwellian agency.
Another Terrible Choice for Biden’s “Disinformation Board”
H/T: It’s NOT a joke, Biden’s Ministry of Truth just got WORSE | Redacted with Clayton Morris on YouTube.
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“I have a greater respect for the American people than you do. I think the American people can figure out the truth,” the senator said. “And if you think the American people need to be told there’s not fentanyl in the vaccination, feel free to say it. But the thing is, is if you are going to go around saying that you’re the arbiter of information and of disinformation, I think you have no clue. And you don’t have the perspective of history knowing that disinformation, the largest progenitor of disinformation in our history, has probably been the U.S. government.”
…
“Do you know, the greatest propagator of disinformation in the history of the world is? The U.S. government,” Paul said. “Are you familiar with McNamara? The Pentagon Papers? Are you familiar with George W. Bush and the weapons of mass destruction? Are you familiar with Iran-contra?”
“I mean, think of all the debates and disputes we’ve had over the last 50 years in our country,” Paul continued. “We worked them out by debating them. We don’t work them out by the government being the arbiter. I don’t want guardrails. I want you to have nothing to do with speech. You think we can’t determine, you know, speech by traffickers is disinformation. Do you think the American people are so stupid they need you to tell them what the truth is? You can’t even admit what the truth is with the Steele dossier. I don’t trust government to figure out what the truth is. Government is largely disseminating disinformation.”
Rand Paul grills Mayorkas on disinformation: ‘I don’t trust government to figure out what the truth is’
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will pause the work of a controversial board to coordinate efforts to battle disinformation, saying that while its work was “grossly and intentionally mischaracterized,” the “false attacks have become a significant distraction.”
DHS to pause work of disinformation board
Trump Fires Christopher Krebs, Official Who Disputed Election Fraud Claims
Before he was fired Tuesday, Mr. Krebs managed to engage with the public once more, firing off a pointed retweet aimed at the president: “Please don’t retweet wild and baseless claims about voting machines, even if they’re made by the president,” said the original tweet from David Becker, an election expert. “These fantasies have been debunked many times.”
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Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 
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