A “very angry” Biden administration pushed for Twitter censorship of COVID skeptics.
The latest “Twitter Files” drop exposed the social media platform’s coordinated censorship of COVID-19 content which contrasted with the narrative the U.S. government supported.
The 10th Twitter Files were released Monday and showed how the Biden administration would pressure Twitter to “de-platform” users who did not adopt the White House’s COVID messaging.
Journalist David Zweig released excerpts from Twitter’s internal communications which detail the Twitter censorship involving COVID-related content.
“When the Biden admin took over, one of their first meeting requests with Twitter executives was on Covid. The focus was on anti-vaxxer accounts.’ Especially Alex Berenson,” Zweig wrote.
Berenson is a prominent independent reporter, who used to work with the New York Times, with nearly 500k Twitter followers. In August, after Berenson was critical of COVID-19 vaccinations, he was permanently suspended from Twitter.
Speaking of the COVID vaccine, Berenson said, “think of it — at best — as a therapeutic with a limited window of efficacy and terrible side effect profile that must be dosed IN ADVANCE OF ILLNESS.”
Even after Berenson’s ban, a “very angry” Biden team continued to demand Twitter “de-platform several accounts,” Zweig wrote.
Succumbing to the Biden admin’s pressure, Twitter rolled out AI “bots” and hired out-of-country moderators to place warning labels on dissident COVID content.
A Harvard epidemiologist who tweeted about how “those with prior natural infection” do not need to be vaccinated had his tweet marked as “misleading” because it contrasted with the Biden admin’s COVID data.
Zweig noted how Twitter staff called on Donald Trump to be censored after the former president called on his followers to not “be afraid of Covid” following his recovery from the virus.
“In a surreal exchange, Jim Baker, at the time Twitter’s Deputy General Counsel, asks why telling people to not be afraid wasn’t a violation of Twitter’s Covid-19 misinformation policy,” Zweig wrote.
More at:
Kevin McCarthy elected House speaker on the 15th vote, most since before the Civil War
Finally!
At long last, a battle for House speaker not seen since the mid-19th century ended early Saturday morning when Rep. Kevin McCarthy peeled off enough Republican holdouts on the 15th ballot to end the four-day marathon contest.
McCarthy, a California Republican, took hold of the gavel after appeasing members of the House Freedom Caucus with promises to cap spending at 2022 levels, allow any one member to call for a vote to oust him, and expand the House Rules Committee to include more members of the Freedom Caucus, among other concessions.
“That was easy, huh?” McCarthy joked to House members in his first speech as speaker. “I never thought we’d get up here.”
Friday’s late night voting began after the House reconvened at 10 p.m. Hours earlier, McCarthy failed the first two speakership votes of the day – the 12th and 13th ballots of the week.
He was also dealt a stunning defeat, by one vote, on the 14th ballot in a roll call filled with high drama. It was his best performance since voting began on Tuesday.
McCarthy finally won the 15th ballot with 216 votes. Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries placed second with 212 votes from the entire Democratic caucus, which was unified on all ballots cast this week.
More at:
A List of McCarthy’s Concessions to GOP Reps to Gain Speakership Omits Efforts to Address the Biggest Threat to Our Country’s Existence
Kevin McCarthy apparently gave away the farm to put him in place to win the Speakership of the US House. But the list of items requested for votes is missing the biggest thing.
The Daily Mail reports:
Kevin McCarthy‘s concessions to a group of arch conservatives has won him 15 votes and (maybe) counting – while also likely ensuring future headaches, floor fights, Senate clashes and perhaps even a crisis over whether the U.S. goes into default.
The final concessions that McCarthy negotiated were enough to bring over a group of fellow elected lawmakers who had voted against him repeatedly on 12 successive votes, amid the prolonged televised spectacle.
They got nearly everything they asked for – beyond subcommittee gavels that other members of the Conference rejected as an unfair boost, although McCarthy still wasn’t able to prevail on the 13th vote to elect him as Speaker.
According to the report, the list of items McCarthy promised is as follows:
- Members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus got commitments (of conservative members) to be added to the Rules panel. The committee exerts tremendous power by setting the terms of debate, but usually operates as a tool of the Speaker. (It traditionally has a 9:4 ratio, so the majority never loses).
- McCarthy had already agreed to a five-vote requirement to make the motion (to vacate the chair), which sets up essentially a vote of no-confidence in the Speaker, and agreed to lower it to a single lawmaker.
- McCarthy has agreed to take a hard line on increasing the statutory debt limit – which Congress must lift to accommodate spending it has agreed to through appropriations.
- The holdouts reportedly got a pledge to get floor votes on term limits and border security. The former in particular could drive a wedge through the conference. McCarthy himself was elected to the House in 2006.
- The Conservative Leadership Fund, a PAC backed by McCarthy, brokered a deal with the Club for Growth that will impact Republicans that join the House in the future. The CLF committed to stay out of ‘open’ primaries when a lawmakers vacates a seat. That gives arch conservatives a chance to prevail in a primary without getting pounded by leadership, which sometimes weighs in on behalf of candidates deemed more ‘electable.’
- McCarthy reportedly agreed to allow ‘open rules’ on spending measures, which could lead to lengthy debates and efforts to zero out funding for programs unpopular with Republicans.
- Another concessions is a cap on discretionary spending, CNN reported. although spending levels are usually negotiated by both chambers – and get influenced by the president’s budget requests.
- Republicans are girding to take on the Biden administration, and the rebels forced a commitment to set up a committee on the ‘weaponization’ of the DOJ. The idea had been floated as a subcommittee on the House Judiciary Committee. It’s exact structure and membership was uncertain.
Noticeably missing from the list is investigations into the 2020 and 2022 Elections and reasons for certifying the uncertifiable results.
Both elections included election disqualifying corruption in systems, processes and people that made the elections uncertifiable. This country will never survive as long as elections are stolen from the American people.
Without free and fair elections, this country is not free.
More at:
More Stories
Josh Hawley Grills Mayorkas Over Laken Riley’s Death In Fiery Exchange: ‘Damning Indictment Of Your Policies!’
Israel strikes back at Iran:
Mexican cartels are taking over Indian reservations in U.S. states