Daily News Roundup
NOTABLE QUOTES
Kevin Roberts & Derrick Morgan President and Vice President of The heritage Foundation: The Biden energy agenda isn’t a conspiracy. It is an uncomplicated array of policies all aimed at one obvious goal—a goal that Biden himself, his party and the Left openly support. Anyone confused about why the president isn’t acting to lower gasoline prices in the near term and boost America’s energy production and infrastructure in the long term already have their answer. The only problem Joe Biden sees with $4.23 gas is that it’s too low.
Angelo M. Codevilla adapted from his essay America’s Rise and Fall Among Nations: Lessons in Statecraft from John Quincy Adams: The men who made America great, the men on Mount Rushmore, would counsel us strongly to decide unilaterally on our international affairs, and to do so by deliberation through our elected representatives—by their votes and by ours. The importance of doing so, they would tell us, transcends the matters at hand because it reaffirms and reminds us of the most basic of all political facts: our independence—meaning our collective liberty and responsibility for being what we were and should be again: different from other peoples, fortunate for that difference, grateful for it, and committed to maintaining it. Never has it been so important to remember and reaffirm that our autonomy depends on our unity as Americans.
Deborah C. Tyler contributor to American Thinker: Why did the civilization of this one nation under God, the greatest constitutional republic in world history, come to be degraded and broken by the Democrats and the left? Why did the unifying American assumption that freedom and equality are God-given come to be devalued, and the religions that imparted the belief in the sanctity of life come to be ridiculed? Why did American culture become antagonistic to faith, and therefore ugly, weird, and dehumanizing? Why did the government megalith become an anti-constitutional corruption? Theological and worldly explanations are both available. Take your pick, or you can have them both, as they are not incompatible.
Andrea Widburg contributor to American Thinker: Last week, with Florida’s governor Ron DeSantis leading the charge, the state of Florida took direct aim at the Disney Corporation because of the company’s woke aggression against Florida law and against Florida’s and America’s children. News is out now that, within days of the news about Disney’s loss of self-governing status, ExxonMobil announced that it would no longer fly in front of its corporate office any flags associated with social or political organizations, including the LGBTQ++ or BLM flags. It’s easy to believe that ExxonMobil is sensing a change in the political wind and is returning its corporation to its core business, rather than engaging in woke activism.
TRUE ORIGINS OF ‘AMERICAN FIRST
Codevilla: The True Origins of ‘America First’
What were America’s founders and their followers trying to foster and preserve by their conduct among nations? What were they trying to put first? Why did the Progressives turn away from these concerns? What did they put first? How dismissive were they of reality? What have been Progressivism’s effects on how America has fared among nations? How have changes in the world and in America itself made it impossible to continue on the Progressive’s course? How would John Quincy Adams and those following his principles manage America’s present international situation? By what principles might today’s statesmen put America First? In America, as everywhere else, a people’s choices and priorities reflect who they are. From the earliest settlements, Americans have thought themselves fortunate that they or their ancestors had distanced themselves from the rest of European civilization—and not just geographically. America was their final destination. They had not come on the way to anywhere else. Few went back. They left old quarrels and did not come to start new ones. They came because they expected America to be different, a nearly empty land where they would have peace, freedom, and the bread that their hands earned. And that is why Americans’ relations with foreigners were always premised on appreciation for what made America different. Putting America First meant more than natural self-interest. It meant putting a better, demonstrably different way of life first. The Americans The Europeans who had come to America had not been great men—actual or would-be contenders in Europe’s partisan or national struggles. Although the Puritans were unusually concerned with spiritual perfection, most early arrivals were ordinary but adventurous Brits and Germans, old-fashioned about their Christianity and morals. They had left the Old Country to escape its troubles, as well as to run their own affairs, and had become happily accustomed to running their own lives with a minimum of trouble from without. The Puritan strain has played a considerable role in America’s foreign as well as domestic affairs. But for most Americans, the overriding objective of American foreign policy has ever been, first of all, protecting a decent, autonomous way of life for our citizens. Putting America First always meant defending that way of life.
Read more: https://amgreatness.com/2022/04/22/the-true-origins-of-america-first/
TWITTER 2.0
Roth & Brandon: Twitter accepts buyout, giving Elon Musk total control of the company
Twitter has accepted Elon Musk’s offer to purchase the company for $44 billion, the company announced in a press release today. Musk purchased the company at $54.20 a share, the same price named in his initial offer on April 14th. “Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated,” said Musk in a statement included with the release. “I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans.”
Tingle, LePore: Twitter fears sabotage by left-wing staff after Musk takeover: Developers are blocked from app after rebellious employees called deal ‘dangerous for democracy’ – and hysterical liberal social media personalities threaten to QUIT social media giant
The Tesla founder said he wanted to re-establish the principle of free speech on the platform and has joined criticism of its moderation policies which are accused of disproportionately targeting conservative voices, but his critics claim he will allow ‘hate to flourish’. Twitter has now banned any product updates that are not ‘business-critical’, with the company’s vice-president required to give approval for any to go ahead. The move aims to prevent angry staff from ‘going rogue’, a source told Bloomberg, and comes after employees dismissed Musk as ‘dangerous to democracy’. It comes as British actress Jameela Jamil led the charge of celebrities announcing they would abandon Twitter after Musk’s purchase, declaring that she would no longer be tweeting because his ‘free speech bid’ would end in ‘lawless hate, bigotry and misogyny’. Rob Reiner, star of 1970s sitcom All In The Family, said he feared ‘criminal’ Mr Trump would now have his account reactivated, although the former president has ruled out a return and says he will stay on his own ‘TRUTH Social’ platform. US senator Elizabeth Warren described the deal as ‘dangerous for democracy’, tweeting: ‘Billionaires like Elon Musk play by a different set of rules than everyone else, accumulating power for their own gain. We need a wealth tax and strong rules to hold Big Tech accountable.’ […] Twitter engineer Jay Holler wrote: ‘For the first time, Twitter leadership includes someone that I had proactively Blocked on this platform.’ […] Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, to the contrary, found the takeover from Musk to be exciting news.
Turley: Elon Musk’s buying Twitter is good for free speech. And a ‘nightmare’ for progressives.
“A brave new nightmare.” Those words from former Labor Secretary Robert Reich described the threat created by Elon Musk’s bid to restore free speech values by buying Twitter. Yet, despite warnings that censorship is necessary “for democracy to survive,” neither the Tesla CEO and billionaire nor ordinary citizens appear to be sufficiently terrified of free speech. Twitter confirmed Monday that Musk will acquire the company in a deal worth $44 billion. Once the deal is complete, Twitter will become a privately held company. Progressives, in the meantime, have adopted a dangerous shift in their strategy of calling for corporations to censor speech. Last week, former President Barack Obama made this shift clear in his much covered speech at Stanford University. Just days after Musk re-enforced his bid for Twitter with the support of many in the free speech community, Obama warned that social media was “tilting us in the wrong direction.” He called for more censorship of disinformation while calling himself “pretty close to a First Amendment absolutist.” […] As is often the case, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stripped away any niceties or nuance. Clinton called for the European Union to pass the Digital Services Act (DSA), a measure widely denounced by free speech advocates as a massive censorship measure. Clinton warned that governments need to act now because “for too long, tech platforms have amplified disinformation and extremism with no accountability. The EU is poised to do something about it.”
[…] Given that history, it would be easy to dismiss Clinton’s calls as almost comically self-serving. However, the 27-nation EU just did what she demanded. It gave preliminary approval to the act, which would subject companies to censorship standards at the risk of punitive financial or even criminal measures.
If implemented, it might not matter if Musk seeks to restore free speech values at Twitter. Figures like Clinton are now going to the EU to effectively force companies to continue to censor users. Faced with liability across Europe, the companies could be forced to base their policies on the lowest common denominator for free speech.
Bedford: Here’s How Elon Musk’s Free-Speech Gambit Can Succeed
It’s been a wild week for free speech; or free-speech-control, at least. That’s because while most Americans don’t care about Twitter, our society’s broader social media habits (and their frequent exaggerations) means that control of it still matters a great deal. How? Aside from its fun and investigative uses, Twitter is where much of corporate media messaging is crafted and honed; where thoughts and ideas that deviate from the ruling class are suppressed; and where left-wing cancel mobs are empowered, and thereby able to lead America’s business and political elites along by the nose. The coming days, weeks and months will give a clearer idea of what’s coming, but far from spectators, we are all players in the drama. While all eyes are on Elon Musk, Twitter’s employees, the federal government, and the American entrepreneur all have a role to play. Let’s start with Musk.
Read more: https://thefederalist.com/2022/04/26/heres-how-elon-musks-free-speech-gambit-can-succeed/
(REPOST) The Battle of the Century: Here’s What Happens if Elon Musk Buys Twitter
n 2021 Elon Musk created overnight millionaires by pushing the Dogecoin meme. In 2022, he may be gearing up for something far more dramatic. The world’s richest man might be on the cusp of launching a global crusade to restore freedom of speech. […] In fact, one would be hard pressed to imagine a project more dangerous and difficult than restoring free speech to a major tech platform like Twitter. At the same time, it’s hard to imagine a more worthwhile project. Restoring genuine free speech would do more for patriotic Americans than the GOP taking back the White House in 2024, and it would pose a greater threat to the ruling Regime than anything Russia, China, or Iran might plausibly do. […] In short, transforming Twitter back into a real free speech platform would represent nothing less than a declaration of war against the Globalist American Empire. To fully understand why this is so, it is crucial to understand that Twitter is anything but a conventional “private company.” […] But if Musk opts for the path of boldness and glory, he should be prepared for historic backlash from the regime. The entire system would mobilize against Twitter reflecting the same cancellation strategies the Regime systematically employs to control politicians, websites, major businesses, and even countries. Twitter would get the “George Floyd” treatment on steroids. The Regime would employ the “George Floyd” tool recently used to “cancel” Russia, but directed with laser-like focus on a single company and its lone brilliant, iconoclast leader.
KILLING WOKISM (SAVING AMERICA) – THE FLORIDA WAY
Widburg: Florida takes another brilliant step towards righting wrongs in education
What also happened last week was that Florida got a new law limiting tenure at Florida’s public universities. Tenure—permanent job security for college and university professors who have managed to maintain their jobs for a certain period—is a relatively new concept. It began in 1940 when the American Association of University Professors created a Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure holding that academic integrity requires that professors must be free from the fear of firing. Perhaps tenure made sense when Nazis (who were socialists) were using political brute force to purge German campuses of anybody who stood against their socialist totalitarianism. However, tenure makes less sense in America when college and university professors, who are almost entirely socialist, use academic brute force to indoctrinate students and stop people who are not hard left from getting hired.
If you’re wondering why we should care about hiring and (not) firing academics at colleges and universities, there’s a simple answer: It’s because every single bad idea that’s ripping America apart today originated or incubated in academia. Critical Race Theory started with multiple American legal scholars (and leftists); large chunks of modern feminist theory started on American campuses through the works of multiple (leftist) academics; Modern Monetary Theory, which says the government with a fiat currency (a world standard currency) can print money indefinitely, has been pushed by academics for decades now; and the LGBTQ+++ theories have a permanent home on American college campuses.
Read more at American Thinker.
2020 ELECTION
Sundance: Dinesh D’Souza Releases Expanded Preview Trailer for 2000 Mules, The Ballot Harvesting Story of the 2020 Election
Dinesh D’Souza has released an expanded trailer for the upcoming release: “Here’s the official trailer for “2000 Mules.” It’s the movie we’ve all been waiting for. Please share! And go to 2000Mules.com to buy your ticket to see the movie in its premiere week.”
Read more/Watch the 3:05 minute trailer: https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2022/04/24/dinesh-dsouza-releases-expanded-preview-trailer-for-2000-mules-the-ballot-harvesting-story-of-the-2020-election/
IRS
Duggan: Jim Jordan Says IRS Can’t Be Trusted After ‘Partisan’ Leak Investigation Stonewalls
Republican Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan told the Daily Caller News Foundation that Americans can’t trust the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) after its investigation of tax document leaks has so far failed to turn up any answers ten months after it began. Jordan and Republican California Rep. Darrell Issa sent letters to the IRS and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) in July 2021 demanding information on the agency’s investigation into how citizens’ records were leaked after ProPublica published private tax documents of some of the wealthiest Americans in June 2021. Jordan told the DCNF that after an initial reply, his office has received no further updates on the investigation. […] Upon receiving Jordan and Issa’s 2021 letter demanding answers, IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig referred them to Inspector General for Tax Administration J. Russell George, according to responses to the inquiries reviewed by the DCNF. George replied that the Republican lawmakers’ request for TIGTA to brief Congress on the investigation could only be made by either the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, the Joint Committee on Taxation or the Senate Finance Committee – all of whom happen to be Democrats. […] Jordan said the IRS leaks appeared to be “partisan” and coincided with Democrats’ calls for tax increases. […] “This is the same IRS that 12 years ago was targeting conservatives,” he added, referring to the IRS delaying tax exemption applications for conservative nonprofits during the Obama administration.
Read more: https://dailycaller.com/2022/04/23/jim-jordan-irs-treasury-propublica-leak-billionaire/
BIDEN’S UNCONSTITUTIONAL VACCINE MANDATES
(A bombshell interview) War Room: The Pfizer Investigation: COVID Vaccine Lacked Proper Quality Controls
In a special report on “War Room,” author Naomi Wolf reports on the unbelievable findings of deception by Pfizer and the FDA in the testing and production of the Covid-19 vaccine. Pfizer’s was forced to release its records by a federal judge, and Wolf organized a crowd-sourced investigation of the trove of documents to get the facts as quickly as possible. First revelation: The ingredients for the vaccine were created in Belgium and Germany and then sent to the USA to be assembled at a facility in Kansas. This facility was criticized by the FDA for multiple failures of quality control and unsanitary conditions. Part 2: The Pfizer Report Raises More Questions Than It Answers
Watch parts 1 and 2: https://warroom.org/2022/04/23/the-pfizer-investigation-covid-vaccine-lacked-proper-quality-controls/
Bingham: Male Pfizer trial participants were required to abstain from sex or use contraception
“Male participants in the Pfizer clinical trials were required to either abstain from sex or use condoms,” posted prominent doctor Aaron Kheriaty on social media yesterday, accompanied with the clinical trial documentation to support his statement. “[The] Comirnaty [Pfizer COVID vaccine] insert mentions that the product had ‘not been evaluated for the potential to cause carcinogenicity, genotoxicity, or impairment of male fertility,’” added the doctor, linking to the Food and Drug Administration’s official insert. In the clinical trial document under “Appendix 4: Contraceptive Guidance,” it states, “Male participants are eligible to participate if they agree” to “remain abstinent from heterosexual intercourse with a female of childbearing potential” or “agree to use a male condom when engaging in any activity that allows for passage of ejaculate to another person” during “the intervention period and for at least 28 days after the last dose” as a way to “eliminate reproductive safety risk … ”
Freiburger: mRNA COVID shots tied to increase risk of myocarditis, massive Nordic study finds
The mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines produced by Pfizer and Moderna come with a higher likelihood of myocarditis, according to a peer-reviewed study of more than 23 million people in the Nordic countries of Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. The study by a team of researchers with the health agencies of those countries, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, identified 1,077 “incident myocarditis events” and 1,149 “incident pericarditis events” among 23,122,522 Nordic residents (81% of whom were vaccinated by the end of the study; 50.2% of whom were female). “Within the 28-day period, for males and females 12 years or older combined who received a homologous schedule, the second dose was associated with higher risk of myocarditis.” “This cohort study of 23.1 million residents across 4 Nordic countries showed higher rates of myocarditis and pericarditis within 28 days after being vaccinated with SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines compared with being unvaccinated,” the study says.
CLIMATE EMERGENCY: IT’S POLITICAL
Khabayan: A Social Credit System Aimed at Modifying Climate Change Behaviors is Being Deployed in Italy.
Italy will become the first European nation to implement a social credit system – where citizens will be rewarded for their “good behavior”. Starting in the fall of 2022, the city of Bologna will begin a new pilot project. Citizens who display good behavior such as correctly recycling or using public transportation will be rewarded. The Bologna municipality is deploying a “Smart Citizen Wallet” which will be the primary method for citizens to collect digital coins in exchange for behavioral changes. Based on the given scores, a person can also receive discounts for local shops. The primary argument for this program is to “save resources” and promote climate friendly behavior.
Worcester: At World Bank Climate Talk, Speaker Floats End of Conventional Vehicle Sales At World Bank Climate Talk
In remarks to the World Bank’s “Financing Climate Action” event on April 21, Baron Nicholas Stern, one of the world’s most influential climate economists, spoke about what he sees as necessary global actions on climate change, including on the sale of conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. “The right kind of policies have to be put in place, including the abolition of fossil fuel subsidies, the advancement of carbon pricing, but clarity on timescales for decentralization of the grid, clarity on timescales for stopping the sale of internal combustion engine vehicles, and so on—making sure the sense of direction is clear in those ways,” said Stern, who served as chief economist for the World Bank from 2000 through 2003.
Read more at The Epoch Times.
Meade: Climate Activist Dies After Lighting Himself Ablaze On Supreme Court Steps
A Colorado man has died 24 hours after lighting himself on fire in front of the United States Supreme Court on Earth Day as part of what appears to be a religious protest against the use of fossil fuels and in order to bring attention to climate change. […] Those reportedly close to Bruce are emphasizing that he did not consider this to be an act of suicide, rather that he was simply practicing Shambhala Buddhism and viewed the intentional act as one of self-immolation in order to draw attention to the supposedly damaging effects of climate change.
BIDEN/HARRIS/OBAMA REGIME: TRANSFORMING FOREIGN POLICY
Sundance: Col Douglas Macgregor Delivers Truth Bombs Surrounding Ukraine Conflict and Status of $4.7 Billion Spent Sending U.S. Equipment and Aid
Colonel Douglas Macgregor appeared on Tucker Carlson to give a brutally honest assessment of the conflict in Ukraine. Regarding the transfer of heavy weapons and artillery, Macgregor notes something many have discussed. The logistics of sending in those weapons from western Ukraine (Poland border) to the eastern Ukraine battle encompasses a thousand-mile trek. Russia can easily hit those convoys en route, negating the supply line. Additionally, the U.S. has sent $4.7 billion in military equipment and financial aid so far (see graphic below), and we have no idea who is in control of those weapons.
Read more/Watch the 5:17 minute interview: https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2022/04/22/col-douglas-macgregor-delivers-truth-bombs-surrounding-ukraine-conflict-and-status-of-4-7-billion-spent-sending-u-s-equipment-and-aid/
Averre & Wright: Putin brags his new nuke is UNSTOPPABLE: Russian warmonger boasts his ‘Satan II’ nuclear missile ‘can break through ALL modern defences’… and will be aimed and ready to strike Britain ‘by AUTUMN’
Putin hailed the development of the missile, which was successfully test-fired earlier this week, ‘a big, significant event’ for Russia’s defense industry, saying the Sarmat will ‘ensure Russia’s security from external threats and make those who try to threaten our country with aggressive rhetoric think twice.’
‘The missile can break through all modern anti-missile defences,’ he declared. ‘There is nothing like this anywhere in the world, and won’t be for a long time.’ Western military experts said the Sarmat is capable of carrying 10 or more nuclear warheads and decoys – easily enough to wipe out territories the size of Britain or France in a single strike.
Sundance: Sunday Talks, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal Interview with CBS Margaret Brennan, Cash is Important Because American Taxpayers Need to Fund Our Pensions and Salaries
First, notice how Prime Minister Shmyhal is not the least bit bashful about saying cash is important because American taxpayers, the working American people, have a duty to fund the pensions and retirement accounts of the Ukrainian people, including govt politicians. [03:37] Indeed, much of the financial assistance Joe Biden has been sending to Ukraine (beyond the weapons to support the proxy war) is going toward paying the wages and salaries of corrupt Ukranian leadership. Let that first point settle in deeply, as we consider how working Americans are being financially destroyed by U.S. monetary/fiscal policy, yet the same U.S. officials wiping out your bank account are funding the bank accounts of people in Ukraine. Second point. Notice [06:02] how Prime Minister Shmyhal hedges, . . .[…] This CBS interview is pure propaganda intended to keep the U.S. audience believing a false premise about the Russian war in Ukraine.
Read more/Watch the 8:36 minute interview: https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2022/04/24/sunday-talks-ukrainian-prime-minister-denys-shmyhal-interview-with-cbs-margaret-brennan-american-taxpayers-need-to-fund-our-pensions-and-salaries/
Axios: Blinken and Austin meet with Zelensky in Kyiv
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv late Sunday, according to AP. Why it matters: This is the first time top U.S. officials have traveled to Ukraine since the unprovoked Russian incursion began. State of play: The meeting comes just days after the Biden administration unveiled another $800 million in military aid for Ukraine, including heavy artillery. The announcement brought the total U.S. military aid to the country since Russia’s invasion to around $3.4 billion.
Read more: https://www.axios.com/blinken-austin-meet-zelensky-kyiv-cf04cd5c-85a0-4d24-a0a4-629338142289.html
VDH: Our Spanish Civil War?
From 1936 to 1939, the civil war in Spain became a European laboratory of new tactics, strategies, logistics, wartime morality, and weapons. Right-wing nationalists under General Francisco Franco finally defeated loyal supporters of an evolutionary socialist republic—but only after much of the Western world had variously weighed in. The cost to the Spanish people of such brutal and vicious strife was horrific. Over 500,000 Spaniards would die in a little over two-and-a-half years. The country was left in shambles. Dictatorships in Nazi Germany, fascist Italy, and autocratic Portugal poured millions of dollars in military aid and money for Franco’s efforts to seize power. In turn, the Soviet Union often matched that aid with shipments to various communists, socialists, and anarchists of the Popular Front forces. Whether by design or by accident, Spain became a proving ground for many of the strategies, weapons, and tactics that would follow later in World War II. And it would be a preview of just how impotent democracies and international bodies were to stop aggressive powers.
Read more: https://amgreatness.com/2022/04/24/our-spanish-civil-war/
THE BIG GUY’S SON
Lattanzi: Hunter Biden Partner Eric Schwerin Reportedly Made At Least 19 Visits To Obama White House
The logs show that Schwerin made at least 19 visits to the White House and other official locations between 2009 and 2015, including a sit-down with Biden, according to the New York Post. The logs also reveal that Schwerin met with Biden in the West Wing on Nov. 17, 2010, when he was president of the now-defunct Rosemont Seneca Partners. The logs appear to reveal that Schwerin met with close aides of both Joe and Jill Biden when Hunter was striking multi-million dollar deals in foreign countries, such as China.
Read more: https://dailycaller.com/2022/04/23/joe-biden-met-hunter-partner-white-house/
THE DEMOCRAT PARTY’S FASCIST ARMIES: ANTIFA AND BLM
Heine: Left-Wing Activists and Antifa Greet Latest Busloads of Illegal Aliens Arriving in D.C.; Harass Independent Journalists
According to Fox News, these were the ninth and tenth busloads of illegal aliens to arrive in D.C. from the Texas border. The migrants volunteered to be transported to D.C. as part of Gov. Greg Abbott’s battle plan to deal with the Biden regime’s open border policies. […] It wasn’t immediately clear whether the activists and antifa radicals were operating on their own or in coordination with the Biden regime.
Kozar: Six years of BLM Killed More Blacks than 86 Years of Lynchings
In 2014, the number of black American murder victims was 6,095. Then, after the August 2014 killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, anti-police protests and riots began, federal officials and mass media sympathetic to rioters brought heightened scrutiny to police practices, BLM began its career, “broken windows” policing was curtailed, and police morale plummeted. The number of murders thereupon began to surge, never to return to 2014 levels. […] The most puzzling question is not what caused the surge in murders, but why the people most victimized by that surge are so heavily devoted to the policies that caused it.
Read more at American Thinker.
THE CORRUPT & DANGEROUS DEMOCRAT PARTY’S MEDIA INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX
Phillips: Metaverse is branded an ‘online Wild West’ by child safety campaigners as Channel 4 Dispatches uncovers evidence of sexual abuse and racism in the virtual reality world
An investigation has revealed that sexually explicit comments and threatening behaviour were made minutes after a Channel 4 journalist went undercover into Mark Zuckerberg’s 3D community. Led by the Facebook founder, the Metaverse is a set of virtual spaces where you can game, work and communicate with other people who aren’t in the same physical space as you. Users’ avatars are able to explore the online world and meet, interact and visit a fast-growing network of virtual locations such as cities, country scenes or cafes. But the new technology has faced accusations over a lack of safeguarding and moderation, with mother Nina Jane Patel claiming she was sexually assaulted less than a minute after entering the virtual online world earlier this year. The Center for Countering Digital Hate also earlier found that users, including minors, ‘are exposed to abusive behaviour every seven minutes’. Now a Channel 4 probe has raised further concern over the safety of the virtual world. […] It follows similar comments from television presenter and online safety campaigner Carol Vorderman last week who warned of the dangers of the emerging ‘metaverse’ for young children as she called for new legislation to be brought in to protect users. The presenter, 61, also compared the immersive technology to ‘the Wild West’ as she warned of the dangers of grooming and the affect it will have on the brain.
Babb: The Media Doesn’t Want To Talk About Why These Educators Featured On ‘Libs Of Tik Tok’ Got Booted From The Classroom
Legacy media outlets were quick to condone the exposure of the woman behind “Libs of Tik Tok.” What they didn’t mention was exactly what the educators, who got fired after the account posted their videos, were saying to children in their classrooms. […] “Libs of Tik Tok” highlighted philosophy professor Dr. Stephen Kershnar of the State University of New York (SUNY), who was assigned new duties after the account shared a video of him stating that it was “not obvious” that sexual attraction to children was a bad thing. “Imagine that an adult male wants to have sex with a 12-year-old girl, imagine that she is a willing participant,” Kershnar said in videos obtained by “Libs of Tik Tok.” “A very standard, very widely held view that there’s something deeply wrong about this and it’s wrong independent of it being criminalized. It’s not obvious to me that it is in fact wrong.” Kershnar is the author of the 2015 book “Pedophilia and Adult–Child Sex: A Philosophical Analysis.” The book claims to look “at the moral status of such adult-child sex.” […] Kristin Pitzen, a high school teacher in California, made a Tik Tok showing that she removed the American Flag from her classroom because it made her feel “uncomfortable.” When students asked her what flag they should pledge allegiance to, she suggested the Pride Flag. Pitzen was placed on administrative leave during an investigation. “Libs of Tik Tok” shared Pitzen’s video in a now-deleted tweet, according to Pink News.
Read more: https://dailycaller.com/2022/04/23/media-educators-featured-on-libs-of-tik-tok-booted-classroom/
Brooke: Google goes woke! Search engine launches ‘inclusive language’ function to cut down on politically incorrect words
Google has launched an ‘inclusive language’ function designed to avoid the use of politically incorrect words. Users typing ‘landlord’ will see a warning that it ‘may not be inclusive to all readers’ with the suggestion they should try ‘property owner’ or ‘proprietor’ instead. The word ‘humankind’ is a suggested alternative to what the online giant apparently sees as the controversial term ‘mankind’. Gender specific terms such as ‘policemen’ or ‘housewife’ should also be replaced by ‘police officers’ and ‘stay-at-home spouse’, according to the new Google Document style programme. It is now being rolled out to what the firm calls enterprise-level users.
Revolver.news: While the Press Runs Away, Americans Live Under a Deadly Reign of BLM Terror
Everybody recognizes Kyle Rittenhouse by now, but we doubt one person in a hundred can name Darrell Brooks Jr. on sight. Even now, can you remember who Darrell Brooks Jr. is? Probably not. To jog your memory, Brooks drove an SUV into a Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin, killing six people and injuring sixty-two others. Brooks’s attack came just two days after Rittenhouse’s acquittal. He had a history of posting support for BLM and violent anti-white screeds on social media: Brooks was almost certainly motivated at least in part by anti-white animus for his attack. That should matter, given the press does everything it can to fan anti-white resentment in the United States. Yet the Waukesha attack has already been memory-holed. The New York Times hasn’t even written about it since last November. Yet the Charlottesville car attack, which happened five years ago and killed a single person, is still a regular topic at the Times. […] What motivated James to go on a killing spree? A fanatical hatred of white people. From the NY Post: . . .
Read more: https://www.revolver.news/2022/04/black-lives-matter-reign-of-terror/
Lombardo: Twitter Re-examines Elon Musk’s Bid, May Be More Receptive to a Deal
Twitter had been expected to rebuff the offer, which Mr. Musk made earlier this month without saying how he would pay for it. But after he disclosed last week that he now has $46.5 billion in financing, Twitter is taking a fresh look at the offer and is more likely than before to seek to negotiate, people familiar with the matter said. The situation is fast-moving and it is still far from guaranteed Twitter will do so.
Read more: https://archive.ph/Qvsl5#selection-273.0-273.422
OTHER NEWS
McCarthy & Fonrouge: Suspects walk free after arrests by NYPD’s new anti-gun teams
Four men allegedly busted with weapons — including some that were loaded — by the NYPD’s new anti-gun unit were allowed to walk free within hours of their arrest, thanks to lax judges and bail reform, The Post has learned. The NYPD said the new Neighborhood Safety Teams made 25 gun arrests in their first three weeks since launching in March, but The Post was only able to obtain court records or information for 12 of the cases. Of those 12, just one man remains behind bars — meaning 11 of the defendants are back on the street, including the four who were cut loose with no bail. The others had posted bail that was set in their respective cases.
Read more: https://nypost.com/2022/04/24/suspects-walk-free-after-arrests-by-nypds-new-anti-gun-teams/
Liz Cheney is given JFK’s ‘Profile in Courage’ award alongside Zelensky on the day tape was released of her asking Kevin McCarthy if Trump would resign over January 6
Republican Rep. Liz Cheney and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky are among the five people named Thursday as recipients of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for acting to protect democracy. Cheney was chosen for how she broke with her party to defend the constitution, the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation said in its announcement. Zelensky was chosen for his leadership of the Ukrainian people during the Russian invasion. The other honorees are Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers and Fulton County, Georgia, elections worker Wandrea ‘Shaye’ Moss. The foundation said four U.S. officials were chosen for standing up for free and fair elections, as the system is challenged in ways it has never been before. Caroline Kennedy and her son, Jack Schlossberg, will present the awards May 22 at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston. The award was created by the family of the late president to honor public figures who risk their careers by embracing unpopular positions for the greater good, and is named after Kennedy´s 1957 Pulitzer Prize-winning book, ‘Profiles in Courage.’ […] Past winners of the Profile in Courage Award include Mitt Romney, Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama, John McCain, John Lewis and Nelson Mandela.
Arcand: Former Sen. Orrin Hatch Dies At 88
Former Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), who served as the president pro-tempore of the United States Senate from 2015 to 2019, died at 88 years old in Salt Lake City, the Hatch Foundation announced in a press release Saturday evening. As he served in the Senate for 42 years, he was the sixth longest-serving member in the history of the legislative body. Obviously, the country has changed a lot since he was sworn in in 1977, but he was along for the ride fighting for conservatism nonetheless. Outside of politics, Hatch had a wife and six children and was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
Heine: Texas National Guard Soldier Goes Missing, is Assumed Dead After Jumping into the Rio Grande to Save Struggling Migrant Woman
“He dove in to get her, and he never came back up,” Maverick County Sheriff Tom Schmerber told the Daily Mail. The Guardsman has been missing since he jumped in the river to save the woman at around 8:30 am CT. The sheriff revealed that the Guardsman, who has yet to be identified, entered the water when he noticed a group of migrants attempting to cross the river and a female member of the group that appeared to be in distress. According to Schmerber, who was called to the scene more than an hour after the soldier failed to resurface, the trooper immediately dove into the area of river near Eagle Pass International Bridge in an attempt to rescue her. “That area of the river is very dangerous this time of year,” the sheriff told the Daily Mail. “Very strong tides and currents. He did not resurface.” […] The sheriff said the woman who appeared to be struggling with the strong current, did eventually make it to the other side.
Anderson: Osama bin Laden planned a SECOND terror attack on the US after 9/11: Papers taken by Navy SEALs after they killed him at his compound reveal plan to charter jets to attack targets and derail trains by removing 40ft of track
Documents confiscated by Navy SEALs after bin Laden’s 2011 execution revealed how he encouraged the use of private jets, rather than passenger planes, to carry out a follow up spectacular to the September 2001 atrocity. Bin Laden, a trained engineer, also encouraged his followers to cut 12 meters (40 feet) from US train tracks to cause a spectacular derailment he hoped would kill hundreds. The derailment plot was previously mentioned in 2011, when it was claimed bin Laden had been hoping to send a packed train careening off a bridge into a valley. ‘Rather than hijack a plane, operatives should charter one for their next attack on the U.S. And adds if that’s too difficult, they should target U.S. railways,’ bin Laden wrote in a letter to he head of al Qaeda’s international terror unit, according to Islamic scholar Nelly Lahoud. […] The letters were declassified by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency in 2017. Lahoud has been studying the documents ‘line by line’ for several years. The scholar argued bin Laden was surprised at America’s reaction to the series of airline hijackings that took the lives of nearly 3,000 people on September 11, 2001. ‘Al Qaeda did not anticipate that the United States would go to war,’ Lahoud said of bin Laden’s letters.
Reynolds: What’s With All the Food Processing Plants Blowing Up Lately?
A weird trend has emerged over the past few months that seems statistically unlikely. A number of factories, logistical centers, and food processing plants have caught fire or exploded, including two that had planes crash on them. More and more people have noticed and wondered about the trend on social media. Of course, this has caused the conspiracy theorists to come out in force, so one must make a sober assessment without jumping to conclusions. But man, this is weird. With all the negative pressures on our economy and supply chains, and even Joe Biden talking about global food shortages over the next several months, one has to wonder what’s going on here. One large logistics center going up in flames is enough to sit up and take notice. That happened at a Walmart distribution center in Indianapolis on March 21, requiring over 350 firefighters to extinguish: . . .[…] With that as a background, back to the fires and explosions and plane crashes. The question remains—are these mere coincidences? One could be forgiven for not trusting official explanations in a post-COVID and post-election world in which panic porn and propaganda have replaced the news. Then again, one must guard against succumbing to fear over pressures on food supplies and jumping to conclusions. So, are these all just weird coincidences, or is something else going on?
INTERNATIONAL
Lawler & Gottbrath: Macron defeats Le Pen to win re-election in France
French President Emmanuel Macron defeated far-right leader Marine Le Pen to win re-election Sunday, with projections as polls closed showing him winning 58% to 42%. Why it matters: Macron is the first French president in 20 years to win a second term. While polls consistently showed him in the lead, there will be relief in Washington and Brussels as his victory is confirmed. A Le Pen victory would have been a major blow to EU cooperation, particularly on Ukraine. Turnout was estimated at around 72%, the lowest in decades but only 2% lower than in 2017, when Macron beat Le Pen 66% to 34%.