More First Amendment regulatory threats

Leftists and the Deep State can’t wait to continue pushing for the diminishment and possible erasure of your First Amendment rights.

The FEC has been after the Drudge Report for years. So has the FCC. This, on its face, is a ridiculous goal. Matt Drudge hasn’t actually written anything for years; his site is nothing more than a laughingly-simplistic point on the internet that does nothing more than aggregate stories from around the globe.

That’s right. All the Drudge Report does is re-package stories written entirely from external sources. His source material is frequently the New York Times, the Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, Reuters, the AP, Slate, the Huffington Post, NPR, The Guardian — all bastions of Left-leaning journalism.

No matter; never allow facts, history, logic, rationality, proportion or common sense get in the way of a good fucked-up Leftist inclination, decision or bill. Not surprisingly, it’s a push from the FEC once again.

From the WashingtonExaminer.com:

Drudge, Facebook, NYT readers could face libel suits for sharing ‘fake news’

by Paul Bedard

Political content on the internet, paid or not, should face substantial federal regulation to eliminate undefined “disinformation,” and users of platforms and news feeds, from Facebook, to Twitter, to the Drudge Report and even New York Times, could be punished for sharing “fake news” from those sites, the former Democratic chair of the FEC is urging.

In a broad proposal that adds threatening libel suits to regulatory plans already pushed by Democrats on the Federal Election Commission, ex-chair Ann Ravel believes that there is support for expanded regulation in the wake of reports foreign governments spent $100,000 on 2016 political ads on Facebook.

At whom, potentially, is this proposal aimed? Correct: you and me. People interested in politics and have sites on the internet as well as a social media presence. People who conduct internet radio shows. Like me. That’s next. Make no mistake.

She would include “fake news,” not just paid ads, to be regulated, though it’s never defined other than the Democrat’s description of “disinformation.” And anybody who shares or retweets it could face a libel suit.

Friends, this is a page ripped from the former Soviet Union. Your gulag awaits you!

She would also use regulation to “improve voter competence,” according to the new proposal titled Fool Me Once: The Case for Government Regulation of ‘Fake News.’ Ravel, who now lectures at Berkeley Law, still has allies on the FEC who support internet regulation.

Berkeley, of course — the locus of free speech in America.

The proposal immediately came under fire from from the Republican FEC commissioner who for years has been warning of the left’s effort to regulate political talk they don’t like, especially on conservative newsfeeds like Drudge.

Lee Goodman told Secrets, “Ann’s proposal is full blown regulation of all political content, even discussion of issues, posted at any time, for free or for a fee, on any online platform, from Facebook to the NewYorkTimes.com.”

He was especially critical of the undefined nature of “disinformation” to be regulated and the first-ever call for libel suits to snuff out talk Ravel doesn’t like.

And just whom determines “disinformation”? Kompromat or disinformatzia, tovarisch? A panel of Conservatives or a panel of Leftists? Correct. Leftists. Conservatives won’t be allowed within ten miles of a determination.

In their proposal, the trio wrote, “after a social media user clicks ‘share’ on a disputed item (if the platforms do not remove them and only label them as disputed), government can require that the user be reminded of the definition of libel against a public figure. Libel of public figures requires ‘actual malice,’ defined as knowledge of falsity or reckless disregard for the truth. Sharing an item that has been flagged as untrue might trigger liability under libel laws.”

We already have Speech Crimes in LeftistLand. There may be ClickCrimes. MindCrimes are, of course, next.

Here is the full Ravel article for reference.

Then there is this from YahooNews.com, with John McCain in apparent agreement.

U.S. bill to regulate internet ads gains bipartisan support with McCain

by David Ingram

(Reuters) – U.S. legislation that would impose new disclosure requirements on political ads that run on Facebook and other websites received support on Wednesday from Senator John McCain, giving a bipartisan boost to a bill already popular among Democrats.

McCain, a longtime supporter of regulating campaign finances, and two Democratic senators, Amy Klobuchar and Mark Warner, plan to introduce the legislation on Thursday, according to a statement from their offices on Wednesday.

Good old John McCain. You can generally count on him to put his thumb in the eyes of freedom of speech any more. Or anything that he perceives President Trump might possibly support.

Online political ads are much more loosely regulated in the United States than political ads on television, radio and satellite services.

The lack of regulation was highlighted last month when Facebook Inc, Alphabet Inc’s Google and Twitter Inc said that they had found election-related ad buys on their services made by people in Russia in the run-up to last year’s U.S. presidential election. Non-Americans are generally not allowed to spend money to influence U.S. elections.

How about, instead of law after law, we just ask the social media to be more wary? Anyone think of that?

Speaking of Loving John, here is a bit of witty repartee between McCain and Fox’s Peter Doocey.

The question by Doocy was “has your relationship with the president frayed to the point where you’re not going to support anything that he comes to you and asks support for?”

McCain replies: “why would you ask anything that stupid? Why would you ask something that dumb? Huh? My job as a United States senator, as a senator from Arizona which I was just re-elected to, you mean that I’m somehow going to behave in a way that I’m going to block everything because of some personal disagreement? That’s a dumb question.”

Let’s see, John. Would that possibly be because you are in fact so vehemently opposed to most anything that President Trump has proposed, that you’ve worked hand-in-hand with the Demorats to slaughter the repeal of the ACA much less any replacement — you know, the very thing you ran on for eight years — as well as the slaughter of tax cuts? With regularity and consistency? John? Perhaps those things?

And John, while we’re at it, have you forgotten what you said in Philadelphia this Monday, October 16th?

PHILADELPHIA — An emotional Sen. John McCain on Monday leveled a blistering attack on what he called the “half-baked, spurious nationalism” that seems to have inspired President Trump’s administration to retreat from the world stage.

In a speech to accept the National Constitution Center’s Liberty Medal, McCain, R-Ariz., emphasized that the United States is “a land made of ideals, not blood and soil,” a rebuke to the Nazi slogan about bloodlines and territory chanted in August by White supremacists demonstrating in Charlottesville, Va.

An at-times raspy-sounding McCain drew applause and cheers at the Philadelphia event when he said:

“To fear the world we have organized and led for three-quarters of a century, to abandon the ideals we have advanced around the globe, to refuse the obligations of international leadership and our duty to remain ‘the last, best hope of earth’ for the sake of some half-baked, spurious nationalism cooked up by people who would rather find scapegoats than solve problems is as unpatriotic as an attachment to any other tired dogma of the past that Americans consigned to the ash heap of history.”

A reminder:

I value two things primarily: honesty and clarity. So let’s be clear: the only reason the FEC or the FCC wish to limit and regulate speech under the guise of “fairness” or “equanimity” is to limit the speech of only one side: the conservative side. To limit the dissemination of information which thusly informs voters and allows Conservatives to acquire facts, data and particulars on political issues.

Because, after all, everything is political now.

Finally: where are the Republicans on this? Why no public GOP umbrage over the issue? Statements? Decisions to oppose? Republicans taking a stand against this?

Another reason Conservative trust in the GOP has almost vanished. Another reason that Republican fundraising is down this quarter. Consequences for inaction? Gridlock? Failure to keep election promises? Failure to coalesce and utilize power the GOP possesses presently?

Not difficult to figure out.

BZ

P.S.

Great article on the Fairness Doctrine from 1993 is here.

 

Your government working AGAINST you

Founders_Finger_GulagUnder Barack Hussein Obama.  With the overt and covert/tacit approval of Barack Hussein Obama.

First, from the UKDailyMail.com:

FBI tells teachers to inform on students who express ‘anti-government’ and ‘anarchist’ political beliefs as high schools are ‘ideal targets’ for extremist recruiters

by Wills Robinson

  • Document urges faculty members to assess behavior of students 

  • They suggest to watch for certain signs, such as tendency toward violence

  • Bureau hopes indications could prevent future terrorist attacks 

  • They believed it would help reduce the number of youngsters joining terrorist or anti-government groups

It would seem to me the real “extremist recruiters” could be some of the teachers already employed in public schools.

The FBI wants teachers to inform on ‘anti-government’ or ‘anarchist’ students.

In a document titled ‘Preventing Violence and Extremism in Schools’, the bureau urges faculty members to assess concerning behavior of schoolchildren as they may be ’embracing extremist ideologies’.

They also list a number of indications, such as violent tendencies, which may be a sign they are planning an attack or may want to join a terrorist group.

Officials then want staff to pass on information to authorities in a bid to prevent any actions which could put others in danger.

In other words, the United States government wants to make an enemy out of me once again — but oddly enough, only during Leftist administrations.  The federal government wants to make an enemy of its soldiers, of those who believe in religion (excepting that of Islam) and those who believe in the Second Amendment.

Obama American CRAZIESThose who cling to their God and guns.  Who believe in the US Constitution.  Who believe in the Bill of Rights.  Who believe in a religion other than Islam.

Second, the US Department of Justice was actually contemplating prosecution of those who deny climate change/global warming.

Seriously.  The actual Obama-sanctioned Belief Police.

From TheBlaze.com:

AG Lynch Testifies: Justice Dept. Has ‘Discussed’ Civil Legal Action Against Climate Change Deniers

by Jon Street

Attorney General Loretta Lynch testified Wednesday that the Justice Department has “discussed” taking civil legal action against the fossil fuel industry for “denying” the “threat of carbon emissions” when it comes to climate change.

A Democrat asked and was answered:

“My question to you is, other than civil forfeitures and matters attendant to a criminal case, are there other circumstances in which a civil matter under the authority of the Department of Justice has been referred to the FBI?” he asked.

“This matter has been discussed. We have received information about it and have referred it to the FBI to consider whether or not it meets the criteria for which we could take action on,” Lynch answered. “I’m not aware of a civil referral at this time.”

Corporations first.  You and me next.

Finally: who else is an enemy of the federal government, according to official US government documents as per Michael Snyder?

1. Those that talk about “individual liberties”

2. Those that advocate for states’ rights

3. Those that want “to make the world a better place”

4. “The colonists who sought to free themselves from British rule”

5. Those that are interested in “defeating the Communists”

6. Those that believe “that the interests of one’s own nation are separate from the interests of other nations or the common interest of all nations”

7. Anyone that holds a “political ideology that considers the state to be unnecessary, harmful,or undesirable”

8. Anyone that possesses an “intolerance toward other religions”

9. Those that “take action to fight against the exploitation of the environment and/or animals”

10. “Anti-Gay”

11. “Anti-Immigrant”

12. “Anti-Muslim”

13. “The Patriot Movement”

14. “Opposition to equal rights for gays and lesbians”

15. Members of the Family Research Council

16. Members of the American Family Association

17. Those that believe that Mexico, Canada and the United States “are secretly planning to merge into a European Union-like entity that will be known as the ‘North American Union’”

18. Members of the American Border Patrol/American Patrol

19. Members of the Federation for American Immigration Reform

20. Members of the Tennessee Freedom Coalition

21. Members of the Christian Action Network

22. Anyone that is “opposed to the New World Order”

23. Anyone that is engaged in “conspiracy theorizing”

24. Anyone that is opposed to Agenda 21

25. Anyone that is concerned about FEMA camps

26. Anyone that “fears impending gun control or weapons confiscations”

27. The militia movement

28. The sovereign citizen movement

29. Those that “don’t think they should have to pay taxes”

30. Anyone that “complains about bias”

31. Anyone that “believes in government conspiracies to the point of paranoia”

32. Anyone that “is frustrated with mainstream ideologies”

33. Anyone that “visits extremist websites/blogs”

34. Anyone that “establishes website/blog to display extremist views”

35. Anyone that “attends rallies for extremist causes”

36. Anyone that “exhibits extreme religious intolerance”

37. Anyone that “is personally connected with a grievance”

38. Anyone that “suddenly acquires weapons”

39. Anyone that “organizes protests inspired by extremist ideology”

40. “Militia or unorganized militia”

41. “General right-wing extremist”

42. Citizens that have “bumper stickers” that are patriotic or anti-U.N.

43. Those that refer to an “Army of God”

44. Those that are “fiercely nationalistic (as opposed to universal and international in orientation)”

45. Those that are “anti-global”

46. Those that are “suspicious of centralized federal authority”

47. Those that are “reverent of individual liberty”

48. Those that “believe in conspiracy theories”

49. Those that have “a belief that one’s personal and/or national ‘way of life’ is under attack”

50. Those that possess “a belief in the need to be prepared for an attack either by participating in paramilitary preparations and training or survivalism”

51. Those that would “impose strict religious tenets or laws on society (fundamentalists)”

52. Those that would “insert religion into the political sphere”

53. Anyone that would “seek to politicize religion”

54. Those that have “supported political movements for autonomy”

55. Anyone that is “anti-abortion”

56. Anyone that is “anti-Catholic”

57. Anyone that is “anti-nuclear”

58. “Rightwing extremists”

59. “Returning veterans”

60. Those concerned about “illegal immigration”

61. Those that “believe in the right to bear arms”

62. Anyone that is engaged in “ammunition stockpiling”

63. Anyone that exhibits “fear of Communist regimes”

64. “Anti-abortion activists”

65. Those that are against illegal immigration

66. Those that talk about “the New World Order” in a “derogatory” manner

67. Those that have a negative view of the United Nations

68. Those that are opposed “to the collection of federal income taxes”

69. Those that supported former presidential candidates Ron Paul, Chuck Baldwin and Bob Barr

70. Those that display the Gadsden Flag (“Don’t Tread On Me”)

71. Those that believe in “end times” prophecies

72. Evangelical Christians

Am I — we — truly the danger to America?  Am I the one to be feared and tattled-upon?  Am I the one over which you should worry?

Obama True Danger To America

Or should you worry about a Hillary Clinton, a Bernie Sanders?

I think you have your answer.

BZ

 

Obama’s last SOTU

Obama Selfie With Stick, AlaskaAnd it couldn’t have happened to a more traitorous man.  Or quickly enough.

The only thing worse than having to hear Obama’s voice, literally, EVERY day for the past seven years would be to hear Hillary’s piercing voice every day.  That is not, at this point, an impossible future.

Will Obama mention his traitorous Iranian deal?  Will he mention the Iranian missiles fired close to our newest aircraft carrier?  Will he mention the ten sailors captured by Iran?  As Charles Krauthammer said, Obama has already been serially humiliated by Iran.

Obama canceled sanctions for the missile launches.  Obama is kind to our enemies and brutal to our allies.

How long will the speech go?  How many times will he say “I” instead of we?

The transcript of his last SOTU is here.

And the lies commenced.

Mr Obama said we have emerged better now than before.  Yes ladies and gentlemen, he is delusional from the very beginning.

“We have reformed healthcare and reinvigorated our energy sector.”

“How do we lead the world without becoming its policeman?”

“The people who say our economy is in decline are peddling fiction.”

“We should recruit and support more great teachers for our kids.”

So here has what Leftist policies have yielded for teachers in our current “total lack of discipline” classroom environments.

That wasn’t a movie, a TV show or a bad SNL skit.  That’s classroom reality.

“Food Stamp recipients didn’t cause the financial crisis; recklessness on Wall Street did.”  Wall Street helped; but the givernment demanded that banks loan to people who couldn’t afford houses.

“Look, if anybody still wants to dispute the science around climate change, have at it. You’ll be pretty lonely, because you’ll be debating our military, most of America’s business leaders, the majority of the American people, almost the entire scientific community, and 200 nations around the world who agree it’s a problem and intend to solve it.”

Again, more lies.  More embracement of The Religious Left — those who so desperately want to believe in Global Warming.  It is a religion that demands faith and, like islam, brooks no dissenters.

“No nation dares to attack us or our allies because they know that’s the path to ruin.”

All of the highest-ranking military professionals in the room appeared as though they had had a steaming dog turd stuffed in their mouths when Obama said that.  I watched.

Obama SOTU 2016 Military“Surveys show our standing around the world is higher than when I was elected to this office.”

Another massive and total lie.

Even the Demorats in the audience who stood to clap did so with tepid vigor and passive and disinterested faces.

THE BIGGEST LIE OF THE EVENING:

“We don’t need to build them (ISIL) up to show that we’re serious, nor do we need to push away vital allies in this fight by echoing the lie that ISIL is representative of one of the world’s largest religions.”

THE BIGGEST OMISSION OF THE EVENING:

NOT ONE WORD about US debt and the massive deficits, CONTINUED and EXPANDED GOVERNMENT SPENDING that he and Demorats and Leftists demand.

“The future we want – opportunity and security for our families; a rising standard of living and a sustainable, peaceful planet for our kids – all that is within our reach. But it will only happen if we work together. It will only happen if we can have rational, constructive debates.”

And those debates, those discussions, are just what you and the Demorats and your fellow Leftists won’t brook in your cabinet meetings, in the public, on the internet, in books and magazines, on television and, mostly now, in our schools and universities.

“As frustration grows, there will be voices urging us to fall back into tribes, to scapegoat fellow citizens who don’t look like us, or pray like us, or vote like we do, or share the same background.”

How odd that you mention that in your very last state of the union speech, because you have been the greatest Divider In Chief.

Obama simultaneously disarms American citizens and arms Iran with the largest, most powerful and deadliest weapons systems on the planet.  Mr Obama disarms our citizens, removes equipment from our police forces — who are our First Responders to terrorist and critical incidents, not any single faction of the federal government, in any form.  Not the FBI, not the US Marshals, not FEMA.  Not any federal agency.  Your local law enforcement only.

He also ensures that our law enforcement agencies are diminished, demagogued, belittled.

Obama was the greatest Divider In Chief.  He will be proven as the least effective president in recent history, even worse than that of James Earl Carter.

His power depended precisely upon division, the diminishment of American power, greater regulatory and governmental power and money, with the

Just as with his entire administration and tenure, Obama’s final state of the union speech was entirely disconnected from reality.  He continues to be physically and mentally separated from the true reality in America and continues his denial of the way the country and the world operates.  His speech was disjointed and riddled with major droppings of his ego, arrogance and dismissal of those who would oppose him or his policies in any fashion.  He sets aside reality that is inconvenient to him.

Obama ZombiesNot one word about American hostages in Iran.  Not one word about the Iran sanctions or Monday’s ten hostage sailors.  He lectures us about civility but not one reference to the fact that Obama is almost singlehandedly responsible for the chaos in Syria via ISIS, his “J.V. team” and that, by extension, Obama will be responsible for the Islamization and decline of the bulk of Europe.

Obama chose to ignore the area where a president can have the most ready influence: foreign policy.  He chose to dictate the area foundationally covered by and under the aegis of Congress: domestic policy.

The speech, like Mr Obama, was sophomoric, belittling and pedantic.  And not based in any way upon reality.

“This was less about a state of the union than it was a state of denial.”
— Ted Cruz

BZ

Obama Will Be GONE

Obama undermines the FBI for Hillary

Obama Lying Is StressfulLet’s get right to the meat of the matter: Obama is attempting to undermine the FBI investigation of Hillary Clinton’s classified emails on her private server.

From the NYTimes.com:

Obama’s Comments on Clinton Emails Collide With F.B.I. Inquiry

by Matt Apuzzo and Michael D. Schmidt

WASHINGTON — Federal agents were still cataloging the classified information from Hillary Rodham Clinton’s personal email server last week when President Obama went on television and played down the matter.

“I don’t think it posed a national security problem,” Mr. Obama said Sunday on CBS’s “60 Minutes.” He said it was a mistake for Mrs. Clinton to use a private email account when she was secretary of state, but his conclusion was unmistakable: “This is not a situation in which America’s national security was endangered.”

So now this becomes a situation in which the FBI — and more specifically Director James Comey — is placed in an adversarial position with the President of the United States.

The FBI is trying to determine the truth.  This is the opposite of what Obama wants, despite his insisting that his would be the most transparent administration in history.  Instead, it has been the most obtuse and opaque.

Look, Obama knew what kind of animal Hillary Clinton was back in 2007.  From AllenWest.com:

As a newly-published campaign memo shows, Barack Obama’s campaign had completely nailed Hillary Clinton for exactly who she is — as far back as 2007. The memo cites the current Democrat frontrunner’s “shifting, dodging and changing positions to satisfy the politics of the moment” and “penchant for secrecy and non-disclosure reflect an underlying disdain for the “invisible” people for whom she claims to speak.” 

And though I’m fairly certain Obama detests the Clintons, the same thing is occurring with Obama right now.  He’s putting aside his personal animosity for political gain, in order to ensure a Demorat is installed in the oval office and, with a bit more time, American politics will reach a demographic point via illegals, non-assimilators, Muslims and Free Cheesers of all stripes wherein Republicans or Conservatives will be essentially unelectable.  Demography is prophecy.

Obama can’t wait.

BZ