Herr Trump Decrees: If Media Doesn’t Air My Speeches They Should Have Their Licenses Revoked

It has long been established that Donald Trump has unwavering and unabashed aspirations of authoritarianism. He frequently expresses those ambitions himself in remarks that are reminiscent of his heroes such as Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un, Xi Jinping, and other notorious tyrants and dictators. It’s a club that Trump very much yearns to be a member of.

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Donald Trump Tyrant Dictator

On Monday night, Trump delivered a speech in Iowa congratulating himself on his victory in the Republican presidential primary caucus there. The speech was mostly a rehashing of the same tedious talking points that he disgorges at his cult rallies and posts on his failing social media scam, Truth Social. And true to form, Trump used the opportunity of the post-caucus address to whine about what a sorry and pathetic victim he is.

When he isn’t lying about the 2020 election being “rigged and stolen” from him, he is raging about the multitude of civil and criminal charges that he is facing. He barely had time to brag about the weakness of his predictable triumph over Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley.

SEE THIS: Trump’s Pyrrhic Victory in Iowa Forecasts His Next Defeat When He Faces Joe Biden in November

What Trump did have time to do was to reiterate his contempt for democracy and the Constitution. In his remarks he made a point of expressing his disdain for the First Amendment’s protection of the freedom of the press…

“Last night, it was amazing. NBC and CNN refused to air my victory speech – think of it – because they are crooked, they’re dishonest and, frankly, they should have their licenses or whatever they have taken away.”

Of course, Trump would have no legal authority to shut down any news organization. Not that he cares about or respects the law. And for the record, NBC and CNN both aired a portion of Trump’s speech before cutting away when it was clear that he was just spewing nonsense and devolving into incoherent babbling. But there was a better reason to cut him off, which was explained by MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, who said that “His remarks will not air here live,” and then elaborated saying that…

“There is a reason that we, and other news platforms, have generally stopped giving an unfiltered live platform to former president Trump. It is not out of spite. It is not a decision that we relish. It is a decision that we regularly revisit. And honestly, earnestly, it is not an easy decision. But there is a cost to us as a news organization of knowingly broadcasting untrue things.

Exactly! The press has an obligation to insure that the truth is paramount in their reporting. When someone is known to lie profusely whenever they speak, that person’s remarks can be recorded and played later with the proper context and fact-checking. It’s what responsible journalists do.

However, in Trump’s twisted mind, any editing of his divinely inspired insights is tantamount to treason. He has actually said so in those precise terms. And if given the opportunity, he will make the traitors pay. Never mind the Constitution. Trump has repeatedly vowed to punish any and all media that is critical of him. For instance…

Trump Threatens to ‘Come Down Hard on’ MSNBC and ‘Make Them Pay’ for Daring to Criticize Him
Nov 28, 2023: “MSNBC (MSDNC) uses FREE government approved airwaves, and yet it is nothing but a 24 hour hit job on Donald J. Trump and the Republican Party for purposes of ELECTION INTERFERENCE. Brian Roberts, its Chairman and CEO, is a slimeball who has been able to get away with these constant attacks for years. It is the world’s biggest political contribution to the Radical Left Democrats who, by the way, are destroying our Country. Our so-called ‘government’ should come down hard on them and make them pay for their illegal political activity. Much more to come, watch!”

First of all, MSNBC does not use “FREE government approved airwaves.” Cable programming is delivered on private distribution networks. And their editorial positions are protected by the First Amendment. If he’s upset by MSNBC’s honest, left-leaning reporting, he should be equally upset by fox News’ flagrantly false, right-wing propaganda. But in neither case does the government have the authority to “come down hard on them and make them pay” for their views. That’s how dictators operate.

And then there was this…

Wannabe Dictator Trump Promises to Prosecute the ‘Country Threatening Treason’ of the Media
Sep 24, 2023: “MSNBC…should be investigated for its ‘Country Threatening Treason.’ […] I say up front, openly, and proudly, that when I WIN the Presidency of the United States, they and others of the LameStream Media will be thoroughly scrutinized for their knowingly dishonest and corrupt coverage […] They are a true threat to Democracy and are, in fact, THE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE! The Fake News Media should pay a big price for what they have done!”

Trump is accusing MSNBC and other news enterprises of treason for exercising their constitutional rights. And he brags “up front, openly, and proudly,” that he will abuse the power of the government to suppress his critics in the press.

Trump’s brazen hostility toward the media and the Constitution is more proof of just how dangerous it would be to allow him to have any position of power. It doesn’t matter that he would have no legal authority to conduct the sort of oppressive operations that he is promising. He doesn’t care about the law. He would impose his own unethical standards on the media – and the nation – to get whatever results he craves.

Hopefully, this November, voters will grasp the imperative to prevent him from seizing that power and destroying America’s constitutional republic. And while they are at it, voters need to oust Trump’s flunkies in the House and Senate, and all state and local offices, and elect patriotic Democrats who will honor and preserve our nation’s principles.

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Thoughts and Prayers: MyPillow Guy Mike Lindell Announces that He’s Been Cancelled By Fox News

The new year isn’t starting off very well for Donald Trump and his “lesions” of followers and media sycophants. He remains in legal peril with 91 felony charges pending. Plus, he has a couple of civil cases that are close to conclusions that will likely cost him hundreds of millions of dollars.

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Donald Trump, Mike Lindell, MyPillow

As the trial dates approach, Trump’s mental state is becoming ever more desperate and detached from reality. He is frantically lashing out at everyone from President Biden, to Democrats in Congress, to Republicans in Congress, to judges and prosecutors and reporters. Meanwhile, Biden is continuing to focus on policies that are actually advancing the interests of the American people.

SEE THIS: On Fox News Jessica Tarlov Summarizes the Success of Bidenomics that the Media Refuses to Cover

One of Trump’s most devoted cult disciples is Mike Lindell, the MyPillow huckster who has pretty much destroyed his business and reputation by spreading Trump’s “Big Lie” that the 2020 election was “rigged and stolen” from him. And on Friday morning Lindell posted a video with a sob story about his latest misfortune/conspiracy. He whined that he had “disturbing news” that “Fox News just cancelled MyPillow.” He said that he didn’t know why, but then ventured to make some guesses…

“Maybe it was because Lou Dobbs was added over here on Lindell TV to this all new lineup we have. That was just a few days ago. We showed his first interview with our great real president, Donald Trump. Or maybe it was because they don’t want my face even on their network leading up to the 2024 election in support of our great real president, Donald Trump. I don’t know, I don’t have the details yet. All I know is the commercials have been cancelled. Anything with MyPillow or Mike Lindell cancelled on Fox News.

America is surely in mourning today upon hearing about this tragedy. What will they do without Lindell’s uplifting ads peddling his atrocious bag of rocks?

As for Lindell’s speculation as to reasons for this alleged cancellation, the notion that Fox News cares about what Lou Dobbs is doing since they fired him for lying repeatedly on the air, is preposterous. Especially if all he is doing is fluffing Trump on a TV “network” that nobody knows exists, much less watches.

What’s more, Fox News couldn’t possibly regard Lindell’s adoration of Trump as motivation to reject his advertising. After all, Fox News is also in the Trump adoration business. If anything, they would welcome Lindell’s advocacy of Trump.

Virtually everyone on the network is already promoting Trump’s 2024 candidacy. They just aired a Trump town hall that was nothing more than a televised campaign rally. And they even complied with Trump’s demand to air it on the same date and time as CNN’s GOP debate, in order to depress CNN’s ratings (which didn’t work).

SEE ALSO: Fox News Affirms its Role as Ministry of Propaganda for Donald Trump and the MAGA Cult

The one plausible reason that Lindell proposed for Fox cancelling him was that “they don’t want my face even on their network.” And who could blame Fox if that were the case? Lindell closed by begging his viewers to “support us during this time of cancelation.” So, like his Dear Leader Trump, Lindell is turning this into an opportunity to fleece the flock.

It must be noted that there isn’t any actual evidence that what Lindell is alleging is true. Fox News has not made any comments about refusing Lindell’s ads. And if they did, it might be due to Lindell inserting political content into them. Who knows? The one thing we know for certain is that we can’t trust anything Lindell says, any more than we can trust anything Trump says. They are both confirmed liars and con artists.

UPDATE: As expected, there is a good reason for Fox News rejecting MyPillow ads. According to Mediaite, “Lindell still hasn’t paid for any MyPillow ads aired on the network since August 2023. […] A Fox News spokesperson told Mediaite: ‘As soon as their account is paid, we would be happy to accept their advertising.'”

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After Tucker Carlson Fiasco, McCarthy Will Give January 6th Video to More MAGA Propagandists

From the very start of his tenure, Republican House Squeaker, Kevin McCarthy, demonstrated just how brazenly partisan and dishonest his speakership would be. After a historic 15 attempts to secure enough votes to become Speaker, McCarthy was indebted to ultra-rightist underlings like Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene to hold onto the post.

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GOP Insurrection

Among the first actions by the new Speaker were the removal of Democrats Adam Schiff, Ilhan Omar, and Eric Swalwell, from their respective committees. Then he formed a bogus committee on “Responsiveness and Accountability Oversight,” whose stated purpose was to “make life Hell” for Democrats. And of course, he oversaw the creation of the House’s first “Anti-Woke” Caucus.

However, nothing was more representative of McCarthy’s radical political prejudices than when he handed over 41,000 hours of video from the January 6th insurrection, that was incited by Donald Trump, to the pro-insurrection, Putin loving poseur, Tucker Carlson. McCarthy claimed that he was making these videos public, but Carlson was the only person who was given access to them. After which, Carlson predictably produced a preposterous program that portrayed the violent MAGA rioters as peaceful tourists visiting the Capitol.

SEE THIS: Tucker Carlson Spins January 6th Insurrection Videos to Spread Blatant Lies, Trump Praises Him

Carlson’s ludicrous narrative was widely mocked and condemned. In fact, he ended up airing only a few carefully edited, and particularly boring, minutes of the 41,000 hours of video over two nights that revealed nothing of significance. Which shouldn’t surprise anyone who has seen Carlson’s other “reporting” on January 6th, wherein he glorifies the rioters and accuses the FBI of orchestrating the whole thing.

McCarthy had promised to eventually release the videos to the public at large, including other media outlets. But three months later, McCarthy is apparently making the videos available to some more well known conspiracy crackpots. According to his boss, Marjorie Taylor Greene (admittedly not the most reliable source)…

“I’m excited to share the good news that just as I promised the J6 tapes are being released!

“@SpeakerMcCarthy has given @jsolomonReports, @Julie_kelly2, and a third outlet unfettered access to the J6 tapes, and their reporting on it starts tomorrow.

“This is the transparency the American people deserve and I look forward to their reporting!”

First of all, doling out the videos to selected conservative hacks is not “releasing” them. Nor is it “transparency” by any rational definition of the word. And what they will produce can hardly be called “reporting.” It is conspiring with confederates to manufacture more malicious propaganda.

What’s more, the people named by Greene are notorious fabricators of political fiction. John Solomon is a disgraced former Fox News contributor whose work is relentlessly slanted toward the ultra-right. Julie Kelly writes for the Trump-fluffing “American Greatness,” website, and is a prominent purveyor of conspiracy theories and slobbering Trump commentaries. The third party to whom McCarthy is giving the videos was apparently too embarrassing to even identify. Perhaps it is Rudy Giuliani or Don Trump Jr.

McCarthy’s refusal to grant access to these videos is a blatantly unethical, and possibly illegal, suppression of public materials and a breach of the First Amendment’s protection of a free press. He has already been sued by a coalition of media enterprises seeking access to the videos. They include CNN, Advance Publications, The Associated Press, CBS News, E.W. Scripps, Gannett, Politico, ProPublica and The New York Times.

Finally, there is a disturbing irony and hypocrisy in McCarthy’s aversion to sharing information. He recently threatened the FBI Director with contempt of Congress for not turning over a document that he wants in order to smear President Biden.

SEE THIS: McCarthy Threatens FBI Director with Contempt for Not Aiding His Petty Persecution of Biden

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Jim Jordan’s Judiciary Committee Threatens the First Amendment Rights of American Businesses

The Republican Party has long sought to be the torch carriers for corporations, spearheading their interests by slashing taxes and regulations to the detriment of the American people who are forced to take up the slack. But then, it was the GOP justices on on the Supreme Court who decided that corporations are, in their warped view, people.

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Donald Trump, Boycott

Somehow, that pro-corp bias on the part of the right has been flipped as Republicans are now feverishly engaged in battle with the businesses and lobbyists that they previously catered to. It isn’t a coincidence that this transformation took place during the era of Donald Trump, who has turned “retribution” for any ideological divergence from his doctrine into a political mandate. It’s framed as a “War on Woke,” whatever the heck that means.

RELATED: GOP Creates an ‘Anti-Woke’ Caucus to Take on the ‘Greatest Domestic Threat to America Today’

This diseased philosophy is bad enough when it is espoused by individual politicians and pundits. But it is significantly worse, and more dangerous, when the official gears of governmet are grinding it out. Which is precisely what happened on late Wednesday night when Jim Jordan, the Republican chair of the House Judiciary Committee, tweeted this: “Bud Light. Disney. Target. Go WOKE. Go BROKE.”

First of all, if anything is “broke” it’s Jordan’s brain. The companies he is singling out are not remotely at risk for going broke. They are, in fact, among the most profitable businesses in the country/world.

More to the point, what Jordan is doing here is overtly threatening American companies with bankruptcy, or other financial vengeance dealt out by the government, for daring to exercise their constitutional rights under the First Amendment. In this case, the companies offended Republicans by expressing their support for their LGBTQ+ customers. Which is, of course, entirely legal, not that Jordan or the GOP care.

This is not merely an attack on American companies conducting business as they see fit. It is an attack on American workers who would be harmed if these companies suffered financially due to Jordan’s unlawful, autocratic bullying. It is also an attack on local economies that could suffer when businesses are forced to alter their growth plans. Just ask Ron DeSantis, whose feud with Disney resulted in the company canceling plans for an office – and 2,000 jobs – in Florida after he began retaliating against them for rejecting his bigotry.

These neo-fascist tactics by the Trumpian GOP are not new. Jordan recently threatened the anti-trust status of Major League Baseball. Not because that status may not be warranted as a matter of economic policy, but because the League scheduled a “Pride” night to honor their LGBTQ+ fans. And Trump himself has advocated for boycotts of dozens of American companies, including Apple, Coca-Cola, AT&T, Citigroup, Oreos, etc.

FOR INSTANCE: Trump is “The King of Cancel Culture” who “Hypocritically Calls for Boycotts.”

Jordan is not alone in his mission to tear down American companies. He is joined by the GOP’s misnamed “Freedom Caucus” and by, of course, Fox News. Yet all of these fatuous phonies persist in pretending to be pro-business and free speech. But their lies are on display where everyone can see them. They hate American business. They hate American workers. They hate America.

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Fox News ‘Demands’ that Media Matters Stop Publishing Leaked Videos of Tucker Carlson

The fallout from Fox News firing their Senior White Nationalist, Tucker Carlson, continues to cast dark shadows on the network that tolerated and embraced his hate speech and lies for so many years. Apparently terminating Carlson after agreeing to settle the defamation lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems for 3/4 of a billion dollars was only the beginning of their problems.

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Fox News, Fake News

This week Media Matters acquired some videos of Carlson that further exposed his racism, as well as the animosity he had for his own colleagues at Fox News who he thought weren’t sufficiently repellent. These videos revealed Carlson maligning his former employer, saying “I don’t want to be a slave to Fox Nation. [and that] Nobody watches Fox Nation because the site sucks.” Additionally, there were text messages wherein he complained about having been deposed by Dominion’s lawyers and criticized violent Trump supporters because “It’s not how white men fight.”

SEE THIS: Leaked Video of Tucker Carlson Bashing Fox Nation as a Site that ‘Sucks’ and ‘Nobody Watches’

On Friday Fox News sent Media Matters a “cease and desist” letter demanding that they stop publishing these videos. The letter said…

“We write on behalf of Fox Corporation to clarify any misunderstandings Media Matters may have had regarding previously unaired footage that Media Matters has published in a series of articles headlined ‘Foxleaks.’ That unaired footage is Fox’s confidential intellectual property; Fox did not consent to its distribution or publication; and Fox does not consent to its further distribution or publication. This proprietary material was given to you without Fox’s authorization. Fox demands that Media Matters cease and desist from distribution, publication, and misuse of Fox’s misappropriated proprietary footage, which you are now on notice was unlawfully obtained. We reserve all rights and remedies.”

Seriously? First of all, Media Matters is well within their rights as a journalistic enterprise to publish these videos. Fox’s threat is empty and unsupported by the law, and particularly the Constitution.

What’s more, Fox News is a frequent exploiter of what they have insisted is their First Amendment rights to publish similarly obtained materials. They have had no problem with publishing private emails from Hillary Clinton, or text messages of FBI agent Peter Strzok, or the sort of videos that Project Veritas produced by secretly recording people that they purposefully deceived. Consequently, it is more likely that the source of these videos is actually Fox News. They have to incentive to dirty up Carlson before he lands at some other media outfit and starts smearing Fox.

Nevertheless, Fox News thinks they can intimidate Media Matters to prevent them from providing information that is relevant and important to the public regarding the state of affairs at Fox News. But Media Matters wasn’t intimidated. They released a response that brilliantly rejected Fox’s feeble threat.

“Reporting on newsworthy leaked material is a cornerstone of journalism. For Fox to argue otherwise is absurd and further dispels any pretense that they’re a news operation. Perhaps if I tell them that the footage came from a combination of WikiLeaks and Hunter Biden’s laptop, it will alleviate their concerns.”

OUCH! It’s unlikely that even proving that Fox News is brazenly hypocritical will “alleviate their concerns.” That’s because Fox’s concerns are rooted in their deeply held, ultra-rightist biases, and not in any logic, reason or facts. Which is one of the reasons why Fox is currently suffering the worst downtrend in their ratings in more than ten years. And ridiculous measures like this to try to censor their critics isn’t going to make anything better for them. Just imagine what would come out in any trial if Fox followed through with this threat.

RELATED: With Lawsuits, Lost Hosts, and Lying Pundits, the Future of Fox News Has Never Been Weaker

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Fox News Blacks Out Story of Clarence Thomas Secretly Taking Luxury Gifts From GOP Billionaire

It takes a story of profound significance to bump the indictment of Donald Trump from the headlines. After all, when was the last time a twice-impeached, pathologically lying, former TV game show host, and aspiring dictator, was charged with 34 felonies for crimes ranging from election interference to tax fraud?

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Fox News, Censorship

The arraignment of Trump in a Manhattan courtroom Wednesday afternoon was a historic event that saw Trump sitting feebly in the embrace of his lawyers at the defendant’s table like any other alleged criminal. It signaled the resilience of the American idiom that “no one is above the law.” It also triggered a typically psychotic “death and destruction” response from Trump, whose mental state in court was noticeably tempered, but wildly loosed online.

SEE THIS: Read Trump’s Raving Arraignment Response as Foretold By His Unhinged Truth Social Rants

On Thursday morning such a story was published by the investigative journalists at ProPublica. The story detailed how Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas had taken hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts from a right-wing billionaire without disclosing them as the law requires. According to ProPublica

“For more than two decades, Thomas has accepted luxury trips virtually every year from the Dallas businessman without disclosing them.” […]

“[Thomas] has vacationed on Crow’s superyacht around the globe. He flies on Crow’s Bombardier Global 5000 jet. He has gone with Crow to the Bohemian Grove, the exclusive California all-male retreat, and to Crow’s sprawling ranch in East Texas. And Thomas typically spends about a week every summer at Crow’s private resort in the Adirondacks.” […]

“These trips appeared nowhere on Thomas’ financial disclosures. His failure to report the flights appears to violate a law passed after Watergate that requires justices, judges, members of Congress and federal officials to disclose most gifts.”

For the record, Harlan Crow is a notorious conservative and Republican donor who often has cases before the court that would impact his business interests. What’s more, the “vacations” that Thomas enjoyed at Crow’s expense regularly included other conservative businessmen and politicos who would have reasons to want to rub elbows with a Supreme Court Justice.

This is a blatant breach of judicial ethics and federal law. Although it is not surprising that Thomas would stoop to violate the standards of behavior for a Justice, considering his long history of such ethical lapses. For instance, Thomas refused to recuse himself from matters that directly involved his wife, Ginni Thomas, and her efforts to undermine democracy in support of the January 6th insurrection and coup plotters. A story that Fox News didn’t bother to cover.

SEE THIS: Fox News Totally Ignores Story About Ginni Thomas Texting QAnon Nuttery to Mark Meadows

Similarly unsurprising is the fact that Fox News is ignoring this new Clarence Thomas story. In the past several hours most of the credible media has picked up the ProPublica report. But it has yet to appear on Fox News or their website.

This is their modus operandi for any news event that reflects poorly on Republicans and Trump. The revelations from the Dominion Voting Systems defamation lawsuit against Fox News (which Fox News initially refused to cover) exposed them as deliberate liars who placed their politics and greed above truthfulness and patriotism.

Even after the humiliation from the Dominion disclosures of the private communications of Fox executives and hosts, this censorship by omission is further proof that Fox couldn’t care less about honest journalism or holding the powerful accountable. They only care about disseminating right-wing propaganda and goosing their ratings.

RELATED: IT’S A CULT: Most Fox News Viewers Are Still Loyal After Dominion Lawsuit Discloses Their Lies

UPDATE I: Clarence Thomas pathetically and dishonestly responds to the charges that he secretly took numerous luxury gifts from a right-wing billionaire.

UPDATE II: ProPublica published a follow-up story that reveals that Clarence Thomas sold real estate properties to Harlan Crow (at inflated prices), that Thomas never disclosed. Which is a federal crime.

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Herr Trump Embraces Fascist GOP Threats to Regulate Twitter and Arrest Their Executives

During his brief but abominable occupation of the White House, Donald Trump distinguished himself from his predecessors by relentlessly expressing his aversion to the free press and the Constitution. He repeatedly referred to the media as “the enemy of the people,” and more recently literally called for termination of the Constitution.

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Donald Trump, QAnon, Dictator

On Wednesday the newly GOP-led House Oversight Committee held a hearing to finally get to the bottom of the Scandal of the Century, Hunter Biden’s stolen laptop. Specifically the Committee sought to prove that the pre-Elon Musk Twitter regime had deliberately skewed their policies to adversely affect conservatives and Republicans and, especially Donald Trump.

The Republicans staged a shamelessly shallow exercise in feigned outrage over imaginary offenses that was triggered by the embarrassingly ineffective attempt by Musk’s “Twitter Files” “exposé” to unveil political bias on the part of Twitter’s previous staff.

RELATED: OH-MY: Trump Unleashes Vile Threats in Tantrum Over Elon Musk’s ‘Twitter Files’ Farce

Notable during the avalanche of asininity on the part of Republican members of the Committee, were the remarks by Clay Higgins of Louisiana. When it was his turn to question the Twitter executives who were summoned before the Committee to testify, Higgins launched into an unhinged flurry of baseless accusations and culminating in outright threats:

“You, ladies and gentlemen interfered with the United States of America 2020 presidential election, knowingly and willingly. That’s the bad news. It’s gonna get worse because this is the investigation part. Later comes the arrests part. Your attorneys are familiar with that.”
Marjorie Taylor Greene said the same thing.

What we have here is a member of Congress threatening to have witnesses arrested for unspecified crimes for which he has no evidence ever occurred. What Higgins is asserting as criminal is the exercise of the constitutional rights of a private social media company to moderate the content on its website. It is wholly inappropriate intimidation by a government official seeking to coerce the behavior of individuals to comply with his political beliefs.

That sort of authoritarian bullying is generally reserved for tyrants and dictators, and those who seek to emulate them. And speaking of Donald Trump… He was thrilled to see how Higgins browbeat the Twitter execs. He posted a video of Higgins along with with his approval on his pitifully failing Twitter ripoff, Truth Social, saying that…

“Finally we have people with courage stepping forward! The Election was Rigged and Stolen, in so many ways – A mockery of our fully weaponized ‘Justice’ system.”

[For the record, the tweet that Trump was so appalled by that he wanted Twitter staff arrested was by supermodel Chrissy Teigen, who called Trump a “PAB” (look it up) for being too cowardly to tag her in his tweet that insulted her]

Of course, there was nothing in Higgins remarks – or in the entirety of the hearing – that even hinted at any evidence that the “Election was Rigged and Stolen.” To the contrary, Democrats on the Committee conclusively proved that the only bias by Twitter was in favor of Trump and the GOP. Even worse, in questioning by Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) it was affirmed that only the Trump White House ever attempted to direct Twitter to censor content. And it did so with an overt threat that, “We’ll shut you down. We’ll regulate you. We Will never allow this to happen.”

That is an example of unambiguous government suppression of a free press and a violation of the First Amendment. Nevertheless, Rep. Jim Jordan tried to turn the tables by accusing the Biden campaign of censorship simply because they made a request for Twitter to review certain offensive tweets. Jordan’s argument, however, was ridiculous. He claimed that asking Twitter to review whether tweets were in compliance with their own terms of service was censorship.

Obviously, it’s not against the First Amendment to ask a company to review content based on the company’s own standards. What’s more, the Biden campaign not only didn’t accompany their requests with threats, they weren’t even in power at the time, so they had no clout with which to threaten. And yet this is the scenario in which Trump posted a comment urging his cult to “Watch the Twitter hearings going on right now in Washington. They admit that the Presidential Election of 2020 was RIGGED & STOLEN!”

Naturally Trump is lying. No such admission occurred in the hearing. But Trump’s flagrant dishonesty is precisely the sort of provocation that resulted in the riots in Washington on January 6th. And his continued presence on social media (both Twitter and Facebook recently reinstated his accounts) will predictably result in more violence.

RELATED: Why Elon Musk Restoring Trump’s Twitter Account is Ignorant, Dangerous, and Hypocritical

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Trump’s Real ‘MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT’ Has Nothing to do with His Pathetic Trading Cards Scam

On Wednesday night Donald Trump posted a comment on his floundering Twitter ripoff, Truth Social, teasing a “MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT” coming on Thursday. The post declared that “America needs a superhero,” and included a picture of him as a Bizarro World cartoon crusader.

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Trump Trading Cards

Trump’s fantasies of himself notwithstanding, his big reveal turned out to be even more pathetic than anyone could have imagined. It was nothing more than another opportunity to pick the pockets of his glassy-eyed cult disciples with a sham offering of “Trump Trading Cards” at $99.00 a pop. But they are not even real cards, they are just digital NFT images. He starred in his own telemarketing ad to hawk his latest sucker bait…

“Hello everyone, this is Donald Trump. Hopefully your favorite president of all time. Better than Lincoln, better than Washington, with an important announcement to make.”

Whereupon Trump declared that he is selling NFTs – digital trading cards that “feature some of the really incredible artwork pertaining to my life and my career. It’s been very exciting.” He further revealed that any purchase enters the buyer into a contest with “prizes” (?) like dinner with Trump, who regards himself as something just short of a messiah. However, it’s notable that these cards are produced by a third party that is not owned, managed or controlled by Trump. He is simply licensing his name and likeness in order to fleece his flock. Which is so like Trump…

RELATED: GRIFTER EXPOSED: Trump Campaign Scam Defrauds Hundreds of His Supporters

That said, there was another announcement posted on his website shortly after the trading cards pitch. And it actually has more of the “majorness” that he attributed to the digital card con. In a lengthy video, Trump laid out his plan to “shatter the left-wing censorship regime.” And he would do it by imposing his own totalitarian control of free speech. What follows are annotated excerpts of his uncomfortably high-decibel harangue. He began…

“If we don’t have free speech, then we just don’t have a free country. It’s as simple as that. […] That’s why today I’m announcing my plan to shatter the left-wing censorship regime and to reclaim the right to free speech for all Americans..”

Never mind that the only free speech deniers in American politics are Trump’s Republicans. They have literally banned books in schools and libraries, and have sought to silence critics of Trump in their ultra-biased MAGA media. And notice that he doesn’t provide a single example of alleged censorship by the fearsome left-wing regime. Undeterred by reality, Trump continued…

“In recent weeks, bombshell reports have confirmed that a sinister group of deep state bureaucrats, silicon tyrants, left-wing activists, and depraved corporate news media have been conspiring to manipulate and silence the American people. They have collaborated to suppress vital information on everything from elections to public health. The censorship cartel must be dismantled and destroyed and it must happen immediately.”

What Trump is referring to here is the wholly manufactured and bogus “Twitter Files” “scandal” that was orchestrated by Elon Musk and purported to expose left-wing bias by Twitter when it suspended Trump’s account. After five data dumps, Musk and his cohorts failed utterly to achieve their goal of smearing the left. In fact, they actually proved that Twitter’s Trust and Safety team (who Musk recently fired) was exceedingly fair and conscientious in their deliberations and decision making.

RELATED: Elon Musk’s ‘Twitter Files’ Farce Fails Pitifully in Portraying Poor Trump as a Put Upon Victim

Then Trump gets to the meat of his whining with the articulation of his five-point plan…

First, within hours of my inauguration, I will sign an executive order banning any federal department or agency from colluding with any organization, business, or person to censor, limit, categorize or impede the lawful speech of American citizens. I will then ban federal money from being used to label domestic speech as mis- or disinformation.”

Who wants to tell Trump that the federal government is already prohibited from “imped[ing] the lawful speech of American citizens?” Trump is merely declaring his intention to issue an executive order that essentially repeats the Constitution’s First Amendment. Except, that is, for the last part where he proposes to punish those who exercise their free speech by alerting citizens to the dangers of mis- and disinformation. Trump, a major supplier of disinformation, wants to make sure he can keep on doing that. Moving on…

Second, I will order the Department of Justice to investigate all parties involved in the new online censorship regime, which is destructive and terrible, and to aggressively prosecute any and all crimes identified. These include possible violations of federal civil rights law, campaign finance law, federal election law, securities law, and anti-trust laws, the Hatch Act, and a host of other criminal, civil, regulatory, and constitutional offenses.”

Here Trump is threatening to force the Justice Department to – uphold existing laws? Yep. But let’s face it, when Trump makes this sort of threat, he intends that it be directed exclusively at his enemies. He and his administration are more prone to violating those laws, but he never bothered to hold any of those who violated them accountable when he occupied the White House. And there’s more…

Third, upon my inauguration as president, I will ask Congress to send a bill to my desk revising section 230 to get big online platforms out of the censorship business. From now on digital platforms should only qualify for immunity protection under section 230 if they meet high standards of neutrality, transparency, fairness, and non-discrimination. We should require these platforms to increase their efforts to take down unlawful content such as child exploitation and promoting terrorism, while dramatically curtailing their power to arbitrarily restrict lawful speech.

First of all, Trump has no idea what Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act is or does. While there is room to refine it, it is basically a protection so that online services aren’t held accountable for comments made by the public. Without it platforms like Twitter and Facebook couldn’t allow people to post comments at all.

Furthermore, Trump’s idea that platforms should have to “meet high standards of neutrality, transparency, fairness, and non-discrimination,” is an imposition on their free speech rights, as well as posing difficult questions about who sets those standards. The government? Trump wants to force private companies to allow all “legal” comments, even if they are racist, hate speech, or sufficiently vague incitements to violence. And he’s still not through…

Fourth, we need to break up the entire toxic censorship industry that has arisen under the false guise of tackling so-called mis- and disinformation.”

In other words, Trump wants to prohibit private Internet platforms from refusing to post purposefully false information that has the potential to cause real harm. He wants fake COVID cures and anti-vaccine propaganda to be readily available. He wants lies about election fraud to stir up civil unrest. He even explicitly brought up his own fixation with phony election fraud saying that “Once you lose those elections … you no longer have a country.” Which brings us to his fifth point…

Fifth, the time has finally come for congress to pass a Digital Bill of Rights. This should include a right to digital due process. In other words, government officials should need a court order to take down online content, not send information requests such as the FBI was sending to Twitter.” […] In addition, all users over the age of 18 should have the right to opt-out of content moderation and curation entirely, and receive an unmanipulated stream of information, if they so choose.”

To be clear, Trump is proposing the first law that would allow government – with a court order – to censor content, which would be unconstitutional. Remember, this is his plan for free speech and to end censorship. And while the FBI did inform Twitter about certain content that was false (and so did Trump and the GOP), they never had the right to force it to be removed. That’s Trump’s idea. And so is his suggestion that adults can “opt-out of content moderation,” effectively forcing private Internet platforms to post content that they regard as harmful, offensive, or otherwise contrary to their standards. Then Trump closed saying…

“The fight for free speech is a matter of victory or death for America and for the survival of Western civilization itself. When I am president, this whole rotten system of censorship and information control will be ripped out of the system at large. There won’t be anything left. By restoring free speech we will begin to reclaim our democracy and save our nation.”

The problem with Trump’s initiative is that it produces the polar opposite of what he claims is his intention. It would permit censorship, allow the government to force private businesses to post content they disapprove of, and shred the First Amendment. Which is all pretty much precisely what is expected of an aspiring authoritarian tyrant like Trump who has openly advocated banning websites he doesn’t like, such as Twitter and Facebook. America would be better off if his “major announcements” were all about trading cards and other snake oil ventures.

RELATED: WTF? Trump Regrets Not Banning Facebook and Twitter When He Was President

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The Sham ‘Twitter Files’ Exposé Actually Proves that Trump’s Coup Plot was Appropriately Muted

The new regime at Twitter has been engaging in what it calls an “exposé” of alleged censorship of conservatives in general – and Donald Trump in particular – on the part of Twitter’s prior management team. However, their efforts thus far have been pitifully underwhelming and have failed to prove any of their outrageous and unfounded allegations.

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Donald Trump, Twitter

When Elon Musk took control over Twitter he portrayed himself as a “free speech absolutist” who aspired to bring a dialogue to the service that was unfettered by bias and censorship. In reality, Musk just inserted his own personal biases and revealed that he has no grasp of what free speech really means. He also demonstrated that his absolutist approach only permits unfettered hate speech. Consequently, despite his instance that Twitter would not become a “free-for-all hellscape,” that’s precisely what it became shortly after he took the reins.

RELATED: Twitter Tyrant Elon Musk Comes Out Against Free Markets and Free Speech

Last week Musk put out the first of what he promised would be a series of revelations exposing the bias of Twitter. That first release was pathetically devoid of any of the bombshells they teased. Although it succeeded in doxing private citizens and putting them at risk for harm.

Now the latest release of Musk’s multipart melodrama was posted Friday night. It consisted of 67 tweets by his protégé/puppet, Matt Taibbi, that ostensibly unveiled a vast conspiracy against conservative tweeters. Suffice to say that it was another nothingburger that failed utterly to prove its predetermined point.

To the contrary, Taibbi actually proved that the staff at Twitter acted responsibly to prevent Trump from inciting further violence during the January 6th insurrection in Washington, D.C. For example, the seventh tweet explicitly laid out how carefully considered any decisions were to tag or suspend potentially violating tweets and users…

7. Twitter executives removed Trump in part over what one executive called the “context surrounding”: actions by Trump and supporters “over the course of the election and frankly last 4+ years.” In the end, they looked at a broad picture. But that approach can cut both ways.

This tweet included a screenshot of the remarks by Twitter moderation staff…

“[H]ere is our quick take: the decision on whether to pull that particular tweet or use that as the last straw for trump depends on many factors including: (1) The overall context and narrative in which that tweet lives – we currently analyze tweets and consider them on a tweet-by-tweet basis which does not appropriately take into account the surrounding context – you can use the telling fire into a crowded theater example – context matters and the narrative that trump and his friends have pursued over the course of this election and frankly the last 4+ years must be taken into account.”

How Taibbi can regard this as evidence of bias is puzzling. It shows a respect for analyzing tweets that takes into consideration the context and the tweeter’s prior comments in order to fully understand their intent. It’s exactly how content moderation should be done. But Taibbi exhibits his bias in the tweets that followed…

8. The bulk of the internal debate leading to Trump’s ban took place in those three January days [6-8]. However, the intellectual framework was laid in the months preceding the Capitol riots.

9. Before J6, Twitter was a unique mix of automated, rules-based enforcement, and more subjective moderation by senior executives. As @BariWeiss reported, the firm had a vast array of tools for manipulating visibility, most all of which were thrown at Trump (and others) pre-J6.

10. As the election approached, senior executives – perhaps under pressure from federal agencies, with whom they met more as time progressed – increasingly struggled with rules, and began to speak of “vios” as pretexts to do what they’d likely have done anyway.

Taibbi is making a wholly manufactured assessment about what he calls the preceding “intellectual framework,” whatever that means. Then he complains that Twitter responsibly employed “rules-based enforcement,” that he baselessly calls subjective, and he whines that their moderation tools were “thrown at Trump.” Maybe that’s because Trump had violated Twitter’s rule innumerable times in the weeks and months that preceded January 6th.

However, the worst part of this screed was Taibbi’s claim that when senior executives “began to speak of ‘vios'” [violations] it was “perhaps under pressure from federal agencies.” Really? He could have just as credibly have said that it was “perhaps under pressure from Martians.” He provided zero evidence of anything resembling pressure by federal agencies or any other entity, terrestrial or otherwise.

That is representative how carelessly and dishonestly Taibbi put together this sham. His only purpose was to create a store of material that Republicans and Trump cultists could link to in order to advance their crackpot conspiracy theories and yammer about conservatives being victims of evil “Big Tech” liberals. The truth is that Twitter long ago admitted that their algorithms favored right-wingers. And near the end of the 67 tweet harangue was one that expressly outlined the situation with regard to Trump’s hostile incitements…

“An update on actions we’re taking as a result of what’s happening in DC today. We have removed (bounced) 3 tweets from @realDonaldTrump on 6 January 2020 [sic] for making unfounded claims of voter fraud and election theft, which must be viewed in the context of the violence in Washington DC today and reasonably can be expected to continue to incite and inspire violent acts around the country. We are requiring a 12-hour timeout following the removal of these tweets. We also have tweeted so there’s transparency in our actions and making it clear that future violations of the Twitter Rules will result in permanent suspension.”

That message completely negates virtually everything that Taibbi had falsely framed prior to it. But he still maintains that his work proves there was a bias at Twitter against Trump and other conservatives. If there was, it was a bias against allowing a treasonous, twice impeached, wannabe dictator from staging a violent coup. And Musk’s rush to reinstate Trump’s account further affirms that he couldn’t care less about the welfare of this nation or its people.

RELATED: Why Elon Musk Restoring Trump’s Twitter Account is Ignorant, Dangerous, and Hypocritical

MORE ON “TWITTER FILES”:

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HUH? Senior Fox News Misinformer, Tucker Carlson, Declares that ‘Misinformation Can Be True’

Since it’s inception, the mission of Fox News has been to advance the propaganda and lies of the Republican Party and its ultra-rightist agenda. Their management, editors, and program hosts are all chosen for, and devoted to that mission. And in recent years their extremist political evangelism has fervently pledged to the Cult of Donald Trump.

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Fox News, Tucker Carlson, Bullshit Factory

Leading the wingnut evangelical crusade at Fox News is their top-rated host, Tucker Carlson. His program has become the most popular media destination for America’s white supremacists, misogynists, homophobes, and many other hate groups.

RELATED: Tucker Carlson’s Race War Dreams are Evident in His Hateful Rant Against a Black MSNBC Host

On Monday’s episode of Carlson’s hate-fest, he joined the conservative media’s embrace of Elon Musk’s Twitter nothingburger that purported to reveal an ingrained bias in favor of Democrats and then-presidential candidate Joe Biden. Suffice to say that the entire alleged “bombshell” was a spectacular dud that produced nothing but rank speculation, fabrication, and the disturbing doxing of private Twitter communications and staff.

Nevertheless, Fox News and Carlson were determined to further brainwash their audience with flagrant falsehoods. And apparently aware that their deceits were too obvious to disguise, they endeavored to frame lies as truths. Carlson literally defined falsehoods as facts. And not even “alternative facts” as previously dubbed by his Fox News colleague, and Trump toady, Kellyanne Conway. Carlson confabulated that…

“Misinformation is a new word. It’s been around the intel world for a long time but it’s never been used in common conversation until recently. The distinction between misinformation and lying is that misinformation can be true. It doesn’t have to be untrue to be censored. It used to be truth is a defense. If you’re telling the truth, you can say it. Not anymore. With mis- and disinformation, if I don’t like it, if I’m in power, I can censor you.”

For the record, misinformation cannot be true. It is, by definition, untrue. If it were true there would be nothing amiss in it. And only in the perverse world of Carlson and Fox News could such a ludicrous contention be made or taken seriously. But then again, it was Carlson who was actually defended in a defamation lawsuit by his own Fox News lawyers who told the court that “no reasonable person” would believe anything he said.

RELATED: Fox News Court Ruling: No ‘Reasonable Viewer’ Takes Tucker Carlson Seriously

In the same program, Carlson elaborated on his adoption of the Musk Twitter files non-scandal. He complained about Twitter’s decisions to moderate the content on their platform in order to prevent Russia from spreading propaganda that was intended to benefit Trump and to sow distrust of American elections. Never mind that Musk’s pathetic exposé failed to reveal any wrongdoing or bias. Carlson was outraged at what consumed his imagination, or at least what he wanted to consume the imaginations of his viewers. He huffed that…

“Twitter did this with the help of the FBI committing censorship on behalf of one candidate while working to hurt the other candidate. It is hard to imagine a more brazen attack on our democracy than this. This is not how our system is supposed to work. In fact, it’s illegal. What Twitter did is in violation of the First Amendment, as well as established campaign finance law. They never declared those contributions to the Biden campaign. That’s a crime.”

First of all, Twitter didn’t do anything with the FBI. The internal messages that Musk published proved that all of the decisions about what disinformation to suppress were made solely by Twitter “safety and trust” staff. No government entity or personnel were involved, other than to flag tweets that potentially violated Twitter’s rules. And those came from both Democrats and Republicans. Also, at the time, Biden wasn’t president. It all took place during Trump’s administration with his appointees heading the FBI and the Justice Department.

Yet Carlson thinks that there was something nefarious going on for which he found it “hard to imagine a more brazen attack on our democracy.” Really? More brazen than the attempt to overthrow the government on January 6, 2021? More brazen than trying to undermine the election for two years and install the loser as dictator? More brazen than calling for the “termination” of the Constitution.

RELATED: Trump Literally Calls for Termination of the Constitution and FREAKS OUT Over Bogus Fox News Story

Carlson also appears to have no idea what the First Amendment says. It is a constraint on government from imposing censorship. It has no authority over private individuals or businesses, such as Twitter.

Finally, Carlson really needs to think twice before bringing up in-kind contributions to political campaigns. Because if that were a concept that were upheld, Fox News would have have to declare billions of dollars in donations that it made to Trump and other GOP candidates for the past quarter century.

NOTE: Twitter suspended the News Corpse account after 11 years without giving a reason. So if anyone wants to tweet articles from my website, please feel free to do so often and repeatedly.

Be sure to visit and follow News Corpse
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And check out my books on Amazon:

Fox Nation vs. Reality:
The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.

Thanks so much for your support.