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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION

50 STATES AND DC, CONGRESS AND THE PRESIDENT

FBI Gaslights America Over Twitter Files Ben Weingarten

https://www.newsweek.com/fbi-gaslights-america-over-twitter-files-opinion-1769352

The FBI is gaslighting the American people over the stunning—if unsurprising—evidence that it engaged in a conspiracy with Big Tech to silence wrongthinkers in violation of the First Amendment, as the Twitter Files have revealed.

Meanwhile, in attacking those who refuse to be gaslit, the bureau is also telegraphing that it would respond to Congress investigating its hyper-politicization and weaponization with relentless information warfare.

The gaslighting comes in the preeminent law enforcement agency’s “move along, nothing to see here” response to the Twitter Files. It stated that “correspondence between the FBI and Twitter show nothing more than examples of our traditional, longstanding and ongoing federal government and private sector engagements.” The FBI, it says, “provides critical information to the private sector in an effort to allow them to protect themselves and their customers.”

Here is the kind of conduct the FBI wants you to believe is completely normal:

Grooming Twitter executives for months in advance of the release of the New York Post’s Hunter Biden laptop story to compel them to kill the story.
Referring myriad tweets concerning inherently political matters to Twitter’s censorship team for purging—so many tweets, in fact, that during one such bulk censorship request, a Twitter employee described the review of the “possible violative content” as a “monumental undertaking.”
Flagging specific Twitter accounts for the platform to take action against—up to and including suspension—apparently for engaging in thoughtcrime of promoting “civic misinformation” by making jokes related to the 2020 election.
Paying Twitter $3.4 million for its time and effort censoring Americans.

A federal judge essentially says parents have no rights over their children By Andrea Widburg

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2022/12/a_federal_judge_essentially_says_parents_have_no_rights_over_their_children.html

Lenin is reputed to have said, “Give me four years to teach the children, and the seeds I have planted will never be uprooted.” Every parent knows this is true: Children are sponges, learning things incredibly quickly. These things then stick, for they are buried in the very deepest recesses of our brains. Today’s leftists are attempting to reinstitute this specific type of Leninism in America. They want your children, and your efforts to protest will be unavailing. A Massachusetts federal judge confirmed this last week, saying that it didn’t “shock the conscience” that a school secretly indoctrinated two children into transgenderism.

From the Daily Wire:

A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit from Massachusetts parents who accused public school officials of hiding their children’s gender transitions from them.

U.S. District Court Judge Mark Mastroianni, an Obama appointee, criticized Ludlow Public Schools officials for allegedly hiding the pair of siblings’ gender transitions from their parents, but he said the officials’ actions do not “shock the conscience.”

“While the court is apprehensive about the alleged policy and actions of the Ludlow Public Schools with regard to parental notification, it cannot conclude the decision to withhold information” about the children from their parents meets the conscience-shocking legal standard in Massachusetts, the judge wrote in his December 14 ruling.

The case revolves around the fact that the school deliberately made the decision to keep from the parents the demands that they be treated as members of the opposite sex in junior high school:

The 11-year-old girl allegedly emailed school staff in February 2021 and announced that she wanted to go by a cluster of new pronouns.

“I am genderqueer. … My new name will be R**** … If you deadname me or use any pronouns I am uncomfortable with I will politely tell you … A list of pronouns you can use are: she/her he/him they/them fae/faerae/aer ve/ver xe/xem ze/zir. … Please only use the ones I have listed and not the other ones. I do not like them,” the girl wrote, her parents said in court documents.

What Will the FBI Not Do? Who watches the watchers? By Victor Davis Hanson

https://amgreatness.com/2022/12/25/what-will-the-fbi-not-do/

The FBI on Wednesday finally broke its silence and responded to the revelations on Twitter of close ties between the bureau and the social media giant—ties that included efforts to suppress information and censor political speech. 

“The correspondence between the FBI and Twitter show nothing more than examples of our traditional, longstanding and ongoing federal government and private sector engagements, which involve numerous companies over multiple sectors and industries,” the bureau said in a statement. “As evidenced in the correspondence, the FBI provides critical information to the private sector in an effort to allow them to protect themselves and their customers. The men and women of the FBI work every day to protect the American public. It is unfortunate that conspiracy theorists and others are feeding the American public misinformation with the sole purpose of attempting to discredit the agency.” 

Almost all of the FBI communique is untrue, except the phrase about the bureau’s “engagements which involve numerous companies over multiple sectors and industries.” 

Future disclosures will no doubt reveal similar FBI subcontracting with other social media concerns of Silicon Valley to stifle free expression and news deemed problematic to the FBI’s agenda. 

The FBI did not merely engage in “correspondence” with Twitter to protect the company and its “customers.” Instead, it effectively hired Twitter to suppress the free expression of some of its users, as well as news stories deemed unhelpful to the Biden campaign and administration—to the degree that the bureau’s requests sometimes even exceeded those of Twitter’s own left-wing censors.

The FBI did not wish to help Twitter “to protect themselves [sic],” given the bureau’s Twitter liaisons were often surprised at the FBI’s bold requests to suppress the expression of those who had not violated Twitter’s own admittedly biased “terms of service” and “community standards.”

The FBI and its helpers on the Left now reboot the same boilerplate about “conspiracy theorists” and “misinformation” smears used against anyone who rejected the FBI-fed Russian collusion hoax and the bureau’s peddling of the “Russian disinformation” lie to suppress accurate pre-election news about the authenticity of Hunter Biden’s laptop. 

The beauty of Ron DeSantis in action By Monica Showalter

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2022/12/the_beauty_of_ron_desantis_in_action.html

Is Ron DeSantis a national treasure, or what?

Here’s what the press will undoubtedly claim is his latest “stunt,” as reported by Bob Hoge at RedState:

The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that Governor Ron DeSantis can impanel a grand jury to investigate COVID vaccine manufacturers Pfizer and Moderna for potential misconduct. At issue: do the mRNA jabs cause heart issues and were the manufacturers aware of the problem?

The court wrote:

A statewide grand jury shall be promptly impaneled for a term of twelve calendar months, to run from the date of impanelment, with jurisdiction throughout the State of Florida, to investigate crime, return indictments, make presentments, and otherwise perform all functions of a grand jury with regard to the offenses stated herein.

As we reported, DeSantis argued in his petition to the court earlier this month that the Florida Department of Health “found an increase in the relative incidence of cardiac-related deaths among males 18-39 years old within 28 days following mRNA vaccination.”​ The NY Post reports:

“​In Florida, it is illegal to mislead and misrepresent, especially when you are talking about the efficacy of a drug​,” DeSantis said during a roundtable with state Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo and a number of scientists and physicians last week.

“We’ll be able to get the data whether they want to give it or not​,” added DeSantis.

That’s an issue that’s on everyone’s minds right now, the foremost issue from the aftermath of the COVID pandemic. Were those hastily crafted anti-COVID vaccines, forced onto young people by state mandates, causing them to drop dead? And did these vaccine manufacturers, incentivized by the government directive shielding them from lawsuits, know all about it and not tell anyone? Because profits?

In a society that permits lawsuits over spilled coffee, that seems pretty much the kind of information the public is entitled to, not just because of the government mandates, but because so many young people are turning up dead and we’re all supposed to take “no idea why” for an answer.

The federal government is the one that should be investigating this, but we all know why they aren’t — they are a swamp of special interests, with Democrat donations and lucrative consulting contracts the priorities that ensure these things stay buried.

But instead of nothing being done, the one-among-fifty governor of Florida, with his limited scope of power, has stepped in to get to the bottom of this, skillfully maneuvering the entire activity through the court system, thwarting the leftist lawyers trying to stop him.

As a result, there will be answers now, answers the public is looking for, with DeSantis appropriately tough in his rhetoric, telling Big Pharma they’re going to deliver this information whether they like it or not.

The pain isn’t goin’ away: Inflation cost households an extra $10K By Brian Riedl

https://nypost.com/2022/12/22/the-pain-isnt-goin-away-inflation-cost-households-an-extra-10k/

Inflation is over, the administration crows, even as Congress works to pass another massive spending bill — this time, $1.7 trillion.

But struggling families know not to pop the cork yet.

The consumer price index rose just 0.1% last month, bringing the 12-month rate to 7.1% — still higher than any year since the disco days of 1981. Politicians have downplayed inflation ever since President Biden ignored economist warnings in early 2021 that it would be economic malpractice to throw a $1.9 trillion stimulus bill at a supply-constrained economy. Then we were told that inflation was “transitory,” a relic of corporate price gouging and “Putin’s price hike.”

The Federal Reserve has also downplayed inflation. Two years ago, its Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) forecast that inflation (using a slightly different measure called the PCE, for Personal Consumption Expenditures) would be 1.8% in 2021. It instead came in at 5.8%. Not learning its lesson, the FOMC projected that inflation in 2022 would fall to 2.6%. It is now set to end the year at 5.6%. So here we are again, with the FOMC projecting inflation rates of 3.1%, 2.5%, and 2.1% over the next three years.

Losing credibility

Repeatedly downplaying the threat of inflation has reduced the credibility of the White House, the Federal Reserve and other forecasters.

Even as the Federal Reserve aggressively plays catch-up on interest rates, one or two positive months mean little to wary consumers — especially when paired with the same old promises that supply chains will open up, government spending will slow, and shifts in demand from goods to services will dampen price pressures.

Consumers have several reasons to worry that inflation may remain sticky.

You Must Assume That All Information Put Out By Our Government Is Corrupt Francis Menton

https://www.manhattancontrarian.com/blog/2022-12-21-you-must-assume-that-all-information-put-out-by-our-government-is-corrupt

Throughout the agencies of our federal government, an important function is to issue data and information about the state of the country. These data cover a vast array of topics such as population, demographics, income and poverty, the state of the economy, the GDP, employment and unemployment, activities of foreign adversaries, weather and climate, energy production and use, and much, much more. The Congress and states use this information in making important public policy decisions, and the people use it to make decisions for their everyday lives. Not the least of those decisions is how to vote.

So is the information issued by the government basically honest and reliable for important decisions? Or, instead, is the output of official information cynically manipulated and corrupted by a government interested mainly in perpetuating and increasing its own power? And given that the federal bureaucracy is 90+% Democrat in political orientation, to what extent does that bureaucracy manipulate the information it issues to further the election of Democrats?

The evidence of data manipulation in favor of Democrats is so pervasive that we have to assume that essentially all information put out by the government is corrupt.

The instances of blatant manipulation of information by government personnel are way too clear and way too widespread to be ignored. What is now being called the “Twitter files” — shocking evidence of the FBI working with a big tech company to limit the circulation of information about corruption by one of the presidential candidates in the run-up to the 2020 election — is just one of the latest examples. Let’s have a review of some others:

Manipulation of temperature data to support the narrative of human-caused climate change.

Soros-Backed Nonprofits Gave Tens of Millions to Anti-Police Groups in 2021 By Eric Lendrum

https://amgreatness.com/2022/12/21/soros-backed-nonprofits-gave-tens-of-millions-to-anti-police-groups-in-2021/

Tax forms have revealed that, over the course of 2021, numerous nonprofit groups backed by far-left billionaire George Soros donated tens of millions of dollars to groups and initiatives that actively campaigned against the police.

Fox News reports that nonprofit groups that are members of Soros’ Open Society Foundations network collectively gave at least $55 million to such anti-police movements. This included groups utilized by progressives to actively dismantle law enforcement, as well as databases that track donations to police departments and police unions.

“The Open Society Foundations is proud to have been one of the earliest and most robust supporters of efforts to address the issues of crime and public safety while protecting freedoms that Americans hold dear,” said Laleh Ispahani, a spokeswoman for Open Society-U.S., in a statement. “We have supported reforms to our criminal justice system that enjoy broad support across the political spectrum. We believe that our freedoms are threatened when state actors are above the law, and that accountability is even more essential when they are given the right to use force on behalf of the government.”

“The level of police violence, particularly impacting communities of color, has spurred reform efforts across the country,” Ispahani falsely stated. “Open Society supports the exploration and development of policies that actually work to reduce crime and defers to communities regarding what alternatives make sense to them. Whether that includes shifting funding currently allocated to policing into services that actually work to address crime and improve public safety is up to them.”

Among the largest donations, the Open Society Policy Center gave $15 million to the Tides Advocacy for the Electoral Justice Project, a project that is being led by the Movement for Black Lives, a coalition of over 50 pro-Black Lives Matter groups. The Movement for Black Lives had previously pledged to hand out as much as $75,000 to “12 black-led organizations that are expanding democracy and building political power in defense of black lives.”

DeSantis’ COVID Vaccine Grand Jury Gets the Green Light From the Florida Supreme Court By Lincoln Brown

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/lincolnbrown/2022/12/22/desantis-covid-vaccine-grand-jury-gets-the-green-light-from-the-florida-supreme-court-n1655816

On Thursday, the Florida Supreme Court gave the go-ahead to a request by Gov. Ron DeSantis to impanel a statewide grand jury to investigate potential wrongdoings related to COVID-19 vaccines.

The Tampa Bay Times reported that Hillsborough County Circuit Judge Ronald Ficarrotta will preside, with members to be selected from five judicial districts. DeSantis made the initial request on the 13th of this month, stating at the time that “there are good and sufficient reasons to deem it to be in the public interest to impanel a statewide grand jury to investigate criminal or wrongful activity in Florida relating to the development, promotion, and distribution of vaccines purported to prevent COVID-19 infection, symptoms, and transmission.”

DeSantis was a one-time proponent of the vaccines for certain demographics, namely senior citizens. However, he became skeptical of them over time, in particular because of the claims about their efficacy. The Associated Press reported that DeSantis contends that drug manufacturers had a financial interest in creating a mindset that vaccinated people could not transmit the virus to another person. According to the article in the Times, the scope of the grand jury will include:

…people and ‘entities, including, but not limited to, pharmaceutical manufacturers (and their executive officers) and other medical associations or organizations involved in the design, development, clinical testing or investigation, manufacture, marketing, representation, advertising, promotion, labeling, distribution, formulation, packing, sale, purchase, donation, dispensing, prescribing, administration, or use of vaccines purported to prevent COVID-19 infection, symptoms, and transmission.’

The Subsidy Tango of Bill Gates and Joe Manchin The West Virginia Senator and the billionaire investor score a windfall in the Inflation Reduction Act.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-subsidy-tango-of-bill-gates-and-joe-manchin-terrapower-climate-spending-john-barrasso-jennifer-granholm-11671741449?mod=opinion_lead_pos1

Bill Gates sold West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin on this year’s Democratic climate spending blowout as a way to put unemployed coal workers to work building advanced nuclear reactors. Now we learn, belatedly, that these projects depend on Russia for fuel and will cost taxpayers more than advertised.

The Energy Department last year awarded up to $2 billion for an advanced nuclear reactor “demonstration” project in Wyoming being developed by TerraPower, a company Mr. Gates founded. These advanced reactors have been promoted because they take up significantly less space than conventional reactors and could theoretically use reprocessed nuclear fuel.

TerraPower’s reactors will also supposedly be able to ramp up and down to balance intermittent solar and wind power on the grid. But the technology currently requires enormous government subsidies to be commercially viable. Reactors also require many more years to build than renewable and fossil-fuel plants owing to stricter licensing requirements and environmental reviews.

TerraPower planned to complete the Wyoming generator by 2028 assuming no hang-ups. There always are. So it wasn’t surprising when TerraPower disclosed this month that completion will be delayed by at least two years. But the reason was alarming: TerraPower was counting on Russia to supply it with high-assay, low-enriched uranium (HALEU) fuel.

The Marine Corps Goes Woke Sarah Arnold  

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/saraharnold/2022/12/22/marine-corps-goes-woke-n2617456

In a world where everything that was once normal is now woke, it’s no surprise that the Marine Corps has also turned the tide. 

A newly released academic report from the University of Pittsburgh recommended that the U.S. Marine Corps drop the words “sir” and “ma’am” used to address senior officers to avoid “misgendering” drill instructors despite there only being 14,000 females in the Marine Corps, which makes up of only 7 percent of the branch.

Instead of using the words “sir” and “ma’am,” recruits in the military services refer to their drill instructors using their ranks or roles followed by their last names. 

The 738-page report highlights a $2 million study that was conducted to examine gender-integrated recruit training, which claimed that the change would make both genders feel more comfortable when being addressed by peers. 

However, not everyone is on board with the woke change. 

According to the Marine Corps Times, Col. Howard Hall, chief of staff for Marine Corps Training and Education Command, expressed several concerns. 

“That’s going to take some effort,” Hall said, adding “honestly, that’s not a quick fix. What is inculcating in our young recruits that will or will not be reinforced when they graduate and enter the fleet Marine force? So again, we want to avoid any quick-fix solutions that introduce perturbations down the line.”