RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19086/twitter-censorship

“[W]e have nothing to fear from the demoralizing of some if others are left free to demonstrate their errors, and especially the law stands ready to punish the first criminal act produced by false reasoning. These are safer correctives than the conscience of a judge.” — Thomas Jefferson, 1801.

Jefferson’s distrust of “the conscience of a judge” would probably be even greater if the censors were the CEOs of companies that rely on advertisers for their profits.

[C]ensorship requires censors, and once censors are given the ability to pick and choose what the public will hear, this slippery slope moves us away from freedom and toward repression.

The issue is whether in an open society we must endure these pains in order to avoid being in even great pains of selective censorship.

The Framers of the First Amendment chose to endure the pain of too much speech over the dangers of speech controlled by the government. But Twitter is not the government. Neither is Facebook or YouTube. They are giant media companies that dominate and control the flow of speech throughout the world. And the dangers of putting control of those flows in the hands of invisible elitist censors threatens to undercut our most important freedom.

The first casualty of divisive extremism is nuance. And it is nuance that is sorely needed with regard to this issue of internet censorship…. Let nuanced proposals be offered and discussed.

And most important, let free speech not become weaponized as a partisan issue.

A campaign is currently underway by left-wing organizations and politicians to demand that Twitter, now owned by Elon Musk, continue its practice of censoring hate speech and other “objectionable” postings.

A letter sent to Twitter’s top 20 advertisers, signed by 40 activist organizations, including the NAACP, the Center for American Progress, GLAAD and the Global Project Against Hate and extremism, contained the following veiled threat:

“We, the undersigned organizations call on you to notify Musk and publicly commit that you will cease all advertising on Twitter globally if he follows through on his plans to undermine brand safety and community standards, including gutting content moderation.”

https://thefederalist.com/2022/11/03/if-republicans-win-they-will-raze-your-home-steal-your-possessions-take-your-lives-and-laugh-when-they-enslave-your-children/

Schadenfreude doesn’t normally do it for me, but I have to admit watching people who think they’re about to lose political power engage in panic-stricken hysterics has a certain appeal.

I’m sure, by now, you’ve heard that the end is near-ish. About a week away. Sure, there were rumblings it was coming when we passed net neutrality. Those who survived were subjected to the fiery lake of burning sulfur known as the Trump tax cuts, which Nancy Pelosi had presciently noted was “armageddon.” “People will die if Trumpcare becomes law,” she warned. Then came the overturning of Roe v. Wade — a decision that “released the whirlwind.” And, now, here we are at the midterms of 2022, the most momentous election not only in your life but perhaps in the history of mankind.

Last night, the President of the United States, a man whose pathological lying has been ratcheted up to surreal levels lately, gave one of the most transparently toxic partisan speeches in memory. Biden, quite paradoxically, warned that American “democracy” could only survive if the nation functioned under one-party rule. Despite historic early turnouts, the president lied about widespread attacks on voting rights, preemptively engaging in the kind of election denialism he contends is “un-American.” Biden has probably forgotten that virtually every major Democrat was an “election denialist” not only in 2016 but in 2000, as well.

The president then blamed the actions of the mentally ill, drug-addled individual who viciously attacked the husband of Nancy Pelosi on all of MAGAdom — which, according to Democrats, includes everyone who disagrees with any of their positions, including a pro-life movement that’s been around forever. Biden, who has likely engaged in more blatant executive abuses than any post-war president, leads a party that makes little distinction between “democracy” and its own power, treating any deviation, whether it be by the courts or voters, as illegitimate and “undemocratic” — a word that has been sapped of any real meaning.

https://amgreatness.com/2022/11/03/the-democrats-insurrection-flop/

If there is a poster child for the Democrats’ humiliating failure to make the events surrounding January 6, 2021 a winning issue in the midterm elections, it is U.S. Representative Elaine Luria (D-Va.).

The two-term congresswoman is fighting for her political life in a race now categorized as a toss-up; a recent poll showed Luria tied with Republican State Senator Jen Kiggans just a few weeks before an expected red wave election, despite Luria outspending Kiggans by a more than 2-1 margin. (Before the state’s remap process, Luria represented a district that voted for Joe Biden by 5 percentage points and Hillary Clinton by 6 percentage points. Her new district now has a 3-point Democratic advantage.)

It wasn’t supposed to be this way. No doubt anticipating a tough reelection for Luria, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) appointed her to the January 6 select committee—an exercise sold to the American people as a way to investigate what happened that day and prevent future “insurrections.” Primetime televised coverage promised to make Luria a national star, a defender of “democracy,” and a voice of reason in a country purportedly under siege by domestic terrorists—i.e., Trump voters.

“We must leave behind any veil of partisanship at the door because the American people deserve answers on what happened on that day and how we can ensure this does not happen again,” Luria said in July 2021, before the committee’s first public hearing.

But that, of course, didn’t happen. The committee instead descended into the latest iteration of the “Get Trump” crusade; rather than press law enforcement and congressional leadership to explain why they failed to secure the Capitol or identify the alleged “pipe bomber,” or release thousands of hours of surveillance video, the committee, including Luria, fixated on the former president and his inner circle.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19082/diesel-shortage

During World War II, the Allies’ aerial assault on the Nazis did not begin to have the strategic means to bring the enemy to its knees until Germany’s oil reserves were destroyed and it was unable to refuel its tanks. Then, as now, destroying the energy infrastructure of an adversary can bring about the destruction of a nation. America’s current enemies have not forgotten that historic lesson.

Which is why Americans should view with alarm the unconscionable news reported by industry analysts that we are facing a severe shortage of diesel fuel this winter.

Understandably, we have been focused on the price of gasoline, but it is diesel that actually runs America. It is diesel that powers America’s freight trains, trucks, freighters, barges and buses. It is the fuel that runs our farming and construction equipment. And for many, diesel is the fuel that heats their homes.

How is it that diesel reserves have dropped to frightening levels while the energy-demanding cold weather has not even arrived in most of the country yet? How is it that the Biden Administration continues to buckle to a Progressive agenda that has prevented us from accessing the energy that resides within our borders?

https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/america/2022/11/us-midterms-on-the-road/

EXCERPT

“Simply put, the Democrats have nothing better to offer than fear, which they have been serving in heaped helpings for months.”

American politics can plumb some bizarre depths even at the best of times and just now, six days before the midterm elections that will determine control of House and Senate, there is something in the air only those word-stacking Germans might be able to capture in contiguous syllables. Fear, yes indeed, on the part of Democrats, who need lose only six lower house seats to see Ms Pelosi replaced as Speaker. For Republicans, riding high on polls that suggest seats might turn from blue to red in record numbers, the big challenge is to maintain with straight faces that the outcome remains in doubt and only a massive turnout of the party faithful on November 8 can guarantee victory.

In the House, that a ‘red wave’ will crash down on Democrats is beyond dispute. Where goes the Senate is somewhat less certain, allowing for the impact of early voting and the usual chicanery involving vote harvesting, cemeteries, old folks’ homes and, a new wrinkle as of 2020, mail-out ballots. Pennsylvanians, who will decide one of the four key battleground states, began voting as long ago as mid-September and by the time the Senate contenders met for the their one and only debate last week more than a million ballots were already waiting to be counted. Those early votes will likely favour Democrats, most originating with the political machines of the big cities, where Democrat administrations oversee both the canvassing, the tallying and, that old Tammany Hall term, the “ward heeling“. That said, the GOP needs to pick up only one Senate seat to gain an absolute legislative majority, which the bookies reckon easily doable.