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This is how the end begins, under the subterfuge of good intentions; much like the road to hell. Check out this quote from Reuters.
A counterterrorism organization formed by some of the biggest U.S. tech companies including Facebook (FB.O) and Microsoft (MSFT.O) is significantly expanding the types of extremist content shared between firms in a key database, aiming to crack down on material from white supremacists and far-right militias, the group told Reuters.
Further down in the article it reads…
Fourteen companies can access the GIFCT database, including Reddit, Snapchat-owner Snap (SNAP.N), Facebook-owned Instagram, Verizon (VZ.N) Media, Microsoft’s LinkedIn and file-sharing service Dropbox (DBX.O).
And one more quote because I just have to.
“As the database expands, the risks of mistaken takedown only increase,” she added.
The group wants to continue to broaden its database to include hashes of audio files or certain symbols and grow its membership. It recently added home-rental giant Airbnb(ABNB.O) and email marketing company Mailchimp as members.
In other words, if your name gets on a list you will be banned from social media, prohibited from living in certain spaces and your email will be blocked (at least the email delivered by Mailchimp). While under the guise of protecting the public from “whiteness,” it is nothing more than the Chinese Social Credit Score on American shores. (In case you missed it, check out my rant on the social credit score here.)
I am not delusional. I have mentioned before about the push by the government to pursue white supremacist groups; both real and imagined. I did not buy the narrative because the data does not support the assertion that white supremacists are our country’s greatest threat. Much the same way as I disagree with the notion that racism against white people does not exist. Yes, there are some racists in America but, America is not a racist country. This is not a theory but a provable fact.
That being said, why continue to push the narrative that white supremacists are on a rampage and must be stopped by any means necessary? In a word, power. If the American people will buy the belief that their safety is in jeopardy then, they will give up more of their liberty and the government can seize more power. Back in 2002, a year after the September 11th attack in New York. A Gallup poll confirmed the following:
Nationally, nearly four in five (78%) Americans are willing to give up certain freedoms to gain security, according to a recent study co-sponsored by The Gallup Organization and The University of Oklahoma Department of Psychiatry through a grant from the Oklahoma City National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism (MIPT). The study also revealed Americans’ willingness to compromise certain specific freedoms:
30% favor making it easier for legal authorities to access private communications such as mail, e-mail and telephone conversations.
71% favor requiring national identification cards containing fingerprint or citizenship information for all U.S. residents.
77% favor requiring smallpox vaccinations for all U.S. residents.
“The urge to strengthen government in a time of danger has been around a long time. The American people have, with important historical exceptions, done a good job of balancing individual liberties with the need to protect society,” said MIPT Deputy Director Donald R. Hamilton. “Some restrictions placed on individuals have been temporary and some have been permanent. The good sense of the American people about how to balance freedom and security has proven durable over the long haul.”
During that time, the Patriot Act was enacted under President George Bush to guard against further terrorist attacks. To quote Wikipedia…
Opponents of the law have criticized its provision for indefinite detention of immigrants; permission to law enforcement to search a home or business without the owner’s or the occupant’s consent or knowledge under certain circumstances; the expanded use of National Security Letters, which allows the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to search telephone, email, and financial records without a court order; and the expanded access of law enforcement agencies to business records, including library and financial records. Since its passage, several court challenges have been brought against the act, and federal courts have ruled that a number of provisions are unconstitutional.
One could make a comparison to our modern situation with the pandemic. There was a legitimate threat to public safety, no argument there. Yet, in the name of safety, Americans released their freedoms and those in power took an unconstitutional advantage. Consider this 2020 quote from Reason.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer says she’s fighting a war. And she’s using emergency powers in that fight.
But governors are quickly finding that even emergency powers might have their limits.
“Tyranny has a new name and it’s called a pandemic,” says Robert Muise, a constitutional lawyer with the conservative American Freedom Law Center, and a co-plaintiff in a recent lawsuit the center has filed against Governor Whitmer.
“A quarantine is when you restrict the liberty of people who are sick. And tyranny is when we, you restrict the liberty of people who are healthy,” says Muise.
Muise alleges that Whitmer has violated the First Amendment by banning church services, the Second Amendment by closing gun stores, and the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause by seeming to arbitrarily allow some places to stay open while banning others. One of his clients is a landscaper whom he says was perfectly capable of running his business while maintaining social distancing.
The American Freedom Law Center has also filed a First Amendment lawsuit against New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has banned protests but permits walking and jogging.
“This is a total ban on first amendment activity,” says Muise.
Like The Patriot Act, the Covid restrictions exist in unprecedented times. However, the general belief of the American people was that such drastic steps were necessary and temporary. Be that as it may, the Patriot Act still exists, in some form, today. And while Covid restrictions have lessened, there has been talk of a resurgence and with it a continuance of the enhanced governmental powers so many have been protesting.
I predict one of two things will happen. Either the American people will view Covid as they do the flu, cancer, heart disease or (insert malady here) as a given possibility, take adequate measures to prevent it, but live their lives as before. Perhaps,realizing that the damage from the lockdowns is just as significant, and in some ways worse, than the illness. The alternative is to gradually lose all liberties and become a slave to unending government mandates that the public is powerless to vote against, due to the emergency situation. Whichever route the American people choose, the consequences of said choice are summed up perfectly by Benjamin Franklin.
Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
Wake up America.
Wake up world.
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THANK YOU!
Thanks for reading (and subscribing)! $$$ All tips are welcome. By the way, click here to check the archives and discover what you’ve missed. More content tomorrow.
