There is real news taking place in Washington D.C.. You would never know it from any of the American News Streams, Print, Television, or Web. That includes all the variations of political bias. Left, right, libertarian, socialist, to anarchist no one is openly discussing the most important hearing ever held since America was founded. That is sad commentary of both the curiosity and intelligence of the American people, with a double indictment for the stupidity of the Republican Party. They have never in my lifetime known how to deliver their message, they are proving this to still be the case. If the Republicans had any media savvy these hearing could be used as their platform for decades.
I do not state the importance of these hearings to be grandiose, nor to inflate the importance of my own views on the topic. I state it because it concerns the Keystone to America’s existence, Freedom of Speech, The First Amendment. Without Free Speech America does not exist.
In doing this piece what I have watched has enraged and disgusted me. The disgust is easy to understand, as you view the clips below most on both sides of the aisle will be ashamed of the actions of our government and the behavior of those that are supposed to represent the interests of the people who elected them. The anger over what is going strikes on multiple layers for reasons I intend to delve into as we go through this tragedy.
The United States Federal Government has been censoring average American citizens and even News Organizations Speech. Not based on any violations of Law, but for expressing views that vary from the Federal Governments public position “the official narrative” on any and every given issue. If you do not echo and endorse the Government Position you are targeted for censorship.
The Federal Government has been engaging in this attack on the 1st Amendment both directly, and through NGOs set up by former members of the Federal Government. They set up these think tanks and advisory companies, so called analysis organizations that are nothing but front companies for the Federal Government acting like the mafia setting up shell companies to hide the crimes they are committing. Crimes that they are committing against the American People.
The Twitter files provide the proof that this has been taking place at the very least since 2017, and needs to be investigated how much further it goes back and how expansive this operation is. It is obvious by the evidence in the e-mails the Twitter Files exposed that a greater network effecting not just Twitter, but Facebook, YouTube, Google and other tech companies has been set up.
The following is a breakdown of the hearing that took place on March 9th. The entire Hearing is at the bottom of the post so that no one can say anything has been edited or taken out of context. I am going to offer you each piece of the hearing to view for yourself in time digestible clips, or you can watch the whole 2 1/2 hour long hearing yourself.
The first clips will be the opening statements by the 2 Committee Leaders Jim Jordan & Stacey Plaskett, then the 2 witnesses Independent liberal journalists Matt Taibbi and Michael Shellenberger.
The first opening statement is by Jim Jordan.
Mr. Jordan sets up the whole premise and reason for this hearing. He explains the suspicious behavior that he believes proves that the Federal Government has been and still remains engaged in violating the 1st Amendment censoring Free Speech.
The second opening statement is by Stacey Plaskett.
Ms. Plaskett before she starts her opening statement accuses the Republicans of withholding evidence from the Democrat side of the hearing. The Reporters posted a new batch of “Twitter Files” a half hour before the hearing and she believes the Republicans had it before that. In her opening statement she speaks about testimony given by the fired Twitter executives as if everything they said was gospel and proven to be so, which it has not. The 1000s of e-mails in fact prove a lot of their testimony to have been false. She then proceeds to not address the action of the Federal Government, instead she accuses Elon Musk of cooking all this up as a Conspiracy to protect him and the Republicans.
Here is a less than 2min exchange after Ms. Plaskett’s opening to give a good sense of the atmosphere in the hearing room. The animosity and vitriol between the members of this committee isn’t hidden. It has no reason to be hidden because 99.9% of the public never get to witness their Representatives behavior. The people who call themselves “Journalists” have no interest in sharing it with you because it would make painting pretty fantasies about whomever their favorite Politicians are difficult to sell to you. You must never see them raw.
This next block is the swearing in of both witnesses and Michael Shellenberger’s opening statement.
In Mr. Shellenberger’s opening he explains how what has been created was the very thing that President Eisenhauer warned Americans of in his farewell address. Mr. Shellenberger calls it the Censorship Industrial Complex run by America’s technical and scientific elite. He breaks down where it exists and how it is working hand in hand with the Federal Government.
This block is Matt Taibbi’s opening statement.
Mr. Taibbi begins his statement a little peeved at Ms. Plaskett’s description of who and what he is and responds with his over 30 year resume of being a Liberal Journalist and the author of 10 books including 4 NYTs best sellers. Mr. Taibbi then goes on to the meat of his statement. The spine chilling network that has been developed by the Federal Government to censor and control the speech of all the people both right and left and how it is being applied.
Now the questioning begins. This is a hearing, a hearing of discovery to question two of the Journalists that compiled the stories on the coordination of the Federal Government with the former owners of Twitter to censor and control the Free Speech of American Citizens.
None of the Journalists that were given access to the Twitter e-mails were rightwing or conservative journalists. Each are well known Liberals that have lifelong reputations. None of them have ever had their integrity questioned in their lifelong careers until now. The Biden Administration and the Democrat members of this committee as you will see not only try to trash these Journalists they are using offices in the Federal Government to go after them and those that would employ them.
The 1st questions are by Mr. Johnson.
Mr. Johnson calls attention to how the Biden Administration and the Democrat members of this hearing are attacking both Journalist while ignoring the actions that the Federal Government is engaging in. During his opening he describes perfectly the fundamental principals that are being violated by the government’s actions and why it is illegal and egregious. Mr. Johnson then actually asks the 2 Journalists questions. Something that is surprisingly missing from half the members conducting this hearing. It is after all a hearing. Both Mr. Taibbi and Mr. Shellenberger rate this story as the most Frightening and Chilling story either has covered in their entire careers.
This set of questions is from Mr. Lynch.
Mr. Lynch starts his question period quoting the testimony of the fired Twitter executives as if he is quoting settled law. He spouts the fired Twitter executives testimony that the e-mails prove were lies. He then proceeds to question the witnesses in a hostile manner about the 2016 Election and Russian Collusion…. trying to color the witnesses something they are not, with an issue that has absolutely nothing to do with the hearing. He concentrates not on the issue before him, but instead repeats the defunct story of “Russian Collusion”. Mr. Lynch seemed to have no use for the witnesses, except to know whether they believed Russia helped Trump steal the election against Hillary. In his view the Russian Collusion of 2016 justifies government censorship of Free Speech.
This next block is Mr. Issa asking his questions.
The first thing Mr. Issa does is acknowledge that Russia is a bad actor and asks the journalists if they agree which they do. He then gets to what the hearing is about and discusses the various government and government funded agencies that are involved in violating the 1st Amendment. Mr. Taibbi describes how these groups are applying a guilt by association policy in who to censor.
This next block is Ms. Wasserman-Schultz questions.
This block is Debbie Washedup-Schultz, one of my favorite commie-pinko-fascist-corset-wearing-nazi-riding-crop wielding wench’s of a personality that has ever walked the planet. Her real life persona is that of something evil, except evil created in the mind of someone like Mel Brooks, ie: Madelyn Kahn’s role in Blazing Saddles.
I don’t want my personal view in anyway to color your perception of the good representative, or her proclivities. I ask instead that if any of these blocks are worth your 5 minutes it is this one. The Representative never fails to expose just what is wrong with the American Political System and those that inhabit it. With vile simplicity our little Debbie manages to do just that. At the end of her screed Ms. Wasserman-Schultz tries to claim that the $3.4 Million the FBI paid to Twitter was for covering the costs of complying with the law. Except little Debbie, the FBI, nor anyone else can produce any Subpoena’s or Court Orders for anything at Twitter that the FBI was engaging in, which is the only time such payments are Legal.
The block is Mr. Bishop asking questions.
Mr. Bishop gives both witnesses the opportunity to respond to Ms. Wasshedup-Schultz since she refused to allow either witness to answer. Mr. Bishop’s questioning is about the structure created by former government officials from the intelligence and other agencies that make up the NGOs that the Federal is using as their shell corporations to censor American Free Speech. Showing that these NGOs are nothing but cut-outs for the Federal Government to use to break the law. You hear repeatidly a “Private Company” can censor speech, and that is what they did, create “Private Companies” funded and controlled by the government to do what they are barred by Law from doing.
This block is Mr. Connolly questions.
Mr. Connolly tries to take this into the direction that this whole thing is a right/left issue. That these journalists are motivated by some rightwing ideology in a giant conspiracy. He continues to try and accuse the journalists of cherry picking e-mails of just the Biden Whitehouse and the FBI. In spite of having the opposite explained to him by Mr. Taibbi. The end of Mr. Connelly’s questions sets Mr. Jordan off, and is included in the beginning of the next clip.
Now Mr. Jordan takes his 5 minutes of questioning.
After Mr. Jordan responds to Mr. Connolly’s idiocy he goes into what is actually being investigated by these hearings. He also explains how the former staffer for the Democrats of this Committee who is now heading the FTC Lena Kahn. How she is now today using that agency to attack these two journalists and those who employ them.
These are Ms. Plaskett’s questions for the witnesses.
Ms. Plaskett does a couple of interesting things during her questioning. The first thing she does is imply that because not all of the 100s of thousands of e-mails have been published it invalidates the ones that have. As if publishing the non-criminal e-mails washes away the ones that show the illegality. Ms. Plaskett repeatedly tries to force the journalists to reveal their sources.
Ms. Hageman’s 5 min question bloc.
Ms. Hageman’s questions begin after the back and forth over revealing sources between Jordan & Plaskett. Ms. Hageman stresses the fact that the FBI was pressuring Twitter to censor Americans not based on any violation of Law. Instead the FBI was not using the Law, but instead they were using Twitters Terms of Service. Mr. Taibbi explains how the FBI took advantage of the Twitter execs total ignorance of the Laws in regard to Free Speech in the U.S..
This is Mr. Garamendi’s question bloc.
Mr. Garamendi is a unique sort of twisted ignorance, he found a couple of University Studies that show that Conservatives and rightwing speech is actually supported by Twitter and other social platforms above all others. He also uses things such as the Dominion Voting Machine company suing Fox that has not even had it’s day in court, as proof of Fox’s bias. Mr. Garamendi spends his time claiming everything being spoken of is a fantasy. He shows a total lack of interest in even hearing about the Federal Government’s misdeeds.
Mr. Stewart asks his questions.
Mr. Stewart refocuses the conversation back to reality. He agrees with Mr. Garamendi that Private Companies can censor speech, but that this hearing is not about private companies. This hearing is about the Federal Government censoring speech, which is both illegal and violates the nations core principals. He also fleshes out with the journalists exactly how the Federal Government is censoring speech by contracting out that censorship to shell companies it created with former government officials.
Ms. Garcia asks her questions.
Ms. Garcia starts her questioning once again trying to get the journalists to reveal their sources, and gets nasty about it. It devolves into several members of the committee openly arguing. Ms. Garcia then asks questions of the journalists, then refusing to let them give their full answers. This tactic was used by several of the members.
Mr. Jordan get’s a second bite of the apple since another member yielded her time to Mr. Jordan.
Mr. Jordan starts the questions reminding the Committee of the Law the Shield Act, which protects Journalists from being forced to give the government their sources. During this bloc Mr. Shellenberger lays out the pre-release setup the government was involved in to discredit the Hunter Laptop before it was even a story. Mr. Shellenberger points out how the Washington Post proved the Laptop was real and that the FBI had it for year before the story broke and his dismay how he even believed the spin of “Russian Disinformation” before seeing all this evidence
Mr. Allred asks his questions.
Mr. Allred spends the first part of his time attacking hate speech. This provoked Mr. Taibbi to remind him that Hate Speech is protected under the 1st Amendment in the United States. Mr. Allred says that these journalists are wearing “Tin Foil Hats” for believing the evidence they uncovered showing the coordinated effort the Federal Government being involved in the censorship of speech.
Mr. Massie gets his questions.
Mr. Massie starts out his questioning discussing the misinformation put out by the FDA & CDC in regard to the Vaccine back in December of 2020. He also shows that the CDC has built a DATABASE of tweets made by every member of congress and civilians in regard to Covid, the Vax, and the side effects, which they used to have that speech removed even if what was said was 100% true. The CDC said they did this to control peoples behavior in regard to the vaccine. That even though the info was true it should be removed because it might discourage people from taking the shot.
Mr. Goldman questions on yielded time from Ms. Sanchez.
Mr. Goldman starts with claiming that this censorship has nothing to do with the Government. He then tries to discredit the Hunter Biden Laptop. Saying that everything in the public arena about the laptop and the info has been altered by Rudy Giuliani. He proceeded to place the failed impeachment of President Trump into evidence, along with saying that President Biden’s “fire the guy or you don’t get the money” was a legitimate act of Foreign Policy.
Mr. Gaetz questions.
Mr. Gaetz brings back to the reality that the FBI has had the Laptop since 2019, and it as well as everything on it has been verified as legitimate. Mr. Gaetz then asks the journalists how they feel that the FTC has put them both on a Blacklist for censorship, and investigation. Mr. Gaetz also delves into the governments new growth industry the Censorship Industrial Complex as Mr. Shellenberger has labeled it.
Mr. Goldman gets his second bite at the apple.
Mr. Goldman once again goes to the failed Mueller Report as if it succeeded in anything other than wasting taxpayer money. He actually uses the failed Mueller Investigation to justify the Government Censorship of Free Speech, while the whole time not allowing the witnesses to answer questions. Mr. Goldman’s only purpose in this hearing was to discredit it. In my view he only discredited himself to the point of being shown as a fool and a liar, but you decide for yourself.
Ms. Stefanik gets her turn and lets Mr. Jordan make a statement as well.
Ms. Stefanik asks the journalist to verify that the FBI detailed who to censor. Both journalists deferred, saying that they are not Legal Investigators that everything they found indicated that it was circumstantially true that is what the FBI did, but they are not judge and jury. They both also talked about the “Training” the FBI gave the Tech Companies and Journalists about censoring “Disinformation” if it goes against the State Narrative how it should be censored if not echoing the Governments Position.
Ms. Cammack ask her questions, and then the Hearing concludes.
Ms. Plaskett speaks first to place in the record a letter from Chad Wolf the Acting Secretary of DHS to Mark Zuckerberg to follow Facebooks Terms of Service, as well as the Law to censor speech. Ms. Cammack delves into the Barrington Declaration, and how the CDC demanded it not only be taken down. That stories discrediting it need to be pushed. Creating a Blacklist against Dr.’s and Scientist’s that disagree with the State’s point of view. Mr. Shellenberger stated that not since East Germany under the Soviets had he seen a censorship operation of this scale.
This piece is very important to me, not because of the time I spent putting it together or any personal reason that I may hold. This piece is important because it shows certain things without a doubt. 1) That the U.S. Federal Government using every agency it controls is actively violating the 1st Amendment in active campaign to silence dissent.
2) these clips show the buffoonery of the Democrats. Their total disregard for the Rights of the people of the United States, and their willingness to crush those rights to obtain their goals. Whether those goals are to destroy a President or force the people to take an experimental gene therapy against their will.
Below is the hearing in it’s entirety. It is 2 1/2 hours long.
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