A couple of years ago I shared a post on Facebook that mocked misinformation. The photo allegedly showed a 206 year-old Tibetan monk who had just been discovered alive in a mountain cave. The caption said he had been in a meditative state called “takatet” for years. It continued, “Among his things, they found an old scroll that read, ‘Stop believing all the crap you read on Facebook.’”
Recently the post popped up as a memory on my Facebook page and I shared it again. This time, though, independent fact-checkers blocked it writing, “Independent fact-checkers say this information has no basis in fact.” Well duh!
Last Friday the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the Biden administration’s suppression of information on social media platforms including Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter regarding posts related to COVID-19 and allegations of election fraud. The ruling specifically applied to the White House, surgeon general, CDC, and FBI.
Before the 5th Circuit’s hearing, a lower-court judge had ruled that “U.S. officials illegally coerced” social media platforms into censoring those posts. The 5th Circuit agreed writing that such coercion violated the First Amendment’s free speech protections. The panel wrote, “the government is not permitted to advance these interests to the extent that it engages in viewpoint suppression.”
Initiated in July, 2016, Crossfire Hurricane was likely the most egregious example of information suppression and manipulation. The FBI operation occurred at the end of the Obama administration to smear Donald Trump during the 2016 campaign for president and inaugurate Hillary Clinton as president.
After four years of continual media and Democrat charges of Russian collusion, Special Counsel John Durham was appointed in October 2020 to investigate the origins of Crossfire Hurricane. Durham’s final report was released May 15, 2023. It documented the roles played by Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, James Comey, and a host of other top administration officials to smear Trump with a “Russian Hoax” from the summer of 2016 to the end of his term in 2021.
President Biden didn’t miss a beat on January 21, 2021, when he began tearing down all that Trump had accomplished during his four years in office. Of course, as we have seen, Biden and his administration worked hand-in-glove with a complicit media to suppress all information that contradicted the establishment’s mantra about COVID-19, election interference, and the party favorite Climate Change.
What can we expect between now and November 2024? We’ll see national emergencies that will serve as pretense for suspending 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 8th, and 10th Amendment rights. As we’ve seen, the courts have ruled the Biden administration has violated American’s right to freedom of speech. The right to bear arms has been under continual attack. New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham just decreed a temporary gun ban in parts of her state commenting that the 2nd Amendment is not absolute.
And, what about our protection from illegal government search and seizure (4th Amendment)? Or, our 5th Amendment right to Due Process? Ask January 6 prisoners about their rights to a speedy trial as well as excess bail or fines and cruel and unusual punishment (8th Amendment).
The Bill of Rights protects Americans only as long as the government respects and abides by its constitutional limitations. It’s absurd to give fact-checkers positions of adjudication.
Daniel L. Gardner is a columnist who lives in Starkville, MS. You may contact him at PJandMe2@gmail.com.
19 comments:
Hey DL,
If you don’t like it then don’t use Facebook.
Kingfish will censor comments too.
Social media is literally social cancer.
Just stop using Facebook and it will die like MySpace.
DL. You are just now figuring out that the majority of things on social media are fake?? Bless your heart.
DL - I finally decided to wast a few minutes and read one of your columns on KF's site. Realized again why I decided a long time ago; right after your first one posted, as to why I decided to scroll past it for all these weeks. (Yes, I don't get pissed at KF for who he decides to give space on his blog - be it Salter, Crawford, RSJ, Pollard, you, whoever -- I learned a long time ago how to hit the bottom arrow on my scroll bar and get past your crap. Not saying I scroll past ALL the others ALL the time, but....)
Now I realize again why I made that decision a long time ago. First, its your absolute love and idolization of the narcissist Trump. Yes, I will agree with you that he did some good things while in office - BUT not everything that he did was good, which is probably, although unsaid, different from your bowing down at his alter belife. However - the rest of your 800 word post has little, if anything, of value or worthwhile discussion.
Thanks again for reminding me why not to waste my time reading your dribble.
These freedoms and this Bill of Rights thing, who needs ‘em? There are thousands every day, millions every year, hammering the doors down to climb to the summit of this Shining City on a Hill with needles in the gutters and trash in the streets, all of whom are unconcerned with such drivel. And they are our greatest strength, America’s hidden superpower.
How does a person get the job of factchecker? What gives a person the right to decide what is a fact and what is not a fact. Does anyone give any thought about where the factcheckers get their idea what is fact and what isn't?
I do know one thing for certain. Factcheckers would not allow anything to be posted about the russian hoax unless it was some made up stories about Trump. That even goes on today when it has been proven the russian hoax was democrats trying to influence an election.
I don't particularily enjoy reading D.L. Gardner, but this is a Mr King Fish joint so so Mr King Fish can do what he wants.
I see that some poeple claim to just skip completely past the posts they don't wnt to read. That seems like a good idea as there are only so many hours in a day.
For those who find Mr D. L. Gardner's post to be TLDR
try this
D.L. Gardner The Absurdity
You can always tell you are trying to research something that "they" don't want you to know when all of the Google search results are "debunkers" like Snopes, politifact, and factcheck.org.
Why? Because they don't even want you to read the controversy for yourself. They have completely censored the internet to the point that the only opinion you are allowed to see is there opinion.
There is a common psychological tactic that Jon Stewart, John Oliver, Trever Noah, and even KF's beloved Bill Maher, have used for decades. The method is to queue laughter and derision for any subject that is not approved. This plants the seed in the viewer's mind that believing the subject will subject them to ridicule. Then they cut quickly to another subject or humorous anecdote before you have any time to process more than the ridicule. They do this every night and the NPC/Sheeple have no idea that they are being brainwashed into feeling so smug about being part of the hivemind.
Reddit, facebook, and all social media do the same thing with "likes" and dopamine addictions.
Sigh...the Mad Hatter insists that accurate information is bad and has no clue that trying Biden was trying to hold social media accountable for false information that has included deaths of those who read some myths or promote products for " off label use" or are harmful.
No surprises here other than anyone would let him do anything unsupervised.
And yet, nothing changes. The government continues to roll along unchecked, and the White House has just released instructions to the media on how they should be reporting about the impeachment inquiry.
September 17, 2023 at 12:51 PM, so, you are Karine Jean-Pierre's scriptwriter. Are you aware that simply stringing random words together doesn't constitute an actual thought?
The first three posts came from the same keyboard. It's truth that liberalism is a mental illness.
DL et Al
You live in a University town. You can do your own fact checking. You can get help the the heads of the departments.
The rest of you can as well fact check too.
The official government sites, court transcripts. Video footage taken in real time . There are still non fiction books. If it’s history, do read actual historians GAO,OMG, government websites.
The is “ real tiime” footage of events .
International media like AP and Reuters, Our Allies news papers are translated.
You can check the education and experience of your source .
You can watch actual news shows, not opinion shows. That one of you is so clueless, his list is celebrities ( comedians primarily and who have no experience or education related to content / subject matter)
programs is bizarre. Such people don’t always know what questions to ask their guest. Please learn the difference. You must be extremely vulnerable to advertising as well.
There are real books in libraries still.
Some of you sound like though need to see a physician. Brain , tumors, strokes,and bleeds can cause paranoid ideations. Dementia and Alzheimer’s, too many concussions can as well.
If you never write a term paper in school where footnotes are required and you can’t plagiarize ( get a dictionary), then you are very poorly educated and your text books and curriculum were badly selected by those in charge.
Deliberate ignorance makes you stupid. Even those with with severe disabilities often know what they don’t know and who is helpful from who is not.
Self check facts all day long if that’s what you think you need to do. But after all that fact-checking is done, just remember that if you did your fact-checking correctly and without bias, you won’t be able to do anything but come down on the side of mainstream media and your government. Remember, ladies and gentleman, Oswald acted alone.
Bot alert at September 18, 2023 at 7:34 AM.
September 18, 2023 at 8:15 AM, sarcasm, right?
I don't understand the hatred for DL on here. What exactly does he say that rubs yall the wrong way? He seems to be a good conservative fellow. Much better than a few of the smug looking AHoles who post here. Did he take your girlfriend or something?
@9:46 - if you can’t figure it out, then DL is the writer for you. Ignorance is bliss.
@7:34 - I came back over here two days later to see if your post made any sense. It did not, two days ago. Newsflash! It still does not.
@ 4;09 pm,
So no specific examples? More of a "you're a doody head if you like the man's columns"?
Great reply. Glad we could read it.
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