CNN’s Stelter Cites ‘Fact Checkers’ in Call for Increased Twitter Censorship

CNN’s Brian Stelter, who has consistently supported censorship of those critical of those critical of the corporate media apparatus, is again advocating for increased censorship on Twitter. Stelter used “misinformation” and “disinformation” as a justification for censorship, citing work from professors at two elite universities. Stelter has often said that the media needs to be more trustworthy, but has never taken responsibility for corporate media’s repeated lies and debunked reporting.

In a recent segment, Stelter asserted that Republicans and conservatives are more likely to be censored because they are more likely to share fake news. “Thus with social media’s platforms, policies aimed at reducing nonsense and boosting real news, would ensnare Republican users more often,” Stelter said on his show, Reliable Sources.

Stelter then continued to talk about how “free speech” and “cancel culture narratives” are central to GOP and “Trumpian” fundraising efforts. He added that Elon Musk’s attempted hostile takeover of Twitter is built on this premise.

One of the academics responsible for the research that Stelter cited responded to the tweet above, which was initially shared by Tim Graham of Newsbusters.

Since this research is being shared on a major network, albeit on a show with dismally poor ratings, it is worth looking into the research and those conducting it.

According to his Twitter profile, David G. Rand is a professor at MIT who specializes in “misinformation and fake news”, among other social topics. He also has he/him pronouns included in his bio.

Stelter, as well as the cited academics, begin with the premise that there is broad “bipartisan support” for social media networks policing fake news. This begs the question: who determines what is considered fake?

Rand also asserts that right leaning users share stories from “lower quality news sources.”

https://nationalfile.com/cnns-stelter-cites-fact-checkers-in-call-for-increased-twitter-censorship/

Supreme Court Refuses to Hear COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate Challenge From Teachers

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear a New York City vaccine mandate challenge from teachers, meaning the mandate will be allowed to stand.

The nation’s high court rejected the case (pdf) without comment and provided no indication that any of the justices would take it.

The four teachers, who said the COVID-19-related rule violated their right to keep their profession, took their appeal to the Supreme Court after a lower court left the New York City mandate in place. Those teachers previously asked Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who oversees the state, to provide relief that would block the mandate from going into effect, which Sotomayor also rejected.

Under the mandate, all city Department of Education employees who did not comply with getting the vaccine by Oct. 1 would be suspended without pay for up to one year. But the teachers argued that the rule violated their due process rights and blocked them from practicing their profession because the city’s Department of Education is the only agency in the city that publicly hires teachers.

Vinoo P. Varghese, who represented the teachers, told Forbes on Monday that the teachers “are disappointed in the result, but we will continue the fight to protect the due process rights of our teachers against the new administration of Mayor Eric Adams.”

In February, New York City fired more than 1,400 employees who remained unvaccinated. The policy allows for religious and medical exemptions.

“This case presents the Court with the opportunity to address a critical constitutional issue—whether public-school teachers have a fundamental right to practice their profession,” the teachers wrote (pdf) in their petition to the Supreme Court. “Furthermore, the Court can provide needed guidance to the lower courts regarding the flood of COVID-19 vaccine mandate-related cases already pending and expected.”

In response, however, New York City attorneys argued that the petitioners “made no attempt to explain how the vaccination requirement either prevented—or even impaired—their ability to work as teachers or paraprofessionals for another employer.”

Vaccine mandates for public-sector and private-sector employees were announced in late 2021 under former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration.

Last month, New York City’s health commissioner, Ashwin Vasan, said the vaccine mandate for private-sector workers who work on-site will continue indefinitely. The city’s mask mandate for children under 5 will also remain intact for the foreseeable future, Vasan said.

While the Supreme Court previously has blocked federal COVID-19 vaccine mandates including a controversial Biden administration rule requiring tens of millions of private employees at many companies to receive shots, the justices have often permitted COVID-19 vaccine mandates at the local and state level.

https://www.ntd.com/supreme-court-refuses-to-hear-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-challenge-from-teachers_767632.html

“One less traitor”: Zelensky oversees campaign of assassination, kidnapping and torture of political opposition

While claiming to defend democracy, Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky has outlawed his opposition, ordered his rivals’ arrest, and presided over the disappearance and assassination of dissidents across the country.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has framed his country’s war against Russia as a battle for democracy itself. In a carefully choreographed address to US Congress on March 16, Zelensky stated, “Right now, the destiny of our country is being decided. The destiny of our people, whether Ukrainians will be free, whether they will be able to preserve their democracy.”

US corporate media has responded by showering Zelensky with fawning press, driving a campaign for his nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize and inspiring a flamboyant musical tribute to himself and the Ukrainian military during the 2022 Grammy awards ceremony on April 3.

Western media has looked the other way, however, as Zelensky and top officials in his administration have sanctioned a campaign of kidnapping, torture, and assassination of local Ukrainian lawmakers accused of collaborating with Russia. Several mayors and other Ukrainian officials have been killed since the outbreak of war, many reportedly by Ukrainian state agents after engaging in de-escalation talks with Russia.

“There is one less traitor in Ukraine,” Internal Affairs Ministry advisor Anton Geraschenko stated in endorsement of the murder of a Ukrainian mayor accused of collaborating with Russia.

Zelensky has further exploited the atmosphere of war to outlaw an array of opposition parties and order the arrest of his leading rivals. His authoritarian decrees have triggered the disappearance, torture and even murder of an array of human rights activists, communist and leftist organizers, journalists and government officials accused of “pro-Russian” sympathies.

The Ukrainian SBU security services has served as the enforcement arm of the officially authorized campaign of repression. With training from the CIA and close coordination with Ukraine’s state-backed neo-Nazi paramilitaries, the SBU has spent the past weeks filling its vast archipelago of torture dungeons with political dissidents.

On the battlefield, meanwhile, the Ukrainian military has engaged in a series of atrocities against captured Russian troops and proudly exhibited its sadistic acts on social media. Here too, the perpetrators of human rights abuses appear to have received approval from the upper echelons of Ukrainian leadership.

While Zelensky spouts bromides about the defense of democracy before worshipful Western audiences, he is using the war as a theater for enacting a blood-drenched purge of political rivals, dissidents and critics.

“The war is being used to kidnap, imprison and even kill opposition members who express themselves critical of the government,” a left-wing activist beaten and persecuted by Ukraine’s security services commented this April. “We must all fear for our freedom and our lives.

MORE

https://thegrayzone.com/2022/04/17/traitor-zelensky-assassination-kidnapping-arrest-political-opposition/

‘Direct Conflict’: GOP Demands Michigan Judge Recuse Herself From Major Abortion Case

The Michigan Republican Party called for a judge who had supported Planned Parenthood to recuse herself from a case involving the organization that challenges a 1931 state abortion ban.

“Now that we know [Judge] Elizabeth Gleicher is an annual and long-time donor of pro-abortion group Planned Parenthood, it is clear her own beliefs are in direct conflict with the case she is set to rule on,” a spokesperson for the Michigan GOP told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Judge Gleicher must recuse herself from this case immediately so that the scales of justice remain balanced, fair, and unprejudiced.”

The judge made annual donations to Planned Parenthood and represented the group as an attorney in a 1997 case challenging the same abortion ban, which could go back into effect if Roe v. Wade is overturned, according to a letter from a court clerk, The Detroit News reported.

The only parties that can challenge the judge’s appointment — Planned Parenthood of Michigan and Democrat-appointed Attorney General Dana Nessel — have yet to request a recusal, according to The Detroit News.

“While Judge Gleicher does not believe this warrants her recusal, and is certain that she can sit on this case with requisite impartiality and objectivity, she believes that this letter of disclosure is appropriate,” the court clerk letter stated, according to The Detroit News.

Gleicher, in addition to giving annual donations to Planned Parenthood, represented the organization in a 1997 case which challenged the same abortion ban, The Detroit News reported. She was randomly assigned to the present case, a letter from a court clerk disclosed Thursday, according to the outlet.

“We are consulting with our legal team on this matter,” Michigan Right to Life told the DCNF. “We believe it would be difficult for Judge Gleicher to stay impartial due to her personal beliefs and long history with Planned Parenthood but for now, we are relying on her comments regarding her ability to judge fairly.”

Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is suing to make abortion a constitutional right in the state.

https://dailycaller.com/2022/04/18/michigan-judge-elizabeth-gleicher-abortion/

>>16101877

World’s Largest Carbon Removal Facility Designed to Fight Global Warming Suffers Major Setback After Arctic Blast Freezes Machinery

Iceland – The world’s largest carbon removal facility designed to fight global warming suffered a major setback after an Arctic blast froze the machinery and forced the company to make modifications.

The Climeworks “Orca” plant east of Reykjavik, Iceland is now running behind schedule after the machinery froze due to frigid temperatures.

Orca was built in 2021 and “hailed by Iceland’s prime minister Katrin Jakobsdottir as a “milestone in the fight against climate change”” – the NewScientist reported.

Apparently the machines designed to reduce global warming stopped working because it got too cold.

The Carbon Herald reported:

The world’s largest carbon removal plant located to the east of Reykjavik, Iceland, has frozen, putting its operations behind schedule.

Climeworks, the company behind the ambitious plant named ‘Orca’, had set out to capture 4,000 metric tons of CO2 every year directly from the air – a process known as direct air capture or DAC.

By the end of the decade, in fact, the project’s capacity is expected to reach as much as 1 million tons of carbon dioxide.

However, as it became apparent, the plant was not equipped to handle the harsh weather conditions in Iceland and some of the machinery froze.

Climeworks was thus forced to urgently make modifications, which will inevitably be a bump in the road towards the company’s carbon removal goals in Iceland.

The Orca plant was officially launched in September 2021 and was even praised by the country’s prime minister Katrin Jakobsdottir and dubbed a ‘milestone’ in the global battle against the climate crisis.

Furthermore, the DAC facility runs on power from geothermal energy sources, meaning it is as sustainable as can be.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/04/worlds-largest-carbon-removal-facility-designed-fight-global-warming-suffers-major-setback-arctic-blast-freezes-machinery/

>>16101962

>>16101970

they gave themselves immunity and they own those who are supposed to judge them