After Zuckerberg revelation, FBI says it routinely warns social media about 'malign influence'

The FBI said it cannot ask or direct companies to act in response to information on potential threats

The FBI said it "routinely notifies" private companies, including social media platforms, of potential threats after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook "decreased" the distribution of the Hunter Biden laptop story right before the 2020 election because of a warning from the FBI.

The FBI's defense comes after Zuckerberg appeared Thursday on the "The Joe Rogan Experience" podcast. Host Joe Rogan asked Zuckerberg about how Facebook handled the story first broken by The New York Post involving the questionable contents on the laptop of President Joe Biden's son, Hunter.

Reflecting on Facebook's decision on the story, which broke weeks before the 2020 election, Zuckerberg said the FBI told his company to "be on high alert" and that an information dump similar to the Russian propaganda seen during the 2016 election would happen soon.

Meta tweeted on Thursday, "None of this is new," and wrote that Zuckerberg testified nearly two years ago to the Senate about the FBI's 2020 warning.

The FBI released a statement in response to Zuckerberg's conversation with Rogan.

"The FBI routinely notifies US private sector entities, including social media providers, of potential threat information, so that they can decide how to better defend against threats," the law enforcement agency stated, according to The New York Post.

"The FBI has provided companies with foreign threat indicators to help them protect their platforms and customers from abuse by foreign malign influence actors," the FBI wrote.

The federal agency said it will work with its partners to "keep the public informed of potential threats" but it cannot ask or direct companies to act.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) criticized the FBI for suggesting what information social media platforms should allow to be shared.

"The FBI has absolutely no constitutional authority to decide what political information Americans should or shouldn’t share," he tweeted Saturday. "Zuckerberg should be embarrassed to admit he’s a willing and compliant tool of the deep state."

https://justthenews.com/government/federal-agencies/fbi-defends-itself-after-zuckerberg-says-agency-told-facebook-censor

Michigan withholding report on COVID response: report

The material in the report is so sensitive that state agencies have already reportedly held a "stakeholder's meeting"

An out-of-state company reportedly sent Michigan Democrat Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's office a draft several weeks ago of an after-action review of the state's COVID-19 response, but the draft has not been released to the public or the media.

Tidal Basin of Utica, N.Y. completed the draft report, which reportedly analyzed every department and resource involved in Michigan's COVID response, starting in early 2020.

The Whitmer administration is internally circulating the nearly 300-page report, sources told Michigan News Source.

The material in the report is so sensitive that state agencies have already reportedly held a "stakeholder's meeting" and departments were told to review the draft and "correct" any possible problems.

Michigan News Source said it has filed a Freedom of Information Act request for an unredacted copy of the full draft report, but so far has not received it.

Gov. Whitmer has been under scrutiny for her response to the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in nursing homes. A report earlier this year from the state's auditor general found that the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services underreported the number of people who died from COVID in long-term care facilities by 30%.

https://justthenews.com/government/state-houses/michigan-withholding-report-covid-response-report

Love this guy

Canada is pledging $100 million to fund what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is touting as the country's first federal five-year plan to support 2SLGBT communities.

Trudeau says 75 per cent of the funding will go toward community organizations focused on diversity and inclusion.

The news comes on the last day of Pride celebrations in Ottawa, which is wrapping up with the first in-person parade after a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19.

Marci Ien, minister of women and gender equality, welcomed the action plan alongside Trudeau, saying the funds are for "all of those people who are fighting to be heard and accepted."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/federal-action-plan-lgbtq-1.6564977

Zelensky promises to recapture Donbass

Ukraine has not forgotten any of its cities, the president says

President Vladimir Zelensky said in his daily evening address on Sunday that Ukraine will recapture Donbass, which is now almost fully seized by Russian forces.

“We have not forgotten and will not forget any of our cities and any of our people,” he said.

“Now Donbass is almost destroyed by Russian strikes, devastated. The proud and glorious Ukrainian Donetsk was humiliated by the Russian occupation and robbed. But Ukraine will return. For sure. Life will return. The dignity of the people of Donbass will return. The ability to live will return. The opportunity to live safely and happily,” Zelensky added.

According to him, this is what the Ukrainian flag will symbolize “when we set it up in Donetsk, Gorlovka, Mariupol, in all cities of Donbass, Azov area, in all areas under Russian occupation – in Kharkov, Zaporozhye, Kherson regions. And definitely in Crimea.”

“Ukraine remembers everything,” he concluded.

The US may be helping Ukraine prepare for an impending counteroffensive against Russia, The Washington Post claimed in a piece published this week, pointing to the type of weaponry making up the latest batch of military aid pledged to Kiev by the Pentagon. Last month, a number of top Ukrainian officials suggested that the country’s military would launch a counteroffensive in the south of the country in August to retake the city of Kherson.

Russia sent troops into Ukraine on February 24, citing Kiev’s failure to implement the Minsk agreements, designed to give the regions of Donetsk and Lugansk special status within the Ukrainian state. The protocols, brokered by Germany and France, were first signed in 2014. Former Ukrainian president Pyotr Poroshenko has since admitted that Kiev’s main goal was to use the ceasefire to buy time and “create powerful armed forces.”

In February 2022, the Kremlin recognized the Donbass republics as independent states and demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join any Western military bloc. Kiev insists the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked.

https://www.rt.com/russia/561696-ukraine-donbass-recapture/