Pelosi Pours $180,000 Into Facebook Ads While Calling for Advertisers to Boycott Site

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called on advertisers to boycott social media networks unless the outlets agree to restrict "dangerous" political speech, even as her campaign spent over $180,000 on Facebook ads over the past week. "Advertisers are in a position, they have power to discourage platforms from amplifying dangerous and even life-threatening disinformation," said Pelosi at an online conference on social media hosted by George Washington University on Tuesday. Pelosi said advertisers should use "a combination" of tactics to pressure social media companies to change their policies, including pulling ad revenue. Pelosi spent $182,528 on Facebook ads over the past seven days, according to Facebook’s public database. The spending shows the value Democrats place on the platform as a political fundraising and organizing tool, even as they call for tighter speech restrictions on the site. Pelosi's comments appear to correspond with Joe Biden's public pressure campaign against Facebook. Last week, the Democratic presidential candidate called on supporters to protest Facebook and demand that the website restrict "misinformation" posted on the platform by Donald Trump and his supporters.

During the social media conference, Pelosi also read remarks from former Facebook employees who claimed the website "weaponized hatred" and "isn't neutral." "You know, [Facebook founder] Mark [Zuckerberg] said it's neutral. It isn't neutral," said Pelosi. A spokesperson for Pelosi did not respond to a request for comment. Facebook did not respond to a request for comment. Biden spent over $4.7 million on Facebook ads this month, the Washington Free Beacon reported, while blasting the website for allegedly allowing "threatening behavior and the spread of misinformation" from Trump. The Biden campaign has been privately lobbying Facebook for stricter speech policies for months, but deployed its supporters against the social network last week after its demands were rebuffed, the New York Times reported.

On Tuesday, Biden’s deputy communications director Bill Russo sent out an email blast asking supporters to sign an open letter to Zuckerberg "to help us pressure Facebook to do the right thing." "We called on Facebook—in an open letter, co-signed by you, our supporters—to change its policies by finally preventing rampant disinformation before it influences our election," the campaign said in the email. "Facebook responded, and I will spare you the details, because honestly, it didn't even make sense." "[R]ight now, Facebook is letting Donald Trump write the terms of what’s acceptable online in this election, and we won't stand for it," the email continued.

https://freebeacon.com/democrats/pelosi-pours-180000-into-facebook-ads-while-calling-for-advertisers-to-boycott-site/

https://www.facebook.com/ads/library

https://freebeacon.com/2020-election/biden-dropped-4-7-million-on-facebook-ads-in-june-while-decrying-misinformation-on-platform/

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/11/technology/biden-facebook-misinformation.html

>>9640195

It's really not about the ads on facebook, its moar about the hypocrisy of the left where they say one thing and do the exact other.

Pompeo to Meet Chinese Delegation in Hawaii This Week

WASHINGTON—U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo plans to meet a Chinese delegation at a U.S. military base in Hawaii this week to discuss bilateral ties that have soured deeply since the start of the year, sources familiar with the matter said. In addition to an intensifying strategic rivalry, the world’s top two economies have been at loggerheads in recent months over the handling of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus pandemic and China’s move to impose new security legislation on Hong Kong. Experts say relations have reached their lowest point in years, and in mid-May President Donald Trump even went so far as to suggest he could cut ties with Beijing. Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post newspaper cited an unidentified source as saying that Yang Jiechi, a state councilor and member of the Communist Party’s politburo, will lead the Chinese side in the meeting with Pompeo.

It is expected to take place at Hawaii’s Hickam Air Force base, said a diplomatic source, who did not want to be identified. The State Department said Pompeo and his deputy Stephen Biegun left Tuesday for Hawaii but offered no additional detail about his plans. It would be Pompeo’s first known contact with Yang since they spoke by telephone on April 15 to discuss the CCP virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus. The sources said the likely agenda included virus response, arms control, trade, Hong Kong, North Korea and tit-for-tat moves against journalists. The White House did not respond to requests for comment about the trip, first reported by Politico on Friday.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian declined to confirm the reports at a regular briefing on Monday, but said: “China and the U.S. have maintained communication through diplomatic channels. If there is any further information, it will be released in a timely manner.” Pompeo has been forceful in his criticism of Beijing’s handling of the CCP virus, which originated in China. He has said China could have prevented hundreds of thousands of deaths by being more transparent and accused it of refusing to share information. Trump has initiated a process of eliminating special U.S. treatment for Hong Kong to punish the Chinese regime for curbing freedoms there, but has stopped short of immediately ending privileges that have helped the territory remain a global financial center.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/pompeo-to-meet-chinese-delegation-in-hawaii-this-week_3391146.html

Justices Bemoan Supreme Court’s ‘Decade-Long Failure to Protect the Second Amendment’

The Supreme Court has again declined to hear a series of new cases that present the justices an opportunity to clarify the application of the second amendment. This had prompted Justice Clarence Thomas, who was joined by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, to express frustration at his fellow justices for “prolonging our decade-long failure to protect the Second Amendment.” Thomas’s complaint about the inaction came in the form of dissent over the court’s denial to review a gun rights case, Rogers v. Grewal. The case involves a man, Thomas Rogers, who runs a business that requires him to service automated teller machines in high-crime areas. He applied for a permit to carry his gun for self-defense but was rejected because he was unable to demonstrate “that he has a justifiable need to carry a handgun.” “In several jurisdictions throughout the country, law-abiding citizens have been barred from exercising the fundamental right to bear arms because they cannot show that they have a ‘justifiable need’ or ‘good reason’ for doing so,” Thomas wrote in his dissent. “One would think that such an onerous burden on a fundamental right would warrant this Court’s review.” “This Court would almost certainly review the constitutionality of a law requiring citizens to establish a justifiable need before exercising their free speech rights. And it seems highly unlikely that the Court would allow a State to enforce a law requiring a woman to provide a justifiable need before seeking an abortion. But today, faced with a petition challenging just such a restriction on citizens’ Second Amendment rights, the Court simply looks the other way,” he added.

Thomas argued that it was crucial for the Supreme Court to take up the issue because the Appeals Courts are “squarely divided on the constitutionality” of the restrictions set by local and state officials that require individuals to show “justifiable need” or “good cause.” He noted that the D.C. Circuit has held that laws limiting public carry to those with a “good reason to fear injury to [their] person or property” violates the Second Amendment, meanwhile, the First, Second, Third, and Fourth Circuits have upheld the constitutionality of those laws requiring “justifiable need” or “good reason.” “This case also presents the Court with an opportunity to clarify that the Second Amendment protects a right to public carry. While some Circuits have recognized that the Second Amendment extends outside the home many have declined to define the scope of the right, simply assuming that the right to public carry exists for purposes of applying a scrutiny-based analysis,” Thomas wrote.

He also said that the Rogers case gives the court an opportunity to also “provide lower courts with much-needed guidance, ensure adherence to our precedents, and resolve a Circuit split.” “Each of these reasons is independently sufficient to grant certiorari. In combination, they unequivocally demonstrate that this case warrants our review. Rather than prolonging our decade-long failure to protect the Second Amendment, I would grant this petition,” he wrote. The last time the top court decided on major gun rights issues were in the cases District of Columbia v. Heller in 2008 and McDonald v. Chicago in 2010. In the landmark decision Heller, the Supreme Court protects an individual’s right to keep and bear arms for traditionally lawful purposes such as self-defense. Meanwhile, in the McDonald case, the justices ruled that that right is enforceable at the state level as well. The court had an opportunity to address gun rights issues in a case challenging New York City’s gun transportation restrictions this term, but the justices dismissed the case after the city repealed those rules.

The majority in the 6-3 unsigned opinion said the case was rendered moot after New York City rescinded its rule that restricted gun owners from transporting licensed handguns to any location outside city limits such as an out-of-city shooting range or a second home after the top court agreed to take up the case in early 2019. In that case, Justice Samuel Alito dissented, arguing that the case was not moot and that the city had violated the gun owner’s second amendment. He was joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/justices-bemoan-supreme-courts-decade-long-failure-to-protect-the-second-amendment_3389460.html

https://www.theepochtimes.com/supreme-court-dismisses-nyc-gun-law-case-sidestepping-2nd-amendment-ruling_3326951.html