The proposed law is a huge assault on free speech. As they say, "the devil is in the details". When Elon purchased X, Taibbi discovered that almost every alphabet government agency was trying to control speech on the internet and social media platforms. This proposed law will make their efforts legal. At least or until the supreme court rules otherwise. That last resort is becoming the norm, unfortunately.
As a US citizen living in Mexico City I feel like a German living in Paris in the thirties watching his native country transform rapidly into a fascist state because that, friends, is what's happening in America and the west generally.
I wish I could see things differently but that, to me, is the clear drift of events. And I don't think there's much we can do but start handing out samizdat material on the street.
So... what is the answer? Do we just let the Chinese Communist Party continue to use TikTok to further corrupt the minds of Americans dumb enough to actually use TikTok? It's bad enough that US based social media is (as evidenced by the Twitter Files and such) so corrupt, do we really think Chinese communists aren't 1000x worse? Do we sit back and let Darwinism take its toll and clean up the mess?
To me this is just the digital USA PATRIOT Act, I agree. (And I always love it when I'm on the same page as Matt.) This is what I wrote about it yesterday:
as we slip-slide into world war III, most of the world too busy with more interesting or pressing matters to pay any attention, I note for the historical record, if there is one, that "foreign adversary" is correctly translated as "foreign rival, competitor OR foe in any field of endeavor." This is why the US is so frightened of being knocked off its self-erected pedestal, there's a mob gathered at the base asking us to jump.
I agree there is a problem with this bill. When politicians start flip-flopping over night, and billionaires say out loud, 'this is great, I can make a lot of money', and FB and X carry on, you know we have a problem.
Follow the money, Matt. Always follow the money. Everything is for sale.
This is probably off topic, but then again, it's not because the stunning claims of this brave whistleblower were censored by the mainstream (non-watchdog) press.
Readers might be interested in my in-depth feature story on Richard Hirschman, the famous/infamous embalmer who first showed the world images of the “horrifying” clots he was seeing in up to 50 percent of the bodies he embalmed.
If you read or skim the story, please note the link I added about a medical professional who recently became a whistleblower and reported that doctors and nurses (in one hospital in America) are removing these worm-like substances from patients “three to 10 times every week.” They are NOT forming only “post-mortem.”
This, IMO, could and should be the revelation that shuts down the mRNA vaccine industry. But, again, the MSM will not report this or follow-up with any independent investigations.
Another tool in the "turnkey totalitarianism" playbook. With every law, imagine what your worst political enemy could do with it. This law is as Orwellian as it gets
In effect it is sanctioning investors that co-invest in Chinese ventures. China no longer needs Western tech and capital partners while the West needs access to China's labor and consumer markets. So you do the math.
We should stop talking about right and left and only center and periphery. We are all the periphery. They are the center. Have you read “The Great Taking” by David Rogers Webb. We don’t own what we think we own. Just like depositors in 1932.
Not only are they using TikTok as a propaganda tool, but they are also buying up farmland near military installations, funding universities that do sensitive research, and sending fentanyl over the border, not to mention their complicity in developing and releasing COVID.
The way TikTok activated its users to influence Congress shows just how dangerous it could be. And look at all these spineless Republicans that flip flopped. Why? Lobbying by Jeff Yass, not a sudden concern for civil liberties.
I'm sure some of your subscribers may feel differently, but I still fear the Chinese government (and the Russian government, for that matter) more than my own. It's the difference between cancer and a bad flu.
Ain't it funny how Team R and Team D come together to agree (and so quickly!) on matters that The National Security State wants them to agree on?
And right before the election. Surely just a coincidence. Just like how oddsmakers today give Biden even odds, now that he has the censorship power.
TikTok is subversive, but anything bipartisan is going to be bad.
The speed with which this legislation is moving through the congress is reason enough alone to oppose it. This smells like "Patriot Act: The Sequel."
I'm afraid it is too late they don't care what we think at all.
The proposed law is a huge assault on free speech. As they say, "the devil is in the details". When Elon purchased X, Taibbi discovered that almost every alphabet government agency was trying to control speech on the internet and social media platforms. This proposed law will make their efforts legal. At least or until the supreme court rules otherwise. That last resort is becoming the norm, unfortunately.
As a US citizen living in Mexico City I feel like a German living in Paris in the thirties watching his native country transform rapidly into a fascist state because that, friends, is what's happening in America and the west generally.
I wish I could see things differently but that, to me, is the clear drift of events. And I don't think there's much we can do but start handing out samizdat material on the street.
So... what is the answer? Do we just let the Chinese Communist Party continue to use TikTok to further corrupt the minds of Americans dumb enough to actually use TikTok? It's bad enough that US based social media is (as evidenced by the Twitter Files and such) so corrupt, do we really think Chinese communists aren't 1000x worse? Do we sit back and let Darwinism take its toll and clean up the mess?
Western civilization is screwed.
To me this is just the digital USA PATRIOT Act, I agree. (And I always love it when I'm on the same page as Matt.) This is what I wrote about it yesterday:
TikTok Ban Bill Only Tangentially About TikTok
As usual, "bipartisan" means "bad"
https://simulationcommander.substack.com/p/tiktok-ban-bill-only-tangentially
as we slip-slide into world war III, most of the world too busy with more interesting or pressing matters to pay any attention, I note for the historical record, if there is one, that "foreign adversary" is correctly translated as "foreign rival, competitor OR foe in any field of endeavor." This is why the US is so frightened of being knocked off its self-erected pedestal, there's a mob gathered at the base asking us to jump.
I once thought the year 1984 was getting farther away. The destruction of personal freedoms and speech are at the cliff’s edge.
Ahhhhh... the fine print.
I agree there is a problem with this bill. When politicians start flip-flopping over night, and billionaires say out loud, 'this is great, I can make a lot of money', and FB and X carry on, you know we have a problem.
Follow the money, Matt. Always follow the money. Everything is for sale.
This is probably off topic, but then again, it's not because the stunning claims of this brave whistleblower were censored by the mainstream (non-watchdog) press.
Readers might be interested in my in-depth feature story on Richard Hirschman, the famous/infamous embalmer who first showed the world images of the “horrifying” clots he was seeing in up to 50 percent of the bodies he embalmed.
If you read or skim the story, please note the link I added about a medical professional who recently became a whistleblower and reported that doctors and nurses (in one hospital in America) are removing these worm-like substances from patients “three to 10 times every week.” They are NOT forming only “post-mortem.”
This, IMO, could and should be the revelation that shuts down the mRNA vaccine industry. But, again, the MSM will not report this or follow-up with any independent investigations.
https://billricejr.substack.com/p/my-visit-with-historys-most-important?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2
Another tool in the "turnkey totalitarianism" playbook. With every law, imagine what your worst political enemy could do with it. This law is as Orwellian as it gets
In effect it is sanctioning investors that co-invest in Chinese ventures. China no longer needs Western tech and capital partners while the West needs access to China's labor and consumer markets. So you do the math.
We should stop talking about right and left and only center and periphery. We are all the periphery. They are the center. Have you read “The Great Taking” by David Rogers Webb. We don’t own what we think we own. Just like depositors in 1932.
Ok, so how do we limit the influence of the CCP?
Not only are they using TikTok as a propaganda tool, but they are also buying up farmland near military installations, funding universities that do sensitive research, and sending fentanyl over the border, not to mention their complicity in developing and releasing COVID.
The way TikTok activated its users to influence Congress shows just how dangerous it could be. And look at all these spineless Republicans that flip flopped. Why? Lobbying by Jeff Yass, not a sudden concern for civil liberties.
I'm sure some of your subscribers may feel differently, but I still fear the Chinese government (and the Russian government, for that matter) more than my own. It's the difference between cancer and a bad flu.