"Chicago: Full 1970 Concert at Tanglewood" (opens in separate window)

demonKKKrats would suppress free speech

friday, december 5th, 2024

It’s easy to look at a collapsing civil society in a foreign country and comfort ourselves that, despite all our problems, we’re not as bad off as those people. Americans are especially apt to do this with our cousins in Great Britain, whose country is now in a state of precipitous and probably irreversible decline, and whose political leadership is openly hostile to the native population.

[FULL TITLE: "Democrats Would Like To Suppress Free Speech The Way Britain Does".]

But it’s a mistake to comfort ourselves this way, partly because the corruption of a place like Britain — the online censorship, the criminalization of disfavored opinions, the two-tiered system of justice — doesn’t stay confined to their shores but eventually makes its way to ours. Indeed, many Democrats here in America don’t see the tyranny of modern Britain as a cautionary tale but as a template to follow. The American left doesn’t look at the United Kingdom and see a cautionary tale, it sees a template to follow.

A startling case in point is a recent story from Drop Site News by Paul Holden, who chronicles how a secret campaign to elevate Kier Starmer to prime minister included a scheme to demonetize news outlets deemed unfriendly to the Starmer wing of the Labour Party. One of those news outlets was The Federalist.

In the middle of the 2020 presidential campaign, a shadowy UK-based group called the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) worked with NBC News and Google insiders to attempt to blacklist and demonetize The Federalist under false pretexts — an effort that was ultimately unsuccessful. The Orwellian-named NBC News Verification Unit reported in June 2020 that Google had banned the website ZeroHedge from its advertising platform and had warned The Federalist that it too might be banned.

But this wasn’t just “reporting,” it was part of a larger political op. According to the NBC News report itself, Google’s actions came only after the company had been “notified of research from the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a British nonprofit that combats online hate and misinformation. They found that 10 U.S-based websites have published what they say are racist articles about the protests, and projected that the websites would make millions of dollars through Google Ads.”

And who notified Google about this CCDH report? NBC News did. This was a transparent effort by left-wing activists at NBC News, together with left-wing activists at the CCDH, to demonetize and silence The Federalist for the crime of noticing the hypocrisy surrounding BLM protests and strict Covid lockdowns. DemonKKKrats fall in love with their politicians. Republicans fall in line with theirs.

But who or what was the CCDH, and why did it target The Federalist? At the time, the CCDH’s connection to the Starmer political machine and the Labour Party was unclear. But as Holden’s reporting reveals, the CCDH was part of a larger partisan political project that targeted The Federalist, Breitbart, ZeroHedge, and others. “As Keir Starmer rose to power in Britain, the political machine responsible for his rise ran a behind-the-scenes campaign to demonetize the U.S. news outlet Breitbart,” writes Holden. “The attacks on Breitbart were part of a targeted campaign against media outlets on both the left and right considered hostile to the centrist faction of the Labour Party, according to a trove of documents that expose the operation.”

At the center of this campaign was a man named Morgan McSweeney, who is now Prime Minster Starmer’s chief of staff. Between 2018 and 2020, McSweeney served as the company secretary and managing director for an organization called Labour Together that funded a think tank called Stop Funding Fake News (SFFN). At the time, SFFN claimed to be a grassroots effort organized and run by a group of anonymous concerned citizens inspired by the demonetizing campaigns run by Sleeping Giants, which had targeted Breitbart in the U.S. during the 2016 election.

In fact, SFFN was an astroturfing operation created and run by people in positions of real power inside the Labour Party, including not just McSweeney but Steve Reed, now a senior member of Starmer’s cabinet. The original purpose of SFFN, as Holden reports, was “to defeat the left-wing of the Labour Party and the media ecosystem that supported it.” The operations of SFFN, however, expanded to include right-wing outlets like Breitbart and The Federalist, which it saw as impediments to Starmer’s rise.

Eventually, SFFN was absorbed into a new entity, CCDH, whose CEO is a man named Imran Ahmed. Ahmed worked with McSweeney in the London office of Labour Together, which first launched the SFFN project. Ahmed has said that McSweeney gave him a “shell company” called Brixton Endeavors that later became CCDH and in early 2020 absorbed the entire SFFN project. McSweeney has tried to distance himself from all this but as Holden notes, McSweeney was the sole director of Brixton Endeavors between 2018 and September 2019, and remained a director of CCDH until April 2020.

During this time, a plan was developed to target disfavored news outlets by going after their advertisers. As Ahmed himself said in an October 2020 U.S. State Department conference on antisemitism, the CCDH “put together a program called stop funding fake news” designed to undermine ad revenue of certain news sites. He boasted that the weak points of news websites is that they’re expensive to run, so eliminating their ad revenue meant that “within a couple of months, you can completely eviscerate the economic base of a website.”

What Ahmed and his underlings at CCDH needed was a willing news outlet to “report” on its targeting of certain websites for being “hateful” or “racist.” This they found in the NBC News Verification Unit, which tried to goad Google into demonetizing The Federalist and others, and then “reported” it as news.

Take a step back and realize that this is the equivalent of people like Ron Klain or Jeff Zients, who served as chiefs of staff during the Biden administration, running secretive demonetization ops against conservative news outlets in America.

But even that isn’t very far-fetched. After all, the Biden administration’s State Department used its now-defunct Global Engagement Center to fund censorship operations by groups like NewsGuard and the Global Disinformation Index, which targeted The Federalist and The Daily Wire, among others. We here at The Federalist joined with The Daily Wire in a lawsuit against the State Department in 2023, claiming these groups, supported by the federal government, sought to defund and suppress our reporting and commentary in violation of our First Amendment rights.

And just this week came revelations from the FBI’s 2025 “pulse check” report that during the Biden administration FBI agents were working with UK and Canadian intelligence services to circumvent due process requirements in surveilling American citizens. That report also confirmed that the FBI is still full of left-wing ideologues who see conservatives as a threat and want to use the power of federal law enforcement to silence our voices and shut down our publications.

So when we look across the pond to Britain and see the way the government and political class are targeting free speech and basic civil liberties, we should understand that Democrats here in the U.S. would like nothing more than to be able to do that to us. And as soon as they get another chance, they will.

A Day In The Life.

Up at 7:30a on Friday, a cold 23°F, cloudy, breezy morning, I upped the heat, made coffee, fired-up the Win-7 Pentium HP Desktop to let its 32 million lines of code load, had breakfast, had a couple smokes in the garage and checked the leftover errands list. I scanned the weather -- snow squalls south of the PA line into MD and DC -- and news, tuned into the "CP Show LIVE" at 9, and relaxed for the morning. Today and next week are clear, so Sherry can come by at 2p today, and we can enjoy the beautiful day together.

DemonKKKrats: they're not on our side.

The tech from SPAR Assembly Co called and said he'd be here at 11:30a, to assemble the new office chair and install it for me. Maybe. I lounged around all morning, He finally arrived at 1p, spent 20mins of assembling the many parts to the completely dis-assembled (many, many pieces) Office Chair, and I'm using it. Woo-Hoo. I got the Jeep back into the garage and out of the 28° and freezing rain. The wet weather, except for a few errant rain/snow cells was south of the PA line and we got zero. It's going to be a cold weekend.

Sherry called to reschedule our visit today; no problem, we'll get some time together next week. I did a couple errands, got home and did paperwork, paid some bills online, and finished a condo chore I'd started yesterday. Natch. I had dinner, watched Discovery's "Gold Rush" until 12:30a, and bagged it for the night.

Up at 10 on Saturday, a cloudy, very cold 23° morning. I upped the heat, made coffee, and listened to a couple of "CP Show Podcasts" from last wee, which I'd missed. I skipped breakfast, and planned to go to Weis Market and the adjacent Pharmacy, to p/u waiting Rxs (7) and get a few other things. Saturday traffic was very heavy, but I made good time and was back, unloaded and having more coffee by 2p. By 2:30, I was starting to nod-off in my new Office Chair, so I had some Biscuits & Sausage Gravy,, and hit the LR couch, for just an hour.

I did a couple minor condo chores, had some warmed-up PA Dutch Chicken Pot Pie, watched Discovery's "Expedition X Files" until 11p, and unplugged.

Up at 7:30a on Sunday, an overcast, very cold 22°, an ***Air Quality Alert***, breezy morning, upped the heat, made coffee and joined ESPN's "F1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix", right at the start. Good race: Verstappen won, but Norris took the World Driving Championship -- his first -- and the 2025 season is in the books. I had breakfast, got ready for the day, started a load of laundry, and did some condo chores.

I grabbed less than an hour nap on the LR couch, interrupted by several phone calls, so I gave up. Dark by 4:30, I tuned into History's "American Pickers", made dinner, and watched "AP" until midnight. Lights out.

I have a lot more time behind me, than I do ahead of me.

Up at 8:30a on Monday, a cloudy, cold 28°, windy morning, upped the heat, made coffee, tuned into the "CP Show LIVE", and checked email to see if it was working. Well, sort of. There are still 3 "missing" emails, down from 13 a few days ago, that show-up as being in the inbox queue, but just aren't there and readable. Color me miffed. I made an Onion Bagel for breakfast, lounged around until 11:30, and left foe 3 stops on the usual Monday trip down south of York. Traffic was light, and I made good time, but when I stopped at Royal Farms to get Ethanol Free 90 Octane Premium, the pumps were half frozen, and it too 15mins to get 15gals of fuel. I cut it off short and left in 20° and 35-40mph wind. I get more later.

After getting home and unloaded, Sis stopped by with 35 Christmas cards for me to sign, Ha! We had fresh Kona Coffee, and visited for a while, and she left after 45 mins. I had lunch, crashed on the LR couch for 1½hrs, and got back up in the dark. I closed the condo, upped the heat, had dinner, watched the news and switched to MT's "Iron Resurrection" and History's "Ancient Aliens" until 12:30a, and unplugged. My cleaning lady's in at 8:30a tomorrow.

Up at 6a on Tuesday, at 0-DARK-THIRTY, a brutal cold 4° morning, with a forecast high of only 33°. I upped the heat, made coffee, scanned the weather and news and check the day's agenda: JoAnne in at 8:30, a short nap, and Sherry here at 1p. Nice. I don't know how wild animals survive in these temps... or maybe many don't. I'm recharging the handwarmer that Sherry gave me a couple of seasons ago; used it for the past week, and after 5 days, it needs a recharge. I tuned into the "CS Show LIVE" from 6-9, JoAnne arrived at 8:30, got to work, I had some breakfast and took a 2hr nap on the LR couch, to stay out of her way.

She finished and left around 11:30, I got back up, had some lunch, scanned the news and weather (now 19°) and waiting for Sherry's arrival around 1p. We had a very nice 3hrs together, before she left just after 4, before it got dark. I scanned the news and weather, had dinner, and watched the evening news on FNC. I switched to History's "The Curse of Oak Island" until midnight, and unplugged.

Up at 9:30a on Wednesday, a cloudy, damp, cold 31°, upped the heat, made coffee, and checked the news and weather headlines. I tuned into the "CP Show LIVE", already in progress, and looked at the day's tasks. I need to get to the York County Sheriff's Office (satellite), just 2 miles away, to p/u my renewed CCW Permit. Nothing else, so I'll come home and have a snooze. Hardly; I have Amazon boxes wwaiting to be unpacked and put away downstairs. I left at 1p.

Snow showers coming to York-Lancaster area.

Wow, what a nice, York County complex, even compared to the downtown York County Judicial Complex, but far easier to get to, park and enter. I was done and back home in 25mins, had lunch and took a 2hr snooze on the LR couch. Up at dark, I reheated the morning';s Kona Coffee, scanned the weather, now raining, and watched the evening news. After dinner, I watched History's "Best of American Pickers" and Discovery's "Ghost Adventures" until 1a, and bgged it for the night.

Awake at 3-4-5-6 -- much of the night -- coughing with COPD effects, I finally got up at 6:30a -- 0-DARK-THIRTY -- and took a hit each of Trelegy® and Combivent® inhalers, upped the heat, made coffee and rested in my Office-Sunroom chair. I scanned the news headlines and weather statements, and found a ***SPECIAL WEATHER ADVISORY*** about incoming snow and slick roads. I was exhausted from all the COPD coughing and from getting up so early (for me), but the coffee helped.

I tuned into the "CS Show LIVE", from 6-9, had Biscuits & Sausage Gravy for breakfast, and then moved to the "CP Show LIVE" from 9-12. I had a Weis Market delivery at around 1:15, unpacked and went out on 2 nearby errands. Home by 4, I finished off the morning's Kona Coffee, started watching MT's "Roadworthy Rescues" until the 6p evening FNC news and had dinner, Fettucine Alfredo. High here at my condo, for the day was only 21°, but it wasn't as bad a Monday's brutal 6°. I channel-flipped the 82" Samsung TV until 11:30, and bagged it for the night.

Tomorrow starts a new week here in the "Journal" and I have the inevitable numerous errands to do, and niggling paperwork, but nothing pressing since I got those two things done this week. Sherry will be by tomorrow afternoon, after a drop-off trip to Daughter Hollie's shop, so we'll see what she's got on her plate for the week. The Christmas & New Year Holidays are nearing, so people are getting very busy. Natch.

When They Say "Democracy," They Don't Mean "Democracy"

Western Civ is choking itself to death with lawfare in the name of “democracy.” If you think just a little bit past the sale, you will realize that few will say what they mean by “democracy,” including the most ardent “democracy” cultists. What it supposedly means is legal outcomes that the political left wants, not what the law, or the truth, or justice requires.

On the surface, the left pretends to want outcomes that favor their roster of designated victim groups: women, dark-skinned people, and sexual outliers, the familiar cast of characters with its tiresome scripts. But that’s not what they really want. They don’t really care about the “marginalized.” What they really want is power. The “marginalized” are just their clients and shock troops. They want to push everybody around, tell them how to live, and what to think, including the marginalized. If society has to get wrecked in the process, that’s okay — that will just make it easier to “build back better” to their advantage, or so their operating algorithm dictates. The left does not think past its own algorithms. Imagine if the US and EU were still aligned on the censorship-by-proxy strategy. Few people realize how close we were to global totalitarianism.

The “democracy” cultists are foremost against freedom of speech, because speech is what distinguishes human beings among the rest of the animal kingdom, and if you allow it, human beings are liable to develop ideas — ideas being the product of language — and especially ideas that make the “democracy” cultists uncomfortable. For instance, the idea that the “democracy” cultists don’t deserve the power they crave because they are dishonest, unscrupulous, and sadistic. Can’t have people thinking that, or saying it out-loud.

Censorship, the outright suppression of expressed thought, is the primary device for enforcing their version of “democracy.” The “democracy” cultists of the USA were especially avid for it the past decade after Mr. Trump came on the scene and offered to oppose the “democracy” cult’s plans to aggregate power. So, under the catspaw president “Joe Biden,” the FBI, CIA, the State Department’s Global Engagement Center, Stanford University’s Internet Observatory, the social media companies, and the White House itself worked sedulously to suppress the free expression of ideas, including the idea that they were all working to suppress free expression.

When Mr. Trump miraculously survived manifold attempts to stuff him in prison via lawfare and then, attempted murder, and managed to get re-elected, he put an end to the censorship shenanigans in government. That, in turn, became inconvenient to the “democracy” cultists in Europe who were, apparently, not busy enough destroying their own countries’ cultures and their economies. They put extra effort into suppressing free expression among their citizen-subjects: serious jail time for mean texts and mere casual statements on the street.

Now they are coming after the international speech platform “X,” liberated by Elon Musk three years ago at a $44-billion price. The European Commission, a body of unelected bureaucrats under the EU, created a so-called Digital Services Act to deal with the threat of free speech. After a two-year-investigation, the commission has leveled a $140-million fine against “X” for a series of specious offenses, such as not meaningfully verifying account authenticity [blue check marks] eroding trust in verified content. Mr. Musk objected, naturally. Veep JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, called it an “attack on American tech.” It’s more than that, of course. It’s an effort to wreck the company, which would eliminate the chief remaining public arena for free speech and genuine news worldwide.

I would expect Mr. Trump to respond shortly, perhaps with tariffs that make it impossible for the Europeans to sell their cars in the USA, or their wine, or whatever else is on offer. He will squeeze them until they drop this stupid crusade to destroy an American company. And then stand by and watch as “democracy” cultists in the USA complain about him defending free speech.

We have enough trouble with the “democracy” cult here at home. The Norm Eisen Axis-of-Evil has enjoyed endless “funding” from the dark money spigots of George Soros, British hedge fund billionaire Christopher Hohn, and Shanghai-based American billionaire Neville Roy Singham. Once the money-flows are turned off, you will see a lot less nuisance litigation aimed at perverting the rule of law and destroying the country. Norm Eisen and his colleagues operate out of a set of foundations and NGOs, chiefly Brookings and the outfit Eisen founded called the States United Democracy Center. They are mere money-launderers.

The federal judiciary is the “democracy” cult’s remaining praetorian guard. The federal judges, especially the Obama and Biden appointed ones, are making sure that Lawfare ninjas won’t be prosecuted for any crimes. The two latest examples: James Comey, case dismissed on procedural issues (for now) on his charge of lying to Congress. And New York AG Leticia James, let off the hook on a mortgage fraud rap by a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia, probably a case of “jury nullification” and probably due to race — after the fashion of OJ Simpson skating on murder in 1995.

Unfortunately, the remedy of impeaching federal judges is unavailable due to the 60-vote majority required for removal in the Senate. It’s getting to the point where Mr. Trump might have to go medieval on the whole lot of them, declare the Insurrection Act, and move the action into military courts. Then maybe we’ll see who can handle the truth.

BREAKING: The Department of Homeland Security has just signed a $140 million deal to buy a FLEET of Boeing 737s to RAMP UP ICE’s deportation flights.

REAKING: The Department of Homeland Security has just signed a $140 million deal to buy a FLEET of Boeing 737s to RAMP UP ICE’s deportation flights. LFG. ICE had previously been forced to rely on chartered flights, but now with dedicated planes, illegals can be shipped out MUCH quicker. No First Class seats on these planes!

Personal Note: For over a year, I've posted on FR threads about deportation, that it'll cost BILLIONS, not just millions, to get 20 million+ CRIMINAL, ILLEGAL, ALIEN INVADERS out of the country -- money well spent, IMO -- with CPB-ICE time and temp housing, cost of flights, etc, but too many idiots poo-poo'ed the idea. Now, they see it happening.