Senator Rand Paul can be both frustrating at times and brutally purposeful at times. While Paul is a legislative enigma and often a hot mess…. When he is incorrect, he is allowing the DeceptiCons to advance; but when he is correct on the core issue, Senator Paul can be brilliant.
Senator Josh Hawley took to the Senate floor yesterday to present a modified version of the “Restrict Act” as an alternative to the complete government takeover of all internet content – a worthy endeavor.
Hawley tried to strip out the DHS takeover component of the Restrict Act, and just present a bill that bans TikTok. Senator Rand Paul refused to permit Unanimous Consent for the bill to proceed immediately to a vote. Senator Paul slows down the Senate deliberations while asking some bigger questions.
The entire Hawley -vs- Paul debate is worth watching (there are two videos, one long – one short). I sense that Hawley’s intent is good, but Rand Paul is on the right side of the argument. The American people have never, not once, benefited from any legislative endeavor such as what is being proposed in the effort to ban TikTok. It’s not about TikTok, it’s about freedom.
The originating debate is below the fold. This segment is the shorter follow-up that follows Senator Paul blocking unanimous consent. If you have time, watch both. If you do not have the time, this first one is solid enough to understand the arguments. Notice how Senator Paul says everything inside this rush to ban is based on “speculation and conjecture.” This is a point DC doesn’t want people to think about. Nothing has been proven, only accused. WATCH:
.
WASHINGTON, March 29 (Reuters) – U.S. Republican Senator Rand Paul on Wednesday blocked a bid to fast-track a ban of popular Chinese-owned social media app TikTok, which more than 150 million Americans use, citing concerns about free speech and uneven treatment of social media companies.
“I think we should beware of those who use fear to coax Americans to relinquish our liberties,” Paul said on the Senate floor. “Every accusation of data gathering that has been attributed to TikTok could also be attributed to domestic big tech companies.”
Republican Senator Josh Hawley had sought unanimous consent for a TikTok ban bill. “It protects the American people and it sends a message to Communist China that you cannot buy us,” Hawley said, adding the app is spying on Americans.
“If Republicans want to continuously lose elections for a generation they should pass this bill to ban TikTok — a social media app used by 150 million people, primarily young Americans,” Paul said on the Senate floor. “Do we really want to emulate Chinese speech bans?… We’re going to be just like China and ban speech we’re afraid of?”
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said last week he expects the house will take up a bill to address TikTok but the timing is unclear. It is also not clear what a final bill to address TikTok might look like.
A small but growing number of Democrats and Republicans have raised concerns, citing free speech and other issues and have objected to legislation targeting TikTok as overly broad. (read more)
Longer debate…
What I actually want to know is who wrote the bill? We all know it wasn’t anyone in Congress! So who actually wrote the bill I want names!! Is it someone in Lawfare and/or the IC if so who are they? We need the list of all authors attached to these illegal Unconstitutional bills!!! JMO
Agree Bubby. In my opinion, it’s very likely this bill was authored by deep state plants within current social media giants. Facebook, Google, Snapchat. TikTok’s market share represents a threat to them, and they are already in bed with the 5 Eyes in terms of permitting the censorship. They have much to lose via TikToks popularity, and they have already cast their lot with the IC.
Just my $0.02.
Joe flation Cletus it’s &0.356.
the federal government is pissed off that they can’t infiltrate, control
posters and content of tik tok like they already do on our social media.
they can’t throw little Johnny in jail for calling Biden an idiot on tik tok.
I would also suspect the MIC think tanks and lobby.
I know that the Senator for Wisconsin cosponsored it.
Ron Johnson?
No. Tammy Baldwin. Wisconsin is bipolar.
I would imagine the WEF had a hand in it somewhere.
No imagining needed!
The number one thing they fear is
1A FREE SPEECH
Without that they can’t blow bs up enough people’s rectums
And it will all come apart!
Free speech has ALWAYS been controversial.
The whole concept embodied in the Constitution and Bill of Rights was a novel experience, and experiment.
On “free speech” and Government regulation, and “free markets” applied to “the marketplace of ideas”.
Post WW2, legislation was signed into law, limiting the ownership of media outlets; newspapers, radio and broadcast TV stations.
The legislation did NOT limit be saying certain parties, organisations or ideologies couldn’t own such media outlets; if the Nazi party, KKK or American CONmunist Party wanted to own such an outlet, nothing in the law prevented it.
What the legislation said was that to preserve freedom of the press and freedom of speech, one company or individual could not own more than a certain PERCENTAGE of media outlets, in a media market.
The idea was attempting to use government regulation to insure that in a media market, there would be diverse points of view, with one newspaper “leaning left” one “leaning right”, and “let the market decide.
Unfortunately, in the 70’s and beyond, thru “media consolidation” large corporations began buying up small independent media outlets in various media markets.
The original legislation delegated to the FCC to determine WHAT percentage of ownership was ‘allowed’ and they had the authority to block the purchase of media outlets.
As the big six began gobbling up more outlets, the FCC simply raised the ‘allowable percentage’ to accommodate the purchases.
Cable, and sattelite transmission complicated the effort to have the government regulate ownership, in order to insure diverse points of view, however it needn’t have been the case.
This is a classic case of “regulatory capture” where the big media companies ‘bought off’ the regulators, just as with the FDA, and turn the regulators into enablers.
And, with the i-net, they have gone one or two steps further. WHO really owns Twitter, etc. Based on the mixed results of the Elon experiment, it DOES seem like Twitter is outside Musk’s TOTAL control.
Methinks the I-net is a double edged sword, that cuts both ways; and I am not confident technology will ever give them the “total control” they crave.
The Chinese spend more on internal security, than on their military, and have a rubust system for monitoring and censoring I-net content.
And yet as many longtimers know, for around two years we had a treepers regularly posting comments here, highly critical of the CCP, and convincingly from mainland China.
Like $ in politics, the truth will find a way.
Technology is NOT the “magic bullet” that will empower THEM to have the complete control tyrants thruout the ages have longed for.
Lawmakers,
LAY OFF my FREEDOMS!
Less Government, More Freedoms!
Is that kind of “metadata” on bills recorded? Not that it would be honest or accurate. It would be good to have tracking data on every bill to see who contributed, who wrote, who modified and edited, who was communicated with. It would be good to have ALL lobbying groups sign on as against, for, or no opinion for every bill.
The voice of We the People in the legislative process as well as “congressional oversight” process is becoming smaller and smaller — yet the activities of the legislature affect us tremendously.
We are back to taxation without representation.
Amen and Amen!! Great post Doc that kind of tracking data for every bill should be mandatory!!! “We are back to taxation without representation” exactly!!! We are also back to being further spied upon without representation if this odious, illegal, Unconstitutional bill passes!!!! Congress takes all the credit, grandstanding for bills they have absolutely no involvement in writing!!! All legislation should be written by those in Congress not lobbyists, billionaires or even their staff by only by those actually elected by We The People! Two things would happen immediately there would be fewer bills and fewer pages per bill!!! But that will never happen!!!
No kidding… like the mandated list of ingredients on every food item, the same should apply to legislation. Who wrote it, edited it, and when. Names of individuals, organizations, compensation received, date stamps, admissions of potential conflicts of interest. Oops! There I go again, suggesting transparency and accountability from our lawmakers.
Add:
-Who are the lobbyists?
-Who & What are the special interest groups?
-Who are attorneys affiliated with writings?
-Names of banks and people affiliated with
-Names of all lawmakers who profit
and
What they profit.
It is time that
WE THE PEOPLE
are made aware of
what
those whom WE employ are doing for and to us.
Doc so very very true thank you for your post tracking data for every bill is a grand idea would love to see it come to pass . we need to put the bug in Matt Geatz head
R.D.
It was a joint effort between our Intelligence agencies and Facebook, no doubt. Facebook paid the Retardlicans like Hawley and IC paid the Retardlicans like Graham.
I misspoke. Joint effort between State Department, IC, and Facebook. How can State Department “spread democracy” if people can learn facts?
State Dept =CIA, at this point.
china
Here’s the bill’s sponsor and cosponsors by state.
Likely to pass if there is not public uproar, so check your legislators and and respond accordingly.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/686/cosponsors?s=1&r=15
Don’t ask Lindsey Graham. He didn’t even know he was a sponsor of it.
The litmus test is and should always be . . . freedom and liberty. Laws, regardless of intent, that restrict freedom and liberty are always bad. Tic-Tok is Chinese psyops that is delibertly intended to nefariously shape human behavior. Banning it preserves freedom and liberty.
Rand has not raised the issue of gross violations of the due process and civil rights for the J6 prisoners, NOT ONE PEEP!
OR the gross violations in the NDAA against the 4th & 5th Amendments (which is what has allowed the J6 atrocities), OR … OR …
He’s just inconsistent and ineffective.
“The American people have never, not once, benefitted from any legislative endeavor such as what is being proposed in the effort to ban TikTok. It’s not about TikTok, it’s about freedom.”
True to the nth degree; so, why does there have to be a bill at all, why don’t these clown republicans just kill it?
As Rush often said, if these people actually solved problems they’d be out of a job.
In fact, they create or allow the problems so they can bring a “solution”.
President Trump alerted us about TikTok years ago.
They are largely dullards and wimps, inferior people. Not worthy of us, The People.
Anything the Great El Rushbo said should be written in stone; otherwise, my question was rhetorical.
Because the Uniparty has an agenda. Anytime the parties act in unison you know it’s for some bullcrap reason. “All the world is a stage” Shakespeare knew.
So, you think the company can spy on us, then? Invade assumed privacy, then?
Both men are right and both men are wrong.
They need to throw this bill out and writer a better bill.
Well, how about this?
Do you believe that Google has the right to spy on us? That’s their entire market.
What about Facebook?
Twitter?
The problem is exactly what it often is with these types of regulations: They exist to strengthen monopolies that already exist.
And then there’s the scarier possibility: That this attempted regulation will be used to silence any and all sites that criticize the government beyond what the court jester is allowed. That is, places like this website, patriots.win, American Thinker, Gab, etc… Or hey, is Twitter getting too uppity under new management? Can’t have that.
The government has been accusing half its population of being Russian plants for the last 6 or so years. They can claim anyone they want is a foreign agent. I have no love for TikTok, but the better way to handle it is education. If you give your kid a phone, limit all downloads to require parental approval. Total daily usage should be restricted. No TikTok, no Roblox. Talking to family? Unrestricted. Thankfully most of the previously “Unbreakable” social media platforms are no longer hip with the kids.
no bill would be better
The American people have never benefited from any bill that’s been rushed through.
Due to our current regime being quite close to China, our president and his family easily blackmailed by their corruption, this seems to be solution looking for a problem.
We need to stay away from banning things and putting powers to ban things in the hands of government. I really like Hawley but, he has this one wrong.
America can’t be fixed with a bunch of man made laws.
Freedom is a concept lost on Congress these days.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if what passes for our own government (it’s a corporation) was forced to operate under the very same constraints that Sen Hawley wishes to impose on TicToc?
They are preparing the battlefield….
This is intended to prevent patriots from organizing any resistance once things get spicy.
Think about it…how would we organize in the future? Social media will be censored. MSM will spew propaganda telling us not to believe our lying eyes. Sites like this one, gab etc will be taken down by this law to ‘protect the country ‘.
How would we organize in large numbers? Short wave radio?
Smoke signals?
I believe there’s already an MA Senator of 1/1024 Siberian-American heritage who will propose an amendment to censor smoke signals as well.
Naturally, smoke signals cause climate change.
Like true courageous patriots throughout history always have…person to person…less efficient, but more controllable. Mass communication is for political parties and political power. For example Trump’s J6 ralley was infested with government and media plants subverting its true intent. It is more clear everyday that LIBERTY stems from individuals…those with the courage to wrest it back from parties and movements. I have always held that I would not be part of any group that would accept me as a member!
The FBI is already quite adept at finding “domestic terrorists” and infiltrating them. In addition, they’ll set up new organizations pretending to be subversive patriots and start a revolt as cover to arrest anybody they suspect of being actual patriots.
I agree with the personal relationships, but with the speed troops can move today, knocking on doors isn’t really practical in event of attack.
This is a question i ask!!
Instead of the “dark web” we’d invent the “light web” for truth, justice and the American way.
Or… we’d need a newspaper/newsletter taken by pony and read aloud in our newly established communities.
hold on to your IBM selectrics!
Manuals would be safer.
I’ll go grab and dust off my mimeograph
Make The Town Crier Great Again!
Organizing in large numbers just makes it easy for the regime. Dedicated and smart people can effect a lot of, shall we say, “change” in very small groups working in total secrecy. With a little creative thinking, we are all the “super-empowered individuals” that Tom Friedman wrung his hands about 20 years ago.
The lupine that stays apart from the pack, comes to mind.
IF it should come to that.
Start to study guerilla warfare.
Graffiti scrawled on walls, at 3:00 am?
IF the “message” has resonance, such organisation and commu ication for coordination isn’t really necessary.
Witness the singing revolution.
The rebel alliance HAS proven to be a formidable counter to the MSM, and as such played a vital role in countering the false narratives with TRUTH.
However, even without such a venue, “the TRUTH will out”.
Why doesn’t the government
figure out how
to stop
internet identity theft, spying,
viruses and malware?
WE
do not need
-any more ACTS
of
‘It’s for your own good”false patriotic protections!!!
WE
do not need
to be spied on
nor
licensed
to speak !!!!
F off, jerks!
From your comment, “why doesn’t the government figure out how to stop identity theft”? My all of the sudden strobe light in the eye realization……why would they want to?
Why isn’t there some site that people whose identities have been stolen by illegals can go for rectification and reporting??
It’s so devastating for the victims, and yet statistically, half of the forged documents used by illegals belong to actual REAL PEOPLE!!
But you never hear a peep about it. These victims should sue BiteMe.
Where is Senator Hawley’s concern with the U.S. government’s monitoring of Americans. It’s just as egregious.
I have suspected for a while that’s he’s not all he pretends to be
Just ban yourself from Tik Tok or other social media sites. There doesn’t need to be a ban on any social media. Use self control.
I don’t do any social media at all and don’t feel like I’ve missed anything.
Amen!
I am concerned that it may not be possible to “use self-control.” How can anyone know whether the person on the other end of your call or text or email does not have some Tik Tok-like spying device on their phone that picks up and records your data as well?
It all does. Don’t kid yourself.
The question is how will this be used? Most likely to further entrench Goolag and Fakebook and ban every last conservative site that gets too uppity.
This is a trojan horse, and always was.
That you have posted a comment HERE, belies your position
This comment section, as well as any other, ARE “Social media”, enabling “social interaction” between many.
Yes, Sundance has done everything “on his end” to insure commenters are not tracked,data isn’t collected and sold, etc.
However, in order to get from our keyboard to the treehouse, our comment has to transi thru the I-net, where it is no doubt scooped up, ‘recorded’ by the NSA, and filtered by algorithms.
Think “Blackbrier”, the “Echelon system” as demonstrated in the Bourne movie.
Or “Enemy of the State” movie. And, those movies were made 20+ years ago, no doubt they are archaic in their depictions of the survellence State.
If I’m on facebook (I know) and there is a post from someone taken from TikTok, does TikTok get additional access to my data?
Im not “relinquishing ” my Liberty or rights. They are being stolen.
I know this much about Rand Paul … when I want my BIG L Liberty protected … I’ll most likely be on his side.
Thank you, SD, for your accurate description of the Jekyll/Hyde nature of Rand Paul’s political nature.
I, too, am often puzzled by his actions…his instincts appear to be spot-on almost all of the time but he almost never takes them to their logical conclusions. Is he, like Tucker Carlson, being given a fairly long leash but not actually being allowed to “run free”?
I don’t think he is “controlled opposition” so much but I do wonder if someone has something on him and he must walk a fairly thin line or else he will be unceremoniously removed from office and he knows it! He had Fauxi dead to rights numerous times but no one else would support him so nothing ever happened. He could have pushed back on McConnell and allowed President Trump to make recess appointments but he is strangely differential to Cocaine Mitch and will never openly challenge him.
He and his staffers seem to be frequent targets of physical attacks so maybe he is just, understandably, afraid of rocking the boat too much? Definitely an enigma in many ways but glad to see him speaking out here!!
Just my hunch, but if we get rid of Senator Mitch McConnell I suspect we will see much more of the *good* side of Rand Paul…..
#Kentucky
From your lips to God’s ears!!
Where is Ol’ Mitchy these days? Considering the animal, his generally being AWOL is odd to say the least, avoiding culpability for his reprobate Swamp Club activity is more likely.
Mitch’s job was to maintain the ILLUSION of a two-party system,while furthering the Uniparties goals.
He has been forced to stick his head out, too many times, in order to fight MAGA, and hence expose the true nature of the Uniparty.
So, he has been manuevering to retire, since before the midterms.
Yes, it will be good to see him go,but Thune will continue in his footsteps.
And we know who will be standing behind Thune…Ernst, Barrasshole. Did they really kick Scott to the Curb, or will Mr. Clean’s head shine in the spotlight behind Thune?
McConnell and Federman are sharing a room in the hospital, writing the script for the drama leading up to next election
one might say that about many in the rino party
As Captain Kirk said: “Make it so.”
That would be Cptn. Picard
You’re right!
My mind must have been “in outer space” someplace…………………….
I spend a LOT of time there too … hahaha ha ha
Make it so, #1 …
But only if we do not simple exchange one for another, keeping the same structure in place.
“Same old WINE, in a brand new bottle!”
We need to remove the cabal at the top, McConnell and his decepticons, and the SSCI.
EASY to spot; look for any Republican Senator that has been their for multiple terms,and is the R Chair (when in the Majority) or Co-chair (when in the Minority .
ALL are decepticons; “not Chuck GRASSLEY, surely!??” Yes, of COARSE GRASSLEY!
“But,..not Blackburn? I really LIKE what she says!”
Yes, most definitely Marsha Blackburn.
Mitch is on his way out, the signals have been there for awhile, and the intention is to leave the structure in place,while removing the figurehead.
Credit Bureau has been sell personal information since the 60’s. Let stop pretending what has been going on for years.
Yes, if one has good credit, one gets many, many letters with credit card offers, etc.
If anybody thinks anything coming out of D.C. is legitimate, they need their heads examined.
I don’t particularly have any respect for the so-called Republican Senators and zero respect to borderline contempt for the Democrats and Rinos.
However, I have to give Rand Paul credit for his stance on this topic. At times, he makes more common sense than the rest of them put together.
As Sundance alludes, Hawley is still on his learning curve.
Only one of these Senators voted to certify Joe Branden as the first fake President.
I will keep on bringing it up as a reminder since the installation of a fake President through outright election fraud is the worst thing that ever happened to this nation.
so yeah I agree with what comrade Paul says Im just not sure if he really believes it.
it happened with Obama also, so not the first time
almost happened in 2016, but they didn’t cheat enough with Hillary
youre comparing the fraud of 2020 and 2022 to the election of Chicago Jesus and cheating?
There is no comparison. The fraud happened the first time in 2020 on a large enough scale and ever since then. Everyone in Congress are deliberately not investigating it. Paul is no damn different.
Obama was elected by stupidity of the American voter.
” Freedoms just another word for nothing left to lose ”
Me and Bobby McGee
Bill’s of attainder-there’s a “d” in that word
https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/article-1/section-9/clause-3/bills-of-attainder
The concern is the power being granted to government over The Internet… It could be abused just as the Patriot Act allowed FISA warrant abuses and the NSA databases being granted to 17 other agencies. You are supposed to have a FISA warrant in hand to run queries on the NSA databases. The FBI among others were caught running queries against political opponents without a warrant and being run by civilian contractors.
The TikTok ban Bill includes some terrifying powers… They’ve proven they are not trust worthy already… Let’s not make things worse. The bill has very little to do with TikTok itself and more about granting powers to government.
Like COVID fear and their remedies (mask, social distance, commerce shutdowns, school closures, church closures, and the Jab), the Tic Tok fear mongering is manipulation to get more power in the hands of Elite Bureaucrats and diminish our individual rights, liberties, and choices we make.
You could easily substitute ‘congress’, or ‘our own government’, or ‘our own medical community’, or ‘our own MSM’ or ‘our own judicial system’, or all of the previously mentioned entities for ‘Tik Tok’ in your sentence and it would be just as true of them as it is for Tik Tok.
The fear mongering is a universal and powerful trait of the The Powers That Be. I reckon you could say they are a fear ‘equity’ employer!
I call this stuff The Firehose Effect…add up the weekly chaos from the past three months, or worse, the past two years. This is another distraction designed to incriminate good citizens while running roughshod over Constitutional freedoms.
Banning TikTok is yet another low-hanging fruit smokescreen. While I have ZERO Social Media accounts, and TikTok is asinine for those who believe they are actually being productive to society, this move is massively stupid and a waste of time.
Even Jesse Watters can see that this was a bad bill full of BS language that, taken as a whole, empowers the Government to illegally spy on anyone our anything they want, including American citizens. Instead of the FISA provisions in the Patriot Act, which were unconstitutional, the Government would even be allowed to just ignore the Patriot Act and go ahead and surveil anything, anyone, and anytime without regard to the illegal search and seizure Amendment. This is another Bureaucratic State overreach. They always shroud the sinister motivations in inside a popular idea for a legislation. Rand Paul may be an enigma, but he is the most forthright defender of our Constitution in the US Senate. The powerful and unelected 4th Branch of our Bureaucratic Government has evolved into the Governing power. Our entire way of life is now threatened because of it. Anyone else notice that, yet?
its not so much the spying, its the arrest and jail time
in France a 50 year old woman was arrested for calling Macron a name
it will happen here.
We need to cease the compromise crap. Like Nancy Reagan’s drug campaign,
just say no!
I have watched Senator Paul over the years and I am convinced that he is a decent and honorable man quite unlike most of his political colleagues. This does not mean that I agree with him on any or many specific issues but decency and honor are rare gems in that swamp.
Mark Steyn:
“It’s a good basic axiom that if you take a quart of ice-cream and a quart of dog feces and mix ’em together the result will taste more like the latter than the former. That’s the problem with the U.N.”
Absolutely right, if I do say so myself. When you make the free nations and the thug states members of the same club, the danger isn’t that they’ll meet each other half-way but that the free world winds up going three-quarters, seven-eighths of the way.” …….
That’s the story of the Chinese/American UniGovernment in a Double-Pistacchio nutshell. They were going to become more like us, but we’ve become more like them.
But it’s also the story of this Bill. You simply cannot remove enough dogshit from it to make it taste right.
Bonus Reagan joke:
“There were two twin boys of five or six. Worried that the boys had developed extreme personalities — one was a total pessimist, the other a total optimist — their parents took them to a psychiatrist.
First the psychiatrist treated the pessimist. Trying to brighten his outlook, the psychiatrist took him to a room piled to the ceiling with brand-new toys. But instead of yelping with delight, the little boy burst into tears. “What’s the matter?” the psychiatrist asked, baffled. “Don’t you want to play with any of the toys?” “Yes,” the little boy bawled, “but if I did I’d only break them.”
Next the psychiatrist treated the optimist. Trying to dampen his out look, the psychiatrist took him to a room piled to the ceiling with horse manure. But instead of wrinkling his nose in disgust, the optimist emitted just the yelp of delight the psychiatrist had been hoping to hear from his brother, the pessimist. Then he clambered to the top of the pile, dropped to his knees, and began gleefully digging out scoop after scoop with his bare hands. “What do you think you’re doing?” the psychiatrist asked, just as baffled by the optimist as he had been by the pessimist. “With all this manure,” the little boy replied, beaming, “there must be a pony in here somewhere!”…….
It’s All Pile and No Pony.
This bill would allow BidenFuhrer to prosecute you or China. Who do you think he would choose?
The pessimist,BEING a pessimist says;
“Things can’t POSSIBLY get any worse ”
The optimist, being an optimists says;
“Oh, YES they can!”
No one has been able to actually identify to me what, if anything, the Chinese government does with tik tok info, that affects ‘national security’.
nothing
they already know all our secrets
Or better yet, what Tic Toc does that Facebook, Google, et al don’t also do. If Tic Toc is a national security threat then so are the others.
More likely, US intelligence has no control over Tic Toc and can’t control the messaging. China has us all whipped up about the wrong issues and US intell wants to control what we’re all whipped up about.
Is China whipping us up? Or is it our own government that is doing this??
I’m so glad I listened to the long version – thank you for the choice and for bringing us such critical information. As you said, when Senator Paul is right, he can be penetratingly right.
They’re collecting data on everyone for evil purposes. Even if it all can’t yet be weaponized, they’re banking it for the day. They’re also conducting Psy-War on our kids.
That said, the Swamp is not going to do anything meaningful against them–they’re partners. This is aimed at us, just as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act targets Americans, not foreigners.
My sense is that Tik Toc is, at best, a feedback loop that informs the CCP and other globalists as to the sheer depravity of Western populations.
Both the CCP and the U.S. Gov are engaging in “psy-ops” operations, to attempt to manipulate “mass psychosis”.
In order to do this,they need “feed back”; HOW is a false narrative being “received”?
Otherwise, it’s like driving a car, blindfolded. They need info, in order to turn the steering wheel, speed up or slow down, etc.
Both feed all of this data into giant supercomputers, with AI,that give them the “feedback” that they need, to control the vehicle, (public opinion) and steer it in the direction they want.
Tik-Tok is for kids and entertainment. Government phones should be secured for direct work and communications for employees. A business phone issued by a corporation to an employee would never tolerated frivolous use of its phone outside of work. Well OK if the government banned Tik-Tok for government phones, just as the government needs to ban pornography on government computers – which they haven’t. This is not a reason to ban the platform for entertainment. The Chineese already have back door applications thru the electronics that they produce for our economy. This is a ruse.
It is generally always a bad idea to parcel out accepted uses.
My understanding is the Senate bill does not mention TikTok. It is generalized to ‘speech’ in general on the internet. That includes the government deciding what is allowed. That would have catastrophic implications on free speech. This bill must be prohibited.
I understand Tik Tok is more favorable to demonrats as it relates to “customers” and disemination of “information”. Are the demonrats going to vote for the ban with Tik Tok being the sacrifice in order to get rid of ones they don’t like (CTH, Zero Hedge, multiple etcs)? And then allow the big follow the narrative ones, Google, fakebook, etc to be the only games in town?
While I’m sure it will pass the Senate (and will be interesting to see the GOPrick RINOrats who vote for it), the rubber will really meet the road in the house. As speaker, McCarthy could just not bring it up. But I’m sure he will. So, which GOPrick RINOrats will get it over the 50%?
One of the many problems with the Legislation is that it blatantly is written to allow for SELECTIVE ENFORCEMENT, which should ALWAYS be a “red-flags” on any legislation.
If enacted,THEY can use it to shut down sights like CTH, while leaving sites like Mother Jones and Politico alone.
The real deception is to advance the ideas that: (a) it is in the public interest to “100% censor” TikTok, and (b) if we do this to ‘TikTok,’ the problem will go away because only they are doing it. Both are patently false.
Ignore any “justifications” and focus only on what they “do.”
Data gathering, keystroke logging, etc. Yes, these things are concerning and this was a good debate. “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another”.
But they don’t touch upon the real danger, namely how TikTok (and other social media) has been rewiring kids’ brains. The exposure of this type of content to children is very bad and is going to have long-term, unknown ramifications on the behavior and psyche of the children who are regularly being brainwashed by this content. Check this post (and also his post on Elsagate two days later):
https://farm.substack.com/p/what-is-tiktok-actually-doing
The problem you touch on is real, but it isn’t a problem with content.
A ‘researcher’ has been polling 10,000 high school kids, every year since the early 60’s.
Recently he ‘saw’ the first generation of teen agers, where the majority do ‘t want a driver’s licence, long a benchmark of teens transitioning to adulthood.
He calls them “the I generation,” not for the self-absorbtion,although they are, but because they live in the virtual world, with I-phones, I-pads, the I-ternet, etc.
They do not want driver’s licenses, since they have little need to leave their rooms. Instead of going to the mall, to “hang out” with their friends, they just get “on line”.
Mom can drive them the few places they must go
Bottom line, “real life interaction” is BORING to them, compared to online.
THIS is terrifying in it’s implications, and it goes far beyond the content of any app.
Many of our parents gave us car keys to play with, to distract us as toddlers
These children were given I-phones. THINK about that.
The problem is with the bill’s language. I hate to see these two guys not on the same page.
Hawley’s “Since when is spying protected by the 1st Amendment?” is also correct.
Get together, guys, and write a better bill.
Apple and Google control entry into their app marketplaces and could just shut down any bad actors. Their lack concern over social engineering and privacy is very telling, as are their deep connections and genuflections to totalitarian states.
Even though Hawley’s intentions are probably good, I think he’s just blown up any realistic chance of running for President. Enough of us side with Paul in this debate that I doubt Hawley could win the Primary.
His intentions aren’t good. Like everyone else the uniparty can get elected, it’s all about branding (Hawley-fighter for liberty!), until the day you draw the short straw. Hawley was set up nicely, yelling at Myorkis the other day, sure to inspire lots of good guy feelings amongst the Trumpist Republicans. Yet no effort was made to actually stop the flow of third worlders and drugs to kill the replacees into our country. Just a great sound bite. And then he wakes up the next day now armored up a little bit and stands up and defends this turkey. That’s how the game is played
He’ll snuggle up with Mitch in the end and do what he’s told.
Thank you for this great article.
Spot on, as always.
With all the technology we have now, we should be able to create computer aps, on-line versions of bills that allow direct input and more complete information on bills as they are introduced and processed.
Every citizen should be able to know tracking data on every bill:
— to see who contributed, who wrote,
— who modified and edited,
— who was communicated with.
— It would be good to have ALL lobbying groups sign on as against, for, or no opinion for every bill.
Of course use of technology like this would rigorously fought against by congress, lobbyists, and the lobbying group because in giving We the People our constitutional voice and awareness back, it would absolutely cripple the ability for all the profiteering currently enjoyed (at the expense, no enslavement of citizens) by lobbying interests, Big Corporations, government employees
Currently, the voice of We the People in the legislative process as well as “congressional oversight” process is becoming smaller and smaller — yet the activities of the legislature affect us tremendously. We are back to taxation without representation.
Who is going to compete with the cutting edge technology available to us to give us back our constitutional voice? No one. It has to be us. Government will not do it for us, because government no longer serves us. We are in worse condition than the colonists were under England.
Rand is usually looking out for us in the big Picture. Thats why he is independent. He cannot serve us as he does as a Republican or a Democrat.
We have ChatGPT and apps for everything that can order anything from all over the world and tracking software for it, but the process by which the Government (which is supposed to serve us) is shrouded in mystical secrecy where we can see the inner workings.
The output of our governning process, however is clear: Everyone else gets rich, the freedom to pursue the fruits of our labor are vanishing, and we are becoming more and more like slaves.
Here’s the thing: I’m FAR more worried about US government having my data than I am about China having it. What’s China going to do with my data? Target me with a designer genetically targeted virus? Send me mail order waifu ads? US government will throw my butt in prison , China not exactly a threat to me, sorry. But none of this is about protecting Americans from Chinese spying, it’s about US government not being able to control the conversation on Tik Tok. Full stop. Don’t adopt their frame.
Why is this another bill being created/voted/enacted post haste that WE THE PEOPLE don’t get to meet with our elected representatives to discuss it?
the litmus test for any bill our corrupt government proposes should be:
How does it impact our freedoms and American taxpayer lives; is it
worth the cost and how exactly does our corrupt government benefit
from it?
Let the government restrict THEIR employees. If they want to ban TikTok from government devices, let them. Otherwise, no, no, no government bills restricting free speech in any way, shape or form. Inform people that the CCP is spying on them through TikTok and let them make their own decisions. Our government had their chance and they blew it. I don’t trust anything they do anymore.
To save what is left of America we need to send the appointment of Senators back to state legislatures, cut Congressional pay by 60%, remove all their benefits and limit their session to no more than 3 months of the year where their first obligation is to pass a balanced budget with no deficit spending or they get no pay at all and cannot consider any other legislation.
If I’m recalling correctly, PDJT wanted at first to ban Tik Tok, then pushed for it to be sold to a US company.
I don’t use it, would prefer it be gone; but first let’s ban FISA and the rest of the “Patriot Act” abuses.
So to stop the Chinese, this bill “copies” what the Chinese are already doing to their people? Does this make any sense?
Sundance, thanks for the Mark Twain quote! Very applicable!
Rand Paul is correct. This bill as written would give the government unlimited power to control speech on the internet, by prohibiting the use of 3d party software. That means that any speech that the government, as represented by the DHS and the ODNI, could control what we said as they chose to. That would destroy the 1A in the name of national security. I’ve already seen that I don’t like the current backdoor censorship. This would be fa worse.
Rand Paul did do tremendous service to the American People but left out the ONE SINGLE FACT that would have cemented his objection … Senator Hawley’s argument rests on the connection between Tik Tok and China Inc. … Senator Paul needed to add to his argument that US Big Tech both wrote many of the algorithms used by Tik Tok and was also tied DIRECTLY to Agencies of the US Government to provide the exact same rights depriving services as Tik Tok provides China Inc.
That point would been a potential eye opener to the la la land inhabitants as well as been made part of the Congressional Record.
One more note of interest.
Sundance’s commentary normally lags or relies upon other ‘Conservative” News cites to post these types of articles. Not a single one has even posted as much as short blurb and video clip … time = 1200 Central time.
I viewed all of the short video, and most of the second, before my eyes glazed over.
You could take almost every sentence of Hawley, and substitute “Twitter, Facebook, Google” for “Tik tok” and U.S. Government for CCP, and it would be a near perfect fit.
ALL of these “apps” collect the data he enumerates in detail, and while the U.S. Government may not have the specific law that the CCP has, spelling out that “any chinese business or citisen must ,…” the U.S. Government certainly has the same de facto authority.
IMHO, Josh Hawley is “controlled opposition” ; he often SAYS things we desperately want SOMEONE, anyone to say, but he is NOT “MAGA” he is NOT “on our side, and he offers us 1/2 a loaf, so that we will “settle” because he “looks” slightly less distateful than the alternative.
As for Rand Paul, he is frustrating, and actually a Libertarian, running as an “R” because he couldn’t get elected if he ran as a (L).
Sundance
The ” Young Marketer ” from Turning Point USA Has MENTIONED EVERY Talking Point that YOU POSTED Yesterday.
GOOD JOB on INFLUENCING the Young Talking Heads; Jesse, Charlie, Dr. Darren
NEVER Mentioned CTH but others were – KEEP HAMMERING The ” PLATE GLASS “, It WILL CRACK – then Prepare for MORE TROLLs
Thank you for this Sundance. It brings great clarity.
If you stand back a bit you will notice the timing. Not just of the shooting but the trans activists activities around the framing of the ban TikTok legislation.
You are meant to be upset by their actions. It is expected that you will want to push back against the medium they use to share their content.
Banning TikTok is the quick/easy way and it’s being marketed and produced and sold by the gov. It’s purpose is give you all a hot button item to act on so you feel like you did something productive.
The choice that lays at your feet has been made special just for you. But it’s not the only trap in play.. Can you see them yet?
Interesting comment regarding timing. If you go one step further, you have to wonder if the Nashville perfect timing of the shooting could have been FBI assisted…
There are many who believe most of our school and public mass shootings have been IC orchestrated. Almost always the shooter dies. Very little clues as to what details led up to arming.
We still don’t see the manifesto
We wont get to see the surfing and computer activity
We won’t get to hear much from the parents, friends, people of influence
Even though she went to school there, I’ll be surprised if we get to hear from many who knew her/him/it/them