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I can’t even believe we’re having a discussion to justify the first amendment. If you favor censorship or think there’s anything reasonable about homeland security developing a misinformation department led by a woman deeply steeped in partisan misinformation—- GFY

Then teach them critical thought, but do not for one second create a gov organization to arbitrate truth and therefore regulate free speech. Flat earthers are retarded, but they have every right to have websites, create documentaries, stand on a street corner with a sign, etc. Free speech is not perfect and fabricated bullshit will always exist, but that is substantially better than a restricted/controlled-speech society.

Watch the testimony and questions that follow. Why put it under DHS except to harness broad legal powers? Look at the lady they are installing as the director, look at her words about the Hunter Biden laptop and her book How to Lose the Information War: Russia, Fake News, and the Future of Conflict "What's changed about [fighting disinformation] today is the tools and tactics and speed at which the info spreads. Part of this is not only building resilience but we have to get the regulatory framework in place so that we can respond more effectively." “...In the digital sphere, there’s artificial amplification of particular ideas, and so it’s cheating in the marketplace of ideas. If digital platforms can’t find an effective way to remove those fake voices, the trolls, the bots, then you’re not actually approximating the true public square.” Are you remotely serious? Russia - Pravda Nazi's - Ministry of Propaganda and Public Enlightenment Iran - The Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance - Additionally the "Supreme Leader has the power to appoint and dismiss the leaders of the judiciary, the state radio and television networks. North Korea - Korean Central Television - It is so bad in North Korea that wrote a book called The Ministry of Truth ! The 1st amendment is crystal clear - Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. In a free country the government does not get to decide what is true and what isn't or what the press can report. Based on how well our own government did with Vietnam, tests on American soldiers, Watergate...the list goes on. The 4th estate is vital and although right now they are extremely dysfunctional, we NEED them.

The further we get from 1984, the closer we get. With the recent history of government agencies involved in sketchy behavior with a noticable political bent, what could possibly go wrong?

That is, indeed, some magnificent acting...

Unfortunately little of this is surprising. When you can’t run on your accomplishments, then you vilify the other side as racists, anti-(whatever letters are now being used), extremists, spreaders of “disinformation”, on and on. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Things need to still get much worse in this country for enough people (60-70%) to see that the trajectory we’re on is going to destroy the country financially. But in the meantime, let’s discuss “free” healthcare, “student loan forgiveness”, refusing to enforce immigration laws/border security, massive federal spending bills (yes, to include “defense” spending), reparations for slavery, banning fracking because we need “green energy”, on and on.

Hey gents, thanks for keeping this one alive. I retired, got a contract job, got blackballed, filed a FWA complaint and am now 100% doing they cybers on the outside. Somehow lost the password to here and didn't really have time to get it going again (writing a book, starting a business, beekeeping, etc.). Nice to be back and I do have some thoughts on what was posted. I'll write those out and give an update on the commercial side and what the bros are still saying in. PS - edibles are great.

Wouldn't than mean we should censor Jen Psaki who from the White House Podium has shared these truth bombs: "Hunter Biden Story is Russian Disinfo" "Putin Price Hike on gas" "Inflation is transitory" "It is irresponsible to say Americans are stranded in Afghanistan, they are not" "Psaki denies transporting illegal immigrants at 0230 AM is the middle of the night, calls it early flight"

"We find this belief to be disinformation. We shall be monitoring your communications, both incoming and outgoing, to ensure that you do not attempt to spread such disinformation." a note from your friendly Ministry of Truth... And given the support for such, even on this thread, it's likely to happen. And I can assure you, it's a GREAT gig to get if you can be the one that decides what is and isn't disinformation. Just ask any of the 50 former IC officials who signed the letter assuring us that the Hunter laptop was classic Russian disinformation. What could possibly go wrong?

Very different situations. We are now looking at a developed country that is democratizing and courting the free world that has been straight up invaded and is asking for help. This is worlds away from an I’ll advised war against an already shaky dictatorship or popping into someone else’s civil war hoping you can prevent more bloodshed. I agree that in all honesty, we probably don’t care all that much about Ukraine per-se. But we do care about the idea of sovereignty. Very much in fact. We also care about Eastern Europe and Europe as a whole. If you don’t think this is Putin’s litmus test for Poland, Lithuania, Romania, etc, you’re being naive. And while we’re being honest, yes, this is a chance to affect Russia’s abilities to threaten its neighbors and hold Europe hostage over energy, which have been major concerns of ours for years now. To recap, our interests in the region are: the survival of a democratic nation and its people, protecting the very idea of sovereignty, hardening the NATO alliance (and finally getting Europe to pay its fair share & take defense seriously), weaning Europe off Russian energy, and sending the Russians something with a little more kick than the strongly worded letters they’ve been receiving from the UN the last several years. And the icing on the cake is that our strategy does not involve any direct military confrontation with Russia. Sure there are pundits out there who argue we should act more aggressively, but I have not heard one voice from the current administration make that argument. The Russians say we risk nuclear escalation by supplying weapons and support to Ukraine because of course they do. What other cards do they hold? None. Their conventional forces were apparently worse off than we thought and have been severely degraded from there. They’re quickly losing their biggest bargaining chip in Europe, energy, and it’ll likely be gone permanently. They thought they were good at information warfare, and maybe they were but they’re losing this one (at least abroad). So the one card they have left is waiving around their nukes. But Putin likes living. He likes his mansions and his boats and his girls. While he’s no 4D chess player, he’s smart enough to know that all turns to glass if he actually pulls the trigger.

In what is perhaps the most dystopian thing Biden and his extremists have ever proposed it appears we will now have a Disinformation Czar that falls under the Department of Homeland Security. Department of Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced that his agency is creating a “Disinformation Governance Board.” Is anyone paying attention? Does anyone care? If you swore an oath to the Constitution you should be appalled and shocked. The proposal gives this board the ability to regulate free speech, to take down websites, to control what the press reports. For the record, previous organizations like this only existed in Russia, Nazi Germany, Iran and North Korea. The board will be led by Nina Jankowicz – a disinformation expert who has been criticized for repeatedly casting doubt on The Post’s reporting about Hunter Biden’s laptop.In October 2020, after The New York Post exposed damning emails and other information in Hunter Biden's laptop, Jankowicz scoffed and said “We should view it as a Trump campaign product.” If she held this position two years ago not only would the laptop story have been crushed on Twitter and Facebook, she would have shut down the NY Post and Foxnews. If this succeeds the Constitution is dead. Please enjoy the Tik Tok this lunatic made! Czar.mp4

We did general admission last year and it was mixed. My biggest piece of advice is to rent an RV and camp at Highway 71 RV park. Has a pool and full laundry/shower facilities. Made it a nice end of day social event. Second piece of advice: go with Pat’s Public Parking. They do free food and booze…good stuff. We won’t be attending any races in person this year. If you do COTA, make sure you pay for seats or walk/free shuttle yourself to turn 6+. The masses congregate around T1 and the ped bridge before T3. The “trek” to 6 and beyond will mean that you can actually find a place in GA to sit. That, and it won’t take an hour to get a cold beverage.

Indeed. Most magnificent…..uh….what were we talking about? Oh, yes….acting, magnificent acting. 😎

Not true…Melora Hardin was great in ‘The Office’!

Not really WTF? (yet, in some ways, it really is!), but couldn't figure where else to put this...

It would take more than this year's fat cars to get me to go near Austin. However, the track there combined with the porpoising of the cars this year should be quite a show. Lewis earns the largest paycheck in the sport from Mercedes. Does he want the continued cash or the 8th title before he ages out? Dunno... I believe Latifi's dad pays a considerable sum to Williams so I don't expect his son to go anywhere.

Propagation is improving our worldwide coverage. Recent patches include Iraq, England, North Africa and South Korea. We recently created a video describing the basics of doing an Official and Morale phone patch including setting up the radio. Hope you find it useful. https://youtu.be/s_67j_VP8NA

This: https://time.com/6171183/elon-musk-free-speech-tech-bro/ That is why this is a bad idea.... Read these people and realize how fucking lunatic they sound.....

Went to see it in the theater and the beginning was all fucked up due to the projector being broke. So I gotta watch it again. I did enjoy the more "emo" bit of it and more detective focused. But I liked those comics and stories more. I'd rate it slightly higher. Just watched Dune again (3rd time) at home. I fee like I was finally able to get past whatever hangups I had trying to pick apart how it deviated from the book and just enjoy the film.

You’d think that since Brick started his service during WWII, he’d remember what happens when a megalomaniac in Europe invades another European nation, but maybe it’s the dementia.

The solution to bad speech is good speech. It always has been and always will be. Not regulation, but more and better speech. A paper from an obscure associate law professor is hardly a convincing proof. There are exceptions to the First Amendment (for example, can't yell fire in a crowded movie theater (Justice Holmes - far more authoritative than one of 10,000+ associate professors)), but the Supreme Court has consistently held that any restrictions to the First Amendment is reviewed under Strict Scrutiny. Justice Souter said, Strict Scrutiny "leaves few survivors", as in it is exceptionally difficult to pass a law restricting content of speech. We as country have moved far away from what made us a country to begin with and then made us great (not a reference to Trump. Clearly we are/were an exceptional country and are rapidly moving away from our roots as a republic). How many Americans today would agree with the sentiment that "I may disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"? As others have pointed out, how can a government agency be the arbitrators of truth? 500 years ago this agency would have worked to shut down talk that the earth was round. 200 years ago the abolitionist movement would have been shut down for claiming that people should not be slaves. To claim that you have the corner on what is truth is the pinnacle of arrogance and the end of a republic. I am not exaggerating and not giving an emotional argument. If this board stands, our great experiment in a republic is done because you cannot have a republic where the government determines what can and cannot be said.

A bud if mine sent this pic of his aviation display! 🤣🤣🤣

Because no other country will ever consider a US "security agreement" as worth the paper it's written on, which creates real challenges when you try to develop forward areas to operate from.

Not true. Everyone should care about sovereignty. That’s what makes trade possible. Ask most of the auto manufacturers on the planet. A large percentage of automotive wiring harnesses are/were produced in Ukraine. I guarantee you Volkswagen, Ford, and Toyota care a whole lot about sovereignty right now. Same goes for anyone who produces anything with a microchip in it. They’re anxiously watching Taiwan ATM. What do you think would’ve happened if Russia’s invasion was met with no resistance from NATO? There is a very good chance Putin would’ve come to the conclusion that NATO was ineffectual and obsolete and his next move would likely have been the Baltics. He has been testing NATO resolve there for years & if he thought for a minute NATO would not defend that territory, he’d be there in a hot second.

Inserting into a conflict? No. Supporting the country that has been invaded is different.

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Yeah I don't really disagree with you, I'm just not seeing "control what the press reports" as a duty of this proposed board. The first quote would be concerning, but it's delusive to take one quote from one woman and claim that to be the legal framework this board will operate under. The second quote is a nothingburger. She's talking about digital platforms (i.e. - social media) and their ability to monitor fake news, trolls, and bots. I don't care what Twitter, Facebook, Truth Social, or Tinder does with their content or who they regulate, since they aren't the government. You misunderstood me. I was saying it's absurd to claim the "only" places that limited free speech in the way you cited were Russia, Nazi Germany, Iran, and North Korea. Again, that sounds like something you'd read on Breitbart. Free speech is prohibited all over the world. The government censors all kinds of speech today in the manner you mentioned in say, China or Pakistan. Hell about 1/3 of the nations around the world significantly constrain free speech. Close allies of the US and supposed modern countries like Jordan, Brazil, and Spain have severe limits on free speech and absolutely " regulate free speech...take down websites...control what the press reports."

Something has to be done to combat disinformation, which is deliberately deceptive information made by unreliable sources like Russian and Chinese troll farms. There are too many dumb people in this world who live in their disinformation echo chamber. There are limited exceptions to the First Amendment, and fraud is one of them. While all disinformation couldn't fall under the fraud exception to the First Amendment, there is a subset of disinformation that could. See https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3860211 for a better argument than I can give since I am not a lawyer. Your response is extremely emotional, especially with saying something like "the Constitution is Dead." Take a step back and put on an analytical lens. Not everything Biden does is an extremist "end of the Constitution action," and the same held true for Trump during his Presidency.

Source? Patently and absurdly false. Sounds like something Charlie Kirk would say. Source? Sounds like a dumb idea, but we should avoid getting emotional.