Twitter Files – a country, and the world, hoodwinked by corrupted US Government Agencies

I often read articles appearing in “Imprimis” – which is a newsletter type offering put out regularly by Hillsdale College.

Most of its offerings, I find, are well written and informative; this one stands out to me for its cohesive and very factual view of the subject [recent revelations via ‘Twitter Files’]. The timeline and subject matters are sprawling and the attempts to change the narratives, redirect our attention, and convince the world that we don’t see what we see or know what we know.

So massive has been the work of some remarkably coordinated, professionally organized and orchestrated, government efforts – to keep and maintain power and control over so many – it will take exceptional determination and many miracles to unravel it all.

I found the facts all deeply disturbing as an overwhelmingly wide range of characters and very dark, hidden, concerted, efforts of ‘government’  pressed forward month after month and year after year to hoodwink our country (and the world).

I found this piece eye opening – even in the flood of materials on the topic over much of the past decade – and the implications those facts shine a light on. I urge you to read this to help wade through so much of the partisan spins in the news.

In fact, as the title suggests [in my opinion] we are facing a range of existential threats to our freedoms and the very future of our great nation.

Hillsdale sends out these articles in their Imprimis newsletter – via USPS Mail – for free – simply go to Hillsdale.edu to sign up and be added to their list.

I don’t know the answers to the hard questions; I do understand the need to educate ourselves to even consider which questions to ask. This is one place to begin the process of learning.

I’m Just Sayin’ … .

JANUARY 2023 | VOLUME 52, ISSUE 1

The Twitter Files Reveal an Existential Threat

John Daniel Davidson

The following is adapted from a talk delivered at Hillsdale College on February 7, 2023.

Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter last October and the subsequent reporting on the Twitter Files by journalists Matt Taibbi, Bari Weiss, and a handful of others beginning in early December is one of the most important news stories of our time. The Twitter Files story encompasses, and to a large extent connects, every major political scandal of the Trump-Biden era. Put simply, the Twitter Files reveal an unholy alliance between Big Tech and the deep state designed to throttle free speech and maintain an official narrative through censorship and propaganda. This should not just disturb us, it should also prod us to action in defense of the First Amendment, free and fair elections, and indeed our country.

After Musk completed his acquisition of Twitter, he fired a slew of useless or insubordinate employees, instituted new content moderation policies, and tried to reform a woke corporate culture that bordered (and still borders) on parody. In the process, Musk coordinated with Taibbi and Weiss on the publication of a series of stories based on internal Twitter documents related to an array of major political events going back years: the Hunter Biden laptop scandal, Twitter’s secret policy of shadow banning, President Trump’s suspension from Twitter after the January 6 U.S. Capitol riot, the co-opting of Twitter by the FBI to suppress “election disinformation” ahead of the 2020 election, Twitter’s involvement in a Pentagon overseas psy-op campaign, its silencing of dissent from the official Covid narrative, its complicity in the Russiagate hoax, and its gradual capitulation to the direct involvement of the U.S. intelligence community—with the FBI as a go-between—in content moderation.

As Taibbi has written, the Twitter Files “show the FBI acting as doorman to a vast program of social media surveillance and censorship, encompassing agencies across the federal government—from the State Department to the Pentagon to the CIA.”

The Twitter Files contain multitudes, but for the sake of brevity let us consider just three installments and their related implications: the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story, the suspension of Trump, and the deputization of Twitter by the FBI. Together, these stories reveal not just a social media company willing to do the bidding of an out-of-control federal bureaucracy, but a federal bureaucracy openly hostile to the First Amendment.

Hunter Biden’s Laptop

On October 14, 2020, the New York Post published its first major exposé based on the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop, which had been dropped off at a Delaware computer repair shop in April 2019 and never picked up. It was the first of several stories detailing Biden family corruption and revealing the close involvement of Joe Biden in his son’s foreign business ventures in the years during and after Biden’s vice presidency. Hunter, although doing no real work, was making tens of millions of dollars from foreign companies in places like Ukraine and China. The Post‘s bombshell reporting shined a bright light on what was happening.

According to the emails on the laptop, Hunter introduced then-Vice President Biden to a top executive at Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company that was paying Hunter (who had no credentials or experience in the energy business) up to $50,000 a month to sit on its board. Soon after this meeting, Vice President Biden pressured the Ukrainian government to fire a prosecutor investigating the company. In an earlier email, a top Burisma executive asked Hunter for “advice on how you could use your influence” to benefit the company. The Post‘s ensuing stories revealed more of the same: a shocking level of corruption and influence-peddling by Hunter Biden, whose emails suggest his father was closely connected to his overseas business ventures. Indeed, those ventures appear to consist entirely of Hunter providing access to Joe Biden.

Twitter did everything in its power to suppress the Biden story. It removed links to the Post‘s reporting, appended warnings that they might be “unsafe,” and prevented users from sharing them via direct message—a restriction previously reserved for child pornography and other extreme cases. In an extraordinary step, Twitter also locked the Post‘s account and the accounts of anyone who shared links to its reporting, including White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany. These actions were justified under the pretext that the stories violated Twitter’s hacked-materials policy, even though there was no evidence, then or now, that anything on the laptop was hacked.

Twitter executives at the highest levels were directly involved in these decisions. Former head of Legal, Policy, and Trust Vijaya Gadde, the company’s chief censor, played a key role, as did former head of Trust and Safety Yoel Roth. Oddly, all this seems to have been done without the knowledge of Twitter’s then-CEO Jack Dorsey. And it was done despite internal pushback from other departments.

“I’m struggling to understand the policy basis for marking this as unsafe,” wrote a Twitter communications executive in an email to Gadde and Roth. “Can we truthfully claim that this is part of the policy?” asked former VP of Global Communications Brandon Borman. His question was answered by Deputy General Counsel Jim Baker—a former top lawyer for the FBI and the most powerful member of a growing cadre of former FBI employees working at Twitter—who said that “caution is warranted” and that some facts “indicate the materials may have been hacked.”

But there were no such facts, as Baker and other top Twitter executives knew at the time. The laptop was exactly what the Post said it was, and every fact the Post reported was accurate. Other major media outlets like The New York Times and The Washington Post would begrudgingly admit as much 18 months later, after Joe Biden was ensconced in the White House.

If there were no hacked materials in the Post‘s reporting, why did Twitter immediately react as if there were? Because long before the Post published its first laptop story, there had been an organized effort by the intelligence community to discredit leaked information about Hunter Biden. The laptop, after all, had been in federal custody since the previous December, when the FBI seized it from the computer repair shop. So the FBI knew very well that it contained evidence of straightforward criminal activity (such as illicit drug use) as well as of corruption and influence-peddling.

The evening before the Post ran its first story on the laptop, FBI Special Agent Elvis Chan sent ten documents to Roth at Twitter through a special one-way communications channel the FBI had established with the company. For months, the FBI and other federal intelligence agencies had been priming Roth to dismiss news reports about Hunter Biden ahead of the 2020 election as “hack-and-leak” operations by state actors. They had done the same thing with Facebook, whose CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted as much to Joe Rogan in an August 2022 podcast. As Michael Shellenberger reported in the seventh installment of the Twitter Files, the FBI repeatedly asked Roth and others at Twitter about foreign influence operations on the platform and were repeatedly told there were none of any significance. The FBI also routinely pressured Twitter to hand over data outside the normal search warrant process, which Twitter at first resisted.

In July 2020, Chan arranged for Twitter executives to get top secret security clearances so the FBI could share intelligence about possible threats to the upcoming presidential election. The next month, Chan sent Roth information about a Russian hacking group called APT28. Roth later said that when the Post‘s story about Hunter Biden’s laptop broke, “It set off every single one of my finely tuned APT28 hack-and-leak campaign alarm bells.” Even though there was never any evidence that anything on the laptop was hacked, Roth reacted to it just as the FBI had conditioned him to do, using the company’s hacked-materials policy to suppress the story as soon as it appeared, just as the agency suggested it would, less than a month before the election.

Suspending the President

The erosion of Twitter’s content moderation standards would continue after the Hunter Biden laptop scandal, reaching its apogee on January 8, 2021, two days after the Capitol riot. That is when Twitter made the extraordinary decision to suspend President Trump, even though he had not violated any Twitter policies. As the Twitter Files show, the suspension came amid ongoing interactions with federal agencies—interactions that were increasing in frequency in the months leading up to the 2020 election, during which Roth was meeting weekly with the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. As the election neared, Twitter’s unevenly applied, rules-based content moderation policies would steadily deteriorate.

Content moderation on Twitter had always been an unstable mix of automatic enforcement of rules and subjective interventions by top executives, most of whom used Twitter’s censorship tools to diminish the reach of Trump and others on the right through shadow banning and other means. But that was changing. As Taibbi wrote in the third installment of the Twitter Files: “As the election approached, senior executives—perhaps under pressure from federal agencies, with whom they met more as time progressed—increasingly struggled with rules, and began to speak of ‘vios’ [violations] as pretexts to do what they’d likely have done anyway.”

After January 6, Twitter jettisoned even the appearance of a rules-based moderation policy, suspending Trump for a pair of tweets that top executives falsely claimed were violations of Twitter’s terms of service. The first, sent early in the morning on January 8, stated: “The 75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!” The second, sent about an hour later, simply stated that Trump would not be attending Joe Biden’s inauguration on January 20.

That same day, key Twitter staffers correctly determined that Trump’s tweets did not constitute incitement of violence or violate any other Twitter policies. But pressure kept building from people like Gadde, who wanted to know whether the tweets amounted to “coded incitement to further violence.” Some suggested that Trump’s first tweet might have violated the company’s policy on the glorification of violence. Internal discussions then took an even more bizarre turn. Members of Twitter’s “scaled enforcement team” reportedly viewed Trump “as the leader of a terrorist group responsible for violence/deaths comparable to Christchurch shooter or Hitler and on that basis and on the totality of his Tweets, he should be de-platformed.”

Later on the afternoon of January 8, Twitter announced Trump’s permanent suspension “due to the risk of further incitement of violence”—a nonsense phrase that corresponded to no written Twitter policy. The suspension of a sitting head of state was unprecedented. Twitter had never taken such a step, even with heads of state in Nigeria and Ethiopia who actually had incited violence. Internal deliberations unveiled by the Twitter Files show that Trump’s suspension was partly justified based on the “overall context and narrative” of Trump’s words and actions—as one executive put it—”over the course of the election and frankly last 4+ years.”

That is, it was not anything Trump said or did; it was that Twitter’s censors wanted to blame the President for everything that happened on January 6 and remove him from the platform. To do that, they were willing to shift the entire intellectual framework of content moderation from the enforcement of objective rules to the consideration of “context and narrative,” thereby allowing executives to engage in what amounts to viewpoint discrimination.

Private companies, of course, for the most part have the right to engage in viewpoint discrimination—something the government is prohibited from doing by the First Amendment. The problem is that when Twitter suspended Trump, it was operating less like a private company than like an extension of the federal government.

***

Among the most shocking revelations of the Twitter Files is the extent to which federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies came to view Twitter as a tool for censorship and narrative control. In part six of the Twitter Files, Taibbi chronicles the “constant and pervasive” contact between the FBI and Twitter after January 2020, “as if [Twitter] were a subsidiary.” In particular, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security wanted Twitter to censor tweets and lock accounts it believed were engaged in “election misinformation,” and would regularly send the company content it had pre-flagged for moderation, essentially dragooning Twitter into what would otherwise be illegal government censorship. Taibbi calls it a “master-canine” relationship. When requests for censorship came in from the feds, Twitter obediently complied—even when the tweets in question were clearly jokes or posted on accounts with few followers.

Some Twitter executives were unsure what to make of this relationship. Policy Director Nick Pickles at one point asked how he should refer to the company’s cooperation with federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies, suggesting it be described in terms of “partnerships.” Time and again, federal agencies stressed the need for close collaboration with their “private sector partners,” using the alleged interference by Russia in the 2016 election as the pretext for a massive government surveillance and censorship regime operating from inside Twitter.

Requests for content moderation, which increasingly resembled demands, came not only from the FBI and DHS, but also from a tangled web of other federal agencies, contractors, and government-affiliated think tanks such as the Election Integrity Project at Stanford University. As Taibbi writes, the lines between government and its “partners” in this effort were “so blurred as to be meaningless.”

The Deputization of Twitter

After the 2016 election, both Twitter and Facebook faced pressure from Democrats and their media allies to root out Russian “election meddling” under the thoroughly debunked theory that a Moscow-based social media influence operation was responsible for Trump’s election victory. In reality, Russia’s supposed meddling amounted to a minuscule ad buy on Facebook and a handful of Twitter bots. But the truth was not acceptable to Democrats, the media, or the anti-Trump federal bureaucracy.

In 2017, Twitter came under tremendous pressure to “keep producing material” on Russian interference, and in response it created a Russia Task Force to hunt for accounts tied to Moscow’s Internet Research Agency. The task force did not find much. Out of some 2,700 accounts reviewed, only two came back as significant, and one of those was Russia Today, a state-backed news outlet. But in the face of bad press and threats from Democrats in Congress, Twitter executives decided to go along with the official narrative and pretend they had a Russia problem. To placate Washington and avoid costly new regulations, they pledged to “work with [members of Congress] on their desire to legislate.” When someone in Congress leaked the list of the 2,700 accounts Twitter’s task force had reviewed, the media exploded with stories suggesting that Twitter was swarming with Russian bots—and Twitter continued to go along.

After that, as described by Taibbi, “This cycle—threatened legislation wedded to scare headlines pushed by congressional/intel sources, followed by Twitter caving to [content] moderation asks—[came to] be formalized in partnerships with federal law enforcement.”

Late in 2017, Twitter quietly adopted a new policy. In public, it would say that all content moderation took place “at [Twitter’s] sole discretion.” But its internal guidance would stipulate censorship of anything “identified by the U.S. intelligence community as a state-sponsored entity conducting cyber-operations.” Thus Twitter increasingly allowed the intelligence community, the State Department, and a dizzying array of federal and state agencies to submit content moderation requests through the FBI, which Chan suggested could function as “the belly button of the [U.S. government].” These requests would grow and intensify during the Covid pandemic and in the run-up to the 2020 election.

By 2020, there was a torrent of demands for censorship, sometimes with no explanation—just an Excel spreadsheet with a list of accounts to be banned. These demands poured in from FBI offices all over the country, overwhelming Twitter staff. Eventually the government would pay Twitter $3.4 million in compensation. It was a pittance considering the work Twitter did at the government’s behest, but the payment illustrated a stark reality: Twitter, a leading gatekeeper of the digital public square and arguably the most powerful social media platform in the world, had become a subcontractor for the U.S. intelligence community.

***

The Twitter Files have revealed or confirmed three important truths about social media and the deep state.

First, the entire concept of “content moderation” is a euphemism for censorship by social media companies that falsely claim to be neutral and unbiased. To the extent they exercise a virtual monopoly on public discourse in the digital era, we should stop thinking of them as private companies that can “do whatever they want,” as libertarians are fond of saying. The companies’ content moderation policies are at best a flimsy justification for banning or blocking whatever their executives do not like. At worst, they provide cover for a policy of pervasive government censorship.

Second, Twitter was taking marching orders from a deep state security apparatus that was created to fight terrorists, not to censor or manipulate public discourse. To the extent that the deep state is using social media companies like Twitter and Facebook to subvert the First Amendment and run information psy-ops on the American public, these companies have become malevolent government actors. As a policy matter, the hands-off, laissez-faire regulatory approach we have taken to them should come to an immediate end.

Third, the administrative state has metastasized into a destructive deep state that threatens to bring about the collapse of America’s constitutional system within our lifetimes. Emblematic of the threat is the fact that “the intelligence community” has proven itself incapable of not interfering in American elections. The FBI in particular has directly meddled in the last two presidential elections to a degree that should call into question its continued existence. Indeed, the FBI’s post-9/11 transformation from a law enforcement agency to a counter-terrorism and intelligence-gathering agency with seemingly limitless remit has been a disaster for civil liberties and the First Amendment. We need either to impose radical reforms or scrap it entirely and start over.

The late great political scientist Angelo Codevilla argued that our response to 9/11 was completely wrong. Instead of erecting a sprawling security and surveillance apparatus to detect and disrupt potential terrorist plots, we should have issued an ultimatum to the regimes that were harboring Al Qaeda: you make war on these terrorists and bring them to justice or we will make war on you. The reason not to do what we did, Codevilla argued, is that a security and surveillance apparatus powerful and pervasive enough to do what we wanted it to do was incompatible with a free society. It might defeat the terrorists, but it would eventually be turned on the American people.

The Twitter Files leave little doubt that Codevilla’s prediction has come to pass. The question we face now is whether the American people and their elected representatives will fight back. The fate of the republic rests on the answer.

 

Researchers identify this mammal as latest potential cause of climate change, suggest balancing species | Fox News

How Long Until Someone in Power says ‘this particular population of Humans – in this particular area – are hurting the environment; they are breathing more – they walk too much – they sing at night for no reason … their cooking is polluting too much … we must *BALANCE* this population. [How long until this happens??]

Here is the article that prompted my thoughts:

Researchers suggested that moose were contributing to climate change by effecting vegetation growth and the carbon cycle in Norwegian forests. They claim these animals are a potential cause of climate change, suggest balancing species…

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/researchers-identify-mammal-latest-potential-cause-climate-change-suggest-balancing-species

Look, we do need to be better stewards of our precious Planet Earth … our Home…but the current path being pushed is not the way to do it. I repeat – we do need to  be better stewards – but the current path is not the right one.

I’m Just Sayin’ … .

The China Wuhan Market Virus COVID 19

The China Wuhan Market Virus COVID 19

It seems like a lifetime ago, but in the early stages of this Pandemic – long  before any opinions declaring [publically anyway] that this was an act of man – something engineered in a laboratory – I was telling my friends that I believed it was so … this is from a laboratory, I said. The observations all point to selective properties in the virus that are unmistakably ‘engineered’.

I have no joy in being correct; I am thankful to understand my instincts and reasonings were ‘on point’.

And, sadly, I will add today: Man’s End, through this stage of Mankind on Earth … will come from Evil Minded Men [and, God will clean it up for the next chapter].

I’m Just Sayin’ … .

I get all kinds of stuff – as we all do – ‘following me around’

This shows one real problem w the world … I have an appointment for cancer diagnosis – I have only received the  name and address by USPS Mail … never looked at the address – never sent the name via email or text, no smart machines like ‘Cora or Sari’ or other talking boxes – etc. etc.

I got up this morning and decided to Google where exactly the place is in a nearby business park address … I put in 3 (three) key strokes [“116”] in Google maps and look what came up instantly – the very first entry [!!]:

 

Crazy times.

I get all kinds of stuff – as we all do – ‘following me around’ – lately ads for HAM Radios and Equipment [to be expected – it’s been all over my email and searches]… but it’s still very, very, very bad. Worse than ever …

I’m Just Sayin’ … .

 

GREAT THINGS HAPPEN ONE STEP AT A TIME

Great Things Happen One Step At A Time.

Forgive this most unexciting recommendation … I do write from my heart when impressed to and this is one of those instances when an idea continues to be present in my heart and my thinking – even if it seems ‘trivial’.

I will likely be snickered at again for posting this idea; I posted it similarly – a few years back. It has to do with something many of you can relate to – be it in your own life experience – or by the experience you observe in the life of a friend or family member. Considering the chaos in the world today – indeed it is a small matter; and yet, it seems there is value in changing it … because we can [and ought to].

PRESCRIPTION BOTTLES – Dozens and even Tens of Dozens – large and small plastic bottles here, there, and everywhere …  in most every home in America – and more and more come each month!

WHAT A WASTE!

It seems a trivial matter – and yet, I beg you consider just how many of these bottles are choking our environment – plastics that are really, really, really harsh and bad for us, and for the Earth.

The millions and millions [and my own many dozens] a year – will surely out last me – choking landfills and our oceans – hurting, even very literally, our precious wild life and eco systems  … and so needlessly; not to mention the disgusting waste and harm in the manufacturing processes.

One single leader and forward thinking man or woman – cause a shift – EASILY – and help us move to a more sustainable, eco friendly, model where we use and reuse GLASS Rx Bottles.

Look, it won’t change the world – but it sure will help and maybe even begin a trend. Why not? Look what was achieved in NYS and other states with Disposable Plastic Grocery Bags!!!! [some say ‘silly’]

The politics were miserable … some stores even ridiculously had to have us reach into our pockets to pay a nickel or dime per bag – for good old fashioned brown paper bags … Even so, it was the better way to go … and, we adjusted.

I love that animals, fish, and the Earth in general are not choking on all those bags – even my grocery bags – any longer.

Let’s stop tossing millions and millions of Rx Plastic Bottles in the trash!

Yes, only a small part of the problem – but great things happen one step at a time.

I’m Just Sayin’ … .

Thanks for stopping by …

Introducing – I’m Just Sayin’ … .

Thanks for Stopping By …

As I begin this endeavor, I declare that there are absolute truths; and I say that in direct response to some who smile and snicker as they would have the world believe that we [men and women of faith from all religions] are crazy – opposite their ‘make it up as we go along’ logic …situational ethics … and ‘anything goes if it feels good’ – lifestyles. Too many say ‘we don’t want, need, or believe in God’; I say He has been with us from Adam through today, and, that He led good men and women to found and build this great country. I believe He lives, leads, and guides us, and it, in our endeavors … if we have faith.

Thanks For Stopping By

Oh, AND – – Yes! We Do Need God! [At least, I do… ]

Want to read more? Read my coming book.

I Am,

and,

I Am Already Here…By Gerald Lombardo

Biden family, Hillary Clinton, so many more … and the highest and most powerful men in China

 

I read this article and it threw me into silence and pause. I invite you to read it – it says so much more than I can  and it’s facts … not speculation which each can measure and judge for themselves.

Biden family, Hillary Clinton, so many more … and the highest and most powerful men in China and the Chinese Government. Someone needs to follow the money and influence – from these years … forward.

I’m Just Sayin’ … .

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/hunter-biden-secured-dinner-client-chinese-embassy-luncheon-hosted-vp-biden-emails-show

World’s mental health care needs urgent makeover: WHO

Why not address the problems that are causing the mental health issues?

Let us work to a return of ‘old fashioned’ Values. Let us, by all efforts, rebuild the Family in the traditional sense. Saying the truth that the best family and home environment for every child is the nuclear family … mother, father, children – and even better – grandmothers, grandfathers, aunts and uncles! To say this is not racist or phobic or discriminatory or hateful. No, the world is not perfect and not every child can have such benefit – and yet, we need to recognize it is a standard to aim for and keep. Our societies – and now with Internet – our ‘society’ is ill. Mentally ill and so many – too many – are overwhelmed. It is a poverty of Spirit – a hunger from the heart. We are in a time of famine as our bodies get fat. Stronger families [of all kinds] will help address our mental health crisis.

I’m Just Sayin’ … .

The World Health Organization released a major report on mental health worldwide and its importance with member states pledging to take action on the results

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently released its most comprehensive review of the world’s mental health in over 20 years with an action plan that every WHO state member has signed to transform mental health care, according to a recent press release.  

“Everyone’s life touches someone with a mental health condition. Good mental health translates to good physical health and this new report makes a compelling case for change,” said WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. 

https://www.foxnews.com/health/worlds-mental-health-care-urgent-makeover-who

Disney’s ‘Lightyear’

Disney’s ‘Lightyear’

Why does ‘Disney’ insist on a same-sex kissing scene at all? Why did they do this to the new Star Trek Spin Offs a few years back [I stopped watching…  and am a forever fan of Star Trek – I wrote a composition about it somewhere below in the past]. It’s indoctrination.

This indoctrination, this selling of homosexuality and transgenderism has become so disgustingly blatant ..

I’m Just Sayin’ … .

At least some say ‘no!’. “Lightyear” has been banned in Malaysia and other Muslim countries after Disney refused to cut a brief same-sex kissing scene from the animated film.

https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/lightyear-banned-malaysia-muslim-countries-same-sex-kissing-scene

 

Some Oregon school books contain pornographic imagery of sex acts

Some Oregon School District books contain topics on transgender ideology and sexually explicit materials.

An Oregon mom stopped her children from attending over what she called ‘indoctrination’

Books in at least three high schools, Milwaukie, Adrienne C. Nelson, and Clackamas contain depictions of sexual activities, including oral sex.

This is from a story on Fox news – I add it to underline my short composition about Hollywood, Media, ‘selling’ [indoctrinating] our children (including especially ‘Entertainment’, ‘News’, … all forms of media). They used to sell tobacco, alcohol, and sex – now they sell homosexuality and this transgenderism.

Home Schooling is the best path today for children if a family can achieve it.

I’m Just Sayin’ … .

From Fox News – https://www.foxnews.com/media/oregon-school-district-books-contains-pornographic-sex-acts

test

This is just something to see – it speaks for itself – a short video capture – less than 30 seconds. You won’t be disappointed. I apologize that I can’t embed it; I will revisit the methods and try again soon. https://www.redditmedia.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/v5fz4w/paragliding_with_a_black_vulture/?ref_source=embed&ref=share&embed=true

https://www.redditmedia.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/v5fz4w/paragliding_with_a_black_vulture/?ref_source=embed&ref=share&embed=true

A Cancer Trial’s Unexpected Result: Remission in Every Patient

I came across this headline and just felt it was an outstanding piece to post:

A Cancer Trial’s Unexpected Result: Remission in Every Patient

nytimes.com/2022/0…

 

It was a small trial, just 18 rectal cancer patients, every one of whom took the same drug.

But the results were astonishing. The cancer vanished in every single patient, undetectable by physical exam, endoscopy, PET scans or M.R.I. scans.

Dr. Luis A. Diaz Jr. of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, an author of a paper published Sunday in the New England Journal of Medicine describing the results, which were sponsored by the drug company GlaxoSmithKline, said he knew of no other study in which a treatment completely obliterated a cancer in every patient.

“I believe this is the first time this has happened in the history of cancer,” Dr. Diaz said.

Dr. Alan P. Venook, a colorectal cancer specialist at the University of California, San Francisco, who was not involved with the study, said he also thought this was a first.

A complete remission in every single patient is “unheard-of,” he said.

These rectal cancer patients had faced grueling treatments — chemotherapy, radiation and, most likely, life-altering surgery that could result in bowel, urinary and sexual dysfunction. Some would need colostomy bags.

They entered the study thinking that, when it was over, they would have to undergo those procedures because no one really expected their tumors to disappear.

But they got a surprise: No further treatment was necessary.

“There were a lot of happy tears,” said Dr. Andrea Cercek, an oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and a co-author of the paper, which was presented Sunday at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Another surprise, Dr. Venook added, was that none of the patients had clinically significant complications.

On average, one in five patients have some sort of adverse reaction to drugs like the one the patients took, dostarlimab, known as checkpoint inhibitors. The medication was given every three weeks for six months and cost about $11,000 per dose. It unmasks cancer cells, allowing the immune system to identify and destroy them.

While most adverse reactions are easily managed, as many as 3 percent to 5 percent of patients who take checkpoint inhibitors have more severe complications that, in some cases, result in muscle weakness and difficulty swallowing and chewing. Editors’ Picks There’s a New Gerber Baby and Some Parents Are Mad Priced Out of Flying This Year? These New Low-Cost Airlines (Might) Offer a Deal ‘The Wire’ Stands Alone Continue reading the main story

The absence of significant side effects, Dr. Venook said, means “either they did not treat enough patients or, somehow, these cancers are just plain different.”

In an editorial accompanying the paper, Dr. Hanna K. Sanoff of the University of North Carolina’s Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, who was not involved in the study, called it “small but compelling.” She added, though, that it is not clear if the patients are cured.

“Very little is known about the duration of time needed to find out whether a clinical complete response to dostarlimab equates to cure,” Dr. Sanoff said in the editorial.

Dr. Kimmie Ng, a colorectal cancer expert at Harvard Medical School, said that while the results were “remarkable” and “unprecedented,” they would need to be replicated.

The inspiration for the rectal cancer study came from a clinical trial Dr. Diaz led in 2017 that Merck, the drugmaker, funded. It involved 86 people with metastatic cancer that originated in various parts of their bodies. But the cancers all shared a gene mutation that prevented cells from repairing damage to DNA. These mutations occur in 4 percent of all cancer patients.

Patients in that trial took a Merck checkpoint inhibitor, pembrolizumab, for up to two years. Tumors shrank or stabilized in about one-third to one-half of the patients, and they lived longer. Tumors vanished in 10 percent of the trial’s participants.

That led Dr. Cercek and Dr. Diaz to ask: What would happen if the drug were used much earlier in the course of disease, before the cancer had a chance to spread?

They settled on a study of patients with locally advanced rectal cancer — tumors that had spread in the rectum and sometimes to the lymph nodes but not to other organs. Dr. Cercek had noticed that chemotherapy was not helping a portion of patients who had the same mutations that affected the patients in the 2017 trial. Instead of shrinking during treatment, their rectal tumors grew.

Perhaps, Dr. Cercek and Dr. Diaz reasoned, immunotherapy with a checkpoint inhibitor would allow such patients to avoid chemotherapy, radiation and surgery. New Developments in Cancer Research Card 1 of 6

Progress in the field. In recent years, advancements in research have changed the way cancer is treated. Here are some recent updates:

Pancreatic cancer. Researchers managed to tame advanced pancreatic cancer in a woman by genetically reprogramming her T cells, a type of white blood cell of the immune system, so they can recognize and kill cancer cells. Another patient who received the same treatment did not survive.

Chemotherapy. A quiet revolution is underway in the field of cancer treatment: A growing number of patients, especially those with breast and lung cancers, are being spared the dreaded treatment in favor of other options.

Prostate cancer. An experimental treatment that relies on radioactive molecules to seek out tumor cells prolonged life in men with aggressive forms of the disease — the second-leading cause of cancer death among American men.

Leukemia. After receiving a new treatment, called CAR T cell therapy, more than a decade ago, two patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia saw the blood cancer vanish. Their cases offer hope for those with the disease, and create some new mysteries.

Esophageal cancer. Nivolumab, a drug that unleashes the immune system, was found to extend survival times in patients with the disease who took part in a large clinical trial. Esophageal cancer is the seventh most common cancer in the world.

Dr. Diaz began asking companies that made checkpoint inhibitors if they would sponsor a small trial. They turned him down, saying the trial was too risky. He and Dr. Cercek wanted to give the drug to patients who could be cured with standard treatments. What the researchers were proposing might end up allowing the cancers to grow beyond the point where they could be cured.

“It is very hard to alter the standard of care,” Dr. Diaz said. “The whole standard-of-care machinery wants to do the surgery.”

Finally, a small biotechnology firm, Tesaro, agreed to sponsor the study. Tesaro was bought by GlaxoSmithKline, and Dr. Diaz said he had to remind the larger company that they were doing the study — company executives had all but forgotten about the small trial.

Their first patient was Sascha Roth, then 38. She first noticed some rectal bleeding in 2019 but otherwise felt fine — she is a runner and helps manage a family furniture store in Bethesda, Md.

During a sigmoidoscopy, she recalled, her gastroenterologist said, “Oh no. I was not expecting this!”

The next day, the doctor called Ms. Roth. He had had the tumor biopsied. “It’s definitely cancer,” he told her.

“I completely melted down,” she said.

Soon, she was scheduled to start chemotherapy at Georgetown University, but a friend had insisted she first see Dr. Philip Paty at Memorial Sloan Kettering. Dr. Paty told her he was almost certain her cancer included the mutation that made it unlikely to respond well to chemotherapy. It turned out, though, that Ms. Roth was eligible to enter the clinical trial. If she had started chemotherapy, she would not have been.

Not expecting a complete response to dostarlimab, Ms. Roth had planned to move to New York for radiation, chemotherapy and possibly surgery after the trial ended. To preserve her fertility after the expected radiation treatment, she had her ovaries removed and put back under her ribs.

After the trial, Dr. Cercek gave her the news.

“We looked at your scans,” she said. “There is absolutely no cancer.” She did not need any further treatment.

“I told my family,” Ms. Roth said. “They didn’t believe me.”

But two years later, she still does not have a trace of cancer. Correction: June 5, 2022

Using information provided by a patient, an earlier version of this article misstated which year a participant in a drug trial was diagnosed with rectal cancer. Sascha Roth was diagnosed in 2019, not 2018.

 

I found this on a Reddit site – it is from a NYT Article https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/05/health/rectal-cancer-checkpoint-inhibitor.html?smtyp=cur&smid=fb-nytimes

 

Pizza Hut features ‘drag kids’ book for children as young as kindergarten

I forgot!

I wrote ‘now it’s not just Hollywood but Hollywood and Media – selling Homosexuality and Transgenderism [scroll a couple stories down].

I forgot to include CORPORATIONS! They are in it too!

I’m Just Sayin’… .

Pizza Hut is promoting a book about “drag kids” as part of its summer reading program for children in pre-Kindergarten through third grade. These types of themes are being driven hard by a number of entities – including governments, school systems, supermarkets, ice cream brands – it’s an agenda driven cabal – I don’t like that word but it is what it is. A very powerful group of people – evil people – are trying to remake the world to their own liking. Personally, I find refuge in my Church. The best we can do for our children is help them develop a spiritual foundation and a testimony that God lives; help them feel His Holy Spirit in their hearts and follow the guidance. Admit and recognize with them that there is good and evil – and help them know the difference. Teach each of them that they are special and precious – each a child of God. Teach them to set themselves apart from the chaos and traps of the world.

That is my very personal two cents; my own testimony.

Here is just one example of these agenda driven, widespread, efforts in this story from Fox. [by the way – FOX, CNN – all of them are ‘agenda driven’ and biased – I just use the story lines as points of departure].

https://www.foxnews.com/us/pizza-hut-features-drag-kids-book-children-kindergarten

Hollywood is selling homosexuality [and ‘transgenderism’].

Hollywood is selling homosexuality [and ‘transgenderism’].

 

Yes, Hollywood is selling homosexuality; and this other madness called, for lack of another term – ‘transgenderism’.

 

I was so grateful to learn that some States are finally making it criminal for adults to do this to children. It is criminal. It is child abuse. It seems to have taken our country forever to see what is happening. I have been way out front on these issues and writing of them for well over a decade.

 

Some say Hollywood, in the early days, sold sex, drugs, and rock and roll. In a way, I suppose that’s true. In the early days though, remember it was *mostly alcohol and tobacco – and they were very successful at it.

*I know it was more; they influenced – maybe especially – women … beyond using alcohol and tobacco – they set the fashion standards –  high heels, lipstick, face makeup – even promiscuity [for men and women]. Hollywood set the norm for millions and millions.

 

They portrayed lies – and we all watched our TV’s, listened to the radios … and we were convinced, without ever thinking about it, that every one – smoked cigars, cigarettes, pipes … and drank whisky, wine and beer and ‘everyone’ had sex before marriage. 

 

America saw it on TV – every day – and the use of those things  increased astronomically! Kids, younger and younger, believed the lies they saw in front of their faces in movies, on TV, Magazines, and Radio.

 

What do you suppose happened?

 

Yes, of course, more kids [and more adults too!] drank alcohol, smoked cigarettes and experimented with sex at younger and younger ages. ‘Good Ole’ Madison Avenue Salesmanship – polluted the entire social landscape.

 

Yes, Hollywood sold sex, alcohol, and tobacco – and set the social standards that replaced our own moral judgment.

 

Now, it’s selling homosexuality and this evil minded transgenderism.

 

And, now – it’s not only Hollywood – it is Hollywood and The Media. And again, make no mistake – they are selling it and having generations of kids believe that ‘everyone’ has people who live those lives, espouse those beliefs – living next door or upstairs. We are brainwashed to believe lies are truths.

 

The powers that be would have us believe these and other behaviors are NORMALeveryone is like this AND YOU SHOULD BE TOO.

[I need to add for those who don’t know me that I’ve nothing against people choosing who they wish to be – but don’t push it on me, or our children, or others. Period.]

 

Our kids don’t know better – they’re kids … and they are being brainwashed in plain sight.

 

Years ago, many people of various Religions – people who believe in, and have faith in, a biblical God – turned to home schooling.

 

Generations of young children were taught at home and were spared the perils of public education.

 

Today, public schools are worse; the problem is not just a small slant on education – it is, in the true sense of the word, Indoctrination.

 

Generations of our children are being brainwashed.

 

I am grateful that parents are beginning to wake up and see the dangers – parents all over the country are taking on public school boards and teachers to stop the runaway – absolutely blatant and runaway brainwashing of our precious children.

 

It’s not enough.

 

I think it’s mostly a lost cause [trying to take back public schools]. I hope I am wrong – I received an excellent education through grade 6 of the NYC Public School System. PS 90. [Then politics caused forced busing, rioting in the streets – we lost King and Kennedy].  I think people should be able to pay their school taxes to the schools of their choice but I am not a politician.

 

Not every family can Home School – but if you can – it may be worth a family discussion to consider Home Schooling.

 

The facts are not comforting when it comes to our Public Schools. In insidious ways, agenda driven people – one individual at a time – are working very hard to change outcomes – to bend all to their narrow and twisted views as they work to change the foundation of the Country [to the detriment of us all].

 

Not widespread conspiracy – as some assumed – to steal an election for example – but individuals – each with the same agenda – acting ‘independently’ and yet … genuinely in concert. That’s for another discussion.

 

Even so, the result on the landscape of our cities and towns is the same. The end result is no different than as if this group acted together – in a conspiracy. In reality, however, they act individually – breaking the rules to achieve the collective agenda.

[And, a sizable portion of it adds up to tilting perceptions and changing the way our children think and view the world].

 

Flash Cards here, a Vote there, a series of children’s books, games, toys …an early morning tv show … some people here who overlook this,  some there who enforce that here but not there … . It may not be a legal conspiracy …but it is a conspiracy [of evil].

 

That result? The messages get to our kids (and adults as well).

 

Take a look at the image below and the few paragraphs.  These are what prompted this post. They are a small and simple example. The radical ideas in the headline(s) may not be in the official guidelines or charters of these schools – we may ‘technically’ … legally – have a few materials banned … but then here comes some of those individuals I referred to … and they use methods and agenda’s – as individuals but in quiet cahoots with other evil minded individuals – in examples like this:

LGBT themed cards a preschool teacher was using to teach kids colors (NC State Rep. Tim Moore)

lgbtcards_1280x720.png

A NC state representative said a concerned constituent emailed her about the cards that were being used to teach preschoolers colors. The State Rep – Erin Pare contacted the principal of the elementary school to verify the use of the cards in class. 

 

The principal located the cards in the preschool classroom and verified with the teacher that they had been used to teach colors.

When I look at that image on the left  – I don’t see ‘a pregnant man’. Men can’t be pregnant.

 

I don’t see a pregnant man but I don’t see (the color) ‘White’ either.  [I am an odd bird]. What of a child though? What does a child learn from these subtle cues? What is the subliminal message – and the direct message?

 

This is just the tip of the iceberg. People of this agenda have found their ways into the foundations of this great country. Discrimination laws made it easy – those national anti-discrimination laws changed the landscape of the country.

 

People of minority views – people in the very low percentages by numbers in our populations …became OVER represented in the halls of power and began [with Media] to influence … the moral standards of our Country [and even the world].

Those with these agenda’s have influence via the classrooms – from Kindergarten through the University years – plus they control opinions across all Media platforms – and they are ensconced in all forms of government.

 

It’s hard to believe so small a number of people hood winked an entire country. Today, the tail does wags the dog.

 

In a conversation with my Bishop, loosely about the speed of the rate of the decay in society, the rocket path of rising chaos in the world –  we agreed is unprecedented,

 

He referred to Scripture. I smiled, as did he, when the conversation took a turn … we both agreed too … that ‘we read the book‘; we know how it all comes out.

 

We win.

 

I’m Just Sayin’ … .

San Francisco archbishop bars Pelosi from receiving Holy Communion

The child in the womb is a living part of the fathers’ body too. My body … My Child … My choice – ought be the law for any father in any sane society.

I am quietly encouraged as I did [and likely many others too] – I did use time to write the Catholic Church – even the Pope – asking he “Teach The World” on this issue of abortion by barring those like President Biden who are totally upside down to say he is a good Christian and Catholic. I asked the Pope to Teach the World.

… and here, I am hopeful, is the first step [I hope for at least two].

This is the headline from Fox News …

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone announced Friday that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is barred from receiving Holy Communion due to her pro-abortion stance — marking an escalation in a decades-long tension between the Roman Catholic Church and liberal Democratic politicians on abortion. The link below goes to their story.

This will introduce my own story.

Childless my entire life because of abortion rhetoric and politics …

I suggest that ‘Logical Sounding Arguments’ of the brain ‘Right to Choose’ … My Body-My Choice – etc. etc. … each and all are false teachings – tricks of logic.

We need to move the ‘arguments’ from the Brain and Intellect – to the truths of the Heart and Soul. Many have been ‘tricked’.

I, personally, was confused just long enough to seal the fate of my unborn baby. I’ll never forgive myself. And, I will address also – that I had no say! The father has no say in the matter!

The law needs be changed in the states that will continue to provide whatever abortions the laws will sanction; fathers have rights to stop the killing of their own child too. The child, even in the womb, is a living part of the fathers’ body too. My body … My choice – is the right of any expecting father.

My own composition on abortion and the rights of the father, from my own personal experiences will soon follow.

I’m Just Sayin’ … .

I am impressed to add this: Barring someone from Sacrament is a serious action in any case and, personally, I would urge that it be part of a plan to help a person get back on a path in line with the teachings of our Savior. In this case, it’s none of my business except for the fact that she is doing all this as one of the most powerful leaders in our government – and I referenced our President too – the most powerful person in our government. For me, that is an important component to my opinion.

Here’s the story link about Pelosi and Communion from Fox News https://www.foxnews.com/politics/san-francisco-archbishop-pelosi-communion-abortion-support

Illinois minors can get abortions without parental notification after Dem governor Pritzker signs repeal

Shame on those who had a hand in this line of lawmaking … as is stated in the article – this is the law in over 20 states! Abortions for underage girls/women … without notification [or consent] from a parent. It’s unbelievable what some push for and get away with …

Shame on them all … .

I’m Just Sayin’… .

Doctors in Illinois will no longer need to notify the parents of an underage girl 48 hours before her scheduled abortion, after Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a repeal of the state’s law Friday. | Fox News

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/illinois-minors-abortions-parents-notify-after-pritzker-repeal

American Express CRT training urged staff to adopt a hierarchy, putting ‘marginalized’ above ‘privileged’

American Express launched a critical race theory training that urged employees to check their privilege and defer to employees from “marginalized groups,” essentially creating a workplace hierarchy.

This is really nuts…. I laughed out loud when I read:

In another session, consultants instructed employees to change their behavior in the office based on their relative position on the intersectional hierarchy. According to Rufo, the session included “a blue flowchart with specific rules for interacting with black, female and LGBT employees: If members of a subordinate group are present, workers should practice ‘intersectional allyship’ and defer to them before speaking.”

What??!!

The problem is they aren’t kidding. And, by ‘they’ I mean a small portion of the population that is bent on changing the world and the way we think … to suit them. The tail wagging the dog. It’s nuts.

Now we must treat those who are in the minority – not equally – but as Kings and Queens [no pun intended]… we must treat them special or the powers that be will surely get you.

I’m glad I am old.

I’m Just Sayin’ … .

https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/amex-crt-training-urged-staff-to-adopt-a-hierarchy-putting-marginalized-above-privileged

Oregon governor signs bill suspending math, reading proficiency requirements for HS graduates

Gov. Kate Brown, the Oregon Democrat, signed a bill last month with little fanfare that drops the requirement that high school students prove proficiency in reading, writing or math, before graduation, a report said

I guess I miss adding my thoughts to the mix – this is one of those times when I just wish I had a soap box and megaphone. This is insanity.

Allow graduations while suspending a requirement that students in High School have to be proficient in math, reading? You don’t have to be able to read or do simple arithmetic – and you can graduate HS?

Foundations for a Better Oregon said in a statement at the time that the bill is intended to “truly reflect what every student needs to thrive in the 21st century.” Supporters of the bill insist that considering math and reading essential skills has been an unfair challenge for students who do not test well.

WHAT? Being able to read, write, and do basic math by the time one graduates HS is an unfair challenge? For HS Students?

We used to joke about a notion that there was a desire to ‘dumb down’ America. It’s no joke to me today. Legal drugs, no reading, writing, and math, you can be a boy or a girl or both or neither … [?]. This is not politics or differences of opinion … this is Evil at work in our nation.

And then I read this and I just shook my head in exasperation: Charles Boyle, the deputy communications director from Brown’s office said -“Black, Latino, Latinx, Indigenous, Asian, Pacific Islander, Tribal, and students of color.” After the first seven descriptors … why did the writer feel the need to add ‘and students of color’. What hope do these generations have for the next 60 years of their lives?

Where, and when did America decide that people who think like this ought to be allowed to run our governments and schools?

My grandparents generation [and I am a little long in the tooth myself] used to say  … the world is going to hell in a hand basket if people don’t wise up and change their ways.

My grandparents were right.

Sadly, people never did get wise and change their ways.

Enjoy the ride.

I’m Just Sayin’ … .

 

There is going to be a genuine divide in this country – more than political sides. Two Americas. It’s coming. I just hope it’s not by war and killing. History says that is a pretty lofty hope. I hope, like my grandparents – people wake up, get wise, and change their ways. jl

Here’s a link to the story if you want to read it –

https://www.foxnews.com/us/oregon-governor-signs-bill-suspending-math-reading-proficiency-requirements-for-hs-graduates

Ohio man’s rescue of mother and son

I understand this is not an especially head turning story – it did however, get my attention and the words of the young man’s mother absolutely rang true for me – to the point that it gave me chills.

I listened to a local radio guy* the other day trash all those who say ‘God saved me’ in any manner or form – he even call some derogatory names… suggesting ‘why would God save you – you ‘blank’ [pos]! IF He was going to save anyone – why you? Why not so in so? Why not my brother …?**

*WIBX in NY – Keeler In The Morning/Bill Keeler.

**that remark allowed me to understand his anger and position. I am sorry for his loss.

The radio guy? He’s just wrong. God does act in our lives. Why and for who? I admit that is not always clear to us… and I cannot say I know the answer [I know some of it and am happy to share my thoughts on request]. I know God does act in our lives though – He has in my own. I know.

It does NOT mean I am more worthy or deserving of such mercy or grace than another;

 I know that too.

I’m Just Sayin’ … .

Ohio man’s rescue of mother and son

An 18-year-old Ohio man was being praised for saving a mother and her 10-year-old son at a North Carolina beach over the Fourth of July weekend – in a rescue that was caught on video. | Fox News

https://www.foxnews.com/us/ohio-mans-rescue-of-mother-and-son-10-at-north-carolina-beach-caught-on-drone-footage