Pro-Free-Speech Christian Rapper Permanently Suspended From Twitter

Christian conservative rapper Bryson Gray has been permanently banned from Twitter, after previously remarking that Elon Musk’s takeover of the platform was generally a good move for free speech.

Gray is no stranger to either bans or controversy, having had songs removed from Apple Music as well as Spotify and YouTube within the last two years, specifically for “medical misinformation” in at least one instance.

The reason for the Twitter suspension is not immediately clear, even to Gray; Twitter did not did not reply to a request for comments on the situation.

“I think I got banned because I called Elton John gay, which would be weird for obvious reasons,” Gray told Blaze Media.

“Elon Musk censors speech more than the old Twitter. That’s an objective truth that people look over because he allowed a few people back on Twitter,” the rapper continued. (Read more from “Pro-free-Speech Christian Rapper Permanently Suspended From Twitter” HERE)

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Senator Proposes Bill That Would Enact Nationwide Pornography Ban

Utah’s senior senator, having survived a reelection challenge from an independent candidate backed by state Democrats, is launching a two-pronged assault on companies that host pornography on their websites.

Mike Lee unveiled the twin pieces of legislation this past week, stating an intent to protect children online. One bill, dubbed “Shielding Children’s Retinas from Egregious Exposure on the Net (SCREEN)”, is clearly aimed at doing so, and would require such websites to ask users to provide their age before viewing content.

But a second piece of legislation introduced by the senator on the same day takes a much broader cudgel against pornographic content, and would remove a key protection that sexually explicit content currently enjoys in the United States.

As of right now, the right of Americans and others to share such content across state lines in the US (including online) is protected by the so-called “Miller Test”, a three-step test outlined by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in a 1973 ruling which determines when protected sexual content crosses the line into the unprotected realm of “obscenity”. Mr Lee’s legislation would eliminate one of those steps, specifically the one defining “obscenity” as content that “depicts or describes” sex “in a patently offensive way”.

Removing that language would mean that all sexual content, offensive or not, would fall into the unprotected definition of obscene content, which is prohibited from being transmitted across state lines, as well as between individuals in certain states. (Read more from “Senator Proposes Bill That Would Enact Nationwide Pornography Ban” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

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New ‘Twitter Files’ Shows How Federal, State Governments Monitor Americans’ Social Media Posts

By Daily Wire. A new drop in “The Twitter Files” series Friday afternoon shows that federal law enforcement officials were working in close contact with employees at Twitter to censor content.

Journalist Matt Taibbi said that between January 2020 and November 2022, then-Twitter Senior Director of Trust & Safety Yoel Roth had exchanged more than 150 emails with the FBI.

“A surprisingly high number are requests by the FBI for Twitter to take action on election misinformation, even involving joke tweets from low-follower accounts,” Taibbi said. “The FBI’s social media-focused task force, known as FTIF, created in the wake of the 2016 election, swelled to 80 agents and corresponded with Twitter to identify alleged foreign influence and election tampering of all kinds.”

“Federal intelligence and law enforcement reach into Twitter included the Department of Homeland Security, which partnered with security contractors and think tanks to pressure Twitter to moderate content,” he continued.

(Read more from “New ‘Twitter Files’ Shows How Federal, State Governments Monitor Americans’ Social Media Posts” HERE)

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New Twitter Files Just Dropped

By Townhall. Independent journalist Matt Taibbi — who released the first installment of the “Twitter Files” and kicked off a firestorm of revelations that led to Twitter Deputy General Counsel Jim Baker being “exited” from the company — dropped another round of documents and information on Friday evening.

This time, the deep-dive into Twitter’s internal machinations focused on its role as a “subsidiary” of the FBI. The Twitter Files, Taibbi wrote in his thread of information, “are revealing more every day about how the government collects, analyzes, and flags your social media content,” including how “Twitter’s contact with the FBI was constant and pervasive.”

Just how constant, you may ask. Well, as Taibbi explained, the timespan covering January 2020 to November 2022 saw more than “150 emails between the FBI and former Twitter Trust and Safety chief Yoel Roth.” Of those emails, some “are mundane, like San Francisco agent Elvis Chan wishing Roth a Happy New Year along with a reminder to attend ‘our quarterly call next week.’ Others are requests for information into Twitter users related to active investigations,” Taibbi said. “But a surprisingly high number are requests by the FBI for Twitter to take action on election misinformation, even involving joke tweets from low-follower accounts.” . . .

Taibbi shared a screenshot of an email from the FBI to Twitter seeking action against a handful of accounts, confirming that the federal government was pushing Twitter to act against individual users.

(Read more from “New Twitter Files Just Dropped” HERE)

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Arizona Judge Approves Kari Lake’s Requests To Examine Midterm Ballots

A judge in Maricopa County, Arizona, has approved Republican Kari Lake’s requests to inspect some ballots before the trial in her challenge to the Arizona gubernatorial race results.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson issued a ruling Thursday that approved three of Lake’s four demands for inspecting random ballots from the county

The three types of ballots Thompson approved Lake’s team to review included 50 random “ballot-on-demand” printed ballots that were cast on Election Day, 50 random early ballots cast from “six separate Maricopa County batches,” and 50 random ballot-on-demand printed ballots that were marked as spoiled. Lake’s request to inspect 50 random early ballots from ballot envelopes was denied due to state law, per the judge.

Thompson ordered Lake’s team had until Friday, “December 15, 2022,” an apparent error in the date, at noon MST to submit a ballot inspector, who will be able to inspect the ballots beginning at 8 a.m. MST on Tuesday, Dec. 20.

The judge also specified that the inspection must be conducted in a manner that “does not in any way interfere with any ongoing recount of the 2022 election results.”

(Read more from “Arizona Judge Approves Kari Lake’s Requests To Examine Midterm Ballots” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

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Plot Twist After World Leader’s Explicit Jab at Political Rival Caught on Hot Mic (VIDEO)

New Zealand’s prime minister is turning her hot mic gaffe into a charitable moment as she and her political rival plan to auction off her comment for charity.

ACT Party Leader David Seymour called the gesture a “very Kiwi resolution to what might be seen as a nasty incident.”

“In the spirit of Christmas, we are going to raise money for the Prostate Cancer Foundation – raising money for p—-s everywhere,” Seymour wrote in a tweet, calling it a “great cause.” . . .

[Warning: video contains explicit language.]

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called Seymour an “arrogant p—-” following an exchange in parliament. Seymour had asked if the government ever apologized for mistakes, referring to his belief that the ruling party had overreached with its COVID-19 response. (Read more from “Plot Twist After World Leader’s Explicit Jab at Political Rival Caught on Hot Mic (VIDEO)” HERE)

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U.S. Weapons Causing ‘Heavy’ Russian Losses Amid Artillery Duels: Commander

Ukrainian and Russian forces have reverted to punishing artillery duels across much of the front line as both sides wait for frozen ground that is expected to open a new window for fresh mechanized offensives.

As in the summer, both sides are facing intense ammunition pressures as artillery teams seek and destroy their rivals. Ukraine is in a unique bind; struggling to refill its stocks of Soviet-made 152mm caliber shells, while also trying to integrate a smorgasbord of NATO-donated artillery systems that largely fire 155mm munitions.

Weapons including the U.S.-made M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System and its British and German counterparts; the American M777; the French Caesar; the Polish AHS Krab; and the German PzH 2000 are all now in regular use along the front.

Western systems and shells, one commander fighting on the southern front told Newsweek, have been instrumental in helping the Ukrainians inflict serious casualties on the invaders and erode their ability to defend occupied positions. (Read more from “U.S. Weapons Causing ‘Heavy’ Russian Losses Amid Artillery Duels: Commander” HERE)

Photo credit: Flickr

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Elon Musk Lifts Twitter Suspensions of Journalists

Elon Musk has reinstated the Twitter accounts of a half dozen journalists who had been briefly suspended for showing how to track the location of the billionaire’s private jet.

The move to lift the bans early Saturday came after Musk faced a firestorm of criticism from prominent political figures, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff, for suspending the accounts.

The Twitter CEO said he allowed the users back on the platform based on the results of a 24-hour Twitter survey that he posted Thursday night where he asked if the accounts should be reinstated immediately or in seven days. More than 58% of voters urged him to unsuspend the journalists “now.”

“The people have spoken,” Musk tweeted at 12:18 a.m. Saturday. “Accounts who doxxed my location will have their suspension lifted now.”

New York Times reporter Ryan Mac, CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan, The Washington Post’s Drew Harwell and other journalist’s accounts were reinstated after Musk made the announcement.

(Read more from “Elon Musk Lifts Twitter Suspensions of Journalists” HERE)

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Pentagon’s UFO Office Has Received Hundreds of New Reports

A new Pentagon office set up to track reports of unidentified flying objects has received “several hundreds” of new reports, but no evidence so far of alien life, the agency’s leadership told reporters Friday.

The All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) was set up in July and is responsible for not only tracking unidentified objects in the sky, but also underwater or in space — or potentially an object that has the ability to move from one domain to the next.

The office was established following more than a year of attention on unidentified flying objects that military pilots have observed but have sometimes been reluctant to report due to fear of stigma. (Read more from “Pentagon’s UFO Office Has Received Hundreds of New Reports” HERE)

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Trump Backs McCarthy for House Speaker

Former President Donald Trump told the conservatives currently withholding support from House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy in McCarthy’s speakership bid to stand down in an exclusive interview with Breitbart News here on Friday.

“I like him,” Trump said of McCarthy, before teeing off on those working against him such as Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Matt Rosendale (R-MT), Bob Good (R-VA), and Ralph Norman (R-SC). While Trump did not name those trying to stop McCarthy from taking the Speaker’s gavel on January 3, he in no uncertain terms said he disagrees with their efforts—and warned that there could be serious consequences if McCarthy does not get the gavel and they could make Washington worse for conservatives.

Trump’s interview came Friday morning here at his Doral golf resort in Miami and covered a broad range of topics including the Speakership race and much more.

Trump warned that when conservatives took out now-former House Speaker John Boehner in 2015, they ended with now-former Speaker Paul Ryan—who he said was much worse—in the process. (Read more from “Trump Backs McCarthy for House Speaker” HERE)

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House Democrats Move to Bar Trump From Office

Dozens of House Democrats lined up behind legislation that would bar former President Donald Trump from holding office again.

The bill, introduced Thursday by Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI), aims to use Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment to get the job done, accusing Trump of orchestrating an insurrection with the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, which briefly disrupted the certification of President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.

“Donald Trump very clearly engaged in an insurrection on January 6, 2021 with the intention of overturning the lawful and fair results of the 2020 election. You don’t get to lead a government you tried to destroy,” Cicilline said in a statement touting how the legislation is packed with testimony and evidence to make the case against the 45th president.

Forty Democrats have signed on as co-sponsors. The legislation was introduced weeks after Trump announced his 2024 presidential election campaign, setting up would could be a rematch against Biden, who has said he intends to seek reelection. (Read more from “House Democrats Move to Bar Trump From Office” HERE)

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