Democracy Dies In Darkness

I have been keeping half an eye on what is happening in the US around a lawsuit issued by 2 State Attorneys General (Jeff Landry, Louisiana and Eric Schmitt, Missouri) revealing that the Biden administration and Big Tech colluded to suppress the First Amendment rights of US citizens. Right there, we’re talking about a body blow to democracy.

You can read details of this lawsuit on GreenMedInfo (Ref 1)

The US Is Up To Mischief

This is a significant part of the mischief in which the US is engaged internally. Let’s not even think about interference they engage in external to their borders.

In addition to the social media censorship, there is a broader censorship campaign at play – taxpayer funded, of course – through the US equivalent of East Germany’s Stasi – the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)

It may sound harsh – ridiculous, even – to compare the DHS to a cold war, iron curtain secret police force. Examine the parallels.

• The DHS has one purpose: to keep The Homeland “safe.”

• They decide what “safe” means and don’t care what they have to do in order to do it.

• It is done with the approval of the White House administration.

• They run roughshod over civil liberties and constitutional rights.

• They have targeted a so-called “disinformation dozen”, making false claims against organisations and individuals, impugning reputations, destroying work and income, and attempting to silence critics. These critics are claimed to be “domestic terrorists.”

• Large-scale data collection by DHS follows the same pattern.

DGB – The Ministry Of Truth

In early 2022, Biden set into play a Disinformation Governance Board (DGB) within the DHS, to eradicate any dissent against the government’s preferred messaging. It was operating 2 months before its existence was announced. The DGB received so much criticism and carried so much controversy, that only 3 weeks after its announcement, it was “paused.” Only 4 months after its announcement, it was officially shut down. Supposedly. However, a certain document reveals the underlying work is continuing. Read about it at (Ref 2)

Fighting The War On Terror Anything Else

Homeland Security was initially set up to fight the war on terror, in the wake of the 9-11 event. Now that that mandate has been wound down, instead of being disbanded, it has pivoted to monitoring social media. As if an Islamic fundamentalist flying an aircraft into the Pentagon and David Brent posting a funny meme on Meta are remotely similar.

As concerning as the censorship, is the other side of the coin. The Intercept reports a leaked email by a DHS official, discussing using third party Nonprofit organisations as a clearing house for information to avoid the appearance of government propaganda.

In other words, we’ve got some propaganda to get out here, but we want to funnel it through a third party so it doesn’t look like it came from the government.

There are Orwellian themes to all this that should be concerning to citizens of all nations. Because, regardless of where the propaganda originates, it still largely gets delivered by broadcast media. And the broadcast media – mainstream media, legacy media, advocacy media; call it what you will – tell us what to think on a daily basis. And so many of us think just what we’re told to. Because we’re compliant, and we’re good that way.

John R Schindler, former National Security Agency senior intelligence analyst and counterintelligence officer, authored a report in the Washington Examiner about this memo, in which he wrote in part (Ref 3):

That’s what is called a “cut-out” in the spy trade, the use of a deniable intermediary. Biden’s DHS wanted to use ostensibly private cut-outs to spread political propaganda approved by the White House, paid for with taxpayer money.

That sounds more like East Germany than America. I’ve been countering disinformation, mainly Russian, since the 1990s, and the line between foreign lies and domestic views was always clear inside the Beltway. At least until Biden entered the White House. What’s been going on in Washington is illegal and un-American. It needs thorough exposure. In the new year, when the House of Representatives is likely to be in Republican hands, what DHS and other federal agencies have been up to needs a full investigation.

We are fortunate that the DHS bureaucrats who were colluding with Big Tech against Republicans, and anyone who doesn’t follow the Democratic party line, were foolish enough to write their wacky, unconstitutional ideas down in unclassified memos where reporters could find them. Biden’s Deep State is thankfully inept. On cue, the legacy media is ignoring the Intercept’s bombshell report since it’s not the narrative they want, particularly just a few days away from the midterm elections.

Still, dear journalists who have pontificated for years about how “democracy dies in darkness” — here’s your chance to stand up for free speech and keeping the government away from our cherished values.

The Washington Post bears a slogan on its website, directly under its banner:

Democracy Dies In Darkness

This slogan is believed to have originated from Circuit Judge Damon Keith during his ruling on a First Amendment case. The importance of the press – all media, actually – in protecting our freedom of speech and, by extension, freedom of thought, cannot be overstated. It’s why we are in such a dire state at the moment.

It is a problem that that has existed in the US since at least 1786

In 1786, due to the after-effects of the Revolutionary War against England, a struggling economy, and a rudimentary financial system in the young new country, many farmers and other citizens of Massachusetts were near financial ruin. Taxes were levied by the state of Massachusetts, which simply could not be paid. One of the taxes enacted in Massachusetts in 1785 was the state stamp act tax on newspapers. Considering the apparent effects of other taxes in the state, Newspaper editors correctly perceived this tax as a threat to freedom of the press.

Samuel Hall’s Eloquent Defence Of Freedom

This 1st May, 1786 issue of The Massachusetts Gazette published this persuasive explanation of freedom of the press, addressed to the printers of America:

Gentlemen,

As your efforts have contributed greatly to effect the Revolution, and establish Independence, upon your continued exertions the liberty and happiness of the United States eminently depends — For, without political knowledge the people cannot secure their liberties, and this necessary information they receive by the medium of newspapers — For this reason, every embarrassment to the free circulation of these periodical papers must be viewed as dangerous to the freedom of the country.

This, at a time when the United States didn’t yet have a Constitution.

Thomas Jefferson‘s famous freedom of the press quote is from a private letter he had sent to Dr James Currie on 28th January, 1786:

“Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.”

Yet 21 years later, he wrote to John Norvell on 11th June, 1807:

“Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle.”

This would indicate that since newspapers – now radio and television, too – are such marvellous vehicles to inform, they are ever likely to be used for disinformation and propaganda.

With ownership of mainstream media being concentrated, and media also being paid for by powerful vested interests, any reports can be tainted. Not that they all are, but they all could be.

Hence the vital importance of diversity of sources of information.

A Perceived Threat To Democracy

In the leadup to the recent mid-term elections in the US, Siena College ran a poll, asking respondents if they thought democracy was under threat. The Independent Journal reports (Ref 4) in a review on an aspect of that poll that indicates:

“As it turns out, 84% of respondents said, yes, the mainstream media posed a threat to democracy, including 6 in 10 who said it posed a major threat.”

Those “cherished values” to which Schindler referred previously would appear to be rather tarnished.

Having quoted Thomas Jefferson previously, I had thought to end with another quote attributed to Jefferson, “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.” Unfortunately, it turns out there is no record of him ever having said or written the words.

The words have been attributed to a number of other men, as well, including John Philpot Curran, Wendell Phillips and Thomas Charlton. Having learned that little lesson, I thought, instead, to include a cautionary quote that seems more relevant not only to the topic of this article, but to the entire pandemic response.

The words have been attributed to a number of other men, as well, including John Philpot Curran, Wendell Phillips and Thomas Charlton. Having learned that little lesson, I thought, instead, to include a cautionary quote that seems more relevant not only to the topic of this article, but to the entire pandemic response.