{"id":6310,"date":"2022-11-03T17:03:33","date_gmt":"2022-11-03T17:03:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/petersantilli.com\/?p=6310"},"modified":"2022-11-03T17:11:26","modified_gmt":"2022-11-03T17:11:26","slug":"robert-f-kennedy-jr-exposes-deep-state-and-their-new-big-tech-dhs-secret-societies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/petersantilli.com\/?p=6310","title":{"rendered":"Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Exposes &#8216;Deep State&#8217; And Their New Big Tech DHS Secret Societies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>President John F. Kennedy gave a speech to the press, in August 1961 about the secret societies and said: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The very word \u201csecrecy\u201d is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to<strong> secret societies<\/strong>, to secret oaths and to secret proceedings. We decided long ago that the dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweighed the dangers which are cited to justify it. Even today, there is little value in opposing the threat of a closed society by imitating its arbitrary restrictions. Even today, there is little value in insuring the survival of our nation if our traditions do not survive with it. And there is very grave danger that an announced need for increased security will be seized upon by those anxious to expand its meaning to the very limits of official censorship and concealment.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So it might be ironic that his nephew, Robert F. Kennedy would bring to attention the new high-tech secret society of this generation, which has recently been exposed:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">So many ex-government workers are now employed by Facebook that it\u2019s difficult to view Meta as a private company instead of a government partner, intent on silencing anyone who speaks out against the official narrative.<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/dC6qpJuhwB\">https:\/\/t.co\/dC6qpJuhwB<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RobertKennedyJr\/status\/1587450000333602816?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 1, 2022<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>From the article:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Leaked government documents reveal that U.S. government officials have access to a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/23129270-fb-portal\">special portal<\/a>&nbsp;through which they can directly flag Facebook and Instagram posts and request that the posts be \u201cthrottled or suppressed,\u201d&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2022\/10\/31\/social-media-disinformation-dhs\/\">The Intercept reported<\/a>&nbsp;Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Internal U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) memos, emails and public documents outline \u201can expansive effort\u201d by DHS to influence tech platforms, despite the Biden administration\u2019s failure earlier this year to launch a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/childrenshealthdefense.org\/defender\/covid-misinformation-cdc\/\">Disinformation Governance Board<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As of Oct. 31, the \u201ccontent request system\u201d at facebook.com\/xtakedowns\/login was still live despite the public uproar earlier this year when&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/childrenshealthdefense.org\/defender\/disband-disinformation-governance-board\/\">attorneys general in 20 states threatened legal action<\/a>&nbsp;unless the Biden administration immediately disbanded the \u201cOrwellian\u201d Disinformation Governance Board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/steinhardt.nyu.edu\/people\/mark-crispin-miller\">Mark Crispin Miller<\/a>, Ph.D., professor of Media, Culture, and Communication at New York University, told&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/childrenshealthdefense.org\/defender\/\">The Defender<\/a>&nbsp;that collusion between the U.S. government and media companies to censor U.S. citizens is nothing new \u2014 but it\u2019s become a \u201ccatastrophic trend.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.michaelrectenwald.com\/bio\">Michael Rectenwald<\/a>, Ph.D., author of \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Google-Archipelago-Digital-Gulag-Speech\/dp\/1943003262\">Google Archipelago<\/a>: The Digital Gulag and the Simulation of Freedom,\u201d told The Defender:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe Intercept\u2019s reporting validates what many knew was being undertaken by the Department of Homeland Security, despite the scrapping of its Disinformation Governance Board.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rectenwald said the coordination between government and media companies validates his claim that social media companies are not merely \u201cprivate companies\u201d but are \u201cstate and uni-party apparatuses\u201d \u2014 what he has called \u201cgovernmentalities\u201d \u2014 that \u201caugment the state by adding precision, scope, and penetration to state power.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Indeed, many of the people in charge of moderating content at Facebook have been&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/childrenshealthdefense.org\/defender\/censorship-facebook-cia-fbi-cola\/\">recruited from the government<\/a>, including the CIA, FBI and the U.S. Department of Defense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe unholy alliance between the state and these corporations has historically been called fascism,\u201d Rectenwald added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Biden \u2018paused\u2019 widely ridiculed board \u2014 publicly, at least<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On May 18, the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/05\/18\/biden-admin-pauses-disinformation-governance-board-report\/\">Biden administration \u201cpaused\u201d the board<\/a>, causing Nina Jankowicz, who was tapped to lead the initiative, to resign. However, the still-active portal allows officials with a .gov or law enforcement email address to request censorship in the name of fighting \u201cdisinformation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Neither DHS nor Meta, Facebook\u2019s parent company, responded to The Intercept\u2019s request for comment on its report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to The Intercept, the DHS Disinformation Governance Board was initially designed to police three forms of speech that allegedly threaten U.S. interests:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>\u201cMisinformation: false information spread unintentionally.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u201cDisinformation: false information spread intentionally.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u201cMalinformation: factual information shared, typically out of context, with harmful intent.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Even though the board scaled back and then shut down after being met with wide ridicule, other DHS efforts are underway for monitoring social media behind closed doors, according to The Intercept.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An August 2022 report by the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.oig.dhs.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/assets\/2022-08\/OIG-22-58-Aug22.pdf\">DHS Office of Inspector General<\/a>&nbsp;tracked DHS\u2019s efforts since 2018 to \u201ccounter disinformation\u201d \u2014 and concluded DHS efforts did not go far enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAlthough DHS components have worked across various social media platforms to counter disinformation, DHS does not yet have a unified department-wide strategy to effectively counter disinformation that originates from both foreign and domestic sources,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWithout a unified strategy, DHS and its components cannot coordinate effectively, internally, or externally to counter disinformation campaigns that appear in social media,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to a draft copy of the DHS Quadrennial Homeland Security Review, obtained by The Intercept, the department plans to target \u201cinaccurate information\u201d on a range of topics, including \u201cthe origins of the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/childrenshealthdefense.org\/defender_category\/covid\/\">COVID-19<\/a>&nbsp;pandemic and the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, racial justice, U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the nature of U.S. support to Ukraine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The draft review also called for DHS to \u201cleverage advanced data analytics technology and hire and train skilled specialists to better understand how threat actors use online platforms to introduce and spread toxic narratives intended to inspire or incite violence, as well as work with NGOs [non-governmental organizations] and other parts of civil society to build resilience to the impacts of false information.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The draft did not include a concise definition of \u201cthreat actors,\u201d an omission&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thefire.org\/adam-goldstein-joins-fire\/\">Adam Goldstein<\/a>, vice president of research at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, found concerning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cNo matter your political allegiances, all of us have good reason to be concerned about government efforts to pressure private social media platforms into reaching the government\u2019s preferred decisions about what content we can see online,\u201d Goldstein told The Intercept.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAny governmental requests to social media platforms to review or remove certain content should be made with extreme transparency,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In June 2022, an advisory committee of DHS\u2019s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) \u2014&nbsp; which included Vijaya Gadde, Twitter\u2019s head of legal, public policy and trust, and safety lead, and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hcde.washington.edu\/starbird\">Kate Starbird<\/a>, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Human Centered Design &amp; Engineering at the University of Washington \u2014 drafted a report to the CISA director in which the committee called for an expansive role of the agency in shaping the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/23131362-june-22-2022-draft-cisa-report\">information ecosystem<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The committee\u2019s report called on CISA to closely monitor \u201csocial media platforms of all sizes, mainstream media, cable news, hyper partisan media, talk radio and other online resources.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Evidence of \u2018deep state\u2019 political censorship, expert says<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Rectenwald, the DHS has been infringing the First Amendment rights of U.S. citizens \u2014 \u201cwith the explicit cooperation of social media\u201d \u2014 while enforcing official state narratives and dictates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cTogether with social media companies, they comprise an American Pravda,\u201d Rectenwald said. Russia\u2019s&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/Pravda\">Pravda newspaper<\/a>&nbsp;was the official organ of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1918 to 1991.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cDHS\u2019s backdoor portal to Facebook and Instagram is evidence of \u2018deep-state,\u2019 political censorship,\u201d Rectenwald said, referring to a \u201cpermanent bureaucracy that voters neither elected nor can change, but which operates independently of voters\u2019 wills.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/23175380-dhs-cybersecurity-disinformation-meeting-minutes\">CISA meeting minutes<\/a>&nbsp;and other records appended to a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/nclalegal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Doc.-45-First-Amended-Complaint.pdf\">lawsuit filed by Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt<\/a>&nbsp;alleging the U.S. government censored the opinions of the scientists who wrote the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/gbdeclaration.org\/\">Great Barrington Declaration<\/a>,\u201d discussions among CISA officials revealed the scale and scope of government intervention in online discourse \u2014 and went so far as to cover the mechanisms of streamlining takedown requests for false or intentionally misleading information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For instance, a text message exchanged in February between CISA Director Jen Easterly, and another CISA employee who now works at Microsoft, read: \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/childrenshealthdefense.org\/defender\/governments-censorship-first-amendment\/\">Platforms have got to get more comfortable with gov\u2019t<\/a>. It\u2019s really interesting how hesitant they remain.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And in a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/23129257-030122-cisameeting\">March CISA meeting<\/a>, Laura Dehmlow, an FBI official, said the threat of subversive information on social media might undermine support for the U.S. government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Notes from that meeting discussion \u2014 which was attended by senior&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/childrenshealthdefense.org\/defender\/alex-berenson-white-house-rfk-jr-podcast\/\">executives from Twitter<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/childrenshealthdefense.org\/defender\/rfk-jr-podcast-john-titus-finance-expert-global-banks\/\">JPMorgan Chase<\/a>&nbsp;\u2014 showed Dehmlow stressed that \u201cwe need a media infrastructure that is held accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Twitter told The Intercept in a statement, however, that they \u201cdo not coordinate with other entities when making content moderation decisions, and we independently evaluate content in line with the Twitter Rules.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yet other documents \u2014 in addition to the March CISA meeting notes \u2014 suggest coordination between the federal government and Twitter regarding the content it allows on its platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In July 2021, Twitter locked&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/childrenshealthdefense.org\/authors\/alex-berenson\/\">Alex Berenson<\/a>, a former New York Times reporter and the author of 13 novels, out of his account a few hours after Biden said the social media companies were \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/politics\/2021\/07\/16\/biden-social-media-killing-people-allowing-misinformation\/7996725002\/\">killing people<\/a>\u201d by allowing vaccine skeptics to speak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>About a month later,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/media\/alex-berenson-pfizer-linked-former-fda-official-banned-twitter-months-long-conspiracy\">&nbsp;Twitter permanently banned Berenson<\/a>, who also has a Substack page called \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/alexberenson.substack.com\/\">Unreported Truths<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In December 2021,<a href=\"https:\/\/childrenshealthdefense.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Berenson-v.-Twitter-Inc.pdf\">&nbsp;Berenson sued Twitter<\/a>&nbsp;in federal court, claiming the company had breached its contract with Berenson because it previously assured him he was doing nothing wrong according to their rules and that everything he said on their platform had been accurate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The<a href=\"https:\/\/alexberenson.substack.com\/p\/the-white-house-privately-demanded\">&nbsp;internal Twitter communications<\/a>&nbsp;obtained through discovery revealed the White House had specifically targeted him in its private meeting with Twitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The communications showed&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/childrenshealthdefense.org\/defender\/governments-censorship-first-amendment\/\">high-ranking members of the Biden administration<\/a>&nbsp;\u2014 including White House Senior COVID-19 Advisor Andy Slavitt \u2014 pushed Twitter to permanently suspend Berenson from the platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI can now bring a claim directly against the White House,\u201d&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/childrenshealthdefense.org\/defender\/alex-berenson-white-house-rfk-jr-podcast\/\">Berenson told Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.<\/a>, in a recent episode of \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/anchor.fm\/rfkjr\">RFK Jr. The Defender Podcast<\/a>,\u201d \u201cagainst people who were in the White House at that time \u2014 for trying to abridge my free speech rights.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>More evidence of the federal government\u2019s possible collusion with Big Tech companies to censor users may be revealed as a result of an&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/childrenshealthdefense.org\/defender\/anthony-fauci-testify-big-tech-censorship-et\/\">Oct. 21 federal court ruling<\/a>&nbsp;that ordered&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.therealanthonyfaucimovie.com\/trailer\/?sub4=654055e3200343a6b981383a26891711&amp;afid=362\">Dr. Anthony Fauci<\/a>&nbsp;and other top officials to testify under oath at depositions for Attorney General Schmitt\u2019s lawsuit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jenin Younes, a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/nclalegal.org\/\">New Civil Liberties Alliance<\/a>&nbsp;attorney involved in the lawsuit, said she looks forward to learning just how far the accused government officials went to push their COVID-19 \u201cperspective.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cFor the first time, Dr. Fauci and seven other federal officials responsible for running an unlawful censorship enterprise will have to answer questions under oath about the nature and extent of their&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/childrenshealthdefense.org\/defender\/anthony-fauci-testify-big-tech-censorship-et\/\">communications with tech companies<\/a>,\u201d Younes said in a statement to The Epoch Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/childrenshealthdefense.org\/\">Children\u2019s Health Defense<\/a>&nbsp;(CHD) also sued Meta, its \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/childrenshealthdefense.org\/defender\/facebook-admits-fact-checks-pure-opinion\/\">independent fact-checkers<\/a>\u201d and Mark Zuckerberg, alleging they&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/childrenshealthdefense.org\/defender\/chd-attorneys-argue-against-dismiss-facebook-censorship-lawsuit\/\">worked jointly with the Biden administration<\/a>&nbsp;to censor CHD social media content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\nhttps:\/\/live.childrenshealthdefense.org\/embed\/defender-sms-reminders-v2\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2018It\u2019s kind of a wild west out there\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As The Intercept pointed out, the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/opcl\/privacy-act-1974\">Privacy Act of 1974<\/a>, created after the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/event\/Watergate-Scandal\">Watergate scandal<\/a>, restricts the government\u2019s ability to collect data from Americans as they exercise their First Amendment rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Civil liberty groups have contended the statute limits the ability of the DHS and the FBI to surveil the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.computerworld.com\/article\/2501725\/privacy-tussle-brews-over-social-media-monitoring.html\">political speech of Americans on social media<\/a>, but the statute has exemptions for information collected for the purposes of a criminal or law enforcement investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.brennancenter.org\/experts\/faiza-patel\">Faiza Patel<\/a>, senior director of the Brennan Center for Justice\u2019s Liberty and National Security Program, told The Intercept, \u201cThere are no specific legal constraints on the FBI\u2019s use of social media. The attorney general guidelines permit agents to look at social media before there is any investigation at all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSo it\u2019s kind of a Wild West out there,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An FBI official interviewed by The Intercept lamented the country\u2019s move toward warrantless monitoring of its citizens and said, \u201cMan, I don\u2019t even know what\u2019s legal anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>CISA boasted of an evolved mission to monitor social media discussions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Following high-profile&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2021\/04\/16\/985439655\/a-worst-nightmare-cyberattack-the-untold-story-of-the-solarwinds-hack\">hacking incidents<\/a>&nbsp;of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/money.cnn.com\/2017\/12\/18\/technology\/biggest-cyberattacks-of-the-year\/index.html\">U.S. firms<\/a>, Congress in 2018 passed \u2014 and then-President Donald Trump signed \u2014 the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Act, which formed a new wing of DHS charged with protecting critical national infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cFrom its inception, CISA boasted of an \u2018evolved mission\u2019 to monitor social media discussions while \u2018routing disinformation concerns\u2019 to private sector platforms,\u201d The Intercept report said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Additionally, the DHS in 2018 created \u2014 under the leadership of then-DHS secretary Kirstjen Nielsen \u2014 the Countering Foreign Influence Task Force to respond to election disinformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The task force included members of CISA and DHS\u2019s Office of Intelligence and Analysis who together generated \u201cthreat intelligence\u201d about the election and then notified social media platforms and law enforcement agencies, according to The Intercept.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2019, DHS created yet another branch \u2014 the Foreign Influence and Interference Branch \u2014 to generate more detailed intelligence about disinformation. That same year, its staff grew to 15 full- and part-time employees dedicated to disinformation analysis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2020, DHS\u2019s disinformation efforts expanded to include COVID-19, according to an Oct. 2020&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dhs.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/publications\/2020_10_06_homeland-threat-assessment.pdf\">Homeland Threat Assessment<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In January 2021, under the Biden administration, CISA replaced the Countering Foreign Influence Task Force with the \u201cMisinformation, Disinformation and Malinformation\u201d team in order to \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.oig.dhs.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/assets\/2022-08\/OIG-22-58-Aug22.pdf\">to promote more flexibility to focus on general MDM<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The ever-present narrative: Censorship not just justified but morally necessary&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Crispin Miller traced governmental collusion with media companies limiting free speech back to the 1960s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cGradually, over the last sixty years, it\u2019s become increasingly difficult \u2014 and, lately, dangerous \u2014 to contradict the narratives pumped out by the government and media, Crispin Miller said. \u201cStarting in the late 1960s, those who questioned the official story of JFK\u2019s assassination and other seminal events were largely laughed off as \u2018conspiracy theorists.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOver the last 10 years or so, such ridicule has given way to heated condemnation, treating mere dissent from this or that official story as (somehow) an existential danger to us all,\u201d Crispin Miller said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Crispin Miller continued:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThus, for going on three years now, it\u2019s been treated as a crime against humanity to question any of the \u2018COVID measures\u2019 forced on all humanity by governments worldwide \u2014 especially COVID \u2018vaccination,\u2019 which is itself [original emphasis] a crime against humanity, and yet it\u2019s dangerous to say as much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cLikewise, it\u2019s now treated as (somehow) a crime against democracy, and a dire threat to \u2018national security,\u2019 to question the results of an election, with those who do so-called \u2018election deniers,\u2019 \u2014 as if disbelief in the official outcome of a presidential or congressional race is somehow tantamount to Holocaust [original emphasis] denial.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/greenwald.substack.com\/about\">Glenn Greenwald<\/a>, journalist, author and lawyer, also pointed out there is a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/greenwald.substack.com\/p\/the-consortium-imposing-the-growing\">problematic narrative<\/a>&nbsp;circulating that regards censorship as both justifiable and morally necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Greenwald, one of the three editors who in 2014 co-founded&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/staff\/glenn-greenwald\/\">The Intercept<\/a>, wrote in an Oct. 28 Substack post:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cLook to any government or society in which censorship prevailed \u2014 either today or throughout history. This narrative about why censorship is not just justified but morally necessary is always present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cNobody wants to think of themselves as a censorship supporter. They need to be supplied with a story about why they are something different, or at least why the censorship they are led to support is uniquely justified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAnd it works because, in the most warped sense possible, it appeals to reason. If one really believes, as millions of American liberals do, that the U.S. faces two and only two choices \u2014 either (1) elect Democrats and ensure they rule or (2) live under a white nationalist fascist dictatorship \u2014 then of course such people will believe that media disinformation campaigns, censorship, and other forms of authoritarianism are necessary to ensure Democrats win and their opponents are vanquished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOnce that self-glorifying rationale is embraced \u2014 our adversaries do not merely disagree with us but cause harm with the expression of their views [original emphasis] \u2014 then the more suppression, the better.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAnd that is exactly what is happening now,\u201d Greenwald added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President John F. Kennedy gave a speech to the press, in August 1961 about the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6318,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-stories"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/petersantilli.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-131021.jpg?fit=936%2C564&ssl=1",936,564,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/petersantilli.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-131021.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/petersantilli.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-131021.jpg?fit=300%2C181&ssl=1",300,181,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/petersantilli.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-131021.jpg?fit=640%2C386&ssl=1",640,386,true],"large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/petersantilli.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-131021.jpg?fit=640%2C386&ssl=1",640,386,true],"rpg_gallery_admin_thumb":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/petersantilli.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-131021.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1",150,150,true],"rpg_gallery_thumb":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/petersantilli.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-131021.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1",150,150,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/petersantilli.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-131021.jpg?fit=936%2C564&ssl=1",936,564,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/petersantilli.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-131021.jpg?fit=936%2C564&ssl=1",936,564,true],"newsphere-slider-full":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/petersantilli.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-131021.jpg?resize=936%2C564&ssl=1",936,564,true],"newsphere-featured":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/petersantilli.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-131021.jpg?fit=936%2C564&ssl=1",936,564,true],"newsphere-medium":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/petersantilli.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-131021.jpg?resize=720%2C380&ssl=1",720,380,true]},"author_info":{"info":["Peter Santilli"]},"category_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/petersantilli.com\/?cat=8\" rel=\"category\">Featured Stories<\/a>","tag_info":"Featured Stories","comment_count":"0","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/petersantilli.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Screenshot-2022-11-03-131021.jpg?fit=936%2C564&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/plD2r-1DM","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/petersantilli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6310"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/petersantilli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/petersantilli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petersantilli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petersantilli.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6310"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/petersantilli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6310\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6316,"href":"https:\/\/petersantilli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6310\/revisions\/6316"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petersantilli.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/petersantilli.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petersantilli.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petersantilli.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}