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The DHS regularly meets with companies which share information with the agency about online activities promoting domestic violent extremism.

Last summer, a US Federal Judge issued an injunction on the Biden administration’s contact with social media companies regarding content moderation, writing that it may have “arguably involved the most massive attack against free speech in United States history.”

According to a new government report, the FBI, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and other agencies are working with what it describes as “gaming companies” to combat “domestic violent extremist content.”

The report notes that the DHS regularly meets with companies, which “share information with the [DHS intelligence branch] I&A about online activities promoting domestic violent extremism” and that the FBI regularly holds briefings with the companies about what it perceives as threats.

The companies interviewed in the Government Accountability Office (GAO) report include Roblox Corporation, publisher of the mega-popular online gaming platform Roblox that relies on user-generated content, Discord a social media and chat platform that includes invite-only spaces and was the site of the recent Pentagon leak and Reddit, a social media site with sub-communities, including but not in any way limited to gaming communities.

A video game publisher and social media company were also mentioned in the report but left unnamed. The report, requested by the US House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee notes that the FBI and DHS have “mechanisms for sharing information with, and receiving information from, social media and gaming companies about domestic violent extremism” including using “non-governmental organizations” regular meetings and “field office relationships with local companies.”

In the aforementioned Missouri v Biden case, the Fifth Circuit ruled that the White House, the Surgeon General’s office and the FBI “coerced [social media] platforms to make their moderation decisions by the way of intimidating messages and threats of adverse consequences” and “significantly encouraged the platforms’ decisions by commandeering their decision-making process, both in violation of the First Amendment.”

The practice described in the GAO report, regular meetings and reports with the companies, reflect the tactics used by the Biden administration to limit online speech. However, the report does not mention if the FBI and DHS make moderation requests and notes that both agencies are moving with caution regarding their interactions with the companies due to the Missouri v Biden case.

“I&A officials stated that they are refraining from such activities where necessary, while awaiting a final ruling,” and the FBI “continues to proceed cautiously, adding an additional layer of review and approval by the FBI Office of the General Counsel with respect to certain communications with social media platforms,” the report states.

Last March, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) the Senate Judiciary Committee Chair sent letters to several gaming companies, including Valve, Activision, Blizzard, Epic Games, Riot Games, Roblox Corporation and Take-Two Interactive, demanding that they take stronger actions to police gamers and their content. “For years extremists have exploited the community-building aspects of games to spread propaganda, radicalize and recruit users and mobilize for terrorist activities,” Durbin’s letters read, pointing to a survey by the Anti-Defamation League which found that a significant percentage of gamers (29% of adult players of Dota 2, for example) say they have encountered white-supremacist extremism while playing online.

The GAO report notes that some extremists will use watered-down messages on larger, more heavily censored, platforms to draw in recruits to smaller or private platforms where their true intentions can be spoken about openly. While not mentioned by name during this section, this seems to be a reference to Discord, which typically involves invite-only rooms. The report notes that the DHS and other agencies have more difficulty monitoring these sites, as well as audio-only discussions.

While the GAO report notes that the FBI and DHS have programs meant to counter extremism on gaming platforms, it recommended that the two agencies develop an “overarching strategy” to handle misinformation and extremism on the platforms.

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Paul has been a stalwart opponent of security-state mass surveillance, foreign interventionism – to include shoveling billions of dollars into the proxy war in Ukraine – and out-of-control spending in general.

Republican Kentucky Senator Rand Paul on Friday hinted that he may jump into the race to become the next Senate GOP leader, and Elon Musk was quick to support the idea. Republicans must find a successor for periodically malfunctioning Mitch McConnell, who recently announced he’ll step down in November, though intending to keep his Senate seat until his term ends in January 2027, when he’d be within weeks of turning 86. 

So far, the announced field consists of two quintessential establishment types: John Cornyn of Texas and John Thune of South Dakota. While John Barrasso’s name had been thrown around as one of “The Three Johns” considered top contenders, the Wyoming senator on Tuesday said he’ll instead seek the number two slot as party whip. 

Paul used X to tease his potential bid for the position which — if the GOP takes back the upper chamber in November — could graduate from Minority Leader to Majority Leader. He started by telling his 5.1 million followers he’d had lots of people asking him about his interest in running…

…then followed up with a poll in which he predictably annihilated Cornyn and Thune, taking a 96% share as of Friday night, with the other two below 2% each. 

Elon Musk was quick to back the idea of Paul as GOP leader, while daring Cornyn and Thune to follow Paul’s lead by throwing their names out for consideration by the Twitter-verse X-verse. 

Paul has been a stalwart opponent of security-state mass surveillance, foreign interventionism — to include shoveling billions of dollars into the proxy war in Ukraine — and out-of-control spending in general. He demonstrated the latter passion on the Senate floor this week as he ridiculed the latest kick-the-can spending package:   

In February, Paul used Senate rules to force his colleagues into a grueling Super Bowl weekend of votes, as he worked to derail a $95 billion foreign aid bill. “I think we should stay here as long as it takes,” said Paul. “If it takes a week or a month, I’ll force them to stay here to discuss why they think the border of Ukraine is more important than the US border.”

Don’t expect a Majority Leader Paul to ditch the filibuster — he’s been a hardy user of the legislative delay tactic. In 2013, he spoke for 13 hours to fight the nomination of John Brennan as CIA director. In 2015, he orated for 10-and-a-half-hours to oppose extension of the Patriot Act. 

Among the general public, Paul is probably best known as Capitol Hill’s chief tormentor of Dr. Anthony Fauci, who was director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease during the Covid-19 pandemic. Paul says the evidence indicates the virus emerged from China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology. He’s accused Fauci and other members of the US government public health apparatus of evading questions about their funding of the Chinese lab’s “gain of function” research, which takes natural viruses and morphs them into something more dangerous. Paul has pointedly said that Fauci committed perjury in congressional hearings and that he belongs in jail “without question.”   

Musk is neither the only nor the first noteworthy figure to back Paul for party leader. Just hours after McConnell announced his upcoming step-down from leadership, independent 2024 presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr voiced his support: 

In a testament to the extent to which the establishment recoils at the libertarian-minded Paul, mainstream media outlets — which have been quick to report on other developments in the majority leader race — pretended not to notice that Paul had signaled his interest in the job. More than 24 hours after Paul’s test-the-waters tweet-fest began, not a single major outlet had brought it to the attention of their audience. 

That may be his strongest endorsement yet. 

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Emergency Broadcast! Democrats Prep National Martial Law With Deployment Of Troops In New York

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Biden stopped short of saying he would cut off weapons and ammunition supplies to Israel if the red line is crossed.

The Muslim fasting period of Ramadan has begun, and the feared large-scale Israeli ground offensive on Rafah has yet to begin, though many believe it is imminent after Israeli leaders previously signaled it’s expected to start by March 10.

President Biden on Saturday issued a ‘red line’ for the first time over Rafah, warning Israel against attacking the southern enclave which is now packed with over one million internally displaced refugees. Washington has repeatedly called on Israel to facilitate a mass exodus of civilians before any assault takes place, however, there’s clearly the practical issue (and perhaps impossibility) of where hundreds of thousands of refugees would go. They are blocked by the Sinai (Egyptian) border to the south.

“[We] cannot have another 30,000 more Palestinians dead,” Biden told MSNBC in a fresh interview. He was then asked whether Rafah is a red line for him and he responded: “It is a red line.”

Biden then explained that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “hurting Israel more than helping Israel” in the way the war against Hamas is being executed. The president that said Netanyahu “must pay more attention to the innocent lives being lost as a consequence of the actions taken.”

Biden said that the soaring death toll – which Gaza sources say has surpassed 30,000 – “is contrary to what Israel stands for. And I think it’s a big mistake.”

But Biden stopped short of saying he would cut off weapons and ammunition supplies to Israel, which remain vital in its war against Hamas. Some pundits have said the Israel Defense Forces could not possibly sustain the war for very long without American-supplied weapons. Still, Biden administration sources have lately spoken of rising anger and frustration at the White House with Israeli leadership.

Thus Biden drew his ‘red line’ and seems unprepared to do anything about it if that line is crossed. This also means Biden just set himself up for more political embarrassment on the Gaza issue, after he’s already facing growing criticisms from progressives and his own base for hypocrisy and double-speak in the face of horrific civilian atrocities. 

Politico noted that during the MSNBC interview, Biden still pledged unwavering support to America’s closest regional ally: 

Even as Biden warned Israel’s government against further targeting of the civilian population in Gaza, he reiterated his general support. “I’m never going to leave Israel,” said the U.S. president. “The defense of Israel is still critical.”

These latest words from Biden follow on the heels of his being caught on a hot mic just after Thursday’s evening’s State of the Union address wherein he said he’s going to have a “come to Jesus” conversation with Netanyahu.

According to a review of the significance of that moment and what it means for the November election…

Weeks before “uncommitted” voters sent a message to Joe Biden that he needs to bring an end to Israel’s war in Gaza or risk losing reelection, the president had evidently decided — to borrow another American neologism — to consciously uncouple from Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s recalcitrant prime minister.

In the past month, he has, through a series of relatively quiet but closely linked and deliberate moves, sought to marginalize Bibi, as Netanyahu is ubiquitously known, internationally and at home. The change spilled out publicly on Thursday night following the State of the Union address, when Biden announced he ordered the U.S. military to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza via a sea pier. After the speech, Biden was stopped by Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado, who told him to “keep pushing” Israel’s leader. Smiling, Biden said, “I told him, ‘Bibi,’— don’t repeat this— ‘you & I are going to have a come to Jesus moment.” Hidden behind Secretary of State Antony Blinken, a presidential aide whispered, “Sir, you’re on a hot mic,” to which a buoyant Biden replied, “I’m on a hot mic here. Good. That’s good.”

And there was also this from Vice President Kamala Harris:

In the event the new American position over Netanyahu remained unclear, Vice President Kamala Harris left no doubts in a Friday interview with CBS News, which asked “are the Israelis at risk of losing U.S. aid if this continues?” Harris replied: “I think it’s important for us to distinguish or at least not conflate the Israeli government with the Israeli people.”

NYMag’s The Intelligencer, concluded of the meaning,”In other words: Israelis, we’re with you. Netanyahu, be gone.“

Below: Progressive & independent journalists were quick to point out contradictions inherent in Biden’s new red line…

However, Netanyahu has survived this long, and Washington increasingly has limited options for effecting change in Israel’s government, also at a sensitive moment Biden needs Tel Aviv’s cooperation in setting up the humanitarian aid port and Army-engineered pier on Gaza’s coast. The US is expecting Israeli forces to provide security for the risky initiative.

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The MI5 chose to turn a blind eye of some of the crimes during the Troubles, a state-appointed investigator says.

British security forces had knowingly failed to prevent several murders of UK citizens in order to protect an informant in an armed resistance group active in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, a high-profile report published on Friday said. 

The interim report about Operation Kenova – an independent investigation into the activities of an alleged government agent known as Stakeknife – was presented by the probe’s former head, Jon Boutcher. Launched back in 2016, the inquiry specifically dealt with the agent’s alleged involvement in the kidnappings, torture and murders committed by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). 

Boutcher, who left the probe in 2023 to become the chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, said he published the preliminary report due to the slow progress of the prosecution linked to the investigation. He slammed the British domestic counterintelligence agency MI5 for what he called attempts “to undermine me and the investigation.” 

Boutcher’s report said that he had to repeatedly raise “concerns regarding access to information” from MI5 and argued that “its strategy was one of delay.” 

Read more Declassified report shows Northern Ireland police told not to arrest MI5 informants

According to the document, lawyers representing former security force personnel linked to those cases were granted much greater access to MI5 materials. 

The MI5 effectively prevented Operation Kenova from submitting evidence against the chief suspect identified as Freddie Scappaticci, who was widely presumed to be Stakeknife, and other security personnel to the prosecutors in October 2019, the report said. “MI5 informed us that the building’s security accreditation had expired and we therefore could not proceed,” the report stated, adding that the relevant documents were eventually only submitted in February 2020. 

The probe examined a total of 101 murders associated with the IRA’s “nutting squad” – the group’s internal security unit responsible for interrogating those suspected of cooperating with the state security services. Stakeknife was a leading figure in the unit and was allegedly personally linked to at least 14 murders and 15 abductions, the Guardian reported, citing sources close to the investigation. 

The report dismissed the claims that Stakeknife supposedly saved “hundreds” of lives through his cooperation with the authorities, calling them “implausible” and “rooted in fables.” Boutcher also told a press conference on Friday that “more lives [were] lost than saved” as a result of his activities.

Boutcher admitted, citing the report’s findings, that the British security services allowed murders to take place to protect the identity of its informants within the IRA. He also said that “maverick culture” was created around the handling of agents, which was practiced “off the books.” 

Read more License to kill: MI5 agents can commit serious crimes like murder and torture, tribunal rules

“Murders that should and could have been prevented were allowed to take place,” the police chief said. “State agents do need to be protected through anonymity and secrecy, but that protection cannot confer de facto immunity or a right to act with impunity as that would be wholly incompatible with the rule of law and human rights,” he added. 

Kevin Winters, a lawyer representing 12 families of murder victims linked to the Operation Kenova investigation, accused the authorities of de facto conspiring with terrorists to murder British nationals for their own gains. 

“We are left with the horrendous conclusion and takeaway message that both the state and the IRA were co-conspirators in the murder of some of its citizens,” he told journalists, as cited by the Guardian.

The paper did not officially reveal the agent’s identity. Neither did Boutcher, who cited the government’s confidentiality policy. He still said that “we found strong evidence of very serious criminality on the part of Mr Scappaticci and his prosecution would have been in the interests of victims, families and justice.”

Scappaticci denied he was the Stakeknife. He died aged 77 in April 2023, without facing any charges. 

The UK government said it would not comment on the report since its findings were described as interim

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Emergency Broadcast! Democrats Prep National Martial Law With Deployment Of Troops In New York

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German law enforcement authorities raided the homes of 45 men accused of using “misogynist” language and hurting women’s feelings on the internet. The raids were part of a “combating misogyny on the internet” day of […]

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A doctor and trauma surgeon who mocked the unvaccinated on social media, attempting to frame anyone who rejected the vaccine as a conspiracy theorist, had died suddenly. Dr. Vicky Jennings died after suffering a heart […]

The post Doctor and Trauma Surgeon Who Mocked ‘Anti-Vaxxers’ In Viral Posts Dies Suddenly appeared first on The People’s Voice.