Biden's Censorship
Late last week, the Biden Administration confessed that it's pressuring social media platforms to censor what it considers misinformation about the coronavirus vaccine. This should disturb every American.
President Biden underscored the point when he said in his usual hyperbolic way that Facebook is "killing people." Facebook didn't take too kindly to his smear. A spokesman for Mark Zuckerberg said the White House was looking for "scapegoats" after it failed to meet its vaccination target.
The First Amendment prohibits the government from censoring speech. But the Biden Administration is getting around the First Amendment by having private companies do their dirty work for them. What Biden is trying to ban are opinions that he disagrees with or opinions that he sees as undermining his agenda.
But throughout the pandemic nightmare, the skeptics questioning the conventional wisdom frequently ended up being right and the so-called "experts" were often wrong. For example:
· President Trump said vaccines would be ready by the end of 2020 and widely available by this spring. The "experts" and the left-wing media clobbered him for misleading the American people and insisted it would take years. Trump was right. The "experts" and the media were wrong.
· We were continually told that children were particularly at risk from the virus. That's why they shut down the schools. But we now know the overwhelming majority of COVID-related deaths occurred in people older than 70. Children face no greater risk from COVID than they do the seasonal flu.
· Until recently if you suggested that the virus came from a Chinese lab, you were banned for lying to people. But now even the Biden Administration and the World Health Organization concede it's a strong possibility.
In a free society we should demand that all viewpoints can be heard. And we should trust one another to sort it all out. We're free men and women. We're not living under communism. Not yet at least.
The Left's Misinformation
This isn't the first time that the left and social media titans have tried to censor viewpoints. And have you noticed how it's always conservative viewpoints that get censored?
This juggernaut of censorship on social media is clearly being used to silence only conservative and traditionalist ideas. It's totalitarianism. It's un-American. And it's growing. The Post Office is spying on our social media, as is the military.
Think of the things that have been banned or gotten people sentenced to "Facebook or Twitter jail" in the last few years. Perhaps the most notable example is saying the virus came out of the Wuhan lab. It was labeled a lie by the communist Chinese, social media and the progressive movement.
I'm sorry, but it should be obvious that you need to seriously think twice if you ever find yourself on the same side as the Chinese Communist Party. (Speaking of communist China, the Biden Administration and U.S. allies are now blaming China for the recent massive cyberattack against Microsoft Exchange servers.)
Social media posts that condemn the killing of innocent unborn children are likely to be censored or suppressed as "hate speech" and lies because the left doesn't believe the unborn child is a person.
And just think of the nonsensical gender issues that have sprung up in recent years. You can be banned from social media for saying the obvious truth that a man cannot give birth.
When investigative reporters at the New York Post broke the story on Hunter Biden's laptop, every major network spiked the story. But even worse, social media platforms not only suppressed the story, Twitter completely shut down the Post's Twitter page to prevent the story from gaining any traction at all.
Now we know that the New York Post report about Hunter's laptop was in fact accurate. But Big Tech did everything they could to stop the truth from being known. And it affected the results of the election.
Think about this: Virtually every leading liberal spent the first two years of the Trump presidency promoting the lie that Trump colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 election. None of them were ever banned from social media. Adam Schiff even said that the evidence of collusion was "in plain sight." He was lying.
Now Biden is condemning commonsense election integrity laws as a rebirth of Jim Crow. That's not just a lie, it's a dangerous lie. Is anyone going to shut him down on social media? No. In fact, social media is promoting Biden's lie.
A Key Fact
Many people are frustrated that the vaccination level across the United States isn't higher. The latest data suggest that approximately 68% of the adult population has had at least one shot.
But I want to remind you of something that is extremely important to keep in mind: In addition to that 68%, there have been 34 million confirmed COVID cases (10% of the population) and an unknown number of Americans who have already had the virus but were never tested. And the science is clear: If you have had the virus, you have antibodies.
Some people, such as Sen. Rand Paul, who have had the virus, after talking with their doctors, decided that they are not getting the vaccine. That is a completely rational decision to make.
But while fretting that "only" 68% have been vaccinated, we should not forget that there is a sizeable additional percentage of the population -- 10%, 15%, 20% -- who probably don't need the vaccine because they already had the disease.
The combination of these two percentages is what we refer to as "herd immunity," and we're getting very close.
The Left's Double Standard
The really "great" idea that Texas Democrats had to fly to the DC Swamp to prevent the passage of voter integrity legislation is becoming a bigger fiasco every day.
I'm sure you've noticed that liberals hate the filibuster at the federal level. It stands in the way of their effort to "fundamentally transform" America. But Joe Biden has no mandate for big change. His party lost seats in the House of Representatives, the Senate is split 50/50 and Republicans control more states than Democrats do.
But the Texas Democrats are conducting a "filibuster on steroids." They're not only refusing to debate, they left the state to prevent a quorum so no business could be done at all. It must be great to be a liberal. In the private sector, if you don't show up for work you get fired!
Beyond that, all those smiling, maskless liberals are now being diagnosed with COVID. And Vice President Kamala Harris, who was in the same room with them and unmasked herself, reportedly went to Walter Reed Medical Center last night for a "routine checkup." Really?
Standing With Israel
Due to COVID restrictions in Washington, D.C., Christians United for Israel held their annual Summit in Dallas, Texas, over the weekend. Last night, attendees heard from Pastor John Hagee, Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley. You can watch their remarks here.
As a founding board member of Christians United for Israel, I am proud to support the tremendous work of Pastor Hagee and CUFI's incredible staff. America and Israel are the twin pillars of Judeo-Christian Western Civilization. Our alliance is founded on shared faith and values.
With new leaders in Washington, Jerusalem and Tehran, rising anti-Semitism around the world and talk of another nuclear deal with Iran, it is absolutely essential that pro-Israel Christians continue to stand with Israel and make their voices heard.