Don's Tuesday Column

          THE WAY I SEE IT   by Don Polson   Red Bluff Daily News   6/25/2019

  Trump said it right; tech censors

As usual, last week’s events provided astute observers with no shortage of lessons; President Trump and his Democratic adversaries/enemies drive the news cycles. They campaign with vile anathema for Trump, or use their Congressional positions to craft a knee-jerk manipulation of events to put Trump in the worst light. Many don’t notice the Trump-deranged media leading the Democrats, guiding their base toward the candidates that (the media think) can beat Trump in 2020. Curious.

The obvious hit-for-a-homerun was President Trump’s reelection rally and speech in Orlando. Broadcast or cable coverage was intentionally limited; Drudgereport.com had a reliable link to a Republican affiliated web streaming service. It allowed us to drop in hours before Trump’s speech, and skip through other speeches while pausing the feed if nature called. We were well rewarded.

For all the endless prattling about Trump-the-liar, it was his utter honesty in all he said that had us nodding, cheering and high-fiving; a wrist injury from skiing prevented endless clapping. I noticed the network blackout of the massive crowds around the filled-to-capacity 20,000-seat venue. Somewhere between 100,000 and 150,000 supporters applied for a ticket; eager fans began their vigil near the entrance days ahead, sometimes in the rain.

I share writer Lloyd Marcus’s thoughts: “My goodness, the president just gave the American people a year’s worth of truthful news in one speech” (“Trump’s Orlando Speech: Unprecedented and Remarkable”). The media quickly departed from, and obfuscated, the one, simple takeaway from the Mueller report: neither Donald J. Trump nor anyone in his campaign colluded, conspired or coordinated with Russians. It might have surprised the average person to hear that fact.

“Trump’s speech was probably the first time many heard about Hillary Clinton’s corrupt illegal behavior before, during, and after her failed run for the White House. Trump’s speech was probably the first time many Americans learned that Democrats shockingly passed legislation to kill babies on their birthday and seek to pass legislation to kill babies even after they are born.” It might have been the first time many Americans have heard the litany of “economic, cultural, and freedom-enhancing achievements for We the People,” accomplished by Trump in his 2+years.

“I internally cheered every time Trump told his huge audience another truth about the evils Democrats, the deep state and fake news media are perpetrating upon America and their traitorous attempts to undermine his presidency.” Unlike Trump, Republicans usually don’t push back against the Democrat and news media lies, against “every gutter, lowlife, and dirty trick in their playbook,” while preferring to “play nice,” “take the high road,” and “remain presidential.” They’ll bring the proverbial olive branch to a gun fight.

One final takeaway is that Trump has become more, not less, ideologically conservative. The Democrat/media hysteria and overreaction to “Make America Great Again” and Trump’s unabashed-but-reasonable promotion of America’s best interests in trade and immigration have probably had a lot to do with that. He and his supporters have learned the lesson that the Democrat/Socialist left wants to crush us all.

That theme—the left’s determination to crush or scrub the words and ideas of conservative/libertarian Republicans—is evident as the technology/Internet titans (Google, Twitter, Facebook) are silencing, “disappearing,” de-platforming and de-monetizing the Right. The intolerant, social-justice fanatics and diversity-in-all-but-thought crusaders from the university petri dish of fascism have moved into their boardrooms.

Ideas for remedying this gross injustice—some call restraint of trade, even censorship—are more than a column can examine. However, consider using anti-trust laws (breaking an ideological monopoly restricting the free exchange of ideas); a governmental regulatory body (perhaps reasonable but a pandora’s box if progressives controlled the body); or a simple law prohibiting the censorship or removal of content otherwise protected by the First Amendment.

Bring on the power of litigation and punitive damages for unlawfully censoring or removing content. Tech giants would soon learn to allow people to decide for themselves what they agree or disagree with, minus the nosy, manipulative overlords of thought police.

“Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley introduced legislation Wednesday that would force tech companies to prove their political neutrality or face increased liability for user-made content. Hawley introduced the Ending Support for Internet Censorship Act, which dramatically amends a law providing internet companies broad immunity from being sued for content others post on their websites. His bill, if it becomes law, would provide big tech companies such immunity only if they can show they are politically neutral.” (Chris White, Tech Reporter, Dailycaller.com)

Big tech ideological intolerance is detailed in “Alphabet Tries to Silence Conservative Investors As They Question Why Google’s Parent Company Silences Conservative Voices—Tech Giant’s Hostility Toward Conservatives Comes to a Boiling Point at Shareholder Meeting” (by Judy Kent, Free Enterprise Project). FEP’s Justin Danhof was rudely cut off while progressive activists freely whined about “stuff.”

For actual racist, physical repression you couldn’t do better (or worse) than the 2 segregationist Senators that Biden said he got along with: Democrats James Eastland and Herman Talmadge. No apologies, even though Biden praised their working together to oppose school busing. Their problem, not mine.

Would you have believed, 10 years ago, that Democrats would support the massive influx of illegals with (often) unrelated children as a phony asylum ruse? That they’d admit illegal immigrants help them politically by inflating urban census numbers? That they’d boo Israel, and God (!@?), at the Cal. Dem convention? That they’d vote against the 1^st Amend’t right to free speech? That the single most important plank in their platform would be the right to kill babies in the 9^th month and beyond? They must be stopped.

Did some pipsqueak actually presume to tell me what I should write about?