56 Comments

Thank you for your courage Michael! This is McCarthyism all over again--and I hope and pray America rises to the challenge once more. The film "Oppenheimer" has made it clear to millions of Americans this year how much injustice and destruction the first round of McCarthyism produced.

What the film doesn't make clear is the role of CIA and Allen Dulles in the destruction of Oppenheimer. It also doesn't, and can't within the scope of the film, show how the destructive atmosphere of the 1950s created by the early Deep State produced in the 1960s the Vietnam War and the assassinations of the two Kennedy brothers, Martin Luther King, and Malcolm X.

Your testimony, and the courage of your colleagues and people like Elon Musk is essential to give us all some hope that America can avoid going down once more a very dark road of pain, injustice and death.

Expand full comment

Michael, consider setting your conclusions in the context of the 2024 election. It is urgent that your recommendations or some similiar alternative be implemented as soon as possible. The urgency needs to be elevated.

Expand full comment

The Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government will hold a hearing on Thursday, November 30, 2023, at 10:00 a.m. ET. The hearing, taking place one year after the first Twitter Files report, will examine the federal government's involvement in social media censorship, as well as the recent attacks on independent journalism and free expression.

WITNESSES:

Matt Taibbi, Twitter Files journalist and author

Michael Shellenberger, Twitter Files journalist, author, and environmentalist

Rupa Subramanya, Canada-based journalist for The Free Press

Olivia Troye, former Homeland Security Advisor and Counterterrorism Advisor, Office of Vice President Pence

Subcommittees

Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government

https://judiciary.house.gov/committee-activity/hearings/hearing-weaponization-federal-government-4

Expand full comment

Thanks Michael. I often wonder why more Democrats donโ€™t object to this direct government censorship or at a minimum the inducement to censor. As soon as a Republican administration takes the White House and Congress, they surely wonโ€™t submit to what they deem is truth, right? Are they not concerned because they know the unelected and media are so in control that it doesnโ€™t matter who is elected anymore?

Expand full comment

The tech companies will never give up their power to censor and control. They love the power. The deal should be revoking section230 and to keep it simple - if you censor , you are liable . No censorship - no liability. Much like the telephone company which has no responsibility ( simply a conduit), the liability falls to the writer and the reader.

Expand full comment

One thing I am seeing the mostly conservative reporters leaving out of this narrative is Sander's run for the presidency. Bernie would have wiped the floor with Trump, both in 2016 and in 2020. The interference on behalf of DNC which backfired, spectacularly, in '16 was repeated on acid in 2020. I am nearly 100% positive that this infosec / cognitive bullshit wasn't solely deployed against the right and or Trump, but also against the (actual) left - and the rest of us who have backed Bernie. After all, the David Brock sock puppets were certainly set against us in 2016. I sincerely doubt that Sanders supporters were left out of the 2020 campaign against 'misinfo' in 2020.

Expand full comment

This is the most profound issue of our time, of our nation's history. For fuck's sake, we created this goddam country in order to have free speech. But these monsters (compromised bad actors in our government, especially CISA) have attained power, and they know that the truth will likely strip them of their power. They saw what happened in 2016, when We The People actually voted for the non-deep state candidate, which was the catalyst for this censorship machine. It's so cliche to say, but can everyone please buy old copies of 1984 and pass them around? Leave them in every "little free library", every coffee shop, every waiting room, every classroom...

Expand full comment

How about a prohibition on taxpayer funds being diverted to any NGO, period.

Expand full comment

The depth of this abuse of power is quite incredible and way more than I imagined (which isn't small).

Please keep up the hard work on these investigative pieces and stay strong.

Expand full comment

Another thank you for the clear, concise and succinct testimony about practices that make the Pentagon Papers look amateurish. As you state on RisingTV, it's chaos at Meta, Google and other social media platforms with respect to content moderation or what we generally refer to as censorship. This is especially true with respect to Covid-19 "vaccine" adverse events. There are literally thousands of research papers worldwide covering the wide range of injuries. React19.org is a good place to start if interested.

https://react19.org/science

Technically, enabling users to filter out content that they find problematic is an easy solution and one wonders why this is not vigorously pursued. Perhaps it is but has not yet come to market.

Kudos to you & team for some of the most important reporting that all real journalists should be pursuing.

Expand full comment

The Committee is ready to adjourn. You, Taibbi and the Canadian were magnificent! More comment to follow ...

Expand full comment

Hearing on the Weaponization of the Federal Government

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjFWInU8pqU

Plaskett, right at the start, was still being a Paid Troll speaking Talking Points. Trump, Trump, Trump.... Wow. At least she learned not to call Shellenberger and Taibbi, "So called" again.

Sat and watched the whole thing. God, that was hard. I had to watch a bit, go do chores to settle down, then come back. Glug!

- The Democrats were all Paid Trolls, terrified by Trump, and speaking the most bizarre Talking Points.

Forgot to mention, that Troye is clearly a Paid Troll. The examples of the Democrats asking prepared questions with her like that is blatant.

As always read:

Evil Geniuses: The Unmaking of America: A Recent History

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0852NXWR5/

BTW, Why isn't Wasserman Schultz in prison for her collusion with Clinton to prevent Bernie Sanders from being the Democratic candidate.

It's clear that they conspired to keep him out because he wasn't a tool of the Deep State the way Clinton clearly is.

The 2016 election was about "change". Bernie was the most change candidate you could have. Bernie vs Trump, would have had Bernie win.

But I digress.

Expand full comment

Your statement about the surprising amount of professionalism involved in this censorship effort is in contrast to the striking unprofessionalism highlighted in the recent Racket article. Kind of amazing that such incompetent people were so effective.

Expand full comment

Minor point: You state that the VP was the โ€œsuccessor to the EIPโ€

It is my understanding that the VP actually started in Jan โ€˜20, about 6 months before the EIP kicked off, and that the VP ended about 7 months after the EIP was completed.

Expand full comment

Excellent work at the Hearing on the Weaponization of the Federal Government today Mr. Shellenberger. You are a patriot. All Americans owe you a debt for exposing this villainy.

Thank you!

๐Ÿ†๐Ÿ†๐Ÿ†๐Ÿ†

Expand full comment

Superbly argued testimony Michael. Let's hope they listen. And if they don't they need to be voted out of office and replaced by someone who IS listening.

Expand full comment