Next: The Supremes

Oh, I like this kind of thing:

A federal appeals court upheld a Texas law that bans Big Tech from censoring speech based on political viewpoint on Friday.

House Bill 20 prevents social media companies with more than 50 million monthly users banning users simply based on their political viewpoints. The law also requires several consumer protection disclosures and processes related to content management on the social media sites to which the bill applies. These sites must disclose their content management and moderation policies and implement a complaint and appeals process for content they remove, providing a reason for the removal and a review of their decision. They also must review and remove illegal content within 48 hours. House Bill 20 also prohibits email service providers from impeding the transmission of email messages based on content.

Needless to say, the Left went into full hair-on-fire mode:

The law was promptly challenged by NetChoice and the Computer & Communications Industry Association. They argued that tech companies have a First Amendment right to select and curate the content people post on their platforms. They were able to get the new law blocked, but Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton appealed that decision — and won.

Fortunately, common sense and Constitutionalism prevailed.  In the judgment of the 5th Circuit:

The implications of the platforms’ argument are staggering. In the platforms’ view, email providers, mobile phone companies, and banks* could cancel the accounts of anyone who sends an email, makes a phone call, or spends money in support of a disfavored political party, candidate, or business. What’s worse, the platforms argue that a business can acquire a dominant market position by holding itself out as open to everyone — as Twitter did in championing itself as “the free speech wing of the free speech party.”…Then, having cemented itself as the monopolist of “the modern public square,”…Twitter unapologetically argues that it could turn around and ban all pro-LGBT speech for no other reason than its employees want to pick on members of that community…

The 11th Court found differently, hence it’s off to the Supremes we go.  And they can’t punt it back, because two federal appeals courts have conflicting rulings.

Let’s see what happens.


*Note how banks were specifically mentioned, which should make this little episode interesting.

Fair Warning

Following on from the decision of credit card companies to “flag” sales made at gun stores, we have this development:

Twenty-four Republican attorneys general sent a letter to Visa, Mastercard, and American Express Tuesday warning them to drop plans to code and compile gun sales in America.

The new code will not protect public safety. Categorizing the constitutionally protected right to purchase firearms unfairly singles out law-abiding merchants and consumers alike. First, efforts to track and monitor sales at gun stores would only result in vague and misleading information. This categorization would not recognize the difference, for example, between the purchase of a gun safe and a firearm. Nor would it capture firearm purchases made at department stores, resulting in arbitrarily disparate treatment of “gun store” merchants and consumers.

More importantly, purposefully tracking this information can only result in its misuse, either unintentional or deliberate. Creating and tracking this data only matters if your institutions are considering using that information to take further, harmful action—like infringing upon consumer privacy, inhibiting constitutionally protected purchases by selectively restricting the use of your payment systems, or otherwise withholding your financial services from targeted “disfavored” merchants.

And my favorite part:

Social policy should be debated and determined within our political institutions. Americans are tired of seeing corporate leverage used to advance political goals that cannot muster basic democratic support. The Second Amendment is a fundamental right, but it’s also a fundamental American value. Our financial institutions should stop lending their market power to those who wish to attack that value.

Be advised that we will marshal the full scope of our lawful authority to protect our citizens and consumers from unlawful attempts to undermine their constitutional rights. Please keep that in mind as you consider whether to proceed with adopting and implementing this Merchant Category Code.

Give it to the bastards good and hard, boys and girls.  Make ’em sweat, and make ’em bleed if they ignore you.

Basic Stupidity

Several of you sent me this lovely little bit of governmental stupidity:

More than 140 people experiencing homelessness in Denver will each be provided up to $1,000 in cash a month for up to one year as part of a basic income program designed to help “lift individuals out of homelessness,” the city announced last week.

The $2 million contract with the Denver Basic Income Project was approved by the City Council and will provide direct cash assistance to more than 140 women, transgender and gender non-conforming individuals, and families in shelters.

Civic altruism and wokism, all subsidized by taxpayer dollars.  And I hate to break it to these Colorado morons, but “up to” a grand is going to lift precisely nobody out of poverty.  It will, however, encourage more people in similar circumstances to come to Denver…

Couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of socialists.

Story Of The Day

From Knuckledragger:

I wandered into the gun shop on the public square in town yesterday afternoon about 1 PM to buy a brick of 22LR and when I went to pay for it with cash, Brett started laughing at me with, “I guess you’ve heard about that credit card bullshit too, huh?”
He told me his credit and debit card sales are down 90% lately and every single one of his sales so far that day were cash transactions.

I’m going to head over to our local merchant of death later to see if he says the same.

Wrong Address

From Insty, I see this little bit of villainy:

According to recent reports, the FBI has been conducting raids on Trump allies, executing search warrants on their homes, and issuing subpoenas to individuals as part of a pressure campaign.

But, now it looks like they’re not limiting themselves to Trump allies, but they’re even targeting Trump supporters who did nothing wrong.

Lisa Gallagher, a Trump voter in New Jersey, has come forward with the claim that the FBI visited her home the morning after Joe Biden’s fascistic speech at Independence Hall in which he declared Trump supporters to be enemies of our democracy.

Gallagher didn’t work in the Trump White House, nor was she present at the Capitol riot, yet she somehow ended up in the Biden administration’s crosshairs. She told her story to Tucker Carlson on Monday evening.

“I was terrified. I’ll be honest with you, when my daughter woke me up telling me there were three armed FBI officers at my door, I thought she was joking,” she told Carlson. “And I immediately tried to throw clothes on. I called my husband. I was crying. My knees were shaking. And even though I knew I had done nothing wrong, after seeing Joe Biden’s speech the night before I thought, ‘Oh my God, this is political.’ And I was frightened. I truly thought they can take me out of here in handcuffs.”

I almost wish they’d come to my door instead of some frightened woman.  And you can take that how you wish.

All-Seeing, All-Knowing

Read this account of one man’s dealings with the FBI, and its conclusion:

Finally, this proves not only a strong political bias on the part of the FBI, against Trump, and against anyone remotely on his team, but it shows just how much the FBI knows about all your details, doings, GPS tracking, emails, telephone and FaceTime calls, videos, financial transactions, the cache in your computer and related devices, travel plans, workplace, networks . . . everything.

Many people over the years have cautioned me about my outspokenness and the ability of the Secret Police (a.k.a. the Fibbies) to mess with me and my life (“You’re going to end up on their list!” ).

I wasn’t intimidated by South Africa’s apartheid-era Security Branch, and I’m not scared of these little shits either.

Fuck ’em, and all they stand for — because what they stand for is un-American.

I’m not an especial fan of Donald Trump’s — unless, of course, the FBI somehow turns that into a crime, in which case I’ll be his greatest supporter.