March 28, 2024

The Power Hour

Knowledge is Power

Today’s News: November 03, 2020

Trump Signs Executive Order For ‘1776 Commission’

Infowars – President Trump signed an executive order Monday that will establish his much touted “1776 Commission”, which he vows will counter “toxic propaganda” infiltrating the teaching of American history in schools.

An accompanying press release noted that the commission “will work to improve understanding of the history and the principles of the founding of the United States among our Nation’s rising generations.”

“We will state the truth in full, without apology: We declare that the United States of America is the most just and exceptional Nation ever to exist on Earth,” Trump was quoted as saying in the release.

The EO states that “Despite the virtues and accomplishments of this Nation, many students are now taught in school to hate their own country, and to believe that the men and women who built it were not heroes, but rather villains.”

“This radicalized view of American history lacks perspective, obscures virtues, twists motives, ignores or distorts facts, and magnifies flaws, resulting in the truth being concealed and history disfigured,” the order emphasises.

On the eve of the election, the Trump campaign makes once last final statement regarding a possible upcoming democrat election threat

Trump has previously declared that the initiative is a direct counter to the so called “1619 Project”, pushed by the New York Times, which holds at its core that America was built on the back of slavery.

The President has labelled it a “crusade against American history,” and called the project “toxic propaganda, ideological poison that, if not removed, will dissolve the civic bonds that tie us together” and “destroy our country.”

Trump’s 1776 Commission will now be established within 120 days by the Secretary of Education, and will include up to 20 members “appointed by the president.”

The initiative will seek to aid “a rising generation to understand the history and principles of the founding of the United States in 1776,” according to the EO.

Trump’s Closing Argument: ‘We Are Going to Keep Our Great American Dream’

Breitbart – President Donald Trump closed his 2020 campaign with a rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, last Monday night that lasted well into early Tuesday morning, promising: “We are going to keep our great American dream.”

Speaking largely off his teleprompter, Trump said:

I see that what’s been happening to our country. Our country was going to hell. And we’ve turned it. And we got waylaid by this plague that came in, but we’ve done a job like nobody else has ever done a job. And you understand it. That’s why so many of you are here tonight, and that’s why all over the country, this is happening. All over the country. And even — they’re just springing up by themselves. I’m not there, I don’t do this — I mean, you look: something today I read, where 100 miles of cars, all with the American flag, the Trump, the whole Trump thing.

[Cheers]

But do you want to be represented by a career politician who actually doesn’t like you, or by an outsider who will defend you like you have never been defended before? That’s what I’m doing.

[Cheers]

And it’s not easy, but there’ nothing I’ve ever enjoyed more in my life, because we are making so much progress. We have to now finish the progress. A vote for Biden is a vote to hand the keys of government over to people who don’t like you, don’t respect you, and who want to rob your children of their American dream. We have a great American dream. We’re not going to let it happen. We’re not going to let that happen. We are going to keep our great American dream. A vote for Biden is a vote to give control of government over to the globalists, and communists, socialists, and waelthy liberal hypocrites and all of those that want to silence, censor, cancel, and punish you. If you want your children to be safe, if you want your values to be honored, if you want your life to be treated with dignity and respect, then I am asking you to go to the poll tomorrow and vote, vote, vote.

[Cheers]

Remember what I said four years ago: I am your voice, and we will Make America Great Again.

[Cheers]

And that’s what we’re doing.

[Crowd: Four more years! Four more years!]

Trump waved and danced to “YMCA,” then left for Washington, DC, and the White House, with Election Day under way.

Republicans warn of VOTER FRAUD in Philadelphia: Closed polling, broken machines & illegal campaigning reported

RT – Republicans have sounded the alarm over potential election interference in Philadelphia. Poll watchers have been locked out of polling places, and reports of illegal voting have surfaced.

Pennsylvania is one of the most crucial swing states in Tuesday’s election. With Donald Trump and Joe Biden tied in the polls there, a mass turnout of Democrats in the deep blue city of Philadelphia could propel the former vice president back into the White House. 

According to local Republicans, Democrats are doing their best to make that scenario a reality, by hook or by crook. Shortly after polls opened on Tuesday morning, videos and reports surfaced showing poll-watchers being barred from voting locations. 


UK Brings In Army To Help With First “China-Style” Mass COVID-19 Testing In Liverpool

Activist Post – Following in the footsteps of China and tiny Slovakia, the UK is embarking on its first “moonshot” mass-testing campaign in the city of Liverpool, known to most people outside the UK as the hometown of the Beatles. According to the Guardian, up to half a million people in the city are set to be tested this week, and if the system proves successful, it will be used again.

With the self-isolation period for those who test positive set to be reduced, up to half a million people are due to be tested in Liverpool in the government’s first attempt at mass testing and tracing, with the goal of tracing the infection of every individual who tests positive during the drive.

The scheme is part of the government’s attempt to meet the demands posed by local officials, who seek more money for both test-and-trace programs, as well as more funding for the government’s furlough plan for workers.

Tenured NYU Professor Under Fire for Mask Comments

Activist Post – Mark Crispin Miller, who teaches a course on propaganda at New York University in the Media, Culture and Communication Department, has been notified that he is to undergo a review board hearing after one of his students called for his firing due to his comments about masks.

According to Professor Miller, the student, Julia Jackson, only joined Miller’s course when it was into its second week. Almost immediately, she began to object publicly to his statements about the utility (or lack thereof) of masks and began to call for his firing.

Nancy Pelosi Ready to Lead House in ‘Prominent Role’ if Election Result Disputed

Breitbart – Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Monday offered her services and that of the House of Representatives to play a “prominent role” in deciding the outcome of the presidential election if disputes mar the final count.

In the event of a tie in the Electoral College the “newly seated House of Representatives” would be called upon to hold a decisive, complicated vote, the New York Times reported, which is where Pelosi sees a role for her possible intervention.

In a rarely seen scenario, the House decides with one vote for each state.

“But let’s not worry about that right now,” Pelosi told NPR. “What we want to be ready for is a big vote tomorrow to dispel any thought other than that, on January 20, Joe Biden will be inaugurated president of the United States, that we will have a Democratic House and a Democratic Senate.”

“We understand what the law is and the preeminence of the role of Congress and specifically the House of Representatives when it comes to counting the votes,” Pelosi continued in her exchange with the public radio station.

Should the presidential election not present a clear winner by electoral vote, then it is up to the House to choose the next president.

“We’re ready. We’re prepared. We’ve been ready for a while because we see this irresponsibility of the president, his disrespect for the Constitution, for our democracy and for the integrity of our elections. So we’re ready for him,” Pelosi said.

Biden Plans to Declare Victory If News Outlets Project Him Mathematical Winner, Reports Say

Sputnik – Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden will claim victory in a nationwide address followed by major transition announcements as soon as major media organisations declare him the mathematical winner of the 2020 presidential race, Axios reported on Tuesday based on unnamed Biden campaign officials.

If news organisations declare Joe Biden the mathematical president-elect, he plans to address the nation as its new leader, even if President Trump continues to fight in court, the report said.

Biden advisers based the strategy on a “lesson” learned from the 2000 election, when Al Gore hung back while George W. Bush declared victory in that contested election, putting the Democratic nominee on the defensive while Bush acted like the winner, the report also said.

Biden’s team has already developed blueprints for staffing every single agency and has extensive plans for executive orders, including ones to undo Trump actions, to the report added.

Biden would most likely emphasize plans to battle the coronavirus pandemic by spotlighting a future role for National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci, whom Trump has threatened to fire, according to the report.

Analysts have warned voters not to expect official results on Tuesday when some states – especially battleground Pennsylvania – begin a multi-day process of counting mailed paper ballots.

The voting is already underway in the country after the first polling station opened early on 3 November. Biden is leading in seven swing states and Trump is ahead in only one. Four states – Georgia, North Carolina, Ohio and Iowa – are virtually tied.

Gambler bets $5 million on Trump in biggest-ever political wager.

New York Post – A British gambler has reportedly staked $5 million on President Trump winning Tuesday’s election — a wager believed to be the largest-ever political bet.

The former banker used private bookmakers registered on the Caribbean island of Curacao for the bet at odds of 37/20 — meaning he could get a $15 million payout, sources told the Sun.

The mystery gambler confidently went all-in after consulting with “Trump camp insiders,” according to the report.

“Word of this bet has done the rounds and we think it’s the biggest ever made on politics,” one betting industry source told the UK paper.

While illegal in the US, betting on politics is popular in the UK and many other countries — and the 2020 election is shaping up to be the biggest betting event of all time.

Trump beat the odds in 2016, and gamblers appear keen on a repeat performance this time.

“Donald Trump will likely wake up with a spring in his step as more and more people think he could stay for another term,” the gambling comparison site OddsChecker said Tuesday.

In the last four hours, 71% of money wagered on the 2020 US election was on Trump, the site said — which the site’s head of marketing, Sam Eaton, called a “remarkable” swing.

“The 2020 election is following a very similar betting pattern to the one we witnessed back in 2016. The closer we got to Election Day, the more money came for Donald Trump,” Eaton said.

“A lot of part-time gamblers will opt to wager on the election today, and naturally given the bigger returns on Trump, they will likely side with the current president.”

One bookmaker, Paddy Power, told the Sun that 93% of wagers had been on Trump over the previous 24 hours.

Michigan Governor Whitmer Goes Full Orwell, Demands Full Names, Phone Numbers For Restaurant Customers

Activist Post – Effective this week, diners in Michigan are now going to be required to produce their full name and contact information simply for wanting to eat out at a restaurant or bar.

Ironically, it’s likely more information than citizens are required to produce in order to vote.

Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer has moved her state one step closer to a true Orwellian paradise, asking her citizens to surrender their privacy every time they want a cheeseburger and a coke at their local diner. Whitmer has already been struck down once by the Supreme Court over trying to unilaterally extend the state’s emergency declarations, The Western Journal noted.

A new release from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services said:

Like many other businesses in Michigan, bars and restaurants will also be required to take names and contact information to support effective contact tracing if necessary.

But who can be worried about such mundane things as rights in the midst of an unstoppable pandemic that is slightly more deadly than the flu, right?

That was the Michigan DHS’s take. They said:

Michigan presently has 172 cases per million people and positivity of tests has increased from about 2% to 5.5% and both indicators have been increasing for over four weeks. Hospitalizations for COVID-19 have doubled over the last three weeks while the state death rate has increased for five consecutive weeks.

Scottish Hate Crime Bill Would Lead to Arrests for ‘Offensive’ Conversations Inside the Home

The Times – Scotland’s proposed hate crime bill would go so far as to criminalize dinner table conversations if their ‘offensive’ content is reported to police. The new bill would add an additional crime of “stirring up hate” against a protected group by “behaving in a threatening or abusive manner, or communicating threatening or abusive material to another person.” The law has dire implications for free speech, comedy, journalists, writers and theater directors. When rules are unequally applied to people based on physical characteristics, it creates resentment by the group that is excluded, and it is divisive. The mandate creates a hierarchy, with the rule makers at the top, consolidating power.

Donald Trump’s Posts on Pennsylvania Voting Get Censored by Twitter, Facebook

Sputnik -The US Supreme Court so far has refused a plea from Republicans not to count postal ballots received in Pennsylvania several days after Election Day, a decision that has been met with a wave of condemnation from officials who consider this practice as fraudulent.

Just a night before Election Day, Twitter again flagged the post of US President Donald Trump, this time in relation to voting in Pennsylvania, with a “misleading” content warning, and Facebook attached a “voter fraud” explainer to the publication.

In a censored post, POTUS decried the Supreme Court’s decision last week allowing Pennsylvania election officials to count ballots postmarked on 3 November and received several days later.

The move, initially greenlighted by Pennsylvania Supreme Court, was slammed by state Republicans who issued a plea against the legislation. However, the petition was rejected by the Supreme Court 4-4 ruling last month. Trump’s nominee Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who joined the court last week, was expected to weigh in on the argument. However, she refused to take part in the case, citing lack of time “to review the parties’ filings fully”.

This means that all ballots postmarked on the Election Day and received until 6 November would still be counted towards the final vote in Pennsylvania, the state which is as a key battleground for the incumbent president and his Democrat opponent Joe Biden with 20 election votes at stake.

Trump was not happy with the court’s ruling.

“The Supreme Court decision on voting in Pennsylvania is a VERY dangerous one”, he wrote on Twitter and Facebook.

“It will allow rampant and unchecked cheating and will undermine our entire systems of laws. It will also induce violence in the streets. Something must be done!”, the President added.

The tweet was soon hidden from his feed and replaced with the following warning: “Some or all of the content shared in this Tweet is disputed and might be misleading about an election or other civic process’. 

The President’s post cannot be liked or shared now and can be viewed only if the user clicks on the label. The quote option is still available for users but they are offered to “learn how voting by mail is safe and secure” before sharing the post.

Facebook also used some kind of censorship of the President’s statement and attached a “both voting by mail and voting in person have a long history of trustworthiness in the US” explanation attached to the post.

This comes as both Twitter and Facebook were harshly criticised for limiting access to a story in the New York Post about Joe Biden’s alleged participation in his son’s business dealings in Ukraine and China. The Post’s claims were based on the content from the laptop said to have belonged to Hunter Biden and left by him at a repair store back in April 2019.

Twitter initially censored the story, insisting that it had violated its “hacked materials” policies, and Facebook maintained that it had to be verified by its independent fact-checkers. After the article went viral, Twitter allowed its users to share the report.

Protest Exemption to be Removed From England’s Lockdown Rules, Reports Say

Sputnik – Following the first national lockdown introduced by the British government in March to curb the spread of coronavirus, the United Kingdom saw demonstrations prop up which led o concerns over the rise of transmission at political protests.

Protest exemptions will not be included in second lockdown rules, the Times reported on Tuesday, leading to a backlash from activists and human rights organisations.

The new regulations which will be imposed to curb rising cases of COVD-19 will be introduced on Thursday, 5 November. While the measures will not explicitly ban protests, the protections of large-scale lawful protests will be removed.

Protest groups who were involved with many of the mass gatherings during the initial lockdown earlier this criticised the move.

“With regards to protesting, and protesting through the pandemic, one thing that is clear, we have no support from the government in any way shape or form”, said Tyrek Morris, who co-founded All Black Lives UK, a youth-led offshoot of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement.

Morris said that protests had already faced state opposition despite being permitted under the previous exemptions.

“Since the BLM movement arose again, the government has been completely against our protest, against protest full stop, and at every chance possible have tried to stop us. But we’ve always found a way around it. They could stop us protesting, but they can’t stop us fighting for our own rights”, he said.

5 Ways Wikipedia Editors Supported the Biden Campaign

Breitbart – Leading up to the 2020 Presidential election, Wikipedia editors worked tirelessly to swing articles towards Democratic nominee Joe Biden. This started with slanting articles on President Donald Trump’s impeachment where allegations against Biden figured strongly. It continued with editors pushing the Black Lives Matter agenda on which Biden sought to capitalize and sanitizing pages of his vice-presidential prospects, including Kamala Harris. Finally, editors sought to suppress revelations about Biden family corruption, aided by well-timed restrictions on conservative media.

Many of these efforts have been implicitly supported by the partisan messaging of the site’s owners, the Wikimedia Foundation, which has exhibited an increasing leftward slant in its activities since Trump’s election based off strategies suggested by a public relations firm run by the head of communications for the Clinton Foundation.

These are five ways Wikipedia editors worked to benefit Biden:

1. Slanting Trump Impeachment Articles

As Democrats moved towards impeaching Trump over his conversation with the Ukrainian President about investigating alleged misconduct by Ukrainian officials, editors on Wikipedia sought to emphasize Biden being a target of the Trump administration due to one investigation involving his son Hunter Biden’s dealings with allegedly corrupt energy firm Burisma where he was a paid board member and Biden getting the prosecutor whose office was investigating the firm fired accusing him of corruption, while ignoring that Trump’s main concern was Ukrainian interference in the 2016 election. They also portrayed the allegations against the Biden family as conspiracy theories and censored the alleged name of the whistleblower whose complaint sparked the impeachment and reputedly worked with Biden on Ukraine.

2. Advancing Black Lives Matter Agenda

When Black Lives Matter protests broke out following the police-involved death of George Floyd, Biden sought to capitalize on the movement with its rising popularity corresponding to a temporary decline in Trump’s approval. Meanwhile, editors pushed the movement agenda on Wikipedia by downplaying violence associated with the protests, emphasizing police violence, and censoring information harmful to police violence claims. They got content advancing the movement’s agenda and attacking Trump onto Wikipedia’s front page. Even the Wikimedia Foundation came out and endorsed Black Lives Matter, including making implicit attacks on Trump’s law enforcement response to violent protests.

This extended to long-running efforts by Wikipedia editors to defend and support the violent far-left Antifa group. Mention of Antifa’s involvement in the rioting and looting associated with Black Lives Matter protests was censored by editors, including the murder of a Trump supporter in Portland by a self-proclaimed Antifa member who was actively involved in the Black Lives Matter protests. Editors and even administrators with special privileges on the site attacked the murder victim as a “fascist” in discussion pages of the Antifa article. Editors also pushed smears against teenager Kyle Rittenhouse and distorted events surrounding him shooting activists attacking him in Kenosha.

3. Whitewashing Pages of Vice Presidential Choices

Once Biden became the Democratic Party’s uncontested presidential nominee, speculation on his future Vice Presidential pick focused particularly on House Representative Karen Bass and his ultimate pick, Kamala Harris. As the Intercept reported, an editor began sanitizing the page on Harris of various controversies as speculation surged about her being Biden’s choice. Following Breitbart’s coverage of the editor noting his role as an organizer for the Harris presidential primary campaign and the editor admitting to volunteering for both the Harris and Biden campaigns, the editor was banned by an administrator from articles concerning them citing his conflicts of interest. However, many controversies removed by editors have not been restored.

In the case of Bass, editors repeatedly censored any mention of the Representative previously praising Cuban dictator Fidel Castro following his death. Editors defending the removals noted the material was being cited to Fox News and argued it should not be used unless other “reliable” sources covered the story. Wired subsequently praised Wikipedia editors for keeping the criticism out of the page for Bass in one of many instances when the outlet and other establishment media would praise the online encyclopedia over its handling of political topics.

4. Censoring Hunter Biden Revelations

Probably the most blatant acts favoring Biden’s campaign came in the last weeks of the election as editors actively censored New York Post revelations involving e-mails purportedly from Hunter Biden’s laptop detailing how he effectively sold corrupt business partners access to his father, then the Vice President. Articles in Fox News and the Daily Caller confirming several of these e-mails regarding business dealings in China and with Ukraine’s Burisma were rejected and the claims labeled “conspiracy theories” in the opening of articles related to the allegations. Due to sources deemed “reliable” on Wikipedia repeatedly invoking “Russian disinformation” claims, the Post’s reporting was included in a “Russian interference” article despite no evidence supporting Russian involvement.

5. Purging Conservative Media

Crucial in allowing the censoring of the Post revelations were rulings against conservative media outlets in an ongoing purge on Wikipedia. Beginning after Trump’s election, the Daily Mail was the first conservative outlet banned from use as a source for factual claims in 2017. The Foundation deemed the decision proof Wikipedia takes “fake news” seriously, and further bans followed. Breitbart’s 2018 ban accelerated this process leading to Daily Caller’s ban in 2019. Efforts to ban Fox News led to it being discouraged as a source for politically contentious claims this July and an attempt against the Post got it deemed “unreliable” in September, just in time to block its Hunter Biden revelations.

Foundation Bias Aaiding Biden

The Wikimedia Foundation, spent the past few years playing into a narrative of the online encyclopedia and its policies on “verifiability” being a solution to “fake news” online, despite “verifiability, not truth” being a favored interpretation of the policy’s meaning among editors. Trump’s critics widely cited “fake news” as a factor in his surprise victory in 2016 with fixing it key to guaranteeing his future opponent’s success and Wikipedia was widely utilized by Big Tech in keeping with the Foundation’s messaging. The Foundation seizing on the “fake news” narrative followed a strategy recommended by Minassian Media, run by Head of Communications for the Clinton Foundation Craig Minassian, citing the 2016 election.

Minassian Media also recommended greater political involvement on the part of the Foundation to improve it and Wikipedia’s reputation, something they demonstrated by joining a lawsuit contesting Trump’s travel ban targeting terrorism hotbeds overseas and their Black Lives Matter endorsement. Such left-wing bias on Wikipedia prompted site co-founder Larry Sanger to declare Wikipedia’s “neutrality” policy dead earlier this year. Analyses corroborate this assessment showing its top news sources are often left-wing, particularly on articles about American politicians, and right-leaning editors being six times more likely to be sanctioned. This evident bias has translated not only into editors aiding Biden’s campaign, but repeatedly smearing President Trump and numerous conservative figures.

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