WordPress goes after politically conservative website
They’re coming for you next: The politically conservative but very accurate and well documented website The Conservative Treehouse has now been told by its platform WordPress that it is being deplatformed, or to put it more bluntly, shut down, because of its conservative content.
One week after the 2020 presidential election, The Conservative Treehouse received the following notification:
…”given the incompatibility between your site’s content and our terms, you need to find a new hosting provider and must migrate the site by Wednesday, December 2nd.”
What does this mean? It means CTH is being kicked-off the WordPress website hosting platform because the content of our research and discussion does not align with the ideology of those who define what is acceptable speech and what is not.
What was our violation? After ten years of brutally honest discussion, opinion, deep research and crowdsourcing work -with undeniable citations on the events we outline- there is no cited violation of any term of service because CTH has never violated one.
The WordPress company is not explaining the reason for deplatforming because there is no justifiable reason for it. At the same time, they are bold in their position. Perhaps this is the most alarming part; and everyone should pay attention. They don’t care.
I as well as probably millions of others use WordPress as the platform for our websites. This decision strikes directly at freedom of speech, and is clearly an effort to silence conservative political analysis.
Worse is coming. I expect in the next few years to receive the same deplatforming message from WordPress, and intend to be prepared. I also would not be surprised if they transition from giving warnings, to simply shutting down sites they don’t like. Don’t be shocked if you try to come here one day and discover the site has vanished.
Everyone else should be on notice as well. The gloves are off, the intent is to silence and shut down dissent against the left and the Democratic Party, wherever possible.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in the past two weeks has the mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuses to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation:
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They’re coming for you next: The politically conservative but very accurate and well documented website The Conservative Treehouse has now been told by its platform WordPress that it is being deplatformed, or to put it more bluntly, shut down, because of its conservative content.
One week after the 2020 presidential election, The Conservative Treehouse received the following notification:
…”given the incompatibility between your site’s content and our terms, you need to find a new hosting provider and must migrate the site by Wednesday, December 2nd.”
What does this mean? It means CTH is being kicked-off the WordPress website hosting platform because the content of our research and discussion does not align with the ideology of those who define what is acceptable speech and what is not.
What was our violation? After ten years of brutally honest discussion, opinion, deep research and crowdsourcing work -with undeniable citations on the events we outline- there is no cited violation of any term of service because CTH has never violated one.
The WordPress company is not explaining the reason for deplatforming because there is no justifiable reason for it. At the same time, they are bold in their position. Perhaps this is the most alarming part; and everyone should pay attention. They don’t care.
I as well as probably millions of others use WordPress as the platform for our websites. This decision strikes directly at freedom of speech, and is clearly an effort to silence conservative political analysis.
Worse is coming. I expect in the next few years to receive the same deplatforming message from WordPress, and intend to be prepared. I also would not be surprised if they transition from giving warnings, to simply shutting down sites they don’t like. Don’t be shocked if you try to come here one day and discover the site has vanished.
Everyone else should be on notice as well. The gloves are off, the intent is to silence and shut down dissent against the left and the Democratic Party, wherever possible.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in the past two weeks has the mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuses to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation:
5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
“After writing about the COVID-19 agenda,…the notification: the website will be removed.”
C19 is currently one the prominent reasons to purge unwanted persons and organizations. On social media (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, Youtube) they’ve established a censorship infrastructure that blocks, limits, deletes content (including links and files) and accounts “to protect against misleading information” about C19 or the US elections and to remove “hatespeech and harassment” (real and assumed).
I don’t know whether WordPress (hosting) received pressure to deplatform “misleading information” or whether they do it on their own. While inconvenient, one can move elsewhere where WordPress runs out of the box and transfer the content. That is no long-term solution as we have to expect that the trend to make our Internet more Chinese (geographically firewalled, automatically censored) will continue and eventually there’s no place to flee to. It’s essentially a political problem as technical workarounds are only useful for the few who know and care. Anyway, if one fears one could be next who’s deplatformed, one should prepare to move to somewhere secure for the time being and not wait it out.
When television came along, everyone thought radio was dead. Indeed, TV made extinct much of what was radio then. But radio remained as a medium. It only changed into something different than how it began, but it remains a vitally important medium.
When online internet came along, everyone thought that print was dead. Print was my medium; writing to today’s smart tech user (in my specialty, anyway) requires writing “to” the attention span of an indulged third-grader. Today’s “news” resembles picture books in an elementary school library, lots of big pictures and not a lot of copy, extraordinarily shallow “reporting.” The grown-up books had all copy and no pictures.
Robert, I wish your books were in hard print and I am seriously considering buying one of your hard books at the price for my family for Christmas. But this C 19 madness has directly ended nearly all income stream here.
I a seething with rage, frankly, and I don’t like it!
Word Press in 2015-16 was inundated with bots. I watched them destroy entire online communities, including CTH of pre 2015. The powers that be at the sites allowed voices like mine, which had coexisted peacefully for nearly a decade, to be bullied and lied and silenced and censored. It was organized and deliberate.
I am as ambivalent as hell about this because I have long relied on Word Press … and I know that what I saw transpire on it and on other social mediums via internet of comment boards, was orchestrated. I didn’t just fall off the turnip truck.
Look into Locals.com. It is a subscription based service that lets you set the price and dictate terms. You also own all of your content. It was envisioned by Dave Rubin for exactly these circumstances. Good luck. Wherever you go, i’ll be there.
It is unlikely that Trump will continue in office. It is likely that Trump will phase into “Take America Back” mode and a central part of this will be the movement of his supporters away from 1984 providers of various services and into free speech less ideologically driven social and mass media. Make no mistake, this is a civil war and the battles will, at a minimum, be fought online.
I sense a demand building for updated versions of BBS software. Many are still in production and free. I may have to go dig out my old RBBS manual.
WordPress is owned by ‘Automattic,’ which is not a trivial company, and their motto is:
“We don’t make software for free, we make it for freedom.”
janyuary–
I suggest “The Chronological Encyclopedia of Discoveries in Space,” but it is however, a bit pricey.
I wish I could say “they can’t stop the signal”. But the tech tyrants can.
Censorship is a coward’s way. So is cheating and lying.
Good luck to everybody in the coming years.
Make sure you have several current backups should that day ever come
We cannot be silenced or stopped. We can surrender.
Before our ever so popilar internet I used direct computer connections. We can get around any obstacles. We just have to want to.
Mr. Z.–
you use WordPress software, but you’re hosted by Amixa, correct?
wayne: I emailed Shane at Amixa. He explained that we use the free open source version of WordPress. And since BtB is on Amixa’s servers, not WordPress’s, they have no power over this site.
A very great relief, especially since Shane supports what I do (something that I am endlessly grateful for).
I should add that I’d recommend Amixa to the Conservative Treehouse, but have no way to contact them.
I’m trying to figure out if there is actually a problem here. It sounds like a private company doesn’t want to host certain types of content. On BTB, Robert chooses not to host specific types of comments (name calling and obscenities). It’s frustrating to be discriminated against, but I thought that was just part of our system here, as long as it isn’t the government doing the discriminating (or a private company with monopoly power given to it by the government). If I hosted someone elses content, I would expect to have a right to host or not host as I saw fit (up to some legally defined limits).
WordPress software is huge, but they do not have a monopoly and one can always set up their own server and host their own content using WordPress or other software.
Still not sure though. It does seem problematic for large software companies to shut down other people’s points of view.
On the other hand, newspapers have always had to right to publish editorial comments and letters as they choose. They aren’t forced to publish everyone’s point of view. And it’s a lot easier to set up a server and publish your own content online than it is to print and distribute your own print newspaper (or it seems that way to me).
TheLastRefuge@reagan.com
“I wish I could say “they can’t stop the signal”. But the tech tyrants can.”
Really?
So easily you would give up?
Marcus:
What are you talking about?
Your specific complaint goes to decorum; what some might call civilized behavior.
“On BTB, Robert chooses not to host specific types of comments (name calling and obscenities)”
I would expect that as a minimum for civilized discourse. Societially offensive comments are not the same as open discourse. Robert maintains a clean blog, and much appreciated. I’ve been called.
I’m not convinced this is a time for splitting hairs. We’ve all got more pressing concerns.
This disturbs me greatly…. I am obviously far far left of most of the readership here, but I also believe with every ounce of my being in the principles of free speech.
I am not familiar with the ins and outs of how wordpress works, but I guess any third party host has the right to “police” their platform how they see fit. ( Look at Alex Jones…. One of the world’s great idiots, but deplatformed pretty much everywhere, I hate the guy, but would never gag him because we disagree)
The answer must be to somehow set up independent infrastructure where free comment can be free.
I realize that a totally free environment for discussion can become an echo chamber, for both far right and far left ideas, and these environments should be counterd with discussion and discourse, censorship should never be an option.
Blair-
Good stuff.
Marcus—
two different things in play— WordPress software, which is free (open source) and runs a website, and WordPress Hosting, which is not free and physically hosts a website.
Wordpress hosting is a paid service, and runs from $300 to $2900 a year. That’s how Automattic makes their money.
Her at BtB, Mr. Z. utilizes WordPress software, but he pays Amixa to physically host & deliver his site.
Lee–
yeah, everyone thought Alex was crazy….. crazy like a fox, as it turns out.
The only thing that alphabet really did to alex (aside from blatantly censor him, which is no small thing) was force him to host his own content, it costs a fortune to serve up the amount of video he produces.
First they came for Alex, but nobody cared…..
The government is to respect free speech, but a private company and when I say private I mean a company not owned by the government is allowed to censor material. What is important is that their policy with regards to censorship is known and that they are not a monopoly. I think this question of monopoly.
Currently, progressives benefit from most high tech social media being centered in the San Francisco Bay Area and some may resist going after these companies as monopolies. I was going to school in Berkeley and lived a couple of blocks from the People’s Park protests. I even managed to get tear gassed sitting on my lawn. In those days, free speech was about discussion and debating ideas. I believe those liberals would not want social media monopoly and would prefer free speech without censorship.
Blair –
I don’t have a complaint about Robert’s policies. My point is that most people hosting other’s content have some sort of control of the content.
I believe the issue is that many of the tech platforms grew up as true platforms rather than “publishing houses” and they built the expectation of a free and open space, where they did not edit or control anything. At some point (probably when terrorists starting posting propaganda on their sites) they decided that they really did want to maintain some editorial control. Publishers have always had editorial control, so I don’t think it’s a problem, except that they were open and now their not. Anytime you change expectations you will upset people, but I don’t think it’s necessarily wrong.
Some of the tech companies are big enough that it might be an issue. But as they start exerting editorial control, other sites are popping up to meet the demand. It just takes a little time. So I’m not sure there is an actual problem…
And why do you not get a jump on the potential de platforming and find another host now?
Are there other options?
If there are no other options and these platforms are seen as a kind of utility that is censoring their customers like a publisher would, can they be sued and can they be threatened with either financial consequences or their own company being banned from being able to operate?
They can not have it both ways and the Congress must take action here related such blatant bias and the censoring of the free speech of the American people. Facebook, Twitter, Youtube / Google are all biased and a real and present danger to the fundamental freedoms enshrined in the Constitution that keeps us and the rest of the world free.
These Liberal / Leftist company’s are attempting do their damage while they still have the legal right to do so. And in the end because of the masses of cash that they are in control of they may purchase the Congress so as not having to worry about any legal consequences either now or in the future?
This must be dealt with in a no nonsense manner.
Marcus: I’m sorry, but your comments somehow remind me of the Jewish leaders in the Warsaw Ghetto, who were willing to work with the Nazis as they rounded up some people to kill, in the hope others would survive.
The real point here is to highlight the fascist and intolerant attitude of the left that now dominates our culture. They do not wish to allow dissenting views, but until now the negative cultural consequences for silencing such dissent was too strong for them to act.
No longer. If anything, their intolerant attitude is now dominant everywhere. They not only do not suffer from squelching anyone who stands in their way, they are more often rewarded for doing it. The only ones who suffer are those who are silenced.
If their intolerance does not cost them soon in both money and popularity, expect that intolerance to quickly spread to many other places, including the government. As it has been.
This is one reason I do not use Google, Facebook, or Twitter. Unfortunately, I am very much an exception.
Bad times are coming, and your comments to me prove it. It seems people are willing to find any excuse to allow them to make believe this cultural oppression is not happening.
Cotour: I agree. The Conservative Treehouse should move to another hosting site immediately. So should everyone who uses WordPress in this manner. Immediately.
To everyone:
Are you using gmail? Why? Google has been encouraging the silencing of dissent.
Are you doing your searches with Google? Why? See above.
Are you still on Facebook? Why? See above.
Do you waste your precious life energy on Twitter? Why? See above.
In every case, the public must act to condemn this bad behavior. Tragically however the public is not. It either seems uninterested, or supportive.
Very bad times are coming, for everyone.
Marcus:
“I’m trying to figure out if there is actually a problem here. It sounds like a private company doesn’t want to host certain types of content.”
Think of it this way: You have broken your leg, a compound fracture. You are taken to the emergency room by ambulance where you know they can help you and relieve you from your great pain and to begin your healing.
And upon being brought in on the gurney from the ambulance they find out by the tee shirt you are wearing your a Conservative, or a Republican, or a Libertarian and the emergency room chief (Sorry if I offended anyone by using the word Chief, this is no a cultural appropriation, I just can not think of another appropriate word at the moment) tells the ambulance attendants that their board of directors has ordered that they no longer do any medical procedures on Conservatives, Republicans or Libertarians. Life saving or otherwise.
Be not confused, THERE IS A PROBLEM!
Alphabet, Facebook, and Twitter, to name just 3, need to lose their protection under Section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934.
From the real word: Related:
When I was younger one of the business that I owned was a simple dry cleaning drop off store front. It was just to fill a spot in the real estate that I rented at the time and it made some cash for paying the bills. (Specifically for Lee S’s benefit: During this time in my life I actually had 4 jobs. I owned and ran 3 businesses, and I worked in construction.)
I used another company that had a dry cleaning plant that did the cleaning and I would just drop off and pick up. Everything was sorted and bagged, it was simple. And the guy that owned that plant was a very nice guy and all was going along smoothly. Until my bill with him had grown to be a substantial amount due to a cash flow issue I was in the midst of. But he was patient and worked with me.
And one day he casually said to me, “You know your bill it getting up there, if you don’t start paying it down I will own your company”. And I knew he was half kidding and was just pushing me to pay my bill down. But that was all I needed. I would never allow someone have something like that hanging over me, much like Word Press threatens.
The next day I found myself another cleaner and negotiated a new arrangement. And over time I paid off my entire balance with the first cleaner. And like I said he was a great guy, very fair and very generous to me, he really helped me get over my rough spot. But I had to do what I had to do. And it wasn’t personal, it was business.
And that is the position that these internet now giants find themselves, and they are biased, they are Left leaning to say the least and proactive to promote their belief system even though they are required by law to not to.
Lets get down to it, and take care of business.
This announcement about your site/Wordpress is utterly disturbing!! I heard about this from Mark Steyn on Rush today and the word, “Wordpress” really got my ears up.
I’m going to look in to this further—if WordPress is doing this, so too, will web hosts everywhere. Does anyone here know of a web host that is truly “safe” that I can migrate to? I do not have a controversial site, yet, I wish to support companies that are truly “Free Speech”, for all.
Thank you, and best wishes to you.
Diane: I would recommend my hosting service Amixa in a heartbeat. Shane has made sure my site is secure, set it up to look beautiful, and has been there whenever I needed him to fix issues.
I don’t take ads, but I insist on keeping the Amixa box and link at the bottom of the right column on the page for this reason. If you want, I will gladly put you in touch with him.
There is a difference between opting not to host someone else’s opinion, and preventing them from expressing their opinion. To me the CTH example sounds like the former. I understand it can feel like the latter, and depending on the size and power of the tech company involved, it could be.
Cotour –
I think you really got to the point here: “they are Left leaning to say the least and proactive to promote their belief system even though they are required by law to not to.”
As private companies are they required to be open and host anyone’s opinion? I doubt it. Perhaps to maintain their protection against liability for other’s content. But I believe they are legally allowed to express and host and promote whatever content they want.
They are platforms, they provide the facility to get your web site onto the internet, they are the phone company.
Does the phone company listen to your conversations and do they tell you what you are allowed to talk about on their system?
There, simplicity and clarification.
Perhaps I am wrong…
I have been analogizing between hosting sites and publishers like newspapers and TV networks. But if the better analogy is between hosting sites and a paper manufacturer, I can see the other side. Can a paper manufacturer decide not to sell paper to a newspaper because it disagrees with the editorial content? Maybe, I don’t know, but it certainly feels wrong.
Paper manufacturer?
That is like saying that a wire manufacturer has a say in this.
Bad analogy.
Too many analogies… It will take some time for our culture, government, courts and laws, to decide how internet companies fit into our existing framework. The internet started extremely open, now there is a swing the other way (because of terrorist propaganda on youtube for example). I expect it to swing back and forth a little longer, but I agree with what I believe is the concensus here. I hope it trends back toward openness.
Bob, speaking of Amixa, is there any chance you can get restored the time stamp on the recent-comment list? It’s been a great help in the past in determining which comments I haven’t read yet.
Thanks
Cotour –
What? I was agreeing with you! I doesn’t feel like a paper manufacturer has any business taking a stand on the editorial position of a newspaper being printed on the paper it sells, just like you are arguing that a hosting site shouldn’t have a say in the editorial content of the sites being hosted. (I suspect they both have the legal right though)
Lets be clear here.
An every day business for the most part can pretty much choose who they do business with or not do business with. That is not the issue here.
These companies are “special”, they provide the means and the platforms for free speech of the American people to be accomplished. And these companies exist under a “special” situation that the Congress has provided them. The Congress has protected these companies that provide these facilities of free speech by classifying them not as publishers or opinionators, but as platforms, much like the phone company.
If these platforms are going to drift into becoming publishers by telling those who utilize their services what they can and can not communicate over those platforms, then that “special” classification must end. And they at the same time demand the “special” status because they still say that they are platforms. (Even though they are not ;)
Again, simplicity.
Sure, reclassify the tech companies if they are no longer open platforms. Just be careful with how you do it. Right now they are free to make their own decisions and police content as they choose, with the free market (and their own political agendas) as their guide. Once the government steps in and starts regulating them, it will be the government making some of those same decisions instead of the companies. I’d personally rather a platform kick me off and move to another platform or host my own content than have the government dictate too much to the platforms. What will it mean for the government to enforce “anti-bias” laws? I might trust the big evil tech companies (as long as there is choice) to do that better than the government. Perhaps the biggest tech companies should be broken up, rather than regulated?
I also enjoy consuming “left-wing” content, and some of them vigorously support reclassifying and regulating the tech companies. If the left and right agree, it will probably happen. It worries me though.
If all you do is take away the “special” classification of tech companies and make them play like everyone else — fine. But I’d rather they not be regulated to death like the phone companies.
Marcus: You continue to miss my point. I am noting the cultural collapse here. It is now culturally acceptable to censor people, because of their beliefs and political opinions. Such a thing was in this country considered unacceptable and disgusting, until only a few years ago. To do it would damage your business badly, because of the uproar against you for doing so.
Now it okay. As I’ve written previously, persecution is now cool.
You and Cotour are arguing the fine points of the legalities. I am noting the reality of our dying free country. I think the latter is far more important to discuss, and fight.
I am not arguing the fine points, I am stating what is what and simplifying the discussion. The issue is clear and unambiguous.
Marcus seems confused about what is what and is torturously teasing out the supposed fine details that are irrelevant to me.
And the “Cool” factor of this selective speech and who gets to select is an entirely Left leaning paradigm. And they populate the companies at issue and are the offenders.
Point taken Robert, thanks for clarifying. I did jump to conclusions when I thought you didn’t believe WordPress should have the right to stop hosting someone. I totally get your frustration that our culture now makes it socially acceptable for them to do it.
My personality does tend to guide me toward the “legal irrelevancies” and other details, which I happily believe are important too. :)
Andi: Just to confirm, did the “recent comment” list on the main page once include the time/date each comment was posted? I never look at it, so I don’t know.
Marcus: As I noted in a different thread today, you did the same thing in connection with the COVID-19 study I highlighted last night. You focused on the fact that the study’s results were uncertain in many ways, something I definitely agree. However, you missed the real and very fundamental point, that it illustrated the utter and complete uselessness of all the lock down and mask mandates. They don’t do what they claim. They can’t stop the spread of this virus, ever.
Nor was this study an outlier. See this BtB post on Hawaii. As I wrote there:
And yet, the virus has spread there.
Note also the inhumanity and oppressiveness of the lock downs imposed during this study. They are not really much different that the oppressive lock downs now being proposed by Democratic Party politicians and incompetent health officials like Anthony Fauci. They accomplish nothing, but force everyone to live as if they are prisoners in a maximum security prison.
Is this how we want to live our lives? I say no, in anger and fury. I remain astonished however at how many people seem sanguine about that possibility.
There I have to disagree with you Robert. My issue with your reporting on the Covid study was that it was false. A quick read of the study you linked to made that clear. As I’ve stated before I agree with you that the media is overblown on the virus. I am also very much against lock downs. I’m living my life and want to continue living it as much as possible. I get your points. No, I don’t agree with all of it, but mostly it’s about tactics. I don’t think that linking to blatantly false information is helpful. I don’t think it is helpful to say that those over 60 are not part of the “general population”. And I don’t think that claiming a study says one thing, when it really says something completely different is going to convince anyone worth convincing. I believe that for the next few months before a vaccine is widely available, masks could help slow the spread of the virus (not stop it). Since I want to go on with my life and avoid the lock downs, I support them. I could be wrong, uncertainty of science as you rightly call it. If you find studies that show that lock downs don’t work, I want to see them and I will share them with friends and family. If you find studies that show that masks don’t work, I will be disappointed because I want something to work, but I will believe it and share with friends and family.
Marcus: There was nothing false about the lock down rules the participants had to undergo. Nothing.
There was nothing false about the results. Nothing. Almost 3% were infected within two weeks. Those strict rules did not stop the virus.
I interpret the more strict mask requirements imposed on participants (supervised closely by superiors) as possibly contributing to their higher infection rate compared to non-participants, but I also noted the difference was small and could be dismissed.
Lockdowns and masks accomplish nothing. There is no science that establishes their usefulness, except some very recent quickly put together studies designed not to disprove decades of previous research, but to confirm the political agenda of our time. For decades before this was a political hot potato the medical community was in agreement: masks did not work and you don’t quarantine the healthy, you quarantine the sick.
Now, suddenly because a few politicians (mostly Democrats) claim we need to shut down society (during an election year I might add), all that earlier research has been thrown into the memory hole. We must forget it, forever.
Robert, it is my impression that you have still not read the study. I know you want to discuss the bigger picture, but it’s difficult to discuss when you throw in factual points about the study that directly contradict what the study says.
Marcus: You are wrong. I did read the study. My focus remains on the points I have noted. I indicated some aspects that might be indicated by the results, but that was not my main point. You seem unable to see that.
What you are both missing is that the Covid event, whether it is a function of nature or a strategy is now being used as a tool of fear and manipulation by the Global elites and governments of the world who they dominate, they have told you themselves. They made a commercial about how happy you will be, once you have been forced to submit.
https://youtu.be/omAk1gMyw7E “You may be getting ready to move to Mars”.
And what exactly will they accomplish with executing this opportune Covid event moment in time?
Through lockdowns they will destroy the every day man and woman’s ability to pay their bills, which will bankrupt them and they will be forced to be dependent on the government for everything they need to survive. Its the opportunity to create a mass blanket culture of dependency on the government. And then they tell you what you can and can not do, say, think and feel. No need for voting at all in the near future.
And this fraud of the American election by the now many examples of corruption and a voting system that is manipulatable and the media drive to push it all over the cliff and make it a wonderful reality, MUST BE STOPPED.
Internet media giants confidently moving against the interests of the peoples freedom of speech, fraudulent elections, lock downs, Covid, ANTIFA and BLM thugs threatening violence and rioting in the streets if they do not get their way, a Joe Biden, “easy to push further Left” presidency, etc, etc.
And there is only ONE politician that stands in their way, Donald J. Trump who will not ever concede.
The virus must be gone through and not run around. meaning that the population must adapt to it and / or a vaccine be developed to help facilitate that eventuality. The only reason to lock down from the governments point of view is an attempt to control the potential to over load the hospitals. Thats it, or should be thats it.
On one end you have the likes of Australia and New Zealand, locked down. Isolated from the rest of the planet being financially destroyed until a viable vaccine is developed and is available. They have developed ZERO immunity in their population. And until then the people are living under oppressive government rules that may have to become permanent?
And on the other end under a Joe Biden administration and the rest of the world coming under the same conditions of existence. Why?
Because the United States of America has been usurped because everyone was told they were going to die from a virus that it is documented 95 percent of them who acquire it survive. Thats is not a way for the supposed freest, best and most powerful country on the planet to live, scared and whimpering clutching their fraudulent ballots and their cell phones being told what to think and do.
OK, Im ranting now.
Bob, as far as I remember, the main page also included the time stamp on recent comments.
He should have hosted it through a bakery – they have to respect different opinions.
Cotour wrote, “What you are both missing is that the Covid event, whether it is a function of nature or a strategy is now being used as a tool of fear and manipulation by the Global elites and governments of the world who they dominate.”
Based on everything I have written about this mess, how can you possibly say I am “missing” what you write above? I wonder if you have been reading anything I have written.
Sorry but I am grumpy today.
No, I am fully supporting your position, on both this WordPress issue and the Covid issue. Trust me I understand well your position on ALL of this.
Just in THIS conversation Marcus has driven it down into the minutia and he is unsure of what is correct. Marcus needs his hand held.
I do not hold anyone’s hand. I will take the time to explain it, but I will not hold anyone’s hand.
Robert wrote: “If their intolerance does not cost them soon in both money and popularity, expect that intolerance to quickly spread to many other places, including the government. As it has been.”
This is the quick spread that started slowly years ago. We are losing this country and our democracy much faster than most people think.
“Just to confirm, did the “recent comment” list on the main page once include the time/date each comment was posted? I never look at it, so I don’t know.”
Yes, it did. It was most useful on days when comments were arriving fast and furious, like today.
Why are platform sites and social media kicking people off and shadow banning what they say? It’s because conservative people are terrorist. At least that’s what Joe said.
https://godfatherpolitics.com/joe-biden-says-conservatives-are-terrorists/
Congress even passed a humongous bill for the express purpose of preventing you from being afflicted by people who are Terrorist. They just had to define what a terrorist actually is…
Old articles;
https://spectator.org/54319_possible-dhs-pick-martin-omalley-conservatives-are-terrorists/
https://thenewamerican.com/dhs-labels-liberty-lovers-as-potential-terrorists/
Essentially, a terrorist is anyone who’s out of favor of the current party. Do you see yourself on this list? You might be a terrorist.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-wing_terrorism
The deplorable’s are being dealt with. Compared to our elitist masters, everyone is a deplorable.
Sunlight is the best disinfectant, but it’s deadly to vampires and they will do all in their power to remove the sun from this World so they can rein forever. The problem is not whether it’s right or wrong, for people who lie, steal, and cheat it’s a matter of survival. At everyone else’s expense.
Tom Biggar–
that, is hilarious!
Or, people could host their own sites using a server in the guest-house…..
Mr. Z.,
If you go to the Wayback Machine at the Internet Archive, BtB has been archived 513 times, between 7/22/2010 and 11/09/20.
–>https://web.archive.org/web/*/www.behindtheblack.com
And yes, there was once a timestamp on the comment list.
Ref Amixa— that discount link has been posted for quite a few years, and it finally morphed into a 404 page not found error.
Diane–
Looked around your site– very nice!
Heard Mark Steyn as well– as he commented, people are going to have to learn to ‘click a few more times.’ These automated platforms are very convenient but as we have all seen, they can shut you down instantly.
Wayne: Thanks for the heads up about the Amixa box. Probably got lost when Shane upgraded the website last month. He fixed my stuff, and forgot his own. :) I’ve let him know.
Max–
I’m totally convinced, the left are clinically paranoid for the reason– everything they claim we do or will do to them, is something they have already done to us.
I mean– these leftists killed 100 million people in the last century, and they fully well intend to double down on that going forward.
Cotour,
“OK, Im ranting now.”
It’s justified.
By the way, we need to make restoring and rebuilding liberty fun and profitable.
—
Bob,
“Sorry but I am grumpy today.”
Recently I started to adapt Nazi and Communist era jokes to modern times. How about that one:
The year is 2022. Three prisoners meet in a cell and talk about what brought them there.
First: “I was against Joe Biden in 2020.”
Second: “I was for Joe Biden in 2021.”
Third: “I am Joe Biden.”
Ian-
hilarious!
wayne,
Thank you for appreciating the comedy potential of totalitarian regimes.
The Democratic Party’s local secretary visits the Washington Post to hear about the newest book. The literary critic says, “It’s one of the best books I ever read.” The secretary shakes his head. “I mean it has some weaknesses but it’s still a pleasure.” The secretary shakes his head. “Though it has several parts that are more written for deplorable Republicans.” The secretary shakes his head. “I have to apologize, I wasn’t clear enough. It’s one of the worst books I ever read.” The secretary shakes his head. “But I don’t want to condemn it in its entirety.” The secretary shakes his head and remarks, “What an itchy collar.”
Ian C.: The first is wonderful. Made both me and Diane laugh. I also know it from its early iterations in Soviet Russia.
I know you will have a deep well of source material. We shall laugh a lot at them all, because as Robert Heinlein said, “We laugh because it hurts.”
A very interesting discussion…. Although I think it’s wrong to ignore the minutiae of the subject… It must give some cognitive dissonance to some of you here that private companies are allowed to pick and choose who they host. Is it censorship? I think there is an argument to be made that if media platforms are allowed free harbour then they should not be allowed to police legal content they host, especially along political lines.
Cotour…. That was a strange kind of flex regarding your work life… I’m not 100% sure of the point you are trying to make? I have been working since the age of 15, and have never been unemployed. Before moving to Sweden I ran a bar and also worked a 40+ hour week in construction, the bar I owned previous to that one I ran pretty much single handed and an 80 hour week was not uncommon. In my younger days I always had a day job and a night job. I’m not a stranger to hard work. The fact that I now enjoy the benefits of a high tax/high social care society doesn’t mean I haven’t put a few shifts in over the years. One of the greatest compliments I was ever given was by my grandfather … He told me “You will do alright Lad, you like work.”
I like to think he was correct, and find it pretty offensive that your implying otherwise.
Reagan tells Soviet jokes, pt .2
https://youtu.be/Xjv082CPz9g
1:05
Ah, hat tip to Shane at Amixa– the comments now have timestamps, and the discount-link is re-activated!
Lee–
well…… it all depends WHO owns WHICH company, and whether you are a common-carrier or a publisher. As Tom Biggar alluded– if you own a bakery, you HAVE to bake whatever a customer demands, or you’re a ‘homophobe.’
There is infinitely less cognitive dissonance going on here, than you might suspect.
Alphabet, Facebook, and Twitter want to have their cake and eat it too.
@wayne… “if you own a bakery, you HAVE to bake whatever a customer demands, or you’re a ‘homophobe.” is a point of law I have some difficulties with… I believe in inclusion for all, but also believe in freedom of thought. As I have said many times, I might think your opinions are wrong, but I respect totally your right to have them.
I’m sure I can guess the majority of the readers here’s opinion on the bakery issue. My point is, is it any different for a platform, hosted by a privately owned company, to decide what they choose to host on said platform?
And this leads us further down the road of cognitive dissonance… If it is not ok for a platform to effectively “censor” their content, who should be given the oversight to regulate this? I can’t see anyone here advocating for more government involvement in free speech…
There is something to be said for platforms such as WordPress, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter to be regulated in some fashion, the phrase “too big to fail” springs to mind. But they should be regulated to ensure freedom of speech, not to suppress it.
Point: Its not ” their content,”.
These companies are “Platforms” and are only providing the access to the internet and are not involved in content. If they were then they would be considered publishers.
But they are still private companies, and by the thinking of pretty much everyone here, shouldn’t a private company be allowed to run their business any which way they like?
I’m not saying I acctually agree with this view, indeed I do not, I am just interested in how such a libertarian community can get so wound up by private companies exercising their rights to do what the heck they like, just as they should be able to, as I have heard so many times here. I know I am playing devils advicote, and I’m pressing a viewpoint I don’t actually hold, but I am curious as to how people think.
Lee: At least for my part there is absolutely no intention to require any private company to do anything. Far from it.
My point, which I apparently have to repeat multiple times, is that this behavior illustrates the terrible cultural collapse and rejection of freedom and freedom of speech. It should not require a government to demand these companies allow dissenting opinions. It should be (and was once) accepted by all that it is wrong to do this. Now, the culture teaches young people it is cool, and right, to silence those you disagree with.
This is the problem. Forget about regulations and tax law. Focus on the fact that our society now sees nothing wrong with squelching free debate, by fiat.
Point: Its not, “Their content”. AND its not their right to not supply their services, other than if a company wanted to promote something blatantly illegal such as pedophilia or similar, because the Congress has created a “Special” condition for them to operate and exist that protects them from law suits and their consequences as long as they are internet platforms and not publishers.
(General Point: A fully indoctrinated Socialist, like Lee S, living immersed within the “Safe” and comfortable confines of a very Liberal society and culture can neither see nor understand the finer points being pointed out to them related to this subject. It is just not objectively understandable for such an individual)
Lee S: 10 minutes well spent in better understanding this issue: https://youtu.be/0NhYTm2auyw
Lee S: A little more on several items including collusion between the internet giants and how they in fact censor Americans and what they allow them to see and talk about.
https://youtu.be/xBJx9kqa9bc 11 minutes well spent.
Lee Stevenson wrote: “It must give some cognitive dissonance to some of you here that private companies are allowed to pick and choose who they host.”
This is not the first time that this topic has been discussed here, and you should already know better.
The problem is not that a private company gets to choose whom to host. It is that they have set policies that were not violated, yet they are summarily throwing off someone with whom they have an agreement. They are breaking that agreement. The hosting company is being a slime. They are acting as a publisher, but they are immune from lawsuits as publishers because they had told the government that they would not do what they are now doing. They are violating the spirit and possibly the letter of a law that protects them from the consequences of being a publisher.
A few weeks back on another thread, someone called the United States the a great democracy, but we cannot even be a democracy if we are unable to discuss all aspects of the issues. If we may only state one side’s position, then liberty and democracy die. The hosting company is being anti-American.
Ironically (for some), those on the right defend the right to be anti-American even as we complain about the practice and argue for a reduction in the power of those who would damage this country. It is all part of the discussion and allows us to explain why anti-Americanism is bad for the country. For those who are anti-American, we should not be allowed to complain, to make the argument, or to explain. They just want all the power, as does any other tyrant.
“‘if you own a bakery, you HAVE to bake whatever a customer demands, or you’re a ‘homophobe.’ is a point of law I have some difficulties with… ”
But it is case-law in many states, now. Where were you when we were discussing this issue, too?
We are complaining about a problem that is similar to what Robert said. All the decisions are going in the leftist direction, reducing the freedoms of everyone else and moving the country closer and closer to tyranny. The country is devolving into a tyranny, from the government to the major businesses and utilities to the violent protestors to the news media who call the violence “mostly peaceful.”
Shutting up those who oppose the left’s tyranny is becoming more and more accepted, as Robert noted in his comment yesterday at 12:44 pm, above.
http://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/essays-and-commentaries/what-ever-you-do-dont-shut-up
THANK YOU for restoring the timestamps to the recent-comments list!
Andi: Thank Shane at Amixa. I mentioned it to him and he moved fast.
Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) presses Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey
November 17, 2020
https://youtu.be/J3ZzLYFWRCc
10:37
“Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) questions Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey at hearing on Capitol Hill before U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on content blocking and Section 230.”
@Cotour, once more you are presuming what I think, I could say the same regarding your fully indoctorate far right philosophy, but I wouldn’t be so rude. ( No reply on my comments on my work ethic?)
@ everyone…. If you had acctually read my comments instead of knee jerk attacking me due to my socialist leanings, you might have noticed that I actually believe in total freedom of speech, I believe what these platforms are doing is ethically wrong, and I stated that I was taking the opposite position on a point of minutiae for the sake of discussion. Some of you really need to get over yourselves!!
Joe Rogan Experience #1555
Alex Jones & Tim Dillon
10-27-20
https://youtu.be/jdVso9FSkmE
3:11:08
(14 million views and counting)
@Edward “This is not the first time that this topic has been discussed here, and you should already know better.”
Unfortunately I do not have the time to read every day…. And as I only use my phone as my computing device, subjects can scroll off the bottom of my feed very quickly, and “recent comments” can quickly become filled with a popular discussion. As for your “you should already know better” comment…. Really? I am no young pup that needs scolding. Your tone of “voice” is both condescending and insulting, and I would suggest that I am not the one who should know better…. I love heated discussion, but not when it decends into personal insults. ( And yours is not the first in this thread.)
Related to my use of my (android) phone as my main device, this is one of the many reasons I don’t click on YouTube links… I find them hard to watch, and also don’t believe in getting my news from YouTube. Give me a link to some text and I might read it…. A link to YouTube… Not so much.
( I’m guessing this thread will soon vanish from my feed, and although I agree with the consensus, I have to say, good!)
Lee Stevenson,
You wrote: “Unfortunately I do not have the time to read every day….”
It was a huge topic, at the time.
How can you reprimand everyone here for “knee jerk attacking me” when you do the same thing to us?
“Your tone of ‘voice’ is both condescending and insulting, and I would suggest that I am not the one who should know better”
Really? That’s the tack you take after you had written: “It must give some cognitive dissonance to some of you here that private companies are allowed to pick and choose who they host?” To you that is respectful or complimentary? If you think that this discussion has descended into personal insults, then you are the one who started it with me, and you gave worse than you got back.
@Edward… My comment “It must give some cognitive dissonance to some of you here that private companies are allowed to pick and choose who they host?” was not intended directly at you, it was an honest comment given that I understand how libertarianism works.
Cognitive dissonance is not a failure or something to be considered an insult if questioned over. I have some myself over this subject, although one of my conflicting viewpoints is probably on the other side of the spectrum than yours.
Next. Your comment “How can you reprimand everyone here for “knee jerk attacking me” when you do the same thing to us?”
I do not attack, I might disagree, strongly even, with many of the viewpoints expressed here, but I rarely, if at all attack the person, only the idea.
Now is one of those few occasions. I suggest that if my comments hurt or offend you, perhaps you are the greater snowflake in this discussion? ;-)
Lee S:
Very simply, this fantasy is the end result of your wonderful Socialism: https://youtu.be/lBBxWtKKQiA (These people are serious)
This little commercial for the Elite, Globalist, New World Order demonstrates how you will be owned, you will not be a free human being you will be managed by your overlords. You will have owners.
And all a system like that results in is infighting, nepotism, black markets and human suffering, and mass institutional slavery. Not to mention the loss of the individual and their RIGHTS to freedom.
You and these dopey young millennials who see this as some kind of answer to the worlds issues and who ever else are short sighted, get yourself a pair of binoculars.
Lee S:
“OVER REACTION: A POLITICAL WEAPON”.
https://youtu.be/PAtHgl7S46Q
Whether the Covid virus was released due to agenda or by mistake, it serves many masters and just seems a bit too convenient to my mind. These Australians are being set up for their new lives, after their old lives are completely razed. You can not build a new building where an existing building already exists. They are all hostages and they can never again connect to the world until either they develop an immunity (and that is impossible) or they are dependent on a successful vaccine which they will be compelled to take by their new owners.
You dont take the vaccine? You will not work. “If it saves just one life”, I think is the mantra of the Democrat Socialists, its a Clinton type saying. Remember Bill and Hillary: “Its for the children”.
AND, Covid has conveniently served to potentially steal the election from the most successful American president in modern history. (Stay tuned on that, that has not been nailed down yet. We wait to see what judge in what court has the stones to face the angry mob and actually seek the truth of the matter. We wait)
The “Reset” as the Globalists / Democrat Socialists / Elites (Your wanna be masters) is but an opportunity to fulfill their world vision of the larger utopia that yourself now live in. Its so beautiful. (No thank you)
Given the trajectory that the U.S. economy was on before Covid hit America the Democrats had not one chance in hell of prevailing in the coming presidential election. And they are now telling the world that Joe Biden, literally owned by the Communist Chinese to the tune of millions, even billions of dollars in investment, who sat for the most part literally in his basement has won the presidency.
When the Democrats and their Globalist masters say, by any means necessary, they mean it.
And again, I say no thank you, Lee S.
Time to hit the happy juice! Because that is the only condition any reasonable rational human being that understands the most minute amount of history and the nature of the human being is going to be able to accept such an offence to humanity. A big pile of fraudulent CRAP.
A little bit more, how your de facto new masters operate: https://youtu.be/RMfKYNcV5cc
You will comply.
Lee Stevenson,
You wrote: “I do not attack,”
You failed to specify whether to you “give some cognitive dissonance to some of you here” is respectful or complimentary, because it certainly does not make any point about the topic at hand. It is intended to tell people that they are not as smart as you are, because they cannot think as clearly as you do. When you run out of arguments do you always resort to these kinds of tactics?
Meanwhile, it seems to me that we here made it clear that we are not so upset that a company gets to choose its customers so much as upset that they violate their own terms of service while being unAmerican about free speech, stifling the very discussions that are so necessary for a democracy to work.
We understand our argument, but you do not, so which is the snowflake with the cognitive dissonance?
One America News Network demonetized by youtube
11-24-20
https://thepostmillennial.com/breaking-oann-suspended-and-demonetized-by-youtube/
The Tom Woods Show Ep. 1782
“Facebook Fact Checks Me, Repeats COVID Doom Propaganda”
November 23, 2020
https://youtu.be/DwV66aMlwfo
31:36
That’s what happens when you rely on just ONE platform to air your voice and hand yourself to the cloud. It’s equal to trusting a stranger in the next city to store some of your valuable stuff and trust he/she will always allow you access and that he/she won’t tamper with anything you own.