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Spending Bill to Fund State Department Agency Accused of Censoring, Blacklisting Americans
A State Department agency — which has been chided by conservatives for its alleged blacklisting of Americans and news outlets — is set to be refunded in the continuing resolution (CR) bill currently being hammered out among lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
The Global Engagement Center (GEC) has been included in page 139 of the CR. Although it doesn’t specify its budget allocation, a previous Inspector General report shows the agency’s FY 2020 budget totaled $74.26 million, of which $60 million was appropriated by Congress.
The GEC, according to reporter Matt Taibbi, “funded a secret list of subcontractors and helped pioneer and insidious — and idiotic — new form of blacklisting” during the pandemic. Taibbi wrote last year when exposing the Twitter Files that the GEC “flagged accounts as ‘Russian personas and proxies’ based on criteria like, ‘Describing the Coronavirus as an engineered bioweapon,’ blaming ‘research conducted at the Wuhan institute,’ and ‘attributing the appearance of the virus to the CIA.’”
“State also flagged accounts that retweeted news that Twitter banned the popular U.S. website ZeroHedge, claiming it ‘led to another flurry of disinformation narratives.'” ZeroHedge had made reports speculating that the virus had a lab origin.
Public Schools Using Multimillion Dollar Fees to Stop Parental FOIA Requests
Are you a parent wanting to know what exactly the local school is teaching your child? Looking for official documentation of those lessons or the policies that motivated them? Better have millions of dollars in the piggy bank because that’s what these taxpayer funded institutions are demanding parents pay for access to public records through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
The impetus for the sudden interest from parents in school activities is obvious. Attempts by educators to indoctrinate children with COVID-19 propaganda, including lessons on “anti-vaxxers” and even giving children vaccines without parental consent led to a wave of parental participation in how their local schools operate.
Multiple state supreme courts have blocked parental lawsuits and set a precedent giving schools immunity from litigation, specifically concerning health related policies. The only other option for citizens with children was to force their way into school board meetings and watch every move of the people involved.
FOIA requests have become frequent because schools refused to offer lesson transparency. In other words, school officials and teachers unions assert that they are not required to tell parents what their children are being taught, so the only way to know is to press the issue through access to public records.
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Brazilian Lawmakers Appeal to International Human Rights Org Over State Censorship Efforts
Some Brazilian legislators, along with Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International, are challenging Brazil’s censorship attempts this year before an international governing body, asking them to condemn the censorship and uphold free speech. ADF International is representing five Brazilian legislators before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights regarding the country’s state-driven censorship crisis and their 39-day ban on X earlier this year.
Senator Eduardo Girao, as well as members of the Chamber of Deputies Marcel Van Hattem, Adriana Ventura, Gilson Marques and Ricardo Salles, are asking the Commission to act swiftly to hold Brazil accountable for its free speech obligations and expose the country’s alleged censorial efforts.
UK Press Won Over on Digital ID, Sets About Explaining Why to the Public
The popular press in the U.K. appears to have picked a side in the national debate over digital ID, falling in line with the majority public opinion and making the case for at least serious consideration of a new policy from Westminster in a series of editorials. The Financial Times Editorial Board argued for the role of a national identity scheme in modernizing the country’s government and public services on Sunday. The article acknowledges the complexity of the task, and a need for “debate and consultation.” But the time for those actions, it says, has come.
An editorial by Sir Tony Blair in the Daily Mail last Wednesday kicked things off, arguing that digital ID could be a “once-in-a-generation disruption” for the better. It will save £2 billion a year as a return on an upfront investment of £1 billion and £100 million a year in maintenance.
