The newly-appointed DEI chief at the State Department claimed that America&#8217;s institutions are &#8220;riddled with racism&#8221; and based on a “failed historical model&#8221; in a now-deleted article.
Zakiya Carr Johnson was appointed as the department’s Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer last week by Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who boasted that she brings “expertise and a fresh perspective on how we build a workforce that reflects America.&#8221;
Johnson, who previously served as senior adviser and director of the first Race, Ethnicity, and Social Inclusion Unit in the department under former President Barack Obama, made scathing criticisms of the United States in a now-deleted article published in October 2019 on the website of Fair Share of Women Leaders, a feminist organization.
“In every position I have held, from junior associate to Senior Advisor, there have been opportunities to challenge the forces that seek to silence women and those most vulnerable in society,” she <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200808200921/http://fairsharewl.org/it-will-start-with-movements-like-these/">wrote</a>, Fox News <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/new-state-department-diversity-chief-believes-us-failed-historical-model-colonizing-past">reported</a>. “There are mechanisms and cultures which dispute the humanity and ability of people like me to be trusted to lead,” she added before saying that America’s institutions are “often riddled with racism, patriarchy and exclusion.”
“These are chinks in the armor of traditional leadership that refuse to reconcile with a colonizing past, or recognize that time has run out for experimentation and tweaking of a failed historic model,” Johnson wrote, also affirming the tenets of Critical Race Theory and stating that “we cannot have equity without dismantling structural racism, patriarchy and heterosexism.”
She also <a href="https://fairsharewl.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/FairShare_Action_Paper_en.pdf">co-authored a guide</a> called “Feminist Leaders for Feminist Goals” for the same organization, providing a how-to playbook for feminists to usurp &#8220;a culture of male and/ or white dominance&#8221; in organizations.
&#8220;Feminist leadership must change power structures. In order to achieve transformative change, we must analyze and question existing power structures and how they affect decision-making,” the guide reads. “How can we redefine, value, use, share and distribute power differently?&#8221;
Johnson claimed again in a 2020 <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tG1PmqQX4Ow">webinar</a> with the Feminist Leadership Project that America’s institutions are racist and sexist. &#8220;Because we live and work within systems… so deeply rooted in patriarchy and colonialism and racism and otherism, we tend to be very resistant to shifts and changes,” Johnson said. “A culture of misogyny has allowed men to act without consequence and it becomes part of what we believe is normal, right?”
Johnson was previously a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) activist and owned two organizations: a DEI consulting firm called Odara Solutions and Black Women Disrupt, an effort to support black women entrepreneurs.
The State Department has spent at least $77 million taxpayer dollars on DEI efforts in just two years, The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-state-department-forced-to-disclose-multi-million-dollar-cost-of-bidens-diversity-agenda">exclusively reported</a>.
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The department has also pushed transgenderism across the globe, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-state-department-forced-to-disclose-multi-million-dollar-cost-of-bidens-diversity-agenda">employing former activist</a> Jessica Stern as its &#8220;Special Envoy to Advance the Human Rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex Persons.&#8221; Stern has visited at least 22 countries across all six habitable continents, even attending a “transgender visibility” march in Brazil.
The Biden administration has leveraged the more expansive federal bureaucracy to push DEI, with the president even issuing <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/06/25/executive-order-on-diversity-equity-inclusion-and-accessibility-in-the-federal-workforce/">executive orders</a> to embed leftist policies throughout the government.
Former President Donald Trump has said he would gut the federal bureaucracy through his own executive orders if elected. “We will pass critical reforms making every executive branch employee fireable by the President of the United States,” Trump said at a rally, <a href="https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2022/03/trump-threatening-return-and-expansion-schedule-f/363145/">touting</a> the plan. “The deep state must be brought to heel.&#8221;

Sec. of State Anthony Blinken

State Dept’s New DEI Official Said America’s Institutions Are ‘Riddled With Racism,’ Based On A ‘Failed Historical Model’

Antony Blinken

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

General

Politics

Racism

State Department

Systemic Racism

Secretary of State Antony Blinken bussed four hours to make a meeting with European leaders after his government plane experienced “mechanical issues.”
Blinken often uses a federally funded Boeing 737 plane, which is owned by the U.S. Air Force, to travel internationally and attend meetings with dignitaries and world leaders. His plane recently had mechanical problems at Davos and suffered more issues during the secretary’s trip to Europe.
The issues forced Blinken and his entourage to bus roughly four hours from Paris to Brussels to meet with European leaders at NATO’s headquarters, according to the <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13268069/Antony-Blinkens-Boeing-737-plane-suffers-mechanical-failure-forcing-U-S-Secretary-State-road-Paris-Brussels-Nato-meeting.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Daily Mail</a>. Blinken arrived at NATO headquarters about two hours behind schedule for an event at which NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg marked 75 years of the NATO alliance.
In January, the secretary of State was briefly <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/blinken-briefly-stranded-davos-after-his-plane-breaks-down-2024-01-17/#:~:text=Jan%2017%20(Reuters)%20%2D%20U.S.,of%20his%20traveling%20press%20pool." target="_blank" rel="noopener">stranded</a> in Davos after his plane suffered a “critical failure” of its oxygen system. A leak in the system grounded the plane, forcing Blinken to take a helicopter from Davos to Zurich. Journalists and aides traveling with the secretary had to find commercial options to return to the U.S.
Blinken’s problems are the latest in a series of issues with Boeing planes that have drawn scrutiny to the aircraft manufacturer and its suppliers. Last month, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/texas-investigating-boeing-supplier-over-dei-policies-amid-aircraft-safety-concerns" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> an investigation into a Boeing supplier’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies over concern that the company’s ideological commitment to diversity has impacted the quality and safety of its product.
“The potential risks associated with certain airplane models are deeply concerning and potentially life-threatening to Texans,” Paxton said in a statement announcing an investigation into Spirit AeroSystems Holdings. “I will hold any company responsible if they fail to maintain the standards required by the law and will do everything in my power to ensure manufacturers take passenger safety seriously.”
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“Apparent manufacturing defects have led to numerous concerning or dangerous incidents, some of which occurred in-air,” the state attorney general said.

Blinken Busses Across Europe After Boeing 737 Suffers ‘Mechanical Issues’

Air and Space

Brussels

NATO

World

On Tuesday, House Republicans demanded the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/state-department" target="_blank" rel="noopener">State Department</a> offer an explanation for the &#8220;trend&#8221; of U.S. embassy closures and staff evacuations during the past few years of the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/biden-administration" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Biden administration</a>.
Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY) sent a letter to Secretary of State <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/antony-blinken" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Antony Blinken</a> requesting a briefing on how the United States can meet its foreign policy objectives with a &#8220;diminished diplomatic presence&#8221; in &#8220;high-threat&#8221; countries.
The chairman noted the State Department has been &#8220;forced to reduce or suspend operations at several posts across the globe since President Joe Biden took office in January 2021, including in Burma, Afghanistan, Belarus, Russia, Sudan, and Niger.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
🚨BREAKING🚨<a href="https://twitter.com/RepJamesComer?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RepJamesComer</a> is investigating the Biden Administration’s series of embassy closures and partial evacuations around the world.
Since President Biden took office, the State Department has been forced to reduce or suspend operations at several posts across the… <a href="https://t.co/rWuC8pH6ow">pic.twitter.com/rWuC8pH6ow</a>
&mdash; Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) <a href="https://twitter.com/GOPoversight/status/1772692015328665924?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 26, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Comer also listed Haiti, where an elite Marine team was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/elite-marine-team-deployed-to-protect-u-s-embassy-in-haiti-as-country-descends-into-chaos" target="_blank" rel="noopener">deployed</a> to protect the U.S. Embassy in the capital of Port-au-Prince after the military <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/u-s-military-evacuates-embassy-staff-in-haiti-as-yet-another-country-erupts-in-turmoil-under-biden" target="_blank" rel="noopener">evacuated</a> non-essential personnel as the country descended into chaos.
&#8220;Now, the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince, Haiti recently began evacuating some personnel and enhancing security given deteriorating conditions and gang violence close to the compound,&#8221; he said.
&#8220;These closures and service reductions are leading to a diminished U.S. diplomatic presence abroad,&#8221; Comer said. &#8220;Closures and reduced service status have serious implications for U.S. citizens residing in those countries, as well as foreign nationals who must travel elsewhere to access consular services.&#8221;
Comer said his committee is &#8220;also concerned about the repeated necessity of withdrawing U.S. personnel, and whether deteriorating conditions in those countries are the result, even in part, of failed U.S. foreign policy.&#8221;
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The chairman said his panel is requesting a briefing from the State Department &#8220;on this trend&#8221; by April 2.
&#8220;Briefers should specifically be prepared to identify and discuss all embassies or consulate posts experiencing closures or reduced services, other high-threat posts not currently in closure or reduced status, actions being taken to secure embassy personnel and assets at these high-threat posts, contingency plans to respond in emergency situations, an assessment of why this trend has occurred, and an assessment of whether this trend will continue,&#8221; Comer said.
&#8220;Briefers should also be prepared to discuss the impact of closures or reduced service status on national security, the administration and oversight of U.S. foreign assistance, and the Department’s ongoing ability to effectuate U.S. interests abroad,&#8221; he added.
The Daily Wire reached out to the State Department seeking comment.
In response, an agency spokesperson said the department does not comment on congressional correspondence as a &#8220;general matter.&#8221;

U.S. Embassy in Haiti

Comer Presses Biden Admin To Answer For ‘Trend’ Of Embassy Closures And Evacuations

Comer Presses Biden Admin To Answer For 'Trend' Of Embassy Closures And Evacuations

Biden Administration

Congress

Embassy

Haiti

House Oversight Committee

House Republicans

James Comer

National Security

The Biden administration has hired a professional activist to travel the globe to encourage transgenderism and gender ideology. 
Yesterday, The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/meet-the-biden-official-making-six-figures-to-travel-the-globe-pushing-transgenderism" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> on this information:
<blockquote>The Biden administration has empowered a professional activist to travel the globe on the taxpayer’s dime to push transgenderism and gender ideology.
From Australia to Brazil, South Africa to Sweden, Jessica Stern travels across the world attending so-called Pride events as the State Department&#8217;s Special Envoy to Advance the Human Rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex Persons. Stern, who has boasted that she is the highest ranking lesbian woman, is paid an <a href="https://openpayrolls.com/jessica-l-stern-134880369" target="_blank" rel="noopener">annual salary</a> of over $180,000 and tasked with promoting far-left views on sex and gender, lobbying foreign governments, and assisting activist organizations.
Appointed by President Biden in <a href="https://www.state.gov/biographies/jessica-stern/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">September of 2021</a>, Stern&#8217;s work has gone largely unnoticed by the media as she bolsters the president’s broader effort to leverage the might of the federal agencies and their bureaucracies in service of a far-Left agenda. In Biden&#8217;s first weeks as president, he tasked all federal agencies to work to &#8220;advance the human rights of LGBTQI+ persons abroad&#8221; — Stern has been tip of the spear in that effort, and has stated that this mission is &#8220;<a href="https://www.state.gov/briefing-with-special-envoy-to-advance-the-human-rights-of-lgbtqi-persons-jessica-stern-on-the-first-annual-interagency-report-on-implementation-of-the-presidential-memorandum-on-advancing-the-human/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">U.S. foreign policy priority</a>.&#8221;
Stern&#8217;s travels as Special Envoy have taken her to at least 22 countries on all six of the world&#8217;s habitable continents, including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Botswana, Canada, Germany, Greece, India, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, Nepal, the Netherlands, Panama, Peru, the Philippines, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, and Vietnam.</blockquote>
By the way, how many of those countries are radical-Muslim-ruled? I noticed there were zero in the Middle East. So she&#8217;s happy to preach LGBT politics pretty much everywhere except for where the Muslims are, outside of Malaysia.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1918-peeing-in-your-own-eyes-to-stop-donald-trump-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h4>
In an <a href="https://www.cfr.org/event/conversation-us-special-envoy-jessica-stern" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview</a> with the Council on Foreign Relations, Stern said, “Good foreign policy is inclusive foreign policy. And that means having senior experts on LGBTQI rights.”
<div id="attachment_706077" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-706077" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-large wp-image-706077" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/03/GettyImages-1485871544-864x576.jpg" alt="NEW YORK, NEW YORK - APRIL 27: Jessica Stern speaks at the Global Citizen NOW Summit at The Glasshouse on April 27, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images for Global Citizen)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/03/GettyImages-1485871544-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/03/GettyImages-1485871544-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/03/GettyImages-1485871544-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/03/GettyImages-1485871544.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Noam Galai/Getty Images for Global Citizen</div>
So why is the Biden administration trotting around this lady — at taxpayer expense — to various gay pride parades around the globe? Because the State Department <a href="https://www.state.gov/x-gender-marker-available-on-u-s-passports-starting-april-11/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">says</a> it has a &#8220;commitment to promoting and protecting the freedom, dignity, and equality of all persons, including transgender, nonbinary, and gender non-conforming persons around the world.”
This is what American exceptionalism has come to mean? So now American exceptionalism is not private property ownership, free speech, or limited government. American exceptionalism apparently is LGBTQ politics. That is the most important thing the Biden administration can be pushing at this point?
This concerns one of the central problems between Left and Right today.
If you go back to the 1990s during the Clinton era, there was a large crossover between what the Left in this country wanted and what the Right in this country wanted. That&#8217;s why things got accomplished — because what people wanted, generally speaking, was a government that was limited in its intervention in daily life.
People still wanted solid families. There was some arguing around the edges with regard to topics like benefits for same-sex couples, but the idea was, perhaps, civil unions were ok and namely about granting legal rights like hospital visitation or rights in wills to gay couples.
But the idea of marriage with gay couples as a substitute for traditional marriage was off the table in the 90s. Even for the Left at that point, with regard to abortion, the Clinton line was safe, legal, and rare. There was still crossover in which people recognized abortion was a great evil.
Now, things have completely broken apart. And because there is no common vision in the United States anymore of what even constitutes good, it means administrations will promote around the globe things that are not agreed to by the vast majority of Americans.
Most Americans are not interested in paying envoys to promote transgenderism in Malaysia. This is not something we think of as a core American value, nor should we. That is not what American exceptionalism is.
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But for the Left, it is. So they&#8217;ve redefined what it is to be a good American. This is why there is so much ire in the United States.
When you have a set of common values, even if they are broadly read, even if there&#8217;s a lot of play in the joints, you still have those common values. You can have a country.
But when those fall away, what exactly do you have left? The answer is: not much.
This administration has decided it is going to claim it promotes democracy; however, it’s not really doing that. That is all dependent on where you are in the world.
Right now, the Biden administration is promoting a tyrannical Islamic government, the Palestinian Authority, and its aspirations above the interests of an ally of the United States that happens to be democratic Israel.
So when they talk about democracy, everyone knows they don&#8217;t really mean it.

President Biden Announces New Economic Measures As He Meets With His Competition Council

Biden Thinks American Exceptionalism Means Urging Other Countries To Push Trans, Gender Ideology 

Ben Shapiro

Foreign Policy

Joe Biden

LGBTQ

Opinion

Readers Pass

Transgender

The Biden administration has empowered a professional activist to travel the globe on the taxpayer’s dime to push transgenderism and gender ideology.
From Australia to Brazil, South Africa to Sweden, Jessica Stern travels across the world attending so-called Pride events as the State Department&#8217;s Special Envoy to Advance the Human Rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex Persons. Stern, who has boasted that she is the highest ranking lesbian woman, is paid an <a href="https://openpayrolls.com/jessica-l-stern-134880369">annual salary</a> of over $180,000 and tasked with promoting far-left views on sex and gender, lobbying foreign governments, and assisting activist organizations.
Appointed by President Biden in <a href="https://www.state.gov/biographies/jessica-stern/">September of 2021</a>, Stern&#8217;s work has gone largely unnoticed by the media as she bolsters the president’s broader effort to leverage the might of the federal agencies and their bureaucracies in service of a far-left agenda. In Biden&#8217;s first weeks as president, he tasked all federal agencies to work to &#8220;advance the human rights of LGBTQI+ persons abroad&#8221; — Stern has been tip of the spear in that effort, and has stated that this mission is &#8220;<a href="https://www.state.gov/briefing-with-special-envoy-to-advance-the-human-rights-of-lgbtqi-persons-jessica-stern-on-the-first-annual-interagency-report-on-implementation-of-the-presidential-memorandum-on-advancing-the-human/">U.S. foreign policy priority</a>.&#8221;
Stern&#8217;s travels as Special Envoy have taken her to at least 22 countries on all six of the world&#8217;s habitable continents, including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Botswana, Canada, Germany, Greece, India, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, Nepal, the Netherlands, Panama, Peru, the Philippines, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, and Vietnam.
“Good foreign policy is inclusive foreign policy, and that means having senior experts on LGBTQI rights,” Stern contended in an <a href="https://www.cfr.org/event/conversation-us-special-envoy-jessica-stern">interview</a> with the Council on Foreign Relations.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
LGBTQI+ Health 🤝 LGBTQI+ Human Rights Proud to work alongside <a href="https://twitter.com/StateDept?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@StateDept</a> Special Envoy Jessica Stern to advance health equity and human rights for all! <a href="https://t.co/mIr1MTPCrB">pic.twitter.com/mIr1MTPCrB</a>
&mdash; ADM Rachel Levine (@HHS_ASH) <a href="https://twitter.com/HHS_ASH/status/1636388788493762569?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 16, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Stern&#8217;s primary way of advancing her priorities — which <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7I3z9W_sQ4">include</a> establishing &#8220;legal gender recognition based on the principle of self-determination&#8221; and <a href="https://iop.harvard.edu/events/americas-leadership-global-lgbtqi-rights-conversation-special-envoy-jessica-stern">addressing</a> the &#8220;vulnerability of LGBTQI asylum seekers and refugees&#8221; — has been through global travel, which she uses to attend both official government events and local celebrations.
Stern <a href="https://www.facebook.com/usembassyoslo/videos/pride-matters-in-every-country-in-the-world-thats-why-jessica-stern-the-us-speci/2097533547081935/?locale=ms_MY">attended</a> a pride parade in Lithuania in summer of 2022, for example, where she <a href="https://www.cfr.org/event/conversation-us-special-envoy-jessica-stern">rejoiced</a> at the number of children she saw in the crowd.
&#8220;I saw a lot of kids at pride parades. They didn’t really know what it was about. They knew that somebody gave them a flag and there were a lot of people playing music and they got to dance along the street wearing stickers,” Stern celebrated. “And I see that as an incredibly positive thing, because when we’re teaching children a message of acceptance from a very early age, it changes their lives.”
Stern also traveled to Brazil <a href="https://www.state.gov/lgbtqi-special-envoy-sterns-travel-to-brazil/">in January 2024 </a> to take part in a “trans visibility” march organized by Brazil’s National Association of Transvestites and Transsexuals. Stern met with a transgender Brazilian government official who <a href="https://twitter.com/larratsymmy">refers to himself</a> as a “transvestite sl*t.”
“We march for a future in which every trans person can live proudly and fearlessly,” Stern posted on X.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
I joined <a href="https://twitter.com/larratsymmy?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@larratsymmy</a> &amp; Coordinator for Indigenous LGBTQI+ Policy Larissa Pankararu at <a href="https://twitter.com/AntraBrasil?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AntraBrasil</a>&#39;s 1st National &#39;Marsha&#39; for Trans Day of Visibility celebrating all trans &amp; nonbinary Brazilians. We march for a future in which every trans person can live proudly and fearlessly. <a href="https://t.co/XMOBizCmya">pic.twitter.com/XMOBizCmya</a>
&mdash; Special Envoy Jessica Stern (@US_SE_LGBTQI) <a href="https://twitter.com/US_SE_LGBTQI/status/1752089498706383004?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 29, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
A State Department spokeswoman said it is &#8220;committed to promoting and protecting the freedom, dignity, and equality of all persons – including transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming persons – around the world.&#8221;
&#8220;Teaching messages of acceptance is vital for both recognizing the humanity of and combating violence and discrimination against LGBTQI+ persons,&#8221; the spokeswoman added.
While in Brazil, Stern talked to civil society organizations about “the importance of <a href="https://x.com/US_SE_LGBTQI/status/1754880310947307621?s=20">excluding gender markers</a> from the national ID system,” as well as “tackling conversion therapy practices, and uniting with Indigenous and Afro-descendant LGBTQI+ persons to end intersecting forms of discrimination.” The State Department Special Envoy also met with Brazil’s Minister of Human Rights, Foreign Affairs, Health, Labor, Justice, and Native People.
The South American country was just one of her many travel destinations. Just months earlier in October, Stern <a href="https://www.state.gov/lgbtqi-special-envoy-sterns-travel-to-stockholm/?utm_source=miragenews&amp;utm_medium=miragenews&amp;utm_campaign=news">traveled to Stockholm, Sweden</a> to “meet with members of the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, and members of Swedish Parliament.”
While in Stockholm, Stern also attended a meeting of the <a href="https://www.state.gov/global-equality-fund/">Global Equality Fund</a> (GEF), a public-private partnership between government entities like the State Department and private sector entities that exists to provide “critical resources to civil society organizations (CSOs) and human rights defenders, including those working to increase the visibility and empowerment of queer women, transgender, intersex people, and members of other marginalized LGBTQI+ communities.” The GEF funds activists across the globe to “counter anti-gender ideology” and, in the words of Stern, “allows brave activists to continue working for change and to create more inclusive democracies.”
The jet-setting Stern also went to <a href="https://www.state.gov/lgbtqi-special-envoy-sterns-travel-to-mauritius-and-south-africa/">South Africa and Mauritius</a>, a small island nation off the coast of Africa, in August 2023 to meet with “civil society, officials from the Government of Mauritius, and likeminded international partners.”
The Special Envoy joined a South African television program to discuss a conference she attended in Mauritius, stating that <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7I3z9W_sQ4">activists in the country are fighting</a> for “legal gender recognition based on the principle of self-determination” and “national actions plans for LGBTQI rights that have adequate funding and staff.”
<iframe loading="lazy" title="US Special Envoy Jessica Stern advocates for LGBTQIA+ rights in Africa" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/y7I3z9W_sQ4?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
In July 2023, Stern traveled to <a href="https://www.state.gov/lgbtqi-special-envoy-sterns-travel-to-mexico-city/">Mexico City, Mexico</a> to meet with activists and deliver a <a href="https://www.washingtonblade.com/2023/07/20/us-global-lgbtq-intersex-rights-envoy-speaks-at-mexico-city-conference/">keynote address</a> at the Victory Institute’s Conference of LGBTI Political Leaders of the Americas and the Caribbean, where she boasted that she is the highest ranking lesbian woman at the State Department.
She also criticized bills in the United States that sought to shield children from sexualized drag performances and from medical interventions that seek to change their sex. “What an absolute tragedy,” Stern complained.
It was a busy summer for the Special Envoy, who also <a href="https://www.state.gov/lgbtqi-special-envoy-jessica-stern-travels-to-toronto-and-ottawa-receives-award-from-rainbow-railroad/">ventured to Toronto and Ottawa</a> in June to receive a reward recognizing Stern for “her commitment to 2SLGBTQI+ persons in Canada and around the world.” In Ottawa, she met with “members of Parliament and Global Affairs Canada senior officials to discuss their commitment to jointly advancing respect for human rights for LGBTQI+ persons.”
The State Department official traveled to <a href="https://www.state.gov/u-s-special-envoy-to-advance-the-human-rights-of-lgbtqi-persons-sterns-travel-to-sydney-australia-for-worldpride/">Australia</a>, <a href="https://pa.usembassy.gov/u-s-special-envoy-to-advance-the-human-rights-of-lgbtqi-persons-sterns-travel-to-argentina-peru-and-panama/">Argentina</a>, Peru, and Panama, speaking at a pride festival and meeting with government officials and activists.
Before joining the State Department, Stern was <a href="https://equityfwd.org/jessica-stern">previously</a> the Executive Director of Outright International, a New York-based LGBT activist organization. The organization was at the forefront of pushing transgender ideology in the United Nations, <a href="https://outrightinternational.org/insights/highlights-our-work-2019">hosting</a> a United Nations Women event in 2019 called “Gender Diversity: Beyond the Binary,” the “first <a href="https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2019/7/news-event-gender-diversity-and-non-binary-identities">high-level meeting</a> on gender diversity and non-binary identities held at UN headquarters.”
Stern’s position, first created under President Obama, was left vacant under President Trump before being reestablished by Biden, who has pushed transgender ideology and the diversity, equity, and inclusion agenda throughout the federal agencies.
While the Biden administration has leveraged the federal bureaucracy to advance leftwing dogmas across agencies, former Trump officials are crafting plans to fire those who would obstruct the president’s agenda and hire new officials.
Under another Trump administration, the president could reimpose an executive order called <a href="https://www.axios.com/2022/07/22/trump-presidency-schedule-f-federal-employees">Schedule F</a>, an action that would enable the president to fire thousands of bureaucrats who have influence over policy. &#8220;We will pass critical reforms making every executive branch employee fireable by the president of the United States,” Trump said at a rally, <a href="https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2022/03/trump-threatening-return-and-expansion-schedule-f/363145/">touting</a> the plan.
Others are preparing to fill in the gap left by outgoing officials, assembling a personnel database of those who might serve in the next administration through the <a href="https://www.project2025.org/">Project 2025</a> Presidential Transition Project, an initiative from the Heritage Foundation that seeks to “pave the way for an effective conservative Administration.”
“It is not enough for conservatives to win elections. If we are going to rescue the country from the grip of the radical Left, we need both a governing agenda and the right people in place, ready to carry this agenda out on day one of the next conservative administration,” Project 2025 <a href="https://www.project2025.org/about/about-project-2025/">states</a>. In addition to creating a personnel database, the initiative has also <a href="https://www.project2025.org/">established</a> a policy agenda, training for its talent pool, and a 180-day plan for the next administration, all while assembling a coalition of over 100 conservative organizations.
But Stern is aware of efforts to discontinue her position, <a href="https://iop.harvard.edu/events/americas-leadership-global-lgbtqi-rights-conversation-special-envoy-jessica-stern">explaining in an interview</a> how the State Department hopes to permanently enshrine a focus on LGBT ideology. “We act with an eye on the question of how do we institutionalize and depoliticize this agenda.”
“People are policy, so we need people who are inside the institution,” the Special Envoy added. “I believe that scrappy LGBT human rights defenders deserve power.”
Stern openly addressed the possibility that the next administration could remove her position, letting her go in the process. “We can’t say for sure that we’ll exist in two years,” Stern lamented. “Our eye is always on the clock.”

Jessica Stern Special Envoy

Meet The Biden Official Making Six Figures To Travel The Globe Pushing Transgenderism

Secretary of State <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/antony-blinken">Antony Blinken</a> warned his employees at the Department of State not to engage in “misgendering,” as violent conflicts in Europe and the Middle East continue to rage on.
Blinken sent out the guidance on language in the days following the United States’ missile strike of Iran-backed militants in Iraq and Syria in retaliation for the killing of three American soldiers, turning his attention away from the conflict to tell officials which terms they should — and shouldn’t — use when talking about gender.
The February 5th memo, first <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/news/exclusive-blinken-cautioned-state-dept-staff-against-misgendering-using-gendered-terms-like-father-in-official-cable/">reported</a> by National Review, warned State Department employees that it “can be problematic” and send a “harmful message” to use gendered language like “mother/father,” “son/daughter,” and “husband/wife.”
But while Blinken is distributing guidance on “misgendering” at the State Department, which is responsible for the nation’s foreign policy and foreign relations, wars are still raging in Ukraine and Gaza, with <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/29/asia/south-china-sea-tensions-philippines-china-us-explainer-intl-hnk/index.html">tensions still high</a> in the South China Sea.
The memo, titled “Modeling DEIA: Gender Identity Best Practices,” intended to “increase understanding of gender identity and provide guidance on gender identity language and best practices that support an inclusive work environment.”
It also goes on to claim that sex and gender are distinct concepts, with the latter allegedly referring to the “innermost concept of self as masculine, feminine, a blend of both, or neither,” which “may or may not correspond with one’s sex assigned at birth.”
The memo even encourages State Department employees to denote their pronouns in their email signatures, adding that “Commonly used pronouns could include she/her, he/him, they/them, and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-leaked-nsa-doc-reveals-massive-woke-glossary-pushing-critical-race-theory-gender-ideology-on-govt-employees">ze/zir</a>.” It also stated that an individual may use more than one set of pronouns and that “this is a personal decision that should be respected.”
While Blinken’s memo told employees to use and flaunt their gender pronouns, his explained memo explained that one should not “pressure someone to state their pronouns,” and remember that gender identity “may be fluid, so remain attuned to and supportive of shifts in pronouns.”
Blinken also warned against using certain phrases that refer to people’s sex but that are commonly used like “manpower,” “you guys,” and even “ladies and gentlemen.” Alternative phrases, such as “labor force,” “folks,” “you all,” and “everyone,” were recommended instead.
The phrase “brave men and women on the front lines,” was said to be exclusionary as well, with State Department officials instructed to “use more specific language such as ‘brave first responders,’ ‘brave soldiers,’ or ‘brave DS agents.’”
Blinken’s memo comes as the Biden administration has leveraged the federal bureaucracy, from the National Security Agency (NSA) to the National Science Foundation (NSF) to push far-left dogmas.
The NSA created a 34-page “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-leaked-nsa-doc-reveals-massive-woke-glossary-pushing-critical-race-theory-gender-ideology-on-govt-employees">DEI Glossary</a>” that pushed Critical Race Theory and transgender ideology, with terms like “white fragility,” “queer theory,” “settler colonialism,” and the pronouns “ze/zir,”an exclusive report from The Daily Wire found. Meanwhile, the NSF will allocate nearly $1 million taxpayer dollars to an effort to make college biology courses more “inclusive” by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-admin-pours-1-million-into-studies-aimed-at-denying-there-are-only-two-genders">denying</a> that there are only two genders.
But while several federal agencies have aggressively pushed highly ideological agendas under President Biden, former president Trump and members of his administration have <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/beltway-confidential/2731416/dislodging-the-real-threat-to-democracy-the-administrative-state/">discussed</a> plans to <a href="https://www.axios.com/2022/07/22/trump-presidency-schedule-f-federal-employees">gut the administrative state</a> if he beats Biden in November.

Secretary Blinken

Secretary of State Blinken Warns Of ‘Misgendering’ As Global Conflicts Rage

The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/state-department" target="_blank" rel="noopener">State Department</a> released on Wednesday its plan to embed “equity” into all aspects of the foreign policy making process, claiming that “inequity is a national security challenge with global consequences.” 
The report was <a href="https://www.state.gov/release-of-the-2023-equity-action-plan/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">released</a> as part of an update to the Biden administration’s initiative to push diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies at all levels of the federal government. These efforts include funding for foreign LGBT groups and pushing DEI into all aspects of the State Department’s policy making process.
“Over the past two years, we increased our efforts to embed equity in our foreign affairs work through diplomatic engagements, high-level dialogues, multilateral efforts, foreign assistance, public diplomacy programs and messaging, and procurement and contracts,” the report <a href="https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2023-State-Equity-Action-Plan.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. “These efforts have raised the visibility of racial and other inequities globally and generated better-informed foreign policy to decrease barriers to equity and equality worldwide.”
The report comes as some Republicans have attempted to prevent the federal government from pushing DEI, saying that those efforts focus on race and sexual identity over competency.
Principles advocated by the State Department include efforts to “combat hate and protect inclusive democracy,” pushing “racial equity and justice globally,” and advancing “gender equity and equality globally.”
The report highlighted several projects prompted by the department’s focus on equity, including: a podcast put out by the U.S. Mission to NATO on women in international security, the Embassy in Kyiv pushing access to an HIV pre-exposure drug, the Embassy Kingston “forging links” with Jamaican law enforcement and LGBT people, and the U.S. Mission to Poland helping coordinate on LGBTQI+ issues as ally embassies to combat hate and promote an inclusive environment.”
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-9096" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://onelink.to/dwapp&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1700760801843000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2PQrVSrJfhxNb4LcARqniG">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP</a>
Future projects the State Department said it was pursuing included incorporating “intersectional equity” into public diplomacy programs and activities, funding for LGBT advocacy groups, and making American passport artwork “a better representation of our country’s broad diversity.”
The report said that “increased immigration, global warming, and the COVID-19 pandemic” all made racism “more – not less – virulent.”
The State Department has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/state-dept-to-spend-nearly-50k-pushing-trans-inclusive-policies-on-indian-corporations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">previously been criticized</a> over its identity-focused efforts, including allocating nearly $50,000 in taxpayer funds to push for transgender inclusion policies in Indian corporations.
The Daily Wire previously reported that the State Department was set to provide $49,813 to an Indian organization called the YR Gaitonde Medical, Educational and Research Foundation, which seeks to normalize transgenderism in workplaces.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trans-evangelism-how-the-state-department-is-pushing-the-lefts-gender-ideology-around-the-world" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Trans Evangelism: How The State Department Is Pushing The Left’s Gender Ideology Around The World</a>

2023 Munich Security Conference

State Department Releases Updated Plan To ‘Embed Equity’ Into All Aspects Of Foreign Policy

State Department Releases Updated Plan To 'Embed Equity' Into All Aspects Of Foreign Policy

Social Issues

U.S.

The Daily Wire, The Federalist, and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Tuesday asked a federal court in Texas to grant an injunction barring the State Department from funding efforts to delegitimize domestic media outlets, as their <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/daily-wire-and-the-federalist-sue-biden-state-department-over-censorship-effort" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lawsuit</a> against the government winds its way through the courts.
The trio “seek a preliminary injunction to halt one of the most egregious government operations to abridge Americans’ speech and the American press in the history of the nation,&#8221; the motion, first reported by the <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/2841889/conservative-outlets-texas-injunction-motion-censorship-lawsuit/">Washington Examiner</a>, states.
&#8220;The U.S. Department of State, through its Global Engagement Center (GEC), is actively intervening in the news-media market to limit the reach of, the circulation of, and render unprofitable, disfavored press outlets by funding the infrastructure, development, and marketing and promotion of censorship technology and private censorship enterprises to covertly suppress speech of a segment of the American press,&#8221; lawyers from the New Civil Liberties Alliance argue in the motion.
The State Department is tasked with foreign affairs and has no authority to operate domestically, and the Constitution forbids “abridging the freedom of speech or of the press,” it said.
The lawsuit alleges that GEC, a government agency housed within the State Department and created to fight terrorism, used tools of information warfare intended for foreign enemies and turned them against the right-of-center press by funding or promoting groups that purport to rate U.S. media outlets for reliability — often based on whether they hew to current government lines.
The government’s “censorship scheme causes irreparable harm to Media Plaintiffs who have been branded ‘unreliable’ and ‘risky’ by technology promoted by the State Department,” it said.
Texas, meanwhile, was allegedly infringed upon because the federal government’s effort to censor online content prevented the state from enforcing a state law, HB20, which requires social media companies to act as “common carriers” which do not discriminate based on content.
GEC “researched, assessed, funded, investigated, evaluated, tested, marketed, and/or promoted over 365 so-called Countering Propaganda and Disinformation or ‘CPD’ tools and technologies, including tools and technologies that target American speech and the American  press. These tools and technologies include so-called fact-checking technologies, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-the-biden-administration-used-a-counter-terrorism-grant-to-fund-anti-conservative-propaganda" target="_blank" rel="noopener">media literacy</a> tools, media intelligence platforms, social network mapping, and machine learning/artificial intelligence technology,” the motion said. GEC created a platform called “Disinfo Cloud” to house them, and encouraged U.S. social media and tech companies to use the resources, even creating a Silicon Valley office.
Most notably, two groups that rank news outlets on credibility and make lists that are used by advertisers to blacklist media outlets, NewsGuard and the Global Disinformation Index (GDI), were both involved with GEC.
The court filing includes a list of GDI rankings, which claim that liberal sites like ProPublica are among the “least risky,” while sites like the New York Post, Reason Magazine, The Federalist, and The Daily Wire are among the “riskiest” sites.
Advertisers are pressured not to do business with media outlets on the risky list, with the implied threat that the Left will boycott companies who do.
NewsGuard&#8217;s business model is similar, and the court filing says that in March 2023, its co-CEO Gordon Crovitz praised his company for “empowering governments… to support quality journalism and systemically defund sources of harmful misinformation.” NewsGuard has a deal with the teachers union promoting its media-rating browser extension in schools, and public libraries also use the software. The browser extension causes a “Proceed with Maximum Caution” flag to appear next to search results from flagged outlets.
“NewsGuard’s warning appears no matter the topic or the author involved. Consequently, articles authored by Professor Philip Hamburger or Senator Rand Paul appearing at The Daily Wire receive 49.5 ratings, while Op-Eds authored by those same gentlemen receive ratings of 100 when published at the Washington Post or the Wall Street Journal,” the lawyers wrote.
NewsGuard and GDI are not defendants in the lawsuit, but the suit alleges that the government adopted their behavior by supporting and promoting them. The government’s actions pose financial harm to the media outlets, the motion said.
GEC ran a tech competition encouraging the development of anti-“misinformation” technology, and granted an award to GDI, whose CEO Clare Melford said it would allow it to “support market-wide deployment so that the ad-tech space can offer advertisers the chance to choose which sites their ads support” — a statement that made clear that the result was domestic censorship.
The State Department also sponsored a “COVID-19 misinformation and disinformation” tech challenge, and the three winners were all “American companies which offer technologies that target Americans’ speech broadcast to Americans,” including NewsGuard, the motion said.
It also notes that the State Department separately paid for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/state-department-paid-germans-to-bring-censorship-and-propaganda-to-u-s-schools" target="_blank" rel="noopener">German censorship advocates to train American teachers</a>.
The lawyers argue that a federal judge should immediately order State to cease its domestic misinformation efforts while the lawsuit proceeds, because media outlets will suffer harm if it continues, and because they are most likely to win the suit, given that the State Department is not supposed to operate domestically.
It said a 1936 precedent holds that the First Amendment guards against not only “the censorship of the press merely, but any action of the government” that indirectly results in censorship or the suppression of free debate necessary for a democracy.
“The First Amendment’s guarantee of a free press is infringed when government-supported and promoted third-parties rate media outlets in order to suppress and defund them,” the lawyers wrote.
The government has immunity from being sued for money, so the lawsuit seeks to stop the conduct. It could also result in discovery that sheds further light on the anti-“disinformation” industry and the government’s involvement with it.

Secretary Blinken Holds Joint Press Conference With Visiting Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan

Daily Wire, Texas AG Ask Court To Block State Department’s Domestic ‘Misinformation’ Efforts

Misinformation

It&#8217;s been more than two years since the United States abandoned its allies in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/afghanistan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Afghanistan</a>.
While America seems to have moved on from this dark page of history, many of our veterans have not. Veteran volunteer groups like <a href="https://www.moralcompassfederation.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Moral Compass Federation</a> continue to sound the alarm, because the terror warning dashboard light on Afghanistan is now blinking red.
As we enter this turbulent election year, a serious national security threat of global terrorism has been eclipsed by sensational <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/judge-delays-verdict-in-trumps-ny-civil-business-fraud-trial" target="_blank" rel="noopener">civil trials</a> and unprecedented partisan mudslinging. In order to bring the terror threat into sharp focus this election year, here are three things that might surprise you about Afghanistan:
<h4>An Estimated <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/afghanistan-reemerging-as-a-terrorism-incubator-/7230546.html">20 Terror Groups</a> Are Operating In Afghanistan</h4>
The son of Osama bin Laden, Abdallah bin Laden, has been spotted as recently as 2023 in Ghazni and Kandahar Provinces. Is he enjoying the tourist season in Afghanistan? Doubtful. A new report from the UN Security Council paints a <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/experts-terrorist-threat-high-africa-conflict-zones-afghanistan-106885842" target="_blank" rel="noopener">grim picture</a> of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/2024/02/01/al-qaida-islamic-state-terrorist-threats-africa-afghanistan/adce324a-c16e-11ee-a4c6-8f5c350e9316_story.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">terror threats</a> in Afghanistan. <a href="https://ctc.westpoint.edu/the-enduring-duel-islamic-state-khorasans-survival-under-afghanistans-new-rulers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ISIS-K </a>currently presents the greatest threat. They are assessed by the UN intelligence community as capable of projecting effective terror threats on a global level. Al-Qaeda is also re-generating rapidly from a strategic messaging entity to an operational force. While they only possess a regional capacity at the moment, they have aspirations (and the potential) to strike on a global scale. This is evidenced by the fact that Al-Qaeda has reportedly opened eight new <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/afghanistan-taliban-al-qaeda-growing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">training camps</a> in Afghanistan. There are also five Al-Qaeda sponsored <a href="https://www.fdd.org/analysis/op_eds/2024/02/01/al-qaeda-opens-8-new-training-camps-5-madrasas-and-a-facilitation-network-to-iran-in-afghanistan/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">madrasas</a> inside Afghanistan&#8217;s borders where thousands of future terrorists are radicalized for future strikes, regionally and globally.
<h4>The State Department Sends $80 Million To The Taliban Every 10-14 Days</h4>
<a href="https://freebeacon.com/national-security/taliban-controlled-afghanistan-gets-80-million-cash-infusion-every-two-weeks-watchdog-says/">According</a> to the UN, there&#8217;s been more than $2 billion sent to the Taliban since the collapse. While the Biden administration contends that these funds are used for humanitarian aid, veterans&#8217; groups and intelligence insiders assert that much of this money gets funneled into other nefarious uses, including into madrassas. More than two million students have graduated from these institutions of radicalization since the collapse in Afghanistan. There is little to no external oversight inside Afghanistan to ensure this foreign aid is applied responsibly, and not for terrorist activities. In fact, John Sopkos, Director of the Special Investigator General for Afghanistan Reconstruction <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/defense/3959603-afghanistan-watchdog-cant-guarantee-us-tax-dollars-not-currently-funding-the-taliban/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a recent 2023 Congressional Testimony that he &#8220;cannot assure this committee or the American taxpayer [that] we are not currently funding the Taliban.&#8221; 
<h4>A Small Group Of Afghans Are Actively Resisting The Taliban</h4>
The NRF is led by <a href="https://www.mccaininstitute.org/the-sedona-forum/speaker/ahmad-massoud/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ahmad Massoud</a>, the son of the slain Northern Alliance Leader, Ahmad Shah Massoud, killed by Al-Qaeda suicide bombers just before the attacks on September 11, 2001. As Afghanistan collapsed, resistance fighters consolidated in the Panjshir Valley of Northeast Afghanistan to make their stand against the oppressive Taliban rule. It hasn&#8217;t been easy. The NRF has almost no external support. The State Department refuses to officially engage the political wing of the NRF, opting instead to push for engagement with the Taliban — a group who practices a neanderthal version of “gender apartheid” on a grand scale. Yet the NRF conducts <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/no-current-talks-with-taliban-afghanistans-massoud-says-promising-guerrilla-2023-09-29/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">determined attacks</a> against the Taliban and their Al-Qaeda Allies. The resistance is the only force attempting to disrupt otherwise unfettered terror activity in this safe haven we created by our irresponsible exit. Many veterans, concerned with the growing terror threat in Afghanistan have voiced their support for the NRF in an organization called <a href="https://www.vets4nrf.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Vets4NRF</a>.
The abandonment of our Afghan Allies of 20 years heaped a moral injury on an entire generation of American Veterans who voluntarily fought the longest war in American History. This violation of a strict veteran code of never abandoning our allies by our political, diplomatic, and senior military leaders has resulted in increased mental health issues across the veteran community. It has also contributed to recruiting and retention issues in the military.
We shouldn’t turn the page on Afghanistan. If we do, our enemies have a vote in the outcome, and they&#8217;ll make us pay for it. Veterans serve as our moral compass when institutional leadership fails. They should get loud this election year. They should continue to demand support for our at-risk and highly vetted allies. Helping our Afghan Allies, helps our veterans.
We also need Americans to bring the growing threat in Afghanistan back onto the main stage this election year. The NRF isn&#8217;t looking for American boots on the ground. Perhaps instead of cutting those 40-million-dollar-a-week checks to the Taliban, we should send them to the only outfit that&#8217;s directly standing up to terrorism, the NRF.
Because if we stay on this current path of directly financing terror groups and pretending the Taliban will behave in our best interest, there will be American boots on the ground, only they&#8217;ll be worn by our children.
<h4><a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP</a></h4>
* * *
Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Scott Mann is a former U.S. Army Green Beret with tours all over the world including Colombia, Iraq, and multiple tours in Afghanistan. He is a warrior storyteller and the founder of <a href="https://rooftopleadership.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rooftop Leadership</a> and the author of the instant New York Times Best-Seller, <a href="https://operationpineappleexpress.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Operation Pineapple Express</a>. He has since founded <a href="https://operelief.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Operation Pineapple Express Relief</a>, a 501c3 to help support the emergency needs of our Afghan allies such as safe passage out of Afghanistan, plus unforeseen resettlement needs.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

AFGHANISTAN-CONFLICT

Three Surprising Facts About Today’s Afghanistan

Three Surprising Facts About Today's Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Al Qaeda

ISIS-K

Terrorism

Terrorists

U.S. Military

A <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/u-s-house-of-representatives" target="_blank" rel="noopener">House</a> panel is pressing the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/state-department" target="_blank" rel="noopener">State Department</a> to be more forthcoming in a probe into alleged government <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/censorship" target="_blank" rel="noopener">censorship</a> that is also the subject of a lawsuit brought by The Daily Wire.
GOP lawmakers, who are looking into whether the government funded private entities to discredit small businesses and their owners over their political speech and views, <a href="https://smallbusiness.house.gov/uploadedfiles/01.08.2024_-_letter_3_to_global_engagement_center_re_censorship.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sent a letter</a> on Monday to James Rubin, coordinator of the agency&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-twitter-files-twitter-and-the-fbi-belly-button">Global Engagement Center</a> (GEC), <a href="https://smallbusiness.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=405837" target="_blank" rel="noopener">contending</a> the organization&#8217;s previous delivery of information to Congress &#8220;appears to be incomplete&#8221; with dozens of awards doled out in recent years seemingly omitted from the tranche.
“The GEC award recipients revealed in its partial production have caused enough concern that the Committee is requesting more detailed information to understand the reality and scope of what these companies are using taxpayer dollars for,&#8221; wrote Small Business Committee Chairman Roger Williams (R-TX) and Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R-TX), chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Regulations.
&#8220;The GEC’s initial production was provided to the Committee over five months after the requested due date of June 21, 2023. The result was a five-page spreadsheet; there is no reason the GEC would need one month per page of production. The Committee needs all relevant documents to ensure all American small businesses are able to compete online without interference from the federal government,&#8221; they added.
On its website, the GEC touts how it is focused on <a href="https://www.state.gov/bureaus-offices/under-secretary-for-public-diplomacy-and-public-affairs/global-engagement-center/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&#8220;proactively&#8221; leading</a> interagency efforts to counter disinformation and propaganda from foreign adversaries. But Republicans suspect the center is surreptitiously propping up activities that suppress free speech at home, particularly on social media as has been illustrated by the &#8220;Twitter Files,&#8221; and they have talked about <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/jim-jordan-unveils-budget-wishlist-to-fight-weaponized-federal-agencies" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pulling taxpayer dollars</a> from the GEC.
A deadline of January 22 was given for the additional documents and information requested by the lawmakers.
A State Department spokesperson told The Daily Wire that the agency is &#8220;committed to being responsive to congressional oversight and continues to work with the House Small Business Committee on its requests.&#8221; The spokesperson added, &#8220;However, as a general matter, we do not comment on our communications with Congress.&#8221;
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-9096" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://onelink.to/dwapp&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1700760801843000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2PQrVSrJfhxNb4LcARqniG">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP</a>
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, <a href="https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/news/releases/attorney-general-ken-paxton-sues-us-state-department-conspiring-censor-american-media-companies-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">joined</a> with The Daily Wire and The Federalist last month in suing the State Department, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/daily-wire-and-the-federalist-sue-biden-state-department-over-censorship-effort" target="_blank" rel="noopener">accusing the government agency</a> of funding censorship technology designed to bankrupt domestic media outlets with disfavored political opinions. The lawsuit seeks to put a stop to the alleged effort to boost censorship organizations that regularly target conservative media outlets with the stated goal of limiting ad revenue.
The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/14/technology/state-department-disinformation-criticism.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">published a report last month</a> that said Rubin rejected claims that his organization censors Americans&#8217; comments online. “What we do not do is examine or analyze the U.S. information space,” he said.
Also noted in the article was how the Supreme Court is poised to weigh in on a broader <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-administration-scores-victory-against-order-blocking-contact-with-social-media-companies" target="_blank" rel="noopener">social media censorship case</a> brought by the GOP attorneys general from Missouri and Louisiana in the spring following an appeals court panel ruling that said there was &#8220;no indication that State Department officials flagged specific content for censorship, suggested policy changes to the platforms or engaged in any similar actions that would reasonably bring their conduct within the scope of the First Amendment’s prohibitions.&#8221;

Rep. Roger Williams

House GOP Twists Screws On State Dept In Censorship Probe

Censorship

Ken Paxton

Small Businesses

The Daily Wire

The Federalist

U.S. House of Representatives

The U.S. State Department paid for censorship practitioners from Germany, which does not enjoy the same freedoms as Americans do from the First Amendment, to train teachers in the United States how to police so-called &#8220;disinformation,&#8221; records show.
The records unearthed through the Freedom of Information Act by the Media Research Center (MRC) found that the State Department paid for trainings that were created mostly by German “disinformation” activists, and that that program was organized by an advocacy group that promotes similar laws in the United States, while sharing top officials and finances with a for-profit anti-disinformation firm that could profit from such laws.
The <a href="https://cdn.mrc.org/static/pdfuploads/FINAL%20REPORT%2C%20Medialogues%20on%20Propaganda-3-5.pdf-1704380591904.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“Medialogues on Propaganda”</a> training sessions, funded by a grant from the U.S. Embassy in Berlin, consisted of 11 online meetings from June 2021 to April 2022, with an audience of 700 schoolteachers. The intent was to train teachers to “inoculate” students against disinformation and train them in “media literacy,” a nebulous term that shifted between claiming that media sources that questioned the government or caused offense to liberals were not trustworthy, and that schoolchildren should create their own media parroting progressive activism.
The <a href="https://www.mrc.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MRC</a> investigation, shared exclusively with The Daily Wire, found that a group at the University of Rhode Island, an activist nonprofit, and a for-profit censorship firm all shared top officials and projects. The three entities propped each other up to give a veneer of credibility to behaviors that were otherwise partisan or profit-seeking, MRC said.
The anti-disinformation officials also allegedly violated their own purported tenets — misleading about their financial connections; promoting misinformation like the Trump-Russia hoax and censoring likely true information like the lab-leak theory; and opposing efforts to squash misinformation when it applied to leftist errors like the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/survivor-of-maos-china-cultural-revolution-debates-american-exceptionalism-with-1619-project-nyt-journalist">1619 Project</a>.
The State Department sessions were used by its activist organizers to promote products from their for-profit “partner,” Ad Fontes, as well as NewsGuard. The Daily Wire is <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/daily-wire-and-the-federalist-sue-biden-state-department-over-censorship-effort" target="_blank" rel="noopener">suing the State Department</a> for promoting the latter tool, which has been used to economically punish domestic media outlets with disfavored political opinions.
A Three-Headed “Media Literacy” Monster
The seminars were conducted by a team of three entities including Germany’s University of Würzburg’s Media Education &amp; Educational Technology Lab and the University of Rhode Island’s Media Education Lab, both government entities.
The Rhode Island Media Education Lab has for years served as a center of liberal censorship efforts. It held a seminar for teachers on “how to teach students about the limits of freedom of expression.” It tried to confront the “white supremacy” of “digital blackface,” or when white people use images featuring black people.
But there was also the third entity in charge of the project: the nonprofit Media Literacy Now (MLN), which as the <a href="https://cdn.mrc.org/static/pdfuploads/FINAL%20REPORT%2C%20Medialogues%20on%20Propaganda-20-28.pdf-1704380742768.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“fiscal sponsor”</a> played a central role. The Rhode Island Lab is arguably a front for the activist group with which it has frequently partnered, providing an academic veneer to a something that&#8217;s closer to partisanship, the Media Research Center report said.
MLN lobbies for mandatory training in schools to fight “misinformation” and “online radicalization,” boasting that it has helped <a href="https://medialiteracynow.org/impact/current-policy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">convince 18 states</a> to make laws on media literacy training. And while the Rhode Island Lab wrote an entire report on the importance of “media literacy” without ever defining it, MLN had spoken more clearly, calling it a “tool to create the society we all deserve: one that nurtures racial equity, social justice, and true democracy. Media literacy equals cultural change.”
That missive came below the tagline “Justice now. Equality now. Democracy now,” and a graphic of the MLN logo superimposed over a picture of a protest with signs such as <a href="https://cdn.mrc.org/static/pdfuploads/Media%20Literacy%20Now%20community%20fighting%20for%20democ...-1-2.pdf-1704380791281.pdf">“ACAB,”</a> the antifa slogan standing for All Cops Are Bastards.
MLN promotes a <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20231218105356/https://www.who.int/news/item/23-09-2020-managing-the-covid-19-infodemic-promoting-healthy-behaviours-and-mitigating-the-harm-from-misinformation-and-disinformation" target="_blank" rel="noopener">World Health Organization</a> statement that said that “An infodemic is an overabundance of information, both online and offline. It includes deliberate attempts to disseminate wrong information” and must be addressed by “the UN system, with Member States and with each other, and to… prevent the spread of  mis- and disinformation.” Continuing with the virus metaphor, MLN said it intends to “inoculate” children against “misinformation.”
The founder of the Rhode Island Lab and advisory board member of MLN is University of Rhode Island communications professor Renee Hobbs, who attempted to push federal legislation creating <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/2240/">$60 million</a> in subsidies for anti-disinformation work like hers — legislation whose momentum rested on the idea that Russians caused Trump to win in 2016, itself a conspiracy theory.
Hobbs hosted the State Department-funded seminars while she also chaired a National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) group that argued that English teachers should “move beyond” teaching children to write, and instead “disrupt classroom hierarchies” and focus on “consumerism, and economic injustice.” (True to form, Hobbs&#8217; Rhode Island Lab showcased an image of a <a href="https://mediaeducationlab.com/index.php/events/teaching-capitol-siege" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lego</a> set to push teachers to talk with children about the &#8220;Capital Siege,&#8221; a misspelled reference to the January 6 protest at the Capitol. It does not appear that Lego actually made the set in the image.)
Washington Post education columnist Jay Mathews <a href="https://washingtonpost.com/education/2022/05/01/national-council-english-teachers-change-position/">wrote</a> that the group in charge of training 35,000 English teachers had lost “its grip on reality&#8221; with its statement that &#8220;the time has come to decenter book reading and essay writing as the pinnacles of English language arts education” in favor of turning children into “change agents.”
MLN immediately called for a reeducation camp for the Washington Post columnist. Hobbs called Mathews <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/05/01/national-council-english-teachers-change-position/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“smug” and “whiny.”</a> Emails obtained by MRC show that MLN&#8217;s president, Erin McNeill, wrote that by not approving of Hobbs’ activities, Mathews — one of the most experienced journalists at one of America’s largest newspapers — had shown himself to be “desperately in need of media literacy.”
McNeill also coached Hobbs to be more discreet, saying NCTE should “steer away” from saying that English should be replaced with “critical pedagogies” like Critical Race Theory because it makes it <a href="https://cdn.mrc.org/static/pdfuploads/Re_%20In%20the%20news_%20National%20English-teaching%20grou...-1.pdf-1704381013264.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“evident”</a> that they “have an agenda beyond literacy.”
MLN advocated for Texas to mandate media literacy in schools, but when Texas lawmakers did just that but included the 1619 Project as an example of disinformation, it turned against the law. “Although it mandates media literacy within a teacher training program on civics education, it also takes some <a href="https://cdn.mrc.org/static/pdfuploads/It%27s%20never%20been%20more%20important%20to%20act%20for%20Media...-3.pdf-1704381060513.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">anti-free speech steps</a>,” said the group, whose mission is devoted to suppressing speech that, like the 1619 Project, is factually flawed.
When asked why the State Department would fund a propaganda seminar aimed at Americans, the State Department told The Daily Wire that with its <a href="https://www.usaspending.gov/recipient/e76523fa-f221-13aa-a815-6d9081ee37de-R/latest?section=transactions-over-time" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$30,000 grant</a> to Media Literacy Now, “the U.S. Embassy in Germany supported the participation of German participants in the media literacy program you are inquiring about.”
But that doesn’t change who the target audience was. German “experts” were lecturing to an audience of mostly Americans, with the intent that they would carry the lessons back to their school districts. The conference organizers also didn’t recognize any such distinction in their <a href="https://cdn.mrc.org/static/pdfuploads/Full+FINAL+REPORT%2C+Medialogues+on+Propaganda.pdf-1704381599402.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">final report</a>. They wrote, “Thanks to a grant from the Public Affairs Section of the Berlin Embassy, we invited German, American, and global educators to gather online,” though “our total number of German participants was smaller than we had hoped.”
Ad Fontes
The third head of the three-headed monster of interconnected “disinformation” groups is the for-profit media monitor, Ad Fontes. The company assigns purported <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/media-ratings-firm-trying-to-influence-what-news-sites-you-visit-heavily-favors-left-leaning-outlets-over-conservative-journalism">“bias” ratings to news sources</a>, rating conservative media as twice as unreliable as liberal sources. Then it charges tech firms for the list, and the firms use it to steer viewers away from supposedly unreliable content.
MLN acknowledges that it has a <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20231225164609/https://medialiteracynow.org/about/partners/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“strategic affiliation”</a> with Ad Fontes: the media monitor directs a <a href="https://cdn.mrc.org/static/pdfuploads/ISD000001MRC%20-%20ISD000354MRC-part-2.pdf-1704381072149.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">portion of its income to MLN</a>, which in turn advocates for laws that would steer millions of dollars to the for-profit firm and its peers. The president of MLN’s board, Jen Furlong, is the director of communications for Ad Fontes.
Ad Fontes CEO Vanessa Otero is also on the advisory board of MLN. Otero was a speaker at the State Department seminars and used them as a platform for a sales pitch for her firm. She also said media literacy training should be “required for everyone from a very young age.”
MRC interviewed Furlong and Otero, who denied that Al Fontes had ties to the government. Furlong said on her podcast, “Ad Fontes Media has <a href="https://www.communicationtwentyfourseven.com/podcast/episode/7cc24a54/no-i-am-not-a-super-secret-analyst-spy-set-to-crush-conservative-media" target="_blank" rel="noopener">zero ties</a> to the federal government!”
MRC concluded that “these statements are verifiably false.&#8221;
&#8220;Furlong is president of Media Literacy Now’s board of directors, and Media Literacy Now organized the State Department-funded seminar,&#8221; the group found. &#8220;Otero — in her official capacity as Ad Fontes CEO — was the featured speaker at said State Department-funded seminar, hosted by the State Department-funded Rhode Island Lab. Otero was celebrated by the seminar host Hobbs, who serves with Otero on Media Literacy Now’s board. Otero then proceeded to give a lengthy sales pitch for Ad Fontes products, all while concealing any of these facts from the audience.”
<table border="0" cellspacing="0">
<colgroup width="113"></colgroup>
<colgroup width="161"></colgroup>
<colgroup width="174"></colgroup>
<colgroup width="113"></colgroup>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td align="left" height="23">Entity</td>
<td align="left">URI (Academic)</td>
<td align="left">MLN (Advocacy)</td>
<td align="left">Ad Fontes (Profit)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left" height="23">Jennifer Furlong</td>
<td align="left"></td>
<td align="left">Board president</td>
<td align="left">Director of Communications</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left" height="23">Erin Otero</td>
<td align="left"></td>
<td align="left">Advisory Board</td>
<td align="left">CEO</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left" height="23">Renee Hobbs</td>
<td align="left">CEO</td>
<td align="left">Advisory Board</td>
<td align="left"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left" height="23">State Department conferences</td>
<td align="left">Project Partner</td>
<td align="left">Project Partner</td>
<td align="left">Product promoted at</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Germany
The seminars pushed a “Data Detox Kit,” which instructs teachers to install NewsGuard, a similar product to Ad Fontes. NewsGuard is a for-profit firm that rates news outlets — red-flagging conservative news outlets while rubber-stamping liberal ones — and then sells the lists to advertisers with the threat that they could face boycotts if they place advertisements on a disreputable media outlet.
Aside from the MLN speakers, most of the State Department speakers were European. The speaker who pushed the “Data Detox Kit” was Daisy Kidd, a self-proclaimed activist whose group, Tactical Tech, is partnered with George Soros-funded, left-wing groups as well as the Goeth Institute, which MRC calls “a propaganda wing of the German government.”
The so-called kit trains kids to reject misinformation by using left-leaning factcheckers like Snopes and PolitiFact—which have repeatedly “debunked” factual articles that were critical of liberals — but tells them <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230610165827/https://datadetoxkit.org/en/misinformation/fakenews/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">not to use</a> the term “fake news,” a colloquialism popularized by Trump.
Kidd also used the sessions to promote a United Nations-funded curriculum called “The Glass Room,” a game designed to train kids what to believe&#8211;including that it is “false or misleading” that “China was responsible for releasing the coronavirus.”
Another speaker at the State Department seminars worked for a European group called MEET Tolerance. It lamented that on the internet, “it is not just progressive voices which are being spread,” but also “ideologies which are based on hatred.” That group promotes a book called, “The New Racism: Conservatives and the Ideology of the Tribe.”
The disinformation experts seem to believe that while media that does not serve their aims inherently lacks credibility — like the Washington Post article — media produced by young children would be credible. MEET teaches how to turn children into “media producers” who advocate “intercultural values and social justice.”
Part of the curriculum was developed by socialist German politician Konstantin von Notz, who helps oversee Germany’s intelligence agencies and has given away balloons and stickers to recruit children to create the impression of support for an international censorship law to block “haters” and “right wing extremism,” MRC said.
The Self-Licking Ice Cream Cone
In Germany, tech platforms are punished with steep fines for not censoring users’ content, and those who opposed the censorship measures were placed under government surveillance. Those efforts have been “horrifyingly effective” in Germany, and the U.S. State Department is now importing Europe’s most Orwellian techniques directly from the source, MRC said.
American teachers were, in turn, paid to transform what they learned at the State Department sessions into lesson plans for children. For example, April Leach, a Florida schoolteacher, attended the sessions and used what she heard to create a “social emotional learning” lesson plan that promoted Ad Fontes. A left-wing foundation paid her <a href="https://cdn.mrc.org/static/pdfuploads/Full+FINAL+REPORT%2C+Medialogues+on+Propaganda.pdf-1704381599402.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$8,000</a> through an “SEL in Action Award,” according to the MRC report.
Another attendee, a Washington State educator named Lauren McClanahan, illustrated the circular nature of the disinformation ecosystem. She attended the State Department seminar, and then created a curriculum that relied on NCTE’s call to pursue social justice instead of reading and writing to justify having students create “public service announcements (PSAs) about a <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/357491535_Seeking_Justice_in_Your_Own_Backyard_Creating_PSAs_for_Social_Change" target="_blank" rel="noopener">social justice topic</a>.”
The videos featured children pleading with people to donate to leftist groups like Everytown for Gun Safety, whose subsidiary is a Rhode Island Lab “partner,” MRC found. McClanahan was named an &#8220;affiliated faculty&#8221; of the Lab.
The documents obtained under FOIA by the Media Research Center show how Hobbs, the Lab&#8217;s founder, often blurs the line between “media literary” and <a href="https://www.washingtoninformer.com/u-s-residents-brace-for-violence-particularly-if-trump-loses/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">progressive politics</a> that has nothing to do with disinformation. Her groups’ final report on the training sessions boasts that she used the State Department seminar to bring “media literary” to Austin, Texas’s police academy. That included making sure videos didn&#8217;t promote stereotypes and warning them not to raise an American flag for slain police officers because it might be offensive, MRC said.
Furlong and Hobbs did not return requests for comment.
MRC said that parents should ask their school board if Ad Fontes or NewsGuard are used in their schools, state legislatures must ban them from receiving funding, and attorneys general should investigate whether “activist” groups pushing “disinformation” laws are receiving kickbacks from censorship firms who would stand to profit off of such laws.
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The U-RI’s Media Education Lab trained teachers how to discuss what it called the “Capital Seige.” Its founder advocated for English teachers to turn from topics like spelling to social justice. / University of Rhode Island Media Education Lab

State Department Paid Germans To Bring Censorship And Propaganda To U.S. Schools

Academia

NewsGuard

Rhode Island

The Daily Wire, The Federalist, and the state of Texas joined on Tuesday in a <a href="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/12/DailyWire-v-State-final.pdf">lawsuit against the U.S. State Department</a>, alleging that the government agency funded censorship technology designed to bankrupt domestic media outlets with disfavored political opinions.
The State Department is tasked with foreign relations and has no authority over domestic affairs, yet it took a government office designed for countering foreign terrorist propaganda, the Global Engagement Center (GEC), and unleashed it against Americans engaged in what it claimed was &#8220;disinformation,&#8221; according to the lawsuit, filed in federal court in the Eastern District of Texas on Tuesday night by the New Civil Liberties Alliance.
It was &#8220;one of the most audacious, manipulative, secretive, and gravest abuses of power and infringements of First Amendment rights by the federal government in American history,&#8221; said the suit, which also names Secretary of State Antony Blinken and five other officials as defendants.
The lawsuit asks a judge to declare the State Department&#8217;s attempt to interfere with domestic speech illegal and to permanently bar it from developing, promoting, or encouraging others to use technology to de-amplify, shadow ban, or restrict &#8220;the lawful speech of the American press and Americans.&#8221;
GEC was founded in 2011 as the Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications and tasked with countering the propaganda of foreign terrorists like Al Qaeda. In 2016, it was renamed, but kept the same counterterrorism mission. Congress has made clear that &#8220;none of the funds authorized&#8221; for the entity &#8220;shall be used for purposes other than countering foreign propaganda.&#8221;
Nonetheless, GEC turned its focus on Americans, the complaint alleges, using taxpayer funds to finance the development and promotion of censorship organizations such as NewsGuard and the Global Disinformation Index (GDI), which regularly target conservative media outlets such as The Daily Wire and The Federalist with the stated goal of limiting ad revenue.
The New Civil Liberties Alliance&#8217;s Mark Chenoweth, who is representing the outlets, said &#8220;the federal government cannot do indirectly what the First Amendment forbids it from doing directly.&#8221;
GDI&#8217;s main product is a &#8220;Dynamic Exclusion List&#8221; of media outlets that it says present a &#8220;high risk for disinformation.&#8221; It licenses the list to advertisers, who adopt it as a convenient way to avoid boycotts from the Left. That playbook was deployed last month against Elon Musk, when blue-chip advertisers were persuaded to stop advertising on the platform because the Left-wing Media Matters group claimed that big companies’ ads occasionally appeared near objectionable content.
GDI says it aims to destroy &#8220;the incentive to create [disinformation] for the purpose of garnering advertising revenues.&#8221;
GDI keeps its main blacklist secret, but publicly published its top 10 &#8220;riskiest” outlets, which was essentially a list of America&#8217;s most prominent and mainstream conservative media publications, including both The Daily Wire and The Federalist, as well as the New York Post, and Reason Magazine.
GDI &#8220;was funded and promoted by State Department Defendants,&#8221; the lawsuit states. &#8220;State Department Defendants&#8217; active intervention in the news media market to make disfavored media unprofitable thus had devastating consequences to Media Plaintiffs.&#8221;
Also funded by the State Department is for-profit company called <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/newsguard-runs-cover-for-terrorists-in-fact-check-of-ben-shapiro" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NewsGuard</a>, which said it aimed to &#8220;cut off revenues to fake news sites&#8221; by coming up with a whitelist that purported to name every legitimate news site. NewsGuard ranks The Federalist as &#8220;unreliable&#8221; and The Daily Wire as &#8220;credible with significant exceptions.&#8221;
GEC funded GDI in 2021 through its U.S.-Paris Tech Challenge, in which GDI was awarded $100,000. The <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/technology/disinformation-inc-state-department-silent-on-if-it-will-ties-global-disinformation-index" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Washington Examiner</a> reported that the State Department-funded National Endowment for Democracy  apparently funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars more to GDI. The National Endowment for Democracy later acknowledged its &#8220;mandate is to work around the world and not in the United States,&#8221; and thus would no longer fund GDI.
The State Department also co-sponsored a &#8220;COVID-19 misinformation and disinformation&#8221; tech challenge that gave a prize to NewsGuard. NewsGuard said in a press release that it planned to &#8220;help&#8221; the State Department by flagging COVID &#8220;hoaxes.&#8221;
One of the “hoaxes” flagged by NewsGuard was that COVID might have come from a Chinese lab, a scenario now viewed by U.S. agencies to be likely. NewsGuard gave its secret data to scientists from <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/atomic-bomb-lab-studying-ways-to-combat-misinformation-including-covid-lab-leak-theory" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Los Alamos</a>, the lab that created the atomic bomb, who used it to target skeptics of then-conventional COVID wisdom.
The lawsuit says that the government used tools developed to be used against foreign nations against political opponents at home.
&#8220;State Department disinformation tools were developed&#8230; as tools of warfare&#8230; in the context of national security&#8221; and &#8220;foreign relations,&#8221; then &#8220;misdirected to be used at home against domestic political opponents,&#8221; it said.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton says he is &#8220;proud to lead the fight to save Americans’ precious constitutional rights from Joe Biden’s tyrannical federal government.&#8221;
&#8220;The State Department’s mission to obliterate the First Amendment is completely un-American,&#8221; Paxton said. &#8220;This agency will not get away with their illegal campaign to silence citizens and publications they disagree with.”
The lawsuit argues that Paxton&#8217;s ability to enforce Texas&#8217; anti-censorship laws were infringed by the State Department&#8217;s funding of censorship tools.
“The Biden administration is illegally funding organizations with the stated goal of financially crippling media outlets whose coverage does not walk in lockstep with the government’s ideological agenda,&#8221; The Daily Wire said in a statement on the lawsuit. &#8220;We sued the Biden administration before over its unconstitutional vaccine mandate, and we won. This time, we’re suing for our rights, all news organizations’ rights, and the constitutional guarantee of a free press that all Americans deserve.&#8221;

white house 10/7

Daily Wire And The Federalist Sue Biden State Department Over Censorship Effort

Texas

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