Fast food chain Wendy’s has not apologized for trolling pop singer Katy Perry for her space ride via its official X account, but it did say it “has a ton of respect for&#8221; her.
The six women who made up the all-female flight crew have been getting mixed reviews ever since they boarded Blue Origin’s NS-31 mission on Monday for an 11-minute ride. Perry, TV personality Gayle King, and Jeff Bezos’ fiancée Lauren Sánchez were among the women who took the flight, which they and many media outlets insisted was of historic significance. 
But there’s also been pushback, with members of the public and some celebrities saying the space ride was nothing more than regular space tourism with a female-heavy roster. Wendy’s social media account got in on the jokes.
The X account Pop Crave announced on Monday, “Katy Perry has returned from space,” prompting the people running Wendy’s social media accounts to reply, “Can we send her back.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Can we send her back
&mdash; Wendy’s (@Wendys) <a href="https://twitter.com/Wendys/status/1911939109871923213?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 15, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Another post on Monday shared from the Wendy’s account said, “When we said women in stem this isn’t what we meant.”
The posts got a lot of laughs from followers and some criticism. One source who is “close to the situation” told <a href="https://people.com/katy-perry-deserves-apology-from-wendys-blue-origin-comments-exclusive-source-11717191?taid=68013ed1cbec1800016b41dd&amp;utm_campaign=peoplemagazine&amp;utm_content=new&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter.com">People</a> that Wendy’s should issue Perry an apology. “This wasn&#8217;t harmless banter, this was a billion-dollar brand using its platform to publicly demean a woman,” the source told the outlet, adding that &#8220;when billion-dollar brands join in, it’s irresponsible.&#8221;
Wendy’s responded, but not with an apology. People received a statement from the popular fast food brand saying: &#8220;We always bring a little spice to our socials, but Wendy’s has a ton of respect for Katy Perry and her out-of-this-world-talent.”
Perry hasn’t addressed any of the criticism publicly, but King responded to the haters, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/gayle-king-complains-its-disrespectful-sexist-to-call-8-minute-space-ride-a-ride">claiming</a> it was sexist and “disrespectful” to criticize them. 
“So I wish people would do more due diligence. And then my question is, have y’all been to space? Go to space or go to Blue Origin and see what they do … and then come back and say, ‘This is a terrible thing,&#8217;” King said in part. 
She continued, “You never see a man, a male astronaut, who’s going up in space and they say, ‘Oh, he took a ride.’ … It’s always referred to as a flight or a journey, so I feel that’s a little disrespectful to what the mission was and the work that Blue Origin does.”

Katy Perry

Wendy’s Doesn’t Apologize For Trolling Katy Perry’s Space Ride, But Has ‘A Ton Of Respect’ For Her

Wendy's Doesn't Apologize For Trolling Katy Perry Space Ride, But Says They 'Respect' Her

Blue Origin

Business

Celebrities

Space

Twitter

Wendy's

A <a href="https://adfinternational.org/campaign/support-billboard-chris" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Canadian father</a> recently sat before an Australian tribunal in Melbourne for five days because he shared an article from <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13119521/Sex-secrets-trans-kinky-Australian-bondage-bestiality-nudism-drugs-sex-change.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Daily Mail</a> in an X post last year.
Let that sink in.
Chris Elston, better known as &#8220;<a href="https://x.com/BillboardChris" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Billboard Chris</a>,&#8221; flew halfway around the world to defend not only his own free speech rights, but also those of all people. He is <a href="https://adfinternational.org/cases/billboard-chris-australia" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pushing back</a> against an order from Australia’s eSafety Commissioner. The order demanded X censor Chris’ February 2024 post criticizing the appointment of a transgender activist to a World Health Organization panel of experts, citing the Daily Mail <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13119521/Sex-secrets-trans-kinky-Australian-bondage-bestiality-nudism-drugs-sex-change.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">article</a> titled &#8220;Kinky secrets of UN trans expert REVEALED&#8221;
Linking to an article from one of the most-read news websites in the world, the post was <a href="https://x.com/Rob_ADFIntl/status/1906643539754205575" target="_blank" rel="noopener">deemed</a> by eSafety to be “cyber-abuse material targeted at an Australian adult.” X initially resisted pressure to censor the content in any way but later geo-blocked the post in Australia when hit with a formal takedown notice. Billboard Chris, with legal support from ADF International, is challenging that order, and X joined in a separate suit.
This isn’t about one post. It’s about whether governments should be able to censor lawful expression because they don’t like the content — in this case, the rejection of gender ideology. 
The hearing at the Melbourne Administrative Review Tribunal spanned five days and took in over 2,000 pages of documents. Meanwhile, the complainant, Teddy Cook, never even appeared before the tribunal.
<a href="https://x.com/Rob_ADFIntl/status/1906643539754205575" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Day one</a> revealed how thin the complaint truly was. eSafety’s lawyers claimed that part of the problem was that Chris had revealed Cook’s place of work and posted private images. Chris, however, simply reposted the Daily Mail’s piece, which named Cook’s workplace (a detail already publicly available online) and, as anyone who uses social media knows, the featured images were pulled from Daily Mail article, not supplied by Chris. It becomes more ridiculous still. The Daily Mail had obtained the photos from Cook’s own social media. The argument didn’t just collapse under scrutiny — it exposed the flimsy foundation apparently sufficient for this bureaucracy to suppress dissent.
By <a href="https://x.com/Rob_ADFIntl/status/1907084293513318811" target="_blank" rel="noopener">day two</a>, it was clear how detached from reality the process had become. There was no evidence of actual harm. Cook, just nine days after the post, had tweeted: “living my best life.” But here we were, with psychiatrists and professors flown in to dissect whether a single X post could legally be considered “likely … intended to have an effect of causing serious harm”.
Chris testified to the Tribunal about the issue at the core of his advocacy: “It’s damaging to teach children they are born in the wrong body &#8230; children are beautiful just as they are. No drugs or scalpels needed.” Asked whether he was trying to provoke outrage, he responded: “No. I want to provoke discussion.”
That matters. Under Australia’s Online Safety Act, takedown orders can only be issued if content is not only offensive, but also “likely …intended to have an effect of causing serious harm.&#8221; However, eSafety seemed to argue that intent is largely irrelevant. If someone feels offended, even by public information, that alone might justify censorship.
On <a href="https://x.com/Rob_ADFIntl/status/1907754476250792285" target="_blank" rel="noopener">days three and four</a>, several more expert witnesses took the stand. eSafety’s own expert — a digital communications professor — asserted that biologically accurate terms are “harmful,” and that children should be able to choose their gender around age 12. Note Australian taxpayers are footing the bill for this expertise — reportedly more than $10,000 for just this one.
The final day brought closing submissions and a stark contrast in worldviews. eSafety argued the Tribunal should view the post in isolation, ignoring the broader debate, and insisted that Teddy Cook — a WHO-appointed expert and activist — shouldn’t be considered a public figure. Chris’ legal team, along with X, pushed back: any fair assessment must consider the wider social and political context. This wasn’t targeted abuse — it was participation in a critical public conversation.
This case is a warning to all who value free expression. If a Canadian citizen can be silenced in Australia for sharing a news article on U.S.-based platform X, then clearly, censorship is no longer bound by borders. What’s to stop any other government — from Canada to the EU to China — from deciding your speech “harms” someone abroad and demanding it be taken down too?
This is exactly how global censorship metastasizes: bureaucracies leveraging international tech companies to enforce vague, ideological speech codes on people who never voted for them, under laws they never consented to. And the more they get away with it, the bolder they become.
Fortunately, X put up a robust legal defense, and Chris, with the legal backing of ADF International and the Human Rights Law Alliance, was unequivocal in his message: he will not be censored as he fights to put an end to the evils of gender ideology.
Most evidently, gender ideology needs censorship to survive, and that is why Chris has been targeted. He hasn’t gone before this tribunal to protect himself — he’s doing it to protect the right of every person to tell the truth.
This is a test case with global consequences. Billboard Chris’ censorship challenge shows us exactly where we’re headed if we don’t defend free speech: toward a world where bureaucrats silence opinions they don’t like, even from the other side of the globe. It’s a world where truth must be approved, and feelings outweigh facts. That’s not just anti-democratic — it’s dangerous. Because once a government crosses the line of international censorship, there’s no saying where it will stop.
* * *
Robert Clarke is a barrister and director of advocacy for ADF International, which is supporting the case of Billboard Chris in Australia. Follow him on X at <a href="https://x.com/Rob_ADFIntl?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rob_ADFIntl.</a>
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

MixCollage-07-Apr-2025-01-02-PM-8595

He Shared A Link On X. Now He’s In An Australian Court.

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF)

Australia

Canada

Free Speech

Gender

gender ideology

Opinion

Social Media Censorship

The European Union is considering levying a $1 billion fine against Elon Musk&#8217;s X, alleging that the social media company has violated its law against disinformation and illicit content, The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/03/technology/eu-penalties-x-elon-musk.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
Along with the hefty fine, the E.U. would also demand that X make changes to its product, according to the Times, which cited &#8220;four people with knowledge of the plans.&#8221; If the E.U. moves forward, it would be the first fine imposed by the body using its Digital Services Act (DSA). The <a href="https://commission.europa.eu/strategy-and-policy/priorities-2019-2024/europe-fit-digital-age/digital-services-act_en#:~:text=Digital%20Services%20Act%20(DSA)%20overview,and%20open%20online%20platform%20environment." target="_blank" rel="noopener">DSA</a> &#8220;regulates online intermediaries and platforms &#8230; to prevent illegal and harmful activities online and the spread of disinformation.&#8221;
The social media company formerly known as Twitter, which Musk said he took over to restore free speech, <a href="https://x.com/GlobalAffairs/status/1907963263419297893" target="_blank" rel="noopener">responded</a> to the potential enforcement of the E.U.&#8217;s social media law, saying the move would be &#8220;an unprecedented act of political censorship and an attack on free speech.&#8221;
&#8220;X has gone above and beyond to comply with the EU’s Digital Services Act, and we will use every option at our disposal to defend our business, keep our users safe, and protect freedom of speech in Europe,&#8221; the company added.
X CEO Linda Yaccarino <a href="https://x.com/lindayaX/status/1907980612947841444" target="_blank" rel="noopener">added</a>, &#8220;This would be an egregious example of regulatory overreach. X continues to fight the attempts to stifle free speech taking place around the world, whether on our platform or off. We’re committed to protect this fundamental right for our users.&#8221;
Last July, the E.U. <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_24_3761" target="_blank" rel="noopener">concluded</a> that X violated the DSA &#8220;in areas linked to dark patterns, advertising transparency and data access for researchers.&#8221; In its report, the E.U. claimed that X verifies accounts and hands out &#8220;Blue checkmarks&#8221; in a way that &#8220;deceives users.&#8221;
&#8220;Since anyone can subscribe to obtain such a &#8216;verified&#8217; status, it negatively affects users&#8217; ability to make free and informed decisions about the authenticity of the accounts and the content they interact with,&#8221; the E.U. said.
The E.U. also accused X of failing to provide adequate transparency in advertising and failing to hand over its public data to researchers &#8220;in line with the conditions set out in the DSA.&#8221;
E.U. regulators reportedly hit the brakes on the investigation into X to discuss potential ramifications for going after a company controlled by one of President Donald Trump&#8217;s closest advisers and top donor. The E.U. has also been in the crosshairs of the Trump administration as Vice President JD Vance called out the bloc during a speech in February, slamming the E.U. for its digital censorship.
The Times reported that Musk&#8217;s social media company could still settle the dispute with the E.U., but that would likely require X to make changes to satisfy the governing body. If X chooses to fight the fine, it&#8217;s unclear how the legal process would play out between the American social media company and the E.U. The bloc is also going after U.S. tech companies Meta and Apple for allegedly violating the DSA.

Elon Musk

E.U. Reportedly Considering Massive Fine For Elon Musk’s X Over ‘Disinformation’

Big Tech

Europe

European Union

Social Media

World

President Trump’s Tariffs On Aluminum Imports Impact Price Of Beverage Makers’ Aluminum Cans

Paid-Off ‘Conservatives’ Are Fighting For Your Right To Use Food Stamps For Soda

Paid-Off 'Conservatives' Are Fighting For Your Right To Use Food Stamps For Soda

Coca-Cola

Conservatives

Department of Health and Human Services

Food

Food Stamps

Matt Walsh

President Trump

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

I run a growing media company with 11 American employees. I&#8217;ve invested over $145,000 in the U.S. economy. I pay American corporate taxes. Yet I&#8217;ve never set foot in the United States – and government bureaucrats seem determined to keep it that way.
For seven years, I&#8217;ve tried to enter America legally. I&#8217;ve been rejected, delayed, and ultimately denied from even visiting. My crime? Being too honest about wanting to become an American citizen.
I&#8217;m from Macedonia, a small Eastern European country most people can&#8217;t find without a good map. It’s a country where corruption runs deep, with a declining population, and a stagnant economy.
For young entrepreneurs here, every day brings new hurdles. We lack basic business infrastructure that Americans take for granted. No Amazon for supplies. Simple bank transactions turn into daylong ordeals. Success attracts the wrong kind of attention — refuse to pay the mafia&#8217;s protection money, and you&#8217;ll learn how useless calling the police can be.
Yet something in me always pushed toward business. At age 12, I sold CDs at weekend flea markets, and later started a photography business. When I discovered the internet, it opened a whole new world to me. My first online venture was a Lakers fan club — I idolized Kobe Bryant’s work ethic. Through that, I connected with an American news startup, and helped them with their launch. Not long after, I started my own.
I spent more time with American colleagues and culture, so at age 19, I decided to visit America. As it turns out, that’s no easy task for a young man from Macedonia.
In 2018 I applied for a tourist visa, but the U.S. embassy rejected me outright. Not because of any red flags — I&#8217;ve never had trouble with the law or anything like that. They explained that many young Macedonians “visit” America and never return. I needed stronger roots at home first.
Over two years, as my business grew, I planted those roots. I bought a car, purchased an apartment, and applied again in 2021. After a seven-month wait to even be interviewed, they approved me.
But there was a catch. The Biden administration started requiring every visitor to show proof of a COVID vaccination. As a healthy young person, I hesitated. Friends here offered an easy solution — fake vaccination cards cost less than $50 in Macedonia. But I refused to begin my American journey with a lie. How long could waiting honestly really take?
Quite a while, as it turns out. A year and a half later, I was still waiting.
While I waited, my business flourished. The Resist the Mainstream network grew to over 8 million followers, and last month they viewed our content over two billion times.
The United States has special visas for entrepreneurs like me – the E-2 business visa seemed perfect.
One catch? They wouldn’t let me use my tourist visa while the local Department of State workers evaluated my E-2 application. I moved our legal headquarters to Florida, hired more U.S. employees, and invested an additional $145,000 to qualify.
Yet as the embassy staff brought me in for multiple interviews, they seemed baffled by basic business operations despite my detailed documentation – contracts, bank statements, business plans, everything they asked for. For over a year, they’d ignore me for months, then resurface demanding more documents, sometimes the same ones they&#8217;d already received.
Finally, they rejected me outright. Their excuse was that my business was too small, which was odd because it clearly fit the E-2 requirements. Worse still, they took away my tourist visa as well, because in an interview I’d mention that someday I want to become a legal American citizen.
Some say business visas from Macedonia are virtually impossible. Others point to my conservative politics and news sites. I&#8217;m still trying to understand it all.
I began this journey at age 19. I&#8217;m now 26, and after all my efforts I&#8217;m back to square one. During that time, about 12 million people have walked uninvited across your southern border. They received housing, work permits, and benefits within months.
Is America&#8217;s legal immigration system broken? That&#8217;s not for me to decide since I&#8217;m not American. Not yet, at least. But I do know this – a system that punishes honesty and hard work while incentivizing shortcuts and lies isn&#8217;t working for anyone.
America was built by those who believed in both following the law and working hard. I simply want the chance to prove I can be one of them.
* * *
Rumen Naumovski is the CEO of Resist the Mainstream. Follow him on X: @RumenNaumovski
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the Daily Wire.
NOTE: This article has been edited for clarity.

United States of America Visa Page, Close up of a text Visa, Visa Stamp.

I Am Living Proof The American Immigration System Is Broken

Illegal Immigation

Immigration

Actor <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/tim-allen">Tim Allen</a> announced that he has finished reading the Old Testament of the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/bible">Bible</a> and is excited to start on the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/christianity">New Testament</a>.
The 71-year-old sitcom star shared the update on X on Saturday. 
“After nearly a year I have finished entire Old Testament and the experience of re reading, dedicated focus and no drifting has made this a humbling overwhelming experience. What a treasure,” Allen wrote, adding that he was “three days” into reading the second part.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
After nearly a year I have finished entire Old Testament and the experience of re reading, dedicated focus and no drifting has made this a humbling overwhelming experience. What a treasure. Three days into New Testament. <a href="https://t.co/un2XHROhBj">pic.twitter.com/un2XHROhBj</a>
&mdash; Tim Allen (@ofctimallen) <a href="https://twitter.com/ofctimallen/status/1888381223535358099?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 9, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The actor previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/so-far-amazing-tim-allen-reacts-to-reading-the-bible">shared an update</a> in August, writing, “Never took the time in all my years to ever read and really read the Bible. Currently almost through the Jerusalem Bible Old Testament and almost done with the Prophets. Next up to New Testament.”
Allen said it was, “So far amazing and not at all what I was expecting.”
The actor has discussed his relationship with Christianity before. In 2022, he spoke with <a href="https://www.thewrap.com/the-santa-clauses-christianity-tim-allen-disney-series/">The Wrap</a> about keeping Christ at the center of his “Santa Clauses” series on Disney+.
“It originally had a lot of otherworldly characters, and ghosts, and goblins. I said no, this is Christ-mas. It’s Christ-mas. It literally is a religious holiday,” Allen told the outlet. “We don’t have to blow trumpets, but I do want you to acknowledge it. That’s what this is about. If you want to get into Santa Claus, you’re gonna have to go back to history, and it’s all about religion.”
In 2011, Allen opened up about his struggle with faith following his father’s death after being struck by a drunk driver. The actor was 11 years old at the time.
“For years, I just did not like this idea of God, church,” he said, per <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/entertainment/2011/11/funnyman-tim-allen-serious-about-god">ABC News</a>. “[I was] still a churchgoer, but constantly a cynic.”
He said he eventually started referring to God as “The Builder.”
“I always do ask…The Builder, what did you want me to do?” Allen said. “And I do ask it. But you’ve got to be prepared for the answer.”
“Whoever built me, this is too much, too weird that it happened by accident,” Allen added. “It didn’t happen by accident.”

Tim Allen

Tim Allen Said He Finished Reading The Old Testament: ‘A Humbling, Overwhelming Experience’

Tim Allen Said He Finished Reading The Old Testament, 'A Humbling, Overwhelming Experience'

Bible

Christianity

Entertainment

U.S.

The Science Museum in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/london">London</a> is getting dragged on social media due to a tour they have which promotes the idea that <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/lego">Lego</a> blocks can be anti-<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/lgbt">LGBT</a> by reinforcing “heteronormative” relationships.
The London attraction is running a self-guided tour called “Seeing Things Queerly,” per <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14368303/Science-Museum-Lego-anti-LGBT.html">The Daily Mail</a>. This tour is said to explore “stories of queer communities, experiences and identities” in the museum&#8217;s collection. 
The tour was created by a “gender and sexuality network” at the museum, the outlet noted, which includes staff and volunteers who promote  visibility and inclusion for the LGBT community. The guide was published on the museum&#8217;s blog more than two years ago, but just now went viral after The Telegraph published an article today about the tour and its claims.
One of their complaints has to do with Lego bricks being “described in a gendered way.”
“The top of the brick with sticking out pins is male, the bottom of the brick with holes to receive the pins is female, and the process of the two sides being put together is called mating,” the blog says. 
“This is an example of applying heteronormative language to topics unrelated to gender, sex and reproduction. It illustrates how heteronormativity (the idea that heterosexuality and the male/female gender binary are the norm and everything that falls outside is unusual) shapes the way we speak about science, technology, and the world in general.”
Elon Musk tweeted his reply, sending a clown face emoji in response to the Telegraph’s article. 
Daily Wire Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro also mocked the notion, writing on X, “Wait until the Science Museum finds out that human beings have male and female parts that are made to mate with each other.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Wait until the Science Museum finds out that human beings have male and female parts that are made to mate with each other <a href="https://t.co/XU2HPmxdPC">https://t.co/XU2HPmxdPC</a>
&mdash; Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) <a href="https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/1887516341814349854?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 6, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
“The funny thing is that removing the male or female parts from Lego bricks means nothing works and everything collapses,” another person <a href="https://x.com/manofmitten/status/1887521519657529388">observed</a>.
Another replied, “Seatbelts are also bigoted.”
“Just wait until they hear about nuts and bolts,” another commenter chimed in.
A Science Museum spokesperson gave Daily Mail a statement on the controversy, saying, “This blog post was published online in 2022 to highlight a small number of objects on display at the museum that relate to LGBTQ+ individuals, experiences and communities.”

Lego blocks

London Museum Mocked For Suggesting Lego Bricks Can Be ‘Anti-LGBT’

London Museum Mocked For Suggesting Lego Bricks Can Be 'Anti-LGBT'

LGBT

London

Science

Social Issues

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/transgender">Trans-identifying</a> actor <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/celebrities">Karla Sofia Gascón</a>, the first man to be nominated for a Best Actress Award at the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/academy-awards">Oscars</a>, has apologized for a slew of old tweets that some followers deemed offensive.
The 52-year-old Spanish star issued a formal statement to <a href="https://variety.com/2025/film/news/karla-sofia-gascon-apologizes-tweets-backlash-emilia-perez-1236291583/">Variety</a>.
“I want to acknowledge the conversation around my past social media posts that have caused hurt,” Gascón said. “As someone in a marginalized community, I know this suffering all too well and I am deeply sorry to those I have caused pain. All my life I have fought for a better world. I believe light will always triumph over darkness.”
The tweets in question, which resurfaced and went viral earlier this week, covered topics such as George Floyd, Muslims, and diversity at the Oscars, as The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/first-trans-identifying-man-up-for-best-actress-oscar-deletes-posts-about-george-floyd-muslims">reported</a>. 
In June 2020, Gascón’s post (written in Spanish, translated by the outlet) about Floyd’s death read, “Let me get this straight, a guy tries to pass off a counterfeit bill after consuming methamphetamine, an idiot policeman arrives and goes too far in arresting him, killing him, ruining the lives of his family and his colleagues, and turning the guy with the bill into a martyr hero.”
“I really think that very few people ever cared about George Floyd, a drug addict swindler, but his death has served to once again demonstrate that there are people who still consider black people to be monkeys without rights and consider policemen to be assassins,” another tweet said. “They’re all wrong.”
A November 2020 tweet discussed Muslims in Europe. “Sorry, is it just my impression or are there more and more Muslims in Spain? Every time I go to pick up my daughter from school there are more women with their hair covered and their skirts down to their heels. Maybe next year instead of English we’ll have to teach Arabic. Until we ban religions that go against European values and violate human rights, such as Islam, under the protection of freedom of worship, we will not end part of the huge problem we face.”
Gascón slammed all religions in a 2021 post, writing, “I am so sick of so much of this s***, of Islam, of Christianity, of Catholicism and of all the f***ing beliefs of morons that violate human rights,” Variety noted.
The “Emilia Perez” star took aim at the 2021 Oscars telecast in another post. “More and more the #Oscars are looking like a ceremony for independent and protest films. I didn’t know if I was watching an Afro-Korean festival, a Black Lives Matter demonstration or the 8M. Apart from that, an ugly, ugly gala,” he wrote.
Last week, Gascón became the first openly trans-identifying actor to be<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/first-trans-identifying-man-up-for-best-actress-oscar-deletes-posts-about-george-floyd-muslims"> nominated for an Oscar</a> for the film “Emilia Perez,” a musical drama about a drug cartel boss who fakes his own death and undergoes “gender reassignment surgery.” He was also the first man to win Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival and the first man nominated for Best Actress at the Golden Globes. 
Katie Jerkovich contributed to this report.

Karla Sofia Gascon

Trans-Identifying ‘Emilia Perez’ Actor Apologizes For Old Anti-Woke Tweets

Trans-Identifying 'Emilia Perez' Actor Apologizes For Old Anti-Woke Tweets

Hollywood

Transgender

Wheelchair symbol

The Gender Ideology Movement Is Now Exploiting The Disabled For Clout

Gender Identity

Instagram

Leftists

LGBTQ

transgender surgery

WPATH

If you aren’t on X — or Twitter, if you insist on deadnaming it — you will often be surprised to learn about the kinds of things people are arguing about on that platform. In many cases, the debates do not resemble anything that anyone outside of the site is talking about. These debates are often insular and parochial. Groups of people will get into heated disputes that last sometimes for weeks or months or longer, and yet which have no relevance beyond the confines of the platform itself.
I’ll give just one example of millions. Among Right-wingers on X, there has been a long running and quite tedious quarrel over the term “Woke Right.” Various groups of conservatives are accusing each other of being “Woke Right,” as they debate what the term means, and whether it describes anything real. I don’t know where this “Woke Right” idea comes from, but I do know that I’ve never heard a single soul in the three dimensional, physical world ever use the phrase or express any opinion on it one way or another. There are relatively prominent conservatives on X who have spent months locked in combat over a concept that has no real political or cultural relevance whatsoever. Nobody cares about it but them. Needless to say, there are a great many examples of this sort of thing. And even less do I need to say that I have myself been guilty of arguing about things on X that nobody outside of the app cares about. I might even sometimes be the one starting the argument, admittedly.
However, not every debate on X is so trivial. Sometimes the conversation is relevant beyond social media. Sometimes it reflects what’s actually happening in the world. Sometimes — more often now in the Elon era — a debate on X is actually important. And this week there has been one of those kinds of arguments — another round of it, anyway, as this has been a long running dispute. It’s important enough to write about here. And it will lead me to a very crucial point that I want to make, especially for younger people.
The debate revolves around the economic situation that young people in particular are facing today. One side of the argument says that although it is a challenging landscape for young people who are just starting out in the world, the best thing they can do is get an entry level job somewhere and work their way up in the world from that starting point. The other side says that this “bootstraps” mentality is obsolete. Young people have been totally screwed. They can’t just get a job and work their way up. And, they say, telling a young person to go work some low paying customer service job is insulting and out of touch. The game is rigged. American jobs are being stolen en masse by foreigners. The American dream, says this side of the debate, is effectively dead. Therefore the old school “go out there and work your way up the ladder” approach is simply to antiquated to be useful.
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As you already guessed, out of the two camps, I tend to fall more into the former. Although the latter camp isn’t wrong about many of the fundamental points they’re making about the system as it&#8217;s currently constructed. I’ll get into that in a moment. 
First, let’s take a look at how this exchange is playing out. I think the debate may be best encapsulated by this. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/christopher-rufo">Chris Rufo</a>, in a series of tweets a couple of days ago, <a href="https://x.com/realchrisrufo/status/1878855931318198421" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote the following</a>:
<blockquote>Every generation has challenges. We currently have huge problems with the cost of housing and a splintering culture, but the economy is strong, incomes have never been higher, trades are hiring apprentices straight out of high school, and tech has enabled a wave of entrepreneurship and high-income &#8220;email jobs&#8221; from anywhere on Earth. We should remember that the Boomers, whatever their faults, had to make their way in a much poorer America and had to navigate war, stagflation, recession, and high interest rates. It&#8217;s never a cakewalk. We should work to provide opportunity for our kids, but should also remind them to be grateful for the opportunities they have. I didn&#8217;t make $50,000 a year or own a car until I was 30, then, after years of struggle in a creative field, things paid off. I could live in Seattle or New York or DC, but choose to live in a small town. It&#8217;s all a tradeoff, and one can make a good life in almost any metro area in the US.</blockquote>
In a follow up, he posted a job listing from Panda Express:
<blockquote>This is basically &#8220;full employment.&#8221; The Panda Express near my house is offering $70k/yr plus benefits for the assistant manager. You can make $100k/yr working at Chipotle for a few years and working up to store manager.</blockquote>
A prominent account that goes by the handle &#8220;Bronze Age Pervert&#8221; responded in a way that I think captures the general attitude of the other side of this argument. 
He wrote:
<blockquote>This is an absurd thing to post. This environment is the worst in decades and maybe ever in America to build wealth through any normal career. It’s the worst work environment and worst prospects for wealth accumulation ever. For a young person it’s next to impossible in fact even with the best degrees and “elite” job. It’s absurd and a joke to see conservative pundits, who work as writers and commentators in media and aren’t frankly exemplars of Protestant capitalist enterprise recommend working at Chipotle and UPS for a few smart young right wing men who are deploring decades-long trends. Maybe you’ll care to also give them advice on manning up and marrying a local sweet girl/highschool sweetheart.</blockquote>
The debate spiraled from there. A writer named Aaron McIntyre agrees with Bronze Age Pervert. He posted: 
<blockquote>If you are worried about Andrew Tate&#8217;s influence on young men telling them to climb the fast food ladder probably isn&#8217;t the move.</blockquote>
Another commentator named Scott Greer chimes in with a similar sentiment: 
<blockquote>Conservatives wonder why young men turn to Andrew Tate when they tell the same demographic to be content with fast food work and marrying much-older single moms.</blockquote>
Someone else gave his perspective. He said that it is possible for a young person to get started and succeed even in this tough environment. He offered the example of his own 22-year-old son, who he said has a job at UPS making $70,000 a year. He’s about to marry his girlfriend who is ten years older.
To that, someone else, in a post that has 27,000 likes, said: 
<blockquote>Poor kid is grinding, about to marry a 32 year old, living in his dad’s basement, stuck in a dead end job. He will likely never have kids or own a home. Imagine how out of touch you have to be to post this proudly. This is losing. But boomer dad imagines everything is ok.</blockquote>
Mike Cernovich is on the other side. What we might call the bootstraps camp. He thinks — and so do I — that work is not supposed to be fun. It’s not even necessarily going to be fulfilling. But you have to do it because that’s life and always has been. He wrote: 
<blockquote>You’re supposed to hate your job. That’s why it’s a job. Someone pays you because they don’t want to do it. Most of us had s*** jobs. It’s nothing special. You’re not a snowflake. Fight Club and Office Space covered this decades ago. Work sucks. This isn’t new.</blockquote>
But it’s this reply to that post that I think best captures the essence — and the fatal flaw — in the, I guess, anti-bootstraps position. Someone responded: 
<blockquote>The reason why jobs were worth it is that you could afford a home in a nice high trust society and support a family. Why do it now? I will not be reduced to an f-ing serf.</blockquote>
Jobs are not worth it, he says. Jobs make you a serf. This is why it’s worth talking about this very online controversy. It’s not just online. It seems clear to me that a lot of demoralized young people feel exactly this way. They think jobs aren’t worth it. There’s no point in even trying. They have it harder than anyone has ever had it. It’s hopeless. Everything is unfair. And so on. 
These young people are being encouraged down this hopeless road by people who are considered intellectuals on the right, like Bronze Age Pervert, who we recall said that today’s work environment is the worst ever — the worst ever, in history — and that it is “next to impossible” to become successful and accumulate wealth. They’re told by these supposed thought leaders that they should ignore anyone who even suggests that they start off in a low paying job working customer service or something similar. And a lot of young people — especially young men — have heeded this advice, to their own detriment.
So here’s what I want to say, after this very long preamble where I unfortunately had to give you a blow by blow account of a Twitter war. I acknowledge that young people face serious challenges starting out in the workforce. I can clearly see and do not deny that it is harder than it should be for a young man to get into a stable career, buy a house, and start a family. I agree that we are importing foreigners to take American jobs. That is hideously evil and unfair. I am in favor of any policy that puts an end to that scam. I agree with the anti-bootstrappers on that point. They will hear no argument from me.
Okay. Once we’ve agreed on that, what then? What is a young adult supposed to actually do tomorrow? This is the question that matters. It’s the question that, in these kinds of conversations, most people just skip over. It reminds me of my frequent debates with the Red Pillers and Manosphere where they declare that the dating scene is a disaster and young men have no hope of meeting a quality woman and building a stable family. My question to them is always the same: What do you want these young men to do then? What do you want them to actually do with their lives? Give up and die alone? What do you want them to do?
I ask that here as well: What should they do tomorrow? I’m not asking what the president should do or what congress should do or what government agencies should do. I’m asking what the actual individual human beings we’re talking about here — the newly minted young adults — should do. They will wake up in the morning and brush their teeth and eat breakfast — and then what? That young man who is 22-years-old and has no job. If you believe it is deeply insulting to suggest that he should go apply at Panda Express or UPS, what do you want him to do instead? What do you recommend? What is your plan?
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Complaining about it incessantly on Twitter is not a plan. Calling for policy solutions is fine and I agree that we should work on those. But what about tomorrow? What is the demoralized young person supposed to actually do in his life tomorrow? Don’t deflect. Don’t tell me about the H1-B program. I think we should abolish it. I don’t want to import any foreign labor at all. But a young man who wakes up in the morning can’t abolish the H1-B program. That’s not something he can accomplish tomorrow. So what should he do? Should he post about abolishing it? Fine. That takes about 60 seconds. Let’s give him 30 minutes for a series of tweets about H1-B visas. Okay. What next? How&#8217;s he spending the rest of his day? If you have no answer to that question, then your contribution to this conversation is worthless. You have nothing of value to offer to this young man.
Here’s what I say. I say that he must get up onto his feet in spite of it all and begin to pursue his goals one small step at a time. He must get the best job he possibly can, which will almost certainly not be a very good job or a very fun job. But he is not in a position where he can afford to worry about what is fun. He has to work as hard as he can to achieve what he can. He must gain experience and establish himself. And if he’s just starting out in the world, the best job is whatever job he can get. You have to start somewhere. And a job is better than no job.
He has a difficult road. Every young man in his position throughout the entire history of the Earth has had a difficult road. Life itself is a difficult road. Is his road more difficult than the road that young men of my generation had to walk? Perhaps. I entered adult life right around the time of a great recession and housing market collapse. It wasn’t exactly an easy path. I worked many awful customer service jobs that I hated with every fiber of my being. My hatred of them fueled me even more. I was more determined to become successful so that I would never again have to work the kind of job where you wear a name tag and get paid by the hour. But I had to work those jobs in order to get to a point where I didn’t have to work those jobs. That’s how it goes. So I am not recommending that anyone do anything that I have not already done. Is it harder now? Maybe. Is it harder than it was for the Boomers when they were just starting out? Probably, although I think the comparison is overstated.
Is it the hardest ever? Is a young person in America today facing “next to impossible odds” and unprecedented hardship? Of course not. That is an absurd suggestion. If you are a 22-year-old man today, you may have it a bit harder than your parents and grandparents, but that is as far as it even theoretically goes. World history did not begin in 1955. No matter what, you and I and our parents all had it and have it easier than the vast majority of human beings who have ever existed on the planet. We are all in the top 1% of the easiest lives ever lived. Which is why, even with all of our problems, you wouldn’t want to live anywhere else on the planet today. And if you had a time machine, the farthest you might want to go back is the middle of the 20th century and no farther. And if you did go back even that far, you would almost certainly discover that it was not the cakewalk you imagine it to be.
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None of this diminishes the difficulties that you, as a young person, are currently experiencing. I only mean to put it in context. The context is important. Because if you think that nobody has ever had it harder than you, you may be justified in wondering whether success is simply impossible in your case. After all, no one has ever succeeded against odds so great as what you are facing. But the point is that many millions of people have succeeded against odds many times greater. This should inspire you, not offend you. Either way, my message to the young man is that he has to get up and walk. Even if he did have the hardest life anyone has ever lived on this or any other planet. Still I would say, well then, get up and move forward. What else are you going to do? Lie down and die?
My attitude is condemned by some Right-wingers whose doomerism has now descended to a point where they will call you a traitor for suggesting that a young man has any agency at all in his life. They want to hear nothing but misery porn and hopelessness. Anything else makes you a Boomer cuck. That’s because they don’t actually give the slightest damn about the young people they pretend to be speaking for.
Instead we end up with the “solution” (which I’ve seen repeated in different forms countless times) offered by the commenter I mentioned earlier. Jobs aren’t “worth it,” he says. He will not be a serf. Instead he will, presumably, live off of the government or his parents. But here’s the problem: that’s not how you escape being a serf. That’s how you become one. You are volunteering for a life of failure and servitude. Working at Panda Express is beneath you, but to eat it for lunch on your dad’s dime because you refuse to support yourself is not beneath you?
That makes no sense.
So again I ask: what is your plan? What are you going to do tomorrow? Some people like to mock the “bootstraps” mentality but they have given young people precisely zero alternatives. They have not given them any idea of what they should do tomorrow. And to me that is the most important and useful question here. What should you do tomorrow? My answer is simple. Tomorrow you should get up, put on your shoes, and get started.

North Carolina Works Job And Resource Fair Ahead Of Initial Jobless Claims

The Real Crisis Young Men Are Facing Today

employment

Gen Z

Inflation

male

Unemployment

Woke Culture

Work environment

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/celebrities">Nick Jonas</a> fans are coming after him for responding to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/elon-musk">Elon Musk</a> on the billionaire&#8217;s X platform. 
The drama began after Musk reacted to an article from Tesla Owners Silicon Valley stating that Tesla&#8217;s profits have been “up 100 percent” since President-elect Donald Trump won in November. Musk posted a GIF of the Jonas Brothers spinning around a wood coffee table with the caption, “My, how the tables have turned!”
The 32-year-old <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/entertainment">singer</a> replied, responding to Musk and referencing the Jonas Brothers’ cover of Busted’s single “Year 3000.”
“Take us to the Year 3000,” Jonas wrote alongside a photo of Musk.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Take us to the Year 3000. <a href="https://t.co/vk0sdBhrXS">https://t.co/vk0sdBhrXS</a> <a href="https://t.co/CSG7ItCmES">pic.twitter.com/CSG7ItCmES</a>
&mdash; Nick Jonas (@nickjonas) <a href="https://twitter.com/nickjonas/status/1869113311637491854?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 17, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
A slew of Jonas’ left-wing followers started freaking out in the replies, accusing the singer of being a traitor for saying something vaguely positive about Musk, who has become an unapologetic Trump supporter.
“We&#8217;re not just gonna move on from this btw. To be noticeably quiet during the entire election cycle and then tweet something like this?” one commenter <a href="https://x.com/delaniraeann/status/1869150584793952413">complained</a>. “I&#8217;ve been a fan since 2005 and was really looking forward to a 20-year anniversary tour but I just cannot give my support to this.”
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“Delete this. now. this man is horrible and even if this was meant as just a joke, it’s not funny,” another follower pleaded.
“You’re disgusting,” another wrote.
Others pointed out that this dramatic reaction over an X post was an example of why Democrats lost the election.
“Oh cry me a river! He can like whoever the hell he wants. Why are liberals so full of hate!!” one person said.
“Look at the comments and you’ll quickly realize why Trump won. They&#8217;ll try to mob and guilt you for something as simple as tweeting at Elon. The left is so far gone and out of their minds,” another <a href="https://x.com/S_Slime12/status/1869255422013817244">agreed</a>.
The songwriter, who is married to actress Priyanka Chopra, has not endorsed political candidates in the past and maintained this streak during the 2024 election. However, the Jonas Brothers did film a video with President Joe Biden at the White House in 2021.

Nick Jonas

Nick Jonas Fans Melt Down After He Responds To Elon Musk X Post

The following is an excerpt from the new book “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Disappearing-President-Trump-Social-Republic/dp/1641774576" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Disappearing The President</a>” by Lee Smith, (October, 2024, Encounter Books)
* * *
<h3>The Counterinsurgents</h3>
Many of the analysts obsessed with Russian information warfare played crucial roles in Russiagate, like Hamilton 68 founder Clint Watts. “I was talking to him at the time and quoting him in stuff I was writing because I thought what he said made sense,” says Siegel. “And some of what he said didn’t make sense. People lose track of reality when they talk about information warfare.”
A West Point graduate, Watts joined the FBI after leaving the Army, and in 2011 he joined a think-tank based in Philadelphia, the Foreign Policy Research Institute. During the 2016 election cycle, he was a go-to talking head on Russian information warfare. “Regardless of the extent of Trump’s direct knowledge about Russia’s intelligence activities, active measures [by Russian intelligence] have achieved enormous success on the back of his presidential campaign,” he wrote in a 2016 article that supported the collusion narrative. “Russia sees Trump as a tool to undermine its American adversaries. In that regard, they’ve already achieved their goal and possess the potential to exceed their expectations.” (7)
The name of Watts’ organization, Hamilton 68, refers to the 68th essay from The Federalist Papers, in which Alexander Hamilton discusses the presidency and foreign influence: “These most deadly adversaries of republican government might naturally have been expected to make their approaches from more than one quarter, but chiefly from the desire in foreign powers to gain an improper ascendant in our councils. How could they better gratify this, than by raising a creature of their own to the chief magistracy of the Union?” (8)
The reference was clear: Trump had been raised by a foreign power. Thus, the purpose of Watts’ organization was not to track Russian “disinformation” and influence operations on social media, but was rather to add another branch to the counterinsurgents’ propaganda campaign vilifying the chief magistracy of the Union—Trump—as a Russian agent.
<div id="attachment_834755" style="width: 390px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Disappearing-President-Trump-Social-Republic/dp/1641774576"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-834755" class="size-large wp-image-834755" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/11/51LJIqjf3CL-380x576.jpg" alt="Jacket design by Steve Cooley. Encounter Books." width="380" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/11/51LJIqjf3CL-380x576.jpg 380w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/11/51LJIqjf3CL-198x300.jpg 198w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/11/51LJIqjf3CL.jpg 560w" sizes="(max-width: 380px) 100vw, 380px" /></a>Jacket design by Steve Cooley. Encounter Books.</div>
Watts was supported by the Alliance for Securing Democracy (ASD), a project of the German Marshall Fund, a Washington, D.C. based think-tank funded by private donors; government agencies like the U.S. Agency for International Development; foreign governments like Norway, Sweden, and Belgium; Big Tech oligarchies Google, Microsoft, and Amazon; and major Democratic Party donor George Soros, a Shadow Network giant.
ASD was founded in 2017 by a left-right coalition of anti-Trump activists who had supported and promoted Russiagate. Its board of advisors included: 
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">John Podesta, chairman of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Jake Sullivan, a longtime Clinton aide and now Biden’s national security advisor</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Michael McFaul, Obama’s ambassador to Russia</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">David Kramer, aide to Senator John McCain. Kramer gave a copy of the Steele dossier to BuzzFeed, which published it in January 2017.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Bill Kristol, anti-Trump editor of the now-defunct magazine, the Weekly Standard</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Michael Morrell, former acting CIA director and longtime deputy director under President Obama</li>
</ul>
Morrell explained the ASD’s purpose as it was getting off the ground in July 2017. “In a perfect world, we would have a national commission that would be looking into exactly what happened, exactly what did the Russians do and what can we do as a nation to defend ourselves going forward and deter Putin from ever doing this again,” Morell told a journalist. “We all know this is not going to happen, so things like the GMF [German Marshall Fund] effort are hugely important to fill the gap.” (9)
In reality, ASD and Hamilton 68 were partners in the FBI’s ongoing anti-Trump operation, which had been off-boarded to Robert Mueller’s team when the special counsel investigation began in May 2017.
When the #ReleaseTheMemo hashtag appeared, Hamilton 68 reported that it was being spread by Russian bots. (10) Schiff and Feinstein’s letter on the hashtag relied exclusively on Hamilton 68’s data.
Even as the corporate media dutifully reported Hamilton 68’s declarations as fact, however, the Big Tech platforms were becoming increasingly wary of Watts’ analyses.
The Daily Beast offered a glimpse of this skepticism with a January 23, 2018 story reporting that Twitter analysts had determined the #ReleasetheMemo hashtag was spread by legitimate American accounts, not by Russian bots. (11)
Behind the scenes, Twitter officials were coming to believe that Hamilton 68 was a fraud. Twitter’s trust and safety head Yoel Roth told colleagues that a secret list of around 600 Russian bot accounts that Hamilton 68 monitored was “weird and self-selecting. They’re so unwilling to be transparent and defend their selection that I think we need to just call this out on the bullshit it is.” (12)
Twitter identified the 600 accounts tracked by Hamilton 68 and found they were neither Russian nor bots. Rather, Roth wrote to colleagues, “they appear to strongly preference pro-Trump accounts, which [Hamilton 68] use to assert that Russia is expressing a preference for Trump.” Roth wanted to confront Hamilton 68 publicly. “My recommendation at this stage is an ultimatum,” he wrote, “you release the list or we do.”
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Some Twitter employees were worried about taking on an organization that represented a powerful consortium of political and intelligence officials. Others represented those same interests inside the company. “We have to be careful in how much we push back on ASD publicly,” wrote Emily Horne, who later landed a job in the Biden White House. Another Twitter executive, Carlos Monje, wrote, “I also have been very frustrated in not calling out Hamilton 68 more publicly, but understand we have to play a longer game here.” Monje later became a senior advisor to Biden’s Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
Twitter lawyers drafted a careful response to Schiff and Feinstein explaining that the company’s initial inquiry regarding #ReleaseTheMemo had “not identified any significant activity connected to Russia.” Twitter wrote that “because the Hamilton Dashboard’s account list is not available to the public, we are unable to offer any specific context on the accounts it includes. …We have offered to review the list of accounts contained in the Dashboard and this offer remains open.” (13)
Facebook responded simply by noting that Hamilton 68’s allegations concerned content on Twitter, not Facebook. (14)
Those responses were not good enough for the California Democrats. On January 31, Schiff and Feinstein sent another letter demanding that Twitter and Facebook try harder. “It is unclear from your responses whether you believe any of the Russian-linked accounts involved in this influence campaign violated your respective user policies,” the duo warned. “We reiterate our request that you immediately take necessary steps to expose and deactivate such accounts if you determine that they violate your respective user policies.” The letter continued, “Twitter inexplicably…neglected to answer the question of whether Russian sources were actively engaged in promoting the #ReleaseTheMemo hashtag, as illuminated by the Hamilton 68 dashboard of the German Marshall Fund.” (15)
In other words, You must find a way to tie pro-Trump accounts to Russian bots and then censor them—or else.
“In the end, Schiff, Feinstein, and the Dems just beat Twitter down,” says Langer, the Nunes aide. “They were threatening to take all kinds of retaliatory action if the platforms didn’t produce the right results. And eventually, Twitter found a way to connect #ReleaseThe Memo to Russian bots, even though there was no evidence for it and they knew Hamilton 68’s findings were fraudulent.”
The following January, Twitter released a report detailing its research into a new batch of 418 accounts that “appeared to originate in Russia.” The company admitted it could not determine if they actually were Russian bot accounts, but claimed they behaved similarly to Russian bots. Of the top three hashtags employed by these 400 accounts, number two was #ReleaseTheMemo, which was included in approximately 38,000 Tweets. (16) Thus, based on a few hundred accounts that may or may not have been Russian, Twitter insinuated that a grassroots campaign among American conservatives might really be a Russian influence operation.
“These possible Russian bot accounts comprised less than one-half of one percent of activity on the hashtag,” says Langer. “That’s a drop in the ocean. It’s statistically irrelevant. But Twitter left that out of the report.”
The release of the Nunes memo on February 2, 2018, exposed Russiagate as an instrument of information warfare, paid for by the Clinton campaign and directed by Obama’s spy chiefs. It was the Shadow Network’s counterinsurgency campaign targeting Trump, his allies, and supporters.
“What we’re now experiencing is what countless other countries around the world have experienced since the start of the Cold War,” says Benz. “When the U.S. government controls your information eco-systems, controls your political leadership, censors you, spies on you, and propagandizes you. People in Boston are now experiencing what people in Baghdad did. This is what it feels like when the U.S. government deploys its military, its intelligence, and civil society partners and media in a whole-of-society campaign to re-engineer your country.”
* * *
Lee Smith is the author of the New York Times bestseller &#8220;The Plot Against the President.&#8221; His other books include &#8220;The Permanent Coup&#8221; and &#8220;The Strong Horse.&#8221; A veteran journalist and regular contributor to Tablet Magazine, Smith lives with his wife and son in Charleston, SC.
This excerpt is published by permission from Encounter Books. “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Disappearing-President-Trump-Social-Republic/dp/1641774576" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Disappearing The President</a>” by Lee Smith, (October, 2024, Encounter Books). Copyright 2024 by Lee Smith. Jacket design by Steve Cooley.
The views expressed in this book excerpt do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
* * *
NOTES:
Chapter Three: The Counterinsurgents
7. Andrew Weisburd, Clint Watts, and Jim Berger, “Trolling for Trump: How Russia Is Trying to Destroy Our Democracy,” War on the Rocks, November 6, 2016, https://warontherocks.com/2016/11/trolling-for-trump-how-russia-is-trying-to-destroy-our-democracy/.
8. https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/fed68.asp
9. Josh Rogin, “National Security Figures Launch Project to Counter Russian Mischief,” Washington Post, July 11, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/josh-rogin/wp/2017/07/11/national-security-figures-launch-project-to-counter-russian-mischief/.
10. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/right-wing-demand-releasethememo-endorsed-russian-bots-trolls-n839141
11.  Spencer Ackerman, “Source: Twitter Pins #ReleaseTheMemo on Republicans, Not Russia,” Daily Beast, January 23, 2018, http<a href="http://www/">s://www.</a> thedailybeast.com/source-twitter-pins-releasethememo-on-republicans-not- russia#:~:text=The%20online%20groundswell%20urging%20the,widely%20 since%20late%20last%20week.
12.  Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi), “1.THREAD: Twitter Files #15 MOVE OVER, JAYSON BLAIR: TWITTER FILES EXPOSE NEXT GREAT MEDIA FRAUD,” X, January 27, 2023, 12:49 p.m., https://x.com/mtaibbi/ status/1619029772977455105.
13.  Vijaya Gadde, Twitter General Counsel letter to The Honorable Dianne Feinstein and The Honorable Adam Schiff, January 26, 2018, https://democrats-intelligence.house.gov/uploadedfiles/twitter_response_jan_26.pdf. 
14. https://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/6/4/64bd3267-fdc9-46fb-b265-589dc5d08eff/8DBC13B7F818DA79F0E8C614A8F8159D.facebook-response-to-feinstein-schiff-1.26.18.pdf
15.  “Feinstein, Schiff Send Follow Up Letter to Twitter and Facebook on #ReleaseTheMemo Campaign,” U.S. Senate Committee on The Judiciary, January 31, 2018, https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/press/dem/releases/feinstein-schiff-send-follow-up-letter-to-twitter-and-facebook-on-releasethememo-campaign.
16.  Twitter, “Retrospective Review: Twitter, Inc. and the 2018 Midterm Elections in the United States,” January 31, 2019 (updated February 4, 2019), https:// cdn.cms-twdigitalassets.com/content/dam/blog-twitter/official/en_us/ company/2019/2018-retrospective-review.pdf.

President-Elect Donald Trump Meets With Biden, Congressional Leaders In Washington

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