Shreveport, Louisiana, had the most explosive fireworks on Independence Day when Judge Terry A. Doughty blew up the federal government’s censorship of conservatives on social media. Trump appointed him in 2018 and Doughty is now the Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, based in Shreveport.
The attorneys general of Louisiana and Missouri sued to stop federal agents from coercing social media to censor conservatives or anyone else who dared criticize our government. The deep state cited an extra-constitutional power to fight misinformation and disinformation but the biggest spreaders of lies are the FBI, CIA and the rest of the federal government.
Covid was not a pandemic.
The vaccine was not a vaccine.
Hunter’s laptop was not a Russian hoax.
Because the feds got social media outlets to serve as surrogate censors, Judge Doughty issued an injunction forbidding the feds from talking to the people who run social media. He did so on the Fourth of July because fighting the evil of government censorship is embedded in the birth of a free America.
The Washington Post owned by Jeff Bezos whined, “The Trump-appointed judge’s move could upend years of efforts to enhance coordination between the government and social media companies.”
I hope so.
This is a temporary injunction as the case continues. The Bezos Post said, “The ruling could have critical implications for tech companies, which regularly communicate with government officials, especially during elections and emergencies, such as the coronavirus pandemic.”
Given the amount of lies the government spread and the number of truths it stopped from being aired on the social media, such communications must end permanently.
NYT spun it as Republicans being sore losers.
It said, “The ruling was a victory for Republicans and other conservatives who have filed a series of lawsuits accusing the government of cajoling or coercing Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other social media companies to censor its critics. Although the ruling is likely to be appealed by the administration, its impact could be sweeping, forcing government officials, including law enforcement agencies, to refrain from notifying the platforms of troublesome content.”
The only thing troublesome about the censored content was it was the truth that revealed the deep state’s lies. The order cited examples. NYT did not.
Enough of what the Bezos Post or NYT said that the judge said, let’s go to the order, which begins, “‘I may disapprove of what you say, but I would defend to the death your right to say it.’ — Evelyn Beatrice Hill, 1906, The Friends of Voltaire.
The line usually is misattributed to Voltaire but the judge was laser accurate in his order.
He wrote, “Although the censorship alleged in this case almost exclusively targeted conservative speech, the issues raised herein go beyond party lines. The right to free speech is not a member of any political party and does not hold any political ideology. It is the purpose of the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment to preserve an uninhibited marketplace of ideas in which truth will ultimately prevail, rather than to countenance monopolization of the market, whether it be by government itself or private licensee.”
He cited a 1969 case in which an extremely left-wing Supreme Court held that the government can indeed require radio broadcasters to give airtime to both sides of an issue in Red Lion Broadcasting Co., Inc. v. FCC. WGCB would not allow Fred J. Cook to respond an on-air personal attack by the Reverend Billy James Hargis. The Court said, oh yes you will.
Doughty said, “The question does not concern whether speech is conservative, moderate, liberal, progressive, or somewhere in between. What matters is that Americans, despite their views, will not be censored or suppressed by the Government.”
The attorneys general suing Biden and his henchmen had ample examples of censorship by a Civil Service-protected deep state
In his order, he said, “In this case, Plaintiffs allege that Defendants suppressed conservative-leaning free speech, such as:
“(1) suppressing the Hunter Biden laptop story prior to the 2020 Presidential election;
“(2) suppressing speech about the lab-leak theory of COVID-19’s origin;
“(3) suppressing speech about the efficiency of masks and COVID-19 lockdowns;
“(4) suppressing speech about the efficiency of COVID-19 vaccines;
“(5) suppressing speech about election integrity in the 2020 presidential election;
“(6) suppressing speech about the security of voting by mail;
“(7) suppressing parody content about Defendants;
“(8) suppressing negative posts about the economy;
“and (9) suppressing negative posts about President Biden.”
I follow the news pretty close but reading the breath-taking amount of censorship heaped upon us by the federal government is shocking. The censorship and the lies raise the argument that we should defund the entire enterprise and let the states govern and the National Guard and local militias protect our borders.
You have to read the decision itself to appreciate just how often and routinely the Biden administration got Facebook and Twitter to censor posts and ban dissenters, including Robert Francis Kennedy Jr. There are 18 incidents in the first 93 days of the Biden administration’s takeover of the White House.
The CDC also engaged in this orgy of unconstitutionality.
Doughty raided the deep state and issued an order to keep the censors from communicating with the people who run social media.
He said, “During the COVID-19 pandemic, a period perhaps best characterized by widespread doubt and uncertainty, the United States Government seems to have assumed a role similar to an Orwellian ‘Ministry of Truth.’”
Fact-check: Yep. It is good to hear a federal judge state this publicy. The pandemic panic was just a crisis Red China created and the deep state exaggerated. As Rahm Emanuel wrote, “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that it’s an opportunity to do things that you think you could not do before.” Hence, DC creates many a crisis.
Judge Doughty wrote in his injunction, “The Plaintiffs are likely to succeed on the merits in establishing that the Government has used its power to silence the opposition. Opposition to COVID-19 vaccines; opposition to COVID-19 masking and lockdowns; opposition to the lab-leak theory of COVID-19; opposition to the validity of the 2020 election; opposition to President Biden’s policies; statements that the Hunter Biden laptop story was true; and opposition to policies of the government officials in power. All were suppressed. It is quite telling that each example or category of suppressed speech was conservative in nature. This targeted suppression of conservative ideas is a perfect example of viewpoint discrimination of political speech. American citizens have the right to engage in free debate about the significant issues affecting the country.”
And how did this censorship affect the nation? BBC reported, “Cocaine found at White House sparked evacuation, US media report.”
What do you expect? The deep state installed the father of a cokehead into the Oval Office, replacing a Real Man who never used drugs, never smoked cigarettes and sure as hell never sniffed little girls or showered with his daughters.
Censorship by Google’s blogspot enterprise led me to Substack. I suffered a Nurse Ratched editor for 26 years. That’s on me. I won’t tolerate again anyone telling me what I may or may not say.
Thanks to Judge Doughty, Americans became a little bit more independent on Independence Day 2023. Let freedom ring. Let Biden and his minions pound sand — or salt, if they prefer.
Powerful ruling. Here’s to Judge Doughty. Looks like another 6-3 Supreme Court decision is headed our way.
Only one question remains - how will the Xiden administration get around and ignore this ruling?
What a thrilling and most appropriate gift to receive on our actual Independence Day!!
And not to dampen the joy of it, the Deep State never stops until they feel pain. Until they - someone, or a lot of someone’s-hear the sound of a jail cell door being slammed behind them, they will persist in their lawlessness. These judges have the power of the US Marshall’s at their disposal. I hope they will stand vigilantly on guard against any attempts by this lawless administration to pull an end-run around this order, and execute swift judgment on those who still seek to usurp the Constitution of the United States.