If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The House Judiciary Committee has accused FTC Chair Lina Khan, appointed by President Biden, of using the agency’s powers to target Elon Musk’s Twitter. The claims emerged in a report, revealing that the FTC intensified its scrutiny of Twitter immediately following Musk’s acquisition, pushing for an immediate vote on a long-pending consent decree. Documents indicate that despite the consent decree being in negotiation before Musk’s involvement, Khan initiated an urgent vote just days after Musk’s acquisition was publicized. Over the first three months of Musk’s leadership, the FTC sent Twitter over a dozen letters, initiating more than 350 demands for documents and information, some of which extended beyond the scope of the existing consent decree. We obtained a copy of the report for you here. A consent decree, as Cornell Law School notes, is a settlement that is approved by a court, where the FTC can enforce specific conditions and demand information as part of ongoing compliance checks. Historically, consent decrees were discussed and reviewed thoroughly by FTC commissioners and staff before any voting. However, the report criticizes Khan for rushing this process, limiting the time for proper review despite Republican Commissioners’ requests for more time to examine the evidence. Commissioner Noah Philips and his attorney advisor questioned the sudden urgency, with Khan’s team responding that it was due to Musk’s recent acquisition. Yet, the reviewed FTC documents show that Khan pushed for the accelerated vote even before Twitter requested a swift resolution. This fast-tracking of the vote did not align with Khan’s public claims that it was Twitter, not the FTC, urging the quick decision. However, the urgency communicated internally clearly linked the expedited process to Musk’s takeover. Moreover, the FTC’s aggressive approach post-consent decree involved demanding extensive communications from Twitter related to Musk, which the Committee described as a tactic to harass Musk. The FTC also explored leveraging Twitter’s disclosure to journalists as a potential way to invalidate the company’s claim to document privacy. This increased scrutiny coincided with revelations from the Twitter Files, disclosed by journalists like Michael Shellenberger and Matt Taibbi, which highlighted attempts by the Biden administration to influence Big Tech towards censoring certain online narratives, allegedly impacting election integrity. The FTC initially justified their investigation into Twitter citing the legal concerns triggered by the disclosures Musk facilitated to these journalists. Yet, the FTC concluded earlier in 2024 that Twitter had adequate privacy safeguards, leading to the closure of this investigation. In this vein, the report from the Committee suggests that the FTC’s aggressive stance may have been more about punishing Musk for exposing government pressures on tech censorship than about genuine regulatory concerns. If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post FTC Chair Lina Khan Faces Backlash for Alleged Targeting of Musk’s Twitter Takeover appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

When Gov Protected 'Children in Need' Turn Out to Be Al-Qaeda, Do 'Racist' Citizens Get Their Lives Back?

On today's Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough attempted a two-part defense of Joe Biden having yesterday called Trump supporters "garbage." Part One: Try to bury the remark. In his opening gush over Kamala's supposedly "compelling" speech at the Ellipse last night, Scarborough said: She kept talking about finding common ground. She kept talking about compromise. She kept talking about being the president of all Americans, even those Americans who vote against her, and what a marked contrast. There are so many distractions in this campaign. Other news channels will get distracted with people who are not running in this campaign. What matters is what the two people who are running in this campaign are saying. Nice try at obfuscation, Joe. But let's translate what you said: Fox News will get "distracted" by Biden's "garbage" line, but not us! We'll focus on the pearls of wisdom from Kamala and Walz! Part Two: When forced to address the controversy, laugh it off. When Jonathan Lemire later raised Biden's "garbage" line, Scarborough put on a big, phony smile [see screencap] and emitted a faux chuckle, dismissively saying "of course." He then tried to shift to controversial things Trump says, claiming that "all of his people immediately go to it and brush it off and explain it away or just completely ignore it." In a risible attempt to prove that Biden didn't mean what he said, Scarborough noted that Biden "immediately afterward said no, that's not what I meant. I was talking about the comedian." Uh, yeah. You can be sure that his handlers in the wings were horrified to hear Biden's "garbage" slur on Trump supporters. So naturally they promptly put out a "clarification" in his name. After the controversy exploded, did Scarborough honestly expect Biden to double down? "Yeah, I meant it. Trump supporters. They're garbage: garbage! Every last one of them! On my word as a Biden!" One glaring, telling omission in the segment. Biden's actual comment was never shown. Instead of rolling the readily-available video, Lemire read from the transcript of Biden's remark. Why? Because people viewing the video would see that Biden was talking about all Trump's supporters. If Trump had ever said something similar, Scarborough would be running it on a continuous loop! And wouldn't you have loved to be a fly on the wall when Kamala was informed about Biden's comment, and how it has partly overshadowed her big speech? We can imagine that Kamala "unburdened" herself of a few choice words! Here's the transcript. MSNBC Morning Joe 10/30/24 6:03 am EDT JOE SCARBOROUGH: So I will say, in contrast to what Donald Trump has said, it was, I thought it was compelling.  I loved the message last night, and she kept going back to it, Willie. She kept going back to how people that disagree with her are not the enemy. She doesn't want to put them in jail. She wants to put them around the table and listen to them. She kept talking about finding common ground. She kept talking about compromise. She kept talking about being the president of all Americans, even those Americans who vote against her, and what a marked contrast. There are so many distractions in this campaign. Other news channels will get distracted with people who were not running in this campaign. What matters is what the two people who are running in this campaign are saying.  . . .  JONATHAN LEMIRE: And as you mentioned, President Biden last night kind of kicked off a firestorm himself. He was on a Zoom with Latino supporters, urging them to vote early. He addressed the Puerto Rico comments. And what he said was, I'll just read a little bit here from the transcript. He says that I know Puerto Ricans from my hometown state of Delaware. they're good, decent honorable people. The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters. His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable and un-American." Now, some on the right have seized that comment to mean his supporters, meaning Donald Trump's supporters, meaning all Trump supporters, half the country.  The White House is saying, no, no, there's an apostrophe there. He's talking about "his supporter," meaning the comedian. His comments are unconscionable and un-American. That's the controversy last night. The president took to Twitter soon after the Zoom, tried to clean it up, clarify that he was not talking about all the Americans -- half the American public But it is certainly a controversy that the White House and the Harris campaign are dealing with today, as the right tries to make it -- we're showing the tweet here from the president: "His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable," the president writes, "That's all I meant to say." The president said something, immediately tried to clarify it, Joe. But it's certainly a story on the right, who are trying to paint this to be the next basket of deplorables. SCARBOROUGH: [Big smile, chuckles] Well, of course. Donald Trump says shocking things every day, and Fox News and all of his apologists in the Republican party immediately go to it and brush it off, explain it away, or just completely ignore it. Here, they're trying to make a firestorm out of something that, again, if you look at it. You see what he said immediately afterward, which Donald Trump didn't say. He immediately afterward said no, that's not what I meant. I was talking about the comedian and people who supported that kind of talk.

Republicans clearly believe that transgender-related liberal culture war nonsense is a winning issue for them, which means that PolitiFact views it as their job to defend Democrats from the true attacks on their record. On Tuesday, PolitiFact was it again, rating Nevada Republican Senate challenger Sam Brown “false” for correctly stating Sen. Jacky Rosen supports allowing men to compete in women’s sports. Seth Richardson, who wrote two previous articles defending Sen. Sherrod Brown’s transgender record, quotes Brown as tweeting, "Jacky Rosen voted to allow biological men to compete in women’s sports, and she made it clear she still stands by her votes against women." He also quotes his old nemesis, the Senate Leadership Fund, as “saying Rosen backed ‘trans biological men in girls’ sports.’” Richardson then rehashed his previous arguments, “But the Senate Leadership Fund’s ad cited Rosen’s 2021 and 2024 votes against amendments to broader funding bills. The super PAC made the same argument — using the same evidence — in an ad targeting another Democratic incumbent: U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown in Ohio. We rated that False.” He continued, “The claims against Rosen are similarly misleading: The amendments Rosen voted against would have stripped federal funding from schools and colleges that allowed transgender girls and women to compete in sports matching their gender identity. They did not address athletic eligibility; federal law rarely dictates who is eligible for specific sports.” That was a bad argument then and it still is. The SLF’s argument was that given how schools depend on federal funding, it is appropriate to frame the proposal as a ban. Richardson also claimed, “The bills did not dictate athletic eligibility. Governing bodies such as the National Collegiate Athletic Association controls that. Federal law addresses compensation, amateur status, antitrust or other civil issues.” Yes, and “other civil issues” includes Title IX, which mandates that women be given equal sporting opportunities. Conservatives argue allowing men to invade women’s sports violates that rule. Like his defense of Sherrod Brown, Richardson’s argument that Rosen’s vote was against a measure that Sen. Tommy Tuberville tried to attach to an unrelated spending bill is not credible because there is nothing to suggest Rosen would vote the other way if a standalone bill came up for a vote. As Richardson himself noted: These claims regarding Rosen came after the University of Nevada, Reno, women’s volleyball team forfeited an Oct. 26 match against San Jose State University over reports that one San Jose State player is a transgender woman… Rosen has not commented publicly on the University of Nevada, Reno, controversy, but her campaign spokesperson, Johanna Warshaw, said in an email Rosen believes coaches and athletic leagues are ‘in the best position’ to ensure fair athletic competition.” The league Rosen is hiding behind is the Mountain West Conference, which has denounced the long list of teams declining to compete against SJSU. Sam Brown and the SLF were correct and PolitiFact was wrong again. The next time PolitiFact founder Bill Adair shows up on TV and says Republicans are fact-checked more because they lie more, just remember that PolitiFact needs to be fact-checked as well.

Last week, I saw one of the most horrifying things I have ever witnessed in the world of propaganda: Kamala Harris and John Kelly’s blatant distortion of Donald Trump’s words to an alarming degree. I just published a book about propaganda, and having researched this topic as of late, I’m deeply troubled by what I saw. This goes beyond typical political spin. It’s part of a dangerous narrative that goes after Trump, our Constitution, and ultimately, you.Trump’s former chief of staff, John Kelly, made the same claim that the left has been making against Trump since the very beginning and has been escalating in recent weeks: that Trump is a fascist, drawing comparisons to Adolf Hitler.The most unsettling part of Harris’ statement is how it smears not only Trump but also everyone who supports him.Harris leapt at the opportunity to use this fodder for her campaign, claiming Trump wanted “generals like Adolf Hitler had,” implying that he desires a military loyal to him rather than to the Constitution. This accusation is not only unsubstantiated but also a direct insult to the very concept of the American military’s loyalty to the Constitution, a principle that sets us apart from authoritarian regimes.Let’s be clear: In the United States, our military pledges allegiance to the Constitution, not to any individual. Service members take an oath to defend the Constitution and can reject unlawful orders. I believe Kelly was fired by Trump and that this PR stunt in Harris’ campaign is his pitiful attempt at seeking vengeance for his bruised pride.If Trump had indeed said such a thing, Kelly as chief of staff would have been duty-bound to bring it before the American people immediately. Why are we hearing about this claim years later? Why wait until 2024 amid the Democrats’ growing campaign panic? This is clearly just another campaign tactic without any corroborating evidence.Harris suggests that Trump would “abandon the Constitution” and accuses him of smearing his fellow Americans as “the enemy within.” She overlooks that Trump, like Abraham Lincoln, has used “the enemy within” to describe internal threats. “If destruction be our lot,” Lincoln warned, “we must ourselves be its author and finisher.”In other words, the real threat comes from abandoning the nation’s foundational values. Many Americans, regardless of political affiliation, fear internal forces are pulling the country apart. Harris is the puppet of those forces.The most unsettling part of Harris’ statement is how it smears not only Trump but also everyone who supports him. She claims that Trump would go after anyone who disagrees with him — a blatantly false accusation. In reality, her own party and the machine behind her campaign have been censoring and silencing those who challenge their narrative. If you questioned the safety and effectiveness of COVID vaccines and lockdowns, raised concerns about election integrity, or criticized the revolving door between Big Pharma, Big Food, and the FDA, you became a target of censorship. This is why they are targeting figures like Elon Musk, Tulsi Gabbard, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who openly challenge their agenda.Harris’ rhetoric crosses a line. She is perfectly comfortable telling blatant lies, no matter their repercussions, so long as it benefits her campaign. If she did it to Trump, she will do it to you. If the machine goes after Elon, Tulsi, and RFK Jr., it will go after you.This election season isn’t merely about Trump and his allies. This is about whether we will give power to the same political machine that has actively worked to discredit you and silence you for an additional four years. The decision is yours on November 5.Want more from Glenn Beck? Get Glenn's FREE email newsletter with his latest insights, top stories, show prep, and more delivered to your inbox.

There’s no denying that there is no presidential candidate that perfectly encapsulates Christianity through policy positions. However, there is one candidate whose plans for America would move the country farther in the direction of Christianity and one candidate who would take us all in the opposite direction — to what might be the point of no return. “It is so clear to me that we are not battling Democrat-Republican; we are truly battling light and dark, life and death, good and evil,” Glenn Beck of “The Glenn Beck Program” tells Pastor Josh McPherson of Grace City Church. McPherson couldn’t agree more and believes that Christians who are planning to hang back from the voting booths are doing their neighbors, and themselves, a great disservice. “I think Christians have been misled and wrongly disciplined in relationship to their responsibility as citizens of heaven, to be engaged here as citizens of earth,” McPherson says. “The kingdom of God does not hover, Glenn, a mile above the earth. It lands in our sex lives, in our marriages, in our dysfunctional family systems, in our relationships, in our entertainment, in our food, and yes, in our politics,” he adds. McPherson explains that there’s “demonic gaslighting that says Christian’s shouldn’t be political.” However, he has “a fundamental conviction that we cannot be biblical unless we are political.” And it goes all the way back to the Bible. “The entire storyline of the Bible is a story of God against governments. Rogue empire governments, tyrannical, abusive, heavy-handed, oppressive government systems like Egypt, like Persia, like Rome. And the story is those because when you remove God from a society, what replaces it typically is that which is biggest and most powerful, namely government,” McPherson explains. “It’s the church’s job to function as the conscience of a society, and when the church goes silent, a culture loses its conscience and a government loses its mind, and everyone suffers,” he adds. Want more from Glenn Beck?To enjoy more of Glenn’s masterful storytelling, thought-provoking analysis, and uncanny ability to make sense of the chaos, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

Legendary American astronaut Buzz Aldrin announced his endorsement in the 2024 presidential election — and leftists on social media are not taking it well."I believe we are best served by voting for @realDonaldTrump," Aldrin wrote in a lengthy statement on X on Wednesday morning. "I wholeheartedly endorse him for President of the United States."Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin became a household name in July 1969 when he and fellow Apollo 11 crew member Neil Armstrong became the first men to walk on the moon. So it comes as no surprise that Aldrin endorsed Trump mainly because of the former president's interest in space defense and exploration."Over time, I have seen our government’s approach to space wax and wane. But under the first Trump Administration, I was impressed to see how human space exploration was elevated as a policy of high importance again," Aldrin said in his statement.To support his claim, Aldrin noted that Trump founded Space Force and reinstituted the National Space Council. Key Trump allies in the private sector such as Elon Musk have likewise made "advancements" in space exploration technology, Aldrin added.Aldrin met Trump in the Oval Office in 2019 to mark the 50th anniversary of the moon landing. While there, he lamented the recent reduction in funding for space programs.'I did respect you, but you don’t respect any of the women in your life.'In addition to discussing his concerns about space, Aldrin, 94, expressed concerns about the direction America is currently heading. He then indicated that Trump has the temperament and the "sober analysis" needed to withstand the "pressure" of the job "with firmness and follow-through.""In times of uncertainty real leaders are most needed – to guide and inspire a people, to push through the noise, recognize what really matters, and accomplish missions critical to all citizens."Aldrin did not make any reference to a political party or to Trump's opponent, Kamala Harris. Nevertheless, leftists on X railed against the beloved nonagenarian, claiming to have lost respect for him and his judgment."You just lost a fan. Donald Trump is a convicted felon traitor you back [sic]," wrote one disgruntled user who lists his manifold academic bona fides in his X bio."Such an unforced error. You know what it means to see the bigger picture, shame," another added.Others claimed Aldrin was doing a disservice to women by voting for Trump.""I have lost all respect I had for you. You should talk to the women in your life more," said one."Wow. I did respect you, but you don’t respect any of the women in your life. And with your own words, you state that the space program is more important to you than any women, their rights, their autonomy, or their ability to make decisions about their own body. Shameful," wrote another.Some of those comments have dozens or even hundreds of likes.With less than a week before Election Day, Trump currently holds a narrow national lead of just .4 and a lead in six of the seven battleground states, according to the RealClearPolling average.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

While it’s always frustrating when a promising game releases in a less-than-ideal state, I do enjoy seeing one go through a solid redemption arc. Payday 3 is definitely one of those games. It’s been steadily honing the co-op FPS into an experience that better captures the magic of its still-popular predecessor, and now that it’s pushed live its massive anniversary update full of essential new features and improvements, it’s finally starting to look like the experience it should’ve been from the get-go. Continue reading Payday 3 just dropped its most important update yet for free MORE FROM PCGAMESN: The best co-op games on PC, The best crime games on PC, The best FPS games

2023 was a heck of a year for games - we had Baldur’s Gate 3, Alan Wake 2, Starfield, and plenty more. One of the best and most intriguing titles released that year was Ghostrunner 2, a speed-filled slaughterfest in a cyberpunk, neon-drenched city. To celebrate the anniversary of its launch, developer One More Level has released what is set to be the game’s final DLC, along with a few freebies for anyone who owns the game. Continue reading Cyberpunk parkour hit Ghostrunner 2 gets final DLC one year after launch MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Ghostrunner 2 review, Best parkour games, Best RPG games

While Cosmoscouts - the small indie dev team behind Moon Mystery - is thrilled with comparisons to Starfield, it's perhaps an easy connection to make. Since Starfield arrived, most any space game now has parallels drawn to the Bethesda hit, when, in fact, it's important to judge new space games on their own merit. Continue reading Space game Moon Mystery is no Starfield clone, it’s actually so much more MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best space games, Best FPS games, Best single-player games