Nota Bene: Appeals Court Expands Injunction Aimed at Biden’s Attempts To Censor Online Discourse

A federal appeals court, the Fifth Circuit at New Orleans, has expanded the scope of an injunction against the Biden administration’s efforts to police online media platforms to include the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Information Security Agency, or CISA, which the court says likely violated the First Amendment rights of Americans by attempting to suppress online chatter about the 2020 presidential election.The court’s ruling forbids the agency and its director, Jen Easterly, as well as her lieutenants, from attempting to “coerce or significantly encourage” tech companies to tamp down comments on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms that it considers problematic. The court says the agency routinely collaborated with the FBI in its efforts to police what it calls “mis-, dis-, and mal-information” about the elections. By “mal-information,” the agency means information “based on fact, but used out of context to mislead, harm, or manipulate.”CISA’s effort to curtail free speech “went beyond mere information sharing,” the court says. “Like the CDC for COVID-related claims, CISA told the platforms whether certain election-related claims were true or false. CISA’s actions apparently led to moderation policies being altered and content being removed or demoted by the recipient platforms.”The attorney general for Missouri, Andrew Bailey, one of the plaintiffs in the case Missouri v. Biden, described CISA as “the ‘nerve center’ of the vast censorship enterprise, the very entity that worked with the FBI to silence the Hunter Biden laptop story” in a post on Twitter shortly after the decision was handed down.The decision by the court expands on an injunction already in place that prevents officials from the White House, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the FBI, and others from forcing tech companies to remove comments or content challenging government directives or consensus opinions on vaccines, the Covid pandemic, election integrity, and other hot-button issues.“It is true that the officials have an interest in engaging with social media companies, including on issues such as misinformation and election interference,” the Fifth Circuit ruling states. “But the government is not permitted to advance these interests to the extent that it engages in viewpoint suppression.”The Biden administration has already appealed the earlier injunction to the Supreme Court, which is likely to hear the case later this fall.A Falsely Accused #MeToo Victim Reclaims His LifeA former star pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers who was sidelined by his team after being accused of sexual misconduct has produced evidence that his accuser planned her campaign against him for financial gain long before the two even met.Trevor Bauer announced this week that he is “moving on” with his life after his legal team produced text messages from his alleged victim, Lindsey Hill, bragging to friends that she had settled on her “next victim” and already had her “hook in” on Mr. Bauer. Video of her smirking while lying in bed with Mr. Bauer also surfaced.In 2021, Ms. Hill accused Mr. Bauer of assaulting her during two consensual sexual encounters at his home at Pasadena, California. Several media outlets credulously reported the allegations, and the Dodgers initially suspended him for 324 games. The suspension was later reduced to 194 games. He was dropped entirely from the roster in January of this year and moved to Japan in order to continue playing baseball.Thirsting for a Third OptionNearly two-thirds of Americans are so fed up with both political parties in America that they think a third major party is needed to shake things up, according to a new Gallup poll released Wednesday. Sixty-three percent of the respondents agreed with the statement that the Republican and Democratic parties do “such a poor job” of representing the American people that a viable alternative is needed. The figure represents a seven-point increase from a year ago and is the highest since Gallup first started asking the question in 2003.Also Noteworthy:The latest migrant crisis in Europe is shaping up to be much worse than the last one 2014 – 2016.A New York Democratic congressman, Jamaal Bowman, accused Senator Scott of “pandering to the Sambo section of the Black community” in the latest GOP debate.Transgender World Cup swimming races were canceled after no one entered.Mexico has started busing migrants in the interior of the country to the U.S. border. The country’s president said America can expect as many as 10,000 migrants a day at its border in the near future.A writer in Switzerland has been sentenced to 60 days in jail for referring to a journalist as a “fat lesbian.”Carjacked Texas congressman says Washington, D.C., is much more dangerous than his home district on the U.S.-Mexico border.Fat Bear Week kicks off Wednesday.

Nota Bene: Appeals Court Expands Injunction Aimed at Biden’s Attempts To Censor Online Discourse

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