The editorial comments in this article are brought to you by a former chief of police and current staff writer for Law Enforcement Today.
If Kyle Rittenhouse decides to sue both Facebook and Twitter, a lot of people—ourselves included—will be leading the cheers. You see, we at Law Enforcement Today have fallen victim to throttling by big tech companies, including the aforementioned tech tyrants just like Rittenhouse.
Last year, after the incident in which he was forced to protect himself by shooting three convicted criminals, killing two, both platforms silenced anyone who spoke out in support. As Allum Bokhari of Breitbart News, as well as us now ask, is supporting Kyle Rittenhouse now that he has been exonerated still banned?
Bokhari noted that neither platform has said whether or not support for him is still banned. In case you’ve been asleep or maybe hung over, Rittenhouse on Friday was found not guilty on all five remaining charges after the gun charge was dismissed by Judge Bruce Schroeder. Justice was served as Rittenhouse clearly was acting in self-defense.
Even during the trial, as prosecutors committed bungle after bungle and their case (what there was of one) fell apart on a daily basis, big tech companies continued censoring statements in support of the now 18-year-old, as reported in Breitbart News:
Over a year old, the ban is still in place on both Facebook and Instagram and is even catching GOP Senate candidates like Josh Mandel in its net.
Facebook says supporting Rittenhouse violates its guidelines on “violence or dangerous organizations.”
This is made even more hilarious by the fact that organizations such as Black Lives Matter, antifa and other clearly violent organizations are allowed on both platforms.
It has been reported that Twitter is also continuing to ban support for Rittenhouse, while allowing the Taliban and the Muslim Brotherhood on their platform. In other words, these big tech tyrants are abject hypocrites.
One Twitter user pointed out that Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), who called Rittenhouse a “17 year old white supremacist domestic terrorist” who “drove across state lines, armed with an AR 15,” still has that post up on Twitter despite every sentence contained therein being a lie.
She further lied, saying, “He shot and killed 2 people who had assembled to affirm the value, dignity, and worth of Black lives.” [emphasis added] That statement was also an outright lie, as the evidence, including video, proved.
You can make up complete lies about Kyle Rittenhouse and you won’t get banned.
But if you say Kyle Rittenhouse was innocent, you will be. pic.twitter.com/kIyyTcujSA
— Libertarian Party NH (@LPNH) November 8, 2021
Meanwhile, the user posted a tweet by the Libertarian Party of Kentucky in which they wrote:
“Watching this trial, it’s ever more obvious that Kyle Rittenhouse did nothing wrong.”
That tweet was flagged by Twitter claiming the content “condones or celebrates acts of violence that could promote imitation of the act. We also prohibit the glorification of mass murders or genocides when protected categories have been the primary target or victims. Glorifying the perpetrators of such violence is also prohibited.”
This is a joke, but it’s pretty much what we’ve come to expect from a company run by a guy who emulates Rasputin, or as the Daily Wire’s Michael Knowles calls him, “Hipster Rasputin.”
Another twitter user said he was suspended for 12 hours by Twitter for:
“@MayoIsSpicyy He’s innocent AF and he deserves to be on Mount Rushmore. Kyle is a hero.”
@tos i just got suspended for 12 hours for this tweet. lmao you’re a fucking joke twitter #freekyle #kyleisinnocent pic.twitter.com/mKdcKFE259
— 🍌Psycho🥝Josh🍓(comms OPEN) (@FruitBowlPsycho) November 3, 2021
That user was tagged for “glorifying violence.”
Breitbart said they reached out to both Twitter and Facebook to see if their bans on supporting Rittenhouse were still active after a jury of his peers found him not guilty, while asking if the rules put in place by them distinguish between support for violence and support for legal self-defense.
Neither company has thus far responded.
One tech tyrant, GoFundMe has reversed a ban on fundraising for Rittenhouse in light of the not guilty verdict, saying fundraisers in support of Rittenhouse would now be permitted in light of his acquittal.
They claimed he was only banned after Rittenhouse was charged with violent crimes. Our take on that is to find another crowd funding site since GoFundMe shouldn’t be allowed to make one dime off support for Rittenhouse now that they’ve been proven wrong.
Meanwhile, Twitter users pointed out that GoFundMe meanwhile was perfectly fine with hosting fundraisers for others charged with violence, as long as they were doing so in the name of Black Lives Matter.
One user wrote:
“Your garbage website is actively soliciting legal defense cash for violent BLM activists facing charges for felony rioting, assaulting cops, and—I kid you not—“bank robbery during [a] George Floyd riot,” not to mention the countless rioter bail funds you’re currently hosting.”
Your garbage website is actively soliciting legal defense cash for violent BLM activists facing charges for felony rioting, assaulting cops, and—I kid you not—“bank robbery during [a] George Floyd riot,” not to mention the countless rioter bail funds you’re currently hosting. https://t.co/MOCp6WjItK pic.twitter.com/v3gpKxaHew
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) November 19, 2021
This was in response to a tweet in which GoFundMe published their alleged terms of service in which they said raising money “for the legal defense of an alleged violent crime” was not allowed as an explanation for its original ban of fundraising for Rittenhouse.
The cowardly company then switched off replies to the tweet, while its CEO locked his account shortly after the verdict was announced.
Afterward, GiveSendGo, a Christian-owned crowdfunding site which allowed pro-Rittenhouse fundraisers throughout the trial slammed GoFundMe’s rush to judgment in a tweet:
This is why we let the facts come out and not just shut down on side of the narrative. GiveSendGo is not pro-left or pro-right, instead we are pro everyone getting the chance to have their voices heard! pic.twitter.com/7jsVjvOnBV
— GiveSendGo (@GiveSendGo) November 19, 2021
Bokhari noted that during the summer of 2020, neither Facebook, Twitter or GoFundMe made any effort whatsoever to block users from donating to support “violent, race-fueled riots that swept American cities in the summer of 2020, that left dozens dead, caused over $1 billion in property damage, and led to the assaults on Rittenhouse that caused him to fire in self-defense.” [emphasis added]
To show exactly how hypocritical Twitter in particular is, their platform was used to identify looting targets during various riots.
For more on tech tyranny, this time involving Amazon, we invite you to:
DIG DEEPER
The following contains some editorial content which is the opinion of the author, a retired Chief of Police and current staff writer for Law Enforcement Today.
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SEATTLE, WA- Know this…Amazon is not only the enemy of small business across the U.S. it is also an enemy of the people of the U.S.
The same company that removed the social media app Parler from its web hosting service, Amazon Web Services (AWS) in January, had until this week hosted the propaganda arm of ISIS on its cloud-based service.
When Amazon removed Parler earlier this year just days after the so-called “insurrection” at the US Capitol, it claimed this was done because users posted language on its site that might “incite violence.”
Of course anyone who wants to post such language is free to do so on Twitter unless that language targets liberals. If it targets conservatives, that’s fine.
Amazon of course is run by a bunch of hypocrites. In January (and actually much later), Amazon was discovered by the Media Research Center (MRC) to have some 204 products on its site which promoted violence against former President Donald Trump, Republicans, and police officers.
Examples included a coffee mug which showed a picture of Trump with the saying, “Where is Lee Harvey Oswald now that we really need him?” a reference to the man who allegedly assassinated President John F. Kennedy in 1963. There are numerous other examples cited by MRC.
In June, we reported that Amazon was promoting anti-police merchandise on their site, some of which advocated violence against law enforcement officers. Amazon defended the sale of such merchandise, claiming that they wanted “to provide customers with the widest possible selection of goods.”
This was in response to the Washington Free Beacon reaching out to Amazon about their continued sale of “Blue Lives Murder” merchandise on their platform.
Of course, Amazon has no problem with removing merchandise considered not to be politically correct, including merchandise that mocked Kamala Harris and of course engage in digital book-burning of any books which don’t meet the political agenda, such as those involving the transgender mafia of the alphabet movement.
Amazon, however had no problem whatsoever hosting a terrorist group, the Islamic State (ISIS) and their propaganda arm. It wasn’t until this week, after a group called “ISIS-K” killed hundreds of people in a terrorist attack at the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, including United States Marines and a Navy corpsman, totaling thirteen in all, that Amazon removed them from its hosting service.
This came about only after the Washington Post reported on Thursday that ISIS relied on Amazon Web Services’ technology platform to promote violent radical extremism.
According to the Seattle Times, Nida-e-Haqq, an Islamic State media group which acts as the propaganda arm for ISIS has been using AWS to host its content, despite company policies that allege they don’t work with terror groups. AWS is the dominant cloud hosting service in the world.
To add insult to injury, after the Thursday’s terrorist attack, the group used AWS services to celebrate the attack. Amazon disabled the website on Friday…just in the nick of time, right Jeff Bezos?
The Times reported that content included on the now-disabled website included messages about the Islamic State-Khorasan sub-group that claimed responsibility for the deadly terrorist attack, according to Rita Katz, executive director of SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors online extremism and found the link between AWS and the group.
On Thursday, the Nida-e-Haqq app showed what it claimed was an image of the suicide bomber wrapped in an IED vest ahead of the explosion which caused the carnage in Afghanistan.
Hey, but at least they weren’t posting images critical of Democrats or anti-LGBTQ books.
In May, Law Enforcement Today reported on a company that was selling novelty “American Freedom Passports,” so-called “vaccination passports” which were clearly being sold as a tongue-in-cheek play on the ability of people to identify as members of the opposite sex, or perhaps as Rachel Dolezal did identifying as a different race. This allowed people the opportunity to “identify” as being vaccinated.
Well, Amazon was having none of that. American Freedom Passports, which was using Amazon Pay to collect payment from customers, was notified that Amazon closed their Amazon Pay account.
The claim was that the merchandise was being offered “may” have been in violation of Amazon’s “Acceptable Use Policy.”
American Freedom Passports appealed and to nobody’s surprise, were informed that the account was reviewed, and Amazon held to shutting down the account.
To make matters worse, Amazon doesn’t release the funds being held in the merchant’s account right away and hold the funds hostage for “90 days or upon completion of all pending investigations.” [emphasis added]
As we pointed out, Amazon has an issue with selling parody “vaccination passports” under it’s “false documents” narrative but sells The 1619 Project, a book that has been widely panned by historians and constitutional scholars as being factually incorrect with no basis in truth.
Terrorists using their web hosting service? It apparently wasn’t a problem until they got unmasked for doing so.
“(F)ollowing an investigation, we have disabled a website that linked to this app as it was in violation of the AWS Acceptable Use Policy,” said Amazon spokesman Casey McGee in an emailed statement sent late Friday after the Washington Post’s expose.
That policy prevents customers from using AWS “to threaten, incite, promote, or actively encourage violence, terrorism, or other serious harm.”
The Times reported that according to Katz, the source code for the app “draws words and images from a website for the Islamic State propaganda arm.” The Post said that since the content is password protected, the content couldn’t be reviewed by them, however the outlet was able to report that according to domain records, the terrorist organization was hosted by Amazon Web Services since April.
“It’s just mind-blowing that even after all these years, ISIS could still find a way to exploit a hosting company like Amazon,” Katz said. “Of course, we should presume that ISIS will always be searching for ways to bypass security protocols, but this app isn’t even trying to stay low-key.
“It is blatantly filled with official ISIS claims, media and logos of ISIS’ media arms, clear as day. This app was clearly created to keep ISIS’ message and content alive and distributed online…It is clear that the stakes of keeping such content offline is no less major than in past years.”
Despite Amazon, like most major American tech companies having policies to prohibit Islamist terror groups from using their services, Amazon did so for at least four months with deadly consequences.
In case you missed it, below is our report on Amazon refusing to remove anti-police merchandise from its website.
DIG DEEPER
SEATTLE, WA- Last week, Law Enforcement Today reported on Amazon, which should be broken up under the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, selling hateful, anti-police merchandise on their platform.
While the company has engaged in an electronic book-burning campaign over books it deems politically incorrect, they have defended allowing the cop-hating merchandise on the site, according to The Blaze.
Despite getting widely slammed by law enforcement organizations and those who support the police, Amazon gave a weak excuse of wanting to provide customers “with the widest possible selection of goods.”
That selection of course does not include the Confederate flag. One would think if you’re going to ban goods that “foment hate,” you would be a bit consistent about it. Not Amazon.
The Washington Free Beacon received a response from Amazon in response to their questions about the continued sale of “Blue Lives Murder” merchandise on the platform.
“We do not endorse the content of any particular book, video or product,” an Amazon spokeswoman told the outlet.
“We understand some customers may find some products objectionable, and we provide customers with a variety of ways to engage and express their views, including through product reviews.”
The products were briefly removed last year after complaints from law enforcement organizations, however they are now back on the site, including items such as a blue T-shirt for a nifty $39.99, a black T-shirt and of course your basic coronavirus-fighting face mask.
After complaints started rolling in, Amazon actually added other merchandise, including a baseball cap and an outdoor headscarf, although the Beacon said those items might be soon removed.
Amazon previously has not been shy about removing merchandise that doesn’t fit its political agenda, with products being pulled that mocked Kamala Harris and of course the alphabet movement concerning transgender ideology.
Specifically, they removed T-shirts that mocked Harris, and earlier this year, pulled a book called “When Harry Became Sally” about transgenderism, and said they would no longer “sell books that frame LGBTQ+ identity as a mental illness.” The foregoing book by the way is still available on Barnes & Noble and a number of other websites.
In an era where the political class and leftists complain about “systemic racism,” Amazon pulled a documentary about Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, a conservative black during Black History Month with nary an explanation.
The documentary, which was to appear on Amazon Prime, the tech tyrant’s streaming service was pulled without explanation, with a message reading, “This video is currently unavailable to watch in your location” showing for anyone trying to view it. The DVD was also listed as “currently unavailable” on Amazon’s website.
In 2019, sucking up to CAIR, the anti-Semitic Council on American-Islamic Relations, Amazon removed a number of products which were considered “offensive” to Muslims.
In Washington, D.C., Fraternal Order of Police President Gerald Neill Jr. slammed Amazon for its biased continuing sale of what he referred to as “hate items.”
“Amazon has a role in society as an industry leader to set a high standard, and they’re not doing that,” he said. “I think Amazon is not being evenhanded.”
Last month, NYPD’s Detectives’ Endowment Association, representing NYPD detectives also eviscerated Amazon for putting cops “at peril and risk” by selling the “disgusting” items.
Meanwhile, retired Detroit Police Chief James Craig fired a shot across the bow to Amazon as well, calling the company hypocritic.
“It’s hypocrisy and it’s wrong,” Craig said on Fox News’ “America Reports.”
“Selling something like ‘Blue Lives Murder’ does nothing but promote the anti-police rhetoric…Police officers are being attacked aggressively at an alarming rate, and it’s this kind of rhetoric that helps fuel it.”
Under Amazon Marketplace policy, it states that doesn’t allow products from third-party sellers that “promote, incite, or glorify hatred, violence, racial, sexual or religious intolerance or promote organizations with such views,” while adding that the company “reserves the right to determine the appropriateness of listings on its site.”
Clearly “appropriateness” includes that merchandise which meets a certain political agenda.
Editor note: In 2020, we saw a nationwide push to “defund the police”. While we all stood here shaking our heads wondering if these people were serious… they cut billions of dollars in funding for police officers. And as a result, crime has skyrocketed – all while the same politicians who said “you don’t need guns, the government will protect you” continued their attacks on both our police officers and our Second Amendment rights.
And that’s exactly why we’re launching this national crowdfunding campaign as part of our efforts to help “re-fund the police”.
For those looking for a quick link to get in the fight and support the cause, click here.
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