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Senator Ted Cruz has stopped the Democrats, for now, from paving the way for Big Tech to legally use censorship to silent opposition to their preferred leftist narrative ahead of the midterm elections.
Queen Elizabeth II is dead at 96 after 70 years on the throne.
Personal: I'll be out of the office next week. We will resume this Faith and Freedom column on Monday, September 19.
Our radio program will air reruns next week. I'll return to live broadcasts on Monday morning September 19.
Be informed, not misled.
The Associated Press reported yesterday morning: Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s longest-reigning monarch and a rock of stability across much of a turbulent century, died Thursday after 70 years on the throne. She was 96.
The palace announced she died at Balmoral Castle, her summer residence in Scotland, where members of the royal family had rushed to her side after her health took a turn for the worse.
A link to the almost-vanished generation that fought World War II, she was the only monarch most Britons have ever known.
Her 73-year-old son Prince Charles, now King Charles III, automatically becomes king, though the coronation might not take place for months.
The BBC played the national anthem, “God Save the Queen,” over a portrait of her in full regalia as her death was announced, and the flag over Buckingham Palace was lowered to half-staff as the second Elizabethan age came to a close.
Thank you, Senator Ted Cruz
After nearly two years of lobbying by representatives of the nation’s largest, wealthiest, and most pro-censorship media companies, after being killed in the House and then revived in the Senate, the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA) is (temporarily) dead again — killed by its champion Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), because Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) successfully added an amendment that would prevent media companies and tech companies from colluding on content moderation.
The whole idea behind this bill---Journalism Competition and Preservation Act, is to protect media journalism from being swallowed up by internet platforms---Big Tech.
Sen Cruz apparently understood the ploy behind the bill and submitted an amendment that clarified exactly what was going on with the bill.
Following the narrow passage (11-10) of his amendment, sponsor Amy Klobuchar (D) put on the brakes.
Cruz explained why he had added the amendment: “What this amendment would do, is it would say [that] when the cartel sits down to negotiation, it would say ‘we’re not going to discuss censorship, we’re going to discuss price,'” said Cruz.
The response was revealing.
Sen. Klobuchar’s response was to pull the bill from proceedings rather than pass it out of committee with the Cruz amendment. In doing so, she effectively revealed that enabling collusion between Big Media and Big Tech on censorship has always been a core Democrat aim behind the JCPA.
Sen. Cruz successfully won over his colleagues with his amendment. In tense exchanges at yesterday morning's markup hearing on the bill, a somewhat panicked-sounding Sen. Klobuchar attempted to persuade the lead Republican co-sponsor of the bill, Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA), that the amendment preventing censorship collusion between Big Media and Big Tech could not be allowed.
“Senator Kennedy… we’ve worked on this months. We won’t be able to support the Cruz amendment here… If this is in it, we can’t support the bill.”
“I don’t understand why,” responded Kennedy. “To me, the issue is supposed to be about money, and not about moderating content, and this [the amendment] just makes explicit what I thought was implicit in the bill.”
Immediately afterward, Klobuchar pulled the JCPA from proceedings, saying she could not support the bill with the addition of the Cruz amendment, which she said would “blow up the bill.”
“This was a surprise, this is a long-negotiated bill,” stated a rattled-sounding Klobuchar as committee proceedings wrapped up.
What just happened?
The Cruz amendment effectively exposed what JCPA supporters have been attempting to conceal from Republicans: that one of the core conditions of Democrat support for the bill is that it allows media companies to collude with Big Tech to censor their competitors.
Presented to Republicans as a way for struggling news companies to fight back against Big Tech and obtain more ad revenue from them, Sen. Klobuchar’s actions today reveal that Democrats intend the bill to be far wider in scope.
Sen. Cruz’s attempt to limit negotiations just to payment exposed the true aims of the Democrats: not saving independent journalism, but crushing it — with censorship, censorship, and more censorship.
Takeaway
Now, perhaps more than ever, Christians and conservatives must be informed.
Censorship has become the sword of the Left.
The Heritage Foundation published an excellent article last fall titled, "The Left Doesn't Just Want to Censor You on Social Media. It also Wants to Close Your Bank Accounts."
It's a good 4-minute read that's well sourced.
French statesman Alexis de Tocqueville once noted:
"Tyranny in democratic republics does not proceed in the same way, however. It ignores the body and goes straight for the soul. The master no longer says: You will think as I do or die. He says: You are free not to think as I do. You may keep your life, your property, and everything else. But from this day forth you shall be as a stranger among us."
Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Bold. Be Vigilant. Be Engaged. Be Prayerful.