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John:
Good afternoon from Capitol Hill.
The dawn of the information age was supposed to change the world. When individuals could access and control the world’s collective information via the computer, the thinking went, the gatekeepers would lose all control and our collective genius would leap humanity forward.
That has, of course, happened in a thousand different ways. But we don’t just live in a pure information age anymore – we live in a fractured one. Information has never been more available, but it’s also never been more weaponized. New gatekeepers have arisen in and out of government that control the flow of information, use personal data to limit access to the marketplace, and suppress knowledge that doesn’t align with ideological goals.
Last week, we got another piece of evidence to that end when it was revealed that Johanna Olson-Kennedy, a key pioneer of prescribing puberty blockers and sex change surgeries to children, withheld the results of federally funded research on them when it revealed no measurable effect on children’s mental health. In other words, a key cheerleader of mutilating children “for their own benefit” hid the results of a $9.7 million taxpayer-funded study when it demonstrated that her entire thesis was flawed.
Not only is this wildly unethical from a medical perspective, it is utterly corrupt. But her view is shared across the government – Rachel (neé Richard) Levine, the Biden administration’s Assistant Secretary for Health at the Department of Health and Human Services, also knowingly lies about the “positive” impact of child sex changes.
Perhaps after the public health debacle that was COVID-19 this behavior is not entirely surprising, but it’s still intolerable that our tax dollars are being used to push a myth. How many parents have relied upon doctors telling them that puberty blockers, which have irreversible effects on kids, were the only way to treat their child’s depression?
In another facet of the information war, independent journalists Paul Thacker and Matt Taibbi report on a leak from the Center for Countering Digital Hate, whose founder is the British political operative Morgan McSweeney, and their written plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter.” McSweeney is chief of staff to the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and the group’s documents talk extensively about strengthening ties with the Biden-Harris administration and Democrats like Senator Amy Klobuchar, who has introduced several bills to regulate online misinformation.
Thacker and Taibbi report that “CCDH’s growing Washington office” is working on a plan to attack X’s advertising revenue. This is not unlike a similar effort launched by the U.S. State Department’s Global Engagement Center (GEC). The GEC, originally focused on disrupting ISIS propaganda, turned its “counter-messaging” operation homeward when it used its taxpayer funded mission to take revenue away from American businesses like the New York Post, the Federalist, and RealClearPolitics. The House Small Business Committee recently released its investigation into GEC, finding that it “circumvented its strict international mandate” by funding private contractors with “domestic censorship capabilities.”
The battlefield of politics has always been hearts and minds – but the weapons used to largely be limited to persuasion. Now, the information war is being openly waged against us with our own tax dollars. Our elected leaders should no longer tolerate it.
The Latest From Around The Conservative Movement
One More Thing…
The information war continues. American Accountability Foundation founder and president Tom Jones uncovers a DHS official using social media to help migrants illegally cross the southern border. More here.
Sincerely,
Rachel Bovard
Vice President of Programs
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