By Greg Salsbury

How many times in recent years — and with increasing frequency — have you forwarded a given news article involving lying, spying, or collusion of one or more of our governmental agencies to a friend or relative with an opening comment along the lines of “frightening,” or “disturbing,” or “unbelievable,” or “holy crap”? Have you lost count? Me too. But get ready for a few more.

Recall that shortly after the 2020 election, Ms. Ball, in her Time magazine exposé, proudly confessed/boasted as to how media coverage was alternately manufactured and coordinated and election rules altered to save the day with a sort of media/Democrat cabal. Only after did we get verification that perhaps the largest story of the entire election cycle — the Hunter Biden laptop — and all of its implications was, in fact, true, not a product of Russian disinformation as asserted by the 51 intelligence experts.

A March 2022 Rasmussen poll showed that the majority of the public simply did not believe that, with 52% of them saying that “cheating affected the outcome of the 2020 election.” A study published later that year by the Crime Prevention Research Center supported that view, finding that between 146k and 334k fraudulent votes were likely cast for Biden in six swing states where less than 90k votes would have turned the election. (In fact, it found that these estimates likely underestimated the level of fraud because they did not account for ballots cast for the opposing candidate that were lost, destroyed, or replaced.) And yet the leftist media continued to insist that anyone who wouldn’t accept the fact that Biden was elected legitimately was an “election denier” and that there is no evidence of fraud.

Now, the most recent bombshell Tucker Carlson interview of Mike Benz with the former Deputy Assistant Director of the State Department makes that position even more difficult to defend. Mr. Benz revealed how our own government, through the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and a Department of Homeland Security-backed consortium, censored tens of millions of pro-Trump social media postings in the run-up to election day. This involved the DHS declaration that elections are critical infrastructure and that social media is part of cybersecurity.

Tucker Carlson asks Mr. Benz,

So, in other words, complaining about election fraud is the same as taking down our power grid?

Mr. Benz replies,

Yes, you could literally be on your toilet seat at 9:30 on a Thursday night and Tweet, ‘I think that mail-in ballots are illegitimate.’ And you were essentially then caught up in the crosshairs of the Department of Homeland Security classifying you as conducting a cyberattack on U.S. critical infrastructure because you were doing misinformation online in the cyber realm, and misinformation is a cyberattack on democracy when it undermines public faith and confidence in our democratic elections and democratic institutions.

Mr. Benz continues,

And they bragged on tape about how they got the tech companies to all systematically adopt the new terms of service speech violation ban called delegitimization, which meant any Tweet, any YouTube video, any Facebook post, and TikTok video, any Discord post, any Twitch video, anything on the internet that undermined public faith and confidence in the use of mail-in ballots or early voting drop boxes or ballot tabulation issues on election day was a prima facia terms of service violation policy under this new delegitimization policy that they only adopted because of pass-through government pressure from The Election Integrity Partnership.

As disturbing as this is, consider that the Department of Homeland Security is only one — albeit a very powerful one — of the governmental agencies now targeting conservatives. In recent years, Americans have watched in shock as a weaponized DOJ and FBI have conducted unconstitutional investigations, with many of those resulting in SWAT raids and arrests of citizens for the crime of opposing the Left’s agenda in some way — supporting Trump, peacefully protesting abortion, questioning a school board about their woke curriculum, writing about Ashley Biden’s diary, being the leading candidate for the Republican Party, or having the slightest whiff of association with the events of January 6. Tellingly, such performance art arrests and trials are nonexistent for people on the other side of the political aisle.

Now, according to chilling documents obtained by the House’s “weaponization” committee led by Chairman Jim Jordan, we learn that many more Americans may be on the shortlist for SWAT raids and frog marches. They report that the federal government, through banking information and social media, has been “watching” Americans who frequent outdoor stores that sell guns, who are religious, who travel without a self-explanatory reason, or who use words in their communication that show support for Trump. The House committee confirmed that something as simple as shopping at Cabela’s or buying a Bible might well have gotten you placed on that government watch list. They also confirmed that merely mentioning things like “Trump, MAGA, etc.” in your communications may well have caused your communication to be blocked and/or to have gotten you placed on the McCarthy-style list.

Have such government lies and spies been normalized? Recall that the lies about COVID involved everything from its supposed “wet market” origins to sponsorship of gain of function research to the efficacy of masks, lockdowns, six-foot spacing, and vaccines. They wrecked the economy, destroyed thousands of businesses, stunted millions of children’s education — perhaps permanently — forced tens of millions of Americans to be needlessly and perhaps dangerously twice, thrice, or more vaccinated, and, of course, produced hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths. But only after all of this do we get just a bit of the truth about the policies and collusion of officials, governmental agencies, and media that promoted and protected them.

Similarly, only in 2024, years after the Russia Hoax soft coup was successful in smearing and hog-tying President Trump for the entirety of his term and imprisoning many of his associates, do we learn how this was not merely the innocent, if not incredulous, result of trusting an incompetent no-name informant, but a plan proactively hatched and pursued by our own intelligence agencies and the opposition party.

Only long after the events on January 6, 2021, do we learn that the alleged “insurrection” was no such thing. We now know that the government had so many paid informants at the Capitol that day they lost count and had to perform an audit, that this was not an “armed insurrection,” nor were any police officers killed as President Biden claimed, and that the data, documents, and video testimony obtained by the House select committee are now missing.

Many Americans may not have realized that when President Biden tells us that “Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans are a threat to the very soul of this country,” he is not merely spouting melodramatic Democrat talking points; he is communicating official policy of our governmental agencies — including those with very special access to citizens’ personal information and activity.

If you are a conservative or even if you have been anything less than a full-throated, supportive leftist and have accordingly expressed concern in some way — in your speech, your emails, your social media posts, publications, or consumer behavior — for the unconstitutional and/or boneheaded actions of this administration, you may have wondered if it was risky to assume such a position. These new revelations tell you that you need not wonder any longer. It most definitely is.

Many Americans who might find themselves targeted by this Orwellian surveillance are rightly asking, “What did being placed on that watch list mean?” Am I more likely to: Have an IRS agent using a fake name show up at my door to intimidate me as they did with Matt Taibbi? Have problems with my Social Security benefits or Medicare claims? Be hassled by the TSA or find myself on a “no-fly” list? Have my door kicked in at 4 a.m.? Be hauled off to a January 6th-type holding center with no bail for months or years? Be prosecuted for the crime of buying a Trump t-shirt, donating to The Epoch Times, or purchasing a Bible? Does my expression of these fears constitute an “undermining of public faith and confidence in our democratic elections and democratic institutions”? Insidiously, this is precisely what the Left wants conservatives to think and fear. Learning that CBS abruptly fired Catherine Herridge and confiscated her confidential files on the Hunter Biden laptop story helps stoke the appropriate fear.

With history as our guide, we might estimate that sometime between 2026 and 2028, we should begin to get some snippets about what our intelligence agencies pulled out of their bag for the 2024 election. But perhaps not, because one has to believe they are getting better at covering their tracks, and as their control continues to expand unabated, any opposition grows comparatively weaker — exposing the corruption is less likely to have much impact. Indeed, many of the massive lies referenced here achieved precisely what they intended, and virtually no one has been held responsible for the deception, illegality, and damage.

Increasingly, the cries of “banana republic,” “lawfare,” “Stasi,” and “Soviet-style” appear less hyperbolic and, disappointingly, more fitting. Fewer and fewer government oversteps seem beyond the realm of possibility at this point.

References
1. https://time.com/magazine/us/5936018/february-15th-2021-vol-197-no-5-u-s/
2. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/it-only-took-4-years-doj-finally-acknowledges-hunter-laptop-is-legitimate-for-first-time/ar-AA1ncGMI
3. https://crimeresearch.org/2022/03/rasmussen-reports-survey-most-voters-think-that-cheating-affected-the-outcome-of-the-2020-presidential-election/
4. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3756988
5. https://judiciary.house.gov/media/press-releases/new-report-reveals-cisa-tried-cover- censorship-practices
6. https://tuckercarlson.com/uncensored-the-national-security-state-the-inversion-of-democracy/
7. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/roger-stone-arrested-video-fbi-raid-trump-associate-house-today-2019-01-25/
8. https://www.nationalreview.com/news/pro-life-activist-arrested-after-swat-team-raids-home-with-guns-drawn-in-front-of-screaming-children/
9. https://freebeacon.com/campus/white-house-knew-about-letter-that-compared-parents-to-domestic-terrorists/
10. https://www.politico.com/news/2021/11/13/raid-veritas-okeefe-biden-press-521307
11. https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/3593418-fbi-raids-trumps-mar-a-lago/
12. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-06-12/fbi-raids-home-of-los-angeles-based-actor-who-entered-u-s-capitol-on-jan-6
13. https://www.newsweek.com/2023/10/13/exclusive-fbi-targets-trump-followers-as-2024-election-nears-1831836.html
14. https://judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/republicans-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/2024-01-17-jdj-to-bishoff-re-ti-request.pdf
15. https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/science-politics-covid-will-truth-prevail/
16. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/eci.13484
17. https://www.foxnews.com/media/latest-twitter-files-tackle-great-covid-19-lie-machine-flagging-true-content-disinformation
18. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/3-biggest-lies-of-fauci-that-american-s-won-t-forget/ar-AA1f9sI0
19. https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/twitter-files-expose-government-influence-suppressing-covid-messages-contradicted-wh
20. https://www.amazon.com/Russia-Hoax-Illicit-Hillary-Clinton/dp/0062872745
21. https://public.substack.com/p/cia-had-foreign-allies-spy-on-trump
22. https://public.substack.com/p/us-government-is-hiding-documents
23. The Secret History of the Shadow Campaign That Saved the 2020 Election | TIME
24. https://nypost.com/2023/09/19/fbi-lost-count-of-number-of-informants-at-capitol-on-jan-6-ex-official/
25. https://spectator.org/jan-6-seven-democrat-lies/
26. https://www.factcheck.org/2024/02/biden-makes-false-claim-about-jan-6-capitol-attack/
27. https://www.declassified.live/p/capital-crime-and-cover-up-where
28. https://www.newsweek.com/2023/10/13/exclusive-fbi-targets-trump-followers-as-2024-election-nears-1831836.html
29. What CBS News Did With Catherine Herridge’s Files Could Have Chilling Effect on Whistleblowers (townhall.com)