The Patriot Post® · Barr's Show Trial

Attorney General William Barr testified before the House Judiciary Committee yesterday. It was a tense hearing with congressional liberals accusing the attorney general of prioritizing the president’s political interests above the national interest and leading a federal assault on “peaceful protesters.”

Many parts of this hearing will be replayed on the nightly news. But I want to make an observation about the overall tenor of yesterday’s event.

The totalitarians in Beijing or Moscow would have applauded the way the liberal majority ran the hearing. It was reminiscent of a communist show trial that dissidents who dare to question the state’s authority are subjected to.

House Democrats were not interested in getting information from William Barr. They shouted over him or interrupted him every time he tried to answer their baseless charges.

In doing so, they mimicked what the leftists on our universities do. They operated the way the leftists who control social media do. They shouted down and censored Barr.

As we have repeatedly pointed out, the left cannot convince anyone of the bizarre positions it takes. So it has one tactic — to silence conservative thought by labeling it hate and smearing the person attempting to speak.

If, God forbid, next year the same leftist majority still controls the House, has taken the Senate, and Joe Biden is president, magnify everything you saw in this hearing a thousand times — that will be our new reality. The left never intends to lose another election. If it has to rip up the Constitution to shut us up, it will.

The Left vs. the Law

Barr unapologetically defended his investigation of the “bogus” Russiagate scandal, as well as the brave men and women on the Thin Blue Line. In his opening statement, Barr denounced the demonization of police, condemned “grossly irresponsible proposals to defund the police,” and warned that “crime on the streets is a massively greater threat” to black lives than police misconduct.

The attorney general noted that approximately 7,500 black Americans are killed every year. Ninety percent of them are killed by other blacks. “Each of those lives matter,” Barr said.

The hearing began with a bang, or several bangs, courtesy of Rep. Jim Jordan. As the focus of the hearing was oversight of the Justice Department and the role of law enforcement in the recent protests, Jordan thought it would be a good idea to show a video highlighting the abuse members of law enforcement have sustained since the riots began.

It was a great idea!

The video was several minutes long and was carried live by the major networks that have repeatedly described all of the protests as “peaceful.” Well, what are you going to believe — the lying left-wing media or your own eyes? Watch it below.

Meanwhile, there are disturbing reports that radical leftists are now embedding nails into the fireworks that they are launching at federal buildings and law enforcement officers.

It is worth noting that while Democrats and their media allies are trying to condemn President Trump as a dictator for sending reinforcements to put down these riots, the public is strongly on the side of law and order.

According to a recent Rasmussen poll, 55% of likely voters support the deployment of federal law enforcement officers to help cities deal with rising violence. Only 36% oppose the additional police support. That’s the core of the Democrat base.

I have heard many Americans say lately that they feel like we are reliving the turmoil of the 1960s. Well, the great Silent Majority rejected the left’s anarchy in 1968, and I hope and pray it does so again this November!

Big Tech Strikes Again

Monday, a group of doctors held a press conference on Capitol Hill with Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC). The point of the press conference was to provide a public platform for these doctors to express their views on the coronavirus pandemic.

The press conference was broadcast live online and was extremely popular. More than 185,000 people watched it live, and more than 17 million viewed it over the course of eight hours Monday.

But then Big Tech stepped in. Now you can’t find this press conference anywhere. YouTube and Facebook pulled the video. Twitter also flagged Breitbart News’s official account simply for linking to stories about the press conference.

This is just another example of the immense power of social media platforms. They have improved our lives in many ways, allowing families to stay in touch over great distances. They have spurred e-commerce. But they were presented as platforms for free speech. They have become something quite different.

Unfortunately, the people running these platforms have graduated from the same universities that no longer believe in free speech. They have become a power unto themselves much like Orwell’s infamous Ministry of Truth.

They seek truth and announce truth much the same way communist China does. Anything that doesn’t toe Big Tech’s line is “disappeared” down the memory hole, just like Monday’s press conference.

More than 70% of Americans believe that the tech giants have too much power and influence, and they are absolutely right.

That’s why I am part of the Free Speech Alliance led by my friend Brent Bozell. Monday, the alliance sent a letter to Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, protesting the blacklisting of several conservative news sites.

Pichai and other tech CEOs will be testifying today before the House Anti-Trust Subcommittee amid growing calls to break up their digital monopolies. If these companies, some of whom have cooperated with communist China, won’t defend free speech, then they should be broken up and face competition from companies that will allow a free exchange of ideas.

Follow the Science

As more and more communities refuse to follow the science and reopen their schools, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released updated guidelines recently addressing the urgent need to open America’s schools. Consider these excerpts:

Parents are understandably concerned about the safety of their children at school in the wake of COVID-19. The best available evidence indicates if children become infected, they are far less likely to suffer severe symptoms. Death rates among school-aged children are much lower than among adults.

At the same time, the harms attributed to closed schools on the social, emotional, and behavioral health, economic well-being, and academic achievement of children, in both the short and long-term, are well-known and significant.

The best available evidence indicates that COVID-19 poses relatively low risks to school-aged children… The United States reported that children and adolescents under 18 years old account for under 7 percent of COVID-19 cases and less than 0.1 percent of COVID-19-related deaths.

Although relatively rare, flu-related deaths in children occur every year… So far in this pandemic, deaths of children are less than in each of the last five flu seasons.

Sharpton vs. COVID

Al Sharpton is planning to bring 1,000 buses to Washington, DC, next month for a massive “Get Your Knee Off Our Necks” demonstration.

Meanwhile, DC Mayor Muriel Bower just issued an order demanding that anyone traveling to the nation’s capital for “nonessential activities” must quarantine for two weeks!

I predict that Al Sharpton’s march will take place anyway.