It Can Happen Here
It has happened: X (formerly Twitter) has been banned in Brazil. The government targeted the service because Elon Musk would not comply with illegal secret orders to take down dissident accounts.
BY BROWNSTONE INSTITUTE
It has happened: X (formerly Twitter) has been fully banned in Brazil. The government targeted the service because Elon Musk would not comply with illegal secret orders to take down dissident accounts. All other social platforms did comply so they are left alone. Further, the edict criminalizes VPN access with a fine of $10,000 a day.
Brownstone Institute has many friends in Brazil, and we’ve been in close communication, doing what we can to stop the madness.
One might suppose there would be a global outcry. That has not happened. On the contrary, leading pundits in the US have called for the same here. The State Department has had nothing to say about this. No question about it: the same is coming to the US if certain people get their way.
It can happen here.
Meanwhile, Mark Zuckerberg finally confessed what we have gathered from all evidence thus far: the elections of both 2020 and 2022 were profoundly affected by the forced exclusion of pro-freedom voices. Did you feel alone these days? Indeed, there was a reason. Opposition to lockdowns and vaccine mandates were censored by the government with social media’s cooperation.
You can feel the curtain of totalitarianism descending but it is not hopeless, and there is still time to speak out, while we are able. Be grateful you can read this message. There could come a time when you cannot.
The world of free speech is now heavily vexed by a powerful architecture of censorship, an industrial complex that uses corporate consolidation, third-party funding, and censorial embeds to marginalize based on opinion contrary to regime priorities both industrial and political.
Brownstone Institute’s Censorship Working Group is in need of funding to renew its relentless work for another year. If you can help, please do so. Now is the time. None of this would be possible without the support of donors who care deeply about broader issues such as this one. Brownstone Institute’s deep gratitude is very much due for having made this possible.
You can still buy your ticket for our Philadelphia supper club on September 5th. Our guest speaker is Mary Holland, CEO of Children’s Health Defense and a leader in the health freedom movement for more than two decades. She’ll tell us about recent issues in children’s health and vaccines and will share stories about her advocacy work since the Covid pandemic.
You can also register for the West Hartford, Connecticut supper club, on Wednesday, September 18, featuring Dr. Toby Rogers, a leading voice for sanity. You know him from his writings on Brownstone. Now you can hear him in person.
Registrations for our November 1-2 conference and gala, at the William Penn Hotel in Pittsburgh, have been high, so we’ve expanded capacity. Secure your spot. It’s the extravaganza of the year. You should come to be among friends in times fraught with peril. All the names you know will be present, including Robert Malone, Bret Weinstein, Jay Bhattarcharya, and many more.
Here is some content since our last email.
Glimpse into the Future of Food By Meryl Nass. The World Economic Forum, governments, and multinational agencies want to redesign our food supply. So-called plant-based meats, lab-grown meats, “synbio” products, insect protein, and other totally new foods are to replace much of the real meat people enjoy.
The UN Invites Its Friends To Dinner By David Bell and Thi Thuy Van Dinh. The UN was set up to be a servant of “The Peoples.” It has grown, perhaps inevitably, to be a self-serving club working with a chosen few, and is gradually becoming self-entitled and detached.
Why Did Zuckerberg Choose Now to Confess? By Jeffrey Tucker. The Zuckerberg admission provides a first official and confirmed peek into the greatest scandal of our times and the global silencing of critics, resulting in manipulating election outcomes, the marginalization of dissent, and the overriding of all free speech protections.
The Rise of Global Conformism By Bruce Davidson. Opposition to global conformism does not mean retreating into an attitude of suspicion and hostility to all things foreign, new, or unfamiliar. The world’s various peoples often influence each other by the attractions and achievements of their respective societies.
Fifty Shades of Central Bank Tyranny By Aaron Day. Each layer of our digital currency system peels back the seductive mask of freedom, revealing progressively darker shades of control. As we delve deeper, what seems like autonomy is only an illusion where more pervasive forms of dominance lay hidden.
The First Amendment Cannot Stop Pavel Durov’s Arrest in America By Brownstone Institute. Parties that once dedicated themselves to free expression are now the leading proponents of “content moderation.” The Washington Post reported that “authorities detained Durov as part of a preliminary investigation that focused on the lack of content moderation on Telegram.”
We No Longer Ponder the Good Life By Thomas Harrington. I cannot remember the last discussion I had about the Good Life. When we consider that this question has been one of the mainstays of Western intellectual life for more than 2,500 years, its absence from our public is alarming.
Mpox, Numbers, and Reality By David Bell. The number of Mpox deaths will rise as more are infected. However, we are facing a small problem in an area with far larger ones. It is posing low local risk and minimal global risk.
A Stain on the Vermont Supreme Court By John Klar. If the courts of the nation do not uphold constitutional laws, who will protect young children from Big Pharma, experimental vaccines, government mandates, or even malfeasance? The Vermont Supreme Court’s Politella decision is an atrocious legal precedent.
Open Letter to Students and Parents about Vaccines By Clayton J. Baker. This letter serves two purposes. First, it informs students and parents that both traditional vaccines and the newer mRNA VINOs are problematic at best. Second, it reminds young people of their right to determine what is done to their body.
This Is Not Capitalism By Jeffrey Tucker. Just because something is available in the consumer marketplace does not necessarily mean that it is a product of the voluntary matrix of exchange that would otherwise profit in a genuinely free market.
Stages of Covid-19 Infection By Lori Weintz. We have not yet come to terms with the shocking fact that malpractice and inhumane treatments were rampant during the Covid-19 pandemic. Treatment was sometimes especially egregious if the patient was unvaccinated for Covid-19.
Cheney’s “One Percent Doctrine” Comes to Public Health By Thomas Harrington. “One percent doctrine” holds that if someone high up in Washington believes that there is a one-percent chance of some foreign actor wanting to seriously harm the United States’ interests, then he/we have the right to eliminate that potential actor.
How We Can Rebuild American Science By Toby Rogers. All of the data that we have right now is filtered through the pharmaceutical industry and it is fraudulent and unreliable. We need to rebuild the knowledge base in science and medicine from the ground up.