Biden Admin Moves to Ban Alcohol?, RFK Jr. to Put Drug Addicts...on Farms?!, Facebook's Massive Censorship Reversal, TikTok Purchased by Shark Tank Star? (The Five for 01/07/24)
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[one]
This is huge. Facebook has dropped their “fact checker” model, and is now following the X (formerly Twitter) by creating “community notes” for content moderation, signaling yet another major shift in American culture.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted that Facebook has done “too much censorship” as he announced the social network is scrapping its controversial third party fact-checking in favor of adopting Elon Musk’s “Community Notes” model on X.
The 40-year-old tech tycoon — who dined with President-elect Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago after his Nov. 5 election victory, with Meta donating $1 million to his inaugural fund — claimed on Tuesday that the dramatic about-face was sign that the company is returning to an original focus on free speech.
“We’re going to get back to our roots and focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies and restoring free expression on our platforms,” Zuckerberg said in a video on Tuesday.
Among Meta’s dramatic moves in the stunning reversal will be to Meta’s content moderation team from deep-blue California to right-leaning Texas in order to insulate the group from cultural bias — a move that looked like another page out of Musk’s playbook.
“As we work to promote free expression, I think that will help build trust to do this work in places where there’s less concern about the bias of our team,” the Meta boss said.
In addition to this move, Meta has added UFC President Dana White on their board, in a move to appear more balanced and trustworthy. The company’s Instagram platform was the most-deleted app in 2023, and would have been again in 2024, except for the fact that there was a major public backlash against TikTok, citing privacy concerns.
Oh, and speaking of TikTok, the Chinese-owned company is facing a ban shortly unless it divests to an American holder. That buyer may just be Kevin O’Leary, aka “Mr. Wonderful” of Shark Tank fame.
[two]
Was the outgoing Biden administration angling for Prohibition 2.0?
As The Daily Wire reported in October, a secret committee working deep behind the scenes of the Biden administration is working to revise federal dietary guidelines regarding alcohol. The Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Prevention of Underage Drinking (ICCPUD) is a six-person panel working within the Department of Health and Human Services. But instead of just trying to keep kids from drinking, this panel reportedly wants the United States to adopt the World Health Organization’s position that “no level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health.”
Now, I love an “I told you so” moment as much as the next keyboard warrior. But this is no reason to gloat. The bureaucracy’s push to stop Americans from drinking is a dangerous development, and not just because it’s profoundly lame. It’s the latest sign of how leftists want to use the government to meddle in Americans’ daily lives. And it’s not even based on real science.
Murthy notes that “alcohol is a well-established, preventable cause of cancer responsible for about 100,000 cases of cancer and 20,000 cancer deaths annually in the United States.” He further notes that “for breast cancer specifically, 16.4% of total breast cancer cases are attributable to alcohol consumption.”
Much like Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, I’m not a biologist. So I have no reason to doubt these statistics. But whenever a government official starts calling for a total ban on anything for my own good, I get suspicious. Banning things that can be unhealthy when consumed in excess is the first step towards nanny statism and universal health care. It’s downright European.
Or, in this case, Canadian. As we previously reported, three of the ICCPUD’s six members are Canadians who helped slash the number of recommended drinks in their frozen homeland back in 2013. That recommendation didn’t even play well in Canada, a country that has basically thrown its hands up and accepted euthanasia and leaders like Justin Trudeau as inevitabilities.
As much as this is againt my anti-nanny-state values, the last time alcohol was banned, some of my ancestors profited greatly from moonshining.
You know what…I support this. Ban beef too, for environmental reasons. Then I’ll just get rich off of a backwoods still and secret bovine heard. Let’s go.
[three]
RFK Jr. wants to battle the drug addiction crisis…with farming.
The “other option” Kennedy favors consists of rural therapeutic communities, or “wellness farms,” which would be funded by two sources: revenue from work done on these farms, and federal taxes from the legal sale of marijuana “that is designated specifically for drug treatment and rehabilitation.”
In these communal pastoral settings, recovering addicts live for several years, learn marketable skills, perform vigorous physical work, and participate in a self-sustaining community with its own gardens, livestock, and small businesses. “Ultimately,” Kennedy said, “recovery is through community. It’s the only road to recovery.”
A review of 23 studies of therapeutic communities found that while participants benefit—for example, they consume fewer drugs, experience less depression, and are more likely to be employed—these outcomes are comparable to other, less expensive outpatient approaches.
In my experience, many such programs forbid residents from taking prescription medications for addiction, such as methadone or buprenorphine. I believe the programs would be greatly improved by allowing medication.
Slow. Clap. This is very cool.
[four]
It was widely circulated yesterday that Canadian President Justin Trudeau had resigned…we’re now learning that Trump’s “51st State” comments and tariff threats may have been a catalyst in this..but it’s more about Justin’s near-certain loss in the next election.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced his resignation as Liberal Party leader in the wake of US President-elect Donald Trump’s tariff threats and taunts referring to Canada as the 51st state.
It’s the end of a nine-year stint in office, as pressure grew from within his Liberal Party which is trailing significantly behind the opposition Conservative Party in the polls.
Trudeau, 53, who will remain as Canadian prime minister until the party has chosen a successor, made the announcement from his Rideau Cottage residence on Monday.
“I intend to resign as party leader, as prime minister after the party selects its next leader through a robust, nationwide, competitive process,” he said Monday. “This country deserves a real choice in the next election, and it has become clear to me that if I am having to fight internal battles, I cannot be the best option in that election.”
Party infighting broke out following Trudeau’s reponse to Trump threats to introduce a blanket 25 percent tariff on Canadian imports upon taking office on January 20. On Monday, the president-elect took another jibe on Truth Social, and said that “many people in Canada LOVE being the 51st State”.
The most important part of this story, is that we stop spreading the misinformation that Justin’s real father is the late Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.
That’s ridiculous, considering that Justin’s mother met Fidel around the time Justin was conceived, and the two look remarkably similar.
Seriously…nothing to see here ;)
UPDATE: In the spirit of “modern politics is just saying stuff on the internet,” Canadian politicians are threatening to annex California, Washington and Oregon.
It’s just hot air, but Canada really did draw up plans to invade the U.S. in 1921, with the help of the British (who we had just helped in WWI…what the heck?) and Mexico in a military action titled Defence Scheme Number 1. Canada went so far as to send spies to the U.S. to map out bridges and railways to blow up, hopefully slowing a U.S. counter-invasion until British troops could arrive.
[five]
Well, President-Elect Trump’s intentions to buy the arctic island of Greenland…seem pretty serious.
Donald Trump Jr has arrived in Greenland, two weeks after his father repeated his desire for the US to take control of the autonomous Danish territory.
Before arriving in the capital Nuuk, Trump Jr said he was going on a "personal day-trip" to talk to people, and had no meetings planned with government officials.
US President-elect Donald Trump recently revived a controversy he ignited last month when he said "ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity" for US national security.
"We are not for sale," the island's prime minister said at the time. "Greenland belongs to the people of Greenland." But Mute Egede also told Greenlanders to take their next step towards independence.
With a population of 57,000, Greenland has wide-ranging autonomy - but its economy is largely dependent on subsidies from Copenhagen and it remains part of the kingdom of Denmark.
During his first term as president, Donald Trump expressed an interest in buying the Arctic island. He was rebuffed then, as he has been now.
When asked about Trump Jr's visit to Greenland, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told Danish TV that "Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders" and that only the local population could determine their future.
Until the next one,
-sth