The Witch Hunt Begins In Pennsylvania - The Thought Police Are Coming For You

You probably know that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has the charge to protect America’s “critical infrastructure”. You probably also understand that to mean they should be stopping terrorists from blowing up things like nuclear power plants, bridges and dams. You are unlikely to understand that DHS believes it is supposed to “protect” America’s “cognitive infrastructure” and that this means censoring your free speech and preventing you from disseminating ideas or opinions with which DHS disagrees.

DHS believes it has the power to silence you, and it has been doing so for some time now.

Within DHS is an entity called the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). CISA has for some time now been working with private entities to silence anyone who strays from the official government-approved narrative. The Attorney General of Louisiana described it this way in testimony before Congress.

“The First Amendment clearly states that “Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech.” This means that the government has no power to restrict expression because of its message, ideas, subject matter, or content. The U.S. Supreme Court also firmly established that “the Constitution ‘demands that content-based restrictions on speech be presumed invalid … and that the Government bear the burden of showing their constitutionality.” United States v. Alvarez, 567 U.S. 709, 716-717 (2012) (plurality op.). Yet in our lawsuit we have uncovered a censorship enterprise so vast that it spans over a dozen significant government institutions, including the White House, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the Department of State’s Global Engagement Center (GEC), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Publicly, these federal actors have justified their deeds in the name of protecting the public against “misinformation” and “disinformation,” when in fact it is done to suppress disfavored views…”

“To understand the framework of these activities, we must first look at the way censorship has been approached by those actively engaged in it. For example, CISA — an agency within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) — has classified the thoughts, ideas, and beliefs of the American public as “critical infrastructure.” In an effort to control, manage, and maintain these cognitive assets, CISA serves as a “switchboard” for sending disfavored information from state and local officials to the necessary social media company to ensure content-moderation policies are applied. As a result, America’s “cognitive infrastructure” can be maintained in the same way that the DHS might protect the nation’s physical infrastructure from outside threats; but in this case, CISA aims to protect our collective consciousness from independent thought and inquiry at the individual level…”

In recent testimony before Congress, investigative reporter Michael Shellenberger added this perspective on government censorship activities.

“American taxpayers are unwittingly financing the growth and power of a censorship industrial complex run by America’s scientific and technological elite, which endangers our liberties and democracy. The censorship industrial complex combines established methods of psychological manipulation, some developed by the U.S. military during the global war on terror with highly sophisticated tools from computer science.”

Maybe you think scrutiny of these government activities means they are coming to an end. Wrong. Just look at the creation of a new Election Integrity Task Force in Pennsylvania. Governor Shapiro was short on details when he announced the rollout of this new entity, but when pressed the state admitted it will center on cooperation between the Pennsylvania Secretary of State’s office which oversees elections, and CISA, the guys at DHS who run the censorship program.

“In recent years, we’ve seen bad-faith actors attempt to exploit these changes by spreading lies and baseless conspiracy theories, and attempting to delegitimize our safe, secure, and accurate elections,” said Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt. “This task force has been working together to develop and coordinate plans to combat this dangerous misinformation and continue providing all eligible voters with accurate, trusted election information. Together with Governor Shapiro and our local, state, and federal partners, we will continue working to ensure we have another free and fair, safe and secure elections.”

Press Statement from Governor Shapiro’s Office

“The Department of State will continue to work closely with the United States Department of Homeland Security and its Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). The formation of the Election Threats Task Force will allow us to open lines of communication and share intelligence among the included government agencies.”

Matt Heckel Pennsylvania Secretary of State’s Press Office

We are rolling into what may be the most important Presidential election in our lifetimes. We have fixed none of the problems that plagued the 2020 election largely because of the fecklessness of Republican lawmakers who refuse to deal with the issue. Again, Pennsylvania is representative. Al Schmidt who is now charged with censoring free speech in the Commonwealth and silencing anyone raising concerns about election integrity is the guy who ran elections in Philadelphia in 2020. He was confirmed by a Republican-controlled Senate to his current position.

Pennsylvania’s new censorship czar was hand-delivered to the state by Republican lawmakers.

Armed with their new powers, the thought police are organizing right now in Pennsylvania and across the nation to shut down anyone who dares to speak up and raise concerns about election integrity. They are taking no chances. You will be silenced. The witch hunt has begun in Pennsylvania, and no one will escape the attention of those charged with policing our “cognitive infrastructure.”