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Censorship Industrial Complex

Julian Assange laments growing censorship, suppression of truth in the West upon release

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Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks, attends the European council on October 1, 2024, in Strasbourg, France

From LifeSiteNews

By Frank Wright

Speaking after 12 years of confinement, Julian Assange warned of the erosion of free speech in the West, linking his own prosecution to global censorship, political corruption, and attacks on honest journalism.

On October 1, Julian Assange made his first major speech since his release. In it, he delivered a verdict on how we are governed which is as damning as it is revealing.

ā€œI am not free today because the system worked,ā€ Assange said, ā€œI am free today because after years of incarceration I pled guilty to journalism.ā€

Julian Assange was convicted under the U.S. Espionage Act and spent 12 years in confinement, first taking refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2012, followed by five years in Britain’s maximum-security prison in Belmarsh.

Had his plea not been accepted heĀ facedĀ a sentence of 175 years in prison. He was speaking in Strasbourg, France, at a hearingĀ convened by the Parliamentary Assembly of the European Council – which recognized Assange as a ā€œpolitical prisoner.ā€

Saying how ā€œincarceration has taken its toll,ā€ Assange noted how the world he had rejoined had changed – for the worse:

I regret how much ground has been lost during that time period. How expressing the truth has been undermined, attacked, weakened, and diminished.

Assange gave a chilling account of the state of the Western world today, saying he now seesĀ ā€œmore impunity, more secrecy, more retaliation for telling the truth, and more self-censorship.ā€

He believes that his own treatment was a turning point for the suppression of freedom of speech in the West:

It is hard not to draw a line from the U.S. government’s prosecution of me – its crossing the Rubicon by internationally criminalizing journalism – to the chill climate for freedom of expression that exists now.

During his speech, Assange alleged that former CIA director Mike Pompeo devised a plan to kill him, following Wikileaks’ revelation in 2017 of CIA operations in Europe.

Citing the testimony of ā€œmore than 30 former and current U.S. intelligence officials,ā€ Assange said that ā€œit is a matter of public record that under Pompeo’s explicit direction the CIA drew up plans to kidnap and to assassinate meā€ while he was in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

Assange was originally pursued for havingĀ publicizedĀ U.S. actions in Guantanamo Bay, and alleged war crimes in Iraq, which he explains intensified following Wikileaks’ CIA revelations.

Cracks in our system

Assange’s case and his extraordinary testimony reveals one of many fault lines in the Western world.

ā€œToday, the free world is no longer free.ā€ said Salvadorean President Nayib Bukele, describing also how the West is becoming ā€œmore pessimistic,ā€ adding that, ā€œ[t]ragically, we can see more evidence of this decline every day.ā€ Speaking at the United Nations on September 30, he said:

When the Free World became free it was due to freedom of expression, freedom before the law. But once a nation abandons the principles that make it free it’s only a question of time before it completely loses its freedom.

His observations are echoed by statements from across the political divide in the U.S.

The former Democrat Tulsi Gabbard warned on October 5 that the party she left now seeks to undermine the First Amendment. She said onĀ X,Ā ā€œPeople like Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris do not believe in the First Amendment because they see it as an obstacle to achieving their real goal: ā€˜total control.ā€™ā€

Her remarks followed those made by Hillary Clinton in a recent video interview, in which Clinton said ā€œwhether it’s Facebook or Twitter/X or Instagram or TikTok … if they don’t moderate and monitor the content, we lose total control.ā€

Clinton’s remarks about losing ā€œtotal controlā€ come after Sen. John KerryĀ spokeĀ at the World Economic Forum on September 25, sayingĀ ā€œour First Amendment stands as a major block to the ability to be able to just hammer [disinformation] out of existence.ā€

Kerry argued that opposition to the polices of the WEF was fueled by ā€œdisinformationā€ when critics in fact simply dislike its policies. Populism generally is described as aĀ threatĀ to democracy in the West, when it is also simply theĀ preferenceĀ for popular policies, against the unpopular ones of the current ruling elite.

ā€œDisinformation,ā€ and ā€œmisinformationā€ are terms invented and used by the language and ideological police to hide their malicious intent.

It appears that unpopular policies such as those of permanent war, Net Zero, deindustrialization, and denationalization can only be pursued with ā€œtotal controlā€ of the information seen by the public.

The meaningful political debate is not about left and right. It is about the meaning of what is right, and the outrage at what is obviously wrong. Assange says ā€œit is uncertain what we can doā€ about the ā€œimpunityā€ of our leadership, which as yet has faced no meaningful consequences for its pursuit of deeply unpopular policies at the expense of widespread corruption and defended by censorship.

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Censorship Industrial Complex

Alberta senator wants to revive lapsed Trudeau internet censorship bill

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From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

Senator Kristopher Wells and other senators are ‘interested’ in reviving the controversial Online Harms Act legislation that was abandoned after the election call.

A recent Trudeau-appointed Canadian senator said that he and other ā€œinterested senatorsā€ want the current Liberal government of Prime Minister Mark Carney to revive a controversial Trudeau-era internet censorship bill that lapsed.

Kristopher Wells, appointed by former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last year as a senator from Alberta, made the comments about reviving an internet censorship bill recently in the Senate.

ā€œIn the last Parliament, the government proposed important changes to theĀ Criminal CodeĀ of Canada designed to strengthen penalties for hate crime offences,ā€ he said of Bill C-63 that lapsed earlier this year after the federal election was called.

Bill C-63, or theĀ Online Harms Act, was put forth under the guise of protecting children from exploitation online.

While protecting children is indeed a duty of the state, the bill included several measures that targeted vaguely defined ā€œhate speechā€ infractions involving race, gender, and religion, among other categories. The proposal was thusĀ blastedĀ by many legal experts.

The Online Harms ActĀ would have in essence censored legal internet content that the government thought ā€œlikely to foment detestation or vilification of an individual or group.ā€ It would be up to the Canadian Human Rights Commission to investigate complaints.

Wells said that ā€œBill C-63 did not come to a vote in the other place and in the dying days of the last Parliament the government signaled it would be prioritizing other aspects of the bill.ā€

ā€œI believe Canada must get tougher on hate and send a clear and unequivocal message that hate and extremism will never be tolerated in this country no matter who it targets,ā€ he said.

Carney, asĀ reported by LifeSiteNews, vowed to continue in Trudeau’s footsteps, promising even more legislation to crack down on lawful internet content.

Wells asked if the current Carney government remains ā€œcommitted to tabling legislation that will amend theĀ Criminal CodeĀ as proposed in the previous Bill C-63 and will it commit to working with interested senators and community stakeholders to make the changes needed to ensure this important legislation is passed?ā€

Seasoned Senator Marc Gold replied that he is not in ā€œa position to speculateā€ on whether a new bill would be brought forward.

Before Bill C-63, a similar law, Bill C-36, lapsed in 2021 due to that year’s general election.

AsĀ noted byĀ LifeSiteNews, Wells has in the past advocated for closing Christian schools that refuse to violate their religious principles by accepting so-called Gay-Straight Alliance Clubs and spearheaded so-called ā€œconversion therapy bans.ā€

Other internet censorship bills that have become law have yet to be fully implemented.

Last month, LifeSiteNewsĀ reported thatĀ former Minister of Environment Steven Guilbeault, known for his radical climate views, will be the person in charge of implementing Bill C-11, a controversial bill passed in 2023 that aims to censor legal internet content in Canada.

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Censorship Industrial Complex

Conservatives slam Liberal bill to allow police to search through Canadians’ mail

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From LifeSiteNews

By Clare Marie Merkowsky

Conservatives are warning that the Liberals’ new border bill will allow police to search Canadians’ mail.

During aĀ June 5 debateĀ in the House of Commons, Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) Frank Caputo voiced concerns over Bill C-2, theĀ Strong Borders Act, which will permit police and government officials to open and examine Canadians’ mail.

ā€œThis is something I know I am going to get mail about,ā€ Caputo said. ā€œWe are now talking about language in the Charter, what is referred to as an expectation of privacy.ā€

Bill C-2,Ā introducedĀ by the Liberals under Prime Minister Mark Carney, is framed as legislation to combat drugs making their way across the border. However, many have pointed out that it severely infringes on Canadians’ Charter rights.

The Liberals have failed to address this concern in their 130-page legislation, leading Conservatives to demand accountability.

ā€œIf they can put out a 130-page bill, certainly they can put out a four or five-page Charter statement,ā€ he said. ā€œCertainly, somebody in the government asked if it was Charter compliant — but they won’t say.ā€

Under Bill C-2, Canada would amend theĀ Canada Post Corporation ActĀ to ā€œremove barriers that prevent police from searching mail, where authorized to do so in accordance with an Act of Parliament, to carry out a criminal investigation.ā€

It also seeks to ā€œexpand Canada Post inspection authority to open mail.ā€

As LifeSiteNews previously reported, legal organizationsĀ have warnedĀ that the legislation could lead to a cashless economy as it would ban cash payments over $10,000.

In a June 4 X post, the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) warned that ā€œIf Bill C-2 passes, it will become a Criminal Code offence for businesses, professionals, and charities to accept cash donations, deposits, or payments of $10,000 or more. Even if the $10,000 payment or donation is broken down into several smaller cash transactions, it will still be a crime for a business or charity to receive it.ā€

The JCCF pointed out that while cash payments of $10,000 are not common for Canadians, the government can easily reduce ā€œthe legal amount to $5,000, then $1,000, then $100, and eventually nothing.ā€

ā€œRestricting the use of cash is a dangerous step towards tyranny and totalitarianism,ā€ the organization warned. ā€œCash gives citizens privacy, autonomy, and freedom from surveillance by government and by banks, credit card companies, and other corporations.ā€

Similarly, Carney’s move to restrict Canadians is hardly surprising considering his close ties to the World Economic Forum and push for digital currency.

In a 2021 article, theĀ National PostĀ notedĀ that ā€œsince the advent of the COVID pandemic, Carney has been front and centre in the promotion of a political agenda known as the ā€˜Great Reset,’ or the ā€˜Green New Deal,’ or ā€˜Building Back Better.’

ā€œCarney’s Brave New World will be one of severely constrained choice, less flying, less meat, more inconvenience and more poverty,ā€ the outlet continued.

In light of Carney’s new leadership over Canadians, many areĀ sounding alarmĀ over his distinctly anti-freedom ideas.

Carney, who as reported by LifeSiteNews, has admitted he is an ā€œelitistā€ and a ā€œglobalist.ā€ Just recently, he criticized U.S. President Donald Trump for targeting woke ideology and has vowed to promote ā€œinclusivenessā€ in Canada.

Carney also said that he is willing to use all government powers, including ā€œemergency powers,ā€ to enforce his energy plan.

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