Rumble CEO Calls Out Big Tech Leaders Over Years Of Censorship

 Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski, appearing on Fox Business's The Big Money Show, criticized Big Tech executives for attempting to influence the incoming Trump administration's policies. He argued that Silicon Valley leaders, including Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, should face “consequences” for years of censoring conservative voices.

TAYLOR RIGGS: First, Mark Zuckerberg is eager to work with the incoming Trump administration on shaping tech policy.

But can we say the irony? Facebook and Instagram have a reputation for overmoderating content, even issuing multiple suspensions to then-President Trump. Chris, what do you make of the about-face from Big Tech and Silicon Valley?

CHRIS PAVLOVSKI: They kind of move whatever way the wind blows when it comes to actually holding values especially around the First Amendment. There are none. If we can all remember four years ago it was the Hunter Biden laptop story where all these platforms started censoring factual information and, in my opinion, really helped sway the election in a major way. And I feel that there has to be consequences for things like that. We can't let that escape. They did real damage with the censorship they've done in the last four years, and that's something that Rumble has been fighting since 2020. And we've been fighting fiercely. We're the first platform out there to platform President Trump in 2021, and, you know, it wasn't until about 2022 where Elon Musk entered the market with X and also helped on the free speech front.

So it's really important that there's consequences for this mass censorship that's happened over the last four years around COVID, around the elections. And if there's no consequences, then companies like Meta and Google will continue to abuse their powers and continue to sway elections in ways that shouldn't be happening. I'm very for some type of consequence in this scenario, and, you know, it's obviously ultimately up, it's in the Trump administration's hands to see what they'll do, but I think it's really important that they, for what they've done in the past, there are consequences.

DAGEN MCDOWELL: Remember, Bobby Kennedy, his account was shut down on Instagram I think until last year. Until he started running for the presidency. It's just astonishing. And they will destroy -- these platforms, these companies be it Meta or Google will through YouTube, they'll destroy you with. They'll deplatform somebody, and you will no longer have a business. And on that note, you have not only fought to give people a voice and the freedoms that are guaranteed to them under the Constitution, under our Bill of Rights and the First Amendment, but you've also gone to court.

Just recently you sued the state of California over this new anti-deep fake law arguing that the it does, indeed, violate the First Amendment.

CHRIS PAVLOVSKI: It's one thing to talk the talk. At Rumble we walk the walk. We challenge states, we challenge governments around world, we challenge the New York state. We've also recently, as you mentioned, are challenging California. They went out of their way to submit a law -- try the pass a law that's going to ban political satire. They're going after satire. This is like something you'd see out of North Korea, not something you'd think you'd see out of California or anywhere in the United States or anywhere in the Western world. So seeing stuff like this is really troublesome.

We sued the California A.G. and so did the Babylon Bee. Babylon Bee is also on Rumble, all their content's on Rumble, and going out of their way to try to ban satire is something that we're not going to stand for. It just goes to the mission that we're on where we're about, you know, walking the walk, not walking the talk. We do it through action, and that's what we're doing in California.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/watch-rumble-ceo-calls-out-big-tech-leaders-over-years-censorship

US College Closures to Soar Amid Prospective Student Slowdown

 The number of colleges that close each year is poised to significantly increase as schools contend with a slowdown in prospective students.\

That’s the finding of a new working paper published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, where researchers created predictive models of schools’ financial distress using metrics like enrollment and staffing patterns, sources of revenue and liquidity data. They overlayed those models with simulations to estimate the likely increase of future closures.

Under the worst-case scenario which assumes a one-time 15% drop in prospective students — known as the “demographic cliff” — 80 additional colleges would shut, impacting more than 100,000 students and 20,880 staff members. If that student decline was spread out over five years, annual closures would tick up by 4.6 schools, the report shows.

“These simulations point to the precarious potential situation facing postsecondary education in the coming years, especially if the demographic cliff materializes in a moderate to severe fashion,” according to the report, authored by Robert Kelchen, a professor at the University of Tennessee and a visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, along with Dubravka Ritter and Douglas Webber, Fed researchers.

“While some of these estimated increases might seem small at the national level, they would be significant for the handful of localities predicted to experience college closures in a given year,” the report said.

Higher education has come under pressure the last several years as the number of prospective college students falls, as a result of the decline in the birthrate during the Great Recession. On top of that, a larger number of students are weighing the value of a traditional college degree as tuition prices climb and student debt saddles a generation of attendees. Further, students who needed to borrow from the US government to cover college tuition this fall faced the highest borrowing costs in more than 15 years.

The number of students enrolled in degree-granting colleges and universities fell by 15% in 2021 compared to 2010. The effects of the so-called demographic cliff are amplified by low graduation rates and a shrinking share of high schoolers enrolling in college immediately after graduating, the researchers said.

Predicting college closures is difficult because of the complexity of their financial structures and limits on data availability. But the researchers said coming to an estimate is “more important than ever” because of the headwinds facing higher education, the sheer number of students who could be impacted and the potential for ripple effects on local economies.

Between 1996 and 2023, a total of over 1,660 institutions have closed, mostly among private for-profit colleges, while public four-year institutions hardly ever closed. Private nonprofit four-year colleges represented about 7% of closures during that period.

A rise in closures also risks harming the academic trajectory of students who attend schools that close, as well as the local economies where colleges are large employers. In total, American higher education produces about $700 billion in expenditures, enrolls nearly 25 million students, and employs about 3 million people, according to the paper.

“Even ignoring the potential negative effects due to reduced training capacity in a county that loses a college, the immediate employment effects as a share of the labor force might be large,” the researchers wrote.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-college-closures-expected-soar-155519223.html

FCC chair proposes cybersecurity rules in response to China's Salt Typhoon telecom hack

 U.S. Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel is proposing that communications service providers be required to submit an annual certification attesting that they have a plan in place to protect against cyberattacks, the agency said in a statement on Thursday.The proposal is in part in response to efforts by an allegedly Beijing-sponsored group of hackers, dubbed "Salt Typhoon," to burrow deep into American telecommunications companies to steal data about U.S. calls.

"While the Commission's counterparts in the intelligence community are determining the scope and impact of the Salt Typhoon attack, we need to put in place a modern framework to help companies secure their networks and better prevent and respond to cyberattacks in the future," Rosenworcel said in a statement.

Salt Typhoon's sweeping espionage campaign has been the subject of increasing concern across Washington, and Rosenworcel's announcement follows a day after U.S. government agencies held a classified briefing for all senators on the hacking.

In parallel, a senior U.S. official told journalists Wednesday that "a large number of Americans' metadata" had been stolen by the hackers, who had broken into "at least" eight telecommunications and telecom infrastructure firms in the United States.

Rosenworcel said the proposal was being circulated to other commissioners in her agency and, if adopted, would take effect immediately. A message seeking comment from Commissioner Brendan Carr, who President-elect Donald Trump has chosen to replace Rosenworcel at the FCC, was not immediately returned.

Representatives for major telecom companies including Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fcc-chair-proposes-cybersecurity-rules-201658479.html

Full Lavrov-Tucker Interview: US & Russia Need To Cooperate 'For Sake Of Universe'

 Tucker Carlson first unveiled Wednesday that he had traveled to Moscow to interview Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and the full interview has subsequently been published Thursday night.

Among the most important messages conveyed was directed by Lavrov toward Washington and its allies, which "must understand that we would be ready to use any means not to allow them to succeed in what they call strategic defeat of Russia."

And referencing Russia's recent use of its Oreshnik hypersonic missile, Lavrov expressed hope that Kiev's backers took "seriously" the new weapon, for which Russia says there is no defense, as Moscow remains ready to use "any means" to defend itself. "We are sending signals and we hope that the last one, a couple of weeks ago, the signal with the new weapons system called Oreshnik... was taken seriously," Lavrov emphasized. Full interview:

The very opening question posed by Tucker got straight to the main point which is surely on the minds of many viewers:

Tucker Carlson: Minister Lavrov, thank you for doing this. Do you believe the United States and Russia are at war with each other right now?

Sergey Lavrov: I wouldn't say so. And in any case, this is not what we want. We would like to have normal relations with all our neighbors, of course, but generally with all countries especially with the great country like the United States. And President Vladimir Putin repeatedly expressed his respect for the American people, for the American history, for the American achievements in the world, and we don't see any reason why Russia and the United States cannot cooperate for the sake of the universe.

Tucker Carlson: But the United States is funding a conflict that you're involved in, of course, and now is allowing attacks on Russia itself. So that doesn't constitute war?

Sergey Lavrov: Well, we officially are not at war. But what is going on in Ukraine is that some people call it hybrid war. I would call it hybrid war as well, but it is obvious that the Ukrainians would not be able to do what they're doing with long-range modern weapons without direct participation of the American servicemen. And this is dangerous, no doubt about this.

We don't want to aggravate the situation, but since ATACMS and other long-range weapons are being used against mainland Russia as it were, we are sending signals. We hope that the last one, a couple of weeks ago, the signal with the new weapon system called Oreshnik was taken seriously.

In the context of these statements he invoked the undesired and catastrophic possibility of the standoff between Russia and NATO entering nuclear territory:

"The message which we wanted to sell in testing, in real action, this hyper sonic system is that we will be ready to do anything to defend our legitimate interest. We hate even to think about war with the United States which will take nuclear character... [but] since some people in Washington ... seem to be not very capable to understand [Russia’s interests], we will send additional messages if they don't draw necessary conclusions."

And other interesting moment came when the top Russian diplomat outlined his country's motives in Ukraine vs. Washington's...

"They fight to maintain global hegemony over every region, while we fight for our legitimate security interests. Senator Lindsey Graham even said Ukraine’s rare earth metals must not be left to Russia—openly admitting their goal is resource exploitation. They support a regime willing to give away natural and human resources. We fight for the people whose ancestors built and developed these lands for centuries."

"In any case, this is not what we wanted," he elsewhere said on the question of war. "We would like to have normal relations with all our neighbors—but generally, with all countries, especially a great country like the United States.”

..."We don't see any reason why Russia and the United States cannot cooperate together for the sake of the universe," Lavrov emphasized in a key moment.

* * *

Some highlights...

"An Invitation to Disaster": Sergey Lavrov commented on talk of a limited exchange of nuclear strikes between the US and Russia in the interview...

Escalation fears... the central question

Russia's real key condition for lasting peace in Ukraine

Biden administration is seeking to leave as big a mess at it can for incoming Trump administration

The permanence of the Russia-China alliance in the face of Washington aggression

Cooperation for the sake of the peace of the universe

Continue by watching the full interview here.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/full-lavrov-carlson-interview-us-russia-need-cooperate-sake-universe

Trump Names David Sacks As White House AI, Crypto Czar

 Donald Trump has named David Sacks as the "White House A.I. & Crypto Czar," according to a Thursday night post on Truth Social.

"He will work on a legal framework so the Crypto industry has the clarity it has been asking for, and can thrive in the US," Trump said in the post, adding that Sacks will "guild policy for the Administration in Artificial Intelligence and Cryptocurrency, two areas critical to the future of American competitiveness.

"David will focus on making America the clear global leader in both areas."

Of note, Sacks has been buying Bitcoin since 2012:

The feeling is mutual David...

 

https://www.zerohedge.com/crypto/trump-names-david-sacks-white-house-ai-crypto-czar

UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting live updates, NY Post

 

UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s suspected killer arrived in NYC last month on bus that left from Atlanta: sources

By Larry Celona and Joe Marino

The suspected killer who gunned down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson came to New York City on an interstate Greyhound bus last month, police sources told The Post.

The suspect arrived at the Port Authority bus terminal in Manhattan back on Nov. 24 after it set off from Atlanta, Georgia, according to the sources.

It wasn't immediately clear, though, where the cold-blooded gunman jumped on the bus.

After setting foot in the Big Apple, he checked into the HI New York City Hostel on the Upper West Side before going to stake out the Hilton Hotel in Midtown where he ended up killing Thompson early Wednesday.

The gunman's whereabouts in the days leading up to the shooting are slowly being pieced together by cops as the citywide manhunt for the killer continued.

5 hours ago

NYPD searched LIRR train after Crime Stoppers tip — and urge public to keep them coming

By Steven Vago

The NYPD said they searched a Long Island Rail Road train Wednesday for Brian Thompson's accused assassin after receiving a Crime Stoppers tip — and are urging the public to keep tips coming even though the LIRR one turned out to be a dead end.

"The train stopped. They searched the train and nothing was found," a police spokesperson said.

Police have received troves of calls since releasing the photos of the suspect.

"We are getting Crime Stoppers tips... It's helping. We are following up on every single tip that's come in," the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson urged the public to keep tips coming.

"It could be the missing piece of the puzzle that ties everything together."

6 hours ago

Police have recovered suspect's fingerprints and burner phone: sources

By Ronny Reyes

New York Police have the fingerprints of the shooter who executed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, with officials also working to get into his burner phone for more clues, law enforcement sources told The Post. 

The NYPD had recovered the burner phone belonging to the gunman after he fled the crime scene and disappeared into Central Park Wednesday morning, minutes after killing the executive.

NYPD recovered a burner cell phone near the crime scene Wednesday, and are working to get into it for more clues, sources told The Post on Thursday.James Messerschmidt

Investigators working the scene on 54th Street outside the Hilton Hotel in midtown Manhattan, shortly after Thompson's shocking slaying.AP

The suspect was seen making a call on a phone as he made his way to the Hilton Hotel on Sixth Avenue before the 6:46 a.m. murder.

Officials also found one of the water bottles that he purchased at a Starbucks on West 56th Street and Sixth Avenue, located just a few minutes' walk from the hotel. 

9 hours ago

Bomb threat at slain CEO's house hours after deadly shooting: report

By Ronny Reyes

Minnesota police received a bomb threat at the home of slain UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson the same day he was shot and killed in the Big Apple, according to a new report. 

The Maple Grove City attorney received an email claiming there was a pipe bomb at Thompson’s home around 7 p.m. Wednesday, TMZ reports. Thompson was murdered in midtown Manhattan shortly before 7 a.m.

Police in Maple Grove., Minnesota — the Minneapolis suburb where Brian Thompson lived — received a bomb threat targeting the CEO's home the day he was killed, according to a report.David Berding for the NYPost

A bomb squad was dispatched, but they did not find any explosive device, according to the Maple Grove Police Department. 

The bomb squad also checked on the nearby home of Thompson’s estranged wife, Paulette, who he shares two sons with. 

https://nypost.com/2024/12/05/us-news/brian-thompson-shot-dead-live-updates-12-5-2024/

The Lies of Joe Biden and his Lying Enablers

by Victor Davis Hanson

Joe Biden promised, emphatically, at least six times—all pre-election—that he would not pardon his son Hunter Biden.

His media lapdogs loudly resonated those boasts. They claimed at the time Biden was a historic, Sir Thomas More-like protector of jurisprudence, morality, and our Constitution—sacrificing even his son on the altar of the “the rule of law”. All again shameful lies. These now disgraced talking heads have no more apologized than they did when they championed their “51 intelligence authorities” scam, who swore Hunter’s laptop was a product of Russian chicanery. (No one has been more slavishly and obsequiously wrong about all the Biden pardon lies than the notorious Andrew Weissmann of the failed Mueller witch-hunt “dream team”.) Anyone who knew the long, sordid history of Joe Biden (e.g., how he defamed the truck driver who was not culpable in his first wife’s fatal crash or was caught lying about his entire college career, and plagiarized his 1988 campaign speech), knew he was lying when he made these serial promises. His letter excusing his pardon was worse than the lie itself. Biden essentially pardoned himself by exempting all of Hunter's crimes since 2014, in which Hunter had enriched the Biden crime family cartel due to ‘the big guy’s’ opportune calls and appearances with foreign crooks. Joe knew that only a silenced Hunter would save the Biden syndicate after January 20, 2025. Certainly, he feared and remembered how reckless Hunter could be, even when “clean"—grifting donors as a "paintbrush in the mouth” artist to show his father-president that he was capable of bringing down the entire clan. Biden also knew of Hunter's laptop bitter references to the “Big Guy" and Mr. “Ten-percent,” who grabbed Hunter’s grifted money and free stuff, but never appreciated Hunter’s dirty, bagman role that made them all rich. Recall Hunter's own lawyers at one point threatened to call in President Joe Biden and embarrass him by putting him on the stand to testify in Hunter's tax cheating case—a threat that prompted a scared DOJ to craft its original sweetheart deal. So, Biden was terrified of a loose-cannon, bigmouth Hunter. After November 5, whether Joe or Harris won or lost the 2024 election, he was always going to pardon Hunter, who was always also a relapse away from bringing them all down. Biden also continues to empower Trump (remember his earlier MAGA hat trick, his siding with Trump in Harris’s feud with Ron De Santis, his distraction hijack of Harris’s speech when he libeled half the country as “garbage”, etc.). The result of his pardon is that we are talking now about the pardon and not the mad-dog effort to take down Kash Patel. The sanctimonious “rule of law” and “expert class” arguments of the discredited Left used to attack Kash Patel, Tulsi Gabbard, and RFK, Jr. are now rendered a joke. The fake 2024 leftwing polls, the nonexistent Harris “momentum”, the $2 billion squandered and unaudited Harris campaign and PAC money, and the ankle-biting blame game among Harris versus Biden apparatchiks have all discredited both the Left and the media. And now Biden has hammered in the coffin nails. The Internet is awash in clips of almost every leftwing pundit once singing Biden’s praises for not pardoning his son—followed by either their silence or even more pathetic rationalizations of his pardon. A final note. Biden wrote that the IRS never seeks criminal charges against tax cheats who eventually pay up and claim addiction. That too is yet another lie. Claiming drug-crazed befuddlement has never been a legitimate exemption from tax fraud charges or jail time, especially when one is otherwise clear-headed enough at the time to earn well over an unreported $1 million a year. Moreover, Hunter had already been excused from much earlier tax delinquency now beyond the statute of limitations. Also tax-exempt was the entire Biden family. All of them apparently never paid full income taxes on their illicit and hidden incomes (remember the fake claim of “loan repayment” on Jim’s family syndicate disbursement check to Joe?). And to pay some of his back taxes, Hunter had his attorney pay them as a “loan”—but apparently without a formal agreement, interest payments, or evidence Hunter ever paid him back, suggesting it was de facto a tax-free gift? The Biden profits from selling out their country did not all go up Hunter’s nose or to his women. Three generations of Bidens lived lifestyles impossible without foreign money income, predicated on Joe putting his own nation’s interest subservient to those of his foreign paymasters. The schemes to hide Joe Biden’s long-standing dementia, the coup that nullified 14-million primary voters and crowned the Harris mediocrity, the lies to protect the Biden crime syndicate, and the final pardon will cement Joe Biden’s reputation not just as the most incompetent but also as the most corrupt and dishonest president in U.S. history.

https://x.com/VDHanson/status/1864016355370135601