My dearest patriots, we find ourselves today on the precipice of true calamity.
Our nation, under God, has been divided and torn asunder by an out-of control-cabal of narrative-influencing entertainment peddlers parading as “the news.”
You see, these mainstream media miscreants cannot exist, or flourish as they have, without the support of enormous, global corporations buying precious advertising space during the fiscally-timed commercial breaks between the quips of their vapid, outwardly attractive pundits.
Through the competition inherent in the entertainment industry, “news” channels sprang to life on basic cable. All one had to do to stay afloat, for some time at least, was deliver the teleprompter’s droll, scrolling script to the nation with the appropriate emotion.
As the competition heated up, however, the tabloid effect took hold.
Thanks to their implosive nature, “news” networks today are cannibalizing their own journalistic integrity in order to be bolder, LOUDER, faster, more sensational, and more entertaining.
The hum of the entire mainstream media, with its constant cacophony of crashing egos and salacious soundbites, is enough to send Americans scrambling to escape the roar of their television.
For many of us, solace came in the form of the internet; a place that was once a shining beacon of privacy and freedom.
The internet allowed us to escape the shrieking shills of the mainstream media’s noise machine, and seek the truth for ourselves.
And, more importantly, the internet allowed for the free exchange of information without the hanging cloud of corporately-controlled cash-flow.
We as Americans were getting a glimpse of the true beauty of the First Amendment.
***
Founding Father George Washington spoke of the consequences of allowing speech to be curtailed. He said:
“If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent
we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.”
Washington’s words aren’t just sage wisdom, however. We mustn’t forget that this man led America into being. His profound experience adds a gravity to his words that we will likely never grasp. This isn’t just poetic, but also nigh-literal.
In looking toward the future, however, later great men of government would similarly predict the calamity to befall a nation whose speech was to be neutered.
President Harry Truman once said that “Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear.”
And while it may not be the government we worry about today, the lesson here remains the same in regard to the threat of creeping authoritarianism.
***
Today in America, Free Speech as we know it is under attack,
and the frontline of this war is in cyberspace.
The days of the internet providing safe harbor for discussion and dissention are dwindling now; decaying and withering as website after website, and platform after platform, continue to push us toward a world of censorship.
Censorship is what George Washington was warning us about. He was trying to tell you and I, here today, reading this letter, that a day may come in which his words ring true again.
This may be that time.
You see, freedom itself exists in a binary space. That is to say that you either have freedom or you do not have freedom. You are either free or not free…there is no middle ground.
Which will we choose today?
You may hear people say that “freedom erodes,” but I assure you, it does not.
It cracks like a dam, and the precious resource of unencumbered dialogue behind that broken facade races outward, to be scattered irreversibly by the catastrophic failure of the system.
We cannot allow our freedom of speech to suffer such a spill. Not one single, solitary drop.
No, this is America, and our priority for all of time must be the protection of Amendment One.
***
Today, the internet itself exists as some sort of hidden dimension of our humanity. It’s where we all go for guidance, of one kind or another, when we have a moment to ourselves. We grab our phone, or crack open our laptops and look for those little blue or pink icons that send us off into the ether.
We will be whisked away by Instagram or Facebook to a far-off locale that a friend may be reminiscing about, or perhaps be reminded by email that our rent is due soon.
The internet is a reflection and a projection of humanity itself, and that is a much more importantfact than many of us realize.
And please, don’t get me wrong; the internet is an incredible milestone in human history, but it is important to be reminded time and again that we are all staring into the same void together.
All of us get all of our information from the same place: The internet.
If it is imperative that protect our Freedom of Speech in the “real” world, so too does this ring true online. The internet is a digital stream of human consciousness, exerted via our thumbs, and should be a perfect reflection of the values of our society.
We should look to the internet as a well-crafted mirror, showing us what the rest of the world is up to at any given moment. What an incredible reality that would be!
What we have instead are a series of funhouse mirrors that wealthy frat brothers in Silicon Valley are trying to snatch freedom from everyday American patriots like you and me.
Now, further muddying our inalienable and God-given right to free speech, are wealthy corporations who’ve created an industry out of nothing. These are the informational middle-men in the “fact checking business,” which in and of itself should be an oxymoron.
You see, if there is more than one “fact checking” company, then that indicates these “facts” are up for debate. And who decides what is “fact” and what is simply liberal rhetoric denying the voice of America’s conservative majority?
Right off the bat we have some logical concerns here…
So what exactly are these “fact checking” companies then? Nothing more than shysters and political tricksters out to swing elections and keep their “public servant” demigods employed at the expense of America’s values.
They are what you and I would call con-men and con-women, but, due to their progressive roots, they would likely prefer to be called “con-persons!”
The trick is a simple one, but sadly too effective: These educated, credentialed, and low-minded individuals come together to work up a scourge for themselves to defend the world against.
In the case of global warming, a similar situation occurred with Al Gore, whose massive promotional effort for An Inconvenient Truth was aimed at spurring along his budding “carbon credits” company.
Gore reinvented the enemy so that he could sell us the only weapon that could defeat it.
In the case of “fact checking” companies, we were told that “fake news” and “Russian bots” were the coming horsemen of the political apocalypse, having already allegedly ushered in the Donald Trump presidency.
Now the “fact-checkers” had an enemy they could go after with immunity from the liberal-leaning mainstream media.
And boy, did they ever.
Suddenly, any number of “fact checking” companies could peruse your website, and then, arbitrarily, and without reproach issue you a “demerit” of one sort or another.
This would normally be seen as holding the same weight as having your name written on the chalkboard in 4th grade, so the “fact checking industry” went to war with each other over how best to convert their imaginary, conjured authority into actual authority.
The best way they found to do this was to hit small publishers with these “demerits”, and then turn their own judgments over to Google, Facebook, and other internet advertising czars.
Based on this imaginary authority’s report, these small publishers (the majority being conservative opinion sites) would be stripped of their primary sources of internet income based on what Google or Facebook believed was a legitimate and thorough investigation of sorts – but was in actuality, a liberal organization funded by anti-America mindsets, bent on eliminating conservative thought from American patriot minds like yours and mine.
The mainstream media, who had long been pushing the “Russian bots” story, fell into lockstep with the “fact-checkers”, furthering their already misguided witch hunt.
Now, I can tell you without a single doubting bone in my body, that many, many men and women whose livelihoods were affected by this fiscal lynching of small, alternative publishers, have not a single connection to Russia.
Heck, some of them are even too young to have had even a sip of vodka, let alone be corrupted by the boogeyman at the end of some conspiratorial progressive fairytale being investigated by Robert Mueller ad nauseum.
In the case of many of my close colleagues, the “Russian bot” witch hunt conducted by this faux-authoritarian regime of informational cartels could be the end of their publishing careers.
These were men and women of all stripes. From veterans to millennials, and all backgrounds, who were finding themselves suddenly, and without recourse, either unemployed or underemployed.
Many of these were the same people who had not long ago been singled out as “deplorables” by the culture-creators at the top of the democratic party.
Now, thanks to the “Russian bot” conspiracy theory, they were going to be worried about where their next paycheck might come from. Now, thanks to liberal hatemongers, they are worried about how to pay their bills.
And now, it is time to begin fighting back. I’m tired of being on the defensive! I’m tired of taking a sucker punch from the left!
While the picture I’ve begun to paint above may seem bleak and expansive, there is hope and there is focus for us ahead.
You see, we have been targeted by these “fact checking”, information-Gestapo a time or two, and their “demerits” have landed hard and fast over the course of the last few years.
At first, there was frustration and anger.
We were doing what we loved, for the country we loved, and doing something that we believe is Constitutionally-protected: We are speaking freely about the issues the we see each and every day. We are writing and fighting for the ideals outlined by the great men and women of America’s past, and we were targeted for it, simply because it was an election year.
The weight of the “demerits” on our small, patriotic
company were heavy. Oppressive. Smothering.
What’s worse; the companies that came calling couldn’t answer even the simplest of questions about their own decisions. IF YOU CAN EVEN REACH THEM!
I vividly recall an email conversation with an employee of NewsGuard that perfectly demonstrated the inanity of their positions and phony authority.
In the email, I was chastised for our company’s decision to delete an older article that we no longer deemed to be of the proper quality for our publication. It had been written years earlier by a writer no longer employed by us, and was one of literally 17,000 articles that had been published on the site.
NewsGuard wanted to issue us a demerit for removing the content, as though our decision to err on the side of journalistic integrity was seen as some sort of sleight-of-hand.
When I asked NewsGuard why one of their competitors in the “fact checking” industry had instructed us differently, they had no response. The same void of recognition occurred when I inquired as to how we as publishers were to determine the authenticity of a “fact checker’s” authority.
That website was soon given NewsGuard’s “demerit” and subsequently demonetized by Google. Hard-working American patriots just like you had to be let go, because there were no funds to pay them thanks to the liberal hounds of hell loosed upon us.
Seeing now, and for certain, that these “fact checkers” weren’t going to be playing fair was, for a short time, both liberating and invigorating. We knew in our heart of hearts that justice could and should prevail.
But then, after five attempts to serve NewsGuard with a cease and desist letter, at five publicly available addresses, and having every single one returned undeliverable, we began to realize just how corrupt these con-men really were.
The patterns we began to see around us were becoming all too clear: This wasn’t about “Russian bots” at all. This was about squashing conservative news sites in the run-up to the 2018 midterms, and now, again at the beginning of the 2020 presidential cycle.
If it wasn’t NewsGuard trying to assassinate our character, it was an overseas plastic building block company (hailing from a strongly socialist country) singling us out for harassment on account of the Trump-themed conservative toys we were selling, while allowing any number of similar (and oftentimes liberal) trinkets to be found online.
And we barely need to mention Facebook or Twitter to elicit
a groan from a great many of our readers and customers.
Then, in a shocking twist, there was New Knowledge; a corporation that listed us in a report likening us to “Russian bots” and “content farms.”
Upon further research, however, New Knowledge itself begins to look questionable, with major donations coming from overseas – specifically two locations in China – where internet censorship has been honed into a free-speech-destroying weapon of authoritarianism. Can we also say the word? COMMUNISIM!
But, as with any threat to the First Amendment, we as Americans have a duty to stand up and fight.
And, thanks to the acute directives of companies like NewsGuard and New Knowledge, we know where to begin our fight.
***
There is no time to waste in our quest to save the Freedom of Speech from corporate implosion.
These giants of advertising and industry have had a prolonged amount of time in the mainstream media driver’s seat, and this could very well be their last lap.
But that will be up to us. You and me.
Like George Washington before, we mustn’t allow the enormity of the task ahead dissuade us.
We are right, are we not? And if we are right about freedom, the only outcome can be success.
We hold these truths to be self-evident. They are not for judgment, assuaging, massaging, altering, or otherwise molesting. They are because they are.
The words of our Founding Fathers could not be clearer on this.
The right to speak our minds and share information is self evident, and the only way to lose this battle is to not fight.
The options are simple: Push on, or acquiesce to tyranny, for to fight is to win.
Free Speech is priceless, and we as Americans owe it to the nation that we love to fight against those who degrade the First Amendment for the sake of greed and wealth.
We owe it to the generations of men and women who have fought and died, bled and cried over our great country.
We owe it to our children, and our grandchildren, to fight to preserve this country’s freedoms.
If we don’t fight now, who will and when?
Now, in this digital age, the battles come swiftly and consistently. In this moment, we need to follow the money behind the informational molestation industry being passed off as “fact checking” and hit NewsGuard and New Knowledge before they can further tarnish our Constitution.
That is why I humbly ask you to ponder what Free Speech is worth to you, and to consider giving to our cause.
The fight is too necessary to be ignored, and, with your help, we can help write the next chapter in the tale of American freedom.
We need you now.
Can we count on your generous donation towards our cause? Even $25 will help. And for every gift of $500 or more, you’ll be listed as a Founding Father Donor on the wall of our company’s headquarters.
We owe it to our country’s past, present, and future not to give up now. We must prevail and with your help, we will prevail.
Help us fight. Help us win.
For America,
Brandon Vallorani
CEO
(FlagandCross.com)
Our nation, under God, has been divided and torn asunder by out-of control entertainment peddlers parading as “the news.”
The once-shining beacon of privacy and free thought—the internet—allowed us to escape the shrieking shills of mainstream media’s noise machine, and seek the truth for ourselves.
But wealthy liberals in Silicon Valley are trying to snatch freedom from everyday American patriots like you and me by censoring and “monitoring” and “controlling” our rights to speak freely our conservative opinions.
China and liberal magnates are funding attacks against our sites, stores, and social media accounts – and putting hardworking, patriotic Americans out of work.
And now, it is time to begin fighting back. I’m tired of being on the defensive! I’m tired of taking a sucker punch from the left!
There is no time to waste in our quest to save the Freedom of Speech from corporate implosion.
I humbly ask you to ponder what Free Speech is worth to you, and to consider giving to our cause.
We need you now. Help us fight. Help us win.
Can we count on your generous donation towards our cause? Even $25 will help. And for every gift of $500 or more, you’ll be listed as a Founding Father Donor on the wall of our company’s headquarters.
We owe it to our country’s past, present, and future not to give up now. We must prevail and with your help, we will prevail.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * SEND WITH YOUR DONATION * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
☐ YES! Please count me in on the fight to win back America’s First Amendment Rights! Enclosed is a check or credit card information to process a donation to the cause of preserving our rights to Free Speech on the Internet! We will prevail against liberal censorship, and I will be a part of the battalion of patriotic Americans who will win this war for the minds and souls of our children and grandchildren!
☐ $500 ☐ $250 ☐ $100 ☐ $50 ☐ $25 ☐ _______ (Other)
☐ Please make this amount a monthly recurring donation!
Card Number ______________________________________________ Exp. __________
CVV _______ Name _________________________________________ Zip ___________
Please make all checks payable to FLAG AND CROSS NETWORK
1899 Lake Road, Suite 210; Hiram, GA 30141
CLICK HERE TO DONATE TO OUR GOFUNDME CAMPAIGN
☐ No, I’m not worried about my First Amendment rights nor the need to fight liberal censorship.