Devin Nunes vs. Big Tech

While driving to the city Thursday to buy a new cell phone for DH, I happened to hear part of the first radio interview of Devin Nunes since he left Congress earlier this month to head up the Trump Media & Technology Group. The first project of this new company will be a social media platform, to compete with the Big Tech platforms that cancel, suspend or hide people for their political views. We've all seen this happen.

For a limited time, you can hear the entire Nunes interview on the Ray Appleton Podcast for January 13, hour 2. It's 40 minutes long, with listener input. (If the podcast dates don't show for you, try a different browser).

I also discovered that the day before, Appleton had spoken with Victor Davis Hanson about Nunes and his switch from Congress to the Trump organization. They also speculated about whether Trump would run for president again. Trump will be holding a rally in Arizona this afternoon. Maybe we'll get some clues then.

The Appleton podcast segment with VDH runs about 12 minutes, with a few more minutes in which VDH and Appleton discuss California issues. You can find the VDH interview at the same link as the Devin Nunes interview above. January 12, hour 2.

VDH pointed out that Nunes was tenacious in standing up to the left in Congress. He and Appleton had a hard time coming up with names of others in Congress who were similarly tenacious in standing up to the left. Can you think of any? They also discussed how life for a California conservative in Congress could be difficult.

Starting a new social media company in today's climate also sounds to me like a venture fraught with potential pitfalls. In his interview, Nunes seemed to recognize Big Tech as a foe every bit as formidable as the ones he faced in Congress, perhaps even more formidable. He also views the legislative process in Washington as having fallen into disarray.

Nunes seems determined to leave politics behind, even wiping Adam Schiff from his memory banks. He has a new challenge.

In the interview, he mentioned a book he wrote. This was a short Encounter book entitled Countdown to Socialism. It came out in September of 2020, before the election. One came to our house (not in Nunes' district) in the name of our nephew, whom I doubt was registered as a Republican. Maybe one of his friends put him on a list when he was living in Tulare.

It is very short, and an easy read.

. . . In this explosive Encounter Broadside, Congressman Devin Nunes exposes the nexus between the Democratic Party, the mainstream media, and the social media corporations. These three entities cooperate to blast out the Democrats' message and downplay their extremism while suppressing and censoring conservative points of view. Tens of millions of Americans are only seeing one side of the debate. The information they get from newspapers and social media is not "news"--it's contrived content designed to help one political party and punish its opponents. In the run-up to the most consequential election of our lifetime, read this book to learn how your information is being skewed and regulated to force America onto the path to socialism. . .

This little book may have played a role in Trump's decision to ask Nunes to head up his new company.

Incidentally, a month later, just before the election, the paperback edition of Lee Smith's book The Plot Against the President came out with a new subtitle: The True Story of How Congressman Devin Nunes Uncovered the Biggest Political Scandal in U.S. History

. . . While popular opinion holds that Russia subverted democratic processes during the 2016 elections, the real damage was done not by Moscow or any other foreign actor. Rather, this was a slow-moving coup engineered by a coterie of the American elite, the "deep state," targeting not only the president, but also the rest of the country. The plot officially began July 31, 2016 with the counterintelligence investigation that the FBI opened to probe Russian infiltration of Donald Trump's presidential campaign. But the bureau never followed any Russians. In fact, it was an operation to sabotage Trump, the candidate, then president-elect, and finally the presidency. The conspirators included political operatives, law enforcement and intelligence officials, and the press. The plot was uncovered by Nunes, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, and his investigative team. They understood that the target of the operation wasn't just Trump, but rather the institutions that sustain our republic. A country where operatives use the intelligence and security services to protect their privileges by spying on Americans, coordinating with the press, and using extra-constitutional means to undermine an election then undo a presidency is more like the third world than the republic envisioned by the founding fathers. Without Nunes and his team, the plot against the president -- and against the country -- never would have been revealed. . .

VDH emphasized this issue in the interview mentioned above.

In 2010, when he had much less influence in Congress, Devin Nunes wrote another little book, Restoring the Republic.

Born and raised in the breadbasket of California, thirty-six-year-old Nunes has seen firsthand how the convergence of big government, big business, and the radical Left has wreaked havoc on entire communities, turning the once-thriving farmland of the San Joaquin Valley into a blighted desert reminiscent of the Dust Bowl. Now the same forces are doing their damage on a national level, threatening America's very foundation. But Nunes has a plan to stop them.

I suspect that this would have been an extremely difficult plan to carry out in Washington D.C. Wishing Nunes success in the struggle to interrupt Big Tech's takeover of our lives, in ways big and small. The new social media platform is scheduled to launch in March. They promise no algorithms, and much less intrusiveness.

Incidentally, a little tip for the tech-illiterate like me:

It can be a minor ordeal to transfer your contacts from an old Android phone to a new one if your phone's contacts have not always been synched to your Google account. You may need to look up how to import some contacts on the SIM card (from the old device, now in the new phone) to your Google account before they will show up on the new phone. Amazing. Your phone cannot display the contents of the SIM card inside it without your Google account. Google knows practically everything about you.

Music and communication from a simpler time

Hope you have something nice planned for the weekend.

This is the Thread before the Gardening Thread.

Bonus Meme: Media's attitude during the Russia Collusion "revelations", courtesy of Dr_No. You can probably think of other issues where this fits the media's approach:

posted by K.T. at 11:15 AM

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