IS IT TRUE THAT FACEBOOK IS CAVING IN TO TRUMP AUTHORITARIANISM? YOU BE THE JUDGE.

Beneath the Spin*Eric L. Wattree

EXCELLENCE IS THE KEY TO BLACK EQUALITY

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IS IT TRUE THAT FACEBOOK IS CAVING IN TO TRUMP AUTHORITARIANISM? 
YOU BE THE JUDGE

Everyone knows that Donald Trump looks up to and admires Vladimir Putin, but it goes much farther than that – he aspires to be America’s version of Vladimir. Trump has mentioned more than once the prospect of remaining in power permanently, and he has a vested interested in doing so in order to avoid going to prison.
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In that regard he’s already set the wheels in motion – he’s attacking the press as “the enemy of the people”, weaponized every agency in government, including the Justice Department, and courts, and he’s

currently working on corrupting the intelligence community by firing everybody who has the audacity to be loyal to the United States Constitution over Donald Trump. Now he’s replacing these career professionals with incompetent Trump cronies who don’t know anything about the job, as their atrocious response to the Coronavirus glaringly demonstrates. But even beyond that, it is now being alleged that he’s attempting to radicalize the people themselves through the use of divisive rhetoric, fiery Hitler-like rallies, and the corruption of social media.
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Initially, I took the latter charge with a grain of salt, because certainly people like Mark Zuckerberg wouldn’t allow a person with Donald’s limited intellect to take over their platform to corrupt the system. But then, things started happening to me personally that’s made me rethink that assumption.
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I noticed that whenever I got into political debates on Facebook that led to my being pointedly critical of Donald Trump my comments would be blocked, and sometimes I would even be placed in “Facebook jail” for a number of days for nothing more than stating a fact, while the person I was debating was given the perfect freedom to make the most outrageous comments – some even racist - with complete immunity. Below are a few examples of that:
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In one debate I made the following comment and it was blocked:
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“The past, you say? No, I live in reality, and I'm not stupid enough to base my thinking on the promises of a pathological liar. And how do I know Trump is lying? - because his eyes are open. We're living through a dire emergency, and you - a grown-ass man - is living in an episode of Mother Goose. It's unbelievable that the Black community could produce such profound stupidity.”

THE TRUMP AFFECT

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“I NEVER THOUGHT I’D SEE THE DAY WHEN THE GOP WOULD ALLOW A DRAFT DODGER AND THE ALLEGED RAPIST OF A 13-YEAR-OLD KICK A DECORATED LIEUTENANT COLONEL OUT OF THE WHITE HOUSE FOR HONORING THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION. DID YOU?
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THIS IS A NATIONAL EMERGRNCY!”

LT. COL. VINDMAN

The comment was blocked, with a warning that I had violated community standards, without telling me what standard I violated. And the comment below was blocked for the same reason, and with the same unsubstantiated warning – and that was in spite of the fact that much of the information came directly from Reuters, and with a link attached to attest to that fact. Yet, again, it was blocked:
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“Linda, yes, he’s [Donald Trump]both manipulative and a psychopath, but he's also stupid, even the people who work for him says that. The man doesn't read, and he has a 10 second attention span. That's what makes him so dangerous. According to the IRS he's lost more money than any other person in history, and he's gone bankrupt 6 times. The only thing that's keeping him afloat is Russian criminals using his name to launder stolen money. That should say it all:
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‘"But in the United States, members of the Russian elite have invested in Trump buildings. A Reuters review has found that at least 63 individuals with Russian passports or addresses have bought at least $98.4 million worth of property in seven Trump-branded luxury towers in southern Florida, according to public documents, interviews and corporate records.
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‘"The buyers include politically connected businessmen, such as a former executive in a Moscow-based state-run construction firm that works on military and intelligence facilities, the founder of a St. Petersburg investment bank and the co-founder of a conglomerate with interests in banking, property and electronics."’

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-trump-property/
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Another example of a post that Facebook blocked is below. I received a notification that the following post went against community standards:
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“Trump’s campaign chief has been funneling money to Don Jr’s girlfriend and Eric Trump’s wife . https://www.alternet.org/2020/03/trumps-campaign-chief-has-been-funneling-money-to-don-jrs-girlfriend-and-eric-trumps-wife-report/”
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According to the New York Times:

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“At Party for Donald Trump Jr.’s Girlfriend, Donors Helped Pick Up the Tab.
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“Attendees of the bash for Kimberly Guilfoyle at the president’s private club chipped in — including financial backers of the Trump re-election campaign”

WASHINGTON — It was a lavish birthday party for Donald Trump Jr.’s girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle. The setting was Mar-a-Lago, President Trump’s private club in Palm Beach, Fla. The guest list included dozens of Trump family members and friends.
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“But when it came to picking up the tab, hands went out to other attendees. Among them were at least four whose families are financial supporters of the president’s re-election campaign, for which Ms. Guilfoyle helps lead the fund-raising. They ended up pitching in tens of thousands of dollars, passed along to Mar-a-Lago, to help pay for what two people familiar with the planning said was a $50,000 celebration of Ms. Guilfoyle’s 51st birthday.” https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/17/us/politics/trump-donors-guilfoyle-party.html
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Then, in order to alert the public that Trump routinely uses the White Power sign to emphasize a point during his speeches, I posted a photo of the sign, and even that was blocked.

But still, I didn’t want to fly off the handle and make unwarranted assumptions, so I chose the comment below that was directed at me and  reported it just to see the result. I thought it was particularly egregious, but maybe I’m just being overly sensitive. What do you think, keeping in mind what I was violated for:
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“Let's see, Obama in his book, talks about how his grandfather would go visit a guy named FRANK-MARSHALL: DAVIS during his time in ~Hawaii. : And: later Obama would go visit him as a mentor. : The F.B.I and: C.I.A, both were tracking FRANK as he was a ~Russian-agent. : FRANK was an open COMMUNIST, wrote a collum called FRANKLY-SPEAKING and: took pornographic-photos of ANN: DUNHAM, Obamas momma. : This is all in Obama's-book. : But I know you, as a supporter of the racist-Democrat-Party/Jim-Crow wont look into that because afterall Obama's a niggrah. : Niggrahs do no-wrong.

“So, the whole RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA, shit is based on a proven-false-document, Steel-Dossier. : Now if you start a math problem wrong the whole equation will be wrong, no matter how much NUMBER-FUDGING you want to do. : Facts care nothing about your feelings or: emotional-racism toward a duly elected President. : You and: all the hating-American-Liberal-Marxist are just butt hurt and: instead of running the country as they are paid to do, these shill rather waste millions on witch-hunts and: bullshit.

“America/Americans have no-need for a Black-Marxist like you. : Why not leave, go to a Socialist-country where you can be free of racism.”
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But here was the response I received from Facebook:
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“Eric, we reviewed the comment that you reported and found that it doesn't go against any of our Community Standards. For this reason we didn't take the comment down.
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“We keep our review process as fair as possible by using the same Community Standards to review reports.
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“While we've decided not to take this comment down, we understand that you don't like it. We recommend that you hide the comment or unfollow, unfriend or block the person who posted it.”
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There seems to be a dangerous double standard here that threatens to make Facebook the Fox News of social media. Maybe it's time to create an online version of MSNBC as a counterbalance. What do you think?
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Eric L. Wattree
Http://wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com
BLACK WRITERS, INTELLECTUALS, AND INDEPENDENT THINKERS
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Religion: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.