Last night, Fox News’ Jesse Watters had one of the most stunning interviews seen in quite a while with Sen. Lindsay Graham. Watters spotlighted the RESTRICT Act. It supposedly targets tech like TikTok to prevent foreign adversaries from using it to spy on Americans. But as Watters pointed out in a MUST-SEE video, the language of the bill is downright terrifying.

https://dailycaller.com/2023/03/29/jesse-watters-lindsey-graham-restrict-act/

It’s vague enough to allow our government to target anybody for doing virtually anything they find suspicious, and cite that as a reason to investigate them and seize their Internet browsing histories. It includes huge fines and substantial prison terms, blocks citizens from seeking protection from the courts, and puts it off-limits to the Freedom of Information Act. In short, it might be the most horrifying assault on privacy and First Amendment rights in history. Here are those provisions in print, in case you don’t want to watch the full video.

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/lincolnbrown/2023/03/29/the-restrict-act-is-exactly-what-it-sounds-like-n1682533

Another scary thing about it: around 20 Senators back it, including Republicans like Graham, who is a co-sponsor. Then the interview entered deer-in-the-headlights territory when Watters asked Graham how he could support something like that, and he admitted he didn’t know that stuff was in it because he hadn’t read it, which “makes me look bad.” That’s an understatement.

Graham’s spokesperson later attempted damage control to little avail, saying, “Admittedly, it wasn’t Senator Graham’s best interview tonight. It happens.” But he said Graham would address China’s control of TikTok tomorrow, and would be happy to go back on the show soon “to discuss the issue further.”

Passing massive, incredibly destructive bills first and finding out what’s in them later is the kind of thing I’d expect from Nancy Pelosi. If what Watters quoted and showed on screen really is in that bill, and I have no reason to doubt him, then the best way to “edit” it is with a shredder. Then start over from scratch with a bill that prevents China from spying on Americans instead of empowering Washington to spy on Americans.

Coming up later today

former Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, now that state’s Senator, is set to testify to the House Weaponization of Government Committee alongside Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry and former Missouri deputy attorney general for special litigation, D. John Sauer.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-admin-colluded-with-social-media-giants-to-censor-free-speech-missouri-louisiana-officials-to-say

They were involved in the huge First Amendment lawsuit against the Biden Administration, and they will testify on what they discovered about government collusion with social media to silence critics. Schmitt will reportedly testify that the Biden Administration led "the largest speech censorship operation in recent history." We will be watching that hearing closely, and I’m sure will have much more to pass along tomorrow.

Disney fires Ike

The Disney Corporation is notorious for its “creative” legal tactics (how do you think Mickey Mouse stayed out of the public domain for over 90 years?), and now it appears that they pulled a last-minute sneaky maneuver to avoid losing the sweetheart deal control over their theme park district under the new Florida law. I have a feeling Gov. DeSantis will make it clear to them that Florida is run by elected officials, not Disney. Stay tuned, this fight could be more entertaining than anything Disney has released in the past few years, which is admittedly a low bar.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/war-corporate-kingdom-desantis-new-board-spars-control-disney#

Speaking of Disney, the massive layoffs to save $5 billion have started, and the most recent high-profile axing is of Ike Perlmutter, the head of Marvel Entertainment, a branch that handled non-movie Marvel merchandising and that’s being folded into other divisions. I normally wouldn’t report on this, but there is a bigger political/social aspect to it.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/marvel-entertainment-chairman-isaac-perlmutter-out-disney-1235363074/

As noted at that link, Perlmutter is a friend and adviser to Donald Trump, which makes him radioactive in Hollywood (note that the Hollywood Reporter couldn't resist running a photo of him shaking hands with the dreaded Trump.) But he held his job for so long because he is a wise investor who bought Marvel for peanuts and later sold it to Disney for $4 billion and a promise that he would continue leading it.

While there, Perlmutter fought the woke cancer that’s infected Disney's movies and TV shows, alienated Disney’s customers, and led to all these layoffs. He backed investor Nelson Peltz’s now-abandoned effort to get on Disney’s board and reverse the woke garbage, like the “not-so-secret gay agenda” being put into kids’ movies. He also wanted to fire Kevin Feige, the head of Marvel Studios who’s killing the most successful movie franchise in history by using it to push “diversity, equity and inclusion.”

Permutter’s firing may just be part of a larger effort to cut costs, but many observers see it as proof that CEO Bob Iger plans to continue Disney’s efforts to force woke propaganda onto unwilling customers. If so, they’d better brace for even more cost-cutting in the future. They should’ve listened to Perlmutter and axed Kevin Feige instead.

The Sad State of the United Methodist Church

I wrote yesterday about the sad state to which the United Methodist Church has descended, with over 2,000 member churches splitting off over its embrace of radical beliefs like the LGBTQ agenda, to the point that they confirmed as a candidate for ministry a drag queen who denounces the Bible and openly spews blasphemy. But now, look at the type of person they’ve decided isn’t worthy of speaking for the Methodist Church.

https://www.westernjournal.com/theologian-fired-bible-college-posted-twitter-something-worse-happens/

Dr. Aaron Edwards, a theology lecturer at the British Methodist school Cliff College, was fired for refusing to take down a tweet calling homosexuality a sin that’s “invading the church.” He added, “Evangelicals no longer see the severity of this [because] they’re busy apologising for their apparently barbaric homophobia, whether or not it’s true. This *is* a ‘Gospel issue’, by the way. If sin is no longer sin, we no longer need a Saviour.”

That sounds like pretty basic theology to me. But Edwards was hauled into a disciplinary hearing, told he had brought the college “into disrepute” (I suspect it was there long before he tweeted anything), and officials even threatened to report him to a British government counter-terrorism agency that apparently investigates theologians for saying that homosexuality is a sin.

Not only can I understand why so many Methodist churches are breaking away from their leadership, I’m also reminded of why I’m so glad America broke away from Great Britain.

(Related: I'm hearing from many readers that the number of churches leaving the United Methodist Church over their leftist lurch would be much higher, but small churches can't afford the pension fees and other high costs they would have to pay if they broke away. Makes sense.)

Greg Gutfeld's Monologue

If you didn’t see Greg Gutfeld’s monologue last night, it’s well worth a watch.

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6323618479112

Gutfeld talked about the tragic shooting at the Christian school in Nashville, and how many media outlets are giving it wall-to-wall coverage, often in ways that push political agendas or seek to tell us everything they can find out about the sick individual who perpetrated it. He cites the fact that we’ve known for decades that such media coverage sparks copycat crimes, because sick people who want notoriety see the media making shooters famous and they want in on it.

I’m glad to see that someone else is saying this. It’s been standard practice in all my media outlets for over a decade that I never mention the name of anyone who becomes famous by killing other people. I don’t need to worry about being accused of “dead-naming” this “trans” shooter because I won’t be mentioning her name at all.

I just want you to know that if you don’t see as much coverage of this tragedy here as in other places, it’s not that we aren’t horrified or heartbroken by it, or think it doesn’t deserve coverage. We just don’t want to send the wrong message by making a mass murderer a celebrity. When there is real news to report about it, we will. We might also point you to stories about the victims, or the heroic cops who stopped it. We will respond to those who try to exploit it by pushing a political agenda that wouldn’t have prevented it or that dishonors the memory or the faith of the victims.

But there will be no wallowing in the life and motivations of a mass murderer. You won’t even hear her name. I wish all other media outlets would adopt the same policy, so that any would-be copycats would know they will not become famous by harming others. They will just be dead, reviled and bound for Hell.

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