

Discover more from Speaking Wrong At The Right Time
In the midst of a culture war, people are losing sight of a bill that would make what happened to January 6ers look like Disneyland.
It's phrased as a ban on TikTok but its ambiguous language could make American citizens easier political targets.
Post-9/11 we saw how the federal government went into overdrive with war in foreign nations for our supposed safety but also slicing into our civil liberties with the Patriot Act. In the wake of January 6th & rabid Trump Derangement, the RESTRICT Act will be used in the same way.
The American public was introduced to discussions about banning TikTok because of China's ability to collect American citizens' information but what we are quickly seeing is that we are being played.
The RESTRICT Act is far more than getting rid of TikTok and I believe the motivations behind some of the ambiguous language they use is to curb dessent among the populace and embolden the security apparatus within our borders.
This bill gives broad authority to multiple agencies and even the President to determine what threats are and the punishment for people who violate these supposed threats.
There are 2 key lines in this bill that we need to pay attention to. Both lines are under Section 3 which it describes that the secretary has the authority to:
"Take action to identify, deter, disrupt, prevent, prohibit, investigate, or otherwise mitigate, including by negotiating, entering into, or imposing, and enforcing any mitigation measure to address any risk arising from any covered transaction by any person"
What can they take act on?
"Interfering in, or altering the result or reported result of a Federal election"
Who gets to determine what this interference looks like? "as determined in coordination with the Attorney General, the Director of National Intelligence, the Secretary of Treasury, and the Federal Election Commission"
If this doesn't bother you, how about this catch-all line under the same section?:
"Otherwise poses an undue or unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States or the safety of United States persons."
Who gets to determine what is unacceptable? They do.
They are purposely using ambiguous language and granting the federal government sweeping authority to potentially punish U.S. citizens for not only questioning a U.S. election (which is your 1st Amendment right) but for any other reason they deem unacceptable.
Literally, any electronic is fair game for them to use against you and evaluate. They have broad spying authority to look into quite literally all forms of communication, not just via the internet. Nothing is out of bounds. Your home network, cloud, ISP...you name it.
So what would this look like with previous events? Well, the "Stop the Steal" movement would likely result in the leaders of the movement facing civil penalties upwards of $250,000 or criminal penalties upwards of 20 years in prison along with a fine upwards of 1 million dollars.
Any form of organizing that the government deems inappropriate could be framed as a matter that goes against the United States or its interests. If they suspect something is happening, they have the authority to surveil U.S. citizens as they see necessary.
So people don't misunderstand, this isn't about Trump or MAGA but all citizens. What's to keep them from going after a leftist organization that challenges U.S. authority? Basically nothing. What's to keep them from abusing their powers?
They could say that your tweet is similar to Russian propaganda and that could be enough of a reason to at least surveil you. This bill even gives them the authority to take any property of yours if you fit into the category of "unacceptable".
Mind you, this bill is being accepted in a bipartisan manner. The uni-party wants this to happen to make the security state happy. So, ask yourself, why aren't we harping on this bill every day? Where are your favorite influencers? Where are the journalists?
I came to the realization that most of these people don't care about challenging power but catering to an audience & profiting off of trivial nonsense. But this bill is important & if it goes through, this will be used against all of us, no matter what party you support. Wake up.
I encourage you to read the bill for yourself. Share it with everyone. You need to know what's going on D.C. before it's too late.
Banning TikTok is a Trojan Horse to Target Dissenting U.S. Citizens
Wow! Thank you for pointing out the language in the proposed bill. I had NO idea. I was vaguely supportive of the idea of getting rid of TikTok because I think it's a ridiculous waste of time (I'm sure influencers would disagree!) I wasn't overly worried about Chinese spying only because they have all of our information already, anyway. But after reading your argument, I will be sure to contact my legislators to vote no. Thanks again!
the fact that it is bi partisan is frightening