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The RESTRICT Act Gives Up Nearly All Notions of Checks and Balances
Townhall.com ^ | May 05, 2023 | Senator Rand Paul

Posted on 05/05/2023 6:53:10 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum

Beginning in the 19th century, snake oil salesmen falsely claimed their elixirs and tonics could treat a wide array of ailments. In the 21st century, a group of senators are hawking a bill they assert can cure the oh-so-many maladies caused by using the social media app, TikTok. Just like snake oil salesmen of the past, these Senators may talk a good game, but their antidote is far worse than any purported affliction.

To address our nation’s hysteria over dance videos, more than twenty Senators, both Republican and Democrat, support the RESTRICT Act. They tell us that this bill will help rein in the dastardly threat that comes from the Chinese government supposedly spying on silly videos made by American teenagers. Instead, it bestows an astonishing amount of power to the Executive branch in a manner that the Chinese Communist Party would approve of. As Tucker Carlson correctly observed, “this is not an effort to push back against China. It’s part of a strategy to make America much more like China.”

The RESTRICT Act eschews almost all notions of checks and balances by granting a vast amount of power to the Executive branch to intervene in all kinds of economic transactions. It would effectively allow the Secretary of Commerce to become the Commissar of Commerce.

The bill’s application is far from limited to Tiktok or other internet-based companies. The third section of the bill would enable the Secretary of Commerce to investigate any business that is in any way subject to the jurisdiction of a foreign adversary to determine if its transactions “pose an undue or unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States.”

Though the bill already designates China, Russia, Venezuela, Iran, and Cuba as foreign adversaries, the RESTRICT Act also empowers the Secretary of Commerce to...

(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Front Page News; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: biden; bidencriminalregime; bidenvoters; china; crookedjoe; restrictact; tuckercarlson

1 posted on 05/05/2023 6:53:10 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

I’m from the Government and I’m here to help. The check is in the mail and I promise I will respect you in the morning!


2 posted on 05/05/2023 7:00:03 PM PDT by Nateman (If Mohammad was not the Anti Christ Mad Moe definitely comes in as a Strong second..)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Bkmk


3 posted on 05/05/2023 7:00:52 PM PDT by sauropod (“If they don’t believe our lies, well, that’s just conspiracy theorist stuff, there.”)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

It is our domestic adversaries I worry about—the Democratic Party is far more dangerous than China, Russia, Iran etal.


4 posted on 05/05/2023 7:02:25 PM PDT by cgbg (Claiming that laws and regs that limit “hate speech” stop freedom of speech is “hate speech”.)
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The only necessary indicator is: If the Rats are for, it’s bad. The GOP’s a crapshoot


5 posted on 05/05/2023 7:04:42 PM PDT by Gene Eric (Don't be a statist!)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

I assume a federal agent reads every word I type.

If I use TikTok, I assume Beijing scans my words by computer.

Most websites make it clear that spying on me is their bread & butter.


6 posted on 05/05/2023 7:16:35 PM PDT by Brian Griffin
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

TikTok is undercutting the Internet ad business.


7 posted on 05/05/2023 7:18:09 PM PDT by Brian Griffin
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To: Brian Griffin

Which in turn undercuts the sales of Chinese-made crapola.


8 posted on 05/05/2023 7:34:13 PM PDT by TigersEye (Woke is a cancer of the mind and humanity)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Much as I dislike what “social media” have done to our culture, there isn’t any sure-fire way of shutting TikTak up without murdering the First Amendment as a byproduct. Which is just what our globalist betters would love to do.


9 posted on 05/05/2023 7:42:55 PM PDT by Chad C. Mulligan
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

If you want to ban TikTok, then focus on TikTok, not on a Patriot Act for the internet.


10 posted on 05/05/2023 10:19:36 PM PDT by TBP (Decent people cannot fathom the amoral cruelty of the Biden regime.)
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The "Restricting the Emergence of Security Threats that Risk Information and Communications Technology Act" per Wikipedia.

Sometimes I hate it when people shop at Acronyms R Us.

11 posted on 05/06/2023 4:58:46 AM PDT by foreverfree
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

There is no entity more seditious than the Democrat party.


12 posted on 05/06/2023 7:53:49 AM PDT by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

A preview how it will work is currently available in Ukraine where vloggers like Gonzalo Lira are being arrested for telling the truth about the war in Ukraine.


13 posted on 05/06/2023 8:41:23 AM PDT by Kazan
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To: Brian Griffin

Excellent point that we should all need, one’s own self first...


14 posted on 05/06/2023 8:43:23 AM PDT by OKSooner ("Oh, the mad fools!")
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

I am opposed to an Executive Branch power to designate “foreign adversaries”.

Congress has the power to declare war. Congress also has the power to grant letters of marque and reprisal.

But to give an already too powerful Executive to designate, let’s say, Russia as a “foreign adversary” and thereby impair the rights of American citizens to engage in otherwise normal activities, subject to reprisals under color of law, is a bridge too far.


15 posted on 05/06/2023 1:22:56 PM PDT by Jim Noble (It is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government)
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To: Jim Noble

What you said. Perfect.


16 posted on 05/06/2023 1:25:44 PM PDT by Chengdu54
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