KupoCon disclosed an official declaration on their website, stating the reasons behind the sudden withdrawal of Calloway’s much-awaited appearance:

“On Monday, it was brought to our attention that a series of offensive posts had been interacted with by Susan Calloway’s X account. This included comments and reactions. These interactions spanned almost a year. Promptly addressing this issue, we reached out to Susan for clarification, recognizing that her account had been previously hacked. Regrettably, the ensuing events triggered a wave of abusive comments directed not only at Susan and her supporters, but KupoCon, attendees and the KupoCon team.”

Deemed “offensive,” the posts liked by Calloway’s account encompassed a meme regarding socialist college students shared by Turning Point USA, a post by Riley Gaines arguing against males participating in women’s sports matches, and more.

Calloway encountered criticism from some vocal Final Fantasy fans due to these social media interactions. KupoCon thereafter revealed that she would no longer grace their imminent Toronto event.

The group fell short of stipulating the cause behind the sudden alteration of the plans, stating merely that her absence is due to “recent events.”

Calloway’s X handle, @SusanCalloway, has been deactivated since then.

As a quick recap, here’s what has happened so far. Brand was accused by four anonymous women in a British media hit piece of sexually assaulting them over a decade ago. His YouTube account was demonetized. The British government was caught pressuring other platforms to do the same. Now, a concerted effort is underway to suppress messages of support while amplifying condemnation, both on social media and in the news.

There have been no criminal complaints made nor charges filed.

This has nothing to do with sexual assault allegations in the press. In fact, this doesn’t really have anything to do with Russell Brand on a individual level. He’s simply a vessel through which the powers-that-be are accomplishing two things.

First, they’re sending the message to others who may challenge the prescribed globalist/leftist/authoritarian narratives on topics like the Covid “vaccines,” the war in Ukraine, and government censorship. The message is this: “We will destroy you if you get big enough to become a nuisance.”

Second, this is a trial balloon to see how the general public responds. You and I don’t matter. They know that freedom-lovers will denounce the efforts against Brand whether we like him or not, whether we believe him or not, because he is being destroyed without trial or even rebuttal. What the powers-that-be want to know is if the indoctrinated masses can be made to accept this type of government overreach.

As Off-Guardian pointed out, it’s ironic that the British government is leading the charge because this type of government behavior has been condemned since the Magna Carta:

No free man is to be arrested, or imprisoned, or disseised, or outlawed, or exiled, or in any other way ruined, nor will we go against him or send against him, except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.

Clearly, they are trying to ruin Russell Brand.

Unfortunately, it seems that both of their tests are proving to be successful. While freedom scored a minor win when video platform Rumble told the British Government to shove it, it’s crystal clear that he will feel financial pain from this. More importantly, his reputation is getting trashed and that’s pretty much all he has left to drive his populist message. Anyone who starts spreading a message like Brand’s as it pertains to freedom is now aware they could be targeted as well.

As for testing the reaction of the masses, it’s been abysmal. Most in “conservative” and even alternative media are taking a hard pass on the issue. For some, it’s due to Brand’s history and politics. After all, he may be espousing freedom-loving rhetoric today but he’s still a leftist at heart. He’s still a socialist even if he’s red-pilled on some issues.

But those who could and should oppose the treatment of Brand (as compared to actually supporting him, which is not required in order to recognize the nefarious plot against him) are mostly silent for one reason and one reason only: They don’t want to get cancelled with him. One editor that I spoke to off the record told me her conservative outlet wouldn’t touch the story because “it’s a bad look to support him now if it comes out later that he’s a rapist.”

It doesn’t matter if you believe Brand’s vehement denials or not. At this point he has been accused in the press of crimes and should not be under attack by at least one government as a result. If a platform like YouTube wants to ban him, that’s a private issue. But the fact that governments are getting involved in his cancelation tells us that this is part of a larger plan.

By no means am I calling on anyone to support him. Personally, I’m not a fan even though I agree with a few of his recent stances. But I do believe it behooves those who are opposed to tyranny to call out the fact that governments are trying to cancel him. They generally don’t do that to anyone who’s been accused in the press of a crime. The fact that they’re doing it to Brand means this has nothing to do with what he allegedly did and everything to do with what he represents to them today.

He’s a threat to the narrative and the agenda, so they decided he needs to be neutralized. But getting rid of Russell Brand today is less important to them than preventing types of Russell Brands from emerging in the future.

Sound off about the plot against Russell Brand on my Substack.

(Article cross-posted from Daily Signal)

The politicians, Rodrigo Iván Cortés and Gabriel Quadri, criticized Mexico’s ruling party, the Movement for Social Regeneration (or Morena), which runs a government with a totalitarian streak.

Salma Luévano, a Morena representative in Mexico’s Congress, identifies as a “trans woman.” Luévano has hurled charges of “gender-based political violence” against Quadri, one of the two visiting politicians who spoke during a private event in Washington held by the legal organization Alliance Defending Freedom International.

What “violence” had Quadri committed? He had tweeted about the unfairness of men who say they identify as women taking places from actual women in sports and politics.

Mexican law requires that women hold 50% of the seats in Congress; it counts Luévano and another “trans woman,” María Clemente García, as part of the female quota.  Never mind that the two lawmakers are men—which is what Quadri objected to.

An election tribunal determined that Quadri had committed psychological, sexual, and digital violence against women. As punishment, he had to delete the offensive tweets, post court-drafted public apologies twice per day for 15 days, and complete courses on gender-based and transgender violence.

Quadri also had to register as a “gender-based political violator.” This last condition may prevent him from running again for office.

Another Critic Silenced

In charge since 2018, the Morena party demands that Mexican politicians and clergy alike support its socialist agenda. And it silences those who voice objections.

At the center of conflict again as a “trans woman,” Luévano has proposed legislation to amend Mexico’s Law on Religious Associations and Public Worship. The measure would punish churches whose traditional teachings on sexuality contradict the new gender ideology.

Luévano himself has no qualms about acting offensively. The transgender lawmaker appeared in Mexico’s Congress to present his proposal while costumed as a Catholic pope.

Cortés, then a member of Congress and last week a visitor to Washington, criticized the proposal as violating religious freedom. Worse, he referred to Luévano as “a man who self-ascribes as a woman.”

Like Quadri, his former colleague, Cortés also has been convicted of committing “political violence.” Cortés lost his final appeal Wednesday when the Superior Chamber upheld the lower court’s verdict and found him guilty of political, digital, symbolic, psychological, and sexual violence.

Politicians aren’t the only ones censored by the Mexican regime. The government also has muzzled Cardinal Archbishop Carlos Aguiar Retes of Mexico City and Cardinal Juan Sandoval Íñiguez of Guadalajara.

Both cardinals were convicted of violating the nation’s Constitution when they told their Catholic flocks that the Morena party’s values are contrary to their faith. Two other bishops and a prominent priest were convicted on similar charges.

Censorship Grows Elsewhere

Of course, Mexico isn’t the only country where the Left’s embrace of gender ideology has led to censorship.

Erika Nieto, a Colombian YouTube star, posted a video discussing her belief that marriage is a union of one man and one woman. A Colombian court forced Nieto to remove the video after an activist complained. The Constitutional Court of Colombia reversed the lower court’s ruling, but not without a fight.

In England, the Rev. Bernard Randall lost his post as a school chaplain after he questioned the tenets of gender ideology in a sermon. Someone reported Randall to British anti-terrorist authorities. He sued the Church of England school over his dismissal, but lost in court.

And then there’s the high-profile case of Päivi Räsänen. She is the Finnish politician who faced criminal charges for social media posts she made in support of Biblical teachings on marriage and sexuality.

Räsänen was acquitted of all charges against her in 2022, but the prosecution appealed.  She will return to court to defend her rights again later this month.

Meanwhile, a bill in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, Canada, would empower the attorney general there to create “2SLGBTQI+ community safety zones.” There, “acts of intimidation” and distributing “hate propaganda” would be punishable by a fine of up to $25,000.

What qualifies? Is praying an act of intimidation in Canada? Is the Bible a kind of hate propaganda? Maybe so.

Our northern neighbor’s Supreme Court just handed down a decision in a case, Hansman v. Neufeld, which involved a defamation lawsuit and accusations of hate speech. A school board trustee, Barry Neufeld, objected to the sexual orientation and gender identity curriculum in use in British Columbia schools.

Neufeld was accused of having “bigoted” and “transphobic” views. In its ruling against Neufeld, the court stated that “the transgender community is undeniably a marginalized group in Canadian society.”

UN’s Internal Struggles

These cases illustrate what critics of gender ideology have argued for years: It is, at bottom, totalitarian. The disciples of this ideology seek to silence critics through state censorship for some and self-censorship for most.

Under the banner of prohibiting “hate speech,” these legal and political tactics are the West’s new blasphemy laws. A century ago, Christian countries banned blasphemous speech against the church. Many Muslim countries still prohibit speech that disparages Muhammad.

Now, gender ideologues likewise seek to impose their orthodoxy through legal and political pressure. A ban on “hate speech” is a favorite weapon in their censorship arsenal.

Bodies within the United Nations system are wrestling with this conflict between gender ideology and freedom of speech. The U.N. Security Council and the U.N. Human Rights Council each passed resolutions this summer targeting “hate speech.”

The Human Rights Council adopted a resolution on “Countering religious hatred constituting incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence” in reaction to Quran burnings in Sweden and Denmark.

This resolution, promoted by Muslim countries, is intended to protect Islam from criticism or offense. Some Western countries opposed the measure in the name of free speech, but still support censorship when it offends the new orthodoxies of gender ideology. They failed to note the irony.

The Security Council resolution “urges” governments to “publicly condemn” speech that is “motivated by discrimination including on the grounds of race, ethnicity, gender, religion or language.” It gives a nod to freedom of expression with its admonition to do so “in a manner consistent with applicable international law.”

But the resolution also “urges” U.N. member states to “instill the principles of tolerance and respect” and “prevent the spread of intolerant ideology.”

Upholding Fundamental Rights

So, which intolerant ideologies will be on the receiving end of such measures? Gender ideology doesn’t peacefully coexist with other beliefs. And the U.N.’s track record on these conflicts is not good.

The United States is unique in its strong First Amendment protections for speech and religious belief. But these are fundamental rights that apply to everyone, no matter where they live.

The desire not to be offended, in contrast, doesn’t carry the same weight. The right way to combat hateful speech, or bad ideas, is with more speech and good ideas.

Laws against vaguely defined hate speech—whether employed to protect the feelings of Muslims or sexual minorities or anyone else—are a bad idea. That’s true both at home or abroad.

Twitter has had a massive drop in revenue, due to activist groups pressuring advertisers, even though nothing has changed with content moderation and we did everything we could to appease the activists. Extremely messed up! They’re trying to destroy free speech in America.

Twitter has had a massive drop in revenue, due to activist groups pressuring advertisers, even though nothing has changed with content moderation and we did everything we could to appease the activists.

Extremely messed up! They’re trying to destroy free speech in America.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 4, 2022

For the richest man in the world who is worth hundreds of billions, a few million in lost revenue isn’t going to really hurt him in the pocketbook. But it does hurt his pride as a businessman and if Twitter really starts hemorrhaging, it will be deemed a bad move to have paid so much for the site.

It’s not for lack of trying. Musk has reached out to leftist leaders and activists in recent days to comfort them in their time of grief. It hasn’t worked. It only proved that he’s willing to bend to the woke mob. NOBODY benefits when they bend to the woke mob, which Musk is now learning the hard way.

Conservatives on Twitter welcomed him to their ongoing party:

Welcome to our world…. Let’s change it! https://t.co/U5axOCQu66

— Harmeet K. Dhillon (@pnjaban) November 4, 2022

This is why you never give the leftist woke mobs even a millimeter.

Apologize for nothing. Double down and push back on them twice as hard. https://t.co/lMx4rSBIpJ

— John Cardillo (@johncardillo) November 4, 2022

Corporate America is now Corporate Globalist, most Marxist and in desperate need of a powerful and proven disruptor and leader. Ideas? @elonmusk #TheGreatAmericaShow https://t.co/2UcQR27Jt4

— Lou Dobbs (@LouDobbs) November 4, 2022

(this maybe explains the desperation to fire staff.) also: you might as well drop the censorship, @elonmusk – at this point you are satisfying no one. https://t.co/pf89dYaERx

— Alex Berenson (@AlexBerenson) November 4, 2022

Use your platform to launch counter boycotts. Let’s destroy these corporations that capitulate to left wing commies. https://t.co/pr0ZMQvkhv

— Salty Cracker (@SaltyCracker9) November 4, 2022

The primary tactic of American liberalism (Dem Party version) is to police and control the flow of information online by silencing, de-platforming, excluding and otherwise punishing anyone who questions of dissents from their pieties and decrees of Truth and Falsity. https://t.co/PicjIuK62q

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) November 4, 2022

The Left is authoritarian and vicious. They despise free speech and they’ve gotten used to controlling discourse. Their central beliefs have become even more insane as a result. They won’t go quietly. https://t.co/C881wwA6ze

— Buck Sexton (@BuckSexton) November 4, 2022

Unfortunately you can never appease the Woke Mob.

You’re right — They’re trying to destroy Free Speech in America.

Keep Fighting and don’t hold back. https://t.co/o5jTeUcv3Z

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) November 4, 2022

Your mistake was trying to appease the activists. Would be better to either laugh at them or ignore them. https://t.co/1XiUXuZIOS

— Christina Pushaw (@ChristinaPushaw) November 4, 2022

The fact that @Pfizer paid the largest settlement ever for fraud should tell you all you need to know about them.#FreeSpeech is ALL SPEECH! https://t.co/j20vHXkRPY

— Rob Schneider (@RobSchneider) November 4, 2022

Moral of the story: Never bow to the woke mob. They won’t accept you. They won’t back off. They’ll double-down until you’re annihilated. Embrace free speech and let’s have discourse instead of wokeness.

The audience adoration was well-deserved because it’s an extremely entertaining series. Critics were compelled to give it bad reviews even if they liked it because from the start, the show was getting targeted by cancel culture. Paid critics hate getting hit by cancel culture so they manufactured flaws that didn’t really exist. That’s not to say the show was perfect, but it was quite enjoyable and completely devoid of wokeness.

It follows a Navy SEAL played by Pratt who goes for a bizarre ride from the opening scenes on a doomed mission all the way through to its climax eight episodes later. It’s a thriller with a creative plot and an appropriate mix of drama and action throughout. Well-directed and well-acted, this should have been a slam dunk. But there are no LGBTQIA+ characters. The closest they get to having strong characters played by persons of color are three or four side characters and a Chinese-American female journalist.

The show was not overtly “conservative.” It simply wasn’t woke. For that, cancel culture has come after it hard.

Based on its tremendous success, it should have already been renewed for a second season. It outperformed “Reacher” and “Jack Ryan,” both of which were renewed by Amazon immediately after release. Is fear of cancel culture holding Amazon back from pulling the trigger on “The Terminal List”?

Last month, the show’s creator warned it wasn’t going to be woke. According to IndieWire:

“There’s no ‘woke’ or ‘anti-woke,’ but just because there’s not this ‘woke’ stuff that’s shoved into it, then it’s perceived — by critics, at least — as not promoting their agenda, so they’re going to hate it,” Carr said. “We don’t mention right, left, conservative, liberal, none of those things are even mentioned.”

Carr called out a Daily Beast review that likened the series to an “unhinged right-wing revenge fantasy.”

“The Daily Beast, in particular, their review was quite mean,” Carr commented. “But they see an American flag and they get upset. Or they see someone who is competent with weapons and has a certain mindset and holds those in power accountable for their actions and they just kind of lose it a little bit.”

Carr summed up, “We didn’t make it for critics. What’s important to me and to Chris Pratt was that we made something that would speak to those members of the military who went down range over the last 20 years so they could sit down and say, ‘These guys put in the work and made a show that speaks to me.’”

When a show of this caliber and success is held up, we have to look to the key players to see if they’re to blame. They’re not. Everyone from producers to directors to Pratt himself have talked excitedly about a new season. The show is based on a book series and it’s being reported that they already have the rest of the series plotted out and ready to go. What’s the holdup?

The show doesn’t hate America. It doesn’t pay Hollywood tribute to the LGBTQIA+ mafia. It follows a strong straight White male with guns. For these things, Americans generally loved it. The woke did not. If this show somehow doesn’t get picked up for another season, we’ll be able to blame cancel culture and their tiny but vocal group of wokesters.

Today is no exception. Retain giant Walmart recently dumped MyPillow, removing a lucrative and ubiquitous source of sales for the company. According to biased report from “news” outlet The Hill:

Walmart said it pulled MyPillow products from its stores as the pillow company’s founder and CEO Mike Lindell continues to falsely claim the 2020 presidential election was rigged against former President Trump.

A Walmart spokesperson confirmed the products’ removal after Lindell posted a series of live videos on his Facebook page in which he talked about the decision in interviews with conservative podcasters.

“While we are no longer carrying them in stores, MyPillow products continue to be available on Walmart.com,” a Walmart spokesperson told The Hill.

In a livestream Lindell posted on Thursday of him speaking with Steve Bannon for an episode of “Bannon’s War Room,” the MyPillow CEO said the removal would be a “$10 million hit” to his company.

Needless to say, we believe the 2020 presidential election was rigged, just as Lindell believes. It’s why we will always stand by him and his company, and we’re asking our readers to do the same. Visit MyPillow.com and pick up some slippers, a dog bed, towels, or any number of high-quality products. Using promo code “JDR” will get you the maximum discount possible.

Can you help Mike today?