Milot’s Musings: Censor This | | dailyadvance.com

We have three major breaking stories for you tonight. Many news anchors start out their shows like this every night, but the stories do not usually all qualify as major.

But last week, major does not begin to characterize the stories that broke like giant waves crashing ashore one after the other.

The confirmation hearings of Amy Coney Barrett soaked up most of the air time for three days and were truly newsworthy, but then the New York Post broke a sensational front page news story that said emails had been found on a Hunter Biden computer hard drive that could destroy Joe Bidens candidacy.

This was like one of those monster Bonzai Pipeline waves at a surfing competition on the north shore of Oahu.

These and subsequent emails posited Hunter Biden connections with foreign parties in Ukraine, Russia, and China that resulted in enrichment of the Biden family, including the former Vice-President.

Louisiana Senator John Kennedy characterized this as a message to the world that the United States of America can be bought like a sack of potatoes. In his usually colorful language, Kennedy said these accusations are as serious as four heart attacks and a stroke.

As explosive as this story was, it was met with total silence in the establishment media. Worse, links to it were blocked by Facebook and Twitter. Overnight, the venality of the Bidens was no longer the big story: censorship was.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey quickly apologized for blocking the Post story, but hes going to have to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee to explain his companys blackout of a story damaging to Bidens campaign.

There is no acceptable explanation. The fact is that social media monopolies are in the tank for the Democrats and will justify any perverse action to help them gain power. We are accustomed to the lying, cheating, and dirty tricks that have earned politicians the lowest trustworthy rankings among all segments of our society. But censorship of a story in the press is more than that. It is a direct and corrosive attack on our democracy.

This is especially true in this case because we are in the midst of a presidential election. When Twitter censored the New York Post story, it effectively cut off a popular source of news for millions of voters on the day they went to the polls. It may or may not have an effect on the outcome of this election.

But the point is that Twitters censorship of a story as serious as four heart attacks and a stroke was perniciously partisan and should be condemned by everyone, even any of the yet silent media.

The New York Post is a conservative newspaper. Within recognized legal limits, it is entitled to the fundamental right of press freedom spelled out so clearly in the First Amendment to the Constitution, just as its rivals at the liberal New York Times and Washington Post are entitled to it. Twitter violated that right.

Our Founding Fathers recognized that the exchange of ideas, even contrarious ones, is essential in a free society, and that the freedom to express these ideas in the press must be protected.

They would be appalled, and saddened, at the sight of social media giants willingness to crack a fundamental pillar of our democracy to achieve their partisan goals.

Claude Milot of Hertford worked in the publishing business for 33 years.