Big Tech is censoring us. Subscribe to our email list and bookmark LifeSiteNews.com to continue getting our news. Subscribe now.
ALBANY, New York, February 15, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s (D-NY) top aide privately apologized to Democratic lawmakers for withholding the numbers of COVID-related deaths in the state’s nursing homes in order to avoid a legal investigation and negative political attention.
“We froze,” said Melissa DeRosa, in a striking admission during a video conference with state Democrat leaders late last week, the New York Post reported.
Having rejected demands for accurate numbers from the state’s legislators last fall, the secretary to the governor pleaded that they feared former President Donald Trump would turn “this into a giant political football … He starts tweeting that we killed everyone in nursing homes … He starts going after [New Jersey Gov. Phil] Murphy, starts going after [California Gov. Gavin] Newsom, starts going after [Michigan Gov.] Gretchen Whitmer.”
DeRosa also explained the Cuomo administration feared that President Trump would direct “the Department of Justice to do an investigation into us.”
“And basically, we froze,” she admitted to the lawmakers on the call.
Her statements also indicate pro-abortion Cuomo and his aides intentionally concealed the data fearing it may be used as evidence by the DOJ: “Because then we were in a position where we weren’t sure if what we were going to give to the Department of Justice, or what we give to you guys, what we start saying, was going to be used against us while we weren’t sure if there was going to be an investigation.”
Instead of seeking the forgiveness of the families of thousands of seniors who died prematurely, or to the critics of the administration’s March 25 Health Department directive requiring nursing homes to admit infected patients, DeRosa sought reconciliation with her fellow Democrats for the political embarrassment it caused them.
“So we do apologize,” she said. “I do understand the position that you were put in. I know that it is not fair. It was not our intention to put you in that political position with the Republicans.”
“It’s not enough how contrite they are with us,” said Assemblyman Ron Kim (D-Queens). “They need to show that to the public and the families — and they haven’t done that.”
In addition to rebuffing the demands for these death tallies by fellow Democrat legislators in the state, Cuomo and his administration refused requests from the media and even fought a Freedom of Information lawsuit filed by the Empire Center on Public Policy.
Instead of releasing all of the relevant data, the New York Health Department only provided the numbers of residents who died in their nursing homes. But late last month, Attorney General Letitia James, also a Democrat, released a report revealing that death numbers rise by around 50% when nursing home fatalities of residents who were infected with COVID-19 and then died in a hospital are included.
Following this disclosure, New York Health Commissioner Howard Zucker released figures showing that when including this latter category, the numbers rise from 8,711 deaths to 12,743. Adding in those killed by COVID-19 in assisted living/adult care facilities, the totals came to 15,049.
For months, New York was the hardest hit of any state by the pandemic, due in large part to the coronavirus spreading within the state’s nursing homes. In March, Cuomo ordered that nursing homes cannot turn away patients diagnosed with COVID-19, despite the fact the virus is most dangerous to the elderly.
PETITION UPDATE (2/23/21) -
LifeSite has signed on to a Media Research Center (MRC) letter to all 50 state Attorneys General, calling for an investigation into Big Tech.
Google, Facebook, and Twitter have monopolized the industry, and are using their influence to collect user data, suppress content, and silence those who voice ideas and beliefs counter to their own.
As we urged prior, action must be taken to combat these efforts, and that is why we’ve joined the MRC in this fight.
Please take a couple of minutes to READ this LifeSiteNews article about MRC's initiative: https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/lifesite-joins-effort-asking-state-attorneys-general-to-investigate-big-tech-for-deceptive-trade-practices
Then, please SIGN and STOP using Twitter, Facebook, Google (YouTube) and Amazon to take back your privacy and freedom of speech!
________________________________________________________
PETITION UPDATE (2/9/21) -
YouTube just completely removed the LifeSiteNews YouTube channel. This isn’t a ban, every single one of our videos is completely gone. Being completely removed from YouTube means we’ve lost access to 300,000+ followers.
This is the latest and appalling affront to free speech which is happening to many conservative and Christian organizations.
Please SIGN this petition and STOP using YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Google (owner of YouTube) and Amazon to take back your privacy and freedom of speech!
We are not going to take this lying down!
Thankfully, we have backups of all our videos:
You can watch our current videos on Rumble, here: https://rumble.com/user/LifeSiteNews
Or on our LifeSiteNews Catholic Rumble channel, here: https://rumble.com/user/LifeSiteNewsCatholic
You can also sign-up to receive email alerts about our recent videos here: https://bit.ly/LifeSiteVideoSub
Please help us build Rumble and our other alternative platforms by donating through our secure link: https://give.lifesitenews.com/
After you SIGN this petition, please also see our 'Goodbye Google' resources to find out how to quit Big Tech and learn more about good alternatives!
____________________________________________________________________________
PETITION UPDATE (1/26/20) -
Twitter has again locked LifeSiteNews out of two of our accounts on the platform for displaying a message noting that President Joe Biden’s newly named Assistant Secretary of Health “Rachel” Levine is a man.
Both accounts displayed a simple message which read: “Biden names transgender ‘woman’ as Assistant Secretary of Health. ‘Rachel’ Levine is a father of two who divorced his wife in 2013 after 30 years of marriage.” The tweets also included a link to LifeSite’s article Biden names transgender ‘woman’ as Assistant Secretary of Health, and contained part of the opening sentence of that article, “Joe Biden has announced his intention to appoint a gender-confused man” as Assistant Secretary of Health.
For stating biological or Biblical truths, Twitter and Big Tech are trying to shut down conservative voices.
Therefore, it is now more important than ever to consider dumping Twitter, Google (who own YouTube) and Facebook. To be clear: LifeSite is still using Twitter and Big Tech to encourage others to migrate away from these illiberal platforms.
This is not the first time that LifeSiteNews has been censored by Twitter. In December 2019, Twitter indefinitely suspended our account for a tweet that linked to an article on transgender activist Jonathan “Jessica” Yaniv.
At the time, Twitter gave LifeSite the option to delete the tweet and reactivate our account right away. LifeSite remained steadfast that the tweet did not violate any of the company’s “rules and policies,” and sought several appeals with Twitter, while looking into legal action against the company.
And, while LifeSite's account was eventually restored, we must now consider what course of action we will pursue in this case, over and above appealing the ban.
Meanwhile, since taking office on Wednesday last week, Joe Biden has already signed an executive order which will force women’s athletic programs, restrooms, and locker rooms to be open to men. He has also turned back the Trump administration’s policy protecting women’s sports programs in schools.
Last week, LifeSite was banned for two weeks from our YouTube channel, after the site determined that one of our videos about vaccines violated YouTube’s “community guidelines.” We are also in the middle of appealing this ban.
Please considering SIGNING and SHARING this petition. Thank you!
__________________________________________________________________________
Twitter just deplatformed President Trump premanently! And, other conservatives, including General Flynn and Sidney Powell, were also summarily deplatformed.
Conservatives, Christians and freedom-loving Americans of all political persuasions must now take a decision to preserve their free speech AND their ability to peaceably assemble by dumping Twitter and Big Tech, and by finding other good alternatives to communicate with each other and share their opinions.
Please SIGN our petition-pledge to Dump Twitter and Big Tech, and take back your freedom of speech and privacy. [CLICK HERE for our "Goodbye Google" resources page to find good alternatives to Twitter, Facebook, Amazon, and Google!]
When you use Twitter or Facebook to communicate, and, or, Google and Amazon to search for something online, these companies can stifle your ability to share your thoughts and opinions and manipulate your search results, threatening your privacy, your freedom of speech, and even our democracy.
Evidence suggests that Twitter and Facebook's 'community guidelines' are selectively enforced against conservatives and Christians, while Google rigs their search algorithms to direct traffic away from conservative and Christian websites, effectively choking traffic to those sites.
Simply put, Twitter, Facebook, Google (who owns YouTube) and Amazon appear to be actively suppressing access to pro-freedom, pro-family and pro-life news and opinion.
Don't contribute to this assault on democracy: Stop using Twitter, Facebook, Google and Amazon as your default social media platforms and search engine! [CLICK HERE to find a good alternative to Google.]
To repeat: a few liberal and completely unaccountable computer programmers in Silicon Valley are dictating what we do and do not see in our Twitter and Facebook feeds, and in our Google searches.
We, here, at LifeSite, also recently had our Twitter account suspended by the company over "misgendering" a man who claims to be a woman.
LifeSite has also experienced a fall-off in Google search-related traffic since the company updated its search algorithms at the beginning of May.
And, since the November election, Twitter and Big Tech appear to have dramatically INCREASED their censorship of conservatives and Christians as the President Trump disputed the results of the election and when evidence of election fraud began to mount.
Now, it seems likely that they are trying to cut-off conservative leaders (like President Trump) from conservatives on the ground, and effectively exclude us from the national conversation.
But, this tactic will not work. Because Twitter, Facebook, Google and Amazon are not the only game in town! There are a good number of excellent alternatives which we list in our 'Goodbye Google' Resources page.
The great irony is that, while Twitter, Facebook, Google and Amazon executives talk a lot about maintaining freedom of speech and diversity, in fact, these hypocrites are ATTACKING free speech point-blank!
This kind of manipulation poses a lethal threat to our democracy, but as we see so clearly now, Twitter and Big Tech have shown no hesitation in excluding conservatives and Christians from the public square.
So, at this point, the only way to stop Twitter, Facebook, Google and Amazon is to quit using their platform.
Please SIGN and SHARE this petition to pledge to stop using Twitter and Big Tech. Then, please CLICK HERE to find alternative search engines and social media platforms. Thank you!
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Follow LifeSiteNews on these alternative channels:
Telegram: https://t.me/lifesitetelegram
Gab: https://gab.com/LifeSiteNews
MeWe: https://mewe.com/i/lifesitenewscom1
Rumble: https://rumble.com/user/LifeSiteNews
Parler: parler.com/profile/lifesitenews (currently down due to Amazon removing their web hosting)
Ready to say "Goodbye Google"? Find alternatives for search engines, browsers, email, and more: https://lifefacts.lifesitenews.com/goodbye-google/resources/
'BREAKING: Twitter permanently bans President Trump from platform' - https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/breaking-twitter-permanently-bans-president-trump-from-platform
WATCH LifeSite's exclusive series - 'Big Tech vs Free Speech' - of interviews with experts on how Big Tech censorship is killing free speech: https://www.lifesitenews.com/bigtech/
From YouTube to social media and beyond, online censorship is rampant. Read the latest articles covering this ongoing struggle: https://lifefacts.lifesitenews.com/goodbye-google/censorship/
Cuomo initially tried to blame nursing home fatalities on the Trump administration by claiming that a federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance forced him to put the infected back in nursing homes. But Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) explained that the CDC actually called for elderly housing decisions to be made on a case-by-case basis, factoring in the “ability of the accepting facility to meet the recommended infection control practices,” such as the “ability to place residents in a designated COVID-19 care unit that is equipped with the resources and (personal protective equipment) to safely prevent the spread of infections.”
Cuomo’s placement of individuals known to be infectious among the state’s most vulnerable contrasts sharply with the extreme measures New York leaders have taken to prevent spreading the virus in less risky situations, such as restricting in-person religious services.
Despite his overall handling of the pandemic, Cuomo had enjoyed a media narrative presenting him as a model leader, which the governor used to release a book on Leadership Lessons From the COVID-19 Pandemic. Though he omitted any mention of the numbers of COVID-19 nursing home deaths in his book, Cuomo did tout his self-professed “clear communication, compassion for others, and a commitment to truth-telling.”
In the meantime, New York Republican Congressional Representative Claudia Tenney has called for Cuomo’s resignation, and Congressman Lee Zeldin (R-NY) has demanded the Department of Justice open an obstruction investigation into Cuomo and his administration.
“DOJ needs to immediately open an Obstruction of Justice investigation into Gov Cuomo & his admin,” Zeldin tweeted. “It’s now being reported there has been a direct admission of their nursing home coverup. The families of thousands of dead NY seniors deserve accountability.”
DOJ needs to immediately open an Obstruction of Justice investigation into Gov Cuomo & his admin. It's now being reported there has been a direct admission of their nursing home coverup. The families of thousands of dead NY seniors deserve accountability.https://t.co/YAHhdORKnN
— Lee Zeldin (@RepLeeZeldin) February 12, 2021