Zuck Spilling the Beans on Joe Rogan

On Wednesday morning’s segment of The View, following Meta’s announcement concerning its change in fact checking, hosts were up in arms and ready to argue. What started out as a conversation regarding the necessity of fact checking soon cascaded into the classic argument for free speech. Surprisingly Alyssa Farah Griffin, often noted as the table’s often-wavering conservative, stepped up to not only attempt at explaining the nature of free speech within the issue, but the hypocrisy of her fellow hosts. From the beginning of the argument it was clear that most of the women at the table were concerned with the fact that, now anyone can say anything online, prompting questions regarding hate speech and the spreading of conspiracy theories. Sunny Hostin, confidently presenting her argument as to the difference between hate speech and free speech being based upon individual opinion.   HOSTIN: You know, there's a difference between free speech and hate speech, and we know that. Free speech I welcome. I think everyone welcomes, it's your constitutional right. When you start delving into hate speech, which is happening all over social media. There's a problem with that. When you start delving into misinformation and disinformation, there's a problem with that. Meta’s new hate speech guidelines permit users to call people in the LGBTQ+ community mentally ill. That is harmful. That is harmful. And the last thing I'll say is let's just break it down to bare bones. This is about President-elect Trump going back to the White House. Mark Zuckerberg and Meta dined with Trump at Mar-a-Lago in November. Meta just donated $1 million to support his inauguration. Zuckerberg also elevated Joel Kaplan, the highest ranking Meta executive closest to the Republican Party to the company's most senior policy role, and on Monday, Zuckerberg said Dana White, the head of the Ultimate Fighting Championship and an ally of Trump's, would join Meta's board. This is about the fact that our many corporations and especially these oligarchs that own these social media companies are bowing down to Trump so that they can make money off of American people. Farah Griffin went on to counter this statement explaining the complexity Hostin had left out: GRIFFIN: I'm trying to make the point that hate speech, something that incites violence, is not legally ever protected under the First Amendment. My ability to say a housewife is a household object, I can say that it can offend. You, I don't agree with that but you absolutely under the First Amendment have a right to say it. Haines defended Alyssa to a degree while also expressing her concerns regarding the necessity of some limitations. She delineated the difference between Covid lies and Covid controversies, like whether the virus was "man-made" in a lab in Wuhan.  For the rest of the hosts, however, it was one incomplete opinion after the next, complaining about peoples attacks over social media, using foul language and derogatory language, and even relating these problems to entertainment and standup comedy. Through all the yelling, Farah Griffin’s argument was clear, “We all act like we're for free speech when it's the things we like when somebody wants to defend the free speech of people we disagree with we suddenly –” Griffin was cut off by her fellow hosts, further contributing to her comment.  Though Alyssa attempted to explain the freedoms people have to choose to use or avoid these apps, other hosts seemed pressed to disagree. And as the hypocrisy of her co-workers became more apparent. Joy Behar bizarrely claimed comedy should be "smarter" and not have "majority groups" stereotyping minority groups. "You don't need to offend me to be funny. I don't need to offend you to be funny. And so there." It is clear once again to any viewer that even a basic understanding of constitutional rights are being misunderstood by our own media, that basic conservatism is not accepted on most networks, and that conversations regarding either seem nearly impossible. The transcript is below, click "expand" to read: ABC’s The View 1/8/2025 11:04;28 AM EST   (...) WHOOPI GOLDBERG: I'm just curious because human rights activists warn that this is a major step back that'll have misinformation, conspiracy theories, and bigotry running wild on the site. My question is when did fact checking become a bad thing? JOY BEHAR: Since Donald Trump became president?  SUNNY HOSTIN: Yes, absolutely. BEHAR: I have said from the giddyup that the worst thing that he has done is cause this misinformation and lying going on – HOSTIN: These alternative facts.  BEHAR: – this alternative facts that Kellyanne Conway– HOSTIN: Yes. BEHAR: – she said alternative facts, you know, this guy Zuckerberg, when he, I saw the movie, wasn't it Social Network GOLDBERG: Yes. BEHAR: – where he says basically I'm creating Facebook so people have a community so that people can talk to each other. All of a sudden it's become this big thing about –and a big lying machine that's going on and you know the wokeness is what is at the bottom of this. GOLDBERG: I just want to say I'm sorry. If being woke is a bad thing, that means that the fact that I care about you regardless of what you say or who you are, I wanna make sure your family is as well off as mine is, that's too woke. It's too woke for me to say to you, hey, listen, if your kids –  you don't want your kids reading this, maybe the best thing to do is let's go to the library together and I'll tell the librarian what I don't mind my kids reading and then you can tell. The librarian, what you don't want your kids to read. That's too woke.  ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: Well, the new rules on Meta Facebook, they're imperfect. I'll say this. I think it's a balance between content moderation, free speech, and fact checking. And what I think Facebook has gotten wrong for some time is they've had third party fact checkers, but then Facebook Meta would ultimately make a decision on can this content be on. Oftentimes fact checkers can or these staffers at Facebook can have biases. I actually think, listen, X has become a hell hole for a lot of reasons –  HOSTIN: It’s a dumpster fire. FARAH GRIFFIN: – I think that community notes actually work. You have to– BEHAR: I don’t understand, let me interrupt you. What does free speech have to do with fact checking? FARAH GRIFFIN: Because it's imperfect. That’s not as simple as the sky is blue, the grass is green. We know the facts on that. Sometimes it comes into opinions or viewpoints. This is still a town square. I tend to be a free speech absolutist as long as it's not harming someone else. BEHAR: But we know the difference between an opinion and a fact. We do it every day! FARAH GRIFFIN: No but a lot of this can be viewpoints where somebody could say, “Well, this is my viewpoint on it” and they were moderating things around language you used around certain issues. But to the point I was saying community notes actually work. They have to be cited to sources. My issue is the algorithms. These tech companies are run by billionaires. They're completely unaccountable. Congress hasn't regulated tech in over 30 years, and they can push what you're seeing more of. They can hold back what you're not seeing, and that to me is the biggest issue, but we can complain about it all we want. We need to tell Congress that they need to also get involved. BEHAR: Good luck. SARA HAINES: Yeah they absolutely do. The misinformation– The World Economic Forum listed misinformation and disinformation as the most severe short term threat globally. So by removing these fact checkers, I understand the concern was, and Joy, this might answer your question, there were some conservative viewpoints that were being taken down. So these fact checking industries started right in 2016 when President Trump was elected the first time. Yes, it would be something like when there were debates on masks or shutdowns, they were taking these things off of the site which as someone who could have debated that these people were saying you're taking our content off of this site. but there's a difference between Alex,-- HOSTIN: Is that allegedly or is that factual?  HAINES: Yes, there are reports there are things they took off, but the bigger point here is there's a difference between Alex Jones spewing hate, disgusting, false, and having a difference of opinion. But either way, I'd rather have them get it wrong occasionally with a screen door between free speech and say, anything you want. So I'm frustrated that they did this because social media is already on the downgrade, and he pretty much admitted he did this because of President Trump.  HOSTIN: You know, I'm going to just reject the fact that we don't know what a fact is.  BEHAR: Really? HOSTIN:  I reject it outright. There is a difference between opinion and fact, and there is, you know, journalists like people that are, you know, work for The New York Times. They know how to fact check. Journalism students are taught. You fact check three different sources– FARAH GRIFFIN: Journalists have gotten things wrong though. HOSTIN: and so this so this notion, that you know the reason that they're doing this is because uh you know they can't fact check – FARAH GRIFFIN: But free speech gives you a right to be wrong. I have a right to post something that is inaccurate, I have a right to say the grass is blue. HOSTIN: Yes you do, but facts are different, disinformation is different. And so I think what you're finding is this company is also getting rid of content restrictions on topics like gender identity and immigration. Calling women, by the way, household objects is now permitted on Facebook – FARAH GRIFFIN: But do you think it shouldn't be? HOSTIN: – users are now allowed to, for example, refer to women as households objects of property. (CROSSTALK) GOLDBERG: Let’s take a break because – HOSTIN:  Because I need to finish what I'm saying. GOLDBERG: – because there has to be some attention paid to Paul when he's over there praying to me. We will be right back.  (...) GOLDBERG: So welcome back. We were just, we were just about to finish up and I had to shut everybody down because of Paul. HOSTIN: I just wanted to put a button on what I was saying, you know, there's a difference between free speech and hate speech, and we know that. Free speech I welcome. I think everyone welcomes, it's your constitutional right. When you start delving into hate speech, which is happening all over social media. There's a problem with that. When you start delving into misinformation and disinformation, there's a problem with that. Meta’s new hate speech guidelines permit users to call people in the LGBTQ+ community mentally ill. That is harmful. That is harmful. And the last thing I'll say is let's just break it down to bare bones. This is about President-elect Trump going back to the White House. Mark Zuckerberg and Meta dined with Trump at Mar a Lago in November. Meta just donated $1 million to support his inauguration. Zuckerberg also elevated Joel Kaplan, the highest ranking Meta executive closest to the Republican Party to the company's most senior policy role, and on Monday, Zuckerberg said Dana White, the head of the Ultimate Fighting Championship and an ally of Trump's, would join Meta's board. This is about the fact that our many corporations and especially these oligarchs that own these social media companies are bowing down to Trump so that they can make money off of American people. FARAH GRIFFIN: OK, if we can all have a bit of a conversation here. So this is actually more complex than we're making it, but on the free speech of it, and I actually agreed with Mark Zuckerberg, of course there's pressure because Trump's coming into office, but I do think that there's a cultural and societal desire to be able to talk about things openly and actually liberals used to be the ones who were super pro free speech. The famous saying goes, “I disagree with what you're saying, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it.”  GOLDBERG: Yes, so I not will defend to the death your right to call me – FARAH GRIFFIN: Guys I can’t finish a sentence here, she has talked for 20 minutes! GOLDBERG: Sometimes it happens like this. Be nice. She didn't talk for 20 minutes but go ahead. FARAH GRIFFIN: And I always like to hear what you say –  HOSTIN: I actually spoke for 40 seconds but that's ok  GOLDBERG: Go ahead, go ahead  FARAH GRIFFIN: Ok I'm trying to make the point that hate speech, something that incites violence, is not legally ever protected under the First Amendment. My ability to say a housewife is a household object, I can say that it can offend. You, I don't agree with that but you absolutely under the First Amendment have a right to say it. And the fact that we're policing speech because it makes people uncomfortable or they don't like it for an offense, I don't think it's how we should –  GOLDBERG: Now if  somebody decides, as they do often on these social media places, to call me a ****** BEHAR: You don't even need to say the word.  GOLDBERG: Well, well, let's –  FARAH GRIFFIN: I get called names on social media, we all do! GOLDBERG: I’m sorry, if we are going to have this conversation, then let's have it. OK, so there are certain things where we all agree, boy, you shouldn't be saying that that is not curbing your free speech. It's asking you, not you, asking one to respect the fact that people don't wanna hear that word when it has to do with them or Native Americans or women or any of these things –  (CROSSTALK) FARAH GRIFFIN:  But there’s also an element of choice that comes into it – GOLDBERG: –and that's that's my point. HOSTIN; That used to come under the hateful guidelines, and now that’s gone. FARAH GRIFFIN: Now there is an element of choice that comes in. This, I would never subscribe to somebody who would use that language or who would incite them, GOLDBERG; No but now you are on a site now that says now maybe that's ok to say it. HOSTIN: But it wasn’t before! HAINES: But you guys were focusing on hate speech, but some of the beginning things they did were Facebook removed all content that said COVID was a man-made disease. There was a group of people claiming it was, and they were considered off limits. Now it's debatable, and they released that. So my point is there's a difference between the obvious. Awful talking about –  FARAH GRIFFIN: Nobody wants those to be build – HAINES: – those things shutting down conversations which I that's the point that  we are distinguishing. FARAH GRIFFIN: And again some things are black and white because you don't have all the facts, we didn’t have all the facts. GOLDBERG: Yes but not everything is black or white, and the things that we know are black and white are the things that we can say, you know what, you don't need to do this because we've decided collectively as a as a group of human beings that we're gonna respect because they always talk about respect. If you're gonna respect people, there are certain things I want you to say if you run the thing, say I'm not gonna accept that or, for all of the folks who are applauding. You can also not get on Meta. FARAH GRIFFIN: Well again, that’s the freedom, that’s the choice. (CROSSTALK) FARAH GRIFFIN: And by the way, what if it’s in a rap lyric? What if it's something that’s  in a comedy sketch? Oftentimes language is used in comedy that's represented on social media. And we always say, “ You have a right to say things– GOLDBERG: You don't hear it very much on social media – BEHAR: You know you are not allowed to do it in comedy anymore, you know that! FARAH GRIFFIN: But that's not a good thing. I don't think silencing speech– BEHEAR: You can't just go out there calling people names anymore– FARAH GRIFFIN: I'm not saying calling people names, I’m saying some of these words that they're saying are protected and ok to be discussed – BEHAR: You know, can I say something? There was a time when there were cartoons when I was a kid, right, and they would make fun of Italians. “What's the matter you? You know, he's” –  everybody was a pizza maker and I, as a child, I felt like that was offensive to me. So I understand I have empathy for people who don't like it when you are making fun of their group in a nasty way. Now the people who are doing this are not from minority groups, they're from majority groups and so they –  FARAH GRIFFIN: This is not me saying that every person at this table get’s hate speech directed at them everyday – BEHAR: I guess no one gets to finish a sentence here anymore, okay. HAINES: No, I think, I think the point Alyssa is making here is she is a free speech BEHAR: Well don’t speak for her. She speaks very well for herself. HAINES: No but I – FARAH GRIFFIN: We all act like we're for free speech when it's the things we like when somebody wants to defend the free speech of people we disagree with we suddenly – HOSTIN: That is not true.  GOLDBERG: I don't, I don't want you calling me. I don't want people to be able to call folks – BEHAR: Listen comedy does push limits, but be smarter in your comedy. You don't need to offend me to be funny. I don't need to offend you to be funny. And so there FARAH GRIFFIN: The best comedy tends to be offensive, to push boundaries, to question governments – GOLDBERG: That's actually not necessarily true. The best comedy doesn't always tend to be offensive. It just doesn't. But – HAINES: OK, the First Amendment doesn't apply to private companies, which is why I'm frustrated Mark Zuckerberg did this, but there are countries in Europe who have modified the way they're allowed to talk about people. I actually support some eliminations on hate speech, which makes me not an absolutist, but I'm OK with it. GOLDBERG: Yeah, yeah, because yeah, there are things that we collectively can say we respect everybody's right not to be called a name. If you take that away and you allow that, it's a problem. HOSTIN: They didn't allow it before and they allow it now– (CROSSTALK) FARAH GRIFFIN: There's never been a social media platform that's existed where you can't call people names. I've been called names on every platform that didn't – GOLDBERG: But here's the thing, it doesn't make it right.  FARAH GRIFFIN: Well let's say facts. Let’s not say that because Donald Trump got elected. Now you can call names on social media. That’s just not true! HOSTIN: That's why that's why Mark Zuckerberg is doing this.  GOLDBERG: Are you on the ground again? He is OK. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Go ahead, go ahead. We'll be right back.

The wildfires in California have devastated and left thousands of Americans homeless — and people aren’t sure whom, or what, to blame. “It’s not just a natural disaster,” Stu Burguiere of “Stu Does America” says. “A natural disaster is a real thing, and you have to deal with it sometimes, and it can be really, really, ugly, but it’s also kind of been strange incompetence and strange priorities by the state of California and local officials.” James Woods, who has been displaced by the catastrophic fires, puts some blame on those authorities himself. “Our new fire chief,” Woods began in a recent interview with Fox News, “She took over and she put on her bio that her priority, ‘My highest priority is inclusion, diversity, and equity. That is my priority.’” “And somebody forgot to fill all the reservoirs, I guess, with water, because when I was getting smoke alarms there was a fire truck parked in front of my house but they couldn’t pump any water because there was none because they didn’t put them in the reservoirs,” he continued. “Now, DEI is of course very important when you’re fighting fires. I only want my house and a fire that happens to be engulfing my home to be put out by someone from Mongolia. That’s just my personal stand, it’s very, very important to me,” Burguiere jokes in response. “I think most people though are the opposite. Most people don’t care what color the person is who’s putting out a fire. They just want the fire to be put out,” he continues, “they want water to be available to the fire department. Seems like a pretty good idea, but diversity, equity, and inclusion is really important.” Just a few years ago, the California fire chief was praised for her three-year strategic plan to increase diversity. “People ask me, ‘What number are you looking for?’ I said, ‘I’m not looking for a number. It’s never enough,’” the fire chief said in a 2022 interview before she was praised by the interviewer for being a “proud member of the LGBTQ community.” “Wow,” Stu comments. “Thank God, we’ve got a woman who likes chicks at the head of our fire department because that’s the important feature that you need. It really, really matters who she wants to go to bed with when you’re talking about, ‘Can you put a fire out?’” Want more from Stu?To enjoy more of Stu's lethal wit, wisdom, and mockery, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

A Florida woman attempted to buy fentanyl, but she made one little mistake that got her busted, according to police. Octavia Wells, 41, allegedly thought she was texting one of her contacts to purchase drugs before she left town to go to rehab. 'Unknown to Octavia, she had accidentally reached the phone of a narcotics investigator at the Bay County Sheriff’s Office with her text message.'The New York Post reported that Wells messaged one of her contacts labeled "PJ," and offered to pay $45 for fentanyl on New Year's Eve. Wells allegedly told "PJ" that she needed “just a couple points" — a reference to one-tenth of a gram of fentanyl.What Wells didn't know is that she did not contact a drug dealer but rather Stephen Pettijohn — a deputy and narcotics investigator with the Bay County Sheriff’s Office.Pettijohn allegedly played along and pretended to be a drug dealer.The sheriff's office said in a statement, "Unknown to Octavia, she had accidentally reached the phone of a narcotics investigator at the Bay County Sheriff’s Office with her text message. The investigator immediately began communicating with Octavia in an undercover capacity, setting up the 'sale.'"The affidavit stated that Wells agreed to meet "PJ" at a gas station in Panama City, Florida.But she instead came face to face at the gas station with several members of the sheriff's office Special Investigations Division.Law & Crime reported that a police search of her vehicle resulted in the discovery of tin foil used to smoke fentanyl, fentanyl test strips in the center console with cut straws used to smoke fentanyl, a digital scale, and a cut straw under the driver’s seat.Wells was placed under arrest and charged with unlawful use of a two-way communication device, possession of drug paraphernalia, and driving while license suspended or revoked with knowledge.Wells posted bond, and a judge ordered her not to possess or consume alcoholic beverages and submit to random drug tests. Wells is scheduled to appear in court on Jan. 30.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

The Biden administration has extended temporary protection status for nearly a million migrants from Venezuela and El Salvador ahead of an expected immigration crackdown under President-elect Donald Trump. The Department of Homeland Security announced on Friday that about 600,000 migrants from Venezuela and over 230,000 migrants from El Salvador would have their protection status extended for another 18 months. Trump has spoken against TPS policies previously and federal regulations allow for the protections to be ended early. Trump has promised to commence mass deportations to address the crisis of illegal immigration in the U.S. that has worsened under the Biden administration. Illegal alien advocates oppose mass deportation on the basis that such policies are inhumane and unconstitutional, but many officials say the efforts are necessary to deter more illegal crossings. The protection status was also extended for 103,000 Ukrainians and 1,900 Sudanese migrants in the U.S. Although Trump has spoken against TPS policies previously and federal regulations allow for the protections to be ended early, that has never been done before, according to the Associated Press. The program was created in 1990 by Congress to allow migrants escaping natural disasters or civil strife to obtain work permits for increments of up to 18 months at a time. Venezuelans qualified for protections based on the "severe humanitarian emergency" caused by the communist Maduro regime, and migrants from El Salvador qualified because of "environmental conditions" that included heavy rains and storms.The migrants that qualify for TPS are not provided a path to citizenship through that program. Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada applauded the announcement but lamented that the Biden administration didn't do more for other migrants in the U.S. "I’m glad to see the Biden administration take actions I was pushing for to protect DACA recipients and extend TPS for El Salvador and Venezuela, which will protect hardworking immigrant communities across the country," she wrote. "It is unfortunate that President Biden didn’t also re-designate TPS for Nicaragua and Ecuador."Immigration became a focal point in the 2024 presidential election after several Republican governors began sending illegal immigrants to Democrat-controlled states that had implemented "sanctuary city" protections for illegal aliens. After the burden on social services increased, many Democrats were forced to admit that illegal immigration was a problem that needed to be addressed federally.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Bureaucracy Kills: CA Requires Inspection for Out-of-State Firetrucks Before They Can Help Los Angeles

Meta Ditches DEI Programs 'Effective Immediately'

High blood pressure is known as the 'silent killer' because most of the time there are no obvious symptoms, and as a result people can go years without knowing they have it. Hypertension, another name for high blood pressure, is a killer because it can cause serious health...

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on"The Joe Rogan Experience" that the Biden administration retaliated against his company when he refused to censor memes about the COVID-19 pandemic.

U.S. stocks sank Friday, with the S&P 500 erasing its 2025 gains, after an upbeat jobs report stoked fresh inflation fears, reinforcing bets that the Federal Reserve will be cautious in cutting interest rates this year.