Rep. Todd Jones Sponsors Another Georgia Police State Bill, HB986

It is Time for Todd Jones to Depart the Georgia General Assembly

The latest police-state legislation Georgia House Representative Todd Jones (GA-25) has sponsored, HB986, recently passed the Georgia House, and presently resides in the Senate where it is assigned to a committee for review. We have spoken about the fact that in recent years much of Rep. Jones’ work as a lawmaker has been to the effect of amassing police state powers within the institutions of state government. And much of his effort has been carried out under the guise of pursuing ever-elevating levels of “mental health” among Georgia’s population, as that term may be defined by the state. There is no end to such an errand. The government is the very institution creating the conditions under which mental health deteriorates. The state creates the problem and Representative Jones apparently attempts to fix it, demonstrating a sort of symbiotic political relationship between the two.

The institution established under law to repair mental health in Georgia is the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, now firmly entrenched with a multi-billion dollar annual budget, such that it can never go away and will only grow from here. Should, hypothetically, this administrative behemoth actually fulfill its legislative purpose, elevating the level of mental health in Georgia’s population to certain acceptable arbitrary standards, to keep the monster growing and thriving, its board members would simply move the goal posts, and expand its mandate to encompass additional purposes. That is what these people do.

As an example, when I was a kid, the CDC in Decatur was actually the “Communicable Disease Center.” Its mandate was to treat ailments such as syphilis and gonorrhea. Its primary weapon in the fight against these diseases was a shot of penicillin. Penicillin was so easy and effective that the communicable diseases the CDC was assigned to treat actually vanished. That being the case, did they close the CDC? Of course not. They rebranded the CDC to become the, “Center for Disease Control,” expanding its purpose to study and treat every form of disease known to mankind. So what happened? As we saw during the lead-up and aftermath of the 2020 election, that institution became a veritable police state tool, using the “power of the expert opinion” to dictate policy to govern the behavior of the entire American population, and heavily influence worldwide governmental policy to control populations in practically every country around the world. They justified these police state powers by pushing the impression of a need to deal with a veritable bio-weapon, Covid-19, released against those populations, by those same governments. Do you see how this works? Government creates the problem, the people’s representatives, such as Representative Jones, create solutions to fix the problems the government creates, and those solutions beget entirely new sets of problems for the government to fix, such as mental illness. In the end, without the people noticing, a veritable police state comes online, which the people pay for. And, sadly, what I describe is the dynamic underlying the push to pass HB986.

If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It

The first hint that there is more than meets the eye with HB986 is that it is designed to fix a problem that doesn’t exist. According to the legislation, its purpose is to protect “against the use of deceptive media in bad faith to influence elections by reducing certain candidates' chances of being elected or by suppressing voter turnout through mass confusion.” Where has this been a problem? Where are all those voters confused by “the use of deceptive media in bad faith to influence elections?” When it comes right down to it, practically all political ads could be described as, “deceptive media.” So, why is this brand of deceptive media so special?

According to the bill, “deceptive media” means “a video recording, video file, audio recording, or audio file, still image, or still image file that:

(A) Appears to depict a real individual's speech or conduct that did not occur in reality;

and

(B) Would appear to a reasonable observer to be authentic.

Again, where has this been a problem? Why are we spending time and money fixing problems that have never happened? And, assuming “deceptive media” of the type described in the bill might be used to impersonate a candidate doing or saying something he or she did not do or say, would it not be easy enough for the targeted candidate to call foul, and point at his or her very dishonest adversary to use it against him or her? This kind of “deceptive media” could be used both ways.

AI, Simply a New brand of Fake News

The “deceptive media” described in this bill is nothing but a new brand of exotic fake news. Yet, we have seen extremely effective fake news disseminated by corporate media, sponsored by government agencies for years. And that kind of fake news actually does influence elections. Remember the Fulton County water main break the government used to scatter poll watchers before the suitcases came out from under the tables? How about Russiagate? All that really was fake news, which truly did affect the 2020 presidential election. Where was Jones on all that fake news? Why have we never heard Representative Jones utter the first concern about the 2020 election? If Jones is so concerned about elections, why did he not assail the corporate media for not immediately reporting the water main fake news as real? Why isn’t Representative Jones crafting legislation to deal with that kind of real fake news, to prosecute fake news outlets and require news agencies to report the truth of events such as the fake water main break, such as Russiagate, both of which really did happen, and really did change an election, rather than fake news of a variety that has never occurred? Is HB986 going to empower the GBI to cross state lines and apprehend high school-aged cyber-talented, meme makers having fun in their parents’ basements? Will Georgia now become the first state in the union to sign onto an interstate compact to fight high-tech meme making? Why would anyone vote for a bill such as HB986? Its powers are absurd.

Now, I am not for the government to enter into news reporting business, not at all. I use these real life events, which very likely changed the outcome of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia, as an example of how ludicrous HB986 is, selecting a certain exotic brand of “potential” fake news and outlawing it. Why would Todd Jones sponsor a bill like that? The answer is likely a couple of reasons. Todd Jones looks really bad and desperately needs a win. Two years ago, HB1013 got stripped of all the goody Jones hoped to capitalize on for his business. Last year, public outcry caused HB520, which remains dormant but still alive, to languish in senate committee. This year, on the surface, HB986 received a lot of votes in the House and went over to the Senate. So, he’s halfway home. HB986 claims to be about election integrity, a red meat issue for Republicans. What Republican would vote against election integrity? Not many. The fact is, however, HB986 is not about election integrity at all. It is about handing more and more police state powers to our state government and giving Todd Jones a win to crow about during this year’s election season.

Jones Sells AI He Hopes to Outlaw Others From Using

Not coincidentally, in private life Representative Jones sells artificial intelligence services as a part and parcel of his Talitrix monitoring system program. The company sells its proprietary brand of artificial intelligence to governing entities. Jones’ AI software analyzes the behavior of individuals forced by various circumstances to wear his company’s GPS and biometric monitoring hardware. His AI computer program generates certain “predictive analytics” which government agencies use to tailor and modify their clients privileges under a customized compliance scoring system.

So, think about this. According to Representative Jones, it is OK for the government to pay him to use his own, personal, AI platform to influence public policy to control the personal freedom of human beings, basing that control on programmed AI predictions of future human behavior, meaning, of course, behavior that has not happened yet, while at the same time he sponsors legislation to deprive private human beings from using their own personal AI software, Jones, again, attempting to control behavior that has not happened yet, such that those individuals cannot control government policy in reverse. Put it this way, this supposed conservative Republican is glad for the government to pay his company for AI software to help control human beings, but does not want human beings to use their own AI software to control the government.

It’s All Police State Stuff

Regardless how you might use the authorities of HB986, as is generally the case with Todd Jones’ bills, together they are in furtherance of the same police state powers Jones’ company provides hardware and software to support. Concentrate on lines 58-60 below to understand what would happen to an individual convicted of “fraudulent election interference,” which in principle amounts to creating what is nothing more than a high-tech meme depicting a candidate for office within 90-days of an election:

So, let’s just assume Donald Trump wins Georgia in 2024. And let’s assume that the deciding vote is cast in Fulton County in a very tight race. And let’s assume that 60 days prior to the November election, regardless what opposing candidates might say about it during the lead-up to the election, some computer whizkid publishes a lifelike graphic depicting Joe Biden shaking hands with a Mexican drug cartel boss over a bottle of Jose' Cuervo. Regardless of all things reasonable, as we now know, a Fulton County District Attorney will charge that individual with fraudulent election interference, punishable by 2-5 years and $50K fine. That will happen. We know it will happen because individuals are now being charged with far more for doing far less by Fulton County D.A. Fani Willis. And the law they will use to charge this individual will be HB986, sponsored by Representative Todd Jones. HB986 is every rogue prosecutor’s favorite Christmas present.

Put it this way, this supposed conservative Republican is glad for the government to pay his company for AI software to help control humans, but does not want humans to use their own AI software to control the government.

Todd Jones is No Conservative Republican

HB986, sponsored by “conservative Republican” Todd Jones, is yet another attempt by Jones to further the purposes of constructing the American police state. Why is he so preoccupied with controlling the freedom of private citizens? Were Todd Jones really a “conservative Republican” as he portrays, he would be thinking of ways to reign in state government. He would be championing the purpose of smaller government, of lowering taxes, of returning massive government surpluses to the taxpayers of Georgia. But no, instead of promoting what conservative Republicans naturally support, Representative Todd Jones promotes what Democrats support, higher taxes, bigger government, ever-increasing government control over the lives of everyday citizens. Through various created entities and associates, as reported, Todd Jones’ company has given massive amounts of money to elect Democrat sheriffs in both Fulton and Henry Counties. The Democrat sheriff of Fulton County is the one by whose order a mugshot was taken of President Trump. That is who Todd Jones supports. As reported, Jones, his company and related associates contributed almost eighty thousand dollars to elect a Democrat sheriff in Fulton County after which the sheriff turned around and signed a contract with Jones’ company for over two millions of dollars. Why isn’t Fani Willis prosecuting pay-to-play in this case? And because most of these kinds of activities can be hidden in various ways from public exposure, it may take a concerted effort by teams of political archeologists many years in the future to determine all the ways Todd Jones’ work as a Georgia representative contributed to the destruction of our once great and free country.

It is Time for Todd Jones to Go

So, that’s it. To all of my good Republican friends in Georgia’s 25th District, it is time for a replacement. Todd Jones has stained your reputation. Todd Jones does not represent you or your interests. He represents his own interests. Year after year, Todd Jones sponsors legislation for his own betterment, the betterment of his company, Talitrix, and the furtherance of the police state. Year after year, Todd Jones works feverishly to increase state control over the lives of private citizens. Doing so is not a Republican activity. It is a Democrat activity. Todd Jones and any number of other members of the Georgia General Assembly are really Democrat-minded individuals who could never be elected with a “D” next to their names. So, they swear an appropriate allegiance, and claim to be a conservative Republicans. They are not. Do not fall for it.

But to unseat this entrenched Democrat wearing an ‘R’ by his name, the 25th District needs a worthy, truly conservative candidate, one who is also tired of being represented by a Democrat masquerading as a Republican. Time for qualifying is upon us. Who among the 25th will step up and take the challenge?

Representative Todd Jones must go.