For the can’t make this up file, Rep. Will Hurd — a former CIA officer and cybersecurity expert was just disinvited from speaking at the Black Hat conference, apparently because he’s a Republican:

NEW: Rep. Will Hurd (R-TX) has been removed as a keynote speaker at a major cybersecurity conference after critics slammed his record on women's issues including abortion. https://t.co/1Osch80wFr — Axios (@axios) June 14, 2019

From Axios:

What they’re saying: “We misjudged the separation of technology and politics,” wrote the conference in a emailed statement.

This is effing bonkers, to put it mildly. Of course, Rep. Hurd should speak as he’s an expert on this and technology and politics are intertwined:

Hurd is one of the few members who understands cyber and how it impacts intelligence at a granular level. https://t.co/EStem6WYmS — Russ Read (@RussCanRead) June 14, 2019

This demonstrates everything one needs to know about the state of things. @HurdOnTheHill is highly qualified to talk about cyber security & is a great guy. I wish I could say this is unbelievable. https://t.co/CwajNoA3HC — Chip Roy (@chiproytx) June 14, 2019

If you recall, Hillary Clinton — of homebrew server fame — did speak at a cybersecurity conference last year:

It’s a good thing he’s not expert with years of field experience in this area, unlike *squints* Hillary Clinton who Black Hat hosted for a fundraiser. https://t.co/yOLVrC7JXp — Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) June 14, 2019

Make up your minds, libs:

You don’t get to warn and wail about cyber threats and election hacking and then boot an expert at the forefront in that over his prolife views. A country that does this deserves to get hacked. — Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) June 14, 2019

It’s a real problem if Rep. Hurd is “too extreme”:

This is why a lot of people on the right are concerned about recent efforts to deny platforms to certain speakers. When a mainstream African American Republican Congressman and former CIA officer is deemed to extreme to be a speaker at a major conference, we have a problem. https://t.co/jvewAkJg9P — (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) June 14, 2019

pro-life cyber security is apparently cancelled https://t.co/uocL5qnNc1 — Jerry Dunleavy (@JerryDunleavy) June 14, 2019

He can’t be an expert on cybersecurity because he doesn’t support the Democratic Party’s abortion industry https://t.co/foxN1U0U5Q — Orange Muppet Energy (@sunnyright) June 14, 2019

Here’s a taste of what they’re missing:

From yesterday's House Intelligence Committee hearing. The public and private sectors must develop a counter covert action strategy to combat disinformation and detect manipulated media like deepfakes, so we keep Americans safe from bad actors without impeding free speech rights. pic.twitter.com/t4c81zMMD5 — Rep. Will Hurd (@HurdOnTheHill) June 14, 2019

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