Wherefore Twitter?
Posted on: October 22, 2022
Happy Saturday, Shinners! We had quite a news week. As Shadowfax pointed out, the January 6th committee has subpoenaed Agolf Twitler (kudos to whomever came up with that one!) for both documents and testimony. He has a very short turnaround time to respond to these requests – he must submit the documents by November 4th and be deposed by November 14th.
The document request is likely to trigger the same obstructionist behavior he has been showing around the documents he stole from We, the People. That is going quite poorly for him from a legal standpoint, by the way.
Donald Trump’s assertions of executive and attorney-client privilege over certain documents that the FBI seized from his Mar-a-Lago resort appeared to lack evidence sufficient for him to rule in the former US president’s favor, the special master reviewing the records suggested on Tuesday.
The special master, senior US district court judge Raymond Dearie, complained during a conference call in the case that the log of documents Trump is trying to withhold from the justice department did not give enough information about the validity of the privilege claims.
Dearie encouraged Trump’s lawyers to elaborate on why they believed the documents could be excluded from the justice department’s criminal investigation into the potential willful retention of national defense information, removal of government records and obstruction of justice.
“It’s a little perplexing as I go through the log,” Dearie said. “What’s the expression – ‘Where’s the beef?’ I need some beef.”
The Guardian, October 18, 2022
His legal case is falling apart, even though he selected the special master!
Also this week, Steve Bannon was sentenced to four months in prison due to obstruction of…the January 6th Committee’s subpoena. This indicates that whatever obstruction Drumpf tries to perform, it will ultimately backfire, as did Bannon’s.
The testimony part of the subpoena is another case entirely. Since the Mango Moron loves nothing more than the spotlight, and this subpoena pours salt in the wound of the loss he has never publicly admitted, it appears there is a chance he will agree to testify live. While none of his attorneys would ever counsel him to do that, as he will surely lie repeatedly, he is renowned for not listening to good legal advice. (Master of understatement, that’s me.)
Yes, MAGA world is a total mess. But what does the media report on? Polls with flawed methodologies (numbers that are too small, “likely” vs. registered voters, over-representation of Republicans) that feed the age-old narrative, “Democrats in disarray.” Aided and abetted, unfortunately, by Bernie Sanders and Barack Obama, who have been all over the news complaining about Democrats’ messaging in the mid-terms. Gee, fellas – ever think YOU MAY BE PART OF THE PROBLEM?! (As Quixote would say, **endless screaming**)
Due to the way even MSNBC covers Democrats, our reality-based community has no friends in the media. I mostly stick to Twitter these days. I follow journalists and Democratic activists and strong Black female voices, and get news and opinion I respect.
And now, even that may be taken away by Elon Musk.
Elements of the United States federal government are “discussing whether the U.S. can subject some of Elon Musk’s ventures to national security reviews,” Bloomberg reports, “including the deal for Twitter Inc. and SpaceX’s Starlink satellite network.” (The Biden administration is downplaying the report.) The feds are reportedly concerned about Musk’s recent posturing around providing Starlink to Ukrainian defense forces and “his increasingly Russia-friendly stance” in public. For the latter, they cite his public promotion of a peace deal with what they consider favorable terms for Russian President Vladimir Putin. I would add that he’s currently on Twitter asking Putin appendage Dmitry Medvedev, “Btw, how’s it going in Bakhmut?” Russian forces—including the Wagner Group, Putin’s mercenary army—are waging a bloody siege on that city in Donetsk Oblast in Eastern Ukraine.
Esquire, October 21, 2022
Whether or not this happens, and it will have to happen by Friday, October 28th, Elon has some disturbing plans for Twitter. He’s publicly stated that he plans to cut 75% of Twitter’s staff and reinstate Der Drumpfenfuhrer’s account. This would severely impact the limited content moderation Twitter has instituted since IQ45’s abuse of the platform caused them to ban him, and further, would open the floodgates to the endless amounts of money anti-American forces pour into media to promote autocracy over democracy. Musk’s takeover would have the effect of turning Twitter into a giant amplifier for ChristoFascism and all its attendant Daily Hates against women, people of color, LGBTQ+ and Jewish people.
All I can say is, if this deal happens, one more source of reality-based information in the world will fall. And we’ll increasingly be bombarded by right-wing propaganda wherever we look.
The only thing we can do is vote and support Democrats up and down the ballot. If we have enough reasonable people in Congress, we have the options to use the tools we have in the government to stop the predations of billionaires and their attempts to destroy our democracy. Sheldon Whitehouse has a few bills ready to go on this topic, including the DISCLOSE Act.
Stay strong, Shinners! We’ll get through this together. And DYB and Luna, we miss you and hope you’ll return someday.
Open thread as always – and get boosted if you can! Here’s an oldie but goodie.
117 Responses to "Wherefore Twitter?"
October 22, 2022 at 1:52 pm
Wow MB, what a great, jam packed new post!
Yes, if Dems don’t drag themselves down, they have CNN and MSNBC to do it for them. With Bernie as the drum majorette and the ‘Oh Shucks’ man who was gifted Hillary’s votes, finally admitting he too, wait for it…made some mistakes.
Seems as thought the public as a whole is constantly told to save Democrats instead of the President and Dem. congress talking non-stop about all the good they have done, and will continue to do so. They should never stop pointing out how the Rethugs have stood by and refused to help.
Every child in school that has run for class President knows how to point out their good ideas and point out the flaws of their opponents.
October 22, 2022 at 1:55 pm
As far as Elon playing with American Foreign Policy to act like the unelected president, no matter how dang much $ he has, the FBI and DOJ should take a hammer to that.
October 22, 2022 at 5:06 pm
Excellent post, MB.
@3 I saw an interview with Beto saying that Texas wasn’t a Red state, it’s a Nonvoting state. I believe Texas has one of the lowest participation rates. So that’s really good news!!
October 22, 2022 at 8:25 pm
Thanks Shadow and PJ!
It’s so true, the path for Dems lies through the non voters. 100 million eligible voters did not vote in 2020 – I have to believe they are mostly sympathetic to Democrats since we are solidly in the center of the majority on all major issues. Unbelievable to me, since even though I always live in blue states, I always vote!
And then there are women who are changing to Dem. Hubby read me a story tonight of a guy’s 85-year-old mom voting blue for the first time ever. Apparently the Dem came and talked to her about Dobbs and women’s rights.
It wasn’t a tough sell to change her vote.
October 22, 2022 at 8:56 pm
@7 That’s a great story! I heard a guy on MSNBC talking about going door knocking in Nevada and the most asked question was, “is she pro-choice?”. When they said, “yes”, it was, “then she’s got my vote”. End of discussion.
Abortion rights isn’t showing up in the polls, but I think it will show up AT the polls in November. A big Roe-vember would not only save women, it would save everything else. Democracy, Social Security, support for the war in Ukraine, etc, etc, etc.
October 23, 2022 at 12:30 am
That’s funny. 🙂 But what is Abbott doing in Florida? Nevermind, I don’t care. What he should be doing is picking out a nice spot in The Villages so he has a place to retire to after he loses.
Speaking of Florida. Ron DeSantis. I’ve watched a lot of NCAA tournaments and they’re always saying the higher seeds should not look past games against lower seeds. Many a high seed has fallen because they were focused on the next game with a more challenging opponent. Ron DeSantis has been running for president for at least a year, completely assuming he has his reelection for governor in the bag. I’m just saying…
October 23, 2022 at 11:48 am
I think that stat is because of two things: Dobbs and student debt. The kids know what’s up. They just need to show up!!
October 23, 2022 at 11:07 pm
They just need to show up!!
They just need to show up!!
They just need to show up!!
Here’s hoping.
October 24, 2022 at 8:01 am
New voters, first time voters, both young and older, would make all the difference. And maybe those voters who haven’t been voting for a while. They need to give it another shot. Now or never as they say.
October 24, 2022 at 8:31 am
Yes, hoping. On November 9, I want to look like Jimmy V. Running around with no one to hug because everyone here will be looking like me after Hillary lost.
October 24, 2022 at 8:34 am
Or this. We’re team USA, the Republicans are the Russians (that’s not a far stretch).
October 24, 2022 at 10:09 am
Well here’s some info that could help us feel optimistic. Early voter turnout in Georgia is almost as high as it was in 2020! Much higher than 2018, the last mid-term year, and this is WITH all of the voter suppression enacted since then.
October 24, 2022 at 8:16 pm
More positive news –
Mike Franken was on Lawrence. He is in a statistical tie with old as dirt, Chuck Grassley. Franken has a great ad showing that Chuck has been engaged in a war on women since his young days. He was a zealot then and he’s a zealot now. I think he was even uglier when he was young. Yegads. Anyway, that’s the first time I’ve seen Mike Franken. I knew he had some high rank in the Navy and he’s been on my “longshot wish list” for a while. But I was really surprised that he came off as “Iowa Nice” (even though he was criticizing Grassley). That dude is Iowa. In this case, that’s a good thing. I think he has a shot. Chuck may have stayed too long at the fair.
October 24, 2022 at 9:40 pm
Mark Holland is the Democrat running for the Senate here. He is well-known in eastern Kansas which is why I think he has a chance. Eastern KS went so heavily in favor of abortion rights, I’m hoping the Anti-Choice Republican brand finally gets people to vote D when no other issue has.
October 24, 2022 at 11:17 pm
I hope you’re right about the way the wind is blowing, PJ!
And Grassley even uglier then? Really? No way! Nobody could manage that! (I haven’t risked looking it up. Enough ugliness to contend with without that. 😛 )
October 25, 2022 at 6:55 am
For sure, quixote. 🙂 It’s not something you go looking for. It wasn’t really a choice for me. I was watching Lawrence and it jumped out at me like Freddy or Jason from behind a bush. Scary. I guess it is that time of year…
Rachel Maddow always gives like a 10-15 second warning. If you have kids, get them out of the room kind of thing.
October 25, 2022 at 8:06 am
I do feel we have strong winds on our side. Like everyone else, I’m also feeling the dark winds pushing back. But I mean, we’re talking about Satan. What did we expect him to do? Sit this one out? He’s going all in. If he wins now, he wins the whole enchilada. At least for a long while.
It really is simple. If you’re on the side of White Supremacy, White Christian Nationalism, you’re following the wrong “guy”. And I’m hoping you lose.
October 26, 2022 at 12:24 am
1,000,000 early votes in Georgia!
And the new voter registrations that are higher than usual are for women, blacks, and young people.
(Fingers so crossed Imma gonna give myself arthritis!)
October 26, 2022 at 12:33 am
All the Widdershinners in California near the Bay area, are you OK? I hope so.
October 26, 2022 at 6:29 am
Hey Luna! Good to see you.
Hubby and I didn’t feel the quake up in the North Bay. Several of the folks I work with did, though, but no damage.
I’m actually in Dallas at company HQ right now. Had a horrible trip out here because of a huge storm, but yesterday I successfully presented a thought leadership piece to qualify for promo to VP, and I did it! I’m now eligible for promo. I still have more hoops to jump through but I’m almost there.
PJ – I think national Dems don’t realize how competitive these dark horse Senate seats are. I had heard about Mike Franken. Amazing that he’s doing so well!
October 26, 2022 at 7:19 am
Wow, MB. Congratulations! Good for you!!
Good to see you, Luna!
That’s great news, quixote @27. And funny. 🙂
Texas… what a shithole state (as Dump would say). Where they love guns more than kids. Some places have learned how to love both. Not Texas. And it’s not even close. It’s a place where you’re more likely to get raped. Nice. And then forced to birth your rapist’s spawn. Lovely. Texas makes me so happy to be stuck in Kansas.
October 26, 2022 at 8:10 am
PJ, I couldn’t agree more. I hate traveling here. At least Kansas has. Democratic governor and the common sense to vote to keep abortion legal. I do see a ton of enthusiasm for Beto here though. Let’s hope and pray there are enough new voters to turn the tide!
Here’s some more good news about turnout. This is the only days that really counts.
Has everyone voted yet? I’m doing it this weekend. There are so many initiatives here that we have to do a lot of research before voting! Oh, and Saturday hubby and I are doing phone banking.
October 26, 2022 at 9:10 am
I’m very happy to hear about the enthusiasm for Beto!
And whoa. what? An enthusiasm gap in favor of Dems??? Where’s all the disarray? I’m sure the NYT can spin this as a positive for Republicans. 🙂
Seriously though, that’s FANTASTIC!!
I have voted! By mail. I put otter stamps on and signed the outside envelope in purple ink. I pulled out all the stops. And I checked to make sure it was accepted. It was!
October 26, 2022 at 2:11 pm
Oh (Luna), I am so darn glad you are back. I have missed you my friend.
October 26, 2022 at 2:12 pm
Congratulations MB!!!!!!!!!!!
I didn’t feel the earthquake here.
October 27, 2022 at 12:43 am
SNL made a great skit on the Jan 6th committee and includes two funny parts with Nancy and Chuck in hiding.
October 27, 2022 at 8:00 am
I watched the movie, “Harriet” again last night and I was lamenting for the umpteenth time about her not being on the twenty dollar bill. I was getting myself all worked up about it. And then it was almost like she spoke to me. “Don’t rush me. I’ll come when it’s time.” Whoa. Seriously, it freaked me out. Needless to say, I’m letting go of that – the timing of it.
October 27, 2022 at 8:08 am
I’m curious about the postage for mail in ballots. Does it vary by state or county? I am in PA and my mail in ballot says that the postage will be paid by the county. The free postage is one of the reasons I will be drop boxing (to save the county the postage, and PJ, save me my otter stamps), but I cannot drop off until Oct 29.
October 27, 2022 at 9:01 am
Cats, good question. I have heard about some cheating in red states where the ballots actually don’t have enough postage to be mailed! The drop box is definitely more reliable.
I am sure that in blue states this isn’t a concern, but, hubby and I use a drop box because we don’t trust DeJoy. And it’s COVID safer that standing in line.
October 27, 2022 at 10:16 am
Welp – Elon Musk has bought Twitter. The right wing ownership of media is now almost complete.
We are living in very scary times.
October 27, 2022 at 2:14 pm
I’ve always had a bad feeling about Twitter. A bad tree cannot bear good fruit. I was proven wrong daily just with the cute and/or beautiful animals alone.
But maybe Musk is to Twitter like Trump is to the Republican Party. Just the guy to reveal its true nature.
Regardless, very scary times, like you said, MB. They’re taking over the courts, the media, and the vote counting. It’s terrifying.
October 27, 2022 at 4:45 pm
Lindsey Graham with Herschel Walker. OMG.
Lindsey: They want to call us racist? Looky here at this black Howdy Doody nodding his head. He knows. He knows we ain’t racist. We don’t hate black people. All they gotta do is do what we say and we get along fine.
October 27, 2022 at 7:07 pm
And there us innocents were, thinking we were making progress and it was only a matter of time before we had a dawn of a new age of humankind.
I suspect we weren’t actually wrong. It was just a matter of time. On the old trajectory.
Which is why the backlash worked so hard to land us here, on the path of the sixth mass extinction and some three, four, or more billion deaths when civilization collapses back by three or four hundred years.
People can survive just fine at the outhouse-and-donkey-cart level, but the backlashers are going to be surprised at how much less fun it is than they thought it would be.
(This brought on mostly by reading polls saying we’re all gonna dieeee. When feeling less desperate, I remind myself that they probably haven’t correctly accounted for turnout in their models.)
Plus, it figures about Musk’s first fire. It just figures. /*um, yes, endless screaming*/
October 27, 2022 at 8:01 pm
Thank you Beata, and great to see you again.
Take time to smell the flowers, enjoy the good things of life.
October 27, 2022 at 8:40 pm
It’s Elon Musk’s little virtual playground now. His own little ant farm. Yikes! He wants that big fat orange ant back because he’s so fun!
Yeah, quixote. Turnout (if you were talking about election turnout?). People aren’t giving up without a fight. I’m going to wait and see. I can always get depressed after Nov 8. If need be.
And the backlashers are not planning on being here for the aftermath. And least not the fundies. They’re going to be airlifted out by spaceships or something. I don’t know the specifics. I never read the “Left Behind” series. I may be getting them confused with Scientologists. Or that wacky group headed by that semi-bald guy with bug eyes (freaking scary eyes!) who all killed themselves.
October 28, 2022 at 8:16 am
@47: Thank you, Shadow. You are one of the most gracious people I have ever encountered on the Internet. I hope you and your loved ones are well.
October 28, 2022 at 8:25 am
Beata – I love that piece – thank you for sharing that beautiful version.
I used to play the flute and piano version with my father. He plays a ton of wind instruments, mostly flute and recorder, but also more unusual ones like the sackbut. 🙂
October 28, 2022 at 10:56 am
More good early vote news. I agree with PJ, Quixote – let’s be depressed later 😂
October 28, 2022 at 12:17 pm
Have you all seen this? Nancy was is DC and some MAGA lunatic came to her house and attacked her husband with a hammer.
October 28, 2022 at 2:15 pm
50 Beata, how kind of you to say that. I will never forget it. Thank you for your well wishes for me and my family. I hope the very same for you and your family.
You brighten my day when you stop by and I know you are fighting the good fight. Sending you a big hug.
October 28, 2022 at 2:33 pm
I personally am not buying into the negative hype from the media about Dems fate. We have seen it for years, and getting people fearful just to go vote is ugly.
All we can do is get the urgency out and vote.
If Dems and Independents would rather stay home than vote against criminals and dictators that will strip us of the rights, then we will deal with it and fight when the election is over.
October 28, 2022 at 2:35 pm
That’s horrible that Paul Pelosi was attacked and is in the hospital. I’m glad Nancy wasn’t home.
These people are super rich and need to pay for good protection and security.
October 28, 2022 at 3:33 pm
Two races in Indiana are proving to be quite competitive. Republican Senator Todd Young was expected to coast to an easy reelection but recent polls show him only 2% ahead of Democrat Thomas McDermott, the longtime mayor of Hammond (near Gary). People may remember McDermott as a strong supporter of Hillary in the 2008 Indiana primary, even though many of Indiana’s Democratic leaders supported Obama.
McDermott is an abortion rights candidate. Young, of course, is not. The national media are not covering this Senate race at all but it might turn out to be a major upset. McDermott is a fighter. Young is an automaton. It all depends on turnout. Voter registration among women is up here as it is in many other red states.
The other exciting race is for Secretary of State. It is an open seat, previously held by a Republican. The Republican candidate is Diego Morales, a Trump supporter and an election denier. His campaign has been filled with scandal including two allegations of sexual assault and lies about his military service. The Democratic candidate is Destiny Wells, a 38 year old attorney, a lieutenant colonel in the Army and a veteran of the war in Afghanistan. She is leading in the polls. Again, the election will depend on turnout, although obviously Morales is unfit for office.
Early voting is reportedly high in some areas of the state. I have already voted.
October 28, 2022 at 8:52 pm
I voted yesterday! Interesting experience this time. It was pretty busy for a Thursday afternoon. There were only a couple of young people there. I don’t really have any hope this county will vote any differently than they always do. It’s been 75% Republican for years, even 80% to re-elect Stump on 2020.
However, this is the first time I caught attitude from the woman at the registration desk. I said hello and handed her my ID. She took it, typed a little and said (out loud) “Are you still at so-and-so Circle?”. I said yes. She hands me back my ID and I put it back in my bag. She stares at the screen for a second and says “oh wait, do you still have that out?” (my ID) I say no, but I’ve got it right here and pull it out. She says, “Oh no nevermind. I see it here. You’re at 274 so-and-so Circle.” For some reason, she felt the need to announce my street address to everyone in hearing distance. I’ve never had this happen while voting before.
Then she blabbed my actual election day voting precinct. I was voting at the recreation center, which is the only place in this county to early vote. She says that out loud too, (completely unnecessary). I realized she had no idea what she’s doing. New worker.
I said, yeah, that’s my precinct but I have yet to vote there because I always vote here. Then she says, “Well you can vote here THIS TIME.” That was it for me. I lasered my eyes into hers and said “I will vote here EVERY Time … if I so CHOOSE.”
I could see right through her. Nut job newbie plant.
October 29, 2022 at 2:43 am
Hi Everyone! Enjoyed all the comments, it made me feel hopeful about the election. GAgal, what a bizarre experience at your voting place.
Twitter already seems different, although musk hasn’t made any strong moves yet. I’m thinking I should bail on it.
October 29, 2022 at 5:41 am
GAgal, I had a similar experience several years ago with an election worker who took my ID and harassed me. I immediately reported him to the County Clerk. That sort of behavior by an election worker should never happen in a democracy (that thing we are trying so hard to save). I’m sorry it happened to you.
October 29, 2022 at 8:59 am
Beata – that is great news about Indiana and the competitive races. Great as, too! The reality on the ground is, the abortion rights messaging is extremely successful and galvanizing. It’s a life and death issue for women and the men who love them. There is nothing more “kitchen table’ than that.
Shadow, I agree. I’m not buying into the hype and negativity either. I read that a lot of the polls showing Repubs ahead are paid for by the QOP and massively overrepresented their voters.
GAGal, what an awful experience. I’m so glad she didn’t intimidate you!
Annie, lovely bird!!
Re Twitter, it looks like Jack Dorsey played Elon Musk for a fool. Musk just bought Twitter for 4x its worth, and now Dorsey is about to launch a competitive social media platform and protocol that does NOT sell users’ data and is transparent about its algorithms. I’m willing to pay for something like that. We’ll see how it goes.
October 29, 2022 at 10:04 am
It’s Dorsey. After his Twitter, I’ll believe he’s not collecting data and has opened the algorithms when the Electronic Fronier Foundation confirms it. (Grrr.)
Seriously: good if true.
Even better would be if he just used his millions to support Mastodon and the Fediverse, which are already open and respect privacy. If he meant it, I don’t see why he’s not doing that. He could even start his own instance with whichever improvements he feels the users need. He just wouldn’t make money.
October 29, 2022 at 11:01 am
@40: Agree MB, DeJoy is the first reason I drop off, convenience is the second.
I had an interesting experience at the drop off box today. Previously, the drop box was locked and like a USPS mail box in that you put your ballot in the secured box and that was that.
Today, there were four people spaced about 20 ft apart around the box. (No one was armed, masked, in camo, filming me, blocking my way or in any way aggressive.) One person (the only man) was stationed at the box with a neon yellow green pinney and a woman was leaning against a car with a clip board. The man greeted me and I asked what was going on. All he said was do you have a ballot to drop off. I said yes. He said did you date it, sign it and seal the smaller envelope in the larger one. I said yes. He unlocked the box, I put the ballot in, we watched it drop, he locked the box and I noted the clipboard woman making an annotation. No one touched my ballot but me. I assumed these were county election workers so I thanked them for being there and they all wished me a good day.
The man had something printed on the back of his pinney but I couldn’t read it. I will call the county on Monday to confirm this procedure was sanctioned by the county and all four individuals were the good guys. Stupidly, I didn’t flat out ask them from the get-go. Senior brain fart. If county authorized, I thought it was a great way to both monitor and protect the box and those dropping off.
Any one else have a similar experience?
October 29, 2022 at 11:42 am
Cats, no, I haven’t had that experience or heard of anyone who has. It sounds very odd. I would definitely call your county clerk or election board office as soon as possible. You could try calling today. Since it is election time, the office might be open on Saturday. Let us know what you find out.
October 29, 2022 at 12:50 pm
@66: Thanks Beata. The county office is not open on Saturday. I just sent an email at the county site detailing my experience but will follow up on Monday by phone.
October 29, 2022 at 12:56 pm
Those sound like, um, interesting drop box experiences. One doesn’t want voting to be interesting. It’s the prime example of “boring is good.”
More re the twitter stuff. Excellent article by David Troy who seems to actually know what he’s talking about. No, Elon and Jack are not “competitors.” They’re collaborating.
October 29, 2022 at 2:26 pm
Those ARE interesting drop box experiences! That was definitely different, Cats. Please do let us know what you hear. It actually sounds positive, in that they could have been making sure your vote would count.
I just spent a couple of hours phone banking for AZ Dems with hubby. Most people didn’t pick up, but had a couple of interesting conversations. One person was rude, but that didn’t stop us. I was heartened by the few registered Indys/Rs who said they were voting Dem all up and down the ballot.
One lady who was Indy said she voted for the issue, not the Party. I asked her if being pro-choice was an important issue to her, and she said “YES.” very firmly. I informed her that all of the Democrats running were pro-choice, and all the Repubs were MAGA extreme anti-choicers. She did not seem to know this and it sounded like it may have swayed her to vote Dem.
To me this shows the power of the R media machine in AZ and also, the idiocy of men like Bernie telling Dems to switch to the economy instead of talking about the right to choose. As usual he is totally wrong!
Off to read your article now, Quixote.
October 29, 2022 at 2:30 pm
Oy vey ist mir…from Quixote’s excellent article:
Q: …isn’t it naive to think that there’s a technical solution to harmful content? Isn’t that likely to lead to more radicalization and cultish behavior?
A: Yes, it’s completely naive and they are being willfully ignorant of the harmful side effects of content. It is a kind of tech fundamentalist solutionism that posits that for any difficult problem, there must be a technical solution. Many sociologists and cultural scholars would argue differently.
Q: What does Dorsey mean, “I trust [Musk’s] mission to extend the light of consciousness?”
A: This is a reference to “longtermism,” the heavily marketed philosophy being promoted by Musk and his friend William MacAskill that asserts the only thing that matters is humanity’s future in space, and that the only goal of the living is to maximize the number of future humans alive, as well as the number of artificial intelligence instances that could possibly exist in the future. This mandate is most often used to brush aside calls for improving conditions and alleviating suffering among the living here on Earth now. Because, the theory goes, giving a poor person a blanket isn’t likely to be as useful for the future of humanity as building a rocket to Mars. Longtermism is heavily influenced by “Russian Cosmism” and is also directly adjacent to “Effective Altruism.” Musk’s stated mission, which he intends to fulfill in his lifetime, is to “make humanity a multiplanetary species.” The anti-democratic urge in longtermism is rooted in the belief that “mob rule” will lead to nuclear annihilation; we should, Musk thinks, be guided by “wiser” minds — like his and Putin’s apparently.
Good Goddess. I work in tech and I’ve never heard of this bizarre cult. Only white, privileged, billionaire men could have come up with something so dumb.
October 29, 2022 at 3:50 pm
BTW Shadow and all others interested in vaccine experiences – just got the Pfizer bivalent booster. Still only symptom is a sore arm, and not nearly as sore as so was with the Moderna vaccines I had gotten before.
October 29, 2022 at 4:17 pm
mb @70, yes, some real humdingers in there. Considering how lala techbros are, though, I can see them believing that stuff. I can especially see them not caring much about anyone in the here and now when they can think about the intergalactic empire 🙄
October 29, 2022 at 5:32 pm
Dropping of your vote at a drop box shouldn’t be some sort of intervention.
I think having our cell phone at the ready, if there is any monkey business or even the slightest bit of confrontation, is a good thing.
My votes are ready, will drop them off on Halloween.
No tricks on my treat 😉
October 29, 2022 at 5:36 pm
Thanks for the vax experience MB. Seems like Pfizer has little side effects for most people.
Moderna has always packed a punch to me, but this last one was exhaustion, decreasing over 10 days. No other side effects, hooray!
October 30, 2022 at 8:50 am
We actually drive to our Dropbox and don’t even get out of our car. No intimidation possible.
October 30, 2022 at 3:18 pm
Cats @65, that’s interesting. In our area, we used to be able to drop off our ballots in a drop box in the lobby of a Best Western. It was in the center of town & open 24 hours a day with the employees there working. No hassle, felt safe. Now they have reduced the number of boxes in our area, so we’re going to drop ours off at City Hall tomorrow. I hope there won’t be any right wing weirdos there.
October 30, 2022 at 4:23 pm
MB @70, Good god! They’re insane. I think they watched too many Star Wars movies.
Shadow @73, good idea, I will have my phone in my hand when I go to my drop box.
I’m going to get the Pfizer booster this week.
October 30, 2022 at 4:30 pm
@77: Annie, we seemed to have fewer locations too but I don’t know for sure. I should ask that question too! If a box is too far away and I don’t want to vote in person or use DeJoy’s postal service, I will begin to feel manipulated. And, nobody does manipulation (aka voter suppression) like the GOP. But I am also known for my paranoia 😉.
I am really anxious to talk to the County Election people tomorrow. City Hall should be a very safe place to drop off for you, is it convenient or as convenient as the Best Western?
October 30, 2022 at 11:43 pm
Let’s all just stop a moment and admire Hillary’s absolute talent of letting men step in their own shit.
Elon Musk buys Twitter for $44 million (or is it billion?). The first thing he does is carry a sink in the door not even thinking he might actually sink the entire place.
Then one of his first tweets is in response to Hillary’s tweet about Nancy Ps husband being attacked with a hammer in their home with a link to a nut job link/website. Then he deletes his tweet.
Idiot censored himself after all his talk about “free speech”. What a dumbass.
And as always, Hillary is right.
October 30, 2022 at 11:48 pm
Cats, I am going to drop my votes off at my little city hall, mainly because I am in a very blue state and it’s a well populated spot. No tollerance for deplorables in my neck of the woods.
When worried about the DeJoy’s postal service before, I have driven to the post office, put in in their mail box and tracked my vote. It was cool. This year, I’m not worried about the drop box.
October 30, 2022 at 11:53 pm
80 GAgal
Let’s all just stop a moment and admire Hillary’s absolute talent of letting men step in their own shit.
——
I’m with ya, and it seems that every time Hillary speaks, she drives all the insecure male fruit loops, nuts.
October 31, 2022 at 12:17 am
Hi Cats! City Hall is farther for me, but not that bad.
GAgal, that’s funny about M’s tweet!
October 31, 2022 at 8:17 am
County called me back this AM. She said only individuals wearing the vests were county staff. Under each drop box location listed on the county website there is the following statement: “Staff will be present at each drop box location to help educate voters on proper ballot return practices.” So that checked out.
I asked about the other people standing around the drop box area, the clip board lady in particular, and she said they were not county staff but poll watchers there on behalf of the Republican or Democratic Parties. They are not to talk to voters, just watch.
I also told her how much I love the mail in option, especially the drop box procedure and she thanked me for letting her know.
Like Shadow, my ballot gets tracked by the county from mailing to me to receipt in the box and acknowledgement that my ballot was received timely and recorded. The tracking is via emails to me from the county. I am confident that at least that part of the county election process is secure.
Perhaps other states/counties who have been doing this longer have better, easier, more secure mail in/ drop off procedures????? There certainly doesn’t seem to be any standardized way of doing it nationwide.
I am, however, envious of the fact that MB doesn’t even have to get out of her car to drop off!
October 31, 2022 at 8:49 am
That whole thing with Musk and HRC was brilliant! She is our Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Looks like Lula did in fact beat Bolsonaro. And there was much rejoicing!
October 31, 2022 at 4:33 pm
Just posted this over at Skydancing too. Blows my mind.
This astonishing nugget from today’s Supremes’ questions in the affirmative action vs “race-blind” college admissions case they’re hearing. From ProfMMurray. The case is about race, so everything else is about race, but pretty amazing that you drop in an elephant like this and it doesn’t make a ripple.
Melissa Murray @ProfMMurray 8h
Kagan: If there were (and there are) decreases in male enrollment in higher education, could a school decide that it isn’t healthy for the university (or society) to have men be so uneducated, could they have a preference for men? Lawyer says “Men could get a thumb on the scale”
Melissa Murray @ProfMMurray 8h
As long as they’re not giving a thumb on the scale to “white” men…because race is an impermissible consideration. Gender gets different treatment under the EPC.
Justice Kagan: So we can slam the door on “people who have historically been kicked in the teeth… but not men?”
October 31, 2022 at 11:32 pm
Luna
“I was born on Halloween”, Kitty said….
——
I was born on Halloween too, and I had a great birthday handing out candies to lots of children and being with my loved ones and friends.
Happy Halloween to you too.
November 1, 2022 at 4:33 pm
Hillary was just on with Joy, I missed most of it but hearing our brilliant Hillary is exciting to hear her strength and honesty, and sad because she isn’t our President…
November 1, 2022 at 5:52 pm
I saw all of it! Oh man, Shadow – I agree completely.
Joy’s show is the only one I’ve been watching lately – I’m in survival mode. I was thrilled to see Hillary. She was being very serious – because this election is very serious.
I thought the whole hour was really good. I’ve never heard of Jordan Klepper, but it looks like he has a great series (comedy?) talking to MAGAts across the country. And not like the media usually covers them – as good folks who just have economic anxieties. One of the segments airs tonight on Comedy Central. I’m going to give it a try even though I’ve had it up to here with MAGAt psychopathy. We’ll see.
November 1, 2022 at 8:54 pm
Love the birthday kitty! Hope everyone had a great Halloween
Darn, I missed Hillary!!
November 2, 2022 at 3:04 am
Republican violence, often because they’re bat shit crazy, really scares me. Every headline I see that says “political violence “ should read “republican “ violence. Because that is what it is.
November 2, 2022 at 4:03 pm
That Ingraham clip…. I knew that in general terms, but still hits me between the eyes when it’s lined up like that.
Blows me away that those scumbuckets poll higher than 1.5%.
November 2, 2022 at 5:12 pm
The election is next Tuesday.
Who’s getting a little nervous? Who’s feeling totally freaked out? Who wakes up in the middle of the night, thinking, “Oh, my G-d!!”? (Then gets up, looks at self in mirror and sees Nick Nolte’s mugshot staring back at her?)
November 2, 2022 at 7:33 pm
Except for the mirror part, yup, all three of those plus cycling through brief spurts of ‘well, turnout is looking pretty good’ and ‘f.o.r.g.e.t..a.b.o.u.t..i.t..u.n.t.i.l..t.h.e..9th (you daft bezom!)’
November 2, 2022 at 8:28 pm
Beata, what an image!! And Quixote, the expression “you daft bezom” is perfect. I feel pretty daft most of the time these days.
We all need to do aromatherapy or drink chamomile tea or something. I’m with PJ, let’s freak out later.
Meanwhile, the DOJ is compelling Kash Patel to testify about the stolen documents at Mar-a-Lardo. Apparently he knows everything. I wonder if he’ll mention Ivana’s extra heavy coffin?
November 2, 2022 at 8:46 pm
Beata,
I’m teetering between calm/hopeful and totally freaked out at the possibility that the same Hell we when though with Dump in office, may happen again if Dems lose congress and 2024.
There is too much fear and drama to enjoy this next week or so.
November 4, 2022 at 12:00 am
Woohoo, I just got an email that said:
‘This is a message from the California Secretary of State on behalf of xxxxxxx County Elections. Your ballot for the November 8, 2022, General Election was received and counted. Thank you for voting!’
I put my vote in a drop box by the City Hall in my town. I didn’t know it would be counted so soon.
November 4, 2022 at 8:46 am
@101 Me too, Shadow! I dropped off my ballot on the first day it was available, 10/29 (Sat) and got this on Nov 1 (Tues).
“Your ballot has been received by XXXX County on 11/01/2022.
Your ballot status has been updated to reflect your official ballot has been received timely and recorded.”
Mail in ballots are the way to go IMHO. I am too old to stand in line any more and I feel for those who still have to do it, especially in inclement weather.
November 4, 2022 at 9:50 am
I was thinking about that phrase, “owning the libs”. It really is about ownership. At one time, white men literally owned black people. They literally owned women – women had no rights. That concept is just extremely difficult to give up. Apparently.
November 4, 2022 at 11:01 am
Just checking back on the polling accuracy of the Kansas abortion amendment vote – the polls were way, way, WAY off.
https://news.yahoo.com/poll-shows-tight-race-kansas-181045226.html
November 4, 2022 at 11:17 am
That’s right, MB!
Seriously, I’m staying away from pundits and polls as much as possible. They’re all looking at this election through “white male patriarchy” goggles. Those goggles once provided the clearest vision of what was going to happen, but “not anymore” as Hannibal Lecter would say.
In the movie, “Harriet”, there’s a song that has the phrase, “hold on”. It’s a gospel song, but I like that phrase. That’s what I’m doing now. Holding on.
November 4, 2022 at 12:59 pm
Sorry for that abrupt drop-in – I’m at work 😀
I’m so excited to see all the feedback about the mail-in voting. We dropped our ballots off on Tuesday, so hopefully this weekend or Monday we’ll get notified!
November 4, 2022 at 1:03 pm
If the movie was portraying it accurately, when Harriet prayed to God, she did it before a tree, not a cross. When she was running for her life, she carried a likeness of her father carved in wood, not Jesus.
I just found that interesting.
November 4, 2022 at 1:30 pm
Very interesting, PJ!
On the topic of this post, Musk is doing massive layoffs at Twitter and is opening the doors to rampant disinformation in Election Day by selling off blue checks to anyone for $8.
I’m afraid the platform is going to die quickly.
November 4, 2022 at 2:05 pm
Someone on MSNBC (Yasmin’s show) speculated as to what could happen as early as Monday with Twitter disinformation flooding the zone. Something also about fake tweets, people representing themselves as someone publicly well known, I guess influencers??? He said people at Twitter predicting that it is going to “fall like a house of sticks.” Yasmin asked who could warn voters about what was happening; he sadly looked at her and said, “us.” He went on to say in very somber tones that Musk is “out of his depth.” But then, maybe that is the whole point. You have to hand it to the GOP and the dark money donors. The social media is the last piece to click in place. Evil geniuses one and all. Fear, hate and intimidation leads to manipulation, manipulation leads to control, control leads to power. Power makes you rich and very, very dangerous.
And I am so sick of the polls and all the talk of “registered Republicans.” Just because they are registered doesn’t mean they will vote Repub in the mid terms. Stop beating up the Dems and their messaging. Are voters no better than children or adolescents who want to be wooed and flattered and promised the moon? I never cared if a candidate came to my state, let alone my home town!
@110: Hey, MB, were there any apparent security upgrades at your drive by drop box?
Nicole Wallace is on fire calling out the Repubs, her former party, yet again. Relentless, fearless. I hope there are millions more like her who realize their former party has morphed into the “largest authoritarian movement in the world.”
November 4, 2022 at 3:00 pm
Good news from a MeidasTouch podcast yesterday (Nov. 3rd) with Simon Rosenberg, entitled “Early Voting Data Shows Democrats LEADING Midterms”. Rosenberg reports positive early voting data from lots of states, including NC and TX. I don’t know how to link to a podcast but it is also on You Tube. I highly recommend it. Made me feel much better about our chances in important races across the country.
BTW, I don’t really look like Nick Nolte’s mugshot, even when I wake up in the middle of the night, totally freaked out. Promise.
November 5, 2022 at 8:30 am
113 – Cats, I listened to that same show on the way to work. I agree with you that this is on purpose. The Saudis, Russians and Chinese expect something in return for their investments in Musk.
114 – we would love you even if you did. Beata, but it’s good to know. 💕 And to your point, here’s a great tweet from Rosenberg about the garbage Republican polls they’ve dropped about the race in GA. All indications are that Warnock has a solid lead of about 3 points. That’s huge in GA, where the Presidential election was decided by less than 12,000 votes!
November 5, 2022 at 10:37 am
(The only reason I may not look like NNolte in a mirror is because I have no wall-mounted mirrors 😆 . Long past the age where catching sight of me in one isn’t a shock, and who needs that aggro?)
Now that Merrick seems to be finally thinking about making a plan to hold a meeting to consider which of the Dump’s many fine crimes to pursue, abracadabra!, hey presto!, the Pile-o’-Crap is going to stop dangling a run and announce it so he can go on screaming poe-litt-i-cal!. And raising money off it. (endless screaming? Yes, that, too.)
November 5, 2022 at 4:59 pm
I don’t look like Nick Nolte because I’m a brunette. 😀
New post tomorrow Shinners!
Comments are closed.
The Widdershins 
October 22, 2022 at 11:40 am
New post!