At What Price Free Speech?

It’s all over but the shouting.  Paperwork pending, Elon Musk has bought Twitter.

And, the shouting is all over the place but far from over.

It’s shaping up as a bad couple of weeks for the left side of ideology.  First, it was masks off.  Now, it’s Musk on.

Elon Musk used the platform he is buying to provide insight into what likely will be his guiding principle.  He tweeted, ” I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter because that is what free speech means.”

But a lot (and we mean a lot) of “open-minded” citizens see it differently and came to Twitter and TV to tell us as much.  Even the ones that announced that they were packing their Tesla and moving to Canada if Donald Trump won had something to say.

Let’s start with the esteemed senator from Massachusetts, Elizabeth Warren.  “This deal is dangerous for our democracy.  Billionaires like Musk play by a different set of rules than everyone else, accumulating power for their own gain.  We need a wealth tax and strong rules to hold big tech accountable.”

There is so much to unpack in that statement.  Was she speaking about herself?  If Elizabeth Warren identified as a man her pro(per) nouns would be Bernie and Sanders, but we digress.

News flash, free speech isn’t dangerous to our democracy.  See the very First Amendment for confirmation.

What some try to define as hate speech is indeed free speech.  You might hate what they say, but it’s their right to say it.  It’s just like burning an American flag.  You might hate seeing someone do so, but it’s been judicially ruled and subsequently upheld as freedom of expression.

Former Presidential Democratic “want to be” nominee Howard Dean tweeted that he was out.   Thousands commented back that they were as well.   The irony of using the platform to boldly announce that you’re leaving the platform is palpable.

None other than former VP Dan Quayle jumped in and tweeted, “at least seven people will miss you!”  Hateful.  True.  Quayle even spelled seven correctly!

Well, maybe the next stop for Dean is CNN+.  Come to think of it, it’s been a really bad run for those that lean left.

Press Secretary Jen Psaki, “The president has long been concerned about the power of large social media platforms, and has long argued that they must be held accountable for the harms that they cause.”  Likely he’s just been too busy to tackle this cause just yet.  After he fixes the harm caused by Russia and inflation though, lookout.

A study by The Center for Responsive Politics of political donations for the midterms by corporate employees, and published by Vox shows that 98.7% of the money donated went to the Democratic party from Twitter employees.

Want more?  Netflix 99.6%.  Apple 97.5%.  Google 96.0%.  Facebook 94.5%.  You can see why Biden is concerned, can’t you?

People who have preached that men can get pregnant are now concerned with misinformation on Twitter.  How timely?  How noble?

An African American who nearly single-handedly brought electric cars to the market to save the planet is now the bad guy for wanting free speech to truly be free.

Only in America could all of this happen concurrently.

After all, it’s the land of the “free” and the home of the “brave,” depending on whom you ask of course.

 

Soon Enough, Hopefully.

When can’t get here soon enough.  Can it?

When will Joe Biden realize it’s 2022 and not 2020?  Will it be in 2024?

When will the Democratic Party begin the “thanks Joe for saving us from Trump, you were the right man at the right time to bring class and respect back to the Oval Office, and it’s, unfortunately, your choice to move on, but we respect your decision” campaign?  Will it be right after the 2022 midterms that he thinks are the 2020 midterms?

When will the press stop calling Joe’s incoherent thoughts, mumbles, memory loss, misstatements, and outright lies what they are, and not “gaffes?”  Will it be right after said midterms?

When will that same party realize that Kamala Harris is utterly unelectable on the national stage?   Will it be yesterday or sooner?

When will Team Hillary announce that she’s retained advisors looking into the feasibility of another run at the big job?  Will anyone care?

When will Team Michelle Obama announce that she has retained advisors to look into the feasibility for a first run at the big job?

When will the Republicans realize that Donald Trump is no longer electable on the big stage as well?

When will the RNC realize that the independent voters currently running/sprinting from Biden and his party will make a u-turn if Trump gets the nomination?

When will Nancy Pelosi retire?  Will it be after the 2022 midterms that Joe still thinks will take place in 2020?

When will CNN pivot back to the middle?  Will they realize the space is wide open?

When did Biden’s team decide to parade him out yesterday and call this the “pandemic of the unvaccinated” when Omicron is smashing right through the fully vaccinated and boosted as well?  Did the phrase poll well?

When will actually start following the science?

When will Fauci, the NIH, the CDC, and the WHO actually address treatments vs. harumphing the jab every damn day?

When will America collectively stop wearing worthless cloth masks on their face?

When will parents start influencing how schools are run vs. school officials dictating to America how they will be run?

When will America collectively stop yelling about who Twitter censures? When will they understand that Twitter is a public company that can do what it wants with content as long as the content isn’t technically theirs?

When will Elon Musk say enough and buy Twitter and Facebook, sorry Metaverse, with the loose change that he has under his sofa cushions?

When will NY say “enough already” and stop electing officials like newly-installed Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg who will not seek pre-trial detention or prison sentences for crimes other than homicide, public corruption, and a few other exceptional cases?

When will NY realize they hired a woman named AOC who actually has exhibited the brain capacity of a 13-year-old teenager from time to time?

When will this bowl season of 6-6 teams end?  Was it last night?

When will Nick Saban stop focusing on the process and retire?  Will it be a week after never?

When will this writer know when to say when?  Will it be right now, or should it have been a few sentences back?

 

 

OJ and Graham Got Jabbed, Twitter Got Clicks

The combined most famous and infamous athlete to walk the earth, Orenthal James Simpson, posted a 48 second Twitter video yesterday.  On it, he used a seat belt analogy to support his plea for all of us to get vaccinated.  It saves lives.  Oh, the irony.  O.J. even expressed his (and our) displeasure of having to wear masks.

And, all of that is what is wrong with the ease and access that one and all have to social media.

But, what Twitter giveth, Twitter can taketh.   Check out the feedback that The Juice got below if you dare.

If you’re not into cringe-worthy or dark humor, now might be a good time to hit the small X in the top right corner of your computer screen.  If you like to poke the vaccine bear and/or OJ times two, read on.  A handful of comments follow.

  1.  If there is anything this guy will not tell you the truth about, it’s getting jabbed.
  2.  Fun fact: Nicole and Ron weren’t vaccinated.  Look how it turned out for them.
  3.  If OJ is taking time out from looking for Nicole’s killers on the golf courses for a little advice about your health, you better listen.
  4. If the mask don’t fit…………….
  5. OJ with the needle in the CVS (Clue).
  6. Listen up.  This guy knows how to survive a life-threatening situation.
  7. Well done.  He cuts right to the point.

Meanwhile Senator Lindsey Graham, fully vaccinated last December announced via Twitter that he tested positive for the virus yesterday after spending time on a houseboat with other vaccinated senators.

Kate Coyne-McCoy, the chief strategist of the Rhode Island Democratic Party, faced swift criticism late Monday over a tweet about Sen. Lindsey Graham’s COVID-19 diagnosis.

Coyne-McCoy took to Twitter and posted, “It’s wrong to hope he dies from Covid right? Asking for a friend. #COVIDISNOTOVER #LINDSEYGRAHAM,” she posted.

The floor gets lowered daily.

Luckily for Graham, his symptoms are mild.  He will self-quarantine for 10 days and a full recovery is expected.

Twitter banned Trump.  It’s banned others.  Is it asking too much for it to ban itself?

We wonder if humankind will ever rebound from the depths that social media has taken us.