Free speech can degenerate quickly
The ongoing trial of Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and continuing analyses of the Jan. 6 insurrection are daily reminders of how easily the debasement of free expression and public civility can degenerate into mob violence.
Those who encouraged and participated in the attack on the Capitol appeared oblivious to the fact that history is littered with the remains of would-be revolutionaries undone by the very excesses they helped create — Robespierre, Madero and Trotsky come to mind. One Jan. 6 rioter gleefully told a reporter, “I’m here for the violence,” while others marched about shouting “1776!” displaying some dim recollection of their seventh grade American History class.
“People demand freedom of speech,” Kierkegaard wrote, “as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.” As it happens, 1776 also saw the publication of Edward Gibbon’s “The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.”
In a democracy, Gibbon pointed out, “the citizens exercise the powers of sovereignty; and those powers will be first abused, and afterwards lost, if they are committed to an unwieldy multitude.”
Socrates, history’s first martyr to history’s first democracy gone awry under tyranny, reminded his disciples that “there is no greater evil we can suffer than to hate reasonable discourse.”
Democracy is fragile, requiring constant vigilance and “reasonable discourse” if it is to survive. As the French Revolutionary journalist Jacques Mallet du Pan warned while witnessing the Reign of Terror: “Like Saturn, the Revolution devours its own children.”
Neil Yetwin
Schenectady
An ‘age-old’ idea for easing tensions
In this first quarter of the 21st century, even on Thanksgiving Day, there does seem to be much turmoil in our world.
In Ukraine, Russia is stirring its bellicose pot, riots have broken out in China, natural disasters have taken the lives of hundreds, and senseless shootings and stabbings are taking place in the United States.
No one, not even our opining talking heads of the news industry nor any of our illustrious politicians, know why America is so fraught with strife.
Is it guns, sharp instruments, or something else? Is it Hollywood’s penchant for violence, lack of morals in the home, the undermining of religion or the air we breathe? Pick one! Pick em’ all. You cannot lose.
But I have a solution, and it is this: Freeze-dry everyone under the age of 35. Wake them up at the age of 80.
By then, all the animosity, hatred, bias and intolerance will have burnt itself out.
At that age, the only thing left is pickle ball and Thanksgiving Day dinner.
Seize the day and give thanks for being older.
Allen R. Remaley
Saratoga Springs
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Does this sound familiar? The fall of the Roman Empire looks a lot like America today with our failed leadership. From the History Channel,
2. Economic troubles and overreliance on slave labor
Even as Rome was under attack from outside forces, it was also crumbling from within thanks to a severe financial crisis. Constant wars and overspending had significantly lightened imperial coffers, and oppressive taxation and inflation had widened the gap between rich and poor. In the hope of avoiding the taxman, many members of the wealthy classes had even fled to the countryside and set up independent fiefdoms. At the same time, the empire was rocked by a labor deficit. Rome’s economy depended on slaves to till its fields and work as craftsmen, and its military might had traditionally provided a fresh influx of conquered peoples to put to work. But when expansion ground to a halt in the second century, Rome’s supply of slaves and other war treasures began to dry up. A further blow came in the fifth century, when the Vandals claimed North Africa and began disrupting the empire’s trade by prowling the Mediterranean as pirates. With its economy faltering and its commercial and agricultural production in decline, the Empire began to lose its grip on Europe.
Seriously, you’re only embarrassing yourself.
We all know you want the world to believe you when you say the libs are killing the country, yet you won’t look inward toward your own party’s problems and leadership (ahem…Arizona? Kari Lake?) and ask why you’re losing more and more.
And we all know you want everyone to go to church on Sundays and let the children worship in our schools, because you want everyone to believe your god is the only god.
None of which is going to come true which brings us back to you’re only embarrassing yourself. At least you gave a credit for your cut ‘n paste, although a search on any sentence in that clip returns 20+ sources for the exact same words.
How about some original thought?
Neil Yetwin you are spot on but fortunately the jury got it correct they sent a message in their verdicts yesterday most likely sending little Stewie Rhodes and his Co conspirators to jail for a good long time one thing I thing we can assume like Caesar these upstanding losers will flip on their leaders funny the loud mouth let’s go brandy is strangely silent on the topic this morning must not have been appropriate fodder for his usual ramblings . fortunately America really is not ancient Rome.
Who believes it was a surprise all they had to say was that the OK support Trump and the liberal craphole call DC would convict them.
Billy the swine are already dumping on Damsel Donnie it’s inevitable that one of them rolls on their leader
Oath Keepers, Rhodes and Meggs found GUILTY of seditious conspiracy with all 5 charged for Obstruction of Official Proceeding. This is a very rare charge and difficult to win, the last successful one being around 27 years ago.
The DOJ have been working for years prosecuting the bottom feeders and working their way up the conspiratorial chain. Guess who is at the top?
God bless the USA! We are working our way back to sanity, to the rule of law, and to justice.
If America fails it will likely be the result of domestic undermining of our constitutional democracy. If a smarter Trump comes along and succeeds in controlling the electoral process through intimidation, violence, ultimately vesting power to select executive leaders in gerry-mandered state legislatures, America will become an oligarchy and ordinary people will find their lives increasingly difficult. We will become exactly like Putin’s Russia.
Or Arizona where all of a sudden machines stopped working. Poll workers said thousands of votes were not registering. According to their own numbers they are missing 197,000 votes. How can you certify that election. Is that what you are talking about when you say controlling the election process?
At about a quarter of the county’s 223 voting locations, vote-counting machines were unable to read some of the ballots that are printed on-demand for voters, county officials said. Technicians traveled around the county Tuesday changing the printer settings. In the meantime, election officials advised voters to either wait for tabulators to come back online, go to another voting location or to drop ballots in secure slots so they could be counted at the end of the day or in the coming days at the county’s tabulation center in downtown Phoenix, said Megan Gilbertson, spokesperson for the county’s election department.
County officials stressed that no one was being prevented from voting and that no one’s ballot had been mishandled. They have said for weeks that ballot counting could take as many as 12 days.
Washington Post
Maricopa County said it had isolated the problem: printers were not making dark enough markings on the ballots, and that it was not a software problem.
The New York Times
The problem was that ballots were not lining up properly inside the machines and were not being read, Richer said, adding that despite the problems all votes would be counted. Richer called the malfunctions “disappointing” and correctly predicted that election deniers such as Trump would “exploit” the issue.
Reuters
Maybe they can send in the Cyber Ninjas to investigate the election again Bill. That turned out great for Trump LMFAO
While we finally have a number of gop speaking out against 45s dinner with Ye and Fuentes, the feckless McCarthy falsely claimed that 45 denounced the white supremacists.
45 used his worn out excuse that ¨he didn´t know Fuentes¨ just like he didn´t know David Duke and others. As if the Secret Service doesn´t know and inform him. Pathetic!
Anthony–that ¨smarter¨ 45 might be DeSantis.
I agree, he is a very likely candidate for the perversion of all aspects of American culture, society, and government.
Perversion is there anything like drag queen story? Time for five year olds?
Perhaps a mental cleansing is in order. I can recommend a gastroenterologist that is proficient at giving colonoscopies.
I’m going to go out on a limb and say your doctor can’t be too good as you are on hear daily talking crap!!
“a number of gop speaking out against 45s dinner with Ye and Fuentes”
Yeah, the political Republican trump rats are all line up to jump ship, but the hypocrites, won’t go all in. One who literally nauseates me is Mitch McConnell, the king of Republican weasels. “anyone who meets with antisemites or white supremacists is highly unlikely to ever be elected president of the United States.”
“When asked Tuesday whether he would support Trump in 2024 if he wins the Republican nomination, McConnell — who has previously stated he would “absolutely” support Trump if he’s the 2024 GOP presidential nominee — reiterated his remarks.
“Let me just say again, there is simply no room in the Republican Party for antisemitism or white supremacy,” McConnell said.
The weasel won’t call out Trump by name, and has a great knack for skewing and tiptoeing around all issues depending on how it suits his deranged agenda.
Louis, I agree. Pence was choking on his words, but he did say 45 was wrong. Other gop did, too–finally–because they know 45 is a LOSER and want him gone.
I find it disgusting that the gop leaders, McConnell and McCarthy, called out the sin but not the sinner. That shows me that they allowed 45 to box them in a corner–and they deserve to be in this very uncomfortable situation. How pathetic that they are afraid of 45 and alienating his base. A great leader is not to be feared, but respected, which 45 could never command.
I´m loving watching McCarthy squirm. lie and debase himself to be speaker of the House–a position he definitely does not deserve.
They have actually begun to look nervous, shaky, and sweaty, especially McCarthy, McConnell, and Graham. Graham even looks disheveled and poorly groomed. They know they did wrong but don’t know how to redeem themselves. It is so easy. All they need do is say we were wrong in supporting Trump and his movement and that his true agenda following dinner with Fuentes and Ye has been revealed. It is the most patriotic thing they could do right now. Whether or not it will save their political lives can’t be predicted. Their lives in politics are doomed anyway as the Trump train gains momentum in its trip to its catastrophic destiny, a clash with public awareness and the DOJ .
I’m not sure Pence is human. – He has no animation or emotion. A complete monotone in voice and expression. Although I will say it looked as though he was holding back a hot water bottle enema when commenting on Ye and Fuentes.
Doesn’t it seem obvious that Homeland Security should prioritize the deportation of illegal immigrants who are “egregious threats to public safety” (today’s GD, Supreme Court wrestles, p.A-7)? There are 11 m. illegal immigrants in the United States, the vast majority leading quiet lives and contributing to the economy. DHS is not funded adequately to pursue all of these immigrants. And yet the state of Texas is suing the federal government over this prioritization.
We should set up a system to review these cases and allow law-abiding productive immigrants to remain in the U.S. and pursue a path to citizenship. This should especially apply to immigrant children and their families who know no other country.
At the same time, we should use foreign aid to help poverty stricken Central and South American countries build their economies and establish/maintain democratic governments with emphasis on civil rights.
Romans 12:13: “Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. … When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them.”
Hell Tony, When “God’s people” are in need of help to promote White supremacy, racism, and bigotry, there are plenty around that are “ready to help them”… The MAGA Patriots.
It was 11 million 10 years ago another 3 million this year we have to be close to 25,000,000 by now
Romans 12:13: “Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. … When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them.”
The sky is blue, water is wet. Some things just are.
Not unlike Stewart Rhodes, Donald Trump is guilty of “conspiring to oppose by force the lawful transition of presidential power.” (Seditious conspiracy.)
How many million people are witness to his words that prove his guilt?
“We won this election and we want it by a landslide”….. “We will stop the steal”….
“We will never give up. We will never concede. It doesn’t happen”…. “If you don’t fight like hell you’re not going to have a country anymore.”… We are going to the capital.” Not to mention all the other inciting comments by orange evil in the months prior to the election.
Remember these words were spoken by the President of the United States, calling his MAGA minded easily manipulated morons to war.
A man from Kentucky told the FBI that he and his cousin began marching toward the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 because “President Trump said to do so.” Chanting “Stop the steal,” the two men tramped through the building and snapped a photo of themselves with their middle fingers raised, according to court documents….. “We were invited here! We were invited by the President of the United States!” Another said.
Perhaps I should apologize (but I won’t) because this kind of reminds me of the old western joke where someone assumes guilt and shouldn’t; Let’s hang him now!…No, let’s give him a fair trial, and then hang him!”- But in Trumps case, because of irrefutable obvious crime, the joke most certainly would play out.
He lost the election and, undoubtedly, illegally tried to flip the results. Period!
If by some miracle for him, he slimes away from being convinced of this crime, the law should throw the book at him for the scores of other crimes he’s committed, from treason, to tax evasion, to rape and everything in between.
Now ask me how I really feel about the…I can’t use the word man.
Lou, I think our deep frustration is largely due to the fact, as you so clearly point out in your post, that Trump’s criminally dangerous behavior is obvious. Yet a significant cohort of America supports him because they are white supremacists, they favor his ineffective “trickle down” laissez-faire economics, and/or they actually believe autocratic government is good.
I would like to make another comment about F—J–B—-n’s post (yesterday) concerning the results of standardized tests in our public schools. Most students are not interested in high school level academic subjects. I’ve long believed students through grade nine should receive a sound education in civics, how our government works and the individual’s role in it, the fundamentals of economics, history, literature, art, and music, and obviously, basic reading, writing and arithmetic skills.
Beginning at the tenth grade level qualified students could continue to pursue an academically oriented curriculum in the physical and social sciences. These people would be the ones interested enough in these subjects to pursue their studies at the college and post-graduate level. Students not so inclined should be allowed to take part in an education aimed toward a specific type of work, i.e. vocational or career studies. We are in need of everything from excellent carpenters, plumbers, heating and air conditioning workers to experts in computer programming etc. The math and science they are taught should be related directly to the careers they wish to work in. I would add a course on current events, meeting two days a week throughout high school, for all students, so that their importance as informed citizens would always be emphasized.
We need to invest in our educational infrastructure, make our public school campuses, buildings and classrooms attractive and well-equipped. We also need to give age-appropriate students more time for themselves. School should never start earlier than 9 a.m. or end later than 3 p.m. When not in class, students should be free to leave the building and enjoy outside activities on campus or nearby.
Teachers should report for work at 8 a.m. and remain until 4 p.m. to provide extra help for students in need, hold meetings, develop curriculum, and discuss various approaches to education, trying to develop and share the most effective approaches to achieving their goals. They could do the same when not in class during the school day with appropriate breaks for lunch and socialization among themselves.
All sounds good Tony, but additionally, when referencing education, recognize teachers, under no circumstances should talk about or make reference to the LGBQT community, with the one exception of denouncing it.
“God” forbid a child with homosexual or gender identity thoughts should assume, or expect to be accepted as an equally significant human being. This lesson should be implanted into their minds when they are very young so they know of their lesser significant existence early on.
Long, live White supremacy, hatred and bigotry! MAGA!
Lou, I am glad you brought that up. I think the current events classes ought to welcome speakers, including gay people, transsexuals, drag queens, and Black and Native American activists when the topic is the value of tolerance and the need to understand the essential qualities that make us human; we need to recognize that it is the haters, the white supremacists, the bigots who divide us against each other and inhibit real communication. They are the enemies of a decent society, culture and country.
I would not allow haters like Fuentes, Ye, or Trump in my classroom any more than I would invite Adolf Hitler to speak to my students. We hear enough hatred in the wider society. The classroom needs to be a venue for showing the error and danger of bigotry and hatred not a forum for its spread. Any parent, even those expressing MAGA views on this site would be allowed in the classroom as long as a representative of the group they despise was there to counter their bigotry. If they wanted to argue against extending voting rights and making it easier to vote than someone should be there to representing the opposite point of view. If they want discussions of the difficulties faced by gays and transsexuals in our society to be banned from the classroom, the people they hate should be present to counter their arguments. The students will then be able to decide which side makes sense and values justice, compassion and inclusion.
It would be an interesting classroom lesson to have anti-immigrant parents actually confront dreamers and illegal immigrants working and living peacefully in America and explain to them why DHS should be devoting the same energy to expelling them as they do to finding and prosecuting actual criminal immigrants, as Texas insists they should. Many of these immigrants are doing critical work in America and they should be allowed to express their desire for a legal path to citizenship. Of course, the angry anti-immigrant parents would have the opportunity to respond. The students would be encouraged to ask questions and make comments. The teacher could participate but would act mainly as a moderator.
Illegal is illegal no matter what they are doing. Come through the door legally.
If every single illegal immigrant was expelled from the US tomorrow, our economy as we know it would likely crash almost overnight with their departure. Like it or not, these people are doing jobs that US citizens are apparently too lazy or deem too unimportant to do. There are contractors all around our area that simply can’t find labor to work on houses, so they are getting workers, mainly from South & Central America, to frame, roof, pour concrete, blacktop, lay patio stone, etc. I talk to these owners all the time that tell me these guys will work 18-hour days without complaint in all kinds of weather and rack up serious overtime taking home really decent pay. Why aren’t I seeing local high school and college age kids out there learning a trade and making some good money? I busted my butt doing kitchen and bath remodeling during my college semester breaks after being in the Army, so I could pay my own way through. It was one of the best things I ever did to learn these skills so I can do this work myself on my own home instead of having to hire a contractor for everything. I’ll go out on a limb and believe that many of these guys I’ve seen around here are here on work visas, but I’m certain there are illegals around in many places simply because these contractors can’t get anyone to do this hard work. I can understand why owners are taking the risk and hiring illegals because they simply can’t get help anywhere else. So, when I hear people bitching about how many illegals are coming in, I’ll reply asking how come US citizens aren’t doing these jobs so readily available right now so there is less demand for an ‘illegal’ to come in and do this labor? I don’t see these illegals begging on the street corner, they’re usually too busy working somewhere and likely being exploited. These illegals aren’t taking your white collar professional job either, they are doing the work so many lucky enough to be born here wouldn’t do anyway.
Thanks Bill, for a reasoned account of the role “illegals” (what an ugly word) play in our economy. It comes with extra weight from a man with your experiences.
Wemple the reason you are not seeing High School kids taking trades is that it is not pushed in school. Schools need to change because everyone is not college material.
Since you have been on here this is the only thing I agree on Santo, maybe because I have said the same thing here dozens of times.
Mr. Bill 🤡 Don’t worry your little head off Americans aren’t Romans . The American people took care of the tyrant Trump in 2020. Day by day true Americans are waking up and realizing what Trump is.
President Joe Biden has saved our country. True Americans took away Trump’s bow before he could play his fiddle and watch our country burn. …Also I’m still waiting for your research on broken window glass and which way it falls when hit with a hammer.
The liberal, athiest, rock worshipper propaganda is strong today. You have to hate election deniers, dont you? Minority leader of the house is obsessed with election result denial.
“With legitimacy of Trump’s presidential election in doubt, his lifetime appt to Supreme Court can wait”
Hakeem Jeffries Mar. 2017.
“The more we learn about 2016 election the more ILLEGITIMATE it becomes. America needs to know if we have a FAKE president in the oval office.”
Hakeem Jeffries Feb. 2018
“LIE (more than any administration in the history of the republic). CHEAT (2016 election / Russian interference). STEAL (one or two Supreme Court seats). When will republicans put country ahead of party.
Hakeem Jeffries Sept. 2018
“Is the North Carolina congressional seat the only one stolen by rogue Republican operatives? We need a comprehensive criminal investigation to figure that out”
Hakeem Jeffries Dec. 2018.
Maybe he saw this as suspicious, just many on both sides did…
~~~~~~~~~
Trump was directly asked at one point whether he believed the U.S. intelligence agencies, which concluded Russia carried out the hacking of Democratic servers to help Trump, or Putin, who has said it did not. Trump acknowledged that his own intelligence chiefs “think it’s Russia.”
“I have President Putin, he just said it’s not Russia,” Trump went on. “I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be. But I really do want to see the server.
Was that in Mueller’s purview?
No idea what you mean by that.
But as an alleged soldier I would think the Commander-in-Chief deferring to our biggest adversary over our own military intelligence would be cause for concern.
I knew the cowardly lion would appear. Thanks little man.
The Commander-in-Chief believes our chief enemy over his own intelligence community. Not a problem?
Try to stay focused and not regress into a juvenile. Serious question.
He shoudve listened to Rachel Maddow or Jake Tapper. They wouldve given him the real truth. Maybe they wouldve played the pee tape for him.
Steven Flynn
November 30th, 2022
Do u even know what you’re talking about? You’re all over the place between Donnie, free speech, Elon, Stewie Rhodes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
’nuff said.
I’m suddenly seeing a lot of common sense, centrist, anti mass immigration, anti-war, anti-globalist voices on Twitter. I guess that’s why the EU, the Left and the USA government have been so desperate to keep the platform censored.
In reference to the Will Smith story on page C4 of todays DG:
“That was a horrific night, as you can imagine. There’s many nuances and complexities to it, but at the end of the day, I just lost it.”…
“You just don’t know what’s going on with people. I was going through something that night. Not that justifies my behavior at all”…
“We just gotta be nice to each other man. It’s hard,”… “It was a lot of things,… “It was a little boy that watched his father beat up his mother, you know all of that just bubbled up at the moment….”It was a mess. You know, I don’t want to go too far into it to give people more to misunderstand.”…
Sounds to me like he’s making excuses for behavior that was inexcusable, and the more he talks the deeper he digs his hole.
I would be more inclined to have a bit of sympathy if he said something to the tune of….
“There’s absolutely no excuse, I was wrong, and l very humbly and profusely apologize to Chris rock and the world for my deplorable actions that night.”
End of story
I wont pay one penny to ever watch Will Smith in anything. He’s a bully piece of crap that picks someone much smaller than him to humiliate on national TV. To bad he didnt slap Michael Jai White.
Yeah, that would have been fun to watch.
Its amazing that the EU wont ban TikTok, a literal spyware app, but they’ll ban Twitter because Twitter believes in free speech. Its insane.
Maybe damsel donnie -(i love this nick name) will eventually crack and waddle back to that bastion of free speech- twitter and bail out the unstable Elon but
im betting only after he gets a cut of the cash some how. Lets pretend its to insure free speech on a lighter note Boy did Stewie Rhodes get Trumped!
Do u even know what you’re talking about? You’re all over the place between Donnie, free speech, Elon, Stewie Rhodes.
I know exactly what you’re saying and totally agree. If Trump is allowed back on Musk’s twitter he will want a kick back on some of the advertising he will generate because narcissism and greed are his chief and controlling character flaws.
And of course, it is not a noble effort to ensure free speech. NPR explained why Trump was permanently banned from Twitter:
“Twitter has permanently suspended President Trump’s account over a pattern of behavior that violated company rules.
The action was the most sweeping punishment any major social media company has ever taken against Trump, who has used his Twitter account to announce White House policy, attack rivals and widely disseminate misinformation.
For years, Twitter has been under pressure from critics to limit the reach of Trump’s falsehood-laced tweets. Calls for Trump to be banned from Twitter have also been long mounting.”
Twitter is a private platform and the original owners had every right and justification for banning Trump, a pathological liar who spreads dangerous falsehoods.
Free speech has legitimate limits. Using it to falsely defame and hurt someone you perceive as an enemy is libelous. Using free speech irresponsibly such as to threaten the life, or physical well-being of innocent, albeit naive listeners, is immoral, dangerous, wrong, and possibly illegal
“Trump’s falsehood-laced tweets.” Falsehoods, misinformation, disinformation, bah humbug and bull s#*t. I say they’re f#@*ing lies.
Youre terrified. He was your president for 4 years and he hurt u inside. He put the fear of the colliding rocks in you.
Are you attempting to win an award for the most meaningless post ever? And you have the nerve to question Bob Gareat’s post?
it takes some people 2 or three passes to understand simple things. here you go Stevie try again.Maybe damsel donnie -(i love this nick name) will eventually crack and waddle back to that bastion of free speech- twitter and bail out the unstable Elon but
im betting only after he gets a cut of the cash some how. Lets pretend its to insure free speech on a lighter note -Boy did Stewie Rhodes get Trumped!
I did, yes.
So you did try to win an award for the most meaningless post ever. I think you accomplished your goal.
bob gareat, thanks for your post. It was short, quick to the point and made sense on more than one issue. Keep it up bob!!
Remember Damsel Donnie pledged his wuv for the seditious Jan 6th non- patriots. Im betting one of them has evidence linking the plot directly to the White House. Shall we start a pool on who flips first ?
Biden is the laughing stock of the world, they got him there figuring after voting in the 25th ammenment you would be able to remove him and replace him with the first female POTUS then you saw that Kamala was in worse shape than Biden and she didn’t even have dementia. Now they are stuck with two vegetables.
I’ve yet to see a giant diaper wearing balloon of Biden floating over London yet. Did see one of Trump multiple times though.
Does anyone ever notice that the Forever Trumpers always try to stick Biden with something that was actually what happened to Trump. Take when he was boasting in front of the UN and the crowd laughed at his boasting. ..I would call getting laughed In the United Nations assembly literally makes a laughing stock of world. Mr. Bill 🤡
“Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt.”
I’m truly ok with stupid because that’s not a choice when born. But no matter how stupid one is, when ignorant of fact, most certainty shutting up is a viable option.
Some people are a special breed…too stupid to recognize how stupid they actually are.
Lou thank you for recognizing your lack of intelligence and understanding of the real world. It’s funny that you say it’s better to be silent and thought a fool when all I hear is the three blind mice showing us their lack of anything near cognizant thoughts.
Come on Bill, get your insults straight, it’s stooges, not mice and there’s more than three of us. Uummmm,Yunt, yunt, yunt.
Three blind mice. Three blind mice.
See how they run. See how they run.
They all ran after the farmer’s wife,
Who cut off their tails with a carving knife,
Did you ever see such a sight in your life,
As three blind mice?
Your nursery school teacher would be proud of you! Good job Billy! – Is toddler Donnie in your class as well?
Trumpty dumpty, built some wall, expecting problems then to fall
when if they don’t, or if they do, i’ll just tell heaps more lies to you …
if you’re so dumb that you can’t see, my prime concern is me me me
then everybody sees me shine, cos in my world it’s all sublime ….
Europe does a way better job policing social media companies. No talk just hit them in the wallet.
Irish watchdog fines Meta $277MSocial media giant violated privacy rules An investigation was opened after news reports that data on more than 533million users was found dumped online.Along with the fine, the commission said it also imposed on Meta an unspecified ‘range of corrective measures.’ It’s the latest in a series of punishments the Irish watchdog has levied against Meta over the past two years.The company, based in Menlo Park, California, has its European headquarters in Dublin, which makes the Irish authority its lead privacy regulator under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, in a system known as ‘one-stop shop.’The Irish watchdog fined Meta-owned Instagram about $420million in September after it found that the platform mishandled teenagers’ personal information. Meta was fined about $17.6million in March for its handling of a dozen data breach notifications.Last year, the watchdog fined Meta’s chat service WhatsApp about $233million for violating rules on sharing people’s data with other Meta companies.
Florida, If you are saying that we need a watchdog to prevent social media sites from spreading malicious and dangerous lies, I agree. As soon as the evil moron, Alex Jones, began to grub for advertisers and buyers by promoting the vicious lie that the 26 deaths in Sandy Hook were a staged event by actors, he should have been shut down and fined. The parents of those children, already suffering from the vicious slaughter of their loved ones, had to get messages from demented followers of Alex Jones, saying they would piss on their children’s graves, and dig them up to prove there was no corpse.
I don’t care if a man is president of the United States, if he spreads lies, claiming that a real pandemic is no danger to improve his chance of re-election, he should be arrested for endangering people’s lives for his own selfish interests.
If anyone disagrees, step up to the plate and tell us why.
I’ve thought for a while now that what’s needed is a classification system of users.
If you’re my ne’er-do-well cousin who has 3 followers (only one of which is human), you have the lowest classification and are therefore pretty much free to spew whatever keeps you up at night, provided it meets the forum’s minimum standards of decency. You’re not likely to have much influence.
But as you gain popularity and followers (or retweeters or whatever) you also move up in your classification and start to be held to higher standards. It would acknowledge your increasing influence and bestow on you a higher responsibility, and a higher level of oversight.
Well ChuckD,I guess all the MAGA people agree with us on this one.
That’s great Florida, let’s put that liberal dirtbag that runs Facebook out of business.
A top European Union official warned Twitter owner Elon Musk on Wednesday that the social media platform must take significant steps to comply with EU content moderation laws, and that European officials will be monitoring closely for compliance.
Twitter has “huge work ahead” to meet its obligations under the Digital Services Act, Europe’s new platform regulation, said Thierry Breton, the EU’s digital chief, in a readout of his meeting with Musk.
“Twitter will have to implement transparent user policies, significantly reinforce content moderation and protect freedom of speech, tackle disinformation with resolve, and limit targeted advertising,” Breton said in a statement. “All of this requires sufficient AI and human resources, both in volumes and skills. I look forward to progress in all these areas and we will come to assess Twitter’s readiness on site.”
Easy to understand rules for the platforms. Our country our rules, don’t like them say goodbye.
Elon is used to running his very successful companies with employees who have him sign their checks. Not so with these folks. My way or the hi way is not something he hears much I’m sure.
Follow Sarasota County School district if you want to see how it works when the MAGA’s come to town. Mike Flynn is a member of the executive committee of the county Republican Party in addition to the MAGA”s on the school board. Fortunately we live in different county and have no school age kids. With the Buc’s also having a bad year the morning paper is always welcome for the previous days reporting.
Does anyone ever notice that the Forever Trumpers always try to stick Biden with something that was actually what happened to Trump. Take when he was boasting in front of the UN and the crowd laughed at his boasting. ..I would call getting laughed In the United Nations assembly literally makes a laughing stock of world. Mr. Bill 🤡
One last example, for tonight, of how extensive the Republican attempt to illegally overturn the 2020 presidential election was and how high into the Republican hierarchy it reached. I wonder if this will give MAGA’s cause to wonder about the man, the party, the corruption they are supporting:
CNN reports: (11/30)
“A state judge singled out Georgia Republican Party chairman David Shafer, one of the fake electors for Donald Trump, for the unique role he played in efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in the Peach State as part of a ruling on Wednesday.
Judge Robert McBurney, who is overseeing the special purpose grand jury investigation into 2020 election interference in Fulton County Superior Court, ruled that two attorneys for 11 of the so-called “alternate electors” in Georgia can’t represent all of them. McBurney cited Shafer’s central role as an organizer in efforts to overturn the election results.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, a Democrat, has already informed the entire group of 16 Republicans who served as pro-Trump electors – even though Trump lost the state in 2020 – that they are targets of her probe. The new ruling puts a spotlight on Shafer’s role in particular.”
Balenciaga’s pedo world fashion line. Antifa post anti-protest against a rally to protect children from pedophile like Balenciaga’s abuse of children. Antifa in Ft. Lauderdale is tying the LGBQT community to pedophiles. Their call to arms was do not let them erase us. The deeper you dig you will find out how deep this goes. Kamala Harris stepdaughter is a model for this company. Where is the the donkey clowns outrage for this. I guess since there are not clergy members involved yet it is a non issue.
LGB the three blind mice will never talk about their leaders because if that were to happen the spell might wear off.
I suppose you see this as your great “own the libs” moment, don’t you?
Why act like you won something for the first time in your life?
Whatever you tried to communicate sounds awful. That better?
Now about those Boy Scouts…any comment? At all?