Friends, today we learned that Facebook's "suspension" of Donald Trump will last at least until January 2023. Coincidentally, therefore, the President will be silenced until AFTER the all-important 2022 mid-term elections. Imagine that. Basically, Facebook has clarified that, if your posts endanger "public safety" (in their infinite wisdom), then they reserve the right to suspend you for however long they please. Thank heavens they put that all down in black and white, right? All ambiguity has been removed, and 100% fairness and impartiality will prevail going forward. Uh huh.
https://www.newsmax.com/politics/facebook-trump-suspend/2021/06/04/id/1023939/
Michael Barone is among those who find Facebook's "editorial" policy laughable...and extremely dangerous to American democracy. Note that leftists are always pushing for more social media censorship, too. They know which side their bread is buttered on, clearly.
It's easy to propose ending Facebook's Section 230 protections, but as Barone discusses that would probably mean that Facebook would become more selective and circumspect about the content it allows on its platforms, and in essence lawyers and judges would get to decide the parameters of acceptable speech. Would we be better off? I'm not sure we would. The only cure for what ails Facebook might be...new ownership/management!
As this article discusses, there are growing cleavages on the Left re: whether or not to negotiate with Republicans over infrastructure spending. Progressives want to ignore the GOP and pass a massive spending bill using reconcilation, while Biden and Democratic moderates want to keep trying to find a compromise that at least 10 Republican Senators can live with. And this is just the beginning of tactical disagreements between Dem radicals and centrists. Expect a lot more disappointments, frustrations, and acrimony to build up over the next few years. That's what happens when you "win" elections, after all. You have to govern, and governing is hard.
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/06/03/infrastructure-liberals-progressives-gop-biden-491845
As Pat Buchanan points out, Biden and the Democrats need to humor the GOP for one reason only: without Senators Manchin and Sinema on board for ending the filibuster, legislatively the Dems can't accomplish anything of importance without Republican support. That raises the question: when will progressive anger at Manchin and Sinema boil over? When will an Antifa mob show up on their respective front porches? You know it's coming... Also, as Pat points out, Kamala Harris has been given a key role in pushing the Dems' "voting rights" bill in Congress. Assuming Manchin and Sinema stand fast, Harris will fail utterly. Will she too become a target for progressive rage?
There is some good news for the lefties: for one thing, their favorite punching bag, Donald J. Trump, is about to resume his roadshow, which means he'll be getting a lot more attention in the media. That should improve CNN and MSNBC's dismal ratings, and it may also serve to unite and excite the liberal base, which is already experiencing some fluctuations in the fervency of its Bidenism. As always, the less the Dems even think about Biden, the better it is for the party and the movement. Despising Trump, on the other hand, is one thing that progressives have no problem agreeing on.
Here's an interesting wrinkle to the "American Rescue Plan". Remember how it threw $350 billion at (mismanaged) cities and states? Well, it turns out that the funding formula was crafted to work to the advantage of the bluest jurisdictions. It's a good thing, too, from their narrow perspective, because a lot of blue states and super-progressive cities were nearing bankruptcy, due to fanatical lockdowns and collapsing revenues. Biden and a Schumer-led Senate bought these blue areas some time...but how much??? One assumes the federal spending spree won't last forever, although it's already lasted since the 1960s, so who knows.
https://fee.org/articles/biden-s-stimulus-bill-favored-blue-states-in-one-huge-way-new-study-finds/
Dr. Nick
ReplyDeleteAs you know, Facebook is based out in the Silicon Valley area. Surprise! Surprise! Of course it was originally founded at Harvard, and initially restricted to students there before it took off and became public. Anyway, you already knew that. Sorry to be boring.
You know, personally I have never used Facebook or Twitter. I like to Email friends, and better yet talk to them on the phone. Yes, I do texting from time to time, as necessary. Otherwise, I stay away from these social networking and media sites, completely.
The original intent of Facebook and Twitter may have been to get together with existing friends, and make new friends and all that, but it has of course become controlling in the extreme. Frankly, I always suspected that after Facebook and Twitter became so popular and lucrative, that it could and would be used to "spy" on people. Obviously, once you join you are announcing that "Hi, this is me, I'm here, and you can "spy" on me, and I will provide you with all sorts of things to satisfy the "spy" side of your network".
No offense to you or those who do Twitter or Facebook, but as for me and my house, we decline. In any event, there are other ways the social media mafia can "spy" on me, such as Email for starters, and who doesn't have to have a computer and email to survive. That's enough for me. Even Netflix is telling me what I am supposed to like. Ha!
Of course any social media can go far right-wing or far left-wing. So if one viper doesn't bite you, another one will.
ReplyDeleteSo my advice is: If anyone thinks Facebook or Twitter is "dangerous," than cancel your account subscription, period! Is anyone so damned addicted to these social medias that they can't live without them? I don't think so. Think about it. Although, I'm sure that all too many people are addicted.
ReplyDeleteMy doctor told me 25 years ago that if I did not stop smoking that I would probably be dead in at least five (5) years or permanently on oxygen. So I stopped, COLD TURKEY, and I was totally addicted to those little white sticks of tobacco. But I quit, and I' very much alive, and long recovered from being enthralled to those first of the day nicotine hits with that cup of coffee.
People spend hour and hours on Facebook and Twitter and forget everything. Is Trump really silenced? I doubt it. He is very much in the limelight through a variety of news blogs completely independent of Facebook and Twitter. One of those blog is "WADDY IS RIGHT", so screw Facebook and Twitter.
Dr.Waddy from Jack: I see no reason to doubt or compromise this fundamental principle: the American left, including its governmental vehicle, the Dem party, is as always devoted to fundamentally transforming America into a totalitarian dictatorship free of all insolent and noisome opposition to its self evidently irrefutable wisdom and justice.
ReplyDeleteDr.Waddy from Jack: " Whatever means necessary, whatever at all", is ever their clarion call!
ReplyDeleteRay, if it isn't Facebook trying to manipulate you, it will be, as you point out, Netflix, or ABC, or Tower Records, or Simon & Schuster. As long as we draw breath, a**holes will be trying to boss us around. Again, welcome to the human race. :)
ReplyDeleteThe miracle, in my view, is not how much control these media and social media companies have -- it's how little. We humans are irrepressible, or at least very hard to repress.
Kudos on quitting smoking. I actually feel for smokers, although I've never smoked myself. The nanny state has been trying to stifle smokers for decades now. Little did we know that that was just a warmup act for much more thoroughgoing efforts at thought (and body) control...
Jack, yes: "whatever means necessary". Suppressing free expression is one of the most piercing arrows in their quiver, of course.
Dr. Waddy from Jack: President Trump is the lightning rod for the for the left's withering contempt for the real America. Its us, including him ,they are determined to disenfranchise and suppress unto non citizenship.Its actions toward him fairly predict what we would all experience directly, should the left prevail.
ReplyDeleteDarn right, Jack! The FB dragnet will ensnare us all, sooner or later. I'm a little surprised that it hasn't done so already.
ReplyDelete