August 7, 2018

"(1) This is absolutely the first stage in a coordinated plan to deplatform everyone on the right. It’s not really about Alex Jones at all."

"(2) Aside from its free-speech* implications, which are serious indeed, this also looks like an antitrust violation: Media companies, which compete with Jones for eyeballs, colluded to get other media companies to shut him down. Were I Jones, I’d file an antitrust suit. This is more than arguably conspiracy in restraint of trade (and possibly a conspiracy to deprive him of civil rights). (3) This is proof that we need to break up these big tech companies, which exercise way too much power via their near-monopolies. That they coordinate in the abuse of those monopolies only makes it clearer."

Writes Glenn Reynolds. Here's the footnote, which deals with something I've written about on this blog a lot over the years:
* Note that I say “free speech” and not “First Amendment.” The First Amendment only limits government, but “free speech” is — or at least until very recently was — a broader social value in favor of not shutting people up just because we don’t like their ideas or politics. As for the “private companies can do what they want,” well, that’s not the law, or the custom, and hasn’t been for a long time. It’s especially not true where the companies have, as these companies have, affirmatively represented to users and shareholders that they don’t discriminate based on viewpoints.
Here's a post from last March where I collected a lot of my older posts about free speech values extending beyond the rights we hold against government.

Glenn writes "Were I Jones, I’d file an antitrust suit." Is Jones working on that? He said (via MacDailyNews):
I’ve had a lot of top lawyers call me today and say, “Alex, we need to sue Apple. We need to sue all these groups that clearly are involved in cut and dry antitrust activities, working with other companies to delist you and block you from the marketplace of ideas, so, then when they demonize you, you don’t have a way to respond to them and they can destroy you and then, with that model, move on against everybody else.”

643 comments:

«Oldest   ‹Older   201 – 400 of 643   Newer›   Newest»
The Crack Emcee said...

exiledonmainstreet said...

"Paltrow, with her steamed vag and overpriced trash, is on the right (read: left) side of the political aisle so she's safe."

Which is why the Right should be demanding g she now be pulled down. This is an OPPORTUNITY for Republicans and they want to waste it for a sleaze like Jones?

It boggles the mind. It's like Hitler stopping before Dunkirk. It's madness.

Jupiter said...

From a legal point of view, I agree that the technocrooks should be able to display, or not display, whatever they like. But I also think if they claim to choose what they will display for reasons of community safety, then they should lose their immunity to liability for whatever they do display. If they are telling us that they will not display "harmful" things, then they are providing a positive recommendation for whatever they choose to display.

Drago said...

"America has shitty schools whites couldn't be bothered to care about.."

When can we finally rid ourselves of all those conservative school boards and conservative school administrators and conservative teachers in all those urban areas that have destroyed the inner city schools?

Drago said...

CE: "Which is why the Right should be demanding g she now be pulled down. This is an OPPORTUNITY for Republicans and they want to waste it for a sleaze like Jones?"

Free Speech principles exist precisely to protect the speech of those least desirable, as any educated person could tell you.

Free Speech principles were not enshrined in the Constitution to protect solely speech everyone agrees with.

Duh.

FullMoon said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

buwaya said..."What you really have here in the US is a caste war between white and white, where some whites run everything, run all major institutions, and want to keep other whites suppressed. Everyone else is along for this ride. Or, at worst, serve as ammunition."

This is a great insight. To white leftists, blacks, Hispanics and gays are not people, only weapons used to beat other white people over the head. And what do you do with weapons once you've used them? Put them out of sight until the next time you need them.

Anonymous said...

Birkel @5:40:

Thanks, Birk.

The Crack Emcee said...

Drago said...

"When can we finally rid ourselves of all those conservative school boards and conservative school administrators and conservative teachers in all those urban areas that have destroyed the inner city schools?"

When I was a kid, whites ran everything, and we didn't have any grass at school - until blacks took over - so stop lying about yourselves: you can suck, too. And did, way before anybody else in America.

This verification system is a pain.

n.n said...

First, they deemed babies unworthy, a burden, and denied their viability. Then, they deemed every competing interest unworthy, deplorable, and denied their voice. Leftward swings are a progressive path from Jew Privilege to White Privilege to Asian Privilege.

Alphabet became vulnerable when people adopted Google as ubiquitous lexicon for "search", as they did Internet Explorer for browser, and Kleenex for tissue before them. That said, Net Neutrality was always about enforcing politically congruent policy and subsidy without consent of high-bandwidth corporate interests.

So, Obama spied on Americans, Clinton colluded with foreign agents, the DNC denied democracy, and Google, CNN, WaPo, etc. conspired to influence the vote through misinformation, disinformation, and manipulation.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

I don't believe that they should censor anyone....except in the case of people making LITERAL threats against other, child porn, animal torture etc. Instances where people and animals are being harmed on purpose or threatened to be harmed.

Merely having a different point of view or even being a verified crackpot is not grounds to be removed from the "supposedly" free speech platform.

I would like the ability (maybe it already exists) to be able to tell my browser to block certain people, web sites and for some content. That would not really be censorship since it would be MY individual choice.

Pretty sure that everyone else has scroll wheels on their magical mouse. That we can preview where the links are going to land, unless they are phished. Even so....I don't mind reading and seeing things that I disagree with, things I think are stupid, theories which are crazy or even ideas which make me angry.

How else are you to know what the other sides are thinking or planning. I'm easily amused and not very easily offended.

And.....I also don't know who this Jones person is. I could try to look him up...IF he hasn't been erased or censored already.

:-D

Jupiter said...

Blogger The Crack Emcee said...

"This is an OPPORTUNITY for Republicans and they want to waste it for a sleaze like Jones?"

Crack, there are a number of prudential reasons for supporting freedom of speech. But they all boil down to the fact that while we may not like seeing certain ideas expressed, we are unwilling to grant the power to suppress speech to anyone who would be at all inclined to exercise it. Remember, all power, once granted, is sooner or later used for purposes wholly alien to the one for which it was granted.

n.n said...

Diversity has left a progressive mark. Color judgments are, once again, fashionable, and even normal.

The Crack Emcee said...

Drago said...

"Free Speech principles exist precisely to protect the speech of those least desirable, as any educated person could tell you."

Alex Jones isn't a free speech issue - he lies. I don't dislike what he says - he tells patently false untruths.

He doesn't deserve the airwaves and he's already abused the privilege. Screw him.

Drago said...

CE: "When I was a kid, whites ran everything, and we didn't have any grass at school - until blacks took over - so stop lying about yourselves:"

It's a well established fact that whites hate grass. Hate it.

The only thing worse than grass in our opinion is bougainvillea, obviously.

Drago said...

CE: "He doesn't deserve the airwaves and he's already abused the privilege. Screw him."

"deserve"

"privilege"

Francisco D said...

"That's the "we can't know anything" argument of the NewAge. It's followed by "Don't Judge" so no is punished for deceiving and hurting others.:

Crack,

You completely missed my point which was that there are no objective arbiters of truth. Once you start shutting people down because they lie, you start shutting down most conversation. It is up to the audience to be informed, logical and attentive when it comes to dealing with dishonest actors.

It is not your job nor anyone else's job to determine for me who is a liar and must be shut down. Freedom of speech gives me the opportunity to listen and make up my own mind.

Birkel said...

A-D,AB

No problem. I gave you the key words to start a search in Lexis.
If you want a primer, of sorts, to the Courts’ pull back on antitrust, look at what happened between Microsoft and Real Networks in the antitrust suit against Microsoft’s technical impediments to RealPlayer. Billion dollar lawsuit and lots of facts on Real Networks’s side... and they lost.

The judges were out of their technological element and punted the questions, IMHO.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Paltrow, with her steamed vag...

Paltrow steams her veggies?

Steamed veggies aren't so bad. Give her a break.

The Crack Emcee said...

Jupiter said...

"Crack,...while we may not like seeing certain ideas expressed,..."

Is that the fancy way to say "LYING"? Do you guys hide behind those kinds of words? He lies. 100%.

There is NO reason to protect that man. He he a scourge on society.

Drago said...

Still waiting on those links Crack.

Look, just admit it, you were riffing and you haven't actually seen a single person arguing what you claim they were.

It's okay.

You can admit it.

Jupiter said...

I am a little surprised by all the people who don't know who Alex Jones is. Drudge links him at least three times a week. Where do you people get your news? Fucking FaceBook?

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

CE, have you ever seen Tommy Sotomeyer vids on YouTube? He seems to blame everything wrong in the black inner city on black women? He's pretty damn harsh - whether fairly or not, I am not in a position to say.

bagoh20 said...

Sometimes bullies pick on assholes, then the damned bully forces me to defend an asshole, and Jones is an asshole, but bullies are also assholes by definition, and these bullies are huge assholes. I don't like Jones at all, but his power is miniscule and doesn't worry me. The huge assholes abusing his rights have immense power, and who is next after the precedent is established. People like Jones are necessarily always the first victims - softening us up for our own abuse.

Drago said...

PPPT: "Paltrow steams her veggies?"

No. Not "veggies" dummy. Vegans.

Paltrow steams her Vegans.

They get very clean but they tend to be very cranky as well.

Francisco D said...

@Crack,

Inga is annoyingly stupid. Chuck is a blatant liar and Ritmo is a manic doper typing away in his mom's basement.

Nonetheless, I would never entertain the notion of taking away their right to speak. I would defend to the death their right to speak AND my right to listen or ignore as I choose.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

Ritmo, behold G. Paltrow, MD:

http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/gwyneth-paltrow-women-steam-vaginas-article-1.2096571

Drago said...

Jupiter: "Drudge links him at least three times a week. Where do you people get your news? "

Sorry. I was admonished by the left never to get my news from Drudge.

Now I'm being admonished to check out Drudge?

Well, harrumph.

The Crack Emcee said...

Francisco D said...

"You completely missed my point which was that there are no objective arbiters of truth."

Then how the hell did we get to the moon? Guessing? No, we KNEW a few things - because they were TRUE.

I hate what the NewAge has done to the American mind.

FullMoon said...

"When I was a kid, whites ran everything, and we didn't have any grass at school - until blacks took over -

Figures, gateway drug,,,late sixties, early seventies, right?

Drago said...

CE: "Then how the hell did we get to the moon?"

Lots and lots of trial and error.

And lots of white people.

Thus, space travel is racist.

Jupiter said...

The Crack Emcee said...

"Is that the fancy way to say "LYING"? Do you guys hide behind those kinds of words? He lies. 100%.

There is NO reason to protect that man. He he a scourge on society."

The liars who are easily detected are not the ones who are dangerous. I am not concerned about Alex Jones, I am concerned about the lying bastards who say they are going to prevent me from hearing him for my own good. Think of Alex as the canary in the coal mine.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Come on guys. This Trump Revolution isn't over.

There's still more of all those elite taxes of his he's not paying that we can still cut even further.

We do it for him. He is the only American who counts.

Our entire country exists solely for his own benefit. We just pay rent in it. And cheer him on.

Drago said...

Space travel has to be racist.

You think all those white spacesuits were made that way BY ACCIDENT?

FullMoon said...

Then how the hell did we get to the moon?

man, some people believe anything!

Drago said...

PPPT: "Come on guys. This Trump Revolution isn't over."

Indeed.

Like Bob's Big Boy and their great burger values, it's really just the beginning.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“I am a little surprised by all the people who don't know who Alex Jones is. Drudge links him at least three times a week. Where do you people get your news? Fucking FaceBook?”

They’ve been lying and we knew it.

Drago said...

"man, some people believe anything!"

Indeed.

Everyone knows the moon landing was faked in an AZ warehouse and then they killed OJ while letting Barbara Streisand's husband live!

If that isn't racism, straight up, what is?

The Crack Emcee said...

exiledonmainstreet said...

"CE, have you ever seen Tommy Sotomeyer vids on YouTube?"

No, but he sounds crazy.

Drago said...

"Still waiting on those links Crack."

Still ignoring you, Drago.

Francisco D said...

Inga is annoyingly stupid. Chuck is a blatant liar and Ritmo is a manic doper typing away in his mom's basement…I would never entertain the notion of taking away their right to speak.”

I didn’t say Alex Jones was stupid. I said he was a liar. See the difference? If you can’t, we’ve got a bigger problem than I thought.

bagoh20 said...

There are far more lies put out by the media which are then seen and accepted by far more people than anything Jones did or will ever do. Jones is not the problem. His lies are exposed and countered by others at a thousand to one, but what about media lies. Those big fish swim round and round like a great white, unthreatened - sometimes challenged but rarely scared away from the prey.

FullMoon said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
buwaya said...

I'm an engineer.

"Then how the hell did we get to the moon? "

By arguing with nature (including technology), which plays fair.

Human beings don't. When you argue with them, you have other problems, of credibility. Even when arguing about science.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

"We do it for him. He is the only American who counts."

Those people who now have jobs thanks to the Trump economy might disagree with you.

But they are only deplorables - they don't count. Plus, now that they are working, they have money to buy gas and pay their utilities bill, so they will run their AC, thus causing even more San Franciscans to shit in the street, and it's all Trump's fault, damn him!

Inga...Allie Oop said...

Crack, have you ever read the book “Running with Scissors”? Francisco D is the insane shrink character. I’d take anything he has to say with this in mind.

Drago said...

CE: "Still ignoring you, Drago."

We get it.

You were BS'ing.

Again.

Credibility Overload...

The Crack Emcee said...

Jupiter said...

"I am not concerned about Alex Jones,"

Yeah, you never had your marriage ruined because your spouse believed the liars on TV. I hate that so many dismiss the harm these people do.

A society of fucking nonsense enablers.

mccullough said...

From a strategy standpoint, Crack is right. Use the de-platforming of Jones to go after all the other hucksters you don’t like. No sense defending Jones. Guy is not only a fraudster but a kook. Let him sell those vitamins door to door. If Jones wants to pay a lawyer to file an anti-trust suit, then my advice is for those lawyers to get a large cash retainer up front. The guy will absolutely stiff his lawyers. Don’t get suckered into some.Go Fund Me bullshit for this guy. That money will go straight into his pocket.

Drago said...

No Sod, No Peace!

Jupiter said...

Inga said...

"They’ve been lying and we knew it."

You and me, Igna. We were onto them all along. You dumb little cluck.

Drago said...

Mccullough: "Don’t get suckered into some.Go Fund Me bullshit for this guy."

"Go Fund Me"?

Who is calling for that?

We are arguing a principle here.

bagoh20 said...

I know who Jones is because he's famous for being a conspiracy theorist and liar. I never spent more than a few minutes listening to him, and that's all it took to verify the label. I think the vast majority of people have the same exposure to him. He nullifies himself, which is another reason why his right to free speech is important to the truth.

Drago said...

bagoh20: "I know who Jones is because he's famous for being a conspiracy theorist and liar. I never spent more than a few minutes listening to him..."

That's where everyone is on this.

But the usual suspects need a brand new shiny "Worst Thing That Ever Happened" because its been 48 hours since the last one and they need a fix.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

No Jupiter, I was on to the lies, you just now are asking how the hell they never heard of Alex Jones before. You’re too late, you should’ve called them on their bullshit sooner, like I do every damn day.

Drago said...

Inga; "No Jupiter, I was on to the lies,...."

LOL

Ah but the strawberries! That's where she had us!

Inga...Allie Oop said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
buwaya said...

An example of data-enhanced lies - the unemployment rate.

This was touted as a wonderful thing during the Obama administration, and just as much by defenders of Trump. None of them bothered much about the denominator, the labor force.

Obama's defenders were more absurd, given the underlying numbers, but neither were or are living up to Feynman's "bending over backwards" standard of truthful communication.

Cargo Cult Science

Engineers have a faster feedback loop as to truth, because, generally, they are the first to know when the system doesn't work. Scientists are usually slower to know that they've been fooled or are fooling themselves.

Vance said...

For the record, the top Democrat leader extolling and praising MS-13 that Ritmo doesn't know about is Nancy Pelosi, the Democrat leader and former Speaker of the House, and right now one of the top Democrats in the country, besides Chuck Schumer. Now, Ritmo can try to argue that Nancy Pelosi does not represent the Democrat party, but I suspect even he knows that one won't fly.

As for the "It's just Alex Jones, who's a hate monger! Why are anyone defending him?" It's not just Alex Jones. Bill Whittle's site has been pretty much removed too; and I've never heard anyone say he wasn't a good guy. The Democrat Mayor of New York is out there demanding that Fox News be shut down now too.

I'm sure Inga, Ritmo and the rest will defend that as well, all while excusing the fact that the Facebook group that daily rants and raves and was the direct inspiration for James Hodkinson, who was a member of that Facebook group. I know that Ritmo and Inga have forgotten Hodkinson, who tried to murder dozens of Republican congressmen, and whom Inga took an entire year to decide that that was wrong, and as far as I know Ritmo has never said was a bad thing. Incidentally, Inga, another one of your leftists buddies was arrested for trying to bomb Steve Scalese and murder his children. I'm pretty sure he has a Facebook page and a youtube site still.

Please tell us, Inga: If it is right to ban Alex Jones, then why is James Hodgkinson's Facebook group still there, still promoting assassination of Republicans? Is that hate speech too? Or do you condone it, just like you condoned Hodgkinson's murder attempts for 11 months? Ritmo, do you also support Hamas calling for the extermination of the Jews--everywhere? And for all your blathering about Ben Shapiro, it is your side, your people, your friends in Antifa that tried to burn down a building he was in and murder hundreds of people. You cheered that one, as I recall. Violence from the left has always, but always, been one of your favorite things you celebrate. You cheered when Althouse and Meade were assaulted by your friends on the left during the Wisconsin protests. So don't talk to us about "hate speech" when you fully support and promote it.

Jon Ericson said...

Try to take this down.

https://qanon.pub/

Q !A6yxsPKia. No.121 ��
Aug 6 2018 18:31:41 (EST)
Psychological Projection.
Define Conspiracy.
1. a secret plan by a group to do something unlawful or harmful.
"a conspiracy to destroy the government"
2. the action of plotting or conspiring.
"they were cleared of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice"
[Fake News]
Fake News collaborating and pushing knowingly false information?
Fake News ‘KNOWINGLY FALSE’ narrative pushes.
1. POTUS colluded w/ Russia to win the 2016 Presidential election
2. POTUS is puppet to PUTIN
3. POTUS to irreparably harm relationships w/ our allies
4. POTUS will collapse U.S. economy
5. POTUS will collapse stock market
6. POTUS will cause war w/ NK
7. POTUS will cause war w/ IRAN
8. POTUS will destroy the world.
9. On and on……..(knowingly false)
FEAR & SCARE PUSH.
They would rather see NK peace negotiations fail (WAR!) than see POTUS resolve.
Scandalous Media Bias?
Conspiracy?
Collaboration?
What are they hiding?
FAKE NEWS MEDIA IS NOT FREE AND INDEPENDENT.
FAKE NEWS MEDIA = PROPAGANDA ARM OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY.
Think WL list of journalists who colluded w/ HRC/DNC (2016 Pres election).
They want you DIVIDED.
DIVIDED by RACE.
DIVIDED by RELIGION.
DIVIDED by CULTURE.
DIVIDED by CLASS.
DIVIDED by POLITICAL AFFILIATION.
DIVIDED YOU ARE WEAK.
TOGETHER YOU ARE STRONG.
YOU, THE PEOPLE, HAVE THE POWER.
This movement challenges their ‘forced’ narrative.
This movement challenges people to not simply trust what is being reported.
Research for yourself.
Think for yourself.
Trust yourself.
This movement is not about one person or a group of people.
WE, THE PEOPLE.
You are witnessing a FULL PANIC ATTACK by the FAKE NEWS MEDIA & COVERT ALT MEDIA AFFILIATES (foreign gov’t).
They cannot contain or defeat what they do not understand.
Is any of this normal?
Think sealed indictments count.
Think resignations of CEOs.
Think resignations of Senators.
Think resignations of Congress.
Think termination of sr FBI…
Think termination of sr DOJ…
WATERGATE X1000
Attacks will only intensify.
Logical thinking.
Ask yourself a simple question – WHY????
Q

Drago said...

Nice try Inga, but CE was unable to provide the links to what he claimed...

Spoiler: because it was an easy lie he thought would slip through

buwaya said...

Patreon, Go Fund Me, etc. are also platforms that are being shut down.

The Crack Emcee said...

mccullough said...

"From a strategy standpoint, Crack is right. Use the de-platforming of Jones to go after all the other hucksters you don’t like."

This one issue could wipe out, like, half of the Democrat's support. Boot Ellen off TV - take out a whole swath of Late Night comics, too.

Like I said, it's Politics 101.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

"He nullifies himself, which is another reason why his right to free speech is important to the truth."

Exactly. I remember hearing he was a 9/11 Truther, which was enough for me to dismiss him. Just because Inga slavishly swallows every left-wing lie fed to her doesn't mean those of us on the right do the same with Alex Jones. Jesus, the left thinks people automatically buy every piece of propaganda they are exposed to - Russian ads on FB!! Alex Jones! That's because they do.

Jupiter said...

The Crack Emcee said...

"Yeah, you never had your marriage ruined because your spouse believed the liars on TV. I hate that so many dismiss the harm these people do."

Well, that is true, although I would like to think the stability of my marriage rests upon something more than my failure to purchase cable. But the point you are missing is this one; you might be OK with having TV, print media, and the internet censored. But would you be OK with letting ME do the censoring? "Let's just leave it up to that fascist honkie Jupiter, I am assured that he is knowledgeable and wise, and he has all of our best interests in view." Does that sound like a program you could get behind?

Rabel said...

Damn. I think I just burned up my scroll wheel.

The Crack Emcee said...

Jupiter said...

"would you be OK with letting ME do the censoring?"

Not as long as you're so unethical you can see the difference between the truth and a lie, or the damage the latter causes.

I don't see that as the problem here. They got the right guy.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
FullMoon said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

If people believed everything the media told them or everything on the Internet, Hillary would be president. She spent a ton of money on ads and had most of the media's lips collectively glued to her fat behind.

People saw though that crap. Well, not liberals. We're talking about people with sense.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Those people who now have jobs thanks to the Trump economy might disagree with you.

Right. The fewer people employed in coal than in Arby's are really worth the devastation of all these fires and heatstrokes. Those 10,000 or so proud people are surely driving all the same economic growth now that had never relented all the way through Obama's administrations. Their black lungs and out-of-date technology will be our salvation. Just make sure we keep subsidizing the utility companies that are forced to buy their unprofitable energy resource. I guess this is why you fascists are so fond of forcing information technology companies to sell Jones' unpalatable product. Will you force the government to subsidize the costs of covering that rat-faced fuck's many inevitable lawsuits on their behalf, too? Will he finally close the Chobani yogurt factory by pretending he saw tuberculosis in their creamy cups? Surely this snake oil salesman has a few more ideas up his sleeve...

mccullough said...

China and India are the two largest countries and consume shitloads of coal. No reason not to export it to them.

Jupiter said...

Blogger buwaya said...

"Engineers have a faster feedback loop as to truth, because, generally, they are the first to know when the system doesn't work."

Engineers are capable of discerning which side of the bread has the butter on it, same as everybody else. Most of the half-educated witlings at FaceBook and Google call themselves "engineers". Engineers of men's souls, I suppose.

FullMoon said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
buwaya said...

"This one issue could wipe out, like, half of the Democrat's support."

Never happen. Its not a question of truth. This is war.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

Full Moon, Crack is a Republican, but he seems to speak for himself, for that he gets my respect. Crack does what he wants, if you haven’t noticed.

Michael K said...

I'm, a Republican, Michael K. Looks like the schools weren't kind to you, either.

Sorry. You could have fooled me.

You turn away allies and expect me to believe you are a Republican ?

I'm Full of Soup said...

If we abide this viewpoint scrutiny and obliteration by the broadcast controllers, we are destined to regret it.

Drago said...

Inga: "Full Moon, Crack is a Republican, but he seems to speak for himself, for that he gets my respect. Crack does what he wants, if you haven’t noticed."

Did you tell him that voting for Trump made him a racist nazi treasonous traitor in your book?

I realize you probably have Identity Politics barriers there...

LOL

The Crack Emcee said...

Hey, Drago, check it out.

FARRAKHAN

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Sorry. You could have fooled me.

You turn away allies and expect me to believe you are a Republican ?


Maybe he wants an ally who's not as DUMB and DESTRUCTIVE as you are, you senile old elitist turd.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

" US Unemployment Rate is at 4.10%, compared to 4.10% last month and 4.80% last year. This is lower than the long term average of 6.16%."

It's hell, hell, living in Trump's America, I tell you! I'm seeing miners coughing up a lung on every corner! Some of them are even holding two jobs, I tell you!

We're in the Dark Ages!


Anonymous said...

Rabel: Damn. I think I just burned up my scroll wheel.

I find collapsing the comments and then clicking on the ones that aren't Ritmo, Inga, or CE to be most the most pleasant and efficient method. (Killfile doesn't kill on the comment-page format I prefer, only on the "archived" one.)

The Crack Emcee said...

Michael K said...

"You turn away allies and expect me to believe you are a Republican ?"

You guys don't make it welcoming. My independence always brings out the worst in conservative white guys. They believe their own bullshit too much to make it easy.

So, yeah.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“You turn away allies and expect me to believe you are a Republican ?“

With allies like Michael K, who needs enemies?

rhhardin said...

Market competition does not work in this case so it's monopolistic restraint of trade.

Regulate them as common carriers.

The reason market competition doesn't work is Zipf's law -- all the traffic goes to the site where all the other traffic goes. The winner takes all the trade, not because of excellence in the winner's business model but because of chance and Zipf's law.

Somebody wins, everybody else loses. That's guaranteed for this market.

Michael K said...

you should’ve called them on their bullshit sooner, like I do every damn day.

Hilarious. The bedpan commando is out there fighting for truth and the American way, as long as it is her way.

You and failed college student Ritmo make a great team.

A team of what I decline to answer.

Francisco D said...

"Then how the hell did we get to the moon? Guessing? No, we KNEW a few things - because they were TRUE. I hate what the NewAge has done to the American mind."

We DISCOVERED what was true after a lot of trial and error. Even then, we did not know things for sure until we tried them.

That is the history of scientific discovery. Read Thomas Kuhn"s "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions."

It is also important to note that a lot of things we thought to be true turned out to be false. That is why we question.

BTW, I have an old fashioned mind trained as a social scientist in logical empiricism. I am by no means a postmodernist.

Drago said...

Nice try Crack, but you just went Full Inga with a link that negates your earlier point (which I am sure you knew)


Your earlier claim: people were arguing it was ok to ban Farrakhan but not Jones.

Your link: people are arguing that banning Jones means Farrakhan should also be banned.

A weak, Inga-like attempt.

I have much higher expectations for you.

Michael K said...


Blogger Inga said...
“You turn away allies and expect me to believe you are a Republican ?“

With allies like Michael K, who needs enemies?


The bedpan commando never ceases to amuse.

You poor fool.

Gahrie said...

What's the evidence of concerted action?

Whether or not the three companies colluded might be an issue, but the fact they took concerted action is an established fact. They all did the same thing at the same time...that's what concerted action means. But yeah...it might have just been a coincidence...wink wink nudge nudge say no more.....

The Crack Emcee said...

Francisco D said...

"We DISCOVERED what was true after a lot of trial and error."

You said there was no truth before. See? The NewAge screws you up.

Gahrie said...

OMG when he did he come back??

Francisco D said...

"A team of what I decline to answer.

I will go with court jesters.

Sometimes they are amusing in their stupidity. Sometimes it is best to ignore them because adults are having a conversation.

The Crack Emcee said...

Drago said...

"Nice try Crack, but you just went Full Inga with a link that negates your earlier point"

I wasn't trying to make a point - I'm not you, trying to grow my dick in one-upmanship.

It was just fun to write FARRAKHAN.

Birkel said...

The one day I offer substance and this bull shit happens?

I'm Full of Soup said...

Libruls are scared of the truth- they prefer their talking points stay sacrosanct. Free speech, especially on the einternet, is a big threat to their beliefs.

Michael K said...

People like Jones are necessarily always the first victims - softening us up for our own abuse.

Canary in the coal mine, even if it is a bad smelling canary.

The angry left defend censorship of those they don't like just like it could never happen to them.

But they know no history and were born yesterday.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“You poor fool.”

You senile elitist fool.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“I wasn't trying to make a point - I'm not you, trying to grow my dick in one-upmanship.”

Ahhhhh! This is why we need Crack to hang around.

LOL

Michael K said...

It was just fun to write FARRAKHAN.

And it was just fun for those brothers to shoot 64 people, all black. in Chicago last weekend.

And you think this is fun?

The Crack Emcee said...

OK - I just made my first crude statement ("trying to grow my dick in one-upmanship") so I'm outta here. That's my rule.

Laterz.

mccullough said...

It’s not self-evident that these platforms are common carriers and there’s a market problem. What are the barriers to entry in starting up other platforms that compete with Facebook and You Tube? These server farms aren’t exactly nuclear reactors.

Francisco D said...

"You said there was no truth before. See? The NewAge screws you up.

I think you are just playing with me Crack, so I will make one more comment and cease to argue.

There is always truth. When and whether we discover it is the challenge of civilized people.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

It's hell, hell, living in Trump's America, I tell you! I'm seeing miners coughing up a lung on every corner! Some of them are even holding two jobs, I tell you!

We're in the Dark Ages!


Which other energy industries leave 4% of the workforce annually unable to breathe properly permanently - usually by the time they're in their forties? Or have a government fund because of the need to pay for it?

Which other energy industries were resisted by being forced to pay for them by the utilities, with the government resorting to a half-baked "national security" argument to keep an obsolete resource from being displaced by a newer one?

https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/a21052534/energy-department-proposes-forcing-utilities-to-buy-coal-power/

You're still the same feudalistic serfs of the Dark Ages, you just prefer to stay stuck in the 1890s and 1920s instead of the current year.

Michael K said...


“You poor fool.”

You senile elitist fool.


Thank you for acknowledging your inferiority.

I had suspected it from your comments but it is nice to get it from the horses's mouth, so to speak.

mccullough said...

Conscious parallelism isn’t concerted action. Looks like a her mentality, which isn’t a conspiracy and won’t get past the pleading stage unless Roberts, Thomas, and Alito change their mind. Anyone who wants Jones to bring an anti-trust case and get past the pleading stage better hope Gorsuch and Kavanaugh vote to overturn the Twombly case from a decade ago.

This case is an antitrust loser and no lawyer would take it without getting paid up front.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

"The angry left defend censorship of those they don't like just like it could never happen to them."

Just like assholes like Inga applauded when Harry Reid got rid of the filibuster so judges could not be blocked by a minority vote. How did that work out for you, you fools?

John henry said...

I think I have listened to the Alex Jones show once, when he interviewed someone I wanted to hear. I didn't hear anything outrageous from either Alex or the interviewee. Didn't care much for Jone's persona and detested the number of commercials. So, other than that one interview and hearing the occasional soundbyte from him elsewhere, I don't know what he says or does.

Our resident fascists here talk about how offensive and harmful his speech is but don't seem to have any examples? What is he saying that is so bad? Examples?

Was there a particular incident that triggered this multi-ban? Or did the CEO's just wake up one morning and decide to ban him?

If there was something in particular, what was it? None of the stories seem to say.

I find this whole thing very troubling. Sounds like war to me. Do the fascist really want war? Do they think they can win it? Not guns and violence war, though the fascists in Portland and elsewhere seem to be trying to work up to that and have gotten to the violence stage. Guns next?

I'm thinking more a war of ideas and philosophies. Most people prefer to stay out of it but when pushed, what side do you think they will be on?

John Henry

fight.

On the other hand,

Birkel said...

Wage growth higher today, even with all the new entries coming back into the labor pool...

Higher than Obama achieved. Ever!

FullMoon said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Thank you for acknowledging your inferiority.

I had suspected it from your comments but it is nice to get it from the horses's mouth, so to speak.


Jesus, K. What happened to you? Did the sponge bath nurse ram a cold stethoscope into your puckered, wrinkled old asshole this morning?

You really are a nasty piece of garbage, man.

Birkel said...

mccullough:

You are approaching this from a horizontal perspective. But this would be a vertical case.

I think you should re-evaluate.

mccullough said...

Again, China and India consume a lot of coal. Isn’t not an antiquated resource to them. Solar and wind can’t meet the world’s energy needs, which is why Merkel buys oil and gas from Putin. The Russians love Americans who believe only in solar and wind. Useful idiots to Putin. Obama was Putin’s pet. He let the Mullahs play with him, too. Quit talking for bullshit. Alex Jones isn’t the only moron peddling bullshit

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

Inga: "Full Moon, Crack is a Republican, but he seems to speak for himself, for that he gets my respect. Crack does what he wants, if you haven’t noticed."

Just wait until he defends something Trump does and attacks Dems. Look at what Inga calls Althouse when she offends the Leftist Hive Mind.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

Michael K,
I suspected you were always an elitist asshole, from your comments I was right. You have no clue that you are not superior to anyone, you only wish you were, or else it wouldn’t be a running theme with you, you pathetic worm. You must have a serious inferiority complex to feel the need to call others inferior so often. I hope your children haven’t followed your example.

FullMoon said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
rcocean said...

Thank God Crack is back.

No one talks about Racism anymore.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

Birkel said...
Wage growth higher today, even with all the new entries coming back into the labor pool..."

But working is serfdom, haven't you heard?

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“You really are a nasty piece of garbage, man.”

Indeed.

The Crack Emcee said...

I'll leave you with this:

Just like the Left is handing the Right a sword to destroy them with this Alex Jones move - and the Right doesn't realize it - they may lose the midterms without deploying my song against the Democrats, and Andrew Brietbart's admonitions (that "politics follows culture") will only ring in the ears of those who couldn't get past Republican gatekeepers who could never see what he imagined.

http://thecrackemcee.tk

Drago said...

CE: "I wasn't trying to make a point - I'm not you, trying to grow my dick in one-upmanship."

Full retreat is never pretty.

You made a claim.

I asked for some proof of your claim.

You then provided a link which disproved your claim.


You know what, you ARE a good match with Inga.

LOL

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

Bagoh is the thread winner with this:

Sometimes bullies pick on assholes, then the damned bully forces me to defend an asshole, and Jones is an asshole, but bullies are also assholes by definition, and these bullies are huge assholes. I don't like Jones at all, but his power is miniscule and doesn't worry me. The huge assholes abusing his rights have immense power, and who is next after the precedent is established. People like Jones are necessarily always the first victims - softening us up for our own abuse.

buwaya said...

"You said there was no truth before. See? The NewAge screws you up."

Nature's truths are complicated. We need to approach its problems with humility.
It becomes apparent if you need to create a mechanism or system. You can take it from paper to prototype with the certainty that there will be something inadequate about it - your concept of the problem and its solution is certainly not entirely "true". Then you must test and solve, test and solve, in order to get to a "truth" that is adequate for your purpose.

In metrology you need to understand that your instruments are never going to be perfect, merely good enough, even if there is nothing wrong with them.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

"You really are a nasty piece of garbage, man."

Ritmo calling anybody else garbage is like Ted Bundy offering a critique on the evils of date rape.

mccullough said...

What’s the vertical? Facebook doesn’t own You Tube or Apple. And they aren’t exclusive distributors They all have various social media platform and are competitors in a sense. Certainly Facebook and You Tube compete on some services. So that would be a horizontal conspiracy.

Glenn Reynolds hasnt practiced law in 30 years and only practiced for a few years. This case is a total loser.

buwaya said...

"Was there a particular incident that triggered this multi-ban?"

I was wondering about that too.

Drago said...

"Was there a particular incident that triggered this multi-ban?"

Yes.

An upcoming election and the dems do not have full control of the IRS to abuse their opponents nor the FBI/CIA/NSA to spy on them.

Plus, Trump's team was effective in using social media so that has to stop.

Plus plus, republicans use social media to talk to each other, so that has to stop.

This is not complicated.

Birkel said...

mccullough,
You didn’t bother to consider who would bring the case.
You mentioned only the defendants.

Jon Ericson said...

Has brainwashing by the far-left gone too far?

Those with a leftist ideology support one another and eliminate people with different ideas until their voice and influence disappear.

--Mamdouh AlMuhaini

Mamdouh AlMuhaini is the Editor-in-Chief of Al Arabiya News Channel’s digital platforms.
He can be followed on Twitter @malmhuain

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“Look at what Inga calls Althouse when she offends the Leftist Hive Mind.”

Look at what the Althouse commentariat called Althouse when she called Sarah Palin “dumb” a few weeks back. It started with a C and ended with a T.

Drago said...

The good news is that LLR Chuck's pal Rosie O'Donnell is back out there and remember, there was no bigger 9-11 Truther than Rosie.

She also does not believe fire can melt steel.

#LeftyLogic

John henry said...

Someone pointed out how upset conservatives and liberals would be if the govt started interfering in the marketplace. They thought we would want them to interfere here too to force Google et al to carry Jones.

Not me, I think they have a perfect legal and moral right to set their terms of service.

I think they even have a moral right to band together to collectively ban anyone for any reason be it political views, racial views or whatever.

I think Ford and GM have a moral right to collectively set prices, market shares and so on.

I believe in free markets of goods and ideas. You will find no support from me for intervention.

On the other hand, Ford, Google, GM, Porntube, Twitter et al to not have a legal right to collude like they seem to have.

They seem to have violated the Sherman Anti-Trust Act and should be investigated and prosecuted (if applicable) for that.

Jones may also have some civil anti-trust and breach of contract torts that he can sue under as well. If he does and starts a defense fund, I pledge $50.

I know it doesn't amount to much but:

I cancelled my 2 Twitter accounts today.
I downloaded the infowar app to my phone and tablet
I signed up for the newsletter.

I'll probably never read the newsletter or open the app but it's the least I can do.

John Henry

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

Drago said:

"An upcoming election and the dems do not have full control of the IRS to abuse their opponents nor the FBI/CIA/NSA to spy on them.

Plus, Trump's team was effective in using social media so that has to stop.

Plus plus, republicans use social media to talk to each other, so that has to stop.

This is not complicated."

This. This is ALL it is about. Inga the book burner can piously quote Niemoller all she wants but we see through her.

It's about the power to control the narrative. The leftists have lost it and they want to get it back.

FullMoon said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

I'll leave the expertise on psychopaths and bad dates to you, exiled.

mccullough said...

Jones would spend your money on cars and other personal stuff, not on lawyers. Don’t send him any money. He is a con man. And he has no legal case.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

" Althouse commentariat"

ALL of them, Inga? Or just one person? Because there is no being called "the " Althouse commentariat" - there are only individuals. And you like to lie about them, just like you lied in this thread about the " Althouse commentariat" being followers of Alex Jones.

What did YOU say about Althouse?

Drago said...

PPPT: "I'll leave the expertise on psychopaths and bad dates to you, exiled."

Where's your sense of adventure?!

Inga...Allie Oop said...

Maybe Exiled would’ve turned out differently had she not made so many bad decisions in her youth.

Drago said...

mccullough: "Jones would spend your money on cars and other personal stuff, not on lawyers."

Why do you insist upon arguing against something which no one is arguing for?

Birkel said...

A) common carrier, or
2) safe harbor shrinkage

mccullough is wrong that there is no case.
Group boycotts are illegal.
Somebody help him find the law.

Drago said...

exiled: "Because there is no being called "the " Althouse commentariat" - there are only individuals."

Egads!

You said "individuals"!!

There is no word more likely to force a lefty to whip out the garlic and wooden stakes than that one!

Drago said...

Birkel: "Somebody help him find the law."

We won't find the law until LLR Chuck shows up after perusing Media Matters, Daily Kos and the Center for American Progress websites.

Nonapod said...

If we're gonna deplatform people just for lying I'm pretty sure there would be practically nobody left on social media. Or for spouting wacky conspiracy theories. This whole thing strikes me as a test to gauge the publics response to a coordinated deplatforming.

Until the other day, Alex Jones was a cartoonish fringe character who was little threat to anyone. Honestly not a lot of people paid much attention to him outside his core audience and people mining his content for funny meme materiel. Now a group of silicon plutocrats have turned him into an unlikely martyr. It'd be funny if it wasn't sort of scary.

Francisco D said...

"Maybe Exiled would’ve turned out differently had she not made so many bad decisions in her youth."

When you've got nothing to offer, there is always the irrelevant ad hominem attack.

Inga is just pissing in the punchbowl folks. She has gone beyond boring because her next original thought will be her first.

Vance said...

Don't you just love Ritmo's logic? "4% of coal miners get black lung! Terrible!" So his solution: Make 100% of them unemployed, starving and homeless because they lost their jobs and now have been thrown out of their houses. Beggars, on the street, or on government dole, with no hope of ever, ever being self sufficient or providing for their families because when Ritmo shuts down coal, he destroys all the economy and jobs for miles around.

But hey, beggering people and destroying their lives to make a political point is the hallmark of Ritmo and the left's "compassion." Just like their compassion for black people has destroyed that culture and lead directly to the misery and death of millions of black people, all of which Ritmo cheers. Inga, too: "Tis better far to punish everyone so we can say we did something that may help a few people! You may thank us now for your lost jobs, homes, families, and self respect! You wouldn't have lost all of that without us on the left! Vote for us or else!"

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“Althouse commentariat"

The Trumpist hive mind still loves them some Sarah Palin and woe be unto Althouse or anyone who calls Sarah dumb for falling prey to Sasha Baron Cohen, lol.

Rabel said...

There was an implication, if not a promise, that there would be hot, nasty buffalo sex on Nat Geo's "Live at Yellowstone" tonight.

All the cool people will be tuned in.

Birkel said...

Did anybody learn what per se violations by horizontal competitors against their vertical market participants means?

Send a message to mccullough if any of you figure that out.
He needs help.

Michael K said...

Somebody should remind Inga/Ritmo that the Battle of Athens was 72 years ago this week.

On August 11, 1946, the five GIs elected to office in McMinn announced that they would return to the county all fees in excess of five thousand dollars. Elsewhere in Tennessee, E. H. Crump and his machine were finally on the way out, with the election of Gov. Gordon Browning and a young United States senator, Estes Kefauver.

Useful to remember when the lefties are feeling important.

Michael K said...


"You really are a nasty piece of garbage, man."

Ritmo calling anybody else garbage is like Ted Bundy offering a critique on the evils of date rape.


Thanks for the laugh. Heading for 400. I estimate the lefties are about 200 at this stage.

John henry said...

I suspect that all this banning will do is drive up Jone's numbers and piss off a lot of people who never cared about Jones but do care about the war they see coming for them.

Piss them off enough and they'll come out and vote against Google, Twitter et all in November.

There are plenty of ways for Trumpists to fight back. Gab www.gab.ai is very similar to Twitter and is pledged to no censorship. Tusk is also similar to Twitter and designed to be hard to censor since it does not run on a central server.

MySpace is still around www.myspace.com for those people crazy enough to like Facebook it might be an alternative. They should position themselves as the freespeech platform.

I think OggVorbis is also similar and is open source so could be another free speech replacement. (Someone else may know more. I know next to nothing about it)

I've never understood why people use GMail or other "free" mail services. The annual cost of hosting your own mail is pretty trivial. Do you want to be a customer (of Network Solutions or the like) or a product(of Google et al)? I've been running mail lists since the early 90s, it's pretty trivial to duplicate SquirrelMail. SquirrelMail seems like a good product but as big as I imagine Jone's list (and operation) is, I was surprised he doesn't handle it himself.

Bing is every bit as good as Google for search. I've been using DuckDuck Go for search for 2-3 years now (before that I used Privatlee) and find it almost as good.

If they piss President Trump off, they might find that he takes all his followers over to Gab or some other service.

Or maybe bans Twitter and FB on all govt computers. And makes Bing the only search engine. He could do that by executive order.

I suspect that he could seriously hurt Twitter simply by not using it. All he would have to do is let folks know that he can now be found on Gab or elsewhere.

There are plenty of options.

War?

Fuck you.

War.

John Henry

Seeing Red said...

I’m sorry if this was already posted, but it’s true: via Insty:

REMEMBER, THE LEFT’S GAME PLAN IS ALWAYS TO SILENCE ITS OPPONENTS, NOT TO OUT-ARGUE THEM: “Blogs shattered the Old Media monopoly during the 2004 election. Social media became an instrument to restore the power of the guild.”

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“AUSTIN, TX—Cautioning against the devastating effects of abandoning the daily regimen of essential vitamins and minerals, radio host Alex Jones warned his fans Tuesday that quitting his supplements cold turkey could lead to homosexuality and Judaism. “Folks, if you miss even one day of your Anthroplex or Survival Shield X-2, you’re immediately going to start feeling Jewish, gay, or worse,” said the beleaguered InfoWars founder and staunch male virility advocate, emphasizing to his loyal followers that if their bodies were deprived of certain vital testosterone-enhancing products, dangerous symptoms of Deep State–adjacent illnesses could manifest just 72 hours after one’s last dosage. “Remember, your body requires these supplements in order to function properly. Without them, it will begin to completely shut down—the globalist levels in your bloodstream will shoot up, your tolerance for other people will skyrocket, and soon you’ll be attending a trans visibility march with a college-educated platonic female friend before lighting a menorah to kick off a gay orgy at Barack Obama’s house.” Jones added that anyone who did not take the supplements regularly would be better off with the mercy of a quick death by drinking an 8-ounce glass of fluoridated water.”

Oh hahahahaha! The Onion.

JackWayne said...

Crack Emcee, you don’t need to verify if you’re signed in. Just hit publish. Works every time.

John henry said...

And that's why he relies on funding air time with his own equally bullshit "male vitality" supplements.

Squeamish,

you know what other wackos make a lot of money peddling 'bullshit "male vitality" supplements"?

GNC,

6,500 or so stores across the country.

Or perhaps you are anti-Armenian too?

John Henry

John Henry

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

Inga said...
Maybe Exiled would’ve turned out differently had she not made so many bad decisions in her youth."

Oh, I dunno. At least I didn't end up becoming a totalitarian crone who pisses her Depends every time she turns on CNN and imagines she is a Special Friend of the Little Minority People Who Need Her. At least I'm not delusional enough to think I'm being brave by posting comments on Althouse.

Michael K said...

I've been using DuckDuck Go for search for 2-3 years now

I have, too. I use facebook for family pictures but am watching to see what happens.

I have been concerned for some time about getting manufacturing back in this country.

The Silicon Valley types have made billions from vaporware which can vanish as quickly as MySpace did.

Too much money in this country is based on handling money and not making things.

Darrell said...

C'mon! The Leftist crocodile just wants to take a little bite. How can you say no? It promises to stop right after that one little bite. Swearsies!

D 2 said...

I went for what I thought was a short walk and 300+ posts later ...

There is merit in ensuring that lunatics do not get to scream into bullhorns in the public square. It spreads confusion, and worse, if I understand crack, it is allowing for a wrong (a lie)

There is also merit in arguing for some allowance - so that the liars of the world can expose themselves as liars to all in the village, rather than, say, operate in a closed cult, where madness can fester into a bigger risk to all, by preying on the most weak/isolated. History is filled with men dreaming twisted dreams behind closed doors that ultimately led to atrocities. Sometimes they are called "colleges"

As in all things, there needs to be recognition of the perfect being the enemy of the good.

If there is to be efforts at reconciliation rather than a continual erosion, despite buwaya's repeated prophecy of continental wide doom, perhaps a good faith agreement would be to approach a (known) political ideologue of the other stripe and horse trade.

Agree to read X (at the other's behest) for a month and to denounce Y (again at the other's behest) for some statement or misdeed. Both parties have to agree to all (4) terms. Your X and Y. Their X and Y. Start small. See what happens.

Believe in the marketplace. If your product is good, people will find it.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

At least my name isn't a byword for stupidity on this blog, ie "Jeez, that sounds like Inga. You don't want to sound like Inga, do you?" And everyone understands that means "don't sound like a total featherhead."

John henry said...

Blogger mccullough said...

And he has no legal case.

Why not? If they colluded to kick him off their services, why would this not be a violation of Sherman and other anti-trust law?

They would have to prove that they just decided to act all on the same day by pure coincidence.

Even that might not be enough. One of the big steel companies got a huge fine under Sherman in the 70s. Their crime was publishing a price list. Other steel companies matched their prices. The AG sued the 1st company for anti-trust violation because they "signalled" what prices should be. Ask me nicely and I may even be able to find some references.

But back to my main question, which was not rhetorical: If they did collude why does it not violate anti-trust.

John Henry

Drago said...

Inga was lecturing us about separating children from parents at the border.

Here's the story on one particular parent and child that will no doubt warm Inga's heart:

http://dailycaller.com/2018/08/07/illegal-posing-child-rape/

That's right! The evil Trump dares to separate this "father" from the young girl he picked up in mexico and was raping repeatedly.

But in a nice, "spark of divinity" kind of way of which the lefties approve.

Remember, the lefties do NOT want these guys DNA tested to confirm parent status. Because that will cause a real blip in the transport of sex slaves.

Vance said...

If Althouse were to be seized at 3 AM tomorrow morning and hauled in front of some Madison "Committee for Community Protection Against Hate Speech", and then summarily executed for not preaching the gospel of Marx at all times and everywhere....

Does anyone doubt that Inga and Ritmo would be cheering it on, celebrating yet another "strike against fascism by promoting safe speech that will offend no one and punishing those who disagree with St. Marx?"

We all know that the left is a censorious bunch, and they have zero problems killing those they disagree with. Since, left unchecked, this latest move by the leftists to censor people (not just Alex Jones, it must be pointed out), is yet another step down that road, one wonders if there is any oppressive action that Inga will not justify, or that Ritmo will not promote.

Of course not. If Hillary had won and we were all in the camps dying and being murdered by the millions, Inga would be here dancing on our graves.

Darrell said...

Any coincidence that Lefties are trying to get straws banned just when they invent straws that test for rape drugs?

Michael K said...

Just a moment of sanity as the lefties heads explode.

"We came to a big opening on the beach," Morse says, "and there was a tank with a skull on it, right near the turret. The sergeant leading the patrol looks at it and says, 'Guys, that skull has been put there for a reason, and the Japanese have probably got mortar shells aimed right at this spot.' A disgusting scene like that will always draw people in, and the idea, of course, was that any American troops who came along would obviously want to stop and take a look.
"'Everybody stay away from there,' the sergeant says, then he turns to me. 'You,' he says, 'go take your picture if you have to, then get out, quick.' So I went over, got my pictures and ran like hell back to where the patrol had stopped."


Some people need a reality injection.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

Also, Inga, what bad choices did I make in my youth? Be specific.

Four people are alive and happy and well because of the choices I made.

What do you think I should have done differently, Mrs. Magoo?

FullMoon said...

The Trumpist hive mind still loves them some Sarah Palin and woe be unto Althouse or anyone who calls Sarah dumb for falling prey to Sasha Baron Cohen, lol.

Heard they are considering not broadcasting that one.

mccullough said...

Birkel,

You sound like Chuck. “Vertical participants?” This would be GM manufacturing cars and selling them exclusively through their franchised dealers. You Tube isn’t Facebook’s exclusive dealer. You Tube is GM and FB is Ford each selling pick-up trucks directly to consumers, which state laws forbid.

Facebook doesn’t have a distributor and neither does You Tube. There is no verticality here. They are platforms for creators and users. They compete in hosting videos for their users. Facebook has other services as well. They each make money by selling ads.

Conscious parallelism is one when a competitor or competitors follows the actions of another competitor. It’s not illegal. Conspiracy is. You can’t get past the pleading stage with conscious parallelism allegations. You need more or the lawsuit gets dismissed.

Jones could argue that Facebook is a monopoly on some of its services but a monopoly isn’t illegal in itself. The fact that the government hasn’t done anything to break up FB makes it unlikely Jones is going to get any relief. The barriers to entry are pretty low to start a social media platform.

Smart people would push the government to break up FB if it is a monopoly. They would also boycott FB and swamp them with complaints and Pickett outside their HQs and get Trump to issue some mean tweets that drive down their stock even further.

But no one is going to bat for Alex Jones. Pick more sympathetic victims to get Trump’s and McConnell’s attention. Sessions isn’t going to do anything. He’s a moron

FullMoon said...
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FullMoon said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
mccullough said...

John Henry,

Jones would have to have some facts to allege a conspiracy. All he has is that they kicked him off one after the other in quick succession. That’s called conscious parallelism and is legal. The Supreme Court has ruled that a plaintiff can’t get past the pleading stage, i.e. he gets no discovery, if he can’t plead more than conscious parallelism. This was a herd mentality move. Once FB kicked off Jones, which was widespread public knowledge, the others followed. It was in their self interest to do so. The guy is toxic. He has no facts other than this. Most plaintiffs wait for government investigations so they can learn some facts to get past the pleading stage. These are very difficult cases to plead. Activist conservative judges have made it that way.



Ken B said...

Buwaya asks why them, why now.

Them because you pick on the least popular first. You do this to set a precedent. Bonhoeffer 101.

Now in time for the election.

DanTheMan said...

This has got to be the worst discussion I have ever read here at Althouse. What a tedious collection of insults...

There is a serious principle at play: Do private companies like Facebook and YouTube have the right to refuse service to those they don't want to serve?

If you say they are private companies and can serve who they want, then you are siding with the bakers who refuse to bake for gay weddings, and siding with the owners of restaurants who wanted the right to refuse to serve blacks.

You must then square the circle by arguing that a small bakery is a "public accommodation" but Facebook isn't.

I leave the anti trust issues to the lawyers here. The "coincidence" of near simultaneous action seems clear evidence that they either coordinated, or just didn't want to be the last one to ban him.



wildswan said...

By banning Jones, he's been made one of the most popular news sites on the Apple app. When that goes down, he'll pioneer how to reach people even when the The GAAF (Google, Apple, Amazon, Facebook) bans you. It'll be some kind of samizdat like Free Republic. Maybe Althouse will need it someday. Maybe it'll be commonplace for every blogger to issue a place to meet when The GAAF bans them the way people in California have meet-up places in case of fire or earthquake. A Place Called The Catacombs. Password: Fish

Birkel said...

mccullough,
They are distributors, not producers. Your example is upside-down.

These are distributors refusing business from a supplier. Vertical.

Group boycotts are PER SE unlawful in this context.

PuertoRicoSpaceport.com said...

Blogger Michael K said...


I have, too. I use facebook for family pictures but am watching to see what happens.

Read the terms of service. If they are on Facebook they are no longer "family" pictures. By putting them into Facebook you have given FB the non-exclusive right to use or seel the pictures for any use in any medium in perpetuity.

Taking them down doesn't take away FBs right to use them.

John Henry

PuertoRicoSpaceport.com said...

Also,


The Silicon Valley types have made billions from vaporware which can vanish as quickly as MySpace did.

MySpace is still there. www.myspace.com

What a market opportunity this could be. The ads write themselves:

"MySpace: The free speech alternative to FaceBook."

John Henry

Inga...Allie Oop said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Bruce Hayden said...

“Legal issue:

A) Common carrier or
B) Liability for non-deletions

Which one will the Big Tech Industrial Complex choose?”

This has bothered me for a bit. I would ask where the attorneys were when they started banning by viewpoint. Sure, they try to cover it up by claiming that it is just the algorithms doing the screening. But, at least still these days, algorithms don’t write themselves, and the programmers creating the are employees/agents of the companies. In short - a BS excuse. These companies are potentially facing, over time, multi billion dollar liabilities by opting to essentially edit by content, thus taking themselves out of the safe harbor of being the equivalent to common carriers.

My thoughts are that they just take everything for granted and haven’t thought through the legal liability aspects of their actions. You would think that with all the money they had, that would be something that they did first. But I suspect a blind spot there. Don’t think that could happen? Maybe 20 or so years ago I interviewed for a job with Microsoft. One of the things that they asked me was what I thought of their new EULA that essentially granted them a fully paid up license to the parents and copyrights of any company using their products. I responded that it looked like it had serious antitrust implications. Which may have been why I didn’t get the job. They seemed to think my suggestion was ridiculous. And then, a couple months later, the US DoJ filed an antitrust suit against them. My thought at the time was that it would have never happened to IBM, because, at the time, all newly hired attorneys were required to take an antitrust class (the company having faced antitrust scrutiny several times in the past, dating back to their card punch days). None of the attorneys I interviewed with at Microsoft had had such. I expect that changed abruptly after the DoJ (as well as the owner of DR Dos) filed an antitrust suit against them.

One thing to keep in mind here is that these tech companies had the Obama/Holder/Lynch DoJ running interference for them. Tech was cool, so they were going to protect these companies. But they picked poorly during the last election cycle, essentially giving their money and influence to elect Crooked Hillary. She lost, and any attempts to try to do a redo, or the like, are likely to be disfavored by Trump.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“Four people are alive and happy and well because of the choices I made.”

Two adults and three grandchildren are alive because of the decisions I also made at 19 years of age. Then two more children and two more grandchildren from kids I had later on down the road. I never became a bitter bitch, unlike you. I knew I was responsible enough to raise my two oldest even at age 19. My oldest just made Chief today! I’m so proud of her and that I decided to raise her myself.

narciso said...

You mean when Cohen fooled the Washington speakers bureau and used up time and resources that could have been used for real veteran organizations.

PuertoRicoSpaceport.com said...

Blogger mccullough said...

Jones would have to have some facts to allege a conspiracy.

Agreed which is why I said "if" he could prove they acted in concert. Absent some Googler/FaceBooker etc coming forward with emails or such, I agree it might be hard for Jones to prove.

It might not be hard for the govt to prove (if it happened) They have some pretty awesome investigative powers with with grand juries, subpoenas and the like.

If, (there's that word again) the govt were to prove collusion or even get a plea deal, Jones might be able to use that.

Then there is that issue of signalling, which IS, or used to be, illegal under Sherman. IANAL so don't know how the line in drawn between legal parallelism and illegal signalling.

John Henry

FullMoon said...
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PuertoRicoSpaceport.com said...

So I read to the end and click over to Ace. He mentions that there are a number of elections going on and that he won't cover them but does post a thread for discussion.

I'd not thought of the connection before and maybe there is none.

Was there some triggering even for the ban or did they just decide on yesterday?

Did they think about impact on elections? Mightn't hit have been better to wait a day or two?

Or am I reading too much into it and this ban has no electoral impact.

John Henry

narciso said...


I guess slavery would get a hearing in this parliament;

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2018/08/07/boris-johnson-told-apologise-tory-party-chairman-brandon-lewis/

Birkel said...

John Henry,
SCOTUS went with the Chicago School and moved away from the Harvard School of antitrust thought. Much of that was Posner’s work on the Seventh Circuit. However, group boycotts of suppliers by distributors remains per se illegal.

So the playing field is tilted against parallelism and signaling. They are sometimes illegal.

mccullough said...

A group boycott has to be concerted, an actual conspiracy. Conscious parallelism won’t cut it. And you are talking about a horizontal restraint when you talk about a group boycott, not a vertical restraint (which are between suppliers and distributors and are governed by the rule of reason not per se prohibitions such as a price fixing conspiracy or a group boycott conspiracy).

Darrell said...

Paul Joseph Watson,
watch while you can.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=17&v=qm4Pks_1_hI

Or click here.

Jon Ericson said...

This case is an antitrust loser and no lawyer would take it without getting paid up front.

Indeed™

traditionalguy said...

It appears that Jones is targeted because he has the biggest audience and he delivers to it opinions about Alternate Facts very clearly communicated. His intelligent approach to what the newly disclosed facts must mean seriously spooks the cover up Propaganda operatives such as the CIA.

The fact that Jones is a jerk with a loudmouth comes at no extra charge. He still has his web site.

mccullough said...

Parallelism and price signaling are not illegal. Ever. It has to be a conspiracy, an actual agreement between two or more competitors to fix prices or boycott.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

I'm not asking what you did, Mrs. Magoo. We already know you consider yourself Mother of the Century. I'm asking you what bad decision I made,

C'mon, Inga, tell me.

And why is such a model of Domestic Bliss such a screeching, book-burning totalitarian? Is your wonderful life so boring you have to imagine yourself Savior of the Colored People and some sort of Blog Comments heroine?

The Crack Emcee said...

And, as far as I'm concerned, if you dislike the dethroning of Alex Jones, then you like the chaos and fraud his misinformation and bogus enterprises engender in America, and THAT makes you a traitor to our society. We don't need anymore peddlers of lies and nonsense. We need to grow up - we do have undereducated citizens to think of - and we'll never be able to deal with them as long as conservatives continue to demonstrate a lack of ethics or justice and betray the very image of competence they're trying to project.

They just look like hypocrites and frauds themselves by taking Jones' side. I can join the Democrats for this.

Meade said...

Rabel said...
There was an implication, if not a promise, that there would be hot, nasty buffalo sex on Nat Geo's "Live at Yellowstone" tonight.


Implied promises made; implied promises kept.

Birkel said...

Ah, yes! The old rule of reason in which Big Tech admits their political decisions and forego any safe harbor protections.

Pull the other one.

narciso said...

They have banned kin strassels segment about prayer u, they have filtered Michael Doran, Chris 'meathead' Murphy and the slayer of hedgehogs deblasio has suggested moves against fox.

Birkel said...

The conspiracy would be proved by showing the enforcement mechanism.
Something like, say, the SPLC might be enough.

mccullough,
Would you give as much ground to me if you recognized the indefensible position your counsel gives to Big Tech? Do you see how this plays out on the issue I identified? Lose the safe harbor? WTFF?

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“They just look like hypocrites and frauds themselves...”

This is an everyday occurance here in these comments sections.

The Crack Emcee said...

This is what lies and misinformation get you in the real world, and how the rest of you can be so casual about it is beyond me.

Alex Jones deserves no protection for his crimes.

narciso said...

You mean the way abc altered the video, NBC altered the audio and the times the call transcript in the Zimmerman case, making him a target for the next seven years.

Darrell said...

Over in Michigan, both Trump candidates (Schutte for Governor and James for Senate) seem to have clinched their races.

Chuck weeps.

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