August 19, 2018

Twitter needs "to constantly show that we are not adding our own bias, which I fully admit is...is more left-leaning."

"But the real question behind the question is, are we doing something according to political ideology or viewpoints? And we are not. Period."

Said Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, quoted in "Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey: I 'fully admit' our bias is 'more left-leaning.'" (The Hill).

Here, watch the video. Dorsey's key distinction is between viewpoint and what he calls "behavior." Now, if it's on Twitter, it's speech, but there's this idea that sometimes speech is behavior, but when? It could be limited the way it is in First Amendment law to things like "true threats," but it could be extended to insults or stereotyping. It depends on what the meaning of "behavior" is.


Dorsey is a good spokesperson, and I like that he's taking free speech ideas seriously in the abstract and asking for trust as he applies these principles. He's got to be watched and pressured to handle his power according to the principles he says he's following. It's fine that he's up front about the left-wing bias of his organization. That's good for putting him to the test.

314 comments:

1 – 200 of 314   Newer›   Newest»
MadisonMan said...

Interesting that the interview is on CNN. One left-leaning mouthpiece talking to another. They probably each claim viewpoint mostly neutral, and in the vast echo chamber they live in, might believe their own assertions.

FIDO said...

The way to avoid appearing as if one is a censorious asshole is to be a free speech purist.

He fails that test miserably.

Candace Owens, a black girl, posted Sarah Jeong's tweets but changed 'white' to something else.

She was banned in a moment.

So the proof is in the pudding...and that brown 'pudding' of his isn't chocolate.

He can SAY what he wants, but now, he has no 'trust' to call upon anymore.

gilbar said...

So, the Twitter CEO is basically saying that; Sure, they ban miniskirts, but only because of the behavior they cause?

Michael K said...

I have never regretted for a moment ignoring Twitter.

Tank said...

He is right, people do not believe him.

Ray - SoCal said...

A way to test for being shadowbanned:

https://shadowban.eu

hawkeyedjb said...

"They probably each claim viewpoint neutral..."

We're right in the middle! Everybody thinks just like us!

Sebastian said...

"he's up front about the left-wing bias of his organization"

So, umm, how can an organization subject to anti-discrimination laws have a "left-wing bias"?

Ray - SoCal said...

Project Veritas
TWITTER ENGINEERS "BAN A WAY OF TALKING" THROUGH "SHADOW BANNING"
https://www.projectveritas.com/twitter/#fvp_64gTjdUrDFQ,2s

Anonymous said...

"Dorsey is a good spokesperson, and I like that he's taking free speech ideas seriously in the abstract and asking for trust as he applies these principles. He's got to be watched and pressured to handle his power according to the principles he says he's following. It's fine that he's up front about the left-wing bias of his organization. That's good for putting him to the test."

Eye roll.

Good old "we're not shadow-banning, we're just shadow-banning" Twitter.

Media and financial entities ban, de-monetize, de-platform wrongthinkers (or hapless bystanders vaguely associated with wrongthinkers)? C'mon kids, let's put Jack to the test! Let's watch! His abstract principles are in the right place! Let's pressure him about his company's failing to abide by them! That'll show 'im!

Darrell said...

Those stupid Twitter videos can't be watched on any of the browsers I have. It's annoying.

Danno said...

I am still debating in my mind what the meaning of "is" is, and it is stuck in my head. I'll tackle this one when I escape.

traditionalguy said...

Orwellian doublespeak.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

I used to watch the Create PBS channel at night. Because I gave up cable many years ago and the best thing on is Create TV. Create is all cooking, crafts, & travel. If I want regular PBS, that's 2 stations down on the dial, and there all the regular left/liberal content resides.

Create removed the evening cooking, crafts, travel content and now it's all BS about feeling bad for illegal entrants and all the various propaganda grievances the left have determined they need to preach.

ugh. The left preach and preach and preach. Guilt trips and preaching, preaching and guilt trips. But please, don't call the collective guilt-trip preaching left a cult.

gspencer said...

Twitter: "We don't discriminate against any political point of view"

Yes, I believe that. I really do.

Leland said...

Dorsey is a good spokesperson, and I like that he's taking free speech ideas seriously in the abstract and asking for trust as he applies these principles.


All those would be good things, but the fact is Dorsey is CEO of a company that is now trading 30% lower than a month ago. This is all damage control, while continuing to do the stupid thing that caused them to lose so much value.

traditionalguy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

The Trump era/ never-ending Hillary-lost butt-hurt boo-hoo party will be ceaselessly slathered with unrelenting leftist propaganda. It's for your own good.

Etienne said...

I think a significant number of accounts on these media software are created by the same people who wear masks at political protests.

Rather than hitting you with a bicycle padlock, they hit you with spam and useless database filler. Pictures and statements that insult your intelligence.

People who bring politics to what is essentially a graphical pager, are all missing a chromosome. The same as retards who bring bike padlocks to public events.

I suspect the CIA and NSA are in cahoots with manipulating the peasants.

Don't be a peasant.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

The scariest part of the leftwing cult is their desire to shut down free speech and opinions that don't line up with the leftwing line. Once they achieve ultimate power, free speech will be dead.

daskol said...

Not only does Dorsey control Twitter, he is also CEO of payments company SquareSpacce. In light of Mastercard forcing Patreon to cancel Richard Spencer’s account, Dorsey may be the most powerful CEO in the world when it comes to direct control of platforms for expression.

Bob Boyd said...

"Children, behave"
That's what they say when we're on Twitter
"And watch what you say"
They don't want to ban

Etienne said...

Darrell said...Those stupid Twitter videos can't be watched on any of the browsers I have.

...and you find it difficult to locate 12AT7 valves for your radio.

AustinRoth said...

Baghdad Bob Ives again!

Darrell said...

...and you find it difficult to locate 12AT7 valves for your radio.

We call them "tubes" in the USA, my friend.

I have variants of Google Chrome and Opera. All with bullshit blocking and antispy protection.

Curious George said...

"Dorsey is a good spokesperson, and I like that he's taking free speech ideas seriously in the abstract and asking for trust as he applies these principles. He's got to be watched and pressured to handle his power according to the principles he says he's following. It's fine that he's up front about the left-wing bias of his organization. That's good for putting him to the test."

You'll be saying this when they slap on the chains.

rhhardin said...

PC is viewpoint discrimination.

rhhardin said...

Videos don't work on my computer either. 6AG7 driving a pair of 807s.

rhhardin said...

When a new video goes up on youtube, very often it won't play until about an hour later, when apparently youtube internally produces an older format version of it in case you can't play this modern stuff.

Etienne said...

The General who ran the NSA has come out as a political hack for the far left.

I mean, he's really come out. He was no dip a toe in the swamp, he was fully immersed.

Ran the NSA for years. He's got ju-ju eyeball.

NSA runs the Internet trunks. Cisco implements their software.

Etienne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Etienne said...

A "tube" is a mini-skirt favorite by girls who charge for a date.

daskol said...

Er, he runs Square as well as Twitter

Anonymous said...

Darrell: I have variants of Google Chrome and Opera. All with bullshit blocking and antispy protection.

I can't watch any of that stuff with Opera (which I always use for leisure-browsing), either. Chrome, no problem.

Wonder how Brave is coming along these days, media-playing wise.

Gahrie said...

The scariest part of the leftwing cult is their desire to shut down free speech and opinions that don't line up with the leftwing line. Once they achieve ultimate power, free speech will be dead.

Wait until they start photoshopping people out of pictures...

MountainMan said...

So Candace Owens takes one of Sarah Jeong's most racist tweets and changes "white" to "black" just to show how racist it is and almost immediately has her Twitter account suspended.

Meanwhile, almost simultaneously, Sarah Jeong's Twitter account gets the blue-check verification.

Yeah, I really believe you, Jack.

I will give him credit for doing one thing: about 10 days ago he did go on Sean Hannity's radio program and they had a very civil back and forth about how Twitter is being managed. Hannity implied that in response to invitations to appear on his program that Facebook and Google were "hiding under their desks." However, despite how civil he was, I still don't believe Jack. They are part of a cabal with the other tech giants to silence those that don't agree with them.

I'll give this video the "civility bullshit" tag.

glenn said...

I don’t Twitter because I regard it a something HS girls do when they are in a herd. But here’s a cliche that might be appropriate

“You can fool some the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time”

On this issue Mr Dorsey can’t fool me. He’s a left wing ideolog who has to hide it for the moment.

Darrell said...

I can't watch any of that stuff with Opera (which I always use for leisure-browsing), either. Chrome, no problem.

Google stopped supporting Vista Pro a couple of years ago. It wasn't compatible with the spying they want to do on users. Microsoft, of course, made it easier for every spy and tracker as they transitioned to their ultimate, Win10. No support means no Codex updates for video, and no Twitter videos.

zipity said...

"Left leaning"

*SNORT*

Good one. And Stalin had "socialization" issues.

Ralph L said...

I'd take him a little more seriously if he dressed more seriously and sat up straight. Just as well he didn't.

Has any left-leaning person or org been impinged?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Scratch a leftist, find a fascist.

Larry J said...

What he said might be halfway believable if all of the bans didn’t seem to always be in one direction. As Fleming said, “Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action.” It has been a lot more than three times.

Yancey Ward said...

If you are believer in free speech, you have to be willing to tolerate all of it. You can't pick and choose- if you do pick and choose, you will certainly use your own biases to do so. I don't believe Dorsey because he is lying, at a minimum, to himself.

Big Mike said...

“But the real question behind the question is, are we doing something according to political ideology or viewpoints? And we are not. Period."

Not true. The real question behind the question is whether he’s lying to us when he says that, or is he lying to himself.

Etienne said...

Darrell said...Google stopped supporting Vista Pro a couple of years ago.

If you are worried about security, the answer is to run software in a virtualbox.

Shut up, just do it. I myself use Oracle VirtualBox, and I have many virtual machines on my Ubuntu running Windows and Linux. Each with varying levels of added software installs.

The rule is: delete often, clone from the master early.

The prime rule is: never leave your home computer on when you are away from it. I instinctively go to sleep mode as I leave the room.

When I ran servers for the government they paid me huge piles of cash to watch over them, as they couldn't be powered down or put in sleep mode. Consumers shouldn't be expected to rise to this level, or battle in that domain.

Running Vista for security is like using 8 inch floppies for security at the Air Force Minuteman Silo's.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Yancey Ward said...

Here is one method Google uses to do shadow banning of material its Content Commissars deem inappropriate.

mccullough said...

This guy tweeted that he liked the Chik Fil-A he just ate. Then the Twitter villagers chased him with their pitch forks and torches and he crawled away. Dorsey is a total pussy.

Twitter is Donald Trump. It’s his text messaging service. Don’t forget that, Jack.

Yancey Ward said...

It really is this- you either believe Dorsey, or you believe your lying eyes.

Anonymous said...

Yancey Ward: It really is this- you either believe Dorsey, or you believe your lying eyes.

I'm kinda touched by Althouse's naïveté on the matter.

The Crack Emcee said...

Sorry, but whether it's Alex Jones or Glenn Reynolds, if they're pushing supplements and other nonsense, they're con artists exploiting the public and don't deserve the perch they're abusing. They simply can't say they should be trusted as sources of information while so blatantly spreading misinformation and financially supporting a racket.

Trump's presidency is bringing the subject of ethics to the forefront and, damn it, someone's going to respond to the lack of them - on the Left and the Right - eventually.

Roger Zimmerman said...

The conservatives here are wrong.

Here is what Mr. Dorsey should have said:

"Twitter is the private property of its shareholders. As such, Twitter has an absolute right to post or remove any content for any reason whatsoever. The individuals that comprise the 'public' are free to cheer or yell and scream about our choices, buy or sell our stock, participate or not on our platform, or, dare I say, build their own damn platform to compete with us. Asking for the government to intervene and force us, at the point of a gun, to publish or ban certain people or points of view is a violation of our rights, and is nothing more than second-hand thuggery. It is, indeed, more immoral than sending me direct threats about what we choose to publish, as it hides behind the bastardized concept of 'democracy' in order to avoid responsibility for this thuggery."

That would be a consistent position in defense of the absolute right to freedom of speech, and it is sorely needed in these very confused times.

Those complaining about who/what Twitter allows to be published should get a life.

Ray - SoCal said...

In Dorsey’s view, Twitter is content neutral.

Twitter is against hate speach, and because what conservatives believe in is mostly hate speach to Twitter, they are banned more often. Very logical from the tech elites point of view.

Same type of logic used to get the conclusion Sarah Jeong is not a racist.

Minor issue that there is no hate speach exception in the 1st amendment.

The Crack Emcee said...

FIDO said...

"He can SAY what he wants, but now, he has no 'trust' to call upon anymore."

I notice conservatives don't hold other conservatives to this line. If Glenn Reynolds hustles supplements - and he does - hasn't he broken our trust?

You guys are only playing power games - not trying to build a nation.

campy said...

"Here is what Mr. Dorsey should have said:"

To which the reply would be, "Bake my cake, bigot."

Etienne said...

My neighbor started growing a beard. He wanted me to notice, but I just kind of ignored commenting on it.

Finally a week later he couldn't resist, and he asks me what I think about his beard.

I tell him, "yea, it's OK. My wife has one of those too, only it doesn't talk."

Yancey Ward said...

Robert, I actually agree with you, but you now need to answer this question- why didn't Dorsey actually say that?

Ray - SoCal said...

Twitter can either be a publisher or a public space.

Each has their own protections.

By censoring, they lose a lot of legal protection.

And open themselves up to anti trust activities.

Reference:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/when-digital-platforms-become-censors-1534514122

When Digital Platforms Become Censors
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other tech giants say that they’re open forums. What happens when they start to shut down voices they consider beyond the pale?
By Glenn Harlan Reynolds
Updated Aug. 18, 2018 10:35 a.m. ET


Yancey Ward said...

As I wrote here a week or so ago- eventually you won't be able to run a blog on-line if the tech companies don't want you to because of your politics. Almost no one can create a website without using commercially available software, and all of that software today reports back to the companies that sell it, and they can disable it if they wish should you violate whatever policies they put into effect.

Yancey Ward said...

We are, right now, seeing the tech companies trying out things to see what they can get away with in the area of viewpoint censoring.

Paco Wové said...

"The conservatives here are wrong."

About what?

John henry said...

I like that he's taking free speech ideas seriously in the abstract and asking for trust as he applies these principles.

I really don't give a shit if he is taking free speech principles seriously in the abstract or not. It would be nice if he is. The important thing is how he puts them into practice.

I have no problem with Twitter being a left leaning, progressive, fascist, platform if that is what they want to be. If they want to ban people for expressing non-LPF opinions, fine.

But saying that they are a free speech platform where everything is filtered through the LPF filter seems, to use the kindest possible term, disingenuous. To use a legal term, it seems fraudulent.

Interestingly enough it seems like some action may be being taken on this front. Now I can't find it but yesterday I read that a number of (Republican) state attorney generals are looking into a multi-state suit against Twitter for consumer fraud. This is based on the claim of free speech without the actuality.

Racist Facebook - https://www.hud.gov/press/press_releases_media_advisories/HUD_No_18_085 (HUD Files Housing discrimination complaint against Facebook)


Now Fraudulent Twitter?

All we need now for the hat trick is a nickname for Google. Suggestions? I like fascist Google.

John Henry

Roger Zimmerman said...

"Bake my cake bigot"

Campy, are you actually surprised that I am 100% opposed to the government having any control over what Masterpiece CakeShop does on its own private property?

Roger Zimmerman said...

"Why didn't Dorsey actually say that?"

Yancey Ward - Because, like 99%+ of the people in the world today, he wouldn't recognize a fundamental principle if his life depended on it (which, in a way, it does).

But that doesn't mean that people who call themselves part of the "right" shouldn't be at the forefront of articulating this principle, and should be proud of doing so in defense of individuals with whom they disagree. That is the true test of principle, isn't it?



Bruce Hayden said...

“The Twitter CEO said in an interview with The Hill this week that Jones was banned after he received complaints that Jones's content was inciting violence.

“We were getting a number of reports around the tweet and the Periscope that the content was inciting violence, which is against our terms of service, and we took action,” Dorsey said.”

So, a bunch of SJWs run around getting triggered by anything to the right of Crooked Hillary Clinton, claiming that it incites violence, or just isn’t very nice, or whatever, and Twitter dutifully bans the object of their ire. The violence that it essentially is inciting, if any, is by Antifa fascists, the SJW’s shock troops. Yet, they aren’t the ones getting banned, but rather whomever triggered them. What the Twitter Twit (I.e, CEO) doesn’t apparently get is that his company’s banning has nothing to do with behavior, and everything to do with speech, but that he has gone down the rabbit hole, where they are reversed.

Pretty bogus way to implement Free Speech, as far as I am concerned, essentially giving the SJWs a heckler’s veto.

John henry said...

Will someone ask why he banned Alex Jones? What was the specific offense that happened last week AFTER Dorsey said that Jones had not violated the terms of service.

Lester Holt put some words into his mouth about the reason and Dorsey accepted them:


[Holt]“Alex Jones, on Twitter, posted this week what essentially was essentially a video calling for people to get their ‘battle rifles’ ready against the media, saying it’s time to act, it’s gotta be done now, ‘move criminally against’ people…” said Holt. “It sent a chill up my spine, how about yours?”

“It did,” Dorsey responded. “I mean, there are a number of actions we believe help a call to incitement to violence, and those are the things that we need to make sure that we’re taking action on.”


This is nowhere near what Jones actually said. I listened to the audio here

http://adam.curry.com/enc/1534448634.589_videothatgotalexjonesatwittertimeout-battleaxes.mp3

Here is what he said:

After a bit of a rant about how they (govt? Media? He doesn't make a lot of sense) is coming to get you Jones says

They think they can really take down America. And this is it. So, people need to have their battle rifles and everything ready at their bedsides and you got to be ready because the media is so disciplined in their deception.

So is this why Twitter banned Jones? Has Dorsey actually said? Or does he just let Holt do the dirty work?

Disgusting.

John Henry

Yancey Ward said...

Robert, then he is committing fraud, which you seem to implicitly admit with "if his life depended on it (which, in a way, it does)."

My principle here is pretty simple- I won't live by a double standard.

Paco Wové said...

Still wondering what it is that "the conservatives" said here that was "wrong", in the view of one R. Zimmerman. Since none of them seem to be calling for the heavy-handed regulation that he seems to imply they are.

Sebastian said...

"giving the SJWs a heckler’s veto"

Of course, their fellow progs hardly need an excuse.

John henry said...

Blogger Sebastian said...

So, umm, how can an organization subject to anti-discrimination laws have a "left-wing bias"?


Because political views are not protected. Nor should they be.

We have many publications left, right, center.

The problem for Twitter is not that they are left of center but that they claim to be free speech for all while banning one type of political speech.

It is not discrimination. It is fraud.

I'm with Michael. I have 2 Twitter accounts, set up years ago, thinking I would promote my professional efforts. I used them a bit for a couple months, got a couple hundred followers, but lost interest. I cancelled both a couple weeks ago when this whole Megillah started.

I've never had a Facebook account nor allowed anyone to use Facebook on any of my devices. I have a lot of confidential client pictures and other stuff on my hard drive. I WILL NOT risk Facebook using it.

John Henry

John Henry

buwaya said...

You simply cannot assume sincerity.
Indeed, it is always necessary to assume the opposite.

All of this is done for a reason, to further his interests, whatever those are. Most likely they involve conforming to some other players interests.

The only productive discussion on these matters, should there ever be one, will concern his interests and how this policy helps him, and any change in policy will be driven by changing his incentives. This can only happen at a high level with similarly powerful persons. This all is akin to Trump negotiating with Xi by means of tarriff wars.

bgates said...

I like that he's taking free speech ideas seriously in the abstract and asking for trust as he applies these principles. He's got to be watched and pressured to handle his power according to the principles he says he's following. It's fine that he's up front about the left-wing bias of his organization. That's good for putting him to the test.

They said the same thing about Mao during the hundred flowers campaign.

John henry said...

Blogger daskol said...

Not only does Dorsey control Twitter, he is also CEO of payments company SquareSpacce. In light of Mastercard forcing Patreon to cancel Richard Spencer’s account, Dorsey may be the most powerful CEO in the world when it comes to direct control of platforms for expression.

Maybe off topic. Maybe not. It looks like someone is fighting back:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/louisiana-bans-bank-america-citi-141332213.html

Louisiana Bans Bank of America, Citi from Bond Sale Over Gun Policies
[Bloomberg]
Amanda Albright, Jennifer Surane
August 17, 2018
Louisiana Bans Bank of America, Citi from Bond Sale Over Gun Policies

Louisiana is using the bond market to stick up for the Second Amendment.

The state’s bond commission voted 7 to 6 Thursday to ban Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc. from working on its upcoming debt sale because of the banks’ "restrictive gun policies," the state treasury said in a statement . Bank of America and Citigroup are the two top-ranked underwriters of long-term municipal debt, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
...


Good for Louisiana

John Henry

buwaya said...

Many people erred in taking Mao at his word.
It is always an error.

There is also always a naivete about these things.
Ideally this naivete should be dispelled as part of the program of education.
But to expect that is also naive, knowing who runs those systems.

John henry said...

Darrelll,

Friends don't let friends use Chrome.

An excellent open source alternative is Comodo Dragon. It is the Chrome browser without feeding all your info back to Googleville.

I alternate between it and Firefox. The only thing I don't like about it is that, while I can watch Youtube videos, I can't download them. Since I do a lot of this, I tend to use Firefox mostly.

Download here https://www.comodo.com/home/browsers-toolbars/browser.php

John Henry

Anonymous said...

Roger Zimmerman:

The conservatives here are wrong.

Here is what Mr. Dorsey should have said:

"Twitter is the private property of its shareholders.[etc.]

That would be a consistent position in defense of the absolute right to freedom of speech, and it is sorely needed in these very confused times.

Those complaining about who/what Twitter allows to be published should get a life.


Funny how the "private property" rights of corporations don't extend to things leftists don't like, like "discrimination" law.

But it's absolutely not problematic in any way to "conservatives" if leftists acquire monopoly status in media and "social media" to enormous political effect, or financial middle-men do the same and shut out people whose politics they don't like.

Hey, just start your own global financial institution if visa or mastercard start deciding to deny you a credit card because they don't like your political views! They're private companies! What are you, some kind of statist, some kind of collectivist!, to even think that this could impinge on anyone's liberty in any way that merits any kind of attention whatsoever?

This is why I'm not a "principled conservative". I'm not a retarded panglossian who believes that boots stomping on faces are only a problem if the foot in the boot belongs to a government employee. (Destruction of liberty in complex modern societies couldn't possibly come from any other source! Now excuse me while I go masturbate to my sticky copy of Atlas Shrugged.)

buwaya said...

I have had very good luck with Brave (the browser).
Brendan Eich's selling points are limiting ads and trackers.

John henry said...


Blogger The Crack Emcee said...

Sorry, but whether it's Alex Jones or Glenn Reynolds, if they're pushing supplements and other nonsense, they're con artists exploiting the public and don't deserve the perch they're abusing. They simply can't say they should be trusted as sources of information while so blatantly spreading misinformation and financially supporting a racket.

Bullshit Crack. One could say exactly the same thing about you. I won't, generally, because I agree with you on a number things and think you are batshit crazy on others. I suspect that you feel similarly about me and that is fine. I mean no disrespect to you.

The problem is, who gets to decide who gets to say what? Who do you want deciding what you can and can't say?

If we are going to protect free speech, we have to protect ALL of it. No exceptions. I agree that Jone's supplements seem sketchy. But I also think that most of what is sold in GNC stores is sketchy. Would you ban Jones and allow GNC? Both sell legal products, regulated by the govt.

You have mentioned in the past, if I understood you correctly, that Holocaust deniers should be banned from the public square. Well, I am a holocaust denier*, would you ban me? How would you ban me? From all discussion everywhere or only discussions about the Holocaust or for something else?

Would you ban Stalin's Russian massacre (20-40mm murdered)deniers? Yet people seldom talk about this. Professor Grover Furr is an adamant Stalinist and Gulag denier yet he occupies a perch at https://msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/ Should he be taken down of his perch? I used to be in an email list with him. He is so batchit crazy that even batshit wants nothing to do with him. He once sent me a couple megabytes of scans of 1930s Pravda, in cyrillic that he claimed "proved" that Stalin never murdered anyone and the Gulags never existed.

Speech that everyone agrees with needs no protection. It is the speech that people don't like that does.

John Henry

Anonymous said...

buwaya: I have had very good luck with Brave (the browser).

Handle video OK?

John henry said...

To clarify just how I am a Holocaust denier:

I believe that the National Socialists murdered huge numbers of people in various camps. What I don't believe is that it was the "6 million" that we hear about all the time. The actual figure is closer to 12 million. Somewhere between 11.6 and 12, apparently.

I have been called a "Holocaust denier" for pointing that out. Apparently the 12mm figure somehow negates the murder of 6mm Jews. Also, the term "Holocaust" is to be applied only to the murder of Jews. Lumping the other 6mm into is is anti-semitic and denialist.

Or maybe Holocaust denial is denying the 6mm Jews murdered in the camps. I don't think anyone, even the most ardent deniers, deny that some Jews were murdered in the camps. The denial usually is about the numbers. Since I deny the 6mm figure, that would make me a denier too.

I am OK with 6mm as a round number but the actual number is a bit less. 5.8mm or so. Not enough to make any difference but I get called a "Holocaust denier" when, in a pedantic mood, I point this out.

So would you ban me Crack?

John Henry

buwaya said...

Re Brave and video - Youtube video, never a problem so far.

n.n said...

The overwhelming consensus that human life evolves from a moment of viability ("spontaneous conception") and that there is a civil right to elective abortion ("Planning") of a wholly innocent human life under the Twilight Amendment. A human life and process that can be observed and reproduced in the near-space and time. Perhaps it's bad science or it depends on when a human life acquires and retains the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Etienne said...

...without feeding all your info back to Googleville.

The advantages of central storage, far outweigh the perceived loss of privacy.

If you are using the Internet, you decided long ago to abandon safety and family privacy.

People don't realize this, but the encrypted UDP pipe that Chrome builds on every session is 10 times faster than raw TCP.

Speed is life.

Etienne said...

Congress should allow one immigrant green card for every abortion.

Hand them out at windows in the new border wall.

chuck said...

Content *is* behavior, and the response to content *is* influenced by political outlook and personal morals, which is why tolerance is important. To declare yourself unbiased is hubris. Period.

n.n said...

Environmentalism with best practices based on a principle of out-of-sight and out-of-mind, including outsourcing and local obfuscation for so-called "green" technology from recovery to reclamation.

Inference from signals outside the near-space and time, where accuracy is inversely proportional to the product of time and space offsets from an established frame of reference leading to a conflation of logical domains.

The statistically insignificant evidence of anthropogenic climate influence outside a limited frame of reference in time and space.

John henry said...

Crack,

There are a number of companies, called generally "Nutraceuticals" who make the supplements sold by Jones and GNC, and CVS and others. There are also companies that make homeopathic remedies that are even sketchier.

I've done work for some of them, helping them run their plants better. (Teaching their employees to be lazy)

Should I have not done that?

Should I have not cashed their checks?

Will you still, knowing this, speak to me? (I hope so)

I would point out that these companies and products are all FDA approved, for safety if not for effectiveness. Their label claims and advertising is also approved. It is very carefully written and I doubt you could prove fraud (legally) in any of Jones or anyone else's claims.

If Jones says "People like my boner pills because they think it makes sex better." there is no legal fraud. All he has to do is present a single person who thinks it makes sex better. Maybe not even that. Perhaps just showing a couple repeat orders would be enough.

If he says "People take my boner pills because it gives them a longer, stronger, boner" that is fraud. Unless he has submitted proof to the FDA that it does and the FDA has approved it. As it has in the case of Viagra, Cialis and others.

John Henry

chuck said...

buwaya: I have had very good luck with Brave (the browser).


I run Linux and last time I gave Brave a shot it was pretty alpha and very slow.

Fernandinande said...

"So in the words of my late friend Aretha Franklin, show some R-E-S-P-I-C-T." -- Al Sharpton

He be spellin'!

Wince said...

Said Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, quoted in "Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey: I 'fully admit' our bias is 'more left-leaning.'"

Unsurprisingly, most dicks do the same.

75% of men have their penis hanging to the left in their pants. 17% have their penis hanging to the right and 8% let it hang either way.

FIDO said...

"He can SAY what he wants, but now, he has no 'trust' to call upon anymore."

I notice conservatives don't hold other conservatives to this line. If Glenn Reynolds hustles supplements - and he does - hasn't he broken our trust?


So someone selling supplements is the same as someone banning a person on a platform?


Are the supplements poisoning people? Because you are comparing vitamin tablets to Fascists.


I can't speak to the hypocrisy of a Glenn Reynolds selling supplements (THIS has your panties in a twist? Wh...never mind. I don't give a fuck why)

I don't read Reynolds for the supplements. I read his DISTRIBUTION CENTER of OTHER OUTLETS.

So are you saying he is not a real conservative? Not a real weight lifter?

This wacky conspiracy theory stuff sounds very good in your head. It suffers badly publicly.

John henry said...

Blogger Etienne said...

The advantages of central storage, far outweigh the perceived loss of privacy.

Completely disagree, at least in the sense I understand you to mean. I use the cloud for Evernote and for Pocket reader to keep all my devices synced. I will also upload presentations to the cloud just as a safety backup before I go off to give them. I delete them from the cloud when I am finished.

If my files, pictures, videos etc are stored in the cloud, I am relying on someone else to decide who gets to see them and who doesn't. I am relying on someone else to not decide to delete everything.

Nope, everything I own is synced on my desktop, laptop and 3 backup hard drives, one of which is at my daughters house. I always have my laptop with me.

What the hell do I need anything in the cloud for?


If you are using the Internet, you decided long ago to abandon safety and family privacy.

Well, yes, to some extent. But there is no need to be stupid about it. I don't use Facebook at all and I avoid Google as much as possible. But I am not so naive as to believe some of my stuff is not leaking. Not gonna help them, though.

People don't realize this, but the encrypted UDP pipe that Chrome builds on every session is 10 times faster than raw TCP.

I'm pretty sure that Comodo Drago does the same thing.

In any event, I've tried Chrome in the past and did not notice any significant difference from Firefox. Both seemed pretty peppy.

Speed is life.

"Speed is just a question of money. How fast do you want to go?" (Mechanic shop sign, Mad Max 1)

John Henry

n.n said...

Improper or insufficient characterization including inference (i.e. created knowledge) from signals outside of near-space and time, from isolated or laboratory experiments (e.g. "greenhouse" effect), and limited circumstantial evidence, models (i.e. hypotheses) treated as scientific evidence, masked by underwhelming statistics, and topped with an emotional appeal.

Quaestor said...

"Left-wing" and free speech are incompatible as history consistently demonstrates.

Marcus said...

"A "tube" is a mini-skirt favorite by girls who charge for a date."

I don't have a problem with girls who charge for a date. I find them more honest than those who claim they don't.

Etienne said...

What the hell do I need anything in the cloud for?

When computers were first invented, only mainframes were used. In the 60's distributed computing became popular as networking became cheaper.

But distributed computing hit a brick wall in the 90's. It soon became apparent that having 120,000 copies of each document, spreadsheet, and database was becoming more costly, less maintainable, and very insecure.

Thus the rise of the mainframe, or what we call the "Cloud" became the way forward, and local storage was to be shunned.

Google designed the QUIC transport protocol, and organizations could store all their data on the mainframe, and the network can provide a local copy at speeds that were unheard of even 10 years ago.

Anyone who stores their data locally is now known as a "Hillary Server" which provides access to the world, free of charge.

Mainframes and dumb terminals - live it, love it.

n.n said...

Businesses, politicians, and organizations tend to be left-leaning with respect to the benefits of monopoly formation and practices (e.g. single-whatever, immigration reform), which they may not recognize, or acknowledge, but will nevertheless exploit for-profit and non-profit. In a functional market, there are sufficient competing interests to mitigate the risk of immoral and amoral actors from running amuck (e.g. deplatforming or "chilling effect").

Etienne said...

P.S. All my files are stored on the mainframe Google Drive. Fast, Efficient, Secure.

I can access this data anywhere in the world, on multiple workstations, laptops, and smart phones (and have).

For my lazy friends I use the Dropbox mainframe.

The Cloud is fluffy, the cloud has good bokeh.

n.n said...

The "cloud" or widely networked servers are useful to share information, offsite storage, with the knowledge that your privacy is not assured, and data can be accessed and exploited (e.g. advertising, censuring) by the government and providers (e.g. Google, Yahoo).

Etienne said...

n.n said......with the knowledge that your privacy is not assured, and data can be accessed and exploited.

Having had my laptop stolen in an office burglary, I can tell you that I no longer believe in local storage, or advocate it as a secure method.

Besides, it is simple to encrypt before store. AES 256 encryption is authorized for up to Top Secret in the military. It will be good enough for your recipes and love letters.

Big Mike said...

A few years ago one of my friends did some research on cloud security. It’s about as secure as using blue painters tape to lock your door instead of a deadbolt.

PaoloP said...

I don't know what you think about videos like the following one; for me they are scary. It means that liberals feel free and entitled to manipulate information according to their "superior" worldview.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUtr7fNwagg

I am not American, but of course twitter is used everywhere, as FB and YT are. Things like this remind me when dezinformácija in my country - where the PCI was the most important Communist party in the west - was a serious factor to consider.
Today information is immeasurably more pervasive.

chuck said...

Twitter "shadow banning" is what bothers me most. Open censorship is one thing, secret censorship is something else. ISTM that the whole point of shadow banning is keep the banned people from being able to defend themselves, keeping them ignorant of the charges against them, ignorant even that there *are* charges against them. There is something distinctly nasty about the whole idea.

Howard said...

Conservatives believe that corporations are people and spending on politics is free speech. Twittler, a private corporation, has every right to filter out politics they don't like. They also have a right to try and hide behind plausible deniability. Thye funny thing is they are hoisted on their own gallows because they can't ban the President.

This is what a free society looks like. Get over it and create your own super mega successful conservative tech companies and beat them at their own game instead of pissing and moaning about how the librul pussies are cleaning your clock and stealing your lunch money.

Etienne said...

Big Mike said...It’s about as secure as using blue painters tape to lock your door instead of a deadbolt.

The "cloud" is more than painters tape, and the deadbolt is what burglars call "whitey locks".

Here's a test - put your laptop and a piece of paper with your cloud password on a park bench. See which one is stolen first.

Howard said...

The first amendment protects private entities and people to filter speech and to filter their associations. You can't handle the truth

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

10:31 Bruce H

"So, a bunch of SJWs run around getting triggered by anything to the right of Crooked Hillary Clinton, claiming that it incites violence, or just isn’t very nice, or whatever, and Twitter dutifully bans the object of their ire...."

We live in an age where actual LEFTWING violence is ignored and swept under the rug (one single ie: Congressional baseball shooter was a LEFTIST) but if Trump dare call out the hacks in the press as liars and "enemy of the people" the left collectively faint and scream in unison "Trump is inspiring violence."

All while mask wearing Antifa burn another car.

TRISTRAM said...

the truly irritating thing about the twitter shadow ban algorithm is it is a heckler's veto. It drop relevance if a lot of people block you. HOWEVER, it doesn't appear to be if other people who have blocked the same person as you block this person, but rather a global downgrade. This is a big deal. If it is saying a lot of people who block / follow the same people as you also block this person, well that is like Netflix Recommendations. But to downgrade for EVERYONE is banning. It lets the intolerant determine the overton window.

F' Jack and F' twitter.

Big Mike said...

The question is, at what point should social media de facto monopolies become equivalent to utilities that need regulation? Do we have measurable, objective criteria against which this can be evaluated? Unlike Roger Zimmerman, I think this is a far from simple question. In fact the only place where I think he and I might (perhaps!) agree is that if Twitter teams with Facebook and/or Google and/or Microsoft and/or Apple go create barriers to entry for a potential Twitter competitor, then the DOJ antitrust division should descend on them like a truckload of bricks.

TRISTRAM said...

the truly irritating thing about the twitter shadow ban algorithm is it is a heckler's veto. It drop relevance if a lot of people block you. HOWEVER, it doesn't appear to be if other people who have blocked the same person as you block this person, but rather a global downgrade. This is a big deal. If it is saying a lot of people who block / follow the same people as you also block this person, well that is like Netflix Recommendations. But to downgrade for EVERYONE is banning. It lets the intolerant determine the overton window.

F' Jack and F' twitter.

Howard said...

dickinbimbo loves to wallow in her victim status. Libruls are too strong, smart and powerful for her. Turn off Fox news, get your lazy ass off the davenport and make the changes you want happen. Don't expect others to do what you want because reasons.

Howard said...

fucking don't use twitter, problem solved. Conservatives want free markets and invisible hand jobs except when people who work harder are successful at marginalizing their dying superstitions, then regulations are good

Howard said...

How can libruls be weak sisters and scary boogermen at the same time?

Big Mike said...

Howard does not grasp the concept of artificial barriers to entry.

TRISTRAM said...

Re: my complaints about the twitter downgrade algo, it is certainly true that global relevance is easier to compute, and so has better performance that relevance based on like minded. HOWEVER, like minded relevance would seem to be more valuable, and useful for, say, marketing, so it seems really, really unlikely that Twitter isn't already calculating this at some level.

Thus the shadow ban IS left leaning and discriminatory.

narciso said...

The problem is I don't trust the regulators anymore than I trust dorsey or zuckerberg

mtrobertslaw said...

In deciding to banning a tweet, "we don't look at content as regards to political viewpoint or ideology." Instead, "We look at behavior as a signal" we add to relevance.

If Jack Dorsey had been asked to define "behavior", I think he would have replied something like this: "The meaning of "behavior" is so well understood by the public it makes no sense to be asked to define it. The question itself is foolish." Another question that could have been asked is how do you add "behavior as a signal" to "relevance". What is the sum of this addition problem?

Howard said...

Big Mike: No, I get it. That's why all that is wrong in the black community is their fault and why conservatives lose their voice on private channels are liberals fault.

By your logic, smith and wesson should provide free firearms because 2nd amendment

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Howard - Twitter is a platform for speech.

Yeah sure fine - make Twitter leftwing only. Next - maybe you leftists can get your white rich proggy only bathrooms.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Sounds like due process is missing and should be implemented.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Howard - care to address the fake outrage over fake hate by the SJWers? The anti-free speech movement is ALL on the left.



Howard said...

boinkingbimbos want's to nationalize twitter google facebook etc just like Hugo Chavez.

Howard said...

Normal-size Mike: due process only applies to government, not private enterprise, if you believe in free market capitalism.

Your socialism is showing, better get a longer skirt

Jim at said...

I'm not sure what's worse:
He believes the shit he's peddling or he expects the rest of us to believe the shit he's peddling.

Etienne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jim at said...

Those complaining about who/what Twitter allows to be published should get a life.

Bake the damn cake, sir.

Sprezzatura said...

"P.S. All my files are stored on the mainframe Google Drive. Fast, Efficient, Secure.

I can access this data anywhere in the world, on multiple workstations, laptops, and smart phones (and have).

For my lazy friends I use the Dropbox mainframe."

Since these two options seem focused on personal stuff, IOW there's no need for a more complex system that is specifically built for biz-stuff-sharing re multiple folks working multiple stuffs, and lots of access rules: I'd also add the Microsoft product, Onedrive. Miles better than Dropbox. IMHO.

Sprezzatura said...

BTW,

Jack got into trouble for being supportive of the chicken place that's closed today.

But, his bank replacement company never stopped running tons of promos re God's favorite chicken.

n.n said...

Etienne:

it is simple to encrypt before store

It depends on purpose. Encrypting or otherwise securing information is not simple, it is burdensome, and is usually avoided. Also, there is the matter of possession. Storing information on external servers has advantages and disadvantages.

Birkel said...

Publishers can be sued for comments they allow that are defamatory.
Let a thousand lawsuits flourish and reduce Twitter to what it deserves to be.
That is the free market response.

As soon as Twitter starts making distinctions between hate speech and other speech, they give themselves billions of deep-pocket lawsuits.

Stupid flippin' lawyers.

stevew said...

Why is he obliged, or does he feel obliged, to evaluate and manage speech on the platform? I'll give you no more than 3 guesses. Hint: it has nothing to do with the principle of free speech.

-sw

Darkisland said...

Etienne,

And when you don’t have an internet connection, as I don't 30% of the time (on the road, in a client, on a plane) how do you access your data in the cloud?

Or, when I was 4 months without access in my office after Maria. Suggestions for accessing cloud data?

John Henry

John Henry

Michael The Magnificent said...

Ever wonder why leftists think it's perfectly okay to force a cake baker into bankruptcy when he won't decorate a cake for a homosexual "wedding" yet at the same time think it's okay to passively-aggressively shadow-ban (i.e. silence) a right wing viewpoint on Twitter, Facebook, or Youtube?

Well wonder no more. It's because they are flaming hypocritical assholes.

Ray - SoCal said...

Chuck uses Linux?

Wow - Not what I expected.

Linux is something I would like to run, but I don’t feel techie enough to do so.

Brave keeps on improving.

Darkisland said...

Twitter alternatives

Gab.ai

Mastadon.social

There is soething called Minds.com that just went live Monday. Seems to combine Facebook Twitter and blockchain features but I've not yet looked at ir closely.

John Henry

chuck said...

> Chuck uses Linux?

chuck with a small "c" uses Linux, has done to 19+ years. I don't miss the days when I needed to patch and compile the printer driver in order to use to my dot matrix printer.

Michael The Magnificent said...

By your logic, smith and wesson should provide free firearms because 2nd amendment

Actually, Congress is granted the power and obligation to provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the Militia, in Article 1, Section 8. As a member of the unorganized militia, I am overdue on the delivery of my M1A2 Abrams tank, and all nine yards of ammunition.

Drago said...

Howardl: "fucking don't use twitter, problem solved."

Get your wedding cake somewhere else!!

Every lefty everywhere in complete unison: Shut 'em down! Sue 'en!! Put the "haters" out of business!!!


Anonymous said...

Re Dorsey: Talk is cheap. Let's see how their censor ship works before we get all excited about him.

Big Mike said...

@Howard, there are numerous gun manufacturers out there, which would lead any reasonable person to conclude that there are low barriers to entry in that field. This is in contrast with social media, which — apparently! — has high barriers to entry.

Nor am I arguing for free access to social media. That’s a pathetically weak straw man, if not a non sequitur. I am, however, suggesting that they be considered akin to regulated utilities. Verizon cannot say that they are a private company and if they don’t want to provide phone service to Big Mike and other conservatives, that’s their business. They cannot do do as s matter of law. Ditto my gas and electric companies.

Howard said...

Blogger Drago said...

Howardl: "fucking don't use twitter, problem solved."

Get your wedding cake somewhere else!!

Every lefty everywhere in complete unison: Shut 'em down! Sue 'en!! Put the "haters" out of business!!!


The cake guy won, Drago. You people have the same option to fight back against twater, goodle and friendface but you too lazy, stupid weak ass poorly organized whiny ass bitches. So instead, you cry to Mother Althouse and Father Glenn because you want a new federal bureaucracy to regulate the shit out of tech companies.

Howard said...

Big Mike: OK. Thanks for being clear. I actually agree that google facebook twitter and instagram are like public utilities. I think they are making a big mistake by banning trogs, including infowars. This will invite regulation if republicans can stretch out their hold on the three branches of government. The problem is political hacks like the FCC becomes the arbiter of what is acceptable. Once someone like Pokeahontas is POTUS and appoints lefty tech executives to the new social media regulatory commission, then you will see real censorship.

narciso said...

alex jones, but Farrakhan, and Militant anarchists are ok, could they be anymore transparent,

Drago said...

Howard: "The cake guy won, Drago."

LOL

They are already going after him again for a transgendered cake, and when you read the description of what the buyer wanted you will see that this is another (about 3 or 4 by now) direct attacks on the cakeshop.

So, perhaps your time would be better spend telling your buddies on the left to let it go, because they are not, and they are clearly not going to stop until they get what they want, which they have made clear is that cakeshop put out of business.

Again.

As always.

Ad infinitum.

chuck said...

The cake guy won, Drago.

And is now under renewed government assault. Colorado has been going totalitarian left for the last 30 years. It is a shame...

Mark said...

"I am, however, suggesting that they be considered akin to regulated utilities. "

Didn't the right fight hard against Obama trying to make the Internet akin to a utility, until the Trump FCC killed that proposal?

How will Google be a utility if your connection to the internet is not?

Roger Zimmerman said...

Samurai Buzzard:

"I'm not a retarded panglossian who believes that boots stomping on faces are only a problem if the foot in the boot belongs to a government employee. "

This is what happens when you refuse to think in principles. That Twitter is a "boot stomping on face", when it won't print your opinion is absurd. Or Visa not giving you a credit card (as if). First-World problems, anyone?

The rest of that rant is also perfectly emblematic of philosophical pragmatism, which is to say, the view that principles must be banished in favor of whatever "works" in the short term, in this case, to punish ones ideological enemies.

What is left in place of principle is simply: will-to-power. Which apparently assumes that ones own side will be the ones perpetually in control of the power levers. Good luck with that, especially when you can so easily be shown to be a hypocrite.

P.S. No one should ever have to bake anyone a cake. And, "anti-discrimination" law is a violation of freedom of association. Can I be more clear?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Howard said
boinkingbimbos want's to nationalize twitter google facebook etc just like Hugo Chavez.

That doesn't even begin to make sense.
Try again.

Esp because it is leftwingers who like fascistic dictators taking over all forms of commerce.

MeatPopscicle1234 said...

I just an a thought this morning when I woke up... What if the social media platforms are also shadow-censoring conservative "Get out the Vote" efforts? I was out of town for work when our state held its primaries, but I don't recall getting any kind of notification or update, like I have in past years, about the date or where my polling place is. I didn't even realize it was the day, until I started seeing all of my liberal connections on FB posting about how they voted.

I think this could explain at least some of the significant drop in turnout for Republicans compared to 2016... Any thoughts? Is there any way we can verify or test this?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

I give Howard credit for weaponizing "socialism" with a slingshot. LOLZ credit.

Howard said...

OK Drago, you people have all three branches of the federals and most statehouses and governorships, so do the same thing to twatter. It's within your rights. Fr5eedom ain't free, you ghotta fight for it. Sometimes you have to be willing to get firehosed and dog-bit to get what you want.

Howard said...

I get it. The Cons are complaining about being treated as if they were Black. White privilege don't exist until you start to lose it.

Big Mike said...

The problem is political hacks like the FCC becomes the arbiter of what is acceptable. Once someone like Pokeahontas is POTUS and appoints lefty tech executives to the new social media regulatory commission, then you will see real censorship.

Absolutely true. So the rule has to be simple: no censorship at all.

The Crack Emcee said...

johnhenry100 said...

"The problem is, who gets to decide who gets to say what?"

You guys keep framing it this way when it's not the issue at all: Let reality decide. If supplements are a racket, then peddlers are criminals. If homeopathy is water, stop allowing it to be sold. It's common sense. It's also good sense.

There's not need to assign anyone to figure it out. It's reality. The fact so many fight it says everything about ther racial views found here as well.

The Crack Emcee said...

johnhenry100 said...

"I've done work for some of them, helping them run their plants better. (Teaching their employees to be lazy)

Should I have not done that?"

You know the answer to that, and, if you don't, then explain why the United Kingdom has shut homeopathy down. You were engaged in fraud, no matter how you try to word it.

The Crack Emcee said...

If anybody wants to understand the fraud I'm describing, start here: How the Dietary Supplement
Health and Education Act of 1994 Weakened the FDA


We've been taken for a ride by a kooky cast of characters, determined to lure us into their delusions. I'm just as determined to keep us out.

The Crack Emcee said...

In 1926, Houdini Spent 4 Days Shaming Congress for Being in Thrall to Fortune-Tellers

And you still haven't learned a damned thing.

Drago said...

Howard: "I get it. The Cons are complaining about being treated as if they were Black."

That was a predictable fall back position to take.

PuertoRicoSpaceport.com said...

Blogger Big Mike said...

Howard does not grasp the concept of artificial barriers to entry.

So what is the barrier to entry for a Twitter competitor? I suspect that I could set up a Twitter look alike in my home office for $1,000 or so. It can't be that much harder than running maillist software which I did in the 90s.

What is much harder to do is to get a million or so subscribers. What is even harder to do is make money at it. Does Twitter? Are they profitable?

remember back in the 90s everyone was gonna be the next Amazon? There were dozens of people imitating Jeff Bezo's idea of selling books and CDs on the internet. Other than an internet connection and an ability to take CC orders, there was nothing needed to sell online. Advertise the books, get the order, and get Bergman(?) to drop ship it directly to your customer. They were happy to do so.

Are any of these folks still around?

What it would take to do another Twitter would be some event to make people leave Twitter but look for something else. There are at least 2 viable alternatives but not many people use them because not many people use them.

Suppose President Trump comes out tomorrow and says:

"I'm concerned about Twitter and their political message massaging. I am very concerned about shadowbanning. However, there is no role for the govt to play here. It is up to users (products) to let their displeasure be known.

I've decided to stop Tweeting. From now on you can find me on Gab.ai. Feel free to repost my Gabs to Twitter but I am closing my Twitter account.

Oh, yeah, another thing: Bing.com will be the default search engine for all govt computers from now on. Folks can still use Google but the default will be Bing for search and Dragon or Firefox for browsing."

Do you think Gab might get some traction?

John Henry

PuertoRicoSpaceport.com said...

Blogger Howard said...

The cake guy won, Drago.

He did, Howard? Then why is Colorado dragging him back through the courts for the same offense?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2018/08/15/baker-claims-religious-persecution-again-this-time-after-denying-cake-for-transgender-woman/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.c2b5671097b9

What does "winning" mean, Howard?

John Henry

The Crack Emcee said...

‘It was devastating to a child’: Glenn Close opens up on living in ‘cult’ with parents for 15 years

Shut up, Bitch. As this Catholic fiasco proves, these fools are more concerned with whether blacks kneel to the flag than whether the flag protects it's children.

Drago said...

Crack: "If supplements are a racket, then peddlers are criminals. If homeopathy is water, stop allowing it to be sold. It's common sense. It's also good sense."

Start a non-profit advocacy group to advance your positions. Gather like-minded people to raise awareness and draw govt attention to it.

But then, I lost you at get off ypur rear and at least fill out some paperwork, didnt I?

The Crack Emcee said...

Today's NYT: Vitamin D, the Sunshine Supplement, Has Shadowy Money Behind It

And every man's got his price, heh, John Henry?

The Crack Emcee said...

Drago said...

"Start a non-profit advocacy group to advance your positions. Gather like-minded people to raise awareness and draw govt attention to it."

Because all that is needed to recognize reality. Y'all's crazy.

PuertoRicoSpaceport.com said...


Blogger The Crack Emcee said...

You guys keep framing it this way when it's not the issue at all: Let reality decide. If supplements are a racket, then peddlers are criminals. If homeopathy is water, stop allowing it to be sold. It's common sense. It's also good sense.

there you go making my case for me again. Who gets to decide if supplements are a racket? You? Nope.

On what basis would you decide?


There's not need to assign anyone to figure it out. It's reality. The fact so many fight it says everything about their racial views found here as well.

Not sure what that means but one way to read it is that I, as an individual, get to decide what I want to ingest into my body. Not you, via the govt. Govt regulates safety and I am OK with that.

That is the reality. I decide what I do, not you. My body, my choice. If I am too stupid to realize it is phony, perhaps you should try to educate me. In the end it is still MY choice, not yours.

John Henry

The Crack Emcee said...

Rudy Giuliani says Trump is 'honest' because facts are 'in the eye of the beholder'

The lunatics have taken over the asylum.

The Crack Emcee said...

PuertoRicoSpaceport.com said...

"Who gets to decide if supplements are a racket?"

There's this thing called "science" - it doesn't need you.

The Crack Emcee said...

PuertoRicoSpaceport.com said...

"My body, my choice."

This is not about your choice but whether or not we're running a criminal organization.

Birkel said...

If Twitter exercises editorial control, they are liable for defamation on their platform.

I look forward to their bankruptcy litigation.

Birkel said...

Pre-natal vitamins are the worst.
Right, TCE?

The Crack Emcee said...

Hey, John Henry, I did some digging years ago in Mitt Romney and Nutraceutical years ago. Not good. You were involved in a fraud - criminality – the deliberate intention to mislead and exploit. Here are but a few of the criminals I found behind the industry's beginnings.

I'm surprised you're willing to admit such a shady past.




narciso said...

it's not like we get enough exposure to the sun, it's like the caves of steel, in some places,

The Crack Emcee said...

Birkel said...

"Pre-natal vitamins are the worst.
Right, TCE?"

I'm not going to address stupidity. Take it up with someone who wants to waste time with your nonsensical distractions.

PuertoRicoSpaceport.com said...

Blogger The Crack Emcee said...


You know the answer to that, and, if you don't, then explain why the United Kingdom has shut homeopathy down. You were engaged in fraud, no matter how you try to word it.

My conscience doesn't bother me even a little bit. I don't drink and would prefer that nobody drank alcohol. I still do a fair amount of work in breweries, wineries and distilleries with no twinge to my conscience.

If you really see me engaging in fraud then your only rational response is enmity. I would hope we can disagree here and still be friends. Or at least not enemies.

I've never worked with homeopathic products but if they ever ask me to, my only question will be "Will their check clear?"

I don't know how they are made but I am assuming they are regulated like any food/nutritonal supplement. That would mean that the water is not harming anyone. Not doing them any good, perhaps, but it is not harming them.

Do you think the people buying homeopathic products don't know what they are buying? Do you think they don't know that they are buying water? How is it fraud if they want to do this.

Homeopathy is based on belief. Should we start shutting down religions because you don't like their beliefs? You seem to agitate for shutting down Scientology. Then what, all the AME churches? B'Hai Temples? Synagogues? Latter Day Saints? SDA?

You don't believe in them, fine with me. You want stand in front of the churchs etc and rant about how people are crazy for believing? I have no problem.

You want to use force (either private or govt) to shut them down? You and I have a serious problem.

So are you willing to kill people to keep them from making homeopathic drugs? Because if you aren't you aren't really serious. Eric Garner was killed by law enforcement because he would not stop selling selling loosies.

ALL regulations and laws are effective only because, when taken to extremes, the govt can and will kill you.

John Henry

The Crack Emcee said...

PuertoRicoSpaceport.com said...

"I've never worked with homeopathic products but if they ever ask me to, my only question will be "Will their check clear?""

Ladies and Gentlemen, you shall know them by their standards.

The Crack Emcee said...

I don't want to hear anything about black criminals out of you people.

PuertoRicoSpaceport.com said...

Blogger The Crack Emcee said...

And every man's got his price, heh, John Henry?

I don't know about every man but I sure do. As long as they pay my daily rate and don't ask me to do anything illegal, I'll be happy to take their money for anything they want me to do.

As far as I know, I've never worked for a company that was operating illegally or making an illegal product.

I have turned down 2 projects in recent years from companies that make cannabis products. They seem to be operating legally under their state laws. But they may (or may not) be violating federal law.

I think MJ should be legal federally but until it is, why take a chance?

John Henry

The Crack Emcee said...

Death by Herbalism: “It’s dressed-up quackery isn’t it?”

Good job, John Henry. Keep encouraging it.

The Crack Emcee said...

Omega-3 supplements are useless and terrible for the environment.

How can you live in a country that claims to respect science but still ignorantly say "My body my choice" like you're a doctor?

Drago said...

Crack Emcee: "I don't want to hear anything about black criminals out of you people."

Black criminals tend to be black.

And criminals.

Now, far be it from me to explicitly make note of that, as these indiduals might very well identify as Asian high school valedictorians who cannt gain entrance to Harvard due to actual and real discrimination on the basis of race by leftists.

PuertoRicoSpaceport.com said...

Crack,

Alcohol is far worse for a person than any nutraceuticals.

Would you ban alcohol?

As I said, I will work for anyone making a legal product. (As long as I think they will pay me)

I once represented a company made wonderful bottle filling machines. The founder of the company had been something of a lush. His son, who was running the company when I worked for them, refused to sell any machine that would be used in the manufacture of any alcoholic product.

I thought that was taking it a bit far, especially as I had a winery on the hook that really wanted to buy a filler from me. But, his company, his policies.

john Henry

The Crack Emcee said...

Drago said...

White people are criminals.

And hypocrites.

The Crack Emcee said...

PuertoRicoSpaceport.com said...
Crack,

Alcohol is far worse for a person than any nutraceuticals.

Would you ban alcohol?

Nobody's lying when they buy a beer.

Quit wiggling, John Henry, you're a criminal. I don't trust your word. You've given me no reason to.

PuertoRicoSpaceport.com said...

Blogger The Crack Emcee said...

Death by Herbalism: “It’s dressed-up quackery isn’t it?”

Good job, John Henry. Keep encouraging it.

I looked at the link, I think you are confused.

That's alternative medicine, not nutraceuticals, manufactured under FDA approval for safety.

John Henry

PuertoRicoSpaceport.com said...

Crack,

I'll believe you are serious when you post some pics of leading a demo outside a GNC store.

I suspect that Alex Jones sells about 1/2 of 1% of the volume they do in their 3,000 or so stores.

So rave on. But if you are serious, do something.

John Henry

The Crack Emcee said...

PuertoRicoSpaceport.com said...

"As long as they pay my daily rate and don't ask me to do anything illegal, I'll be happy to take their money for anything they want me to do."

You would have made a good Nazi.

The Crack Emcee said...

nazis were supporters of supplements and homeopathy, BTW. Made a special place for them in the Reich. Just like y'all are trying to do here:

"The new Germany considers it politically necessary to proceed in the verification of all phenomena whatsoever. However, certain physicians have not hesitated to attack and reject not only new therapies but also others whose origins go back to a distant past - as is today the case with homeopathy — without even making the effort to subject these therapies to serious examination. For this reason, I have taken under my protection the XII International Congress of Homeopathy in Berlin, to express the interest of the National Socialist State in all modes of therapies that are useful to the people´s health."

-- Dr. Rudolph Hess, opening the international congress of the Homeopathic Society in the name of the Führer, on 8 August 1937.

Drago said...

Crack: "You would have made a good Nazi"

Wow, that minimum threshold for being a nazi just keeps getting lower and lower.

In about 15 minutes, being unwilling to finish your grape popsicle will be the primary death camp guard criterion.

Now, had that popsicle been lime, you probably would be okay. But no, it was grape, so nazi you are!....

Birkel said...

Wait!
I thought all vitamins are criminal.
And SCIENCE says so.

Are you, TCE, admitting pre-natal vitamins are the one exception that proves the rule?
Best if you do not attempt an argument against me.
You’re clearly not up to the task.

Stick to your non-falsifiable schtick.

The Crack Emcee said...

PuertoRicoSpaceport.com said...

"I'll believe you are serious when you post some pics of leading a demo outside a GNC store."

Me and lots of other people have done more than that for decades, no thanks to you:

CVS Sued by CFI for Fraud Over Sale of Homeopathic Medicines

Drago said...

Crack Emcee: "nazis were supporters of supplements and homeopathy, BTW."

And ice cream.

And long walks along tree-studded boulevards.

And pets! Let's not forget they were big on pets.

And strudel!! My God, the STRUDEL!

The Crack Emcee said...

Birkel said...
Wait!
I thought all vitamins are criminal.
And SCIENCE says so.

You're stupid, Birkel

PuertoRicoSpaceport.com said...

Blogger The Crack Emcee said...


Quit wiggling, John Henry, you're a criminal

Now that is a pretty specific charge and you have really crossed a line. For someone to be a criminal, they have to have committed a crime, to commit a crime, one has to violate a law. Probably libelous. Chuck, are you taking on new clients?

WHAT LAW HAVE I VIOLATED, CRACK

Unless you can cite a state or federal law I have violated, you must retract calling me a "criminal" and apologize.

John Henry

Francisco D said...

"Conservatives believe that corporations are people and spending on politics is free speech.

Howard,

Both statements are quite true. Google the origins of the term "corporation."

Spending on politics is EXACTY why we have a First Amendment.

That said, I agree with the rest of your post. Private corporations have the right to censor speech. I will not patronize those companies because I celebrate the spirit of free speech.

Drago said...

JH: "Now that is a pretty specific charge and you have really crossed a line. For someone to be a criminal, they have to have committed a crime, to commit a crime, one has to violate a law. Probably libelous. Chuck, are you taking on new clients?"

Chuck is busy tracking down Brennan to offer up encouragement and his services in advancing Brennan's hilarious on-again, off-again treason charges.

The Crack Emcee said...

Drago said...

"And strudel!! My God, the STRUDEL!"

Didn't make a special place for it. Also had yoga in the concentration camps for the guards. Considering what we know about yoga now, doesn't that make as much sense as a narcissism epidemic just as all these studios have opened?

I've heard your stupidity a billion times before. It stays stupid.

PuertoRicoSpaceport.com said...

Now that I think of it, it gets even worse!

The FEDERAL GOVERNMENT is giving me supplements (Vitamin B and D) and hounding me into taking them daily.

Federal govt = Veterans Administration. Hounding = followup calls to see if I am taking my meds.

So now the VA is a National Socialist organization? Who knew.

John Henry

The Crack Emcee said...

PuertoRicoSpaceport.com said...

"Now that is a pretty specific charge and you have really crossed a line. For someone to be a criminal, they have to have committed a crime, to commit a crime, one has to violate a law."

Not if you were in Germany and killing Jews. This is no different. I know you criminals worked the law - DSHEA - worked it good. I know the history. You're still criminals. You said yourself, it's just about money to you.



PuertoRicoSpaceport.com said...

Drago,

I didn't really expect Chuck to be available. I made the comment tongue in cheek.

But just imagine how awesome it would be to get Chuck and Crack in a courtroom arguing opposite sides of the argument that I am a criminal for helping legal businesses.

I could do pay per view and make millions, I tells ya!

John Henry

Drago said...

JH: "I didn't really expect Chuck to be available. I made the comment tongue in cheek."

My comment about your comment about Chuck being available was also tongue in cheek...knowing as I did that your comment was tongue in cheeks.

Bottom line: lots of tongues in cheeks as we make our way to the end of a weekend.

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