April 26, 2022

People I've never heard of are making a show of deactivating their Twitter account, and Libs of TikTok is amplifying their voice (which, I guess, is annoying to them).

Of course, self-censorship is a tic of the left. 

It's also characteristic of the left to want to avoid having to hear from the other side. The preference is to censor the other side, but they would prefer to up and move than to have to be confronted with things they don't agree with. (I have personal experience with this phenomenon: It explains my comments section.)

125 comments:

wendybar said...

This is what you are talking about in a nutshell...

https://i2.wp.com/www.powerlineblog.com/ed-assets/2022/04/Screen-Shot-2022-04-25-at-5.00.22-PM.png?w=986&ssl=1

RideSpaceMountain said...

On reddit last night, people were saying that Musk should adopt a policy of temporarily removing temporary deactivation (which is what these are) of their accounts, with attendant destruction of their account data and verification status.

Nice signaling pussies. Put your money where your front hole is, leave Twitter. What? Oh right...you can't because you're addicted. Pathetic.

gilbar said...

f*cked up, skuzzy old womyn deactivating their accounts.
NOTE: This is a FEATURE, Not a FLAW

seriously; did/will twitter numbers go UP? or DOWN? I'm thinking that for Every Rabid leftie that leaves; there will be five new members joining up...

gilbar said...

i WOULD miss the Libs of TikTock; so i hope those people stay there

Enigma said...

@Althouse wrote: "It's also characteristic of the left to want to avoid having to hear from the other side. The preference is to censor the other side, but they would prefer to up and move than to have to be confronted with things they don't agree with. (I have personal experience with this phenomenon: It explains my comments section.)"

Several comments:

1. With politics moving to boys-versus-girls voting blocs in recent decades, the left has become a proxy for traditional female-oriented relationships and problem solving strategies. Worldwide, females tend to avoid direct confrontations and work in the shadows and back alleys to win. Worldwide, males tend to be direct and confrontational. Pelosi vs. Trump.

2. Censorship and self-censorship reveals that limited self-awareness is profoundly dysfunctional in the social media era. In the past many clueless folks would keep their mouths shut in social settings to avoid humiliation or being crushed in a debate. Not today, they just speak into the little magic media box without any awareness of distribution or who might see it. Those who cognitively fail in one way are prone to fail 10 more ways.

3. I found this site and remain here because you are routinely referenced as a nonconformist or heretic...or at least open to things you don't agree with. A political party says what it says then parrots itself endlessly. That's both boring and anti-growth or anti-adaptation. Numb-headed conformists play intellectual "Chicken" and die as fools. Lemmings will be lemmings.
]

Original Mike said...

"It explains my comments section."

I guessed it was because you didn't throw us out. But it's because they leave? Interesting.

Leland said...

I noticed Twitter has blocked “upgrades” to the system. I guess that might make it a little harder to sabotage. What is the over/under for days until Trump’s return?

Lurker21 said...

1) Talk less and people will think you're Eva Longoria for a little while longer before concluding you're just another nutty suburban mom whose been day drinking.

Who's driving while you're TikToking and what does he/she think of your act?

2) Get out into the world and use it before you lose it, big beautiful Black woman

3) How about deactivating those piercings? Somebody could get hurt.

4) See #2.

5) Really, one Whoopi Goldberg is more than enough in this world.

Leland said...

Sorry, reading the posts late and top to bottom. I see the over/under now.

RNB said...

And move to Canada?

gilbar said...

i just spent the weekend at a family reunion with my (nearly all) leftie cousins..
Needless to say
a) i was expected to Sit and Listen to their raves
b) they would get up in a huff, and leave if i said anything remotely political
c) the leftie cousins Assumed, that:
..1) anyone that didn't speak up, supported them
..2) anyone that DID speak up, was a Qanon fascist that should SHUT The HELL UP

tim in vermont said...

Twitter won't be the same without Talcum X to. dunk on.

Temujin said...

Seems like the Musk purchase has already triggered a self-cleaning mode on Twitter. Fantastic. Imagine being on the Left and thinking Elon Musk is akin to Joseph Stalin. If ever you needed an argument against public schools...

This 'people jumping off' reminds me a bit of the sign hanging in the hallway of the football team at Michigan. "Those who stay will be champions". It hasn't worked out well for Michigan football, but I hope it might work out for Twitter. Those who stay may be involved in actual online debates with two sides proffering their ideas.

I signed up with Twitter in it's earliest days, then deleted my account within days seeing how much of a time-suck and an enlarged screaming match it would become. I've never considered signing up again. I'm still not inclined to do so. But I do hope Musk can turn it around, improve it, and open it up.

Wince said...

AOC popularized using one's eyes to look off to the side before uttering what's supposed to be a profound insight spoken into a selfie video.

It's like Fred Barnes popularizing the word "Look," before every attempt at making a bottom line point on the network talking head shows.

"Look" and "Look Away," as it were.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Hilarious listening to leftists call people Stalin.

Ralph L said...

Nothing explains your comments section.

tim in vermont said...

The Democrats have been sheltering themselves from genuine feedback, and it is looking to cost them dearly. Musk may be doing them a huge favor with this bracing blast of new information. Obviously the left bought off the Drudge Report, shutting down that avenue of critical feedback with billionaire money, now they are getting played by their own game, and it would be good for America if the Democrats came back to reality.

Freder Frederson said...

The preference is to censor the other side, but they would prefer to up and move than to have to be confronted with things they don't agree with. (I have personal experience with this phenomenon: It explains my comments section.)

If you truly believe this bullshit, you are a bigger narcissist than even I thought.

Your comments section has become a cesspool of right wing conspiracy theories because certain commenters are vicious jerks who just revel in insulting anyone they disagree with. At some point arguing with these people is pointless, because you will be accused of being a "groomer", a fan of kiddie porn, or be subjected to comments about how much they would like to see you strung for a light post or a detailed discussion of the best ammo load for killing progressives.

Even you censor when it suits you. You have an absolute prohibition on the "n-word". And when she who cannot be named shows up, you delete all her comments and every comment that responds to her. Her comments are stupid, but not as stupid as some of your regular commenters. Apparently, you have personal reasons for banning her, but don't get on your high horse and claim you don't censor, or that we (the few lefties still commenting here) just are unwilling to listen to an alternative viewpoint.

Freder Frederson said...

and it would be good for America if the Democrats came back to reality.

Democrats should come back to reality?! That is rich from someone who is convinced that there was massive voter fraud in the 2020 election that resulted in Trump having the election stolen.

hawkeyedjb said...

I remember Jack Dorsey saying, in a congressional hearing, that there is no censorship on Twitter. Now his devotees are threatening to leave if Twitter lets up on the censorship. Sounds like the membership knew the rules better than Jack did.

Howard said...

Ann creates a safe space for deplorables to comment their true feelings. It makes this site an efficient place to learn about the crazy shit the Trumper base is regurgitating on command from Q and RT.

I for one appreciate the residues Althouse filters out of the insane conservative collective unconscious.

Wince said...

They try to project a "I'm still in a good place" vibe when you know they are seething inside.

Freder Frederson said...

Those who stay may be involved in actual online debates with two sides proffering their ideas.

Then again, it might just turn into a bunch of people shouting at each other and hurling insults.

I think my guess is closer to what will actually happen. It will turn into another Gettr or Parler. Or even worse, the joke Truth Social has become.

RoseAnne said...

Your comments section has become a cesspool of right wing conspiracy theories because certain commenters are vicious jerks who just revel in insulting anyone they disagree with

When I first read this I thought it ironic because the poster is insulting those he disagrees with as "vicious jerks" when his complaint appears to be insulting people you disagree with is "why" the comments section is a cesspool.

Then I read it again and found it to be inclusive because "right wing conspiracy theories" could also be taken to mean "conspiracy theories about the right wing" is "why" the comments section is a cesspool.

Tina Trent said...

Anthony Romero, head of the ACLU, came out and said that *while they support free speech* he is *concerned* about this much power invested in one person.

Meanwhile, Elon Musk is just following the script for the last season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

RoseAnne said...

Ann creates a safe space for deplorables to comment their true feelings

Quite possibly calling voters "deplorables" cost Hillary the election in 2016. I imagine her focus group thought it was clever, but people don't like to be insulted.

Lilly, a dog said...

I vaguely remember a time when insane narcissists were just a kooky, provincial minority. Social media seems to exist solely to magnify these people. I enjoy the curation provided by LibsofTikTok, but she is just as insane as the people she mocks.

Tina Trent said...

Howard, I don't think you are a pedophile, though your anonymity leaves a miniscule possibility open. You could fix that by having the integrity to use your real name. I would have no problem defending you from such claims if I could confirm that you have no criminal record. But you could be anyone. And that is your choice.

You do also misrepresent arguments around sexual grooming in education an awful lot. That doesn't make you a pedophile, but it does make you accusatory rather than rational.

I don't think you are as hateful and destructive as the out leftists, but maybe you are one of them. Again, who knows.

All I know about you is that you act like an asshole to some individuals here, call them names, and then poutingly resort to special pleading when anyone does the same to you. So all I can conclude is that you like doing this.

Gahrie said...

It's also characteristic of the left to want to avoid having to hear from the other side. The preference is to censor the other side, but they would prefer to up and move than to have to be confronted with things they don't agree with.

It's because they can't deal with the cognitive dissonance of reality intruding on the fantasyland the average Lefty lives in.

Inga said...

The comments section here serves the purpose of letting the non extremists know what the extremists are thinking, besides being entertaining in a way. There comes a time when engaging with the majority of people who comment here is simply so distasteful that it’s not worth doing.

tim in vermont said...

The lefty mind guards check in with a torrent of insults and no substance, situation normal.

Gahrie said...

All I know about you is that you act like an asshole to some individuals here, call them names, and then poutingly resort to special pleading when anyone does the same to you. So all I can conclude is that you like doing this.

There is a title for this type of behavior...troll.

Howard said...

I never complained about what you cucks call me Tina. I don't take any of this banter seriously. It's like rattling the monkey cages at a down on its heels private zoo in downtown Tampa in the 1970's.

Gahrie said...

Democrats should come back to reality?! That is rich from someone who is convinced that there was massive voter fraud in the 2020 election that resulted in Trump having the election stolen.

Now do 2000 and 2016.

hawkeyedjb said...

"There comes a time when engaging with the majority of people who comment here is simply so distasteful that it’s not worth doing."

I also find that I'm often unable to muster a cogent argument against something I disagree with. Thank you for saying it more elegantly.

RideSpaceMountain said...

@Inga

I come here for the lulz.

Christopher B said...

Freder Frederson said...
and it would be good for America if the Democrats came back to reality.

Democrats should come back to reality?! That is rich from someone who is convinced that there was massive voter fraud in the 2020 election that resulted in Trump having the election stolen.


President Joe Biden’s strongest supporters are most certain that Russian interference changed the 2016 election, and to fear future interference. Among voters who Strongly Approve of Biden’s job performance as president, 86% believe it’s at least somewhat likely Russian interference changed the outcome of the 2016 presidential election...

Tina Trent said...

I wouldn't know, Howard.

I don't take pleasure in abusing monkeys.

rcocean said...

first of all, no one really cares if the average liberal/leftist stays on twitter. Most of them just spend their time attacking conservatives and Republicans. Second, the "Blue checks" will stay because there's no reason for them to leave. Which is all that really matters.

People on the Left want to produce change in the real world. In summary, they are in interested in "Winning". They're not interested in debate. They consider themselves part of a Movement, and if you're not with them, you're against them.

The Right, OTOH, just wants to debate and talk. They don't even organize to fight back. They pat themselves on the back for being "open minded" and "having a big tent". which means they accomplish zero. which is fine with them.

Sebastian said...

"self-censorship is a tic of the left"

True. Which raises lots of questions. Why should it be a leftist more than a con tic? Hypothesis: the lefty lust for power cannot abide dissent.

"It explains my comments section."

True again. It's one of the few open spaces lefties do not dominate, which is intolerable quite apart from the exposure to toxic deplorability.

ConradBibby said...

Ann correctly notes that the impulse to avoid hearing opposing viewpoints (rather than listen to and confront them) is a tendency of the left. But, to be more precise, is this really more of a FEMALE leftist impulse? I note that all of the folks in the videos announcing their plans to leave Twitter were female (and none of them even attempted a serious explanation for that decision). Then I note that Frederson and Howard, presumably both male leftists, clearly do NOT share the impulse to run and hide when confronted with conservative opinions with which they disagree. Then I note that women comprise a significant majority of Dems as a whole -- something like 56%; and, as the party becomes more and more female, its members seem to favor more and more control restrictions on free speech as well as a certain amount of de facto compelled speech and thought (i.e., cancellation of anyone who reveals themselves as un-woke in their thoughts and sentiments).

I don't claim that the above observations are conclusive of anything, but it does seem, anecdotally, that the biggest drivers of this movement toward totalitarianism are leftist women, and not so much leftists in general.

Gravel said...

I don't see lefties censoring themselves. I do see them censoring each other, based on whatever the Inner Party has declared to be the target of today's Two Minute Hate.

Freder Frederson said...

Now do 2000 and 2016.

I don't remember an attempt to overturn the results of 2000 after the Supreme Court had ruled.

As for 2016, Russian interference in the campaign was real. If you are saying there was no Russian collusion with the Trump campaign, Mueller found that there was indeed contact between the Trump campaign and the Russians (e.g., Don Jr. and Manafort meeting with a Russian asset who claimed to have dirt on Hillary and Manafort giving internal polling data to the Russians). Mueller declared the contacts did not raise to the level of a conspiracy.

To claim there was no "collusion" is simply inaccurate.

Rusty said...

@Althouse wrote: "It's also characteristic of the left to want to avoid having to hear from the other side. The preference is to censor the other side, but they would prefer to up and move than to have to be confronted with things they don't agree with. (I have personal experience with this phenomenon: It explains my comments section.)"
Hmmm. OK.

" Then I note that Frederson and Howard, presumably both male leftists, clearly do NOT share the impulse to run and hide when confronted with conservative opinions with which they disagree."
Until the facts are presented and then they are oddly silent.

Maynard said...

The comments section here serves the purpose of letting the non extremists know what the extremists are thinking, besides being entertaining in a way.

I agree with that statement. Comments from the leftists here give me insight into their emotional reactions. I purposefully do not use the word "thinking" because that appears to be something they rarely engage in.

Iman said...

To all the lefty monkeys on parade commenters… good show! Amusement is good for the soul… especially when accompanied by a good cup of coffee.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Swetnick - your terms are acceptable.

Bye.

oh and - you can go give neck massages to antifa terrorists.

hombre said...

"Their voice?"

What to make of this??

RoseAnne said...

"In January 2017, Reps. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., Barbara Lee, D-Calif., Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, RaĂşl Grijalva, D-Ariz., Maxine Waters, D-Calif., and Jim McGovern, D-Mass., all objected to electoral votes for Trump. Now nearly all of them have joined the chorus against those who objected to votes for Biden."

In addition, Jaimie Raskin was lead in Trump's impeachment hearing and currently sits on the January 6th committee.

Mueller's finding didn't come until 2 years later.

To claim there was no "collusion" is simply inaccurate."

I appreciate you putting "collusion" in quotes because "contact" and "collusion" are obviously not the same thing.

Paul said...

Greeks wrote about free speech. And how it would allow the exchange of ideas AND allow you to confront others who used 'disinformation' and lies.

Censorship, on the other hand, can be used to keep you from exchanging ideas or allowing you to confront others who used 'disinformation' and lies.

The far left do not want others to confront them... simple as that. Stalin, Mao, and Hitler would be pleased.

William50 said...

Inga said...

The comments section here serves the purpose of letting the non extremists know what the extremists are thinking..

I think this portion of your statement can be applied to both sides.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Freder-
80% of democrats think 2016 election was stolen from it's rightful owner - Hillary. Rightful owner.
Stolen by Putin and Trump.

Did you read the Mueller report?

Do you pay attention to what is really going on?

You think the Biden family are clean? regarding Hunter's deals using his dad's VP power connections... All is fine?

MadisonMan said...

All the people in that TikTok are women.

Stephen said...

It's characteristic of the *left* not to want to hear from the other side? As compared to whom, exactly? The right?

Spare me.

Why have I been reading you all these years? And even reading your comments, looking for right wing arguments that actually make sense or that show respect for those of us on the left as people and thinkers (and sadly, not finding much if any).

To be clear, when I went into your comments after the election to take on the big lie that the election had been stolen, I found that virtually no one was able to take in, or give any weight to, the facts that didn't fit with their world view. And that they didn't have much to offer to support their own position that made any sense. And that people who had been heroes, like Bill Barr or Mitch McConnell, became traitors as soon as they allowed that Biden had fairly won the election. And that the main mode of response to me was ad hominem argument.

The left doesn't like to read opposing views? To return to your commenters, so many of whom routinely tell you that they would never read The New York Times or the Washington post?! And who question your judgment or even your character in doing so?

And what do you make of the studies that show while both the right and the left tend to get their news from different sources, those on the right rely strongly on Fox, while those on the left draw from a much broader range of sources, including the Times, the Post, CNN, NPR, etc. https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2014/10/21/section-1-media-sources-distinct-favorites-emerge-on-the-left-and-right/

Tell me yourself, do you honestly believe that choosing Fox News as your main source shows a greater tolerance for differing views and facts than choosing the New York Times or the Washington Post? If so, why do you make The Times your main source?

Yeesh, you can do better than that!

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Extremist: Those who show disrespect and disobedience to Maddow and Stelter.

hombre said...

Freder: "I don't remember an attempt to overturn the results of 2000 after the Supreme Court had ruled. As for 2016, Russian interference in the campaign was real. If you are saying there was no Russian collusion with the Trump campaign...."

A. Did the Supreme Court rule on the legitimacy of the 2020 election?

B. "Russia" owned the Clintons. Why help Trump?

Note: These are not "insults." They are questions the answers to which reflect on your ability and that of other lefties to think rationally.

RoseAnne said...

And what do you make of the studies that show while both the right and the left tend to get their news from different sources, those on the right rely strongly on Fox, while those on the left draw from a much broader range of sources, including the Times, the Post, CNN, NPR, etc. https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2014/10/21/section-1-media-sources-distinct-favorites-emerge-on-the-left-and-right/

The study you mentioned was from 2014.

Joe Smith said...

Were these all filmed and posted by people now living in Canada?

You know, the ones who moved there after Trump won in '16.

Didn't think so.

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

I think it's going to be hilarious! Hordes of them are going to quit in protest and you'll see a lot of "Life After Twitter" articles in the WaPo and NYT in the next few weeks. However, I think they're all a little too addicted to tweeting "sick burns" for their self-exile to last very long.

TheOne Who Is Not Obeyed said...

"...Mueller found that there was indeed contact between the Trump campaign and the Russians "

A meeting requested by Democrat agents, arranged by Democrat agents, on false pretenses of having information provided by Democrat agents, and which was very short because Don Jr and others immediately identified the meeting as a set up and ended it with nothing of substance being discussed.

It was "contact" in the same way that me ordering a hamburger at McDonald's is "contact". Except that in my "contact" there is at least something of value exchanged between the parties.

Liberals - f*****g liars, but only all the time.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Freder:

"As for 2016, Russian interference in the campaign was real."

No - it was not. Why do you repeat the leftwing lie?

jim5301 said...

"It's also characteristic of the left to want to avoid having to hear from the other side."

Can anyone point me to any empirical evidence that this isn't equally characteristic of the right? Consider DeSantis recent move to have the state punish Disney for espousing views that the governor disagrees with.

Jupiter said...

How much is TikTok?

Temujin said...

Freder and Howard, I personally wish we had more people taking the left side in these comments. Actually I commend you for sticking to commenting here knowing what the audience is. I don't typically like to attack another commenter, but I do sometimes respond to the comments. Frankly I'd like more of the other side commenting here so that I can at least try to understand where they are coming from. For instance- yesterday someone (not in this blog) on the left compared Elon Musk to Stalin. How does one arrive at that thought? That is just sheer ignorance on an arena sized level. And frankly, I've never understood how the whole "Trump is a fascist and you're a fascist if you voted for him" thing ever got any legs. But mainstream media legs it did get. And I try to get my head around that when it is so obviously and empirically not so.

I would like more 'other' comments here for the same reason that I will occasionally turn the TV over to MSNBC and set the timer on my phone to see how long I last. It's good to hear the other side. And once in awhile I'll learn new things and perhaps at least be made to question some of my thoughts. Not often, but it happens. Though not from watching MSNBC. That's just a crazy show over there.

Anyway...Ann doesn't block out the other side. And I can only wonder how she goes through reading all of the right-sided comments knowing she's not coming from there. It's open to most anyone, but it seems the left does not typically like to engage with other thoughts. No debates means that you're always correct. Maybe that's just a comfort zone for the left and hence, the more they can stifle debate across all platforms, the larger their 'safe spaces' will be. Musk buying Twitter may end up being nothing. But the thought is scaring the bejeezus out of the left in an out of proportion way. One can only think they think it's the end of their safe spaces.

Rt41Rebel said...

Get back to me when they all move to Canada.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Biden Dodged Blame For Lying About Hunter’s Foreign Dealings For Years Because Corporate Media Let Him

Well. The author of that is clearly an extremist who needs to be sent to a re-education camp.

Michael K said...

Can anyone point me to any empirical evidence that this isn't equally characteristic of the right? Consider DeSantis recent move to have the state punish Disney for espousing views that the governor disagrees with.

Post a comment that sounds vaguely right on a left wing blog like Washington Monthly. See how fast you get banned.

As for Florida, Disney threatened the legislature and announced it would stop donating to political parties (Guess which one) unless they reversed the Parental Rights Bill.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Remember - if someone calls you and offers you dirt on any democrat - it's all illegal.

Only dirt on the GOP is legal.

Michael K said...

As for 2016, Russian interference in the campaign was real. If you are saying there was no Russian collusion with the Trump campaign, Mueller found that there was indeed contact between the Trump campaign and the Russians (e.g., Don Jr. and Manafort meeting with a Russian asset who claimed to have dirt on Hillary and Manafort giving internal polling data to the Russians). Mueller declared the contacts did not raise to the level of a conspiracy.

Freder shows us why the lefty comments here get so little respect. As for Howard, all his comments are ad hominem insults. I even agree with Cook once in a while.

Jupiter said...

"The preference is to censor the other side, but they would prefer to up and move than to have to be confronted with things they don't agree with."

While I agree that the confrontation is too much for a lot of them, it's the inability to offer persuasive evidence for their own point of view that drives them away. When I am confronted with proof that one of my opinions is wrong, I have the option of changing that opinion. I can see how life might be a lot harder if I was stuck with a set of indefensible beliefs, and could not change them without facing cancellation by my peers.

Original Mike said...

Wasn't it Fusion GPS who Mueller wasn't even familiar with? Mueller's report was a whitewash to exonerate the guilty.

Jupiter said...

And actually, Freder, Althouse does not have an absolute prohibition on the Z-word. Although I am surprised that a knee-jerk like you would have a problem with that. She has allowed it, although she has expressed a strong aversion. From comments she made at one time, I think it may have to do with her monetization policy. BeZos has an algorithm that gets squirrelly if the Z-word appears on your site, and that decreases the earnings from her Amazon portal. Note that this is my inference from a vaguely-remembered comment, not a known fact about our hostess' motivations.

hombre said...

Stephen (at 9:48): Seriously? "The big lie?"

So the affidavits, the unconstitutional behavior of local officials ignoring voting laws, the exclusion of poll watchers, the infusion of millions of Zuckbucks to influence local government officials' election practices to favor Democrats, the expenditure of more millions not to litigate, but to prevent litigation, of claims of election fraud, audits providing evidence of irregularities in Georgia, Wisconsin, Arizona, etc., voting and voter rolls are all part of "the big lie?"

Meanwhile, the big truth as asserted by the leftmedia and its dupes that the election was "fairly won" by QuidProJoe is based on what evidence? Wishful thinking?

More leftist truth: inflation and high fuel prices are caused by Putin (who is probably also responsible for our porous border). Also, we are a racist nation and voter ID, used worlwide, suppresses minority votes. And high crime is caused by legal gun ownership.

I never, ever, watch Fox News. However, I read links to a wide variety of sources, left and right. Here are my conclusions. The election was riddled with enough irregularities to call its efficacy into question. Inflation results from government spending and tampering with the money supply. Fuel prices are high because QuidProJoe is admittedly making war on fossil fuels. Voter ID is used to reduce fraud all over the world. Our borders are porous as a metter of Democrat policy.

To quote QuidProJoe, the left "chooses truth over facts." My rule is that people who choose their truth over facts transcend ignorance in favor of stupidity.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

"Extremist" must be the new "how to shut people up" talking point put forth by the collective.

ccscientist said...

2016: I saw some of the ads that Russia bought. They made no sense. They did not support Trump per se. Either the Russians do not understand us (which is true) or their goal was simply to sow chaos. It was also as I recall $100,000 worth of ads vs $500Million that Zuckerberg put in for the dems. At the time, Russia was not our enemy and the contacts were set-ups by operatives in the deep state (like the russian woman in NYC who wanted to talk about adoptions). Hilarious accusation.
On the election 2020: There were issues such as counties with more votes than registered voters, key districts closing the polling place at 11pm then resuming counting with no observers. Did it matter? Who knows.
When people on this blog express their values (such as small children should not get sex ed) or facts, some of the lefties here take it as an insult. Everything isn't about you.
Censorship: it is almost entirely by the Left. Facebook, twitter, instagram not only censor "bad people" which includes sites documenting terrorist activities or republicans running for office, you can't even talk about covid. It is 100% leftists shutting down speakers on college campuses.
Fox News: while the opinions are conservative, they do have democrats on to interview and even on their panels. These dems have their chance but generally are not very convincing. They show exact quotes from Biden speeches.
Why is the Left so averse to dialog? Because so much of their ideology is based on lies. Are blacks gunned down left and right? Actually, a) a white criminal being arrested is more likely as a % to be shot, b) black officers shoot more, c) unarmed black people shot is a tiny number. Women make 70cents for men? A simple lie. Young women in big cities make more than young men in big cities. The entire gap can be accounted for by job hazard, hours worked, job chosen, and women staying home with kids. Women do not choose to drive hazardous trucks like oil. 60% of college students are women.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

I'm still waiting for Freder's apology to me for calling me a liar regarding CA prison system systematic abuse of young black women - tricking them into sterilization. FACT.


eh - the left live in a fantasy land where only what they want to believe is true. If information makes any democrat look bad, why - it cannot possibly be true!

D.D. Driver said...

Jeez the left talks a bug game but then an African American immigrant has a little success and they turn on him.

Jamie said...

Commenting without reading the thread: kudos to readering, gadfly, Robert Cook, Freder, etc., for sticking around. One reason I come here is because there are a few voices on the left in the comments; I can read comments from my own side in lots of places. It's something I used to like about Asymmetrical Information back in the day too.

hombre said...

Temujin wrote: "Freder and Howard, I personally wish we had more people taking the left side in these comments."

Lefties prefer echo chambers where Democrat talking points abide. Try offering alternative viewpoints on The Hill or HuffPo, for example, or look at the censoring on Twitter and Facebook.

Readering said...

Those departing tiktokers should be more patient to see what happens to twitter. EU does not regulate this blog, but it does purport to regulate twitter moderation practices.

Freder Frederson said...

Freder shows us why the lefty comments here get so little respect.

Yeah, I guess inconvenient facts are just too hard to bear.

Freder Frederson said...

As for Florida, Disney threatened the legislature and announced it would stop donating to political parties (Guess which one) unless they reversed the Parental Rights Bill.

Oh, boo hoo, Disney threatened to withhold campaign donations. Oh, the horror. No more graft from the mouse to the state legislature. I would have thought you considered that a plus.

Freder Frederson said...

A meeting requested by Democrat agents, arranged by Democrat agents, on false pretenses of having information provided by Democrat agents, and which was very short because Don Jr and others immediately identified the meeting as a set up and ended it with nothing of substance being discussed.

Well, that is simply untrue. And I noticed you don't have a ready lie about Manafort giving polling data to the Russians.

Freder Frederson said...

80% of democrats think 2016 election was stolen from it's rightful owner - Hillary. Rightful owner.
Stolen by Putin and Trump.


You know, when you post things like this, it would be nice to have a link so I can see where you are getting these "facts"

TheOne Who Is Not Obeyed said...

"Well, that is simply untrue. And I noticed you don't have a ready lie about Manafort giving polling data to the Russians."

If it's untrue, then why is it detailed as such in the Mueller report?

And Manafort didn't give polling data to the Russians that wasn't public.

But enough about your lies. Let's talk about that dossier, and the obvious lies that the CIA and FBI and Obama regime used to get the dossier into the media so traitors like you could lap it up and repeat it as talking points.



Freder Frederson said...

If it's untrue, then why is it detailed as such in the Mueller report?

Where in the Mueller report does it say that the meeting "requested by Democrat agents, arranged by Democrat agents, on false pretenses of having information provided by Democrat agents"?

That Manafort and Trump were disappointed by what she was requesting, is correct.

Rabel said...

up and move

This is not classic Althousian phrasing. Did you pick that up in the Top Hat movie you watched last night?

Sounds like Richard Pryor imitating his Grandmother. Or a Bojangles biographer.

Freder Frederson said...

And Manafort didn't give polling data to the Russians that wasn't public.

It was internal polling data, which is certainly not public.

Mark said...

It's also characteristic of the left to want to avoid having to hear from the other side. The preference is to censor the other side

Well, there are plenty of mean girls who claim to be on the right who like to bully people to silence them.

Original Mike said...

Natalia Veselnitskaya met with Glenn Simpson both the day before and the day after her meeting with Don Jr. Has that ever been explained? Sure seems like something was up.

Stan Smith said...

I love the "broad range of sources" that Freder uses. One has only to look at the odd similarity of phrasing in stories presented by these "open-minded" sources to see that the message is startlingly the same, often to the use of exactly the same language. The range may be "broad" but the message is absolutely as narrow and focused as can be.

Leland said...

If you are saying there was no Russian collusion with the Trump campaign, Mueller found that there was indeed contact between the Trump campaign

Typical Motte and Bailey from Freder. But hey, if that is the bar for corruption, then tell us about your call for a special prosecutor to investigate contacts between China and Hunter Biden?

Rollo said...

A lot of covert activity must be "Our Man in Havana" stuff practiced by people who have no clue what is going on. The Steele dossier was like that. Why assume the Russians are any more competent or hard-working?


I come here so that I can get an idea of what the Times and Post are up to without having to give them any money or information, and I do have CNN and even MSNBC on sometimes. I think you will find that people posting here do get information from both sides more than these Yik Tok chicks do.

Jamie said...

And what do you make of the studies that show while both the right and the left tend to get their news from different sources, those on the right rely strongly on Fox, while those on the left draw from a much broader range of sources, including the Times, the Post, CNN, NPR, etc. https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2014/10/21/section-1-media-sources-distinct-favorites-emerge-on-the-left-and-right/

Could the results of that study have anything to do with the fact that Fox News is the only mass market news source that leans right? Even the WSJ only leans right on its editorial page. The implied "viewpoint diversity" Freder references(I think that was Freder, yes?), by naming various news sources like CNN and the NYT and so on, among people on the Left results in zero actual viewpoint diversity, as all those sources are proudly left-leaning. Yes, CNN too, even though they sometimes claim to be straight news; when was the last time they presented a major story (a) without an ideological viewpoint, and (b) without THE ideological viewpoint that the side of the story favoring the Right was driven by racism, sexism, homo/transphobia, nativism (as a proxy for racism), white supremacism (as a step beyond the "systemic racism" that they uncritically accept as the underpinning of all of American life)?

Watch any CNN story that touches even a little on politics, and switch the adjectives, point of view, wording of questions to commentators, etc., so that it reflects the opposite leaning of the way CNN actually presents the story. Is there ANY instance in which that switch would result in the Right's being criticized at best and dismissed or even ridiculed at worst? (I suggest the switch, of course, because it can be difficult to see bias that you agree with. So, for instance, when the story presents a Republican Congress member who espouses an idea that's utterly mainstream on the Right as "extreme," the switch would result in the story's presenting a Democrat in Congress as being "extreme" for something mainstream on the Left. Do the loaded adjectives in the original story ever seem to favor the Right and denigrate the Left? Because then the switch would result in favoring the Left and denigrating the Right. Clear as mud?)

Is it more likely that the right side is ALWAYS wrong or benighted, or that these news outlets have an ideological leaning, and in fact a uniform one?

Bruce Hayden said...

“Wasn't it Fusion GPS who Mueller wasn't even familiar with? Mueller's report was a whitewash to exonerate the guilty.”

The Mueller report was a CYA by his hyper partisan prosecutors after their boss had conceded before Congress that there was no evidence of Russian collusion, and they hadn’t been looking for any over the previous year or so, instead spending their time trying to catch Trump people with process traps, like the one sprung on Gen Flynn. AG Barr asked Mueller what they were doing. Mueller admitted they had no new evidence, and hadn’t for over a year. They were pursuing process traps, trying to flip Trump people. Barr told him that wasn’t his job, and to try again. Mueller told him, and Congress, that he didn’t have anything else.

So what was the Mueller Report? It was a report by the Mueller prosecutors trying to justify what they had been doing for the last year or so, after their boss had admitted to Barr and Congress that their only accomplishments had been a partisan witch hunt. They essentially could only say that while there was no hard evidence that they could point at, they knew it was there (because they were all hyper partisan Dems) and if left to their own devices, they could lock up some more Trump people for some contrived crimes. They went as far as they could without contradicting their boss, Mueller, but were left pointing at smoke and swinging at ghosts with their pathetic CYA report. It was a bunch of hyper partisan bureaucrats trying to explain why they really hadn’t been wasting the public’s money, for partisan benefit, the previous two years.

Original Mike said...

"So, if I understand you correctly, the Trump campaign stole the 2016 election by nefariously sharing private polling data with unnamed Russians?"

That's what he's saying. Must have been dynamite polling data.

Rockport Conservative said...

Even PC Mag is getting into the act. In their newsletter today a link to this article:
Whether you want to delete one tweet, a bunch of tweets, or permanently delete your Twitter account in the wake of the Elon Musk acquisition, here's how to say farewell. Looking to pick up Mastodon instead? We have a guide for that, too.

Original Mike said...

"And what do you make of the studies that show while both the right and the left tend to get their news from different sources, those on the right rely strongly on Fox, while those on the left draw from a much broader range of sources, including the Times, the Post, CNN, NPR, etc…"

Oh, come on. You seriously don't know the obvious rebuttal to this?

Jim at said...

And the left continues to prove we were right about Twitter all along.

Tina Trent said...

Stephen: Pew research from 2014? I read the Times every day. Their lies, and especially their fetishist approval of the behavior of the sickest predators and their role in unleashing them back onto society, is one thing that drove me to the Right. Not the GOP, but the actual Right.

There is ample research that conservatives are both routinely under-represented in polling and are averse to speaking with institutions that routinely misrepresent them.

Having a long monopoly on the media has produced terrible results on the Left. It certainly is nothing to brag about. The Times today is a vicious re-education camp where the barely literate multiculti young devour the few real journalists remaining. Your vaunted public radio news is a platform from which socialists and communists make millions while preaching against other people being millionaires.

And now, compare the ratings. Since this study, which did not accurately identify the import of the real media giant then, Drudge, a nimble and hungry Right is wiping the floor with your beloved CNN, and there are a multitude of new reading and viewing choices for conservatives despite all the lies the "fact-checkers" at Poynter, Annenberg, MIT's media lab, and the truly dishonest Crime and Media Program at John Jay spew out. Meanwhile, the lefty MSM continues to defenestrate itself.

We have Victor Davis Hanson, David Horowitz, and Mark Steyn. You have, or had, Chris Cuomo.

Ralph L said...

Left unsaid all through the Russia Hoax years was what the Russians could have done to help Trump that he couldn't do himself. If they really did have Hillary's 33,000 deleted emails about her pay-to-play corruption as Sec of State, why didn't they publish? How well could the media have suppressed that story in 2016?

Jim at said...

It's hilarious watching the leftists here claim to be oh-so-fucking tolerant and it's us righties who are the big, mean nasties who want to censor the left.

You're not being censored here, are you? No. With rare exception, you can run your mouths all day.

Now, try posing as a conservative on a left-wing site. ANY left-wing site and see what happens.

You wouldn't make it to three comments before being banned.

So take your sanctimonious victimhood and shove it.

Browndog said...

I have no interest in being "fair" to the left. That ship has sailed.

I want them crushed and silenced. The same thing they are doing to you. They use your morals against you..so they think. Only because they convinced you the only moral you need is "tolerance", and not your God given moral of survival.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Freder.
deal between the saudis and Jared did not include OUR Tax dollars.
Sheesh.
biden family grift = our tax dollars washed clean thru international deals.

Browndog said...

Elon Musk
@elonmusk

The extreme antibody reaction from those who fear free speech says it all
2:26 PM · Apr 26, 2022·

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

The left don't want to hear a single bad word about any of their installations.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Both Hillary and Biden used their powerful positions under the Obama administration to enrich themselves.

The left will never care.
Moral degenerates.

Howard said...

Lock Hunter and Hillary up. Impeach Joe Biden. Quit bitching and get er done. Now that Elon buyed you people free Twitter Speech, no more excuses.

Eric said...

I've never had a Twitter account so I have nothing to deactivate. I miss every chance to be one of the cool kids.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Joe's missing millions! Financial records reveal Biden had $5.2million in unexplained income - as emails show he paid Hunter's legal bills for one megabucks Chinese deal and was tapped as 'big guy' to get a 10% cut in another


US media? - "Russian disinformation!" or something.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Swetnik got the memo!

Opinion: Democrats should embrace being woke and make 2022 about GOP’s extremism
Opinion by Dean Obeidallah

EXTREMISM!

https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/24/opinions/democrats-gop-2022-election-obeidallah/index.html

Beasts of England said...

’Democrats should embrace being woke and make 2022 about GOP’s extremism.’

Absolutely!! I love the trajectory from ‘A chicken in every pot.’ to ‘A tranny smoking pot.’ to ‘A groomer thinks you’re hot.’

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

Great! Go find another platform. Twitter isn't a monopoly and isn't a public forum. Right?

The lefties can't compete, so they always try to have a captive audience. It's not about expression, but control. Take away the coercion and it turns out no one likes them.

Otherwise, why should they care about Twitter? Just go somewhere else.

Jupiter said...

"Lock Hunter and Hillary up. Impeach Joe Biden. Quit bitching and get er done. Now that Elon
buyed you people free Twitter Speech, no more excuses."

Don't rattle my cage, Howie. I might dox your ass. I'm guessing its bright blue.

effinayright said...

"And what do you make of the studies that show while both the right and the left tend to get their news from different sources, those on the right rely strongly on Fox, while those on the left draw from a much broader range of sources, including the Times, the Post, CNN, NPR, etc. https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2014/10/21/section-1-media-sources-distinct-favorites-emerge-on-the-left-and-right/
**************

First questions I would ask are:

Why would anyone cite a poll that's from 2014, well before Trump was on the political scene?

Why are have so many of those "broader rage" of sources, ALL leftist, been failing since then ---let alone attracting and keeping new viewers, readers and listeners?

Is that Fox News's fault?

Gospace said...

Inga said...
The comments section here serves the purpose of letting the non extremists know what the extremists are thinking, besides being entertaining in a way. There comes a time when engaging with the majority of people who comment here is simply so distasteful that it’s not worth doing.


There are no right wing extremists posting comments here. If there are- they're holding back. I can point to some blogs with comments sections where they are posting. A liberal posting a comment on those sites would quickly be eviscerated.

As far as where the right gets it's news from- I'm going to steal from Hombre- "I never, ever, watch Fox News. However, I read links to a wide variety of sources, left and right." I'll add- I never watch any news. I want my news written. I can read much faster than I can listen.

Used to go to threadreaderapp.com daily to see what was going on in the world of tweets. I'm not on Twitter. Used to be they headlined RECENT threads of interest. Well, Twitter banned many interesting people, like Walter Chestnut posting as Parsifaler, And many others. Walter is now on Substack- as are many others. Now threadreader headlines popular posts. This one from 2019 posted by a lib explains how Donald Trump is soon to be brought down by confidential Deutsche Bank files suppled by the son of a dead Deutsche Bank executive given to the FBI and the House intelligence committee. Must be some of those files Adam Schiff claimed existed that proved Trump was a Russian asset or something. Since Schiff for brains has never exposed those documents to public view I guess we have to assume he was coopted by the evil nefarious Trump...

Where do I get my written news from? Well, some from blogs, some from links to MSM sources from blogs, which include all kinds of publications, some from all the sections of Realclear- realclearenergy and realclearscience often have links that interest me. And from links headlined by Drudgereport and Rantingly.

Jupiter said...

As I keep trying to besplain to these toy Lefties we have here at Althouse, Real Men Don't Watch Fox News. Except for TuCa.

If you want to know what the Resurgent Right is up to, read Gateway Pundit, Citizen Free Press and Revolver News. Plus various substacks. Once in a while, drop by unz.com, to get a complete regrooving.

h said...

I read a number of conservative websites in addition to WaPo and NYT. (And I read Althouse.) I occasionally comment on WaPo and on Althouse (and very rarely on NYT). If one considers a controversial question, such as "Did Russians sway the 2016 election in favor or Trump?" or "Did some kind of election fraud or election irregularity sway the 2020 election in favor of Biden?" -- Althouse comment section does present a better for and against kind of argument than WaPo comments section. WaPo has very little back and forth-- any opinions that deviate from the liberal orthodoxy are either ignored (no reply comments) or insulted without engaging ("Go home Russian person.") In Althouse there is (or has been) too much name-calling or bullying or insulting. (Clearly that bullying and name calling and insulting has been greatly reduced by the "new" comment policies in the last year of so). But if you can get beyond that there is also some objective and intelligent engagement on the issues.

Drago said...

Inga: "The comments section here serves the purpose of letting the non extremists know what the extremists are thinking, besides being entertaining in a way. There comes a time when engaging with the majority of people who comment here is simply so distasteful that it’s not worth doing."

Note: Inga called Althouse a c***.

On this very blog.

Inga also called the Biden family's history of Joe showering with his daughter and Hunter getting coked up and having sex on video with underage girls as well as having a multi-level affair with his brothers widow, her sister and a stripper completely "normal".

So, that's Inga for you.

Gospace said...

Jupiter said...
...
If you want to know what the Resurgent Right is up to, read Gateway Pundit, Citizen Free Press and Revolver News. Plus various substacks. Once in a while, drop by unz.com, to get a complete regrooving


In my post above, I totally forgot about unz.com If you want to see where the extreme right wingers are hanging out- go there. And Derbyshire is NOT an extreme right winger if you go by everyone else they publish.

Sprezzatura said...

“The preference is to censor the other side, but they would prefer to up and move than to have to be confronted with things they don't agree with. (I have personal experience with this phenomenon: It explains my comments section.)”

I don’t think you’re supposed to admit that your preference is to censor, and that explains why almost all of my comments are censored and not shown in threads.

Anywho, I guess you’re right that when you say that the evil liberals wish they could do what you do when you censor me here, but since they can’t do that they’ll go to platforms that won’t have algorithms that are designed to feed them stuff they don’t want. Which apparently makes them bad, and you good.

Got it.

effinayright said...

Jupiter said...
As I keep trying to besplain to these toy Lefties we have here at Althouse, Real Men Don't Watch Fox News. Except for TuCa.

If you want to know what the Resurgent Right is up to, read Gateway Pundit, Citizen Free Press and Revolver News. Plus various substacks. Once in a while, drop by unz.com, to get a complete regrooving.
**********

How ...self serving...it is to define yourself as a Real Man. I'm sure all the babes are swarming all over you.

Do you tell them, with a straight face, that the Dos Equis search for the most Interesting Man in the World a few years back, that you were First Runner up?

SNORT

RoseAnne said...

As far as where the right gets it's news from- I'm going to steal from Hombre- "I never, ever, watch Fox News. However, I read links to a wide variety of sources, left and right." I'll add- I never watch any news. I want my news written. I can read much faster than I can listen.

I agree with this as do many of my conservative friends. I don't read WAPO or NYT because of the paywall. I can go any number of liberal sites to get the same opinion so why bother with paying for those two. On my cable package I don't even have broadcast news sites because its a time waster.

As to Fox ... one liberal I encounter regularly has a habit of responding to disagreement with his viewpoint by saying "Oh, you heard that on Fox News" and then not engaging with the content of the opinion expressed. Especially if a woman is expressing a different opinion.

Just as some are obsessed with Trump, others are with Fox News. If they read conservative sites, they would see some serious disagreement with Fox News by conservatives. Fox calling Arizona so quickly after the polls closed in 2020 ticked off a lot of long-time viewers for one example.

Tina Trent said...

Unz is a very weird site. Ron Unz sticks to his mission of publishing anyone, and he publishes some virulent anti-Semites and virulent anti-Americans (probably Thierry Meyssan/Voltaire Marxist fronts funded by Iran), but you can find equally anti-Semitic Anti-Americanism on scores of leftist sites. He hosts some very good writers too. The only difference is that the leftist anti-semites end up in universities and taxpayer-funded Pacifica Radio and Congress, while even admitting one reads Unz Report probably gets you tagged in our security apparatus.

Politics isn't a straight line: it's a circle. Far right libertarians meet far left Marxists at the top. Matt Taibbi explains this in his book on the Truther movement: it really is half left, half libertarian right. The execrable pair of Ron Paul and Cynthia McKinney were funded through some shifty Meyssan and Occupy funders to do a national Truther bus tour.

If you read through the various prejudices expressed in the NYTimes, Takimag, The Nation, Vdare, New Yorker etc. you will be better-informed than picking one side. But as far as writing style and truthful observation goes, you can't beat the Right: Taki, Jim Goad, Steyn, Steve Sailor, Theodore Dalrymple, Conrad Black, Ann Coulter etc. leave the left in the dust by stylishly telling hard truths. That's why leftists really need to marginalize these voices.

Greg The Class Traitor said...

It's also characteristic of the left to want to avoid having to hear from the other side. The preference is to censor the other side, but they would prefer to up and move than to have to be confronted with things they don't agree with. (I have personal experience with this phenomenon: It explains my comments section.)

This is the shortest and clearest statement of why the Left should NEVER have power.

Its members of eagerly ignorant bigots