A summary of the Twitter Files recommended by Elon Musk

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The 5th Estate as a check on the 4th Estate 

Twitter 2.0 can prove to be very valuable if it remains neutral. You can tell how useful by how desperately the MSM tries to ignore it and how intensely the former dictators of the public square seek to disparage it. 

Published by Don Tabor

I am a former Chairman of the Tidewater Libertarian Party and was the 2007 LP candidate for the 14th district VA Senate. Previously, I was the Volunteer State Director for the FairTax. I am married 50 years with two grown children and 5 grandchildren.

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103 thoughts on “A summary of the Twitter Files recommended by Elon Musk”

  1. Complete nonsense.
    The silly “conservative” victim card on steroids. Lying liars whining.

    There is a real problem facing our Constitutional republic. It is the Stalinist assault on objective truth. Twitter tried to do its part to slow down the dissemination of misinformation and “alternative facts.” That’s it. Now, carry on. Whine some more.

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    1. So we should just accept whatever the Ministry of Truth commands us to believe?

      It is truly revealing of the totalitarian foundation of the left today.

      Odd how angry you were when Trump complained of “fake news” but you are perfectly OK with suppressing “misinformation.”

      It’s th same thing from a different bias.

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      1. “So we should just accept whatever the Ministry of Truth commands us to believe?”

        No, YOU should quit pretending that your extremist ideas and “alternative facts” get short shrift in the marketplace of ideas because of “corruption” and other sorts of malfeasance. YOU should quit whining about the bias of MSM when it is full of major players that are totally in sync with your views and perfectly willing to spread politically useful “alternative facts” for you.

        Your problem is not with the MSM. It is with the most respected and most objective parts of it that will not go along with the bullshit that the right has come to rely on.

        If applauding responsible companies trying to obstruct the flow of lies, hate speech, incitement, and seditious conspiracy makes me a “totalitarian,” so be it. I applaud Twitter’s past efforts at moderation. I applaud them de-platforming Donald Trump. They were absolutely right to do so.

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          1. “History tells us that those advocating silencing their opponents never turn out to be the good guys.”

            So pithy! So truthy! Such baloney!

            In reality it depends on who their “opponents” were and what these “opponents” wanted to say.

            I find it very telling the way you equate the efforts of a private, for-profit company to slow the flow of LIES, hate speech, conspiracy, and sedition with “silencing their opponents.”

            Liked by 2 people

          2. So, a respected Stanford epidemiologist questioning the value of extended school closings(which were never supported by science, but were a political demand to the CDC by the teacher’s unions) had to be silence?

            Which was that? LIES, hate speech, conspiracy, or sedition?

            Or simply an opinion the CDC wanted suppressed?

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          5. Teacher’s unions …

            The fact that teacher’s unions advocating for school and teacher safety as they saw it is not evidence that CDC decisions about school guidance were not based on science. Duh!

            Interest groups push their views in Washington every day. Since teachers were being asked to put themselves and their families at risk, they had every right to have a position on what the policies should be.

            Liked by 2 people

          7. Sure, but if we all go to our respective bubbles and only talk to people we agree with, nothing gets done.

            Twitter, like it or not, is the defacto public square and the only effective balance to the MSM

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          8. Are you saying that conservative sites are too unpopular to be effective? Why don’t liberals post on Truthsocial or Gettr or Parler (is it still up?).

            The point being that moderation may have been the key to Twitter success. If so, then we have a puzzle: how to get a broad based platform without moderation to survive.

            Liked by 3 people

          10. That is why I use Apple News, an aggregator. It is a relatively inexpensive way to read a spectrum of media from left to right.

            I don’t subscribe to Twitter, but what I read via references seems either inane, sarcastic or partisan. It seems to be like most social media, a chance to get the spotlight for both the commoner and the elite. Viral and retweets are the scoresheets. Keeping in mind that outrage sells ads. See Carlson, et.al. for examples.

            But, I have been wrong before (1968, I think was the last time…😇). Maybe Twitter is the ultimate savior of mankind. Or was.

            So here is my thought. Twitter was wildly successful for the ADD folks who needed affirmation or attention NOW. But, once Trump was our first Twitter all day, all night president, it became a political football (cofeve?) but was also used as a child would for petty insults alongside the policy announcements, such as they were, by POTUS. A digital bumper sticker form of communication.

            Entertaining? Perhaps. Enlightening? Hard to say. But the one thing it wasn’t was a reasoned debate platform. Outrageous tweets went viral long before truth could set the argument straight.

            “It’ll be wild”. To me, that said it all regarding why the right wing is so caught up in this. They lost in 2018, 2020, and 2022 because of a Twitter chief who lost his playground privileges.

            IMO

            Liked by 3 people

          12. “You can select people or organizations or topics you want and block those you don’t.”

            SO you use Twitter and STILL stay in your silo. My, how convenient.

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          15. He didn’t ban them.

            They were suspended for about a day, and one of Sweeny’s ‘spaces’ was taken down for good.

            Musk has made it clear that speech, including criticism of him, is OK, but doxxing and real time tracking of people witjout thir permission is not.

            BTW, I had an error in a post last night. I had read that Lil X was a musician, but it turns out that it is a nickname for Musk’s youngest son.

            So, it was the car carrying his son that was attacked by a Sweeny follower.

            Liked by 1 person

          16. He suspended them and then posted a “poll”, asking users how long the ban should.

            I am not on Twitter, but The Triadthe newsletter from The Bulwark’s Jonathan V. Last included a screenshot of the poll.

            “In this case, vox populi was not vox dei (as it was when the poll concerned the reinstatement of Mr. Trump). The poll must have come to a result Musk did not like, so after it closed, he posted a second version which (was) still running.”

            Here is the newsletter, with Part II dealing with Twitter.

            Liked by 1 person

          17. I saw the 1st poll, it had too many options resulting in no clear winner, so he replaced it with the two top choices in the 2nd.

            Sort of a runoff.

            Nothing to do with not liking the result.

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          18. “Nothing to do with not liking the result.”

            Is an unscientific poll of what is allowed and what is not a savvy moderation management approach or is it a clueless cover your ass cop out? I vote for the later. More mismanagement.

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          19. I think it is a sincere attempt to defer to the community. If a bunch of so called journalists were celebrating an attack on my young child(to be fair, they may not have known Musk’s young son was in the car) the only option on the poll would have been “when hell freezes over.”

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          20. “Celebrating”?

            Where? Was there a band?

            What were “they” (always a “they”, isn’t there?) celebrating anyway.

            Reading this story, I get the impression that Sweeney, a college student was tracking nothing. He was posting public information available to anyone about almost any plane in the world. But he apparently was not tracking cars.

            Gee, running a social media site is not easy is it?

            Liked by 1 person

          21. I think Sweeny may have become a de facto mascot for the problem. Twitter suspended all of the real time tracking and doxxing accounts, so it may be that because he had a site dedicated to Musk’s jet he became the face of the policy action even if not the most important player.

            In any case, real time doxxing of any controversial figure is a bad thing, and was always a violation of TOS, and never should have been ignored.

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          22. “I think Sweeny may have become a de facto mascot for the problem”

            Uh, you dodged Len’s question. You claimed there had been celebrating over the “attack.” Len asked where was this celebrating. Did you just make that up or are you repeating some claim by Musk?

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          23. There were multiple articles and reports claiming that real time doxxing was not a problem and that Musk was overreacting because the information was available under the freedom of information act(which would, of course, delay it for days.)

            When someone jumps on the car carrying you child and threatens him, there are no non-fatal overreactions.

            But you will excuse any behavior from the left wing press.

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          24. “There were multiple articles and reports claiming that real time doxing . . .”

            So, there was no celebrating. You just made that up. Typical.

            Sure, there were multiple articles doubting the BS that Musk offered to explain his obvious selective and self-serving censorship. That is to be expected when you renege on a significant promise for bogus reasons. And it was BS. The incident was not in any way related to the location of Musk’s jet.

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          25. Was there doxxing? Or was it just keep track of celebrity flights already easily found?

            Doxxing is what Jones did, effectively, by publicizing the names of the families losing their loved ones at Sandy Hook.

            I agree that doxxing is bad. Unfortunately the anonymity issue is an internet phenomenon. Before this, if you tried to “out” someone, it was a laborious process, and not really successful. Today, a few keystrokes, a phony name and you are off to the races making people miserable.

            Anonymity…the breakfast of cowards and other pond scum.

            Liked by 1 person

          27. …” no clear winner,”

            Horse Hockey!!!

            Typing the results as posted in the newsletter (via the screen capture)

            Now 43%
            Tomorrow 4.5%
            In 7 Days 14.4%
            Longer 38.1%

            Five points is considered a landslide in an election these days.

            And the scond poll at the time hda two choices:

            Now 58.5%
            7 Days 41.5%

            Liked by 1 person

          28. The first poll was 52% 7 days or longer.

            Twitter moves fast, much faster than the media.

            It is likely opinion shifted as it became clear the journalists may not have known Musk’s son had been placed in danger.

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          29. “Musk’s son had been placed in danger.”

            Not so fast. There is no actual evidence that Musk’s son was placed in danger by anything that was posted by Sweeney. The EVIDENCE points the other way. The “crazy stalker” incident occurred a full day after the last posting about the Musk plane location. It is clear that if you have any sense you will not take at face value ANYTHING that Musk says.

            The obvious point is that there was no need for a second poll if it really was the decision to make the decision based on a poll. The first result was clear enough.

            Liked by 1 person

          30. The first poll would have resulted in 7 days or longer.

            And Musk did not just shut down Sweeny, it is all real time doxxing.

            You seem to be almost rabid in looking for some failure on Musk’s part to be perfect in his pursuit of free speech.

            Considering the blatant bias of the previous regime, he has made great strides. Immediate perfection is nice but unlikely.

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          31. The screen capture of the first poll was posted @ 10:56 PM. The second poll screen capture was posted at 11:34pm.

            So in 38 minutes one poll was no longer valid?

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          34. “It is what he did. The accounts that were suspended have been restored,”

            Under a great deal of pressure and blowback. Either the accounts should not have been suspended in the first place or they should not have been restored. He talks about free speech but what he DID was suspend critics.

            Liked by 1 person

          37. “I think it is a sincere attempt to defer to the community.”

            I think what you think is highly improbable.

            For starters, there is no reason to believe that the alleged stalker event is in ANY way connected to the Sweeney tracking of Musk’s jet. And yet your free speech defender made it the excuse for banning Sweeney and – according to you – journalists who re-tweeted him.

            Now you are talking about journalists “celebrating” the “attack.” If by “celebrating” you mean calling BS on a BS story then you may be right. Otherwise, not.

            https://www.narcity.com/elon-musk-blamed-a-stalker-incident-on-the-guy-tracking-his-jet-people-are-calling-bs

            Liked by 1 person

          38. “You seem to be almost rabid in looking for some failure on Musk’s part”

            And, as I have tried to warn you, you are rushing to uncritically support yet another huckster and con man.

            Try thinking.

            The alleged stalker incident happened a full day after the most recent posting of Musk’s planes whereabouts. There is no connection between that posting and the incident a full day later and yet Musk used it as a pretext to close down an annoying account. And several journalists account ALL of who had been writing things that Musk did not want to see written. All just good management? Total baloney.

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    2. RE: “There is a real problem facing our Constitutional republic. It is the Stalinist assault on objective truth.”

      If true, then we should educate ourselves about the methods the Stalinists employ. The Twitter files are a start.

      Personally, Twitter looks more Maoist than Stalinist, which is why I think Twitter’s eventual transformation into an “Everything App” is cause for concern. The Maoist innovation is cultural revolution — today called wokeness.

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  2. Well, your “freedom of speech” guy just banned all of Ukraine from posting on Twitter. Russia, on the other hand, is still “free speeching.”

    Personally, I’d rather see the Mark Meadows text messages that TPM is publishing than anything that may or may not have been on Hunter Biden’s laptop.
    https://talkingpointsmemo.com/feature/a-plot-to-overturn-an-american-election?fbclid=IwAR0P9jmux_wHbfMSoClse1XKFTvCWBUTd1rbXbsW4MTejZuIWzasI6fx9wQ

    But I’m not expecting to see any of those treasonous texts on Twitter. They’re too busy trying to distract with dick pics.

    All of this is making me wonder… what is it with billionaire oligarchs? Why do they love dictators like Putin and Kim? Is the thought of absolute power a turn-on for them? And why do Libertarians so often agree with them? e.g. Rand Paul. John McCain once said “The Senator from Kentucky works for Vladimir Putin.” And every single thing Paul has done has proven McCain right.

    https://dashdobrofsky.substack.com/p/kentucky-fried-comrade?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&fbclid=IwAR0Piw8cjBUwP9KNkBes85T3B2MpD_ZzVtSzCvQqjJhz7FNtWNP8uPt_7fg

    Libertarians claim to love freedom, but from all I can see, the only freedom you love is your own personal freedom. When it comes to defending a small country against aggression from one of your favorite dictators, those moochers are on their own. “Not gonna spend MY tax money on that!”

    Transcendentalists believe every person is born with a tiny spark of light (aka a soul). With every good deed, the light grows brighter. With every bad deed, the light grows dimmer. They believe it is possible for a person to do so many bad deeds the light goes out altogether. When that happens, a soulless husk walks the earth, looking like a human being but it’s totally dead inside. Is that what happened to Putin’s lovers?

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          2. Keep in mind that practically the only internet service working in Ukraine is Starlink. It makes no sense that Musk would have made the effort to provide them service just to withhold it without good cause.

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          3. “Keep in mind . . .”

            I was quite serious. Too bad Twitter does not have the staff needed to head off and solve technical problems. That is what happens when you fire half your employees without having a clue as to what they do.

            Liked by 1 person

          4. That “technical problem” is a shadow ban, which is exactly what Musk is accusing his predecessors of doing. Funny that a “technical problem” caused Ukraine to go offline but it was malicious censoring before. Sorry, Elon. Ain’t buyin’ it.

            As for Starlink, it’s losing money… lots of money.
            https://www.fool.com/investing/2022/12/11/elon-musk-admits-starlink-is-losing-money/

            Call me a cynic but I believe Musk thought if he installed Starlink in Ukraine, western democracies would pay for it and the profits would bolster his failing company at home. He was wrong. Other countries aren’t paying for it and he may not be able to afford it much longer. He has already fallen behind in his rent for Twitter headquarters in San Francisco and all of its global offices. https://twitter.com/aterkel/status/1602784292433760256?fbclid=IwAR1sniR9DROuVttPE3PEmMdMMnsfpQTbV8k58fiZSFGEAM4lZAMzNpBL8W4

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          5. I don’t know the specifics of this problem, and neither do you.

            But it does not make sense for Musk to have gone to the expense of providing the ground units for Starlink and then block them. It may well be that Starlink doesn’t use phone numbers.

            But in any case we should wait before assuming.

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          6. “But it does not make sense for Musk to have gone to the expense of providing the ground units for Starlink and then block them”

            It didn’t make sense for him to spend $44Billion on Twitter either. But here we are.

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          8. If you truly believe that Musk’s interests were ANYTHING but his own, you are delusional. But then again, you seem to believe that Trump ran for President, because he is such a patriot.

            Liked by 1 person

          9. “Yeah, an immigrant acted on principle for the benefit of his adoptive country.”

            You really think that Musk was motivated by love of country?

            I guess my warning about throwing your credibility out the window in uncritical support of yet another fatuous dickhead was wasted. 🤦‍♂️

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          10. Yes, I do,

            His most recent statement has been that the woke mind virus must be defeated or nothing else matters.

            Fortunately, he makes enough elsewhere to risk $44billion for the good of the country. But I bet he will make it pay anyway.

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          12. “His most recent statement has been that the woke mind virus must be defeated or nothing else matters.”

            You should pay attention to my warning. That tweet was deranged. There is no such thing as a “woke mind virus.” If anything, there is the closed mind virus of those who are offended by an oppressed minority standing up for its rightful place.

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          13. You are proof he is correct, I would certainly not any of my loved ones to be afflicted with such a world view.

            You think everyone is as cynical as you.

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          14. “You think everyone is as cynical as you.”

            I get it. When you run out of facts or cogent arguments you throw in an attack on my character. You accuse me of being “cynical” but it is YOU who sees crime, conspiracy and corruption everywhere.

            Let’s go to the dictionary – I know how you hate that . . .

            “Cynical : believing that people are motivated purely by self-interest; distrustful of human sincerity or integrity.”

            That describes YOUR world view to a TEE.

            Liked by 1 person

          16. In a recent court case, DeSantis’ general counsel, Ryan Newman, defined woke as “the belief there are systemic injustices in American society and the need to address them.” DeSantis has said “Florida is where woke goes to die.”

            So, according to DeSantis, there are no systemic injustices in America and, even if there were, there is no need to address them. (This from the man who just accused his own healthcare system of being a bunch of crooks and liars.)

            To the right wing, woke has a negative meaning because it comes from the African-American Vernacular English meaning “alert to racial prejudice and discrimination.” But woke is also a slang word for empathy. And empathy is a concept beyond all their understanding.

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          17. Woke is also the presumption that all inequality is the result of someone else’s failings.

            If someone suffers from a delusion regarding their gender, it is violence if you decline to pretend along with them.

            That is wokeness.

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          18. I beg to differ. Wokeness is empathy. You can feel sorrow and sympathy for someone’s plight without placing blame on anyone for its cause.

            My guess is, people who think of wokeness as a blame game have a guilty conscience.

            Have you ever been extremely annoyed with someone only to find out later that the reason they were so annoying was because they had just suffered a death in their family or some sort of tragedy that made them less than friendly?

            IF you are capable of empathy, you suddenly put yourself in their shoes and realized you would probably have acted just like they acted. That is the “woke” moment.

            If, during the time you were annoyed with that person, you were rude, nasty, or even violent, you will probably experience a guilt moment. That is what hits racists and misogynists and xenophobes and makes them say, “YOU CAN’T BLAME ME FOR ALL YOUR TROUBLES.” When, in fact, nobody but your conscience is blaming you for anything.

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          19. I simply disagree. What I have seen of wokeness has nothing to do with empathy, more the appearance of empathy.

            ‘I am empathier than you’

            It is all about virtue signalling.

            A parent who has true empathy for his child still corrects the child for his future benefit.

            Wokeness excuses the most degraded behavior and demonizes anyone who criticizes self-destructive behavior.

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          20. The term “woke” was coined by Black Lives Matter and had/has nothing to do with parents correcting children’s behavior.

            Wokeness excuses nothing. It simply says, “I understand you. I know why you are like you are.” Parents who let their children run riot are not woke. They’re lazy.

            Liked by 1 person

          21. “Woke is also the presumption that all inequality . . .”

            That is complete nonsense. True of many categorical statements. Replace “all” with “some” and you would get closer to what woke people presume.

            Your example of gender merely reflects badly on you. Respecting other people as they are is just too darned hard.

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          22. If someone is confused about their gender, they can dress as they choose, but they should not be playing soccer with my granddaughter or using her locker room.

            They have no right to force the rest of us to participate in their delusion.

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          23. I find it interesting that those who take issue (not you, Don, in this instance) always go for the male who identifies as female. Yet the one case from VA that made it to the Supreme Court was Grimm v Glouscter Public Schools, a female identifying as male.

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          28. “Odd, a majority white jury decided to execute him.”

            Okay, you obviously are missing the point so here is another typical white man . . .

            https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/ted-nugent-threatens-to-kill-barack-obama-and-hillary-clinton-during-vicious-onstage-rant-94687/

            Since you seem confused, let me be more clear about what the point was . . . Posting a rant by some dope found by Libs of TikTok is not evidence to support your slanders. It is evidence that you are un-woke and straining to justify your bigotry. IMHO, of course.

            Liked by 1 person

          36. “And yet, with no evidence, based entirely on your speculation, you doubt Musk’s sincerity.”

            Laughable. There is plenty of evidence with respect to the Trumpy character of Mr. Musk. For some reason, you are blind to it. Here is a small sample of his awfulness as displayed on Twitter . . . https://mashable.com/article/worst-elon-musk-tweets-ranked

            Your claim here is that he is taking a multi-billion dollar loss out of some sense of duty. How does his failed attempt to weasel out of the silly deal jive with that theory? Never mind. Don’t bother to think about the evidence. You never do when it comes to your adulation of oligarchs. Putin is a patriot. Trump is a patriot (just look at him hump that flag!) and now Musk is a patriot too.

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          37. I disagree with Mashabbles assessment.

            Especially the FAA controversy. The idea that the FAA, headed by a Biden appointee who isn’t even a pilot. should be telling Musk how to fly rockets is ripe for ridicule

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          38. “The idea that the FAA, headed by a Biden appointee who isn’t even a pilot. should be telling Musk how to fly rockets is ripe for ridicule”

            Is it? So enforcing the law to ensure the safety of air travel is only for the little people? Not for Musk?

            And, I really enjoy it when you lead with your chin. The conflict with the FAA occurred around the launch of the SN-8 in early December 2020. Biden was not the President and had appointed no one at that stage.

            Liked by 1 person

        1. If Twitter is run correctly, the political views of the owner and staff should not matter.

          Silencing opposing voices as disinformation is your thing, not mine nor Musks. He has made that quite clear.

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          1. “Silencing opposing voices as disinformation is your thing, not mine nor Musks.”

            I have nothing against opposing voices. I do have a problem with lying liars. I do have a problem with disinformation that kills people and/or incites violence. You flatter your tribe of MAGA-Republicans with the term “opposing voices.” Nope. Just old-fashioned liars and bigots.

            As for Musk, he is too Trumpy to do anything but butt in with his own censorship. It will be like that until his investors and lenders remove him from any position of authority.

            Liked by 1 person

          5. Even when you are proven to be in error, you find a loophole to say you are not.

            I appreciate the offer of the challenge, but PROVING you to beleie in alternative facts has been shown to be an exercise in futility.

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          3. “Interesting, but have the others complained? Does he have permission?”

            Nice dodge. Not.

            Here is a pro tip. Don’t make the same mistake you did with Trump. Don’t over invest your credibility and integrity in excusing his behavior. He is going to prove to be as big an ass hat as Trump in his own special way. Reality always wins in the end. IMHO, of course.

            Liked by 2 people

  4. Yeah except: “Musk said in early November that his “commitment to free speech” included the account following his plane.” Yet, he not only deleted that account, he deleted the personal account of its owner.

    So, the boy figured out he was in personal danger. And PERSONAL danger is all that registers with people like Musk.

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      1. Well then, he doesn’t have a clue about how social media works does he? Not everybody thinks he’s Mr. Wonderful. I’m sure his Trump-like ego has a hard time accepting that. But, in the real world, some people feel the same way about Musk as other people feel about Dr. Fauci. Some people think he manipulates data to suit his own ends.

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        1. An update.

          Last night, in an apparent case of mistaken identity, a car carrying some musician called Lil X was attacked by one of Mr Sweeny’s followers who thought it was Musk’s car, carrying Musk or a member of his family.

          That is likely the trigger for the change in policy.

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          1. Yep, that would do it. Hate speech is all fun and games until the haters start targeting you and your family. It looks like Musk has removed all OSINT (Open Source Intelligence) links in order to justify removing the one that linked to his plane. But removing OSINT is proving to be a very bad idea.

            From all I’ve been reading tonight, Twitter has been so totally mismanaged, it may not survive until the end of the year. Musk fired everyone who disagreed with him… which seems to have been the majority of the workforce. Sites are going offline all around the world and nobody seems to know what’s happening anywhere. It looks to me as if the boy just set fire to $44 billion.

            https://www.platformer.news/p/how-elon-botched-his-war-on-bots

            Liked by 2 people

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