Category: Things that make you say hmmm?

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The Death of Twitter

Twitter has become synonymous with censorship. Facebook is running a close second. Both services have been called to testify before congress and it’s quite possible that one or both have lied under oath. Both services enjoy (Non-Publication) status and both are now drawing the ire of the Senate and some members of the House.

“Lucy, You got some splainin to do!”

Recently due to Twitter’s incessant shadow-banning of Conservative people expressing opinions that are not in lockstep with the established narratives, (Orange man bad. Protests peaceful, etc.) Folks are seeking other alternatives. Their most recent permanent banning of Congressional Candidate Laura Loomer (R) FL, and attempt to prevent the Trump campaign from using their service. has created an exodus from Twitter.

This has been amusing to watch. As conservative voices leave, the leftists find they’re bored with Twitter. After all, if you want to have a conversation, you don’t necessarily want to have it with yourself in an echo chamber.

I still have one Twitter account open, mostly so that I can watch the implosion. Okay, I also look at some of the nude images that are posted daily. Which is funny because supposedly those images are against the Twitter TOS, given that they often show full penetrative sex acts of various stripes.

It’s funny in many ways that saying, “abortion is murder” may get you banned, but images or video of a restrained woman being forced to submit to orally, anally, and vaginally to three men at the same time is okay.

Saying something like, “putting prepubescent children onto hormone therapies to change their gender, is wrong.” will get your account suspended for a while.

If you ask Twitter why, they’ll tell you that you violated the TOS (Terms of Service) by posting hate speech. While at the same time representatives of CAIR can specifically state that they hate all Jews, and call upon the faithful to murder Jews whenever and wherever they can. Similarly BLM and ANTIFA can outright say, “Kill White People”

It’s this kind of one sided enforcement that has driven conservatives specifically, and even moderates away from the platform. Either you’re really all about free speech or you’re not. More people are realizing that Twitter is not about free speech or equality and while they may have been at one time… That time has passed.

There was an article yesterday describing Twitter’s consideration of a subscription model. Several days prior another article noted that Twitter’s earnings were down. That same article also noted that Twitter’s new user count appeared to be fairly consistent while the number of actual users appeared to be dropping.

There is even some feeling that Twitter is attempting to skew the election. I don’t know if there’s actual evidence, or if it’s just hearsay. I can only opine that from personal experience and observation; Twitter is highly biased toward Democrats & Liberals, and against Republicans & Conservatives.

Over at Parler, (another social media platform) they’re having a tough time keeping up with new subscribers and their site is occasionally showing the strain of hundreds of thousands of new users weekly.

Parler, is pretty free and you can say what you like. There are limits of course. Threatening to kill someone will get you booted. But other than egregious things that you shouldn’t put out on a public forum anyway, Parler doesn’t seem interested in silencing the free exchange of ideas, regardless of whose ideas are being espoused.

It’s very much the digital equivalent of carrying your soapbox to the local park and announcing your ideas.

Oddly, there are a lot of liberal lefties showing up on Parler too. (I guess they got tired of screaming in an echo chamber on Twitter.) The conservatives and liberals on Parler do interact.

The liberal left screams about Trump, Abortion, Transrights, or whatever, on Parler and sometimes they’re challenged but most of the time they’re blocked, not by Parler, but by individual users who have no desire to deal with the ranting. Most conservatives and moderates have heard it all before anyway and aren’t likely to change their minds.

Again, similar to the soapbox in the park. No-one is forcing you to stand there in the park listening to the rantings of someone you think is a lunatic. Once you’ve heard enough, you walk away. Walking away is the physical equivalent of blocking someone.

I’ve blocked a number of individuals who were rude, demanded that I validate their position when clearly I didn’t, or who were simply disagreeable to talk to. I’m sure that I’ve been blocked by others, in a similar fashion and for similar reasons.

After all, you gentle reader, know that I’m an acquired taste.

The funny thing is that the liberals are upset when no-one pays them attention and more upset that Parler refuses to take their side in silencing views that they disagree with.

I’ve been watching the diversity of users drop on Twitter and suspect that it will go the way of MySpace or the old computer BBS systems. After all, without at least a little disagreement all conversations get stale and pointless.

I welcome Twitter’s death. It’s time for the little bluebird to crash headlong into the nearest skyscraper.

There was a time when Twitter was open and free. But then some people started getting butt-hurt that they got to read things they found offensive. That started the whole censorship train on Twitter and has brought us to Twitter’s graveside.

Facebook will probably experience something similar in due time. Even Parler at some point will probably follow the same arc. I hope not, but I won’t be surprised.

For the moment, I’m enjoying that Twitter is suffering. I look forward to them declaring insolvency the layoffs, and Jack Dorsey making impassioned pleas for his users to return.

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Good things about the Coronavirus Pandemic

Aside from the news media screaming, “Death and despair” 24/7, there may be some good to come out of all this.

It’s probably too soon… But hey, I could drop dead tomorrow!

1. Corporate America has been forced to admit that working from home is viable. Going forward perhaps they’ll go “Green” and keep workers, working from home.

2. People have realized that health care is important and perhaps they’ll force politicians to follow through with a better version of health care that is affordable for everyone that also doesn’t allow pricing to continue to spiral out of control. Why does the same drug cost $10 a pill here and .01 in a third world country? What’s the real damn cost? Big pharmaceutical giants I’m looking at you!

3. Everyone is seeing just how easily despotic rulers can rise and how difficult it is to regain rights once those rights are taken away. Governor Whitmer I’m looking at you! BTW thank you for showing in just a few short weeks, the arc of a despotic cycle. Now hopefully America will use your rise and fall as a lens through which all politicians will be viewed.

4. Traffic is, for the time being a thing of the past. Speeding tickets in LA are increasingly written for speeds in excess of 100 mph. Funny how that works isn’t it?

5. The air is cleaner. So obviously if there weren’t as many people forced to drive to and from work, air pollution wouldn’t be as much of a problem… Duh!

6. The oil companies have seen their future. Yep there will still be a demand for oil but not at obscene prices, and if we continue to work from home you might want to sell off your oil stocks.

7. Antisocial behavior is suddenly fashionable. Who could’ve seen that coming?

8. People have more time to actually learn about little things, like their kids, and their community, instead of running all the time like bats out of hell.

9. For once, the Government is actually giving tax dollars back. At the same time it’s learning that the American People aren’t pleased with their government and haven’t been for a long time.

10. The Government is learning that they can still be functional with a lot less people actively working. I guess Trump laying off and consolidating various departments wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

11. People are re-learning that common sense might actually be beneficial. Planning for disaster, washing your hands, staying away from others if you’re sick, not depending on the government to be your savior, etc.

12. We’ve seen our vulnerabilities laid bare. We can’t have the convenience of super cheap disposable products without being vulnerable to losing access to those products at a moment’s notice. It’s time to start bringing jobs and industry back to our shores and this time, let’s do it with thought. We don’t have to trash the country just because we have manufacturing here. We have the opportunity to build better factories and better manufacturing processes that are less (or not) damaging to the local environment.

13. Everyone may be realizing that unlimited immigration legal or otherwise might not be such a great idea. I’m going to be interested to see how that plays out going forward.

14. Censorship is most definitely alive and well in America. Folks are hopefully realizing that Facebook & Twitter are not the best places to get information. If humanity is really lucky both of those corporations will come to a crashing end. I’m even hopeful that all of the news media will get a rework and re-establish some journalistic integrity. Then they’ll be using their first amendment rights properly, by just reporting what happened instead of every piece being an Op/Ed.

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Had one of those Ahah moments

Well not so much an ahah moment as a weird train of thought. Yeah, if you’ve read any of this blog over the years, you’ll know that I’m sometimes prone to them. (Now… Be Nice. After all, no-one is forcing you to read it.)

It started as I was catching up on the news.

I know, that was probably a mistake but there I was, reading various articles talking about defunding the police.

Several images really caught my attention. Specifically those photos where protesters were right up in the faces of officers. I thought to myself, “I couldn’t be an officer.”

Which led me to the unconstrained train of thought leaving the station on Track 9.

If we get rid of the police, then I’m going to be responsible for my own safety. In fact, everyone will be responsible for their own safety. What does that actually mean?

In my case it would mean that any threat would be terminated instantly. Someone gets up in my face… I don’t know what their intentions would be. How crazy are they, will they continue to escalate, do they pose a realistic threat?

My logic is simple. There are too many variables to calculate. Logically the solution is to terminate the problem before it grows worse. Put the threat down, so they don’t get up again.

Which means, if I were an officer I’d be under constant investigation for excessive use of force. As a citizen, caught in a world of insanity without police protection, well lets just say my ammunition bill would increase dramatically.

Without police who would notice that my body count was increasing exponentially? Without police, what would stop me carrying a sidearm in public? There’d be no-one for the various anti-gun “Karens” to call to enforce the gun laws.

Karen: “Oh My God! There’s a man carrying a gun in public!“

911: “We’ll send our thoughts and prayers Ma’am but you’re on your own.”

Who knows? Maybe defunding the police wouldn’t be a bad thing. Imagine all the good that could be done, starting with the wholesale slaughter of the shittier elements of the nation. It could be a good thing, in the short term. It would be ironic if ANTIFA was obliterated by their efforts to get rid of police.

Longer term, it would be bad. Various countries, including ours, have, throughout history settled arguments, legal issues, even insults, by duel. Most countries decided to come up with laws prohibiting such things, and created enforcers charged with keeping the peace. Those enforcers are known as police officers.

I suppose that bodies started piling up and posed a health hazard, perhaps it was just a hazard to everyone’s sense of smell. For whatever reason, societies decided that issues would be settled in court. Which spawned the profession of attorneys at law. (That has since gotten out of control and when police are defunded, it may be that the Attorneys are the first against the wall during the first Purge.)

Just imagine what happens when there are no police and no consequences.

Picture the riots of late, only accentuated with the staccato of gunfire. Or you can just read the Monday morning news out of Chicago. Imagine all that systemic hatred and racism allowed to go from a controllable simmer to full blown boil.

Picture what that will look like…

It was at one time common for bored Highschoolers to drive by gay bars throwing rotten eggs and rocks at patrons of gay bars. The police generally looked the other way. More recently, there was the “knockout game” which was anything but a game for the victims, what happens if that develops into the “shootout game”?

Imagine that mentality in an urban setting. Armed teenagers going on “Hunting Parties” in various neighborhoods looking for trouble. Remember no consequences, right? Or again, you could just picture Chicago on any Saturday night…

If someone walks up to me on the street and starts screaming that I should repent or kneel for my supposed white privilege. I’m going to assume they’re out of their minds and terminate the problem just like I would a rabid dog.

Lets face it, the majority of the people screaming that kind of thing are white people, so it’s not like there’d be much of a racial component. Aside from the obvious stupidity of, “Apologize for the color of your skin,” which I find interesting. If you had the balls to say something like that to a person of color you’d expect to get your lights punched out.

I think the folks screaming to defund the police departments, really need to think about what they’re saying. As soon as the police are spread too thin, these same people will be complaining that they’re not safe, and wondering why that is.

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You can take your “New Normal” and shove it!

This “New Normal” as it’s called is bugging the shit out of me, and I think it’s built on nothing more than fear itself.

I’ve had a belly full of it. It’s starting to damage my calm.

All I’ve ever wanted to do is live my life in peace and unfettered by bullshit.

Now, in this “New Normal” I have bullshit aplenty.

Riots, burning, and looting are not normal.
Wearing a mask everywhere isn’t normal.
Eliminating Police isn’t normal.
Avoiding large areas of cities, towns, & parks out of fear of being caught up in violence or some protest thats roving around, isn’t normal.
Autonomous zones aren’t normal.

I refuse to submit to your version of “normal” 

So all you Media Morons & Politicians; Take your fearful NEW NORMAL and shove it up your ass sideways! Grow a pair, and bring this shit to heal.

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I keep waiting for her eyes to start glowing.

Greta Thunberg is apparently an “expert?“

She appeared on CNN’s Townhall about coronavirus.

Really? I guess all it takes for you to become a celebrity these days is to speak to your elders harshly. Remember this is the little girl who chastised the United fucking Nations and predicted doom and gloom for the world.

All I can hear as she speaks is a ringtone from The Goths in SouthPark “Death and Despair… Death and Despair…“

We have climate change scientists that can’t seem to get their modeling right. And I’m talking about real scientists who are doing real work.

What makes this little girl an appropriate spokesperson on anything, much less a chaotic system like climate?

But there she is on our televisions again.

What power does she have? 

Greta Thunberg 2 420x315I see her picture, hear her speak, and wonder what is going on?  Then I saw this picture on Breitbart this morning and it clicked.

I’ve seen that look before. It bugged the hell out of me and after a few minutes searching my memory, I remembered.

I saw that expression in Village of the Damned

VillageOfTheDamnedOMG! We’ve been invaded by Aliens!!!!

That would explain a lot of things.

Her meteoric rise from obscurity, her access to the halls of power, and the elite.

Her disdain for humanity and the feeling that when she’s talking she’s judging people as vermin.

(Full disclosure, I often feel that way too. So I’m possibly calling the kettle black in this instance.)

It makes perfect sense! She’s part of the advance guard. Her people are on their way and they’re concerned that the planetary ecology will be too screwed up for them to take over. The area of the planet that she comes from is a bit cooler, maybe her people can’t take the heat. That would make global warming a big problem.

I guess we need to start looking for others. Probably folks who come from Canada, the northern United States, Norway, Sweden, Greenland, Iceland, and Siberia. Lest we forget the Southern Hemisphere. New Zealand, parts of Australia, Argentina, The Falkland Islands, and The South Sandwich Islands.

Anderson CooperWho else from those areas might we be suspicious of? What positions of power might they have? How long have they been here?

Now wait just a damn minute!

Nooooo It can’t be true! Not Anderson!

Just a goof folks, Having a little bit of fun.

I honestly don’t think Greta should be in the public eye, I think she should be in school.

I’ve just had it with the constant doom, gloom, and the lockdown. So I thought I’d let my conspiracy theory horses out for a run.

I’d almost prefer an interstellar war. At least then I’d know why my life has been thrown into chaos, and why it may never return to normal.

Loki.jpgAfter hearing what some of our politicians have said and how they’ve behaved toward their citizens I was reminded of Loki in The Avengers.

“Is not this simpler? Is this not your natural state? It’s the unspoken truth of humanity that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life’s joy in a mad scramble for power. For identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel.” ― Loki of Asgard

Which is why I decided to take a break from the news, and quite possibly a break from technology for the weekend. 

I hope you have a great weekend. Turn off the news and take a deep breath.