All your favorite AW characters, with the same story you know and love but with more drastic current events. Tune in literally whenever, the dumpster fire never ends!
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Consequences for Veterans and/or retirees in the 2021 DC Riots
- Thread starter Sam I am
- Start date
All your favorite AW characters, with the same story you know and love but with more drastic current events. Tune in literally whenever, the dumpster fire never ends!
Nobody is making you read or post.... Personally I think this has been a civil and good discussion on current events.
my understanding is a business can choose who it wants to do business with, as long as they don't discriminate based on a protected class. political views are not a protected class. i agree with you that "you shouldn't be refused" service based on political views or any other characteristic, but that's usually a business decision. and it's usually good business not to turn people away. but there's nothing illegal about putting up a sign that says "if you are a trump supporter we won't serve you"
it's becomes different when it's a monopoly or something like a private utility company. this whole argument will become more of an anti-trust issue than a censorship/freedom of speech issue.
twitter can sorta make the case that there are other options out there (at least until they get rid of all of them). AWS and ISPs will eventually have a harder time denying service. there are competitors to AWS like MS Azure and Google, then smaller ones like Oracle, but if they all collude and refuse service to someone like Parlor, then it looks like a rigged cartel.
big tech is certainly acting like they are colluding. yesterday, twitter actually posted "in close coordination with our peers, we suspended a number of accounts targeting the election in Uganda"
you are right, never been easier
as expected, more and more info is starting to fill in. i came across this article with some interesting stuff . the general gist is that the first version of events is never the correct or accurate one.
Rush to judgement? Three crucial questions remain unanswered about Capitol siege
What did Nancy Pelosi know? A prior plot or spontaneous riot? Were there inside facilitators?
they are reporting on all the significant, coordinated planning that went into the assault (or whatever we are calling it now). pre-planning on IED construction, logistics, and floorplans etc of the capital, and possibly inside help.
apparently the rioters started breaching the capitol 20 min before Trump's speech was even over, and long before the riled up masses marched from the elipse to the capitol.
so the obvious question, how can Trump be guilty of inciting a riot/insurrection that was already pre-planned and that started before his speech was even over? is it possible that the people who were in the process of breaching the capitol had heard any of the speech at all? i guess you can say he incited the people that did the pre-planning but that's a whole different argument.
With less than a week left in the administration and resigning from said administration a virtual badge of honor, why "unnamed"? There is much to know all around about what happened behind closed doors. In the end, I hope we learn all the details. But it won't be from unnamed souces.
Not surprisingly the focus now is on the Trumpsters, but both sides traffic in conspiracy theories. I remember debating the most idiotic claims about George W Bush with a well regarded lawyer, who I might add, remains a friend. I'd like to say trafficking in conspiracy theories is just part of our human nature, otherwise suppressed in most of us by other influences. But I am curious how much purchase crazy conspiracies have in other countries or cultures.
I guess if you don’t believe the threat social media poses then you don’t believe the ACLU.
(Did I do that right??)
“We understand the desire to permanently suspend him now,” Kate Ruane, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, wrote in a statement on Friday. “But it should concern everyone when companies like Facebook and Twitter wield the unchecked power to remove people from platforms that have become indispensable for the speech of billions — especially when political realities make those decisions easier.”
www.nytimes.com
(Did I do that right??)
“We understand the desire to permanently suspend him now,” Kate Ruane, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, wrote in a statement on Friday. “But it should concern everyone when companies like Facebook and Twitter wield the unchecked power to remove people from platforms that have become indispensable for the speech of billions — especially when political realities make those decisions easier.”
In Pulling Trump’s Megaphone, Twitter Shows Where Power Now Lies (Published 2021)
The ability of a handful of people to control our public discourse has never been more obvious.
Boy, is it ever.
Is Twitter/FB any different from the way that a few large companies own the majority of the traditional media sources in this country (and the world)?I guess if you don’t believe the threat social media poses then you don’t believe the ACLU.
(Did I do that right??)
“We understand the desire to permanently suspend him now,” Kate Ruane, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, wrote in a statement on Friday. “But it should concern everyone when companies like Facebook and Twitter wield the unchecked power to remove people from platforms that have become indispensable for the speech of billions — especially when political realities make those decisions easier.”
In Pulling Trump’s Megaphone, Twitter Shows Where Power Now Lies (Published 2021)
The ability of a handful of people to control our public discourse has never been more obvious.
I'd say there's a high likelihood of increased anti-trust cases against big tech coming. It was coming anyways but this is increased fuel to the fire.
Businesses, to generalize, are going to look to monopolize to maximize their profits. That's how the business model works. People really need to understand that businesses are there to provide them services in return for money. If they can make it such that they're the only service provider and can charge/do whatever they want all the better for them. Which is great if you're a shareholder. Less good if you're a consumer looking for low prices
It seems that every so often people realize how much of their lives are controlled by a few businesses or oligarchy-esque groups of businesses. To me, this is where the govt comes in to balance the needs of the people with those of businesses. We want a strong economy but part of a strong economy is that normal people can afford things that people are selling by ensuring competition in the field.
Twitter is concerned with the Ugandan government shutting down the Internet during an election. If this were the U.S., that would be a clear violation of the 1st Amendment.
This is worlds apart from Twitter exercising its rights as a private company to enforce its Terms of Service for users using its platform. Free speech does not apply to private companies. Period. Private companies like Twitter can ban whatever the hell they want.
Don't like it? Then stop using Twitter and FB. Vote with your feet. These platforms make money off of advertising and large user bases. When those uses bases dwindle and advertising revenue is impacted...
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Bellingcat has an excellent overview of the approximate path of the woman killed last week as she made her way through the Capitol and it shows pretty clear intent on her part and others in the mob to interfere with the constitutional process that was occuring at the time in the House chamber. The videos in the article also make it pretty clear, along with another video in a Washington Post article, why the Capitol police officer shot her as the door she was about to climb through was one of the last barriers between the mob and Representatives who being evacuated along with others who were still sheltering in the gallery of the House chamber.
Even though the leadership of the Capitol Police along with others utterly failed in protecting the Capitol building last Wednesday it appears much of the rank and file performed one of their core responsibilties, protecting the members of Congress and the staff, pretty well under some very trying circumstances.
Even though the leadership of the Capitol Police along with others utterly failed in protecting the Capitol building last Wednesday it appears much of the rank and file performed one of their core responsibilties, protecting the members of Congress and the staff, pretty well under some very trying circumstances.
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I also suspect we'll see the emergence of more unions especially in the professional, white collar sector especially now that some at Google have taken the lead. Folks are going to start asking questions about why the company and shareholder profits are increasing and their income isn't. It's hard to be a shareholder if you can't buy a share.
Did you read this part?
“Access to information and freedom of expression, including the public conversation on Twitter, is never more important than during democratic processes, particularly elections.”
There is a difference between illegal and immoral, and I don’t think Twitter is saying their statement (and ethos) only applies in the case of Ugandan elections. There’s more at stake here, and I’m not sure you realize that.
And, again, Twitter cannot ban content just because they don’t like it. It had to be in accordance with Section 230. Multiple posts about this.
The irony behind many folks highlighting European objections to the President's removal from Twitter miss the point that the many of the Euro's think it is the state that should have responsibilty for doing those actions, along with the attendant government regulation, something that wouldn't likely fly in the US politically or legally. While many European countries have pretty robust free speech protections almost all of them have more restrictions of speech and online regulation of speech than we have here in the US, to include the new 'Right to be Forgotten'.
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