Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Infrastructure week. at last.

Not all heroes wear capes.

Consistently wrong since 2002

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

He really is that stupid.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Come on, man.

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Everybody saw this coming.

The willow is too close to the house.

“woke” is the new caravan.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

T R E 4 5 O N

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / The announcement is the point

The announcement is the point

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As you’ve undoubtedly heard, Trump is rummaging through the executive order toy box again, this time to punish tech companies that are mean to him. This morning, he tweet-screamed the following: “This will be a Big Day for Social Media and FAIRNESS!” Reuters reporters saw a draft of the EO and provided an overview in the wee hours:

The executive order would call for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to propose and clarify regulations under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a federal law largely exempting online platforms from legal liability for the material their users post. Such changes could expose tech companies to more lawsuits.

The order asks the FCC to examine whether actions related to the editing of content by social media companies should potentially lead to the firms forfeiting their protections under section 230.

It requires the agency to look at whether a social media platform uses deceptive policies to moderate content and if its policies are inconsistent with its terms of service.

The draft order also states that the White House Office of Digital Strategy will re-establish a tool to help citizens report cases of online censorship. The tool will collect complaints of online censorship and submit them to the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

It requires the FTC to look into whether complaints violate the law, develop a report describing such complaints and make the report publicly available.

It’s so confusing when creeping authoritarianism arrives not in jackboots but in a soiled diaper. Maybe I’ll regret not being more alarmed by this, but my initial take is that Trump is putting on a show, much as House Republicans did when they held hearings on alleged Big Tech bias against conservatives.

That event featured clowns like Diamond and Silk whining about their alleged “shadow-banning” on Facebook, which turned out to be a misunderstanding of how settings affect content delivery. The FTC complaints report will likely provide a similar outlet for idiotic grievance-mongering.

Maybe Trump’s real object was this, also from the linked Reuters piece:

Twitter’s shares were down over 4 percent in pre-market trade on Thursday. Facebook fell nearly 2 percent and Google was down 1 percent.

Stock market manipulation is included in Trump’s extremely limited skill set. But the real point is the splashy announcement. It always is with Trump, from licensing deals for sketchy real estate development schemes to the commission investigating non-existent voter fraud to the Ukraine shakedown and the recent “Obamagate” meeping.

I’m more worried about Big Tech’s subversion of democracy and society for its own moneymaking purposes than anything the crybaby in the White House might do.

Reader Interactions

165Comments

  2. 2.

    low-tech cyclist

    Yeppers, Betty.

    He wants people to be talking about something – anything – besides the 100,000 Americans killed by the coronavirus while he twiddled his thumbs, told the states it was their problem, and then interfered with the states when they tried to deal with it.

  3. 3.

    Mike in NC

    Fat Bastard is making his move to become Dictator-for-Life, which should surprise approximately nobody. After all, Republicans have long felt that the Constitution is merely a piece of paper that they can wipe their butts with.

  5. 5.

    germy

    @low-tech cyclist:

    He wants people to be talking about something – anything – besides the 100,000 Americans killed by the coronavirus while he twiddled his thumbs, told the states it was their problem, and then interfered with the states when they tried to deal with it.

    This is his superpower:  Distraction.

  6. 6.

    chopper

    so when trump posts some pro-violence bullshit like, i dunno, ‘the only good democrat is a dead democrat’ twitter could be held legally liable for ensuing violence?

  8. 8.

    HumboldtBlue

    @germy:

    But Jack Balkin, a Yale University law professor and First Amendment expert, said that’s not Trump’s point.
    “This is an attempt by the president to, as we used to say in basketball, work the refs,” he said. “He’s threatening and cajoling with the idea that these folks in their corporate board rooms will think twice about what they’re doing, so they won’t touch him.”
    For Rutgers University media professor John Pavlik, who studies online misinformation, Trump is simply trying to fire up his political base.
    “For Trump,” he said, “this is about politics.”

  9. 9.

    Gin & Tonic

    I have had a groundhog in my backyard for a while, pretty sure he lives under a shed. Didn’t see him often, but once in a while. For some silly reason I assumed it was just the one, because I only ever saw one. Unless they are capable of asexual reproduction, though, I guess there were at least two, because I just saw a much smaller-than-usual groundhog out foraging.

    I know very little about groundhogs/marmots/whatever. I assume they hibernate in winter, but don’t even know that.

  10. 10.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    So we find out the Right was against Corporate Citizenship before they were for it now.

  12. 12.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Gin & Tonic:  They are also known as whistle pigs in some parts of the country. I have a pair of red and black ski gloves from Marmot; they are very nice. I hope I have added to your knowledge. That’s all I’ve got.

  14. 14.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    A church we attended years ago was bitterly divided over a groundhog. Tensions ran very high. As I recall, ultimately the Trap The Groundhog Party prevailed over the Leave The Groundhog Alone Party.

    i don’t recall what they did after trapping him.

  15. 15.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Mike in NC: After all, Republicans have long felt that the Constitution is merely a piece of paper that they can wipe their butts with.

    Oh they want the rule of law, but for everyone else, not them.

  17. 17.

    low-tech cyclist

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: Oh they want the rule of law, but for everyone else, not them.

    Yeppers.

    “Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition …There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.” — Frank Wilhoit

  18. 18.

    Jeffro

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: Jamelle Bouie framed it this way yesterday

    Republican presidents…are elected kings. Democratic presidents, of course, are illegitimate usurpers bound to the strictest possible reading of the Constitution.

     

    Same thing with our voters and their voters.  Their voters can vote by mail, or simply stick a thumb up or down out their living room window.  Ours have to stand in line for hours exposed to a deadly virus, and we should be grateful they let us do that.

  19. 19.

    rikyrah

    If Twitter had followed its own rules, if it were anyone other than Dolt45, his account would have been permanently closed already.

  22. 22.

    different-church-lady

    @Gin & Tonic: But in this case you get what you pay for. Whistle Pig is so smooth my friends have a rule where we can only drink it straight from the bottle.

  23. 23.

    patrick II

    I don’t think Trump is just bluffing, although if he is stopped by the courts, it may seem so. Trump does other things in this vein — he is has been trying to get rid of the entire post office, or at least impose new management to cause it to fail over time — all to get Jeff Bezos and the Washington Post.
    As Balkin says, he is also working the refs. And it is not just Trump. Zuckerberg got called in to talk to a group of Congressional Republicans because he was filtering out right-wing lies (I think it was about climate change at the time). a few years ago. The meeting was closed, but whatever those Republicans told him caused Zuckerberg to stop what he is doing.
    And Pavlik is right too, just not exclusively — it is political too. He is asserting for his followers that they are being mean to him and cheating by interfering with his free speech they are harming his chances unfairly for re-election.
    Trump is dumb in most ways, but in getting his way no matter how stupid, he is a sort of a genius because there are no boundaries for him. And while his motives may those of a baby in soiled diapers, we have been watching him destroy institutions successfully for over three years now, so his methods are dangerous and they work and his crowd loves them. Can’t push around good ol’ Donald.

  24. 24.

    RobertB

    @Gin & Tonic: We have/had a pair living under our deck.  One was bigger and scruffier than the other.  They do hibernate.

    My daughter had a friend say that there was a beaver in her house.  Her house was close to downtown, so the other girls were pretty sure it wasn’t a beaver.  It turned out that a groundhog had somehow tunneled into her basement.

  25. 25.

    different-church-lady

    Here’s the thing: the Grim Reaper don’t give a shit about anyone’s Tweets. He can manipulate social media all he wants, but in the end your kids are still out of work and your grandparents or your coworkers or your friends are still dead.

  27. 27.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @low-tech cyclist: Goes back to the original American sin of slavery, or as Abraham Lincoln put it, wage theft.  It’s  illegal to steal someone else’s money, unless you are the privileged few slave owners, whose acts it would be uncivil to question.

  28. 28.

    different-church-lady

    Once again gonna share my groundhog secret: find the hole and empty an entire soiled litter box down into it. First time I did that I never saw the little excavator again until a year after the cat passed away.

  29. 29.

    eric

    if liability protection is taken away, wouldnt that mean far more aggressive “review” of content, and ultimately, more removal of content?  If so, then they might have to take down Trump’s twitter.

  31. 31.

    eric

    wouldnt this have to go through the public comment period if the regulations are changed?

  32. 32.

    rikyrah

    BC,

    I hope that you or one of the other FrontPagers will post about the phuckery with the Pennsylvania GOP??

    They really should be criminally charged.

    Chris I hope you don’t mind but I’m gonna post the entire Facebook video here. There is a lot more to this story that twitter wouldn’t let you post because of length. https://t.co/cI75YSVJZm— True Blue Sue ??? (@ursomoneyhoney) May 28, 2020

  34. 34.

    TomatoQueen

    Groundhogs one or two are cute. Groundhogs allowed to live peacefully will over time undermine the foundations of your house. Or a full-service children’s hospital, as happened in Newington, CT some years ago. Little bastards.

  37. 37.

    different-church-lady

    • About to digitally deposit my Trump COVID check
    • My special unemployment coverage has now become so complicated there’s one guy at the UI office dedicated to untangling the situation.
    • Last week I finally blew my stack at a major client who had been giving me increasing difficulties for the past year. Goodbye 10k when we’re finally working again.

    I still can’t believe any of this is happening.

  39. 39.

    waspuppet

    So if you tell your workers they’re fired if they don’t come in and catch a deadly virus you should be protected, but if you tell people Donald Trump is lying (again) you should be sued out of existence.

    They’re really just shouting it out loud now, aren’t they?

    I really hope someone is asking Moscow Mitch what he thinks about this.

  41. 41.

    germy

    @zhena gogolia:  He ain’t gonna like that one bit.

    The folksy narrator, the mention of his personal wealth, the young turtle photos, the drop of blood.

    I wish I could be a fly on the wall the first time he sees it

    Rich Mitch

  43. 43.

    Betty Cracker

    @patrick II: You made some good points. Trump is an idiot, but he’s surrounded by corrupt and evil non-idiots who have channeled his authoritarian impulses in dangerous ways, e.g., Bill Barr.

  44. 44.

    HumboldtBlue

    @zhena gogolia: “When he fixed the impeachment trial by blocking evidence of Trump’s high crimes and misdemeanors, McConnell violated and abased the solemn oaths he took as a United States Senator,” Conway said. “Add in the fact that, as our ad shows, he’s managed to do much better for himself than for the people of Kentucky, and it becomes a no-brainer: McConnell has to go.”

  45. 45.

    different-church-lady

    @rikyrah: If Biden is as much a friend to the black community as his reputation says, he will pound away at this shit relentlessly as president.

  46. 46.

    kindness

    Am I wrong in thinking this may be karma for Twitter & FB?  I mean, they refuse to delete stuff that openly calls for violence against others and are just whores for money.  Honestly I don’t mind their leadership taking it in the shorts with the loss of some of their stock value.  And really I don’t expect this to amount to squat.  So it’s temporary karma at best.

  47. 47.

    germy

    @different-church-lady:

    The Biden Plan for Black America will:

    • Advance the economic mobility of African Americans and close the racial wealth and income gaps.
    • Expand access to high-quality education and tackle racial inequity in our education system.
    • Make far-reaching investments in ending health disparities by race.
    • Strengthen America’s commitment to justice.
    • Make the right to vote and the right to equal protection real for African Americans.
    • Address environmental justice.
  50. 50.

    Jeffro

    So just to recap the week:

    • clear support on the Right for punishing protestors if they’re people of color; clear support for violent, armed extremists marching around and getting in the faces of police if they’re white
    • DOJ launching all sorts of fake investigations into ‘unmasking’, Flynn, etc as well as starting to lean on states that are not fully “opening up” due to Covid-19
    • R legislators in PA covering up their own Covid-19 infections in order to a) hide evidence that Covid-19 is a real thing and possibly b) infect their D counterparts in the legislature
    • trumpov browbeating a governor into holding a ‘regular’ convention in NC where he can be lovingly adored in person by huge crowds no matter the cost to health and lives…OR…he’ll move the convention to an allied/red state, possibly even at one of his own properties
    • continued allegations of murder by the sitting president* of the united states against a morning talk-show host he doesn’t like
    • trumpov re-tweeting a “the only good Dem is a dead Dem” tweet earlier today (the original tweet has since been deleted)
    • continued lies from all levels of the GOP about voting-by-mail
    • and now, some sort of executive order coming out to ‘work the refs’ and inhibit social media/search companies from reporting even the most basic elements of truth
  51. 51.

    different-church-lady

    @germy: He’s gotta go further than that. Easy for me to say, but. It’s gotta be a long, slow, relentless dismantling of systemic racism in police culture. We need a dedicated task force for just that one aspect.

  56. 56.

    SFAW

    @Gin & Tonic:

    It sounds like our situation, too. One big one living under our shed. We assumed it to be male but apparently was not, because there have been three (maybe four) mini-ones spotted in the last week or so,

    If we weren’t so far from Rhode Island, from your description I’d think she had two homes, and commuted between.

  57. 57.

    Baud

    @different-church-lady:

    Also, from germy’s link:

     

    • Our criminal justice system cannot be just unless we root out the racial, gender, and income-based disparities in the system. African American mothers and fathers should feel confident that their children are safe walking the streets of America. And, when a police officer pins on that shield and walks out the door, the officer’s family should know they’ll come home at the end of the day. Additionally, women and children are uniquely impacted by the criminal justice system, and the system needs to address their unique needs.

    ……..

    Expand and use the power of the U.S. Justice Department to address systemic misconduct in police departments and prosecutors’ offices. Using authority in legislation spearheaded by Biden as senator, the Obama-Biden Justice Department used pattern-or-practice investigations and consent decrees to address circumstances of “systemic police misconduct” and to “restore trust between police and communities” in cities such as Ferguson. Yet, the Trump Administration’s Justice Department has limited the use of this tool. Under the Biden Administration, the Justice Department will again use its authority to root out unconstitutional or unlawful policing. In addition, Biden will push for legislation to clarify that this pattern-or-practice investigation authority can also be used to address systemic misconduct by prosecutors’ offices.

    Establish an independent Task Force on Prosecutorial Discretion. The Biden Administration will create a new task force, placed outside of the U.S. Department of Justice, to make recommendations for tackling discrimination and other problems in our justice system that results from arrest and charging decisions.

     

  58. 58.

    germy

    @different-church-lady:

    4. Thorough background checks & ongoing criminality checks. You can’t be a cop & have a DV record. You can’t be a cop & be a 3%er. Or an Oathkeeper.

    5. A citizen led oversight board to review complaints.

    All those, way more possible than abolishment.

    — Cipher of the Golden Spatula (@snarkylicious) May 28, 2020

    The whole thread is good.

  59. 59.

    SFAW

    @Jeffro:

    I hope I survive long enough to see President Biden inaugurated and the Murderer-in-Chief arrested, convicted, and thrown in jail for the rest of his unnatural life. And that they take away his iPhone, so that I no longer have to hear about his disgusting tweets.

    [My health is currently fine, but the Murderer-in-Chief is so disgustingly vile and evil that I may blow a figurative gasket from his insanity and evil.]

  62. 62.

    Frankensteinbeck

    my initial take is that Trump is putting on a show

    My initial take is that a show is being put on for Trump.  He yelled that Twitter Must Pay, and his staffers ran around flailing their arms until someone figured out they could do this legally and convince him it will eventually let him sue Twitter.  He loves suing people.

  65. 65.

    The Moar You Know

    I’m more worried about Big Tech’s subversion of democracy and society for its own moneymaking purposes than anything the crybaby in the White House might do.

    Everyone should be.  I found Zuckerberg’s announcement yesterday pretty fucking ominous.

    It’s so confusing when creeping authoritarianism arrives not in jackboots but in a soiled diaper.

    Stealing for profuse usage between now and November.

  69. 69.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @Gin & Tonic: Since we live in a second-floor condo, we have no groundhogs. But we do have carpenter bees on our balcony. They’re huge and occasionally fly right into you. Maintenance came up and sprayed the wood rafters yesterday, and then swore the little dive bombers wouldn’t sting anyway.

  71. 71.

    different-church-lady

    OT, reality/sanity check for me: did anyone else have a lot of angst over the $1200 “Economic Impact Payment”? I went the paper check route, and for some reason I’ve been avoiding it for a couple of weeks. I’m not dealing well with the idea that I’m now person who needs government relief.

    I’ve been psychologically adjusting to the new reality over the past few weeks, but this one thing feels like a big reminder that every damn thing in the world is out of whack. And reminder pushes me back in the direction of despair.

  72. 72.

    The Moar You Know

    trumpov re-tweeting a “the only good Dem is a dead Dem” tweet earlier today (the original tweet has since been deleted)

    @Jeffro: Missed that.  So we’re now officially Rwanda, with Twitter as the state radio station.  Hooray.

  74. 74.

    WaterGirl

    I am wondering if we will see the law of unintended consequences at work with this latest social media move by Trump.

    If social media can be sued, couldn’t our side start suing for all the crap that gets put up and left up on Facebook etc?

  75. 75.

    StringOnAStick

    @Omnes Omnibus:  I worked for Marmot in their factory when I first got out of high school; the company was created by 3 mountaineering buddies who couldn’t find adequate down gear for their activities. They were the first company to use Goretex fabrics, though I was a tough learning curve. It’s been sold several times since then, no way our little group of 12 seamstresses could have scaled up and manufacturing all went overseas decades ago.

  76. 76.

    Delk

    Getting ready to leave for an out-patient procedure that was originally scheduled two months ago. Nothing like extra time to get more anxious. sigh

  77. 77.

    WaterGirl

    @rikyrah: I watched the whole thing when you posted it yesterday, and I hope you keep posting it until everyone sees it.

    Congress needs to pass a law PRONTO that makes it illegal to keep your COVID status from anyone you are interacting with.

    Or is that too broad a statement?  It sure seems to me that it’s a criminal act to deliberately expose others without letting them know the situation.  But maybe there’s a side to this that I am not seeing?

  79. 79.

    LuciaMia

    At least once, every day, I find myself saying, “Covid-19, you keep missing the target.

  80. 80.

    zhena gogolia

    I just saw a good Boris Johnson meme. It’s a picture of him with his arms in the air and the caption, “TESTICULATE: To wave one’s arms about while talking bollocks.”

  82. 82.

    Bill Arnold

    @MattF:

    I can think of a social media company that ‘uses deceptive policies to moderate content’. Facebook!

    From a thread last night:
    Reminder; there are browser-based tools to disrupt the Facebook tracking.
    They include these:
    Chrome, Brave: Block Facebook (extension)
    Firefox: Facebook Container (extension)
    Facebook makes money tracking/profiling people and selling targeted ads., and this includes tracking non-Facebook users.
    Don’t be an eyeball sold by Facebook!!!
    Also consider other generic tracker blockers. EFF’s Privacy Badger is helpful and causes very little problems. (Zero so far for me for the past few years.)

  83. 83.

    The Moar You Know

     I’m not dealing well with the idea that I’m now person who needs government relief.

    @different-church-lady:  The GOP has been decoupling the idea that your tax dollars that you pay into the government is still your money – and doing so deliberately, so you won’t squawk too loudly when they take away social security and Medicare.

    And it’s bullshit.  Trying to set us all up for the big heist.

    It’s YOUR government and it’s YOUR money and you have more right to it than anyone.  These are literally your dollars (I’m going to assume you’ve paid taxes at some point in your life!) and you should absolutely not feel any shame at getting that money, spending it, enjoying it if there’s any left over to enjoy.

    What should you be jacked-up about?  That it’s not a lot more.  A one-time payment of $1200 is a fucking insult to every single American taxpayer.

  84. 84.

    cain

    @Jeffro: I think we need to stop treating Republican politicians as human beings – treating them as such in a pandemic only means that we ourselves will be exposed.

  86. 86.

    Bill Arnold

    @kindness:
    Also re Facebook,
    Bellingcat on /k/ and Boogaloo. Long and detailed.
    The Boogaloo Movement Is Not What You Think
    (May 27, 2020, Robert Evans and Jason Wilson)

    For now, Facebook chooses to allow the Boogaloo movement to flourish on their platform.
    Open source materials suggest that, for now, the apocalyptic, anti-government politics of the “Boogaloo Bois” are not monolithically racist/neo-Nazi. As we have observed, some members rail against police shootings of African Americans, and praise black nationalist self defense groups.
    But the materials also demonstrate that however irony-drenched it may appear to be, this is a movement actively preparing for armed confrontation with law enforcement, and anyone else who would restrict their expansive understanding of the right to bear arms. In a divided, destabilized post-coronavirus landscape, they could well contribute to widespread violence in the streets of American cities.

  91. 91.

    L85NJGT

    Those social media algorithms don’t give a fuck about politics. Just capturing and retaining an audience for advertisements. Content that generates conflict is one of the better ways to drive repeated viewings, and also Trump’s stock-in-trade, so here we are.

  92. 92.

    The Moar You Know

    Congress needs to pass a law PRONTO that makes it illegal to keep your COVID status from anyone you are interacting with.

    Or is that too broad a statement?  It sure seems to me that it’s a criminal act to deliberately expose others without letting them know the situation.  But maybe there’s a side to this that I am not seeing?

    @WaterGirl:  The GOP (and frankly, not JUST the GOP) tried to do this many times with HIV patients in the 1980s and 1990s.  I think if I frame it in that light you can see how this could go very badly wrong, very quickly.

  93. 93.

    mrmoshpotato

    Such a whiny murderous orange bitch who’s responsible for over 100,000 deaths.

  94. 94.

    Aleta

    If only there could be US stock market shares of Trump so he could watch them plummet with every bad act.

  95. 95.

    Bill Arnold

    @MattF:

    Bear in mind, though, that Facebook tracks you and compiles data about you whether or not you have a Facebook account.

    Yes. The facebook-specific tracker blockers are trying to block such tracking. Well, at least Block Facebook is. I haven’t looked at Facebook Container in detail. (Maybe Firefox needs more.)

  96. 96.

    PAM Dirac

    @eric:

    wouldnt this have to go through the public comment period if the regulations are changed?

    I fairly sure that the law would have to be changed. IIRC the people who wrote that law were explicit in that they were giving a safe harbor for companies to enforce their own rules and terms of use without fear of liability.

    Here is the relevant section

    (2)Civil liability No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be held liable on account of—
    (A)any action voluntarily taken in good faith to restrict access to or availability of material that the provider or user considers to be obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, excessively violent, harassing, or otherwise objectionable, whether or not such material is constitutionally protected; or
    (B)any action taken to enable or make available to information content providers or others the technical means to restrict access to material described in paragraph (1).

  97. 97.

    gene108

    The order asks the FCC to examine whether actions related to the editing of content by social media companies should potentially lead to the firms forfeiting their protections under section 230.

    It requires the agency to look at whether a social media platform uses deceptive policies to moderate content and if its policies are inconsistent with its terms of service.

    IANAL, but if you can be liable for what people post, if you have any kinds of terms of service, and you can be liable, if people post illegal content, wouldn’t this make social media companies more likely to ban anything remotely objectionable?

    Wouldn’t this allow Obama to sue a social media company, if they failed to take down memes and other posts about how he was born in Kenya?

    Or Seth Rich’s family for all the right-wing conspiracy theories about their son?

    Most of the made up bullshit that could leave a media company open to lawsuits is from right-wing content.

  99. 99.

    LuciaMia

    The GOP (and frankly, not JUST the GOP) tried to do this many times with HIV patients in the 1980s and 1990

    There was even one GOP pol who wanted to force anyone who tested positive to have a tattoo saying as much.

  102. 102.

    Bill Arnold

    @WaterGirl:

    Bear in mind, though, that Facebook tracks you and compiles data about you whether or not you have a Facebook account.

    Yes. Basically, social media breaks for everyone. Plenty of lawyers in America, many under-employed and looking for something to break do. Mainsteam publishers/media get more powerful if they are “press”, comment sections go away or are tightly moderated, and lots of stuff gets moved to closed, possibly encrypted venues, some hosted in hostile jurisdictions, that get whack-a-moled continuously. (I haven’t really thought this through in detail so if somebody has a pointer to a proper analysis please link!)

  103. 103.

    The Moar You Know

    For now, Facebook chooses to allow the Boogaloo movement to flourish on their platform.
    Open source materials suggest that, for now, the apocalyptic, anti-government politics of the “Boogaloo Bois” are not monolithically racist/neo-Nazi. As we have observed, some members rail against police shootings of African Americans, and praise black nationalist self defense groups.
    But the materials also demonstrate that however irony-drenched it may appear to be, this is a movement actively preparing for armed confrontation with law enforcement, and anyone else who would restrict their expansive understanding of the right to bear arms. In a divided, destabilized post-coronavirus landscape, they could well contribute to widespread violence in the streets of American cities.

    @Bill Arnold:  John Brown Gun Club, lotta similar shit to these assholes I was seeing on FB during the runup to the 2016 elections.  It’s all Russian funded and precisely targeted, that crap is.  The perfect intersection of second amendment fanatics and white people’s fear of black folks.

    The Russians subscribe, interestingly enough, to the same idea that Charles Manson, and a crapload of subsequent people, have had:  America is primed for a race war and the person who can figure out how to win it will win America.  I’d like to point out in conjunction with this argument the observation that ol’ Charlie Manson wasn’t the brightest bulb on the string.

  104. 104.

    Jeffro

    @Baud: Possibly!

    I went and looked it up: the use of “Infrastructure Week” stretches back to at least early summer 2017.

    The abuse has gone on that. long.

  106. 106.

    The Moar You Know

    There was even one GOP pol who wanted to force anyone who tested positive to have a tattoo saying as much.

    @LuciaMia:  More than one.  That idea got shot down pretty fast.  It has…unfortunate historical associations.

  107. 107.

    Jeffro

    @The Moar You Know: We all know the laundry list of things he’s said at rallies about “roughing people up”, “take ’em out on a stretcher”, etc.

    He blew off the TCNJ pipe bomber.  He called Nazis “very fine people”.  He’s tried to incite the 2A nuts in Virginia and praised the ones in Michigan.

    I have no doubt about where he’ll go with these kinds of things across the summer, because there is nowhere he won’t go.

  109. 109.

    Ella in New Mexico

    @rikyrah:

    If Twitter had followed its own rules, if it were anyone other than Dolt45, his account would have been permanently closed already.

    THIS.

    Just one more example of how the compulsion to earn every single penny of future $$$ makes Neville Chamberlains out of billionaires who could easily take a stand and be safe for a lifetime.

  110. 110.

    Krope, the Formerly Dope

    @Jeffro: trumpov browbeating a governor into holding a ‘regular’ convention in NC where he can be lovingly adored in person by huge crowds no matter the cost to health and lives…OR…he’ll move the convention to an allied/red state, possibly even at one of his own properties

    And if the governor goes along with it, the Republicans can attack the governor for knowingly committing an act of biological terrorism against the opposing political party.

  112. 112.

    Ella in New Mexico

    @gene108:

    IANAL, but if you can be liable for what people post, if you have any kinds of terms of service, and you can be liable, if people post illegal content, wouldn’t this make social media companies more likely to ban anything remotely objectionable?

    Wouldn’t this allow Obama to sue a social media company, if they failed to take down memes and other posts about how he was born in Kenya?

    Or Seth Rich’s family for all the right-wing conspiracy theories about their son?

    Most of the made up bullshit that could leave a media company open to lawsuits is from right-wing content.

    YES

    Which is why this stunt is using an EO that FCC “examine whether”. He knows cooler/more cynical heads will see right away the downside–including lengthy court battles– for them to any demand by Trump to implement these kinds of actions.

    Even in its current configuration, I don’t expect SCOTUS would uphold them either.

    Citizen’s United is their claim to fame after all.

  114. 114.

    Amir Khalid

    @rikyrah:

    My thoughts about it, reposted from a few threads down:

    Here’s what I think Dorsey ought to do. If he believes that Trump’s tweets are part of the public record, then he certainly should keep them accessible to the public; i.e. anyone should be able to find every tweet Trump ever tweeted, from day one. But Dorsey should also ban Trump, as a persistent violator of community standards, from tweeting new tweets.

  116. 116.

    Krope, the Formerly Dope

    @Baud: I like how the article attached to the poll is a localized Maine version of NYT’s Collins/Stephens dialogues.

  117. 117.

    SFAW

    @Baud:

    New poll shows Sara Gideon leading Susan Collins by 9 points

    Not enough. I want the margin to be 29 points, but I’ll settle for 19. Basically, I want to see Collins crushed in all ways (excluding a steamroller, or similar, of course).

  118. 118.

    Kattails

    @different-church-lady: LOL same here! It was living in the crawl space under my house though. Found its entry hole and filled it up with used litter; took a few loads but it did go away. Damned thing was chomping everything in the garden.

  120. 120.

    Obvious Russian Troll

    @Bill Arnold: For the sites where Privacy Badger causes problems, I use Firefox’s Multi-Account Containers extension and create a separate container for that site. It’s mostly been work-related vendor sites that give me trouble.

  121. 121.

    patrick II

    Everywhere I look there are articles describing how Trump is tanking in the polls with various groups — especially women of various ages and educational levels.  Yet I look at 538, which accumulates polls, and there he sits at 42.6, not for from where he has been for the last 2+ years.  How could both be true?

  122. 122.

    schrodingers_cat

    @rikyrah: They have different rules for the powerful, some BJP leaders and their version of Limbaugh ad Coulter have called for genocide  and yet they still remain on Twitter, blue checks and all.

  123. 123.

    chopper

    @Jeffro:

    trumpov browbeating a governor into holding a ‘regular’ convention in NC where he can be lovingly adored in person by huge crowds no matter the cost to health and lives…OR…he’ll move the convention to an allied/red state, possibly even at one of his own properties

    his aim is to use the covid crisis to move the convention to one of his places in FL. he makes a mint and goopers get to campaign on how ‘democrat governor roy cooper let all this money go to FL by being a huge baby about the dumb virus that’s no worse than the flu’

  125. 125.

    patrick II

    @The Moar You Know:

    It’s all Russian funded and precisely targeted, that crap is. The perfect intersection of second amendment fanatics and white people’s fear of black folks.

    I don’t think boogaloo’s or any other American racist group need much of a spark from the Russians, although I have no doubt the Russians will take advantage.  But I am wondering if you know of some article or something I can read on the subject.

  126. 126.

    artem1s

    @Frankensteinbeck:

     He yelled that Twitter Must Pay, and his staffers ran around flailing their arms until someone figured out they could do this legally and convince him it will eventually let him sue Twitter. He loves suing people.

    It kind of feels like he’s trying to keep someone from suing HIM for crap he spews on Twitter. Like giving out health care advise that leads to someone’s death?

    BTW, he routinely drops comments in public that would have had the flying monkeys shrieking “LOCK HER UP” at the top of their lungs – if it were any Dem.  Some day soon, it’s possible that the House or DOJ or IC may be taking a hard look at the whole administration’s cavalier attitude about carrying unsercured phones with them everywhere.  Is this sudden concern about Twitter and other social media related to his failing poll numbers?

  130. 130.

    WaterGirl

    @Ella in New Mexico: @rikyrah:

    It seems to me that the best way to get yourself in dutch would be to either have different sets of rules for different people/groups OR to enforce the rules in an inconsistent fashion.

    Of course, that assumes that we have a functioning department of Justice, and sadly all we have now is a corrupt one.

  131. 131.

    Betty Cracker

    @patrick II: There we disagree. IMO, Trump is an idiot who has a personality disorder-driven instinct for self-promotion, and that is the only “talent” he possesses. He’s Evil Chauncey Gardiner.

  132. 132.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud: Reading that makes me want to throw up.  Is this a done deal?   Or is there some public commenting period and some (hopefully) sane group that would have to approve this?

  134. 134.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Ella in New Mexico:

    He knows cooler/more cynical heads will

    I doubt it.  Trump hates being restrained by cooler and more cynical heads.  His entire pattern since getting elected is ‘whiny man-baby’ and he has decades of petty, spiteful narcissism and sheer stupidity even before he hit cognitive decline.  No, this is just a pacifier thrown to the toddler so he’ll scream at other people and not his staff about the issue.

  135. 135.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Baud:

    From that article:

    The Alaska senator Dan Sullivan, a Republican, said the revision was needed “not only as a matter of principle, but as a matter of states’ rights”. A tribal consortium, the Tanana Chiefs Conference, said the Obama rule was implemented without adequate tribal consultation, in disregard to rural Alaska’s dependence on wild food resources, threatening “centuries-long sustainable management practices”.

    […]

    The Obama administration said its rules were necessary to avoid artificially reducing Alaska’s predator populations and destabilizing its ecosystems.

    I wonder what political leanings the Tanana Chiefs Conference has? Are their claims true that the Obama admin did not adequately consult with them? Still, killing bear cubs is a shitty thing to do

  137. 137.

    patrick II

    @Betty Cracker:

    That is why I called him a “savant”.  Intellectually and/or emotionally stunted in some way, a savant can be particularly good at one thing.  Trump is exercising the one skill he learned over the years, ruthless assertion of power through threats, lies, and general intimidation.  Don’t underestimate that.  If it wasn’t for the coronovirus, it might have been good enough to get him another four years and take us further down the wormhole.  As it is, seeing him have to struggle with big problems outside of his narrow abilities, his stupidity is on display, although, too many his ideas in the complex of human emotions and American individualism “I got mine, fuck you” make sense to his crowd, and they look the other way on others.

  138. 138.

    Ruckus

    @germy:

    Not exactly a super power, given that he’s a massive failure, which he’s proven time and time again.

  139. 139.

    Ella in New Mexico

    @Frankensteinbeck: I mean in the sense that he will be able to look like he’s. an “Avenger for the Truth”with his Rabid 37%,  knowing that really, it’s. all a show. and he’ll. face no legal or other consequences since nothing will actually be implemented like he’s pretending it will.

  141. 141.

    Ruckus

    @patrick II:

    They look the other way because one of their own is at the top. Someone who thinks that bullshit is always the ultimate answer. Because bullshit is all he and his supporters understand and know.

  142. 142.

    patrick II

    @Ruckus:

    Not just any bullshit, but one that ties into their resentments and fears and prejudices — and Trump has that down.

  143. 143.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Ella in New Mexico:

    I mean in the sense that he will be able to look like he’s. an “Avenger for the Truth”with his Rabid 37%, knowing that really, it’s. all a show.

    I know what you meant, and I don’t think it’s that.  This happened because someone dared to contradict him.  Twitter said he couldn’t lie freely, swatting him just once in a token way.  Have you ever heard him contradicted in a press conference?  It infuriates him.  The audience for this rule change is an audience of one, Donald Trump.  He yelled at his servants to crush Twitter for insulting him, and they gave him this pathetic mush because it’s all they could come up with.  No doubt they lied to him about its effects.

  146. 146.

    sdhays

    @Baud: I don’t know how you make this happen, but there needs to be automatic consequences for police officers who have people die at their hand or in their custody. It needs to just be automatic – even if ultimately what they did was justified. At minimum, they don’t get to go back out on the street until they see a review board, and the review board should include representatives from the public defender’s office or some equivalent entity that is not inclined to cut the police any slack. And only a unanimous ruling that the use of force was justified will avoid any further consequences for the officer.

    Having someone die should be a real drag and actually pose a problem for career advancement. Obviously, valuing human life should be enough, but it’s clearly not.

  147. 147.

    Betty Cracker

    @patrick II: Calling someone a “savant” implies an extraordinary talent at that one thing, though. I don’t think there’s anything extraordinary about Trump. I’m convinced if Trump wasn’t born to rich man in a society that worships bling, he’d be at best a top #3 timeshare grifter, if that.

    Trump is a wannabe authoritarian who is too dumb and undisciplined to make it stick. Until the pandemic, every obstacle he encountered was directly attributable to his own personal idiocy, including confessing on camera to firing Comey to obstruct the Russia probe, shaking down the president of Ukraine while civil servants were listening to the conversation, etc.

    That the pandemic became a huge political millstone is also directly Trump’s fault. All he had to do was listen to the experts, but he couldn’t keep his fat yap shut and do that either.

    IMO the considerable national danger we’re in all flows from the evil fucks like McConnell and Barr who are using Trump as their vehicle (and probably cursing their luck daily that they have such a dumb stooge on their hands) and the unlimited stupidity and resentment of 30-40% of our fellow citizens who identify with Trump’s native stupidity and perpetual aggrievement. I don’t underestimate them at all, and my greatest fear is that one day they’ll latch onto a Trump who isn’t a blithering idiot.

  148. 148.

    patrick II

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    I agree, but I don’t want to underestimate what he does do well either because of his obvious vulgarity and stupidity. No one thought he would get close enough to win the first time. I watch him and still have trouble believing it.

  149. 149.

    Kent

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):I wonder what political leanings the Tanana Chiefs Conference has? Are their claims true that the Obama admin did not adequately consult with them? Still, killing bear cubs is a shitty thing to do

    Former Alaskan here who spent a decade working on Federal and state management issues in that state.  The Tanana Chief’s Conference is legit.  It’s the main native organization representing the Athabascan Tribes in central interior region of the state. Alaska has native corporations not reservations.  The Tanana Chief’s Conference pre-dates the Federal laws that set up the native corporations and I think references original conference between the Athabascan Tribes and the US government about 100 years ago.  These days the Tanana Chiefs Conference mostly operates as a big non-profit that mainly runs a hospital and medical clinics but also contracts with the state and Federal government to do all kinds of things like lands management.  But they mostly do native healthcare in central Alaska.

    As for their politics?  Alaska natives tilt Democrat generally, but they are also dependent on maintaining good relations with the GOP that runs the state so who knows.  I doubt many of them are really in favor of cub baiting or whatever this is.

    I’m skeptical of any claims of lack of consultation.  Those are bureaucratic requirements for all Federal actions.  Anything coming out of the Obama administration would have been fully consulted.  I expect that is mostly just a red herring excuse to throw out Obama-era regulations.

  150. 150.

    catclub

    @Amir Khalid: other news on public marketplace companies like facebook: failed to properly police stuff – knock me over with a feather.

    A consortium of Facebook insiders and critics filed a confidential whistleblower’s complaint to the Securities and Exchange Commission late Tuesday, claiming the social media giant is aware of illegal activity on its platform, such as the sale of opioids, and has failed to properly police it.

  151. 151.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Kent:

    Thanks for your answer! So, basically, the Consortium is towing the line? They’ve become dignity wraiths for the GOP and Trump out of what they feel is necessity, so they spew bullshit like how the Obama admin didn’t consult with them on the regulations being rolled back?

  152. 152.

    ...now I try to be amused

    @Aleta:

    If only there could be US stock market shares of Trump so he could watch them plummet with every bad act.

    There is something resembling it: The Iowa Electronic Markets. Trump is currently at 0.370 (to Biden’s 0.635) in the winner-take all market and 0.474 (to Biden’s 0.535) in the vote share market.

  153. 153.

    sdhays

    @Frankensteinbeck: No doubt they lied to him about its effects.

    At this point, I doubt they even need to. He probably comes up with what he wants to believe it will do on his own.

  154. 154.

    Benno

    @Gin & Tonic: I look at it with much longing, but when it comes to restocking my liquor cabinet or buying a single bottle of rye, I sadly restock my cabinet. I can make manhattans and boulevardiers with less good whiskey, but I gots to have my bitters!

  155. 155.

    Brachiator

    @gene108:

    IANAL, but if you can be liable for what people post, if you have any kinds of terms of service, and you can be liable, if people post illegal content, wouldn’t this make social media companies more likely to ban anything remotely objectionable?

    Trump’s EO is weird, but it has nothing to do with making Twitter potentially liable for objectionable content.

    Trump wants to make it easier for right wing extremists, hate groups and others to post lies, hate, nonsense and bullshit without any pushback or commentary. And of course Trump wants to be able to lie and to rally his base without form of fact checking or commentary.

  156. 156.

    Kent

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    @Kent:

    Thanks for your answer! So, basically, the Consortium is towing the line? They’ve become dignity wraiths for the GOP and Trump out of what they feel is necessity, so they spew bullshit like how the Obama admin didn’t consult with them on the regulations being rolled back?

    I doubt this is being driven by the Trump Administration.  This is being driven by the right wing crazies in the state government in Alaska.  It is essentially the Alaska version of the sagebrush rebellion in the western states.  Politics in Alaska is complicated.  Tanana Chiefs probably has a shitload of service contracts with the state government and don’t want to upset that.

    Tribal consultation is one of those things that can always be cited one way or the other.  I absolutely guarantee that any draft regulations from the Obama administration were sent over to the relevant native groups for comment and there were probably public meetings of some sort in which their comment was invited.  Every federal agency has people who’s job it is to do that exact thing.  But just because some tribal bureaucrat signed off, provided comments, or whatever, doesn’t mean it was actually brought to the attention of the actual tribal executives.  In other words, it goes both ways.  You can consult with them but they also have to actually be paying attention.

    The other point is that consultations are not prescriptive.  Native groups don’t get veto power over federal policy.  It is mostly process.  You can consult with them and hear their opinions but still make a decision they oppose. Which often happens (Keystone Pipeline for example).   You just have to actually go through the process and document that you consulted and took their comments into account.

  157. 157.

    Brachiator

    @Betty Cracker:

    I love this post, have saved it and really wrestled with why everything you wrote here underscores why Trump is so dangerous.

    Trump is a wannabe authoritarian who is too dumb and undisciplined to make it stick.

    Authoritarians are rarely extraordinary or smart. They don’t have to be, especially when their opposition is weak or has been neutralized. And Trump is just as stupid as his base. But this has helped get him where he is.

    That the pandemic became a huge political millstone is also directly Trump’s fault. All he had to do was listen to the experts, but he couldn’t keep his fat yap shut and do that either.

    Trump undercut his experts, hampered efforts by governors to deal with the pandemic and is directly responsible for the deaths of thousands of Americans. He is bored with the pandemic and eager to move on. And yet it is still a toss-up whether Trump will pay for his cowardice and incompetence.

    IMO the considerable national danger we’re in all flows from the evil fucks like McConnell and Barr who are using Trump as their vehicle … and the unlimited stupidity and resentment of 30-40% of our fellow citizens who identify with Trump’s native stupidity and perpetual aggrievement.

    Trump picked Barr, who seemed to work harder than an old sex worker in an Amsterdam brothel window to catch Trump’s attention. And he is doing everything he can to please Trump. Neither McConnell nor any other GOP leader has ever opposed Trump, even when his proposals contradict past conservative ideology. Of course, these dopes have settled for power over principle, but still.

    And the GOP may be using Trump, but they are also clearly afraid of him. And the danger we are in also flows from the chunk of the electorate who have tired of democracy, and who want a president who will give them what they think they want, no matter the price that other people may have to pay.

    ETA. Hope this link works. A useful piece on how totalitarian regimes rise.

  158. 158.

    Miss Bianca

    @MattF: Well, I still think McArdle’s an idiot, but she makes some valid points. I particularly cherished this little nugget:

    If conservatives actually want a smaller, less-intrusive government, then they cannot talk only about liberty and rights; they also have to talk about duty and obligations.

    Mostly because I myself am getting awfully tired of right-wingers whinging about their “civil liberties” as an excuse to duck all notion of civil responsibilities.

  159. 159.

    randy khan

    The order asks the FCC to examine whether actions related to the editing of content by social media companies should potentially lead to the firms forfeiting their protections under section 230.

    It requires the agency to look at whether a social media platform uses deceptive policies to moderate content and if its policies are inconsistent with its terms of service.

    FWIW, the FCC is an independent agency and the President can’t make it do anything.  He nominates its members (technically – since the middle of the Clinton Administration most of the commissioners have been chosen by Congress and the President has nominated who he was told to nominate, which is really strange) and decides which one is chairman, but he can’t tell them what to do.

    So, based on the draft I’ve seen, he will tell another federal agency to ask the FCC to open a rulemaking on this question.  I would guess that it will, but then again it might just ask for comments on the request for a rulemaking, which likely would kick the can not just past the election but past Inauguration Day as well.

    I think what this story is doing is conflating what the draft order says about the FCC and the FTC.  It does seem to direct the FTC to look into unfair trade practice issues, but the FTC also is an independent agency, and it’s not clear it would pay attention.  (The FCC and the FTC are controlled by Republicans, but none of them really are Trumpists, which is kind of surprising.  They’re still Republicans, though.)

  160. 160.

    Miss Bianca

    @different-church-lady: Hey, did you at least get $1200? I didn’t. Not that I’m not grateful to get *something*, but I’m pretty broke right now and getting the full $1200 would have helped.

  161. 161.

    Brachiator

    @Miss Bianca:

    As I noted in a previous thread, there are many reasons you might not have qualified for the full amount. If you have a copy of your 2018 return, you can check to see what the amount should be.

    This link notes an IRS Tool for checking the amount.

    The amount calculated is based on very few items. If there is an error, your tax guy should be able to help resolve anything.

  162. 162.

    bluefish

    @WaterGirl: Yup. Proving yet again what an idiot the man is, and getting folk all super curious once more about the Mark and Brad and Jack and Jared relationship. Bet Mark is pissed. Jack’s Zen routine? Oh well.

  163. 163.

    Ruckus

    @patrick II:

    That’s because he’s also one of them. He’s a hustler. Not a good one, but still, a hustler. He started out with a not insignificant inheritance and has hustled his way to a job that should never, ever, in a million years, be filled by an ignorant hustler. His major problem, from HIS perspective, is that a rather large % of the intended victims sees right through his hustle.

  165. 165.

    evodevo

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: They can’t sting (if they are those big carpenter bees) because they are males. Only females can sting…On the other hand, they can mine out the inside of porch and deck posts, and rafters till they collapse…so big pests…

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