Soon, the only people who will be on
Twitter will be MAGA and faux lefties who are racists -- you know,
Katrina vanden Heuvel and Amy Goodman. Marie Boran (Newsweek) looks at the person running BlueSky:
With many users leaving Elon Musk's X (formerly Twitter), the decentralized social media platform Bluesky has recently experienced an unprecedented surge in user sign-ups.
Bluesky
was initially conceived as a project within Twitter in 2019, inspired
by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey's vision of creating a "decentralized"
social network.
The
idea was to develop an open protocol that would allow independent
developers to build their own social networks on top of it, giving users
more control over their online identities and experiences.
In
2021, Bluesky became an independent public benefit corporation,
separating itself from Twitter. This move was strategic, ensuring the
project could continue its mission regardless of changes within
Twitter's corporate structure.
"I
insisted we spin out as a separate company," Jay Graber told The Verge
in March. "If the captain changes or if that support left, then I would
lose institutional support for Bluesky, and I really wanted this project
to exist."
With
over a million new users joining daily, the platform now boasts more
than 19 million users globally. At the forefront of this rapid growth is
Jay Graber, the CEO of Bluesky, whose vision is reshaping the landscape
of social networking.
Bluesky
was initially financed with a grant from Twitter but severed ties after
Elon Musk acquired Twitter in 2022. Since then, Bluesky has raised over
$23 million in venture funding from private investors.
Graber,
a software engineer with a background in decentralized technology,
became the CEO of Bluesky in 2021. Before joining Bluesky, she had been
actively involved in the decentralized web movement and had published
research on decentralized social networks.
Her
journey with Bluesky began when she was invited to participate in
discussions about creating a decentralized protocol for social media.
Impressed by her vision, Twitter selected her to lead the project.
"I
was one of the experts that they pulled into this small chat room with a
group of people who seemed to know what they were talking about,"
Graber told The Verge. She pushed for Bluesky to become an independent
entity, a move that proved prescient given Twitter's subsequent changes
in ownership.
Over the past two weeks, as Elon Musk has carved out a central role for himself in the Trump administration, people have been fleeing X in droves. More than a quarter million users deleted their accounts after Election Day — and more than a million people joined the site's upstart competitor Bluesky. Like worried liberals threatening to decamp for Canada or Europe, ex-Xers are heading for bluer pastures.
It's not the first mass migration away
from the site formerly known as Twitter. But this one included a lot of
elite tastemakers. "We've had a lot of writers, politicians, artists,"
says Emily Liu, a software engineer and Bluesky spokesperson. "We had a
lot of Swifties."
But as anyone who has ever packed up a U-Haul knows, the problem with moving is what to do with all your old stuff.
Social networks come and go, and none has ever made it easy — or even
possible — to bring your old content to the new place. Even Bluesky,
founded in part on the idea that a user's content belongs to them and
not the company, doesn't offer that service.
That's
where Nicolas Castellani and Amos da Silva Bezerra come in. Their
Brazilian startup, BlueArk, is essentially operating as a moving company
for Twitter expats. They've only been in business a month, yet they've
already helped thousands of people move their old tweets from X to
Bluesky — a millions of posts, representing 2 terabytes worth of
messages.
There's a new day dawning -- as Mama Cass used to sing.
Tuesday, November 18, 2024. The exodus from Twitter continues, the
silence on Black women also continues, Hegseth is not qualified for the
role of Secretary of Defense, and much more.
You ready to get off Elon Musk's plantation?
.
Elon Musk was born and grew up in South Africa and he loved it. Until
apartheid began to crumble. The thought of Black people having the same
rights as he did caused him to flee South Africa. The racism is
ingrained in him and that's the only 'free speech' that he ever
tolerates.
THE GUARDIAN, The Free Press,
Gabrielle Union, Jamie Lee Curtis and so many others are doing the right
thing and leaving the racist's social media. He's lost money on
Twitter but that doesn't matter to him because he has influence as long
as he owns it -- if it remains popular. If we leave it, it's over.
It's nothing but a nest of racists, sexists and homophobes and then it
has no cachet and popularity.
I
called Alyssa out two weeks ago for not being on BlueSky. Now the
reason most give me is that they're afraid they'll lose their
following. Most of the people refusing to budge -- racist Katrina
vanden Heuvel of THE NATION, for example, don't have a following.
Alyssa built up her TWITTER following and has huge numbers. Knowing
Alyssa, I doubt she's stopped Tweeting but at least she's also gone to
BLUESKY. And I will say thank you and I will applaud.
Or I will applaud those of you going to BlueSky.
If,
on the left, we can't even do that -- and do it to oppose racism,
sexism and homophobia -- it says a great deal about our lack of
priorities.
Run X into the ground and Elon Musk is just another ugly man with ass hair implanted on his scalps and jowls.
Now let's note this from Reshonda Tate on THE DEFENDER NETWORK.
Community
member Keesha weighed in on that video above noting that this is the
big story of the post-election period "but no Democracy Now segment,
nothing on The Majority Report or at The Progressive or In These Times
or The Nation. The same outlets that ignored us in the lead up to the
election are ignoring Black women after the election. I guess they
couldn't do all their lying if they had to listen to Black women. So
they just ignore us instead. I'm registering and I doubt I'm the only
one who is."
It is very hard to ignore the silencing that's taking place.
An
e-mail to the public account (common_ills@yahoo.com) is from a woman
asking how long she should sit it out? You'll know when -- and if --
you're ready to take part again. Some will need longer to take care of
themselves and to heal. Some will never come back (and I don't blame
you if that's what you need to do).
This is a
very important time and you need to take care of you because the 'left'
has demonstrated that they won't -- not just before the election but
also, as Keesha points out, after as well.
Don't let them steal your joy -- we've all heard it.
But damned if they didn't try, right?
Kamala
was the first Black woman to run for the presidency on a major ticket.
And to even be joyful about that brought attacks from others. Brought
nonsense about Gaza.
Most political nominees
aren't tasked with solving the world's problems before they're even
elected president. Not so with Kamala. She had to solve everything and
please everyone and do so before she was in the Oval Office.
Yeah,
let's pretend like she was being judged by the same standard. That's
what so many on the left who helped derail her campaign want us to
believe.
We're not that stupid.
We
grasp that every column attacking her, every segment attacking her,
every speech attacking her was devaluing her -- intentionally devaluing
her.
And they try to act like she's the failure.
My
state's still got 6% of the vote to count but per the official results
nationwide right now, Kamala got 48.3% to Trump's 50%.
That's a less than 2% difference. For a candidate who had to hit the ground running in August.
But
don't the White men like Seth Prissy Moulton want to attack. Hey,
Seth, unlike you, she had a general election opponent. You didn't. So
you should have gotten 100% of the vote -- running uncontested. But you
didn't, did you?
So maybe you're the last
White windbag that needs to be speaking right now and maybe people need
to grasp that when you speak -- running unopposed, he couldn't even get
100% of the vote this time.
Let's
note Satanic Trump's unqualified nominees. Pete Hegseth is not
qualified to be the secretary of any department. You didn't have to go
left to find a qualified candidate. There are people serving in
leadership of the military that could have been elevated. There are
people in the Senate who are Republicans who would be qualified -- Joni
Ernst, Mike Rounds, Roger Wicker, Bill Cassidy, etc.
They
have the knowledge base. Hegseth doesn't have the knowledge base or
the experience. What he does have is a sad and drunken assault. It was
seven years ago. It is not the distant past. He was 37 years old. David Kurtz (TPM) notes:
More
details emerged over the weekend about the sexual assault claim against
Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for secretary of
defense.
The WaPo was first with
extensive new information about the circumstance of the alleged sexual
assault, based on (i) a memo it obtained that was provided to the Trump
transition team late Wednesday by a friend of the victim; and (ii) a
statement from Hegseth’s lawyer, Timothy Parlatore.
The woman later reported the alleged assault to police, but no charges were ever filed:
According
to the police statement, the complaint was filed four days after the
encounter, and the complainant had bruises to her thigh. The police
report itself was not released.
Hegseth settled the woman’s claim for an undisclosed amount, and she signed a nondisclosure agreement.
Trump is standing by Hegseth in the face of the undisclosed settlement of the sexual assault claim.
That's reason enough not to confirm him.
But he's also not qualified for the job.
He shouldn't be confirmed. He shouldn't even be
nominated. He's not fit to oversee the Pentagon -- he does not have the
background. If the nomination was to be Secretary of Veterans Affairs,
I'd have a few problems -- mainly around the issues of female
veterans. And I would also question his ability to oversee any
department because he just doesn't have that experience -- not in his
military service and not in his civilian experience.
This is a huge department that is taxed with many, many duties including ensuring the US military is prepared.
What in Hegseth's past experience argues that he knows a thing about hiring or recruiting, for example?
The last Senate hearing on military readiness was eleven months ago.
At that hearing, US Army Maj Gen Johnny Davis spoke on a number of topics including the statements below:
Today's youth are far more likely to pursue education beyond high school. Currently,
high school seniors and recent graduates account for more than 50% of our annual
contracts. However, they only represent 15-20% of the labor market. We will transform
our prospecting to expand into a greater representation of the labor market and enter
the larger prospect pool. In addition to the high school market, we will target those with
more than a high school diploma, this includes a college degree, some college, or a
technical certification. By FY 2028, it is our goal for one third of new recruits to have
more
than a high school diploma. We are growing our analytical capability
to incentivize and position our recruiting force, tailor marketing based
on segmentation, and place our recruiters in the right place with the
right training, products, and tools. Our quarterly Industry Engagement
Program allows us to identify new tools to improve operations across the enterprise.
As we transform how the Army prospects for talent, we will continue to innovate and
leverage data analytics, artificial Intelligence (AI), and Machine Learning (ML) to quickly
identify the right talent and provide tailored messaging to potential talent. We are
expanding our presence on both social media and digital job boards to communicate the
Army's Employee Value Proposition (EVP). Expanding our market is critical to
accomplishing the mission today and in the future.
What does Hegseth know about hiring practices, recruitment and
retention? Nothing. Can he address, off the top of his head, the
issue of evidence-based learning capability? Does he know what a
command wide retention surge is? If so, does he approve or does he
think it's a waste of time. Each of the four branches needs to be
adequately staffed (the Air Force didn't make the goal in 2023). How
does Hegseth plan to address this. Does he have an overall plan or is
he going to propose piece meal strategies?
He wants this office why? How does he see himself delivering in this office?
Where does he stand on waivers?
Due
to his plethora of body markings, I'd assume he is okay with tattoos.
But what about age restrictions -- what his top end for someone serving
in combat? On drug tests, what's his wait window on retesting -- 60
days, 90 days, less, more? And why? Drug testing does include testing
for alcohol.
ESaR has
been a semi-successful recruiting tool for the Navy (Every Sailor a
Recruiter). Is that a policy Hegseth agrees with? Why or why not?
The
Navy's "Make Your Name" series has been successful in recruiting --
noting women's roles and experiences serving in the Navy. It's a fairly
inexpensive recruiting tool and it has been successful. Does he
endorse this recruiting tool? If not, why not? If not, is it because
he has a limited view of what women can do in the military?
Grasp
that -- without him -- women have been moving up in the ranks in the
military. Are these women going to hit a glass ceiling if he becomes
the Secretary? How is he planning to address these issues? How is
going to maintain the US military's competitive edge?
Guess
what, those are very basic questions about basic duties and that's
before we get beyond workforce issues. I see nothing in his background
that demonstrates experience with those type of issues.
Again,
we still haven't gotten to other issues that include oversight, combat,
military exercises and partnering with the VA to improve the transition
from veteran to soldier. On that last one? I don't think he has
expertise but I think his experience -- personal -- could compensate for
the lack of expertise. I do not feel that way about any other
responsibility that he would be tasked with should he become the
Secretary of Defense.
The
US Army is supposed to be refocusing with an emphasis on LSCO
(Large-Scale Combat Operations). That is one of the defined 2025
goals. Hegseth will pursue that how?
These
are not minor details. And you can't learn it on the job, not as
Secretary of Defense. That means being over the defense of this country
so Americans are entitled to expect someone in that role to have actual
experience.
Hegseth has none.
Again,
this isn't a right-or-left issue. There are Republicans who are
qualified for this post. Hegseth is not one of them. Any sitting
senator on the Armed Services Committee is qualified for the post.
They would know the issues needing to be addressed before they were even sworn into office.
Hegseth
doesn't know the issues, he's never overseen any workforce -- let alone
a workforce as large as the Defense Dept -- and he would put military
readiness at risk as the whole world had to wait for him to learn on the
job and familiarize himself with tasks and concepts that he's honestly
not suited for.
Bluesky
is gaining popularity by attracting users from X. According to the
social media platform, Bluesky's user base has doubled in the last 90
days, with over a million new users joining in one day alone. It's not
the only platform benefiting from the ongoing crisis surrounding Elon
Musk's service.
Bluesky, founded in 2019 by Jack Dorsey, is gaining traction among users leaving X.
In the past 90 days, Bluesky's user numbers have doubled, attracting
fans of Taylor Swift, among others. The singer personally endorsed
Kamala Harris and encouraged others to do so online. Meanwhile, Elon
Musk, who has been at the helm of X since 2022, has strongly supported
Donald Trump's campaign.
[. . .]
Another messenger is also growing in strength - Threads,
owned by Meta, the parent company of Facebook. The company reported on
Thursday that since early November, the number of Threads users has
increased by over 15 million, reaching 290 million.
Two days before the sign-up surge, Trump announced that
he would tap billionaires Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to be part of his
second administration, co-leading the new Department of Government
Efficiency. Musk's super PAC also spent around $200 million supporting Trump's 2024 election campaign.
Musk bought Twitter in
2022 and rebranded it as X in July 2023. He has implemented changes to
the company, cutting staff and removing protocols that created
guardrails on the platform.
According to Similarweb,
an online analytics tool, X experienced peak worldwide deactivations
the day after Election Day, with 115,000 web visitors reportedly
deleting their accounts. In December 2023, X experienced its
second-highest deactivation numbers after Musk restored conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to the platform, with about 65,000 users deleting their accounts, per Similarweb.
You can delete your X account by deactivating it on the X website or mobile app.
When you deactivate an X account, you have 30 days to reactivate it before permanent deletion.
You can also preserve your X username or email in case you want to use them with a new account.
Whether
you're taking a break from social media or just want to start fresh,
sometimes you simply need to get rid of your X, formerly Twitter,
account.
Gabrielle Union is joining a now-growing list of public figures that are leaving social media platform X.
In a final post made yesterday, the Bring It On star
cited changes to the terms of service, as well as the return of
“volatile” individuals as reasoning for her departure. Recently, Jamie
Lee Curtis also announced her
leaving the Elon Musk-owned site. (High-profile accounts have trickled
out in 2022 and 2023 as well, when Musk assumed ownership of
then-Twitter and became CEO of X.)
"There
are pivotal moments in life when we must declare that enough is
enough-and for me, today is that day,” she began, titling the post “It’s
been real!”
“Platforms
like X were founded on authentic connections, true engagement, and
creative expression, all anchored in respect for user privacy and
trust,” Union continued. “Yet, with the recent and upcoming changes to
the terms of service-and the return of volatile figures-I find myself at
a crossroads, facing a direction I can no longer fully support. I am
committed to engaging in spaces that truly value inclusivity, respect,
and integrity in the digital world. Sometimes, that means recognizing
the last straw and knowing when to step away.”
However,
the actress is not vanishing entirely, saying she can still be found on
platforms like Instagram and its own X-like Threads, TikTok, Bluesky (a
social media upstart very much in the vein of X), Spill and Facebook.
Good for Gabrielle. Let's follow this lead and move on from Musk.
Monday, November 18, 2024. While Free Press, THE GUARDIAN, Jamie Lee
Curtis, Danielle Moodie and others leave the vile TWITTER, notice the
racists unable to take a similar brave stand.
The lesson? They'll always make room for a White man. Talking about the left. Talking about the nonsense Brett Wilkins wrote for COMMON DREAMS about how "progressives" are "rip"ing apart US President Joe Biden.
But you read on and "progressives" becomes one person on TWITTER and that one person is conspiracy nut and antix-vaxer Lee Camp
Journalism
standards are out the window before we even get to the Camps of Hell
and Brimstone whose biggest 'action' was taking place and signing off on
the faux nonsense Rage Against the War Machine and Jacob Crosse (WSWS) noted of that racist action:
On February 19, in Washington D.C., the Libertarian Party and “People’s
Party,” along with disoriented middle class elements and outright
fascistic individuals, organized what was marketed as the “Rage Against
the War Machine” rally.
The event, billed by organizers Angela McArdle of the Libertarian
Party and Nick Brana of the People’s Party as an attempt to bring the
“left and right” together in opposition to the war in Ukraine was, the World Socialist Web Site noted, a “reactionary political freak show.”
The World Socialist Web Site
will be further analyzing the main organizers and speakers at the
event, confirming its thoroughly reactionary character. This article
focuses on the Libertarian Party and its overt orientation to the
fascistic right.
The central political perspective behind the rally was provided by
the Libertarian Party, which was listed as the main organizer—above the
People’s Party on the official “Rage” website.
Libertarian Party
Chair Angela McArdle moderated the “Rage” rally along with Brana. Of the
19 speakers, three were or are currently members of the Libertarian
Party: Ron Paul, Scott Horton and Daniel McAdams.
Commenting on the leading role of the Libertarian Party in organizing the event, Max Blumenthal of the Grayzone,
in a February 16 podcast promoting the rally with fellow speaker Scott
Horton, noted that the event was “substantially planned by the
Libertarian Party.”
Besides providing the political perspective,
the Libertarians also financed much of the rally. The Mises Caucus
donated at least $1,000 to be one of five “Silver Sponsors” for the
rally.
While Libertarians have always advanced a far-right
hyper-capitalist economic program, following the election of Donald
Trump in 2016 and a further shift to the right by the American ruling
class as a whole, members of the party, chiefly represented in the Mises
Caucus, have made a marked turn toward fascist militias and
anti-Semitic forces.
The Mises Caucus is the largest faction
within the Libertarian Party and took control of the national apparatus
in 2022 following the national convention in Reno, Nevada. McArdle was
the California organizer for the caucus and a former board member.
As
part of her campaign to seize the chair of the party last year,
McArdle, with the backing of the caucus, spearheaded efforts to overturn
limited vaccine mandates in Los Angeles County.
After earning the
support of the anti-vaccine contingent of the party, McArdle shored up
her candidacy when she refused to condemn vicious anti-Semite Bryan
Sharpe, also known as “Hotep Jesus,” at the Libertarian Party’s Alabama
State Convention in March 2021.
Sharpe had previously been invited to the Conservative Political Action Conference and been interviewed positively on Fox News.
On
his blog, Sharpe previously praised the far right for not being “afraid
to call out the Jews.” He also defended the “Unite the Right” rally in
Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017, writing that the “Blacks are so
removed from reality... this is not a demonstration against blacks. This
is a dispute between right and left—Liberal versus Conservative. Maybe
even White vs. Jew.”
At the 2021 Alabama convention, a Libertarian
Party member asked McArdle how she could have invited Sharpe to the
national convention given his history of “anti-Semitic views.”
McArdle
responded, “I reject the premise of your question. I don’t actually
think that someone who’s trying to be a truth-seeker and understand
what’s going on—and asked the question about whether or not Jews run Hollywood is an anti-Semite.” (Emphasis added)
The Mises Caucus, the Mises Institute and Jeff Deist
An
early indication of this shift to fascistic politics within the
Libertarian Party was expressed in the takeover of the party by the
Mises Caucus.
The
Mises Caucus, named after the Mises Institute, which is currently led
by Jeff Deist, was founded by Michael Heise on August 20, 2017. Several
leading Libertarian Party members, including current chair McArdle,
have been board members of the Mises Caucus, and many are “trained” by
the Institute, located in Auburn, Alabama.
The Ludwig von Mises
Institute, named after the reactionary Austrian economist, was founded
by Llewellyn Rockwell Jr. in 1982, with financial backing from Ron Paul.
A 2000 report by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) categorized the Mises Institute as “Neo-Confederate.”
In
a January 11, 2023 interview on Reason.com, Heise pointed to the “Rage”
rally as an example of the new type of “outreach” the Libertarian Party
was undertaking under the leadership of the Mises Caucus in an attempt
to grow the party.
Heise explained that the “anti-war rally” would
be an example of the “first harvest” reaped of the new “fruits”
cultivated under the far-right Mises Caucus leadership.
Jeff Deist, the president of the Mises Institute, is close to both Heise and McArdle, appearing on podcasts and right-wing events with both of them.
Deist
has been at the Mises Institute since at least 2014. Before he was the
president of the Institute, Deist, as he explained in a recent interview
with fascist Patrick Casey, a co-organizer of the Unite the Right
rally, “worked on Capitol Hill with Ron Paul.”
Casey was one of
the leaders of the neo-Nazi group Identity Evropa and assumed leadership
of the organization following the Unite the Right rally, which Identity
Evropa played a main role in organizing. After Casey took control of
the organization, in an attempt to distance the group from
Charlottesville, he tried to rebrand the group as the “American Identity
Movement.” However, this was not successful, and Casey stopped actively
organizing within the group in 2020.
In 2019, Casey teamed up
with Hitler-lover Nick Fuentes to promote the “groyper” army and launch
the “America First Political Action Conference.” Leading up to January
6, the pair backed Trump’s “Stop the Steal” campaign by mobilizing their
followers in support of the coup. Both Fuentes and Casey were at the
Capitol on January 6, though neither have been charged.
Someone
like that, you might assume COMMON DREAMS would be holding accountable
but apparently COMMON DREAMS sees its role today as promoting those
tight with neo-Nazis. Do you remember how many articles COMMON DREAMS
printed daily attacking Kamala Harris while she was running for
president but it's only rah-rahs for Lee Camp.
Again,
there's always room -- at least at COMMON DREAMS -- to pimp and promote a
White man. All Lee had to offer this election cycle was Jill Stein
promoting. Since then, the loser has jumped on Adam McKay's ship that
it's time to destroy the Democratic Party.
Hope that
works out for him better than that failed Academy Award bid. As the
person who ensured that he and David Sirota lost that category, I don't
see that happening. I don't see much happening to his tired career.
But that's the state of COMMON DREAMS today: Praise and recognize Lee Camp despite his prancing around stage with Neo Nazis.
And
we wonder why COMMON DREAMS took months to get on board with Kamala.
It's really only the last three weeks of her campaign that they stopped
attacking her in every article.
But again, the lesson,
they will always make time for a White man and that -- not his nut job
conspiracies, not his prancing around the stage with Neo Nazis and not
his attacks on Kamala Harris to promote grifter Jill Stein -- prevents
him from being covered and embraced by COMMON DREAMS.
When
the left can't stand up to racism, it's not much of a left. While
COMMON DREAMS works to make us all a little more stupid, The Free Press
issued this:
For years, Free Press has sought
to hold social-media companies accountable for amplifying hate and lies
that undermine public health, safety and democracy. We have pushed for
meaningful reforms that would protect users and have extensivelydocumented the platforms’ failures. None of these companies has fallen so low as X under Elon Musk’s ownership.
Free Press will no longer be
posting on X, effective immediately, and we invite you to join us in
ceasing activity on Musk’s platform. We refuse to give X any legitimacy.
Free Press is committed to ensuring that people have a voice in the decisions that shape our media system. Musk, quite simply, is not.
X is now the premier platform for white supremacists and conspiracy
theorists. It is designed to amplify the ideas of racists, misogynists,
xenophobes, antisemites and transphobes. Musk’s reckless oversight of
the platform has endangered people on the receiving end of his abuse and
threatened our democracy.
Musk has reinstated the accounts
of white supremacists and conspiracy theorists who’ve repeatedly
violated X’s own inadequate standards. He has personally amplified
bigotry and normalized violent extremism. He has harassed those who seek
to shine a light on his misdeeds, filing lawsuit after lawsuit to
silence researchers and activists who have worked to hold him
accountable. He has even bullied advertisers who elect to spend their ad
dollars elsewhere.
Two years ago, in response
to Musk’s dangerous behavior, Free Press helped organize the
#StopToxicTwitter campaign. This organizing contributed to the mass
exodus of advertisers from the platform. The company subsequently lost $35 billion in value.
We have fought to reform X,
because we remember the community that it once had, which gave ordinary
people the means to speak directly to the powerful in our society. But
it’s clear that X will not correct course under Musk’s leadership, and
it’s time for Free Press to exit.
To prevent malicious actors
from impersonating Free Press, we will not delete our account. But we
will no longer post on the platform.
We hope to stay connected
with people who believe in Free Press’ vision of a more just and
democratic media system. You all have contributed so much to this
essential work. Please find us on our website or follow us on other social-media platforms.
Good for them. Good for Jamie Lee Curtis and Danielle Moodie and the others leaving TWITTER. Good to all the people leaving the hate speech site.
In
the days since the election, many Black women have made clear that a
number of groups are now on their own. Couldn't be bothered to vote for
the first Black woman president of the United States but did vote for
Donald Trump? You made your racism clear and many Black women are now
on vacation. They're not showing up for your Gaza protests or your
other actions. Black women will work on Black women's healthcare but
your marches in DC that depended so much on the work and presence of
Black women? Good look to you and maybe a few years we'll see you
again.
In reply to that, some people -- mainly White women -- have foolishly asked what they could do now?
Some of the racists are asking what they can do now? In the face of
Black women saying no to free labor, no to showing up at your protests,
no to all you nonsense, some have asked: What can we do -- with the
"now" implied.
Golly gee, what could you do?
Isn't it kind of obvious?
Get the hell off of TWITTER.
And why do you have to be told that.
TWITTER is the home of racism, sexism and homophobia.
It is owned by Elon Musk who used all three and the money you help him make to destroy Democratic Party chances in the election.
Why is it that, except for Jamie Lee Curtis, this is a conversation taking place only among Black Americans?
White
Americans, you shouldn't have to ask others what you can do. You
should just be getting off TWITTER. Do THREADS, do BLUESKY, do
whatever, but get the hl off of TWITTER.
Can Bernie do
that? Can racist Katrina vanden Heuvel? In fact, how dare you purchase
a magazine started by abolitionists and then take to a racist platform
like TWITTER.
The best thing the Democratic Party
can immediately do to save itself is to get off TWITTER. And it doesn't
cost them a damn cent to do this and stand against racism, sexism and
homophobia.
[. . .]
I-I-I-I-I-I ain't gonna Tweet on TWITTER? Until you can
say that, just accept that we all see you as the racist that you truly
are.
TWITTER going under isn't going to hurt Elon
Musk's pocket book. But he didn't buy the successful social media tool
to make money, he bought it to have influence. And after what he
pulled in this election -- this non-American (I don't recognize triple
citizenship and don't believe America's founders would have either) who
grew up a racist in South Africa and never cared until apartheid was
falling and that's when he elected to flee South Africa -- his toy needs
to be severely damaged, it's reach limited.
And yet,
Katrina vanden Heuvel -- the racist who owns THE NATION and can only
see Black women as maids or mammies -- can't take a principled stand and
announce she's leaving the platform. Were it not for people being able
to take stands against racism, THE NATION magazine never would have
existed in the first place. But Katrina doesn't care about that or,
apparently, much of anything. That's why THE GUARDIAN can leave TWITTER
but THE NATION refuses to do.
What are you missing
leaving TWITTER? Glynneth Greenwald's latest hissy fit. He's attacking
right-wing feminist Bari Weiss for not cheerleading Tulsi Gabbard for
the post of Director of National Intelligence. Staying on disasters
nominated by Satanic Donald Trump, let's note this from Tom Boggioni (RAW STORY):
A late Saturday report from the Washington Post that Donald Trump's
choice to be secretary of defense paid off a woman who accused him of
sexual assault and that he was admittedly "visibly intoxicated” at the
time may have created more problems for his confirmation.
According to the Post, Fox News personality Pete Hegseth "paid
a woman who accused him of sexual assault as part of a nondisclosure
agreement, though he maintained that their encounter was consensual."
On CNN, Sunday morning, reporter Daniel Strauss claimed the latest revelation won't help with an already embattled nomination.
Today on MSNBC's MORNING JOE, the Hegseth nomination was addressed.
REMOVED. Click here. Didn't stream the video below, have no idea if it talks about more than the DoD nominee. But I'm in agreement with this take. No more videos from that program. I get it that it's scary -- for all of us -- that Trump is going back into the White House.
Video is removed. As soon as Joe and Mika had the chance, they ran to Trump to kiss the ring.
And ABC NEWS reported on Trump's disaster nominee for Attorney General.
No other individual could be less qualified or more inadvisable for
this position. It is akin to placing Al Capone at the head of the
Department of Justice, or climate change denier and Chevron CEO Mike
Wirth to oversee the Environmental Protection Agency.
After ending
his own presidential campaign and endorsing Trump in August, Kennedy
played a central role in Trump’s campaign, especially at its final
events. Speaking at his fascist Madison Square Garden campaign rally
last month, Trump pledged to let Kennedy “go wild on health.” Trump
added, “I’m going to let him go wild on the food. I’m going to let him
go wild on medicines.”
The implications are far-reaching, as
Kennedy has openly opposed vaccines, pasteurization, water fluoridation,
and other long-established scientific practices, while promoting every
quack medicine under the sun. On October 25, Kennedy tweeted:
FDA’s
war on public health is about to end. This includes its aggressive
suppression of psychedelics, peptides, stem cells, raw milk, hyperbaric
therapies, chelating compounds, ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine,
vitamins, clean foods, sunshine, exercise, nutraceuticals and anything
else that advances human health and can’t be patented by Pharma. If you
work for the FDA and are part of this corrupt system, I have two
messages for you: 1. Preserve your records, and 2. Pack your bags.
Under conditions in which H5N1 bird flu is spreading widely among dairy cattle across
the US and scientists have explicitly warned that the consumption of
raw milk could facilitate human infections and the danger of another
pandemic, Kennedy has continued to advocate this dangerous practice.
Historically, bird flu has a 50 percent fatality rate.
Under the
banner “Make America Healthy Again,” Kennedy and Trump will facilitate
the emergence of the next pandemic and the revival of long-eliminated
diseases like measles and polio. In fact, the same day that Trump
announced his pick of Kennedy, news reports noted that measles cases in
America are now four-fold higher than last year, primarily due to
declining vaccination rates.
Speaking at an anti-vaccine
conference last November, while still a candidate for US president,
Kennedy pledged to fire 600 workers at the NIH if elected, adding,
“We’re going to give infectious disease a break for about eight years.”
In
other words, the man ostensibly in charge of preventing pandemics and
infectious disease outbreaks has explicitly stated that he will work on
behalf of the pathogens instead of the public.
I've never attacked US House Rep. Rashida Tlaib or said a cross word about her.
Until now.
If you don't know Rashida and her sister worked to defeat Kamala Harris. If you don't know, they're from Michigan. If you don't know, they're one of the reasons we now have to go back under another Trump term.
Common Dreams -- more like common filth -- has a demand Rashida has made. I'm not linking to Common Dreams, I may never. You can consider yourself damn lucky that I'm not currently on vacation. For my sisters who are, you take as long as you need. Those non-Black women stabbed us in the back. Don't you feel you owe them a damn thing. Especially not these bitches who put Palestine ahead of our country. These dumb bitches who now have to deal with Trump who's going to be so much worse on Gaza. I'm laughing at you, you two-faced whores and bitches in the US who were racist and wouldn't vote for Kamala. You can all kiss my Black ass and let's start with you Rashida.
TruthOut and Democracy Now! and other left bastions of racism are featuring Rashida's demand.
She wants Antony Blinken to resign as Secretary of State.
You get what a dumb bitch she truly is?
Antony's job ends in January.
Instead of working on something real the performative dumb bitch is yet again wasting everyone's time.
I see you, you damn racist. You can kiss my Black ass -- and bark at the hole. You're awful and you're going to screw up like you do every other month and then you're going to find out how much you needed Black women. We're not going to be to defend you then next time you pipe off with a questionable statement and your opponents attack you as a terrorist or a terrorist enabler.
They can cart you off to Gitmo and we're not getting involved. Understand that.
You hold nothing, you hold nothing, you hold nothing. Get that? When Jen -- the only Black woman --tells that to White girl Agatha in Disney's Agatha All Along and gets her own powers back. That's what Black woman are doing across the country this month.
So go ahead, big Rashida, talk your trash to Trump again and see what the hell happens. We don't give a damn about you -- the same way you didn't give a damn about this country and in the same way you didn't give a damn about Black women. F**k you, Rashida. Didn't you say that to Trump? Am I misremembering?
Well try it now. And shut the f**k about Joe Biden, Kamala, anyone in the outgoing administration.
Keep their names out of your traitorous mouth. I hope the Democratic Party throws you out -- that is if Donald Trump doesn't extradite you or send you to some black ops site.
Friday, November 15, 2024. Donald Trump wants to make America a
s**thole country, as many do the right thing and leave Twitter note that
racist Katrina vanden Heuvel feels perfectly at home there, Tulsi
Gabbard is a threat to national security, and much more.
Trashy Garbage aka Tulsi Gabbard. Donald Trump wants to make her the Director of National Intelligence. Let's note this:
Catholics Against Cults
As
Catholics in THE COMMON ILLS community, we lodge a strong objection to
the notion that two term Congress woman Tulsi Gabbard is qualified to be
the next Director of National Intelligence.
We
are troubled by her reported appearance on a governmental watch list
and that this resulted from members of the National Guard complaining
about her priorities being something other than the United States.
We are troubled by her conspiracy theories that can be found all over her Twitter feed.
We
are troubled by her cozying up to Bashar al-Assad, the butcher of
Syria. She met face-to-face with him when he was designated as an enemy
of the United States. That would concern us less if she were an
individual member of Congress currently. But someone who wants to be
the Director of National Intelligence is not someone who should be
making her own self-determined 'diplomatic' missions with someone the US
is at war with.
The
former congresswoman has also been dogged by her long-standing ties to
the Science of Identity Foundation and its founder, Chris Butler. The
Science of Identity Foundation is an offshoot of Hare Krishna that
former members have described as a cult.
Within
minutes of the announcement of Gabbard’s nomination, national media
outlets like CNN predicted that her selection and the choice of Florida
Rep. Matt Gaetz to be U.S. attorney general would set up major confirmation fights.
The position Trump nominated her for, director of national intelligence,
requires Senate confirmation. The director leads the U.S. intelligence
community, which oversees and directs implementation of the National
Intelligence Program.
There are more
than enough problems with Tulsi Gabbard. But when Donald I'm A
Christian Trump thinks he can get away with installing a member of a
cult as our Director of National Intelligence, we object. And we think
many Christians would join us in that objection. We realize, as well,
that the cult objects to Islam and would argue that if the Jill Stein
Freaks could buy a clue, even people in Hamtramck and Deerfield would
object to the nomination as well (though we are aware that this is a
group of people who struggle to ever call Donald Trump out).
Chris Butler, son of a communist anti-war activist, had entered the spiritual counterculture in 1960s, while enrolled at University of Hawaiʻi.[1][2] Soon, he joined the burgeoning Hare-Krishna movement as a guru, taking the name Sai Young, and amassed a group of disciples.[1]
However, after being publicly denounced by Swami Prabhupada, the leading exponent of the movement in U.S.A, Butler initiated under Prabhupada himself, joined the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), and received the name Siddhaswarupananda Paramahamsa.[3][2][4] But
in a few years, their relationship turned sour as he deviated from
ISKCON's ways, choosing to marry and allowing his disciples to keep
their heads unshaved.[3][2] After
the death of Prabhupada in 1977, Butler broke away from ISKCON and
founded SIF, then known as the Hari Nama (lit. Holy Name) Society.[5] Simultaneously, he began to deemphasize ISKCON's rigid adherence to Vaishnava texts and promoted a range of eclectic views.[1][3]
In
1976, SIF's disciples launched a new political party — called the
Independents for Godly Government — presenting themselves as a
"multifaith coalition of conservative-minded reformers", and ran for the
House of Representatives and Mayoral elections; the candidates did not
disclose their links with SIF and explicitly claimed to have no
affiliation with any religious organization including the Hare Krishna
faith.[1] The
party was funded by a variety of businesses, including two local
newspapers and a health-food store chain, run by the disciples
themselves.[6]
In the 1980s, he ran a late-night television show called "Chris Butler Speaks" on Channel 13.[7] Since the 90s, Butler has kept a low profile, rarely speaking in public; in 2017, The New Yorker reported that Butler presents himself less as a Hare Krishna dissident and more as a member of a worldwide Vaishnava movement.[1] Butler's wife Wai Lana has received acclaim for popularizing yoga through the Wai Lana Yoga show; in 2016, she was conferred with the Padma Shri award by the Government of India.[8]
But
scratch beneath the surface and another mysterious backstory emerges —
Gabbard and hubby Williams' ties to a shady Hindu offshoot cult that's
for decades sought a back door into mainstream politics.
Critics
have branded the secretive group, called the Science of Identity
Foundation (SIF), as intolerant of women, gays, and Muslims, while
treating its reclusive leader Chris Butler as some kind of all-powerful
deity.
Murky ties to Butler's group, which straddles Hawaii and
New Zealand, could well complicate Gabbard's bid to secure
congressional backing for a senior cabinet-level post as Trump's top
advisor for his key decisions on national security.
Williams,
a part-Māori, part-Samoan filmmaker and surfer from Auckland, New
Zealand, reportedly met Gabbard, a former Army officer, during her first
run for Congress in 2012, when he volunteered to shoot her campaign ads.
That year, Gabbard made history by becoming the first American Samoan and practicing Hindu in Congress.
The pair bonded over their shared love of watersports and started dating about 18 months later.
But most importantly:
In a damning tell-all interview with The Independent in
2022, Gabbard's aunt, Dr Caroline Sinavaiana Gabbard, lifted the lid on
what insiders call a homophobic, often anti-Islamic and misogynist
cult.
She
told the publication that her niece's career is all about the pursuit
of power, and her bid for the presidency in 2020 was the culmination of
four decades of Butler's efforts to seek political influence.
'Once
again I find my niece's apparent penchant for parroting extremist
toadies such as Tucker Carlson and vile strongmen such as Vladimir
Putin, to be problematic and deeply troubling,' said the retired
University of Hawaii professor.
'It
gives me no pleasure to note that Tulsi's single governing principle
seems to be expedience, which is in effect no principle at all.'
Tulsi
Gabbard is free to belong in a cult. But her international cult
membership should disqualify her from serving as the Director of
National Intelligence. And when you add everything up, she does not
belong anywhere near US government intelligence.
Paul Eaton, a retired U.S. Army major general and a senior adviser to VoteVets,
said
in a statement that "putting Tulsi Gabbard in charge of our
intelligence, which keeps Americans safe here and abroad, is dangerous
and reckless. In Gabbard, Trump has a complete and total loyalist who
will use and wield our intelligence to Trump's benefit, not to protect
America and our Constitution."
"In combination with many of Trump's other appointments and
nominations, we see a picture coming together of an administration made
up of unqualified, marginal zealots who will constantly be trying to
please their leader rather than fulfill their oath to put the
Constitution and the safety of the American people above the president's
ego," he added. "Many warned that Trump would dispense of all
guardrails in a second term, so every whim of his would be carried out
without question or protest. We are now seeing exactly what that looks
like."
All of Trump's choices are lousy but there's no one lousier than Tulsi.
And if you don't grasp that, you may be to young to remember 9/11.
Donald
Trump wants this raging incompetent who is also a security risk to be
the DNI. That post was created after the US government determined
intelligence failures led to 9/11.
Most
of us pray never again to a terrorist attack on US soil like 9/11;
however, a number of Americans who are terrorist experts maintain such
an attack is highly likely.
If you think the
outrage over Tulsi's mere nomination is big and wide -- and it is -- and
for good reason -- imagine another 9/11 under her watch. And it won't
just be her that the American people will be out for, it will be Trump
as well, the idiot so stupid to nominate her in the first place.
Donald
Trump, with his nominations, is demonstrating that the last thing he is
interested in is making American anything but a s**thole country. For
Health and Human Services, for example, he wants to install the
non-medical nut job Robert Kennedy Junior who will wreck healthcare
because he's a nut job.
He wants a man the House Ethics Committee believes assaulted a 17-year-old woman to be Attorney General (Matt Gaetz).
As for the awful Secretary of Defense nominee, let's just include ZETEO.
President-elect
Donald J. Trump sent shockwaves through the Pentagon this week, after
announcing his pick for secretary of defense: Fox weekend host Pete Hegseth, who has zero experience in government.
But
frankly, it’s not the lack of experience or his association with
right-wing media that should worry people the most – it’s his clear love
for war, war crimes, and war criminals.
With apologies to Donald Rumsfeld, he may be about to become the most extreme defense secretary in American history.
Watch the short video above to
see Mehdi unpack six of Hegseth’s insanely war-mongering views and
ideas, all of which are bound to break Trump’s ridiculous promise to
bringing lasting peace – to the Middle East, or anywhere else!
If Trump installs the
unqualified Tulsi as DNI and there's a terrorist attack that she fails
to protect the country from, that's on him. She is not qualified and
there are too many issues that go to the fact that the American people
can't trust her. We don't need members of any cult serving in our
government.
An
e-mail to the public account states that I am trying to rush people
into action. I'm not trying to do any such thing. With one exception
and I'll get to that.
The writers is Black and a
lesbian so she's targeted by Donald on three levels (race, sexuality
and gender). I'm not telling anyone to "suck it up" as the writer
states and "You don't feel you have anything to lose."
Let's
start with that last part. Friday was not a good day last week but I
made it through. At the end of the day, I was headed home with a friend
and realized I needed to stop and grab some artificial tears. I'd had
shots in one eye and the other got cauterize -- I've never had that
before, it hurt like hell and it seemed to never end -- it was like a
strobe light that repeatedly went off, then I'd have a blink a few
times, hold my eye open again and the process repeated over and over. So
I go in and I always try to be nice to people. And people coming up on
one side of me, got nice. Yeah, I'd do selfie, yeah, I'd sign
something for them. On the other side? I had no peripheral vision on
that side. And I was spooked over and over and about the seventh time, I
just wanted to get out.
So, yeah, I know
what it's like to be scared and were it not for Satan being voted back
into the White House, I don't think I would have been as bothered. But
there, in my city that went for Kamala by a huge margin, with impaired
vision, I was bothered and scared.
So I think we all know what it's like to be scared.
I
was kidnapped and raped as a child. The only way I survived that was
by focusing on getting out. And that's what I do in life. If it gets
too dramatic, I go cold and go into planning mode. Don't deny it, never
have.
Another tale, I didn't deal with my
mother's death until seven years after. I wanted to initially but then
everyone else was falling apart and I had to hold it together to make
sure every funeral request came off and that warring family members
didn't act out. And I was successful on the latter except for one
family member who showed up stoned and then began to sob loudly
throughout the ceremony and then, of course, skipped out. "It's so hard
on _____," I had to hear from one relative after another. And, yes, I
was pissed. It was my mother and I loved her and the drama queen who
didn't even make it to the burial? If she was crying for any reason, it
was guilt. She'd stabbed my mother in the back and they hadn't spoken
in seven years. But I just had to nod along with these idiots and get
through the day because my mother loathed a scene (which is probably the
main reason _____ put on such drama).
So my
natural mode is to move forward. For me. I didn't expect that from
anyone else in the family and, to those I was close to, I encouraged
them to grieve and feel what they were feeling.
We were stabbed in the back by racists. Some of those racists are on the left.
We're
always asked -- excuse me, we're always expected to turn out and we do
in election after election and then one of us has the presidential
nomination and she's attacked over and over and over -- on the left. By
Gaza Freaks and Jill Stein nuts. And by DEMOCRACY NOW!, THE NATION, IN
THESE TIMES, THE PROGRESSIVE, and many, many more.
Their
actions depressed turnout -- bad enough. It also trashed those of us
excited to see someone like us with a chance of becoming president.
We were spat and we were stomped on.
I don't expect anyone to ever get over that.
And
those who need to check out, do so. Take care of you. THE NATION,
DEMOCRACY NOW!, Jill Stein, Gaza Freaks, IN THESE TIMES and THE
PROGRESSIVE sure didn't worry about taking care of us.
So
you take all the time you need. If that's a month, if that's four
years, if that's longer, you take it. In fact, you don't ever have to
come back to giving your free labor to the Democratic Party. Whatever
you want, I am fine with.
I get it, in the 21st century we saw racism win and it didn't win just because of the right wing, the left helped it a lot.
And that's why --
Let me get to the one thing I'm asking.
What I'm asking is that we leave Twitter. (See Marcia's "Death to Twitter.")
Jamie Lee Curtis is. Applause to her. I mean that sincerely. But I'm
saying that those of us hit the hardest leave Twitter. Danielle's
transferring to BLUESKY and others are going to THREADS or elsewhere.
Musk is a racist who was born under apartheid and only left South Africa
as apartheid was crumbling and he'd have to deal with Black people as
free people. That scared him.
Jamie Lee's
leaving and, again, applause for her. But notice who isn't leaving?
Racist Katrina vanden Heuvel who used her magazine to rip apart Kamala
every day. She's upset that people are calling her a a racist and noted
her grandfather's long history of racism that enriched the family.
That bothers her.
Supporting Elon Musk by using
Twitter doesn't bother racist Katrina. She, in fact, embraces racism
and the only thing that bothers her about racism is when people notice
how racist 'left' Katrina really is.
All I'm
asking is for you please leave Twitter. I'm asking you to reject
racism. Black women can and are doing that. They're not the only
ones. Again, Jamie Lee Curtis, thank you. Her decision is based on her
child Ruby who is now a target in a Trump administration but she's
doing it to show her support for equality across the board. I thank her
for that.
But Katrina vanden Heuvel, a
'leftist' who owns THE NATION and presents herself as the last word in
NYC lefties? She isn't leaving Twitter. She's a racist. She doesn't
care about Black people. That's why she lives on the money her
grandfather stole from Black artists and it's why her White ass lives in
a Harlem mansion. She is no friend to Black people.
Trump
is on a drive to destroy our country and, watch closely, we see what
happened in the election as White 'leftists' are too concerned about
their social media stature to do the right thing and leave Twitter.
I
was shocked Saturday night to learn that Alyssa Milano had not left
Twitter. I was doing that post and typed hold on while I went to
check. She loathes Elon. She made such a big deal about getting rid of
her Tesla. But she didn't get off Twitter. Under Elon, it is the home
of racism, misogyny and homophobia.
But that
doesn't bother her. She self-presents as a social justice warrior but
the reality is that she won't stand with Black people. Or LGBTQ+
people. Or women. It's more important to her that she be on Twitter
than that she take a real stand.
