122 Comments
founding

There is no savior.

Free speech is up to us.

All I can say is educate those you know WHY it is so important.

Do not fear speaking your mind. This is the fight of our generation.

Get after it.

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Hey did you somehow read the draft of today's article? ;) You're 100% right - it's up to us!

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founding

No. But I look forward to it!

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I'm just hoping Twitter stays solvent long enough to get to where it needs to go. I'm deeply disturbed that so many advertisers have fallen for the left-wing propaganda and have paused their advertising.

I'll also have to say I'm disappointed that the $8/month Twitter Blue fell so flat on its face. Wasn't the point that such accounts were verified? Didn't people have to pay with credit cards? How did so many of these accounts turn out to be fake? This seems like a beginner mistake. Hopefully that gets fixed.

Also it seems like the loss of Yoel Roth isn't going to do the company any good either, at least in the short term. While I don't doubt there was a lot of dead wood in the employee base, there's also some benefit to be had from continuity, at least until a new direction is clear.

Anyway, I sincerely wish Elon the best.

Kim G

Roma Sur, Mexico City

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The advertisers haven’t “fallen for” the left, the govt is either paying them to do so, or giving them tax breaks, or threatening with increased regulatory hassles.

You have to be a moron or a liar to miss this.

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And who runs the goverment? Left or Right?

Maybe a little less name-calling and a bit more analysis would serve you better.

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You’re lying. There was zero name calling.

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founding

Did I miss something?! Did you mean next Fri?....;)

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Free Speech is what people that have been taught to use reason and logic when engaging in discourse. Something that has bee lost by so many.

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founding

Agree. It's starts with education. Unfortunately academia is teaching kids and young adults what to think and not HOW to think.

This guy was prescient. He died over 100 years ago:

"Ninety-nine [students] out of a hundred are automata, careful to walk in prescribed paths, careful to follow the prescribed custom. This is not an accident but the result of substantial education, which, scientifically defined, is the subsumption of the individual."

~ William Torrey Harris

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Our schools have become nothing more than woke madrasas, by design.

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founding

Agree. It is to tear apart the nuclear family. Which means no purpose in life, with the end goal of taking away a persons sense of agency and making them dependent on the state.

In other words, incentivizing people to fasten their own shackles.

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The midterm elections, loss of freedom including the loss of free speech, and the rise of increasingly hard totalitarianism by the Democrat Party are related to your comment. It was beautifully encapsulated by Vaclav Klaus, the former Premier of the Czech Republic:

"The danger to America is not Barack Obama but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the Presidency. It will be far easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good Judgement to a depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their president. The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails America. Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince. The Republic can survive a Barack Obama, who is, after all, merely a fool. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools such as those who made him their president."

~ Vaclav Klaus (former Premier of the Czech Republic)

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“Presidents are selected, not elected” - FDR

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Yes, Vaclav Klaus referred to Obama as a “fool”, but that was much too kind. The reality is that Obama is evil and a complete sociopath.

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It's still early yet. Running Twitter and making it profitable is a complicated thing. There's no manual. But there's no doubt the platform is in better hands. Musk has thoroughly cleaned house; all the little censorious wannabe Bolsheviks have already left or are on their way out.

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founding

I agree Brad. But in my view there is no compromise on 1A. I'm sure you feel the same way.

Otherwise it neuters all other amendments.

We need to band together and fight like hell. c19 is an example of complacency allowing our freedoms to be compromised.

"There is no 'slippery slope' toward loss of liberties, only a long staircase where each step downward must first be tolerated by the American people and their leaders.

- Alan K. Simpson

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Ya totally agree. We giving up after two weeks?

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Thank you. My post exactly. 2 weeks and the ship is sinking? How instagram-able of the gratification seekers

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Exactly. It may take years to filet out all the disinfo and bot accounts. And the angry toddlers who've been forced to share their sandbox are not above secretly plotting to create phony "impersonation" accounts of each other (and other dirty tricks) in order to try and discredit the new ownership. See Senator Markey: https://www.rt.com/news/566470-musk-senator-markey-twitter/

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So glad Twitter doesn’t matter to me and the people that surround me. My world, no matter how much people try to convince me, does not need Twitter. It simply brings out the horrible in too many people. It allows people to say the negative things they would never say out loud. There are many things I would like to say to someone, but I know it would not be wise, caring, loving, or right so I don’t - the things that are proper to say in a helpful way get said. The people I know practice fellowship and community - community does not exist in some machine. Even this substack world is not a community - and I am about a month away from leaving it as well as it grows into something else.

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founding

Free speech is not relegated to your world. It makes no difference if you feel like twitter or Substack is unnecessary for you.

I'll let you figure out why your sentiment will come home to roost in your world.

No compromise Juan.

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And hence my point is proved about Substack and my future with it.

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founding

Sorry your feelings are hurt

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No hurt feeling here. All is well.

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I just joined Twitter. It's a cesspool of establishment disinformation, but I don't expect that to change overnight. Give it a year or two.

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deletedNov 12, 2022·edited Nov 12, 2022
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Not blaming a machine - it is not responsible for the feeble attempt at disguising true community. This is not community.

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We'll see wha t you say in Part 2 but he has worried me a little. He is going to be attacked and investigated and he's seen what these people have done to Donald Trump. Like or hate Trump, he hasn't deserved what these people have done to him and they have a lot of power. Musk is no dummie. So it's a sad situation. I'm afraid we're in a very bad way for people who believe in the rights of the individual. Not to mention, we're China now and barbarians. Even Montana wouldn't protect a child born alive in an abortion. Stuff you wouldn't do to a dog. Abortion should be banned after 15 weeks except for the life of the mother, physical life. I was never an organized religious person but this place feels bereft of any moral decency whatsoever. Let alone freedom. And I think what's going t happen is it's going to socialism/fascism set up against what they are going to frame is the "Christian nationalists" so it will become a holy war--or they'll try to make it that. GOP will go after Hispanics and blacks that are religious, I imagine. What a terrible place to live now. And I'm in Michigan where it couldn't be bleaker. People from here have moved out of Michigan and New York and gone t Florida where they can have a life. And us with a family home here since 1850. So sad.

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The people voting to end the life of the unborn are mostly women. Let that sink in. Cruel. Black hearts.

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And to allow it past the first trimester is absolutely brutal. I don't understand these people, let alone women doing this. Awful.

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They are largely deluded by "My body, my choice". Most can't imagine the joy of a child that is half themselves.

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That's true. They changed our laws here, though, so no ID is necessary in Michigan. Fightingk here seems futile. They are going to harvest ballots and pay for them no doubt.

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Republicans have begun to harvest ballots in CA. It is pointless to deny steal, so join the steal. The issue really is what do younger voters really want their world to look like. It appears to be quite different than what boomers wanted. There are now more unmarried women that vote democrat pretty much all the time. Government is their daddy and husband. I once sat in a coffee shop listening to table of college boys talking about dating. All said NO woke girls, and thus they were not dating. Young female college students are all woke. Also keep in mind how many young women today are on some sort of antidepressant. They do not even try to hide it. It is a badge of courage. These are the leaders. Sad, huh. Oprah began this pity party.

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Yeah, this single woman thing is crazy but am guessing they drove this abortion nightmare, too. Up to the moment of birth and even AFTER in some cases. I don't get it. Yes, I think they want something different than we did.

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Basically he got rich like so many grifters do…using taxpayer money to build an empire. There really ain’t much special in that. Even Pelosi did it.

I found your Tour de France analogy on point. Lance Armstrong was once “hors categorie” and the envy and idol of tens of millions. He too, was a fraud and a grifter.

Just sayin…

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I can see why you write this, but to be fair, and therefore better prepared for accurate conclusions, Pelosi built nothing. She piggybacks on her own legislation that she and Paul know will affect the price of a given company and invests, sells short, dumps etc. Musk at least walks away at night from a rocket or electric car or a factory that he decides to move from Cali to Texas, sending a simple message to Pelosi's beat, while rewarding Texas with the "shovel-ready" jobs that legislation rarely does as well.

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He had also aggressively chased would-be whistleblowers at Tesla, in one case forcing one to repay the company $400,000 for “leaking confidential information to a reporter.”

Are you insinuating that corporations are not entitled to protect their intellectual property? That’s an interesting take on “free speech” which pretty much every company in the world would disagree with.

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Alex is a democrat. While he may be upset about the vaccine mandates, he still aligns with the party control. I know many like him. His friends and family abandoned him like they have RFK jr and yet it feels like both would forgive and forget very quickly. They are not thrilled aligning with Trump supporters. I always think of the snake story.

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I made a similar though much more wordy :) argument in this comment section before seeing your post. Totally agree.

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Looking forward to part II. I did read that Twitter hasn’t turned a profit since 2019 and Musk said bankruptcy was on the table.

I had not heard that the Twitter purchase might have been a way to discreetly unload his about-to-expire Tesla options. Thanks for the report Alex.

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Be patient! "Rome was not built in a day!" Two weeks is hardly enough time for a new owner to turn over all of the rocks of a new company. The fact that Pretender-in-Chief Biden may have Musk investigated is a positive sign that the abusers of Twitter (a.k.a., Democrats) are very worried that they have lost control over a major social media platform. Plus, Musk has already tweeted some things about elections & Democrats that never would have been allowed before the takeover. I think it will end up just fine.

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Alex,

You are a reporter and not a businessman....errr....person (LOL). Please give Elon time. He needs time to make sure that he takes the correct actions to both succeed in promoting free speech and not go bankrupt. It takes time (possibly a long time) to understand the motives and philosophies of those that work at Twitter. Humans are devious. The clues to know who to support and who to “let go” only come slowly….especially when the loss of high paying jobs are on the line. If I was Elon, I would not want to make the mistake of “canning” the wrong people. You prevent that by learning, through time, who the most narcissistic and ideological employees/managers are. But since smart ideologs are cunning, it takes time.

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Give Musk some time to figure it out. Twitter has to be a viable business. He is a master at implementing efficiency in the business model. That is a big part of the challenge he is dealing with today... and probably the higher-order priority that making massive changes to the rules and design of the platform. But that will also happen.

Unfortunately a number of people reading this newsletter just voted for the crap politicians and not those that Musk could have relied on the help back the changes we would like to see. Ironically, many of those voting for the crap where brainwashed by their Twitter feed to do so.

So Musk is going to have to do this himself... swimming against the tide of idiot young people, single females, and low-T men with the unfortunate ability to vote.

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founding

As an Independent, Republicans are a huge disappointment. They don't seem too concerned (or willing to do anything) about free speech. All I've heard is lip service. This issue will not self resolve.

Did anyone hear any Republican say anything about censorship other than "bad censorship" during this election cycle?

Maybe they could've explained WHY it is dangerous. IMO this is the fight we must fight - or everything else doesn't really matter.

Many of my friends know intuitively, but they really don't understand why. I've had to explain to them the danger of compromise.

My friends are for the most part conservative and very well educated.

Do you think the regular populace has any idea why it's dangerous?

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Ryan……what you’ve just stated is perfect and says it all. Brit Hume said something the other day it was something like ‘Republicans have never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity’……..he used different words that were better than mine but that was the gist of it. As a Republican/Conservative myself, I couldn’t agree more.

I have bitched about the lack of a spine once people get into office and I’ll go down screaming it.

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founding

Republicans have an uncanny ability to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory....

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Trump did. DeSantis did. A few others did. They were talking about Section 230 reforms. And the left and media has branded them all as devils and it reverberates on Twitter and the NYT.

But I agree completely with you. It seems almost coordinated by the GOP establishment to suck so they could blame the loss on Trumpism. DeSantis wins are the albatross around their neck. If only Trump had not attacked DeSantis before the election. THAT more than anything else is the justified reason for Trump to be eliminated as a GOP candidate.

The freedom of speech topic is interesting because the God-given right that the Constitution upholds is one of individual freedom. I think the reason that people waver is that they have seen how it can be abused by a consolidation of control and then it becomes impossible to make a moral argument for freedom when it can be abused.

There are some interesting studies that educated people know about where people are told a lie several times, and then the lie is corrected... but the majority of the people will clutch the original lie as their truth. It is like it takes ten attaboys to make up for one oh-shit. It takes ten-times the repeat effort to correct for a lie that is implanted in a mind.

The idea behind free speech is that it prevents the lie because of the diversity of voices. But then if "freedom" of speech also includes the freedom of institutions (people run those institutions) and those institutions have outsized power of influence, then the voice of the individual is too weak to prevent the lie.

Social media algorithms exacerbate this problem by consolidating a narrow band of group-think that lacks competing voices... and the ideas get cemented into brains and then it is almost impossible to change those minds.

I think these realities are why free speech arguments are more complicated.

But from my perspective, even given these corruptive forces, individual free speech is still a fundamental God-given right that must be protected at all costs.

If the GOP had a much better election day, I would have liked to see a new Civil Rights bill that basically punished institutions for harming First Amendment rights.

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founding

Well said.

DeSantis in 24' imo.

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Just another hit peace...disappointed in you Alex. There is lot to criticize him but looks like you went on same hit peace as all of his other critics.

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Piece

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Musk is heavily dependent on government for his wealth (subsidies and payments for rocket launches). The Feds have already made it clear that he is in their gunsights. Twitter is not a toy - it is war.

"In the hour of victory, fasten your helmet strap." - Japanese proverb

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Twitter has greatly improved. My feed has more funny, interesting people, a lot fewer shrieking cluster B wokescolds, and one-tenth the stick-up-the-ass "fact checkers" and no "misinformation" warnings. Everybody's now getting fact-checked--even the White House. Impersonators have gotten the heave-ho. All with half the employees gone.

I like the new, improved Twitter.

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Beware of Geeks bearing Grift. Trust only your own instincts. Look a gift horse's feed bill. Do unto others, only do it first. All those axioms are necessary while dealing with the public or politicians, and perhaps lawyers and medics.

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Doesn't 'beyond category' in a cycle race refer to a very, very, very steep mountain?

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author

Yep

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Alex, you need to watch this. Srsly.

https://www.bitchute.com/video/p2Myle58ozLn/ history on Musk.

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I second this as a musk-watch, err must-watch.

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