Never Further Than Twitter

I'm SHOCKED. SHOCKED. https://t.co/e4lvyuD6Wq

— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) December 10, 2022

So basically Elon is going to do what the "Twitter files" allege Twitter was doing? Plus, all the things done are outlined in the TOS as consequences for actions, you know, the one NOBODY reads! 🤣 pic.twitter.com/HFiYKCcjSY

— Orange Diamonds Are Free 🔸️ (@mrod21mvp) December 10, 2022

A brief detour to once again point out the obvious.

Today’s rescue mission: saving GOP @RepBrianMast from humiliating himself further. Brian, now that the Architect of the Capitol has debunked your childish claim, will you apologize to @JacksonLeeTX18 for smearing her patriotism? https://t.co/puwTefTaVk pic.twitter.com/QG0jISsUyx

— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) December 10, 2022

This one deserves to never get past Twitter.

Dude. Face it: it's a titanic nothingburger. I'm sorry. I know you had a scenario in your mind where everything would finally cohere and make sense, but there's no there, there. https://t.co/rAIe1ExtL2

— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) December 10, 2022

That tweet is the apotheosis of bad logic, bad law, bad Constitutional understanding, and bad facts, all combined into a slurry of inchoate rage. https://t.co/xidlhmqKsH

— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) December 10, 2022

Yeah, put the clam down... 

And, of course, the old standard: “LOCK ‘EM UP!”

no one saying this has been able to articulate what crime was committed

it’s all hand wave-y “imprison people I don’t like” garbage and it’s un-American https://t.co/N4WLvvEExB

— Prism Metanews (@Prism_Metanews) December 10, 2022

I want to design a seminar curriculum around what Twitter people *insist* the law is. Class participants will be penalized for asking good questions.

— David Friedman (@profdaf) December 10, 2022

Sorry. You can’t fix stupid. It’s like, a law, or something.

"And so, what matters more than the content of the Twitter Files is the constant buildup ... It signals indisputable proof that the bloodthirsty audience is about to see something big. As is so often the case online, the signal alone seems to be enough." https://t.co/ThWHFD7jia

— Jay McKenzie (@JamesFourM) December 10, 2022

Well, yeah; for people already on Twitter. And just a few of them. 

Curious if @elonmusk’s definition of “election interference” also includes wealthy donors spending hundreds of millions of dollars in soft money to influence the outcomes, or whether it extends only to enforcement of content moderation policies by private social media platforms. pic.twitter.com/6Wh83PVRWC

— Steve Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) December 10, 2022

Yes, I’m repeating myself with this tweet. But it fits the topic, and provides your weekly reminder that Tom Fitton is not a lawyer, but he plays at being one on Twitter. Also, while I’m on the subject of Professor Vladeck, an object lesson in why you don’t argue on Twitter:

Man. He’s got me there. pic.twitter.com/Yy6qtLhtIS

— Steve Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) December 10, 2022

Also why Twitter is never going to be a major political influence, especially when it’s overrun by people like that; or this:

😂 or 😢 not sure. 1) of course, they can do it. I’m not arguing the law prevents them from blocking news. It’s their private platform. 2) my point is without users ability to link to trusted, high quality news, the toxic sludge will flow even more freely, advertisers exit. Bye. https://t.co/5K92TWezGK

— Jason Kint (@jason_kint) December 11, 2022

"Legacy media” dies without Twitter or Facebook? I choose: 😂 

I think the “Twitter is only talking about Twitter” complaints aren’t quite right. I think Twitter is talking about the richest man in the world publicly embracing the worst ideologies and that’s a discussion bigger than Twitter.

— RSchooley@socel.net (@Rschooley) December 11, 2022

Except nobody not already following this on Twitter knows anything about it.

🏆 Tweet of the Day goes to @atrupar (who you should be following) for dragging this absurd @nytimes article pic.twitter.com/SSPm4RTPtt

— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) December 11, 2022

Something that bothers Aaron more than it bothers me.* The people upset by the Twitter Files are a subset of the people paying enough attention to Twitter to have an opinion about it.

When do we come to grips with the fact that just because it’s on social media doesn’t mean the whole world is watching? Or needs to be.

*Not that Aaron us wrong. The NYT in its “objectivity” is being deliberately obtuse:

shot / chaser pic.twitter.com/0YNreI6SZp

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 11, 2022

Yeah, really hard to tell where Elon stands.

Many were here prior to Musk. But you can see what the Musk era is about on Twitter in the QTs of this thread. Literally hundreds of explicitly Nazi and anti-semitic accounts cheering on replays of the Final Solution. Of course vastly more merely Qanon, pro-Musk, pro-Trump etc. https://t.co/BG7qorp4Sa

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) December 11, 2022

Really, really hard.