One story that trended (e.g., on BlueSky) about TikTok’s day of shutdown and revival can be summarized thus: the intent to ban TikTok was a stunt cooked up by Republicans so that Trump could pretend to save it at the last minute. Thus, it was never about national security but was yet another grab of another platform for hard-right ideologues—and ...
I recognize the psychological need to believe the American Republic will survive the coming four years, and I freely admit to being the biggest cynic in almost any room. But if the analogy is a shipwreck, we are already treading water with no ship or shore on the horizon. “Democracy lives in the people,” say the more hopeful pundits. Perhaps. ...
I guess this is the digital-age equivalent of defenestration: rather than an authoritarian getting thrown out a window, he gets thrown off Twitter. And now that the major platforms have closed the proverbial barn door while the cows run amok on Pennsylvania Avenue, calling the decision to deplatform Trump too little too late is itself saying far too little, and ...
I think Senator Blumenthal summed it up about right, as he was quoted in this week in the Wall Street Journal: “I’ve certainly been one of Congress’ loudest critics of Section 230, but I have no interest in being an agent of Bill Barr’s speech police.” In the post I wrote right after Trump threw a hissy fit because Twitter ...
It is impossible to look at the landscape of America, at this burning city on a hill, and not weep. Or scream. Because this blog advocates the legal rights of creators (copyrights), and because those rights historically enjoy bipartisan support, I have tried to maintain a politically balanced tone when writing about most policy matters. That was a lot easier ...
