24 thoughts on “Twits Unbound”

  3. When everyone is talking, who is left to listen? 

    When everyone is an influencer, who is left to be influenced?

    When everyone is making content, who is left to consume it?

    I wonder if folks will drop Twitter the way Netflix subscribers have taken a hike?

  4. the guardian:

    The UK and EU have warned that Twitter must comply with new content rules or face sanctions that range from fines to a total ban, as concerns were raised that hate speech will increase on the platform under the ownership of Elon Musk.
    […]
    “Twitter and all social media platforms must protect their users from harm on their sites. We are introducing new online safety laws to safeguard children, prevent abusive behaviour and protect free speech. All tech firms with users in the UK will need to comply with the new laws or face hefty fines and having their sites blocked.”
    Thierry Breton, the EU’s commissioner for the internal market, reminded the Tesla chief executive on Tuesday that he would have to comply with the newly agreed Digital Services Act, which requires online platforms to tackle illegal content such as hate speech.
    “Be it cars or social media, any company operating in Europe needs to comply with our rules – regardless of their shareholding,” tweeted Breton. “Mr Musk knows this well. He is familiar with European rules on automotive, and will quickly adapt to the Digital Services Act.”
    Speaking to the Financial Times, Breton added: “We welcome everyone. We are open but on our conditions. At least we know what to tell him: ‘Elon, there are rules. You are welcome but these are our rules. It’s not your rules which will apply here.’”
    He went on to warn that companies in breach of the new rules, expected to come into force in 2024, can face fines of up to 6% of global turnover and outright bans for repeat offenders.
    The act will require social media platforms to allow users to flag illegal content – such as promotion of terrorism or commercial scams – in an “easy and effective way” so that it can be swiftly removed.
    [continues]

  5. https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2022/04/26/elon-musk-buys-twitter-celebrity-reactions/7450522001/

    “Ah he got twitter. I would like this to be my what lies here as my last tweet,” the “Good Place” actress wrote. “I fear this free speech bid is going to help this hell platform reach its final form of totally lawless hate, bigotry, and misogyny. Best of luck.”
    Jameela Jamil

    “It would kinda dope if Musk bought Twitter and just shut it off…. Lol. If getting OFF Social Media would RUIN your life… You Truly need to recalibrate your Priorities.. Just sayin.” Ice-T

    “Hmmm maybe this means this starts a ‘Ahmir actually enjoys life’ like pre 2004 Friendster days…..or even scarier pre 98 Okayplayer days.”
    Quest Love

  6. It’s always seemed odd to me when the national, broadcast news reported a tweet.  It seemed especially odd when someone died and they reported about else tweeting their condolences.  Twitter is very quick, thoughtless and impersonal, which may be why folks feel no shame in their online behavior.  It’s a training ground for folks to act like assholes in the real world. Now, Elon in their leader.

  8. Trump may or may not rejoin Twitter now that Elon Musk is in charge, helicopter parents cause a shortage of referees in youth sports, a Virginia home sells despite hosting a squatter & Japan opens a procrastinator cafe

  9. something to ice-T’s comment “… if Musk bought Twitter and just shut it off….”

    given elon’s peculiar and sometimes vengeful ways, isn’t it possible that like an angry child he’ll close down twitter, take his ball and go home if one too many tweets displease him?

  10. BiD, you are exactly correct about Twitter in my opinion. Of course that’s based on what I’ve seen from reposts of tweets on other news platforms and blogs such as this one so my opinion about Twitter is pretty limited. Several news sources are reporting that Musk is floating the idea of moving Twitter operations to NCWV, which is where East Bumfuck is located. I wonder whether working there would be kind of like working in the tobacco industry- being paid to produce and provide products that are harmful to the people who consume them?

  13. Priceless. 

    Eggs. Many, many eggs. That is what greeted a trucker convoy protesting outside the home of a Democratic state lawmaker in Oakland, Calif., last week.

    It turns out that residents of the East Bay neighborhood, including the younger ones, were not happy with the hulking rigs disrupting their lives.

    Video shows people pelting the trucks with eggs and shouting, “Get out of our town!” Many youths are seen celebrating after emptying several cartons and launching a barrage of eggs.

    “That’s what I’m talking about!” one of the egg-throwers is heard yelling in the video.

    Drivers had been blasting their horns and crowding the roadway outside the East Bay home of State Assembly member Buffy Wicks on Friday. The truckers said on a live stream that they were targeting the Democrat because she had proposed a bill preventing coroners from investigating stillbirths and other lost pregnancies. Another bill she proposed, which has since been put on hold, calls for employers to mandate that workers be vaccinated against the coronavirus.
    * * *

    Tough guys. LOL

    I left the link to the YouTube video in because it is hilarious.

  14. Right wing nut jobs thinking making a pain of themselves makes their wants acceptable.  About as bright as the scrambled eggs on the windshields.

  16. greedy bastards

    Revealed: top US corporations raising prices on Americans even as profits surge | Inflation | The Guardian

    […]
    The analysis of Securities and Exchange Commission filings for 100 US corporations found net profits up by a median of 49%, and in some individual cases by as much as 111,000%. Those increases came as companies saddled customers with higher prices and all but ten executed massive stock buyback programs or bumped dividends to enrich investors.
    In earnings calls, executives detailed how even as demand and profits rose post-vaccine, they passed on most or all inflationary costs to customers via price increases, and some took the opportunity to add more on top. Margins – the share of sales converted into profits – also improved for the majority of the companies analyzed by the Guardian.
    Economists who reviewed the data say it’s more evidence of a clear reality: Consumers are taking a financial hit as companies and shareholders profit or are largely shielded.
    “It’s obvious that corporations are trying to pass on any form of short-term pain they might be feeling … and that’s serving the top, wealthiest class instead of those in need of fair wages or products that are affordable,” said Krista Brown, a policy analyst with the American Economic Liberties Project.
    [continues]

  17. chart from same guardian article:

    Companies’ profit growth has far outpaced workers’ wages

    Guardian analysis of 100 top US companies percent change from the most recent reported quarterly profits to two years prior.

     

    Steel Dynamics

    Commodity – steel

    +809%

    Albertsons

    Food – grocery

    +671

    Amazon

    Retail

    +333

    Chevron

    Commodity – oil

    +144

    PulteGroup

    Commodity – homes

    +97

    Keurig Dr Pepper

    Food – manufacturing

    +83

    Lennar

    Commodity – homes

    +78

    Hershey

    Food – production

    +62

    ADM

    Commodity – food

    Of the 100 companies

    analyzed, on average

    their profits grew 49%

    +55

    Nike

    Consumer goods – clothing

    +53

    Median company

    +49

    Home Depot

    Retail

    +38

    Kohl’s

    Retail

    +18

    Procter & Gamble

    Consumer goods

    +14

    US median wages

    increased 1.6% from

    Q1 2020 to Q1 2022

    Kroger

    Food – grocery

    +5

    General Motors

    Automotive

    +4

    US workers’ wages

    +1.6

    TJX

    Retail, clothing

    -5

    Cheesecake Factory

    Food – restaurant

    -96

    Guardian graphic. Source: Company profit growth is calculated using the most recent quarterly SEC filing compared to the same quarter two years prior. Companies’ quarterly calendars differ, their most recent profits range from late 2021 to early 2022. For fair comparison, 10 companies with negative profits are not included in the median growth figure. US workers’ wage growth from BLS is the change in the inflation adjusted median weekly earnings of private employees between the first three months of 2020 and 2022.

  18. more:

    Profits or profiteering?
    The Guardian’s findings are in line with recent US commerce department data that shows corporate profit margins rose 35% during the last year and are at their highest level since 1950. Inflation, meanwhile, rose to 8.5% year over year in March.
    The Guardian’s analysis is the first to take a granular look at a cross-section of companies across a range of industries. It compared the most recent quarter’s profits to the same quarter two years prior, pre-pandemic. Price increases were obtained by checking earnings reports, though those often lacked specifics.
    The data is not intended to be definitive, but does show how a wide sample of companies have raised prices even as profits jumped. In earnings call after earnings call, executives made no secret of their strategies.

  19. shades of gangster style M.O. … that makes 9 doesn’t it?

    Valentin Broeksmit, Deutsche Bank Informant Linked to Trump, Found Dead (msn.com)

    A whistleblower who worked with federal authorities investigating ties between Deutsche Bank and former President Donald Trump has been found dead in California.
    […]
    Broeksmit was reported missing last year, with the Los Angeles Police Department saying he was last seen on April 6, 2021 around 4 p.m., at Griffith Park on Riverside Drive driving a 2020 red Mini Cooper.
    Despite being reported missing, Broeksmit’s Twitter account remained active, with his last tweet uploading a photo of himself being sent on April 5.
    Journalist Scott Stedman, who works for the Forensic News website, also confirmed Broeksmit’s death in a tweet.
    “He supplied me and other journalists with Deutsche Bank documents that highlighted the bank’s deep Russia connections,” Stedman wrote. “It is very sad. I don’t suspect foul play. Val struggled with drugs on and off.
    [continues]

  23. HELLO, HELLo, HELlo, HEllo, Hello, hello?

    In Ukraine, destroyed Russian tanks are the newest roadside attraction

    WaPo. 

    DMYTRIVKA, Ukraine — In his first look at a destroyed Russian tank earlier this month, Serhii Grishin peered at the clumps of flesh in the armored tomb and noted what he didn’t feel.

    Grief already poured from him over dead Ukrainians, and he couldn’t spare any more for a soldier in an invading force. Instead, the rusted-out vehicle and what was in it — the inevitable end product of the failed assault on nearby Kyiv — made his spirit soar, he said.

    This time, he brought friends to record the moment.

    “I’m happy to see that they did not advance farther down the road,” Grishin said Tuesday, as his friends took photos of a ghostly personnel carrier, also destroyed by Ukrainian forces. “I hope there are more places with destroyed Russian equipment.”
    ***

    Odd, but good sort of. 

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