MILESFORTIS – Page 617 – ESSE SINE METU IN FACIE INIMICI TUI. TUENDAM INOPS ET FACERE NON MALI.

So You Found a Gun in a Public Restroom – – Now What?

GONE TO DROP TROU AND FOUND A GUN IN A PUBLIC LAVATORY? HERE ARE THE INS AND OUT OF SAFELY ADDRESSING THE SITUATION.

Finding a firearm in a public restroom is unfortunately not as uncommon as you may think and with CCW increasing across the board, it’s something you may come across yourself.

The problem starts when someone has to drop trou outside their home. The vast majority of on-person pistols ride in holsters that attach to a pants belt, regardless if it’s designed for inside- or outside-the-waistband. Many of these holsters don’t have positive retention, especially the soft-sided IWB variety, and rely on the pressure between your belt and your body to keep it in place. Sometimes this means a pistol flops when pants come off.

Consequently, some people remove their guns (with or without the holster) while they do their business to prevent it from falling onto the hard tile floor. So they take that pistol and place it on a toilet tank, commercial toilet paper holder, or even hang it on the hook on the back of the stall door. And forget about it. This is especially common with new or infrequent carriers. This article covers the mechanics of what you should do when carrying in public restrooms.

We know that some will be surprised one could be so mindless as to forget a Stacatto in a stall, but people leave their children accidentally in the back of cars all the time.

If you find a gun in a public bathroom, let’s talk about what to do.

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Mother says son shot 2 teens in self-defense in Orlando neighborhood

ORLANDO, Fla. – A mother said her son had a gun pointed at him while in their own driveway in Orlando early Thursday morning, so he fired back in self-defense.

Orange County deputies said the call first came in at 2 a.m. for a report of a car burglary with shots fired on Martinwood Drive in Pine Hills. Maria Vasquez told FOX 35 it started as two teenagers were trying to steal his car.

“He say, ‘what are you doing? Why are you watching my car?,'” Vasquez said.

According to deputies, the man told them he confronted two people who were burglarizing a car and when they made a threatening move toward him, he fired several shots. Deputies said the two teens were taken to the hospital with non life-threatening injuries.

“Was your son injured?” FOX 35 reporter Valerie Boey asked Vasquez. “No he’s good,” the mother replied.

Vasquez said one of the teenage suspects broke into her car on April 8. Deputies confirmed that break-in. “He go to my car, open and taken my credit card and ID, and my ID for employers and copy,” she said.

She said they stole a copy of the key to her son’s car and came back around 2 a.m. to steal the Toyota Camry. Maria said investigators discovered her son’s car key in the suspect’s pocket. Deputies confirmed that one of the suspect’s in this burglary had evidence from the previous burglary.

“My son is a good person. He works a lot.,” Vasquez said.

According to deputies, the teens are ages 13 and 16. Investigators have to determine whether criminal charges are appropriate.

“He feared for his life. He was defending his space,” resident Judith Stokes, said. Stokes said the Pine Hills neighborhood is usually peaceful.

“To have something like this go on, it is startling,” Stokes said. She believes the teens should have been home, instead of out at 2 a.m.

Vasquez hopes they have a quick recovery.

“Do you hope the teenagers will be ok?” Boey asked, in which Vasquez replied, “Yes, I pray.”

White House defends DHS ‘disinformation’ board: ‘Not sure who opposes that effort’
Mayorkas announced the creation of the ‘Disinformation Governance Board’ on Wednesday

White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Thursday defended a recently-announced Department of Homeland Security effort to combat “disinformation” on issues related to COVID-19 and elections.

Asked by Fox News White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich for more information what DHS’ Disinformation Governance Board would be doing specifically, Psaki said, “I really haven’t dug into this exactly, I mean, we of course support this effort but let me see if I can get more specifics.”

The White House announced its support for an effort from the DHS to crack down on what it considers to be online disinformation.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testified Wednesday that a Disinformation Governance Board had recently been created to combat online disinformation and Politico reported that Nina Jankowicz, who previously served as a disinformation fellow at the Wilson Center, will head the board as executive director.

“We know there has been a range of [disinformation] out there about a range of topics, I mean, including COVID for example, and also elections and eligibility,” Psaki said, adding that she would check for additional information on what the board plans to do.

.@JacquiHeinrich: "There's been some criticism of the person who has been chosen to oversee this…She had previously called the Hunter Biden laptop a Trump campaign product…How can you assuage concerns…wondering if she's going to be able to accurate judge misinformation[?]" pic.twitter.com/2o1UwlEfpH

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) April 28, 2022

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Kansas Senate Overrides Governor’s Veto On Transgender Sports Ban Bill

The Kansas Senate on Monday voted to override Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto on The Fairness in Women’s Sports Act, a bill that would ban biological male athletes from competing in women’s school sports across the state.

Also known as SB 160, the legislation “requires interscholastic, intercollegiate, intramural, or club athletic teams or sports that are sponsored by public educational institutions” to ban male students from joining teams or sports “designated for females.”

It does not ban female athletes or girls from participating in men’s or boys’ sports.

The bill was introduced by Republicans in February 2021 and vetoed by Kelly on April 15.

However, the Senate voted 28–10 on Monday to override the governor’s veto, and it now heads to the House for lawmakers to vote to sustain or override the veto.

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Woman pulls out gun to thwart would-be robber

ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, Ind. — A man who pointed a gun at a woman after asking her for money, fled after she pulled out a gun of her own, according to court records. He is now facing one count of intimidation.

On April 25, South Bend Police responded to 27th Street and Mishawaka Avenue for reports of a man pointing a handgun at a woman.

The victim told police a man, later identified as Garland Adams, walked up to her and asked for money. When she didn’t give him money, he pulled out a gun and pointed it at her face, according to the probable cause affidavit.

The woman then backed up and pulled out a pink handgun of her own, reports said.

The man then fled on his bike.

Two people at a gas station nearby witnessed the incident.

Officers searched for the suspect and located Adams at 36th Street and Mishawaka. Police said he had a black gun in his right hand, reports said.

When police knocked the gun to the ground, it broke into three pieces, police said.

The gun was a BB gun with the orange tip removed to make it look like a real gun, reports said.

Adams was taken to the gas station where the witnesses identified Garland as the man who pointed the gun at the victim, according to the probable cause affidavit.

Officers also obtained footage from the gas station that showed the incident.

The video showed Garland approach the victim as she backed away. Garland advanced towards the victim, pointing the gun at her, as she continued to try to back away, reports said.

The victim ran out of view and took up a firing position with her pistol behind some trash cans, the video showed.

The suspect pointed his weapon in her direction before getting on his bike and fleeing the area.

Adams was taken into custody on one count of intimidation. He was charged on April 27.

The victim was also arrested for carrying a handgun without a license, but was released with no charges filed.

The author barely gives any notice about ‘internal’ dissent, but that’s almost certainly a big part of this, as there’s too much going on in too many different places, that are far from the border, and covert infiltration in non-permissive areas is extremely difficult to pull off.

BLUF:
….it’s the nature of wars that were meant to be limited to spin out of control.

What the Hell Is Going On in Russia?

“What the hell is going on in Russia?” is the kind of headline you write when there’s so much weird stuff going on that it’s impossible to summarize it cleverly.

Maybe you’ll find this catchier: There’s a lot of stuff getting blown up in Russia, and it might not just be the Ukrainians blowing it up.

The weirdness got going in a normal way, with reports earlier this week of Ukraine’s “embrace of the British special forces model” to strike targets inside Russia that the regular Army (or even Ukraine’s inadequate Air Force) could never reach.

The Washington Examiner’s Tom Rogan reported that a major oil depot was hit on Monday in Bryansk, more than 60 miles inside Russia’s border with Ukraine. That’s outside the range of most of Ukraine’s drones.

While interesting, it isn’t exactly a “what the hell?” moment. British troops have been training Ukraine’s special operators since Russia annexed Ukraine and armed insurgents in Ukraine’s Donbas region back in 2014.

Two more such attacks were reported the next day:

Two explosions were reported in Voronezh, nearly 200 miles from Ukraine, and a Ukrainian drone was reportedly shot down over Kursk, about 70 miles from the border.

The attacks in Kursk and Voronezh, where air-defense systems were reportedly activated, raised the specter of a wider war, as they were farther inside Russia than previous targets.

If you had asked me last week if Ukraine could hit a target 200 miles inside Russia, I’d have been doubtful.

Actually, it’s still a bit hard to believe.

But maybe you’ll join me in asking “What the hell is going on in Russia?” after these next few items.

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Here’s a Fun Way for You to Stick It to Putin

Drones for Ukraine has a unique fundraising tool: Donate $1,000 or more to their effort to procure modern drones to defend against the Russian invasion, get a genuine piece of aircraft skin from a downed Russian jet fighter.

“Have you always wanted a Su-34 ‘Fullback’ strike fighter?” the Twitter pitch goes. “But $50M is a little bit pricey?”

As a matter of fact, $50 million is a little pricey. I’ve got two boys, and you should see our monthly food bill.

But: “Just donate $1000+ to support Ukrainian army and we’ll send you this tag recycled from a downed Russian plane (it’s literally a piece of it with little engraving).”

“Made in Russia, Recycled in Ukraine” is a pretty gutsy tagline, too.

“Your donations will help us supply the defenders in Ukraine with modern drones and equipment to counter the invasion,” according to the website. So your donation in exchange for a piece of a shot-down Russian jet might just help Ukraine shoot down another one.

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You Can’t Have a Functioning Nation without Free Speech.

A dozen of us were seated on either side of the long dining table. Present were writers gathered from across the nation and around the world. Beside me was a lady from Nigeria. Facing me was a Romanian. The woman next to her had flown in from Sydney, Australia. This was a celebratory supper after a long day of book signings at the Los Angeles Times Book Festival — a major literary event.

The conversation among this group of lively intellects was a sparkling delight — light-hearted and witty. Only for a brief while did it turn to the fashionable liberal topic of the moment: the benefits of censoring free speech. I said nothing. Why spoil the celebration?

It is odd that the notion that speech must be censored is the current fashion of people who call themselves liberal. Liberalism is supposed to be the philosophy of individual freedom and free speech. Well, language evolves, and true liberals are much more likely to be found in the ranks of conservatives than those left of center.

There really are true liberals on the left. The people seated around me certainly were. Unfortunately, they live in an almost impenetrable fortress of specious certainty. Conservatives swim in a sea of progressivism, so they are well aware of the thinking of the left. The converse is not the case. In my experience, people left of center have a fantastically distorted concept of conservative ideas. I suppose this is because they mostly listen to one another, to the progressive media, and to their thought masters, not to real conservatives. Perhaps, too, they fear they might like conservative ideas and so become outcasts.

The current leading thought master is Barack Obama. Despite his pretensions of being a liberal, he is not — he is something dangerously different. “We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America,” he so famously said in the last days of his presidential campaign. You do not fundamentally transform something you love; you fundamentally change what you despise.

Obama later realized that he had given the game away. In a subsequent interview with Bill O’Reilly, he said, “I don’t think we have to fundamentally transform the nation.” But then he immediately changed the subject. Now, once again, he is at it.

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First Look: Walther PDP F Series
Created with over a century of engineering & precision to specifically work with a woman’s hand.

Walther PDP F Series

New from Walther is the PDP F-Series of pistols, designed for female shooters who want the versatility, dependability and effectiveness of the Walther PDP, but in a package specifically designed around their unique needs.

The new F-Series is built to meet the demands of female shooters. Walther has completely re-engineered the ergonomics of the grip to be designed for the exact biomechanics of women’s hands. The new, patented operating system of the PDP F Series reduces the amount of force needed to operate the slide. In addition to this, the new PDP F Series has a reduced grip circumference and trigger reach. F Series pistols retain other features from the PDP lineup including compatibility with holsters for both the full and compact size PDP, as well has compact PDP magazine compatibility and are red-dot ready, right out of the box. When paired with the other performance features of the original PDP, it means the F-Series pistol is the great choice for all women who are interested in the shooting sports.

Walther Shooting team member, Olympian and Firearms Instructor Gabby Franco had this to say about it, “The PDP F-series is the result of a revolutionary approach to creating a pistol with female shooters in mind. Walther Arms took the difficult task of developing a mid-sized frame handgun that offers high ammo capacity with a smaller grip, shorter trigger, and excellent ergonomics like no other. The F-series is the best tool in the market for self-defense, law enforcement, target shooting, and competitive shooting. It makes me proud to be part of a project to bring a pistol that contributes to many women’s quests to become better shooters.”

PDP F Series Specifications

Caliber: 9mm
Barrel Length: 3.5 or 4 inches
Slide Length: 6.5 inches
Trigger Pull: 5 pounds
Magazine Capacity: 15 + 1 rounds
Magazines Included: 2
Sights: White Dot Adjustable

MSRP for either the 3.5 or 4 inch barrel version of the PDP F Series is $699, and more information on these pistols and other products from Walther can be found at waltherarms.com.

Perhaps because these ‘intellectuals’ all remind us so much of SloJoe™ and his crap-for-brains

Study: Anti-intellectualism has become an identity for some rural Americans.

A study identifying anti-intellectualism as a growing part of rural identities has sparked a discussion about the best ways of encouraging rural communities to engage with scientific expertise.

The study, which originally appeared in the January 2022 issue of Political Behavior, found that people with a rural social identification are more likely to view experts and intellectuals as outsiders, according to its author, Kristin Lunz Trujillo, a post-doctoral candidate at the Covid States Project of Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and Northeastern University.

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Whenever the VP + officers of executive departments transmit to congress their declaration that the
President is unable to discharge the powers + duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President. Amend. 25

— Healthy Venture Guru (@venture_guru) April 28, 2022

The government is so afraid of Elon Musk owning Twitter that they literally created a real life Ministry of Truth less than a week after he bought it

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) April 28, 2022

BREAKING: Biden Admin Department of Homeland Security to create a 'Disinformation Governance Board' dedicated to 'countering misinformation'

— Jack Posobiec 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) April 27, 2022

Another Government Agency Is Being Weaponized to Go After Conservatives

I don’t mean to be the wet blanket here. We should celebrate liberals freaking out over Elon Musk’s $44 billion Twitter purchase. We should be celebrating the end of censorship and a new era of free speech on the platform. It’s a huge win for conservatives, but the war is far from being over. As with these victories, we face another, larger battle on the horizon. The enemy is not new; it’s the government again. Yet, this time they’re taking the Twitter ethos regarding “disinformation” national.

Rebecca touched upon this last night, but the warning flares must be fired again. Load the magazines, clean the guns, and sharpen the bayonets because Goliath is coming. The Department of Homeland Security is creating a “Disinformation Governance Board.” I’m sure this will be a smooth operation, right? Let’s be frank about this because you all know what’s going on here. This Thought Police department is being created to help Democrats ahead of the 2022 midterms. It’s a Democratic attack machine within the DHS funded by our tax dollars. Like the IRS, FBI, and DOJ before them, another government institution has been weaponized by the Left to attack people they don’t like (via Fox News):

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testified Wednesday that the Department of Homeland Security is creating a “Disinformation Governance Board” to combat misinformation ahead of the 2022 midterms.

Mayorkas appeared before the House Appropriations Subcommittee to discuss the fiscal 2023 budget for the Department of Homeland Security.[…]

Mayorkas said a “Disinformation Governance Board” had recently been created and will be led by Undersecretary for Policy Rob Silvers co-chair with principal deputy general counsel Jennifer Gaskill.[…]

Hours later, Politico reported that Nina Jankowicz, who previously served as a disinformation fellow at the Wilson Center, will head the board as executive director.

Jankowicz was part of a band called the Moaning Myrtles. She also said armed Trump supporters would show up at the polls to intimidate voters. And she’s a Russian collusion peddler. That alone is the disqualifying factor.

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Donald Trump Jr. forms gun rights group

Donald Trump Jr. was the pro-gun voice in his father’s White House. While the president often spoke pro-gun words, there were many who said it was his son who gave them to him.

I’m glad there was someone there who could give the elder Trump some guidance on that sort of thing.

Now, though, it seems the younger Trump has decided to take his pro-gun work to a different level.

Donald Trump Jr. is launching a new gun rights group that he says will be a vehicle for fighting against Democratic gun control efforts.

Fox News Digital has learned that Trump Jr. will be launching the Second Amendment Task Force and will serve as the chairman of the group as it works to protect Americans’ right to bear arms.

“The Second Amendment is the whole ballgame; it’s the freedom that protects all of our other freedoms. Unfortunately the Biden Administration and Democrats in Congress are hellbent on eroding our Constitutional right to keep and bear arms, whether it’s nominating radical gun-grabbers to senior positions in the executive branch or pushing anti-gun legislation,” Trump Jr. told Fox News Digital. “The Second Amendment Task Force is entirely devoted to ensuring the Left is never successful in disarming American citizens.”

The Second Amendment Task Force is the first advocacy group that Trump has launched and been directly involved with. The group plans to make a push in the upcoming midterm elections this year, especially in the voter registration sphere.

OK. Um…why a new group?

Don’t get me wrong, I have no issue with the mission in and of itself. Voter registration isn’t a bad thing, though I suspect gun owners are far more likely to be registered to vote than the general public.

No, my question is more about why form a completely different gun rights organization when there are already a number in existence. If you’re not a fan of the NRA, then there are Gun Owners of America, Firearm Policy Coalition, the Second Amendment Foundation, and a number of others.

I can’t imagine many who wouldn’t want Donald Trump Jr. on their board of directors and would be more than willing to listen to him regarding areas he believes the Second Amendment community is underserving.

So, again, why?

My concern is that there’s only so much support for any cause. A new organization will dilute the pool and potentially provide fewer resources for everyone. If Trump thinks someone isn’t doing what they should and he wants to push them out of the picture, then so be it. That’s the beauty of the free market and all that.

Yet the problem is that we don’t know that. We don’t know why he’s forming a gun-rights group right now, and I’m curious as to the answer.

Will I lose sleep over it? Probably not. However, I’ll also be paying attention to what they do going forward to see just how they’re fitting into the Second Amendment ecosystem. Who knows, maybe he’ll attract new voices to Second Amendment activism and increase the pool of resources for everyone. If so, that’ll be a huge win.

It should be interesting to see how everything unfolds.

California Gun-Grabbers Are Scapegoating Lawful Gun Owners (Again)

As gun-controllers exploit a California mass shooting, even mainstream media are expressing skepticism.

In the wake of the recent shootout in Sacramento — now thought to be a gang battle involving at least five shooters — gun-control zealots are determined to take away the people’s rights and give them more of what doesn’t work.

California has more gun laws than any other, yet state lawmakers are still exploring new ways to disarm peaceable residents and leave them at the mercy of criminals. Meanwhile, President Biden has already taken advantage of the tragedy, calling on Congress to pass the same laws that didn’t stop the carnage in California.

Surprisingly, even the mainstream press, which tends to be favorable toward gun control, has shown skepticism.

It was reported on April 19 that “several bills” to further restrict guns in California have “gained momentum from recent mass shootings,” especially the April 3 Sacramento massacre. Predictably, many of these bills have no connection to that incident. Instead, they’re items from the wish list of anti-gun groups: enabling lawsuits against gun manufacturers, further burdening lawful firearm dealers, restricting gun marketing, and “targeting ghost guns.” Less predictably, NPR, notorious for left-wing anti-gun bias, would question the value of passing more gun-control laws in California.

Following the Sacramento massacre, NPR reported on “at least 24 more bills” to restrict guns in California. The piece had a borderline-snarky headline that a gun-rights advocate could have written: “After the Sacramento shooting, the state with the most gun laws may soon get more.” In many ways, the piece itself was typical NPR. But it also contained flashes of realism.

“Even when states make it harder to get guns, gun violence still occurs all too often,” reporter Laurel Wamsley noted. “In a state that already has more gun restrictions than anywhere else in the U.S., how much further can the law go?” As Wamsley pointed out, the violence-plagued state already gets Giffords’s highest rating for gun control.

NPR wasn’t alone in raising questions. Amazingly, the Trace — an outlet dedicated to gun-control advocacy — seemed skeptical about the California push. Its April 4 Daily Bulletin was headlined by the Sacramento shooting. It concluded, as the bulletin often does, with a statistic: “107 — the number of gun control laws on the books in California, more than any other state.” The same day, the Trace reported that the Sacramento shooting “likely involved” an already-illegal gun modification.

An even clearer note of skepticism came from Politico, reporting on President Biden’s reaction to the Sacramento shootout.

In his gun-grabbing response — basically a rehash of old material — Biden called on Congress to “ban ghost guns,” “require background checks for all gun sales,” “ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines,” and “repeal gun manufacturers’ immunity from liability.”

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The thug didn’t get a slug, but as she could have, stories like this qualify.

Akron homeowner holds intruder at gunpoint until police arrive

AKRON, Ohio – A local couple was startled late Monday when they heard noises and found a woman standing in their kitchen after kicking in their back door.

One of the homeowners called police while her husband escorted the intruder to the back porch where he held her at gunpoint until police arrived.

“We were able to get her on the back porch. We need the police here immediately,” the woman told police dispatchers.

“Are they not able to get out?” asked the dispatcher.

“OK, do you know who this woman is?” the dispatcher then asked.

“No, never seen her before in my life and my husband is armed. OK, he has a permit to carry a gun. No one is hurt, but she is sitting on our back porch and we are not going to let her leave until the police get here,” the caller responded.

“She wasn’t overly afraid, but you could tell the gravity of what just took place was very concerning to her and her husband,” said Akron Police Lieutenant Michael Miller. “That’s a homeowner exercising their rights to ensure that they are safe. It also shows a homeowner’s decision making and restraint in that it didn’t escalate.”

The homeowners declined to go on camera, but they did show FOX 8 their damaged back door after having been repeatedly kicked to force open.

Police arrested Erin Myers, who was in the Summit County Jail on Wednesday charged with burglary.

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Quote of the day—Ammal Hassan

Ammal Hassan
April 26, 2022
What The Hell Does Elon Want With Twitter Anyway?
Really? Musk has repeatedly said it’s because Twitter has been hostile to free speech. He has literally said:

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1519073003933515776

By “free speech”, I simply mean that which matches the law.

I am against censorship that goes far beyond the law.

If people want less free speech, they will ask government to pass laws to that effect.

Therefore, going beyond the law is contrary to the will of the people.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 26, 2022

🚀💫♥️ Yesss!!! ♥️💫🚀 pic.twitter.com/0T9HzUHuh6

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 25, 2022

If our twitter bid succeeds, we will defeat the spam bots or die trying!

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 21, 2022

And authenticate all real humans

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 21, 2022

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1507777261654605828

Despite all that, this bozo Hassan can’t imagine free speech being the real reason.

From reading some the comments to various threads about the buyout it is very clear that many people are vehemently opposed to free speech. They come close to predicting the end of the world if people are allowed to spread “disinformation, conspiracy theories, and hate speech.”

This is incredibly willful ignorance or, more likely in many cases, deliberate evil.

The “end of the world” is much more likely to occur if we don’t have free speech. The suppression of free speech is the mark of authoritarianism. It enables corruption, gulags, and genocide.

This is why we have the 2^nd Amendment. It protects the 1^st Amendment.

I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 25, 2022

Elon Musk’s buying Twitter is good for free speech. And a ‘nightmare’ for progressives

“A brave new nightmare.” Those words from former Labor Secretary Robert Reich described the threat created by Elon Musk’s bid to restore free speech values by buying Twitter.

Yet, despite warnings that censorship is necessary “for democracy to survive,” neither the Tesla CEO and billionaire nor ordinary citizens appear to be sufficiently terrified of free speech. Twitter confirmed Monday that Musk will acquire the company in a deal worth $44 billion. Once the deal is complete, Twitter will become a privately held company.

Progressives, in the meantime, have adopted a dangerous shift in their strategy of calling for corporations to censor speech.

Last week, former President Barack Obama made this shift clear in his much covered speech at Stanford University. Just days after Musk re-enforced his bid for Twitter with the support of many in the free speech community, Obama warned that social media was “tilting us in the wrong direction.” He called for more censorship of disinformation while calling himself “pretty close to a First Amendment absolutist.”

Obama has never been viewed as an ally on free speech by those of us who have been attacked for our “absolutist” views. Moreover, calling for censorship as a free speech absolutist is like claiming to be a vegetarian while calling for mandatory meat consumption.

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BBC journalist. Ignorant BBC journalist. Stupid, Ignorant BBC…………

Hi from America. Where Walmart doesn’t have a plug adapter for my UK laptop. But on the other hand, I can buy a rifle and ammunition. pic.twitter.com/5AOl232CZE

— Pádraig Belton (@PadraigBelton) April 26, 2022

It’s always been about control, whether it’s free speech, a free press, or the right to keep and bear arms. We may see more people waking up to this.

BLUF:
In the end, the battle over Elon Musk controlling Twitter has nothing to do with oligarchs or online safety, just as the Cambridge Analytica controversy had nothing to do with a technical distinction between contractors and employees. Instead, it is merely the latest chapter in the battle over who controls the digital public square – and which political party determines its rules.

Reaction To Musk Offer Suggests Content Moderation More About Control Than Safety

The reaction among the press and tech communities to Elon Musk’s efforts to purchase Twitter has been nothing short of apocalyptic. A common theme has been that democracy itself would be under threat if unelected billionaire oligarchs controlled what was allowed online. Yet this is precisely how social media works today. The Musk controversy, like the Cambridge Analytica story before it, highlights the real issue: the fight over content moderation is less about online safety and more about who controls the digital public square.

Only a year ago, the media cheered the unilateral decisions by a handful of billionaires to effectively banish then-President Donald Trump from the digital public square. Lawmakers and media outlets alike proclaimed the societal benefits of private companies controlling the digital public square beyond the reach of government. In contrast, the possibility of a libertarian-leaning billionaire like Musk wielding that same power has been presented as nothing short of an attack on democracy itself.

In January, the Washington Post argued that oligarchs banning Trump wasn’t censorship; now it warns of the “risks of social media ownership.” Former Facebook chief security officer Alex Stamos argued, “If you want people to be able to interact, you need to have basic rules” for speech. Former FCC chair Tom Wheeler went further, proposing a “First Amendment-respecting process in which the government doesn’t dictate content but does cause there to be an acceptable behavioral code.” In short, tech billionaires enforcing speech rules that align with Democratic Party priorities is a benefit to society; Republicans or libertarians wielding that same power is a threat.

This double standard has been in place for some time. Consider how it played out a few years ago, in the Cambridge Analytica “scandal” involving the Trump campaign.

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Man shoots carjacker who jumped in driver’s seat while he pumped gas at North Side QT

SAN ANTONIO – A man shot a carjacker who tried to steal his car while he was pumping gas at a North Side gas station, police said.

San Antonio police said a driver pulled into the QuickTrip in the 9900 block of San Pedro near W. Ramsey and was putting gas in his Honda Accord when another man pulled up alongside his vehicle in a truck.

The man got out of the truck and into the driver’s seat of the Accord and tried to drive off, police said.

The car owner got in the passenger side and fought with the man as the suspect put the car in reverse and hit the gas, driving over a sidewalk. That’s when the car owner pulled out a gun and shot the suspect multiple times, police said.

That suspect was transported to a local hospital in critical condition. The car owner was not injured.

Police are still investigating.