Open Mic for the week of 11/4/2024
There’s a phenomenon where someone writes an essay about this or that but someone else wants to discuss something that has not yet made it to the front page.
This is unfair to everybody involved. It’s unfair to the guy who wrote the original essay because, presumably, he wants to talk about his original essay. It’s unfair to the guy who wants to talk about his link because it looks like he’s trying to change the subject. It’s unfair to the people who go to the comments to read up on the thoughts of the commentariat for the original essay and now we’re talking about some other guy’s links.
So!
The intention is to have a new one of these every week. If you want to talk about a link, post it here! Or, heck, use it as an open thread.
And, if it rolls off, we’ll make a new one. With a preamble just like this one.
Stochastic political terrorism continues before election day, enabled by social media companies who are obeying in advance:
https://www.npr.org/2024/11/02/nx-s1-5174151/election-2024-voter-fraud-harassment-influencers-elon-musk-xReport
When you remember that, in addition to any potential political benefits you gain from terrorizing political adversaries and civil servants who stand in the way of your partisan projects, this also draws a ton of clicks and engagement from people who are more stable than the violent maniacs without actually being stable in an absolute sense.
It really is of a piece with FanDuel and gacha games and social media and “mental health” apps, pulling us into obsessive and easily monetized loops, with any other impact being a happy (or not-so-happy) accident.Report
This man doesn’t deserve to go back – he cares not one witt about the Constitution or Rule of law:
https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/03/politics/trump-dark-closing-message/index.htmlReport
Anyone know where TFG gets his Enemies from inside rhetoric? John Birch knows . . .
https://www.npr.org/2024/11/03/nx-s1-5176529/john-birch-society-movement-conspiracy-politicsReport
It is getting lost in the run-up to the election but the Epstein tapes reveal some rather monstrous things:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/listen-to-the-jeffrey-epstein-tapes-i-was-donald-trumps-closest-friend/Report