Not The Twitter I Thought I Knew

As I understand this, a small group of lefties decide some conservative is racist, homophobic or whatever, flag them on Twitter for spamming, and the account is blocked. That sounds like par for the left as I understand it (like minded protestors have been disrupting campus speeches for decades), but here is what surprises me - what is going to happen when some party hack in Syria or Iran or China opens a few hundred accounts run by state loyalists and starts taking down on-line revolutionaries by flagging them for spam?

Is Twitter really going to aid in the auto-stifling of dissent? Sure sounds like it.

Captain Ed explains the benefits of the current self-policing system, but naturally that requires a level of restraint and self-discipline that we don't always associate with the internet.

BUT IT IS OK BECAUSE THEY ARE PASSIONATE! AND ANTI-WAR... Via myiq2xu (himself a lefty) we get a reminder that the pro-Obama crowd may have stifled pro-Hillary dissent back in 2008:

That was the question buzzing on a corner of the blogosphere over the last few days, after several anti-Obama bloggers were unable to update their sites, which are hosted on Google’s Blogger service.

The bloggers in question, most of them supporters of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, and all of them opposed to Senator Obama, received a notice from Google last week saying that their sites had been identified as potential “spam” blogs. “You will not be able to publish posts to your blog until we review your site and confirm that it is not a spam blog,” the Google e-mail read.

Does anyone imagine Saul Alinsky would object? This is who they are, this is what they do.

Comments

[Rob Crawford]

Anyone want to bet that a turn-about campaign would result in Twitter suspending the "abusive flaggers" accounts?

[BR]

Does spam really function at all? I rarely flag anything spam, but the few times I did, the same sender came through again.

Is it automatic or do those ultimately responsible have time-consuming investigations to verify whether something really is spam or not?

Confucius says: Truth will prevail like water passing around rocks :)

[centralcal]

I hardly ever comment on Twitter, though I do read the comments of those I follow very regularly.

I once commented and used a hash tag (about Jessica Yellin replacing Ed Henry at CNN) in my usual snarky fashion.

I was amazed that 4 or 5 liberals came out of nowhere and flagged me for spam. I have practically zilch for followers myself, so I thought it was pretty hysterical. Poor, sorry, no life libs spending all their days and nights looking for offensive comments and hashtags! What a life (eyeroll)!

[Jim Eagle]

Alinsky Rules, even on Twitter.

[myiq2xu]

During the 2008 Democratic primaries some Hillary bloggers had similar problems with Blogger (Google blogs)

[Dave (in MA)]

some party hack in Syria or Iran or China

Speaking of which, the Obamao campaign has unveiled its new campaign slogan. "Forward", as in "Great Leap, The". I guess they're hoping their prospective voters can handle two syllables this time around.

[henry]

Dave, they stole that from Scott Walker (it's the WI state motto as well).

[BR's Rumal Wire Service]

Syrians are winning slowly but surely against the Assad tyranny. In the past 24 hours they hit military targets in Aleppo, Air Force intel and Military intel in Idlib, another blast in Damascus and the Central Bank for good measure.

[Ranger]

"Forward, Always Forward" was one of Tito's favorite slogans in Yugslavia.

[myiq2xu]

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/30/google-and-the-anti-obama-bloggers/

[BR]

The magnitude of what leftists are doing to America:
Pirates vs. Congress: How Pirates Are a Better Bargain.

[Danube of Thought]

Looks like there's hope that Twitter will die a natural death without my ever knowing what the hell it is.

[Chubby]

both rush and hannity have gotten into twitter in a big way in the recent months, and rush has said on air how great it is that he can now call on his twitter army to get out his messages out when needed. so I guess we can start counting down until he will be tagged a spammer, if he hasn't been already.

[Clarice]

Ditto,DoT.

[Bob]

Obama rules. Stifle dissent. Name call and dehumanize. Obama is the STFU president.

[Jane (Better a crate than a plate)]

I like twitter altho I don't post very much. It certainly was the place to be if you wanted to laugh about Obama eating dog.

It's also got better up to date headlines than any combination of outlets anywhere. The scoop starts at Twitter.

[Dave (in MA)]

Looks like there's hope that Twitter will die a natural death without my ever knowing what the hell it is.

#DanubeOfThought you had 31 characters to spare.

[Dave (in MA)]

@DanubeOfThought d'oh

[centralcal]

It's also got better up to date headlines than any combination of outlets anywhere. The scoop starts at Twitter.

Yes, Jane. I am always amazed at the amount of time it takes for Twitter breaking news to hit the big news websites. Drudge always lags way behind Twitter and he is often ahead of traditional news outlets.

[Sue]

Almost all of the reporters have twitter accounts. The news breaks on twitter faster than it does your normal news services. You have to be careful though. Lots of rumors are repeated and turn out not true.

[centralcal]

Ditto, what Sue said.

[Jack is Back!]

A Twitter Exclusive for DoT and Clarice:

Romney on if he'd go after bin Laden: "Even Jimmy Carter would have would have given that order"

From EmilyABC, whoever that is, retweeted by Toby Harnden

[Clarice]

I can wait an extra couple of minutes and avoid yet another distraction.

[centralcal]

From Twitter (sorry, DoT and Clarice) AP is reporting that the "crucify" EPA guy has resigned.

[Sue]

Without twitter, I would miss the following:

By election day, Obama's slogan will be down to "Meh"

[pagar]

Twitter and Facebook make it easy to tell who doesn't like conservatives, IMO.

http://pjmedia.com/jchristianadams/2012/04/29/doj-employee-contempt-for-mississippi-citizens-on-facebook/

"One such posting demonstrates open contempt for Mississippi, a state which recently passed a photo voter identification law. The same Voting Section employees have the power to approve the law."

"On her Facebook page, Voting Section supervisory civil rights analyst Stephanie Celandine Gyamfi says about the people of Mississippi:"

“Disgusting and shameful."

The entire DOJ Civil Rights Div should be disbanded, IMO.

[narciso]

Well it does illuminate a wider point, pagar;

http://dailycaller.com/2011/12/22/report-doj-employee-admits-to-perjuring-herself-3-times-holder-keeps-her-employed/

[Jim Eagle]

OT: Fred Thompson's little vignette on one of the great people in sports - Pat Summit!

[MarkO]

I love Twitter.

But, this campaign is what happens when free speech is ignored and ideas can be stopped by calling them spam.

[narciso]

It's a 'negative liberty, don't you know, and therefore conditional, in order to have 'the
wonderful democratic revolution (re Chavez and Globo, CAStro and Diario de La Marina)

[jimmyk]

I can wait an extra couple of minutes and avoid yet another distraction.

Hear, hear! While I speak from ignorance, as my only contact with Twitter is when someone links to a particular item, I would imagine the signal-noise ratio is pretty low. Blogs are already enough of a distraction.

But as was pointed out, Twitter will implode if it doesn't prevent this sort of thing from happening. Blocking the frivolous flaggers seems like the best idea, but then someone has to decide what's frivolous.

[daddy]

Megyn Kelly reports that the "Crucify Them" EPA official has just resigned.

[daddy]

Top EPA official resigns after 'crucify' comment.

[narciso]

Btw, daddy, Ruedrich is out, thanks to a Miller/ Nor Luap alliance

[James D.]

That's good news. Of course, it's also a case of 1 down, tens of thousands to go.

[daddy]

Been reading that Narciso. We're going banana's up here.

Local Talk this minute is playing Lisa getting booed out of her speech by Ron Paul Supporters, who went into heavy shout-down mode. Link, with video.

Lot of hatred towards Lisa and the Murkowski clan from the Ron Paul folks.

BTW, think I may have to start beachcombing for Fukushima stuff:

Canadain Man finds Harley Davidson Motorcycle from Japan washed up on a Canadian Island.

[AliceH]

I found twitter to be better than an RSS feed for gathering interesting news in one place. Via RSS, you get ALL the posts from a blog or publication. Via Twitter, you can set up lists to follow a writer - what they post, what they read, what they think about what they read.

[Captain Hate]

Lot of hatred towards Lisa and the Murkowski clan from the Ron Paul folks.

Can both sides just disappear?

Tammy Bruce is praising Zsa Zsa for the way she confounded dimwit Charlie Rose by badmouthing the Bammy OBL ad which takes a Romney quote out of context.

[Danube of Thought]

Every time I think it's not possible to loathe this bastard more, something like this happens:

"'Hillary and I have spent the last three and a half years cleaning up after other folks' messes,' Obama told donors, referring to President George W. Bush's foreign policy.

"'We’re starting to get them pretty cleaned up,' he continued. 'The war in Iraq is over. We’re transitioning in Afghanistan. We’ve got the strongest allies we’ve ever seen.'"

[boatbuilder]

This will be rectified when the radical lefties tag some well-known "centrist" liberal as a spammer for expressing insufficiently lefty opinions (probably right around the time the charges are dismissed or Zimmerman is acquitted).

[Cboldt.blogspot.com]

OT - small document dump at Florida 18th Circuit High Profile Case Documents.

Nothing of much interest. Lester did produce an order, on April 23, that the Court Files were to be unsealed except for witness names and addresses. I don;t know what sort of "improved" motion O'Mara expects to provide, that will result in a different order, or if he is (okay, this is sarcasm coming up) planning move for redaction on a document by document basis.

[Rick Ballard]

But, this campaign is what happens when free speech is ignored and ideas can be stopped by calling them spam."

"This campaign", to me, means the current situation to include the Obama Administration, AGW Fraud, Peak Oil, the Anglo-French coup in Libya and the peaceful and wonderfully democratic overthrow of Field Marshal Mubarak, replaced by Field Marshal Tantawi.

If we wish this campaign to end, then we should all honor the well thought suggestion of the occupoopers and mark tomorrow, Commie Day, as the beginning of a six month deferral of all but necessary purchases.

President Romney will appreciate the gesture.

[pagar]

"the "Crucify Them" EPA official has just resigned."

Must mean they have found someone worse to fill the job.

[Jim Eagle]

Hey! Carter had a chance to kill Osama:)

[narciso]

The story as relayed by Coll, is that he started changing his tune after Sabra and Shatila, ironically one of those stories that Friedman botched, according to Widlanski,

[Threadkiller]

After proclaiming Brietbart's death to be natural, the unnatural happens:

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2012/04/27/lapd-coroners-official-may-have-died-from-arsenic-poisoning/

He is Brietbart.

[pagar]

" after other folks' messes"

A hundred years from now the world will still be trying to recover from Obama's messes. That's with Pres Romney rescinding every Obama order on the first day of his term in 2013: Plus throwing out every leftist Obama has appointed or allowed to enter the federal payroll.

[Threadkiller]

Will this get Twittered?

"Sheriff Joe's Lead Investigator: We Have Proof Foreign-Born Children Listed As Born In Hawaii"

http://obamareleaseyourrecords.blogspot.com/2012/04/sheriff-joes-lead-investigator-we-have.html?m=1

This can't be! So much for the "50 year old conspiracy" strawman argument.

[Threadkiller]

Arpaio to release new Obama eligibility information.

"PHOENIX (CBS 5) -CBS 5 News has learned exclusive details on a forthcoming announcement from Sheriff Joe Arpaio concerning his team's work on President Barack Obama's eligibility to hold office.

Mike Zullo, the lead investigator for the Maricopa County Cold Case Posse, provided some insight into what will be released later this spring.

"Let me put it this way," Zullo said. "I wouldn't be doing it to give them a rehash."

CBS 5 News pressed Zullo for answers upon learning that he and the sheriff are planning another news conference in late May or early June. The announcement would come roughly three months after Arpaio released the results from his six-month probe into the validity of the president's birth certificate. The controversial announcement: the document is a fake.

"We didn't make a mistake the first time. We're not making a mistake this time," Zullo said.

The new findings will include data on Obama's 1980 registration for the draft."

http://m.kpho.com/w/main/story/59890523/

Unprecedented...

[Jim Eagle]

TK,

They found the dog?

[Extraneus]

Megyn Kelly reports that the "Crucify Them" EPA official has just resigned.

I'm sorry to hear that. It'd be much better if the Administration was honest about it and strongly supported him.

[MarkO]

It's not Twittered, it's Tweeted. Next you'll put an apostrophe in it's wrong place.

[daddy]

From this PJ Media story I see the "Crucify Them" EPA guy was tagged to testify before a Congressional Committee.

I wonder if his resignation will shield him from having to answer embarrassing questions?

[MarkO]

On Twitter, my edgy instincts cause me to follow this user:

WW2 Tweets from 1940 ‏ @RealTimeWWII

7.30PM French warship Maillé Brézé has sunk after one of its own torpedos was accidentally fired onto the deck- 25 sailors have died.

[narciso]

No, as with Van Jones, the NEA guy, it's 'shut up they explained' then as with the former they can misrepresent why they did that.

[narciso]

And he doesn't have the full court press that Soufan had, but he is trying to balance the narrative.

http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/rodriguez-waterboarding-obama-pelosi/2012/04/30/id/437505

[Danube of Thought]

"Will this get Twittered?"

Anyone who wants to Tweet it can do so. I'm predicting it will spread like wildfire.

[lyle]

So the "crucify them" dude has resigned. Must have a sweet academic gig waiting for him...

[Threadkiller]

http://www.wnd.com/2012/04/gop-lawmaker-eligibility-too-scary-to-take-on/

What a puss.

[DrJ]

I doubt it, if crucify returns to his old position. He was a Research Associate Professor at SMU -- that's a soft-money, non-tenure-track position.

One's success in those positions relies on bringing in grant money, and over his entire career he has brought in less than I have over the last few. Not impressive.

Now maybe his odds will improve.

[lyle]

Clarice,

Your "Pieces" column was off the charts, even by your great standards. But this was the cherry on the top:

We express our sincere appreciation to Acme people countrywide for their commitment, creativity, and hard work on behalf of the company. Working as a team and with the continued input of the Administration punkocracy, Acme people drive the company's success. We thank them and the Obama Administration for a job well done.

M. Defarge

President and Chief Executive Officer

Brava!

[lyle]

Thanks for the corrective, DrJ. In my defense, I had forgotten that to land a really sweet gig in academia after being forced out of this admin, you have to purjure yourself.

[narciso]

Maybe CAP will sign him up, but he made it too easy to be indentified, mind you it took
two years.

[DrJ]

Going further, crucify was on the tenure track before dropping to the soft-money line. Looks to me like he didn't get tenure, and they gave him a place to park while looking for something else.

His resume is not very impressive at all.

It may well be that he would not be welcomed back to SMU. With all of the new "friends" there probably is something better in store for him.

[Clarice]

Thanks, lyle. She was such a great lady and a fab knitter.

BTW, Scott Ott is still at it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvHK2BRVKy4&feature=share

[jimmyk]

'Hillary and I have spent the last three and a half years cleaning up after other folks' messes,' Obama told donors, referring to President George W. Bush's foreign policy.

It's a particularly vile sort of person who can only promote himself by dumping on others. Apart from the character flaw, it's as sure a sign as any of zero real accomplishment. It's a lot like "Jobs created or saved": If employment growth doesn't materialize, you just claim success by magnifying how bad it "would have been."

[narciso]

That reminds of this classic bit;

http://thepeoplescube.com/peoples-blog/prog-fantasy-magazine-the-palin-issue-t6698.html

[lyle]

His resume is not very impressive at all.

[insert punchline here]

[narciso]

What is it about animals, run Bo, run;

http://washingtonexaminer.com/politics/washington-secrets/2012/04/obama-anti-obesity-%E2%80%9Cslush-fund%E2%80%9D-paid-pet-spaying/554751

[DrJ]

Any guesses whether or not Alfredo "Al" Armendariz was an AA hire?

[Danube of Thought]

Romney leads today in both Raz and Gallup. Not much, but at least it's not bad news.

[narciso]

And Mao was similarly misunderstood, sheesh;

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/brent-baker/2012/04/30/gumbel-whipping-frenzy-over-imagined-slights-play-straight-out-far-righ

[DrJ]

Why yes, he was a National Merit Hispanic Scholar at MIT for his undergraduate work.

If you want to look, here is his resume:

http://lyle.smu.edu/~aja/Armendariz.pdf

[GMAX]

So Gallup has begun to get its poll in line with reality. They were using something like a D + 7 weighting, which is ridiculous especially when RAS has it several months running of polling with large samples that has a R + 3 finding.

[lyle]

Geez, narc, that 3:56 link fires up one my longest running peeves: the prog creep in sports journalism.

I regretably tuned into the Scott Van Pelt radio show a while back and he and the other dude were giving some DEEP THOUGHT on why the white demographic was not watching the NBA in the percentages they once were. You'll never guess why. Never, never, never...

[narciso]

Gumbel has always been clueless, but along with Lupica, Olbermann, do seem to form a trend.

[Donald]

Cause basketball has devolved into AAU slime across the board?

[Porchlight]

She was such a great lady and a fab knitter.

lol

[jimmyk]

the prog creep in sports journalism.

The odd thing about that is that pro athletes tend to be a conservative bunch, especially adjusting for race. I think they instinctively understand things like rule of law, outcomes based on merit, rewarding effort, and so on.

[narciso]

They do make it too easy, like fish in a barrel;

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tim-graham/2012/04/30/washpost-writes-public-be-damned-theyre-biased-if-they-think-were-biased

[Donald]

No they don't Jimmyk

[jimmyk]

Really, Donald? So they'd be ok with redistributing points to weaker teams, giving slower runners a head start, that sort of thing?

I'd guess that a sizable majority of ex-athletes who have gone into politics are conservative (Bill Bradley being a notable exception). Jim Bunning, Jack Kemp, J.C. Watts, etc.

[lyle]

I wouldn't guess that the NBA is too full of conservatives. Golf, some. NASCAR, more. NFL, split. NHL, no idea. MLB, more.

Somewhat OT, though: my favorite clash of identity politics is the fact that blacks, by and large, don't care for homosexuality. Yet it's hardly reported. Gee, I wonder why?

[lyle]

You may have a fair point, jimmyk. But anecdotely, seeing the entire Miami Heat wearing hoodies circa 30 days ago doesn't dissuade my contention about the NBA being too open minded.

[jimmyk]

I wouldn't guess that the NBA is too full of conservatives.

I did say adjusting for race. Charles Barkley was a Republican, though I heard he may have slipped. Wilt Chamberlain was a Republican. Lots of examples of black Republicans in other sports (Jackie Robinson).

[lyle]

You're going old school, though, jimmyk. How many of these guys coming up through the ranks right now would vote R? Not many what with the race pimp industry in full flower.

[narciso]

It does seem they have gotten progressively worse;

http://nymag.com/news/features/ben-bradlee-2012-5/index1.html

[Jim Eagle]

Clarice,

The most deadly and highly priced model of the Acme Pike should be named "The Moirai".

[Danube of Thought]

"How many of these guys coming up through the ranks right now would vote R? "

A lot of them share the R view on federal income taxation.

[jimmyk]

Lyle, this is a bit murky because it includes executives, but it says 61% of NBA political donations have gone to Dems. That seems pretty low for a league that's what, 80% black? And many of the execs have been the biggest Dem donors (Larry Stern, Herbert Kohl).

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-02-27/nba-players-shower-obama-with-money-while-the-nfl-writes-checks-to-the-gop

[narciso]

Is it possible to miss the point more thoroughly;

http://news.yahoo.com/ex-cia-interrogator-obamas-war-terror-less-ethical-134551480.html

[Jim Eagle]

jimmyk,

My experience in running a PAC is that corporate PAC's tend to judge the wind and play both sides against the middle. But individual contributions are very much ideological. With the GOP in charge of the House and moving closer to the Senate, you watch how the corporate PACs will unbalance toward the GOP especially committee chairs. That is why being Speaker is so damn important since he/her controls committee chairs.

Obama will raise beaucoup money from individuals and less from corporate PACs because they see Congress going GOP and they know if that is the case he can't hurt them if re-elected by individual donations. As the campaigns tighten and the polls start moving toward Romney the money will start to reverse course for some individuals but the corporate and special interest PACs will have already bought in to the GOP controlling and restraining any 2nd term (if there is one).

[Frau Vorneweg]

"Vorwärts ("Forward") was the central organ of the Social Democratic Party of Germany published daily in Berlin from 1891 to 1933."

Comes after TV's "Lean Forward (and cough)"

[daddy]

Aw Geez,

From Narciso's link I see that "Crucify Them EPA Arsehole got his PHD at frickin' Chapel Hill. Ughh!

Standing by for incoming:(

[narciso]

actually that was Dr. J's post this time, but I did link his university page on Preston

[Danube of Thought]

Althouse:

"As our late-night-owl readers know, after Twitter reinstated conservative activist Chris Loesch’s account in the wee hours of Sunday night/Monday morning, the progressive flag-spam lynch mob — a vicious group of free speech-squelching Twitter users who trigger automatic suspensions by falsely 'mass reporting' conservatives as 'spammers' — took him down again and again."

Twitter, for its part, is going to have to figure out what to do. For the rest of the world, it just demonstrates once again that what the left fears most is other people's ideas.

[Strawman Cometh]

daddy,
I noticed that when the story broke and gave you a 'no mas' pass, what with the breck girls worries and all.

[narciso]

Gallup has him within the margin of error;

http://hotair.com/archives/2012/04/30/gallup-romney-erases-seven-point-obama-lead-now-leads-by-one/

[Danube of Thought]

Gallup is historically more volatile than any other pollster that I am aware of.

My great-nephew is marrying the CEO's daughter in the Fall. I intend to grill him mercilessly as to why that is so. (Won't be the first wedding at which I've behaved boorishly.)

[Danube of Thought]

SEALs strike back:

Ryan Zinke, a former Commander in the US Navy who spent 23 years as a SEAL and led a SEAL Team 6 assault unit, said: ‘The decision was a no brainer. I applaud him for making it but I would not overly pat myself on the back for making the right call.

‘I think every president would have done the same. He is justified in saying it was his decision but the preparation, the sacrifice - it was a broader team effort.’

Mr Zinke, who is now a Republican state senator in Montana, added that MR Obama was exploiting bin Laden’s death for his re-election bid. ‘The President and his administration are positioning him as a war president using the SEALs as ammunition. It was predictable.’