A reader sent this alarming comment:
The new Twitter in the hands of Elon Musk is targeting accounts that provide unbiased information the day before the election. This is not more freedom of speech at all. I got this email notice today:
“As the Executive Director of the League of Women Voters of California, you can imagine my surprise to receive a notice that my Twitter account was suspended with no explanation or reason. That’s right. The day before a Midterm Election, I am unable to access a once critical platform to monitor and share election information.
Should I be surprised? Maybe not. I am, however, undeterred.
Because I was not provided any explanation, I am left to review what I know. The facts.
I did not violate any Twitter policies.
I did not post or share anything to justify or necessitate a suspension.
I am a member of the LGBTQ+ community. A community that has been experiencing relentless and targeted attacks for no other reason than our existence.
I am the Executive Director of an organization with the mission of:
– Empowering Voters.
– Defending Democracy.
– An organization that envisions a democracy where every person has the desire, the right, the knowledge, and the confidence to participate.
Over the weekend, 119,000 Californians accessed Voter’s Edge,* just one of the League’s unbiased election tools. In 2020, over two million voters used Voter’s Edge. These resources need full visibility. Unfettered access. At this very moment – over 4,000 people are actively using this site. Twitter’s suspension keeps me, the Executive Director, from amplifying these tools, stifling voter education.
We should all be concerned. Not for me, but for how this impedes access to democracy and silences a source of trustworthy election information. Let this be our rallying call in our resolve to stand up taller with the knowledge that we are, unquestionably, on the right side of history.
We need your support for the League’s relentless pursuit of progress. Progress Needs Protecting. Donate today and support the League’s critical role in empowering voters.
Suspended and Determined,
Stephanie Doute, CAE
Executive Director
League of Women Voters of California
Twitter suspends accounts that violate the Twitter Rules
*Voters Edge is a partnership of the League of Women Voters of California Education Fund and Maplight.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Absolutism Corrupts —
Free Speech Absolutism Corrupts Free Speech
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Wow! The League of Women Voters is the best resource for unbiased information; I taught my students to use the website and I ALWAYS go to it to get correct information. Unbelievable, yet no surprise.
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no surprise given Musk’s sense of entitlement and privilege.
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Here we go, folks. It’s going to be a wild ride!
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The alarm bells were ringing with his varied inarticulate comments which may or may not have been about ‘Free Speech’…or not….
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This is whim based moderation, the whims of a fragile snowflake ego named Musk. I’m pretty sure he didn’t do the suspension himself but gave orders to a remaining employee. Seems he wants people to vote on the same basis he makes decisions, whom and emotion.
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I’ve read enough about Elon Musk to know that he is similar to Trump.
Musk is an autistic narcisist. His similarity to Trump is the narcissism. Musk like Trump loves the media’s spotlight. But Trump is too dumb to be autistic since autistic people usually have high intelligence.
Musk is a total asshole, equal to Trump in that area. It’s been reported more than once, that he flies into rages and often fires employees that disagrees with him.
It’s overwhelming apparent that Musk also loves the media’s spotlight just like Trump does.
Like Trump, when it comes to women, Musk also cheats. “Inside the turbulent personal life of Elon Musk, who had secret twins with an exec, got divorced 3 times, co-parents 2 kids with Grimes, and reportedly had an affair with Sergey Brin’s wife.” I’ve read that he’s also had an affair with his alleged best friend’s wife.
All one has to do is Google any of these topics about Elon Musk, to reap a harvest of news reports on each one and probably other ones I haven’t read about yet. He’s just another billionaire narcisist plaguing the US during one of its darkest hours, who doesn’t care how much damage and suffering he causes.
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I totally agree. I will add that he, like Trump, is a valuable Russian asset. I suppose we should be happy that Putin doesn’t even have the wherewithal to take on The Ukraine as I’m sure he is licking his lips over us.
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see thread here re Stephanie Doute’s account was reinstated: https://twitter.com/sdoute/status/1589864299190972416?s=20&t=ZkkzKVPgRJISZd570o3-ZQ
“Huge thanks to all for your outrage about my suspension from Twitter. Thanks to everyone for speaking up- I have now been reinstated with a note telling me that my account was mistakenly included in a batch of Spam accounts. Thread 1/2 2/2
Now, tomorrow is Election Day. Get out there an cast your ballot if you haven’t already! Need info on your CA ballot? Check out http://VotersEdge.org ! Want info on ballot CA ballot measures? http://EasyVoterGuide.org Your vote is your power- use it!”
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Good news! As Leonie reports, the suspension was reversed and her account was reinstated.
This is what happens when you lay off large numbers of employees who are responsible for checking content.
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Glad she was reinstated but it was completely wrong in the first place. What else don’t we know about? Who else is he doing this to?
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Since Musk indiscriminately slashed content moderators and those in charge of security, many more mistakes will be made. He didn’t bother to meet the staff, understand the culture, figure out who was indispensable.
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Never had much use for T-bird (even before Big Daddy took it away), registered early but logged on only a couple of times, but all this fuss got me looking into the alternate universes of Mastodon (no relation to Master Don) and its sci-math offspring Mathstodon. Apparently there is such a mass migration of folks to those platforms that the servers are all bogging down like tweets are going out of style.
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OMG! This shows what we’re up against. We need regulation of major media and a “Fairness Doctrine” so all can participate. But we aren’t likely to get such a thing, even if the Democrats retain control of government. The internet was created from ideas and staff work of the US military. It should belong to all and be open to all who follow reasonable rules.
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How long before Twitter completely melts down. There will be alternatives. I am trying out Mastodon: https://awscommunity.social/
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Most people don’t know about it, but the League of Women voters used to host the presidential debates (until 1988).
They stopped because the two major parties made demands about how the debates were to be run, which the League said amounted to perpetrating a fraud on the American public that the League refused to be a part of.
The parties knew the League would not accede to their demands.
So in effect, the two parties suspended the Leagues account long ago.
Elon Musk is just following that tradition.
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Nice catch. There shouldn’t even be political parties. But here we are with Demrepublicans and Republifascists.
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The “debates” have basically been a cruel joke ever since the League of Women Voters stopped hosting them.
The two major parties have set up artificial barriers to exclude outside candidates and they carefully control what questions get asked and who asks them. And it’s mainly mainstream media clowns asking what are usually softball questions.
The purpose of the “debates” is to generate controversy and viewers for the networks and hence dollars. They just love stuff like Trump’s “stalking” of Hillary Clinton. The whole affair has become a grotesque media circus like the rest of the Presidential campaign.
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This will be just as bad as Truth (*rump’s social media) who bans those who talk bad about him.
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There is a little good news from Ohio and more from Michigan. Vance’s fellow far right, anti-abortion, Rep. Chabot, appears to have been defeated.
His gerrymandered district was redrawn so the GOP didn’t have as much of an advantage. And, Trump-backed Madison Gesiotto Gilbert was defeated in Ohio.
Catholic Vote-endorsed, anti-woman, John Gibbs, in Mich appears to have been defeated.
Other Catholic Vote (a conservative site) defeats- Jennifer Green in Ind., Cassy Garcia and Mayra Flores in Texas, Yesli Vega in Virginia, Jim Bognet in Penn. and Matt Birt in Minn. who reportedly said during the campaign that abortion leads to women having careers.
In a quick summary, it appears Catholic Vote’s candidates were all Republican.
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The change to the Michigan Constitution to protect abortion is huge not just for the people of Michigan but also for the people of nearby states (Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin) because it means that at worst, the women in the latter states will be able to get abortions in Michigan.
It throws a monkey wrench into the plans of the religious extremists in the governments of Indiana and the other states and also tells the people of those states that, “Hey, if Michigan can change their Constitution to protect abortion rights, we can too”. It’s actually a nightmare for the conservative Catholics at places like Notre Dame Law school because it means they will have to come up with new diabolical laws that make it illegal for women to travel out of state (for abortion or anything else).
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Thanks for the comment.
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Poor Elon
He had to cash out $4 billion in Tesla stock to buy Twitter, which is currently losing millions every day.
But with the way Tesla stock has been shedding value in the past year, maybe Elon actually saved money by cashing out his stock when he did.
At the current rate, Jeff Bezos may again soon become the world’s richest spoiled brat.
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Elon broke the Cybertruck window because he didn’t think things through. That says it all. He bought Twitter because he didn’t think things through. He wants to die on Mars, but he will die in the stratosphere if he launches because he doesn’t think things through. He is not mercurial; he’s immature. And a pedo.
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Twitter May be his downfall. He’s spending $1 billion a year to service its debts. And his willingness to accept hate speech is driving advertisers away, the main source of revenue.
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