TacticalTea
Army.ca Veteran
- Reaction score
- 1,485
- Points
- 1,160
I really liked what I saw in Alaska.
Ranked voting seems to favour the center and its proliferation in the American electoral system could be its saving grace.
A Deeply Fractured US
- Thread starter BeyondTheNow
- Start date
- Status
Ranked voting seems to favour the center and its proliferation in the American electoral system could be its saving grace.
Brad Sallows
Army.ca Legend
- Reaction score
- 8,744
- Points
- 1,040
Manchin's a Democrat. People who stood their ground while the most progressive Democrats pulled the party further "left" did not become Republicans. Democrats have ejected many of their centrists; the "Blue Dog Coalition" has gotten a lot smaller.
- Reaction score
- 21,989
- Points
- 1,260
It really does make one think about how you vote.
- Reaction score
- 21,989
- Points
- 1,260
Manchin is also from West Virginia.
When one looks at his voting record, he follows his constituents values very well.
Interesting read, thanks. Sounds like Twitter was working extremely hard to be cautious, incremental, and conscientious in how it handled election related misinformation and disinformation.
I see little if anything there that wouldn’t be consistent with Musk’s stated ‘new’ approach to Twitter of ‘freedom of speech, not of reach’.
The engagement with federal authorities, which will be presented by some as ominous or oppressive, makes perfect sense in the context of one of the world’s biggest social media companies in the lead up to a highly fractious election rife with active info ops efforts. I’d find it strange and concerning if national security authorities working to protect election integrity weren’t engaging with and briefing social media businesses that were vulnerable to info ops exploitation.
QV
Army.ca Veteran
- Reaction score
- 3,213
- Points
- 1,010
I’m not sure that’s how the rest of the world is going to look at this.
There are certainly plenty who will look for things to confirm their preconceptions, and to help cheer on their favourite team.
The most I’ve ever tried to manage is a social media page of about 9000 people… that was tough enough for a part time volunteer moderation team. The challenges of running a site with a quarter billion active users and a place in global public discourse are staggering to imagine. Given the rampant exploitation of Twitter to further mis- and disinformation, and the extremely high profile of some people blatantly doing it, they did reasonably well.
The rest of the story on how this private business (yes, I know, publicly traded) determined its business practices in such a hostile info ops environment will be interesting to continue to read.
Last edited:
Retired AF Guy
Army.ca Veteran
- Reaction score
- 931
- Points
- 1,160
Manchin, a Democrat is kind of a fish out of water: a Democratic Senator in state that is Republicans. So to keep his seat (and maintain a Democrat majority in the Senate) he has to sometimes walk a fine line between between pleasing his Republican consequents and the Democratic Party.
Oldgateboatdriver
Army.ca Veteran
- Reaction score
- 2,269
- Points
- 1,010
RAFG, are you saying that a senator who does what he/she is supposed to do - represent it's constituency - is a "fish out of water" merely by that act?
Brad Sallows
Army.ca Legend
- Reaction score
- 8,744
- Points
- 1,040
"Twitter" wasn't being anything. Individuals at Twitter were using position to pursue personal aims.
If something's ethical and defensible, you do it straight up. If it isn't, you don't. You don't talk around a problem and find creative ways to do what you want.
If something's ethical and defensible, you do it straight up. If it isn't, you don't. You don't talk around a problem and find creative ways to do what you want.
I’m not sure it’s that easy in a case like this. In the context of countering disinfo and misinfo leading up to and just after an election, that had the dilemma of protecting brand identity and value while taking meaningful steps to minimize platform abuse. Anything they do was going to get interpreted through hyper partisan filters; any actions to limit the dissemination of harmful bullshit on their platform was going to get spun as attacks on political opponents.
Twitter’s foremost responsibility was to their shareholders, and anything they did to try to not be part of the problem around the election was going to risk major impacts to the value of their business. I don’t think we should be surprised that they or any other business would be cagey about the how and why of certain actions.
Worth noting that there were cases where they didn’t act on complaints or concerns regarding Trump posts that may have been misinfo. There was clearly a major effort to be cautious and incremental in any interventions they took, and to limit reach before outright removing posts or suspending accounts.
Brad Sallows
Army.ca Legend
- Reaction score
- 8,744
- Points
- 1,040
Suppressing the NYT story about Biden's laptop wasn't "countering disinfo and misinfo". All those involved couldn't have known the bona fides because they were working to prevent anyone from knowing. The correct reaction is to investigate.
I've read some of the archived comments of the people involved. Discussion along the lines of "I don't know if we can do this; is there a way we can do this?" isn't defensible.
You see people being careful; I see partisans looking for excuses to do what they want and to cover their asses.
I've read some of the archived comments of the people involved. Discussion along the lines of "I don't know if we can do this; is there a way we can do this?" isn't defensible.
You see people being careful; I see partisans looking for excuses to do what they want and to cover their asses.
Retired AF Guy
Army.ca Veteran
- Reaction score
- 931
- Points
- 1,160
May be the wrong phrasing. What I meant was that he is a Dem in a overwhelming Republican area.
- Reaction score
- 2,849
- Points
- 940
Interesting autocorrect.
As for the newly-proclaimed Independents, it has nothing to do with "common sense" and everything to do with making their decisive votes more expensive to buy. Politicians acting for personal gain/power shouldn't come as a shock, in my view.
In Sinema’s case, I believe it’s more than she knows she would get destroyed in a Democrat primary. By going independent, she has the power to split the left wing vote and likely spoil it for the Democrats, costing them a seat. Their other option is to not run a Democrat candidate, hope she’s elected as an independent, and keep her caucusing with them.Interesting autocorrect.
As for the newly-proclaimed Independents, it has nothing to do with "common sense" and everything to do with making their decisive votes more expensive to buy. Politicians acting for personal gain/power shouldn't come as a shock, in my view.
I can’t predict how that’ll play out.
Oldgateboatdriver
Army.ca Veteran
- Reaction score
- 2,269
- Points
- 1,010
I don't think you can buy the vote of the longest serving independant in the Senate, Patrick Leahy. But you can argue with him, propose, revise take some of his better suggestions to improve your bill and then convince him of the value of your proposed bill to get his assent to it.
If having more independant in the Senate leads to more debate, review and the presentation of convincing arguments for the public to see - instead of the knee jerk reaction of "my party, good bills, your party bad ones" votes - then that is perhaps not such a bad thing.
If having more independant in the Senate leads to more debate, review and the presentation of convincing arguments for the public to see - instead of the knee jerk reaction of "my party, good bills, your party bad ones" votes - then that is perhaps not such a bad thing.
Brad Sallows
Army.ca Legend
- Reaction score
- 8,744
- Points
- 1,040
It's utterly clear that Sinema is disliked by her state-level Democrats. She was censured for not going along with removal of the legislative filibuster - she wasn't the one throwing grenades. She has nothing to gain by continuing to carry their flag and enough sentiment has been expressed along the lines of "throw her out" that taking her fate into her own hands should be unsurprising. Democrats number about 30% of AZ voters; Independents and Republicans a little over 1/3 each. That's winnable for an independent.
QV
Army.ca Veteran
- Reaction score
- 3,213
- Points
- 1,010
Rex Murphy talks about v1 Twitter's handling of election related misinformation and disinformation.
Does this look like "cautious, incremental, and conscientious"?
Does this look like "cautious, incremental, and conscientious"?
- Status
Similar threads
