Florida is getting real scary real fast. They will now allow death penalty sentences with an 8-4 jury vote instead of unanimous, they’ve passed a bill to make sex crimes against children punishable by death, and they’re working to make being trans near children a sex crime. For all the “it could never happen here” folks, we’re inching closer to state sanctioned mass murder all the time.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/florida-to-allow-death-penalty-with-8-4-jury-vote-instead-of-unanimously/ar-AA19S7Fh

https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/florida-house-backs-death-penalty-in-child-rapes/

https://translegislation.com/bills/2023/FL

Zuckerberg owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post.

Elon Musk owns Twitter.

When multi-billionaires take control of our most vital platforms for communication, it’s not a win for free speech. It’s a win for oligarchy.

Twitter says it has "no existing political ads to disclose at this time", after Musk said in early January that it planned to reopen Twitter for political ads (Jessica Piper/Politico)

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/03/03/elon-musk-twitter-political-ad-business-00085183
http://mediagazer.com/230305/p3#a230305p3

15 years ago I signed up for Twitter. I met a guy who turned into a roommate, who then became a great, lifelong friend. I used it to stay in contact with other friends I'd made after moving to another state. I participated in "Tweetups" in the early days. I found and followed many accounts that simply wrote jokes, which constantly added value to my day. I used Twitter to exhale my dumb thoughts instead of keeping them pent up inside. I used it to keep up with current and unfolding events. I used it because I enjoyed it.

I fought with a number of idiots. I watched gamergate unfold in the vilest and most toxic way. I saw a lot of awful shit. I suppose that's expected as an inevitable eventuality in most online spaces though.

All of that to say, I think it's time I finally said goodbye. Not because I wanted to, but because the parts of Twitter that I enjoyed the most have slowly rotted away since Elon Musk took over. The final nail being his childish revoking of the API.

I mostly enjoyed Twitter because I used a great app for over 10 years, Tweetbot. It worked well, was reliable, and didn't hurt to look at (soon to be reanimated into @ivory) But, just like every other good feature of Twitter, it too was bound to die because Elon is such a little bitch. He's too self-absorbed, insecure, and greedy to actually accomplish anything of real value on his own. His entire identity is built on taking credit for others' work and lying about it.

Twitter is by no means his greatest crime or fumble. That's not hard to see. However, it is his most personal. He came in and fucked things up for millions of people. Because of his ego.

And there's nothing more dangerous than a rich man's ego.

So, I said goodbye. I'll keep my account up, unless it gets banned, and I might check in every few weeks or months, but as far as actually using Twitter, I'm done.

Elon, go fuck yourself you sad, pathetic little troglodyte. I hope autopilot gets stuck when you're driving one of your shitty cars.