Texas governor signs bill prohibiting social media giants from blocking users based on viewpoint

LOL.. Literally, they show her content all the time. And of course, you actually do understand the difference between curated and editorial content and context, and what utility content is which is what the Socials are regulated by. Why ignore what you already know to be true?

 

Two legal concepts at play here. Google/Twitter/FB are acting like editorial content that would normally be called publishing and the legal rules for things like libel etc would come into play But, since you brought it up, the Google/Twitter/Facebook folks are regulated by the same utility rules that commodity players like Verizon are. So, you are conflating the negative of the reality here. Twitter/FB are actually doing exactly what you're whining Verizon might do. Look to your own example and explain why you believe the socials get a pass from folks like you for doing exactly what you would condemn Verizon, should they do it.

 

Totally Agree.

 

Why change the subject, unless you are unwilling to agree with my observation?

 

This thread has established that most Trumpers don't understand the Constitution.

 

Texas sucks. I could stand only 6 months in Dallas.

 

It doesn't get more unpatriotic than urging people to betray their own country and "secede."

 

You seem very intolerant of other opinions and points of view. Is that why you ran away to Texas? To get to an ideological safe space?

 

Some Chinese guy doesn't understand the Constitution? So what?

 

I changed nothing. But responded to a part of your post about inconsistent errors.
Are you for mandatory covid shots? If so, then you're fine with gov't telling a pvt business how they must set up their rules.
Or you are against both. If you are consistent.

 

not so much for wanting to secede . but for the reasons given for succession.

 

No, it's not patriotic to believe and repeat unamerican nonsense, either.

 

Yeah .. but you need to state what that nonsense is .. not just state "unamerican nonsense"

 

This stuff:

 

The authoritarian hammer already dropped when these companies started censoring ONE side of politics
You just debunked your own thread

 

The authoritarian hammer already dropped when these companies started censoring ONE side of politics
You just debunked your own thread

 

Election lies that spur people to violence against their government are not politics.

 

The Congress passed a law exempting the big media guys from being sued for overreach. Essentially, they drew a protective covering over social media. This makes the Twitter, Facebook, etc guys as independent of the federal government as the FBI or IRS. They are NOT "separate entities". This "special dispensation" was granted because they are not a "publisher" (that can plan what they produce) but a forum where postings just show up on their system. Social media is protected under a federal blanket. They are NOT separate entities. They are now exercising tyranny of political censorship under this blanket protection.

 

Son? I am retired Army... born and raised in NY City. I have lived all over the world. I have also lived in VA, OK, MO, FL, GA, CA, NJ, DE, MA, NH, TX and more. Most places have both good and bad. I would like to comment on your intellectually vacuous and fact-devoid assessment that "Texas sucks".

First, Texas has great people. If your car breaks down, people stop and help immediately. Smiles far outnumber frowns her. They are pleasant and outgoing.

Crime is rare. There is nowhere in Texas I would be afraid to walk late at night. There is nothing like the South Bronx here, anywhere. Our cities don't burn and our stores aren't looted.

There are homeless here but you have to look hard to find them. Leave out Austin and you might not be able to find any at all. In California, you have to be careful not to step on the homeless, or in their bodily products.

Texas is intellectually stimulating. My small town has three colleges, including the University of Houston Medical school, along with two huge hospital complexes. My neighbor on one side is a pharmacist, on the other, a college professor. Across the street is an engineer, whose son is an engineer.

Folks here are happy. Few folks whine and complain... but that may be due to the fact that they are educated and successful. No one discusses minimum wage here... it has no more impact on our lives than leprosy. We fly the flag proudly and love our cops.

My wife and I can walk (no mean feat at our age) to great ribeyes at the Texas Roadhouse, great sushi nearby, and Chinese, Italian, seafood restaurants abound. I lived on the Chesapeake at one time in my life and love soft shell crabs. I was pleasantly surprised that more than a few restaurants here offer them.

Shopping is great here. We have a nearby mall like everywhere else in America and lots of great shops and stores... although we shop the internet a lot for ease.

We have a nearby beach that we enjoy a lot.

But the best thing is the freedom. When we moved here from CA we used "PODS". Our CA town charged us $200 each to park them in the street while we loaded up. Having used SIX pods, that added up. When we got here to Texas I called the town to find out how much it would cost to park the pods as we unloaded. The guy laughed and said "nothing" and asked if we needed any help unloading.

There is no state income tax here and services are better than they were in San Diego, We had a two bedroom one bath hovel in San Diego that cost $750,000. Here, for less than half that, we have four bedrooms, three baths (one with a walk-in tub), a jacuzzi, and a 20x10 storage shed.

And then there is the wonderful Governor we have. While blue state governors are demanding folks, even kids, wear Obedience Masks... we are free from such tyranny. Its rare to find someone here wearing a mask, although anyone is free to do so. Our schools are open and our children are thriving (our kids will be doctors and astronauts while blue state kids are still at home trying to read). Our shops, beaches and everything else are open. Life is pretty normal. And our China Virus death rate per 100,000 is 23d in the nation... pretty average.

Governor Abbott had the courage to pull our National Guard from the Democrat waste of time in DC, saving us a bunch of money. He has better use for law enforcement too... like guarding the border that the Democrats refuse to do. Eleven other states have sent us law enforcement and other aid to help us guard our border, marking Gov Abbott as a true frontrunner in state leadership nationwide. He has supported election legislation that helps prevent fraud even though Democrats shake in fear at even the common-sense requirement for having ID ready. Although I have no stake in the new Texas abortion law (my kids are all grown), I see it as proof that democracy works in Texas... we vote for folks that give us laws we want. One of the interesting things is that the Texas legislature only meets for a few months every two years. They take this valuable time to do valuable things. In blue states, the legislatures have lots of free time so they can pass silly laws like CA's ban of shark fin soup. Our legislature concentrates on priority issues.

One more thing. I see your name is "ChiCowboy" so I assume you are from Chicago. I find it very amusing that someone coming from a city renowned for its shooting deaths should come to Texas and say "It sucks".

 

Blue state have already seceded. They don't obey immigration laws, support cops, punish criminals, enforce election integrity, safeguard property or stores, and so much more. Blue states have already left the USA. They just haven't done the paperwork yet.

 

Texas IS safe. I can walk any street at 2 AM in perfect safety. Can you do that there in the Bronx? Shopkeepers can go home at night knowing their stores are safe until they get back. Macy's in NY can't do that. We love our cops here... they make us safe. I spent decades in the Army to keep you safe. How did you get the idea that "safe" is a bad thing?

 

What a load of codswallop. Sounds like you ran off to Texas to live in la-la land, and you didn't even get what I was talking about when I mentioned an ideological safe space. It means you don't want to live around people who will disagree with the kind of crap you're posting here. You want to live with others who share your delusions. It's the kind of thing religious people do, choosing to live among their fellow believers instead of having their beliefs challenged.

As for physical safety, seems to me it's universally a question of rural versus urban life, though criminals can be found anywhere. It's just that where there are more people, there are bound to be more criminals also. It's not a matter of "loving" the police; cops everywhere do their job. Unfortunately, they usually can't prevent crimes so much as investigate them after the fact. That's true even in Texas.

By the way, my reliably blue (in the presidential race, at least) state has a lower violent crime rate than yours: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_violent_crime_rate
It also appears that most of the worst states are those bordering Texas or further eastward, not Democrat-majority states.

 

You are a true Democrat. Being happy, safe and prosperous makes you unhappy. Dems MUST whine and complain,,, they simply cannot live without it. Being happy makes them look for hidden unhappiness. Feeling good about themselves and where they live makes them suspect that they are ill. When someone else likes where they live, are happy with their lives and feel good... Dems attack them looking for some hidden unhappiness. Either they can't believe being happy is possible, or they have tried so long looking for happiness and haven't found it that they give up. Dems simply aren't satisfied unless they find something to whine about.

So where does that lead? It leads to Texas being a place where people ae happy. A place where we party and share friendship and fun.

Blue states burn their cities. Loot their stores. Some blue places like Chicago... just shoot strangers and kids haphazardly. We bragg about our Governor. New York throws him out... maybe California too.

Dems just aren't happy unless they have a problem they can whine and cry about.

How sad.

 

I'm not a Democrat, actually. Thanks for asking.

And speaking of whining, that's all I hear from Trump and his supporters. Endless angry whining and sobbing about Democrats, liberals, progressives (especially AOC), Biden, blue states, globalists, leftists, and so on and on and on..

And you are no exception.

How did you like how I debunked your claims about violent crime? The worst states are all southern states. Your state is more violent than mine. All you're doing is repeating your false claims and whining about Democrats in a way completely disconnected from reality. You have more to worry about than I do, going by the numbers. Of course, I don't live in an urban jungle, which goes to the other point I raised about where higher rates of violent crime actually occur. Some more inconvenient reality for you:

https://www.bestplaces.net/comments...-BF9A-0AD7267162E6&city=Houston_TX&p=54835000

After 40 years of living in Houston or nearby (League City) I can't wait to get out when I retire.The climate is enough reason. It's 100 degrees for 100 days and now summer entails 2 months of constantly dodging hurricanes. Plus, 16 degrees in the winter should not shut down a city for four days.About all I see in Houston anymore, from when I drive under Beltway-8 in the morning until I drive out in the afternoon is poverty. If not poverty, then an extended lower-lower middle class. Something like 70% of the census tracts inside BW-8 are in the bottom third of national average household income. And there are some areas in my part of town (Clear Lake, which used to be a nice place to live) that are getting so bad I won't go there after night.Crime is out of sight here and the police are nowhere to be seen. They aren't even doing traffic stops anymore so people are driving reckless on the freeways. And about one person a day is getting shot in a road-rage incident.The city government is inefficient across the board and corrupt at the highest levels, and the county is going downhill as well. Property taxes are ridiculous.In short, Houston is quickly on its way to becoming the next Detroit.
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I'll be sure to spread the word how safe it is in the north to folks in Minneapolis as they rebuild from the riots. I'll be sure to tell Macy's customers as they watch the Macy's in NYC restock after the riots. I'll send the message to shopowners who lost everything in Los Angeles, La Mesa, Philadelphia and Seattle too.

Texas is a great place. We don’t burn cities or loot stores. (I feel a song coming on…) Our streets are clear of injection needles, garbage, and feces. They are CLEAN. We have some homeless, somewhere, but you must look hard to find them. If you remove Austin, you may never find any. We don’t have cities that are battlefields like Illinois. We don’t have cities with typhus and the odor of feces like California. We don’t have old people being attacked routinely by teenage thugs like New York. We don’t defund our cops… we raise their funding. We love our cops.


We love freedom. We have no state income tax. We aren’t forced to wear Obedience Masks. We don’t have to “distance”. Our schools are and have been open (our kids will be doctors and astronauts when blue state kids are still huddled at home trying to read). Our restaurants are open as are our stores, beaches and malls. One rarely sees an Obedience Mask, but anyone is free to wear one if they wish. (And we are 23d in China Virus death rate per 100,000… pretty average.)


We love freedom. When we moved here we used “PODS”. Our town near San Diego, CA charged us $200 each to park them in the street while we loaded up. When we got here I called the town to see what the parking cost would be. The guy laughed and said “Nothing”, then offered to send over help to assist us in unloading. Heck, we don’t even have to leave deposit on bottles and cans here.


We love freedom. Everyone here proudly flies the flag. If your car breaks down on the road, people will stop to help before you can get out of your car. People smile a lot. Laugh a lot. Texas is a happy place.


We love freedom. SUPERWIFE and I can walk (no mean feat at our age) to great ribeyes at “Texas Roadhouse” or have sushi, Italian, Chinese or Thai just as easily. I had a house on the Chesapeake once and love softshell crabs. I was happily surprised that they are easy to get here in Texas too.


We love freedom. In San Diego, CA we had a two bedroom hovel on a postage stamp of land for $750,000. Here. For less than half that, we have a nice four bedroom, three bath (one with a walk-in tub) home with a jacuzzi and a nice big storage shed. A neighbor on one side is a pharmacist. On the other is a Hispanic family (whose family was old here when my ancestors were still in Ireland) with wonderful kids, all educators following in their college-professor dad’s footsteps. Across the street is an engineer. We talk a lot because I’m a retired engineer.


We love freedom. And that means we love our Governor. Gov Abbott is a fighter. He withdrew our Guard from DC when it was obvious that being there was just a waste of time. He guards our border when the federal government refuses to do so. Eleven other states sent assistance to guard the Texas border, marking Abott as a true leader among state governors nationwide. (Much better than having a sex assaulter, killer of COVID oldsters as Governor.) He fights for our rights as evidenced by the new law allowing “Constitutional Carry” and so many other aspects of the Second amendment prohibited in blue states. He protects our right to free speech by attacking those that would stifle it. He is intolerant of those that diminish democracy by running from their assigned duties in the legislature. He also protects us from the political indoctrination of racist Critical Race Theory, doing his best to keep the proud history of our country and state intact and healthy. He provides laws that the people want, even when controversial, as shown by the new abortion law. He defends all these actions even when busybody blue staters try to interfere.


And that may be his greatest contribution. He is about delivering what Texans want, no matter how unpopular it may be with out-of-state naysayers who have no business in our affairs but feel compelled to criticize. Democrats would demean voting and decide FOR us on all manner of issues. Abbott listens to the people and gives them what they VOTE for. That is what democracy is all about. Blue staters, holed up in their abodes shivering in fear of the China Virus, should put their own states and cities in order before worrying about Texas. Gov Abbott is a Godsend.


I admit that I don’t understand why liberals are compelled to control other people’s lives. It seems so innocuous. Especially since they seem so unable to control their own lives. Rather than go to school and attain skills which could earn them a lucrative salary and benefits, they rant and rave about raising the minimum wage, or extension of free money benefits. They look for free medical, free college and free everything. In some cases they fight for illegal immigrants to get free stipends. Maybe if they used all this time to learn a trade, they would be too busy raising families, cutting their lawn and shopping for a new car to be so angry.


Oh well, here in Texas we never try to tell folks in other states what to do or how to do it. We’re a positive crowd here. And criticizing others out of hand is so negative, so childish, so depressing.

We love freedom here in Texas.