960 Comments

How sad is it that I instantly knew exactly what episode of Seinfeld that picture of Newman is from? It's from the one when Kramer tries to opt out of receiving mail. The scene is a spoof of "Three Days of the Condor" where Newman is warning Kramer he can't trust any postal employees.

Regarding the wildfires, Ethical Skeptic has a series of tweets up discussing how the smoke smells like burning tires or plastic and doesn't smell anything like typical brush/forest fires. He thinks something else is going on, and speculates it's related to the recent huge jump in sea temperatures. It sounds out there but he's speculating it's some sort of volcanic action that is cooking underground oil. Frankly it's so bizarre sounding that it's making me question some of his other conclusions.

Last off, anyone else notice that Twitter is now making you log in to see tweets? If anyone has a workaround please post. I've never had a twitter account and am not about to start now.

Update:

From Elon's twitter:

This will be unlocked shortly. Per my earlier post, drastic & immediate action was necessary due to EXTREME levels of data scraping.

Almost every company doing AI, from startups to some of the biggest corporations on Earth, was scraping vast amounts of data.

It is rather galling to have to bring large numbers of servers online on an emergency basis just to facilitate some AI startup’s outrageous valuation.

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Just noticed that today with Twitter. Very annoying. I do have an account but don't use it and would prefer not to have to log in to see tweets.

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Okay, I bought 3 tickets today for this weekend.

I closed my Twitter account a couple years ago for a reason.

And because I don’t have an account I can’t view it’s contents

Much like many of the media online sites won’t allow you to read an article if don’t give them your email.

It’s the same thing with Siri and Alexa they won’t cooperate with one another either.

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Who uses Siri and Alexa? The government 3 letter agencies... So

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As I've said before, I finally pulled the plug on all 8 of our Alexa Echos a few months ago. 6 years ago I permanently deleted my FB account, after not using it for at least 3 years prior. I've dumped all other social media accounts - excepting Twitter - as well.

I also switched from an iPhone (I was an early adopter of iPhone and all things Apple as well as Twitter in 2008) to a non-internet phone (LightPhone II). The LightPhone froze up and went kaput about two weeks ago, and I won't replace it.

We dumped cable years ago, and about three years ago gave our large TV in the den to our eldest son, after realizing that there's something wrong with placing a television over our fireplace mantle, which simulates an altar. We do not want to give pride of place to the 5th gen warfare sewer pipe that emptied into our home.

I've recently been pining for dumping our internet service provider and the internet altogether. (Wouldn't it be great if we could somehow go back to a society without the internet and smart phones? Well why the heck not?)

There's some weird 5th gen warfare going on with our electronic devices. I call it the Matrix. I'm fighting against it.

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Do you have a single twin brother?

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First internet related smile today from your comment. Just hit me funny. Thank you. Hope it's a yes. Dreams DO come true Gram!

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Not a twin, but he's a slightly younger brother. Never married, so he's spoiled and persnickety about what he does or does not waste his time on.

He's an exec with the federal courts, and makes a boatload of money. LOL

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I have never had a tv or cable or Twitter or any social media except Facebook. I only keep that to stay in touch with people who live far away from me and whom I don’t see often or ever. Also belong to some groups that are very worthwhile. I was a very late adopter of smartphones but it’s become very hard to do without in my line of work. I do try to avoid as much as I can though and pay attention to my settings.

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If I were totally retired--I'd go 'unconnected" altogether as well! I applaud your decision, Mr. Bennett.

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I tried one of those and it creeped me out so badly . I actually threw it in a outdoor firepit

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Fred, I am really intrigued by the LightPhone. Did you like it?

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I have a Light Phone. It has a few quirks, but I like it. I use it just for phone calls and text messaging (to those who insist on texting), but it also has podcast capability, and I love that. I listen to quite a few podcasts. Everyone I know has an iPhone, but I won't get a smart phone because I want to pay attention to the world when I'm out and about. Can't stand how everyone has their heads bent down, looking at a piece of glass and plastic when there are people and a whole world around them.

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I wanted to like it. But honestly, the LCD screen makes it damn near impossible to type. You can do the voice-to-text feature, but you have to keep your texts super short to be able to go back and correct the errors (which are many.)

I don't think I would buy it again

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My sister-in-law gave us one of those Amazon/Google things. I told him absolutely not. He thought I was crazy, but, about a year later, all of that stuff came out about them listening in. We still have it unplugged, uncharged, in its box, somewhere in the house. I’d be happy to dump it.

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Siri’s good for turning my iPhone light on and off. She also does quite well with pulling up websites with the information I need. I’ve decided not to fear AI any longer, but to learn to use it for spreading the gospel.

God gave it to us. It can do immense good. If the evil beings decide to come after me…well, I’ll cross that bridge with Jesus when I come to it.

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Interesting take. I say that about all technologies—they can be good or bad depending on how you use them. Like fire—it can warm you and cook your food, or it can burn your house down or kill you.

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All things are permitted to us, but not all things are good for us? Some feller said words to that effect, once upon a time.

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In general I agree but I believe there are areas forbidden to man like technology creating man/animal hybrids, manipulating genetic material that “enhance human function” (Can’t be done but they still try) cloning human beings, building a Tower to reach Heaven, etc. It’s like man wants to be God even from the beginning.

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🗨 Technology is an amplifier. It makes the good better, and the bad worse.

(same Svetski again)

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Exactly.

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As long as you don't mind your phone always listening in on you.

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Well, every once in awhile, I say, “Did you get that FBI? Should I repeat it?”

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I don’t give it a thought. If the feds decided they wanted me, they could take me. If they want to persecute or prosecute me for living my life as a free child of God and that’s in God’s plan for me, it’ll happen.

In the meantime I know at least half the human population must have cell phones now. And I know there’s some massive storage places collecting all our texts and calls. And I picture that scene at the end of Indiana Jones and the Lost Ark, where the Ark is stored, swallowed up in this massive warehouse. And you just think, well, that’s never gonna see the light of day again.

And given the level of proven incompetence in our government, I wonder if they really can manage such a universe of communications. Or are they exaggerating to frighten us into complacency? I’m sure they can do some specific targeting, but can they really watch us all all the time?

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🗨 AI. It is a tool. It is a technology. It is NOT a new life-form, despite what the lonely nerds like Yudkowski(* so desperately want to believe.

🗨 the only way we can fight black-hat AI is with white-hat AI

(h/t Aleksandar Svetski of authenticintelligence.substack.com)

--

(* of 'nuclear-bomb the server farms' infamy

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I think that’s what I’m realizing. My old geezer friends love their political groups and somebody is always trying to get me to go to meetings. Finally someone I can’t say no to asked me and I went to one. And it’s a marvelous socializing and small scale networking activity, but I can’t see it saving the nation.

I tell them I’m a keypad warrior. They do their part, but I feel called to influence a bigger field.

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It is getting harder and harder to maintain that technology is morally neutral.

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I think it’s all about you and what you personally do on line. The internet can’t reach out and pull me into anything. I know my Master’s voice and I’m heaven-bent on following it.

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I unplugged Alexa when it started playing music while I was silently working from home. Siri responded to something I was telling my husband without being prompted to. After going back and saying the sentence again, there was nothing in what I said that came remotely close to “Hey Siri.” They are always listening, which is creepy.

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Yup - THAT right there!

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The idea of Alexa and the like is downright creepy, which is why I've never acquired one.

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Only experience I’ve had like that; I was reading a news headline out loud and it was something about Syria. I said, “Sure, Siri, I have to ask you three times to turn on my iPhone light, but you just jump right in when I say the word Syria?” 😂🤣😂

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I was totally creeped out when visiting daughter's family in southern England in Nov, and 5 year old kept using Alexa to talk to me from the first floor.

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Nope.. no .. nada.

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Never. But daughter's family in UK--all for it!

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Me, too...I can't see Twitter because I don't have an account however, I do remember that until recently, I was able to see some Twitter links.....I just couldn't scroll too far back before it asked me to sign-in....I thought that this was new because I am in Canada and Bill C18 that just passed..... https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/trudeaus-internet-censorship-bill-c-18-becomes-law-after-passing-senate/?utm_source=digest-canadian-2023-06-28&utm_medium=email

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It just happened to me today, too. I really don’t want to sign up for Twitter but I may have to.

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I signed up for Twitter and it took me one day to be so disgusted by people shamelessly attacking each other that i closed the account.

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I never read anything on Twitter unless I’m directed there by a good source like JC. Otherwise it’s very easy for me to just ignore. No temptation whatsoever to play with it. For me It is a tool to see these particular tweets and that’s all it is. We are in control of our eyes, ears and mouths.

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I don’t use it to read conversations. I use it to read specific tweets. No thank you to reading arguments

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Same, me too. I only follow a handful of conservatives and I don’t bother reading any thing else, like comments. I like having a Twitter account. I don’t tweet myself or get involved other than to heart for support.

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I think the Twitter link problem for non twitter subscibers may have to do somewhat with the massive interest in the Tucker on Twitter postings. If you want to listen, you’ll have to subscribe. Same problem today with Telegram twitter links.

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Tucker is instantly reposted on rumble and elsewhere every time he uploaods a vid, so it's not going to work except on those who don't know where else to look...

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Oh Susanna - Same

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Same. They don’t like this link.

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Same here. I’m signed in on the app, but when I click a link it thinks I’m not signed in. 😡

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Yes, can't see tweets, don't have an account...not getting one😏

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It was yesterday methinks that the curtain got pulled on incognito voyeurs 😒

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To use twitter links without logging in, use nitter.

1. Take a twitter link and replace the tw with n, and replace com with net.

(i.e, replace twitter.com with nitter.net).

https://twitter.com/alextopol/status/1674695447590457346

https://nitter.net/alextopol/status/1674695447590457346

2. OR, use the Redirector extension (chrome or firefox).

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/redirector/ocgpenflpmgnfapjedencafcfakcekcd

This video shows how. 3 mins long.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPQQlSDCvSo

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Jeff might want to consider making this replacement upstream as it were, for the disaffected us all at once, at the very source 😇

Ty for now, I'll show myself out 🤸

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I'm going to start using nitter.net when I post my links.

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👌 Inclusion & Equity covered. What are ya gonna do about Diversity?

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Are y’all could just all decide to move into the 21st century. It’s not going away. Pray about it.

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LOVE IT. Ah just when the modern day robber barons think they can stop the pleebs from accessing information we just find a way around it.

Thank you very much. I wasn't finding this via searches on various engines.

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Not working for me, tried Nitter with the Dana Carvey link

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Thank you! Will give it a try.

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It works!

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Who even are you, FBM, to come up with such geniusness? :)

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Thank you! "Where there's a will ... "

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To create a twitter account, should I give my real name and birth date or can I lie?

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It's not like facebook; so you can use an alias 'Datagal' perhaps, and for birth date I like to use 1/1/(real birth year). Easy to remember and stay consistent.

Note they will need your phone #.

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Thanks!

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Sweet.....U da man!

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Yep I think you mentioned Nitter months ago

I use that if I need to see something

Thanks 👍

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"Tweet not found" on your nitter.net link. I read nittier.it would work, but alas, it doesn't work either.

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Tried this and got serious Microsoft Defender warnings. Quickly exited because I just don't need tech issues.

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Yes, I can't watch the Twitter video either. First time. I am not on Twitter and definitely won't join.

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I have an account. My handle is something like ‘f^ck Joe Biden’. It’s my second account. I closed one years ago. At that time I sort of knew how the platform worked. Closed the account when they started censoring right views.

Then something convinced me after the 2020 steal that I needed an account again. I never post or retweet, I’ve forgotten how to use it. That’s fine. All I want is to be able to see tweets that are posted. I really haven’t suffered any ill effects.

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I've reopened a FB account too. Don't plan to use it for much but it gives me access to a few groups that I want to keep up with. I figure if I don't get in the habit of using them then they will be easily deleted from my life if I decide to do so in the future.

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I also have FB; check in occasionally to see what nice little trips my large family has been on. Very seldom do I even post anything. I hardly have time for it anymore.

I had gone through the ‘done with Fakebook’ maneuver several years back. I got a new account, when one day I was talking to my sister and she said, “Mollycakes (not my daughter’s real name) was really nervous about Rufus (not my oldest grandchild’s first name) was having his first flying lesson.”

And I said, “What!!! How do you know that? And she said, “I saw it on Facebook.” Needless say, I made a new account immediately. My sister doesn’t get to tell me about big happenings in my family 😣

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I tried the nitter.net for all of today's tweets. They returned as Tweet not found.

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Yup. Also my experience.

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Me, too. Also nitter.it, which I read about. Doesn't work either.

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Couldn’t get the Twitter links up either. And I have no intention of getting an account.

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Same here. I briefly considered getting a Twitter account just to watch Tucker, but no. I can surely find his posts on Rumble.

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Same here. Am not able to see Twitter stuff.

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Same here, I couldn't access the Tweets without an account.

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Wow as usual, I thought it was just me and my lack of techiness

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Naomi Wolf has a great description of the toxic air in Manhattan back when NYC had its “orange-out.” She said the smell and her reaction to it reminded her more of the poisonous air on 9/12 than just wildfire smoke.

Regarding Twitter, I also agree. It keeps making me try to login whereas I didn’t have to do that before to see a clip. Don’t want a Twitter account. Not signing up for a Twitter account. But I would like to see the clips. I went out on YouTube and found the Dana Carvey clip. 😂😂

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All y'all without Twitter accounts are missing out! Though I don't fully trust Elon, Twitter-- which used to be an awful, blue-only echo chamber-- is great now that he took over.

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I don’t really know as I only use it to read tweets posted on trusted sites. I told my grandchildren the internet is like the whole world is just opened up before you. And just like you know physically there are places you should not be, same with the internet. Ask Jesus. He’ll tell you whether or not you should go there.

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Big nope here.

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Yes, I couldn’t see them either. No twitter account so...

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"Regarding the wildfires, Ethical Skeptic has a series of tweets up discussing how the smoke smells like burning tires or plastic and doesn't smell anything like typical brush/forest fires."

This may explain the white flakes my son and I observed in the air when we were in the Detroit area a few weeks ago.

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FYI... Forest fires can and do produce ash, white flakes to be exact... When we got slammed by 2 hurricanes in 2004 there were so many trees down the county hauled them out to a large private tract of land 6 miles from city center and set them ablaze....HUGE PILES OF TREES. Problem was, the area was not "out in the country" but rather countryside surrounded by communities. White ash and heavy smoke blanketed our area. It was a nightmare! Hot, humid weather...and SMOKE so thick in some places you couldn't see through it. It was a great teaching moment for our inept democrat run city and county commissioners.... ((Diversity) elected)🫢😒... And yet, we're still electing the same kinds of fools...progressive commies. Life in a University town.

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When I was little I was swimming at the beach and ashes came floating down on me (they were burning a field after harvest). I didn't know what it was. My sister said "it is from the crematorium. They are burning bodies" I nearly drowned. I screamed like there was a shark attacking me. I was an irrational child.

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Funny. Bet she was a big sister.

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Yes. 6 years older. She's still full of it.

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Sounds pretty rational to me. Now you got me reconsidering cremation.

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Yup, white flakes are very common here in Southern California during brush fires, it's not unusual to see them a hundred miles or more distant from big fires. People know to was them off the car quickly as they can eat at the paint.

Having lived through literally dozens of brush fires though, they never smell synthetic but always like burning wood in a campfire. There is something funny going on if it smells like burning tires.

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All the young women from Canada on a FB group I am on, said it smells like chemicals and they and others in the US are upset because they have babies and children and no one is issuing warnings or advising on ways to protect themselves from the toxic air.

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There is no shortage of stupid before, during or after a hurricane. Bet you can attest to that.

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Yup! Never ceases to amaze me!

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Hubs was the regional director for state emergency management in Houston during Katrina, Rita and Ike. OMG!! It's not just the citizens, but the politicians! Mayor Bill White was responsible for that tragic evacuation when Katrina was on It's way. He got on TV and said EVERYONE LEAVE NOW!!! Orderly evacs were working well. He also invited all the refugees from New Orleans to come to Houston, then tried to "order" my husband to completely shut down I-20

and turnback the buses at the state line. What a dumba$$!!

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Air quality here in Maryland was terrible yesterday. I was floating down a local creek and noticed ash flakes settling down on the water. I think there’s WAY more to those wildfires than we’re being told.

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Has anyone seen pictures/video of said fires? You’d think that they’d be all over the place, I haven’t seen one...maybe I’m not looking hard enough BUT when CA has fires I see them all over my feeds. Just saying...

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Great comment - yes, WHERE ARE all the videos of these "wildfires?"

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I noticed that too. Should be everywhere

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No.. no videos.

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1. I heard there are fires on land bought by China?

2. Young women living in Canada on a FB group I belong to said that there has been torrential rain for 3 days (as of yesterday) so they were perplexed.

3. Soneone else mentioned train derailments

4. They all saud that the smell is chemical.

Again: all hearsay

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Well, you can blame Twitter on me. I've been praying for weeks (even months) for G-d's assistance in getting me to reduce the time I waste viewing Twitter feeds. I don't have a Twitter account and am not going to start one just to see timelines, so I'm chalking this up to Divine Intervention. Thank you, Jesus!

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Ya I'm getting tired of all of it. Even substack! What?! LOL.

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<In my quiet voice:> Me too, BFM, me too.

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Yes. Suddenly twitter is requiring sign in!

Never wanting to feed the beast, did not want to comment, never had an account. I did click on when someone linked to a particular twitter post of interest. Twitter has become a public commons, of a sort. But I prefer to be highly selective about where I actually "join", such a C&C. The very large, social engineering sites, like twitter, are particularly unappealing.

I'll hold out. Hope more people, who are accustomed to sharing twitter links, will adjust by copying the twitter comment, or summarizing the gist. Or I'll make do with what I can learn elsewhere, dropping out of those twitter conversations altogether, even as a "listener" only. That will probably save me a good piece of time for off-internet reading.

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If I look at tweets through Google chrome, I have no problem looking at them without signing in. If I go through DuckDuckGo, I can't see anything unless I sign in.

Off topic, but was wondering if anyone could provide a link for the Defender article referenced in one of the first stories in this post? I can't even find a website called the Defender except for some woke Catholic college. I searched using terms like "Defender," 'The Defender," " The Defender COVID," "The Defender COVID Danish study European journal of inquiry" or whatever the name of the journal is and got zero results. Apparently there's a movie called " The Defender" because I got lots of results about that.

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Don't know the exact article link but The Defender is RFK Jr's news blog from Children's Heath Defense:

https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/

Thanks for the tip on Chrome, I'll give it a try.

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Thank you for the link! I couldn't figure out where to go.

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Hmm--I cannot open the links today (sure could yesterday) and I am using Brave.

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I tried google chrome for a link...didn't work. I think once you clear your cache and reset things or if you reboot your computer, you will eventually lose access to twitter unless you have an account.

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That sucks.

I read posts on Twitchy.com and have always been able to click on the tweets to read the full tweet if needed. Guess I'll have to give up twitchy! I'm getting used to walking away from all sorts of things these days.

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Yeah, truth social or telegram is all I have now. Used to be a rabid Facebook guy until they suppressed everything. Tried Twitter for a few months, until recently. Elon has to crack down on the porno ads that bots send out. Tons of other depravity. Just got sick of it even though it was useful to try to educate the masses, but to be seen you need to pay a monthly fee.

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I quit playing on Facebook when they shut down Trump. They were already censoring me, but that was the final straw. Same with Twitter and Instagram. I got on Parler but then they shut that down. I finally just gave up. I have to say, I think it's been good for my mental health! Even if there was a place I could go where it wasn't watched by the government and people thought the way I do, there's danger in that group think rut. Being of social media allows me to think clearly and consider different angles that I probably wouldn't have considered it I lived in an echo chamber. I have to be careful even on sites like SubStack. When breaking news happens and I get the leftist sound bite, I like to think about it and ask myself questions. Then I go read what someone I trust has to say. Then I ask more questions!

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It's definitely a healthier way to approach it.

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It may be that chrome is tracking you and your clicks/history in a way that DDG does not allow.

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Earlier today Twitter wanted me to make an account to see the tweets but now it’s not.... can just see them as usual. Weird 🤔

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If I had a dollar for every gender, I'd have two dollars.

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Now that’s funny 😂

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We live in a world where genders are printed out of thin air, just like our money.

The excess genders rely on the full faith and credit of the woke left.

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😆🤣

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Doesn't sound like a shining business plan 😝

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Or you would get a 3.00 bill if you added hermaphrodites.

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If I had a dollar for every gender expression, I'd pay off my car!

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Due to the coin shortage we can’t produce non-binary change.

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I love and appreciate the Dana Carvey/David Spade video but where were these guys in 2021? Too many people appear now to be joining the fashionable "I was for it before I was against it" cavalcade. It reminds me of the people in 2004-05 who suddenly were "always against the Iraq War" when things didn't turn out quite the way Bush and the neocons promised.

Additionally, the Erica Marsh account is fake, apparently. As someone pointed out on gato's page:

"Update: "Erica Marsh"s profile pic seems to have been lifted from a German consulting website, which is no longer live on the web.

If you needed any further info that this account is fake... ."

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JP Sears has been mocking this from the very beginning. HE was actually brave and principled all along. I do like Dana Carvey and David Spade but also wonder what took them so long?

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I credit Tucker Carlson for opening the door to all of these people and having the cojones to speak truth to power. I was introduced to Alex Berenson on Tucker's show in early 2020 when people were going nuts, the already strong smell of B.S. was in the air, and rational thinking was at a minimum.

JP Sears is one of those people, like the aforementioned Tucker, Mr. Childers, Esq., Alex Berenson, el gato malo, Naomi Woif, Steve Kirsch, Riley "Edward Slavsquat" Waggaman, and so many others, who were both clear-minded and brave and offered a lifeline of sanity. As those around us became nuttier and nuttier and we started cutting ties, my wife and I often consoled each other by asking whether we would rather be aligned with people like JP, Mr. Childers, and Tucker, or Team Joe Biden.

We were right all along, by all appearances.

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Remember his life jacket?

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An excellent analogy by JP, loved that!

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Good question. Did they have their Publicists do some PR research to make sure it was acceptable to go against the “Church of Covid Vaccine”.

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Precisely. Had to wait and see which way the wind was blowing. Funny, but no heroism there.

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JCM, it *is* exasperating, but there are so ominously MANY who are still totally hypnotised that I am thrilled and relieved at any and all joining the ranks of disbelievers ~

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