Break up Facebook! Antitrust case comes for social network

Mayor Pete gets China post?

BREAK THE FACE

Antitrust suit alleges Facebook held down competition with IG, WhatsApp mergers

POLITICO

Twin lawsuits from a collection of states and the Federal Trade Commission allege that Facebook engaged in anti-competitive practices by purchasing burgeoning competitors and stifling the market.

If you look at the administration that looked the other way with these mergers and whose boards that administration spent their four years in exile on… I don’t think this will result in any more than a slap on the wrist.

House passes Defense Bill with veto-proof majority

AXIOS

House GOP to Trump:

Mayor Pete may get China ambassadorship

AXIOS

How do you take a rising star mayor and give him foreign policy experience? Put him at the center of the nation’s most important and volatile international relationship.

Here is a fun value bet… Mayor Pete will be the Secretary of State headed into the 2024 election.

YouTube to remove videos claiming mass fraud changed election results

POLITICO

I spoke about this at length during our livestream today…

Ultimately, the problem that Twitter, Facebook and YouTube has is that they are making community mod decisions from an admin level. Like any message board if a mod you interact with all the time makes a call you can be pissed but you get over it because you know they live in the same community. But if an admin just perma bans everyone for doing something it’s different.

Unlike Twitch and Reddit, the large social networks simply don’t have more localized control of what they allow to flourish. And so… broad decisions have to suffer the humiliation of a thousand contradictions and hypocrisies on their way to irrelevance.

Can you still upload videos about voter fraud in Georgia or Michigan as long as you don’t suggest it tipped the election? What if you say there was widespread fraud but you still back the results?

Does this decision that mean that every video of the 1960 voter fraud conspiracy needs to come down? How about 2000? Or 2004, which was the Phantom Menace to our “voting machines rigged the election” plotline we are dealing with now?

UAE says China’s vaccine 86% effective

AXIOS

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I found the secret to defeating Al Doritos! You can just turn off the “smart” folders or whatever they’re called. It gives you back the old school single giant folder. I’m so much happier being out from under the thumb of Al Doritos.  - JOEY

Holy smokes! In Gmail’s settings it’s turn off “smart features and personalization.” Free at last!

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I'm going to make a long shot call now just for the heck of it. Ted Cruz will be the Republican nominee in 2024. He will have the Trump blessing, and he will win. - NED

Hmmm, Cruz over Pence? I don’t think Ted would get the nod unless he beat Mike in the primary.

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I give Trump props - and brickbats - for hanging on to the bitter end, though his and his lawyers' execution the past month doesn't scream "in it to win it." I always thought about 2000 that however close the race was on election day, by the time Gore finally conceded it was clear Bush had won the post-election transition and (most) people were ready to embrace Dubya - equally tired of the interminable Bill and Hill show and more than ready to move on from Captain Lockbox. While Gore played photo-op football with his kids a la Kennedy, Dubya announced cabinet picks and policy agendas. Biden's team is acting like he's the next president, while Trump throws Hail Mary after Bloody Mary and looks increasingly checked out unless, like Tinkerbell, he's revived by the laughter of children.

I'm so ready for this to be over, so we can get on with the serious business of the country, like seeing how (and how quickly) they arrange to put Biden out to pasture.  I'm also curious if, assuming McConnell retains the majority, Biden strategically grabs enough House dems in vulnerable districts to flip it to the GOP. I don't know what his relationship is with Nancy, but holy Hannah Montana would that be hilarious. - JIM

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I’m probably the furthest person you can get from an anti-vaxxer, in fact, if my wife wasn’t a devout Buddhist, I’d probably have a shrine set up to Edward Jenner somewhere between the kitchen and lounge room. Vaccines. Love ‘em. Give me more.

...but even I’m looking fkn sideways at these wuflu vaccines.

Vaccine development, testing and approval has traditionally been a long, laborious process... but not this time. This is beyond “Fuck it, we’ll do it live!” All the safety rails have been unbolted. All the emergency brakes have been severed.

I’m relatively young and healthy... if it’s a choice between these speedy-Gonzales vaccines and rolling the dice on the wuflu... I’ll roll the dice on the wuflu. Give my dose to someone in an at risk group. - SCALE

The only difference between this vaccine development and most vaccine developments is… money! Federal US money went toward pre-buying doses meaning the companies could push forward with trials knowing that even if they failed they’d still get paid. Now, some companies got sloppy and have been caught doing it. But by and large these vaccines saw more actual human trials than an average vaccine would.

Although it’s funny, I did a pilot for a scrapped podcast a few months ago and a liberal member of the panel called the vaccines “I Am Legend” because they were being touted by Trump. I wonder if she’s changed her tune now that Biden is saying “100 million shots in the first 100 days.”

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As a native Texan I would like to apologize for the behavior of our idiot Lt. Governor who thinks Texas can dictate how other states can vote or conduct their elections. - JOHN

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The arrogance of the poll bros is truly astounding. If they didn't learn in 2016 you would have thought they learned in 2020. But what do we immediately clamor for? More polls in Georgia. - LIZ

Polls, like Lucky Charms, can be PART of a balanced breakfast.

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So I have no idea what Roy Cooper (ed note: Governor of North Carolina) thinks he's doing. After issuing an EO that seemed to be targeting potential infections related to Thanksgiving (it started the Wednesday before, and was set to expire this Friday), he issued a new EO, extending the tightened restrictions AND ordering a state-wide curfew from 10 pm to 5 am (because we all know Coronavirus is nocturnal). More ridiculous is, in order to pass constitutional muster, the exemptions make it pretty much meaningless. In addition to religious services, it exempts "any other activities protected by the first amendment." So, I guess, if you're peaceful, you can still assemble after curfew. The mask order has several exemptions that the last one did not, but also states that you don't need to provide proof that it applies. (A second offense for violating the mask order is a second degree misdemeanor punishable by a $1,000 fine.)

The part I don't understand is, what is he trying to do by issuing executive orders that are unenforceable or potentially outside his power to issue, then putting in exemptions that render them essentially meaningless? It's like he wants to be Gavin Newsom and he's being as Gavin Newsom as he can be in a red-ish purple state. - JD

Patience seems to be running out with Governors. Probably because the “make it up as we go” routine was cute last winter and spring but at this point people are expecting less surprises and more transparency.

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Can we get a movie poster for Yangs of New York - PAYNE

I HATE IT WHEN SOMEONE SENDS IN A BETTER HEADLINE!

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IMO not enough credit to the Texas lawsuit. There is significant merit, it is docketed at the USSC and the USSC has original jurisdiction - whereas they typically have appellate jurisdiction. Below is my favorite snippet. There's only 9 opinions that actually matter and mine isn't one of them.. but I think they have a pretty solid case.. People tend to forget that Article I of the US Constitution is effectively a contract wherein the States are the parties and the contract governs how federal representation is assigned. Demonstration of one or more parties violating that contract is effectively what this lawsuit regards. - BRENDAN

If this case absent all the noise? Maybe.

If this case were brought BEFORE the election when these states were making these decisions to alter their elections? More than maybe.

But like I’ve said since election day, every second that passes without legal traction is a second the train gets further down the track. If this gets heard, I don’t expect it to fair well. If it does? I owe you a Coke.

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Chad floated the idea to make Covid tests as easy as pregnancy tests. Let’s all piss on our Bluetooth Covid test and then play Doom on it. How much more 2020 can it get? - THE ROYAL COURT OF PHILLS