Only two links, both from CHD.
Censorship
It's very simple. A censored Internet is a dead Internet. A social media site that won't reliably show what you post to the people who choose to follow you is a social media site it's not worth anyone's time to use. A newspaper or TV broadcaster that's admittedly caved to pressure not to print the facts about the hazards of popular products is a news source that deserves no trust, no sales, and no views. And it's all very well for a news source to admit favoring one candidate, party, or side of an issue in an election, so long as another news source is there for those who favor the others, and as long as the editors know that taking sides may cost them money...but when government officials get involved in telling the news sources who and what to favor, it is time for a government purge. On First Amendment grounds, those officials need to be told that they can no longer work for any federal, state, or local government in any capacity. "You abused your office and attempted to subvert the Constitution. If your desk is clean and you're out of the building in fifteen minutes, you're free to go home. If you're seen on government property after the said fifteen minutes, you're subject to criminal penalties. You may say 'Goodbye' as you leave. You may enter a post office to mail a letter, or enter a public school building with your child, but don't say an unnecessary word while you do."
I think social media, which are private, would be more entertaining and profitable if they outed anyone who had either called for censorship or abused a flagging policy. "And here is the person who wanted to censor President Trump's speech urging participants in the 2021 rally to go home in peace. In order to use this site, person must display on per home page a video of person saying, 'I wanted to censor the former President. That means that the former President was right, that I was wrong, and that I was behaving like a bully and a coward because I was unable to refute the former President's statements in an honest debate. I am tackier than Donald Trump."
I did not, and so far as I know nobody in Glyphosate Awareness did, try to impose censorship even on Bayer. Naive though it may be, I wanted the manufacturers of glyphosate to recognize that their most profitable product is harmful, discontinue production, and move beyond chemical sprays especially when it comes to controlling helpless little plants. Call me a little old lady who thinks real life ought to be more like Sunday School books. But since Bayer and probably other corporate shills did, in fact, censor us, I think those companies ought to be required to sponsor the publication and promotion of our literature. With whatever money they may have left after they've made everyone glyphosate has harmed, or their heirs, rich.
And it's tempting to say that Lilly should have to publish and promote pro-firearms...but if publishers had defended the First Amendment as competently as firearms dealers have defended the Second Amendment, we wouldn't have an Internet censorship problem.
I mean to say. What potential America's sadists have wasted, not imposing appropriate punishment for advocating censorship. "But we can't hire you as a dishwasher, because we pay dishwashers with money that affirms that 'In God We Trust' and 'From Many, One,' which are likely to be too disturbing and triggering for you..."
Money: Prevention Is the Best Cure
So how do we prevent "centralized bank digital currency," the full-scale Orwellian vision of totalitarian dictatorship? I recommend using cash only.
* Continue to boycott Paypal until we have a good clear federal law making online payment sites' right to exist conditional on their record of NEVER touching customers' money. They may of course report transactions that they believe may violate the law, but must publicly issue double refunds to anyone they have presumed to "fine" for anything.
* If you maintain checking or Paypal accounts with banks, don't leave money in them overnight. Keep the balance at the minimum required to maintain the account.
* If you accept non-cash payments, add a fee for the inconvenience.
* Don't use plastic to pay for anything. Resist plastic waste--stick to reusable, recyclable cash.
* Not wanting to carry around the full amount of a savings or investment account in cash is reasonable--that's what banks are for--but it would make a real statement if people started closing out those accounts until we get federal laws mandating cash as the primary means of payment for all transactions.
* If anyone tries to suggest that you "should" pay by means other than cash, well, you know what that says about that person. Unethical and un-American.
* Offer discounts for cash payment.
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