JONATHAN TURLEY: Musk buyout reveals media priorities — and censorship interests.

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Plus:

For them, “democracy” just means “unchallenged Democratic Party control.”

Also:

Twitter matters, but mostly as a self-herding mechanism for journos, a sort of Journolist III.

WHAT COULD GO WRONG, RIGHT?  US would destroy Russian forces if Putin uses nukes: former CIA head Petraeus.

SO PRETTY MUCH LIKE EVERY RUSSIAN ARMY SINCE BONAPARTE?  Russia’s forces are drunk, armed with ‘obsolete’ weapons: Ukraine.

LIES ALL THE WAY DOWN:  Philly synod artwork misrepresented our views, Catholic students say.

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I THOUGHT RANGE ANXIETY WAS MY STRUGGLE TO BOOK RANGE TIME:  “Range Anxiety” and the Realities of Electric Vehicle Dependability.

MORE LIKE TURN AROUND:  Roundup.

AT THIS POINT IT’S A WAR ON HISTORICAL LANGUAGE:  Texas Wesleyan U. Cancels Black Playwright’s Work Because Character in Play Uses the N-Word.

IF WE WEREN’T LOCKED IN HERE WITH THEM, i’D BE LAUGHING MY *SS OFF: Anti-Fossil Fuel Biden Admin in Midterm Elections Panic as OPEC Cuts Production.

THEY DON’T GET US WRONG. THEY’RE HOPING TO CONVINCE OTHER PEOPLE WE’RE LIKE THIS:  Salon Gets Trump Supporters Wrong Yet Again.

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I STILL SAY IT’S A BLUFF:  The US Navy is taking Vladimir Putin very seriously.

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FREEDOM OF INFORMATION AND a “conference room contrivance.” “In the mind’s eye it’s possible to see whoever wrote that wording about Knox News’ motives leaning back in their chair and smiling with self-satisfaction. If read to advisers there might have been nods of approval and comments like, ‘That’ll get ‘em.’ Maybe it was hammered out by a group of people in a conference room. The argument has no basis in the state’s public records law.”

I tell my law students that when, as lawyers, you’re patting each other on the back about how smart you are, it’s probably a warning sign.

NOBODY JOE BIDEN PICKS FOR ANYTHING SEEMS TO BE ABLE TO SPEAK CLEARLY AND TO THE POINT: KBJ’s Jumbled Musings on the Fourteenth Amendment.

In today’s oral argument in Merrill v. Milligan, Justice Jackson capped her very long questioning of Alabama solicitor general Edmund LaCour with a speech/question that went on for around four minutes and that runs a full three pages (57:2-60:2) in the transcript. In her speech, Jackson states that the Framers of the 14th Amendment adopted it “in a race conscious way,” as they were “trying to ensure that people who had been discriminated against, the freedmen in — during the reconstructive — reconstruction period were actually brought equal to everyone else in the society.” As she puts it, the Civil Rights Act of 1866 “specifically stated that citizens would have the same civil rights as enjoyed by white citizens,” and the Fourteenth Amendment was designed to ensure that the Act had a solid “constitutional foundation.”

Somehow Jackson leaps from these propositions to the assertion that the 14th Amendment doesn’t embody “a race-neutral or race-blind idea in terms of the remedy” for discrimination against freed slaves.

So if it’s all about remedies for slavery, I guess it’s not going to protect abortion or contraception or gay rights, then. Interestingly, when Robert Bork advanced a similar theory of the 14th Amendment it was poorly received.

But there’s more:

I don’t understand her leap. By her own account, the very purpose of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 was “to make sure that the other citizens, the black citizens, would have the same [civil rights] as the white citizens.” It was designed to remedy a situation in which “people, based on their race, were being treated unequally” by the states. And the 14th Amendment had the same goal.

The proposition that the 14th Amendment requires that the government be color-blind is open to challenge both as to what exactly that means and to whether that meaning is well founded. But Jackson seems to think that the color-blind position is somehow at odds with the fact that the 14th Amendment was designed to ensure equal treatment—when that of course is exactly what advocates of the color-blind position maintain the 14th Amendment requires.

Jackson seems to confuse herself with her own terms.

Well, she’s new on the Court but this doesn’t bode well.

OOPS: “Don’t make me feel like Project Veritas is with us.”

I HOPE IT’S OVER FOR THIS DOLORES UMBRIDGE WANNABE: Jacinda Ardern and Labour, goneburger. “Well, it’s confirmed – the latest Roy Morgan poll, encompassing New Zealanders political leanings over the month of September, has revealed what many Kiwis already thought to be true; the days of Jacinda Ardern and her administration are numbered. Following months of economic mishandlings, policy flip-flops and scandals, Labour are in free fall – desperate to retain power. However, Kiwis are far from keen, with only 29.5 percent of the nation standing with Jacinda Ardern and her ever-dwindling caucus, according to the poll. A distressing figure for what was a party supported by 50 percent of the nation merely two years ago.”

NBC’S BEN COLLINS GIVES THE GAME AWAY ON ‘DISINFORMATION:’

Here, in one tweet, we can see the near terminal myopia of the mainstream press — especially among those who believe themselves to be superintending the spread of “disinformation.”

“It could actually affect midterms,” Collins says. Which, by definition, means that Collins believes that Twitter’s current moderation policies are affecting political outcomes. But that doesn’t concern him. What concerns him is that Twitter’s moderation policies might affect political outcomes in the wrong direction. Up until now, Collins and many like him have been quite happy with Twitter’s decisions, because they have gone in a direction of which Collins and many like him approve. If Elon Musk buys Twitter, however, they aren’t sure this’ll continue, and so, suddenly, this becomes a national crisis.

Curiously though, Collins is happy to spread a little disinformation himself:

Earlier: “One of the most fascinating things about the modern age we live in is the population of journalists almost exclusively being from mega rich families and the fact they have done such a good job of hiding it from the internet.”

I MEAN, THE POINT IS EVEN WAPO THINKS THEY WOULD: WaPo: Did the Secret Service cover up a motorcade accident involving the VP?

OPEN THREAD: It’s all you.

EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY:

UKRAINE: RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE CAMPAIGN ASSESSMENT, OCTOBER 5.

SO I THINK THAT CLAIMS THAT THOUSANDS OF TWITTER EMPLOYEES WILL QUIT ONCE ELON MUSK TAKES OVER ARE LIKE THREATS BY CELEBRITIES TO MOVE TO CANADA IF A REPUBLICAN IS ELECTED PRESIDENT, but Elon may hope they come true: “It’s also worth noting that Mr. Musk may not mind if thousands of Twitter employees show themselves the door. He has implied that the company’s staff is bloated, and now that he needs to justify a $44 billion price tag, an exodus of unhappy employees might be the kind of savings he’s looking for.”