DeSantis’ Worm Can: Free vs. PAID Web Speech

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“The Road to Hell is paved with good intentions,” says an old (Ure) family saying.  Further on it says “And it’s lined with idiots watching…”  Now, we’re thinking the Road routes through Florida.

At issue are misleading headlines.  Like Florida bill would require bloggers who write about governor to register with the state | WFLA.  No, not exactly.

The problem is people are sure to read the headline and run-off half-cocked opinionizing that the Florida Republicans are surely attacking the Foundational Role of Free Speech. They’re not.

Let me repeat: no, not exactly.

Before you get sucked up into a group movement on “free speech” better sit back and read a bit further.  Because after the misleading headline, the story eventually reveals (I’ll add emphasis as the key part in case the coffee hasn’t kicked-in yet) the story says…

“…those who write “an article, a story, or a series of stories,” about “the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, a Cabinet officer, or any member of the Legislature,” and receives or will receive payment for doing so, must register…”

We have to assume regular advertising is not the issue: Only paid-for editorial content.

The Weaponized Web

The context of Florida’s proposed law is that it’s not about FREE Speech.  It’s about PAID ADS and Content.  And we need to put on the precision thinking cap (taking off the dunce caps) to get this right.

Back in 2012, in my lookahead book (Broken Web: The Coming Collapse of the Internet) about the web’s delicate future, our digital future was cast as something of a footrace between hackers, ad agencies and government trackers, along with unscrupulous monetizers.  The sure loser in all this has been the public.

Perhaps nowhere besides presidential elections and cryptocurrencies has the debacle been more clear. War is on the Web and thus, on the public.

Let’s back up:  I wrote my first “news story” in 1969.  A train derailment in Snohomish, Washington.  Over half a century of “news” under my belt (with learning breaks to be a mgt. geek) and you pick up a few things about headline writing.

In this case, a more descriptive (and accurate) headline might be “Paid Political Blog Posts Regulated in FL?”

The Internet, in case you haven’t noticed, is comprised largely of bullshit, copyright thieves running made-up websites scamming for as much money as possible.  A far smaller number of people who are “in it for the journaling of it all” or “Doing real reporting on real work they’ve done.”

I just had a run-in with a copyright thief who (wisely) figured I was serious about protecting my work.  He stopped stealing which probably saved him a hundred thousand bucks in legal expenses. He would have lost.  Badly. But another one will be along – bet on it.

Comes down to? There are more “get rich quick artists” than there is great content on the web.  I love the old-school, real-deal sites:  Drudge (at least till the past couple of years), Godlike Productions, and even Dutchsinse & Suspicious Observers.  Martin Armstrong. Clif.  And the Why Files.  Original content and thinking.

But there has been a migration to video content yet written posts (like this one) are still around.  The Florida proposed law would cover specific paid content, as I read it. Not “free speech” in an uncompensated editorial stance.

Thus, the proposed law in Florida would not impact “coverage” in an honest news setting, or Columnist’s work, either.  What WOULD have to be reported is PAID CONTENT placed on a site.  You can still buy a reporter a drink if you’re a lobbyist, though.

Most people don’t know this, but once a website has any kind of rep at all – and a following – then email propositions start flying in regularly.  Here’s how a typical one begins:

“Hi,

I hope this email finds you well.

I am sending this email to ask if you are interested in sponsored posts. We are searching for relevant sites and blogs for our clients…”

Sponsored posts are bought content.

Thing is many websites are only interested in “the money” and outfits (like the email cite) search for outlets where they can “buy some editorial” – which IS POLITICAL ADVERTISING. Doesn’t matter if an “Influencer” puts it on video, print, or a social media bump:  It’s still bought content.

The Rabid Orange are almost certain to latch onto this as evidence of DeSantis’ attacking “freedom.”  But there is a whole class of websites that exist purely to make money on the dirty business of politics by “selling their souls” for cash. More on the GOP side, seems like.

DeSantis, et al, are into a tough one here.  Because even though we have NEVER TAKEN PAID CONTENT, sites written and domiciled outside Florida would be a problem.  Unless DeSantis comes up with a Great Firewall of Florida, in which case, the Union has failed.  See, in the Free State of Texas, Florida law enforcement would be difficult.

To work, it would have to be a Federal Ban on paid editorial content and I don’t see anyone in the District of Deception with cajónes grande to take this one on in a really meaningful way. By opening this can of worms, DeSantis is steering the narrative on the GOP side into an area where Trump markets heavily.  This isn’t about solving anything, it’s about theatrics.  Your blood pressure coming down, now?

Like they say on TV, though:  “That’s Entertainment!”

Renting Your Life

With the price of cars quickly closing in on six-figures, and with a recession off in the future somewhere, we find it interesting to see our “worst idea of the day” in Miss a Car Payment and Ford’s Patent Could Shut Off Your A/C.

Not only are people being priced out of Housing, but also cars.  Dandy.

Troubles are only bound to get worse for auto sales and real estate as a Federal Reserve official warns of more rate hikes on ‘too hot’ data.

Snews Patrol ala Tainter

Here’s a further sampling of “wheels coming off” in other areas of life:

Deeper Thinking – head of class:  Michael Rectenwald’s latest is worth some study: The Attack of the Subversive Elites — Michael Rectenwald.  All very Tainter-ish as we’ve been focusing on this week.

Take a Nobel Prize to Jail?  Russia’s ally Belarus hands Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski 10-year prison sentence. Get on the wrong side of the commies and you’re toast.

Disgusted with Politics?  Well, Fox has one that will turn your stomach: At least 13 mayors arrested on child sex crimes since 2021.

Cryptos, Rats, and Sinking Ships Dept.  With BTC just over $22,000 early:  HSBC And Nationwide Banks Set Ban On Crypto Purchases With Credit Cards In UK (bitcoinist.com), Ripple CEO Sounds Alarm Bells Over Crypto Exodus, Bitcoin plummets as Silvergate concerns trigger Sell-Off (todayq.com).  Which part of surprised?

ATR: Wintered Tomatoes

All that effort putting in the diesel heater in the lean-to greenhouse is paying off.  Elaine found a nice – almost ripe, maybe another week, or two – tomato hiding out under some leaves.

And we have not tons, but probably a dozen, or more, tomatoes that are green and the size of a fiddy-cent piece.

We are pleased as hell.

Oyster mushrooms will get started this weekend along with some spring greens (iceberg and such) and we’ll be wolfing down Swiss chard this weekend.  That will put more sunlight on the snow peas…which means I have netting to put up for that.

Tons of projects going on around here – so drop by for ShopTalk Sunday.  And join us next week.

Ahead: Monday will be quiet, Jerome Powell speaks Tuesday, and the ADP job report Wednesday kicks off the news release chain into next Friday’s federal jobs report.

What could go wrong?

Write when you get rich,

George@Ure.net

56 thoughts on “DeSantis’ Worm Can: Free vs. PAID Web Speech”

  1. Great news on your first mater of the season. Not much better than that. What is the variety? Enjoy.

    Stay safe.

        • Net Comrades, smealy and weak – like Texas – way overblown in hype. Natasha makes a “mean” Italian gravy/sauce with BK’s. Nothing can compare to the BK sliced raw on top of z sandwichs, nothing! Soups, sauces or raw – only the best tasting/preforming maters get to be Boris kissed. The Black Krim!

          Got Heirlooms ? dont know what tvoj missing.

          “Natasha we stop the neonazimurhicans, and their weak to pomidorys”

  2. Nothing on the Blackstone / Wallstreet default? Also heard banks were going to cut credit extensions and stop issuing credit cards possibly next week! The auto-loan and real estate balloons about to bust…

    We hope the preps at the ranch are ready… Cliff’s worst nightmares and the dreamcenter future outlook may be upon us soon.

    Do you all have a freeze dryer to save food for future consumption? With both a dehydrator and a freeze dryer, we are storing food for the future. Hopefully someone will survive and be able to eat it…

    • With a $562 million dollar bond default you would think this would rattle the markets just a bit.., nope. no sign, or talk at all.

    • The Blackstone default might turn out to be a marker event, but it isn’t in the same class as the Lehman debacle.
      The freeze dryer is great as long as the lights stay on and fields are planted, but buying one because of a single corporate bond default is a stretch. Buying in bulk containers at lower cost and dry canning in smaller portions is also an option.

    • For the everyday person the Blackstone real estate DEFAULT is under the radar … for professional investors though it is a BIG DEAL since Blackstone has restricted withdrawals from it’s real estate funds (though apparently “some” are being paid, but with a delay).

      Commercial real estate is under severe stress in some markets, including downtown offices in Manhattan, San Fran, Chicago, etc. though apartments in decent suburban areas that are not overbuilt are very solid since house prices ran up so high so fast.

      If Blackstone is having problems with some of it’s properties you know some of the other REITS and Commercial Owners are too (though it won’t be universal – YET).

  3. “Not only are people being priced out of Housing, but also cars. Dandy.”

    People under protection of .gov bailout shields are fine. $1,000 a month for a car isn’t bad if you’re pulling $5,500 a month off a bailed out pension fund. That’s 366 hours at 15/hr.

    There’s only so many donuts and they take ours.

    Anyone can Google.

    “Central States Teamsters Pension Fund Becomes the Largest SFA Rescue

    The multiemployer plan will receive $35.8 billion in assistance, making it the largest bailout under the Special Financial Assistance program administered by the PBGC.”

    Well how much is the bailout worth to the average Teamster pensioner?

    “$5,500 (approximately) for 30 and out at any age. $3,100 for 25-and-out at any age. $3,600 for 25-at-55, or 30-and-out at any age.”

    • The government has had control f the central stated pension fund since about 1982 or so. One could wonder how much money disappeared since then.

    • Add in $2500 for Social Security and those guys are doing OK if they live in a reasonable cost of living location. If their wife worked … well they are on easy street unless inflation goes grazy.

    • Insurance companies – the guys that wrote/write homeowners policies in Cali – record snows piling up, with rivers of rain expected soonly on top -oh what a muddy mess it will be..”slip sliding away, ya know the nearer your destination the more your slip sliding away..” -https://youtu.be/ZNt5FnMK2sM..”dont disappear”.

    • Or maybe not… the ice age begins with a no summer year, snow never melts, then the albido cools for the next round. Valentina lays it out pretty clear. We are almost there.
      She says we will be looking to keep warm and feed ourselves soon enough.
      I guess you could position for that scenario too. Anything energy supply related. Moving companies taking the population south. We should hope that Mexico is more friendly by that time.
      That’s my take… it or leave it.
      Thinking about the possibility is a good beginning

  5. I was reading this morning that a republican state senator from Florida introduced legislation that would not allow a political party to be recognized in Florida if they had supported slavery or servitude. Democrats seem to be upset about this. I wonder why.

      • I believe it was the republicans in the 1960’s that forced lbj to sign the civil rights act. The democrats still want to keep the black people down.

        • Yep.

          LBJ would never have done the Civil Rights Act if the Republicans hadn’t held his feet to the fire and as I undersand it provided the “majority” of the needed votes since his Southern “FRIENDS” didn’t want anything to do with it.

      • In business or blue collar relations — yes.

        WRT people of color – no.

        Remember, the Republican Party was formed on one issue (and one issue only) — abolition.

        The vast majority of Dem politicians at the National level have never supported Blacks in any way, shape, or form. However, they HAVE controlled the racially-significant narrative in the media, since about 1900. By controlling the narrative, they have successfully monopolized the Black vote, despite having their boot heel buried in the throat of the Black man and woman since Andrew Johnson was President…

  6. I see DeSantis’s Worm Can differently. It’s pretty wild, but this is why http://www.MoveToAmend.org is so important- watch how corporations not only usurp individual rights but curtail individual rights. This is just the latest…

      • I had understood from memory that it was developed at Univ of N. Carolina(uncertain) and then moved to Ft. Dietrich, then was spirited away to somewhere in Canada, from which it found its way to the Wuhan lab. Regardless, it seems that it was not originated in Wuhan or elsewhere in China. How it escaped or was released from the Wuhan lab is also conjecture, but I’d guess it escaped, based on the desperate measures to contain it.

    • Who Owns/Controls the US Dept. of Defense ? Not US taxpayers, not president, “they” work hand in glove with cia..WHO?
      Know covert19’s birth was at chalet on lake como owned by mega member-david jr…all the suspects were there in attendance, way back when.. Same antiHUman assholes behind 9/11…Yes mossad used epstiens private fleet to bring in the heavy sparkly makers into/thru Teterboro..whoops?

      Nothing in this modern “cluster f” of a world is as it seems, nothing.

    • Russia & China Have Become The ‘Enemy’ Because They Now Back ‘Syria’ & ‘Iran’ – The Last Two Countries On The Attack List.

      Turned Against War on Terror After Gaddafi was killed & Libya destroyed in 2011 – Ukraine Coup Followed in 2014 Against Russia.

      This is a memo that describes how we’re going to take out seven countries in five years, starting with Iraq, and then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and, finishing off, Iran.” Gen W. Clark

      Taking Control Of The Middle East Oil Supply & Pipeline Networks – America Is Bankrupt – National Debt 32+ Trillion.??

      The Secretary-General of NATO Made a Formal Statement Explaining the Purpose of NATO in the Post-Cold War World is to Control Global Energy Systems, Pipelines, and Sea Lanes. That Means, to Control the World. Noam Chomsky

      • What happens to the oil fields when a nuke falls on or near them? Will the oil become radioactive? Will anyone be willing to work there? Or can they nuke the people and avoid the oil fields? There are a lot of things I don’t understand…

        That asked, please know I am grateful for all the commenters comments, most recently the one who left the link to the Joseph Tainter recording. https://www.thegreatsimplification.com/episodes. I didn’t understand Game Theory now I at least get the basic concept. This from the The Daniel Schmachtenberger series. He talks fast provides an abundant amount of food for thought about our current conditions on earth. Patrick Ophuls too.

  9. Sorry George … you are twisting yourself in knots trying to say the below is NOT a form of Government CENSORSHIP:

    “…those who write “an article, a story, or a series of stories,” about “the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, a Cabinet officer, or any member of the Legislature,” and receives or will receive payment for doing so, must register…”

    The First Amendment doesn’t say it ONLY applies if you say or write something FOR FREE … but if you get paid for it YOU MUST REGISTER IN ORDER TO WRITE IT.

    A writer who writes an article about one of the named people (all Politicians) for a newspaper or magazine and gets paid for it would have to register (most magazine writers for the national magazines are NOT staff writers /employees, they are piece writers so each one MUST REGISTER before they can write their article).

    If this would hold up for WRITTEN items then it could easily be expanded to SPEECH (including TV, radio, movies, documentaries).

    By the law (as you cited it) people who are paid to give seminars with written materials, ANYWHERE IN THE US and talk about the listed people MUST REGISTER with the State of Florida before they can do that.

    The Florida Law is a DIRECT ATTACK on the First Amendment no matter how you try to twist it into circles to say it is NOT. If DeSantis is behind this law it shows us exactly where he stands wrt the 1st Amendment … this is even stronger against Free Speech than what exists in Iran, more akin to Xi’s China.

    What is next? If this is OK from a 1st Amendment perspective ALL Politicians nationwide would LOVE to have this kind of law behind them for shutting down those who disagree with them!!

    If this holds up then they can easily expand it to companies, particularly companies that are Florida Companies.

    If that would happen and you get paid for writing about a Company’s Behavior, even FRAUD, and get paid for it they could require you to REGISTER!! (fwiw Florida has a long history of crooked companies … they would LOVE to have this type of law standing behind them to help them sue sue sue).

    • DeSantis’ censorship tool is just one of many.

      G once described needing an “Internet ID” in the future. The future is here.

      “The age verification is required by all websites containing content with 33.3% or more pornographic material. The law requires third-party vendors to verify the age of users. The Louisiana legislature passed the law nearly unanimously, with 50 Democratic and Republican sponsors. Louisiana GOP state Rep.”

      – Jan 12, 2023

      “Mississippi considers bills requiring age verification”

      All across the fruited plain.

      Proposed age verification bills across US online privacy, anonymity debate

      https://www.biometricupdate.com/202302/proposed-age-verification-bills-across-us-online-privacy-anonymity-debate

    • Actual Bill: https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2023/1316/BillText/Filed/PDF

      From the news article:

      “… receives or will receive payment for doing so, must register with state offices within five days after the publication of an article that mentions an elected state official.”

      “If another blog post is added to a blog, the blogger would then **be required to submit monthly reports** on the 10th of each month with the appropriate state office…”.

      monthly reports must disclose the amount of compensation received for the coverage, rounded to the nearest $10 value.

      If compensation is paid for a series of posts or for a specific amount of time, the blogger would be required to disclose the total amount to be received, upon publication of the first post in said series or timeframe.

      **Additional compensation must be disclosed later on.**

      Failure to file these disclosures or register with state officials, if the bill passes, would lead to ** daily fines for the bloggers, with a maximum amount ****per report****, not per writer, of $2,500.** The per-day fine is $25 per report for each day it’s late.

      … Fines must be paid within 30 days of payment notice, unless an appeal is filed with **the appropriate office**.

      ——————————————–
      ——————————————–
      If this isn’t trying to suppress people from their FREE SPEECH rights as supposedly protected by the First Amendment I don’t know what a Free Speech Right would be ever again. It would be GONE.

      MOST paid writers are NOT employees of any organization, including virtually all who write for magazines and most who write for newspapers anymore. Even a large portion of the writings for such large publications as the New York Times and Washington Post are NOT doen by employees, but people who GET PAID to write an individual story. Ditto most people who write for small local newspapers.

      A stringer writes an everyday news story for the Orlando newspaper about some piece of legislation in the Legislature, or a visit by the Governmor to Orlando? … voila the writer will have to register and report it and everytime they write add to a blog post on that story (most newspapers, every small one in fact, now REQUIRE their writers to do blog posts on their stories) would require MORE FILINGS.

      What a total PIECE OF SHIT and ANTI FREE SPEECH this legislation is.

      If DeSantis is in favor of this … there is NO WAY I could ever vote for him, or for anyone in fact who supports this kind of GOVERNMENT attack on the First Amendment. It is the FIRST Amendment for a reason … it is the MOST IMPORTANT Amendment which is the base support of beliefs that underlies almost everything else in our Constitution.

    • That was a post Gaye Levy posted on the site back in…omg 2019. I have just begun cleaning FB page – may set up an autopost of summaries there. But generally, Facebook doesn’t send me money so I don’t send them useful content…

  11. George, just critically reading what you posted about Florida regulating government stories, it seems that it applies to more than just ad editorials. Most reporters are paid to produce copy. If that copy is about the governor, wouldn’t that fall under the purview of this proposed regulation? Seems that it applies to all reporters and is actually an attack on freedom of the press. Needs much clarification.

    • Florida is almost as bad as California in trying to extend power beyond its borders. This one is unconstitutional on its face, and essentially unenforceable unless you’re unlucky enough to be a resident there. We need to stop allowing politicians to have any privileges beyond those accorded to normal citizens.

  12. Well, tomorrow is the one month anniversary of shooting down the large Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina by an F22 Raptor using an AIM-9 sidewinder missile. Still waiting for a full debris report.

    This was followed by the shooting down of 3 more “balloons” over North America using 4 missiles (one miss on the Lake Huron attempt), in rapid succession Feb 10, 11, 12. So 2 million dollars worth of missiles later, the search for the 3 balloons has ended with no debris found.

    I have searched the shores of Lake Huron near my home for the past 3 weeks and no luck. I did find 2 “Happy Birthday” balloons but neither had a missile hole in it. I think they just ran out of helium. I did find a large piece of metal, thinking it may be part of the “missed the target” missile but turned out to be a catalytic converter cut from a local car by a thief who dropped it in the getaway chase.

    Have a nice weekend.

    • “Still waiting for a full debris report.”

      You won’t see one either.. if its something strange and unusual then some of it will be tested and a small portion of it cut up and distributed for researchers and science community to study. similar to pre made slides for students of science to examine.
      I believe G may have one of those samples to explore and contemplate over. I know that it does react differently when heat or electricity is applied and it can lift a fairly heavy weight as temperatures vary ( know that from my years of playing with it…. fun thing to play with.) .

        • YOU DO…. LOL…Way back I was given a sample to play with.. I sent it to you to play with fill your curiosity.. I had all my fun with it .. so it was time to share it with another.. a friend with similar curiosities that I have.. NOW.. the gentleman that handed it to me.. never came right out and said where he got it.. but knowing his past and what he had done.. My guess is he was given a sample to play with.. he played with it .. then gave it to me to play with.. I played with it.. it is your turn to play with it now.. LOL… and good lord knows I did play with it in the old mans shop.. ended up as a book marker.. just so every time I read a book.. I would contemplate it.. have fun young man.. there is a lot to that one tiny piece of puzzle..

        • It was in a letter I sent with the wine..I think it was with the forbidden wine of the first emperor.. in the letter I said here is something for you to play with..
          if you find it..have fun I had it a long time playing with it.. I hit it with electricity,magnets,boiled it etc.. amazing little pocket toy..he never said WHERE he got it but hinted big time.. it was my drive me insane curiosity toy..lol.. I had it long enough it was time to let it drive someone else nuts lol

  13. According to the ABC/Post poll, Americans say they are worse off than they have ever been, with the most negative data in the history of the survey. Over 40% of respondents indicated their financial situation was worse under Biden. Only 16% of people said they were better off. Not only that, but 60% of Democrats polled said they did NOT want Joe Biden as their candidate in 2024. by Brandon Smith, Alt Market.

  15. Attention urban survival shopperz, there is a sale on Organs today, sales girls lets get on those organs! unh whoops, sorry bout the flashback to taking a walk on the mild side. Least wasnt flashback to sister maryelephant, “claaass, claass, CLLAAASSS SHUT UP!”

    Correction – there is a sale on Bitcoins today! hip hip hooray! get em while youins still can.
    In other news US slavery coin is on the way from bubby over at treasury..https://www.zerohedge.com/crypto/us-treasury-introduces-cbdc-working-group-discusses-potential-routes-digital-dollar. Sayz hear grandma dumber than a rock, so can only imagine the wondrous features and values of coming CBDC’s..talk about a bloodsucka weaving webs..oh my! Shelob got nothing on bubby, nothing..

  16. Re: Can of Worms
    feat. dreaming of dall-e at mid-journey dawn

    Folks,

    Remember, don’t inhale floridated water. (This is not medical advice.) Thanks George for opening the WFLA can of worms story. The station also carried a non-binary event of the digital world the other day. The US Patent Office denied copyright to AI-created comic images but it did grant copyright to the accompanying text.

    https://www.copyright.gov/docs/zarya-of-the-dawn.pdf

    Perhaps Zarya of the Dawn was once thought of as a virgin ginger in East European Slavic traditions. Apparently, the Russian take is if the Zarya sisters fail in their duties, it will be the end of the world. Anyhow today’s comic book Zarya is a non-binary Black woman who travels through different worlds connecting peoples’ emotions. The comic book story creator looks to be an American photographer and Instagram influencer. The Russian-born author’s first stint of post-secondary education took place at the prestigious Lomonosov Moscow State University founded by Empress Elizabeth in 1755.

    Uncle Vlad sends his best?

    https://aicomicbooks.com/about-us/

  18. George, did you know they have covid sniffing dogs? I forgot to mention that. saw them at the tool concert. the band has one who travels with them. dog comes and sticks its beak in your crotch. let’s them know if you have covid or not.

    I will take a good crotch huff over a qtip to the brain. every day.

    just stopping by to see how well we are synchronizing. very well indeed.

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