Hoping Musk doesn’t ruin Twitter | Mann Overboard

Posted

Notes from the Twitterverse — and elsewhere: 

Why am I on Twitter? Mostly, for the laughs. Certainly not for the snark, and there’s plenty of that. 

I do hope Elon Musk’s gobbling up Twitter won’t sully my enjoyment of the short-posts social medium. 

Each day I scroll through looking for funny posts, like New Yorker humorist Andy Borowitz’ recent one: “Kevin McCarthy Amazed by Incredible New Invention Called Tape Recorder.” 

Or this, by my old pal and former Letterman writer Gerard Mulligan: “Donald Trump announced today that he had won the 2024 presidential election.” 

That’s Twitter for me: Mostly a source of humor. 

But locally, if there’s a PUD power outage or a local road is closed by an accident, I’ll usually see it first on Twitter. 

And reading out-of-towners’ raves about Port Townsend is another daily Twitter pleasure. (PT is also the subject of snarky posts, too, but relatively few. Snark is unavoidable on Twitter.)  

The other day, I caught just-reelected French President Emmanuel Macron’s victory promenade down the Champ de Mars to give his acceptance speech near the Eiffel Tower, en direct (live) on Twitter.

(I wished that glorious night I was still doing my French Montreal radio show so I could play Kool and The Gang’s classic “Celebration” for my Québecois listeners.)

Imperfect as Twitter is, I fear Musk will screw things up much worse. He claims to be an advocate of free speech, but letting Vanity Manatee (Trump) back on Twitter in the name of free speech is like saying it’s OK to shout fire in a crowded theatre. It’s not free speech; it’s inciteful poison. Given Trump followers’ violent proclivities, it’s dangerous to let this vain and dangerous autocrat misuse Twitter once again. 

Couldn’t Musk buy and destroy Fox News instead? 

— I’m a bit surprised our local McDonald’s has reopened its “dining room.” It appeared it was already getting plenty of business, given the long drive-through lines here. 

— Francis Scott Off-Key: Re that TV commercial with the untutored grade-school kids’ orchestra making a terrible racket, causing a parent/Infiniti owner to close all her windows and escape the discord: It’s a replica of a funny, obscure 1970 album, “The Portsmouth Sinfonia,” with an amateur orchestra also peopled by non-musicians. For those of us unlucky enough to have perfect pitch, these off-key Infinity ads are painful. 

— A Jefferson Transit bus driver said my recent short post on Next Door about empty buses here was true, but added “We’ve had an increase in ridership lately.” 

— Speaking of transit, a recent expedition on the ferry from Bainbridge proved that my item here about the ship’s galleys reopening (sent to me by the state; I’m on the Ferry Advisory Commission) was not true. I was looking forward to ferry popcorn again, but the galley was, alas, closed. I was headed for a doctor’s appointment in Seattle, and was keen to sample that popcorn again. 

— I was visiting a doctor who specializes in treating a little-known affliction, post-polio syndrome. Few doctors know much about PPS, which comes back for an unwelcome reprise to inflict 80 percent of us Boomers who had polio as kids in the 1950s. I recovered from the disease after wearing braces and having two surgeries, then was blessedly able to play tennis, racquetball, and squash for the next 50 years. But then —polio suddenly returned, unbidden and out of the blue. I went from running to limping to using a cane and now, a walker. I’d like to hear from anyone else locally who has PPS. (Look PPS up on Wikipedia.)

— So, the only way I get cardio now is our Mountain View pool. Thank God we have it back, and expanded hours start this week. Famous polio sufferer FDR, a habitué at Warm Springs, once commented that “swimming eliminates 80 percent of gravity.” That it does. 

— Home Tweet Home: Borowitz, once again, tweets: “Musk Deletes Every Twitter Account But His.” 

(Hopeless PT francophile Bill Mann is counting the days until the local Bastille Day picnic on le quatorze juillet. Email Bill at Newsmann9@gmail.com.)