Author: Redactor

After Elon Musk purchased Twitter in 2022, the very American cause of free speech made a comeback. “Elon Musk’s sunlight on Twitter’s backroom censorship dealings,” wrote Paul Jacob on December 22 of that year, “has cast a black shadow upon the U.S. Government.” But that sunlight offered enlightenment, as well. 

We learned just how bad it had gotten under Biden’s first two years in office. “In sum, the federal government made Twitter its b … uh … disinformation agent.”

The triumph of freer speech had ramifications, from the amusing — leftists leaving Twitter (now X.com) for alternatives such as BlueSky, where they did not have to interact with those whom they disagree — to the momentous — the return of Donald Trump to the presidency. 

Elon and Twitter/X get much of the credit.

Now the latest news: “Tech billionaire Elon Musk’s xAI artificial intelligence firm has acquired his social media company X, formerly known as Twitter, for $33 billion (€30.5 billion),” writes Srinivas Mazumdaru. “Musk announced the transaction in a post on X, saying: ‘The combination values xAI at $80 billion and X at $33 billion ($45B less $12B debt).’

“xAI and X’s futures are intertwined,” he wrote. “Today, we officially take the step to combine the data, models, compute, distribution and talent. This combination will unlock immense potential by blending xAI’s advanced AI capability and expertise with X’s massive reach.”

Much of the deal’s specifics remained unclear. Both companies are privately held, so they are not required to disclose their finances to the public.

It’s also not clear if the move will change anything for X users.

“Elon Musk sells X to his AI company xAI,” DW, March 28, 2025.

Let’s hope speech on X — and on the Internet generally — becomes even freer.

“The whole point of taxes and government spending is to promote the general welfare, or so the standard theory runs,” Paul Jacob wrote two years ago. “But there’s nothing ‘general’ about the extreme sectarianism of ‘public radio and TV,’ with less well-to-do taxpayers subsidizing the far wealthier public media audience.”

That “extreme sectarianism” was on display this week in the hilarious questioning of Katherine Maher, Chief Executive Officer and President, National Public Radio, and Paula Kerger, Chief Executive Officer and President, Public Broadcasting Service.

This was part of the House Subcommittee on “Delivering Efficiency in Government,” which — like Elon Musk’s band of waste-cutters — initials down to DOGE:

A lot of this is hilarious. Must-see TV. Representative Jasmine Crockett was especially clueless in her comments, which have to be heard to be . . . believed?

Just remember what Paul’s said, though:

One shouldn’t need the latest ratcheting-up of the culture wars to oppose what we call, in America, “public radio and TV.” Taxpayer-subsidized broadcast media is a bad idea. Period. Full stop.

Defund NPR. Defund PBS. No more state-run or ‑subsidized media.

Paul Jacob, “Public TV Vetoed” (Common Sense, May 9, 2023).