Michigan Is Ignoring Congress’ Request To Let Challengers Observe Mail-In Ballots

Clerks are taking ballots home — with no observers present — to check voters' registration, document dates of receipt, and verify signatures.

Michigan Is Ignoring Congress’ Request To Let Challengers Observe Mail-In Ballots

Clerks are taking ballots home — with no observers present — to check voters' registration, document dates of receipt, and verify signatures.

Nikki Haley earns backlash for saying all social media users 'should be verified by their name'



Republican presidential primary candidate Nikki Haley declared that social media users should all "be verified by their name."

She suggested that such a move would eliminate Russian, Chinese, and Iranian bots and lead to increased civility because people would know that their name would be associated with their posts.

Haley said that when she takes "office, the first thing we have to do ... social media companies, they have to show America their algorithms. Let us see why they're pushing what they're pushing. The second thing is every person on social media should be verified by their name," she said, describing the issue as a "national security threat."

"Haley's proposal to ban anonymous speech online — similar to what China recently did — is dangerous and unconstitutional. It will be dead on arrival in my administration," Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is also seeking the GOP presidential nod, tweeted in response to Haley's comments.

— (@)

"I am no lawyer but isn't this blatantly unconstitutional? Free speech includes anonymous speech," DeSantis rapid response director Christina Pushaw tweeted.

"And then people will have to keep their conservative opinions private or risk being fired. Fantastic idea Nikki Haley," Carmine Sabia tweeted.

"Is Nikki Haley aware that the Federalist Papers were written by founding fathers using pseudonyms? Nikki Haley may be one of the most war-mongering and authoritarian candidates for president in some time. She's completely unhinged. This is blatantly unconstitutional," Glenn Greenwald tweeted.

— (@)

"Nikki out here auditioning for the WEF vote," Jordan Schachtel tweeted.

"She obviously hasn’t had someone try and destroy her job, family or reputation, because of her beliefs. Man is she out of touch," someone else wrote, adding the hashtag, "#neverNikki."

Haley served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations during a portion of former President Donald Trump's White House tenure. She had previously served as South Carolina governor.

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'Elon took my blue check away!' Reactions pour in as Twitter yanks legacy verification badges



Media figures, celebrities, and others lost their legacy Twitter verification badges on Thursday.

The social media platform previously provided the badges for free to people like journalists and celebrities, but now with Elon Musk at the helm, the company provides verification badges to people who pay to subscribe to Twitter Blue. Organizations can pay for verification as well. Government figures and entities now get gray verification badges.

Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York sounded the alarm, claiming that the new checkmark system lays the groundwork for "major potential harm" to result due to confusion about which accounts are real and which are fake.

"Jokes aside, this is setting the stage for major potential harm when a natural disaster hits and no one knows what agencies, reporters, or outlets are real. Not long ago we had major flash floods. We had to mobilize trusted info fast to save lives. Today just made that harder," Ocasio-Cortez tweeted.

The congresswoman was retweeting someone who shared a screenshot of a fake New York account claiming to be the city's official account.

"This is an authentic Twitter account representing the New York City Government This is the only account for @NYCGov run by New York City government," the real account tweeted on Thursday.

"No, you're not. THIS account is the only authentic Twitter account representing and run by the New York City Government," a fake account replied.

The fake account has been suspended and a gray verification badge currently appears on the city's official account.

\u201cJokes aside, this is setting the stage for major potential harm when a natural disaster hits and no one knows what agencies, reporters, or outlets are real.\n\nNot long ago we had major flash floods. We had to mobilize trusted info fast to save lives. Today just made that harder\u201d
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) 1682027688

Outspoken left-wing celebrity Bette Midler referred to Musk as a "worm," tweeting, "Elon took my blue check away! I'm unverified! After all these years and thousands of tweets and free content, this worm has the nerve to de-certify me!"

"So by revoking my blue check mark because I wouldn’t pay some arbitrary fee, someone can just be me and say a bunch of bull****. Does that mean Twitter and @elonmusk are liable for defamation or identity theft or fraud?" Alyssa Milano asked.

Even Elmo, a character from the children's program Seasame Street, lamented the loss of the verification badge.

"Elmo will miss you, little blue check mark. But don’t worry everybody, Elmo is still Elmo!" the character's account tweeted.

\u201cElmo will miss you, little blue check mark. But don\u2019t worry everybody, Elmo is still Elmo! \u2764\ufe0f\u201d
— Elmo (@Elmo) 1682030939

Elon Musk indicated that he is personally paying for Twitter Blue subscriptions for NBA player LeBron James, actor William Shatner, and author Stephen King.

\u201c@PopBase Just Shatner, LeBron and King\u201d
— Pop Base (@Pop Base) 1682034691

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Kyle Rittenhouse, Catturd, and Libs of TikTok get blue verification badges as Elon Musk rolls out new $7.99 per month Twitter Blue subscription



Twitter has started rolling out the option to pay $7.99 per month to get a blue verification badge, a move that comes not long after billionaire Elon Musk announced a plan to offer the badges for $8 per month.

The accounts of Kyle Rittenhouse, Libs of TikTok, and Catturd now bear the blue badges.

"Thank you @elonmusk!" Rittenhouse tweeted.

\u201cUh-oh \ud83d\ude31\n\nThank you @elonmusk!\u201d
— Kyle Rittenhouse (@Kyle Rittenhouse) 1668037010

"My $8 investment into getting to witness liberal meltdowns has paid off. Best $8 I ever spent!" Libs of TikTok tweeted.

\u201cMy $8 investment into getting to witness liberal meltdowns has paid off. Best $8 I ever spent!\u201d
— Libs of TikTok (@Libs of TikTok) 1668026090

"Seriously, how bad is this going to trigger the Left?" Catturd tweeted. "I can't stop laughing."

Last week, Musk referred to the organization's previous "lords & peasants system" for obtaining the badges as "bulls**t," adding, "Power to the people! Blue for $8/month."

Currently, the new version of Twitter Blue is only available to users in certain countries who use Apple's iOS, though Musk has said that the plan is to eventually expand the offering to other platforms and nations.

"Rollout of new verified Blue is intentionally limited just to iOS in a few countries with very little promotion. As we iron out issues, we will expand worldwide on all platforms," Musk tweeted. "In days to come, we’ll add granularity to verified badge, such as organizational affiliation & ID verification," he wrote.

"The new Twitter Blue is currently available for in-app purchase on iOS only in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK, with plans to expand," Twitter notes. "New Twitter accounts created on or after November 9, 2022 will not be able to sign up for Twitter Blue at this time."

"The definition of Verification and the accompanying blue checkmark is changing. Until now, Twitter used the blue checkmark to indicate active, notable, and authentic accounts of public interest that Twitter had independently verified based on certain requirements," the company says. "Now the blue checkmark may mean two different things: either that an account was verified under the previous verification criteria (active, notable, and authentic), or that the account has an active subscription to Twitter Blue. Accounts that receive the blue checkmark as part of a Twitter Blue subscription will not undergo review to confirm that they meet the active, notable and authentic criteria that was used in the previous process."