Lone Candle
Champion of Truth
On social media, people are most likely to spread sensational bullshit that sparks their emotions. People share a lot of stuff created by bots or foreign troll farms, but bots and troll farms don’t make stuff go viral…average people on social media sharing and liking such content does.
Are Political Influencers Secretly Paid? Sometimes, yeah.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4S-emd5iK4
Former MAGA influencer tells how she fell into a hole of lies and bullshit and then became a lie and bullshit spewer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcmZUpCUf7I
“An Iran-linked hacker group has claimed responsibility for a cyberattack on a medical tech company in what appears to be the first significant instance of Iran’s hacking an American company since the start of the war between the countries.
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A Stryker employee, who requested to not be identified because they are not authorized to speak for the company, said that employees’ work-issued phones stopped working, grinding work and communications with colleagues to a standstill.
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“Stryker is experiencing a global network disruption to our Microsoft environment as a result of a cyber attack. We have no indication of ransomware or malware and believe the incident is contained,” the statement said.”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/iran-appears-conducted-significant-cyberattack-014232843.html
There’s a good chance that the Chinese company ByteDance still controls the TikTok algorithm, so Trump’s deal does not solve the national security concerns, yet it makes some of Trump’s friends a lot of money.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Jvd4avDcys
A lot of internet posts and comments about the ICE shooting are bots or foreign trolls trying to weaken America by riling up its people. Social media companies make money when these bots, trolls, and foreign adversaries are successful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_crFFBfnJo
Our inability to figure out what’s real is an important social problem. We are being driven crazy by our technology.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5QuO_wKPhk
“We shouldn’t let government subsidies distort the market. U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick embraced this thinking with his June 2025 decision to drop the NTIA’s “fiber preference,” shifting the agency toward a technology-neutral, cost-driven framework. The policy emphasizes cost-effectiveness among technologies meeting speed and latency standards.
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In many areas, fiber expansion will continue to make sense, but if LEO-based broadband can offer high-quality internet connectivity virtually instantaneously and on the cheap to many in the targeted regions, why should the federal government stand in the way? After all, as Starlink celebrates its 8 million and counting user base, something largely accomplished absent heavy subsidization”
https://reason.com/2025/12/09/the-free-market-can-connect-rural-america-faster-than-the-government/
VPNs are needed for basic privacy, hiding from government overreach, working from home, and corporate security. Banning them like a bill in Michigan does, would be bad economically and an attack on liberty, privacy, and security.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9j-T9mQmiw
The wisdom of the crowds and the efficient market hypothesis require an amount of independence of the people in the crowd. With the internet and social media, people are much more connected and therefore much less independent. The same fads, cults, and appeals that warp people’s political views may also warp their market views. So, markets may have gotten dumber.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1Iok2wyoCw