My friends, we gather here today to remember Twitter: the vibrant, flawed, rollicking Town Square that (like so many other once-fun media platforms prior) got hijacked by transnational mob and/or billionaires for the purposes of fucking things up.

Twitter is officially dead now, particularly since Leon Musky took a perfectly good brand, gave it a shitty name, and pointed all engagement toward himself (and his alts). Today, Twitter/X is hemorrhaging users as it hardens like a cyst into a Nazi hellhole with a completely useless verification system and absolutely no guardrails.

Apartheid Clyde is not an “inventor” and was spawned on third base bragging he hit a triple, particularly given how mummy constantly comes to Little EE-Lon’s defense.

Well-come to Bluer Skies 🦋

After an election result that can only be described as unimaginably terrible for democracy, I’ve stopped almost all posting on Elmo’s little plaything and moved over to Bluesky. Why? Well, at first I saw Jason Sattler’s (legendary @LOLGOP on the Twitters) urging his followers to move over there. But more broadly, because Apartheid Clyde is joined to Casino Mobster at the hip (his very bulbous, generous hip) and, if reports are accurate, Vice President donny can’t figure out how get rid of President Musky.

For real though, I want nothing to do with sosh-meeds that was so instrumental in pushing Yam Tits over the finish line. If his “win” is what actually happened; based on my reporting on Coffee County intrusions alone, I have nagging doubts.

EXCLUSIVE: Piercing ‘cone of silence’ in Georgia’s ’21 Coffee County breach [Blog Series]—UPDATED

As quick background, I launched CrankyYank in 2015 (after a suggestion from a dear pal; thank you Mary Quinn “MQ” Templeton) as a catch-all newsletter and, after Casino Mobster stole the presidency with help in 2016, I retooled the blog to focus exclusively on mob/crime reporting. Now that he’s about to darken White House* doorstep once again, I’ll be posting more of the same. You can also find me on TrumpFile.org, to which I’ve been contributing since June of 2024.

Mike Huckabee among ‘clown car’ of Trump’s diplomatic appointments

So if you landed here from my Bluesky post (or “Skeet,” as they’re called), welcome! There are some great features on Bluesky (which is a public-benefit corporation and, one hopes, protected from Dickbag Billionaire Class), and some areas of improvement that I hope the dev team takes seriously. Other platforms, like here on WordPress, will need to catch up to the Bluesky craze and allow direct embed of Skeets just like it does from Twitter (now, of course, “X” as dumdum renamed it.)

How I social—on the Sky and elsewhere

For my new, treasured friends* on Bluesky, here is the fine print about who I am and how I operate:

1. Engagement. With the exception of Sundays, I read/reply to all mentions around 3:30 in the afternoon. (Longtime Twitter pals like Sandra P. know this already, haha.) And when I think about it, I was doing Bluesky long before I was on—going to great pains to respond to Tweets with care and intention, having conversations, and hopefully learning new things. Today, that practice on Xitter is meaningless since it’s a Nazi carnival. And with (mostly) kind, adult, Earth 1 folks on Bluesky I’m now in my element.

2. Following/followers. I find Bluesky’s follower-notification system to be largely clunky and unruly. I keep my following count low to curate my feed, but for real: it’s hard to *really* know someone when a) Bluesky does not include a home city field, nor b) does it have a dedicated place for an external link. And when lots of profiles open with what people hate (“NO DMs OR YOU’LL BE BLOCKED” in shouty caps) instead of revealing more about who you are, it gets even more tedious to vet followers if I’m honest. If you’ve read this far, and want to get my attention on Bluesky, my best advice is to engage, reply and boost. Oh and if you buy my crap and post about it—I will love you forever (to be fair, I was gonna do that anyways).

3. Pottymouths unite. I’m of the firm belief that releasing anger via cussing is how we keep our tickers strong—so if you swear a lot, come sit by me. Let’s fuck 2025 in the mouth together.

4. Kindness, respect.. and lots of cheering. If you have a personal “win” or success at something (new record, comedy set, informative article, film script, art piece or anything) I will cheer for you, with no expectation for it to be returned. That’s just how I roll, as I spent a lot of time cultivating talent for my ARTvision Atlanta charity. I’m the guy who posts, and celebrates, independent journalists, artists and creators. DM me if you’re ever looking for help getting the word out.

*As Glenn Kirschner once said, “We don’t have ‘followers,’ we have ‘friends’ on social media.” And that’s my philosophy, too.

In conclusion

Bluesky is a public-benefit corporation so, at least theoretically, the app is billionaire proof. To be fair, though, literally nothing is “billionaire-proof” if those garbage/fascist assholes want to fuck something up badly enough. IOW, everything is “gettable” for the right price. Still, it’s a level of insulation that we should continue to protect—and demand.

For now, please join me on Bluesky. At first I felt like I was shouting in the void, but today, it’s a growing community teeming with gorgeous, and kind, humans. Let’s keep it that way, yes? 🦋

Starter Packs

1. My hand-picked follows
2. Stephanie Miller Cinematic Universe
3. Trusted Indie Newsers
4. Curated Funnypeople
5. — more to follow —

 

Will Pollocksideways is a perpetually crabby New York City escapee based in Midtown Atlanta. He’s a freelance multimedia journalist, media analyst, researcher and author of three books (award-winning Pizza for Good & Leaving Triscuit), and his first children’s book, Gentle with Gertie. Will is also regular contributor to TrumpFile.org, documenting the “life and crimes” of Donald Trump.

In 2001, Will earned his Masters from The Medill School of Journalism, graduating with highest honors from the magazine sequence. As permanent member of Journalism’s National Honors Society, he’s been active in monitoring, writing and blogging about the intersection of media, politics and journalism ever since he graduated.

Obsessed with good storytelling and journalistic excellence, Will uses snark, humor and reason to distill dumb shit and make it fun. He’s a seeker/maker of non-consensus news, and helps you cure crankies by finding the nut in every story.

As for-profit media continues to fail us, it’s more important than ever to find reliable sources. Authentic storytelling exists—you just have to look for it. On this blog you’ll get ideas, not ideology. Sass with class. Reporting with rapport. Evidence with a touch of evil. You get the idea.

Support independent authors, writers, artists, journalists and professionals. Buy a book, leave a review, start a discussion. Show solidarity so that we can achieve greater balance and, in the end, learn more.

 

 

 

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