For a third straight session, the Mississippi legislature won’t be addressing a technological gap in the privacy rights of its citizens.
The House Judiciary B Committee — chaired by state Rep. Angela Cockerham (D-Magnolia) — let a bill die on deadline on February 5 that would’ve required a warrant for cell site simulator devices that can represent an invasion of privacy by law enforcement.
House Bill 85 was authored by Rep. Steve Hopkins (R-Southaven) and would’ve provided an exception for the warrant requirement if it was necessary for law enforcement officials to use the cell site simulator device to prevent loss of life or injury.
These devices, also known as IMSI (international mobile subscriber identity) catchers, are used by law enforcement to spoof cell phone towers and trick any cell phone within range of connecting with them.
They were originally developed for use by the military and intelligence agencies such as the NSA, but have now migrated to federal law enforcement agencies such as the FBI and U.S. Department of Homeland Security and now to local law enforcement agencies.
“It goes against all the principles of a free society and the intent of the Founders when the Constitution was written,” Hopkins said. “We have a right to privacy and that’s why there should be laws protecting us from any warrantless wiretap.”
The way these devices work is simple.
Each cell phone has a 15-digit identifier known as an IMSI that they use to communicate with the cellular network. Phones are designed to connect to the strongest tower within range. The IMSI catcher, which is usually mounted in a surveillance vehicle, is designed to crowd out the other towers within range and force the mobile devices within its range (usually about a mile) to connect to it.
Law enforcement can sort through the troves of phones that connect to the cell site simulator and find a particular IMSI that they obtained from a service provider, either voluntarily or by a court order. When law enforcement finds the particular IMSI they are searching for, they can use the device to triangulate its location.
According to a report by the libertarian Cato Institute, these devices can detect where a live mobile phone is within six feet in some cases.
In addition to being able to locate and track the person in possession of a specific phone, these devices are also capable of obtaining their communications content including text messages and calls.
“It was brought to my attention by a resident and I had no idea that law enforcement had the ability to eavesdrop, more or less, without a warrant,” Hopkins said. “Human beings will give into temptation and who’s to say that someone has access to this that they’re not listening in to someone that they may have a vendetta against and use it incorrectly.”
Law enforcement isn’t the only user of the IMSI catchers, as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security admitted last April that it’s aware of unauthorized cell site simulators being used in various parts of Washington, D.C.
These are likely being used by foreign intelligence agencies to eavesdrop on government cellular traffic.
A similar bill last year also authored by Hopkins died in committee.
A widely-hailed economic development deal hatched in 2016 is no more.
A story by the Sun-Herald says that a $36 million deal to bring a shipyard and 1,000 jobs to Gulfport by Edison Chouest Offshore subsidiary TopShip has been dead since December.
The Mississippi Development Authority told the Sun-Herald that it failed to meet benchmarks for a $68 million investment and completed construction. TopShip proposed reducing its investment to $34 million and only 250 employees, but state officials refused to budge on the original requirements.
TopShip was supposed to receive $11 million in bond funds plus tax and other incentives that could’ve added up to $25 million to refurbish its facility on the Industrial Canal, which was formerly owned by Huntingdon Ingalls.
Chouest already had a shipyard right down the road from the new one.
According to the Sun-Herald story, Harrison County invested $12 million in Hurricane Katrina recovery funds to open the Gulf Ship yard in 2006. The week before the announcement in February 2016, Gulf Ship laid off workers and was down to only 110 employees, according to the Sun-Herald.
A statement from MDA said TopShip did not receive any state funds.
Analysis by the Institutes for Higher Education said that the project would generate a net positive annual return for Mississippi starting in 2017.
The Port of Gulfport received $567 million in Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. This money for the “Port of the Future” was predicated on the port creating 1,300 jobs, with many of them supposed to go to low-income residents.
HUD allowed the port to consider 326 jobs at a casino hotel located on property owned by the port. According to the most recent status report issued by the port in 2017, the facility now has created 425 jobs verified by HUD.
Chouest did a similar shell game in Louisiana with incentives. In 2008, WVUE TV reported that Pelican State taxpayers invested $42 million for Chouest to build a shipyard in Houma and hire 1,000 employees.
The company closed a nearby shipyard that it also owned, the North American Fabricators Facility, and the state told WVUE TV that it simply transferred jobs from the old shipyard to the new one.
In August 2012, Louisiana officials amended the agreement to give Chouest more time to meet the job creation goals.
TopShip was known during the February 5, 2016 special session as “Project Crawfish” and was part of a $274 million incentive deal that also lured a Continental Tire plant to Hinds County.
The process to pass the bill in the special session only took five hours from bill drafting to Gov. Phil Bryant’s signature.
The state’s record on economic development incentives is filled with some successes, like Nissan, Toyota and Yokohama.
But for every success, there is the infamous beef plant in Yalobusha County, which cost the state more than $50 million in guaranteed loans, and biofuel producer KiOR, which owes the state more than $69 million on a no-interest loan.
Stion Solar owes the state $93 million after it shuttered its solar plant in Hattiesburg.
Many people are still wondering what the future holds in Oxford.
It’s been three months since Jeff Vitter announced he would leave his role as Chancellor of the University of Mississippi, leaving behind a legacy which could best be described as tattered.
A tenure marred by declining enrollment, the prohibition of the playing Dixie at football games, the removal of the state flag from university property, and NCAA sanctions could leave little to the imagination as to why people seemed to always be asking, “What’s going on at Ole Miss?”
In Vitter’s departure, both conservative and progressive students who were displeased with his leadership rejoiced in the notion that the university could restore its stature. Yet to date nothing has changed.
Larry Sparks, who took over as Chancellor following Vitter’s resignation, has indicated that the extent of his interest in the role extends only to keeping the seat warm for whomever the Institutions for Higher Learning selects. But it still remains unclear as to who that may be.
The question Ole Miss grapples in the selection of its leadership is one which has consistently been asked throughout all actions undertaken by the university: What exactly is Ole Miss and what does it want to become?
If you were to ask students and alumni, the vast majority would say they treasure Ole Miss as a bastion of southern heritage and tradition, seeking its preservation for future generations to enjoy. However, if you were to ask university faculty that sentiment would rarely be echoed, if at all. It is this disconnect which has led Ole Miss to where it finds itself today.
A faculty comprised of out-of-state academics which insist it undertake self-flagellation in repentance for existing in a place which high minded costal liberals deem reprehensible cannot coexist with the interests of those the university is meant to serve. It is with this knowledge that Vitter built the legacy which would eventually destroy him, acting to intentionally subvert democracy under the pretext that any change presented with indignation is inherently good.
The nature of all organizations is that those who are held responsible for its decisions are held responsible for its culture. When the organization is one which has a mission to serve, the culture should exist in service of the values and interests of its constituents.
For Ole Miss to find a chancellor who can properly serve the community is one who can understand a clear definition of Ole Miss and remain committed to its values. The next leader doesn’t necessarily have to be from Mississippi, but he or she definitely can’t be against Mississippi and expect to lead successfully.
Ole Miss finds itself at a moment of definition where it may move beyond its fatigue and capitalize on its potential as a university to attract and retain world class talent to Mississippi.
The last two Chancellors at Ole Miss have left much to be desired before an early departure from their roles. All eyes will be on the next leader, because a large contingent of the Ole Miss faithful know the school is on very thin ice today.
Thursday was the second big deadline in the Mississippi legislature for general bills to make it out of the originating chamber.
The next deadline is Monday, the last day that bills that are held on a motion to reconsider can be passed out of the originating chamber.
Here are the some of the bills that survived and others that died:
Still alive
House Bill 1352 is sponsored by state Rep. Jason White (R-West) and is known as the Criminal Justice Reform Act. The bill would clear obstacles for the formerly incarcerated to find work, prevents driver’s license suspensions for controlled substance violations and unpaid legal fees and fines, and updates drug court laws to allow for additional types of what are known as problem solving courts. It passed the House by a 110-5 margin and is now in the hands of the Senate.
HB 1284, known as the Fresh Start Act, is sponsored by state Rep. Mark Baker (R-Brandon) and would eliminate the practice of “good character” or “moral turpitude” clauses from occupational licensing regulations, which prohibit ex-offenders from receiving an occupational license and starting a new post-incarceration career. The bill passed the House by a margin of 114-2.
A companion bill, SB 2781, is sponsored by state Sen. John Polk (R-Hattiesburg) and passed the Senate 41-10. Any differences between the bills will be likely resolved in conference later in the session.
HB 1268 would clarify state law regarding constitutional challenges to local ordinances. With local circuit courts acting as both the appellate body for appeals on specific decisions (such as bid disputes) and the court of original jurisdiction, there’s been confusion among judges regarding the law that governs challenges of local decisions, which are required within 10 days.
City and county attorneys have used this 10-day requirement on decisions to get new constitutional challenges — which are new lawsuits and not appeals — thrown out of circuit courts. This law would add language that would prevent application of the 10-day requirement to constitutional challenges.
The bill was sponsored by state Rep. Dana Criswell (R-Southaven) and passed the House by a 116-2 margin.
HB 98 would prohibit the use of fishing nets for the taking of fish or speckled trout within a half mile of the shoreline of Cat Island in the Mississippi Sound. It passed the House by a 112-3 margin.
HB 623 would exempt school districts with A and B accountability ratings from the Mississippi Department of Education from certain mandates, including grade reporting and annual auditing of the district’s official discipline plan and code of student conduct.
Under this bill, any licensed teacher employed at one of these districts would be exempt from continuing education requirements as a condition of their license renewal. The bill passed the House 85-28.
SB 2901, known as the Landowner Protection Act, would exempt property owners and their employees from civil liability if a third party injures someone else on their property.
The bill is sponsored by state Sen. Josh Harkins (R-Flowood) and was passed on a largely party line vote 32-17.
HB 702 would allow cottage food operators to increase their maximum sales to $35,000 and advertise their products on the web. The bill, sponsored by state Rep. Casey Eure (R-Saucier), passed the House by a 117-0 margin.
SB 2603 and HB 1128 would reauthorize motion picture and television production incentives for out-of-state firms that expired in 2017. Unlike the previous incentives, both bills would cap them at $10 million.
The House version is sponsored by state Rep. Jeff Smith (R-Columbus). It passed the House by a 95-19 margin. The Senate version is sponsored by state Sen. Joey Fillingane (R-Sumrall) and passed by a 43-6 margin.
HB 1204 and SB 2759 would allow a municipality or county to execute the winning bid in a sealed bidding process if a judge hasn’t ruled on a protection request for bids within 90 days. The House version is sponsored by state Rep. Jerry Turner (R-Baldwyn) and the Senate version is sponsored by state Sen. John Polk (R-Hattiesburg). The Senate version passed by a 49-0 vote, while the House version passed 116-1.
SB 2675 would reauthorize the Education Scholarship Account program until 2024 and was sponsored by state Sen. Gray Tollison (R-Oxford). The bill was amended to have the ESA funds transferred to the home district if a participating student returns to his or her local school district.
The bill was passed by the Senate on a party line vote.
More dead than disco
HB 337 was the House version of the Landowner Protection act and was sponsored by state Rep. White. It died on the calendar.
SB 2496 was a bill to exclude certain mapping practices from the definition of surveying that could be regulated by the Mississippi Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers and Surveyors. It was sponsored by state Sen. Angela Burks Hill (R-Picayune) and died on the calendar.
HB 1514 was the companion bill in the House and was sponsored by state Rep. Shane Aguirre (R-Tupelo) and it was recommitted to committee, thus killing the bill.
Senate Bill 2791 would’ve mandate evidence-based solutions to reduce incarceration and eliminate obstacles for ex-cons to find work. The Reentry and Employability Act was sponsored by state Sen. Juan Barnett (D-Heidelberg) and died on the calendar.
Mississippi is one of the numerous states that offer taxpayer funded film incentives to Hollywood producers in an attempt to have movies shot in the Magnolia State.
And, the prospect of a movie star eating at a local restaurant or a movie being filmed in your home town is appealing to most people. Yet it shouldn’t be funded by taxpayers.
There are two programs on the books. One is the Mississippi Investment Rebate, which offers a 25 percent rebate on purchases from state vendors and companies. The other is the Resident Payroll Rebate, which offers a 30 percent cash rebate on payroll paid to resident cast and crew members.
A third rebate, a 25 percent rebate on payroll paid to cast and crew members who are not Mississippi residents, expired two years ago. But lawmakers seem very interested in reviving it this year.
So, who could be against this? For one, taxpayers ought to be. Film incentives are a losing proposition. And that is according to the state’s own data.
A 2015 PEER Report shows taxpayers receive just 49 cents for every dollar invested in the program. That means that for every dollar the state gives to production companies, we see just 49 cents in return. If you or I were receiving that return on our personal investments, we would fire our financial advisor. Of course, no one spends his or her own money as carefully as the person to whom that money belongs.
An ironic, or perhaps sad, side note is that we are actually “doing better” than other states when it comes to film incentives. This includes our neighbors in Louisiana, who recover only 14 cents on the dollar. They also have one of the most generous programs in the country; it was unlimited until lawmakers capped it a couple years ago. Other reports show the Pelican State recovering 23 cents on the dollar, but either way it’s a terrible investment.
Beyond Mississippi and Louisiana, film incentives are a poor investment throughout the country. Numerous studies have been conducted, all providing sobering statistics for those worried about spending tax dollars wisely.
For every dollar spent, Connecticut receives just 7 cents in return, Michigan receives 11 cents, Massachusetts receives 13 cents, New Mexico receives 14 cents, North Carolina receives 19 cents, Ohio receives 21 cents, and Wisconsin receives 23 cents. We could go on.
Studies from numerous other states over the past decade show taxpayers losing wherever film incentives have been tried. That is the reason many of those states have scaled back or eliminated their programs. In 2009, all but six states offered some type of incentives for movie producers. Today, just 31 states still have programs on the books. So, while other states are cutting back, Mississippi lawmakers appear interested in pressing forward.
How do these states, which no longer offer incentives, try to attract movie producers?
Alaska, for example, repealed their program in 2015. But they advertise their lack of state sales or income tax. Similar story in Florida, who let their program expire in 2016. They do not levy a state income tax.
There are many reasons Mississippi is attractive for filming. It is the quintessential Southern state with historic squares along with beautiful antebellum mansions. There is the vast farmland of the Delta, the beaches of the Coast, and the numerous forests throughout the state. Mississippi has the lowest cost-of-living in the country and it is a right-to-work state with very competitive wages. We have plenty to sell.
One lawmaker recently called it “criminal” that the movie Free State of Jones, a movie about Mississippi, was not filmed in Mississippi. We lost out in the race-to-the-bottom bidding war with Louisiana. We should consider it criminal that lawmakers are so willing to part with our tax dollars in a losing endeavor.
Rather, our goal should be for Mississippi to have the most competitive business climate in the country. The tax breaks that a few chosen industries or companies receive should be made available to all.
When we do that we will remove the need for taxpayer funded incentives.
This column appeared in the Daily Leader on February 14, 2019.
Here’s what we learned from enacting and defending a modest reform.
A national movement to reform “civil forfeiture” is underway. In many states, current policy allows the government to confiscate property on the grounds that it is connected to a crime — without ever convicting anyone of the crime. In court, a lower burden of proof applies in these civil cases than in criminal cases, even when valuable property such as a vehicle is at stake.
Twenty-nine states have reformed their civil-forfeiture laws since 2014. Fifteen states now require a criminal conviction for most or all forfeiture cases. And the recent skirmish over forfeiture laws here in Mississippi — a “law and order” state by any measure — illustrated that the voting public does not believe there is a contradiction between upholding due process and enforcing the law.
In 2018, the Mississippi legislature allowed the law authorizing one especially troubling type of civil forfeiture, known as “administrative forfeiture,” to sunset. With administrative forfeiture, law-enforcement agencies in Mississippi could take and keep property worth $20,000 or less, so long as they believed it was connected to drug crime, simply by obtaining a warrant and providing a notice to the owner. If the owner did not file suit within 30 days, the property was automatically forfeited to the agency. And given that almost half of all administrative-forfeiture cases involved property worth less than $1,000, it was unrealistic and outrageous to expect property owners to incur court costs and attorney’s fees to bring those cases to court on their own.
In 2019 there was a concerted campaign to bring back the old regime — but it met with pushback led by liberty-minded conservative legislators and my colleagues at the Mississippi Justice Institute, the legal arm of the conservative Mississippi Center for Public Policy.
Keeping administrative forfeiture off the books was a modest reform. It simply ensured that all forfeiture cases go to court for a final adjudication. It did not affect criminal forfeiture, which is when authorities keep property after a criminal conviction. It did not even affect ordinary civil forfeiture, in which agencies keep property after filing suit and proving in a civil court that the property was connected to a drug crime. When asked, most citizens seem to believe that is the least the government should do before it gets to keep your iPhone, your cash, or your truck.
But that did not keep the law’s advocates from painting a doomsday picture of life in Mississippi after the demise of administrative forfeiture. One elected leader declared that drug dealers would move into Mississippi to “get a better deal.” An official for a state police agency took to the airwaves to warn, inaccurately, that drug money would have to be returned to convicted drug dealers after they got out of prison. Officials bluntly advised the public that opponents of changing the law back were “anti–law enforcement” and “pro–drug dealer.” Dozens of police chiefs and sheriffs canvassed the state capitol in full uniform to warn against ending the practice.
The message to legislators was clear: Oppose administrative forfeiture and you oppose law enforcement as a whole. The message to citizens was even more ominous: Choose between your rights and your safety.
Despite all of this, Mississippians made it clear they were overwhelmingly opposed to reinstating administrative forfeiture. Legislators were inundated with calls and emails from concerned citizens. Social media was awash in opposition to reauthorizing the practice. Callers flooded radio stations asking how this could ever have even been the law in the first place. Ultimately, Mississippi legislators listened to the voices of these ordinary citizens. The effort to reauthorize administrative forfeiture did not even receive enough votes to move out of committee.
The lesson for elected leaders in states still weighing forfeiture reforms is this: Don’t fall for false dichotomies. Trust your citizens. They understand that you can support strengthening constitutional rights and also support law enforcement. If you are brave enough to start the conversation, and to stand your ground, you may be surprised how many will stand with you.
This column appeared in National Review on February 13, 2019.
A bill in the Mississippi legislature could have taxpayers spending nearly $4.7 million to help restore passenger rail service to the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
Senate Bill 2542, authored by state Sen. Brice Wiggins (R-Pascagoula), would appropriate $4,696,500 toward bringing Amtrak service to the Mississippi Gulf Coast that was ended when Hurricane Katrina made landfall in August 2005.
The bill also says the money would be spent on improving freight rail service in the area as well.
The money would represent part of Mississippi’s share to restoring the east route of the tri-weekly Sunset Limited, which ran through the Mississippi Gulf Coast connecting Orlando, Florida with Los Angeles.
The service was terminated east of New Orleans in 2005.
According to the Southern Rail Commission, an advocacy group seeking more extensive passenger rail in the South, all three states on the route between Mobile and New Orleans would have to contribute money to qualify for Consolidated Rail Infrastructure Safety and Improvements grant program matching funds that could add up to $35.5 million.
The SRC cites a May 2018 study by the Trent Lott National Center at Southern Mississippi University that says that construction and renovation of the rail lines on the Coast would add $34 million to the state’s economy. It also says restoration of passenger rail on the Mississippi Gulf Coast between Mobile and New Orleans would add $6 million annually to the economy.
Like many long-distance routes, a new Sunset Limited train that connects Orlando with Los Angeles wouldn’t be profitable and would require annual subsidies from Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi taxpayers. Amtrak’s own numbers in its 2015 feasibility study indicate that restoring service from New Orleans to Orlando would result in a $5.48 million loss annually.
Just running a roundtrip, standalone train from Mobile to New Orleans would yield a loss of $4 million. Having both a tri-weekly train from Orlando to Los Angeles and a separate round trip service between Mobile and New Orleans connection would result in an annual loss of $9.49 million.
This figure doesn’t include improvements to the rail infrastructure and stations along the route, which would cost, at minimum, $14,718,000 for just the restoration of passenger rail service and $102,954,000 for what the study says is a service level for ongoing operations.
Passenger rail hasn’t fared well in Mississippi, which has two Amtrak routes that pass through the state.
The Crescent train connects New Orleans with New York, while the City of New Orleans links the city with Chicago.
The most recent Amtrak numbers from 2017, show that the number of passengers boarding and detraining in Mississippi decreased from 118,200 in 2011 to 100,500 in 2017. That’s a decrease of nearly 15 percent.
The study blamed delays with the train as one of the key factors in the lowered ridership. These delays, according to the study, were due to interference with freight operations from CSX — which owns the track between New Orleans and Mobile — and equipment malfunctions with Amtrak locomotives and passenger cars.
The Gulf Coast Working Group’s report to the U.S. Congress on restoring Gulf Coast rail service also mentions that limited space with rail yards and bridge crossings would “present a challenge to operating passenger trains on schedule.”
According to the Amtrak 2015 feasibility study for restoration of rail service east of New Orleans, total trips declined from 148,387 in fiscal 1993 to 81,348 in 2005, a decrease of 45.2 percent.
Even taking into account that the federal government’s fiscal year ends on September 30, the numbers still pale when the final full year of service (2004) is considered, down 35 percent from 1993.
The state pension board ordered its staff to write a new regulation Tuesday that will remove a long-standing prohibition and allow legislators to draw both their salary and pension benefits.
The 10-member Board of Trustees for the Public Employees’ Retirement System of Mississippi voted on a motion to replace its existing regulation, which forbids legislators and other state elected officials who are PERS retirees from collecting both a salary and their retirement benefits.
The new regulation will go into effect on January 1, 2020, just in time for the next legislative session.
State Sen. Sollie Norwood (D-Jackson) asked Attorney General Jim Hood’s office for an opinion on sitting legislators receiving both a salary and their PERS retirement.
An AG’s opinion doesn’t carry the force of law, but can protect an agency from legal action if followed.
Hood’s opinion said that there was no basis in law for the prohibition by PERS regulations since most who serve in the legislature have a full-time job in addition to their legislative duties.
This prohibition doesn’t apply to local elected offices, such as mayor, alderman or county supervisor, who can receive both their retirement benefits and 25 percent of the retiree’s average compensation.
PERS Executive Director Ray Higgins said the new regulation would work similarly to those governing former retirees serving as elected officials with their local governments.
“Essentially, the AG’s opinion says we should apply those same parameters (with PERS retirees serving as local elected officials) in state law to those serving in the legislature,” Higgins said.
The opinion also said that PERS retirees who are elected to the legislature could be treated like those who return to the state workforce after retirement.
Under this opinion, a legislator who is a PERS retiree could receive pay on a half time/half pay scenario using the time and pay of a full-time position or receive 25 percent of what they were paid during their four highest years of service.
They would still have to contribute to PERS, but would receive no benefit from those contributions. Taxpayers would also have to contribute as the employer portion of each retiree serving in the legislature.
Higgins said that the agency would write a new regulation that would satisfy both the AG’s opinion and maintain the plan’s qualified status with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.
Losing this status as a defined benefit plan means the plan’s investment income could be taxed and member contributions would cease to be pre-tax.
“It’s very important that we protect that qualified status and not do anything that could put us out of compliance with federal tax law,” Higgins said. “That’s very important to the system as well as our membership.”
There were several bills proposed in the Mississippi legislature that gave legislators the right to collect their retirement pay while serving at the Capitol, but all died in committee.
The question, “What are you doing?” propelled Twitter from a small Silicon Valley startup to one of the most influential social media companies in the world – at least for the one in twelve Americans on Twitter.
Lauded over by the news media as a convenient prop to introduce what on its face would seem like an impartial cross section of America, all metrics indicate that Twitter has been struggling to maintain its foothold in an increasingly volatile digital climate.
So why do we care so much about Twitter? The blue checkmarks giving us our news do. While only roughly eight percent of Americans use Twitter, it wouldn’t be hyperbolic to suggest that 100 percent of those in the news media do.
If you were to look at recent data, Twitter’s market share has dwindled to a mere 24 percent of adults. Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat, meanwhile, are continuing to expand their presence beyond that of the microblogging service. Twitter explains their decline in market share as the byproduct of a changing landscape, however it is worth noting that Twitter has changed a considerable amount itself.
The platform was once hailed as a revolutionary device that would topple authoritarians and usher in an era of global free speech. Now, it has turned into a carefully curated echo chamber where the most minor of utterances can translate into the complete destruction of someone’s personal life, if not become national news.
In the fall of 2013, data showed Twitter was the most popular social media platform for teenagers in the United States. For those who used and later disregarded the service five years ago, not much thought could be attributed to their past tweets.
However, if they were to pursue a sport professionally or a life in outward facing public service then there is a very real possibility that something they posted erroneously could become national news.
Those entering into the social media market for the first time know this well and are less likely to expose themselves to outward risk as platforms less prone to gaffe, such as Snapchat and Instagram, gain foothold. In short Twitter is no longer the platform of the Arab Spring, it is the Twitter of Kyler Murray and lest we forget, Covington Catholic.
When an entire industry in part relies on a service which represents a waning eight percent of the population as a demonstration of widespread American sentiment and in turn treating every action as a premeditated statement, the message becomes disconnected from common thought and is perhaps why the media has such difficulty connecting with the values of middle America.
Twitter from all indications is not dead, in fact it is far from it. Yet we have so commonly accepted Twitter being presented as a cross section of our nation’s public understanding that we have become, in a word, hypnotized by statements which come to us in 280 characters or less. The prerogative of concise communication is that it may deliver maximum impact. On Twitter this manifests itself in wit overpowering fact and outrage before process.
The advice I would give to those spending too much time on Twitter is to take a moment and experience the world, it’s far kinder than it seems.