The birth of social media was arguably in 2002 when Friendster was launched. A year later, MySpace arrived and every Gen X’er, including me, and many Millennials jumped on board. Facebook came in 2004 and has been ever-present for over 20 years. And how about YouTube? Started in November 2005 and sold just 11 months later to Google for $1.6B! I know that today it’s worth a lot more. Current estimates put a value of $500B on YouTube. But making over a billion dollars in 11 months sounds like good money to me!

A year later in 2006 Twitter appeared and then Instagram in 2010. With Instagram we also see a big markup. Eighteen months late, it was bought by Facebook for $1B. At the time, Instagram was a 13-person start-up. It is now a global leader in social media. Could it have succeeded without the Mark Zuckerberg magic? We will never know.

Jump forward to 2025. Twitter has now become X after Elon Musk bought it in 2022 for $44B. And only last month xAI, valued at $80 billion in the deal, bought X for $30 billion. This brings the whole issue of AI and data and privacy into the equation but I want to look at who the other players are in the social market first.

The competitors to X are Instagram, Facebook, GETTR, Truth Social, Parler, Minds and Gab. But with censorship running rampant during the Covid tyranny, a number of platforms promoted themselves as free speech activists. This removes Instagram and Facebook (both owned by Mark Zuckerberg who has now suddenly converted to being a free speech activist … but only for US users). So let’s look at the main free speech players in chronological order.

Minds was the first of a raft of free speech-oriented social media platforms launched in 2015. Minds has been described as more privacy-focused than its competitors and is open source. Some high-profile figures promoted Minds at its 2020 NYC “MINDS: Festival of Ideas”. But Minds remains a niche player that has never really proved a mainstream alternative to the big players. Most recent usage figures from Similar Web are 470,000 visits per month.

Gab launched in August 2016 and then had a full public launch 9 months later. Gab has actively been building and supporting its own server infrastructure. This is a smart move to protect from being shut down but it has meant slower growth. In 2020, Gab migrated to itsr own in-house servers. Gab has suffered from its minimal moderation which has meant it is unable to have an app on Apple or Google app stores. Most recent usage figures from Similar Web are 4.7M visits per month.

Parler was launched in August 2018, billing itself as an unbiased and free speech alternative to larger social media platforms. Conservatives quickly praised Parler for offering a free speech alternative to Twitter and Facebook. Parler’s user base grew massively in 2020 and became the most well known Twitter alternative platform but, after it was accused of coordinating Jan 6, it was removed from the Apple store and Google play store.

And soon after, on January 10th, Amazon Web Services cancelled its hosting and it went offline. It restarted a month later after moving its domain hosting to Epik and a year later was back on Google and Apple app stores. Near the end of 2022, Kanye West agreed to buy Parler but it fell through.

At the time, George Farmer was the CEO. George is the husband of Candace Owens and his father was Treasurer of the UK’s Conservative Party, and life peer in the House of Lords. In April 2023, Parler was acquired by Starboard and was temporarily shut down prior to a relaunch. Eight months later it was sold to another group and relaunched in February 2024. Most recent usage figures from Similar Web are 275,000 visits per month.

Next up is GETTR which was launched on 4th July 2021 by President Donald Trump’s former senior advisor Jason Miller. While Gettr explicitly identifies itself as supporting free speech and opposing censorship, the site moderates user content to at least some extent. It has been available as an app from Apple and Google from the very beginning. Most recent usage figures from Similar Web are 1.4M visits per month.

And the newest kid on the block is Truth Social launched by President Trump in October 2021. President Trump had been banned from Twitter/X in January 2021 and, in true Trump fashion, he started his own social media company. Within a year it was available to download as an app from Apple and Google app stores. Most recent usage figures from Similar Web are 30M visits per month.

So, what is the conclusion to understanding this avalanche of social media options?

Gab sometimes feels overwhelmed with anti-Jewish posts. and only US users can sign up to its paid pro option.

Minds seems to lack traction despite being around for a decade.

Parler has been launched for the 3rd time and so the jury is still out on its future success.

Truth has a large user base but has restrictions on streaming and other capabilities.

GETTR seems to have stood the test of time. It is available on the app stores (unlike Gab). It has great live streaming capabilities (unlike Truth Social) and has never gone down or changed hands (unlike Parler). And of course GETTR has one of the most well-known MAGA advocates ever, Stephen K Bannon. WarRoom streams on GETTR and SKB uses GETTR exclusively so if you want to follow the MAGA architect then GETTR is the place to be.

The post The Three Decade Story of Social Media in a Nutshell and What is the Best X Alternative appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Once again, the mainstream media is distorting the facts. Following the Justice Department’s recent dismissal of a decades-old desegregation case in Louisiana, critics rushed to frame the action as a rollback of civil rights or, worse, a return to racial segregation in schools. But the facts do not support this narrative.

In 1966, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit to desegregate schools in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana. The resulting federal consent decree mandated the dismantling of the district’s racially segregated school system.

By 1975, the court found the district had achieved integration. However, the case remained open for decades due to administrative oversight, including the death of the presiding judge, and no formal court action was ever taken to close it.

In April 2025, as part of a broader review of dormant cases, the DOJ under the Trump administration formally moved to dismiss the order.

According to a joint filing with Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, there had been “zero action by the court, the parties or any third-party” in nearly 50 years.

The DOJ’s official press release, titled “Justice Department Dismisses Half Century Old Louisiana Consent Decree,” stated: “No longer will the Plaquemines Parish School Board have to devote precious local resources over an integration issue that ended two generations ago,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon.

For the school district, remaining under the outdated court order meant compiling and submitting annual data to the DOJ on hiring practices, student discipline, and demographics. It imposed a bureaucratic burden on a small district with fewer than 4,000 students.

Local officials described the process as time-consuming and unnecessary, diverting limited staff and resources from more pressing educational needs.

For the DOJ, maintaining the inactive case consumed time and attention that could be better directed toward active civil rights enforcement.

Despite these facts, critics quickly claimed the dismissal would lead to “resegregation.”

Civil rights groups and commentators cited research suggesting that school districts released from federal oversight often become less racially diverse over time.

But this interpretation stretches the meaning of “segregation” beyond its legal and constitutional definition. And the fact that a school becomes less diverse does not meet the definition of segregated.

To be clear, there is no law, under Trump or any other administration, that allows public schools in the United States to reinstate racial segregation.

Segregation in public education was struck down in 1954 by the Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education and remains unconstitutional today.

Any attempt by a school district to segregate students by race would be swiftly challenged and overturned in court.

So, what does “resegregation” really mean in these criticisms? It does not refer to a return to legally mandated racial separation. Rather, it describes de facto racial imbalance, schools becoming predominantly one race not by law or policy, but due to residential patterns, school zoning, and economic factors.

If a mostly Black neighborhood feeds into a local school, that school may have a majority-Black student body, but that is not segregation under the law.

Some academic studies have found that districts released from federal desegregation orders sometimes see reduced racial diversity. But correlation does not equal causation.

These shifts often result from the end of court-ordered policies—such as busing, racial quotas, or transfer schemes—meant to artificially balance school demographics to match national racial ratios.

Without these mandates, schools tend to reflect the natural racial and economic makeup of their local neighborhoods. Ending a dormant desegregation order does not cause segregation; it simply acknowledges that the district is no longer violating the Constitution.

More than 130 school districts across the South remain under similar DOJ desegregation orders. The Trump administration has signaled interest in reviewing more of these long-dormant cases.

In sum, the DOJ’s action in Louisiana was a routine legal closure of a resolved case. It does not change the law, repeal civil rights protections, or allow racial discrimination in education. Misrepresenting legal housekeeping as racial backsliding only sows distrust and distracts from the real work of improving educational outcomes.

The post No, Trump Did Not Just Bring Back Segregation to Schools appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell has stoked a conspiracy theory Elon Musk used his Starlink satellite network to rig the 2024 presidential election for Trump.

During an appearance with a left-wing podcaster, Swalwell was asked about the integrity of the previous election and the role that Starlink may have played.

The host remarked:

The enemies allegedly stole U.S. data. The leak came through Elon Musk’s Starlink. I mean, I’m sure you’ve heard people, based on all of this information that’s happened since then, wonder if 2024 was secure. But more importantly, Representative, about 2026 and 2028, can you talk about that a little bit? Do you have concerns?

Swalwell, who is best known for being honey-trapped by a Chinese spy named Fang Fang, responded:

Elon Musk has done nothing in the last five months to make me think that we shouldn’t ask questions about what the hell he was doing in 2024.

Maybe we gave him too much of the benefit of the doubt, you know, after the election, but the way that he’s conducted himself with DOGE, and the way that, you know, he’s exposed us to so many hackers outside.

The way that he’s taken data, you know, from Americans, from our records — whether it’s Social Security or health care records, the only way that we can understand, you know, what the hell Elon Musk has been doing is to be in the majority.

Swalwell added that being in the majority would give Democrats “subpoena power,” which he would use to investigate the spurious allegations.

Watch the clip below:

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) stokes 2024 election denial on a far-left podcast (check the host’s shirt) and vows to use “subpoena power” on @elonmusk about whether Starlink gave election data to the Russians if Democrats win the midterms

“Elon Musk has done nothing in the last 5… pic.twitter.com/mt35ud4OKA

— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) May 1, 2025

While it is unclear exactly what Swalwell and the host are actually suggesting, many leftists theorized in the wake of his election victory that Musk’s Starlink satellite network was used to manipulate the election results.

The Telegraph explained at the time:

Left-wing conspiracy theorists have claimed the 2024 US presidential election was “stolen”, as posts falsely alleging Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite network was used to manipulate the result spread on social media.

Claims that 20m votes in the election have “disappeared” or that Starlink was used to interfere with vote-counting machines have been shared by thousands of people across X, Threads and TikTok.

A nine-minute video claiming states had used “Starlink in order to tally up or count ballots” had more than 100,000 likes, 55,000 shares and had been viewed almost 900,000 times on TikTok. The video falsely claimed: “This is why the numbers don’t make sense.”

Similar claims that Mr Musk, a Trump ally, may have used Starlink to tamper with the election have spread widely across Threads, the social network owned by Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, as well as on X, which is owned by Mr Musk and was previously known as Twitter.

Back in March, Swalwell’s fellow California Democrat Maxine Waters shared a similar theory that Musk’s “high-technology ass “interfered with the election results.

“We don’t know everything that Elon Musk has done, with his high technology ass,” Waters said at the time.

“We don’t know what he’s been accused of by some as it may relate to the election, but we’re not going to give up in investigating and finding out.”

Election Denier Rep. Maxine Waters Suggests Elon Musk’s ‘High-Technology Ass’ May Have Tampered With Election Results (VIDEO)

The post Dem Rep. Eric Swalwell Vows Use of ‘Subpoena Power’ to Investigate Whether Elon Musk’s Starlink Rigged Election For Trump (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

It was only a matter of time… Democrats are now defending illegal alien human-smuggling stash houses.

On Wednesday, crazy leftist lawmaker Becca Balint (D-VT) lectured Congress on how ICE had raided the wrong home in an Oklahoma raid and terrorized a family with young children.

Apparently, Democrats made it their mission this year to defend violent, wife-beating, gangbanging illegals from deportation from the country.

After all, wife-beaters, human traffickers, and illegal alien gangbangers are people too!

Here is her rant during a House committee hearing.

Rep. Becca Balint:  The morning of Thursday, April 24, about 20 armed federal agents broke into a home occupied by a family of U.S. citizens in Oklahoma City who had just moved there two weeks prior from Maryland. ICE agents, mistaking the current occupants for the former, broke down the door, terrorized the family, and they repeatedly said, we are citizens. You have the wrong people. We are citizens.

It happened in the middle of the night. Three children at gunpoint were forced outside. This was all a colossal mistake. The names on the warrant did not match the people who lived in the house. This is what we have created here.

This is Trump’s America. This is what my colleagues are trying to fund with this bill. Armed federal agents breaking into homes, even of US Citizens, traumatizing them, taking their possessions. This is Trump’s America… Open your eyes! Wake the hell up!

WATCH:

Wrong.

The April 24 Oklahoma ICE operation was a lawful, court-authorized action explicitly targeting a property, that was a hub for human smuggling, not specific individuals, as falsely suggested by media reports.

The day prior to the search warrant issuance and the day of the… https://t.co/uIEuTO0zZ2

— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) May 1, 2025

Poor Becca was immediately slapped with a community note using KOMO News as its source: “The April 24 Oklahoma ICE operation was a lawful, court-authorized action explicitly targeting a property that was a hub for human smuggling, not specific individuals, as falsely suggested by media reports.”

And later, Homeland Security released a statement on the Oklahoma raid in response to the outspoken Vermont Democrat.

Here is their response to Rep. Balint and fellow Democrats.

Wrong.

The April 24 Oklahoma ICE operation was a lawful, court-authorized action explicitly targeting a property, that was a hub for human smuggling, not specific individuals, as falsely suggested by media reports.

The day prior to the search warrant issuance and the day of the search warrant, HSI agents conducted surveillance, and confirmed via utility records that a member of the Lima Lopez Transnational Criminal Organization was still paying utilities at the residence.

The warrant, issued by a Federal Judge was based on an 84-page affidavit detailing probable cause that the address served as a “stash house” for human smuggling, authorizing the seizure of evidence such as electronic devices and documents, regardless of who was present.

The warrant targeted the property itself, not specific individuals, and its execution was not contingent on the presence of any person. HSI, with Oklahoma state police support, executed the warrant with precision, seizing electronic devices as authorized.

This court-authorized search was a critical strike against a dangerous human smuggling network in furtherance of our mission to protect American communities from the chaos unleashed by the Biden administration’s open-border policies. This is an ongoing investigation, and we have not ruled out current occupants involvement in the smuggling ring.

Democrats are now defending human smugglers.
It only took 100 days of Donald Trump back in office for Democrats to show the world who they really are.

The post Democrats Sink to NEW LOW — Now They’re Defending Illegal Alien Human-Smuggling Stash Houses appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.