Posted originally on the CTH on April 8, 2023 | Sundance
I’m not sure what is going on at the Twitter with Elon Musk, but apparently either his team is misleading their CEO, or Musk is just shooting from the hip.
In a reply to Matt Taibbi’s report about Substack content being blocked by Twitter and Taibbi’s decision to exit the Musk platform, the Twitter CEO fired back, calling Taibbi a liar.
Twitter’s own internal checkers put a community note, citing the claims by Taibbi were essentially correct. Then, Substack CEO Chris Best weighed in on the issue, claiming the assertions by Elon Musk were false and the weird claim about Taibbi being an employee of Substack is completely without merit.
Mediaite – […] Forbes reported Saturday that Best and other figures at Substack are being individually punished on Twitter now, too.
“To top it all off, it appears the Substack crew is being punished on Twitter in other ways. If you try to search co-founder Chris Best on Twitter, his profile doesn’t show up,” writes Matt Novak.
Musk’s claim that Taibbi is a paid employee was an obvious implication that he was shilling for his bosses rather than reporting honestly. An ironic line of attack, considering it’s the same charge leveled at Taibbi and the other Twitter Files journalists by Democrats during a House hearing. (read more)
It’s all weird…. which, I might add, is not unusual for events that take place in/around the intelligence apparatus of the U.S. government.
Posted originally on the CTH on April 7, 2023 | Sundance |
When CTH outlined the connection between DHS and Twitter in Jack’s Magic Coffee shop, many people thought it was nuts.
In the year since, DHS and FBI have been evidenced to have direct access to Twitter content controls, up to and including access code in the Twitter algorithm itself. Not so crazy anymore.
When Elon Musk bought Twitter, CTH warned to refrain from forming opinion of the takeover because of the DHS network with it. Either Musk did due diligence in the purchase and was aware of DHS attachment, or Musk didn’t know of the scale of DHS involvement. Both possibilities painted a rather odd perspective of the Musk motive.
The latest development upon the new Twitter platform, includes Twitter no longer permitting Substack authors to promote their articles. “Twitter is now blocking likes, retweets, and comments on tweets that include a link to a Substack newsletter. In addition, Twitter users cannot pin a tweet that includes a Substack link to their profile.” Apparently, Twitter views the growth of Substack as a business threat.
Unfortunately, that leaves a Substack author like Matt Taibbi in a tough position; especially because he is one of the lead independent journalists highlighting the findings within a review of Twitter’s prior corporate correspondence and networking with DHS officials, also known as “the Twitter files.” As a result, Taibbi was forced to choose between Twitter and Substack. His decision, below:
Posted originally on the CTH on March 7, 2023 | Sundance
In a Republican administration the leftist media would be going bananas asking why the Federal Trade Commission is requiring Twitter to notify them of which journalists have had access to internal communication files. Alas, with a Democrat administration in office, the FTC demand is not an issue.
It would appear the mechanisms of government are aligned to fight back against any sunlight that might be provided upon the government manipulation of the social media platform.
In a profound display of institutional hubris, the U.S. government claims they are concerned about user privacy as the justification for their involvement.
In addition to the U.S. government demanding to know who may have reviewed the Twitter company communication with the U.S. government, the FTC is also looking for a deposition from Twitter CEO Elon Musk about the status of the company.
(Via Wall Street Journal) – WASHINGTON—The Federal Trade Commission has demanded Twitter Inc. turn over internal communications related to owner Elon Musk, as well as detailed information about layoffs—citing concerns that staff reductions could compromise the company’s ability to protect users, documents viewed by the Wall Street Journal show.
In 12 letters sent to Twitter and its lawyers since Mr. Musk’s Oct. 27 takeover, the FTC also asked the company to “identify all journalists” granted access to company records and to provide information about the launch of the revamped Twitter Blue subscription service, the documents show.
“We are concerned these staff reductions impact Twitter’s ability to protect consumers’ information,” an FTC official wrote to Twitter’s lawyers on Nov. 10 following an initial wave of layoffs, according to a copy of the letter viewed by the Journal.
[…] “Protecting consumers’ privacy is exactly what the FTC is supposed to do,” said FTC spokesman Douglas Farrar. He said the agency is “conducting a rigorous investigation into Twitter’s compliance with a consent order that came into effect long before Mr. Musk purchased the company.” (read more)
That last paragraph is particularly filled with irony and hubris, considering the same U.S. govt concerned about “consumer privacy” is the same U.S. govt who demanded Twitter reveal the identities of users in order to enhance targeting efforts.
Posted originally on the CTH on February 8, 2023 | Sundance
Just an fyi, I encountered this issue with Twitter and cannot even express the problem on The Twitter due to the restriction.
If you want to help share the word, see if you can retweet this notification.
Like I said I cannot tweet or reply to tweets. So I have no way to notify followers or those who use Twitter to get feeds from CTH.
The CTH Account: “TheLastRefuge2” sent or re-tweeted 15 times today. Apparently, there’s a new limit. Additionally, exceeding the limit also means I cannot reply to any messages. So, there’s that.
Posted originally on the CTH on February 6, 2023 | Sundance
… He still hasn’t identified the source code, the proverbial ghost in the machine, buried deep in the algorithmic code; however, Twitter owner Elon Musk has finally identified the agency within the U.S. government who spearheaded the creation. The “Global Engagement Center” (GEC) of the State Dept.
The GEC mission is described as, “To direct, lead, synchronize, integrate, and coordinate U.S. Federal Government efforts to recognize, understand, expose, and counter foreign state and non-state propaganda and disinformation efforts aimed at undermining or influencing the policies, security, or stability of the United States, its allies, and partner nations,” (link). However, when you overlay the expanded Dept of State mission that Obama delivered, transferring GEC intent to domestic operations, suddenly the background of Jack’s Magic Coffee Shop makes sense. [Musk Tweet Link]
Readers here are so far ahead of the curve on this story, it’s kind of cool, funny, and yet frustrating at the same time. Jack’s Magic Coffee Shop is all a wild conspiracy theory born from the oddly wired brain of some dude in the corner of the internet; until suddenly it’s not.
Factually, it has been staring at everyone since the operation began in 2011, yet no one was willing to believe it. Apparently, Elon Musk is starting to realize what is inside the communication platform he purchased.
For several years, CTH has been outlining the relationship between DHS and social media. Currently, the headlines are filled with stories about Twitter and revelations of censorship and government influence coming from the purchase of the platform by Elon Musk. However, as I said from the outset of this new moment, I promise you things are not what they seem.
As noted earlier, and it is worth repeating, let me put some context to the dynamic that will hopefully clarify what is going on, and perhaps the context will help explain what you are seeing and what you are not seeing as this unfolds. There are going to be a lot of citations to fill in the details, and understanding the modern Fourth Branch of Government is critical. The bigger picture also explains why SSCI Chairman Mark Warner said “people will die” if the seized Trump Mar-a-Lago documents become public.
♦ Elevator Speech: Twitter is to the U.S. government as TikTok is to China. The overarching dynamic is the need to control public perceptions and opinions. DHS has been in ever increasing control of Twitter since the public-private partnership was formed in 2011/2012. Jack Dorsey lost control and became owner emeritus; arguably, Elon Musk had no idea (you’ll see proof toward the end).
To explain the background activity of Twitter in a way that readers could understand, I used the metaphor of Twitter as Jack’s Magic Coffee Shop.
…”The metaphorical Jack had a great idea, open a coffee shop where the beverages were free and use internal advertising as the income subsidy to operate the business. Crowds came for the free coffee, comfy couches, fellowship, conversation and enjoyment.
It didn’t matter where Jack got the coffee, how he paid for it, or didn’t, or what product advertising the customers would be exposed to while there. Few people thought about such things. Curiously, it didn’t matter what size the crowd was; in the backroom of Jack’s Coffee Shop they were able to generate massive amounts of never-ending free coffee at extreme scales.
Over time, using the justification of parking lot capacity and township regulations, not everyone would be able to park and enter. Guards were placed at the entrance to pre-screen customers. Some were denied. A debate began.”…
Here’s what happened….
In/around 2011 and 2012 the U.S. Government, Obama administration and the U.S. State Dept., came into Jack’s Coffee Shop and asked him for help.
The govt officials needed to deliver massive amounts of coffee to their allies in Egypt, Libya and the middle east to support the Arab Spring party. Jack told the officials he was willing to help but didn’t have the capacity to deliver on that scale. The officials told Jack not to worry, they would handle that aspect – he just needed to agree to the partnership and let them utilize his business. Jack agreed.
[Note, the timing here is not accidental. The operational agreement happened at the same time DHS was fine tuning the domestic surveillance systems to monitor social media platforms and target political opposition. See The Fourth Branch.]
Over the next several weeks, months and eventually years, Jack watched as hundreds of new employees flooded into the business to facilitate the rapid expansion. Along with a myriad of new faces, new equipment was delivered, and soon Jack found himself looking at heavy industrial equipment erecting large buildings in the back lots of the property. Coffee urns were replaced with massive industrial coffee delivery systems that far exceeded anything Jack ever imagined.
Business was booming, but slowly Jack realized he had lost control. Jack was riding a dragon.
As the years progressed, thousands of new employees moved into the offices of the new buildings and massive pipelines were producing incredible scales of coffee. Jack noted offices of the United Nations Human Rights Commission were now creating unique blends of coffee for international distribution, and the European Commission had an entire suite of specially trained coffee production engineers creating alternate combinations and flavors.
By 2018, Jack had essentially become an “owner emeritus”; his name was on the shingle, but the day-to-day operation of Jack’s Magic Coffee Shop had turned into an industrial park complex.
Jack saw his personal wealth attached to the success of the business, but operationally, his only responsibility was traveling to symposiums and venues where he would stand on stage and wax philosophically about the future of a coffee delivery organization he no longer controlled. Day-to-day operations were now controlled by experts in the scale of massive industrial coffee. Those experts came from the Dept of Homeland Security.
[The Intercept] – […] Behind closed doors, and through pressure on private platforms, the U.S. government has used its power to try to shape online discourse. According to meeting minutes and other records appended to a lawsuit filed by Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, a Republican who is also running for Senate, discussions have ranged from the scale and scope of government intervention in online discourse to the mechanics of streamlining takedown requests for false or intentionally misleading information.
“Platforms have got to get comfortable with gov’t. It’s really interesting how hesitant they remain,” Microsoft executive Matt Masterson, a former DHS official, texted Jen Easterly, a DHS director, in February.
In a March meeting, Laura Dehmlow, an FBI official, warned that the threat of subversive information on social media could undermine support for the U.S. government. Dehmlow, according to notes of the discussion attended by senior executives from Twitter and JPMorgan Chase, stressed that “we need a media infrastructure that is held accountable.” (read more)
To streamline the operational efficiencies as the industrial coffee system grew, direct portals between the Washington DC government offices and Jack’s Magic Coffee Shop were created. Officials no longer needed to travel to the location of Jack’s Coffee Shop in order to operate the valves, mixers, grinders and systems to generate the scale of blends being produced.
Experts could now use direct portals to the facility to operate the coffee production systems remotely, with a limited number of specially trained (FBI) coffee engineers doing the laborious tasks and maintenance at the facility.
The badges were intimidating to Jack who went to sleep every night under the realization he no longer had any clue about how the coffee shop communication business was operating.
[…] The extent to which the DHS initiatives affect Americans’ daily social feeds is unclear. During the 2020 election, the government flagged numerous posts as suspicious, many of which were then taken down, documents cited in the Missouri attorney general’s lawsuit disclosed. And a 2021 report by the Election Integrity Partnership at Stanford University found that of nearly 4,800 flagged items, technology platforms took action on 35 percent — either removing, labeling, or soft-blocking speech, meaning the users were only able to view content after bypassing a warning screen. The research was done “in consultation with CISA,” the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
Prior to the 2020 election, tech companies including Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, Discord, Wikipedia, Microsoft, LinkedIn, and Verizon Media met on a monthly basis with the FBI, CISA, and other government representatives. According to NBC News, the meetings were part of an initiative, still ongoing, between the private sector and government to discuss how firms would handle misinformation during the election. (keep reading)
After several years of increasing distance from the Coffee Shop operation he initially started, eventually Jack decided it was silly to own an industrial coffee delivery system that he didn’t control. So, Jack decided to sell his shingle to someone else.
Enter, Elon Musk.
Billionaire Elon Musk, a man intimately familiar with large industrial systems and government, had been watching the disgruntled visitors to Jack’s Coffee Shop who were no longer permitted to enter. Musk saw an inequity between the amount of coffee that was available, and the scarcity of the coffee amid a community blacklisted by the operational executives and managers of the shop.
With expressions of both interest and fellowship, Mr. Elon Musk told Mr. Jack Dorsey he would take ownership of Jack’s Magic Coffee Shop and remove any discriminatory guards that were now controlling permitted entry. Jack had no aversion to Elon and eventually a deal was brokered.
After the transfer of sale was complete, Mr. Musk fired many of the guards and then set about checking the payroll to identify which group of shop employees were actually involved in the generation of coffee, and which employees were involved in promotion of the industrial coffee delivery system that were no longer needed.
Within this process, Elon Musk begins to discover the complex nature of what, at least at the surface, appeared to be an uncomplicated coffee shop. Why is there a 500-room glass walled office building on the backside of the coffee shop? What is going on in that GEC building that has anything to do with selling domestic coffee?
The sunlight revelations began surfacing a few months ago when someone of reasonably intelligent curiosity finally asked Elon Musk the right question about this direct portal from DHS into the coffee shop. How Mr. Musk replied might surprise you.
You see, the Jack’s Magic Coffee Shop metaphor is evidenced in the Musk response.
Twitter owner Elon Musk has no idea that a DHS portal into the coffee shop existed and what it would be for. WATCH:
To put it in brutally honest terms, the State Dept initially created the partnership between the U.S. government and Twitter (Arab Spring). However, when the operations needed to become domestically centered (post Trump election), another agency stepped in…. The United States Dept of Homeland Security (DHS) is the operating system running in the background of Twitter.
You can debate whether Elon Musk honestly didn’t know all this before purchasing Twitter from his good friend Jack Dorsey, and/or what the scenario of owner/operator motive actually is. Decide for yourself, but with public statements it genuinely looks like Musk didn’t know.
Regardless of foreknowledge, I feel confident the conflicting and odd datapoints only reconcile in one direction. The State Dept started it, but now DHS, via CISA, controls Twitter.
Wittingly or unwittingly (you decide) Elon Musk is now the face of a quasi govt controlled enterprise.
If you concur with my researched assessment, then what you see being released by Elon Musk in the Twitter Files is actually a filtered outcome as a result of this new ownership dynamic.
Put simply, DHS stakeholders, to include the DOJ, FBI and Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), are mitigating any consequential public exposure of their domestic surveillance activity by controlling and feeding Mr. Musk selected information about their prior Twitter operations. DHS is still the ghost in the machine.
TikTok is to Beijing as Twitter is to Washington DC.
The larger objective of U.S. involvement in social media has always been monitoring and surveillance of the public conversation, and then ultimately controlling and influencing public opinion.
Mr. Elon Musk and his team are combing through millions of lines of algorithmic code, trying to find that “fundamental part” that will deliver their own ‘ah-ha’ moment. Until then, we keep watching and smiling…
[…] “Intelligence agencies backed new startups designed to monitor the vast flow of information across social networks to better understand emerging narratives and risks.” [HERE]
Dave Rubin of “The Rubin Report” talks about his secret meeting with Elon Musk at the Twitter HQ where he met with Twitter engineers and learned why the shadow banning issue is far worse than anyone imagined; the performance of Finnish transgender figure skater Minna-Maaria Antikainen; his first person account of how insane the California homeless problem has gotten; why Mayor Suarez’s policies in Miami are luring so many people from California and New York to Florida; White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre proving that the Biden administration seems to put diversity and inclusion above competence; CNN’s Dana Bash reading Rep. Ilhan Omar’s antisemitic remarks to her face while she plays dumb; Dr. Fatima Cody Stanford telling “60 Minutes’” Lesley Stahl that childhood obesity has very little to do with diet and exercise; Kathy Hochul doubling down on firing unvaccinated workers even as a nursing shortage is sparking a call to rehire the fired healthcare workers; Bill Gates now agreeing with critics of the COVID vaccine about it’s limits; Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe being attacked by Pfizer director Jordan Tristan Walker; Jordan Peterson telling Joe Rogan his thoughts on the Davos agenda coming out of the World Economic Forum and why the WEF’s climate change policies could be a disaster for the poor; and much more.
SpaceX is targeting Thursday, January 19 for a Falcon 9 launch of 51 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The instantaneous launch window is at 7:43 a.m. PT. Following stage separation, Falcon 9’s first stage will return to Earth and land on the Of Course I Still Love You droneship stationed in the Pacific Ocean. We will go live ~10 minutes prior to liftoff.
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This is a library of News Events not reported by the Main Stream Media documenting & connecting the dots on How the Obama Marxist Liberal agenda is destroying America
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