Category Twitter Releases Curated to protect Gov. Criminals

May 14 2023

Big Picture – Elon Musk Confirms Hiring DEI Advocate Linda Yaccarino as Twitter CEO


Posted originally of the CTH on May 13, 2023 | Sundance 

Twitter platform owner Elon Musk has confirmed the hiring of Linda Yaccarino as CEO of Twitter. Many reactions are happening, but CTH analysis generally likes to stay ahead of the reactions and more into the future of what each datapoint means.  That said, here’s some context.

The general or more common logic, completely understandable, is to look at the hiring of Yaccarino as binary.  Either Musk was previously lying about everything he believed in, or the revenue situation is at a critical mass. Otherwise, it really doesn’t make sense to bring in Linda Yaccarino.

Before going deeper, it is critical to know just how ideological Linda Yaccarino is.  The former head of NBCUniversal is the apex voice in the system of promoting Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) from an advertising perspective.   I’m not talking about a little bit ideological, I mean the full dna-level, metastatic, this is the core essence of what makes Yaccarino believe she has purpose in life.

Changing social culture by leveraging commercial enterprise is Yaccarino’s life work.

Literally Linda Yaccarino believes that advertisers should determine the product being sold. This is not a spoof, exaggeration, hyperbole or a spin on her outlook. Yaccarino believes marketing and advertising executives should be able to control the physical content, the actual stuff, created by the publisher they pay to advertise their product.

A traditional example might be Ford Motor Company telling Motor Trend magazine what positions to place ads for competitors in the auto industry as a contingency for their ad spend.  A modern example might be Disney telling Fox News what content may be discussed by Tucker Carlson.  This is the origin of DEI ideology controlling platform content.

To understand how this mindset applies to Twitter and Elon Musk, watch a few minutes of this previous interview between Yaccarino and Musk at a convention of advertisers. This is an example of how the NBCUniversal executive thinks.  WATCH (prompted):

https://youtube.com/watch?v=ypZNWjPpOuI%3Fstart%3D1386%26feature%3Doembed

You can see in the back and forth, how Musk tries to stick to his core principles about “free speech” while Yaccarino uses terms like “partnership”, “collaboration”, and “mutual benefits” to leverage her advertising team’s agenda.

It is important to understand the views expressed by Musk and Yaccarino are mutually exclusive.  There is no free speech when the advertisers are permitted to determine the content of that speech.  Musk tries to negotiate a nuance, but the core of the dynamic is in conflict.

Any good, stable and even-tempered corporate executive will tell you the marketing team is consistently the least valuable mindset at the corporate table.

Factually, most of the people who fail out of business schools fail down into the humanities dept.  However, sometimes those emotionally driven ideologues simply move into the marketing and advertising fields within the business majors.  The outcome of this truism is Alissa Heinersheid and her destruction of the Bud Light brand through marketing.

Linda Yaccarino is the apex voice in the system that has allowed advertisers to determine content.  She would be the ideal candidate within an organization like Google, but she is oil in the water of Twitter.  So, what gives?

Why would Elon Musk hire Linda Yaccarino as the CEO of Twitter?  We return to the binary issue…. Either Musk really doesn’t believe in what he previously advocated, or Musk has hit a wall of acceptance and generating revenue is now more important than the platform itself?   For the latter, essentially the economics of the thing is determining the outcome of the thing.

There is a third alternative; a less familiar dynamic that has surfaced in the past and does provide a reference.  This is what I call the “ino” hiring process within large institutions and organizations; “ino” stands for In Name Only.

An executive is hired to represent the division/organization, in name only.  They have no actual control, influence or power.  They are simply figureheads installed to create the optics needed for the institution to continue operations.

The ino practice is also visible with ‘diversity hires’.  A person is hired not to drive the mission of the organization, but to deflect opposition away from the achievement of the organizational mission.  However, all ‘in name only’ (ino) hires always end up in the exact same conversation within the organization.

When the ino realizes they are essentially irrelevant to the function of the organization, that means their opinions and recommendations are never part of the organizational outcome, there is always a conversation with the following words: “then why did you hire me?”  This conversation always happens, it is the one constant in an ever-changing business world.

So, there’s three basic dynamics:

Elon Musk was not as committed to ‘Free Speech’ as he originally defined it.

Priorities have changed and now Revenue is more vital than Free Speech.

Musk is still committed but needs to create the illusion of DEI acceptance.

In considering the last element, Mrs. Yaccarino does not present herself as an ino-person who will accept a position and then not deliver on the intent of her mission.

So, what does this tell us about the future of Twitter content?

I think we all know the answer….

~ This just happened today ~

WHY?

Because the now-restricted Twitter Account created THIS:

The CNN Town Hall Massacre

Posted in 1st Amendment, Big Tech, Cultural Marxism, Culture, Deep State, Joe Biden, Uncategorized

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Apr 24 2023

Twitter Corruption Went Deeper Than We Thought


Armstrong Economics Blog/Corruption Re-Posted Apr 24, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

We knew Twitter was corrupt before the Musk takeover. We knew that Twitter had verified fact-checkers and the ability to de-platform individuals of power, such as then-President Trump. Yet, this piece of information has been swept under the rug. The government had backdoor access to view every user’s private messages. All of them!

“The degree to which government agencies effectively had full access to everything that was going on on Twitter blew my mind,” Musk told Tucker Carlson. Every government official and head of state uses Twitter from around the world. Twitter emerged as the favored platform for leaders to speak directly to the public in real-time. Musk also highlighted the dangers of AI in that interview, which is an important topic for another day.

Musk received backlash for labeling organizations as “state-affiliated” and later changed them to “government funded.” National Public Radio deleted their account after Musk declared they were “state-affiliated,” and Canadian Broadcasting Corp. and Swedish public radio also halted their accounts. Verified accounts with the blue checkmarks are only verified by supplementing a phone number. The blue checkmarks began 14 years ago when Twitter aimed to verify that accounts were real. However, they quickly became a status symbol for politicians, celebrities, activists, and journalists where their Tweets were seen as “real news” since that little blue checkmark indicated they were someone important. Some balked at paying fees for the verification, such as basketball star LeBron James, and Musk said he was personally paying for LeBron’s blue checkmark to stifle his tantrum. There are a slew of imposter accounts online now, but maybe, just maybe, people can do their own fact-checking instead of relying on what a government-funded organization says is true.

I do not think we realize how big of a hit the loss of Twitter was for intelligence agencies. EVERY politician and world leader is on there. We’ve seen how careless these politicians are with online safety (see: Hillary Clinton), and I have no doubt many used the platform to send what they thought were secretive messages.

Apr 20 2023

The Bloom Is Off The Ruse – President Trump Gains Ten More Florida Republican Congressional Endorsements, DeSantis Has One – Rep Greg Steube Explains Why


Posted originally on the CTH on April 19, 2023 | Sundance 

Another three endorsements for President Trump today from the Florida congressional delegation, bringing the total so far to ten with more anticipated.  Meanwhile, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is in Washington DC seeking support.  DeSantis is warmly greeted, but President Trump gets the endorsements.  What’s going on?

Republican Congressman Greg Steube gives an explanation below about the Ron DeSantis Floridians know, but nationally most do not.

DeSantis is an out-of-touch aloof persona, who generally projects himself as better than others.  In person he projects an arrogance and condescending personality trait also carried by his insta-selfie supporters and ‘influencers.’ It comes through the camera lens.  Everything constructed around DeSantis is fake, even the fake blue-collar handshakes that have to be photo-shopped to give a common man impression.

The donors are pouring in hundreds of millions to pay for the fake DeSantis constructs, Top Gov brand imaging and Madison Avenue illusions, but you cannot purchase authenticity, and you cannot rewrite the history of who DeSantis is.  Greg Steube explains:

[I]n a brief interview last night [Steube noted] that DeSantis has never once reached out to him during his five years in Congress nor replied to his multiple attempts to connect. He recalled a recent news conference dealing with damage from Hurricane Ian where the governor’s aides initially invited him to stand alongside DeSantis, only to tell him that he wouldn’t be part of the event when he showed up.

Trump, on the other hand, was the first person Steube remembers calling him in the ICU to wish him well after he was injured in a January tree-trimming accident. “To this day I have not heard from Gov. DeSantis,” he said.

Things suddenly changed last week, Steube said, as Trump started rolling out his Florida congressional backers. ”For the first time ever, I hear from DeSantis’s political person,” he said, referring to aide RYAN TYSON, who reportedly contacted other Florida Republicans about their endorsements.

For Steube, the outreach was too little, too late. And he continues to have sharp words for DeSantis, criticizing him for his robust political travel schedule amid a busy legislative session and just months after winning a new four-year term.  “Floridians want him focused on Florida,” he said, “which is the job they elected him to do.” (read the entire article)

Like I said last year, once people get to see Ron DeSantis up close, his disdain for people just jumps out at you.  He loves standing at the podium telling you what’s wrong with you, and what is brilliant about himself; however, he just doesn’t like people in an authentic or natural way you would expect from executive leadership.

The same disconnected snobbery applies to everyone his team has recruited.

Ken Cuccinelli and Jeff Roe are two of the biggest self-important jackasses in national politics. They don’t carry an ounce of humility or introspection.  They are always right, and the problem is it just takes too long for everyone to come around to admitting how great they are.  This is the character of DeSantis that flows through everyone he associates with.  Here’s an example from one of the ‘influencers” a few days ago.

This Twitter account is connected to both Representative Thomas Massie and DeSantis campaign official Christina Pushaw:

That tweet encapsulates the worldview of the average Ron DeSantis supporter in Florida.

This is why the overwhelming majority of the Florida Republican delegation, will not endorse him.  These outlooks are toxic and elitist.  Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis did not wear elbow length silk gloves at the noon-time inauguration day event accidentally.  Casey already went shopping with Cindy McCain and has her 2024 tiara picked out.

As I keep saying, there are not enough people who take Instagram pictures of their lunches to make Ron DeSantis a viable candidate. The polo club, cocktail party circuit of people who eat crustless triangle cucumber sandwiches and look down their noses at everyone else, is just not a large enough coalition to win DeSantis the nomination.  It means he will have more money; however, factually, the professional donor class is annoying with the level of self-righteousness and condescension they promote.

WASHINGTON DC – […] In yet another blow to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s not-yet-official presidential bid, two more Republican members of Congress from his own state are gearing to endorse Donald Trump for another term. Reps. Gus Bilirakis and Carlos Gimenez are each planning to announce their support for the former president this week, multiple sources familiar with the matter tell TIME.

Their pledges continue something of a downward spiral for DeSantis, who has been steadily losing ground in the endorsement battle for legislators from his own backyard. The development is even more noteworthy after his political team recently tried to stop the bleeding by asking Florida Republicans to refrain from endorsing Trump.

Bilirakis and Gimenez have also committed to be at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach on Thursday night, as the former President hosts members of the Florida delegation who have already endorsed him, including Reps. Matt Gaetz, Anna Paulina Luna, Cory Mills, and Greg Steube. It’s not clear yet whether Reps. Byron Donalds and John Rutherford, who have also endorsed Trump, will be at the gathering.

Neither Bilirakis nor Gimenez responded to requests for comment. Rep. Brian Mast, another Florida Republican, has also told associates he plans to formally back Trump in the coming days. And on Wednesday, Rep. Vern Buchanan officially thew his weight behind Trump. TIME reported last week that Buchanan was planning to endorse Trump in the coming days.

All of their endorsements will bring Trump’s tally of members of Congress from Florida to ten, whereas DeSantis has just one, Rep. Laurel Lee, who announced her support for the governor on Tuesday. Before winning her House seat last year, Lee served as DeSantis’s first Secretary of State. (read more)

Lance Gooden (R-TX) – “Today, after careful consideration and a positive meeting with Governor DeSantis, I have decided to endorse President @realDonaldTrump for 2024.”

Rolling Stone – […] “Over the past few years, the Florida governor has risen to Trump’s top internal rival without even declaring his candidacy. And part of that rise has been fueled by his pull with the GOP’s megadonor class, who prefer him to Trump because, while he brings a similar set of MAGAfied policies, he has not, to date, attempted a coup. That wellspring of financial support has been instrumental in fueling his rise, but the investments are predicated in large part on a belief that he can take down Donald.

That belief seems to be wavering, as the donor revolt has been brewing since at least last month. And it’s not just skittish donors like Richard Uihlein or Thomas Peterffy, who went public with his complaints last week. Several other top donors to DeSantis were livid about the governor referring to the brutal Russian invasion of Ukraine as a “territorial dispute,” with at least one major donor calling DeSantis to urge a walk-back, a source with knowledge of the outreach and another person briefed on it say. “My understanding is that the message was: ‘If we wanted a fucking MAGA candidate, we would donate to Donald Trump,’” the second source says.

[…] Those polling troubles may be giving some megadonors second thoughts. Sources familiar with Schlitz Brewing heir and shipping titan Richard Uihlein’s thinking told NBC News that the “brakes are pumped” with the megadonor’s DeSantis giving after the governor’s lackluster polling has given some “pause” about his viability.

Other conservatives have taken to predicting that DeSantis is potentially the second coming of Scott Walker, another Republican governor and conservative-media darling who many thought would be the favored candidate in a presidential primary — only to flame out before any ballots were cast. (read more)

Apr 19 2023

Is Elon Musk Doing Damage Control Using Tucker Carlson Interview?


Posted originally on the CTH on April 18, 2023 | Sundance

I write the headline in the form of a question but in reality, all of the data points in one direction, yes.

If I am going to be brutally honest, this Elon Musk scenario is like the August 2022 review when it became obvious all of the DeSantis 2024 data only reconciled in one direction.  In many ways, Musk is to social media interests as DeSantis is to DC UniParty interests.

More than half the readers here have picked up on the clues and cues showing Musk has a very real motive to position himself in the best light possible given the situation that surrounds him.  Unfortunately, that position creates conflicts between ideals (what’s possible) and reality (what limits surround one’s ability).  Musk is riding a tiger, and the intelligence community ring masters control the beast.

The damage control motive is a few layers deep.  However, one of the recent events that would lead to Musk’s public need for brand image protection comes from the situation with Matt Taibbi:

…”When we got into the Files, we were caught off guard. The content-policing system was more elaborate and organized than any of us imagined. A communications highway had been built linking the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence with Twitter, Facebook, Google, and a slew of other platforms. Among other things this looked more like a cartel than a competitive media landscape, and I had an uneasy feeling early on that publicizing this arrangement might create a host of unanticipated problems for everyone involved. Still, there was no question this was in the public interest. So we kept going.”  (more)  ~ Matt Taibbi

On the issue of Twitter File access and personal motivation, Taibbi’s best financial and short-term professional interests would be served most by retaining a positive relationship with Musk/Twitter.  The fact that Taibbi would turn away from the lucrative interests, says something positive about his compass heading.

Accepting the COVID-19 files were never released, what some have called the Fauci files, and accepting the revelations within the filtered internal documents stopped abruptly, we can consider that ‘stakeholder’ interests became more consequential as the outside peering gained depth.  Likely the core of the platform, which we now know is based on a U.S Government intelligence relationship, needed a protective boundary.

When you overlay the reality that all of Elon Musk’s ventures are dependent on the same USG for viability, the vulnerability & motive to shape outcomes (via messaging) is stark.  Tesla, SpaceX, Star Link and all of Musk’s endeavors are intertwined with government approvals, authorizations and operations.  Control of the Twitter platform as a tool for public opinion is in alignment with those same Big Gov interests.

Another core issue that should be the focus of attention, a string that can unravel the gordian knot, is the financial mechanisms of Twitter.

As a business model, Twitter never made any sense.  That’s the obvious answer why no other Tech business ever made an effort to absorb or merge it.

When you overlay the government activity, then overlay the financial value to the government for the access and control that everyone now admits was in place, the Occam’s Razor of financial operations would indicate some form of government subsidy (direct or indirect) along with some form of financial funding (again, direct or indirect) was in the background of the platform.

As CTH has said for several years, a financial agreement in the background of Jack’s Magic Coffee Shop just made sense.  The platform held/holds a value to the U.S. govt, so a subsidy in operations for sustainability of the influence seemed obviously motivated.

While there are some important datapoints showing Musk trying to take steps to make Twitter a viable business without govt support (80% staffing reductions, monthly fees for premium content, etc.) the prior financial relationship is almost certainly still in place.  The internal operations, the preestablished public-private partnership, at the core of the platform also appears to retain the same general executive operators as before the takeover.

Again, I go back to Twitter File Release #8 – […] “The United States intelligence apparatus was/is actively using and working with the Twitter platform to align with U.S. government interests.  The govt was coordinating, instructing, assisting and benefitting from the relationship.  Pro govt positions were amplified, and information adverse to the interests of the Pentagon and State Dept was removed, hidden, throttled.

Unfortunately, as admitted by Twitter File #8 Author Lee Fang, a writer for The intercept, “The searches were carried out by a Twitter attorney, so what I saw could be limited.” There is no ‘could be‘ in that statement.  The searches were limited, specifically time limited putting all of the scrutiny on the timeline when Donald Trump was in office.

CTH has no vested interest in this pretending nonsense.  We all know, hell, its public record, the use of Twitter and Facebook as a tool to advance U.S. foreign policy began during the Obama administration.  There are dozens of mainstream press accounts of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton reaching out to Twitter and Facebook for support during the ’11/’12 Arab Spring.   This is not controversial, it happened.

However, the current release uses a carefully applied time filter only showing DoD and DoS use of the platform (to assist foreign policy) starting in 2017, when President Trump took office.  This is intentional.  The origin of the practice starts with Barack Obama. (more)

Twitter file release #8 was curated, fullstop!

That curation reality is empirical within the data itself.  That acceptance stands as a solid foundation to recognize that all of the releases are filtered and curated to protect certain levels of interest.  And within that larger truth we discover the reason why the government sponsored COVID-19 operations were never fully revealed.

Just as AG Bill Barr was shown to be mitigating damage that could come from the American public discovering that Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches of government all collaborated in the Trump-Russia fabrication, presumably Barr motivated to save the country from the reality within the scale of corruption, so too does the network around Elon Musk hold a similar motive.

You put all this together and the sheer weight of it indicates Elon Musk appeared on the Tucker Carlson broadcast to shape public opinion favorably away from the reality of what the real Twitter story reveals.  Government control is even bigger than general public understanding.  Elon Musk was/is doing damage control.

Outhouse Counsel – “He voted for the cabal behind Obama, Clinton, and Biden. Not Biden. He placated the low-info left audience with his Democrat “credentials”, impressed the hopeful with the sincerity of his little nonsequitorious “admissions”, and then sought to appease the appalled on the right with another “admission” that he’s not happy with Biden and why can’t we have a common-sense moderate middle. He then frosted this cake with humble sweetener that was designed to reinforce his naivety in certain areas; the posturing that when he bought Twitter he really didn’t understand the EXTENT of the government infiltration.

And he did this over and over again, gently saying rather alarming things quietly and in a way that could be taken multiple ways because they were tempered by seemingly guileless admissions, hopeful commentary, and witty self-deprecation (he was fooled by erstwhile competitor google/Ai founder , he sheepishly shrugs at his losing money by buying during bad timing, he fired employees from “Twitter” but he’s also implicitly a victim of those who voluntarily left but no mention of who now works for X Corp…)

He is a genius at more than computer coding. Please don’t fall for it.”

There are trillions at stake… 

Apr 18 2023

Tucker Carlson Interview With Elon Musk – Full Interview as Broadcast


Posted originally on the CTH on April 17, 2023 | Sundance

A very interesting interview conducted by Fox News host Tucker Carlson with billionaire entrepreneur, CEO and owner/operator of Twitter, Elon Musk.   The interview is interesting on a variety of subjects, specifically artificial intelligence, public speech, government control of the public information networks and the broad picture of freedom in a digital era.

The interview is extensive and provided below in multiple parts.  The first part discusses the big picture issue of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the potential of AI to disrupt society through the control of public opinions and perceptions of reality.  WATCH:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=a2ZBEC16yH4%3Ffeature%3Doembed

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The second segment continues discussing AI, more philosophical aspects of what defines humanity, and then the conversation transitions to the issue of government control within the Twitter social media platform that Musk now owns.

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Part Three:

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Part Four:

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Apr 9 2023

Elon Musk Calls Matt Taibbi a Liar – Substack CEO Responds, Defending Taibbi


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.

(Source)

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.

“Jack’s Magic Coffee Shop”… Just sayin’…

Apr 8 2023

Elon Musk’s Twitter Platform Blocks Substack Content from Distribution, Matt Taibbi Departs Twitter Leaving Access to Investigative Files Behind


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:

Apr 4 2023

Masks Now Embedded in Japanese Culture


Armstrong Economics Blog/Disease Re-Posted Apr 4, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

Comment: You know, mask wearing in japan was officially ended 5 weeks ago. And there has been no change of practice whatsoever. Mask wearing continues at close to 100pct.

Especially among young people mask wearing seems to be here to stay, possibly forever. Somewhere a psychologist will write a book about this phenomenon. Never in my life could I have imagine that the great nation of japan would adopt this practice like people wearing shoes. People driving in their cars on their own are wearing masks for god Sake. Mask wearing is now the primary method of signaling that the wearer is careful, thoughtful and considerate of others.

Reply: The pandemic will go down as the greatest mass social experiment in history. Face masks have become an everyday essential item for most Japanese. Implementing the face mask mandate was seamless in Japan as masks for allergies and disease were already commonplace. Mask sales rose during flu outbreaks years before COVID, especially in high-density cities. Some people wore masks as a fashion accessory or to limit approachability in social interactions. A 2011 poll from News Post Seven found that 30% of those who wore masks did not cite health concerns.

It took three years, but the Japanese government no longer mandates masks. Yet, it has become embedded in the culture. The Japanese culture values respecting one’s community. The government has never admitted that masks did not prevent the spread of COVID in a meaningful way. Instead, politicians continue to wear masks at public appearances, and the prime minister is encouraging people to continue wearing masks around vulnerable individuals. “We are not forcing anyone to wear it or take it off,” Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters after the mandate ended. “I think there will be more occasions when I will take my mask off.” It is now seen as a respectful gesture for one’s neighbor.

Research institute Laibo conducted a study in February to determine why people are choosing to stay masked. Only 5.5% of 561 respondents said they would not wear a mask. Over half (50.2%) said that wearing a mask simply became a habit, while most (53.4%) said they are still afraid of catching the coronavirus. About 27.8% of respondents said they will wear their masks “unconditionally.”

Masks may have become a cultural norm in Japan. Everyone should have the ability to act on their own free will, but I suspect many feel the need to conform. The studies citing the ineffectiveness of mask usage have been swept under the rug. As the original commenter stated, masks now signal that the wearer is considerate of others. If only the government would come out and let the people know it is safe for both them and their neighbors to breathe in the air.

Mar 27 2023

Sunday Talks – Matt Taibbi Discusses the Twitter Files and TikTok Hypocrisy


Posted originally on the CTH on March 26, 2023 | Sundance

Independent journalist Matt Taibbi appears on Fox News with Maria Bartiromo to discuss the current U.S. position on social media platform TikTok and the larger issues with government censorship and control as he has outlined within the ‘Twitter Files.’

Readers and observers should note how Council on Foreign Relations member Ms. Bartiromo again introduces the TikTok narrative around the ability of the Chinese government to request user data from TikTok, while Ms. Bartiromo seemingly ignores the U.S. surveillance policy that grants DOJ/FBI officials identical access to user data from Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Google, Apple, etc.

However, independent thinking Matt Taibbi does a great job with that question and reminds Ms Bartiromo the Senate Select Committee functions in the USA exactly as she is concerned about the CCP acting in China. [lolol.. Go Matt!]  Bartiromo quickly dodges the point and moves on. WATCH:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=JT4aJ0XaMyU%3Ffeature%3Doembed

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I like Matt Taibbi, even when he was a willfully blind lefty, he was always a curious cat.  Deep State gotta Deep State.  The cause of the “dramatic change” Taibbi notes has a name, it’s called Donald Trump.

Mar 10 2023

Matt Taibbi Releases Twitter File Review #18 – Whole of Government Censorship Approach, Including Senate Intel and Legislative Branch


Posted originally on the CTH on March 9, 2023 | Sundance 

Journalist Matt Taibbi released another Twitter File review today [#18 Available Here] showcasing how the opinion of government interests was pushed toward content censorship regardless of the truth within it.

File #18 release is a walk through all of government interests from COVID-19, Vaccination Compliance and maintenance of the Trump-Russia narrative.

I strongly suggest everyone to review the citations Taibbi presents from the documents contained within Twitter’s internal communication.  SEE HERE.

One aspect that draws particular interest to those who spent years deconstructing the false Trump-Russia narrative, appears in the section beginning in Tweet #34 where Taibbi again visits the influence of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI).

At the epicenter of the SSCI effort we have always found then Vice-Chair Mark Warner manipulating events. Taibbi pulls this thread a little further with his review of how the SSCI contracted with outside government agencies to maintain the false premise of Russian interference in the 2016 election. A name that might be familiar to those who read the SSCI report on “Russian Active Measures and Disinformation in the 2016 Campaign” might be familiar to you.  Taibbi notes:

Profiles portray [Renee] DiResta as a warrior against Russian bots and misinformation, but reporters never inquire about work with DARPA, GEC, and other agencies. In the video below from @MikeBenzCyber, Stamos introduces [Renee DiResta] as having “worked for the CIA.”

DiResta has become the public face of the Censorship-Industrial Complex, a name promoted everywhere as an unquestioned authority on truth, fact, and Internet hygiene, even though her former firm, New Knowledge, has been embroiled in two major disinformation scandals.

This, ultimately, is the most serious problem with the Censorship-Industrial Complex. Packaged as a bulwark against lies and falsehood, it is itself often a major source of disinformation, with American taxpayers funding their own estrangement from reality.

DiResta’s New Knowledge helped design the Hamilton 68 project exposed in the #TwitterFiles. Although it claimed to track “Russian influence,” Hamilton really followed Americans like “Ultra Maga Dog Mom,” “Right2Liberty,” even a British rugby player named Rod Bishop.

On page #3 of the SSCI report, you will note how Renee DiResta was a key player in helping Mark Warner and the Senate Intel Committee to maintain a false narrative against the presidency of Donald Trump. [pdf, page #3 – citation below]:

You can see how the legislative branch, the Senate Intelligence Committee, the same institution that created the weaponized intelligence apparatus where they held oversight, subcontracted the Trump-Russia evidence finding to partners of the intelligence community.  This is a symbiotic relationship.

Taibbi is on the right trail in following the SSCI and HPSCI manipulation of the social media platforms, specifically Twitter.  In addition to the SSCI creating the structure that supports the intelligence weaponization by DHS and FBI, Senate Intel Chair Richard Burr and then Senate Intel Vice-Chair Mark Warner are at the epicenter of it.

Read Full Taibbi Outline Here