Flotsam and Jetsam - A Very Musky Christmas, Lake Loses

Having provoked the FBI into making a statement with the 8th set of Twitter files, Matt Taibbi released at 9th set on Christmas Eve, detailing just how much the FBI, and a whole raft of federal agencies, including the "Other Government Agency," aka the CIA, were demanding that Twitter censor, and just how thin the nexus to foreign actors was. At NYPo, The week in whoppers: The FBI’s ‘misinfo’ disinfo, NBC’s slap at Republicans and more. Scott Johnson at Power Line has Notes on the Twitter Files (9).  “The bottom line? Federal law enforcement asserted primacy over all media distribution, a situation normally only found in tinpot regimes.” At Twitchy,  Matt Tabbai drops new round of #TwitterFiles showing depths of gov’t meddling (‘this is insane’), lays out the tweets top to bottom. At Da Wire, Twitter Was In Contact With Multiple Gov Agencies; Ex-FBI Lawyer Surprised By FBI’s Actions; Feds Sought Action On Foreign Narratives On Ukraine, COVID. Sundance at CTH calls it Twitter Files Release #10 – A Whole of Govt Approach to Control American Speech. Somebody has lost track of the number of releases, and honestly,  I can't blame them. It might just be easier to label them with the day of the release.

Twitter File release #10 is an inflection point, now showing government using multiple social media platforms to target specific people. How much deplatforming and demonetization was done at the request of a government agency? Those questions are where this is going….

Keep in mind, these files are only as they relate to Twitter, yet these files as outlined by Taibbi show government agencies searching platform content using keywords. “They have some folks in the Baltimore field office and at HQ that are just doing keyword searches for violations. This is probably the 10th request I have dealt with in the last 5 days,” Taibbi shares as one example in paragraph 27.

If the FBI (DHS, CIA, ODNI, DoD, DoS) had assigned personnel to do keyword searches on Twitter, it stands to reason they were doing content review on YouTube, Google, Facebook, Instagram and yes, even WordPress-Automattic. Those government agencies then reach out to the platform control officers with instructions on content and account removal. Let that sink in for a moment.

It's important to keep in mind, the FBI and "OGA" weren't just throttling speech on Twitter, they were policing all the US social media in a similar manner. We only know so much about Twitter thanks to Elon Musk buying the evidence. At his Substack, Matt Taibbi has  Notes on a Friday Night "A few delirious reflections at a crazy month's end."

I can’t have been the only person to have struggled psychologically during this time. This is why these Twitter files have been such a balm. This is the reality they stole from us! It’s repulsive, horrifying, and dystopian, a gruesome history of a world run by anti-people, but I’ll take it any day over the vile and insulting facsimile of truth they’ve been selling. Personally, once I saw that these lurid files could be used as a road map back to something like reality — I wasn’t sure until this week — I relaxed for the first time in probably seven or eight years.

Something tells me the coming year is going to be a better one.

Kevin Downey at PJ Media, explains Why You Need to Start Paying Attention to the 'Twitter Files.'

For those of you not following the “Twitter Files” drops, let me catch you up on what I believe are some of the most important parts:The FBI paid Twitter $3.5 million to censor conservatives.

• The FBI pressured Twitter to give them information that would legally require warrants, though they did not have warrants.
• Leading up to the 2020 election, the FBI would eventually hold weekly meetings with Twitter and tell them whose tweets to squelch and which accounts they wanted to be suspended. Almost all were those of conservatives.
• The FBI knew the Hunter Biden laptop story was real, they knew it was coming out — weeks before the 2020 election — and they told Big Tech to expect a “Russian disinformation” drop and squelch the story. That means the FBI corrupted the election to help Joe “totally showered with his daughter, Ashley” Biden.
• There are so many former FBI employees at Twitter that they have their own Slack channel.

A video from Grabien, and posted at Haut Hair,  Musk: Almost all of the conspiracy theories about Twitter turned out to be true. Twitchy, Not the first or LAST time Elon Musk says the quiet part about Twitter conspiracies out loud (watch). At Haut Hair Dave Strom catches Slate: spend Christmas "debunking" family's "conspiracy theories"

As I rather expected, Fox reports Arizona judge rejects Republican Kari Lake's challenge to gubernatorial election, "Lake said Saturday she will appeal the ruling." Basically, short of Katie Hobbs, or one of her co-conspirators making a surprise statement from the witness stand, that "Yes, we did rig the election, and we're proud of it", the judge said there was not enough evidence of intent, despite myriad problems with Arizona's election. Sundance, Arizona Judge Rules Against Kari Lake – Multiple Simultaneous Election Errors and Mistakes, But No Irrefutable Proof of Purposeful Intent. Politico crows Arizona judge rejects Lake's election lawsuit, "The Republican gubernatorial candidate's lawsuit filed Dec. 9 alleged that illegal votes were cast in the Nov. 8 midterm election." 1945, Yes, Many Republicans Are Election Deniers (Blame The Democrats ). At Town Hall, Rachel Alexander thinks The Dismissal of Kari Lake’s Election Lawsuit Shows Voter Disenfranchisement No Longer Matters. At the Conservative Brief, Kari Lake Could Win in Arizona Senate Race, New Poll Shows. Wouldn't that be a kick in the ass

Meanwhile, the liberals continue their sniping at Sinema, at Da Wire citing Da Beast, Alleged 37-Page Staffer Guide For Kyrsten Sinema: ‘It Is Your Job To Make Her As Comfortable As Possible’ "Ethics experts told the publication that the memo could run afoul of Senate ethics rules, which state that “staff are compensated for the purpose of assisting senators in their official legislative and representational duties, and not for the purpose of performing personal or other nonofficial activities for themselves or on behalf of others.”"

At Breitbart, a poll, Poll: One-Third of Biden 2020 Voters Say He Should Not Run Again and Legal Experts Estimate Hunter Biden’s Legal Defense Costs $100K a Month. That has to put a serious dent in his crack budget. 'Bonchie' at Red State, Secret Backchannel Between White House and FTX Operative Revealed, Raises Serious Questions About Biden Involvement. Jerry Christmas@JerryDunleavy, "Sean McElwee had a Slack channel at DataForProgress “that became a rolling convo between McElwee, Biden Admin officials, & some well-known reporters” & “the day after FTX filed for bankruptcy & SBF resigned as CEO, McElwee abruptly shuttered the channel.”"

Sundance, President Trump Delivers a Statement on Congress Making His Tax Returns Public, and Asks for Congress to Immediately Apply Same Standard to Joe Biden. Josh Blackmun at the Volokh Conspiracy wonders Did The Ways & Means Committee Play The Supreme Court On Trump's Tax Returns?

But in the long run, there is another concern: the Supreme Court. Chief Justice Roberts, in particular, may feel played. The Ways & Means Committee insisted that the returns were necessary for a legislative purpose. Then the Committee releases all of the returns, without any explanation for why that disclosure served that legislative purpose. Trump's arguments about pretext look a lot stronger. Wouldn't it have been enough for the Committee to simply request information about how often the returns of Trump, and other Presidents were audited? Why were the specifics of the returns needed?

In the long run, the House will feel the burn. Going forward, the Court may be less likely to give deference to a House Committee seeking to perform oversight of the executive branch. The Ways & Means Committee may have won the battle, but the prognosis for the war looks bleak.

I don't think they were fooled, they just played along. They can make up for it by letting Republicans grab any Democrat tax returns and release them. Start with Hunter's. If they don't, we know they're choosing sides.

At Red State, Mike Miller says WATCH: Stephen A. Smith Warns Left-Wingers DeSantis Isn't Trump, 'Be Careful What You Wish For'

Matt Vespa at Town Hall, Another Key Voting Bloc Is Fleeing the Democratic Party. The working class.

 

Chris Roach at Am Great wonders Are Republicans Still Pro-Military? "It is in some ways a healthy development for one party not to be so closely associated with and uncritical of the military."

Pentagon leadership is at a crossroads. During the Obama and Trump years, it has chosen to look upward for its guidance, seeking favor exclusively with its congressional and bureaucratic patrons, while paying scant attention to the American people and their view of things. This is why the rainbow flags and sex change surgeries for transexuals seem to make sense. Everyone in Washington, D.C., thinks this way, even many of the Republicans, so it is easy to imagine the opposition is only a tiny, atavistic minority of extremists.

But Washington, D.C., is not representative of America. It has become increasingly a distant, wealthy, and haughty Imperial City—the swamp—which has neither connection to nor respect for the American people.

The brass ignore the American people at their peril. The good old boys who used to join the combat arms, often from long family traditions of service, are starting to doubt whether there is any future for them in the woke military. Surveys suggest veterans are less enthusiastic about their children serving than they were only a few years ago. The military is facing recruiting challenges even worse than at the height of the dangers and high operational tempo of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

Nick Arama at Red State reports  Kinzinger Smears MTG Over Jan. 6, Accidentally Exposes Holes in Dem Narrative Against Trump. Adam who?