By all outward appearances the acquisition of the Twitter social media platform by billionaire Elon Musk looks like it is going through.

According to bank filings and financial transfer documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal {link}, the process to finalize the purchase is taking place.  Meanwhile Mr. Musk used the platform to notify Twitter advertiser of his intent in the purchase {link}:

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According to a released article in Time Magazine, Twitter employees have drafted a letter containing several ‘demands.’ In addition to demanding they are not fired, they demand assurances against discrimination for their political beliefs.

(TIME) […] TIME reviewed a draft of the open letter circulating among Twitter employees on Monday. “Elon Musk’s plan to lay off 75% of Twitter workers will hurt Twitter’s ability to serve the public conversation,” said the draft of the letter, which has not yet been published. “A threat of this magnitude is reckless, undermines our users’ and customers’ trust in our platform, and is a transparent act of worker intimidation.”

The letter demands that Musk commits to preserving Twitter’s current headcount if his takeover of the company goes through. It also demands he does not discriminate against employees based on their political beliefs and that he commits to “fair” severance policies and more communication about working conditions. “We demand to be treated with dignity, and to not be treated as mere pawns in a game played by billionaires,” the list of demands says. (read letter here)

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Whenever we begin to evaluate how the U.S. government may respond to Elon Musk buying out Twitter and changing the dynamic behind Jack’s Magic Coffee Shop, it is always worth remembering a key point.  Elon Musk is not in an adversarial relationship with the U.S. government.  Indeed, almost every Musk venture is tied into the matrix of multiple government institutions.

That said, only Elon Musk knows the full intent of his objective to utilize Twitter and his larger aspirations to open information systems to all people (Iran example).

Having listened to a lot of Musk’s explanations for his endeavors, I’ve yet to nail down how his statements mesh with the public-private partnership that forms the baseline of revenue for his various engagements.

The Washington Post is reporting that Musk may RIF (reduction in force) to 75% of Twitter employees.  “Elon Musk told prospective investors in his deal to buy the company that he planned to get rid of nearly 75 percent of Twitter’s 7,500 workers, whittling the company down to a skeleton staff of just over 2,000.” {link}

(WaPo) […] On Thursday evening, Twitter’s top lawyer Sean Edgett sent out a note to all employees saying the company did not have any confirmation from Musk about his plans. Twitter’s own, smaller-scale “cost savings discussions” were put on hold once the merger agreement was signed, Edgett said, according to an email viewed by The Post.

In internal Slack groups, Twitter employees reacted to the news with anger and resignation, supporting each other and making jokes about the turmoil of the past few months, according to people familiar with the conversations.

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Cultural Marxism is the modern philosophy to advance political correctness toward the agenda of social change.  Creating fear around speech is a technique for controlling what people are permitted to say and ultimately think.  Cultural Marxism is the merging of political correctness with advanced social pressures, including from the Big Tech social media platforms, from the political left to stop and shun any speech they disagree with.

One of the common ways to understand this is to realize that speech the leftists disagree with, they label as ‘violence’.  However, actual violence that supports the leftist agenda is labeled as speech.  Cultural Marxism is the twisting of words and control of language to advance a far-left agenda.

In part of his monologue tonight, Fox News host Tucker Carlson uses the example of Elon Musk and Twitter to highlight the threat they perceive from the possibility of an open public discussion. {Direct Rumble Link} – WATCH:

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When it rains, it pours.

At the same time as Hurricane Ian decided to make life a challenge for Southwest Florida residents, the PayPal controversy erupted that blindsided the Treehouse.

As most of you know PayPal has been the primary processor for financial contributions to the Treehouse to help pay for a wide variety of site costs including server hosting, data processing and container costs, proprietary commenting systems, site engineers, software licensing fees etc.

As it directly relates to our conversation CTH has never had an issue with PayPal, even during our site deplatforming from WordPress/Automatic.  However, that said, the initial terms of service changes that PayPal announced, then retracted, that begin November 1st was beyond ridiculous.  It is not surprising that everyone was shocked at the proposed change in terms, and many want an alternative.

Moving forward, the critical issue for CTH extends beyond the actual processing of financial support and into the sphere of privacy.  One of the reasons CTH costs so much to operate is the foundational stance we take on user engagement and privacy; it’s not something I can ever, or will ever, compromise upon.

Almost all funded websites contract payment and subscription services to third party providers.  CTH does not like the security window this approach creates.  If we need to switch financial processors, now is the time to use this opportunity to close any security vulnerability.

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Rumble CEO @Chris Pavlovski and Rumble Video Creator @SteveWilldoit stepped up in a major way to help survivors of Hurricane Ian today by sending a convoy of 12 travel trailers and generators into Southwest Florida to support a dozen displaced families.  This is a blessed contribution to the recovery effort.

The convoy traveled to Fort Myers where they will be transferred to a dozen families who have lost their homes, providing a temporary housing solution that is much needed.  Just an awesome job by the Rumble Video company and a content creator for the platform.

Thousands of people are displaced from their homes in Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Pine Island, Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel Island.  There isn’t an empty hotel room within 100 miles of Lee County as families struggle to find housing.

There are tents set up in parking lots in the South Fort Myers area as temporary shelters for those unable to find alternative housing.  This type of private sector support is very much needed and appreciated.  Rumble is headquartered in Longboat Key Florida, and CEO Chris Pavlovski extends his belief in civic stewardship with generous support for those families most severely impacted by the recent storm.  Awesome Job.  #FloridaStrong

Video of the convoy arriving, below:

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It seems that “voting with your feet” (this time electronically) still works. PayPal, which had announced new “legal agreements” earlier this month, is backing down.

That sounds like gaslighting to someone who works with corporate attorneys.

Every single word and punctuation mark is approved by legal and corporate before release. “Never intended to be inserted” isn’t a thing.

— Robert Rand (@robertwrand) October 8, 2022

The new agreement, which would have taken effect in early November, attempted to control free speech by its clients. It has since been removed from the PayPal website, but as reported by The Daily Wire:

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The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in favor of the U.S. Dept of Justice, National Security Division, and blocked the lower court order instructing the Special Master to review the DOJ claimed, “classified documents.” [pdf Ruling Here]

Essentially the order of the appellate court is based on the DOJ calling the material “classified” and “vital to national security”, and the court’s determination they have no authority to question the decision of the executive branch when it comes to matters of national security.

The court (judicial branch) openly states they defer to the DOJ (executive branch) as to any/all claims of harm to national security that may be caused by a review of documents the DOJ-NSD determine, on their own authority, to be identified as classified (sensitive, secret or top-secret).

Therefore, if the DOJ states sharing the “classified documents” with a special master may harm national security, the court must accept that position without challenge.

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If you combine government use of energy policy, government regulation on individuals around that energy policy, and the self-interested need to control political opposition, you discover one of the most effective ways to control human activity is to control their finance.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gave us a great example of that when he weaponized the power of the Canadian government to target the protesting truckers and those who support them.  You might remember Trudeau’s government locked down bank accounts, froze assets, denied loans, blocked mortgages and generally confiscated the wealth and incomes of his political opposition without any due process; all because the people were challenging his totalitarian COVID dictates. {Go Deep}

Take those reference points as an overlay and now consider this undiscussed recent announcement from the Biden administration:

[White House] – President Biden often summarizes his vision for America in one word: Possibilities. A “digital dollar” may seem far-fetched, but modern technology could make it a real possibility.

A United States central bank digital currency (CBDC) would be a digital form of the U.S. dollar. While the U.S. has not yet decided whether it will pursue a CBDC, the U.S. has been closely examining the implications of, and options for, issuing a CBDC. If the U.S. pursued a CBDC, there could be many possible benefits, such as facilitating efficient and low-cost transactions, fostering greater access to the financial system, boosting economic growth, and supporting the continued centrality of the U.S. within the international financial system. However, a U.S. CBDC could also introduce a variety of risks, as it might affect everything ranging from the stability of the financial system to the protection of sensitive data.

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Two journalists surface today with two different aspects to the same big picture story.

First, Julie Kelly notes the DOJ is using social media chat messages as evidence in court against J6 detainees: “DOJ and Big Tech are working seamlessly to excavate private messages and info from deleted accounts to use as incriminating evidence for J6ers.” (link)  Second, Miranda Devine is writing in the New York Post about Facebook spying on private messages to identify people who questioned the outcome of the 2020 election (link)

This ‘surveillance system‘ has been of great interest to CTH for several years, in part because it is a key aspect of the domestic intelligence system now operating as a functioning part of the Fourth Branch of Government.   The overwhelming majority of the investigative resources within the Dept of Homeland Security (DHS) are used in this whole of network monitoring system.

I cannot emphasize the importance of the connections enough.

Surveillance of domestic communication, to include surveillance of all social media platforms, is now the primary mission of DHS.  The information is gathered by social media, funneled by direct portals into the DHS network then distributed to DOJ-NSD and FBI officials as well as the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.   This communication surveillance network is what DHS, created as an outcome of the Patriot Act, is all about.

The four pillars of the Fourth Branch of Government are: DHS, ODNI, DOJ-NSD and the revised/political FBI.  All four pillars were created as an outcome of the Patriot Act. These institutions – as specifically named – represent the domestic surveillance state.  The subsidiary institutions like TSA etc, exist under their authority.  There is no oversight or counterbalance to this system.  The Fourth Branch exists using the shield of “national intelligence” to hide their activity.   Domestic surveillance is done by the intelligence apparatus under one big connected system, operated by the ODNI and DHS.

New York Post – Facebook has been spying on the private messages and data of American users and reporting them to the FBI if they express anti-government or anti-authority sentiments — or question the 2020 election — according to sources within the Department of Justice.

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