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Twitter Files #4 Released, Rules Changed to Target Trump – While Elon Musk Hints COVID Censorship Files Are Forthcoming

The fourth installment of the Twitter Files release dropped yesterday evening as presented by Michael Shellenberger [SEE HERE].  Overall, the Shellenberger angle covers the conversation within Twitter to block the communication and information from President Donald Trump.

Essentially, the executive filtration team in control of Twitter content was looking for ways to stop Donald Trump from using the platform and they modified all existing rules and moderation guidelines to target and censor President Trump.

[Read Twitter File Release #4 HERE]

One of the ways they justified their action was to infer motive for any content that President Trump provided through his Twitter account. “Ultimately on January 8, 2021, Twitter says its ban is based on “specifically how [Trump’s tweets] are being received & interpreted.””  The Twitter executives decided to reach their end goal of shutting down Trump’s voice, the way his message could be interpreted was their best justification.

Twitter File #4 walks through the internal conversation at Twitter in early January 2021, but again heavily redacts the specifics of who was participating in many of the conversations.  Also missing is any contact by government officials or representatives of the Biden team as the transition period was ongoing.  Given the nature of the previous contacts from the Biden campaign, the absence of communication from the transition period in Twitter File #4 release is stark.

Three other interesting Twitter developments below.

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Twitter Files Release #3 – The Pre-Election Monitoring, Filtering and Control of Public Discussion Including Donald Trump

Twitter File Release #3 come from Matt Taibbi – SEE HERE – and includes a review of some internal documents and internal communication in the lead up to the 2020 election.

As noted by Taibbi, “as the election approached, senior executives – perhaps under pressure from federal agencies, with whom they met more as time progressed – increasingly struggled with rules and began to speak of “vios” as pretexts to do what they’d likely have done anyway.”

“Vios” is a short-hand term for violations.

Internal Slacks, communication chats within the organization, show Twitter executives discussing various relationships with federal agencies, specifically the Dept of Homeland Security (DHS), various elements of the FBI and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, ODNI.  Twitter’s main censor Yoel Roth plays a key role in the discussion.  Mr. Roth organized many of the communication chats that surrounded the election.

The slacks (communication chats) contain channels to create sub-sets of topics with smaller groups of internal officers assembled to prioritize the discussion.

The reports being cited by Taibbi are, “based on searches for docs linked to prominent executives, whose names are already public. They include Roth, former trust and policy chief Vijaya Gadde, and recently plank-walked Deputy General Counsel (and former top FBI lawyer) Jim Baker.” … “On October 8th, 2020, executives opened a channel called “us2020_xfn_enforcement.” Through J6, this would be home for discussions about election-related removals, especially ones that involved “high-profile” accounts (often called “VITs” or “Very Important Tweeters”).”

There was internal discussion about how they should describe their contact with federal agencies who were involved in the process of filtering the public discussion.  Essentially, what were these Twitter executives going to say about how they are coordinating with DHS, FBI and ODNI?  Policy Director Nick Pickles, eventually led a discussion to label the government contacts in the generalized term “partnerships.”

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Latest Release of Twitter Files Highlight the Mechanics of Controlling Platform Information, With Former U.S. Intel Officials

The latest release of information behind the controversial “Twitter Files”, comes from Bari Weiss complete with the strategic promotion of a new website [The Free Press] launching via the booster provided by their access to the internal Twitter documents.

Curiously intelligent people will note the Weiss website is structured to support the 2024 presidential bid of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is, not coincidentally, riding atop a multi-staged booster guided by Elon Musk and fueled by Wall Street billionaires.

For the moment, just note and I digress – but please do not miss the connections.

As noted by the former New York Times journalist, Ms. Weiss states, “the [website] authors have broad and expanding access to Twitter’s files. The only condition we agreed to was that the material would first be published on Twitter.”  You can read the entire Twitter Thread Here, and with that, we look at what the current narrative consists of.

Overall, the story as released walks through the process that Twitter used to control users and as a consequence control the flow of information on the platform.  Accounts were subject to restrictions, manipulations and other inorganic engagement controls depending on the ideology of the content being provided.

Twitter had teams set up to attach limiting flags within the Twitter platform that would essentially hide content the platform control officers did not want to see reaching a wider audience. As noted by Twitter employees Weiss writes, “we control visibility quite a bit. And we control the amplification of your content quite a bit. And normal people do not know how much we do,” one Twitter engineer told us. Two additional Twitter employees confirmed.”

What I find interesting is in segment/tweet #12 where Ms. Weiss reveals the existence of the top tier of Twitter control officers.  “The group that decided whether to limit the reach of certain users was the Strategic Response Team – Global Escalation Team, or SRT-GET. It often handled up to 200 “cases” a day.”

I find it curious that Ms Bari Weiss mentioned several names in her expose’ yet failed to mention the name or curriculum vitae of the head for the Strategic Response Team, a fellow named Jeff Carlton.

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Elon and Jack Talk Shop – Musk Says “Data May Have Been Deleted”

Jack, who never had control, says just release everything without filter.

Elon says stuff might have been hidden from you too, and some stuff deleted:

(Source)

Knowing the background of Jack’s Magic Coffee Shop

Obvious question… Hey fellas, who was doing the hiding and deleting?

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Elon Musk Fires Twitter General Counsel James Baker for Manipulating and Filtering Twitter File Release – “His explanation was unconvincing”

Yesterday, we speculated publicly the first set of “Twitter Files” released was heavily pre-filtered by internal stakeholders connected to DHS who hold a vested interest in controlling any evidence of Twitter’s former political activity.

Knowing there are multiple executives remaining within the company who previously aligned with the intents of government, specifically DHS officials, to control the platform, the prediction was not a stretch. Indeed, it just made common sense.

Former FBI Chief Legal Counsel James Baker, a man of notoriously corrupt disposition, was one of those former government officials who started working for Twitter as general counsel.  James Baker (pictured below left) working as a government mechanism for filtration of damaging information was not a leap. Again, just common sense.

Today, as an outcome of internal discoveries that indeed Jim Baker did prefilter internal documents in order to mitigate sunlight and exposure [outline here], Twitter CEO Elon Musk fired legal counsel James Baker.

Mr Musk said through his Twitter account, “In light of concerns about Baker’s possible role in suppression of information important to the public dialogue, he was exited from Twitter today.”  Mr. Musk followed up a question about James Baker being asked to explain himself by saying, “His explanation was …unconvincing.”

Matt Taibbi provides the context:

Taibbi – On Friday, the first installment of the Twitter files was published here. We expected to publish more over the weekend. Many wondered why there was a delay.

We can now tell you part of the reason why. On Tuesday, Twitter Deputy General Counsel (and former FBI General Counsel) Jim Baker was fired. Among the reasons? Vetting the first batch of “Twitter Files” – without knowledge of new management.

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Tucker Carlson Discusses the Twitter Political Censorship and Targeting with James Woods

A former target of the Twitter speech police, actor James Woods, calls in to the Tucker Carlson broadcast tonight after the release of the Twitter files. {Direct Rumble Link}

Mr. Woods gives his first reaction to discovering the Biden campaign and government employees had access to Twitter for content removal.  Mr. Woods states he intends to sue the DNC and Biden Campaign for his personal targeting as outlined by the Twitter document release.  WATCH:

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Twitter CEO Elon Musk Says He Will Publicly Reveal Twitter’s “Files on Free Speech,” and Implies Coordination with Government

CTH has not visited the various Twitter stories recently, quite frankly because we are ambivalent to them.  It just seems illogical for Elon Musk to have purchased Twitter without any idea of what was happening inside Jack’s Magic Coffee Shop, the public-private partnership that structures the operations of the social media company known as Twitter.

That said, some interesting developments recently as media rail against the platform and organized ultra-leftist groups demand advertising boycotts.  Apparently, Apple and Android are threatening to remove the Twitter App and Mr. Musk is doubling down on exposing the matrix of how the U.S. government was working with Twitter toward controlling speech that was against their interests.

This tweet about releasing internal “files” on “speech suppression” follow on the heels of Mr. Musk noting that government involvement in the blocking of speech is very troubling.

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Foreboding Signals Amid Discovery the FBI Can Launch Pegasus Cell Phone Targeting With Appointment of Special Counsel

If you read the article about the “Pegasus Project”, spyware created to infect cell phones that was marketed by Israeli intelligence through a company called NSO {Go Deep Here}, then you essentially know the background.  Pegasus is “no click” targeting spyware that can be deployed against cellular phones, simply by inputting the phone number and transmitting to it.

The Guardian previously reported, “Claudio Guarnieri, who runs Amnesty International’s Security Lab, said once a phone was infected with Pegasus, a client of NSO could in effect take control of a phone, enabling them to extract a person’s messages, calls, photos and emails, secretly activate cameras or microphones, and read the contents of encrypted messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Telegram and Signal.”

Pegasus was deployed to target tens-of-thousands of cell phones by the people who Israel sold the spyware to.  The Guardian, and a group of allied leftists in media, were previously granted access to a leaked batch of 50,000 phone numbers that the Pegasus software was operating in.

In a recent update from the New York Times they stated, “[it] has been used by police and intelligence services to hack the phones of drug kingpins and terrorists, but gained notoriety when it was revealed that governments, like Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Hungary and India, had deployed it against political dissidents, journalists and human rights workers.

It was also recently revealed the U.S. FBI under Director Chris Wray purchased the Pegasus program for “FBI experiments” and “exploration” into how the spyware program could be used domestically.

The FBI was initially reluctant to reveal their ownership of the Pegasus program, however, within FOIA documents related to the potential for domestic surveillance and concerns about fourth amendment constitutional protections, the FBI admitted they retain the capability – but promised it has not been deployed.

(New York Times) – […] The Times revealed in January that the F.B.I. had purchased Pegasus in 2018 and, over the next two years, tested the spyware at a secret facility in New Jersey. Since the bureau first purchased the tool, it has paid approximately $5 million to NSO.

Since that story was published, F.B.I. officials, including Mr. Wray, have gone further than they did during the closed meeting with senators last December. They acknowledged that the bureau did consider deploying Pegasus, though they still emphasized that the F.B.I.’s main goal was to test and evaluate it to assess how adversaries might use it. (read more)

Now, stay with me…

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Senator Rand Paul Questions FBI Director Chris Wray on the Construct of the Domestic Surveillance State

Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) recently questioned FBI Director Chris Wray about the nature of how the FBI is receiving or retrieving surveillance information on domestic U.S. citizens, through the use of social media and electronic data collection.  {Direct Rumble Link}

At the core of the issue is a system created in the last 14 years where private social media companies and the intelligence apparatus, to include the FBI, have formed partnerships in the larger surveillance network.  The fact that FBI Director Chris Wray cannot and will not answer specific questions about the issues, only exemplifies the nature of the issue as it relates to unconstitutional violations of privacy.

There is ample & overwhelming evidence, much of it open-sourced, highlighting how federal law enforcement and social media companies are working together to assemble, filter and investigate data based on a collaborative agreement.  Legal protections for privacy are being destroyed in this assembly of constructs.  WATCH:

Paul:Are you purchasing what is said to be anonymous data through the marketplace and then piercing the anonymous nature to attach individual names to that data?

Wray:I think it’s a more complicated answer than I could give here.”

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Biden DOJ Assigns Special Counsel to Investigate Republicans in Congress and President Trump for Insurrection, Additionally Investigate Trump for DOJ Defined Classified Documents and Obstruction

Okay, first things first.  CTH will not play the pretending game or structure the discussion of the special counsel appointment through the prism of MSM references.  Instead, we will stick to the facts as they are presented, explain the events as they are factually reflected within the actual documents, and avoid the pretending constructs.

DATA Links:  (1) Merrick Garland DOJ Statement on Appointment of Special Counsel ~ (2) pdf of Legal Appointment ~ (3) Statement of Jack Smith upon Appointment ~ (4) Transcript of AG Merrick Garland Public Announcement.

The overarching Lawfare framework has been transparently created by President Obama’s former White House Legal Counsel and current U.S. Asst Attorney General Lisa Monaco.  To wit, earlier this afternoon Joe Biden’s Attorney General, Merrick Garland, announced the appointment of DOJ Attorney Jack Smith as special counsel to investigate two specific areas:

♦ First, to investigate current republican members of congress (House and Senate), former President and current candidate Donald J Trump, former Trump administration officials, former White House staff, and other individuals, groups and organizations for their role in supporting an insurrection on January 6, 2021, against the incoming administration of President-Elect Joe Biden.  In essence, the J6 investigation – with an emphasis on congress – transfers to Special Counsel Jack Smith:

The Special Counsel is authorized to conduct the ongoing investigation into whether any person or entity violated the law in connection with efforts to interfere with the lawful transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election or the certification of the Electoral College vote held on or about January 6, 2021, as well as any matters that arose or might arise directly from this investigation or that are within the scope of [Special Counsel Regulations 28 C.F.R. § 600.4(a)]. (pdf)

This is an extension of the January 6th Committee special investigation that transfers the committee’s investigative findings, ie phone records, text messages, transcripts, emails, prior testimony and all evidentiary records, into the newly appointed Special Counsel.

However, all prior and current DOJ prosecutions against citizen individuals will remain within the control and direction of Main Justice.  This structure frees up Jack Smith to target the new republican controlled congressional members, their staff, families and/or communication network.   Main Justice keeps focus on the citizen insurrectionists, Jack Smith now appointed to go after the public officials.

J6 Committee staff, committee investigators, FBI agents and DOJ lawyers will now transfer from the committee to the special counsel office. Watch. (More on why later)

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