‘Twitter Files’

[GURPS]

The Astounding Saga Of Hamilton 68 Illustrates Scope Of America’s Institutional Rot​

American intelligence operatives have a history of using credulous reporters to spread disinformation for political purposes. (Remember when President Nixon’s team forged cables about John F. Kennedy and tried to get them in Life? Or the fate of Jean Seberg and her baby, thanks in part to COINTELPRO and the Los Angeles Times?) We’ve learned more and more about this in the years after the Cold War, yet elite media outlets eagerly swallow tactical disinformation when it confirms their priors.

The consequence? Self-appointed disinformation police in government and media shape American politics with actual disinformation, crafted specifically to quiet dissent.

New Information​

Given access to Twitter’s internal records by new CEO Elon Musk, Taibbi pulled the company’s communications surrounding Hamilton 68 and reported his findings last Friday. The project styled itself as a “dashboard” that tracked Russian disinformation on Twitter.

As Taibbi wrote, “The secret ingredient in Hamilton 68’s analytic method was a list of 644 accounts supposedly linked ‘to Russian influence activities online.’ It was hidden from the public, but Twitter was in a unique position to recreate Hamilton’s sample by analyzing its Application Program Interface (API) requests, which is how they first ‘reverse-engineered’ Hamilton’s list in late 2017.”

The files unearthed by Taibbi show Twitter’s internal audit of the Hamilton 68 list found it to be, in the words of former executive Yoel Roth, “bullish-t.”

 

[GURPS]

Simply in terms of volume, Taibbi estimates that Hamilton 68 “may go down as the single greatest case of media fabulism in American history. Virtually every major news organization in America is implicated, including NBC, CBS, ABC, PBS, CNN, MSNBC, the New York Times and the Washington Post. Mother Jones alone did at least fourteen stories pegged to the group’s ‘research.’ Even fact-checking sites like Politifact and Snopes cited Hamilton 68 as a source.”

But what is Hamilton 68? It is, Taibbi writes, a “computerized ‘dashboard’ designed to be used by reporters and academics to measure ‘Russian disinformation.’” But what it really measured was politically tendentious and utterly baseless allegations of Russian disinformation in order to discredit people and opinions that the people running Hamilton 68 didn’t like. Taibbi identifies it as a “neoliberal think tank” supposedly devoted to uncovering the nefarious influences of the Russkies on — well, everything. But especially — tell me you are not surprised — anything that involves Donald Trump or anyone or has to do with Trump.

Who is behind this gigantic exercise in journalistic malfeasance and deception? Well, wouldn’t you know it, at the center of the operation is our old friend Bill Kristol, patron saint of NeverTrumpery, along with John Podesta, former Hillary Clinton apparatchik, and Michael McFaul, academic anti-Trumper par excellence. As a story in the New York Post put it, “Hamilton 68’s pronouncements were used to allege a hidden Russian hand in US politics from hundreds, and possibly thousands, of news stories during the Trump years.”

But it was fake, all fake — or, as a frustrated Twitter employee put it, it was “bullshit.” Indeed, Taibbi reports that Twitter execs were so concerned (“shocked” is his word) about the proliferation of news stories linked to Hamilton 68 that they ordered a forensic analysis. Result: out of many hundreds of accounts identified as Russian bots, only thirty-six were registered in Russia, and many of those were associated with Russia Today, a news site.

The fake think tank that fueled the Russiagate narrative

New revelations from the great Matt Taibbi reveal how Hamilton 68, a so-called 'research institution,' targeted Trump and blamed the Russians

thespectator.com

 

[GURPS]

 

[GURPS]

 

[GURPS]

 

[GURPS]

 

[GURPS]

 

[GURPS]

Townhall Appears in the 'Twitter Files'​

Wuhan coronavirus changed the world and the country forever. Since January 2020, we've worked to bring you accurate and timely information about its origins and who is responsible for unleashing pandemic hell— and an overly harsh government response — on us all.

From the beginning, we carefully listened and followed the facts — which led us to report that the virus originated in the Wuhan Institute of Virology. We also carefully analyzed the guilty actions of the Chinese Communist Party and the World Health Organization, which engaged in a cover-up by disappearing whistleblower doctors, burning labs, shutting down outside investigations, expelling reporters, and much more.

It is now confirmed that Townhall was censored throughout this process.

On June 22, 2021, I tweeted a link to our Townhall VIP membership program.

 

[GURPS]

 

[GURPS]

Matt Taibbi releases Twitter Files in connection with congressional testimony​

Matt Taibbi and Michael Shellenberger testified before congress today on the topic of the Twitter Files. Ed has a post coming up later about some of the drama that happened during the hearing as Democrats went on the attack. I wanted to focus on the purpose of Taibbi’s testimony as well as the latest installment of the Twitter files which was posted on Twitter earlier this morning. On his Substack site, Taibbi posted the text of his opening remarks. After introducing himself and how he got involved in this project, he spelled out the big picture.

The original promise of the Internet was that it might democratize the exchange of information globally. A free internet would overwhelm all attempts to control information flow, its very existence a threat to anti-democratic forms of government everywhere.
What we found in the Files was a sweeping effort to reverse that promise, and use machine learning and other tools to turn the internet into an instrument of censorship and social control. Unfortunately, our own government appears to be playing a lead role…
We learned Twitter, Facebook, Google, and other companies developed a formal system for taking in moderation “requests” from every corner of government: the FBI, DHS, HHS, DOD, the Global Engagement Center at State, even the CIA. For every government agency scanning Twitter, there were perhaps 20 quasi-private entities doing the same, including Stanford’s Election Integrity Project, Newsguard, the Global Disinformation Index, and others, many taxpayer-funded.
A focus of this fast-growing network is making lists of people whose opinions, beliefs, associations, or sympathies are deemed “misinformation,” “disinformation,” or “malinformation.” The latter term is just a euphemism for “true but inconvenient.”

 

[GURPS]

The dumbest five minutes of Congress, ever: Dems demand sources from journalists who exposed government-media censorship complex​

“I don’t quite understand what Substack is,” mutters Rep. Sylvia Garcia (D-TX) at one point, which underscores the idiocy you are about to watch. The House Weaponization Subcommittee decided to call Matt Taibbi and Michael Shellenberger to discuss their publication of the Twitter Files, which apparently was so great a threat to democracy (according to Garcia and her fellow Democrats) that, er … none of them bothered to find out what Substack was, nor glean what and when both Taibbi and Shellenberger published and in what sequence.

Get ready for seven minutes of brain-warping idiocy on those points, on top of which Democrats apparently now think journalists have a duty to reveal sources to government. And if you think Garcia’s lack of research into Substack is the stupidest moment in this utter fiasco, just wait until she asks about Bari Weiss:





The winner of the stupidest congressional comment of the day, and hopefully the year, the decade, and the century, is this: “So you’re in this as a threesome?”

 

[GURPS]

Democrats trash journalists for 'cherrypicked' federal censorship emails in Twitter Files



The federal-private partnership combined "psychological manipulation" developed by the U.S. military for the war on terror with artificial intelligence, according to Shellenberger, known for his contrarian environmentalism and California governor's run. He told lawmakers the feds' target had moved from stopping ISIS terrorism to ordinary Americans who are "wrong on the internet."

By co-leading the Election Integrity Partnership, which funnels private and government reports of misinformation to platforms for action, the Stanford Internet Observatory is "[p]erhaps the ultimate example of the absolute fusion of state, corporate, and civil society organizations," according to Taibbi, previously known for his Wall Street coverage for Rolling Stone.

He pointed to SIO Director Alex Stamos describing EIP's mission as "fill[ing] the gaps" for the Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which lacked "legal authorizations" for the work, and Stamos noting that SIO research manager Renee DiResta has "worked for the CIA."

The Virality Project, which includes EIP's four principals, even recommended tech platforms throttle "true content which might promote vaccine hesitancy" such as verified side effects from jabs, according to Taibbi's email screenshot. He described the term "malinformation," a class below dis- and misinformation, as "a euphemism for 'true but inconvenient.'"

The EIP principals "all have inadequately-disclosed ties to the Department of Defense, the C.I.A., and other intelligence agencies" and work with agencies to "institutionalize censorship research and advocacy within dozens of other universities and think tanks," according to Shellenberger's written testimony.

 

[GURPS]

House Dems Try To Bully Twitter Files Journos Into Revealing Sources, Fail Miserably​

The committee’s ranking member, Delegate Stacey Plaskett (D-USVI), began the attack in her opening statement, referring to Taibbi and Shellenberger as “so-called journalists” before they’d even been called on to answer the first question.

Plaskett then claimed that “all the so-called ‘Twitter Files’ really showed was a discussion on content moderation,” arguing that the two journalists were only there because their work on the Twitter Files was seen as politically advantageous to Republicans.

“Ranking Member Plaskett, I’m not a so-called journalist,” Taibbi objected, adding, “I’ve won the National Magazine Award, the I.F. Stone Award for Independent Journalism, and I’ve written 10 books, including four New York Times bestsellers.”

 

[GURPS]

 

[herb749]

Democrats are not having a good few weeks. Twitter files & Jan 6 videos.

You know the save our democracy talk will start up again soon.

 

[GURPS]

 

[GURPS]

"You had Democrats who accused former members of Congress of being Putin lovers and conspiracy theorists," Turley said. "All they were doing was raising free-speech concerns but what really was shocking in the last hearing is the Democrats have now severed their connection to the free press and the values underlying the free press."

"You had members openly calling for sources and when these journalists refused to do it, you had members like Congresswoman [Sylvia] Garcia (D-TX) and Delegate [Stacey] Plaskett (D-VI) saying, 'Oh, well, I think you just confirmed that Musk is your source because you wouldn't say that he wasn't.' It was just otherworldly," Turley said of the hearing.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2023/03/11/turley_twitter_files_hearing_was_a_soviet_show_trial_democrats_used_it_to_attack_free_speech_and_a_free_press.html

 

[GURPS]

"Elon Musk Spoon-Fed You His Cherry-Picked Information" For "The Twitter Files"​

"I'm not asking you to put a dollar figure on it, but it is quite obvious you have profited from 'The Twitter Files.' Is it true that you have profited since you were the recipient of 'The Twitter Files?' ... Attention is a powerful drug," Wasserman Schultz said.

REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: The Society of Professional Journalists' code of ethics asserts that journalists should avoid political activities that could compromise integrity or credibility. Being a Republican witness today certainly casts a cloud over your objectivity.

But a deeper concern I have relates to the ethics of how journalists receive and present certain information. Journalists should avoid accepting spoon-fed or cherry-picked information if it is likely to be slanted, incomplete, or designed to reach forgone easily disputed, or invalid conclusions.

...

Before you became Elon Musk's hand-picked journalist, and pardon the oxymoron, you stated this on Joe Rogan's podcast about being spoon-fed information: "Once you start getting handed things, you've lost. They have you at that point, you have to get out of that habit. You just can't cross that line."

You crossed that line with "The Twitter Files."

MATT TAIBBI: No.

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: It's my time... Elon Musk spoon-fed you his cherry-picked information, which you must have suspected promotes a slanted viewpoint. Or at the very least, generates another right wing conspiracy theory. You violated your own standard, and you appear to have benefited from it.

 

[GURPS]

DWS sounds like she has marbles in her mouth .... and lecturing, leading, testifying for the witness

 

[GURPS]