The Columbia Bugle's Sunday Newsletter
December 5th-11th
Delayed this Newsletter to wait for the last part of the Twitter Files dump on the Removal of President Trump that was scheduled for Sunday, but it appears that dump has been delayed. No statement has been put out by Bari Weiss as to when it will be released. We’ll include the full Twitter Files dump on the Removal of President Trump in our newsletter next week. This Newsletter will focus on the Twitter Files thread on James Baker and the Twitter Blacklists.
Elon Musk continues to drop more and more Twitter Files. While some might scoff and say “WE ALREADY KNEW MOST OF THIS,” having hard evidence does make a difference and allows us to see exactly how they achieved what we all knew they were up to.
Keep digging, Elon.
(Note: Since these newsletters are long, Substack has indicated they may get cut off a bit when receiving them by email. If that happens, you can always access the full newsletter directly on Substack.)
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Elon Digs Up More Of Twitter’s Dark Secrets
This week, Elon provided more Twitter Files to journalists Matt Taibbi, Bari Weiss and Michael Shellenberger. These files focused on Twitter’s blacklists, the conversations within Twitter before and after the election, and the conversations surrounding the decision to ban Donald Trump.
Here are the links to each of those threads:
Taibbi’s Thread
Bari Weiss’s Thread
Michael Shellenberger’s Thread
There’s a lot of information contained in these files to go over, but we must begin with Taibbi’s surprise supplemental thread which sheds light on the situation going on behind the scenes in organizing these files, releasing them and some of the obstacles Elon and these journalists are dealing with.
The first installment of the Twitter Files began last Friday. We covered it in our last newsletter. Taibbi explains that more files were expected to be released that weekend, but they were delayed. Here he explains why. Meet Jim Baker.
Jim Baker
Mike Cernovich warned Elon Musk about Jim Baker earlier this year.
Jonathan Turley’s Piece On Jim/James Baker: Six Degrees from James Baker: A Familiar Figure Reemerges With the Release of the Twitter Files
Baker has been featured repeatedly in the Russian investigations launched by the Justice Department, including the hoax involving the Russian Alfa Bank. When Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann wanted to plant the bizarre false claim of a secret communications channel between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin, Baker was his go-to, speed-dial contact. (Baker would later testify at Sussmann’s trial).
After leaving the FBI, Twitter seemed eager to hire Baker as deputy general counsel. Ironically, Baker soon became involved in another alleged back channel with a presidential campaign. This time it was Twitter that maintained the non-public channels with the Biden campaign (and later the White House). Baker soon weighed in with the same signature bias that characterized the Russian investigations.
The released documents may show why Twitter was so eager to hire Baker despite his role in the Russian collusion controversies. What likely would have been a liability for most companies seemed an actual draw for Twitter. For censors and political operatives in Twitter, Baker likely seemed like a “made man” for a company committed to systemic censorship.
It is striking how many of the figures and institutions involved in Russian collusion claims are within six degrees of James Baker. Not only did Baker work closely with fired FBI director James Comey and other key figures at the Justice Department, but he was an acquaintance of key Clinton figures like Sussmann who pushed the false collusion allegations.
Elon’s Response
More On Baker
Baker wasn’t the only “Former” Fed working at Twitter.
How many more?
Drain the Swamp, Elon.
Twitter’s Secret Blacklists
On Thursday, Bari Weiss released the Twitter Files Part Two. This batch focused on the shadow banning and blacklists that Conservatives have complained about for years. Twitter, DC Politicians and the Mainstream Media have pretended like this was just another one of those “Wacky Right-Wing Conspiracy Theories!” Now, there’s no denying it (they’ll just ignore it instead). Here is the proof.
Hopefully, a full list will eventually be released of everyone who has had their account suppressed by Twitter. Here are a few of the accounts listed so far.
Stanford’s Dr. Jay Bhattacharya
3. Take, for example, Stanford’s Dr. Jay Bhattacharya (@DrJBhattacharya) who argued that Covid lockdowns would harm children. Twitter secretly placed him on a “Trends Blacklist,” which prevented his tweets from trending.
Dr. Bhattacharya’s Response
Still trying to process my emotions on learning that @Twitter blacklisted me. The thought that will keep me up tonight: censorship of scientific discussion permitted policies like school closures & a generation of children were hurt. 1/2Dr. Bhattacharya’s Thread On His Visit To Twitter HQ To Learn More About The “Blacklist”
Justin Hart’s Piece In The WSJ: The Twitter Blacklisting of Jay Bhattacharya
How many people endured weekslong quarantine because Dr. Bhattacharya’s message was suppressed? How many students would have been spared the education death knell of remote learning had schools heeded his advice, or even known about it?
In July 2021, White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced, “We’ve increased disinformation research and tracking within the Surgeon General’s office. We’re flagging problematic posts for Facebook that spread disinformation.” Ms. Psaki also revealed that senior staff for President Biden were a part of the White House’s efforts to suppress free speech.
Libs Of TikTok
16. One of the accounts that rose to this level of scrutiny was @libsoftiktok—an account that was on the “Trends Blacklist” and was designated as “Do Not Take Action on User Without Consulting With SIP-PES.”
@MkayUokay @DavidSacks @karol True, some accounts on the right were suspended even when Twitter internally acknowledged that no rules were brokenLibs Of TikTok’s Response
.@libsoftiktok Joins Tucker Carlson To React To The Twitter Files Part Two Exposing The Level Of Suppression Used Against Her Account "The Craziest part of this whole thing is that they admitted that I'm not even violating the policies, & they still suspended me seven times."
They suspended me multiple times knowing I never violated any policies. This is what happens when you talk about things that they don’t want you to talk about. So glad those days on Twitter are over. Thank you @elonmusk.
Other tactics used by Twitter to censor.
Twitter has repeatedly denied in the past that they are doing these things.
But as you can see from the Weiss Thread, they were lying. Twitter not only was using this power, they were wielding it specifically against the Right.
Even against political candidates.
Now while Elon Musk is exposing the secret and politically biased shadow banning that Twitter engaged in, it appears as though he will keep a part of it in place, while being a bit more transparent about it and allowing users to appeal. While this is not ideal, it is not a complete shock as he’s been talking about this for awhile. We’ll see how this is implemented, but not a fan of this idea at all.
In a case when there’s perhaps a lot of controversy, that you would not want to necessarily promote that tweet.
Another revelation from the Weiss Thread came from this screenshot showing that Twitter does have access to user’s DMs.
Elon Weighed In
Kristen Ruby’s Thread
As great and important as these Twitter File threads have been, we have to agree with Miranda Devine on this. Release it all, Elon.
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