Matt Taibbi releases Twitter Files in
connection with congressional testimony
Posted By: Dreadnought, 3/9/2023 6:51:02 PM
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
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The Biden administration is soon set to approve ConocoPhillips' Willow Project, a major oil drilling project on Alaska's North Slope, according to a congressional source familiar with the details. The decision will be announced next week, the source confirmed.
The expected approval is a victory for Alaska's bipartisan congressional delegation and a coalition of Alaska Native tribes and groups who hailed the drilling venture as a much-needed new source of revenue and jobs for the remote region. It is a major blow to climate groups and Alaska Natives who oppose Willow, arguing the project will hurt the president's ambitious climate goals and pose health and environmental risks.
Michael Cohen, the former personal lawyer for former President Donald Trump, is set to testify Monday to a grand jury in New York City, setting the stage for a potential indictment of Trump, NBC News reported.
Trump is being investigated by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office in connection with a $130,000 hush money payment Cohen made on his behalf to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election to keep her quiet about her alleged sexual liaison with Trump years earlier. Cohen on Friday met for more than seven hours with officials from the DA’s office with his attorney, Lanny Davis.
Davenport, Iowa - Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis made his first appearance in Iowa on Friday, an unmistakable flirtation for a top-tier Republican presidential contender that brings his expected bid for the White House a step closer to reality.
Though DeSantis doesn't plan to make a formal announcement on his political future until May or June, the Iowa visit, followed by a stop in Nevada on Saturday, highlights the increasing priority of his presidential ambitions and a desire to send a clear signal to GOP donors, activists and potential campaign staff in early-voting states about his intentions.
At a stop at a casino in the eastern Iowa town of Davenport, DeSantis acknowledged
Florida governor Ron DeSantis’s new book sold 94,300 copies in its first week — more sales than Donald Trump’s, Hillary Clinton’s, or Barack Obama’s books notched in their respective first weeks, according to NPD BookScan figures obtained by Business Insider.
By comparison, Clinton sold 86,200 copies of her memoir Hard Choices in its first week, while Obama’s book The Audacity of Hope sold 67,500 copies during that time. Trump’s 2015 book, Crippled America, sold just 27,687 copies in its first week.
DeSantis’s book The Courage to Be Free hit No. 1 on Amazon’s top 100 list on its release day, February 28.
The book captured the No. 1 spot on the New
The House voted unanimously Friday to pass a bill requiring Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines to declassify existing intelligence on Covid’s origins, sending the bill to President Biden’s desk.
The bill, which was previously approved by the Senate, passed the House 419-0 and would require that Haines declassify any intelligence related to links between the pandemic and the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the bat coronavirus research lab that was operating under unsafe conditions in the very city where the first cases of Covid emerged.
The bill’s sponsor, Senator Josh Hawley (R., Mo.), hailed the vote as a step towards greater transparency.
Financial regulators have closed Silicon Valley Bank and taken control of its deposits, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. announced Friday, leaving companies and wealthy individuals largely tied to the tech sector unsure of what will happen to their money.
According to press releases from regulators, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation closed SVB and named the FDIC as the receiver. The FDIC in turn has created the Deposit Insurance National Bank of Santa Clara, which now holds the insured deposits from SVB. The FDIC said in the announcement that insured depositors will have access to their deposits no later than Monday morning. SVB's branch offices will also reopen
James L. Buckley celebrated many firsts in his long career as one of America’s most influential conservatives, and today, that includes his birthday.
“This is his 100th birthday,” said Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) in a Senate floor speech today. “James Buckley's commitment to service whether on the battlefield in these halls in Congress or in the courtroom is a reminder of the power, joy and honor of being an American,” Lee added, a noted constitutional conservative himself.
In many conservative corners of Washington and the country, Buckley parties are taking place to recall his influence on American politics as a one-term New York senator, a top aide in President Ronald Reagan’s
The second stage of a Chinese rocket that launched three spy satellites has just broken up this week over Texas, according to the U.S. Naval Institute.
Here’s what the Chang Zheng “Long March” rocket looked like taking off from China in June. The four-ton rocket reentered the atmosphere on Wednesday at 17,000 miles per hour and disintegrated, but it’s only being reported now. While they haven’t found any debris yet from the rocket stage, they’re saying the debris field could be miles wide and hundreds of miles long. It’s not clear what kind of a hazard this could pose, and the Chinese have had issues in the past
Florida will be allowed to defund Planned Parenthood on June 1, after a federal judge ended a permanent injunction on Tuesday blocking part of a 2016 law.
U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle, of the United States District Court Northern District of Florida, reversed the permanent injunction on part of House Bill 1411, which prohibits state and local dollars from going to institutions that provide abortions. Hinkle stated in his order that the “essential basis of the ruling [in 2016] was the right to an abortion under Roe v. Wade.” But with Roe overturned in the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision last summer, the previous order no longer had legal standing.
“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
Hamburg shooting: Eight dead and three
seriously injured in attack at Jehovah's
Witness centre 7 replies
seriously injured in attack at Jehovah's
Witness centre 7 replies
Eight people have been shot dead and three others seriously injured in an attack on a Jehovah's Witness building in the German city of Hamburg.
Police say the shooting was carried out by a lone gunman who may be among the dead, although this has yet to be officially confirmed.
Shots were fired at the Jehovah's Witnesses' Kingdom Hall in the Gross Borstel district, with police alerted at 9.03pm on Thursday.
Police said the gunman opened fire after entering the building, before allegedly fleeing to the first floor. Officers arriving on the scene then heard a shot from an upper floor and found a body upstairs.
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
Most Active Articles (last 48 hours)
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has been hospitalized after a fall at a hotel in Washington, DC.
“This evening, Leader McConnell tripped at a local hotel during a private dinner. He has been admitted to the hospital where he is receiving treatment,” a spokesperson for the Kentucky Republican said in a statement.
No additional details were provided.
The 81-year-old is the Senate’s longest-serving GOP leader, known for helping the party achieve key Republican priorities, including stocking the Supreme Court with conservative justices, passing Trump-era tax cuts and frequently thwarting Democrats’ legislative agenda.
Kamala Harris may suffer from aphasia
48 replies
Kamala Harris's verbal utterances are bizarre, repetitive, and often not completed. (snip) Aphasics may do this to hide the fact that they can literally not hold onto the meaning of their narrative, to carry it to completion. So, they make up an ending to the story and then perhaps flip into a semantically weird ending. Harris often simply repeats her first sentence.
This is not planned for a rational purpose, and she often solves her semantic confusion by bursting out in stereotypical laughter, with gestures, to encourage her listeners to think she just did a funny.
Life comes at you fast.
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) has announced that her 17-year-old son Tyler and his girlfriend are expecting a child next month.
Boebert, 36, broke the happy news while speaking Tuesday at an event hosted by the conservative group Moms for America, where she touted the values of her rural countrymen.
“I’m going to tell you all for the first time in a public setting, that not only am I a mom of four boys, but come April, I will be a gigi to a brand new grandson,” said Boebert, who added that she and her husband Jayson “are so excited to welcome this new life into our family.”
Former J6 Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson
Claims He Didn’t Have Access to January 6 Footage 36 replies
Claims He Didn’t Have Access to January 6 Footage 36 replies
Former January 6 Chairman Bennie Thompson claimed he never had access to January 6 footage after Fox News host Tucker Carlson released never-before-seen footage.
Bennie Thompson told CNN that he is not aware of any January 6 Committee members having access to the J6 footage.
“I’m actually not aware of any member of the committee who had access. We had a team of employees who kind of went through the video,” Bennie Thompson told CNN.
Via CNN: “Bennie Thompson, former chair of the Jan. 6 committee, said lawmakers were never given that type of access to the footage last Congress. “It’s strictly a new policy that the new speaker has put in place,”
Senate Republicans found themselves shaken and disoriented Thursday after finding out their leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (Ky.) was in the hospital after tripping at a private event, raising questions about his health and future leadership of the GOP conference. McConnell, who in January became the longest serving party leader in Senate history, has led the Senate GOP conference since 2005 and has helped guide his colleagues through some of the biggest moments in recent history — the 2008 financial collapse, the near default of the U.S. government in 2011, the fiscal cliff of 2012, the two impeachment trials of …
Colin Kaepernick accuses his White adoptive
parents of 'problematic' upbringing, perpetuating racism 35 replies
parents of 'problematic' upbringing, perpetuating racism 35 replies
Former NFL quarterback Colin Kapernick accused his adoptive parents of "perpetuating racism" in an interview that aired Thursday.
Kaepernick talked about coming to terms with his racial identity while growing up in a White family in his new graphic novel, "Change the Game." The former football player recalled disagreements with his parents that he attributed to racism, calling his upbringing "problematic."
"I know my parents loved me. But there were still very problematic things that I went through," the biracial quarterback said to CBS News.
"I think it was important to show that, no, this can happen in your own home, and how we move forward collectively while addressing the racism
Senator Mitch McConnell suffered a concussion after he tripped and fell at a dinner at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in downtown Washington D.C. yesterday. He's expected to remain at the hospital for a few days, his office said on Thursday.
'Leader McConnell tripped at a dinner event Wednesday evening and has been admitted to the hospital and is being treated for a concussion,' his communications director David Popp said in a statement on Thursday afternoon.
'He is expected to remain in the hospital for a few days of observation and treatment. The Leader is grateful to the medical professionals for their care and to his colleagues for their warm wishes.'
MSNBC host Joe Scarborough mocked House Republicans' idea of visiting people who are being held in Washington, D.C. for charges relating to the riot at the Capitol on January 6, 2021 to assess the conditions of the jail.Scarborough said the GOP "clowns" were being "idiots" for the idea.
"Joe, one more note as we talk about the politics of it and the wisdom or lack thereof of Republicans reopening this wound and talking about it publicly. There is a group of Republicans, led by Marjorie Taylor Greene, planning a visit to the prison where some of these men and women are being held, people who beat up cops,"
WASHINGTON — In a cheerfully decorated common room at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, with floral paintings adorning violet walls, Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania begins most days meeting with his chief of staff, who arrives around 10 a.m. carrying a briefcase full of newspaper clips, statements for him to approve, legislation to review and other business of the day. (Snip) Doctors caring for him have said Fetterman should limit his exposure to cable television, the internet and social media — a major information detox for someone whose obsession, and occupation, is politics. Fetterman, 53, rushed back to the campaign
Actress Jane Fonda joined “The View” Friday and when the conversation turned to how pro-abortion activists can fight pro-life Republicans, the 85-year-old suggested murder as an option.Fonda was visiting the show to promote her latest film, “80 For Brady.” She was joined by co-star and longtime friend Lily Tomlin. When the panel topic turned to recent abortion battles in red states Tomlin expressed dismay at new Republican laws to protect the unborn, saying the country is “backsliding” and its “pretty awful”
Fonda followed up with her own comments.
“We have experienced many decades now of having agency over our body, of being able to determine
Dear Conservatives, I Apologize
29 replies
There is no way to avoid this moment. The formal letter of apology. From me. To Conservatives and to those who “put America first” everywhere.
It’s tempting to sweep this confrontation with my own gullibility under the rug — to “move on” without every acknowledging that I was duped, and that as a result I made mistakes in judgement, and that these mistakes hurt millions of other people like you all, in existential ways. (Snip) The proximate cause of this letter of apology is the airing, two nights ago, of excepts from tens of thousands of hours of security camera footage from the United States Capitol taken on Jan 6, 2021.
A Democratic delegate proposed a law in Maryland that would bar anyone under 25 years of age from being charged with felony murder.
Delegate Charlotte Crutchfield, a Democrat, made the proposition through the Youth Accountability and Safety Act, House Bill 1180, local news outlet WBFF reported. A defendant in Maryland can be charged with felony murder if the person commits a murder during a felony crime, such as robbery.
Crutchfield and supporters of the bill say that the brain is not fully developed before age 25, so issuing so harsh a sentence is unfair. "We don't allow children under 18 to do a myriad of other things under the law," state