While we wait on Bari Weiss for Twitter Files 2.0
The delay in the Twitter Files on the Hunter Biden story is revealed to have been an internal holdup. Here's details as we wait for more reporting on the latest batch.
If Matt Taiibi's tweets are any indication, we'll soon be getting the next installment of the Twitter Files — and the next time without having prior review from a Twitter official who had roles in politically charged FBI investigations against Donald Trump and once passed on false information from Hillary Clinton's campaign in 2016.
To catch you up to speed: Jim Baker was until last week general counsel of Twitter and, as reported by Taiibi, had reviewed the internal material on the decision to ban the Hunter Biden laptop story in 2020 prior to its release. Taiibi tweeted out that initial material in reporting on Friday. Further installments, Taiibi later reported, were expected to come forward over the weekend upon receipt by him and fellow journalist Bari Weiss. When nothing came, Weiss discovered Baker was responsible for the holdup, Taiibi reported. After Taiibi tweeted out that revelation on Tuesday, Elon Musk announced on Twitter he consulted Baker and subsequently fired him.
Baker has clear political leanings: The former senior FBI official helped push a story in 2016 about a covert communications channel between the Trump Organization and the Russia-based Alfa Bank Baker, which ended up being debunked. Baker also had a key role in the FBI's investigation of President Trump over Russia's influence on the 2016 election. So that's the person who was vetting internal material that could end up making Twitter executives with ties to the Democratic Party look bad.
I'm not the only reporter with questions about Baker's role in the Twitter Files and whether that affected any of the material made available. Miranda Devine at the New York Post posted to Twitter questions on whether Baker raised legal objections or held anything back, as well as any communications he had with Democrats at the time the Hunter Biden story was suppressed. Personally, I was wondering why Baker was still working at Twitter until last week. After all, Musk terminated key executives early on upon acquiring the company and a subsequent wave of employees who objected to his leadership summarily departed.
Bari Weiss, who oversees another Substack newsletter — and excellent one, I must say — called Common Sense, is suggested to have a role in reporting out the second installment of the Twitter Files with now Baker out of the picture, according to Taiibi's tweets. With regard to whether or not the Twitter Files are intact, Musk tweeted Wednesday in an exchange with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey: "Most important data was hidden (from you too) and some may have been deleted, but everything we find will be released."
In case you haven't seen my opinion, I think the better idea for Twitter’s internal discussions on blocking the Hunter Biden story would be for Musk to make the communications public for everyone to see and decide for themselves which parts are relevant.
While we wait, here's other news stories this week that caught my interest...
RICHMOND RESTAURANT WON’T SERVE GROUP AGAINST LGBT RIGHTS: This story caught my eye in the aftermath of arguments just this week before the U.S. Supreme Court where a Colorado web designer is claiming a free speech right to refuse to do business with gay couples on same-sex weddings.
From Virginia Business:
A German-inspired restaurant in Richmond canceled a reservation for a conservative political organization’s private event last week, saying in a statement posted online Thursday night that the decision was made to protect their staff, many of whom are women and/or part of the LGBTQ community. The Family Foundation, the organization that had made the reservation, opposes same-sex marriage and abortion, among other positions.
Those two situations are similar, but different in a few respects. The 303 Creative case before the Supreme Court is about a business seeking to refuse a specific kind of service with speech-related qualities to a certain kind of person, while the Richmond restaurant decided to reject customers for general hospitality services for engaging certain kind of political action.
For a movement that long fought for civil rights, including non-discrimination in public accommodations, there is a degree of irony and hypocrisy in the idea LGBT staffers at a restaurant could compel their manger to refuse service to customers based a contrary viewpoint, even if the differences are over fundamental rights.
INTERCEPT BREAKS DOWN BIG TECH FUNDING FOR ANTI-JCPA GROUPS: The excellent Lee Fang at the Intercept, who broke the blockbuster story last month about the U.S. government officials working with Big Tech on removing online material they deem is misinformation, has a detailed story about the groups financed by Big Tech to oppose a measure that would allow media organizations to set up collective bargaining deals for use of their material online.
The Journalism Competition & Preservation Act would create a carve-out in anti-trust law so media companies could band together to negotiate with technology companies, such as Google and Facebook, for the sharing of ad revenue. Proponents say the measure is needed because Big Tech are zapping ad revenue from media companies and using their material to make big profits. Although there was an attempt to incorporate the measure into major defense spending legislation, that plan was scrapped this week after groups opposing the measure sprang into action.
From The Intercept:
The full-court strategy plays on left- and right-wing concerns about social media: According to the messaging, the JCPA is simultaneously a legislative proposal backed by liberals to “silence conservative voices” and a far-right effort that will fund pro-Trump voices that are the source of “dangerous misinformation.”
The exaggerated rhetoric was part of a larger campaign to stop any proposal to share advertising revenue, the main source of income for social media and search engine tech companies. The message designed to orchestrate Republican opposition to JCPA is sponsored by NetChoice, and the message designed to whip up Democratic opposition to JCPA is sponsored by the Computer and Communications Industry Association. Both organizations are funded by Google and Meta, Facebook’s parent company, and serve to influence lawmakers and the public on behalf of shared concerns by the two megacorporations.
Facebook laid down the gauntlet this week and threatened to “consider removing news from our platform” entirely if the Journalism Competition & Preservation Act were to become law. I know a bluff when I see one. Supporters of the measure point to a similar law enacted in Australia in 2021 that resulted in Big Tech companies sharing AU$200 million with news publishers.
TAIWAN TECH LEADER LAMENTS 'GLOBALIZATION IS ALMOST DEAD': As the United States ramps up to increase effort to product semiconductors domestically following the shortage during the coronavirus epidemic, a leader of the industry in Taiwan says the trend toward domestic production demonstrates "globalization and free trade are almost dead."
From Nikkei Asia:
Morris Chang, founder of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., was speaking at an event in Phoenix, Arizona, on Tuesday where the company marked the symbolic first equipment installation at its new plant.
It is TSMC's first advanced chip plant in the U.S. in more than two decades, and Chang said a lot of "hard work" remained to make it a success.
He compared the current $40 billion project to when TSMC built its first plant in the U.S. in Camas, Washington, in 1995, just eight years after the world's biggest contract chipmaker was founded.
"Twenty-seven years have passed and [the semiconductor industry] witnessed a big change in the world, a big geopolitical situation change in the world," Chang said. "Globalization is almost dead and free trade is almost dead. A lot of people still wish they would come back, but I don't think they will be back."
Taiwan produces 65 percent of the world's semiconductors and almost 90 percent of its advanced chips. I could understand why a Taiwan industry leader would be upset about competition elsewhere. Chang was at the U.S. plant as part of a large delegation of top chip and tech industry CEOs as well as President Biden, according to Nikkei Asia.
The main thrust of new U.S. efforts to create more semiconductors domestically is the shortage experienced during the coronavirus pandemic and fears China will invade Taiwan, which could basically cut off the supply to the entire world. Although Chang said "a lot of people still wish" globalization will come back, I think there will be a lot of voices in the United States cheering the development of semiconductors domestically for reliance on supply and the industry's contribution to job opportunities.
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