Taking care of sick friends. A lot of water under the bridge. Be careful not to mix metaphors.
So a recap.
Elon
Elon has to be the big story now. There are many big stories of course. We start with Elon.
For an unimpressive $44 billion this dude from South Africa takes on restoring democracy and mental health in the United States. Vijaya Gadde's gone. Yoel Roth is gone. So are thousands of staff who were not sacked but simply told they actually had to turn up for work and those $400 lunches. They chose to quit.
Twitter's never been out of the red. What were they thinking?
Do you really need a free red wine dispenser down the corridor?
Who paid for all that?
Elon turned the Twitter Files project over to Matt Taibbi. The first dump was cataclysmic but should have been even more so. More about that in a bit.
As Elon put it, what Twitter had been doing is illegal. Not questionable. Illegal. And yet it took $44 billion to expose this.
And Elon's slapping labels on KJP's work for Brandon. It doesn't get much better.
"So many interesting posts on Twitter these days!" - Elon Musk
Here's Elon's first dump. Threaded by Matt Taibbi.
Curiously, that thread also contains evidence that Miss No Show Hobbs in the Arizona race for governor, although hiding in restrooms from the media, was in close contact with Twitter to harm her opponent Kari Lake, who most people understand to be the choice of the people. There's a big stink going on there. Best to leave it for now. To quote Kari herself, it's going to get ugly (before it gets pretty again).
Elon's advertisers have returned. This doesn't mean they suddenly woke up from wokeness, only that the bottom line is being felt. What and who were weird yesterday are probably the same tomorrow. For now.
Elon's poll on Snowden and Assange yielded 80% ayes.
Twitter Files episode 2 has been delayed. This because there was a spanner in the works. Which miraculously no one saw. The name "Baker" might mean something.
“Oh what a tangled web they weave, when first they practice to..." - Elon Musk
Taibbi:
The news that Baker was reviewing the “Twitter files” surprised everyone involved, to say the least. New Twitter chief Elon Musk acted quickly to “exit” Baker Tuesday.
Matt's supplemental post:
1.
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.
2.
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.
3.
The process for producing the “Twitter Files” involved delivery to two journalists (Bari Weiss and me) via a lawyer close to new management. However, after the initial batch, things became complicated.
4.
Over the weekend, while we both dealt with obstacles to new searches, it was @BariWeiss who discovered that the person in charge of releasing the files was someone named Jim. When she called to ask 'Jim's' last name, the answer came back: "Jim Baker."
5.
“My jaw hit the floor,” says Weiss.
6.
The first batch of files both reporters received was marked, “Spectra Baker Emails.”
7.
Baker is a controversial figure. He has been something of a Zelig of FBI controversies dating back to 2016, from the Steele Dossier to the Alfa-Server mess. He resigned in 2018 after an investigation into leaks to the press.
8.
The news that Baker was reviewing the “Twitter files” surprised everyone involved, to say the least. New Twitter chief Elon Musk acted quickly to “exit” Baker Tuesday.
9.
Reporters resumed searches through Twitter Files material - a lot of it - today. The next installment of 'The Twitter Files' will appear @bariweiss. Stay tuned.
This stuff is still getting hits to this day. Just to make sure everything's in context: Baker's connected to the Steele Dossier.
Kari
Arizona firebrand Kari Lake is definitely still in the game. Her legal team, headed by Harmeet Dhillon, had to wait until the unusually unpopular Katie Hobbs had certified her own election as legit. There's not a lot of grass growing all through Arizona, and it wouldn't be growing between Kari's toes anyway. Wendy Rogers is keeping an eagle eye on developments.
Woods
He was leaving, or so people thought. After posting this.
But he's not gone.
Another reflection by James.
Tucker got him on the horn the other night and didn't let go for almost a quarter of an hour. Do hear what he says about Adams and Monroe. Surprisingly this clip's already got 2.3 million views (listens).
It's all about free speech. There's not a lot of it left anywhere.
-RJS