… And if he does, the outlook is worse.
According to both the Senate Intelligence Committee (SSCI), via Chairman Mark Warner, and the House Intelligence Committee (HPSCI) via Mike Turner, the Chinese social media platform TikTok represents a “national security risk” to the United States. South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, soon to be the vice-presidential candidate for the DeSantis-Noem 2024 ticket, has also called TikTok a national security threat and banned it in the state. Now, think about that carefully.
What is it about a social media app allowing short video sharing that would constitute a national security risk? The answer is not about dog and cat videos, or dancing diatribes or funny, weird or goofy content; nor is the national security risk attached to any data of the app users or content providers. The national security risk is found in the ability to influence public opinion that is not under the control of the United States government, or more specifically the Dept of Homeland Security (DHS).
The need for control is a reaction to fear. TikTok, as a social media platform, is not considered a national security threat because the Chinese government can control it. TikTok is considered a national security threat because the United States government does not control it.
For several years CTH has been outlining the relationship between DHS and social media. Currently, the headlines are filled with stories about Twitter and revelations of censorship and government influence coming from the purchase of the platform by Elon Musk. I promise you things are not what they seem.
Let me put some context to the dynamic that will hopefully clarify what is going on, and perhaps the context will help explain what you are seeing and what you are not seeing as this unfolds. There are going to be a lot of citations to fill in the details and understanding the modern Fourth Branch of Government is critical. The bigger picture also explains why SSCI Chairman Mark Warner said “people will die” if the seized Trump Mar-a-Lago documents become public.
♦ Elevator Speech: Twitter is to the U.S. government as TikTok is to China. The overarching dynamic is the need to control public perceptions and opinions. DHS has been in ever increasing control of Twitter since the public-private partnership was formed in 2011/2012. Jack Dorsey lost control and became owner emeritus; arguably, Elon Musk has no idea (you’ll see proof toward the end).
To explain the background activity of Twitter in a way that readers could understand, I used the metaphor of Twitter as Jack’s Magic Coffee Shop.
…”The metaphorical Jack had a great idea, open a coffee shop where the beverages were free and use internal advertising as the income subsidy to operate the business. Crowds came for the free coffee, comfy couches, fellowship, conversation and enjoyment.
It didn’t matter where Jack got the coffee, how he paid for it, or didn’t, or what product advertising the customers would be exposed to while there. Few people thought about such things. Curiously, it didn’t matter what size the crowd was; in the backroom of Jack’s Coffee Shop they were able to generate massive amounts of never-ending free coffee at extreme scales.
Over time, using the justification of parking lot capacity and township regulations, not everyone would be able to park and enter. Guards were placed at the entrance to pre-screen customers. Some were denied. A debate began.”…
Here’s what happened….
In/around 2011 and 2012 the U.S. Government, Obama administration and the U.S. State Dept., came into Jack’s Coffee Shop and asked him for help.
The govt officials needed to deliver massive amounts of coffee to their allies in Egypt, Libya and the middle east to support the Arab Spring party. Jack told the officials he was willing to help but didn’t have the capacity to deliver on that scale. The officials told Jack not to worry, they would handle that aspect – he just needed to agree to the partnership and let them utilize his business. Jack agreed.
[Note, the timing here is not accidental. The operational agreement happened at the same time DHS was fine tuning the domestic surveillance systems to monitor social media platforms and target political opposition. See The Fourth Branch.]
Over the next several weeks, months and eventually years, Jack watched as hundreds of new employees flooded into the business to facilitate the rapid expansion. Along with a myriad of new faces, new equipment was delivered and soon Jack found himself looking at heavy industrial equipment erecting large buildings in the back lots of the property. Coffee urns were replaced with massive industrial coffee delivery systems that far exceeded anything Jack ever imagined.
Business was booming, but slowly Jack realized he had lost control. Jack was riding a dragon.
As the years progressed, thousands of new employees moved into the offices of the new buildings and massive pipelines were producing incredible scales of coffee. Jack noted offices of the United Nations Human Rights Commission were now creating unique blends of coffee for international distribution, and the European Commission had an entire suite of specially trained coffee production engineers creating alternate combinations and flavors.
By 2018 Jack had essentially become an “owner emeritus,” his name was on the shingle, but the day-to-day operation of Jack’s Magic Coffee Shop had turned into an industrial park complex.
Jack saw his personal wealth attached to the success of the business, but operationally his only responsibility was traveling to symposiums and venues where he would stand on stage and wax philosophically about the future of a coffee delivery organization he no longer controlled. Day-to-day operations were now controlled by experts in the scale of massive industrial coffee. Those experts came from the Dept of Homeland Security.
[The Intercept] – […] Behind closed doors, and through pressure on private platforms, the U.S. government has used its power to try to shape online discourse. According to meeting minutes and other records appended to a lawsuit filed by Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, a Republican who is also running for Senate, discussions have ranged from the scale and scope of government intervention in online discourse to the mechanics of streamlining takedown requests for false or intentionally misleading information.
“Platforms have got to get comfortable with gov’t. It’s really interesting how hesitant they remain,” Microsoft executive Matt Masterson, a former DHS official, texted Jen Easterly, a DHS director, in February.
In a March meeting, Laura Dehmlow, an FBI official, warned that the threat of subversive information on social media could undermine support for the U.S. government. Dehmlow, according to notes of the discussion attended by senior executives from Twitter and JPMorgan Chase, stressed that “we need a media infrastructure that is held accountable.” (read more)
To streamline the operational efficiencies as the industrial coffee system grew, direct portals between the Washington DC government offices and Jack’s Magic Coffee shop were created. Officials no longer needed to travel to the location of Jack’s Coffee Shop in order to operate the valves, mixers, grinders and systems to generate the scale of blends being produced.
Experts could now use direct portals to the facility to operate the coffee production systems remotely, with a limited number of specially trained (FBI) coffee engineers doing the laborious tasks and maintenance at the facility.
The badges were intimidating to Jack who went to sleep every night under the realization he no longer had any clue about how the coffee shop communication business was operating.
[…] The extent to which the DHS initiatives affect Americans’ daily social feeds is unclear. During the 2020 election, the government flagged numerous posts as suspicious, many of which were then taken down, documents cited in the Missouri attorney general’s lawsuit disclosed. And a 2021 report by the Election Integrity Partnership at Stanford University found that of nearly 4,800 flagged items, technology platforms took action on 35 percent — either removing, labeling, or soft-blocking speech, meaning the users were only able to view content after bypassing a warning screen. The research was done “in consultation with CISA,” the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
Prior to the 2020 election, tech companies including Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, Discord, Wikipedia, Microsoft, LinkedIn, and Verizon Media met on a monthly basis with the FBI, CISA, and other government representatives. According to NBC News, the meetings were part of an initiative, still ongoing, between the private sector and government to discuss how firms would handle misinformation during the election. (keep reading)
After several years of increasing distance from the Coffee Shop operation he initially started, eventually Jack decided it was silly to own an industrial coffee delivery system that he didn’t control. So, Jack decided to sell his shingle to someone else.
Enter, Elon Musk.
Billionaire Elon Musk, a man intimately familiar with large industrial systems and government, had been watching the disgruntled visitors to Jack’s Coffee Shop who were no longer permitted to enter. Musk saw an inequity between the amount of coffee that was available, and the scarcity of the coffee amid a community blacklisted by the operational executives and managers of the shop.
With expressions of both interest and fellowship, Mr. Elon Musk told Mr. Jack Dorsey he would take ownership of Jack’s Magic Coffee Shop and remove any discriminatory guards that were now controlling permitted entry. Jack had no aversion to Elon and eventually a deal was brokered.
After the transfer of sale was complete, Mr. Musk fired many of the guards and then set about checking the payroll to identify which group of shop employees were actually involved in the generation of coffee, and which employees were involved in promotion of the industrial coffee delivery system that were no longer needed.
Within this process Elon Musk begins to discover the complex nature of what, at least at the surface, appeared to be an uncomplicated coffee shop. Why is there a 500-room glass walled office building on the backside of the coffee shop? What is going on in that building that has anything to do with selling coffee?
If you’ve read this far, you might think my metaphor is a little over the top. Perhaps you thought that when I originally started saying there was much more to Jack’s Magic Coffee Shop a long time ago.
Well, thankfully, someone of reasonably intelligent curiosity finally asked Elon Musk the right question about this direct portal from DHS into the coffee shop. How Mr. Musk replied might surprise you. You see, the Jack’s Magic Coffee Shop metaphor is evidenced in the Musk response.
Twitter owner Elon Musk has no idea what the DHS portal into the coffee shop is for. WATCH:
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To put it in brutally honest terms, The United States Dept of Homeland Security is the operating system running in the background of Twitter.
You can debate whether Elon Musk honestly didn’t know all this before purchasing Twitter from his good friend Jack Dorsey, and/or what the scenario of owner/operator motive actually is. Decide for yourself.
For me, I feel confident that all of the conflicting and odd datapoints only reconcile in one direction. DHS, via CISA, controls Twitter.
Wittingly or unwittingly (you decide) Elon Musk is now the face of that govt controlled enterprise.
If you concur with my researched assessment, then what you see being released by Elon Musk in the Twitter Files is actually a filtered outcome as a result of this new ownership dynamic.
Put simply, DHS stakeholders, to include the DOJ, FBI and Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), are mitigating any consequential public exposure of their domestic surveillance activity by controlling and feeding Mr. Musk selected information about their prior Twitter operations.
If TikTok is a national security threat, then TikTok is to Beijing as Twitter is to Washington DC.
The larger objective of U.S. involvement in social media has always been monitoring and surveillance of the public conversation, and then ultimately controlling and influencing public opinion.
~ Support CTH Here ~
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Resources:
Large Numbers of FBI Agents Work Inside Twitter
Govt Structured Cloud Computing is Social Media operating System
Tech Platforms Connected to DHS Portals
Examples of Govt Influence of Social Media Content
[…] “Intelligence agencies backed new startups designed to monitor the vast flow of information across social networks to better understand emerging narratives and risks.” [HERE]
Understanding Jack’s Magic Coffee Shop
Leaked DHS Documents Showing Connections
ISWYDT, Sundance, Nice as BUTTER on Hot sliced Bread, slipping references to 24 into that 1st para….
And Kudos on all the rest of the entire Pkg, as well.
Love your Style.
And the Image of DC…. How much longer will it BE there….
“Put simply, DHS stakeholders … are mitigating any consequential public exposure of their domestic surveillance activity by controlling and feeding Mr. Musk selected information about their prior Twitter operations.”
So what you’re saying, then, Sundance — is that we’re not going to get the Big Reveal on past Twitter censorship and dirty Hunter-Biden-story concealment games that Musk is trying to bring to us
It’ll all be constrained and minimized and “vetted” (read: “deleted” and “all traces purged from backups”) by a thousand James Bakers who are left behind even though Baker himself has been “exited”
So we’ll never get the big Twitter reveal
Just like we’ll never get the Mar-a-Lago search warrant or the initial basis or predicate foundation for the warrant
Yet again, Lucy pulls the football
… oh, yeah — and this “misinformation” rubric is a clever one … much like the “domestic terrorist” rubric
“misinformation” can mean whatever Gummint wants it to mean, and Gummint can mold it and shape it and deploy it to go after their political enemies
(Us)
Nimrod, this lady Kristen wrote a huge article about AI… censorship.. a ton of stuff at twitter… Here..
https://rubymediagroup.com/twitter-artificial-intelligence/
She explained that a ton of censorship was contracted out.. all over the world.. and part of it was to provide some legal deniability.. This takes some time to get through.. but bottom line.. people are not doing the censorship,, it is programming and an actual AI… Kristen believes the one that twitter uses is corrupt.
I get the feeling he didn’t know everything. Too many dangerous moving parts are hidden.
I’m giving Musk a break. He said the majority of his time had been working with engineers in system review. The algorithms need to be fixed and I applaud him prioritizing this effort, plus prioritizing child porn removal, etc.
2/3rd of the employees are gone so that’s a lot of opposition already out the door. We’ll see lots of tidbits come out from Matt and Bari over the next couple months imo, unless the feds shut it all down.
Those two have a really tough and dangerous job ahead of them.
Elon could be absorbed by the Borg or carrying a Master Slug on his back…
watch Elon carefully
Whatever fixes the engineers may make will be instantly refitted by government operatives to keep the backdoor open and humming. It is what it is. And Bari Weiss will be another portal the Intelligence community can use to keep the leftists happy that their plan is working—- Under the cloak of “respectability” given to her by Elon Musk , of course. There are trillions of ideas to control.
They were never more transparent than they are now.Let him who has eyes to see, SEE!
Who exactly is Elon Musk? A technical genius? Not at all. He doesn’t even have a technical degree. In fact, he doesn’t even have a degree other than an honorary economics degree given to him. People who work with him say he is not a technical person. Like Barry Hussein Soetoro, no one can remember a thing about him during his supposed college days.
Sundance does a good job of breaking it down with Jack’s coffee shop metaphor. Perhaps this piece of the puzzle will help Sundance lead us closer to the truth. Check this thread out on Musk:
Elon Musk is a businessman who hires the right people to get shit done. You don’t have to know & do everything yourself to be wildly successful. I don’t fully trust him by any stretch but his educational background isn’t why.
A degree means nothing if an idiot is holding it
Exactly. Degrees are certificates the person has completed the government’s indoctrination program.
Not all degrees are govt / communist indoctrination, although it is getting worse each year.
ditto Howard Hughes who gave us aerospace records, then Hughes Aircraft, the humongous Spruce Goose, lots of movies, the special satellites, the Glomar Challenger etc. No telling where Hughes stopped and the MIC – CIA – NSA started.
Hughes was smart.
Although he never graduated from Rice, he did go to CalTech full time for his last year of high school.
Who exactly is Elon Musk? A technical genius? Not at all. He doesn’t even have a technical degree. In fact, he doesn’t even have a degree other than an honorary economics degree given to him. People who work with him say he is not a technical person. Like Barry Hussein Soetoro, no one can remember a thing about him during his supposed college days.
Sundance does a good job of breaking it down with Jack’s coffee shop metaphor. Perhaps this piece of the puzzle will help Sundance lead us closer to the truth. Check this thread out on Musk:
So you’re endorsing the “can’t be a technical genius without college degree” lie? Musk is a doer, not an academic. Compare with Gates, Wozniak, Jobs Edison, Wright Bros, etc., etc. none of whom had a college degree when they built their companies.
You missed the boat. It is not about having or not having a college degree. It is about lying. Why would Musk continue to lie and not set the record straight, especially about something like a college degree.
Think about why Musk is lying. Why is he continuing to lie? What else is Musk lying about? What is Musk hiding with his lies?
business
So when you can’t defend the message, attack the messenger. We’ve all seen this tactic before.
June, Perhaps you meant to reply to HudsonTheDog because NJCowboy did not attack the messenger. I hope everyone reads the Tweets cited by NJCowboy. Here it is again:
I would not look at this through the lens of Elon Musk buying Twitter to save society and free speech.
Elon Musk bought Twitter to protect himself and his empires Tesla, Starlink, and Space X. Protect them from who and what? My guess is that the Deep State is going after Musk and his companies. Musk had to make an obscene offer, an offer that couldn’t be refused, to head off the Deep State. Was buying Twitter actually to get blackmail info on the Deep State and many other companies.
Notice that Apple delayed their self-driving car and are back to advertising on Twitter after Musk called them out. He even threw in the zinger that he would sell his own smartphone. Blackmail much?
Notice how Musk is silent on all the protests going on in China with Apple and Foxconn. Cat got Musk’s tongue on free speech for the Chinese people? No protests at Tesla in China. Hmmmm.
Something stinks with this whole Twitter Deep State shadow quasi-government agency past and it is even stranger now with Elon Musk (whoever this liar is) buying it.
I don’t much care why he has done what he did. I am just enjoying the moment
I used to enjoy all the RDS moments until I learned who DeSantis is BitterC. Go read the tweets cited by NJCowboy… there’s only one conclusion I can come to… Musk/Twitter is another DS setup.
Who is RDS?
I am slightly leaning in your direction. Although I am optimistic.
“… called them out [Apple]. He even threw in the zinger that he would sell his own smartphone. Blackmail much?”
I wouldn’t call that blackmail, I’d call that standing toe-to-toe with an opponent and shoving them right back, after they shoved first (withdrawing advertising money from Twitter)
And it wasn’t an empty threat … a guy who can stand up an electric-car industry and a space-traversing rocket capability can sure as hell stand up a factory to manufacture mobile phones
and yes, I know gummint grants and loans were a big part of his ability to launch those manufacturing feats, but still yet … those are big businesses that weren’t there before he came onto the scene
maybe Apple deserved a punch in the mouth
Thanks for the article
I’ve read that Musk is a face for DARPA.
I have a feeling that assessment is on target. No proof, just pure speculation.
Knowing Life Log was a platform developed by the military for military families and Facebook came online just shortly after the Life Log project ended (~2003?), we are given a window into how these programs/platforms came about.
Guessing Twitter came about in a similar fashion. I believe it is and always has been an intelligence tool. A continuation of Operation Mockingbird for the internet age. Knowing the top guys at the big three tv stations back when television came about were former military intelligence, why would anyone think something different would happen in the new communication era of the internet age?
Jack’s magic coffee shop was coming under increased public scrutiny and pressure. The truth about the back of the shop was getting exposed. They needed a new face at the front window to step in and keep the masses distracted away from the back window.
Jack’s out and Elon is in. In a sneaky move while distracting everyone about the cost to buy it and the mystery around this quirky “genius” billionaire, Elon took it private so he (and the intelligence community he works with) are under no obligation to turn over the books to show how the operation works.
They will whip people into a frenzy of excitement and draw a lot of attention with the dog and pony shows, but it’s just that, a show. I believe his purchase of Twitter was an intelligence community clean-up operation. Nothing to see here folks, move along.
The only silver lining in all this is the fact that the truth has been surfacing and the bad guys have been required to do a lot more cleanups recently.
Keep hammering Sundance. The strings are showing and the sunlight is peeking through.
Again everyone, go here to learn about the invisible past of Elon Musk:
From the Twitter account ‘Capitol hunter’????
Nothing much top add to your post – thanks. I’ve spent a lot of time modeling the commodity markets I have made my living in, and the one thing that has impressed me is that every time I go back to modify one of the AI based models, I find another layer of complexity. This seems to be the case with all chaotic non-linear systems. There is layer upon layer of complexity. The desire to dominate is coded into the algorithm in which we live. Not only change, but forced change is coded in. The “old” Twitter had to go. The “old” RNC had to go. The king is dead – long live the king??
And, yes, most definitely – “Keep hammering Sundance. The strings are showing and the sunlight is peeking through.”
Probably all the doctrinaire communists were also interfering with the true fascist operation and driving up costs, as well as adverse publicity and exposure. So even if Elon is controlled opposition, the Deep State probably does want to liquidate most of the little commie hangers on in Twtter.
What makes Tik Tok a threat is that it gains complete control of the device and can send all the contents to China as well as be used as a remote controlled surveillance device. It’s not about the content being published by users. Second, I think Elon had a pretty good idea what was going on at Twitter and was highly encouraged by a group of concerned citizens to buy it and help stop the direction things are heading.
Twitter was used as soft power to shape opinion. Tik tok is a hadcore spy system to infiltrate devices. Their use and level of control are no where near equivalent. If anything, it would be FB or more likely Google being used the way the Chicoms use TT
Just curious whether we really know that Twitter, Apple, Google, etc…aren’t doing the exact same thing. Unknown Unknown perhaps? Or, maybe, that’s what DHS is actually most fearful of…national/worldwide surveillance being exposed. If the TikTok app can do it….I’m sure Twitter app can do it. The Chinese always steal existing technology…so where did they steal this tech from? Us.
I’m sure our guys did it first, 30 – 40 years ago.
Ask Saddam how we grabbed his computer networks.
During Vietnam, our intel sites in Thailand were reading North Vietnamese CRT screens (SAM radar and comms sites?) directly.
Thanks again, Sundance, for clarity and insight.
Who is Baker’s replacement?
No idea, but I get the impression that Elon is not replacing anybody whose purpose was not useful.
Baker’s certainly wasn’t!
The bigger picture which is not discussed is the moves Elon Musk is doing to set up a financial system. He wants to integrate everything and ultimately be our bank. Basically emulating WeChat. It’s not about the content. And that is being overlooked. He filed docs with the banking regulators in November 2022.
If TikTok is a national security risk, then why omit TWTR. FB and YouTube? I know its about control, but right now, TWTR appears to represents elevated risk. One has to believe Zuck and folks over at Google are watching very closely.
Unless Elon was an insider, with or going along with the government in this whole scenario, thedde is no way that Elon would know everything about Twitter and what was going on. Especially the shady things like collusion. He has already made huge changes and the biggest move was getting rid of the rat pos from the FBI…Baker. Until it is shown that Elon does not control the coffee shop, I’m going to believe he does and he is making the appropriate changes. The fact that the Biden administration is not happy and is watching Twitter and Elon says we are heading in the right direction. Now…is that a peop to make us think this? Possible. The only way to know the real truth about anything is to consult inner presence!
DeepState and/or JB unhappiness could be Kabuke Theatre.
Wow! That’s a very Good explanation Sundance. Outstanding. The Real Twitterverse For Dummies. Thank You! You are absolutely correct, Mr Musk has a Tiger by the Tail. I Hope thatr he has everything he needs to tame that Tiger. FBO!
needs to make a Tiger rug or hat.
There are a lot more Tigers out there still on the prowl: Facebook, Tic Toc, Parlor, Google, Microsoft, Youtube, Alphabet, Apple, T-Mobile, Verizon, Yahoo, The DNC and RNC, EVERY BANKING Institution on Earth… etc. That’s a lot of Tigers. What Big Ears, Claws and Teeth they have!
Elon is the CIA’s Mary Poppins. Their lightning rod. He is being groomed to be the one to help the right take the spoonful of sugar when President Trump is arrested. He will calmly tweet how fair the government is and how he should know since he has been uncovering all of their dastardly deeds and he has to call out both sides when he see wrong doing. Just another well thought out puppet show.
If so end of Twitter honeymoon, and probably Twtter.
Bottom line…our federal government has turned into a bloated monster that no longer cares about the people and I don’t see any signs of it changing anytime soon. Certainly not in my lifetime. Yes, I will vote in the next election but I have no confidence whatsoever that it will matter. Trump won my state in 2020 anyway. NC is not nearly as bad off as a lot of states.
It may matter a lot, but still just slow the country’s descent to Hell.
My question is how and why were some people and media deleted and others allowed to stay on Twitter? For example Project Veritas banned but Just the News (John Solomon) stayed. Mike Lindell banned but Jack Posobiec was not. Was The Last Refuge (CTH) ever banned/Suspended?
Continued banning of Project Veritas would be a negative tell.
And Twitter minions did suspend Project Veritas several times if my memory serves me well. Eventually permanently suspending them.
This just pertains to Government devices, not personal. Why is it only a national security risk to government employees?
You are missing the point about why and how TikTok is a national security concern. Tiktok algorithms are different in the US and in China. China content is designed to brainwash the citizens to fall in line with complete compliance to the CCP. The us content is nothing more than a cesspool of shitty posts that are destroying the youth of America.
Quite often, billionaires buy Crime Scenes!
What Elon needs to look for in this “trusted partnership” is actual “Ghost in the Machine” backend code that allows government agencies to completely control the Twitter experience of targeted users.