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October 11, 2024

Fucking Donald Trump is why I'm no longer on Twitter, even as the NYT continues to be craven

As discussed in detail here, two weeks ago, my then-primary Twitter Shitter account got blocked by Elmo Musk and his Nazi goons because I posted the link to Ken Klippenstein's Substack about the J.D. Vance screening dossier allegedly hacked by Iran. (Note: If you're still working at Shitter, especially in some branch like Shitter "Security" two years after Musk bought the company, you're a Nazi goon. Period and end of story.)

(Update, Nov. 3: Going Klippenstein one better, we obtained a seemingly hacked version of what purports to be a transcript of Trump's "hiring interview" with Vance.)

Well now, per the NY Times (with an interesting angle, per the pull quote coming up) explains that Team Trump was behind this:

After a reporter’s publication of hacked Trump campaign information last month, the campaign connected with X to prevent the circulation of links to the material on the platform, according to two people with knowledge of the events. X eventually blocked links to the material and suspended the reporter’s account.

There you are.

What's interesting is that Maggie Haberman (barf me) et al never mention either what the material is — which those of us in the know, know — or who the reporter is, and ditto on that.

Are they, or an editor above their heads, worried about Elmo freezing the New York Times' Shitter account, too? What cravenness, especially when survey after survey shows that most of Merikkka gets little news information from Shitter.

Let's contrast with Mediaite, which linked to the NYT:

The Trump campaign “connected” with social media platform X, owned by billionaire MAGA supporter Elon Musk, to suppress links to a journalist’s newsletter that contained a leaked dossier allegedly stolen from the campaign when Iran reportedly hacked it.
The September newsletter, published by journalist Ken Klippenstein, included a dossier on former President Donald Trump’s running mate, Senator JD Vance (R-OH), which Klippenstein was sent by an unknown source who claimed it had been acquired in a hack of the Trump campaign. Other news outlets said they’d also obtained some hacked information but chose not to publish it.

There you go.

Alternet gets quotes calling out the NYT:

Journalist Steve Mullis notes, “It’s crazy that this is a single paragraph in the NYT’s Elon Musk story. Given that there were congressional hearings accusing Biden and Democrats of doing this sort of thing, this should be its own huge story.”

It goes on to note how the NYT story doesn't do a deep dive on foreign money (like Saudi money) coming into Elmo's PAC. 

Side note on this? The "ranking member" for Democrats in some House committee could call hearings. So could any Senate committee, since that's Democrat-majority. But, because Iran is the alleged hacker and "Israel," they'll be as fucking craving as Maggie Habs.

Also, Emptywheel (not linking) mentions that Habs et al didn't mention Elmo's "joking" about Harris and assassination attempts less than two full weeks before he booted Ken off Shitter.

I read this via Mediagazer's feed, so I have some other sites that also, like the NYT, did NOT mention Klippenstein by name. That includes Mother Jones (shock me), Daily Beast (NYT only reference in passing, but its Justin Baragona was a shithead shill two weeks ago on shrilly insisting that Klippenstein was doxxing), The New Republic, TPM (like Daily Beast, only in passing), Raw Story.

Then there's the WaPost, all on its own in a tangential piece of shittiness:

Hackers linked to Iran reportedly obtained the briefing book compiled as Trump was vetting potential running mates. (His former vice president, Mike Pence, needed to be replaced on the ticket for noteworthy reasons.) The hackers shopped the briefing book around, finding few takers.
Independent journalist Ken Klippenstein bit, however, publishing the document on his website. And in short order, X banned Klippenstein’s account, purportedly because the linked document included personal information about Vance.

This makes Ken look like some poor schlub, rather than a principled reporter, formerly of the Intercept. This isn't NYT-craven, it's "throw Ken under the bus" craven. Is there any wonder why many people on the left, for better reasons than Trump Trainers, don't trust the lamestream media any more?

Update, Oct. 12: Klippenstein got his Shitter restored and wrote about it on Substack. Including that link, I appealed again and got restored, too. I'm still using the Fuckbook page I created, though, and also Substack Notes, to post much of my blogging links. I told him on Shitter that he needs to write about Habs et al being so craven at the NYT.

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