spiphywarfare

Author: Derek

  • The Twitter Files

    The Twitter Files

    Have you heard about the #TwitterFiles? What exactly are the #TwitterFiles and should you be concerned about them? The Twitter Files are a series of news threads that appear on Twitter based on internal documents released by Elon Musk after he bought Twitter. Sometimes, Twitter threads are, or can be, confusing to follow if you’re not familiar with the interface. However, the @Threadreaderapp will take a Twitter thread and “unroll” it into an article of sorts that allows for much easier reading.

    I decided to unroll #TwitterFiles threads into articles and share a brief summary of each and link to them here. I would encourage you to read them if you have not.

    Before going forward, it’s important to note that while it tended to be conservative voices that were muted, suppressed or suspended, that is only due to the left leaning nature of Twitter leadership, not because conservatives didn’t try the same thing. It wasn’t just the Biden campaign asking for Twitter to silence people, it occurred under the Biden administration and the Trump Administration.

    These files involve a lot of reading but document the U.S. Government working to shut down free speech of American citizens that didn’t conform their thinking to the acceptable narrative.

    Twitter Files – Volume 1

    This thread offers insight into how Twitter was used to censor speech at the request of the Biden campaign. One of the emails is a list of tweets with the words “More to review from the Biden team.” The response? “Handled.”

    Twitter Files – Volume 2

    This thread gives the story on how accounts were targeted for daring to have thoughts and views that didn’t align with the official narrative. Conservative accounts were blacklisted from search results and trends, and some set to “Do Not Amplify.” The 28th tweet in this thread?

    This makes me tend to think that there will be a large, cohesive article somewhere in the future.

    Twitter Files – Volume 3

    In this thread, we start to see that they are working with the FBI and DHS. These agencies as well as Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) were their partners in detecting/addressing “misinformation” on Twitter. Indeed, one of Twitter’s highest staff (Yoel Roth, the head of Trust and Safety) had weekly meetings with them AND the Director of National Intelligence about the elections.

    Twitter Files – Volume 4

    Michael Shellenber talks in this thread about the permanent silencing of Donald Trump while he was a sitting President. The thread covers that Twitter had resisted call to silence him for years but finally gave in after setting aside their own policy and making rules that applied just to Trump.

    This thread also includes information that it wasn’t just Twitter having weekly meetings with the feds. Google, Facebook, and Microsoft (among others) were also participants in these meetings.

    Twitter Files – Volume 5

    More coverage of the move to ban Trump permanently from Twitter. This one includes discussions showing Twitter’s staff in conflict with some saying there were clearly no violations and one (apparently from China) pointing out the damage this could cause to public discourse. Those concerns were dismissed. What I find interesting here is the ability to completely disregard reality some of the people seem to possess.

    Twitter Files – Volume 6

    Here we have Taibbi again. His reporting again focuses on how close Twitter and the FBI operate together. One internal communication even claims the FBI has okayed sharing classified information with Twitter. Another appears to be the FBI wanting to know why no action was taking on an account they requested action on. Alleges at least 80 agents were assigned to combat wrongthink misinformation on social media.

    Twitter Files – Volume 7

    This is, in my opinion, probably the most blatant example of how our federal government bureaucrats are compromised. The Hunter Biden laptop story is the subject of this thread and it shows the feds actively working to discredit a story they know to be true. Yes, your government was working to prevent you from knowing the truth about how a presidential candidate was corrupted and beholden to foreign interests.

    Twitter Files – Volume 8

    U.S. Central Command telling someone at Twitter about it’s “hard to do web ops when you can’t Tweet!” They then go on to ask about getting a list of their psyop accounts verified. Twitter the propaganda machine.

    Twitter File – Volume 9

    Even the CIA was involved in the meetings with Twitter, Facebook, Microsoft and other tech giants. The FBI’s team assigned to mitigate foreign influence reported domestics accounts, not foreign. Twitter staff even found it odd that the FBI had assigned agents to go looking for Twitter policy violations to get accounts suspended.

    Twitter Files – Volume 10

    Twitter, at the specific request of the White House, labelled factual information as misinformation and suppressed Americans speech. Also, see a more in depth article covering the story by the author here.

    Twitter Files – Volume 11

    Man, Twitter (and other big tech) taking directions and working with the FBI, CIA, NSA, U.S. Representative Adam Schiff’s Office, Department of State Global Engagement Center (GEC), the list goes on. There was hesitancy to involve the GEC as they were viewed as maybe being conservative and they shouldn’t be in on the fun.

  • Shortest Blogpost Ever?

    I remember my grandfather telling me, years ago, that some people understand nothing but violence and that is the only way to deal with them.

  • Timothy Keller! You Knock That Off Right Now!

    Tim Keller started folks Sunday with a misquote, quotation marks and all, of scripture on this fine, brisk November morning.

    Jesus was not asked that question in that passage. What kind of teacher will quote scripture incorrectly and what would be the purpose? Translation versions found at biblehub.

  • That Doesn’t Hurt You

    I watched a Doug Wilson video reaction to a conversation between Matt Walsh and Joe Rogan the other day. It was a discussion about gay marriage and I noticed that they were talking past each other and Rogan’s repeated use of the same question or variations of it as an attack on Walsh’s position. They were talking past each other because Walsh was talking about marriage (the institution) and Rogan was talking about individual relationships. The question Rogan kept asking was, “How does that affect/hurt you?”

    That just struck me as a really sloppy question and terrible reasoning. I’ve noticed it several times online and it’s been (so far) from people taking a left-leaning position. Is this the standard? They don’t really mean it anyway. How can you know this? Apply it to multiple situations.

    You can use somewhat benign hypotheticals or obviously ridiculous ones. If you’re talking to someone who supports extensive welfare programs, though not on it themselves, ask them if they support ending it, after all, it won’t hurt them. Why should we lock up people who are murderers? If they choose to kill someone, but it isn’t the person you’re talking to, they should oppose homicide laws, because you know, it doesn’t hurt them. They obviously haven’t been murdered.

    As Western Culture continues to splinter apart, people will attempt to cajole, con, or bully others into adopting, or at least accepting, their opposing worldview. Think well and pay attention.

    Stay safe and stay healthy!

  • Maybe It’s the Ferguson Blood…

    But I love listening to this and get fired up by it.

  • Am I a Christian Nationalist?

    Christian Nationalism is all the (cause of) rage at the moment. I have to admit that from my view it seems (as in, it appears probable) that many use the term as a synonym for normal, run-of-the-mill Christianity. Some things I read on it make me think, “Yeps, I guess I’m a Christian Nationalist” while other things I read make me think, “If that’s Christian Nationalism, I’m definitely not one. I don’t know anyone who favors conversions at gunpoint.” So, in light of the fact that there is no agreed upon definition I offer the following.

    1. If thinking a nation and it’s people are best served when the government operates with principles and values that align with those laid out in scripture makes one a Christian Nationalist, then I suppose I am.

    2. If voting for candidates and policies that are more aligned with Christian values over and against those that oppose same values makes one a Christian Nationalist, then I am guilty again, and gladly so.

    3. If thinking that as far as your vote determines the direction of the nation, that voting for candidates dedicated to murder and perversion aligns one, and makes one complicit, with wickedness then, once again, I am a Christian Nationalist.

    4. If the ideal form of government forces conversion to Christianity (which it couldn’t really anyway) is what one means, then I am not a Christian Nationalist.

    5. If Christian Nationalism means non-believers are treated like second-class citizens then I cannot be counted among the Christian Nationalists.

    6. If Christian Nationalism includes an idea that the Church and Government are the same institution, or melded together in some form where one holds official power over the other, then I have to say I am not a Christian Nationalist.

    7. If Christian Nationalism involves thinking in terms of race (melanin count) for value of body, soul, or ideas, then I am not a Christian Nationalist.

    The problem I see increasingly is the attacking of items 1-3 and then when called on it, the same people stating they only meant for those that hold positions 4-6. This is a form of argument I first heard of listening to a James Lindsay video. This is why the more I read, the more apparent it becomes that for the vast majority, “Christian Nationalism” is only used to make their attacks on traditional Christianity more palatable.

    I’ll be updating this post as time goes on and this idea develops more.

    May 10, 2023 UPDATE. There isn’t really anything I’ve seen to change my mind on what I’ve written. It’s only been reinforced.

  • Do Not Disturb, the Best Setting for Your Mobile Device

    It’s been five days now since I set my phone to “Do Not Disturb.” I can only get notifications from immediate family members. It’s been amazing! I took some time off of work and wanted peace and quiet. I have been checking my notifications a couple of times a day, when I want to, instead of having a constant battle for my attention.

    I’m likely to leave that setting that way. It occurs to me that none of us have any right to demand or expect 24-hours access into each others lives and that is essentially what notifications are. Obviously, that doesn’t mean our families shouldn’t be able to get in touch with us quickly in today’s state of technology.

    Breaking free of the digital chains that unknowingly bound me is a great experience. While it may make me a little harder to get in touch with, or make me seem more aloof than I already appear to be, that’s going to be quite alright. Peace of mind and being focused on what is actually important has far more value than knowing the latest location a Russian bomb was dropped at the exact same time as everyone else.

    I also know the value of being able to respond quickly to customers or potential customers. I know that this plays a vital role in gorwing a business. But is “growing a business” what is most valuable to you? Many people I know work hard to provide for their family. What a shame to let the means become the end at neglect of those around us, and possibly our own spiritual and physical health.

    Just a few thoughts from a man enjoying God’s great outdoors with most of his family. God bless you all!

  • Here Comes the Pain Again

    Here Comes the Pain Again

    I’m curious how many readers heard Annie Lennox sing that blogpost title in their head. She sang it in mine when I was trying to figure out what to title these thoughts that came into my head on my first night post-surgery.

    Everybody’s Least Favorite Friend

    Everyone has that friend that walk into the room or pops up on the phone screen and makes them pause and ask, “What is it this time?” The friend who tells you what you don’t want to hear and is often right but sometimes very wrong. Pain, is that friend.

    What’s interesting is we usually think of pain in a physical sense, much like the pain keeping me awake. We also think of it in an emotional sense. Less often pain is thought of spiritually. As Christians, we can feel a spiritual pain when we are not feeling close to God. Rarely do many people think of pain as organizational. Organizational pain manifests itself in poor performance, turnover, inability to find creative solutions to persistent problems, etc.

    Not Always What You Think it is

    Referred Physical Pain

    Many years ago, I learned a rough lesson about nerve pain. I had a wisdom tooth on the left side of my face that was, unbeknownst to me, causing me to sleep with my jaw out of alignment. It initially manifested as a slight discomfort on the right side of jaw. I’d rub it a bit throughout the day and go on. Eventually, that constant pressure on that nerve overloaded it and the pain transferred to the Trigeminal Nerve. Trigeminal Neuralgia is known as the “Suicide Disease.” I can understand.

    After several nights of sleeplessness and several days of waiting to get in to see my doc, I finally got some needed relief. When the doctor heard about how, a possibly potent mix of beer and sleeping medication, he scolded me. I told him I knew it was dangerous but at that point death would have been better than the pain I was experiencing.

    Transference of Emotional Pain

    Transference is something that isn’t always negative but can be. When it is, painful experiences from our past can be triggered by a familiar situation, mannerisms of a person, or even by a person’s looks. We can find ourselves led astray about the root cause of our current emotional pain because we think the solution lies in figuring out how to address our current situation which actually doesn’t need fixing. It’s not always bad, but that’s the aspect considered here for this blogpost.

    Spiritual Pain Not Always Obvious

    In our walk with God, we (or at least I) can find ourselves feeling distant from Him. It might be that our prayers feel powerless. It might be that we find it difficult to take time to read The Word. It may just be that we don’t really feel connected in any way.

    I’ve had that happen and thought, “I’m just going to read my Bible even harder!” I do. Still, God seems distant and I feel maybe I’ve been rejected. What is usually revealed to me, when I quit trying to solve it myself, is I’ve let some sin sneak in, bitterness toward another, jealousy, pride, etc. and God’s giving me some discipline. But I attributed it to something else because surely I can’t be doing anything wrong!

    Organizational Pain

    Can an organization really feel pain? Well, not always as a personal experience. Individuals throughout the organization can experience emotional distress due to organizational pain. It might be leaders unable to improve performance. It might be employees who are constantly fighting unnecessary internal or externals battles.

    I included this section because one of the phrases I heard over and over again while pursuing my Public Administration degree was this, “Government does an excellent job at coming up with great solutions to the wrong problem.” I’ve worked in government for 35 years now in multiple agencies in many different roles and can attest to the truth of this statement.

    So what is organizational pain? It is an emotional pain that drives employees crazy when broken or nonexistent work processes make their jobs difficult and frustrating. Organizational pain causes:
    Anxiety in the workplace (dread of work activity);
    Negative impact on the company’s daily operations and its capital projects (cost, schedule, quality, safety, risk, and morale);
    Addition of extra time to work on tasks because they know it “always takes longer to get done”

    Understanding and Removing Organizational Pain

    Stopping the Pain

    Fortunately, I know the source of the physical pain keeping me up and inspiring me to write this. Unfortunately, too often in other areas of our lives we end up treating the symptoms and not the cause. As a result, we end up continuing to battle pain long-term when we don’t need to.

    If you’re dealing with one of these types of pain, pause, assess your situation honestly and with outside input. Work to find the cause and fix that.

  • It. Is. Hot!!!

    Latest D-Life podcast. I talk a little about how hot it has been and how it’s impacted things around me.

    Shorts and boots?

    I’ve never seen an old grizzled, farmer/rancher wearing shorts and boots. I’m not too sure that the lower half of his pants weren’t burned off to be honest. It was hot that day.

  • NOT1 Kings 18:40

    Elijah told them, “Reason with the prophets of Baal! Don’t let even one of them think you are mean!” So they befriended them, and Elijah led them down to the Kishon Valley and showed compassion to them in their crisis there.