Melanie R. E. Wildman
Philip BumpIt's hard to overstate the extent to which the FBI-Twitter-Hunter Biden narrative promoted by Musk depends on narrative over evidence. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/20/twitter-fbi-story-relies-far-more-insinuation-than-evidence/
Half Cocked Law@pbump the narrative would have worked better had he not started banning journalists for reporting on Twitter
jljacobson@pbump it's hard to overstate how unsurprising this is.
Classy Lady@pbump wish the DOJ would make a decision and make it public. Having this hanging out there just adds fuel to the fire.
emptywheel@ClassyLady @pbump some of this remains an active investigation into RU spies.
KanaMauna@pbump The problem is that we now live in a post evidence world. Whether it’s the laptop, the election, deepstate, climate change, lab leak, whatever, so many people live in a choose your own adventure novel.
Lady Gee@pbump Why no stories about a WHOLE TELEVISION NETWORK that gives in kind donations to republicans every hour of every day and suppresses democratic votes? Ever heard of Fox News? NewsMax? Oann? This story is silly and the media falls for it. Every time.
@travellovewine Maybe Google before offering this particular complaint in the future. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/10/19/fox-news-hannity-republican-candidates/
PeterSoukup@pbump Elon is full of shit again, who would have guessed ... 😎
Peter Principle@pbump Also the story of his entire business career.
David Collantes 
@pbump this last part hit the spot:
“The worry isn’t that Musk might nonetheless believe the story he’s presenting the world. It’s that so many other people, unable to know what’s being withheld or unable to take the time to understand the fuller context, are eager to believe it too.”
michelle.cat@pbump Elon Musk is using twitter like a bully that just found a club and it’s having really bad consequences in the real world
Ken Laster 😎@pbump Sure wish this wasn’t behind a paywall. Anyone want to give a short synopsis?
Cypher@pbump the whole thing is predicated on confirmation bias
Bryan Atinsky@pbump Having read Michael Shellenberger’s global warming denialist cherry picking extravaganza, I can tell you this is nothing new with this “author.” In fact, this is why he was chosen by Musk to do the task.
Tofu Golem@pbump
I hope the Washington Post remembered to use a "but both sides" argument to make the Republicans seem less bad, otherwise, they're going to have to print more opinion pieces about "polarization" as penance.
I hope the Washington Post remembered to use a "but both sides" argument to make the Republicans seem less bad, otherwise, they're going to have to print more opinion pieces about "polarization" as penance.
xs4me2@pbump
Lies basically…
Lies basically…
Peter Leon@pbump Isn’t this standard GOP operating procedure? All hat no cattle, time after time and the media generally pretends otherwise.
DAME Magazine@pbump vibes. lots of vibes.
Tim Sperry (aka Yankee_in_CT)@pbump Thank you for writing this. We rely on the experts to sift through all of this for the story.
ChrisU
Scott, present & accounted for@pbump Everything about Elon Musk is overrated.
Stan Fletcher@scottspeaking @pbump And now we are finding out much of it is mythical.
Russ Copeland@pbump it's literally true of every conservative talking point for 40yrs.
jillkent@pbump Of course ad when these 'revelations' are sold to people who only want the narrative and no actual facts, Elon musk gives his newfound fans exactly what they crave.
Alexander Ruthol@pbump
As is typical for russian influence ops.
As is typical for russian influence ops.
Chaoddity@pbump they’re still salty they spent so much time on a political op and coordinated propaganda campaign for it to get summarily ignored. They’re gonna keep shrieking about it, hoping to get SOME value out of it.
toxtethogrady@pbump Funny how other events have obscured the headlines...
Robin from Colorado 🇺🇸🇺🇦@pbump it’s just so dumb. But it’s also an extremely important story in terms of the lengths political power will go to steal your digital data, manipulate it and produce it as pristine information gotten legitimately. Give it to social media to distribute while it is completely unusable by law enforcement.
Chris Caple@pbump That be how fascists roll. Facts don't matter; only the narrative matters. Control the narrative, control the country.
Philly@pbump never let the facts get in the way of a good story is so Elon.
Jeff@pbump Twitter has no credibility now
John Love@pbump Trolls like to accuse Democrats of wanting to isolate themselves in echo chambers. I avoid doing that — which is pretty easy living in Midland, Texas — and I am always open to dialogue with people of different viewpoints, but from Twitter to the comments WaPo, Musk's amen chorus is deafening. Thanks for putting things in context.
@LoveForTX @pbump I really am shocked at what i am reading here, its actually funny. Its since musk took over, there has been so much shit flying just because he acquired the blue bird. First they force him to go through with his deal, then they want him to leave and are calling him a fascist. Its clear most Americans will never be able to work together if they call themselves nazis and facists and marxists all day. Good luck over there!
@Morreeuh @pbump The Twitter board had a duty to the company's shareholders to get them the value promised by Musk in the offer. What's in the best interest of Twitter users and society at large is a different matter. In the midst of all this, Musk has helped tank the value of Tesla stock. Surely there will be shareholder lawsuits stemming from that. The Federal Trade Commission and European Commission will inevitably act. Musk has "sewed the wind, and … shall reap the whirlwind.".
Ellie Harvie@pbump hey if Biden and his son are corrupt go at them. I can’t imagine Biden, who has been in the public eye for over 50 years, has some deep, dark secrets. But by all means investigate and see what you find. That doesn’t exonerate Trump from any of his many crimes.
Steyrshrek
Alexandria Brangwin@eharvie @pbump Republicans & their supporters do tend to lean into that old bible story of "let he who is without sin, cast the first stone" at best.....old fashioned russian whataboutism at worst.
Under the banner of course of "say awful things that are totally divorced from reality about your opponent so people vote for you instead".
Thing is, no matter how deluded....reality waits for us all...and by the time most wise up to the con....election is over.
Under the banner of course of "say awful things that are totally divorced from reality about your opponent so people vote for you instead".
Thing is, no matter how deluded....reality waits for us all...and by the time most wise up to the con....election is over.
@AlexBrangwin @pbump very true.
Sam Thurston 
@pbump the first time he said FSD was 2 years away was at least 2015.
nadin brzezinski@pbump @NLAWScametovisit also, tech bros abd the right want to destroy institutions
NLAWScametovisit
VHaschMay I tell you how much normal, everyday people care about the goings-on of a private citizen who has never drawn a taxpayer-funded paycheck?
Do. Not. Care.