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System Update

@SystemUpdate_

Jun 10

"Regardless of past cases, if Trump broke the law, shouldn’t he face consequences?"

Actually no.

The law only has legitimacy if applied consistently—otherwise it becomes nothing more than a political weapon.

This is an obvious & obscene break with precedent 🧵

#1 David Petraeus: Obama's CIA Director leaked highly classified documents to his mistress. Then lied about it to the FBI.

Consequence: One misdemeanor count, a $40,000 fine, and probation time rather than prison.

#2 Sandy Berger: Clinton's former National Security Advisor maliciously STOLE classified documents from the national archives surrounding the 9/11 commission.

Consequence: A $50,000 fine, 100 hours of community service, and barred from access to classified material for 3 years.

Read 6 tweets

System Update

@SystemUpdate_

May 30

@SabalenkaA

WATCH: Media berates Belarusian tennis player @SabalenkaA—demanding she denounce the war in Ukraine.

Can you imagine an American or British athlete being asked to account for their government's actions in this way?

@vika7

Earlier this year, similar demands were made of @vika7.

Implying that these athletes—civilians—are somehow responsible for the actions of their governments is a dangerous precedent for Western media to set.

And especially perplexing given Russia's authoritarian system.

Over and over, we are told that we're exempt from the moral responsibility we impose on the rest of the world, from war crimes to government repression.

Targeting these Russian/Belarusian athletes is just the latest convenient deflection.

Read 4 tweets

System Update

@SystemUpdate_

May 30

US Media the last 6+ years: "Trump is LITERALLY Hitler."

US Media Today: "Trump is MORE RADICAL than ever before. And DeSantis is even WORSE than him!!!"

This Hitler Redemption Arc—the logical conclusion of these claims—would be hilarious if it weren't so pernicious 👇

Ron DeSantis is unambiguously a polarizing figure.

But the extreme rhetoric around his candidacy—and its implications—go far beyond reality.

This game-playing with Hitler comparisons has gone so far that an MSNBC contributor essentially *praised* Hitler's ethical constraints relative to Putin:

"Hitler didn't kill ethnic Germans... [Putin] slaughters the very people he said he has come to liberate."

Read 5 tweets

System Update

@SystemUpdate_

May 25

@danielsgoldman

WATCH: The Democrats' newest social media superstar—Manhattan billionaire heir @danielsgoldman—bends over backwards to shield the FBI from criticism.

Of course today's Dems ❤️ him.

This snotty, entitled, establishment mouthpiece embodies everything they've become.

Goldman, a freshman member of Congress, is now one of its wealthiest members, with stocks and holdings in everything from oil and gas to big pharma to big tech to military contractors.

He spent 3x his primary opponent to secure his seat in the House.

It's not at all surprising that Goldman is a rising star in today's Democratic party.

Overwhelming majorities of their voters now revere the FBI, CIA, and Homeland Security—and favor increased censorship online.

His authoritarian defense of their power is what they crave.

Read 4 tweets

System Update

@SystemUpdate_

May 23

DEEP DIVE: The Largely-Forgotten—And Enormously Consequential—Mystery of the Anthrax Attacks That Enabled the Iraq War

In 2001, just seven days after 9/11, media outlets began reporting that a highly weaponized form of Anthrax was being mailed to news outlets & US politicians 🧵

Over the next several weeks, the media pushed this story as more and more letters appeared, killing several.

Put yourself in the mindset of the already-shaken American public—you can imagine how quickly fear turned into outright terror.

@BrianRoss

Based on anonymous, high-up government sources, the media began explicitly linking these attacks to Iraq, citing their discovery of "bentonite" in the mailed Anthrax as a hallmark of Saddam's biological weapons program.

@BrianRoss at @ABC was at the forefront of this charge👇

Read 7 tweets

System Update

@SystemUpdate_

May 20

@bellingcat

DEEP DIVE: Who funds Bellingcat—the shady "journalistic" outlet now beloved by Corporate Media and the CIA?

When Elon Musk referred to @bellingcat as a PsyOp org, he was met with outrage by leading media figures, from @jaketapper to @chrislhayes, who rushed to their defense 🧵 twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

You can see Chris Hayes' segment "refuting" Musk's claims here.

Notice that neither he nor his doppelganger guest/Bellingcat employee engage the substance of their critics:

Namely, that their funding is largely derived from the govts & intelligence communities they cover.

Their *own* financial disclosure documents demonstrate this obvious conflict of interest.

From the EU to the National Endowment for Democracy (a well-established propaganda arm of the CIA), a large portion of their annual budget is derived from government sources.