NEW: The great Trump-Musk crackdown is coming. And it will hit hard & fast. Journalists will be first. But everyone else is next.
I urge you to read my 20 lessons in How to Survive the Broligarchy, inspired by & featuring the great @TimothyDSnyder. 1/ theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
Lesson 1: When someone tells you who they are, believe them.
This week, Trump told us who he is. Believe him. If his adminstration picks look like a plan to destroy America from within, it likely is. 2/
2. Journalists will be first. But everyone else is next.
How do we know this? Because it always is. It's the authoritarian playbook.
Lawsuits are first. Prosecutions are next. America needs to learn these moves fast. It's already later than you think. 3/
3. To name is to understand.
This is McMuskism: it’s McCarthyism on steroids. Political persecution + Trump + Musk + Silicon Valley surveillance tools. A new technofuelled age of political witch-hunts. 4/
If you'd like to stay in touch, pls sign up to my newsletter. We've seen what Musk has done. And Guardian, in this moment of crisis, is seeking to sell our dearly beloved Observer, my home for 19 years. We can trust no single platform nor publisher. 🙏 substack.com/home/post/p-15…
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PREDICTION: If Andrew is charged (no assumption of guilt etc), we are going to have a crisis of both the press & judiciary.
In Britain, it is an offence to publish ANY info on defendant beyond bare facts.
But! US outlets can print whatever they like…
1/
Contempt of court is foundational principle of British justice: press must not prejudice a jury trial.
Editors risk a prison sentence if found in breach.
Even in digital age, the law held…but how could it possibly withstand deluge of US coverage in a case like this??
3/
Short answer: it won’t. Far right agitator Tommy Robinson weaponised UK laws on contempt as a ‘cover up’ over grooming scandal. And the New Yorker ignored & published on Lucy Letby.
If Andrew is charged, it’ll trigger a crisis for both the press & judiciary
4/
NEW: Our investigation for @thenerve_news reveals not only that Peter Thiel’s Palantir is completely enmeshed in our critical national infrastructure.
It’s also the ‘cloud support’ for our nuclear weapons system 1/
Palantir’s stated mission is to defend America. Peter Thiel is a radical libertarian who does not believe ‘freedom & democracy are compatible’.
Yet, the UK is overwhelmingly dependent on Palantir’s services. As a national security threat, this is off the charts. 2/
Please read the piece with comments from tech & national security experts.
We have no national security while we rely on highly political US Silicon Valley firms that are enmeshed in Trump’s increasing fascistic administration. 3/
Ignore the political pundits. They’ve failed us. The media is failing us. Listen to the historians. This is Conservative historian Robert Kagan on what is happening in Minneapolis & what it means. 3/
The barrister for the Crown has laid out the background and context for the case, including Ukraine's efforts to join the European Union.
2/
The barrister confirms that Gill was en route to Moscow when he was stopped at Manchester airport in 2021 (as first reported in @thenerve_news. 3/ thenerve.news/p/nathan-gill-…
There are sound reasons to criticise BBC. We’re all pissed off with it over something! But our valid critiques are being weaponised by the enemies of democracy.
The BBC is a crucial firewall in a moment of unprecedented danger. Why do you think Russia is joining in?! 3/
Firstly, please - if you can - support this crowdfunder from
@allthecitizens
@LeighDay_Law
have spent years on this. The MPs are persevering even tho they've now left parliament. And whole subject couldn't be more urgent or more timely 🙏 3/