Thursday, October 29, 2020

UP FIRST 10/29/2020

Twitter CEO says he's not blocking the Hunter Biden story (He is)
"Damning" new Hunter Biden documents go missing
"Anonymous" is no longer anonymous
Report: Police in Philadelphia discover a van loaded with explosives

Twitter CEO: I'm not blocking the NY Post's Hunter Biden story (He is.)

Headline: Jack Dorsey says the New York Post Twitter account will remain locked until it deletes the original tweet featuring its Hunter Biden story .

What's Up: Social media giant Twitter was in the crosshairs of a congressional committee yesterday as Senators grilled the company's CEO Jack Dorsey over the publicly traded company's suppression of conservative posts and specifically Twitter's blocking the New York Post's story on Hunter Biden's emails exposing influence peddling. Dorsey claimed they were no longer suppressing the story. (They are.)

Quote: "'They have to log in to their account, which they can do right this minute, delete the original tweet, which fell under our original enforcement action, and they can tweet the exact same material ... and it will go through.'" — BusinessInsider.com

The First take: Senator Ted Cruz's cross-examination of Jack Dorsey received the lion's share of media coverage, second only to Dorsey's beard. (See the Bonus story below) The tech billionaire denied his portal had the ability to influence elections. We disagree. Shadow-banning of Conservative posts are actually silencing the opinions of people who may influence voters. Twitter has (by some accounts) suppressed posts by Donald Trump more than five dozen times. Silencing voices is most definitely exercising influence on an election.

READ IT ALL HERE

Bonus: Twitter users mock Jack Dorsey's beard

"Damning" Hunter Biden documents go missing from overnight mail

Headline: ‘Baffled And Deeply Bothered By This’: Tucker Carlson Says ‘Damning’ Hunter Biden Documents ‘Vanished’

What's Up: After scoring a ratings coup on Tuesday night with his interview of former Hunter Biden partner Anthony Bobulinski, Tucker Carlson had planned to share new and more "damning" documents in the Hunter Biden story -- but, they never arrived after being sent from his office in NYC to Los Angeles. Carlson alleges the documents were stolen while in the control of a well known overnight shipper.

Quote: "'They went far and beyond, but they found nothing. Those documents have vanished. As of tonight, the company has no idea — and no working theory even — about what happened to this trove of materials, documents that are directly relevant to the presidential campaign just six days from now,'” Carlson said. “'We spoke to executives at that company a few hours ago. They seemed baffled and deeply bothered by this. And so are we.'" — DailyCaller.com

The First take: These missing and potentially "damning" documents certainly toss another log on the fire of the Hunter Biden story. We are not surprised the documents have gone missing. What we would like to know: Did the employee charged with overnighting the very important do what we would have done... MAKE A COPY! What about the person who sent them? Did that person make a copy? Well, Tucker? We're waiting.

GET THE WHOLE STORY HERE

Bonus: Senate committee successfully verifies all Bobulinski materials reviewed to date

Police discover a van loaded with "explosives" in Philadelphia

Headline: BREAKING: Police in Philadelphia ‘discover van loaded with explosives, suspicious equipment,’ report says

What's Up: Thanks to a 9pm curfew in the city, violence against the police and looting of stores in Philadelphia was down significantly on Wednesday night. However, the discovery of a van loaded with a cache of what could be easily converted into weapons is raising eyebrows.

Quote: "'Action News has learned that police recovered propane tanks, torches and possible dynamite sticks from the van,'” ABC 6 reported. “'The bomb squad is on the scene at this hour.'" — DailyWire.com

The First take: Some have described the recent looting of stores in greater Philadelphia to be "crimes of opportunity." We wonder about the anarchists in that city and around the country who may be preparing for election night "opportunities." We encourage everyone to be paying close attention to life in your town and, if you see something, for God's sake, say something.

GET THE DETAILS

Bonus: Here's how the media is describing the violence in Philadelphia

"Anonymous" is no longer anonymous

Headline: Former DHS official Miles Taylor says he wrote 'Anonymous' Trump critique

What's Up: Miles Taylor, a former DHS staffer turned CNN contributor admitted he is the author behind the 2018 anti-Trump opinion piece in The New York Times. Taylor identified himself as a "senior official" who was part of the internal "resistance" working against the president from inside the administration. In August, Anderson Cooper asked the network's contributor if he was "Anonymous" and Taylor denied it. Just over a month later, the anti-Trump contributor changed his tune.

Quote: "'You know what the problem is with having lied is: Now you're a liar, and people will be slow to believe you,' Cuomo said." — AP.com

The First take: Mr. Taylor spent the first year of Trump's first term inside DHS as a Chief of Staff and a did attend meetings in the White House before leaving to become a CNN staffer. But otherwise he's a relatively unknown. Are we to believe the cable network did not know Taylor was Anonymous? The network has said they do not have plans to fire Taylor despite his lies. We're not surprised...Jeffrey Toobin is apparently still on the payroll.

CHECK OUT THE DETAILS

Bonus: Flashback - Remember when CNN's Cillizza thought "Anonymous" was Mike Pence?

Top clips from The First TV:

Coming up:

The First is your home on election night! We'll have the smartest, most honest coverage of what's going on featuring Bill O'Reilly, Buck Sexton, Jesse Kelly, Mike Slater, and Dana Loesch.

Watch live on The First app, TheFirstTV.com, or on Pluto TV channel 244!