New Extremist “Freedom Caucuses” Are Pushing State Governments Right Across US
The State Freedom Caucus Network, funded by a shadowy array of far right donors, has a presence in 15 states so far.New Extremist “Freedom Caucuses” Are Pushing State Governments Right Across US
The State Freedom Caucus Network, funded by a shadowy array of far right donors, has a presence in 15 states so far.Sources say that when a coalition of forces fighting alongside the DRC government re-entered Uvira last month—after M23 had withdrawn from the city—foreign mercenaries under Prince’s leadership were among those accompanying the coalition. These mercenaries have reportedly been seen for some time in ongoing fighting in the surrounding highland areas.
The same sources allege that Prince was arrested at a hotel in the Muchepe area, together with soldiers assigned to his security, before being taken to an undisclosed location.
#erikprince #betsydevos #usPol #imperialism #mercenaries #usmilitary #colonialism #Maga #fascism #Trump #amway #projectVeritas #m23 #blackwater #academi #xe #nisourSquare #nisourSquareMassacre
From 2018: THEOCRATIC MERCENARY ERIK PRINCE AND THE CHRISTIAN RIGHT.
"President Donald Trumps election allowed the Christian right to achieve a new level of domination in the US government. Since the 1960s, the #ChristianRight has become the loudest voice in the Republican Party, moving their message from the revival tents and into the political arena. Continuing this tradition, Erik Dean Prince, founder of the private security services firm RBlackwater, embodies the values of a heavily financed movement in American politics, combining elements of corporate greed, pro-war fanaticism, and religious fundamentalism. Prince has been eyeing a run for political office, which would enable him to help legislate his proposals and build momentum for his fellow travelers to achieve the same in the 2018 and 2020 elections.
A Son is Born
"Erik Dean Prince was born in Holland, Michigan, on June 6, 1969, the youngest child and only son of Edgar and Elsa Prince, who also had daughters Betsy, Emilie, and Eileen. As documented by author Suzanne Simons in her 2009 book Master of War: Blackwater USA's Erik Prince and the Business of War, Prince grew up in a religious household and attended Christian schools; the Princes were members of the Reformed Church in America, a conservative Christian sect that follows the philosophical template of theologian John Calvin.
"Edgar Prince worked as a die caster and then chief engineer for the die cast machine manufacturing outfit Buss Machine Works after serving in the US Air Force. In 1965 he and two co-workers struck out on their own to establish Prince Manufacturing. By the 1970s the company expanded its operations and became financially successful, as did the Prince family. Edgar Prince died of heart failure in 1995, and the company was sold to Johnson Controls for over $1 billion.
"Surrounded by those who share their belief in Christian-based politics, the Prince family has used its fortune to help build the conservative Christian movement. Focus on the Family founder #JamesDobson and Richard Nixon's disgraced former special counsel Charles Colson (who became a born-again Christian after serving seven months in prison for his role in the Watergate scandal) were family friends. Edgar and Elsa Prince were major contributors to the Family Research Council and founded the nonprofit Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation in 1979, substantial funds from which have gone toward the effort to abolish the legal wall separating church and state. lhe Prince family also has deep ties to the Council for National Policy (#CNP) which, according to its vision statement, supports 'a united conservative movement to assure, by 2020, policy leadership and governance that restores religious and economic freedom, a strong national defense, and Judeo-Christian values under the Constitution.'
"From Reverend Billy Graham's "spiritual counsel" to twelve US presidents, to Reverend #JerryFalwell's #MoralMajority movement of the 1970s and '80s, to Marion Gordon #PatRobertson's #ChristianCoalition (now the Christian Coalition of America), the movement to push a fundamentalist 'Judeo-Christian' agenda into the public sphere has been an ongoing crusade. Keeping with family tradition, #ErikPrince's sister Betsy married fellow Christian right figure Dick DeVos, whose father is the founder of Amway and the past president of the CNP from 1990-1993. #BetsyDeVos served as the chair of the Michigan Republican Party and now serves as US Secretary of Education under Donald Trump. The DeVos dynasty, labelled a 'family of extremists' by the Center for American Progress, is undoubtedly having an influence on the Trump White House.
"As many readers of this publication [#TheHumanist] likely know, the Christian right calls for: mandatory prayer in school, the abolition of #ReproductiveRights and bans on #SameSex marriage, persecution of #minority groups, and funding of #pseudoscientific studies (such as those that deny #ClimateChange and promote intelligent design). Recently, Secretary DeVos instructed her office to remove guidelines protecting the #CivilRights of #transgender students. This is only one of many ways that she and her #Trumpian cohorts are ignoring the will of the majority in favor of the #theocratic #tyranny of the few. By contrast, DeVos's brother Erik, characterized by critics as a 'mercenary' and '#WarProfiteer,' made his mark on US policy through his controversial outfit Blackwater. "
Read more:
https://www.thefreelibrary.com/THEOCRATIC+MERCENARY+ERIK+PRINCE+AND+THE+CHRISTIAN+RIGHT.-a0545669941
#USPol #TrumpSucks
#Authoritarianism #ErikPrinceIsAWarCriminal #ErikPrinceColonialism #ChristoFascism #Fascism
How the Charter School Industry’s Newest Scheme Could Be ‘the Death of Public Schools’
https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/12/19/how-the-charter-school-industrys-newest-scheme-could-be-the-death-of-public-schools
Christian right /billionaire evisceration of public education - see superb 3-part Salon article
https://mastodon.social/@persagen/113821963729048081
[thread 1/x] Charter schools
https://mastodon.social/@persagen/110608529417350253
[2/x] https://mastodon.social/@persagen/113153575049972534
🇺🇲 🇬🇧 #Christofascism #CharterSchools #BetsyDeVos #GregAbbott
🇨🇦 #DanielleSmith #Trumpism
#transgenocide 🏳️⚧️ #TLM
https://mastodon.social/@persagen/114186381298087870
Michigan native #ErikPrince proposes #deportation plan to #ElSalvador, report says
By Justin Engel, Apr. 14, 2025
"Erik Prince, the former CEO of #Blackwater USA and a Michigan native, is among a group of defense contractors proposing to expand plans for deporting #immigrants to a prison in El Salvador, Politico reported.
"The pitch would attempt to avoid #legal challenges by designating part of the El Salvador prison system as #AmericanTerritory, the report stated.
" 'It’s unclear how seriously the White House is considering the plan by Prince, who has drawn scrutiny for his firm’s role in a deadly massacre in Iraq two decades ago,' the Politico report stated. 'But it would give Prince’s group an unprecedented and potentially highly lucrative role in an expanded version of a transnational operation that has elicited its own web of controversies, in part because it has swept up immigrants who do not have criminal records in the United States.'
"The report coincides with President Donald Trump’s plans to host #NayibBukele, the president of El Salvador, at the White House on Monday, April 14.
"Since March, El Salvador has accepted from the U.S. more than 200 #Venezuelan immigrants — whom officials with President Donald Trump’s administration have accused of gang activity and violent crimes — and placed them inside the country’s notorious maximum-security gang prison. It is also holding a Maryland man who the administration admits was wrongly deported but has not been returned to the U.S., despite court orders to do so.
"Trump has ties to the family of Prince, an automotive supplier heir from Holland. Prince is the brother of #BetsyDeVos, the secretary of education during the first Trump administration.
"Prince, a major Republican donor, has been accused of acting as a back channel on behalf of Trump. As Trump was preparing to take office in 2017, Prince met with a official close to Russian President Vladimir #Putin in the #Seychelles, islands off the coast of east Africa. Special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on his Russia investigation said the meeting was set up ahead of time with the knowledge of former White House aide #StephenBannon.
"Prince soared to notoriety after Blackwater USA employees in 2007 shot and killed #Iraqi #civilians in Baghdad’s #NisourSquare during the Iraq war, casting a light on the role played by private contractors in U.S. military operations overseas.
"In the wake of the scandal the company’s name was changed and Prince sold his shares to a private equity fund."
#ErikPrinceColonialism #Blackwater #Academi #ErikPrinceIsAWarCriminal #TripleCanopy #PrivateArmy #OffLeash #ProjectVeritas #Project2025 #TigerSwan #Fascism
#Authoritarianism
Trump allies circulate #MassDeportation plan calling for ‘processing camps’ and a private citizen ‘#army’
The group, led by #Blackwater veteran #ErikPrince, has close #Trump ties.
By Dasha Burns and Myah Ward
02/25/2025 05:55 AM EST
"Prince declined to comment, and the other contractors and former immigration officials listed as key personnel in the document also declined to comment or could not be reached.
"The founders of the new special entity called #2USV have a long history with the U.S. government. Blackwater was formed by Prince in 1996 to provide training services to law enforcement, military personnel and other government agencies. It gained widespread attention for its work in Iraq and Afghanistan, providing security services for U.S. officials and military personnel, with critics viewing its rise as a result of the U.S. military’s overextension in the Middle East.
The military contractor came under scrutiny in 2007 following the #NisourSquareMassacre, when #Blackwater contractors opened fire and killed 17 Iraqi civilians and wounded 20 others — raising questions about oversight and accountability of private contractors. Several contractors were charged with manslaughter, and four were convicted in 2014. Trump pardoned them at the end of his first term in December 2020.
"Trump’s pardon was just one example of the influence of Prince’s family during the first Trump administration. #BetsyDeVos, Prince’s sister, served as the president’s #Education secretary, while Prince used his Trump connections as he chased business ventures in the U.S. and abroad.
"In 2018, he reportedly helped raise money for an effort to spy on progressives and Democratic organizations opposed to Trump." [As well as #DAPL #WaterProtectors!]
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/02/25/documents-military-contractors-mass-deportations-022648
#Blackwater
#ErikPrinceColonialism
#SilencingDissent
#USPol #Project2025 #CriminalizingActivism
#ClimateActivists #NoDAPL #Crapitalism
#Fascism #Trump #ChristoFascist
#CorporateFascism #SilencingDissent #ClimateActivists #Activists #NoDAPL #CriminalizingDissent
#CrackdownOnProtests #AntiProtestLaws #CorporateFascism #CorporateColonialism
#CharacteristicsOfFascism #ErikPrinceColonialism #Academi #TripleCanopy #SilencingDissent #ErikPrinceIsAWarCriminal