Mastodawn

"In California, 2026 is suddenly becoming the year of the big tech flex. Silicon Valley donors are unleashing tens of millions of dollars to reshape the power dynamics in this resolutely Democratic state":
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/02/04/woke-up-the-sleeping-giant-tech-goes-hard-on-california-politics-00765304?utm_content=politico/magazine/Politics&utm_source=flipboard
#politics #tech #CampaignSpending

WIST Quotations Has Moved!Sep 25

A quotation from Teddy Roosevelt

There can be no effective control of corporations while their political activity remains. To put an end to it will be neither a short nor an easy task, but it can be done. We must have complete and effective publicity of corporate affairs, so that people may know beyond peradventure whether the corporations obey the law and whether their management entitles them to the confidence of the public. It is necessary that laws should be passed to prohibit the use of corporate funds directly or indirectly for political purposes; it is still more necessary that such laws should be thoroughly enforced. Corporate expenditures for political purposes, and especially such expenditures by public-service corporations, have supplied one of the principal sources of corruption in our political affairs.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901-1909)
Speech (1910-08-31), “The New Nationalism,” John Brown Memorial Park dedication, Osawatomie, Kansas

More info about this quote: wist.info/roosevelt-theodore/2…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #teddyroosevelt #TheodoreRoosevelt #bigbusiness #campaignspending #capitalism #corporations #corruption #government #meme #politicalcorruption #politics #regulation #transparency

Kent Pitman Aug 13, 2024

President Biden just announced $150M in research spending for his cancer moonshot.

To put that in perspective, a pro-Trump super PAC will spend $100M in the next few weeks trying to disparage Kamala.
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/08/12/trump-super-pac-100-million-ad-00173644

And AIPAC spent $100M trying to unseat progressives critical of Israel's war on Gaza.
https://amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/20/pro-israel-groups-gaza-us-elections

We need better priorities.

And better campaign funding rules.

#cancer #research #ResearchFunding #CancerResearch #democracy #CampaignFunding #CampaignSpending #Election2024 #Kamala #KamalaHarris #Biden #CancerMoonshot #Gaza #genocide #CitizensUnited

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Cory Doctorow Oct 31, 2023

#10yrsago Face scrub #MicroBeads are choking the Great Lakes https://web.archive.org/web/20131031103227/http://5gyres.org/posts/2013/10/28/5_gyres_publishes_first_scientific_paper_on_plastic_pollution_in_the_great_lakes/

#10yrsago Toronto cops confirm video of Mayor #RobFord smoking crack and making racist and homophobic remarks https://www.cp24.com/news/extended-coverage-police-have-video-of-ford-court-documents-shed-light-on-investigation-1.1521449

#5yrsago The #dialysis industry just set a #CampaignSpending record to fight California limits on pricing https://theintercept.com/2018/10/31/california-proposition-8-dialysis/

#5yrsago London’s new high-rises: speculators’ #LuxuryFlats designed never to be occupied https://citymonitor.ai/economy/more-expensive-property-london-more-likely-it-be-empty-4312

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Nonilex Sep 11, 2023

…the #CitizensUnited ruling… upended nearly 100 years of #CampaignSpending #restrictions.

The #conservative #legal movement seized the moment w/greater success than any other group, & the consequences have shaped American #jurisprudence & #politics in dramatic ways.

From those early discussions among #Leo, #Thomas & #Crow would spring a billion-dollar force that has helped remake the #judiciary & #overturn longstanding legal #precedents on #abortion, #AffirmativeAction & many other issues.

Nonilex Sep 11, 2023

The #SCOTUS 2010 #CitizensUnited decision transformed #politics. It loosened restrictions on #CampaignSpending & unleashed a flow of #anonymous #donor #money to *nonprofit* groups run by #political activists.

In the months before the ruling…, a group of #conservative activists came together to create just such an org. Its mission would be to, at the time, block then-President Barack #Obama’s pet #initiatives.

#DarkMoney #GinniThomas #LeonardLeo
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/09/10/ginni-thomas-leonard-leo-citizens-united-00108082

What Ginni Thomas and Leonard Leo wrought: How a justice’s wife and a key activist started a movement

Thanks to the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, a trove of so-called "dark money" was about to be unleashed. Two activists prepared to seize the moment.

POLITICO