Mastodawn

Dave Volek May 25

The American Aristocracy

Yes, the USA has an aristocracy.

https://tiereddemocraticgovernance.org/blog_details.php?blog_cat_id=28&id=175

#tiereddemocraticgovernance
#aristocracy

Nonilex May 21

Just a little favor for his #billionaire #donor #TechBros

#Trump delays executive order on #AI #oversight hours before planned signing 

The White House had already sent out invitations to the event, where Trump had been expected to sign an order increasing government scrutiny of new #ArtificialIntelligence models.

#law #tech #business #regulation #MentalHealth #plutocracy #aristocracy #technocracy
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/05/21/white-house-tore-down-ai-rules-now-its-building-new-defenses/

The White House tore down AI rules. Now it’s building new defenses.

The president is expected to sign an order creating a system for the government to vet powerful artificial intelligence models before they are publicly released.

The Washington Post

KillBait News May 14

The Life and Art of Savely Sorin, Portraitist of the Elite

📰 Original title: Savely Sorin: The Painter of Aristocratic Grace

🤖 IA: It's not clickbait ✅
👥 Users: It's not clickbait ✅

View full AI summary: https://en.killbait.com/the-life-and-art-of-savely-sorin-portraitist-of-the-elite.html?utm_source=mastodon_world&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=killbait

#culture #portrait #art #aristocracy

KillBait - News highlights delivered clearly and responsibly—no clickbait, no sensationalism.

Savely Sorin (1878–1953) was a distinguished portrait painter whose work merged the formal traditions of the Russian Academy with the sophisticated...

KillBait

KillBait May 14

The Life and Art of Savely Sorin, Portraitist of the Elite

📰 Original title: Savely Sorin: The Painter of Aristocratic Grace

🤖 IA: It's not clickbait ✅
👥 Users: It's not clickbait ✅

View full AI summary: https://en.killbait.com/the-life-and-art-of-savely-sorin-portraitist-of-the-elite.html?utm_source=mastodon_social&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=killbait

#culture #portrait #art #aristocracy

KillBait - News highlights delivered clearly and responsibly—no clickbait, no sensationalism.

Savely Sorin (1878–1953) was a distinguished portrait painter whose work merged the formal traditions of the Russian Academy with the sophisticated...

KillBait

Katharine O'Moore-Klopf, ELS May 11

@rbreich explains: The US has a #financial #aristocracy that is making a #profit at the expense of the rest of us. https://open.substack.com/pub/robertreich/p/what-no-one-will-tell-you-about-the

Psst: What No One Will Tell You About the National Debt (But I Will)

You really need to know this

Robert Reich

Liam O'Mara IV, PhD May 6

The #PalaceOfVersailles was built as a scam to control the French #aristocracy. Once complete, #LouisXIV moved his court to it on #ThisDayInHistory in 1682. Nobles were then invited to stay at #Versailles whilst royal intendants were sent to the provinces to centralize authority.

WIST Quotations Apr 27

A quotation from Victor Hugo

“Their vanity is full of phantoms which move as in a sublime night, armed with helm and cuirass, spurs on their heels and the sceptres in their hands, saying in a grave voice, ‘We are the ancestors!’ The canker-worms eat the roots, and panoplies eat the people. Why not? Are we to change the laws? The peerage is part of the order of society. Do you know that there is a duke in Scotland who can ride ninety miles without leaving his own estate? Do you know that the Archbishop of Canterbury has a revenue of £40,000 a year? Do you know that her Majesty has £700,000 sterling from the civil list, besides castles, forests, domains, fiefs, tenancies, freeholds, prebendaries, tithes, rent, confiscations, and fines, which bring in over a million sterling? Those who are not satisfied are hard to please.”
“Yes,” murmured Gwynplaine sadly, “the paradise of the rich is made out of the hell of the poor.”

— Leur vanité est pleine de fantômes qui s’y promènent comme dans une nuit sublime, armés, casqués, cuirassés, éperonnés, le bâton d’empire à la main, et disant d’une voix grave: Nous sommes les aïeux ! Les scarabées mangent les racines, et les panoplies mangent le peuple. Pourquoi pas? Allons-nous changer les lois? La seigneurie fait partie de l’ordre. Sais-tu qu’il y a un duc en Écosse qui galope trente lieues sans sortir de chez lui? Sais-tu que le lord archevêque de Canterbury a un million de Francs de revenu? Sais-tu que sa majesté a par an sept cent mille livres sterling de liste civile, sans compter les châteaux, forêts, domaines, fiefs, tenances, alleux, prébendes, dîmes et redevances, confiscations et amendes, qui dépassent un million sterling ? Ceux qui ne sont pas contents sont difficiles.
— Oui, murmura Gwynplaine pensif, c’est de l’enfer des pauvres qu’est fait le paradis des riches.

Victor Hugo (1802-1885) French writer
The Man Who Laughs [L’Homme qui rit; The Laughing Man; By Order of the King], Part 2, Book 2, ch. 11 (2.2.11) (1869) [Auth. trans. (1871)]

More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/hugo-victor/82457/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #victorhugo #themanwholaughs #aristocracy #classwarfare #economicinjustice #exploitation #meme #oligarchy #poor #poverty #power #rich #riches #wealth