Victoria Stuart 🇨🇦 🏳️‍⚧️Oct 21, 2024

[thread 2/x] Existential threat of billionaires
parent: https://mastodon.social/@persagen/112810230899017402
[thread 3/x] https://mastodon.social/@persagen/113482871306325984

conservative advocacy/lobbying
political/legal state capture
deregulation: anti-union/taxation libertarianism
eradication of social programs/public education/benefits

Dark Money (2016)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Money_(book)

Democracy in Chains (2019)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_in_Chains

None Dare Call It Conspiracy (1970)
https://archive.org/details/none-dare-call-it-conspiracy_202101

Dark money: https://mastodon.social/@persagen/110953607664918460

#billionaires

Dark Money (book) - Wikipedia

Show threadVictoria Stuart 🇨🇦 🏳️‍⚧️Oct 21, 2024

READ!

Jane Mayer, Dark Money (2016)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Money_(book)

Nancy MacLean, Democracy in Chains (2019)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_in_Chains

Gary Allen, None Dare Call It Conspiracy (1970)
https://archive.org/details/none-dare-call-it-conspiracy_202101

[thread] Dark money: https://mastodon.social/@persagen/110953607664918460

#billionaires #CharlesKock #ElonMusk #RichardUihlein #NelsonPelz #TimothyMellon #BarreSeid #PaulSinger #PeterThiel #libertarianism #GOP #protofascism #plutocracy #oligarchy #meritocracy #disinformation #WealthTax

Dark Money (book) - Wikipedia

Show threadVictoria Stuart 🇨🇦 🏳️‍⚧️Oct 21, 2024

Musk offers $1M to sign petition - legal?
https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/musk-offers-voters-us-1-million-a-day-to-sign-pac-petition-backing-the-constitution-is-that-legal-1.7080551

Officials Sound Alarm Over Musk’s Payments to Pro-Trump Voters
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/10/pennsylvania-musk-cash-lottery-trump-payments-reaction

Pennsylvania governor calls Elon Musk’s $1M sweepstakes concerning
https://www.npr.org/2024/10/20/g-s1-29118/trump-elon-musk-pennsylvania-voters

Musk Offering Cash To Identify Trump Voters
https://mastodon.social/@persagen/113273482685158941

[thread] Elon Musk
https://mastodon.social/@persagen/110460614727284498

#billionaires #WealthTax #ElonMusk #GOP #Trumpism #AmericaPAC #Progress2028 #FarRight #protofascism #ElectoralFraud #plutocracy #oligarchy

Musk offers voters US$1 million a day to sign PAC petition backing the Constitution. Is that legal?

Elon Musk has already committed at least US$70 million to help Donald Trump win the 2024 U.S. election. Now he's pledging to give away US$1 million a day to voters for signing his political action committee's petition backing the U.S. Coinstitution.

CTVNews
Show threadVictoria Stuart 🇨🇦 🏳️‍⚧️Oct 21, 2024

Elon Musk’s Petition Award Amounts to “Illegal Vote Buying,” Legal Expert Warns
https://truthout.org/articles/elon-musks-petition-award-amounts-to-illegal-vote-buying-legal-expert-warns

Musk is giving $1 million to random voters who sign his “petition in favor of free speech and the right to bear arms.”

#billionaires #WealthTax #ElonMusk #GOP #Trumpism #AmericaPAC #Progress2028 #FarRight #protofascism #ElectoralFraud #plutocracy #oligarchy

Elon Musk’s Petition Award Amounts to “Illegal Vote Buying,” Legal Expert Warns

Musk is giving $1 million to random voters who sign his “petition in favor of free speech and the right to bear arms.”

Truthout
Show threadVictoria Stuart 🇨🇦 🏳️‍⚧️Oct 21, 2024

Elon Musk's Oligarchy: Trump’s richest supporter finds new ways to corrupt democracy
https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/musk-trump-plutocracy-lottery-illegal

Musk promised to give $1M/d until 2024-11-05
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_United_States_elections

COMMENT: chump change to Musk; unfathomable, inexhaustible wealth:
https://mastodon.social/@persagen/113319779750794483

* $269B / ($1M/day) = 269,000 days | 736.5 years | 7.4 centuries (ca. 1290 AD - present)

#billionaires #WealthTax #ElonMusk #GOP #Trumpism #AmericaPAC #Progress2028 #FarRight #protofascism #ElectoralFraud #plutocracy #oligarchy

Elon Musk Gives Democrats a Chance to Run Against Oligarchy

Donald Trump’s richest supporter has been busy finding new ways to corrupt democracy.

The Nation
Show threadVictoria Stuart 🇨🇦 🏳️‍⚧️Oct 23, 2024

Musk Encourages People To Post About Voter Fraud, Playing Into Conspiracy Theories
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/musk-encourages-people-to-post-about-voter-fraud-playing-into-conspiracy-theories

#billionaires #WealthTax #ElonMusk #Musk #GOP #Trumpism #AmericaPAC #Progress2028 #FarRight #protofascism #ElectoralFraud #plutocracy #oligarchy #meritocracy #Xcorp #Twitter #disinformation #conservatism #libertarianism #ignorance #HeritageFoundation #Project2025

Musk Encourages People To Post About Voter Fraud, Playing Into Conspiracy Theories

With just two weeks to go until Election Day, billionaire Trump-backer Elon Musk is encouraging people to post about anything they suspect might be voter fraud on his social media platform X.

TPM - Talking Points Memo
Show threadVictoria Stuart 🇨🇦 🏳️‍⚧️Oct 24, 2024

Trump Megadonor Tim Dunn's Plan More Extreme than Project 2025
https://www.desmog.com/2024/10/23/trump-project-2025-tim-dunn-crownquest-convention-states/

* TX billionaire/pastor
* wants to rewrite U.S. Constitution
* backs conservative Christian Nationalist plan for America
* pot. more extreme than Project 2025

Two Billionaire Preachers Built Most Powerful Political Machine in Texas
https://www.propublica.org/article/tim-dunn-farris-wilks-texas-christian-nationalism-dominionism-elections-voting

State capture: Tim Dunn, Farris Wilks pushed TX legislature far right

#billionaires #TimDunn #Wilks #GOP #StateCapture #protofascism #ChristianRight

Trump Megadonor Tim Dunn Has a Plan More Extreme Than Project 2025

The Texas fracking billionaire wants to rewrite the U.S. Constitution to advance climate denial and other far-right priorities.

DeSmog
Show threadVictoria Stuart 🇨🇦 🏳️‍⚧️Oct 25, 2024

Frank Stronach
see: https://mastodon.social/@persagen/113369054084738800

"Everybody's afraid of Frank"
https://mastodon.social/@persagen/113369081616699396

#billionaires #FrankStronach | [alleged] #SexualPredators | #Canada #MagnaInternational

Show threadVictoria Stuart 🇨🇦 🏳️‍⚧️Oct 25, 2024

Capitalism a War-Making Machine
https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/10/25/capitalism-is-a-war-making-machine
by Erin McCarley: https://www.counterpunch.org/author/erin-mccarley

* Kamala Harris celebrated endorsement by war criminal Dick Cheney
* fmr CEO, Halliburton
* fab. countless lies that took U.S. into 2003 illegal invasion of Iraq, 1M+ deaths
* Harris/Walz: unfaltering support of Israel

#capitalism #KamalaHarris #DickCheney #disinformation #MilitaryIndustrialComplex #corporations #profiteering #WarProfiteering #Israel #BidenAdministration #genocide #Palestine #GOP

Show threadVictoria Stuart 🇨🇦 🏳️‍⚧️Oct 25, 2024

Billionaires v. Democracy
https://inequality.org/research/billionaires-vs-democracy

6 Billionaire Family Fortunes Fund Project 2025
https://www.desmog.com/2024/10/25/project-2025-trump-mapped-how-6-billionaire-family-fortunes-fund-climate-denial

Elon Musk trying to buy political influence across Americas
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/10/25/how-billionaire-elon-musk-is-trying-to-buy-political-influence-across-the-americas

Elon Musk’s Secret Conversations w. Putin
https://mastodon.social/@persagen/113369175354144564

Elon Musk Tells DoJ to Go Screw Itself
https://mastodon.social/@persagen/113369200493879873

#ElonMusk #AmericaPAC #Progress2028 #Putin #billionaires #fascism #Trumpism #GOP #NationalSecurity #plutocracy #meritocracy #oligarchy #authoritarianism

Billionaires vs Democracy

The rich are trying to buy elections all over the world and consign democracy to the trash bin of history.

Inequality.org
Show threadVictoria Stuart 🇨🇦 🏳️‍⚧️Oct 25, 2024

"This is cowardice:" Ex-editor blasts Washington Post after Jeff Bezos blocks Harris endorsement
https://www.salon.com/2024/10/25/this-is-cowardice-ex-editor-blasts-washington-post-after-jeff-bezos-blocks-harris-endorsement

COMMENT: Amazon owner/oligarch Bezos owns WaPo

* endorsement for Harris was drafted
* h/e paper will not endorse for president

Washington Post Slams Gutless Jeff Bezos for Shocking Endorsement News
https://newrepublic.com/post/187561/washington-post-president-endorsement-harris-trump-bezos-coward

* Jeff Bezos fears Donald Trump
* 1st time in 36 y WaPo will not endorse presidential candidate

#billionaires #JeffBezos #WashingtonPost #oligarchy #GOP

“This is cowardice”: Ex-editor blasts Washington Post after Jeff Bezos blocks Harris endorsement

An endorsement for Harris was already drafted when paper announced it would no longer endorse for president.

Salon.com
Show threadVictoria Stuart 🇨🇦 🏳️‍⚧️Oct 25, 2024

No Pride in Dick Cheney Endorsement
https://jacobin.com/2024/10/harris-dick-cheney-endorsement-election

* Kamala Harris brags about Cheney’s endorsement
* deeply obscene: Cheney a depraved war criminal whose image sh. not be rehabilitated

Lie by Lie: Timeline of How We Got Into Iraq
https://persagen.org/docs/leadup-iraq-war-timeline.html

Capitalism: War-Making Machine
https://mastodon.social/@persagen/113369152179798749

#KamalaHarris #DickCheney #WarCrimes #disinformation #MilitaryIndustrialComplex #corporations #WarProfiteering #Israel #BidenAdministration #genocide #Palestine #GOP #torture

There’s No Pride in a Dick Cheney Endorsement

Kamala Harris and her surrogates keep bragging about Dick Cheney’s endorsement. It’s deeply obscene: Dick Cheney is a depraved war criminal whose image should not be rehabilitated.

Show threadVictoria Stuart 🇨🇦 🏳️‍⚧️Oct 26, 2024
Harris’ Silence on FTC Chair Shows Billionaires Are Winning the Election
https://mastodon.social/@persagen/113374808580821965
Show threadVictoria Stuart 🇨🇦 🏳️‍⚧️Oct 26, 2024

Trump says he's open to eliminating income taxes as he pushes sweeping tariff proposals on Joe Rogan's podcast
https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/trump-says-he-s-open-to-eliminating-income-taxes-as-he-pushes-sweeping-tariff-proposals-on-podcast-with-joe-rogan-1.7088314

COMMENTS

* Trump: dullard known for profound ignorance, incl. history, e.g. airports during U.S. Civil War [1]
* During interview uncharacteristic knowledge of early 1900s taxation
* Read the 2 books here: https://mastodon.social/@persagen/112810230899017402
* Charles Koch/billionaires want zero taxation; NO public safety nets

[1] https://time.com/5620936/donald-trump-revolutionary-war-airports

#billionaires #meritocracy #JRE

Trump says he's open to eliminating income taxes as he pushes sweeping tariff proposals on podcast with Joe Rogan

Former U.S. president Donald Trump said on Joe Rogan’s podcast Friday that he would be open to eliminating income taxes, while pushing his sweeping tariff proposal and praising the economic policies of the late 19th century.

CTVNews
Show threadVictoria Stuart 🇨🇦 🏳️‍⚧️Oct 26, 2024

/1

* Koch funded academic departments, produced army of pseudo-intellectual, libertarian scholars/advocates pushing public policy (incl. Nobel laureate in economics)
* funded, influenced Republican/GOP politicians/attack ads
* de facto takeover of GOP, wh. metastasized to dogmatic, pseudoscientific, conspiracy-driven religious organization, deification of Trump
* theocracy: form of autocracy in which 1/more deities are recognized as supreme ruling authorities
* many billionaires Christian right

Show threadVictoria Stuart 🇨🇦 🏳️‍⚧️Oct 26, 2024

/2

North Dakota voters may end most property taxes. Government programs could face huge cuts
https://apnews.com/article/north-dakota-property-tax-election-ballot-measure-8cfb4588f2b066347fef44ceab7865d6

* money for Medicaid expansion, hospitals, nursing homes, education programs could all be on chopping block
* money for infrastructure projects also at risk

https://mastodon.social/@persagen/113374877535659314

#NorthDakota #GOP #taxation #billionaires #WealthTax #libertarianism #SocialServices #meritocracy #plutocracy #oligarchy #protofascism

North Dakota voters may end most property taxes. Government programs could face huge cuts

North Dakota voters this fall could end the property tax by approving a ballot measure that opponents say would drastically slash a variety of state services. Supporters see the initiative as long-sought relief the state can afford. The measure would eliminate property taxes based on assessed value. The Republican-controlled Legislature would be required to replace the lost revenue for local governments. A top legislative panel estimated the cost to the state to be $3.15 billion every two years. That is a huge number for a state that passed a $6.1 billion two-year general fund budget in 2023.

AP News
Show threadVictoria Stuart 🇨🇦 🏳️‍⚧️

Billionaire-media complex
https://popular.info/p/the-billionaire-media-complex

* Bezos 2nd-richest person in world

Billionaire-Owned News Not Our Only Option
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/10/billionaire-owned-news-is-not-our-only-option

5 biggest newspaper chains in U.S. owned by
hedge fund, x2
private equity fund
billionaire family, x2

#journalism #NewsMedia #IndependentJournalism #CitizenJournalism #InvestigativeNews #billionaires #oligarchy #WealthTax #capitalism #libertarianism #monopolies #PrivateEquity #disinformation #GOP #Trumpism #protofascism #TruthOrConsequences

The billionaire-media complex

Jeff Bezos is the second-richest person in the world, with a net worth of approximately $211 billion. Most of Bezos' wealth is derived from his 9% stake in Amazon, the company he founded. Bezos also founded and owns Blue Origin, a private space exploration company worth billions.

Popular Information
Oct 28, 2024 at 4:09pmWeb