snorker21h ago
tante

With the currently released things about Bill Gates in the Epstein files (he had sex with the women and girls Epstein provided and asked Epstein for antibiotics to secretly give to his then-wife to treat the STI he gave her) how are we feeling about the Gates Foundation funding ... anything? Why should that creep (through his foundation) get to use that kind of power to shape what scientists and NGOs can do?

(Nobody should have that power, most foundations are politically a net negative on the world but I am talking about a specific case here.)

Feb 3 at 9:12pmWeb
Show threadf*cking b*tch club1d ago

@tante several years ago I was bragging about the good work that the Gates Foundation does—“look at all the good things he’s doing: toilets, malaria, etc! ”—when a European friend brought me up short.

“The work his foundation is doing is work that a good govt should be doing. These projects shouldn’t be at the whim or goodwill of an individual.”

I’ve thought about that a lot since he said it, and realized—he’s 100% correct.

Show threadAnnelies Kamran, Ph.D.1d ago
@tante my phd is in international relations and I always thought his foundation was sus for reasons of philanthropy-washing and because the foundation gets to decide what development is needed, not the people being developed at. These (not so new) revelations make me want to light it on fire.
Show threadMissConstrue1d ago

@tante Well, when this regime dies, and it will, I propose a 100% wealth tax on any assets over 100 million. Globally, so there’s no running off to the Bahamas or wherever their money is parked.

Billionaires shouldn’t exist. They are a moral stain upon humanity.

Show threadploum1d ago

@tante : well, we didn’t wait for the Epstein files.

The Gates foundation is the one to thank for *NOT* having an opensource COVID vaccine. Oxford wanted to make it OpenSource but the Gates foundation threw enough dollars at them to make sure it doesn’t happen.

And that’s for one single reason: avoiding at all cost a case where open source could work and 3rd world coutries would be able not to depend on US tech.

That’s their whole philosophy…

Show threadOlivier Mehani1d ago
@ploum Do you have pointers to references I could read about this? @tante
Show threadSam Stephens1d ago
@ploum @tante @shtrom this looks to be a good article, skimming it. tl;dr is pretty much C-TAP was going to create a royalty free patent pool , and Bill didn't like it, so he created his own alternative and scuppered C-TAP. https://newrepublic.com/article/162000/bill-gates-impeded-global-access-covid-vaccines
How Bill Gates Impeded Global Access to Covid Vaccines

Through his hallowed foundation, the world’s de facto public health czar has been a stalwart defender of monopoly medicine.

The New Republic
Show threadColin O'Brien1d ago

@shtrom @ploum @tante if you want an in depth look I highly recommend "The Bill Gates Problem", it goes deeper than just the covid vaccine issue.

https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/448140/the-bill-gates-problem-by-schwab-tim/9780241609484

The Bill Gates Problem

You know him as the founder of Microsoft; the philanthropic, kind-hearted billionaire who has donated endless funds to good causes around the world. But there’s another side to Bill Gates. In this fearless, groundbreaking investigation, Tim Schwab offers readers a counter-narrative, one where Gates has used his monopolistic approach in business to amass a stunning level of control over public policy, scientific research and the news media. Whether he is pushing new educational standards in America, health reforms in India or industrialized agriculture in Africa, Gates’s unbridled social experimentation has shown itself to be not only undemocratic, but also ineffective. All of which begs the question: why should the super rich be able to transform their wealth into political power, and just how far can they go?

Show threadmike morris1d ago

@ploum @tante
And now, to add insult to injury, here in South Africa we CANNOT access the newer gen covid vaccines because Big Pharma can't be bothered to get them approved and registered by regulators, because "it's not profitable enough"!

Let that sink in:

It's profitable. But not enough.

Show threadDaniel Temme1d ago
@ploum @tante @mikro2nd do you have more details on that? I've been trying to understand what happened here. I'm confused why flu shots get promoted so much but covid vaccines are no longer around. Presumably the big private medical aid schemes should have something to gain but I never see anything mentioned anywhere
Show threadmike morris7h ago

@dtemme
When I started asking around local pharmacies & clinics, I was told that no covid vaccines are available at all, and to "try your doctor". Mucho unaffordable!

Then I saw a news article that new vaccines are simply not being put through the registration process by the pharmaceutical co's because it is not sufficiently profitable.

I don't think the medical insurers are involved one way or another. Would make sense for them to support vax availability to reduce covid care costs.

Show threadDaniel Temme6h ago
@mikro2nd thanks! That is indeed frustrating
Show threadDiane1d ago

@tante

The epistein files are strong justification for bringing back those >90% tax rates.