Would you mind expanding on this? The idea piqued my interest, but couldn’t find information that connection when looking for myself.

Some of the Obama-era oligarchs (Koch and his donor circle) had parents in the John Birch society. They, being kids, found it baloney and just plaid outside the meeting place together before growing up to shape the nation in their image, together again.

If interested in reading the material already out there, I have several very recent comments in my history explaining what the article is getting at with the Powell Memo. One has a link to an excerpt from investigative journalist Jane Mayer’s Dark Money on how the Coors family, Mellons, Scaifes and many other oligarchs compromised higher education in the 1970s.

She also wrote Strange Justice, which uncovered most of Clarence Thomas’ weirdness which became the subject of a number of podcasts post-Doba. I imagine by the time one’s read Dark Money, there won’t be much new material from the podcast. But they’re doing a great service Putting the material in a more digestible and shareable format. Been trying to grab folks by the collars on how astroturfed\gaslit everything is.

For any who may be interested, I’d recommend their podcast on their investigation - S3 of In the Dark. Last ep came out today, coinciding with this publication.

The season about the princess kidnapping is good too, S2 or S1.

Yes, we all know. How juvenile to be the one who pedantically point out the obvious in every thread such a thought comes up in.

It took good organizing work to make all the progress that this anti-social, hereditary, rent-seeking ruling class dismantled, when alternatively their “philanthropy” could have been use to further the positive movement that had such strong momentum to evoke such a strong, fearful reaction from our owners.

BTW people reading internet comments are restricted in only seeing see the internet comments side of people. I dare say most people do more than type on the internet.

They let him off easy. I couldn’t figure out how exactly they’re related, but Richard Mellon Scaife is a big part of the reason we’re in the political mess we are today day. Americans distrusted corporations in the 1970s - tobacco, Dow Chemical, Nader’s Unsafe at Any Speed… also low income inequality. In response, future SCOTUS Justice Powell - who was on the board of Philip Morris and close friends with GM’s general counsel wrote what was intended to be secret memo for members of the US Chamber of Commerce:

‘Attack on American Free Enterprise System’ was written to transform corporate America into a “vanguard.” Contents include “the American economic system is under attack… [enemies are] perfectly respectable elements of society…the college campus, the pulpit*, the media, the intellectual and literary journals, the arts and sciences, politicians.” Capitalists need to wage “guerrilla warfare” against those seeking to “insidiously” undermine them. “Capture public opinion by exerting influence over the institutions that shape it - academia, the media, the churches, and the courts - to control debate at its source.” Said donors should demand a say in university hiring and curriculum and “press vigorously in all political arenas.” Key to victory is “careful long-range planning and implementation” with a “scale of financing available only through joint effort.” The memo spurred the ultra-conservative foundations to weaponize their “philanthropic” giving to “fight a multi-front war of influence over American political thought.”

The Coors family heeded the call first, followed by Mellon Scaife who massively overshadowed the Coors’. These foundations, that only existed for inheritance tax avoidance, were weaponized right at this moment… two months before Powell was nominated to The Court.

That’s how close we came to living in a good timeline.

And I’m only 1/4 of the way through Jane Mayer’s Dark Money; maybe just a tip of an iceberg. I’d suggest it’s required reading for every American. I should add Mayer is also responsible for unmasking Clarence Thomas in Strange Justice, the source for nearly everything we know about his grotesque history. I haven’t read it.

*this was pre-Moral Majority, but not by much.

Does a news article contain a question mark? Then it’s not a news article.

There’s a difference between consumer luxury goods and actual luxury goods which are typically unbranded and bespoke.

Hi, thanks for that. Im not an electrician but I represent the IBEW! In the given example, electricians in my state have years of training and on the job experience. To a non-electrician like me, my thinking is that they can control their environment- cut off power, and have an idea of what they’re going into at a given time. You don’t know what is behind the door at a domestic violence call.