As always, please go to the links for the full articles/ op eds.
It's Tea Party time again! That unspontaneous, "astroturf" movement of racist Republicans determined to wreck the Obama Administration from the outset is being replicated today by the same fascist/ far right "libertarian" fat cats. Now, with their Proud Boys allies along to intimidate, they're ginning up ignorance, fear and hostility in local school board meetings:
But the heartfelt appeal is not the product of a grass roots groundswell. Rather, it is a template drafted and circulated this week within a conservative network built on the scaffolding of the Koch fortune and the largesse of other GOP megadonors.
Of course, they rely on science!
The letter was made available on Tuesday to paying members of the Independent Women’s Network, a project of the Independent Women’s Forum and Independent Women’s Voice that markets itself as a “members-only platform that is free from censorship and cancellation.” Both are nonprofits once touted by their board chairman and CEO, Heather Higgins, as part of a unique tool in the “Republican conservative arsenal” because, “Being branded as neutral but actually having the people who know, know that you’re actually conservative puts us in a unique position.”
Higgins, an heiress to the Vicks VapoRub fortune, did not respond to a request for comment. Carrie Lukas, president of Independent Women’s Forum, said in an interview the letter was originally authored by the group’s policy director and sent to her child’s Denver preschool. The policy director did not consult experts for the letter, Lukas said, because, “She wrote it as a mom. She didn’t call anyone on the phone, but you can see she looked at a lot of data.” (our emphasis)
The letter, of course, runs counter to guidance from the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics, but who listens to so-called experts anyway, amirite? The article goes into detail about the network of cranks ultimately responsible for funding these astroturfers, who seem determined to continue the pandemic by any means necessary.
One of the corporate backers of the Koch's Independent Women's Forum is Facebook, so let's segue to the Facebook whistleblower's interview on "60 Minutes" last night describing how Suckerberg's rotted out empire is causing great harm (transcript):
Her name is Frances Haugen. That is a fact that Facebook has been anxious to know since last month when an anonymous former employee filed complaints with federal law enforcement. The complaints say Facebook's own research shows that it amplifies hate, misinformation and political unrest—but the company hides what it knows. One complaint alleges that Facebook's Instagram harms teenage girls. What makes Haugen's complaints unprecedented is the trove of private Facebook research she took when she quit in May. The documents appeared first, last month, in the Wall Street Journal. But tonight, Frances Haugen is revealing her identity to explain why she became the Facebook whistleblower.
Frances Haugen: The thing I saw at Facebook over and over again was there were conflicts of interest between what was good for the public and what was good for Facebook. And Facebook, over and over again, chose to optimize for its own interests, like making more money.
The rest of the interview is worth seeing to get a sense, as if further evidence was needed, of the rot.
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has published its "Pandora Papers," the culmination of a years- long investigation into the use of legal but sketchy offshore tax havens used by the rich and powerful to hide assets:
Current and former leaders who have owned secret companies and trusts, as revealed by the Pandora Papers investigation, include King Abdullah II of Jordan, the prime ministers of Côte d’Ivoire and the Czech Republic, the presidents of Ecuador, Kenya and Gabon and the former presidents of El Salvador, Panama, Paraguay and Honduras.
The files also shed light on the financial dealings of Chavistas in Venezuela, fugitive cult leaders and their followers, kleptocrats and their families, neo-Nazis, a mineral water dealer convicted of soliciting the murders of a judge and a prosecutor, a fugitive millionaire pedophile and terrorism financiers.
Other players in the Pandora Papers’ global cast include a Bitcoin czar sentenced for money laundering in connection with the largest cyberheist in history . And offshore investments were linked to Bollywood actors, soccer stars, corrupt sports’ officials, a king’s lover, feuding princesses, movie directors and stars, supermodels, acclaimed designers and world-famous singers. [snip]
The reporting shows how the United States, in particular, has become an increasingly attractive destination for hidden wealth, although the U.S. and its Western allies condemn smaller countries for allowing the flow of money and assets tied to corruption and crime.
The Pandora Papers include documents from 206 U.S. trusts in 15 states and Washington, D.C., and 22 U.S. trustee companies.
The documents provide details about the movement of hundreds of millions of dollars from offshore havens in the Caribbean and Europe into South Dakota, a sparsely populated American state that has become a major destination for foreign money.
Why we can't have nice things, part infinity.
If you're looking for some nice things, however, you might find some at Infidel 753's link round-up, along with some funny, interesting, maddening, elucidating things, too. As we keep saying, it's the best collection of links to posts from around the Internet that you're likely to find.
