Showing posts with label rich people. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rich people. Show all posts
Dec 8, 2024
It's The Class, Stupid
Another one talking about how it's not a Red vs Blue thing, or Left vs Right, or anything that has anything to do with anything but rich people fucking us with our pants on.
Dec 4, 2024
Sep 5, 2024
Tips
Politics Girl - Leigh McGowan - brings it.
First, I have to indulge in some braggadocio in order to illustrate why I would've been half-a-gazillion% in favor of "No Tax On Tips" back when I was bringing home 6-figure year-end bonuses.
I'm not here to lie to you - it was glorious to the point where I would've jumped at the chance to vote for somebody who promised me that I could save $45,000 on my tax bill ($90,000 in today's money).
Note:
I promise you - the point here is not that I was a great and powerful wizard back then. I thought I was, but of course I wasn't. And neither are these other bozos who've won the career lottery (mostly by sheer dumb luck) who believe their ultra keen acumen and clear-eyed pragmatic deployment of geometric logic sets them apart from blah blah fucking blah.
It's a load of horseshit. It was horseshit then coming from me, and it's horseshit now coming from them.
The point is that there's a lot of guys now who're just like the guy I was then. I guarantee their eyes light up when you tell them they can make even more money than what they're already making just by donating a few thousand dollars to Trump's campaign, and talking shit about all those little people who don't deserve what you've got, because they just don't understand what you understand.
Imagine what goes through a Wall Street hotshot's mind when he stops to contemplate having an extra 3 or 4 million dollars in his pocket come next April.
It's a fucking disease, and we need to stomp on it while we still can.
Aug 5, 2024
Truth
"Über rich people won't create jobs if we tax them"
is a myth
created by über rich people
to keep us from taxing them.
Aug 4, 2024
Today's Today
452 years ago a guy named Johan de Witt was one of a pair of very wealthy Co-Rulers of the Dutch States.
Today marks the day he and his brother Cornelis were lynched, and then partly eaten.
Johan de Witt (24 September 1625 – 20 August 1672), Lord of Zuid- en Noord-Linschoten, Snelrewaard, Hekendorp en IJsselvere, was a Dutch statesman and a major political figure in the Dutch Republic in the mid-17th century, the First Stadtholderless Period, when its flourishing sea trade in a period of global colonisation made the republic a leading European trading and seafaring power – now commonly referred to as the Dutch Golden Age. De Witt was elected Grand pensionary of Holland, and together with his uncle Cornelis de Graeff, he controlled the Dutch political system from around 1650 until the Rampjaar (Disaster Year) of 1672. This progressive cooperation between the two statesmen, and the consequent support of Amsterdam under the rule of De Graeff,[3] was an important political axis that organized the political system within the republic.
As a leading republican of the Dutch States Party, De Witt opposed the House of Orange-Nassau and the Orangists and preferred a shift of power from the central government to the regenten. However, his neglect of the Dutch States Army (as the regents focused mainly on the navy, thinking they could avoid land wars) proved disastrous when the Dutch Republic suffered numerous early defeats in the Rampjaar. In the hysteria that followed the effortless invasion by an alliance of England, France, and some German states, he and his brother Cornelis de Witt were blamed and lynched in The Hague, with their corpses at least partially eaten by the rioters. These cannibals were never prosecuted, and some historians claim William of Orange may have incited them.
Jun 29, 2024
Looking Back On It
"... And when you're a star they let you do it. You can do anything ... grab 'em by the pussy. You can do anything."
Donald Trump is the poster child for the new Gilded Age of Robber Barons - The Resurgence of the American Plutocracy.
And the kind of ugly claim to entitlement that Trump embodies goes way back.
Droit du seigneur ('right of the lord'), also known as jus primae noctis ('right of the first night'), sometimes referred to as prima nocta, was a supposed legal right in medieval Europe, allowing feudal lords to have sexual relations with any female subject, particularly on her wedding night.
If you've got the money, you've got the power. And with enough money and power, you can do whatever the fuck you want.
You've Been Trumped Too (2020) [01:18:54] story of a billionaire who refuses to turn on an elderly woman's water
byu/howardhughesbrain inDocumentaries
I don't know how many old westerns I've seen where the local cattle baron buys up water rights, or builds a dam upstream from the farmers to force them off their land, so he can snap up more for himself.
Shit's gotta change
May 2, 2024
Tax 'Em Or Eat 'Em
Last year, Walmart posted a profit of almost $150B.
They could've raised the salaries of every one of their US employees by $20K, and still netted over $112B.
$112,000,000,000.00
PROFIT
And BTW - Walmart employees are still among the largest groups that have to tap Medicaid and Food Stamps to make ends meet.
And Walmart (out of the goodness of their hearts I'm sure) maintains a permanent discount schedule for SNAP recipients.
You pay taxes to help the poor, and a shitload of that money goes into the pockets of the Walmart gang.
What was that shit you were talkin' about Welfare Queens?
Apr 14, 2024
But It's A Start
That said, I think I have to come dome down on the side of the court in this case.
Revolution is a really shitty way to make the political changes a society needs to make from time time - changes that keep things from getting too far out of balance - and it almost always has its roots in regular people getting fed up with rich people doing whatever they want to do and never facing the consequences. Snuffing a few rich people just might be the deterrent we're looking for, to keep us from blowing the whole thing up.
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Real estate tycoon Truong My Lan was sentenced Thursday to death by a court in Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam in the country’s largest financial fraud case ever, state media Vietnam Net said.
The 67-year-old chair of the real estate company Van Thinh Phat was formally charged with fraud amounting to $12.5 billion — nearly 3% of the country’s 2022 GDP.
3% of US GDP is about $763 billion. I'd want that fucker dead - right now.
Lan illegally controlled Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank between 2012 and 2022 and allowed 2,500 loans that resulted in losses of $27 billion to the bank, reported state media VnExpress. The court asked her to compensate the bank $26.9 million.
Despite mitigating circumstances — this was a first-time offense and Lan participated in charity activities — the court attributed its harsh sentence to the seriousness of the case, saying Lan was at the helm of an orchestrated and sophisticated criminal enterprise that had serious consequences with no possibility of the money being recovered, VnExpress said.
Her actions “not only violate the property management rights of individuals and organizations but also push SCB (Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank) into a state of special control; eroding people’s trust in the leadership of the Party and State,” VnExpress quoted the judgement as saying.
Her niece, Truong Hue Van, the chief executive of Van Thinh Phat, was sentenced to 17 years in prison for aiding her aunt.
Lan and her family established the Van Thing Phat company in 1992 after Vietnam shed its state-run economy in favor of a more market-oriented approach that was open to foreigners. She had started out helping her mother, a Chinese businesswoman, to sell cosmetics in Ho Chi Minh City’s oldest market, according to state media Tien Phong.
Van Thinh Phat would grow to become one of Vietnam’s richest real estate firms, with projects including luxury residential buildings, offices, hotels and shopping centers. This made her a key player in the country’s financial industry. She orchestrated the 2011 merger of the beleaguered SCB bank with two other lenders in coordination with Vietnam’s central bank.
The court found that she used this approach to tap SCB for cash. She indirectly owned more than 90% of the bank — a charge she denied — and approved thousands of loans to “ghost companies,” according to government documents. These loans then found their way back to her, state media VNExpress reported, citing the court’s findings.
She then bribed officials to cover her tracks, it added.
Former central bank official Do Thi Nhan was also sentenced Thursday to life in prison for accepting $5.2 million in bribes.
Lan’s arrest in October 2022 was among the most high-profile in an ongoing anti-corruption drive in Vietnam that has intensified since 2022. The so-called Blazing Furnace campaign has touched the highest echelons of Vietnamese politics. Former President Vo Van Thuong resigned in March after being implicated in the campaign.
But Lan’s trial shocked the nation. Analysts said the scale of the scam raised questions about whether other banks or businesses had similarly erred, dampening Vietnam’s economic outlook and making foreign investors jittery at a time when Vietnam has been trying to position itself as the ideal home for businesses trying to pivot their supply chains away from China.
The real estate sector in Vietnam has been hit particularly hard. An estimated 1,300 property firms withdrew from the market in 2023, developers have been offering discounts and gold as gifts to attract buyers, and despite rents for mixed-use properties known in Southeast Asia as shophouses falling by a third in Ho Chi Minh City, many in the city center are still empty, according to state media.
In November, Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, Vietnam’s top politician, said that the anti-corruption fight would “continue for the long term.”
Mar 29, 2024
Hedging Their Bets
... or maybe they just don't give a fuck (more likely IMO), because they think they'll be fine no matter what because they have the money to buy their way into the power circles, and out of whatever trouble it might bring them.
Donald Trump lost the 2020 election.
Then, according to the report of the bipartisan January 6 Commission, Trump engaged in a "multi-part conspiracy to overturn the lawful results of the 2020 Presidential election."
Trump did not do this alone. He was supported by members of Congress who endorsed his lies and voted against certifying the election results, state attorneys general who filed briefs in support of Trump's baseless legal claims, and local officials who helped Trump create slates of fake electors. This all culminated in the violence of January 6, 2021, by a mob that was incited and encouraged by Trump, both before and during the attack.
Ultimately, Trump's efforts to cling to power came up short and Joe Biden, the rightful winner, was inaugurated. But in the intervening three years, the threat to democracy has not ebbed — it has intensified.
Trump won the Republican presidential primary and will be on the ballot again in November 2024. He has not abandoned his lies about 2020. Instead, he has made them central to his reelection campaign.
At rallies, Trump refers to the rioters who were sentenced in connection with the violent attack on the United States Capitol as "January 6th hostages." Before each campaign rally, he plays a version of the national anthem performed by people who participated in the mob violence. He is promising to pardon all of them if he wins the presidency again.
In other words, Trump has recast the violent attack of January 6, 2021, as an expression of patriotism. It sends a clear message to Trump supporters as America barrels toward what promises to be another close election.
Should he lose again, Trump warned ominously of "bedlam in the country" and "the opening of a Pandora’s box" after a January court appearance. Asked by a reporter if he would rule out more violence by his supporters, Trump simply walked away. (At a campaign event earlier this month, Trump said there would be a "bloodbath for the country" if Biden wins, but insists he was only talking about the domestic electric vehicle industry.)
Despite all of this, Trump has the near-unanimous support of the Republican Party. And many Republican election officials are not simply endorsing Trump — they are endorsing his lies about the 2020 election. The group States United Action has identified 170 federal and statewide officials and candidates who are election deniers, including 136 members of Congress, 22 statewide officials, and 12 candidates on the ballot for statewide office.
A new investigation by Popular Information, using state and federal campaign finance databases, found that 50 prominent corporations have donated $23,273,400 to the campaigns and political committees of these election deniers since January 6, 2021. Some of the largest contributors to election deniers are also some of the country's leading companies, including AT&T, Comcast, Walmart, and Microsoft.
It wasn't supposed to be this way. On January 4, a large group of business leaders signed onto a statement arguing that the planned objections to vote were destructive. "Congress should certify the electoral vote on Wednesday, January 6," the business leaders wrote. "Attempts to thwart or delay this process run counter to the essential tenets of our democracy." The Chamber of Commerce, which represents nearly every major corporation in America, released a similar statement.
As Popular Information comprehensively documented, in the aftermath of the attack on the U.S. Capitol, many of these corporations pledged to cut off support to members of Congress who voted to overturn the election.
Since then, the election deniers in Congress and around the country have not changed.
Just last month, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY) said that had she been in the position of former Vice President Mike Pence (R) on January 6, 2021, she would not have certified election results. Stefanik said she stood by her vote against certifying the 2020 results, calling the election not "legal" and "unconstitutional." Notably, Stefanik also refused to commit to certifying the 2024 election results, calling Democrats "desperate." She also accused Democrats of "trying to steal" the 2024 election.
Over the last three years, Stefanik has received $503,500 from the 50 prominent corporations included in Popular Information's investigation through her committee and leadership PAC, including Home Depot, General Motors, FedEx, UnitedHealth, and Toyota. And Stefanik is not alone. Corporate cash is flowing to many officials who are not only defending their efforts to subvert the democratic process in 2020 but threatening to run the same playbook in 2024.
AT&T: $1,234,100 to 120 election deniers
After January 6, 2021, AT&T released a statement saying, “Employees on our Federal PAC Board convened a call today and decided to suspend contributions to members of Congress who voted to object to the certification of Electoral College votes last week.”
AT&T resumed donating to political committees supporting Republican objectors in February 2021. Those donations increased in September 2021. By January 2022, AT&T fully broke their pledge and resumed donations to individual Republican objectors. AT&T argued that the “employee PAC suspended contributions to those lawmakers’ campaigns for more than a year.” But since corporate political donations are capped over a two-year cycle, AT&T didn't miss out on an opportunity to donate the maximum to any candidate.
From January 6, 2021 to the present, AT&T has donated $1,234,100 to 109 election deniers at the federal level and 11 election deniers at the state level.
This includes $10,000 to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and $5,000 to Johnson’s leadership PAC. On January 6, 2021, hours before the insurrection, Johnson posted on X, “We MUST fight for election integrity, the Constitution, and the preservation of our republic! It will be my honor to help lead that fight in the Congress today.” Johnson voted to overturn the results of the election later that day, and reportedly coached Republican colleagues before the vote. Over a year later, Johnson said on his religious podcast “Truth Be Told” that “he and his colleagues had been right to object to the election results.” In January 2024, during an interview on CBS’ “Face The Nation,” Johnson continued to push claims that there was election interference in the 2020 election. “The Constitution was violated in the run up to the 2020 election…That’s just a fact,” Johnson said. Many courts have reviewed the claim that the conduct of the 2020 election was unconstitutional and all have rejected it.
AT&T also donated $10,000 to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R). After the 2020 election, Paxton filed a Supreme Court lawsuit attempting to invalidate the results of the election in key battleground states. Paxton argued that the states “exploited the COVID-19 pandemic to justify ignoring federal and state election laws and unlawfully enacting last-minute changes, thus skewing the results of the 2020 General Election.” In May 2022, Paxton posted a statement on X saying he “stand[s] by this lawsuit completely.” Paxton called it a “historic challenge to the unconstitutional 2020 presidential election.”
AT&T did not respond to a request for comment.
Microsoft: $112,500 to 29 election deniers
On February 5, 2021, Microsoft released a statement stating that it would “suspend contributions for the duration of the 2022 election cycle to all members of Congress who voted to object to the certification of electors. We will also suspend contributions for the same period for state officials and organizations who supported such objections or suggested the election should be overturned.”
Since January 6, 2021, however, Microsoft has donated $112,500 to 27 election deniers on the federal level and two election deniers on the state level.
In a statement to Popular Information, the company said, “Microsoft maintained our commitment for the duration of the 2022 election cycle and gave no money to candidates who objected to the certification of electors. Should any candidate continue to deny the results of the 2020 U.S. presidential election in 2024, we will not contribute to their campaign.”
Microsoft’s recent donations, however, include multiple election deniers who continue to question the validity of the 2020 election results. On June 30, 2023, Microsoft donated $3,000 to Representative Byron Donalds (R-FL). At an Axios event this month, Donalds maintained that "states did not follow election laws in 2020." Donalds said that, if he became vice president, he would consider not certifying election results.
Microsoft also donated $15,000 to Johnson and $1,000 to Stefanik.
Comcast: $787,500 to 91 election deniers
After January 6, 2021, Comcast pledged to “suspend all of our political contributions to those elected officials who voted against certification of the electoral college votes, which will give us the opportunity to review our political giving policies and practices.” Comcast condemned the insurrection in a statement, saying, “The peaceful transition of power is a foundation of America’s democracy… This year, that transition will take place among some of the most challenging conditions in modern history and against the backdrop of the appalling violence we witnessed at the U.S. Capitol last week.”
Since January 6, 2021, however, Comcast has donated $787,500 to 83 election deniers on the federal level and eight election deniers on the state level.
This includes $5,000 to Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH). The January 6 Committee found that Jordan was a “significant player” in Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. According to the committee’s report, Jordan “participated in numerous post-election meetings” where they “discussed strategies for challenging the election, chief among them claims that the election had been tainted by fraud.” During his bid to become House Speaker in October 2023, Jordan was asked in a press conference if he thought the 2020 election was stolen. “I think there were all kinds of problems with the 2020 election. I’ve been clear about that,” Jordan said.
Comcast also donated $2,500 to Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall (R). In March 2022, Marshall “refused to call President Joe Biden the ‘duly elected and lawfully serving’ president of the country.”
Comcast did not respond to a request for comment.
Walmart: $384,000 to 89 election deniers
After January 6, 2021, Walmart released a statement saying, “In light of last week’s attack on the U.S. Capitol, Walmart’s political action committee is indefinitely suspending contributions to those members of Congress who voted against the lawful certification of state electoral college votes.”
Since January 6, 2021, however, Walmart has donated $384,000 to 82 federal election deniers and seven election deniers on the state level.
Walmart's donations include $2,500 to Alabama Governor Kay Ivey (R). In 2022, Ivey released a campaign ad that pushed claims of election fraud. In the ad, Ivey stated, “The fake news, Big Tech and blue state liberals stole the election from Donald Trump. But here in Alabama, we’re making sure that never happens.”
Walmart also donated $15,000 to House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) and $7,500 to Scalise’s leadership PAC. In November 2023, Scalise “repeatedly did not answer whether or not the 2020 election was not stolen” in an interview with ABC News. “What I’ve told you is there are states that didn’t follow their laws. That is what the … U.S. Constitution requires,” Scalise said.
In a statement to Popular Information, Walmart equated Trump's attempt to overturn the 2020 election with symbolic votes to object by seven Democrats in 2017, months after Hillary Clinton conceded:
We’ve long believed we can more effectively advocate on behalf of our associates, customers, communities and shareholders by engaging with policymakers of both parties. However, our political contributions do not mean we support every view of an elected official. We continually examine our political giving strategy and contribute to those who are focused on issues important to our business and key stakeholders. As part of our ongoing reassessment and in line with the above approach, we resumed giving to select members of Congress who contested the 2020 presidential election, just as we’ve given in the most recent election cycle to some of the House Democrats who objected to electoral votes following the 2016 presidential election.
In the most recent election cycle, Walmart donated $4,500 to three Democrats who cast a symbolic vote against certifying the 2016 election.
Corporate governance experts weigh in
This is not "Late-Stage Capitalism", inviting the inference of a collapsing system - this is Early-Stage Plutocracy, as unfettered market-driven capitalism comes back into full flower.
Hat Tip = The Professional Left Podcast
These 50 companies have donated over $23 million to election deniers since January 6, 2021
Donald Trump lost the 2020 election.
Then, according to the report of the bipartisan January 6 Commission, Trump engaged in a "multi-part conspiracy to overturn the lawful results of the 2020 Presidential election."
Trump did not do this alone. He was supported by members of Congress who endorsed his lies and voted against certifying the election results, state attorneys general who filed briefs in support of Trump's baseless legal claims, and local officials who helped Trump create slates of fake electors. This all culminated in the violence of January 6, 2021, by a mob that was incited and encouraged by Trump, both before and during the attack.
Ultimately, Trump's efforts to cling to power came up short and Joe Biden, the rightful winner, was inaugurated. But in the intervening three years, the threat to democracy has not ebbed — it has intensified.
Trump won the Republican presidential primary and will be on the ballot again in November 2024. He has not abandoned his lies about 2020. Instead, he has made them central to his reelection campaign.
At rallies, Trump refers to the rioters who were sentenced in connection with the violent attack on the United States Capitol as "January 6th hostages." Before each campaign rally, he plays a version of the national anthem performed by people who participated in the mob violence. He is promising to pardon all of them if he wins the presidency again.
In other words, Trump has recast the violent attack of January 6, 2021, as an expression of patriotism. It sends a clear message to Trump supporters as America barrels toward what promises to be another close election.
Should he lose again, Trump warned ominously of "bedlam in the country" and "the opening of a Pandora’s box" after a January court appearance. Asked by a reporter if he would rule out more violence by his supporters, Trump simply walked away. (At a campaign event earlier this month, Trump said there would be a "bloodbath for the country" if Biden wins, but insists he was only talking about the domestic electric vehicle industry.)
Despite all of this, Trump has the near-unanimous support of the Republican Party. And many Republican election officials are not simply endorsing Trump — they are endorsing his lies about the 2020 election. The group States United Action has identified 170 federal and statewide officials and candidates who are election deniers, including 136 members of Congress, 22 statewide officials, and 12 candidates on the ballot for statewide office.
A new investigation by Popular Information, using state and federal campaign finance databases, found that 50 prominent corporations have donated $23,273,400 to the campaigns and political committees of these election deniers since January 6, 2021. Some of the largest contributors to election deniers are also some of the country's leading companies, including AT&T, Comcast, Walmart, and Microsoft.
It wasn't supposed to be this way. On January 4, a large group of business leaders signed onto a statement arguing that the planned objections to vote were destructive. "Congress should certify the electoral vote on Wednesday, January 6," the business leaders wrote. "Attempts to thwart or delay this process run counter to the essential tenets of our democracy." The Chamber of Commerce, which represents nearly every major corporation in America, released a similar statement.
As Popular Information comprehensively documented, in the aftermath of the attack on the U.S. Capitol, many of these corporations pledged to cut off support to members of Congress who voted to overturn the election.
Since then, the election deniers in Congress and around the country have not changed.
Just last month, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY) said that had she been in the position of former Vice President Mike Pence (R) on January 6, 2021, she would not have certified election results. Stefanik said she stood by her vote against certifying the 2020 results, calling the election not "legal" and "unconstitutional." Notably, Stefanik also refused to commit to certifying the 2024 election results, calling Democrats "desperate." She also accused Democrats of "trying to steal" the 2024 election.
Over the last three years, Stefanik has received $503,500 from the 50 prominent corporations included in Popular Information's investigation through her committee and leadership PAC, including Home Depot, General Motors, FedEx, UnitedHealth, and Toyota. And Stefanik is not alone. Corporate cash is flowing to many officials who are not only defending their efforts to subvert the democratic process in 2020 but threatening to run the same playbook in 2024.
AT&T: $1,234,100 to 120 election deniers
After January 6, 2021, AT&T released a statement saying, “Employees on our Federal PAC Board convened a call today and decided to suspend contributions to members of Congress who voted to object to the certification of Electoral College votes last week.”
AT&T resumed donating to political committees supporting Republican objectors in February 2021. Those donations increased in September 2021. By January 2022, AT&T fully broke their pledge and resumed donations to individual Republican objectors. AT&T argued that the “employee PAC suspended contributions to those lawmakers’ campaigns for more than a year.” But since corporate political donations are capped over a two-year cycle, AT&T didn't miss out on an opportunity to donate the maximum to any candidate.
From January 6, 2021 to the present, AT&T has donated $1,234,100 to 109 election deniers at the federal level and 11 election deniers at the state level.
This includes $10,000 to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and $5,000 to Johnson’s leadership PAC. On January 6, 2021, hours before the insurrection, Johnson posted on X, “We MUST fight for election integrity, the Constitution, and the preservation of our republic! It will be my honor to help lead that fight in the Congress today.” Johnson voted to overturn the results of the election later that day, and reportedly coached Republican colleagues before the vote. Over a year later, Johnson said on his religious podcast “Truth Be Told” that “he and his colleagues had been right to object to the election results.” In January 2024, during an interview on CBS’ “Face The Nation,” Johnson continued to push claims that there was election interference in the 2020 election. “The Constitution was violated in the run up to the 2020 election…That’s just a fact,” Johnson said. Many courts have reviewed the claim that the conduct of the 2020 election was unconstitutional and all have rejected it.
AT&T also donated $10,000 to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R). After the 2020 election, Paxton filed a Supreme Court lawsuit attempting to invalidate the results of the election in key battleground states. Paxton argued that the states “exploited the COVID-19 pandemic to justify ignoring federal and state election laws and unlawfully enacting last-minute changes, thus skewing the results of the 2020 General Election.” In May 2022, Paxton posted a statement on X saying he “stand[s] by this lawsuit completely.” Paxton called it a “historic challenge to the unconstitutional 2020 presidential election.”
AT&T did not respond to a request for comment.
Microsoft: $112,500 to 29 election deniers
On February 5, 2021, Microsoft released a statement stating that it would “suspend contributions for the duration of the 2022 election cycle to all members of Congress who voted to object to the certification of electors. We will also suspend contributions for the same period for state officials and organizations who supported such objections or suggested the election should be overturned.”
Since January 6, 2021, however, Microsoft has donated $112,500 to 27 election deniers on the federal level and two election deniers on the state level.
In a statement to Popular Information, the company said, “Microsoft maintained our commitment for the duration of the 2022 election cycle and gave no money to candidates who objected to the certification of electors. Should any candidate continue to deny the results of the 2020 U.S. presidential election in 2024, we will not contribute to their campaign.”
Microsoft’s recent donations, however, include multiple election deniers who continue to question the validity of the 2020 election results. On June 30, 2023, Microsoft donated $3,000 to Representative Byron Donalds (R-FL). At an Axios event this month, Donalds maintained that "states did not follow election laws in 2020." Donalds said that, if he became vice president, he would consider not certifying election results.
Microsoft also donated $15,000 to Johnson and $1,000 to Stefanik.
Comcast: $787,500 to 91 election deniers
After January 6, 2021, Comcast pledged to “suspend all of our political contributions to those elected officials who voted against certification of the electoral college votes, which will give us the opportunity to review our political giving policies and practices.” Comcast condemned the insurrection in a statement, saying, “The peaceful transition of power is a foundation of America’s democracy… This year, that transition will take place among some of the most challenging conditions in modern history and against the backdrop of the appalling violence we witnessed at the U.S. Capitol last week.”
Since January 6, 2021, however, Comcast has donated $787,500 to 83 election deniers on the federal level and eight election deniers on the state level.
This includes $5,000 to Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH). The January 6 Committee found that Jordan was a “significant player” in Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. According to the committee’s report, Jordan “participated in numerous post-election meetings” where they “discussed strategies for challenging the election, chief among them claims that the election had been tainted by fraud.” During his bid to become House Speaker in October 2023, Jordan was asked in a press conference if he thought the 2020 election was stolen. “I think there were all kinds of problems with the 2020 election. I’ve been clear about that,” Jordan said.
Comcast also donated $2,500 to Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall (R). In March 2022, Marshall “refused to call President Joe Biden the ‘duly elected and lawfully serving’ president of the country.”
Comcast did not respond to a request for comment.
Walmart: $384,000 to 89 election deniers
After January 6, 2021, Walmart released a statement saying, “In light of last week’s attack on the U.S. Capitol, Walmart’s political action committee is indefinitely suspending contributions to those members of Congress who voted against the lawful certification of state electoral college votes.”
Since January 6, 2021, however, Walmart has donated $384,000 to 82 federal election deniers and seven election deniers on the state level.
Walmart's donations include $2,500 to Alabama Governor Kay Ivey (R). In 2022, Ivey released a campaign ad that pushed claims of election fraud. In the ad, Ivey stated, “The fake news, Big Tech and blue state liberals stole the election from Donald Trump. But here in Alabama, we’re making sure that never happens.”
Walmart also donated $15,000 to House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) and $7,500 to Scalise’s leadership PAC. In November 2023, Scalise “repeatedly did not answer whether or not the 2020 election was not stolen” in an interview with ABC News. “What I’ve told you is there are states that didn’t follow their laws. That is what the … U.S. Constitution requires,” Scalise said.
In a statement to Popular Information, Walmart equated Trump's attempt to overturn the 2020 election with symbolic votes to object by seven Democrats in 2017, months after Hillary Clinton conceded:
We’ve long believed we can more effectively advocate on behalf of our associates, customers, communities and shareholders by engaging with policymakers of both parties. However, our political contributions do not mean we support every view of an elected official. We continually examine our political giving strategy and contribute to those who are focused on issues important to our business and key stakeholders. As part of our ongoing reassessment and in line with the above approach, we resumed giving to select members of Congress who contested the 2020 presidential election, just as we’ve given in the most recent election cycle to some of the House Democrats who objected to electoral votes following the 2016 presidential election.
In the most recent election cycle, Walmart donated $4,500 to three Democrats who cast a symbolic vote against certifying the 2016 election.
Corporate governance experts weigh in
Bruce Freed, the president of the Center for Political Accountability, thinks these companies are making a mistake. Freed told Popular Information that the corporations sending millions in PAC donations to election deniers are "putting themselves at risk." He thinks the companies are underestimating the economic danger of undermining "the rule of law." Instead of focusing on the preservation of "the political system that they need to be able to operate and grow," they are engaged in "very short term" thinking.
Yale University's Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a corporate governance scholar who convened gatherings of CEOs before and after January 6, 2021, offered a qualified defense. Sonnenfeld told Popular Information that the CEOs he spoke with only committed to "a two year moratorium through the next election cycle" and not "a permanent moratorium." But, while some companies publicly limited their pledge to two years, most left it open ended. Further, as Popular Information has documented, many major corporations resumed donating to election deniers well before the end of two years. Sonnenfeld also stressed that in the first two years, overall corporate contributions to election deniers were lower.
Thomas Lyon, a corporate governance expert at the University of Michigan, was less positive. Lyon told Popular Information that corporate donors to election deniers are exposing themselves to "some scenarios in which some really ugly things happen." Lyon predicted that, if there is a repeat of violence after the 2024 election, there would be some "pretty serious blowback." He attributed the flow of millions in corporate cash to election deniers to "arm-twisting by politicians."
Other major corporate donors:
In a statement to Popular Information, Home Depot said that “our associate-funded PAC is bipartisan. It supports candidates and organizations on both sides of the aisle who champion pro-business, pro-retail positions that create jobs and economic growth.”
General Motors sent Popular Information the following statement: “The General Motors employee-funded PAC supports the election of U.S. federal and state candidates from both sides of the aisle who foster sound business policies, support American workers and understand the importance of a robust domestic auto industry as we pursue an all-electric vehicle future.”
Union Pacific told Popular Information, “Union Pacific donates to candidates on both sides of the aisle in compliance with national and state rules. We review our giving annually to every candidate as part of a comprehensive oversight process that ensures all political contributions are made in a legal and ethical manner.”
UBS and Wells Fargo declined to comment. The rest of the companies did not respond to a request for comment.
Yale University's Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a corporate governance scholar who convened gatherings of CEOs before and after January 6, 2021, offered a qualified defense. Sonnenfeld told Popular Information that the CEOs he spoke with only committed to "a two year moratorium through the next election cycle" and not "a permanent moratorium." But, while some companies publicly limited their pledge to two years, most left it open ended. Further, as Popular Information has documented, many major corporations resumed donating to election deniers well before the end of two years. Sonnenfeld also stressed that in the first two years, overall corporate contributions to election deniers were lower.
Thomas Lyon, a corporate governance expert at the University of Michigan, was less positive. Lyon told Popular Information that corporate donors to election deniers are exposing themselves to "some scenarios in which some really ugly things happen." Lyon predicted that, if there is a repeat of violence after the 2024 election, there would be some "pretty serious blowback." He attributed the flow of millions in corporate cash to election deniers to "arm-twisting by politicians."
Other major corporate donors:
In a statement to Popular Information, Home Depot said that “our associate-funded PAC is bipartisan. It supports candidates and organizations on both sides of the aisle who champion pro-business, pro-retail positions that create jobs and economic growth.”
General Motors sent Popular Information the following statement: “The General Motors employee-funded PAC supports the election of U.S. federal and state candidates from both sides of the aisle who foster sound business policies, support American workers and understand the importance of a robust domestic auto industry as we pursue an all-electric vehicle future.”
Union Pacific told Popular Information, “Union Pacific donates to candidates on both sides of the aisle in compliance with national and state rules. We review our giving annually to every candidate as part of a comprehensive oversight process that ensures all political contributions are made in a legal and ethical manner.”
UBS and Wells Fargo declined to comment. The rest of the companies did not respond to a request for comment.
Mar 10, 2024
Today I Learned
- Elon didn't start Tesla
- Tesla was saved by a government bailout loan
- Elon didn't start PayPal
- Elon has a god complex just like other uber-wealthy assholes
Nov 2, 2023
Today's Asshole Rich Guy
Gettin' pretty fuckin' sick of these rich legacy pukes ignoring the law and just doing whatever the fuck they please.
Cielo Vista Ranch ordered to stop construction of 8-foot-high fence around treasured San Luis Valley property
Fence by billionaire violates Costilla County rules, raises environmental concerns, hinders access for land rights holders and wildlife
It took a ruling this month from District Court Judge Crista Newmyer-Olsen to halt construction of a perimeter fence around Cielo Vista Ranch in the Culebra section of the Sangre de Cristos near the town of San Luis.
Billionaire owner William Harrison had been disregarding a moratorium issued by Costilla County commissioners on the fence construction. The moratorium came after Harrison entered into a settlement agreement, signed by his vice president William T. White, with Costilla County to follow the county’s permitting process before continuing with construction.
He didn’t stop the fence construction and now the district court has stepped in with an injunction until Newmyer-Olsen can hear from both parties.
This lawsuit stems from the ranch’s construction of “thousands of feet” of an 8-foot-tall fence in sections of the property.
“CVR (Cielo Vista Ranch) did not comply with the moratorium and has continued to erect the fence. Thousands of feet of fence have been constructed since Sept. 7, 2023,” Newmyer-Olsen wrote in her ruling.
Jamie Cotter, an attorney for the owner of the ranch, also known as La Sierra, told Alamosa Citizen via email that “We are not authorized to speak about this matter because litigation is pending.”
Harrison, a scion to one of Texas’s largest oil fortunes, acquired the 83,000-acre Cielo Vista Ranch in 2017, shortly after it was listed for $105 million. The property includes the 14,047-foot Culebra Peak and 18 13,000-foot peaks along the jagged Sangre de Cristo range.
The property is at the center of Colorado’s most storied range war. The longest-running civil litigation in the state involves historical access to homesteaders of the San Luis Valley dating back to before Colorado was a state.
The owners before Harrison had spent decades fighting locals who secured access to the property through a historic land grant and wanted to use the land for grazing and collecting firewood. A 2002 Colorado Supreme Court decision launched a 15-year process to identify and certify access to about 6,400 parcels of land for nearly 5,000 descendants of Spanish and Mexican homesteaders who colonized the San Luis Valley.
Harrison challenged the 2002 decision after the certification process was completed. He argued that locals had used machinery to build access roads on his property and he closed 19 village access gates. In his appeal, he said several miles of fence had been removed and his managers had caught ATV riders and anglers trespassing on the ranch.
The Colorado Court of Appeals in 2018 denied Harrison’s appeal of the implementation of the 2002 ruling. Harrison began negotiations with locals about restoring historic access in 2019 and a Costilla County District judge in 2021 ruled that Harrison could not restrict access to residents with historic rights and ordered the locals and ranch owner to figure out an access plan.
Jack Taylor, a lumber baron who acquired the ranch in 1960, spent decades building a fence around the property. Locals sued Taylor in 1981, saying the fence prohibited their historic access, sparking what would become Colorado’s longest-running lawsuit.
A moratorium on fences in Costilla County
Costilla County currently has a moratorium on fences higher than 5 feet, which the ranch’s counsel has said is “moot.” The moratorium expires on March 5, 2024, unless Costilla County renews it.
Newmyer-Olsen issued an analysis and order granting Costilla County’s motion for a preliminary injunction. The preliminary injunction has been granted before any kind of trial to preserve the status quo — making sure the land rights holders and wildlife have continued and unabated access, as was granted to them in the Sangre De Cristo Land Grant — to the nearly 80,000 acre ranch. In her analysis, Newmyer-Olsen declared that the moratorium is not moot and must be followed by the ranch.
Due to the issuing of the preliminary injunction, a petition is currently being circulated. The petition not only calls on the county commissioners to continue to fight the fence, but calls on help from members of government organizations from around the state, including Gov. Jared Polis, state Sen. Cleave Simpson, state Rep. Matt Martinez, U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, and members of U.S. Fish and Wildlife and Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
The fence construction also violates a settlement agreement that was signed by Costilla County and Cielo Vista Ranch on Nov. 1, 2022. This agreement was drafted and put in place after the ranch began constructing an 8-foot fence near an area known as the Morada in late 2021. After the settlement agreement was signed, construction began on a new fence in an area known as El Pozo – a meadow on the northeast boundary of the ranch.
There is concern for the ecosystem in this area because large machinery has been moved in and out to construct the fence. According to court documents, Cielo Vista Ranch waits for a period of time to see if the area revegetates naturally; if it doesn’t, they seed it. However, these practices remain unclear.
A special meeting was held on Sept. 7 to address the fence issue with members of the public testifying to the county commissioners. Members of the public raised their concerns for wildlife migration of both small and large game, erosion caused by road grading and movement of heavy equipment, as well their fears for what implications the fence has on their access rights.
As a result of this meeting, the moratorium was issued and adopted through a county resolution. On Oct. 9, amendments to the Costilla County Land Use code were made by the planning commission.
Two court hearings were held, on Oct. 9 and Oct. 12. During these hearings, evidence and arguments were made by Costilla County representatives as well as Cielo Vista Ranch counsel. Ranch counsel stated that they submitted applications that are required by the newly adopted rules.
In Newmyer-Olsen’s analysis, she presents a series of issues that were raised, without the help of expert testimony, such as erosion in the Morada and geohydrology in the Pozo, and how the fence may affect wildlife. Expert testimony isn’t needed at preliminary hearings such as these, but she concluded that “common sense” still dictates that “erection of a high fence within a wildlife habitat will affect the wildlife therein.”
She also wrote that testimony of observed erosion was “largely uncontested.”
Tall fences necessary to keep bison in, trespassers out
Carlos DeLeon, the ranch manager, told the court the reason for the fences is to keep the ranch’s bison within its boundaries and to keep trespassers out. He agreed that elk and deer cannot easily get over the high fence and told the court that the ranch would construct deer jumps, which are at “DeLeon’s discretion based upon his observations” of where elk and deer travel the most. However, he also said that deer jumps won’t be installed until after the fence is finished.
There was no testimony from the ranch representatives on their plans for the fence, how much they plan to install, when it will be finished, or a timeline for any deer jump installation. “There was certainly no testimony that fence construction had ceased,” Newmyer-Olsen wrote. She wrote that the evidence the court heard indicated that construction was “ongoing” and two separate crews had been working on the fence since the date “the moratorium [was] issued.”
Newmyer-Olsen was asked to force the ranch to remediate the fence that was constructed up until that point, but she declined to do so. Her order stops the ranch and any of its representatives or contractors from violating the moratorium during “the pendency of this lawsuit.”
However, despite her lack of a remediation order, she alluded to the county’s policing power and legal authority to enforce land use violations.
Ben Doon, Costilla County’s chief administrative officer, spoke with Alamosa Citizen over the phone on Tuesday about the moratorium and settlement agreement.
He said the county is in the process of lifting the moratorium with the newly adopted land use regulations, but public hearings and more legal notices are required before that can happen.
“They’ve been doing this for a while,” he said, when asked how the ranch was able to construct so much fence. Construction began in earnest in late 2021, and at first “they weren’t getting any permits.” Doon said the county had to “kind of struggle” with the ranch to get construction and road grading permits from them.
Then in the summer of 2022, the county commissioners began hearing complaints from residents. At that time, the commissioners drafted the settlement agreement. Doon said the ranch agreed and said they would comply with concerns.
As time went on, Doon said, the fence construction continued, and continued to be “more and more in people’s backyards.”
Parts of the Cielo Vista Ranch border unincorporated land and is in fairly remote mountain terrain. However, much of that boundary is right up against private residences. “More recently, the fences have been built right in the backyard” of people’s properties, he said.
Doon said after new “rounds of scrutiny” the ranch did get permits and was complying, but when it came to changing construction techniques, it was “the same old business as usual.”
The fence’s height is one issue, but the holes in the fence are another issue. Toward the bottom of the fence openings are less than 4 inches, meaning most small animals are unable to come and go.
Doon said that members of the public began bringing photos of erosion to the county commissioners, which resulted in the moratorium.
After the moratorium was passed, Doon said, the ranch basically “thumbed their nose” at the moratorium. That’s when the Costilla County attorney filed a motion for a preliminary injunction.
Would Costilla County continue to sue the ranch to stop progress on the fence, if it came to that?
“That seems to be the only way CVR will listen,” Doon said. “They won’t listen when the county does something, but if the court tells them they have to. The reality is, we have limited resources. We cannot spend, spend, spend on attorneys like the owner of the Cielo Vista Ranch can.”
Colorado Sun staff writer Jason Blevins contributed to this story written by the Alamosa Citizen, a member-supported newsroom covering the San Luis Valley of Colorado.
Sep 11, 2023
Smart Money
Coupla things though, Elmo:
- You did not make it all by yourself - you had - and continue to have - a metric fuck ton of help from people who deserve credit, but never even get mentioned when you talk
- Being smart in one way, doing one thing, doesn't mean you're smart in any other way, doing anything else
- You had to be smart to make the money, but the money does not make you smart
Elon Musk, one of the world’s richest men who is now most famous for running the website X, formerly known as Twitter, has a new excuse for the company’s shaky performance since he bought it last year. The problem, according to Mr. Musk, is the Jews.
In an outburst on his platform on Monday, Mr. Musk claimed — without presenting any evidence — that ad revenues on Twitter are down 60 percent “primarily due to pressure on advertisers by @ADL”— the Anti-Defamation League — which he said “has been trying to kill this platform by falsely accusing it & me of being anti-Semitic.”
While the website has long had a reputation as a cesspool for lies, hate speech and a significant neo-Nazi user base, under a former chief executive officer, Jack Dorsey, Twitter had begun to take steps to ban the most provocative and openly racist and antisemitic users. A 2018 report by the ADL noted that 4.2 million antisemitic tweets had been shared or re-shared on the platform in the previous year, before Twitter’s ban on extremist accounts took effect. Mr. Musk largely reversed those policies under the aegis of free speech. Thanks to the reinstatement of extremist accounts — and a new algorithm which prioritizes posts from “verified” users who have forked over $8 a month to the company — X/Twitter now functions as a bullhorn for the most toxic elements of the white nationalist right.
Mr. Musk also blamed a collapse in the company’s value — estimates place the company’s current worth at roughly one-third the $44 billion Mr. Musk paid for it — on the ADL, saying that he was considering legal action against the ADL and signaling that he supported banning the organization from X.
Mr. Musk insists that his claims are not antisemitic and that he harbors no animus toward the Jews; still, over the past week he has repeatedly launched personal attacks against the ADL head, Jonathan Greenblatt, accusing him of lying about the ADL’s political influence.
There is a long history of far-right groups attacking the ADL for its alleged “smears.” In the late 1950s Russell Maguire, the owner of the right-wing American Mercury magazine, claimed Jewish groups were falsely smearing him and his publication as antisemitic — and, like Mr. Musk, suggested they were organizing a boycott against him. A few years later, in the mid-1960s, Robert Welch, the leader of the far-right John Birch Society, similarly claimed that the ADL was unfairly smearing his organization’s reputation by alleging it was harboring anti-Semites in its ranks.
The ADL was certainly critical of both men — but for good reasons. Mr. Maguire was, in fact, a committed antisemite. He endorsed the authenticity of the infamous antisemitic tract “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” in his magazine. Mr. Welch, in large part due to pressure from the ADL, was forced to purge the John Birch Society of its most outspoken antisemites in 1966. Considering that Mr. Musk has reinstated and retweeted a number of openly antisemitic and white nationalist accounts since acquiring the website, his attacks on the ADL are very much in keeping with this tradition.
The Anti-Defamation League is not the only organization that monitors far-right speech, nor has it been alone in drawing Mr. Musk’s ire and that of the online far right on Twitter. The Southern Poverty Law Center, founded by civil rights activists in the 1970s, employs a bevy of researchers to monitor and catalog right-wing extremism and has long been the target of attacks by neo-Nazis and white supremacists, and yet the S.P.L.C., a nonsectarian organization, has not been singled out by Mr. Musk.
Part of the reason is that the ADL, until relatively recently, was ambivalent — even supportive — of Mr. Musk. In 2022 Mr. Greenblatt of the ADL praised the billionaire entrepreneur. In comments on CNBC, Mr. Greenblatt called Mr. Musk an “amazing entrepreneur, an extraordinary innovator. He’s the Henry Ford of our time.”
Henry Ford, of course, became famous as the creative genius behind the Ford Motor Company. And, like Mr. Musk, Mr. Ford was a veritable celebrity. In the same way that Mr. Musk’s fanboys on Twitter gush about how his company SpaceX will lead humanity into a cosmic future, Mr. Ford was seen as the apostle of industrial modernity. Joseph Stalin sought out experts from the Ford Motor Company to help industrialize the Soviet Union in the late 1920s. Aldous Huxley dated the calendar in his 1932 dystopian novel “Brave New World” “A.F.” — “After Ford.”
Mr. Ford was also — next to Charles Lindbergh — one of America’s most infamous antisemites of the 20th century, and Mr. Greenblatt was pilloried by liberal and left-wing critics for failing to note this.
Despite Mr. Greenblatt’s tone-deaf lauding of Mr. Musk as the second coming of Henry Ford, the ADL has been justifiably concerned with monitoring Twitter as one of the major global forums for antisemitism since Mr. Musk’s takeover. Twitter’s historical free-for-all approach to speech, while it has allowed for previously marginalized voices to be major players in media narratives, has also allowed for new platforming opportunities for open antisemites and racists, hitherto confined to websites for true believers. Twitter was not the only social media platform to flirt with extremism — Facebook infamously became a vector of disinformation during the 2016 election — but it was unique in its power to shape media narratives.
What explains Mr. Musk’s questionable decision making? It does not take much of a leap to imagine that an immensely wealthy businessman — one who strongly believes in his own messianic mission to uplift humanity and who is facing intense and sustained public criticism over his politics and business acumen for the first time in decades — might conclude that nefarious forces are at work to undermine him. What separates this simple scapegoating from full-blown conspiracism is the sense one gets from Mr. Musk and his acolytes that criticism of him imperils the utopian future of mankind. That, combined with the fact that Mr. Musk has been consistently boosting far-right, white nationalist, and antisemitic accounts on Twitter since the beginning of his tenure, effectively melds his sense of victimhood with the conspiratorial antisemitism of the most toxic elements of the right.
X, née Twitter, despite losing significant value due to Mr. Musk’s incompetence and having to contend with rivals like Meta’s Threads, is still the most influential social media platform in shaping the national news narrative. As Kanye West, himself no stranger to making unhinged antisemitic statements, has said, “No one man should have all that power.”
The Republican Party already has a serious problem with some campaign staffers openly trafficking in antisemitic and white nationalist speech. Mr. Musk scapegoating the Jews for his own catastrophic business decisions regarding his management of one of the most influential social media platforms in the world will only add fuel to the fire.
Sep 1, 2023
Jul 25, 2023
Just Going For Better
On people's problem with virtue signaling:
Are you complaining that I believe myself to be virtuous, or is it just that I'm stating my values, indicating I think those values are virtuous, and you object to that?
Are you saying you're in opposition to those values, and that we need to hash it out?
We should talk.
Some takeaways:
- It's not poverty in America. It's poverty by America
- LBJ's War On Poverty reduced the number of poor Americans by 45% in about 10 years
- FDR's Social Security has cut Elder Poverty by 90% in some states
- Biden's COVID Rescue Plan cut childhood poverty by more than 50% - in about 8 months
- 38 million Americans live below the poverty line
- 12 million kids live in poverty - almost 1 out of every 6
- It's very expensive to be poor in America
Stop speaking the language of Scarcity, and start realizing the language of Plenty.
Jul 7, 2023
Yeah, You Betcha
Sign me up - you go first though.
"... just gotta work on that landing a little bit."
Jun 23, 2023
It's All A Fucking Circus
Maybe it's nothing but the usual bluff-n-bluster, aimed at drumming up a little free publicity, but are we really willing simply to dismiss it?
I get that 120 years ago, we had a president who would challenge staffers, and cabinet members, and visiting foreign dignitaries to boxing matches at the White House. But that was at the tail end of the Wild West period, and before we'd figured out that a few concussions could shorten your life by decades.
Not that serious risks to our health or looking like a strutting hyper-macho cock have ever tempered our more idiotic impulses, but c'mon, people.
Why Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg say they’re ready for a ‘cage match’
Only six weeks ago, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg competed in his first jujitsu tournament, taking home a couple of medals and posting a photo of himself on Instagram, his arm raised in post-match triumph. Now, the billionaire has been challenged to a cage match by another billionaire — Elon Musk — and Zuckerberg is apparently game.
Musk has been taking shots at Zuckerberg on social media amid reports that Meta, Facebook’s parent, is working on a social media platform to rival Twitter, which Musk purchased in October. On Tuesday, in a Twitter thread about Meta’s purported plans, Musk appeared to agree with the suggestion that Meta has copied rival social media companies.
Another user told Musk in jest to “be careful” because Zuckerberg now trains in jujitsu.
Then Musk responded: “I’m up for a cage match if he is lol.”
A day later on Instagram, Zuckerberg posted a screenshot of Musk’s tweet, with the caption: “Send Me Location.”
And Musk later tweeted “Vegas Octagon,” referring to the Ultimate Fighting Championship arena.
“I have this great move that I call ‘The Walrus,’ where I just lie on top of my opponent & do nothing,” Musk added.
Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Asked about Zuckerberg’s Instagram post, Meta spokeswoman Elana Widmann told The Washington Post in a statement: “The story speaks for itself.”
It’s far from certain whether the matchup will happen — some combat sports observers are skeptical. That did not stop internet users from musing about how a fight between the two billionaires might look — and who would win. Musk’s fighting experience is unclear, but in recent months Zuckerberg has flaunted his physical fitness. In late May, he posted a photo of himself wearing a camouflaged vest, writing that he had done 300 squats, 200 push-ups and 100 pull-ups, while wearing a 20-pound “weighted pack.”
Zuckerberg has also made no secret of his affinity for Brazilian jujitsu and mixed martial arts, saying on the “The Joe Rogan Experience” in August 2022 that he’d become interested in martial arts “in the last 12 months.”
“It really is the best sport,” Zuckerberg said. “From the very first session that I did, like five minutes in, I was like, ‘Where has this been my whole life?’”
In October, Zuckerberg attended an unusual UFC event in which he and his wife, Priscilla Chan, were among just a handful of spectators watching in person, while most of the seats remained empty. Zuckerberg was still ranked as a white belt when he participated during the May jujitsu tournament in which he won a gold and a silver medal. During one match, Zuckerberg reportedly was choked unconscious at one point, which he denied in an email this month to the New York Times.
At the center of Musk’s exchange with Zuckerberg is Meta’s plan to roll out a social media platform that rivals Twitter. Meta confirmed its plans to news outlets in March. This month, the Verge reported that the new app could be called Threads, and that Meta officials are pitching it as a more “sanely run” platform than Twitter — which has seen an exodus of advertisers since Musk took over in October.
“At least it will be ‘sane,’” Musk tweeted disparagingly about Meta’s purported new platform. “Was worried there for a moment.”
Minutes later, Musk said he’d take on Zuckerberg in the cage.
Jun 19, 2023
I'm S'posed To Care About This?
If you've decided to blow a ¼ million dollars on a joy ride through a cemetery, don't expect me to mourn your passing. I promise not to be happy about it, but I'm not going to get all choked up either.
A buncha wealthy pukes - and the greedy fucks who obliged them - went two miles down to ogle a death scene, and apparently, they've become part of the tableau. Fuck 'em.
A search-and-rescue mission is underway in the North Atlantic, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
A submersible went missing in the area of the Titanic wreck in the North Atlantic on Monday, setting off a search-and-rescue operation by the U.S. Coast Guard, according to the agency and the tourism company operating the craft.
Petty Officer Lourdes Putnam confirmed that Coast Guard officials were searching for the submersible, which is operated by OceanGate Expeditions. It was not clear how many people were on board the vessel, and Officer Putnam offered no further details. The company’s website said its submersibles carry five people.
OceanGate, a company that takes paying tourists in submersibles to shipwrecks and underwater canyons, said on its website on Monday that an expedition was “currently underway.”
In a statement after the submersible went missing, the company said that it was exploring all options to bring the crew back safely.
“Our entire focus is on the crew members in the submersible and their families,” a statement said. “We are deeply thankful for the extensive assistance we have received from several government agencies and deep sea companies in our efforts to reestablish contact with the submersible.”
The Titanic sank in the early hours of April 15, 1912, on its maiden voyage from England to New York after hitting an iceberg, killing more than 1,500 people. The wreckage was found in 1985, broken into two main sections, about 400 miles off Newfoundland, in eastern Canada, and has since attracted the attention of experts and amateurs alike.
The chief executive of OceanGate, which was founded in 2009, has compared its project to the burgeoning space tourism industry, and the company has offered tours of the Titanic in which guests paid $250,000 to travel to the wreckage on the seabed, more than two miles below the ocean’s surface.
The company’s website outlines an eight-day itinerary for the trip, setting out from the city of St. John’s in Canada to the site of the Titanic wreck. The site also outlines a degree of training for the company’s customers, saying they receive “a vessel orientation and safety briefing” and are familiarized with “the vessel’s safety procedures.”
The company said that customers do not require any previous diving experience, but that there are “a few physical requirements like being able to board small boats in active seas.”
Petty Officer Lourdes Putnam confirmed that Coast Guard officials were searching for the submersible, which is operated by OceanGate Expeditions. It was not clear how many people were on board the vessel, and Officer Putnam offered no further details. The company’s website said its submersibles carry five people.
OceanGate, a company that takes paying tourists in submersibles to shipwrecks and underwater canyons, said on its website on Monday that an expedition was “currently underway.”
In a statement after the submersible went missing, the company said that it was exploring all options to bring the crew back safely.
“Our entire focus is on the crew members in the submersible and their families,” a statement said. “We are deeply thankful for the extensive assistance we have received from several government agencies and deep sea companies in our efforts to reestablish contact with the submersible.”
The Titanic sank in the early hours of April 15, 1912, on its maiden voyage from England to New York after hitting an iceberg, killing more than 1,500 people. The wreckage was found in 1985, broken into two main sections, about 400 miles off Newfoundland, in eastern Canada, and has since attracted the attention of experts and amateurs alike.
The chief executive of OceanGate, which was founded in 2009, has compared its project to the burgeoning space tourism industry, and the company has offered tours of the Titanic in which guests paid $250,000 to travel to the wreckage on the seabed, more than two miles below the ocean’s surface.
The company’s website outlines an eight-day itinerary for the trip, setting out from the city of St. John’s in Canada to the site of the Titanic wreck. The site also outlines a degree of training for the company’s customers, saying they receive “a vessel orientation and safety briefing” and are familiarized with “the vessel’s safety procedures.”
The company said that customers do not require any previous diving experience, but that there are “a few physical requirements like being able to board small boats in active seas.”
Jun 7, 2023
We Have Arrived
I grew up with the understanding that no matter how "important" we thought Denver was becoming, it was still just a cow town out on the plains of Colorado - bigger - but still a cow town.
So it seems a little weird that Denver would attract the kind of attention that gets The New York Times to do a feature on an old defunct landmark joint out on West Colfax that's been more or less derelict for 30 years, and is now being redone and re-opened - weird until you throw in the part about local-boys-make-good.
The South Park guys
With “infinity dollars” poured in by the creators of “South Park,” a fabled Colorado restaurant reopens with the same 1970s vibe and drastically improved food.
Colorado’s defining features include glorious mountain peaks, vivid seasonal colors, skiing and a widespread compulsion to exercise and eat well. But for generations of Colorado children, arguably the most commonly shared experience involved Casa Bonita, a vast, filthy, poorly-lit, underground restaurant with food that many diners deemed barely edible.
Casa Bonita — then sprawling over 52,000 square feet in Lakewood, a Denver suburb — served steamed refried beans, tacos and enchiladas to thousands of people a day, buffet-style. The dinner entertainment was a child’s fever dream: waterfalls, cliff divers, Black Bart’s Cave, faux gold and silver mines, puppet shows and a person in a gorilla costume chased by a sheriff, who sometimes joined in the cliff diving. Casa Bonita’s curious childhood grip was chronicled in an episode of “South Park.”
After that episode ran, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the show’s creators, were regularly asked whether such a place actually existed. “Oh, that’s a place,” Mr. Parker would respond, he said recently. “It’s crazy. It’s weird.” Like so many Colorado children, Mr. Parker had held his birthday parties there.
Then, in 2020, Casa Bonita went bankrupt, hit by the pandemic slump. The place was already in disrepair, crumbling from deferred maintenance, rife with electrical hazards, the ventilation systems coated with grease and the carpet encrusted into something like concrete. The jokes about the food had earned it the nickname Casa NoEata. Still, its passing was mourned.
But in the coming weeks, the enormous casita will reopen with new owners: Mr. Parker and Mr. Stone, both native Coloradans, who have spent upward of $40 million to tear it down, rebuild it and, they joke, to keep everything the same, except now sanitary.
“It doesn’t stink like chlorine anymore,” Mr. Stone said in an interview in late May, during the final, frantic stretch to reopen. “We could have rebuilt this twice as big, for half as much money, but we spent so much restoring it, like a piece of art.”
Mr. Parker added: “And the food is excellent.”
Indeed, Casa Bonita returns as one of the biggest Mexican restaurants in the world, and the new executive chef, Dana Rodriguez, is a six-time James Beard Award nominee. Local fans of Casa Bonita speak of the reopening as if the beloved “Orange Crush” Denver Broncos of 1977 had been revived from a cryogenic state. More than 100,000 potential customers have signed up on the restaurant’s website to make a reservation, Mr. Stone said.
“It’s its own Colorado thing,” said Rick Johnson last Friday night, when some 400 guests were invited for a test run, in the company of Mr. Stone and Mr. Parker. Mr. Johnson, 44, had come to the restaurant as a child and had now brought his own sons. “There are these certain places that bring you back — that bring the nostalgia,” he said.
His son Isaac, 10, was struck by his father’s enthusiasm. “I don’t know if I’ve ever seen him more excited,” he said.
Isaac had just joined a dozen other children watching a puppet show, during which a friendly taco puppet introduced a somber burrito puppet that sang an Italian aria. The puppet stage was tucked next to Black Bart’s Cave, a windy maze minded by two skeletons. Steps away, the mercado sold Casa Bonita T-shirts, mugs and other trinkets. Every 20 minutes, divers splashed from faux cliffs into a blue pool.
“This is heaven on Earth,” Isaac said.
Mr. Stone, smiling, took in a mariachi band near the bar. The original cost of renovations was projected at $10 million. When the figure reached $20 million, business advisers encouraged Mr. Stone and Mr. Parker to pack it in. These days, Mr. Stone said, the investment was closer to “infinity dollars.”
As Mr. Parker put it, “It would be way cheaper if we just went hang gliding over volcanoes.”
Replicating the proper shade of pink was one of the more benign refurbishing challenges. “Twenty seven different tries to get the right color,” said Scott Shoemaker, who has overseen the renovations.
Casa Bonita occupies a building colored a signature pink that looms like a flamingo’s neck over an outdoor shopping complex; other tenants include a Dollar Store, a Ross Dress for Less, an H&R Block and a coin-operated laundry. The restaurant first opened to the public at the same spot in 1974, patterned after another with the same name, and the same owner, that had opened in Oklahoma City a few years earlier.
Finding the right shade of pink was one of the more benign refurbishing challenges, but still demanding. “Twenty seven different tries,” said Scott Shoemaker, who has overseen the renovations. Finding the right shade of gold for the lettering took nine. Some features, like the four fake deciduous trees and the 62 fake palm trees inside the restaurant, could simply be touched up: fake leaves removed, cleaned, trees repainted, leaves reattached.
“There aren’t many construction projects where you have to re-frond the palms,” Mr. Shoemaker said. “Which is the name of my new band.”
Other features, like the old cliff-diving pool, were actual physical hazards. It turned out that divers, once they leaped into the pool, could only exit through a 30-inch-wide underwater tunnel brimming with pipes, Mr. Shoemaker said. Then they emerged from the water into an electrical room.
“There were 200 amps of power directly to the left,” Mr. Shoemaker said. “When I saw it, I called Matt and told him, ‘This is the most dangerous room I’ve ever seen.’” (They have heard no reports of injuries.) The renovated pool, 14 feet deep, resembles the old one but provides the divers with a wider, relocated exit, among other changes.
Other changes will be more evident to customers. There are four new bars. A new indoor ticketing plaza, meant to recall a street in Oaxaca, adds 4,000 square feet and is intended to reduce waiting times before sitting down and eating. Some attractions, like Black Bart’s Cave, have received some narrative polish to help them make actual sense.
The original Black Bart character “was a cross between a weird pirate and a bank robber,” said Chris Brion, the creative director of both “South Park” and Casa Bonita, and who goes by the nickname Crispy. “He was an amalgam of 16 different comical bad guys.” The new Black Bart, he said, was based on “the actual character who robbed stage coaches.”
But part of Casa Bonita’s appeal was the thematic smorgasbord, and much of the original weirdness has been left untouched. “We sat down and talked a lot about it: We know how to clean this up, narratively,” Mr. Parker said. But they opted against, he said, and instead embraced a unifying theme of exploration.
“It’s about discovery,” he said. “Little kids like to say, ‘What’s in that hole?’ There’s a lot of that.”
Mole by Loca
The whimsy of the original Casa Bonita was matched by culinary mystery: Why was the food so-so at best? “There’s got to be a place in hell for people who serve food like that,” said Victoria Gagnon, 57; she said she and her family got food poisoning after a visit to Casa Bonita in 2013.
Nonetheless, she said, she was eager to go back to her favorite childhood destination. Years ago, when her father, a construction worker, received his pay, the family voted on where to dine. “Hands down, Casa Bonita,” Ms. Gagnon said. “I know it sounds corny.”
During the demolition phase, one cause of Casa Bonita’s subpar cuisine became clear. “There were no ovens, no range tops,” Mr. Stone said. “It was all steamers. They steamed everything.”
There were other surprises. The old gas lines leaked, and the gas service to the building had to be redone. All the drains had been plumbed improperly, allowing cooking grease to “get into the city wastewater,” Mr. Shoemaker said. The list went on.
The quality of the food, at least, is being addressed by Ms. Rodriguez, who is known by the nickname Loca, owing to her relentless enthusiasm and her sailor’s vocabulary.
Ms. Rodriguez immigrated from Chihuahua, Mexico, in 1998, and applied for her first job at Casa Bonita; she was turned down as being underqualified. She went on to establish and own several celebrated restaurants, including Work & Class, in Denver, and has her own Tequila brand Doña Loca. In 2021, when she heard that Casa Bonita might reopen under new ownership, she applied for the top job. “Now am I qualified?” she said she had asked.
Her kitchen staff, numbering 110, will cook everything from scratch, in a modern, stainless-steel kitchen built to produce huge quantities. One hundred and ninety-eight gallons of mole sauce will be made for the chicken, every night. Also: enchiladas with red and green sauce; green chile-braised brisket; chile relleno, with vegan and vegetarian options, served with refried beans (not from a can, thank you very much) and rice; and of course, sopaipillas with honey.
The Casa Bonita team said they were still working out the pricing, an area of uncertainty that reflected their inexperience in running a restaurant. “What we’ve come to realize over the last couple of months is, now we have a lot of work to do to make it a sustainable business,” Mr. Parker said.
Not to mention balancing the weight of tradition and nostalgia, and their own high expectations.
“It’s such a visceral place,” Mr. Parker said. “That’s what I hope makes it so cool.”
Mr. Stone said: “That’s worth infinity dollars.”
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