TIL that every year, the most powerful people in Michigan meet on an island for 3 days
TIL that every year, the most powerful people in Michigan meet on an island for 3 days
TIL that every year, the most powerful people in Michigan meet on an island for 3 days
Kamala Harris endorses Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan's U.S. Senate race
Republicans Are Running Ads Attacking ‘Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed’
Senator Moreno says Representative Max Miller 'should not serve in the House' for allegedly abusing his daughter
Senate Panel Votes to Hold Anthony Fauci in Contempt of Congress
TIL that Los Angeles is expanding a program paying people not to drive. If you agree to keep you car parked at home for 5 weeks and explore other ways to get around, you can earn up to $600
After Michigan Loss, AIPAC Weighs a Second Effort to Defeat El-Sayed
The rapper Boosie BadAzz wanted a Trump pardon, so he paid $600k. Now, he’s seeking a partial refund
US lawmakers to vote on whether to make daylight saving time permanent
Trump reports more than $600 million in income from crypto, golf, licensing fees
Trump is deeply obsessed with US history – but he has learned all the wrong lessons from it
Speaker Mike Johnson says US Senator Padilla should be censured. "I think the senator’s actions, my view, is it was wildly inappropriade"
Justice Department asks Colorado to hand over or preserve all records related to the 2024 and 2020 elections
David Hogg to exit Democratic National Committee after months of turmoil
Republicans Want to Defund NPR. To Survive, It Needs To Do Some Soul-Searching.
Oregon becomes first US state to ban private equity control of doctor and clinical practices
TIL that in 1974, the New York Times wrote that Alberta 🇨🇦 has so much Oil Money that they don't know what to do with it.
Sydney cleric tells court Jewish people can’t be offended by him calling them ‘vile’ as lectures were private
Speaker Mike Johnson suggests California Governor should be ‘tarred and feathered’
Texas Republicans meet to discuss redrawing districts ahead of midterms
Neoliberalism. The belief that owners of corporations should be able to do whatever the fuck they want, because corporations always create the best outcome possible for society.
The result is stuff like the US Opioid Crisis. Purdue Pharma knew that opioid pharmaceuticals were extremely addictive. For decades, they lied and said it was not addictive. In private, they laughed about their victims.
They bribed doctors and dentists to overprescribe it:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/29/health/purdue-opioids-oxycontin.html
https://www.latimes.com/projects/oxycontin-part1/
They also paid think-tanks to defend them and aggressively challenged negative media coverage:
https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-purdue-pharma-media-playbook-how-it-planted-the-opioid-anti-story
The tobacco companies used the same techniques before western governments cracked down on them.
In the 90s, they tried to prevent governments from acting by bribing politicians:
https://www.npr.org/2019/06/17/730496066/tobaccos-special-friend-what-internal-documents-say-about-mitch-mcconnell
In many countries, tobacco corporations are still using mafia methods:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/12/big-tobacco-dirty-war-africa-market
For neoliberals, the corporations should decide what is acceptable or not. If there is a profitable market for something, then it means it should be legal. Period. They don't give a shit about selling addictive poison to kids, destroying the environment or underpaying workers. Corporate profits are their religion.
Neoliberals believe citizens or lawmakers should never try to fix injustice, because corporations can't create injustice. And if they want to be involved and threaten corporate profits, you have to punch them in the nose.
In 1951, Jacobo Árbenz was democratically elected President of Guatemala. He wanted to tax rich banana companies and ensure they didn't own all the land. So the United Fruit Company lobbied the CIA to overthrow him. Allen Dulles, the director of the CIA, accepted immediately. His brother, wealthy businessman John Foster Dulles, was chairman of United Fruits International. So the President Árbenz was violently overthrowed. At least 9000 people were killed.
That's extreme neoliberalism.