Thread by @youseepeeYYC

Who’s bankrolling the yahoos organizing this #spreadneck parade? Who’s paying to print their protest signs?

#ableg #ycc #MaskUp

https://twitter.com/christadao/status/1335326648950898690

.@robbpettit noticed someone walking past the camera at about 0:10 who appears to be John Carpay.

Maybe Carpay knows who’s helping to finance this operation?

#ableg #covidiots #spreadnecks

If Carpay’s “Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms” (JCCF) is in fact helping to fund this #spreadneck parade, then it makes sense to look at who funds them....

#ableg #COVIDAB
north99.org/2018/01/26/far…

“One group not listed on the JCCF’s website is the Atlas Foundation, which features the JCCF prominently in their Canadian partners section.”

Oh boy! And this “Atlas Network” is funding the manning centre too!

#ableg #cdnpoli #spreadnecks

Here’s a link to the Atlas Network’s “partners” in Canada. It’s basically a who’s who of dark money laundering and far-right villains in #cdnpoli.

atlasnetwork.org/partners/globa…

#ableg #abpoli

What is the Atlas Network?

The @wearenorth99 article says:

“The Atlas Network funds rightwing organizations throughout the world, including organizations connected to the Koch brothers like Freedom Works and the Cato Institute.“

#cdnpoli #ableg
north99.org/2018/01/26/far…

.@sourcewatch also seems to have a decent page on the organization.

#cdnmedia #ableg

sourcewatch.org/index.php/Atla…

.@Tentoads4truth has created a detailed thread about the Atlas Network. #ableg #cdnpoli #abpoli

👇

https://twitter.com/tentoads4truth/status/1072149205521596417?s=21

https://t.co/j8KMiT2VfB

.@barbetta1 brought up another resource about the Atlas Network.

#ableg #cdnpoli #abpoli

👇

https://twitter.com/barbetta1/status/1335407556362047488?s=21

https://t.co/DDBwDt4PG9

So the Atlas Network. If you want to learn more, at least now you have enough info to ask the internet more questions. I don’t have all the answers. I wasn’t even planning on making a thread today but here we are uncovering local fascism backed by foreign billionaires.

There’s also been some engaging discussion in replies to this thread that I’ve been learning from.

I do want to stress that I cannot be 100% certain that the JCCF/Atlas/Koch Network is a funding source. It just seems plausible.
And even if it is a funding source, there could still be other funders we don’t know about.

#ableg #yyc #cdnpoli

.@herrick_ethan did a bit of digging about where one of these group’s domains was registered...

👀

https://twitter.com/herrick_ethan/status/1335423802843439106?s=21

.@herrick_ethan says he likes this other mini-thread better.

#abpoli #cdnpoli

https://twitter.com/herrick_ethan/status/1335416667203981312?s=21

https://t.co/imLeqMfZdn

.@victoriaswells2 puts this observation about the language of the messaging nicely. It seems like the movement is encouraging a Natiinalistic indentity. “I am Canadian; therefore I oppose the government.”

#ableg #spreadnecks #abpoli #cdnpoli #maskup

https://twitter.com/victoriaswells2/status/1335499189086654466?s=21

https://t.co/veG3MHp036

Back to Carpay, this month-old account with six followers tagged all the media when the posted a video of him begging for money to help him sue the government for infringing on your “god given” freedoms for... trying to slow the spread of a pandemic... 🙄

The grift is real.

So while it appears to be that through JCCF Carpay is getting support from foreign billionaires for his operation he’s definitely also holding his hat out to local suckers.

I’d like to connect this kind of behaviour to another character, then bring the thread to a conclusion.

Let’s review what we know.

- There are regular anti-mask “freedom” protests happening in Calgary.

- One of the prominent speakers works for an organization that has ties to an international network funded by right wing billionaires.

...it sounds far fetched...

...but the political activities of billionaires like the Koch brothers is well documented. Remember that they’re among the supporters of the Atlas Network, which we mentioned earlier.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political…

On a macro level this kind money can buy big and sometimes subtle influence that can suggest people doubt the way things are which may make some people suceptable to odd theories like flat-Earth or Q-anon.

theatlantic.com/magazine/archi…

My favourite short explanation of Q-Anon is this short video from @thejuicemedia.

Not to dwell on Q-anon, who falls for this kind of conspiracy stuff?

Grifters lower down on the grifter pyramid, white supremecists, and bigots.

cbc.ca/news/canada/ca…

Seriously, the Street Church is so bigoted that Ric McIvor likes them.

#ableg #cdnpoli #abpoli
vice.com/en/article/jmk…

Now, I know someone is going to say of groups like this that suckers are everywhere, but these suckers aren’t harmless.

People like Ric McIvor and John Carpay can harvest those suckers.

That’s literally how fascism started.

Don’t be a Sucker!

Explaining fascism could be it’s own long-ass thread.

As a shorthand, fascism is a pyramid-shaped society like capitalism, but instead of a person’s placement being determined by how much money they were born with, it’s determined by who is most like “Us,” whatever “Us” is.

Okay let’s finish the final lap and put this to bed.

Here’s some other Canadian Atlas partners

Alberta Institute
Canada Strong and Free Network (formerly the Manning Centre)
*Canadian Taxpayer Federation*
Canadians for Democracy and Prosperity
The Fraser Institute

Recognize some of the names of notable past members?

This is where we can circle back to connect some notable characters to our story.

Here we have the beginnings of Jason Kenney’s career in politics.

#ableg #cdnpoli

Now I don’t know how far back the Atlas Network’s support for the CTF goes, but it’s possible that it went back many years. Maybe even to when Jason Kenney was president of the little club.

#ableg #cdnpoli

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Ken…

That’s right, the Jason Kenney who famously said:

“People will die as a result of Conservative policies.”

https://twitter.com/robinksg/status/1335032818875785217?s=21

#ableg #cdnpoli #abpoli https://t.co/Rh80kAnpFK

Okay that the end of the thread.

If you enjoyed this, here’s an earlier thread I did about corporate media gaslighting featuring Sinclair Broadcasting:

https://twitter.com/youseepeeyyc/status/1323875094901391360?s=21

https://t.co/FUAH6LQV0K

And here’s an earlier thread about print media in Alberta, Canada with a focus on Postmedia.

#cdnmedia #cdnpoli #MediaPetition

https://twitter.com/youseepeeyyc/status/1319523415649255427?s=21

https://t.co/RmmJiULOJP

.@SammyBytes created a screen shotbod Atlas Network Canadian partners. Several of these partners are based in Alberta.

#ableg #cdnpoli

https://twitter.com/sammybytes/status/1335954197041328128?s=21

https://t.co/JuGHfXWIaL

https://twitter.com/sammybytes/status/1335967862649991169?s=21

https://t.co/D1xjvOGFPq

.@JimStorrie made a thread about who John Carpay is and ehat he balieves.

(Unsurprisingly, he’s a hateful man.)

https://twitter.com/jimstorrie/status/1335744479404290048?s=21

https://t.co/v9bIvwQBFL

.@JimStorrie mentions some of the JCCF’s other supporters too.

#ableg #abpoli

https://twitter.com/jimstorrie/status/1335755916319191041?s=21