Tweet

GET A GRIP

28 Apr, 12 tweets, 7 min read

#Thread

#Everyone concerned about the capture of institutions, news media, & political parties by Libertarian billionaires has a moral duty to research the collection of extraordinarily powerful free market think tanks grouped under the 'Atlas Network'.

versobooks.com/books/3075-nin…

The Atlas Network has "reshaped political power in country after country," operating as an extension of USA foreign policy", with Atlas-affiliated think tanks receiving funding from the US Department of State and the National Endowment for Democracy.

It's worse than you think.

The Atlas Network's methods include providing grants for new think tanks, courses on political management & PR, sponsorship of networking events around the world, & encouraging libertarians to influence public opinion through social media & online #videos suspiciously like these:

Founded by British arch neoliberal Antony Fisher in 1981 & heavily influenced by Hayek, Oliver Letwin commented "Without Fisher, no IEA; without the IEA & its clones, no Thatcher & quite possibly no Reagan".

Fisher was one of the founders of the Institute of Economic Affairs.

At least 106 free market think tanks in two dozen countries have accepted donations from tobacco companies, argued against tobacco control policies called for by the World Health Organization, or both eg Cato Institute; the IEA, Adam Smith Institute. 🤬

theguardian.com/business/ng-in…

The sheer volume of connections between Boris Johnson’s cabinet & ultra free market thinktanks is mind blowing.

US thinktanks & their affiliates, largely funded by rightwing American billionaires & corporations, have already subverted British #democracy.

theguardian.com/politics/2019/…

The Tufton Street gang of think tanks, including the IEA & the Legatum Institute (linked to funding of Andrew Neil's new TV channel), helped write detailed proposals for what the UK’s departure from the EU, & its future relationships with both the EU & the US, should look like.

The funding of these free market think tanks is incredibly opaque & hard to trace.

In 2018 it was reported that anonymous donors had given $5.6 MILLION since 2008 to groups linked to the IEA, Adam Smith Institute, Policy Exchange & Legatum Institute.

theguardian.com/politics/2018/…

I have a strong suspicion that Andrew Neil's new TV channel is basically just an extension of the deregulatory free market juggernaut determined to undermine #democracy, remove citizen protections, & add to the $30 TRILLION already held offshore by the global Libertarian elite.

@YouTube

Imho, it's no coincidence that Tufton Street now hosts a @YouTube channel dedicated to churning out divisive "anti-woke" corporate #propaganda: the entire fake 'culture war' is just a vehicle for breaking opposition to unregulated free market #capitalism.

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1387088535254093833

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1387338254282895361

Here's a #THREAD making explicit some of the connections between Andrew Neil, the Spectator, Boris Johnson's Government of free market extremists, & the divisive populist nationalist 'culture war' narrative as practiced by the Orbán regime in Hungary:

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1387338254282895361

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1316654443836866560

A final #THREAD taking a look at one of the founders & developers of the dangerous ideology which has led to the profound subversion of #democracy by unhinged & insatiable Libertarian billionaires, & their grotesque accumulation of unimaginable wealth:

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1316654443836866560

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

More from @docrussjackson

GET A GRIP

@docrussjackson

28 Apr

I'd never heard of Boris Johnson's senior advisor & one of Carrie Symond's "favourite people" 'chatty rat' Henry Newman, but I've been looking at Andrew Neil's connections to the Orbán regime, &, well, 'it's a small world'...

#THREAD on the Hungarian & British hard right elite.

In 2018, Andrew Neil chaired the #Project28 opinion poll based research event for Viktor Orban's 'Think Tank' the Századvég Foundation - basically the propaganda wing of Fidesz party, set up to spread xenophobia, islamophobia & antisemitism across the EU.

london.mfa.gov.hu/eng/news/szaza…

Andrew Neil Chaired the event, but let's take a look at the other speakers.

First up, keynote speaker & Fidesz party MEP József Szájer, who discussed the #Project28 'findings', basically that the EU population had lost their confidence in their ability to influence leaders.

Read 20 tweets

GET A GRIP

@docrussjackson

27 Apr

#THREAD on the (surely?) ironically named 'The New Culture Forum' - yet ANOTHER shit-stirring-hard-right-free-market-obsessed-anti-woke-#55TuftonStreet-based-think-tank, featuring all the usual suspects, & founded by idiosyncratic Brextremist ex-ukipper, Peter Whittle.

@YouTube

Whittle is founder & director of the 'New Culture Forum' think tank, & host of the right wing @YouTube show 'So What You're Saying Is...' -imagine a kind of self-help group/show for the "silenced" (🤪) 'stars' of the unhinged Libertarian wing of the anti-woke mob.

The New Culture Forum is part of the gang at 55 Tufton St, which since the 2010s has hosted free-market hard-right lobby groups, a group of which, dubbed "THE NINE ENTITIES"😳, use the building for biweekly meetings to coordinate policy & public messages.

medium.com/@KGallowglaich…

Read 13 tweets

GET A GRIP

@docrussjackson

27 Apr

'Both serious conflict in the home - for example, tension, verbal arguments or physical violence - and severe financial difficulties experienced during childhood, significantly predict various health problems in adulthood: physical, mental, and social.'

theconversation.com/how-a-difficul…

The impact was exacerbated if people had experienced both conflict and financial difficulties in childhood.

People who had difficult childhoods are more likely to binge drink, smoke, have a poor diet and tend to be less active – often engaging in sedentary behaviour.

25% of the survey respondents had experienced financial strain or conflict during their childhood. This means that one in four adults in Europe could be at increased risk of developing health problems due to these types of adversity.

Read 4 tweets

GET A GRIP

@docrussjackson

26 Apr

#THREAD about Boris Johnson, dead bodies, Brexit, & Andrew Neil's TV Channel & power.

The news is full of claims that last year, Boris Johnson said “No more fucking lockdowns: let the bodies pile high in their thousands”, which our sociopathic Govt dismissed as "comedy gossip".

https://twitter.com/BBCPolitics/status/915295999140204544

Boris Johnson, 2017: "I look at Libya... There's a group of UK business people... want to invest in Sirte on the coast... They have got a brilliant vision to turn Sirte into the next Dubai. The only thing they have got to do is clear the dead bodies away!"

https://twitter.com/BBCPolitics/status/915295999140204544

The speech was given to the #Legatum Institute (originally registered in Cayman Islands) a well-funded free-market think-tank specializing in disaster #capitalism, which in 2016, jointly sponsored a report called 'The Road to Brexit'. The foreword was penned by Iain Duncan Smith.

Read 18 tweets

GET A GRIP

@docrussjackson

25 Apr

@FullFact

Many accounts excited about the #LondonProtest are sharing links & memes that make unusual claims about COVID & vaccines, from something called the "Daily Expose".

@FullFact adresses their claim that just 3,000 people have died from #COVID19 in Britain.

fullfact.org/online/daily-e…

@PolitiFact

Here's anothe 'Daily Expose' claim - that the number of pregnant women who have miscarried increased by “366% in just six weeks” as a result of their receiving a #COVID19 vaccine.

@PolitiFact rate this claim 'false'.

politifact.com/factchecks/202…

The 'Media Bias Fact Check' rates the 'Daily Expose' as "a Tin-Foil Hat Conspiracy and Quackery level Pseudoscience website based on promoting false and misleading information regarding #Covid19."

mediabiasfactcheck.com/the-daily-expo…

Read 4 tweets

GET A GRIP

@docrussjackson

22 Apr

Just how dysfunctional is British society to have ended up with a sociopathic PM who has, for much of his adult life, been rewarded for opportunistically lying about the gravest of issues, & who never shows any empathy or humility, or remorse for his lies?