Pierre Omidyar: A Dangerous Billionaire-Backer of the “Resistance”

From Danny Haiphong, Blackagendareport.com, December 8, 2018: (Creative Commons)

“The eBay billionaire’s project is to stabilize an imperial system in crisis by luring “progressives” into corporate dominated “Big Tent” against Trump.

“Omidyar actively creates infrastructure for leftists and progressives to be bamboozled into supporting the machinations of imperialism.”

“One of the most disturbing trends in the era of Trump has been the flock of billionaires that have come rushing into the Democratic Party to pose as leaders of an opposition movement to the “fascist” predations of the real estate mogul. These billionaires, which include capitalists such as George Soros, Michael Bloomberg, and Tom Steyer are the architects of a “Big Tent” strategy first outlined by Black Agenda Report Editor Glen Ford. This strategy was devised by the Hillary Clinton Presidential campaign of 2016. The strategy has two components. The first component is the promotion of “diversity” to distract from the fact that the Democratic Party can no longer appeal to the interests of the poor or working-class, especially Black people who have been held in electoral captivity for a generation. Second, “Big Tent” Democrats actively seek an alliance of Wall Street, the military and intelligence apparatus, and Republicans to provide the financial and political strength behind the strategy.

“’Big Tent’ Democrats actively seek an alliance of Wall Street, the military and intelligence apparatus, and Republicans.”

The “Big Tent” strategy is called the “Resistance.” One of the chief billionaire-backers of the “Resistance” is Pierre Omidyar. Omidyar is the founder of the eBay corporation. His surplus profits have been used over the years to exert “soft power” influence over the U.S. state. Omidyar has given hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of cash to Democratic Party candidates since 1999.

Omidyar was one of the principle donors to the NeverTrump Political Action Committee (PAC) that formed during the 2016 election. The NeverTrump PAC brought together neoliberal and neoconservative Democrats into an alliance against Trump. William Kristol, editor in chief at the Weekly Standard and longtime Republican, has been one of the most vocal supports of the NeverTrump movement. Kristol is an expert in the think-tank business and understands the importance of “soft power.” He helped found the Project for the New American Century that peddled neocon wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as an escalation of the U.S.’ military presence around the world, including on Russia’s doorstep. Kristol has become a favorite of the corporate media since Trump was elected in 2016. He is a regular on MSNBC and is viewed by corporate Democrats as the “sane” wing of the Republican Party.

“The ‘Big Tent’ strategy is a marked political shift to the right.”

That Omidyar would align with Kristol is a stark indication of the “Big Tent” strategy at work. In a post on Twitter after the midterm elections came to pass, Kristol celebrated the support that he has received from “the left” and its benefactors such as Pierre Omidyar. Kristol’s excitement about billionaire support from all sides of the political aisle represents a development in the Trump era that is far more dangerous than Trump himself. The “Big Tent” strategy is a marked political shift to the right. Not only this, but the shift is part and parcel of a covert war against the real “left” that is principally being waged by the fake “left” coalition of thieves and warmongers in the Democratic Party.

The critical question that must be asked is whether there are any benefits for ordinary poor and working-class people in supporting the NeverTrump coalition or billionaire backers such as Omidyar. And the answer is more complex than a simple “no.” It is far worse than that. Omidyar is not a “lesser-evil” billionaire. In the system of U.S. imperialism, those don’t exist.

By supporting Omidyar and his version of the “Resistance,” most of humanity stands to lose. Omidyar’s “soft power” network has only one mission and that is to stabilize an empire in crisis. One of the ways that Omidyar has attempted to stabilize the imperialist system is through investments in journalism.Omidyar is the principle owner of First Look Media, the parent corporation of The Intercept. While The Intercept has covered important issues in the past, it has been charged with privatizing Edward Snowden’s leaks and promoting regime change efforts in Syria through direct attacks on the democratically-elected government of Bashar Al-Assad. [also by Haiphong’

“The billionaire’s influence is representative of conflict within the ruling class.”

Furthermore, The Intercept possesses a troubling record of outing the identities of those leaking secret government information. In a word, Omidyar has used his influence over The Intercept to stifle dissent while promoting the outlet as a pioneer of “independent” media.

Omidyar is most concerned, however, with ensuring that the US empire maintains corporate and military control over the world’s nations and peoples. He has donated millions to the Clinton Global Initiative responsible for imposing ruthless austerity measures on nations such as Haiti. There is also documented evidence that Omidyar used his philanthropic network to support the “Maidan Revolution” in Ukraine in 2014 which propelled neo-Nazis into state power, much to the pleasure of the IMF. The billionaire eBay mogul has also been a critical supporter of the United States Agency for International Development or USAID. USAID is well-known for its support of “soft power” tactics to promote regime change in nations that do not bow down to U.S. military and corporate power such as Cuba.

Omidyar is not just dangerous at the individual level. Rather, the billionaire’s influence over the U.S. power structure is representative of conflict within the ruling class of the imperialist system headed by the United States. On the other side of Omidyar stands Trump, a ruthless billionaire who holds no allegiance to any sector of the imperialist system. Trump is not loyal to the banks or the military and intelligence apparatus. Trump is loyal to himself. His moves as President thus far such as the tax breaks for the rich, his willingness to broker peace in Korea, or his racist dog whistles and policies toward immigration from Central America, are all representative of the sharpening decline of imperialism.

“In this period of crisis in the political apparatus of imperialism, party lines are becoming blurred.”

Omidyar wants to save the imperialist system from decline. The section of the billionaire class from which Omidyar belongs is interested only in engendering endless war and austerity under conditions of social peace. The likes of Omidyar pose as the “Resistance” to Trump but really represent a threat of potentially greater proportions. Omidyar actively creates infrastructure for leftists and progressives to be bamboozled into supporting the machinations of imperialism.It is no secret that the section of the Republican Party that supports Trump also wields “soft power” through outfits such as the Federalist Society. However, in this period of crisis in the political apparatus of imperialism, party lines are becoming blurred. The “Big Tent” strategy reigns and billionaires such as Omidyar will do anything to ensure that the deadly alliance re-assumes full control of the system from Trump.

In conclusion, a dialectical relationship exists between Omidyar and Trump. It was Omidyar’s section of the ruling class that created the economic and political conditions for Trump. For over thirty years, billionaires such as Omidyar, Steyer, and Buffet have bled workers and poor people dry. Wages and wealth have plummeted for the majority while profits and land holdings have soared for the minority. The only thing that workers and poor people can count on is that the military, police, and surveillance apparatus will grow as people become more desperate and impoverished. Omidyar and the Democratic Party-aligned billionaires have coalesced with as many repressive forces in the ruling class as possible to wage a struggle against Trump. In doing so, they avoid the very real crisis of legitimacy that elected Donald Trump in the first place.

We should steer clear of supporting Omidyar and expose his putrid political record as proof that there is no such thing as a “progressive” billionaire. Real progressives and radicals stand for universal healthcare, peace, jobs, and against war, mass incarceration, and mass surveillance. These are the political issues of our time that the entire ruling class stands against. Trump knew this and politically appealed to anti-regime change and anti-free trade sentiment within the Republican and Democratic Party. Through their “resistance” toward Trump, Omidyar and his ilk have as their real goal the suppression of this sentiment so that it never becomes a truly progressive movement for social transformation in this country.”

Note: Haiphong’s links are often to Pando Press, not all the Intercept exposés here are some recent ones: from b at Moon of Alabama here and here, and Whitney Webb’s ‘Omidyar’s Intercept Teams Up with War-Propaganda Firm Bellingcat’, Oct. 2018

“Despite promoting itself as an “independent” and open-source investigation site, Bellingcat has received a significant portion of its funding from Google, which is also one of the most powerful U.S. military contractors and whose rise to prominence was directly aided by the CIA, and [bellingcat founder elliot higgins is employed by the Atlantic Council.]”

One or more of Danny’s or b’s links likely describe the Intercept's Maz Hussain’s thrilling paean to the White Helmets al-Qaeda psyop; Ames had mentioned Pierre’s entrepreneurial micro-loans in India that had disastrous consequences, yes, such a magnificent philanthropist he is!

Ach, I’d almost forgotten Paul Carr’s 2014Revealed: Visitor logs show extent of Pam and Pierre’s cozy White House Ties’.

From blockading WikiLeaks from Pay Pal, to funding four smear jobs against Julian Assange himself, one by Greenwald and Naomi Klein…it’s all skiddles and beer, boy howdy!  And when one clicks into the place, there are pleas to send them money!  Pierre’s quarter of a billion didn’t last long, I guess.  How many ‘fearless journalists’ does he have in his stable by now?  Egad: I just found it: 123?  

(cross-posted from Café Babylon)

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wendy davis's picture

in danny's exposé here, and i'll keep trying for the future, but none of my twelve methods have worked, suffice it to say. i'll just drop in some of the urls he'd mentioned as evidence. otherwise, read his piece at black agenda report.

https://www.omidyar.com/news/omidyar-network-commits-30-million-high-imp...

https://twitter.com/MaxBlumenthal/status/1066169445113126912

https://blackagendareport.com/hillary_big_nasty_tent

https://www.mintpressnews.com/the-cruise-missile-left-now-cheerleading-n...(and yes, the last one has 'the white helmets psyop)and more.

but he's still at it:

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Big Al's picture

Wow, how do they say in Amerika? LOL? Ya, LOL.
That did make me laugh in a wonders never cease kind of way.
Money talks, bullshit walks.

It's like with cops (oh, but there are good cops, can't paint them all just by who owns the place!)

I've said before, I've boycotted the Intercept since it opened. That's because this information was out there at the time and I decided I wanted nothing to do with Omidyar if I could help it. He's why I don't use Paypal (or Ebay).

It's all directed to and thru the democratic party and duopoly political process.

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wendy davis's picture

@Big Al

list under his 'first look media' website, but i hadn't been able to find the number for ages. i was guessing 60+. but i tried bingling externally, and found that, although only one of two pages was showing.

pierre and bill gates are birds of a feather, increasing their wealth as they act as 'faux-lanthropists'. wrong kind of green calls them part of 'the non-profit industrial complex'. #what.schmucks.

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posting this information.

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dfarrah

wendy davis's picture

@dfarrah

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mimi's picture

I am 'safe'?
I never use facebook, never ebay, would like to avoid paypal, but often don't and the intercept' articles I read when they are posted here on the EB. I trust Joe to makce a good selection. I also don't like the Young Turks too much. And more I don't read.

What I do read is Truthdig, Democracy Now, Black Agenda Report, The Real News and Jimmy Dore and Juan Cole and then I go to bed and say it's enough, but read some German sites.

I use the google, but it gets on my nerves. I can't get used to the Bing.

So, which party am I allowed to like to fit in here?

Beause I don't use the Facebooks, I do all my chatty talk too much here. Sorry for that.

Have you been migrating lately? It's a good exercise. Oh, I just read on a German site that the Russian pushed the Yellow Vests demonstrators in France to be violent. Yes, sure thing, of course. Why shouldn't I be angry and PO'ed about that? Because I am obviously manipulated by RT, Ruptly etc.

Bed time. Good Night.

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wendy davis's picture

@mimi

...each to his or her own choices. i click into amy goodman's place now and again, but often she's quite like the Intercept, on issues of Empire. juan cole i'd jettisoned after he was totally loving R2P libya because he had a friend there...or something. but that's just me.

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mimi's picture

@wendy davis
try to tell me what to read and what not. Or say, not nervous, but disappointed and sometimes even appalled.
Nothing for Ungood.

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snoopydawg's picture

@mimi

IMG_2880.JPG

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

arendt's picture

micro-loans, charter schools, and general privatization.


The Extraordinary Pierre Omidyar

I avoid eBay like the plague. Why would I want any of my money going to the likes of Omidayar, Peter Thiel, Meg Whitman, or Elon Musk?

It's really a disaster that the internet handed all this money and power to this pack of techno-libertarian assholes.

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wendy davis's picture

@arendt

arendt. and there's Greenwald again close to: 'how were we supposed to know?' when he doesn't lie, he and scahill obfuscate, or misdirect. scahill: 'does pierre tell us what to write?' i used to respe scahill among the original team, but not no' mo'. but yep, NSWCorp/Pando are kinda interchangeable.

but 'what not to write' is a whole 'nother question, isn't it? and the drip drip of the snowden NSA leaks...ended when GG said: 'i'm tired of writing about this stuff'. okay, i just found it; it was 'it's time to do other things', july 15, 2014 WD opens:

"Well, okay; we wish you all the best and all…

But whoa, Nellie: Heroes, clay feet, ‘n billionaires: O, my!

I can’t even count how many of Edward Snowden’s revelations I wrote up while Kevin Gosztola was still covering Chelsea Manning’s trial. They were great fun, and a number of folks tried hard to teach us what all the slides and terms meant, how the internet backbone worked, and…tra la la. All of those revelations were Before Intercept, or: BI, as well. One of the main questions I’ve had all along is what would ‘transformational journalism’ look like when it was funded not by any old billionaire, but Pierre Omidyar in particular. We can discuss that as you’d like, including his ‘philanthropic’ ventures, his PayPal’s blockade of WikiLeaks, the PayPal 14, etc. his frequent visits to the White House, and what any of that has meant to the First Look news venture."

gawd's blood, i'm tired of them all.

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lotlizard's picture

@arendt  
the overwhelming feeling first possesses him that he himself is a living, breathing, real-world incarnation of John Galt.

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snoopydawg's picture

actually standing up to Trump when the truth is that they are doing everything that they can to make sure that his agendas pass. The only piece of legislation that the GOP hasn't passed is the roll back of the ACA. Further bank deregulation, more power to the NSA, more money for the military and not many democrats willing to roll back net neutrality. I haven't seen much outrage over this action from democrats. BTW. Read today that most of the comments on net neutrality were from Russian bots. Yep. I guess this means that not enough Americans care about it or they would have commented on it during the period for comments.

Is this more of the soft resistance? Ellen has Lil George on her show and they boogie together while the audience cheers, Barbra doesn't think that he was as bad as he was, Michelle and George charms the country with their cute antics of exchanging candy during funerals for war criminals just because he said something mean about Trump.

Looks to me that Snowden trusted the wrong persons to give the NSA files to. In case it wasn't clear that Wendy included a working link about what happened with the Snowden files. This article is worth an essay itself.

Keeping Secrets: Pierre Omidyar, Glenn Greenwald and the privatization of Snowden's leaks

It's especially worth asking since it became clear that Greenwald and Poitras are now the only two people with full access to the complete cache of NSA files, which are said to number anywhere from 50,000 to as many as 200,000 files. That's right: Snowden doesn't have the files any more, the Guardian doesn't have them, the Washington Post doesn't have them... just Glenn and Laura at the for-profit journalism company created by the founder of eBay

When's the last time we have seen any of them on the Intercept? Been awhile ... hey Glenn, what gives?

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

travelerxxx's picture

@snoopydawg

... Snowden doesn't have the files any more, ... just Glenn and Laura at the for-profit journalism company created by the founder of eBay.

When's the last time we have seen any of them on the Intercept? Been awhile ... hey Glenn, what gives?

What gives is that Glenn likes a nice steady paycheck signed by his oligarch boss, Omidyar. Do you suppose he gets a Xmas bonus for keeping so silent?

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wendy davis's picture

@snoopydawg

" hey Glenn, what gives?" the answer is a bit complicated. i remember seeing at the Intercept "new Snowden documents reveal..." and although i can't remember what the subject was, i'd thunk: wtf? mightta been nice to know that a year ago.

but yeah, the drip-drip we were promised would bea fruit i'd given to arendt, chris floyd/empire burlesque had dubbed it 'sky rockets delight', then a meh next 'revelation' hd followed.

but i will blog whore a bit and bring GG and naomi klein's scripted 'conversation' at the Intercept: The Great WikiLeaks Train Robbery: Pinkerton Police Greenwald and Klein in Close Pursuit, October 24, 2016

i can't even want to feature some of the dialogue, but one amounts to 'we archived snowden's leaks, and while assange wanted to burn it all down, whereas snowden had read every document, wanted people to vote on the NSA, cuz he felt that agency protected us from 'bad guys'. one of his reasons was not naming Afghanistan in the one i gave arendt, as i remember it, because: the NSA was useful in targeting 'our enemies for drone and bombing attacks'.

well sure, the bad whistleblower assange is anti-war, and 'we open governments', chelsea's collateral murder video, CIA exploits vault 7 and 8, etc. ah, i'm tired, long day exploring stuff outside my wheelhouse for another diary; i should STFU now, and think of a closing song.

oh, my, the coyotes are outside the house barking and screaming again; seriously odd, as there's snow covering any varmint holes such as pocket gophers, and the prairie dogs all died of the plague or whatever. maybe i can do your comment more justice tomorrow?

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travelerxxx's picture

@wendy davis

Your local coyotes might just feel like making a little ruckus. After all, it's what they do. Three sound like twenty-three. They like that racket. They're harmless unless you're a mouse or a bunny.

Coyotes yapping; owls who-whooing. Music of the night.

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wendy davis's picture

@travelerxxx

yeah, but their ruckus is usually out east in the dryland, not so close to the house. nah, they won't hurt us, but it's just weird. we did have to screw the pet door closed because: bears, and it was fun yesterday when one doe in particular was begging apples near the front porch stairs.

there are times one'll slip-slidin' hoof it onto the porch looking for snacks, and i'd laughed that since the screen door's off, she might just prance right on into the hogan. oh, what a mess that'd be!

owls...mmmm...we used to have a lot, but now it's a rare treat when they hooo-hoo at one another over distances, often in triangles for some reason.

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wendy davis's picture

@snoopydawg

discover anew from whitney webb (see downthread)...but you must be talking about 'the inauthentic opposition'.

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snoopydawg's picture

@wendy davis

The main point though is that the Snowden documents have not seen the light of day for some time and I don't think that Glenn and Laura should be the gatekeepers of what is exposed regarding the unconstitutional destruction of our civil rights.

It really steams my cabbage that many Americans don't care that they have lost their rights to be free from government abuses. How many times did you read or hear, "I have nothing to hide so I don't care if the government spies on me" and other such nonsense? That Obama's supporters don't care that he nullified habeas corpus, has redacted the Smith-Mundt Act and all the other things he did regarding our rights is just beyond my comprehension.

That was why Snowden risked his life by leaking the NSA files and yet we're not hearing about them.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

wendy davis's picture

@snoopydawg

i'd meant your good comment on the hypocrisy of the Resistance™ as 'the inauthentic opposition'.

when i'd long ago brought many of the NSA docs to my.firedoglake while kevin gosztola was covering (then) bradley manning's trial, many detractors had called it all 'a limited hangout', which term i've never quite understood. but when the drip drip stopped, and GG said it was 'time to do something else', i did wonder anew. 'russell tice let us know the same thing', they'd say. i'd answwer: 'but with no documents'.

but snowden seems fine as to the end of the drips, save for the coverage of the 2013 one maz hussain had written up when it no longer mattered. he was the journalist who'd written up the paean to the white helmets, as well.

b at MoA and others have speculated that 1 or 2% of them have been published, but even though many would just be boring everyday classified communications, one wonders 'what are they not publishing'? more things that hurt the US war effort? but by now i'd guess that those docs are likely irrelevant given their age; but who knows?.

but that GG and snowden also voted Wikileaks off the freedom of the press island really toasts my cookies even now.

don't hold me to it, but iirc caitlin johnstone's essay mainly dealt with micah lee's smears against assange himself, in which she ranted about the ways in which lee had 'curated' the DMs to discredit assange further.

i didn't even try to find robert mackey's (greasy pants assange?) or the other one i'd dug out earlier for divine order or someone else. meanwhile:

hang in there, snoopy, and may your charlie brown heal quickyly. a Q: do you ever mix large flake nutritional flakes and a bit of nice oil into his kibble?

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wendy davis's picture

and i'm tempted to channel pierre and bring 'you belong to me (and my quarter billion bucks)', or again john lennon's 'just gimme some truth',

instead, but for no obvious reason save for it's totally awesome and magical: winwood, clapton, and trucks (i know we'll play it again and again before bed time):

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VT-SFgkVlno]

g' night, bless you all; sllep well, dream well if you can.
wd

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I think it's pretty clear that we cannot save the world by avoiding reading certain web sites. It is all well and good to try not to contribute to the coffers of malefactors of great wealth, but ultimately, we need massive social change to confront our problems. That will take a good deal more than not clicking on the web site of The Intercept.

The massive demonstrations that have essentially shut down France are instructive. That is what the beginning of revolutionary change could look like. People are waking up, but the process is uneven and messy, as one would expect.

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wendy davis's picture

@out of left field

comment seeking to link the yellow vest protests with clicking into the intercept. we're all free to choose what we will to read, support, but haiphong's recommendation seems valid to me. as the intercept, and often democracy now, can be seen as parts 'the cruise missile left', as can jacobin, the guardian, NYT, waPo, politico, i think we need to take care to decide which propaganda we believe/trust, and which we don't. i'd add that what media sites don't report is worth noting as well.

people in europe are waking up, but that doesn't usually mean much of anything for amerika, if the past is prologue. but when there are so many gatekeepers holding us back from more radical thinking and epiphanies, we're often satisfied with the 'baby steps' so many speak about. yes, we need social change, but my contention is that we need a massive psycho-spiritual revolution to bring that on...first, or at least n tandem.

last month we'd scraped together a few bucks to send to willim blum of the anti-empire report who'd fallen, one result being that his kidneys had shut down. today i discovered that he died/crossed over yesterday at the age of 85, may he rest in power. he was a giant among humans seeking to expose the Imperium for what it's always been, and the world will be a poorer place without his writings. was he able to wake more of us up? it should have been so. for william blum; travel well, amigo:

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvGVuqq8lIk]

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Unabashed Liberal's picture

the piece about this Dude, but, over the weekend, ran across a couple articles that outlined the strategy of several Republican Party mega-donors who funded Dems during the midterms. Presumably, "Never Trumpers."

Anyhoo, one Republican hedge-funder contributed to the campaigns of Beto, Joe Kennedy, and Gillibrand. Considering that Beto's a so-called "New Dem," and Gillibrand was recruited because she was an upstate New York "Blue Dog," guess it's not that surprising.

Hey, give my best to Mr WD--fingers crossed that his cataract surgery goes super well!

Pleasantry

Blue Onyx

"Dogs have given us their absolute all. We are the center of their universe. We are the focus of their love and faith and trust.

They serve us in return for scraps. It is without a doubt the best deal man has ever made."

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Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

wendy davis's picture

@Unabashed Liberal

enough to feature it, yes. i'd seen some odd things said about beto, but heh...i've forgotten, of course. i will say that one of the authors at wsws had claimed a few days ago that none of the democratic socialist organizations have even mentioned assange and his jeopardy of being booted out of the ecuadorian embassy and extradition to the US (or gitmo).

that made me sad. i'll tell mr. wd, and i'm sure it will go well. and even to have one not-blind eye at first will be a blessing. ; )

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mimi's picture

Putino thingy was that?
Wink

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...since back when he first came to prominence in the late 90's. He went to Tufts University. (I attended Tufts--about 8 or 9 years before Omidyar--as well; I founded the independent daily newspaper there, although I rarely receive credit for it. Pierre was a staff writer/contributor to the newspaper.) Like most things we read about prominent folks in the media and online, essentially, this entire story is significantly more "nuanced" than meets the eye. One pretty well-known factoid that's omitted from this piece (in which I'm commenting now) is the basic reality that he's Iranian. That being said, most of what's reported in this post is quite accurate. I would, however, temper that with the basic fact that The Intercept does cover a LOT of important stories that most other media outlets--both online and off--do not. But, in many ways that matter, it's just as biased on many issues as the rest of the MSM. The bottom line is that, yes, Pierre's a lot more esconced in the 00.0001% class than most realize. (And, this story brings that reality, justifiably so, to the forefront.) But, he's definitely to the left of people like his former colleague, Peter Thiel, at least when it comes to some issues. On other issues, he sucks, and he enables the powers that be, quite substantially; and, yes, he's not fooling anyone, at least as far as those that are participating in this website are concerned.

My two cents, for what it's worth...

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"Freedom is something that dies unless it's used." --Hunter S. Thompson

wendy davis's picture

@bobswern
pierre's iranian, or his parents were. but i'm not sure why you think that haiphong's not noting this mattered. but lol, w/ 123 fearless journalists, yes, they may cover more stories than...but what are they paid to stifle?

now thiel may be to right of pierre, i know (or remember) little about him, but whitney webb's part II on the intercept promises to bring him into the discussion. i haven't read it yet.

but once again i'll note that while i was writing up stories for my site, i wish i'd known of her. in her part I on omidyar that i just grabbed, she brings speculations from sibel edmonds, but adds thing i hadn't know about the likely reasons that the FPF had booted wikileaks off their anonymizing donations, all to the silence of all of the board members, including (tragically) daniel ellsberg who sure hadn't monetized the pentagon papers. Pierre's funding of the Freedom of the Press Foundation

my coverage was adequate, but i was pissed as hell, especially given the fact that assange, ccr's michael ratner, and a couple others started the org, and assange had provided the seed money.

"WikiLeaks, in recent tweets, has suggested that Omidyar’s influence was responsible not only for the FPF’s decision but also for the unusual attacks that some FPF members have launched against WikiLeaks, particularly Assange, in recent months. The most outspoken of these members has been FPF director Micah Lee, who is employed by the Omidyar-owned publication, The Intercept.

"Omidyar has a vested interest in advancing the interests of the U.S. political establishment for a variety of reasons. Sibel Edmonds, who was among the first to note Omidyar’s background upon The Intercept’s founding, noted that the PayPal executive “has been in bed with the CIA and NSA” and even the Department of Defense — further noting that the Snowden documents that The Intercept, and thus Omidyar, controls “contain information about PayPal’s direct partnership not only with the Treasury Department but also the CIA.”

Edmonds further stated that Greenwald had confirmed Omidyar’s long-running partnership with the CIA and other government agencies on Twitter during a heated exchange between the two in 2013.

Omidyar is also well-connected to Snowden’s former employer Booz Allen Hamilton, a major government contractor known as the “world’s most profitable spy organization,” whose former executives include James Clapper, former Director of National Intelligence, and Michael McConnell, former Director of the NSA. Omidyar’s Ulupono Initiative, a venture capital fund that operates in his home state of Hawaii, cosponsors one of the Pentagon’s most important contractor expos, in which Booz Allen Hamilton – and the Department of Defense – have a major stake. In addition, a former Booz Allen Hamilton vice president, Kyle Datta, is General Partner of Omidyar’s Ulupono Initiative."

one of the reasons the RPF had given to assange was that they were so busy creating 'secure drop' used by major media orgs I have them somewhere, no matter. was that the 'drop' that had burned reality winner by the Intercept?

ah well, i should go take care of a few chores.

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wendy davis's picture

@bobswern

maybe it’s not up yet. but in searching, i found ‘The Intercept’s Transition From Guard Dog to Attack Dog for the Establishment; WikiLeaks poses no threat to the public. The only people who stand to suffer any harm from WikiLeaks are the powerful and corrupt, which The Intercept‘s Pierre Omidyar most certainly is’, by Caitlin Johnstone, feb. 16, 2018

[in which she repeats the fact that Wikileaks tweets do not equal assange's tweets, and in any event, julian was incommunicado during thoes selectively 'curated' DMs.]

but also this, eureka! whitney webb oct 30, 2017: ‘The Intercept Withheld NSA Doc That May Have Altered Course Of Syrian War’; [doc dated 2013] If this document had been published sooner, it could have dramatically changed the course of the war by exposing the true face of the “moderate rebels” — and potentially saved tens of thousands of lives. That didn’t happen, and no reason has been given by the Intercept for its delay’

a couple outtakes:

“However, the Intercept article regarding the document is unusual for several reasons. First, the report inaccurately claims that the attack launched at the Saudis’ behest did not result in any confirmed casualties. Second, it states that the 2011 uprising in Syria was an organic, “peaceful” movement that led the Syrian government to wage “an open war against their own people” — a narrative that has since been debunked.

Yet, the largest oversight of all is the article’s failure to mention the U.S.’ role in funding the Free Syrian Army, as well as the CIA’s well-documented role in training the FSA and pumping tons of weapons into Syria in order to foment and exacerbate the conflict in its early days. In light of the NSA document’s revelation that the U.S. had been given advance notice of the planned FSA attack – on a civilian target, no less – Washington’s decision to let it proceed clearly suggests that the U.S. was involved in and well aware of the Saudi directives to the FSA. However, the Intercept piece chooses not to mention this crucial context.”

"Also worth noting is the fact that PayPal, of which Omidyar is a major owner, has allegedly been implicated in several of the still-withheld NSA documents for its business relationship with the NSA and its role in the agency’s mass spying program. In addition, former Intercept writers have asserted that Omidyar was “shockingly disinterested in the actual journalism” of the paper, suggesting that the Intercept was created explicitly to delay the release of damaging documents from the Snowden cache until deemed acceptable to the U.S. political establishment and others who stood to lose face were the entire cache to have been made public.

Indeed, another interesting coincidence supporting this thesis is the fact that the Intercept published this latest piece only after the U.S. State Department itself began to report more honestly on the nature of these so-called “rebels.” A day before the Intercept’s story on Syrian “rebels” and the Saudis, the U.S. State Department – for the first time – admitted that “moderate” rebels in Syria had previously used chemical weapons, a charge it had categorically denied for years in order to facilitate laying the blame for any and all chemical weapons attacks in Syria on the Syrian government.

In other words, the Intercept released the document, which effectively destroys Washington’s “moderate rebels” narrative with its own internal documents, only after the U.S. government itself began to unravel that very same narrative.

The Intercept did not respond to MintPress News’ request for comment regarding the timing of the document’s release.”

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@wendy davis @wendy davis ...issue, if for no other reason than the reality that his family was a member of the Iranian elite, post-Mossadegh. He's by no means a fan of Iran's current government; but, simultaneously, he's even better-known as a leading/major critic of the Israeli government, too.

PayPal is, by definition, part of the various networks that provide monitoring services for all of our nation's intelligence agencies. They all "follow the money." (PayPal provides international money transfer services for Bank of America, among others.)

Again, all of the above being said, I generally concur with the sentiments and facts mentioned in your post; but, when it comes to painting him as being in league with the far right, I think that's a stretch. The guy's exceptionally wealthy, and behaves much like many of his ilk around the globe, looking out for his own self-interest. Omidyar's also f**ked-up in a few instances, bigtime, especially as it relates to some of his microloan businesses.

The inconvenient truth is that if you're an American running a "global empire," such as it is in Omidyar's case, one way or another, you're probably working on behalf of the U.S. government--and, subsequently, their intelligence services--whether you like it or not. In Omidyar's case (and in his own mindset, I'm sure), that's "a feature, not a bug."

Bottom line is that on many issues that DO matter, Omidyar's doing the right thing via The Intercept. (I realize that's a very small step above "the billionaire pack," so to speak.) Regrettably, however, on other issues, he's just another wealthy, self-dealing capitalist out for himself. So, do Omidyar's actions cancel themselves out, and then some? Yes.

It's all a very, very low bar. (i.e.: Omidyar, when compared to folks like Bezos or Thiel, is a step above many of the uber-wealthy; but, again, how low can we--as a world society--go?)

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"Freedom is something that dies unless it's used." --Hunter S. Thompson

wendy davis's picture

@bobswern

with the far right save bill neocon bill kristol, just the Imperialists and cruise missile 'left', although linear definitions seem to have lost meaning in the current zeitgeist. clinton initiative, maidan putsch, ah, well. loads of fingers on the scales of imperialism.

but if you think he's done the right thing in regard to building the Intercept, i'll accept you at your word. and thanks for the longer explanation; anti-israeli government.

where i strongly disagree is that you seem almost blithe about the fact that any assholes are running global empires by calling him the lesser evil. ; )

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wendy davis's picture

ain't much of a lullaby. guess i'm glad of the 18 recs given haiphong and i stepped on some cultural icons. thanks as well for the detractors weighing in w/ their two cents.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jke7e8C2XfA]

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