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
. @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
. @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
. @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 https://north99.org/2018/01/26/far-right-dark-money-network-behind-conservative-politics-justice-centre-constitutional-freedoms/
The Far Right Dark Money Network Behind Conservative Politics: The Justice Centre for Constitutio...

Founded in 2010, the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) is focused on “defend(ing) the constitutional freedoms of Canadians through litigation and education”.  In their own words:...

https://north99.org/2018/01/26/far-right-dark-money-network-behind-conservative-politics-justice-centre-constitutional-freedoms/
“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.

https://www.atlasnetwork.org/partners/global-directory/canada

#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 https://north99.org/2018/01/26/far-right-dark-money-network-behind-conservative-politics-justice-centre-constitutional-freedoms/
The Far Right Dark Money Network Behind Conservative Politics: The Justice Centre for Constitutio...

Founded in 2010, the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) is focused on “defend(ing) the constitutional freedoms of Canadians through litigation and education”.  In their own words:...

https://north99.org/2018/01/26/far-right-dark-money-network-behind-conservative-politics-justice-centre-constitutional-freedoms/
. @sourcewatch also seems to have a decent page on the organization.

#cdnmedia #ableg

https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Atlas_Network
. @Tentoads4truth has created a detailed thread about the Atlas Network. #ableg #cdnpoli #abpoli

👇

https://twitter.com/tentoads4truth/status/1072149205521596417?s=21 https://twitter.com/tentoads4truth/status/1072149205521596417
. @barbetta1 brought up another resource about the Atlas Network.

#ableg #cdnpoli #abpoli

👇

https://twitter.com/barbetta1/status/1335407556362047488?s=21 https://twitter.com/barbetta1/status/1335407556362047488
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://twitter.com/herrick_ethan/status/1335416667203981312
. @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://twitter.com/victoriaswells2/status/1335499189086654466
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.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_activities_of_the_Koch_brothers
...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. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_activities_of_the_Koch_brothers
...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. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_activities_of_the_Koch_brothers
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. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/03/the-2020-disinformation-war/605530/
The Billion-Dollar Disinformation Campaign to Reelect the President

How new technologies and techniques pioneered by dictators will shape the 2020 election

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/03/the-2020-disinformation-war/605530/
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. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/anti-mask-rally-bylaw-tickets-issued-police-pawlowski-1.5825853
Anti-mask organizers charged for weekend rally in Calgary | CBC News

The organizers of an anti-mask rally Saturday in Calgary have been charged for breaching public health orders — they include a downtown street preacher who was fined earlier in the pandemic for...

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/anti-mask-rally-bylaw-tickets-issued-police-pawlowski-1.5825853
Seriously, the Street Church is so bigoted that Ric McIvor likes them.

#ableg #cdnpoli #abpoli https://www.vice.com/en/article/jmkkg7/after-alberta-election-decimation-pcs-turn-to-mla-tied-to-notoriously-bigoted-church-927
After Alberta Election Decimation, PCs Turn to MLA Tied to Notoriously Bigoted Church

Interim PC Leader Ric McIver has been linked to a controversial church that blamed the Calgary floods on homosexuality.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/jmkkg7/after-alberta-election-decimation-pcs-turn-to-mla-tied-to-notoriously-bigoted-church-927
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

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Kenney
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