Holy shit.

[darkling@mstdn.social]

@graydon @cstross So, private equity... for governments?

[graydon@canada.masto.host]

@darkling Pretty much, yes.

Only with greater scope; private equity firms don't have the ability of a sovereign to make things legal.

(You can view everything since 1500 as a process of enclosure and not be hugely wrong in terms of economic history. Which is a detached way of saying "farming human lifespan".)

@cstross

[oddhack@mstdn.social]

@cstross let CPAC in for the conference, then arrest them all to investigate corruption allegations. They can share a cell block with Orban.

[rootwyrm@weird.autos]

@cstross why are people surprised? Serious question. Because there was never any question at all that CPAC was getting paid cold hard cash to party in Hungary. Everyone knew there were just innumerable violations of pretty much every law regarding foreign influence and bribery on the books going on the whole time.

[kierkegaanks@beige.party]

@cstross let’s guess where the money came from. Taxpayers in Hungary or Russia

[ghostonthehalfshell@masto.ai]

@Kierkegaanks @cstross

I rather think that it was financed through Russia.

[rameshgupta@mastodon.social]

️ @cstross

>> #Hungary’s New Leader Reveals #ViktorOrbán Was Paying #CPAC.

>> #Magyar noted that his government will … no longer finance CPAC or other right-wing institutions abroad.

Surely #Orban was just a conduit but the money into CPAC actually flowed from #Russia.

Wish #Biden's DOJ had not scattered #Mueller evidence to the wind and had followed through with investigating #Trump's money trail to #Russia. What a dereliction of duty!

[dm_ronin@mstdn.social]

@cstross there was more from Magyar's press conference, and far worse https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-04-13/hungary-foreign-minister-is-shredding-eu-documents-magyar-says

(as for CPAC funded by Orban, it was a well-known fact for several years)

[extra_special_carbon@mastodon.world]

@rameshgupta @cstross The least Biden could have done is drop the cases so they coild release the evidence. i mean once Trump was elected, the cases were dead, sk just put it out there.

[rameshgupta@mastodon.social]

️ @Extra_Special_Carbon @cstross

>> The least Biden could have done is drop the cases so they coild release the evidence. i mean once Trump was elected, the cases were dead, sk just put it out there

The LEAST #Biden could have done is appoint a competent Attorney General and not kneecap him/her with a preemptive declaration of his own desire to avoid all #Trump investigations.

What a dereliction of duty from a man who knew everything about Trump from the #Obama days!

Biden hopes to avoid divisive Trump investigations, preferring unity

Joe Biden has privately told advisers he doesn't want his presidency consumed by investigations into Donald Trump, five people familiar with the discussions said.

NBC News (www.nbcnews.com)

[geos@toot.community]

@cstross
Yeah, if you follow the money it should probably be called CCCP(ac).

[extra_special_carbon@mastodon.world]

@rameshgupta @cstross That would have bern nice too, but I don’t think it qualifies as “least”. I guess technically, what he did was least, but the one slightly more than that, was release all of the documents.

[ltning@pleroma.anduin.net]

@DM_Ronin @cstross Are there alternative sources? I am not going to throw money at Bloomberg

[mrbirch@beige.party]

@cstross And probably with laundered Russian money.

[bsm6789@toots.nu]

@cstross
Put Orban to jai.
He is a traitor..all of Fidesz are traitors.

[klausfiend@mstdn.ca]

@cstross Watch Trump spin this as "bringing jobs back to the US" if fash-curious American billionaires step up to pay.

[klausfiend@mstdn.ca]

@GhostOnTheHalfShell @Kierkegaanks @cstross With documents confirming that MAGA bloggers like Tim Pool and Benny Johnson were funded by Russia, I think it's reasonable to conclude that CPAC became yet another Kremlin psyop, intended to disrupt and corrupt US foreign and domestic politics.

[alienghic@timeloop.cafe]

@cstross

Jailing Orbán sounds like a nice treat for people who like democracy and human rights.

[whitecattamer@mastodon.online]

@cstross Hey remember this story: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mccarthy-trump-putin-pays_n_591cc97ce4b03b485cae64c2

It really does come back to this schmuck half the time, huh?

[npars01@mstdn.social]

@cstross

Orban functioned as a conduit for Putin's foreign threat funding for years.

Petrostate despots and oil oligarchs fund a lot of fascism globally.

nytimes.com

(www.nytimes.com)

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/20/us/politics/koch-network-2024-election-trump.html

Republicans & the Epstein Class cannot resist fossil fuel public corruption.

Konstantin Nikolaev—the Putin ally behind Mike Johnson campaign donation

The Russian oligarch gave money to the Republican's 2018 congressional campaign via a U.S-based company in which he owned a majority.

Newsweek (www.newsweek.com)

The N.R.A. Spent $30 Million to Elect Trump. Was It Russian Money?

Congressional Democrats, the F.B.I., and Robert Mueller want to know why Putin-tied oligarchs took such an interest in American gun ownership.

Vanity Fair (www.vanityfair.com)