Snapshot · Stuff You Should Know
Over just two years, Saudi Arabia alone donated $32 million to the Contra rebels, giving loosely affiliated factions millions they had no way to spend on arms.
Where this was said
At 32:04 · chapter starts 27:45
With official funding cut off, the Reagan team turned to private fundraising, holding dinners and events for business elites where the pitch was simple: communism is bad for your company, open the checkbook, and here's a photo with the President. The approach worked. They also created the National Endowment for the Preservation of Liberty, a nonprofit whose sole purpose was to receive and pass on illicit funds to the Contras — and whose donors could claim tax deductions on those contributions. Chuck notes the nonprofit's dismal 52% program expense rate: $6.3 million raised, only $3.3 million to the Contras, with $3 million consumed by 'operations.' Saudi Arabia became the biggest single donor, contributing $32 million over two years, leaving Contra factions flush with cash but with no idea how to convert it into weapons.
Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North, tapped to run the entire covert Contra support operation, had no prior experience in covert operations whatsoever — he was learning as he went.
The National Endowment for the Preservation of Liberty raised $6.3 million from business elites to fund the Contras — and donors could deduct every dollar from their taxes. Only $3.3 million actually reached the Contras. Three million went to 'running' the nonprofit.
The National Endowment for the Preservation of Liberty raised $6.3 million for the Contras but only $3.3 million reached them — a shockingly low 52% program expense rate.
A total of 8 states have filed lawsuits against social media platforms, including an ongoing case in Tennessee, using product liability and public nuisance theories to seek accountability.
France built 56 nuclear plants in the 1970s and now has the cheapest energy in Europe, making it independent of Russian or Middle Eastern energy geopolitics.
Estonia has a single tax form, a law preventing the government from asking citizens for the same information twice, and a flat rate of tax — enabling competitive taxation.
Portugal's Lisbon, once a city with a major heroin problem, legalised drugs and redirected enforcement spending into rehabilitation and housing, dramatically reducing crime.
The first Boland Amendment banning CIA and Defense Department funds for the Contras passed the House unanimously — yet the Reagan administration ignored it.
The National Endowment for the Preservation of Liberty raised $6.3 million for the Contras but only $3.3 million reached them — a shockingly low 52% program expense rate.
Richard Secord and Albert Hakim marked up their arms shipments to the Contras by as much as 300%, making enormous personal profits from the covert operation.
Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North, tapped to run the entire covert Contra support operation, had no prior experience in covert operations whatsoever — he was learning as he went.
The Reagan administration staged a cocaine photo-op — smuggling drugs into Nicaragua, photographing a Sandinista official with them, then smuggling the cocaine back out — all during Nancy Reagan's 'Just Say No' campaign.
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