Snapshot · The Bulwark Podcast
The Supreme Court struck down 6-3 limits on coordinated spending between candidates and party committees, another extension of Citizens United.
Where this was said
At 25:45 · chapter starts 25:40
Tim Miller delivers a mid-show ad read for Aven, a fintech company offering home equity lines of credit issued on a Visa card. The pitch centers on the mismatch between the $1 trillion Americans carry in high-interest credit card debt (rates above 23%) and the untapped home equity sitting on household balance sheets. Aven's product routes that borrowing through home equity instead, dramatically lowering the rate. The ad touts a 4.9-star Trustpilot rating from over 8,000 customers and promises no hidden fees and no credit score impact to check your offer.
The Supreme Court's 6-3 ruling on coordinated party-candidate spending is another brick out of the campaign finance wall. The system is now so incoherent that you can give $7,000 to a candidate, $50,000 to a party committee, or unlimited billions to a super PAC — and the only fix for the last absurdity creates a new one.
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.
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.
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.
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