this post was submitted on 04 Jul 2026
193 points (100.0% liked)

World News

56987 readers
1845 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News !news@lemmy.world

Politics !politics@lemmy.world

World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
all 18 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] ExtremeDullard@piefed.social 72 points 5 days ago (2 children)

The list of attendees to this secret society was leaked last month, and a few names raise eyebrows.

Cory Booker in particular. The Democratic Senator from New Jersey who goes around pretending to champion the American people and the Constitution, fight Trump and his cronies, and pulls stunts on the Senate floor to convince you he's one of the good guy, seems pretty happy to rub shoulders with fascists, Nazis, MAGAt and disgusting billionaires.

Remember that next time you hear Cory Booker run his mouth on TV.
Fucker...

[–] Seimhe@lemmy.world 19 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)
[–] andxz@lemmy.world 3 points 5 days ago (1 children)

That's.. surprising. Not what I would've expected from her tbh.

[–] abc@suppo.fi -1 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

Yep. This thing you're feeling is called cognitive dissonance.

Perhaps this is not the kind of conference you think it is.

[–] andxz@lemmy.world 1 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

I don't see how it is cognitive dissonance. I've always found her rational and humane in the past, as opposed to almost everyone on that list.

I live in a neighbouring country, and we share a language, so her views are not exactly unknown to me. Her being anywhere close to Thiel & co makes little sense to me.

Do you care to explain further?

[–] abc@suppo.fi 1 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

This is just my take and in parts a guess since obviously I didn't go there.

Peter Thiel is not Dr. Evil. He's just a guy with a lot of resources and name recognizition, so he can invite people to a conference. People get together to talk. Somebody attending does not mean they agree with whoever organized the thing.

And specifically: Kaja Kallas attending does not change who Kaja Kallas is. Her party is the Estonian Reform Party, a conservative liberal party, so it kind of tracks that she hangs out with business leaders. Most importantly (I think), it doesn't change her awesome work and results in EU against Russian belligerence.

So the dissonance: you (seem to) think that everyone who goes to a Thiel conference is some sort of a crook. But here's a person who is obviously not a crook. Perhaps the first assumption was wrong?

[–] andxz@lemmy.world 1 points 4 days ago

Fair enough, but having kept an eye on what Thiel does (and says), I do find him to be a pretty problematic person in general for many reasons.

On the other hand, I agree with you about Kallas and specifically her views on Russia, etc. It is a pretty conservative country in many ways, so that part also makes sense.

Maybe it's because of her role in the EU now, but I still can't see a lot of overlap between her and many of the others on that list, Thiel notwithstanding. He's just weird and not in a good way.

[–] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 5 days ago

He was always about posing in public and grifting in private.

When he was mayor of Newark, he would shovel snow for the cameras and then when people weren't looking go have dinner with Mark Zuckerberg in Idaho.

[–] keyhoh@piefed.social 12 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Am I the only one disappointed this was cancelled? I was hoping to log in here in August and see some extremists took care of business at the hotel. Now how will these people be reigned in?

[–] chaogomu@lemmy.world 5 points 5 days ago

I'd imagine that's exactly why the Hotel cancelled.

They would not want their brand associated with an extremist if they happened to kill one of the other guests.

[–] Trebuchet@europe.pub 10 points 5 days ago (1 children)

"It's a big club, and you aren't in it."

[–] liuther9@lemmy.world 2 points 5 days ago
[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 5 points 5 days ago

Those meetings should be held be held behind closed doors. In a prison.

[–] LavaPlanet@sh.itjust.works 1 points 4 days ago

We shouldn't have told them we knew.

[–] kibblebits@quokk.au 3 points 5 days ago

will not now go ahead at the venue.

[–] abc@suppo.fi 1 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

Sam Harris's take: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/zipxkIP98v4

Seems far less grandiose than what everyone is suggesting.

[–] ExtremeDullard@piefed.social 0 points 4 days ago

It doesn't matter whether the conference is innocuous or useless. Here's what's important: people who should know better are perfectly happy to share space and time with fascists. That alone is the damning indictment of these people, and the hard truth about them: left or right, they're all the same clique - the Epstein class.