#betsydevos — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #betsydevos, aggregated by home.social.
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From 2018: THEOCRATIC MERCENARY ERIK PRINCE AND THE CHRISTIAN RIGHT.
"President Donald Trumps election allowed the Christian right to achieve a new level of domination in the US government. Since the 1960s, the #ChristianRight has become the loudest voice in the Republican Party, moving their message from the revival tents and into the political arena. Continuing this tradition, Erik Dean Prince, founder of the private security services firm RBlackwater, embodies the values of a heavily financed movement in American politics, combining elements of corporate greed, pro-war fanaticism, and religious fundamentalism. Prince has been eyeing a run for political office, which would enable him to help legislate his proposals and build momentum for his fellow travelers to achieve the same in the 2018 and 2020 elections.
A Son is Born
"Erik Dean Prince was born in Holland, Michigan, on June 6, 1969, the youngest child and only son of Edgar and Elsa Prince, who also had daughters Betsy, Emilie, and Eileen. As documented by author Suzanne Simons in her 2009 book Master of War: Blackwater USA's Erik Prince and the Business of War, Prince grew up in a religious household and attended Christian schools; the Princes were members of the Reformed Church in America, a conservative Christian sect that follows the philosophical template of theologian John Calvin.
"Edgar Prince worked as a die caster and then chief engineer for the die cast machine manufacturing outfit Buss Machine Works after serving in the US Air Force. In 1965 he and two co-workers struck out on their own to establish Prince Manufacturing. By the 1970s the company expanded its operations and became financially successful, as did the Prince family. Edgar Prince died of heart failure in 1995, and the company was sold to Johnson Controls for over $1 billion.
"Surrounded by those who share their belief in Christian-based politics, the Prince family has used its fortune to help build the conservative Christian movement. Focus on the Family founder #JamesDobson and Richard Nixon's disgraced former special counsel Charles Colson (who became a born-again Christian after serving seven months in prison for his role in the Watergate scandal) were family friends. Edgar and Elsa Prince were major contributors to the Family Research Council and founded the nonprofit Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation in 1979, substantial funds from which have gone toward the effort to abolish the legal wall separating church and state. lhe Prince family also has deep ties to the Council for National Policy (#CNP) which, according to its vision statement, supports 'a united conservative movement to assure, by 2020, policy leadership and governance that restores religious and economic freedom, a strong national defense, and Judeo-Christian values under the Constitution.'
"From Reverend Billy Graham's "spiritual counsel" to twelve US presidents, to Reverend #JerryFalwell's #MoralMajority movement of the 1970s and '80s, to Marion Gordon #PatRobertson's #ChristianCoalition (now the Christian Coalition of America), the movement to push a fundamentalist 'Judeo-Christian' agenda into the public sphere has been an ongoing crusade. Keeping with family tradition, #ErikPrince's sister Betsy married fellow Christian right figure Dick DeVos, whose father is the founder of Amway and the past president of the CNP from 1990-1993. #BetsyDeVos served as the chair of the Michigan Republican Party and now serves as US Secretary of Education under Donald Trump. The DeVos dynasty, labelled a 'family of extremists' by the Center for American Progress, is undoubtedly having an influence on the Trump White House.
"As many readers of this publication [#TheHumanist] likely know, the Christian right calls for: mandatory prayer in school, the abolition of #ReproductiveRights and bans on #SameSex marriage, persecution of #minority groups, and funding of #pseudoscientific studies (such as those that deny #ClimateChange and promote intelligent design). Recently, Secretary DeVos instructed her office to remove guidelines protecting the #CivilRights of #transgender students. This is only one of many ways that she and her #Trumpian cohorts are ignoring the will of the majority in favor of the #theocratic #tyranny of the few. By contrast, DeVos's brother Erik, characterized by critics as a 'mercenary' and '#WarProfiteer,' made his mark on US policy through his controversial outfit Blackwater. "
Read more:
https://www.thefreelibrary.com/THEOCRATIC+MERCENARY+ERIK+PRINCE+AND+THE+CHRISTIAN+RIGHT.-a0545669941#USPol #TrumpSucks
#Authoritarianism #ErikPrinceIsAWarCriminal #ErikPrinceColonialism #ChristoFascism #Fascism -
@inthehands What is labeled as Conservative usually includes radical extremists like #MikePompeo #MikeHuckabee #PeteHegseth #BetsyDeVos #PaulaWhite
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Michigan native #ErikPrince proposes #deportation plan to #ElSalvador, report says
By Justin Engel, Apr. 14, 2025
"Erik Prince, the former CEO of #Blackwater USA and a Michigan native, is among a group of defense contractors proposing to expand plans for deporting #immigrants to a prison in El Salvador, Politico reported.
"The pitch would attempt to avoid #legal challenges by designating part of the El Salvador prison system as #AmericanTerritory, the report stated.
" 'It’s unclear how seriously the White House is considering the plan by Prince, who has drawn scrutiny for his firm’s role in a deadly massacre in Iraq two decades ago,' the Politico report stated. 'But it would give Prince’s group an unprecedented and potentially highly lucrative role in an expanded version of a transnational operation that has elicited its own web of controversies, in part because it has swept up immigrants who do not have criminal records in the United States.'
"The report coincides with President Donald Trump’s plans to host #NayibBukele, the president of El Salvador, at the White House on Monday, April 14.
"Since March, El Salvador has accepted from the U.S. more than 200 #Venezuelan immigrants — whom officials with President Donald Trump’s administration have accused of gang activity and violent crimes — and placed them inside the country’s notorious maximum-security gang prison. It is also holding a Maryland man who the administration admits was wrongly deported but has not been returned to the U.S., despite court orders to do so.
"Trump has ties to the family of Prince, an automotive supplier heir from Holland. Prince is the brother of #BetsyDeVos, the secretary of education during the first Trump administration.
"Prince, a major Republican donor, has been accused of acting as a back channel on behalf of Trump. As Trump was preparing to take office in 2017, Prince met with a official close to Russian President Vladimir #Putin in the #Seychelles, islands off the coast of east Africa. Special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on his Russia investigation said the meeting was set up ahead of time with the knowledge of former White House aide #StephenBannon.
"Prince soared to notoriety after Blackwater USA employees in 2007 shot and killed #Iraqi #civilians in Baghdad’s #NisourSquare during the Iraq war, casting a light on the role played by private contractors in U.S. military operations overseas.
"In the wake of the scandal the company’s name was changed and Prince sold his shares to a private equity fund."
#ErikPrinceColonialism #Blackwater #Academi #ErikPrinceIsAWarCriminal #TripleCanopy #PrivateArmy #OffLeash #ProjectVeritas #Project2025 #TigerSwan #Fascism
#Authoritarianism -
@Remittancegirl Correct - a bunch of #EndTimers that hate the USA and want to destroy her. Once the U.S. government collapses, global chaos will follow. They want to #KickstartArmageddon and then #JesusReturns #PeteHegseth #MikeHuckabee #MikePompeo #BetsyDeVos
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‘Maga since forever’: mercenary mogul Erik Prince pushes to privatize Trump deportation plans https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/16/erik-prince-trump-immigration-enforcement #Trumpadministration #Xe(Blackwater) #USimmigration #SteveBannon #Republicans #Afghanistan #BetsyDeVos #USmilitary #USpolitics #Venezuela #Worldnews #Americas #USnews #Iraq
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Packed Pacs: how billionaires in the US are bankrolling Republicans at the state level https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/05/billionaires-funding-republicans #USpoliticalfinancing #Pennsylvania #Republicans #USpolitics #BetsyDeVos #SuperPacs #Wisconsin #Virginia #Michigan #Abortion #Arizona #USnews
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Trump allies circulate #MassDeportation plan calling for ‘processing camps’ and a private citizen ‘#army’
The group, led by #Blackwater veteran #ErikPrince, has close #Trump ties.
By Dasha Burns and Myah Ward
02/25/2025 05:55 AM EST"Prince declined to comment, and the other contractors and former immigration officials listed as key personnel in the document also declined to comment or could not be reached.
"The founders of the new special entity called #2USV have a long history with the U.S. government. Blackwater was formed by Prince in 1996 to provide training services to law enforcement, military personnel and other government agencies. It gained widespread attention for its work in Iraq and Afghanistan, providing security services for U.S. officials and military personnel, with critics viewing its rise as a result of the U.S. military’s overextension in the Middle East.
The military contractor came under scrutiny in 2007 following the #NisourSquareMassacre, when #Blackwater contractors opened fire and killed 17 Iraqi civilians and wounded 20 others — raising questions about oversight and accountability of private contractors. Several contractors were charged with manslaughter, and four were convicted in 2014. Trump pardoned them at the end of his first term in December 2020.
"Trump’s pardon was just one example of the influence of Prince’s family during the first Trump administration. #BetsyDeVos, Prince’s sister, served as the president’s #Education secretary, while Prince used his Trump connections as he chased business ventures in the U.S. and abroad.
"In 2018, he reportedly helped raise money for an effort to spy on progressives and Democratic organizations opposed to Trump." [As well as #DAPL #WaterProtectors!]
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/02/25/documents-military-contractors-mass-deportations-022648
#Blackwater
#ErikPrinceColonialism
#SilencingDissent
#USPol #Project2025 #CriminalizingActivism
#ClimateActivists #NoDAPL #Crapitalism
#Fascism #Trump #ChristoFascist
#CorporateFascism #SilencingDissent #ClimateActivists #Activists #NoDAPL #CriminalizingDissent
#CrackdownOnProtests #AntiProtestLaws #CorporateFascism #CorporateColonialism
#CharacteristicsOfFascism #ErikPrinceColonialism #Academi #TripleCanopy #SilencingDissent #ErikPrinceIsAWarCriminal -
Is something good? Yes #Trump will be making that illegal or killing that part of government. Remember that he let #BetsyDevos take down the list of known #puppy mills from the government website, Literal cartoonishly evil Cruella de Ville shit -
Neither did the Amway queen, #BetsyDevos!
#LindaMcMahon Has No Education Experience Except Wanting to #Defund Public Schools
https://theintercept.com/2024/12/30/linda-mcmahon-trump-education-schools-wwe/
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#FourYearsAgoToday #AreYouBetterOff
December 15, 2020 – As the Biden administration prepared to take office in five weeks, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos told employees in her department to “be the resistance.” Following the lead of a president who has refused to concede the election, she said, “Let me leave you with this plea: Resist.”
#BetsyDeVos #ChumpDidThis #GOPKakistocracy #PresidentChump #ResistFascism #NoRepublicansEverAgain #VoteBlue #GOP #WeirdGOP #USPol
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J6 could easily have worked, were it not for his support backing out. Trump had the most important connection set up, #ErikPrince, by appointing his sister, #BetsyDeVos to Secretary of Education.
#J6 was a clown show for a number of reasons, but imagine it again with a few Prince supplied soldiers. It would have probably gone quite differently. But why didn't the J6 coup attempt get more backing? A lot of what follows is speculation. We may never know many of the facts, even if surviving members of the administration end up in The Hague.
We don't really need to speculate much about how Trump will respond to civil unrest. It turns out we have a very clear idea based on what he did in Portland. We also have a very clear strategy for resisting crackdowns, because Portland did it really well. Now, here's the speculation: I think that Erik Prince and other billionaires backed off when they saw how badly Trump handled Portland, and Prince especially backed off because his involvement was speculated if not made visible.
So what happened? Portland's George Floyd uprising became the testing ground for Trump's suppression strategy. Someone realized that the constitution doesn't apply to any city within 100 miles of the border. This includes the ocean, which means almost every US city doesn't have constitutional protections.
How can this be? Well, Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) are allowed to operate within 100 miles of the border. The constitution doesn't apply to non-citizens. Anyone within this zone can simply be treated as a non-citizen when interacting with CBP. After, I think it was, a month or so of protest, groups of people in military gear and unmaked civilian vehicles started grabbing random people off the street and intimidating them. People were not being arrested or read their rights, they were just beging bagged and kidnapped then released.
After a lot of speculation, eventually it came out that these were mercenaries who were employed via contracts with CBP. There were a lot of people saying Academi and Eric Prince were involved.
So why didn't this work? People stayed in the streets. The protests kept growing. People weren't intimidated. Not only that, but it wasn't just radicals. The streets were filled with normal people, normal people who didn't participate in te black bloc but didn't rat them out either. One of the last things I remember before law enforcement backing down was the leaf blower bloc: a bunch of folks, many identifying themselves as dads, brought leaf blowers to blow teargas back at cops.
And I think this is what saved us from J6 being much worse than it was. Everyone in the streets, normal people, the kind of people who care about their lawns, showed up every night for weeks on end. The protests lasted over 100 days.
This is the model to look at. This, I think, is what made the oligarchs flinch and so many of them flip on Trump at the last minute.
This time they won't just play catch and release though. This time they will probably deport people. Trump deported legal US citizens during his first term. These were "mistakes." This time he's prepared the people for mass deportations. This is his most powerful weapon. He doesn't have to declare martial law, he can just send CBP to a city and fill their ranks with Academi troops. They can kidnap anyone they want, destroy any documents they have, and deport people to whatever friendly black site they want.
So when Trump is talking about deportation, he may start with immigrants but he really wants to deport anyone who resists. This is why it's critical to resist deportation from the beginning, and to do it with everyone. Everyone in the street as soon as possible. Terrify the oligarchs enough and they'll stab him in the back again.
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#OffLeash: Inside the Secret, Global, #FarRight Group Chat
Military contractor #ErikPrince started a private #WhatsApp group for his close associates that includes a menagerie of #RightWing government officials, intelligence operatives, arms traffickers, and journalists. We got their messages.
Ken Silverstein/
May 30, 2024"In his book In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in #Hitler’s Berlin, Erik Larson cites a cable sent to the State Department in June 1933 by a U.S. diplomat posted in Germany that provided a far more candid assessment of the Nazi leadership than the one that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s administration was then conveying to the public. 'With few exceptions, the men who are running this Government are of a mentality that you and I cannot understand,' read the cable, which was written five months after Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor. 'Some of them are psychopathic cases and would ordinarily be receiving treatment somewhere.'
"I’ve thought about that passage from the cable many times over the past several weeks as I’ve been reading excerpts from a private WhatsApp group chat established last December by Erik Prince, the founder of the military contractor #Blackwater and younger brother of #BetsyDeVos, the secretary of education during President Donald Trump’s administration, who invited around 650 of his contacts in the United States and around the world to join. Prince, who has a long track record of financing conservative candidates and causes and extensive ties to right-wing regimes around the world, named the group—which currently has around 400 members—'Off Leash,' the same name as the new podcast that he’d launched the month before."
Read more:
https://newrepublic.com/article/182008/erik-prince-secret-global-group-chat-off-leash#ErikPrinceColonialism #Fascism #Project2025 #January6 #Trump #ChristoFascist #CorporateFascism
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Fmr #Trump #education secy #BetsyDeVos has said she would come back for a 2nd term if the mission was closing her fmr dept.
Together, the pledges raise the question of whether #Congress, if controlled by #Republicans, & the WH, if controlled by #Trump, would act on the promise….
On the campaign trail, a range of #Republican candidates are voicing support, in sometimes dramatic terms. -
Considering #Trump literally de-listed known #puppy mills off the government websites, I'm not sure those people really are that into animal rights. Like Cruela deVille level evil. If I remember right #BetsyDeVos had him do it because she has friends in the #puppymill industry
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▸ Biffen och bakpotatisen var serverad. Miljardärerna hade slagit sig ner.
Biffen och bakpotatisen var serverad. Miljardärerna hade slagit sig ner. Men Donald Trump bad inte snällt om mer pengar till sin valkampanj. I stället fick han#donaldtrump #betsydevos #presidentvaletiusa
Trump avslöjad: Fick utbrott på miljardmiddag -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXuD9SDSp6Y
Billionaires' Shocking Plot to DESTROY #RuralSchools
#Schools #Education #USAShitShow #FarRight #schoolprivitisation #LB753 #Nebraska #schoolvouchers #BetsyDeVos 🤮 #JeffYass 🤮
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So, the way I see it, voting for someone who *might* win against #Trump is a vote well cast. Trump has ties to #ErikPrince, #BetsyDevos, #KelcyWarren, etc., and his VP is the darling of the rabid #Christofascist right. Don't think #RightWing #Fascists can win an election? Just look up #AustriaElections.
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Well then, according to someone named "voklris", apparently the fact that #ClarenceThomas is chummy with #KochBrothers and #Blackwater's #ErikPrince brother of #BetsyDevos), and that #JusticeKennedy made a deal with Trump is a conspiracy theory. Time to rehash some of my posts on the subject.
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ICYMI - From 2017...
#RalphReed Smears #BetsyDeVos Critics As Enemies Of Religion
By Peter Montgomery | February 6, 2017
"#ReligiousRight leaders are rallying to defend Betsy DeVos, Donald #Trump’s nominee to run the U.S. Department of Education, even as grassroots opposition has reportedly swamped congressional switchboards with a record number of calls. Mike Pence may be on hand in the Senate on Tuesday to cast a potentially tie-breaking vote.
"#DeVos is both unqualified and ideologically unfit to run the Department of Education, given that she has devoted much of her time and fortune to diverting money away from public schools, so it makes sense that parents and educators concerned about the future of public education would oppose her nomination. But on Monday, Religious Right political operative Ralph Reed used the FoxNews platform to portray opposition to DeVos as part of a Democratic 'war on religion' and a 'despicable' liberal 'smear campaign.'
"Reed rails against 'stories planted by teacher’s union apparatchiks' that 'smear' DeVos for wanting to divert tax dollars into religious schools. 'In opposing Mrs. DeVos for being a Christian who supports providing children with access to private and charter schools,' writes Reed, 'the Democrats are doubling down on a failed strategy of demonizing people of faith.'
"DeVos and her family have been major donors to both Religious Right and Republican Party organizations and have pushed #AntiUnion and anti-#equality efforts as well as anti-public education efforts. DeVos’s underlying ideology was made clear in a 2015 education speech in which she declared that among the primary principles underpinning her education agenda was 'Government really sucks.'"
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/ralph-reed-smears-betsy-devos-critics-as-enemies-of-religion/
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#Blackwater Founder #ErikPrince Indicted for Arms Sales to #Libya
By Miriam Raftery
July 27, 2023 (San Diego) — "The name Erik Prince became familiar to many residents in San Diego’s East County when Blackwater, the private military contracting firm he founded, sought to build a #paramilitary training camp in Potrero.
"Now Austria has indicted Prince for alleged arms trafficking to Libya in violation of a United Nations arms embargo; at least one shipment of explosives reportedly went through #Austria using an Austrian business, BNN reports. Prince is accused of organizing a covert military operation to supply Libyan warlord #KhalifaHafter with war equipment for rebellion against a government backed by the U.S. and the U.N.
"If convicted, Prince could face up to five years in prison. However, it is unclear whether or not he will be extradited to Austria; Prince holds residency in both the U.S. and #AbuDhabi. Prince has denied UN allegations of arms peddling to Libya.
"The local #Potrero project drew massive opposition on #environmental grounds as well as the many controversies involving Blackwater, which Prince was CEO and chairman of at the time. The Harris Fire in October 2007 displaced many residents, but that didn’t stop them from showing up to vote and recall all five community planning group members who had voted for the project, which sparked national news headlines.
"The 2007 firestorms scorched Round Potrero Valley, where Blackwater planned to store #ammunition and a bunkhouse with 200 men in the box valley with only one exit.
"Blackwater ultimately dropped plans for the Potrero facility in 2008, ostensibly due to noise mediation requirements, although those had not changed since the project’s inception.
"Prince, a former Navy Seal before founding Blackwater in 2009, is no stranger to controversy. Three Blackwater guards were convicted in 2014 of manslaughter and another of murder in charges stemming from the massacre of civilians in Baghdad’s #NissourSquare in 2007. In March 2009, Prince resigned as Blackwater’s CEO but remained chairman of the board until the company’s sale in late 2010.
"Blackwater’s successor company, #Academi, was accused of #ArmsTrafficking in 2012 dating back to when Prince served as CEO and Chairman. Then in 2020, the #FBI investigated Prince for arms trafficking involving #cropduster planes converted for military use.
"He moved to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates in 2010, where he was hired by the crown prince to organize foreign troops for the #UAE and formed a new firm called #ReflectResponses, or R2. He later trained Somalis in anti-piracy operations with UAE funding.
"Prince also leads a private equity firm, #FrontierResourcesGroup and until April 2021, chaired Frontier Services Group Ltd., which had various business dealings in #Africa.
"Prince also drew controversy over revelations that he lied to the House Intelligence Committee in Nov. 2017 about his involvement in the #Trump transition team and was at a Trump Tower meeting that allegedly had backchannel communications with a representative of Russian President Vladimir #Putin. A Special Counsel in 2018 found evidence contradicting Prince, the Washington Post reported. The House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff sent a criminal referral to the Justice Department which announced in 2020 that it had opened an investigation into Prince’s alleged perjury during his testimony.
"Politically well connected, Prince is the sister of #BetsyDevos, former Secretary of Education under President Donald Trump, and has been a major donor to numerous Republican candidates and a Trump-aligned super-pac."
https://www.eastcountymagazine.org/blackwater-founder-erik-prince-indicted-arms-sales-libya
#PrivateArmy #Xe
#CorporateColonialism #PrivateArmies #Fascism
#ErikPrinceColonialism #CorporateColonialism #Blackwater #TigerSwan -
#Blackwater Founder #ErikPrince Indicted for Arms Sales to #Libya
By Miriam Raftery
July 27, 2023 (San Diego) — "The name Erik Prince became familiar to many residents in San Diego’s East County when Blackwater, the private military contracting firm he founded, sought to build a #paramilitary training camp in Potrero.
"Now Austria has indicted Prince for alleged arms trafficking to Libya in violation of a United Nations arms embargo; at least one shipment of explosives reportedly went through #Austria using an Austrian business, BNN reports. Prince is accused of organizing a covert military operation to supply Libyan warlord #KhalifaHafter with war equipment for rebellion against a government backed by the U.S. and the U.N.
"If convicted, Prince could face up to five years in prison. However, it is unclear whether or not he will be extradited to Austria; Prince holds residency in both the U.S. and #AbuDhabi. Prince has denied UN allegations of arms peddling to Libya.
"The local #Potrero project drew massive opposition on #environmental grounds as well as the many controversies involving Blackwater, which Prince was CEO and chairman of at the time. The Harris Fire in October 2007 displaced many residents, but that didn’t stop them from showing up to vote and recall all five community planning group members who had voted for the project, which sparked national news headlines.
"The 2007 firestorms scorched Round Potrero Valley, where Blackwater planned to store #ammunition and a bunkhouse with 200 men in the box valley with only one exit.
"Blackwater ultimately dropped plans for the Potrero facility in 2008, ostensibly due to noise mediation requirements, although those had not changed since the project’s inception.
"Prince, a former Navy Seal before founding Blackwater in 2009, is no stranger to controversy. Three Blackwater guards were convicted in 2014 of manslaughter and another of murder in charges stemming from the massacre of civilians in Baghdad’s #NissourSquare in 2007. In March 2009, Prince resigned as Blackwater’s CEO but remained chairman of the board until the company’s sale in late 2010.
"Blackwater’s successor company, #Academi, was accused of #ArmsTrafficking in 2012 dating back to when Prince served as CEO and Chairman. Then in 2020, the #FBI investigated Prince for arms trafficking involving #cropduster planes converted for military use.
"He moved to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates in 2010, where he was hired by the crown prince to organize foreign troops for the #UAE and formed a new firm called #ReflectResponses, or R2. He later trained Somalis in anti-piracy operations with UAE funding.
"Prince also leads a private equity firm, #FrontierResourcesGroup and until April 2021, chaired Frontier Services Group Ltd., which had various business dealings in #Africa.
"Prince also drew controversy over revelations that he lied to the House Intelligence Committee in Nov. 2017 about his involvement in the #Trump transition team and was at a Trump Tower meeting that allegedly had backchannel communications with a representative of Russian President Vladimir #Putin. A Special Counsel in 2018 found evidence contradicting Prince, the Washington Post reported. The House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff sent a criminal referral to the Justice Department which announced in 2020 that it had opened an investigation into Prince’s alleged perjury during his testimony.
"Politically well connected, Prince is the sister of #BetsyDevos, former Secretary of Education under President Donald Trump, and has been a major donor to numerous Republican candidates and a Trump-aligned super-pac."
https://www.eastcountymagazine.org/blackwater-founder-erik-prince-indicted-arms-sales-libya
#PrivateArmy #Xe
#CorporateColonialism #PrivateArmies #Fascism
#ErikPrinceColonialism #CorporateColonialism #Blackwater #TigerSwan -
#Blackwater Founder #ErikPrince Indicted for Arms Sales to #Libya
By Miriam Raftery
July 27, 2023 (San Diego) — "The name Erik Prince became familiar to many residents in San Diego’s East County when Blackwater, the private military contracting firm he founded, sought to build a #paramilitary training camp in Potrero.
"Now Austria has indicted Prince for alleged arms trafficking to Libya in violation of a United Nations arms embargo; at least one shipment of explosives reportedly went through #Austria using an Austrian business, BNN reports. Prince is accused of organizing a covert military operation to supply Libyan warlord #KhalifaHafter with war equipment for rebellion against a government backed by the U.S. and the U.N.
"If convicted, Prince could face up to five years in prison. However, it is unclear whether or not he will be extradited to Austria; Prince holds residency in both the U.S. and #AbuDhabi. Prince has denied UN allegations of arms peddling to Libya.
"The local #Potrero project drew massive opposition on #environmental grounds as well as the many controversies involving Blackwater, which Prince was CEO and chairman of at the time. The Harris Fire in October 2007 displaced many residents, but that didn’t stop them from showing up to vote and recall all five community planning group members who had voted for the project, which sparked national news headlines.
"The 2007 firestorms scorched Round Potrero Valley, where Blackwater planned to store #ammunition and a bunkhouse with 200 men in the box valley with only one exit.
"Blackwater ultimately dropped plans for the Potrero facility in 2008, ostensibly due to noise mediation requirements, although those had not changed since the project’s inception.
"Prince, a former Navy Seal before founding Blackwater in 2009, is no stranger to controversy. Three Blackwater guards were convicted in 2014 of manslaughter and another of murder in charges stemming from the massacre of civilians in Baghdad’s #NissourSquare in 2007. In March 2009, Prince resigned as Blackwater’s CEO but remained chairman of the board until the company’s sale in late 2010.
"Blackwater’s successor company, #Academi, was accused of #ArmsTrafficking in 2012 dating back to when Prince served as CEO and Chairman. Then in 2020, the #FBI investigated Prince for arms trafficking involving #cropduster planes converted for military use.
"He moved to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates in 2010, where he was hired by the crown prince to organize foreign troops for the #UAE and formed a new firm called #ReflectResponses, or R2. He later trained Somalis in anti-piracy operations with UAE funding.
"Prince also leads a private equity firm, #FrontierResourcesGroup and until April 2021, chaired Frontier Services Group Ltd., which had various business dealings in #Africa.
"Prince also drew controversy over revelations that he lied to the House Intelligence Committee in Nov. 2017 about his involvement in the #Trump transition team and was at a Trump Tower meeting that allegedly had backchannel communications with a representative of Russian President Vladimir #Putin. A Special Counsel in 2018 found evidence contradicting Prince, the Washington Post reported. The House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff sent a criminal referral to the Justice Department which announced in 2020 that it had opened an investigation into Prince’s alleged perjury during his testimony.
"Politically well connected, Prince is the sister of #BetsyDevos, former Secretary of Education under President Donald Trump, and has been a major donor to numerous Republican candidates and a Trump-aligned super-pac."
https://www.eastcountymagazine.org/blackwater-founder-erik-prince-indicted-arms-sales-libya
#PrivateArmy #Xe
#CorporateColonialism #PrivateArmies #Fascism
#ErikPrinceColonialism #CorporateColonialism #Blackwater #TigerSwan -
#Blackwater Founder #ErikPrince Indicted for Arms Sales to #Libya
By Miriam Raftery
July 27, 2023 (San Diego) — "The name Erik Prince became familiar to many residents in San Diego’s East County when Blackwater, the private military contracting firm he founded, sought to build a #paramilitary training camp in Potrero.
"Now Austria has indicted Prince for alleged arms trafficking to Libya in violation of a United Nations arms embargo; at least one shipment of explosives reportedly went through #Austria using an Austrian business, BNN reports. Prince is accused of organizing a covert military operation to supply Libyan warlord #KhalifaHafter with war equipment for rebellion against a government backed by the U.S. and the U.N.
"If convicted, Prince could face up to five years in prison. However, it is unclear whether or not he will be extradited to Austria; Prince holds residency in both the U.S. and #AbuDhabi. Prince has denied UN allegations of arms peddling to Libya.
"The local #Potrero project drew massive opposition on #environmental grounds as well as the many controversies involving Blackwater, which Prince was CEO and chairman of at the time. The Harris Fire in October 2007 displaced many residents, but that didn’t stop them from showing up to vote and recall all five community planning group members who had voted for the project, which sparked national news headlines.
"The 2007 firestorms scorched Round Potrero Valley, where Blackwater planned to store #ammunition and a bunkhouse with 200 men in the box valley with only one exit.
"Blackwater ultimately dropped plans for the Potrero facility in 2008, ostensibly due to noise mediation requirements, although those had not changed since the project’s inception.
"Prince, a former Navy Seal before founding Blackwater in 2009, is no stranger to controversy. Three Blackwater guards were convicted in 2014 of manslaughter and another of murder in charges stemming from the massacre of civilians in Baghdad’s #NissourSquare in 2007. In March 2009, Prince resigned as Blackwater’s CEO but remained chairman of the board until the company’s sale in late 2010.
"Blackwater’s successor company, #Academi, was accused of #ArmsTrafficking in 2012 dating back to when Prince served as CEO and Chairman. Then in 2020, the #FBI investigated Prince for arms trafficking involving #cropduster planes converted for military use.
"He moved to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates in 2010, where he was hired by the crown prince to organize foreign troops for the #UAE and formed a new firm called #ReflectResponses, or R2. He later trained Somalis in anti-piracy operations with UAE funding.
"Prince also leads a private equity firm, #FrontierResourcesGroup and until April 2021, chaired Frontier Services Group Ltd., which had various business dealings in #Africa.
"Prince also drew controversy over revelations that he lied to the House Intelligence Committee in Nov. 2017 about his involvement in the #Trump transition team and was at a Trump Tower meeting that allegedly had backchannel communications with a representative of Russian President Vladimir #Putin. A Special Counsel in 2018 found evidence contradicting Prince, the Washington Post reported. The House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff sent a criminal referral to the Justice Department which announced in 2020 that it had opened an investigation into Prince’s alleged perjury during his testimony.
"Politically well connected, Prince is the sister of #BetsyDevos, former Secretary of Education under President Donald Trump, and has been a major donor to numerous Republican candidates and a Trump-aligned super-pac."
https://www.eastcountymagazine.org/blackwater-founder-erik-prince-indicted-arms-sales-libya
#PrivateArmy #Xe
#CorporateColonialism #PrivateArmies #Fascism
#ErikPrinceColonialism #CorporateColonialism #Blackwater #TigerSwan -
#Blackwater Founder #ErikPrince Indicted for Arms Sales to #Libya
By Miriam Raftery
July 27, 2023 (San Diego) — "The name Erik Prince became familiar to many residents in San Diego’s East County when Blackwater, the private military contracting firm he founded, sought to build a #paramilitary training camp in Potrero.
"Now Austria has indicted Prince for alleged arms trafficking to Libya in violation of a United Nations arms embargo; at least one shipment of explosives reportedly went through #Austria using an Austrian business, BNN reports. Prince is accused of organizing a covert military operation to supply Libyan warlord #KhalifaHafter with war equipment for rebellion against a government backed by the U.S. and the U.N.
"If convicted, Prince could face up to five years in prison. However, it is unclear whether or not he will be extradited to Austria; Prince holds residency in both the U.S. and #AbuDhabi. Prince has denied UN allegations of arms peddling to Libya.
"The local #Potrero project drew massive opposition on #environmental grounds as well as the many controversies involving Blackwater, which Prince was CEO and chairman of at the time. The Harris Fire in October 2007 displaced many residents, but that didn’t stop them from showing up to vote and recall all five community planning group members who had voted for the project, which sparked national news headlines.
"The 2007 firestorms scorched Round Potrero Valley, where Blackwater planned to store #ammunition and a bunkhouse with 200 men in the box valley with only one exit.
"Blackwater ultimately dropped plans for the Potrero facility in 2008, ostensibly due to noise mediation requirements, although those had not changed since the project’s inception.
"Prince, a former Navy Seal before founding Blackwater in 2009, is no stranger to controversy. Three Blackwater guards were convicted in 2014 of manslaughter and another of murder in charges stemming from the massacre of civilians in Baghdad’s #NissourSquare in 2007. In March 2009, Prince resigned as Blackwater’s CEO but remained chairman of the board until the company’s sale in late 2010.
"Blackwater’s successor company, #Academi, was accused of #ArmsTrafficking in 2012 dating back to when Prince served as CEO and Chairman. Then in 2020, the #FBI investigated Prince for arms trafficking involving #cropduster planes converted for military use.
"He moved to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates in 2010, where he was hired by the crown prince to organize foreign troops for the #UAE and formed a new firm called #ReflectResponses, or R2. He later trained Somalis in anti-piracy operations with UAE funding.
"Prince also leads a private equity firm, #FrontierResourcesGroup and until April 2021, chaired Frontier Services Group Ltd., which had various business dealings in #Africa.
"Prince also drew controversy over revelations that he lied to the House Intelligence Committee in Nov. 2017 about his involvement in the #Trump transition team and was at a Trump Tower meeting that allegedly had backchannel communications with a representative of Russian President Vladimir #Putin. A Special Counsel in 2018 found evidence contradicting Prince, the Washington Post reported. The House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff sent a criminal referral to the Justice Department which announced in 2020 that it had opened an investigation into Prince’s alleged perjury during his testimony.
"Politically well connected, Prince is the sister of #BetsyDevos, former Secretary of Education under President Donald Trump, and has been a major donor to numerous Republican candidates and a Trump-aligned super-pac."
https://www.eastcountymagazine.org/blackwater-founder-erik-prince-indicted-arms-sales-libya
#PrivateArmy #Xe
#CorporateColonialism #PrivateArmies #Fascism
#ErikPrinceColonialism #CorporateColonialism #Blackwater #TigerSwan -
As Military Contractors Face Scrutiny; A Look at Erik Prince's Controversial 'Blackwater Worldwide'
Story by Rishitha Boddu, December 2, 2023
"Erik Prince is an American businessman and former US Navy SEAL whose net worth is estimated at a substantial $2 billion dollars. He is known for founding and owning the military contractor XE, widely recognized as #BlackwaterWorldwide, a company that engaged in #covert government operations. However, this enterprise faced intense scrutiny for #HumanRights violations in 2007, leading to Erik's decision to step down as its leader in 2009. But even before Blackwater, a significant portion of Prince's wealth is derived from his family's automotive accessory empire, established by his father.
"Established in 1997, Blackwater holds the distinction of being the largest private military company globally. Notably, it has been awarded more than $1.6 billion in federal contracts. Moreover, the company is reported to have secured classified contracts from the Central Intelligence Agency (#CIA) amounting to a staggering $600 million since 2001. Following Erik's departure, Blackwater underwent a change in ownership, with a group of investors acquiring it in 2010, before rebranding it as Academi in 2011. In 2013, Erik Prince authored the book 'Civilian Warriors: The Inside Story of Blackwater and the Unsung Heroes of the War on Terror,' shedding light on the company's inner workings.
"Blackwater, a private military and security company founded by Erik Prince in 1997, emerged as a major player during the #IraqWar. The company secured contracts to provide security services to various U.S. government agencies, making it an essential part of the U.S. military presence in Iraq. Blackwater's involvement in the Iraq war, including the killing of civilians, brought it to the forefront of public scrutiny and controversy.
"Blackwater and Erik Prince faced numerous allegations of war crimes and misconduct during the Iraq war. The most infamous incident was the #NisourSquare massacre in 2007, where Blackwater personnel were involved in a shooting that resulted in the deaths of seventeen Iraqi civilians.
"The Nisour Square incident was a turning point, as it raised questions about the behavior of private military contractors in a war zone. It prompted further investigations into the conduct of Blackwater and its personnel, ultimately contributing to a tarnished reputation.
"Amid mounting legal challenges and heightened scrutiny, Erik Prince chose to step down from his role as the CEO of Blackwater in 2009. The controversy surrounding Blackwater's activities in Iraq and its reputation became increasingly untenable, and Prince sold the company.
"Prince's resignation was seen as a strategic move to distance himself from the crimes at Blackwater. While it marked his exit from the company he founded, it did not shield him from ongoing legal battles and public attention.
"In sworn statements submitted as part of the case, former Blackwater employees made explosive allegations, including claims that Prince may have been involved in the murder of individuals cooperating with federal authorities investigating the company.
"These individuals also alleged that Blackwater was engaged in smuggling weapons into Iraq and that Erik Prince, in their view, perceived himself as a '#ChristianCrusader' with a mission to eliminate Muslims and Islam. These allegations fueled the already raging controversy surrounding Prince and his companies.
"The fraud case and the allegations against Erik Prince and Blackwater have continued to generate public and legal scrutiny. This ongoing legal battle has kept the controversies alive, ensuring that Prince remains a figure of interest and concern."
https://marketrealist.com/blackwater-and-erik-prince/
#ErikPrince #Blackwater #Academi #Xe #NoDAPL #ClimateProtestors #TigerSwan #WaterProtectors #WarCrimes #IraqiCivilians #Warmonger #BigOilAndGas #BetsyDevos #Amway #ChristianRight #Fascism
#ErikPrinceColonialism #CorporateColonialism #USPol #WorldPol -
@nataliedavisgdread Who knows their actual motivation, but there's a good chance it's a #BetsyDeVos -style attempt to recreate what the Saudi #Wahabi did with #Madrasa 's across the #islamic world with the (wildly successful) intent of radicalizing #Muslim children... but, in this case, the #christianNationalist attempt to repeat their success.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_propagation_of_Salafism_and_Wahhabism
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Betsy DeVos put millions behind candidates with a goal: Public money for private schools - NBC News
https://apple.news/A3bVS74MrQWmjVLGPnFE_VQ.
#education #taxtherich #betsydevos #privateschools #publicmoney #richwantyourmoney #education #publiceducation #oligarchy #RulingClasses
