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Skeleton Attic

@skeletonattic.bsky.social
22 followers 37 following 67 posts

skeletonattic.com Welcome to Kay & Susan's investigations. We are diving headfirst into the world of power players, serving up fresh facts about today’s democracy influencers while focusing where the media will not.

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Skeleton Attic @skeletonattic.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
Mercer's Family Foundation is what happens when somebody gives a private equity firm the IRS code for “charity” and tells them to go to town.
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Skeleton Attic @skeletonattic.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
Mercer grantees: The Heritage Foundation, Federalist Society. Project Veritas., Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation, because apparently someone in the family is a Coolidge guy, which is its own diagnosis.
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Skeleton Attic @skeletonattic.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
501(c)(3) organizations are tax-exempt with tax-deductible donations, while 501(c)(4) organizations are tax-exempt but donations are generally not deductible. <--- So, donors would not be as likely to give massive amounts to 501c4 when they will not be able to deduct it (to their limit anyway).
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Skeleton Attic @skeletonattic.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
The Mercer Family Foundation is not a charity in any meaningful sense. It is a political weapon wearing a charity’s ballgown. Every organization they donate to is a 501(c)(3) - a tax-deductible “public charity” - and the activities described across the rest of this story are partisan political work.
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Skeleton Attic @skeletonattic.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
The Mercers did not need enough money to own the country outright. They needed enough money to own the right pieces of it.
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Skeleton Attic @skeletonattic.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
This is not a complaint about how much money rich people have. It is a point about how cheap it is to take over a democracy once the laws have been rewritten to let private money speak louder than the public’s voice.
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Skeleton Attic @skeletonattic.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
The US was sold the way a hedge fund quietly buys up a public company -slowly, over years, through stacks of paperwork & friendly go-betweens, until one morning the shareholders wake up & find the board has been replaced & new owners are running the place skeletonattic.substack.com/p/the-mercer...
skeletonattic.substack.com
The Mercers and Dark-Money Architecture
Citizens United, Part 3 of 5
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Skeleton Attic @skeletonattic.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
Just in case we all forgot how sleazy Brittany Kaiser is: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brittan...
en.wikipedia.org
Brittany Kaiser - Wikipedia
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Skeleton Attic @skeletonattic.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
Just when you think they couldn't get more delusional: www.levernews.com/the-church-o...
levernews.com
The Church Of Leonard Leo
The Supreme Court’s dark-money operative bought a church near his tony summer home, where neighbors are protesting his political crusade.
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PBS News @pbsnews.org · 17/05/2026
Thousands of people rallied Saturday in the cradle of the modern Civil Rights Movement to mobilize a new voting rights era as conservative states dismantle congressional districts that helped secure Black political representation. to.pbs.org/49MM4mz
to.pbs.org
Thousands rally in birthplace of Civil Rights Movement to defend Black political representation
A crowd of thousands gathered in front of the city’s historic Alabama Capitol, the place where the Confederacy was formed in 1861 and where the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke in 1965 at the end of...
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Skeleton Attic @skeletonattic.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
This is obscene and not the way Democracy is supposed to work.
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Jenny Cohn @jennycohn.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
2/ bsky.app/profile/jenn...
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Jenny Cohn @jennycohn.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
🚨Trump just named Marc Andreessen’s wife to the SF Presidio Trust board, along with other MAGA allies & ultra-wealthy tech figures. Meanwhile, the Tech Bros have made it clear that they want to build a “Freedom City” in the Presidio. sfstandard.com/2026/05/14/t...
sfstandard.com
Trump fills Presidio Trust board with MAGA allies, ultra-wealthy tech figures
The new members include Lynne Benioff, who previously served as board chair, Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen, and four others in tech, finance, and real estate.
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Skeleton Attic @skeletonattic.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
Asked @microsoft-copilot.bsky.social to find me some articles on Floyd Brown (the founder of Citizens United and an avid racist). It gave me numerous articles that all returned a 404 or 403 error.
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Skeleton Attic @skeletonattic.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
Shaming works. Keep screaming. LOUDLY.
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Bloomberg News @bloomberg.com · 16/05/2026
Yesteryear’s entrepreneurial revolution has produced two unexpected offspring: oligarchs and corporate bureaucrats (via Bloomberg Opinion)
bloom.bg
How America’s Entrepreneurial Revolution Went Off the Rails
One of the most striking things about the posse of CEOs who accompanied Donald Trump to China this week is that they are almost as unpopular as the president himself. During the golden age of business in 1980-2008, it sometimes seemed as if businesspeople could do no wrong. Now, it seems that they can do no right.
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Politico @politico.com · 16/05/2026
The South’s new redistricting fight could reach far beyond Congress
dlvr.it
The South’s new redistricting fight could reach far beyond Congress
Black Democrats warn the Supreme Court’s Voting Rights Act ruling will impact Black representation across southern state legislatures.
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Skeleton Attic @skeletonattic.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
"I’ve noticed an unfortunate trend — that too many American billionaires or near billionaires have curious ties to the mafia state of Russia. Some have curious ties to Deutsche Bank. Many have curious ties to data mining, and some financed Trump." #Mercer www.bettedangerous.com/p/american-m...
bettedangerous.com
American Monster — Robert Mercer
Eighth in a series on US criminals accelerating global fascism
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Skeleton Attic @skeletonattic.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
... against the Sacklers, against apartheid-era South Africa, against the Confederate-flag retailers in 2015. It works because reputation is the one asset money cannot directly purchase. You can buy a senator. You cannot buy a daughter who refuses to sit at your table.
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Skeleton Attic @skeletonattic.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
The work is to make that proximity uncomfortable. Letters to trustees. Op-eds in the alumni magazine. Petitions that name names. Showing up at the annual gala with a banner. None of this is glamorous. All of it has worked before - against the tobacco companies,...
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Skeleton Attic @skeletonattic.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
A reader who finishes Piece 5 should have one question in their head: where in my life am I still treating these people as respectable? My alma mater took $40 million from one of them. My city's symphony has another one on the board. My kid's private school is named after a third.
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Skeleton Attic @skeletonattic.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
A country club. A church finance committee. A magazine masthead. A hospital wing. The strategic question is not "how do we put them in prison" - we cannot, the DOJ is gone - but "where are they still allowed in the room?" Then shame them out of it.
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Skeleton Attic @skeletonattic.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
The Citizens United series is, in part, an attribution document. Every billionaire we name in it - the Mercers, the Kochs, Adelson, Singer, Crow, Seid, the Bradley family - sits on something. A museum board. A university trustee seat. A think-tank advisory committee. (1/?)
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Skeleton Attic @skeletonattic.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
open.substack.com/pub/heidicud...
open.substack.com
American Monster — Robert Mercer
Eighth in a series on US criminals accelerating global fascism
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Skeleton Attic @skeletonattic.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
The Council for Nat'l Policy (incl. Kellyanne, Bannon, DeVos, Mercers, & 2 men whose families funded the largest voting machine vendor in the U.S.) has set a deadline of 2020 for restoring “religion and economic freedom & Judeo-Christian values” under the Constitution. 12/27/2017 By Jennifer S. Cohn
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Skeleton Attic @skeletonattic.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
The Mercers funded Cambridge Analytica → Cambridge Analytica worked closely with AIQ → AIQ built and deployed the tools used in Mercer political projects. This is an ecosystem connection, not a direct funding relationship.
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The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 16/05/2026
The Justice Department is preparing to seek the dismissal of a pending bribery and fraud case against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, potentially ending prosecution efforts following a defense campaign led by one of President Trump‘s personal attorneys.
washingtonpost.com
DOJ expected to drop fraud charges against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani
The likely move comes as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission struck an $18 million deal to settle a parallel civil lawsuit.
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The Wall Street Journal @wsj.com · 16/05/2026
The legal showdown between Elon Musk and OpenAI exposed the personal and financial fault lines beneath Silicon Valley’s defining boom. on.wsj.com/3R9oVoc
on.wsj.com
The Messy Courtroom Drama Over AI’s Biggest Breakup
The legal showdown between Elon Musk and OpenAI exposed the personal and financial fault lines beneath Silicon Valley’s defining boom.
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Skeleton Attic @skeletonattic.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
AggregateIQ (AIQ) originated as SCL Canada and worked as a subcontractor for SCL/Cambridge Analytica on multiple projects. AIQ built Ripon, the software platform used by Cambridge Analytica for the Cruz campaign — a campaign the Mercers also funded.
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Skeleton Attic @skeletonattic.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
Rebekah Mercer remains involved in: Heritage Foundation (trustee) Heritage Action (board member) 1789 Capital (co‑founder) Parler (co‑founder; platform used for political organizing) Mercer Family Foundation (major funder of conservative infrastructure)
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PBS News @pbsnews.org · 16/05/2026
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis commuted the sentence of election conspiracy theorist Tina Peters following pressure from President Trump, the latest instance of Trump using his powers to reward those who echoed his baseless claims of mass fraud as the cause of his 2020 loss. to.pbs.org/4wQ3yZx
pbs.org
Colorado Gov. Polis commutes ex-election clerk Tina Peters' sentence after Trump pressure
Trump has championed the case of Peters, a 70-year-old former county clerk who was sentenced to nine years behind bars after being convicted in a scheme to make a copy of her county’s election compute...
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Francis X @fxmct.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
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John Vibes @johnvibes.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
TV news screenshot showing Donald Trump, Jensen Huang, and Elon Musk standing side by side with raised fists in front of a red backdrop featuring the Chinese Communist Party hammer-and-sickle emblem and a Chinese flag. Chinese TV channel logos and a Chinese-language news chyron at the bottom claim that Trump, Huang, and Musk have pledged to join the Chinese Communist Party.
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Skeleton Attic @skeletonattic.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
CNP “We will not try to reform the existing institutions.We only intend to weaken them, and eventually destroy them.We will maintain a constant barrage of criticism against the Left. We will attack the very legitimacy of the Left. We will not give them a moment’s rest. We will use guerrilla tactics"
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Skeleton Attic @skeletonattic.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
Rebekah Mercer remains active in Republican politics through Make America Number 1 and other vehicles. The architecture persists even as the Bannon relationship ends. This shows the infrastructure outlasts any individual operator and is still growing strong today.
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Skeleton Attic @skeletonattic.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
Rebekah Mercer issues a public statement ending the Mercer-Bannon relationship. Robert Mercer sells his stake in Breitbart. This is not just a personal falling-out — it is the moment when Bannon the operator loses his money source and must rebuild.
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Skeleton Attic @skeletonattic.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
The Mercer Family Foundation 990s show the architecture of Mercer philanthropy: direct grants to the Heritage Foundation, Cato Institute, Club for Growth, Citizens United (the organization), and dozens of other conservative entities.
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Skeleton Attic @skeletonattic.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
@kay4bluetexas.bsky.social
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Politico @politico.com · 16/05/2026
House AI talks focus on vetting powerful models
dlvr.it
House AI talks focus on vetting powerful models
Previously unreported details of the talks come as the White House grapples with challenges from the emergence of Mythos.
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Skeleton Attic @skeletonattic.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
with the production values and sourcing standards of investigative journalism, designed to be laundered through mainstream media. Clinton Cash (2015) is the most consequential product. (2of2) #GovernmentAccountabilityInstitute
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Skeleton Attic @skeletonattic.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
The Mercers are "apoplectic" that Obama wins reelection, per Mayer's reporting. Bannon channels that frustration into a strategic expansion: the Government Accountability Institute (GAI) is funded to produce opposition research (1/2)
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Skeleton Attic @skeletonattic.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
Mercer commits approximately $10 million to Breitbart News based on Bannon's business plan. This is not a charitable donation; it is an equity investment in a media company conceived as an information-warfare platform.
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Skeleton Attic @skeletonattic.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
internally it is an integrated political operations company with access to tens of millions of Facebook profiles and a mandate to build psychological targeting profiles for political advertising. (2of2) #SCLGroup #CambridgeAnalytica #Bannon #Mercers #CitizenUnited
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Skeleton Attic @skeletonattic.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
The Mercers invest a reported $15 million to create Cambridge Analytica as the American-facing operation of SCL Group. Rebekah Mercer joins the board. Bannon joins the board. The company is presented publicly as a data-analytics firm; (1/2)
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Skeleton Attic @skeletonattic.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
The Mercer Family Foundation 990s show the architecture of Mercer philanthropy: direct grants to the Heritage Foundation, Cato Institute, Club for Growth, Citizens United (the organization), and dozens of other conservative entities.
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Skeleton Attic @skeletonattic.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
The four threads are labeled: Sex-Crime-adjacent, Far-Right, Russia-adjacent Faud-adjacent These are just ways of organizing the kind of documented relationships we are looking at. "You are the company you keep" skeletonattic.substack.com/p/bannon-ii-...
skeletonattic.substack.com
Bannon II: The Company He Kept
Bannon II: The Company He Kept
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Skeleton Attic @skeletonattic.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
The 2nd in a 5-part series on Citizens United, this piece establishes Bannon not only as brilliant and unethical, but as part of a vast network of criminals and sanctioned individuals around the world. skeletonattic.substack.com/p/bannon-ii-...
skeletonattic.substack.com
Bannon II: The Company He Kept
Bannon II: The Company He Kept
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Skeleton Attic @skeletonattic.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
This is the list of people Steve Bannon hired, replaced, defended, campaigned with, traveled with, briefed, did business with, or otherwise kept around him over twenty years. All are criminal or adjacent. 'Bannon II: The Company He Kept' skeletonattic.substack.com/p/bannon-ii-...
skeletonattic.substack.com
Bannon II: The Company He Kept
Bannon II: The Company He Kept
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Skeleton Attic @skeletonattic.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
Racism is still on the throne of this country. substack.com/@mikaanderso...
substack.com
Mika Anderson (@mikaanderson)
This is heavy! Another break in our democratic systems.
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PBS News @pbsnews.org · 01/05/2026
The hearings Wednesday and Thursday before the House and Senate Armed Services committees delved into the Trump administration's 2027 military budget proposal, which would boost defense spending to a historic $1.5 trillion. to.pbs.org/4cKIWK8
to.pbs.org
4 takeaways from Hegseth's hearings on historic defense budget request, Iran war
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth appeared before Congress at a pair of hourslong hearings this week for the first time since the Trump administration went to war against Iran, with the Pentagon chief fa...
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