Ron Paul’s “Super PAC” Sugar Daddy: Builds Toys For The CIA, Spies On U.S. Citizens, Opposes Democracy & Women’s Suffrage

Class War For Idiots / Libertards / February 23, 2012

By Mark Ames

This article was first published at TheNation.com

If there’s one thing that distinguishes Ron Paul from the rest of the GOP field, it’s his principled stand against American empire and his ardent defense of individual liberties. [1] Paul’s opposition to wars, bloated defense budgets and government espionage of US citizens has made him a hero among some young conservatives. His seemingly rock-solid principles and radicalism has even drawn some on the left; unlike even left-wing Democrats, Paul has said he wants to abolish both the CIA and the FBI to protect individual “liberty.”

So it should come as a shock and disappointment to his followers that Ron Paul’s single largest donor—his Sheldon Adelson, as it were—founded a controversial defense contractor, Palantir Technologies, that profits from government espionage work for the CIA, FBI and other agencies, and which last year was caught organizing an illegal spy ring targeting American political opponents of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, including journalists, progressive activists and union leaders. (Palantir takes its name from the mystic stones used by characters in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings to spy on each other.)

According to recently filed FEC disclosure documents, Ron Paul’s Super PAC has received nearly all of its money from a single source, billionaire Peter Thiel. So far, Thiel has contributed $2.6 million [2] to Ron Paul’s Super PAC, Endorse Liberty [3], providing 76 percent of the Super PAC’s total [2] intake.

Thiel, a self-described libertarian and opponent of democracy [4] who made his fortune as the founder of PayPal, launched Palantir in 2004 to profit from what the Wall Street Journal described [5]as “the government spy-services marketplace.” The CIA’s venture capital firm, In-Q-Tel, was brought in to back up Thiel as one of Palantir’s first outside investors. Today, Palantir’s valuation isreported [6] to be in the billions.

Palantir slide for proposal to attack WikiLeaks on behalf of the US Chamber of Commerce

A recent Businessweek profile [7] explained how Palantir makes its money—and why Ron Paul’s followers should be bothered:

Depending where you fall on the spectrum between civil liberties absolutism and homeland security lockdown, Palantir’s technology is either creepy or heroic. Judging by the company’s growth, opinion in Washington and elsewhere has veered toward the latter. Palantir has built a customer list that includes the U.S. Defense Dept., CIA, FBI, Army, Marines, Air Force, the police departments of New York and Los Angeles, and a growing number of financial institutions trying to detect bank fraud. These deals have turned the company into one of the quietest success stories in Silicon Valley—it’s on track to hit $250 million in sales this year—and a candidate for an initial public offering. Palantir has been used to find suspects in a case involving the murder of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agent, and to uncover bombing networks in Syria, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. “It’s like plugging into the Matrix,” says a Special Forces member stationed in Afghanistan who requested anonymity out of security concerns. “The first time I saw it, I was like, ‘Holy crap. Holy crap. Holy crap.’”

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49 Comments

Add your own

1. Anarchy Pony | February 23rd, 2012 at 12:45 pm
Libertardians flying out of the cyberwork left and right to defend the “good” Dr. and claim that he doesn’t actually support murdering democracy in favor of private property rights in 5… 4… 3…
2. MF | February 23rd, 2012 at 12:59 pm
Scary stuff. And what’s with opposing women’s suffrage? It’s pretty mind boggling. But I guess that’s how these clowns want you to feel. It’s part of their cute, arcane “theory,” that only “evil geniuses” can comprehend.
3. Zirb | February 23rd, 2012 at 1:33 pm
A Ron Paul donor currently profits off of the CIA; therefore, Ron Paul will not decrease CIA funds. Solid logic.
4. MCFAULSSENSEOFHUMOR | February 23rd, 2012 at 2:55 pm
@3 hurrayeah thats what he wrote fucking retard
.-.
.’ ‘.
* ( ZIRB )
/\ \ /
/\ /o \ /\ ‘- -‘
/ / /_ _o\ \ \ ”
\ \__.’ ‘ ‘./ / ‘
\___.—‘—___/ )
/ @ @_ __.’
/ ) _ ‘ /_/
;_-‘ _(,\__,) / /
/ \ \’uuuu’ / /
,’ “”, ‘—‘ ‘ /
/ “””,–, ,/
/ / ‘”\\\ ‘
*************************
* IM A FUCKING RETARD *
* PLEASE SPIT ON ME *
* AND SLAP ME IN THE*
* FUCKING FACE LIKE *
* A PIG *
**********************
5. Trolletariat | February 23rd, 2012 at 3:17 pm
I can’t wait for all the Lickspittle Libertarians to cry their big, salty crocodile tears here
6. Emilio Lizardo | February 23rd, 2012 at 4:59 pm
Thiel is an imbecile and Paul is nuts (but right on wars and drugs), however you are way off base on Palantir. Your reported valuation is fanciful, the backstory changes every month, and the Businessweek and New Yorker articles are shameless puff pieces (even though the NYer reporter managed to get the Thiel-is-a-twat subtext in there).
Bottom line, Palantir technology doesn’t work. Period. Worst of breed. And since the only thing in this article that I’m pretending that really matters to me is Palantir’s valuation–because this is really a story about Palantir’s valuation, and not a story about the unbelievable rank hypocrisy and crypto-fascism in the Libertartian movement–I’m gonna stick with pretending I know more about Palantir’s valuation than the New Yorker or Businessweek knows. You’ll just have to take my unbiased word for it. Oh, and thank you, Almighty Exiled Censor, for improving my comment. I would value an IPO of the AEC at several hundred billion dollars, but that’s just because the AEC corrected my initial lowball valuation.
7. Emilio Lizardo | February 23rd, 2012 at 5:38 pm
Palantir has zero traction among financial industry quant trading firms, despite effectively giving away their software (6 month “evaluation,” apparently renewable indefinitely). The problem with the software is that it is overly dependent on the operators prior beliefs — i.e. it tells you what you think you want to hear. That does not work in the markets. Palantir is Thiel’s attempt to monetize what has worked so poorly for Clarium. Maybe that is the kind of result the CIA and NYPD want though.
NYer, NYT, and Bloomberg/Bizweek reporters have not worked with the Palantir software and would not knowwhat to do with it even if they had.
If the CIA is wasting millions on Palantir apps, that is a good thing. It prevents them from using the money more effectively.
8. MCFAULSSENSEOFHUMOR | February 23rd, 2012 at 5:46 pm
AEC IPO!
AEC IPO *T-SHIRTS*
?????????????????
9. phoenix | February 23rd, 2012 at 5:50 pm
“Bottom line, Palantir technology doesn’t work. Period. Worst of breed.”
Ron Paul does love snake-oil salesmen, doesn’t he?
This is almost as amusing as the near-universal support Scientologists have for Paul.
10. Matt | February 23rd, 2012 at 10:08 pm
On one hand, this kind of feels like guilt by association. Ron Paul cannot control the people who support him, and it is not a reflection of who he is, just because some of the people happen to be Racists, or view Civil liberties as an inconvenience to the police state.
On the other hand, he never seems to have a problem ACCEPTING money from these people. From
Neo-Nazis- http://newsone.com/nation/casey-gane-mccalla/top-10-racist-ron-paul-friends-supporters/
To Conspiracy Theory Racists http://dneiwert.blogspot.com/search?q=Ron+Paul+
Or the aforementioned Paypal douche Thiel.
See, it’s not that Paul is a racist or believes civil liberties are expendable. It’s that first and foremost He is a capitalist, and believes it’s okay for himself and the people he supports to PROFIT off of these things.
See, he doesn’t hate black people, he’s just willing to throw them under the bus if it means grossing just under 7 figures a year. And he loves Civil Liberties, but will gladly compromise that ideal if it means getting into office, and fulfilling his actual goal, cutting his taxes.
http://ronpaulexposed.wordpress.com/
http://www.realchange.org/ronpaul.htm
11. Matt | February 23rd, 2012 at 10:09 pm
…so I guess actually yeah, he does believe they are expendable.
12. Damn red | February 23rd, 2012 at 10:15 pm
Good luck with facts about Ron Paul. No matter how much info you dig up on him his supporters won’t dump him.
We can only thank some divine being with a sick sense of humor that most of his followers fall under the age of 16.
And if you are a leftist that supports him eat my shit.
13. ALEKSANDR "EPIC BEARD MAN" DOOGIN | February 23rd, 2012 at 11:45 pm
CLOYNE COURT IS STILL ROCKIN’ AFTER ALL THESE YEARS, HAIRY BEAR
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/02/23/BATI1NBLK0.DTL
14. Mike C | February 23rd, 2012 at 11:58 pm
His ideas are great!
No war? Legal drugs (exspecully WEEEEED). Legal hookers. No regulations to protect the majority of people from things the rich are insulated from by privilege. No limits on lobbying or campaign financing, to cause that nasty “tyranny of the majority,” euphemistically referred to as “democracy” (reul neoliberturds believe in tyranny by the tiny minority).
Wait, what? What do you mean it’s not 1980? Huh? We’re NOT talking about David Koch?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_H._Koch#Political_career
Who’s this Paul joker, and where does he get off stealing the platform of a guy whose racist, self-serving, social Darwinist think tanks now relentlessly astroturf on his behalf?
15. charliebucket | February 24th, 2012 at 1:19 am
Agree with Damn Red/#12. The most amusing thing about Ron Paul fans is that they are just that – fans. And of a damned power-seeking politician, no less. I know one Paul sycophant who constantly advertises for him on Facebook, including nauseating and unintentionally hilarious articles about his bicycle riding and geriatric fitness.
Once one acquires that particular idolatrous viewpoint, the idol can do and say no wrong, has no culpability in any dubious associations, must be defended on every ideological point, etc. It’s the same relationship that the average trashy middle American beer-swilling sports fan has with his favorite team, where every call by the ref against the team is met with howls and everything against the opposing team met with either silence or cheers.
Hint to those who don’t know: If you must lend support to something, it’s okay to disagree with your idol about things and still support him. It’s okay to question his relationships with other supporters or even (gasp!) criticize him for past associations and activities while still supporting him. Representative democracy has that as part of its root problem – that you’re voting for someone who will be unlikely to represent 100% of your views – but people rarely seem to see it, and instead adopt party line stances just like they’re told to, which is just fucking scary.
16. Fifo | February 24th, 2012 at 7:22 am
I would happily accept money from all the worst people and groups, no matter what my own
beliefs are.
Better that I have the money than them.
17. 69 Anytime 88 On a Date | February 24th, 2012 at 10:12 am
Department of Let Me Thiel You Up: Another pseudo-Libertarian face behind that spying monstrosity, facebook—the German shitbugger gave Zuckerberg $500,000 to help start it.
18. ALEKSANDR "EPIC BEARD MAN" DOOGIN | February 24th, 2012 at 11:21 am
DEAR HAIRY BEAR
IN THAT ARTICLE U LINKED TOO ABOUT THE 9-YEAR-OLD KID WHO CAPPED THAT GIRL IT SAYS Even if a young child is convicted, he wouldn’t be sent to an adult prison
NOW THE ONLY QUESTION IS: WHY THE FUCK NOT?
SEND CHILDREN TO ADULT PRISON!
SEND CHILDREN TO ADULT PRISON *T-SHIRTS*
19. super390 | February 24th, 2012 at 7:26 pm
Wow, the troll herd still isn’t here. I was hoping they were going to amuse me with some new level of denial.
So I’ll take some cheap shots and see whom I can provoke.
The oligarchs want Palantir to work, whether they’re being duped or not, because they intend to replace the govt with their own feudal regimes and they sure as hell want to employ as few humans as possible. Or maybe they’ll hire Chinese at Foxcomm wages to remote-run our lives.
As for Ron Paul, here’s what I said at another forum about the understandable frustration he expressed at the debate in AZ over his fellow Republicans’ enthusiasm for immoral acts like bombing Iran:
“Also, it might be time Rep. Paul realized that the price our society paid for centuries of blind embrace of private property and free enterprise as the only value of a man, while said systems were in fact totally rigged to favor white Christians and produce staggering national and global inequality, is that white Christian capitalist men must be viewed as superior to other kinds of humans. Thus the other kinds of humans, and anyone who dissents from the masters, has a life that is of so little value that it should simply be snuffed out at the first sign of a slave rebellion. The government exists to protect “our” property, right? That is how Western capitalism triumphed, and all those who have stood against it or its wars successfully have been those who demanded human equality in reality, not in bought-out 19th century bourgeoise cliches that libertarians still worship. That’s why the yuppies love you until it’s time to pull the lever, Ron.”
20. Henry | February 24th, 2012 at 8:00 pm
Can’t fuckin’ believe that in addition to the Citizens United shit piece I’m seeing TWO Koch apologies on the Atlantic Monthly front page. Some hard-working prostitutes.
21. mookid | February 25th, 2012 at 12:00 am
i’ve heard paultards cant face the bitter truth
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23. Heinrich Muggins | February 25th, 2012 at 8:38 am
Fuck you, you filthy Obama-loving communist pussies.
24. DeeboCools | February 25th, 2012 at 9:14 am
Question. Does Paul have any control over who donates to his PAC? & if he does, is he morally obligated to refuse or return Thiel’s money because Thiel currently profiteers off of the CIA and is part of a campaign to destroy wikileaks?
I’m just imagining that you could follow the money flowing into each and every P.A.C. and find similar competing interests and incongruities… it doesn’t particularly ‘mean’ anything except as a demonstration that unlimited amounts of money being legally used as “free speech” leads to absurdity
Right, just because Paul’s entire appeal is built around his “rock-solid principles” and “authenticity” and “he means it unlike the other candidates” this doesn’t mean anything if he’s no more principled than the other candidates. meep meep
25. ALEKSANDR "EPIC BEARD MAN" DOOGIN | February 25th, 2012 at 1:51 pm
hrrryeah i dobnt think theirs like “a tension” or some word i once heard a retarded grad student say between holding a position anfd taking moneys from someone whose interests contradict ur stated position and putative interests and who u r gonna become beholden 2 b/c thats how the system works but i you are a retarded piece of shit who needs to be kicked into a cattle car and shipped far, far away you fucking pig
please see dr. limonov’s “how to survive ina cattle vagon””
tysm
26. ALEKSANDR "EPIC BEARD MAN" DOOGIN | February 25th, 2012 at 1:52 pm
DAS IST MEIN MESSER UND DAS IST MEIN SCHWANZ
Was soll ich dir reinstecken?
27. the dude | February 25th, 2012 at 5:59 pm
Too bad we cant just have these millionaires run themselves, so all there skeletons can be ripped from there closets…and on another note, I can fully understand the war nerds absence, i mean have you SEEN these Syria youtube clips!
28. charliebucket | February 26th, 2012 at 5:29 pm
This has nothing to to with this article, but I love that Michigan Prosperity Forum picture in the sidebar.
You can style Malkin’s hair until its single unit shape competes with that of a Disney princess, and she will still never graduate from looking like anything but a batshit insane mongoloid bitch. And the Breitbart thing is totally awesome. They not only photoshopped out his fat jowls, but also “shaped” his newly visible jawline with the placement of his collar. Awesome.
29. Punjabi From Karachi | February 27th, 2012 at 6:35 am
Oi you fuckfaces fire up the War Nerd Stratfor got Wikileaked!
http://wikileaks.org/IMG/pdf/The_Stratfor_Glossary_of_Useful_Baffling_and_Strange_Intelligence_Terms.pdf
Fucking Hilarious!
Also good for firing up an active paranoia 😛 😀
30. BATSHIT INSANE MONGOLOID BITCH | February 27th, 2012 at 7:01 am
its racist to call michelle malkin “mongoloid” and “bitch”. maybe U need to take a class in compassion and tact. maybe U need to stop hiding behind a fake identity & saying offensive things on the internet. Because I am the type who is really really worried about Michelle Malkin as a victim of racism. Seriously, keeps me up all night.
31. BATSHIT INSANE MONGOLOID BITCH | February 27th, 2012 at 9:43 am
hi hairy bear i am glad that U take my commitment to racial & gender equality seriously. many things in life are uncertain, but at least i can say that the almighty AEC (may peace be upon him) takes my commitment to ERACISM seriously.
though i’d like 2 add that its not michelle malkin who keeps me up all nite. i think U know who does.
<3
32. MANIC MARK | February 27th, 2012 at 10:40 am
SCHOOL SHOOTING IN THE BUCKEYE STATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2012/02/27/national/a053800S00.DTL
POW POW ::makes pistol gestures with hands adn waves all around like yostemite sam:: POWPOWOWPOWPOWPOW
33. charliebucket | February 27th, 2012 at 12:42 pm
It’s only racist if you’re utterly stupid. Mongoloid literally translates to “resembles Mongol.” The Mongols, of course – being batshit crazy – overran practically all of Asia, the ME, and tried to conquer Europe once. If she looked like a female Dolph Lundgren with similarly demented eyes I’d say she looked like a Nazi Aryan bitch – now modeled on another batshit crazy people, who in their case overran practically all of Europe and tried to conquer half of Asia and the ME once. “Bitch,” by the way, is both pan-racial and now gender neutral. Grade: F …as in Fuck off, you Faux-sensitive Fuckhead.
34. MANIC MARK | February 27th, 2012 at 4:11 pm
hi charliebucket. its my sincere opinion that U need to work on being nicer and more charitable on the internet. did U know that some people think that profanity has no place in public discourse b/c its distasteful? i do not think U do. also personally i found ur response 2 be a little immature & also very disingenuous. did U knoiw that “mongoloid” is a term from 19th century race science and is highly offensive 2 asian people? no U did not know or U did not care. if the former U are STUPID if the latter U are RACIST. so U are either STUPID OR RACIST & maybe both. infact i have other suspicions about U that ur an instigator from big government who is trying 2 make people say racist things here. personally i think U should go away if U have more racist and sexist things to say. bye
35. darthfader | February 27th, 2012 at 4:17 pm
Note that Fifo (@16) regurgitates the Paul campaign worker line from 2008 about how Paul’s actually a hero for taking all that Neo-Nazi money, because then noble Paul will have it instead of those Neo-Nazis.
Google “Jesse Benton” if you want to find who laid that turd first. I wonder if Fifo is a useful idiot or just an idiot?
36. dominic | February 27th, 2012 at 7:50 pm
my bet is this disclosure will in no way persuade die-hard libertarian/Ron Paul supporters. Their “philosophy” is so full of contradictions and/or devoid of any internal logic, a small transgression such as this wouldn’t even trip them up.
37. Tierbess | February 27th, 2012 at 8:02 pm
#12 is right. Support for Paul is extremely strong among civil lib advocates, the antiwar crowd, and the antidrug war folks. Besides, Ron Paul is the ONLY presidential contender who wants to audit the Fed, which is a complete fucking no brainer given the corruption between our govt and the finance industry. At least on that score the sniveling racist gets meager props.
38. Flatulissimo | February 27th, 2012 at 8:23 pm
I am disappointed at the relative lack of Paultard trolls on this one. Are they starting to realize that Paul can’t even get more votes than Santorum, and starting to wonder what he’s going to do with all those campaign contributions when there’s no more campaign?
Wait, #35 might be onto something – better for Paul to fleece his idiot supporters for his losing campaign, so they won’t have their own money to spend on xxxl sweatpants and porn.
So, hey Paultards, I’m sure it’s nothing another moneybomb can’t solve! Ron Paul 2012!
39. Yuk | February 28th, 2012 at 1:49 am
Okay Ames I just want to say….
NEW SCHOOL SHOOTING!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/27/ohio-school-shooting-2012-chardon-high_n_1303988.html
Seriously though, your pieces on school shootings (Cho Seung-Hui, the white guy at that shit college) are the fucking best!
I hate to say it but our political system is a complete, total fucking joke. You gotta take a brief break to remind us of why our school system is also a complete, total fucking joke.
40. Yuk | February 28th, 2012 at 2:02 am
As for Ron Paul, even if he was a child-molesting Neo-Nazi serial killer I’d still vote for him…. I’d double vote for him. Three times, times 1 million to the libertarian power. Why? Because he really is one of the only people who’d actually end the foreign wars and the drug wars. And 1000 Sanduskys still isn’t nearly as evil as a single Bush.
41. 69 Anytime 88 On a Date | February 28th, 2012 at 9:43 am
40 Yuk.
You’re a tad naive if you actually a) believe Ron Paul is anything but a corporatist tool, racist, greedy bastard, a conspiracy phreak, and a pseudo-libtard; b) believe the military is going to allow farty ol’ Gramps to end their war-welfare orgy; and c) think the drug wars are “endable” when so much rests on putting 2,500,000 black and Latino men behind a federal-prison wheelbarrow.
42. Hick | February 28th, 2012 at 10:20 am
What #41 said. Paul wants, or says he wants to, disassemble 75% of the US economy – the military/prison/black-ops portion. I don’t think those who benefit from it are going to go away quietly.
43. charliebucket | February 28th, 2012 at 10:48 am
my hypothesis is that i have creepy fucking sexual fantasies
44. Trevor | February 28th, 2012 at 11:04 am
When this was posted to the Nation’s site, the Paul-suckers were all over it with cries of “NO U!” in moments. And now they’re here, demonstrating why weed should never be legalized. These myopic sumbitches deserve prison rape.
And even worse are the people who acknowledge Paul’s reactionary madness but still insist we all hold our noses and vote for the nasty little troll because he’s anti-war. How the fuck is a guy who can’t get more support than Man-On-Dog Santorum gonna put the brakes on those brassholes in the Pentagon!?
45. charliebucket | February 28th, 2012 at 11:15 am
@42 t-rue, or a good excuse or something uhuhuh. bongo advisor said he fjeared a coup if they prosecuted bush-era war criminals or something uhuhuh.
http://www.justice-integrity.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=460:obama-team-feared-coup-death-if-he-prosecuted-war-crimes&catid=44:myblog
uhh.. oh yeah huhuhuhuh
46. MIHCAEL MOYNIHAN, AUTHOR OF LORDS OF CGHAOS | February 28th, 2012 at 11:49 am
@AEC zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
47. Yuk | February 28th, 2012 at 4:41 pm
The difference between Ron Paul and others is that he PRETENDS TO SUCKERS LIKE ME HE DOES NOT GIVE A FUCK.
And I believe it, I buy the whole fucking thing. Cuz I “get it.” Can’t pull the wool over my eyes, nosirree!
48. pat | March 1st, 2012 at 4:52 am
Ron Paul and his ilk have been against women’s rights for many years. If you track the conservative caucus of which Ron Paul was a part you will see it. It is no surprise that some of their cohorts in trying to stop the ERA were the KKK and the Mormon Church. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=A7sqAAAAIBAJ&sjid=WGcEAAAAIBAJ&dq=conservative%20caucus%20john%20birch&pg=4055%2C6213609
49. pat | March 1st, 2012 at 4:59 am
More historical evidence, Ron Paul/Conservative caucus wants arms to go to Taiwan. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Nn9UAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Bo8DAAAAIBAJ&dq=conservative%20caucus%20china&pg=3554%2C613202
Conservative Caucus also involved in Iran Contra, check Nelson Bunker Hunt.
When are you guys going to blow up the gold bugs? That will send the Paulites over the edge. Check Nelson Bunker Hunt and the silver scandal and Lewis Lehrman (a Bush/Arbusto investor) and the co-author of Paul’s book Case for Gold. There is lots of dirt tied to Howard Phillips and Ron Paul.