549
submitted 10 months ago by Rapidcreek@lemmy.world to c/politics@lemmy.world
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[-] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 167 points 10 months ago

The book is just there as a gift within a grift.

The candidate "writes" the book and makes it available for sale. But not even their fans buy it.

The books are ordered at full price despite that by PACs to be given away at stuff like this.

This funnels money from PACs directly into the candidates pocket.

A couple years ago it was a big story, because one of them was strategically doing it thru the specific stores around NYC that were sampled for best seller list. They ended up pretty high up on the list for a couple weeks. Media even interviewed workers at the store who were really confused. Books come in on a schedule a couple skids at a time, all individually packed and not at bulk prices. And not even stay a day until picked up by another truck and shipped off again. At some stores this was more volume than every other book that went through the store normally.

They were burning money like crazy, because it was money laundering. The entire point is to move as much money around as possible.

I wouldn't be surprised if one tried some bullshit with valuating the signature tho.

Have the PAC buy them, pay the candidate to sign them, and then give them out at events like this. That could double maybe even triple the money laundering, but I don't know if they have the balls to do it.

[-] mozz@lemmy.sdf.org 47 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

You just blew my mind.

I kept wondering why semi-literate politicians with fully-illiterate supporters would write books at all... who is the target audience? What makes it worth the trouble? Like I don't agree with their priorities but I see them as perfectly effective at what they're trying to do; why are they doing this weird thing? Why can I buy a book Matt Gaetz "wrote," hardcover, on Amazon for $10?

This makes it make sense.

[-] Drusas@kbin.social 40 points 10 months ago

The candidate “writes” the book and makes it available for sale. But not even their fans buy it.

The US has a shockingly high rate of functional illiteracy, and I'm going to guess that her supporters are disproportionately affected by this. Which is to say that they probably couldn't read her book if they wanted to.

[-] thefartographer@lemm.ee 25 points 10 months ago

Not sure what you wrote, but somehow it feels offensive? Can you read your comment to me and let me know if it said something that would offend me?

[-] Drusas@kbin.social 10 points 10 months ago

It's not really offensive, it's just sad. There is a huge population of the United States which is under educated and the topic is largely ignored.

[-] thefartographer@lemm.ee 14 points 10 months ago

I for realsies work in education in Texas. We're truly trying our best, but the challenges we're up against are so pointless and only do harm.

[-] Drusas@kbin.social 8 points 10 months ago

Thanks for trying.

[-] Transporter_Room_3@startrek.website 13 points 10 months ago

Long boring Anecdote time!

Every homeschooling family I know are super republican and are "religious".

Every single child of said families have less than a 6th grade reading level.

One family that got too extreme for my parents to continue being friends with them decided that their daughters book learning was done in fourth grade. After that it was basically home economics without any of the important Financials (because the man handles that, silly, women aren't smart enough!), just basically training a maid to cook and clean and also find a husband. Only a few of her NINE BROTHERS could read the books I was assigned in 5th grade. None of them could read my personal books, as I had a college reading level by 3rd grade, but I'm a super nerd so....

Well sure enough all the boys of that family grew up to be pieces of shit from the interactions I've had with them over the years, and the daughter hasn't been seen in nearly a decade. Ran away the moment she legally could, and I hope she's living her best life away from controlling religious freaks.

My in-laws are "homeschooling" their own children, which amounts to letting them do whatever they want Tuesday and Thursday, and sending them to the church van every m/w/f to be taught by Sunday school teachers. Who of course only talk about creationism. and none of the "graduates" have even heard of Charles Darwin. And also believe humans and T-Rex walked around with each other. Whose fossils were also put in the ground as a test...

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 9 points 10 months ago

Just to pre-empt people putting down homeschooling entirely, my daughter is in online school, which is a form of homeschooling (I still have to be there to help her with schoolwork) and my wife, myself and my daughter are all atheists.

My daughter is in online school because she's an unusual kid with anxiety issues who dares to do things like wear spiked collars, so was at the very bottom of the social pecking order in middle school, meaning that even the bullied kids bullied her. One morning last year, she broke down and said she couldn't handle it anymore. She was already having thoughts of self-harm we knew about and were trying to fix with therapy and medication. The school was doing absolutely nothing to help her. The only private schools here are religious and fuck that.

So there's a state-sponsored free online school option. It's done via Pearson, and they're a horrible company, but it's what we've had to resort to for my daughter's basic mental health. I'm just glad we have the option to do this for her and I'm glad other kids like her have that option. I was pretty severely bullied in middle school too. I had zero friends in my school in seventh grade. The only friends I had went to other schools. I wish I could have done online school in 1989.

We've found a homeschool social group for teens at the public library that meets once a week and a lot of the kids are just weird kids like her. Some of the parents might be crazy religious types, but no one comes off that way.

[-] overzeetop@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago

Like so many things, the good/great reasons for homeschooling have been twisted and perverted by the Christian right (and, in some cases, misguided parents) so that often the optics are for the worst outcomes. If we had it to do over again (20/20 hindsight) we probably would have had a better outcome homeschooling our daughter. We just didn’t see out recognize the shortcomings until it was too late.

[-] ThirdWorldOrder@lemm.ee 5 points 10 months ago

Glad you’re able to take an approach to help your daughter’s mental health. Middle school and high school are such difficult times for so many people and its effects can last a lifetime.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago

Thank you. And definitely about how difficult it can be. A lot of damage has already been done that can never be undone and she still has moments where she breaks down over some minor thing even though she's been out of school for months now. We were originally thinking she could start at a different public school next year, but I honestly don't know how long she will need to heal from this. At least she's overall a happier kid now. Of course, what kid wouldn't be happy when you can do your math sitting at a cafe drinking bubble tea?

We've gone down to a single income because I have to stay home and we're lucky my wife has a good enough job so that we can afford to do that with some sacrifices. I know a lot of parents aren't that lucky, unfortunately. A lot of kids who could use this kind of healing are not going to get it. Their state may not offer it and their parents may not be able to afford it. I wish everyone had an option to do this for their kids if that's what their kids needed.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 13 points 10 months ago

I don't know if it's still there, but years ago I heard an NPR story about a bookstore in D.C. which existed solely to sell books back to the PACs. The only books available in the store were written by politicians.

[-] 0110010001100010@lemmy.world 71 points 10 months ago

The cost to attend was $45 to $1,000 to meet Greene and "receive a signed copy of her book.”

These traitors never stop grifting, do they.

[-] Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world 61 points 10 months ago

It’s it signed by her, or by the person that wrote it?

[-] gregorum@lemm.ee 10 points 10 months ago
[-] agent_flounder@lemmy.world 9 points 10 months ago

Until I see evidence to the contrary, I will assume she doesn't know how to write her name, so I will guess the latter.

[-] AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago

They could have given her a stamp. That's what I would've done.

[-] WarmSoda@lemm.ee 4 points 10 months ago

She's already got one. On her lower back.

[-] Krackalot@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 10 months ago

If she needs help, this is how I spell it: Yuck.

[-] tsonfeir@lemm.ee 1 points 10 months ago

It’s just fist pounding and some screams.

[-] superduperenigma@lemmy.world 39 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

That's 100% on the venue. I mean let's be honest, if it's a Marjorie Taylor Greene event you should probably assume it's got some Jan 6/white supremacy focus until proven otherwise.

[-] tsonfeir@lemm.ee 9 points 10 months ago

May have been booked in a different way. Like, they just knew it was some political thing until closer to the event.

[-] mateomaui@reddthat.com 9 points 10 months ago

The article’s subtitle

The event was originally touted as book-signing hosted by a local Republican Party.

[-] teamevil@lemmy.world 29 points 10 months ago

What an absolute treasonous garbage bag of a human ..

[-] bomberesque1@lemm.ee 26 points 10 months ago

Florida venue seems more level headed than Florida man

[-] pigup@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

Venue meth is hard to get, man meth on the other hand....

[-] TheBat@lemmy.world 17 points 10 months ago

Should've replaced her with Micky Rourke.

[-] xc2215x@lemmy.world 15 points 10 months ago

Good move by the Florida venue.

[-] Jaysyn@kbin.social 9 points 10 months ago

Well there is a pleasant surprise from my home state.

[-] autotldr@lemmings.world 7 points 10 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


The event was set to be hosted by the Republican Party of Osceola County at the Westgate Resorts in Kissimmee.

It was originally pitched to Westgate as a small book-signing event featuring Greene, without mention of Jan. 6.

The cost to attend was $45 to $1,000 to meet Greene and "receive a signed copy of her book.”

Greene has long supported former President Donald Trump's belief that the 2020 election was stolen from him, and she has downplayed the severity of the Jan. 6 attack — which left five people dead and about 140 police officers injured.

“Just another day in Florida where the local Republican Party in Osceola County is hosting an 'anniversary' event to mark January 6th and Marjorie Taylor Green is the 'special' guest,” Democratic state Rep. Anna Eskamani posted on X.

Osceola County Republican Party Chairman Mark Cross did not reply to a request seeking comment, so it is unclear whether the event has been rescheduled.


The original article contains 383 words, the summary contains 160 words. Saved 58%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[-] JeeBaiChow@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago

How bad does she have to be if even Florida is telling her to eff off?

[-] Burn_The_Right@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago

In other news, Florida venue is latest target of conservative terrorism.

[-] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 10 months ago

Oh noez, cancel culture is targeting conservatives unfairly! Fucking shithead.

[-] morgunkorn@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 10 months ago

One option for a venue left: Four Seasons Total Landscaping

[-] Fridgeratr@lemmy.world 0 points 10 months ago

Get ready for her to screech about "muh free speech reeee" 🙄

this post was submitted on 05 Jan 2024
549 points (97.4% liked)

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