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Peter Thiel Leaving Meta Board To Focus On Pro-Trump Politics – Forbes

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Topline

Billionaire Peter Thiel—one of Facebook’s earliest investors—plans to leave Meta’s board of directors, the company announced Monday, and plans to focus on influencing November’s midterm elections in favor of Trump-aligned candidates, according to an unnamed source cited by the New York Times.

Key Facts

Thiel, whose net worth stands at $2.6 billion, plans to step down at Meta’s 2022 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, the company announced.

Thiel became increasingly outspoken in favor of Trump, speaking at the 2016 Republican National Convention and defending Trump’s “Muslim ban” in 2017, and as Facebook moved to ban Trump from its platform, his position on the board became increasingly contentious.

Thiel and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg issued statements representing Thiel’s departure as amicable and warmly praising one another for their personal and professional qualities.

Key Background

Thiel was one of Facebook’s first large investors, investing $500,000 in the company in 2004. In 2016, Thiel voiced enthusiastic but qualified support for Trump, describing Trump’s comments about women as “clearly offensive and inappropriate,” but suggesting that Trump would help make the U.S. more prosperous by reducing deficits and taking the U.S. out of “undeclared wars.” In 2021, Thiel donated $10 million to groups backing the campaigns of Trump-supported Arizona Senate candidate Blake Masters and Hillbilly Elegy author and venture capitalist J.D. Vance, an Ohio Senate candidate who has fought to rebrand himself as pro-Trump despite previous harshly critical comments. In January, Thiel and Donald Trump Jr. co-hosted two fundraisers for Harriet Hageman, a Republican primary challenger to Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), who on Friday was censured by the Republican National Committee for serving on a House committee investigating the January 6 riot. Thiel also invested in Rumble, a video sharing platform that bills itself as “immune to cancel culture.” 

Surprising Fact

Thiel’s company Founders Fund contributed more than $10 million to Boldend, a “cyber warfare” startup that developed tools for hacking Meta-owned messaging platform WhatsApp, a source familiar with the company told Forbes.

Tangent

Trump’s relationship with Meta has soured since he was subjected to a two-year Facebook ban in 2021, following the Capitol riot. In his 2022 book Our Journey Together, Trump decried Zuckerburg’s “censorship” and campaign contributions and claimed that Zuckerberg visited the White House to curry favor with him. Truth Social, an alternative social media platform from Trump Media and Technology Group, is scheduled to launch February 21.

Further Reading

“Peter Thiel to Exit Meta’s Board to Support Trump-Aligned Candidates” (New York Times)

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NDP caving to Poilievre on carbon price, has no idea how to fight climate change: PM

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OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.

Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.

On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.

Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.

Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.

British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Quebec consumer rights bill to regulate how merchants can ask for tips

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Quebec wants to curb excessive tipping.

Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for consumer protection, has tabled a bill to force merchants to calculate tips based on the price before tax.

That means on a restaurant bill of $100, suggested tips would be calculated based on $100, not on $114.98 after provincial and federal sales taxes are added.

The bill would also increase the rebate offered to consumers when the price of an item at the cash register is higher than the shelf price, to $15 from $10.

And it would force grocery stores offering a discounted price for several items to clearly list the unit price as well.

Businesses would also have to indicate whether taxes will be added to the price of food products.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Youri Chassin quits CAQ to sit as Independent, second member to leave this month

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Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.

He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.

In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.

Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.

He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.

Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.

He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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