Elizabeth Wahler

Tech entrepreneur. Strategist. Advisor. Angel. Lover of visual & voice search. Global Board Member at @oceana and #SeaChangeSummerParty event chair.

[Elizabeth Wahler @LUX4Good]

This post is worth translating - it communicates much of what I’ve been sharing about IRGC wanting control over the straight and shipping lanes off the coast of Yemen.

“The most dangerous concern is that Iran, through the Houthis, will control #باب_المندب , the global vital strait. This is a frightening matter for the Gulf states, Egypt and the world, which they will not surrender to under any pretext.”

[عبدالرحمن الراشد @aalrashed]

مقالي: الحوثي لم يعد مشكلة سعودية

(للسعوديين واليمنيين.. العالم لا يدور حول غزة، لديهم حربهم وإنهاؤها له الأولوية. والحوثي الآن اصبح مشكلة العالم، بما فيها دول شرق البحر الأحمر مثل العراق والخليج والصين)
https://t.co/aaw2bd37fQ

هل ميليشيا الحوثي مستفيدة من دخول حرب غزة؟
لا، بل مكلفة سياسياً، باستثناء الدعاية على مستوى الداخل اليمني والإقليمي، الذي قد يغيّر صورتَها السيئة، كميليشيا طائفية معتدية. وهذه المكاسب وقتية.
أمَّا ما يروّج له بأنَّ استهداف واشنطن يعطى الحوثي الشرعية، فطبعاً غير صحيح، فقد سبقَ وهاجمت «القاعدة» و«داعش» و«الشباب» في الصومال ولم يمنحهم شيئاً من الشرعية. ومع هذا الاستهداف العسكري المحدود لن يفقدَ الحوثي السلطة، بخلاف «القاعدة» التي فرَّت من أفغانستان وإطاحة إمارة طالبان بعد قصفها عام 2001. إنَّما الحوثي سيصبح تحت الملاحقة والعقوبات ويزيد وضعه السيئ سوءاً. فقد تسبب تهديده الملاحة الدولية في #البحر_الأحمر في الأضرار، ليس فقط بالتجارة الغربية وإسرائيل، بل أيضاً، ب #مصر و #السعودية ودول الخليج و #العراق وكذلك #الهند و #الصين، وأصبح تأمين الملاحة قضية ملحة ومحل إجماع الأطراف على اختلاف مواقفهم.

وكل هذه الدول مستفيدة من تشكيل التحالف الدولي لمواجهة الحوثي، وإن لم تشارك فيه. فحجم الملاحة والتجارة الإسرائيلية عبر البحر الأحمر صغير مقارنة حتى بالمجموعة الخليجية.

الهاجس الأخطر، أن تسيطر إيران، عبر الحوثي، على #باب_المندب، المضيق الحيوي العالمي، هذه مسألة مخيفة لدول الخليج ومصر والعالم، الأمر الذي لن تستسلم له تحت أي ذريعة.

وعلينا ألا ننسى أن حرب 1956 و«العدوان الثلاثي»، وقع نتيجة تداعيات تأميم والسيطرة المصرية على قناة السويس، وكذلك حرب 1967 مع إسرائيل ثارت نتيجة إعلان مصر إغلاق مضائق تيران.

[Chamath Palihapitiya @chamath]

Institutions are inefficient.

Experts are overrated.

Capital should flow toward builders.

Technology compounds.

Independent thinking wins.

[Elizabeth Wahler @LUX4Good]

@E_Barcohana @SteveHiltonx Steve has worked tirelessly every single day since he decided to go all-in on his race. His commitment to good governance, leadership, and accountability and common sense is extraordinary.

[Steve Hilton @SteveHiltonx]

ELECTION NIGHT: HUNTINGTON BEACH

Change is coming to California--and it's long overdue☀️

[Elizabeth Wahler @LUX4Good]

@KalshiPolitics You got this Steve!!! And Nov 3rd!

[Steve Hilton @SteveHiltonx]

There are two candidates for governor who would bring change: me and Chad Bianco.

Only one of us can now make the run-off.

A vote for Bianco is a vote for TWO DEMOCRATS in the top two. Here's the math:

[Steve Hilton @SteveHiltonx]

Vote Different

[Chris Williamson @ChrisWillx]

"This is gonna be the issue between 2026 and 2028." @friedberg

[Scott Jennings @ScottJenningsKY]

Big CA GOV debate tomorrow night on @cnn ... and to preview it is the leading Republican candidate in the field @SteveHiltonx. Can a Republican win in CA? Hilton says YES. Hear his reasons why...

[The All-In Podcast @theallinpod]

“Union power, Litigation, and Climate Dogma”: Steve Hilton's Three Reasons for California's Housing Crisis

@chamath:

“ What is going on? Why are rents so high, why are homes so expensive for the 40 million residents of California?”

@SteveHiltonx:

“This particular issue, I think, almost captures better than anything else the underlying structural reasons why everything is so difficult in California, and so expensive.

Because you've got these three structural forces that I think underpin the problem and show why a Democrat can't fix it.

And the three things are union power, litigation, and climate dogma.

The first part of the story is that we're just not building enough homes for the number of jobs that we are creating and the size of our population. It's a classic supply and demand situation.

CEQA, the California Environmental Quality Act, itself is a nightmare in terms of the amount of regulation you have to comply with.

The private right of action means anyone can sue. 70% of CEQA lawsuits are used to block housing. Most of those lawsuits are filed by unions.

They're used as leverage to negotiate what they call project labor agreements, where you have an agreement for the site, and usually they have one or two of these components, both of which sound great: skilled and trained workforce, which means union only, so it's a closed shop; and prevailing wage, again sounds very good, but it's 2-3x market rate wages.

So both of those things inflate the cost.”

[Elizabeth Wahler @LUX4Good]

@RichardGrenell @CarlaHSands He sure does!!

[Blake Byers @byersblake]

How the 5% California wealth tax is a 67% wealth tax for Sergey Brin:
>Owns 3% of GOOG.
>Holds 25.3% of voting rights
>Wealth tax is assessed as the greater of his ownership or voting rights. So his tax is 5% * his 25.3% voting ownership = 1.27% of the value of GOOG.
>1.27% taxes / 3% ownership looks like a 42.2% wealth tax, but that's not quite right.
>He has to pay the wealth tax with after-tax cash proceeds. So he needs to sell enough stock to cover 37.1% in taxes first (23.8% federal and 13.3% state).
>His gross stock sale has to be 2.01% of GOOG to cover the wealth tax + federal and state taxes.
>His wealth tax bill is thus 67% of his net worth (2.01%/3%)
>This for 2026. There are proposals being drafted for a 2028 wealth tax.
(I understand that some people see this as a feature)

[Elizabeth Wahler @LUX4Good]

All true. But they easily spent the money to qualify this for the ballot. What’s to stop from a massive PR campaign to see that it goes through that will only end up costing the state and taxpayers a tremendous amount of money and litigation? It needs to be stopped before that happens.

[The All-In Podcast @theallinpod]

🚨 ALL-IN INTERVIEW!

CA Governor Candidate Steve Hilton on Why California is Destroying Itself and How a Republican Can Win

@SteveHiltonx sits down with @chamath and @Jason to discuss:

-- Taxes: No tax under $100K and a 7.5% flat rate

-- Housing: Why CA homes cost 3x more to build

-- Education: Why CA schools spend the most but get the least

-- Social: Crime, homelessness, and corruption

(0:00) Intro: Steve Hilton is a Republican Brit Running for CA Governor

(8:34) Zero Tax Under $100K and a 7.5% Flat Rate: Is It Fiscally Possible?

(27:52) Why CA Homes Cost 3x More to Build (Unions, CEQA, and Climate Dogma)

(44:50) Why CA Schools Spend the Most but Get the Worst Results

(50:02) Crime, Homelessness, and the Failure to Enforce Laws That Already Exist

(1:01:34) Can a Republican Actually Win California?

[David Tangipa @DavidTangipa]

🚨The Billionaire tax is a Trojan Horse!

You are NOT voting on a new tax, you are voting on a new tax structure!

With future deficits, and an insatiable appetite for other people’s money watch this go from “Billionaires” to the “Top 1%” or any other subjective definition they need.

The top 1% in assets would be anyone with a net worth around $13.7 million.

In a state like California where the average home value in the Bay Area or Southern California exceed $1.5 million.

A person who owns 5 homes in San Mateo and inherited or accumulated property over the last few decades would now have to pay a new tax.

This could quickly go from “Billionaire” to the average generational California.

[Steve Hilton For Governor @TeamSteveHilton]

We cannot let insane Democrat taxes and regulations drive AI out of Silicon Valley!

California must stay the AI Capital of the World. Steve’s 5-point plan is the roadmap: common-sense AI regulation, abundant affordable energy, bring back manufacturing jobs, transform education and training, and lower taxes plus world-class infrastructure!

[Carl DeMaio @carldemaio]

CA Dems got 1.5M signatures to put a costly new Savings Tax on the ballot. They call it a "Billionaire's Tax" but we found a provision in it that actually makes it the "Everyone Tax" - WATCH: https://t.co/lZr6SvfMe5

[David Tangipa @DavidTangipa]

🚨 BREAKING: Voter ID will officially be on the ballot in November!

Right now it is illegal to ask for ID when you show up to vote in California.

That’s straight-up insanity.

In November you’ll finally have a chance to bring a basic, normal safeguard to our elections.

Here are just some of the countries that require voter ID (many with biometrics too):
Canada, Mexico, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Greece, Ireland, India, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Panama, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Pakistan, Turkey, Israel, Egypt, South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Angola, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, Cameroon, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Australia (in some forms), New Zealand (certain elections), and dozens more across Africa, Latin America, and Asia.

176 countries worldwide require some form of voter ID to vote.

This isn’t radical. It’s common sense everywhere else.

California should not be the outlier

[Chamath Palihapitiya @chamath]

As you go to work today and settle into the week, please study the form below. You will soon need to fill this out EVERY year and tell the government what you own and then allow them to tell you how much its worth.

That is the framework that is enabled by the Trojan Horse "Billionaire Tax" that is trying to get passed.

Give them credit: they cleverly use Billionaires as the hook, but build in the language and the framework that will allow the Legislature to simply extend the tax to everyone and make it yearly.

And this is where the form below comes in...

In this case, ask yourself, will it be you or the Billionaires that will be able to fill this out properly and avoid penalties.

As much as Billionaires can be pushed to do more for society, we all know that they have the infrastructure to manage these kinds of disclosures...middle class Californians do not and they will be the ones that get penalized in the end.

[David Tangipa @DavidTangipa]

The Billionaire tax is a Trojan Horse

You are NOT voting on a new tax, you are voting on a new tax structure!

Watch this go from “Billionaires” to the “Top 1%”

The top 1% in assets would be anyone with a net worth around $13.7 million.

In a state like California where the average home value in the Bay Area or Southern California exceed $1.5 million.

A person who owns 5 homes in San Mateo and inherited or accumulated property over the last few decades would now have to pay a new tax.

This could quickly go from “Billionaire” to the average generational California.

[Chamath Palihapitiya @chamath]

The Billionaire Tax is actually an Everyone Tax.

The Billionaire Tax is a new tax proposal written by four professors who don't believe in the American dream. Some of them aren’t even American…go figure.

Despite its name, it applies to every California resident who currently has assets or ever will.

The creators named it the Billionaire Tax so you would get into a froth andwouldn't look closely at what it actually does to you.

On page twenty-six, it explains how the government can convert to an Everyone Tax without voter approval.

They can also adjust the tax to be a yearly tax, not just one time…again, without your approval.

Here's how the tax would work: As a voter, you're being asked to approve a tax that would require you to:

1. list all your assets and the value of each, then submit them to the California Franchise Tax Board.

2. authorize the tax board to appraise your assets and confirm the value of each.

3. pay a penalty of up to forty percent of your tax bill if the board determines your reported value was too low in their opinion.

4. allow the tax board to subpoena your financial records from every one of your financial institutions for auditing.

This Everyone Tax runs 34 pages of shifty language describing how the government plans to take your assets. Read the fine print and decide for yourself.

If this were truly a billionaire tax, it would be 3 pages.

It’s 34 pages so that it can create the mechanisms to steal from all of you.