Billionaire Jeff Bezos Rented Venice-Owning the World Ain't Enough

“I fight authority, authority always wins. Well, I’ve been doing it since I was a young kid. I’ve come out grinnin’.” — John Mellencamp, “Authority Song”

When Billionaires Play House, the World Pays the Price

We’ve been here before, haven’t we? A billionaire throws a private, multi-gazillion‑dollar bash in a public space—and the spectacle somehow morphs into a fluffed-up narrative of “exclusivity” and “local benefits.” It’s damn near rote in the age of Trump. But man, does the bullshit dissolve under the slightest bit of scrutiny.

Jeff Bezos isn’t celebrating love; he’s performing power. He rented Venice—yes, we have monopolists renting whole cities—and we’re calling it a wedding. But when an incel turned James Bond villain masquerading as a man—one who already controls more resources than many countries—rents a major city, it’s a GD mating ritual.

Jeff Bezos, thinking he can be cool…and she likes him for him

Peacock spiders native to Australia have turned courtship into an art form. The tiny males, usually less than 5mm in size, perform elaborate dances to attract females. These performances involve raising and vibrating their colorfully patterned abdominal flaps, which resemble a peacock’s fan, while simultaneously moving their third pair of legs in coordinated patterns.

Tiny, displaying abdominal flaps, a third pair of legs…that’s Bezos all right.

Except he isn’t trying to attract a female, he has his billions for that, from our deranged, rapacious system of barely-regulated capitalism via bought-off clownfish in Congress. No, this dance is a “fuck you” to everyone who somehow forgot Bezos is better than us. And America has the Trumpian tax and regulation policies to prove it.

So, I promise you this myopic mook doesn’t see the outrage of Venetians, Americans and the world as regrettable. In fact, I’m sure it gives him the kinda dopamine high Elon needs to snort a Cybertruck to obtain. Jeff’s just living his best Trumpian life.

200 guests, 20–30 million euros in expenses, anchored by a $500 million yacht—which I’d pay good money to see someone go all Master and Commander on (while nobody’s aboard). Meanwhile, the locals are left to watch as canals are transformed into red-carpet lanes, and their home is no longer their own, because the Count of Corporate Conglomeration has to emotionally crush the kids who pantsted him in high school.

And prove he’s cool. He’s really cool.

Venetians are starving for housing, decent services, and a life they can afford. Instead, they’re just a a photo op for a billionaire. Hell, he could feed them all for what he probalby paid for her lips. It’s grotesque. As “No Space for Bezos” activists said loud and clear, “If you can rent Venice for your wedding you can pay more tax.”

On the bright side, her lips can also be used as a flotation device

Yeah, I think I see this logic, considering during the presidencies of FDR, Truman and yes, Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower (when it was a different party—which is to say when it’s leadership didn’t appear in the opening scene of “2001 a Space Odyssey”)—these Presidents and Congress instituted a 90% top tax rate for bastards like Bezos. I mean, read this—and I dare you not to find this even more repulsive:

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LISEP developed a “Minimal Quality of Life Index,” which takes into account not only essentials, such as food and shelter, but the costs living a fulfilling life with a chance at upward mobility. Food costs in the model include occasional trips to casual restaurants as well as the cost of hosting an annual holiday meal. The index factors in basic leisure costs, such as cable and streaming subscriptions, and trips to the six movies and two MLB games per year in the cheap seats.

According to LISEP’s analysis, most Americans don’t meet that standard. In 2023, the bottom 60% of households by income fell well short of the threshold for a minimal quality of life.

No problem for Bezos, though. As the character Annie said in the brilliant film about baseball and life, “Bull Durham,” “The world is made for people who aren't cursed with self-awareness.” Or lack the inconvenience of a conscience.

Venetians, to their credit, are hitting back hard. Blockades were threatened, banners splashed over iconic landmarks and activists vowed to “make guests choke on their wedding cake.” There’s some great Marie Antoinette inversion in there. And be it those banners on bell towers to giant Bezos mannequins floating down the Grand Canal clutching dollar bills, the message is clear: wealth should not confer the right to seize public space.

Because, in Italy they understand what we need to re-learn from our history, as Trump tries to sell off our public parks and little Bezos clones try to privatize everything. As Mr. Spock said in “Star Trek II, The Wrath of Khan,” “The good of the many outweighs the good of the few. Or the one.” A shorter synonym here is the public good.

Of course, city officials swoon at the supposed “economic windfall.” Mayor Brugnaro called it “an honor,” eager to host corporate royalty. Meanwhile, renters are evicted, young people priced out of homes and tourists are turned into traffic. Tell me again, how his self-indulgent, masturbatory celebration by a billionaire is helping?

Some will insist “they’re giving back”…a million euros to Corila’s research (Corila advances and assists with research on the Venice lagoon) and local vendors enjoying huge demand. But these are mere crumbs from a feast most will never taste.

Bezos wields the wealth to shape policy, leverage tax loopholes and turn international cities into paid props for his amusement. He gives with one hand, decks you in the nose with the other—turning overpriced airspace and canal routes into golden photo backdrops for his quaint, little party.

In the end, while Venetians fight to stay in their homes, Bezos casually buys a stage. Venice is his rented theater of the financially absurd, curated for luxury, shielded from scrutiny, all while global inequality reaches cruel and ultimately destabilizing levels. There’s a helluva lot more arrogance riding golden gondolas than romance.

This ostentatious, sham wedding is a statement: money writes history, and public space? Merely acreage to confiscate from the public by the highest bidder.

And yet—the protests matter. They’re more than spectacle. They’re a rebuke of billionaire impunity. They stand up and say no—not to a man, but a system that measures human worth by the size of your wallet. Cured polio? Best Olympic gymnast in the world? Most talented damn welder the world’s ever seen? Yeah, whatever, how much cash ya got stowed away in Switzerland, Luxembourg, Grand Cayman?

Let’s mass protest this kind of sickening, debased gaudiness. Let’s fight for the kind of massive cultural change makes it so BezosElonZuckThiel feel the need to hide their faces in shame rather than show their surgically altered mugs in public with these kinds of displays. And then let’s take power back and tax the shit out of these empathy-free, wealth-hoarding parasites.

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THIS WEEK ON AMPED UP:

This week, we lit a fuse on the Pentagon’s political powder keg—and it went kaboom!

Cliff and David tore into Pete Hegseth’s deranged Pentagon press conference, where Trump’s handpicked Secretary of Defense went full tantrum, screaming at reporters for daring to ask about…facts. You know, like whether we hit anything in Iran. The crew called it what it is: an unhinged authoritarian circus run by liars, suck-ups, and adjudicated predators. And no, we’re not exaggerating—just quoting the résumé.

We were also joined by the brilliant Allison Gill—AKA Mueller, She Wrote—who popped in fresh from live-tweeting the Kilmar Abrego Garcia hearing. She broke down the latest legal chaos, connected dots between authoritarian power grabs, corrupt judicial maneuvers and what it all means. As always, she brought receipts.

Then came Mike Nellis, digital strategist and certified “Democratic asshole” (self-described!), who helped us unpack just how deep this administration's incompetence really goes. From the botched Iran messaging to ICE agents abducting kids in Home Depot parking lots, it’s not just evil—it’s amateur hour infected with mad cow disease.

Also: Cliff introduced his new three-part slogan for the MAGA regime—Corruption. Cruelty. Incompetence. Print the T-shirts.

We dug into why Trump’s economic lies are imploding, why even Republican ranchers are begging for workers and how Democrats must stop speaking The King’s English and fight like kitchen-table populists again. Because you can’t tweet your way out of a war—and sure as hell can’t bomb your way out of 39% approval ratings.

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…Yo, Check This Out!

If You Don’t Know Your Rights, They Don’t Have to Respect Them

There’s a dangerous trend emerging from the Supreme Court and Trump-infected bureaucracy—it’s easy to spot: if you don’t know your rights, the government no longer must treat you like you have them. It’s their goal for everyone but their wealthy donors.

Whether it’s birthright citizenship, Miranda protections, or Social Security benefits—you’re on your own unless you have connected people you can reach, or otherwise find a way to get through to someone, know exactly what to demand, how and when.

In other words: ignorance isn’t just vulnerability anymore. It’s policy.

• SCOTUS Just Gutted Federal Oversight on Birthright Challenges
  In a 6–3 ruling, the right-wing majority stripped federal judges of the power to issue national injunctions—meaning if one person challenges a denial of birthright citizenship, the ruling applies only to that person, not others in the same situation. Translation: even if the government is violating the Constitution, it’s allowed to keep doing it to everyone else until they’re individually challenged in court.

• Miranda Rights Are Now Optional—for the Government
  In a separate ruling last year, SCOTUS declared that law enforcement officers cannot be sued for failing to read you your Miranda rights. So technically, your rights exist—but if you don’t know them, tough shite. The Court’s logic seems to be: if your rights aren’t printed out and laminated in your wallet, they don’t count.

• Social Security? You Earned It, But You Have to Ask for It
  Here’s the kicker: your Social Security benefits aren’t automatic. If you don’t know how to apply—or what you’re owed—the government doesn’t have to tell you. Miss a deadline or file incorrectly, you may lose what you worked your whole life to earn. Once again, ignorance of the system isn’t a bug—it’s the system.

This is all distressing and incredibly dangerous. We must all start calling this out for what it is: An right-wing elitist plan to make most Americans 2nd class citizens.

Want to know your rights before they pretend you don’t have them? Don’t wait for the Supreme Court to explain it. Download your free Pocket Constitution now! Click Here »»» Carry it. Read it. Share it. Because knowledge is your first line of defense.

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