Documenting disinformation, corruption, malfeasance ...
I purchased this domain (BuriedTruth.com) in 2020-02. It was apparently a spyware software vendor ~2003-2007 (a practice that is a polar opposite to my beliefs), then a "junk" (WordPress "blog" site placeholder) ~2009, and finally offered for sale in 2014 (listed at ~$1895 in 2019 in the last Internet Archive / WayBackMachine snapshot). It was subsequently delisted, as I got it for ~100x less.
The name -- "Buried Truth" -- is somewhat overstated, but it is nearly impossible to find and purchase a short, descriptive URL. Given the limited choices available, "BuriedTruth.com" seemed the most suited to my aims (summarized below), as I sift through layers of informational sediment, uncovering facts and associations.
On the front end, I want to be as transparent and lightweight as possible, citing the sources for the material covered, while replicating that material in a low-overhead format that is light on resources, and free of distracting clutter and privacy-invading trackers. Consequently, by design the material provided here presented in a relatively simple HTML format.
On BuriedTruth.com I am primarily focused on identifying and connecting entities and events. While this initial effort is largely done manually, downstream I will apply machine learning and natural language processing approaches to the addition, curation, and linking of semantic concepts (information).
Anticipating those approaches, when I appropriate Wikipedia pages for my own use (here) I first reference that source (enabling Readers can verify and explore that source material more fully), then strip off the references, and manually disambiguate co-reference mentions. Those steps simplify the text for natural language processing and relation extraction (the extraction of triples for knowledge graph construction), reducing noise and errors.
To increase the informational and semantic content, I also edit those (and other webpages, e.g. internet-sourced) with updated content, including new news articles; hyperlinks to relevant material elsewhere on BuriedTruth.com, ...
In all cases, while I survey a large and diverse array of news sources, I exclude anything from websites and sources of questionable reliability (see my discussion of Sources, below).
The local archiving of material solves several problems. First, the reformatting of content free of superfluous code (HTML; CSS; JavaScript; ...), provides cosmetic uniformity across the site, and increases efficiency (web page load times; ...) while removing trackers and other annoyances. This practice also preserves material that might otherwise disappear over time -- e.g, as websites close or posts disappear. It also provides a corpus of raw material for information extraction, analysis and visualization.
[Fascism ...] Conspiracy theories destroy an information space.
... The goal -- fascism is based on a friend-enemy distinction, so you're either with them or against them. The enemy is the enemy of civilization. What it [fascism] does is it destroys the information space. It makes you think that even if your guys are corrupt and lying, it is because [the leader is] facing a mysterious cabal that is controlling things that are trying to foment a race war. This is the basis of the Ku Klux Klan ideology.
And even when they seem respectable they're really being controlled by the Marxists and the minorities. And so that makes you think that your opposition is not legitimate and there's no debating them because they're really in a conspiracy to hide a pedophilic sex ring [QAnon] and advance the interests of Marxism. And so what we find is not just a conspiracy theory but a conspiracy theory that echoes the worst aspects of European history and American history. ...
"Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own governors, must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives. A popular government without popular information or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives." -- James Madison | Misquoting Madison [local copy (html)] | William T. Barry: Political Life
Like many of you, I am concerned with the challenges that we all face: climate change, ecological destruction, electronic surveillance (including loss of privacy and eroded freedoms), the growing wealth gap, poverty, pervasive disinformation and misinformation, corruption, and all facets of "structural violence" (which includes crime and punishment, capitalistic excess, and neoliberalism).
More specifically, this project evolved from my discovery in the summer of 2019 of the 2017 U.S. Navy / AATIP / TTSA "UFO" videos, and a deep search to understand the nature of the phenomena shown in those videos. That relatively simple task quickly evolved into a deeper exploration of the nature of truth, deception, and disinformation:
By "following the money," webs of influence are revealed. Exploring those issues tied together many disparate areas, often with surprising commonality -- fundamentally, the pursuit and profit, power and influence.
We live in an era where a handful of people -- literally a dozen or so -- hold as much wealth as the rest of us; where corporations lie, cheat and steal; where wealthy and privileged politicians serve special interest groups rather than their constituents; where our and future generations face ecological collapse and unfathomable consequences of climate change; where socio/psychopaths run world governments; and where the lines between truth and lies and deception are irreversibly erased. All of those contribute immeasurably to the existential risks that we all face. Consequently, we require factual knowledge to inform those seeking to address these challenges to humanity.
In large part, this website explores barriers to truth and transparency that disproportionately benefit ultra-wealthy individuals and corporations ideologies through well funded dark money networks, to the detriment of the vast majority of humankind. , powerful and secretive special interest groups coopt the legislative, judicial, and executive branches of government for their benefit, rather than the common good. These often decades-long, iteratively-refined campaigns include antagonistic and divisive onslaughts of misinformation and disinformation, that stagnate public discussion through informational overload and fatigue.
This recent article,
[2020-09-20] The Supply of Disinformation Will Soon Be Infinite. Disinformation campaigns used to require a lot of human effort, but artificial intelligence will take them to a whole new level.
... provides a good summary of the present and future extinction of "truth" -- which is a fait accompli in the era of machine-learning generated "deepfakes," and generative contextual language models such as Open AI's "GPT-3" model [Wikipedia].
Seeing no longer believing: the manipulation of online images. Online images are not always what they seem, especially on social media.
Consequently -- in the U.S. political realm -- persons such as Donald Trump, Bill Barr, Mitch McConnell have virtually free rein in their pursuit of various neoliberal, neoconservative, neofascist, racist and xenophobic, ... agendae with little or no fear of prosecution. However bad their actions, given the volume of disinformation polluting social media and the news media (if they even mention it), the wearied public demurely presses on while their rights, freedoms and privileges continually erode.
Recent, select examples.
Neoliberalism: privitization of the U.S. Postal Service (a five-decades long quest of billionaire Charles Koch); advances toward the privatization of education (billionaire Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos); ...
Neoconservatism: stacking the U.S. Supreme Court with Christian right-aligned judges (Amy Coney Barrett); erosion of LGBTQ+ and women's rights (Roger Severino); ...
Neofascism: surveillance, assault and arrest of peaceful protestors (Operation Legend); involuntary sterilization of migrant women; mail-in ballots, voter suppression and dictatorial concerns; ...
Systemic racism and xenophobia: U.S. Agency for International Development; ...
Yellowstone (2018) S03E01: "You're the Indian Now." Monica chastises her students for their lack of interest in the world in which they live ["information bubble"].
[Source]
[2012-07-21] Jeff Daniels: "The Newsroom - America is not the greatest country in the world anymore...:". Will McAvoy (Jeff Daniels) hits the nail straight on the head in the opening minutes on HBO's new series 'The Newsroom'. He is asked by a college student a simple question during a campus debate. 'What makes America the greatest country in the world?'. Daniels initially goes the politically correct route then at the last minute goes with a honest, bold, straight forward answer that sums up a lot of the worlds problems that so many are afraid to accept because we all want to believe in our system and that it is our system that works. The evidence that is out there today is to the contrary and he discloses such information in his argument. We used to be the worlds best of the best and now we are just pretending. The first step to solving a problem is to admit there is one.
[Source]
To address the challenges just mentioned in a post-truth world, we need sources of information that seek to provide the truth, as much as possible. To that end, it's important to note that the content in this project is necessarily filtered and biased, by me, according to my current thinking (ecosocialist) and personal agendae (truth; accountability; social justice; ...). Your viewpoint may differ, and that's OK.
To investigate and understand any domain of interest, one has to conduct exhaustive background research. In ufology, that includes identifying the key persons, corporations and agencies, and critically assessing the truthfulness of that material. Identified sources and purveyors of disinformation must be wholly discounted and any material associated with them must be discarded (without exception) as being fraudulent. Some years ago it was Richard Doty and others of his ilk; more recently it's Robert Bigelow, Luis Elizondo and the whole AATIP / TTSA cabal, which I regard as Doty's successors in the ufology domain.
Why do people / entities / governments lie? Lies have value (monetary; influence leveraged into money) that contribute to power. So to understand what's behind a lot of the big "unknowns" it's necessary to identify and track the key players, and the money. Answers to most of the "big questions" are available on the web, if you look for them and assess their validity and reliability. For example, cattle mutilations appear to be covert screening of environmental prions, associated with bovine spongiform encephalopathy and chronic wasting disease. That resilient, proteinaceous pathogen poses both grave risks to humans, and economic costs. Ironically, one of Bigelow's companies came to the same conclusion, before he was brought into the military-industrial complex (MIC) -- later administering the AATIP programme, for example.
Those are just a couple of quick examples. However, the underlying themes (e.g. the enormous multi-trillion dollar black hole that feeds the MIC) manifest in our daily lives: increasing wealth / poverty gap, near total global electronic surveillance, erosion of privacy, erosion of basic human rights and conditions, eroded freedoms, ecological destruction and climate change, endless war contribute to dystopian realities that are manifest in China and other nations, including so-called Western / European "democracies."
As I proceed, I will use the programmatic, scientific and technical skills I've honed over many years to develop the tools needed to address these challenges (including machine learning, natural language processing, and data science approaches including data visualization, dimensionality reduction, graphical models (knowledge graphs), signals analysis, Bayesian belief networks, algorithmic detection of fake news and disinformation, etc.
Downstream, it is my intention to apply those tools to the research areas I originally intended to explore: molecular genetics, molecular genomics, metabolic flux balance analyses (e.g. biochemical and signal transduction pathways perturbed by nucleotide changes and druggable targets), precision medicine, ...
I am also keenly interested in providing enriched user experiences, e.g. through interactive content -- both textual and graphical (e.g. the ability for users at the site to dynamically query, retrieve and graphically visualize data, facilitating personalized data analysis.
To source my material I generally rely on the anonymized (non-tracking), self-hosted metasearch engine Searx (described in my research blog post. I also subscribe to a variety of RSS feeds and (to a lesser extent and far more skeptically) a few reddit feeds -- providing a more balanced distribution of sources while also minimizing the information silos/bubbles that the main search engines provide (e.g., "personalized" results -- whether or not you've disabled that feature).
While favoring some websites, I am nevertheless skeptical of all websites -- excluding some (e.g. FOX News; RT.com), and being more suspicious of others (e.g. CNN.com). While CBC.ca is reasonably good, they often tend to omit key links to source material and have an annoying habit of providing non-staff 'contributions' -- e.g. thinly-veiled transphobia by Vancouver B.C. TERF / troll Meghan Murphy and others [see note UXi6te8e in my raw file].
... a discussion on the sourcing of information on BuriedTruth.com.
By covering a variety of informational Sources, monitoring their motivations and agendae, and investigating their sources (e.g, raw source vs. mirrored content) I hope to provide -- as much as possible -- reputable content providing truthful information.
As previously stated, I am interested in pursuing the major topics described near the top of this page (climate change; ecological destruction; wealth inequality; abuses of power and influence; ...). Accordingly, you should be aware that the material on this website, BuriedTruth.com is likely to be biased in favor of those topics and my personal views. Where I strongly agree or disagree with the content provided, I'll try to add comments ["COMMENTARY (BuriedTruth). ..."), where practical.
To better track and explain some of my sources (included and excluded) of news and information, I started a Sources webpage with notes on some of these sources
Dr. Victoria Stuart, Ph.D.
Contact
In my exploration of "truth" I often comment on the aberrant morality associated with wealth, power, corruption, greed, neoliberalism [see note Mah7Ooso in my [note: large!] raw file | source | aside (apropos): Good Will Hunting -- Matt Damon -- NSA], and corporate- and state-sponsored agendae that serve the [ultra]wealthy and powerful at the expense of 99.9999+% of the rest of us. The countless trillions of dollars invested in corporate greed, systemic violence, and endless war could have funded health care resources and research that could have prevented or greatly ameliorated the current coronavirus / COVID-19 pandemic, which is ravaging global populations and economies.
[Truthout.org, 2020-10-18] The U.S. Chose Endless War Over Pandemic Preparedness. Now We See the Effects. Spending trillions on the annual military budget has stolen money that could have been used for pandemic preparedness.
As this pandemic plays out the costs will be incalculable. This event is a harbinger (along with climate change, ecological destruction, global personal electronic surveillance, wealth disparity, social injustice, ...) of the types of issues that that I seek to identify and address through knowledge, information and advocacy. While I am doubtful that even this pandemic will trigger the reforms needed for substantive change, perhaps the realization of the CORVID-19 pandemic will provide an opportunity for discussion and action regarding substantive change.
... To be continued ...
Meanwhile: please refer to this [note: large!] plain-text file of RAW, unfiltered content, which:
* contains largely non-structured content content
* local links disabled
* incompletely vetted, fact-checked
* new content added daily
* ...
Examples of wealthy individuals profiteering from classified governmental briefings on the risks of the then-looming coronavirus [COVID-19 | SARS-CoV-2] pandemic prompted me to collate and excerpt this material from my raw file:
I've written a new article, The Awokening: The Existential Risk of Billionaires and the Need for the Abolition of Wealth : Havoc Wreaked by Anonymized Donors Through Influencer Organizations.
[2020-09-09] [Canada] Steveston-Richmond MP Kenny Chiu: Conservative Party's New Diversity And Inclusion Critic Linked To Past Anti-LGBTQ Statements, Organizations.
"Sadly, Canada has 'evolved' into an all-tolerant; all accepting; fully embracing liberal country."
[2020-07] Homophobic / transphobic B.C. Liberal MLAs Shirley Bond | Rich Coleman | Mike de Jong | Simon Gibson | Marvin Hunt | Joan Isaacs | Greg Kyllo | Michael Lee | John Martin | Mary Polak | Todd Stone | Sam Sullivan | Laurie Throness
[Straight.com, 2020-10-15] Update: B.C. Liberal candidate Laurie Throness resigns after comparing free birth control to eugenics/.
[PressProgress.ca, 2020-10-15] Transphobe Laurie Throness: BC Liberal Candidate Resigns As Andrew Wilkinson's Right-Wing Coalition Self-Destructs Over Birth Control. The BC Liberals' candidates are publicly fighting with one another over contraception a week before election day.
[2020-10-02] Liberal candidate defending so-called conversion therapy should be removed, B.C. advocacy groups say
[2020-08-10] BC Liberal Riding President Resigns After Anti-LGBTQ Facebook Rants Come to Light.
Susan Mathies served as riding president for controversial socially conservative B.C. Liberal MLA Laurie Throness
[2020-07-20] A Second Pride Parade Has Called Out the BC Liberals For Failing to Take Action on an Anti-LGBTQ MLA [Laurie Throness]. Victoria's Pride Society issues statement warning BC Liberals they could be excluded from future Pride Parades
[2020-07-16] NDP MLA calls for Liberal to be ousted from caucus after conversion therapy comments. Chilliwack-Hope MLA Laurie Throness said he would continue to advertise in the publication ["The Light Magazine"] because it aligns with his Christian values
[2020-07-15] Vancouver Pride 'Shocked' BC Liberals Have Not Sanctioned or Removed MLA [BC Liberal MLA Laurie Throness] Over Anti-LGBTQ Views. Vancouver's Pride Society says lack of action by BC Liberals could put their inclusion in future pride parades in jeopardy
[2020-06-29] B.C. Liberal MLAs Billed Taxpayers Thousands of Dollars for Advertising in an Anti-LGBTQ Magazine. B.C. Liberal ads in social conservative magazine ran alongside anti-LGBTQ and pro-conversion therapy articles.
BC Liberal MLA homophobe / transphobe advertisers: Laurie Throness | Rich Coleman | Shirley Bond | Marvin Hunt | John Martin | Joan Isaacs | Todd Stone | Mike de Jong | Simon Gibson | Michael Lee | Sam Sullivan | Mary Polak
[2020-07-08] B.C. Liberal MLA Marvin Hunt Continues Buying Ads in Anti-LGBTQ Magazine Despite Rules Set By His Own Leader. B.C. Liberal leader Andrew Wilkinson said the party would stop placing ads in magazines that promote 'homophobia' and 'transphobia'
[2020-06-29] B.C. Liberal MLAs Billed Taxpayers Thousands of Dollars for Advertising in an Anti-LGBTQ Magazine. B.C. Liberal ads in social conservative magazine ran alongside anti-LGBTQ and pro-conversion therapy articles. BC Liberal MLA homophobe / transphobe advertisers: Laurie Throness | Rich Coleman | Shirley Bond | Marvin Hunt | John Martin | Joan Isaacs | Todd Stone | Mike de Jong | Simon Gibson | Michael Lee | Sam Sullivan | Mary Polak
[PressProgress.ca, 2020-10-21] Vancouver-Area COVID-19 Conspiracy Theorist Received 'Supportive' Email From BC Liberal Candidate. Conspiracy theorist Tony Mitra says he was 'impressed' when BC Liberal candidate promised to advocate against emergency public health restrictions.
[reference] Robert J. "Rob" Anders [Rob Anders]
Robert J. "Rob" Anders is a Canadian former politician. Rob Anders represented the riding of Calgary West from 1997 until 2015 and was a founding member of the Conservative Party of Canada.
Like Jason Kenney, Rob Anders has affinities with U.S.-based neoliberal agendae and Donald Trump, which hints at underlying infiltration of those idelogies into Canadian politics and society.
On 2013-12-06 Rob Anders spoke out after the death of Nelson Mandela, saying "If you are looking for another perspective you may be interested in the obituary that David Horowitz wrote for the [SPLC-designated anti-Muslim hate group] Freedom Center".
Rob Anders has devoted his time to a variety of conservative causes. Some of these include lobby groups and think tanks such as Focus on the Family, the Canadian Family Action Coalition, and to several causes opposing the Government of China's policies regarding Tibet and Falun Gong.
Transphobia: In October 2012, Rob Anders attracted some controversy by calling Bill C-279, a private member's bill that would amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and hate crime section of the Criminal Code to include "gender identity" and "gender expression" as grounds for discrimination, a "bathroom bill." Those transphobic views are shared by Rob Anders' fellow Canadian Conservatives Stephen Harper and Jason Kenney.
Guilt by Association: Before being elected [in Canada], Rob Anders worked for the U.S. Republican Party on the 1994 Senate campaign of Jim Inhofe in Oklahoma as a professional heckler -- a notorious racist, misogynist, and anti-LGBTQ+ hate-monger -- which earned Rob Anders the label of "a foreign political saboteur" from CNN. ...
Other notable associations: xenophobia | tax evasion | disinformation troll Ezra Levant | religious right | anti-LGBTQ+ views [Focus on the Family ...]
[2020-09-30] Former MP Rob Anders faces tax evasion charges
[2020-09-29] CRA charges former Calgary MP Rob Anders for allegedly committing tax evasion while he was elected.
As an MP, Anders led the charge against taxes and big government. Now, prosecutors are charging him with allegedly not paying his share of taxes.
[2012-10-04] MP Rob Anders criticized over "bathroom bill" comments.
Transgender community not happy with Calgary politician.
[1999-01-23] Jason Kenney; Rob Anders: No sex, please, we're Reformers: In this age of presidential promiscuity, an "eccentric minority" of politicos chooses chastity.
[Ottawa Citizen reporter] Glen McGregor dares to ask why.
[reference] "must-read:" Jason Kenney
[reference] United Conservative Party
[2020-08-05] Oil and Alberta Politics: Who's Funding the United Conservative Party?
[2019-03-17] Jason Kenney vs. Rachel Notley: A little story about character.
It's what they've done when no one was watching that tells us the most about their leadership
[2019-04-06] Radio host Charles Adler on his fiery interview with Alberta UCP Leader Jason Kenney.
Global broadcaster challenged Kenney on decision to stand by candidate who performed homophobic sermon.
"I can't honestly tell you that I really know who Jason Kenney is. It's a mystery to me and it troubles me"
That interview is dissected in this "must-read" analysis / commentary: [2019-04-06] Are we really okay with Jason Kenney?
Analysis: Why Is Jason Kenney So Viscerally Homophobic / Transphobic?
[1999-01-23] Jason Kenney; Rob Anders: No sex, please, we're Reformers: In this age of presidential promiscuity, an "eccentric minority" of politicos chooses chastity.
[Ottawa Citizen reporter] Glen McGregor dares to ask why.
COMMENTARY (BuriedTruth, 2020-07-08). There are alarming and disturbing parallels between Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, his homophobic / racist / ... United Conservative Party, various U.S. dark money nonprofits, and the Trump administration.
These include:
[2020-04-22] Study of COVID-19 drug pitched by Jason Kenney results in 52 deaths
[2020-03-15] Kenney wants to use drugs approved by Trump's drug agency. One of those just killed 11 test subjects
See also [re: "War Room" attacks on]: MakeWay
[2020-07-06] Jason Kenney's Energy War Room is Spending Tax Dollars on Ads Casting Doubt on Climate Science.
Canadian Energy Centre spent tax dollars on Facebook ads promoting an article published by the right-wing website Quillette
[2020-07-06] Canadian Energy Centre paid to sponsor an article apologising for 'climate alarmism'.
The organisation was set up to promote the oil and gas sector
[2020-07-03] Jason Kenney's Anti-Alberta Inquiry Never Bothered To Talk To All Those 'Anti-Alberta' Environmental Groups.
Environmental groups targeted by Kenney's 'baseless conspiracy theory' say they still have not been contacted by his 'anti-Alberta' Inquiry
[2020-02-11] David Suzuki: Alberta's "war room" is an attack on democracy
[2019-12-26] [Propaganda] Spin doctors': Alberta war room draws criticism over writer titles
[2019-12-11] [Propaganda] Alberta government to officially launch 'Energy War Room' in Calgary
[2020-07-23] Contact tracing: COVID-19 monitoring tools risk normalizing state surveillance even further
[2020-07-13] Alberta Premier Jason Kenney accuses feds of getting in the way of fixing contact tracing app.
Federal health minister says national app will be launching 'very soon'
[2020-07-23] UCP rush to reopen Alberta schools despite summer surge in COVID-19 cases
[2020-07-07] Charter schools: What you need to know about their anticipated growth in Alberta
[2019-09-18] [malfeasant agendae] Kenney Government Appointed Foreign, Koch-Funded Researcher to Rewrite Alberta's Education Curriculum.
Appointee supports right-wing American-style education reforms to subsidize private religious schools with public tax dollars.
[echoes efforts by U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to shift shift funding to wealthy schools ...
Mentions: Ashley Berner | Cardus | Center for Education Reform | Koch Family Foundations | Manhattan Institute | ...
The right-wing billionaire Charles Koch is currently investing in education reform for the explicit purpose of pushing conservatism on children.
Note parallels to billionaire transphobe / U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos
Homophobia [Transphobia] [2019-04-06] Are we really okay with Jason Kenney?
[2018-11-20] Jason Kenney's UCP won't say if party expelled extremists.
Party did not respond to questions about how and why they parted ways with two men who worked on Kenney's leadership campaign
[2018-06-21] Money from wealthy right-wing ideologues helps fuel group challenging Alberta's protections for Gay-Straight Alliances (GSA) members.
The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms attempts to overturn the Alberta NDP Government's legislative effort to protect students who join Gay-Straight Alliances.
Mentions: Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms President John Carpay | Canadian Taxpayers Federation President and CEO Troy Lanigan [now President of the Canada Strong and Free Network [formerly: Manning Centre] | Alberta Opposition Leader Jason Kenney [currently Premier of Alberta]
[2020-06-27] Alberta treaty nation demands resignation of Jason Kenney's speechwriter.
Paul Bunner called residential schools a 'bogus genocide story' in 2013 column
[2020-06-26] Jason Kenney speechwriter said homosexuality is 'socially destructive' and called First Nation an oppressive regime.
Government spokesperson said Paul Bunner's views have evolved over time
[2020-06-25] re: Paul Bunner: Kenney resists calls to fire speechwriter who said residential schools were a 'bogus genocide story'.
NDP Leader Rachel Notley called the article 'profoundly racist' on Thursday
[2020-06-25] [disinformation troll] Kenney speechwriter called residential schools a 'bogus genocide story'.
Paul Bunner also worked for Prime Minister Stephen Harper when he apologized for residential schools
[2020-06-24] NDP says Kenney should fire speechwriter who called residential schools 'bogus genocide story'
[2020-03-01] Buffalo Declaration a 'clear display of ignorance,' says Alberta treaty nation
[calgary.CTVNews.ca, 2020-10-18] UCP passes all 30 party policies, including option of "privately-funded" health-care system. The United Conservative Party has passed all of its policy resolutions this weekend, including a controversial proposal to potentially introduce a two-tiered health-care system in Alberta.
[2020-08-10] Experts raise alarm about proposed largest private surgical facility in Alberta history.
Group behind $200-million proposed facility confident in its politically connected lobbyists
[2020-08-10] Proposed $200M private orthopedic surgical facility would be largest in Alberta's history.
Group says Health Minister Tyler Shandro tentatively supports the project
[2020-07-20] [Bill 21] Why a fight between Kenney and Alberta's doctors was inevitable, but the path to peace is less clear.
Relationship between premier and physicians in the province has imploded mid-pandemic as both sides dig in
[2020-07-16] Alberta health minister tells college of physicians and surgeons it can't let doctors quit
[2020-07-16] Jason Kenney is Chasing Doctors Out of Alberta With Legislation That Sabotages Public Healthcare.
"They're very intentionally underfunding the system ... I think the point is actually to push doctors out [privitization]"
[2020-07-09] Kenney's Bill 30 opens door to more private, for-profit healthcare in Alberta.
According to critics, the new bill will put profits, not patients, at the center of care
[2020-03-10] Alberta Government Turns Hard to the Right
[2020-03-04] [RCMP] From pepper spray to profiling: How protests have been policed in Canada
[2020-03-04] Why it's time to end corporate welfare for Canada's fossil fuel industry
[2020-06-23] Alberta union goes to court to challenge UCP law that criminalizes public protest
[2020-06-09] Critical Infrastructure Defence Act: Alberta Bans Pipeline Protests In Totally Normal Move.
The move comes as Indigenous leaders push back against the province's "unilateral" decision to remove environmental regulations in the oil sands during the coronavirus pandemic.
Alberta Liberal Party leader David Khan called the legislation "draconian" and "authoritarian," and said it "criminalizes peaceful public protests."
[2020-06-07] Contemporaneous with recent, similarly sneaky antidemocratic West Virginia legislation:
A Powerful Petrochemical Lobbying Group Advanced Anti-Protest Legislation in the Midst of the Pandemic
[2020-03-01] Alberta's anti-protestor bill suppresses democracy and violates treaties, say critics
[reference] Fair Deal panel.
On November 9, 2019, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney announced that Preston Manning would lead an Alberta panel focused on getting a "fair deal" in Confederation, along with expanding the autonomy of the Alberta government. The panel is considering measures such as withdrawing Alberta workers from the Canada Pension Plan, the establishment of a provincial tax collection agency, ending the use of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and creating an independent police force, and establishing a formal Alberta constitution.
[2020-08-10] 90% of masks Alberta students will get at school are from Old Navy -- meet the company making the other 10%.
Alberta chose two companies, without putting out a request for proposals, for the contracts: Old Navy and IFR Workwear
[2020-08-10] UCP Education Minister's Donor Handed Big Contract To Produce Face Masks For Alberta Schools.
CEO and founder of company awarded a sole-sourced contract was also a top donor to Education Minister Adriana LaGrange
[2020-08-04] 5 Ways Jason Kenney Undermined Environmental Protections During COVID.
Alberta's Premier has used the pandemic as a cover to roll back important environmental protections
[2020-07-08] Bill 32 a direct attack on workers' rights.
While Albertans have been struggling through isolation, illness, and job loss, and the fear and anxiety of the pandemic, the Kenney government has been busy arranging its attack on working people and their unions
[2020-07-08] Anti-union legislation: Alberta's new labour law breaks old ground while undermining unions.
Alberta is about to make child labour great again!
[2020-02-25] How Teck Frontier became a symbol of the future Canada refuses to confront
[2020-02-14] Wet'suwet'en rail blockades a 'serious threat' to Canadian economy, Alberta premier says
[2018-11-23] Lobbyists Pushing for Lower Wages and Longer Work Days Launch Ads Promoting Jason Kenney's UCP.
Merit Canada previously lobbied Jason Kenney to weaken labour laws and loosen temporary foreign worker rules
[reference] Andrew Scheer
[2020-05-17] Scheer didn't follow through on renouncing U.S. citizenship
[2017-05-29] [homophobia | transphobia] Andrew Scheer will oppose transgender rights, fight gun regulations, fund homeschooling
[2019-08-10] [homophobia | transphobia] Andrew Scheer is a Clear Danger to Canada's LGBTQ+ Community
[2019-05-06] [homophobia | transphobia] Andrew Scheer has a problem: The Conservative leader has left himself open to charges of intolerance in his party
[2020-04-07] Scheer is a zombie Opposition leader for the zombie apocalypse
[2020-04-14] Trudeau pushes back as intelligence expert slams COVID-19 early warning failure
[2020-04-16] Andrew Scheer Joins Trump In Criticizing World Health Organization
[2020-04-19] Canada must 're-think' relationship with China over pandemic: Scheer
[2020-09-07] Transphobe, misogynist, homophobe Roland Michaud: N.B. Tory leader drops candidate after transphobic Facebook re-post emerges
[2020-09-07] Transphobe, misogynist, homophobe Roland Michaud: New Brunswick Tory leader reviews candidate Roland Michaud's future after transphobic re-post emerges
N.B. Tory leader considering candidate's future
[2020-09-06] Transphobe, misogynist, homophobe Roland Michaud: New Brunswick PC Candidate Circulated Image Mocking Physical Violence Against Trans Women
Transphobic, homophobic and sexist posts raise fresh questions about Blaine Higgs' Tories' candidate vetting process
[reference] Derek Sloan
[2020-06-02] Conservative leadership candidate Derek Sloan embraces Trump policy, attacks those fighting fascism.
Trump says he'll designate 'ANTIFA' as terrorist group, Sloan says he would do the same
[2020-05-08] [Transphobia] Conservative Party leadership candidate Sloan vows to ban 'sex-change surgery' for kids.
'Our present federal Liberal government is a proponent of the radical left-wing gender ideology that informs tragic mistakes such as those procedures'
[2020-01-29] [Homophobia | Transphobia | Video interview] 'Cause of sexual orientation' is 'scientifically unclear,' Tory leadership hopeful says
[2020-03-30] Tory leadership Derek Sloan hopeful supports conversion therapy for trans kids in car-crash TV interview.
A Tory MP running to lead the Conservative Party of Canada has suggested that transgender kids should be given counselling to 'cure' them -- and says he opposes anti-discrimination measures for trans people
[Fascism ...] Conspiracy theories destroy an information space.
... The goal -- fascism is based on a friend-enemy distinction, so you're either with them or against them. The enemy is the enemy of civilization. What it does is it destroys the information space. It makes you think that even if your guys are corrupt and lying, it is because [the leader is] facing a mysterious cabal that is controlling things that are trying to foment a race war. This is the basis of the Ku Klux Klan ideology.
And even when they seem respectable they're really being controlled by the Marxists and the minorities. And so that makes you think that your opposition is not legitimate and there's no debating them because they're really in a conspiracy to hide a pedophilic sex ring [QAnon] and advance the interests of Marxism. And so what we find is not just a conspiracy theory but a conspiracy theory that echoes the worst aspects of European history and American history. ...
[NPR.org, 2020-10-21] Dozens of Artifacts Apparently Vandalized at Berlin's Museums. Carsten Pfohl, the head of Berlin Police's Art Crime Unit would not comment on press speculation about the possible involvement of conspiracy theorists. However, the weekly broadsheet Die Zeit and public radio broadcaster Deutschlandfunk, which broke the news together, were the first to draw a link between the vandalism and conspiracy theorists. One of the conspiracy theorists who's gathered a large following of coronavirus deniers, Attila Hildmann, has claimed a number of times on his Telegram channel that the Pergamon Museum is the center of a "global Satanism scene" which, his followers allege, Chancellor Angela Merkel has been using for "human sacrifices," noting that she lives opposite the Museum.
[theConversation.com, 2020-10-15] Facebook, YouTube moves against QAnon are only a first step in the battle against dangerous conspiracy theories.
[2020-07-17] Conspiracy theories: The Conspiracy Singularity Has Arrived.
With the pandemic and a global uprising against racial injustice to be explained away, conspiracy communities are bleeding into each other, merging into one gigantic mass of suspicion
[2020-07-15] What It's Like to Escape the Mindset of a Conspiracy Theorist.
"Earthquakes happen, people die," said a former conspiracy theorist. "There isn't always a nefarious plot behind it"
[2019-10-29] QAnon and UFO Conspiracies Are Merging.
QAnon conspiracy theorists think UFO believers are easy marks, and, in the absence of new Q posts, some of its followers have turned to UFOs
[reference] Herd Immunity
[reference] Vaccine Hesitancy
[reference] Selz Foundation
[resource] Informed Consent Action_Network
[2019-06-19] The Hedge Fund Founder Giving Big Bucks to Anti-Vaxx Groups.
In a rough week for Selz Capital, its founder drew scrutiny for supporting anti-vaccination efforts, just as its chief investment officer said he's leaving the firm
[Wikipedia] Sherri Tenpenny
Sherri Tenpenny is an American osteopathic physician and anti-vaccination activist who supports the discredited hypothesis that vaccines cause autism. She is the author of four books opposing vaccination, and her 2015 lecture tour of Australia was cancelled due to a public outcry over her views on vaccination, which go against the established scientific consensus. She has no advanced clinical or research specialization in immunology, vaccinology, or public health, nor has she ever published peer-reviewed research in any area related to vaccines or immunology.
See also: Vaccine Choice Canada
[2020-06-16] Australian Media Is Giving Anti-Vaxxers Nine Times More Coverage Than Usual. That's Bad for Everyone.
Experts are worried all this talk about COVID vaccines could be contributing to the spread of dangerous misinformation
[2020-02-11] Resilience of HPV vaccine uptake in Denmark: Decline and recovery
[2020-01-17] Hidden cameras capture misinformation, fundraising tactics used by anti-vaxx movement.
'Their goal is to create noise, to create uncertainty,' says one public health expert
[2019-12-08] Malaysia reports first case of polio since 1992
[2019-12-06] Anti-vaccine groups take dangerous online harassment into the real world.
The aggressive approaches are "an awful new normal"
[2019-12-05] [Samoa] WHO decries 'collective failure' as measles kills 140,000
[2019-12-29] Samoa lifts state of emergency over measles epidemic
[2019-12-17] 'These babies should not have died': How the measles outbreak took hold in Samoa.
The unprecedented health crisis has claimed 76 lives, mostly children. Now questions are being asked about how it came to this
[2019-12-06] Samoa arrests vaccination critic amid deadly measles crisis
[2019-12-05] Anti-vaxxer group mocked for asking to be called 'vaccine risk aware'
[2019-10-31] How measles wipes out the body's immune memory.
Study details the mechanism and scope of measles-induced immune amnesia in the wake of infection.
The findings underscore the importance of measles vaccination, suggesting those infected with measles may benefit from booster shots of all previous childhood vaccines.
[2019-03-28] Will the Internet's War on Anti-Vaxxers Work?.
"If they censor us there, we'll find another way to speak out"
[2019-03-27] [Canada] Who are the anti-vaxxers? Here's what we know -- and how they got there in the first place.
It's hard to come up with a clear profile. It's a fairly diverse group that crosses income and education lines
[reference] COVID-19 Misinformation Portal
[reference] Conspiracy Theories: COVID-19 Anti-Mask Protests
[reference] Tony Mitra
[Vice.com, 2020-10-21] The Anti-Mask Revolution Was Organized on Facebook. Shortly after VICE News reached out about Canadian anti-masker groups, Facebook deleted several of them.
[2020-08-10] COVID-19-Related Infodemic and Its Impact on Public Health: A Global Social Media Analysis
[2020-09-16] Top Trump health appointee taking medical leave after insurrection remarks.
Michael Caputo will be gone for 60 days while his top aide, Paul Alexander, will leave HHS permanently, the agency said.
"Must-watch" video MSNBC summary, commentary: "What To Know About HHS Official Michael Caputo's Strange Tirade on 2020-09-13."
[2020-09-21] A Notorious COVID Troll Actually Works for Dr. Fauci's Agency.
Bill Crews is a PR official at the National Institutes of Health. But he also has another job: An anonymous RedState editor who rails against the agency for which he works.
[2020-09-21] William B. Crews: NIH staffer to retire after he was exposed as the blogger behind anti-Fauci, anti-mask stories
[reference] Judy Mikovits
See also: Plandemic Video
[2020-07-27] Congressman Glenn Grothman (R-WI) promotes notorious coronavirus conspiracy theorist Judy Mikovits.
Grothman is not alone in pushing Mikovits into the mainstream. Sinclair Media Group, a right-wing organization that operates nearly 200 television stations that reach 40% of Americans, recorded and published an interview with Mikovits in which she suggested that COVID-19 was created by Fauci.
See also: Judy Mikovits
[2020-05-12] Truth Tracker: 'Plandemic' video full of false conspiracy theories about COVID-19
[2020-05-09] I'm an Investigative Journalist [ProPublica]. These Are the Questions I Asked About the Viral "Plandemic" Video
[2020-05-10] [British Columbia] 'Pretty disgusting:' Chilliwack school board trustee posts coronavirus conspiracy theory.
Transphobic disinformation troll Barry Neufeld.
[2020-05-08] Suspects of Canada Cell Tower Fires Are a Model and Failed Rapper.
Police said the couple have been charged with arson and mischief after seven cell tower fires
[2020-05-08] Quebec police investigating possible link between cell tower fires and 5G coronavirus conspiracy theories.
Good article; includes videos. Mentions: disinformation troll Thomas Cowan; celebrity misinformation trolls singer Keri Hilson, actor Woody Harrelson
[2020-05-25] Yet Another Cell Tower Was Lit on Fire in Quebec.
The recent fire comes after a Quebec couple were arrested in connection to seven fires targeting cell towers. Towers across the world are being targeted because of an anti-5G conspiracy
[2020-05-06] 77 cell phone towers have been set on fire so far due to a weird coronavirus 5G conspiracy theory
[2020-03-23] Viral video claiming 5G caused pandemic easily debunked
[2020-05-23] "must-read:" Secretive Right-Wing Nonprofit Plays Role in COVID-19 Organizing
[2020-05-17] "Immune to Evidence": How Dangerous Coronavirus Conspiracies Spread
[2020-04-30] [Internet Archive] COVID hoaxes are using a loophole to stay alive-even after content is deleted.
Pandemic conspiracy theorists are using the Wayback Machine to promote "zombie content" that evades moderators and fact-checkers
[2020-05-22] Related to the excellent MIT Technology Review article (above), see my BuriedTruth.com commentary in defense of that article, prepended to the following attack article.
Wayback Machine Latest Victim of Big Tech Consolidation and Censorship
[2020-04-26] Protesters march against COVID-19 prevention measures in Vancouver
[2020-04-23] fact: Virus Researchers Cast Doubt On Theory of Coronavirus Lab Accident
[2020-04-23] fact: Coronaviruses and bats have been evolving together for millions of years
[2020-04-15] fact: Where Did This Coronavirus Originate? Virus Hunters Find Genetic Clues In Bats
[2020-04-22] Conspiracy theorists are falsely claiming that the coronavirus pandemic is an elaborate hoax
[2020-04-21] Right-Wing Responsible For Pushing Coronavirus Disinformation On Twitter Worldwide
[2020-04-20] disinformation source (IBITimes.sg)!
WHO, Wuhan lab hack reveals coronavirus 'spliced' with HIV to make it deadly, spread using dry ice?
Here (instead) is a reliable, authoritative source!
HIV-1 did not contribute to the 2019-nCoV genome
[2020-04-17] Bill Gates is now the leading target for coronavirus falsehoods
See also [2020-04-21]: Russia, China, Iran using similar themes in disinformation campaigns: report
[2020-04-16] FOX News Defends Its COVID Lies, Saying First Amendment Protects "False" Speech
[2020-04-15] [Ontario MP Marilyn Gladu] Conservative MP calls for end to COVID-19 measures, pushes misinformation about Trump-promoted drug
[reference] Conspiracy Theories Surrounding the Murder of Seth Rich
Soon after the murder of Seth Rich [2016-07-10, Washington, D.C.] by unknown perpetrators for unknown reasons, political conspiracy theories and racially charged comments started to appear on social media. Within days, right-wing conspiracy theories began circulating, including false claims that his murder was connected to the DNC email leak of 2016, or the FBI's investigation of the Clinton Foundation. ...
[NPR.org, 2020-10-07] Judge Orders Twitter To Unmask FBI Impersonator Who Set Off Seth Rich Conspiracy. | Hacker News, 2020-10-07+
[reference] 4chan
[reference] 8kun | 8chan
[2020-02-27] Founder of 8chan Faces Arrest on 'Cyberlibel' Charge.
Fredrick Brennan, who founded the site that has given visibility to violent extremists, gave up control of it in 2015 and has criticized 8chan's current leader
[reference] QAnon.
QAnon is a violence-linked conspiracy theory based on cryptic posts to online message boards from an anonymous user known as "Q" that have spread rampantly on social media and among fringe right-wing media. QAnon conspiracy theorists essentially believe that Trump is secretly working to take down the purported "Deep State," a supposed cabal of high-ranking officials who they claim are operating pedophile rings.
See also: Jordan Sather [QAnon conspiracist | YouTuber]
[NPR.org, 2020-10-21] Dozens of Artifacts Apparently Vandalized at Berlin's Museums. Carsten Pfohl, the head of Berlin Police's Art Crime Unit would not comment on press speculation about the possible involvement of conspiracy theorists. However, the weekly broadsheet Die Zeit and public radio broadcaster Deutschlandfunk, which broke the news together, were the first to draw a link between the vandalism and conspiracy theorists. One of the conspiracy theorists who's gathered a large following of coronavirus deniers, Attila Hildmann, has claimed a number of times on his Telegram channel that the Pergamon Museum is the center of a "global Satanism scene" which, his followers allege, Chancellor Angela Merkel has been using for "human sacrifices," noting that she lives opposite the Museum.
[theConversation.com, 2020-10-15] Facebook, YouTube moves against QAnon are only a first step in the battle against dangerous conspiracy theories.
[ExposedByCMD.org, 2020-10-01] Trump Megadonors, Freedom Caucus, and CEOs Bankroll QAnon-Supporting, Extremist Candidates.
[2020-08-16] "must-read:" What is QAnon? A not-so-brief introduction to the conspiracy theory that's eating America.
Do millions of Americans really believe Donald Trump is saving children from underground demons? It seems that way
[2020-07] The QAnon Conspiracy Theory: A Security Threat in the Making?
[2020-08-04] Terrorism Experts Say QAnon Conspiracy Theory a Threat to National Security.
A new report from West Point's Combating Terrorism Center details violence related to the group and warns how dangerous and complicated fighting it will be
[2020-07-26] FOX News Touting QAnon Is All You Need to Know About the So-Called 'News' Network.
QAnon has "uncovered a lot of great stuff," Jesse Watters falsely claimed
[2020-07-24] QAnon Conspiracy Theorist "Agent Margaritaville" on the Run From Cops.
The 57-year-old Canadian conspiracy theorist is on the run from Toronto police after being charged with two counts of "engaging in conduct to impede performance of justice duties"
[2020-07-16] The Trump campaign is now openly courting QAnon conspiracy theorists.
A Trump campaign spokesperson went on a QAnon program to recruit volunteers
[2020-05-05] Very thorough article: The Prophecies of Q.
American conspiracy theories are entering a dangerous new phase
[2020-02-06] Psychiatrist struck off for posting 'bizarre' QAnon conspiracy theories.
Sydney doctor who shared alt-right views with patients on his clinic website found mentally unfit to treat people
[2020-01-07] Colorado woman, inspired by QAnon conspiracy, sought to kidnap her own child, police say.
The woman had "gotten into some conspiracy theories and she was 'spiraling down it'" after her child was removed from her custody, her other child told police
[2019-12-18] Man pleads guilty to setting fire at 'Pizzagate' restaurant in D.C..
Ryan Jaselskis pleaded guilty to arson and assault on a federal law enforcement officer
[2019-12-07] [QAnon] Accused of Killing a Gambino Mob Boss, He's Presenting a Novel Defense.
Anthony Comello is obsessed with conspiracy theories. His paranoia is being litigated in a Staten Island court
[2019-10-29] QAnon and UFO Conspiracies Are Merging.
QAnon conspiracy theorists think UFO believers are easy marks, and, in the absence of new Q posts, some of its followers have turned to UFOs
[2018-08-03] QAnon: latest Trump-linked conspiracy theory gains steam at president's rallies.
The internet-driven claims amount to far-right fan fiction, but they could have real-world consequences
[2018-08-01] What Is QAnon: Explaining the Internet Conspiracy Theory That Showed Up at a Trump Rally.
Do you remember Pizzagate? It's a little like that: a web of baseless conspiracy theories. And its supporters were highly visible at an event for the president in Florida
[2020-07-26] It's too late to stop QAnon with fact checks and account bans.
Twitter and Facebook won't be able to deal with the 'omniconspiracy' without 'rethinking the entire information ecosystem'
[CBC.ca, 2020-10-08] Facebook's actions against QAnon are overdue -- and may not be enough, experts say. Conspiracy groups act "like a parasite" by exploiting algorithms that favour popularity over truth.
[CBC.ca, 2020-10-07] Facebook removes popular Quebec conspiracy theorist as part of campaign against QAnon. Radio-Québec had gained several thousand followers by circulating false claims about the pandemic. Radio-Québec is a collection of hour-long videos by Alexis Cossette-Trudel, a 47-year-old Montreal man who was once affiliated with far-right groups in Quebec.
[CBC.ca, 2020-10-06] Facebook bans groups that represent QAnon conspiracy theories. Critics say the move comes largely too late.
[2020-05-06] Facebook removes accounts linked to QAnon conspiracy theory
[2020-07-22] Twitter crackdown on conspiracy theories could set agenda for other social media.
Other Silicon Valley companies, including Facebook and YouTube, said they were also considering crackdowns on QAnon
[2020-07-22] Twitter says it's cracking down on QAnon conspiracy theory
[2020-07-21] Twitter Removes Thousands of QAnon Accounts, Promises Sweeping Ban On the Conspiracy
[2019-02-02] Russian troll accounts purged by Twitter pushed QAnon and other conspiracy theories.
The accounts' tweets featured the hashtag #MAGA, usually in support of President Trump, almost 38,000 times -- the most of any hashtag
[2020-07-08] Canada: NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says Rideau Hall incident would have ended differently if suspect was person of colour.
NDP Leader called incident 'domestic terrorism'
[2020-07-06] Corey Hurren had multiple firearms, uttered threat against Trudeau, court documents allege.
CAF member accused of uttering a threat to 'cause death or bodily harm' to the Prime Minister/p>
[2020-07-03] Armed Man Who Allegedly Stormed Trudeau's Residence Appears to Have Posted QAnon Content.
RCMP charged Canadian Armed Forces Reservist Corey Hurren with a slew of firearms charges Friday for allegedly ramming his truck through the gates at Rideau Hall, where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau lives
[2020-07-03] CAF member arrested on Rideau Hall grounds faces 22 charges, including multiple firearm violations. The Crown is opposing Corey Hurren's release on bail
[2020-07-03] Rideau Hall: Canada Armed Forces member faces 'multiple charges'
[2020-07-03]; What we know so far about the Rideau Hall intruder. Manitoba's Corey Hurren is a Canadian Ranger [see also], small business owner
[Popular.info, 2020-10-22] GOPQ. The Republican Party is increasingly dominated by adherents of the QAnon conspiracy theory -- the belief that top Democratic officials and celebrities are Satan-worshipers running a secret child sex trafficking ring. A poll by Morning Consult earlier this month found that nearly 40% of Republicans who have heard of QAnon believe the theory is at least somewhat accurate. But this understates how deeply that the QAnon belief system has infiltrated the GOP. ... A YouGov survey from October 16-18 measured how many Trump supporters accepted the main tenet of QAnon, whether or not they were aware of the name of the conspiracy. That poll found that 52% of Trump supporters believe "President Trump is working to dismantle an elite child-sex trafficking ring involving top Democrats." Just 12% of Trump supporters reject that notion as false. ...
[ExposedByCMD.org, 2020-10-07]: Major GOP Super PAC Goes All-In on QAnon-Friendly Candidate Lauren Boebert. A well-known conservative political organization -- the Club for Growth -- is spending big money to boost a Republican congressional nominee who praised QAnon, an extremist conspiracy movement that the FBI considers a domestic terrorism threat.
[ExposedByCMD.org, 2020-10-01] Trump Megadonors, Freedom Caucus, and CEOs Bankroll QAnon-Supporting, Extremist Candidates.
[2020-08-27] Video: QAnon, Trump, and the Republican Party
Vacuous dolts ...
[2020-08-17] Republican congressman slams QAnon "basement-dwellers" who are infesting the GOP.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger expressed disgust with QAnon conspiracy "basement-dwellers" who have made inroads into GOP
[2020-08-12 +Video] QAnon supporter Marjorie Taylor Greene wins Georgia Republican primary.
A US businesswoman who has expressed support for the QAnon conspiracy theory has won the Republican nomination for a seat in the House of Representatives.
VIDEO: QAnon, coronavirus and the conspiracy cult
[2020-08-10] A QAnon Supporter Could Actually Win Her Republican Primary in Georgia.
Marjorie Taylor Greene called QAnon a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take this global cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophiles out"
[2020-07-23] A conspiracy theory goes to Washington: Three questions about QAnon.
Typically, believers in the most elaborate conspiracy theories are far removed from the halls of power. But adherents of the false QAnon worldview are becoming influential in some of Washington's highest offices
[2020-07-08] QAnon conspiracy theory followers step out of the shadows and may be headed to Congress
[2020-07-03] QAnon is now infiltrating mainstream American life and politics
[2020-07-01] Lauren Boebert: It Looks Like Republicans Are Sending Another QAnon Follower to Congress.
The Colorado restaurant owner has promised to put "far-left Democrats" like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez "back in their place"
[reference] Mike Cernovich
[theDailyBeast.com, 2020-10-06] Craig T. Chapman: White Male Prof Allegedly Posed as Woman of Color to Bully Women | local copy (html, captured 2020-10-06)
Craig Chapman, Assistant Professor, Chemistry, University of New Hampshire | local copy (html, captured 2020-10-06)
Curriculum vitae | local copy (pdf, captured 2020-10-06)
"The Science Femme" claimed to be a female academic. She claimed to have upended efforts by her social justice-obsessed department to draft a statement condemning racism. And when Twitter users accused her of racism, she claimed to be a woman of color herself-and an immigrant to boot.
But The Science Femme, who tweeted from the handle @piney_the, wasn't any of those things, digital sleuths began alleging late last month. Instead, they claimed, "she" was Craig Chapman, a white male assistant professor of chemistry at the University of New Hampshire. The allegations, bolstered by an internal chemistry department email, would make Chapman at least the fourth white academic revealed to have posed as a person of color in recent weeks.
In three of those cases, academics are accused of shamelessly trying to further their own careers. But in Chapman's case, Twitter users who came into contact with @piney_the say the account harassed real women working in science. ...
Related appropriation (cooption) of Black feminist personae by white persons) [MIT: TechnologyReview.com, 2020-10-07] How the truth was murdered. Pandemic, protest, and a precarious election have created an overwhelming flood of disinformation. It didn't have to be this way.
[reference] Liz Crokin
[2020-09-10] QAnon Conspiracy Theorist Liz Crokin Complains That Her Critics Have Made Her Life "Hell"
[2019-07-23] Who is Liz Crokin, America's foremost conspiratorial poster?
She has a theory for everything.
[reference] Attila Klaus-Peter Hildmann | Attila Hildmann
[NPR.org, 2020-10-21] Dozens of Artifacts Apparently Vandalized at Berlin's Museums. Carsten Pfohl, the head of Berlin Police's Art Crime Unit would not comment on press speculation about the possible involvement of conspiracy theorists. However, the weekly broadsheet Die Zeit and public radio broadcaster Deutschlandfunk, which broke the news together, were the first to draw a link between the vandalism and conspiracy theorists. One of the conspiracy theorists who's gathered a large following of coronavirus deniers, Attila Hildmann, has claimed a number of times on his Telegram channel that the Pergamon Museum is the center of a "global Satanism scene" which, his followers allege, Chancellor Angela Merkel has been using for "human sacrifices," noting that she lives opposite the Museum.
[BBC.com, 2020-10-21] Berlin mystery attack targets 70 museum artefacts. It is being described as one of the biggest attacks on art and antiquities in post-war German history, but it has taken more than two weeks to emerge. German reports have speculated whether supporters of a far-right conspiracy theorist may have been involved. Attila Hildmann, who has spread conspiracy theories about the Covid-19 pandemic, has also claimed that one of the five museums, the Pergamon Museum, is home to the "Throne of Satan". | reddit (2020-10-21)
[reference] Alex Jones
[reference] InfoWars [Alex Jones | Owen Shroyer]
[2019-12-31] Judge Orders Alex Jones and Infowars to Pay $100,000 in Sandy Hook Legal Fees
[reference] Steven J. Milloy
Steven J. Milloy is a notorious lobbyist (corporate shrill), disinformation troll (second-hand tobacco smoke; tobacco companies including R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, and Philip Morris Companies Inc.; oil companies including ExxonMobil; climate change denialist; ecological and environmental destruction denial; FOX News; ...), and purveyor of junk science and pseudoscience ...
Steven Milloy's reprehensible activity has been supported through Steven Milloy's close associations with Koch family-funded groups the Cato Institute, and the Competitive Enterprise Institute. From the 1990s until the end of 2005, Steven Milloy was an Adjunct Scholar at the libertarian Cato Institute, which hosted Milloy's JunkScience.com site -- "the best known" example of "a right wing effort in the U.S. to discredit widely accepted science, technology and medical information."
[reference] Tony Mitra
Conspiracy theorist; internet troll; anti-mask, COVID-19 disinformationist; ...
[reference] Candace Owens
[2020-07-15] Also discussed here (Trump adulator): How Donald Trump plans to scapegoat George Soros to win re-election
[2019-02-08] One of Trump's most vocal black supporters seemed to defend Hitler in a recent speech.
"If Hitler just wanted to make Germany great and have things run well, okay, fine," Candace Owens told a London audience. "The problem is that he wanted, he had dreams outside of Germany"
[reference] Jack Posobiec [John Michael Posobiec III]
Notorious internet troll, racist, conspiracy theorist, disinformationist.
[2020-07-08] "must-read:" Jack Posobiec's Rise Tied to White Supremacist Movement.
Jack Posobiec, a correspondent for One America News Network (OANN) whose work has been embraced by President Trump, collaborated for years with white supremacists, neo-fascists and antisemites, a Hatewatch investigation has determined
[commentary] Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting Trolls
[2019-12-31] Judge Orders Alex Jones and Infowars to Pay $100,000 in Sandy Hook Legal Fees
[2020-01-27] Central Florida Sandy Hook Conspiracy Theorist Wolfgang Halbig Arrested
[reference] Jordan Sather
[reference] Mark Shouldice ["Mark Dice"]
[reference] Milo Yiannopoulos
[2020-06-01] 'None of This Is True': Protests Become Fertile Ground for Online Disinformation
[2020-05-31] Trump Falls for Video of Dallas Clash Edited to Cast Machete-Wielding Vigilante as Victim
[2020-04-22] Neo-Nazis and Conspiracy Theorists Are Seizing Upon the Nova Scotia Shooting
[2019-06-05] [homophobia | transphobia | Ontario Premier] Don't Hide Behind the Police, Doug Ford!
[reference] Disinformation | Misinformation
[MIT: TechnologyReview.com, 2020-10-16] Twitter's ban almost doubled attention for Biden misinformation. The social media company's attempt to stop misinformation from spreading brought the Streisand Effect into action.
[MIT: TechnologyReview.com, 2020-10-12] "It's been really, really bad:" How Hispanic voters are being targeted by disinformation. Hispanic communities are key to some of the most critical swing districts in the election- and they're being bombarded by online propaganda.
[MIT: TechnologyReview.com, 2020-10-07] How the truth was murdered. Pandemic, protest, and a precarious election have created an overwhelming flood of disinformation. It didn't have to be this way. Discusses: appropriation (cooption) of Black feminist personae by white persons (including white men: Craig Chapman) | QAnon | disinformation via social media {Facebook | Twitter | ...} | ...
[2020-09-20] "must-read:" The Supply of Disinformation Will Soon Be Infinite.
Disinformation campaigns used to require a lot of human effort, but artificial intelligence will take them to a whole new level.
[reference] Quillette
Homophobia; transphobia; anti-theism; misogyny; pseudo-science (climate change denial); racism; ...
See additional notes re: Quillette in my Sources file.
[2020-07-06] Jason Kenney's Energy War Room is Spending Tax Dollars on Ads Casting Doubt on Climate Science.
Canadian Energy Centre spent tax dollars on Facebook ads promoting an article published by the right-wing website Quillette
[2019-12-05] Why Racists (and Liberals!) Keep Writing for 'Quillette'.
The online magazine of the "intellectual dark web" is repackaging discredited race science
[reference] Paul Joseph Watson
See also: Wealthy Influencers, Campaigners, Disruptors, Dark Money -- Canada
[2020-06-29] Canada, other democracies must unite in fight against online disinformation: minister
Canadian trolls, disinformationists, conspiracy theorists posing as journalists and columnists include:
Far-right Canadian commentators [trolls, disinformationists, conspiracy theorists] who have transplanted themselves into American political discourse include:
[theAtlantic.com, 2020-10-16] Why the Alt-Right's Most Famous Woman Disappeared. Lauren Southern could spew racist propaganda like no other. But the men around her were better at one thing: trafficking in ugly misogyny.
[reference] Michel Chossudovsky
Michel Chossudovsky is a Canadian economist, author and conspiracy theorist. Michel Chossudovsky is Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Ottawa, and the President and Director of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG), which runs the website GlobalResearch.ca [<< disinformation source!] and publishes conspiracy theories. Michel Chossudovsky has promoted conspiracy theories about 9/11.
In 2017, the Centre for Research on Globalization was accused by information warfare specialists at NATO's Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence (STRATCOM) of playing a key role in the spread of pro-Russian propaganda. A report by the U.S. State Department in August 2020 accused the website of being a proxy for the Russian disinformation campaign.
[CBC.ca, 2020-10-21] Canadian professor's website helps Russia spread disinformation, says U.S. State Department. Ahead of U.S. elections, State Department identified site as major "Kremlin-aligned" proxy.
[reference] Derek Fildebrandt
[reference] Western Standard
[2018-02-03] "A very fiery and short political career:" Derek Fildebrandt barred from rejoining UCP
See also [Canadian PAC]: United Liberty
[reference] Ezra Levant
Ezra Levant (co-Founder, Rebel News) is a racist / xenophobic, litigious "free-speech" troll, with past affiliations with the Koch Summer Fellow Program (1994), and the Fraser Institute (1996) -- pushing Koch-influenced neoliberal agendae.
[reference] See also: Western Standard
[reference]: Rebel News
Rebel News, a Canadian disinformation agent founded by Ezra Levant, is similar to Steve Bannon's notorious Breitbart News. Under Levant, Rebel News has been accused of being a platform for the far-right anti-Muslim ideology known as counter-jihad.
[2020-09-18] The Rebel to Rabble Review: Reaching the conspiratorial stage of the pandemic
Brian Lilley, Canadian journalist previously affiliated with Rebel News
[reference] The Post Millennial
The Post Millennial is a conservative [anti-LGBTQ+] Canadian online news magazine, criticized for releasing misinformation and articles written by fake personas, for past employment of an editor with ties to white supremacist and pro-Kremlin media outlets, and for opaque funding and political connections.
[2020-09-10] The Post Millennial: The Latest Canadian Outlet Serving Rage Bait to Far-Right America
[2019-06-27] Canadian news site The Post Millennial blurs line between journalism and conservative "pamphleteering".
News site wants to become media powerhouse, but struggles with transparency.
See main article: Mark Steyn.
[2020-05-27] Toronto Star's parent company was just bought out -- buyers are donors to Maxime Bernier and the Conservative Party
[2020-05-26] Torstar agrees to $52M sale to NordStar Capital.
Company owns Toronto Star and 70 other publications
See also: Wealthy Influencers, Campaigners, Disruptors, Dark Money -- United States
[2020-06-22] Trump's misleading information enables China to sow discord among allies, research finds.
New report calls on Australia and US to strengthen ability to counter others' disinformation -- as well as their own
[reference] Ann Coulter
[reference] Michele Marie Bachmann
Michele Bachmann -- a delusional, hyper-religious, racist / xenophobic, anti-LGBTQ+ (Bachmann and her husband ran a Christian counseling center that provided -- widely discredited -- gay conversion therapy), conspiracy-theorist, disinformation troll (exemplar below) -- was the founder of the U.S. House of Representatives' Tea Party Caucus.
[RightWingWatch.org, 2020-10-05] Michele Bachmann Prays God Will Empower Religious-Right "David" to Slay Vote-By-Mail "Goliath". Former Representative Michele Marie Bachmann.
Exemplar [2020-09-08]: Michele Bachmann: "Transgender Black Marxists" are "seeking the overthrow of the United States".
Former GOP presidential candidate unfurls an admittedly "melodramatic" conspiracy theory about Black Lives Matter.
[reference] Steve Bannon [Breitbart News, ...]
See also:
[disinformation website] Breitbart News
[reference] Government Accountability Institute
[reference] Citizens of the American Republic
[Popular.info, 2020-10-21] Steve Bannon's unhinged version of the Hunter Biden conspiracy reaches millions on YouTube. YouTube, Google's video subsidiary, is providing massive distribution to a 22-minute video packed with disinformation about Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden.
[2020-08-24] Federal prosecutors have Steve Bannon's murky nonprofit in their sights. Tucked at the bottom of the long indictment against Bannon, prosecutors say they want to seize the assets of his nonprofit "Citizens of the American Republic," shedding more light on the secretive political group's finances
[2020-08-25] Don't cry for Kellyanne Conway: Like the whole corrupt Trump enterprise, she must pay.
When this nightmare ends, some Democrats will want to "move on." Forget it -- criminals like Conway must be judged.
If Trump is defeated in November 2020, there has to be what former U.S. Attorney Glenn Kirschner dubbed a Trump Crimes Commission: a bipartisan panel tasked with investigating the high crimes we know about while uncovering what we don't, then referring it all to the post-Bill Barr Department of Justice, the IRS and beyond.
Cretinous Dark money financier Neil Corkery
[reference] One America News Network (OANN)
The One America News Network is a notorious far-right cable channel prominent for promoting falsehoods and conspiracy theories.
[reference] Richard Bertrand Spencer
Richard Bertrand Spencer is an American neo-Nazi, antisemitic conspiracy theorist, and white supremacist known for his activism on behalf of the alt-right movement. Spencer is known for his public advocacy of violence against nonwhites. Spencer has expressed admiration for the political tactics of American Nazi Party founder George Lincoln Rockwell. Spencer was a featured speaker at the August 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, and has headlined other neo-Nazi rallies. Spencer's public persona is defined by his repeated, public use of Nazi rhetoric.
Richard Spencer is copiously mentioned in this "must-read" article [2020-07-08]: Jack Posobiec's Rise Tied to White Supremacist Movement.
Jack Posobiec, a correspondent for One America News Network (OANN) whose work has been embraced by President Trump, collaborated for years with white supremacists, neo-fascists and antisemites, a Hatewatch investigation has determined
[reference] Mark Steyn
Canadian-born, racist, xenophobe, pro-war, anti-media, litigious disinformation troll.
[reference] Samuel Jared Taylor [Jared Taylor]
Samuel Jared Taylor is an American white supremacist and editor of American Renaissance, an online magazine espousing such opinions, founded by Taylor in 1990. Jared Taylor is also the president of American Renaissance's parent organization, New Century Foundation, and a former member of the advisory board of The Occidental Quarterly and a former director of the National Policy Institute, a Virginia-based white nationalist think tank. Jared Taylor is also a board member and spokesperson of the Council of Conservative Citizens.
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) comments that Taylor is unusual among the radical right in "his lack of anti-Semitism." Scholar Kathleen R. Arnold states that "unlike many other white supremacists, Taylor is not anti-Semitic, and in fact encourages Jews to join his fight ... however many within the white supremacist/anti-immigration movement disagree with Taylor ... and Jared Taylor has been under tremendous pressure to break ties with the Jewish community."
[reference] Fox News
[reference] Conspiracy Theories Surrounding the Murder of Seth Rich
[theAtlantic.com, 2020-10-22] The Militia That Fox News Built. If America descends into civil war, at least we'll know what channel was on when it began.
[SMH.com (Sydney Morning Herald, Australia), 2020-10-19] Murdoch's sway on politics warrants royal commission.
Living in Australia, many now habitually think our national media landscape is normal. It isn't. No other Western democracy has the level of print media monopoly that Rupert Murdoch has secured for himself in Australia. A single American billionaire has now seized control of almost 70 per cent of daily newspaper circulation. In my state of Queensland, which determines most federal elections, this monopoly is almost 100 per cent with every newspaper from Cairns to Coolangatta and Australia's only commercial 24-hour "news" channel.
But Murdoch is not just any old businessman. He's not just interested in money but also in political power and far-right ideology. For Murdoch, it's long been his triple-aphrodisiac. And the habits of a lifetime lead him to destroy anybody who gets in his way. That's why people are frightened of him.
Where would Murdoch like to take Australia? Look no further than Fox News in America, which remains the epicentre of the Trump phenomenon, polluting Americans' minds with bullshit narratives about widespread voter fraud, climate hoaxes and other wild conspiracies. This parallel-universe model is now unfolding in the pages of his Australian newspapers and on Sky News.
Even Rupert's previous heir-apparent, James Murdoch, has called out his father's empire for its hidden agendas, legitimising disinformation and wilfully sowing doubt to obscure facts in public debate. Yet despite this bombshell, not a word of it has been published in Murdoch's publications. Such brutal censorship of politically embarrassing news is something we'd expect of a one-party state, not a vibrant democracy. Yet in Australia we just brush this off as "normal", such is the slippery slope we're on. ...
[BusinessInsider.com, 2020-10-11] James Murdoch, son of Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch, says he walked away from family media empire because it legitimizes disinformation and obscures facts.
[2020-07-26] FOX News Touting QAnon Is All You Need to Know About the So-Called 'News' Network.
QAnon has "uncovered a lot of great stuff," Jesse Watters falsely claimed
[2020-07-16] All the times FOX News hosts went on "vacation".
Tucker Carlson's "pre-planned vacation" wasn't the first sudden disappearance of a FOX News personality
[2020-06-10] "must-watch" (Robert Reich): The Deadly Fox News-Trump Syndicate.
Deny, promote quack remedies, attack the experts, blame others, and change the subject to "freedom"
[2020-04-22] FOX News Executive Tries To Rein In Stars As They Cheer On Anti-Lockdown Rallies
[BoingBoing.net, 2020-03-18] WATCH: Fox News hosts say coronavirus is fake news, then change their tune.
What a damning indictment of Fox News from the Post video team here. pic.twitter.com/r8Fz8vo5KV
-- andrew kaczynski 🤔 (@KFILE) March 18, 2020
[Twitter.com, 2020-03-17] What a damning indictment of Fox News from the Post video team here.
[video] 🤔 @KFILE: What a damning indictment of Fox News from the Post video team here.
[Source]
In this video, assembled by the Washington Post's media team, Fox News hosts and their rhetoric is contrasted just a few days apart. Then, they were claiming coronavirus was either nothing to worry about or an outright hoax; now they are solemnly telling people to look out for themselves as the virus rages.
[washingtonpost.com, 2020-03-16] On Fox News, suddenly a very different tune about the coronavirus. For weeks, some of Fox News's most popular hosts downplayed the threat of the coronavirus, characterizing it as a conspiracy by media organizations and Democrats to undermine President Trump.
[2020-04-16] FOX News Defends Its COVID Lies, Saying First Amendment Protects "False" Speech
[2020-03-06] Washington Examiner's top editor orders staff not to write negative stories about FOX News
[theHill.com, 2020-01-29] Rupert Murdoch's News Corp launches "Knewz" aggregation platform as alternative to Google, Facebook. Note this disingenuous statement: "Knewz.com is an innovative service designed to let you consume news from a wide variety of sources, free of the bias bubbles and vacuous verticals that frustrate so many discerning readers and thoughtful publishers." | News Corp
[BBC.com, 2020-01-18] Disney culls "Fox" from 20th Century Fox in rebrand. Disney executives have cut the word "Fox" from their 20th Century Fox film studio in an apparent bid to distance it from operations of the previous owner, Rupert Murdoch. ... Variety magazine, which broke the news about the name change, said it had spoken to an unnamed Disney source, who said: "I think the Fox name means Murdoch, and that is toxic." ...
[Variety.com, 2020-01-17] Disney Drops Fox Name, Will Rebrand as 20th Century Studios, Searchlight Pictures.
[theConversation.com, 2019-05-15] The secret history of News Corp: a media empire built on spreading propaganda. Academic Denis Muller [local copy (html, captured 2020-10-13)] recently called News Corp a "propaganda operation masquerading as a news service."
[NYTimes.com, 2019-04-03] How Rupert Murdoch's Empire of Influence Remade the World:
Part 1 [2019-04-03]: Imperial Reach Murdoch and his children have toppled governments on two continents and destabilized the most important democracy on Earth. What do they want?
Part 2 [2019-04-03]: Internal Divisions President Trump's election made the Murdoch family more powerful than ever. But the bitter struggle between James and Lachlan threatened to tear the company apart.
Part 3 [2019-04-03]: The New Fox Weapon The Disney deal left the Murdochs with a media empire stripped to its essence: a hard-core right-wing news machine -- with Lachlan in charge.
[MediaMatters.org, 2013-06-19] Fox News' Transphobia Problem.
[2020-07-14] Roger Stone thanks Tucker Carlson for pushing Trump to commute his sentence: "Incredible loyalty".
Stone praises the FOX News host for using his show as a platform to attempt to discredit Mueller's Russia probe
[2020-07-12] FOX News: Tucker Carlson writer Blake Neff resigns over racist messages
[2020-07-12] Fresh Scrutiny For FOX's Tucker Carlson As Top Writer [Blake Neff] Quits Over Bigoted Posts
[2019-03-10] In unearthed audio, Tucker Carlson makes numerous misogynistic and perverted comments.
During interviews on "Bubba The Love Sponge," Carlson said he "loves" the idea of young girls sexually experimenting, used sexist terms to refer to a number of women, and defended statutory rape
[2020-05-21] Researchers: Nearly Half of Accounts Tweeting About Coronavirus Are Likely Bots
[2020-05-21] Nearly half of Twitter accounts pushing to reopen America may be bots.
There has been a huge upswell of Twitter bot activity since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, amplifying medical disinformation and the push to reopen America
[2020-04-17] Bill Gates is now the leading target for coronavirus falsehoods
See also [2020-04-21]: Russia, China, Iran using similar themes in disinformation campaigns: report
[reference] Max Blumenthal | theGrayZone.com
[2020-04-20] How a Trump media dump mainstreamed Chinese lab coronavirus conspiracy theory
[2017-07-18] Max Blumenthal on FOX News
[2016-07-07] Clinton Campaign Slams Max Blumenthal for Accusing Elie Wiesel of 'Inciting Hatred'
[2016-02-26] Anti-Zionist Max Blumenthal jeered at Toronto event
[2016-01-18] Hillary Clinton's Israel-Hating Secret Advisor Comes Out Swinging
[2014-06-09] Max Blumenthal's Jew-hating fans
[2020-06-16] Operation "Secondary Infektion:" Russian disinformation operation relied on forgeries, fake posts on 300 platforms
[2020-05-24] Canadian-led NATO battlegroup in Latvia targeted by pandemic disinformation campaign.
Alliance commanders are pointing fingers at Russia
[2020-04-21] Russia, China, Iran using similar themes in disinformation campaigns: report
See also [2020-04-17]: Bill Gates is now the leading target for coronavirus falsehoods
[2020-06-15] Boris Johnson Is Scrapping Key Trans Rights Reforms to the Gender Recognition Act.
According to a leaked report, the government will introduce a host of legislation targeting trans people's access to toilets and refuges instead
[2019-10-11] Metro Vancouver's last transit strike lasted a record-breaking 123 days
[2020-08-08] $500K a year? Tax watchdog slams TransLink over higher pay ranges for executives
[2020-08-08] Taxpayer group questions new salary ranges for TransLink executives
[2020-11-05] TransLink executives would have more credibility in contract talks if board trimmed their comfy pay packages
[2020-04-20] TransLink announces temporary layoffs of 1,500 employees and deep service cuts
[2016-03-07] Vancouver to buy Arbutus Corridor from CP Rail for $55M
[2020-04-26] $1 repurchase by CPR from City of Vancouver of portions of Arbutus corridor moves forward
[2020-03-03] 'The railways got very wealthy on our land': How rail's colonial past made it a target for blockades
[2020-03-02] The Six Nations and a century of Canada-Indigenous clashes over the 'rule of law'.
A hundred years ago a Cayuga hereditary chief brought international attention to Canada's disregard for Indigenous sovereignty. Has anything changed since then?
[2018-08-12] Canada vs. the Rule of Law.
"Suffer the Little Children: Genocide, Indigenous Nations and the Canadian State"
[2020-02-28] Canada Lays Bare the Lie it Calls "Reconciliation".
Canada and British Columbia send police to arrest Wet'suwet'en leadership opposing pipeline construction on their land
[2020-02-16] Reconciliation is dead: The educational ramifications of an empty promise
[2016-05-17] Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR)
[theConversation.com, 2020-10-21] Corporate social responsibility commitments: All talk, no action.
Corporate social responsibility (CSR), is a burgeoning business model. Spurred by a series of scandals, it has become a mainstay of our business schools. However, CSR efforts haven't stopped the continual parade of scandals, from Boeing's 737 Max failures to the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the well-known gaming of financial markets by investment houses, as depicted in books and films that include "The Wolf of Wall Street," and "The Big Short." There are three obvious sources of failure in CSR: neoliberalism | globalized production | no transparency
[Salon.com, 2020-10-15] How fascism has converged with capitalism to redefine government. The tendency of capitalism is toward instability, inequality, and fascism.
[MIT: TechnologyReview.com, 2020-10-14] Capitalism is in crisis. To save it, we need to rethink economic growth. The failure of capitalism to solve our biggest problems is prompting many to question one of its basic precepts.
Even before the covid-19 pandemic and the resulting collapse of much the world's economy, a crisis in capitalism was plainly evident. Unfettered free markets had pushed inequality of income and wealth to extremely high levels in the United States. Slow productivity growth in many rich countries had stunted financial opportunities for a generation. Businesses, if no longer quite oblivious to global warming, seemed impotent to make changes that might slow it.
And then came the pandemic, with millions losing their jobs, and then the raging wildfires, fueled by climate change, that blazed up and down the US West Coast. All the simmering signs of a dysfunctional economic system suddenly became fully evident, full-blown disasters.
No wonder many in the US and Europe have begun questioning the underpinnings of capitalism-particularly its devotion to free markets and its faith in the power of economic growth to create prosperity and solve our problems.
The antipathy to growth is not new; the term "degrowth" was coined in the early 1970s. But these days, worries over climate change, as well as rising inequality, are prompting its reemergence as a movement.
Calls for "the end of growth" are still on the economic fringe, but degrowth arguments have been taken up by political movements as different as the Extinction Rebellion and the populist Five Star Movement in Italy. "And all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!" thundered Greta Thunberg, the young Swedish climate activist, to an audience of diplomats and politicians at UN Climate Week last year. ...
[MotherJones.com, 2020-10-13] A Scholar of American Doom Doesn't See How Capitalism Can Fix This Crisis. "The elements are there" for a radical transformation, says Mike Davis.
[2020-05-14] Sonal Shah Is Everything Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Is Not
[2020-04-28] Postmedia's John Ivison, the worst person on the internet.
Billionaires and their bootlickers are happy to sacrifice our lives to boost their profits, but if we get mad about it they say we're the problem
[2020-04-24] Richard D. Wolff: Capitalism Can't Be Repaired -- Coronavirus Shows Its Huge Weaknesses
[2020-04-23] To Fight Climate Change and Capitalism, We Must Decommodify Public Transit
[2020-04-17] COVID-19, Capitalism, and Socialism
[2020-04-10] Chamath Palihapitiya: US shouldn't bail out hedge funds, billionaires during coronavirus pandemic
[2020-04-09] Fraser Institute defends price-gouging amidst COVID-19 pandemic
[2020-04-09] The Cost of This Pandemic Must Not Bankrupt the People
[2020-04-08] Four Reasons the Ruling Elite Love This Crisis.
While monumental shocks currently pound citizens around the world, an orgiastic festival of exploitation is underway
[2020-04-05] Capitalism, Coronavirus and the Road to Extinction
[2020-04-02] No Fennel in the Sausage, No $600 for the Jobless.
Wealthy Have Contempt For Those Without Wealth In Pandemics Throughout History
[2020-04-01] COVID-19: The Capitalist Emperor Has no Clothes
[2020-03-09] Capitalism is an Incubator for Pandemics. Socialism is the Solution
[2019-11-29] Corporate debt nears a record $10 trillion, and borrowing binge poses new risks
See also:
[2020-04-24] Canada's for-profit model of long-term care has failed the elderly, says leading expert
[2020-04-22] Canada Resumes Selling Arms To Saudi Warmongers
[2020-06-09] Canada doubles weapons sales to Saudi Arabia despite moratorium
[2020-04-14] Dealing death: Canada resumes arms sales to Saudi Arabia
[2020-04-09] Canada strikes new deal with Saudi Arabia, clearing way for armoured vehicle sales
[2020-04-09] Government renegotiates Saudi arms deal to lift export ban amid COVID-19 pandemic
[2020-04-09] Canada lifting a freeze on arms exports to Saudi Arabia, opposition wants big deal scrapped
[2019-10-29] Saudi Arabia is $3.4 Billion behind on its payments for Canadian LAVs
[2018-11-23] Canada should suspend arms exports to Saudi Arabia, says former Trudeau adviser
[2017-12-06] Disarming Security: Project Ploughshares and Canadian military export policy
Reference: Keynesian Economics | Monetarism | Quantitative Easing
Neoliberalism is the 20th-century resurgence of 19th-century ideas associated with economic liberalism and free-market capitalism. It is generally associated with policies of economic liberalization, including privatization, deregulation, globalization, free trade, austerity, and reductions in government spending in order to increase the role of the private sector in the economy and society; however, the defining features of neoliberalism in both thought and practice have been the subject of substantial scholarly debate. Neoliberalism constituted a paradigm shift away from the post-war Keynesian consensus which had lasted from 1945 to 1980.
Libertarian (from Latin: libertas, meaning "freedom") is a political philosophy and movement that upholds liberty as a core principle. Libertarians seek to maximize political freedom and autonomy, emphasizing individualism, freedom of choice and voluntary association.
Libertarians share a skepticism of authority and state power, but they diverge on the scope of their opposition to existing economic and political systems. Various schools of libertarian thought offer a range of views regarding the legitimate functions of state and private power, often calling for the restriction or dissolution of coercive social institutions.
Different categorizations have been used to distinguish various forms of libertarianism.[3][4] This is done to distinguish libertarian views on the nature of property and capital, usually along left-right or socialist-capitalist lines.
See also: Floyd Arthur Harper, author of (1949) Liberty: A Path to Its Recovery, Harper's magnum opus which explains his philosophy of libertarianism.
Keynesian economics sometimes Keynesianism, named for the economist John Maynard Keynes) are various macroeconomic theories about how, in the short run -- and especially during recessions -- economic output is strongly influenced by aggregate demand (total spending in the economy). In the Keynesian view, aggregate demand does not necessarily equal the productive capacity of the economy; instead, it is influenced by a host of factors and sometimes behaves erratically, affecting production, employment, and inflation.
Keynesian economists generally argue that as aggregate demand is volatile and unstable, a market economy often experiences inefficient macroeconomic outcomes in the form of economic recessions (when demand is low) and inflation (when demand is high), and that these can be mitigated by economic policy responses, in particular, monetary policy actions by the central bank and fiscal policy actions by the government, which can help stabilize output over the business cycle. Keynesian economists generally advocate a managed market economy -- predominantly private sector, but with an active role for government intervention during recessions and depressions.
See also [reference] BlackRock
[2020-07-13] The Keynesian Revolution.
A new biography reveals the full scope of John Maynard Keynes' critique of unfettered capitalism, emphasizing the economist's larger philosophical vision of the good life.
Review of [book] "The Price of Peace: Money, Democracy, and the Life of John Maynard Keynes"
[2020-04-27] Two crises, one way out.
How we choose to rebuild our world after the COVID-19 pandemic will either chart a way out of the twin crises of an economic and climate breakdown, or further fuel inequity, injustice and climate destruction. Our central banks are at the core of those choices
[2019-09-17] Central Bankers' Desperate Grab for Power.
Mentions: Bank of Canada | BlackRock | Bank for International Settlement | Bank of England | Bank of Israel | Goldman Sachs |
International Monetary Fund | Swiss National Bank | [central banks in] Switzerland | U.S. Federal Reserve
[reference] Milton Friedman. Mentions: U.S. Federal Reserve | Keynesian Economics | Monetarism
[Inter Press Service, 2020-10-13] Milton Friedman Versus Stakeholder Capitalism.
[2013-07-05] When Will 'The World's Dumbest Idea' Die?
[2013-06-26] "must-read:" The Origin of 'The World's Dumbest Idea': Milton Friedman.
Milton Friedman's "profits Are Everything" Philosophy, which largely shaped the mess we're now in ...
[2020-03-23] $1 Trillion Dollar Coins
See also U.S. Federal Reserve
[reference] Helicopter Money
[2020-04-25] White House, Senate Agree To $2 Trillion Coronavirus Rescue Package
[2020-04-24] Helicopter money is not what you think
[2020-04-07] Helicopter money's unearned popularity
[2020-03-24] Does the economy need a helicopter rescue to escape COVID-19 disaster?
[2020-03-24] U.S. nears goal line in coronavirus stimulus negotiations, Senate leaders say
[2020-03-24] Wall Street surges on expectation of $2 trillion rescue package
[2020-03-24] Stock markets rebound as U.S. nears $2 trillion stimulus deal
[2020-03-24] Trump, Congress agree on $2 trillion virus rescue bill
[2020-02-07] The Power of Helicopter Money Revisited: A New Keynesian Perspective
[2019-08-30] Helicopter Money
[reference] International Monetary Fund
[2020-03-30] IMF Refuses Aid to Venezuela in the Midst of the Coronavirus Crisis
[2020-01-17] IMF boss says global economy risks return of Great Depression
[2019-10-18] IMF: What is it and why does it matter?
[2007-09-05] "Shock Wave Troopers:" IMF-Related Excerpts
See also Helicopter Money
[reference] Federal Reserve
[2020-03-23] The Federal Reserve just pledged asset purchases with no limit to support markets
[2020-03-20] Federal Reserve to lend additional $1 trillion a day to large banks
[2020-11-19] Federal Reserve: Enemy of Liberty and Prosperity
[2020-05-30] A free press is no luxury: Time for Canada to recognize press freedom as more than a form of free expression.
Freedom of the press is often lumped in with the right to speak freely, and it shouldn't be
[2020-03-13] Release order bars woman from voicing support for Wet'suwet'en online
[2020-08-04] Sinofascism: British Columbia cabinet biographies obliterate any mention of where immigrant ministers were born.
This isn't the case for regular NDP MLAs, who proudly state where they came from
[2020-07-07] China's massive effort to collect its people's DNA concerns scientists.
Genetic material is being collected from men across the country to help solve crimes, but researches worry the data will be misused
[2020-04-20] Why Xi will shelter behind the great wall of secrecy
[2019-07-02] China Snares Tourists' Phones in Surveillance Dragnet by Adding Secret App.
Border authorities routinely install the Fengcai app on the phones of people entering the Xinjiang region by land from Central Asia, gathering personal data and scanning for material considered objectionable
See also: Human Rights: Violators -- China -- Uighur [Muslim] Population
[2019-11-24] How China Targets Uighurs 'One by One' for Using a Mobile App.
Highly classified Chinese government documents reveal Chinese authorities have been targeting users of the Zapya app, as part of their crackdown against the Muslim Uighur population
[2019-06-29] China's Vanishing Muslims: Undercover In The Most Dystopian Place In The World
[2020-06-09] The Police Have Been Spying on Black Reporters and Activists for Years. I Know Because I'm One of Them.
Wendi C. Thomas is a black journalist who has covered police in Memphis. One officer admitted to spying on her. She's on a long list of prominent black journalists and activists who have been subjected to police surveillance over decades
[2020-07-22] Pandemic Profiteers Exposed.
Pharmaceutical and tech companies and wealthy white Americans benefit from dramatic pandemic profits, further exacerbating inequality.
17 of the top 25 most profitable US corporations, including Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson, Facebook, Pfizer, and Visa, are expected to make almost $85 billion more in 2020 than in previous years.
While these profits could have been invested in protecting workers and in innovation, Oxfam found that in 2020 the top 25 most profitable US corporations are set to distribute 99% of net profits to shareholders -- who are overwhelmingly white and predominantly male.
[2020-07-23] Oxfam: Pandemic Profiteers Exposed.
A COVID-19 Pandemic Profits Tax as one essential tool to reverse inequalities and rebuild better post-pandemic.
... How would a temporary COVID-19 Pandemic Profits Tax work? And who would it affect? ...
[2020-07-21] Federal agents are snatching protesters off the streets of Portland. These companies are profiting.
Contracts with Customs and Border Protection since 2017: Deloitte ($308 million) | Ogilvy ($35.3 million) | Booz Allen Hamilton ($12.5 million) | McKinsey & Company ($6.8 million)
[2020-07-17] On eve of bankruptcy, U.S. firms shower execs with bonuses.
Mentions: Chesapeake Energy Corp | Hertz Global Holdings Inc | Hi-Crush Inc | J.C. Penney Co Inc | Neiman Marcus Group | Toys 'R' Us | Whiting Petroleum Corp
[2020-05-08] [VE Day, May 08 (75th anniversary, 2020)] Victory in Europe Day: These American Corporations Aided Nazi Germany
[2017-10-06] 7 Brands With Nazi Ties That We All Use.
Mentions: International Business Machines [IBM] | Volkswagen | The Coca-Cola Company | Hugo Boss | The Associated Press | Kodak | Bayer
[2015-01-02] Top 10 American Companies that Aided the Nazis.
Mentions: International Business Machines [IBM] | General Motors | Ford Motor Company | Alcoa | Woolworth | Brown Brothers Harriman | Dow Chemical | Chase Manhattan Bank | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | Coca-Cola
[2020-01-15] The Evil List. Which tech companies are really doing the most harm?
[reference] Consumers' Right to Repair
[CBSNews.com, 2020-10-11] Fighting for the right to repair your own stuff. | Hacker News (2020-10-17)
[2020-07-13] Three corporations backing a California initiative to incarcerate more people.
Proposition 20 ("Reducing Crime and Keeping California Safe Act") would allow certain non-violent thefts, which are currently misdemeanors, to be charged as felonies.
Supporters (funders): Albertsons (subsidiary: Safeway) | Costco | Kroger (subsidiary: Ralphs Grocery)
[RollingStone.com, 2020-10-13] Why Isn't Amazon Cracking Down on QAnon Merch? Some tech giants have taken steps to scrub QAnon believers from their platforms -- but not Amazon.
[2020-06-04] Amazon says Black Lives Matter, but it's Helping Fund Police Foundations Across the U.S.
[2020-05-22] Bernie Sanders Says It Is 'Nauseating' to See Corporations Praise Frontline Workers as 'Heroes' While Refusing to Pay Them More.
"I personally get really sick and tired of turning on the TV and seeing these companies run these ads, 'Thank you heroes and heroines, but of course we're not going to pay you any more money.'"
[2020-05-21] Big Tech Supporting Blacklisted Surveillance Companies.
Amazon and Microsoft power almost half the Chinese surveillance companies on the US Department Of Commerce blacklist
[2020-05-16] [Tim Bray] Former Amazon VP opens up about decision to quit in support of COVID-19 'whistleblowers'
[2020-05-14] 'Slap in the Face': As Bezos Wealth Jumps $30 Billion Amid Pandemic, Amazon to End $2 Per Hour Hazard Pay for Workers.
"It just shows how very little regard Amazon has for its overworked employees"
[2020-04-26] The Amazon Lockdown: How an Unforgiving Algorithm Drives Suppliers to Favor the E-Commerce Giant Over Other Retailers
[2020-04-23] Amazon Scooped Up Data From Its Own Sellers to Launch Competing Products
[2020-04-14] Amazon fires employees who spoke out about coronavirus and climate change
[2020-04-07] The Hate Store: Amazon's Self-Publishing Arm Is a Haven for White Supremacists.
The company gives extremists and neo-Nazis banned from other platforms unprecedented access to a mainstream audience -- and even promotes their books
[reference] Apple, Inc..
[CBC.ca, 2020-10-19] Apple blocks widow from honouring husband's dying wish. Woman locked out of account due to U.S. law often applied to Canadians.
An Ontario widow is locked in a four-year battle with Apple over online material she already legally owns. Carol Anne Noble of Toronto wants access to an Apple account she and her husband shared -- but was under his name -- so she can fulfil a promise she made to him before he died. But instead of giving her the password she's forgotten, the tech giant is demanding she jump through complicated and expensive legal hoops to satisfy what experts say is an outdated American law. "It's a real slap in the face to me," said Noble who, after 41 years of marriage, was the executor and sole beneficiary of her husband's estate. Don Noble died from a rare spinal cancer in late 2016. "Basically, they want an order from the court to give me what my husband owned and it is already bequeathed to me... it's very strange," Noble, 66, told Go Public. ...
[WashingtonPost.com, 2020-02-29] China compels Uighurs to work in shoe factory that supplies Nike. | reddit
... An industry of middlemen has cropped up to facilitate the dispatch of Uighurs, touting "semi-military-style management" and "government management with police stationed at factories." In its report, ASPI said it had found evidence that Uighurs were being exploited and that foreign and Chinese companies were involved, possibly unknowingly, in human rights abuses. The researchers found 27 factories in nine Chinese provinces that have used Uighur workers hired through labor transfer programs from Xinjiang since 2017. The factories are owned by firms that feed into the supply chain of some of the world's best-known companies, including Apple, Dell and Volkswagen, the report finds.
BOE Technology Group, which supplies screens to Apple, and O-Film, which makes iPhone cameras, both use Uighur labor, either directly or through contractors, the report found. Apple lists both companies on its latest supplier list. Apple said that it has strict requirements for suppliers. "Apple is dedicated to ensuring that everyone in our supply chain is treated with the dignity and respect they deserve," said spokesman Josh Rosenstock. "We have not seen this report but we work closely with all our suppliers to ensure our high standards are upheld." ...
[Forbes.com, 2020-02-22] Apple Just Demanded Santander and a $50 Billion US Intelligence Contractor Reveal How They Use iPhone Hacking Tech.
[Vice.com, 2020-02-06] Apple's Independent Repair Program Is Invasive to Shops and Their Customers, Contract Shows. The contract states independent repair shops must agree to audits and inspections by Apple, even if they leave the program.
[MacRumors.com, 2020-02-06] Apple Makes Independent Repair Shops Sign Draconian Contracts to Get Official Parts. | reddit
[CNBC.com, 2020-01-28] Apple generated $56 billion in iPhone revenue last quarter on strong iPhone 11 sales.
[CNBC.com, 2020-01-28] Apple now has $207.06 billion in cash on hand, up slightly from last quarter. | reddit
[BBC.com, 2020-01-22] FBI "persuaded Apple to halt iCloud encryption".
[2019-11-28] 12 EU states reject move to expose companies' tax avoidance. Proposal would have forced firms to reveal profits made and taxes paid in each EU country. | reddit
"... The European commission has ruled that a sweetheart deal agreed by Apple and Ireland was illegal state aid and helped the US tech firm avoid €13 billion in tax. The deal slashed Apple's tax rate to as little as 0.005%. The commission has ordered Apple to repay Ireland the entire sum but the two parties are appealing against the decision at Europe's general court."
[BusinessInsider.com, 2019-10-22] Apple CEO Tim Cook Took a Chairman Position at one of China's Top Business Schools
[Vice.com, 2018-05-11] DHS Seizes Aftermarket iPhone Screens From Prominent Right-to-Repair Advocate. Jessa Jones is a highly respected iPhone repair professional and recently testified as an expert witness in a class action lawsuit against Apple.
[BBC.com, 2020-03-16] Apple hit with record €1.1 billion fine in France.
[Engadget.com, 2020-02-07] France fines Apple $27 million for slowing down iPhones. Apple will have to display a notice on its French website for the next month.
[BBC.com, 2020-02-07] Apple fined for slowing down old iPhones. | reddit
[Reuters.com, 2020-03-02] Apple to pay up to $500 million to settle U.S. lawsuit over slow iPhones. | reddit
[CNBC.com, 2019-12-20] Google fined 150 million euros by France.
[BBC.com, 2019-11-27] Apple changes Crimea map to meet Russian demands. | Hacker News
"Apple has complied with Russian demands to show the annexed Crimean peninsula as part of Russian territory on its apps. Russian forces annexed Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014, drawing international condemnation. The region, which has a Russian-speaking majority, is now shown as Russian territory on Apple Maps and its Weather app, when viewed from Russia. But the apps do not show it as part of any country when viewed elsewhere. ...
[CTVNews.ca, 2019-11-27] Apple Maps now shows Crimea as part of Russian territory.
See: BlackRock
[2020-05-05] [BlackRock] Farmworkers Step Up Pressure on Wendy's Shareholders to Protect Workers' Rights.
The main power behind Wendy's is Trian Partners, a powerful hedge fund run by billionaire Nelson Peltz. Trian is the top owner of Wendy's and dominates its board of directors.
[2020-05-20] Exxon Sued Again for 'Misleading' Advertising.
Mentions: BP plc
[2020-06-10] Chevron's #BlackLivesMatter Hypocrisy.
The oil giant funds both civil rights groups and police, saying "Black Lives Matter" while committing acts of environmental racism all over the world
[2020-05-18] Over 475 lawyers, legal organizations and human rights defenders support lawyer Steven Donziger
[2020-05-20] Judge Rules That Attorney Steven Donziger Must Remain Under House Arrest Until September 2020
[2020-03-12] Chevron Seeks to Disbar, Bankrupt Lawyer Who Won $9.5 Billion Settlement
[2020-02-24] He Sued Chevron and Won. Now He's Under House Arrest.
Chevron is using the U.S. courts to avoid paying out $9.5 billion for environmental damage -- And to silence lead lawyer Steven Donziger
[2020-01-20] "must-read:" How the Environmental Lawyer Who Won a Massive Judgment Against Chevron Lost Everything
[2020-07-13] Three corporations backing a California initiative to incarcerate more people.
Proposition 20 ("Reducing Crime and Keeping California Safe Act") would allow certain non-violent thefts, which are currently misdemeanors, to be charged as felonies.
Supporters (funders): Albertsons (subsidiary: Safeway) | Costco | Kroger (subsidiary: Ralphs Grocery)
[2020-06-16] eBay Executives Accused of Horrifying Harassment Campaign Against Journalists.
A federal complaint alleges six eBay employees sent live cockroaches, porn, a pig mask, and a pig fetus to the author of an ecommerce newsletter. CEO Devin Wenig said: "Take her down."
[reference] ExxonMobil
[resource] ExxonSecrets.org: documenting ExxonMobil's funding of climate change skeptics.
[Truthout.org, 2020-10-19] ExxonMobil's Supposed Shift on Climate Belies Its Donations to Climate Deniers.
After decades of public denial, ExxonMobil now acknowledges that "the risk of climate change is real" and says it is "committed to being part of the solution," at least according to the company's website and statements. To that end, the largest investor-owned oil company in the world claims it supports a federal carbon tax and the Paris climate agreement.
But the company's recently released grantmaking report shows that it has not ended its two-decade-long campaign to stymie government efforts to address climate change. By ExxonMobil's own accounting, it gave $690,000 to eight climate science denier groups in 2019, a 10 percent drop from 2018. In addition, it continued to fund federal lawmakers who oppose a carbon tax, despite its supposed longtime support for the idea. Forty percent of the nearly $1 million it has contributed so far to congressional incumbent campaigns during the 2019-20 election cycle has gone to 115 of the 150 climate science deniers still in office.
[Bloomberg.com, 2020-10-05] Exxon's Plan for Surging Carbon Emissions Revealed in Leaked Documents. Internal projections from one of world's largest oil producers show an increase in its enormous contribution to global warming.
[2020-06-25] DC Is the Latest to Sue Exxon and Big Oil for Climate Disinformation Campaigns
[2020-06-24] Minnesota Attorney General Sues Exxon, Koch and API for Climate Deception
[2020-06-09] "must-read:" Bradley [Foundation] Spent Millions on Voter Suppression, Union Busters, Climate Deniers, and Right-Wing Media in 2019.
As part of Bradley's strategic vision, it invests in groups to defund and dismantle unions, to fuel a web of climate change deniers, and to prop up right-wing media
[2020-05-27] Exxon, Amazon and Facebook Should Heed Shareholders' Calls for Political Activity Disclosure, Removal of Political Misinformation.
Misinformation, undisclosed political spending continue to undermine our democracy
[2020-05-20] Exxon Sued Again for 'Misleading' Advertising.
Mentions: BP plc
[2020-02-06] ExxonMobil Got Congress to Trade Arms for Offshore Gas.
Mentions: AmCham Cyprus | American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association | American Jewish Committee | Christians United for Israel | Seth Cropsey | Eastern Mediterranean Security and Energy Partnership Act (Senators Bob Menendez, Marco Rubio) | ExxonMobil | General Atomics | Hellenic American Leadership Council | Hudson Institute | Paul Manafort | Secretary of State Mike Pompeo | Prime Policy Group (successor to Black, Manafort, Stone and Kelly) | Qatar Petroleum | Senator Chuck Schumer | Roger Stone | Trump White House | Bulgaria; Cyprus; Greece; Israel; Italy
See also [2017-02-06|07] Donald J. Trump and the Deep State.
Mentions: Alfa Bank (oligarchical billionaire Mikhail Fridman) | Arkansas Project | Steve Bannon | Citigroup | Richard "Dick" Cheney; Halliburton | Jay Clayton (Trump's SEC Chairman) | Gary Cohn (former president of Goldman Sachs; Trump's former Director of the National Economic Council | Council on Foreign Relations | "Deep State:" military-industrial complex; intelligence community; Wall Street; plutocrats (note older Citigroup white papers); big oil; mainstream media (e.g., Jeff Bezos owns Washington Post); national security officials; Silicon Valley | Davos Group | Betsy DeVos (& brother Erik Prince: founder/owner of notorious private army Blackwater) | Democracy Alliance | Export-Import Bank | ExxonMobil | Exxon-Rosneft exploration deal | Michael Flynn, (briefly) Trump's National Security Advisor | Goldman Sachs alums (Steve Bannon; Clayton; Cohn; Steve Mnuchin; ...) | Heritage Foundation | John Birch Society | JPMorgan Chase | Koch family (brothers Charles and David Koch); Koch Foundation | Paul Manafort | Robert Mercer | Steve Mnuchin (former Goldman Sachs banker; Trump's Secretary of the Treasury) | Morgan Stanley | National Association of Manufacturers | Mike Pompeo (former Director of CIA; Trump's Secretary of State) | Roger Stone, (Washington lobbying firm Black, Manafort, Stone, and Kelly) | Russia | super billionaires | Tea Party | Rex Tillerson (former Exxon CEO), Trump's Secretary of State | Donald Trump
[2020-01-15] ExxonMobil Is the Most Damaging Tech Company
[2020-01-08] Imperial Oil, Canada's Exxon Subsidiary, Ignored Its Own Climate Change Research for Decades, Archive Shows
[2005-{05/06} issue] Put a Tiger In Your Think Tank.
ExxonMobil has pumped more than $8 million into more than 40 think tanks; media outlets; and consumer, religious, and even civil rights groups that preach skepticism about the oncoming climate catastrophe. Herewith, a representative overview.
[reference] Corporation: Facebook
[ProPublica.org, 2020-10-20] "Trumpcare" Does Not Exist. Nevertheless Facebook and Google Cash In on Misleading Ads for "Garbage" Health Insurance. The thousands of "Trumpcare" ads Facebook and Google have published show that the shadowy "lead generation" economy has a happy home on the platforms -- and even big names like UnitedHealthcare [UnitedHealth Group] take part.
[NPR.org, 2020-10-13] Facebook Bans Ads Discouraging Vaccines, In Latest Misinformation Crackdown.
[CTVNews.ca, 2020-10-13] Facebook bans anti-vaccination ads but not antivax posts.
[CNBC.com, 2020-10-06] Facebook is a social network monopoly that buys, copies or kills competitors, antitrust committee finds. Hacker News [2020-10-09+]
[Popular.info, 2020-10-06] Facebook gives Breitbart a pass for COVID misinformation.
[2020-08-19] Health misinformation pages got half a billion views on Facebook in April 2020.
Health misinformation has received almost four times as many Facebook views as information from reliable sources
[2020-08-19] Report: Facebook's Algorithm: A Major Threat to Public Health.
Avaaz uncovers health misinformation spreading networks with an estimated 3.8 billion views in the last year -- and shows how to quarantine this infodemic
[2020-06-26] Facebook to change advertising policy as European giant pulls ads.
Platform will prohibit hate speech in its ads, Zuckerberg says
[2020-06-24] Facebook Takes Zero Action on Explicit Calls for Violence Against Anti-Racism Protesters
[2020-06-23] [erosion of privacy] Facebook accused of trying to bypass GDPR, slurp domain owners' personal WHOIS info via an obscure process.
Antisocial network floods registrars with unjustified data requests
[2020-06-19] Facebook Leaves Trump's 'Racist Baby' Video on Platform after Twitter Flag
[2020-06-11] Facebook Pitched New Tool Allowing Employers to Suppress Words Like "Unionize" in Workplace Chat Product
[2020-05-30] Facebook declines to take action against Trump statements.
Twitter responded to the president's post, which suggested violence against protesters, by hiding it behind a warning label
[2020-05-06] Facebook removes accounts linked to QAnon conspiracy theory
[2020-05-27] Exxon, Amazon and Facebook Should Heed Shareholders' Calls for Political Activity Disclosure, Removal of Political Misinformation.
Misinformation, undisclosed political spending continue to undermine our democracy
[2020-05-26] Facebook Executives Shut Down Efforts to Make the Site Less Divisive.
The social-media giant internally studied how it polarizes users, then largely shelved the research
[2020-05-26] Facebook Ignored Internal Warnings Its Algorithms Were Intensifying Divisiveness.
"Facebook knows what it's doing, intentionally continues to cause harm to increase engagement and profit, and will never fix these problems themselves"
[2020-05-12] In Settlement, Facebook To Pay $52 Million To Content Moderators With PTSD
[2020-04-29] WhatsApp: Israeli firm 'deeply involved' in hacking our users.
The WhatsApp Messenger ("WhatsApp") is an American freeware, cross-platform messaging and Voice over IP (VoIP) service owned by Facebook, Inc.
[2020-04-25] Probing Facebook's Misinformation Machine
[2020-04-23] Want to Find a Misinformed Public? Facebook's Already Done It
[2020-01-29] Mark Zuckerberg says Facebook's goal is no longer to be 'Liked'.
[video] Zuckerberg struggles to explain that Facebook does not fact check any ads
[2020-02-04] Instagram Brings In More Than a Quarter of Facebook Sales [$20 billion in 2019]
[2020-02-01] Zuckerberg says Facebook's new approach 'is going to piss off a lot of people'
[2020-08-16] Facebook algorithm found to 'actively promote' Holocaust denial.
Similar content is also readily accessible across Twitter, YouTube and Reddit, says UK-based counter-extremist group
[2020-08-17] Report: Hosting the 'Holohoax': A Snapshot of Holocaust Denial Across Social Media
[2020-07-08] Report Slams Facebook For 'Vexing And Heartbreaking Decisions' On Free Speech
[2020-07-08] Facebook audit finds biased algorithms, civil rights setbacks.
As hundreds of companies boycott Facebook, an audit highlighted recent civil rights setbacks -- including the company's decision to exempt politicians from fact-checking, even when statements violated existing policies
[2020-06-29] Facebook's Ad Problem Just Turned Into a Full-Blown Crisis.
Mark Zuckerberg is scrambling to appease Facebook's critics as big and small brands pull their ad money, but it doesn't seem to be working this time
[captured 2020-06-29] Stop Hate For Profit.
What would you do with $70 billion? We know what Facebook did.
They allowed incitement to violence against protesters fighting for racial justice in America in the wake of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Ahmaud Arbery, Rayshard Brooks and so many others.
They named Breitbart News a "trusted news source" and made The Daily Caller a "fact checker" despite both publications having records of working with known white nationalists.
They turned a blind eye to blatant voter suppression on their platform.
Could they protect and support Black users? Could they call out Holocaust denial as hate? Could they help get out the vote? They absolutely could. But they are actively choosing not to do so.
99% of Facebook's $70 billion is made through advertising.
[reference] 1Malaysia Development Berhad Scandal [1MDB Scandal]
[BBC.com, 2020-10-22] Goldman Sachs to pay $3 billion over 1MDB corruption scandal.
[MotherJones.com, 2020-10-21] "He Was Throwing Off Cash:" How an International Fugitive Tried to Influence Trump's Swamp. Jho Low paid huge sums to lawyers and GOP power brokers as he sought to fend off the Justice Department. It didn't work.
[2020-07-24] Goldman Sachs settles 1MDB scandal with Malaysia for $3.9 Billion
[2020-05-15] Warren Buffett's Berkshire dumps most of Goldman Sachs stake
[2019-12-16] Ex-Goldman Sachs Partner Barred by S.E.C. Over 1MDB Scandal.
Tim Leissner, the husband of Kimora Lee Simmons, will not have to pay anything beyond the $43.7 million he agreed to surrender as part of a guilty plea
[2020-08-16] Facebook algorithm found to 'actively promote' Holocaust denial.
Similar content is also readily accessible across Twitter, YouTube and Reddit, says UK-based counter-extremist group
[2020-08-17] Report: Hosting the 'Holohoax': A Snapshot of Holocaust Denial Across Social Media
[reference] Censorship by Google
[2020-06-03] Google in $5 billion lawsuit for tracking in 'private' mode
[image] Google is suppressing our site ... | source
[2020-01-20] Google suppressing World Socialist Web Site content in its search results for the New York Times' 1619 Project
[2019-11-15] How Google Interferes With Its Search Algorithms and Changes Your Results
[2019-11-15] Google reportedly manipulates search results to hide controversial subjects and favor big business
[reference] Geofence
[2020-05-15] Google Hides News, Tricked by Fake Claims.
Dubious [DMCA] copyright complaints citing 1998 law led the search giant to make unfavorable articles vanish
[2020-01-16] Avondale [Arizona] Man Sues After Google Data Leads to Wrongful Arrest for Murder
[2020-03-07] Google tracked his bike ride past a burglarized home. That made him a suspect.
[Geofence Warrants] "I was using an app to see how many miles I rode my bike and now it was putting me at the scene of the crime," the man said
[reference] Sensorvault
[2020-04-26] How to Stop Google's Sensorvault From Sharing Your Location With Law Enforcement
[2019-04-18] Google's Sensorvault Can Tell Police Where You've Been
[2019-04-13] Tracking Phones, Google Is a Dragnet for the Police. The tech giant records people's locations worldwide.
Now, investigators are using it to find suspects and witnesses near crimes, running the risk of snaring the innocent
[2019-04-13] Google's Sensorvault Is a Boon for Law Enforcement. This Is How It Works.
Investigators have been tapping into the tech giant's enormous cache of location information in an effort to solve crimes
[2020-05-07] Sidewalk Labs cancels plan to build high-tech neighbourhood in Toronto amid COVID-19
[2019-10-30] Alphabet/Google city-state version of our future.
Leaked document reveals that Sidewalk Labs' Toronto plans for private taxation, private roads, charter schools, corporate cops and judges, and punishment for people who choose privacy
[2020-03-27] Waterfront Toronto: Google's de facto Development Arm in Canada
[2020-02-27] Google asked to justify Toronto 'digital-city' plan
[2019-10-30] Sidewalk Labs document reveals company's early vision for data collection, tax powers, criminal justice
[2019-10-14] Ten Reasons to say No: A Primer on Sidewalk Labs' Plan for Toronto
[Popular.info, 2020-10-21] Steve Bannon's unhinged version of the Hunter Biden conspiracy reaches millions on YouTube. YouTube, Google's video subsidiary, is providing massive distribution to a 22-minute video packed with disinformation about Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden.
[ProPublica.org, 2020-10-20] "Trumpcare" Does Not Exist. Nevertheless Facebook and Google Cash In on Misleading Ads for "Garbage" Health Insurance. The thousands of "Trumpcare" ads Facebook and Google have published show that the shadowy "lead generation" economy has a happy home on the platforms -- and even big names like UnitedHealthcare [UnitedHealth Group] take part.
[NYTimes.com, 2020-10-20] U.S. Accuses Google of Illegally Protecting Monopoly. A victory for the government could remake one of America's most recognizable companies and the internet economy that it has helped define. | Hacker News (2020-10-20)
[WashingtonPost.com, 2020-10-20] Department of Justice charges Google with multiple violations of federal antitrust law. The lawsuit filed Tuesday kicks off a legal war between Washington and Silicon Valley that could have vast implications not only for Google but the entire tech industry. | Hacker News (2020-10-20)
[CBC.ca, 2020-10-20] U.S. Justice Department files antitrust lawsuit against Google. Google controls about 90% of global web searches.
[2019-10-09] Google Elevates Anti-LGBTQ News Sites
Intentionally or not, Google is giving a big boost to the dark corners of the alt-right by ranking anti-LGBTQ news sites prominently in search results
[2019-10-11] Revealed: Google made large contributions to climate change deniers
[2020-02-03] The Sinister Realities of Google's Tear-Jerking Super Bowl Commercial
[2020-04-20] Andy Lee Roth, April Anderson, and Peter Obstler Discuss LGBTQ Issues.
Google Censors LGBTQ Material But Promotes Hate Speech
[2020-07-13] Three corporations backing a California initiative to incarcerate more people.
Proposition 20 ("Reducing Crime and Keeping California Safe Act") would allow certain non-violent thefts, which are currently misdemeanors, to be charged as felonies.
Supporters (funders): Albertsons (subsidiary: Safeway) | Costco | Kroger (subsidiary: Ralphs Grocery)
See also [reference]: McKinsey & Company
[2020-07-15] How McKinsey & Company Is Making $100 Million (and Counting) Advising on the Government's Bumbling Coronavirus Response.
For the world's best-known corporate-management consultants, helping tackle the pandemic has been a bonanza. It's not clear what the government has gotten in return
[2020-07-21] Federal agents are snatching protesters off the streets of Portland. These companies are profiting.
Contracts with Customs and Border Protection since 2017: Deloitte ($308 million) | Ogilvy ($35.3 million) | Booz Allen Hamilton ($12.5 million) | McKinsey & Company ($6.8 million)
[2019-12-18] Capitalism's Consigliere: McKinsey's Work for Insurance Companies, ICE, Drug Manufacturers, and Despots
[2019-12-03] How McKinsey & Company Helped the Trump Administration Detain and Deport Immigrants.
Newly uncovered documents show the consulting giant helped ICE find "detention savings opportunities" -- including some that the agency's staff viewed as too harsh on immigrants
[2020-05-21] Big Tech Supporting Blacklisted Surveillance Companies.
Amazon and Microsoft power almost half the Chinese surveillance companies on the US Department Of Commerce blacklist
[reference] Monsanto Company
Acquired by Bayer (2018).
[reference] Nike, Inc..
[WashingtonPost.com, 2020-02-29] China compels Uighurs to work in shoe factory that supplies Nike. | reddit
The workers in standard-issue blue jackets stitch and glue and press together about 8 million pairs of Nikes each year at Qingdao Taekwang Shoes Co., a Nike supplier for more than 30 years and one of the American brand's largest factories. They churn out pair after pair of Shox, with their springy shock absorbers in the heels, and the signature Air Max, plus seven other lines of sports shoes. But hundreds of these workers did not choose to be here: They are ethnic Uighurs from China's western Xinjiang region, sent here by local authorities in groups of 50 to toil far from home. ...
... Asked about Uighur workers in the factory, Nike said that "we respect human rights in our extended value chain, and always strive to conduct business ethically and responsibly." "We are committed to upholding international labor standards globally," said Nike spokeswoman Sandra Carreon-John, adding that its suppliers are "strictly prohibited from using any type of prison, forced, bonded or indentured labor." Kim Jae-min, chief executive of Taekwang, the factory's South Korean parent company, said about 600 Uighurs were among 7,100 workers at the plant. Nike's manufacturing map shows that the factory has 4,095 employees, of whom 3,445 are "line workers." "The purpose of bringing in migrant Xinjiang workers (in addition to other migrant Han Chinese workers) is to offset the local labor shortage, due to increasing number of competing industries for workers in our area," Kim said in a statement. ...
... Communist Party officials in Laixi have posted photos of the Uighur workers studying in the Taekwang factory's Pomegranate Seeds school, and sitting in rows waving Chinese flags. Security at the factory is tight. Factory administrators told a Post reporter this was a Nike requirement -- Nike inspectors were visiting that day -- but locals said it was also to monitor the Uighur workers. "Some would say they use national-level security standards," one of the street vendors said. "They keep a detailed account of the workers' entries and exits, and they have to obey a strict schedule, coming to work or leaving the compound only at specific hours." ...
refer here [Privacy, Loss of → Spyware]
[2020-02-16] Shell (Royal Dutch Shell PLC): The Reason Fossil Fuel Companies Are Finally Reckoning With Climate Change.
[reference] Surgisphere
[2020-06-03] Governments and WHO changed COVID-19 policy based on suspect data from tiny US company.
Surgisphere, whose employees appear to include a sci-fi writer and adult content model, provided database behind Lancet and New England Journal of Medicine hydroxychloroquine studies
[2020-06-02] Scientists Question Medical Data Used in Second Coronavirus Study.
Medical records from a little-known company were used in two studies published in major journals. The New England Journal of Medicine has asked to see the data
[2020-05-30] Disputed Hydroxychloroquine Study Brings Scrutiny to Surgisphere.
Scientists have raised questions about the dataset published in The Lancet last week that triggered the suspension of clinical trials around the world-and about Surgisphere Corporation, the company behind the study
[2020-05-27] WHO Halts Hydroxychloroquine Testing Over Safety Concerns.
A paper published in The Lancet reported that hospitalized COVID-19 patients taking the drug had a higher risk of death, although some researchers have raised questions about the data
See also official Twitter partner: Dataminr.
Twitter, up until recently a longtime investor in Dataminr alongside the CIA, provides the company with full access to a content stream known as the "firehose" -- a rare privilege among tech firms and one that lets Dataminr, recently valued at over $1.8 billion, scan every public tweet as soon as its author hits send.
[MIT: TechnologyReview.com, 2020-10-16] Twitter's ban almost doubled attention for Biden misinformation. The social media company's attempt to stop misinformation from spreading brought the Streisand Effect into action.
[2020-08-16] Facebook algorithm found to 'actively promote' Holocaust denial.
Similar content is also readily accessible across Twitter, YouTube and Reddit, says UK-based counter-extremist group
[2020-08-17] Report: Hosting the 'Holohoax': A Snapshot of Holocaust Denial Across Social Media
[2020-07-22] Twitter crackdown on conspiracy theories could set agenda for other social media.
Other Silicon Valley companies, including Facebook and YouTube, said they were also considering crackdowns on QAnon
[2020-07-21] Twitter Removes Thousands of QAnon Accounts, Promises Sweeping Ban On the Conspiracy
[2020-05-21] Nearly half of Twitter accounts pushing to reopen America may be bots.
There has been a huge upswell of Twitter bot activity since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, amplifying medical disinformation and the push to reopen America
[2020-04-21] Right-Wing Responsible For Pushing Coronavirus Disinformation On Twitter Worldwide
[reference] Volkswagen Emissions Scandal ["Dieselgate" | "Emissionsgate"]
[2020-05-20] VW pulls Instagram ads after racism row
[2019-03-14] Volkswagen boss apologises for Nazi gaffe
[2020-06-25] Nelson Peltz: Wendy's Chairman and Top Owner Is Trump Donor, Fundraiser and Friend
[2020-05-05] Farmworkers Step Up Pressure on Wendy's Shareholders to Protect Workers' Rights.
The main power behind Wendy's is Trian Partners, a powerful hedge fund run by billionaire Nelson Peltz. Trian is the top owner of Wendy's and dominates its board of directors.
[2020-03-25] See also Wendy's subsection in: Billionaires Live Large While Denying Paid Sick Leave to Millions of Workers
[2020-02-21] Wendy's Billionaire Owner Has Held Trump's Priciest Fundraiser to Date
[United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, 2020-10] The human cost of disasters: An overview of the last 20 years (2000-2019).
[2020-07-09] British Columbia's Carbon Conundrum.
Why LNG exports doom emissions-reduction targets and compromise Canada's long-term energy security
[2020-07-07] As Arctic Burns, New Data Shows June 2020 Capped Off Year Tied for Hottest on Record.
"So I ask again: where are the breaking news?" tweeted teen climate activist Greta Thunberg. "Where are the front pages? Where are the emergency meetings? Where are the adults?"
[2020-06-29] South Pole warmed 3 times the global rate over the past 30 years, new study suggests.
Scientist says Antarctic is starting to feel the effects of climate change, which 'is alarming'
[2020-06-26] How climate change misinformation spreads online.
The rapid rise of social media over the past two decades has brought with it a surge in misinformation
[2020-06-21] Online misinformation about climate change.
Who Is Involved In Spreading Misinformation About Climate Change?
[2020-06-21] It Just Hit 100 Degrees Fahrenheit in Siberia, the Hottest Temperature on Record So Far North in the Arctic
[2020-06] Investigating an unusually mild winter and spring in Siberia
[2020-06-22] 'This Scares Me,' Says Bill McKibben as Arctic Hits 100.4°F-Hottest Temperature on Record.
"100°F about 70 miles north of the Arctic Circle today in Siberia. That's a first in all of recorded history. We are in a climate emergency"
[2020-06-21] Hottest Arctic temperature record probably set with 100-degree reading in Siberia.
Record-shattering reading continues Siberia's hot streak, foreshadows more heat elsewhere
[2020-05-27] Report: G20 Governments Bankrolling the Fossil Fuel Industry with at least $77 Billion a Year
[2020-05-27] Report: Still Digging: G20 Governments Continue to Finance the Climate Crisis
[2020-05-12] There's No One Worse Than Trump on Climate and War
[2020-05-07] How Climate Change Is Contributing to Skyrocketing Rates of Infectious Disease.
A catastrophic loss in biodiversity, reckless destruction of wildland and warming temperatures have allowed disease to explode
[2020-05-04] Future of the Human Climate Niche.
"Absent climate mitigation or migration, a substantial part of humanity will be exposed to mean annual temperatures warmer than nearly anywhere today."
[2020-04-15] Wildlife Collapse From Climate Change Is Predicted to Hit Suddenly and Sooner
[2020-04-15] Abrupt Ecosystem Collapse
[2020-04-20] Parts of North America Are Currently Heading For a Megadrought
[2020-02-26] William Gibson on the apocalypse: "it's been happening for at least 100 years".
[2020-02-13] William Gibson: The prophet of cyberspace talks AI and climate collapse.
The prescient sci-fi writer on why the future shock of tech mirrors the Industrial Revolution
[2020-02-11] 222 scientists say cascading crises are the biggest threat to the well-being of future generations
[2020-02-07] Majority of U.S. adults believe climate change is most important issue today.
Nearly half of 18-34 year olds say that stress about climate change affects their lives
[2020-01-14] World's biggest fund manager vows to divest from thermal coal.
BlackRock CEO says climate crisis will now dictate investments but environmentalists remain wary
[2020-02-21] JP Morgan economists warn climate crisis is threat to human race.
Leaked report for world's major fossil fuel financier says Earth is on unsustainable trajectory
[2020-02-16] Shell (Royal Dutch Shell PLC): The Reason Fossil Fuel Companies Are Finally Reckoning With Climate Change.
[2019-06-13] Report: The U.S. Military Emits More CO2 Than Many Industrialized Nations
[2020-09-08] "Horrifically Catastrophic:" Report Finds So-Called U.S. "War on Terror" Has Displaced as Many as 59 Million People.
"We need a reckoning. We can't simply move on."
The so-called "War on Terror" has displaced as Many as 59 Million people, killed over 801,000 people and cost $6.4 trillion.
[2020-06-25] DC Is the Latest to Sue Exxon and Big Oil for Climate Disinformation Campaigns
[2020-06-24] Minnesota Attorney General Sues Exxon, Koch and API for Climate Deception
[2020-06-09] "must-read:" Bradley [Foundation] Spent Millions on Voter Suppression, Union Busters, Climate Deniers, and Right-Wing Media in 2019.
As part of Bradley's strategic vision, it invests in groups to defund and dismantle unions, to fuel a web of climate change deniers, and to prop up right-wing media.
[2020-05-20] Exxon Sued Again for 'Misleading' Advertising.
Mentions: BP plc
[2019-10-11] Revealed: Google made large contributions to climate change deniers
[2012-02-14] Heartland Institute Exposed: Internal Documents Unmask Heart of Climate Denial Machine
[2011-06-18] Climate change deniers spreading misinformation: Environmental groups
[reference] Rex Murphy
[reference] Jim Inhofe
[2020-02-03] Jim Inhofe: These corporations are quietly bankrolling Congress' top climate denier.
Corporate Donors: Dell | General Electric (GE) | Google | Microsoft
[reference] Climate Change Denial, Pseudoscience: Ted Nordhaus
See also: Michael Shellenberger | Breakthrough Institute
[reference] Climate Change Denial, Pseudoscience: Michael Shellenberger
See also: Ted Nordhaus | Breakthrough Institute
[2020-07-20] [Michael Shellenberger] Fact-check of viral climate misinformation quietly removed from Facebook
[2020-05-07] Trading our lives for their profits: The plan to sacrifice low-wage workers [Canada; CERB; ...]
[2020-04-16] [Canada] Liberals' COVID-19 Support Measures Reveal Crisis in Canada's Low-Wage Job Market.
Justin Trudeau and his Liberal Party's CERB Assistance Program Excludes Unemployed, Self-Employed, Non-Working Poor
[2020-04-15] Part-time, contract and seasonal workers now qualify for COVID-19 emergency benefits
[2020-04-11] Jenny Kwan: CERB Shows Lack of Understanding of Today's Economy and Workforce
[ScienceDaily.com, 2020-10-21] Evidence review confirms CDC guidance about infectivity of novel coronavirus. Research scours 77 studies worldwide about length of time COVID-positive people may be infectious. A new review of dozens of studies suggests that people may shed virus for prolonged periods, but those with mild or no symptoms may be infectious for no more than about 10 days. People who are severely ill from COVID-19 may be infectious for as long as 20 days, according to the review.
Fontana L et al. "Understanding Viral Shedding of SARS-CoV-2: Review of Current Literature." Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, 2020; 1. DOI: 10.1017/ice.2020.1273.
[Nature.com, review, 2020-10-06] Characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 | Hacker News (2020-10-13+)
[2020-07-05] Immunology Is Where Intuition Goes to Die.
Which is too bad because we really need to understand how the immune system reacts to the coronavirus.
[Provides an excellent laypersons overview of the immune system and responses, and the challenges posed by SARS-CoV-2 / COVID-19]
[2020-05-23] Coronavirus: 'Baffling' observations from the front line
[2020-05-18] Structural basis for translational shutdown and immune evasion by the Nsp1 protein of SARS-CoV-2
[2020-04-24] A Vaccine Reality Check.
So much hope is riding on a breakthrough, but a vaccine is only the beginning of the end
[2020-04-17] How does coronavirus kill? Clinicians trace a ferocious rampage through the body, from brain to toes | local copy (html)
"Throughout the body, the presence of ACE2 [cell-surface receptor 'angiotensin-converting enzyme 2'], which normally helps regulate blood pressure, marks tissues vulnerable to infection, because the virus requires that receptor to enter a cell."
[2020-03-17] The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2 | discussion.
"Given the similarity of SARS-CoV-2 to bat SARS-CoV-like coronaviruses, it is likely that bats serve as reservoir hosts for its progenitor."
[2020-05-09] The First 100. COVID-19 Took Black Lives First. It Didn't Have To.
In Chicago, 70 of the city's 100 first recorded victims of COVID-19 were black
[2020-03-27, with updates] Unconscionable Greed, Insider Trading, and the Coronavirus
[reference] Trump Administration: COVID-19
[reference] Scott William Atlas | Scott Atlas
Scott William Atlas is an American neuroradiologist, professor, commentator, and health care policy advisor. Scott Atlas is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. Atlas was selected by President Donald Trump in August 2020 to serve as an advisor on the White House Coronavirus Task Force.
Contrary to the recommendations of most of the scientific community, Scott Atlas has pushed for establishing herd immunity, a faster reopening of schools and businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, and less testing for the virus. Scott Atlas views and influence on policies have set off controversies on the task force.
Scott Atlas's influence on public health policy has alarmed many doctors and health experts. In September 2020, 78 of Atlas's former colleagues at the Stanford Medical School signed an open letter criticizing Atlas, writing that he had made "falsehoods and misrepresentations of science" that "run counter to established science" and "undermine public health authorities and the credible science that guides effective public health policy."
[CommonDreams.org, 2020-10-21] Scott Atlas Is Trump's Doctor Death. He's a reminder of an infamous Russian who "probably killed more human beings than any individual scientist in history."
[2020-07-13] "must-read:" Trump Elevates a Game Show Host's Views on COVID While Stifling Fauci
[2020-07-13] Trump retweets game show host Chuck Woolery's baseless claims about COVID-19
[2020-07-13] White House undercuts Fauci as Trump downplays severity of COVID-19 pandemic.
Fauci increasingly sidelined as he sounds alarm, contradicts Trump on coronavirus
[2020-06-03] Governments and WHO changed COVID-19 policy based on suspect data from tiny US company.
Surgisphere, whose employees appear to include a sci-fi writer and adult content model, provided database behind Lancet and New England Journal of Medicine hydroxychloroquine studies
[2020-05-20] WHO Doctor Warns Against Hydroxychloroquine Use as Trump Continues to Peddle It
[2020-05-18] Alarm and Confusion at Fox News as Trump Says He Takes Hydroxychloroquine
[2020-04-22] As Trump Urges Doctors to Lie on Live TV, Federal Official Says He Was Fired for Limiting Hydroxychloroquine Use
[2020-06-03] Governments and WHO changed COVID-19 policy based on suspect data from tiny US company.
Surgisphere, whose employees appear to include a sci-fi writer and adult content model, provided database behind Lancet and New England Journal of Medicine hydroxychloroquine studies
[2020-06-02] Scientists Question Medical Data Used in Second Coronavirus Study.
Medical records from a little-known company were used in two studies published in major journals. The New England Journal of Medicine has asked to see the data
[2020-05-30] Disputed Hydroxychloroquine Study Brings Scrutiny to Surgisphere.
Scientists have raised questions about the dataset published in The Lancet last week that triggered the suspension of clinical trials around the world-and about Surgisphere Corporation, the company behind the study
[2020-05-27] WHO Halts Hydroxychloroquine Testing Over Safety Concerns.
A paper published in The Lancet reported that hospitalized COVID-19 patients taking the drug had a higher risk of death, although some researchers have raised questions about the data
[2020-07-31] Moncef Slaoui: Trump's Vaccine Chief Picks His Own Former Employer -- Where He Still Holds Millions Worth of Stock-for $2.1 Billion Deal.
"You can't have a contractor supervising government officials"
[2020-07-17] Moncef Slaoui: Defying 'Logic and the Law,' HHS Inspector General Allows Trump's Vaccine Czar to Maintain Big Pharma Investments.
"The IG has given a green light for Moncef Slaoui to use his public office for self-enrichment, a practice that has become frighteningly common within the Trump administration"
[2020-05-21] Moncef Slaoui: 'This Is My Retirement': Trump's COVID-19 Vaccine Czar Refuses to Sell Stock Holdings of Major Drug Company
[EcoWatch.com, 2020-10-21] U.S. Suffered Almost 300,000 Excess Deaths During Coronavirus Pandemic, CDC Reports. Almost 300,000 more Americans have died during the first ten months of the coronavirus pandemic than would be expected in an average year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported Tuesday [2020-10-20].
[DemocracyNow.org, 2020-10-19] Jeremy Scahill on Trump's "Homicidal" Pandemic Response & What's at Stake in November Election. As President Trump campaigns in swing states that are also coronavirus hot spots, The Intercept's Jeremy Scahill argues he is directly responsible for the poor U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed almost 220,000 people in the country so far and sickened millions. "I don't know how else to describe what Trump has done except homicidal," says Scahill, host of a new seven-part audio series that examines the Trump era.
[DemocracyNow.org, 2020-10-06] "Don't Be Afraid of COVID:" Trump Removes Mask & Fuels Misinformation Effort After Leaving Hospital.
[2020-08-31] Health Experts Horrified as New Trump COVID-19 Adviser Pushes 'Herd Immunity' Strategy That Could Kill 2 Million Americans.
"It's not edgy, contrarian," one public health expert said of the "herd immunity" approach. "It's dangerous and terrifying"
To achieve "herd immunity" without a vaccine, "about 250 million Americans would contract the virus and 1.5-2 million would die." A Washington Post analysis found that 2.13 million deaths may be required to "reach a 65 percent threshold of herd immunity, assuming the virus has a one percent fatality rate."
[2020-08-17] All the President's Lies About the Coronavirus.
An unfinished compendium of Trump's overwhelming dishonesty during a national emergency
[2020-08-05] New Report Focuses on Trump Administration's "Intentional Disregard" Throughout Its Failed COVID-19 Response
[2020-08-05] Report: Intentional Disregard: Trump's Authoritarianism During the COVID-19 Pandemic
[2020-08-04] Trump Collapses Under Pressure of Extremely Basic Follow-Up Questions About COVID-19.
A new interview with AXIOS exposes the president's cluelessness about the pandemic that has killed over 150,000 Americans
[2020-07-13] Facts or fake news: Revealing patterns in the COVID-19 tweets of Trudeau and Trump
[2020-07-09] As coronavirus cases surge, Betsy DeVos compares risk of returning to school to riding a rocket ship.
"Risk is involved in everything we do, from learning to ride a bike to riding a rocket into space," DeVos says.
When the education secretary stepped down from the podium at Wednesday's briefing, Vice President Mike Pence took her place and almost immediately told reporters the opposite message.
DeVos' proposals also contradicted Centers for Disease Control and Prevention chief Robert R. Redfield, as well as White House task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx.
Birx and Pence contradicted each other, plus the President.
[2020-07-08] Alex Azar: Trump Health Secretary Says US Healthcare Workers 'Don't Get Infected' With COVID-19 (94,000 Have Contracted the Virus).
While the true toll COVID-19 has taken on healthcare workers is not yet known, one investigation found that more than 760 have died from the virus
[2020-07-06] Trump-connected lobbyists reap more than $10B in U.S. federal pandemic aid.
'The swamp is alive and well in Washington, D.C.,' report author Mike Tanglis says
[2020-07-06] Report: COVID Lobbying Palooza.
Lobbyists Who Worked for Trump's Campaigns, Committees and Administration Are Feasting on the Public Health Emergency
[2020-06-25] Trump Turns the U.S. Into a Pariah.
Other countries are judging America by its sickest states and most reckless politicians
[2020-06-22] Trump Just Had One of the Worst Weekends of His Presidency.
A thinly-attended rally, a damning White House memoir, and a U.S. Attorney who wouldn't quit. Plus, a raging pandemic and terrible poll numbers.
... Trump also dropped a whopper on the subject of coronavirus testing that he won't be living down anytime soon. Describing the correlation between increased testing and an increased number of cases as "a double-edged sword," Trump said, "Here's the bad part... when you do testing to that extent, you're going to find more people; you're going to find more cases. So I said to my people, 'slow the testing down please.'"...
[2020-06-10] "must-watch:" The Deadly Fox News-Trump Syndicate.
Deny, promote quack remedies, attack the experts, blame others, and change the subject to "freedom"
[2020-05-26] Trump Adviser Says "Human Capital Stock" Should Get Back to Work
[2020-05-14] Ousted Vaccine Agency Director Will Testify That Our "Darkest Winter" Is Ahead
[2020-05-13] Trump Administration Won't Guarantee Universal Access to COVID-19 Vaccine
[2020-05-11] Two Female Reporters Refused to Let Trump Bully Them Into Silence, So He Ran Away
[2020-05-09] Obama slams Trump over COVID-19 pandemic response, report says
[2020-05-08] Top White House officials buried CDC coronavirus report: AP
[2020-04-27] Trump Lavished Himself With Praise for COVID Response 600 Times as 55,000 Died
[reference] Addison Mitchell McConnell Jr. [Mitch McConnell]
See also: American Crossroads | Steven J. Law
[2020-07-24] TRUST Act: Mitch McConnell's COVID Response: Cut Social Security
[2020-07-22] Mitch McConnell Laughs When Asked If COVID-19 Bill Will Pass by End of Next Week -- When Unemployment Benefits Expire for 30 Million Americans. "Thirty million workers won't be able to pay rent on August 1st 2020 and McConnell is laughing."
[CommonDreams.org, 2020-10-13] "He's So Proud of How Little He's Done": Watch McConnell Laugh When Confronted on COVID Inaction. "That laugh should give you nightmares." | Twitter
[2020-01-18] The TRUST Act is a plot to gut Social Security behind closed doors
[2019-10-31] TRUST Act: Mitt Romney pushes new plan to fix Social Security. Critics say it isn't a solution
[2020-08-09] Trump bypasses Congress, signs executive actions extending some coronavirus benefits.
Could face legal battles over spending of taxpayer money without Congressional approval
[2020-08-08] Trump Just Admitted on Live Television He Will 'Terminate' Social Security and Medicare If Reelected in November 2020.
One progressive critic called the president's promise "a full-on declaration of war against current and future Social Security beneficiaries"
[2020-08-07] Robert Reich: Robert Reich Debunks Trump's Economic Claims
[Salon.com, 2020-10-21] Mitch McConnell admits he's blocking the coronavirus bill -- will media finally stop blaming Democrats? Republicans clearly never intended to pass a new relief bill -- so why has the media consistently blamed Democrats?
[2020-08-04] Robert Reich: How Mitch McConnell's Republicans are Destroying America
[2020-07-23] Mitch McConnell Accused of 'Doing Everything He Can to Suppress the Vote' by Proposing $0 in Election Assistance.
"It is outrageous that this proposal contains not one penny to help states conduct safe elections during a global pandemic"
[2020-07-18] 'Congress Must Oppose This Dangerous Proposal': Draft of McConnell Corporate Immunity Plan Sparks Alarm.
McConnell's proposal, warned one advocacy group, "would ensure that workers, consumers, and students have absolutely no recourse when corporations recklessly disregard their health
[2020-05-26] Corporate Immunity, Mitch McConnell's Priority for Coronavirus Relief, Is a Longtime Focus of the Conservative Right
[2020-05-21] While Pushing for Corporate Legal Immunity, McConnell Vows to Block Extension of Boosted Unemployment Benefits.
"Cutting back federal assistance at the height of the crisis would mean self-inflicted disaster, devastation, and additional deaths. That must not happen."
[2020-04-28] Trump and McConnell Aren't Waging War on COVID. They're Waging War on Us
[2019-02-25] Mitch McConnell, Republican Nihilist
[2020-04-24] "Grim Reaper" Mitch McConnell Is Using COVID-19 Crisis to Punish Blue States
[2020-04-28] Trump said he takes no responsibility for any spike in people using disinfectants improperly
[2020-04-28] Coronavirus: Trump 'can't imagine why' US disinfectant calls spiked
[2020-04-27] Trump Disinfectant Remarks Led to Hundreds of Hotline Calls in Maryland
[2020-04-24] Revealed: leader of group peddling bleach as coronavirus 'cure' wrote to Trump this week
[2020-04-24] Quack-in-Chief Donald Trump Asks If Bleach Injections or Tanning Could Cure COVID-19
[2020-04-24] [Video included] Coronavirus: Outcry after Trump suggests injecting disinfectant as treatment
[2020-04-24] Disinfectant Manufacturers Warn Consumers Not to Heed Trump's "Injection" Remark
[2020-04-23] A reporter calls out Trump to his face for spreading unfounded 'rumor' -- and he lashed out in response
[2020-04-23] 'Ousted' US vaccine expert Rick Bright to file whistleblower complaint
[2020-04-23] Top US Vaccine Expert Says He Was Demoted For Opposing Chloroquine For COVID-19
[2020-04-17] US intel on threat of coronavirus shared with Israel and NATO in November [2019]
[2020-04-13] 'Absolute Clusterfuck:' Inside the Denial and Dysfunction of Trump's Coronavirus Task Force
[2020-04-11] He Could Have Seen What Was Coming: Behind Trump's Failure on the Virus
[2020-04-08] Intelligence report warned of coronavirus crisis as early as November [2019]
[2020-04-14] Trump suspends funding to WHO pending review over handling of coronavirus.
[2020-04-15] Trump's Defunding of the WHO Threatens to Make the Pandemic Worse
[2020-04-15] Trump And WHO: How Much Does The U.S. Give? What's The Impact of A Halt In Funding?
[2020-04-15] 'We Alerted The World' To Coronavirus On Jan. 5, WHO Says In Response To U.S.
[2020-04-15] WHO warned of transmission risk in January 2020, despite Trump claims
[2020-04-15] A Timeline of Coronavirus Comments From President Trump and WHO
[2020-04-15] Trump's move to cut WHO funding prompts world condemnation
[2020-04-15] Finland to increase WHO funding
[2020-04-16] [Ireland] Coveney quadruples Ireland's WHO budget as Trump slashes €500 million
[2020-04-17] Noam Chomsky: Trump Blaming WHO for COVID-19 Deaths Is Dictator-Like Behavior
[2020-05-25] Noam Chomsky on Trump's Disastrous Coronavirus Response, WHO, China, Gaza and Global Capitalism
[2020-05-25] Chomsky Says Trump a 'Sociopathic Megalomaniac' Who Made US 'Singularly Unprepared' for Pandemic.
New comments from the renowned academic come after he accused Trump of wanting "to destroy the prospects for all organized human life ... in the near future"
[2020-04-21] [disinformation] National Security Adviser O'Brien Alleges WHO Is 'Propaganda Tool For The Chinese'
[2020-07-28] Theoretical Physicists Say 90% Chance of Societal Collapse Within Several Decades.
Deforestation and rampant resource use is likely to trigger the 'irreversible collapse' of human civilization unless we rapidly change course
[2020-05-25] Report (Nature: Scientific Reports): Deforestation and World Population Sustainability: A Quantitative Analysis | Includes discussion of "Fermi paradox"
[2020-06-09] Report names the banks financing destructive oil projects in the Amazon.
Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, HSBC and BlackRock financed oil companies including GeoPark, Amerisur, Frontera and Andes Petroleum
[reference] Ecological Destruction: Plastics
[theConversation.com, 2020-10-05] We estimate there are up to 14 million tonnes of microplastics on the seafloor. It's worse than we thought.
[2020-06-11] Thousands of Tons of Microplastics Are Falling from the Sky.
New research helps unravel how vast amounts of plastic particles travel-both regionally and globally -- On the wind
[2020-05-23] New study finds underestimation of microplastics in ocean-concentration far greater.
"Our results, based on sampling in the UK and U.S., suggests we are underestimating the really small pieces of plastic in the marine environment"
[2020-03-13] Release order bars woman from voicing support for Wet'suwet'en online
[2020-02-28] White fragility, racism, and the recent threats against Indigenous opponents of the Coastal GasLink pipeline
[2020-02-29] Demonstrators at B.C. legislature say they were visited by white supremacists
[2020-02-28] Bomb threat made against Wet'suwet'en and Tyendinaga Mohawks as far right escalates talk of violence.
An uptick in anti-Indigenous rhetoric includes calls for vigilante violence
[2020-02-20] Conservative MP promotes unsubstantiated conspiracy theory about Wet'suwet'en protests
[2020-02-28] Canada Lays Bare the Lie it Calls "Reconciliation".
Canada and British Columbia send police to arrest Wet'suwet'en leadership opposing pipeline construction on their land
[2020-02-20] Complaints commission told RCMP broad exclusion zones 'impermissible' a year ago.
RCMP has yet to respond to nearly year-old report critiquing unlawful conduct with Indigenous Peoples
[2020-02-16] Wet'suwet'en bahlat reaffirms Coastal GasLink and RCMP must go
[2020-03-05] Warren Buffett's company backs out of Quebec energy project due to anti-pipeline blockades
[2020-03-05] Warren Buffett's company bails on Saguenay LNG project because of 'Canadian political context,' promoter says.
Berkshire Hathaway opts not to invest $4B in liquified natural gas plant and pipeline
[2020-03-04] Groups linked to oil companies funded Facebook ads denouncing the rail blockades.
As the anti-pipeline protests intensified, so did spending on online ads that had millions of views
[2020-02-24] Historian says Canada uses police force to 'protect the economy' instead of dealing with Indigenous concerns
[2020-02-19] We won't stop: Toronto solidarity rail action
[2020-02-17] Rail blockade: Indigenous resistance shakes the Canadian state.
Indigenous groups resisting a destructive gas pipeline have blockaded one of Canada's busiest rail lines bringing business as usual to a grinding halt
[2020-02-16] Blockades targeting economy could have long-term impact on future infrastructure investment
[2020-02-15] B.C. NDP MLAs all voted for LNG incentives-and they only have themselves to blame for the rebellion that's followed
[2020-02-15] Shut Down Canada Until it Solves its War, Oil, and Genocide Problem
[2020-02-14] Wet'suwet'en rail blockades a 'serious threat' to Canadian economy, Alberta premier says
[2020-02-10] RCMP arrests in Wet'suwet'en territory spark protests nationwide.
Rail lines, ports and government offices shut down by supporters
[2020-02-08] When justice fails, block the rails
[2020-02-08] Wet'suwet'en supporters block Port of Vancouver for third straight day
[2020-01-21] March Disrupts Global Energy Conference in Solidarity with Wet'suwet'en
[2020-01-27] Video: RCMP denying lawyers access to visit Wet'suwet'en territory
[2020-05-31] Ricochet's Jerome Turner wins major journalism award for Wet'suwet'en coverage.
Turner was detained for eight hours on day the police breached Gidimt'en checkpoint
[2020-02-14] Video captures Wet'suwe'ten supporter pleading with RCMP in tense enforcement scene
[2020-02-14] RCMP confirm scoped rifle used to observe Coastal GasLink protesters
[2020-02-13] Video recorded during RCMP raid shows officer pointing rifle in direction of protester
[2020-01-14] RCMP reactivated list of flagged activists days before Trans Mountain decision, documents show.
RCMP met with spy agency, federal officials 2 weeks before pipeline announcement
[2019-12-24] Indigenous people outraged at Canada police's possible use of lethal force
[2019-12-23] RCMP responds to report of "Lethal Overwatch" plan at pipeline protest
[2019-12-20] RCMP Planned to Use Snipers in Assault on Wet'suwet'en Protest, Guardian Reports.
Newspaper cites planning documents that called for 'lethal overwatch' to ensure pipeline built
[2019-12-20] 'Lethal Overwatch:' Canadian police prepared to shoot Indigenous activists
[reference] David Platt Rall, M.D., Ph.D., (1926-1999) was Director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) from 1971 until his retirement in 1990. Dr. Rall served as Director of the National Toxicology Program (NTP) from its inception in 1978 through 1990.
[MIT TechnologyReview.com, 2020-10-21] Don't worry, the earth is doomed. A brief list of the existential and catastrophic risks facing the human species.
[MIT TechnologyReview.com, 2020-10-21] The true dangers of AI are closer than we think. Forget superintelligent AI: algorithms are already creating real harm. The good news: the fight back has begun.
[main article] Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
[2020-04-23] An ill wind: The pandemic is giving states political cover for controversial acts.
Mentions: Bolivia | Canada | China | Hungary | Israel | Turkmenistan | USA: Texas (abortion)
[reference] Heterosexism
[reference] American College of Pediatricians.
Medical quackery / pseudoscience-pushing, anti-LGBTQ+ hate group
[reference] Internalized Homophobia, Transphobia
[2020-05-23] "must-read:" Secretive Right-Wing Nonprofit Plays Role in COVID-19 Organizing
The Canadian Constitution Foundation has defended notorious homophobes (e.g. Bill Whatcott) and organizations (e.g. Trinity Western University).
[2017-05-04] B.C. Christian University's Homophobia Has Nothing To Do With Piety.
The upcoming Supreme Court of Canada appeal about whether Trinity Western University has the right to establish a law school that bans gays and lesbians promises to be one of the most influential human rights decisions in the history of the court. The debate is a depressing reminder of how reviled LGBT people still are among certain segments of society
[reference] Homophobe Bill Whatcott
[2020-06-26] Jason Kenney speechwriter said homosexuality is 'socially destructive' and called First Nation an oppressive regime.
Government spokesperson said Paul Bunner's views have evolved over time
[2020-08-12] 'Violent' Arrests Spark Protests Against Polish Government Homophobia.
Large groups of demonstrators are gathering outside police stations in support of arrested LGBTQ activist Margot Szutowicz, under the banner of "the Polish Stonewall"
[2020-07-14] Poland's Rulers Made Up a 'Rainbow Plague'.
The President [Andrzej Duda] and his party ginned up fear of LGBTQ people-and rode that strategy to reelection
[2020-07-13] Andrzej Duda, Law and Justice win 2nd presidential term in close Polish election.
Result follows bitter campaign dominated by issues of culture
[2020-06-13] [President Andrzej Duda:] Polish president compares 'LGBT ideology' to Soviet indoctrination
[2020-06-17] Where Did BIPOC Come From?.
The acronym, which stands for Black, Indigenous and People of Color, is suddenly everywhere. Is it doing its job?
[2020-07-08] Video (BIPOC): Her Sister Died in Rikers, Now She's Demanding Trans Rights.
Death of Transwoman Layleen Polanco at Rikers Island Prison.
Related videos: Jail Guards Laughing When They Found A Transgender Woman Unresponsive | News coverage | Trans Woman Ashley Diamond Fights for Prison Reform in Georgia
[2020-06-16] Black Trans Lives Matter: Movement Pushes for Justice & Visibility Amid "Epidemic" of Violence
See also Murder of Tony McDade -- black transman + related articles]
[2020-06-04] Black Trans Protesters Are Marching for a Police Killing That Cis People Aren't Talking About: Tony McDade.
"We have two different worlds. We're fed up with the murders. We're fed up with law enforcement just brutally killing us"
[reference] Discrediting the Transphobic "Bathroom Predator" Myth
[2017-02-22 | excellent / very comprehensive] Anti-transgender bathroom hysteria, explained
[2016-05-05 | excellent / very comprehensive] A Comprehensive Guide To The Debunked "Bathroom Predator" Myth.
Here's The Evidence Refuting The Myth About Trans-Inclusive Bathrooms
[reference] American College of Pediatricians
Medical quackery / pseudoscience-pushing, anti-LGBTQ+ hate group
[2020-06-13] [President Andrzej Duda:] Polish president compares 'LGBT ideology' to Soviet indoctrination
[2015-08-17] Why Transgender People Are Being Murdered at a Historic Rate
[2015] A Report From the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs.
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and HIV-Affected Hate Violence in 2014
[2011] Every Turn: A Report of the National Transgender Discrimination Survey
[2020-06-15] Boris Johnson Is Scrapping Key Trans Rights Reforms to the Gender Recognition Act.
According to a leaked report, the government will introduce a host of legislation targeting trans people's access to toilets and refuges instead
[reference] Transphobe Jonathan Kay
[reference] Transphobe Meghan Murphy
[reference] Transphobe Jordan Peterson
[2020] [Canada: Homophobia | Transphobia] Jason Kenney
[Homophobia | Transphobia] [2019-04-06] Are we really okay with Jason Kenney?
[2017-05-29] [homophobia | transphobia] Andrew Scheer will oppose transgender rights, fight gun regulations, fund homeschooling
[2019-08-10] [homophobia | transphobia] Andrew Scheer is a Clear Danger to Canada's LGBTQ+ Community
[2019-05-06] [homophobia | transphobia] Andrew Scheer has a problem: The Conservative leader has left himself open to charges of intolerance in his party
[2020-07-22] Pastor Junia 'June' Joplin: Ontario pastor fired after coming out to congregation as transgender during sermon
[2020-07-14] Pastor Junia 'June' Joplin: Ontario pastor comes out to congregation as transgender during sermon
[2020-05-08] [Transphobia] Conservative Party leadership candidate Sloan vows to ban 'sex-change surgery' for kids.
'Our present federal Liberal government is a proponent of the radical left-wing gender ideology that informs tragic mistakes such as those procedures'
[2020-01-29] [Homophobia | Transphobia | Video interview] 'Cause of sexual orientation' is 'scientifically unclear,' Tory leadership hopeful says
[2020-03-30] Tory leadership Derek Sloan hopeful supports conversion therapy for trans kids in car-crash TV interview.
A Tory MP running to lead the Conservative Party of Canada has suggested that transgender kids should be given counselling to 'cure' them -- and says he opposes anti-discrimination measures for trans people
[2019-06-05] [homophobia | transphobia | Ontario Premier] Don't Hide Behind the Police, Doug Ford!
While in power in the early 2010s then Prime Minister / Conservative Party leader / transphobe Stephen Harper and his minions including Peter MacKay defeated proposed transgender-affirming and protecting legislation, attacking it under the long-discounted "transgender bathroom predators" meme. While nearly all of the Conservative Party members voted against that gender-affirming legislation, a notable exception was Erin O'Toole. O'Toole later [2020-08-23] won the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada.
[2014-08-18] New Documents Show That the Harper Government Is Panicked About Trans Rights.
New documents obtained by VICE show that not only is the Harper government blocking a bill that would offer human rights protections to trans people, they're concerned about a "societal debate" on the issue
[2014-06-23] The Harper Government Is Thwarting a Bill Designed to Protect the Transgender Community from Hate Crimes.
Bill C-279 is a bill that aims to add 'gender identity' as a protected group under the Human Rights Act, and add it as an identifiable group under the Criminal Code. But the bill is facing harsh opposition from the Harper government
[2020-08-05] Trans Women Are Finally Getting Justice in El Salvador.
Two police were convicted of killing a trans woman and sentenced to 20 years in prison. It's the first conviction for the killing of a trans person in the nation's history
[2020-04-29] Orban is using coronavirus to do what he's always wanted -- deny trans people their rights.
The pandemic has presented an opportunity for Orban to push through a new anti-trans law. Civil society must mobilise against him
[2020-05-19] Hungary outlaws changing birth gender on documents
[2020-05-19] Hungary's Decision to Strip Trans People of the Right to Legal Gender Recognition Is "Step Back Into the Dark Ages"
[2020-07-10] Q&A: How Kazakhstan's Transgender and Lesbian Women are Being Impacted by COVID-19.
Kazakhstan's anti-gender bill aims for the complete erasure of concepts of gender and gender equality, according to rights activists
[2020-07-13] Pandemic pulls Latin America's trans community into the spotlight.
Discusses: Columbia | Panama
[2020-09-07] Jennifer Laude: "Despicable and Shameless:" Outrage Over Duterte Pardon of US Marine who Murdered Trans Woman in Philippines.
Lance Cpl. Joseph Scott Pemberton was found guilty of homicide and sentenced in December 2015 to 10 years in prison for strangling and drowning 26-year-old Jennifer Laude to death in an Olangapo hotel.
[2020-09-07] Jennifer Laude: Philippines Pardons U.S. Marine In Killing of Transgender Woman
[TexasTribune.org, 2020-10-14] New Texas rule lets social workers turn away clients who are LGBTQ or have a disability. A professional organization of social workers called the change "incredibly disheartening," while Gov. Greg Abbott's office said it was necessary to conform with existing state law.
... The Texas State Board of Social Work Examiners voted unanimously Monday [2020-10-12] to change a section of its code of conduct that establishes when a social worker may refuse to serve someone. The code will no longer prohibit social workers from turning away clients on the basis of disability, sexual orientation or gender identity. ...
[2020-07-31] Trans People Are Terrified About the Trump Administration's New Housing Rule.
Accessing emergency housing could depend on a person's ability to pass a "gender test," which ultimately harms everyone experiencing housing instability
[2020-07-04] New Idaho Laws Target Transgender Residents
[2020-08-20] Erased From the Trump Administration's Draft of a Key Foreign Aid Policy: Any Mention of LGBT People. USAID's gender policy guides its priorities worldwide. A new version of that policy put forward by the Trump administration omits any mention of transgender people, and adopts a conservative framing of human rights.
... One official involved in the policy update process was Bethany Kozma, the USAID deputy chief of staff. Before joining the Trump administration in 2017, Kozma advocated against Obama-era guidelines that schools allow transgender students to use bathrooms that match their gender identity. During her time in the administration, she has played a key role in advancing conservative causes globally, such as opposing references to sexual and reproductive health in United Nations documents.
In the last few months, USAID's leadership has been seeded with several right-wing political appointees, including Mark Kevin Lloyd, a Tea Party activist with a history of making and sharing anti-Islamic comments, who was named the agency's new religious freedom adviser; Bethany Kozma, who was elevated to a higher position as the agency's deputy chief of staff; and Merritt Corrigan, the agency's former deputy White House liaison, who had made repeated anti-LGBT statements on social media. Corrigan left USAID this month after Corrigan unleashed a tirade against the USAID on Twitter, though she later claimed she did not send those tweets. ...
[reference] Relevant to this issue / discussion: Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
[2020-06-13] The Discrimination Administration: Trump's record of action against transgender people
[2020-03-02] "must-read (thorough):" 'Whiplash' of LGBTQ Protections and Rights, From Obama To Trump
See also:
Human Rights: Transphobia -- United States -- SCOTUS Protection
Pro-LGBTQ+: SCOTUS Justices Neil Gorsuch, John Roberts, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan.
Anti-LGBTQ+: SCOTUS Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh
Trump administration transphobes:
[2020-06-12] Transphobic Trump Administration Erases Transgender Civil Rights Protections in Health Care.
A rule finalized on Friday [2020-06-12] by the Department of Health and Human Services means that the federal government no longer recognizes gender identity as an avenue for sex discrimination in health care. Spearheaded by Roger Severino, Director, Office for Civil Rights in the Department of Health and Human Services.
Article, above, mentions Severino's tenure at DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society while at Heritage Foundation.
[2017-10-10] Eminem: "The Storm"
[TexasTribune.org, 2020-10-14] New Texas rule lets social workers turn away clients who are LGBTQ or have a disability. A professional organization of social workers called the change "incredibly disheartening," while Gov. Greg Abbott's office said it was necessary to conform with existing state law.
[2020-06-20] Being Trans Shouldn't Exempt Me From Health Laws.
If the Trump administration's health ruling was intended to scare trans people, it worked
[2020-06-13] 'This Is Deadly': Trump HHS Scraps Protections for Transgender Patients and Those Seeking Abortions.
"The Trump administration has made a mission out of putting politicians and religious beliefs above a patient's healthcare"
[2020-06-13] Trump administration revokes transgender health protection
[2020-06-12] Transgender Health Protections Reversed By Trump Administration
[2019-08-14] How Trump Is Reversing Obama's Nondiscrimination Legacy.
A new rule would allow federal contractors to make hiring and firing decisions based on their religious beliefs and practices
[2019-05-30] As Trump rewrites health rules, Pence sees conservative agenda born again
[2019-01-29] Heritage Foundation: Conservative group hosts anti-transgender panel of feminists 'from the left'.
Divide and conquer? The conservative Heritage Foundation hosted a panel of "radical feminists" fighting trans rights.
In 2017, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) issued a report regarding the Christian right's attempt to "separate the T from the LGB." The SPLC noted a trend emerging of transgender rights being "depicted as anti-feminist, hostile to minorities and even disrespectful to LGB individuals." The SPLC's and several other reports quoted Meg Kilgannon, Executive Director of Concerned Parents and Educators of Fairfax County, a group that opposes transgender rights, as saying during the summit, "Trans and gender identity are a tough sell, so focus on gender identity to divide and conquer."
[2018-10-21] Roger Severino: 'Transgender' Could Be Defined Out of Existence Under Trump Administration
[2017-07-07] Roger Severino: The Man Behind Trump's Religious-Freedom Agenda for Health Care.
Roger Severino, the devout, conservative head of civil-rights enforcement at HHS, shows the power of behind-the-scenes figures in a dysfunctional Washington.
Article also mentions: Center for American Progress | Heritage Foundation | Betsy DeVos [noted transphobe] | detailed accounting of Severino's background, religious views, homophobia / transphobia, plans to enact "conscience protection," ...
See also:
Pro-LGBTQ+: SCOTUS Justices Neil Gorsuch, John Roberts, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan.
Anti-LGBTQ+: SCOTUS Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh
[2020-07-16] What 'Because of Sex' Really Means.
Beneath the verbal jousting, the Court expressed dueling views of sexual orientation and gender, and how society should assess them
[2020-06-15] Supreme Court Ruling on LGBTQ Rights Defangs Trump's Attack on Trans Health Care
[2020-06-15] Bend the Arc Statement on SCOTUS Ruling on LGBTQ Protections.
We must continue fighting in the courts, in the legislature, and at the ballot box to ban anti-LGBTQ discrimination in all sectors of American life
[2020-06-15] U.S. Supreme Court says gay, transgender workers are covered by landmark civil rights law.
Justices had to assess whether Civil Rights Act of 1964 was applicable
[2020-06-15] Supreme Court Delivers Major Victory To LGBTQ Employees
[2020-06-15] Supreme Court Upholds Trans People's Workplace Protections -- but Trans Lives Remain Under Constant Threat
[2020-05-13] Aimee Stephens Died Fighting for Trans Rights. Reports Still Deadnamed Her.
Deadnaming has been widely discouraged by leading news agencies, including some that used Stephens' discarded name after her death
[2020-02-25] Neulisa Luciano Ruiz: Transgender woman killed in Puerto Rico after using women's bathroom.
A video shared on social media appears to show the woman being shot less than a day after she was reported to police for using a women's bathroom
[2019-08-30] Oregon: Lauren Jackson: Transgender woman describes attack, suspect charged with bias crime
[reference] Transphobe Ben Carson
[2020-09-17] HUD Secretary, transphobe Ben Carson: The Trump Administration Is Pushing To Make It Harder For Trans People To Seek Shelter During The Pandemic.
The Trump administration mishandled COVID-19, creating conditions that left transgender people even more vulnerable to housing instability than before. Now it's pushing for a rule change that would allow homeless shelters to discriminate against trans people.
[2020-07-31] Trans People Are Terrified About the Trump Administration's New Housing Rule.
Accessing emergency housing could depend on a person's ability to pass a "gender test," which ultimately harms everyone experiencing housing instability.
[2020-06-12] Transphobic Trump Administration Erases Transgender Civil Rights Protections in Health Care.
A rule finalized on Friday [2020-06-12] by the Department of Health and Human Services means that the federal government no longer recognizes gender identity as an avenue for sex discrimination in health care.
Mentions Director's tenure at DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society while at Heritage Foundation
[2020-06-05] Betsy DeVos Is Complicit in Evangelical Right's Assault on Trans Athletes
[2020-08-20] Erased From the Trump Administration's Draft of a Key Foreign Aid Policy: Any Mention of LGBT People.
USAID's gender policy guides its priorities worldwide. A new version of that policy put forward by the Trump administration omits any mention of transgender people, and adopts a conservative framing of human rights.
... One official involved in the policy update process was Bethany Kozma, the USAID deputy chief of staff. Before joining the Trump administration in 2017, Kozma advocated against Obama-era guidelines that schools allow transgender students to use bathrooms that match their gender identity. During her time in the administration, she has played a key role in advancing conservative causes globally, such as opposing references to sexual and reproductive health in United Nations documents.
In the last few months, USAID's leadership has been seeded with several right-wing political appointees, including Mark Kevin Lloyd, a Tea Party activist with a history of making and sharing anti-Islamic comments, who was named the agency's new religious freedom adviser; Bethany Kozma, who was elevated to a higher position as the agency's deputy chief of staff; and Merritt Corrigan, the agency's former deputy White House liaison, who had made repeated anti-LGBT statements on social media. Corrigan left USAID this month after Corrigan unleashed a tirade against the USAID on Twitter, though she later claimed she did not send those tweets. ...
[2020-06-09] U.S. Foreign Aid Agency Defends Political Appointees Who Wrote Anti-LGBT, Anti-Islam Posts
[2019-05-16] [Center for Family and Human Rights] Revealed: the fringe rightwing group changing the UN agenda on abortion rights.
Anti-abortion lobbying group using its influence in the Trump administration to help shape policy on the world stage
[2018-03-22] Transphobe Bethany Kozma: Trump Sends Anti-trans Pro-lifer Bethany Kozma to Women's Rights Conference at the U.N.
[2016-07-10] Transphobe Bethany Kozma: I'm a Mom. Here's What I'm Doing to Fight Obama's Transgender Agenda
[reference] Kayleigh McEnany
[2020-07-21] How NOT to Resist Trump: Kayleigh McEnany's Anti-Science Comments.
Yes, the White House is against science. No, McEnany didn't say it like that
[2020-04-09] Kayleigh McEnany: 'She'll Fit Right In': Combative TV Pundit's Meteoric Rise To Trump White House
[2020-04-08] The Worst Anti-LGBTQ Statements From Trump Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany.
McEnany has argued that transgender restroom access enables predators and that banning marriage equality is not discrimination
[2020-04-08] New White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany takes heat for past comments on Obama, coronavirus
[2020-04-07] GLAAD: Trump Accountability Project: Kayleigh McEnany
[reference] TERF: Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist
[2020-06-08] Daniel Radcliffe Responds to J.K. Rowling's Tweets on Gender Identity
[2020-06-07] J.K. Rowling faces backlash over tweets considered transphobic
[2019-12-19] Author J.K. Rowling draws criticism for transgender comments
[2019-12-19] J.K. Rowling Criticized After Tweeting Support for Anti-Transgender Researcher.
Ms. Rowling expressed support for a researcher whose views on transgender people were condemned by a court on Wednesday as "incompatible with human dignity"
[2019-12-19] J.K. Rowling's latest tweet seems like transphobic BS. Her fans are heartbroken.
JKR just ruined Harry Potter, Merry Christmas
To more fully understand the genesis, funding, and propagation of anti-LGBTQ+ forces prevalent throughout society, it is imperative to identify and understand the "dark money" [501(c) nonprofits] forces that fund and fuel these pernicious agendae. Note, particularly, the following Machiavellian influencers.
Heritage Foundation: numerous Trump admin appointees including Betsy DeVos, Roger Severino, others culminating in: Trump Administration Erases Transgender Civil Rights Protections in Health Care]
[2019-01-29] Heritage Foundation: Conservative group hosts anti-transgender panel of feminists 'from the left'.
Divide and conquer? The conservative Heritage Foundation hosted a panel of "radical feminists" fighting trans rights
Secretive Right-wing Nonprofit Plays Role in COVID-19 Organizing
Those, and other groups deploy well-funded, highly sophisticated agendae and personnel, providing incredibly powerful resources for those who seek to subvert human rights and freedoms. Most notably, many of the groups listed above were tapped by Donald Trump to lead, staff and direct repressive anti-LGBTQ+ policies affecting millions of vulnerable Americans. [Those same groups likewise sourced personnel and policies that drive various neoliberal, neoconservative, neofascist, misogynistic, xenophobic policies within the Trump administration.]
Regarding transphobia, particularly, note the following Trump administration transphobes:
[CommonDreams.org, 2020-10-19] Donald Trump's Hatred of Women. The extent to which he denigrates women and the anger and even hatred he projects onto them reflects, in equal measure, his own self-hatred of his dependency, weakness, and passivity that he associates with the feminine in him.
[CommonDreams.org, 2020-10-17] The Monster and the Trump. The Executive Order -- entitled "Executive Order on Combating Race and Sex Stereotyping" -- was signed by Trump who has repeatedly shown his disrespect for people with whom he disagrees by the language he uses when addressing them. It is mostly directed towards women and people of color.
[Vice.com, 2020-10-08] A Quarter of Canadian Female Military Students Have Been Sexually Assaulted. According to a new Statistics Canada report, 28% of surveyed female students at Canadian military colleges say they've been sexually assaulted. Report: | web (pdf) | local copy (pdf)
[2020-06-30] UN says 140 million females 'missing' due to son preference.
The United Nations says more than 140 million females are considered "missing" today because of a preference for sons over daughters and extreme neglect of young girls leading to their death
2020 State of World Population report, U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA), 2020-06-30 [pdf | local copy (pdf)]
[2020-06-30] Five things you didn't know about practices that harm girls
[2020-05-19] Teenage boy charged in Canada's first 'incel' terror case
[2020-04-24] Alek Minassian: Toronto van attack: What is an 'incel'?
[2016-10-07] Video: Donald Trump's uncensored lewd comments about women from 2005
[2020-06-04] Nine charts that show extent of racial inequality in USA.
Social and economic data reveals two different Americas for white and black Americans in terms of education, incarceration, wealth and health
[2020-05-09] The First 100. COVID-19 Took Black Lives First. It Didn't Have To.
In Chicago, 70 of the city's 100 first recorded victims of COVID-19 were black
[reference] Human Rights: China -- Uyghur | Uighur Persecution
[reference] Human Rights: China -- Organ Harvesting
[reference] China Tribunal, a non-governmental tribunal to inquire forced organ harvesting in China.
See also [reference]: Racism: China
See also: Censorship | Surveillance: China -- Uighurs
[CBC.ca, 2020-10-22] Beijing erupts at Canada after parliamentary committee says China's Uighur policy amounts to "genocide". Commons committee says camps, forced labour, population control measures designed to eradicate Uighur culture.
[2020-08-27] Part 1: Built To Last. A BuzzFeed News investigation based on thousands of satellite images reveals a vast, growing infrastructure for long-term detention and incarceration
[2020-08-27] Part 2: What They Saw. Ex-Prisoners Detail the Horrors of China's Detention Camps
[2020-06-29] China forces birth control on Muslim Uighurs to suppress population.
4-year campaign in Xinjiang region is form of 'demographic genocide,' say some experts
[2020-06-29] China conducting mass sterilization on Muslim minorities that could amount to genocide.
China's treatment of Uighurs has come under increased scrutiny
[2020-06-17] John Bolton Plumbs the Depth of Trump's Depravity.
The former National Security Adviser accuses the president of putting his reelection above everything else-endorsing the persecution of China's Uighur minority
[2020-05-28] US blacklists Chinese companies linked to Uighur abuses.
Two U.S. government bodies have imposed new sanctions against Chinese officials and companies, but experts say the rules are being circumvented
[2020-05-15] US Senate approves bill to punish China over Uighur rights
[2020-05-21] Big Tech Supporting Blacklisted Surveillance Companies.
Amazon and Microsoft power almost half the Chinese surveillance companies on the US Department Of Commerce blacklist
[ICIJ.org, 2020-03-03] Uighurs Sent From Camps to Factories, New Report Says.
[Video, YouTube, 2019-11-24] China Cables exposes chilling details of mass detention in Xinjiang. | local copy. A new leak of classified Chinese government documents has exposed the secret details behind China's mass detention camps. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalist's latest investigation, China Cables, marks a significant advance in the world's knowledge about the largest mass internment of an ethnic-religious minority since World War II.
[2019-11-24] How China Targets Uighurs 'One by One' for Using a Mobile App.
Highly classified Chinese government documents reveal Chinese authorities have been targeting users of the Zapya app, as part of their crackdown against the Muslim Uighur population
[reference] Saudi Arabia
[reference] Saudi Arabia: Jamal Khashoggi Murder
[2020-04-26] Figures reveal staggering depletion of Saudi Arabia's foreign reserves under Salman's rule
[2020-04-24] Saudi Arabia: Prominent human rights activist 'dies in jail'
[2020-04-24] Rights groups: Prominent Saudi rights activist dies in custody
[2020-07-24] Canadian court correctly finds the U.S. is unsafe for refugees
[2020-07-22] U.S.A. no longer "Safe Third Country" Canada court rules.
Canadian Federal court rules turning asylum-seekers around at Canada-U.S. border unconstitutional under the Safe Third Country Agreement
[2020-07-22] Because USA Can't Be Counted On to Uphold Basic Rights, Canadian Court Strikes Down Bilateral Asylum Agreement.
"The Canadian Federal Court confirmed what we have been saying for years: sending refugees back to the United States is not safe"
[2020-09-08] "Horrifically Catastrophic:" Report Finds So-Called U.S. "War on Terror" Has Displaced as Many as 59 Million People.
"We need a reckoning. We can't simply move on."
The so-called "War on Terror" has displaced as Many as 59 Million people, killed over 801,000 people and cost $6.4 trillion.
President George W. Bush | Vice-President Richard "Dick" Cheney | Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice | Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld | Attorney General John Ashcroft | Others (CIA Director George Tenet; FBI Director
See also these subsections [here, here and here] in Harold Pinter's 2005 Nobel Prize in Literature Lecture.
[reference] Condoleezza Rice
[2004-04-08] Claim vs. Fact: Rice's Q&A Testimony Before the 9/11 Commission
[2004-04-08] Lie by Lie: A Timeline of How We Got Into Iraq
[2014-05-03] Condoleezza Rice backs out of Rutgers speech over role in Iraq war
[2020-04-16] Condoleezza Rice: China Wants To Shift the Narrative On COVID-19, Don't Let Them
[reference] Enhanced Interrogation Techniques
[undated (ca. 2014?)] Senate Report on CIA Torture: James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen
[2014-12-10] The Psychologists Who Taught the C.I.A. How to Torture (and Charged $180 Million)
[2017-06-21] Psychologists Open a Window on Brutal C.I.A. Interrogations
[2017-08-17] APA Reaction to Settlement of Torture Case Against Psychologists Mitchell, Jessen
[2017-08-17] Settlement Reached in C.I.A. Torture Case
[2019-09-11] Guantánamo Has Cost Billions; Whistleblower Alleges 'Gross' Waste
[2019-11-14] A Legacy of Torture Is Preventing Trials At Guantánamo
[2020-01-20] Guantánamo: psychologists who designed CIA torture program to testify
[2020-01-21] Architect of CIA's Torture Program Testifies Just Yards From Accused 9/11 Plotter He Waterboarded
[2020-01-22] Architect of CIA's Torture Program Says It Went Too Far
[2020-01-23] CIA Used Prisoner As 'Training Prop' For Torture, Psychologist Testifies
[2020-01-25] Chilling role of 'the Preacher' confirmed at CIA waterboarding hearing in Guantánamo
[2020-01-29] At Guantánamo Bay, Torture Apologists Take Refuge in Empty Code Words and Euphemisms
Includes notable "hate groups" (neo-Nazis, white {nationalists | supremacists}, ...) associated with ideologically driven extremism.
See also: Ideologically Driven Extremism: Surveillance
[reference] Alt-right movement
[reference] Neoconservative Christian right movement
[reference] Intelligent design
See also: Discovery Institute | Focus on the Family.
[reference] Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
[reference] Human Rights: Transphobia -- United States -- Roger Severino, Trump Administration Eviscerate Trans Rights. Summarizes Trump administration anti-LGBTQ+, anti-feminist (abortions ...), pro-Christian objections to providing fundamental healthcare based on religious objections.
Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty ["Acton Institute"], an American research and educational institution (think tank), with an office in Rome, whose stated mission is "to promote a free and virtuous society characterized by individual liberty and sustained by religious principles." The Acton Institute's work supports free market economic policy framed within Judeo-Christian morality.
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a SPLC-designated anti-LGBTQ+ hate group, is a conservative Christian nonprofit organization with the stated goal of advocating, training, and funding on the issues of "religious freedom, sanctity of life, and marriage and family." Because of its budget, caseload, and network of allied attorneys, ADF is seen as the most organized and influential Christian legal interest group in the United States. ADF has argued nine cases before the Supreme Court and won all of them.
American Family Association, a DeVos-funded anti-LGBTQ+ hate group
Center for Family and Human Rights [formerly: the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute], a SPLC-designated anti-LGBTQ+ hate group.
Family Research Council, a SPLC-designated anti-LGBTQ+ hate group that (e.g.) attempts to use "wedge tactics:" [2017-10-23] Christian Right tips to fight transgender rights: Separate the T from the LGB
Christian Voice, an American conservative political advocacy group, known as part of the Christian right within U.S. politics. Christian Voice was headquartered at the Heritage Foundation in the 1970s and 1980s, and was then located in Alexandria, Virginia. ... Decline: As of 2012, the Christian Voice was still maintained by the American Service Council as a vehicle for direct mail campaigns both the targeting of voters and contributors and the delivery of petitions to the U.S. federal government. The American Service Council no longer lists the Christian Voice on its own web site, nor maintains a separate Christian Voice web site.
The Family Research Institute, a SPLC-designated anti-LGBTQ+ hate group that seeks to discourage and reject homosexuality at every level, publishing shoddy pseudoscience studies and claims.
Focus on the Family, an American fundamentalist Christian organization and anti-LGBTQ+ hate group promoting creationism, abstinence-only sex education, adoption only by heterosexuals, school prayer, and traditional gender roles. Focus on the Family has been criticized by psychiatrists, psychologists, and social scientists for misrepresenting their research in order to bolster its religious ideology and political agenda. Focus on the Family has been a prominent supporter of the pseudoscience of intelligent design.
Liberty Counsel, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization and SPLC-designated anti-LGBTQ+ hate group that promotes litigation related to evangelical Christian values.
Moral Majority [Jerry Falwell]
National Organization for Marriage, a homophobic, transphobic, anti-LGBTQ+ hate group
[external link: Wikipedia] Opus Dei, an institution of the Catholic Church which teaches that everyone is called to holiness and that ordinary life is a path to sanctity. Opus Dei places special emphasis on certain aspects of Catholic doctrine. A central feature of Opus Dei's theology is its focus on the lives of the ordinary Catholics who are neither priests nor monks. As a spirituality for ordinary people, Opus Dei focuses on performing sacrifices pertaining to normal duties and to its emphasis on charity and cheerfulness. But much public attention has focused on Opus Dei's practice of mortification-the voluntary offering up of discomfort or pain to God; this includes fasting, or for its celibate members, "corporal mortifications" such as self-inflicted pain self-flagellation, sleeping without a pillow or sleeping on the floor, fasting, and if compatible with their family or professional duties, remaining silent for certain hours during the day. ...
Opus dei -- mentions [BuriedTruth.com, via ripgrep CLI "grab"]
Pacific Justice Institute, a SPLC-designated anti-LGBTQ+ hate group that provides pro bono representation in matters involving the exercise of religion and other civil liberties.
[external link: Wikipedia] People of Praise
TruNews, an online anti-LGBTQ+, anti-Semitic, Islamophobic Christian right disinformation and conspiracy website operated by Rick Wiles.
Ruth Institute, a SPLC-designated anti-LGBTQ+ hate group opposed to same-sex marriage. Founded in 2008, the Ruth Institute was an arm of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM). By 2013-11-01 the Ruth Institute was independent of NOM.
Traditional Values Coalition, a SPLC-designated anti-LGBTQ+ hate group, was an American conservative Christian organization that opposed LGBT rights in the 1980s and 1990s in lobbying for government policy based in Christian fundamentalism. SPLC reported that TVC may ceased to exist as of 2018.
[reference] Rick Joyner
Christian-right internet troll.
[RightWingWatch.org, 2020-10-07] Rick Joyner Assures His Viewers 'It's Gonna Be Pretty Much Business as Usual' During the Coming Civil War.
[reference] Tim Francis LaHaye ["Tim LaHaye"]
Tim Francis LaHaye (dec. 2016-07-25) -- a Christian fundamentalist and a strident homophobe -- was an American evangelical Protestant minister who wrote more than 85 books including the "Left Behind" series of apocalyptic fiction. In 1972, LaHaye helped establish the Institute for Creation Research (ICR), which specializes in media promotion of pseudoscientific creation science and interpretation of the Genesis creation narrative as a historical events. The ICR's work in the field of creation science has been rejected by mainstream science, but has been significant in shaping creationist thought in the United States by introducing creation science through fundamentalist churches and religious schools, and by engaging in public debates against supporters of evolution.
LaHaye started numerous groups to promote his views, having become involved in politics at the Christian Voice during the late 1970s and early 1980s. 1979, Tim LaHaye encouraged Jerry Falwell to found the Moral Majority and sat on its board of directors. LaHaye's wife, Beverly LaHaye, founded Concerned Women for America, a conservative Christian women's activist group. The CWA identifies itself as an amalgam of "policy experts and ... activists" with an anti-feminist approach to politics.
In 1981 Tim LaHaye helped found the powerful and secretive Council for National Policy (CNP), a policy making think tank in which membership is only available through invitation. CNP has been reported "the most powerful conservative organization in America you've never heard of."
In the 1980s, Tim LaHaye founded the American Coalition for Traditional Values, and the Coalition for Religious Freedom. Tim LaHaye founded the Pre-Tribulation Research Center along with Thomas Ice in 1998. The center is dedicated to producing material that supports a dispensationalist, pre-tribulation interpretation of the Bible. Tim LaHaye and his wife had connections to the John Birch Society, a conservative, anti-communist group.
LaHaye also took more direct roles in presidential politics. Tim LaHaye supported Ronald Reagan's elections as United States president. Tim LaHaye was a co-chairman of Jack Kemp's 1988 presidential bid but was removed from the campaign after four days when his anti-Catholic views became known. LaHaye played a significant role in getting the religious right to support George W. Bush for the presidency in 2000. In 2007, Tim LaHaye endorsed Mike Huckabee during the primaries and served as his spiritual advisor.
[2020-09-01] Video: Anti-abortion Evangelical Pastor Rob Schenck Says GOP Is a Religious Cult.
Pastor Rob Schenck later admitted that he was part of a group that paid Norma McCorvey (also known as Jane Roe from the landmark Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision) to lie that she had changed her mind and become against abortion.
[reference] Rick Wiles
Rick Wiles is a far right American political commentator, non-denominational senior pastor, and a conspiracy theorist radio host and pundit. Rick Wiles is the founder of TruNews.com, a website that promotes racist, homophobic, Islamophobic and antisemitic conspiracy theories. Wiles has said that Jews seek to obtain control of countries to kill millions of Christians, and has described Jews as "deceivers" who "plot, they lie, they do whatever they have to do to accomplish their political agenda."
[reference] TruNews
Mission statement: "Reporting the Countdown to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ." TruNews is known for promoting racist and antisemitic conspiracy theories. TruNews frequently described President Barack Obama as a "demon from hell." In 2019-11, TruNews' YouTube channel was removed for violating YouTube's rules on hate speech.
[2020-09-25] Rick Wiles Thanks God That Special Forces Will Hunt Down and Kill "Right Wing Watch Commies"
[reference] Ku Klux Klan
[BlackAgendaReport.com, 2020-03-18] The Roots of Anti-Racist, Anti-Fascist Resistance in the U.S.
[DemocracyNow.org, 2020-10-07] Greensboro North Caroline Massacre: City Apologizes 41 Years After Cops Allowed Klan, Nazis to Kill 5 Antiracists. | clip: YouTube
[2020-08-05] Neo-Nazi Terror Group Atomwaffen Division Re-Emerges Under New Name: National Socialist Order (NSO). Only months after an FBI crackdown and announcing its disbandment, ex-members of the Atomwaffen Division formed a new group
[2020-02-26] Atomwaffen Division: FBI arrests 'violent extremists' after threatening posters sent to minorities, journalist in Seattle area
[2020-02-26] Atomwaffen Division: Neo-Nazi leaders face conspiracy charges on both coasts
[2019-05-28] Canadian Military Confirms Neo-Nazi Group Atomwaffen Was Within Its Ranks.
A report by military intelligence outlines that since 2013, 53 Canadian Armed Forces members were either connected to hate groups or hate incidents
[2018-08-02] Member of a Neo-Nazi Terror Group Appears To Be Former Canadian Soldier.
Using sources and hidden chat networks, VICE has traced the code name of an Atomwaffen member to Brandon Cameron, a former Nova Scotia soldier
[2018-07-10] Violent Neo-Nazi Group Has Disturbing Plans For Canada.
Northern Order, once described as a "phantom group," is an Atomwaffen affiliated neo-Nazi cell
[2018-06-19] Atomwaffen, an American Neo-Nazi Terror Group, Is In Canada.
Atomwaffen's graphic designer is from Ontario, believed to be the first known Canadian in the group
See also: The Base | Boogaloo Bois | Hate Groups: Canadian Military | Proud Boys | Soldiers of Odin
[2020-07-28] Canada (includes video): Facebook partners with Ontario university on 'global network' to counter rise in online hate.
Experts predict the upcoming U.S. election and the COVID-19 pandemic will increase online extremism.
Mentions: Aryan Strikeforce | Boogaloo Bois | Canadian Nationalist Front | incels (Alek Minassian) | QAnon (Corey Hurren) | Soldiers of Odin | Wolves of Odin
[2020-07-01] Support for anti-government, pro-gun Boogaloo movement growing in Canada. Online followers talk about killing protesters, RCMP officers
[2020-06-19] Canada Among Very Worst White Supremacist Countries: Report.
"We were really struck by the high level of engagement by Canadians," says an author of a new report on right-wing extremism online
[2020-06-08] Innisfail, Alberta: Anti-racism march in central Alberta postponed after angry backlash.
Plans to hold an anti-racism march in Innisfail were postponed following what its organizer calls a bigoted backlash
[2019-06-26] Liberals add far-right extremist groups to list of outlawed terror networks.
Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale takes aim at those who peddle 'vile, hateful intolerance'
[2019-03-27] Christchurch Shooting Suspect Donated to a Far-Right Group Active in Canada.
The gunman donated $2,000 to Generation Identity in 2018 -- A far-right group that has a chapter in Canada under the name ID Canada
[2018-07-10] Violent Neo-Nazi Group Has Disturbing Plans For Canada.
Northern Order, once described as a "phantom group," is an Atomwaffen affiliated neo-Nazi cell
[2018-05-16] The Racist Podcaster Who Started a Neo-Nazi Coffee Company to Fund White Nationalism.
The identity [Thomas White] of one of the hosts of Canada's most popular neo-Nazi podcast and his attempt at building a neo-Nazi company
[2020-07-16] Canadian military says new hateful conduct policy will help weed out extremists in the ranks.
Military law expert says policy 'misses the mark,' seems to minimize seriousness of hateful conduct.
Mentions: Tony McAleer | Patrik Mathews
[2019-12-19] Most cases of extremist conduct in Canadian military don't end in discipline, says document.
Cases tend to be handled behind closed doors, often with the accused agreeing to leave the ranks
[2020-02-14] Sajjan taken to task about white supremacists in the Canadian Forces -- Military says it's dealing with the issue
[2019-11-18] Some Canadian Forces members linked to hate have been warned, disciplined but allowed to stay
[2019-10-29] Meet the Canadian soldiers behind a white supremacist military surplus store.
Investigation connects Canadian Forces members to Fireforce Ventures, a web store glorifying the era of white rule in Rhodesia
[2018-11-20] Jason Kenney's UCP won't say if party expelled extremists.
Party did not respond to questions about how and why they parted ways with two men who worked on Kenney's leadership campaign
[2019-05-28] Canadian Military Confirms Neo-Nazi Group Atomwaffen Was Within Its Ranks.
A report by military intelligence outlines that since 2013, 53 Canadian Armed Forces members were either connected to hate groups or hate incidents
[2018-08-22] Neo-Nazis Want Canadian Military Training.
Between hateful diatribes against Jews and the LGBT community, neo-Nazi chat posts show a group of men who really want military training
[2018-08-02] Member of a Neo-Nazi Terror Group Appears To Be Former Canadian Soldier.
Using sources and hidden chat networks, VICE has traced the code name of an Atomwaffen member to Brandon Cameron, a former Nova Scotia soldier
[2018-06-19] Atomwaffen, an American Neo-Nazi Terror Group, Is In Canada.
Atomwaffen's graphic designer is from Ontario, believed to be the first known Canadian in the group
[2017-07-04] Who are the "Proud Boys" who disrupted an Indigenous event on Canada Day?
[2020-07-16] Canadian military says new hateful conduct policy will help weed out extremists in the ranks.
Military law expert says policy 'misses the mark,' seems to minimize seriousness of hateful conduct.
Mentions: Tony McAleer | Patrik Mathews
[2020-02-17] Canadian military works to define 'hateful conduct' to help it detect and discipline extremists.
Investigation of ex-reservist Patrik Mathews, facing charges in U.S., called 'a success story.'
Mentions also: Patrik Mathews
[2020-07-16] Canadian military says new hateful conduct policy will help weed out extremists in the ranks.
Military law expert says policy 'misses the mark,' seems to minimize seriousness of hateful conduct.
Mentions: Tony McAleer | Patrik Mathews
[2020-02-27] Neo-Nazi Patrik Mathews's arrest highlights Ottawa's support for Ukrainian far right.
Canada has provided police and military support to the most well-organized neo-Nazis in the world
[2020-02-17] Canadian military works to define 'hateful conduct' to help it detect and discipline extremists.
Investigation of ex-reservist Patrik Mathews, facing charges in U.S., called 'a success story.'
Mentions also: Tony McAleer
[2020-01-21] Patrik Mathews: Ex-Canadian reservist allegedly advocated for blowing up trains, poisoning water supplies
[2019-08-22] Reservist suspected of neo-Nazi ties prompts questions about whether signals missed by military.
Department of National Defence reviews allegations hate group recruitment by Manitoba master corporal
[2020-01-18] FBI arrests reveal shocking details in case against former Canadian reservist Patrik Mathews.
After leaving Manitoba and crossing into U.S., he appeared to become target of a murder plot he helped plan
[2020-01-16] Patrik Mathews: FBI arrest former Canadian reservist, suspected neo-Nazi, in United States
[2020-01-16] Former Manitoba reservist linked to neo-Nazi group arrested in U.S..
Patrik Mathews among 3 suspects taken into custody by FBI
[reference] Proud Boys
[2020-05-26] Chicago Police Are Investigating an Officer Accused of Being a Proud Boy
[2017-07-04] Who are the "Proud Boys" who disrupted an Indigenous event on Canada Day?
[2017-07-31] Military personnel in Proud Boys incident return to regular duty.
No criminal charges or demotions against men who disrupted an Mi'kmaw ceremony in Halifax
[reference] Soldiers of Odin
[2020-05-14] [video] Soldiers of Odin: Inside Canada's Extremist Vigilante Group
[Wikipedia] Kommando Spezialkräfte | Controversy
[2020-07-01] Kommando Spezialkraefte [KSK] unit: Germany disbands elite army unit over extremism concerns.
Germany's defense minister has disbanded a company of special forces, saying a culture of right-wing extremism had been allowed to develop in it behind a "wall of secrecy"
[2020-07-01] KSK: Germany Disbands Elite Military Unit Following Reports of Right Wing Extremism
[2020-05-14] Germany far right: Explosives found at elite soldier's home
[2019-12-03] German Special Forces Officer To Be Suspended Over Ties To Right-Wing Extremism
[2020-06-01] Neo-Nazi Accelerationists Calling For Terror Attacks During Protests.
Instead of infiltrating protests, they see how America's police forces are spread thin, making it the ideal time to strike with a terrorist attack
[2020-05-14] Germany far right: Explosives found at elite soldier's home
[2020-04-30] Millions Of Neo-Nazi Discord Messages Dumped Online.
It's the latest in data dumps involving the internal messages of online neo-Nazis
[2020-04-22] Neo-Nazis and Conspiracy Theorists Are Seizing Upon the Nova Scotia Shooting
[2020-02-27] Neo-Nazi Patrik Mathews's arrest highlights Ottawa's support for Ukrainian far right.
Canada has provided police and military support to the most well-organized neo-Nazis in the world
[2019-08-22] Reservist suspected of neo-Nazi ties prompts questions about whether signals missed by military.
Department of National Defence reviews allegations hate group recruitment by Manitoba master corporal
[2020-01-16] Patrik Mathews: FBI arrest former Canadian reservist, suspected neo-Nazi, in United States
[2020-01-16] Former Manitoba reservist linked to neo-Nazi group arrested in U.S..
Patrik Mathews among 3 suspects taken into custody by FBI
[2020-01-25] Prepping for a race war: documents reveal inner workings of neo-Nazi group.
Chats, audio and video obtained by the Guardian give a rare insight into the workings of a disturbing white supremacist group
[2020-01-24] Revealed: the true identity of the leader of American neo-Nazi terror group "The Base" is Rinaldo Nazzaro.
The white supremacist group "The Base" has been a target of FBI raids and its members accused of planning a race war
[2019-05-28] Canadian Military Confirms Neo-Nazi Group Atomwaffen Was Within Its Ranks.
A report by military intelligence outlines that since 2013, 53 Canadian Armed Forces members were either connected to hate groups or hate incidents
[2018-08-22] Neo-Nazis Want Canadian Military Training.
Between hateful diatribes against Jews and the LGBT community, neo-Nazi chat posts show a group of men who really want military training
[2018-08-02] Member of a Neo-Nazi Terror Group Appears To Be Former Canadian Soldier.
Using sources and hidden chat networks, VICE has traced the code name of an Atomwaffen member to Brandon Cameron, a former Nova Scotia soldier
[2018-07-10] Violent Neo-Nazi Group Has Disturbing Plans For Canada.
Northern Order, once described as a "phantom group," is an Atomwaffen affiliated neo-Nazi cell
[2018-06-19] Atomwaffen, an American Neo-Nazi Terror Group, Is In Canada.
Atomwaffen's graphic designer is from Ontario, believed to be the first known Canadian in the group
[2018-05-16] The Racist Podcaster Who Started a Neo-Nazi Coffee Company to Fund White Nationalism.
The identity [Thomas White] of one of the hosts of Canada's most popular neo-Nazi podcast and his attempt at building a neo-Nazi company
Wikipedia: Order of the Nine Angles [O9A]
[reference] What is the Order of Nine Angles?
[theStar.com, 2020-10-22] Canadian Forces investigates after mystery man in secret recording claims to be a soldier -- and a neo-Nazi. | reddit (2020-10-22)
[2020-06-23] US soldier Ethan Melzer accused of planning attack on own unit
[2020-06-23] Order of Nine Angles: What is this obscure Nazi Satanist group?
[2020-06-23] Trump Attacks Anti-Fascists But Is Silent on Boogaloo & Far-Right Groups Engaged in Deadly Violence.
Mentions: AWD: Atomwaffen Division | Boogaloo Bois | National Action | O9A: Order of the Nine Angles; Ethan Melzer | Sonnenkrieg Division | The Base
[2020-05-14] Anti-Fascist Group Targeted for Murder by Far Right Won't Back Down
[2020-01-25] Prepping for a race war: documents reveal inner workings of neo-Nazi group.
Chats, audio and video obtained by the Guardian give a rare insight into the workings of a disturbing white supremacist group
[2020-01-24] Revealed: the true identity of the leader of American neo-Nazi terror group "The Base" is Rinaldo Nazzaro.
The white supremacist group "The Base" has been a target of FBI raids and its members accused of planning a race war
[2019-12-19] Most cases of extremist conduct in Canadian military don't end in discipline, says document.
Cases tend to be handled behind closed doors, often with the accused agreeing to leave the ranks
Wikipedia: Boogaloo movement
[2020-07-09] Video: Are the Boogaloo Bois a National Security Threat?
[2020-08-10] VICE News Tonight [two videos]: Boogaloo Bois movement | The Making of a Boogaloo Boi
[2020-07-28] Canada (includes video): Facebook partners with Ontario university on 'global network' to counter rise in online hate.
Experts predict the upcoming U.S. election and the COVID-19 pandemic will increase online extremism.
Mentions: Aryan Strikeforce | Boogaloo Bois | Canadian Nationalist Front | incels (Alek Minassian) | QAnon (Corey Hurren) | Soldiers of Odin | Wolves of Odin
[2020-07-06] An Uneasy July 4th [2020] In Richmond, Va., As Armed Groups Gather Warily
[2020-07-04] The Boogaloo Tipping Point.
What happens when a meme becomes a terrorist movement?
[2020-07-01] Support for anti-government, pro-gun Boogaloo movement growing in Canada. Online followers talk about killing protesters, RCMP officers
[2020-06-25] The Boogaloo movement has successfully hijacked social networks to spread.
Facebook says further enforcement is planned -- but some of the damage is already done
[2020-06-24] The U.S. Military Has a Boogaloo Problem.
Some of the largest private Facebook groups catering to the boogaloo movement have scores of members who identify as active-duty military
[2020-06-23] Trump Attacks Anti-Fascists But Is Silent on Boogaloo & Far-Right Groups Engaged in Deadly Violence.
Mentions: AWD: Atomwaffen Division | Boogaloo Bois | National Action | O9A: Order of the Nine Angles; Ethan Melzer | Sonnenkrieg Division | The Base
[2020-06-17] Who are the Boogaloo Bois, ANTIFA and the Proud Boys?
[2020-06-17] U.S. Air Force sergeant charged in Boogaloo Bois murder
[2020-05-29] [Boogaloo Bois] Far-Right Extremists Are Hoping to Turn the George Floyd Protests Into a New Civil War.
Armed extremists are showing up to protests and urging a "boogaloo" -- code for civil war -- online
Wikipedia: Rise Above Movement
[2020-07-06] An Uneasy July 4th [2020] In Richmond, Va., As Armed Groups Gather Warily
[2020-06-17] [Rise Above Movement] White Supremacist Street Gangs Are Going to BLM Protests.
Groups similar in ethos and organization to the very violent Rise Above Movement have been spotted at recent protests in the U.S.
[2020-05-29] [Boogaloo Bois] Far-Right Extremists Are Hoping to Turn the George Floyd Protests Into a New Civil War.
Armed extremists are showing up to protests and urging a "boogaloo" -- code for civil war -- online
[2020-06-19] Canada Among Very Worst White Supremacist Countries: Report.
"We were really struck by the high level of engagement by Canadians," says an author of a new report on right-wing extremism online
[2020-06-02] White Supremacist Group Identity Evropa Posed as ANTIFA on Twitter and Called For Looting and Violence
[2020-05-29] White Supremacy is the Virus; Police are the Vector
[2020-06-01] White Supremacist Infiltration of US Police Forces: Fact-Checking National Security Advisor O'Brien.
It's more than "a few bad apples"
[2020-05-27] Updates: The Identities of Four Police Officers Who Killed George Floyd Have Been Disclosed.
Derek Chauvin: "Make Whites Great Again" Hat
[2017-01-31] The FBI Has Quietly Investigated White Supremacist Infiltration of Law Enforcement.
Bureau policies have been crafted to take into account the active presence of domestic extremists in U.S. police departments
[2020-04-07] [White Supremacist enabler] The Hate Store: Amazon's Self-Publishing Arm Is a Haven for White Supremacists.
The company gives extremists and neo-Nazis banned from other platforms unprecedented access to a mainstream audience -- and even promotes their books
[2020-02-28] White fragility, racism, and the recent threats against Indigenous opponents of the Coastal GasLink pipeline
[2020-02-29] Demonstrators at B.C. legislature say they were visited by white supremacists
[2020-02-28] Bomb threat made against Wet'suwet'en and Tyendinaga Mohawks as far right escalates talk of violence.
An uptick in anti-Indigenous rhetoric includes calls for vigilante violence
[2020-02-14] Sajjan taken to task about white supremacists in the Canadian Forces -- Military says it's dealing with the issue
[2020-01-25] Prepping for a race war: documents reveal inner workings of neo-Nazi group.
Chats, audio and video obtained by the Guardian give a rare insight into the workings of a disturbing white supremacist group
[2020-01-24] Revealed: the true identity of the leader of American neo-Nazi terror group "The Base" is Rinaldo Nazzaro.
The white supremacist group "The Base" has been a target of FBI raids and its members accused of planning a race war
[2019-11-18] Some Canadian Forces members linked to hate have been warned, disciplined but allowed to stay
[2019-10-29] Meet the Canadian soldiers behind a white supremacist military surplus store.
Investigation connects Canadian Forces members to Fireforce Ventures, a web store glorifying the era of white rule in Rhodesia
[2018-11-20] Jason Kenney's UCP won't say if party expelled extremists.
Party did not respond to questions about how and why they parted ways with two men who worked on Kenney's leadership campaign
ANTIFA | Boogaloo movement | Rise Above Movement
[2020-09-04] DHS draft document: White supremacists are greatest terror threat.
The documents are slightly different drafts of the same annual threat assessment, which is not yet published.
The Identitarian movement or Identitarianism is a post-World War II European far-right[2][3] political ideology asserting the right of Europeans and peoples of European descent to culture and territories claimed to belong exclusively to them. Some Identitarians explicitly espouse ideas of xenophobia and racialism, but most limit their public statements to more docile language. Some among them promote the creation of white ethno-states, to the exclusion of migrants and non-white residents.
[2020-06-02] White Supremacist Group Identity Evropa Posed as ANTIFA on Twitter and Called For Looting and Violence
[Wikipedia] ANTIFA
[RollingStone.com, 2020-10-15] Trump Claims -- and Celebrates -- Extrajudicial Killing of Antifa Activist. Crowd cheers Trump at a North Carolina rally as he describes Michael Reinoehl's killing at the hands of U.S. Marshals.
[MotherJones.com, 2020-10-15] Donald Trump Sounds So Happy Describing How His Government Killed a Man. "... "Two days, three days went by, we sent in the US Marshalls, took 15 minutes it was over. Fifteen minutes it was over, we got him," Trump continued. "They knew who he was, they didn't want to arrest him, and 15 minutes that ended." ..."
[2020-07-25] Before Portland, Trump's Shock Troops Went After Border Activists
[2020-06-17] Who are the Boogaloo Bois, ANTIFA and the Proud Boys?
[2020-07-06] An Uneasy July 4th [2020] In Richmond, Va., As Armed Groups Gather Warily
[2020-06-23] Trump Attacks Anti-Fascists But Is Silent on Boogaloo & Far-Right Groups Engaged in Deadly Violence.
Mentions: AWD: Atomwaffen Division | Boogaloo Bois | National Action | O9A: Order of the Nine Angles; Ethan Melzer | Sonnenkrieg Division | The Base
[2020-06-23] Trump Attacks Anti-Fascists But Is Silent on Boogaloo & Far-Right Groups Engaged in Deadly Violence.
Mentions: AWD: Atomwaffen Division | Boogaloo Bois | National Action | O9A: Order of the Nine Angles; Ethan Melzer | Sonnenkrieg Division | The Base
[2020-06-01] Neo-Nazi Accelerationists Calling For Terror Attacks During Protests.
Instead of infiltrating protests, they see how America's police forces are spread thin, making it the ideal time to strike with a terrorist attack
[2020-05-31] "As Incoherent as It Is Dangerous:" Trump Threatens to Designate ANTIFA -- Which Isn't an Actual Group -- as Terrorist Organization.
"Let's be clear," warned the ACLU. "There is no legal authority for designating a domestic group. Any such designation would raise significant due process and First Amendment concerns"
[2020-06-01] Neo-Nazi Accelerationists Calling For Terror Attacks During Protests.
Instead of infiltrating protests, they see how America's police forces are spread thin, making it the ideal time to strike with a terrorist attack
[2020-06-03] Ohio man denies Trump tweet that he's an 'anarchist' after video goes viral.
Nathan Caraway is denying what some on social media have said is proof that an "anarchist" paid off young people to sow dissent at a protest
[2020-06-01] A White Man From Illinois Allegedly Brought Bombs to Start a Riot at the Minneapolis George Floyd Protest.
The arrest gives some support to local officials' claims that outside agitators may be partially responsible for violence in Minneapolis
[2020-03-25] Man Who Planned to Bomb Hospital Amid Pandemic Dies in Incident With FBI.
The pandemic caused the suspect to "accelerate" his plans to car-bomb a hospital before federal authorities stopped him, the agency said
[2020-02-26] Atomwaffen Division: FBI arrests 'violent extremists' after threatening posters sent to minorities, journalist in Seattle area
[2020-02-26] Atomwaffen Division: Neo-Nazi leaders face conspiracy charges on both coasts
[reference] VDARE
[reference] Peter Brimelow
VDARE is an American website focusing on opposition to immigration to the United States and is associated with white supremacy, white nationalism, and the alt-right. VDARE is classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).
Notorious VDARE Founder Peter Brimelow was (ca. 2002-2003) a Senior Fellow for Education Studies at the Pacific Research Institute.
[SPLC, 2001]: Anti-Immigration Groups.
[reference] Wolverine Watchmen
[Wikipedia] Michigan Militia.
Relevant background [2020-05-15]: Protesters chant "lock her up" after Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer's stay-at-home order. Thousands demonstrate against measure to limit spread of coronavirus as governor warns of danger to protesters' health
[MotherJones.com, 2020-10-18] Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer Says Trump Is Inciting "Domestic Terrorism".
[theDailyBeast.com, 2020-10-13] Men Accused in Whitmer Plot Also Discussed "Taking Out" Virginia Governor: FBI. The group discussed their outrage at the two Democratic governors' decisions to lock down their states.
[NPR.org, 2020-10-08] Militia Members Plotted To Kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, FBI Says.
The FBI says it has thwarted a plot by militia members to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, and six people are facing federal charges. In a coordinated move, Michigan is pursuing state felony charges against seven people with ties to a militia called the Wolverine Watchmen.
The FBI says the Michigan militia group [Wolverine Watchmen] had already been on its radar because its members had attempted in March to acquire the home addresses of local law enforcement officers, with the goal of attacking or killing them.
The FBI says it collected information about the plot from informants and undercover agents. Over the summer, the conspirators [Wolverine Watchmen] allegedly began training for a potential attack on Whitmer's vacation home or the governor's official summer residence, according to a criminal complaint released Thursday [2020-10-08]. ...
[CBC.ca, 2020-10-08] 13 men charged in alleged plot to kidnap Michigan governor. Six men face federal charges, while another 7 are being charged under Michigan state laws.
[BBC.com, 2020-10-08] FBI busts militia 'plot' to abduct Michigan Gov Gretchen Whitmer. The FBI says it has thwarted a plot to abduct and overthrow Michigan's Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer.
Authoritarian surveillance of ideologically driven extremism.
See also: Ideologically Driven Extremism: Notable Groups & Individuals
[2020-09-14] At Homeland Security, Anti-Muslim Activist Katharine Gorka Maintained Ties With Islamophobes.
Gorka worked on Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) programs, which have faced increased allegations of anti-Muslim bias under Trump, FOIA documents show.
Discusses Clare Lopez, a far-right activist and longtime top figure at the anti-Muslim group Center for Security Policy.
[2020-09-04] DHS draft document: White supremacists are greatest terror threat.
The documents are slightly different drafts of the same annual threat assessment, which is not yet published.
[2019-09-09] Why Countering Violent Extremism Programs Are Bad Policy.
In the aftermath of deadly white supremacist attacks, a destructive counterterrorism program is being rehabilitated
[2020-06-25] Defunding the Police Must Include Ending the Surveillance of Muslims.
"Black Identity Extremism" is a fictive concept resurfaced and utilized by the FBI in response to the Black Lives Matter movement.
In Minneapolis, the sheriff's department received $347,600 in CVE funding in 2016.
Floyd's death was a manifestation of the brutal realities of exposing Black communities to law enforcement.
[2019-03-23] [very thorough] Fear of a Black Homeland.
The Strange Tale of the FBI's Fictional "Black Identity Extremism" Movement
[2020-05-25] 'Here We Go Again': Richest Hospitals Sitting on Billions in Cash Got Golden Bailouts Compared to Those Serving Poorest.
"If you ever hear a hospital complaining they don't have enough money, see if they have a venture fund"
[2020-05-25] Wealthiest Hospitals Got Billions in Bailout for Struggling Health Providers.
Twenty large chains received more than $5 billion in federal grants even while sitting on more than $100 billion in cash
[2020-04-10] Medical Staffing Companies Owned by Rich Investors Cut Doctor Pay and Now Want Bailout Money.
Mentions: American College of Emergency Physicians | KKR/Envision Healthcare | private equity giant KKR
[2020-04-20] Medical Staffing Companies Cut Doctors' Pay While Spending Millions on Political Ads.
Mentions: Blackstone / TeamHealth | KKR / Envision Healthcare | Doctor Patient Unity
[2020-03-04] Groups linked to oil companies funded Facebook ads denouncing the rail blockades.
As the anti-pipeline protests intensified, so did spending on online ads that had millions of views
[2020-04-27] Big Plastic Asks for $1 Billion Coronavirus Bailout
[2020-06-24] Johnson & Johnson told to pay US$2.1 billion over cancer-causing talc powder
[2020-05-15] "must-read:" Head of the Hydra: The Rise of Robert Kadlec.
A powerful network of political operatives, a global vaccine mafia and their man in Washington
[2020-04-23] Before COVID-19, Big Pharma Was Neglecting Vaccine and Antiviral Research.
Mentions: GlaxoSmithKline | ...
[2020-04-18] Big Pharma Prepares to Profit From the Coronavirus.
Mentions: DiaSorin Molecular | Eli Lilly | Gilead Sciences | Johnson & Johnson | Moderna | QIAGEN
[Fool.com, 2020-10-05] Report: Moderna and Pfizer Vaccine Trial Participants Report Serious Side Effects. Five patients across the two studies apparently experienced chills, fever, and intense headaches. | reddit
[2020-01-28] Practice Fusion: Silicon Valley health-tech start-up took kickbacks to push doctors to prescribe opioids, DoJ finds
[2020-04-23] Hopes dashed as coronavirus drug remdesivir fails first trial
[2020-04-23] New data on Gilead's remdesivir, released by accident, show no benefit for coronavirus patients
[2019-10-22] Cost of Hepatitis C Drug Price Skyrockets 1,422% after Patent Approval
[2019-04-02] As U.S. Reels from COVID-19, Trump Backs Gilead's Exclusive Patent on Treatment & Suspends EPA Rules
[reference] Preemption
[reference] Military-Industrial Complex.
Includes Eisenhower's 1961 Farewell Address, warning of military-industrial complex threat
[2020-05-14] American Weapons Manufacturers Are Thriving Even as the US Economy Suffers.
Washington has made it a priority to radically overhaul the military in double time, designating weapons manufacturers as "essential" services during the pandemic
[resource] Top-100 Defense Contractors
[resource] Companies of the Military-Industrial Complex
[2020-06-30] 60+ Groups Demand Senate Pass Sanders Amendment to Slash 'Out of Control' Pentagon Budget by $74 Billion
[2020-05-28] Hidden in the New House Coronavirus Relief Bill: Billions for Defense Contractors.
A section of the HEROES Act championed by Virginia Democrat Gerry Connolly would cover executive compensation and other perks for defense and intel contractors. The legislation's wording mirrors what an industry group proposed
[2020-04-14] Amazon's lawsuit over a $10 billion Pentagon contract lays out disturbing allegations against Trump
[2018-03-25] How the Military Controls America
[2017-09-22] The U.S. Still Leans on the Military-Industrial Complex
[2016-10-08] Greed-War: The Power and Danger of the Military-Industrial Complex
[2016-09-08] 5 Corporations Now Dominate Our Privatized Intelligence Industry
[2011-01-17] Ike's Warning of Military Expansion, 50 Years Later
[2020-06-03] Defence Department accused of using pandemic to withhold info from Parliament
[2020-05-13] Spending $19 billion on fighter jets won't fight COVID-19 or climate change.
Instead of buying a new weapons system, the federal government should disarm and invest in a Green New Deal
[2020-10-01] [book] House of Mirrors: Justin Trudeau's Foreign Policy
[2020-08-11] Could Covert War With Iran Become Overt Before November 03, 2020?
"October Surprise:" Will War with Iran Be Trump's Election Eve Shocker?
[2020-05-30] Trump Boosts Nuclear Weapons Spending, Fueling a New Arms Race
[2020-05-21] U.S. signals intention to pull out of Open Skies surveillance treaty
[2020-05-14] The U.S. Military is Hell-Bent on Trying to Overpower China
[2020-05-19] Why so many nuclear-capable hypersonic missiles?.
Apocalypse will be highly likely. Artificial intelligence is not going to save us. These weapons need to be outlawed, not produced and purchased en masse
[2020-03-31] Hypersonic missiles may be unstoppable. Is society ready?.
A new class of stealth missiles raises ethical questions about how militaries should use machine learning to respond to future threats
[reference] Belt and Road Initiative
[2020-04-30] China faces wave of calls for debt relief on 'Belt and Road' projects
[2020-04-02] China rolls out the Health Silk Road
[2019-04-25] Belt and Road: China showcases initiative to world leaders
[2018-11-05] Reality Check: Is China burdening Africa with debt?
[2018-09-03] Should Africa be wary of Chinese debt?
[2017-06-26] China's $900 billion New Silk Road. What you need to know
[2017-03-22] Understanding China's Belt and Road Initiative
[2019-07-26] [state propaganda] China vows not to wage war with any country
[2020-06-25] Japan monitoring China's 'alarming' activities at sea, border with India and in Hong Kong
[2020-04-26] Recent developments surrounding the South China Sea.
China is taking advantage of the world's preoccupation with the coronavirus pandemic to push its territorial ambitions in the South China Sea
[2020-04-23] China's coronavirus aid to Pacific islands is part of geopolitical game
[2019-11-02] Chinese 'naval warship' harasses Filipino-crewed ship near Scarborough Shoal
[2019-11-21] China could 'turn off power' in the Philippines, Senate hears
[2020-04-21] China lays ever larger claim to South China Sea
[2020-06-16] Worst Clash in Decades on Disputed India-China Border Kills 20 Indian Troops.
Under nationalist leaders, the nuclear-armed rivals have been increasingly assertive toward neighbors, risking open conflict. They have contested their Himalayan border for generations
[2020-06-26] Galwan River valley, Kashmir India-China 2020-06 Clash.
Video discussions
[2020-06-17] Soldiers fell to their deaths as India and China's troops fought with rocks.
India shocked by Himalayan border clash in which unarmed troops fought in the dark
[2020-06-16] India-China clash: 20 Indian troops killed in Ladakh fighting
[2019-12-11] Chinese troops entered 12 km inside India in Arunachal
See also these subsections [here, here, here, here and here] in Harold Pinter's 2005 Nobel Prize in Literature Lecture.
[Truthout.org, 2020-10-18] The U.S. Chose Endless War Over Pandemic Preparedness. Now We See the Effects. Spending trillions on the annual military budget has stolen money that could have been used for pandemic preparedness.
[2020-04-20] Koch-Funded Think Tanks Are Lobbying to Send Workers to Their Deaths.
Mentions: Koch Foundation | ExxonMobil | Heritage Foundation
[2016-11-16] Donald J. Trump and the Deep State
[2017-02-06|07] "must-read:" Donald J. Trump and the Deep State.
Mentions: Alfa Bank (oligarchical billionaire Mikhail Fridman) | Arkansas Project | Steve Bannon | Citigroup | Richard "Dick" Cheney; Halliburton | Jay Clayton (Trump's SEC Chairman) | Gary Cohn (former president of Goldman Sachs; Trump's former Director of the National Economic Council | Council on Foreign Relations | "Deep State:" military-industrial complex; intelligence community; Wall Street; plutocrats (note older Citigroup white papers); big oil; mainstream media (e.g., Jeff Bezos owns Washington Post); national security officials; Silicon Valley | Davos Group | Betsy DeVos (& brother Erik Prince: founder/owner of notorious private army Blackwater) | Democracy Alliance | Export-Import Bank | ExxonMobil | Exxon-Rosneft exploration deal | Michael Flynn, (briefly) Trump's National Security Advisor | Goldman Sachs alums (Steve Bannon; Clayton; Cohn; Steve Mnuchin; ...) | Heritage Foundation | John Birch Society | JPMorgan Chase | Koch family (brothers Charles and David Koch); Koch Foundation | Paul Manafort | Robert Mercer | Steve Mnuchin (former Goldman Sachs banker; Trump's Secretary of the Treasury) | Morgan Stanley | National Association of Manufacturers | Mike Pompeo (former Director of CIA; Trump's Secretary of State) | Roger Stone, (Washington lobbying firm Black, Manafort, Stone, and Kelly) | Russia | super billionaires | Tea Party | Rex Tillerson (former Exxon CEO), Trump's Secretary of State | Donald Trump
See also [2020-02-06] ExxonMobil Got Congress to Trade Arms for Offshore Gas.
Mentions: AmCham Cyprus | American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association | American Jewish Committee | Christians United for Israel | Seth Cropsey | Eastern Mediterranean Security and Energy Partnership Act (Senators Bob Menendez, Marco Rubio) | ExxonMobil | General Atomics | Hellenic American Leadership Council | Hudson Institute | Paul Manafort | Secretary of State Mike Pompeo | Prime Policy Group (successor to Black, Manafort, Stone and Kelly) | Qatar Petroleum | Senator Chuck Schumer | Roger Stone | Trump White House | Bulgaria; Cyprus; Greece; Israel; Italy;
[2020-04-26] Israel may ask for double its usual $3.8 billion from the U.S this year.
Israel Seeks Early Release of U.S. Defense Funding
[2020-04-06] Coronavirus Is Exposing How Foreign Crusades Bled America's Domestic Resources Dry
[2020-04-17] Once World War III Starts, There Is No Going Back
[public policy think tank] Center for the National Interest
[reference] Neofascism
[Economist.com, 2020-10-17] The pandemic has eroded democracy and respect for human rights. Strongmen have taken advantage of COVID-19 in numerous ways. | Hacker News (2020-10-19)
COMMENTARY (BuriedTruth). While mentioning Brazil, Turkey, Russia ... how can this article not mention any of: Donald Trump | Mitch McConnell | William Barr | Black Lives Matter | U.S. | US | United States | U.S. protests | contact tracing | ... ? | Sources: The Economist
[Salon.com, 2020-10-15] How fascism has converged with capitalism to redefine government. The tendency of capitalism is toward instability, inequality, and fascism.
[2020-07-01] Thrones Wreathed in Shadow: Tacitus and the Psychology of Authoritarianism
[2020-05-28] UN Security Council: 10 reasons Canada doesn't deserve a seat.
The other contenders, Ireland and Norway, have stronger international track records
See also: Human Rights: Violators -- China -- Uighur [Muslim] Population | Censorship | Surveillance: China -- Uighurs
[2020-07-14] Chinese Police Are Making Threatening Video Calls to Dissidents Abroad.
And they're doing it while sitting next to members of the dissidents' families
[2020-07-12] This activist says she is being tracked and harassed in Australia by Chinese police.
Chinese woman "Zoo" is living in Melbourne on a working holiday visa. She says her parents have been taken to the police station in China every week regarding her online activities
[2020-06-30] China passes sweeping HK security law, heralding authoritarian era
[2020-03-08] Turkish police use tear gas in Istanbul to disperse Women's Day crowd
[2019-10-18] Feudal-ing Autocrats: Erdogan says Turkey will take necessary steps against Trump's 'disrespectful' letter.
Letter 'was not in line with diplomatic and political courtesy. We will not forget this lack of respect'
[2018-08-18] The West Hoped for Democracy in Turkey. Erdogan Had Other Ideas.
Turkey's descent into authoritarianism and crisis has destroyed whatever hopes remained that the country's president might serve as a force for moderation
[reference] Neofascism: United States -- Trump Administration.html
[RollingStone.com, 2020-10-15] Trump Claims -- and Celebrates -- Extrajudicial Killing of Antifa Activist. Crowd cheers Trump at a North Carolina rally as he describes Michael Reinoehl's killing at the hands of U.S. Marshals.
[theAtlantic.com, 2020-10-06] Il Donald. The President knows what Mussolini knew: Some audiences crave images that offer false reassurance and over-the-top displays of power.
[2020-09-06] Fascism Scholar Says U.S. Is "Losing Its Democratic Status"
[2020-08-28] The F-Word: No Other Way to Describe Trump's Fascism 2.0.
If Trump's lengthy rap sheet of lies, threats, obstruction, and incitement doesn't add up to fascism, then what would?
[2020-08-02] Jim Clyburn: Trump is Mussolini.
The South Carolina Democrat compares the president to the Italian dictator
[2020-07-25] The Ugly Terror of a Fascist Abyss Lurks in the Background of This Pandemic
[2020-06-06] The Trump Regime Is Beginning to Topple.
The best way to grasp the magnitude of what we're seeing is to look for precedents abroad
[2020-06-05] Noam Chomsky: Trump Has Adopted a "Viva Death!" Approach to the Presidency
[2020-06-05] Why military men pushing back on Trump is an 'extraordinary' event in American democracy.
The president's threat of deploying troops triggers an uncommon uproar
[2020-06-05] Pentagon War Game Includes Scenario for Military Response to Domestic Gen Z Rebellion
[2020-06-04] Donald Trump Is an Autocrat. It's Up to All of Us to Stop Him
[2020-06-04] Retired Gen. Martin Dempsey: Former Joint Chiefs Chairman Condemns Trump's Threat To Use Military At Protests
[reference] Louis DeJoy
COMMENTARY (BuriedTruth). I believe that there are several issues at play, here.
(1) Trump hates Jeff Bezos and Amazon: parenthetically, this is a punitive action against Amazon.com and its use of the use of the USPS for ground deliveries.
(2) More menacingly, this likely represents dark money nonprofit-influenced interference with the voting process.
(3) Equally concerning, these efforts appear to be part of a longer-term, coordinated strategy by Charles Koch to privatize the U.S. Postal Service through Koch-funded nonprofits such as the State Policy Network and The Fund for American Studies (TFAS). Trump-appointed U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is a member of the Board of Trustees of TFAS.
[reference] Louis DeJoy | Assumed office 2020-06-16 as Trump-appointed U.S. Postmaster General
[2020-08-19] Video: The Post Office Is the New Battleground for Trump's War on Mail-In Voting
U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy
[2020-08-10] Trump's attack on the Postal Service now endangers democracy
[2020-08-07] 'Friday Night Massacre' at US Postal Service as Postmaster General -- A Major Trump Donor -- Ousts Top Officials.
"America is in a dead sprint to authoritarianism. Trump is pulling out all the stops to prevent the citizens of this country from holding a legitimate election in which he might face removal from office"
[2020-07-29] USPS Workers Concerned New Policies Will Pave the Way to Privatization.
A barrage of new changes have come down, including delayed mail sortation. Workers say they threaten USPS' core mission
[2020-07-15] 'Attempted Murder of Your Post Office': Outrage as Trump Crony Now Heading USPS Moves to Slow Mail Delivery.
"The deliberate delaying of Americans' mail delivery would be a stunning act of sabotage against our Postal Service"
[2020-07-15] "Disturbing" memo reveals Trump's USPS chief has slowed delivery amid calls to expand voting by mail.
"The people in power are trying to keep voter turnout low," MJ Hegar, newly-minted Senate candidate in Texas, says
[2020-07-14] U.S.Postal Service memos detail 'difficult' changes, including slower mail delivery.
Analysts say the memos recast the USPS as a business rather than a government service
[2020-07-24] 'A Combination of Forces Puts Our Postal Service at Grave Risk'. CounterSpin interview with Lisa Graves on the USPS under attack. Mentions: Charles Koch | Louis DeJoy
"Charles Koch, who's one of the richest billionaires in the world ... has been staking efforts by people who have been working to privatize the Postal Service for more than five decades."
Lisa Graves is the author of The Billionaire Behind Efforts to Kill the U.S. Postal Service (pdf)
Note the timeline, which documents Koch-funded 501(c) nonprofits and their roles in orchestrating the privitization of the U.S. Postal Service:
1976. Charles Koch becomes biggest funder of the Libertarian Party. Abolishing the U.S. Postal Service is added to the Libertarian Party platform. [In 1980, Charles Koch's brother David Koch unsuccessfully ran for Vice President on the Libertarian Party platform. ... In 2012, David Koch spent over $100 million to oppose the re-election of President Barack Obama.]
1987. Charles Koch's right-hand man Richard Fink is appointed to Reagan's privatization commission, which urges Postal Service privatization.
1988. James Miller, then director of the Reagan Office of Management and Budget (OMB), writes pro-privatization paper in the Cato Journal "It's Time to Free the Mails." [The Cato Institute was formerly the Charles Koch Foundation.]
2001. James Miller, then director of Charles Koch's Citizens for a Sound Economy, helps advance book on privatizing the Postal Service. [In 2004, Citizens for a Sound Economy split into FreedomWorks, and Americans for Prosperity.]
2009. The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) begins pushing bill to require military service member ballots be carried by for-profit corporations. [According to the Center For Public Integrity, ALEC in received $150,000 from Charles and David Koch. Greenpeace claims that ALEC has received $525,858 from Koch foundations between 2005 and 2011.]
2020. Charles Koch's Americans for Prosperity singles out Senators for special pressure to vote against the HEROES Act and specifically opposes any funds to prevent Postal Service bankruptcy
[2020-07-09] One Billionaire vs. the Mail.
A new report details Charles Koch's 50-year war on the U.S. Postal Service.
[2020-04-24 (pre-Louis DeJoy)] Calling US Postal Service 'A Joke,' Trump Demands Four-Fold Price Hike for Customers Amid COVID-19 Pandemic.
Such a move, say critics, "would be a disaster for millions of Americans who rely on USPS".
Trump declared that "the Postal Service is a joke, because they're handing out packages for Amazon and other internet companies ... or let Amazon build their own post office ..."
... Other critics accused Trump of trying to destroy the USPS "to suppress mail-in votes." The public health crisis has sparked calls to rapidly and significantly expand vote-by-mail nationwide to ensure that everyone can safely participate in future elections. Trump has baselessly attacked mail-in voting as insecure.
[2020-01-09] The Postal Service is America's most popular government agency. Why does Trump hate it?
That article references a Trump administration report which discusses plans to privatize the U.S. Postal Service.
[2020-06-26] With Election Just 4 Months Away, FEC Essentially Defunct as GOP Member Leaves for Koch-Funded Group.
The White House announced it would nominate Allen Dickerson, a proponent of Citizens United, to the elections board [FEC]
[2020-06-30] With FEC again defanged, Trump's latest nominee likely to face opposition
[2020-06-26] FEC losing quorum again after Caroline Hunter resigns.
The federal government's elections watchdog just reestablished a quorum last month [2020-05]
[2018-10-17] How the FEC is Still Allowing Dark Money Groups to Remain Dark
[2020-06-24] Cementing GOP Takeover of Courts, Senate Confirms 'Anti-Voting Rights Extremist' as Trump's 200th Federal Judge.
"Cory Wilson's record against civil rights and healthcare, and his lack of judicial temperament and experience, should have disqualified him"
[2020-06-24] Trump Nears Post-Nixon First: No Black Circuit Judges
[2020-06-24] Cory Wilson: Heritage Foundation: Heritage Legal Scholar Congratulates Trump Administration on 200th Judicial Appointment
See also: Noel Francisco: Affordable Care Act
[2020-06-23] Secret Service Forces Press to Leave the White House as Police Use Pepper Spray and Batons to Beat Back Protesters.
"The move to force members of the media off White House grounds is highly unusual," CNN reported after two of its journalists were removed
[reference] William Barr
[2020-06-27] How Far Bill Barr Has Fallen.
If people cannot believe one another, communication breaks down, trust becomes impossible, and society corrodes. And people cannot trust the attorney general
[2020-06-02] 'He Must Resign': Attorney General Barr Personally Ordered Police Assault on Peaceful DC Protesters, Report Says.
"AG Bill Barr's behavior has been deeply problematic since he was sworn in, but now it has become truly dangerous. He needs to resign"
[2020-05-26] Bill Barr Promised to Release Prisoners Threatened by Coronavirus -- Even as the Feds Secretly Made It Harder for Them to Get Out.
Celebrity prisoners like former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort have been granted home detention, but a secret Bureau of Prisons policy has kept all but 1.8% of federal inmates behind bars, where the virus rages
[2020-05-15] The Secretive Police Commission The Justice Department Doesn't Want You To Notice
[2020-06-22] William Barr Has Turned the Justice Department Into a Law Firm With One Client: Donald Trump
See also [2020-06-21]: Why Bill Barr Got Rid of Geoffrey Berman. This is how an authoritarian works to subvert justice
[2020-05-21] Is Bill Barr the Most Dangerous Member of the Trump Administration?
[2020-05-17] 'William Barr is not done': experts raise concerns about attorney general's legal reach.
Former justice department officials and legal experts have pointed to Barr's intervention in cases involving Trump associates
[2020-03] Attorney General Barr argues against the use of end-to-end encryption by online services
[2020-05-13] The Justice Department Accidentally Released the Name of Saudi Official Suspected of Helping the 9/11 Hijackers.
William Barr's DOJ inadvertently named Saudi official Musaed al-Jarrah in a court filing after trying for two years to conceal his identity
[2020-06-21] Why Bill Barr Got Rid of Geoffrey Berman.
This is how an authoritarian works to subvert justice
[2020-06-22] Three Plausible -- And Troubling -- Reasons Why Barr Tried to Force Berman Out.
Some are worse than others, though none represents what one would like to see from the Department of Justice
[2020-06-21] Trump's Latest Firing May Have Violated Four Democratic Values
[2020-05-11] Ex-Justice Dept. Officials Lash Out at Barr Over Flynn and Stone Cases.
The attorney general's interventions damaged the Justice Department, argued the former officials, who were directly involved in the cases of the two Trump allies
[2020-05-11] DOJ Alumni Statement on Flynn Case
[2020-02-12] Trump Congratulates William Barr for Eliminating Justice Department Independence
[reference] Rod Jay Rosenstein | Rod Rosenstein
Rod Jay Rosenstein is an American attorney who served as the 37th United States Deputy Attorney General from April 2017 until May 2019.
"... In May 2018, Rosenstein reportedly told the five U.S. Attorneys in districts along the border with Mexico that, where refugees were concerned, they should not "be categorically declining immigration prosecutions of adults in family units because of the age of a child." The directive, issued as part of the Trump administration family separation policy, led to the separation of thousands of small children from their parents, many of whom were seeking asylum in the United States after fleeing violence in Central America. ..."
[Popular.info, 2020-10-08] King of Cruelty: Former U.S. Deputy Attorney General, Rod Rosenstein.
[reference] Chad Wolf
[2020-07-30] Video (Vice News Tonight): Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf
[2020-07-22] Chad Wolf: Homeland Security chief boasts of 'proactively' rounding up protesters as crackdown widens
[2020-07-21] Chad Wolf: Homeland Security chief says feds are 'not the Gestapo' amid outrage over Portland response
[2020-07-24] 'Disturbing-and Dangerous': Journalists Denounce Judge's Order for Outlets to Turn Over Protest Footage to Seattle Police.
"This turns journalists into an arm of the government. We are not here to do surveillance for police"
[2020-07-23] Order Temporarily Blocks Feds From Targeting Press and Legal Observers In Portland
[2020-06-23] Secret Service Forces Press to Leave the White House as Police Use Pepper Spray and Batons to Beat Back Protesters.
"The move to force members of the media off White House grounds is highly unusual," CNN reported after two of its journalists were removed
[2020-06-04] Creeping Authoritarianism Threatens Free Speech and the Free Press.
Trump's rhetoric and actions aren't the only threat to democracy: State legislatures are also pushing for limits on the right to protest
[2020-06-03] Trump's Military Response to Protests Highlights His Authoritarianism.
"Modern authoritarianism creeps up suddenly, with constraints on the freedom of the press, attacks on opposition leaders and a slow corruption of the laws."
[2020-05-30] Canada: A free press is no luxury: Time for Canada to recognize press freedom as more than a form of free expression.
Freedom of the press is often lumped in with the right to speak freely, and it shouldn't be
See also:
EARN IT Act of 2020: Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies Act.
The bill has the potential to be damaging to free speech and directly harmful to anyone who uses encryption-based communication services.
Police State | Militarized Police: United States -- Surveillance
[2020-07-24] Leaked FBI Documents Reveal Secret Program To Criminalize Social Media.
Simply posting about your presence at a police brutality protest can be used to incriminate you and lead to your arrest. We speak to Portland residents on the ground about the influx of unmarked federal agents
[2020-06-24] Dataminr; Venntel: FBI Expands Ability to Collect Cellphone Location Data, Monitor Social Media, Recent Contracts Show
[2020-06-04] Creeping Authoritarianism Threatens Free Speech and the Free Press.
Trump's rhetoric and actions aren't the only threat to democracy: State legislatures are also pushing for limits on the right to protest
[2020-06-01] First Amendment Rights -- If You Agree With the President.
Trump's animosity toward protesters he disagrees with is becoming a policy reality on the state level
See also: DHS: Intelligence Reports on Protesters
[2020-07-25] Before Portland, Trump's Shock Troops Went After Border Activists
[2020-07-25] HART: Homeland Advanced Recognition Technology.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS)'s Massive New Database Will Include Face Recognition, DNA, and Peoples' "Non-Obvious Relationships"
[2020-09-14] At Homeland Security, Anti-Muslim Activist Katharine Gorka Maintained Ties With Islamophobes.
Gorka worked on Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) programs, which have faced increased allegations of anti-Muslim bias under Trump, FOIA documents show.
Discusses Clare Lopez, a far-right activist and longtime top figure at the anti-Muslim group Center for Security Policy.
See also: Customs and Border Protection (CBP), FBI: Domestic Surveillance of Protesters. E.g.:
[2020-06-03] The Government is Regularly Flying Predator Drones Over American Cities.
The aircraft flight data is a reminder that CBP does not only fly drones along the border
[2020-05-29] US Border Patrol Denounced as 'Rogue Agency' for Using Predator Drone to Spy on Minneapolis Protests.
"This is what happens when leaders sign blank check after blank check to militarize police, CBP, etc while letting violence go unchecked"
[2020-08-05] After a Year of Investigation, the Border Patrol Has Little to Say About Agents' Misogynistic and Racist Facebook Group.
The Border Patrol vowed a full accounting after ProPublica revealed hateful posts in the private Facebook group. Now congressional investigators say the agency is blocking them and revealing little about its internal investigation
[2019-07-01] Inside the Secret Border Patrol Facebook Group Where Agents Joke About Migrant Deaths and Post Sexist Memes.
The three-year-old group, which has roughly 9,500 members, shared derogatory comments about Latina lawmakers who plan to visit a controversial Texas detention facility on Monday, calling them "scum buckets" and "hoes"
[2020-07-25] Before Portland, Trump's Shock Troops Went After Border Activists
[reference] U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
See also: Canada-United States Safe Third Country Agreement
[2020-08-05] Trans Women Are Finally Getting Justice in El Salvador.
Two police were convicted of killing a trans woman and sentenced to 20 years in prison. It's the first conviction for the killing of a trans person in the nation's history
Camila Díaz Córdova, a transgender woman, was found on a highway in the capital of El Salvador in the early morning of January 31st 2019, she was barely alive. She had severe injuries to her abdomen, face, back and pelvis: the result, it would turn out, of a severe beating that she took from police officers after she was picked up, handcuffed and loaded into their patrol car. The three officers then threw her out of their moving vehicle and left her for dead on the highway. She died a few days later in hospital.
... Díaz was a victim of the United States government as well as her country's own police. She was one of hundreds of thousands of Central Americans to make a break for the United States -- in her case, in an attempt to escape the violence and intimidation she faced at home due to her gender identity. She reached the U.S in August 2017, after undertaking the treacherous journey there from her home in San Salvador.
But U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) authorities detained her and deported her in November of the same year [2017], according to Human Rights Watch, and she was killed just over a year later [2019].
[2019-03-14] Maryland man fatally shot by police while asleep in his bedroom. Montgomery county police said Duncan Socrates Lemp 'confronted' officers; eyewitness gave 'contrary' account
See also: Murder of Duncan Lemp
[2019-03-04] Defense attorney Robert J. Campos demonstrates how to assert your legal rights at a border stop
[2019-03-28] How This Citizen Stopped ICE From Arresting 2 Immigrants
[2018-07-23] Watch: Immigration Officer Asks if People on Bus are Citizens.
Challenged by teacher-activist
See also:
EARN IT Act of 2020: Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies Act.
The bill has the potential to be damaging to free speech and directly harmful to anyone who uses encryption-based communication services.
Police State | Militarized Police: United States -- Surveillance
[2020-07-24] Leaked FBI Documents Reveal Secret Program To Criminalize Social Media.
Simply posting about your presence at a police brutality protest can be used to incriminate you and lead to your arrest. We speak to Portland residents on the ground about the influx of unmarked federal agents
[2020-06-24] Dataminr; Venntel: FBI Expands Ability to Collect Cellphone Location Data, Monitor Social Media, Recent Contracts Show
[2020-06-24] Secretive police unit gathers information on Maine citizens, commissioner tells lawmakers.
Public Safety Commissioner Michael Sauschuck says the so-called fusion center gathers intelligence on citizens involved in legal activities, including protest organizers, but 'we're not spying on people'
[Wikipedia] Operation Legend
See also: Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf
[2020-06-07] West Virginia [Governor Jim Justice]: A Powerful Petrochemical Lobbying Group Advanced Anti-Protest Legislation in the Midst of the Pandemic.
[2020-08-11] NYPD "Warrant Squad:" The Activist Who Streamed a Bizarre Standoff With the NYPD Will Keep Fighting.
Derrick Ingram of "Warriors in the Garden" says he's a little traumatized after riot cops and drones came for him, but that he won't be intimidated
[2020-07-29] NYPD "Warrant Squad;" includes video. NYPD's 'Warrant Squad' Arrested a Trans Teen Protester, Shoved Her Into an Unmarked Van.
NYC: Violent Arrest of Transgender Protester Nikki [Nicki] Stone by Unmarked Police.
"Warrant Squad" division has a history of allegedly targeting vulnerable populations, using low-level violations to obtain info on protesters
[2020-07-29] 'This Is...Kidnapping': Video Shows Plainclothes NYPD Officers Throwing Protester Into Unmarked Van.
[2015-10-01] NYPD "Warrant Squad:" Why is the NYPD's 'Warrant Squad' Still Raiding Homeless Shelters?
Homeless New Yorkers and their advocates want to know why the city is dealing with an unprecedented homelessness crisis in part by arresting people for next to nothing
[2012-05-02] NYPD "Warrant Squad:" Police Warrant Squads Were Used to Monitor Wall Street Protesters, Suspects Say
"Our civil liberties are on the brink," said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. "This is not a drill. There is no excuse for snatching women off the street and throwing them into unmarked vans"[2020-07-24] Noam Chomsky on Trump's Troop Surge to Democratic Cities & Whether He'll Leave Office if He Loses
[2020-07-24] 'Disturbing-and Dangerous': Journalists Denounce Judge's Order for Outlets to Turn Over Protest Footage to Seattle Police.
"This turns journalists into an arm of the government. We are not here to do surveillance for police"
[2020-06-07] West Virginia: A Powerful Petrochemical Lobbying Group Advanced Anti-Protest Legislation in the Midst of the Pandemic
[2020-05-14] Adventures in Digital Organizing With Mariame Kaba
[2019-12-29] The Criminalisation of Protest in America
[2020-07-21] Christopher David: U.S. Navy veteran speaks out about being attacked by Trump's secret police in Portland this past weekend.
It isn't about me getting beat up. It's about focusing back on the original intention of all of these protests, which is Black Lives Matter
[2020-07-20] 'No Tactics ... Just Seemed Like a Gang': Navy Veteran Speaks Out After Attack by Secret Police in Viral Video Viewed Nearly 10 Million Times.
"They just started whaling on me with batons, and I let them," said Christopher David
[2020-07-23] Order Temporarily Blocks Feds From Targeting Press and Legal Observers In Portland
[2020-07-21] Federal agents are snatching protesters off the streets of Portland. These companies are profiting.
Contracts with Customs and Border Protection since 2017: Deloitte ($308 million) | Ogilvy ($35.3 million) | Booz Allen Hamilton ($12.5 million) | McKinsey & Company ($6.8 million)
[2020-07-20] Trump says U.S. will crack down on anti-racism protests in Democratic-led U.S. cities.
Officers in Portland using tear gas to disperse protesters, taking some into custody in unmarked cars
[2020-07-19] Protests intensify in Portland against police, as Trump says local leaders have 'lost control'.
Police declare demonstrations a riot as fire set at Portland Police Association building
[2020-07-18] Portland mayor demands Trump remove federal agents from the city following detentions.
Oregon's attorney general plans to file lawsuit, citing civil rights violations
[2020-07-18] 'These Tactics Must Stop': Oregon DOJ Launches Criminal Probe Into Violence by Trump-Deployed Feds.
"Every American should be repulsed when they see this happening. If this can happen here in Portland, it can happen anywhere."
"DHS and DOJ are engaged in acts that are horrific and outrageous in our constitutional democratic republic," Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) said in a statement. "First, they are deploying paramilitary forces with no identification indicating who they are or who they work for. Second, these agents are snatching people off the street with no underlying justification. Both of these acts are profound offenses against Americans."
[2020-07-17] Trump Condemned for Authoritarian 'Abuse of Power' as Secret Federal Police Snatch Protesters Off Portland Streets.
"Authoritarian governments, not democratic republics, send unmarked authorities after protesters. These Trump/Barr tactics designed to eliminate any accountability are absolutely unacceptable"
[2020-07-17] Trump Sent Cops to Portland and They're 'Kidnapping People Off The Streets'.
Camouflaged federal officers have been patrolling the streets, pulling protesters into unmarked cars and arresting them
[2020-07-17] After Trump Deploys Secret Police in Portland, 'Imagine What Happens If He Gets Four More Years'.
"They want to see what they can get away with before launching into other parts of the country"
[2020-07-23] About 200 federal agents are now on their way to Chicago, and about 35 are headed to Albuquerque. Trump said earlier this week he may also send feds to Baltimore, Philadelphia, Detroit, and Oakland.
[2020-07-23] Trump Is Sending Secret Police to American Cities. Here's What We Know.
"Operation Legend" is freaking out mayors and governors, who worry Trump's "secret police" might run amok like they have in Portland
Relevant to this discussion: [2020-07-01] "must-read/watch" (Robert Reich): Trump Doesn't Believe in Democracy -- Here's His 25-Step Reelection Plan.
The president's opponents are limited because they believe in democracy. Trump has no limits because he doesn't
[2020-06-04] Former Defense Secretary Mattis Issues Stunning Rebuke of Trump
[2020-06-04] Trump's Own Former Defense Secretary Just Compared Him to the Nazis.
James "Mad Dog" Mattis just slammed the president as a threat to America's Constitution
[2020-06-04] Is This Trump's Reichstag Fire Moment?
[2020-06-04] As Trump Wages War on DC Residents, It's Clear He Must Resign Immediately
[2020-06-04] Donald Trump Is an Autocrat. It's Up to All of Us to Stop Him
[2020-06-03] James Mattis Denounces President Trump, Describes Him as a Threat to the Constitution.
In an extraordinary condemnation, the former defense secretary backs protesters and says the president is trying to turn Americans against one another
[2020-06-02] After Trump's Authoritarian 'Law and Order' Speech, Military Helicopters Descend Low Over DC to Intimidate Protesters.
"What Trump did tonight is going to be remembered as a significant and grave moment in this horror of an era we are living through"
[2020-06-03] Trump's Military Response to Protests Highlights His Authoritarianism.
"Modern authoritarianism creeps up suddenly, with constraints on the freedom of the press, attacks on opposition leaders and a slow corruption of the laws."
[2020-06-02] Washington DC Bishop 'Outraged' by Trump Clearing Protests With Tear Gas and Using Bible as a Prop for Church Photo Op.
"Everything he has said and done is to inflame violence," the Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde said of the president
[2020-06-02] 'He Did Not Pray': Fallout Grows From Trump's Photo-Op At St. John's Church
[2020-06-02] James Miller: 'I wish you the best': US military adviser resigns after Trump's controversial photo op at church
[2020-06-02] James Miller's Resignation Letter to Mark Esper.
James N. Miller served as under secretary of defense for policy from 2012 to 2014. Here is a copy of his resignation letter, which he submitted to Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper on 2020-06-02
[2020-06-02] 'He Must Resign': Attorney General Barr Personally Ordered Police Assault on Peaceful DC Protesters, Report Says.
"AG Bill Barr's behavior has been deeply problematic since he was sworn in, but now it has become truly dangerous. He needs to resign
[2020-06-02] Trudeau's long silence: PM pauses, avoids Trump's name in reaction to protests.
Comments from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on structural violence in Canadian society [video]
[2020-06-02] Don Martin: The 21 seconds of silence that said everything about Canada's reaction to Trump
[2020-06-02] Trump or no Trump, Canada's relationship with the U.S. isn't going back to 'normal' soon.
Ultimately, it doesn't matter what Justin Trudeau says about Donald Trump
[2020-05-04] Coronavirus shows why Canada must reduce its dependence on the U.S..
Two Canadian academics propose dusting off the "third option" doctrine that Pierre Trudeau's government developed in the 1970s -- the last time the United States seemed to be coming apart
[2020-06-01] "America's Moment of Reckoning": Cornel West Says Nationwide Uprising Is Sign of "Empire Imploding"
[2020-05-29] The Racist Origins of Trump's 'When The Looting Starts, The Shooting Starts' Quote.
A line originally used by an aggressive Miami police chief prompted Twitter to issue another content warning for the president's tweets
[2020-05-28] Lindsey Graham Is Urging Older Judges to Quit So Trump Can Nominate Replacements
[2020-05-28] Trump Signs Executive Order Aimed at Twitter for Fact-Checking His Bogus Claims
[2020-05-31] Why Trump's Social Media Executive Order Is Troubling, Bizarre, and Dangerous
[2020-05-29] Twitter hides Trump tweet for 'glorifying violence'
[2020-05-28] Trump signs executive order aimed at social media companies.
Move comes after Twitter put fact-check warnings on 2 inaccurate Trump tweets
[2020-05-28] Donald Trump's threat to regulate Twitter likely to hit roadblocks: legal experts
[2020-05-16] Washington places Cuba and Venezuela on "terror" list
[2020-05-13] Contact Tracing, Immunity Cards and Mass Testing: Are We on The Fast Track to a National ID?
[2020-05-13] Trump's Lawyers Argue for "Temporary Presidential Immunity"
[2020-04-11] "must-read:" Fascists Are Using COVID-19 to Advance Their Agenda
See also these subsections [here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here] in Harold Pinter's 2005 Nobel Prize in Literature Lecture.
[2020-07-13] Don't be Fooled by the Cancel Culture Wars.
The politically correct speech and symbols of inclusiveness, without a concerted assault on corporate power, will do nothing to change the system
[2020-07-08] "must-read/watch" (Robert Reich): Beware the 21st Century Robber Barons.
This great shift in bargaining power from workers to corporate shareholders has created an increasingly angry working class vulnerable to demagogues peddling authoritarianism, racism, and xenophobia
[2020-04-13] Alone Against the Virus. Decades of Neoliberal Austerity Will Make It Harder to Fight the COVID-19 Pandemic
[2020-04-07] The COVID-19 Pandemic is Exposing the Plague of Neoliberalism
[2020-03-31] 'We Have Always been Disposable:' The Structural Violence of Neoliberal Healthcare
[2020-02-05] Putting a face onto the corporation.
Corporations account for 78 of the world's 100 largest economies, yet they remain cloaked in mystery. TNI's State of Power 2020 report takes a deep dive into capitalism's preeminent institution
[2020-01-29] Corporations as Private Sovereign Powers: The case of Total S.A.
[reference] BlackRock
BlackRock, Inc. is an American global investment management corporation based in New York City. BlackRock is the world's largest asset manager, with $7.4 trillion in assets under management (2019). BlackRock operates globally with 70 offices in 30 countries and clients in 100 countries. Due to its power, and the sheer size and scope of its financial assets and activities, BlackRock has been called the world's largest shadow bank.
[reference] Black Rock Group, a subsidiary of BlackRock
The Black Rock Group (BRG) -- a strategic communications and public affairs firm based in Alexandria, Virginia -- creates public policy, political and strategic communications campaigns to shape public debates through paid, earned and digital media strategies.
[2020-07-02] Canada: BlackRock: Wall Street billionaire talks Trudeau into changing course to benefit private investors
[2020-06-22] Meet BlackRock, the New Great Vampire Squid.
No private, unelected entity should have the power over the economy that BlackRock has, without a legally enforceable fiduciary duty to wield it in the public interest
[2020-04-14] [BlackRock] Foxes in the henhouse -- Who decides where bailout money goes?.
Mentions: BlackRock services viz-a-viz Bank of Canada's "Commercial Paper Purchase Program" | BlackRock and Royal Bank of Canada ETF [Exchange Trade Funds] partnership in Canada
[2020-01-14] World's biggest fund manager vows to divest from thermal coal.
BlackRock CEO says climate crisis will now dictate investments but environmentalists remain wary
[2018-05-06] BlackRock -- The company that owns the world?
[2017-05-10] These three firms own corporate America.
The Big Three: BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street
[reference] Blackstone Group
The Blackstone Group Inc. is an American private equity alternative investment management firm. As the largest alternative investment firm in the world, The Blackstone Group specializes in private equity, credit, and hedge fund investment strategies. The Blackstone Group has invested in companies with links to the commercialization and deforestation of the Amazon rainforest.
[reference] Steven Mnuchin
[2020-08-03] Trump's Millionaire Treasury Secretary Uses Debunked GOP Talking Point to Justify Slashing $600 Unemployment Boost.
"Inflicting suffering on tens of millions of Americans by cutting unemployment benefits because of an anecdotal 'some cases' argument that has been refuted again and again is a stupid way to make policy"
[2017-02-06|07] "must-read:" Donald J. Trump and the Deep State
[reference] Jeffrey Ross Toobin
[Vice.com, 2020-10-19] New Yorker Suspends Jeffrey Toobin for Masturbating on Zoom Call. The call was an election simulation featuring New Yorker all-stars. Toobin apologized for the "embarrassingly stupid mistake."
[RollingStone.com, 2020-10-19] Don't Show Your Dick on Work Zoom. While this shouldn't have to be said, Jeffrey Toobin, one of the greatest legal analysts of his generation, did just that earlier this month.
[reference] Police -- United States -- Corruption
[2020-10-05] Former Chicago police sergeant sentenced to 13 years in federal prison. Former Chicago police sergeant Eddie Hicks and his robbery crew stole thousands of dollars in cash, multi-kilogram quantities of cocaine, hundreds of pounds of marijuana, and several firearms.
[reference] 1033 Program
[resource] Mapping Police Violence.
Police killed 1,099 people in 2019. Black people were 24% of those killed despite being only 13% of the population.
[resource] Broadcastify.com: streams live audio for public safety (police ...), aircraft, rail, ... USA only :-(
[2020-06-10] Stop Training Police Like They're Joining the Military.
If policing is to change, the spotlight must turn toward police academies, where new recruits are first inculcated into the folkways of their profession
[2020-05-11] New Facial Recognition Software Predicts You're a Criminal Based on your Face
[2020-06-11] Video: Alex Vitale -- End of Policing.
Defund the police
[2020-07-08] Alex Vitale: Defunding The Police Is The Future.
Police and police unions have proven incapable of ensuring public safety, argues Alex Vitale, author of "The End of Policing"
[2020-06-25] Defunding the Police Must Include Ending the Surveillance of Muslims.
"Black Identity Extremism" is a fictive concept resurfaced and utilized by the FBI in response to the Black Lives Matter movement.
In Minneapolis, the sheriff's department received $347,600 in CVE [Countering Violent Extremism] funding in 2016.
Floyd's death was a manifestation of the brutal realities of exposing Black communities to law enforcement.
[2020-06-08] 'Defund the police' movement gathers momentum in Canada
[2020-07-10] Defund the police? This is how much Canadian cities spend
[2020-06-10] Halifax Returned a Tank: How Canadian Cities Are Responding to 'Defund the Police'.
Across Canada calls to defund police are getting louder. But the changes proposed so far may be a disappointment to many
[2020-06-10] Toronto: What defunding the police could look like in Canada's largest city
[2020-06-08] Thousands are calling to defund the Vancouver Police Department. Here's what that might look like
[2020-06-08] The First Step Is Figuring Out What Police Are For.
For reform to succeed, American communities need to have a conversation about what the purpose of police is, and think hard about what jobs could be better handled by other institutions
[2020-06-07] Majority of Minneapolis city council vows to disband police department.
'Our system of policing is not keeping our communities safe,' says council president.
Alex Vitale, author of The End of Policing, explains what defunding the police might look like.
[2020-06-06] Would Defunding the Police Make Us Safer?.
Police departments have enormous budgets. Are we getting what we pay for?
[2020-06-05] Defund the Police.
America needs to rethink its priorities for the whole criminal-justice system
[2020-06-05] Amid calls for police reform, new dataset shows where police money has flowed in Congress
[2020-06-05] The activist dismantling racist police algorithms.
Hamid Khan is winning his fight for the abolition of surveillance technology used by the LAPD
[2020-06-04] 'This is Huge': Move to Defund Police Gains Support Nationwide.
In moments of crisis, people want services and resources that go directly to help people rather than police that surveil, brutalize, and kill us
[2020-06-04] Why police reform is not enough.
The focus on reforms like improved training doesn't solve racially biased policing. That's because of the nature of policing itself
[2020-06-03] How Much Do We Need The Police?.
Alex S. Vitale: "The End of Policing"
[2020-06-03] Violence Towards Protesters Shows Why Many Want To Abolish Police.
Minneapolis organizer Tony Williams speaks about the ongoing uprisings and how groups can work towards the strategic dismantling of the police
[2020-06-03] Amid Protests Against Police Violence LA Mayor Eric Garcetti Announces Cuts To LAPD
[2020-06-03] Minneapolis School Board Votes to Terminate $1.1 Million Contract With Police
[2020-08-19] VPD Constable Neil Logan: Photos, audio provide clues to disturbing melee involving police
[2020-06-03] VPD Constable Neil Logan: Lack of statement from VPD officer helped sink criminal case against him.
Vancouver Police officer assaults girlfriend while in Oregon; fails to provide statement to American authorities; case dropped ...
[Rabble.ca, 2020-10-07] Canadian police have a long record of lying to the public.
[2020-06-05] Video Shows Quebec Police Pulling Black Man Out of Car by His Hair.
It's yet another concerning instance of police use of force against Black and Indigenous peoples surfacing across Canada in recent weeks
[2020-06-05] Laval Quebec police arrest of young black man deemed 'gratuitous assault,' as calls renewed for police reform.
At exact hour George Floyd lay dying May 25 2020, Laval officer pulled man out of car by dreadlocks and beat him
[2020-06-04] 'In Edmonton it happens a lot': Local Black man restrained by the neck during 2018 arrest speaks out
[2020-06-02] Investigation: Montreal journalists face police intimidation, brutality when reporting at protests.
Majority of documented incidents have occurred at demonstrations where riot police were present
[2020-05-14] Caught on cam: Allegation of police brutality in DTES
[2020-04-24] Ontario takes 'extraordinary step' to give police list of all COVID-19 patients
[2020-04-24] Civil liberties group warns of 'invasion of privacy' after Ontario gives police COVID-19 test data
[2020-04-07] 'He was already on the floor': Family looks for answers after Ontario man shot dead by police
[2020-03-06] Police not probing recent rail disasters, crude oil derailments, deaths for possible negligence
[2020-03-04] From pepper spray to profiling: how protests have been policed in Canada
[2020-03-01] Alberta's anti-protestor bill suppresses democracy and violates treaties, say critics.
Canada's laws have long been used against Indigenous Peoples
[2020-07-12] Canada's largest Indigenous police force has never shot anyone dead.
In its 26 years of existence, officers with Canada's largest Indigenous police force [Nishnawbe Aski Police Service, Northern Ontario] have never shot and killed anyone and no officer has died in the line of duty, despite a grinding lack of resources and an absence of normal accountability mechanisms.
The key difference from urban, non-Indigenous policing, insiders and observers say, is the relationship building between officers and the people they serve.
See also: Murder of Regis Korchinski-Paquet [Toronto, Ontario: 2020-05]
[CBC.ca, 2020-10-10] Young man dies after falling 12 storeys during Ottawa police raid. Family feels grief and anger over controversial no-knock search as SIU investigates. "... Ben Poirier, Anthony Aust's stepfather, told CBC's The Fifth Estate that he was on the balcony having a coffee and a cigarette when police crashed through the door -- a door, Poirier said, that wasn't even locked. All police had to do was knock, he said. Instead, "the place looked like a war zone," he said. ..."
Video. The family of a Black Ottawa man who fell to his death on Wednesday after police burst into his family's apartment with no warning to carry out a search warrant speaks out. A judge had criticized Ottawa police's overuse of this no-knock method.
[2020-06-08] Family of young black man killed in Brampton, Ontario, says he was shot by police after calling 911 himself.
Ontario's police watchdog has said D'Andre Campbell was shot at with stun guns, then shot
[2020-04-07] D'Andre Campbell: 'He was already on the floor': Family looks for answers after Ontario man shot dead by police
[2020-09-06] 25 years after his death, Dudley George's fight for the land continues.
Trauma of deadly clash with police still keenly felt in Kettle and Stony Point First Nation
Ontario Provincial Police Tactical Response Unit (TRU) teams opened fire on the vehicles, resulting in the wounding of two Native protesters and the death of Dudley George, an Ojibwa protestor. Among the TRU members was Acting Sergeant Ken "Tex" Deane, a senior officer in charge of a four-man sniper team with the job of escorting the force's crowd management unit.
See also [2020] Indigenous Wet'suwet'en protests, and RCMP authorization of "Lethal Overwatch" snipers.
See also: Murder of Anthony Aust [Ottawa, Ontario: 2020-10]
[2020-06-03] Family of Regis Korchinski-Paquet puts interview with police watchdog on hold after leak by 'sources'.
Special Investigations Unit calls for 'immediate steps' to prevent leaks; police investigating
[2020-06-01] Security footage retrieved from highrise where Toronto woman fell to her death.
Special Investigations Unit plans to interview family of Regis Korchinski-Paquet this week
[2020-05-28] Questions swirl about how Toronto woman fell from balcony as family points fingers at police.
Family says Regis Korchinski-Paquet, 29, was alone with police inside before she died
[2020-07-08] 'Above the Law' explores one man's story about police anti-Black racism.
Calgary residents say police brutality tore their lives apart -- and the justice system has failed to hold officers accountable
[2020-06-19] What we know about the last 100 people shot and killed by police in Canada
[2020-06-19] Why are Indigenous people in Canada so much more likely to be shot and killed by police?
[reference] RCMP: Royal Canadian Mounted Police
[2020-07-17] Canada's Mythic RCMP Stuck in the Wrong Century.
Marge Hudson, a former Indigenous female RCMP officer, has launched a class action lawsuit against the organization for rampant, decades-long systemic racism
[2020-07-15] B.C. RCMP officer suspended over racially offensive content posted on Facebook.
Dustin Dahlman says he's being labelled racist 'just for having a different opinion'
Krista Stelkia [2020-07-15] Police Brutality in Canada: A Symptom of Structural Racism and Colonial Violence [local copy (html)]
[2020-{Jan-Mar}] An Exploratory Study on Police Oversight in British Columbia: The Dynamics of Accountability for Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Municipal Police [local copy (pdf)]
[2020-07-14] Ex-officer suing RCMP says she didn't understand racism until joining force
[2020-07-05] 'Is my skin care racist?' Instagram post by Kamloops Mountie prompts backlash
[2020-06-23] Indigenous women's group urges RCMP to end 'needless deaths'.
Native Women's Association of Canada (NWAC) Letter to RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki
[2020-06-10] RCMP violence against Inuit happening because few are stopping systemic racism, Indigenous leaders say.
Some say over-criminalization continues when judges, prosecutors don't try to understand personal experiences
[2020-06-09] Nunavut leaders calling for systemic review of RCMP service in the territory.
'Deaths are being caused by the same force ... here to protect us. This is very troubling,' MLA says
[2020-06-08] Inuit women in Nunavut suffer 'unnecessary violence,' racism from RCMP, legal aid board says.
Details from more than 30 cases described in 2 letters to RCMP complaints commission
[2020-02-20] Complaints commission told RCMP broad exclusion zones 'impermissible' a year ago.
RCMP has yet to respond to nearly year-old report critiquing unlawful conduct with Indigenous Peoples
[2020-06-24] Asked about systemic racism in RCMP, RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki discusses different heights of officers.
The underlying issues are concisely, superbly stated in this reddit comment.
[2020-06-17] Use of firearms is RCMP's most common recorded intervention tactic, report shows.
Between 2017 and 2019, Mounties pointed their guns at people 5,441 times
[2020-06-10] RCMP violence against Inuit happening because few are stopping systemic racism, Indigenous leaders say.
Some say over-criminalization continues when judges, prosecutors don't try to understand personal experiences
See also: RCMP: Indigenous Protests -- "Lethal Overwatch"
[2020-03-13] Release order bars woman from voicing support for Wet'suwet'en online
[2020-02-20] Complaints commission told RCMP broad exclusion zones 'impermissible' a year ago.
RCMP has yet to respond to nearly year-old report critiquing unlawful conduct with Indigenous Peoples
[2020-02-16] Wet'suwet'en bahlat reaffirms Coastal GasLink and RCMP must go
[2020-02-14] Video captures Wet'suwe'ten supporter pleading with RCMP in tense enforcement scene
[2020-02-10] RCMP arrests in Wet'suwet'en territory spark protests nationwide.
Rail lines, ports and government offices shut down by supporters
[2020-02-14] Wet'suwet'en rail blockades a 'serious threat' to Canadian economy, Alberta premier says
[2020-03-05] Warren Buffett's company backs out of Quebec energy project due to anti-pipeline blockades
[2020-03-05] Warren Buffett's company bails on Saguenay LNG project because of 'Canadian political context,' promoter says.
Berkshire Hathaway opts not to invest $4B in liquified natural gas plant and pipeline
[2020-03-04] Groups linked to oil companies funded Facebook ads denouncing the rail blockades.
As the anti-pipeline protests intensified, so did spending on online ads that had millions of views
[2020-02-24] Historian says Canada uses police force to 'protect the economy' instead of dealing with Indigenous concerns
[2020-02-19] We won't stop: Toronto solidarity rail action
[2020-02-17] Rail blockade: Indigenous resistance shakes the Canadian state.
Indigenous groups resisting a destructive gas pipeline have blockaded one of Canada's busiest rail lines bringing business as usual to a grinding halt
[2020-02-16] Blockades targeting economy could have long-term impact on future infrastructure investment
[2020-02-15] B.C. NDP MLAs all voted for LNG incentives-and they only have themselves to blame for the rebellion that's followed
[2020-02-15] Shut Down Canada Until it Solves its War, Oil, and Genocide Problem
[2020-02-08] When justice fails, block the rails
[2020-02-08] Wet'suwet'en supporters block Port of Vancouver for third straight day
[2020-01-21] March Disrupts Global Energy Conference in Solidarity with Wet'suwet'en
[2020-01-27] Video: RCMP denying lawyers access to visit Wet'suwet'en territory
[2020-01-14] RCMP reactivated list of flagged activists days before Trans Mountain decision, documents show.
RCMP met with spy agency, federal officials 2 weeks before pipeline announcement
[2019-12-24] Indigenous people outraged at Canada police's possible use of lethal force
[2019-12-23] RCMP responds to report of 'lethal overwatch' plan at pipeline protest
[2019-12-20] RCMP Planned to Use Snipers in Assault on Wet'suwet'en Protest, Guardian Reports.
Newspaper cites planning documents that called for 'lethal overwatch' to ensure pipeline built
[2020-07-10] Female Mountie keeps her job after groping a fellow B.C. officer twice.
Const. Valerie Little docked 20 days' pay and 10 vacation days for discreditable conduct
[2020-07-16] Andrew James Seangio: 37 new charges for Richmond Mountie accused of Vancouver sex offences
[2020-03-11] Andrew James Seangio: B.C. Mountie charged with exposing himself to underage girls at Vancouver private school.
Andrew James Seangio faces 11 charges and is currently suspended with pay
[2020-03-11] Andrew James Seangio: RCMP officer charged with 11 sex offences in Vancouver voyeurism case
[2019-01-23] Alberta RCMP officer charged with sexual assault
[2016-04-19] Alberta RCMP officer charged with sexual assault
[2020-03-09] RCMP says it will limit its use of facial recognition tech -- but won't stop using it entirely.
Mounties first denied using facial recognition technology, then said they had been using it for months
[2020-03-04] RCMP denied using facial recognition technology -- then said it had been using it for months
[2020-02-28] RCMP's use of Clearview AI facial recognition technology under investigation
[2020-02-27] RCMP [now!] admits to using controversial Clearview AI facial recognition technology
[2020-02-27] RCMP acknowledges using facial recognition technology, but won't say where
[2020-02-10] Use of facial recognition technology by police growing in Canada, as privacy laws lag
[2018-07-03] Clayton Crawford: Man dies after confrontation with RCMP on Highway 43 near Whitecourt, Alberta.
RCMP say officers fired several gunshots after traffic stop near roadside rest area
[2020-06-09] Two Canadian Police Officers Have Been Charged After Killing Potential Witness.
Two Alberta RCMP officers killed Clayton Crawford at a truck stop in 2018. Now, amid protests across the world over police brutality, the pair have been charged
[2020-06-08] 2 Alberta RCMP officers charged with criminal negligence in fatal 2018 shooting.
Clayton Crawford, 31, shot dead at highway rest stop near Whitecourt on July 3, 2018
[2018-07-06] Clayton Crawford: Witnesses sought after RCMP shoot, kill driver near Whitecourt.
31-year-old man killed Tuesday had been sought for an incident the previous day
[reference] [RCMP] Robert Dziekański Taser incident
[2010-04-01] RCMP apologizes to Dziekanski's mother
[2010-06-18] RCMP wrong to use Taser on Dziekanski: report.
Officers' accounts called 'patently unbelievable'
[2020-04-15] B.C. judge who launched inquiry into Dziekanski Taser death dies at 89
[2020-06-19] Why are Indigenous people in Canada so much more likely to be shot and killed by police?
[2020-06-08] Family of Chantel Moore greeted by dignitaries as they arrive in New Brunswick
[2020-06-04] Indigenous woman killed by Edmundston, N.B., police during wellness check.
Police say outside agency will investigate officer's actions leading to Chantel Moore's death
[2020-06-05] Investigation of shooting death of Chantel Moore could take months.
26-year-old woman from Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation killed Thursday in northwestern New Brunswick
[2020-02-16] RCMP mistakes stroke victim for drunk, leaving him half-paralyzed in jail cell for hours, lawsuit says
[2010-04-27] 'We failed,' Yukon RCMP says of in-custody death
[2020-06-05] Kelowna Mountie on administrative leave after violent arrest.
New video shows Kelowna RCMP officer repeatedly punching suspect in the face as he's being restrained
[2020-06-02] Kelowna Mountie under investigation after video surfaces of violent arrest.
12-second video shows RCMP officer repeatedly punching man who is being restrained by two officers
[2020-06-26] RCMP beating of Shanna Blanchard: 'I couldn't breathe': Nanaimo woman left bruised, bloody after RCMP wellness check
[2020-06-26] RCMP beating of Vernon Laboucan: Mountie to be sentenced for 2017 in-custody assault of Indigenous man
[2020-07-23] Video Shows RCMP Officer Slamming a Man's Head Onto Sidewalk.
It's the latest violent incident involving the Alberta RCMP. The officer is under investigation
[2020-07-22] Complete video: Alberta's police watchdog to review video appearing to show violent RCMP arrest
[2020-07-22] Investigation launched following video of man's head hitting concrete during arrest
Mona Wang: [2020-07-11] Protesters call for changes to wellness checks after video shows apparent assault
[2020-07-03] Mona Wang: BC RCMP Boss Apologizes to Woman Dragged by Cop During Wellness Check.
Chief Superintendent Brad Haugli said he's "deeply concerned" over video showing an officer stepping on the head of a UBC student and pulling her hair
[2020-06-24] Kelowna, B.C., nursing student in civil suit against RCMP says wellness checks need to change.
In surveillance video, Mona Wang is dragged by an RCMP officer out of her condo and later, stepped on
[2020-06-23] "Wellness check" on Mona Wang: Nursing student says RCMP wellness check left her physically injured, emotionally scarred
[2020-07-16] Second Civil Claim Filed Against RCMP Officer Accused of Dragging, Stepping on B.C. Woman [Mona Wang].
Alleged Assault By RCMP Corporal Lacy Browning on Fiona Louise Read
[2020-07-17] 'I will never feel safe again': 2nd woman to accuse Kelowna Mountie of assault speaks out.
Fiona Read alleges she was assaulted by RCMP officer Lacy Browning, after leaving a New Year's Eve party in 2016
[2016-03-17] Police takedown of alleged truck thief sparks calls for investigation.
'It certainly looks shocking,' the B.C. Civil Liberties Association says
[2020-06-26] Constable Simon Seguin: It makes no sense for Mountie facing charges to be on the streets: criminologist
[2020-06-06] Investigation launched after northern Alberta chief accuses RCMP of assault.
Alberta's Serious Incident Response Team looking into allegations made by Allan Adam
[2020-06-24] Charges dropped against First Nations Chief Allan Adam in violent arrest.
Adam had been charged with resisting arrest, assaulting police officer
[2020-06-12] A Dashcam Video Shows Police Tackling And Punching A First Nation Chief In Alberta.
Chief Allan Adam of Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation was left bloodied after his arrest in March 2020.
Dashcam video of assault & arrest + discussions with: PM Justin Trudeau (on systemic racism) | RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki | Press Gallery
[2020-06-08] Chief Allan Adam: Ministers concerned by brutality claims during Indigenous chief's arrest
[2020-06-07] Independent probe ordered after Athabasca Chipewyan Chief Allan Adam claims he was assaulted by Mounties
[2020-06-05] Man in violent Nunavut arrest video wants officer charged.
Indigenous Services Minister says he's 'outraged' at 'pattern' of police violence against Indigenous people
[2020-06-04] Nunavut man in violent arrest video later 'viciously attacked' while in police cells.
Police launch administrative review of the incident in cells
[2020-06-02] Nunavut RCMP officer under investigation after allegedly hitting man with truck in Kinngait.
The RCMP are currently being investigated for five incidents in Nunavut
[2020-05-26] Woman with walker awarded $55K after B.C. RCMP officer 'assaulted and battered' her
[2020-05-25] B.C. court awards $55,000 to old woman on walker wrestled by police on false suspicion of shoplifting
[2020-05-22] Smithers woman awarded $55K in RCMP excessive force suit.
Irene Joseph alleged false arrest and assault and battery related to a 2014 incident in Smithers
[2019-07-01] RCMP code of conduct review underway after 'concerning' arrest video surfaces.
Officer relocated, taken off frontline duties while RCMP investigates
[2018-03-01] 2018 Pelican Narrows, Saskatchewan: RCMP incident involving officers in confrontation with four young females.
Saskatchewan First Nation vice-chief 'very alarmed' after video shows confrontation between RCMP and young women
RCMP reviewing video of confrontation between member and group of women
[2020-07-09] The RCMP is broken.
The iconic force is fraying under the strain of its rural policing model, tragic mistakes, an ugly past and a controversial present
[2020-08-03] Nova Scotia mass shooting smells like a cover-up.
The feds have finally called a public inquiry but the RCMP's handling of the investigation looks more like a whitewash with each new revelation in the case
[2020-04-22] RCMP defend not sending emergency alert before Nova Scotia gunman was killed
[2020-05-28] Court document casts doubts on RCMP decisions as Nova Scotia mass shooting was unfolding.
RCMP were told early on by witnesses who had been shot at by gunman Gabriel Wortman that he was driving a replica police car, but the public wasn't notified for nearly 12 hours
[2020-04-21] There was an active shooter. Why didn't Nova Scotia send an emergency alert?
[2020-04-21] Questions emerge about RCMP's failure to send emergency alert on gunman's rampage
[2020-05-13] Neighbour reported mass shooter's domestic violence, weapons to police.
Discusses: April 2020 mass murder in Nova Scotia | heroism of RCMP officers (Cst. Heidi Stevenson) | domestic violence | misogyny | gun ownership
[RollingStone.com, 2020-10-15] Trump Claims -- and Celebrates -- Extrajudicial Killing of Antifa Activist. Crowd cheers Trump at a North Carolina rally as he describes Michael Reinoehl's killing at the hands of U.S. Marshals.
[2020-06-24] Secretive police unit gathers information on Maine citizens, commissioner tells lawmakers.
Public Safety Commissioner Michael Sauschuck says the so-called fusion center gathers intelligence on citizens involved in legal activities, including protest organizers, but 'we're not spying on people'
[2020-06-17] The 75-Year-Old Protester Assaulted by Buffalo Cops on Video Still Can't Walk.
Martin Gugino's attorney says he has a fractured skull
[2020-06-06] Two Buffalo Police Officers Charged After Shoving Protester To Ground
[2020-06-05] [Martin Gugino] Video of violent Buffalo police shoving 75-year-old man sparks outrage.
Buffalo police say officers involved have been suspended without pay
[2020-06-04] I Cover Cops as an Investigative Reporter. Here Are Five Ways You Can Start Holding Your Department Accountable.
Police culture can be insular and tough to penetrate, but the public can hold law enforcement accountable. Here are important methods and context you need to know
[2020-06-03] How to Find Out Which Politicians Are Financially Backed by Cops
[2020-06-03] The Militarization of 'Officer Friendly'.
Militarization is a dangerous and ultimately deadly perversion of the honorable purpose of policing-and it is out of control
[2020-06-03] Raleigh N.C. Cops Fire Flash-Bangs at LGBTQ Bar Offering First Aid, Water to Protesters
[2020-06-02] 6 Atlanta Officers Charged After Release of 'Disturbing' Arrest Video
[2020-06-03] 6 Atlanta cops charged with assaulting college students on video.
Two of the officers were immediately fired for use of excessive force
[2020-06-02] Rahul Dubey: D.C. Protesters Hail The Hero of Swann St., Who Sheltered Them From Arrest
[2020-06-01] De-escalation Keeps Protesters and Police Safer. Departments Respond With Force Anyway
[2020-06-01] Cities on Edge as Fires Burn Near White House
Nationwide demonstrations resume, officials in several states reinforce their National Guard presence and anger mounts at increasingly aggressive tactics by the police
[2020-06-01] With Militarization of Cops on Full Display, Senator Plans Amendment to End Transfer of Military Equipment to Local Police.
"Militarizing local police forces doesn't make our communities safer"
[2020-06-01] From Eric Garner to George Floyd: Recent U.S. police killings of black people.
2014-07-17: Eric Garner | 2014-08-05: John Crawford III | 2014-08-09: Michael Brown | 2014-10-20: Laquan McDonald | 2014-11-22: Tamir Rice | 2015-04-04: Walter Scott | 2015-04-19: Freddie Gray | 2015-11-15: Jamar Clark | 2016-07-05: Alton Sterling | 2016-07-06: Philando Castile | 2018-03-18; Stephon Clark | 2018-09-06: Botham Jean | 2020-03-03:Manuel Ellis | 2020-03-13:Breonna Taylor | 2020-05-25: George Floyd | 2020-05-27: Tony McDade | 2020-05-31: David McAtee
[2020-05-31] NYC Mayor Blames Protesters for Cops Who Drove SUVs Through a Crowd of People
[2020-05-31] Rep. Joyce Beatty: Ohio Congresswoman Pepper-Sprayed While Demonstrating Against Death Of George Floyd
[2020-05-31] Watch: This Is What It Looks Like When the Response to Protests Against Police Violence Is ... More Police Violence.
Driving SUVs into demonstrators. Firing paint-ball rounds at people on their own front porch. Pushing an elderly man to the ground. These were just a few of the incidents witnessed as a militarized nation faced off against its own people on Saturday [2020-05-30]
[2020-01-31] I Told Riot Cops I'm a Journalist. They Forced Me to the Ground and Pepper Sprayed Me in the Face.
"I am press," I said. It didn't matter
[2020-05-29] Minneapolis protests rage over George Floyd's death, CNN reporter arrested on air.
3rd night of protests heated, with attack on police precinct, media arrested and Trump tweet dispute
[2020-05-29] White Supremacy is the Virus; Police are the Vector
[2020-06-01] White Supremacist Infiltration of US Police Forces: Fact-Checking National Security Advisor O'Brien.
It's more than "a few bad apples"
[2020-05-27] Updates: The Identities of Four Police Officers Who Killed George Floyd Have Been Disclosed.
Derek Chauvin: "Make Whites Great Again" Hat
[2017-01-31] The FBI Has Quietly Investigated White Supremacist Infiltration of Law Enforcement.
Bureau policies have been crafted to take into account the active presence of domestic extremists in U.S. police departments
[2020-05-27] The Blue Plague and Black Death
[2020-05-22] "must-read/watch:" Inside America's Cash-Hungry Plainclothes Police Units.
Breonna Taylor, an EMT, was shot eight times in a botched no-knock drug raid. PAR interviews an ex-cop who tells the truth about drug raids, warrants, and asset forfeiture, and speaks with cop watcher Laura Shark
[2020-05-22] New York City and Los Angeles Slash Budgets -- but Not for Police
[2020-05-17] Federal Government Buys Riot Gear, Increases Security Funding, Citing Coronavirus Pandemic
[2020-05-15] The Secretive Police Commission The Justice Department Doesn't Want You To Notice
[2020-05-03] Video: NYPD Officer Beats Bystander, Kneels On His Head During Social Distancing Enforcement
[2020-04-24] Despite Pandemic, Police Continue To Retaliate
[2020-04-15] The FBI Is Still Hunting For Ways To Call US Activists Terrorists [COINTELPRO]
[2020-01-13] USA: What to do if you're stopped by the police
[2020-05-27] How to Safely and Ethically Film Police Misconduct.
The human rights organization WITNESS provides guidance on exposing violent and discriminatory policing
[2020-01-09] More Than 25 Cities Light Up The Night Against Prisons & Migrant Detention Camps
[2019-12-19] "Operation Relentless Pursuit:" Justice department unveils plan to reduce violent crime in US cities
[2019-11-28] A (Re)Born National "Black and Left-Led" Organization Fights For Community Control of Police
[2019-11-24] The Whole Damn System Is Guilty As Hell: Taking Control of Police
[2019-11-22] Meet the Tucson 12: Under Trump, Protesters Are Being Hit With Felony Riot Charges
[2020-01-09] Factory Farm Industry Quietly Lobbies California Officials to Criminalize Animal Rescue Activism
[2019-12-29] The Criminalisation of Protest in America
[2019-12-12] How the Prosecution of Animal Rights Activists As Terrorists Foretold Today's Criminalization of Dissent
[2019-07-08] 'Protesters as terrorists': growing number of states turn anti-pipeline activism into a crime
[2019-03-23] The Green Scare: How a Movement That Never Killed Anyone Became the FBI's No. 1 Domestic Terrorism Threat
[2019-10-28] They Live, We Sleep: Beware the Growing Evil in Our Midst
[2018-02-13] Gun Trace Task Force: Cops allegedly used an elite Baltimore police team to plunder the city and its residents
[2017-03-10] Uber driver, attorney told he can't record traffic stop
[2015-11-04, updated 2017-12-06] Police Killings Surpass the Worst Years of Lynching, Capital Punishment, and a Movement Responds
See also: Ideologically Driven Extremism: Surveillance.
[resource] Atlas of Surveillance: Documenting Police Tech in Our Communities
A project of the Electronic Frontier Foundation | Hacker News
[2020-08-02] DHS Reassigns Official [Brian Murphy] Following Intelligence Reports On Journalists, Protesters
[2020-07-31] U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) surveilling journalists covering Portland protests.
"Intelligence reports" distributed to other federal agencies decried as violation of constitutional right to a free press
[2020-07-30] DHS compiled 'intelligence reports' on journalists who published leaked documents.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Intelligence and Analysis "Open Source Intelligence Reports"
[2020-07-31] Stingrays, Dirtboxes: How Cops Can Secretly Track Your Phone.
A guide to stingray surveillance technology, which may have been deployed at recent protests
[2020-07-24] 'Disturbing-and Dangerous': Journalists Denounce Judge's Order for Outlets to Turn Over Protest Footage to Seattle Police.
"This turns journalists into an arm of the government. We are not here to do surveillance for police"
[2020-07-16] The FBI Is Secretly Using A $2 Billion Travel Company As A Global Surveillance Tool.
Sabre, a public company on the NASDAQ, has been helping the U.S. government carry out surveillance on suspect travellers since 2001
[2020-07-16] Inside America's Secretive $2 Billion Research Hub Collecting Fingerprints From Facebook, Hacking Smartwatches And Fighting COVID-19.
Mitre Corporation runs some of the U.S. government's most hush-hush science and tech labs. The cloak-and-dagger R&D shop might just be the most important organization you've never heard of
[2020-07-09] Police Surveilled George Floyd Protests With Help From Twitter-Affiliated Startup Dataminr.
Twitter, up until recently a longtime investor in Dataminr alongside the CIA, provides the company with full access to a content stream known as the "firehose" -- a rare privilege among tech firms and one that lets Dataminr, recently valued at over $1.8 billion, scan every public tweet as soon as its author hits send.
See also: Dataminr | Venntel (subsidiary of Gravy Analytics), e.g.:
[2020-06-24] Dataminr; Venntel: FBI Expands Ability to Collect Cellphone Location Data, Monitor Social Media, Recent Contracts Show
[2020-06-09] The Police Have Been Spying on Black Reporters and Activists for Years. I Know Because I'm One of Them.
Wendi C. Thomas is a black journalist who has covered police in Memphis. One officer admitted to spying on her. She's on a long list of prominent black journalists and activists who have been subjected to police surveillance over decades
[2020-06-04] 'This is Huge': Move to Defund Police Gains Support Nationwide.
In moments of crisis, people want services and resources that go directly to help people rather than police that surveil, brutalize, and kill us
[2020-05-30] The US Military Is Monitoring Protests in 7 States.
A National Guard member says troops are ill-equipped to respond to civil unrest
[2020-07-25] HART: Homeland Advanced Recognition Technology.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS)'s Massive New Database Will Include Face Recognition, DNA, and Peoples' "Non-Obvious Relationships"
[theIntercept.com, 2020-10-06] Homeland Security Wants to Erase Its History of Misconduct. U.S. Customs and Border Protection wants to destroy thousands of complaint records it claims have no historical value.
Agencies under the Department of Homeland Security have been accused of performing forced hysterectomies on detained immigrants, deporting witnesses to systemic sexual abuse in immigration detention, and defying federal court orders to halt deportations. They have separated children from their families at the border, used the Covid-19 pandemic as justification to turn them back altogether, killed people on both sides of the border, and abducted protesters against police violence from the streets of an American city.
As The Intercept has reported, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, two of DHS' most abuse-ridden agencies, have long resisted public scrutiny of their record by stonewalling calls for transparency and defying demands for accountability, including by Congress. But a full accounting of DHS agencies' misconduct may be impossible not just in real time but well into the future. The Border Patrol has petitioned the National Archives and Records Administration to designate thousands of its internal records documenting abuse as "temporary," slating them for destruction in as early as four years. A similar request by ICE was granted last year. ...
[theConversation.com, 2020-07-28] Excellent: How to hide from a drone -- the subtle art of "ghosting" in the age of surveillance. | local copy | Hacker News (2020-10-17)
[2020-06-03] The Government is Regularly Flying Predator Drones Over American Cities.
The aircraft flight data is a reminder that CBP does not only fly drones along the border
[2020-06-03] The Military and FBI Are Flying Surveillance Planes Over Protests.
Motherboard tracked high-tech aircraft previously used in warzones, as well as flights from other agencies above protesting cities.
Cessnas equipped with "Dirtboxes" act as fake cell towers to trick phones into connecting and giving up their unique identifying code and track their physical location; mounted on planes, the devices harvest information on a large number of innocent Americans
[2020-07-31] Stingrays, Dirtboxes: How Cops Can Secretly Track Your Phone.
A guide to stingray surveillance technology, which may have been deployed at recent protests
[2020-05-29] US Border Patrol Denounced as 'Rogue Agency' for Using Predator Drone to Spy on Minneapolis Protests.
"This is what happens when leaders sign blank check after blank check to militarize police, CBP, etc while letting violence go unchecked"
[2020-05-29] Customs and Border Protection Is Flying a Predator Drone Over Minneapolis.
The surveillance drone is flying in a circle above the city, which has broken out in protests over the police killing of George Floyd
[2019-12-10] Exposed Data Shows Where Police Departments Fly Their Drones.
DroneSense, which sells a platform for controlling drones to police, left customer data including flight plans exposed
[2020-06-26] NC Police Dept. Fires Officers Caught on Tape Discussing "Slaughtering" Black Residents
[2020-04-28] Race, Trust, and the Chicago Police: The Investigation of Courtney Copeland's Murder
[2020-03-17] Videos show Miami Beach arrests of black spring breakers slammed as racist by NAACP
[2020-06-26] After Ahmaud Arbery's Killing, Georgia Gov. Signs Hate Crimes Legislation
[2020-06-24] Grand jury indicts 3 men on murder charges in Ahmaud Arbery killing.
Charges also include false imprisonment, aggravated assault
[2020-05-22] Ahmaud Arbery Murder: Video Compilation (mp4; 12:35)
[2020-05-21] [William "Roddie" Bryan] Man who filmed Ahmaud Arbery shooting charged with murder.
Arrest of William 'Roddie' Bryan follows those of father, son in Georgia man's death
[2020-05-17] Ahmaud Arbery's Murder Shows Lynching Remains a Reality for Black America
[2020-05-13] The Georgia Police Department That Led Arbery Shooting Case Has A Troubled Past
[2020-05-10] Georgia AG requests federal probe in handling of Arbery case
[2020-05-09] The Perversity of Needing to See Ahmaud Arbery Die on Video to Recognize That His Black Life Mattered
[2020-05-09] Lawyer Representing Ahmaud Arbery's Family Discusses Case
[2020-05-08] After Months of Inaction, 2 White Men Are Charged With Murder of Ahmaud Arbery
[2020-05-08] Murder charges laid against father and son in shooting of black jogger
[2020-05-08] More Arrests Possible In The Killing of Ahmaud Arbery, Georgia Investigators Say
[reference] Murder of Rayshard Brooks
[2020-06-18] Atlanta Cop Who Shot Rayshard Brooks in the Back Charged With 11 Counts -- Including Felony Murder
[2020-06-04] Philando Castile's Mom Talked to Us About George Floyd: 'I Cried for That Man Just Like I Cried for My Son'.
Valerie Castile has repeatedly pleaded for police reform, warning that black residents were "one degree from blowing up"
[2020-06-04] For mother of Philando Castile, George Floyd's death a nightmare revisited.
"George Floyd was the straw that broke the camel's back," Valerie Castile said. | video
[reference] Shooting of John Crawford III
[2020-06-04] Another Black Man Died in Police Custody in March While Saying 'I Can't Breathe'.
Police in Tacoma arrested Manuel Ellis, and an hour later he was dead
[2020-05-03] 'Can't breathe:' Tacoma police restraint of Manuel Ellis caused his death, ME reports
[2020-05-03] Another Man Who Said 'I Can't Breathe' Died in Custody. An Autopsy Calls It Homicide.
Manuel Ellis of Tacoma, Washington, died in part as a result of how he was restrained, according to the medical examiner, who concluded that his death was a homicide
[2020-06-09] Video: George Floyd's Impact on Houston's Hip-Hop Scene Is Still Being Felt
[2020-05-29] Minneapolis Police Were Sued A Decade Ago In Similar Restraint Case
[2020-05-26] [video] A Cop Kneeled on a Black Man's Neck Until He Said He Couldn't Breathe. He Died at the Hospital.
"When you hear someone calling for help, you are supposed to help. This officer failed in the most basic human sense," Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said
[2020-05-26] 'They Killed This Man': Video Shows Minneapolis Cop Kneeling on Black Man's Neck as Onlookers Warn He's Being Crushed to Death.
"The police killed him, bro, right in front of everybody. He was crying, telling them like, 'I can't breathe,' and everything. They did not care."
[2020-05-27] New Videos Appear to Undermine Police Account That George Floyd 'Resisted' Officers.
The videos show Floyd appearing to surrender before dying after his face was pressed into the street with an officer's knee on his neck
[2020-07-09] George Floyd Pleaded With Police 27 Times That He Couldn't Breathe.
A harrowing body cam transcript reveals that Floyd called out for his mother and his children, while former officer Derek Chauvin told him to stop talking
[2020-05-26] Murder, Again
[2020-05-27] From George Floyd to Chris Cooper: Ibram X. Kendi on "Racist Terror" Facing Black People in America
[2020-05-29] Obama on death of George Floyd: 'This shouldn't be 'normal' in 2020 America'
[2020-06-03] All four former officers involved in George Floyd's killing now face charges: senator
[2020-05-29] Derek Chauvin: Minneapolis cop who knelt on handcuffed black man arrested
[2020-05-29] Minneapolis officer who knelt on George Floyd's neck had 18 previous complaints against him
[2020-05-27] Updates: The Identities of Four Police Officers Who Killed George Floyd Have Been Disclosed.
Derek Chauvin: "Make Whites Great Again" Hat
[2020-05-26] What we know about Derek Chauvin and Tou Thao, two of the officers caught on tape in the death of George Floyd
[2020-06-01] Violence Erupts As Outrage Over George Floyd Death Spills Into A New Week
[2020-05-31] George Floyd Reverberates Globally: Thousands Protest In Germany, U.K., Canada
[2020-05-29] Minneapolis protests rage over George Floyd's death, CNN reporter arrested on air.
3rd night of protests heated, with attack on police precinct, media arrested and Trump tweet dispute
[2020-01-31] I Told Riot Cops I'm a Journalist. They Forced Me to the Ground and Pepper Sprayed Me in the Face.
"I am press," I said. It didn't matter
[2020-05-29] As Minneapolis Protests Over Killing of George Floyd Intensify, Trump Threatens to Send in Military With Green Light to Open Fire.
"The president of the United States is threatening to use live fire on his own citizens"
[2020-05-28] "No Justification": Minneapolis Demands Murder Charges for Police Officer Who Killed George Floyd
[2020-05-27] 'A Disgusting Display': Police Fire Rubber Bullets, Stun Grenades, and Tear Gas at Demonstrators Protesting Killing of George Floyd.
"What is happening tonight in our city is shameful," Rep. Ilhan Omar said of police behavior
[reference] [video] Death of Eric Garner
[2020-05-26] Eric Garner: NY officer in 'I can't breathe' death fired
[reference] Shooting of Aiyana Jones
[reference] Shooting of Charles Kinsey
[2020-04-29] [Duncan Lemp] Your Freedoms Don't Have to Be Muzzled Just Because You're Wearing a Mask.
The decisions we make right now about how far we allow the government to go in "protecting" us against this virus will haunt us for a long time to come
[2019-03-14] Maryland man fatally shot by police while asleep in his bedroom. Montgomery county police said Duncan Socrates Lemp "confronted" officers; eyewitness gave "contrary" account
[reference] Shooting of Tony McDade
[2020-06-04] Black Trans Protesters Are Marching for a Police Killing That Cis People Aren't Talking About: Tony McDade.
"We have two different worlds. We're fed up with the murders. We're fed up with law enforcement just brutally killing us"
[2020-06-01] More Details Emerge In Police Killing of Tony McDade, Black Trans Man.
Witnesses are questioning the official police version of events
[2020-05-31] What We've Learned About Events Prior To The Death Of Tony McDade
[2020-05-29] Tony McDade, Black Trans Man, Killed By Police in Florida.
Florida is an "epicenter of anti-trans violence"
[2020-05-07] 'Please come get me!': Indianapolis police fatally shoot black man who reportedly live-streamed the chase on Facebook
[2020-06-10] Video: The Truth Behind the 'No-Knock' Police Raids that Led to Breonna Taylor's Death
[2020-07-28] Video: New Video and Documents Raise Troubling Questions About Breonna Taylor's Death and the LMPD.
Internal documents, new video, and former officers, raise new questions about Breonna Taylor's death and the Louisville Police
[2020-07-09] New Video, Shared By Breonna Taylor's, Sister Show Police Moments After Shooting.
About a dozen police officers can be seen moments after they fired 20 bullets into Breonna Taylor's apartment
[2020-07-05] [+ Vice News video report] Breonna Taylor warrant connected to Louisville gentrification plan, lawyers say.
Also: VICE News Investigates Breonna Taylor's Lawyer's Latest Allegations
[2020-06-23] Louisville Police Department Fires Detective Over Killing of Breonna Taylor.
"I find your conduct a shock to the conscience," Chief of Police Robert J. Schroeder writes in termination letter to Detective Brett Hankison
[2020-06-04] Say Her Name: Breonna Taylor Was Killed by Police in March 2020. Why Haven't the Officers Faced Charges?
[2020-05-29] 7 shot at Louisville, Kentucky protest over fatal police shooting
[2020-05-22] FBI Says It Will Investigate Breonna Taylor Shooting Death as Police Chief Announces Retirement
[2020-05-13] Breonna Taylor: Lawsuit after US health worker shot dead by police
[2020-05-13] [Breonna Taylor] 'Sleeping While Black'; Louisville Police Kill Unarmed Black Woman
See also: WE Charity
[2020-08-04] Sinofascism: British Columbia cabinet biographies obliterate any mention of where immigrant ministers were born.
This isn't the case for regular NDP MLAs, who proudly state where they came from
[2020-08-03] Sinofascism: Death of Taiwan's Mr. Democracy-Lee Teng-hui greeted with silence from British Columbia Premier John Horgan
[reference] Federal Political Parties: Canada
See main entry: QAnon: Infiltration of Mainstream American Political Parties
[reference] Franklin Delano Roosevelt
[NationOfChange.org, 2020-10-07] FDR's last speech. FDR's extraordinarily articulate plea for peace stands out as a beacon for all time.
PINNED: [Opinion, NYTimes.com, 2020-10-16] End Our National Crisis. The Case Against Donald Trump.
Donald Trump's re-election campaign poses the greatest threat to American democracy since World War II.
Mr. Trump's ruinous tenure already has gravely damaged the United States at home and around the world. He has abused the power of his office and denied the legitimacy of his political opponents, shattering the norms that have bound the nation together for generations. He has subsumed the public interest to the profitability of his business and political interests. He has shown a breathtaking disregard for the lives and liberties of Americans. He is a man unworthy of the office he holds.
The editorial board does not lightly indict a duly elected president. During Mr. Trump's term, we have called out his racism and his xenophobia. We have critiqued his vandalism of the postwar consensus, a system of alliances and relationships around the globe that cost a great many lives to establish and maintain. We have, again and again, deplored his divisive rhetoric and his malicious attacks on fellow Americans. Yet when the Senate refused to convict the president for obvious abuses of power and obstruction, we counseled his political opponents to focus their outrage on defeating him at the ballot box.
Nov. 3 2020 can be a turning point. This is an election about the country's future, and what path its citizens wish to choose.
[RawStory.com, 2020-10-16] NYT editorial board makes the definitive case against Trump -- "The worst American president in modern history."
PINNED: [theIntercept.com, 2020-10-14+] American Mythology: The Presidency of Donald Trump. An Intercepted audio documentary series offers a comprehensive analytical history of the Trump presidency. Featuring in-depth examination of Trump's extreme agenda, the roots of U.S. history, and the policies of Trump's predecessors, the series seeks to analyze the question: Is Trump the worst president in U.S. history?
[theIntercept.com, 2020-10-14] Part One: Manufacturing the Carnage. Donald Trump is an autocratic nightmare wrapped in incompetence, made in the USA. | See also: Neofascism: United States
[theIntercept.com, 2020-10-15] Part Two: Administration of Xenophobia. Trump has governed with hate and cruelty on immigration and he built on the foundations of his predecessors. | See also: Racism: United States Agency for International Development [USAID] | [Department of Homeland Security] Islamophobia -- Systemic Anti-Muslim Racism | ...
[theIntercept.com, 2020-10-16] Part Three: The Neo-Confederate in Chief. Trump has espoused racist beliefs for decades. As president, he weaponized them as U.S. policy. | See also: Racism: United States
[theIntercept.com, 2020-10-19] Part Four: "You Think Our Country's So Innocent?" On war policy, Trump has proven less murderous than George W. Bush and more of a war criminal than Jimmy Carter. So far. | See also: Neocolonialism: United States | Endless War
[theIntercept.com, 2020-10-20] Part Five: Courting Corporate Theocracy. With Trump in power, the GOP is transforming the federal judiciary into a right-wing cult that will wield influence over the lives of millions. | See also: Politics: United States -- Theocracy
[reference] Geneva Consensus Declaration
Trump administration / International community anti-abortion, anti-feminist initiative, masquerading as pro-women's health.
[RightWingWatch.org, 2020-10-21] Trump Administration Launches New Manifesto With Anti-Choice, Anti-Equality Regimes Trump Administration Launches New Manifesto With Anti-Choice, Anti-Equality Regimes. ... On Thursday, Oct. 22 2020, less than two weeks before an election that could bring the Trump administration to a close, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Health and Human Service Secretary Alex Azar are scheduled to join Brazil, Egypt, Hungary, Indonesia, and Uganda in sponsoring a virtual ceremony to sign the "Geneva Consensus Declaration," reports the Independent, which notes that, other than the U.S., the sponsoring nations involved "have strict laws on both abortion and same-sex or ban each entirely." ... The event appears to be a culmination of Pompeo's intensive efforts to build opposition to any international recognition of a right to reproductive choice-and his zeal to undermine international recognition of the rights of LGBTQ people while celebrating governmental enforcement of "traditional" religious values on gender, sexuality, and family. ...
[Independent.co.uk, 2020-10-20] Trump administration set to sign declaration aimed at restricting abortion. Other member states signing declaration include Brazil, Uganda Hungary and Egypt. ... The Geneva Consensus is a coalition of states who oppose the United Nations's (UN) Declaration of Human Rights, which are enshrined in international law. In particular, Geneva Consensus members disagree with the UN's stance on abortion. The UN Human Rights Commission says that abortion is a human right, and many of the US's key Western allies -- such as France and the UK -- agree with that stance. ...
[GlobalJusticeCenter.net, 2017-01-20] Reference Language On Abortion and IHL [IHL: International Humanitarian Law] | local copy (pdf, captured 2020-10-22)
See main entry: COVID-19/Coronavirus: USA -- Trump White House
[2020-09-08] [Hydroxychloroquine] The real scandal isn't what Trump said about veterans. It's what he did to them.
[2020-09-03] Trump: Americans Who Died in War Are "Losers" and "Suckers".
The president has repeatedly disparaged the intelligence of service members, and asked that wounded veterans be kept out of military parades, multiple sources tell The Atlantic.
[CBC.ca, 2020-10-21] Barack Obama rips into Donald Trump's record in 2020 campaign trail debut. Former president appears at Philadelphia rally for Joe Biden. ... "Trump hasn't shown any interest in doing the work or helping anybody but himself," Obama said. ... "Donald Trump isn't suddenly going to protect all of us," he said. "He can't even take the basic steps to protect himself." ...
Video [Vice.com, 2020-04-14; 2020 U.S. Federal Election]: Voter disbelief that the only choices are Biden or Trump. NYC small business owners Dan and Rachel Costello (lamenting absence of Bernie Sanders)
[2020-08-03] Trump goes postal.
Trump attacks on USPS, mail-in voting, ...
[2020-07-24] The Chaos in New York Is a Warning.
The first large-scale test of mail-in voting in the pandemic has left one in five New Yorkers with their votes tossed out
[2020-04-24] Calling US Postal Service 'A Joke,' Trump Demands Four-Fold Price Hike for Customers Amid COVID-19 Pandemic.
Such a move, say critics, "would be a disaster for millions of Americans who rely on USPS".
Trump declared that "the Postal Service is a joke, because they're handing out packages for Amazon and other internet companies ... or let Amazon build their own post office ..."
... Other critics accused Trump of trying to destroy the USPS "to suppress mail-in votes." The public health crisis has sparked calls to rapidly and significantly expand vote-by-mail nationwide to ensure that everyone can safely participate in future elections. Trump has baselessly attacked mail-in voting as insecure.
[2020-07-15] "Disturbing" memo reveals Trump's USPS chief has slowed delivery amid calls to expand voting by mail.
"The people in power are trying to keep voter turnout low," MJ Hegar, newly-minted Senate candidate in Texas, says
[2020-08-12] Pro-Trump "news" site is run by Trump's super PAC -- and that raises legal questions.
The American Herald looks like a conservative news site, but it's run by pro-Trump super PAC America First Action
[2020-05-27] [disinformation group] Honest Elections Project: Conservative 'dark money' network rebranded to push voting restrictions before 2020 election | see also: Donors Trust disinformation group
[2020-08-11] Noam Chomsky: Trump Is Quite Capable of an "October Surprise".
[2020-07-24] Noam Chomsky on Trump's Troop Surge to Democratic Cities & Whether He'll Leave Office if He Loses
[2020-07-24] Noam Chomsky: Trump Is Using Pandemic to Enrich Billionaires as Millions Lose Work & Face Eviction
[2020-07-30] Steven G. Calabresi (Federalist Society co-Founder), New York Times Op-Ed: Trump Might Try to Postpone the Election. That's Unconstitutional.
He should be removed unless he relents
[2020-07-23] Trump's hint that he may not concede election is America's tipping point
[2020-07-20] Trump: The Most Dangerous President Ever Threatens Not to Leave Office -- Again.
"The closer defeat looms, the more desperate the death throes of a deranged administration," writes David K. Shipler for Washington Monthly. "It lunges for levers of power and propaganda. It undermines institutions that stand above politics. It smears physicians who work for the public's health. It attempts to conceal pandemic data, Soviet-style. It issues absurd decrees to local school boards to open in the fall or else. It dispatches unidentified federal forces to kidnap peaceful protesters. It flails out against measures to ease voting. And these are only the omens. A final spasm -- if it is final -- seems likely."
[2020-07-19] CNN's Devastating Fact-Check of Trump's Lie-Filled Fox News Interview.
"He's even lying about the lie there," CNN's Brianna Keilar said about the president
[2020-07-19] Trump declines to say whether he will accept November 2020 election results
[2020-07-16] Fearing jail and facing defeat, Trump will not leave office quietly.
In the Age of Trump, no depravities are beyond the realm of possibility
[2020-07-12] Trump Might Not Want to Relinquish Power.
Presidents leave. Czars stick around
[2019-08-30] 'Be Given Our Stolen Time Back?': Trump Once Again Signals Desire to Illegally Extend Term.
The president's so-called "jokes" about serving longer than his elected term, said one critic, "aren't funny anymore"
[2020-07-31] Donald Trump can't delay the election or stop it, but he can avoid it.
The logic behind the U.S. president's tweet suggesting he might try to delay November 2020's vote
[2020-07-30] Trump Can't Postpone the Election-But He's Trying to Destroy Its Legitimacy.
The president today suggested postponing the November balloting, a move he lacks the legal authority to carry out
[2020-08-08] Unwanted Truths: Inside Trump's Battles With U.S. Intelligence Agencies.
Last year, intelligence officials gathered to write a classified report on Russia's interest in the 2020 election. An investigation from the magazine uncovered what happened next
[2020-08-08] U.S. Intelligence Says Republicans Are Working With Russia to Reelect Trump
[2020-07-14] Roger Stone thanks Tucker Carlson for pushing Trump to commute his sentence: "Incredible loyalty".
Stone praises the FOX News host for using his show as a platform to attempt to discredit Mueller's Russia probe
[2020-07-13] "The rats are leaving the sinking ship": Lindsey Graham agrees to let Robert Mueller testify.
Mueller published an op-ed in The Washington Post expressing displeasure with Donald Trump commuting Roger Stone
[2020-07-12] Roger Stone: Robert Mueller defends indictment over Russia probe
[2020-07-11] Here is Mueller's Washington Post op-ed: Robert Mueller: Roger Stone remains a convicted felon, and rightly so
[2020-07-11] Robert Mueller defends Russia probe, says Roger Stone 'remains a convicted felon' in op-ed.
Washington Post opinion piece comes after Trump commuted sentence of ally
[2020-07-11] "Trump At His Most Corrupt:" President Commutes 40-Month Sentence of Longtime Ally Roger Stone.
"The president whose administration had peaceful protesters pepper sprayed in the name of 'law and order' has repeatedly stepped in to make sure his cronies don't see the consequences of their actions"
[2020-05-11] Ex-Justice Dept. Officials Lash Out at Barr Over Flynn and Stone Cases.
The attorney general's interventions damaged the Justice Department, argued the former officials, who were directly involved in the cases of the two Trump allies
[2020-06-22] 16 Batshit Crazy Moments From John Bolton's Book About Trump.
Bolton writes Trump obsessed for months over getting a signed CD of Elton John's "Rocket Man" to Kim Jong Un. And he thought invading Venezuela would be "cool"
[2020-06-18] John Bolton: Ten biggest claims in his Donald Trump book
[2020-06-17] John Bolton Plumbs the Depth of Trump's Depravity.
The former National Security Adviser accuses the president of putting his reelection above everything else-endorsing the persecution of China's Uighur minority
[2020-06-17] Excerpts of John Bolton Book Showing Unhinged Behavior by Trump Evidence Former Advisor Is '100% Complicit,' Say Critics.
"Bolton is a moral abomination in every way. It's also the case that basically everyone in government who comes close to Trump comes away thinking he's even worse than they realized"
[DemocracyNow.org, 2020-10-07] Mary Trump: My Uncle Is Responsible for 210,000 Deaths and Is Now "Willfully Getting People Sick". | clip: YouTube
[2020-08-07] Mary Trump on Her Uncle, President Trump, and Why He Must Be Ousted
[2020-07-08] Video: How Trump's Damaged Childhood is Ruining Your Summer.
Discussion of Mary Trump's book with background and psychiatric assessment of Donald Trump
[2020-07-15] The Truth About Why Trump's Niece Hates Him
[2020-07-11] "must-read:" Book by Trump's niece claims he has psychological disorders. We asked psychologists.
They answer two questions: Is this book ethical? Does it seem accurate?
Conclusion: narcissistic psychopath
[2020-07-07] Trump Org executive agrees with Mary Trump that the president is 'traumatized and emotionally stunted'
[2020-06-16] Mary Trump: Why has president's niece penned damning memoir?
[2015-09-09] 1927 news report: Donald Trump's dad Fred Trump arrested in KKK brawl with cops.
According to a New York Times article published in June 1927, a man with the name and address of Donald Trump's father was arraigned after Klan members attacked cops in Queens, N.Y.
[Salon.com, 2020-10-21] Donald Trump is getting desperate -- and his mental pathology is getting worse every day. As mental health professionals, we see a disturbed and destructive man whose psyche is unraveling before our eyes.
[NationOfChange.org, 2020-10-16] October Surprise! US psychiatrists convince the media to reveal the extent of Trump's mental instability. There is still time for newspapers, radio, and TV to send the psychiatrists' message relative to Trump's severe mental problems all across this country.
[Salon.com, 2020-10-14] Psychiatrist Judith Herman: Trump's collapse in the polls has "undeniably" made him more "dangerous". "I think the call for an armed uprising should be taken very, very seriously," Herman says. "He doesn't kid around."
[IPSNews.net, 2020-10-08] The Wreckage of Trump's Presidency.
"... Before long, I realized that this man [Trump] is simply irredeemable. He has shown that he is plainly unfit to hold the office of the presidency, which carries an awesome power both domestically and internationally. He did not "make America great again;" he tarnished America's greatness for much of the world to see.
"Many psychiatrists and psychologists who have analyzed his behavior, public utterances, and tweets have unanimously concluded that Trump is a psychopath, a pathological liar, uncompassionate, narcissist, greedy, and shallow.
"Trump sees things only in black and white, and never cares to understand the nuances of any issue before him. Here lies Trump's sickness. ..."
[Salon.com, 2020-10-06] "Sociopathy:" Psychiatrist says Trump's behavior "meets criteria for a locked psychiatric facility". It "would not be an exaggeration" to say that Trump "delights in putting people in danger," Dr. Bandy X. Lee says.
[Wikipedia] Bandy Lee (book, 2017), "The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump."
[2020-07-11] "must-read:" Book by Trump's niece claims he has psychological disorders. We asked psychologists.
They answer two questions: Is this book ethical? Does it seem accurate?
Conclusion: narcissistic psychopath
[2020-07-10] Special Report: How the Trump administration secured a secret supply of execution drugs
[2020-07-10] Report Exposes Trump DOJ's Secretive Efforts in Obtaining Drugs to Resume Federal Executions.
"It built a secret supply chain for the lethal drugs so that participating companies wouldn't face public pressure to have nothing to do with this barbarity"
[2020-07-08] Trump Campaign Ads Mislead Viewers About Black Protesters Who Stopped Violence
[2020-06-16] Dark Money; Influencers: Outside money flows in as 30-year incumbent faces progressive primary challenger.
Longtime incumbent Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) is facing the most serious primary of his 30-year career after a controversial comment provided newfound momentum to his progressive opponent
[2020-05-15] "must-read:" Head of the Hydra: The Rise of Robert Kadlec.
A powerful network of political operatives, a global vaccine mafia and their man in Washington
[2020-05-14] What You Need To Know About The Flynn, Biden And 'Unmasking' Story
[2020-05-13] The Justice Department Accidentally Released the Name of Saudi Official Suspected of Helping the 9/11 Hijackers.
William Barr's DOJ inadvertently named Saudi official Musaed al-Jarrah in a court filing after trying for two years to conceal his identity
[2020-01-23] Operation Encore and the Saudi Connection: A Secret History of the 9/11 Investigation
[2020-04-14] Amazon's lawsuit over a $10 billion Pentagon contract lays out disturbing allegations against Trump
See main entries:
[reference] Federal Political Parties: United States
[RobertReich.org, 2020-10-18] The Public, the Personal, and the Utter Hypocrisy of the GOP. Trump and many Republicans insist that the decisions whether to wear a mask, go to a bar or gym, or work or attend school during a pandemic should be personal. Government should play no role. Yet they also insist that what a woman does with her own body or whether same-sex couples can marry should be decided by government. It's a tortured, topsy-turvy view of what's public and what's private. Yet it's remarkably prevalent as the pandemic resurges and as the Senate considers Trump's pick [Amy Coney Barrett] for the Supreme Court. ...
[theIntercept.com, 2020-10-20] Courting Corporate Theocracy. With Trump in power, the GOP is transforming the federal judiciary into a right-wing cult that will wield influence over the lives of millions. Part 5 in The Intercept's American Mythology: The Presidency of Donald Trump series.
[reference] Michael Richard Pence | Mike Pence
[Truthout.org, 2020-10-08] Pence's Handling of COVID-19 Is Straight Out of the Christian Right Playbook.
[CommonDreams.org, 2020-10-05] The Man Who Would Be President: Mike Pence, Corporate Theocrat. The case of Mike Pence should be an ongoing urgent reminder that -- as toxic and truly evil as Donald Trump is -- the current President is a product and poisonous symptom of an inherently unjust and anti-democratic status quo. Mike Pence embodies the political alliance of very conservative evangelical forces with anti-regulatory forces of corporatism. Pence ranks high as a Christian soldier marching in lockstep with Trump on all major policy issues, a process that routinely puts business interests ahead of human lives.
[2020-07-09] As coronavirus cases surge, Betsy DeVos compares risk of returning to school to riding a rocket ship. "Risk is involved in everything we do, from learning to ride a bike to riding a rocket into space," DeVos says. When the education secretary stepped down from the podium at Wednesday's briefing, Vice President Mike Pence took her place and almost immediately told reporters the opposite message. DeVos' proposals also contradicted Centers for Disease Control and Prevention chief Robert R. Redfield, as well as White House task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx. Birx and Pence contradicted each other, plus the President.
[2019-05-30] As Trump rewrites health rules, Pence sees conservative agenda born again.
[2020-10-13] "Must-watch / read:" Senator Sheldon Whitehouse Schools Amy Coney Barrett on Dark Money. Superb presentation illustrating Republican Party and dark money influencers on vested special interests (abolition of: affordable health care, access to abortions, LGBTQ+ rights, judicial freedom; concentration of obfuscated power; ...).
[2020-07-16] The Supreme Court Term When Theocracy Won.
Three decisions suggest that the Christian conservative crusade to blur the lines between democracy and theocracy is bearing fruit
[2020-06-30] Espinoza v. Montana: ACLU Comment on Supreme Court Ruling in Religious Freedom Case
[2020-07-07] The Supreme Court Fails LGBTQ and Disabled Students in Ruling.
Espinoza v. Montana creates a pathway for religious schools to discriminate against already-marginalized students, including LGBTQ youth and students with disabilities
The Council for National Policy (CNP), an umbrella organization and networking group for conservative activists in the United States -- described by The New York Times as "a little-known club of a few hundred of the most powerful conservatives in the country," who meet three times yearly behind closed doors at undisclosed locations for a confidential conference. The Nation has called it a secretive organization that "networks wealthy right-wing donors together with top conservative operatives to plan long-term movement strategy." The CNP was founded in 1981 by Tim LaHaye as a forum for conservative Christians seeking to strengthen the political right in the United States. The organization has been described as a "pluto-theocracy."
[2020-07-10] The Trump Administration Is Attacking Critical Internet Privacy Tools.
Trump's cronies are dismantling the organization that helped give birth to open source tools like Signal and Tor. For activists around the world, the results could be disastrous.
Mentions: Michael Pack (Steve Bannon ally), the new Trump-approved CEO of the United States Agency for Global Media | James Miles (Michael Pack's recent appointee as CEO of Open Technology Fund | Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice, and the lobbyist Michael Horowitz (another Steve Bannon ally; both Miles and Horowitz have worked to fund tools backed by the anti-gay religious group Falun Gong that includes China-focused VPNs Ultrasurf and Freegate)
[reference] EARN IT Act of 2020
[Electronic Frontier Foundation, 2020] Stop the EARN IT Bill Before It Breaks Encryption | Hacker News discussion, 2020-10-06+
[2020-07-08] What Is the EARN IT Act and Why Is It Bad for the Internet?.
The bill has the potential to be damaging to free speech and directly harmful to anyone who uses encryption-based communication services.
The ACLU called it "a disaster" for privacy, especially for LGBTQ and sex working communities, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation wrote that these vague and undefined "best practices" violate the Constitution.
... defense attorney Jared Trujillo wrote that EARN IT would be "a death blow to internet privacy, and the end of needed online mediums the most marginalized LGBTQ+ communities rely on to survive." ... "preventing the passage of the EARN IT Act is a matter of life or death for our community."
[2020-06-24] There's Now an Even Worse Anti-Encryption Bill Than EARN IT. That Doesn't Make the EARN IT Bill OK.
LAED: "Lawful Access to Encrypted Data Act of 2020"
[2020-03] EARN IT Act of 2020
[2020-03] Attorney General Barr argues against the use of end-to-end encryption by online services
[2020-03-31] The EARN IT Act Violates the Constitution
[2020-03-19] EARN IT: The US Anti-Encryption Bill That Threatens Private Speech Online
[2020-03-12] The EARN IT Bill Is the Government's Plan to Scan Every Message Online
[2020-03-12] A sneaky attempt to end encryption is worming its way through Congress
[2020-03-05] The EARN IT Act Is a Sneak Attack on Encryption
Video: Russia: Digital Surveillance, Facial Recognition -- NtechLab -- FindFace
[2020-03-07] With painted faces, artists fight facial recognition tech
[2020-01-29] Dazzle Club: These Activists Use Makeup To Defy Mass Surveillance. London is the second most surveilled city in the world. Dazzle Club is the activism group using anti-facial recognition paint to bring awareness towards this.
[reference] Clearview AI
[2020-07-10] Canadians can now opt out of Clearview AI facial recognition, with a catch.
Controversial U.S. firm requests picture to identify other images of any user in database
[2020-06-23] Police Forces in Canada Are Quietly Adopting Facial Recognition Tech.
Police in York and Peel regions are in the process of buying the technology, which has been shown to be racially biased
[2020-06-10] Clearview AI facial recognition offers to delete some faces -- But not in Canada.
Ontario privacy commissioner says U.S.-based tech firm should give residents option to have images deleted
[2020-05-29] Clearview AI: Here Are The Minneapolis Police's Tools To Identify Protesters.
As protesters demonstrate in Minneapolis in response to George Floyd's death, law enforcement agencies have access to a host of surveillance tools that could make it easier to target and find them
[2020-02-26] Clearview AI: Facial-Recognition Company That Works With Law Enforcement Says Entire Client List Was Stolen
[2020-02-10] This man says he's stockpiling billions of our photos [Hoan Ton-That, CEO of Clearview AI]
[2020-02-05] Before Clearview Became a Police Tool, It Was a Secret Plaything of the Rich.
Investors and clients of the facial recognition start-up freely used the app on dates and at parties -- and to spy on the public
[2020-02-05] Clearview AI Wants To Sell Its Facial Recognition Software To Authoritarian Regimes Around The World.
Facebook confirmed to BuzzFeed News that it has sent a cease-and-desist letter to Clearview AI, asking the company to stop using information from Facebook and Instagram
[2020-02-01] Controversial Clearview AI app could 'end privacy'
[2020-01-23] Clearview AI Says Its Facial Recognition Software Identified A Terrorism Suspect.
The Cops Say That's Not True
[2020-02-21] [Canada] Privacy watchdogs to probe Clearview AI's facial-recognition technology
[2020-01-18] Clearview AI: The Secretive Company That Might End Privacy as We Know It.
A little-known start-up helps law enforcement match photos of unknown people to their online images -- and "might lead to a dystopian future"
[2020-02-18] Clearview app lets strangers find your name, info with snap of a photo
[2020-06-09] BellTroX InfoTech Services: Obscure Indian cyber firm spied on politicians, investors worldwide.
Hackers for hire targeted more than 10,000 email accounts
[2020-06-09] BellTroX InfoTech Services: Dark Basin: Uncovering a Massive Hack-For-Hire Operation
[2020-06-03] The Military and FBI Are Flying Surveillance Planes Over Protests.
Motherboard tracked high-tech aircraft previously used in warzones, as well as flights from other agencies above protesting cities.
Cessnas equipped with "Dirtboxes" act as fake cell towers to trick phones into connecting and giving up their unique identifying code and track their physical location; mounted on planes, the devices harvest information on a large number of innocent Americans
[2020-07-31] Stingrays, Dirtboxes: How Cops Can Secretly Track Your Phone.
A guide to stingray surveillance technology, which may have been deployed at recent protests
[2020-05-13] Contact Tracing, Immunity Cards and Mass Testing: Are We on The Fast Track to a National ID?.
If you can't read the writing on the wall, you need to pay better attention
[2020-07-23] Canada (Alberta, Jason Kenney government, contact tracing) COVID-19 monitoring tools risk normalizing state surveillance even further
[2020-05-29] Surveillance Capitalism Meets the Coronavirus Shock Doctrine
[2020-05-14] Pandemic Policing Is Expanding the Use of Surveillance Technology
[2020-06-22] "must-read:" Big Tech Is Using the COVID-19 Pandemic to Push Dangerous New Forms of Surveillance.
Excerpt:
... In a talk to the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence in 2019, [former Google CEO] Eric Schmidt outlined his vision of the techno-future. For Schmidt, the lethal coronavirus has come along just in time to become the great enabler. Schmidt envisages a world in which big tech increasingly takes over the functions of government. In this model, more and more profits go to a small circle of tech firms, while disposable and semi-disposable workers of color deliver Amazon packages, health care and other services to those who can afford them. To ensure efficient delivery, these workers will be tracked by apps akin to Pokket for location, for productivity, and to check if they show any biochemical imbalances that might precede violent episodes, waves of lethargy or moments of rebellion. ...
[2020-06-09] The Police Have Been Spying on Black Reporters and Activists for Years. I Know Because I'm One of Them.
Wendi C. Thomas is a black journalist who has covered police in Memphis. One officer admitted to spying on her. She's on a long list of prominent black journalists and activists who have been subjected to police surveillance over decades
[2020-05-14] Massachusetts Contact Tracing Program Handed to Clinton-Linked NGO with Questionable Past.
A new contact tracing program was recently unveiled in Massachusetts in partnership with Partners in Health, an NGO with links to US regime change operations, big pharma and the Clinton Foundation
[2020-05-10] Video: What Is Contact Tracing And How Can It Stop The Pandemic?
[2020-04-29] Your Freedoms Don't Have to Be Muzzled Just Because You're Wearing a Mask.
The decisions we make right now about how far we allow the government to go in "protecting" us against this virus will haunt us for a long time to come
[2020-04-02] The Attack on Civil Liberties in the Age of COVID-19.
Constitutional attorney John Whitehead warns that the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to bring the American Police State out into the open on a scale we've not seen before
[2020-05-11] How Big Wireless Lobbied Governments to Build 5G For Citizen Data Collection and Surveillance
Comprehensive introduction, discussion
[2020-01-05] "must-read:" Søren Korsgaard: "One World Digital Dictatorship
[2020-01-23] "must-read:" Review: "One World Digital Dictatorship" by Søren Korsgaard -- Digital Nightmare
[2020-06-23] Police Forces in Canada Are Quietly Adopting Facial Recognition Tech.
Police in York and Peel regions are in the process of buying the technology, which has been shown to be racially biased
[2020-06-16] [CBSA] Canada's border agency shouldn't be using pandemic to impose surveillance on undocumented immigrants.
Monitoring bracelets rushed into use during coronavirus outbreak without public debate.
the following provide a de facto documentation highly intricate web of wealth, power, and influence.
[2020-02-14] "must-read:" NYC Taxpayers Spending Millions On Cyber Center With Controversial Ties To Israeli Intelligence.
Israeli mentions (does not mention NSO Group): Jerusalem Venture Partners | SOSA | Mega Group | Israeli military intelligence units (Unit 8200 | Team8) | Bronfman family (Fiona Darmon | Claridge Israel) | Innovation Hub | defense-related programs, companies (INNOFENSE | Rafael Advanced Defense Systems | ELTA Systems | Elron Electronics | Elbit Systems) | CheckPoint Systems | Leumi Tech | Israeli American Council.
Other mentions: CyberNYC | Leumi Tech | Goldman Sachs | Paul Singer (Start Up Nation Central) | Guy Franklin (CEO of SOSA) | ...
[2019-08-07] Mega Group, Maxwells and Mossad: The Spy Story at the Heart of the Jeffrey Epstein Scandal
[2020-01-17] Your online activity is now effectively a social 'credit score'
[2020-01-05] "must-read:" Søren Korsgaard: "One World Digital Dictatorship
[2020-01-23] "must-read:" Review: "One World Digital Dictatorship" by Søren Korsgaard -- Digital Nightmare
[2020-03-10] This Small Company Is Turning Utah Into a Surveillance Panopticon
[2020-03-09] Surveillance Firm Banjo Used a Secret Company and Fake Apps to Scrape Social Media
[2020-09] Utah Division of Purchasing Statewide Cooperative Contract AR3205 with Vendor Banjo
[reference] Dataminr
[2020-07-09] Police Surveilled George Floyd Protests With Help From Twitter-Affiliated Startup Dataminr.
Twitter, up until recently a longtime investor in Dataminr alongside the CIA, provides the company with full access to a content stream known as the "firehose" -- a rare privilege among tech firms and one that lets Dataminr, recently valued at over $1.8 billion, scan every public tweet as soon as its author hits send.
[2020-06-24] Dataminr: FBI Expands Ability to Collect Cellphone Location Data, Monitor Social Media, Recent Contracts Show
[2020-06-24] Gravy Analytics | Venntel: House Investigating Company Selling Phone Location Data to Government Agencies.
A Democratic-led committee said it was conducting an investigation of the products sold by data broker Venntel
[2020-02-07] Venntel: Federal Agencies Use Cellphone Location Data for Immigration Enforcement.
Commercial database that maps movements of millions of cellphones is deployed by immigration and border authorities
[2020-02-07] Venntel: Law enforcement is now buying cellphone location data from marketers.
This is no longer a matter of creepy ads following you around the internet
[reference] NSO Group
[reference] Pegasus Spyware
[2020-08-19] NSO Group: The man who built a spyware empire says it's time to come out of the shadows.
Shalev Hulio, co-founder and CEO of NSO, says his industry is full of companies trying to avoid scrutiny
[2020-08-10] Inside NSO, Israel's billion-dollar spyware giant.
The world's most notorious surveillance company says it wants to clean up its act. Go on, we're listening
[2020-04-29] WhatsApp: Israeli firm 'deeply involved' in hacking our users.
The WhatsApp Messenger ("WhatsApp") is an American freeware, cross-platform messaging and Voice over IP (VoIP) service owned by Facebook, Inc.
[2020-02-07] UK government rolls out red carpet for infamous spyware vendor.
NSO Group will be touting its wares to visiting officials, including those potentially from oppressive regimes
[2020-02-06] UK to host spyware firm accused of aiding human rights abuses.
NSO Group technology is allegedly used by autocratic regimes to spy on journalists and activists
[2019-08-18] 60 Minutes interview: CEO of Israeli spyware-maker NSO on fighting terror, Khashoggi murder, and Saudi Arabia
[reference] Palantir Technologies
[2020-01-15] Evil List: Palantir Technologies
[2018-04-19] "must-read:" Palantir Knows Everything About You.
Peter Thiel's data-mining company is using War on Terror tools to track American citizens. The scary thing? Palantir is desperate for new customers.
Mentions: Cambridge Analytica | Department of Health & Human Services | FBI | (software company) I2 Inc. | Immigration and Customs Enforcement | JPMorgan (Peter Cavicchia III) | police [New York; New Orleans; Chicago; notably Los Angeles; Palantir's Gotham product, Operation Laser (LAPD)] | Peter Thiel | U.S. military, spies
[2018-02-27] Palantir has secretly been using New Orleans to test its predictive policing technology
[reference] AP Stylebook [blog]
[reference] AP Stylebook: race-related coverage [subsection]
[2020-07-20] AP Stylebook: Why we will lowercase white
[2020-06-19] AP Stylebook: AP changes writing style to capitalize "b" in Black.
["i" in Indigenous is also capitalized ...]
[2020-06-19] AP Stylebook: The decision to capitalize Black
[Vice.com, 2020-10-13] A Black Student's Grad Tribute Was Replaced With a Racist 'Harambe' Message. The school board has apologized "to the Black community" and said it is launching an investigation into the racist incident. A Catholic school district in Ontario is apologizing "to the Black community" after a Black student's grad write-up was replaced with a racist message. Joshua Telemaque, 17, a student at St. Mary's Catholic Secondary School in Pickering, immediately east of Toronto, submitted a tribute to his grandmother in his write-up for the yearbook, saying "RIP Grandma. Thank you for guiding me through my four years of high school." But his words were replaced with the message, "Rip Harambe Dooga booga.O." -- a reference to a gorilla that died at Cincinnati Zoo in 2016 and subsequently became a meme.
[2020-07-10] Video -- excellent, "must-watch:" What Systemic Racism in Canada Looks Like
[2020-08-05] Racism at Canadian Museum for Human Rights "pervasive and systemic"
[2020-07-08] Canada: NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says Rideau Hall incident would have ended differently if suspect was person of colour.
NDP Leader called incident 'domestic terrorism'
[2020-06-03] Statement from the CCPA on systemic state violence and anti-Black racism [CCPA: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives]
[2020-06-03] Why Black Canadians don't believe Trudeau and Canada
[2020-06-03] No difference between racism in Canada and the U.S., activists say
[2020-06-03] François Legault is wrong, systemic racism is real.
If we remain in this stage of denial in Quebec, we have a long road ahead
[2020-06-02] Trudeau's long silence: PM pauses, avoids Trump's name in reaction to protests.
Comments from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on structural violence in Canadian society [video]
Echoes earlier, infamous Amy Cooper, Central Park racial profiling incident.
[2020-07-10] Ottawa, Canada: Ottawa police apologize after 911 call where white woman reports Black man in a park
[2020-07-10] Ottawa, Canada: Ottawa police apologize for handling of 911 call about Black man in Barrhaven park.
Woman called 911 to complain Ntwali Bashizi was blocking her path on popular trail
[2020-04-28] China video: Pregnant woman turned away from two hospitals in Guangzhou as they don't treat Africans
[2020-04-09] As coronavirus sparks anti-Chinese racism, xenophobia rises in China itself
[2020-04-10] Outcry as Kenyans in China hit by wave of racial attacks
[2020-04-12] US, African nations express 'extreme concern' over alleged coronavirus-related racism in China
[2020-04-13] Beijing faces a diplomatic crisis after reports of mistreatment of Africans in China causes outrage
[reference] Megan Thee Stallion [Megan Jovon Ruth Pete]
[NYTimes.com, 2020-10-13] Megan Thee Stallion: Why I Speak Up for Black Women. I'm not afraid of criticism, and "Protect Black women" should not be controversial.
[theDailyBeast.com, 2020-10-13] Megan Thee Stallion Is Tired of Black Women Being "Disrespected and Disregarded". "We deserve to be protected as human beings," the rapper wrote in a NYT op-ed. "And we are entitled to our anger about a laundry list of mistreatment and neglect that we suffer." | Related video: YouTube | local copy (mp4)
[2020-07-07] July 4 2020 speech signals new stage in Trump's race war
[2020-06-01] 'When the Country Needed Leadership, Trump Turned Off the Lights': White House Goes Dark as Protests Over Killing of George Floyd Rage Across Nation.
"When the going gets tough? Turn off the lights and hide"
[2020-06-01] Confederate Statues and Other Symbols of Racism All Over the Country Were Destroyed by Protesters This Weekend.
A former slave market burned, Confederate statues were toppled, and a statue of a racist police chief was vandalized
[2020-05-29] The Racist Origins of Trump's 'When The Looting Starts, The Shooting Starts' Quote.
A line originally used by an aggressive Miami police chief prompted Twitter to issue another content warning for the president's tweets
[2020-05-27] From George Floyd to Chris Cooper: Ibram X. Kendi on "Racist Terror" Facing Black People in America
[2020-05-26] Video: Central Park confrontation, Minneapolis arrest spark conversation about race in America.
Viral videos of Minneapolis police brutality and a Central Park confrontation are reopening the conversation about being black in America
[2020-07-06] White woman who called police on Black birder in NYC's Central Park charged with filing false report.
May 25 2020 incident was shown on video that went viral
[2020-05-26] White Woman Is Fired After Calling Police on Black Man in Central Park.
Video of the incident touched off intense discussions about the history of black people being falsely reported to the police
[2020-05-26] White woman hysterically calls police to report 'African-American threatening her life'
[theGuardian.com, 2020-10-21] Rudy Giuliani faces questions after compromising scene in new Borat film. Trump's personal attorney has indiscreet encounter with actor playing Borat's daughter in hotel room during pandemic. | reddit (2020-10-21) here, here
[CBC.ca, 2020-10-21] Rudy Giuliani caught in hotel bedroom scene in new Borat film. Former New York mayor captured in hidden camera in final moments of mockumentary.
[2020-07-17] Black Lives Matter is "spewing hatred for America": A brief debate with Rudy Giuliani.
Giuliani has alleged that Black Lives Matter wants to confiscate white people's houses. We asked him to explain
[2020-06-04] Rudy Giuliani's TV Fight With Piers Morgan Goes Wildly Off The Rails
[2020-07-23] Congressman Jim Hagedorn: This Congressman is attacking Black Lives Matter with white nationalist talking points. These companies are supporting him.
Mentions: Bank of New York | Bayer | Best Buy | Boston Scientific | General Mills | Intel | UnitedHealth Group | U.S. Bank
[2020-08-07] How Stephen Miller went from teen troll to Trump whisperer.
Jean Guerrero's new book, "Hatemonger," details the Trump aide's early influences -- and how they shaped his work for the president
[2020-08-07] Audio: Interview with "Hatemonger" author Jean Guerrero.
Stephen Miller has been seen as a link between the white nationalist agenda and the Trump White House. Journalist Jean Guerrero traces the origins of Miller's anti-immigrant policies in a new book.
[2020-07-16] Southern Poverty Law Center Adds White House Senior Adviser Stephen Miller to Its List of Extremists
[2020-02-21] How Stephen Miller Manipulates Donald Trump to Further His Immigration Obsession.
Donald Trump's senior adviser has been the true driving force behind this Administration's racist agenda. How far will he go?
[2019-11-26] Leaked Emails Fuel Calls For Stephen Miller To Leave White House
[reference] John Hamilton Tanton
FAIR: "... Frustrated by the lack of interest of his liberal colleagues in groups such as Planned Parenthood and the Sierra Club where he was actively engaged, Tanton helped establish three major national groups -- Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), Numbers USA, and the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) -- to fight to reduce legal and illegal immigration. ..."
SPLC: "... FAIR, CIS and NumbersUSA are all part of a network of restrictionist organizations conceived and created by John Tanton, the 'puppeteer' of the nativist movement and a man with deep racist roots. ... Tanton has for decades been at the heart of the white nationalist scene. Tanton has met with leading white supremacists and associated closely with the leaders of a eugenicist foundation once described by a leading newspaper as a 'neo-Nazi organization.' Tanton has made a series of racist statements about Latinos and worried that they were outbreeding whites. At one point, Tanton wrote candidly that to maintain American culture, 'a European-American majority' is required. ..."
[2020-08-20] Erased From the Trump Administration's Draft of a Key Foreign Aid Policy: Any Mention of LGBT People.
USAID's gender policy guides its priorities worldwide. A new version of that policy put forward by the Trump administration omits any mention of transgender people, and adopts a conservative framing of human rights.
... One official involved in the policy update process was Bethany Kozma, the USAID deputy chief of staff. Before joining the Trump administration in 2017, Kozma advocated against Obama-era guidelines that schools allow transgender students to use bathrooms that match their gender identity. During her time in the administration, she has played a key role in advancing conservative causes globally, such as opposing references to sexual and reproductive health in United Nations documents.
In the last few months, USAID's leadership has been seeded with several right-wing political appointees, including Mark Kevin Lloyd, a Tea Party activist with a history of making and sharing anti-Islamic comments, who was named the agency's new religious freedom adviser; Bethany Kozma, who was elevated to a higher position as the agency's deputy chief of staff; and Merritt Corrigan, the agency's former deputy White House liaison, who had made repeated anti-LGBT statements on social media. Corrigan left USAID this month after Corrigan unleashed a tirade against the USAID on Twitter, though she later claimed she did not send those tweets. ...
[2020-06-18] Democratic Senators Call for USAID to Investigate Anti-LGBT, Anti-Muslim Comments by Appointees.
Democrats' request comes as the agency grapples with internal frustration over its approach to racism and bias
[2020-06-09] U.S. Foreign Aid Agency Defends Political Appointees Who Wrote Anti-LGBT, Anti-Islam Posts.
The statement from USAID Acting Administrator John Barsa comes after ProPublica reported that Merritt Corrigan, who has condemned the "tyrannical LGBT agenda," was appointed as USAID's new deputy White House liaison
[2020-05-30] USAID Faces Mounting Pressure to Remove Latest Trump Appointee With History of Islamophobic Remarks
[reference] Online Shaming.html [Call-out culture Outrage Culture | Cancel Culture]
[reference] Social Norm
[2020-03-09] 'Gratitude education': Wuhan boss faces backlash over calls to thank leaders.
City's top official scorned for saying citizens should thank President Xi and communist party for coronavirus management
[reference] Nudge Theory
[2020-05-14] India nudges to contain COVID-19 pandemic.
A reactive public policy analysis using machine-learning based topic modelling
[2020-02-04] The Limits of Nudging: Why Can't California Get People To Take Free Money?
[reference] Social Justice: Peace.html
[Inter Press Service, 2020-10-06] World Peace is Not Only Possible But Inevitable.
[2020-05-14] That rumble you hear is the sound of the Shock Doctrine artillery softening up Alberta for austerity on steroids
[2020-05-10] The Bailout Is Working -- for the Rich.
The economy is in free fall but Wall Street is thriving, and stocks of big private equity firms are soaring dramatically higher
[2020-04-27] Without 'Transformative Change' to Global Economic Systems, Humans Risk Causing More Deadly Pandemics
[2020-03-17] Coronavirus gives us a terrifying glimpse of the future -- and highlights a chilling paradox
[2020-03-25] The U.S. Is a Failed State, and COVID-19 Proves It
[2020-04-10] COVID-19 Is Bringing Us Into A Hyper-Surveilled, Highly Policed Fascist Dystopia
[2020-04-12] Amid COVID-19, It's Time to Nationalize Airlines and Other Industries
[2020-04-13] Noam Chomsky On COVID-19 And His New Book: Internationalism Or Extinction
[2020-04-16] Fighting COVID-19: Why and How to Suspend Debt Repayment Immediately
[2020-04-16] We need to build back better 🔧
[2020-04-03] Coronavirus lays bare the frailty of the social contract
[2020-04-27] Here Comes Bourgeois Socialism -- Again
[reference] Mass shootings in the United States
[reference] List of mass shootings in the United States
[Canada] [2020-05-15] Why Canada should ban the sale, ownership of handguns.
There is no conceivable reason why an ordinary person needs a handgun
[seriously?] [2020-05-14] Heavily Armed Protesters Gather Again At Michigan's Capitol Denouncing Home Order
[2019-08-05] America's gun culture in charts
[reference] Social Justice -- Poverty -- Debt
[2020-07-07] 'Dangerous Complacency': UN Expert Issues Scathing Report Denouncing Global Failures to Tackle Poverty Even Before COVID Pandemic.
"Poverty is a political choice and it will be with us until its elimination is reconceived as a matter of social justice"
[2020-06-02] United Nations -- Human Rights Council: The parlous state of poverty eradication.
Report of the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights.
Extreme poverty is and must be understood as a violation of human rights. ... Only when the goal of realizing the human right to an adequate standard of living replaces the World Bank's miserable subsistence line will the international community be on track to eliminate extreme poverty.
[2020-07-07] Pandemic Capitalism.
Pervasive inequality is a chosen catastrophe. It's time for a rethink
[2020-04-27] A wave of mass social unrest lies on the horizon as poverty increases
[2020-01-17] Amsterdam to buy out young people's debt to offer "new start"
[2020-01-16] Student debt is over $1.6 trillion and hardly anyone is paying down their loans
[reference] Prison-Industrial Complex [Prison Industrial Complex]
[2020-04-18] Constitution of the United States -- Amendment 13: Slavery and Involuntary Servitude.
Constitutionally, prisoners are slaves. Note also these comments.
[CommonDreams.org, 2020-10-21] The U.S. Spends More Than $80 Billion a Year Incarcerating 2.3 Million People. There's never been a better time to reconsider the entire system. With movements calling for defunding and divesting, people are finally talking about spending and raising the heat on the thousands of corporations that profit off the millions of people we lock up.
[2020-08-11] Millennial Futures Are Bleak. Incarceration Is to Blame. From cradle through childhood to parenthood and near middle age, Millennial lives have been shaped and stymied by policing and prisons
[2011-06-10] Building an international movement to abolish the Prison Industrial Complex
[2020-07-13] Let's close the Thunder Bay jail and build a better society
[2020-07-06] If Canada is serious about confronting systemic racism, we must abolish prisons
[2020-07-13] Three corporations backing a California initiative to incarcerate more people.
Proposition 20 ("Reducing Crime and Keeping California Safe Act") would allow certain non-violent thefts, which are currently misdemeanors, to be charged as felonies.
Supporters (funders): Albertsons (subsidiary: Safeway) | Costco | Kroger (subsidiary: Ralphs Grocery)
[2020-05-26] Bill Barr Promised to Release Prisoners Threatened by Coronavirus -- Even as the Feds Secretly Made It Harder for Them to Get Out.
Celebrity prisoners like former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort have been granted home detention, but a secret Bureau of Prisons policy has kept all but 1.8% of federal inmates behind bars, where the virus rages
[2020-04-18] Mississippi Prison System Faces Investigation, Lawsuits After Rash of Inmate Deaths
[2020-01-29] How Kentucky Jailers Profit From Selling E-Cigarettes To Inmates
[website] War on Want.
War on Want's mission is to fight against the root causes of poverty and human rights violation, as part of the worldwide movement for global justice.
[2015-08-12] Can randomized trials eliminate global poverty?
A new generation of economists is trying to transform global development policy through the power of randomized controlled trials
[2015-08-12] Editorial: Science in the community
Randomized controlled trials are providing evidence about interventions in health, education and international development, but they are only part of a suite of useful tools
[reference] WE Charity
[2020-07-11] WE Charity: Justin Trudeau drops into another pitfall of his own making.
There was always going to be an odour coming off the WE arrangement -- money just made it worse
[2020-07-10] Justin Trudeau faces calls for criminal investigation into family's charity links.
WE Charity, which was awarded multimillion-dollar government contract, paid PM's mother and wife for appearances at events
[2020-07-08] Racialized former WE employees accused charity of oppressive incidents
[2020-05-20] Naomi Klein and Arundhati Roy Help Launch Global Green New Deal Project With Worldwide Invitation
[website] Global Green New Deal: From Crisis to Justice
[website] The Leap: From Crisis to Justice
The Leap's mission is to make system change irresistible and bring to life the world we deserve. The Leap believes the best way to tackle climate catastrophe is by building movement power and popular support for a more just world.
[2020-07-13] We need a guaranteed livable income
[2020-07-10] Pandemic speeds largest test yet of universal basic income.
Economists welcome the chance to see whether giving people cash to spend however they choose improves livelihoods
[2020-06-07] We Need a Universal Basic Income Now and After COVID-19
[2020-04-24] Japan to subsidize 100% of salaries at small companies
[2020-04-19] [Canada] Are we moving closer to a universal basic income?
[2020-04-19] In Europe, COVID-19 puts idea of universal income back into welfare debate
[2020-04-06] Spain is moving to establish permanent basic income in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic
[2018-05-30] Money for nothing: the truth about universal basic income.
Several projects are testing the idea of doling out funds that people can use however they want
[reference] Structural Violence
[Excellent] McGregor SLT, 2003: Consumerism as a Source of Structural Violence
[2020-05-27] COVID Life and the Asset Economy
[2020-05-26] Trump Adviser Says "Human Capital Stock" Should Get Back to Work
[2020-03-31] 'We Have Always been Disposable:' The Structural Violence of Neoliberal Healthcare
[reference] Consumerism and Anti-Consumerism
[reference] Naomi Klein
[2020-05-13] Companies Plan to Profit in High-Tech COVID Dystopia
[2020-03-21] Naomi Klein on coronavirus capitalism -- And how to beat it
[2007-09-05] Shock Wave Troopers.
Naomi Klein exposes the economic ambulance chasers who take advantage of natural and economic disasters worldwide
[DemocracyNow.org, 2020-10-13] Packing the Courts: How Republicans Spent Decades Installing Judges to Cement Minority Rule. Amid Senate confirmation hearings for Amy Coney Barrett, we look at how conservatives have used dark money to push to seat her on the Supreme Court before the November 3 2020 election, following a decades-long project by conservatives to install right-wing judges across the federal judiciary.
"There's no doubt that what we're facing is, increasingly, rule by a minority," says former Senate Judiciary Committee staffer Lisa Graves, executive director of True North Research. "When people say that the court needs to be packed, it really needs to be unpacked." | Video: YouTube
[reference] Associate Justice Clarence Thomas
[CommonDreams.org, 2020-10-06] "Appalling" Comments by Justices Thomas and Alito Seen as Harbinger of New Wave of Attacks on Marriage Equality and Gay Rights. "It is appalling that five years after the historic decision in Obergefell, two justices still consider same-sex couples less worthy of marriage than other couples."
[NPR.org, 2020-10-05] Justices Thomas, Alito Blast Supreme Court Decision On Gay Marriage Rights.
[AlterNet.org, 2020-10-05] Clarence Thomas pens scathing attack suggesting Supreme Court should overturn same-sex marriage.
[reference] Amy Coney Barrett
[DCReport.org, 2020-10-22] Amy Coney Barrett Failed to Disclose Leadership Role in Local Catholic Church. Supreme Court Candidate Chaired a Parish Board for Church Citing "Homosexual Behavior" as an Offense Against the 10 Commandments. ... On the very first page of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee's Supreme Court nominee questionnaire, nominees are asked to include an employment record dating back to their college graduation. This would include any affiliation as an officer, director, partner or employee or non-profit organization, with or without pay. ...
[2020-10-13] "Must-watch / read:" Senator Sheldon Whitehouse Schools Amy Coney Barrett on Dark Money. Superb presentation illustrating Republican Party and dark money influencers on vested special interests (abolition of: affordable health care, access to abortions, LGBTQ+ rights, judicial freedom; concentration of obfuscated power; ...).
Twitter. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse: "This, more and more, looks like it's not three schemes -- but it's one scheme. With the same funders selecting judges, funding campaigns for the judges, & then showing up in court in these orchestrated amicus flotillas to tell the judges what to do."
[Accountable.us, 2020-10-12] New Analysis Finds Barrett Sides Against Consumers, Immigrants, Workers, and More. Government Watchdog's Analysis Shows Trump's Nominee to the Supreme Court Sides with Corporations over Consumers, Workers, and Immigrants.
[PRWatch.org, 2020-10-10] Snapshot of Secret Funding of Amicus Briefs Tied to Leonard Leo -- Federalist Society Leader, Promoter of Amy Barrett. A new review of grant documents, first published on the dark web, provides a snapshot of how groups tied to Leonard Leo -- the man who put Amy Barrett on President Trump's list for the Supreme Court-have been secretly funded to file briefs with the Supreme Court to overturn U.S. laws, including the Affordable Care Act.
[ScheerPost.com, 2020-10-05] Trump's Barrett Nomination Another Step Toward Christian Fascism. All fascist and totalitarian movements paper over their squalid belief systems with the veneer of morality.
[HRC.org, 2020-09-22] Amy Coney Barrett is an Absolute Threat to LGBTQ Rights. Amy Coney Barrett's history tells a story of anti-LGBTQ ideology [including transphobia], opposing basic rights thought to be settled law, and an anti-choice ideology out of step with popular opinion.
Machiavellian: principles of malevolent conduct marked by cunning, duplicity, or bad faith
Machiavellianism: In the field of personality psychology, Machiavellianism is a personality trait centered on manipulativeness, callousness, and indifference to morality. It is one of the dark triad traits, along with narcissism and psychopathy.
COMMENTARY (BuriedTruth).
Please note that I have written a [draft] companion article, The Awokening: The Existential Risk of Billionaires and the Need for the Abolition of Wealth : Havoc Wreaked by Anonymized Donors Through Influencer Organizations, to accompany the following subsections.
To further investigate disruptive influencers -- such as tax-exempt nonprofit organizations, SuperPACs, ... -- note the following resources.
The Center for Responsive Politics' website, OpenSecrets.org, allows users to track federal campaign contributions and lobbying by lobbying firms, individual lobbyists, industry, dark money, federal agencies, and bills. Other resources include the personal financial disclosures of all members of the U.S. Congress, the President, and top members of the administration. Users can also search by ZIP codes to learn how their neighbors are allocating their political contributions.
Examples: Top SuperPACs | Lawmakers' Estimated Personal Wealth
OpenSecrets.org: SuperPACs [captured 2020-09-03].[2020-09-03] OpenSecrets unveils new online ads database.
With the digital-dominated 2020 election shifting into high gear, OpenSecrets is releasing a new searchable, sortable online ads database that provides comprehensive details about political ad spending on Google and Facebook.
Charity Navigator (Wikipedia) | website
ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer, e.g.: Heritage Foundation;
DeSmogBlog.com's comprehensively detailed summaries of climate change deniers, e.g.: Heritage Foundation [local copy (html, captured 2020-07-02)].
GuideStar | Candid.org, e.g.: Heritage Foundation
Transparify [<< Wikipedia summary], an initiative that provides a global rating of the financial transparency of major think tanks. Transparify [<< website] rates the extent to which think tanks publicly disclose their sources of funding, the amount of funding they have received, and the specific research projects that were supported by this funding. Transparify is based in Georgia and has a not-for-profit status.
NOTE. Transparify is funded by Open Society Foundations, an organisation set up by George Soros.
[2020-07-29] When Mega-Donors Dominate Charitable Giving, Democracy Pays the Price.
Wealth inequality distorts giving sector, posing risks to democracy and integrity of tax system
[reference] Australian Institute of International Affairs
[reference] Lowy Institute
[reference] Adam Smith Institute
[reference] Centre for Policy Studies
[reference] Centre for Social Justice
Not to be confused with the smaller, same-named [Canadian] Centre for Social Justice
[reference] International Policy Network
[2011-06-18] Climate change deniers spreading misinformation: Environmental groups
[reference] Institute of Economic Affairs
Neoliberalism | climate change denial | ...
The Institute of Economic Affairs campaigns against controls on junk food; for "universal healthcare without the NHS;" against state-run hospitals, planning and subsidies; attacks trades unions; and defends zero-hour contracts, unpaid internships and tax havens.
The Institute of Economic Affairs does not disclose their sources of funding, but has been criticised for receiving funds from major tobacco companies whilst campaigning on tobacco related issues. Funding to the IEA from the alcohol industry, food industry, and sugar industry has also been documented. In October 2018, an investigation by Greenpeace found that the IEA was receiving funding from the oil giant BP , which was "using this access to press ministers on issues ranging from environmental and safety standards to British tax rates."
Note: funding to the Institute of Economic Affairs campaigns has been provided -- among other sources -- by the U.S.-based dark money nonprofit funder Donors Trust.
[reference] Canadian charity lookups:
[resource] "Minimal:" CanadaHelps.org
[reference] Detailed (financials ...): CharityData.ca
Very good: Charity Intelligence | Wikipedia: a registered charity that does charity assessments of over 750 Canadian charitable organizations, to allow donors be informed when they donate to charities, and to promote transparency, accountability, and results focus in the charitable sector.
[resource] Government of Canada / Canada Revenue Agency / Charities: advanced search | basic search
[resource] Government of Canada / Corporations Canada: search: Federal corporations
This database does NOT include corporations created under financial legislation (such as financial institutions, insurance companies or loan and trust companies) or those created under provincial/territorial legislation or corporate legislation from another jurisdiction. You can find corporations created under provincial/territorial legislation by consulting Canada's Business Registries.
[resource] OpenCorporates.com [International listings]
[resource] OpenGovCa.com: Open government data in Canada
[reference, Globe & Mail, 2018] Canada's top 100 non-profit organizations (registered charities)Think tanks based in Canada | local copy
[reference] Think tanks based in Canada
[reference] Canadian Politics: Nonprofit Influencers
[resource] Corporate Mapping Project
The tremendous concentration of power and influence we see in the fossil fuel industry today places sharp limits on our democracy. And as oil, gas and coal corporations pursue their relatively narrow, short-term profit goals, crafting effective responses to the climate crisis becomes more difficult. The Corporate Mapping Project shines a bright light on the fossil fuel industry by investigating the ways corporate power is organized and exercised.
[2016-09-22] The New Climate Denialism: Time for an intervention.
Mentions: Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) | Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) | Climate change denial | Corporate Mapping Project | Koch Brothers | Parkland Institute
[PressProgress.ca, 2020-10-16] Almost Half of All Donations to the Saskatchewan Party Since 2006 Came From Big Money Corporate Donors. Corporate Canada funded the Saskatchewan Party's rise to power with $20 million in big money corporate donations. ... Saskatchewan, along with Newfoundland and Labrador, is one of two remaining provinces in Canada that still allow unlimited corporate donations. ...
... According to a Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives report, corporate donations always come with strings attached, noting corporate executives can only legally donate shareholder money if it will "advance their business." Simon Enoch, director of CCPA-Saskatchewan, told PressProgress the Sask Party's corporate donors have gotten their money's worth.
Enoch pointed to the controversial shutdown of the Saskatchewan Transportation Company as a "perfect example" of the Saskatchewan government advancing the business interests of its corporate donors. "They were like, 'We don't want to be in this business anymore, the private sector will fill it,'" Enoch told PressProgress. "Now, it did to a certain extent -- poorly, awfully, marginalized communities were left isolated -- but the private sector did take over the profitable routes."
Following the shutdown, LifeLabs, an Ontario-based corporate donor, was awarded a $60 million dollar contract to take over medical courier routes provided by the STC. ...
[PressProgress.ca, 2020-10-06] Saskatchewan Party Corporate Donor Received $60 Million Medical Contract After Crown Corporation Shut Down. The Saskatchewan Party abruptly shut down the Saskatchewan Transportation Company and privatized public medical courier services.
One of the Saskatche wan Party's corporate donors was given a $60 million contract to deliver medical supplies shortly after the province shut down the Saskatchewan Transportation Company and privatized public medical courier services. ... In 2017, the Sask Party government abruptly shut down the STC after over 70 years operating in Saskatchewan. LifeLabs, a privately-owned laboratory services provider, is among a patchwork of private, for-profit companies who now provide courier services for rural communities in the absence of the STC.
In 2018, LifeLabs was awarded a 7-year contract worth $60 million from the Saskatchewan Health Authority to provide "community laboratory collection services." LifeLabs also received $631,006 from the Saskatchewan Health Authority in 2017, although the SHA annual report does not specify which service was provided. Since 2014, Elections Saskatchewan records show LifeLabs has donated $27,325 to the Scott Moe's Saskatchewan Party. ...
[2020-07-09] One-Fifth of the Saskatchewan Party's Corporate Donations Came From Outside Saskatchewan.
The Saskatchewan Party's 2019 fiscal return highlights big spending from corporations based in Alberta, Ontario and British Columbia
[2012-12] Mapping Corporate Power in Saskatchewan
[reference] Abacus Data
[2019-09-03] Death of David Koch a reminder of who bankrolls Canada's right
[2018-06-23] What Does the Canadian Taxpayers Federation Get From Its Right-Wing U.S. Partner?.
Atlas Network "has reshaped political power in country after country," report says
[2018-06-23] Canadian Taxpayers Federation a 'partner' of right-wing U.S.-based Atlas Network
Per [2019-05-10] Thank Maxime Bernier for the Highest Wireless Bills Virtually Anywhere [discussion of the Montreal Economic Institute], add the Alberta Institute to the list of Atlas Network's Canadian Partners.
[reference] Alberta Institute
[reference] Association_for_Reformed_Political_Action [ARPA Canada]
Homophobic, transphobic Christian organization
[2019-08-22] Transphobia: ARPA Canada Approved to Intervene in B.C. Transgender Child Court Case
[2020-03-11] Homophobia: Federal Government Introduces Bill to Ban "Conversion Therapy." "Christians recognize that same-sex sexual desires and conduct, like any sexual desires or conduct that does not conform to God's norms, are wrong and that we must repent of them. ..." | local copy (html)
[reference] Atkinson Foundation
Joseph E. Atkinson (dec. 1948-05-08) was a Canadian newspaper editor and activist. Atkinson amassed a considerable fortune; after his death, control of the paper [Toronto Star] passed to the trustees of the Atkinson Foundation, a major Canadian charity.
In partnership with the Atkinson Foundation, the Broadbent Institute formed the "Power Lab," an arms-length and non-partisan learning initiative centred on the people building community power, on the ground.
[reference] Atlantic Institute for Market Studies
[reference] Aurea Foundation
[2017-09-21] Munk Foundation Awards $81.5 Million for Cardiac Care in Toronto.
[reference] Balsillie School of International Affairs
Canadian international relations scholars have ranked the Balsillie School of International Affairs (BSIA) the 4th best school in Canada> for students seeking a career in public policy, as well as the 4th best school in Canada for students seeking an academic career studying international relations.
The Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) was also ranked 1st as the most prominent think tank in Canada. [BSIA is housed within CIGI. CIGI ranked 30th globally out of 8,000+ think tanks in the Global Go To Think Tank Index.]
[2020-08-11] BSIA launches high-level panel series with new institutional partner.
The Balsillie School of International Affairs announces a new institutional partnership with the Canadian Ditchley Foundation
[reference] Beth Oloth Charitable Organization
[2019-01-29] Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) revokes Jewish group [Beth Oloth Charitable Organization]'s charitable status
[2019-01-28] Jewish group welcomes revocation of Beth Oloth's charitable status
[2019-01-28] Canadian Government revokes charity status of Canadian Jewish group that supported 'foreign armed forces'
[reference] Breakout Educational Network
Canadian Armed Forces, defense-centric
[reference] Broadbent Institute
[reference] Canada Family Action Coalition
Canadian Christian-right fundamentalist, anti-LGBTQ+ group.
Transphobic ex-federal Parliamentarian, federal tax-evader Rob Anders has devoted his time to a variety of conservative causes including lobby groups and think tanks such as Focus on the Family, and the Canada Family Action Coalition.
[reference] Canada Proud
[2019-09-23] Top 'Canada Proud' Donor is Lobbying For More Foreign Steel Over Made-in-Canada Steel.
Canada Proud's top donor is apparently not so proud of Canadian steel
... one of Canada Proud's top donors is an anti-union lobby group currently lobbying for steel imports from foreign suppliers that often rely on low-wage labour ... Merit Canada is a major anti-union lobby group representing "open shop" clients in the construction industry.
[2019-04-25] Ontario Proud launches Canada Proud with aim of taking down Trudeau
See also: Ontario Proud
[reference] Canada Strong and Free Network [formerly: Manning Centre]
The Manning Centre has received funding from the Machiavellian Koch family; see [2019-09-03]: Death of David Koch a reminder of who bankrolls Canada's right
[2020-03-04] Groups linked to oil companies funded Facebook ads denouncing the rail blockades.
As the anti-pipeline protests intensified, so did spending on online ads that had millions of views
[2019-10-03] Manning Centre a primary backer for series of anti-Liberal Facebook pages.
Centre funded third-party groups pushing pro-energy sector, anti-Trudeau videos
[2020-01-16] Manning Centre to change its name as founder Preston Manning announces retirement
[2019-10-21] Memes, fake news and partisan ads
[2019-09-03] Death of David Koch a reminder of who bankrolls Canada's right
[2019-07-25] Canada Strong and Proud registers as third party ahead of election
Canada Strong and Proud and its provincial affiliates [Alberta Proud | NL Strong (Newfoundland) | NS Proud (Nova Scotia) | Ontario Strong | Quebec Fier] all have websites with almost identical designs and tend to advocate against the current Liberal government.
These organizations were responsible for robocall, text-message or advertising campaigns prior to provincial elections in their respective provinces.
[reference] Registered lobbyists: CAODC: Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors
[2020-06-25] Ordinary Guy Celebrated by Scott Moe is Linked to Group Lobbying to Weaken Saskatchewan's Labour Laws.
Moe spreads "Good News" from anti-worker oil lobby group that has donated thousands of dollars to the Saskatchewan Party
[reference] Advocacy group: CAPP: Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers
[reference] Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives [CCPA]
[2016-09-22] The New Climate Denialism: Time for an intervention.
Mentions: Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) | Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) | Climate change denial | Corporate Mapping Project | Koch Brothers | Parkland Institute
[reference] Advocacy group: Canadian Civil Liberties Education Trust
[reference] Canadian Constitution Foundation
Affiliation. In 2016, the Canadian Constitution Foundation founded the Runnymede Society as a national student membership organization dedicated to exploring the ideas and ideals of constitutionalism, liberty and the rule of law.
[2019-09-10] Libertarian student group Runnymede Society seeks to shake up Canada's legal culture
In its challenge to what it sees as law school orthodoxy, the Runnymede Society has some similarities with the Federalist Society. Launched in 1982, the Federalist Society now has 60,000 members, including practicing lawyers. All five conservative judges on the U.S. Supreme Court were members.
The secret to the U.S. group's growth is that it "discovered an untapped market" of conservative law students and lawyers. Conservative political elites noticed student interest in the group, and conservative philanthropy -- the Olin Foundation, the Koch Brothers and others -- got behind them.
Runnymede has "partnered" with the Federalist Society for some of its events, accepting speakers from the U.S. group, says Runnymede National Director Mark Mancini, whose website biography says he has "a mandate to shift the legal culture in Canada towards liberty."
The Canadian Constitution Foundation has defended notorious homophobes (e.g. Bill Whatcott) and organizations (e.g. Trinity Western University).
[reference] Canadian Ditchley Foundation
[2020-08-11] BSIA launches high-level panel series with new institutional partner.
The Balsillie School of International Affairs announces a new institutional partnership with the Canadian Ditchley Foundation
[reference] Canadian Global Affairs Institute
Right wing, defense contractor-backed, military-supporting (arms sales / purchases) "think tank," arguing for increased military spending ...
[2017-05-02] "must-read:" Meet The Right-Wing Think Tank [Canadian Global Affairs Institute] Driving Canadian Policy Toward War.
A registered "charity" with buckets of donations from arms manufacturers and other corporate sources is aggressively trying to push Canadian foreign policy further towards militarism and the use of violence. And the right-wing Canadian Global Affairs Institute seems to be growing in influence
[2016-07-22] Canadian Global Affairs Institute: Canadian think tank under fire for accepting donations from arms maker
[reference] Canadian International Council
[reference] Canadian Taxpayers Federation
See also: Canada Strong and Free Network [Canada Strong and Free Network President Troy Lanigan was a 10-year President of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation].
[2018-06-23] What Does the Canadian Taxpayers Federation Get From Its Right-Wing U.S. Partner?.
Atlas Network "has reshaped political power in country after country," report says
[2018-06-23] Canadian Taxpayers Federation a 'partner' of right-wing U.S.-based Atlas Network
[2018-02-02] Despite breach of public trust, Canadian Taxpayers Federation President Troy Lanigan is proud of Brian Bonney
[reference] Cardus Institute [formerly: Work Research Foundation]
Christian nonprofit
[2005-07-15] Cardus: Building Institutions: The Work Research Foundation
[reference] C.D. Howe Institute
[reference] Centre For Civic Engagement
The Centre for Civic Engagement (Toronto, Canada) supports qualified donees undertaking charitable educational programs and activities. The Centre For Civic Engagement organizes the Munk Debates -- a public lecture and educational discussion series on major public policy issues facing Canada and the world. The Munk Debates are funded by the Aurea Foundation.
[reference] Centre for International Governance Innovation
In 2019, CIGI ranked 30th globally out of 8,000+ think tanks in the Global Go To Think Tank Index. CIGI was also ranked 1st as the most prominent think tank in Canada.
[reference] Centre for Social Justice [defunct]
Not to be confused with the smaller, same-named [British] Centre for Social Justice
[reference] Chisholm Thomson Family Foundation
Purpose: provides grants to registered Canadian charities who are helping Canada move toward a clean economy.
[reference] Choson Kallah Fund of Toronto
[2008-11-13] Jewish organization [Choson Kallah Fund of Toronto] loses charitable status
[2008-11-04] CRA Revokes Choson Kallah Fund of Toronto as tax shelter donation arrangement
[2008-11-04] Ottawa alleges Toronto charity [Choson Kallah Fund of Toronto] is running a tax-shelter scheme
[reference] Democracy Watch
[DemocracyWatch.ca, 2020-10-13] Democracy Watch files court cases challenging Lobbying Commissioner's rulings letting off lobbyists who helped Chrystia Freeland win election, then lobbied her officials. Council of Canadian Innovators' Ben Bergen and Dana O'Born co-managed Chrystia Freeland's 2015 election campaign, then lobbied her then-Parliamentary Secretary David Lametti, her office staff and senior department officials.
See also: WE Charity Scandal
[reference] Donner Canadian Foundation
[reference] Elect Conservatives
A political lobbying group advocating a political ideology closely-aligned with, and directly supporting, the Conservative Party of Canada.
Appears as "Elect Tories" on some social media (e.g. Twitter).
[undated] Endswell Foundation.
Through the 1990s the Endswell Foundation was the largest, B.C. based, charitable foundation funding environmental issues in the province.
"... Endswell's largest annual grant went to the development of Tides Canada ..."
Defunct -- see:
Endswell Foundation (CharityData.ca)
[2011-11-16] Who's funding Mayor Robertson?
[2011-03-19] The $11.4 Million Question for Tides Canada
[2011-11-16] Who's funding Mayor Robertson?.
Sources include organizations linked to U.S., Canadian charities
[reference] Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited
Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited is a Canadian financial holding company engaged in property, casualty, insurance and reinsurance, investment management, and insurance claims management.
[reference] Focus on the Family Canada
USA [Focus on the Family]-linked / funded evangelical Christian organization: anti-LGBTQ+, anti-abortion,
[reference] Fraser Institute
[2020-05-14] That rumble you hear is the sound of the Shock Doctrine artillery softening up Alberta for austerity on steroids
[2020-04-09] Fraser Institute defends price-gouging amidst COVID-19 pandemic
[2019-09-03] Death of David Koch a reminder of who bankrolls Canada's right
[2019-07-25] Nothing charitable about mind manipulation.
Mentions: Alberta (Jason Kenney) | Parkland Institute | Fraser Institute | Charles Koch
Two think tanks most often quoted in Alberta are the Parkland Institute on the left and the Fraser Institute on the right. Under the guise of independent researchers, they pump out reports to sway public opinion and economic policy. Yet both can cherry-pick data to shape public perspective in line with their donor's wishes. ... The Koch brothers were the leaders in this movement and today they are the largest donor of foreign dollars to the Fraser Institute. ... Liberal and Conservative political parties and the Canadian public have bought into their mantra that low taxes, few regulations, small government and trickle-down economics benefit everyone. Nothing is further from the truth, but it is a testament to the power of money. Today, corporations run governments for the good of corporations, and in the United States they own the White House. As Paul Krugman, a Nobel Prize winner said, "When you have a few people who are so wealthy that they can effectively buy the political system, the political system is going to tend to serve their interests".
[reference] Frontier Centre for Public Policy
Promotes Climate change denial via funding from the Heartland Institute, which has ties to the Charles Koch Foundation), and Indigenous residential schools racism / disinformation.
[reference] Global Public Affairs
Canada's largest privately-owned public affairs and communications firm.
[reference] Historica Canada
[reference] Hugs Over Masks, a COVID-19 pandemic anti-mask disinformation, troll group founded by Vladislav Sobolev
See also: Vaccine Choice Canada, an anti-vaccination disinformation, troll group allied with "Hugs Over Masks."
[Vice.com, 2020-10-21] The Anti-Mask Revolution Was Organized on Facebook. Shortly after VICE News reached out about Canadian anti-masker groups, Facebook deleted several of them.
British Columbia, Canada based anti-union [right-to-work | open shop] lobby group affiliated with Merit Canada
[reference] Institute for Sustainable Finance
"The Institute for Sustainable Finance is a multi-disciplinary network of research and professional development that brings together academia, the private sector, and government to shape Canada's innovations in sustainable finance. Our Mission is to align mainstream financial markets with Canada's transition to a prosperous sustainable economy."
[reference] Jewish National Fund of Canada
[2019-01-17] NDP MP sponsors anti-JNF petition
[2019-01-11] Jewish National Fund of Canada (JNF) pushes back against allegations it violated Canadian tax law
[2019-01-04] Canadian charity used donations to fund projects linked to Israeli military.
Jewish National Fund of Canada (JNF) says it has since stopped the practice, which contravenes Canadian tax rules
[2010-11-02] Canada and the Jewish National Fund
[2004-09-24] Apartheid Israel and the Jewish National Fund of Canada: The Story of 'Imwas Yalu, Beit Nuba and Canada Park | local copy (html)
[reference] Institute for Liberal Studies
[reference] Ivey Foundation ["Richard Ivey Foundation"]
"The primary focus of the Ivey Foundation is the Economy and Environment Program, established in 2014 as a strategic priority. Through the program, the Ivey Foundation supports new thinking around innovative approaches to policy and practice that advance sustainability in Canada. Working in this dynamic space requires iterative learning and adaptation based on Canada's shifting socio-economic and political contexts, and the feedback from organizations we support."
[reference] Jesuit Centre for Social Faith and Justice
Alias: Jesuit Forum for Social Faith and Justice
[reference] Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms
Funding [2019-09-03]: Death of David Koch a reminder of who bankrolls Canada's right
[2018-06-21] Money from wealthy right-wing ideologues helps fuel group challenging Alberta's protections for Gay-Straight Alliances (GSA) members.
The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms attempts to overturn the Alberta NDP Government's legislative effort to protect students who join Gay-Straight Alliances.
Mentions: Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms President John Carpay | Canadian Taxpayers Federation President and CEO Troy Lanigan [now President of the Canada Strong and Free Network [formerly: Manning Centre] | Alberta Opposition Leader Jason Kenney [currently Premier of Alberta]
[FreshDaily.ca, 2020-09-08] Here's what you need to know about the "Hugs Over Masks" groups in Canada. | local copy (html, captured 2020-10-19)
Who are Hugs Over Masks associated with?
Hugs Over Masks is affiliated with one of the country's largest anti-vaccine organizations, Vaccine Choice Canada. A look at the anti-vaccine group's social media shows their opposition to a COVID-19 vaccine as well as masks and social distancing.
Lawyer John Carpay, President of the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms. John Carpay is the author of this tripe, on the disinformation "news" source The Post Millennial.
[thePostMillennial.com, 2020-07-25] Making face masks mandatory is not backed by science or law -- reposted here | local copy (html, captured 2020-10-19)], on the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms website.
[reference] Liu Institute for Global Issues
[reference] Lotte & John Hecht Memorial Foundation
[reference] McCall MacBain Foundation | [John H. McCall MacBain]
Since its formation in Geneva, Switzerland, in 2007, the McCall MacBain Foundation has made tens of millions of dollars of grants to fund projects relating to education and scholarships, health and climate change, and the environment.
[resource] Ludwig von Mises Institute of Canada
[resource] Offshoot of American organization, Mises Institute [Ludwig von Mises Institute for Austrian Economics]
[reference] Macdonald-Laurier Institute
[2020-10-02] Right-Wing Think Tank Accused of Demonizing Sikh-Canadians Also Works to Send Canadian Oil to India.
Why did the Macdonald-Laurier Institute publish a controversial report authored by retired CBC journalist Terry Milewski?
"... Endswell's largest annual grant went to the development of Tides Canada ..."
Financials: Total assets (CDN $): 2019: $57,196,469 | 2018: $65,218,797
[2020-06-15] Tides Canada rebrands following 'smear campaign'.
Tides Canada distances itself from American namesake, rebrands as MakeWay
[2020-06-10] Tides Canada is now MakeWay!
[2012-05-10] Asking some fair questions of Tides Canada
[2012-05-07] Canada Revenue Agency [CRA] audits charitable status of Tides Canada amid Tory attack
[2011-03-19] The $11.4 Million Question for Tides Canada
[reference] McConnell Foundation
"The McConnell Foundation is a private Canadian foundation that develops and applies innovative approaches to social, cultural, economic and environmental challenges. We do so through granting and investing, capacity building, convening, and co-creation with grantees, partners and the public."
[reference] John Wilson McConnell
[reference] Mackenzie Institute
[reference] Merit Canada
Association of Canadian anti-union [right-to-work | open shop] lobbyists: "Merit Canada is the national voice of Canada's seven provincial "Open Shop" construction associations. ..."
An open shop is a place of employment at which one is not required to join or financially support a union (closed shop) as a condition of hiring or continued employment. The major difference between an open and closed shop is the requirement for union membership.
Regional affiliations (geographically, West → East):
Affiliations: Merit Contractors Association
[2019-09-23] Top 'Canada Proud' Donor is Lobbying For More Foreign Steel Over Made-in-Canada Steel.
Canada Proud's top donor is apparently not so proud of Canadian steel
... one of Canada Proud's top donors is an anti-union lobby group currently lobbying for steel imports from foreign suppliers that often rely on low-wage labour ... Merit Canada is a major anti-union lobby group representing "open shop" clients in the construction industry.
[2018-11-23] Lobbyists Pushing for Lower Wages and Longer Work Days Launch Ads Promoting Jason Kenney's UCP. Merit Canada previously lobbied Jason Kenney to weaken labour laws and loosen temporary foreign worker rules
[reference] Merit Contractors Association
The Merit Contractors Association of Newfoundland and Labrador is the Newfoundland (Canada) affiliate of Merit Canada, a coalition of anti-union [right-to-work | open shop] lobbyists.
[PressProgress.ca, 2020-10-21] Big Business Anti-Union Group Offering Companies Pro-BC Liberal Posters To Put Up In Their Workplaces. New campaign aims to promote Andrew Wilkinson's BC Liberals inside British Columbia workplaces.
[reference] Montreal Economic Institute
Funding, in part, from various Koch family "dark money" nonprofit influencer organizations.
[reference] Maxime Bernier
See also: Toronto Star
[2019-05-10] Montreal Economic Institute: Thank Maxime Bernier for the Highest Wireless Bills Virtually Anywhere.
Discusses: Montreal Economic Institute | Atlas Network | Koch Brothers
[2018-09-23] Corporate welfare, the Koch brothers and being "authentic:" Maxime Bernier in conversation.
"Ron Paul was an authentic politician because he said what he believed. Same thing for me."
Discusses: Montreal Economic Institute | Atlas Network | Koch Brothers | Tea Party | ...
[reference] Mosaic Institute For Harnessing Diversity [Mosaic Institute]
The Mosaic Institute is a Canadian charitable institution that advances pluralism in societies and peace amongst nations. The Mosaic Institute brings together communities and peoples separated by strife, to foster mutual understanding and to resolve conflicts.
See bottom part of Aurea Foundation
[2017-09-21] Munk Foundation Awards $81.5 Million for Cardiac Care in Toronto.
[reference] North99 [North99.org]
Canadian registered nonprofit organized as an independent political movement that supports and opposes candidates based on their commitment or opposition to progressive principles.
[reference] Ontario Proud
Ontario Proud has announced its intentions to target Prime Minister Justin Trudeau [Liberal Party] going forward. Ontario Proud founder Jeff Ballingall established a similar "BC Proud" Facebook page to target elections in British Columbia, and is attempting to start another site to target Quebec. Sister pages have also been established in Alberta and New Brunswick.
See also: Canada Proud
[2019-07-25] Canada Strong and Proud registers as third party ahead of election
The various [Canada Strong and Free Network-affiliated groups: Ontario Strong, etc.] do not appear to be connected with Ontario Proud, another third-party group run by former Conservative staffer Jeff Ballingall that played a major role in the last Ontario election. Ballingall has launched a federal iteration of his group, Canada Proud, to advocate in the upcoming [2019 Canadian] federal election.
[reference] Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan
[reference] Parkland_Institute.html
[2019-07-25] Nothing charitable about mind manipulation.
Mentions: Alberta (Jason Kenney) | Parkland Institute | Fraser Institute | Charles Koch
Two think tanks most often quoted in Alberta are the Parkland Institute on the left and the Fraser Institute on the right. Under the guise of independent researchers, they pump out reports to sway public opinion and economic policy. Yet both can cherry-pick data to shape public perspective in line with their donor's wishes. ... The Koch brothers were the leaders in this movement and today they are the largest donor of foreign dollars to the Fraser Institute. ... Liberal and Conservative political parties and the Canadian public have bought into their mantra that low taxes, few regulations, small government and trickle-down economics benefit everyone. Nothing is further from the truth, but it is a testament to the power of money. Today, corporations run governments for the good of corporations, and in the United States they own the White House. As Paul Krugman, a Nobel Prize winner said, "When you have a few people who are so wealthy that they can effectively buy the political system, the political system is going to tend to serve their interests".
[2016-09-22] The New Climate Denialism: Time for an intervention.
Mentions: Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) | Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) | Climate change denial | Corporate Mapping Project | Koch Brothers | Parkland Institute
[reference] ProudPolitics
ProudPolitics is a Canadian cross-partisan organization dedicated to increasing the number of openly LGBT public officials in Canadian politics. The group was inspired by the LGBTQ Victory Fund in the United States, which offers grassroots leadership training, networking and mentoring programs for aspiring politicians who are part of the lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender communities. Unlike the Victory Fund, however, ProudPolitics does not offer direct fundraising for candidates due to Canada's differing laws around election finance.
See also: LGBTQ Victory Fund
[reference] Samara Centre for Democracy [Samara Canada | "Samara Project"]
Formerly: The Samara Project
[reference] SecondStreet.org
Founded by Troy Lanigan, President of the Canada Strong and Free Network [formerly: Manning Centre]
Alias: Cartwright Centre
[reference] Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship
[reference] United Liberty [defunct]
[2017-06-22] Derek Fildebrandt launches "United Liberty" group.
Group aimed at convincing Wildrose and Progressive Conservative members to vote in favour of merging parties
[2017-06-22] Wildrose MLA Derek Fildebrandt launches "United Liberty" group
[reference] Vaccine Choice Canada
Vaccine Choice Canada (VCC) is Canada's main anti-vaccination disinformation group. Vaccine Choice Canada was founded in the 1980s under the name Vaccination Risk Awareness Network (VRAN) and adopted its current name in 2014. Vaccine Choice Canada has been contributing to vaccine hesitancy in Canada, encouraging citizens to forego immunization and legislators to support anti-vaccine regulations and legislation. [See also: herd immunity.]
See also: Hugs Over Masks, a COVID-19 pandemic anti-mask disinformation, troll group allied with Vaccine Choice Canada.
[Vice.com, 2020-10-21] The Anti-Mask Revolution Was Organized on Facebook. Shortly after VICE News reached out about Canadian anti-masker groups, Facebook deleted several of them.
[2020-06-25] Group That Ran Anti-Teacher Attack Ads Featuring Fake Mom Violated Ontario Elections Act.
Vaughan millionaire behind to 'Vaughan Working Families' group has ties to Education Minister Stephen Lecce
[2020-06-24] Elections Ontario says attack ads against education unions may have violated provincial law [includes video]
[2020-02-13] Quinto Annibale: Lawyer linked to Ontario education union attack ads went on government-led trade mission [includes video]
[2020-02-08] Group Behind Mysterious Anti-Teacher Attack Ads Chaired By a Well-Connected Conservative Millionaire.
Mysterious 'Vaughan Working Families' group is linked to one of the richest and most powerful men in Vaughan
[2020-02-07] Mysterious newspaper ads slamming teachers' unions may have possible PC connections
U.S. IRS: Tax Exempt Organization Search
A 527-organization or 527 group is a type of U.S. tax-exempt organization organized under Section 527 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. § 527). A 527 group is created primarily to influence the selection, nomination, election, appointment or defeat of candidates to federal, state or local public office.
Technically, almost all political committees, including state, local, and federal candidate committees, traditional political action committees, "Super PACs," and political parties are "527s." However, in common practice the term is usually applied only to such organizations that are not regulated under state or federal campaign finance laws because they do not "expressly advocate" for the election or defeat of a candidate or party.
There are no upper limits on contributions to 527s and no restrictions on who may contribute. There are no spending limits imposed on these organizations. The organizations must register with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), publicly disclose their donors and file periodic reports of contributions and expenditures.
Because they may not expressly advocate for specific candidates or coordinate with any candidate's campaign, many 527s are used to raise money to spend on issue advocacy and voter mobilization. Examples of 527s are Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, The Media Fund, America Coming Together, the Progress for America Voter Fund, and the Secretary of State Project.
Political Action Committee [PAC]
[reference] USA-Politics-PAC.html
In the United States, a political action committee (PAC) is a 527 organization that pools campaign contributions from members and donates those funds to campaigns for or against candidates, ballot initiatives, or legislation. The legal term PAC has been created in pursuit of campaign finance reform in the United States. This term is quite specific to all activities of campaign finance in the United States. Democracies of other countries use different terms for the units of campaign spending or spending on political competition (see political finance). At the U.S. federal level, an organization becomes a PAC when it receives or spends more than $1,000 for the purpose of influencing a federal election, and registers with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), according to the Federal Election Campaign Act as amended by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (also known as the McCain-Feingold Act). At the state level, an organization becomes a PAC according to the state's election laws.
Contributions from corporate or labor union treasuries are illegal, though they may sponsor a PAC and provide financial support for its administration and fundraising. Union-affiliated PACs may only solicit contributions from members. Independent PACs may solicit contributions from the general public and must pay their own costs from those funds.
Super PAC [SuperPAC]
[reference] USA-Politics-PAC.html
Super PACs, officially known as "independent expenditure-only political action committees," may engage in unlimited political spending (on, for example, ad-buys) independently of the campaigns, but are not allowed to either coordinate or make contributions to candidate campaigns or party coffers. Unlike traditional PACs, Super PACs can raise funds from individuals, corporations, unions, and other groups without any legal limit on donation size.
Super PACs were made possible by two judicial decisions in 2010: Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission and, two months later, Speechnow.org v. FEC. In Speechnow.org, the federal Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit held that PACs that did not make contributions to candidates, parties, or other PACs could accept unlimited contributions from individuals, unions, and corporations (both for profit and not-for-profit) for the purpose of making independent expenditures.
The result of the Citizens United and SpeechNow.org decisions was the rise of a new type of political action committee in 2010, popularly dubbed the "super PAC." ... According to FEC advisories, Super PACs are not allowed to coordinate directly with candidates or political parties. This restriction is intended to prevent them from operating campaigns that complement or parallel those of the candidates they support or engaging in negotiations that could result in quid pro quo bargaining between donors to the PAC and the candidate or officeholder. However, it is legal for candidates and Super PAC managers to discuss campaign strategy and tactics through the media.
[OpenSecrets.org, 2020-10-06] While Biden's campaign pulled negative ads, super PACs kept attacking Trump.
A 501(c)(3) organization is a corporation, trust, unincorporated association, or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 501(c) nonprofit organizations in the US.
501(c)(3) tax-exemptions apply to entities that are organized and operated exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific, literary, or educational purposes, for testing for public safety, to foster national or international amateur sports competition, for the prevention of cruelty to children, women, or animals. 501(c)(3) exemption applies also for any non-incorporated community chest, fund, cooperating association or foundation organized and operated exclusively for those purposes. There are also supporting organizations-often referred to in shorthand form as "Friends of" organizations.
26 U.S.C. § 170 provides a deduction for federal income tax purposes, for some donors who make charitable contributions to most types of 501(c)(3) organizations, among others. Regulations specify which such deductions must be verifiable to be allowed (e.g., receipts for donations of $250 or more).
Due to the tax deductions associated with donations, loss of 501(c)(3) status can be highly challenging if not fatal to a charity's continued operation, as many foundations and corporate matching funds do not grant funds to a charity without such status, and individual donors often do not donate to such a charity due to the unavailability of the deduction.
A 501(c)(4) organization is a social welfare organization, such as a civic organization or a neighborhood association. An organization is considered by the IRS to be operated exclusively for the promotion of social welfare if it is primarily engaged in promoting the common good and general welfare of the people of the community. Net earnings must be exclusively used for charitable, educational, or recreational purposes.
According to The Washington Post, 501(c)4 organizations:
...are allowed to participate in politics, so long as politics do not become their primary focus. What that means in practice is that they must spend less than 50 percent of their money on politics. So long as they don't run afoul of that threshold, the groups can influence elections, which they typically do through advertising.
Allowed activities. 501(c)4s are similar to 501(c)5s and 501(c)6s in that the organizations may inform the public on controversial subjects and attempt to influence legislation relevant to its program and, unlike 501(c)3 organizations, they may also participate in political campaigns and elections, as long as their primary activity is the promotion of social welfare and related to the organization's purpose. ...
Contributions. Contributions to 501(c)4 organizations are not tax-deductible as charitable donations unless the organization is either a volunteer fire department or a veterans organization. Dues or contributions to 501(c)4 organizations may be deductible as a business expense under IRC 162, although amounts paid for intervention or participation in any political campaign, direct lobbying, grass roots lobbying, and contact with certain federal officials are not deductible. ...
A 501(c)4 organization is not required to disclose their donors publicly, with the exception of organizations that make independent expenditures as of 2018. The former complete lack of disclosure led to extensive use of the 501(c)4 provisions for organizations that are actively involved in lobbying, and has become controversial. Criticized as "dark money," spending from these organizations on political advertisements has exceeded spending from Super PACs. Spending by organizations that do not disclose their donors increased from less than $5.2 million in 2006 to well over $300 million during the 2012 election season.
Every organization, including a 501(c)4 organization, that expressly advocates for the election or defeat of a particular political candidate and spends more than $250 during a calendar year must disclose the name of each person who contributed more than $200 during the calendar year to the Federal Election Commission. The Federal Election Commission is required to enforce this provision based on a federal court decision in 2018.
Under U.S. federal law, "the IRS is required to provide the public with certain tax information [IRS Form 990] for 501(c)(4) organizations upon request -- but personal identifying information of donors must be redacted by the agency."
A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is an organization traditionally dedicated to furthering a particular social cause or advocating a shared point of view. In economic terms, it is an organization using the surplus of its revenues to further its objective, rather than distributing its income to the organization's shareholders, leaders, or members. Being public extensions of a nation's revenue department, nonprofits are tax-exempt or charitable, meaning they do not pay income tax on the money that they receive for their organization. They can operate in religious, scientific, research, or educational settings.
The key aspects of nonprofits are accountability, trustworthiness, honesty, and openness to every person who has invested time, money, and faith into the organization. Nonprofit organizations are accountable to the donors, founders, volunteers, program recipients, and the public community. Public confidence is a factor in the amount of money that a nonprofit organization is able to raise. The more nonprofits focus on their mission, the more public confidence they will have, and as a result, more money for the organization. The activities a nonprofit is partaking in can help build the public's confidence in nonprofits, as well as how ethical the standards and practices are.
[2018-06-27] Janus v. AFSCME
Issue decided: the power of labor unions to collect fees from non-union members. The Supreme Court ruled that such union fees in the public sector violate the First Amendment right to free speech, overturning the 1977 decision in Abood v. Detroit Board of Education that had previously allowed such fees.
[InTheseTimes.com, 2018-{02|03}] Behind Janus: Documents Reveal Decade-Long Plot to Kill Public-Sector Unions. The Supreme Court case Janus v. AFSCME is poised to decimate public-sector unions-and it's been made possible by a network of right-wing billionaires, think tanks and corporations. | local copy
The Roman god Janus was known for having two faces. It is a fitting name for the U.S. Supreme Court case scheduled for oral arguments February 26 2018, Janus v. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Council 31, that could deal a devastating blow to public-sector unions and workers nationwide.
In the past decade, a small group of people working for deep-pocketed corporate interests, conservative think tanks and right-wing foundations have bankrolled a series of lawsuits to end what they call "forced unionization." They say they fight in the name of "free speech," "worker rights" and "workplace freedom." In briefs before the court, they present their public face: carefully selected and appealing plaintiffs like Illinois child-support worker Mark Janus and California schoolteacher Rebecca Friedrichs. The language they use is relentlessly pro-worker.
Behind closed doors, a different face is revealed. Those same people cheer "defunding" and "bankrupting" unions to deal a "mortal blow" to progressive politics in America.
A key director of this charade is the State Policy Network (SPN), whose game plan is revealed in a union-busting toolkit uncovered by the Center for Media and Democracy. The first rule of the national network of right-wing think tanks that are pushing to dismantle unions? "Rule #1: Be pro-worker, not anti-union. ... Don't rant against unions. ... Using phrases like 'union fat cats' and 'corrupt union bosses' and other negative language reduces support for reform."
And yet, SPN groups have systematically spearheaded attacks on unions and workers in statehouses and courtrooms nationwide. The Janus case, and its precursor, Friedrichs v. the California Teachers Association, represent SPN's most audacious move yet, an effort to kneecap the unions of public-sector workers-including teachers, nurses, sanitation workers, park rangers, prison guards, police and firefighters-in a single blow. ...
Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association is a United States labor law case that came before the Supreme Court of the United States. At issue in the case was whether Abood v. Detroit Board of Education (1977) should be overruled, with public-sector "agency shop" arrangements invalidated under the First Amendment, and whether it violates the First Amendment to require that public employees affirmatively object to subsidizing nonchargeable speech by public-sector unions, rather than requiring employees to consent affirmatively to subsidizing such speech. Specifically, the case concerned public sector collective bargaining by the California Teachers Association, an affiliate of the National Education Association.
Justice Antonin Scalia died shortly after the case was argued in front of the Supreme Court, leaving only eight members to decide the case. In the end, the result was a non-precedential per curiam opinion affirming the lower-court decision by an equally-divided Supreme Court. On June 28, 2016, the rehearing petition submitted by the Center for Individual Rights (CIR) was denied, letting the Ninth Circuit's decision stand as its final judgment.
In 2017, after regaining a ninth Justice, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a substantially similar case, Janus v. AFSCME.
Synopsis of Dark Money Campaign Financing and U.S. Constitution Article V Reform
[Wikipedia] Citizens United v. FEC
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. 310 [Supreme Court of the U.S., decided 2010-01-21], was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States concerning campaign finance. The Court held that the free speech clause of the First Amendment prohibits the government from restricting independent expenditures for political communications by corporations, including nonprofit corporations, labor unions, and other associations.
Citizens United v. FEC overturned the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) of 2003, commonly known as McCain-Feingold.
The case arose after Citizens United, a conservative non-profit organization, sought to air and advertise a film critical of Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton shortly before the 2008 Democratic primary elections. ...
... The ruling effectively freed labor unions and corporations to spend money on electioneering communications and to directly advocate for the election or defeat of candidates. In his dissenting opinion, Associate Justice John Paul Stevens argued that the Court's ruling represented "a rejection of the common sense of the American people, who have recognized a need to prevent corporations from undermining self government."
...The ruling had a major impact on campaign finance, allowing unlimited election spending by corporations and labor unions and fueling the rise of Super PACs. Later rulings by the Roberts Court, including McCutcheon v. FEC (2014), would strike down other campaign finance restrictions. Studies show that the Citizens United ruling boosted the electoral success of Republican candidates. ...
McCutcheon v. FEC was a landmark decision of the US Supreme Court on campaign finance. The decision held that Section 441 of the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA), which imposed a limit on contributions an individual can make over a two-year period to national party and federal candidate committees, is unconstitutional.
[2020-10-13] "Must-watch / read:" Senator Sheldon Whitehouse Schools Amy Coney Barrett on Dark Money. Superb presentation illustrating Republican Party and dark money influencers on vested special interests (abolition of: affordable health care, access to abortions, LGBTQ+ rights, judicial freedom; concentration of obfuscated power; ...).
Since many dark money group ads stop short of explicitly calling for the election or defeat of a specific candidate, the spending doesn't have to be disclosed to the FEC. [Source.]
An "Ad buy" refers to a campaign messaging strategy that targets potential voters via paid media advertisements. Historically, the most common form of ad buying has been over broadcast television, and the decision concerning when and how much advertising space to purchase is typically handled by a campaign's media consultant. Ad buys can also be done on digital platforms, which some campaigns use to target specific sets of voters based on their internet search key terms and self-defined interests on social media. ... [Source: Ballotpedia.org | local copy (html)]
[reference] New faces emerge among top political donors in 2020.
See also: Adelson Foundation
[reference] New faces emerge among top political donors in 2020.
[NPR.org, 2020-10-15] Adelsons Pump $75 Million Into Pro-Trump Super PAC In Election's Final Stretch. Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam, pumped $75 million into a pro-Trump super PAC in the final stretch of the presidential campaign, providing a late cash infusion for President Trump's faltering reelection effort as his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, raked in record-breaking sums. The Adelsons made the series of contributions in late August 2020 and September 2020 to the Preserve America PAC, according to Federal Election Commission filings, allowing the newly formed group to blanket swing states with attack ads against Biden.
[reference] Michael Bloomberg Vowed To Spend Whatever It Takes To Beat Trump. Democrats Are Still Waiting
[2020-03-09] Mike Bloomberg donates $2M to group [Collective PAC] looking to turn out black voters
[reference] Edward Blum
[reference] Elliott Broidy
Elliott B. Broidy is an American venture capitalist, businessman, and Republican Party fundraiser. From 2005 to 2008, Elliott Broidy served as Finance Chairman of the Republican National Committee< (RNC). In 2009, Elliott Broidy was convicted in a public corruption and bribery case in New York. From 2017 to April 2018 Elliott Broidy was a Deputy Finance Chairman of the RNC, resigning after The Wall Street Journal reported that he had been a party to a non-disclosure agreement with former Playboy Playmate Shera Bechard, under which he paid $1.6 million for her silence about a sexual affair between them. As of May 2019, the United States Department of Justice was investigating Elliott Broidy's business and political dealings.
[theDailyBeast.com, 2020-10-08] Former Trump Mega-Fundraiser Charged in Foreign Influence Scheme. Elliott Broidy allegedly tried to influence the Trump administration on behalf of a Malaysian businessman at the center of a huge money laundering conspiracy.
[reference] Jim DeMint
Notable affiliations: Heritage Foundation
[reference] Carl Forti
Co-Founder, Black Rock Group, a subsidiary of BlackRock
Political Director, American Crossroads
[reference] Frank J. Gaffney, Jr. [Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.]
Frank J. Gaffney Jr., an American anti-Muslim conspiracy theorist, is the Founder and President of the Center for Security Policy. In the 1970s and 1980s, Frank J. Gaffney Jr. worked for the federal government in multiple posts, including seven months as Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs during the Reagan administration.
The Center for Security Policy (CSP) is a Washington, D.C.-based national security think tank that has been widely described as engaging in conspiracy theorizing by a range of individuals, media outlets and organizations. CSP's activities are focused on exposing and researching perceived jihadist threats to the United States. The Anti-Defamation League has said that Frank J. Gaffney Jr. "has promulgated a number of anti-Muslim conspiracy theories over the years" and that he has "undue influence" relative to other like-minded figures.
In the 1990s, Frank J. Gaffney Jr. became known in Washington, D.C. for "fax wars" he waged, whereby his "small but loyal following" would be encouraged to inundate the offices of members of Congress with faxes.
[reference] Floyd Arthur Harper
Founder, Institute for Humane Studies
See main article: Tim Francis LaHaye
... In 1981 Tim LaHaye helped found the powerful and secretive Council for National Policy (CNP), a policy making think tank in which membership is only available through invitation. CNP has been reported "the most powerful conservative organization in America you've never heard of."
[reference] Steven J. Law
Steven J. Law -- notable affiliations:
[2012-10-30] Steven J. Law: Head of Crossroads GPS once a Mitch McConnell aide, now his political ally
[reference] Leonard A. Leo [Leonard Leo]
Leonard A. Leo (born 1965) is an American lawyer and conservative activist. Leonard Leo has led campaigns to support the Supreme Court nominations of John Roberts, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh.
Leonard A. Leo -- Notable associations:
[reference] Cleta Mitchell
Notable affiliations: Partner, Foley & Lardner LLP | co-Chair, American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)'s voter suppression task force | past Chairman, American Conservative Union Foundation | Board of Directors, Bradley Foundation | legal counsel for Steve Bannon's fraudulent Citizens of the American Republic | legal counsel for Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC; past-President, Heritage Foundation) | Chair, Public Interest Legal Foundation (where the notorious financier Neil Corkery is the Treasurer)
[reference] Carrie Severino
The current leader of the Judicial Crisis Network is Carrie Severino. Carrie Severino was previously a law clerk to United States Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and to Judge David B. Sentelle of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Carrie Severino is married to the appallingly vile and pernicious transphobe Roger Severino.
[reference] Paul Elliott Singer | Paul Singer
Paul Elliott Singer is an American billionaire hedge fund manager, activist investor, and philanthropist, with a net worth of $3.6 billion. Paul Singer is also the founder and CEO of NML Capital Limited, a Cayman Islands company.
Paul Singer's philanthropic activities include financial support for LGBTQ rights. Paul Singer has provided funding to the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, is a strong opponent of raising taxes for the wealthiest 1% of taxpayers and opposes aspects of the Dodd-Frank Act. Paul Singer is active in Republican Party politics and Singer and others affiliated with Elliott Management Corporation (EMC) are collectively "the top source of contributions" to the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
[Wikipedia] Republic of Argentina v. NML Capital, Ltd.
[theIntercept.com, 2020-10-15] As Paul Singer Donated Millions to Republican Governors Association, Public Funds Flowed Into His Hedge Funds. Funds were invested despite the fact that Singer's flagship hedge fund has been badly underperforming the market over the past decade.
[2020-02-14] "must-read:" NYC Taxpayers Spending Millions On Cyber Center With Controversial Ties To Israeli Intelligence.
[reference] Virginia Lamp Thomas [Ginni Thomas | Virginia Thomas]
Virginia "Ginni" Lamp Thomas is an American attorney and lobbyist who founded the conservative advocacy group Liberty Central. Virginia Thomas, who previously worked at The Heritage Foundation -- a neoliberal, anti-feminist, conspiracy theorist -- is a well-connected political lobbyist.
From 1985 to 1989, Virginia Thomas was employed as an attorney and labor relations specialist at the United States Chamber of Commerce, attending congressional hearings where she lobbied on behalf of the interests of the business community. Virginia Thomas' advocacy included arguing against the passage of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which requires larger employers to provide temporary unpaid leave to employees to care for a new child or during a serious personal or family illness.
In 1991, Virginia Thomas returned to government service in the Legislative Affairs Office of the United States Department of Labor, where she argued against comparable-worth legislation that would have mandated equal pay for women and men in jobs deemed to be comparable.
In late 2009, Thomas started the nonprofit lobbying group Liberty Central, to organize conservative activists, issue score cards for Congress members, and be involved in elections. The group is aimed at opposing what Virginia Thomas has called the leftist "tyranny" of President Barack Obama and Congressional Democrats and "protecting the core founding principles" of the nation.
In February 2011, Politico reported that Thomas was the head of a new company, Liberty Consulting, which filed incorporation papers in mid-November 2010. The company's website states that clients can use Thomas' "experience and connections" to help "with "governmental affairs efforts" and political donation strategies. The Washington Post described Liberty Consulting as "a one-woman shop" where Thomas advised political donors how to direct funds in the post-Citizens United landscape.
In July 2013, Thomas was identified as a key member of Groundswell, a coalition of right-wing activists and journalists attempting to make political change behind the scenes through lobbying of high-level contacts.
[reference] John Michael Tillman
John Tillman -- notable affiliations:
[reference] Paul Michael Weyrich | Paul Weyrich
[reference] 45 Alliance
[2020-03-30] Tax Form Emphasizes Mysterious Dark Money Group's Ties to Trump
[2020-01-14] Trump Transition Gave $150K to Mysterious Pro-Trump Dark Money Group
[2019-12-02] Trump Appointees Wined and Dined by Pro-Trump Non-Profit Group at Trump Hotel
[2020-07-31] Here Are the Billionaires Funding Trump's Voter Suppression Lawsuits.
Dozens of billionaires have donated to the RNC's legal fund that is being used to fight against expanded access to mail voting
[reference] Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty ["Acton Institute"]
The Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty is an American research and educational institution (think tank), with an office in Rome, whose stated mission is "to promote a free and virtuous society characterized by individual liberty and sustained by religious principles." The Acton Institute's work supports free market economic policy framed within Judeo-Christian morality. Acton Institute also organizes seminars "to educate religious leaders of all denominations, business executives, entrepreneurs, university professors, and academic researchers in economics principles."
See also: Foundation for Economic Education.
[reference] Sheldon Adelson and Miriam Adelson: Adelson Foundation | Adelson Family Foundation
For the 2018 United States elections Adelson donated approximately $113 million to Trump / Republican Party through various conservative political action committees.
It is estimated Adelson will donate $200 million to Trump and the GOP for 2020 election cycle.
Sheldon Adelson is a major funder of the Congressional Leadership Fund ($55 million in 2018 election cycle)!
[reference] Adolph Coors Foundation
The Adolph Coors Foundation was founded in 1975 with funds from the Adolph Coors Jr. Trust. Adolph Coors II was the son of the founder of the Coors Brewing Company in Golden, Colorado. The foundation has awarded $135.3 million USD since 1975. It focuses its efforts generally within the state of Colorado. In 1993 it provided the endowment funds for the creation of the Castle Rock Foundation, which awards grants to causes throughout the United States. In part, the organization states that "All Americans are educated, particularly in the wisdom of the free enterprise system, traditional Judeo-Christian values and the rule of law."
[reference] Castle Rock Foundation
The Castle Rock Foundation was an American conservative foundation started in 1993 with an endowment of $36.6M from the Adolph Coors Foundation. The Castle Rock Foundation ranked as Colorado's 15th largest foundation by assets at the end of 2001. The Castle Rock Foundation gathered media attention during Pete Coors' unsuccessful 2004 Senate run, when opponents pointed at the dichotomy between the Coors Brewing Company's attempt to appeal to a broad audience, in particular with minorities and gay customers, while the Castle Rock Foundation was used by the Coors family to fund several conservative initiatives intent on curtailing the rights of these same customers.
The Castle Rock Foundation merged into the Adolph Coors Foundation on November 30, 2011.
[reference] Alliance Defending Freedom [also mentions Noel Francisco]
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF, formerly Alliance Defense Fund) is an American conservative Christian nonprofit organization with the stated goal of advocating, training, and funding on the issues of "religious freedom, sanctity of life, and marriage and family." Because of its budget, caseload, and network of allied attorneys, ADF is seen as the most organized and influential Christian legal interest group in the United States. ADF has argued nine cases before the Supreme Court and won all of them. The Southern Poverty Law Center designates the ADF as an anti-LGBTQ hate group.
[2020-06-26] Affordable Care Act: Obamacare Must 'Fall,' Trump Administration Tells Supreme Court
[2020-06-26] Affordable Care Act: 'Unfathomable Cruelty': Trump Files Legal Brief Aiming to Kick 20 Million Off Health Insurance in Middle of Pandemic.
"We need to be guaranteeing healthcare for all, not gutting it from millions."
Full repeal of the ACA would also deliver massive tax cuts to the richest Americans and big corporations.
[2020-06-24] Affordable Care Act: ACA Repeal Lawsuit Would Cut Taxes for Top 0.1 Percent by an Average of $198,000
See also: Competitive Enterprise Institute: Challenges to the Affordable Care Act
[2020-06-11] [Noel Francisco] White House's top lawyer at the Supreme Court to resign
[lawsuit filed 2018-04-24] Uncovering the Solicitor General's ties to a hate group.
We filed a lawsuit against the Department of Justice to reveal Solicitor General Noel Francisco's ties to the Alliance Defending Freedom, a group identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an "Anti-LGBT Hate Group."
[reference] Alliance for Justice
Alliance for Justice (AFJ), a progressive judicial advocacy group in the United States, monitors federal judicial appointments. AFJ represents a coalition of 100 politically liberal groups that have an interest in the federal judiciary. The Alliance for Justice presents a liberal viewpoint on legal issues.
[reference] American Action Network | American Action Forum
Dark money group tied to Republican party
[2020-07-16] House GOP super PAC relies on 'dark money' in bid to take back lost seats.
The Congressional Leadership Fund has received nearly $20 million from American Action Network
[2018-12-04] Dan Conston Takes Helm of Top House GOP Outside Groups. Conston will lead the Congressional Leadership Fund and American Action Network
[reference] American Bridge 21st Century ["American Bridge"]
Dark money group tied to Democratic party
[reference] American Conservative Union
The American Conservative Union (ACU) is an American political organization that advocates for conservative policies, ranks politicians based on their level of conservatism, and organizes the Conservative Political Action Conference. The ACU is concerned with what they define as foundations of conservatism, issues such as personal liberty or freedom, foreign policy, and traditional values.
[reference] American Crossroads
American Crossroads is a Super PAC that advocates for certain Republican Party candidates. American Crossroads pioneered many of the new methods of "dark money" fundraising opened up by the Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United v. the FEC.
American Crossroads' sister organization Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies [Crossroads GPS] is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit corporation whose primary purpose is the advancement of social welfare including public policy advocacy.
[2010-10-05] Crossroads GPS: Karl Rove group spends big in Election 2010, but is it legal?
GOP strategist Karl Rove is sending big money to Republicans in close Election 2010 races. But two campaign watchdogs are asking the IRS to investigate his tax-exempt 'social welfare' group.
[reference] American Economic Liberties Project
[2020-05-28] Trump's Executive Order on Section 230 Is Just a Distraction
[2020-02-11] American Economic Liberties Project: She Wants to Break Up Big Everything.
Trustbusting advocates like Sarah Miller, who target corporate power, have finally found themselves at the center of the political conversation
Fight Corporate Monopolies
[reference] Fight Corporate Monopolies
Fight Corporate Monopolies is an affiliate of the American Economic Liberties Project, an organization aimed at lobbying government to take on corporate greed.
[2020-07-07] Fight Corporate Monopolies: New progressive group will hit Neal in Massachusetts.
One of the individuals behind the new nonprofit is Faiz Shakir, Bernie Sanders' former campaign manager
[2020-07-07] "Richard Neal Is in Trouble:" $300,000 Ad Campaign Targets Powerful Congressman Over Stonewalling of Anti-Surprise Medical Billing Proposal.
"All of a sudden taking corporate money and crafting policy to benefit monopolies can now get you in trouble back home"
[2020-09-02] "Coordinated Homophobic Attack" on Alex Morse Denounced as Progressive Challenger Falls Short of Ousting Corporate Rep. Richard Neal.
"We're not done yet," said Morse, who slammed Neal for raking in money from corporations that are "exploiting the working class people of this community and of this country."
[reference] American Encore [formerly: Center to Protect Patient Rights]
American Encore, formerly known as The Center to Protect Patient Rights (CPPR), is a Koch-funded organization that was founded in 2009 in opposition to the Affordable Care Act. In February 2014, CPPR changed its name to American Encore, stating more broadly that it "advocates limited government and free enterprise and is committed to protecting individual liberty, including the rights of patients to choose and use their desired medical care providers."
[reference] American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research [American Enterprise Institute]
[2020-08-06] I've Witnessed the Decline of the Republican Party.
Over five decades, the GOP has transformed into something I no longer recognize
[reference] America First Policies | America First Action (affiliated super PAC)
America First Policies is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit social-welfare organization that promotes the "America First" policy agenda of the Donald Trump presidential campaign. America First Policies has courted controversy, as one of its directors was forced to resign due to racist and America First Policies comments and another adviser was caught proclaiming support for the Nazis on video. America First Policies and its affiliated super PAC, America First Action>, have faced criticism for their high turnover of Republican donors.
[reference] New faces emerge among top political donors in 2020.
... Timothy Mellon, chairman of Pan Am Systems and grandson of famed Pittsburgh banker Andrew Mellon, contributed over $40 million to Republican causes this election cycle [2020], but only became a top GOP donor recently. In the 2018 election cycle, Timothy Mellon contributed $10 million to the GOP-aligned Congressional Leadership Fund. This cycle [2020], Timothy Mellon gave $20 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, $10 million to America First Action, and again donated $10 million to the Congressional Leadership Fund. ...
[2020-09-22] Top presidential super PACs boosted by "dark money" donations
[2020-09-22] Top presidential super PACs boosted by "dark money" donations
[2020-08-12] Pro-Trump "news" site is run by Trump's super PAC -- and that raises legal questions.
The American Herald looks like a conservative news site, but it's run by pro-Trump super PAC America First Action
[reference] American Family Association
The American Family Association (AFA) -- DeVos-funded anti-LGBTQ+ hate group -- is a Christian fundamentalist that opposes LGBT rights and expression, pornography, and abortion. Part of the religious right, the AFA defined itself as "a Christian organization promoting the biblical ethic of decency in American society with primary emphasis on television and other media," later switching their stated emphasis to "moral issues that impact the family."
AFA has been listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) since November 2010 for the "propagation of known falsehoods" and the use of "demonizing propaganda" against LGBT people.
[reference] American Future Fund
The American Future Fund, a 501(c)(4) tax-exempt organization, describes itself as providing Americans with "a conservative and free market viewpoint." In 2010, the American Future Fund reported over 9 million dollars of independent campaign expenditures to the Federal Election Commission, and all of its expenditures benefited Republicans. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the American Future Fundranked fourth in spending by nonprofits during the 2012 federal elections.
While the American Future Fund does not disclose the names of those who provide its funding. The Koch brothers have acknowledged funding the American Freedom Fund.
The American Future Fund is affiliated with American Encore (formerly the Center to Protect Patient Rights, or CPPR). Between 2009 and 2012, CPPR distributed more that $63 million to the American Future Fund.
[reference] American Hospital Association
The American Hospital Association (AHA) is a health care industry trade group that includes nearly 5,000 hospitals and health care providers. AHA has lobbied against Medicare for All proposals, and has filed lawsuits to stop the U.S. government from requiring that hospitals make their prices public.
[reference] American Legislative Exchange Council [ALEC]
[resource, ExposedByCMD.org] American Legislative Exchange Council
Associated with: climate change denial | racism: { racist voter ID laws | immigration, enforcement | association with white supremacists } | anti-protest legislation | anti-LGBTQ+ legislation | voter manipulation | subversion of democratic principles | neoliberalism | prison state (for-profit prisons) | opposition to universal healthcare | privitization of education | ...
According to the Center For Public Integrity, in 2011 ALEC received $150,000 from Charles and David Koch. Greenpeace claims that ALEC received $525,858 from the Koch foundations between 2005 and 2011.
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a corporate bill mill. ALEC is not just a lobby or a front group; it is much more powerful than that. Through ALEC, corporations hand state legislators their wishlists to benefit their bottom line. Corporations fund almost all of ALEC's operations. They pay for a seat on ALEC task forces where corporate lobbyists and special interest reps vote with elected officials to approve "model" bills.
[resource] StandUpToALEC: the Swamp is coming to the States; special interests and the American Legislative Exchange Council are trying to ooze into state government. Stop the Swamp.
[resource] ALEC: Gerrymandering Efforts [Discrimination]
[2020-08-06] ALEC and GOP Push Corporate Immunity From COVID-19 Workplace Illnesses and Deaths
[2020-07-16] American Legislative Exchange Council Backs Trump on Confederate Monuments, Policing.
ALEC's decision to align itself with a racist and divisive president marks a dramatic return to the organization's earlier support for racist policies, and comes at a time when 90 percent of Black Americans disapprove of Trump's response to the murder of George Floyd
[2019-06-06] New ALEC Membership List Names More Legislators Tied to the Group
[reference] American Liberty Fund
Republican Party-linked donor group.
[ExposedByCMD.org, 2020-10-01] Trump Megadonors, Freedom Caucus, and CEOs Bankroll QAnon-Supporting, Extremist Candidates.
[reference] American Opportunity [formerly: Free Congress Research and Education Foundation, aka Free Congress Foundation]
American Opportunity (formerly the Free Congress Research and Education Foundation, aka "Free Congress Foundation") is a conservative American think tank founded by Paul Weyrich. Under Weyrich, The Free Congress Foundation had focused on cultural concerns such as forming the "next conservatism," anti-abortion, public transportation concerns, and Fourth-generation warfare. Since 2010, the American Opportunity organization has focused on lowering taxes, with the aim of completely removing all taxes on shareholder dividends and capital gains, as well as removing the inheritance tax entirely.
See also: Free Congress Research and Education Foundation [Free Congress Foundation], which later became American Opportunity.
[reference] American_Oversight
American Oversight is a non-partisan, nonprofit ethics watchdog and is the top Freedom of Information Act litigator investigating the Trump administration. American Oversight's State Accountability Project investigates voter suppression and other threats to democracy across the country, including targeted investigations in Florida, Georgia, and Texas. Relying on FOIA and other public records laws, American Oversight files requests to uncover misconduct that otherwise would not see daylight, then harnesses the independent power of the courts to force the U.S. government to obey the law.
[reference] American Tort Reform Association [ATRA]
The American Tort Reform Association (ATRA) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to reforming the civil justice system and advocating for tort reform.
[reference] American Working Families
"American Working Families seeks to defend and expand access to opportunity for working Americans. "Our mission is to put American working families first and to stop wealthy corporations, special interests, and political insiders from polluting our democracy and making life more difficult for people at home."
NOTE: Homophobic, single-candidate super PAC in support of Democratic Party member Richard E. Neal.
[2020-09-02] Massachusetts Hopeful Alex Morse Couldn't Overcome Homophobic Smear.
An ad attacking Morse's sex life, funded by supporters of corporate Democrat Rep. Richie Neal, ran through the Democratic primary.
[2020-09-02] "Coordinated Homophobic Attack" on Alex Morse Denounced as Progressive Challenger Falls Short of Ousting Corporate Rep. Richard Neal.
"We're not done yet," said Morse, who slammed Neal for raking in money from corporations that are "exploiting the working class people of this community and of this country."
[2020-08-29; includes video attack ad by American Working Families on Alex Morse]: Outside group pulls ad about Alex Morse after criticism it was homophobic
[2020-08-28] Super PACs Coordinating to Support Richie Neal.
Two separate entities are engaged in what appears to be a joint effort to protect the congressman from a primary challenge.
[2020-08-14] Party Leaders Investigating Origin of Anti-Morse Campaign Helped Orchestrate It, Documents Reveal.
Massachusetts party leaders coached College Democrats ahead of the release of a letter outlining allegations against Alex Morse.
[reference] Americans For Fair Taxation
Americans For Fair Taxation (AFFT), also known as FairTax.org, is a U.S. political advocacy group that is dedicated to fundamental tax code replacement. It is made up of volunteers who are working to get the Fair Tax Act (H.R. 25/S. 122) enacted in the United States -- a plan to replace all federal payroll and income taxes (both corporate and personal) with a national retail sales tax and monthly tax "prebate" to households of citizens and legal resident aliens.
See also: Americans for Tax Reform | Tax Foundation
[reference] Americans for Job Security [defunct, 2016]
[reference] Americans for Prosperity
Funded by Charles and David Koch. Americans for Prosperity was founded in 2004 when internal rivalries caused a split in the conservative political advocacy group Citizens for a Sound Economy, creating Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks. AFP's founding was funded by businessmen and philanthropist brothers David H. Koch and Charles Koch, of Koch Industries. The Americans for Prosperity Foundation is the Koch brothers' primary political advocacy group.
[reference] Americans for Tax Reform
Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) is a politically conservative U.S. advocacy group whose stated goal is "a system in which taxes are simpler, flatter, more visible, and lower than they are today." ATR is known for its "Taxpayer Protection Pledge," which asks candidates for federal and state office to commit themselves in writing to oppose all tax increases. Americans for Tax Reform is an associate member of the State Policy Network, a U.S. national network of free-market oriented think tanks. Americans for Tax Reform is a grantee of Donors Trust, a nonprofit donor-advised fund.
Climate change denial: Americans for Tax Reform is a member of the Cooler Heads Coalition, which is financed and operated by the Competitive Enterprise Institute. The Cooler Heads Coalition, which rejects climate science, is known to promote falsehoods about climate change and has been characterized as a leader in efforts to stop the government from addressing climate change.
See also: Americans for Fair Taxation | Tax Foundation
[reference] Americas PAC
Political advocacy, funding group tied to the Republican Party, targeting minority (Black; Hispanic) voters.
[reference] New faces emerge among top political donors in 2020.
... The Uihleins [Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein] also gave significant amounts -- $17.6 million and $5 million, respectively -- to Restoration PAC, a conservative super PAC that advocates for small government and individual freedom, and Americas PAC, a conservative super PAC that has historically made independent expenditures with the goal of winning the support of Black and Hispanic voters. ...
Richard Uihlein has a history of supporting far-right candidates, and has often supported efforts in opposition to gay and transgender rights.
[FactCheck.org] Americas PAC.
... In the 2016 election cycle, Americas PAC reported raising and spending just under $2 million, of which $1.9 million was donated by Republican donor Richard Uihlein, CEO of Uline Corp., a manufacturer and distributor of shipping, packaging and industrial supplies. ...
[reference] Arabella Advisors
Dark money group tied to Democratic party
[reference] The Sixteen Thirty Fund.
Sixteen Thirty Fund is best known for bankrolling Demand Justice
[2020-07-16] Sixteen Thirty Fund: Influential 'dark money' network steers millions to pro-Biden super PACs
[2020-05-22] 'Dark money' networks hide political agendas behind fake news sites
Arabella Advisors ["Sixteen Thirty Fund," funded in part by Wyss Foundation]
[reference] Arnold Ventures LLC [formerly: The Laura and John Arnold Foundation (LJAF)]
Arnold Ventures has funded a wide range of interventions, including Oregon's open primary ballot, health, education reform, efforts to end public pensions, a data-first approach to criminal justice, and improving reproducibility and transparency in science.
Arnold Ventures has also been described as "another example of billionaire donors becoming ever more sophisticated about using private wealth to influence public policy -- wielding exponentially more power in American life than ordinary citizens of more modest means."
Arnold Ventures has funded various politically-oriented 501(c)4 organizations, many of which advocate pension fund reform, encouraging state and local governments to reduce benefits to workers and to invest assets in riskier investments such as hedge funds. Critics of Arnold Ventures' efforts claim that hedge fund managers, like John Arnold, collect generous sums in fees for managing the funds, while the workers are left with reduced pensions.
[reference] A3P: Article III Project
[2020-05-26] Judicial machine chugs along in Senate amid coronavirus pandemic
[2020-04-03] Conservative dark money groups gear up for battle over DC Circuit Court that once included Brett Kavanaugh
[2019-05-18] Conservative Group Wants to Bring 'Brass Knuckles' Approach to Judicial Fray
[reference] Association of American Physicians and Surgeons
Medical quackery / pseudoscience-pushing influencer group.
[2020-05-21] Doctors push Trump to quickly reopen country in letter organized by conservatives.
Association of American Physicians and Surgeons-Pushed Disinformation Campaign
[reference] Annie E. Casey Foundation
See also: Casey Family Programs.
Though sharing a common origin, the Casey Family Programs are officially a separate, independent entity from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
[2006] The Annie E. Casey Foundation.
Stanford University case study
[reference] Atlantic Philanthropies
The Atlantic Philanthropies commenced a spend-down process in 2012, and its entire portfolio will be liquidated by the end of 2016. The Atlantic Philanthropies plans to fully shutter its doors in 2020.>
[2018-03-04] Atlantic Philanthropies Quietly Closes Its Doors in Ireland After 30 Years of Philanthropy.
Chuck Feeney's "historic act of extraordinary generosity" financed transformational change
[2017-01-05] Atlantic Philanthropies Awards Final Grant to Cornell University
[reference] Atlas Network
Formerly called: Atlas Economic Research Foundation
Canadian nonprofit influencer partners, specifically listed here
Corporate shill: "As of 2005, Atlas had received $440,000 from ExxonMobil, and has received at least $85,000 USD from the tobacco company Philip Morris. Of Atlas Network partners, 57% in the United States had received funding from the tobacco industry. Atlas has received funding from Koch family foundations."
[2018-06-23] What Does the Canadian Taxpayers Federation Get From Its Right-Wing U.S. Partner?.
Atlas Network "has reshaped political power in country after country," report says
[2018-06-23] Canadian Taxpayers Federation a 'partner' of right-wing U.S.-based Atlas Network
[reference] Bauman_Family_Foundation
The Bauman Family Foundation has donated millions of dollars to left-of-center causes over the past decade. The foundation also has ties to the Democracy Alliance. The foundation's head, Patricia Bauman, is a Democratic donor who has contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to progressive and Democratic candidates for office.
The Bauman Family Foundation also supports liberal voter registration initiatives, such as registering voters in key left-leaning demographics such as unmarried women and minorities. The Bauman Family Foundation has also provided money to the Advancement Project which fights against voter ID laws. The Bauman Family Foundation also fights for universal voter registration, new redistricting laws, and restoring the right to vote for felons.
[2014-12-01] The Bauman Family Foundation: Funding community organizers for a progressive paradise
[reference] Bradley Foundation [Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation]
[resource, ExposedByCMD.org] Bradley Files
[2020-10-13] "Must-watch / read:" Senator Sheldon Whitehouse Schools Amy Coney Barrett on Dark Money. Superb presentation illustrating Republican Party and dark money influencers on vested special interests (abolition of: affordable health care, access to abortions, LGBTQ+ rights, judicial freedom; concentration of obfuscated power; ...).
[2020-07-15] "must-read (viz-a-viz funding of "reopen movements"):" Bradley Foundation Bankrolled Right-Wing Reopen Effort Despite Rising Coronavirus Cases.
The political pressure generated by the lobbying and litigation efforts of Bradley-funded groups and President Trump led many states to prematurely roll back stay-at-home safety measures and reopen businesses.
Mentions: "Save Our Country" initiative funded (through support from Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation) by: American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) | Americans for Prosperity (Charles Koch) | Ballotpedia (editor-at-large: Scott Rasmussen), a project of the right-wing Lucy Burns Institute | Committee to Unleash Prosperity (founder: Stephen Moore) | Convention of States | FreedomWorks Foundation | Lucy Burns Institute (founder / President / CEO Leslie Graves is married to the Republican operative Eric O'Keefe, who serves as chairman of the board for Convention of State Action) | Tea Party Patriots | Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce Foundation (President / CEO Kurt Bauer | 501(c)(3) sister organization WMC Foundation)
Save Our Country switched to using "reopen society" instead of "reopen the economy" after polling FreedomWorks commissioned in late April 2020 found that reopening the economy amidst the pandemic was unpopular
[2020-06-09] "must-read:" Bradley [Foundation] Spent Millions on Voter Suppression, Union Busters, Climate Deniers, and Right-Wing Media in 2019.
As part of Bradley's strategic vision, it invests in groups to defund and dismantle unions, to fuel a web of climate change deniers, and to prop up right-wing media
[reference] Climate Change Denial, Pseudoscience: Breakthrough Institute
See also: Ted Nordhaus | Michael Shellenberger
[reference] Brennan Center for Justice
"The Brennan Center for Justice is a nonpartisan law and policy institute. We strive to uphold the values of democracy. We stand for equal justice and the rule of law. We work to craft and advance reforms that will make American democracy work, for all."
[reference] Brookings Institution
Starting with the 1990 election cycle, employees of the Brookings Institution gave $853,017 to Democratic candidates and $26,104 to Republican candidates. In total, since 1990, 96 percent of its political donations have gone to Democrats.
[reference] Buckeye Institute
The Buckeye Institute is a 501(c)(3) nonpartisan, free-market public policy think tank with a mission "to advance free-market public policy in the states." The Buckeye Institute has eight focus areas: accountable government, budget and taxes, education, energy and environment, federalism, health care, labor, and legal. In each of those issue areas, Buckeye staff produce peer-reviewed policy reports, provide expert testimony to Ohio's state legislature and the United States Congress, and submit amicus briefs to state and federal courts, including the Supreme Court of the United States.
[reference] Campaign Legal Center
The Campaign Legal Center (CLC) is a nonpartisan 501(c)(3) that works to reduce the influence of money in politics and to support unrestricted access to voting. CLC supports strong enforcement of United States campaign finance laws. CLC attorneys track and participate in a variety of cases around the country involving campaign finance law at the federal, state and local levels. CLC also directly represents individuals in fighting for their right to access the ballot. CLC's website allows users to track the activities of the Federal Election Commission (FEC), campaign finance legislation, and good-government issues such as lobbying, ethics, and redistricting reform, while its blog offers expert opinion on such matters.
[2010-10-05] Crossroads GPS: Karl Rove group spends big in Election 2010, but is it legal?
GOP strategist Karl Rove is sending big money to Republicans in close Election 2010 races. But two campaign watchdogs are asking the IRS to investigate his tax-exempt 'social welfare' group.
[reference] Carnegie Corporation of New York [Carnegie Foundation]
[reference] Casey Family Programs
See also: Annie E. Casey Foundation.
Though sharing a common origin, the Annie E. Casey Foundation is officially a separate, independent entity from the Casey Family Programs.
[reference] Cato Institute.
The Cato Institute was founded as the Charles Koch Foundation in 1974; in 1976, the name was changed to the Cato Institute.
C-SPAN content related to the Cato Institute
See also the Cato Institute-sponsored libertarian disinformation troll Steven J. Milloy
[reference] Center for American Progress
The Center for American Progress is a public policy research and advocacy organization which presents a liberal viewpoint on economic and social issues. The Center for American Progress was created in 2003 as a left-leaning alternative to conservative think tanks such as the Heritage Foundation, and the American Enterprise Institute.
[reference] Center for Education Reform
[reference] Center for Family and Human Rights
The Center for Family and Human Rights (C-Fam) is a United States-based advocacy group founded in 1997 to affect policy debate at the United Nations and other international institutions. It was formerly known as the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute. The Southern Poverty Law Center lists C-Fam as an anti-LGBT hate group, "heavily focused on global anti-LGBT work", as well as opposing United Nations efforts to protect LGBT rights and to study and prevent anti-LGBT violence.
[2019-05-16] [Center for Family and Human Rights] Revealed: the fringe rightwing group changing the UN agenda on abortion rights.
Anti-abortion lobbying group using its influence in the Trump administration to help shape policy on the world stage
[2019-05-30] As Trump rewrites health rules, Pence sees conservative agenda born again
[reference] Center for Immigration Studies
The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) is an anti-immigration think tank, founded by historian Otis L. Graham and eugenicist and white nationalist agenda John Tanton. The organization was founded in 1985 as a spin-off from the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), and is one of a number of anti-immigration organizations founded by John Tanton, along with FAIR and NumbersUSA.
The Center for Immigration Studies has "significant influence in the Trump White House," and has been cited by members of the Trump administration to defend its immigration policies.
In 2016, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) began describing the Center for Immigration Studies as an anti-immigrant hate group. It cited CIS' repeated publication of white nationalist and anti-Semitic writers, its employment of an analyst known to promote racist pseudoscience, its association with John Tanton, and its record of publishing reports that it said hyped the criminality of immigrants.
[reference] Center for Public Integrity
The Center for Public Integrity (CPI) is an American nonprofit investigative journalism organization whose stated mission is "to reveal abuses of power, corruption and dereliction of duty by powerful public and private institutions in order to cause them to operate with honesty, integrity, accountability and to put the public interest first." One of the largest nonprofit investigative centers in America, CPI won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting.
In 1997, CPI launched the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), an international network (based in Washington, D.C.) that includes over 200 investigative reporters in over 90 countries and territories. ICIJ focuses on issues such as "cross-border crime, corruption, and the accountability of power."
[reference] Center for Responsive Politics
The Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) is a non-profit, nonpartisan research group based in Washington, D.C., that tracks the effects of money and lobbying on elections and public policy. It maintains a public online database of its information. "CRP's vision is for Americans to be empowered by access to clear and unbiased information about money's role in politics and policy and to use that knowledge to strengthen our democracy."
The CRP's website, OpenSecrets.org, allows users to track federal campaign contributions and lobbying by lobbying firms, individual lobbyists, industry, dark money, federal agencies, and bills. Other resources include the personal financial disclosures of all members of the U.S. Congress, the President, and top members of the administration. Users can also search by ZIP codes to learn how their neighbors are allocating their political contributions.
"OpenSecrets.org"
[reference] Center for Security Policy
The Center for Security Policy (CSP) is a far-right, anti-Muslim, Washington, D.C.-based think tank. The organization's mission statement is "To identify challenges and opportunities likely to affect American security," where main activities are focused on exposing and researching what it believes to be jihadist threats to the United States; a number of these beliefs have been widely discredited, such as its false claims about American ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.
[reference] Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions
The Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions was an influential think tank from 1959 to 1977. Its influence waned thereafter and it closed in 1987.
[reference] Center on Budget and Policy Priorities [CBPP]
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) is supported by a number of foundations, including the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Ford Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, as well as individual donors. The Atlantic Philanthropies is a major donor to CBPP, as is George Soros. CBPP has also received funding through the Democracy Alliance.
[reference] Century_Foundation, The
The Century Foundation is a progressive think tank, was founded as a nonprofit public policy research institution on the belief that the prosperity and security of the United States depends on a mix of effective government, open democracy, and free markets. Its staff, fellows, and authors produce books, reports, papers, pamphlets, and online publications. The Century Foundation also hosts policy-related events and workshops for various audiences, including policy experts, journalists, college students and other academics, and the general public. The Century Foundation also manages several ongoing policy projects and operates a number of websites on various policy-related topics.
[reference] Christian Coalition of America ["Christian Coalition"]
The Christian Coalition of America (CCA), a 501(c)(4) lobbying organization, is the successor to the original Christian Coalition created in 1989 by religious broadcaster and former presidential candidate Pat Robertson. This U.S. Christian advocacy group includes members of various Christian denominations. Operating within the "Christian right" domain, in 1997 the CCA was ranked by Fortune magazine as the 7th most powerful political organization in America.
[reference] Christian Voice
The Christian Voice was an American conservative political advocacy group, known as part of the Christian right within U.S. politics. Christian Voice was headquartered at the Heritage Foundation in the 1970s and 1980s, and was then located in Alexandria, Virginia.
The Christian Voice's bare-knuckle politics angered many Christian Voice supporters, including some of the Congressmen on the board of directors. Funding and leadership flagged after the 1986 U.S. Presidential elections, which saw Republicans lose control of the U.S. Senate, and many of the key members of Christian Voice fled to form the American Freedom Coalition with funding from Unification Church leader Sun Myung Moon.
As of 2012, the Christian Voice was still maintained by the American Service Council as a vehicle for direct mail campaigns both the targeting of voters and contributors and the delivery of petitions to the U.S. federal government. The American Service Council no longer lists the Christian Voice on its own web site, nor maintains a separate Christian Voice web site.
[reference] Citizens for a Sound Economy
Funded by Charles and David Koch. In 2004, Citizens for a Sound Economy split into FreedomWorks, and Americans for Prosperity.
[reference] Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington [CREW]
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit U.S. government ethics and accountability watchdog organization. CREW was founded in 2003 as a counterweight to conservative government watchdog groups such as Judicial Watch, CREW works to expose ethics violations and corruption by government officials and institutions and to reduce the role of money in politics. CREW's activities include investigating, reporting and litigating government misconduct, requesting and forcing government information disclosure through FOIA requests, and filing congressional ethics complaints against individuals, institutions and agencies.
Ostensively nonpartisan, CREW nonetheless preferentially targets Republicans over Democrats.
[reference] Citizens for Self-Governance
In 2015, Citizens for Self-Governance launched a nationwide effort to call an Article V Convention>, through a project called Convention of States, in a bid to rein in the federal government.
See also: Synopsis of Dark Money Campaign Financing and U.S. Constitution Article V Reform
[reference] Citizens For Trump
Sleezy, pro-Trump disinformation organization.
[2017-10-02] A Group Called Citizens For Trump Is Raising Money -- But Not Always For Trump's Candidates.
There have been no public filings on how much Citizens for Trump has collected or how that money has been spent -- a lack of disclosure that one campaign finance attorney called "shady" and that even one ally concedes is improper
[reference] Citizens of the American Republic
Steve Bannon-founded [fraudulent] nonprofit organization.
[2020-08-24] Federal prosecutors have Steve Bannon's murky nonprofit in their sights.
Tucked at the bottom of the long indictment against Bannon, prosecutors say they want to seize the assets of his nonprofit "Citizens of the American Republic," shedding more light on the secretive political group's finances
[reference] Citizens United
See also: Trump Administration Cooption (Appropriation) of Federal Election Commission [FEC]
Presidential Coalition | David Bossie
See also: Synopsis of Dark Money Campaign Financing and U.S. Constitution Article V Reform
[reference] Civil Society Coalition on Climate Change
[reference] Claremont Institute
Slate magazine in 2020 called the Claremont Institute "a racist fever swamp with deep connections to the conspiratorial alt-right," citing as examples a 2019 fellowship granted by Claremont to Pizzagate enthusiast Jack Posobiec. and the publication of a 2020 "birther" essay by Senior Fellow John C. Eastman. The organization was an early defender of then-candidate Donald Trump; the Daily Beast stated Claremont has "arguably has done more than any other group to build a philosophical case for Trump's brand of conservatism."
[reference] Club for Growth
The Club for Growth is a 501(c)(4) conservative organization active in the United States, with an agenda focused on cutting taxes and other economic issues. The Club for Growth has two political arms: an affiliated traditional political action committee, called the Club for Growth PAC, and Club for Growth Action, an independent-expenditure only committee or Super-PAC.
According to its website, the Club for Growth's policy goals include cutting income tax rates, repealing the estate tax, supporting limited government and a balanced budget amendment, entitlement reform, free trade, tort reform, school choice, and deregulation. Club for Growth has opposed government action to curb greenhouse gas emissions. The Club for Growth PAC endorses and raises money for candidates who meet its standards for fiscal conservatism. According to Politico, "The Club for Growth is the pre-eminent institution promoting Republican adherence to a free-market, free-trade, anti-regulation agenda."
[reference] New faces emerge among top political donors in 2020.
[ExposedByCMD.org, 2020-10-07]: Major GOP Super PAC Goes All-In on QAnon-Friendly Candidate Lauren Boebert. A well-known conservative political organization -- the Club for Growth -- is spending big money to boost a Republican congressional nominee who praised QAnon, an extremist conspiracy movement that the FBI considers a domestic terrorism threat.
[PRWatch.org, 2020-01-28] Right-Wing Business Billionaires Launch Attack on Bernie Sanders. "... The wealthy manufacturing, poultry, fast food, and finance magnates, several of whom are Charles Koch allies, have recently donated millions of dollars to Club for Growth Action (CFGA), the super PAC affiliated with the right-wing political advocacy group Club for Growth. With that money, the super PAC has bought ads backing Republican candidates and fearmongering over expanded social programs. ..."
[reference] Colcom Foundation
The Colcom Foundation has been a significant financial supporter of the anti-immigration movement in the United States, providing more than $76 million to such groups including those designated as "hate groups" by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
[reference] Collective PAC | Collective Future
Political funder tied to Democratic party
Collective Future is the nonprofit arm of the Collective PAC.
[2020-03-09] Mike Bloomberg donates $2M to group [Collective PAC] looking to turn out black voters
[reference] Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow
The Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT) is a Washington, D.C.-based 501(c)(3)nonprofit organization and disinformation source that advocates for "free-market solutions" to environmental issues. CFACT rejects the scientific consensus on climate change.
See also (climate change denial): Competitive Enterprise Institute | Cooler Heads Coalition | Heartland Institute
A pro-Trump article, 2020-10-01 by the CFACT on the disastrous 2020-09-29 Trump-Biden debate, provides insight into the disingenuous character of the CFACT -- which obviously will push an anti-{climate change | ecological destruction} agenda at the cost of our planet's health and humanity's survival.
[reference] Common Cause
Common Cause is a Washington, D.C. based, nonpartisan, liberal-leaning group identified with the reformist "good government" movement and often described as a watchdog group. Common Cause works to create open, honest, and accountable government that serves the public interest; promote equal rights, opportunity, and representation for all; and empower all people to make their voices heard in the political process.
See also: Synopsis of Dark Money Campaign Financing and U.S. Constitution Article V Reform
[reference] Commonwealth Foundation for Public Policy Alternatives ["Commonwealth Foundation"]
The Commonwealth Foundation for Public Policy Alternatives is a think tank based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. It develops and advances fiscally conservative and libertarian public policies. The Commonwealth Foundation's stated mission is to "transform free-market ideas into public policies so all Pennsylvanians can flourish." The Commonwealth Foundation is reported to an anti-union organization.
The Commonwealth Foundation is active in policy areas such as criminal justice reform, school choice, and the Pennsylvania state budget. Commonwealth supports comprehensive criminal justice reforms focusing state resources on violent offenders and helping non-violent offenders who have served their sentences to reintegrate into society. The Commonwealth Foundation is a frequent commentator on public school reform; advocating for school choice through increased charter schools and tax credits for scholarships.
The Commonwealth Foundation "advocates for small government and market-based solutions" such as supporting the privatization of Pennsylvania's state-run liquor stores. The Commonwealth Foundation also supported former Democratic Governor Ed Rendell's proposal to privatize or lease the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission.
[reference] Competitive Enterprise Institute
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) is a non-profit libertarian think tank founded in Washington, D.C. to advance principles of limited government, free enterprise, and individual liberty. CEI focuses on a number of regulatory policy issues, including energy, environment, business and finance, labor, technology and telecommunications, transportation, and food and drug regulation.
See also (climate change denial): Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow | Cooler Heads Coalition | Heartland Institute
[reference] Committee to Unleash Prosperity
The Committee to Unleash Prosperity aims to "end America's growth slump and restore faith in the American Dream." The Committee to Unleash Prosperity was founded by ALEC Private Enterprise Advisory Council (PEAC) Member Steve Moore, ALEC Board of Scholar Member Dr. Art Laffer, and the Steve Forbes to combat America's "growth gap," by promoting an agenda that will revitalize America's economy. the Committee to Unleash Prosperity attempts to persuade Democratic and Republican politicians running for president to focus on fighting against "slow growth and stagnant incomes." In 2009, Moore described climate change as "the biggest scam of the last two decades."
See also: COVID-19 Related "ReOpen" Movements | "Save Our Country" Coalition
[reference] Congressional Leadership Fund
Dark money Super PAC tied to Republican Party
See also: Senate Leadership Fund
Sheldon Adelson is a major funder of the Congressional Leadership Fund ($55 million in 2018 election cycle)!
[reference] New faces emerge among top political donors in 2020.
... Timothy Mellon, chairman of Pan Am Systems and grandson of famed Pittsburgh banker Andrew Mellon, contributed over $40 million to Republican causes this election cycle [2020], but only became a top GOP donor recently. In the 2018 election cycle, Timothy Mellon contributed $10 million to the GOP-aligned Congressional Leadership Fund. This cycle [2020], Timothy Mellon gave $20 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, $10 million to America First Action, and again donated $10 million to the Congressional Leadership Fund. ...
[2020-07-16] House GOP super PAC relies on 'dark money' in bid to take back lost seats. The Congressional Leadership Fund has received nearly $20 million from American Action Network
[2018-12-04] Dan Conston Takes Helm of Top House GOP Outside Groups. Conston will lead the Congressional Leadership Fund and American Action Network.
[reference] Conservative Victory Project
The Conservative Victory Project is a political initiative launched in 2013 by Karl Rove and the super-PAC American Crossroads. Its purpose is to support "electable" conservative political candidates for political office in the United States. The effort was prompted by embarrassing failures of several Tea Party and independent conservative candidates in the elections of 2012.
Jenny Beth Martin is a co-Founder of the Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund, a political action committee which Martin has said was formed to counter Karl Rove's Conservative Victory Project. Martin characterizes Rove and his group as the "consultant class."
[reference] Convention of States.
WARNING (BuriedTruth). Actions such as those enacted by the Convention of States reflect attempts by wealthy "influencer" groups to amend the U.S. Constitution.
[reference] Citizens for Self Governance founder Mark Meckler.
Meckler, an American political activist and attorney, was a co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots before resigning from that group in 2012.
Meckler currently serves as President of Citizens for Self-Governance.
Meckler is an active proponent of a convention to propose amendments to the United States Constitution.
In 2015, Citizens for Self-Governance launched a nationwide effort to call an Article V Convention, through a project called Convention of the States, in a bid to rein in the federal government.
See also: Synopsis of Dark Money Campaign Financing and U.S. Constitution Article V Reform
COMMENTARY (BuriedTruth).
It appears that wealthy "influencer" groups and the Trump administration have colluded to coopt (appropriate) the Federal Election Commission [FEC] -- possibly in preparation of eventual Constitutional Amendments that satisfy their own agendae.
Groups involved in this effort include:
Citizens United -- refer here and here,
the Convention of States movement and their allies,
the Institute for Free Speech :
[2020-06-26] With Election Just 4 Months Away, FEC Essentially Defunct as GOP Member Leaves for Koch-Funded Group. The White House announced it would nominate Allen Dickerson, a proponent of Citizens United, to the elections board.
Funded by Charles Koch.and likely other groups such as the Heritage Foundation, and possibly ALEC: the American Legislative Exchange Council ...
[reference] Cooler Heads Coalition
The Cooler Heads Coalition is a politically conservative informal and ad-hoc group in the United States, financed and operated by the Competitive Enterprise Institute. The Cooler Heads Coalition, which rejects climate science [climate change denial], is known to promote falsehoods about climate change and has been characterized as a leader in efforts to stop the government from addressing climate change.
See also (climate change denial): Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow | Competitive Enterprise Institute | Heartland Institute
[reference] Council for National Policy (CNP)
The Council for National Policy (CNP) is an umbrella organization and networking group for conservative activists in the United States. It has been described by The New York Times as "a little-known club of a few hundred of the most powerful conservatives in the country," who meet three times yearly behind closed doors at undisclosed locations for a confidential conference. The Nation has called it a secretive organization that "networks wealthy right-wing donors together with top conservative operatives to plan long-term movement strategy." The CNP was founded in 1981 by Tim LaHaye as a forum for conservative Christians seeking to strengthen the political right in the United States. The organization has been described as a "pluto-theocracy."
Council for National Policy Action (CNP Action):
[2020-05-23] "must-read ("Reopen" movements ...):" Secretive Right-Wing Nonprofit Plays Role in COVID-19 Organizing.
Mentions: anti-gay agenda | anti-LGBT agenda: Eagle Forum (Phyllis Schlafly); Alliance Defending Freedom (Alan Sears); American Family Association (Tim Wildmon); Family Research Council (Kenneth Blackwell); Liberty Counsel (Mat Staver) | billionaire funding: Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation (Richard DeVos); Robert Mercer; Foster Friess; Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation (Koch family: defunct) | conspiracy theorists (Jerome Corsi; Joseph Farah; John Birch Society; Paul Weyrich -- co-founder of Heritage Foundation, and ALEC) | Heritage Foundation (Stephen Moore; Ed Meese; Al Regnery -- cousin of prominent white nationalist William Regnery; Bill Walton) | hate groups: League of the South (neo-Confederate; Michael Peroutka); Center for Security Policy (anti-Muslim) | FreedomWorks (Adam Brandon) | Council for National Policy (CNP) (Kellyanne Conway; Steve Bannon; Jay Sekulow; Phyllis Schlafly; Tony Perkins; Kenneth Blackwell; Bill Walton; Adam Brandon; Richard DeVos; Foster Friess; Tim Phillips) | CNP Action | ALEC: American Legislative Exchange Council (Art Laffer; Lisa Nelson; Stephen Moore) | Judicial Watch | National Christian Foundation | National Philanthropic Trust | State Policy Network (Tracie Sharp) | Facebook pages: ReOpenPA; ReOpenAmerica; ReOpen Church (Liberty Counsel's Mat Staver) | Convention of States Action (Open the States) | TeaPartyPatriots.org | Tea Party Patriots Action | The Save Our Country Task Force (Stephen Moore; Bill Walton) | Charles Koch-funded Buckeye Institute (Robert Alt) | Scott Rasmussen | Mercedes Schlapp, Matt Schlapp (American Conservative Union) | Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation (Richard DeVos) | Tim Phillips (Tea Party; Americans for Prosperity) | Americans for Prosperity (Charles Koch; Koch family; Tim Phillips) | ...
[reference] Council of Conservative Citizens
The Council of Conservative Citizens is an American white supremacist organization [designated hate group]. The Council of Conservative Citizens advocates white nationalism, and supports some paleoconservative causes. In the organization's statement of principles, it states that they "oppose all efforts to mix the races of mankind."
[2015-06-23] 'Supremacist' Earl Holt III and his donations to Republicans
[reference] Counter Extremism Project | Counter_Extremism_Project United (CEPU)
[2020-05-30] Who are the secret puppet-masters behind Trump's war on Iran? (CEPU)
A shadowy group stoking U.S. hostility with Iran and the evidence that it is funded by Saudi Arabia and the UAE
[reference] Creative_Response_Concepts
Creative Response Concepts (CRC) Public Relations is an American public relations firm that has lobbied against climate change mitigation policies [climate change denial]. In 2018, Creative Response Concepts' clients included the Federalist Society and the Judicial Crisis Network. In 2019, CRC helped promote conservative pundit Stephen Moore's nomination to serve on the U.S. Federal Reserve Board. CRC is closely associated with the conservative activist Leonard A. Leo.
Affiliated group: CRC Advisors | Ballotpedia.org profile.
[reference] Demand Justice
Demand Justice is a politically left, anti-Trump, political nonprofit group formed as a counterweight to the Judicial Crisis Network in Supreme Court confirmation fights.
Demand Justice is a left-of-center advocacy group created in early 2018 that aims to influence the political leanings of America's courts by supporting the appointment of liberal judicial nominees and opposing right-of-center nominees. The organization acts primarily through media campaigns against nominated and unconfirmed judicial nominees.
[2020-09-21] "Dark money" groups gear up for Supreme Court battle as 2020 election nears
[2020-04-17] Progressive group Demand Justice launches ad buy centered on Supreme Court's Wisconsin voting decision
[reference] Democracy 21
Democracy 21 is a non-profit organization in the United States that aims to combat the influence of private money in politics by enacting campaign finance reform. Democracy 21 supports stricter campaign finance limits and regulations and opposes the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United v. FEC.
[2010-10-05] Crossroads GPS: Karl Rove group spends big in Election 2010, but is it legal?
GOP strategist Karl Rove is sending big money to Republicans in close Election 2010 races. But two campaign watchdogs are asking the IRS to investigate his tax-exempt 'social welfare' group.
[reference] Democracy Alliance
Very wealthy, pro-Democratic Party influencer.
[reference] Democratic Majority for Israel
The Democratic Majority for Israel (DMFI) is a lobbying group that advocates pro-Israel policies within the Democratic Party's membership serving in Congress and the Executive Branch of the United States.
[reference] Demos
Demos, a liberal think tank founded by Charles Halpern in 2000 and based in the United States, has a stated mission to "power the movement for a just, inclusive, multiracial democracy." Halpern wanted to create a counter-argument to the growing influence of the many right-wing think tanks and establish a multi-issue organization that would focus on progressive policy development and advocacy.
[reference] "DeVos Family Foundations"
Not the "DeVos Family Foundations" per se, but nonprofit influencer organizations established by various members of the DeVos family.
[reference] Diana Davis Spencer Foundation
The Diana Davis Spencer Foundation [Assets (FYE 2019-12): $1.3 billion] continues a multi-generational history of family philanthropy. It evolved from the Shelby Cullom Davis Foundation, established in 1962, and the Kathryn W. Davis Foundation, established in 2004.
"The Diana Davis Spencer Foundation espouses the values upon which our nation was founded: freedom and individual responsibility. The mission of the foundation is to promote national security, entrepreneurship, self-reliance, free enterprise, and to enhance quality of life by supporting the arts, education, global understanding, health advancements, and preservation of the environment."
As such, the Diana Davis Spencer Foundation pushes libertarian and neoliberal agendae including "right-to-work" [anti-union] through funding of a wide range of beneficiaries including the Federalist Society, the Heritage Foundation, the Institute for Justice, the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, ...
[reference] Discovery Institute [subgroup: Center for Science and Culture]
The Discovery Institute (DI), founded in 1990 as a non-profit offshoot of the Hudson Institute, is a politically conservative non-profit think tank that advocates the pseudoscientific concept of intelligent design (ID). The Discovery Institute's "Teach the Controversy" campaign aims to permit the teaching of anti-evolution, intelligent-design beliefs in United States public high school science courses in place of accepted scientific theories, positing that a scientific controversy exists over these subjects when in fact there is no controversy.
The Center for Science and Culture, formerly known as the Center for the Renewal of Science and Culture (CRSC), is part of the Discovery Institute (DI), a conservative Christian think tank in the United States. The CSC lobbies for the inclusion of creationism in the form of intelligent design (ID) in public-school science curricula as an explanation for the origins of life and the universe while trying to cast doubt on the theory of evolution. These positions have been rejected by the scientific community, which identifies intelligent design as pseudoscientific neo-creationism, whereas the theory of evolution is overwhelmingly accepted as a matter of scientific consensus.
See also: Focus on the Family | intelligent design
[reference] Donors Capital Fund
See also main article: Donors Trust
The Donors Capital Fund is a nonprofit U.S. donor-advised charity that distributes grants to conservative and libertarian organizations. Donors Capital Fund is associated with Donors Trust, another donor-advised fund. Donors Trust refers clients to Donors Capital Fund if the client plans to maintain a balance of US$1 million or more.
Climate change denial. Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund distributed nearly US$120 million to more than 100 groups skeptical of global warming between 2002 and 2010. According to a 2013 analysis by Drexel University environmental sociologist Robert Brulle, Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund combined were the largest funders of what he calls "the climate change countermovement" in the US between 2003 and 2013. Brulle estimated that by 2009, approximately one-quarter of the funding of the "climate countermovement" came from Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund.
[reference] Donors Trust [DonorsTrust]
Donor-advised funds | disinformation group | dark money-financier (political agendae)
See also: Donors Capital Fund. Donors Trust refers clients to Donors Capital Fund if the client plans to maintain a balance of US$1 million or more.
See also [re: donor-advised funds]: Fidelity Charitable | National Philanthropic Trust | Philanthropy Roundtable | Tides Foundation
Climate change denial. Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund distributed nearly US$120 million to more than 100 groups skeptical of global warming between 2002 and 2010. According to a 2013 analysis by Drexel University environmental sociologist Robert Brulle, Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund combined were the largest funders of what he calls "the climate change countermovement" in the US between 2003 and 2013. Brulle estimated that by 2009, approximately one-quarter of the funding of the "climate countermovement" came from Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund.
See also: Judicial Education Project.
Funders: Koch family | DeVos' family | the Wellspring Committee
[2020-07-31] Here Are the Billionaires Funding Trump's Voter Suppression Lawsuits.
Dozens of billionaires have donated to the RNC's legal fund that is being used to fight against expanded access to mail voting
"must-read:" [disinformation group] Conservative 'dark money' network rebranded to push voting restrictions before 2020 election, re: "Honest Elections Project" and other shell groups (above)
[2020-05-28] Election spending boosted by secret money tops $100M as IRS ends donor reporting rules
[2020-05-19] 'Dark money' overshadows 2020 election political ad spending.
Discusses dark money SuperPACs: Democratic Party-affiliated Majority Forward and Priorities USA Action | Republican Party-affiliated One Nation
[2020-10-13] "Must-watch / read:" Senator Sheldon Whitehouse Schools Amy Coney Barrett on Dark Money. Superb presentation illustrating Republican Party and dark money influencers on vested special interests (abolition of: affordable health care, access to abortions, LGBTQ+ rights, judicial freedom; concentration of obfuscated power; ...).
[reference] Economic Policy Institute
[reference] Ed Uihlein Family Foundation
The Ed Uihlein Family Foundation is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization controlled by right-wing mega-donor Richard. The Ed Uihlein Family Foundation, named for Richard Uihlein's father, has been a vehicle for the Uihlein family to conduct advocacy for far-right issues and influence elections. Past recipients of grants from the Ed Uihlein Family Foundation have included groups linked to the Koch brothers such as Americans for Prosperity, as well as the American Enterprise Institute, and the Center for Competitive Politics (now known as the Institute for Free Speech).
Richard Uihlein has a history of supporting far-right candidates, and has often supported efforts in opposition to gay and transgender rights.
[reference] Eagle Forum [Phyllis Schlafly]
anti-LGBTQ+ hate group | anti-women's rights
[reference] Earhart Foundation ["extinct"]
The Earhart Foundation was an American private charitable foundation that funded research and scholarship with a mission "to support free-market scholars through a network of 'Earhart professors' across the United States." In 2000, the Earhart Foundation reported total assets of $95 million. In 2015, The Governing board decided to sunset the Earhart Foundation, and funds were dispersed by 2016.
[reference] EastWest Institute [Institute for EastWest Studies, Inc.]
The EastWest Institute (EWI) is an international not-for-profit, non-partisan think tank focusing on international conflict resolution. EWI has initiatives focused on a number of different areas including cybersecurity, preventive diplomacy, strategic trust-building (which encompasses Russia-United States relations and China-United States Relations), Economic Security, and Regional Security (focusing on specific areas such as Southwest Asia).
[reference] Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund ["Haas Fund"]
The Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund is a private foundation that -- as of 2016 -- has awarded nearly $577 million in grants. Based in San Francisco, the Haas Fund supports nonprofit organizations and initiatives in five main program areas: Immigrant Rights and Integration; Gay and Lesbian Rights; Education Equity; Nonprofit Leadership; and Community Partnerships and Initiatives.
[reference] Fair Fight Action
Political funder tied to Democratic party
[reference] Fair Lines America Foundation
Fair Lines America (FLA) is a registered 501(c)4 non-profit that works to prevent independent redistricting commissions from establishing in the states, conducts redistricting trainings, and weighs in on redistricting litigation. Funded in part by the Bradley Foundation ($100,000 in 2019), FLA is closely allied with the nefarious American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a corporate bill mill. ALEC is not just a lobby or a front group; it is much more powerful than that. Through ALEC, corporations hand state legislators their wishlists to benefit their bottom line. Corporations fund almost all of ALEC's operations. They pay for a seat on ALEC task forces where corporate lobbyists and special interest reps vote with elected officials to approve "model" bills.
[reference] Fairness Center
The Fairness Center is a member of the Goldwater Institute's litigation alliance. Per their motto "Representing Those Hurt by Public-Sector Union Officials," the Fairness Center pursues anti-union litigation -- providing pro bono legal aid.
See also: Freedom Foundation
[2019-02-13] Spotlight on the Fairness Center
[reference] Family Research Council
Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)-designated anti-LGBTQ+ hate group
[RightWingWatch.org, 2020-10-07] Tony Perkins Echoes Trump's Coronavirus Messaging, Spreads Misinformation.
On Monday [2020-10-05], President Donald Trump was released from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where he received some of the best medical care the world has to offer, and went home to the White House residence, which is equipped with its own fully-staffed medical suite. From there, he told the American people-none of whom would receive the same level of care should they get sick-not to fear the coronavirus.
Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council (deemed an anti-LGBT hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center), took the moment to spew medical misinformation and push the unfounded "herd mentality" strategy, the idea of reaching herd immunity by allowing the coronavirus to spread via natural infection. ...
[2017-10-23] Christian Right tips to fight transgender rights: Separate the T from the LGB
[2016-11-10] Trump picks anti-LGBT hate group to run domestic policy transition.
The Family Research Council is so anti-gay and so anti-transgender that it several years ago ago earned the title of "hate group" from the Southern Poverty Law Center
[reference] Family Research Institute
The Family Research Institute (FRI), originally known as the Institute for the Scientific Investigation of Sexuality (ISIS), is an American socially conservative Christian non-profit organizations which seeks "...to restore a world where marriage is upheld and honored, where children are nurtured and protected, and where homosexuality is not taught and accepted, but instead is discouraged and rejected at every level."
The SPLC lists the Family Research Institute as an anti-gay hate group due to discredited research [pseudoscience] and claims about LGBT people including Founder Paul Drummond Cameron's "continued demonization of LGBT people and the shoddy and suspect research methods he uses to advance his claims ..." As of 2019 FRI continues to publish "pseudoscientific studies" that remain central to anti-LGBT groups on the extreme right of the political spectrum.
[reference] Family Research Council
[reference] Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies ["Federalist Society"]
The Federalist Society spends an enormous amount of money to erode the progress we've made in ensuring rights for women (anti-abortion), healthcare for millions of Americans (anti-Affordable Care Act) and rights for workers, LGBTQ (anti-LGBTQ+) people and people of colour (racist). Associations: Anne Corkery (Opus Dei) | Neil Corkery (Wellspring Committee | Judicial Crisis Network)
Notable funders. Later funding of $5.5 million came from the Olin Foundation. Other early donors included the Scaife Foundation and the Koch family foundations. Donors to the Federalist Society have included Google, Chevron, Charles G. and David H. Koch; the family foundation of Richard Mellon Scaife; and the Mercer family. By 2017, the Federalist Society had $20 million in annual revenue.
According to Politico Magazine, "Trump is president for a long list of reasons, of course, but near the top of that list is the imprimatur the Federalist Society granted him. He almost certainly couldn't have gotten what he wanted without the Federalists. And they almost certainly couldn't have gotten what they wanted without him.
[2020-10-13] "Must-watch / read:" Senator Sheldon Whitehouse Schools Amy Coney Barrett on Dark Money. Superb presentation illustrating Republican Party and dark money influencers on vested special interests (abolition of: affordable health care, access to abortions, LGBTQ+ rights, judicial freedom; concentration of obfuscated power; ...).
[PRWatch.org, 2020-10-10] Snapshot of Secret Funding of Amicus Briefs Tied to Leonard Leo -- Federalist Society Leader, Promoter of Amy Barrett. A new review of grant documents, first published on the dark web, provides a snapshot of how groups tied to Leonard Leo -- the man who put Amy Barrett on President Trump's list for the Supreme Court-have been secretly funded to file briefs with the Supreme Court to overturn U.S. laws, including the Affordable Care Act.
[2018-07-06] Federalist Society: The anti-abortion conservative quietly guiding Trump's supreme court pick. Leonard Leo, who is advising Trump on his nominee, is a mild-mannered Republican who has become one of the Washington's most influential people
[reference] Federation for American Immigration Reform [FAIR]
The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) is an anti-immigration organization in the United States. FAIR publishes position papers, organizes events, and runs campaigns in order to influence US immigration policies. The Southern Poverty Law Center classifies FAIR as a hate group with close ties to white supremacist groups. FAIR was co-founded in 1979 by the pro-eugenics ophthalmologist John Tanton, who became the leader of several anti-immigration groups and held white supremacist beliefs while he led FAIR.
Frustrated by the lack of interest of his liberal colleagues in groups such as Planned Parenthood and the Sierra Club where he was actively engaged, Tanton helped establish three major national groups -- FAIR, Numbers USA, and the Center for Immigration Studies -- to fight to reduce legal and illegal immigration.
[2017-05-03] A radical anti-immigration group infiltrated the GOP. Now it's in the White House.
FAIR: Federation for American Immigration Reform
[SPLC, 2001]: Anti-Immigration Groups.
[reference] Fidelity Charitable
"Fidelity Charitable is a 501(c)(3) public charity. We help donors maximize their generosity through our donor-advised fund, called the "Giving Account." Established in 1991, we are the United States' top grantmaker, distributing $7.3 billion to charities in 2019.
"Today, we work with nearly a quarter million donors. Since our founding, we have supported more than 300,000 charities in every U.S. state, as well as internationally, distributing nearly $42 billion in donor-recommended grants. ..."
[reference] First Liberty Institute ["Liberty Institute"]
First Liberty Institute is a Texas-based nonprofit legal organization focused on providing assistance to individuals and organizations "in legal battles over religious freedom and first-amendment issues." Critics generally describe it as a Christian-right and/or Religious-right advocacy organization with a strong anti-LGBT agenda.
[reference] Focus on the Family
American fundamentalist Christian organization promoting creationism, abstinence-only sex education, adoption only by heterosexuals, school prayer, and traditional gender roles. It opposes pre-marital sex, pornography, drugs, gambling, divorce, and abortion. It lobbies against LGBT rights, including LGBT adoption, LGBT parenting, and same-sex marriage. Focus on the Family has been criticized by psychiatrists, psychologists, and social scientists for misrepresenting their research in order to bolster its religious ideology and political agenda. Focus on the Family has been a prominent supporter of the pseudoscience of intelligent design.
See also: Focus on the Family Canada
[reference] Foundation for Economic Education
The Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) is a libertarian and economic think-tank in the United States dedicated to the "economic, ethical and legal principles of a free society." FEE publishes books, daily articles, and hosts seminars and lectures. FEE describes its mission as to "inspire, educate and connect future leaders with the economic, ethical and legal principles of a free society."
See also: Acton Institute.
[reference] Ford Foundation
[reference] Freedom Caucus | House Freedom Caucus | House Freedom Fund ["Freedom Fund" PAC]
The Freedom Caucus, also known as the House Freedom Caucus, is a congressional caucus consisting of conservative Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives. The Freedom Caucus was formed in 2015 by what member Jim Jordan called a "smaller, more cohesive, more agile and more active" group of conservative congressmen, and is currently chaired by Representative Andy Biggs of Arizona.
Many Freedom Caucus members are also part of the much larger Republican Study Committee. The Freedom Caucus is sympathetic to the Tea Party movement. The Freedom Caucus is considered the furthest-right bloc within the House Republican Conference. The caucus supports House candidates through its political action committee, the House Freedom Fund ["Freedom Fund"].
[ExposedByCMD.org, 2020-10-01] Trump Megadonors, Freedom Caucus, and CEOs Bankroll QAnon-Supporting, Extremist Candidates. Support for QAnon-affiliated candidates; viz:
... The Republican Party overall has become more receptive to QAnon, likely recognizing that its adherents have become part of the GOP base, a base that's increasingly populated by those radicalized by right-wing conspiracies and propaganda, often originating in online message boards and distributed by FOX News and on Facebook. The social media giant has played an important role in QAnon indoctrination ...
... House Freedom Caucus All-In on Greene. The House Freedom Fund, a PAC associated with the House Freedom Caucus, has endorsed Greene and directed $227,000 in earmarked contributions to her campaign. Donors can give to Greene and other candidates through the Freedom Fund website, and the fund pays the processing fees.
The Freedom Fund has also endorsed and directed donations to QAnon-friendly GOP nominees Lauren Boebert and Burgess Owens.
The Freedom Fund itself donated $5,000 to the Greene campaign, and it reported making $47,000 worth of independent expenditures backing Greene and over $57,000 supporting Boebert.
Fifteen out of the 37 Freedom Caucus members are alumni of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a right-wing pay-to-play network of state lawmakers and corporate lobbyists that writes corporate-friendly model bills.
Current Freedom Caucus members have also helped out Greene. The campaigns of Jim Jordan, who was previously chair of the group, and current chair Andy Biggs (R-AZ), donated $2,000 and $1,000, respectively. Biggs' leadership PAC donated $3,500 to Right Women PAC, which spent money helping Greene. Another member, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), tweeted enthusiastic support for her.
See also: QAnon: Infiltration of Mainstream American Political Parties
[reference] David Horowitz Freedom Center ["Freedom Center"]
The David Horowitz Freedom Center ["Freedom Center"], formerly the Center for the Study of Popular Culture, is a conservative think tank established with funding from groups including the John M. Olin Foundation, the Bradley Foundation, and the Scaife Foundations.
The Freedom Center runs several websites and blogs, including the blog "Jihad Watch". The Freedom Center and Jihad Watch have both been described as Islamophobic. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) describes the Freedom Center as a far-right organization, and an anti-Muslim hate group
Another tangled / obfuscated web of anti-union influencers, ... with ties to the Buckeye Institute, the Bradley Foundation, Charles Koch's Family Foundations, and others.
The Freedom Foundation is a member of the State Policy Network -- a Koch-funded lobbying group. The Freedom Foundation's efforts center on public policy research and advocacy in the areas of state budget and tax policies, labor, welfare, health care and education reform, and citizenship and governance issues. Policy analysts for the Freedom Foundation have also documented the impacts of minimum wage increases and mandatory paid sick leave.
The Freedom Foundation has launched an aggressive anti-union campaign. The organization has filed numerous lawsuits and complaints against public-sector unions. The Freedom Foundation contests the power of public sector unions to use mandatory dues to impact public policy, elections and culture. Freedom Foundation CEO Tom McCabe wrote that "The Freedom Foundation has a proven plan for bankrupting and defeating government unions through education, litigation, legislation and community activation."
See also: Fairness Center
[reference] Freedom Partners [defunct]
Freedom Partners was a nonprofit 501(c)(6) organization founded in 2011 under the name Association for American Innovation to promote "the benefits of free markets and a free society" -- the driving force of Charles Koch's neoliberal agenda. Freedom Partners was partially funded by the Koch brothers, and sponsored various Republican politicians and conservative groups.
A majority of Freedom Partners board was made up of long-time employees of Koch entities. Freedom Partners was structured as a chamber of commerce and was composed of around 200 members who each paid a minimum US$100,000 in annual dues. In 2012, Freedom Partners raised $256 million. Freedom Partners was dissolved in 2019 amidst a restructuring of the Koch family's giving.
See also (Koch affiliates): Americans for Prosperity | KochPAC | Stand Together
[reference] Freedom's Watch [defunct]
Freedom's Watch was a Washington D.C. based 501(c)(4) lobbying organization, supportive of the George W. Bush administration and it's positions in the War on Terror, and of Republican Congressional candidates. In December 2008, the Board of Directors of Freedom's Watch decided to shut it down at the end of 2008.
[reference] FreedomWorks
In 2004, Charles Koch's Citizens for a Sound Economy split into FreedomWorks, and Americans for Prosperity.
[reference] Fund for American Studies, The [TFAS]
[reference] George Mason University
Generously funded by the Koch Family Foundations | University-sanction online disinformation
[2019-10-17] $1M Donation Supports Psychology Research at George Mason University.
Charles Koch Foundation Donates $1.09 million to GMU's "Well-Being Laboratory"
[2018-03-22] George Mason University receives $5 million gift for Department of Economics.
$5 Million Gift from Charles Koch Foundation Will Support Department of Economics
[2016-03-31] Bar None: Support for Student Access Vaults Campaign Forward.
George Mason University has already received the largest gift in its history: an anonymous donor's landmark gift of $20 million, joined by $10 million from the Charles Koch Foundation
T. Mills Kelly, George Mason University -- History 389 (2014) Syllabus: Lying About the Past
[2013-04-02] Interview: T. Mills Kelly on "Lying About the Past" and Media Literacy
[2013-03-31] No More Lying About the Past
[2012-06-01] Wikipedia and Me
[2012-05-15] How the Professor Who Fooled Wikipedia Got Caught by Reddit.
T. Mills Kelly encourages his students to deceive thousands of people on the Web. This has angered many, but the experiment helps reveal the shifting nature of the truth on the Internet
[2012-05-14] Serial Killers, Beer, and Lies About the Past
[reference] Goldwater Institute
The Goldwater Institute is a conservative and libertarian public policy think tank whose stated mission is "to defend and strengthen the freedom guaranteed to all Americans in the constitutions of the United States and all fifty states." The Goldwater Institute is a proponent of increased educational choice through charter schools and school vouchers -- a malfeasant tactic employed by libertarians to weaken public schooling and advance private schools and curricula, including religious (Christian) indoctrination. The Goldwater Institute has helped state lawmakers draft "right to try" laws, which allow terminally ill individuals to try experimental medications that have not yet been approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
The Goldwater Institute is a member of the American Legislative Exchange Council [ALEC].
[reference] Government Accountability Institute
[reference] Steve Bannon
[reference] Great American Economic Revival Industry Groups.
Trump's "Opening Our Country Council"
[2020-04-10] Trump says he'll announce members of 'opening our country council' next week.
The new group comes as the president has expressed his eagerness to shake the country from its self-imposed social and economic lockdown
[reference] Groundswell group
Groundswell is the name of a shadowy group of U.S. conservative activists that -- according to "Mother Jones" [2013] -- started out meeting in the offices of the conservative legal group Judicial Watch in early 2013, and is led by Virginia "Ginni" Thomas (wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas) and John Bolton.
According to leaked documents, Groundswell is staging "a 30 front war seeking to fundamentally transform the nation" by such goals as undermining the power of former GOP strategist and FOX News analyst Karl Rove along with the Benghazi bombing and the Operation Fast and Furious gun-running issue, repealing the Affordable Care Act, working behind the scenes to enact voter ID laws, and blocking Obama administration nominees.
[2019-06-04] Virginia "Ginni " Thomas Plans New Conservative Supergroup to "Protect President Trump".
With the help of a who's who of conservative activists, the Supreme Court justice's wife aims to open up a new front in America's political wars.
[2019-01-26] Groundswell; homophobia, transphobia : Trump Meets With Hard-Right Group Led by Virginia "Ginni" Thomas
[2013-07-25] Inside Groundswell: Read the Memos of the New Right-Wing Strategy Group Planning a "30 Front War".
Virginia "Ginni" Thomas, Allen West, and a crew of conservative activists and journalists have formed a hush-hush coalition to battle progressives-and Karl Rove.
[2013-07-25] Groundswell: Inside The Group Therapy Session For Conservatives Who Hate Grover Norquist
[reference] Heartland Institute
Funders: oil and gas companies including ExxonMobil; tobacco companies Philip Morris, Altria and Reynolds American; pharmaceutical industry firms GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer and Eli Lilly; insurers State Farm Insurance, United Services Automobile Association (USAA) and beverage alcohol company Diageo were former funders. Additional funding from: Walton Family Foundation; politically conservative foundations such as the Castle Rock Foundation, the Sarah Scaife Foundation, the John M. Olin Foundation, and the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation. Between 2002 and 2010, Donors Trust granted $13.5 million to the Heartland Institute. In 2011, the Heartland Institute received $25,000 from the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation. An anonymous donor has given $13 million over a five year period.
Additional Koch brothers associations: Heartland founder David H. Padden has numerous ties to Koch-funded nonprofits (Cato Institute; Citizens for a Sound Economy; ...).
See also (climate change denial): Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow | Competitive Enterprise Institute | Cooler Heads Coalition
[2011-06-18] Climate change deniers spreading misinformation: Environmental groups
[reference] Heritage Foundation
anti-LGBTQ+; transphobic; ...
[reference] Heritage Action for America ["Heritage Action"]
C-SPAN content related to the Heritage Foundation
[2019-01-29] Heritage Foundation: Conservative group hosts anti-transgender panel of feminists "from the left".
Divide and conquer? The conservative Heritage Foundation hosted a panel of "radical feminists" fighting trans rights
[2018-06-20] "must-read:" How One Conservative Think Tank Is Stocking Trump's Government.
By placing its people throughout the administration, the Heritage Foundation has succeeded in furthering its right-wing agenda.
[reference] Hewlett Foundation [William and Flora Hewlett Foundation]
Revenue (2018): US$526,699,324 | Expenses (2018): US$471,437,419 | Endowment: $9.7 billion
[reference] Hoover Institution [Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace]
The Hoover Institution is an American public policy think tank and research institution located at Stanford University in California. Its mission statement outlines its basic tenets: representative government, private enterprise, peace, personal freedom, and the safeguards of the American system. The Hoover Institution is generally described as conservative.
[reference] House Majority PAC | House Majority Forward
Dark money group tied to Democratic party
[reference] Hudson Institute
The Hudson Institute is a politically conservative 501(c)(3) non-profit American think tank. According to its website, the Institute promotes "American leadership and global engagement for a secure, free, and prosperous future." The Hudson Institute promotes public policy change in accordance with its stated belief that "America's unique and central role in the global system offers the best foundation for security, the defense of liberty, and assuring economic growth." Critics question the Hudson Institute's negative campaigning against organic farming, since it receives large sums of money from conventional food companies. ...
The Discovery Institute (DI), founded in 1990 as a non-profit offshoot of the Hudson Institute, is a politically conservative non-profit think tank that advocates the pseudoscientific concept of intelligent design (ID).
[reference] Illinois Policy Institute
The Illinois Policy Institute (IPI) is a nonpartisan think tank active in the areas of education policy, pension policy, and state budget issues. IPI has been a critic of a number of Illinois' tax policies. IPI is a member of the State Policy Network, a consortium of free-market think tanks in the U.S. Following the Supreme Court ruling in Janus v. AFSCME, plaintiff Mark Janus left his job with the state of Illinois to become a senior fellow at IPI, which had helped fund his case.
According to the State Policy Network, "the Liberty Justice Center is the litigation partner of the State Policy Network's affiliate, the Illinois Policy Institute."
See also: Liberty Justice Center
[reference] Indivisible | Indivisible movement
Indivisible is a U.S. progressive political movement initiated in response to the election of President Donald Trump.
[reference] Intercollegiate Studies Institute
The Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) is a nonprofit educational organization that promotes conservative thought on college campuses. It lists the following six as its core beliefs: limited government, individual liberty, personal responsibility, the rule of law, free-market economics, and traditional Judeo-Christian values. The Intercollegiate Studies Institute sponsors lectures and debates on college campuses, publishes books and journals, provides funding and editorial assistance to a network of conservative and libertarian college newspapers, and finances graduate fellowships.
[reference] Institute for Free Speech [formerly: Center for Competitive Politics]
[reference] Institute for Humane Studies
The Institute for Humane Studies (IHS) is a libertarian non-profit organization that engages with students and professors throughout the United States. IHS offers educational and career programs, holds seminars and on-campus programs for university students, awards scholarships, provides mentoring and research grants for aspiring professors, and sponsors a collection of online videos. The Institute for Humane Studies' Board of Directors includes Charles G. Koch, and the IHS has links to other billionaire-funded dark money nonprofit influencer organizations.
See also: Floyd Arthur Harper (Founder, Institute for Humane Studies)
[reference] Institute_for_Justice
The Institute for Justice is a non-profit libertarian public interest law firm in the United States. It has litigated eight cases considered by the U.S. Supreme Court dealing with topics that included eminent domain, interstate commerce, public financing for elections, school vouchers, tax credits for private school tuition, civil asset forfeiture, and residency requirements for liquor license.
The Institute for Justice provides pro bono legal advice and representation to clients. According to the Institute for Justice, it selects cases based on the client's ability to pay (giving preference to clients who do not have the means to obtain other representation), and on the case's potential to publicize and educate the public on the issues involved.
[reference] Institute for Policy Studies
[2020-07-29] When Mega-Donors Dominate Charitable Giving, Democracy Pays the Price.
Wealth inequality distorts giving sector, posing risks to democracy and integrity of tax system
[reference] Intelligence and National Security Alliance [INSA]
[reference] Israeli-American_Council
[reference] Job Shield America
[reference] John Birch Society
A conservative, anti-communist group.
[reference] John William Pope Foundation ["Pope Foundation"]
The John William Pope Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)(3) private charitable foundation based in Raleigh, North Carolina, that contributes to conservative public policy organizations and think tanks, educational institutions, humanitarian charities, and the arts. Art Pope, a businessman and philanthropist, is the current President and Chairman of the Board of Directors.
The Pope Foundation "has invested millions in a network of foundations and think tanks, and advocacy groups, both in North Carolina and nationally, that are designed to further conservative and free market ideas," including the John Locke Foundation, James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal, Americans for Prosperity, and North Carolina Institute for Constitutional Law.
[reference] Joyce Foundation
The Joyce Foundation, which primarily funds organizations in the Great Lakes region in the U.S.A., is notable for its support of gun control measures. The Joyce Foundation is one of the few private foundations that considers gun-related research proposals. Joyce distributes grants designed to prevent gun violence by reducing the easy accessibility of firearms. Since 1993, the Joyce Foundation spent over $54 million on over 100 grants that favor gun control.
[reference] Judicial Crisis Network aka The Concord Fund ... countless frivolous lawsuits
The Judicial Crisis Network (JCN) (founded in 2005 as the Judicial Confirmation Network) is an American conservative activist political campaign organization. As of 2014 The President of the JCN is Carrie Severino [spouse of appallingly vile and pernicious transphobe Roger Severino]. The JCN describes itself as "dedicated to strengthening liberty and justice in America" and supports conservative appointments to American judicial posts. Fundraiser and lawyer Ann Corkery, along with California real estate magnate Robin Arkley II, were key to the beginning of the Judicial Crisis Network.
See also: Demand Justice, the politically left counterweight to JCN.
[Documented.net, 2020-10-16] New filing shows massive dark money support from Judicial Crisis Network to Republican Attorneys General Association.
[2020-10-13] "Must-watch / read:" Senator Sheldon Whitehouse Schools Amy Coney Barrett on Dark Money. Superb presentation illustrating Republican Party and dark money influencers on vested special interests (abolition of: affordable health care, access to abortions, LGBTQ+ rights, judicial freedom; concentration of obfuscated power; ...).
[2020-09-21] "Dark money" groups gear up for Supreme Court battle as 2020 election nears
[2020-09-21] Carrie Severino Argues Precedent Supports Trump Filling SCOTUS Seat Before Election
[reference] Judicial Education Project
Judicial Education Project [aligned with the Judicial Crisis Network, aka The Concord Fund], aka Honest Elections Project [overlaps Judicial Crisis Network], aka The 85 Fund [aka Judicial Education Project]/p>
According to OpenSecrets and The Guardian, Judicial Education Project (the Honest Elections Project's alias) has been funded almost entirely by DonorsTrust, a donor-advised fund sponsor that specializes in helping conservative donors anonymously fund "sensitive or controversial issues" while also securing special tax advantages. Donors Trust has been a major funder of groups in the Koch network, including Americans for Prosperity, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), and the State Policy Network, and in 2018 it provided 99% of Judicial Education Project's funding.
[2020-10-13] "Must-watch / read:" Senator Sheldon Whitehouse Schools Amy Coney Barrett on Dark Money. Superb presentation illustrating Republican Party and dark money influencers on vested special interests (abolition of: affordable health care, access to abortions, LGBTQ+ rights, judicial freedom; concentration of obfuscated power; ...).
[reference] Judicial Watch ... countless frivolous lawsuits
Judicial Watch (JW) is an American conservative activist group that files Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits to investigate claimed misconduct by government officials. JW has primarily targeted Democrats, in particular the Presidency of Bill Clinton, the Presidency of Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton. The organization has described climate science as "fraud science," and has filed lawsuits against government climate scientists. JW has made numerous false and unsubstantiated claims that have been picked up by right-wing news outlets. Courts have dismissed the vast majority of its lawsuits.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, nonpartisan U.S. government ethics and accountability watchdog organization. CREW was founded in 2003 as a counterweight to conservative government watchdog groups such as Judicial Watch, CREW works to expose ethics violations and corruption by government officials and institutions and to reduce the role of money in politics.
[reference] John S. and James L. Knight Foundation ["Knight Foundation"]
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation is an American non-profit foundation dedicated to fostering "informed and engaged communities ... essential for a healthy democracy." The Knight Foundation "supports ideas that promote quality journalism, advance media innovation, engage communities and foster the arts."
[reference] Justice Democrats
Justice Democrats is an American progressive political action committee formed as a result of the 2016 United States presidential election, from the 2016 Bernie Sanders Presidential Campaign. Justice Democrats aspires "to elect a new type of Democratic majority in Congress" that would "create a thriving economy and democracy that works for the people, not big money interests."
Justice Democrats advocates campaign finance reform (reducing the role of money in politics) and only endorses candidates who pledge to refuse donations from corporate PACs and lobbyists.
[2020-09-02] "Coordinated Homophobic Attack" on Alex Morse Denounced as Progressive Challenger Falls Short of Ousting Corporate Rep. Richard Neal.
"We're not done yet," said Morse, who slammed Neal for raking in money from corporations that are "exploiting the working class people of this community and of this country."
See also: Synopsis of Dark Money Campaign Financing and U.S. Constitution Article V Reform
[reference] Koch Family Foundations
[resource, ExposedByCMD.org] Koch
[resource] Koch Docs [Lisa Graves]
Note: In May 2019 the Kochs announced a major restructuring of their philanthropic efforts. Going forward, the Koch network will operate under the umbrella of Stand Together, a nonprofit [purportedly] focused on supporting community groups.
The Charles Koch Institute is a libertarian-oriented public policy research, programming, grant-making, and fellowship-funding organization based in Virginia. Named after Charles Koch, its founder and primary financier, it pursues conservative economic policies and a non-interventionist foreign policy that has been characterized as anti-neoconservative or defensive realist. ...
[2020-07-31] Here Are the Billionaires Funding Trump's Voter Suppression Lawsuits. Dozens of billionaires have donated to the RNC's legal fund that is being used to fight against expanded access to mail voting.
According to OpenSecrets and The Guardian, Judicial Education Project (the Honest Elections Project's alias) has been funded almost entirely by DonorsTrust, a donor-advised fund sponsor that specializes in helping conservative donors anonymously fund "sensitive or controversial issues" while also securing special tax advantages. Donors Trust has been a major funder of groups in the Koch network, including Americans for Prosperity, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), and the State Policy Network, and in 2018 it provided 99% of Judicial Education Project's funding.
[2020-04-20] Koch-Funded Think Tanks Are Lobbying to Send Workers to Their Deaths.
Coronavirus Is Exposing How Foreign Crusades Bled America's Domestic Resources Dry.
The Heritage Foundation is at the center of political efforts to prematurely restart the economy.
[2019-09-18] Kenney Government Appointed Foreign, Koch-Funded Researcher to Rewrite Alberta's Education Curriculum.
The right-wing billionaire Charles Koch is currently investing in education reform for the explicit purpose of pushing conservatism on children.
[2019-09-03] Death of David Koch a reminder of who bankrolls Canada's right
[2019-06-06] Koch-Backed Tech Group Behind Tool Used to Push Union Opt-Out Campaigns.
According to an online member update from the State Policy Network (SPN), the tool was designed in "partnership with several SPN member organizations."
[2016-01] Jane Mayer: Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right
[2015-06-05] Nancy MacLean: Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America
[2012] Koch Brothers Exposed (2012)
[reference] Leadership Institute
[reference] Campus Reform [owned by Leadership Institute
[reference] League of the South
[reference] LGBTQ Victory Fund ["Victory Fund"]
The LGBTQ Victory Fund (formerly the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund), commonly shortened to Victory Fund, is an American political action committee dedicated to increasing the number of openly LGBTQ public officials in the United States. Victory Fund is the largest LGBTQ political action committee in the United States and one of the nation's largest non-connected PACs.
Partner organization: LGBTQ Victory Institute ["Victory Institute"]
See also: ProudPolitics
[reference] Liberty Central [defunct]
Liberty Central is a non-profit conservative political advocacy group founded in 2009 by Virginia "Ginni" Thomas [Groundswell], the wife of U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas. Ed Morrissey, a prominent conservative blogger who runs HotAir.com, said the Liberty Central site would provide education in history and the Constitution for Tea Party activists.
[reference] Liberty Counsel
Liberty Counsel is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization that promotes litigation related to evangelical Christian values. Liberty Counsel started as a religious liberty organization that focused its litigation efforts on freedom of speech cases. The Southern Poverty Law Center has listed Liberty Counsel as an anti-LGBT hate group.
[reference] Liberty Justice Center
The Liberty Justice Center (LJC) is a non-profit conservative "public-interest litigation center that fights to protect economic liberty, private property rights, free speech, and other fundamental rights in Illinois and beyond. ... The Liberty Justice Center is a public interest law firm started by, and in close relationship with, the Illinois Policy Institute." The two organizations share an office, and the Chairman of LJC is John Tillman, who is also the CEO of the Illinois Policy Institute. The Liberty Justice Center is an associate member of the State Policy Network, a web of state pressure groups that denote themselves as "think tanks" and drive a right-wing agenda in statehouses nationwide.
According to the State Policy Network, "the Liberty Justice Center is the litigation partner of the State Policy Network's affiliate, the Illinois Policy Institute."
The Liberty Justice Center is a partner organization of the Charles Koch Institute internship program.
[reference] Lilly Endowment
[reference] Lincoln Network
Charles Koch-backed neoliberal nonprofit that ostensively seeks to partner government and technology, but operating as a front for neoliberal anti-union attacks (opt-out campaigns).
[2020-05-08] Re: Lincoln Network President Aaron Ginn: This COVID-19 misinformation went viral. Here's what we learned.
In less than a day, a handful of influential people can politicize science.
[2019-06-06] Koch-Backed Tech Group Behind Tool Used to Push Union Opt-Out Campaigns.
According to an online member update from the State Policy Network (SPN), the tool was designed in "partnership with several SPN member organizations."
[2018-08-10] Lincoln Network launches Edunity
[reference] Lucy Burns Institute
The Lucy Burns Institute (LBI) is an American nonprofit, nonpartisan educational organization. Founded in 2006, LBI publishes Ballotpedia, an online wiki-style encyclopedia about the U.S. political and judicial systems.
[reference] MacArthur Foundation [John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation]
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is a private foundation that makes grants and impact investments to support non-profit organizations in approximately 50 countries around the world. It has an endowment of $7.0 billion and provides approximately $260 million annually in grants and impact investments. It has awarded more than US$6.8 billion since its first grants in 1978.
[reference] Mackinac Center for Public Policy ["Mackinac Center"]
The Mackinac Center for Public Policy (Midland, Michigan) is the largest state-based free market think tank in the United States. The Mackinac Center conducts policy research and educational programs, and sponsors an online legislative voting record database which provides a non-partisan summary of every bill and vote in the Michigan legislature. Mackinac Center scholars generally recommend lower taxes, reduced regulatory authority for state agencies, right-to-work laws [a facade for anti-union activity], school choice, and enhanced protection of individual property rights. However, they avoid socially conservative issues such as reproductive or marriage rights.
[reference] Manhattan Institute for Policy Research
Formerly called: International Center for Economic Policy Studies
The Manhattan Institute for Policy Research ("Manhattan Institute") is a conservative 501(c)(3) non-profit American think tank focused on domestic policy and urban affairs. The organization describes its mission as to "develop and disseminate new ideas that foster greater economic choice and individual responsibility." Its message is communicated through books, articles, interviews, speeches, op-eds, and through the institute's quarterly publication "City Journal."
[resource] Majority Forward
Dark money group tied to Democratic leaders in the Senate
[2020-05-27] Outside groups help Biden close the digital ad gap with Trump on Facebook
[2020-05-22] "Dark money" networks hide political agendas behind fake news sites
[2020-05-19] 'Dark money' overshadows 2020 election political ad spending.
Discusses dark money SuperPACs: Democratic Party-affiliated Majority Forward and Priorities USA Action | Republican Party-affiliated One Nation
[2018-10-17] How the FEC is Still Allowing Dark Money Groups to Remain Dark
[reference] Massachusetts_Democratic_Party
The Massachusetts Democratic State Committee is responsible for publicizing the platform of the Massachusetts Democratic Party, the state affiliate of the United States Democratic Party. The State Committee is charged with conducting state-level campaigns for the Democratic Party, coordinating efforts to fill vacancies in nominating candidates to state and congressional offices, and creating and disseminating information regarding official Democratic Party policies and positions. The Committee also engages in fundraising initiatives to support its operations, and coordinates local caucuses and the Democratic State Conventions.
Affiliated student group: College Democrats of Massachusetts (CDMA)
[2020-08-14] Democratic Party Leaders Investigating Origin of Anti-Morse Campaign Helped Orchestrate It, Documents Reveal.
Massachusetts party leaders coached College Democrats ahead of the release of a letter outlining allegations against Alex Morse.
[2017-01-20] Massachusetts Democratic Party hires Veronica Martinez as Executive Director
[2017-01-19] Massachusetts Democratic Party Names Veronica Martinez Executive Director
[resource] McKinsey & Company
McKinsey & Company is an American management consulting firm that advises on strategic management to corporations, governments, and other organizations. McKinsey alumni have held high-level corporate and political positions. The firm has been associated with a number of notable scandals including the collapse of Enron in 2001 and the 2007-2008 financial crisis. It has also drawn controversy for involvement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and authoritarian regimes.
[resource] Media Matters for America
Media Matters for America (MMfA) is a politically left-leaning 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization which acts as media watchdog for scrutinizing right-leaning media outlets. MMfA was founded in 2004 by journalist and political activist David Brock as a counterweight to the conservative Media Research Center. MMfA is known for its aggressive criticism of conservative journalists and media outlets, including its "War on FOX News."
[resource] Media Research Center
Conservative counterweight to the more liberal Media Matters for America
[resource] Mercatus Center
The Mercatus Center is an American non-profit free-market-oriented research, education, and outreach think tank that works with policy experts, lobbyists, and government officials toward free-market approaches to public policy.
The Mercatus Center was founded by Richard Fink, a former Executive Vice President of Koch Industries. After the Koch family gave more than $30 million to George Mason University, the Mercatus Center moved there in the mid-1980s. The Koch family has been a major financial supporter of the Mercatus Center since the mid-1980ssupported the Mercatus Center, and Charles Koch serves on the group's board of directors.
[resource] Mercer Family Foundation
[resource] Miriam G. and Ira D. Wallach Foundation
In 1980 Ira David Wallach (d. 2007-01-06), an American businessman and philanthropist, co-founded the Institute for East West Security Studies, now known as the EastWest Institute, a research group that focuses on international political, economic and security issues.
[resource] Mises Institute [Ludwig von Mises Institute for Austrian Economics]
[resource] Ludwig von Mises Institute of Canada
[resource] Mont Pelerin Society [Mont Pèlerin Society]
The Mont Pelerin Society (MPS) is an international neoliberal organization composed of economists, philosophers, historians, intellectuals and business leaders. The members see the MPS as an effort to interpret in modern terms the fundamental principles of economic society as expressed by classical Western economists, political scientists and philosophers. The Mont Pelerin Society advocates freedom of expression, free market economic policies and the political values of an open society. Further, the Mont Pelerin Society seeks to discover ways in which free enterprise can replace many functions currently provided by government entities.
[resource] Moral Majority [defunct, 1989]
Christian right neoconservative organization
[resource] MoveOn [formerly: MoveOn.org]
[resource] Nathan Cummings Foundation
The Nathan Cummings Foundation is a multigenerational family foundation, rooted in the Jewish tradition of social justice, working to create a more just, vibrant, sustainable, and democratic society. We partner with social movements, organizations, and individuals who have creative and catalytic solutions to climate change and inequality.
"We focus on finding solutions to the two most challenging problems of our time -- the climate crisis and growing inequality -- and aim to transform the systems and mindsets that hinder progress toward a more sustainable and equitable future for all people, particularly women and people of color. The Foundation's four focus areas together form an integrated framework to advance a healthy planet and healthy democracy."
For 27 years, NCF has supported movements, organizations, and individuals pursuing justice for people and the planet -- granting $498,882,687 over 27 Years.
[resource] National_Christian_Foundation
National Endowment for Democracy
A U.S. agency founded in 1983 with the stated goal of promoting democracy abroad
[resource] National Institute on Money in Politics
"FollowTheMoney.org"
National Organization for Marriage
The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) is an American anti-LGBTQ+ non-profit political organization established to work against the legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States, while additionally championing transphobic initiatives. NOM was formed in 2007 specifically to pass California Proposition 8, a state prohibition of same-sex marriage. The National Organization for Marriage has opposed civil union legislation and gay adoption, and has fought against allowing transgender individuals to use bathrooms that accord with their gender identity.
The National Philanthropic Trust (NPT) is an independent public charity providing philanthropic expertise to donors, foundations and financial institutions. Specializing in offering donor-advised funds, NPT ranks among the largest grantmaking institutions in the United States.
Since its founding in 1996, NPT has raised nearly $13 billion in charitable contributions, and currently manages $7.4 billion in charitable assets. NPT has made more than 250,000 grants totaling nearly $6 billion to charities all over the world.In 2018, NPT's donors recommended 40,690 grants in 32 countries across the globe totaling $1.01 billion (up 27% from 2017). 2018 was the first time that NPT's grantmaking exceeded $1 billion in a single year.
NPT is an institutional donor to the Council for National Policy Action (CNP Action).
See also [re: donor-advised funds]: Donors Trust | Fidelity Charitable | Philanthropy Roundtable | Tides Foundation
The National Policy Institute (NPI) is a white supremacist think tank and lobby group, that lobbies for white supremacists and the alt-right ["academic racism"].
National Policy Institute President, Director: neo-Nazi, white supremacist Richard B. Spencer
National Right to Work Committee
The National Right to Work Committee is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization that works for legislation against what it calls "compulsory unionism," when employment is contingent upon joining a labor union.
See also: Mackinac Center for Public Policy | National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.
National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation
The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation (NRTW), established in 1968, is a nonprofit organization that seeks to advance right-to-work laws in the United States.
See also: Mackinac Center for Public Policy | National Right to Work Committee.
New America [formerly: New America Foundation]
New America, formerly the New America Foundation, is a think tank in the United States which focuses on a range of public policy issues, including national security studies, technology, asset building, health, gender, energy, education, and the economy. Although the organization describes itself as "non-partisan," its policy views have been characterized as centrist, liberal or left-leaning. The New America Foundation has been criticized for its perceived close ties with Google, including its decision to fire an employee who criticized Google as a monopoly. The organization, however, has denied improper influence.
[resource] NumbersUSA
NumbersUSA is an anti-immigration organization that seeks to reduce both legal and illegal immigration to the United States. The Southern Poverty Law Center considers NumbersUSA to be one of the core nativist organizations created by white nationalist John Tanton to advance his views.
Tanton helped establish three major national groups -- FAIR, Numbers USA, and the Center for Immigration Studies -- to fight to reduce legal and illegal immigration.
[SPLC, 2001]: Anti-Immigration Groups.
[resource] John M. Olin Foundation ["Olin Foundation"] [defunct]
[resource] Omidyar_Network [part of: Omidyar Group]
The Omidyar Network is a philanthropic investment firm composed of a foundation, and an impact investment firm. Established in 2004 by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife Pam Omidyar, Omidyar Network reports it has committed more than $992 million to nonprofit organizations and for-profit companies across multiple investment areas.
[reference] One Nation
Republican Party-affiliated, dark money SuperPAC.
See also: Steven James Law
[2020-05-19] 'Dark money' overshadows 2020 election political ad spending.
Discusses dark money SuperPACs: Democratic Party-affiliated Majority Forward and Priorities USA Action | Republican Party-affiliated One Nation
[resource] Open Markets Institute
"The Open Markets Institute works to address threats to our democracy, individual liberties, and our national security from today's unprecedented levels of corporate concentration and monopoly power."
[reference] George Soros: Open Society Foundations
[Wikipedia] List of projects supported by George Soros
[2020-07-15] How Donald Trump plans to scapegoat George Soros to win re-election
[reference] Pacific Justice Institute
The Pacific Justice Institute (PJI) is a conservative legal defense organization headquartered in California, providing pro bono representation in matters involving the exercise of religion and other civil liberties. PJI has supported the recitation of "under God" as part of the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools, homeschooling, and the enforcement of legislation that prohibits the imposition of burdens on the ability of prisoners to worship as they please, and gives churches and other religious institutions a way to avoid zoning law restrictions on their property use).
The Southern Poverty Law Center designated the Pacific Justice Institute as a hate group [anti-LGBTQ+ hate group].
[reference] Pacific Research Institute [Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy]
The Pacific Research Institute is a California-based free-market think tank which promotes "the principles of individual freedom and personal responsibility" through policies that emphasize a free economy, private initiative, and limited government. The Pacific Research Institute is active in the policy areas of education, economics, health care, and the environment. The PRI "strives to change the perception of lawmakers and the public so that the starting point for any policy solution is a private, voluntary action, rather than unnecessary, and even harmful, government intervention."
Notorious VDARE Founder Peter Brimelow was (ca. 2002-2003) a Senior Fellow for Education Studies at the Pacific Research Institute.
[reference] People for the American Way
People For the American Way (PFAW) is a progressive advocacy group in the United States, founded in 1980 to challenge the Christian right agenda of the Moral Majority. Soon after its founding PFAW launched an affiliated 501(c)(3) organization, People for the American Way Foundation, for the purpose of conducting more extensive educational and research activities for liberal causes. Later, the People for the American Way Voters Alliance was launched as a political action committee (PAC).
[reference] Pew Charitable Trusts
Subsidiary: Pew Research Center
[reference] Philanthropy_Roundtable
The Philanthropy Roundtable is a nonprofit organization that advises philanthropists.
See also [re: donor-advised funds]: Donors Trust | Fidelity Charitable | National Philanthropic Trust | Tides Foundation
[reference] Pioneer_Fund
The Pioneer Fund is an American non-profit foundation established in 1937 "to advance the scientific study of heredity and human differences" ["academic racism"]. In 2003, the Southern Poverty Law Center listed the Pioneer Fund as a hate group, citing the Pioneer Fund's history, its funding of race and intelligence research, and its connections with racist individuals.
[reference] Potomac Institute for Policy Studies (PIPS)
[2020-05-15] "must-read:" Head of the Hydra: The Rise of Robert Kadlec.
A powerful network of political operatives, a global vaccine mafia and their man in Washington
[reference] Preserve America | Preserve America PAC
Dark money group tied to Republican party
[NPR.org, 2020-10-15] Adelsons Pump $75 Million Into Pro-Trump Super PAC In Election's Final Stretch. Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam, pumped $75 million into a pro-Trump super PAC in the final stretch of the presidential campaign, providing a late cash infusion for President Trump's faltering reelection effort as his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, raked in record-breaking sums. The Adelsons made the series of contributions in late August 2020 and September 2020 to the Preserve America PAC, according to Federal Election Commission filings, allowing the newly formed group to blanket swing states with attack ads against Biden.
[2020-09-22] Top presidential super PACs boosted by "dark money" donations
[reference] Prince Foundation
[reference] Priorities USA Action | Priorities Action USA
Priorities USA Action is the largest Democratic Party-affiliated SuperPAC, focusing mainly on high-dollar donors.
[2020-09-22] Top presidential super PACs boosted by "dark money" donations
[2020-05-19] 'Dark money' overshadows 2020 election political ad spending.
Discusses dark money SuperPACs: Democratic Party-affiliated Majority Forward and Priorities USA Action | Republican Party-affiliated One Nation
[reference] Project on Fair Representation
See also: Edward Blum
[reference] Public Citizen
Public Citizen -- founded by Ralph Nader in 1971 -- favors robust corporate accountability and strong government regulation, particularly in the areas of transport, healthcare, and nuclear power. The unifying theme is an effort to curb the impact of corporate power on American democracy. Public Citizen does not accept government or corporate funds.
[reference] Public Interest Legal Foundation
The Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) is an American conservative legal group known for suing states and local governments to purge voters from election rolls. PILF group has made false claims about the extent of voter fraud in the United States. PILF has published the information of eligible voters online, including Social Security numbers, falsely accusing them of being fraudulent voters.
[reference] Public Welfare Foundation
The Public Welfare Foundation distributes grants to organizations it believes it can contribute to reform. It has distributed more than $540 million in aid to 4,700 organizations. In 2013, it had total assets of $488.2 million and total giving of $20.2 million. Its average grant size is $148,324. These grants are awarded for both general and project support, but not for individuals, direct services, international projects, or endowment campaigns.
[reference] Reason Foundation
The Reason Foundation, an American libertarian think tank, is a 501(c)(3)nonprofit, tax-exempt organization committed to advancing "the values of individual freedom and choice, limited government, and market-friendly policies."
According to disclosures, as of 2012, the Reason Foundation's largest donors were the David H. Koch Charitable Foundation ($1,522,212), and the Sarah Scaife Foundation ($2,016,000).
[reference] Restoration Action | Restoration PAC
Political advocacy, funding group tied to the Republican Party.
[reference] New faces emerge among top political donors in 2020.
... The Uihleins [Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein] also gave significant amounts -- $17.6 million and $5 million, respectively -- to Restoration PAC, a conservative super PAC that advocates for small government and individual freedom, and Americas PAC, a conservative super PAC that has historically made independent expenditures with the goal of winning the support of Black and Hispanic voters. ...
Richard Uihlein has a history of supporting far-right candidates, and has often supported efforts in opposition to gay and transgender rights.
[FactCheck.org] Restoration PAC
[reference] Restore Our Future
Restore Our Future is a pro-Republican Party political action committee (PAC) created to support Mitt Romney in the 2012 U.S. Presidential election. A so-called Super PAC, Restore Our Future is permitted to raise and spend unlimited amounts of corporate, union, and individual campaign contributions under the terms of the Citizens United v. FEC Supreme Court decision.
[reference] Rockefeller Foundation
[reference] Ruth Institute
Jennifer Roback Morse (née Jennifer Anne Roback; born 1953; herein Jennifer Roback Morse) is an economist, a writer and a Catholic social conservative. Morse is the President and founder of the Ruth Institute, an organization opposed to same-sex marriage. Founded in 2008, the Ruth Institute was an arm of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), which opposed the legalization of same-sex marriage. By 2013-11-01 the Ruth Institute was independent of NOM. In 2013, the Ruth Institute was designated as an anti-LGBT hate group by the SPLC.
[2013-07-03] A toxic combination: Paedophiles, baby farms, and same-sex marriage
[reference] "Save Our Country" Coalition
The "Save Our Country" coalition was launched in April 2020 by the FreedomWorks Foundation, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the Tea Party Patriots, the Committee to Unleash Prosperity, and other right-wingers to push for a "quick" reopening of U.S. states, after many had enacted stay-at-home orders as confirmed coronavirus cases rapidly increased. The Bradley Foundation added another $275,000 to the FreedomWorks Foundation for "general operations."
In June 2020, The Guardian reported that Save Our Country had raised "just over $800,000 towards a $5m goal for projects including new ad efforts -- online, radio and print -- to rev up grassroots pressure to reopen states faster, plus curtail more federal spending and promote business-favored tax cuts." The Bradley Foundation is the first Save Our Country donor identified.
[reference] Scaife Foundations: Scaife Family Foundations | Sarah Scaife Foundation | ...
See also DeSmogBlog.com's very comprehensive Scaife Family Foundations [local copy (html, captured 2020-07-02)]
[resource] Searle_Freedom_Trust
The Searle Freedom Trust is a 501(c)(3) grant-making foundation, located in the U.S., associated with campaigns to: cut pay to state government employees | oppose public sector collective bargaining | reduce public sector services in education and healthcare | promote school vouchers | oppose efforts to combat greenhouse gas emissions | reduce or eliminate income and sales taxes | block grant reform to Medicare.
The Searle Freedom Trust granted $1.75 million between 2005-2015 to Donors Trust to fund the Project on Fair Representation, a Washington, D.C.-based legal defense fund that recruited plaintiffs in lawsuits to challenge affirmative action in college admissions policies.
A 2013 Smithsonian Magazine article listed the Searle Freedom Trust as among the largest contributors to the climate change denial movement from 2003 to 2010, and Inside Philanthropy reported on grants to "compile research questioning the scientific consensus on climate change."
Grantees of the Searle Freedom Trust have included conservative and libertarian public policy organizations (partially listed, here): American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) | American Enterprise Institute | Cato Institute | Donors Trust | Federalist Society | Heritage Foundation | Institute for Humane Studies | Manhattan Institute for Policy Research | Pacific Research Institute | Philanthropy Roundtable | Reason Foundation | State Policy Network.
[resource] Selz Foundation
Anti-vaccination disinformation movement ...
[resource] Informed Consent Action_Network
[2019-06-19] The Hedge Fund Founder Giving Big Bucks to Anti-Vaxx Groups.
In a rough week for Selz Capital, its founder drew scrutiny for supporting anti-vaccination efforts, just as its chief investment officer said he's leaving the firm
[resource] Senate Leadership Fund
Dark money Super PAC tied to Republican Party and Mitch McConnell
See also: Congressional Leadership Fund
[reference] New faces emerge among top political donors in 2020.
... Timothy Mellon, chairman of Pan Am Systems and grandson of famed Pittsburgh banker Andrew Mellon, contributed over $40 million to Republican causes this election cycle [2020], but only became a top GOP donor recently. In the 2018 election cycle, Timothy Mellon contributed $10 million to the GOP-aligned Congressional Leadership Fund. This cycle [2020], Timothy Mellon gave $20 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, $10 million to America First Action, and again donated $10 million to the Congressional Leadership Fund. ...
[2020-08-31] Senate Leadership Fund [Robert Duncan]: USPS Board Chairman Revealed as Director of Mitch McConnell, Trump-Linked Super PACs
[resource] Smith Richardson Foundation
The SRF has awarded grants to major think tanks and university research centers, including: American Enterprise Institute | Brookings Institution | Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments | Center for Strategic and International Studies | Council on Foreign Relations | Center on Irregular Warfare and Armed Groups | Freedom House | Hudson Institute | National Endowment for Democracy | National Institute for Public Policy | Nonproliferation Policy Education Center | Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins | Pepperdine University | RAND Corporation | Urban Institute | Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
[reference] Stand Together
COMMENTARY (BuriedTruth). Don't be fooled! Despite the stated altruistic objectives of "Stand Together," the abhorrent past history of influence and deception by the Koch brothers precautions one to firmly suspect that "Stand Together" is a sophisticated charade, masking sleazy, Machiavellian intentions!
[2019-05-20] "must-read:" The Koch network is reorganizing under a new name and with new priorities.
The Koch network is getting a new name to reflect its shifting strategy
[reference] Stand Up America
Stand Up America was founded after the 2016 election to provide progressives a platform to take action to oppose Donald Trump's agenda.
[reference] State Policy Network
[resource, ExposedByCMD.org] State Policy Network
[ExposedByCMD.org, 2020-09-21] More Than 100 Funders of State Policy Network Revealed
A Koch-funded, anti-union / anti-labor lobbying group.
The State Policy Network (SPN) was founded in 1992 by Thomas A. Roe, a South Carolina businessman who was a member of the board of trustees of The Heritage Foundation. By 2014, there were 65 SPN member organizations, including at least one in each state.
Policy initiatives supported by SPN members have included reductions in state health and welfare programs, state constitutional amendments to limit state government spending, expanded access to charter schools, and school vouchers. Another area of activity has been opposition to public-sector trade unions. Legislative actions taken by the GOP included the introduction and enactment of bills reducing or eliminating collective bargaining for teachers and other government workers and reducing the authority of unions to collect dues from government employees.
According to the State Policy Network, "the Liberty Justice Center is the litigation partner of the State Policy Network's affiliate, the Illinois Policy Institute."
See also:
[2019-06-06] Koch-Backed Tech Group Behind Tool Used to Push Union Opt-Out Campaigns.
According to an online member update from the State Policy Network (SPN), the tool was designed in "partnership with several SPN member organizations."
[reference] Sunlight Foundation
The Sunlight Foundation is an American 501(c)(3) nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that advocates for open government, with the goal of increasing transparency and accountability in the U.S. Congress, the executive branch, and in state and local governments. The foundation's primary focus is the role of money in politics. The organization seeks to increase campaign finance regulations and disclosure requirements.
[reference] Sunrise | Sunrise Movement
The Sunrise Movement is an American youth-led political movement coordinated by Sunrise, a 501(c)(4) political action organization that advocates political action on climate change. When first incorporated in 2017, the group's goal was to elect proponents of renewable energy in the 2018 midterm elections, first in the Democratic primaries and then in the general election. After the election, the organization has been focused on gaining a consensus within the Democratic Party in support of an environmental program known as the Green New Deal.
[reference] Swing Left
Political funder tied to Democratic party
[reference] Tax Foundation
The Tax Foundation is a Washington, D.C.-based think tank that collects data and publishes research studies on U.S. tax policies at both the federal and state levels. The Tax Foundation's stated mission is to "improve lives through tax policy research and education that leads to greater economic growth and opportunity." The Tax Foundation is organized as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt non-profit educational and research organization. The Tax Foundation is generally critical of tax increases and high taxation.
See also: Americans for Fair Taxation | Americans for Tax Reform
[reference] Tea Party | Tea Party movement
See also:
[2010-08-29] The Billionaires Bankrolling the Tea Party.
Focused discussion on David and Charles Koch, Rupert Murdoch; briefly discusses George Soros
Anti-Muslim statements by Tea Party activist Mark Kevin Lloyd are mentioned here [article includes mention of anti-feminist | anti-LGBT | transphobic statements by senior USAID employees]:
[2020-08-20] Erased From the Trump Administration's Draft of a Key Foreign Aid Policy: Any Mention of LGBT People.
USAID's gender policy guides its priorities worldwide. A new version of that policy put forward by the Trump administration omits any mention of transgender people, and adopts a conservative framing of human rights.
... One official involved in the policy update process was Bethany Kozma, the USAID deputy chief of staff. Before joining the Trump administration in 2017, Kozma advocated against Obama-era guidelines that schools allow transgender students to use bathrooms that match their gender identity. During her time in the administration, she has played a key role in advancing conservative causes globally, such as opposing references to sexual and reproductive health in United Nations documents.
In the last few months, USAID's leadership has been seeded with several right-wing political appointees, including Mark Kevin Lloyd, a Tea Party activist with a history of making and sharing anti-Islamic comments, who was named the agency's new religious freedom adviser; Bethany Kozma, who was elevated to a higher position as the agency's deputy chief of staff; and Merritt Corrigan, the agency's former deputy White House liaison, who had made repeated anti-LGBT statements on social media. Corrigan left USAID this month after Corrigan unleashed a tirade against the USAID on Twitter, though she later claimed she did not send those tweets. ...
[2020-06-09] U.S. Foreign Aid Agency Defends Political Appointees Who Wrote Anti-LGBT, Anti-Islam Posts.
The statement from USAID Acting Administrator John Barsa comes after ProPublica reported that Merritt Corrigan, who has condemned the "tyrannical LGBT agenda," was appointed as USAID's new deputy White House liaison
[2020-06-18] Democratic Senators Call for USAID to Investigate Anti-LGBT, Anti-Muslim Comments by Appointees.
Democrats' request comes as the agency grapples with internal frustration over its approach to racism and bias
[2020-05-30] USAID Faces Mounting Pressure to Remove Latest Trump Appointee With History of Islamophobic Remarks
[reference] Tea Party Caucus
The Tea Party Caucus (TPC) was a congressional caucus of conservative members of the Republican Party in the U.S. House of Representatives. Though the primary functions of the Caucus have varied from year to year, its members have promoted budget cuts, including significant cuts in non-defense spending and adherence to the movement's interpretation of the Constitution. The caucus' members have also advocated socially conservative legislation, supported the right to keep and bear arms, and promoted limited government. Since approximately late 2016, although there was no official announcement, the Tea Party Caucus appears to be defunct, and most of its members are now caucusing with either the Freedom Caucus or the Liberty Caucus.
[reference] Tea Party Community
The Tea Party Community was a social networking and political networking website intended as an alternative to Facebook for use by American conservatives, founded by Ken Crow, Tim Selaty, Sr. and Tim Selaty, Jr. in November 2012. In January 2013, Crow accused Facebook of intentionally targeting conservative members for censorship and described the new site as "a new home for conservatives and the Tea Party movement in America ..." The site is now defunct.
[reference] Tea Party Patriots
[reference] Tea Party Patriots Co-founder Mark Meckler.
Meckler, an American political activist and attorney, was a co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots before resigning from that group in 2012.
Meckler currently serves as President of Citizens for Self-Governance.
Meckler is an active proponent of a convention to propose amendments to the United States Constitution.
In 2015, Citizens for Self-Governance launched a nationwide effort to call an Article V Convention, through a project called Convention of the States, in a bid to rein in the federal government.
Jenny Beth Martin is a co-Founder of the Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund, a political action committee which Martin has said was formed to counter Karl Rove's Conservative Victory Project. Martin characterizes Rove and his group as the "consultant class."
[reference] Templeton Foundation [John Templeton Foundation | Templeton Religion Trust]
[reference] Tides_Foundation
The Tides Foundation is an American public charity and fiscal sponsor working to advance progressive causes and policy initiatives in areas such as the environment, health care, labor issues, immigrant rights, LGBTQ+ rights, women's rights and human rights. Through donor advised funds, Tides distributes money from anonymous donors to other organizations, which are often politically liberal.
See also: MakeWay [formerly: Tides Canada].
See also [re: donor-advised funds]: Donors Trust | Fidelity Charitable | National Philanthropic Trust | Philanthropy Roundtable
[reference] Traditional Values Coalition
The Traditional Values Coalition (TVC) was an American conservative Christian organization that opposed LGBT rights. TVC was influential in the 1980s and 1990s in lobbying for government policy based in Christian fundamentalism. TVC was designated an anti-gay hate group by the SPLC, citing TVC's use of known falsehoods that had been thoroughly discredited by scientific authorities. SPLC reported that TVC may ceased to exist as of 2018.
[reference] Trump for America
[Wikipedia] Turning Point USA
Turning Point USA (TPUSA) is an American conservative nonprofit organization. TPUSA's affiliated organizations include Turning Point News, the Turning Point Endowment, Turning Point Action, and Students for Trump. TPUSA's stated mission is to "identify, educate, train and organize students to promote the principles of fiscal responsibility, free markets and limited government."
Since 2016, Turning Point USA has maintained a Professor Watchlist, which lists college professors who, it alleges, discriminate against conservative students and advance what it considers to be left-wing propaganda in the classroom. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, TPUSA has attempted to influence student government elections in an effort to "combat liberalism on college and university campuses." TPUSA was founded and is led by Charlie Kirk, a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump.
Turning Point USA: Controversies | Instances of racism and anti-Semitism
[reference] United Against Nuclear Iran
[reference] United in Purpose:
[2020-05-23] "must-read:" United in Purpose: Inside the Influential Evangelical Group Mobilizing to Reelect Trump
[reference] Unite the Country
A pro-{Democratic Party | Joe Biden} SuperPAC.
[group] Unite the People Inc.
Unite the People is a California-based nonprofit organization formed in 2014 by a small group of concerned citizens, defense attorneys, and families and friends of incarcerated loved ones to fight for social justice and deal with our national problems of mass incarceration and the need for prison and sentencing reform.
[reference] Urban Institute
[reference] Vera_Institute of Justice
[reference] Voto Latino
Political funder tied to Democratic party
[reference] Wellspring Committee
[2019-05-23] Wellspring Committee: An influential 'dark money' group turns off the lights for the last time
[reference] Westminster Institute
Islamophobic organization, despite their assertions: "The Westminster Institute was established in 2009 to sponsor research with a focus on the threats from extremism and radical ideologies. The Westminster Institute is an independent non-profit organization that is funded by contributions from individuals and private foundations. It receives no government funding. ..."
[reference] William Volker Fund ["extinct"]
The William Volker Fund was a charitable foundation established with the purposes of aiding the needy, reforming Kansas City's health care and educational systems, and combating the influence of machine politics in municipal governance. Following Volker's death in 1947, Volker's nephew, Harold W. Luhnow continued the William Volker Fund's previous mission, but also used the William Volker Fund to promote and disseminate ideas on free-market economics. During Luhnow's tenure as the William Volker Fund's primary manager, the William Volker Fund was one of the few libertarian organizations with significant amounts of money at its disposal, making it a key leader in developing the modern libertarian and conservative movements in the United States.
Controversy and collapse. In the early 1960s, Luhnow's management of the William Volker Fund became increasingly inconsistent, and in early 1963 he suddenly fired most of his staff, including Harper and Rothbard. Harper continued the basic nature and spirit of his Volker Fund work by creating the Institute for Humane Studies. Luhnow hired Ivan R. Bierly, an ex-Foundation for Economic Education senior staffer. Luhnow reorganized the Volker Fund as the Center for American Studies and ended the fund's charitable commitments to Kansas City institutions. Bierly recruited William T. Couch, R.J. Rushdoony, and David Leslie Hoggan to run the new Center for American Studies. Rushdoony hired his future son-in-law, Gary North, as a summer intern in 1963.
Immediately, Rushdoony and Hoggan became lightning rods for controversy. Rushdoony, a conservative Presbyterian minister, alienated many of the William Volker Fund's secular and non-Protestant supporters and was fired by Bierly. Hoggan was even more controversial for his explicitly pro-Hitler and pro-Nazi sympathies. Hoggan was fired shortly after Rushdoony.
The Rushdoony/Hoggan controversy left Bierly and Couch scrambling to find support for the Center for American Studies. Bierly and Couch courted Stanford University and the Hoover Institution with several million dollars in remaining Volker money only to be rebuffed. The Center for American Studies proved short lived and closed late in 1964 when Couch and Birely failed to secure the support of Stanford and Hoover. A decade later, the remainder of the Volker Fund money, amounting to about seven million dollars, went to the Hoover Institution. The William Volker Fund's files have disappeared.
[reference] Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty [WILL]
[reference] Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce [WMC] | Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce Foundation [WMC Foundation]
[reference] Wolf-PAC
Special interest: U.S. Constitutional reform, i.e., support for a constitutional amendment aimed at removing money from American politics.
See also: Justice Democrats | Citizens United v. FEC | Convention of States
See also: Synopsis of Dark Money Campaign Financing and U.S. Constitution Article V Reform
[reference] Wyss Foundation
[2020-05-22] 'Dark money' networks hide political agendas behind fake news sites
Arabella Advisors ["Sixteen Thirty Fund," funded in part by Wyss Foundation]
[reference] Black Lives Matter
Funded in part by Democracy Alliance
[2016-08-16] Black Lives Matter cashes in with $100 million from liberal foundations
See also:
George Soros' Open Society Foundations
[2018-03-21] Organizations Funded by George Soros And His Open Society Foundations | local copy [captured 2020-07-03]
George Soros was involved in the organization's founding.
Members of the Democracy Alliance include billionaires George Soros. Members of the Democracy Alliance are required to contribute at least $200,000 a year to groups the Democracy Alliance vets and recommends..
[2018-02-04] George Soros: Follow the Money (1/2): Disruption at Home and Abroad
[2018-02-11] George Soros: Follow the Money (2/2): Soros vs. America
[reference] Occupy Wall Street
[2011-10-13] George Soros: Who's behind the Wall Street protests?.
The key assertion [Soros' funding OWS] is refuted in this follow-on Reuters article, which supersedes the one, above.
[2011-10-13] Soros: Not a funder of Wall Street protests
[2018-03-21] Organizations Funded by George Soros And His Open Society Foundations | local copy [captured 2020-07-03]:
"... In October 2011, a Reuters story, "Soros: Not a funder of Wall Street protests," was published after several commentators pointed out errors in an earlier Reuters story headlined "Who's behind the Wall St. protests?Who's behind the Wall St. protests?" with a lede stating that the Occupy Wall Street movement "may have benefited indirectly from the largesse of one of the world's richest men [Soros]." Reuters' follow-up article also reported a Soros spokesman and Adbusters' co-founder Kalle Lasn both saying that Adbusters-the reputed catalyst for the first Occupy Wall Street protests-had never received any contributions from Soros, contrary to Reuters' earlier story that reported that "indirect financial links" existed between the two as late as 2010. ..."
[2012-05-02] NYPD "Warrant Squad:" Police Warrant Squads Were Used to Monitor Wall Street Protesters, Suspects Say
See also [reference]: "Save Our Country" Coalition
[2020-07-15] "must-read (viz-a-viz funding of "reopen movements"):" Bradley Foundation Bankrolled Right-Wing Reopen Effort Despite Rising Coronavirus Cases.
The political pressure generated by the lobbying and litigation efforts of Bradley-funded groups and President Trump led many states to prematurely roll back stay-at-home safety measures and reopen businesses.
Mentions: "Save Our Country" initiative funded (through support from Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation) by: American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) | Americans for Prosperity (Charles Koch) | Ballotpedia (editor-at-large: Scott Rasmussen), a project of the right-wing Lucy Burns Institute | Committee to Unleash Prosperity (founder: Stephen Moore) | Convention of States | FreedomWorks Foundation | Lucy Burns Institute (founder / President / CEO Leslie Graves is married to the Republican operative Eric O'Keefe, who serves as chairman of the board for Convention of State Action) | Tea Party Patriots | Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce Foundation (President / CEO Kurt Bauer | 501(c)(3) sister organization WMC Foundation)
Save Our Country switched to using "reopen society" instead of "reopen the economy" after polling FreedomWorks commissioned in late April 2020 found that reopening the economy amidst the pandemic was unpopular
[2020-05-23] "must-read ("ReOpen" movements, ...):" Secretive Right-Wing Nonprofit Plays Role in COVID-19 Organizing
[2020-05-21] Nearly half of Twitter accounts pushing to reopen America may be bots.
There has been a huge upswell of Twitter bot activity since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, amplifying medical disinformation and the push to reopen America
[2020-08-05] Intentional Disregard: Trump's Authoritarianism During the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Influence of "Dark Money" Nonprofit Organizations on the Trump Administration-Exacerbated COVID-19 Pandemic / Crisis
[2020-05-15] Protesters chant 'lock her up' after Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer's stay-at-home order.
Thousands demonstrate against measure to limit spread of coronavirus as governor warns of danger to protesters' health
[2020-05-14] Heavily Armed Protesters Gather Again At Michigan's Capitol Denouncing Home Order
[2020-04-22] "must-read:" The anti-quarantine protests seem spontaneous. But behind the scenes, a powerful network is helping
[2020-04-18] "must-read:" Thousands of Americans backed by rightwing donors gear up for protests.
Conservative activists to demand governors lift stay-home orders -- and movement has been driven by wealthy conservative groups.
Mentions: Americans for Prosperity | Betsy DeVos | FreedomWorks | FOX News | "Reopen" movements (ReOpen Maryland; ReOpen Virginia; ...) | Tea Party | Tea Party Patriots
[reference] Wealth inequality in the United States
[reference] All of the World's Money and Markets in One Visualization
[reference] Cited above: xkcd 980 -- Money -- Huge (png) ... though dated, this is a better visualization of wealth. [Source]
[2018-09-20] Review: Anand Giridharadas, "Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World".
Author Criticizes Elitist Institutions for Encouraging Wealth Inequality
[2020-07-22] Video: CEOs Are Getting Paid Way More Than Their Employees. Now What?.
COVID-19 Pandemic Profiteering; CEO-Employees Compensation Disparity; Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act; Robert Reich
[reference] Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act ["Dodd-Frank Act"]
[2019-08-16] CEOs see pay grow 1,000% in the last 40 years, now make 278 times the average worker
[2019-08-14] CEO compensation has grown 940% since 1978.
Typical worker compensation has risen only 12% during that time
See also: Billionaires -- Existential Threat From
[2019-02-06] Abolish Billionaires.
A radical idea is gaining adherents on the left. It's the perfect way to blunt tech-driven inequality
[2019-12-17] Billionaires -- Existential Threats to Humanity?
[2019-12-13] The corrupting syndrome of the super-rich
[2019-11-07] Billionaires Have Declared All-Out War on Sanders and Warren
[2019-07-09] Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez' policy adviser makes the case for abolishing billionaires.
"The bigger Jeff Bezos' and Bill Gates' slices of the pie are, the smaller everybody else's are going to be"
[Image, 2020-08-18] Should Billionaires exist? U.S. Billionaire Wealth Surges During Pandemic. [Source: Facebook]
[2019-01-30] Should Billionaires Even Exist?.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Elizabeth Warren believe some Americans have too much money, and they're not alone
[2019-01-22] Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: A Society With Billionaires Cannot Be Moral
[2018-10-16] No Billionaires
See also: Billionaires: COVID-19 Pandemic Profiteering -- Canada
[Salon.com, 2020-10-17] Billionaire wealth rises to more than $10 trillion for first time ever amid pandemic: analysis. Rich get richer as millions of Americans fall into poverty and 100 million plunge into "extreme poverty" globally.
[theGuardian.com, 2020-10-07] Billionaires' wealth rises to $10.2 trillion amid Covid crisis. Super-rich increase fortunes by more than a quarter during market turmoil. "... A report by Swiss bank UBS found that billionaires increased their wealth by more than a quarter (27.5%) at the height of the crisis from April to July, just as millions of people around the world lost their jobs or were struggling to get by on government schemes. ..."
[RightWingWatch.org, 2020-10-07] Healthcare Billionaires Outstrip Even Tech Titans During COVID Boom. Amid record lay-offs, a report shows just how good the pandemic has been for billionaires. Making the biggest increases? Billionaires in the healthcare business, naturally. Healthcare billionaires saw their total wealth increase by a staggering 50.3 percent to $658.6 billion, whereas the buoyant tech sector could offer its leading billionaires a mere 42 percent increase in their wealth (albeit that tech accounts for a larger total amount of billionaire's wealth, at $1.8 trillion).
[2020-08-14] Robert Reich: Profiteering off the Pandemic
[2020-07-24] Noam Chomsky: Trump Is Using Pandemic to Enrich Billionaires as Millions Lose Work & Face Eviction
[2020-07-22] Pandemic Profiteers Exposed.
Pharmaceutical and tech companies and wealthy white Americans benefit from dramatic pandemic profits, further exacerbating inequality.
17 of the top 25 most profitable US corporations, including Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson, Facebook, Pfizer, and Visa, are expected to make almost $85 billion more in 2020 than in previous years.
While these profits could have been invested in protecting workers and in innovation, Oxfam found that in 2020 the top 25 most profitable US corporations are set to distribute 99% of net profits to shareholders -- who are overwhelmingly white and predominantly male.
[2020-07-23] Oxfam: Pandemic Profiteers Exposed.
A COVID-19 Pandemic Profits Tax as one essential tool to reverse inequalities and rebuild better post-pandemic.
... How would a temporary COVID-19 Pandemic Profits Tax work? And who would it affect? ...
[2020-07-22] Oxfam America Calls for Tax on "Pandemic Profiteers" to Fund COVID-19 Recovery and the Common Good.
"Taxing excess profits during a crisis is an old idea whose time has come again"
[Image, 2020-08-18] Should Billionaires exist? U.S. Billionaire Wealth Surges During Pandemic. [Source: Facebook]
[2020-07-16] Family fortunes of wealthy increase as super-rich ride coronavirus storm.
UBS says portfolios of 77% of richest investors are performing in line with or above target
[2020-06-18] 'Orgy of Wealth' Continues as US Billionaires Grew $584 Billion Richer Over Last 3 Months While 45 Million Lost Their Jobs.
"If this pandemic reveals anything, it's how unequal our society has become and how drastically it must change"
[2020-05-22] Facebook, Amazon chiefs see wealth balloon amid pandemic: report
[2020-05-21] Underscoring 'Grotesque Nature of Unequal Sacrifice,' Richest Americans Have Added $434 Billion in Wealth Since Pandemic Hit.
"While millions risk their lives and livelihoods as first responders and frontline workers, these billionaires benefit from an economy and tax system that is wired to funnel wealth to the top"
[2020-05-21] U.S. Billionaire Wealth Surges $434 Billion as Unemployment Filers Top 38 Million.
The combined wealth of Amazon's Jeff Bezos and Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg has climbed by nearly $60 billion in the last two months
[2020-05-15] Coronavirus Has a Been a Massive Boon for America's Billionaires.
A new study found that in the past eight weeks alone, the country's super wealthy have added a further $368.8 billion to their already enormous fortunes
[2020-05-15] Billionaire Wealth, U.S. Job Losses and Pandemic Profiteers
[2020-05-13] Uber Woos GrubHub, In A Move Lawmaker Calls 'Pandemic Profiteering'
[2020-05-06] The U.S. Response to COVID-19 Has Lavished Wealth on the Rich.
While the pandemic ravages American workers, the federal government has orchestrated a monumental transfer of wealth from the bottom of the economic ladder to the top
[2020-04-20] Robert Reich: The Privileged and Powerful in the Pandemic [Jeff Bezos | Elon Musk]
[2020-04-16] Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos Is Now $24 Billion Richer Amid Pandemic
[2020-04-01] The Billionaires Behind the Crisis: How the Rich & Powerful Put Their Wealth Above Public Health.
Mentions (discusses): Bill Ackman | Jeff Bezos | Lloyd Blankfein | Josh Harris | Jacobs Family | Seth Klarman | Dick Kovacevich| John Paulson | Terry and Kim Pegula | Stephen A. Schwarzman
[2020-03-25] See also Wendy's subsection in: Billionaires Live Large While Denying Paid Sick Leave to Millions of Workers
[2020-03-24] Amazon's Bezos, Other Corporate Executives Sold Shares Just in Time.
With the pandemic bearing down on the market, sales by insiders spared them $1.9 billion in paper losses, a Journal analysis shows
See also: Billionaires: COVID-19 Pandemic Profiteering
[2020-09-17] COVID sucks, unless you're a billionaire. Canada's richest have raked in $37 billion since March 2020.
Canada's 20 richest people have seen their fortunes skyrocket as the rest of us suffer.
[2020-09-16] Canadian billionaires' wealth skyrocketing amid the pandemic
[2020-05-25] Canada's top billionaires are getting richer thanks to COVID-19 -- And donating a pittance.
They've donated just 1 per cent of the wealth they've gained since March to recovery efforts
[2020-05-25] TaxCOOP -- Top 5 Richest Canadian Billionaires During The Canadian COVID‐19 Lockdown
[2019-11-20] Canadian billionaires: Here are the 41 richest people in Canada in 2019 [updated: 2020]
[2020-09-22] Save-On-Foods Owner Says Business Has "Never Been Better" Three Months After Cutting Workers' Pay.
British Columbia billionaire Jim Pattison boasts that the pandemic has brought him 'opportunities like never before'
[2020-06-08] Billionaire Owner of Western Canadian Supermarket Chain Suggests He's Powerless to Stop Worker Pay Cut: "I'm not involved".
Canadian billionaire Jim Pattison, the sixth richest man in Canada and owner of the Save-on-Foods grocery chain, says the buck stops somewhere else when it comes to cutting hazard pay for frontline grocery store workers.
The 2020 Forbes billionaires list shows Pattison was worth $4.3 billion USD on March 18 2020 (one week after COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic), but more recent data suggests the tycoon's real-time net worth currently stands at $4.8 billion USD as of June 1 2020 (a $500M increase).
[2020-07-02] Canada: Corporations cut pandemic pay for essential workers even as pandemic continues.
The irony of slashing pandemic pay even as the pandemic continues isn't lost on anyone
See also: Billionaires -- Calls to Abolish
[reference] See also: Wealth Management: Family Offices
[2020-07-31] Here Are the Billionaires Funding Trump's Voter Suppression Lawsuits.
Dozens of billionaires have donated to the RNC's legal fund that is being used to fight against expanded access to mail voting
[2020-07-08] To Keep Americans Safe, We Have to Get Billionaires Out of Politics.
Billionaires and the super rich have spent 40 years, since the beginning of the Reagan Revolution, telling us how wonderful America would be if only rich people ran the show. That's called oligarchy, not democracy
[2020-07-06] Protesting where it hurts the super-rich.
That 60% of Americans whose wealth is matched by a roomful of billionaires should be working together to fight economic injustice
[2020-06-21] For a Racism-Free 22nd Century, We Need a Billionaire-Free 21st.
The dead hand of grand fortunes past is still poisoning our present
[2020-06-12] The Rich Are 'Defunding' Our Democracy.
On matters both petty and profound, America's deepest pockets are quietly getting their way
[2020-06-01] The shadow economy that lets the ultra rich enjoy 'friction free lives'.
Nelson D. Schwartz explores the perils of a financial system that enables one percenters to move to the head of the line in 'The Velvet Rope Economy'
[2016-06-01] These 15 Billionaires Own America's News Media Companies
[2020-05-23] "must-read:" Secretive Right-Wing Nonprofit Plays Role in COVID-19 Organizing
[2020-05-23] Telecoms tycoon Xavier Niel says he was spy who hacked ex-French president
[2018-09-24] The Dow of Inequality: Counting the Casualties of America's Class War
[reference] Forbes.com: World's Real-time Billionaires list | Forbes billionaires list
[CTVNews.ca, 2020-10-17] Software CEO Robert Brockman charged in US$2-billion tax evasion case. Texas tech mogul Robert T. Brockman has been charged in a US$2-billion tax evasion case, the largest ever tax charge in the United States, law enforcement officials said. A federal grand jury returned an indictment alleging that Brockman, the CEO of software company Reynolds & Reynolds, engaged in tax evasion, wire fraud, money laundering and other crimes as part of a nearly 20-year scheme to conceal around $2 billion in income from the Internal Revenue Service and defraud investors in his software firm's debt securities, federal authorities said in a release. ...
[2020-05-15] Warren Buffett's Berkshire dumps most of Goldman Sachs stake
[2020-05-04] Warren Buffett Sells Airline Stocks Amid Coronavirus: 'I Made A Mistake'
[2020-03-05] Warren Buffett's company backs out of Quebec energy project due to anti-pipeline blockades
[2020-03-05] Warren Buffett's company bails on Saguenay LNG project because of 'Canadian political context,' promoter says.
Berkshire Hathaway opts not to invest $4B in liquified natural gas plant and pipeline
[2020-03-31] Wave of Hospital Closures Left USA Ill-Equipped for COVID-19
[2020-03-27] Philadelphia Hospital to Stay Closed After Owner Requests Nearly $1 Million a Month
[reference] Carl Icahn
[2020-05-24] O.J., Accounting Fraud, Icahn: The Story of Hertz Going Bust
[2020-03-13] [COVID-19] Carl Icahn Unable To Contain His Glee At How Bad Things Are Gonna Get
[2020-03-13] Carl Icahn is shorting the commercial real estate market, which he says is going to 'blow up'
[2020-09-24] This Billionaire Governor's Companies Have Now Reached $140 Million in Lawsuit Settlements and Judgments Over Unpaid Bills.
A company owned by West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice agreed to a $4.4 million settlement over missed coal shipments. ProPublica previously reported that Justice's businesses were sued dozens of times for millions in unpaid bills.
[2020-05-27] The Billionaire Governor Who's Been Sued Dozens of Times for Millions in Unpaid Bills.
Gov. Jim Justice is West Virginia's richest man. Over the last three decades, lawsuits over unpaid bills have cost his constellation of companies more than $128 million in judgments and settlements
[2020-05-27] See Who's Taken Billionaire Gov. Jim Justice to Court Over Unpaid Bills.
West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice, a billionaire and the state's richest man, has a long list of debt-collection cases. In the most complete analysis of his legal record to date, ProPublica found dozens totaling more than $128 million
[2020-05-14] Is Elon Musk a Fraud?
[reference] Peter Thiel
[2019-08-09] The life and rise of billionaire investor Peter Thiel.
The PayPal cofounder: called Google 'seemingly treasonous;' wants injections of young people's blood; is Trump's biggest Silicon Valley supporter
See also: [2018-02-15] How an extreme libertarian tract predicting the collapse of liberal democracies inspired the likes of Peter Thiel to buy up property across the Pacific
[2017-01-11] Peter Thiel, Trump's Tech Pal, Explains Himself
[reference] Oligarchy
[reference] Plutocracy
[reference] Plutonomy
[reference] Wealth inequality in the United States
Kleptocracy (from Greek κλέπτης kléptēs, "thief", κλέπτω kléptō, "I steal", and -κρατία -kratía from κράτος krátos, "power, rule") is a government whose corrupt leaders (kleptocrats) use political power to appropriate the wealth of their nation, typically by embezzling or misappropriating government funds at the expense of the wider population.
Kleptocracy is different from plutocracy (rule by the richest) and oligarchy (rule by a small elite). In a kleptocracy, corrupt politicians enrich themselves secretly outside the rule of law, through kickbacks, bribes, and special favors, or they simply direct state funds to themselves and their associates. Also, kleptocrats often export much of their profits to foreign nations in anticipation of losing power.
[2014-{07-08}] "must-read:" (prophetic) The Pitchforks Are Coming ... For Us Plutocrats
[2005-2006] "must-read:" Citigroup's Shocking 'Plutonomy' Reports.
In a chilling portent of our current wealth imbalance and state of affairs, years ago Citigroup financial analysts identified the overarching dominance and influence of their ultrawealthy clients -- and the risks to these clients (chiefly, political interference from nonwealthy, disenfranchised voters): ostensively to protect them from us (not vice versa).
[2005-10-16] Citigroup Plutonomy Report #1: Equity Strategy. Plutonomy: Buying Luxury, Explaining Global Imbalances
[2006-03-05] Citigroup Plutonomy Report #2: Equity Strategy. Revisiting Plutonomy: The Rich Getting Richer
[2006-09-29] Citigroup Plutonomy Report #3: Equity Strategy. The Global Investigator The Plutonomy Symposium -- Rising Tides Lifting Yachts
Refugium (customarily: population biology): an area where special environmental circumstances have enabled a species or a community of species to survive after extinction in surrounding areas.
[2020-08-07] Passports for purchase: How the elite get through a pandemic.
Citizen-by-Investment Programs | Henley Passport Index
[2020-06-12] End-of-Civilization Billionaire Refugia
[2020-05-11] World's Super Rich Buying Pandemic Escape Mansions in New Zealand
[2020-04-22] Inquiries for private islands quadruple as billionaires seek pandemic paradises
[2020-04-20] 'We needed to go': Rich Americans activate pandemic escape plans
[2020-07-16] Ocasio-Cortez, NY State Progressives Call on Cuomo to Pass Billionaires' Tax to Support Immigrants Left Out of COVID-19 Relief.
"For so long we've been bailing out corporations. COVID has shown us that the most vulnerable people in our community, they too deserve to be bailed out"
[2020-07-09] 'An Absolute Outrage': Sanders Rips 'Wealthy Tax Cheats' as CBO Estimates $381 Billion in Annual Unpaid Taxes.
"The richest 1% is responsible for 70% of all unpaid taxes ... Congress is leaving hundreds of billions of dollars in taxes uncollected from the wealthy"
[2020-04-13] Taxes Paid By Billionaires Decreased 79 Percent Since 1980, as Percentage of Their Wealth
[2020-01-03] Bill Gates: My $109 billion net worth shows the economy is not fair
[2019-10-14] [Salesforce CEO:] Marc Benioff: We Need a New Capitalism.
The current system has led to profound inequality. To fix it, we need businesses and executives to value purpose alongside profit
[2020-07-13] Propaganda: Coronavirus: Disney heir [Abigail Disney] and Ben & Jerry's call for higher taxes
[ca. 2020-07] Propaganda: 'Millionaires for Humanity' Sign On Letter
[2019-12-30] The Ultra-Wealthy Who Argue That They Should Be Paying Higher Taxes.
In an age of historic disparity, Abigail Disney and the Patriotic Millionaires take on income inequality
[2020-07-02] Canada: Corporations cut pandemic pay for essential workers even as pandemic continues.
The irony of slashing pandemic pay even as the pandemic continues isn't lost on anyone
[2020-06-17] Canada's wealthiest one per cent hold 25.6 per cent of riches, new PBO report says
[2020-06-17] Report shows Canada's richest 0.01% own almost 5 times more wealth than bottom 40% of Canadians.
Total wealth of wealthiest 1% about the same as 12 million Canadian families
[2019-11-20] Canadian billionaires: Here are the 41 richest people in Canada in 2019.
[2020-05-19]: Canadian billionaires: Here are the 45 richest people in Canada in 2020
[reference] Autocracy | Autocrats
[reference] Harold Pinter
[reference] Harold Pinter, Nobel Lecture (2005): Art, Truth and Politics | video | transcript
[2020-02-07] American democracy is dying
[2019-10-28] They Live, We Sleep: Beware the Growing Evil in Our Midst
[2018-10] America's Slide Toward Autocracy
[2020-06-15] "must-read ["American Orbanism"]:" The Path to Autocracy.
A second Trump term will leave America's political system and culture looking even more like Orbán's Hungary
See also [2020-06-21]: Why Bill Barr Got Rid of Geoffrey Berman. This is how an authoritarian works to subvert justice
[2020-06-04] Donald Trump Is an Autocrat. It's Up to All of Us to Stop Him
[reference] 2019 college admissions bribery scandal
[2020-05-21] Here's the full list of people charged in the college admissions cheating scandal ...
[2019-03-12] U.S. Charges Dozens of Parents, Coaches In Massive College Admissions Scandal
[2019-03-13] Vancouver businessman David Sidoo admits to college scam.
David Sidoo pleads guilty in U.S. college admissions scandal
[2019-03-14] David Sidoo asks for his name to be removed from UBC field
[2019-03-11] College admissions scandal: UBC to reconsider name of David Sidoo Field
[2020-05-21] Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli to serve prison time for college scam
[2020-02-26] Hot Pockets heiress Michelle Janavs sentenced to prison in college admissions scam
[2020-02-07] Douglas Hodge: Pimco ex-CEO sentenced to prison in U.S. college admissions scam
[2020-02-07] Douglas Hodge: Judge Hands Down Harshest Penalty Yet From College Admissions Scandal
[2019-09-13] Actress Felicity Huffman Sentenced To 14 Days In College Admissions Scandal
[2020-06-26] Avril Haines: Controversial Data-Mining Firm Palantir Vanishes From Biden Adviser's Biography After She Joins Campaign
[2020-05-27] Joe Biden, Rape Culture, and Living in the Dark
[2020-05-27] Dark money: Outside groups help Biden close the digital ad gap with Trump on Facebook
[2020-05-26] Peter Scher: Joe Biden's Friend From JPMorgan Chase
[2020-05-14] What You Need To Know About The Flynn, Biden And 'Unmasking' Story
[2020-05-10] With Tara Reade's Allegations, Joe Biden's Campaign Is Only the Latest Chapter of America's Accountability Problem
[2020-04-18] Conflict of Interest -- Joe Biden: Big Pharma Prepares to Profit From the Coronavirus
[2020-04-18] We Need to Reverse the Damage Trump Has Done in Latin America. Biden's Plans Don't Cut It
[CommonDreams.org, 2020-10-16] Trump Advisers Privately Warned GOP Donors About COVID-19 in February While Telling Public Virus Was "Very Much Under Control." "Apparently, if Americans want to hear the full truth from the Trump administration about the severity of COVID-19, they need to be wealthy and well-connected donors."
[Salon.com, 2020-10-15] Trump administration privately warned wealthy donors while publicly downplaying the coronavirus. The information reportedly helped elite traders "gain financial advantage" when "global markets were teetering."
[2020-04-16] Video: The Law Banning Congressional Insider Trading Isn't Enough to Stop It.
Pandemic insider trading: Republican Senators Richard Burr, Kelly Loeffler
[2020-05-14] Richard Burr Steps Down From Chairmanship of Senate Intelligence Committee.
Burr's resignation comes after the FBI seized his cellphone Wednesday. The Republican from North Carolina is being investigated for selling stock ahead of the market crash due to coronavirus fears
[2020-05-14] Did Senate Intel Chair Burr Use Confidential COVID Briefings to Unload Stocks?
[2020-05-06] On the Same Day Sen. Richard Burr Dumped Stock, So Did His Brother-in-Law. Then the Market Crashed
[2020-04-27] Sen. Richard Burr Is Not Just a Friend to the Health Care Industry. He's Also a Stockholder
[2020-04-07] Senate Intel Chair Richard Burr Sold Dutch Fertilizer Stock in 2018, Right Before a Collapse
[2020-03-30] Senator Richard Burr Faces DOJ Investigation for Selling a Fortune in Stocks Right Before the Market Crashed
[2020-03-27] Unconscionable Greed, Insider Trading, and the Coronavirus
[reference] Betsy DeVos
[2020-07-23] Trump and DeVos' Plan to Reopen Schools Hides a Sinister Agenda.
Privitization of all public schools (replace public education with Christian education) | Non-governmental access to annual $694 billion public education budget (corporate predation) | Maintain and expand racial segregation | Eliminating or weakening teachers' unions
[2020-07-13] Trump Accused of Suppressing CDC Warning That Full School Reopenings Pose 'Highest Risk' of COVID-19 Spread.
"By trying to bury what the CDC recommends, Trump is betraying every student, teacher, and parent in this country. Shame on him. Shame on those who enable him"
[2020-07-13] Betsy DeVos' School-Reopening Plan Is Already Getting a Big Fat F.
Teachers and Democratic lawmakers are calling the education secretary's insistence and lack of a plan "dangerous" "malfeasance." Even some Republicans are pushing back
[2020-07-12] If You Weren't Afraid to Send Your Kids Back to School, DeVos' Disastrous Interview Might Change That.
"The president and his administration are messing with the health of our children," Nancy Pelosi said in response
[2020-07-07] "You can't do that": Betsy DeVos gets schooled by Fox News host.
Chris Wallace scolds Betsy DeVos for trying to illegally cut off school funding
[2020-07-09] As coronavirus cases surge, Betsy DeVos compares risk of returning to school to riding a rocket ship.
"Risk is involved in everything we do, from learning to ride a bike to riding a rocket into space," DeVos says.
When the education secretary stepped down from the podium at Wednesday's briefing, Vice President Mike Pence took her place and almost immediately told reporters the opposite message.
DeVos' proposals also contradicted Centers for Disease Control and Prevention chief Robert R. Redfield, as well as White House task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx.
Birx and Pence contradicted each other, plus the President.
[2020-07-07] Trump, DeVos Ignore Educators On What It Will Take to Reopen Schools Safely.
Administration only offers radical agenda of voucher schemes to privatize public education
[InThePublicInterest.org, 2020-10-13] Betsy DeVos gives South Carolina $31.5 million for charter schools despite protests by public school teachers.
[2020-06-05] Betsy DeVos Is Complicit in Evangelical Right's Assault on Trans Athletes
[2020-05-21] Betsy DeVos Faces Pushback Over Plan To Reroute Aid To Private School Students
[2020-05-16] ACLU Sues Betsy DeVos Over "Reprehensible" New Sexual Assault Rules
[2018-03-11] Betsy DeVos' stumbling '60 Minutes' interview, annotated
[Salon.com, 2020-10-21] "Disturbingly Kafkaesque:" Judge rips Betsy DeVos for denying 94% of student debt forgiveness claims. DeVos rejected thousands of applications from defrauded students without adequate explanation, judge says.
[2020-06-27] House Fails to Override Trump's Student Loan Forgiveness Veto
[2020-06-26] 'Huge Win': Court Orders Betsy DeVos to Cancel Loans for Mass. Students Defrauded by Corinthian Colleges.
State Attorney General Maura Healey said the victory will benefit the mostly Black and Latinx students who were "targeted by a predatory for-profit school and abandoned by Secretary DeVos and the Trump administration"
[2020-06-12] "This Is Cruel:" Betsy DeVos Bars Certain Students, Including DACA Recipients, From COVID-19 Relief Funds.
"These extreme eligibility requirements will not only harm students, but they are also contrary to Congressional intent," said Sen. Patty Murray
[2020-03-11] Senate passes rebuke of DeVos over student loan forgiveness.
The Senate on Wednesday gave final congressional approval to a measure overturning Education Secretary Betsy DeVos' rules making it harder for students to get loans erased after being misled by for-profit colleges
[2019-12-10] Secretary DeVos Denies Students' Rights To Full Debt Cancellation
[2019-12-06] Student loan borrowers could see big changes in 2020
[2018-08-17] [Opinion] The Bane That Is Betsy DeVos