Many people on the right suspect there’s a leftist political agenda behind the Climate Change movement. Those suspicions are best confirmed by simply paying attention to what’s being said at the protests and who’s saying it. As the Huffington Post reported:
Monday’s Flood Wall Street demonstration had a more frankly anti-capitalist message than the massive march that took over midtown Manhattan the day before. Many of those present were veterans of Occupy, including organizers like Lisa Fithian, dubbed “Professor Occupy” for her role in teaching tactics to that movement.
The #FloodWallStreet rally was just another in the long line of radical ‘direct actions’ that Fithian and her comrades have been involved in. It’s the same anti-capitalist rhetoric repackaged in the hopes of drawing in new blood.
Former South Dakota Senate Candidate Dr. Annette Bosworth was informed at 9:28am this morning by Sgt. Jason Gearman of the Minnehaha Sheriff’s office that a warrant had been issued for her arrest by Attorney General Marty Jackley.
Bosworth was told by her attorney that the charge relate to election activity, specifically petition signatures.
I’ve written a number of pieces about the various groups trying to get your money who then turn around and pocket most of it. It’s a real problem for donors so I put together this quick list that helps you donate with confidence.
As Ronald Reagan said, “Trust but verify.”
1) Research Them On Open Secrets
You want to get a sense of where they spend their money and it only takes a few minutes to check this out on Open Secrets.
Here’s a video I made that shows you how to do it: it’s easy! Do this and you’ll be ahead of 99% of the people who donate.
2) Do A Google or Bing Search On The Leadership
Figure out who is running the group; the President or treasurer, then do a quick search on their name,
In the case of the group Patriots for Economic Freedom that I’ve written about, a simple search shows that group treasurer Tyler Whitney doesn’t appear to be the conservative he purports to be, for example.
Hint: make sure you look a couple of pages into the search results. Sometimes, that’s where the interesting stuff is.
3) Ask Them!
Almost all these groups have email addresses or phone numbers listed, so why not reach out and ask them a question or two.
How much do you spend on candidates? What percentage of your money goes to fundraising and administation?
You’ve already searched them so you know the answer but you don’t need to tell them that.
You’ll find that the shadier groups won’t even return your phone call or email…people clamming up when asked simple questions is a good sign that they may be hiding something.
I’m exposing corruption and trying to keep people from wasting their money but I need your help : please hit my tip jar to support my reporting.
For weeks, I’ve been reporting on how TheTeaParty.net Leadership Fund uses ‘petitions’ and ‘Draft’ schemes as a way to make money and build big mailing lists.
Today, Backer and the TPLF are at it again.
A new email about ‘Draft Sarah Palin’ is a humdinger, with copy written to seperate well-meaning patriots from their money, including saying in bold “you can be a tangible part of saving our nation from slipping into the vast sea of liberal socialism.”
How does sending money to Dan Backer and TheTeaParty.net Leadership Fund accomplish that? It DOESN’T.
Palin isn’t running. She isn’t going to run. And IF she ran, she has a HUGE war chest.
So giving money to the group wont do a thing to stop the sea of liberal socialism but it will make money for TheTea Party.Net Leadership Fund.
Here’s the email in its entirety. See for yourself how manipulative it is.
Obama led the way for Putin’s Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Even before he took the oath of office, Sarah Palin warned us about the disasters to come under Obama’s terrible leadership.
“After the Russian Army invaded the nation of Georgia, Senator Obama’s reaction was one of indecision and moral equivalence, the kind of response that would only encourage Russia’s Putin to invade Ukraine next.” — Sarah Palin, 2008
AND Palin was right…when Obama did nothing, Russia took what they wanted. This proves Obama is nothing more than a weak homeland bully — attacking American citizens and watching freedom around the world burn.
Sarah Palin is the conservative leader we need in the U.S. Senate, NOW.
But her window to commit to this race has almost closed, and that’s why I need you to respond to this request IMMEDIATELY. We need your help to gather the signatures necessary to push Sarah Palin over the top in a critical run for Alaska’s Senate seat in 2014.
Incumbent liberal Democrat Mark Begich is terrified of an Obama vist to Alaska, because he knows the American people are awakening.
Sarah’s the proven leader we need. She has a better grasp on world politics, and she knows what it means to cherish and protect our American freedoms far better than THE MAN WHO IS SUPPOSED TO BE LEADING THE FREE WORLD.
Last I checked, Mark Begich has spent too much time in Washington D.C. begging the Obama administration for favors rather than representing the good people of Alaska. Send Sarah to replace Begich and stop Obama!
Senator Sarah Palin, this is the name we need to put an end to Barack Obama and Harry Reid’s reign of liberal terror.
The United States Senate rests just outside conservative control, and by electing more Tea Party Heroes to replace the establishment cronies from either party — you can be a tangible part of saving our nation from slipping into the vast sea of liberal socialism.
Now more than ever, we need another Tea Party Hero in the Senate to halt Harry Reid and his pals in their war against our Constitution on issues like amnesty and gun control and our nation’s crushing debt. With Sarah in the Senate, conservatives across America will rest easier at night knowing she’s at the watch.
Sarah is the proven Maverick who’s stood up to the special interests in Alaska and has been a tireless advocate for our Tea Party values ever since she hit the national stage.
ABOUT THE TEA PARTY LEADERSHIP FUND The Tea Party Leadership Fund is a leader in this freedom movement putting your nationwide support into local action.Learn more.
Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee. Contributions from foreign nationals or entities are prohibited. Contributions are not tax deductible for federal income tax purposes. www.TheTeaPartyLeadershipFund.com
Covering this story cost me my job at Breitbart Texas when Brandon Darby fired me and then tried to discredit me with the help of TeaParty.Net Treasurer Dan Backer, who signed this promotion. As I posted a few weeks ago.
Was Backer accomplice Darby paid to shut me up? He won’t answer.
This week’s Supreme Court decision in the case of McCutcheon v. FEC is a victory for the political establishment class in Washington D.C. and a big setback for regular citizens. It’s being sold to conservatives as a victory for free speech, but buyer beware: you’re being sold down the river.
If you do much reading about the recent Supreme Court McCutcheon decision, one thing that you’ll hear over and over is how the decision doesn’t impact the amount of money that can be given to any single candidate, just the aggregate limit. This means that if George Soros or Charles Koch want to get money to their favorite candidates, they are still limited to only giving $5200 to them per campaign cycle. McCutcheon advocates say all McCutcheon did is remove the aggregate limit-the total amount that can be given to all candidates.
It’s a common argument by advocates of McCutcheon that this limits the influence that a gazillionaire can have, so don’t worry-we’re still safe from corruption, because people are still limited to only giving $5200 to a candidate and a measly five grand is hardly going to buy much influence.
Well, that argument is a tub of radioactive poop; the McCuctheon decision will allow (insert rich person you hate) to give as much money to (insert candidate you hate) as they want to.
That’s because the decision also lifts the aggregate limit on the amount of money that can given to PACs-political action committees-and that’s where the shenanigans kick in.
The whole trick is to use PACs to funnel money to candidates. This can be done very directly; when a donor maxes out on direct giving to a candidate, they send money to a PAC and then that PAC passes the money onto the politician. This workaround has already been happening and the aggregate limit of about $75,000 had the effect of the keeping this in check.
After McCutcheon,there’s nothing keeping someone from giving a PAC a million dollars and then having that PAC disperse that money through a couple of hundred different PACs to a candidate.
This makes situation much worse because it creates a much more opaque system. (My personal issue on campaign finance isn’t about money, primarily — it’s about transparency.)
Okay, you may be saying-but who wants to set up hundred of PACs and handle the all that money shuffling?
One obvious answer is Dan Backer, the attorney behind McCutcheon v. FEC.
McCutcheon is a absolute boon for his business at DB Capitol Strategies. He already is the treasurer for at least thirty PACs including The TeaParty.net Leadership Fund and Sen. Tim Scott’s TIM PAC.
Here’s the apparent Backer business model; Backer can control both expenditures and compliance. In other words, he can control where the money goes and at the same time make sure that the paperwork is all on the up and up for the Federal Election Commission. Because he’s a lawyer, he can claim attorney-client privilege and clam up if anyone comes snooping around and trying to uphold the law.
If you doubt that an attorney / treasurer like Backer would take such a hands on, direct role in operations of a PAC, look no further than the current election going on in Ohio where my interview with Tea Party backed candidate Eric Gurr revealed that Dan Backer himself travelled to Ohio in his role with The TeaParty.net Leadership Fund to play kingmaker among the candidates vying to unseat John Boehner.
Our political system is rigged by attorneys and politicians so they can all get rich. Meanwhile, our country declines. Don’t be fooled by their marketing.
Is deporting all 11+ million illegal immigrants to the only acceptable solution?
How would you deport all 11+ million, realistically?
A leaked memo released on Monday shows that an immigration enforcement bill proposal that Rep. Darrell Issa floated to Politico in October does provide a pathway to citizenship for some, it may actually be tougher on illegal immigrants than many expected.
The previously unreleased one page memo for Issa’s Alien Accountability Act was released by liberal Florida immigration attorney Susan Pai. who blasted Issa’s proposals as ‘draconian’ and ‘unconstitutional and borderline insane’ — those may be high compliments coming from Pai.
Darrell Issa’s office confirmed the memo came from their office and gave Breitbart News a statement saying:
Rep. Issa continues to update and refine a proposal, however the lack of trust in this Administration’s commitment to border security and enforcement is a substantial obstacle to achieving broader reforms. Ongoing discussions have continually identified new issues to address - key provisions and even the bill title are still under development.
“It’s halfway – and it always has been – halfway between full amnesty and simply rejecting people,” Issa told POLITICO on Wednesday. “I think if we’re going to break this logjam that’s occurred for my whole 13 years I’ve been in Congress, we have to find middle ground.”
That ‘halfway between full amnesty’ quote gave pause to many who worry about politicians like Issa supporting an immigration reform policy that grants legal status to those in the country illegally. In potentially worrisome quote from the Politico interview, Issa said:
“If somebody has a nexus that would reasonably allow them to become permanent residents and American citizen, we should allow them to do that,” Issa said. He added: “Our view is that long before six years, people would be in those categories heading toward some other pathway, in a guest worker program, or of course, have left the country.”
At the time of Issa’s interview in October, 2013 some on the right expected that Issa’s bill was really amnesty in sheep’s clothing.
The actual bill was never actually introduced but the leaked memo appears to show that Issa’s plan was much tougher on the estimated eleven million illegal aliens currently in the United States than Issa’s critics assumed.
The proposal would force all illegal immigrants to register with the Department of Homeland Security in six months or, as the memo says:
Aliens failing to register and cooperate with DHS have window to depart voluntarily at the alien’s own expense. Failure to depart can result in criminal prosecution and increased civil penalties.
Issa’s Alien Accountability Act memo says it allows for “temporary, nonimmigrant status” but only under ‘strict criteria.” The memo says clearly something that temporary aliens who receive no entitlements, stating that they:
Must prove that they are able to economically support themselves and dependents. Any approved alien will be ineligible for public welfare benefits.
The leaked document contains two previously unreported requirements, namely that only one illegal immigrant from a family can register to with the DHS and that any illegal alien currently in deportation proceedings ‘must leave.’
Requiring ‘relatives of participating aliens’ to leave the country or face civil and criminal penalties would greatly reduce the number of eligible illegal immigrants and therefore is likely to appeal to Americans who want stronger enforcement.
That assumes, however, that the Obama administration would enforce it.
Issa’s idea of removing ‘aliens with pending deportation cases’ would likely face a legal challenge, however. Attorney Pai was especially brutal on the proposal to deport those currently in proceedings, saying the idea raises Constitutional and due process concerns and lecturing conservatives:
Darrell Issa mandates that if you’re in an immigration proceeding, back you go. That means everybody goes back; from Castro-hating Cubans seeking a better life to pale skinned Brits who fell in love with an American to Iranian Christians fearing religious persecution.
Issa has proposed a number of slightly similar pieces of legislation over the years, such as a 2003 bill also called the Alien Accountability Act. However, that legislation differed from what’s outlined in the leaked memo by focusing more on people crossing the border than those already here. The 2003 bill also did not include specific proposals in the leaked memo such as the required removal of people who are currently in deportation proceedings.
But does ‘tougher than expected’ matter in this political climate?
Recent Comments