Trump officials met group pushing Alberta independence from Canada
Read More »Tag: Americans For Prosperity
Something is sus in the new footage of ICE agent’s shooting of Renee Good + Alpha News’ ties 💰
WaPo: How Renee Good ended up in a fatal encounter with ICE in Minneapolis
A recording released Friday by Alpha News appears to show the moments immediately before the shooting from the perspective of the ICE officer who shot Good. In the video, Renee Good can be heard speaking to an ICE officer through the open driver’s side window, saying, “That’s fine, dude, I’m not mad at you,” as the officer circles her vehicle while filming with a phone camera in his hand.
[2015] At some Minnesota news sites, partisans write the checks
Read More »Wisconsin Supreme Court Race Breaks Spending Record, Fueled by Out-of-State Money
Wisconsin Supreme Court Race Breaks Spending Record, Fueled by Out-of-State Money
The two campaigns and their supportive outside spenders have already spent more than $73 million, and the rate of spending is likely to ramp up even more in the final week.
Crawford’s campaign spending of $19.4 million is more than double that of Schimel’s $8.9 million. (These figures are based on estimates of television ad spending, and candidate filings due this week will paint a fuller picture of their fundraising and spending.) But independent groups like super PACs and nonprofits spending untraceable “dark money” favor Schimel by a much larger margin: $12.9 million benefiting Crawford compared with almost $32.1 million boosting Schimel.
Two of the biggest spenders in the race, the Schimel-boosting America PAC and a group called Building America’s Future, have spent over $14.3 million, which is nearly one dollar for every five spent in the contest. Elon Musk has provided almost all the funding for America PAC. While Building America’s Future doesn’t reveal its donors, Musk is reportedly a major funder.
Schimel is also supported by $4.3 million from Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, an industry dark money group; $4 million from Fair Courts America, a national group with ties to conservative megadonor Richard Uihlein of Illinois; $3.2 million from Americans for Prosperity, a libertarian group affiliated with Koch Industries; and $1.8 million from the Republican State Leadership Committee.
Crawford’s biggest independent support includes $6.2 million in expenditures by A Better Wisconsin Together, a state group with major donations from Wisconsin philanthropist Lynde Uihlein (a cousin of Richard Uihlein) as well as national liberal groups. The ACLU Voter Education Fund also spent $1 million boosting Crawford. In addition, liberal megadonor George Soros gave $1 million to the state Democratic party, which supports Crawford.
Related:
Techno Feudalism
Pentagon Appointee Opposes ‘Belligerent Military Initiatives’ Aimed at China
The Pentagon official tasked with overseeing U.S. defense policy toward Southeast Asia recently advised against pursuing hawkish defense policies and a major trade war against China, a marked contrast with top Trump appointees.
John Andrew Byers, a longtime history professor who oversaw the Charles Koch philanthropic network’s grants promoting libertarian foreign policy stances at universities, was sworn in this week as the deputy assistant secretary of defense for South and Southeast Asia — a role that immediately thrusts him to the center of America’s response to China’s ongoing military pressure campaign targeting the Philippines, with which Washington holds a mutual defense treaty.
Pentagon Appointee Opposes ‘Belligerent Military Initiatives’ Aimed at China
Related:
Lowy Institute: Trump’s grand bargain? The Philippines caught between US and China by Richard Heydarian
CGS non-resident fellow Andrew Byers co-authors article with The American Conservative
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for South and Southeast Asia: Andrew Byers
Nothing is sacred to the Kochtopus
Stand Together Music, part of rightwing billionaire Charles Koch’s advocacy network, collaborates with Pitbull, Machine Gun Kelly and others
Revealed: how top pop stars are used to ‘launder the reputation’ of Koch family
Related:
Can Music Help Solve America’s Biggest Problems? | by Chase Koch
[2004] Go Figure: Ani DeFranco in Myanmar (Tom Morello)
Twitter: Atlas Network update
I’ve been meaning to look into these two, but forgot about it. Maine Policy Institute is already on my Atlas Network list, but I just added the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity.
State Policy Network (SPN), American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), Koch network, Franklin News Foundation (Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity), Bradley Foundation, DonorsTrust, Cato Institute, Sam Adams Alliance, Donors Capital Fund, etc.
Read More »A Potentially Huge Supreme Court Case Has a Hidden Conservative Backer
The case, to be argued by lawyers linked to the petrochemicals billionaire Charles Koch, could sharply curtail the government’s regulatory authority.
…
The Cause of Action Institute has disclosed little of its funding*: A year before it was created, the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling had enabled billions of dollars in spending by groups that don’t disclose their donors.
A Potentially Huge Supreme Court Case Has a Hidden Conservative Backer
Guess the author doesn’t know how to ‘Google’! 🙄
Related:
*Cause of Action @ SourceWatch (includes tax filings)
Funding
Cause of Action Institute is not required to disclose its funders but major foundation supporters can be found through their IRS filings. Here are some known contributors:
- Americans for Prosperity Foundation: $200,000 (2022)
- Capital Leaders: $4,500,000 (2017)
- Charles G. Koch Foundation: $76,852 (2014-2019)
- Donors Capital Fund: $100,000 (2015)
- DonorsTrust: $17,950,000 (2012-2017)
- Edwards Foundation: $450,000 (2016-2019)
- Franklin Center: $1,244,000 (2011-2012)
- Stand Together Fellowships: $22,000 (2017-2018)
- Stand Together Trust: $10,725,000 (2017-2021)
Atlas Network (PDF updated 11-30-23:
Unions in Wisconsin sue to reverse collective bargaining restrictions on teachers, others
Seven unions representing teachers and other public workers in Wisconsin filed a lawsuit Thursday attempting to end the state’s near-total ban on collective bargaining for most public employees.
Unions in Wisconsin sue to reverse collective bargaining restrictions on teachers, others
Related:
Wisconsin’s Act 10 Is in Jeopardy (WSJ)
The law, signed by former Gov. Scott Walker, has saved the Badger State from turning into Illinois or New York, where public unions essentially run the state government for their own benefit. According to the MacIver Institute, Act 10 has saved Wisconsin taxpayers $16.8 billion since it was passed in 2011, making public finances more manageable at every level of government.
Progressive mayors who publicly rail against the law know that repealing it would wreak havoc on municipal budgets. According to Wisconsin Right Now, Milwaukee’s budget says it has saved about $345.4 million in health insurance since 2012 because of Act 10’s requirement that public employees contribute to their health plans.
The lawsuit by teachers and other public unions focuses on a narrow part of the law that exempts public-safety employees. The unions say this creates a “favored” class of workers and imposes “severe burdens on employees in the disfavored group.” Act 10’s “anti-democratic regime,” the unions continue, subjects “general” employees “to a panoply of burdens and deprives them of important rights,” while exempting police officers and firefighters from “all its injurious provisions.”
Attacks on Public-Sector Unions Harm States: How Act 10 Has Affected Education in Wisconsin
A Decade After Act 10, It’s A Different World For Wisconsin Unions
WSJ quotes MacIver Institute, from the Atlas Network via State Policy Network, Bradley Foundation, and Americans for Prosperity (Kochtopus). Former WI Governor Scott Walker, another Atlas/Koch tool, does not rule out intervening.
Koch Network Endorses Haley to Defeat Trump. But the Biggest Loser Is Ron DeSantis.
For the first time in its two-decade history, Americans for Prosperity Action—an influential conservative organization backed by Charles Koch—has weighed in on the GOP presidential primary, crowning Nikki Haley as the best candidate to beat Donald Trump.
Koch Network Endorses Haley to Defeat Trump. But the Biggest Loser Is Ron DeSantis.
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 
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