Timothy Mellon, a reclusive billionaire and a major financial backer of President Trump, is the anonymous private donor who gave $130 million to the U.S. government to help pay troops during the shutdown, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Donor Who Gave $130 Million to Pay Troops Is Reclusive Heir to Mellon Fortune (archived)
Tag: Super PACS
[2013] The Progressive Movement is a PR Front for Rich Democrats +
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:
Billionaires fight for control of Wisconsin Supreme Court
by Tina Antonis
Despite getting significant financial assistance from outside parties, Conservative Supreme Court candidate Brad Schimel maintains that he is not for sale. Schimel’s opponent, liberal candidate Susan Crawford, has also benefited from outside funding, including a $1 million contribution from George Soros to the Wisconsin Democratic Party. Just this week, an Elon Musk-backed group spent $1.5 million on airtime in Wisconsin to support conservative Supreme Court nominee Brad Schimel over the next few weeks.
Read More »As Elon Musk Begins Shutting Down Payments to Federal Contractors, a Strange Money Trail Emerges to His Operatives Inside the U.S. Treasury’s Payment System
Elon Musk is the billionaire CEO of the publicly-traded EV company, Tesla. As such, under corporate law, he owes a Duty of Loyalty to Tesla. Notwithstanding this well-established law, Musk is engaged in an array of other corporate endeavors outside of Tesla, including being the CEO of SpaceX, a private rocket company.
Read More »
The Man Behind Trump’s VP Pick: It’s Worse Than You Think

While J.D. Vance has his own controversies, his close connection to billionaire Peter Thiel, who is poised to have unprecedented influence in a new Trump administration, should deeply unsettle every American who cares about freedom, privacy and reining in the surveillance state.
H/T: The Most Revolutionary Act
Related:
100+ Congressional Staffers Stage Walkout Demanding Their Bosses Back Gaza Cease-Fire
“We demand our leaders speak up: Call for a cease-fire, a release of all hostages, and an immediate de-escalation now.”
100+ Congressional Staffers Stage Walkout Demanding Their Bosses Back Gaza Cease-Fire
Did The Defense Industry Really Give More To Bernie Sanders Than Any Other 2020 Candidate?!
Despite his frequent votes against defense bills, Senator Bernie Sanders has collected more presidential campaign contributions from defense industry sources than any other candidate, including Donald Trump. That’s according to data on 2020 funding at the OpenSecrets.org website, which is sponsored by the Center for Responsive Politics.
[12-2019] Defense Industry Gives More To Bernie Than Any 2020 Candidate (originally published at American Conservative)
Links to “Amy Klobuchar”, not “Bernie Sanders”?! According to OpenSecrets, Joe Biden received the most from the MIC. Donald Trump came in second, with Bernie Sanders in third place. OpenSecrets doesn’t distinguish between employers and employees!?*
H/T: Stephen Gardner’s interview with Winslow T. Wheeler
Related:
*Top 20 Recipients (Joe Biden and Donald Trump):
METHODOLOGY: The numbers on this page are based on contributions from PACs and individuals giving $200 or more.
Read More »
The Bipartisanship Racket: Fellow Centrists Warn No Labels 2024 Bid Would Just Hurt Biden
JEEZ, can’t we all just get along? Can’t we be civilized? Can’t we reach across the aisle, find common ground and get things done? Can’t we have a new Morning in America as clubby and chipper as MSNBC’s daily gabfest, “Morning Joe”?
The Bipartisanship Racket
Related:
Fellow Centrists Warn No Labels 2024 Bid Would Just Hurt Biden
Yay! Another party to support the “bipartisan consensus” on Ukraine and China! /sarcasm (the yellow is for piss)
The FTX Collapse Is Also a Huge Campaign Finance Scandal
Sam Bankman-Fried was set to testify before Congress on Tuesday, but before he could appear, he was arrested in the Bahamas. Not surprisingly, most of the charges he’s facing involve allegations of fraud related to the collapse of FTX, his crypto-trading platform. But a federal indictment unveiled Tuesday also accuses SBF—a prolific political donor who cultivated relationships with politicians and policymakers—of campaign finance violations.
The FTX Collapse Is Also a Huge Campaign Finance Scandal

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