1. Documented how the failure to enforce antitrust laws has allowed Ticketmaster to attach massive fees to tickets to live events.
2. Exposed how a former Koch Industries executive fired dozens of left-leaning tenured faculty from a public university in Kansas, fulfilling a vision right-wing billionaire Charles Koch has pursued for decades.
3. Revealed that Nike, after embracing anti-Trump figures like Colin Kaepernick to sell shoes, donated $25,000 to the Republican Governors Association (RGA), an organization currently seeking to install pro-Trump extremists in powerful positions across the country.
Today, however, I want to hear from you. What's on your mind? What topics would you like Popular Information to take on next?
You can leave your thoughts in the discussion thread linked below, starting now. I’ll be dropping by later today to answer as many of your questions as I can.
Popular Information is 100% reader-supported. If you haven't already, you can support this work by upgrading to a paid subscription.
I think it would almost be more difficult to research, but can you report on companies that are actually doing good and I'd want to support? I've completely changed my consumer habits based on your research, so thank you for all you do.
Right now what is concerning me most is that seemingly all media are forecasting the results of the election. It is a great disservice to voters. Between the polls and the billions of dollars flowing in to support election deniers and incompetent candidates, our so-called democracy veers further and further away from “we the people.”
Is it possible to find out what's going on within the military with regards to "dangerous elements" like General Mike Flynn's brother Charles (another general) and other MAGATs still being on active duty? Are the MAGAT types being quietly mustered out?
You could comment on the despicable treatment of John Fetterman after his debate by the so-called mainstream media, which largely ignored most of the outrageous things Oz said -- such as having local elected officials decide whether or not a woman can control her own body.
What’s happening at the US Post Office? Its role in elections is vital. I have not heard anything about the controversial postmaster general DeJoy for quite some time.
I'd like to see some deeper insights into the failure of our current election system. Many people are moving to support versions of Ranked Choice Voting. And the election system is obviously under control of the two major parties ... by laws that those parties wrote and enacted.
We can't get an open competition among multiple candidates, and it's apparently very hard for independent and very small party candidates to get on the ballot. And good candidates are excluded from debates within the two major parties. The two major parties even control who will appear on the presidential debates and actively disinclude qualified candidates, and bias time toward the party favorite.
I observe this, but my version is pretty random and undocumented. I'd love to see a deep dive into the troubles with our plurality election system, how good candidates get "primaried," and political party control of redistricting, plus term limits, and how poorly qualified candidates get elected because their rich owners pay to win the election. etc.
A little discussed aspect of the abortion debate is the outcome of unwanted pregnancies among women who are unable financially or emotionally to care for a child. Amy Comey Barrett would have you believe that we can adopt ourselves out of this dilemma. We can't. Some of these pregnant women are already unhoused or in precarious circumstances. Their poor nutrition and/or mental health will add to the problems of their children. Caring for a child with special needs is extremely taxing, especially if there are other children in the home. There are tens of thousands of children already languishing in foster care, and this will only add to the burden. Plus, of course, we stubbornly refuse to address the problem of adults and children already without a roof over their heads. And then there are the Church and other institutions, religious and otherwise, where child abuse is tolerated. We are not a child-friendly society, and adding to the population of dependent children is going to exacerbate the problem. Outlawing abortion is just the beginning of the problem for the "unborn."
Report on what is happening to local governments. Election deniers trying to change makeup of local governments.
As an example - Alachua County Florida, previously targeted by DeSantis, is now swamped by dark money tied to him and his associates, themselves tied to recent "ghost candidate" schemes. Local newspaper headline: "Series of mailers, Facebook posts make blatantly false claims about opponents." See "save Our Vote Alachua" on FB.
I appreciate the calling out of corporate and individual behavior that is inconsistent with stated positions tremendously. Please do this for people and organizations on both sides of the aisle so that you build a position of neutrality and increased credibility.
I am curious as to how our elected representatives have increased their net worth over the years that they have been in office. It seems to me that with publicly available records you might be able to track the growth and see if they have used insider information and special deals to increase net worth. I am amazed at how most of these people start at a modest net worth yet end up as multimillionaires by the time they leave office. Maybe you could research one person from each party each week and share their "secrets to success".
I’d like my buddy Judd to take a swing at income inequality and how wealth may be taxed. I’d also like to see ss, Medicare , state and sales tax treated as taxes. Someone making 60 k lives on the edge.
I would really like to know how many members of congress have a history of using "insider trading" to buy & sell stocks. It seems like both parties might have a problem with that and are self-serving when it comes to not passing ethics laws to prevent it. If I knew who was doing this and making money while so many Americans are having a tough time it would definitely be something that would affect the way I vote. Keep up the great work!
Schools segregation and private schools funded with public money. Tracing the spread of the “1776 curriculum” developed by Hillsdale College (Michigan)
Oct 27, 2022·edited Oct 27, 2022Liked by Judd Legum
Your "How anonymous donors are dominating the 2022 midterm elections" was the clearest, best description. It terrifies me. I've shared it. Thanks for doing what you are doing.
Some of us know that the MSM is owned by 5 corporations (I think that's the right number) but maybe folks should be reminded that's true. Especially as we go to the elections...? MSM is controlled by Republican interests.
In the case of Moore v. Harper that is now before the Supreme Court, what exactly is behind it? Obviously it’s a power grab, but who is Timothy K. Moore? What larger businesses or organizations are behind him? And thank you for your in-depth and informative reporting!
I feel like a broken record always congratulating you for your reporting. The only thing more that I would appreciate are links where we, the relatively involved, could contact these companies to express our complaints (similar to how the WSJ has the market links). I believe that PI's goals are similar to those of ProPublica - reporting to effectuate change - these contact links could provide us with the tools to raise our hands to the companies that we mostly have no choice but to rely on for certain commodities and services.
Please look into the influence that the media is having by raising the level of expectation regarding the outcome of the midterm election. Is it herd mentality or is there an underlying design being pushed in order to influence the outcome. The predictive quality of polls is dubious and yet the media continue to hang onto them.
Keep up the good work. My view is that our nation's most significant weakness is our shared inability to reflect on the character of our culture. Do we prefer evidence based reasoning or superstitious thinking? Why or why not? Should America strive to be a nation of vertical power or a nation of horizontal collaboration? We have no venues for chatting thoughtfully with one another about the character of our culture. If any of your readers have examples of such activity, it would be wonderful to learn of them. I'm hoping maybe our church can one day begin sponsoring serious conversations about what works in our nation's culture and what doesn't. -Steve Johnson
In a similar story, UNC did something similar as in Kansas - now 16 out of 24 trustees are republican. Universities in Louisiana and Wisconsin are also choking out progressive voices - is this all slow and steady and flying under the radar of stakeholders? UNC has not upheld tenure of progressive faculty - but it may be just the tip of the iceberg in higher Ed.
Every time I read your column, I tell all my friends to boycott that company. Here's what I think would be more effective: give us an email address, preferably of a high ranking employee at the end of the article. I know it's more work for you, but I think it may have more of an effect.
Thanks for all you do!
I also like Susan's idea so that we can support businesses that are doing good.
As an example I no longer purchase items from Home Depot or other companies exposed on your site due to their monetary support of "election denier" politicians. Not certain that it is having any effect on their bottom line but in my mind, it is the least I can do to deprive them of my $10,000+ per year, to now be spent on their competition. The end result being a $20,000+/year effect as 10k from HD to their competitors 10K+ income stream. My $10k re-direction has a end result of $20k impact.
When I determine what suppliers to use on my proposed and possible upcoming 2MM green solar powered geothermal development project.... I know where my expenditures will be directed. I won't and can't afford the risk of investment without the assurance of the protections guaranteed by the Constitution, local laws with the protection of legitimate insurance companies to protect my investments. These factors are in the mix in regards to decision of time and effort into doing something worthwhile. If there are no rules and might makes right...whats the point.
We need to find a way to decide where our money needs to go to keep the Trump's, corruption, and predators of this new world... out of the game.
Kroger and Albertsons are set to merge soon, thus consolidating a lot of power in the grocery world. This is almost certain to result in exploitation of customers/employees and price gouging. You’ve done a very good job of staying on top of them in the past so I hope you can keep an eye on this merger.
As to a topic that I don't think gets treated enough in the media, why isn't there a light shown on the large religious groups and their utter failure to address the decay of honesty and integrity?
There are political leaders openly lying and performing for their base, and the supposed moral leaders are remaining silent. Worse, they're turning their heads.
Meanwhile, no one is holding the religious groups to account.
Can you provide research on those companies who's leadership is visually behaving in a most democratically supportive role and identify their variables of motivation to do so?
If we know which companies to support, with our dollars, those businesses could become role models for change for the companies that will be losing us as customers... thus affecting their bottom line profits, shareholders dividends, personal reputations.
Money, wealth, power, perceived value and prestige drives companies behavior.
When Ted Cruz got booed at Yankee stadium...he could care less because it didn't have any affect on his separate income stream sources...but had it been tied to his income stream...it would have had a greater affect. Money... and the power it brings determines peoples behavior nowadays due to the times we are living in.
Money drives politics...elects the politicians and forces all others ie. voters, the purchasing public, to conform.
While we as "The People" still have the funds available to continue to "feed the machine" that keeps us under their control, we should try to exercise that power in a more directed manner to support companies that have effective leadership which is more in line with our country's democratic morality?
I’m researching the psychodynamics that drive conflict between conservative and progressives. It might be good to explain rather than just denigrate the right, who seem in a state of terror at displacement, and the curious phenomenon of progressive policies having mostly majority support not reflected in legislative institutions. Timothy Schenk wrote in the NYT of 7 October of Obama’s lost manuscript that discusses the failure of progressives to control power.
My area of interest is senate malapportionment and the filibuster. The 48 senate Dems and the two Indies represent 40 million more people than the 50 republicans, yet the senate is tied. The filibuster exacerbates the small state advantage, blocking bills that most Americans want. If Dems keep the "majority" in the senate, this should be the first rule change. (Disclosure: Sinema is my senator)
Many bad and cowardly politicians are afraid of their base because that base believes what the lucrative dis-information feeds them 24/7. The very oxygen that keeps that based agitated is the bile oozing out of the dis-information industry (think Germany 1933 and Joseph Goebbels). Many smart people have insisted to me that there's nothing to be done. Well, nothing was done in 1933 and it didn't end well. I'm sure that Popular Info has some smart readers who aren't willing to accept that from now forward, America will just have to live with millions of voters who are not "well-informed". Accepting that fact is the death sentence to a democratic republic. Any ideas?
The coup attempt of Jan 6th, the flailing attempts to avoid the next one, and the astonishing inability to prosecute the commanding criminals and organizing terrorists who perpetrated it.
I think we need a new way to consider & discuss today's economy. GDP, inflation, supply chain, etc are all valid measures but in the wake of the pandemic and political turmoil and big money interests and SCOTUS BS, what's important. I don't know what that looks like.
I was very impressed with the reporting you did on DeSantis in the’DeSantis' giveaway to the insurance industry’. It showed in detail what corporate dollars are buying. Since the GOP is purportedly pro business, are there examples of legislation enacted for benefit the largest corporations to preclude competition from small and medium size businesses? I’m thinking of companies like Amazon, AT&T, Comcast, Microsoft, Google... More and more it seems the days of small businesses are numbered.
I know it's a hard nut to crack, some laws definitely need to change, but I still want to know where churches really get their money, how they invest, who they donate to, who benefits. Seems to be a perfect money laundering scheme. Dark money hiding in plain sight.
If they get tax breaks because they are supposedly charitable non-profits, they shouldn't oppose audits.
Here's something that strikes home every day - the school nutrition guidelines and whose pockets are getting filled with contracts while supplying the bare minimum which is all sodium heavy, overly processed garbage that does a disservice to the kids they're feeding.
I wrote four congresspeople, including Katie Porter and three for whom I've had a chance to vote in the past five years, from Massachusetts, Colorado and Maryland, asking whether it might be possible to pass a law making what Judge Cannon, the rookie federal judge from Florida, did vis-a-vis Donald Trump illegal. Judge Cannon accepted a case brought by former-president Trump, who had named her to the federal bench very late in his term; she was actually sworn in after he'd lost his bid for re-election. It seems to me that there should be a rule that judges MUST recuse themselves from cases involving the executive who named them to the bench, that anything other than that policy is simply overt corruption. I even went and re-read the entire US Constitution to see whether there is any language that would bar Congress (and the President, who'd have to sign the bill) from passing legislation that would put such a check on a federal judge. There is no such language. I haven't heard from any of the four. Do you have any insight into (1) my legislative idea, and (2) why I haven't heard back. Thanks. Keep up the good work.
I would be interested in learning why 4 Capitol Police officers committed suicide after theJanuary 6 insurrection. I haven’t seen any reporting on that.
I agree with Susan DeVoe's comment. But in addition, it would be good to know who is still supporting Trump himself as well as Lindsey Graham and others facing genuine legal peril because of the Big Lie. Who or what organizations are helping pay their legal fees?
How serious is the Secretary of State problem in the states - re managing the voting system. Best to wait until after 2022 election to analyze who is elected. I’m having difficulty knowing how much is progressive politics hype about danger to democracy and what is real. A recent PBS News Hour report, for example, seemed to me to be pushing local reporters to say the situation is worse than it is. Or, maybe it is worse than many are reporting. I trust the information I receive here. Thanks for your good work.
I am getting 20 to 30 requests a day for campaign donations right now and horror stories of GOP spending. I don't know about the rest of you, but commercials do not influence me as to whom I will vote for. And if they do persuade some people, then they shouldn't be allowed to vote. I want to scream ENOUGH!
A deeper dive into Coca Cola seems warranted. They are the world’s biggest polluter and a huge contributor to green house gas emissions yet they are sponsoring COP27? What’s going on? Who are they paying off?
I think it would almost be more difficult to research, but can you report on companies that are actually doing good and I'd want to support? I've completely changed my consumer habits based on your research, so thank you for all you do.
Always good to keep a watchful eye on private equity's expanding role in healthcare.
Right now what is concerning me most is that seemingly all media are forecasting the results of the election. It is a great disservice to voters. Between the polls and the billions of dollars flowing in to support election deniers and incompetent candidates, our so-called democracy veers further and further away from “we the people.”
Is it possible to find out what's going on within the military with regards to "dangerous elements" like General Mike Flynn's brother Charles (another general) and other MAGATs still being on active duty? Are the MAGAT types being quietly mustered out?
You could comment on the despicable treatment of John Fetterman after his debate by the so-called mainstream media, which largely ignored most of the outrageous things Oz said -- such as having local elected officials decide whether or not a woman can control her own body.
What’s happening at the US Post Office? Its role in elections is vital. I have not heard anything about the controversial postmaster general DeJoy for quite some time.
I'd like to see some deeper insights into the failure of our current election system. Many people are moving to support versions of Ranked Choice Voting. And the election system is obviously under control of the two major parties ... by laws that those parties wrote and enacted.
We can't get an open competition among multiple candidates, and it's apparently very hard for independent and very small party candidates to get on the ballot. And good candidates are excluded from debates within the two major parties. The two major parties even control who will appear on the presidential debates and actively disinclude qualified candidates, and bias time toward the party favorite.
I observe this, but my version is pretty random and undocumented. I'd love to see a deep dive into the troubles with our plurality election system, how good candidates get "primaried," and political party control of redistricting, plus term limits, and how poorly qualified candidates get elected because their rich owners pay to win the election. etc.
A little discussed aspect of the abortion debate is the outcome of unwanted pregnancies among women who are unable financially or emotionally to care for a child. Amy Comey Barrett would have you believe that we can adopt ourselves out of this dilemma. We can't. Some of these pregnant women are already unhoused or in precarious circumstances. Their poor nutrition and/or mental health will add to the problems of their children. Caring for a child with special needs is extremely taxing, especially if there are other children in the home. There are tens of thousands of children already languishing in foster care, and this will only add to the burden. Plus, of course, we stubbornly refuse to address the problem of adults and children already without a roof over their heads. And then there are the Church and other institutions, religious and otherwise, where child abuse is tolerated. We are not a child-friendly society, and adding to the population of dependent children is going to exacerbate the problem. Outlawing abortion is just the beginning of the problem for the "unborn."
I've always thought it would be pretty great for someone to make an encyclopedia of politicians, who donated to them, and what policies they vote for.
Basically, an easy way to look up who owns your local Congress person.
Report on what is happening to local governments. Election deniers trying to change makeup of local governments.
As an example - Alachua County Florida, previously targeted by DeSantis, is now swamped by dark money tied to him and his associates, themselves tied to recent "ghost candidate" schemes. Local newspaper headline: "Series of mailers, Facebook posts make blatantly false claims about opponents." See "save Our Vote Alachua" on FB.
Your exposing the secret roots of dark money in USA politics and the Supreme Court would be great!
Your work is profoundly revealing! Thank you. 🌈
I appreciate the calling out of corporate and individual behavior that is inconsistent with stated positions tremendously. Please do this for people and organizations on both sides of the aisle so that you build a position of neutrality and increased credibility.
I am curious as to how our elected representatives have increased their net worth over the years that they have been in office. It seems to me that with publicly available records you might be able to track the growth and see if they have used insider information and special deals to increase net worth. I am amazed at how most of these people start at a modest net worth yet end up as multimillionaires by the time they leave office. Maybe you could research one person from each party each week and share their "secrets to success".
I’d like my buddy Judd to take a swing at income inequality and how wealth may be taxed. I’d also like to see ss, Medicare , state and sales tax treated as taxes. Someone making 60 k lives on the edge.
Someone with 100 m pays shit.
I would really like to know how many members of congress have a history of using "insider trading" to buy & sell stocks. It seems like both parties might have a problem with that and are self-serving when it comes to not passing ethics laws to prevent it. If I knew who was doing this and making money while so many Americans are having a tough time it would definitely be something that would affect the way I vote. Keep up the great work!
Schools segregation and private schools funded with public money. Tracing the spread of the “1776 curriculum” developed by Hillsdale College (Michigan)
Your "How anonymous donors are dominating the 2022 midterm elections" was the clearest, best description. It terrifies me. I've shared it. Thanks for doing what you are doing.
Some of us know that the MSM is owned by 5 corporations (I think that's the right number) but maybe folks should be reminded that's true. Especially as we go to the elections...? MSM is controlled by Republican interests.
In the case of Moore v. Harper that is now before the Supreme Court, what exactly is behind it? Obviously it’s a power grab, but who is Timothy K. Moore? What larger businesses or organizations are behind him? And thank you for your in-depth and informative reporting!
I'm usually full of opinions and suggestions. The fact I have none, demonstrates how damn happy I am with what you do.
I feel like a broken record always congratulating you for your reporting. The only thing more that I would appreciate are links where we, the relatively involved, could contact these companies to express our complaints (similar to how the WSJ has the market links). I believe that PI's goals are similar to those of ProPublica - reporting to effectuate change - these contact links could provide us with the tools to raise our hands to the companies that we mostly have no choice but to rely on for certain commodities and services.
Please look into the influence that the media is having by raising the level of expectation regarding the outcome of the midterm election. Is it herd mentality or is there an underlying design being pushed in order to influence the outcome. The predictive quality of polls is dubious and yet the media continue to hang onto them.
Keep up the good work. My view is that our nation's most significant weakness is our shared inability to reflect on the character of our culture. Do we prefer evidence based reasoning or superstitious thinking? Why or why not? Should America strive to be a nation of vertical power or a nation of horizontal collaboration? We have no venues for chatting thoughtfully with one another about the character of our culture. If any of your readers have examples of such activity, it would be wonderful to learn of them. I'm hoping maybe our church can one day begin sponsoring serious conversations about what works in our nation's culture and what doesn't. -Steve Johnson
I'm interested in the impact of private equity and other investor funded groups on rents.
https://www.propublica.org/article/uline-uihlein-election-denial
In a similar story, UNC did something similar as in Kansas - now 16 out of 24 trustees are republican. Universities in Louisiana and Wisconsin are also choking out progressive voices - is this all slow and steady and flying under the radar of stakeholders? UNC has not upheld tenure of progressive faculty - but it may be just the tip of the iceberg in higher Ed.
Every time I read your column, I tell all my friends to boycott that company. Here's what I think would be more effective: give us an email address, preferably of a high ranking employee at the end of the article. I know it's more work for you, but I think it may have more of an effect.
Thanks for all you do!
I also like Susan's idea so that we can support businesses that are doing good.
As an example I no longer purchase items from Home Depot or other companies exposed on your site due to their monetary support of "election denier" politicians. Not certain that it is having any effect on their bottom line but in my mind, it is the least I can do to deprive them of my $10,000+ per year, to now be spent on their competition. The end result being a $20,000+/year effect as 10k from HD to their competitors 10K+ income stream. My $10k re-direction has a end result of $20k impact.
When I determine what suppliers to use on my proposed and possible upcoming 2MM green solar powered geothermal development project.... I know where my expenditures will be directed. I won't and can't afford the risk of investment without the assurance of the protections guaranteed by the Constitution, local laws with the protection of legitimate insurance companies to protect my investments. These factors are in the mix in regards to decision of time and effort into doing something worthwhile. If there are no rules and might makes right...whats the point.
We need to find a way to decide where our money needs to go to keep the Trump's, corruption, and predators of this new world... out of the game.
Kroger and Albertsons are set to merge soon, thus consolidating a lot of power in the grocery world. This is almost certain to result in exploitation of customers/employees and price gouging. You’ve done a very good job of staying on top of them in the past so I hope you can keep an eye on this merger.
Keep following the money because money is the lifeblood of belief.
Where is Jaime Harrison?
Thank you for your work.
As to a topic that I don't think gets treated enough in the media, why isn't there a light shown on the large religious groups and their utter failure to address the decay of honesty and integrity?
There are political leaders openly lying and performing for their base, and the supposed moral leaders are remaining silent. Worse, they're turning their heads.
Meanwhile, no one is holding the religious groups to account.
This is rotting-out our society.
Can you provide research on those companies who's leadership is visually behaving in a most democratically supportive role and identify their variables of motivation to do so?
If we know which companies to support, with our dollars, those businesses could become role models for change for the companies that will be losing us as customers... thus affecting their bottom line profits, shareholders dividends, personal reputations.
Money, wealth, power, perceived value and prestige drives companies behavior.
When Ted Cruz got booed at Yankee stadium...he could care less because it didn't have any affect on his separate income stream sources...but had it been tied to his income stream...it would have had a greater affect. Money... and the power it brings determines peoples behavior nowadays due to the times we are living in.
Money drives politics...elects the politicians and forces all others ie. voters, the purchasing public, to conform.
While we as "The People" still have the funds available to continue to "feed the machine" that keeps us under their control, we should try to exercise that power in a more directed manner to support companies that have effective leadership which is more in line with our country's democratic morality?
I’m researching the psychodynamics that drive conflict between conservative and progressives. It might be good to explain rather than just denigrate the right, who seem in a state of terror at displacement, and the curious phenomenon of progressive policies having mostly majority support not reflected in legislative institutions. Timothy Schenk wrote in the NYT of 7 October of Obama’s lost manuscript that discusses the failure of progressives to control power.
My area of interest is senate malapportionment and the filibuster. The 48 senate Dems and the two Indies represent 40 million more people than the 50 republicans, yet the senate is tied. The filibuster exacerbates the small state advantage, blocking bills that most Americans want. If Dems keep the "majority" in the senate, this should be the first rule change. (Disclosure: Sinema is my senator)
Private prisons. Who funds them. How much money they make.
Many bad and cowardly politicians are afraid of their base because that base believes what the lucrative dis-information feeds them 24/7. The very oxygen that keeps that based agitated is the bile oozing out of the dis-information industry (think Germany 1933 and Joseph Goebbels). Many smart people have insisted to me that there's nothing to be done. Well, nothing was done in 1933 and it didn't end well. I'm sure that Popular Info has some smart readers who aren't willing to accept that from now forward, America will just have to live with millions of voters who are not "well-informed". Accepting that fact is the death sentence to a democratic republic. Any ideas?
The coup attempt of Jan 6th, the flailing attempts to avoid the next one, and the astonishing inability to prosecute the commanding criminals and organizing terrorists who perpetrated it.
I think we need a new way to consider & discuss today's economy. GDP, inflation, supply chain, etc are all valid measures but in the wake of the pandemic and political turmoil and big money interests and SCOTUS BS, what's important. I don't know what that looks like.
I was very impressed with the reporting you did on DeSantis in the’DeSantis' giveaway to the insurance industry’. It showed in detail what corporate dollars are buying. Since the GOP is purportedly pro business, are there examples of legislation enacted for benefit the largest corporations to preclude competition from small and medium size businesses? I’m thinking of companies like Amazon, AT&T, Comcast, Microsoft, Google... More and more it seems the days of small businesses are numbered.
I know it's a hard nut to crack, some laws definitely need to change, but I still want to know where churches really get their money, how they invest, who they donate to, who benefits. Seems to be a perfect money laundering scheme. Dark money hiding in plain sight.
If they get tax breaks because they are supposedly charitable non-profits, they shouldn't oppose audits.
Here's something that strikes home every day - the school nutrition guidelines and whose pockets are getting filled with contracts while supplying the bare minimum which is all sodium heavy, overly processed garbage that does a disservice to the kids they're feeding.
I wrote four congresspeople, including Katie Porter and three for whom I've had a chance to vote in the past five years, from Massachusetts, Colorado and Maryland, asking whether it might be possible to pass a law making what Judge Cannon, the rookie federal judge from Florida, did vis-a-vis Donald Trump illegal. Judge Cannon accepted a case brought by former-president Trump, who had named her to the federal bench very late in his term; she was actually sworn in after he'd lost his bid for re-election. It seems to me that there should be a rule that judges MUST recuse themselves from cases involving the executive who named them to the bench, that anything other than that policy is simply overt corruption. I even went and re-read the entire US Constitution to see whether there is any language that would bar Congress (and the President, who'd have to sign the bill) from passing legislation that would put such a check on a federal judge. There is no such language. I haven't heard from any of the four. Do you have any insight into (1) my legislative idea, and (2) why I haven't heard back. Thanks. Keep up the good work.
I would be interested in learning why 4 Capitol Police officers committed suicide after theJanuary 6 insurrection. I haven’t seen any reporting on that.
I agree with Susan DeVoe's comment. But in addition, it would be good to know who is still supporting Trump himself as well as Lindsey Graham and others facing genuine legal peril because of the Big Lie. Who or what organizations are helping pay their legal fees?
How serious is the Secretary of State problem in the states - re managing the voting system. Best to wait until after 2022 election to analyze who is elected. I’m having difficulty knowing how much is progressive politics hype about danger to democracy and what is real. A recent PBS News Hour report, for example, seemed to me to be pushing local reporters to say the situation is worse than it is. Or, maybe it is worse than many are reporting. I trust the information I receive here. Thanks for your good work.
What about doing a study contrasting the American lobbying industry with the bans on bribing politicians in other countries?
I still don't understand how it was legal to prevent Obama from seating Merrick Garland on the sUPREME cOURT.
I am getting 20 to 30 requests a day for campaign donations right now and horror stories of GOP spending. I don't know about the rest of you, but commercials do not influence me as to whom I will vote for. And if they do persuade some people, then they shouldn't be allowed to vote. I want to scream ENOUGH!
Track the billions of dollars spent on political advertising. Who is spending. Who is benefiting. Who is profiting.
A deeper dive into Coca Cola seems warranted. They are the world’s biggest polluter and a huge contributor to green house gas emissions yet they are sponsoring COP27? What’s going on? Who are they paying off?