In the last month, Popular Information revealed that United for Clean Power, a group pushing progressives to kill the Inflation Reduction Act, has extensive connections to notorious GOP operatives (prompting the group to pull the plug on its six-figure national advertising campaign), broke the news, in partnership with Rolling Stone, that Coachella's parent company had donated major cash to anti-abortion political organizations (prompting significantnationalmediacoverage), and exposed American Express for breaking its word and resuming donations to Republican objectors (a story that quickly generated widespread attention to the company's duplicity online).
Today, however, I want to hear from you. What's on your mind? What topics would you like Popular Information to take on during the rest of 2022?
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.
Just want to thank you and your team for the so-very-important work that you are doing. Sunlight is the best disinfectant! May you all have a great restful vacation.
Many of us in #NY21 are fans. We would so appreciate getting your wise eyes on our rep Elise Stefanik. There is so much there that keeps seeming to fly under the radar...
Awesome work y’all. I’d like to see more in-depth coverage of statehouse gerrymandering and REDMAP. How extreme right wingers are running rough shod over the popular will of the electorate. Super majorities allow for terrible policy and little oversight.
Judd, I hope your "hiatus" takes the form of a vacation. You richly deserve one!
For when you return: Story #1 is the accelerating disintegration -- on so many fronts, for so many reasons -- of what remains of our democracy.
What's the best way to expose this infernally complex story? To convey its urgency? To narrate it coherently over time -- beyond episodic posts that readers are left to synthesize for themselves, best they can?
I don't have a silver bullet but I definitely agree that the integrity of democracy is at stake in the midterms and all elections for the foreseeable future.
I am curious as to how you feel about whether or not the execution of the search warrant on The Former Guy's residence will increase the prospects for political violence by the on the right? It is an increasing fear on my part, as we watch the Republican political leaders scream about "Nazi-like" tactics by the Democrats and issuing thinly-veiled threats about what will happen if/when they take over the House after the November election.
I think it's hard to say. I'm somewhat skeptical that the raid will appreciably increase the level of outrage. In the absence of things happening, Trump just makes up things to be aggrieved about, like the "stolen" election that people use as pretext for violence.
First: not a ‘raid’; a search was executed by law enforcement bc a Federal Judge determined there was probable cause of criminality.
Second: Does not matter how law enforcement utilizes The Rule of Law to prosecute this 15-yr-old psychopath and his Crew….there is a good chunk of our citizens who will talk a lot of trash/maybe act out too, in response to The Psychopath being subject to The Rule of Law.
You are absolutely correct about the search warrant, and I apologize for my improper wording (and have corrected my comment). And, I sadly agree that you are correct that nothing can/will appease a Trumper except total capitulation by those they seek to oppress/intimidate.
These right wing extremists and the GQP are the ones acting like Nazi's. They are trying to put fear in people so they can do what they want and not be held accountable....a tactic they are very familiar with.
Thank you for helping us see how business is corrupting the political process (and which ones are the biggest offenders). Keep shining that sunlight! We need you!
No real chance to overturn Citizens United without a massive change in the Supreme Court, Congress and state governments first. In the meantime, I do think there are meaningful reforms that can reduce the ability of dark money to impact elections without accountability. More disclosure would be a good start.
Those disclosures would look even more meaningless than the standard Cyber Cookie Consent Disclosures we have to 'electronically sign' now to access documentation meant to be in the Public Interest!
Agreed! Big Money is killing the American Democracy. Citizens United must be overturned. Also, get rid of Gerrymandering. Then we might have a chance! Many of Judd's articles come back to following the money -- How it's used to buy influence and power. How can we shine a brighter light on these issues to affect change??
That is the key. Citizens United (what a misnomer) and dark money need to be shut out of public discourse and most urgently from our voting process. The question is how? It's only been since 2010 as you state, but what is the remedy to remove their hooks from our shared society?
Typo: "The rich corporations and billionaires run and own US now." Also true that they "owe US now."
Why can't we call them Oligarchs like we do when they're Russian, Ukrainian and having their hoarded wealth managed by London, Wall Street, Zurich and Bonn Wealth Management Portfolio bank secrecy dark money enablers?
Health and balance along with hazmat suited hugs all around to youse Muck Rakers. Heroes\Sheroes to me.
Especially youse indie Muck Rakers. May your vacation bring some recuperation. Then, keep on doing!
You deserve a restful, peaceful vacation.... two thoughts for me I would love exposed.... Louis DeJoy & Facebook easily giving Nebraska police the chats between a mother & daughter dealing with abortion.. reprehensible
-private prison industry, looking at nutrition, hiring of guards and their previous employment/professional records, deaths
-where do police officers with records of discrimination or hate groups go after they have been fired; is there anyone keeping these records so these officers won't be hired again as officers of the law
-is there anyone/organization keeping track of the fortunes/futures of Trump-endorsed candidates
I want to say I just saw something from Jelani Cobb, New Yorker writer and Columbia Journalism School Dean, on this very topic. I think he's maintaining a database of convicted police officers.
NFL season kicks off soon, the great American spectacle. Just wondering how many of those billionaire owners give (individually or thru their companies) to Big Lie and Big Abortion Ban supporters?
The need to bring light-rail transit back into our minds to replace the personal car paradigm.
Electric cars are nice -- we have one. Few moving parts require almost no service, maintenance or oil change.
But the long-term sustainable discourse needs to be around European-style light-rail networks across city, state and region.
I think Vermont's late Marty Jezer wrote the best history of how GM systemically purchased and destroyed city trolley systems back in the 40s and 50s. (The Dark Ages: Life in the United States 1945-1960).
Here in Burlington, Vermont, the last trolley car was ceremoniously set on fire in August of 1929 in the center of downtown to celebrate the end of an era....
We need to make a modern version of that era, starting with how it is kept out of mind and off the discussion table.
Proud to support this work. It's interesting though that other outlets with more resources are not doing this same work, isn't it? Curious why that is.
Public Citizen, Brennan Center for Justice, POGO (Project on Government Oversight) and CREW (Citizen's for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington) are outfits doing similar work.
Thanks for your excellent work and all you do. You are my go to morning muckraker. I continue to be amazed and disheartened and intrigued by the police and the lack of accountability, ethics or Anything resembling decent public service. I’m disheartened by the number of police and military involved in the insurrection and hope that the light can be shined on this it will get peoples attention. Thank you
Kudos for continued quality journalism. Have written before about Alachua County FL and the DeSatan foibles. The latest is his autocratic removal (for a values statement) of a 2x elected State Attorney (Andrew Warren, Hillsborough FL), who grew up in Gainesville: www.andrewwarrenfl.com Now we have to worry about unfettered thought police? How can we have a United States of America with such varying State policies?
Seriously good question. Jadedly, I don't see much daylight or disinfecting sunlight between the word "Fascism" and the word "Opportunism." Fascism seems to imply members are True Believers in some unholy alliance between the Corporate Caliphate and Pay2Play government. History shows US True Believers get herded and harvested by the most simple-minded of opportunists, which makes just about every Public Servant in a Pay2Play system on the Fascist Spectrum, the way quiet folks who are somewhat withdrawn, we're all somewhere on the Autism Spectrum.
I've studied Orban and his enablers including last week's close aide who resigned over an anti-semitic (more precisely anti-Jewish) statement. The search words for this incident that doesn't get much analyses in US info-tainment coverage: See UK's Guardian\Observer under "Longstanding adviser to Viktor Orbán resigns over ‘pure Nazi speech’
"Zsuzsa Hegedüs said the Hungarian prime minister’s remarks on ‘race mixing’ were indefensible"
I've also studied the research lit making a persuasive case that WW II Fascist Axis alliance leader Admiral Horthy of Magyarorszag was actually slow-walking his next door neighbor Der Fuhrer & dem Nazis demands to round up Jews and used Horthy's lengthy career of casual public statements that were anti-semitic to Keep Hitler and the Nazis from dictating to Horthy's perhaps a bit Fascistic view of Magyar independence and that Horthy's policies from his naval to government roles always valued the role of Hungary's indigenous Jewish population, regardless of Horthy's less than politically correct public statements. Orban may or may not be a Horthy acting in a perceived Magyar People's Public Interest. But he has bucked Neo-Liberal\Neo-Con E-CON-O-Mics when it meant defending against the erosion of working class wages and lives by adhering to Market Forces orthodoxy.
Call Orban a Socialist or Commie see if he's hurt or wounded by your remark. Corporate Dems and Corporate Republicans would make a public show of genuflecting to Market Forces. Even if Market Forces have done more to erode the US working Muddle Class than any Islamist or Supremacist Forces have succeeded in doing. Orban the vote-dependent opportunist is like the rather small land-locked nation he competes to govern. Not to be confused with the True Believers who get played by ever skeptical Fascists, like the WW II Slovak Nazi Puppet Leader Father Tiso. Check his Wiki dossier to read what I'm trying to short-hand here. The former Catholic Priest who used the rhetoric of concern over erosion of working class lives and Reactionary Populism to enthusiastically join the early Nazi round-ups and Einsatzgruppen tactics to deport much earlier than their Austro-Hungarian overlords the indigenous Jewish and Roma and Socialist Slovaks to the Nazi run death camps in neighboring Poland.
We've got a tough but necessary call to make telling the Duopoly Opportunists from the hard-core Fascists among US.
Thank you for your excellent work. It would really help many of your stories if you added an address or contact point where you followers could most effectively reach out to make a difference. For example, if we are shareholders in American Express, where is the most effective place at the company to write to express our disapproval? If we oppose the influence of some PAC or the Chamber of Commerce, is there a regulatory agency where we might file a complaint, or a funder that a consumer movement might deter?
This is a frequent request and one I struggle with. It's not quite how I envision my work and, often, I'm not sure who the general public should contact. But I know there is an interest in this kind of information and I'm going to think about, at minimum, how I can connect the people who want this information to the right resources.
I understand and agree that it is valuable to preserve the distinction between journalist and activist. Could you outsource the role of "transforming this information into action" by including a link to some trustworthy third party or legal organization?
I sign bazillions of petitions for many different orgs on many different issues. They usually suggest posting on Twitter and I do. I have been toying with the idea of defining hash tags or some means for people seeking particular issues (such as pipelines) to easily find petitions dealing with that particular issue. Of course, once one signs a petition, one is automatically added to future distributions; my nascent Twitter scheme is a means to recruit more people to various issues. If anyone has any ideas to embellish/improve/correct this scheme, please email me at online-activist@alumni.stanford.edu
I watched a video essay about the various abuses of the private prison industry recently, so this topic is fresh on my mind and worth repeated visits, IMHO. For all the "law and order" types among us, the "crimes" of the for-profit carceral state should be a challenge to the notion that all this is being done for the public good.
It would be cool to get comps on our election spending (per capita or % of GDP) versus in Canada to shed light on how much influence buying could pay for such things as universal health care. It also sheds light on USA’s uniquely profit over people mentality that really ramped up in the 80s. Thanks for all you guys do!
Election spending in the 2020 federal election was about $15 billion or $45 per U.S. resident in a two-year cycle. Corporate profits are about $2.5 trillion per year -- more than $15,000 per person per two-year cycle. Oy vey! They can buy the elections with the money the find in the corporate sofa. (I realize this doesn't answer your question about comps to other nations, but it shows how badly we need to limit corrupt election spending.)
I am a native Californian, still resident here. One of our worst "open secrets" is the deplorable state of drinking water for our poorest laborers' families in our "Great Valley". What is keeping my state from devoting serious money, time and consideration to ameliorating and eventually fixing this condition? Would it require higher taxation on the mega corporations that farm the state? Does it lack the political "oomph" of high speed rail? We deserve to be embarrassed about this. I hope you can take a look at this. Thanks!
Hello. The protection of the environment is topmost on my mind. What we can do to save the planet.
Second most important is to save our democracy from the Republicans. It seems they really are trying to take it away. I'm not sure why. I imagine money is behind it. But I don't now why anyone would want a dictator in charge of the U.S. It looks like that is just what the Republican project is: installing a dictator.
Wowza- great story leads, keep ‘em coming. It’s a bit daunting how far/deep/wide the wake of insanity & privilege casts but would rather know than be washed away in tsunami of undisclosed corruption.
I am so grateful that you ll follow the money. It is astonishing to me that money flows so freely into campaigns these days. Is the FEC functioning? We need more regulation around campaign finance reform. I know Representative Sarbanes has worked har don this issue in the past but ran up against the Republicans. We literally have a system of legalized corruption.
With this system, members of congress, are obligated to spend too much time dialing for dollars, and not enough time crafting best practice legislation with people they should be having lunch with - the other side of the aisle.
thank you for all you do! Would love to see reporting on federal responses to forever chemicals and heavy metals in our food, water, and soil; also very interested in policy on private prisons/detention centers. Thanks!
Thanks for all you do, Judd. I know I've asked about Matt Gaetz numerous times and there's not much to go on if nothing new has happened. But how did this story just fade into nothing? He's supposedly hooking up with underage girls and transporting them across state lines and coverage on him and that story has completely disappeared. If the roles were reversed and he were a democrat, we'd be hearing from the right every day about how there's a pedophile in their ranks and blah, blah, blah. Why have the democrats gone completely silent on this? Hammer this loser in the media until something happens. Why is alright for republicans to abuse children? Why don't they care when their own side abuses kids? They only have an issue if a democrat does it? That should tell the world everything they need to know about republicans.
It may end up disappearing or something may happen. Criminal investigations can take a long time. Some of them end without any charges against certain people of interest. Some of them do result in charges. We have to wait.
If you check out The Daily Beans podcast by the Mueller She Wrote folks, they have been following this pretty closely. It might take a bit of searching, but if I remember right, his associate in crime, Joel Greenberg,, is about to be or is being sentenced soon, or is cooperating which will affect Gaetz. I don't think we're done hearing about this yet
Can you write about financial aid and merit aid for college? I know of deserving kids who didn’t get any and wealthy families who got a lot. It all seems strange and veiled to me.
Enjoy the break - even though the news cycle never stops. Suggested topic: The growing presence of private equity into hospital/nursing home management. Perhaps this has been covered and it may be time for a visit. As background, there's the book "The Hospital" by Brian Alexander.
Sunlight works wonders but it has to be more widely disseminated. Too many people still support trumps' big lie that he won...no the BIG LIE is that Biden lost. The mid-west and southern states are not hearing that. They think that trump still runs the country and the military. Then why do they blame Joe Biden for inflation, high gas prices, etc.? Shouldn't they be blaming trump? The news networks are doing a disservice to us all in not reporting more of this. I am tired of hearing about trumps's rallies and seeing his picture. It was bad enough when he was president. He rates nothing as far as news goes. Send him to jail already.
I used your reporting about United Healthcare and United Healthgroup to chance my insurance away from them. But I have discovered that my new insurance offers all sorts of perks and benefits that are only available when shopping at CVS or Walmart. I don’t know if this is because the insurance company (Aetna) has partnered with them or if it is because they have achieved some sort of government approval. This insurance in one of the bewildering array of plans available to people on Medicare. But your reporting on both CVS and Walmart makes me want to know exactly what is going on.
Probably a partnership but I'm not sure. In general, I think conscious consumerism is a good thing but it's really impossible to remove yourself completely from a flawed system. So I wouldn't stress out too much about it.
As deepthroat to famously said, "Follow the money." This is what makes you so effective Judd. (Not a newsflash for you I know.) Shine the light on the money and you will unearth the very bright, but very bad men that provide the Magats fuel.
Our disbelief that this is really happening is our biggest foe. Our inability to wrap our heads around this happening in America is killing us! We have been two steps behind the orange oaf for 6 years! There is a significant slice of America that has no love for democracy. And the people prompting, prodding and goading these numnuts are Not stupid!!
So compounding our disbelief is our underestimation of this movement. We have Got to get tougher. Yes, this is happening. Yes, the people running their show are very bright. It's time to wake up America! Hard work is ahead for all of us. If we all step up, we can win. Thanks for your good work Judd. You have a gift for this work we desperately need now!
Enjoy the well-earned time off and can't wait to have you back in a few weeks, Judd!
I'm not sure whether this would be possible or be a big lift on top of the enormous work you already do, but if Action Steps to help make change as your readers were something possible to include, I think that could motivate more of us to really drive change around the issues you cover...
There are currently over 183,000 subscribers to this newsletter, so it's getting out there but I am working on a few projects to increase its visibility. I don't think I can replace the AP but I have some other ideas. Stay tuned!
I value your efforts to track down who's giving to GOP insurrection caucus, and wondering if it might be useful context to see which companies are giving equally to Dem-oriented groups as a sort of "faux balance." Is their (bogus) explanation that they are evening it out and giving equally?
Many of them do say that and many of them do that. But I generally avoid this angle because I think it can be misleading. For example some companies donate equally between the Democratic Governors Association and the Republican Governors Association.
Judd, Suppose the DISCLOSE Act is passed. How would it affect your research into money in politics and how do you think it would benefit the voting public?
It would massively increase the amount of information we have to work with. For example, our recent piece on United for Clean Power was able to fairly conclusively establish it was a front for GOP operatives looking to kill the reconciliation bill. But we still don't know who funneled the money to this group for their six or seven figure ad campaign. The DISCLOSE Act would give us access to that information because it would require disclosure of donors to 501c4 groups.
Congratulations on your fourth anniversary, and thank you so much for your invaluable work exposing the corporate funding of authoritarian pols.
Please keep your focus on the corporations who are keeping anti-democracy politicians in power — and by anti-democracy I mean those who support voter suppression, forced-birth policies, and climate denial/delay in particular. These pols couldn’t run roughshod over the people’s will without the funding of household-name corporations.
We the people can’t reclaim our democracy without clear-eyed information about this connection, and your publication is the ONLY one I’ve seen that provides it. Thank you, and please keep showing us what we are up against.
Hi Judd. I’m am a huge fan of your ‘accountability journalism’ newsletter — and I’m a Canadian (Alberta). I am in awe of your research and productivity, I smile when I see how you methodically expose corporate hypocrisy, and I am delighted about all the positive change and justice you have brought to the US. When I read your work, I’m reminded that real Americans will never surrender democracy to Trumpers and GOP elitists. Keep. Pressing. Forward.
I would be interested to know if there is a difference in the average sentencing length for participants of the Jan 6th insurrection when compared by race?
Anecdotally, I feel like white people have had lighter sentences…
I have written in the past asking for more follow ups on the stories you post, and you have done that, thank you! I think it really helps to show the results of the stories you publish, and that by publishing those stories, change can and does occur.
I have a new request. This one is bigger, but I'll ask … would it be possible for subscribers to enter their zip code and get a 'Report Card' or 'where they stand' on our Congressional Representatives? I understand this is a big ask, and it may not be possible for every member of congress, but in the course of Popular Information's work, it already does gather some of this info for some members of congress. Perhaps if subscribers request info on their representative(s) and Popular Information does not have any, it's an opportunity to request a they become a subscriber? Just a thought …
It's an interesting idea. Just to be honest with you its probably too resource-intensive for our current size but it's something that may be possible down the road.
I appreciate the response and thinking it's a possibility down the road. I also appreciate you and your team's work - it's an incredibly valuable service to our country! Enjoy your well deserved break.
In liberal states, there are so many more benefits for those in need, supported by higher taxes. So more people in need tend to gather there, now including the bus loads of asylum seekers from Arizona and Texas. To take care of them, the liberal states may raise taxes. Then wealthier people and businesses may relocate to places like Arizona and Texas to lessen their burden. It’s a conundrum.
Everyone is taking about this but it’s feeling like superficial bs. What’s the real scoop on DT fbi raid? Who authorized it? Who appointed those folks? Is this legit or is it political persecution of opposition?
This is one of those questions where the facts will reveal themselves over time. I am interested in these questions but we probably will not know the answer for awhile. I don't think there is any evidence that "political persecution" is involved.
The FBI is headed by a republican who was appointed by Donald Trump. A federal judge reviewed the request for a search warrant and agreed that the warrant was necessary and that there were compelling reasons for the search to be carried out expeditiously. As a side note, every person who has headed the FBI has been a republican. There has never been a democrat occupying that position. The judge who authorised the warrant has received death threats for doing her job. That could be described as persecution.
I am a long-time peacenik who believes that the absurd classification system foisted upon us by the "national security state" is undemocratic and is used to hide massive corruption. I hope against hope that this story will not develop into a situation in we are told that we can never know why the FBI raided Trump because it's too vital to national security.
I am wildly anti-Trump, but we cannot dismiss everyone who voted for him. We should not defend undemocratic government secrecy just because it's directed against. Trump -- if such a scenario arises.
Hi, Rick. Is not referring to the policy on FBI investigations, per se. I'm worried that National Security Council will use the classification system to quash any public info.
Outstanding work every week. Thank-you for all you and your team does. I would like to see more on gerrymandering and the Republican effort to take over state offices that manage election results.
Just want to thank you and your team for the so-very-important work that you are doing. Sunlight is the best disinfectant! May you all have a great restful vacation.
Thank you Annamarie! We'll be back soon.
Many of us in #NY21 are fans. We would so appreciate getting your wise eyes on our rep Elise Stefanik. There is so much there that keeps seeming to fly under the radar...
Awesome work y’all. I’d like to see more in-depth coverage of statehouse gerrymandering and REDMAP. How extreme right wingers are running rough shod over the popular will of the electorate. Super majorities allow for terrible policy and little oversight.
Judd, I hope your "hiatus" takes the form of a vacation. You richly deserve one!
For when you return: Story #1 is the accelerating disintegration -- on so many fronts, for so many reasons -- of what remains of our democracy.
What's the best way to expose this infernally complex story? To convey its urgency? To narrate it coherently over time -- beyond episodic posts that readers are left to synthesize for themselves, best they can?
Dunno. Hope you do.
I don't have a silver bullet but I definitely agree that the integrity of democracy is at stake in the midterms and all elections for the foreseeable future.
Great work. Glad to say your 4 years has kept me informed when MSM has caved to the 1% ownership.
Enjoy your two week hiatus. No doubt you will have plenty to report when you come back.
That's one thing we don't have to worry about :)
I am curious as to how you feel about whether or not the execution of the search warrant on The Former Guy's residence will increase the prospects for political violence by the on the right? It is an increasing fear on my part, as we watch the Republican political leaders scream about "Nazi-like" tactics by the Democrats and issuing thinly-veiled threats about what will happen if/when they take over the House after the November election.
And, enjoy your time off, Judd!
I think it's hard to say. I'm somewhat skeptical that the raid will appreciably increase the level of outrage. In the absence of things happening, Trump just makes up things to be aggrieved about, like the "stolen" election that people use as pretext for violence.
I hope that you're right, but today's "incident" with the FBI in Cincinnati might suggest otherwise.
First: not a ‘raid’; a search was executed by law enforcement bc a Federal Judge determined there was probable cause of criminality.
Second: Does not matter how law enforcement utilizes The Rule of Law to prosecute this 15-yr-old psychopath and his Crew….there is a good chunk of our citizens who will talk a lot of trash/maybe act out too, in response to The Psychopath being subject to The Rule of Law.
Summary: there is no appeasing these fucks.
You are absolutely correct about the search warrant, and I apologize for my improper wording (and have corrected my comment). And, I sadly agree that you are correct that nothing can/will appease a Trumper except total capitulation by those they seek to oppress/intimidate.
These right wing extremists and the GQP are the ones acting like Nazi's. They are trying to put fear in people so they can do what they want and not be held accountable....a tactic they are very familiar with.
Thank you for helping us see how business is corrupting the political process (and which ones are the biggest offenders). Keep shining that sunlight! We need you!
Thanks Jeanette.
Why isn’t more done to overturn Citizens United
Dark money is behind 90% of the corruption in our politics
Look how things have changed since 2010
Starting with the Tea Party
The rich corporations and billionaires run and owe the US now.
All of our politicians good or corrupt spend all their time campaigning, it is Alll about who has the most money
No real chance to overturn Citizens United without a massive change in the Supreme Court, Congress and state governments first. In the meantime, I do think there are meaningful reforms that can reduce the ability of dark money to impact elections without accountability. More disclosure would be a good start.
Those disclosures would look even more meaningless than the standard Cyber Cookie Consent Disclosures we have to 'electronically sign' now to access documentation meant to be in the Public Interest!
Jest sayin'....
Tio Mitchito
Agreed! Big Money is killing the American Democracy. Citizens United must be overturned. Also, get rid of Gerrymandering. Then we might have a chance! Many of Judd's articles come back to following the money -- How it's used to buy influence and power. How can we shine a brighter light on these issues to affect change??
That is the key. Citizens United (what a misnomer) and dark money need to be shut out of public discourse and most urgently from our voting process. The question is how? It's only been since 2010 as you state, but what is the remedy to remove their hooks from our shared society?
You are so right. I would like to know what can be done about turning over Citizens United also.
Typo: "The rich corporations and billionaires run and own US now." Also true that they "owe US now."
Why can't we call them Oligarchs like we do when they're Russian, Ukrainian and having their hoarded wealth managed by London, Wall Street, Zurich and Bonn Wealth Management Portfolio bank secrecy dark money enablers?
Health and balance along with hazmat suited hugs all around to youse Muck Rakers. Heroes\Sheroes to me.
Especially youse indie Muck Rakers. May your vacation bring some recuperation. Then, keep on doing!
Mitch Ritter\Paradigm Sifters, Code Shifters, PsalmSong Chasers
Lay-Low Studios, Ore-Wa (Refuge of Atonement Seekers)
Media Discussion List\Looksee
You deserve a restful, peaceful vacation.... two thoughts for me I would love exposed.... Louis DeJoy & Facebook easily giving Nebraska police the chats between a mother & daughter dealing with abortion.. reprehensible
Thank you Ginger! Those are both stories we have our eye on. (DeJoy we have written about.)
Would love to hear more about to resist facism and how individual politicians leave office as millionaires.
Thanks for your hard work!
Possible topics:
-private prison industry, looking at nutrition, hiring of guards and their previous employment/professional records, deaths
-where do police officers with records of discrimination or hate groups go after they have been fired; is there anyone keeping these records so these officers won't be hired again as officers of the law
-is there anyone/organization keeping track of the fortunes/futures of Trump-endorsed candidates
I want to say I just saw something from Jelani Cobb, New Yorker writer and Columbia Journalism School Dean, on this very topic. I think he's maintaining a database of convicted police officers.
NFL season kicks off soon, the great American spectacle. Just wondering how many of those billionaire owners give (individually or thru their companies) to Big Lie and Big Abortion Ban supporters?
Interesting question. I'm not sure. There are certainly some owners that are tight with Trump.
The need to bring light-rail transit back into our minds to replace the personal car paradigm.
Electric cars are nice -- we have one. Few moving parts require almost no service, maintenance or oil change.
But the long-term sustainable discourse needs to be around European-style light-rail networks across city, state and region.
I think Vermont's late Marty Jezer wrote the best history of how GM systemically purchased and destroyed city trolley systems back in the 40s and 50s. (The Dark Ages: Life in the United States 1945-1960).
Here in Burlington, Vermont, the last trolley car was ceremoniously set on fire in August of 1929 in the center of downtown to celebrate the end of an era....
We need to make a modern version of that era, starting with how it is kept out of mind and off the discussion table.
Proud to support this work. It's interesting though that other outlets with more resources are not doing this same work, isn't it? Curious why that is.
Thank you Ben!
Public Citizen, Brennan Center for Justice, POGO (Project on Government Oversight) and CREW (Citizen's for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington) are outfits doing similar work.
Thanks for your excellent work and all you do. You are my go to morning muckraker. I continue to be amazed and disheartened and intrigued by the police and the lack of accountability, ethics or Anything resembling decent public service. I’m disheartened by the number of police and military involved in the insurrection and hope that the light can be shined on this it will get peoples attention. Thank you
Thank you!
Kudos for continued quality journalism. Have written before about Alachua County FL and the DeSatan foibles. The latest is his autocratic removal (for a values statement) of a 2x elected State Attorney (Andrew Warren, Hillsborough FL), who grew up in Gainesville: www.andrewwarrenfl.com Now we have to worry about unfettered thought police? How can we have a United States of America with such varying State policies?
The GOP/Fox news love affair w/Orban & Hungary. Is this true fascism rising (or just a side show) and what is their plan?
Happy Vacation!
It's not a side-show. It's a political strategy to fast-track an autocratic Plutocracy, by neutering an existing democracy.
Seriously good question. Jadedly, I don't see much daylight or disinfecting sunlight between the word "Fascism" and the word "Opportunism." Fascism seems to imply members are True Believers in some unholy alliance between the Corporate Caliphate and Pay2Play government. History shows US True Believers get herded and harvested by the most simple-minded of opportunists, which makes just about every Public Servant in a Pay2Play system on the Fascist Spectrum, the way quiet folks who are somewhat withdrawn, we're all somewhere on the Autism Spectrum.
I've studied Orban and his enablers including last week's close aide who resigned over an anti-semitic (more precisely anti-Jewish) statement. The search words for this incident that doesn't get much analyses in US info-tainment coverage: See UK's Guardian\Observer under "Longstanding adviser to Viktor Orbán resigns over ‘pure Nazi speech’
"Zsuzsa Hegedüs said the Hungarian prime minister’s remarks on ‘race mixing’ were indefensible"
I've also studied the research lit making a persuasive case that WW II Fascist Axis alliance leader Admiral Horthy of Magyarorszag was actually slow-walking his next door neighbor Der Fuhrer & dem Nazis demands to round up Jews and used Horthy's lengthy career of casual public statements that were anti-semitic to Keep Hitler and the Nazis from dictating to Horthy's perhaps a bit Fascistic view of Magyar independence and that Horthy's policies from his naval to government roles always valued the role of Hungary's indigenous Jewish population, regardless of Horthy's less than politically correct public statements. Orban may or may not be a Horthy acting in a perceived Magyar People's Public Interest. But he has bucked Neo-Liberal\Neo-Con E-CON-O-Mics when it meant defending against the erosion of working class wages and lives by adhering to Market Forces orthodoxy.
Call Orban a Socialist or Commie see if he's hurt or wounded by your remark. Corporate Dems and Corporate Republicans would make a public show of genuflecting to Market Forces. Even if Market Forces have done more to erode the US working Muddle Class than any Islamist or Supremacist Forces have succeeded in doing. Orban the vote-dependent opportunist is like the rather small land-locked nation he competes to govern. Not to be confused with the True Believers who get played by ever skeptical Fascists, like the WW II Slovak Nazi Puppet Leader Father Tiso. Check his Wiki dossier to read what I'm trying to short-hand here. The former Catholic Priest who used the rhetoric of concern over erosion of working class lives and Reactionary Populism to enthusiastically join the early Nazi round-ups and Einsatzgruppen tactics to deport much earlier than their Austro-Hungarian overlords the indigenous Jewish and Roma and Socialist Slovaks to the Nazi run death camps in neighboring Poland.
We've got a tough but necessary call to make telling the Duopoly Opportunists from the hard-core Fascists among US.
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Thank you for your excellent work. It would really help many of your stories if you added an address or contact point where you followers could most effectively reach out to make a difference. For example, if we are shareholders in American Express, where is the most effective place at the company to write to express our disapproval? If we oppose the influence of some PAC or the Chamber of Commerce, is there a regulatory agency where we might file a complaint, or a funder that a consumer movement might deter?
This is a frequent request and one I struggle with. It's not quite how I envision my work and, often, I'm not sure who the general public should contact. But I know there is an interest in this kind of information and I'm going to think about, at minimum, how I can connect the people who want this information to the right resources.
I understand and agree that it is valuable to preserve the distinction between journalist and activist. Could you outsource the role of "transforming this information into action" by including a link to some trustworthy third party or legal organization?
I sign bazillions of petitions for many different orgs on many different issues. They usually suggest posting on Twitter and I do. I have been toying with the idea of defining hash tags or some means for people seeking particular issues (such as pipelines) to easily find petitions dealing with that particular issue. Of course, once one signs a petition, one is automatically added to future distributions; my nascent Twitter scheme is a means to recruit more people to various issues. If anyone has any ideas to embellish/improve/correct this scheme, please email me at online-activist@alumni.stanford.edu
I watched a video essay about the various abuses of the private prison industry recently, so this topic is fresh on my mind and worth repeated visits, IMHO. For all the "law and order" types among us, the "crimes" of the for-profit carceral state should be a challenge to the notion that all this is being done for the public good.
It would be cool to get comps on our election spending (per capita or % of GDP) versus in Canada to shed light on how much influence buying could pay for such things as universal health care. It also sheds light on USA’s uniquely profit over people mentality that really ramped up in the 80s. Thanks for all you guys do!
Election spending in the 2020 federal election was about $15 billion or $45 per U.S. resident in a two-year cycle. Corporate profits are about $2.5 trillion per year -- more than $15,000 per person per two-year cycle. Oy vey! They can buy the elections with the money the find in the corporate sofa. (I realize this doesn't answer your question about comps to other nations, but it shows how badly we need to limit corrupt election spending.)
In my absence, please direct any questions to my cousin Charlie! Thanks, Charlie.
Have a relaxing couple of weeks, Judd. No one deserves it more.
I appreciate the work you do!
Keep the pedal down, Judd. They cannot withstand the scrutiny your team provides. The cracks in the GQP are widening every day. Thanks.
I am a native Californian, still resident here. One of our worst "open secrets" is the deplorable state of drinking water for our poorest laborers' families in our "Great Valley". What is keeping my state from devoting serious money, time and consideration to ameliorating and eventually fixing this condition? Would it require higher taxation on the mega corporations that farm the state? Does it lack the political "oomph" of high speed rail? We deserve to be embarrassed about this. I hope you can take a look at this. Thanks!
Hello. The protection of the environment is topmost on my mind. What we can do to save the planet.
Second most important is to save our democracy from the Republicans. It seems they really are trying to take it away. I'm not sure why. I imagine money is behind it. But I don't now why anyone would want a dictator in charge of the U.S. It looks like that is just what the Republican project is: installing a dictator.
Rest well and, to quote Red Green, "Keep your stick on the ice!"
Wowza- great story leads, keep ‘em coming. It’s a bit daunting how far/deep/wide the wake of insanity & privilege casts but would rather know than be washed away in tsunami of undisclosed corruption.
I am so grateful that you ll follow the money. It is astonishing to me that money flows so freely into campaigns these days. Is the FEC functioning? We need more regulation around campaign finance reform. I know Representative Sarbanes has worked har don this issue in the past but ran up against the Republicans. We literally have a system of legalized corruption.
With this system, members of congress, are obligated to spend too much time dialing for dollars, and not enough time crafting best practice legislation with people they should be having lunch with - the other side of the aisle.
thank you for all you do! Would love to see reporting on federal responses to forever chemicals and heavy metals in our food, water, and soil; also very interested in policy on private prisons/detention centers. Thanks!
Matt Gaetz court case. Hunter Biden’s bs. MTG 1/6 shenanigans. Andrew Yang’s forward tripe. Pelosi’s insider trading, etc.
What you do is fantastic & am glad that I donated.
You are so darn good at this; thank you Judd and team.
Thanks Katie!
Thanks for all you do, Judd. I know I've asked about Matt Gaetz numerous times and there's not much to go on if nothing new has happened. But how did this story just fade into nothing? He's supposedly hooking up with underage girls and transporting them across state lines and coverage on him and that story has completely disappeared. If the roles were reversed and he were a democrat, we'd be hearing from the right every day about how there's a pedophile in their ranks and blah, blah, blah. Why have the democrats gone completely silent on this? Hammer this loser in the media until something happens. Why is alright for republicans to abuse children? Why don't they care when their own side abuses kids? They only have an issue if a democrat does it? That should tell the world everything they need to know about republicans.
It may end up disappearing or something may happen. Criminal investigations can take a long time. Some of them end without any charges against certain people of interest. Some of them do result in charges. We have to wait.
If you check out The Daily Beans podcast by the Mueller She Wrote folks, they have been following this pretty closely. It might take a bit of searching, but if I remember right, his associate in crime, Joel Greenberg,, is about to be or is being sentenced soon, or is cooperating which will affect Gaetz. I don't think we're done hearing about this yet
Can you write about financial aid and merit aid for college? I know of deserving kids who didn’t get any and wealthy families who got a lot. It all seems strange and veiled to me.
It's an interesting topic I need to know more about.
Thank you for your valuable information and revelations.
Have a great vacation
Love everything you do!
Maybe talk about monopolies.
Thank you for all your work. Enjoy the break
Enjoy the break - even though the news cycle never stops. Suggested topic: The growing presence of private equity into hospital/nursing home management. Perhaps this has been covered and it may be time for a visit. As background, there's the book "The Hospital" by Brian Alexander.
Thank you. I covered this once earlier this year but merits more coverage: https://popular.info/p/why-arent-there-enough-hospital-beds
Sunlight works wonders but it has to be more widely disseminated. Too many people still support trumps' big lie that he won...no the BIG LIE is that Biden lost. The mid-west and southern states are not hearing that. They think that trump still runs the country and the military. Then why do they blame Joe Biden for inflation, high gas prices, etc.? Shouldn't they be blaming trump? The news networks are doing a disservice to us all in not reporting more of this. I am tired of hearing about trumps's rallies and seeing his picture. It was bad enough when he was president. He rates nothing as far as news goes. Send him to jail already.
Yes, yes & YES!
I used your reporting about United Healthcare and United Healthgroup to chance my insurance away from them. But I have discovered that my new insurance offers all sorts of perks and benefits that are only available when shopping at CVS or Walmart. I don’t know if this is because the insurance company (Aetna) has partnered with them or if it is because they have achieved some sort of government approval. This insurance in one of the bewildering array of plans available to people on Medicare. But your reporting on both CVS and Walmart makes me want to know exactly what is going on.
Probably a partnership but I'm not sure. In general, I think conscious consumerism is a good thing but it's really impossible to remove yourself completely from a flawed system. So I wouldn't stress out too much about it.
I too have Aetna insurance and I believe they merged with or absorbed Caremark who owns CVS.
As deepthroat to famously said, "Follow the money." This is what makes you so effective Judd. (Not a newsflash for you I know.) Shine the light on the money and you will unearth the very bright, but very bad men that provide the Magats fuel.
Our disbelief that this is really happening is our biggest foe. Our inability to wrap our heads around this happening in America is killing us! We have been two steps behind the orange oaf for 6 years! There is a significant slice of America that has no love for democracy. And the people prompting, prodding and goading these numnuts are Not stupid!!
So compounding our disbelief is our underestimation of this movement. We have Got to get tougher. Yes, this is happening. Yes, the people running their show are very bright. It's time to wake up America! Hard work is ahead for all of us. If we all step up, we can win. Thanks for your good work Judd. You have a gift for this work we desperately need now!
Thank you!
Enjoy the well-earned time off and can't wait to have you back in a few weeks, Judd!
I'm not sure whether this would be possible or be a big lift on top of the enormous work you already do, but if Action Steps to help make change as your readers were something possible to include, I think that could motivate more of us to really drive change around the issues you cover...
Congratulations on your anniversary and thank you so much for your thorough and insightful investigative journalism.
It would be nice if MSM could follow your example! Enjoy your much deserved vacation too!
I’m curious, how can we get your work included in MSM? So many local and regional papers pull from AP, Reuters etc? How do we get the truth out there?
There are currently over 183,000 subscribers to this newsletter, so it's getting out there but I am working on a few projects to increase its visibility. I don't think I can replace the AP but I have some other ideas. Stay tuned!
183,000!!! Good work Judd. Well done indeed sir.
The truth ain't that sexy to the MSM, much of which is potentially owned by the very corporate entities/miscreants Judd is exposing.
I value your efforts to track down who's giving to GOP insurrection caucus, and wondering if it might be useful context to see which companies are giving equally to Dem-oriented groups as a sort of "faux balance." Is their (bogus) explanation that they are evening it out and giving equally?
Many of them do say that and many of them do that. But I generally avoid this angle because I think it can be misleading. For example some companies donate equally between the Democratic Governors Association and the Republican Governors Association.
But only the RGA is supporting candidates like Kari Lake: https://popular.info/p/corporate-cash-flows-to-arizona-extremist
Judd, Suppose the DISCLOSE Act is passed. How would it affect your research into money in politics and how do you think it would benefit the voting public?
It would massively increase the amount of information we have to work with. For example, our recent piece on United for Clean Power was able to fairly conclusively establish it was a front for GOP operatives looking to kill the reconciliation bill. But we still don't know who funneled the money to this group for their six or seven figure ad campaign. The DISCLOSE Act would give us access to that information because it would require disclosure of donors to 501c4 groups.
Congratulations on your fourth anniversary, and thank you so much for your invaluable work exposing the corporate funding of authoritarian pols.
Please keep your focus on the corporations who are keeping anti-democracy politicians in power — and by anti-democracy I mean those who support voter suppression, forced-birth policies, and climate denial/delay in particular. These pols couldn’t run roughshod over the people’s will without the funding of household-name corporations.
We the people can’t reclaim our democracy without clear-eyed information about this connection, and your publication is the ONLY one I’ve seen that provides it. Thank you, and please keep showing us what we are up against.
Thank you Terry.
Hi Judd. I’m am a huge fan of your ‘accountability journalism’ newsletter — and I’m a Canadian (Alberta). I am in awe of your research and productivity, I smile when I see how you methodically expose corporate hypocrisy, and I am delighted about all the positive change and justice you have brought to the US. When I read your work, I’m reminded that real Americans will never surrender democracy to Trumpers and GOP elitists. Keep. Pressing. Forward.
Love the work and am a supporter.
I would be interested to know if there is a difference in the average sentencing length for participants of the Jan 6th insurrection when compared by race?
Anecdotally, I feel like white people have had lighter sentences…
I have written in the past asking for more follow ups on the stories you post, and you have done that, thank you! I think it really helps to show the results of the stories you publish, and that by publishing those stories, change can and does occur.
I have a new request. This one is bigger, but I'll ask … would it be possible for subscribers to enter their zip code and get a 'Report Card' or 'where they stand' on our Congressional Representatives? I understand this is a big ask, and it may not be possible for every member of congress, but in the course of Popular Information's work, it already does gather some of this info for some members of congress. Perhaps if subscribers request info on their representative(s) and Popular Information does not have any, it's an opportunity to request a they become a subscriber? Just a thought …
It's an interesting idea. Just to be honest with you its probably too resource-intensive for our current size but it's something that may be possible down the road.
I appreciate the response and thinking it's a possibility down the road. I also appreciate you and your team's work - it's an incredibly valuable service to our country! Enjoy your well deserved break.
In liberal states, there are so many more benefits for those in need, supported by higher taxes. So more people in need tend to gather there, now including the bus loads of asylum seekers from Arizona and Texas. To take care of them, the liberal states may raise taxes. Then wealthier people and businesses may relocate to places like Arizona and Texas to lessen their burden. It’s a conundrum.
Everyone is taking about this but it’s feeling like superficial bs. What’s the real scoop on DT fbi raid? Who authorized it? Who appointed those folks? Is this legit or is it political persecution of opposition?
This is one of those questions where the facts will reveal themselves over time. I am interested in these questions but we probably will not know the answer for awhile. I don't think there is any evidence that "political persecution" is involved.
The FBI is headed by a republican who was appointed by Donald Trump. A federal judge reviewed the request for a search warrant and agreed that the warrant was necessary and that there were compelling reasons for the search to be carried out expeditiously. As a side note, every person who has headed the FBI has been a republican. There has never been a democrat occupying that position. The judge who authorised the warrant has received death threats for doing her job. That could be described as persecution.
Judge was also appointed by Trump, I believe
He was. Rather suggestive isn't it?
I am enjoying the pure speculation that Melania just noticed that her husband is outliving all his wives......hm......
I am a long-time peacenik who believes that the absurd classification system foisted upon us by the "national security state" is undemocratic and is used to hide massive corruption. I hope against hope that this story will not develop into a situation in we are told that we can never know why the FBI raided Trump because it's too vital to national security.
I am wildly anti-Trump, but we cannot dismiss everyone who voted for him. We should not defend undemocratic government secrecy just because it's directed against. Trump -- if such a scenario arises.
Hi, Rick. Is not referring to the policy on FBI investigations, per se. I'm worried that National Security Council will use the classification system to quash any public info.
Outstanding work every week. Thank-you for all you and your team does. I would like to see more on gerrymandering and the Republican effort to take over state offices that manage election results.