Another CNBC interview, another slow pitch interview for a fossil fuel executive. Not too long ago, Republic Report caught a CNBC producer soliciting climate change denier pundits to “balance” a report about the costs of inaction on carbon emissions. Last weekend, CNBC brought on Gregory Boyce, Peabody Energy’s chief executive, to uncritically discuss how his
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Over the course of a very expensive midterm election, Senate Democrats used a number of outside groups to shore up vulnerable incumbents. Federal Election Commission disclosures show that many of these groups relied on SKDKnickerbocker, a Democratic consulting firm, to produce the advertisements that flooded swing states this year. SKDKnickerbocker, according to multiple reports, was also
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A network of U.S. marketing companies run glossy websites promising jobs, health benefits, food stamps, and heating assistance, sites with names like localemploymentnetwork.org or medicaidinsurancebenefits.com. But according to former employees of a company connected to these operations, the real purpose of these sites is a classic bait-and-switch: to get low-income people, single mothers, veterans, and unemployed older people on the
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Not all dark money is the same. Unlike corporations and individuals, organized labor is forced to play by a different set of rules. In the very dark election of 2014, voters still have no clue about who paid for a significant portion of the election efforts propping up a whole new Congress. Many donors hid behind
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There’s a powerful solution for disclosing the secret money sloshing around in our political system. It does not require an act of Congress or action from any of the effectively toothless campaign finance watchdogs, like the Federal Elections Commission. In fact, this solution could be passed in an instant and the only requirement for action
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On the heels of massive protests against a proposed Internet tax and an increasing crack down on ethnic minorities, the Hungarian government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban is looking for political support in Washington. And it’s no wonder why. Hungarian political leaders have been widely condemned for calling for a national list of Jews who may pose a “national
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On Thursday, November 6, the national trade association of for-profit colleges, APSCU, sued the Obama Administration in federal court in Washington DC to strike down the new 2014 “gainful employment” rule. The complaint repeats many of the claims from APSCU’s suit to strike down the 2011 gainful employment rule: that the U.S. Department of Education didn’t have the
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In the midterm elections this year, tens of millions of dollars flowed from secret donors into pivotal races through nonprofits. We may never know who really paid for the election of a whole new class of politicians. Here’s a hint of where the money might be coming from: the lobbyists who control the gusher of money.
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