Psycho cutie boyfriend Billy knows how to drive Marty nuts

Seven Psychopaths (2012) dir. Martin Mcdonagh

.@gop @gop @thedemocrats .@thedemocrats @dnc @thehill @csp an @politico my best advice for the #gop is ********** on e old person leader patron is that an old man the society changed inwhich way how dothey attract the new voterbases to the changed realities instead of running outof options howto rig the elections ******** ** itis understood itis a matter of competing networks but patron person cult is temporary v e r y the underlying fundamentals of what the party i s for matters iam secular humanist lightside  the only bridge to their side is in dontmess with mystuff and noone tellsme a damn what todo or not todo somewhat longrangesupport to friends / girls letssay lenaluthor nonvillainy but badrealm I am Christian KISS B abyAWACS – Raw Independent Sophistication #THINKTANK + #INTEL #HELLHOLE #BLOG https://www.BabyAWACS.com/ Inquiry@BabyAWAC S.com PHONE / FAX +493212 611 34 64 Helpful? Pay. Support. D onnate. paypal.me/ChristianKiss

.@gop @gop @thedemocrats .@thedemocrats @dnc @thehill @csp an @politico my best advice for the #gop is ********** on e old person leader patron is that an old man the society changed inwhich way how dothey attract the new voterbases to the changed realities instead of running outof options howto rig the elections ******** ** itis understood itis a matter of competing networks but patron person cult is temporary v e r y the underlying fundamentals of what the party i s for matters iam secular humanist lightside  the only bridge to their side is in dontmess with mystuff and noone tellsme a damn what todo or not todo somewhat longrangesupport to friends / girls letssay lenaluthor nonvillainy but badrealm I am Christian KISS B abyAWACS – Raw Independent Sophistication #THINKTANK + #INTEL #HELLHOLE #BLOG https://www.BabyAWACS.com/ Inquiry@BabyAWAC S.com PHONE / FAX +493212 611 34 64 Helpful? Pay. Support. D onnate. paypal.me/ChristianKiss

.@gop @gop @thedemocrats .@thedemocrats @dnc @thehill @cspan @politico my best advice for the #gop is ********** one old person leader patron is that an old man the society changed inwhich way how dothey attract the new voterbases tothe changed realities instead of running outof options howto rig the elections ********** itis understood itis a matter of competing networks but patron person cult…

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this about sa and her soaps icops and the fuckign prsident of the usnited state of america thats why vopes and vopes an vopes an vopes a bops an bops they sopas and cnts thst why thi bops and cops and the soulcs hopes and nopes thtst why cops and forwards march the whole thing about this ynasj thats why opps then ooopps then opss gops and thy alwasy fopes an the all fopes htats wy this about wlamrtthenn and why i dint take the lead there wiht the girls andd the gops an the copps and the cops and the cops the cioop the iocps the iopcps the cops the cps the cops the cosp the cosop the cosp the cosp the copps the cops thatsh hwy poop

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so while ya cops the cps the cops hreacher dsaeddsaesasd thats swhy ‘

soaps about reeacher and his conquest kille my soaps thats nope nope bope bope vope vope cope copep thats wy opps oppos opops pos thats while ya doped and smeok they always woops wop dome an smoeks that aint it thats why they just want dopoe an smoeks the ones and onea nd one thta they cops the cosp thats why they ont have the smokes or ddope hreye jujsut have the fuckign sopaa and the ships angthey cops and cosp the iopcs then they cosp dope andd smokes and the fuckgin smoeks and dope thats why this just cope s and cops an cospa nd cops for this girl who has the copes cops the vopes ghghhghg hshshashs

hangkopd thast dopes an smoeks thatsw hy kops an the shoulders of he voppes an fuckgin coeps ht ecos[p thats why 45 asnf they cops the cosp the cosp thteh cosp thththth eheheheh cipsopsopipoicopcscpsocipsdoi 

 this abotu ysa d who goes to the bops cops an fopes hoex sex for the smoeks andd doep thatsw hy 

the vope an smoeks an doeps andd they have the lost of the smokes then bops an vops and cops thats why 666

since she dotn have the ope an smokes where she goes thas who cops the cosp the copsth cosp the cops thats why its not enough of a reason to warent the soaps the soap the soap bout soapsaopsaoosap dope and smoeks fuckgin does though oesn it thatsw hy 

this about who cops and cosp an cosp and iocpa the icps[p they all dope and smoeks thats why 7

from a Japanese cryptocurrency startup to the NRA

from a Japanese cryptocurrency startup to the NRA

President Donald Trump at CPAC 2018 (Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

As the 45th Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, begins Wednesday, a look at the event’s sponsors shows a collection of outside spending groups, prominent conservative activist organizations, think tanks and media outlets.

A who’s-who of conservative money networks, many sponsors are promoted in CPAC’s’ panels and events, and often onstage rubbing elbows with the influencers currently driving grassroots conservative politics.

CPAC touts itself as “the birthplace of modern conservatism,” and has long been observed for the pulse of the conservative movement. President Donald Trump’s appearances at the event before his presidential bid have been credited by some for raising his profile among movement conservatives in the years before the 2016 Republican primary.

Behind CPAC is the American Conservative Union a conservative lobbying organization and outside spending group which organizes the event. In the last election cycle, ACU spent $258,000 in support of Republican candidates, according to data tracked by the Center for Responsive Politics.

2018 was ACU’s biggest year for lobbying since 2005. Last year the group spent $540,000 on lobbying, advocating for bills ranging from net neutrality, pro-sugar industry regulation, budget cuts and sentencing reform.

ACU’s going rate for a sponsorship buy-in at CPAC costs thousands of dollars. The lowest level of sponsorship, a “participating sponsor,” costs $7,000, with the highest level, a “platinum sponsor,” running at $250,000.

Sponsorship not only buys organizations extensive promotion at the event, but many sponsors have their own panels, speakers and events at CPAC. As one “ACU insider” told the Daily Beast last year: “That’s one of the bigger benefits of sponsorship… the higher you sponsor, the higher the chances your speaker and your panel topic will happen at CPAC.”  

Yet the subject of panels and events is reached through “consensus” by CPAC’s organizers and not by sponsors, according to Ian Walters, ACU’s communications director. Planning committees in the run-up to the event, which can include people affiliated with sponsors, plan the event’s schedule before sponsors are ultimately decided, Walters said. He added that it would be inaccurate to say sponsors have any limiting influence on potential events or panels.

“It’s about as public and transparent a process as there can be,” Walters said.

This year, CPAC has two “platinum sponsors” spending $250,000. One is Liberty HealthShare, a health care cost-sharing company. The other is Dragging Canoe – Pigeon Forge.

Dragging Canoe is the only sponsor without a hyperlink to its website on CPAC’s sponsors page. It is an upcoming “a second-amendment themed entertainment venue and restaurant in Pigeon Forge” slated to open in 2020, according to Walters. CPAC was approached by Dragging Canoe’s owners last year for a potential sponsorship.  

Google searches provide no information about the company. A Dragging Canoe, LLC was registered as a business with the Tennessee Secretary of State last November and lists a for-sale empty building in Maryville, Tennessee as its address. Despite being an up-and-coming business, Dragging Canoe is sponsoring CPAC’s $250 a ticket “Ronald Reagan Dinner and Reception” on Friday night.

The next level of sponsorship at CPAC, “presenting sponsors” who spent $125,000, include the National Rifle Association, the GOP, and Liberty, a Japanese cryptocurrency start-up.

The event, in turn, has multiple panels on the second amendment and gun control, including a speech by NRA president and Iran-Contra figure Lt. Col. Oliver North. The co-founder of Liberty, Jikido “Jay” Aeba of the Japanese Conservative Union, will participate in a panel about cryptocurrency.  

While not all events and speakers represent sponsors, those that do have extensive real estate in CPAC’s agenda. The Heritage Foundation, the conservative think tank, spent $60,000 to sponsor the event. A number of Heritage Foundation staff are to appear on stage throughout the week, and the think tank will host events on censorship of conservatives and election security.

The Center for Security Policy, another think tank and longtime sponsor, spent $12,000 to sponsor CPAC this year. CSP has long been criticized as Islamophobic, and has promulgated conspiracy theories about Muslims, including an impending Sharia take-over of the United States and the infiltration of the U.S. government by the Muslim Brotherhood.

CPS is sponsoring multiple events at CPAC, including an event moderated by National Security Advisor John Bolton’s former chief of staff on “Why Anti-Zionism is a Form of Anti-Semitism and a Threat to National Security.” Frank Gaffney Jr., the controversial founder of CPS, will moderate his own event on CPAC about the persecution of Christians around the world.

Another major sponsor of CPAC is the Heartland Institute, a free-market think tank and previous sponsor. The Heartland Institute has positioned itself as a leading critic of climate science for many years, and has coordinated with the Trump administration’s Environmental Protection Agency to promote views denying climate change. As a $28,000-sponsor, Heartland is present throughout CPAC’s agenda. Its CEO has a stand-alone speech on Friday afternoon, and the group is sponsoring an event on “AOC’s Green New Deal: Debunking the Climate Alarmism Behind Bringing Full Socialism to America.”

Another CPAC sponsor is the Alliance of Conservative and Reformists in Europe, or ACRE, which represents the third-largest political party in the European Parliament. While ACRE includes member parties outside of Europe like the GOP, the conservative party of Canada and Likud in Israel, it has within its parliamentary ranks the controversial far-right parties of Poland, Italy, Denmark and Bulgaria.

ACRE will host an event at CPAC on “Building a Stronger Transatlantic Security and Defense Cooperation” featuring the Polish ambassador to the United States.

There are other ties to the European right-wing at CPAC. Italian lawmaker Giorgia Meloni, an ally of Matteo Salvini, Italy’s controversial deputy prime minister, will appear on a panel with ACU board member José Cárdenas and Rep. Francis Rooney (R-Fla.) on “Democracy Breaking through Darkness: Can Europe and Venezuela be Liberated?”

Though not listed as an official sponsor, Heritage Action for America, a lobbying organization and outside spending group, has a number of sponsored events throughout CPAC’s agenda. Heritage Action for America spent nearly $2 million supporting Republican candidates in the last-election cycle.

Reporters for conservative media outlets who paid thousands of dollars to sponsor CPAC are also featured prominently throughout the event’s agenda.

The Washington Times, which spent $60,000 to sponsor the event, has 6 of its reporters appearing on-stage. The Daily Caller, a participating sponsor, has four reporters featured at CPAC, one of whom publicly apologized earlier this month for racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic old tweets.

As CPAC commences, it remains at the intersection of grassroots conservatism and big-money influence. The event too remains a prominent spot for GOP officialdom, shown by its upcoming appearances by numerous Republican lawmakers as well as President Trump.

Feel free to distribute or cite this material, but please credit the Center for Responsive Politics. For permission to reprint for commercial uses, such as textbooks, contact the Center: [email protected]

Source link https://ift.tt/2NxcQUJ

from a Japanese cryptocurrency startup to the NRA

from a Japanese cryptocurrency startup to the NRA

President Donald Trump at CPAC 2018 (Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

As the 45th Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, begins Wednesday, a look at the event’s sponsors shows a collection of outside spending groups, prominent conservative activist organizations, think tanks and media outlets.

A who’s-who of conservative money networks, many sponsors are promoted in CPAC’s’ panels and events, and often onstage rubbing elbows with the influencers currently driving grassroots conservative politics.

CPAC touts itself as “the birthplace of modern conservatism,” and has long been observed for the pulse of the conservative movement. President Donald Trump’s appearances at the event before his presidential bid have been credited by some for raising his profile among movement conservatives in the years before the 2016 Republican primary.

Behind CPAC is the American Conservative Union a conservative lobbying organization and outside spending group which organizes the event. In the last election cycle, ACU spent $258,000 in support of Republican candidates, according to data tracked by the Center for Responsive Politics.

2018 was ACU’s biggest year for lobbying since 2005. Last year the group spent $540,000 on lobbying, advocating for bills ranging from net neutrality, pro-sugar industry regulation, budget cuts and sentencing reform.

ACU’s going rate for a sponsorship buy-in at CPAC costs thousands of dollars. The lowest level of sponsorship, a “participating sponsor,” costs $7,000, with the highest level, a “platinum sponsor,” running at $250,000.

Sponsorship not only buys organizations extensive promotion at the event, but many sponsors have their own panels, speakers and events at CPAC. As one “ACU insider” told the Daily Beast last year: “That’s one of the bigger benefits of sponsorship… the higher you sponsor, the higher the chances your speaker and your panel topic will happen at CPAC.”  

Yet the subject of panels and events is reached through “consensus” by CPAC’s organizers and not by sponsors, according to Ian Walters, ACU’s communications director. Planning committees in the run-up to the event, which can include people affiliated with sponsors, plan the event’s schedule before sponsors are ultimately decided, Walters said. He added that it would be inaccurate to say sponsors have any limiting influence on potential events or panels.

“It’s about as public and transparent a process as there can be,” Walters said.

This year, CPAC has two “platinum sponsors” spending $250,000. One is Liberty HealthShare, a health care cost-sharing company. The other is Dragging Canoe – Pigeon Forge.

Dragging Canoe is the only sponsor without a hyperlink to its website on CPAC’s sponsors page. It is an upcoming “a second-amendment themed entertainment venue and restaurant in Pigeon Forge” slated to open in 2020, according to Walters. CPAC was approached by Dragging Canoe’s owners last year for a potential sponsorship.  

Google searches provide no information about the company. A Dragging Canoe, LLC was registered as a business with the Tennessee Secretary of State last November and lists a for-sale empty building in Maryville, Tennessee as its address. Despite being an up-and-coming business, Dragging Canoe is sponsoring CPAC’s $250 a ticket “Ronald Reagan Dinner and Reception” on Friday night.

The next level of sponsorship at CPAC, “presenting sponsors” who spent $125,000, include the National Rifle Association, the GOP, and Liberty, a Japanese cryptocurrency start-up.

The event, in turn, has multiple panels on the second amendment and gun control, including a speech by NRA president and Iran-Contra figure Lt. Col. Oliver North. The co-founder of Liberty, Jikido “Jay” Aeba of the Japanese Conservative Union, will participate in a panel about cryptocurrency.  

While not all events and speakers represent sponsors, those that do have extensive real estate in CPAC’s agenda. The Heritage Foundation, the conservative think tank, spent $60,000 to sponsor the event. A number of Heritage Foundation staff are to appear on stage throughout the week, and the think tank will host events on censorship of conservatives and election security.

The Center for Security Policy, another think tank and longtime sponsor, spent $12,000 to sponsor CPAC this year. CSP has long been criticized as Islamophobic, and has promulgated conspiracy theories about Muslims, including an impending Sharia take-over of the United States and the infiltration of the U.S. government by the Muslim Brotherhood.

CPS is sponsoring multiple events at CPAC, including an event moderated by National Security Advisor John Bolton’s former chief of staff on “Why Anti-Zionism is a Form of Anti-Semitism and a Threat to National Security.” Frank Gaffney Jr., the controversial founder of CPS, will moderate his own event on CPAC about the persecution of Christians around the world.

Another major sponsor of CPAC is the Heartland Institute, a free-market think tank and previous sponsor. The Heartland Institute has positioned itself as a leading critic of climate science for many years, and has coordinated with the Trump administration’s Environmental Protection Agency to promote views denying climate change. As a $28,000-sponsor, Heartland is present throughout CPAC’s agenda. Its CEO has a stand-alone speech on Friday afternoon, and the group is sponsoring an event on “AOC’s Green New Deal: Debunking the Climate Alarmism Behind Bringing Full Socialism to America.”

Another CPAC sponsor is the Alliance of Conservative and Reformists in Europe, or ACRE, which represents the third-largest political party in the European Parliament. While ACRE includes member parties outside of Europe like the GOP, the conservative party of Canada and Likud in Israel, it has within its parliamentary ranks the controversial far-right parties of Poland, Italy, Denmark and Bulgaria.

ACRE will host an event at CPAC on “Building a Stronger Transatlantic Security and Defense Cooperation” featuring the Polish ambassador to the United States.

There are other ties to the European right-wing at CPAC. Italian lawmaker Giorgia Meloni, an ally of Matteo Salvini, Italy’s controversial deputy prime minister, will appear on a panel with ACU board member José Cárdenas and Rep. Francis Rooney (R-Fla.) on “Democracy Breaking through Darkness: Can Europe and Venezuela be Liberated?”

Though not listed as an official sponsor, Heritage Action for America, a lobbying organization and outside spending group, has a number of sponsored events throughout CPAC’s agenda. Heritage Action for America spent nearly $2 million supporting Republican candidates in the last-election cycle.

Reporters for conservative media outlets who paid thousands of dollars to sponsor CPAC are also featured prominently throughout the event’s agenda.

The Washington Times, which spent $60,000 to sponsor the event, has 6 of its reporters appearing on-stage. The Daily Caller, a participating sponsor, has four reporters featured at CPAC, one of whom publicly apologized earlier this month for racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic old tweets.

As CPAC commences, it remains at the intersection of grassroots conservatism and big-money influence. The event too remains a prominent spot for GOP officialdom, shown by its upcoming appearances by numerous Republican lawmakers as well as President Trump.

Feel free to distribute or cite this material, but please credit the Center for Responsive Politics. For permission to reprint for commercial uses, such as textbooks, contact the Center: [email protected]

Source link https://ift.tt/2NxcQUJ

from a Japanese cryptocurrency startup to the NRA

from a Japanese cryptocurrency startup to the NRA

President Donald Trump at CPAC 2018 (Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

As the 45th Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, begins Wednesday, a look at the event’s sponsors shows a collection of outside spending groups, prominent conservative activist organizations, think tanks and media outlets.

A who’s-who of conservative money networks, many sponsors are promoted in CPAC’s’ panels and events, and often onstage rubbing elbows with the influencers currently driving grassroots conservative politics.

CPAC touts itself as “the birthplace of modern conservatism,” and has long been observed for the pulse of the conservative movement. President Donald Trump’s appearances at the event before his presidential bid have been credited by some for raising his profile among movement conservatives in the years before the 2016 Republican primary.

Behind CPAC is the American Conservative Union a conservative lobbying organization and outside spending group which organizes the event. In the last election cycle, ACU spent $258,000 in support of Republican candidates, according to data tracked by the Center for Responsive Politics.

2018 was ACU’s biggest year for lobbying since 2005. Last year the group spent $540,000 on lobbying, advocating for bills ranging from net neutrality, pro-sugar industry regulation, budget cuts and sentencing reform.

ACU’s going rate for a sponsorship buy-in at CPAC costs thousands of dollars. The lowest level of sponsorship, a “participating sponsor,” costs $7,000, with the highest level, a “platinum sponsor,” running at $250,000.

Sponsorship not only buys organizations extensive promotion at the event, but many sponsors have their own panels, speakers and events at CPAC. As one “ACU insider” told the Daily Beast last year: “That’s one of the bigger benefits of sponsorship… the higher you sponsor, the higher the chances your speaker and your panel topic will happen at CPAC.”  

Yet the subject of panels and events is reached through “consensus” by CPAC’s organizers and not by sponsors, according to Ian Walters, ACU’s communications director. Planning committees in the run-up to the event, which can include people affiliated with sponsors, plan the event’s schedule before sponsors are ultimately decided, Walters said. He added that it would be inaccurate to say sponsors have any limiting influence on potential events or panels.

“It’s about as public and transparent a process as there can be,” Walters said.

This year, CPAC has two “platinum sponsors” spending $250,000. One is Liberty HealthShare, a health care cost-sharing company. The other is Dragging Canoe – Pigeon Forge.

Dragging Canoe is the only sponsor without a hyperlink to its website on CPAC’s sponsors page. It is an upcoming “a second-amendment themed entertainment venue and restaurant in Pigeon Forge” slated to open in 2020, according to Walters. CPAC was approached by Dragging Canoe’s owners last year for a potential sponsorship.  

Google searches provide no information about the company. A Dragging Canoe, LLC was registered as a business with the Tennessee Secretary of State last November and lists a for-sale empty building in Maryville, Tennessee as its address. Despite being an up-and-coming business, Dragging Canoe is sponsoring CPAC’s $250 a ticket “Ronald Reagan Dinner and Reception” on Friday night.

The next level of sponsorship at CPAC, “presenting sponsors” who spent $125,000, include the National Rifle Association, the GOP, and Liberty, a Japanese cryptocurrency start-up.

The event, in turn, has multiple panels on the second amendment and gun control, including a speech by NRA president and Iran-Contra figure Lt. Col. Oliver North. The co-founder of Liberty, Jikido “Jay” Aeba of the Japanese Conservative Union, will participate in a panel about cryptocurrency.  

While not all events and speakers represent sponsors, those that do have extensive real estate in CPAC’s agenda. The Heritage Foundation, the conservative think tank, spent $60,000 to sponsor the event. A number of Heritage Foundation staff are to appear on stage throughout the week, and the think tank will host events on censorship of conservatives and election security.

The Center for Security Policy, another think tank and longtime sponsor, spent $12,000 to sponsor CPAC this year. CSP has long been criticized as Islamophobic, and has promulgated conspiracy theories about Muslims, including an impending Sharia take-over of the United States and the infiltration of the U.S. government by the Muslim Brotherhood.

CPS is sponsoring multiple events at CPAC, including an event moderated by National Security Advisor John Bolton’s former chief of staff on “Why Anti-Zionism is a Form of Anti-Semitism and a Threat to National Security.” Frank Gaffney Jr., the controversial founder of CPS, will moderate his own event on CPAC about the persecution of Christians around the world.

Another major sponsor of CPAC is the Heartland Institute, a free-market think tank and previous sponsor. The Heartland Institute has positioned itself as a leading critic of climate science for many years, and has coordinated with the Trump administration’s Environmental Protection Agency to promote views denying climate change. As a $28,000-sponsor, Heartland is present throughout CPAC’s agenda. Its CEO has a stand-alone speech on Friday afternoon, and the group is sponsoring an event on “AOC’s Green New Deal: Debunking the Climate Alarmism Behind Bringing Full Socialism to America.”

Another CPAC sponsor is the Alliance of Conservative and Reformists in Europe, or ACRE, which represents the third-largest political party in the European Parliament. While ACRE includes member parties outside of Europe like the GOP, the conservative party of Canada and Likud in Israel, it has within its parliamentary ranks the controversial far-right parties of Poland, Italy, Denmark and Bulgaria.

ACRE will host an event at CPAC on “Building a Stronger Transatlantic Security and Defense Cooperation” featuring the Polish ambassador to the United States.

There are other ties to the European right-wing at CPAC. Italian lawmaker Giorgia Meloni, an ally of Matteo Salvini, Italy’s controversial deputy prime minister, will appear on a panel with ACU board member José Cárdenas and Rep. Francis Rooney (R-Fla.) on “Democracy Breaking through Darkness: Can Europe and Venezuela be Liberated?”

Though not listed as an official sponsor, Heritage Action for America, a lobbying organization and outside spending group, has a number of sponsored events throughout CPAC’s agenda. Heritage Action for America spent nearly $2 million supporting Republican candidates in the last-election cycle.

Reporters for conservative media outlets who paid thousands of dollars to sponsor CPAC are also featured prominently throughout the event’s agenda.

The Washington Times, which spent $60,000 to sponsor the event, has 6 of its reporters appearing on-stage. The Daily Caller, a participating sponsor, has four reporters featured at CPAC, one of whom publicly apologized earlier this month for racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic old tweets.

As CPAC commences, it remains at the intersection of grassroots conservatism and big-money influence. The event too remains a prominent spot for GOP officialdom, shown by its upcoming appearances by numerous Republican lawmakers as well as President Trump.

Feel free to distribute or cite this material, but please credit the Center for Responsive Politics. For permission to reprint for commercial uses, such as textbooks, contact the Center: [email protected]

Source link https://ift.tt/2NxcQUJ

from a Japanese cryptocurrency startup to the NRA

from a Japanese cryptocurrency startup to the NRA

President Donald Trump at CPAC 2018 (Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

As the 45th Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, begins Wednesday, a look at the event’s sponsors shows a collection of outside spending groups, prominent conservative activist organizations, think tanks and media outlets.

A who’s-who of conservative money networks, many sponsors are promoted in CPAC’s’ panels and events, and often onstage rubbing elbows with the influencers currently driving grassroots conservative politics.

CPAC touts itself as “the birthplace of modern conservatism,” and has long been observed for the pulse of the conservative movement. President Donald Trump’s appearances at the event before his presidential bid have been credited by some for raising his profile among movement conservatives in the years before the 2016 Republican primary.

Behind CPAC is the American Conservative Union a conservative lobbying organization and outside spending group which organizes the event. In the last election cycle, ACU spent $258,000 in support of Republican candidates, according to data tracked by the Center for Responsive Politics.

2018 was ACU’s biggest year for lobbying since 2005. Last year the group spent $540,000 on lobbying, advocating for bills ranging from net neutrality, pro-sugar industry regulation, budget cuts and sentencing reform.

ACU’s going rate for a sponsorship buy-in at CPAC costs thousands of dollars. The lowest level of sponsorship, a “participating sponsor,” costs $7,000, with the highest level, a “platinum sponsor,” running at $250,000.

Sponsorship not only buys organizations extensive promotion at the event, but many sponsors have their own panels, speakers and events at CPAC. As one “ACU insider” told the Daily Beast last year: “That’s one of the bigger benefits of sponsorship… the higher you sponsor, the higher the chances your speaker and your panel topic will happen at CPAC.”  

Yet the subject of panels and events is reached through “consensus” by CPAC’s organizers and not by sponsors, according to Ian Walters, ACU’s communications director. Planning committees in the run-up to the event, which can include people affiliated with sponsors, plan the event’s schedule before sponsors are ultimately decided, Walters said. He added that it would be inaccurate to say sponsors have any limiting influence on potential events or panels.

“It’s about as public and transparent a process as there can be,” Walters said.

This year, CPAC has two “platinum sponsors” spending $250,000. One is Liberty HealthShare, a health care cost-sharing company. The other is Dragging Canoe – Pigeon Forge.

Dragging Canoe is the only sponsor without a hyperlink to its website on CPAC’s sponsors page. It is an upcoming “a second-amendment themed entertainment venue and restaurant in Pigeon Forge” slated to open in 2020, according to Walters. CPAC was approached by Dragging Canoe’s owners last year for a potential sponsorship.  

Google searches provide no information about the company. A Dragging Canoe, LLC was registered as a business with the Tennessee Secretary of State last November and lists a for-sale empty building in Maryville, Tennessee as its address. Despite being an up-and-coming business, Dragging Canoe is sponsoring CPAC’s $250 a ticket “Ronald Reagan Dinner and Reception” on Friday night.

The next level of sponsorship at CPAC, “presenting sponsors” who spent $125,000, include the National Rifle Association, the GOP, and Liberty, a Japanese cryptocurrency start-up.

The event, in turn, has multiple panels on the second amendment and gun control, including a speech by NRA president and Iran-Contra figure Lt. Col. Oliver North. The co-founder of Liberty, Jikido “Jay” Aeba of the Japanese Conservative Union, will participate in a panel about cryptocurrency.  

While not all events and speakers represent sponsors, those that do have extensive real estate in CPAC’s agenda. The Heritage Foundation, the conservative think tank, spent $60,000 to sponsor the event. A number of Heritage Foundation staff are to appear on stage throughout the week, and the think tank will host events on censorship of conservatives and election security.

The Center for Security Policy, another think tank and longtime sponsor, spent $12,000 to sponsor CPAC this year. CSP has long been criticized as Islamophobic, and has promulgated conspiracy theories about Muslims, including an impending Sharia take-over of the United States and the infiltration of the U.S. government by the Muslim Brotherhood.

CPS is sponsoring multiple events at CPAC, including an event moderated by National Security Advisor John Bolton’s former chief of staff on “Why Anti-Zionism is a Form of Anti-Semitism and a Threat to National Security.” Frank Gaffney Jr., the controversial founder of CPS, will moderate his own event on CPAC about the persecution of Christians around the world.

Another major sponsor of CPAC is the Heartland Institute, a free-market think tank and previous sponsor. The Heartland Institute has positioned itself as a leading critic of climate science for many years, and has coordinated with the Trump administration’s Environmental Protection Agency to promote views denying climate change. As a $28,000-sponsor, Heartland is present throughout CPAC’s agenda. Its CEO has a stand-alone speech on Friday afternoon, and the group is sponsoring an event on “AOC’s Green New Deal: Debunking the Climate Alarmism Behind Bringing Full Socialism to America.”

Another CPAC sponsor is the Alliance of Conservative and Reformists in Europe, or ACRE, which represents the third-largest political party in the European Parliament. While ACRE includes member parties outside of Europe like the GOP, the conservative party of Canada and Likud in Israel, it has within its parliamentary ranks the controversial far-right parties of Poland, Italy, Denmark and Bulgaria.

ACRE will host an event at CPAC on “Building a Stronger Transatlantic Security and Defense Cooperation” featuring the Polish ambassador to the United States.

There are other ties to the European right-wing at CPAC. Italian lawmaker Giorgia Meloni, an ally of Matteo Salvini, Italy’s controversial deputy prime minister, will appear on a panel with ACU board member José Cárdenas and Rep. Francis Rooney (R-Fla.) on “Democracy Breaking through Darkness: Can Europe and Venezuela be Liberated?”

Though not listed as an official sponsor, Heritage Action for America, a lobbying organization and outside spending group, has a number of sponsored events throughout CPAC’s agenda. Heritage Action for America spent nearly $2 million supporting Republican candidates in the last-election cycle.

Reporters for conservative media outlets who paid thousands of dollars to sponsor CPAC are also featured prominently throughout the event’s agenda.

The Washington Times, which spent $60,000 to sponsor the event, has 6 of its reporters appearing on-stage. The Daily Caller, a participating sponsor, has four reporters featured at CPAC, one of whom publicly apologized earlier this month for racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic old tweets.

As CPAC commences, it remains at the intersection of grassroots conservatism and big-money influence. The event too remains a prominent spot for GOP officialdom, shown by its upcoming appearances by numerous Republican lawmakers as well as President Trump.

Feel free to distribute or cite this material, but please credit the Center for Responsive Politics. For permission to reprint for commercial uses, such as textbooks, contact the Center: [email protected]

Source link https://ift.tt/2NxcQUJ

from a Japanese cryptocurrency startup to the NRA

from a Japanese cryptocurrency startup to the NRA

President Donald Trump at CPAC 2018 (Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

As the 45th Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, begins Wednesday, a look at the event’s sponsors shows a collection of outside spending groups, prominent conservative activist organizations, think tanks and media outlets.

A who’s-who of conservative money networks, many sponsors are promoted in CPAC’s’ panels and events, and often onstage rubbing elbows with the influencers currently driving grassroots conservative politics.

CPAC touts itself as “the birthplace of modern conservatism,” and has long been observed for the pulse of the conservative movement. President Donald Trump’s appearances at the event before his presidential bid have been credited by some for raising his profile among movement conservatives in the years before the 2016 Republican primary.

Behind CPAC is the American Conservative Union a conservative lobbying organization and outside spending group which organizes the event. In the last election cycle, ACU spent $258,000 in support of Republican candidates, according to data tracked by the Center for Responsive Politics.

2018 was ACU’s biggest year for lobbying since 2005. Last year the group spent $540,000 on lobbying, advocating for bills ranging from net neutrality, pro-sugar industry regulation, budget cuts and sentencing reform.

ACU’s going rate for a sponsorship buy-in at CPAC costs thousands of dollars. The lowest level of sponsorship, a “participating sponsor,” costs $7,000, with the highest level, a “platinum sponsor,” running at $250,000.

Sponsorship not only buys organizations extensive promotion at the event, but many sponsors have their own panels, speakers and events at CPAC. As one “ACU insider” told the Daily Beast last year: “That’s one of the bigger benefits of sponsorship… the higher you sponsor, the higher the chances your speaker and your panel topic will happen at CPAC.”  

Yet the subject of panels and events is reached through “consensus” by CPAC’s organizers and not by sponsors, according to Ian Walters, ACU’s communications director. Planning committees in the run-up to the event, which can include people affiliated with sponsors, plan the event’s schedule before sponsors are ultimately decided, Walters said. He added that it would be inaccurate to say sponsors have any limiting influence on potential events or panels.

“It’s about as public and transparent a process as there can be,” Walters said.

This year, CPAC has two “platinum sponsors” spending $250,000. One is Liberty HealthShare, a health care cost-sharing company. The other is Dragging Canoe – Pigeon Forge.

Dragging Canoe is the only sponsor without a hyperlink to its website on CPAC’s sponsors page. It is an upcoming “a second-amendment themed entertainment venue and restaurant in Pigeon Forge” slated to open in 2020, according to Walters. CPAC was approached by Dragging Canoe’s owners last year for a potential sponsorship.  

Google searches provide no information about the company. A Dragging Canoe, LLC was registered as a business with the Tennessee Secretary of State last November and lists a for-sale empty building in Maryville, Tennessee as its address. Despite being an up-and-coming business, Dragging Canoe is sponsoring CPAC’s $250 a ticket “Ronald Reagan Dinner and Reception” on Friday night.

The next level of sponsorship at CPAC, “presenting sponsors” who spent $125,000, include the National Rifle Association, the GOP, and Liberty, a Japanese cryptocurrency start-up.

The event, in turn, has multiple panels on the second amendment and gun control, including a speech by NRA president and Iran-Contra figure Lt. Col. Oliver North. The co-founder of Liberty, Jikido “Jay” Aeba of the Japanese Conservative Union, will participate in a panel about cryptocurrency.  

While not all events and speakers represent sponsors, those that do have extensive real estate in CPAC’s agenda. The Heritage Foundation, the conservative think tank, spent $60,000 to sponsor the event. A number of Heritage Foundation staff are to appear on stage throughout the week, and the think tank will host events on censorship of conservatives and election security.

The Center for Security Policy, another think tank and longtime sponsor, spent $12,000 to sponsor CPAC this year. CSP has long been criticized as Islamophobic, and has promulgated conspiracy theories about Muslims, including an impending Sharia take-over of the United States and the infiltration of the U.S. government by the Muslim Brotherhood.

CPS is sponsoring multiple events at CPAC, including an event moderated by National Security Advisor John Bolton’s former chief of staff on “Why Anti-Zionism is a Form of Anti-Semitism and a Threat to National Security.” Frank Gaffney Jr., the controversial founder of CPS, will moderate his own event on CPAC about the persecution of Christians around the world.

Another major sponsor of CPAC is the Heartland Institute, a free-market think tank and previous sponsor. The Heartland Institute has positioned itself as a leading critic of climate science for many years, and has coordinated with the Trump administration’s Environmental Protection Agency to promote views denying climate change. As a $28,000-sponsor, Heartland is present throughout CPAC’s agenda. Its CEO has a stand-alone speech on Friday afternoon, and the group is sponsoring an event on “AOC’s Green New Deal: Debunking the Climate Alarmism Behind Bringing Full Socialism to America.”

Another CPAC sponsor is the Alliance of Conservative and Reformists in Europe, or ACRE, which represents the third-largest political party in the European Parliament. While ACRE includes member parties outside of Europe like the GOP, the conservative party of Canada and Likud in Israel, it has within its parliamentary ranks the controversial far-right parties of Poland, Italy, Denmark and Bulgaria.

ACRE will host an event at CPAC on “Building a Stronger Transatlantic Security and Defense Cooperation” featuring the Polish ambassador to the United States.

There are other ties to the European right-wing at CPAC. Italian lawmaker Giorgia Meloni, an ally of Matteo Salvini, Italy’s controversial deputy prime minister, will appear on a panel with ACU board member José Cárdenas and Rep. Francis Rooney (R-Fla.) on “Democracy Breaking through Darkness: Can Europe and Venezuela be Liberated?”

Though not listed as an official sponsor, Heritage Action for America, a lobbying organization and outside spending group, has a number of sponsored events throughout CPAC’s agenda. Heritage Action for America spent nearly $2 million supporting Republican candidates in the last-election cycle.

Reporters for conservative media outlets who paid thousands of dollars to sponsor CPAC are also featured prominently throughout the event’s agenda.

The Washington Times, which spent $60,000 to sponsor the event, has 6 of its reporters appearing on-stage. The Daily Caller, a participating sponsor, has four reporters featured at CPAC, one of whom publicly apologized earlier this month for racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic old tweets.

As CPAC commences, it remains at the intersection of grassroots conservatism and big-money influence. The event too remains a prominent spot for GOP officialdom, shown by its upcoming appearances by numerous Republican lawmakers as well as President Trump.

Feel free to distribute or cite this material, but please credit the Center for Responsive Politics. For permission to reprint for commercial uses, such as textbooks, contact the Center: [email protected]

Source link https://ift.tt/2NxcQUJ

from a Japanese cryptocurrency startup to the NRA

from a Japanese cryptocurrency startup to the NRA

President Donald Trump at CPAC 2018 (Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

As the 45th Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, begins Wednesday, a look at the event’s sponsors shows a collection of outside spending groups, prominent conservative activist organizations, think tanks and media outlets.

A who’s-who of conservative money networks, many sponsors are promoted in CPAC’s’ panels and events, and often onstage rubbing elbows with the influencers currently driving grassroots conservative politics.

CPAC touts itself as “the birthplace of modern conservatism,” and has long been observed for the pulse of the conservative movement. President Donald Trump’s appearances at the event before his presidential bid have been credited by some for raising his profile among movement conservatives in the years before the 2016 Republican primary.

Behind CPAC is the American Conservative Union a conservative lobbying organization and outside spending group which organizes the event. In the last election cycle, ACU spent $258,000 in support of Republican candidates, according to data tracked by the Center for Responsive Politics.

2018 was ACU’s biggest year for lobbying since 2005. Last year the group spent $540,000 on lobbying, advocating for bills ranging from net neutrality, pro-sugar industry regulation, budget cuts and sentencing reform.

ACU’s going rate for a sponsorship buy-in at CPAC costs thousands of dollars. The lowest level of sponsorship, a “participating sponsor,” costs $7,000, with the highest level, a “platinum sponsor,” running at $250,000.

Sponsorship not only buys organizations extensive promotion at the event, but many sponsors have their own panels, speakers and events at CPAC. As one “ACU insider” told the Daily Beast last year: “That’s one of the bigger benefits of sponsorship… the higher you sponsor, the higher the chances your speaker and your panel topic will happen at CPAC.”  

Yet the subject of panels and events is reached through “consensus” by CPAC’s organizers and not by sponsors, according to Ian Walters, ACU’s communications director. Planning committees in the run-up to the event, which can include people affiliated with sponsors, plan the event’s schedule before sponsors are ultimately decided, Walters said. He added that it would be inaccurate to say sponsors have any limiting influence on potential events or panels.

“It’s about as public and transparent a process as there can be,” Walters said.

This year, CPAC has two “platinum sponsors” spending $250,000. One is Liberty HealthShare, a health care cost-sharing company. The other is Dragging Canoe – Pigeon Forge.

Dragging Canoe is the only sponsor without a hyperlink to its website on CPAC’s sponsors page. It is an upcoming “a second-amendment themed entertainment venue and restaurant in Pigeon Forge” slated to open in 2020, according to Walters. CPAC was approached by Dragging Canoe’s owners last year for a potential sponsorship.  

Google searches provide no information about the company. A Dragging Canoe, LLC was registered as a business with the Tennessee Secretary of State last November and lists a for-sale empty building in Maryville, Tennessee as its address. Despite being an up-and-coming business, Dragging Canoe is sponsoring CPAC’s $250 a ticket “Ronald Reagan Dinner and Reception” on Friday night.

The next level of sponsorship at CPAC, “presenting sponsors” who spent $125,000, include the National Rifle Association, the GOP, and Liberty, a Japanese cryptocurrency start-up.

The event, in turn, has multiple panels on the second amendment and gun control, including a speech by NRA president and Iran-Contra figure Lt. Col. Oliver North. The co-founder of Liberty, Jikido “Jay” Aeba of the Japanese Conservative Union, will participate in a panel about cryptocurrency.  

While not all events and speakers represent sponsors, those that do have extensive real estate in CPAC’s agenda. The Heritage Foundation, the conservative think tank, spent $60,000 to sponsor the event. A number of Heritage Foundation staff are to appear on stage throughout the week, and the think tank will host events on censorship of conservatives and election security.

The Center for Security Policy, another think tank and longtime sponsor, spent $12,000 to sponsor CPAC this year. CSP has long been criticized as Islamophobic, and has promulgated conspiracy theories about Muslims, including an impending Sharia take-over of the United States and the infiltration of the U.S. government by the Muslim Brotherhood.

CPS is sponsoring multiple events at CPAC, including an event moderated by National Security Advisor John Bolton’s former chief of staff on “Why Anti-Zionism is a Form of Anti-Semitism and a Threat to National Security.” Frank Gaffney Jr., the controversial founder of CPS, will moderate his own event on CPAC about the persecution of Christians around the world.

Another major sponsor of CPAC is the Heartland Institute, a free-market think tank and previous sponsor. The Heartland Institute has positioned itself as a leading critic of climate science for many years, and has coordinated with the Trump administration’s Environmental Protection Agency to promote views denying climate change. As a $28,000-sponsor, Heartland is present throughout CPAC’s agenda. Its CEO has a stand-alone speech on Friday afternoon, and the group is sponsoring an event on “AOC’s Green New Deal: Debunking the Climate Alarmism Behind Bringing Full Socialism to America.”

Another CPAC sponsor is the Alliance of Conservative and Reformists in Europe, or ACRE, which represents the third-largest political party in the European Parliament. While ACRE includes member parties outside of Europe like the GOP, the conservative party of Canada and Likud in Israel, it has within its parliamentary ranks the controversial far-right parties of Poland, Italy, Denmark and Bulgaria.

ACRE will host an event at CPAC on “Building a Stronger Transatlantic Security and Defense Cooperation” featuring the Polish ambassador to the United States.

There are other ties to the European right-wing at CPAC. Italian lawmaker Giorgia Meloni, an ally of Matteo Salvini, Italy’s controversial deputy prime minister, will appear on a panel with ACU board member José Cárdenas and Rep. Francis Rooney (R-Fla.) on “Democracy Breaking through Darkness: Can Europe and Venezuela be Liberated?”

Though not listed as an official sponsor, Heritage Action for America, a lobbying organization and outside spending group, has a number of sponsored events throughout CPAC’s agenda. Heritage Action for America spent nearly $2 million supporting Republican candidates in the last-election cycle.

Reporters for conservative media outlets who paid thousands of dollars to sponsor CPAC are also featured prominently throughout the event’s agenda.

The Washington Times, which spent $60,000 to sponsor the event, has 6 of its reporters appearing on-stage. The Daily Caller, a participating sponsor, has four reporters featured at CPAC, one of whom publicly apologized earlier this month for racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic old tweets.

As CPAC commences, it remains at the intersection of grassroots conservatism and big-money influence. The event too remains a prominent spot for GOP officialdom, shown by its upcoming appearances by numerous Republican lawmakers as well as President Trump.

Feel free to distribute or cite this material, but please credit the Center for Responsive Politics. For permission to reprint for commercial uses, such as textbooks, contact the Center: [email protected]

Source link https://ift.tt/2NxcQUJ

According to Frank Harris, in the bomb, is the violence ever justified writing essays online Trump Calls for Ban on Muslims, Cites Deeply Flawed Poll - The Bridge Initiative, A Research Project

Its proponents seize upon its shoddy findings, exaggerating and misrepresenting them to American audiences, and falsely claim that the survey data represents the views of Muslims nationwide. Trump Calls for Ban on Muslims, Cites Deeply Flawed Poll. His statement also cites a deeply flawed poll conducted by the Center for Security Policy (CSP), a group with a history of fear mongering about Islam and Muslims. This survey should not be taken seriously. It comes from an organization with a history of producing dubious claims and “studies” about the threat of shariah, and was administered using an unreliable methodology. Its proponents seize upon its shoddy findings, exaggerating and misrepresenting them to American audiences, and falsely claim that the survey data represents the views of Muslims nationwide. Donald Trump is only the latest proponent of CSP’s dubious claims. In an interview with MSNBC, Saba Ahmed recounted how GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson told her that Frank Gaffney, CSP’s director, advised him on issues related to Islam. Numerous other GOP candidates, like Ted Cruz and George Pataki, have attended and spoken at CSP’s national summits. Trump’s comment about banning Muslims is only the latest in a series of troubling remarks about Muslims made by Trump and other GOP presidential candidates. These comments are documented in our “Islamophobia and the 2016 Elections” resource. On June 24, 2015, the Center for Security Policy (CSP), a Washington, D.C. Reagan official Frank Gaffney released a survey of 600 Muslims living in the United States. The poll gained quick traction online and in the media. On the evening of its release, Fox News host Bill O’Reilly also lent credence to its findings and cast doubt upon American Muslims’ loyalty to their country. But this survey should not be taken seriously. It comes from an organization with a history of producing dubious claims and “studies” about the threat of shariah, and was administered using an unreliable methodology. Here are the details.... View more ...

https://www.freep.com/story/news/politics/elections/2021/01/13/impeachment-live-updates-house-vote-gop-rift-trump-grows/6644827002/?csp=chromepush

via Politics – FiveThirtyEight

It’s almost 2018. For some, that means looking forward to the new year — what are the big political storylines to watch in the coming year? But I can’t do that until we finish one last end-of-year tradition: remembering all the times I screwed up!

That’s right: It’s time for my annual mea culpa column. Happily, this year’s column isn’t nearly as painful as 2016’s, and certainly not 2015’s, the year I laughed off Donald Trump’s entrance into the presidential race. Still, there’s always stuff that I wish I had written better, written differently or not written at all.

First, I think I undersold the chances of Republicans passing a health care bill. Of course, they didn’t pass a health care bill. The various bills they considered were super unpopular and the GOP’s math in the Senate was always difficult, so we were skeptical that Republicans would pass anything. Probably a little too skeptical, however.

Take a look at a couple of these headlines: “The GOP Health Care Bill May Have Found A Better Way To Fail” and “Trump’s Health Care Bill Won Over The Freedom Caucus — But Risks Losing Everyone Else.” For one, it didn’t alienate everyone else — it passed the House. And later, it was just one John McCain thumb away from passing the Senate too. So, I don’t think the GOP health care bill was destined to fail. After all, only recently Republicans passed another unpopular bill.

Screw-up No. 2 came in my preview of Virginia’s gubernatorial primaries. That article included a “survey” from “CSP Polling.” It shouldn’t have. I had never heard of CSP Polling, which showed up in May. And, as I wrote later — in “Fake Polls Are A Real Problem” — I could never find any person willing to go on the record with his or her actual name to stand behind the work. That’s obviously a big problem. We tend to take an inclusive attitude toward pollsters here at FiveThirtyEight, but any legitimate pollster should have real, identifiable people behind it.

Including one stray suspect poll might seem minor, but it’s not. A lot of people come to FiveThirtyEight for guidance on polling. We let them down in this instance. In 2018, we need to be extra vigilant on this front. There are probably going to be a ton of competitive House races. And most of them are unlikely to be surveyed by “gold-standard” pollsters. In other words, it’ll be tempting to grasp at any poll that pops up in a lot of these districts. Unfortunately, many will probably be suspect or shoddy. I put together some advice on how not to fall for these polls, and I would do well to heed it.

OK, screw-up No. 3 is a little wonky but still important. In early January, I wrote “Registered Voters Who Stayed Home Probably Cost Clinton The Election.” The main point of this piece relied on a SurveyMonkey poll. That data was fine, and I don’t think anything in the article was wrong, really. But it was thin. I should have used a voter file too.

Some pollsters use random digit dialing to do surveys — call a random phone number and ask that person if they’re registered to vote. Other pollsters use voter files, lists of registered voters with a bunch of information about each one, to construct their samples. I think a mixed approach to surveying (e.g. combining random digit dialing and a registered voter list) is probably best. And that goes for a lot of analyses too. That article on how much registered voters who stayed home hurt Hillary Clinton should have used more than self-reported voting status, which can be unreliable at times. I wish I had supplemented it with voter file data.

One of the big questions for the 2018 midterm elections is what will turnout look like. The evidence so far suggests Democrats will do far better turning out voters than they did in the 2010 or 2014 elections. How much better? We don’t know. So let’s not make too many assumptions about who will turn out in 2018 based on previous midterm elections. Voter lists will help us understand just how different the turnout patterns are in 2018.

Screw-up No. 4 is an error of omission. In July, I wrote, “Red-State Senate Democrats Haven’t Drawn Strong Opponents — Yet.” That was true at the time. But it’s not true anymore, and it hasn’t been for some time. In fact, the GOP has a number of fairly good candidates running in red states with Democratic senators, including Indiana and Missouri. You wouldn’t know that, though, if you were just reading FiveThirtyEight. That article deserved a follow-up.

Often, it’s not the bad articles you write that get you in trouble. Instead, it’s the articles you don’t write.

So that’s that. I’m sure there were other things I messed up in 2017, but these are the errors that still gnaw at me. As is tradition, however, let’s close out this column on a more hopeful note. Here are a few things I think I got right:

I never lost faith in the laws of political gravity. After Trump’s election, it became fashionable to say that “nothing matters,” that the normal rules of politics don’t apply anymore. I never thought that was the case. And, as we’ve seen in all types of elections in 2017, it’s not.

I’m now 2-for-2 — or 3-for-3, depending on how you count — in pulling out the “normal polling error” card. The idea here is that many people treat polling as an exact science. It’s not. Instead, it’s perfectly normal for polls to miss the result by a lot. So, just before the 2016 election I pointed out that Trump was only a normal polling error behind Clinton. And just before the special Alabama Senate election, I wrote that Democrat Doug Jones was just a normal polling error behind Republican Roy Moore.

Finally, here’s an article I’m proud of: “Fake Polls Are A Real Problem.” After a bunch of media outlets cited a Delphi Analytica poll of the 2018 Michigan Senate race showing Kid Rock winning, I spent weeks sifting through the survey’s data and trying to track down the people behind Delphi Analytica. The resulting article showed just how careful journalists need to be in citing pollsters they’ve never heard of.

Thanks for reading. I’ll see you all in 2018!

ANTI-MUSLIM GROUPS

“Groups like Frank Gaffney’s Center for Security Policy (CSP), which is being newly listed by the SPLC as a hate group, thrived in the wake of jihadist atrocities and counterattacks like that from Trump. In fact, Trump used a bogus “poll” from CSP to claim that a quarter of American Muslims support violent jihadists like the members of the Islamic State — a complete falsehood, according to several serious polls and studies. Like Trump, two other GOP presidential hopefuls, Ben Carson and Ted Cruz, spoke at one or more CSP “National Security Action Summits” last year. There was also a smattering of armed anti-Muslim protests at mosques in Phoenix and elsewhere that were staged by groups even more radical than CSP.

The country’s most influential anti-Muslim groups, CSP and ACT! for America, turned their attention about mid-year to opposing immigration by refugees from the Syrian civil war, drafting model statutes meant to ban the refugees at the county level. Some 30 state governors also said they would prohibit refugees.

After the San Bernardino attack in December, Muslim activists and others reported an enormous surge of anti-Muslim hate crimes, including shootings, mosque arsons, Koran desecrations, assaults and the bullying of schoolchildren. As the new year began, there was little evidence that the hatred was diminishing.”

---from the article The Year in Hate and Extremism by Mark Potok

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2021/01/12/gop-representatives-upton-meijer-support-censuring-trump/6648432002/?csp=chromepush