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Astroturf All the Way Down: The Dark Money Edition
Well, this little nugget got “buried on my desktop” for a couple of weeks but, since it still supports my not-at-all-hidden agenda here at the Lower Member Feed and should help some of my neighbors here see the world around them with a little more clarity, I think it is still worth documenting in a post. It was this quote on Instapundit that caught my eye:
“In May, a group called Accountable Tech, which calls itself a ‘small nonprofit taking on Big Tech companies,’ organized a corporate boycott to protest Elon Musk’s bid to buy Twitter. In the midwest, a group called Opportunity Wisconsin, which bills itself as a ‘coalition of Wisconsin residents,’ ran a deluge of TV ads slamming Republican senator Ron Johnson for his tax policies. And in Arizona, an organization of ‘grassroots racial justice’ activists called Just Democracy released a video blasting Democratic senator Kyrsten Sinema for failing to support the Biden administration’s legislative agenda.
“None of these groups actually exist. They are all registered trade names for the North Fund, a shape-shifting nonprofit group that uses aliases to push an array of left-wing causes from a shell office in Washington, D.C., according to corporate records.”
[Emphasis added]
It turns out that is the opening passage from this article:
The Shape-Shifting DC Dark Money Group Disguising Liberal Campaigns Across the Country
Worth reading in full but here are some teasers:
…the fund, which isn’t required to disclose the donors behind its $66 million budget, is gearing up to be one of the most consequential dark-money players of the midterm elections. …
…”If untraceable money is flooding the latest policy or legislative fight under the guise of grassroots activism, chances are, North Fund is behind it.” …
“[Organizations like the North Fund] disguise themselves in idealistic sounding group names while structuring their organizations in such a way that hides the true motivations and identity of their large donors.” …
… Despite its large budget and impact, the North Fund has almost no physical footprint. When the Free Beacon visited its office in downtown D.C.—a co-working rental space managed by the company Carr Workplaces—the front desk manager said the North Fund uses the address but doesn’t maintain a presence there. “I’m not sure where they’re actually located,” he said. …
Imagine for a moment if that shadow address just happened to be in a Trump property and supporting “Right-wing” causes. Would all of this “shape-shifting” and the connections of these Potemkin organizations be spelled out clearly in breathless reportage from sea to shining sea? Instead, silence. Really, think about it. But I digress.
As we sit here today in the middle of another major propaganda cycle it is important to see the game and how the masses are being manipulated. The groundwork was expertly laid in the last cycle with weeks of non-specific “We must help Ukraine” emotionalism. Once that foundation began to solidify that help came in the form of a $40 billion properly mixed slurry of aid and DC kickbacks…and to even question that grotesquely insulting amount was easily demagogued as Putin stoogery. (Note that, just five years ago, our extremely frugal House refused to provide a president actually chosen by We the People funding in the form of single-digit billions to protect our southern border. If you don’t see the difference in kickback potential as the critical difference here then you just are not paying attention.)
Today, the gun control groundwork is being prepared with more non-specific “we must do something” emotionalism. Don’t think for a moment that the shape-shifting network of dark money shell organizations (with their on-call rent-a-mob crews) isn’t already shifting into high gear. The Progressive propaganda machine is getting better at this and the masses are getting more conditioned to respond quicker and stronger to the call.
History tells us there is always at least one moron like Bob Corker in the crowd. I’m keeping my eye on a true Texas moron: John Cornyn.
Into the abyss…
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A PHILO PSA
Don’t miss yesterday’s outrage du jour: The Silence of the Intellectually Dishonest: The Logan Act Edition
Published in General
Astroturf only works when people – or politicians – take the media seriously. Stop doing it! No one in the past did. Almost no one in the rest of the world does. Just. Say. Nonsense.
Remember when, 20 years ago, the Pew Charitable Trusts and other liberal organizations astroturfed a fake groundswell of popular support for the McCain-Feingold campaign finance bill?
And in NYC, Arabella Advisors Shares an address (1441 Broadway Suite 2002) with Fidelity Charitable.
California
Arabella AdvisorsExcellence In GivingPacific Foundation ServicesRockefeller Philanthropy Advisors
Colorado
Excellence In Giving
District of Columbia
Arabella Advisors
Illinois
Arabella AdvisorsRockefeller Philanthropy AdvisorsStrategic Philanthropy, Ltd.
Maine
Dietel & Partners
Maryland
Excellence in Giving
Massachusetts
Excellence in GivingGMA FoundationsThe Philanthropic Initiative
Michigan
VENTURE3Philanthropy
New York
Arabella AdvisorsPhilanthropy AdvisorsRockefeller Philanthropy Advisors
Pennsylvania
Mindful Philanthropy
Texas
Excellence In Giving
Virginia
Dietel & Partners
Washington
Dietel & Partners
NOTICE: This Member post has been promoted to the Main Feed. Content may have been edited / corrected from the original without attribution by Ricochet.
(Somewhere along the line it seems we – or I – stopped getting notifications about promotions. For what it’s worth, that is/was an important feature to at least one of us.)
By the way, so much wrongness spews out almost every time this “interviewer” opens her mouth in this segment. A true narrative enabler:
“At least” one moron, but likely more: