FollowTheMoney.org, OpenSecrets.org

FollowTheMoney.org is a website dedicated to informing people about the amount of campaign contributions each politician has received.

OpenSecrets.org is similar, but also gives other information about such things as news, events, and personal wealth and net worth of each candidate or politician.

It is unclear how often the information is updated.  The information does not always match what we see in the news articles.

Below are the websites for both.  They are interesting to browse.

Update: Maplight.org is another good resource on money in politics.

(Updated)

http://maplight.org/

http://www.opensecrets.org/

http://www.followthemoney.org/

Homeless Person Donates To Church

An envelope with 18 cents inside was left as an offering at a Charlotte, North Carolina, church last Sunday, according to The Huffington Post.

Church members say they were deeply moved by the “powerful” gift.

“Please don’t be mad, I don’t have much,” someone wrote on the outside of the envelope, left in a collection plate at First United Methodist Church. “I’m homeless. God Bless.”

According to WCNC, the First United Methodist Church in uptown Charlotte is nestled between a homeless shelter in one direction [and] the big banks in the other.

Who Is Aaron Schock?

mccainisthroughX

Aaron Schock, a Republican U.S. Representative from the city of Peoria, Illinois, resigned recently after numerous scandals concerning his repeated illegal use of Taxpayer money.  Schock was known for office decor made to look like “Downton Abbey,” and he had reportedly spent tens of thousands of dollars on hotels and flights in the first three months of 2015, according to the Peoria Journal-Star. Schock made an announcement March 17th, 2015, that he would resign effective March 31st.

Also, it was reported that Aaron Schock made campaign contributions to “at-large” Peoria City Council members and others during the three-month period in which scandal surrounded him.  City Council members Chuck Weaver and Eric Turner received the largest campaign checks.

The Schock for Congress committee wrote a check to Weaver — the second-highest vote-getter in the at-large council races — on March 5 for $5,000.

Just days after Schock resigned, Weaver took steps with his campaign treasurer to isolate those funds until the query into the lawmaker had reached a conclusion.

Schock also had a $2,500 check cut on Feb. 19 to support Turner’s candidacy.

Schock also donated $2,000 apiece to the nascent re-election efforts of four female Republican members of Congress — Ann Wagner of Missouri, Mimi Walters of California, Renee Elmers of North Carolina, and Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming.

(Updated post)

Banks Consider Withholding Donations From All Democrats Because Of Outspoken Bank Critic Senator Warren

This is how it works.  Politicians need money to run a campaign to get elected to office.

If a politician doesn’t do what the big donors want, the donor will withhold campaign donations – not only from you, but from your colleagues as well.

According to Reuters, big Wall Street banks are so upset with U.S. Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren’s call for them to be broken up that some have discussed withholding campaign donations to Senate Democrats in “symbolic” protest, sources familiar with the discussions said.

That’s right – they didn’t say “withholding donations to Senator Warren.”

They said “withholding donations to Senate Democrats.”  People who may not even be connected to Senator Warren, but are simply in the same party.

It is a ruthless move – typical of American politics.

Representatives from Citigroup, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America, have met to discuss ways to urge Democrats, including Warren and Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, to soften their party’s tone toward Wall Street, sources familiar with the discussions said this week.

Are these the same Wall Street banks that made dangerous investments during the 2000’s, allowing people to take out mortgages, knowing that many would not be able to pay it back?

Reuters called it a “symbolic” move, because the amount of money banks can contribute directly to a Senator’s campaign is limited to $15,000.

However, Reuters ignored the fact that organizations can donate money to third-party organizations that then contribute to a campaign.

“Bank officials said the idea of withholding donations was not discussed at a meeting of the four banks in Washington but it has been raised in one-on-one conversations between representatives of some of them,” states Reuters.  They said there was no agreement on coordinating any action, and each bank is making its own decision.

Are these the same Wall Street that later asked for government bailouts?

More here

Iraq and Syria Attempt To Record And Save Art Before It Falls To ISIS

In the areas of Iraq and Syria controlled by the Islamic State, residents are recording on cellphones the damage done to antiquities by the extremist group ISIS.

At Baghdad’s recently reopened National Museum of Iraq, new iron bars protect galleries of ancient artifacts from the worst-case scenario.

These are just a couple of examples of the continuing efforts to guard the treasures of Iraq and Syria, two countries rich with artifacts created in the world’s earliest civilizations, according to The New York Times.

Yet only so much can be done under fire, and time is running out as the Islamic State moves forward with the systematic looting and destruction of antiquities.

Last week, officials said, the group ISIS (aka ISIL, Daesh) demolished parts of two of northern Iraq’s’s most prized ancient cities, Nimrud and Hatra, according to the New York Times.

Sunday, residents said militants destroyed parts of Dur Sharrukin, a 2,800-year-old Assyrian site near the village of Khorsabad.

Islamic State militants have called ancient art idolatry to be destroyed.  However, they also steal art and antiquities to sell for money.

Officials and experts who track the thefts through local informants and satellite imagery, according to the New York Times.

More here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/09/world/middleeast/race-in-iraq-and-syria-to-record-and-shield-art-falling-to-isis.html

The Clinton Global Initiative Accepts Donations From Foreign Nations

TYT Network

A Wall Street Journal review of donations to the Clinton Foundation in 2014 showed the charity received money from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Oman, as well as from Canada’s foreign affairs department, which is promoting the Keystone XL pipeline.

The foundation had agreed to stop raising money from foreign governments in 2009, after Mrs. Clinton became secretary of state. That step was in deference to Obama administration concerns about the propriety of taking money from other nations while Mrs. Clinton served as America’s top diplomat, according to WSJ.

Mrs. Clinton left the State Department in early 2013, and the foundation later dropped the ban.

Louisiana Man Given Life In Prison For Selling $20 Of Marijuana

Secular Talk

“On September 5, 2008, Fate Vincent Winslow watched a plainclothes stranger approach him. Homeless and hungry, on a dark street rife with crime, the 41-year-old African American was anxious to make contact, motivated by one singular need: food,” according to The Daily Beast.
(…)

“Police arrested Winslow, drove him to prison, and locked him up. Six months later, a jury found him guilty of distribution of a schedule I substance (marijuana). Three months after that, a judge sentenced him to life imprisonment with hard labor, without the benefit of parole,” according to The Daily Beast.

Winslow had a criminal record, and the prosecution sought the maximum punishment. “His prior convictions, all non-violent felonies, made him a candidate for the notorious mandatory minimum sentencing laws,” according to The Daily Beast.

Updated to change the title.

ALTIVIA Acquires Axiall’s Texas Chemical Plant

ALTIVIA today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement for a takeover of the Specialty Phosgene Derivatives business’ assets – including the chemical production facilities – from Axiall Corporation. The production facilities are in La Porte, Texas.

“As we refine our portfolio, we are pleased to reach an agreement with ALTIVIA, where we believe our phosgene business will be a better strategic fit,” said Atlanta-based Axiall President and CEO Paul Carrico in a statement, according to The Atlanta Business Chronicle.

As part of the acquisition, ALTIVIA will hire the 120 employees who operate the facility.

More:

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/prnewswire/DA41783.htm

Is A Montana State Representative Going The Wrong Way In Regards To Campaign Financing?

A Great Falls representative is proposing that candidates for the Montana Legislature be allowed to receive more money from political action committees.

Republican Rep. Steve Fitzpatrick introduced House Bill 502 in the House State Administration Committee Friday, according to the Great Falls Tribune. It would increase the amount that state Senate candidates can receive from PACs from $2,150 to $5,500, and the amount that House candidates can receive from $1,300 to $3,300.

Fitzpatrick said that politicians need more money to “reflect the increasing cost of running for office.”

“Campaigns are expensive, they cost a lot of money,” Fitzpatrick said. “Every time I have to return a PAC check, that just means it’s more pressure on me to go fundraise and ask people for more money.”

Mary Baker, the program supervisor for the commissioner of political practices, said a built-in inflation factor already adjusts the cap every year.

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/story/news/politics/2015/02/20/representative-proposes-higher-pac-contribution-limits/23740417/

Do You Need A Lot Of Money To Become President?

TYT Network

According to Politico, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush will raise money on Wall Street on Wednesday at an “eye-popping $100,000 per-ticket” Park Avenue event hosted by private equity mogul Henry Kravis and his wife.

Politico: “The price of admission to the event, which will raise funds for Bush’s “Right to Rise” super PAC, surprised even Wall Street veterans used to high-dollar fundraisers.”