Cain, H

<h1 class="title"></h1><div>biggest renta-tom? up there with trump HUD?</div><div>
</div><div>easy to forget he was frontrunner? metoo'd  Koch and mercer backing?</div><div>see marc block WI afp koch puppetmaster</div>the 3rd lost Koch bro
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_  DR ben carson survived b/c experimental/expensive antibody rxfighter/struggle rhet, "find god's strength"<p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.8; color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Cabin, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Herman Cain’s website has announced that the Republican activist and former Godfather’s Pizza CEO has <a href="https://hermancain.com/heartbroken-world-poorer-herman-cain-gone-lord/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 191, 165); transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">died from COVID-19</a> at the age of 74.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.8; color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Cabin, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Conservative Dan Calabrese posted, “Herman Cain — our boss, our friend, like a father to so many of us — has passed away. He’s entering the presence of the Savior he’s served as an associate minister at Antioch Baptist Church in Atlanta for, and preparing for his reward.<a href="https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20200706/former-gop-candidate-cain-hospitalized">https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20200706/former-gop-candidate-cain-hospitalized</a> Cain, a businessman and 2012 Republican presidential candidate, tested positive for the coronavirus and is being treated in an Atlanta-area hospital, Cain’s staff said in a <a href="https://twitter.com/THEHermanCain/status/1278735184893009921" data-metrics-link="" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition: color 150ms ease 0s; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent;">statement posted Thursday on Twitter</a>.The statement said Cain, 74, learned Monday that he’d tested positive and on Wednesday “had developed symptoms serious enough that he required hospitalization.” He was admitted to the hospital Wednesday and is resting comfortably, the statement said. He’s not on a respirator.“There is no way of knowing for sure how or where Mr. Cain contracted the coronavirus, but we do know he is a fighter who has beaten Stage 4 cancer,” the statement said. “With God’s help, we are confident he will make a quick and complete recovery.”Cain recently attended President Trump’s campaign rally in Tulsa and was pictured in a tweet from the event.<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/herman-cain-hospitalized-after-testing-postive-for-coronavirus" data-metrics-link="" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition: color 150ms ease 0s; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent;">According to Fox News</a>, Cain “successfully steered food chains like Burger King and Godfather’s Pizza to profitability” before running for the Republican nomination for the presidency in 2012.His campaign was derailed by allegations of sexual misconduct while he served as CEO of the National Restaurant Association in the late 1990s. He denied the accusations but dropped out of the race.Cain used to be the host of a political talk show on Atlanta radio station WSB, according to <a href="https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/atlanta/former-presidential-candidate-wsb-radio-host-herman-cain-hospitalized-atlanta-after-covid-19-diagnosis/BM4YCGRVWJGLHAQFJAIHX54S2Y/" data-metrics-link="" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition: color 150ms ease 0s; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent;">WSB-TV</a>. He is currently the host of The Herman Cain Show at HermainCain.com and Herman Cain's American on NewsmaxTV, WSB said.<div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">Header for Nigel Farage’s dozens of Breitbart essays (Source)]</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">
</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">WEREN’T THE FIRST TEA PARTIERS ANGRY AT THE BRITS..?</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">
</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">Bannon became interested in United Kingdom politics in the early 2010s, seeing it as fertile ground for ideological manipulation. He began making friends with far right bloggers and politicians, particularly those tied in with Nigel Farage’s United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP). A hard right party commonly disparaged as fascist, UKIP sought to restore what it saw as true conservatism. Bannon was greatly invested in the USA Tea Party ‘movement’ at the time, as evidenced by his movie productions and speaking engagements, so he viewed UKIP as a natural comrade in arms.</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">
</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">UKIP had been stagnating as a political force while known as a single platform party, focused almost entirely on immigration crackdown and demand for UK’s exit from the European Union. Co-founder Farage had returned to lead the party for a 2nd time in November 2010 — later in the same week as the first Tea Party Republicans were elected in the US midterms — after failing in his bid to become House of Commons Speaker earlier that year, and began to incorporate a wider variety of populist messaging with a focus on local elections to increase growth.</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">
</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">Soon after Bannon took over Breitbart in the summer of 2012, he brought Farage to the USA for a grand tour of New York and Washington, D.C. During this trip, Bannon introduced Farage to a number of movers & shakers, including the staff of Jeff Sessions, the then-senator from Alabama who is now US Attorney General. This was certainly not the first connection between UK eurosceptics and US nativists, however.</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">
</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">Throughout the previous year, a UK political activist ‘pressure group’ called Atlantic Bridge was garnering a lot of press for all the wrong reasons. Fronted by then-Defence Secretary Liam Fox, after being founded in 1997 by Fox and Reagan BFF/ex-UK-PM Margaret Thatcher, its stated goal was to protect the 80's holdover concept of the US & UK’s military and cultural ‘special relationship’ from “the European integrationists who would like to pull Britain away from its relationship with the United States.”</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">
</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">Louise Mensch (#TrumpRussia false idol, Tory ex-MP, and current News Corp employee) defending Liam Fox and a Brexit]</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">
</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">Atlantic Bridge fell into the sea in late 2011, after extensive investigations found Fox had been implementing a “shadow foreign policy” by internationally courting a variety of corporate lobbyists and military contractors via the dark money donated to Bridge as a falsely-labeled charity. Fox then resigned his Cabinet position, taking a few others down with him.</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">
</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">One of those affected was yet another powerful hedge fund manager, ex-Goldman Sachs trader, climate-change denier & funder, and longtime Tory/Conservative donor named Michael Hintze who provided the majority of those donations and lent his private jet to Fox for schmoozy jaunts to meet with D.C. defence contractors. With a strong interest in geopolitical wargames, a habit of supporting Defence Secretaries, and a predilection for hiring senior military officials at his powerful firm Convertible & Quantitative Strategies, it’s small wonder Hintze sought to establish a Western security superhighway before the Bridge collapsed.</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">
</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">Back in 2007, however, Atlantic Bridge was still in its prime, and it gained even more power when a giant among US political activist groups began an official partnership with it. The American Legislative Exchange Council — better known as ALEC — set up a stateside nonprofit called the Atlantic Bridge Project, in order to “foster positive relationships between conservatives on both sides of the Atlantic, so they may further the ideals exemplified by Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher.”</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">
</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">Atlantic Bridge’s Liam Fox thanking ALEC 2008]</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">
</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">ALEC’s decades-old modus operandi is to write complete versions of new legislation, which invariably benefits only its powerful corporate members, to be passed off to complicit politicians and introduced in Congress as original products. An official ALEC newsletter from Dec 2007 bragged of the Bridge Project’s new plans to enact “a series of events aimed at conservative leaders from the field of politics, media, business, and academia — exposing them to innovative conservative thinking from the U.S. and Great Britain and helping them forge new transatlantic relationships.”</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">
</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">Catherine Bray is pictured in the newsletter as the Director of International Relations for Atlantic Bridge; she had previously worked for prominent UKIP member & climate change denier Roger Helmer and subsequently worked for Tory Daniel Hannan, “the man who brought you Brexit.” In 2015, Bray married Wells Griffith, who became the battleground states director for Trump’s presidential campaign.</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">
</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">Managing the D.C. operations for the Project was Gordon Cohen Strategies LLC, co-founded by Lee Cohen, Atlantic Bridge’s Washington DC Director, and J.D. Gordon, a retired Pentagon spokesman and well-traveled defense lobbyist. Lee Cohen is now an ardent Trump supporter, publishing an IJR essay in November 2016 predicting Trump and new UK PM Theresa May will be the new Reagan & Thatcher.</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">
</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">Within a few days of Liam Fox’s 2011 resignation, J.D. Gordon took a job as communications director for Herman Cain’s 2012 presidential campaign, in which Tea Partier Cain promised to reduce corporate taxes and install the Shell Oil CEO as head of the EPA. Cain began briefly leading Obama in the polls at that time and was the most reported-on GOP candidate in 2011, but quit the race less than 2 months later after sexual misconduct charges arose.</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">
</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">Gordon was slightly controversial when he originally joined up as one of Cain’s foreign policy advisers, as he had recently left a fellowship position at the Washington-based Center for Security Policy, a far-right think tank (or perhaps hate group) devoted to advancing founder and former Reagan official Frank Gaffney’s pet cause of extreme Islamophobia. Cain’s campaign also absorbed the staff of Gordon’s own embryonic thinktank, the Center for Security and Democracy, which included a former Heritage Foundation manager.</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">
</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">J.D. Gordon is most recently known for his work as a key foreign policy adviser to Cain clone Donald Trump, who counted Herman among his early campaign rally speakers/surrogates, and about whom Gordon wrote a pro-Trump Breitbart article in April 2016. Gordon was also Jeff Sessions’ deputy, allegedly traveled to Budapest six times during the campaign, participated in the infamous July 2016 Republican National Convention meeting — hosted by the Heritage Foundation — involving co-adviser Carter Page and Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak, and is said to have previously recommended that Page embark on his Congressionally-investigated trip to Moscow. Gordon also claims he personally asked to water down the RNC platform with noncommittal language omitting lethal weapons support for Ukraine, and that Trump directly ordered him to do so.</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">
</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">(L to R) Lee, Johnson, Toomey, DeMint, Rubio]</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">
</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">Atlantic Bridge’s leading light in the US Congress was South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint, then frequently cited as one of the farthest-right sitting Senators. An ardent tax reformer, Family member, and anti-immigration crusader, he was on board with the Tea Party from its inception in early 2009, setting the stage with the establishment of his Senate Conservatives Fund PAC in 2008. The Fund attacked Republicans for being too ‘moderate’ and then gave millions to the successful 2010 Senate campaigns of such first-time Tea Party candidates as Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Ron Johnson, Mike Lee, and Pat Toomey. Also in 2010, DeMint introduced the first bill intended to repeal the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare.</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">
</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">Senator DeMint followed up that legislation a few months later with his first published article/op-ed on Breitbart News, dated 6 May 2010. Breitbart repeatedly showered him with glowing coverage, so he went on to publish another article there on 27 Jul 2012, in which he endorsed Tea Party candidate Ted Cruz for Senate and lauded the aforementioned Club for Growth’s monetary “air and ground support” for Cruz’s campaign.</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">
</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">A large chunk of the money for that tactical assault was provided by Robert Mercer, with other miniature morsels of Mercer Money going to DeMint, Toomey, and Rubio at various times. Unsurprisingly, Club for Growth rated Paul, Johnson, Lee and DeMint as 4 of the only 5 Senators to vote ‘correctly’ 100% of the time, with Lee and Demint tying for the Heritage Foundation’s top honor at 99% approval.</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">
</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">“Breitbart Embassy” in DC, 2012 (Source)]</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">
</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">DeMint resigned from the Senate less than two months after the 2012 election in order to become president of Heritage — a thinktank which shares an enormous number of historical, practical, and membership commonalities with ALEC — by which time Atlantic Bridge had been dead [in the UK] for over a year. Even so, it’s easy to imagine DeMint, Liam Fox, J.D. Gordon, and/or any of the other Atlantic Bridge ambassadors still managed to make their way to any one of the legendary parties thrown at the “Breitbart Embassy”, a four-story townhouse rented (?) by Breitbart near the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C.</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">
</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">As for the gregarious and cigar-chomping heavy drinker Nigel Farage, we don’t have to imagine anything. He was treated as the guest of honor at a Breitbart Embassy dinner & cocktail party in September 2014, where the stars of the new right rubbed shoulders with journalists from across the media spectrum. Other guests that night included LifeZette’s Laura Ingraham, a reporter from Rolling Stone, Jeff Sessions, and Sessions’ then-top aide Stephen Miller.</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">
</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">Steve Bannon had been partially living at the Embassy since at least 2011, when Breitbart staff and writers were first encouraged to work & sleep there, though it was initially expected to serve as a means to rub shoulders with the movers & shakers of the DC political elite. “Andrew [Breitbart] said that if you didn’t have a place within spitting distance of the Capitol, no one would come,” Bannon told The Washington Post at an Embassy blowout schmooze-and-boozefest CPAC rager in 2014. “He loved to throw big parties.”</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">
</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">But regardless of the precise circumstances by which Bannon became enmeshed with the UK’s conservative elite prior to mid-2012, engrossing as the detailed story may be, his friendship with UKIP & Brexit’s Farage tells us all we need to know. As such, we should be unsurprised to learn it was allegedly Steve Bannon who urged the Mercers to invest US$15m in big data research funds with the British defence contractor SCL Group.</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">
</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">PSYOPS GOES MAINSTREAM</div><div class="header-list-style" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h2 class="entry-title grid-title" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" px="px"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/04/herman-cain-withdraws-name-from-consideration-for-fed-board-according-to-donald-trump/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; letter-spacing: 0px;">Cain withdraws name from consideration for Fed board, according to Donald Trump</a></h2><div class="grid-post-box-meta" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 12px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/elizabeth-preza/" title="Posts by Elizabeth Preza" class="author url fn" rel="author" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Elizabeth Preza</a>, <a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/david-badash/" title="Posts by David Badash" class="author url fn" rel="author" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">David Badash</a> / <a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/the-new-civil-rights-movement/" title="Posts by The New Civil Rights Movement" class="author url fn" rel="author" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">The New Civil Rights Movement</a>April 22, 2019</div></div><div class="item-content entry-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 18px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">President Donald Trump has just announced that his “friend,” Herman Cain, has asked to not be nominated to the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors. Trump had stated he would ...</div><h1 style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; line-height: 1.1; padding: 5px 15px 0px; border: none;"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2019/04/11/trump-fed-pick-herman-cain-sent-scammy-sponsored-emails-promoting-gold-companies/223416" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none;">Trump Fed pick Herman Cain sent scammy sponsored emails promoting gold companies</a></h1><div>
</div><div><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2019/04/11/trump-fed-pick-herman-cain-sent-scammy-sponsored-emails-promoting-gold-companies/223416">https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2019/04/11/trump-fed-pick-herman-cain-sent-scammy-sponsored-emails-promoting-gold-companies/223416</a></div><div>
</div><div>Right-wing commentator Herman Cain previously sent sponsored emails touting the alleged benefits of investing in precious metals, including a message from a gold company which claimed that a return to the gold standard “could provide the biggest wealth building event of our lifetime.” Cain is President Donald Trump’s pick for a seat on the Federal Reserve Board, which <a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy.htm" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">helps set</a> the country’s monetary policy.Cain was previously <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2011/10/herman-cains-fed-years-what-did-he-actually-do.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">the chair</a> of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City and a Republican presidential candidate. He <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2011-dec-03-la-pn-cain-announcement-20111203-story.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">dropped out</a> of the race in December 2011 after several women reported him for sexual misconduct. The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/she-was-vilified-for-accusing-herman-cain-of-sexual-harassment-eight-years-later-she-has-no-regrets/2019/04/10/c637df14-57c6-11e9-9136-f8e636f1f6df_story.html?utm_term=.0691b9c1d176" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">reported</a> that one of those women, Sharon Bialek, has said she is “willing to testify before the Senate Banking Committee if called upon. And she said Cain’s past behavior with women, including three others who have accused him of sexual harassment, should disqualify him from the Fed post.”His <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/herman-cain-and-stephen-moore-follow-trumps-lazy-conspiracy-theorizing/2019/04/08/63a64ffc-5a3c-11e9-a00e-050dc7b82693_story.html?utm_term=.5fc842b2026b" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">financial</a> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/09/opinion/federal-reserve-fed-economy-trump.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">opinions</a> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/08/opinion/fed-herman-cain-stephen-moore.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">have</a> <a href="https://www.ajc.com/business/herman-cain-possible-federal-reserve-job-comes-under-fire/5VZNys5dinO93xwMxVl2sM/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">also</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/herman-cain-trump-federal-reserve-nomination-trouble-2019-4" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">come</a> <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trumps-recommendation-of-herman-cain-is-utterly-reckless/2019/04/06/9ceb30d8-57c2-11e9-8ef3-fbd41a2ce4d5_story.html?utm_term=.ec9b596f7ccf" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">under</a> <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/herman-cain-has-baggage-and-some-quack-tastic-views/2019/04/04/f31a8e6e-5717-11e9-814f-e2f46684196e_story.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">scrutiny</a>. Washington Post reporter Matt O’Brien recently <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2019/04/10/herman-cain-is-joke-that-fed-cant-afford/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.1abc2989c737" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">wrote</a> that “Cain spent the Obama years advocating for a return to the gold standard” -- which <a href="http://mentalfloss.com/article/12715/why-did-us-abandon-gold-standard" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">ties</a> currency to the value of gold -- and explained why adopting such a policy would be problematic. He added that “literally every top economist in the University of Chicago Business School’s poll of them would tell you that the gold standard is a bad idea.”Cain has used his email list to send paid advertisements which push gold and the gold standard. He sent a <a href="https://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/uploader/image/2019/04/10/caingold2018.png" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">sponsored email</a> on December 24 for the precious metals company Advantage Gold. The email, which was written by Advantage Gold Managing Director Kirill Zagalsky, claimed that House Resolution 5404, which is <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/5404/text" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">titled</a> “To define the dollar as a fixed weight of gold” (also known as the gold standard), “could provide the biggest wealth building event of our lifetime” and “could double or even triple your retirement.” (The bill had <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/5404/cosponsors" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">no cosponsors</a> and <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/5404/actions" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">did not pass</a> in the now-concluded 115th Congress.) Here’s an excerpt from the email:<img alt="" height="594" src="https://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/uploader/image/2019/04/11/caingold2018emailexcerpt.png" width="645" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; vertical-align: middle; max-width: 645px; margin: 0px auto; display: block;" />Clicking on the link in the email leads the readers to a <a href="http://offers.advantagegold.com/jim-rickards-secret-chapter-1/?utm_medium=DedEmail&utm_campaign=JimRickards&utm_source=ASG&utm_broker=&utm_pub=ASG&utm_size=0&utm_term=102862aa317827d04e7444a7c1e480" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">form requesting</a> that they enter their name, email address, and telephone number so they can receive a “secret” book chapter regarding gold.In 2015, Cain similarly sent a <a href="https://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/uploader/image/2019/04/10/caingold2015.png" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">sponsored email</a> touting the supposed benefits of investing in gold and silver. The email, which was <a href="http://goldcoira.com/landing/2015/ct/ct-06-04-15.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">written</a> by precious metals company Goldco, carried the subject line: “Your IRA or 401K Is Now Worthless.” It then claimed: “Just a few months ago, governments and central banks from all over the world met at the G20 Summit to decide the fate of your savings account should the worlds banks crash. Their decision? Your savings account is up for grabs. … But by using 1 simple & legal IRS Loophole you can protect your retirement dollars by adding physical assets like gold & silver to your retirement account.”<img alt="" height="964" src="https://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/uploader/image/2019/04/10/caingold2015excerpt.png" width="645" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; vertical-align: middle; max-width: 645px; margin: 0px auto; display: block;" />Media Matters has documented Cain’s other email grifts in light of his potential seating on the Federal Reserve Board:<ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 5px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2019/04/10/trump-fed-pick-herman-cain-promoted-anti-vaxxer-and-medical-conspiracy-theories-through-email-list/223382" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-weight: bold !important;">Cain promoted anti-vaxxer and medical conspiracy theories through email list</a></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 5px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2019/04/05/herman-cain-promoted-numerous-now-virtually-worthless-penny-stocks-through-his-mailing-list/223354" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-weight: bold !important;">Cain promoted numerous now-virtually-worthless penny stocks through his mailing list</a></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 5px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2019/01/31/potential-federal-reserve-board-member-herman-cain-frequently-promoted-scammy-financial-emails/222717" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-weight: bold !important;">Cain frequently promoted scammy financial emails</a></li></ul></div><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2019/04/05/herman-cain-promoted-numerous-now-virtually-worthless-penny-stocks-through-his-mailing-list/223354" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; font-weight: bold !important;">Herman Cain promoted numerous now-virtually-worthless penny stocks through his mailing list </a>omgCain is being floated for a Federal Reserve seat. Cain <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=4ff937ca7e82d592c4a302e10cebe940da79cd6c88a49f97afd1db31afcf12cb4eae6c259b6022ff6d3e404018cb0375cdc950ef8bdf5db3" title="Potential Federal Reserve board member Herman Cain frequently promoted scammy financial emails" style="" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">frequently promoted</a> scams to his email list, <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=4ff937ca7e82d5926d082d59b992ae258ec280e9164acc99806c33942a45752054d5b07a36944b282d459d3f6aa02bbcf0eaf0d47a528488" title="Republican figures and clickbait websites have been promoting an anti-Islam fake news company on Facebook" style="" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">is part of </a>a bigoted far-right network on Facebook, and of course suspended his campaign for president in 2012 when <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=4ff937ca7e82d592733c16c0c77083971d962886270c9264487d23855cbe47f408bb60d9390c233705b67227a21d7376210df63ff57b2f7d" title="Conservatives Respond To Cain Accusations By Dismissing Sexual Harassment As " meaningless="Meaningless" style="" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">multiple women came forward</a> to detail sexual harassment by him.<div></div><div>ref</div><div><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2018/04/17/republican-figures-and-clickbait-websites-have-been-promoting-anti-islam-fake-news-company-facebook/219960">https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2018/04/17/republican-figures-and-clickbait-websites-have-been-promoting-anti-islam-fake-news-company-facebook/219960</a></div><div>
</div><div>Media Matters study found that Facebook pages of some mainstream conservative media outlets, Republican media figures, and even apolitical clickbait sites are part of promotional campaigns involving websites with a history of promoting anti-Islam fake news and conspiracy theories.Liftable Media owns three sites that have pushed anti-Islam pieces: Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal, both right-wing propaganda sites, and it’s inspiration content site Liftable.com. Media Matters tracked links from Facebook to one of the sites, Conservative Tribune, and found 74 pages posting URLs with codes indicating that the links were part of a promotional campaign seemingly coordinated with Liftable Media. They included pages for former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Fox News contributor Herman Cain, former Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, and conservative commentator Dick Morris, among others.Fifteen of the pages that posted the links were verified with blue or gray badges, meaning Facebook has verified that the page is “the authentic Page or profile for this public figure, media company or brand” (blue) or that it is “an authentic Page for this business or organization” (gray).<h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 2px; clear: both; border-bottom: 1px dotted rgb(0, 153, 255); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Liftable Media’s websites have promoted anti-Islam fake news and conspiracy theories.</h2>Three of Liftable Media’s websites have spun anti-Islam conspiracy theories.Liftable.com, which <a href="https://liftablemedia.com/brands/liftable/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Liftable Media describes</a> as a site for “uplifting and inspiring stories,” has posted articles <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20180416194913/https:/www.liftable.com/stephani-scruggs/islam-terrorist-attacks/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">vilifying</a> Islam as a violent religion. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180416194837/https:/www.liftable.com/stephani-scruggs/interview-french-father-son-going-viral/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">One article</a> on the site claimed that “Islam has been on a bloody rampage to conquer, convert or kill the world since 620 A.D.” <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20180416194852/https:/www.liftable.com/stephani-scruggs/saudi-woman-jail-husband-sharia-law/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Another said</a> that the Quran “orders every follower to conduct their lives with violence and brutality, butchering all who refuse to convert and comply.”Another Liftable Media site, The Western Journal, has attacked Muslim immigrants and Islam with articles labeled as “commentary.” The smears in these articles focus on “warning” readers that <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180416194937/https:/www.westernjournal.com/know-neighbors-live-next-jamaat-ul-fuqra-camp/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">an influx of Muslim immigrants</a> in <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180416195120/https:/www.westernjournal.com/22-islamic-terrorist-camps-us/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">the U.S.</a> and Europe <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20180105000820/https:/www.westernjournal.com/muslim-indoctrination-of-school-children-spreads-across-europe-and-united-states/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">will lead</a> to <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180416195214/https:/www.westernjournal.com/grim-warming-dangers-sharia-man-sees-coming-america/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">violent</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180416195257/https:/www.westernjournal.com/florida-democrats-just-voted-impose-sharia-law-women/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">culture</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180416195314/https:/www.westernjournal.com/why-are-we-catering-to-islam/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">clashes</a> and <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161119021350/http:/www.westernjournalism.com/china-makes-major-moves-to-ban-islam/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">supporting bans</a> against <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180416195330/https:/www.westernjournal.com/french-decide-theyve-enough-muslim-illegal-aliens-move-kick/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Muslim immigrants</a> as a solution.<img alt="" height="178" src="https://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/uploader/image/2018/04/16/WJ--Muslim_Indoctrination_of_School_Children.png" width="600" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; vertical-align: middle; max-width: 645px; margin: 0px auto; display: block;" /><img alt="" height="118" src="https://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/uploader/image/2018/04/16/WJ--Why_are_we_catering_to_islam.png" width="600" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; vertical-align: middle; max-width: 645px; margin: 0px auto; display: block;" /><img alt="" height="147" src="https://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/uploader/image/2018/04/16/WJ--Florida_Democrats_Just_Voted_to_Impose_Sharia_Law.png" width="600" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; vertical-align: middle; max-width: 645px; margin: 0px auto; display: block;" />The third Liftable Media site, Conservative Tribune, has the most extensive history of spreading viral fake news against Muslims. A review of data from Crowdtangle shows that the site’s anti-Islam content has generated over 1.5 million Facebook impressions. The site has <a href="https://www.snopes.com/dearborn-ramadan-curfew/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">falsely</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161118085850/http:/conservativetribune.com/shariah-law-shocking-us-state/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">claimed</a> that <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161118064342/http:/conservativetribune.com/video-shariah-law-arrests-christians/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Sharia</a> was <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170218190606/http:/conservativetribune.com/muslim-police-chief-dearborn/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">being</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161117153342/http:/conservativetribune.com/city-implementing-sharia-law/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">implemented</a> in <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161119043424/http:/conservativetribune.com/islam-expert-warns-sharia-law-should-be-banned/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Dearborn, MI,</a> and it pushed similar <a href="https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/allah39s-cowboys/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">fake news</a> claiming that Muslims were <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161130160546/http:/conservativetribune.com:80/muslim-brotherhood-demand/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">attempting</a> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20180327071309/https:/conservativetribune.com/muslims-attack-texas-mayor/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">to</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161207123444/http:/conservativetribune.com:80/texas-mayor-shariah-court/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">establish</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161207123429/http:/conservativetribune.com:80/shariah-court-texas/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">a Sharia court</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161207123450/http:/conservativetribune.com:80/texas-town-shariah-court/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">in</a> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20170331104331/http:/conservativetribune.com/muslims-shariah-law-courts/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Irving, TX</a>. Conservative Tribune also <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20161118171556/http:/conservativetribune.com/armed-texans-surrounded/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">showed support</a> for Irving residents who deployed intimidation tactics against Muslim residents, including people armed with AR-15s who <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180416195509/https:/conservativetribune.com/citizens-surround-texas-mosque/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">protested</a> outside a local mosque and <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180416195528/https:/conservativetribune.com/protesters-with-ar-15s-mosque/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">released</a> the names of Muslims living in the area.<img alt="" height="173" src="https://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/uploader/image/2018/04/16/CT--Citizens_with_AR-15s_Surround_Texas_Mosque.png" width="600" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; vertical-align: middle; max-width: 645px; margin: 0px auto; display: block;" /><img alt="" height="193" src="https://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/uploader/image/2018/04/16/CT--Armed_Texans_Who_Surrounded_Mosque_Make_Next_Move.png" width="600" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; vertical-align: middle; max-width: 645px; margin: 0px auto; display: block;" />For over a year, Conservative Tribune also pushed viral <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150923171620/http:/www.dallasnews.com/news/community-news/northwest-dallas-county/headlines/20150922-craze-over-teen-clockmaker-from-irving-shifts-from-celebrity-to-conspiracy.ece" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">debunked</a> conspiracy theories about Ahmed Mohamed, a 14-year-old student from Irving who was arrested after bringing a clock to school. In multiple articles, Conservative Tribune suggested that Mohamed was a <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180416195557/https:/conservativetribune.com/ahmed-clockboy-mohamed/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">“pawn”</a> in an <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180416195619/https:/conservativetribune.com/bomb-clock-kids-sister/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">orchestrated</a> stunt <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180416195738/https:/conservativetribune.com/new-info-clock-kid-family/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">that</a> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20161118193711/http:/conservativetribune.com/the-shocking-truth-bomb-clock/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">his father</a><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20180416195738/https:/conservativetribune.com/new-info-clock-kid-family/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">staged</a> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20161118171757/http:/conservativetribune.com/megyn-kelly-terrifying-truth/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">in order to make</a> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20170529200124/http:/conservativetribune.com:80/muslim-valedictorian-at-school/?" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">“fake” accusations of “Islamophobia.”</a>The site characterized Mohamed as a <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20161118144024/http:/conservativetribune.com/texas-mayor-takes-stand/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">“punk kid,”</a> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20170529200124/http:/conservativetribune.com:80/muslim-valedictorian-at-school/?" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">“liar,”</a> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20161118151438/http:/conservativetribune.com/obamas-clock-kid-just-went/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">“con artist,”</a> “<a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20180416200023/https:/conservativetribune.com/secret-things-ahmed-did/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">petty miscreant,”</a> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20170531085653/http:/conservativetribune.com:80/clock-boy-massive-admission/?" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">“another Benedict Arnold,”</a> and possible <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20161118151438/http:/conservativetribune.com/obamas-clock-kid-just-went/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">“Islamist.”</a>Conservative Tribune baselessly suggested that Mohamed was involved with terrorists. One article <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20161118174328/http:/conservativetribune.com/massive-terror-discovery/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">suggested</a>a potential connection between Mohamed and a mosque he “grew up near” in Dallas, which Conservative Tribune claimed faced allegations of terrorist financing. Another <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180416200202/https:/conservativetribune.com/bomb-clock-boy-announcement/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">implied</a> it was suspicious that “innocent” Mohammed was invited to visit Qatar by “an organization with strong ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.” Yet another <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180416200220/https:/conservativetribune.com/al-qaeda-bomb-clock/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">said</a>: “If you’re a terrorist, what better role model than Ahmed ‘Bomb Clock Boy’ Mohamed?”After Mohamed’s family filed a civil suit against the city and school district, Conservative Tribune <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20170531085653/http:/conservativetribune.com:80/clock-boy-massive-admission/?" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">attacked</a>Mohamed for “stabb[ing] his school, his town and his country in the back.”<img alt="" height="176" src="https://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/uploader/image/2018/04/16/CT--Man_Blows_Bomb-Clock_Story_Open.png" width="600" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; vertical-align: middle; max-width: 645px; margin: 0px auto; display: block;" /><img alt="" height="149" src="https://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/uploader/image/2018/04/16/CT--7-year-old_white_boy_reveals.png" width="600" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; vertical-align: middle; max-width: 645px; margin: 0px auto; display: block;" /><img alt="" height="175" src="https://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/uploader/image/2018/04/16/CT--Al_Qaeda_Drops_Bombshell_Revelation_About_Bomb_Clock_Boy.png" width="600" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; vertical-align: middle; max-width: 645px; margin: 0px auto; display: block;" />Recently, Conservative Tribune <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180416200251/https:/conservativetribune.com/sheriff-israel-terror-group/?ff_source=Email" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">attacked</a> Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel, saying he “cozied up to [a] terror group” just because Israel hired a member of the civil rights advocacy group Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). Conservative Tribune has an extensive history of <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161119023045/http:/conservativetribune.com/mayors-response-after-muslims-sent-him-koran/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">smearing</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161118031925/http:/conservativetribune.com/1-word-cair-trying-to-ban/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">CAIR</a> and <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161117160758/http:/conservativetribune.com/muslim-brotherhood-us-party/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">falsely</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161119021935/http:/conservativetribune.com/country-labeled-cair-terrorist/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">claiming</a> it is a <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161119023139/http:/conservativetribune.com/cair-fox-news-target-list/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">terrorist</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161117023712/http:/conservativetribune.com/front-group-targets-general/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">group</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161119035241/http:/conservativetribune.com/fox-news-radical-muslims-terrorist/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">involved</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161118065133/http:/conservativetribune.com/parents-outraged-over-islamic-school-lesson/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">with</a> Islamic <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180416200346/https:/conservativetribune.com/calif-public-school-caught-working-islamic-terror-front-group/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=newsletter-CT&utm_campaign=dailypm&utm_content=conservative-tribune" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">indoctrination</a> and <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161117023305/http:/conservativetribune.com/retail-chain-shariah-law/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">efforts</a> to <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161118024721/http:/conservativetribune.com/16-states-shariah/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">impose</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170218190606/http:/conservativetribune.com/muslim-police-chief-dearborn/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Sharia</a>.<img alt="" height="98" src="https://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/uploader/image/2018/04/16/CT--CAIR's_sickening_Plan_to_implement_shariah_law.png" width="600" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; vertical-align: middle; max-width: 645px; margin: 0px auto; display: block;" /><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 2px; clear: both; border-bottom: 1px dotted rgb(0, 153, 255); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Liftable Media has been expanding its presence in conservative media.</h2>Liftable Media is owned by Patrick Brown, whose father, Floyd Brown, founded WesternJournalism.com. Floyd Brown is a Republican consultant with a <a href="https://theintercept.com/2016/11/26/laura-ingraham-lifezette/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">history</a> of promoting racist conspiracy theories <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/willie-horton-20-political-ad-man-floyd-brown-aims-to-sink-obama-campaign/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">through political ads</a>. <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/2016/12/16/floyd-brown-maestro-media-manipulation-528591.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">According to Newsweek</a>, Patrick runs <a href="https://liftablemedia.com/#section-2" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Liftable Media’s four main websites</a>, Conservative Tribune, The Western Journal (<a href="https://liftablemedia.com/2017/11/02/western-journalism-re-brands-western-journal/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">formerly known as Western Journalism</a>), <a href="https://www.liftable.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Liftable.com</a>, and the sports news site <a href="https://www.thewildcard.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">The Wildcard</a>, and Floyd, who is chairman of Liftable Media’s board of directors, helps provide funding for the company. Before starting Liftable Media <a href="https://liftablemedia.com/about/our-story/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">in 2014</a>, Patrick worked for an organization his faither chairs, The Western Center for Journalism (WCJ). Patrick is <a href="https://www.wcjournalism.org/about" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">listed on WCJ’s site</a> as a “trainer,” as are far-right figures James O’Keefe and Joseph Farah of WorldNetDaily.Liftable Media has acquired various other hyperpartisan sites, including the now-inactive <a href="https://www.redstate.com/diary/southernconstitutionalist/2016/03/15/mike-huckabee-herman-cain-sell-out-to-clickbait-factory-liftable-media-inc./" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Tea Party News Network</a> and <a href="http://www.insideradio.com/free/liftable-acquires-usa-radio-networks/article_622334a4-70fe-11e5-9f54-ab0eb5c86229.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">USA Radio Networks</a> (Floyd is the latter’s <a href="http://www.insideradio.com/free/usa-radio-net-gets-m-investment-from-marketing-co/article_af656330-310b-11e7-9fb7-9f57c80ff9f6.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">current CEO</a>). Most recently, Liftable Media acquired <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170120070747/http:/libertyalliance.com/about-us/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Liberty Alliance</a>, a media company that ran a membership network of conservative and fake news sites. In a press release on the acquisition, Liftable Media <a href="https://liftablemedia.com/2017/05/12/liftable-media-announces-acquisition-of-liberty-alliance/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">stated</a> that Liberty Alliance would “expand Liftable Media’s reach by an additional 2 million Facebook followers.”<h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 2px; clear: both; border-bottom: 1px dotted rgb(0, 153, 255); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">There are at least 74 Facebook pages that have shared Conservative Tribune links using UTM codes between January 2018 and April 2018.</h2>UTM codes are <a href="https://www.launchdigitalmarketing.com/what-are-utm-codes/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">parameters</a> that can be added to a URL in order to track web traffic from a specific source on Google Analytics without changing the destination of the URL. There are four types of parameters (source, medium, content, and campaign), and labels for each parameter are customizable and trackable by whoever is running a website domain. The tool is used by companies to track the source of traffic to a specific page on their site (Facebook, Twitter, email newsletters, et cetera).A Media Matters study of Conservative Tribune’s Facebook traction between January 2018 and April 2018 found 74 pages posting links to conservativetribune.com that used UTM codes that included the name of the page or company behind it -- indicating someone was tracking the traffic from that page/company. Of the 74, seven pages had over 2 million page likes; 11 had between 1 and 2 million page likes; and an additional 12 had over 500,000 page likes. Thirty-eight of these pages seemed to be operated by Liftable Media, based on the UTM parameters used and the pages’ “About” sections. Many of the other 36 pages seemed to be separately operated by a combination of marketing companies, clickbait sites, and the personal pages of Republican figures including former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Fox News contributor Herman Cain, former Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, and conservative commentator Dick Morris.These are the Facebook pages sharing Conservative Tribune links with UTM codes:<a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheTeaParty.net" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">The Tea Party</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/liftable" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Liftable </a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/theconservativetribune/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Conservative Tribune</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/WesternJournal" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">The Western Journal</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/OfficialRightWingNews" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Right Wing News</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/mikehuckabee/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Mike Huckabee</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/blackwellohio" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Ken Blackwell</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/GovJanBrewer/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Governor Jan Brewer</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/THEHermanCain" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Herman Cain</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/familyresearchcouncil" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Family Research Council</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Deep6TheDeepState" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Deep 6 The Deep State with Dick Morris</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/dickmorriscom" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Dick Morris</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/positivelyrepublican/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Positively Republican</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/reviveamerica" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Revive America </a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/faithfamilyamerica" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Faith Family America </a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TeaPartyNewsNetwork/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">TPNN</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/rightalerts" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">RightAlerts.com</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/conservative50plus" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Conservative 50 - Living the American Dream</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/patriottribune/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Patriot Tribune </a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/conservativebyte" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">ConservativeByte</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/patriotdepot/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Patriot Depot</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/patriottimesusa" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Patriot Times</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/679497808848579" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Never Hillary</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TedCruzIsTheMan" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Ted Cruz Is The Man</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/conservativealliancepage/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Conservative Alliance</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/RightAlertsPolls" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Right Alert Polls</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/trumptruck" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Trump Truck</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/PetitionsToCongress" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Petitions to Congress</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/PollsToCongress" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Polls to Congress</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/patriotupdate" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Patriot Update</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TeamDonaldJTrump/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Team Trump</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Latinonewstoday/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Latino News Today</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/771352126367172" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Team Tebow</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/FamilyFirstLiftable" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Family First by Liftable</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/1133342396680381" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Ben Carson is the Man</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/DonaldTrumpIsTheMan/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Donald Trump is the Man</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/StopHillaryClinton" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Stop Hillary Clinton</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/LiftableLife" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Liftable Life</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/RaisingRedNews" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Raising Red</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/eheadlines" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Eheadlines.com</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/rebirthoffreedom.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Rebirth of Freedom</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/conservativevideos" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Conservative Videos</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/BuzzPo" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">BuzzPo</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/conservativeupdate" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">The Conservative Update</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/LiftableWomen" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Liftable Women</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/thewildcardsports" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">The Wildcard</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/JeffersonNewsletter" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">The Jefferson Newsletter</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/libertyalliance" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Liberty Alliance</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/minutemennews/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">MinuteMen News</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/270336943385" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">No microsoft word, I didn't spell my last name wrong.</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/LoyalRealMen" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">A REAL man doesn't love million girls He loves one girl in million ways</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/USConstitution1789" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">United States Constitution</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Rep-Trey-Gowdy-for-Speaker-of-the-House-284522385033376" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Rep. Trey Gowdy for Speaker of the House</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/VisiontoAmerica" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Vision to America</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Obamapuke" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Obama Makes Me Puke</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ipatriot" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">iPatriot</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/godfatherpolitics" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Godfather Politics</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/POTUSDonaldTrump" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">President Donald J Trump</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ObamaWorstInHistory" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Obama Is Officially The Worst President In American History</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/thefreedomforce" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Freedom Force</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/homedefensegun/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Home Defense Gun</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/crtpac" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Conservative Republicans of Texas</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/politicaloutcast" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Political Outcast</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/PatriotJournal" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Patriot Journal</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/theblacksphere.net" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">The Blacksphere</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pg/RLC4CommonSense" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Rodney Lee Conover</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/EmpowerConservatives/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Empower Conservatives</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Talk2Rusty" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Rusty Humphries</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pg/TrumpNews.wiki" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Trump News</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/goneballistic1/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Gone Ballistic</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/conservativereporter" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Conservative Reporter</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/940295849386709/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Conservative World Daily</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/BarracudaBrigade" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Barracuda Brigade</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/WeLovePresidentDonaldJTrump" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">We Love President Donald Trump</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/theEagleisRising" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Eagle Rising</a><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 2px; clear: both; border-bottom: 1px dotted rgb(0, 153, 255); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Thirteen of these pages are blue-badge verified, some of which belong to Republican figures and organizations.</h2>Thirteen of the pages posting links with UTM codes are verified with blue badges, which Facebook says means the page is “the authentic Page or profile for this public figure, media company or brand.” All 13 verified pages used UTM parameters corresponding to the owner and/or name of the page (for example, Mike Huckabee’s pages included the parameter “mikehuckabee”). Using Crowdtangle data, Media Matters looked through all links posted by these blue-badge pages between January 1, 2018, and January 31, 2018, and counted the percentage of links posted that go to Liftable Media’s four main brands, Conservative Tribune, The Western Journal, Liftable.com, and The Wildcard. (We did not look at links from Facebook pages for Liftable Media’s brand sites -- <a href="https://www.facebook.com/WesternJournal/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">The Western Journal</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/theconservativetribune/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Conservative Tribune</a>, and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/liftable/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Liftable.com</a>.)Several of these blue-badge pages are affiliated with Republican media figures, including Brewer, Huckabee, and Cain. Both Liftable Media owner <a href="https://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/uploader/image/2018/04/16/Huckabee_for_President,INC.png" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Patrick Brown</a> and his father, <a href="https://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/uploader/image/2018/04/16/Huckabee_for_President,INC--Floyd.png" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Floyd</a>, donated to Huckabee’s 2016 presidential bid. Floyd also <a href="https://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/uploader/image/2018/04/16/Friends_of_Herman_Cain.png" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">donated to Herman Cain’s 2012 presidential PAC</a>....[twits pix kids knives]ome conservative organizations also appear to be part of Liftable Media’s promotional network. Family Research Council (FRC), which has been <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/family-research-council" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">designated a hate group</a> by the Southern Poverty Law Center, has previously, though infrequently, shared links to Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal with UTM codes specific to FRC. Ken Blackwell, a senior fellow at FRC, regularly shares Liftable Media links with UTM parameters specific to his name.Another page, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheTeaParty.net/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">The Tea Party</a>, seems to be run by Liftable Media and does not actually pertain to the tea party movement. This page, which links to westernjournal.com in its “About” section and to a liftablemedia.com email address, has over 3.2 million likes, significantly more than <a href="https://www.facebook.com/teapartyorg/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">the actual “Tea Party” Facebook page</a>.<img alt="" height="650" src="https://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/uploader/image/2018/04/17/liftable-facebook-utm.png" width="600" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; vertical-align: middle; max-width: 645px; margin: 0px auto; display: block;" />Since January, Eagle Rising has stopped posting articles from Liftable Media brands. Gov. Brewer’s page stopped on February 28.<h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 15px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 2px; clear: both; border-bottom: 1px dotted rgb(0, 153, 255); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">At least 41 other websites belong to the same promotional Facebook networks as Liftable Media.</h2>Liftable Media has 38 Facebook pages, and 16 of them post links with UTM codes to six non-Liftable Media websites: The Daily Wire, Faith Family America, Shared, American Military News, Little Things, and Providr. And the same non-Liftable Media pages that promote Conservative Tribune and other Liftable Media sites also promote at least 35 other websites, including the mainstream right-wing site The Blacksphere with Kevin Jackson; fake news sites <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2016/12/30/read-all-about-it-the-biggest-fake-news-stories-of-2016.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">American Military News</a>, <a href="http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2017/feb/21/blog-posting/did-john-mccain-violate-logan-act-call-australian-/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">BizPac Review</a>, <a href="http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/article/2017/apr/20/politifacts-guide-fake-news-websites-and-what-they/?platform=hootsuite" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Clash Daily with Doug Giles</a>, and Daily-Vine (formerly known as <a href="http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/article/2017/apr/20/politifacts-guide-fake-news-websites-and-what-they/?platform=hootsuite" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; font-weight: 700; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">Freedom Daily</a>); Christian and inspirational websites including Faith It, Glad Wire, and Inspire More; and apolitical clickbait sites including Cooking Panda and Watch This.</div><div>
</div><div></div><div>ref 2011 cain</div><div>
</div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/story/151231/gop_hopeful_herman_cain%3A_david_koch%27s_stalking_horse">https://www.alternet.org/story/151231/gop_hopeful_herman_cain%3A_david_koch%27s_stalking_horse</a></div><div>
</div><div>For Mark Block, chief of staff for GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain, it's been a good couple of weeks. In fact, it's been a good couple of years -- years Block spent at the helm of the Wisconsin chapter of Americans for Prosperity, where he helped win election for the likes of Gov. Scott Walker and Sen. Ron Johnson.</div>When, after those and other successful efforts, Block left AFP in December to run the quixotic presidential campaign of a former fast-food magnate, political wags were scratching their heads. But to those at the top of the Americans for Prosperity heap, Block's charge to run Cain's campaign may just be his most important job yet. For if Cain does well enough in the GOP primaries to win more than a handful of delegates to the Republican National Convention next year, he could hold significant sway over the party platform, forcing the nominated candidate to run on the Koch agenda.Despite the guffaws that greeted Cain's entry into the presidential arena, Block's candidate is ascendant in the polls, even gleaning a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/05/us/politics/05cain.html?pagewanted=1&r=2&hpw" style="text-decoration-line: none;">flattering profile</a>this week in the New York Times, a newspaper that people on Block's side of the fence sometimes refer to as Pravda (the defunct state-run paper of the Soviet Union). With his pugilistic sound bites, business background, neo-libertarian pronouncements, and anomalous status as African American amid the ranks of the Tea Partiers, Cain has captured media attention. Most recently, Cain made waves when Think Progress <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/06/06/238067/cain-says-he-would-be-ok-with-appointing-gay-cabinet-members-because-they-wouldnt-impose-sharia-law/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">quoted him</a> telling an audience in Iowa, where the religious right holds sway in the Republican presidential caucuses, that he wouldn't hesitate to appoint an openly gay person to his cabinet "because they're not going to try to put sharia law in our laws."<interaction data-token="5b96855f8198b4e625350260" data-context="true" data-tags="" data-fallback="true" />What goes unremarked in such profiles is Cain's connection to the Americans for Prosperity Foundation, the organization founded (with its sibling organization, Americans for Prosperity) by David Koch, and chaired by Koch himself. Until he signed on as Cain's campaign manager last December, Block was state director for the Wisconsin chapter of Americans for Prosperity.Not only is Cain a frequent speaker at AFP Foundation events, he was also, by his own account, tapped by Block to be one of the faces of Prosperity 101, a workplace seminar program, designed for employers to present to their employees at "voluntary" workplace gatherings where they are told that the legislative initiatives typically embraced by Democrats -- health-care reform, energy reform, higher taxes for the wealthiest Americans -- could so hurt their employers as to force layoffs. The program was set in motion during the lead-up to the 2010 elections. (AlterNet, working in collaboration with the Investigative Fund at the Nation Institute, published an <a href="https://www.alternet.org/teaparty/151182/wall_street_journal_honcho_shills_for_secret_worker%27education%27_program_linked_to_koch_group/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">exposé</a> on Prosperity 101 last week.)Not long after Block sold Cain on Prosperity 101, Block was on a roll. At a February 2010 <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNQvRIUaFOs&feature=related" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Tea Party rally in Sheboygan</a> (video), Block told the audience that he wouldn't be satisfied until membership in the Wisconsin AFP chapter equaled the membership of the state teachers union, the Wisconsin Education Association Council. Indeed, the membership numbers for his AFP chapter were moving upward, and the 2010 midterm elections were looking competitive for a number of candidates who had earned the favor of Americans for Prosperity: gubernatorial contender Scott Walker, U.S. Senate candidate Ron Johnson, and House of Representatives hopefuls Sean Duffy and Reid Ribble. All of these candidates went on to win their races, with Johnson, despite a notable absence of charisma, defeating long-time Sen. Russell Feingold, and Scott Walker going into the annals of Wisconsin history for having ignited 18 days of protest at the state capitol in Madison when he pushed a virulently anti-union bill through the state legislature in the guise of "budget repair."Dirty PoolBlock is, without a doubt, a hard worker, but he's known not to rely solely on the rewards of an honest day's labor. As Walker's gubernatorial campaign unfolded, Block was revealed to be one of the powers behind a <a href="https://www.onewisconsinnow.org/press/one-wisconsin-now-exposes-voter-suppression-plans-between-republican-party-of-wisconsin-americans-fo.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">scheme to suppress the vote</a> in two Milwaukee congressional districts with the help of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, then chaired by Reince Priebus (who went on to become chairman of the Republican National Committee).In late 2010, the liberal advocacy group, <a href="https://www.onewisconsinnow.org/press/one-wisconsin-now-exposes-voter-suppression-plans-between-republican-party-of-wisconsin-americans-fo.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">One Wisconsin Now</a>, caught a Tea Party organizer on tape discussing Block's role in a <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/155688/inside-wisconsin-rights-voter-suppression-scheme" style="text-decoration-line: none;">vote-caging scheme</a>apparently designed to suppress voter turnout in two Milwaukee districts that are heavily populated by college students and African Americans.Vote-caging is a technique whereby registered voters are sent letters marked "do not forward" so letters that are undeliverable at the residence to which they're addressed bounce back to the sender. The returned letters are then used by the sender to challenge the votes of those individuals at her or his polling place, meaning that person can only vote on a provisional ballot. The letters were sent by Block's Americans for Prosperity chapter, many to dormitory addresses in August -- a time when students would likely be between dorm assignments.At first, Block denied any involvement in the scheme, until Tim Dake of the Tea Party group, Grandsons of Liberty, <a href="https://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/103398539.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel</a> that he had personally spoken to Block about it. Block then conceded that AFP had done the mailing, but said they had abandoned the effort when too few letters were returned.The 2010 vote-caging scheme hardly marks Block's first game of dirty politics. In fact, his first day at Americans for Prosperity marked the expiration of a three<strike>four</strike>-year ban on political campaign involvement imposed on him by a Wisconsin court for his illegal activity in a 2001 election.Then, Block's triumph as campaign manager for Judge Jon Wilcox's successful run for state Supreme Court was tempered by a $15,000 fine for illegally using an outside group, the Wisconsin Citizens for Voter Participation, to conduct campaign activities.The Wisconsin Prosperity NetworkIn right-wing circles, one will hear talk, from time to time, of the "Colorado model" -- the means by which liberals and progressives began to turn Colorado from a red state to a blue state in 2004. The model involves wealthy donors who fund "independent expenditure" television ads against the positions of an opposing candidate, and the building of an infrastructure of progressive organizations that facilitates coalition organizing. In 2008, Wisconsin progressives embarked on a similar course, delivering their swing state for Barack Obama.Not to be outdone, the Wisconsin chapter of Americans for Prosperity hatched its own alliance in 2009 called the Wisconsin Prosperity Network, which came to life as a sort of coalition-in-a-box. With an estimated start-up pot of $6.4 million, the initial plan called for the instant creation of 14 new entities that would work together with the Wisconsin chapter of Americans for Prosperity.When a leaked PowerPoint presentation found its way into the hands of the Wisconsin State Journal, Block conceded to reporter Mark Pitsch that he was the network's "main organizer." Among the new entities created for the network is the MacIver Institute, a right-wing think tank, on whose board sits Scott Jensen, a former state assembly speaker now facing trial for using taxpayer funds for personal expenses.A major proponent of Scott Walker's union-busting bill, the Wisconsin Prosperity Network sponsored, with Americans for Prosperity, a "Stand With Walker" campaign during the days of protests earlier this year -- busing in Tea Partiers to rallies, and launching <a href="https://www.americansforprosperity.org/stand-with-walker-tv-ad" style="text-decoration-line: none;">TV advertisements</a>, Web sites and <a href="https://www.americansforprosperity.org/walker/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">petitions</a>.During the protests, MacIver was exposed for misrepresenting one of its allies as a progressive activist, releasing a video in which a purported protester said a labor-allied doctor was writing fraudulent sick-day excuses for protesting workers. That "protester," <a href="https://www.alternet.org/story/151231/%E2%80%9D//crooksandliars.com/node/44176/print%E2%80%9D" style="text-decoration-line: none;">according to karoli</a>, a blogger at the liberal Web site Crooks and Liars, turned out to be video producer Christian Hartsock, who made his name working with James O'Keefe on the discredited video that was used to fatally smear the community organizing group, ACORN.The Answer to ACORNAt last year's RightOnline conference, an event sponsored by the Americans for Prosperity Foundation, Wisconsin Prosperity Network executive director Linda Hansen unveiled before a roomful of activists at a Las Vegas hotel her latest project, Prosperity 101, the employer-sponsored workplace seminar program that advances the Koch agenda to nervous workers. On hand for the presentation was Herman Cain, along with Wall Street Journal Web columnist John Fund, whose colleague, editorial board member Stephen Moore, is, with Cain, a spokesperson for the program."A key component of Prosperity 101 is working with employers to help them encourage voter registration among their employees," Hansen explained to the crowd. "So when Herman [Cain] first heard the concept here, he said, 'You've come up with the answer to ACORN!'"Cain, during his presentation, piped up, "when [Hansen] first came to me with Mark Block to explain the concept, I said, ‘This is fantastic!'"When I tried to learn more about the Prosperity 101 program -- which is used by two of the top 50 privately held corporations in the U.S.: Menard Inc. and Reinhart FoodService, a division of Reyes Holdings -- my emails to Hansen went unanswered. When I told a member of the Americans for Prosperity staff that I couldn't get through to Hansen, she suggested I talk to Mark Block, who did not return my call or respond to my email.As chance would have it, I ran into Block last February in the lobby of the Marriott Wardman Park in Washington, D.C., site of the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, at which Cain delivered a well-received speech. When I asked him for a few words about Prosperity 101, Block told me I'd have to talk with the people who were organizing it. When I said I had been directed to him by Americans for Prosperity, he looked down at his BlackBerry and walked away.A Stalking Horse?Go to the issues page of the Herman Cain for President Web site, and you'll find an agenda not unlike that of Americans for Prosperity -- in fact, almost exactly like that of Americans for Prosperity (save for military might, and "faith and family," items on which AFP does not appear to take a position). At the centerpiece of Cain's platform, according to the New York Times, is a 23-percent flat consumption tax, which Cain would implement in place of the federal income tax. Here's a <a href="https://www.americansforprosperity.org/052711-62-tax-rate-problem" style="text-decoration-line: none;">page from the Illinois AFP chapter</a> site that opines for just such a flat-tax scheme as advanced by the Wall Street Journal's Stephen Moore, Cain's partner in the AFP-linked Prosperity 101 employee-indoctrination program.Later this week, Cain is scheduled to speak at an <a href="https://americansforprosperity.org/060111-rggi-run-rally-wednesday-june-8-nyc" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none;">AFP event in New York</a>, where he is expected to inveigh against the carbon-trading scheme known as cap-and-trade that is part of the Obama energy plan and one of AFP's pet peeves. (Koch Industries' core business is in the gas and oil sector.)When Cain's presidential candidacy was launched, it's likely that his AFP-linked backers never expected he would win the GOP presidential nomination, but that he would make an effective messenger for pushing the party further to the Koch positions. As it looks now, Cain could do even better than that, given the weak GOP presidential field. With each contest in primary season, contenders win delegates to the national convention, where the party platform is laid. Cain will likely do well in New Hampshire -- he could even win the state, as Patrick J. Buchanan did with his populist rhetoric in 1996. And with that win, and strong showings in a few other states, the Buchananites won control of the GOP platform, causing the nominee, Bob Dole, to run on a platform he could hardly stomach.That may have lost the GOP the election, but it distilled the party into an even more right-wing body by the time it was George W. Bush's turn to bear the party standard. When the history of the 2016 presidential campaign is written, the role of Herman Cain and his consigliare, Mark Block, may prove to have been, to borrow a word from Cain -- "impactful."CORRECTION: The original version of this story mistakenly attributed the acquisition of the leaked PowerPoint outlining the Wisconsin Prosperity Network plan to One Wisconsin Now. The PowerPoint was actually originally obtained by the Wisconsin State Journal.<div></div><div>ref 2 2015 2x?</div><div>
</div><div><a href="http://prospect.org/article/scott-walkers-shady-deals-win-him-campaign-cash-billionaires">http://prospect.org/article/scott-walkers-shady-deals-win-him-campaign-cash-billionaires</a></div><div>
</div><div>If the Koch brothers have their way, the next president will be a guy they all but created—and one whose propensity for alliances and questionable deals with robber barons and at least one dirty political player mark a quality only an oligarch could love.</div><div>
</div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">When Walker, after winning Wisconsin’s 2010 gubernatorial election, burst on the national scene in 2011 with his jihad against the state’s public-sector unions, he seemed to come out of nowhere. But he had been groomed for years by powerful anti-labor forces, rising from the state assembly under the tutelage of Michael Grebe, president of the Bradley Foundation, a major backer of right-wing, anti-labor politicians and policies. Grebe also served as Walker’s campaign chairman.In Sunday’s New York Times, reporters Patrick Healy and Monica Davey <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/08/us/politics/behind-scott-walker-a-longstanding-conservative-alliance-against-unions.html" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; transition: color 0s ease 0s, all 0.15s ease 0s; text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 0.8;">detail the role of the Bradley Foundation</a>, part of the right-wing, dark-money funding network in which billionaires Charles and David Koch play key roles as organizers and donors, in Walker’s rise to national stature.“At the risk of being immodest, I probably lent some credibility to his campaign early on,” Grebe <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/08/us/politics/behind-scott-walker-a-longstanding-conservative-alliance-against-unions.html" style="font-weight: 700; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; transition: color 0s ease 0s, all 0.15s ease 0s; text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 0.8;">told the Times</a> reporters. It was Grebe, the Times reports, who first spotted Walker when the latter was a student at Marquette University (from which he never graduated).<div class="pullquote-large pullquote-right" style="font-weight: 700; margin: 22px 0px 20px 20px; padding: 0px 30px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 22px; vertical-align: baseline; float: right; width: 255.984px; text-align: center;">If you want to take the measure of the Wisconsin governor as he prepares a run for the Republican presidential nomination, Block’s contribution to Walker’s stardom is instructive.</div>Mentioned in passing in the Times piece is Mark Block, the <a href="http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/685582/6_things_to_know_about%22smoking_man%22_in_herman_cain%27s_weird_new_ad(dude_was_banned_from_electoral_politics)/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; transition: color 0s ease 0s, all 0.15s ease 0s; text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 0.8;">dirty political operative</a> who built the Wisconsin chapter of the Koch brothers’ Americans for Prosperity (AFP), a group integral to Walker’s good fortune. <span class="pullquote-right" style="font-weight: inherit; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; width: 40%; margin-left: 0px !important; float: none !important;">If you want to take the measure of the Wisconsin governor as he prepares a run for the Republican presidential nomination, Block’s contribution to Walker’s stardom is instructive.When Block was tasked with building a new AFP chapter in the Dairy State, he did so with the expressed goal of challenging the teachers unions. As I <a href="http://www.alternet.org/story/151231/gop_hopeful_herman_cain%3A_david_koch%27s_stalking_horse" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; transition: color 0s ease 0s, all 0.15s ease 0s; text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 0.8;">reported for AlterNet</a> in 2011, Block told participants in a February 2010 Sheboygan <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNQvRIUaFOs&feature=related" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; transition: color 0s ease 0s, all 0.15s ease 0s; text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 0.8;">Tea Party rally</a> (video) that he wouldn't be satisfied until membership in the Wisconsin AFP chapter equaled the membership of the state teachers union, the Wisconsin Education Association Council.During the time that Block was building one of AFP’s most important chapters, he was also implicated in a <a href="http://www.alternet.org/teaparty/149617/priebus%27_republican_national_committee%3A_a_wholly_owned_subsidiary_of_koch%27s_americans_for_prosperity/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; transition: color 0s ease 0s, all 0.15s ease 0s; text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 0.8;">voter-caging scheme</a> in Milwaukee that targeted university students and residents of African-American neighborhoods for ballot challenges during the 2010 election, the one that landed Scott Walker, then the executive of Milwaukee County, the governor’s mansion. Also implicated in the scheme was Reince Priebus, then chairman of the state Republican Party, who was <a href="http://www.alternet.org/story/149617/priebus%27_republican_national_committee%3A_a_wholly_owned_subsidiary_of_koch%27s_americans_for_prosperity" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; transition: color 0s ease 0s, all 0.15s ease 0s; text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 0.8;">rewarded with the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee</a>.<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.538em; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">At first, <a href="http://www.alternet.org/story/151231/gop_hopeful_herman_cain%3A_david_koch%27s_stalking_horse" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; transition: color 0s ease 0s, all 0.15s ease 0s; text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 0.8;">Block denied</a> using the auspices of Americans for Prosperity to mail out the 500 letters to targeted voters that would be used as the means to challenge their votes. But when Tim Dake, leader of the Tea Party group Grandsons of Liberty that was involved in the activist part of the scheme, <a href="http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/103398539.html" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; transition: color 0s ease 0s, all 0.15s ease 0s; text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 0.8;">pointed the finger</a> at Koch’s man in Wisconsin, Block relented and admitted his and AFP’s involvement.<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/08/us/politics/behind-scott-walker-a-longstanding-conservative-alliance-against-unions.html" style="font-weight: 700; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; transition: color 0s ease 0s, all 0.15s ease 0s; text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 0.8;">According to the Times</a>, in 2010 AFP received $520,000 from the Bradley Foundation—under the direction, one assumes, of its president and Walker campaign chair, Michael Grebe, and AFP national returned the favor, spending some $3.7 million on ads supporting the governor when Walker opponents launched a ballot measure to recall his election after he led the rammed-through passage of Act 10, the law that ended collective bargaining rights for most public employees in the state, and prompted progressive activists to occupy the state Capitol building for weeks in Madison. In response, AFP launched a “Stand With Walker” bus tour campaign.Around the time of Walker’s gubernatorial campaign, Block was involved in another entity, this one contrived for his own personal gain, <a href="http://www.alternet.org/story/151182/wall_street_journal_honcho_shills_for_secret_worker%27education%27_program_linked_to_koch_group?paging=off" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; transition: color 0s ease 0s, all 0.15s ease 0s; text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 0.8;">called Prosperity 101</a>, which was billed as an optional educational program for employees of the companies who brought his outfit in to “educate” them on economics and the dangers allegedly posed by labor unions. At the end of the sessions, participants are encouraged to register to vote, on the spot. An early client of the program was Menards, the third-largest home-improvement store chain in the nation, which is based in Eau Claire. Founder John Menard is a prominent right-wing donor.(Block later got into some trouble for <a href="http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/noquarter/activities-of-former-cain-operative-scrutinized-nc4pt5q-145029735.html" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; transition: color 0s ease 0s, all 0.15s ease 0s; text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 0.8;">using the resources of Prosperity 101</a> inappropriately for the Herman Cain presidential campaign, which Block managed. That wasn’t the first time Block had run afoul of the law: he was banned from participating in Wisconsin politics for three years after some hinky campaign solicitations on behalf of a state judge whose campaign he ran.)Then there’s the <a href="http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/walker-wanted-funds-sent-to-wisconsin-club-for-growth-b99336519z1-272364371.html" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; transition: color 0s ease 0s, all 0.15s ease 0s; text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 0.8;">murky campaign activities</a> of Walker’s own campaign during the recall election, the subject of a “John Doe” investigation by the Milwaukee County district attorney of allegations of illegal coordination between non-profit advocacy groups and the gubernatorial campaign. The <a href="http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/walker-wanted-funds-sent-to-wisconsin-club-for-growth-b99336519z1-272364371.html" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; transition: color 0s ease 0s, all 0.15s ease 0s; text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 0.8;">Journal Sentinel reported</a> that Walker appeared to have asked prominent donors to contribute to the Wisconsin Club for Growth, a dark-money and bundling group that supports his anti-labor efforts. The prosecutors’ work has been on-again, off-again, as they face legal challenges to an effort whose details are cloaked in secrecy. Prosecutors have said that Walker himself is not a target, but it appears that former members of his campaign staff are.David Koch, according to news reports, deemed Scott Walker his candidate of choice at a recent gathering of donors. And well he should, considering how well his Wisconsin toady has performed on his behalf.But should Koch see a Walker nomination, reporters will have a field day turning over all the rocks to inspect the writhing ecosystem underlying Walker’s success. The question is whether any exposure of the forces behind Wisconsin’s governor will make a whit of difference.</div></div>A previous version of this article mistakenly stated that the home improvement store chain Menards was based in Racine, and that Scott Walker had attended the University of Wisconsin. Menards is headquartered in Eau Claire, and Walker was a student at Marquette University when he was first spotted by Michael Grebe. The article has been corrected.=ref grifty 2011<a href="http://archive.jsonline.com/watchdog/noquarter/state-firms-cash-to-herman-cain-may-breach-federal-campaign-tax-laws-132898423.html/">http://archive.jsonline.com/watchdog/noquarter/state-firms-cash-to-herman-cain-may-breach-federal-campaign-tax-laws-132898423.html/</a>Herman Cain's two top campaign aides ran a private Wisconsin-based corporation that helped the GOP presidential candidate get his fledgling campaign off the ground by originally footing the bill for tens of thousands of dollars in expenses for such items as iPads, chartered flights and travel to Iowa and Las Vegas - something that might breach federal tax and campaign law, according to sources and documents.Internal <a href="http://bit.ly/vKLllo" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">financial records</a> obtained by No Quarter show that Prosperity USA said it was owed about $40,000 by the Cain campaign for a variety of items in February and March. Cain began taking donations for his presidential bid on Jan. 1.Prosperity USA was owned and run by Wisconsin political operatives Mark Block and Linda Hansen, Cain's current chief of staffand deputy chief of staff, respectively.The authenticity of the records was verified by two individuals close to the firm.It is not known if Cain's election fund eventually paid back Prosperity USA, which now appears defunct. The candidate's federal election filings make no mention of the debt, and the figures in the documents don't match payments made by the candidate's campaign.In addition to picking up these expenses at least initially, Prosperity USA also paid as much as $100,000 to the Congress of Racial Equality, a conservative black organization, shortly before Cain was a featured speaker at the group's annual Martin Luther King Jr. dinner in mid-January.Cain, who has surged to a top-tier presidential candidate in the past month, apparently was not paid for the appearance. The personal financial disclosure forms for the former CEO of Godfather's Pizza list no honorariums for speeches.Election law experts say the transactions raise a host of questions for the private organization, which <a href="http://bit.ly/vLhLUz" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">billed itself</a> as a tax-exempt nonprofit, and the Cain team."If the records accurately reflect what occurred, this is way out of bounds," said a Washington, D.C.-based election lawyer who advises many Republican candidates and conservative groups on campaign issues. The lawyer asked not to be identified because of those affiliations.Michael Maistelman, a Wisconsin campaign attorney, agreed."The number of questionable and possibly illegal transactions conducted on behalf of Herman Cain is staggering," said Maistelman, a Democrat who has represented politicians from both parties on campaign issues.Block and Hansen have not returned numerous calls in recent days.Late Friday, Block sent an email saying: "Will be able to respond to you, but need to schedule time to review questions. Obviously in the midst of a Presidential campaign I cannot drop everything."For decades, Block worked behind the scenes for several conservative candidates and causes in Wisconsin. He is best known in the state for his role as campaign manager for former state Supreme Court Justice Jon Wilcox in 1997. Accused of election law violations, Block settled the case by agreeing to pay a $15,000 fine and to stay out of Wisconsin politics for three years.More recently, Block, 57, ran the state chapter of Americans for Prosperity, a nonprofit cofounded by the conservative Koch brothers that helped organize the tea party movement in Wisconsin and elsewhere.It was through Americans for Prosperity that Block met Cain and <a href="http://bit.ly/qGHPLS" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">encouraged him to run</a> for national office. Block's role with the Cain campaign became a point of national interest in the past week when a bizarre online <a href="http://bit.ly/uwH4yL" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">campaign ad</a> featuring the chain-smoking Wisconsin operative went viral.In recent years, Block spun off a handful of organizations from Americans for Prosperity, most of them incorporating "prosperity" in the name. Officials with Americans for Prosperity emphasize that these other groups were legally separate from their organization.The largest group founded by Block was called Wisconsin Prosperity Network, which was <a href="http://www.capdale.com/files/News/6f24def7-f140-401c-ae38-55c8732a682f/Presentation/NewsAttachment/c87751a6-c1f6-4bb6-8cb4-581dfcd65c2c/TP-Wisc_Prosperit_Network.pdf" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">supposed to be</a> an umbrella organization that would spend more than $6 million a year underwriting a dozen or so other conservative groups in the hopes of turning the state red.In the 2008 <a href="http://bit.ly/uBRNe7" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">incorporation papers</a>, Block is listed as the president of Wisconsin Prosperity Network, which was set up as a tax-exempt nonprofit group. That means the charitable organization cannot have direct political involvement. Hansen was the group's executive director.Last year, Block started up Prosperity USA, another tax-exempt charitable group for which Block appeared to be the sole board member. Again, Hansen handled the day-to-day operations.Insiders familiar with the groups say the two groups were closely linked and raised hundreds of thousands of dollars from prominent conservatives around the state. One supporter, who asked that his name not be used because he still supports Cain and other conservatives, said he and many others were deeply upset with the groups - and Hansen, in particular - for failing to use the money for its intended purposes.Internal financial records show both organizations were operating in the black during the first half of 2010.But by early this year, expenses were far outpacing income at the two entities. Balance sheets showed Wisconsin Prosperity Network was more than $62,000 in the hole by early February; Prosperity USA was in even worse shape, with its liabilities exceeding its assets by $110,000.In fact, the records indicate Prosperity USA's biggest asset was nearly $40,000 that it was owed by "FOH," a reference to Friends of Herman Cain, the name of Cain's presidential operation.A more detailed checking account says the Cain campaign owed nearly $15,000 for an "Atlanta invoice," about $17,000 for chartered flight service and $5,000 for travel and meetings in Iowa, Las Vegas, Houston, Dallas and Louisiana. The document says the Cain campaign had been billed $3,700 for iPads purchased on Jan. 4.A series of small-ticket items for travel and expenses by Block are listed as "not billed to FOH but due from them."The national election expert who works with GOP candidates said it would be a violation of the tax code for Prosperity USA to advance money to the Cain campaign for these items. She said there also are strict federal election regulations on reporting debts and incurring travel obligations."I just don't see how they can justify this," she said. "It's a total mess."The records suggest that Prosperity USA had been underwriting travel for Cain even before he announced his plans to run for president.For instance, one document says the group was to be paid $5,000 for the costs associated with Cain's speech in September 2010 to the conservative Right Nation rally in Chicago, an event that the records say Cain attended at the request of Americans for Prosperity. The Cain campaign later <a href="http://bit.ly/u9EgAR" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">used a segment</a> from that speech in a campaign ad.Along with these expenses, the internal records note Prosperity USA paid for such items as Block's trip to Washington, D.C., to meet with billionaire philanthropist David Koch. Singer Krista Branch, who recorded "I Am America," the unofficial anthem of the tea party movement, was supposed to be paid $3,000 by the Wisconsin group.Cain has <a href="http://nyti.ms/vvucyQ" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">adopted</a> the tune as his campaign song. Branch's husband, Michael, who wrote the song, <a href="http://bit.ly/sADwN9" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">has been paid</a> $11,250 in his role as the Cain campaign's Tennessee director and $7,360 as a fundraising consultant.More intriguing, the records show Prosperity USA received $150,000 in loans from individuals who could not be identified.Sources familiar with the group say Hansen paid much of the loan money earlier this year to the Congress of Racial Equality, a former civil rights organization that now promotes conservative causes. In mid-January, Cain was a <a href="http://bit.ly/gJWWop" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">featured speaker</a> at the group's annual awards dinner, which was hosted by controversial conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart.The Congress of Racial Equality is headed by Niger Innis, who did not return calls last week. He and his father, Roy Innis, made several appearances at Wisconsin tea party events in the past.Several board members for Prosperity USA and Wisconsin Prosperity Network resigned from the organization when they learned after the fact that Hansen had borrowed this money and donated much of it to the conservative group, according to insiders.In the summer, the attorney for the two groups, Michael Dean, resigned as the registered agent for Wisconsin Prosperity Network in a <a href="http://bit.ly/uBRNe7" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">letter</a> filed with the state Department of Financial Institutions. Sources say he also contacted the Internal Revenue Service regarding the group's application for tax-exempt status.Reached at home last week, Dean declined to comment.Even though there is little or no evidence that the Wisconsin Prosperity Network is still functioning, the group is one of the listed litigants in a case currently before the state Supreme Court.The trail of red ink left by Block and Hansen, however, extends beyond the private entities they founded.Several conservatives say the state chapter of Americans for Prosperity was left with a stack of unpaid invoices totaling tens of thousands of dollars when Block officially left the organization at the start of the year.Matt Seaholm, who replaced Block as the director of the state chapter, declined to discuss the group's finances."I'll leave that to the national office," Seaholm said.A spokesman for Americans for Prosperity in Virginia did not return calls Friday.Contact Daniel Bice at (414) 224-2135 or <a style="font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">dbice@journalsentinel.com</a>. <div>
</div><div>=</div>kpfa making contact 1 pm 11/8/13 cain backroom deal locked rest wages forever at $2.35, fastest growing part of economy has lowest wages; 4x profits of walmart, boast of 1bill$ exemption from min wage; behind the kitchen doorihop made waitress pay for walkout, lost $ on allnight shift<a href="http://www.yesmagazine.org/blogs/john-cavanagh-and-robin-broad/a-book-and-movement-that-will-change-how-you-eat">http://www.yesmagazine.org/blogs/john-cavanagh-and-robin-broad/a-book-and-movement-that-will-change-how-you-eat</a>=

employee voter education:

<h1 property="dc:title" datatype="" class="node-title">Major Retailer Urges Workers To Take 'Civics Course' With Anti-Obama Content</h1>

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<div class="story-date">October 31, 2012  |  </div>

If you live in the Midwest and you're working on a home-improvement project, you're as likely to do your shopping at a Menards store as at a Lowe's or Home Depot. With <a href="http://www.menards.com/main/footer/about-menards/about-us/c-3582.htm">270 stores</a> [3] and <a href="http://www.forbes.com/lists/2011/21/private-companies-11_Menard_XB0T.html">40,000 employees</a> [4], Menards is the third-largest home-improvement chain in the U.S., and one of the largest privately held corporations in the country. But Menards stores sell more than just lumber and building supplies; their employees are sold a bill of goods in the form of right-wing ideology.

This January, as the Iowa Caucuses were underway, Menards began encouraging employees to take an at-home online "civics" course that characterizes the economic policies of President Barack Obama as a threat to the success of businesses such as Menards, and by extension, to the employees' own well-being.

FBI Investigation

The course, titled "Civics 101: The National Self Governing Will In-Home Training," incorporates much of the material comprising the Prosperity 101 program that AlterNet, working in partnership with the Investigative Fund at the Nation Institute, <a href="http://www.alternet.org/story/151182/wall_street_journal_honcho_shills_for_secret_worker%27education%27_program_linked_to_koch_group?paging=off" target="blank">exposed</a> [5] last year -- a program concocted by Koch-linked political operatives Mark Block and Linda Hansen, late of the now-defunct Herman Cain presidential campaign. In March, Daniel Bice of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel <a href="http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/noquarter/activities-of-former-cain-operative-scrutinized-nc4pt5q-145029735.html" target="_blank">reported</a> [6] that the FBI is investigating possible financial improprieties involving two non-profit organizations founded by Block that are linked to Prosperity 101, which is a for-profit venture.

Menards employees who sign up for the course are graded on their knowledge via a multiple choice pass-fail test, and those who pass the test are acknowledged in company publications and bulletins. While workers are not required to take the course, those who hope for promotions may feel pressure to do so, since it is clear that management is paying attention to who is or isn't taking the at-home classes, which are conducted on the employees' own time. The civics course is offered as part of a battery of courses, most of which pertain to products sold by the company, or other aspects of working at Menards.

AlterNet has obtained the online textbook for the Menards civics course. The third part of the textbok, subtitled "<a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/111811926/Menards-Civics-101-Course-3">American Job Security</a> [7]," imparts a message similar to the <a href="http://www.alternet.org/election-2012/koch-employees-vote-romney-or-bad-things-will-happen-maybe-your-job">letter sent</a> [8] by Koch Industries CEO Dave Robertson to retirees and employees of the company's Georgia Pacific subsidiary, as well as the <a href="http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/10/25/14698221-pro-romney-employer-warns-workers-of-personal-consequences?lite">e-mail sent</a> [9] to employees of Rite-Hite, a Milwaukee equipment manufacturer, by company owner Mark White, urging them to vote for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. While the Menards course doesn't offer an explicit candidate endorsement, it describes Obama policies in threatening terms, while policies that echo Romney's proposals are portrayed in a positive and uplifting light.

Koch-Linked Program

In our June 2011 <a href="http://www.alternet.org/story/151182/wall_street_journal_honcho_shills_for_secret_worker%27education%27_program_linked_to_koch_group?paging=off">exposé</a> [5], we reported that Herman Cain and Wall Street Journal editorial board member Stephen Moore conducted more than a dozen Prosperity 101 seminars for the employees of companies in Wisconsin and other Midwestern states during the campaign season for the 2010 congressional midterm elections. Hansen, we reported, was looking to create an online Prosperity 101 program for the Wisconsin-based Menards, and it appears as if something like that happened just in time for the 2012 presidential campaign season. While it remains unclear whether the current Menards program was sold to the retailer by Prosperity 101, what is clear is that several sections of the program come directly -- sometimes with minor edits -- from the textbook, also called Prosperity 101, that was distributed during a breakout session that took place at an Americans for Prosperity Foundation conference in Las Vegas in July 2010. The conference, called RightOnline, took place at the opulent Venetian, owned by right-wing <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/17/opinion/in-thrall-to-sheldon-adelson.html?r=0">super-PAC funder Sheldon Adelson</a> [10], and billed by AFPF president Tim Phillips as "the only non-union hotel on the [Las Vegas] Strip."

The Americans for Prosperity Foundation is chaired by David Koch, the multibillionaire funder, with his brother, Charles, of numerous right-wing think tanks and interest groups, and co-owner of Koch Industries, the second-largest privately held corporation in the U.S. Block is the former state director for the Wisconsin chapter of Americans for Prosperity, the foundation's sibling organization, and was deeply involved in effecting the sharp turn to the right that took place in Wisconsin politics in 2010 with the election of Governor Scott Walker, Sen. Ron Johnson, and Tea Party-allied members of Congress and the state legislature. (During the course of that campaign, Block was implicated in a <a href="http://www.alternet.org/story/149617/priebus%27_republican_national_committee%3A_a_wholly_owned_subsidiary_of_koch%27s_americans_for_prosperity">vote-caging scheme</a> [11] apparently designed to suppress turnout of young people and African Americans at Milwaukee polling places. He also enjoyed a brief moment of fame as the "<a href="http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/685582/6_things_to_know_about%22smoking_man%22_in_herman_cain%27s_weird_new_ad%28dude_was_banned_from_electoral_politics%29">smoking man</a> [12]" in a bizarre Herman Cain campaign ad.)

Menards, as we <a href="http://www.alternet.org/story/151184/notorious_wisconsin_retailer_backs_afp-linked_anti-union_program?paging=off" target="_blank">reported</a> [13] last year, is notorious not just as a polluter, but as a virulently anti-labor company. One former manager <a href="http://www.milwaukeemagazine.com/currentissue/full_feature_story.asp?newmessageid=13642">told Milwaukee magazine</a> [14] reporter Mary van de Kamp Nohl that he wasn't allowed to hire two job candidates because, while in high school, they had worked as baggers in a union-organized grocery store. Menards threatened store managers with a 60 percent pay-cut, according to a 2003 <a href="http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2003/1006/048.html">Forbes article</a> [15], if a union managed to get a foothold in a Menards store on that manager's watch.

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<a href="http://www.alternet.org/print/election-2012/major-retailer-urges-workers-take-civics-course-anti-obama-content">http://www.alternet.org/print/election-2012/major-retailer-urges-workers-take-civics-course-anti-obama-content</a>

<h1 class="title">Ohio Voters Reject Kasich Anti-Union Bill</h1>

<div class="meta">Submitted by <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/users/35270/mary-bottari" title="View user profile.">Mary Bottari</a> on November 9, 2011 - 9:57am</div>

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Ohio voters dealt a severe blow to the agenda of Governor John Kasich and other anti-union governors by voting to overturn Senate Bill 5 (SB5) by a 61 to 32 percent margin. SB5 was a law championed by Kasich that would severely limit collective bargaining rights for public employees and targets public employee wages and benefits as a means to balance the state's budget.

Ohio Governor John KasichAfter the bill passed the legislature in March, unions and their supporters swung into action and submitted 915,246 certified signatures required to place the issue on the ballot for a statewide referendum. Ohio law allows for this type of "veto referendum," but does not allow for the recall of governors. Over 3,497,000 ballots were cast in the referendum vote -- and it appears to have passed with substantial Republican support.

The months that led up to the election garnered national attention as a fight against right-wing governors who were not only anti-union, but were fundamentally anti-government -- using the economic downturn to shrink and transform state governments.

A chastened Kasich struck a conciliatory note on election night: "It requires me to take a deep breath and to spend some time reflecting on what happened here."

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mark block money launder: ? <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/node/11111">http://www.prwatch.org/node/11111</a>

tea party:<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lincoln-mitchell/herman-cain-and-the-tea-p_b_1078464.html"> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lincoln-mitchell/herman-cain-and-the-tea-p_b_1078464.html</a>

koch connection:

...Billionaire oil magnates Charles and David Koch are the founding benefactors of Americans for Prosperity, a conservative group that <a href="http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/news/2011/11/04/8634375-koch-backed-group-confirms-financial-ties-to-cain-campaign-manager" target="hplink">admitted</a> having <a href="http://www.iwatchnews.org/2011/11/03/7279/koch-related-group-reviewing-financial-transactions-cain-aides-charity" target="_hplink">controversial financial ties</a> to the Cain campaign earlier in the week.

The Associated Press <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/16/herman-cain-koch-brothers-americans-prosperity-2012-gop-campaign_n_1013661.html" target="_hplink">reported</a> last month that the Cain campaign's deep connection -- or brotherhood, as Cain appears to contend -- to the Koch brothers could undercut the image he has tried to foster as a Washington outsider and businessman who is not part of the politics machine that is so often disparaged by the conservative base.

From AP:

<blockquote>Cain's campaign manager and a number of aides have worked for Americans for Prosperity, or AFP, the advocacy group founded with support from billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, which lobbies for lower taxes and less government regulation and spending. Cain credits a businessman who served on an AFP advisory board with helping devise his "9-9-9" plan to rewrite the nation's tax code. And his years of speaking at AFP events have given the businessman and radio host a network of loyal grassroots fans.</blockquote>

...

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/04/herman-cain-koch-brothers_n_1076835.html">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/04/herman-cain-koch-brothers_n_1076835.html</a>

more from AP

or Prosperity.

Cain's campaign manager and a number of aides have worked for Americans for Prosperity, or AFP, the advocacy group founded with support from billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, which lobbies for lower taxes and less government regulation and spending. Cain credits a businessman who served on an AFP advisory board with helping devise his "9-9-9" plan to rewrite the nation's tax code. And his years of speaking at AFP events have given the businessman and radio host a network of loyal grassroots fans.

The once little-known businessman's political activities are getting fresh scrutiny these days since he soared to the top of some national polls.

His links to the Koch brothers could undercut his outsider, non-political image among people who detest politics as usual and candidates connected with the party machine.

AFP tapped Cain as the public face of its "Prosperity Expansion Project," and he traveled the country in 2005 and 2006 speaking to activists who were starting state-based AFP chapters from Wisconsin to Virginia. Through his AFP work he met Mark Block, a longtime Wisconsin Republican operative hired to lead that state's AFP chapter in 2005 as he rebounded from an earlier campaign scandal that derailed his career.

Block and Cain sometimes traveled together as they built up AFP: Cain was the charismatic speaker preaching the ills of big government; Block was the operative helping with nuts and bolts.

When President Barack Obama's election helped spawn the tea party, Cain was positioned to take advantage. He became a draw at growing AFP-backed rallies, impressing activists with a mix of humor and hard-hitting rhetoric against Obama's stimulus, health care and budget policies.

Block is now Cain's campaign manager. Other aides who had done AFP work were also brought on board.

Cain's spokeswoman Ellen Carmichael, who recently left the campaign, was an AFP coordinator in Louisiana. His campaign's outside law firm is representing AFP in a case challenging Wisconsin campaign finance regulations. At least six other current and former paid employees and consultants for Cain's campaign have worked for AFP in various capacities.

And Cain has credited Rich Lowrie, a Cleveland businessman who served on AFP's board of advisors from 2005 to 2008, with being a key economic adviser and with helping to develop his plan to cut the corporate tax rate to 9 percent, impose a national sales tax of 9 percent and set a flat income tax rate of 9 percent

"He's got a national network now that perhaps he wouldn't have had 15 or 20 years ago because of his work with AFP," said Republican Party of Wisconsin Vice Chair Brian Schimming, who has introduced Cain at events in Wisconsin. "For a presidential candidate, that's obviously helpful to have."

He said Cain was smart to hire Block.

Cain's recent victories in straw polls in Florida and Minnesota highlight the importance of organizing supporters and Block, who has a deep network in the tea party, "gets that side of it," Schimming said.

But Block has had his problems as well. He settled a suit in 2001 accusing him of illegally coordinating a Wisconsin Supreme Court justice's re-election with an outside group. Block agreed to pay $15,000 and sit out of politics for three years.

While Cain is quick to promote his career at the helm of the Godfather's Pizza chain, his ties to AFP aren't something the candidate appears eager to highlight. Cain does not include his AFP work on his biography on his website, but spokesman J.D. Gordon said Sunday that Cain was "proud of his business record" and his association with the group.

"He has made a lot of important connections through AFP," Gordon said, pointing to Block and Lowrie, among others.

And Cain continues to work with the group.

While several other candidates will be at an Iowa Republican Party dinner on Nov. 4, Cain is scheduled to be in Washington mingling with activists at AFP's annual "Defending the American Dream" summit. He is the only confirmed presidential candidate for the event.

AFP spokesman Levi Russell said Cain has spoken at dozens of AFP rallies and events over the years to support a number of the group's activities. AFP has often covered his travel expenses or paid a "pretty modest honorarium" but he has not been paid since becoming a presidential candidate, he said.

"He's a dynamic, pro-business speaker that connects well with our activists," Russell said. "AFP is a very large organization, and there is a natural overlap between Cain's message of fiscal responsibility and the basic principles that AFP advocates for."

A spokeswoman for the Koch brothers did not respond to The Associated Press's request for comment on Cain.

To some liberals, Cain's rise with the help of AFP shows the incredible influence that outside groups controlled by super-wealthy individuals with specific agendas can have on the political process.

"Herman Cain is the first presidential corporate spokes-candidate," said Scot Ross, a liberal activist who leads One Wisconsin Now, which has often mocked AFP as a front group for corporate interests. "The best way to have your issues talked about in the issue debate is to have a candidate in your pocket with snappy comebacks and easily branded policy papers which mask how destructive they would be."

AFP's agenda also includes weakening private and public sector unions, opposing environmental regulations and undoing Obama's health care reform law, among other policies. But before the tea party and Obama, Cain worked with AFP on more local issues.

In 2006, he campaigned all over Wisconsin in support of a proposed constitutional amendment that would have limited state government spending. A slew of officials and analysts said the plan would have ultimately devastated government services, and the Republican-controlled Legislature eventually backed off it.

In a statement announcing Cain's tour, AFP sent out a press release touting his "in-depth understanding of the battle to control out-of-control government taxes and spending." Block promised that Cain was a speaker that activists would not want to miss.

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mark block "The message behind the ad was to our supporters that we're on a roll, we're excited about what's happening," said Block, who was banned from Wisconsin politics for three years and forced to pay a $15,000 fine after state regulators accused him of breaking election laws as campaign manager in a 1997 Supreme Court race.

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