Private prison grp sponsored conference where Trump rampage video played. Must read: Mother Jones
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/10/imagine-a-conference-full-of-conspiracy-theorists-sponsored-by-a-prison-company-at-a-trump-resort/.....Relocating to a property owned by the president seems to have transformed the conference, which starts Thursday, into a bona fide political confab. It has attracted some more prominent speakers this year, notably the president’s son Donald Trump Jr., who will stand for selfies with anyone who pays the VIP rate of $2,500 to attend. But American Priority also seems to have nabbed the support of the sort of a big corporate patron that was missing from its 2018 fringe-fest. GEO Group, a Florida-based private prison company that has received nearly half a billion dollars in federal contracts to detain immigrants since President Trump took office, is now listed as one of its most prominent sponsors.
Holding functions at a Trump-owned property has become de rigueur for interest groups, from payday lenders to the Saudis, looking to influence the administration, and GEO Group is no exception. The country’s largest private prison company relies heavily on federal largesse. More than 40 percent of its revenue comes from federal contracts, and it has taken a number of steps to ingratiate itself with the Trump administration. During the presidential campaign, a GEO Group subsidiary donated $225,000 to a pro-Trump super-PAC. After Trump was elected, the company donated $250,000 to Trump’s inaugural committee and moved its annual meeting to Doral. And now, it’s helping a pro-Trump group spend some money there.
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As the attraction of his properties diminishes with the president’s popularity, Trump needs companies like GEO Group to keep his resorts profitable. Meanwhile, GEO Group needs him. In 2016, President Barack Obama had ordered the Department of Justice to stop using private prisons, a decision that sent GEO Group’s stock plummeting 35 percent. But Trump quickly rolled back that policy, and since he took office, the prison giant has secured about $480 millionin new contracts with ICE for immigrant detention, making ICE the company’s single largest source of income. In 2018, nearly 30 percent of its $2.33 billion in revenue flowed from ICE contracts.
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The event will feature a climate change denier as well as promoters of QAnon, an internet conspiracy that claims Trump is fighting the deep state to stop liberal elites they believe are running a secret pedophile ring. Tracy Beanz, who organized 100-plus QAnon believers to march on Washington last year, will be on a panel called “Unmasking the Russian Hoax,” along with George Papadopoulos. He’s the former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser who pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to the FBI about the campaign’s contacts with Russia.
Conferencegoers will hear from the internet troll Jack Posobiec, who helped promote an earlier conspiracy theory that suggested Hillary Clinton and her henchmen were running a pedophile ring out of the basement of a DC pizza parlor. The idea inspired an armed North Carolina manto show up at Comet Ping Pong and fire shots as he searched for the nonexistent basement holding cell. The event will also feature a speech from “free speech maven” Jason Fyk, who sued Facebook after the social media giant killed his business by shutting down pages he’d created that were dedicated solely to videos and photos of people peeing. (He lost.)".....(more)
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anti-immigrant stances, anti-climate change, especially via massive fossil fuel money taking and the supporting, fundraising for and campaigning for rabid RW Rethugs like John Carter (against MJ Hegar, who is now running against Cornyn for the US Senate) that I so hope Henry Cuellar goes down in the (safe Blue district, has never had a Rethug Representative) primary against Jessica Cisneros (she was just endorsed by Warren btw) for TX-28.
He and Dan Lipinski (also is a complete safe blue seat and also utterly abhorrent in many of his views and his campaign tactics but that is another subject) are the ONLY 2 incumbents I support primarying. I never support primarying Democrats in non safe seats.
Cuellar's ties to the despicable private prison GEO Group (who are now involved with running the brutally anti-human immigrant for-profit detention centres and are also now tied to Rump via a potential corruption scandal) is going to be a big issue in a majority Hispanic district, especially with Trump now in charge and making this a HUGE issue.
Private Prison Campaign Cash Still Welcomed by Some Democrats in the Trump Era
https://rewire.news/article/2018/09/14/private-prison-campaign-cash-still-welcomed-by-some-democrats-in-the-trump-era/
No congressional Democrat has received more financial backing from private prisons than Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX), who has taken $88,990 from GEO Group and CoreCivic America since 2012, according to Open Secrets. Cuellar, who has voted in line with the president 68.9 percent of the time, has received more campaign cash from GEO Group in 2018 than any congressional lawmaker but Rep. John Culberson (R-TX). Almost all of Cuellar’s private prison campaign cash over the past six years has come from GEO Group, which has a history of in-custody deaths and other abuses. Cuellar’s office didn’t answer questions submitted by Rewire.News about the Democrat’s acceptance of private prison campaign money.
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Cuellar was the only Democrat to vote for a House bill that would have made it easier to deport unaccompanied minors from Central America.
https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/Cuellar-From-migrant-family-to-growing-clout-in-5801927.php
“We have to send a signal,” he said.
Cuellar also is by far the biggest Democratic (and close to the top overall) recipient of the GEO Group, the for-profit prison firm with massive Rump and Rethug ties who are profiteering now off running those horrid immigrant detention camps. Almost ALL the rest of the top people were Rethugs.
"GEO GROUP GAVE GENEROUSLY TO TRUMP" to run lucrative detention centers
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100212276389
GEO Group's top recipients (All of Congress)
https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/toprecips.php?id=D000022003&type=P&sort=A&cycle=2018
https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/toprecips.php?id=D000022003&type=P&sort=A&cycle=2016
https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/toprecips.php?id=D000022003&type=P&sort=A&cycle=2014
fairly close IMHO, and both are in safe Blue seats. Colin Peterson is not good either, BUT he is in a super Red district and is the best we can get there, so he gets a pass.
That Illinois House race was the main one (probably the only one in 2018 as there was no viable primary opponent to Cuellar) I was most disappointed in. Marie Newman, his opponent was one of the few challengers who had almost universal support across the board, from Emily's List to Bernie, from National Organization for Women to Indivisible, from Our Revolution to Planned Parenthood, from Illinois Federation of Teachers to the SEIU, from Gloria Steinem to NARAL, from MoveOn.org, from the Human Rights Campaign to the Daily Kos, from LPAC to a bunch of sitting congresspeople.
She was running against the pro-life, anti-immigrant (voted against the Dream Act and for Republican border security bills), anti Obamacare, anti LGBTQ (voted for DOMA and is openly against gay marriage), anti Obama himself (he refused to endorse him) anti stem cell research, etc etc Dan Lipinski.
It is as safe a district for us as is almost possible, as it has been in Democratic hands since the 1950's, other than for 2 years after the Nixon 1972 massive landslide.
Lipinski eeked out a victory mainly because around 1 million dollars came flooding in at the end from No Labels and other Lieberman affiliated centre right groups (many of them supported with Republican money as well as centrist Democratic money) that hammered and smeared Newman with a shit tonne of adverts and direct mailings, including outrageously calling her a holocaust denier.
Bipartisan ‘No Labels’ group’s super PAC network revealed: mega Chicago donors
https://chicago.suntimes.com/2018/3/12/18316470/bipartisan-no-labels-group-s-super-pac-network-revealed-mega-chicago-donors
With a boost from Chicago-area mega donors, including White Sox and Bulls Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, No Labels, a group advocating bipartisanship in Congress, has created a network of super PACs to influence the 2018 elections — but doesn’t want its fingerprints on the money.
One of the super PACs, United for Progress Inc., has spent $740,334 as of Sunday to bolster Rep. Dan Lipinski, D-Ill., in his March 20 Illinois Democratic primary battle with Marie Newman in the 3rd Congressional District. The names of the super PACS don’t link them to No Labels. A Sun-Times investigation determined super PACS related to No Labels include: United for Progress Inc.; Citizens for a Strong America Inc.; United Together; Govern or Go Home; and Forward, Not Back.
The Sun-Times inquiry included interviews with donors or their representatives and an examination of documents filed with the Federal Election Commission. United for Progress, Inc., is playing political hardball, attacking Newman in the commercials and direct mail pieces it paid for. Lipinski is part of a No Labels offshoot, the congressional “Problem Solvers Caucus.”
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THE ILLINOIS CONNECTIONS: Last year, a No Labels leader, former Sen. Joe Lieberman, was a draw at a meeting at the Chicago Club, 81 E. Van Buren. Lieberman was the 2000 Democratic vice presidential nominee who became an Independent senator from Connecticut.
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No Labels funds dishonest attacks against Marie Newman to boost Blue Dog Dan Lipinski
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/3/13/1748758/-Centrist-group-No-Labels-funds-dishonest-attacks-against-Marie-Newman-to-back-Blue-Dog-Dan-Lipinski
Well what do you know: It turns out the mysterious super PAC called United for Progress, which has spent at least $740,000 to help conservative Democratic Rep. Dan Lipinski in his primary against progressive challenger Marie Newman, received much of its funding from the aggressively centrist group No Labels and billionaire mega-donor Jerry Reinsdorf, who is chairman of both the Chicago White Sox and the Chicago Bulls. No Labels promotes the same sort of naive #bothsides mentality that plagues the world of cable news punditry, and even went so far as to moronically label Donald Trump a "problem solver" during his presidential campaign.
While support from No Labels itself should be a mark of shame for any Democrat running in a safely blue district like this one, the mailer they've been funding is even more disgraceful. It takes the guise of an ominous fake-but-official-looking letter from "Illinois Restaurant Enforcement" that claims the restaurant Newman once owned was guilty of health code violations, then proceeds to outright lie about the economic impact of the single-payer healthcare plan Newman supports.
One would expect to see Republicans launch these sorts of dishonest attacks against a progressive challenger, not those who support a nominal Democratic incumbent. And it's one more reason why Democrats in this 55-40 Clinton district can do a whole lot better than Dan Lipinski.
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Delusional Group Declares Donald Trump a ‘Problem Solver’
The only problem Trump could solve is that we don’t have a dumb enough president
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/delusional-group-declares-donald-trump-a-problem-solver-58107/
Here are some labels that apply to Donald Trump:
–Racist
–Egomaniac
–Bloviator
–Delusional
–Liar
–Asshole
On Monday, the nonpartisan group No Labels gave him a new, and hilarious, one: problem solver.
Six presidential candidates – Democrat Martin O’Malley and Republicans Ben Carson, Chris Christie, John Kasich, Rand Paul and Trump – signed the organization’s Problem Solver Promise, officially making them No Labels Problem Solvers. The group says it will bestow the label on any candidate who signs its meaningless pledge.
No Labels declined to make an exception for Trump – the candidate who has proposed, among many other things, building a giant border wall, deporting 11 million people, banning Muslims from entering the country and shutting down mosques. In just the last two days, he’s come out in favor of direct head-to-head collisions in the NFL and elephant torture.
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‘Holocaust Denier’ Smear Hits Tight Chicago Area Congressional Primary
https://forward.com/fast-forward/396658/holocaust-denier-smear-hits-tight-chicago-area-congressional-primary/
A heated Democratic congressional primary race in suburban Chicago has reached a new low, as accusations of Holocaust denial are falsely hurled at progressive challenger Marie Newman.
Newman, who is seeking to unseat the incumbent Dan Lipinski as the Democratic candidate for Illinois’ 3rd congressional district, has staked a liberal position, hoping it would convince Democrats to chose her way over that of Lipinski, a “blue dog” Democrat known for his more conservative views.
In recent days, Newman claimed, voters have been receiving text messages from activists with the Washington-based No Labels group, trying to convince voters not to support her. In one instance, a voter receiving the text message informed the sender that he has already decided to vote for Newman, not Lipinski. “His opponent is a Holocaust denier among other things,” the Lipinski supporter texted back. In a second exchange, the voter was told again about Newman: “Did you know she’s a Holocaust denier.”
Newman accused Lipinski of “playing politics with a tragedy in human history that cost the lives of millions—and which deeply affects those of Jewish heritage, including my husband and his family.” Lipinski is considered one of the few endangered Democratic incumbents in the nation due to the tight primary. The winner should easily beat a Republican challenger in the district that voted for Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump by a healthy 16% margin.
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Group Tied To Lipinski Says Marie Newman Is 'A Holocaust Denier'
IL-3 Democratic challenger Marie Newman claims group tied to Congressman Dan Lipinski is texting voters saying she's a 'Holocaust denier.'
https://patch.com/illinois/oaklawn/group-tied-lipinski-claims-she-s-holocaust-denier
LA GRANGE, IL -- Challenger Marie Newman is calling out Congressman Dan Lipinski for running a "dishonest machine-style campaign" after some of her supporters complained of receiving text messages stating that Newman is a "Holocaust denier." Newman and Lipinski are said to be in a statistical dead heat in the contentious Democratic primary in Illinois's 3rd Congressional District. Supporters said they began receiving the text messages this past weekend.
A woman who identifies herself as "Leslie Benjamini" from the Washington, D.C.-based No Labels group -- a political centrist organization comprised of Republicans, Democrats and Independents who aim to combat partisan dysfunction in politics by focusing on bipartisan problem solving -- texted a voter asking him if he planned to vote for Dan Lipinski in the March 20 Democratic primary. When the the receiver stated he is voting for Newman, Benjamini states that Lipinski's opponent is a Holocaust denier. Benjamini tells the receiver to look up "No Labels, a new group that is trying to get government working again." The message goes on to state that Lipinski is a "believer in this group."
"His opponent is a Holocaust denier among other things," the text goes on to say. "Please educate yourself before you vote. All I ask."
Lipinski does have an opponent who is a Holocaust denier who is running as the lone candidate in the Republican primary in Illinois' 3rd District, avowed neo-Nazi Art Jones of Lyons. In the second message sent to the Newman supporter, Benjamini mistakes the receiver's phone number for his mother's.
"For the second time I am NOT [NAME] … she is my mother and she hosted a fundraiser for Marie Newman. And for the record, I voted for her early Saturday [March 10]." "Thanks for voting," Benjamini texts back. "Did you know she's a Holocaust denier."
The No Labels group based in Washington, D.C., was founded in 2010. The group strives to "create a vibrant New Center that supports leaders who put country before party." No Labels inspired the Problem Solvers Caucus, a bipartisan group of congressional members that includes Lipinski. A Chicago Sun-Times investigation has also tied No Labels to such Super PACS as United for Progress Inc. As of late, United for Progress Inc. has been sent out a flurry of political hit pieces attacking Newman's progressive agenda, as well as TV and radio commercials
An angry Newman demanded an apology from Lipinski, accusing the congressman of running "dishonest machine campaign."
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‘No Labels’ Needs A Warning Label
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/opinion-no-labels-mark-pocan_n_5c06b110e4b0cd916fb0b042
I was duped.
When I was elected to Congress in 2012, I attended the Bipartisan Program for Newly Elected Members of Congress at Harvard University. I was so excited to be a member of a branch of government for the most awesome country on the planet. At the program, one of the presentations was from a group named No Labels. The organization put forward a proposal for governing that meant working across the aisle to solve problems and stopping the gridlock in Washington. I was excited! While I was a strong progressive in the Wisconsin Legislature, that was my governing approach. By working with people who do not always agree with you, you find out what you have in common and you can get good things done.
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However, things quickly went south. I attended a few meetings at the outset, but the rhetoric wasn’t about finding ways to get things done and breaking gridlock ― rather it was more about finding more centrist, more corporate and more special interest-focused things to do. Soon thereafter, No Labels became involved in elections with a closely contested U.S. Senate race in Colorado, backing Republican Cory Gardner over Democrat Mark Udall. That didn’t seem right. A group that wasn’t supposed to pick labels was doing exactly that: picking a label. When asked to join the Problem Solvers Caucus, members were never told that this would be part of the program.
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I drifted away from the organization, as apparently did most people who thought it was focused on trying to break through the gridlock in Washington. No Labels’ membership has dwindled steadily since 2015. Fast-forward to the past few weeks, when No Labels’ Problem Solvers Caucus tried to threaten Nancy Pelosi’s speakership. While No Labels was originally advertised as a group committed to getting things done and breaking gridlock, it now seems more focused on stopping Pelosi and providing a fast track for special interests and lobbyists.
Worse, this past week I’ve read a few articles regarding what No Labels has been up to in the last couple of years. First, the organization spent almost twice as much helping re-elect Republicans as it spent helping Democrats. Second, reporters reviewed email correspondence that showed No Labels contemplating a plan to attack Pelosi and use her leadership as a wedge to divide congressional Democrats. And third, it’s clear that No Labels never had any meaningful ultimatums or demands on rules for leadership during eight years of a Republican-led House, or over the last four years of a Republican-led Senate. No Labels only has challenges for Democratic leadership in the House, specifically, for our next speaker, Nancy Pelosi.
That sure seems like a label to me. Look, I get it. No Labels is slick, and I got duped. But no other current or newly elected member of Congress should fall for its shtick. No Labels is a centrist, corporate organization working against Democrats with dark, anonymous money to advance power for special interests. Period.
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