A protester holds up a Black Lives Matter sign outside the Hennepin County Government Center.
A new analysis is revealing the price tag of corporate America’s woke donations.
According to the latest reports from the Claremont Institute shows corporations have donated over $82 billion to Black Lives Matter-related causes.
According to The Daily Wire, the BLM Funding Database is a part of Claremont’s American Way of Life project.
In a column announcing the new tool, Claremont stated that the $82.9 billion given so far “includes more than $123 million to the BLM parent organizations directly. These figures, while shocking, likely underrepresent the true magnitude of the shakedown as some companies failed to make known their contributions, and many BLM organizations remain unknown.”
In the aftermath of the 2020 George Floyd riots, numerous American corporations lined up to direct funds towards BLM-related causes, as well as cut ties with Republicans. For example, BlackRock has pledged $810 million to BLM-related groups in the future.
“Blackrock instituted a $10M action plan, including $5M to organizations supporting racial equity, $5M fund to elevate Black and Latinx social entrepreneurs, and a doubling of its employee charitable gift matching program from $5K to $10K per donation,” the database claims. “It also established an $800M Impact Opportunities Fund to back businesses or projects serving BIPOC communities. About $80M of the fund deployed as of May, 2022.”
The now infamous Silicon Valley Bank, which critics have said failed due in part to its focus on woke causes, gave more than $73 million BLM and related groups.
However, Claremont reports that very little of the money featured in the database actually goes to helping poor black Americans. Instead, a majority of funds have been directed towards promoting controversial ideologies such as critical race theory and gender theory. Critics have also accused BLM leaders of profiting from the donations.
Bowers was hired by Marxist Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors in 2020 to help raise money. In the lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Bowers was described as a “rogue administrator, a middle man turned usurper” who siphoned contributions to the nonprofit activist group to use as a “personal piggy bank.”
A federal judge has issued an arrest warrant for Roy McGrath, the former chief of staff to two-term Maryland GOP Gov. Larry Hogan.
McGrath is facing an eight-count federal indictment stemming from a criminal corruption investigation. Charges include wire fraud, including securing a $233,648 severance payment equal to one year of salary as the head of Maryland Environmental Service. He also faces fraud and embezzlement charges connected to roughly $170,000 in expenses. McGrath has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
McGrath resigned from Hogan’s office a few months after the six-figure payment was reported.
One charge relates to allegations that McGrath falsified a memo that purports to show the Governor was informed of his then-chief of staff’s severance arrangement and signed off on the deal.
The former Governor, who until recently was mulling a White House bid has vehemently denied knowing or approving of a severance payment negotiated by McGrath.
U.S. District Court Judge Deborah Boardman issued the arrest warrant after McGrath failed to appear in Baltimore for the start of his criminal trial on Monday.
“Let’s hope he’s safe and there’s some mix-up,” Boardman told local outlet Maryland Matters on Monday.
Joseph Murtha, McGrath’s attorney, said he had attempted throughout the morning on Monday to reach his client and his wife.
“Most importantly, I’m concerned. I’m hoping he’s safe,” Murtha said. “These situations are very stressful, the uncertainty of going to trial can cause people to do things many people don’t think are appropriate. We hope that he’s safe.”
McGrath’s attorney noted t
McGrath also faces pending state criminal charges relating to alleged illegally recorded private conversations involving senior state officials without their permission during his employment at the Maryland Environmental Service and as chief of staff.
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Former President Donald Trump seems unconcerned with Manhattan District Attorney’s investigation into his alleged involvement in the $130,000 hush payment made to former pornstar Stormy Daniels.
On Monday, Trump’s attorneys revealed the former president would not testify in the grand jury investigation into the 2016 payment.
“We have no plans on participating in that proceeding,” Trump attorney Joe Tacopina told ABC News on Monday. “Decision needs to be made still. There’s been no deadline set, so we’ll wait and see.”
The Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg has been investigating whether Trump falsified business records in connection with a $130,000 payment Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen made to Daniels before the 2016 election. Prosecutors allege the “hush money” was to keep her from talking about a long-denied affair.
Trump has adamantly denied the affair.
On Friday, Cohen reportedly met with prosecutors for over seven hours in the latest sign the investigation into Trump is heating up. The former Trump adviser is scheduled to testify before a grand jury on Monday. (RELATED:Michael Cohen To Testify Monday In Trump Probe)
“My goal is to tell the truth,” Cohen told reporters outside the courthouse, according to the AP.
“This is not revenge,” he added. “This is all about accountability. He needs to be held accountable for his dirty deeds.”
Last week, The New York Times reported prosecutors are getting closer to formally charging Trump.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office recently signaled to Donald J. Trump’s lawyers that he could face criminal charges for his role in the payment of hush money to a porn star, the strongest indication yet that prosecutors are nearing an indictment of the former president, according to four people with knowledge of the matter.
The prosecutors offered Mr. Trump the chance to testify next week before the grand jury that has been hearing evidence in the potential case, the people said. Such offers almost always indicate an indictment is close; it would be unusual for the district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, to notify a potential defendant without ultimately seeking charges against him.
In New York, potential defendants have the right to answer questions in the grand jury before they are indicted, but they rarely testify, and Mr. Trump is likely to decline the offer. His lawyers could also meet privately with the prosecutors in hopes of fending off criminal charges.
Any case would mark the first indictment of a former American president, and could upend the 2024 presidential race in which Mr. Trump remains a leading contender. It would also elevate Mr. Bragg to the national stage, though not without risk, and a conviction in the complex case is far from assured.
The Justice Department has ordered former Trump administration trade advisor Peter Navarro to hand over hundreds of emails from a personal encrypted account that he used while working in the White House.
Navarro was required to turn over any records generated or received while working in his official capacity for the president under the Presidential Records Act (PRA). This explicitly includes records sent or received on an unofficial account.
However, the former Trump advisor argued that the PRA does not impose an obligation on him to turn over presidential records, cannot be enforced because there is no explicit mechanism, and is “’vague’ and unsettled,”
In Thursday’s opinion, District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly rejected each of Navarro’s arguments as to why he felt he didn’t need to turn over the emails from his personal account.
“These arguments ignore or contravene the statute’s purpose, framework and provisions,” Kollar-Kotelly noted in her opinion.
According to reports from The Hill, Navarro’s attorneys identified between 200-250 emails that would qualify as presidential records in response to a request by the Department of Justice, but he refused to turn them over.
The DOJ sued Navarro for the Proton Mail account materials last year after the former adviser refused to turn them over without a “grant of immunity.”
Back in January, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office dramatically escalated its investigation into former President Donald Trump.
At the time, D.A. Alvin Bragg began presenting evidence to a New York City grand jury on Trump’s role in paying for porn star Stormy Daniels‘ silence before the 2016 presidential election.
Now, the former president is being told that he could appear before the grand jury and testify next week if he wishes to — a strong indication he will face criminal charges.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office recently signaled to Donald J. Trump’s lawyers that he could face criminal charges for his role in the payment of hush money to a porn star, the strongest indication yet that prosecutors are nearing an indictment of the former president, according to four people with knowledge of the matter.
The prosecutors offered Mr. Trump the chance to testify next week before the grand jury that has been hearing evidence in the potential case, the people said. Such offers almost always indicate an indictment is close; it would be unusual for the district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, to notify a potential defendant without ultimately seeking charges against him.
In New York, potential defendants have the right to answer questions in the grand jury before they are indicted, but they rarely testify, and Mr. Trump is likely to decline the offer. His lawyers could also meet privately with the prosecutors in hopes of fending off criminal charges.
Any case would mark the first indictment of a former American president, and could upend the 2024 presidential race in which Mr. Trump remains a leading contender. It would also elevate Mr. Bragg to the national stage, though not without risk, and a conviction in the complex case is far from assured.
The payments to Daniels were to cover up an alleged affair between her and Trump. Bragg’s office chose to revive the investigation, which prosecutors used to charge former Trump attorney Michael Cohen with campaign finance violations.
Bragg’s predecessor considered charging Trump with violating election law for falsifying business records to misrepresent the payments but ultimately abandoned the idea.
In a lengthy statement, Trump lashed out about the news Thursday evening, saying in part:
I did absolutely nothing wrong, I never had an affair with Stormy Daniels, nor would I have wanted to have an affair with Stormy Daniels. This is a political Witch-Hunt, trying to take down the leading candidate, by far, in the Republican Party while at the same time also leading all Democrats in the polls, including Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
Senator Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) office is releasing more details on the senior’s sudden hospital visit.
The 81-year-old Senator fell at a dinner event on Wednesday evening at the Waldorf Astoria for the Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC closely affiliated with the leader. He is being treated for a concussion and will stay in the hospital for the next few days for treatment and observation, according to reports from The Hill.
“Leader McConnell tripped at a dinner event Wednesday evening and has been admitted to the hospital and is being treated for a concussion. He is expected to remain in the hospital for a few days of observation and treatment,” his office announced Thursday, breaking hours of silence after revealing Wednesday evening that the GOP leader had tripped and injured himself at a local hotel.
“The Leader is grateful to the medical professionals for their care and to his colleagues for their warm wishes,” McConnell’s office said.
McConnell won election to a seventh term in 2020 and is next up for reelection in 2026.
Critics of the senior lawmaker wasted no time before offering their distasteful remarks.
However, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer offered prayers for McConnell and his family in his opening remarks on Thursday. Sen. Schumer said he spoke with the Republican Senator Thursday morning and wished him a full and speedy recovery.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., offered prayers to Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY, who was hospitalized after tripping at a local hotel Wednesday.
BREAKING: The 81-year-old Kentucky Senator, Mitch McConnell has been hospitalized after tripping and falling at a dinner at the Waldorf Astoria. Currently his condition is unknown.
I just want to address this… I see a lot of people attacking him, almost cheering his injury…
Earlier this week, Texas Rep. Bryan Slaton (R) filed a bill to allow Texans to vote in the next general election on whether to secede from the United States and form its own sovereign nation.
“All political power rests in the People of Texas, and they deserve to have an opportunity to make their voice heard about the future of Texas,” Slaton said in an emailed statement to The Daily Wire.
The Texas Independence Referendum Act in the Texas House of Representatives would place a referendum on the ballot asking residents to determine the state’s future by exploring whether or not lawmakers should establish a commission to investigate the feasibility of Texas seceding from the Union and provide further recommendations to the state legislature.
The Texas Nationalist Movement, a group of approximately 440,000 Texans from across the political spectrum, has been leading the charge of the so-called “TEXIT” coalition to gain independence from the federal government since 2005.
President Daniel Miller of the group told The Daily Wire that its members represent the Lonestar State more than the Republican or Democrat parties.
“At the end of the day, the people of Texas want that right of self-government,” Miller said. “They do not feel like they’re being represented in a system where they feel crushed under the weight of 180,000 pages of federal laws, rules, and regulations administered by two and a half million unelected bureaucrats.”
Should the bill pass the state legislature and voters later this year, a bicameral committee of house and senate representatives will formulate a plan addressing four key issues relating to Texas independence. Such issues include constitutional and statutory matters, international covenants, treaties and agreements, and negotiations with the federal government.
“Texans are tired of making decisions here at home and having them overwritten at the stroke of a pen by an executive order or a ruling from an unelected, unaccountable federal judiciary,” Miller said. “Texans want the ability to govern themselves, and they believe that the best people to govern Texas just happen to be Texans.”
Miller says the TEXIT movement is different from other attempts to those efforts ignore the underlying issue of a “terminally broken” federal system.
“You could shift your counties over to a state that feels a little a little bit more representative of where you are ideologically,” Miller said. “But at the end of the day, it’s still the federal system that’s broken — and it’s still the federal system that drives so much of the dysfunction that we find in the United States right now.”
Efforts to prompt the Lonestar State to secede from the United States have gained traction before but have hit serious roadblocks. Numerous historians argue when the Confederacy surrendered in 1865, states could no longer legally secede from the Union.
“The legality of seceding is problematic,” Eric McDaniel, associate professor of government at the University of Texas at Austin, told The Texas Tribune in 2016. “The Civil War played a very big role in establishing the power of the federal government and cementing that the federal government has the final say in these issues.”
In 1836 Texas became a republic after breaking from Mexico. Nine years later Texas was annexed into the United States as the 28th state. Texans voted to secede from the Union in 1861 after divisions within the nation wanted to expand slavery into western territories. However, nine years later, Texas rejoined the country during the Reconstruction Era after the Confederacy was defeated in the Civil War.
Just before the Union readmitted the state back into the country, the U.S. Supreme Court declared in the 1869 case Texas v. White that efforts for individual states to unilaterally secede from the Union were ‘absolutely null.’”
In 2006, the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia wrote, “the answer is clear” concerning the legal basis of secession.
The topic of secession has recently dominated airwaves after pro-Trump Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene called for a “national divorce” prompting support and backlash from both sides of the political aisle.
Fox News Sean Hannity seemed to support Rep. Greene’s idea.
Hannity promoting Marjorie Taylor Greene‘s National Divorce Plan to his audience pic.twitter.com/Qa3cNHRBuY
New court documents are pulling back the curtain on the not-so-rosy relationship between Donald Trump and Fox News star Tucker Carlson.
More of Carlson’s private messages were revealed as part of Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against the network.
According to Mediaite, Carlson admitted his negative opinion of Trump during a text conversation with an unknown staffer on Jan. 4, 2021, just days before the riot at the U.S. Capitol, the prime-time star wrote, “We are very, very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights.”
The unknown staffer reportedly speculated that they believed the madness would cool down by “mid-February.”
“I hate him passionately,” Carlson replied. “I blew up at [former Trump official] Peter Navarro today in frustration. I actually like Peter. But I can’t handle much more of this.”
Carlson added that Trump and his lawyers “have so discredited their own case, and the rest of us to some extent, that it’s infuriating. Absolutely enrages me.”
“That’s the last four years,” Carlson continued. “We’re all pretending we’ve got a lot to show for it, because admitting what a disaster it’s been is too tough to digest. But come on. There isn’t really an upside to Trump.”
The Fox News star has hosted the nightly political talk show “Tucker Carlson Tonight” since 2019, has outwardly been a staunch supporter of the former president for years but his private messages reveal a very different side to the story.
According to Mediaite, Carlson expressed fear to a producer that Trump could “destroy” the network if it did not handle its coverage of his 2020 election claims in a certain way.
“What [Trump]’s good at is destroying things. He’s the undisputed world champion of that. He could easily destroy us if we play it wrong,” Carlson said.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy recently handed over 41,000 hours of Jan. 6th, 2021 footage to Carlson.
“[T]here was never any legitimate reason for this footage to remain secret,” Carlson told Axios. “If there was ever a question that’s in the public’s interest to know, it’s what actually happened on January 6.”
“By definition, this video will reveal it,” Carlson said. “It’s impossible for me to understand why any honest person would be bothered by that.”
Fox News has defended itself against the Dominion suit by arguing it was simply reporting on newsworthy allegations from the president of the United States and his surrogates.
Fox News issued a statement on the new release of exhibits, arguing the full context of the comments being cited by Dominion undermines their claims:
“Thanks to today’s filings, Dominion has been caught red handed again using more distortions and misinformation in their PR campaign to smear FOX News and trample on free speech and freedom of the press. We already know they will say and do anything to try to win this case, but to twist and even misattribute quotes to the highest levels of our company is truly beyond the pale,” a spokesperson said.
Freedom Convoy, Ottowa, Canada 2022 via Wikimedia Commons
Christine Anderson, a member of the European Parliament and a member of Germany’s conservative Alternative for Germany (AfD) party says that freedom, Democracy, and the rule of law are on the brink of collapse in Western nations and the Covid-19 pandemic is partially to blame.
“We are now violating what we thought was the foundation our societies were built on,” Anderson said.
Anderson recently completed a tour in Canada visiting the Freedom Convoy and decided to take the opportunity to attend this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) which is known to host thousands of conservative supporters, activists, and lawmakers to draw attention to the threats currently facing Western democracy.
The Freedom Convoy is a series of ongoing protests and blockades in Canada against Covid-19 vaccine mandates and restrictions. The convoy was originally created to protest vaccine mandates for crossing the United States border but later evolved into a protest about oppressive Covid-19 restrictions in general.
The German politician noted that her concerns are focused on Western democracy, admitting she doesn’t expect governments in China, North Korea, or even Russia to value ideals like freedom and rule of law.
“I hold the Western democracies to a higher standard, but we are now violating what we thought was the foundation our societies were built on and a really scary thing is that all these Western democracies seem to be in lock-step right now with whatever agenda they are trying to implement and push,” she explained.
The right-leaning EU parliament member says it’s time for the people to hold countries accountable for their actions.
“What is Democracy all about?” Anderson questioned. “Democracy is all about the people telling the government what to do, not the other way around.”
Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, Americans were forced to shutter businesses, close schools, and blindly agree to take newly released vaccinations. And if anyone dared speak against the latest narrative regarding vaccines or the virus? They could expect to be ridiculed, questioned, and ostracized by friends, family, co-workers, and even leaders in government.
“The whole narrative about ostracizing people was frustrating…the whole narrative of ‘my choice my body’ was gone. People were ridiculed and scapegoated,” the German politician reflected.
In 2021, President Joe Biden insulted Americans who had yet to receive “the jab” conveniently forgetting the fact he had cast doubt on the vaccines while Donald Trump was in the White House.
“If you’re not vaccinated, you’re not nearly as smart as I thought you were,” Biden said.
Joe Biden insults unvaccinated Americans: "You're not nearly as smart as I thought you were" pic.twitter.com/KsMCPY90yp
President Biden was an outspoken critic of former President Trump’s Operation Warp Speed program which is largely credited for helping create and distribute Covid-19 vaccines.
“The way [then-President Donald Trump] talks about the vaccine is not particularly rational,”
Biden said per the Western Journal. “He’s talking about it being ready, he’s going to talk about moving it quicker than the scientists think it should be moved. … People don’t believe that he’s telling the truth, therefore they’re not at all certain they’re going to take the vaccine.”
“And one more thing,” he said. “If and when the vaccine comes, it’s not likely to go through all the tests that needs to be and the trials that are needed to be done.”
However, while Covid-19 was able to highlight some government corruption Anderson says this dangerous assault on democracy has been happening for decades.
“We’ve seen a full-blown gaslighting of the people.” Anderson said. “Now, fundamental rights are being discussed as though they are privileges that the government grants or withholds depending on the citizen’s behavior.”
But all hope is not lost. The German politician was optimistic that more people have “woken up” over the past three years and are ready to push back.
“The so-called pandemic highlighted the left’s pressure campaign to redefine certain concepts,” Anderson reckoned. “It highlighted their ridiculousness and their willingness and determination to push back against people, disenfranchise them, and take away their rights.”
Anderson noted that her home country came dangerously close to repeating history by enacting legislation that would have forced unvaccinated citizens to pay for their own medical treatments or even be turned away for treatment altogether.
Germany’s public healthcare system ensures free healthcare for all.
“My country has been there historically,” Anderson warned. “This is exactly the stuff totalitarianism is made of. I had hoped that the Germans had learned their lesson, but I have to say they have not learned a damn thing.”
However, despite what some could call insurmountable odds Christine Anderson said she’s ready to take a stand against anti-democratic efforts whenever she sees it and refuses to let history repeat itself.
“I will always say what I believe to be true. When I see parallels between another totalitarian regime I will be there and I will point it out.”
Donald Trump took a swing at Fox Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch in an early morning post on his Truth Social account on the subject of election fraud.
“How does Rupert Murdoch say there was no election fraud when 2000 Mules shows, on government tape, that there were millions of ‘stuffed ballots,’ & Elon Musk released the FBI/Twitter Files, where pollsters say that the silencing of information made a 17% difference in the Vote,” Trump asked on TRUTH Social.
“2000 Mules” is a film produced by conservative commentator Dinesh D’Souza that examines claims that drop boxes were stuffed with fraudulent ballots. Fact-checkers have said that the film does not show evidence of widespread voter fraud and former Attorney General William Barr, who served under Trump, told the House select committee investigating the Capitol riot that he was “unimpressed” with the movie.
“Then there was, of course, FBI/Facebook, another big election integrity fraud costing millions of Votes-& this doesn’t even count all of the many other ways they cheated, or the fact that they avoided State Legislatures?” Trump continued on TRUTH Social.
Trump’s jab comes as Fox fights a $1.6 billion lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems, which is arguing that the network defamed its voting tech by sharing Trump’s claims that the machines were used to fraudulently elect President Biden.
According to the filing, which included statements made by the network’s owner, Ruper Murdoch, former Republican Speaker Paul Ryan (Wis.), who sits on the board of Fox Corp., wrote to Murdoch after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot to express his concerns. (RELATED: Paul Ryan Refuses to Attend RNC if Trump Wins 2024 Nomination)
The Hill reports Ryans said he believed that “some high percentage of Americans” thought the election had been rigged against Trump “because they got a diet of information telling them the election was stolen from what they believe were credible sources.”
“Thanks Paul,” Murdoch wrote back, according to the filing. “Wake-up call for Hannity, who has been privately disgusted by Trump for weeks, but was scared to lose viewers.”
Trump isn’t the only high-profile conservative to target Murdoch recently. Former Trump strategist Steve Bannon tore into Murdoch during his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC)
“Note to Fox News senior management: When Donald J. Trump talks, it’s newsworthy,” Bannon said during a fiery speech saying, “You’ve disrespected Donald Trump for long enough.”
“Is there really that much going on at two in the afternoon on Fox News that you can’t cover him live,” Bannon said. “They don’t respect you, read the depositions. They have a fear, a loathing and a contempt for you.”
“The Murdochs immediately have to start covering President Trump. No special deals, just cover the man, ask the tough questions,” Bannon said. “But we need to hear the voice of Donald J. Trump.”
