Research Cited

There’s a 50-50 chance states will call for a constitutional convention within 5 years: conservative legal scholar

Source: Insider | Published: 8/1/2022

At a December 2021 closed-door workshop at ALEC’s winter policy summit, Natelson told lawmakers the movement was “on the cusp of a supermajority” in audio obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy, a left-leaning watchdog, and shared with Insider. … Meckler’s groups, Convention of States Action and Citizens for Self Governance, have received millions […]

19 states have joined a new right-wing effort to remake the Constitution with their fringe ideas

ALEC, Democracy, Extremism

Source: Raw Story | Published: 7/31/2022

“You take this grenade and you pull the pin, you’ve got a live piece of ammo in your hands,” Santorum explained in audio captured by the Center for Media and Democracy. “34 states — if every Republican legislator votes for this, we have a constitutional convention.”

Republicans’ next big play is to ‘scare the hell out of Washington’ by rewriting the Constitution. And they’re willing to play the long game to win.

ALEC, Democracy, Extremism

Source: Insider | Published: 7/31/2022

A new report by the Center for Media and Democracy first shared with Insider finds that Republicans would control at least 27 and up to 31 out of 50 delegations to a convention, based on delegate selection processes in applications passed thus far.

Encouraged by right-wing doctor groups, desperate patients turn to ivermectin for long Covid

Economy, Extremism

Source: Stat | Published: 7/26/2022

The crusade’s origin was carefully coordinated, rather than springing from the grassroots. The Council for National Policy (CNP), a secretive organization formed in 1981 to promote Christian fundamental ideas, with funding from fossil fuel interests, first discussed the importance of physicians as figureheads of political messaging soon after the pandemic started. A leaked recording from […]

Genetic Literacy Project: PR Front for Monsanto, Bayer and the Chemical Industry

Economy

Source: U.S. Right to Know | Published: 7/14/2022

Jon Entine is closely tied in with the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH), a corporate front group that received funding from Monsanto and other corporations but did not disclose it. In 2011, ACSH published Entine’s book “Scared to Death,” which defends atrazine, a pesticide manufactured by Syngenta. Reporting by Tom Philpott in Mother Jones and the Center for Media […]

LA Sheriffs display Proud Boys, Three Percenters insignias in locker room

Extremism

Source: Daily Kos | Published: 7/13/2022

Villanueva even has ties to the shadowy Council for National Policy, a dark money group where powerful Republican leaders, conservative donors, and members of the radical right convene to devise political strategies and projects. The Center for Media and Democracy, a national watchdog group that investigates corruption and corporate front groups, has been looking into the Council for National Policy […]

Turning Point USA donations surged during the pandemic

Democracy, Education, Extremism, Trump

Source: NBC News | Published: 7/13/2022

The conservative nonprofit organization laid out its plans in a 2021 document meant for investors, as reported last year by the Center for Media and Democracy, a progressive organization. In the introduction to the investor prospectus, Kirk wrote that in the coming year Turning Point USA would “mount the country’s most forceful and systematic effort […]

We don’t need no education: Now Arizona says teachers don’t require college degrees

ALEC, Democracy, Education

Source: Salon | Published: 7/12/2022

In fact, ALEC, which has included staffers of online for-profit school corporations among its leadership, has had a model bill called the Alternative Certification Act available for state legislators to adopt since 2005. As Brendan Fischer and Zachary Peters wrote at PR Watch, versions of the act were introduced in four states by 2016, including Wisconsin, which also surreptitiously added […]

Brittney Griner Unlawfully Detained in Russia

ALEC, Democracy, Education, Elections

Source: LA Progressive | Published: 7/8/2022

There has been much criticism recently of Florida’s recently enacted Parental Rights in Education Bill signed into law in April that appeared to follow Russia’s lead. But, it was revealed by The Center for Media and Democracy , a nonprofit that tracks the work of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), that the Parental Rights […]

Super fast internet service — from a mystery provider — coming as early as end of year

Economy, Koch

Source: The Herald-Times | Published: 6/29/2022

The local incumbents, Comcast, AT&T and Spectrum, even got support from the Washington, D.C.-based so-called Taxpayers Protection Alliance, which sent a representative from the nation’s capitol to warn city council members they would be using taxpayer resources “to build out redundant infrastructure.” Sourcewatch classifies the alliance as “an advocacy front group” that is part of […]