The diary that has spent the better part of today atop the Rec list sure sounded good:
Paul Ryan Reported to FBI for Fraud and Obstruction
HEY! Paul Ryan has been reported to the FBI!
(Whatever the fuck that means.)
As of this moment, the diary has received 362 recs and 1,772 posts to Facebook.
The diary breathlessly reports on this official looking tweet from some guy named Scott Dworkin (no relation to our esteemed front-pager, Greg Dworkin):
Look! It even has the official FBI logo in it!
Now it’s time to follow the bouncing ball...
So how much did the PAC raise and where did it spend it’s money?
Here’s how much the PAC raised:
2016 PAC Summary Data
Total Receipts |
$119,300 |
Total Spent |
$128,441 |
Begin Cash on Hand |
$0 |
End Cash on Hand |
($22,676) |
Debts |
$0 |
Date of last report |
November 28, 2016 |
And where did most of the money go?
Top Vendors/Recipients
And who is the head of Bulldog Finance Group?
OUR FOUNDER
Scott Dworkin became inspired to create Bulldog Finance Group after witnessing first-hand the demand for a more modern approach to political fundraising for Democrats. To date, Bulldog Finance Group has fundraised in all 50 states and internationally.
And who else works at Bulldog Finance Group?
Francesca Lucia joined Bulldog Finance Group in 2015, where she currently serves as Vice President. Francesca also serves as the National Finance Director of Keep America Great PAC, the fundraising arm of the Democratic Coalition Against Trump.
See how this works? You start an organization with a great sounding name (and you live by the motto, “ABAFD” — Always Be Asking For Donations):
Democratic Coalition Against Trump
You start a corresponding super PAC to support your organization:
Keep America Great PAC
You pay most of the money you raise to yourself and your friends! It’s awesome!
And then you send out breathless tweets about how your organization asked the FBI to investigate Paul Ryan, and — Voila! — you start the whole circle jerk of donations all over again!
These guys are old pros at this game. Back in October of 2016, Democratic Coalition Against Trump claimed they had “filed a complaint against James Comey.” (Sound familiar?)
As Snopes noted, this wasn’t the first time this organization had made such a claim.
Dworkin and company have been at this game for a while.
Snopes added this about their attempts to verify if Dworkin’s organization had actually filed a complaint about Comey:
We contacted Francesca Lucia, National Finance Director for the Democratic Coalition Against Trump, to inquire whether the complaint had actually been filed or whether the release simply indicated an intent to prepare and lodge such a motion. Lucia stated that the complaint was in fact filed by mail, but we were unable to otherwise verify whether it had been mailed or when the DOJ could conceivably receive or act upon it.
Lucia supplied a copy of a letter from Dworkin to the Office of Professional Responsibility at the Justice Department, but Snopes was unable to verify if the letter had ever been sent or even received by the Justice Department.
I would say that the fact that the diary in question spent nearly all day on the top of the Rec list is an embarrassment to the site. But given the promotion here recently of snake oil salespeople like Scott Dworkin, Louise Mensch, Claude Taylor, Palmer Report, John Schindler and other disreputable sources, all I can say is, “Fuck it.”
If admin here wants this place to turn into the left’s version of Breitbart, WND and Infowars — a site full of alt-facts and fake news promoting endless conspiracy theories and unadulterated bullshit — then have at it.
kos needs to protect his asset, and undermining the credibility of the site by allowing this lunatic fringe bullshit to thrive here is destructive to the site and to the very notion that there are actual facts, real journalism and serious investigation into the Trump-Russia connections ongoing.
By reccing up crap like the aforementioned diary, we are doing the work of Bannon, Conway and Trump for them by promoting fake news and alt-facts. We’re doing ourselves no favors.