Zuckerberg urged transparency in politics, but his election group’s spending remains shrouded

Center for Tech and Civic Life has refused several requests to show how much of its $350 million was spent in Democrat, GOP areas.

Under a microscope during a Senate hearing two years ago, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg insisted the key to detecting those trying to influence elections, including foreigners, was transparency. "This is an area where I think more transparency will really help discourse overall and root out foreign interference in elections," Zuckerberg testified in August 2018, a pledge about Facebook political ads that he delivered by providing more information about the ads and their sponsors to users. But Zuckerberg's own influence on the 2020 election — an unprecedented $350 million gambit to route money though the nonprofit Center for Tech and Civic Life to local election districts across the country — remains shrouded in secrecy because the group won't release the amounts and timing of its grants. CTCL provided Just the News a link to a spreadsheet listing some 2,500 localities — scattered among red and blue states — that it granted money to in 2020 to help turn out voters during a pandemic. But CTCL refused repeated requests to provide the amounts and dates of grants to each district. The latter data is necessary to calculate per capita spending in each community and determine whether the group has favored Democrats or Republicans with its grant making.

Early information obtained through open records requests and lawsuits has created concerns among conservative activists at least that CTCL used Zuckerberg's money to benefit big blue urban areas and to dictate voter turnout outcomes. For instance, official government memos from Wisconsin show the city of Racine, a reliable Democrat-led enclave in an otherwise red-leaning county in southeastern Wisconsin, was given an initial $100,000 grant from CTCL to develop a COVID-voting plan for itself and four other communities. The other communities are all Democrat stronghold cities in Wisconsin like Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, and Kenosha. "$100,000.00 in planning grant funds from the Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, for planning safe and secure election administration in the City of Racine in 2020, and coordinating such planning with other cities in Wisconsin is approved," stated a June 2, 2020 memo from the city council to the Wisconsin legislature showing the city had won the grant from CTCL. "Fiscal Note: $60,000.00 of these grant funds will be retained by the City of Racine and $10,000.00 will be distributed to each of the cities of Green Bay, Kenosha, Madison, and Milwaukee for this coordinated planning," the memo added.

All five cities targeted in that grant voted for Clinton in 2016 and Biden in 2020. Likewise, documents produced by the city of Philadelphia under a federal court order show Pennsylvania's largest city secured more than $10 million from CTCL promising specific outcomes, including as many as 800 polling places and 800,000 ballots cast in the general election. The number of promised polling places is more than four times the 190 polling places opened during the city's pandemic-affected primary earlier this year, and the promised turnout was estimated to be as many as 120,000 voters larger than the 2016 presidential election, which drew about 680,000 voters. About 80% of the vote went to Democrats in 2016 in the city. "The Office of the City Commissioners understands CTCL's interest in maximizing the number of polling locations and will work to identify over 800 locations," the city's application to CTCL stated.

https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/elections/zuckerberg-urged-transparency-politics-his-election-groups-spending

Transcript of Mark Zuckerberg’s Senate hearing

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2018/04/10/transcript-of-mark-zuckerbergs-senate-hearing/

link to a spreadsheet listing some 2,500 localities

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1E7P3owIO6UlpMY1GaeE8nJVw2x6Ee-iI9d37hEEr5ZA/edit#gid=1993755695

2016 Pennsylvania Presidential Election Results

https://www.politico.com/2016-election/results/map/president/pennsylvania/

Zuckerberg pours $250 million into group funding voting drives in Wisconsin Democratic strongholds

https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/elections/zuckerberg-pours-250-million-group-funding-voting-drives-wisconsin

Center for Tech and Civic Life Grant to PA.pdf (every community that received money)

https://justthenews.com/sites/default/files/2020-11/Center%20for%20Tech%20and%20Civic%20Life%20Grant%20to%20PA.pdf

https://justthenews.com/sites/default/files/2020-11/Racine%20CTCL%20Grant%20Agreement%20May%202020.pdf

>>11577574

This is recycled news.. came out last month

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffnt&q=*.Scientists+Discover+New+Organ+in+Throat&ia=web

Jason Miller — ‘We found illegal ballot harvesting in Georgia’

>>11577900

Baker not certain you saw this:

>>11577613 Zuckerberg urged transparency in politics, but his election group’s spending remains shrouded

This is about his $ effort and rules placed into swing states during the election period.

TIMING: NYT Finally Admits Damage Done to Riot-Torn Businesses

With Election Day over, The New York Times finally decided to do a retrospective assessment of the damage caused by the Marxist rioting that American businesses had suffered for months on end. The Times admitted shockingly in a new report: “Some activists have downplayed the damage to businesses from looting and arson in racial justice protests around the country. But some small entrepreneurs are struggling.” The Times even cited Philadelphia Inquirer architecture critic Inga Saffron’s June 1 piece “Buildings Matter, Too,” where she wrote: “‘People over property’ is great as a rhetorical slogan. But as a practical matter, the destruction of downtown buildings in Philadelphia — and in Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and a dozen other American cities — is devastating for the future of cities.” Even more revealing was a buried critique of the economic devastation the George Floyd “protests” had inflicted in the fourth paragraph: “Mr. Floyd’s death was the start of months of protests for racial justice led by the Black Lives Matter movement that have left long-term economic damage, especially in lower-income business districts.” [Emphasis added.] Of course, this is a much different tune compared to what The Times was singing about the rioting in a July story headlined: “Peaceful Protesters With ‘Room for Rage’ Sympathize With Aggressive Tactics.” In that story, The Times characterized the violence in Portland, Oregon in pure propagandized fashion: [T]he nightly assault on the federal courthouse has been part of a much wider peaceful resistance — high school students, military veterans, off-duty lawyers, lines of mothers who call themselves the 'Wall of Moms' — that began assembling nearly two months ago in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of the Minneapolis police.

But, to be fair, The Times tech and internet culture reporter Nellie Bowles, who wrote the latest documentation of damage done to American businesses, has been a bit more forthcoming than her employer. This past year, Bowles had “managed to provide close-up pictures of the real-time, real-world consequences of the often violent, destructive, anti-American ‘protests’ taking place in Northwest U.S. cities.” Bowles, in her latest piece, decided to give the apologists of the violence a hard dose of reality. Concerning the shooting of Jacob Blake, Bowles wrote: It is unclear if the looters and rioters in this town [Kenosha, Wisconsin] — or the ones that tore through the commercial districts of Minneapolis, Los Angeles and Chicago — were genuinely committed to the Black Lives Matter movement or just taking advantage of a chaotic situation after the police shooting of Mr. Blake, which is now being investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice. Focusing specifically on the city of Kenosha, Wisconsin, Bowles estimated that “more than 35 small businesses were completely destroyed.” She continued: “[A]round 80 [businesses] have been damaged, according to the city’s business association. Almost all are locally owned and many are underinsured or struggling to manage.” [Emphasis added.]

Bowles also took away a key talking point from leftists that what’s destroyed in property could be replaced: Within the argument that looting is a minor issue is the assumption that property owners can easily replace what was lost. But many of the small businesses in Kenosha’s lower- and middle-income Uptown neighborhood will not receive enough in insurance proceeds to fully replace destroyed property. And many business owners across Kenosha describe the losses in more personal ways.

https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/business/joseph-vazquez/2020/11/10/timing-nyt-finally-admits-damage-done-riot-torn-businesses

Iran offers Arab states 'mafia deal' of security or punishment after Trump

The message was clearly aimed at Gulf states and others that are partnered with the US.

Iran has sought to reach out to its Arab neighbors, with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif warning them that US President Donald Trump will be leaving in 70 days, but Iran’s regime will remain “forever.” He urged them to realize that “betting on outsiders to provide security is never a good gamble.” In Arabic and English, he called for dialogue and to work together. The message was clearly aimed at Gulf states and others that are partnered with the US. Iran was offering them an opening, a message: Shift and join us, or suffer in the future – the US will not protect you. This is a kind of carrot-and- stick approach, a mafia don offering protection. A sincere message to our neighbors: Trump's gone in 70 days..But we'll remain here forever..Betting on outsiders to provide security is never a good gamble..We extend our hand to our neighbors for dialog to resolve differences..Only together can we build a better future for all. — Javad Zarif (@JZarif) November 8, 2020. In a long speech quoted by Fars News Agency, Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh urged Iran’s neighbors to return to talks with Iran. “The Trump administration has gone in a very wrong direction over the past few years, and the maximum pressure has reached the maximum failure,” he said. “After the martyrdom of [IRGC Quds Force] General [Qasem] Soleimani, Iran resorted to the necessary reactions.” “Only the language of peace and respect responds to the dignity and civilized people of Iran,” Khatibzadeh said. “It is still time to step back from our failed policies and the inhumane legacy of the United States and the charlatans and bankrupt people who are advising the current US administration. We are looking closely at the actions and careers of the future US administration.” “We have to rely solely on ourselves, and the only solutions are indigenous… let the logical path of decision-making move forward, and the most dangerous thing is to look at foreign policy from the outside,” he said.

Tehran is wondering what might come next after Trump leaves. “Iran has had a continuous policy, which is the policy of good neighborliness,” Khatibzadeh said. He echoed Zarif’s warning that those who asked for US security protection would find that “they cannot always pay and lobby and buy security and kill the Yemeni people.” This reference was about Saudi Arabia’s intervention in Yemen since 2015. “This is a clear message from Iran to them that we said seven years ago in this government and in previous years that still stands,” Khatibzadeh said. “We hope they reach the rationale that we need a local mechanism in the region. Iran is always ready.” Here again, Iran was promising Arab states a carrot-and-stick approach. If they obey Iran and work with its regime, then there will be security on Iran’s model, a “mechanism” from Tehran. Zarif’s “good cop” approach clearly leaves the “bad cop” actions in the background. Last year, Iran used drones and cruise missiles to attack Saudi Arabia. It has mined ships in the Gulf of Oman, sent proxies to attack US troops in Iraq, fired rockets at the Kurdish regional capital of Erbil, attacked Kurdish dissidents in Koya, threatened tribes allied with the US in Deir al-Zor and pushed Hezbollah to threaten Israel from the Golan Heights. Iran’s friends in Lebanon, Hezbollah and Badr Party parliament members in Iraq, have all joined calls by the IRGC in Iraq to work closely with China. Iran is therefore quite clear now in messaging that it offers peace and security under its umbrella in the region. The quiet message behind this entreaty – to be nice to Tehran as Trump leaves – seems to be that those who don’t accept and bend their knees in submission will face the wrath.

https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/iran-offers-arab-states-mafia-deal-of-security-or-punishment-after-trump-648489

>>11578239

I know..feel bad for the people who live under the rein of these warlords.

>>11578296

Amen Anon..For God, Family, and Country!

>>11578309

Indeed! Loud and Clear!