Soros Bankrolled Unverified ‘Hate Crime’ Database Used by Major Media Outlets

'Documenting Hate' receives data from SPLC, CAIR, and partners with more than 100 outlets

Liberal billionaire George Soros bankrolled a massive "hate crime" database that is used by more than 100 media partners—including Google News Labs, New York Times Opinion, and ABC News—to report alleged hate crimes, according to tax documents and interviews.

The database, launched following the election of President Donald Trump, is "unverified" and receives stories of alleged "hate" from the likes of the left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), an organization currently in upheaval over charges of institutional racism perpetrated by its recently fired co-founder, Morris Dees, and the Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim civil rights group that was previously listed as an unindicted co-conspirator of terrorism. Media partners involved in the initiative have access to the unverified database, and use it to report stories of hate in the Trump era. ProPublica, an investigative reporting nonprofit based in New York City, launched the project, known as "Documenting Hate," in 2017. The New York Times backed the project in January 2017 editorial, "Why We Need a Project to Document Hate Crimes." "Reliable data on hate crimes is hard to come by. As reports of racist, anti-Semitic and Islamophobic harassment and attacks poured in after the election of Donald Trump, many Americans wondered whether they represented a nationwide increase in hate crime," the Times editorial board wrote. "While the Southern Poverty Law Center saw a dramatic increase in reports after the election, it’s not yet clear whether this indicates a nationwide trend."

ABC News later ran a piece titled, "Help ABC News, ProPublica and other newsrooms across America track hate crimes across the US" that also cites the SPLC as to why it is needed. The announcement urges the public to share their stories if they have been a victim of a hate crime. The project received hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding from George Soros's Foundation to Promote Open Society, according to the group's most recent tax forms. On page 321 of the Foundation to Promote Open Society's 2017 tax forms, a $200,000 contribution is shown to ProPublica "to create a well-reported data set of hate crimes and to produce high-quality investigative reporting on the subject" while another $375,000 donation was made to ProPublica "to support the hate crimes tracking project." Soros gave $200,000 more to the group, which was split between "general support" and a separate initiative on online price discrimination.

Soros vowed to put $10 million into combating hate crimes following Trump's election.

https://freebeacon.com/issues/soros-bankrolls-unverified-hate-crime-database-used-by-major-media-outlets/

Documenting Hate Partners

https://projects.propublica.org/graphics/hatecrimes-partners

Clare Bronfman faints in Nxivm hearing when asked if she hired Michael Avenatti

Seagram’s heiress Clare Bronfman collapsed in court Wednesday following a discussion with the judge about whether embattled lawyer Michael Avenatti had joined her defense team. Bronfman was in Brooklyn federal court for a hearing in the Nxivm sex-cult racketeering case when Judge Nicholas Garaufis said he’d been told “that she had an additional attorney who was negotiating with the government.” “Did she retain Mr. Avenatti to represent her in this case, yes or no?” Garaufis asked Donna Newman, one of Bronfman’s lawyers.

The question came just two days after Avenatti was busted in Manhattan on charges he tried to extort more than $20 million with the help of a co-conspirator, identified by several news outlets as celebrity lawyer Mark Geragos, who Bronfman hired late last month. Rather than answer, Newman requested a sidebar with the judge, and Bronfman joined more than a half-dozen lawyers for a private, 10-minute discussion next to Garaufis’ bench. On her way back, Bronfman — whose face appeared yellowish — stumbled and fell forward, but broke her fall by planting her hands on the defense table. One of her lawyers grabbed her and helped her to a chair, where she drank some water while courtroom personnel summoned an ambulance. A short time later, EMTs appeared with a stretcher, and Bronfman climbed on and was wheeled into a nearby conference room.

Nxivm leader Keith Raniere was taken to a holding cell, but Bronfman’s other co-defendants — including “Smallville” actress Allison Mack — weren’t present for the hearing. About 20 minutes later, Bronfman walked back into the courtroom, where Newman told the judge, “Her skin has not come back to color. And they recommend she go to the hospital.” Geragos also said, “She did black out, probably for 35 seconds to a minute.”

Prosecutor Mark Lesko then told Garaufis that he’d met with Avenatti and Geragos last week to discuss the case, prompting the judge to scold Bronfman’s lawyers. “There is no privilege associated with retention of counsel … I control and run this case!” he yelled. Garaufis ordered everyone back to court on Thursday to settle the issue of Avenatti’s involvement. On his way out of the courtroom, Geragos tried to duck reporters’ questions about whether he’s Avenatti’s alleged co-conspirator, saying that under Department of Justice policy, “that’s not something they disclose.” Asked if he was cooperating with the feds, Geragos mumbled, “No.”

https://nypost.com/2019/03/27/clare-bronfman-faints-in-nxivm-trial-when-asked-if-she-hired-michael-avenatti/