Tag: lobbyists

When Watchdogs Sleep: The Failure of Government Oversight

Imagine a world where the people tasked with protecting you are the ones leaving the door wide open for danger. Sounds like a bad movie plot, right? But this isn’t fiction. This is the reality of government oversight—or the lack of it. Agencies created to prevent corruption and ensure fairness often end up doing the opposite. They don’t just fail; they become part of the problem. How does this happen? Let’s dig in.

The Illusion of Protection

We’re told that government agencies are our guardians. They’re supposed to watch over industries, enforce laws, and keep the powerful in check. But what happens when these watchdogs fall asleep on the job? Or worse, what if they’re not sleeping at all—what if they’re working for the very people they’re supposed to regulate?

Take the financial sector, for example. After the 2008 crash, we were promised tighter controls. New rules were put in place to prevent another disaster. But here’s the kicker: many of the people who wrote those rules came from the banks they were supposed to regulate. It’s like hiring a fox to guard the hen house. And guess what? The foxes are still eating well.

The Revolving Door

One of the biggest problems is what’s known as the “revolving door.” This is when government officials leave their posts to take high-paying jobs in the industries they once regulated. It happens all the time. A regulator today could be a corporate lobbyist tomorrow. And when that happens, whose interests do you think they’re really serving?

This isn’t just a theory. It’s a well-documented pattern. People in power use their government positions as stepping stones to lucrative private sector jobs. In return, they go easy on the companies they’re supposed to oversee. It’s a cozy arrangement that benefits everyone—except the public.

The Bureaucratic Black Hole

Government agencies are often criticized for being slow and inefficient. But what if that inefficiency is by design? When agencies drag their feet, it’s not just annoying—it’s dangerous. Delays in enforcement can allow bad actors to continue their harmful practices unchecked.

For instance, environmental regulations are supposed to protect our air and water. But when agencies take years to investigate violations, polluters have plenty of time to keep polluting. And by the time any action is taken, the damage is already done. It’s a system that seems almost designed to fail.

Keep reading

Congressman Thomas Massie Faces Trump’s Wrath Over Dual Citizenship Proposal and AIPAC Stance

U.S. Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY) has found himself at the center of a political firestorm after proposing a ban on dual citizenship for lawmakers, a move that has drawn sharp criticism from President Donald Trump and highlighted Massie’s ongoing tensions with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). The libertarian-leaning Kentucky congressman, known for his independent streak, has taken no financial contributions from AIPAC, a pro-Israel lobbying group, which some of his supporters claim has made him a target for political retaliation.

Massie’s proposal, first publicized in August 2024 via a post on X, calls for members of Congress who hold dual citizenship to renounce citizenship in all other countries. At a minimum, he argued, they should disclose such statuses and abstain from votes that specifically benefit those nations. “Dual citizens elected to United States Congress should renounce citizenship in all other countries,” Massie wrote, igniting a debate about loyalty and influence in American politics. While the proposal has not yet been formally introduced as legislation, it has gained traction among some conservative and populist circles, who see it as a way to ensure lawmakers prioritize U.S. interests.

The controversy escalated on March 10, 2025, when Trump announced on Truth Social that he would “lead the charge” to primary Massie, accusing the congressman of being an “automatic ‘NO’ vote on just about everything” and comparing him to former Representative Liz Cheney, whom Trump successfully helped oust in 2022. Trump’s ire appears to stem from Massie’s refusal to support a short-term government funding bill backed by the president, as well as his broader history of bucking party leadership. However, posts on X and comments from Massie’s supporters suggest that his stance on dual citizenship and his rejection of AIPAC funding may also be fueling the conflict.

AIPAC, a powerful lobbying organization that spent over $100 million in the 2024 election cycle to support pro-Israel candidates, has had a fraught relationship with Massie. In a June 2024 interview with Tucker Carlson, Massie claimed that every Republican congressman except him has an “AIPAC babysitter” – a liaison who lobbies them on behalf of the group’s interests. He has also criticized U.S. military aid to Israel, notably boycotting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress in July 2024 and calling for Israel to fund its own weapons if it targets civilian infrastructure in Lebanon. AIPAC, in turn, has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on attack ads against Massie in past primaries, though he easily won reelection in Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District in November 2024 with no Democratic opponent.

Keep reading

The Arbitrary Hypocrisy of American “Justice”

US Democrat Senator Bob Menendez, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was sentenced to eleven years in prison by federal district judge Sidney Stein for acting as an illegal agent for Egypt and accepting cash and gold bars as payment.

How does this differ from the $1,417,811 bribe that Big Pharma pays in campaign contributions to Senator Bernie Sanders or the $821,941  campaign contribution Big Pharma pays to Senator Elizabeth Warren?  If you think these sums don’t make Sanders and Warren agents of Big Pharma, you are out of your mind.  Warren is doing her Big Pharma assigned job by trying to block Robert Kennedy’s confirmation as Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Congress is up for sale, and it is purchased with campaign contributions. Everyone in Washington knows that members are purchased by lobby groups, such as Big Pharma, the military/security complex, agribusiness, energy, the Israel Lobby, and so on.  A corrupt or stupid Supreme Court legalized the purchase of the US government by lobby groups.  This is the reason that Congress does not represent the people who elect Congress. You can blame your lack of representation squarely on the US Supreme Court. One can’t help but wonder if there were under the table payoffs.

An uninformed person might answer that Menendez was paid personally, whereas campaign contributions are not personal money.  But, in fact, retiring members are entitled to take their election war fund with them.  Those planning to retire pay attention to building up their re-election funds.

Keep reading

RFK Jr. TORCHES Bernie Sanders For Taking Big Pharma Donations

The crowd went wild with applause on Thursday after Donald Trump Health and Human Services nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. slammed hypocrite Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for taking millions of dollars from Big Pharma.

The moment came during day two of Kennedy’s Senate confirmation hearing, where he told Sanders, “By the way Bernie, the problem with corruption is not just in the federal agencies, it’s in Congress too. Almost all the members of this panel are accepting, including yourself, are accepting millions of dollars from the pharmaceutical industry.”

When the audience clapped in approval of RFK’s comment, Sanders angrily waved his hand in the air, saying, “Oh no! No, no, no, no… I ran for president like you. I got millions and millions of contributions. They did not come from the executives, not one nickel of PAC money from the pharmaceutical industry, they came from workers.”

Kennedy responded, “In 2020 you were the single largest receiver of pharmaceutical money… Bernie, you were the single largest accepter of pharmaceutical dollars. $1.5 million.”

“Yeah, out of $200 million,” Sanders answered.

During Wednesday’s confirmation hearing for Kennedy, the socialist senator launched into an unhinged tirade at Robert F. Kennedy Jr. regarding baby clothes that celebrate not taking vaccines.

Highlighting Kennedy’s former group Children’s Health Defense (CHD) advertised baby clothing that said “Unvaxxed Unafraid” and “No Vax, No Problem” on its website, Sanders shouted, “ARE YOU SUPPORTIVE OF THESE ONESIES?!”

Keep reading

Former ‘GMA Producer’ Accused of Taking Thousands from Florida Lobbying Firm for ‘Hit Job’ Interviews Sues NPR, Floodlight, and High-Profile Players

Freelance television producer Kristen Hentschel has filed a high-profile lawsuit against a web of powerful individuals and organizations, alleging that a conspiracy led to the destruction of her once-flourishing career.

The ‘Emmy-nominated producer’ accuses Jeffrey Pitts, a former CEO of the controversial consulting firm Matrix LLC, along with public relations powerhouse McNicholas & Associates, and prominent news outlets NPR and Floodlight, of orchestrating a campaign of defamation, false light, and invasion of privacy.

“Plaintiff Kristen Hentschel (“Plaintiff” or “Hentschel”) brings this action against Defendant Jeffrey Pitts (“Pitts”) for tortious interference with business relationships, defamation, false light, and invasion of privacy, against Defendant McNicholas & Associates, Inc. (“McNicholas”) for invasion of privacy and false light, and against Defendants National Public Radio, Inc. (“NPR”) and Floodlight, Inc. (“Floodlight”) for defamation and false light,” according to the court filing obtained by The Gateway Pundit.

Hentschel, who previously worked behind the scenes at ABC News, claims her professional and personal life became collateral damage in a power struggle between Pitts and Matrix’s owner, Joe Perkins.

The allegations center on Pitts, who allegedly “groomed” Hentschel to serve his interests before sacrificing her career to protect high-profile clients, including Florida Power & Light and Florida Crystals.

Hentschel contends that Pitts provided false information to media outlets, resulting in NPR and Floodlight publishing defamatory articles that irreparably damaged her reputation.

The stories, published in late 2022, accused Hentschel of unethical journalism practices, including leveraging her ABC credentials for corporate espionage—a claim she vehemently denies.

The Journalist’s Resource reported that the operations of Matrix LLC, a political consulting firm, and its alleged payments to local news outlets to shape coverage in favor of powerful clients, might have remained undisclosed if not for an anonymous whistleblower who leaked hundreds of internal documents in 2022.

The leaked trove included emails, financial ledgers, and other records that laid bare the firm’s covert tactics.

Keep reading

INVESTIGATION: American “news” is mostly written by Israeli lobbyists pushing Zionist agenda

Mint Press News conducted an in-depth investigation into who writes America’s “news,” and the findings are shocking, though expected.

It turns out that hundreds of former Israeli lobbyists from groups like AIPAC (American-Israeli Political Action Committee), StandWithUs, and CAMERA are pretty much running the largest media organizations in the United States, including at MSNBC, The New York Times, CNN and Fox News.

Specifically with news related to the Israel-Palestine situation, these embedded Israeli lobbyists are steering what millions of Americans believe about what Israel really is and what is really going on in the Middle East right now.

“Many key U.S. newsroom staff were also formerly Israeli spies or intelligence agents, standing in stark contrast to journalists with pro-Palestine sentiments, who have been purged en masse since October 7, 2023,” reports Mint Press News.

While the Israel-Palestine conflict is about as old as time itself, it is a relatively new phenomenon for many Americans to learn that this conflict has now come to the United States via the “news.”

For years, Israeli lobbyists have controlled what gets published, most of it having a pro-Israel slant. Most people now seem to know that the corporate media is generally untrustworthy, but it is new information for them to learn that actual pro-Israel activists are the ones telling most of the stories about the Middle East.

According to Mint Press News, the job of these Israeli lobbyists is to “whitewash Israeli crimes and manufacture consent for continued U.S. participation in what a wide range of international organizations have described as a genocide.”

Take NBCUniversal, for instance, where journalist and associated producer Kayla Steinberg works. Back in 2018, Steinberg introduced herself to the world with an immediate admission that she is a Zionist through and through.

“The summer before my first year of college, I attended the AIPAC New England Leadership Dinner and absolutely loved it,” Steinberg said at the time.

“After going to Saban, I knew I had to get involved in [AIPAC] and go back to Israel … I dream of being a journalist someday, and I hope to write about Israel or Judaism. WIPAC and AIPAC have taught me so much about how important it is for the U.S. to be Israel’s greatest friend, and I know now why I am proudly pro-Israel.”

NBCUniversal hired “many” former Israeli lobbyists like Steinberg – and keep in mind that NBCUniversal is a conglomerate that owns all sorts of other well-known media outlets including CNBC, NBC News and MSNBC.

NBC reporter Emma Goss is another whose career in media began with a trip to Israel where she helped make a documentary for Write on For Israel.

“This Zionist group aims to educate young Jewish students to ‘make a difference on college campuses’ by learning about Jewish identity and anti-Semitism in American universities,” Mint Press News explains.

Keep reading

Pharma, Big Ag Lobbyists Help U.S. Scuttle Global Plan to Cut Antibiotic Use in Industrial Meat Production

Targets to cut the use of antimicrobials in animal agriculture were dropped from a key United Nations (U.N.) political declaration following pushback from the agriculture and veterinary drug industry and meat-producing nations comprising the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

The declaration is meant to commit countries to address surging resistance to antimicrobial medicines — a problem that kills nearly 1.3 million people globally in a single year, topping deaths from HIV and malaria combined.

On Sept. 26, global leaders will meet at the U.N. where they are expected to adopt the declaration. But without concrete targets, scientists, global leaders and politicians are concerned that governments won’t effectively address the problem.

In particular, they will fail to curb the use of antimicrobials in farm animals, which is spurring the development of resistance to critical medicines, they warn.

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), who is campaigning for improved control of antibiotics in food-producing animals in the U.S., said in a statement, “The massive overuse of antibiotics on factory farms in the United States is a serious threat to public health.”

“Federal agencies have a troubling history of deferring to corporate interests on this issue, and I am very concerned about any role that the United States played in weakening international commitments to reduce antibiotic use in farm animals,” he adds.

Keep reading

‘Dance You Monkey’: Emails Show Biden Clean Air Official Took Commands From Chemical Lobbyist

President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate Joe Goffman to lead the EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation on March 8, 2022. That same day, Goffman wrote to Rich Gold, a major Democratic donor and Holland & Knight lobbyist who represents clients including the American Chemistry Council, oil and gas companies, and the timber industry, to thank him.

“It’s live,” Goffman said of the job announcement, text messages reviewed by The Daily Wire show. “Will I ever be able to thank you enough?”

“Gotta get good people in these jobs,” the lobbyist said. “And need to chat next steps.”

Goffman said he would call the lobbyist “tomorrow morning so I can give you a heads up about something.”

Messages between Goffman and Gold, obtained by the watchdog group Functional Government Initiative under the Freedom of Information Act and shared with The Daily Wire, suggest that Goffman did pay the favor back. In the ensuing months, Goffman shared intimate information about dynamics within the EPA, and in one case promised to “pull a rabbit out of the hat” for Gold.

In June 2022, Gold complained that Goffman’s staff had cancelled a meeting with the American Forest & Paper Association, which paid Gold $200,000 the year prior. Goffman agreed to undo the cancellation, despite having important business to do that day.

“What do I need to do?” the EPA official asked the lobbyist.

“Dance you monkey, dance,” came the reply. “I”ll be there. With tomatoes.”

The messages do not explain what Gold did to help Goffman secure the nomination from Biden. Responding to this story, EPA spokesman Nick Conger told The Daily Wire “A wide array of people supported Joe Goffman prior to and following his nomination as Assistant Administrator in the Office of Air and Radiation. Mr. Goffman engages regularly with a variety of stakeholders – including those from the regulated community – as part of his work to protect public health and the environment.” Goffman did not comment.

The relationship is an example of the “revolving door” in which entrenched Washington insiders use connections made from brief stints in government to fuel lucrative careers peddling access to their successors. Gold worked as a special assistant to the EPA administrator from 1993 to 1994, and has been a lobbyist ever since.

Keep reading

Israel lobby spends millions to unseat US lawmaker critical of Gaza war

The pro-Israel lobby in the US is pouring millions into a campaign to unseat an African-American Congresswoman from Missouri, Cori Bush, as part of a broader effort to replace critics of Israel’s war in Gaza with more Israel-friendly Democrats, The Washington Post reported on 6 August.

“It’s because I called for a cease-fire in Gaza,” Bush told a potential voter as she campaigned door-to-door in her district. “That’s where all of this started.”

Bush is facing a tight primary contest Tuesday against St Louis County Prosecutor and fellow African-American and Democrat Wesley Bell, who is supported by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the largest and most powerful pro-Israel group in the US.

Whoever wins the primary will run against the Republican party’s candidate for the congressional seat in November.

Outside groups have already spent over $15 million in Missouri’s 1st Congressional district race, with 80 percent of the funds going toward ads opposing Bush and supporting her AIPAC-backed opponent.

In June, AIPAC and other pro-Israel groups spent $17 million to help defeat another progressive African-American member of the US Congress who was critical of the Gaza war, Democrat Jamaal Bowman from New York.

The Washington Post adds that the National Black Empowerment Action Fund (NBEA), founded by AIPAC veteran Darius Jones, donated $1 million to the campaign against Bush last week.

Most of the voters in Bush’s district with whom the Washington Post spoke said they did not know that AIPAC and other Israel lobby groups were so involved in tipping the race.

Keep reading

USDA Adds Another Hemp Industry Representative To Trade Committee To Promote The Crop Globally

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) have added another hemp industry executive to a federal trade advisory committee to help bolster efforts to promote U.S.-grown cannabis around the world.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and USTR Representative Katherine Tai announced on Thursday that they have appointed Dylan Summers, vice president of government affairs for the CBD company Lazarus Naturals, to their Agricultural Technical Advisory Committee (ATAC) for Trade in Tobacco, Cotton, Peanuts and Hemp.

Summers is one of four hemp industry stakeholders on the 14-member ATAC, alongside National Industrial Hemp Council (NIHC) President Patrick Atagi, NIHC board member Patricia Sheikh and the Oregon Hemp Commission’s Eric Pike, who also founded the CBD company Root Origins.

The ATAC focused on tobacco, cotton, peanuts and hemp is one of six advisory committees under USDA and USTRE that offer the government technical advice about specific agricultural commodities and products.

A former marketing executive at NIHC, Kevin Latner, was appointed to a separate ATAC focused on processed foods in 2020. But he’s since left NIHC and is now affiliated with a group that deals with leather materials, while still serving on the committee.

As the latest member, Summers will serve as a hemp representative on the ATAC until at least 2028.

“The advisory committee system was created by Congress to ensure that U.S. agricultural stakeholders have input and insight into U.S. trade policy and negotiating objectives,” USDA said in an advisory. “Applications for committee membership are encouraged at any time and will be considered for future appointments.”

In recognition of hemp’s growing role in the agriculture sector, USDA and USTR formally renamed the ATAC to include last year to include the name of the crop. Previously, the first hemp appointees served on what was then called the ATAC for Trade in Tobacco, Cotton and Peanuts.

Keep reading