The Washington Post continues its aggressive reporting on Donald Trump’s charitable contributions, most recently putting the screws to the presumptive Republican nominee’s son, Eric Trump. “It’s disgusting. It is so disgusting what’s happening,” Eric complained last week. “I’m saving dying children. We do tremendous good for people. And you’re sitting there tearing us apart.”
“Martin Shkreli, from the Class of 2001, donates $1,000,000 to HCHS!” read an alumni association website for Hunter College High School a year ago.
Very rich people sometimes make very large donations to educational or cultural institutions. In return, they ask for their names to be plastered atop buildings. These donations have no moral worth.
The 1%-vs-99% inequality dynamic that plagues America's economy as a whole extends to the world of higher education. And the richest universities in America had a great year last year.
We weren't the only ones simultaneously grossed out by and fascinated with human DNA factory Trent Arsenault—the prolific DIY sperm donor who happens to be a prolific amateur porn star. He's going to be on Anderson Cooper's daytime talk show tomorrow, where he'll admit to being a 36-year-old virgin with more than a dozen kids.
Meet Robert Halper, a retired trader and former vice chairman of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Like a lot of wealthy Wall Street-connected 52-year-olds, Halper gave the maximum contribution of $2,500 to Mitt Romney's presidential campaign. But this guy also wrote a $20,000 check to help launch Occupy Wall Street.
So, Michele Bachmann... she is probably just pretending to consider a run for president in order to raise PAC money? But maybe she's serious? We haven't conclusively determined where Bachmann's potential candidacy lands on the fake/real spectrum. But the murmurs are certainly helping her raise cash. And now she's introduced a tiered donation system in her latest email solicitation: $25 bucks for another House run, $50 "or $100" for a presidential run. Checkbooks out, chop chop!
The International Association of Fire Fighters—the sexiest of all unions—has announced that it's suspending all of its contributions to federal candidates "out of frustration with Congressional Democrats." Which is not an uncommon feeling these days! But the firefighters' union donated nearly $2 million to Democratic candidates for the 2010 elections, so their spending suspension may be taken a bit more seriously than mine. "We're feeling taken for granted," the union's president, Harold Schaitberger, told The New York Times, which seems reasonable—after all, they don't just donate money and support Democratic candidates; they also fight fires, in peoples' homes. IAFF's dough will now go to state and local-level candidates, especially in states where unions are being threatened by Tea Party jerkoffs. Expect Senate Democrats to respond by sucking up extra hard to rich people. [NYT; image via AP]
Branded as a revelatory scoop uncovering previously unknown donations from George Soros to NPR, James O'Keefe's latest sting on NPR was debunked as a non-story within hours of its release.
Looking to have a nice little cry? Not a sad one, but a sort of sweet, hopeful, lump-in-the-throat kind of deal? Meet nine-year-old Isaac Saldana, who, behind his mother's back, sold his toys to donate $2.85 to Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.
