(4/20)

[7. wiki: David Brock]:

David Brock (born July 23, 1962[1]) is an American liberal political operative, author, and commentator who founded the media watchdog group Media Matters for America.[2] He has been described by Time as "one of the most influential operatives in the Democratic Party" while others believe his tactics led to Hillary Clinton's defeat in the 2016 Presidential election.[3]

Brock, who began his career as a right-wing investigative reporter during the 1990s,[4] wrote the book The Real Anita Hill and the Troopergate story, which led to Paula Jones filing a lawsuit against Bill Clinton. In the late 1990s, he switched sides, aligning himself with the Democratic Party and, in particular, with Bill and Hillary Clinton.

In 2004, he founded Media Matters for America, a non-profit organization which describes itself as a "progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media."[5] He has since also founded super PACs called American Bridge 21st Century and Correct the Record, has become a board member of the super PAC Priorities USA Action, and has been elected chairman of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).[6][7]

The Nation has described Brock as a "conservative journalistic assassin turned progressive empire-builder",[7] while National Review has called him a "right-wing assassin turned left-wing assassin",[8] and Politico has profiled him as a "former right-wing journalist-turned-pro-Clinton crusader".[6]

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Born July 23, 1962 (age 55)

Washington, D.C., U.S

Education University of California, Berkeley

Occupation Liberal political operative, author

Known for Author of The Real Anita Hill,

founder of Media Matters for America, Correct the Record, Shareblue, and American Bridge 21st Century Super PACs

Partner(s) William Grey (2000-2010)

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Journalism career

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Troopergate

Main article: Troopergate (Bill Clinton)

In a January 1994 The American Spectator story about Bill Clinton's time as governor of Arkansas, Brock, by then on staff at the magazine, made accusations that bred Troopergate.[4] Among other things, the story contained the first printed reference to Paula Jones, referring to a woman named "Paula" who state troopers said offered to be Clinton's partner.[4] Jones called Brock's account of her encounter with Clinton "totally wrong", and she later sued Clinton for sexual harassment, a case that became entangled in the independent counsel's investigation of the Whitewater controversy, and set in motion a series of developments that led to the exposure of Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky and, ultimately, to Clinton's impeachment trial.[7] The story received an award later that year from Joseph Farah's Western Journalism Center, and was partially responsible for a rise in the magazine's circulation.[15]

The Seduction of Hillary Rodham

Main article: The Seduction of Hillary Rodham

After the success of The Real Anita Hill, Simon & Schuster's then-conservative-focused Free Press susidiary paid Brock a large advance to write a book about Hillary Clinton. The expectation was that it would be a takedown in the style of his writings on Anita Hill and Bill Clinton. The project, however, took a different turn, and the resulting book, The Seduction of Hillary Rodham, proved to be largely sympathetic to Mrs. Clinton. Given the large advance and tight one-year deadline by Free Press, Brock was under tremendous pressure to produce another bestseller. However, the book contained no major scoops. In Blinded by the Right (2002), Brock said that he had reached a turning point: he had thoroughly examined charges against the Clintons, could not find any evidence of wrongdoing and did not want to make any more misleading claims. Brock further said that his former friends in right-wing politics shunned him because Seduction did not adequately attack the Clintons. National Review proposed another theory: since "no liberal source in the world would talk to Brock", he could not collect the kind of information he was after. National Review also suggested that while writing the book, Brock had been "seduced" by Sidney Blumenthal, a champion and friend of the Clinton circle.[16][17]

When the book came out, it was widely criticized for not breaking any new ground. John Balzar, reviewing the book in the Los Angeles Times, called it "[e]xhaustive to the point of exhaustion" and "predictably critical but unexpectedly measured, at least in comparison to what Beltway gossips anticipated".[18] James B. Stewart, reviewing the book in The New York Times, said that Brock had "tried to do his subject justice in the broadest sense" but added that "[a]t times he goes too far," often "echo[ing] her apologists" and "dismiss[ing] or rationaliz[ing] the sometimes powerful evidence that Hillary Rodham Clinton has lied...by invoking a relativism rooted in Republican precedents."[19]

Sales of the book were dismal. A deal to excerpt it in Newsweek fell through because the newsmagazine's editors decided that it contained nothing new or exciting. The publisher lost millions of dollars and Brock's editor, Adam Bellow, was fired.[20]

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Political operative career

Media Matters for America

~~When Brock proposed the idea of Media Matters, Hillary Clinton invited him to the Clintons' Chappaqua home to pitch the idea to potential donors.[28] MMA, according to a 2015 article in The Daily Beast, "operates from a posh Washington office space with a multi-million-dollar budget and nearly 100 employees."[5] In 2014, The Nation stated that "Brock, in partnership with fundraiser Mary Pat Bonner—often described as his secret weapon—has turned out to be unparalleled at maintaining rich liberals' loyalty and support." An insider told The Nation that Brock and Bonner "are probably the most effective major-individual-donor fundraising team ever assembled in the independent-expenditure progressive world."[7]

It was reported in June 2015 that when the House Select Committee on Benghazi questioned Sidney Blumenthal, committee members asked no fewer than 45 questions about Brock and Media Matters.[35] The committee was reportedly interested in Sidney Blumenthal's paid work for Brock's nonprofits, and in the question of "whether Blumenthal and Brock did anything improper as they helped Clinton manage the political fallout from the attacks in Benghazi, Libya, while she was secretary of State."[36]

Hillary Clinton's 2008 campaign

Brock was active in Hillary Clinton's campaign for the presidency in 2008.

American Bridge 21st Century

Main article: American Bridge 21st Century~~

Correct the Record

Main article: Correct the Record~~

Purchase of Blue Nation Review

In 2015, Brock formed an investment venture, True Blue Media, to purchase an 80 percent stake in Blue Nation Review, an online news website. Blue Nation Review was later re-branded as Shareblue.[51]

Put a pin in these for further exploration ahead in comment 5...

[8. ^ wiki: Shareblue]

[9. ^ wiki: American Bridge 21st Century]

[10. ^ wiki: Correct the Record]

Before we move on, did you notice another name popping up often? Sidney Blumenthal

[11. wiki: Sidney Blumenthal]:

Sidney Stone "Sid" Blumenthal (/ˈbluːmənθɔːl/; born November 6, 1948) is an American journalist, activist, writer, and political aide.

He is a former aide to President Bill Clinton; a long-time confidant[1] of Hillary Clinton, formerly employed by the Clinton Foundation;[2] and a journalist, especially on American politics and foreign policy. Blumenthal is also the author of a multivolume biography of Abraham Lincoln, The Political Life of Abraham Lincoln. Two books of the planned four-volume series are available now: A Self-Made Man and Wrestling With His Angel. Subsequent volumes are planned for 2018 and 2019.[3]

Blumenthal has written for several publications, including the Washington Post, Vanity Fair, and the New Yorker, and was Washington, D.C., bureau chief for Salon.com, for which he has written over 1800 pieces online. He is a regular contributor to openDemocracy.net and was a regular columnist for The Guardian.[4] After 2000, he published several essays critical of the administration of President George W. Bush.[5][6][7][8]

Note: Blumenthal has written for Washington Post & was Washington, D.C., bureau chief for Salon.com

[12. Root of Corruption - Part 12: The Oprah Case]:

Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls

Notes:

• much criticism surrounding the "extravagance" of the school
• Rebecca Traister of Salon.com[6] and Karen Russell of The Huffington Post[7] wrote in defense of the school.
• racial makeup of students ~ majority black ~ "school is open to all girls who are disadvantaged. All girls, all races, who are disadvantaged ... [including] White, Indian and Native American students of varying faiths,"

• 'Girls who are educated are less likely to get HIV/AIDS and in this country which has such a pandemic, we have to begin to change the pandemic.'

• In the school's first year, a female school staffer was accused of physically and sexually abusing students. (+ details)