Tuesday, May 30, 2017

JM Talboo & John Hughes - Baywatch, Seth Rich vs Russian Collusion Conspiracy Theories, Comey the Clown, Death of Neocons/Neolibs, Socialized vs Free Market Medical Care, Kek...


JM Talboo & John Hughes - Baywatch, Seth Rich... by debunkerbuster

http://trumpedtweets.com/news---events.html

March 14th, 2017

Interview with JM Talboo: Part 1

Prolific, insightful blogger JM Talboo releases part one of his in depth interview with John F. Hughes.  See it now on Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEaGOBFV_u0

March 15th, 2017

Interview with JM Talboo: Part 2

Catch the second half of JM Talboo's excellent interview:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5etvvk_trumped-how-tweets-trolls-and-memes-won-the-presidency-for-donald-trump-part-2-of-2_news

SETH RICH LINK TO WIKILEAKS CONFIRMED BY DNC CROWDSTRIKE BACKTRACKING RUSSIAN HACKING CLAIMS - Breaking: New Connections Made In Seth Rich Murder Case:

http://trumpisright.blogspot.com/2017/05/seth-rich-link-to-wikileaks-confirmed.html

KIM DOTCOM DESTROYS U.S. MEDIA REGARDING SETH RICH COVER UP: Seth Rich Was WikiLeaks Source:

http://911debunkers.blogspot.com/2017/05/kim-dotcom-destroys-us-media-regarding.html

HNN: Debunking The Corporate Media's Coverage Of The Seth Rich Story - Kim Dotcom Offers Congress Evidence to Prove Seth Rich Was Wikileaks Source:

http://911debunkers.blogspot.com/2017/05/hnn-debunking-corporate-medias-coverage.html

COMEY LIED: FBI JUST LEAKED JAMES COMEY’S DIRTY LAUNDRY AND IT’S SICK - Bombshell: Comey Admits He Lied To Congress:

http://911debunkers.blogspot.com/2017/05/comey-lied-fbi-just-leaked-james-comeys.html

Debunking the Jesus VS. Trump Meme (Healthcare Related):

http://911debunkers.blogspot.com/2017/05/debunking-jesus-vs-trump-meme.html

Kek Trumps Moloch:

http://trumpisright.blogspot.com/2017/04/kek-trumps-moloch.html

Correction: The Rich family has actually implied Kim.com is lying, but that doesn't answer this question as posed by H.A. Goodman:

So… how was Kim Dotcom able to predict WikiLeaks DNC emails in 2015???  #SethRich
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbu-OiWXllw&t=25s
"Julian Assange is going to be Hillary Clinton's worst nightmare" - Kim Dotcom
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDewq6ZffNs

Also, $300-400 in healthcare premiums is obviously not almost half of someones monthly income of $1,200. At worst it is a third. I was just rattling of things quickly and not articulating myself very well. The person I was thinking of was older and poor and it's a fact that these people have been paying half their income sometimes.

"And poor, older customers whose insurance costs more than half their income may not really have much of a choice."
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/14/upshot/no-magic-in-how-gop-plan-lowers-premiums-it-penalizes-older-people.html

And...

Study: Some Marketplace Customers Spend 25 Percent Of Income On Health Expenses: http://khn.org/news/study-some-marketplace-customers-spend-25-percent-of-income-on-health-expenses/

Sunday, May 28, 2017

Teenaged British Girl Ground Up into Kebabs in Blackpool, England - Missing girl's body 'put into kebab'



https://archive.fo/odAD6#selection-491.0-655.20

Missing girl's body 'put into kebab'

Charlene Downes
Charlene Downes: Missing without a trace 
12:01AM BST 24 May 2007
A schoolgirl was murdered by a fast food shop owner who joked that she had been "chopped up" and put into kebabs, a court was told yesterday.
The prosecution alleged at Preston Crown Court that Charlene Downes, 14, was killed by Iyad Albattikhi, 29, owner of a food shop in Blackpool, who had sex with her.
Charlene was one of a number of young girls who visited an alleyway in the town to have sex with older men who worked in the fast food shops, Tim Holroyde QC, prosecuting, told the jury.
Charlene, from Blackpool, was "well and happy", the court heard, but had a "chaotic" home life. Expelled from school, she spent her time hanging around shops on the Blackpool Promenade. She was last seen on the evening of Saturday Nov 1 2003. After kissing her mother goodbye she left alone - and vanished, Mr Holroyde said.
A missing persons inquiry began but police later launched a murder investigation after receiving information that Charlene had been "killed and chopped up", the court heard.
No trace of Charlene's body has ever been found.
Mr Holroyde told the jury that a witness had heard Albattikhi and others talking about her.
"These people were talking about sex with white girls, and there was mention of having sex with Charlene," he said.
"Albattikhi laughed and said she was very small - the plainest possible indication that he was lying to the police when he said he did not know her. He and others present then laughingly said that Charlene had gone into the kebabs."
Albattikhi, a Jordanian immigrant, is charged with murder. His business partner and landlord, Mohammed Reveshi, 50, is accused of helping dispose of the body.
Both deny the charges and have told police they did not know Charlene.
Albattikhi and Reveshi were joint owners of the food shop, the court heard, which Albattikhi ran.
Charlene became a "familiar figure" hanging around the shops where she would sometimes get free food.
Mr Holroyde said: "In addition she was one of a number of adolescent white girls who sometimes went at night to the alleyway behind the restaurants. She and others went there to meet much older men from the restaurants, and it seems perfectly clear that there was at times some sexual activity."
Albattikhi took advantage of one of those vulnerable girls - Charlene Downes, the jury was told.
Mr Holroyde added: "It is the prosecution case that the background to the murder of Charlene Downes and the disposal of her body is some sexual activity between her and one or both of the defendants.
"Sexual activity between these adult men and a 14-year-old girl would be a crime which could be expected to have serious consequences for them."
After Charlene's disappearance, both the accused were questioned and told police they did not know her, the court heard.
In 2004, Albattikhi had a dispute with his brother, Tariq, who told a witness, David Cassidy, that he knew what had happened to Charlene - "she had been killed and chopped up and there had been a lot of blood", the court heard.
Mr Cassidy was allegedly later offered a £20,000 interest-free loan from Reveshi.
Police searched the flats of both accused men but found nothing. Detectives then bugged the premises and Reveshi's car, and Mr Holroyde told the jury some of the recordings were "revealing".
The trial continues.

Persecution of Muslims During The Crusades?

Thursday, May 25, 2017

Katy Perry Deserves a Nobel Peace Prize (THE SAAD TRUTH_436)




Arianna Grande, "I Hope My Fans Die"


"She did autographs and pics and was all smiles until she got in the elevator," a New York Daily News source says. "And as soon as the doors shut, she said, 'I hope they all f--king die.'"
The story would be hard to believe were it not for the constant reports of Ariana publicly dissing her fans and handlers, as well as her own admissions that she can be difficult to work with. - thehollywoodgossip.com

Friday, May 19, 2017

FLASHBACK: Mom of Murdered Obama Gay Lover Speaks Up


Donald Young
In late May, Wash. DC-based investigative journalist Wayne Madsen had a bombshell revelation about Obama’s membership in a Chicago gay club, Man’s Country. Madsen also reported on Obama’s sexual relationships with other men, including named D.C. politicians and Donald Young, the openly-gay choir-director of the church in Chicago of which Obama was a member for some 20 years — Jeremiah Wright’s Trinity United Church of Christ black liberation theology. Obama’s relationship with Young was confirmed by Larry Sinclair, who claims to have had two sex-cocaine trysts with Obama. 
There were two other openly gay men in Wright’s church: Larry Bland and Nate Spencer. In late 2007, as Obama began his ascent to be the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee, in a span of 1½ months, all three men “conveniently” died:
  • Bland was murdered execution-style on November 17, 2007;
  • Young was murdered execution-style on December 24, 2007;
  • Spencer reportedly died of septicemia, pneumonia, and HIV on December 26, 2007. (Death certificates of Bland and Young, HERE.)

Nate Spencer (r)
Now, Young’s elderly mother is speaking out about her suspicions that her son was murdered to protect Obama’s reputation and assure his political future as President.
~Eowyn

WHITE HOUSE RAMPS UP DAMAGE CONTROL OVER OBAMA CHICAGO GAY HISTORY

An exclusive Wayne Madsen Report – July 19, 2010
The story about President Barack Obama’s bi-sexual past will not go away. Now, in an exclusive interview with The GlobeNorma Jean Young, the 76-year old mother of the late Trinity United Church of Christ choir director Donald Young, has spoken out and declared that persons trying to protect Obama murdered her son at the height of the 2007 Democratic presidential primary to protect Obama from embarrassing revelations about his homosexual relationship with her son. Donald Young’s bullet-ridden body was found in his Chicago apartment on December 23, 2007, in what appeared to be an assassination-style slaying.
Norma Jean Young revealed to The Globe that her son Donald, who was openly gay, was a “close friend” of Obama. Mrs. Young also believes the Chicago Police Department has not placed a high priority on finding the killers of her son. Mrs. Young, who is, herself a former employee of the Chicago Police Department, told The Globe that, “There is more to the story,” adding, “I do believe they are shielding somebody or protecting someone.”
The Globe’s revelations are consistent with information obtained by WMR during a May investigation conducted in Chicago. On May 24, WMR reported:“President Obama and his chief of staff Rahm Emanuel are lifetime members of the same gay bath house in uptown Chicago, according to informed sources in Chicago’s gay community, as well as veteran political sources in the city.” The report added, “WMR spoke to several well-placed sources in Chicago who reported that Jeremiah Wright, the pastor of Obama’s former church of 20 years, Trinity United Church of Christ (TUCC) on Chicago’s south side, ran what was essentially a matchmaking service for gay married black professional members of the church, including lawyers and businessmen, particularly those with children. The matchmaking club was called the ‘Down Low Club’ but references to it over the phone and email simply referred to the group with the code phrase ‘DLC.’ The ruse, according to our sources, was to make anyone who was eavesdropping on the communications [FBI wiretaps in the Rod Blagojevich case likely contain such references] believe that the references were to the Democratic Leadership Council, also known as the DLC . . . Among the members of the gay ‘DLC’ were Obama and TUCC’s choir director, Donald Young, an openly gay man who reportedly had a sexual relationship with Obama. Two other gay members of the church were Larry Bland and Nate Spencer. Young and Bland were brutally murdered, execution style, in late 2007. Bland was murdered on November 17, 2007 and Young on December 24, 2007. The latter was killed by multiple gunshot wounds. Spencer reportedly died on December 26, 2007, official cause of death: ‘septicemia, pneumonia, and HIV.'”
Larry Sinclair, the gay man who claimed to have had two sexual encounters with Obama in Chicago in 1999, wrote a book, “Cocaine, Sex, Lies & Murder,” in which he states that Obama was linked to Young’s murder. Sinclair wrote that he was in contact with Young shortly before his murder and Young revealed his relationship with Obama. At the time of his revelations about Obama at a National Press Club news conference, WMR doubted the veracity of Sinclair’s story due to the absence of corroborating evidence coupled with a bizarre news conference. However, since that time, WMR has received corroboration from a number of sources in a number of locations, including Chicago, Alabama, Georgia, and Washington, DC. WMR has received information that various competing camps, including the Hillary Clinton and John McCain campaigns, attempted to co-opt Sinclair and his revelations for their own political purposes. Sinclair, it should be noted, has not deviated from his original story or charges against Obama.
On June 19, 2008, WMR reported: “WhiteHouse.com held a news conference following Sinclair’s at which a video of Sinclair’s polygraph was to be shown. After experiencing technical difficulties with the video presentation, Parisi abruptly canceled the news conference and took no questions.” The aborted news conference was as bizarre as Sinclair’s. Sinclair was arrested by Washington, DC police following his news conference based on a warrant from Delaware issued by Vice President candidate Joseph Biden’s son, Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden. The Delaware charges against Sinclair were later dropped.
Sinclair’s book is now the subject of a defamation lawsuit [Daniel Parisi, et al v. Lawrence W. Sinclair a/k/a “Larry Sinclair,” et al] brought by Dan Parisi, the proprietor of the website, Whitehouse.com, who is mentioned in Sinclair’s book with regard to his involvement in polygraphs administered to Sinclair after he made his allegations against Obama public during the 2008 presidential campaign. The lawsuit is being handled by the politically powerful Patton & Boggs law firm, the same firm that represented George W. Bush’s top political adviser Karl Rove in the Valerie Plame Wilson/CIA leak, and has been filed against Sinclair, his publishing company, and distributors, including Barnes and Noble and Amazon.com in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Sinclair is currently a resident of Florida.
The lawsuit against Sinclair has been assigned to Judge Richard Leon, the Republican deputy chief minority counsel on the House Select Committee to Investigate Covert Arms Transactions with Iran, aka, the Iran-contra scandal. From 1988 to 1989, he served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General and from 1992 to 1993 was the Republican chief minority counsel on the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s October Surprise Task Force investigating the 1980 Reagan-Bush campaign’s secret dealings with Iran to ensure the defeat of President Jimmy Carter. Leon Leon was nominated for the federal bench by President George W. Bush on September 10, 2001. Leon’s involvement in so many high-level cover-ups of White House misconduct makes him an illogical choice to hear a case involving serious allegations against President Obama.
Note: Blagojevich’s defense in his federal corruption trial is slated to begin today in Chicago. Judge James Zagel has denied the defense’s request for all the government’s wiretaps to be played. The tapes, as previously reported by WMR, contain some earthy references to Obama’s and his chief of staff Rahm Emanuel’s homosexual habits.
Sinclair has told WMR that he believes the Obama White House is trying to have his book withdrawn from circulation to avoid any further embarrassments about Obama’s homosexual past and the possible involvement of his top lieutenants in Young’s murder. The Globe reported in May 2008 that a top Chicago private detective said he believed Young was “rubbed out” because of his relationship with Obama. Sinclair has echoed the private eye’s beliefs about Young and Obama. The Globe reports that before his death, Young was planning to flee to Africa to teach. The information was provided to The Globe by Young’s mother, who also now fears for her life and plans to leave her Peoria, Illinois home for a secret location. Mrs. Young said the Chicago police have warned her that her life is in danger.

UPDATE (1.20.2012):

Wayne Madsen has this to say in an exclusive-to-subscribers report on Jan. 19, 2012:
WMR has learned from a source who is an official of Trinity United Church of Christ (TUCC) in Chicago, President Obama’s former church, that congregants are afraid of discussing the brutal execution-style murders of two of the church’s members.
The church’s choir director Donald Young was murdered on Christmas Eve, December 24, 2007, at the beginning of the presidential campaign. Although the Chicago Police Department indicated there was a “person of interest” in the Young case, no one has been charged with Young’s murder. Another church member, Larry Bland, was murdered execution-style on November 17, 2007. […]
When TUCC pastor Jeremiah Wright retired as pastor in early 2008, several church members left the predominantly African-American mega-church along with him, according to our TUCC source. The new pastor, Otis Moss III, has shown no interest in trying to find out the killers of Young and Bland, although the church is active in several community action programs, including those dealing with violence.
The TUCC source says there has been a “stand down” at TUCC in dealing with the Young and Bland murders. Although a service was held for Young at TUCC, the church, according to the source, “ignored the two murders,” adding, “there is no interest in pursuing the murderers.”
~Eowyn
Related:

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Don't Allow Bombshell Seth Rich Evidence To Be Muzzled

It isn't uncommon for United States citizens to wind up at the foul end of the deep state's ire. As is revealed by buried evidence spun out of the narrative by the Mockingbird Media. For example, the sunken details related to the JFK Assassination and Dulles Brothers Incorporated, Andrew Breitbart's untimely red flag death, Michael Hastings unusual car explosion, or genius patriot Aaron Swartz, whether he was driven to suicide or not. 

Now more details surrounding the body count connected to the DNC’s muzzling of Wikileaks have begun to find solid ground and it could open an investigation involving the DC Mayor’s office, The DC Police Department, and rocket its way into the chain of command at the DNC as to why a DNC staffer who reportedly sent 40,000 emails to wikileaks director and BBC DNC History Documentarian Gavin MacFayden was murdered on July 10, 2016. 

World Net Daily reported "The slain man’s parents, Mary and Joel Rich of Omaha, Nebraska, said in an August 2016 interview with the Daily Mail that their son had been asked to join Hillary Clinton’s campaign four days before he was murdered.

“He had just found out they wanted him and he was probably going to be moving up to Brooklyn through the election. He was really excited about that,” said Joel Rich.

Most Americans will be forced to devote their news diet to the ongoing propagandized Washington Post leaking and fumbling of the Trump and Russia investigation. But if you want something truly akin to Watergate, The 911 Commission Investigation, or The Warren Commission Investigation. Let your representatives know that you want further exploration into the fine points surrounding the untimely deaths of Shawn Lucas, John Ashe and Seth Rich.


Sunday, May 14, 2017

New National ‘Ratios’ Bills Set Safety Limits on Number of Patients Assigned to Nurses

Editor's Note: My wife is an RN and I can attest that this is very much needed. Please contact  your representatives and ask that they support these bills... 

https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/1063 
https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/2392 

New National ‘Ratios’ Bills Set Safety Limits on Number of Patients Assigned to Nurses



Bonnie Castillo, NNU Director of Health & Safety
, 5/5/17
nationalnursesunited.org

IN 49 STATES, THERE ARE NO LIMITS ON HOW MANY PATIENTS HOSPITAL CORPORATIONS CAN ASSIGN TO NURSES AT ONE TIME. NATIONAL NURSES UNITED-SPONSORED LEGISLATION FIGHTS BACK.

With the boom in assembly lines during the industrial revolution, employers were able to move products faster, using less staff, padding their bottom line. As I’ve written before, we’ve all seen pop culture comedy examples of what happens next, when profit-driven corporations speed up the pace faster and faster — until a character like Charlie Chaplin in Modern Times works so frantically that he falls right into the machine, getting ground up in the gears.
Our patients are not products, and nurses are not assembly line workers — but you would not know that by the frantic pace at which our hospital employers, who currently have no repercussions for saving money by cutting corners on safe staffing, expect nurses to provide care. When we are saddled with 9 or 10 patients at once, we are not practicing at our full capacity, and the repercussions for our patients, who come to us with illnesses and injuries where every moment of attention counts, include loss of life.
This is unacceptable. Nurses across the U.S. — where 49 out of 50 states currently have no limit on the number of patients nurses can be assigned — are standing up to say the focus on profit over patients must end. Nurses demand safe staffing now.
To that end, National Nurses United (NNU) — the largest union of registered nurses in the country — is proud to announce the introduction today in the U.S. Senate by Sen. Sherrod Brown (S.1063) and in the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. Jan Schakowsky (H.R. 2392) NNU-sponsored legislation setting specific safety limits on the numbers of patients each RN can care for in hospitals throughout the U.S.
The bills, both known as the Nurse Staffing Standards for Hospital Patient Safety and Quality Care Act, establish minimum RN-to-patient ratios for every hospital unit at all times. They also provide whistleblower protection to assure that nurses are free to speak out for enforcement of safe staffing standards.
The bills are modeled on a California law, fought for and won by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU), that has saved patient lives, improved the quality of care, and reduced nurse burnout keeping experienced RNs at the patient bedside.
Nurses applaud Sen. Brown and Rep. Schakowsky for doing the right thing by our patients, and we hope other elected officials will do the same. After all, the benefit to enacting these protections at the national level would be immense. Studies have shown again and again that mandatory safe staffing ratios save lives.
A 2010 study (Aiken et. al), for example, found that compared to California, New Jersey hospitals would have 13.9 percent fewer patient deaths and Pennsylvania 10.6 percent fewer deaths if they matched California’s ratios in medical-surgical units.
Safe staffing is also critical for the health and safety of nurses. A 2015 study in the International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health showed that the California safe staffing law was associated with 55.57 fewer occupational injuries and illnesses per 10,000 RNs per year, a value 31.6 % lower than the expected rate without the law.
Sometimes change is a long game (California’s regulations were enacted in 2004, after nurses with CNA/NNU, fought for 13 years to achieve them), but nurses never give up on our patients. That’s why we will never give up in our fight to ensure nurses across America have safe staffing protections. It’s a two-fold fight, as we push for legislation at the national level, and also at the state level.
On February 14, for example, NNU registered nurses in Ohio and elected officials gathered at the Ohio Statehouse, in Columbus, to mark the reintroduction by Senator Michael Skindell of the Ohio Patient Protection Act — a bill which sets specific limits on how many patients nurses can care for at once in hospitals throughout Ohio. NNU is also sponsoring safe staffing legislation in Florida and fighting for safe patient ratios legislation in other states.
Hospital corporations have a lot of money to fight against safe staffing legislation. But the evidence, and morality, is on nurses’ side. Nurses will never accept that the fragile lives entrusted to our care are a means of increased profit for corporate employers. Patients are not products, we are not assembly line workers, and when these safe staffing bills are voted into law, nurses will finally be protected in the process of doing our life’s work: providing the focused, professional, safe care that saves lives.

Bonnie CastilloDirector of Health & Safety at @NationalNurses, Director of RN Response Network; I’m an RN & healthcare champion who believes healthcare is a human right!

Intelligent People Have Fewer Friends, Here's Why...

Saturday, May 13, 2017

The Truth about the Vietnam War

Did the United States win or lose the Vietnam War? We are taught that it was a resounding loss for America, one that proves that intervening in the affairs of other nations is usually misguided. The truth is that our military won the war, but our politicians lost it. The Communists in North Vietnam actually signed a peace treaty, effectively surrendering. But the U.S. Congress didn't hold up its end of the bargain. In just five minutes, learn the truth about who really lost the Vietnam War.



...It was never right to stop or enable spreading of any political systems in someone else country. Whether other countries chose communism it was their choice, and US has no say on it. -  JC

Re: Hey JC, the US did have the right because the spread of a communist dictatorship to South Vietnam was not through democratic elections, but forceful invasion from the North. The North Vietnamese had NO right to invade the South. To answer the OPs question, the Vietnam war, while failing to protect South Vietnam, did stop the spread of communism in South Asia. So, IMO the vietnam war was a half-success

Chris · 3 years ago

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100114161437AAn2hcZ

Guest
Join Date: Aug 2003
I've never understood the resistance to the domino theory. We pulled out of southeast asia in 1975. After we did the nations of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos all became communist.

Ironically the communists in Vietnam eventually overthrew the Cambodian communists in 1979. However Laos and Vietnam are still technically communist nations.

From what I know of it, 'communism' is an umbrella term for a variety of rebellions for a variety of reasons. Some communist insurgents were economic, some are nationalistic and anti-colonial, some are idealogical, some are anti-dictatorship. Pol Pot was idealogical, the Vietnamese were nationalistic, the Chinese and Russian were probably economic. That is my impression.

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=540660

Tuesday, May 9, 2017

The Truth Behind the Solar Jobs Report

David Williams / 
As the Obama administration recedes into history, policymakers would be well advised to rethink the feasibility of taxpayer-funded renewable energy schemes.
In just a few weeks, the Solar Foundation, a Washington-based nonprofit group, will release its latest annual report touting growth figures for solar jobs while it also warns against policies that could result in layoffs.
But the hard reality is that even as solar energy became politically fashionable, it remained economically unsound.
Just ask Elon Musk, the South African-born, Los Angeles-based renewable energy business mogul who had his electric car company bail out his solar energy company last year.
Americans need an alternative to the mainstream media. But this can't be done alone. Find out more >>
Neither company has been able to stand on its own two feet, and neither company has been turning a profit. But because both companies have been heavily subsidized, Musk was able to have U.S. taxpayers foot the bill to have one failing company bail out another.
Elon Musk is CEO of Tesla Motors and SpaceX. (Credit: Bobby Yip/Reuters/Newscom)
Elon Musk is CEO of Tesla Motors and SpaceX. (Credit: Bobby Yip/Reuters/Newscom)














The good news is there are some on Capitol Hill who are beginning to ask some hard questions about the taxpayer-funded welfare payments pumped into failing industries.
Last year, the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee launched probes into tax incentives paid to solar companies.
With the change in administration, it is possible there might be an end to the solar investment tax credit, which has been propping up failing solar enterprises on the taxpayer dime. So, expect the Solar Foundation to double down on its talking points in its upcoming report.
In America, anyone is free to lobby and push for their own personal policy preferences. Federal and state officials who have the power to give preferential treatment to this industry should know there are all kinds of conflicts of interest that should be taken into account.
For starters, the Solar Foundation is closely aligned with the Solar Energy Industries Association, a trade group that advocates on behalf of those that manufacture and install solar energy equipment.
That’s not all. Take a good look at who staffs the foundation and it becomes pretty clear this is not an objective organization.
Andrea Luecke, the foundation’s president and executive director, previously worked for the city of Milwaukee’s U.S. Department of Energy Solar America Cities program “Milwaukee Shines,” where “she helped Milwaukee implement policies aimed at increasing solar energy capacity.”
Deputy Director Pari Kasotia serves on the board of directors of the Iowa Renewable Energy Association and is active with Citizens Climate Lobby.
Program Director Yolanda Seabrooks spent eight years with SunEdison, one of the largest global renewable energy development companies aimed at providing solar photovoltaic systems to municipal, state, federal, utility, and commercial customers.
There’s more, but you get the picture.
The Solar Foundation staff is mainly made up of former solar company and trade association lobbyists and other advocacy positions and has ties to government solar advocacy programs.
Policymakers should not put their faith into a report designed to be an advocacy piece managed by solar advocates and lobbyists to produce an accurate depiction of the solar industry’s contribution to economic development.
Whenever state officials push back against solar power, the foundation’s operatives are quick to respond with scare stories about potential job losses. These stories are parroted by solar companies as well.
In Nevada, for instance, two solar companies threatened to end their operations in the state when the Public Utility Commission decreased the subsidy for net metering, a state-level policy that shifts the cost of a solar system to those who do not have solar.
The story quickly became national news and painted the picture that solar policies should not be reformed if states wanted to avoid any severe economic fallout. But the number of jobs that created in the solar industry remains a bit nebulous.
Moreover, there is growing body of research that shows the opportunity cost of government subsidies for renewable efforts versus the jobs that could be generated in the private sector is too high from the perspective of sound public policy.
Under the sins of omission, the Solar Foundation’s annual reports sidestep the question of opportunity costs. But they typically make lengthy references to large percentage increases in solar jobs that are as sly as they are misleading.
For example, the 2015 report stated:
The solar energy workforce grew an impressive 13.2 percent over the last year—nearly six times the overall national employment growth rate, and has grown 27 percent since 2010. This compares to only 3.2 percent national employment growth over that same period (August 2010-September 2012).
The relatively low base numbers (compared to the overall economy) for solar jobs means that, percentage-wise, solar job growth will seem impressive compared to the overall economy.
In simpler terms, if the solar industry had one job in 2015 and two jobs in 2016 and the utility industry had 500,000 jobs in 2015 and 560,000 jobs in 2016, the solar job growth percentage would be 100 percent to the utility job growth of 12 percent.
That is not an honest representation of what’s actually going down in the solar industry.
With a little digging, astute readers will find the Solar Foundation reports that government subsidies are primarily responsible for any growth the solar industry has experienced. The reports typically bifurcate state and federal subsidies into separate categories.
But when these figures are blended together, there is no escaping the prominent role government intervention plays in sustaining an industry that is otherwise unsustainable.
When all the government subsidies are added together, our calculations show that the U.S. taxpayer is really responsible for almost 33 percent of any growth that occurs in the solar industry. That’s not real job growth.
The Solar Foundation’s tax records show that it has experienced a steady jump in revenue.
In 2012 it had $296,243 in revenue, and in 2013 it had $886,715 in revenue. That’s a big jump! For 2014, which is the most recent year that tax records are available, it reported $976,991 in revenue.
Clearly, the foundation is not in the poor house.
The mission statement on the 990 tax form says the foundation was set up to “educate the public” about the benefits of solar power. In reality, it is carrying the water for well-connected special interests that have a vested interest in maintain taxpayer subsidies for unworkable renewable boondoggles.
So, when the Solar Foundation releases its next report on job growth, remember the source of the information and all that glitters is not gold.