By Theodoric Meyer, ProPublica, Dec. 20, 2012, 11:48 a.m.

Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire casino magnate and emblem of the Citizens United-era of campaign finance, spent gobs of money on the 2012 elections — more money than anyone else in American history.

Exactly how much, you ask?

We don't really know, and it's likely we never will. Many of the groups that spent the most on the election aren't required to report their donors. But thanks to recent campaign finance filings, we can get a better idea.

We dug through Federal Election Commission and Internal Revenue Service records and found that Adelson and his wife, Miriam, spent at least $101 million this election cycle. The money went to at least 30 different candidates and groups, with contributions ranging from $2,000 for a Florida congressional candidate to $30 million for Restore Our Future, the super PAC that supported Mitt Romney.

Adelson also gave $25 million to Winning Our Future, a super PAC backing Newt Gingrich; $23 million to American Crossroads, a conservative super PAC; and $5 million each to the Congressional Leadership Fund and the YG Action Fund, both of which supported Republican candidates for Congress.

One of the more puzzling contributions was a $1 million check Adelson wrote in October. The money went to Hardworking Americans, a super PAC that attacked Sen. Debbie Stabenow, a Michigan Democrat who had a big lead in the polls and was re-elected three weeks later by a 21-point margin.

A spokesman for Adelson's company, Las Vegas Sands, did not respond to a request for comment.

The $101 million figure matches up with the $100 million that Adelson, who is worth a reported $21 billion, had vowed to spend to defeat President Obama. But it doesn't include the checks he wrote to "dark-money" groups — organizations that don't have to disclose their donors, making their spending harder to track. These groups have proliferated since the Supreme Court's 2010 decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which opened the door to unlimited corporate and union giving.

The Huffington Post recently reported that Adelson's total spending may have approached $150 million.

Two anonymous Republican fundraisers told the Huffington Post that Adelson had given between $30 and $40 million to Crossroads GPS, the dark-money group founded by Karl Rove, and at least $15 million to groups affiliated with Charles and David Koch, the billionaire industrialist brothers. Adelson also gave millions to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Republican Jewish Coalition, the fundraisers said.

If accurate, those numbers would place Adelson's total spending on the election at around $155 million.

New York City's billionaire mayor, Michael Bloomberg, stepped out of a helicopter midday Thursday in St. Camillus' parking lot, ironically an Occupy Sandy relief distribution hub in the Rockaways, Queens. The visit had been kept under wraps and not listed on his official schedule.

Bloomberg and a small party accompanying him were whisked off in black cars. He missed a greeting from community members in an area still reeling from Hurricane Sandy, with quickly-lettered signs: "Rockaways in Health Crisis," "We Need Safer Housing."

Bloomberg made his way to the still-shuttered offices of The Wave, the Rockaways weekly newspaper. As word spread about the stealth visit, a crowd gathered outside hoping to explain those signs to the mayor: a month after Sandy hit, swamping homes with seawater, many residents -- homeowners and tenants -- are still living without electricity, without heat, without working appliances, with black mold taking hold of walls and other surfaces. Temporary housing is desperately needed, absentee landlords must fix their properties.

The mayor emerged behind a row of police, thanked the group, and was quickly driven away -- avoiding a repeat of his November 4th visit when residents lambasted him for ignoring them.

[Via OccupyWallSt.Org]

"The Koch Brothers and Their Amazing Climate Change Denial Machine" is a short animation detailing the effort of billionaire oil barons Charles and David Koch to undermine belief in climate change and prevent legislation that threatens their profits. By pouring money into bogus scientific studies and funding think tanks and front groups, the public is led to believe a genuine scientific debate is raging. In truth, as one climate denier candidly admits, those doubting the science are just a small, if brilliantly coordinated, minority.

Joe Ricketts, a billionaire whose family owns the Chicago Cubs, plans to shell out $12 million to support Republican candidates in the next week, with $10 million of that going to ads supporting presidential candidate Mitt Romney. The ads will run nationally, with more targeted spots appearing in the battleground states of Wisconsin, Ohio, Iowa, and Virginia. The move by the 71-year-old Ricketts puts him in the company of other election-year conservative backers like the Koch brothers and Sheldon Adelson, all of whom have been willing to pour millions into their pet causes. Ricketts has also started his own super PAC, the Ending Spending Action Fund.

When Mitt Romney walked down the aisle toward the stage at the Republican National Convention, among the people whose hands he shook was the conservative billionaire and major political donor David Koch. But it was a moment missed by the tens of millions of viewers at home. While Democracy Now! was there on the floor and captured the handshake on video, the networks cut away just before the handshake to show footage of two enthusiastic young women supporters and then an overhead shot of the convention center. Then, the shot came back to Romney shaking hands further down the aisle as he ascended the stage. Groups in the network of David Koch, and his brother Charles, intend to spend nearly $400 million ahead of the 2012 election.

[Via]

When Democracy Now! senior producer Mike Burke attempted to interview billionaire casino magnate and Republican donor Sheldon Adelson inside the Republican National Convention, a woman identified as Adelson's daughter grabbed his video camera, tried to take it into a private suite and then threw the camera to the ground. While Adelson's daughter first accused Burke of hitting her, she later came out of the suite to apologize. The incident was caught on tape, shortly after Burke questioned another billionaire GOP donor, David Koch, as well as former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Republican National Committee chair Michael Steele. Burke files a report and joins Amy Goodman to describe what happened.

MIKE BURKE: Yeah, and there was a very large entourage that ended up responding to this incident. And there was actually a third incident that happened, where another one of his aides ended up grabbing my cell phone and attempting to take my cell phone, because once Hany’s camera was on the ground and we weren’t sure if it was working, I attempted to take out my Android and—because I wanted to record what was happening. He immediately grabbed my hand and grabbed onto the phone and refused to let go. And he held on for about probably 20 seconds or so. You can hear that, as well, in this tape. So, I think we should take a listen

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Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Five members of Occupy Our Homes DC were silenced on Wednesday when they were escorted out of a Congressional hearing while JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon was giving testimony on his bank's most recent financial losses.

In an email from Occupy Our Homes DC:

Deborah Harris, a disabled former paramedic who lost the title to her home due to J.P. Morgan’s unethical business practices and is now facing eviction, confronted Mr. Dimon over a microphone, asking him to face the thousands of homeowners like herself that are losing their homes because of his work. She was quickly dragged away while fellow Occupy Our Homes members chanted and loudly accused Mr. Diamond of being a crook.

The protesters, including Ms. Harris, were held in jail for most of the day and by 6:00pm all had
been released.

“I told him to face up to the little people, like me, who had saved up for years only to have their homes taken by giants. When they slapped the handcuffs on me, I felt very proud that I was a voice who stood-up.” Deborah Harris, an Organizer with Occupy Our Homes who is facing eviction

“I found it shocking that Jamie Diamond, a billionaire who is responsible for taking thousands of people’s homes, can go before a congressional committee, just apologize and walk away. While those of us who are standing for those that lost their homes are hand-cuffed and thrown in jail.” said, Micah Bales, an Organizer with Occupy Our Homes-DC

A side note, there have been 7,289 Occupy protesters arrested across the nation to date. Bankers arrested for causing the economic collapse of our nation that left millions homeless or stuck with underwater home mortgages? Zero.

DemocracyNow!:

The Coalition for the Homeless reports the number of people living in New York City homeless shelters has reached an all-time high of 43,000. Critics attribute the spike in homelessness to the Bloomberg administration’s alleged failure to help move homeless families into permanent affordable housing. Housing advocates say the problem was exacerbated by the city’s cancellation of the "Advantage" apartment rental subsidy, with as many as 8,000 former aid recipients now facing eviction. We get a report from Democracy Now!’s Chantal Berman, who interviewed several aid recipients who could soon lose their homes, and speak to Patrick Markee, senior policy analyst at Coalition for the Homeless in New York City

Full transcript below the fold...

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Scott Walker was prank-called by a journalist pretending to be the billionaire David Koch. In a phone call that lasts 20 minutes, the Wisconsin governor speaks candidly about his strategy. The call proves that the whole event is motivated and funded by pro-corporate forces.

Occupy the Rose Parade plans to descend upon the annual showcase of flowered floats and bands with a undetermined number of protesters. The movement’s latest plans were announced in November and could bring anywhere from 4,000 to 40,000 protesters to the highly attended and viewed event.

There will even be a "rapping 'billionaire" to accompany the floats during the event. Watch as they prepare in the video above.

Via:

The demonstrators are planning to form a human float in the shape of an octopus for the third phase, and are expected to trail the final parade float down Colorado Boulevard. The octopus is meant to represent the hold corporations have on the country.

“The last float in the parade is number 43,” said Occupy protester Pete Thottam in a past interview. “We’re going to be float number 44, which coincidentally is the Obama Administration’s float number.”

The Occupiers plan to gather for a pow wow in the final phase of the event, which may include a press conference at Pasadena City Hall and a subsequent music concert.

Though demonstrators maintain they have planned a peaceful protest, the Pasadena Police Department is expected to beef up security at the event. They plan to have helicopters flying above the parade route and to employ an armored vehicle during the parade.

I just don't get what is so threatening, or frightening about a group of hippies gathering for a cause. Especially hippies with floats? C'mon...

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