money

A Master Painter Is Trying to Prove in Court That He Didn't Paint This Painting

Andy Cush · 08/08/16 03:10PM

The signature on the jaunty, vaguely surrealistic desert landscape you see above reads “Pete Doige 76.” That’s two letters and two digits removed from the name of Peter Doig, one of the world’s most renowned and successful living painters. Are Doig and Doige one and the same? That’s the $5 million question.

Evan Bayh Is Done Making a Lot of Money and Would Like to Return to the Senate Now, Please

Alex Pareene · 07/12/16 02:39PM

Evan Bayh is returning to politics. The former Democratic governor of Indiana and U.S. senator has decided to enter the race for his old Senate seat, which is currently occupied by a retiring Republican. This is exciting news for people who want Democrats to retake the Senate, and bad news for people who want Democrats to retake the Senate not just for the sake of retaking the Senate, but so that those Democrats can actually accomplish things.

Donald Trump's Largest Son Is Incoherent About Money, Just Like Dad

Brendan O'Connor · 07/12/16 10:46AM

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.”

Contrary to DNC Claim, Hacked Data Contains a Ton of Personal Donor Information

Sam Biddle · 06/17/16 02:36PM

When the Washington Post reported Monday that the Democratic National Committee’s servers had been breached by a team of Russian hackers, the DNC was quick to claim that nothing pertaining to the party’s many supporters had been pilfered. But a new cache of apparently hacked documents obtained by Gawker contains a wealth of donor information, including e-mail addresses and cell phone numbers for hundreds of high-profile and wealthy Democratic fundraisers.

What a Series of Cosmic Evangelical Thrillers Tells Us About Money in America

Chris Lehmann · 05/31/16 01:58PM

The sixteen-novel Left Behind series of evangelical thrillers is at least as influential a text in the annals of latter-day prophecy belief as the Book of Revelation. Which, of course, happens to furnish source material for the series’ intensively literalist accounting of the rapture, the tribulation, and the final judgment. The series, by Baptist preacher-turned-culture-warrior Tim LaHaye and evangelical sports and comics writer Jerry Jenkins, debuted in 1995 and concluded in 2007, and not counting the raft of prequels, children’s adaptations, study guides, and audiobooks that have come in its wake, it has sold more than 65 million copies.

Donald Trump Can Be Bought

Brendan O'Connor · 05/12/16 12:20PM

On Tuesday, Donald Trump told the Associated Press that he doesn’t plan to release his tax returns before the presidential election in November. “There’s nothing to learn from them,” he said. Then, on Wednesday, he said he would release them. “I’ll release. Hopefully before the election I’ll release,” he told Fox News. “And I’d like to release.” (Doesn’t seem like it.) “You learn very little from a tax return,” he added. Maybe, but you learn a lot from someone’s ambivalence about releasing them.

The Federal Government Did Not Spend $412K to Study Gender and Glaciers

Andy Cush · 03/08/16 09:45AM

Here is a story that is perfectly calibrated to rile up the staffers of right-leaning publications. It has federal overspending to the tune of six figures on seemingly trivial causes. It has concern for the environment and climate change. Most importantly, it’s got a big ol’ dollop of campus feminism, holding it all together. It’s too bad it isn’t really true.

New York State’s Public Relations Officials Don’t Do Shit

J.K. Trotter · 03/04/16 09:45AM

For the past week, fourteen different public relations officials for various government agencies in New York have refused to explain why the state failed to pay $75 million owed to contractors working on the SolarCity factory site in South Buffalo—a mistake that forced those contractors to temporarily lay off workers. That story was broken by WGRZ, Buffalo’s NBC affiliate, whose staff later decided to see how much those public relations officials were being paid not to fulfill their most basic job duty. The answer: Over $1.37 million combined.

Hillary Clinton Has a Big Honking Goldman Sachs Problem

J.K. Trotter · 02/09/16 04:05PM

Since the beginning of her campaign last year, Hillary Clinton has steadfastly refused to disclose what exactly she said during the speeches she gave at several large banks, including three at Goldman Sachs, after her tenure as Secretary of State. Attendees of two of those Goldman speeches, both of which took place in October 2013, are now hinting at why Clinton has been so reticent. As one attendee explained to Ben White at Politico:

How Sincere Is the Koch Brothers’ Commitment to Criminal Justice Reform?

Andy Cush · 01/20/16 03:55PM

Among the causes to which billionaire and conservative puppetmaster Charles Koch donates his vast wealth, his long support of criminal justice reform sticks out. While many of Koch’s pet issues cater strictly to the interests of his own moneyed class, the idea of curtailing the power of police and criminal courts is a palatable one—even appealing—to the sorts of people his cash-fueled political machine might otherwise have a hard time reaching: liberals, people of color, the poor.