Yesterday, Max Brantley at the Arkansas blog posted results of his freedom of information request from the state government. He was able to get emails regarding funds funneled to Ecclesia College as well as the subpoena to the Northwest Arkansas Economic Development District from investigators looking into the Arkansas bribery scandal.
I found one email especially interesting. In it, the NWAEDD sent a listing of grants issued by the District to Ecclesia College. See it below:
The figures add up to $621,000, mostly for property acquisition. Thus, the taxpayers of Arkansas have helped to purchase land for a church (which the college is according to the IRS). Something seems very wrong about this.
In the material Brantley received, it is clear that Oren Paris III, the president of Ecclesia College, is being investigated in some fashion. The subpoena requests all communications and documentation regarding the General Improvement Fund grants. Most likely, Paris and Ecclesia will remain silent about the matter until the investigation is completed.
Month: January 2017
New Report: More Plagiarism Found in Monica Crowley's PhD Dissertation
After the original CNN KFile report on plagiarism in Monica Crowley’s 2012, Politico reported plagiarism in her PhD dissertation. HarperCollins then pulled the book from the shelves. Today, Andrew Kaczynski has found even more plagiarism in the dissertation.
I have never seen anything quite like this. I have a hard time believing that Columbia University won’t take some kind of action about it. If Kaczynski’s work is accurate, it looks like thousands of words and scores of passages have been taken from sources, sometimes with inadequate citation and other times with no citation at all. In many cases, an undergraduate would fail with a paper like this. At the least, the paper would have to be redone probably with grade reduction.
Trump and RussiaGate – Some Good Things to Read and Consider
The latest news to hit involving Donald Trump is potentially the most troubling. A leaked report (available to read at Buzzfeed) from a retired intelligence operative claims Vladimir Putin authorized a scheme to cultivate Trump as an ally and conspired with Trump’s campaign to undermine Clinton. There are accusations of sex tapes involving Trump and treasonous behavior. At least, it will function like the Trump-fueled birther conspiracy. At most, the document reveals treason and impeachable offenses.
There are so many distractions about the story on social media. A major distraction is Trump who earlier this morning went on a major tweetstorm.
Trump’s denials are disturbing because they fly in the face of other information coming from credible sources. I recommend an article by Benjamin Wittes, Susan Hennessey, and Quinta Jurecic and published at the Lawfare blog which provides a dispassionate analysis of the situation. Trump claims the document was leaked by “intelligence agencies” whereas Wittes and associates say that the document has been in wide circulation for weeks and isn’t even classified.
And this material, in fact, does not come from the intelligence community; it comes, rather, from private intelligence documents put together by a company. It is actually not even classified. (source)
Trump did not win the election easily and didn’t win the popular vote. We don’t know that these stories are true but we don’t know if they are totally fake either. The point of Wittes, Hennessey and Jurecic is that the intelligence is unverified. It may be true or it may be false. Clearly, it is in Trump’s interests to deny and reframe the report as an attack piece. However, it is not in our interest as citizens to look the other way. There is circumstantial evidence to make some of the claims seem quite credible. Instead of believed or disbelieved, the claims should be investigated and since Trump won’t do it, Congress should.
Since Trump won’t release his personal and business tax returns, he does not deserve the benefit of the doubt when the security of the nation is at stake. The report alleges shady dealings around the world but not necessarily in Russia. A release of those tax documents could provide insight into the allegations. On Russian investments, Trump and the report agree – he wasn’t able to score a big deal.
The Trump Campaign and Russian Opposition Research
During the election, we know that Trump recited false information about Kurt Eichenwald which would have been available via Russian sources. From Eichenwald’s Newsweek report dated 10/26/16:
Updated | I am Sidney Blumenthal. At least, that is what Vladimir Putin—and, somehow, Donald Trump—seems to believe. And that should raise concerns not only about Moscow’s attempts to manipulate this election but also about how Trump came to push Russian disinformation to American voters.
An email from Blumenthal—a confidant of Hillary Clinton and a man, second only to George Soros, at the center of conservative conspiracy theories—turned up in the recent document dump by WikiLeaks. At a time when American intelligence believes Russian hackers are trying to interfere with the presidential election, records have recently been fed to WikiLeaks out of multiple organizations of the Democratic Party. But now that I have been brought into the whole mess—and transformed into Blumenthal—there is even more proof that the Russians are not only orchestrating this act of cyberwar but also really, really dumb.
Eichenwald’s report (read the whole thing) demonstrates how Russian sources placed disinformation into the Russian press which was used by the Trump campaign. It was almost as if the campaign had the information before it was published in the Russian press.
Regarding the credibility of the current Buzzfeed document, Eichenwald’s report cuts both ways. On one hand, it lends credibility to the charge that the Trump campaign had a working relationship with Russian intelligence sources who sought to undermine Clinton. On the other hand, Russian disinformation efforts could also be behind some of the more salacious aspects of the Russian intel memo. Given the relevance to national security, Congress should investigate.
Sitting here as a citizen, I am worried about the implications of this story. To me, it is obvious that Trump is stretching the truth to defend himself which doesn’t inspire confidence. I am worried that Republicans are going to roll over just to make nice with the incoming administration. I am thankful for Republicans like John McCain who seems to be taking this matter seriously. Given the consequences, we should be able to agree that an investigation is warranted.
HarperCollins: Monica Crowley's Book Will No Longer Be Offered for Purchase
HarperCollins just told CNN’s Andrew Kazcynski that they are pulling Monica Crowley’s 2012 book, What the Bleep Just Happened Here?
After taking a little time to study the matter, the publisher decided to stop selling the book “until such time as the author has the opportunity to source and revise the material.” (HC statement from the CNN article)
In the past when confronted with plagiarism charges against Mark Driscoll, HarperCollins acknowledged the “citation errors” and then quietly corrected them. Plagiarism was much more extensive in this instance.
Monica Crowley joins David Barton as a conservative with a book pulled by HarperCollins. In Barton’s case, it was because the book was filled with historical errors. Maybe Crowley will pull a Barton and claim her book was the victim of liberal political correctness.
Bible College at Center of Arkansas Bribery Scandal is Actually a Church
In fact, Ecclesia College is a part of a church called Ecclesia, Inc.
According to Guidestar, Ecclesia, Inc. “is not required to file an annual return with the IRS because it is a church.” Unlike other non-profit entities, Ecclesia isn’t accountable to the public via the annual 990 filing. Somehow the college and several other activities are considered a church by the IRS. On Ecclesia College’s website, a list of organizations are provided which are a part of the “church” or what they call the “Ecclesia Network.”
Bibles for the Nations
Ecclesia Children’s Ministries
Ecclesia Prep
Ecclesia Relief and Development
Happy Few Unlimited [???]
Strategic Missions
Twila Paris Productions
Twila Paris’ music business and all these other religious businesses are apparently a part of this “church.” According to Ecclesia College’s history page:
Ecclesia College is an important branch of the Ecclesia Network. Other ministries in the network include Strategic Missions, Ecclesia Relief and Development, Bibles For the Nations, Twila Paris Productions, Ecclesia Children’s Ministries, and Happy Few Unlimited.
When Micah Neal’s plea agreement says that development funds were directed to a “nonprofit corporation operating a college located in Springdale” the reference is apparently to Ecclesia, Inc. which is a church.
If Ecclesia is a church, then who is the pastor?
In essence, Arkansas tax payers have spent well over $500,000 since 2013 building a “church” in Springdale, Arkansas via the General Improvement Fund. This church isn’t functioning as a church but appears to be shielding several money making ventures from public accountability and possibly taxation.
Last March, the Freedom from Religion Foundation complained to the Northwest Arkansas Economic Development District about the allocation of funds to Ecclesia. According to the FFRF report, a NWAEDD representative pledged not to use any additional funds for religious purposes.
While I doubt it will happen, I believe the Arkansas legislature should investigate the funneling of funds to Ecclesia and other religious organizations. Specifically, Ecclesia’s role, if any, in the bribery scandal should be investigated. More generally, Ecclesia’s status as a church appears to be questionable as has been the practice of allocating public funds for sectarian religious purposes.