The CIA took over the Red Cross a very long time ago...

Red Cross: How We Spent Sandy Money Is a ‘Trade Secret’

The charity is fighting our public records request for information on how it raised and spent money after the superstorm.

by Justin Elliott
ProPublica, June 26, 2014, 11:38 a.m.

Just how badly does the American Red Cross want to keep secret how it raised and spent over $300 million after Hurricane Sandy?
The charity has hired a fancy law firm to fight a public request we filed with New York state, arguing that information about its Sandy activities is a "trade secret."

The Red Cross' "trade secret" argument has persuaded the state to redact some material, though it's not clear yet how much since the documents haven't yet been released.
As we've reported, the Red Cross releases few details about how it spends money after big disasters. That makes it difficult to figure out whether donor dollars are well spent.
The Red Cross did give some information about Sandy spending to New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who had been investigating the charity. But the Red Cross declined our request to disclose the details.
So we filed a public records request for the information the Red Cross provided to the attorney general's office.
That's where the law firm Gibson Dunn comes in.
An attorney from the firm's New York office appealed to the attorney general to block disclosure of some of the Sandy information, citing the state Freedom of Information Law's trade secret exemption.
The documents include "internal and proprietary methodology and procedures for fundraising, confidential information about its internal operations, and confidential financial information," wrote Gabrielle Levin of Gibson Dunn in a letter to the attorney general's office.
If those details were disclosed, "the American Red Cross would suffer competitive harm because its competitors would be able to mimic the American Red Cross's business model for an increased competitive advantage," Levin wrote.
The letter doesn't specify who the Red Cross' "competitors" are.
The Red Cross is a public charity and occupies a unique place responding to disasters alongside the federal government.
Among the sections of the documents the Red Cross wanted redacted was "a two-line title" at the top of a page, one line of which was "American Red Cross."
The attorney general's office denied that redaction, writing that it "can not find disclosure of this two line title will cause the Red Cross any economic injury."
Asked about the effort to have Sandy materials kept secret, Red Cross spokeswoman Anne Marie Borrego told ProPublica: "We sought to keep confidential a small part of the letter [sent to the AG] that provided proprietary information important to maintaining our ability to raise funds and fulfill our mission."
Doug White, a nonprofit expert who directs the fundraising management program at Columbia University, said that it's possible for nonprofits to have trade interests — the logo of a university, for example — but it's not clear what a "trade secret" would be in the case of the Red Cross. He called the lawyer's letter an apparent "delaying tactic."
Ben Smilowitz of the Disaster Accountability Project, a watchdog group, said,
"Invoking a 'trade secret' exemption is not something you would expect from an organization that purports to be 'transparent and accountable.'"
In agreeing to withhold some details, the attorney general's office found that portions of the documents the charity wanted to redact "describe business strategies, internal operational procedures and decisions, and the internal deliberations and decision-making processes that affect fundraising and the allocation of donations."
The attorney general's office also found "that this information is proprietary and constitutes trade secrets, and that its disclosure would cause the Red Cross economic injury and put the Red Cross at an economic disadvantage."
Another section the Red Cross wanted redacted was a paragraph that noted the charity's "willingness to meet with the [Office of the Attorney General.]" The attorney general's office denied that part of the request
Borrego, the Red Cross spokeswoman, declined to say how much the charity is paying Gibson Dunn but said, "we do not use funds restricted to Superstorm Sandy to cover those expenses."
We'll let you know when we get the documents we asked for — at least the parts that aren't trade secrets.

 http://www.propublica.org/article/red-cross-how-we-spent-sandy-money-is-a-trade-secret

Government and Red Cross fraud in the Disaster Zone

These are random, somewhat stream of consciousness notes from a relief supplies drop off trip taken to Staten Island. All pictures and video (not including the government and Red Cross PR photos) are from the trip.




It’s 21 days after the storm and there are still many thousands of people without power and heat. Food is scarce and for many every basic thing from soap to clean socks is in short supply.



How many people are in this predicament? No one knows because no one is counting. If someone has counted, they are not sharing the information with the news media and/or the news media is not reporting it.



How does a government operate a relief effort if 21 days out, it doesn’t know how many people are in need?



The answer is they don’t need to know because they are not operating a relief effort.



This was obvious from my two visits to the Rockaways and the full day I spent on Staten Island Friday, November 16th, the day after Obama’s photo op visit.





“Everything is squeaky clean and under control. Thanks to our efforts and your tax dollars.”



The amount of prevarication on the part of the American Red Cross, FEMA, Obama & New York politicians, especially Cuomo and Bloomberg, on how much they are helping citizens is mind boggling.



As just one example among many, Bloomberg claimed a few days ago that the city has set up “300 public warming stations.” I’ve been in over a dozen of the hardest hit neighborhoods in Queens and Staten Island and I’ve only see one and it was set up and is being operated not by any government agency or non-profit, but by a masonry contracting firm, Navillus, based in Manhattan.



The overwhelming portion of help is coming from neighborhood people, business owners, and small groups with a wide variety of political and religious orientations both from within and outside the city.





One of just scores of entirely privately funded relief centers run by volunteers and supplied directly by human beings who are receiving next to no government or Red Cross Help. The government and Red Cross do not want you to see these pictures and the media is cooperating.



Were it not for this help, which in the aggregate is massive, many people would be starving at this point.



The government is denying its inability and/or unwillingness to help the victims of the storm and making blatantly fraudulent claims about what they’re doing to help as well as the desperateness of the situation.



The entire political class up and down the ladder is cooperating with the fraud.



One member, the Borough of Staten Island president, went “off the reservation” briefly to accurately complain about the inactivity of the American Red Cross, but he is now firmly in the political class camp going even so far as to threaten the street corner grassroots relief efforts with shutdown. Bloomberg is also making noises about doing this too.



Along with the government, the American Red Cross is also engaged in a massive fraud, staging photos ops, and then widely publicizing the pictures to give the impression that their efforts are meaningful (they are not, given their size and funding) in order to solicit donations.



Facts:



1. The American Red Cross has an open government contract in which they are reimbursed for 100% of all the expenses involved running specific relief operations. So every blanket, every crumb of food, every gallon of gas they’re burning will be paid for with your tax dollars.



2. The American Red Cross usually soaks up about 70% of all the money that people donate for high profile relief operations. That means that all the other groups, including many of which are doing truly heroic and much needed work, have to share the remaining 30% of the pie.



3. The American Red Cross reserves the right – and uses it every time – to spend money donated for a specific catastrophe in any way it chooses.



This means if you give the American Red Cross money to feed freezing, hungry people in the Rockaways right now, the American Red Cross is perfectly OK spending it on a weeklong management retreat in Maui for their executives. Just Google “Red Cross fraud corruption” and you’ll see that they’ve been caught doing these kinds of things – and much, much worse – many, many times over a very long period.





Lots of pictures. Very little action and even less material help.



Obama’s visit to Staten Island yesterday was another example of a well-orchestated fraud.



One tiny slice of the devastated area was cleared for him as a backdrop. He posed there with some young people in blue windbreakers who are members of a phantom organization called “FEMA Corps”, hugged a woman for the cameras and was on his way back home.



The news media is cooperating with the party line and makes these frauds possible.



Reporters and cameramen see the devastation. They can see the scores of ad hoc volunteer relief stations desperately trying to keep up with a demand these small operations don’t have the resources to fill. However, instead of reporting on these efforts and encouraging the public to support them, all they do is recycle American Red Cross, FEMA and government baloney in essence stealing resources from them and the people who need them.



The word “vampires” comes to mind when watching how the news media, the American Red Cross, FEMA and the rest of the government are operating in this most desperate of situations.



There are hundreds of eye witnesses to this sham – police officers, National Guard troops, and people on the street. All anyone has to do is ask them what they’re seeing, but no one is asking and no one is reporting.



Summary



The situation in New York goes beyond gross incompetence.



What we have here are are small group of people who in order to maintain their positions are deliberately misleading the public as to the extent of the problem, what is needed, and how the public can help.





Politicians congratulate each other on what a great job they’re doing



Instead of providing information and leadership to a population that is full of people who would gladly help if only they were directed how, they (the American Red Cross, FEMA, Obama, Cuomo, and Bloomberg) are fraudulently claiming that everything is under control and it’s all thanks to their good works. As if that weren’t bad enough, they’re actively diverting critical financial resources away from the groups that are doing the most good to one (the American Red Cross) that has proven again and again to be close to useless.



And like the thieves they are, they’re all backing up each other’s stories.



The needs continue to be great – maybe greater than ever – today 21 days after the storm.



Info on what’s needed here: http://www.HelpAfterSandy.org





Donated truck. Donated supplies. Volunteer labor. Red Cross and the government nowhere in sight. This scene is being played out all over the disaster zone.



- Ken McCarthy

http://helpaftersandy.org/blog/fraud-in-the-disaster-zone/

Government and Red Cross fraud in the Disaster Zone

These are random, somewhat stream of consciousness notes from a relief supplies drop off trip taken to Staten Island. All pictures and video (not including the government and Red Cross PR photos) are from the trip.




It’s 21 days after the storm and there are still many thousands of people without power and heat. Food is scarce and for many every basic thing from soap to clean socks is in short supply.



How many people are in this predicament? No one knows because no one is counting. If someone has counted, they are not sharing the information with the news media and/or the news media is not reporting it.



How does a government operate a relief effort if 21 days out, it doesn’t know how many people are in need?



The answer is they don’t need to know because they are not operating a relief effort.



This was obvious from my two visits to the Rockaways and the full day I spent on Staten Island Friday, November 16th, the day after Obama’s photo op visit.





“Everything is squeaky clean and under control. Thanks to our efforts and your tax dollars.”



The amount of prevarication on the part of the American Red Cross, FEMA, Obama & New York politicians, especially Cuomo and Bloomberg, on how much they are helping citizens is mind boggling.



As just one example among many, Bloomberg claimed a few days ago that the city has set up “300 public warming stations.” I’ve been in over a dozen of the hardest hit neighborhoods in Queens and Staten Island and I’ve only see one and it was set up and is being operated not by any government agency or non-profit, but by a masonry contracting firm, Navillus, based in Manhattan.



The overwhelming portion of help is coming from neighborhood people, business owners, and small groups with a wide variety of political and religious orientations both from within and outside the city.





One of just scores of entirely privately funded relief centers run by volunteers and supplied directly by human beings who are receiving next to no government or Red Cross Help. The government and Red Cross do not want you to see these pictures and the media is cooperating.



Were it not for this help, which in the aggregate is massive, many people would be starving at this point.



The government is denying its inability and/or unwillingness to help the victims of the storm and making blatantly fraudulent claims about what they’re doing to help as well as the desperateness of the situation.



The entire political class up and down the ladder is cooperating with the fraud.



One member, the Borough of Staten Island president, went “off the reservation” briefly to accurately complain about the inactivity of the American Red Cross, but he is now firmly in the political class camp going even so far as to threaten the street corner grassroots relief efforts with shutdown. Bloomberg is also making noises about doing this too.



Along with the government, the American Red Cross is also engaged in a massive fraud, staging photos ops, and then widely publicizing the pictures to give the impression that their efforts are meaningful (they are not, given their size and funding) in order to solicit donations.



Facts:



1. The American Red Cross has an open government contract in which they are reimbursed for 100% of all the expenses involved running specific relief operations. So every blanket, every crumb of food, every gallon of gas they’re burning will be paid for with your tax dollars.



2. The American Red Cross usually soaks up about 70% of all the money that people donate for high profile relief operations. That means that all the other groups, including many of which are doing truly heroic and much needed work, have to share the remaining 30% of the pie.



3. The American Red Cross reserves the right – and uses it every time – to spend money donated for a specific catastrophe in any way it chooses.



This means if you give the American Red Cross money to feed freezing, hungry people in the Rockaways right now, the American Red Cross is perfectly OK spending it on a weeklong management retreat in Maui for their executives. Just Google “Red Cross fraud corruption” and you’ll see that they’ve been caught doing these kinds of things – and much, much worse – many, many times over a very long period.





Lots of pictures. Very little action and even less material help.



Obama’s visit to Staten Island yesterday was another example of a well-orchestated fraud.



One tiny slice of the devastated area was cleared for him as a backdrop. He posed there with some young people in blue windbreakers who are members of a phantom organization called “FEMA Corps”, hugged a woman for the cameras and was on his way back home.



The news media is cooperating with the party line and makes these frauds possible.



Reporters and cameramen see the devastation. They can see the scores of ad hoc volunteer relief stations desperately trying to keep up with a demand these small operations don’t have the resources to fill. However, instead of reporting on these efforts and encouraging the public to support them, all they do is recycle American Red Cross, FEMA and government baloney in essence stealing resources from them and the people who need them.



The word “vampires” comes to mind when watching how the news media, the American Red Cross, FEMA and the rest of the government are operating in this most desperate of situations.



There are hundreds of eye witnesses to this sham – police officers, National Guard troops, and people on the street. All anyone has to do is ask them what they’re seeing, but no one is asking and no one is reporting.



Summary



The situation in New York goes beyond gross incompetence.



What we have here are are small group of people who in order to maintain their positions are deliberately misleading the public as to the extent of the problem, what is needed, and how the public can help.





Politicians congratulate each other on what a great job they’re doing



Instead of providing information and leadership to a population that is full of people who would gladly help if only they were directed how, they (the American Red Cross, FEMA, Obama, Cuomo, and Bloomberg) are fraudulently claiming that everything is under control and it’s all thanks to their good works. As if that weren’t bad enough, they’re actively diverting critical financial resources away from the groups that are doing the most good to one (the American Red Cross) that has proven again and again to be close to useless.



And like the thieves they are, they’re all backing up each other’s stories.



The needs continue to be great – maybe greater than ever – today 21 days after the storm.



Info on what’s needed here: http://www.HelpAfterSandy.org





Donated truck. Donated supplies. Volunteer labor. Red Cross and the government nowhere in sight. This scene is being played out all over the disaster zone.



- Ken McCarthy

http://helpaftersandy.org/blog/fraud-in-the-disaster-zone/

Government and Red Cross fraud in the Disaster Zone

These are random, somewhat stream of consciousness notes from a relief supplies drop off trip taken to Staten Island. All pictures and video (not including the government and Red Cross PR photos) are from the trip.




It’s 21 days after the storm and there are still many thousands of people without power and heat. Food is scarce and for many every basic thing from soap to clean socks is in short supply.



How many people are in this predicament? No one knows because no one is counting. If someone has counted, they are not sharing the information with the news media and/or the news media is not reporting it.



How does a government operate a relief effort if 21 days out, it doesn’t know how many people are in need?



The answer is they don’t need to know because they are not operating a relief effort.



This was obvious from my two visits to the Rockaways and the full day I spent on Staten Island Friday, November 16th, the day after Obama’s photo op visit.





“Everything is squeaky clean and under control. Thanks to our efforts and your tax dollars.”



The amount of prevarication on the part of the American Red Cross, FEMA, Obama & New York politicians, especially Cuomo and Bloomberg, on how much they are helping citizens is mind boggling.



As just one example among many, Bloomberg claimed a few days ago that the city has set up “300 public warming stations.” I’ve been in over a dozen of the hardest hit neighborhoods in Queens and Staten Island and I’ve only see one and it was set up and is being operated not by any government agency or non-profit, but by a masonry contracting firm, Navillus, based in Manhattan.



The overwhelming portion of help is coming from neighborhood people, business owners, and small groups with a wide variety of political and religious orientations both from within and outside the city.





One of just scores of entirely privately funded relief centers run by volunteers and supplied directly by human beings who are receiving next to no government or Red Cross Help. The government and Red Cross do not want you to see these pictures and the media is cooperating.



Were it not for this help, which in the aggregate is massive, many people would be starving at this point.



The government is denying its inability and/or unwillingness to help the victims of the storm and making blatantly fraudulent claims about what they’re doing to help as well as the desperateness of the situation.



The entire political class up and down the ladder is cooperating with the fraud.



One member, the Borough of Staten Island president, went “off the reservation” briefly to accurately complain about the inactivity of the American Red Cross, but he is now firmly in the political class camp going even so far as to threaten the street corner grassroots relief efforts with shutdown. Bloomberg is also making noises about doing this too.



Along with the government, the American Red Cross is also engaged in a massive fraud, staging photos ops, and then widely publicizing the pictures to give the impression that their efforts are meaningful (they are not, given their size and funding) in order to solicit donations.



Facts:



1. The American Red Cross has an open government contract in which they are reimbursed for 100% of all the expenses involved running specific relief operations. So every blanket, every crumb of food, every gallon of gas they’re burning will be paid for with your tax dollars.



2. The American Red Cross usually soaks up about 70% of all the money that people donate for high profile relief operations. That means that all the other groups, including many of which are doing truly heroic and much needed work, have to share the remaining 30% of the pie.



3. The American Red Cross reserves the right – and uses it every time – to spend money donated for a specific catastrophe in any way it chooses.



This means if you give the American Red Cross money to feed freezing, hungry people in the Rockaways right now, the American Red Cross is perfectly OK spending it on a weeklong management retreat in Maui for their executives. Just Google “Red Cross fraud corruption” and you’ll see that they’ve been caught doing these kinds of things – and much, much worse – many, many times over a very long period.





Lots of pictures. Very little action and even less material help.



Obama’s visit to Staten Island yesterday was another example of a well-orchestated fraud.



One tiny slice of the devastated area was cleared for him as a backdrop. He posed there with some young people in blue windbreakers who are members of a phantom organization called “FEMA Corps”, hugged a woman for the cameras and was on his way back home.



The news media is cooperating with the party line and makes these frauds possible.



Reporters and cameramen see the devastation. They can see the scores of ad hoc volunteer relief stations desperately trying to keep up with a demand these small operations don’t have the resources to fill. However, instead of reporting on these efforts and encouraging the public to support them, all they do is recycle American Red Cross, FEMA and government baloney in essence stealing resources from them and the people who need them.



The word “vampires” comes to mind when watching how the news media, the American Red Cross, FEMA and the rest of the government are operating in this most desperate of situations.



There are hundreds of eye witnesses to this sham – police officers, National Guard troops, and people on the street. All anyone has to do is ask them what they’re seeing, but no one is asking and no one is reporting.



Summary



The situation in New York goes beyond gross incompetence.



What we have here are are small group of people who in order to maintain their positions are deliberately misleading the public as to the extent of the problem, what is needed, and how the public can help.





Politicians congratulate each other on what a great job they’re doing



Instead of providing information and leadership to a population that is full of people who would gladly help if only they were directed how, they (the American Red Cross, FEMA, Obama, Cuomo, and Bloomberg) are fraudulently claiming that everything is under control and it’s all thanks to their good works. As if that weren’t bad enough, they’re actively diverting critical financial resources away from the groups that are doing the most good to one (the American Red Cross) that has proven again and again to be close to useless.



And like the thieves they are, they’re all backing up each other’s stories.



The needs continue to be great – maybe greater than ever – today 21 days after the storm.



Info on what’s needed here: http://www.HelpAfterSandy.org





Donated truck. Donated supplies. Volunteer labor. Red Cross and the government nowhere in sight. This scene is being played out all over the disaster zone.



- Ken McCarthy

http://helpaftersandy.org/blog/fraud-in-the-disaster-zone/