Print 
PDF
President Joe Biden warned during his farewell speech in the Oval Office on Wednesday that dark money in politics is dangerous and a threat to democracy.
Dark money refers to political donations not disclosed to the public through sophisticated financial instruments.
To whom Biden recently awarded the Freedom Medal, George Soros is the personification of "dark money."
Be informed, not misled.
Biden’s comments came two weeks after he awarded George Soros, a billionaire Democrat donor kingpin linked to dark money, the Medal of Freedom.
The medal is the highest civilian award in the United States.
“George Soros is an investor, philanthropist, and founder of the Open Society Foundations,” Biden’s White House wrote of Soros for the award ceremony. “Through his network of foundations, partners, and projects in more than 120 countries, Soros has focused on global initiatives that strengthen democracy, human rights, education, and social justice.”
Biden's White House also said:
"The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the Nation’s highest civilian honor, presented to individuals who have made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values, or security of the United States, world peace, or other significant societal, public or private endeavors."
The White House statement continued:
"President Biden believes great leaders keep the faith, give everyone a fair shot, and put decency above all else. These nineteen individuals are great leaders who have made America and the world a better place. They are great leaders because they are good people who have made extraordinary contributions to their country and the world."
What is "dark money?"
Millions of dark money contributions link back to Hungarian-born Soros, who quietly financed soft-on-crime district attorneys, radical left candidates, and a host of Democrat initiatives.
The Campaign Legal Center explains the particulars of dark money in politics:
For some wealthy special interests, dark money groups are one way to influence high-stakes elections while avoiding accountability — both for themselves and for the candidates who benefit from their secret efforts.
Majority Forward, a Democratic-aligned dark money group closely allied with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, was the primary funder of Last Best Place PAC, a super PAC that spent millions of dollars attempting to upend the Republican Senate primary in Montana.
Billionaire philanthropist and self-proclaimed nonpartisan Bill Gates quietly donated $50 million to the 501(c)(4) arm of Future Forward, one of the biggest spenders in support of Vice President Harris, and his donation will never appear on a public campaign finance filing.
Dark money is fine, but be warned about the "oligarchs."
“In my farewell address tonight, I want to warn the country of some things that give me great concern. And that’s a dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a very few ultra wealthy people,” Biden said Wednesday. “The dangerous consequences if their abuse of power is left unchecked.”
“Today, an oligarch is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead,” he added.
If he was really concerned about "oligarchs"---translated Elon Musk---he would not be awarding George Soros the highest civilian medal in the United States.
Keep in mind the Democrats out-raised the Republicans almost two-to-one in the last presidential election. After raising about a billion dollars, Kamala Harris and her party ended up $20 million in debt.
They are still trying to raise the $20 million they owe to vendors.
Even CNN called out Biden on his hypocrisy.
President Joe Biden’s warnings Wednesday night about social media misinformation, the tech-industrial complex and the concentration of wealth and power struck many as a not-so-subtle shot across the bow at Elon Musk, the world’s richest man who’s also become President-elect Donald Trump’s closest consigliere.
But within the White House, many officials are grappling with a missed opportunity to cultivate Musk as an ally, whose interests as an electric vehicle manufacturer often aligned with the administration, a staunch supporter of clean energy initiatives.
Worse, some have wondered whether their actions to exclude Musk may have emboldened the entrepreneur to back Trump and pour a quarter-billion dollars into efforts to reelect him. Musk, a former Democrat, had not backed either candidate until Trump survived a mid-July assassination attempt.
The New York Post, calling him "Bitter Biden," said, "Outgoing President Biden used a resentful farewell address Wednesday night to warn against what he called a 'tech-industrial complex' — claiming that 'an oligarchy is taking shape in America' in a clear swipe at Elon Musk and other business titans scrambling to court President-elect Donald Trump."
Biden, 82, sniped at some of the same tech moguls, such as Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, who were seen helping the Democrat defeat Trump in 2020 through censorship of unfavorable coverage.
The Post said that disgraced and pardoned first son Hunter Biden was seated just steps away from his father as the outgoing president called on Americans to respect “the courts” and “pay their fair share” of taxes.
Biden said, “Americans are being buried under an avalanche of misinformation and disinformation, enabling the abuse of power. The free press is crumbling. Editors are disappearing. Social media is giving up on fact-checking. The truth is smothered by lies told for power and for profit. We must hold the social platforms accountable to protect our children, our families, and our very democracy from the abuse of power.”
Remember, it was Biden and his crew that pressured Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg to suppress the conservative narrative, for which he has now apologized. Whatever his apology amounts to.
The “giving up on fact-checking” line was a clear shot at Zuckerberg, who recently announced that his landmark social network was transitioning away from fact-checks by third parties to an X-style “community notes” system in a perceived overture to Trump.
Takeaway
These past 4 years can be summed up in the words of the Prophet Isaiah in chapter 59 as he talks about the failures of God's people and the coming of the Messiah.
I'm not suggesting any politician is a "messiah"; they are not.
But Isaiah is defining a spiritual, cultural condition that is not unlike our own:
( v1) Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither His ear heavy that he cannot hear, (v2) But your iniquities have separated between you and your God and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear."
(v14 )"And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off; for truth is fallen in the street and equity cannot enter."
Isaiah noted (v 10), "We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as thou we had no eyes; we stumble at noonday as in the night, we are in desolate places as dead men."
As a nation turns to God, as I believe ours is doing with the spiritual awakening happening across the nation on college campuses and elsewhere, we will experience the "glory of the Lord."
"Arise shine; for the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee" (Is. 60:1).
Be Informed. Be Hopeful. Be Prayerful. Be Blessed.