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Judd Legum Profile picture
@JuddLegum
Dec 13 • 8 tweets • 3 min read Twitter logo Read on Twitter
1. @WreathsAcross America is a popular and rapidly growing veterans charity

It raised over $30 million last year.

But the vast majority of the money goes to Worcester Wreath Company

Key fact: The owners of Worcester Wreath Company founded Wreaths Across America

🧵 Image
2. Wreaths Across America was created around the same time Worcester Wreath Company lost its contract with LL Bean, which accounted for 90% of Worcester's wreath sales

Today, Wreaths Across America accounts for 80%+ of Worcester's sales

popular.info/p/the-truth-ab…
3. In fiscal year 2022, $20,605,527 of the money raised by Wreaths Across America went directly to Worcester Wreath Company. Most of the rest of the funds went to marketing, overhead, and staff salaries. Image
4. In 2015, the Worcester Wreath Company said it sold the wreaths to Wreaths Across America for $8.50, earning a $1.20 profit on each wreath. If that profit margin has held, this year's wreath laying will earn the company $3,480,000.

popular.info/p/the-truth-ab…
5. A spokesperson for Wreaths Across America maintains the organization also helps "living veterans."

The primary way is that other non-profits can sell sponsored wreaths on behalf of Wreaths Across America and get "paid back" $5 for each wreath sold
6. The total amount of these payments by Wreaths Across America to other orgs in fiscal year 2022 was just $3,046,486. And not all of that money went to veterans orgs. Boy Scouts, 4-H Clubs, and many other non-veteran groups participate.

popular.info/p/the-truth-ab…
7. The issue is not that laying a wreath on a tombstone causes any harm. It provides symbolic support for veterans.

But living veterans have acute unmet needs, including housing, disability accommodation, and mental health

popular.info/p/the-truth-ab…
8. For more accountability journalism, don't rely on an algorithm controlled by a right-wing billionaire.

Subscribe to Popular Information and get this information directly.

It's free to sign up.

popular.info/subscribe

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More from @JuddLegum

Judd Legum Profile picture
Dec 12
1. This is reality: Donald Trump will almost certainly be the GOP nominee and, given our polarized politics, has a realistic chance of winning a 2nd term

Voters should understand what that 2nd term would look like

Trump has discussed it in detail

And it's alarming

🧵
2. Trump says he will "abuse power" and be a "dictator" on "day one."

popular.info/p/10-alarming-…
3. Trump says election fraud in 2020 gives him the power to "terminate" the Constitution
Read 12 tweets
Judd Legum Profile picture
Dec 11
On 7/19, the @washingtonpost Ed Board published a column calling for an aggressive national response to organized retail crime (ORC)

The column stressed that the problem of ORC was based on "data"

Just one problem: The data cited in the column was a complete fabrication

🧵 Image
2. @PostOpinions claimed, "ORC accounted for half of the $94.5 billion in losses due to theft that companies reported in 2021."

But retailers did not report $94.5 billion in losses "due to theft" in 2021.

That was the TOTAL SHRINK, according to the National Retail Federation
@PostOpinions 3. "Shrink" includes all inventory that isn't purchased, including spoiled or damaged merchandise.

More than one-quarter of all shrink comes from internal control failures.

popular.info/p/organized-jo…
Read 12 tweets
Judd Legum Profile picture
Dec 6
1. On Friday, @ATT quietly released an extraordinary report

For the first time ever, @ATT evaluated the alignment between its stated values and the views of the politicians it supports

That's the good news

The bad news is the report @ATT produced is deeply flawed

🧵
2. AT&T's political donations often conflict with its values

AT&T claims to support LGBTQ rights, asserting that it “stands with LGTBQ+ people.” But between 1/22 and 6/23, AT&T donated at least $1.4 million to anti-LGBTQ legislators

popular.info/p/the-report-a…
3. @ATT also claims to be an ardent supporter of voting rights. AT&T posted a video on its corporate website, "AT&T Employees Honor Those Who Fought for the Right to Vote," documenting a trip by AT&T representatives to Selma, Alabama, to honor those who fought for voting rights. Image
Read 12 tweets
Judd Legum Profile picture
Dec 5
1. What is the purpose of a school library?

To cultivate a love of reading?

To expose students to new ideas and perspectives?

FLORIDA has a different definition.

The DeSantis administration says the purpose of a school library is to "CONVEY THE GOVERNMENT'S MESSAGE"

🧵 Image
2. Florida @AGAshleyMoody took this position in an extraordinary legal filing arguing that the Escambia County School Board was free to remove any book from the school library, EVEN IF THE REASON IS THE BOARD'S DISCRIMINATORY POLITICAL VIEWS

popular.info/p/florida-says…
@AGAshleyMoody 3. The Escambia County School Board was sued by Penguin Random House, parents, and others for removing the book And Tango Makes Three.

The book is about two male penguins who raise an adopted chick

It's not obscene. The school board disagrees with the IDEAS in the book Image
Read 8 tweets
Judd Legum Profile picture
Dec 4
1. A PAC with close ties to the @TexasGOP met with white supremacist Nick Fuentes for hours.

To tamp down the controversy, a member of the @TexasGOP exec committee introduced a resolution banning associations with Nazi sympathizers and Holocaust deniers

IT WAS VOTED DOWN

🧵
2. Several members of the @TexasGOP Executive Committee said the anti-Nazi resolution was "too vague" and "could create future problems for the party, its leaders and candidates." Committee member Dan Tully called it a "slippery slope."

popular.info/p/texas-republ…
@TexasGOP 3. Texas @SenatorBobHall (R) visited the hotel where the Executive Committee was meeting to lobby against the resolution.

“I've had meetings with transgenders, gays and lesbians,” Hall said. “Does that make me a transgender, gay or a lesbian?”
Read 9 tweets
Judd Legum Profile picture
Nov 29
1. Earlier this month, a mysterious woman appeared before a school board in Texas and claimed that, when she was 11, she READ A SCHOLASTIC BOOK THAT SPARKED A DEBILITATING PORN ADDICTION.

We investigated.

And it's ABSOLUTELY WILD what is happening.

🧵 Image
2. The woman was 20-year-old Lanah Burkhardt.

Burkhardt said after reading a Scholastic book that depicted a "single kiss," she "looked for other books that gave me pleasure." This "led to internet searches" that she will "never forget."

popular.info/p/mysterious-w…
3. Burkhardt cited her story as a reason to restrict access to Drama, a novel published by Scholastic. The book includes this image of two people kissing: Image
Read 11 tweets

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