williammccarthy

President, William J. McCarthy & Assoc., Direct mail fundraising, online fundraising, social media.

[williammccarthy @williammccarthy]

A thread, scary as it is, worth readong.

[Insurrection Barbie @DefiyantlyFree]

1/ In 2020, Calla Walsh was a 16-year-old political prodigy and the face of the “Markeyverse,” credited by the NYT with helping a US Senator win his primary.

In 2026, she’s in Beirut, on Iranian state TV, chanting “Death to America.”

How does that happen? And more importantly, why is this such an important topic right now for American political discourse and how it is shaping the radicalization of our country.

This is the story of the pipeline that carried her. And it’s a much more dangerous story that applies to much bigger national security threats than anybody is talking about. 🧵

[Mary Katharine Ham @mkhammer]

Wow

[End Wokeness @EndWokeness]

Birmingham Police are now asking us all to stop sharing this video. Oops.

[williammccarthy @williammccarthy]

@mikeminoguema fire your consultants! You are running boring, tell me nothing, ads over and over. Consultants get paid off the buy and you do not move the football at all. Wise up!

[Senator Rand Paul @SenRandPaul]

A reminder that the Constitution was not written to restrain the citizens' behavior.

It was written to restrain the government's behavior.

[williammccarthy @williammccarthy]

What a fine cigar. And I got presents with the sampler. @MyFatherDPG La Antiguedad.

[Fairfax GOP @FairfaxGOP]

🟥 A Fairfax mom did the math on your school district — and the numbers are damning.

Stephanie Lundquist-Arora — Fairfax resident, author, and contributor to The Federalist and the Washington Examiner — just published a detailed breakdown of where FCPS actually spends your money.

Here's what she found:
🟥 The School Board got a $197 MILLION budget increase — then voted to cut 70 teaching positions anyway.
🟥 FCPS runs a 19-person environmental bureaucracy — energy managers, "Get2Green" coordinators, zero-waste staff, climate-action planners — costing taxpayers roughly $2.2 million a year in salaries alone.
🟥 Superintendent Michelle Reid's salary: $445,353. Her chief of staff: $306,154. Class sizes: going up.
🟥 Reading scores? Sliding.

In Lundquist-Arora's own words: "Increasing class sizes and cutting teaching positions while failing to eliminate programs that do not support academic achievement is a symptom of weak and obscenely irresponsible leadership."

The 12-member Fairfax County School Board — every seat Democrat-endorsed — had a choice. They chose the climate office over the classroom. They chose the coordinator over the teacher. They chose the bureaucracy over your child.

School Board Chair Sandy Anderson and her colleagues made this budget. They own these numbers.

This is what happens when one party runs every seat and nobody has to answer for it. The next time these School Board members face voters is November 2, 2027.

Share this with every Fairfax parent you know. They need to see where the money went. 👇
🔗 https://t.co/FOb1vDrxxA

[Fairfax GOP @FairfaxGOP]

🟥 A student was convicted on NINE counts of groping underage girls inside Fairfax High School.
Fairfax County Public Schools hired a law firm to investigate itself — and the firm cleared the district. Then FCPS refused to release the report.

Parents whose daughters were assaulted say the district tried to sweep it under the rug. The federal government opened its own Title IX investigation in March. That probe is still open.

So here's where things stand:
🟥 Nine convictions. Twelve girls came forward.
🟥 FCPS investigated itself, cleared itself, and sealed the file.
🟥 The federal investigation it cannot control? Still ongoing.
🟥 The 12-member Fairfax County School Board — every one of them Democrat-endorsed — has not said a single public word about it.

Superintendent Michelle Reid answers to that School Board. They hired her. They set her budget. They are responsible for these schools. Their silence on this case is a choice.

School Board Chair Sandy Anderson has not called for the report's release. Not one of her colleagues has either.

Taxpayers paid for that review. They are not allowed to read it.

This is what one-party rule looks like when no one has to answer for anything. Every School Board seat is on the ballot in November 2027. These officials are counting on you to forget by then.

Don't forget. Share this with every Fairfax parent you know. 👇
🔗 https://t.co/VzIX01dqpg

[williammccarthy @williammccarthy]

https://t.co/mXunXlLcc2

[Angela Stanton King @theAuntieAngie]

21 years ago, I sat in a prison cell and learned I was pregnant.

Every sign pointed toward abortion. Every circumstance said this baby would never have a chance.

But I chose life.

I saw value in my daughter before anyone else could.

What I didn’t know was that her birth would help change laws in America. Fifteen years after I gave birth while chained to a hospital bed with a sheriff standing watch, that story reached the highest levels of government. And @POTUS granted me a full and unconditional pardon and signed legislation ending the shackling of women during childbirth in federal prisons.

Today, that same baby walked across the stage as a graduate of MIT.

From a prison birth to one of the most prestigious universities in the world.

Never let your circumstances determine someone’s worth.

There is value in life.

There is purpose in every child.

Go, baby. The world is yours. ❤️🎓
#MIT #Graduation #ChooseLife #Redemption #SecondChances #ValueInLife

[williammccarthy @williammccarthy]

@USPS why are you so useless? I am trying to complain about forwarding issues and your website will not accept the confirmation number that you sent to me. Why is this so hard??????

[MAGA Voice @MAGAVoice]

Keir Starmer does NOT want the World to see how badly British Patriots want their country back

Would be a shame if it went viral on 𝕏

[Mike Netter @nettermike]

The mayor of Charlotte, NC asks that we not post about this lady murdered on a Charlotte train by a repeat offender with 14 prior arrests!
I say in Iryna’s memory please share and make this go viral! A repeat offender with 14 prior arrests should not be roaming the streets of ANY city! They should be locked up!! Epic failure in the justice system!

[Bill Melugin @BillMelugin_]

BREAKING: @FoxNews is on scene in Portsmouth, VA where the FBI is raiding the office of Virginia Senate President Pro Tempore L Louise Lucas, a Democrat and close ally of VA Governor Spanberger. Fed law enforcement sources tell FOX this is in connection to a major corruption probe, and the FBI is serving multiple search warrants, approved by a federal judge, at her office and a next door cannabis dispensary. More to come with correspondent @AlexHoganTV, who reports that Lucas just showed up on scene as the FBI searches her office.

[Loudoun James @LoudounJames1]

My question concerning the Virginia Supreme Court’s oral arguments today is why did democrats elect Jay Jones if he is too stupid to argue his own case?

[williammccarthy @williammccarthy]

I truly believe that @Verizon is the least customer-oriented business in the nation. They make the IRS seem more customer-centric.

[Gunther Eagleman™ @GuntherEagleman]

🚨 President Trump just dropped this gem!

Trump saved America $298 MILLION on the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool:

The historic pool, where MLK gave his “I Have a Dream” speech, was a leaking, filthy disaster.

Government bureaucrats wanted $300 MILLION and 3+ years to rip it up.

Trump said hell no.

Called in real pool experts, scrubbed the original granite, sealed it, and topped it with American Flag Blue industrial coating.

✅ $1.5–2 MILLION
✅ Done in 2 weeks
✅ Will last 40–50 years and look better than 1922

This is how you run government like a business.

Promises kept! Taxpayer dollars saved!

[Virginia News Vanguard @VaNewsVanguard]

🚨NEW: In the context of the disenfranchisement of rural Virginians by Democratic gerrymandering, Republican St. Senator Bill Stanley introduces Southside & Southwest Virginia to the uncaring Democratic state senators -- especially the Northern Virginians. It's a moving speech.

"You have voted on all of this without consulting them. And you have voted to limit their treasured constitutional rights."

"And some of those votes have been made with breathtaking confidence by the people who have never once asked who lives out there? What do they need? What are their values? What are their names?" ....

"[The region] is home. It is home to us. And the people who live there deserve a government who knows their name and respects their rights and their values."

[Peter Girnus 🦅 @gothburz]

I have two stacks on my desk. The left stack is financial disclosure forms from members of Congress. The right stack is waivers for members who filed their financial disclosures late.

The right stack is always taller.

On Wednesday morning, I watched a soldier get arrested on CNN.

I am a Disclosure Analyst for the House Ethics Committee. I have held this position for eleven years. My job is to receive the forms, verify their completeness, and file them. I do not investigate. I do not flag. I do not refer. I file. I have a lanyard. The lanyard says ETHICS.

The soldier's name is Gannon Ken Van Dyke. He is thirty-eight years old. He was stationed at Fort Bragg. He was Special Forces. In December, he created an account on a prediction market called Polymarket. On January 2nd, he bet $32,500 that the president of Venezuela would be removed from power. On January 3rd, he helped remove the president of Venezuela from power. He collected $409,881.

He has been charged with five federal crimes. Commodities fraud. Wire fraud. Unlawful use of confidential government information. Theft of nonpublic government information. Unlawful monetary transaction. The Department of Justice called it "the first-ever insider trading prosecution on event contracts."

I watched this on the television in our break room. Then I walked back to my desk and processed a late financial disclosure from a member of the House Financial Services Committee who purchased $250,000 in bank stocks eleven days before his subcommittee held a closed-door hearing on proposed capital reserve changes.

The filing was forty-seven days late. The STOCK Act requires disclosure within forty-five days. The penalty for late filing is $200.

I waived it.

I waive most of them. In 2021, fifty-four members of Congress and senior staff violated the reporting rules. The fines were minimal. Most were waived. I have a form for the waiver. The form has a box that says "Reason." I write "administrative delay." In ethics, "administrative delay" means the member's office forgot and then remembered when a reporter called. My approval rate is one hundred percent. In any other field, that number would trigger an audit. In mine, it is called thoroughness.

Let me show you what I processed this year.

January. A senator on the Armed Services Committee sold defense contractor shares worth $1.2 million. Three days later, his committee received a classified briefing that the Iran campaign had exceeded its projected cost by 340%. The stock dropped 8%. He filed the disclosure sixty-one days late. I calculated the fine. $200. His chief of staff asked if it could be waived. He did not ask what the senator traded on. Nobody asks that. The form does not have a field for it. I waived the fine. The senator's portfolio returned 23.4% in 2025. The S&P 500 returned 16.8%.

February. A representative on the Energy and Commerce Committee bought pharmaceutical stocks worth $400,000. Two weeks later, her committee advanced a bill that would extend patent exclusivity for the exact drug class she purchased. The stocks rose 14%. She filed on time. There was no fine. There was no investigation. There was nothing to investigate because buying stocks in companies regulated by your own committee is not illegal. It is legal. The STOCK Act made it legal by making it disclosed. In Congress, disclosed means legal. In my office, legal means filed.

March. A member whose spouse manages a portfolio worth $9.2 million reported forty-three separate transactions in a single quarter. Twelve of them were in sectors directly affected by legislation the member co-sponsored. The timing on eight of those twelve was within a two-week window of committee action. I logged all forty-three. None were flagged. We do not flag. We file.

I asked my supervisor once what would happen if I flagged a filing. She said we do not have a form for that. I never asked again.

In 2020, I processed 847 disclosures. In 2023, 1,211. In 2025, 1,614. The number of enforcement actions in each of those years was zero. The numerator changes. The denominator does not.

I want to tell you about the soldier again.

He made $409,881. He tried to delete his Polymarket account by calling customer service and saying he lost access to his email. He moved his profits into a foreign cryptocurrency vault and then into a new brokerage account. He used his real identity. He placed thirteen bets. Every single one was connected to an operation he personally participated in.

In my eleven years, I have processed disclosures from members of Congress who traded on:

Pending FDA approvals they learned about in committee.
Defense appropriations they voted on.
Trade policy they negotiated.
Pandemic response measures they drafted.
Interest rate decisions they were briefed on before the public.

None of them have been charged. None of them have been investigated by the Department of Justice. None of them have been referred to the SEC. The STOCK Act has produced zero prosecutions since it was signed on April 4th, 2012.

Fourteen years. Five hundred and thirty-five members. $635 million in trades last year alone. Zero cases.

My daughter asked me once what happens when someone breaks the rules. I told her we write it down. She asked what happens after that. I said it depends. She was nine. She is twenty now. It does not depend. Nothing happens after that.

The soldier made $409,881 and faces decades in prison. Nancy Pelosi entered Congress in 1987 with a portfolio worth approximately $785,000. It is now worth $133.7 million. That is a return of 16,930%. The Dow Jones returned 2,300% over the same period. Professional fund managers who beat the market for three consecutive years are considered exceptional. She has beaten it for thirty-seven. If a hedge fund produced those returns, the SEC would subpoena the records on a Thursday. She produced them from a building with a chapel and a gift shop.

She announced her retirement last year. No investigation was opened. No disclosure was flagged. Her filings were on time. In my office, on time means compliant. Compliant means closed.

I want to tell you about the fine.

$200. That is the maximum penalty for violating the STOCK Act's disclosure requirements. $200 for a member of Congress whose portfolio gained $4.7 million in a single quarter. I calculated what $200 represents as a percentage of $4.7 million. It is 0.004%. I could not find a comparison that made it meaningful. It is less than the price of the parking pass in the Rayburn garage. It is less than lunch at the members' dining room if you order the crab cakes, which I am told are excellent though I eat at my desk.

Since 2012, thirty-one bills have been introduced to restrict congressional trading. I keep a list. The list is longer than the STOCK Act itself.

On March 5th, 2026, a representative from Michigan introduced the thirty-second. He called it the "No Getting Rich in Congress Act." The bill would prohibit the President, Vice President, members of Congress, and their spouses from trading individual stocks, cryptocurrency, futures, and commodities while in office.

The bill was referred to committee. The committee has not scheduled a hearing. The committee is chaired by a member whose spouse executed $2.1 million in trades last year.

The bill will be reviewed. In my office, reviewed means read. Read means acknowledged. Acknowledged means a status has been assigned. A status is the absence of an action that has been given a name so it looks like one.

The soldier used classified information to make $409,881 on a prediction market. He has been charged with five federal crimes. The Department of Justice announced the case on the same day I processed three disclosures from members who traded on committee knowledge worth a combined $3.8 million.

The difference between the soldier and the members is not what they did. It is the building they did it in. He did it from Fort Bragg. They did it from the Capitol. He used a prediction market. They used the New York Stock Exchange. He bet on a military operation. They bet on the legislation they write.

He did not write the law. They did. They wrote the STOCK Act. Then they funded its enforcement at zero dollars. Then they set its maximum penalty at $200. Then they gave my office the authority to waive it. Then they traded $635 million.

The soldier flew to Caracas. He breached a compound. He put his body between a mission and a bullet. The people who ordered the operation were in a building with a credenza and sparkling water. They did not go to Caracas. They went to their brokerage accounts. The soldier made $409,881 and is now in federal custody. The people who knew what he was going to do before he did it made more and filed less. His prosecution is not a failure of the system. It is the system. One conviction per decade, at the lowest level, so the briefing slides can say enforcement exists. The $409,881 is not the crime. It is the cost of making $635 million look supervised.

In my field, we call this self-regulation.

The soldier's Polymarket account has been frozen. His military career is over. He will spend years in federal prison. My office will process every congressional disclosure filed this year. Every trade logged. Every $200 fine calculated and waived. The system is immaculate.

Fourteen years. Zero prosecutions. $635 million a year. A 16,930% return.

I have not leaked a document. I have not filed a complaint. I have not deviated from the process one single time. The process was written by the people whose forms I process.

As long as the disclosures go up and the cases don't, my performance review says I am meeting expectations.

My lanyard still says ETHICS. In eleven years, nobody has asked me to define the word.

[williammccarthy @williammccarthy]

I do love a @CasaCarrilloCig cigar. This one is great. And I love that Mr. Carrillo shows up at everything to hang out with us. Sorry about the bandage. Had a run-in with a Japanese knife my son brought back as a present.