Leftwing advocacy group behind roadblocks collecting blood & saliva samples

The group conducting research using blood & saliva samples taken at Alabama roadblocks is a well-known advocate for leftwing causes and is financed in part by the George Soros-backed Tides Foundation.

The Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE) is in charge of the study being conducted using the saliva and blood samples. PIRE’s stated purpose for taking the samples is to gain a better understanding of inebriation patterns.

According to the Media Research Center (MRC), a media watchdog group whose mission is to “expose and neutralize the propaganda arm of the Left,” PIRE is “anti-alcohol, anti-tobacco, and anti-gun.” MRC also said PIRE advocates for “more regulation and tax hikes on all things they deem bad for ‘public health.’” In other words, PIRE manufactures research to support their “sin tax” advocacy.

George Soros, whose Tides Foundation helps fund PIRE, became one of the most well-known financiers of progressive liberal causes in the mid-2000s. He told the Washington Post in 2003 that he would spend his entire fortune to beat President Bush “if someone guaranteed it,” and ultimately spent over $23 million in a failed attempt to defeat Bush in his re-election campaign. Soros has since then spent hundreds of millions of dollars backing progressive causes and candidates. In the process, he has become a focal point of conservative anger and accusations — similar to what the Koch brothers have become to liberals.

Don’t get me wrong, I do not believe there is some sinister conspiracy behind the roadblocks. Participation was voluntary and participants were paid. I just doubt the Alabamians who gave up samples of their saliva and blood on the side of the highway realized they were assisting one of the country’s preeminent leftwing advocacy groups.

But many Yellowhammer readers have also expressed concerns that Alabama leaders were not brought into the loop on the federal program being conducted within the state. Timing, as they say, is everything. And with recent revelations that the federal government is seriously overreaching into our private lives, the timing could not be worse for a federally-backed program collecting blood and saliva.

A similar study was conducted in St. Clair County in 2007, but it is unclear what government officials were made aware of the program at that time.

An aide to Governor Bentley speculated on Monday that a low-level staffer from an executive branch agency may have acted outside of their official capacity and enlisted the Sheriff’s departments’ help on the roadblocks as a favor to a federal agency.

“I am instructing my Secretary of Law Enforcement, Spencer Collier, to investigate this issue,” Governor Bentley said in a statement Tuesday. “Like many people, I have questions about how and why these surveys were carried out along Alabama’s roads. We need to find out from the federal government exactly what is being done with the information that was collected. We’ll do everything we can to get to the bottom of the issue and make sure that the rights of our citizens are protected.”

Bentley’s statement follows Attorney General Luther Strange’s comments earlier in the week that he was “shocked” by the roadblocks. “This is very troubling and I intend to get to the bottom of it,” Strange told Yellowhammer.

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