My only question this morning:  “Is all this really happening?”

First, my inbox and social media was bombarded with news that somewhere between 3:20 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. Friday  a 70 year-old man with 5 children went ape shit on Twitter, slut-shaming Miss Universe of 1996.

Next, my inbox bell rings with news that the Charities Oversight Project at Columbia Law School and the Center on Nonprofits Philanthropy at the Urban Institute has just published “the first systematic analysis of state-level oversight and regulation of U.S. charities.” Talk about schizophrenia.

What’s an Agitator Editor to do?

Make sense of it all, of course.

Well, here goes.

At the risk of offending the 4 out of 7568 Agitator subscribers who likely support Donald Trump I’m going to start with the Orange Him. And, yes, believe me, I’ll then work my way to the important topic of charitable registration.

Seems as though Eric Schneiderman, the Attorney General of New York, is hot on the trail possible violations of the charitable regulation laws by the  Trump Foundation.

He’s checking out whether charitable money was used to protect the interests of Trump University in possibly paying off Pam Bondi, the Attorney General of Florida to drop an investigation. And, apparently, at the same time investigating whether the Foundation had met the basic charitable registration laws.

I know the folks in Hillary Land are rejoicing. And perhaps you are too.

But stop. Think.

Think about the abuse that’s possible in these charitable registration laws.

Clearly, I’m no fan of the Orange Him. I’m a far bigger fan of due process and defending  the protections of the U.S. Constitution.

As we’ve reported over and over, the state charitable regulation laws are fraught with the potential of abuse. We’ve chronicled how the Attorney General of Oklahoma, at the behest of ranchers, the Farm Bureau and other animal abusers used these laws to go after the Humane Society. You can find the HSUS series here, here and here.

And in Defending Michael Moore and the Koch Brothers, I’ve explained why we all have to be wary, vigilant and active.

If you truly care about democracy you have to defend against abuse. No matter whose ox is being gored.  Passion and partisanship are dangerous drugs. Overdosing harms us all.  See our post When the Government Comes Knocking.

Sure, charitable regulators are not always a threat to free speech and democratic principles.  Sometimes they do great work. In fact the same Eric Schinderman of New York brought a halt to the horrendous rip-off by Quadriga (Now renamed Innovairre). See Fundraisers Fined $24 Million.

Which brings me to the release of this major study by Columbia Law School and the Urban Institute. It’s the first systematic study of state-level oversight of U.S. charities. I think you’ll find the results SHOCKING.

You can download the complete report free of charge right here.

Please take the time to read the full study. Meanwhile, here’s the topline findings that impressed and — sometimes — shocked me.

• 31% of the states have less than the equivalent of one — yes, 1 — full-time staffer responsible for monitoring charities.

• In only 41% of the states is there a single office watching over charity behavior. 59% of the states divide it among multiple agencies.

• There is no single, uniform, nationwide set of laws governing the management and behavior of charities.

• MOST SHOCKING: There are only 355 staff in the 48 jurisdictions surveyed available to monitor charities.

Read the full report that contains much more information to form your own conclusions.

First an Agitator raise to the good folks at Columbia and the Urban Institute for doing this study.

Next, an Agitator WTF Moment of Wonderment: There are more people counting Zika mosquitoes in Florida than watching over the $320 billion charity sector.

With priorities like these maybe the Orange Him  is on to something.

Roger