Quote of the Day -- Historic, Depressing Edition

 

"Surely something can be done to check corruption.

Are we forever to be at the mercy of thieves and ruffians?

Is a respectable government impossible in a democracy?"

--Henry Adams, "Democracy: An American Novel", 1880

Happy? Memorial Day

Click on picture for easier reading.

Try to have a happy Memorial Day out there, folks. Be well. Be safe.

The Corruption of This President--and of our Goivernment and Political System---Is Rampant and Plain For All To See

Herein, two mess ups by the Republican Party Buffoon in Chief.

Donald Trump plunges democracy into a three-alarm fire of corruption

When former Vice President Joe Biden entered the Democratic presidential race a year ago, he introduced the now familiar theme that the “soul of this nation” was at stake in the 2020 election. Judging by what we’ve seen from President Donald Trump over the past few days, Biden is right.

It began Friday night, when Trump informed Congress that he was firing MIchael Atkinson, the Intelligence Community’s inspector general. This was nothing more than a vile act of political retribution that had been months in the making. Atkinson fulfilled his legal responsibilities by informing Congress about a whistleblower complaint that exposed Trump’s impeachable crimes. What everyone else recognizes as following the letter of the law, the president views as cause for termination.

On Monday, Trump turned his attention to the inspector general who oversees the Department of Health and Human Services, who had just released a report revealing the extent to which hospitals were struggling to meet the health care demands associated with treating COVID-19 patients. The thorough review included interviews from 323 hospitals across 46 states and stood in stark contrast with the rhetoric coming from the president. Naturally, Trump labeled the report a “Fake Dossier” and suggested “politics” influenced it.
Irony is alive, oversight is dead

On Tuesday, the president removed Pentagon Inspector General Glenn Fine. He had just been designated to oversee the newly created Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, a watchdog panel authorized by Congress to conduct oversight of the $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief bill. The same day, Trump said he had seven IGs in his sights — prompting Sen. Chris Murphy to announce he would draft a bill to “give all Inspectors General protected 7 year terms.”

The irony here is that Republicans once cautioned about this exact thing before Trump infected them and they abandoned every principle they once proclaimed to stand for. There was a time when oversight over massive government spending was the centerpiece of the Republican oversight agenda. My former boss and House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa actually declared, “This money, at the American people’s expense, going through the hands of political leaders, is in fact corrupting the process.” He literally called the Obama administration “the most corrupt government in history.” Where are those Republicans now?

In the course of three days, Trump fired an IG for telling the truth, attacked another for exposing the totality of a health care pandemic, and removed another in a brazen effort to avoid being held accountable for how trillions of taxpayer dollars will be allocated. The sum of these actions is nothing short of blatant corruption in plain sight. Free from the limitations of accountability, there is nothing stopping the president from turning the so-called “Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act” (CARES Act) into a $2 trillion personal slush fund.

Coronavirus hypocrisy: From masks to mail voting, Trump's special and we're not.

Trump feels empowered to obliterate the guardrails of checks and balances. Bit by bit, he has stripped away the levers of oversight until there's nothing left. It started by ignoring congressional subpoenas for his financial records. It continued as Trump refused to cooperate with the House impeachment investigation, stonewalling Congress’ attempts to hear witness testimony and conduct depositions with administration officials close to the president. And now he is leading a purge of the final remaining frontier of oversight — the inspectors general.
Supreme Court's dangerous path

For anyone hoping the Supreme Court will assert its role as the third branch of government, it has delayed hearing cases, including three lawsuits involving Trump’s tax returns and financial dealings. And yet, somehow, the Supreme Court managed to reverse a federal judge's order to extend absentee voting by a week in Wisconsin's primary on Tuesday. The result was that voters had to choose between their health and their civic duty.

The court’s refusal to move forward with cases that impact the president, coupled with its willingness to interfere with the Wisconsin election, foreshadows a very dangerous path as we look ahead to the November elections. In essence, the court’s conservative majority is just another political instrument for Trump to wield.

End of oversight: Trump's unfettered attacks on accountability are a life-and-death crisis for democracy

It may be hard to see the forest through the trees in this time of social distancing, but make no mistake about it, our democracy is in the midst of a three-alarm fire. The highest court in the land has effectively been hijacked — serving only the interests of Donald Trump. Congress is no longer a co-equal branch of government, a result of Trump’s toxic brand of obstruction.

By taking a wrecking ball to independent oversight, Trump has made the presidency into a dictatorship. At this point, the only recourse we will have left to save our democracy, repair the institutions of government, and restore accountability to the American people, is to vote in November to save “the soul of this nation.” That is, assuming Trump, the Republicans and the Supreme Court let us.

The 2nd two-fer of the day isn't as bad, not as huge but still bad. Not done there, a former President, none other than also Republican Party member George W Bush states publicly we need to be non-partisan as Americans just now, what with this pesky international pandemic but who comes out against even that? Comes out against Americans being and working together.

Trump rips George W. Bush after he calls for unity amid coronavirus outbreak

If it were anyone but this Republican Party President Donald J "The John" Trump, any one part of this would be unbelievable.

As it is, Trump is getting and has gotten away with all of this, to date, and it's very believable.

The lampoon site, "The Onion", can't keep up with, let alone outdo, this guy.

Link:  Once a staunch Republican and rising star, Kurt Bardella

What the Absolute Heck, Mr. President??

Check this out. Yet more unbelievability from this administration.

Kushner-backed program chartering flights to address hospital shortages raises questions in Congress

The details:

"A flight from China chartered by the U.S. government touched down at Chicago O’Hare International Airport on Wednesday last week. Inside were nearly 6 million surgical masks and some respiratory equipment.

But the supplies on board weren’t tucked into the national stockpile or distributed by the federal government among cities hardest hit by novel coronavirus despite the average taxpayer bill of $750,000 to $800,000 per flight.

Instead, the masks and other life-saving equipment were owned by Medline, one of the nation’s largest privately held manufacturers and distributors of medical supplies. They were loaded onto cargo trucks and driven to the company’s warehouse in suburban Chicago.

It was up to Medline to decide who gets the protective gear and what price they would pay.

The sole federal requirement imposed on Medline was that it would promise to sell half its cargo to designated 'hot spots' facing outbreaks of the coronavirus."

What the absolute heck?

Our Federal dollars are spent but a private company is going to decide who gets what, when and how---and they'll no doubt pocket any and all profit from it all?

How is this right?

Can you imagine the Republican Party uproar if the previous President did anything remotely similar?

Why are they, why is he, Mr. Trump, getting away with this?

Why are we letting him get away with this?

Thanks, Mr. President!
Thanks, Republicans!

Could We Have a Watchdog For All That Cornoavirus Cash?

All this Covid-19 pandemic money seems to be unleashing the worst of the Republicans in Congress and even this President.

'Never Heard of Anything Like This': Watchdogs Sound Alarm as Trump Puts For-Profit Insurer in Charge of Covid-19 Hospital Fund

"It's simply bizarre and unconscionable that the Trump administration would have United manage billions in relief to hospitals."

Some of the article:

Watchdog groups and healthcare advocates are raising serious concerns about conflicts of interest and corporate profiteering after the Trump White House tapped UnitedHealth Group—the largest private health insurer in the U.S.—to help distribute billions of dollars in taxpayer funds to hospitals struggling to cope with the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Trump administration earlier this month awarded UnitedHealth with a contract to "expedite" hospital relief money authorized under the CARES Act, a massive stimulus package President Donald Trump signed into law last month.

Politico reported over the weekend that the White House's choice to empower UnitedHealth to oversee the large sum of taxpayer funds "surprised many in healthcare, including employees at the Department of Health and Human Services who had assumed that HHS would administer the program itself."
Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington (CREW), a government watchdog group, said Tuesday that the Trump administration's deal with UnitedHealth "raises serious red flags."

"In a rush to respond to the pandemic, we can't let ethics issues go unaddressed while taxpayer dollars go out the door."

But wait.  It gets worse...

...Stephen Parente, a senior economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisers, is one of the officials tasked with managing the hospital relief funds. As Politico noted, Parente has financial ties to UnitedHealth.

"As a Minnesota-based health economist before joining the Trump administration, Parente served as a consultant to companies including UnitedHealth, which has also backed some of his non-profit activities," Politico reported. "Five months after President Donald Trump nominated Parente to an HHS post overseeing health insurers in 2017, UnitedHealth donated a $1.2 million multi-year grant to a small research center that Parente directed and helped found at the University of Minnesota."

Wendell Potter, a former insurance executive turned Medicare for All advocate, tweeted late Tuesday that "nothing my old industry does shocks me—but this is close." Potter said he has "never heard of anything like this" and warned that the involvement of UnitedHealth raises serious alarm bells, despite the company's vow not to profit from the arrangement.

"UHC execs are canceling contracts with doctors and raking in millions, during a pandemic," Potter wrote. "And now, the Trump admin is having them manage a multi-billion dollar pot of relief aid?!"

For more on this Covid-19 pandemic money and the corruption that this Congress and President are allowing, see here:

The COVID-19 Fraud – It's Massive

Coronavirus: The perfect incubator for corruption

There is no Covid-19 defense to corruption

Trump pushes back against congressional oversight for $500 billion bailout fund

Will America’s Corruption End on a Ventilator or in a Mushroom Cloud?

Then check out this little beauty.

Company With Ties To Trump Receives Millions From Small Business Loan Program

Meanwhile, the big banks certainly appreciate the coronavirus bailout.

Small Business Rescue Earned Banks $10 Billion In Fees

This one is probably supposed to make us all feel better.

As scores of public companies get small-business aid, Trump vows to take back money if help was ‘inappropriate’

Here's a good question at least Forbes Magazine is asking though I doubt anyone else will.

Why Is Harvard Getting $9 Million In Stimulus Money When It Has A $40 Billion Endowment?

For yet more unbelievability, there is this.

Trump (the Company) Asks Trump (the Administration) for Hotel Relief

Can you imagine what the Republicans would have said or done if the previous President even came close to something like this, above?

But then, this is the President who politically survived this.

Court Fines Trump $2 Million for Diverting Money From Veterans Fundraiser to His Campaign

This Republican Party President of the United States was caught actually taking money from a charity, for Veterans, no less, and putting it in his own campaign cash and he's still President.

God help us all.

Link:

Here are the largest public companies taking payroll loans meant for small businesses

TRUMP IS 'RUNNING A CRIME SYNDICATE OUT OF THE WEST WING' WITH BARR AS HIS 'CONSIGLIERE,' FORMER PROSECUTOR SAYS

Money Is Crushing Our Nation

I think we Americans love the fact that we are supposed to be the wealthiest nation on the planet, in the world. A "nation among nations" I think we believe ourselves. Partly in what is--or was supposed to be--our "democracy" or "Democracy" and then, too, in our success, our money, our wealth. I think it's a pretty widespread and common thought and assumption.

Ironically, though, we've come to a time where, in at least several ways, our money is crushing us. It's crushing the people and so, the nation. I'll give examples.

First, there is our healthcare. The evidence:

• We are the only nation that ties health and healthcare to profit and profits
• Ours is the most expensive in the world
• Our citizens, lots of them, go bankrupt, due to healthcare costs and expenses
• We are the only Western, industrialized nation whose citizens do go bankrupt due to healthcare costs and expenses
• More of our citizens go bankrupt due to these healthcare costs than any other reason or source of expense
• Some, far too many, of our citizens die, actually die because they can't afford healthcare

Second, next, is higher education--colleges and university study. We did and do the same with it we did with healthcare. That is, we've made it outrageously expensive, just because we don't limit corporations over-arching need and goal to make money above all costs, students and citizens be damned.

The U.S. Leads The World In Tuition Fees

Then there's what we call defense, military defense of the nation. No one even remotely comes close to what we spend on bombs and tanks and bases around the world. It's crushing us.

The Military Imbalance: How The U.S. Outspends The World

Meanwhile, our schools and roads and highways and sewage treatment and all we need the nation over, goes wanting so we, the people go wanting. And let's all keep in mind, it was military spending the world over that bankrupted the now-former USSR. We learn nothing. (And under the "We Learn Nothing" file, look at Vietnam and Afghanistan as just two perfect example).

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why we let business ruin us, ruin the nation--we legalized bribery of our government representatives, most specifically in Congress, in the nation's Capitol.

Jimmy Carter Calls US Campaign Finance Ruling "Legalized Bribery"

And this is the result.

Major Study Finds The US Is An Oligarchy

We have to take our nation back. We have to take it back from the money, back from the big money, back from the corporations and already-wealthy. We have to take it back, honestly, from the Republicans and their political party.

And it's got to come from us, people.

Entertainment Overnight -- Donald Trump Version

Big man, pig man

Ha, ha, charade you are

You well heeled big wheel

Ha, ha, charade you are

And when your hand is on your heart

You're nearly a good laugh

Almost a joker

With your head down in the pig bin

Saying 'Keep on digging'

Pig stain on your fat chin

What do you hope to find

Down in the pig mine?

You're nearly a laugh

You're nearly a laugh

But you're really a cry

Bus stop rat bag

Ha, ha, charade you are

You f*cked up old hag

Ha, ha, charade you are

You radiate cold shafts of broken glass

You're nearly a good laugh

Almost worth a quick grin

You like the feel of steel

You're hot stuff with a hatpin

And good fun with a hand gun

You're nearly a laugh

You're nearly a laugh

But you're really a cry

Hey you, Whitehouse

Ha, ha, charade you are

You house proud town mouse

Ha, ha, charade you are

You're trying to keep our feelings off the street

You're nearly a real treat

All tight lips and cold feet

And do you feel abused?

You got to stem the evil tide

And keep it all on the inside

Mary you're nearly a treat

Mary you're nearly a treat

But you're really a cry

It's Rex Sinquefield's Missouri

We just live in it.

How to Fix America's Corrupt Political System

We must Get the Big, Ugly Money Out of Our Election System and Government.

We must do this. We must do all of it. If we don't do these things, nothing will ever change for the better, for the people.

And it must come from us.

How To Fix Our Government (Corrupt At It Is)

What we need to



Let's do this. It has to come from us.

Links:   So, you want to fix corruption?

The American Anti-Corruption Act | Criminalize Corruption

Sick of money corrupting politics? Here are 3 ways to fight

On These Coming Summer Olympics?

I wrote earlier about this year's coming Summer Olympics:

This Year's Coming Summer Olympics

Between their pollution and the Zika virus, I felt sure these Olympics will quite possibly be the least attended in years.

Now, on top of all those problems and controversies, it seems they aren't done there, they've had to add to it. This news broke this week, internationally:

Brazil corruption: Is the government in crisis?

It seems there's been a great deal of corruption, from the previous Presidente to the current one. And the current one was trying, this week, to give that previous one, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, cover and protection by making him a defacto member of her government so he wouldn't be prosecuted.

I tell you, I have to think the International Olympic Committee is nothing but regretting giving Brazil these Olympics.  I stand by what I said earlier, the closer we get to these Summer Olympics, the more it looks like they will be under attended and possibly greatly so.

Stay tuned.

A Brief History of Money Buying American Elections

It wasn't always this way.

How The One Percent 

Reshaped Democracy

We must Get the Big, Ugly Money Out of Our Election System and Government

Links:  The Powell Memo: A Call-to-Arms for Corporations

 The Ring of Fire

Get the Big Money Out

Get the Big Money Out

We must overturn Citizens United and we must end campaign contributions, both, period. We have to get the big money out of our election system and government.

Go here, if you would, and sign the petition:

http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/get-the-big-money-out.fb49?source=c.fb&r_by=342229

We must get the corrupting money of the wealthy and corporations out of our election system and government, on the Federal and state levels, both.

We must get our nation back for the people. Until we do these, nothing will change. It will remain government representatives, their legislation---our legislation--our laws and our government all for them, the wealthy and corporations, not the people, not the nation.

Thank you, in advance.

Link:  Get the Big, Ugly Money Out of Our Election System and Government

We Must Get the Big Money Out of Our Elections and So, Government

We must fight to overturn the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision which opened up the financial coffers of the wealthy and corporations. It made it possible to pour unlimited amounts of money into election campaigns in the nation.



Additionally, we must fight to end campaign contributions, completely, totally. We must fight to Get the Big, Ugly Money Out of Our Election System and Government.

If we don't do these things, nothing will change. We won't get our government back for the people.

And this must come from us.

The United States of America?

It hurts, of course, that there's any truth to this:

Corruption in America, American Government

Corruption is legal in America.

And we know it.

It's called "campaign contributions."

What Campaign Contributions Are

Let's face it, we all know this. This is what campaign contributions have become. They are legal bribes.

We have to fight these things. We have to get the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling overturned and then we need to end campaign contributions totally. Unless or until we do this, nothing will change. It will still be legislation and government for the wealthy and corporations first and for the rest of us a distant second, if at all.

And it has to come from us.

Excellent news out of Jefferson City!

EXCELLENT NEWS!   AND FOR THE PEOPLE!

State Senator Rob Schaaf (R-St. Joseph) has officially introduced a statewide Anti-Corruption Act!

Outstanding! And from a Republican! Who'da' thunk it?

And from my own hometown, no less!

Now, here's hoping it passes!

This big, fat, ugly, irresponsible budget deal

The House and Senate cobbleed together a budget compromise and lo and behold, it's obvious they're doing their own business, still, as usual, instead of taking care of the people and nation:


We have to get the big, ugly money out of our election system and government. We have to end campaign contributions. We have to demand an end to them. It's got to come from us.

How campaign contributions actually work and why we need to end them

I post here and on Facebook and everywhere I can, really, about how campaign contributions and all that big money are ruining our country. They're ruining our Democracy, our democracy, our government representatives and so, their---our---legislation, our laws and our government and nation.

Proof of it? Look no further than this article from the online magazine "Cracked":

6 Ways Government Corruption Is Way Weirder Than You Think

And it's here, under item number four:

#4. Legal Bribery Happens All the Time

ceazars/iStock/Getty Images

You probably hear a lot of people complaining about "lobbyists" -- the shady types who go to Washington on behalf of some corporation or special interest and grease the palms of Congress to make sure the vote goes their way. Maybe the most famous/infamous lobbyist of all time is Jack Abramoff, a name you may know from a massive scandal that was in the news a few years ago. He was one of the most successful lobbyists in Washington until, like Icarus, he flew too close to the sun and wound up spending four years in prison. To learn more about the dark side of lobbying, we spoke to someone with inside knowledge of how Abramoff worked. That is, Abramoff himself.

Alex Wong/Getty Images News/Getty Images
Some call him the Jack Abramoff of Jack Abramoffs.

Right off, he told us it's not as simple as walking up to a senator with a hundred-dollar bill in your palm and saying, "Soooo ... about these new oil-drilling regulations, could my friend Ben Franklin get you to change your mind?" There are actual laws against that. But don't worry, there are lots of other ways to buy influence:

"You need a quid pro quo for it to be statutory bribery [i.e.: I vote this way, you pay me]. Few in Washington would want to cross that line. Instead, they bribe in a far more palatable and legal way. They provide a stream of benefits over time. They take Congress to ball games, dinner, golf, and concerts. They provide thousands of dollars in campaign contributions. The congressman, in turn, being grateful for all this bounty, lends an ear or hand to the lobbyist when needed. You scratch my back and I scratch yours. Welcome to Washington."

"Once we needed a letter from Majority Leader Harry Reid, opposing the approval of a casino in Louisiana for a tribe that was encroaching our client's market. I had on my staff one of Reid's former staff members, and he served as the conduit to Reid's office. Typically, our requests were matched by Reid's folks with requests for money. As I recall, in this case, they wanted a $50,000 contribution to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, though they never would have been so crass as to be direct about it. They made sure we understood, though. We complied and got our letter. That's how things worked, I am sorry to say."

OK, but ultimately don't all of these people answer to the voters? You can't stay in office supporting unpopular positions, and if you lose your next election you'll have to actually pay money for your Wizards tickets like some kind of asshole. Luckily, lobbyists can take their lobbying right to the public:

"When we had ideological fights and issues linked to our lobbying campaigns -- which was most of the time -- I'd find a think tank scholar or activist who shared our approach and pay them to pen a piece supporting our position. This was just one small part of a multi-million-dollar lobbying effort, and usually only involved small payments, but it was one of those things that I look back on now and blanch."

So, how much cash are we talking about here? Well, the 2012 election was the most expensive political election in history. You probably heard no end of pundits complaining about that. But in the same year, lobbyists spent $6.7 billion bribing their way through D.C. -- $500 million more than Romney, Obama, and all their PACs spent combined. And it gets worse ...

And then it goes on:

#3. Lobbyists Are Everywhere, Operating Without Rules

I write this because first, Americans need to know what's happening in Washington and our government and then second, so we know what we need to do.

I think, deep down, and maybe even not that deeply, we know the money needs to get out of our government. Certainly we can all agree on that. The only thing that's left after that is how we do it.

And the truth is, the only way it can be done is to overturn the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision to begin and then follow that up with fighting to end campaign contributions entirely.

It can be done.

It's huge, it will take time and demand a huge fight from the people but it can be done. And it will have to come from us, from the people.

The fact is, the UK made their campaigns for government office only one month long and they did it years ago. We can do that same thing, surely.

It's the only way we'll end the big money that's buying our government. We have to get the money out.

And we have to get started.