Pay-To-Play In Bootsie DeSantis' Florida?

It looks like Bootsie operates his regime in Florida like a version of the old protection racket shakedown:

Officials who work for Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration — not his campaign — have been sending text messages to Florida lobbyists soliciting political contributions for DeSantis' presidential bid, a breach of traditional norms that has raised ethical and legal questions and left many here in the state capital shocked.

NBC News reviewed text messages from four DeSantis administration officials, including those directly in the governor's office and with leadership positions in state agencies. They requested the recipient of the message contribute to the governor’s campaign through a specific link that appeared to track who is giving as part of a “bundle” program. 

“The bottom line is that the administration appears to be keeping tabs on who is giving, and are doing it using state staff,” a longtime Florida lobbyist said. “You are in a prisoner’s dilemma. They are going to remain in power. We all understand that.”

NBC News is not naming the specific staffers who sent the text messages because it could out the lobbyists who received the messages and shared them.  [snip]

NBC News spoke with 10 Republican lobbyists in Florida, all of whom said they couldn't remember being solicited for donations so overtly by administration officials — especially at a time when the governor still has to act on the state budget.

That process that involves DeSantis using his line-item veto pen to slash funding for projects that the same lobbyists whom they are asking for political cash have a professional stake in. Most of the lobbyists said they felt pressure to give to the governor's campaign. 

“What the f--- am I supposed to do?” one lobbyist said. “I have a lot of business in front of the DeSantis administration.”

“The ethics behind this is questionable at best, especially when the budget has yet to be acted on,” another Republican lobbyist said.

“It is walking a very close line to what is ethical and possibly legal. It is state employees leveraging their official position to ask people whose livelihood depend on access to state government for money,” a Florida lobbyist said...  (our emphasis)

A person and a party that makes it their agenda to vilify and attack the most vulnerable while busily shaking down lobbyists for campaign contributions actually follows suit for these nihilists, who believe government only exists as a means to enrich and empower them and their cronies.  But this is the "Florida freedom" Bootsie and his fellow two- legged rats want to bring to the rest of America. 

 It looks, however, like Bootsie's ugliness and incompetence may cede the field to even greater ugliness and incompetence in the form of the Malignant Loser.  The devolution continues.

BONUS:  Musk getting into the quid pro quo hustle? 

 

This should be making a lot more noise…https://t.co/oq72NgJEYn

— nicolemarie (@nmrhelm) May 26, 2023

 

(Photo:  A meatball sandwich -- pedo protector "Gym" Jordan, Bootsie, and alleged pedo Matt Gaetz/ Michael Snyder/Northwest Florida Daily News via AP)

 

The Trump Property Also Known As The Republican Party

 

 

Surprise not surprised -- they're all in on the Malignant Loser:

The Republican Party has agreed to pay up to $1.6 million in legal bills for former president Donald Trump to help him fight investigations into his business practices in New York, according to Republican National Committee members and others briefed on the decision. 

The party’s executive committee overwhelmingly approved the payments at a meeting this summer in Nashville, according to four members and others with knowledge of the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a private meeting of the executive committee. 

That means the GOP’s commitment to pay Trump’s personal legal expenses could be more than 10 times higher than previously known.  [snip]

The payments are meant to help Trump defend himself against two parallel investigations of his business: a civil probe by New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) and a criminal investigation by James and Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. (D).

Shady, even by Republican Party standards.  How do the spineless enablers explain this one?

“The RNC’s Executive Committee approved paying for certain legal expenses that relate to politically motivated legal proceedings waged against President Trump,” said Emma Vaughn, a GOP spokeswoman, in a statement Thursday. “As a leader of our party, defending President Trump and his record of achievement is critical to the GOP. It is entirely appropriate for the RNC to continue assisting in fighting back against the Democrats’ never ending witch hunt and attacks on him.”

Sounds like a Mad Libs written by the Malignant Loser himself.  Defending the Malignant Loser's "record of achievement"?  Would that be achievement in the fields of tax and bank fraud?

But, please RNC, go on paying his legal bills.  Every dollar it sinks into the Malignant Loser's legal problems is a dollar that won't go to electing more spineless Republican cultists.

(Photo:  the Malignant Loser/ Getty Images) 

DeSantis Pushes Drug Invested In By Major Contributor

Is there anything about Floriduh Gov. Ron "One Glove" DeSantis that's not beneath contempt?

Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis has been touting a COVID-19 antibody treatment known as Regeneron while downplaying the importance of vaccines — and waging war against mask mandates.  

On Wednesday, the Orlando Sentinel [paywall] revealed a possible reason why.

As it turns out, DeSantis' No. 1 political donor has invested nearly $16 million in shares of Regeneron Pharmaceutical, the maker of the monoclonal antibody treatment.

The Sentinel reports that Ken Griffin, the CEO of Chicago-based hedge fund Citadel, has donated $10.75 million to a political committee that supports DeSantis. Meanwhile, Citadel has $15.9 million in shares of Regeneron Pharmaceutical, according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 

"DeSantis ramped up the call for Floridians to seek out monoclonal antibody treatments in August as coronavirus cases spiked," the Sentinel reports. "He's held news conferences at treatment sites and a Tampa hospital touting the effectiveness of the drug if people receive treatment soon after testing positive."  

The newspaper reported that the relationship between DeSantis and Citadel "has generated a buzz on social media," with Democrats questioning it.

DeSantis has been flying the state in recent days promoting Regeneron, setting up monoclonal antibody treatment sites in three counties — including Orlando's Camping World Stadium.  [snip]

"Griffin, a billionaire, has donated tens of millions of dollars to other conservative candidates and political committees across the country. He was raised in Florida and is building an oceanfront mansion near Trump's Palm Beach Mar-a-Lago resort," the Sentinel reported. 

DeSantis is apparently ok with promoting a remedial treatment that happens to cost the government over $1,000, while fighting against cheap, life- saving alternatives like vaccines and masks... because it lines the pockets of a billionaire contributor?  

Sociopathic.  Corrupt.  Smug.  Hypocritical.  Cynical.  This asshole is peak Republican.

(Image:  personal hygiene and public health expert "One Glove" DeSantis)

Sonny Perdue's Deal Of The Century

 

 

It appears the former guy's Secretary of Agriculture is, like his former boss, a crook:

It was a curious time for Sonny Perdue to close a real estate deal.

In February 2017, weeks after President Donald Trump selected him to be agriculture secretary, Perdue’s company bought a small grain plant in South Carolina from one of the biggest agricultural corporations in America.

Had anyone noticed, it would have prompted questions ahead of his confirmation, a period when most nominees lie low and avoid potential controversy. The former governor of Georgia did not disclose the deal — there was no legal requirement to do so.

An examination of public records by The Washington Post has found that the agricultural company, Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM), sold the land at a small fraction of its estimated value just as it stood to benefit from a friendly secretary of agriculture.

How small a fraction?

ADM sold the plant in Estill, S.C., to Perdue’s then-company, AGrowStar, for $250,000 — a fraction of what county and independent appraisers say it is worth. Six years earlier, ADM had paid more than $5.5 million for the same land, a figure that closely matches assessments by independent experts contacted by The Post, who analyzed the value based on state records and drone footage of the property. (our emphasis)

The price to anyone other than Trump's incoming Secretary of Agriculture was set at $4 million by ADM as early as 2015.

Now, if anyone out there believes ADM would carelessly take a bath of this size on a land deal with someone who happens to be in line to become Agriculture Secretary, ADM would like to sell you a corn cob for $100. 

What is needed now is a prosecutor to empanel a grand jury, and let the FBI follow the money.

Most. Corrupt. Administration. Ever.

(Photo: "I hear you got a good deal from ADM;  you can thank me in cash.")

Your Tax Dollars At Work -- For The Trump Campaign

This has to be nipped in the effing bud:

As the presidential election fast approaches, the Department of Health and Human Services is bidding out a more than $250 million contract to a communications firm as it seeks to “defeat despair and inspire hope” about the coronavirus pandemic, according to an internal HHS document obtained by POLITICO.

Several weeks ago, the department sent out to a number of communications firms a “performance work statement,” which lays out what work will be expected of the winning firm. The document says that the vast majority of the money will be spent from now until January.

The document also lists the goals of the contract: “defeat despair and inspire hope, sharing best practices for businesses to operate in the new normal and instill confidence to return to work and restart the economy,” build a “coalition of spokespeople” around the country, provide important public health, therapeutic and vaccine information as the country reopens, and give Americans information on the phases of reopening.

“By harnessing the power of traditional, digital and social media, the sports and entertainment industries, public health associations, and other creative partners to deliver important public health and economic information the administration can defeat despair, inspire hope and achieve national recovery,” the document also says.

We'll make it simple.  Here's how to "defeat despair, inspire hop and achieve national recovery," HHS:  elect Biden-Harris and defeat Republicans up and down the ballot. Two hundred fifty million dollars, please!

They're using our tax dollars to blow happy smoke up the electorate's asses, coincidentally just before an election whose main issue is the incompetent mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic by COVID Donnie.  What "therapeutic and vaccine information" will be provided -- how to inject bleach or the therapeutic effects of hydroxychloroquine?  What advice are they going to provide for businesses -- get your workers' lazy asses back to work; and don't worry, we're working to make it impossible for them to sue you if you get coronavirus?

Allowing this to go forward in our current environment with the current corrupt "leadership" would be a shocking lack of political balls.  They mustn't get away with it.

Republican Crime Blotter -- Bribery And Racketeering Edition

While Trump's Praetorian Guards cosplaying banana republican thugs were violating due process and First Amendment guarantees in Portland (and coming soon to other Democratic cities!) to distract from the out- of- control pandemic, fellow Republicans in Ohio have been busy getting their palms greased.  (LAW AND ORDER!  Look over there!)

Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder is among five local political insiders reportedly arrested Tuesday in connection with a $60 million bribery scheme related to the state’s new nuclear bailout law.

According to several media reports, FBI agents and local authorities stormed Householder’s Glenford farm on Tuesday morning. Four other men were reportedly arrested alongside Householder, who has led the Republican-controlled Ohio House since last January: Neil Clark, a lobbyist and founder of Grant Street Consultants; former Ohio Republican Party chair Matthew Borges; Juan Cespedes, co-founder of The Oxley Group in Columbus; and one of Householder’s advisers, Jeffrey Longstreth.

A spokesperson for David DeVillers, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, confirmed to The Daily Beast an Ohio official “and associates” were charged in a “public corruption racketeering conspiracy involving $60 million,” but would not go into detail about the case ahead of a scheduled Tuesday afternoon press conference. 

The investigation into the Republican lawmaker centers on House Bill 6, a $1 billion bailout plan for two Ohio nuclear power plants—which Householder notably helped push through last year, according to Cleveland.com. The bill was signed by Gov. Mike DeWine in June and was immediately met with efforts to overturn the bailout.

It's not the first time the Republican power broker has been accused of greasing his palm:

In 2004, the FBI launched an investigation into allegations that Householder and his aides took kickbacks from various vendors and traded political favors for campaign contributions. The investigation ended two years later and no charges were filed against the Republican.

Seems to be a pattern there. 

It's in the Republican Party DNA to look at government service as a way to enrich themselves -- either within the law or not -- while, for example, complaining about the "freeloaders" who want extended unemployment benefits.  One other thing is always certain:  you can count on the greedy, the grifters and the charlatans rising to the top in a criminal enterprise like the Trump Republican Party!

(Photo: Ohio House Speaker Householder, fresh from the trough.)

And The Walls Came Tumbling Down

If you build it, they will come (over the border):

President Donald Trump complained via Twitter on Sunday that a privately constructed border wall in Texas was a bad idea and poorly done — not mentioning that his administration has awarded the builder a $1.7 billion contract to build more walls.

With the backing of Trump supporters, Tommy Fisher built a 3-mile border fence along the Rio Grande, calling it the “Lamborghini” of fences. But just months after completion of his showcase piece directly on the banks of the river, there are signs of erosion along and under the fence that threatens its stability and could cause it to topple into the river if not fixed, experts told ProPublica and The Texas Tribune. [snip]

Trump’s tweet, however, is belied by actions his administration has taken to support the wall’s builder.

The administration gave Fisher the billion-dollar contract in May to build additional stretches of the wall in Arizona, despite a lawsuit around the South Texas project and an ongoing audit by the Pentagon’s inspector general of a previous border wall contract that is looking into possible “inappropriate influence.”  (our emphasis)

We believe that's "Lameborghini," Mr. Fisher.  Your cult leader is now claiming you purposefully built it to fail just to "make me look bad."  How's that for having your back!?  How's the view from under the bus?

Throwing good money after bad and rewarding incompetence, a fixture of the Trump family for decades, has been extended to politically- connected cronies:

In total, Fisher has secured $1.7 billion in federal contracts since December. Soon after the 2016 election, Fisher became a frequent guest on Fox News and other conservative media, where he caught the attention of Trump. Last year, The Washington Post reported that the president “latch(ed) on” to Fisher’s claims of speed and quality and “aggressively pushed” for the firm in conversations with top Homeland Security officials.

Fisher was also aided by a close relationship with freshman U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., who advocated for the company with Trump and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Fisher and family members donated at least $24,000 during Cramer’s victorious 2018 election bid, according to campaign finance records. (our emphasis)

Not to be too harsh on Fisher, his isn't the only example of failure. Here are some other examples of the quality design and workmanship on the border wall we've come to associate with the Trump name:

(Blew over in a strong wind)

(Hole cut by saw purchased at Home Depot)

(Using a ladder is another option)

Sad!

Tweets Of The Day -- Bought And Paid For

(click to enlarge)

This is not what the IG found. This is fiction. 1984-esque https://t.co/pOnfKl4cyu

— Barb McQuade (@BarbMcQuade) December 22, 2019

Why would House Republican Leader McCarthy lie (beyond that it's in his Republican DNA)?  Oh, right:

Now why would @GOPLeader Kevin McCarthy lie about the findings of the IG Report - findings concluding that the Russian interference investigation was PROPERLY opened. Well, he was taking money from Lev Parnas . . . https://t.co/1EPc9lpN4V pic.twitter.com/DOiIHQ0Fqn

— Glenn Kirschner (@glennkirschner2) December 23, 2019

And that's not all, Glenn. We also know from reporting from about two years ago that McCarthy and MT Sen. Steve Daines are tied to Ukrainian lawmakers, money launderers, and prominent figures from the Panama Papers.https://t.co/1vCNFSHeQF

— Charles (@cjs3872) December 23, 2019

And more and more... pic.twitter.com/P4CNnkuIpg

— FergersonTemple (@FergersonTemple) December 23, 2019

And...more Repugs pic.twitter.com/tiMNbMeYg4

— FergersonTemple (@FergersonTemple) December 23, 2019

Vile Distraction Alert!

If you can believe the "two people familiar with the matter" =cough= DOJ political hacks? =cough= who are being cited, the lawless regime is ramping up its efforts to smear the patriots who first initiated the probe into Putin puppet Donald "Tovarich" Trump's 2016 election collusion with Russia.  What ... curious timing:

Justice Department officials have shifted an administrative review of the Russia investigation closely overseen by Attorney General William P. Barr to a criminal inquiry, according to two people familiar with the matter. The move gives the prosecutor running it, John H. Durham, the power to subpoena for witness testimony and documents, to convene a grand jury and to file criminal charges.

The opening of a criminal investigation is likely to raise alarms that Mr. Trump is using the Justice Department to go after his perceived enemies. Mr. Trump fired James B. Comey, the F.B.I. director under whose watch agents opened the Russia inquiry, and has long assailed other top former law enforcement and intelligence officials as partisans who sought to block his election.

Do you notice something missing from the Times' sources' account?  Like maybe the grounds for making it a criminal inquiry?  They're not there because there are none. The leak of this dubious (at best) information is coming at a time when the impeachment inquiry is taking up all the media oxygen, polls are moving quickly in the direction of impeach and remove, and the involvement of corrupt theocrat AG William "Low" Barr up to his double chin in the Ukraine shakedown scandal is becoming more public.

Is is just us, or do you smell a distraction?

Greg Sargent does:

I think it's plausible that William Barr might release his "review" of the origins of the Russia investigation as impeachment hits its climax, for maximum confusion/fog machine effect:https://t.co/2rjCJ4R9Lo pic.twitter.com/HwZaseTePi

— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) October 23, 2019

The distraction may also be to divert the spotlight away from Barr's own skeevy role in the Ukraine shakedown, as Sargent points out here:

The testimony from Taylor, the acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, also contains a key revelation about Attorney General William P. Barr — one that provides an occasion to revisit his role in this scandal, and hints at how Barr will likely continue perverting the U.S. government machinery to help Trump get away with it.

Taylor’s key mention of Barr comes in a very damning passage. Taylor recounted that he’d learned that Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, had informed Ukraine that the frozen military aid would be conditioned on launching the “investigations” Trump wanted. [snip]

Taylor then adds:

We also discussed the possibility that the Ukrainian Prosecutor General, rather than President Zelenskyy, would make a statement about investigations, potentially in coordination with Attorney General Barr’s probe into the investigation of interference in the 2016 elections.

Looks like Barr is forging (yes) ahead on his "investigate the investigators" sham, regardless of Ukrainian/U.K./Italian/etc., cooperation.  He's nothing if not a corrupt tool.  His eagerness to undermine his own Justice Department's and intelligence community's findings are a profound attack on our institutions and the rule of law.  But, as with all these vicious Trump lickspittles, the only thing that matters is power, and maintaining it, regardless of the damage done to our country.  (Reps. Adam Schiff and Jerry Nadler released a joint statement on the matter.)

We await the inevitable rush by the usual media suspects to "but her emails!" the shit out of this.

BONUS:

Senate Intel is wrapping up a three-year bipartisan investigation, and we've found nothing remotely justifying this.

Mr. Barr's "investigation" has already jeopardized key international intelligence partnerships.

He needs to come before Congress and explain himself. https://t.co/hl9qM86QrM

— Mark Warner (@MarkWarner) October 25, 2019

Making Life Worse, Every Day In Every Way -- Dimbulb Edition

Consumers and the climate take another hit from the dimbulb, corrupt Trump regime and their industry masters:

The Trump administration Wednesday rolled back yet another Obama-era regulation. This time the Energy Department issued a final and a proposed rule that will prolong the life of certain old-fashioned — and energy-intensive — incandescent lightbulbs invented by Thomas Edison 140 years ago. The bulbs would otherwise have been effectively phased out by Jan. 1.

The rollback will mean $14 billion a year in higher energy costs and add to the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions, according to a study by the Appliance Standards Awareness Project and the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. [snip]

“The Energy Department flat out got it wrong today,” Jason Hartke, president of the Alliance to Save Energy, said in a statement. “Instead of moving us forward, this rule will keep more energy-wasting bulbs on store shelves and saddle the average American household with about $100 in unnecessary energy costs every year.”

Hartke also said inefficient lightbulbs were also “terrible for our climate.” He said the rule would require the electricity produced by 25 coal power plants “just to power wasteful bulbs.”   (our emphasis)

It can't be stated often enough, as the Trump regime's onslaught of reactionary and destructive actions continue apace, that the (to borrow a phrase) American carnage must end on November 3, 2020.  We''ll have had four years of rot and chaos from which we may never be able to fully recover.  Every destructive act must be reversed, every bit of cynical rot must be expunged, every enabler of this suicidal madness must be defeated and salt poured on their political graves.

BONUS:  Steve M. at No More Mister Nice Blog identifies light bulb efficiency regulations as an example of long- term resentful thinking by Republicans.  Nihilistic snowflakes.

(Image:  Getty/ Salon)

The Trump Economy: Profits Vs. Wages

The con in graph form:

BREAKING: New corporate profit data shows just how corrupt the Republican tax bill really was. #CultureOfCorruption pic.twitter.com/d8d0uzTXmH

— CAP Action (@CAPAction) August 29, 2018

Republican Crime Blotter -- Extortion And Bribery Edition

Diogenes' search for an honest man continues unabated within the ranks of the corrupt Republican Party:

Federal investigators seized records from former Ohio Speaker Cliff Rosenberger's office earlier this year to investigate whether he received kickbacks or bribes related to payday lending legislation, according to a subpoena and search warrant released to The Enquirer. 

Documents, first obtained by The Dayton Daily News, show federal investigators are looking for information regarding Rosenberger, payday lending lobbyists Stephen D. Dimon, Jr. and Leslie R. Gaines, and Advance America executive Carol Stewart, among others.  [snip] 

Officials were looking for “communications or information concerning: payday lending legislation: evidence of payments, kickbacks, bribes, or other benefits (such as payment of travel-related expenses)," according to the records provided by the Ohio House. 

Among the crimes federal officials are investigating are conspiracy to commit extortion, attempt to commit extortion and extortion, according to the search warrant. Possible bribery violations were also mentioned. 

A federal extortion conviction can bring a sentence of up to 20 years, while federal bribery charges can bring a sentence of up to 15 years. Fines are also possible for both charges. 

Rosenberger resigned April 12 amid questions into his extensive travel with lobbyists, including Dimon and Gaines. 

This is simply another example of why Republicans at all levels need to be turned out of office in November and beyond.  It's in their DNA to lie, cheat and steal to get into office, and then to lie, cheat and steal while in office.  Don't tell us Trump is an aberration; he's their role model.

(Photo: Rosenberger having a good laugh at the expense of the taxpayers of Ohio)

Monday Reading

As always, please go to the links to read the full articles/ op eds.

All this winning is getting hard to take:

North Korea’s main newspaper accused the United States on Sunday of staging military drills to prepare an invasion while at the same time pursuing dialogue with “a smile on its face.” 

Rodong Sinmun, the official mouthpiece of the Workers’ Party of Korea, cited alleged U.S. troop movements in the region, which it called “extremely provocative and dangerous” and said they threatened to derail the dialogue between the United States and North Korea. 

The U.S. military called the accusation “far fetched.” 

The opinion piece came two days after President Trump canceled a planned trip to North Korea by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, citing a lack of progress in getting North Korea to surrender its nuclear weapons. 

Don't worry, though.  North Korea is "no longer a nuclear threat" according to a Very Stable Genius.

Republicans want you to know that if those wascally Demoncrats win the House, they're going to [checks notes] do the job Republicans should have been doing:

Congressional Republicans are getting ready for hell. Axios has obtained a spreadsheet that's circulated through Republican circles on and off Capitol Hill — including at least one leadership office — that meticulously previews the investigations Democrats will likely launch if they flip the House. [snip]

o President Trump’s tax returns 

o Trump family businesses — and whether they comply with the Constitution's emoluments clause, including the Chinese trademark grant to the Trump Organization 

o Trump's dealings with Russia, including the president's preparation for his meeting with Vladimir Putin 

o The payment to Stephanie Clifford — a.k.a. Stormy Daniels 

o James Comey's firing 

o Trump's firing of U.S. attorneys 

o Trump's proposed transgender ban for the military 

o Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin's business dealings 

o White House staff's personal email use 

o Cabinet secretary travel, office expenses, and other misused perks  

The list goes on and on.  Sounds like a list that only the most rotted- out, corrupt party in recent memory would find objectionable, along with their base, of course.

It's in their DNA:

Fox News has disabled comments on YouTube videos about the death of John McCain following an outpouring of nastiness on the network's own website from its commenters.

It's the same over at über- right sites like spittle- flecked Free Republic.

The Trump regime has created hundreds of orphans in its border crackdown. The number is holding steady while the Trump regime passes the buck to the ACLU (found via Infidel 753):

As of last week, 565 migrant children who were separated from their parents by the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy remained separated and in U.S. custody. Late Thursday, the Trump administration told a federal court in San Diego that that number has barely budged, dropping to 528 nearly a month after the court’s deadline to reunite all of the separated children. Of the still-separated group, 23 are younger than 5 years old.

Of the children who remain separated, the Trump administration says 343 have a parent who was deported without them. The American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing the parents in the federal class action lawsuit, has taken the lead on trying to find and contact those parents, its attorneys hope many of those cases can be swiftly resolved.

You'll find more links ranging a wide spectrum over at Infidel 753's link round up.  Be a well- rounded citizen and go browse.

Republican Crime Blotter -- Rep. Chris Collins Arrested By FBI

As has been anticipated for some time, early Trump booster Rep. Chris Collins (Crook-NY) was arrested today by the F.B.I. and charged with insider stock trading:

Chris Collins, a Republican congressman from upstate New York, surrendered to the FBI on Wednesday morning on securities fraud-related charges, prosecutors said. 

Collins, 68, faces insider trading charges along with his son, Cameron Collins, and Stephen Zarsky, the father of Cameron Collins' fiancée, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York. 

The case is related to Innate Immunotherapeutics, an Australian biotech company, on which the elder Collins served on the board. 

Collins, one of Donald Trump's early supporters in his bid for president, is expected to appear in federal court later Wednesday in Manhattan.

Collins was the first sitting member of the House to endorse Trump in February 2016, indicating he knew a fellow criminal when he saw him.

The New York 27th Congressional District is rated as +11 Republican, which, if given the results from Ohio and elsewhere in the past year, makes it a potential pick-up for Democrat Nate McMurray (whether or not Collins has to drop out of the race).

Finally, we would be remiss if we didn't add the appropriate coda: "Lock him up!  Lock him up!"

"One Of The Biggest Grifters In American History"

Kleptocrat and un- indicted co- conspirator Donald "Rump" Trump has an affinity for fellow grifters. One of them, his Secretary of Commerce, multi- millionaire "Offshore" Wilbur Ross, is giving Rump a run for his money as the biggest grifter of all:

It is difficult to imagine the possibility that a man like Ross, who Forbes estimates is worth some $700 million, might steal a few million from one of his business partners. Unless you have heard enough stories about Ross. Two former WL Ross colleagues remember the commerce secretary taking handfuls of Sweet’N Low packets from a nearby restaurant, so he didn’t have to go out and buy some for himself. One says workers at his house in the Hamptons used to call the office, claiming Ross had not paid them for their work. [Ed. -- sound familiar?] Another two people said Ross once pledged $1 million to a charity, then never paid. [Ed. -- sound familiar?] A commerce official called the tales “petty nonsense,” and added that Ross does not put sweetener in his coffee.   

There are bigger allegations. Over several months, in speaking with 21 people who know Ross, Forbes uncovered a pattern: Many of those who worked directly with him claim that Ross wrongly siphoned or outright stole a few million here and a few million there, huge amounts for most but not necessarily for the commerce secretary. At least if you consider them individually. But all told, these allegations—which sparked lawsuits, reimbursements and an SEC fine—come to more than $120 million. If even half of the accusations are legitimate, the current United States secretary of commerce could rank among the biggest grifters in American history. (our emphasis)

Also, Wilbur, like Rump, has deep connections to Russian oligarchs controlled by Rump's supervisor, Vladimir Putin, as well as to a Cypriot bank that Special Counsel Mueller is looking at as a primary money laundering front for those same Russian oligarchs. Add to that that he's a small- bore cheapskate and deadbeat, just like... well, you know. Ergo, he fits right in with the Rump crime family.

(Photo: "I lifted this from the supermarket." - CNBC image)

Monday Reading

As always, please go to the links for the full articles/ op- eds.

We're starting off with E.J. Dionne, Jr., on who Putin puppet and world- class dolt Donald "Rump" Trump was from the get- go, but who many refused to see what was right in front of them:

In 2016 and for much of 2017, those warning that Trump was exactly the dangerous scoundrel he appeared to be were accused of missing his fundamental genius and his deep connection with discounted Americans. Trump’s detractors were said to be “out of touch” and “elitist,” as if only those with exquisitely elevated tastes in society’s upper reaches could possibly worry about his indifference to truth, his contempt for women and immigrants, his disdain for a free press and his flouting of the expectations we have of those on whom we confer power. 

Was it only an elite thing to be concerned that Trump might be hiding something in those tax returns that he refuses to release? Was it out of touch to wonder why he praised Putin again and again, at one point saying that Putin was far more of “a leader” than President Barack Obama?

Michelle Goldberg writes about the implications of the National Rifle Rampage Association being used as a Russian money launderer for the Republican Party. The recent arrest of accused Russian spy Maria Butina, who was living with her patsy Republican operative Paul Erickson, must have shaken the rotted out party to it's core:

If the N.R.A. as an organization turns out to be compromised, it would shake conservative politics to its  foundation. And this is no longer a far-fetched possibility. “I serve on both the Intelligence Committee and the Finance Committee,” Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, told me. “So I have a chance to really look at this through the periscope of both committees. And what I have wondered about for some time is this whole issue of whether the N.R.A. is getting subverted as a Russian asset.” 

This is not a question that Republicans are eager to answer. Before Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee abruptly closed their investigation into Russian election interference, committee Democrats wanted to interview both Butina and Erickson. Their Republican colleagues refused. “If there were efforts towards a back channel towards the N.R.A., they didn’t want to know,” Representative Adam Schiff, a California Democrat who is the  ranking member on the  committee, told me. “It was too hot to handle.”

As you might expect, the desperate cover- up continues, with help from the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue:

On Monday, a few hours after news broke of Butina’s arrest, the Treasury Department announced a new rule sparing some tax-exempt groups, including  the N.R.A.,  from having to report their large donors to the I.R.S. Wyden called the move “truly grotesque,” saying it would “make it easier for Russian dark money” to flow into American politics. You might ask who benefits. The answer is: not just Trump.  

These are criminals and traitors (but you already knew that).

As if more evidence were needed for the imperative of removing Republicans from power, Emily Stewart writes about yet another craven act by Congressional Republicans in service to Rump's "odd" affinity for doing the bidding of a foreign autocrat:

Republicans are siding with President Donald Trump in easing penalties on Chinese telecom company ZTE. Negotiators in the Senate and the House of Representatives removed language from a must-pass defense bill that would have banned United States companies from selling parts or providing services to ZTE, which the Commerce Department says made illegal sales to Iran and North Korea in defiance of US sanctions. 

Here's a pot, meet kettle tweet from the Very Stable Genius himself, up way past his bedtime last night:

To Iranian President Rouhani: NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE. WE ARE NO LONGER A COUNTRY THAT WILL STAND FOR YOUR DEMENTED WORDS OF VIOLENCE & DEATH. BE CAUTIOUS!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 23, 2018

Well, Rump knows all about DEMENTED WORDS OF VIOLENCE AND DEATH.  "FIRE AND FURY!"

Finally, you're encouraged to go over to Infidel 753's link round- up for a much broader offering of items of interest.  If you haven't partaken, you should.

Democrats' Mid-Term Strategy: It's All About Republican Corruption

With less than 5 months (!) to go to the 2018 mid- term elections, the Democratic Party thinks it has a unifying, overarching message that will resonate with voters.  "A Better Deal for Our Democracy," unveiled yesterday, focuses on Republican corruption in three areas: voting rights and access, campaign finance, and pay- to- play politics.  While issues such as health care, women's reproductive rights, income inequality, and off- shoring American jobs will play significant roles in individual district and Senate races, Republican corruption and the party's unwillingness to hold kleptocrat and crime family boss Donald "Rump" Trump accountable in any way, shape or form, polls very well across the political spectrum (as the linked article shows).

The beauty of this strategy is that it can accommodate and fold in what is likely to be a summer of revelations and indictments coming from the Mueller investigation. The message can be boiled down to a single notion, Adam Serwer points out,

There are not many Trump scandals. There is one Trump scandal. Singular: the corruption of the American government by the president and his associates, who are using their official power for personal and financial gain rather than for the welfare of the American people, and their attempts to shield that corruption from political consequences, public scrutiny, or legal accountability. 

Speaking for ourselves, it wouldn't matter much what the Democrats' message is for the mid- terms (and we suspect that's true for most other politically- woke folks).  We're going to vote straight Democratic ticket from County Clerk to Congress to Governor.  To do otherwise is to vote against what's left of American democracy.

For those less politically in- touch but "reachable," a message stressing Rump's and his cronies' endemic and blatant corruption -- to the detriment of those who play by the rules -- can be easily absorbed, especially if it's paired (where most effective) with Democratic proposals on economic and social issues.  But the messaging has to be clear, simple and repeated.  Democrats need to get this right;  the stakes are too high for them to fail.

BONUS:

A perennial theme, really works well here -- exposes the "drain the swamp" hypocrisy and ties GOP Congress to Trump. https://t.co/jFXcPt4U1p

— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) May 22, 2018

Great News  https://t.co/pbjV8RTIxd

— Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) May 21, 2018

(h/t Balloon Juice)

Payday Loan Industry Gets Its "Loan" Repaid By Trump Regime

As we noted yesterday, even as they go full- bore obstruction on Russiagate, the regime of un- indicted co- conspirator Donald "Rump" Trump is busy whittling away at the functions of government intended to protect people and advance the common good.  With every day, it seems a new outrage comes to light;  this is today's:

The Trump administration has stripped enforcement powers from a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau unit responsible for pursuing discrimination cases, part of a broader effort to reshape an agency it criticized as acting too aggressively. 

The move to sharply restrict the responsibilities of the Office of Fair Lending and Equal Opportunity comes about two months after President Trump installed his budget chief, Mick Mulvaney, at the head of the bureau. The office previously used its powers to force payouts in several prominent cases, including settlements from lenders it alleged had systematically charged minorities higher interest rates than they had for whites.

The tea party weasel running the CFPB, Mick "Dick" Mulvaney, also wants to make sure that a certain clientele (no, not the public!) is served:

... Mulvaney has also dropped a lawsuit against payday lenders and said the agency will reconsider rules the financial industry complained would be particularly onerous. He also updated the bureau’s mission statement to include addressing “outdated, unnecessary, or unduly burdensome regulations.” 

As with most things so rotten they reek, you need only to "follow the money" to see why that clientele gets a break from the meanies at CFPB (click on image to enlarge):


(Source: www.opensecrets.org)

Note above that the CFPB was established in 2010 following the financial crisis, after which the payday lender industry shifted it's political donations almost exclusively to Republicans.  So, now their loan has now been paid back with interest.

Quote Of The Day -- What's That Word Again?

"Join me in a thought experiment. Imagine that the legislature of some other country — Brazil, say, or Mozambique, or Thailand — decided to rewrite the tax code, with no public hearings or expert testimony, in a way that benefited the rich overall, with maximum financial gain for businesses like that of the sitting head of government. What would you say?

I’m pretty sure you’d use the word corruption. And you would be right." -- Eugene Robinson, on the self- dealing corruption evidenced by the Trump/ Republican wealthfare bill.

Corporations Corruptly Shilling For Trump's Wealthfare Bill (UPDATED)

Surprise!  Several major corporations announced yesterday that they would be giving bonuses to employees in conjunction with the passage of the Republican wealthfare tax bill (a.k.a., "No Billionaire Left Behind Act"), fully aware that the regime of un- indicted co- conspirator Donald "Rump" Trump runs best with generous applications of flattery and graft. Quid, meet quo:

AT&T

... said it would give $1,000 bonuses to more than 200,000 employees in the U.S. once the tax bill is signed into law and promised to invest an additional $1 billion in the U.S. in 2018. CEO Randall Stephenson praised the tax legislation as “a monumental step to bring taxes paid by U.S. businesses in line with the rest of the industrialized world.”

Trump praised AT&T’s announcement in remarks at the White House. “That’s because of what we did,” he said. “So that’s pretty good. That’s pretty good.” AT&T is currently awaiting approval from Trump’s Justice Department of its pending $85 billion acquisition of Time Warner.

We think you can assume the acquisition will proceed now.

Boeing

... announced that it would spend $300 million on “employee-related and charitable investments” because of the tax plan. “The reforms enable us to better compete on the world stage and give us a stronger foundation for the investment in innovation, facilities and skills that will support our long-term growth,” CEO Dennis Muilenburg said in a statement.

Where's the quid for Boeing, you ask?

The Trump administration on Wednesday recommended steep anti-subsidy duties on Bombardier Inc’s CSeries jets, setting up the next round of a fierce international trade dispute between the United States and Canada. 

The U.S. Commerce Department announcement to impose duties of nearly 300 percent stems from a complaint by Boeing Co that Bombardier had been unfairly and illegally subsidized by the Canadian government, allowing the planemaker to dump its newest jetliner in the U.S. market below cost. 

Comcast

... is giving $1,000 bonuses to 100,000 “frontline and non-executive employees,” the company announced, citing the rollback of the FCC’s Obama-era net neutrality rules and the passage of the tax reform bill. CEO Brian Roberts also said the company expects to spend “well in excess of” $50 billion on infrastructure investment over the next five years.

Will the FCC's Trumpkin chairperson Ajit Pai get a Comcast bonus too?

Wells Fargo

... said it would increase its minimum wage for U.S. employees from $13.50 to $15 and spend $400 million on donations to nonprofits and community organizations in 2018. 

Wells Fargo and the other big banks just love that teatard Mick Mulvaney is going to disassemble the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau faster than you can say "Dodd- Frank."

We're happy for the folks getting these bonuses and raises. That they're tied to the fraudulent wealthfare tax bill in an attempt to make it look like it's already having an impact is sheer cynicism and mendacity on the part of these corporations paying off or looking for favors from the Rump regime. This is what corrupt oligarchies in Putin's Russia do folks. They're not even bothering to hide it anymore.

UPDATE: To no one's surprise, the Koch brothers are funding a public relations blitz to sell this bill that gives them a windfall at the expense of the rest of us and our children (but not Koch family mediocrities like this jackhole).