“Henry pushes the right buttons. He knows the right people,. He is the consummate politician.”
Democratic Representative Henry Cuellar and his wife are facing indictment on federal bribery charges ... so let's revisit Senior Writer and Assistant Editor @justinmiller's 2020 deep-dive profile on the longtime #Laredo congressman's rise to power. https://www.texasobserver.org/henry-cuellar-reelection/
Well, this looks shady AF. Let's hold this guy accountable if the allegations are substantiated. We can give no quarter to corrupt elected officials, regardless of which side of the aisle they occupy.
A 45 year old American male has the odds of dying in one year of 0.004137 (less than 1%), and 62 year old has the odds of 0.015702 (less than 2%). The odds of a 45 year old and a 62 year old (who whistleblew on Boeing) dying naturally within 2 months of each other are…not good.
Boeing has 145,000 direct employees of various ages. How many might be lost soon in odds defying ways?
".there’s nothing fair about a system in which a few people, whether born here or not, can buy political influence. In my view, the only equitable system is one in which everyone can pay the same small fixed fee for membership of a political party, and no further private funding can be taken. Otherwise, democracy gives way to plutocracy."
George Monbiot on the shady unincorporated associations subverting democracy.
Le maire du Barcarès, surnommé le «Balkany catalan», est de retour en prison
#AlainFerrand, édile de la commune des Pyrénées-Orientales, a été mis en examen pour #corruption en raison de ses relations avec une entreprise attributaire d’un important marché public: le Village de Noël organisé chaque année. Une affaire de plus pour l’élu.
"The flagrant #corruption of the #Court has received a great deal of media attention & public scrutiny in recent years. But that scrutiny has been largely siloed away from coverage of the Court’s substantive deliberations & #decisions. It’s time to break out of those silos.
The story of the justices’ lucrative relationships with #right-wing #billionaires is inseparable from those billionaires’ judicial shadow-lobbying via amicus briefs."
“A Tory MP has begged local members in his constituency for help after he was caught short without voter ID ahead of local elections
Tom Hunt, MP for Ipswich asked local members to act as his “emergency proxy” after he found that he had no appropriate ID to vote in the local council elections”
"While recent debates center on enacting an ethics code for the Supreme Court, the statutory honoraria ban has been in place for decades. No new ethical rules need to be promulgated, or codes enacted on this subject. It exists right now, as it has since 1989. But Thomas and Leo are doing an end run around it, accomplishing indirectly what the law prohibits them from doing directly. And no one is stopping them."
"…Thomas is saying, No, I may not take a fee for speaking at a dinner sponsored by the Koch bros; heaven forbid I violate the…honorarium ban! But of course: Nothing stops you, Koch bros, from lavishing me w/a trip to Palm Springs in a private plane, sumptuous accommodations, & fabulous meals,…there is nothing wrong w/conservative billionaires enabling Thomas to have a lifestyle far beyond what his judicial salary allows."
"…version of Congress we had 23 yrs ago might have gone ballistic in response to recent discoveries about Thomas. If…concerned about…judges getting money for honoraria…surely would’ve been…evading the honoraria ban w/luxury vacations. If…worried about rich benefactors paying judges for their speeches…would surely be…about rich benefactors providing judges w/private planes & high-end accommodations."
“Tory council splashed £54,000 on Mayoral chauffeur in same month it declared bankruptcy
Thurrock Council, which has hiked bills for local taxpayers after running into financial trouble, faces questions about its use of money over the lucrative chauffeur contract”
…I guess they think if rich! sunak & cameron can private jet around then a chauffeur is quite in order
"Eight prominent U.S. newspapers owned by investment giant Alden Global Capital are suing OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement, in a complaint filed Tuesday in the SDNY. On top of a similar case filed by NYT against both companies, the new suits add heft to publishers' claims."
He asked security for an audit of how many keys it'd made of the MRSA parts cage, & discovered: 100s of keys floating around. Those mechanics’ bosses had been illegally raiding the cage for defective parts to install on new airplanes w/o doc.
Apollo Global Mgt bet on the longevity of senior citizens by acquiring illegal life INSUR policies & funneling the payouts thru shell entities.
It allegedly set up a web of sham trusts—using a secretive affiliate called FIN Credit Investment—to hold a portfolio of stranger-originated life insurance policies worth ~$20B. Taking out life INSUR on a stranger is “anathema to 100s of years of public policy” -violation of the DE Const.
Presidential immunity and the ‘Dark Age Ahead’
By Kurt Cobb, originally published by Resource Insights April 28, 2024
"...For those at the highest reaches of commerce, (corporatized) science, and major professions—as well as for politicians elected from hopelessly gerrymandered districts—accountability & transparency has all but disappeared. In this environment, the ethics-challenged Supreme Court is inviting presidents, past, current & future, to join a club that members of the court are already in, an elite club of leaders in American society who are almost entirely unaccountable. If the Supreme Court can be in the club, why shouldn’t the president? The fact that some members of the court cannot see that this is what is happening is a testament to how accustomed those members have become to being unaccountable. These self-styled philosopher-kings believe it was ever thus ordained to be this way..."
#Thomas (and his #christofascist wife, Ginny) could be indicted tomorrow just on what the public knows about his #corruption & her election interference.
On Thursday, the #scotus will be hearing arguments where lawyers for the criminal defendant are arguing that all former presidents are forever immune from criminal prosecution for any official acts done in office.
Failure to respect the election of a new President, is the ultimate crime against the people, who are the basis of government. The President, by constitutional design, should have no role- official or unofficial-in the determination of the people's
vote. Immunity for the crimes here alleged would be most abhorrent to the Framers, because immunity would upset the constitutional scheme and aid a President in overriding the people's power over him.
The Framers would also have been appalled that Trump, despite having left office, seeks permanent immunity. As a Federalist wrote for the Maryland ratifying convention:
It seems, however, that the president may possibly be continued for life. He may so, provided he deserve it.
In the crimal defendant's appeal to #scotus on his #January6th criminal fraud to block the certification of our election case, aka immunity delay case, vile fascist Samuel Alito and accused sexual abuser Brett Kavanaugh declined to acknowledge certain facts of the case during the oral arguments. Their stance has drawn attention and raised questions about the case's proceedings.
Corrupt Clarence implies presidents are always committing crimes- a blatent lie, giving cover to the biggest criminal in American history.
Their overtly unethical conduct laid bare in front of Americans, and it was disgraceful. It calls into question their certification and qualifications to work in the legal profession, in any capacity.
Republican partisans are and were during the hearing, a total disgrace to the American legal system.