The Horrors and Destruction that Donald Trump Has Imposed On America...Just Kidding! Part 3

Before we start today’s discussion, let’s review my voting history: 

• I have never voted for a Republican for President in my life. 
• Thus, I did not vote for Trump. 
• I have rarely voted for a Republican for national office in my life. 

A year ago, many liberals, Democrats, and millenials were besides themselves with grief and fear because their pre-ordained queen, Hillary Clinton, was not elected President. Instead, Donald Trump was elected, an individual that these same people despised, hated, and feared, an individual they felt would endanger and possibly destroy the country and our democracy. For the past year they fretted, worried and lashed out at anything or anyone that even remotely smelled of Donald Trump.

Given that Trump has been in office for a year and we are at the end of that calendar year, I thought, that as someone who did not vote for him, it would be a good idea to review the horror, trauma, and terrible things that Trump has subjected the country to in just one short year. The first two posts we did on this topic identified 62 things that have happened since Trump became President:

https://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-horrors-and-destruction-that-donald.html

https://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-horrors-and-destruction-that-donald_31.html

The following list adds to those initial 62 successes:

1) After a two year increase in big city murders in the last two years under the Obama administration, the country’s overall murder rate in big cities declined in 2017 under Trump with New York City experiencing 290 murders, the lowest number since 1951, and Los Angeles having its 8th consecutive year in which murders were under 300.

2) Under the Trump economy, the African American unemployment rate has fallen to the lowest level in at least 45 years, 6.8% according to CNBC reporting and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

3) According to Reuters, the US economy in Trump’s first year as President added 2 million jobs despite the depression of job creation because of the hurricanes of 2017.

4) Many of the new jobs were in higher paying industries such as construction, professional and business services, and manufacturing vs. lower paying retail industry which saw a slight loss in jobs.

5) According to Paul Bedard, reporting for the Washington Examiner on January 4, 2018, the number of companies that have given bonuses to their employees, increased their charitable donations, or reinvested into their company as a result of the Trump tax cut is now over at least 100 companies including, but limited to:

1. We have previously covered how AT&T, Boeing, Fifth Third Bank,Wells Fargo, and Comcast have given employees and charities billions of dollars from the Trump tax cuts.
2. AAON — $1,000 bonus checks to 2,000 employees.
3. AccuWeather – year-end bonuses to all employees. (Approx. 450 – 500 employees)
4. Aflac – increase 401(k) match from 50% to 100% on the first 4% of compensation plus one-time $500 contribution to every employee’s 401(k); $250 million increase in overall U.S. investment.
5. American Airlines — $1,000 bonuses for every employee (excluding officers). The bonuses will total $130 million. AA had 127,600 employees as of Sept. 2017.
6. American Bank – $1,000 bonuses for 60 employees
7. American Savings Bank – $1,000 bonuses to 1,150 employees; base wage increase from $12.21 to $15.25
8. Americacollect – $300 - $500 bonuses for 250 employees
9. Aquesta Financial Holdings — $1,000 bonuses to 95 employees; base wage hike to $15 per hour
10. Associated Bank – $500 employee bonuses (exact number receiving bonus unknown at this time); base wage will rise from $10 to $15 per hour
11. Bank of Hawaii – $1,000 bonuses to 2,074 employees; base wage increase from $12 to $15
12. Bank of the Ozarks – Bonuses of up to $1,200 for 2,300 employees
13. BB&T – $1,200 bonuses for 27,000 employees; base wage will rise from $12 to $15 per hour; $100 million in charitable donations
14. Canary LLC – due to tax reform, the company will hire more employees and increase capital spending.
15. Central Pacific Bank – all 850 employees will receive $1,000 bonuses; base wage will rise from $12 to $15.25
16. Citizens Financial Group — $1,000 bonuses for 12,500 employees and $10 million for charitable donations
17. Comerica Bank — $1,000 to 4,500 non-officer employees; base wage increase to $15 per hour
18. Community Trust Bancorp — $1,000 bonuses for full time employees and $500 bonuses for part-time employees (exact number receiving bonus unknown at this time)
19. Copperleaf Assisted Living – $200 - $600 bonuses for 175 employees
20. Dayton T. Brown Inc. (engineering/testing company) — $400 bonuses for each of the 210 employees
21. Delaware Supermarkets Inc. — $150 extra bonuses to 1,000 non-management personnel.
22. Express Employment Professionals — $2,000 bonuses to more than 200 non-executive employees
23. First Hawaiian Bank – $1,500 bonuses to 2,264 employees; base wage increase to $15
24. First Horizon National Corp. – $1,000 bonuses to 4,000 employees
25. Gate City Bank — $1,000 hand-delivered bonus checks to 538 non-management personnel; $500,000 higher charitable giving; $500,000 worth of free home appraisals.
26. INB Bank — $500 bonuses to 200 employees. The bonuses will exclude the Senior Management Team. The base wage will be raised to $15 per hour
27. Kansas City Southern — $1,000 bonuses. (Exact number receiving bonus unknown at this time; the company employs 6,485)
28. Melaleuca – all 2,000 employees will receive a $100 bonus for each year they have worked at the company
29. National Bank Holdings Corporation – $1,000 bonuses for employees making less than $50,000 (exact number receiving bonus unknown at this time)
30. Nationwide Insurance — $1,000 bonuses to 29,000 employees; increased 401(k) matching contributions for 33,000 employees
31. Navient – 98% of Navient’s 6,700 employees will receive a $1,000 bonus (approx. 6,566 bonus-eligible employees)
32. Nelnet — $1,000 bonuses for 4,100 employees
33. OceanFirst Financial Corp. – base wage increase to $15 per hour
34. Ohnward Bancshares — $1,000 bonuses for all 260 employees
35. Pinnacle Bank — $1,000 bonuses for 1,007 employees
36. PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. — $1,000 bonuses to 47,500 employees; an additional $1,500 in employee pension accounts; base wage hike to $15; $200 million charitable contribution
37. Regions Financial Corporation – base wage increase to $15 per hour; $40 million in charitable donations; $100 million in capital expenditures
38. Rush Enterprises – $1,000 bonuses for all 6,600 employees
39. Sinclair Broadcast Group — $1,000 bonuses for 9,000 employees
40. Southwest Airlines — $1,000 bonuses for all 55,000 employees; $5 million additional charitable donations
41. TCF Financial Corporation — $1,000 bonuses for full time employees; $500 bonuses for part time employees (exact number receiving bonus unknown at this time);
42. The Flood Insurance Agency — $1,000 bonuses for 17 full time employees
43. Territorial Savings Bank — $1,000 bonuses to 247 employees; base wage hike from $11.25 to $15.00 per hour
44. Turning Point Brands, Inc. — $1,000 bonuses for 107 employees
45. Unity Bank – all 200 non-executive employees will receive a $750 bonus
46. U.S. Bancorp – $1,000 bonuses for 60,000 employees; base wage hike to $15 per hour; $150 million charitable contribution

This list does not include the hundreds if not thousands of small and medium sized businesses that are also rewarding their employees, their charities, and their operations with increased benefits and rewards. And remember, these bonus payments are also in addition to the lower tax levels that the Trump tax cuts will incur for over 100 million working Americans and their families.

To see Mr. Bedard’s entire article that also includes the press releases praising the tax cuts go to the following link:

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/over-100-companies-giving-trump-bonuses-after-tax-victory-tsunami-building/article/2644944
So for those of you that feared the end of the world with Trump’s election, here is a list of more 49 Trump benefits and accomplishments to go with the list of 62 accomplishments we published a few days ago. Let’s be honest Trump haters, he has done a pretty good job in just the first twelve months of his term.

Given your gross error in judgement relative to Trump, let me ask that you to do us all a favor by implementing the following changes in your behavior and attitude:

• Chill out, tamp down your TDS affliction. No matter how much you hate Trump on a sexist, personal basis, get over it. He is the legally and duly elected President, he will be around for a while so refocus your hatred on more constructive issues and matters. You will live a lot longer if you take your hatred out of your heart and soul and devote it to something positive.
• I would really appreciate it if some of you would apologize to the Trump voters you have disrespected in some of the grossest terms possible over the past year. You have called millions of voters racists, ignorant, stupid, Nazis, KKK members, and other horrible names simply because you disagreed with their voting choice. No American should be called such disgusting names simply because they exercised their Constitutional rights to the best of their abilities. Plus, slandering over 60 million Americans is no way to unite the country and get it focused on the real issues facing us all.
• More personally, I would like, no I am demanding, an apology from some of you for your slanderous and disgusting name calling because in doing so, you insulted and disrespected my sister, my family members, my friends, and my co-workers who simply voted their conscience. I will defend their right to vote anyway they wanted and will no put up with your childish and vicious venom and bile directed at them, very important people in my life
• And finally, I challenge you to read the following blog post, a post that shows quite clearly that it was hateful people like some of you and your silence during the Obama years that actually caused Trump to be elected. Thus, the people you hate for voting for Trump are actually looking back at you in the mirror:

https://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2016/03/how-american-liberals-and-washington.html

If you were silent in the dozens of instances listed in this post then you were responsible for the very thing you hate: a Trump Presidency. Or put another way, a so far successful and productive Trump Presidency. Over 100 accomplishments in less than a year is not too shabby despite many of wanting both Trump and the country to fail.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:


http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.bankruptingamerica.org
http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

April, 2015, Part 2, Political Class Insanity: Bad Congressional Parking Skills, Spending Money For Nohting, and More

It is the beginning of another month which means it is time to review the latest political class insanity that has cropped up over the past 30 days or so. As regular readers of this blog know, political class insanity comes in many different forms including, but not limited to, the following craziness:

• Spending taxpayer wealth on idiotic programs and projects.
• Wasting taxpayer wealth on their own selfish financial and political needs.
• Implementing legislation to resolve problems that make the original problems worse or which created unintended bad consequences as a result of their legislation.
• Implementing legislation that supports their political donors and financial backers rather than the typical American citizen.
• Issuing idiotic and stupid comments.
• Overseeing government organizations that are incompetent, inefficient, ineffective, and wasteful of taxpayer wealth.

As always, it is highly likely we will identify new forms of insanity over the next few days as we review the past ineptness coming out of Washington and other bastions of American politicians.

1) Let’s start today with a tremendous waste of taxpayer money. According to various news reports including Howie Carr from the Boston Herald:

• The Edward Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate is about to open in his home state of Massachusetts.
• Carr specifically wrote that the Institute was supposed to be paid for with private funds and donations.
• But the political class in Washington decided that Federal government taxpayers across the country should chip in $38 million to help built the Institute which was also helped along with a $5 million contribution by the state of Massachusetts.
• Fortunately, when then Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts tried to stick the American taxpayer with another $28.9 million to subsidize the Institute his efforts failed.

Sad and pathetic and insane. I do not remember being asked if I wanted some of my tax money to be used to fund a grandiose tribute to a Senator that had so many scandals in his career in a state far away that I will likely never visit, never mind visiting the Institute.

And it is not as if this effort needed my tax dollars. First, I am sure the Kennedy clan could have financed the whole effort out of their checking accounts without taxpayer support. Second, at the grand opening, the Institute charged people $250,000 who wanted to be members of the “chairman’s circle” and charged thousands of dollars to attend the opening, the cheapest ticket of which was $2,500.

Just this single fund raising event gathered in a whopping $50 million for the endowment of the Institute. If there was justice in this world and people of integrity and dignity serving in Washington, part of that $50 million would be used to repay the $38 million that American taxpayers were held up for to fund the Institute. 

That $38 million could be refunded to the taxpayers or could be used to serve the ailing veterans that the Federal government under serves today, train the long term unemployed, treat the drug addicted in our society, train and deploy more teachers, etc. Instead, we are stuck with a $38 million expense to glorify a politician. Pathetic.

2) We are supposed to be government of the people, by the people, and for the people. However, very few would probably disagree that today we are government of the political donations, by the political donations and for the political donations. We still vote but more and more those that pay the political class and political machine in this country get the benefits.

Consider the case of Google, one of the biggest and richest companies in the world and how they work the political process, according to recent reporting by NewsMax:

• Google was the second largest donor to Obama’s political campaigns.
• Obama’s technology advisor is Megan Smith who used to be a Google executive.
• Google lobbyists have officially visited the White House 230 times despite the President’s promise that the role of lobbyists would be minimized in his administration.
• A major business rival of Google, Comcast, registered only 20 official White House visits by its lobbyists.
• Google employees gave the most money to Obama’s re-election campaign than any other set of employees except Microsoft’s.
• Google’s Executive Chairman, Eric Schmidt, was in Obama's Chicago campaign office on election day 2012 working on a voter turnout system for Obama’s campaign.

All of this is perfectly legal, if repugnant to those who think that crony capitalism trumps the needs of American citizens. But Google executives are not stupid people. What did the Obama administration do for Google over the past few years:

• Although the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) had accused Google of abusive trade practices by burying the results for competitors' websites in search results, in 2012 the FTC ignored its own staff's recommendation of a lawsuit, and dropped its investigation.
• Google apparently also made out well on the recent FCC net neutrality rules even though Chairman Tom Wheeler opposed the "Title II" rules that benefit Google but he was overruled by the White House.
• The FCC also pulled out 15 pages from its net neutrality report that Google didn't like.
• Google recently announced that its page rankings in the future will be based on how “truthful” the site is. 

Two main problems here. First, as we have often said, political cronies pay out millions to government entities and politicians in order to get billions back in value, whether it is favorable legislation or favorable regulation. It is a deal that cannot be beat, financially, market wise, or personal wealth wise, get the American taxpayer to fund your needs via blackmailing politicians with political advice and money.

Second, even more troubling, is the last point above. Who is to decide what “truthful” is? Will an unbiased third party decide what truthful is or does truthful depend on who is holding political office? Given the whole crony capitalism cancer that exists in Washington today, unbiased does not stand a chance. If we are not careful, Google could become the new Pravda for the American political class.

3) Nothing says I am an American politician and I am above law than not caring what you do to other ordinary people. Consider the pathetic car parking job Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton recently did in Washington, a parking hatchet job that was caught on video. 

Not only does the Congresswoman leave her car in an idiotically parked position, she apparently has already struck the car properly parked next to her number of times and than has left the scene without notifying authorities or leaving a note. If you or I did that, we could be fined, arrested, and jailed for leaving the scene of an accident. Want to bet there were no repercussion from her behavior? And to think that this person votes on legislation that affects us all when she has no compassion or integrity for everyday life. Pathetic.

The parking job can be viewed at:

http://joeforamerica.com/2015/03/ttv-congressional-parking/#

4) Wasting money is often an art form for Washington. One common way to waste taxpayer money is to have a government entity purchase something and then never use it. Our most popular blog post ever described how the Navy had spent $300 million to build two ships almost to completion and then decided to junk them for $10 million while never using them.

Hillary Clinton’s State Department spent $40 million building a consulate building in the Afghanistan countryside and then abandoned it before ever using it when the found out it could not be defended in case of a Taliban attack. The TSA spent millions of dollars on airport security equipment that was never taken out of its packing material before it was stored in a warehouse, never to be used. 

According to Sarah Westwood, recently writing for the Washington Examiner, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) recently continued this horrid tradition of spending taxpayer wealth on things that are never used, this time with a costly twist. Days after one part of ATF had dumped $600,000 worth of aerial drones that it had never flown or used, another part of ATF spent another $15,000 on more aerial drones that have also remained grounded and unused.

Excuses for the dumping included:

• One of the drones had a battery that lasted just 20 minutes, making it "unsuitable for surveillance." 
• Another of the drones model, costing taxpayers $315,000, "was never operable due to multiple technical defects."
• A $90,000 drone was deemed "too difficult to use reliably in operations" after testing.
• ATF suspended its drone program and donated all six of its drones to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service free of charge in June 2014.

There are two obvious questions here:

1. Before purchasing the drones, shouldn’t someone at ATF have checked out the specs on these machines before wasting so much taxpayer money on a drone fleet that was so obviously doomed from the start?
2. And if the drones did not work according to the specs agreed to, shouldn’t ATF demanded and received their money back from the drone sellers for deceptive sales?

Most consumers would have taken these simple steps to guarantee they protected their money and wealth before finalizing major purchases like these. But obviously ATF did neither of these two steps to get taxpayer money back in return for non-performance.

The organization then repeated the same mistake when less than a week after the first drone fleet was given away, ATF's National Response Team bought five more drones for $15,000 "to help document fire and explosion crime scenes." But ATF officials told their inspector general that besides a single short flight in July 2014 to survey the aftermath of a Louisiana apartment fire, the rest of the drones were never used again after discovering they needed certifications to legally operate the drones. Maybe someone should have investigated this requirement problem BEFORE the new drones were purchased.

In an understatement, the inspector general said he was "troubled" by the contracting process that allowed ATF to spend more than half a million dollars on three different types of drones without realizing that none of them could be used for the intended purposes.

That will do it for now. Taxpayers paying for tributes to passed away politicians, Google spending a lot of time and money influencing policies rather focusing on the market needs of its customers, politicians who cannot even park a car or take responsibility for their errant driving skills, and spending money on purchases that are never used. Sounds about right for one day of political class insanity. More insanity tomorrow.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

Term Limits Now: http://www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com
http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.bankruptingamerica.org
http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

April,, 2014 Political Class Insanity, Part 8: Comcast Goes Monopoly, Drug Smugglers Go Underground, Kids Go Hungry, and More

This is our record setting eighth post this month that covers the continuing ineptness and wastefulness of the American political class. Never before at any point in this blog’s history have we had to dedicate eight days to reviewing the monthly insanity and idiocy of the American class. It is a disturbing trend that shows no sign of slowing down, resulting in continued wasted taxpayer wealth and lost liberties for Americans.

1) It is not easy to get a nation $17 TRILLION in debt but the Washington political class has managed to do just that. It took a combination of efforts including ineffective and inefficient programs and projects, criminal fraud, crony capitalism, lax oversight, etc. 

But according to a recent General Accountability Office (GAO) report, massive redundancy and duplication of effort within the sprawling Federal bureaucracy is also a major and annually recurring problem. In their latest report, the GAO found that (in their own words):

• In their 2014 report, GAO presents 64 actions that the executive branch or Congress could take to improve efficiency and effectiveness across 26 areas that span a broad range of government missions and functions. 
• GAO suggests 19 actions to address evidence of fragmentation, overlap, or duplication in 11 NEW [my emphasis, I.e. things are getting worse] areas across the government missions of defense, health, income security, information technology, and international affairs. 
• GAO also presents 45 opportunities for executive branch agencies or Congress to take actions to reduce the cost of government operations or enhance revenue collections for the Treasury across 15 areas of government.

An unbelievable portrait of how out of control the Federal government bureaucracy has become and how much it is likely costing the American taxpayer.

But this wasteful redundancy and duplication has been going on for years and the Washington political class has done little or nothing to stop it. Consider previous findings from past GAO analyses:

• The Federal government spent $18 billion on 47 different employment and training programs in 2009. 
• The Federal government spent $13.3 billion on 45 different early learning and child care programs in 2010. 
• The Federal government spent $4.5 billion in 2012 on 76 different drug abuse prevention and treatment programs.

that, my children, is one way to get to a $17 TRILLION national debt with very little to show for it.

2) There is little doubt that the country is in the middle of an obesity problem. The majority of American adults are either overweight or obese. Our kids are not much better, so any intelligent effort to make our kids and adults healthier and less overweight is a good idea.

The key words are “intelligent effort.” Intelligent is not usually an adjective that applies to Federal policies and programs and in this area that is also true. First Lady Michelle Obama and other politicians in Washington pushed through the Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act of 2010. This legislation was supposed to make kids happily eat healthier food by establishing one nationwide standard of menus and eating requirements in every school across the nation.

A number of problems quickly arose with this one size fits all dictatorial approach:

- First, different kids have different needs. For example, athletes immediately found out that they were not getting enough calories under the new Federal guidelines to be effective on the athletic fields after school. 

- Second, since underlying eating habits were not addressed and changed, forcing kids to eat healthy without changing those habits and perceptions was surely going to fail.

- Third, by not changing the underlying approach to eating, kids ended up not eating much of anything under what the Federal government prescribed. As just one example, the Federal regulations from the legislation that forced specific, standardized diet requirements on all school districts have resulted in at least $100,000 dollars worth of food usually landing in school dumpsters every day in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Why? Simply because the kids simply do not eat it. This daily waste comes out to a whopping $18 million dollars of food thrown away each year, just in LA.

A link containing kids’ reactions to the new food guidelines can be accessed at:

http://www.teaparty.org/students-fed-michelle-obamas-school-lunch-overhaul-38763/

If the kids do not eat anything because of the new one size fits all Federal guidelines, we end up with undernourished kids and wasted food and taxpayer dollars. And frankly, given what the kids are saying and the pictures they are sharing, I am not sure that I would eat the Federal diet either.

Another government program that maybe had good intentions but as usual, was botched in the implementation, wasting taxpayer wealth and making the original problem worse.

3) In an earlier post in this month’s insanity series we pointed out the results of a recent Rand Corp. study that estimated Americans spend about $109 billion a year on illegal drugs of all kinds. This booming, $2 billion a week business still thrives even though the Washington political class and the Federal government have been waging a losing “war on drugs” for over four decades.

Rather than step back and take a look at this losing effort and developing a better, more effective, more compassionate, and less expensive approach to drug addiction, as outlined by Step 26 in “Love My Country, Loathe My Government,” the politicians in Washington continue down the same expensive and destructive war on drugs path.

As if the $109 billion market size for illegal drugs was not enough to convince them to do something different, consider what was recently found out west relative to the war on drugs. According to an April 5, 2014 Associated Press report:

• Two drug-smuggling tunnels with actual rail systems stretching hundreds of yards across the U.S.-Mexico border were recently discovered by U.S. law enforcement officials.
• A 73-year-old woman, Glennys Rodriguez from the San Diego suburb of Chula Vista, was charged with helping run one of the tunnel operations, according Federal authorities.
• No illegal drugs were found in connection with the tunnels, which linked warehouses in Tijuana, Mexico, and the Otay Mesa area of San Diego, according to a statement from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations.
• One tunnel stretched about 600 yards and was equipped with lighting, a crude rail system and wooden trusses.
• The tunnel entrance on the U.S. side ended inside a warehouse where a cement cap covered a 70-foot shaft. 
• The shaft had a pulley system to hoist goods into the building.
• The second tunnel stretches more than 700 yards and was built with more sophisticated features including a multi-tiered electric rail system and ventilation equipment.
• Federal authorities also recently shut down a third, incomplete drug-smuggling tunnel in the same area.
• That tunnel is approximately 449 feet long with about 60 feet in Mexico and 389 feet in the U.S.

When 73 year old grannies are going underground to outsmart you in the war on drugs, maybe it is time to change your views and strategies relative to addiction. The presence of at least three drug smuggling tunnels and a $109 billion market should be overwhelming proof to Washington politicians to do something different.

However, given how out of touch they are with the real world and their inability to do anything effective, four more decades from now we will likely still be living an old Einstein quote that applies to the war on drugs: The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. 

We have been doing the same thing for forty plus years in the lost war on drugs and expecting different results, which makes us all insane, especially those politicians leading the lost cause.

4) Comcast is the largest U.S. cable company in the country. It is currently asking the Federal government’s permission to buy the second largest cable company in the country, Time Warner. This will create an incredibly large and dominate player in the cable television and Internet markets, a player who could reduce competition and raise prices for customers, given its large size.

In an article in Business Week from its March 10, 2014 issue, Michael Copps, a former Democratic member of the FCC and the only member to oppose the merger stated the obvious risks of such a marriage: “There’s a strong case to be made why this merger shouldn’t be approved. it’s just so much power for one company to amass, and its not just cable. They’re a broadband company, they’re a broadcast company, they’re new media, they’re old media, they’re telecom, they’re everything.”

He makes a strong case. When AT&T recently tried to merge with a major competitor, T-Mobile, the Federal government correctly shut it down for anti-trust reasons. This Comcast and Time Warner merger should also be shut down and permission denied for the same market monopoly reasons.

But, not so fast, logic and the good of Americans is likely to take a back seat in this situation. According to a recent article on the Against Crony Capitalism website, quoting a piece from the National Review:

Comcast, which employs more than 100 lobbyists, spent almost $19 million last year on lobbying activities. Its president and CEO, Brian L. Roberts, is a golf buddy of President Obama’s, and a Democratic donor who has contributed thousands of dollars not only to the president’s campaigns, but also to the Democratic party of Pennsylvania, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the DNC Services Corporation, and to Steny Hoyer, Kirsten Gillibrand, and Bob Casey. Roberts’s executive vice president, David Cohen, is a former aide to Democratic bigwig Ed Rendell. Cohen skirts lobbying regulations through loopholes, has raised more than $2 million for Obama since 2007, and in 2011 hosted a DNC fundraiser at which the president called him “friend.” Cohen has visited the White House 14 times since 2010, including two visits to the Oval Office. He attended the recent dinner for President Hollande of France.

Ever wonder why NBC and MSNBC are so pro-Obama and biased in their reporting? Do not think for a minute that this type of crony capitalism does not creep into their news reporting.

Given Comcast’s massive lobbying efforts, their schmoozing with Obama and his political allies, their fund raising for certain types of politicians within our corrupted campaign financing processes, and the skewing of the news to favor this administration, there is no doubt that Comcast will get what it wants. And the rest of America will end up paying higher prices for all forms of electronic communications while the political class goes about their merry and enriching ways, courtesy of Comcast dollars and influence.

Eight posts and we are still not done with the latest insanity. Hopefully, we can end the insanity tomorrow before we all go insane.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

Term Limits Now: http://www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com
http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

Putin's Russia, Obama's America: Mirror Images Of Corruption, Cronyism and Waste? Part 3

Last week we did a post on how the political class corruption undermining the financial integrity of the Russian Olympics in Sochi were really not that different than the rampant and growing level of political class corruption in America. Besides listing some general areas of politicians’ corruption, we went into detail on how the Obama administration was basically bequeathing ambassadorships on people who had had no international diplomatic experience but who had raised at least half a million dollars for his past political campaigns. That post can be accessed at:

http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2014/02/putins-russia-obamas-america-mirror.html

As soon as that post went live, word came out of New Orleans that former Mayor Ray Nagin had been convicted on a whopping twenty counts of illegalities including bribery, wire fraud, and kickbacks. The depth of the corruption was quite unbelievable, the details of which can be reviewed at:

http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2014/02/putins-rusia-obamas-america-mirror.html

So within two days, we examined major corruption examples at the local government/political level in New Orleans, at the Federal government/political level in Washington D.C., and the international government/political level in Russia and the Olympics. But as soon as that corruption was documented, two other major pieces of political class corruption came to the forefront, one example at the government bureaucracy level and one at the Congressional level:

1) The fabulous website, Bankrupting America, reported on February 14, 2014 on how the Obama economic stimulus program is still costing the American taxpayers millions and millions of dollars many years after it was supposed to be terminated: 

• Although the stimulus program and spending was supposed to last just two years, taxpayer money is still flowing from it and instances of fraud are still being reported, according to The Dallas Morning News.
• The paper recently reported that, “The top administrator [Joe White] of a chain of hospitals that collapsed under the ownership of a North Texas physician [Dr. Tariq Mahmood] faces charges that he defrauded the Federal government of nearly $800,000 in stimulus funds.”
• White allegedly “falsely certified” documents that made his hospital eligible “to receive stimulus rewards for switching from paper medical records to an electronic system.” 
• In addition to defrauding the government and the taxpayer, he may have accomplished the fraud using an employee’s stolen personal information. 
• Rather than using the stimulus funds to make the switch from paper to electronic records, hospital employees have told the government the hospital pocketed the money and “continued to use paper and uncertified technology.”
• The newspaper says White and Mahamood could face time in prison for their actions. Mahmood has pled not guilty while White has yet to enter a plea.
• The Dallas Morning News said the stimulus program that provided the funds has “major weaknesses. Care providers’ records are not screened as part of the reward process….a 2012 report by the inspector general of the U.S. Health and Human Services Department advised the funding government agency to obtain supporting documentation from some providers before paying them.”
• In typical bungling government fashion, the funding agency, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) did not take the inspector general’s advice. 
• The article reported that the Federal agency (CMS) “balked, citing concerns that doing so would create an ‘up-front burden’ for hospitals and would delay payments.” So the good news is that the taxpayer payments were not delayed, the bad news is that the taxpayer payments were obtained and wasted under false pretenses.

More taxpayer money wasted through corruption, fraud, and incompetence, years after the taxpayer spigot should have been turned off.

Many times the fraud and corruption is not as blatant as the Dallas hospital ripoff scam was. Consider the much more subtle moves of Comcast Corp., the largest cable company in the U.S. Comcast want to merge with its main competitor, Time Warner Inc. Time Warner is the second largest cable provider in the country.

Since the merger deal would further consolidate the telecommunications industry, it is likely to face tough and difficult scrutiny from Federal government officials. The legitimate and major concern is that the merger would raise monopoly and antitrust concerns at the Justice Department. It would also come under scrutiny from a public interest perspective at the Federal Communications Commission. Serious stuff with far reaching ramifications on consumers across the country.

But alas, Comcast probably has that covered. It has been among the top corporate donors to members of Congress and the perpetual reelection campaigns over the past few years. If you follow the money, as documented by the MapLight analysis of campaign contributions to members of Congress, from PACs and employees of Comcast Corp., from January 1, 2001 - December 31, 2012 via the OpenSecrets.org website, you will see that Comcast has

been focusing their contributions on members of the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology. 

It is probably not a coincidence that this committee which has jurisdiction over the Federal Communications Commission:

• House members of the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology received $853,525 from Comcast from January 1, 2001 - December 31, 2012. 
• Contributions from Comcast to House members serving in the 109th, 110th, 111th and 112th Congresses totaled $6,678,446 from January 1, 2001 - December 31, 2012. 
• Representative Greg Walden., Chairman of the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology has received $53,000 from Comcast from January 1, 2001 - December 31, 2012. 
• Representative John Dingell, has received $100,775 from Comcast from January 1, 2001 - December 31, 2012. This is more than any other member of the House of Representatives. 

It is probably not a coincidence that Dingell also is a member of the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology.

Disgusting and disgraceful corruption disguised as campaign contributions. Comcast is paying out millions of dollars in the very safe bet of receiving billions of dollars worth of government leeway in their market dealings with Time Warner, the nation’s consumers and citizens be damned. Do we really think that these Congressional members would be receiving money from Comcast if they were in charge, of say, agricultural matters? No way.

Three short days of political class corruption reviews from around the world, five prime examples of how citizens get screwed:

• Russian taxpayers funding the corruption, bribery, kickbacks and cost overruns at the Russian Olympic.
• American foreign policy interests being sacrificed with diplomatic novices staffing ambassador posts simply because they raised election money for Obama.
• Local New Orleans residents being shafted by a long time local politician, now convicted, who looks to have been heavily into kickbacks, bribery, wire fraud, and other crimes.
• The American taxpayer paying out its wealth in a stimulus program that should have died years ago, to a corrupt hospital administrator via an inept government agency.
• Corporate election campaign donors to corrupt politicians who are likely to look more favorably on those donor’s corporate needs than the needs and rights of cable service users.

As you can see, political class corruption takes many forms, from plain incompetence to serious greed. Somewhere along the line we have allowed a class of people to take over our political processes and turn those processes inwards to their own gain and away from the benefit of citizens and taxpayers. Whereas politics used to be a means to an end, I.e. get elected to promote positive change in the lives of the citizens, getting elected is now just a means in itself, get elected to stay elected to stay in the money, the good of the country be damned.

And the real shame is that a few simple steps could reverse this whole downward spiral of corruption, greed, and lack of ethics, steps that were outlined in “Love My Country, Loathe My Government:”

1. Step 1 - Reduce Federal government spending by 10% a year for five consecutive years - if there is less Federal money to waste, the amount of corruption involving less money should go down substantially.
2. Step 6 - allow only individual citizens to contribute to political campaigns, eliminating the contributions of PACs, unions, corporations, and lobbyists. This eliminates the problems like the Comcast bribes described above.
3. Step 7 - Only allow individuals to contribute to political Senate or House of Representative political candidates that represent them directly. For example, somebody living in New Jersey could no not make a contribution to a candidate in Kansas.
4. Step 34 - Hold House and Senate committee members accountable for their respective areas of responsibility, removing them form their cherished committee posts if they do not meet minimal performance standards. The taxpayers and citizens would determine if minimal performance standards were met, helping to minimize the overwhelming influence of entities like Comcast do today.
5. Step 39 - Implement term limits for all Federal politicians, one and done. With term limits, there would be no need to continually be at Comcast’s and other corporate donors mercy since there would be no need to continually raise campaign money for a continual reelection cycle.

Five simple steps to return the power to the people by taking it away from the rigged election processes that are controlled by selfish and self serving politicians who are financed and beholden to entities like Comcast. Failure to implement these freedom restoring steps just makes us look like an Americanized version of Putin’s Russian thugocracy.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

Term Limits Now: http://www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com
http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

Hateful and Vile Political Dialog Courtesy of MSNBC

I always try to respect the opinons of others in the political arena, even if I believe they are operating under bad assumptions or data, or have arrived at a difference conclusion based on the same data and assumptions I used. It is their right to disagree with me, in fact, I insist they use that right as protected by the Bill of Rights and the right of free speech to express their views and opinions, one of the foundations of our democracy. I will argue my point strongly and passionately, but not emotionally or personally.

However, I could not sit back and accept that a recent MSNBC video production was either in the spirit of free speech or freedom of the press, I just found it despicable. The production, aired on MSNBC and hosted by one of their so-called jorunalists, Martin Bashier, fantasized that Mitt Romney's tour bus blew up in a violent and harrowing explosion. The production interspersed clips of the Romney bus with exploding buses from movies, implying that the Romney campaign bus blew up with those aboard obviously all dying a horrible death, given the magnitude of the explosions.

Despiciable hatred. Makes you wonder how and why we allowed our political class, and the main stream media outlets that support them, to subvert our political dialog and election processes so badly that a major media corporation, Comcast, the owners of MSNBC, would go to the trouble of devloping such a hateful piece of work that glorified the fiery death of any person, any American, never mind a political opponent. Vile, disgusting, despicable, no words can describe a news organziation who encourages such hate.

Despite the freedom of speech and the freedom of the press, there is no place for wishing death on a human being in a democracy for simply having a different political view. Comcast and MSNBC are disgraces to America and disgraces to the profession of journalism.

The clip can be viewed at the following link:

http://frontporchpolitics.com/2012/06/romneys-campaign-bus-explodes-on-msnbc/

If you agree with my views on this gruesome matter, and I respect your opinion if you are not as outraged as I am, please read the following letter I have sent to Mr. Brian Roberts, the chairman of Comcast, and the actions I plan to take unless Mr. Bashier is fired and Comcast offers a sincere apology to the Romney family and to America. Anything less is acceptable.



I would encourage you to take similar actions in the name of mature, nonviolent, and productive political conversations in this country.

*******************************************************

June 16, 2012

Mr. Brian Roberts

Comcast
One Comcast Center
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103-2838

Mr. Roberts:

Before I begin let me give you a bit of background. I am 59 years old. Up until the November, 2010 midterm elections I had never voted for a Republican for national office in my life. Thus, I am not a Republican Party member, a Tea Party member, or a die hard conservative.

With that said, let me express my outrage and disgust with a short news clip that recently appeared on your MSNBC network. Martin Bashier ran a fantasy video clip where he and your network showed the Romney campaign bus blowing up while on tour in the Midwest. It interspersed clips of Romney’s bus with movie clips of exploding buses, inferring that it would be a good idea for the Romney bus to explode and kill anyone who was in it when it blew.

This is so despicable and contemptible on so many levels. First, wanting, fantasizing, and rooting for other innocent human beings to die is just plain sick. Second, this type of vile and hateful expression of speech does nothing to heal the country and just adds to the deep divisions within the country. You provide no public service, you provide no news value, and you provide no education enhancement to the political discourse in this country with these types of actions.

Your parents must be so proud that you grew up, inherited the family business, and now use it to wish death on fellow Americans rather than provide a public service of honest and compassionate journalism. Airing such a disgraceful piece and trying to pass it off as journalism is an insult to the journalism profession and shows the deep lack of integrity your company possesses.

I am sure that if Fox News ran the same clip and just inserted an Obama bus that you and your network would be besides themselves in horror and self-righteousness. This would add the adjective of hypocritical to the ones I listed above: sick, vile, hateful, despicable.

Thus, unless Mr. Bashier is fired immediately and an apology is offered to the Romney family and to America for such tawdry, disgusting reporting, I will take several actions. First, I will call my local cable company and request that they no longer carry MSNBC, or at the very least, ensure that this network is blocked from ever coming into my home. Second, I will contact your major sponsors with a copy of this letter and request that they withdrawal their advertising support of your company or risk losing my business.

While my actions may make little difference, similar actions of millions of other Americans who find your network’s disgusting broadcast of such tripe also despicable, taking those same actions may make a difference in making political discourse more civil in this country, something that you and your so-called journalists are unable or unwilling to do, to the detriment of our democracy and our society. Your choice, Bashier is out and you apologize, or live with the consequences of the hatred you have spread.


We invite all readers of this blog to visit our new website, "The United States Of Purple," at:

http://www.unitedstatesofpurple.com/

The United States of Purple is a new grass roots approach to filling the office of President of The United States by focusing on the restoration of freedom in the United States, focusing on problem solving skills and results vs. personal political enrichment, and imposing term limits on all future Federal politicians. No more red states, no more blue states, just one United States Of America under the banner of Purple.

The United States Of Purple's website also provides you the formal opportunity to sign a petition to begin the process of implementing a Constitutional amendment to impose fixed term limits on all Federally elected politicians. Only by turning out the existing political class can we have a chance of addressing and finally resolving the major issues of or times.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at www.loathemygovernment.com. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com/
http://www.flipcongress2010.com/
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.repealamendment/