Showing posts with label nixon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nixon. Show all posts

Friday, November 7, 2025

November, 2025, Political Class Insanity, Part 1: Self Enrichment in Congress, Shades of Watergate Spying, and the Illinois Governor Goes Down in Self Delusion

 There is a lot going on in the world: Obama and Russiagate findings, Middle East powder keg, the Russian/Ukrainian war, Federal government shutdown, etc. But through all this, the American political class continues to constantly deliver its own special brand of insanity, stupidity, wasteful taxpayer spending, self enrichment, and ineffective government programs.

1)Way back in the early 1970s, Nixon got caught wiretapping the Democrats and was eventually forced to resign for spying on  his political  opposition in an  unlawful  manner. His spying also violated the critical  need to make sure that  government resources were not being used for political purposes and that the three branches of the Federal government were kept separate and equal.

It seems that history lesson  was lost on Joe Biden whose administration, under the code name "Arctic Frost,” grossly violated the same tenets that Nixon violated long ago:

  • Arctic Frost was a top secret political witch hunt that Biden instituted within the Justice Department during his term in office.

  • Republican Senator Chuck Grassley recently released disclosures from whistleblowers that Biden and the Justice Department had set up a clandestine surveillance operation to spy on  Republicans and conservatives.

  • Specifically, according to the Senator: “I’ve obtained through legally protected whistleblower disclosures 197 subpoenas that were issued by Jack Smith and his team. These subpoenas were issued to 34 individuals and 163 businesses, including financial institutions. The subpoena requested records and communications related to over 430 individual and organizations — all of them appear to be aimed at Republicans.”

  • No warrants, no judicial proceedings, no probable cause, just political lawfare against political opposition.

  • Organizations that were tracked and bugged included Turning Point USA, the Republican Attorneys General Association. White House advisers Stephen Miller, Dan Scavino, Jared Kushner, and Lara Trump and over a hundred other parties.

  • And Biden made sure to get a  friendly judge to issue gag orders so that this shady operation could continue without anyone spelling the beans.

  • AT&T actually  refused to take part in this infringement of freedom and  Constitutional rights which shows how shady the whole  operation was if a major corporation tells the federal government “no.”

  • Nixon broke  into one  office to bug phones and did not use government resources to do so.

  • Biden used the FBI, the Justice Department and one friendly judge to  hide his many shady doings.

Disgusting  misuse of government power. And keep in  mind: if those in charge during the Biden administration went after high profile and  powerful  people  without cause,  going after you with that same  government  power is child's play for them.

2)Chicago is a mess: high  murder rate, violence  in the streets, skyrocketing crime, impending financial ruin right around the corner, residents and businesses fleeing out of town, not a good environment.  That is the reality, not a theory.

But apparently these conditions are not important to the Illinois governor:

  • The state’s governor, J.B. Pritzker, was recently interviewed by Fox correspondent,  Brett Baier.

  • Pritzker has vehemently refused to accept Trump’s Federal government help to aid in cleaning up the crime and murder rate in the city of Chicago, preferring to let his citizens get  rampaged by the high violence and crime.

  • During the interview, Pritzker dodged and  deflected away from the reality in the streets in Chicago, downplaying the reality on the streets and  offering empty answers to the situation.

  • Baier, however, was having none of it, and he came prepared with actual data and crime statistics  that showed the murder rate in Chicago was tops among major U.S.  cities.

  • Pritzker claimed that the murder rate in Chicago was not in the  top 30 in the country, claiming that the murder rate was dropping  substantially in the  city over the past few years.

  • That was when Baier dropped some real research and real journalism on the good governor: “Here’s a map. Most populous US cities, 17.47 per 100,000 population. Chicago is number one over Philadelphia, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Phoenix, Los Angeles, New York, and Diego.” 

  • This reality made Pritzker deliver a Kamala-like word salad nonsense answer: “What I’m explaining to you is when you want to fight crime-Now, you’re talking about violent crime. Look, you can pull statistics up. No, these are murders. I’m explaining to you that our murder rate has been cut in half.” 

So refreshing to see an obnoxious member of the political  class get tripped up by reality and  be shown for the empty rhetoric he and others like him preach. And kudos to Mr. Baier for actually coming prepared to  ask the tough questions and be prepared to support his question. Too bad the vast, vast majority of so-called faux journalists in the country do  not do the same, hold politicians' feet to the fire.

The governor’s bumbling answer and interview can  bee= seen at the following link:

https://thepatriotchronicles.com/news-for-you/watch-brett-baier-drops-truth-bomb-on-chicagos-murder-crisis-humiliates-lying-mayor/#google_vignette

3)Jasmine Crockett is a  Congresswoman  from Texas. She has been hateful and disgusting in her political rhetoric against non-liberals in any number of different situations, situations that we will not go into depth today. But it seems, like many other members of Congress, she may be more focused on self enriching herself while her constituents and the rest of  the country suffer from many other issues that Congress has not addressed:

  • She is allegedly being investigated for  not disclosing that she owns a bunch of stocks in at least 25 companies, disclosures that are required of any member of Congress.

  • If so and she did not properly disclose her ownership, that would be a violation of Federal ethics laws and be causing significant conflicts of interest.

  • Her alleged stock ownership are  companies in the drug, fossil fuel technology, auto, and marijuana industries.

  • But she allegedly did not disclose this ownership variety when she submitted Federal disclosure forms to  Congress.

  • And even  worse, she has supported or sponsored legislation favorable to many of the companies and industries she is invested in, clear conflicts of interest.

  • Although she may own shares in two marijuana  companies,  she still sponsored legislation that would decriminalize marijuana at the Federal government level.

  • The Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust watchdog group has filed a formal  complaint with the Office of Congressional Conduct, alleging that her non-disclosure may be a violation of the Ethics in Government Act:  “When Members of Congress fail to accurately and fully disclose their financial interests, it undermines the integrity of our government and erodes the public’s trust.” 

  • If the allegations turn out to be true,  she could face fines up to $50,000 and a year in prison.

As the old saying goes, “the appearance of conflict of interest is as bad as actual conflict of interest”. It undermines the confidence that Americans should have that their elected representatives are doing what is best for the country, not what is best for their own self  enrichment.

4)But we really cannot totally blame Crockett for her misdoings if true. Let’s face it, Nancy Pelosi made quite the career making herself and her family very, very rich from her high position of Speaker of the House for many years. Although never receiving a Congressional salary over $230,000 a year, and far less than  that early in her 40 year career, her husband and herself apparently have a net worth  over $278 million according to analysis done by Quiver Quantitative. 

Let’s do  some simple math:

  • Let’s assume that Pelosi averaged $200,000 in salary over her 40 year career.

  • Thus, her total wages earned would be about $8 million.

  • Let’s assume that she was in the 20% marginal tax bracket so her take home earnings would be about $6.4 million.

  • If Quiver Quantitative is right, her net salary earrings represent only about 2.3% of her net worth.

  • This leaves about $271.4 million of net worth to be earned by other investments she and her husband did.

  • Dividing the $271.4 by 40 years, that means that net wealth gain after taxes averaged over $7 million a year, highly unlikely.

Thus, it is highly unlikely that the $271.4 million was not earned without the help of some insider trading on her behalf. In fact, we previously had described how she made a killing with the VISA IPO adventure long ago:

https://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2011/11/final-proof-of-undeniable-corruption.html


As with Crockett’s potential unethical  behavior, Pelosi and others are examples where self enrichment in  Washington is more important than resolving issues facing Americans. She has made herself rich while at the same time resolving no major issue in 40 years. 

Another day of political class insanity: self enrichment by those in  Congress, self delusion by the Illinois governor  and  Watergate level and  beyond corruption by Biden’s  spying on Americans.


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

If you agree that we need to deseat every member of Congress for their lack of success and accomplishment, then please consider going to the following petition link to help the cause:


https://www.change.org/p/deseat-congress-reset-freedom



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


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:


Thursday, November 15, 2018

How The American Journalism Profession Is Destroying The First Amendment and Our Democracy, Part 2

One of the once great things about this country was the First Amendment and the freedom of press guaranteed by it. A free press helps offset the nefarious political ambitions and freedom encroachments of politicians by keeping their actions in the sunlight of visibility, disclosure, and scrutiny, i.e. it helps keeps politicians honest. 

Unfortunately, we for the most part do not have an unbiased, free press anymore in this country but not in the way you think. Most people, when they think that the free press has been suppressed, consider many of the actions of Presidents like Obama, who was one of the worst Presidents when it came to undermining the free press guarantee of the First Amendment:
  • He went after and prosecuted more whistleblowers than every other President combined.
  • He spied on journalists who he thought was an enemy of his views and efforts without proper cause or warrants.
  • His administration fought tooth and nail, more than any other President, to block legitimate and legal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.
  • His administration even tried to illegally charge a legitimate news gathering organization, the Associated Press, an outrageous sum of money for a FOIA request.
All of these acts undermined freedom of the press in the traditional way. But unfortunately, freedom of the press has been undermined over recent years not by politicians but by the press industry and journalists themselves. For the most part, and especially at the national level, news organizations have gone from reporting the facts, realities, and news in an unbiased way to shaping those facts, realities, and news in a very biased way. 

When journalists lose their integrity and ethics, the bedrock of their industry and profession, they undermine the First Amendment as much as some shady politician who is trying to get by with shady and unethical behavior. How far have journalists fallen down the integrity scale in Americans’ minds? In a recent Gallup poll:
  • Only 20% of those polled said they had a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in television news.
  • 45% said they had very little or no confidence in television news.
  • Newspapers do not do much better with 23% saying they had a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in newspapers while 40% saying they very little or no confidence in newspapers.
  • Ironically they both did better than Congress whose ratings were the most abysmal among all major American institutions.
Note: The first half of the discussion on this theme can be accessed at:


1) Let’s start off today’s discussion with a recent poll that was written up by Warner Todd Huston on November 14, 2018 for the Godfather Politics website:
  • The poll found that a whopping 72% of American blame the mainstream news media for many of the problems in this country since the media is “dividing Americans” and “spreading hate.”
  • The poll was done by the respected polling outfit, Zogby Analytics.
  • According to Zogby: “[respondents] felt the mainstream media spreads hate and misunderstanding, also felt that President Trump is responsible for the spread of hate and misunderstanding, but more voters overall, and in most sub-groups, blame the media slightly more!”
  • And: “Overall, 72 percent said “the mainstream media has played a major role in dividing Americans along racial, gender and political lines. This has led to a spread of hate and misunderstanding among some people.”
  • The overwhelming Republicans in the poll sample felt that the media was most to blame but even a majority of Democrats in the poll agreed that the mainstream media was most to blame.
  • President Trump also caught flak for contributing to spreading hate and dividing Americans but the mainstream media was the clear winner in this question.
Thus, the First Amendment, which envisioned a free press providing clear, fair, and balanced news reporting has been undermined by at least the perception of almost three out of every four Americans that instead of being fair and vital to our democracy, they are guilty of dividing us and spreading hate.

2) The mainstream media has had a mortal and dedicated hatred for Trump even before he was elected. They definitely lean liberal and no doubt most wanted Hillary elected as President. Since they did not get what they wanted, they have gone after Trump for just about every affront they could imagine to the concept of the “free press.

But as we have pointed out so many times in this blog, these same members of the media stood aside and let Obama get away with so many lies and so many transgressions against the First Amendment, the Bill of Rights, the Constitution, and the rule of law. Two of those posts can be accessed below:

Shredding the Constitution, Bill of Rights, and Rule of law: http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2016/10/part-2-obama-presidency-end-of-error.html

Which leads us to a fascinating article in the New York Times on December 30, 2016 by James Risen. Not only does the article provide a fascinating point of view on how the mainstream media is so biased but it was printed in the New York Times, one of the most biased, skewed, Trump hating journalistic endeavor out there:
  • The title of the article was, “If Donald Trump Targets Journalists, Thank Obama.”
  • Mr. Risen correctly points out that Obama and his administration went out and prosecuted nine government whistle blowers during its eight years, three times the number that all previous Presidents COMBINED had gone after.
  • Obama reached back to the Espionage Act, a leftover relic from the first world war 100 years ago, not to go after real spies, the original purpose of the law, but to get government employees who dared to talk to the press.
  • In addition, according to Mr. Risen, “Under Mr. Obama, the Justice Department and the F.B.I. have spied on reporters by monitoring their phone records, labeled one journalist an unindicted co-conspirator in a criminal case for simply doing reporting and issued subpoenas to other reporters to try to force them to reveal their sources and testify in criminal cases.”
  • Mr. Risen himself got caught up in the Obama headhunting when Obama era officials tried to force him to reveal a confidential source.
  • According to Leonard Downie, a former executive editor at the Washington Post and now a journalism teacher at Arizona State University (i.e. this guy has some credibility as a journalism professional) in a 2013 report from the Committee to Protect Journalists, Obama’s pressure on journalists was “the most aggressive I’ve seen since the Nixon administration, when I was one of the editors involved in The Washington Post’s investigation of Watergate.”
  • According to Trevor Timm who is the executive director of the nonprofit Freedom of the Press Foundation: “Obama has laid all the groundwork Trump needs for an unprecedented crackdown on the press.” 
  • And it gets worse: Dana Priest, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for The Washington Post, stated: “Obama’s attorney general repeatedly allowed the F.B.I. to use intrusive measures against reporters more often than any time in recent memory. The moral obstacles have been cleared for Trump’s attorney general to go even further, to forget that it’s a free press that has distinguished us from other countries, and to try to silence dissent by silencing an institution whose job is to give voice to dissent.”
  • While historically finding and stopping leaks had been a low priority of previous Presidencies, that changed with Obama according to Mr. Risen: “The Obama administration quickly ratcheted up the pressure, and made combating leaks a top priority for federal law enforcement. Large-scale leaks, by Chelsea Manning and later by Edward J. Snowden, prompted the administration to adopt a zealous, prosecutorial approach toward all leaking.”
  • According to Lucy Dalglish, the dean at the journalism school at the University of Maryland, after meeting with Obama officials to discuss news reporting and government sources: “You got the impression from the tone of the government officials that they wanted to take a zero-tolerance approach to leaks.”
  • Ms. Dalglish has stated that if Trump is as bad as Obama when it comes to stifling the First Amendment it is because “Obama handed him a road map.”
And yet when Obama was abusing the journalism industry and profession, those in high, visible, and public positions within the mainstream media gave Obama a pass. When Trump does the same thing, even at a fraction of the intensity and hate that Obama did the same thing, these same “journalists” go ballistic. This is what I call hypocrisy and just another reason why they or any hypocrite, cannot be trusted to have a unbiased and objective reporting of the news. 

The journalists in this country have been entrusted with a very important component of our democracy and sadly, they flub that responsibility just about every day of their working lives.


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






Thursday, February 11, 2016

February, 2016, Part 5, Political Class Insanity: A Greedy Politician, Needy Millenialls, and Obama's Lies In One Place

It is the beginning of another month which means it is time again to review the latest political class insanity from the American political class. Each month it takes us multiple posts to cover the wasteful spending, incompetent government organizations and employees, government programs that usually make a problem worse than resolving it, inane and idiotic politician comments, etc.

To review past posts on this insanity and idiocy, just click on the first few posts in each month listed to the right of this page. After reviewing just a handful of these insanity posts we think you will agree that we are currently being served by the worst set of American politicians ever to hold office in our entire history.

So let’s get started with the latest insanity:

1) The following discussion is not new insanity as much as a review of the insanity of lies from the first seven years of the Obama administration. We have reviewed just about every of the following lies listed under the Obama administration but it is nice and convenient to see most of the lies, deceptions, and failures in one list.  
For a look at the most recent writings we did on the failures of this Presidency, go to:

http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-obama-era-part-1-memories-from.html

Starting on that day and the subsequent days to that post, you will find a total compilation of the lies, failures, embarrassments, and law breaking of the Obama administration. Today, we provide a short summary of those Presidential disasters in the context of other Presidential lies from other Presidents, most of which come from to us courtesy of Point News with some additions by myself:

Famous Presidential Lies Contest

Written by To The Point News

LBJ: None of our boys will die on foreign soil.

Nixon: I am not a crook.

GHW Bush: Read my lips - No New Taxes.

Clinton: I did not have sex with that woman... Miss Lewinski.

GW Bush: Iraq has weapons of mass destruction.


Obama:

  1. I will have the most transparent administration in history.
  2. The stimulus will fund shovel-ready jobs.
  3. I am focused like a laser on creating jobs.
  4. If my economic stimulus plan is enacted, unemployment will not exceed 8%.
  5. The IRS is not targeting anyone.
  6. Only those in the Cininnati office of the IRS were targeting.
  7. Benghazi was a spontaneous riot about a video, not a pre-planned terrorist attack.
  8. I will put an end to the type of politics that "breeds division, conflict and cynicism".
  9. You didn't build that!
  10. I will restore trust in Government.
  11. The Cambridge cops acted stupidly.
  12. The public will have 5 days to look at every bill that lands on my desk.
  13. It's not my red line - it is the world's red line.
  14. Whistle blowers will be protected in my administration.
  15. We got back every dime we used to rescue the banks and auto companies, with interest.
  16. I am not spying on American citizens.
  17. Obama Care will be good for America.
  18. The Obama Care negotiations will be broadcast on C-SPAN for the country to see.
  19. You can keep your family doctor under Obama Care.
  20. You can keep your current hospital under Obama Care.
  21. Annual family health care insurance premiums will be lowered up to $2500 under Obama Care.
  22. If you like it, you can keep your current healthcare plan under Obama Care.
  23. Getting an Obama Care insurance policy will be as simple as shopping at Amazon.
  24. I knew nothing about "Fast and Furious" gunrunning to Mexican drug cartels.
  25. I knew nothing about IRS targeting conservative groups.
  26. I knew nothing about what happened in Benghazi.
  27. I have never known my uncle from Kenya who is in the country illegally and that was arrested and told to leave the country over 20 years ago.
  28. And, I have never lived with that uncle. He finally admitted (12-05-2013) that he DID know his uncle and that he DID live with him.
  29. If elected I promise not to renew the Patriot Act.
  30. If elected I will end the war in Iraq and Afghanistan within the 1st 9 months of my term.
  31. I will close Guantanamo within the first 6 months of my term.
  32. I will bridge the gap between black and white and between America and other countries.
  33. I will go through the Federal budget line by line to weed out wasteful spending.
  34. If elected President, I will devote every waking moment to serving America and not take vacations or any leisure time for myself.
  35. I will cut the Federal deficit in by the end of my first term.
  36. I will follow the Constitution and not issue a lot of executive orders like my predecessor did.
And the biggest one of all:

"I, Barrack Hussein Obama, pledge to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America."

Was ever such insanely and useless bill of goods ever sold to the American public?

2) One of the truisms about America over the centuries was that, in general, every generation of Americans enjoyed a higher standard of living than their parents. The freedom and liberties enjoyed by Americans over time allowed them, the country and its economy to reach its full potential, increasing the economic lot and lifestyles of the majority of Americans. This was called the “American Dream” and for most people over time in this country, and the people from around the world that wanted to come here, it was the reality.

Unfortunately, Sam Rolley, writing for the Personal Liberty website on January 18, 2016, told us how “Broke Millennials Are Giving Up On The American Dream:”

  • According to a New York Times report in 2015, the U.S. millennial population, those born between 1981 and 1997, will soon be the largest population sub-segment in the country, bypassing the Baby Boomer generation.
  • But this new super segment of population will be far worse off economically than the Baby Boomer segment since according to a report from the Generation Opportunity organization, “2016 State of the Millennial Report,” high unemployment and underemployment coupled with high student loans will make the American Dream a myth for many of them.
  • In fact, 48% of those surveyed currently claim that the American Dream is already dead for them.
  • The millennial unemployment rate of 8% is more than twice the unemployment rate for workers aged 30 and older which stands at 3.7%.
  • Already 1.8 million millennials have actually stopped looking for work out of frustration, putting their labor participation rate at 71%, lower than it has ever been for that age group.
  • From the report: “For the young adults who have been able to find work, 40 percent are underemployed, either working part-time jobs, contract jobs, or one-time gigs. While Millennials have a strong desire to start businesses, only 3.6 percent of Americans under the age of 30 own or have a stake in a private businesses compared to 10.6 percent in 1989.”
  • The number of Americans aged 18 to 29 who currently are earning less than $25,000 a year is higher than in the 1990s.
  • The student loan burden in the face of low wages and high unemployment averages about $35,000 per person.
  • In 1979, 8% of Baby Boomers were living in poverty while in 2013, years after the recession ended, the percentage of Millennials living in poverty was double that rate, 16%.
  • These horrid economic conditions are causing societal changes with marriage, home ownership, and raising kids being delayed and delayed.
According to the Generation opportunity report, the best thing that governments and politicians can do to improve the lot of Millennials would be to do is to cut down on regulations and red tape which stifle the economy and entrepreneurial opportunities: “Young people are losing faith in the American Dream,” said David Barnes, policy director of Generation Opportunity. “It’s time for real reforms that allow us to unleash our potential and create a better society for ourselves and future generations. In order for that to happen, we need to stand up and let policy makers know that this is unacceptable.”

For well over two hundred years, the American Dream was alive and well and thriving. But now incompetence, economic ignorance, over regulation (especially during the Obama regime), ever increasing taxes, crony capitalism, and general ineptness and selfishness on behalf of our current crop of politicians is somehow doing the impossible: killing the American Dream and the futures of America’s next generation. Insanity.

3) During the destruction of the American Dream for Millennials, Harry Reid was not only a senior member of the Senate but was the Senate Majority leader for a long time. Thus, if anyone can be blamed for the policies and incompetence of the Federal government and the politicians that operate it and its policies, he has to be close to the head of the class.

But you have to give Harry credit. Despite being part of the problem, according to one Federal Election Commission (FEC) commissioner, Reid has asked the FEC to allow him to use a “slush fund” to help him retire. According to Joe Schaeffer writing for NewsMax on January 4, 2016, Reid has asked the FEC to create a special exemption just for him that would allow him to spend $600,000 of unspent camping and PAC funds on personal matters after he retires from the Senate at the end of his current term.

According to the Washington Examiner, FEC Commissioner Lee E. Goodman labeled the funds an "administrative slush fund" as the extraordinary request was made. Reid wants to use the so-called slush fund "to close out his offices and aid his shift to becoming a former public official still intent on influencing the nation's agenda." He also wants money to hire a personal assistant to "schedule and organize appearances in which Senator Reid will discuss his tenure in office." I am assuming that he would be paid for those appearances.

FEC Commissioner Goodman told the Washington Examiner that "This issue of personal use vexes us." In other words, what the heck is this nonsense? I would bet that most, if not all, of the people who contributed to Reid’s political campaigns never expected the excess to be used in a slush fund to further enrich Reid once he left office. 

Thus, even in retirement, American politicians continue to suck money out of their government service. As always, their priorities are their well being and self enrichment and not the health and liberties of the American they are supposed to serve.

Enough insanity for today. A typical greedy politician, needy millennials, and a comprehensive list of Obama lies all in one place. Another insanity review 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