Showing posts with label wells fargo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wells fargo. Show all posts

Saturday, October 17, 2026

The Biden Administration's Disrespecting of American Freedom Principles and Illegal Immigrant Kids

 It is no secret that I feel that the Biden administration was one  of the worst Presidential administrations ever, surpassing the Jimmy Carter failed Presidency. The failures are many:


  • Overall  inflation  that hit 40 year highs at one point.

  • Overall  food inflation rose over 20% during his time in office.

  • Millions and millions of illegal immigrants flooded over the border into the country that resulted in tens of billions of  taxpayer dollars diverted from American citizens to provide free food, free  shelter, free medical  care, and other benefits to illegal immigrants.

  • Many  of those illegal  immigrants  went on to rape, beat, rob, and murder American citizens that were just going  about their ives.

  • He lost track of over 300,000 illegal immigrant kids that came over the border, many of which likely ended up in sweat shops, being  sex trafficked, or killed.

  • The open immigration borders allowed record amounts of illegal drugs from  Mexican drug cartels  to enter the country and poison  Americans.

  • His disastrous withdrawal  plan from Afghanistan resulted in  the unnecessary death of over a dozen of U.S. armed forces personnel and provided the Taliban with a massive amount of weaponry that Biden’s plan left behind.

  • He continued his history  of issuing racist statements with  this selection being just one  of them: "If you have a problem figuring out whether you're for me or Trump, then you ain't black."

  • He called tens millions of Americans “Garbage”  if they voted for Trump.


This is not an exhaustive list but you get the idea, he was a terrible President based on results and the fact that his significant cognitive decline left him likely incapable of making any decisions during a long stretch of his tenure. 


But new information is coming out  about how bad his administration was and  how human beings and our freedoms suffered:


1)Biden let so many illegal immigrants to cross into  this country that illegal immigrants kids suffered  for his inability to control the border:


  • So many illegal and unaccompanied immigrant kids came into the  country so fast that the  Biden  administration  struggled to  find  adequate and humane  shelter for them  according to  recently discovered emails.

  • A Department  of Health and Human Services  inspector general report  in June , 2022 found  that most emergency shelter sites  for unaccompanied illegal immigrant kids did not follow  Covid testing  requirements simply because there were too many kids  to handle.

  • The report shows that there were not enough  beds and structures  to handle the kids.

  • The Administration  for Children and Families (ACF) was the Federal agency desperately trying to  find adequate resources to handle the kids but was overwhelmed:  “At the height of the Biden administration border crisis, 22,000 [unaccompanied alien children] were in [the Office of Refugee Resettlement] care,” ACF’s Office of Communications said in a statement to the DCNF. “These children were then rapidly released to poorly vetted sponsors.”

  • As a result,  the Federal Office of  Refugee Resettlement has been able to locate over 150,000  lost illegal immigrant  kids that Biden released to sponsors and unfortunately, with many of those rescued being “found and rescued from trafficking situations and abuse.”


The incompetence is overwhelming amid  the suffering that thousands of  illegal immigrant kids  were subjected to and many of whom  are still being subjected to.


2)Obviously, a main tenet of freedom in this country is the ability to  safely express an opinion without fear of government  reprisal. Apparently, the  Biden  administration did not understand this basic  liberty:


  • We already know that Jack Smith within Biden’s Justice Department  spied  on Americans  and members  of Congress, illegally, without cause, and  without  judicial  permission, a blatant abuse of power.

  • Government  documents now show that Smith  did not just spy on sitting politicians  or leading conservative pundits and  advocates.

  • The Biden  Justice Department also  collected  American citizens’ personal information if you simply bought a  hat, a coffee mug,  or other memorabilia that had Trump’s signature motto,”Make American  Great Again” on it.

  • That’s right, your taxpayer dollars and government law enforcement resources were being  spent to track Americans who simply bought a hat with a non-aggressive, lawful stitching  on  it while drug cartel  and sex trafficking cartels were running amok at the border.

  • And  apparently this was not just a handful of Americans who had their name and personal information collected by Smith since according to RedState’s Teri Christoph, Smith’s spying and data collection  effort under the code name,  Arctic Frost,  “Hoovered up”  the personal informal  of well of over half a million Americans simply for supporting a legitimate and legal political  candidate.

  • According  to  Senate Oversight Committee  Chairman,  Chuck  Grassley:  “The documents also show that Jack Smith’s SCO and Biden’s Justice Department obtained information on sales of red MAGA hats, including individual buyers, their purchases and their shipping addresses for home delivery. This is in addition to collecting a catalogue of Trump campaign products including these red hats, t-shirts, mugs, and door mats. This further illustrates the extensive scope of irrelevant and personally invasive records obtained by Smith which were shared with FBI agents.”

  • Furthermore:  “Thru my oversight I’ve uncovered Jack Smith & the Biden DOJ targeted Americans for the simple act of buying a MAGA hat Jack Smith had an enemies list and at least 639,000 innocent Americans were on it INDEFENSIBLE.”


It is  hilarious and so hypocritical that  liberals and  Democrats were supportive of the “No Kings” protests and concept once Trump  got into office but stood idly by when  Biden and Jack Smith were  taking  tactics out of George Orwell’s “1984” playbook to undermine the basic American  right to  express an opinion….and  to buy a hat.


3)Speaking of attacking freedom:


  • According  to a recent report  from  the Federal Office of the Comptroller,  nine of the country's largest banks blocked financial services to conservatives, Republicans,  religious organizations, and law abiding companies because of their stated political beliefs or activities.

  • This blackballing ran from 2020 to 2025, the Biden  years.

  • The banks accused  of blackballing include JP Morgan, Bank Of America, Citibank, Wells Fargo, U.S. Bank Capital One, PNC,  TD Bank, and BMO Bank.

  • According to Comptroller Jonathan Gould: "Today's report provides irrefutable evidence that the nation's largest banks have denied, debanked and discriminated against customers and lawful businesses," 

  • The report  reviewed almost 100,000 complaints from those turned away from banking services along with 420,000 pages of bank documents.

  • Example: JP Morgan Chase  closed accounts that belonged to merchants selling  Trump  “Make America Great” merchandise, as reported by the NY  Post.

  • Built into the bank’s information  systems were lookouts for phrases  including “MAGA.” “Make  America Great,” and “American First.”

  • Example: PNC denied a line of credit to  a  media company associated with  conservative owners.

  • Example: Wells Fargo pressured a payment processor to drop a religious non-profit because of its position on same-sex marriage.

  • Wells Frago also denied loans for firearms businesses, fearing pressure from the  Biden administration.


So, Biden harassed Americans who had differing views, illegally and immorally spying on them, and advocated for denying financial services by pressing banks to discriminate against those they viewed as political opponents. Kind  of a “No Kings” type attitude and philosophy, don’t you think?


4)But Jack Smith was not  content spying  on thousands  of MAGA hat wearers  or  Republican members of  Congress:


  • He spied on Trump’s White House Chief of Staff, Susie Wiles.

  • He spied on Melania Trump, the President's wife.

  • He  spied on Barron Trump, the President's teenage  son.

  • Smith oversaw  the  tracking of their  traveling  and  cellphone usage.

  • None of those three posed any danger  to public  safety, criminal activity, or terrorism and yet Department of Justice and FBI resources were used to spy on them while real violent crime rampaged through many  U.S.cities  .

  • Government documents show that:  “Then-Attorney General Merrick Garland signed off on the [Wiles] wiretaps on the advice of then-FBI Director Christopher Wray, who sent Garland a memo in May 2022 warning the sensitive investigation could encompass top figures from the 45th president’s administration and ‘could potentially be disruptive to the democratic process if publicly disclosed prior to an election.’”


So, Biden’s people knew that their spying actions could be "disruptive  to the democratic process” and yet they went ahead with the spying anyway. One  would think that doing  something disruptive to  the  democratic process is another  way to  describe  treason. And yet, so far, no  one has been  put in jail for disrupting the democratic process.


5)One last Biden anti-democratic and  anti-American  action:


  • Mark  Zuckerberg  is  one of  the  founders  of  Facebook/Meta  and  its current  top  executive.

  • In a recent letter sent to a Congressional committee, he  claims he regrets bowing  to Biden  administration pressure to censor  Facebook content during the Covid years.

  • He claimed  the Biden  interference was "wrong" and he would not  allow the censorship  to happen  again:  “I believe the government pressure was wrong, and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it, I feel strongly that we should not compromise our content standards due to pressure from any Administration in either direction — and we’re ready to push back if something like this happens again.”


So it wasn't only banks, it wasn’t  only the President's son and wife, it was also  at least one social media  company that  Biden  pressured to suppress alternative views, individual  rights, freedom,  and  democracy.


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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



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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:

Tuesday, April 2, 2019

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Insanity, Part 7: Prioritizing Illegals Before Citizens, Exhibiting Her A.D.D. and More

Over the past few months, New York City Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has established herself as a human gaffe machine. Her inability to do simple math, her outlandish ideas based on an alternative reality, her economic ignorance, and lack of common sense has resulted in an almost daily stream of idiocy, inane comments, and ridiculous ideas that have no basis in reality.

As a result, most of our recent political class insanity posts have almost always had an Ocasio-Cortez piece of insanity. Thus, we have decided to separately track her craziness and idiotic takes on economics, business, government, and whatever else on a regular basis under its own set of posts. She deserves to have a separate effort that captures all of the ridiculousness she espouses.

The original format we were going to use was to start with a set of her original inane ideas and just continue to build on that initial list as time goes by. But after just three summaries of her idiocy and stupid ideas it has become obvious that we cannot continually add to the existing set of ineptness, that list would get too large too quickly.

Thus, each new Ocasio-Cortez post will have only the latest gaffes out of her mouth. To review her previous idiocies just enter her last name in the search box above. The latest post can be accessed at:

https://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2019/03/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-insanity-part_31.html


Let’s get started:

1) It is becoming more and more obvious to anyone who listens to Washington liberals these days that these politicians are more interested in helping illegal immigrants than taking care of needy Americans.These Democrats see illegal immigrants as future voters who are most likely to vote Democrat and advance their agenda at the cost of the needs and desires of legitimate American citizens.

No one illustrates this sick take on priorities than Ocasio-Cortez and she is not ashamed to blatantly state that illegal immigrants are more important to her than legal, real American citizens:

  • In a recent Congressional hearing in front of a House committee, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross was discussing the upcoming Census.
  • He and Trump want to have a question on the Census form that requires anyone filling out the form to state whether or not they are a legal American citizen.
  • Sounds logical, the Census is supposed to count the number of citizens living everywhere in the country, it is not supposed to count illegal immigrants as citizens and the responses of illegal immigrants should not be used to establish Congressional representation, a main function of the Census.
  • Of course, Ocasio-Cortez does not see it that way since she, as always, she cares more about illegal immigrants than her own legal citizens and the proper execution of the Constitution. 
  • Specifically, “Mr. [Senator] Kobach later emailed to you on July 14 writing that the lack of the citizenship question ‘leads to the problem that aliens who do not actually reside in the United States are still counted for congressional apportionment services. Of course they do reside in the United States. They reside in my district. They’re my constituents.”

So ignorant, so wrong. No Congresswoman, they are not your constituents. Your constituents are American citizens who were born here or who came here and followed the rules to become citizens. She needs to take a civics class to understand who are criminals, who can and cannot vote, and how the Constitution is structured to guarantee the rights and freedom of real citizens, not illegal and thus, criminal immigrants. 

2) Many times she seems to exhibit ADD symptoms, veering aimlessly from point to point or not being able to stay on topic. It is tough to say whether she has a focus problem or so wants to make another point, unrelated to the current discussion, that she jumps to another topic altogether, and most of the time totally misunderstanding either the topic at hand to the topic she jumps to.

Combining this lack of focus with her tendency to make up number and realities, is really comical and sad in that she is actually a member of Congress:

  • Former Wells Fargo CEO Tim Sloan was recently in front of Congress, trying to explain how his company,Wells Fargo,had screwed up so badly in any number of different areas regarding banking topics.
  • Certainly a legit topic for Congress to investigate given that Wells Fargo had gone wild in signing up its customers for services and products these customers did not want it did not know that Wells Fargo employees had enrolled them into without their knowledge.
  • But out of nowhere,on a totally unrelated topic, a topic that turned out to be a non-reality, Ocasio-Cortes accuses Sloan of financing companies that make cages to house illegal immigrant children: "Why was the bank involved in the caging of children and financing the caging of children to begin with?" Ocasio-Cortez asked, in a reference to Trump’s zero-tolerance immigration policy, which resulted in separations of adults suspected of criminal activity from the minors who accompanied them (even though Democrat Barack Obama had done the same thing).
  • She continued to ramble on this unrelated topic that was not on the committee's agenda: "You were financing, involved in debt financing in CoreCivic and GEO Group, correct?"
  • But she was wrong since in a public statement, CoreCivic said her assertions were dead wrong: "We don’t provide housing for any children who aren’t under the supervision of a parent," the spokesperson said. "We also don’t operate shelters for unaccompanied minors, nor do we operate border patrol facilities. Any assertions to the contrary are patently false and misinformed."
  • Geo Group was even more brutal in their rebuttal of her false claims: "This is a deliberate lie driven by an agenda aimed at abolishing ICE, knowing that we have nothing to do with passing, setting, or advocating for or against immigration laws or policies. Our company has never managed facilities that house unaccompanied minors, and we have played no role with policies related to the separation of families. In fact, our Karnes Family Residential Center allows for families to be cared for together and was established by the Obama Administration in 2014. The contractual services we provide for ICE today are no different than the services we provided for eight years under the Obama Administration.”
  • Sloan himself denied her accusations.
  • But not content to make a fool out of herself on the cage idiocy and falsehood, she went on to blame the bank for climate change saying the bank was "responsible for the damages incurred by climate change" because of its financing of fossil fuel companies, such as reinvestment costs.
It is really tough to take her seriously. She throws out statements that she claims are facts that are wrong. She cannot stay on topic, just going off topic to pontificate on other nonsense that she usually gets wrong. So sad that she actually votes on legislation, legislation that she probably doesn't understand or care to understand given her scatterbrained performance to the press and in Congressional hearings.

3) Following up on the ADD theory, sometimes she really needs to follow an old adage: “Better to remain silent and thought ignorant than to speak up and remove all doubt.” She would look so much smarter if she would just not talk. More importantly, not talk at the wrong time and saying the wrong thing.

Unfortunately, there was a recent mass shooting in New Zealand where many Muslims were killed by a deranged person while at their mosques:

  • It was a horrible, horrible incident that makes you shake your head. 
  • Many people expressed their sincere remorse and sent hopes and prayers to the families who lost loved ones and the survivors.
  • There is absolutely nothing wrong with providing emotional support to those in need at a difficult time in their lives, it is the decent, humane thing to do.
  • Unless you are Ocasio-Cortez who could not let it go and decided to interject her political views into this delicate situation in a gross and self serving way.
  • She tweeted out the following tweet while the hurt and anguish was still fresh:” At 1st I thought of saying, “Imagine being told your house of faith isn’t safe anymore. But I couldn’t say “imagine.” Because of Charleston. Pittsburgh. Sutherland Springs. What good are your thoughts & prayers when they don’t even keep the pews safe?”
  • Again, please shut up, if you have no human decency to keep your political aims quiet during this time than you do not deserve to hold any kind of leadership role.
  • While she thought giving thoughts, prayers and support to these folks was useless many others around the world disagreed with her:
  • Dana Loesch of the NRA: “Pretty sure thoughts and prayers isn’t anyone’s phrase, and prayer especially (which you mocked earlier after what happened in a house of prayer?) is a real action, a petition to, a conversation with, God — in this case, to request protection, comfort for those suffering.”
  • Tim Young: “If one of your first 1000 thoughts after a horrific mass shooting is to go dunk on a person, a religious belief or an organization on Twitter, you should delete your account.”
  • Queen Elizabeth issued a statement saying that her “thoughts and prayers are with all New Zealanders.”
  • The Pakistan prime minister said that “prayers go to the victims and their families.”
  • A senior Pakistan official, Saeb Erekat, offered his “prayers and tears” for those affected.
  • The foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates said his “thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims.”
So a lot of more important, smarter, and more worldly people knew to offer support to other humans when that is what is needed. Ocasio-Cortez is not nearly as important, not nearly as smart, and not nearly as compassionate as these folks. 

Again, Congresswoman, better to remain silent and thought ignorant than to speak up and remove doubt. Whether that is jumping into a mourning world, not understanding the simple definition of the unemployment rate, not knowing what the three branches of our government are, not understanding a simple Pentagon audit report, etc., etc just keep quiet.

Unfortunately she doesn't know how to remain silent and that provides fresh idiocy, insanity, and fodder for this theme in this blog. All of which reminds us how broken our election processes have become if this type of person actually gets to vote on Federal legislation.

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





Sunday, January 7, 2018

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






Thursday, March 2, 2017

March, 2017, Part 2, Political Class Insanity: A Corrupt Governor, A Busybody Mayor, and An Ignorant Mayor

It is the beginning of another month which means it is again time to review the latest political class insanity from Washington and around the world. Political class insanity takes many forms including the wasting of taxpayer wealth, criminal fraud within government programs, inane and stupid political quotes and actions, the inability to create and implement effective and efficient government programs, stupid and ill performing economic policies and strategies, and other forms of insanity that continue to evolve and surprise and shock us. 

Today and for all of the insanity posts this month, let’s start off with a welcome piece of honest political dialog. It comes from a State Department spokesperson. Mark Toner, who is about to start the daily State Department press briefing. In a joking matter, he makes the following quote: "Welcome to the State Department. I think we have some interns in the back. Welcome. Good to see you in this exercise in transparency and democracy." 

He then burst out laughing at his own quote, indicating he also knew what a joke the Obama administration has been, especially Mr. Toner’s State Department, when it comes to cover ups, lack of transparency, denial of Freedom of Information Act requests, the prosecution of whistleblowers, etc. But at least it was a little refreshing to finally hear some actual honesty out of Washington as we see from the actual clip of the news conference:

http://www.againstcronycapitalism.org/2016/08/when-even-the-state-department-spokesperson-cant-keep-a-straight-face-about-things-anymore-video/

With that context of honesty, let’s see what other insanity has been going down:

1) It is no secret that most politicians are ignorant idiots when it comes to economics. They have no common sense, do not learn from their past mistakes, and continually are surprised when their ill conceived economic plans and actions do not work out. Consider the latest insanity as documented by the Red State Watcher website:

  • Philadelphia mayor, Jim Kenney, was a big supporter of a soda tax that his city enacted for soda sales within the city limits.
  • As a result, rather than seeing a nice increase in city tax revenue, soda sales have dropped by 30-50% within two months after the city soda tax took effect.
  • Of course, rather than blaming himself for a stupid tax, he is blaming the soda industry, too ignorant to realize that consumers would simply just go outside of the city limits to purchase less expensive soda that was not as heavily taxed: "I didn't think it was possible for the soda industry to be any greedier. … They are so committed to stopping this tax from spreading to other cities, that they are not only passing the tax they should be paying onto their customer, they are actually willing to threaten working men and women's jobs rather than marginally reduce their seven figure bonuses."
  • But it is not just tax revenue that is affected since one of the city’s largest soda distributors says it will cut its workforce by 20% because of the revenue shortfall caused by the city soda tax.
  • An owner of six ShopRite stores in Philadelphia says he expects to shed 300 workers this spring.
  • The Shoprite owner has had to cut 6,000 employee hours since January and not only are his soda sales down but overall sales are also down as people buy what groceries they need elsewhere when they go elsewhere to purchase their soda.
  • “People are seeing sales decline larger than anything they’ve seen up to this point in the city,” said Alex Baloga, vice president of external relations at the Pennsylvania Food Merchants Association.
  • Bob Brockway, who is the chief operating officer of Canada Dry Delaware Valley, which distributes about 20 percent of the city’s soft drinks, said its sales were down 45% in Philadelphia and that the company will lay off 20% of its workforce the first week in March.
  • While the city expected to collect $7.6 million from the soda tax, early returns are showing a monthly tax stream that is likely around $2.3 million, one third the expected revenue, likely because people are not stupid even if politicians are.
  • As expected, soda distributors and retailers just outside of the city limits have seen their soda sales spike upward.
So let’s review: the tax is not coming close to hit its target collection rate, city soda sales have been driven to sources outside of the city, causing financial hardship on businesses that sell soda in the city, retailers are hurting not only because of decreased soda sales but also overall sales, and Philadelphia workers are losing their jobs as a result. Typical politician’s failed economic reasoning and program. Insane.

2) Based on recent comments by New York City mayor, Bill DeBlasio, it appears that all of New York City’s problems have been solved. The crime rate must have dropped substantially, the homeless problem has finally been resolved, New York City schools are doing a great job education the city’s kids, all of the infrastructure problems have been repaired, it must be great to live in such a city that has not issues or crises.

I say all this because, according to a recent article by Kerry Picket of the Daily Caller, DeBLasio had enough spare time on his hands to write a letter to Wells Fargo CEO Timothy Sloan, in which he said he wanted to “express my deep concern about your involvement, and the involvement of other banks, in financing the Dakota Access Pipeline,” noting his concern is partly based on being a Mayor of a “coastal city threatened by climate change.” In addition, De Blasio said the pipeline would violate “human and tribal rights of the Standing Rock Indian Reservation” and would have “negative environmental consequences” to the land and water of the area.

So that is why I assume that all of New York City’s problems have been solved since this politician has the time to worry about and take action relative to an issue probably about 1,500 miles away from his constituents on an issue that probably 99% of his citizens do not even know exists. Pathetic set of priorities and totally insane for an east coast mayor to take time out from his own city’s problems to stick his nose in a far away problem that he is probably pretty ignorant about to begin with.

3) Politicians’ insanity does not only include ignorance on a whole range of subjects but also encompasses plain old corruption. Consider a corruption article by Ethan Barton writing for the Daily Caller website:

  • Oregon Governor, Kate Brown and her husband, recently stayed at a hotel and casino which is okay, who cares what someone does on their time away from the job.
  • However, the problem is the Oregon taxpayers paid for their stay, the governor got a $5,000 donation for her political campaign, and later got eleven times as much of a campaign donation from that same hotel and casino when she came out in opposition to a competing casino.
  • According to Mr. Barton: “The Democratic governor visited the Seven Feathers Resort – a hotel and casino owned by the Cow Creek Band of the Umpqua Indian Tribe – for a “government to government summit,” Brown’s official calendar shows. The trip included a “private breakfast with tribal chairs” on Dec. 16, 2015, and she charged her $212 hotel stay to Oregon taxpayers, credit card statements show. The Cow Creek Band donated $5,000 to Brown’s campaign the same day, campaign data shows...Brown announced her opposition in April 2016 to the Coquille Indian Tribe’s efforts to open a new casino. One study predicted that the new Coquille venue would cause Seven Feathers’ revenue to drop 13.2 percent, while the Cow Creek Band estimated a nearly 50 percent decrease, the Mail Tribune reported.”
  • But the corruption does not end there since after Brown announced her opposition to the competitive casino, the Cow Creek Band donated an additional $55,000 to her election campaign.
  • The ironic thing about this whole sordid affair and the sale of favors for political gain is that Brown became governor after her predecessor had to quit the office of governor for his own corruption and influence peddling.
  • Government watchdog group, Open The Books, also smelled something rotten, according to their CEO Adam Andrzejewski: “At arms-length, all of the individual transactions might be completely legal, however, the patterns are troubling. The fact that Kate Brown and staff are not answering questions, exercising an option to remain silent, is further cause for investigation.”
  • But the corruption gets even better if you consider that Brown also received a campaign donation from the president of an Oregon company that has already received more than $1 billion in state government contracts with ten of those contracts worth $444 million up for renewal during the governor’s term AND over 200 state contractors have chipped in over $800,000 to Brown and Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum since 2012.
This is just one of many, many examples of the corruption that is eating away at the heart of our democracy. And this problem could be fixed very easily, as outlined in our book, “Love My Country, Loathe My Government,” with either one of two easy steps:

Step 1: only individuals should be allowed to contribute to election campaigns. Unions, corporations, businesses, PACS, Super PACS, and any other non-individual entity should not be able to contribute to election campaigns. When the Founders wrote the First Amendment and included freedom of speech, I am quite sure that they did not want that freedom to extend to Super PACs, that it would apply only to individual citizens.

Step 2 - if a company, union, business, or charity receives any kind of business or money from any government agency, then that company, business, union, or charity is not allowed to contribute to any politician’s election campaign.

If either of these steps and principles were reality, we would not have to worry and experience the corruption and graft that the Oregon governor is wallowing in now.

That will do it for today’s political class insanity: a corrupt governor in Oregon, a mayor that will not mind his own business in New York City, and another mayor who is zero common sense and zero basic economic knowledge. More insanity tomorrow.


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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w