June, 2020, Part 1, Political Class Insanity: Cuomo Tries To Hide His Fatal Mistake, NBC Tries to Hide Real News, and Congress Continues to Make Itself Ricer and Richer

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.

1) We have previously covered the horrific decision that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo made when he forced New York nursing homes to take in patients that were high risk or already had the coronavirus without any option to not take those folks into a nursing home. Specifically, according to a state government website: “No resident shall be denied readmission or admission to the NH [nursing home] solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19. NHs [Nursing homes] are prohibited from requiring a hospitalized resident who is determined medically stable to be tested for COVID-19 prior to admission or readmission.”

This likely led to unnecessary deaths of many elderly citizens in New York nursing homes which now number in the thousands. The virus is especially dangerous to older folks and to put others near them in a confined space in a nursing home was not a good idea.

What gets sneaky about the whole affair is that this Cuomo order mysteriously disappeared from the state government's health department website. If you click on the link you get a message saying the request was “not found” as if it never existed. A new order stated that nursing homes were no longer required to take in folks unless they definitely had tested negative for the virus. This is the order that Cuomo should have put forth two months ago before he endangered unheard numbers of elderly citizens.

One of the prime purposes of government is to protect citizens. Cuomo failed in executing that purpose.

2) As many people know, Minnesota African-American resident George Floyd was murdered by a Minneapolis policeman. This gruesome act has resulted in protests not only in that city but in cities across the country. Unfortunately, peaceful protests have been intertwined with violent rioters who attacked police forces, looted stores, beat up innocent bystanders, and burned buildings to the ground.

The definition of a riot can be put forth as the following: a violent disturbance of the peace by a crowd. Arson, police attacks, looting and assault probably would qualify as a “violent disturbance of the peace” by most sane people. 

But in another example where the mass media refuses to report the truth, NBC news has told its reporters to not use the word “riot” in their reporting. According to the Daily Caller reporting: “NBC is prohibiting reporters from using the word “riot” in its coverage of violent outbursts in Minnesota that have occurred in response to the killing of George Floyd.“While the situation on the ground in Minneapolis is fluid, and there has been violence, it is most accurate at this time to describe what is happening there as ‘protests’–not riots,” NBC host Craig Melvin wrote on Twitter Thursday.”

If arson, attacking police, looting, and beating up bystanders is not a riot I would hate to be near what NBC actually considers a riot. Another example where the mass media tailors the news to a certain bias, not to the reality and truth of the situation.

3) While the world and nation have been concerned about the riots and protests across the country and the coronavirus, Congress continues to take such good care of themselves. According to a recent Forbes article by Adam Andrzejewski their self enrichment is so, so out of control. Consider:

• Each member of Congress earns $174,000 a year, more than three times the average household income in the country.
• While outside income is restricted while someone is a member of Congress to avoid conflict of interest situations, there are some large loopholes in that rule. 
• Over a 13 year period. Congressman Jim Cooper of Tennessee was paid $250,000 in salary from 2005 to 2018 by Vanderbilt University, for who knows what function. 
• In just a four year period, 2014 to 2018, the university received $2.6 million in Federal Government contracts, grants and direct payments.
• Just so happens in that same timeframe the good Congressman was receiving $135,261 from Vanderbilt’s employees and executives for his election campaigns.
• Oh, by the way, the Congressman is a member of the House Budget Committee.
• Nice circular process: the Congressman is in a position to direct Federal taxpayer money to a university in his district while that university becomes a source of funds for his reelection.
• Congress has voted its members a pension in addition to Social Security for their retirement.
• What makes it especially lucrative, beyond the fact that most of the country’s citizens do not get any pension, is that the Congressional pension vests after only a paltry five years and a Congressperson can receive a pension as early as 50 years old with full benefits at age 62, conditions that regular Americans can only dream of.
• The rest of us, even if we get a pension, do not vest only after a mere 5 years and certainly cannot draw on that pension at age 50.
• Those in Congress also passed laws that shield the public from finding out how much each member of Congress will get in their pension.
• Despite scandals of all types, financial, corruption, and seuxal, no House member has ever been stripped of their pension even though it is lawful to do so.
• The workmen's compensation rules for Congress are so ridiculous that Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. got approval for $138,400 in disability compensation to himself from his claim that being in Congress made him depressed.
• He received this insane amount of money even though he was convicted of illegally using $750,000 in campaign funds for vacations, celebrity memorabilia, and other items.
• Since 2005, members of Congress and their staff members have taken 16,367 international trips or about three trips every week for 15 years.
• The top destinations were Israel, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and the United Arab Emirates even though none of their constituents live in any of those countries.In 2019 alone, members of Congress spent $4.3 million on overseas travel with Congressman Ed Perlmutter spending $23,000 on a one week trip to Australia, Congressman Frank Pallone spending $75,000 on an eleven day trip to Italy, Morocco and France, and Congressman Richard Hudson spent $14,357 in transportation costs to Germany, Niger, Nigeria, Mali, and France on a one week trip, again, even though none of their constituents live in any of those countries.
• But Congressional staff members also flew all over the world at taxpayer expense such as three Appropriations Committee staffers flew to Mozambique and Malawi on a seven day trip at an airfare/transportation cost of $54,600, or $18,177 per person and five Armed Service Committee staffers flew to Japan and Australia on a five day trip at an airfare/transportation cost of $103,493, or $20,698 per person. 
• Congressional license plates allow Congressional people to park anywhere they want, even in illegal parking zones.
• They get 72% of their health insurance paid for.
• They can access an on-site Capitol Hill gym for a mere $25 a month, a gym that has a pool, sauna, steam room and paddleball courts.
• Taxpayers spent $10 million over the past five years for elevator doormen who push the button on Congressional elevators and hold doors open for member of Congress.
• Congress also protects itself from such nuisances/Federal laws such as the Freedom of Information Act, safety and health investigatory subpoenas, protections against retaliation for whistleblowers, etc. 
• They funded themselves a slush fund to pay off people who have actual grievances, usually of the sexual assault variety, that is private and not accessible to the public.
• Since 1997, this slush fund has paid out $17.6 million involving 275 cases at an average settlement payout of $63,973. In 2018, ten cases were settled for a total payout of $338,816. 

Thus, is there any surprise that Gallup polling shows that approval rates for members of Congress usually hangs around the 20-30% level, which means that 70-80% of the American public do not approve of the job Congress is doing. Many, many (hundreds) of members of Congress are millionaires, and many of them are big time millionaires, they can easily afford their own health care, their own gym membership, and easily could forego their salaries, elevator button pushers, and pensions, freeing up money for better uses of real Americans rather than pompous, mostly useless members of Congress.

While the country struggles Congress gets rich and pampered, NBC denies reality to serve a prearranged story line of fake news, and Cuomo tries to hide the fatal virus edict from March. Hiding, faking, and getting rich, sounds about right for the American political class.

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:

https://www.amazon.com/Walter-Bruno-Korschek/e/B002KYU08Q/ref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share

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