US Air Force flew one of its intelligence workers’ wives out of the UK after she committed vehicular homicide, then claimed diplomatic immunity. The British press reports that her whereabouts in the US are being concealed from journalists and investigators. The US media is conspiring to keep all personal details being made public. Freedom the the Press does not protect your freedom to know. 53375
Tag: Corruption
Junior Netanyahu’s strip club banter exposes father’s graft -TRANSCRIPT
Three twentysomething douches sit in an armored limo parked in front on a strip club. They're arguing about who paid for whose prostitutes. Benjamin Netanyahu's son wants the son of gas tycoon Kobi Maimon to spot him $115 because his father the prime minister just directed $20B his way. Someone recorded the conversation. The third douche, a playfriend hired by Australian billionaire James Packer to lobby Netanyahu's son, says "God help us if this gets out!" So they threaten to kill both the bodyguard and the driver. The driver who taped the conversation is being accused of indiscretion, not self defense. Check out the transcript below. Annotated. 52214
Saudi ruler of impoverished tribal lands won’t share oil riches with own cousins
Saudi Arabia is a land of abject poverty, dominated by whichever tribal warlord claimed to hold the deed when the British started tapping it for oil. While the common inhabitants are subjugated under crushing poverty, fundamentalist Islam, and repressive injustice punctuated with beheadings, Saudi "royals" require gold plated escalators to descend from their jet planes. Now the "crown prince", dubbed MbS, is consolidating power by arresting his fellow royal billionaires, accusing them of corruption. Isn't that rich? Corruption defines feudal kleptocracy. As supplies of oil near their end, the robber barons get ever greedy about the last drop. Did you wonder why the Al Saud windfall wasn't shared with the poor? Now they want to cut out their own relatives. No honor among thieves. Thereby settling the oxymoron of Saudi nobility.
FBI says Hillary Clinton was “careless” with classified secrets, not treasonous for evading public record.
Pundits are decrying the unfair scrutiny on the presumptive successor-in-chief, pointing out that Condoleeza Rice and Colin Powell were never called out for using private servers. Other miscreants too, who should have been hauled before the justice department, tarred and feathered and pilloried. Carl Rove and Dubya Bush purged email records. Are they the new role models for what behavior is acceptable?! And all that is missing the point. Hillary's use of a private server for state department emails was more than a security breach, it was an avoidance of keeping a public record. It was evasion of accountability. It was treasonable. Richard Nixon was in touble for erasing 18 minutes of taped conversation in the White House. Hillary has deleted millions of records in flagrant violation of rules of transparency meant to check government corruption. Fortunately Wikileaks snagged a bunch of them, and presumedly the NSA has archived them all, with the entirety of everyone's public and private record. Funny no one is reopening that can of worms.
Hastert being a pedophile is not the story! Where did a former wrestling coach get millions to bribe his victims?!
If Dennis Hastert was being treated like a convicted serial pedophile, he'd never see the light of day, you'd think. Instead the judge was asked to take into account his years of public service. Which is almost not missing the point of the whole scandal. Dennis Hastert being a pedophile pales next to the number of victims of his white collar crime. Paying hush money to the former victims of his predatory sexual abuse was the petty crime for which he was sentenced to 15-months in prison. Hastert's biggest crime was his corruption as the longest serving Speaker Of The House. Dennis Hastert was a high school wrestling coach before running for office and becoming a multimillionare land speculator. Could Hastert's record stint in Congress mean he didn't break records for stealing from his constituents and their interests? It's obvious where Hastert got the millions in cash with which to pay off his many underage victims. THAT'S the crime for which Dennis Hastert isn't serving enough time. BY ALL MEANS, DO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT HIS PUBLIC SERVICE. Award his millions to his abused victims, put Dennis Hastert in jail forever, then, for betraying the public trust, hang him. 46520
Panama Papers expose only foes of US. Source unknown. Smells like Ickyleaks.
Out of nowhere come the "Panama Papers" leaked from a lawfirm that assists money launderers and offshore investors of embezzled wealth. It's great to see international corruption exposed. Apparently it's rife only among world leaders adversarial to Washington DC. For example, Russia, Iran, Syria, etc, no usual suspect left ungathered. Aaaand.. the Prime Minister of Iceland is implicated! A new villain! This has prompted demonstrations in the tiny nation and bank-bailout holdout. Iceland is global banking's public enemy number one. What do you bet those protests are backed by the same "pro-democracy" NGOs that fomented state-failure in Libya, Syria and Ukraine? There's something fishy about leaked documents that taint only enemies of the New World Order. 46138
The History of the Denver Police Department
Before the Denver Police Department began murdering the men, women and children of Denver, they were burglarizing Denver homes and businesses. In 1960, the largest police corruption scandal in the U.S. to date began to unfold. More than 50 area law-enforcement personnel - almost entirely Denver Police Officers were caught in a burglary ring. Cops had stolen over a quarter of a million dollars from businesses they were supposed to be protecting on their beats over a ten-year period. Police cars would close down a few blocks of a major business avenue, such as University or Broadway, then burglarized and stole the safes from the businesses along the closed down portion of the street. Alarms would be going off all up and down the street, they would take their loot, then respond to the alarms and take the reports. It all came to a crashing halt when an officer named Art Winstanley literally had a safe fall out of the back of his police cruiser. He testified against his fellow officers and then by the end of 1961, 47 police officers had lost their badges. The DPD called it "Back Friday". 44332
Media calls Hastert clean-as-a-whistle as he is indicted for “prior misconduct” but where did he get millions to pay?
Former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert's biggest crime isn't whatever he's paying hush money to cover up, it's this: Where did the former high school teacher and wrestling coach get a discretionary fund of millions to pay off a blackmailer? While reporters try to dig up Hastert's accuser, we should follow the money backward. WHERE DID SPEAKER HASTERT GET THE MONEY?! Or do we take for granted that all congressmen slash lobbyists are multi-millionaires who can spare several million for bribes of their own? It's interesting that the media wants to indemnify Hastert's "clean as a whistle" career from what they're labeling "prior misconduct". But that "clean as a whistle" firewall comes from Hastert having presided over the impeachment of Bill Clinton. So he's a choirboy along the likes of Ken Starr. Otherwise Hastert's long reign in the house was the usual shady. Details listed on the recent indictment indicate Hastert was being blackmailed for sexual misbehavior in the Duggar family tradition, not uncommon to born-again congressmen of Hastert's hue.
I’ll believe corporations are people when one is not let off a criminal probe
I'll believe corporations are people when one is declined the chance to pay a fine instead of face criminal penalties. Imagine OJ Inc or Pistorius Inc or Bernie Madoff being able to pay off US marshalls instead of going to jail. Next question, who is the beneficiary Toyota's $1.2 Billion payoff?
Will Colo. Springs raise energy bills by 3% to give 50% raise to utilities CEO?
COLORADO SPRINGS residents are left to wonder what kind of leverage the public utilities CEO holds over his board of directors. City Council wants to raise Jerry Forte's salary to half a million in spite of the coal-black hole in which he put the city's energy portfolio. They won't consider investing in renewables lest it bump utility rates by 1%, put they will raise the rates by 3% to resolve a payables problem, austensibly, (They want to act quick while higher winter usage means the rate hike will yield more) and I guess for the CEO's raise.
The Obama Administration- how coach plebeian they do travel! …NOT.
One of the most sadly comical aspects of the Obama Administration and the rather dense liberal types that put their hopes for future change in them, is how it is pretended that The Obamas are of, AND FOR, the people. And many brainwashed Americans even believe that!!!????? However, if so, why does this Administration's bosses spend so much money like this when they just travel a night or two? Joe Biden's Paris Hotel Cost $585,000 For One-Night Vice Presidential Stay 38697
Police are pretty much thugs here, there, and everywhere
Mexico's and the USA's prison system is run by thugs! Capitalism has long created and enforced a thug-like prison system. I have recently been told the experience of someone in this system and which thousands of people do too. I am also reading The Trial by Franz Kafka and I was reminded of this experience. As I listened to this person in tears both of relief because he got out, but also because of complete fear for what happened to those not as lucky as him, I felt sorry for him because even if he was not put back in jail, he won't be able to become anything else because of capitalism's structure. And so here is his story and I hope that this will not be the fate of him, and that someday Mexico's thug-jails will be gone as will the criminality produced by poverty in an alienating system like Capitalism. 38492
Kellogg Brown and Root is unnamed Iraq War Contractor penalized $85M for poisoning US soldiers
Apparently Kellogg Brown and Root's identity doesn't merit mention in the current headline Iraq War Contractor ordered to pay $85 Million, even though the former Halliburton subsidiary, cut loose when earlier unsavory behavior became public, is not new to unflattering headlines, is already a household name as KBR, the largest construction contractor famous for tax-evasion, human trafficking, gang-rapes and toxic burn pits, etc.
When ‘health care’ is pure corporate corruption – Afghanistan as case study
Much of US health care is really a form of corporate corruption and government welfare for corporate interests, and plain medical dysfunction. So it is certainly to be expected that Pentagon-occupied Afghanistan would face the very same MESS us Americans do, just on a more gargantuan basis. See Government cannot afford to run any of the 19 new foreign-funded facilities due to come online in the next two years. Americans, as well as Afghans, deserve to have a medical system free of constant corporate corruption pushed by corporate-run government.
Springs Mayor Steve Bach’s downtown plans centered on real estate speculation and corruption
As I was listening this AM to Right Wing talk radio on 105.5 today, they had Colorado Springs mayor telling us in an interview that it was no secret that he wants a baseball stadium to be built downtown which he claims will somehow revitalize the center of the city. That's as doubtful a claim as his idiotic boast that he personally will direct the city into 'creating' 6,000 new jobs during his term, which could only come about with a US economic recovery he banks on seeing happen though he would have no responsibility in bringing any such possible thing about. 37047
University of Colorado lease does not guarantee Memorial Hospital will continue to admit Medicare patients
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.-- Local voters have until next week to decide whether to accept the offer to lease the city's Memorial Hospital to a University of Colorado non-profit entity, but there is no guarantee that the community health needs will continue to be met, in particular, that Memorial will continue to accept Medicare. Indications are not encouraging. At a symposium held tonight by 9 to 5 Colorado addressing privatization of public services, it was revealed that Memorial provides more care to indigents than any other hospital in the state. At the same time, the Denver hospital run by the University of Colorado currently ranks last there for indigent care. Apparently teaching hospitals prefer teachable cases, and excuse themselves from the cases that create billing difficulties because "it's not their mission." Alas, the prestige of becoming a teaching hospital is how politicians are selling the Memorial deal, now obviously dubious. And ordinarily the privatization of medical facilities in Colorado is regulated by what's called a "conversion statute" except --it protects the public interest only in cases of hospitals sold, not leased! While a 40-year "lease" sounds less commital, it actually circumvents Colorado's protections. Now let's consider the implementation of President Obama's
WWII vet, age 92, finally diagnosed with PTSD why, because we care?
Sgt. Stanley Friedman, a 92 yr-old veteran of the WWII North African campaign, was finally diagnosed with PTSD. Pro bono lawyers couldn't even verify his service records, but after sixty years of denying his claims, the VA has at last been forced to grant Friedman compensation. Is this really the result of crafty legal work, at long last, or of a PR climate now overrun by Big Pharma, whose PTSD drug market windfall needed a poster boy for the baby boomer set, the type of veteran Americans favor over those from less "good" wars?
Now, here’s a surprise…
Our local District Attorney has declared the case closed that the Real Estate industry who own City Hall and the Mayor and the County Commissioners might be using the legislative and enforcement powers of City Hall and their appointed servants in the Police and Courts to rig deals that profit... The Real Estate Cartel. Couldn't possibly be that Rich People would use their wealth to buy political power and use that power to route Public Money into their already swollen bank accounts. No, they're above that sort of behavior. Or so we're told, this time by their bought-and-paid (through stolen public money, perhaps?) District Attorney. Because wealth and the attendant Greed would never invite them into corrupt practices. No not never!
Do we need to speak truth to power? The powerful already know the truth. They bank on it.
So that much hasn't been made clear to you with Occupy Wall Street? Common citizens are coming together across the globe, without need to apprise each other about Capitalism's ravages. Does anyone still doubt these crimes are fully premeditated? SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER may still be a laudable dare, but let's not pretend it's revelatory. Today netizens are being asked to petition congress to stand down its attack on Net Neutrality, because apparently the public's freedom on the web might be something lawmakers are overlooking. Playing this speak-truth-to-power charade simply renders the public complicit in perpetuating untruth, that the actions of our corporate government, media and capital class are not absolutely, mendaciously callous and deliberate.
Colorado Springs corruption detectives sniff desperation of lottery ticket clerks
You'd think Colorado Springs' many kleptocrats, considering our locale's famously embarrassing lower than average IQ, must be stupid enough to get caught. Other than the odd treasurer with a gambling habit, law enforcement is not going after them. Instead, according to an article in today's Gazette, local detectives are policing convenience store clerks, exposing the corruption of workers who have to tender anything over a five into a time-lock safe. A Colorado Lotto sting operation busted two out of twenty clerks surveyed this weekend who pretended their customers had losing tickets, and who later tried to redeem the tickets for themselves. One of the corrupted employees worked at the west side Farmcrest, now she's on the lam, so I have a personal interest in calling the sweep an entrapment. 27140
Springs congressman Doug Lamborn tells citizens he answers to private propertied constituents not to public
COLORADO SPRINGS- Local citizens have had plenty to protest with Congressman Doug "Obama is a Tar-Baby" Lamborn, so now the Tea Party bigot has put up a sign, NO PROTESTING. Lamborn declined to meet with community leaders from the NAACP on Monday, or Move-On organizers on Wednesday. Are you in Colorado Congressional District Five? Well, you may neither SOLICIT a meeting with your government representative, nor LOITER hoping to wait him out. Politicians like Lamborn who want to shove undemocratic corrupt legislation down people's throats, and spout deeply offensive racist rhetoric out of sheer stupidity, have to hide where constituents can't reach them. 26325
Koch Brother Philanthropissers
David Koch, whose timber companies steadily destroy the Earth (on public land, taken by force using a public-funded Army, slaughtering anybody who forcibly objected)... (including American babies) 26046
$5 chance to win dinner with Obama could be available for price it’s worth
Democratic fundraisers are hawking the chance to win a dinner with President Obama for the donation of $5 or more to the 2012 election campaign. Rather than sit across the table from the smug insincere technocrat, can I opt for the immediate cash value of the prize? Were I a corporation, that value would be precisely calculable, but as an ordinary citizen, we all know the real value is, excuse the pun, O. In which case I'd hope they offer a better investment option, that entries be permitted with no purchase necessary, as required by law for any other sweepstake scheme.
Given the recent city council and Chamber of Commerce funding
And endorsement... How, for instance, does Steve Bach afford signs plastered all over town the very minute he announces his candidacy? Princess Lisa Czeladtko, Jim Leigh? Supposedly non-politicians, right? "Business" men and women, right? Seems mighty coincidental. Also that they're part of a so-called "isolationist" political party, or "strict nationalist" and whatever other bullshit way they want to describe their Überpatriotisch mask? But wait, sez ye, what would the Chambers of Commerce have to do with, say, foreign governments including the (GASP!) British Crown financing the Republican and Tea Party candidates, especially since the Tea Party claim to be Revolutionaries, eh? Celebrating the casting off of the Throne and the Crown Governors? OH... THOSE "grass roots" Corporate Astroturf "patriots". There's what, Emirates chipping in bread to the Campaign Slush Funds of the ones who manipulate the Racist Freaks? The anti-Muslim racists who think that Turkey is about to take over the world? Or Iran, or China, or Russia, or Mexican Migrant Workers or whoever their so-called preachers tell them the New AntiChrist is this week? Hmmmmm... All those bright shiny professional looking signs, hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on campaigns for political offices which pay less than that for the entire term? Like
al Maliki says he’s quitting in ’14
Smelling death in the air I suppose. He said that one of the symptoms of lack of democracy is when the leader stays in power for thirty years. And I have to add, another symptom is if that government is propped up by the jack-booted Stormtroopers of a foreign Dictatorship.. He also made a grand gesture of giving half his salary back to "the people"... Just not, you know, redistributing any of that Blood Money that Halliburton pays him to launder the rest of the money they've stolen from Iraq and from the U.S.