Today's Assignment

Remember your history.

Naomi Klein - Shock Doctrine

The Assholes In Charge

Wilbur Ross may be the swampiest of the Swamp Thangs.

Dan Alexander, Forbes:

It is difficult to imagine the possibility that a man like Ross, who Forbes estimates is worth some $700 million, might steal a few million from one of his business partners. Unless you have heard enough stories about Ross. Two former WL Ross colleagues remember the commerce secretary taking handfuls of Sweet’N Low packets from a nearby restaurant, so he didn’t have to go out and buy some for himself. One says workers at his house in the Hamptons used to call the office, claiming Ross had not paid them for their work. Another two people said Ross once pledged $1 million to a charity, then never paid. A commerce official called the tales “petty nonsense,” and added that Ross does not put sweetener in his coffee.

There are bigger allegations. Over several months, in speaking with 21 people who know Ross, Forbes uncovered a pattern: Many of those who worked directly with him claim that Ross wrongly siphoned or outright stole a few million here and a few million there, huge amounts for most but not necessarily for the commerce secretary. At least if you consider them individually. But all told, these allegations—which sparked lawsuits, reimbursements and an SEC fine—come to more than $120 million. If even half of the accusations are legitimate, the current United States secretary of commerce could rank among the biggest grifters in American history.

- and -

Those who’ve done business with Ross generally tell a consistent story, of a man obsessed with money and untethered to facts. “He’ll push the edge of truthfulness and use whatever power he has to grab assets,” says New York financier Asher Edelman. One of Ross’ former colleagues is more direct: “He’s a pathological liar.”

Wilbur Ross is on the Cult45 payroll because Wilbur Ross is a kindred spirit - crooked like a mountain road.

One more time - say it with me now: This is not an administration; this is a fucking robbery.

Today's GIF

You work for us. We own you. We own your thoughts; and every idea you've ever had belongs to this company.

Love Her Hate Her Whatever

Donna Brazile is well known for two things: losing elections, and standing in the wreckage yelling, "We was robbed!"

But she knows things. She had a front row seat last fall. The bit about the Russians (starting about 28:30) is very interesting and way fuckin' scary.



And never mind the fact that she takes a nice big dump on the Press Poodles for being lazy enough to buy into the Follow-The-Popular-Drift bullshit (thank you, Donna). Way too many of the big news outlets here in USAmerica Inc are operating on the Show Biz model, where the coverage is guided by what's trending on social media instead of what's real and/or important.

Flocks of Bots (many, if not most, of which are controlled the Russkies) are practically dictating what we do and where we go - and they're very useful for "winning" elections.

Automated Rapid Response on a hyper-industrialized level.

About The North Korea Thing

I think I'm gonna need a little more assurance that 45* isn't just trying to bull his way into a deal for something like: The Trump Jong Un Hotel in beautiful downtown Pyongyang.

He has to get the focus off the Russia thing, but if he can make a few bucks on it too - well that's even better.

Privatization Scam

Sec'y Reich explains:

The Trump administration is planning to privatize public assets such as airports, bridges, and highway rest stops. Here's why it's a scam: pic.twitter.com/Jn5DlYqnAF

— Robert Reich (@RBReich) May 25, 2017

The Big Heist

45* is all about the loopholes. And his approach is pretty simple: "I don't do anything your lawyers can't force my lawyers to try to talk me into doing."

He's spent his entire career (building whatever fortune he has) by reneging on his commitments and stiffing people for what he owes them.

Now he's in an office that's not very well constrained by law or regulation. The limits on the behavior of POTUS are mostly dependent on a tradition of self-restraint, which puts the emphasis on the honorability of the office holder.

It can't possibly come as news to find that "Honorability" is not the word likely to pop into anybody's mind when they hear the word "Trump".

Quinnipiac asked people what word first came to mind when they thought about Trump. https://t.co/ks0UauOs9O pic.twitter.com/HQ3bYWhD16

— Philip Bump (@pbump) May 10, 2017

And now we have even more evidence that nothing has changed with 45*.

The Atlantic:

Days before taking office, Donald Trump said his company would donate all profits from foreign governments to the U.S. Treasury, part of an effort to avoid even the appearance of a conflict with the Constitution’s emoluments clause.

Now, however, the Trump Organization is telling Congress that determining exactly how much of its profits come from foreign governments is simply more trouble than it’s worth.

One more time, kids - this is not governance, this is a fucking robbery.

Sonny Perdue

Sonny Perdue is our new Sec'y of Agriculture (by a vote of 87-11).

Follow the Wikipedia link and read the bio, because I'm not gonna spend much time here bitchin' about his "commitment to the American farmer", which is code for "take good care of ADM and Monsanto, and the little guys will be plenty grateful for the crumbs".

What I dislike most is that a guy born 70 years ago, and named George Ervin Perdue III - a full-sized adult grown-ass man - is still called Sonny.

That's what I really don't love about The South.

Here's the Washington Post piece on it.

Welcome Back, My Friends

...to the show that never ends.

The Nation:

The University of Chicago Stigler Center’s three-day conference asked: “Does America Have a Concentration Problem?” A sufficient response to this could be “go outside.” Virtually every major sector in our economy has been whittled down to a few major players. Two companies produce nearly all of America’s toothpaste. One, Luxottica, produces nearly all the sunglasses. There are four cable and Internet providers, who have divvied up the country and rarely compete. There are four major airlines. There are four major commercial banks. There are four major Internet platforms—Amazon, Facebook, Apple, and Google—controlling your information flow, your data, and your virtual life.

These markets are shrinking further, thanks to a continuing wave of mergers. Bayer is buying Monsanto to control a significant section of the agricultural seed market. AT&T and Time Warner’s combination would tie a content distributor to a content provider. The Walgreens–Rite Aid deal would narrow major chain pharmacies down to two (three if you’re generous and include Walmart). Platform monopolies like Google are buying a firm a week; it’s become a large part of their research-and-development strategy to acquire ideas and market share simultaneously.

And the slide backwards to the 18th century continues.

BTW: Try not to think too hard about the striking similarities between what's happening here right now and what started to happen a few years after the USSR fell apart - in about 1991-92, when Poppy Bush sent his old pal Bob Strauss to teach the Russkies how to retool their economy according to Freddy and Milty's Unfettered Free Market Capitalism.

This mess didn't get all fucked up yesterday and it won't get unfucked by tomorrow.

hat tip = J Gorman

What's Wrong Here?

Steven Rosenfeld interviewing David Cay Johnston over at AlterNet:

“Imagine that you are a mortgage lender. Are you going to lend people money for 30 years if they don’t have the security of employment?” Johnston said, offering an example of how the successful push by the technology sector to undermine and overturn the labor laws created during the New Deal are tilting too far toward piecemeal purveyors and will create new instability.

“People are working without salary, benefits, and the stability to buy a house and raise a family,” he said, saying that the blame can be placed at the foot of high-tech lobbyists who have donated to congressional campaigns and federal officeholders who subsequently loosened federal laws to their benefit.

Meanwhile, according to Pew’s New Digital Economy report, 61 percent of Americans have never heard of “crowdfunding,” 73 percent are not familiar with the “sharing economy,” and 89 percent have never heard of the “gig economy.”

The big picture painted by Johnston, who is a registered Republican but schooled in the belief that business prospers when wages and benefits are reliable and income is spent locally, was the fundamentals of middle-class stability are being further eroded by a new technology-based oligarchy. Despite all the hip apps and marketing, gig economy profits are only going to executives while the jobs offered are intrinsically unstable, fiscally unpredictable and most of the risk and expense are placed on contract workers.

 But not to worry, Oligarchs - the great American Intellect Deficit is forever on your side:

Meanwhile, according to Pew’s New Digital Economy report, 61 percent of Americans have never heard of “crowdfunding,” 73 percent are not familiar with the “sharing economy,” and 89 percent have never heard of the “gig economy.”

 

Another Nail In The Coffin

Former Virginia Governor Robert (Vaginal Bob) McDonnell will stay out of federal prison for a bit longer.

HuffPo:

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed to take up the case of former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R), who in October urged the justices to review his multiple convictions on federal corruption charges.

The justices' decision to hear the case effectively allows McDonnell to remain out of prison at least until the court issues a decision -- which could arrive as late as June.

McDonnell's lawyers are trying to convince the court that the kind of "official action" federal law treats as corruption -- and that a jury agreed McDonnell committed while governor -- was no more than "routine political courtesies," including activities such as "arranging meetings, asking questions, and attending events."

"This is the first time in our history that a public official has been convicted of corruption despite never agreeing to put a thumb on the scales of any government decision," McDonnell's lawyers wrote in their appeal to the Supreme Court. "Officials routinely arrange meetings for donors, take their calls, and politely listen to their ideas."

I think we need to be ready for the Roberts Court to use this case to strengthen the link between Money and Speech.  It seems like these guys need to establish precedents that reinforce the system of Legalized Bribery that's been evolving from what continues to look more and more like our failed experiment in self-government.

Cross Pollination

Generally, but not necessarily a good thing. There's more of this, of course, and it doesn't get any better.

Today's Corporate Monster

...eating companies and shitting people.



Do the petition thing at FreePress.net

...and then Call your Congress Critter