As I watch the chaos of the incoming Trump administration, several trends have stood out for me. The first is how it is possible that such corrupt and incompetent men and women have been elected as the representatives of the districts and states they are supposed to serve. What I think we are seeing is the manifestation of what the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United made legal. A rich person or a small group of rich people can now buy a seat in the House or Senate for someone who has committed to serve their interests instead of the interests of their community. No uber-rich person is going to buy a seat for someone who will serve with high ethics and only make those votes that will foster wellbeing for society as a whole.
We are also seeing the result of the Reagan administration’s restructuring of the American tax laws which resulted in the creation of the billionaire oligarchs who now basically own the U.S. economy and basically have no allegiance to any country since their wealth is internationally based.
As I watch the Trump appointments to create the administration he will have when he steps into office what really stands out for me is the blatant nepotism. His acts of granting an advantage, privilege, or position to relatives or friends. It is medieval. Trump is behaving like a monarch from the 1300s, who has a parliament terrified to oppose him. Nothing that is going on with Trump suggests that by March the United States will remain an actual functioning democracy. Oh, like Hungary and Russia, we may still go through the rituals but they will be increasingly meaningless. It
So what to do non-violently that will stop the death of the America we have known all our lives? As I have been saying over and over, these trends can only be reversed, by millions of Americans going into the street, and demonstrating to demand change that fosters wellbeing. I wrote a book The 8 Laws of Change on how to do this. It is entirely fact-based both historically and scientifically. If we are going to remain a democracy it is up to you and me to become activists in whatever way we can. Nothing else is going to save us.
Cassandra Stephenson, Staff Writer - Raw Story | Tennessee Lookout
Stephan:
I want to make a point today that most of the media either does not see, or won’t properly address. They do one-off stories like this one, but they don’t report on the trend I described in my editor’s comment.
Ken Yager takes field sobreity test for DUI Credit: WTVF / screen grab
Tennessee Sen. Kenneth Yager’s recent arrest while driving a campaign-funded car on a Georgia vacation sheds renewed light on the pitfalls of lawmakers’ not-uncommon practice of dipping into campaign finances to lease or purchase vehicles.
State law doesn’t prohibit this, but does require lawmakers to keep records of vehicle use and reimburse their campaign accounts for any mileage payments they receive from the state and any personal use of the vehicle.
The Tennessee Lookout’s review of campaign finance and state mileage reimbursement records for Yager found that since he began leasing a vehicle in 2017, he has simultaneously collected more than $20,000 in mileage from the state while using his campaign account to pay for gas, maintenance, insurance and other costs typically meant to be covered by mileage reimbursements.
Reached through a Tennessee Senate Republican Caucus spokesperson Friday, Yager said the state mileage reimbursements were an “oversight” paid to him despite him marking “no mileage” on his […]
Thankfully MAGAt Republican Kay Granger, the representative for Texas’s 12th Congressional District, will retire with the close of this Congress. But the question is how long has she suffered from dementia. As the article describes she has been in her office or even having someone answering the phone for six months. The question, as I said in my comment, is how did these people get elected and keep getting elected?
Rep. Kay Granger has served as the representative for Texas’s 12th Congressional District
A Republican Congresswoman who has been “missing” for the past six months has finally been found.
Rep. Kay Granger has served as the representative for Texas’s 12th Congressional District since 1997.
However, she suddenly disappeared from the public eye around July this year, when she cast her final vote against an amendment to reduce the salary of Deputy Assistant Administrator for Pesticide Programs to $1.
A curious reporter at the local Dallas Express newspaper did some digging on Granger’s whereabouts and has finally been able to give her constituents some answers.
The reporter, Carlos Turcios, began by contacting her offices, from which they went directly to voicemail.
“I am sorry we are unable to answer your phone right now,” Granger said. “We are really glad you called us.
“Please leave your name, phone number and a brief message and someone in our office will call you back as soon as possible.”
The reporter then went to her constituency office only to find absolutely no signs of life or activity.
Seemingly at a dead end, Turcios then received a […]
It isn’t just Republicans that are corrupt whores serving the interest of the rich who bought them their seats instead of the poor fools who voted them into office. Kyrsten Sinema is a notable example making this point. Here’s why I say this.
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., gets into an elevator outside the Senate at the U.S. Capitol Building. Credit: Drew Angerer / Getty
Outgoing independent MAGAt Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema has spent her final months in office missing votes, tanking a union-friendly National Labor Relations Board, and praising the obstructionist procedure known as the filibuster.
She has also violated campaign finance law by taking pricey trips to places like Rome and California wine country, according to a Wednesday complaint lodged by the nonprofit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
The group claims that since Sinema announced in March that she would not run for reelection, her campaign has spent over $100,000 on personal travel expenses. Those expenses do not appear to have any connection to campaign or official duties, making them illegal uses of her funds, CREW says. (Sinema’s office did not respond to a request for comment.)
“The law applies to you whether it’s your first week in office or your last.”
She has successfully fought off similar charges before by claiming that the expenses were related to fundraising, but that could be a tougher sell this time around given her departure from the Senate.
John Alexander lays out what is going on very accurately. He also makes a point that I think is critically important yet not properly discussed in media, and certainly not in social media. Donald Trump and his MAGAt Congressional zombies are in office because American voters put them there. It is the voters that created what is happening to the United States.
Credit: Adobe Stock
Donald Trump is an existential threat to America. While ayatollahs may portray the United States as “The Great Satan,” and verbally rant “death to America,” it is Trump who is the real existential threat to our physical existence. To be clear, by “existential” I mean the Webster definition of “having being in time and space.” At issue is the human habitability of the planet and the country.
During the 2024 election campaign, many media commentators stated that Trump was an existential threat to democracy and our chosen manner of governance. While I agree with that sentiment, what I am addressing here are his actions and utter failure in environmental stewardship. Trump’s failure will likely lead to the physical destruction of significant segments of the North American continent and also will impact the rest of the world.
This is not a prediction of a catastrophic nuclear war that might produce extensive damage, especially in heavily populated areas. I am also not precluding such an event either. Rather, I am addressing a far more insidious and devastating threat; ones of […]
