ICE entraps & bilks foreign students 11-29-2019

29, November 2019                      ICE entraps & bilks foreign students


ICE, “International Criminal Enterprise”, is living up to its name. Investigative reporters revealed that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) lured international students, principally from India, to a fake US university bilking them out of millions of dollars and then deported them. It was a classic entrapment scheme condoned by the thoroughly disgraced Trump administration.  Predictably the morally challenged Republicans remained silent but drew sharp criticism from the left, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, who called the practice “cruel and appalling.” Matt Duss, foreign policy adviser for Bernie Sanders, called for ICE to be abolished. 


 Investigations by the Detroit Free-Press, uncovered a wicked scheme entrapping about 250 students, mostly from India, who have been arrested on immigration violations since the beginning of the year.


DHS had established the fake “University of Farmington” in 2015 and charged around $12,000 per year in tuition and fees. No physical classrooms existed and there was no teaching staff. 


The students enrolled in the fake university which allows foreigners to work and study in the US. What remains unknown is what happened to the millions of dollars received by ICE.

This harks back to Trump University which offered worthless diplomas to unsuspecting students - another bizarre scheme where the architect, President Trump, has never been held to account.

King Trump pardons war criminals 11-28-2019

28, November 2019                King Trump pardons war criminals

American democracy is rapidly sinking into tyrannical rule. A man who has never experienced the horrors of war, successfully evading the draft through his father’s intervention, now sees fit to usurp the US military code of justice and pardon convicted war criminals,1^st Lt. Clint Lorance and Mathew Goldteyn and the promotion of Edward Gallagher, the Navy SEAL who was convicted of stabbing a prisoner to death in a grotesque orgy and then  celebrating his death, laughing gleefully over his dead body. President Trump described the Seals as “good men” sending an unmistakable message that indiscriminate killing by US soldiers could continue with complete impunity.

What then is stopping the President ordering war crimes and then pardoning the perpetrators? What’s next, standing on 5^th avenue and shooting his perceived enemies and then pardoning himself? Wake up Republicans your leader has lost his sanity.

Nikki Haley 11/15/2019

15, November 2019                                 Nikki Haley

By vigorously defending President Trump as a “truthful person”, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, has  lost all credibility. She has abandoned her rich Sikh heritage in pursuit of financial and political goals.  The core beliefs in Sikhism is speaking truth to power and of even of greater importance, - “truthful living”. She has failed on both accounts.

President Trump is the antithesis of the basic tenets of Sikhism and Christianity. Mr. Trump’s transgressions are truly staggering.

The current count of his lies is in excess of 12,000. 

It’s puzzling why Ms. Haley, married with 2 children ignores the terrifying experience endured by 25 women, including several credible accusations of rape by Mr. Trump.

Perhaps, Ms. Haley is comfortable with her former boss depicting immigrants as “rapists and criminals’ or his racist comments referring to Haiti and African nations as 's-hole' countries.

Then again, it appears Ms. Haley has conveniently ignored or forgotten Mr. Trump’s lewd comments denigrating women and boasting about his sexual exploits targeting young girls on the “Access Hollywood” tape.



Determined to remain on Mr. Trump’s good graces, she refused to criticize Mr. Trump when he told four Democratic congresswomen, three of them born in the United States, to “go back” to their home countries!

In a further effort to pledge her fealty and devotion to Trump, Ms. Haley has betrayed her former colleagues in a crass effort to increase sales of her new memoir, “With All Due Respect”. She literally destroyed the reputation of real patriots, former secretary of state, Rex Tillerson and John Kelly  who had voiced concern  regarding Mr. Trump’s  “harebrained policies” which they deemed to be a major threat to the country.

Ms. Haley’s nonchalant response to the impeachment enquiry  -“do I think the president did something that warrants impeachment? No, because the aid flowed”.  This is akin to an assassin firing a loaded gun at his target but being declared innocent because the gun misfired.

US descending into a third world country 11-12-2019

 12, November 2019            US descending into a third world country

The staggering increase in concentrated wealth in the United States has had a massive corrosive effect on our democracy by concentrating political power in the hands of the wealthy.

 According to the Congressional Budget office, between 1975 and 2005 the inflation adjusted after tax income of middle income Americans rose only 2 percent compared to a whopping 400 percent for the wealthy 0.1 percenters!

The appalling “Citizens United” ruling by the Supreme Court equating money with free speech has allowed huge amounts of money to flow into Congressional coffers corrupting the democratic process. Political power is an aaphrodisiac that few can resist. Kudos to Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren for educating Americans on this stark reality of income inequality.

This dark money supports candidates who reflect the aspirations and ambitions of the donors.  This cycle will continue until the “have nots” “downstairs” Middle America rebel causing massive social unrest and possible violence. The trappings of wealth will allow plutocrats to ensure their offspring reap the same or enhanced benefits living in super-zip communities. Wealthy parents have been gaming the system donating large sums of money to prestigious colleges to ensure their children, lacking in academic skills, gain admission. “Shovel ready” infrastructure projects have been ignored in favor of tax cuts for the wealthy and funding perpetual wars creating enormous misery, nourishing our superpower obsession.

Republicans have moved in lock step with their disgusting, incoherent leader in mortal fear that he will turn his digital twitter howitzer and reduce them to whimpering puppies.

American is rapidly descending into a third world country.

Outright fraud dooms Trump Foundation 11/10/2019

10, November 2019                    Outright fraud dooms Trump Foundation

Another chapter has unfolded in the sordid Trump presidency saga.  

A New York judge ordered Trump to pay $2 million in damages following his admission that he embezzled money from his now-defunct foundation to ingratiate himself!

In the 2016 campaign he raised $2.8 million at a fund-raiser for veterans in Iowa but like a Houdini magician the “master deal maker“ diverted the funds to his own foundation.  He spent $10, 00 to fund his pet project, portraits of himself that are on full display in his hotels.  

Ignoring stringent IRS rules, the foundation was used as a piggy bank to pay bills and fund political activities. It’s strange that such outright fraud doesn’t carry a stiffer fine or sentence.

To add to his impeachment woes, the House also seems ready to accuse the President of gross misuse of Pentagon funds to fund his pet projects.

Under court mandated order, Trump’s three oldest children — Don Jr., Ivanka and Eric, all of whom were foundation officers — agreed to undergo ethical training to distinguish honesty from outright fraud. It seems the “apple never falls far from the tree.”

Gun violence 11/6/2019

6, November 2019                                   Gun violence

According to filmmaker, Michael Moore, 78 percent of Americans do not own guns yet the NRA and their financial backers continue to subvert the will of the people. What is perplexing is how the NRA, which is mired in financial fraud, continues to have a chokehold on lawmakers and continues to enjoy tax exempt status. After an 18-month investigation, the Senate Finance Committee concluded the NRA served as an asset for Russia in the run-up to the 2016 election. Its Russian assets included former Moscow official Alexander Torshin and Maria Butina who served sentences for conspiring to act as foreign agents to infiltrate the NRA and the National Prayer Breakfast. The Senate investigation also displays a damning level of executive-suite involvement.  It is common knowledge that President Trump has close ties with NRA CEO, Wayne LaPierre.  LaPierre offered his support to Trump as he battles impeachment in Ukrainegate. This sounds like another quid-pro-quo – keep the Senate investigation at bay in exchange for NRA financial support. The NRA has also extended its quid-pro-quo activities donating millions of dollars to silence Republican and Democratic lawmakers. Its profits are stained with the blood of tens of thousands of Americans including many children who had the misfortune of being born in the USA where profits triumph human life.

 

California Fires 11/4/2019

4, November 2019                               California Fires

California fires which have raged across much of California have exposed a deep divide between California’s wealthy population and those more vulnerable. Wealthy homeowners pay private firefighters up to $3,000 per day to protect their properties.

Many of these rich homeowners forced their domestic workers and gardeners to work unprotected ignoring fire evacuation orders.

Included in the more than 4,000 firefighters currently working across the state, there are at least 700 California prisoners. While salaried firefighters earn an average of $74,000 a year plus benefits, prisoners earn about a dollar an hour when fighting active fires. They are also forced to work in the most dangerous areas. This is a gross exploitation of the prison population.

After gaining invaluable experience as fire fighters these prisoners are denied the opportunity to work as firefighters after completing their sentences. This is an absolute travesty.