Big Bucks

It seems that virtually every entrenched politician is a multi-millionaire ... even if they had entered office a pauper. How do these often slow-witted people pull their enrichments off? Let me count the ways:

- Gifts and gifts-in-kind from lobbyists
- Book deals
- Kickbacks from overpaid staffers (illegal)
- Exorbitant speaking fees and go-alongs
- Syphoning money from campaign funds
- Insider stock and commodity trading
- Plush no-show jobs for spouses and relatives
- TV appearance fees
- Sweetheart real estate deals
- Fake foundations
- Fat salaries and pensions
- Pork from pork-barrel legislation
- Bribes (illegal)
- Padded expense accounts
- Free medical expenses and other allowances
- "Friendly" bank loans and loan forgiveness

It would seem that new forms of this political grease are constantly being invented. Chasing these ephemera is a frustrating and no-win exercise. The easier these money scams become, the more attractive politics becomes for low-life's. The only possible solution might be to force full annual public disclosure by politicians as to the sources of their net worth increases?

Awan to be Alone

OK ... let's take some bank fraud, money laundering, possible blackmail of Congressmen, likely kickbacks, a suspicious bankruptcy, e-mail hacking, espionage, stealing, double billing, aiding and abetting of terrorism, etc., etc. ... mix it all together with a high-level cover up ... sounds like a pretty juicy [Democrat] scandal,for our MSM right? Nope ... not when you spend all your reportage on how the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians to defeat the incorruptible Hillary Clinton for president ... which, to date, has resulted in dozens of dead ends.

This story has been around since at least February, but its only coverage to speak of has been in a few on-line news sites, the NY Post and Fox News. It involves the Awans, three Pakistani brothers, and two wives who all worked in IT for Democrat House representatives ... each earning the maximum of $160,000 per annum for mostly no-show jobs. The other shenanigans that this quintet were involved in will curl your hair. But rather than recanting all of them here, I suggest you read it in this synopsis: The Biggest Scandal You Never Heard Of. And the oldest Awan brother was just arrested trying to flee the country after wiring hundreds of thousands of dollars back to Pakistan. Some of the others have already slipped out.

To view part of the cover-up efforts in this case go to: Powerline Blog

Will this scandal grow so large as to eclipse Russia-gate like it clearly should? Not if the MSM, the Deep State, Comey and Mueller  have anything to say about it. Priorities are priorities after all!

You now get an inkling of why Trump has changed "swamp" to "sewer" when describing Washington.

Petrobras

There's an awful lot of oil in Brazil ...  and an awful lot of scandal. Petrobras, that huge Brazilian oil company, has just been exposed as chock-a-block full of cronyism and corruption ... all mostly tied to the current government there ... read the details here: Bloomberg Story. However, after reading most of the sordid bribery and kickback details of this clearly criminal enterprise, note that there is one key detail that was not mentioned ... and that was that President Obama, in an unprecedented move,took an executive action to lend Petrobras and Brazil  2+ billion dollars in 2009 to develop its offshore oil resources.

To me, this transaction was quite unusual and suspicious when it was announced ... see: Wall Street Journal Article ... but has largely gone unnoticed and un-commented-on since it occurred. Even the Bloomberg article referenced above does not cite this Obama commitment. This pledge then seemed very odd to me in that Obama had a well-documented aversion to carbon-based sources of energy.

Humm ... I wonder if the Clinton Foundation received any significant donations from Brazil or Petrobras around the time of this Obama largess? Hopefully that new exposé book, Clinton Cash, will shed some light on this possibility.

Afterward: For another wrinkle on this Obama deal read this later article in: Forbes Magazine.

After Afterward: And now a Clinton Foundation connection ... see: Wall Street Journal Article. Since this WSJ article is behind a paywall, I include a key quote from it here:

OAS has been in the news because it is caught up in a corruption scandal centered on Brazil’s state-owned oil company, Petrobras. In November Brazilian police arrested three top OAS executives for their alleged roles in a bribery scheme involving inflated contracts and kickbacks. OAS denies the allegations. Closer to home the 2013 OAS donation to the Clinton Foundation deserves attention because of the power that Bill Clinton has in Haiti, where OAS has been awarded IDB contracts.