American Gulag

It seems clear to me, kind reader, that the United States had, during the last four or five years, moved dangerously close to creating the old Soviet Union gulags... in that it was trying to (and did) imprison people solely for their political opinions. By that I mean prison time was obviously being handed out for no legal reason other than whether this person is a Trump supporter. George Papadopoulos, Rick Gates, Michael Flynn, and Roger Stone have been mousetrapped by dirty FBI cops and a sympathetic legal system as a way of punishing them for their support of the Orangeman.

Their actual ‘process crimes’ (primarily inconsequential lying under oath) feel very much like set-ups wherein they and their families were crushed financially by the sheer power and perfidy of a corrupt and politicized Obama FBI and Justice Department ... organizations that Attorney General Barr is doing his best to restore to dignity and fairness. (Notice I have not included in this list Trump’s old lawyer, Michael Cohen, or his former brief campaign manager, Paul Manafort ... bot of whom were convicted of serious felonies: money laundering, tax evasion and corruption ... unconnected to the Trump campaign.)

And an even more disturbing aspect of this politicalization of crimes in the Washington, DC swamp is that known perjurers such as Comey, McCabe, Clapper, Brennan, Sally Yates, Susan Rice and maybe higher-ups ... are still walking free ... and under no legal jeopardy (that we know of currently). And, if they are being investigated and found guilty, is this political persecution too?

Nah!

Perhaps, it’s a good thing that we have no Siberia equivalent?

A New Broom

A grand jury, under the new Attorney General (AG) Loretta Lynch, has just indicted Denny Hastert, the former Republican Speaker of the House on the strange charge of violating banking laws to pay hush money to some unnamed person ... see: Washington Post Story. This coupled with the previous indictment of that rogue New Jersey Democrat Senator Robert Manendez on corruption charges ... see: Washington Post Story ... suggests that the Obama administration may be using its Justice Department as a political hammer.

Since, to me, it is clear that Washington is chock-a-block full of crooks of all stripes, the real test for our new AG will be how many more of these miscreants she brings before the docks. How about Representative Charlie Rangel on tax evasion? How about Senator Harry Reid on misusing the IRS? How about Representative Nancy Pelosi on corruption? How about that presidential confidant Al Sharpton on tax evasion? How about Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation on RICO charges? How about our president himself for flaunting his oath of office and numerous crony-capitalism payoffs?

If Loretta Lynch has brought a new broom with her into her new job, I would love to see her begin to sweep clean that snake pit of our nation's capital. How about it, AG?

Dirtbag Award

This blog site has just instituted the "Dirtbag Award."  This will be a periodic prize given to that person or persons in the national news who have distinguished themselves by craven behavior far beyond the call of civilized behavior.  There is no voting for this award beyond the gag reflexes of the keeper of this blog.

Now for the first bestowing of this prize (see picture above) ... trumpets please.  Our initial recipient is John Tierney, Congressman from the 6th District of Massachusetts, whose wife, Patricia, just pled guilty in federal court to money laundering and tax evasion.  These charges stem from Patricia Tierney's management of a bank account that illegally funneled $7 million of proceeds from the off-shore (Antigua) on-line gambling operations of her brothers, Robert and Daniel Eremian, indicted in August of this year on charges of racketeering, money laundering and operating an illegal gambling business.  Although congressman Tierney denies any hint or knowledge of his wife's illicit activities, he did vote in 2006 (along with Barney Frank and six other Massachusetts congressmen) against the bill that made the laundering of such gambling proceeds illegal (the bill passed in the House 317-93 and became law).  Read the whole story here.