The variety of scams used to steal money from unsuspecting people is staggering. Our reliance on the Internet and electronic money transfers have created frauds so sophisticated and scary that the safest option might be to pay everything in cash from a brown paper sack.
Conspiracies and Scandals
It is easy to believe that conspiracies and scandals are how our local, state, and federal governments do business, but more often they come from the simple failure of government to perform its duties and ensure that its employees are only doing what we pay them to do. When public officials try to cover up mistakes that can’t be explained away, a scandal is created. Headline-grabbing, career-ending crimes are the exception, unless you live in a state like Illinois, where elected officials know corruption better than they know how to run government. Our conspiracies and scandals are the real thing. We raise the bar for the rest of the nation.
The Obama administration has taken some big hits in the conspiracies and scandals department. Some problems have been with us for years. If there is blame to be placed for problems like the neglect at the Department of Veterans affairs, it is for doing nothing about problems that needed to be fixed and were kicked down the road until they became someone else’s headache.
Other nightmares plaguing this president, like the Benghazi scandal, seem more like cover ups that come from a fundamental failure of leadership. The Obama administration’s relationship with the Muslim world has always been a bone of contention with conservatives. A televised apology from our president and Secretary of State to Pakistan after Islamic violence exploded in response to a supposedly anti-Muslim video didn’t help. Neither did apologies for the Iraq war that go back to the beginning of Barack Obama’s first term. After 9/11, apologies to Islam should be off the table.
Every once in a while, talk of conspiracies and scandals leads to the real thing. The IRS harassment of conservative groups gave us deleted emails, an IRS employee taking the Fifth, and other trappings of covering up a conspiracy that resurrect memories of Richard Nixon and Watergate.
Do we learn from conspiracies and scandals, or does government just get better at spinning its ethical lapses? This category begins with the Anthony Weiner embarrassment and, for the moment, ends by questioning how we ended up with a government that shuns accountability. Check back soon. The list is only going to get longer.
Innocent, Naïve, or Stupid? U.S. Shocked by Global Treachery
Treason is serious business. It’s so serious the government can kill you for it. Just dropping the word like Democrats are doing now shows how far witch hunters are willing to wallow. Remember to thank them for showing the world that when it comes to foreign affairs the U.S.
Dumping Trump Won’t End Democratic Hate for the Right
A world where we all agree to put our heads in the sand was supposed to end this year. The time had come. We were going to get something done. Instead, we are overwhelmed by an insatiable Democratic hatred of everything right that is focused on dumping Trump, as if getting rid of a president is going to soothe the animosity that is tearing this country apart.
Liberal Conspiracy Theories Behind New Progressive Budget
Liberals are still adding to the fantasy that foreign interference ruined their bid to keep control of the country. Donald Trump added to the paranoia this week when he axed James Comey. The hearings will drone on interminably no matter what comes of that hasty maneuver.
Democratic Bullies Turn to Russia and Putin for Help
One of our worst elements is playing with America’s fate. Democratic bullies still won’t take no for an answer. They are crossing their fingers that Russian bogeyman Vladimir Putin, their newest and biggest enemy after Donald Trump, will give them what they want.
Benghazi Prosecution: Everyone Wins but the Dead
Hearings are not a trial and the Benghazi Committee’s interrogation of Hillary Clinton was not supposed to be a prosecution, so why did Chairman Trey Gowdy’s opening statement sound like it was taken from a television courtroom drama? Because this is partisan political drama as good as you are ever going to find.
Obama Impeachment? Nixon’s Abuse of Power Was Different.
Conservatives still get excited talking about an Obama impeachment six years into a presidency rife with abuses of power no one has been able to stop. We can’t expect much from members of Congress while they spend the next few months trying to keep their jobs, but even if the GOP takes the Senate this fall do we want to suffer the damage an Obama impeachment would bring to a country already stirred up over race and inequality?