These resources explore ethical and moral problems related to government corruption. All government bureaucracies can be wasteful and have self-protective cultures which resist accountability. For example, the warfare state creates military-industrial corporate dependencies; the infrastructure state can dole out jobs by playing favorites; the welfare state can create dependency, although it can also be effective at preventing children and families from bearing the brunt of poverty. Government officials can become entangled with foreign interests, engaging in practices like money laundering, or preparing for a later career in lobbying. Therefore, to ethically plan against government corruption requires independent media organizations, strict rules for government and corporate transparency, strong civil service laws, and laws limiting money in campaigning.

The Early Christian Meritocracy, Monasteries, and the Modern Corporation (TBD)

Coronavirus Pandemic: Corruption, Mismanagement, and Incompetence — December 2019 and Earlier (Google Doc, read only access)

Coronavirus Pandemic: Corruption, Mismanagement, and Incompetence — January 2020 (Google Doc, read only access). See also a very illustrative cartoon that spans mid-January to early April: Josh Adams and Anthony Del Col, 'Totally Under Control': A Comic Book About How Trump Ignored Science, Planning, and His Own Team When the Virus Struck. And How 194,000 Americans Paid the Ultimate Price. Business Insider, Sep 14, 2020.

Coronavirus Pandemic: Corruption, Mismanagement, and Incompetence — February 2020 (Google Doc, read only access)

Coronavirus Pandemic: Corruption, Mismanagement, and Incompetence — March 2020 (Google Doc, read only access)

Coronavirus Pandemic: Corruption, Mismanagement, and Incompetence — April 2020 (Google Doc, read only access)

Top articles: Iman Ghosh, The State of Democracy Around the World. Visual Capitalist, Sep 1, 2020. Ryan Chapman, Why The Government Wastes So Much Money. Ryan Chapman, Jun 16, 2022.

Wikipedia, Buckley v. Valeo (1976) (Wikipedia article) on an early campaign finance decision rooted in the view that campaign contributions are "free speech" and should therefore be unlimited.  This led to two further SCOTUS cases, Wikipedia, First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti (1978) (Wikipedia article) and Wikipedia, Citizens United v. FEC (2010) (Wikipedia article).

Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) website

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) website

The Center for Public Integrity (CPI) website

Center for Systemic, Peace Polity Project (website)

Daniel Lederman, Norman Loayza, Rodrigo R. Soares, Accountability and Corruption: Political Institutions Matter. Social Science Research Network, Nov 2001.

Jakob Svenssen, Eight Questions About Corruptions. Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer 2005.

Rohini Pande, Understanding Political Corruption in Low Income Countries. Center for International Development at Harvard University, Apr 2007.

Brian M. Reidl, 50 Examples of Government Waste. Heritage Foundation, Oct 6, 2009.

Nauro F. Campos, Ralitza Dimova, Corruption Does Sand the Wheels of Growth. Vox, Dec 24, 2010.

Ben Rooney, U.S. Bureaucracy Wastes Billions, Watchdog Says. CNN Money, Mar 1, 2011.

Rottin' In Denmark, How to Reduce Corruption and Lose an Election. RottinInDenmark blog, Oct 5, 2012.  On the nation Georgia's transparency laws.

Chris Blattman, Corruption and Development: Not What You Think? blog, Nov 5, 2012.

Michael B. Kelley, Israel Grants First Golan Heights Oil Drilling License To Dick Cheney-Linked Company. Business Insider, Feb 22, 2013.  “A local subsidiary of the New York-listed company Genie Energy — which is advised by former vice president Dick Cheney and whose shareholders include Jacob Rothschild and Rupert Murdoch — will now have exclusive rights to a 153-square mile radius in the southern part of the Golan Heights.”

Gregory Korte, Report: Redundant Federal Programs Waste Billions. USA Today, Apr 9, 2013.

Sean Kennedy, A Bittersweet Victory for CAGW. CAGW, Nov 2013.

Reuters, Behind the Pentagon's Doctored Ledgers, an Running Tally of Epic Waste. CNBC News, Nov 18, 2013.

Craig Whitlock, Senior Navy Civilians Investigated in Alleged Scheme to Defraud Military for $1.6 Million. Washington Post, Nov 12, 2013.

Lauren Lyster, Want to Cut Government Waste? Find the $8.5 Trillion the Pentagon Can't Account For. Yahoo Finance News, Nov 25, 2013.

Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez, Three More NYC Contractors Found Guilty in Massive CityTime Scandal to Modernize Pay System. Democracy Now, Truth Out, Nov 28, 2013.

Ralph Nader, Unstoppable: The Emerging Left-Right Alliance to Dismantle the Corporate Welfare State. Bold Type Books | Amazon page, Apr 2014.

Brendan James, Princeton Study: U.S. No Longer An Actual Democracy. Talking Points Memo, Apr 18, 2014.  referring to Martin Gilens and Benjamin I. Page, Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens. Cambridge University Press, Sep 2014. . See also Andrew Reynolds, North Carolina Is No Longer Classified As a Democracy. Charlotte Observer, Dec 22, 2016.  showing that the most powerful Republicans believe that democracy is a transitional state to theocratic and/or racial supremacist positions, much like conservative to radical Muslims aiming for shari'a.

Center for Systemic Peace, Polity IV Project. Systemic Peace website, Jun 6, 2014.

Andrew Prokop, 40 Charts That Explain Money in Politics. Vox, Jul 30, 2014.

Robert Reich, Wall Street's Democrats. Huffington Post, Dec 8, 2014.

Ron Haskins, Social Programs That Work. New York Times, Dec 31, 2014.

Matt Agorist, Whistleblower Cop Calls Our Corruption in Her Department, Naturally She's Being Fired for It. Free Thought Project, Dec 31, 2014.

Jon Basil Utley, Libertarians and Putin's Catastrophic Corruption. The American Conservative, Jan 2, 2015.

Devin Leonard and Richard Rubin, An Emotional Audit: IRS Workers Are Miserable and Overwhelmed. Bloomberg, Apr 8, 2015.

Meghann Myers, Disgraced Navy Officer Says Her Career Was Ruined After Red-Flagging Alleged Fraud. Navy Times, Sep 27, 2015.

Carrie Sheffield, How We Can Reform Unionized Government. Bold, Nov 19, 2015.

Elizabeth Warren, One Way to Rebuild Our Institutions. New York Times, Jan 29, 2016.

Ewan McGaughey, Fascism-Lite in America (or the Social Ideal of Donald Trump.  (British Journal of American Legal Studies, May 3, 2016; last updated Jun 2, 2019.  “This article suggests the true cause of current developments is Buckley v. Valeo, in 1976. An extraordinary memorandum of Lewis Powell for the US Chamber of Commerce in 1971 urged that ‘[b]usiness interests’ should ‘press vigorously in all political arenas for support’. Richard Nixon then appointed Powell to the Supreme Court. A few years after in Buckley, over powerful dissent, a majority held candidates may spend unlimited funds on their own political campaign. Buckley v. Valeo was the ‘Trump for President’ decision. The 2016 election cannot be separated from the social ideal pursued by a majority of the Supreme Court since 1976.”

Michael Hiltzik, Watch a Conservative Blame Government Waste on the Little Guy. Los Angeles Times, May 12, 2016.

Matthew Nussbaum, How Elon Musk Exposed Billions in Questionable Pentagon Spending. Politico, May 13, 2016.

Oliver Milman and Jessica Glenza, At Least 33 US Cities Used Water Testing Cheats Over Lead Concerns. Guardian, Jun 2, 2016.

Jonathan Chait, The Most Corrupt Candidate Ever Is Donald Trump. New York Magazine, Jul 5, 2016.

Carrie Sheffield, Style Over Substance: Liberal Darling Elizabeth Warren's Moral High Road Threatens to Leave America Poorer and More Divided. Salon, Aug 16, 2016.  highlights challenges of managing government bureaucracy.

Jeff Stein, Why Glenn Greenwald Relentlessly Attacks Hillary Clinton — Even If It Helps Donald Trump. Vox, Sep 15, 2016.

Paul Verkuil, The Case for Bureaucracy. New York Times, Oct 3, 2016.

Matthew Mosk, Brian Ross, Brian Epstein, Cho Park, 'FOBs': How Hillary's State Dept. Gave Special Attention to 'Friends of Bill' After Haiti Quake. ABC News, Oct 11, 2016.  and Jonathan M. Katz, The Clintons Didn’t Screw Up Haiti Alone. You Helped. Slate, Sep 22, 2016.  Provides other helpful background

The Young Turks, Wikileaks Bombshell Exposes Extent of Clinton Corruption. The Young Turks, Nov 1, 2016.

Josh Marshall, FBI More Out of Control Than We Knew. Talking Points Memo, Nov 2, 2016.

Paul Blumenthal, This Dark Money Group Is Spending Big On Judicial Races, And No One Knows Why. Huffington Post, Nov 3, 2016.  "Center for Individual Freedom" fronting for big corporations

Shane Goldmacher, How Politicians Hide Their Spending From the Public. Politico, Nov 2, 2016.  consulting firms

Tom Cahill, Rudy Giuliani Just Confirmed the FBI Is Leaking Information to Donald Trump's Campaign. U.S. Uncut, Nov 4, 2016.

Paul Blumenthal, Senate Races Flooded With Never-Before-Seen Sums Of Super PAC Cash. Huffington Post, Nov 5, 2016.

Jordan Clive, If You Really Want to Know What's Going On, Stop Giving Hillary a Pass. Medium, Nov 11, 2016.

Michael J. Glennon, Trump's Looming Showdown With the 'Secret Government'. Boston Globe, Dec 1, 2016.  an elaboration on Jordan Michael Smith, Vote All You Want; the Secret Government Won't Change. Boston Globe, Oct 18, 2014.

John Schwarz, Donald Trump’s White House Counsel Is Proud “Architect” of America’s Corrupt Big Money Politics. The Intercept, Dec 4, 2016.

Jonathan Chait, How Republicans Justify Unlimited Trump Corruption. New York Magazine, Dec 5, 2016.

Craig Whitlock and Bob Woodward, Pentagon Buries Evidence of $125 Billion in Bureaucratic Waste. Washington Post, Dec 5, 2016.

Daniel J. Mitchell, There's Only One Way to Drain the Swamp. FEE, Dec 5, 2016.

Daniel DiSalvo, Madiganistan How House Speaker Michael Madigan Helped Ruin Illinois. City Journal, Autumn 2016.  an excellent biographical study illustrating why a party needs to exercise some discipline over its leaders

Amanda Taub, How ‘Islands of Honesty’ Can Crush a System of Corruption. New York Times, Dec 9, 2016.

Larry Elliott, Donald Trump is Undermining the Fight Against Corruption. Guardian, Feb 12, 2017.

Glenn Greenwald, The Leakers Who Exposed Gen. Flynn’s Lie Committed Serious — and Wholly Justified — Felonies. The Intercept, Feb 14, 2017.

Veronika Bondarenko, Donald Trump's hotel in Azerbaijan linked with corruption, Iran's Revolutionary Guard. Business Insider, Mar 6, 2017.  and original piece by Adam Davidson, Donald Trump’s Worst Deal. The New Yorker, Mar 13, 2017.  “According to the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index, Azerbaijan is among the most corrupt nations in the world. Its President, Ilham Aliyev, the son of the former President Heydar Aliyev, recently appointed his wife to be Vice-President.” A perfect cess-pool for money-laundering.

Normal L. Eisen and Richard W. Painter, Trump's Unprecedented War on Ethics. USA Today, Mar 20, 2017.

Ruth May, How Putin's Oligarchs Funneled Millions into GOP Campaigns. Dallas News, May 8, 2018.  “Campaign finance reports show troubling connections between a group of wealthy donors with ties to Russia and their political contributions to Trump and top Republican leaders.”

The Editors, Scott Pruitt Should Go. National Review, Jun 13, 2018.

Laurence Kotlikoff, Is Our Government Intentionally Hiding $21 Trillion In Spending? Forbes, Jul 21, 2018.

Mary Elizabeth Williams, Who's Buying Our Elections? Inside the Shadowy World of Dark Money. Salon, Jul 17, 2018.

The Young Turks, Devin Nunes Really Wishes This Audio Wasn't Leaked. The Young Turks, Aug 9, 2018.  re: Nunes' comments at a private fundraiser that Republican lawmakers need to protect Trump from the Mueller investigation, which is a constitutional breach of duty, putting the President above the law

Fred Hiatt, We're Paying Too Little Attention to This Endangered and Essential National Resource. Washington Post, Oct 7, 2018.  re: civil service, which has held remarkably constant in size through decades, suggesting that this aspect of government is not as bloated as it could be

The Young Turks, The Most Important Policy Announcement of the 2020 Campaign. The Young Turks, Oct 7, 2019.  Bernie Sander’s proposal that we need a Constitutional Amendment to say money is not speech, and corporations are not people; a public voucher financing system for each citizen to participate in federal elections; and a lifetime ban on lobbying if you were a Congressional staffer

Chris Hayes, Where President Donald Trump’s Conspiracy Theories Come From. All in with Chris Hayes | MSNBC, Oct 11, 2019.  Jane Mayer explains that Robert Mercer and Government Accountability Institute fund Steve Bannon and pump false “oppo” research into mainstream media

Brian Tyler Cohen, Rand Paul Accidentally Throws Under the Bus Over Hunter Biden. Brian Tyler Cohen, Oct 15, 2019.  sums up the way the Trump children funnel taxpayer money into the Trump Organization and their own pockets

Heather Vogell, Never-Before-Seen Trump Tax Documents Show Major Inconsistencies. ProPublica, Oct 16, 2019.  “The president’s businesses made themselves appear more profitable to lenders and less profitable to tax officials. One expert calls the differing numbers “versions of fraud.””

John Atcheson, The Revolution Is Here: Democrats Ignore It at Their Peril. Common Dreams, Oct 29, 2019.  “With the majority of people holding progressive views, the way to get no-shows to show is not to back centrist policies, it’s to run on values that favor the people, and that are supported by the majority of Americans.” 

Ari Melber, Trump's Bribery Apprentice? How Failed Bribery Plot Put Governor In Prison For 14 Years. The Beat | MSNBC, Nov 26, 2019.  how Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich bribed others for something of value for official government action (filling Obama’s U.S. Senate seat.  See also Legal Eagle, Lawyer Examines Impeachment Defenses (Real Law Review). Legal Eagles, Nov 26, 2019.

Mary Papenfuss, Former Ethics Chief Slams ‘Preposterous’ Trump Fundraising For His Senate ‘Jurors’. Huffington Post, Nov 23, 2019.  “Trump is also calling GOP lawmakers, having lunch with them and opening up Camp David for fun weekends as part of his impeachment “charm offensive.””

Chris Hayes, GOP Donor Gets $400 Million Sweetheart Deal. All In | MSNBC, Dec 3, 2019.  to help build Trump’s border wall, overriding laws guarding against conflicts of interest

John Iadarola, Urgent Push To Stop Amazon's Seattle Takeover. The Damage Report, Dec 6, 2019.  because foreign investors can own stock in American companies, they can influence American elections through campaign contributions. American multi-national corporations, which long exploited the developing world, now come back to haunt us.

Farron Cousins, Ben Carson Is Illegally Holding Up $18 Billion In Puerto Rico Disaster Aid. Ring of Fire, Dec 9, 2019.  Following the Trump playbook of declaring the recipient – in this case, Puerto Rico.  is too corrupt to receive aid money

Patrick Gleason, Lawmakers From Texas To Wisconsin Consider An End To Taxpayer-Funded Lobbying. Forbes, Dec 14, 2019.  

The Young Turks, Report: US Officials Lied About Afghanistan. The Young Turks, Dec 15, 2019.  Donald Rumsfeld refused to pursue Osama Bin Laden in 2005 when Bin Laden was cornered, to prolong the war; money wasted by military contractors in fraud and corruption.

Joy Reid, The Black Ledger: How Paul Manafort Ties Trump to Putin // Malcolm Nance. AM Joy | MSNBC, Dec 23, 2019.  See also Commonwealth Club, Malcolm Nance: The Plot to Betray America. Commonwealth Club, Nov 22, 2019.  About Kremlin conspiracies promoted to distract from Russian international activity and ambition, and the larger geopolitical-religious narrative of Russia-Eurasia vs. NATO as “Christian Russia” vs. “the secular West”

Anita Kumar, How Trump Fused His Business Empire to the Presidency. Politico, Jan 20, 2020.

Derek Tisler and Daniel Weiner, Citizens United Put Out a Welcome Mat for Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman. The Hill, Jan 21, 2020.  and Brendan Fischer, How Citizens United Led Directly to Trump’s Impeachment. Slate, Jan 21, 2020.  

Jonathan O’Connell, D.C. Attorney General Sues Trump Inaugural Committee Over $1 Million Booking at President’s Hotel. Washington Post, Jan 22, 2020.  the “emoluments clause” of the Constitution must be enforced

Rachel Maddow, Esper Guarantee Against Retaliation Proves Faithless For Vindman. Rachel Maddow | MSNBC, Feb 7, 2020.  retaliation for whistleblowers is against the law, yet Trump fired/reassigned Lt. Col. Vindman and his twin brother

John Iadarola, Trump’s Secret Border Decision. The Damage Report, Feb 8, 2020.  on preventing standard public information about border patrol agents and activities from being accessible

Robert Reich, 5 Ways Trump Has NOT Drained the Swamp with Robert Reich. Robert Reich, Inequality Media, Feb 11, 2020.  Trump appointed lobbyists and donors to government agencies with clear conflicts of interest; administration officials routinely break the law; Trump enriches himself at taxpayer expense

The Young Turks, MSNBC: We NEED Mike Bloomberg To Beat Bernie Sanders. The Young Turks, Feb 12, 2020.  MSNBC newscaster Joy Reid promoting Bloomberg as an anti-Bernie candidate, despite Bloomberg’s mayoral support coming from his philanthropic organization giving millions to cities. corrupt self-dealing.

Kyle Cheney, Trump Accused of Another Quid Pro Quo, This Time with New York. Politico, Feb 13, 2020.  “"He's holding New York state hostage to try to stop investigations into his prior tax fraud," tweeted Rep. Val Demings.”

Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti, Matt Stoller on How the Democratic Party Functions as a Monopoly. Rising | The Hill, Feb 24, 2020.  fear to criticize leaders (e.g. even in the Iowa Caucus debacle.  is a symptom of monopoly power. Stoller hints at how the modern Democratic Party since the 1980’s has consolidated its donors, think tanks, consultants, and operatives in such a way that the Party became weak at intra-party debate and a consumer-orientation to the grassroots.

Seth Meyers, The Check In: Trump’s Family Profits Off Policy Meant to Help Low-Income Communities. Late Night with Seth Meyers, Mar 10, 2010.  Jared Kushner and his family profit from Trump’s “Opportunity Zones”

Brian Tyler Cohen, Trump Gives Unreal Answer on Using Gov't Bailout for His Family Businesses. Brian Tyler Cohen, Mar 21, 2020.  suggests why Trump initially wanted airlines, hotels, cruise companies supported

Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed: How Profit Motive in Healthcare Screwed Us In Crisis. Rising | The Hill, Mar 24, 2020.

Morning Joe, Trump Campaign Threatens Legal Action Of Coronavirus Ad. Morning Joe | MSNBC, Mar 26, 2020.

Donald K. Sherman, Trump Just Removed the IG Investigating Elaine Chao. Chao’s Husband, Mitch McConnell, Already Vetted the Replacement. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, May 19, 2020.

Eric Umansky, An Illustrated History of Government Agencies Twisting the Truth to Align With White House Misinformation. ProPublica, Jun 22, 2020.  “When Trump pushes outlandish misinformation, his federal agencies have turned it into official guidance and policy. Some have later had to reverse themselves.”

Krystal Ball, Blackwater’s Eric Prince Poses as Anti-War in Mind-Blowing Tucker Segment. Rising | The Hill, Jul 10, 2020.  security-military contractor Prince tries to sell his services in Afghanistan, while he helps China secure minerals elsewhere.

Perla Trevizo and Jeremy Schwartz, Trump Says He “Disagreed” With Privately Funded Border Wall, So Why Did His Administration Award the Builder $1.7 Billion in Contracts to Erect More Walls? ProPublica, Jul 12, 2020.  the same man and company who privately and improperly built 3 miles of wall that began eroding into the river. See also Jeremy Schwarts and Perla Trevizo, Eroding Private Border Wall To Get an Engineering Inspection Just Months After Completion. ProPublica, Jul 9, 2020.

Andrew Solender, Non-Partisan Watchdog Accuses Trump Campaign Of ‘Laundering’ $170 Million. Forbes, Jul 28, 2020.

Ana Kasparian, Mitch McConnell Blindsided By Trump Corruption During Press Conference. The Young Turks, Aug 1, 2020.  the covid stimulus bill originating from Senate Republicans has a proposal for $2 billion to construct a brand new FBI headquarters in Washington DC right next to the Trump hotel in DC. This was done to prevent competing hotels being built next to it.

Walker Davis and Linnaea Honl-Stuenkel, The Trump Family is Taking 12X More Protected Trips Than the Obama Family. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, Apr 10, 2020.

Brandy Zadrony and Ben Collins, Dark Money and PAC’s Coordinated “Reopen” Push Are Behind Doctors’ Viral Hydroxychloroquine Video. NBS News, Jul 28, 2020.  “A dozen doctors delivered speeches in front of the U.S. Capitol on Monday to a small crowd, claiming without evidence that the coronavirus could be cured and that widely accepted efforts to slow its spread were unnecessary and dangerous. It was the latest video to go viral from apparent experts, quietly backed by dark money political organizations, evangelizing treatments for or opinions about the coronavirus that most doctors, public health officials and epidemiologists have roundly decried as dangerous misinformation.”

David French, How Much of the Right is a Financial Scam? The Dispatch, Aug 20, 2020.  “Steve Bannon’s alleged fraud is the tip of the con-artist iceberg.” Also the NRA, Tea Party, etc. See also Jim Geraghty, The Right’s Grifter Problem. National Review, Jun 3, 2019.

Dan Alexander, Trump Has Now Moved $2.3 Million Of Campaign-Donor Money Into His Private Business. Forbes, Aug 25, 2020.

Erin Banco, Revealed: Jared Kushner’s Private Channel With Putin’s Money Man. Daily Beast, Aug 24, 2020.  “More than a dozen Trump administration officials, current and former, described a clandestine relationship between Jared Kushner and the CEO of a Kremlin sovereign wealth fund.”

Cody Johnston, Katy Stoll, David C. Bell and Will Gordh, The Freakin’ Post Office!. Some More News, Aug 26, 2020.

Associated Press, Postal Chief and Trump Donor Louis DeJoy Has Long Leveraged Connections, Dollars. Los Angeles Times, Aug 30, 2020.

Simon Shuster, Rick Perry’s Ukrainian Dream. ProPublica, Sep 10, 2020.  “When the then-energy secretary accidentally helped lead the president into impeachment, he was simultaneously trying to help his friends cash in on a big gas deal.”

Nicole Lyn Pesce, Trump Administration Sphoned Almost $4 Million from 9/11 First Responders Fund: Report. MarketWatch, Sep 12, 2020.

Tom Burgis, Kleptopia: How Dirty Money Is Conquering the World. Harper | Amazon page, Sep 2020.  From the review: “In this real-life thriller packed with jaw-dropping revelations, award-winning investigative journalist Tom Burgis weaves together four stories that reveal a terrifying global web of corruption: the troublemaker from Basingstoke who stumbles on the secrets of a Swiss bank, the ex-Soviet billionaire constructing a private empire, the righteous Canadian lawyer with a mysterious client, and the Brooklyn crook protected by the CIA. Glimpses of this shadowy world have emerged over the years. In Kleptopia, Burgis connects the dots. He follows the dirty money that is flooding the global economy, emboldening dictators, and poisoning democracies. From the Kremlin to Beijing, Harare to Riyadh, Paris to the White House, the trail shows something even more sinister: the thieves are uniting. And the human cost will be great.” See interview with Stephanie Ruhle, ‘Why Is This President Paying More To Foreign Nations In Taxes Than He Is To The U.S.?’ MSNBC, Oct 1, 2020.  who positions Trump’s tax returns and debt into the pattern of officials who seek high office as immunity from prosecution.

Benjamin Weiser and William K. Rashbaum, Trump Could Be Investigated for Tax Fraud, D.A. Says for First Time. New York Times, Sep 21, 2020.  “A new court filing from the Manhattan district attorney offered rare insight into the office’s investigation of the president and his businesses.”

Aaron Gregg and Yeganeh Torbati, Pentagon Used Taxpayer Money Meant for Masks and Swabs to Make Jet Engine Parts and Body Armor. New York Times, Sep 21, 2020.  “Shortly after Congress passed the Cares Act, the Pentagon began directing pandemic-related money to defense contractors.”

Isaac Arnsdorf, Trump’s Vaccine Czar Refuses to Give Up Stock in Drug Company Involved in His Government Role. ProPublica, Sep 23, 2020.  “The administration calls Moncef Slaoui, who leads its vaccine race, a “contractor” to sidestep rules against personally profiting from government positions. Slaoui owns $10 million in stock of a company working with his team to develop a vaccine.”

Jenna Grande, New Report: President Trump Has 3,400 Conflicts of Interest. CREW, Sep 24, 2020.

Linnaea Honl-Stuenkel, Records Reveal: 1.5 Years After Hurricane Maria, FEMA Had Sent Only $3.3 Billion to Puerto Rico. CREW, Sep 24, 2020.  instead of $91 billion allocated

David Leonhardt, 18 Revelations From a Trove of Trump Tax Records. New York Times, Sep 27, 2020.  “Times reporters have obtained decades of tax information the president has hidden from public view. Here are some of the key findings.” See Cenk Uygur, Trump’s Taxes Revealed: He’s Broke!. The Young Turks, Sep 27, 2020.  about financial conflicts of interest. See Ross Buettner, Susanne Craig, and Mike McIntire, Long-Concealed Records Show Trump’s Chronic Losses and Years of Tax Avoidance. New York Times, Sep 27, 2020.

Andrew Solender, Non-Partisan Watchdog Accuses Trump Campaign Of ‘Laundering’ $170 Million. Forbes, Sep 28, 2020.  “The complaint alleges that the Trump campaign paid millions of dollars to campaign-connected vendors without reporting those payments to the FEC, specifically homing in on American Made Media Consultants (AMMC. , a firm created by Parscale, which has been paid over $106 million, making it the campaigns largest vendor…The complaint also points to an app called Phunware, which Parscale has said was created and is “directly owned” by the campaign, but which has never appeared in the campaign’s spending reports because, as the complaint alleges, it was paid through AMMC.”

Saagar Enjeti, Wall Street, Big Businesses Go ALL IN For Biden, Democratic Party. Rising | The Hill, Oct 1, 2020.  the Chamber of Commerce’s endorsement of Democrats

Jake Tapper, “Flood the Streets”: Scientist Reveals the White House Note That Made Him Speak Out. CNN, Oct 8, 2020.  former NIH vaccine director Rick Bright, in his first public interview after his resignation and protest, says that the White House ordered untested and unproven drugs to “flood the streets.”

Robert Hart, While Trump Touts 'Cure' Made By Regeneron, Its CEO Is A Member Of Trump Golf Club. Forbes, Oct 8, 2020.  and note Manojna Maddipatla, U.S. Signs $450 Million Contract with Regeneron for COVID-19 Therapy. Reuters, Jul 7, 2020.  

Isaac Arnsdorf, Trump’s Vaccine Czar Refuses to Give Up Stock in Drug Company Involved in His Government Role (ProPublica, Sep 23, 2020.  “The administration calls Moncef Slaoui, who leads its vaccine race, a “contractor” to sidestep rules against personally profiting from government positions. Slaoui owns $10 million in stock of a company working with his team to develop a vaccine.”

Jarrett Carter Sr., Trump Executive Order Could Make HBCUs Ineligible for Nearly All Federal Funding. HBCU Digest, Oct 10, 2020.  

David Doel, Trump Brags About The Murder Of A U.S. Citizen. The Rational National, Oct 15, 2020.  referencing Evan Hill, Mike Baker, Derek Knowles, and Stella Cooper, ‘Straight to Gunshots’: How a U.S. Task Force Killed an Antifa Activist. New York Times, Oct 13, 2020.  a mark of fascism. “New accounts from the scene raise questions about whether Michael Reinoehl, suspected of killing a far-right Trump supporter, pulled out a gun before officers fatally shot him.”

James Bandler, Patricia Callahan, Sebastian Rotella, and Kirsten Berg, Inside the Fall of the CDC. ProPublica, Oct 15, 2020.  “How the world’s greatest public health organization was brought to its knees by a virus, the president and the capitulation of its own leaders, causing damage that could last much longer than the coronavirus.”

Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti, Larry Kudlow, Trump Admin Official Caught In New Corruption Exposés. Rising | The Hill, Oct 16, 2020.  re: Larry Kudlow gave different news about the coronavirus to rich vs. general audiences, primarily for stock selloffs. Also re: Eric Branstad, son of Terry Branstad, Trump’s ambassador to China, who profited from unbanning of Chinese tech company ZTE.

Axios, USPS IG: Postal Service Changes Compounded Significant Negative Service. Axios, Oct 21, 2020.  “A U.S. Postal Service inspector general report out Tuesday found changes implemented by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy led to “confusion and inconsistency in operations at postal facilities” that “compounded the significant negative service impacts across the country.””

Eric Lipton, Trump Issues Order Giving Him More Leeway to Hire and Fire Federal Workers. New York Times, Oct 22, 2020.  “The move would give the president greater freedom to weed out what he sees as a “deep state” bureaucracy. The executive order, which could be rescinded if he is not re-elected, was condemned by civil service unions.” “President Trump signed an executive order this week that could substantially expand his ability to hire and fire tens of thousands of federal workers during a second term, potentially allowing him to weed out what he sees as a “deep state” bureaucracy working to undermine him. The executive order, issued late Wednesday and described by one prominent federal union leader as “the most profound undermining of the Civil Service in our lifetimes,” would allow federal agencies to go through their employee rosters and reclassify certain workers in a way that would strip them of job protections that now cover most federal employees.” See Rebecca Beitsch, Trump Federal Salary Adviser Resigns Over Order Stripping Worker Protections. The Hill, Oct 26, 2020.  Cass R. Sunstein, Trump’s War on Civil Servants Is Worse Than It Looks. Bloomberg, Oct 29, 2020.  “His executive order would impose a chilling effect on professionals who use their expertise to raise questions and doubts.”

Stephen Gandel, Postal Service Awards $5 Million Contract to Postmaster DeJoy's Former Company, XPO. CBS News, Oct 24, 2020.

Carl Zimmer, The Trump Administration Shut Down a Vaccine Safety Office Last Year. What’s the Plan Now?. New York Times, Oct 28, 2020.  “The office was dedicated to the long-term safety of vaccines. Experts say plans to track coronavirus vaccines are fragmented and “behind the eight ball.” Reflects a pro-corporate, anti-regulation philosophy of governance.

Eric Lipton and Benjamin Weiser, Turkish Bank Case Showed Erdogan’s Influence With Trump. New York Times, Oct 29, 2020.  “New details of the Justice Department’s handling of the accusations against Halkbank reveal how Turkey’s leader pressured the president, prompting concern from top White House aides.”

Ben Popken and Andrew W. Lehren, Release of PPP Loan Recipients' Data Reveals Troubling Patterns. NBC News, Dec 2, 2020.  “Tenants paying rent at Trump Organization and Kushner Companies properties are beneficiaries of PPP loans.”

Tom LoBianco and Dave Levinthal, Jared Kushner Helped Create a Trump Campaign Shell Company That Secretly Paid the President's Family Members and Spent $617 Million in Reelection Cash, a Source Tells Insider. Business Insider, Dec 18, 2020. . See also Rachel Olding, Kushner OK’d Trump Campaign Shell Company That Secretly Paid Inner Circle: Report. The Daily Beast, Dec 18, 2020.  “The company, American Made Media Consultants Corporation and American Made Media Consultants LLC, took more than half of the Trump campaign’s massive $1.26 billion war chest and was largely shielded from having to publicly report financial details. However, a source told Business Insider that Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump was the company’s president, Vice President Mike Pence’s nephew was its VP, and Trump campaign CFO Sean Dollman was treasurer and secretary.”

Brian Williams, Trump Remains Silent On Russia’s Cyberattack. The 11th Hour | MSNBC, Dec 19, 2020.  Trump has financial interests, at a minimum.

Erica Newland, I’m Haunted by What I Did as a Lawyer in the Trump Justice Department. New York Times, Dec 20, 2020.

Fintan O’Toole, Trump Has Unfinished Business. A Republic He Wants to Destroy Still Stands. Irish Times, Dec 26, 2020.  “When [Chris] Christie arrived at Trump Tower, he was met by Trump’s then consigliere, Steve Bannon. Bannon told Christie that he was being fired with immediate effect “and we do not want you to be in the building anymore”. His painstaking work was literally trashed: “All thirty binders [of the planned transition]”, as Christie recalled in a self-pitying memoir, “were tossed in a Trump Tower dumpster, never to be seen again”. With Trump, the personal and political could never be separated and both were equally at work here. The personal was silverback gorilla stuff, humiliating Christie was a sadistic pleasure and a declaration to established Republicans that Trump was the boss of them all now.”

David Siders, Trump’s Crony Pardons Flabbergast the Political World. Politico, Jan 20, 2021.  “He apparently didn’t consider, or didn’t care, how this might impact the Senate Republicans who will now be asked to ignore his actions and save ‘his reputation’ in the impeachment trial,” said one top Republican. See also Legal Eagle, A Parting Shot at Corruption. Legal Eagle, Jan 21, 2021.  focuses on political corruption and real estate corruption.

Associated Press, President Trump Releases Aides From 'Drain the Swamp' Ethics Pledges. Time, Jan 21, 2021.  the 5 year ban on lobbying the government was lifted

Rachel Maddow, 'Science Was Distorted & Rejected': Dr. Fauci On Working With Trump Admin. MSNBC, Jan 23, 2021.  points out how bad science-denial was by Trump and his administration

Fred Schulte, Trump’s Pardons Included Health Care Execs Behind Massive Frauds. PBS NewsHour, Jan 22, 2021.

Rachel Maddow, Trump Leaves Record Of Corruption In Justice Department's Top Offices. Rachel Maddow | MSNBC, Feb 17, 2021.  the Head of the Criminal Division quietly buried the criminal referral of Trump’s phone call to Ukraine, and the office hosted meetings with Rudy Giuliani while Giuliani was under fraud charges. The Head of the Civil Division The Deputy AG, Jeffrey Rosen quashed the search warrant for Rudy Giuliani, tampered with investigations into Roger Stone, ginned up the case against John Bolton’s book, and shielded Paul Manafort from going to Rykers Island while facing state charges in NY. The Head of the Civil Division was the person who said that if Trump made him acting AG, he would demand that Georgia declare its election for Trump, prompting all the other top leaders in the Justice Dept to threaten to resign.

Ari Melber, 'No One’s Surprised': Trump Ally, Gov. DeSantis Facing Vaccine Bribery Allegations. MSNBC, Mar 5, 2021.  DeSantis is under fire over damning allegations first reported by the Miami Herald that he gave special treatment to 17 of his donors, allowing them to get the vaccine in January before many healthcare workers even received it.

Linnaea Honl-Stuenkel and Caitlin Moniz, Betsy DeVos Made at Least $225 Million While Education Secretary. CREW, Mar 22, 2021.  “DeVos’s financial entanglements and her family’s political giving raised ethical questions. She maintained a stake in Neurocore, a brain performance company targeting children, and failed to recuse from matters related to the company despite the potential for conflicts of interest. She pledged that her husband would stop making political donations for the duration of her tenure, but he continued to donate throughout the 2018 and 2020 election cycles.”

Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti, Facebook, Amazon Become Top Lobbyists In DC. Rising | The Hill, Mar 25, 2021.

Shane Goldmacher, How Trump Steered Supporters Into Unwitting Donations. New York Times, Apr 3, 2021.  “Online donors were guided into weekly recurring contributions. Demands for refunds spiked. Complaints to banks and credit card companies soared. But the money helped keep Donald Trump’s struggling campaign afloat.” “Stacy Blatt was in hospice care last September listening to Rush Limbaugh’s dire warnings about how badly Donald J. Trump’s campaign needed money when he went online and chipped in everything he could: $500. It was a big sum for a 63-year-old battling cancer and living in Kansas City on less than $1,000 per month. But that single contribution — federal records show it was his first ever — quickly multiplied. Another $500 was withdrawn the next day, then $500 the next week and every week through mid-October, without his knowledge — until Mr. Blatt’s bank account had been depleted and frozen. When his utility and rent payments bounced, he called his brother, Russell, for help.”

Richard Wolff, Economic Update: The Center Cannot Hold. Democracy at Work, Jun 14, 2021.  a short summary of the political monopoly operated by establishment, corporatists in the GOP and Dems. Wolff’s analysis of coalitions could be adjusted to: old industry (oil, gas, etc.) vs. new (high tech, etc.). Wolff points out how the coalitions fray. Campaign finance maintains this arrangement.

Lee Fang and Ryan Grim, Leaked Audio of Senator Joe Manchin Call with Billionaire Donors Provides Rare Glimpse of Dealmaking on Filibuster and January 6 Commission. The Intercept, Jun 16, 2021.  “Manchin urged big-money donors with No Labels to talk to Sen. Roy Blunt about flipping his vote on the commission in order to save the filibuster.” See also David Doel, AOC Tells Morning Joe About Manchin's Leaked Call With Billionaire Donors. The Rational National, Jun 17, 2021.  

Eric Katz, DOJ Will Not Prosecute Trump Officials After IG Referred Findings of False Testimony on Census. Government Executive, Jul 16, 2021.  “Investigators verified that former Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross misled Congress, but the Justice Department said it won't pursue prosecution.” Historian Heather Cox Richardson says that she believes Attorney General Merrick Garland has to clear evidentiary hurdles and be sensitive to political opinion. Be that as it may, this still smacks of government corruption.

Betsy Woodruff Swan and Nicholas Wu, Top DOJ Official Drafted Resignation Email Amid Trump Election Pressure. Politico, Aug 4, 2021.  In early January, “Patrick Hovakimian, prepared the email announcing his own resignation and that of the department's second-in-command, Richard Donoghue, as Trump considered axing acting attorney general Jeff Rosen.” This shows that DOJ officials were alarmed that Trump was trying to use the DOJ to pressure Georgia and other states to declare their elections corrupt and invalid.

Walter Isaacson, Preet Bharara: Trump Tried to Weaponize Justice Dept. to Overturn Election. Amanpour and Company, Aug 12, 2021.  discusses Jeffrey Clark’s attempt to support Trump’s attempt to undermine the 2020 election and the DOJ. Also, how Trump tried to form independent, direct, side relationships with prosecutors without going through the chain of command.

Ryan Grim, Damning New Email Puts Joe Manchin’s Daughter At Center Of EpiPen Price-Fixing Scheme. Rising | The Hill, Sep 7, 2021.

Editorial Board, Future-Proofing the Presidency. Boston Globe, Jun 2021.  A helpful series of articles.

Bess Levin, Rand Paul Swears There’s an Innocent Explanation for Not Disclosing His Wife’s COVID Stocks for 16 Months.  Vanity Fair, Aug 12, 2021.  “The Senator’s wife invested in a company that makes COVID treatments as he insisted the virus was nothing to worry about and preventative measures should be ignored.”

Farah Stockman, The War on Terror Was Corrupt From the Start. New York Times, Sep 13, 2021.  “Afghan corruption is so frequently cited [by Western agents] as an explanation, as well as an excuse, for Western failure in Afghanistan… whilst ignoring their role in both fueling and benefiting from the patronage pump. Who won the war on terror? American defense contractors.”

House Oversight Committee, Committee Uncovers Evidence that Trump Concealed Millions in Losses, Hid Debts, and Received Millions from Foreign Governments at Trump Hotel. House Oversight Committee, Oct 8, 2021. See commentary and summary by David Pakman, Trump Received Millions from Foreign Governments, Hid Debts & Losses. David Pakman Show, Oct 15, 2021.

Mehdi Hasan, If Brazil Can Do It, Why Not Us? (Trump Edition). Mehdi Hasan Show | MSNBC, Oct 21, 2021.  Brazil charged Bolsonaro with crimes against humanity for his misinformation and handling of the pandemic.

Meghan Faulkner, USPS Mismanaged DeJoy’s Conflicts of Interest and Tried to Cover It Up. Citizens for Responsible Ethics in Washington, Oct 21, 2021.

Daniel Boguslaw, As Senator Joe Manchin’s Star Rose in West Virginia, the FBI and IRS Probed His Closest Allies. The Intercept, Oct 23, 2021.  about conflicts of interest related to coal. See also Ryan Grim, Manchin Blasts “Entitlement Mentality” While His Family Thrives On Government Giveaways. Rising | The Hill, Oct 25, 2021.

Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti, Fed Bans Stock Trading, Congress Should Be Next. Breaking Points, Oct 25, 2021.  Very good measures

PBS News Hour, Trump-Era Opportunity Zones Meant to Help Low-Income Communities Exploited by Investors. PBS News Hour, Nov 11, 2021.

Krystal Ball, Pentagon Caught Covering Up Mass Atrocity To Protect Themselves. Breaking Points, Nov 15, 2021.  

David Frum, It Wasn’t a Hoax. The Atlantic, Nov 25, 2021.  On Trump and Russia

Saagar Enjeti, Jared Kushner, Hunter Biden Are Poison On Democracy. Breaking Points, Nov 29, 2021.

Timothy L. O’Brien, Who Just Gave Trump $1 Billion? Let’s Find Out.. Bloomberg, Dec 6, 2021.  “Investments in a blank-check company backing the former president could turn out to be IOUs if he wins back the White House.

Anne Applebaum, The Kleptocrats Next Door.  The Atlantic, Dec 8, 2021.  The loopholes in banking and real estate that allow foreign oligarchs to launder their money in the US and the West.

Bob Hennelly, As the Pandemic's Third Wave Hits America, Members of Congress Look to Cash In. Salon, Dec 21, 2021.  “Recent disclosures that a member of New Jersey's congressional delegation was among the 75 members of Congress who held stock in Moderna, Pfizer or Johnson & Johnson during our ongoing pandemic tells you everything you need to know about why we remain such a stuck nation.  Business Insider ranked the 533 current members of the House and Senate based on a half-dozen criteria, including their compliance with the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act of 2012, which requires timely disclosure of members' investment transactions and those of their staff."

Jane Mayer, Is Ginni Thomas a Threat to the Supreme Court?  The New Yorker, Jan 2022.  See interview with Mehdi Hasan, Justice Thomas Ignores Basic Ethics Where Wife's Activism, Lobbying Conflict With Cases.  MSNBC, Jan 22, 2022.

Alex Witt, With Fraudulent Trump Financials Exposed, House Oversight Asks GSA To Yank Hotel Lease.  MSNBC, Feb 18, 2022.  Witt highlights a mysterious company willing to buy the lease that the Trump Org owns on the Old Post Office Building in DC.  Alex Witt, With Businesses Failing, Trump Taps His Political Supporters To Maintain His Wealth.  MSNBC, Feb 19, 2022.  Trump seeks to monetize his political influence through a social media company.

Breaking Points, Debate: Has Corruption, Messaging Tanked Climate Policy? Breaking Points, Apr 14, 2022.  A sad update on the political messaging quandary about “the Green New Deal,” but Russia’s invasion of Ukraine raises a specter over energy and infrastructure policies.

Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti, Congressman Caught Telling Truth About Corruption In DC. Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar, Apr 20, 2022.  Special interest groups control committee assignments and committee activities.  Chairmanship is up for the highest bidder.

Cody Johnston and Katy Stoll, The Devastating Impact of 'Fear of Crime' Politics.  Some More News, Apr 20, 2022. 

01:00 - The Giant Crime Wave That Doesn’t Actually Exist.  Conservatives, and increasingly liberals, use increasing crime rates to stoke fears before elections and use declining crime rates during tenure. 

11:31 - What Is Crime?  Wage theft is not considered a crime, showing that corporate interests govern the definition of “crime.”

18:00 - Why The Crime Rate Has Actually Fallen.  People make these claims despite counterfactuals:  crime has decreased, generally.  

25:30 - The Impact Of The Fear of Crime Or Joe Biden and his Fear of Crime Legacy

41:30 - The War On The War On Drugs

50:20 - Our Crime Policies Are Designed To Divide Us By Race

1:06:30 - Corporations Want to Keep The Status Quo 

Second Thought, How Do Politicians Keep Getting So Rich? Second Thought, Jul 15, 2022. An excellent 13 minute video presentation, amply documented.

Morning Joe, How The Secret Service Became Not Just A Protector Of The President's Body, But His Secrets.  Morning Joe | MSNBC, Jul 20, 2022.  Interview with Carol Leonnig, author of Zero Fail: The Rise and Fall of the Secret Service. See also Lauren White, The Secret Service Knew the Proud Boys Posed a Threat on Jan. 6. Why Didn’t They Take It Seriously? Citizens for Ethics, Jun 29, 2022. White shows actual Secret Service documents, related to what they and we knew about the Proud Boys.

John A. Torres, The USA Isn't a 'Banana Republic' for Investigating Trump - Just Look at the Data.  Politico, Aug 24, 2022.  “Plenty of healthy democracies have held their leaders accountable under the law.”  A helpful summary and international comparison. 

Chris Hayes, Report: Woman Posed As Heiress To Infiltrate Mar-a-Lago, Trump Inner Circle.  All In | MSNBC, Aug 26, 2022.  See also Brian Tyler Cohen, Fox Host Panics As His Own Guest Accidentally Destroys Trump.  Brian Tyler Cohen, Aug 26, 2022.  One item which Trump might have had at Mar-a-Lago was the document explaining what the US President can and should do in the 20 minutes after learning that Russia launched nuclear weapons.  But compare Republican hysteria about then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton possibly jeopardizing national security, to their sycophantic defense of Trump and attacks on the FBI instead.

Krystal Ball, Brett Favre Caught In Welfare Fraud Scheme.  Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar, Sep 15, 2022.  In Mississippi, the GOP leaders have refused to implement Clinton’s TANF welfare for the state’s poorest residents, and the Jackson water crisis unfolds, while elites take advantage of public money at the expense of the poor and the general citizen.

Lawrence O’Donnell, Trump Has Poisoned The Federal Judiciary.  The Last Word | MSNBC, Sep 15, 2022.  Florida Judge Aileen Cannon, appointed by Trump, claimed that she does not believe that the documents retrieved by the FBI are classified!

Ben Meiselas, Donald Trump’s New Lawyer for Mar-A-Lago Search Exposed as Foreign Agent of Venezuela.  Meidas Touch, Sep 19, 2022.  Trump paid lawyer Christopher Kise $3 million from the Save America PAC (corrupt, and the likely target of a DOJ investigation).  Kise was a registered foreign agent of Venezuela, and wanted to see the classified documents that the FBI retrieved from Mar-a-Lago.

Ben Meiselas, Top Former Republican Prosecutors SLAM Trump and Judge Aileen Cannon in New Court of Appeals Brief.  Meidas Touch, Sep 20, 2022.  “Former top republican prosecutors have filed a new amicus brief — also known as a friend of the court brief — before the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals where they strongly criticize the meritless legal positions advanced by Trump and adopted by Judge Aileen Cannon in her “unprecedented” and unlawful ruling arising out of the DOJ’s proper seizure of stolen items by Trump during the execution of their August 8 search warrant.”

Ben Meiselas, Breaking: Trump Lawyers File Deranged Response to DOJ Appeal Joined by MAGA Attorneys General.  Meidas Touch, Sep 20, 2022.  Notably, 11 GOP Attorneys General from Texas, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Louisiana, South Carolina, Utah, and West Virginia filed an amicus brief to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in defense of Trump, arguing that none of our national security interests are compromised by Trump’s theft and careless handling of classified documents.

Minnesota Public Radio News, Feds: 47 Charged in ‘Brazen' $250M COVID Spending Fraud. MPR News, Sep 20, 2022.  “Federal authorities on Tuesday laid out what they described as the nation’s largest COVID-19 funding scam, alleging that dozens of people used an elaborate operation centered on the group Feeding our Future to steal funds intended to feed needy children.”

Ben Meiselas, Senate Condemns Trump’s Despicable Anti-FBI Conduct in Scathing Unanimous Resolution.  Meidas Touch, Sep 21, 2022.  The Senate declared that the documents are the property of the US government, condemned physical and verbal attacks on the FBI by Trump and MAGA.

James Li, Big Business Abusing Homeless Policies To Enrich Themselves.  Breaking Points w/James Li, Dec 10, 2022.  When federal, state, and local governments are not allowed to exercise eminent domain to own and develop affordable housing on its own, public-private partnerships are used and corporations abuse the money.

Lawrence O’Donnell, Why Were Some FBI Agents ‘Inclined to Believe Trump'?  The Last Word | MSNBC, Mar 2, 2023.  See also Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American: March 3, 2023.  HCR writes,

“The report reveals the Republicans’ “dozens and dozens of whistleblowers” are, so far at least, three witnesses—whistleblower is actually a specific category and they do not meet that standard—who have left the FBI and have complained that the agency is biased against “conservatives.” Two of them lost their security clearances before they left, and while committee Republicans refused to show Democrats the men’s suspension notices, one revealed in his testimony that the notice arrived after he had improperly accessed documents from the FBI’s classified system. All three embrace a number of conspiracy theories. Under oath, they provided only right-wing accusations of bias without being able to attest to any first-hand knowledge of the things they alleged. The witnesses did not come forward on their own; they were identified by former administrators in the Trump administration, including fervent Trump loyalists Kash Patel and Russell Vought. Patel provided money and legal services to two of the witnesses and found one of them a job at Vought’s right-wing think tank, the Center for Renewing America, after he left the FBI.”

James Risen and Thomas Risen, The Last Honest Man: The CIA, the FBI, the Mafia, and the Kennedys―and One Senator's Fight to Save Democracy.  Little, Brown and Company | Amazon page, May 9, 2023.  “Senator Frank Church of Idaho was an unlikely hero. He led congressional opposition to the Vietnam War and had become a scathing, radical critic of what he saw as American imperialism around the world. But he was still politically ambitious, privately yearning for acceptance from the foreign policy establishment that he hated and eager to run for president. Despite his flaws, Church would show historic strength in his greatest moment, when in the wake of Watergate he was suddenly tasked with investigating abuses of power in the intelligence community. The dark truths that Church exposed—from assassination plots by the CIA, to links between the Kennedy dynasty and the mafia, to the surveillance of civil rights activists by the NSA and FBI—would shake the nation to its core, and forever change the way that Americans thought about not only their government but also their ability to hold it accountable.”  See interview by Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez, "The Last Honest Man": James Risen on How Former Senator Frank Church Exposed CIA, FBI & NSA.  Democracy Now, Jun 27, 2023.  

David Sirota and Matthew Cunningham-Cook, Florida Lawmakers Help DeSantis Shovel More Cash To Wall Street. The Lever, May 16, 2023.

“As Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis positions himself for a presidential bid, his state’s Republican-controlled legislature just sent him a bill that could enrich prospective Wall Street donors he may need to finance his campaign. That includes a GOP mega-donor who DeSantis recently met with as the bill advanced. But if DeSantis does try to make a fundraising play off the new pension investment bill, it could put him on a collision course with federal regulators — if those regulators decide to enforce a longstanding anti-corruption rule that has previously hindered other governors considering a White House bid.”

Benjamin Wittes, Notes on the Durham Report: A Reading Diary. Lawfare, May 17, 2023. An excellent examination of how the DoJ was weaponized by Trump.

Johnny Harris, How Congress Gets Rich from Insider Trading.  Johnny Harris, May 31, 2023.

James Li, The Flaws Of The Scientific Consensus.  Breaking Points, Jun 4, 2023.  On how funding flows around scientific research.

Patrick Boyle, The Scam of The Century! Patrick Boyle, Jun 16, 2023. Roughly 10% of the $4.2 trillion given by Trump and Biden for pandemic relief was taken fraudulently.

Scott R. Anderson, Anna Bower, Saraphin Dhanani, Natalie K. Orpett, Alan Z. Rozenshtein, Stephanie Pell, Trump Jan. 6 Indictment: The Statutes.  Lawfare, Aug 1, 2023.  

Scott R. Anderson, Quinta Jurecic, Gia Kokotakis, Katherine Pompilio, Natalie K. Orpett, Benjamin Wittes, The Big One: Trump Is Indicted for Jan. 6.  Lawfare, Aug 1, 2023. 

Morning Joe, Jared Kushner's Money from Saudi Arabia Comes into Sharper Focus.  Morning Joe | MSNBC, Aug 14, 2023.

Robert Weissman, The Corporate Sabotage of America’s Future.  Public Citizen, Sep 2023.  Free PDF book.  See interview by Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti, Corruption Expert: How Pharma Stole Half a Trillion From Taxpayers.  Breaking Points, Sep 26, 2023.  

Heidi Przybyla, What Ginni Thomas and Leonard Leo Wrought: How a Justice’s Wife and a Key Activist Started a Movement. Politico, Sep 10, 2023. “Thanks to the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, a trove of so-called “dark money” was about to be unleashed. Two activists prepared to seize the moment.” See interview with Mehdi Hasan, New Bombshell Report on Payments to Ginni Thomas by ‘Face of Dark Money’ Leonard Leo. Mehdi Hasan Show | MSNBC, Sep 11, 2023.

Devin Stone, Staggering (Alleged) Corruption of Senator Bob Menendez.  Legal Eagle, Sep 30, 2023. 

David Sirota, The Menendez Scandal Reflects The World That SCOTUS Built.  The Lever, Sep 22, 2023.  “Less than a decade ago, justices reviewed a case that echoed today’s Menendez scandal. This one involved former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R), whom a federal jury found guilty on 11 counts of conspiracy for accepting lavish gifts from a businessman in exchange for gubernatorial favors. However, Supreme Court justices unanimously overturned McDonnell’s conviction in 2016 on the grounds that those favors were permissible.”

Robert Barnes and Ann E. Marimow, Supreme Court Under Pressure Issues Ethics Guidelines Specific to Justices.  Washington Post, Nov 13, 2023. 

Unusual Whale, Congressional Trading 2023.  Unusual Whale, Jan 2, 2024.  

Heather Cox Richardson, January 4, 2024.  Letters from an American | Substack, Jan 5, 2024.  “The Democrats on the House Oversight Committee today released a 156-page report showing that when he was in the presidency, Trump received at least $7.8 million from 20 different governments, including those of China, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, and Malaysia, through businesses he owned.”

Eric Lipton, Jonathan Swan, and Maggie Haberman, As Kushner’s Investment Firm Steps Out, the Potential Conflicts Are Growing. New York Times, Apr 9, 2024. “Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners has invested more than $1.2 billion, much of it in firms abroad, drawing new scrutiny as his father-in-law, Donald Trump, again seeks the presidency.” For helpful political context, see Ana Kasparian and Cenk Uyghur, Report: We Should Be Very Concerned About Jared Kushner. The Young Turks, Apr 9, 2024.

Brian Tyler Cohen and Glenn Kirschner, Top Trump Aide Gets News He’s Dreaded from Supreme Court. Brian Tyler Cohen, Apr 30, 2024. Peter Navarro has to finish his four month prison sentence, plus fines. By contrast, Steve Bannon was convicted of identical crimes but allowed to stay at home before his appeal. The difference is that Bannon was tried by Carl Nichols, a Trump-appointed judge. This is a dangerous precedent — the corruption of the judiciary is a real threat.