Preach.

During an interview on Fox on Tuesday night, Sen. Rubio some poignant thoughts about the wildly nefarious nature of the several scandalizing stories currently bleeding out of the Obama administration: Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com I can tell you that what’s become clearly apparent is a culture throughout the federal government — not just [...]

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"A nuclear event."

It’s difficult to keep up with Scandal-o-Rama these days, isn’t it? Let’s bring in a seasoned hand in analyzing government corruption and intimidation.  Carl Bernstein appeared on Morning Joe earlier today, declaring the conduct of the Obama administration “outrageous,” and their pattern of behavior “a nuclear event” waiting to happen. So, he’s talking about scrubbing terrorism [...]

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Patterns.

In yesterdays hearings on Benghazi, Gregory Hicks told the House Oversight Committee that the State Department warned him about cooperating with investigators and retaliated against him for challenging the bogus talking points about a “spontaneous demonstration.” Mark Thompson further testified to being cut out of the loop after he insisted that FEST should be activated, [...]

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Apparently.

When Charlie Rangel ended up with a censure on the House floor after the House Ethics Committee found him guilty of a wide range of misconduct, most of us scoffed at the punishment.  A censure is the middle ground of Congressional punishments — basically a strongly-worded memo read aloud while the guilty stands on the [...]

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Second look at rich loathsome nanny buying election?

And here we thought Michael Bloomberg was as bad as it gets.  Instead of having a multi-billionaire buy the office, though, the FBI busted a half-dozen people this morning for allegedly attempting to rig the next New York City mayoral race, which will take place this year.  The good news?  Political corruption is bipartisan: State Senator [...]

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Prostituting the office.

Looks like that pushback on the prostitution angle of the Robert Menendez scandal didn’t cut him any slack with federal prosecutors.  The Washington Post reported early this morning that a federal grand jury in Miami has begun a probe of the new chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, putting the Democrat in a tough [...]

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NAT GAS conversion.

The more the media looks into the ties between Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and his big donor and private-jet provider Salomon Melgen, the more potential corruption floats to the surface. Today, the Associated Press discovers that Melgen turns out to be one of the big investors in a company that would have benefited from Menendez’ [...]

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Accountability.

The last twenty-four hours have been rather remarkable for those interested in politics and media.  Journalists often speak of the need to impose accountability on public officials, and to “speak truth to power,” especially when it comes to corruption and favoritism.  The New York Times dropped a bombshell into their laps two days ago in [...]

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AKA, Who Wants to Be a Federal Probe Target?

Today, lucky Chicago voters in Illinois’ 2nd Congressional District get to go to the polls and select their next Representative.  Actually, I need to clarify two points.  First, today is the Democratic primary, which in IL-02 is functionally the general election, as Republicans stand no chance in the actual special election in April.  Second, IL-02 [...]

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"Let's hope for a better next chapter"

This morning, over a plate of coddled eggs and scrapple, I flipped on the television and watched some of Morning Joe. (There goes the quote for the first twenty comments…) At around the 6:30 mark, they broke into a short bit of coverage of Jesse Jackson jr. and his current legal woes. (Which I wrote [...]

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Bad news for Geraldo.

Those darned right-wing blogs!  In case no one knew it before, today’s poll from Quinnipiac demonstrates that allegations of corruption and use of prostitution still matters in politics, even in New Jersey. In a month, Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) has gone from a 51-33 approval rating to 36/41, a 23-point drop in the gap: New Jersey [...]

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Busted

It seems like I can still remember back when Jesse Jackson Jr. disappeared for long stretches of time to seek treatment for debilitating health issues, becoming a sympathetic figure on the Left. Ah, good times, good times. Ed brought us up to date a couple of weeks ago, after it became obvious that there was [...]

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Getting toxic?

It started off as a sex scandal, and it’s coming back around again.  The Washington Post reported last night that the FBI has expanded its probe of Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) beyond the interventions on behalf of big donor Salomon Melgen and his business interests, and into allegations that Menendez frequented prostitutes while traveling with [...]

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Details, details.

The New York Times has a blockbuster update to the Robert Menendez corruption story, but an oddly passive headline for it — “Details Emerging in Menendez Case.”  The URL suggests that someone at the Gray Lady watered down an original headline, which describes the story more accurately — “Menendez Discouraged Giving Port Security Equipment to [...]

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Did he throw his wife under the bus?

Isn’t this becoming a tradition in Illinois politics? A couple of the state’s recent governors went from the big mansion to the Big House, too, and so did Jesse Jackson Jr’s predecessor in his House seat, Mel Reynolds.  Jackson will follow in that tradition, according to a new report from the Chicago Sun-Times’s Michael Sneed [...]

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Waste, fraud, and abuse.

Members of Congress often argue that all of the problems in Medicare and Medicaid can be solved by working on “waste, fraud, and abuse.”  The good news is that Senator Robert Menendez has been hard at work on the problem.  The bad news is that he’s been working to protect it, at least according to [...]

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Plus, Menendez' long ties to Melgen -- and Melgen's increasing support after IRS liens.

It didn’t occur to me yesterday that the sudden rush to reimburse a donor $58,500 for private-jet flights to the Dominican Republic might have left Senator Robert Menendez a little short on funds.  Most Senators have significant personal wealth, and while no one wants to have to write a $60,000 check, most of them could [...]

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“I’m chalking it up to an oversight.”

“Wonderful things, subpoenas,” Wilford Brimley said in Absence of Malice, after the threat of one broke the silence of conspirators in the film’s climax.  We can add FBI raids to that list of wonderful catalysts.  After discovering that the FBI had raided the offices of his frequent travel companion and campaign donor Salomon Melgen, Senator [...]

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...Seriously?

Via Politico… just wow. Welcome to Chicago, I suppose: Emanuel is sending letters to two major financial institutions, TD Bank and Bank of America, which offer lines of credit to gun makers suggesting that they stop lending money to the manufacturers if they don’t come out for new gun restrictions. “TD Bank currently aids the [...]

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Integrity

These days, when you see a story about a big city mayor and a hurricane, you’re expecting to see more jaw flapping from Michael Bloomberg of the Big Apple talking about Sandy. But this weekend we get to bring you a blast from the past. Anybody remember Ray Nagin? For our youngest readers, a brief [...]

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Money for nothing

Another convoluted tale comes our way which could be straight out of the pages of a script for a grainy, film noir classic. It involves millions of taxpayer dollars wasted or worse. A definite odor of corruption permeates the air. Money is handed out in unaccountable ways to dubious destinations and bureaucratic waste is on [...]

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Sketch.

There is little-to-zero doubt in my mind that the Environmental Protection Agency regularly exhibits all of the lovelier aspects of big-government model behavior. Cronyism, corruption, shady and underhanded anti-transparency dealings, fiscal irresponsibility, power-tripping bureaucratic zealotry — dig deeply enough, and I’d bet my last nickel that it’s all there. For all of President Obama’s grandiose [...]

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The Chicago Way.

This might be some kind of record, even for Chicago.  Just five days after winning a landslide victory in his re-election bid to the House, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. has begun negotiations for a plea deal that will send him to the big house instead: Jackson, Jr., the son of civil rights activist Rev. Jesse [...]

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Inevitable.

Of course, this was pretty much bound to happen, as it always is with any ill-thought-out, behemoth legislative overhauls of an entire industry, but that doesn’t make it any more pleasant when it does. Spoiler alert: Big government leads to rent-seeking, and President Obama’s erstwhile promises of transparency aren’t really worth a hill of beans. [...]

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"These are solar panels we are now seeing reports that said they worked as long as you didn't put them in the sun."

Will Abound Solar be the next Solyndra?  The Obama administration gave the Colorado solar panel manufacturer $68 million in subsidies — a down payment on almost $370 million approved by the Department of Energy – before the company suddenly closed its doors and went bankrupt.  The district attorney in Weld County has now opened a [...]

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