Two days after Biden was inaugurated, I said that, as long as we can root out dark money and opaque funding sources in our political system, Dems would be in a great position to win in 2022.
I still believe this, which is why I have spent so much time bringing attention to it.
Dark money vehicles are also responsible for funding and coordinating most of the astroturf style propaganda operations that continue to divide us against each other and erode confidence in our government.
And then, if our new SCOTUS Justices rule in favor of their own donors, there is another option - one that is much simpler, but that also will require a lot of political courage and public support.
Biden can simply have the IRS enforce the rules; remove their tax exempt status.
..the GOP has built a ruthlessly efficient authoritarian power structure around these various groups, coordinating it all from the top down - from the national down to the state level.
This is not an arms race we want to escalate or continue.
“Money laundering is a crime that makes other crimes possible. It can accelerate economic inequality, drain public funds, undermine democracy, and destabilize nations — and the banks play a key role.”
“The Trump administration has made it even harder to hold executives personally accountable, under guidance by former deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein that warned government agencies against “piling on.”
How to Actually Prosecute the Financial Crimes of the Very Rich
“I quit the DOJ because I no longer wanted to participate in a system this permissive.”
Paul E. Pelletier
Former federal financial-crimes prosecutor
The network has also repeatedly facilitated online and offline harassment campaigns against perceived enemies, often leading to real-world harm, including attacks and assaults.
Sorry, it’s that Obama was an “Arab,” not a Nigerian Muslim terrorist (that was said about Obama many times too, but that isn’t what was said in this clip).
This was 13 years ago.
And here is how Liz Cheney handled the seething anger engendered toward Obama and Dems over the idea he was born in Kenya. She justified & basically encouraged it.
When out of power, Republicans use the positions that they do have as tools to sabotage the agenda of their democratically elected “enemies,” as part of a strategy to regain power.
This “political warfare” has been standard since at least 2009.
Salsman is another product of the perverse set of selection pressures that create the modern GOP’s candidate pool.
Ask yourself why so many predators - sexual, emotional, financial and otherwise - decide, and feel confident & safe enough, to seek public office as a Republican.
Republican Charles Peruto Jr. is also running for DA in Pennsylvania (Philadelphia).
Peruto has repped mafia figures, including Joey Merlino and Nicky Scarfo.
His campaign website has a section explaining how his 26yo girlfriend/paralegal came to be found dead in his bathtub.