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Relevance: 100% Posted on: December 21, 2014
This weekend at Townhall, a look at a “favorite son,” the latest “leader” to dip his toe into presidential waters. America doesn’t need that kind of leadership. Click on over, give it a read, then come back here to make sure you've got a grasp on the extent of our…
Relevance: 87% Posted on: February 20, 2015
The political insider’s method of dealing with scandal since President Richard Nixon’s 1974 resignation has evolved. President Bill Clinton marshaled the stonewall defense, and his scandals didn’t quite stick, even as incriminating facts came to light. Nowadays, it seems like politicians can stay in office no matter what the misstep,…
Relevance: 84% Posted on: January 15, 2009
Rent control is said to reduce rents. Economists disagree. Only some rents remain low, compared to others, in cities with rent control. If the cities foreswore rent control, most rents would tend to be lower. There are other reasons to oppose rent control. The policy increases social stratification, as sociologists…
Relevance: 83% Posted on: April 13, 2009
When Ted Stevens, former senator from Alaska, was convicted on seven felony counts of corruption, I stressed that what I knew about Stevens’s corruption was not what was debated in court but what happened, quite openly, in the U.S. Senate. Do you remember my verdict? Here’s what I said: “[I]f…
Relevance: 82% Posted on: August 27, 2017
The weird world of Trump’s America: it must be frustrating to be an insider now, since all the old rules about loyalty, decency, and acceptability have been turned on their head. This has important consequences for future politics. Click on over to Townhall for the Common Sense of an uncommon…
Relevance: 80% Posted on: September 2, 2020
The true way to abolish corruption is to suppress the opportunity for corruption. But the more government and municipal undertakings increase in number and importance, the more these opportunities will multiply.Yves Guyot, Where and Why Public Ownership Has Failed (1914).
Relevance: 70% Posted on: August 12, 2008
How long does it take for the wheels of justice to grind ’round to grab a corrupt politician? In Senator Ted Stevens’s case, the answer is “a long time.” It took a year for the government to charge him with anything, after raiding his Alaska home on July 30, 2007.…
Relevance: 69% Posted on: May 13, 2023
Paul Jacob provides variations on a theme. The theme was whistled (in the dark?) several times earlier this week. But here it receives its fullest treatment: https://soundcloud.com/thisweekincommonsense/even-non-corruption-would-be-leadership-by-default Once again, Paul discusses reader mail, from this website. Well: one letter. Listen to see whose!
Relevance: 66% Posted on: April 14, 2012
“The fight for justice against corruption is never easy. It never has been and never will be. It exacts a toll on our self, our families, our friends, and especially our children. In the end, I believe, as in my case, the price we pay is well worth holding on…
Relevance: 66% Posted on: October 26, 2023
It’s a truism of popular political discourse: corruption in Washington is endemic. The fact that so many people who serve in Congress come out far richer than when they went in is testament to the corruption, not selfless service. Studies document how it is done, regulatory regimes monitor the money…
Relevance: 61% Posted on: August 16, 2014
The War on Drugs led to the use of police state tactics and widespread corruption. http://youtu.be/MMRqOBQqsOo
Relevance: 60% Posted on: July 9, 2001
Do we really have the right to free speech? Our campaign finance laws, and the "burdens" they impose on First Amendment rights of free speech and free association are often justified by the courts because of what the courts call "the compelling state interest" in combating "corruption and the appearance…
Relevance: 59% Posted on: November 17, 2011
Splitting the country between the “99 percent” and the “1 percent” scapegoats successful people. Being rich is a good thing . . . unless the wealth is obtained dishonestly. Which brings me to Congress. Last Sunday, 60 Minutes featured Peter Schweizer, author of Throw Them All Out, a new book…
Relevance: 58% Posted on: April 3, 2016
If you needed money, you could get money. Kenyetta Wilbourn Snapp, 40, in a series of exclusive interviews. The children are not the focus, money is the focus. And what happens to the money no one knows because the money does not reach the classroom. Beverly Jones, former New Jersey…
Relevance: 57% Posted on: January 8, 2012
“I weep for the liberty of my country when I see at this early day of its successful experiment that corruption has been imputed to many members of the House of Representatives, and the rights of the people have been bartered for promises of office.”
Relevance: 57% Posted on: November 13, 2000
Perhaps it's no longer news that lobbyists and politicians have become rip-off artists. But the extent to which our political culture has been corrupted, and the arrogance with which these folks including judges tolerate the sleaze still makes me see red. Gerard Evans is a "million-dollar-a-year super-lobbyist" in Maryland. But…
Relevance: 56% Posted on: June 29, 2009
Ah, these United States — which is most corrupt? New Jersey’s a traditional favorite. Chris Christie, the Republican candidate for governor this year, built his reputation as a federal prosecutor convicting 130 state and local politicians of corruption. But Illinois is a contender: Think ousted Governor Rod Blagojevich. Now, make…
Relevance: 56% Posted on: January 17, 2012
The Federal Reserve is America’s central bank, and its managers are political appointees. But transparency — an essential feature of the republican form of government — is something that doesn’t quite describe the information we (and our representatives) get about that institution. “Opacity” is probably the best word to describe…
Relevance: 56% Posted on: October 22, 2018
On Friday, the Arkansas Supreme Court struck Issue 3, a citizen-initiated measure to restore legislative term limits, from Arkansas’ November ballot. The Court declared, 4-3, that there weren’t enough “valid” signatures. This, despite opponents never disputing that more than enough Arkansas voters had signed the petition. In recent years, legislators…
Relevance: 56% Posted on: January 15, 2022
What is? you may ask. Well, a new virus. But so also are lies. And corruption. And love of big government über alles. Which is why you should listen to Paul Jacob every weekend. Paul rethinks the big stories of the week, and serves as a watchdog on government and…
Relevance: 56% Posted on: October 15, 2017
If ever it needed proving before, it is proven, now: power is not just politics. It is influence, as well. And Hollywood folks have been very influential. Harvey Weinstein highest among them. And apparently most corrupt. Resist the abusers of power and click on over to Townhall. Then come back…
Relevance: 55% Posted on: June 27, 2014
When I write about “government corruption” I usually mean one of three things: Government personnel breaking their public trust and “working for themselves,” as in taking kick-backs and the like. You know, like Rep. Duke Cunningham (R-Calif.) taking $2.3 million in bribes, and Hillary Clinton’s cattle future trades of a…
Relevance: 55% Posted on: December 1, 2016
When Hillary Clinton assured her insider sponsors (as we learned through WikiLeaks) that there would be a crucial difference between what she tells the people and what her actual policies would be, she was not merely admitting to a private and a public face. The President is legally, and by…
Relevance: 55% Posted on: January 14, 2011
Local government is hard. In rural areas, it can be like organizing an ongoing bake-sale. In metropolitan areas, it’s more like running a small country. Today’s big metropolitan governments tend to be run by un-term-limited oligarchs, so of course corruption is endemic. When there’s little competition for power and scant…
Relevance: 54% Posted on: January 11, 2017
Yesterday, we discovered that the biggest term limits opponent in Arkansas — former state senator Jon Woods — also allegedly led an elaborate legislative fraud scheme, whereby he and a state representative traded tax dollars for cash bribes. For now, Woods is an unindicted co-conspirator. But last week, the representative…
Relevance: 54% Posted on: October 14, 2019
Corruption is worse than prostitution. The latter might endanger the morals of an individual, the former invariably endangers the morals of the entire country.
Relevance: 54% Posted on: December 27, 2023
Corruption is worse than prostitution. The latter might endanger the morals of an individual, the former invariably endangers the morals of the entire country.
Relevance: 54% Posted on: July 28, 2015
In the 15 states voters have enacted term limits for their state representatives and senators, those politicians and the lobbyists and heads of powerful interest groups constantly complain that the limits are a problem. I know. That’s why I like term limits. Am I a broken record on the subject?…
Relevance: 53% Posted on: July 8, 2009
Ya gotta love Lou Lang. Any public servant who can manage to exude vast indifference to the public’s disgust with endless political corruption has something going for him. As a state representative in Illinois, he has had a front-row seat to the constant corruption sordidly and melodramatically symbolized by former…
Relevance: 53% Posted on: January 15, 2017
Fighting corruption in government is a never-ending task. But it looks like there are certain institutional practices that can help us, year in, year out. Click on over to Townhall for the latest lesson in this ancient wisdom, pried from newspaper headlines. Then come back here for those headlines: Arkansas…
Relevance: 52% Posted on: October 11, 2015
Click on over to Townhall.com for an expanded discussion of Wednesday’s Common Sense. Then come back here for more reading: Hillary Clinton: The Daily Mail Powerline Blog Emanuel Rahm: Chicago Tribune's lawsuit more on the Trib lawsuit Yahoo story on public education corruption ABC News on the Chicago corruption story Chicago Tribune…
Relevance: 51% Posted on: October 3, 2008
Can you be kicked out of the government for serving sautéed shad roe? Prime Minister Samak Sundarave of Thailand has just been ousted by a Thai court for violating the constitution. His crime? Hosting TV cooking shows while in office. Samak was the host of “Tasting, Grumbling,” and “Touring at…
Relevance: 51% Posted on: May 6, 2018
Over at Townhall, the logic of “inclusion” is examined — and the examination includes an explanation for why exclusion is the usual tactic of the inclusionists. Click back here for the back-up. Yelp: Churchill Tavern Fox News Insider: 'Nazi Scum, Get Out': Milo Yiannopoulos Heckled by Crowd, Driven Out of…
Relevance: 50% Posted on: February 18, 2018
After every major school shooting the calls for “doing something serious about guns” burst into the national conversation. And yet... considering how lame most actual proposals are ... what is really the ultimate intention appears to be gun prohibition and confiscation. And the thing about that? It means that only…
Relevance: 50% Posted on: February 19, 2001
Lobbyists can't lobby Maryland Legislators from prison. Not anymore. I'm sorry, but legislators have put their feet down this time. No lobbying from prison, period. We can all sleep better now. Wait a second what? Well, first you have to realize that there's a "culture of corruption created and tolerated…
Relevance: 49% Posted on: April 10, 2014
“In Maxine Waters’ economy,” wrote Timothy Carney yesterday, “big business rows the boat while government steers.” The Democratic Congresswoman, known for championing the poor and the less well-off, just loves throwing money around. Including to the rich. Carney shows that, for all her anti-big biz talk, she’s playing into the…
Relevance: 49% Posted on: November 19, 2008
Senator Ted Stevens is an unrepentant porkster whose close relations and special deals with an Alaska business recently led to a conviction on seven felony counts. But he’s not giving in, and has appealed his conviction. He also ran for a seventh Senate term, and it looks like he’s won…
Relevance: 48% Posted on: July 26, 2015
The results are in. There’s an easy way to constrain political corruption. Click on over to Townhall to find out more. Then come back here for some more reading: US Term Limits: “State Legislative Term Limits” St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “Missouri term limits debated” States of Corruption Illinois Townhall.com: “Term Limits,…
Relevance: 48% Posted on: November 13, 2000
Remember Jesse Ventura? Sure you do. A movie star and former wrestler, Ventura captured the governor's seat in Minnesota a couple years back by giving a body slam to politics as usual. Lord knows I don't agree with all the man's opinions, nor all his policies neither. But I do…
Relevance: 48% Posted on: May 2, 2016
Americans concerned with government corruption really should study Italy. Why? “You know Italians,” septuagenarian Elio Ciampanella was quoted in the New York Times last week. “If there is a law, they will try to find ways to go around it!” But it is not just ordinary citizens — the people…
Relevance: 47% Posted on: March 12, 2009
Blagojevich is out! Quinn is in! There is gubernatorial hope for corruption-riddled Illinois. Now, admittedly, I don’t agree with Governor Pat Quinn on every issue. But few governors can boast Quinn’s long record as an anti-establishmentarian reformer. In April of last year, Pat Quinn, then Illinois’s lieutenant governor, was pushing…
Relevance: 47% Posted on: February 10, 2017
Romania’s parliament has confidence in . . . itself. Sorta. A parliamentary no-confidence vote failed, despite 161 lawmakers voting for the resolution and only eight voting with the government. Confused? The no-confidence measure failed because the Social Democrats, controlling nearly two-thirds of the 465 seats in parliament, abstained on the…
Relevance: 47% Posted on: November 21, 2019
One reason to talk about corruption a lot is that there is a lot of corruption to talk about. The scheme was to get Kaiser Permanente to buy 20,000 copies of her children’s book, Healthy Holly, at a decidedly non-discounted price of $5 a pop, while the health provider was…
Relevance: 47% Posted on: May 26, 2014
While running for the Senate, Elizabeth Warren informed Lawrence O’Donnell and his MSNBC audience that she didn’t understand how Congressfolk could keep playing the stock market while in office. She trotted out the notion of stock management via blind trusts. She and O’Donnell understand that members of Congress have apparently…
Relevance: 46% Posted on: January 31, 2019
Corruption never has been compulsory; when the cities lie at the monster’s feet there are left the mountains.Robinson Jeffers, “Shine, Perishing Republic” (1939).
Relevance: 46% Posted on: January 5, 2009
The name. The hair. The gall. Illinois Governor Rod Blogojevich is getting lots of attention. However, the governor’s favor-trading is unique only in blatancy. The longer politicians hold power, the more readily they regard pay-to-play corruption as acceptable, profitable. Which is one reason I advocate initiative rights, term limits, mandatory…
Relevance: 46% Posted on: August 29, 2017
Last week, when President Donald Trump abandoned his previous policy position on getting U.S. troops out of Afghanistan in favor of continuing the establishment-supported policy of keeping those troops there, he was very well-received in our nation’s capital. NeverTrumper/neo-con Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.) spoke of Mr. Trump’s “smarts” and “moral…
Relevance: 46% Posted on: November 8, 2012
If your candidate or issue didn’t win on Tuesday, then, sure, Western civilization is completely finished, kaput. No doubt. But still, let’s look at the bright side. At least the presidential election provided a $2.5 billion stimulus to the economy, without raising anyone’s taxes (yet) or borrowing a nickel from…
Relevance: 46% Posted on: August 3, 2009
For the millions of people living in New Jersey, who’ve never been arrested on corruption charges, this one’s for you. Recently, the FBI arrested 44 folks there, including two state legislators and three mayors. Big news, I guess, but hardly unusual by Jersey standards. The U.S. Attorney says the state’s…
Relevance: 45% Posted on: November 7, 2011
“Too little, too late.” I am not alone to suspect that the Occupy movement — the 99 percenters — started its protest against corporate greed and government cronyism several years too late. Where were the Occupiers when the Tea Party protests started? Dancing in the streets over the Obama presidency?…