Federal investigation of Fox News expands. Wait, what federal investigation of Fox News?

What? A fraud investigation?

Courtesy of CNN: 

The U.S. Justice Department's investigation of Fox News has widened to include a second law enforcement agency. 

Financial crimes experts from the United States Postal Inspection Service are now involved, according to four sources connected to the investigation. 

Mail fraud and wire fraud cases are part of the USPIS purview. 

Investigators from both the USPIS and the Justice Department have been conducting interviews in recent weeks -- including with some former Fox staffers -- to obtain more information about the network's managers and business practices, the sources said. 

The existence of the federal investigation was revealed in February. At the time Fox News and its parent company 21st Century Fox said they had not been subpoenaed, but a spokeswoman said, "we have been in communication with the U.S. Attorney's office for months — we have and will continue to cooperate on all inquiries with any interested authorities."

Okay first off how come I did not know that the Justice Department was investigating Fox News? 

I mean I knew about all of the allegations of sexual harassment, and now racism, but this is a goddamn fraud investigation.

I cannot imagine how this one slipped under the radar.

So now not only are those working for Donald Trump being investigated by the Feds, but even the conservative news outlets spewing propaganda for Donald Trump are being investigated by the Feds.

Now I have to go out and buy an even bigger bag of popcorn, cause it looks like Fox News is about to take center stage in the "Karma comes to kick the shit out of Right Wing news outlets" category.

Senator Elizabeth Warren tears Wells Fargo CEO into tiny bite size pieces, and it is a thing of beauty.

Courtesy of UPROXX:  

During a Senate Banking Committee hearing, Senator Warren joined panel Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and others to grill Stumpf about his knowledge of and participation in the scam. Warren’s cross-examination was particularly tense, as the senator had to repeat her questions three or four times before they were answered to her satisfaction. 

“Mr. Stumpf, the Wells Fargo Vision and Values statement, which you frequently cite, says ‘We believe in values lived not phrases memorized. If you want to find out how strong a company’s ethics are, don’t listen to what its people say, watch what they do.'” Warren quoted. “So, let’s do that. Since this massive years-long scam came to light you have said repeatedly, ‘I am accountable.’ But what have you actually done to hold yourself accountable? Have you resigned as CEO or chairman of Wells Fargo?” Stumpf admitted that he had not resigned, nor had he returned any of his earnings to the company or fired any top executives. 

“You haven’t resigned, you haven’t returned a single nickel of your personal earnings, you haven’t fired a single senior executive,” Warren said. “Instead, evidently, your definition of ‘accountable’ is to push the blame to your low-level employees who don’t have the money for a fancy PR firm to defend themselves. It’s gutless leadership.”

The reason that Strumpf finds himself being treated like a puppy's chew toy by Elizabeth Warren is because his company just paid a 185 million dollar fine for opening fake accounts for its customers in order to make a profit without their knowledge.

This is fraud, and if Senator Warren hates anything, it's fraud.

I don't know about all of you but I could not help fantasizing about what it would be like to watch Warren laying a smackdown like this on Trump's running mare Mike Pence in a VP debate.

I know, I know, that ship has sailed.

But you can't blame a guy for wondering what if?

This just in, Donald Trump is a welcher. Oh this is going to leave a mark!

Courtesy of USA Today: 

Donald Trump often portrays himself as a savior of the working class who will "protect your job." But a USA TODAY NETWORK analysis found he has been involved in more than 3,500 lawsuits over the past three decades — and a large number of those involve ordinary Americans, like the Friels, who say Trump or his companies have refused to pay them. 

At least 60 lawsuits, along with hundreds of liens, judgments, and other government filings reviewed by the USA TODAY NETWORK, document people who have accused Trump and his businesses of failing to pay them for their work. Among them: a dishwasher in Florida. A glass company in New Jersey. A carpet company. A plumber. Painters. Forty-eight waiters. Dozens of bartenders and other hourly workers at his resorts and clubs, coast to coast. Real estate brokers who sold his properties. And, ironically, several law firms that once represented him in these suits and others. 

Trump’s companies have also been cited for 24 violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act since 2005 for failing to pay overtime or minimum wage, according to U.S. Department of Labor data. That includes 21 citations against the defunct Trump Plaza in Atlantic City and three against the also out-of-business Trump Mortgage LLC in New York. Both cases were resolved by the companies agreeing to pay back wages. 

In addition to the lawsuits, the review found more than 200 mechanic’s liens — filed by contractors and employees against Trump, his companies or his properties claiming they were owed money for their work — since the 1980s. The liens range from a $75,000 claim by a Plainview, N.Y., air conditioning and heating company to a $1 million claim from the president of a New York City real estate banking firm. On just one project, Trump’s Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City, records released by the New Jersey Casino Control Commission in 1990 show that at least 253 subcontractors weren’t paid in full or on time, including workers who installed walls, chandeliers and plumbing.

You know this is one is going to really get to Donald Trump who seems to care much more about his reputation as a successful business man than he cares about his campaign.

Personally I am not at all surprised that Trump is an asshole who does not take responsibility for his commitments and whose business reputation is as fraudulent as everything else about him.

I can hardly wait to hear Elizabeth Warren weigh in on this.

No, seriously -- Delete your account. https://t.co/O1u7oc0jAR

— Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) June 10, 2016

Elizabeth Warren certainly does not need Twitter to slam Donald Trump's reputation as a business man.

Courtesy of Politicususa:  

“Trump University,” a place where his former employees call it just one big fraudulent scheme. Now, rather than investing in high-quality instructors and counselors, Donald Trump put together an army of sales people. It was like a used car dealership—except that’s not fair to used car dealerships. 
Trump sales people would focus on how much money someone could come up with, and they would push perspective students to max out their credit cards so they could fork over thousands, sometimes tens of thousands of dollars to Donald. His playbook said to look for people with problems; they make good targets. 

Trump even encouraged his sales force to go after elderly people who were trying to build a little financial security. Now, Trump University failed and that’s no surprise. Think Trump Airlines, Trump Steaks, Trump Magazines, Trump Vodka, Trump Casinos, Trump Mortgage, Trump Games, Trump Travel Trump Ice, Trump Network, Trump Radio, and Trump New Media Company. 

Donald Trump is a proven businessman. A proven failure.

Gee look Donald, it appears that "Pocahontas" just scalped you.

Yep, she is gong to make a fabulous Vice President.

Another primary day, so of course more allegations of fraud from the Bernie Sanders campaign.

Courtesy of The Hill:

Bernie Sanders’s campaign is accusing Puerto Rico’s Democratic Party officials of fraud in the territory’s presidential primary. 

The campaign’s head of Hispanic voter efforts, Betsy Franceschini, told Caribbean Business in an interview that Sanders officials were initially denied access to prisons to help inmates vote. 

“Our Bernie Sanders officials were never certified. We had 40 officials we submitted in time for the prisons. Not one of them was certified, while all of theirs [Hillary Clinton’s] went in. Attorney Manny Suárez had to go in order for us to be let in. This is a great fraud,” Franceschini said.

Every single time, just like clockwork.

Of course the Puerto Rican Democratic party disagrees with this allegation:   

The head of the Democratic Party of Puerto Rico slammed the Sanders campaign on Saturday for accusing it of unfairly denying poll workers access to prisons to help inmates vote. 

"I am appalled at the remarks from the spokesperson of the Bernie Sanders Campaign in Puerto Rico, Ms. Betsy Franceschini," local Democratic Party president Roberto Prats said in a statement.

"The claim that the Democratic Party is delaying the certification of the Sanders' poll workers is preposterous. The first complete set of pollworkers for tomorrow's primary we have certified were all from the Sander's Campaign."

If you guessed that Hillary Clinton is leading Puerto Rico, which holds its primary today, in the polls you would be correct.

It seems that when Sanders is leading in the polls, or wins the primary, everything is copacetic, however if that is not the case, well then clearly there was some type of fraud.

The Sanders campaign might be worried about California as well, since the allegations around that state's primary have already started.

@LAist This is why. The Greek is in @davideryu's district. Could've been another council member though. pic.twitter.com/yQhGYTiqXS

— Antonio Manriquez (@ajmanx) June 4, 2016

The councilman's spokesman responded with this:

Ryu spokesman Estevan Montemayor called those messages “an inaccurate depiction of the last 24 hours” — saying the councilman’s office had been trying to help the campaign stage a successful event. Sanders’ campaign did not have a ticketing system or a plan for addressing traffic congestion, which is required of every group that holds a rally or concert at the Greek, Montemayor said. 

“Any person or organization that chooses to have an event at the Greek Theatre needs to follow all the same guidelines," Montemayor said. “The Sanders campaign was asked to work with L.A. city staff on a traffic mitigation plan and a ticketing system, just as the Clinton campaign has done for their event on Monday evening. The Sanders campaign chose not to move forward, all while the city held resources for tomorrow’s event.” 

Anybody else noticing a pattern?

Fox News "terrorism expert" pleads guilty to lying about being a former CIA agent.

Courtesy AOL: 

A Fox News guest terrorism analyst pleaded guilty on Friday to U.S. charges that he fraudulently claimed to have been a CIA agent for decades, federal prosecutors said. 

Wayne Simmons, 62, of Annapolis, Maryland, entered the plea in U.S. district court in Alexandria, Virginia, a Washington suburb, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a statement

The plea came in a hearing in which Simmons changed the not-guilty plea he had made in October. 

"His fraud cost the government money, could have put American lives at risk, and was an insult to the real men and women of the intelligence community who provide tireless service to this country," said Dana Boente, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. 

Simmons had appeared on Fox News, the top-ranked U.S. cable television news network, as an unpaid guest analyst on terrorism since 2002.

Well of course the "expert" that Fox News hires to support their Right Wing propaganda is a fraud.

Hell the whole network is a fraud.

Over the last few weeks I have made brief visits to Fox News just to get an idea as to how they are handling this whole election cycle, and it appears to me that they are no longer even pretending to be an actual news organization.

EVERY broadcast is about attacking Hillary Clinton, defending the Republicans, and arguing that the country is going to hell in a handbasket.

My current record is about seven or eight minutes before I have to change the channel while fighting my gag reflex.

Former strategist says that Donald Trump does not really want to be President.

Courtesy of Americans Against the Tea Party:

A former Trump strategist penned a scathing open letter blasting the GOP front-runner, while addressing the hotel magnate’s supporters, too. 

“I don’t think even Trump thought he would get this far,” Stephanie Cegielski wrote in a post which was published on XOJane. “And I don’t even know that he wanted to, which is perhaps the scariest prospect of all.” 

‘Trump never intended to be the candidate, but his pride is too out of control to stop him now,” she writes. 

“In fact, many people are not aware of the Trump campaign’s internal slogan, but I will tell you. It is stolen from a make-believe television presidency on The West Wing where Martin Sheen portrayed President Bartlet,” the post continues. “The slogan on the show amongst the idealistic group of Bartlet’s staff was “Let Bartlet Be Bartlet.” 

“Inside the Trump camp, the slogan became “Let Trump Be Trump,” she adds. 

“He doesn’t want the White House. He just wants to be able to say that he could have run the White House. He’s achieved that already and then some. If there is any question, take it from someone who was recruited to help the candidate succeed, and initially very much wanted him to do so,” Cegielski wrote of Trump.

I am not sure which is the more terrifying, that Trump never wanted to win and yet got this far, or that now he has changed his mind and really wants the job.

You know this was my theory in the very beginning of Trump's campaign, but after he kept winning and started to destroy his opponents one by one, I became less sure.

This cannot help but remind me of Sarah Palin who also seemed to run for office because she enjoyed the attention as well as the winning, but then did not really want to do the job once she had it.

So now the question is will Trump's ego force him to stick this thing out to the end, or will he sabotage himself so that he cannot possibly win and then blame it on the media or some shenanigans by the RNC or one of the other candidates?

Today's "Moment of Hypocrisy" is brought to you by leading Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson.

For more on this story click here.

P.S. By the way that whole "moment of Hypocrisy" thing is tongue in cheek, because I think we all know that it is extremely unlikely that we will go through the rest of the day with only one.

Investigation into Michigan charter schools finds much waste of taxpayer money and more than a little fraud.

Courtesy of Electablog: 

This week, the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) released a scathing report on charter schools in 12 states which have received federal funding. The report, titled Charter School Black Hole shows that Michigan charter schools received $34,997,658 between 2010-2015 under the federal Charter School Program (CSP). 139 of the 297 charters (as of 2014, the number is up to 302 now) in Michigan were subsidized in part by federal tax dollars in the past five years.

Here is just a little of what the investigation found:

Since the inception of charters in the state, more than 100 charters have closed (108). Many of them have closed due to lack of “academic viability” (poor results) while other have closed due to lack of “financial viability” (such as inadequate enrollment) and some for both or other failings. The total amount these schools have received is not known, but they certainly consumed well over $1 million in federal CSP grants before shuttering.

And it gets even worse:

Perhaps one of the most surprising takeaways from the federal information available about how taxpayer money is being spent or wasted is the existence of “ghost” schools that never opened. Out of the charters that were approved for CSP funds by the Michigan Department of Education in 2011 and 2012, twenty-five never opened. CMD learned this through its FOIA. 

The organizations behind these proposed charter schools were approved for a total of nearly $3.7 million in federal tax funds in “pre-planning” and “planning” grants, and they were received nearly $1.7 million, according to state expenditure reports CMD reviewed.

So millions of dollars of tax payer money, that COULD have gone toward improving public schools in Michigan, is wasted on funding school that either were NEVER going to open, or opened and then quickly closed.

And people wonder why our public schools are suffering.

Fox News terrorism expert has been arrested by the Feds and charged with fraud. Isn't that a prerequisite for Fox News?

Courtesy of CNN:

Wayne Simmons, a recurring guest on Fox News who claimed to have 27 years of experience with the CIA, was arrested Thursday after being indicted by a federal grand jury on charges that he lied about his service. 

Simmons is accused of falsely claiming that he worked as an "outside paramilitary special operations officer" for the CIA from 1973 to 2000. On Fox, this was often shortened to "former CIA operative." 

He was also indicted for using that false claim to gain government security clearances and an assignment as a defense contractor, where he advised senior military personnel overseas. 

Simmons made his initial appearance in court on Thursday afternoon. If convicted, he could face up to 35 years in prison on charges of major fraud against the United States, wire fraud, and making false statements to the government. 

Simmons is a familiar face to Fox News viewers. After the arrest was announced on Thursday, Fox News spokesperson Irena Briganti told CNN that he "was never a contributor for Fox News," and that he appeared on the network only as a non-paid guest. She therefore declined to comment further.

Uh...well as it turns out Simmons has a website on which he claims that  "has been a Terrorism Analyst for the Fox News Channel since 2002."

Can you say "Awkward?"

But let's be fair. After all just about everybody on Fox News is fake.

There are fake terrorism analysts.

Fake psychiatrists.

Fake liberals.

Fake black people.

And of course tons of fake journalists.

So if you are surprised by this then you simply have no been paying attention.

Florida Democrats suggest Jeb Bush lawyer up after it was revealed he identified himself as Hispanic on voter registration form.

Hey @JebBush, did you know it's a 3rd degree felony to submit false information on your voter registration form? pic.twitter.com/6xCafz1ydB
— FL Democratic Party (@FlaDems) April 6, 2015

It was from a 2009 registration form.

My mistake! Don’t think I’ve fooled anyone! RT @JebBushJr LOL - come on dad, think you checked the wrong box #HonoraryLatino
— Jeb Bush (@JebBush) April 6, 2015

Currently Jebbie is trying to laugh it off, but in fact it might not be something that can simply be dismissed with a shrug of the shoulders and an insincere mea culpa.

Some legal experts are saying that without evidence that Bush was trying to deceive it is unlikely he will face legal repercussions.

Political repercussions however.........

Sarah Palin's appearance at the fundraiser for PTSD was apparently a success. Which I take to mean that after her speech there are now more people suffering with PTSD.

This from Princess PTSD's Facebook page:  

What an honor it was tonight to speak at a fundraiser in Houston for the unique and wonderful organization called Mighty Oaks. Under Chad Robichaux's leadership, this strong, experienced military team helps our vets overcome PTSD. The work they do for our wounded warriors is so crucial. It’s the sincere heartfelt work that only private non-profits can really tackle. As a faith-based group, Mighty Oaks uses a Christ-centered approach to helping our vets heal, and their many success stories are incredibly inspiring. The number of vets struggling with PTSD is truly staggering. It’s our duty as a grateful nation to do everything we can to help our warriors who sacrificed so much to ensure our liberty. Mighty Oaks helps our men and woman regain the freedom in their own lives that they fought to defend. We can’t wait for politicians to tackle this. Every American who loves their freedom can step up and give our vets the love and support they deserve.

Yes only Christ-centered, faith based, non profits can address these problems adequately.

How dare any of us think that specially trained therapists with the VA or other non-faith based organizations know how to deal with post traumatic stress disorder.

Idiot!

I found exactly one news article covering the event from The Courier.

Here is a little of what it had to report: 

Former Alaska governor and 2008 vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin shared her views on the Second Amendment, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria crisis and military issues, as well as cracked some jokes and told personal anecdotes at the Mighty Oaks 4th Annual Gala at WoodsEdge Community Church Friday night. 

The gala, which drew about 400 guests, benefited the Mighty Oaks Warrior Programs, a faith-based, non-profit organization focused on helping veterans deal with post-traumatic stress disorder and adjust to life after combat.

Now I don't know enough about the size of the venue, or the past number of attendees to make fun of that 400 number, but I will say that it does not sound terribly impressive. 

And if that is all that showed up I wonder if they managed to show a profit after paying Palin to babble on about things she does not understand?

Speaking of things she does not understand she apparently did not hold back: 

When she took the stage, Palin started off by saying how glad she was to be in Texas and remembering the time she spent in the state during her summers in high school. 

“I’m gonna spare you guys all my Texas jokes, especially because I’m in church,” Palin said. 

She talked about her son, Track, an army veteran who served in Iraq, and his experience with the Mighty Oaks Programs. 

“He was enamored,” Palin said. 

“At this time in such a tumultuous world, we need our returning warriors to be strong, we need them to be healthy,” she said. “They need to win these battles too, the battles that are at home.” 

Palin went on the reminisce about the time when she went into labor with her youngest son, Trig, while in Texas and flew back to Alaska before he was born. 

The former governor touched on some political issues, including commenting on the violence in the Middle East and the president’s lack of response, global warming and Second Amendment rights. 

“One more thing Alaskans and Texans have in common,” Palin said. “I know I’m amongst a bunch of people clinging to their guns, their God and their Constitution.”

Yes sadly that last part about the similarities between Alaska and Texas is not wrong.

Well except for the God thing, Alaska is actually not that religious, except is certain concentrated areas like where Palin grew up.

As for the other points that she brought up.

I am surprised that she held back on raunchy jokes, simply because she was in a religious institution since it certainly has not stopped her before.

Secondly is this the first time that Palin is admitting that Track suffers from PTSD?

And how in the hell is he appropriate for this program since he saw no combat, and his PTSD is a preexisting condition that was the result of Palin's parenting?

And finally let me just vent about that damn Trig story for a minute.

Back in 2008 when I was pushing for the Alaska bloggers to get that out to the media in a united manner, and telling everybody that it was key to destroying Palin forever, they not only refused to participate but begged me not to continue either for fear it would damage our reputation as a group.

The argument back then was that the wild ride story was ultimately more damaging than the truth. A truth by the way which all of us agreed with.

Well now here we are six years later, and she is telling that story to new audiences all of the time, and rather than damaging her it seems to be one of the things that endear people to her.

Which considering the fact that it is a story about a middle aged woman with a high risk pregnancy, placing her unborn child at risk simply so that she could give a speech in Texas and further her political aspirations, seems kind of counter intuitive.

But there you have it. I was left all on my own to push for the truth, which I think I managed to prove beyond at least a legal shadow of a doubt, and yet this story continues to be told as if it, as crazy as it is, represents the facts concerning the birth of Trig Paxson Van Palin.

Still kind of burns my ass.

New report blows the lid off of charter school fraud and mismanagement.

Courtesy of Salon:  

The report, co-authored by the Center for Popular Democracy and Integrity in Education, makes the point that the problem of charter school waste, fraud and abuse, which it focuses on, is just one symptom of the underlying problem: inadequate regulation of charter schools. But it’s a massive symptom, which has so far received only fragmentary coverage.

The report takes its title from a section of a report to Congress by the Department of Education’s Office of the Inspector General, a report that took note of “a steady increase in the number of charter school complaints” and warned that state level agencies were failing “to provide adequate oversight needed to ensure that Federal funds [were] properly used and accounted for.” The report found that “charter operator fraud and mismanagement is endemic to the vast majority of states that have passed a charter school law.” It organized the abuse into six basic categories, each of which is treated in its own section: 

• Charter operators using public funds illegally for personal gain; • School revenue used to illegally support other charter operator businesses; 
• Mismanagement that puts children in actual or potential danger; 
• Charters illegally requesting public dollars for services not provided; 
• Charter operators illegally inflating enrollment to boost revenues; and, 
• Charter operators mismanaging public funds and schools. 

Perhaps most disturbingly, under the first category, crooked charter school officials displayed a wide range of lavish, compulsive or tawdry tastes. Examples include: 

• Joel Pourier, former CEO of Oh Day Aki Heart Charter School in Minnesota, who embezzled $1.38 million from 2003 to 2008. He used the money on houses, cars, and trips to strip clubs. Meanwhile, according to an article in the Star Tribune, the school “lacked funds for field trips, supplies, computers and textbooks.” 

• Nicholas Trombetta, founder of the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School is accused of diverting funds from it for his private purchases. He allegedly bought houses, a Florida Condominium and a $300,000 plane, hid income from the IRS, formed businesses that billed even though they had done no work, and took $550,000 in kickbacks for a laptop computer contract. 

• A regular financial audit in 2009 of the Langston Hughes Academy in New Orleans uncovered theft of $660,000 by Kelly Thompson, the school’s business manager. Thompson admitted that from shortly after she assumed the position until she was fired 15 months later, she diverted funds to herself in order to support her gambling in local casinos. 

Others spent their stolen money on everything from a pair of jet skis for $18,000 to combined receipts of $228 for cigarettes and beer, to over $30,000 on personal items from Lord & Taylor, Saks Fifth Avenue, Louis Vuitton, Coach and Tommy Hilfiger. But the real damage came from the theft of resources for children’s future. 

“Our school system exists to serve students and enrich communities,” said Sabrina Stevens, executive director of Integrity in Education. “School funding is too scarce as it is; we can hardly afford to waste the resources we do have on people who would prioritize exotic vacations over school supplies or food for children. We also can’t continue to rely on the media or isolated whistle-blowers to identify these problems. We need to have rules in place that can systematically weed out incompetent or unscrupulous charter operators before they pose a risk to students and taxpayers.”

Republicans are always going on about how everything is better when done by the private sector, however if the purpose of providing a service is to make money, then the possibility that fraud will occur is virtually a guarantee. 

In the meantime these schools rob funds from public education, thereby undermining its ability to educate our children, and providing the evidence of failure that the conservatives then use to justify the further cutting of funding and the promotion of more charter and private schools.

 Do you see what the Republicans did here?

They attack education, offer reforms that make it much worse, insist on vouchers to send children to private and charter schools in response, which sends taxpayer money away from public schools and toward private ones, which eventually reduces the number of public school teachers, thereby draining money from the teacher's union (NEA), and removing the influence of an organization that often backs, and funds, progressive candidates.

Of course this in turn makes it easier for conservatives to win seats, and further cut funding from public education.

In other words NONE of this push by conservatives has anything to do with education, and EVERYTHING to do with political power and influence.

Head of Mormon church summoned before British Magistrates on charges the organization's teachings are fraudulent. Oh, I like where this is going!

Courtesy of Daily Mail:  

The head of the Mormon church has been summoned to appear before British magistrates over claims the organisation’s teachings amount to fraud. 

In an unprecedented legal move, summonses have been issued against Thomas Monson over allegations the church’s request that followers pay a ‘tithe’ - ten per cent of their income - could be in breach of the Fraud Act 2006. 

Mr Monson, president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, based in Salt Lake City, Utah, was warned by Westminster Magistrates’ Court that failure to attend a hearing on March 14 ‘may result in a warrant for your arrest’. 

The summonses - described by legal experts as among the most unusual documents ever issued by a British court - queries seven Mormon teachings. 

The summonses were brought under little-used legal procedures where people who say they have evidence that someone has committed a crime can ask a magistrate to issue a summons for them to attend court. 

District Judge Elizabeth Roscoe, who signed the summonses, accuses Mr Monson of ‘dishonestly’ making a gain for himself or another’ by asking two men to pay tithes on the basis of ‘untrue or misleading’ representations. 

Among Mormon teachings queried are that the Book of Mormon was translated from ancient gold plates, that native Americans are descended from an Israelite family which left Jerusalem in 600BC and that all humans are descended from two people who lived 6,000 years ago. 

The Mormon Church - also known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - dismissed the summonses as containing ‘bizarre allegations’. 

Last night Mormon officials said that Mr Monson had no plans to attend the court case.

What? He's not going to respect a legal summons? 

I swear these Mormons act as if the laws of man don't apply to them.

Oh yeah, that's right.

Still I really love this, and hope that it spreads to every other religion as well. 

Let's face it NO religion could really hope to defend itself in the modern court system.

Sarah Palin pimps a 60 Minutes "expose" on the Social Security Disability Insurance program. Well you know what THAT means!

One time Palin supporter, who may be having second thoughts.

Courtesy of the Heartless Harridan's Facebook page:

In case you missed it, "60 Minutes" did an excellent segment on the waste and fraud in the Federal Disability Insurance Program. Kudos to Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and his staff for leading the investigation into this. And thank you, CBS, for covering it! 

She then links to this story on 60 Minutes in which Steve Kroft, with the help of Senator Coburn and some shady attorneys, supposedly lays bare the overwhelming fraud within the Social Security disability programs.

Now in my job I actually do some work with this program so I was surprised at how aggressively and unfairly 60 Minutes seemed to go after them. And apparently I was not alone, as indicated in the comments section of their own website.

Here is a sampling:  

I am a Social Security Disability Attorney in New York City. I watched the website recording of a 60 Minutes spot that aired last night and was disheartened by the sophistry I witnessed. Anytime I hear words like "It's been called a Secret Welfare System," which has been ravaged by waste and fraud, I cringe. First of all, I would like to know who has called it a secret welfare system --incendiary remarks like that must be backed up with facts. Secondly, who says it has been ravaged by waste and fraud -- this uncorroborated remark was left hanging out there as if it accurately reflected the System as a whole.

I also find it troubling and unacceptable that the only attorneys discussed in the program were Binder and Binder and Eric C. Conn. There were so many others you could have contacted about their experiences with the System. 

 Mr. Kroft, this irresponsible and short-sighted report should never have aired. I am surprised and disappointed in 60 Minutes, a program I have long admired, Please go back to the drawing board and deliver a revised program worthy of the name 60 Minutes. 

Here is another: 

Agree with all that this is a shameful 60 Minutes segment. Not that I doubt some lawyers are making money or that some of our fellow citizens are marginal disability recipients. Rather that 60 Minutes has what I hope is sheer ignorance (and not something else) wrapping the sheep's clothing of revealing fraud around the wolf of Tom Coburn who is a fervent advocate of Republican efforts to destroy America's safety net. Coburn's fundamental mission is not to reform Social Security Disability, but to destroy it by privatization. Too bad 60 Minutes is an enabler in his efforts. 

And another: 

I am one of the allegedly evil attorneys on TV .It might help for people to learn the day I heard of this story the two clients I signed up are typical of our business. The first was a fellow with very bad sarcoidosis affecting many aspects of his ability to work including hands , feet, breathing ,stamina. He was trying for many years to learn what was wrong with him but could not get access to treatment or meds. He is a very religious , humble man who would love to work and has been unable for years ; his church may not be able to help any longer. 

The second was a family whose mother described an adult daughter unable to work for many years now with debilitating psych issues since age 8 including a horrific set of symptoms associated with obsessive compulsive disorder along with severe depression . Ridicule and stigmatize her associated panic attacks after you have spoken with her and her family. The mom called because she reported she never wanted to bother with a claim before , but recognizes she can no longer support this adult daughter whom she had home schooled . 

The truth , as I tell interviewees each day, is that contrary to the harsh stereotypes now circulating with the help of 60 Minutes and other media is that it is very hard to get Social Security disability ;they're gonna think and treat you with cynicism and sometimes almost like a fraudster . Scapegoating those on the receiving end of " hard things happen to good people " is not fair reporting and does great damage. Tom

Then I did a quick Google search to find out if any other news outlets had addressed this obviously biased report.

I quickly found this over at Media Matters:  

Trump gets tripped up over allegations that his "Trump University" is a fraud.

Courtesy of US News:  

New York's attorney general sued Donald Trump for $40 million Saturday, saying the real estate mogul helped run a phony "Trump University" that promised to make students rich but instead steered them into expensive and mostly useless seminars, and even failed to deliver promised apprenticeships. 

Trump shot back that the Democrat's lawsuit is false and politically motivated. 

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman says many of the 5,000 students who paid up to $35,000 thought they would at least meet Trump but instead all they got was their picture taken in front of a life-size picture of "The Apprentice" TV star. 

"Trump University engaged in deception at every stage of consumers' advancement through costly programs and caused real financial harm," Schneiderman said. "Trump University, with Donald Trump's knowledge and participation, relied on Trump's name recognition and celebrity status to take advantage of consumers who believed in the Trump brand."

Of course Trump, through his attorney, is firing back with, now try to act surprised, attacks on the Attorney General's character and motivation.

Personally I am of two minds on this story. On the one had seeing this grifter get bitch slapped by the legal system is very, very satisfying. However I have little sympathy for ANYBODY stupid enough to attend a "university" headed by one of the biggest frauds in the world.

I mean how stupid do you have to be in order to believe that you could be educated by Donald Trump?

I mean that would be like going to Glenn Beck University to learn about history.

What's next for these students, journalism classes taught by Sarah Palin?

We haven't forgotten Ted!

That was almost a year ago, and yet Nugent is still wasting perfectly good oxygen that would be put to better use by other people on this planet.

Only five more days to make good on his promise, think he will?

Personally I think that like EVERY Right Wing windbag he is all talk and no action.

However I would be delighted if he proved me wrong.

Key figure in "Dairygate" receives six indictments. Ahh, the noose is tightening!

Courtesy of Alaska Dispatch:

Kyle Beus, co-founder and co-owner of Valley Dairy, which does business as Matanuska Creamery, is facing accusations he steered money meant for the dairy operation into his own hands. A six-count indictment filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Anchorage charges Beus with wire fraud and false statements used to obtain grant disbursements from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. 

He's accused of pocketing at least $120,000 for his own "personal and discretionary use unrelated to the construction and management of the dairy processing facility," but details enumerated in the indictment suggest the amount may be tens of thousands of dollars higher. 

The government alleges Beus abused his status and relationships with several interrelated companies to facilitate the fraud scheme. Simplified, as a dairy manager with the authority to oversee disbursement of federal grants, prosecutors say Beus used grant-awards and contracted companies as a conduit by which to draw and request cash that was never applied toward the dairy's operations. In some cases, none of the money went toward the dairy's operations. In others, some, but not all of the money drawn was properly used. 

In the indictment, Beus is accused of carrying out the scheme by sending false or inflated invoices in support of his funding requests. 

It's a new twist in a long saga that began with the demise of the state-subsidized and now defunct Matanuska Maid Creamery. Under the watch of then-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the dairy was dissolved, a highly controversial move, and its assets disposed of. Beus was able to pick up the old equipment at a deep discount to launch his fledgling Klondike Creamery and Candy. By 2008, Valley Dairy was born – a joint effort between Beus, Robert Wells and Karen Olson. 

The Rural Development Agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture was authorized to appropriate $5 million over years 2003-2007 to expand Alaska's dairy industry. Later, an extension was given by Congress to keep $650,000 available until expended. 

In summer 2007, Beus received $168,000 of that money for his cheese and ice cream making facility. A month or two later, an unnamed corporation in Alaska received $475,000 to support a milk manufacturing facility. According to the federal indictment, it is from these two grant awards that Beus fraudulently sought and received disbursements meant for the dairy operation. 

 Ooh you know the milk is curdling in a certain Wasilla Refrigerator now!

Here is my favorite part of the article.

Prosecutors say the investigation is ongoing.

Palin is the one that helped orchestrate the sale of Mat Maid to Beus, even though he had defaulted on a previous loan and was under investigation. Essentially Palin's prints are all over this thing, and I have a hard time imagining how she will walk away unscathed.

For those who want to connect the dots here is TPM's post from August 2008, Halcro's post from February 2009, and Regina's post from March 2010.

Obamacare in action: 91 people charged with fraudulently charging Medicare for 430 million dollars.

Courtesy of CBS News:

Ninety-one people have been charged in seven cities in a series of arrests carried out by the Medicare Fraud Strike Force. The suspects are accused of participating in various fraud schemes involving more than $429 million in false billing. 

According to officials at the Department of Justice, the suspects allegedly billed Medicare for treatments that were improper or unnecessary. In some cases the government was billed for treatments that were not even provided. Doctors and nurses are among those arrested. 

Arrests were made in Houston, Dallas, Brooklyn, Baton Rouge, Chicago, Los Angeles and Miami. The largest crackdown occurred in South Florida where 33 people were rounded up and charged in connection with health care fraud cases totaling more than $230 million. In Texas, the president of Riverside General Hospital in Houston and his son were also charged. 

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius added that new provisions in President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act made it more difficult for fraud to be committed. 

This fraud sweep is the latest in a series of raids conducted since 2007 by the strike force. Over the past five years 1,480 suspects have been arrested in Medicare fraud cases totaling $4.8 billion dollars. 

THIS is how you save the American taxpayer money, not by slashing necessary or beloved social programs.

By the way, just for context, the entire amount provided to PBS annually is only 300 million.

During his Univision appearance, Mitt Romney threw a temper tantrum over his introduction, and broke the rules by filling the audience with non-student activists to give the impression of more support from Latinos.

Hear that? The brown people who talk funny, love me!"

Courtesy of Buzzfeed:  

When the Republican took his place Wednesday night in the first of two back-to-back candidate forums televised on the mega-network, he was greeted by an adoring, raucous crowd that cheered his every word, and booed many of the moderators' questions. The next night, President Obama was treated to stone cold silence from the audience as he was aggressively grilled on his lackluster immigration record. 

The contrast was widely noted by observers who watched both forums — and it was glaring enough to evoke some boasting from the Romney campaign in the immediate aftermath. 

"These forums are going to be watched by more Hispanics than watched the conventions," said Alberto Martinez, a Florida-based Romney adviser. "I think [Romney] did an amazing job, and I think it was pretty clear there wasn't the same excitement for President Obama." 

But the enthusiasm gap may have been an optical illusion formed by a series of last-minute demands by the Romney campaign, according to Maria Elena Salinas, one of the Univision anchors who moderated the forums. 

Salinas told BuzzFeed that tickets for each forum were divided between the network, the respective campaigns, and the University of Miami (which hosted the events) — and she said both campaigns initially agreed to keep the audience comprised mostly of students, in keeping with the events' education theme. 

But after exhausting the few conservative groups on campus, the Romney camp realized there weren't enough sympathetic students to fill the stands on their night — so they told the network and university that if they weren't given an exemption to the students-only rule, they might have to "reschedule." 

The organizers relented. 

WTF? So essentially if the Romney campaign had played by the rules Mitt the Twit would have been sitting  in front of a number of empty seats in his brown face, instead of receiving the prearranged applause that we heard on the tapes.

Oh and that is not the ONLY time that Romney acted like a spoiled toddler.

While introducing Romney at the top of the broadcast, Salinas's co-anchor, Jorge Ramos, noted that the Republican candidate had agreed to give the network 35 minutes, and that Obama had agreed to a full hour the next night. Ramos then invited the audience to welcome Romney to the stage — but the candidate didn't materialize. 

"It was a very awkward moment, believe me," Salinas said. 

Apparently, Romney took issue with the anchors beginning the broadcast that way, said Salinas, and he refused to go on stage until they re-taped the introduction. (One Republican present at the taping said Romney "threw a tantrum.") 

"Our president of news was talking to the Romney campaign and negotiating it," Salinas said. "But at that point, you can't really argue with that. The candidate is there, everyone is in their seats, the show must go on. There's a limit to how much we can object to it." 

The compromise reached was that the anchors would note the discrepancy in the candidates' time commitments at the end of the broadcast. But Salinas said, by then, the crowd was cheering so loudly that they drowned out the anchors' words. 

Here is a CNN interview with Maria Elena Salinas about the two interviews.

Okay I am being serious here, just who in the FUCK would support this pompous, over-privileged, fraud at this point? Anybody?

You know you can almost hear the wheels flying off the campaign bus as it careens out of control. What a miserable joke this guy has turned out to be. And no WONDER his fellow GOP candidates hated his ass!