Foreigners are buying American elections, thanks to the Supreme Court.

Remember Citizens United? It was a Supreme Court ruling that allowed billionaires and corporations to buy elections. It also created a secret world in which politicos can be bribed with no way for us to bust them for being corrupt.

Oh, and remember how Obama warned that Citizen’s United could open the door to foreign money buying US elections, and the Chief Justice called the Prexy a liar? Well, golly gee whiz, it turns out that President Obama was right. As the linked article says:

In a first of its kind case, federal prosecutors say a Mexican businessman funneled more than $500,000 into U.S. political races through Super PACs and various shell companies. The alleged financial scheme is the first known instance of a foreign national exploiting the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision to influence U.S. elections.

It turns out that although Citizens United did not change the legality of foreign contributions in the U.S., it enabled the type of illegal schemes now being alleged by federal prosecutors.

“Before Citizens United, in order for a foreign national to try and do this, they’d have to set up a pretty complex system of shell corporations,” said Brett Kappel, a campaign finance expert at the law firm Arent Fox. “And even then, there were dollar limits in place. After Citizens United, there are no limits on independent expenditures.”

Got it? Either the Supreme Court intended for this to happen, or they were so shortsighted and pig-ignorant as to ignore the possibility. No matter which, the result is as predicted: foreign nationals are buying American elections and politicians. And this is only one that we caught. Who knows how many other cases there are, buried in the labyrinthian snakepit of American political “financing”?

Thanks to Presidents Reagan, Bush and Bush for stacking the Supreme Court with Raging Righties in Tightie Whities; because of the hyper-partisan Wingnuts on the Court; the integrity and independence of American government has been gravely damaged. Until Citizens United is repealed, none of us can ever know which of our politicians is actually in the service of a foreign national or even an unfriendly government.

Remember this, Gentle Reader: it is because of “Conservative” “Republicans” that our elections are being bought.And they ARE being bought. This could (and likely will) lead to a foreign takeover of our government if we don’t put a stop to it.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

Mitt has BEEN Telling Us to Kiss His A** For Years

Much is being made of The Guv’s rude spokesperson, who said some impressively rude things to the press in Poland today. But Mitt (himself Himself) has been tacitly saying it for quite some time, albeit not in so many words. Every time he refuses a reasonable request by the public for information, he is telling us to place our foremost upon his hindmost, vis. and to wit;

He has refused to release the customary quantity of tax returns,

He has refused to clarify his exit dates from, and involvement in, Bain Capital,

He and his staff cleared out their computers and took the hard drives when he became the Un-Guv o’ Massachusetts,

He has provided extremely limited access to the press and non-millionaire members of the public,

and so on.  It is “kiss my  a**” in all but word. Mitt does not think that the American People have a right to know even the most basic information about their potential President. Reminds Mr. Blunt and Cranky of Nixon, and not in a good way.

Note that very little (if any) of what Mitt is hiding and how he hides it is illegal: but most people who want to have a public office understand that the public has a legitimate expectation of transparency and openness. Not Mitt, who is treating the quest for a public office as he did his private sector gigs.

This writer suggests that Mitt plant the smoocher upon his Hairy Buckeye Butt, and encourages his readers to do the same (with physical and regional customizations, of course). 

When he stops telling us to kiss his a**, we will stop telling him to kiss ours.

Mr. B & C