talkpolitics | Entries tagged with corruption

The Trump–Musk alliance was always a ticking time bomb. Two giant egos colliding in a shared vanity project called DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency). Supposedly designed to slash bureaucracy and save taxpayer money, it quickly turned into a wrecking ball aimed at vital institutions.

Elon Musk, installed as a special government official in early 2025, took the reins with typical bravado. And, as was later revealed, a ketamine habit. Under his leadership, DOGE gutted federal agencies, from air traffic control (leading to a record number of crashes) to USAID, whose budget was slashed by over 80%. That single cut triggered a humanitarian disaster. According to research from Boston University, it caused an estimated 300,000 deaths globally, including over 200,000 children due to halted programs fighting HIV, malaria, and malnutrition.

While Trump's base cheered the claimed "$175 billion in savings", experts pointed out the cuts barely dented the deficit and did massive harm to vulnerable communities. Behind the scenes, even Trump reportedly asked, “Was it all bullshit?”

DOGE wasn't just reckless, it was deeply incompetent. Its staff didn't even understand Social Security software, wrongly flagging 19th century birthdates as fraud. It would be funny if the consequences weren't so tragic.

Eventually, the Trump-Musk bromance imploded. Musk quit, started attacking Trump's fiscal policies, and called his budget a "disgusting abomination”. No surprise. It was never a partnership of shared values, just mutual benefit. Once the benefits ran dry, the egos clashed and it fell apart.

( But the damage was done )

fridi

You must have heard of AIBA/ IBA (International Boxing Association), the scandals and why they are banned from the Olympics. Here's the chronology.

So it all begun when it became apparent they had fixed matches in both the 2016 Rio games, and the 2012 games in London.

Integrity Clearly at Issue Within the IOC and the AIBA

This was too much even for corrupt organizations such as the IOC. Add to that that AIBA was in deep financial trouble at the time. So IOC suspended them for the Tokyo games in 2021, and instead had the boxing events been run by IOC itself. So you'd think things would get better now, they were punished for their previous actions, the old leadership was sacked, and everything would get better enough for them to participate again, right? Oh, no, this story was just beginning.

So who took over the AIBA (now called IBA)? Well Uzbek heroin smuggler and crime boss Gafur Rakhimov of course! So now they were led by a criminal.

Can An Alleged Uzbek Crime Boss, Heroin Trafficker Save Olympic Boxing?

( And it got worse )

mahnmut

Power companies paid civil rights leaders in the US south. They became loyal industry advocates

"The joint investigation found that since at least 2009, consulting companies have worked on behalf of major power companies seeking to influence Black leaders and their organizations. They worked primarily through 501(c) 4 organizations, tax-exempt groups that are allowed to engage in political activity.

Two of the nation’s largest power companies, NextEra Energy and Southern Company, employed Matrix LLC, whose tactics included secretly funneling money to news sites that attacked clean energy proponents, surveilling a journalist who wrote critically about FPL and employing a corporate operative posing as a reporter to rattle political opponents."

In a sane world, this world be big time national news. Hard evidence of systemic corruption and bribery from large energy companies. Bribing community leaders to advocate for buying up their rivals, reduce government oversight and regulation, and to destroy support for things like home solar.

And make no mistake, this article might be focused on energy companies but every industry uses these tactics to manipulate public opinion and to stamp out competition.

"A “really effective way” of controlling the narrative in favor of utilities, Pellow said, has been “buying off people in communities who have a vested interest in fighting those companies”."

But this is America in 2024. Where the front page of Fox news has important articles about things like the Biden administration trying to take down a statue and riveting reporting from MSNBC detailing exactly how much Biden hurt Trump's feelings by calling him a 'loser'.

asthfghl

FIFA on Qatar World Cup: Nations told to stick to football, not politics

Stick to football, you say? Hmmm, interesting. Very interesting.

So you take a bag of money and start handing it out so that everyone can approve your shenanigans. The whole story is that you want to line up your image with that of the attractive countries by hosting a giant sports forum where you can push your wholesale propaganda. You've got the money, so why not?

Yes, you sure want to polish your image, to appear tolerant, peaceful, modern, contemporary. What better way to do that by buying off the football world cup? But suuure, this ain't "politics", no way. Or at least according to FIFA it is not. Because everything that happens around these tournaments is not politics according to them.

( Read more... )

airiefairie

Thousands of leaked files reveal top politicians were secretly lobbied at meetings by Uber, while the firm’s former boss is claimed to have ordered a “kill switch” to stop police from scouring its computers. Uber denies having a kill switch, and says it’s made operating changes:

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-62057321

French president Macron is involved too.

Of course this warrants a thorough probe as it reeks of conflict of interest, and at the highest level at that. Even if no money changed hands, there’s no doubt that Uber had the unfair opportunity to influence these politicians to support their company. It severely disadvantages the smaller companies and individuals who can’t afford to pay for fancy dinners for all these politicians.

luzribeiro

Nancy Pelosi says federal lawmakers should be able to trade stock in office: ‘This is a free market’
Despite bipartisan support for prohibiting members of Congress from buying and holding individual stocks in office, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Wednesday that lawmakers should be allowed to make trades while serving.

It seems establishment Democratic party politicians don't see themselves as public servants but rather as something entirely different, and totally immune from answering for corruption and insider training.

Queen Nancy has declared her action acceptable. Interestingly, Progressives don't agree.

We already know the GOP are corrupt tools beholden to special interests. But this case here also accents the hypocrisy rampant in the corporate DNC and the clash with young Progressives, who actually believe what they're doing is for the betterment of the country, and the Democratic party elites who are out for themselves and their billionaire donors.

The party is in an interesting position because the newer members have started to realize they've drunk the cool aid and fallen for the big con. They got in Congress and are realizing they've been lied to about the real agenda of their own party.

Progressives would do better working with Republicans on social issues, and sooner or later they'll figure that out.

mahnmut

A really good piece about how the US involvement in Afghanistan was futile from the start:

The Ides of August

This paragraph I found particularly disturbing:

"And what did we stand for? What flourished on our watch? Cronyism, rampant corruption, a Ponzi scheme disguised as a banking system, designed by U.S. finance specialists during the very years that other U.S. finance specialists were incubating the crash of 2008. A government system where billionaires get to write the rules."

That is a very good piece by someone who has no reason to bullshit anyone. It seems to me that it was about a small number of people making a lot of money, as usual. I feel so bad for the Afghan people. They never had a chance.

The US government is who pumped all the money into the corrupt system starting from day one of the Afhgan invasion. 20 years, four presidents, and the US consistently fed the beast. What right do they have to feel that it isn't their fault?

fridi

I found it very interesting, Navalny's version of Putin's rise to power (and money). Warning: It's long, 1 hour 52 minutes. Over 100 million views already. In Russian with English translation.

Watch on YouTube

So here it is, the fictitious owner of Putinka's palace owner... supposedly. The one that's 16 floors deep, has hockey rinks, stripper bars, casinos, a workhouse, etc.

Maybe has a Walmart too that no one knows about... or an Aldi store. I hear there's a no fly zone around there... since NATO has been buzzing around with their jets. Obviously someone filled their pants.

About as close as an admission one will get from Rotenberg (I like to call him Rottenbugger), that this is Putler's pad.

http://www.uawire.org/russian-oligarch-rotenberg-claims-putin-s-palace-belongs-to-him

luzribeiro

What an absolute joke this president is. The hits just keep coming and coming. Roger Stone is an absolute nutcase. The rest are just criminals/thugs.

Trump Gives Clemency to More Allies, Including Manafort, Stone and Charles Kushner

I'll wager he doesn't pardon Jared Kushner. Jared has too much dirt on the Donald and would be compelled to testify against him. On the other hand, I'm sure the state of New York would be quite interested in speaking with Jared. Who knows, he may flip on Trump to save his own arse?

If nothing else, his pardons cement his place as the most corrupt President in American history. Presidents always go through a vetting process using the DOJ to investigate and make recommendations. Trump? Zero input from the DOJ. This is an abuse of power. Quid Pro Quo, anyone? Sad. "Very saaad."

luzribeiro

For those who have been saying that Trump's becoming president has resulted in his losing money, note that Trump's fortune has been in decline for a long time, and during the prior decade (before 2010) the ONLY thing keeping the Trump family from going under was his show, The Apprentice, and since the show ended, his fortunes continued to decline. Trump used his profits from The Apprentice to invest in money losing golf courses.

In short, Trump makes money as an entertainer, but is a lousy businessman. But, methinks Trump no longer is entertaining, he's a downright boorish bore, and people are sick of him and his bullshit chaos and insanity, incessant lying, and all-round buffoonery.

Eric Trump conceded that his father ‘lost a fortune,’ but dismissed questions about influence-peddling.

"In contrast to the president’s contention that he was a Washington outsider who would “drain the swamp” when he took office, The Times investigation revealed that Mr. Trump not only did not disentangle himself from his business empire, but that a pay-to-play culture had permeated his presidency.

Mr. Trump turned his own resorts into the Beltway’s new back rooms, with companies and other special-interest groups spending millions booking conferences and rooms at his hotel in Washington and other properties, and on membership fees at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. They have been able to parlay their access to the president into federal funding, contracts, regulatory changes and ambassadorships."

johnny9fingers

And so we come to QAnon.

With the internet, we no longer need ergotised rye for St Anthony's fire to inform our sensory perceptions. QAnon seems to be like some mad Bond-villain neurolinguistic programming scam designed specifically to deflect attention from actual corruption with lurid tales of outright depravity.

But that's just an opinion from a chap on the sidelines; looking on in amazement.

However when I find QAnon is gaining traction in the UK just at the same time as the UK is going through the greatest intense administrative corruption in over two centuries; it makes we wonder if the folk promoting it, bankrolling it, and fomenting social schism have some sort of ulterior motive beyond money.

Maybe all the money: the procurement contracts, the shorting of the currency and investments, the looting of the treasury, etc was just a bit like the Provisional IRA doing bank jobs in the '80's. A quick way to finance things.

I mean to say, what do you do if you're an extremely right-wing sort of person and you've just beggared your nation to the point of social unrest in order to line your pockets? (A chap has to have a hobby, after all.)

My guess is, as the riots erupt, you pose as the person to save the nation from all of this with extremely strong and firm government. And you walk on the grateful shoulders of the people all the way to Number 10 for life. (General Franco, here we come; but in our case it will be Roderick Spode.)

As the UK descends into quasi-fascism may I suggest that for most of Her Majesty's reign we at least tried.

Watch on YouTube

luzribeiro

So, an American president commutes the sentence of a person convicted by a jury of lying to shield that very president.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53371756

What's funny is that Trump seems to really think that just because he poked his people yet again in the eye on a Friday night they'll forget on a Tuesday in November.

On a funnier note, Trump will likely pardon all of his allies before he concedes his presidency, although he will fight it tooth and nail. And when it finally dawns on him that he lost, my bet is that he will strike a devil's bargain with Pence, resign and have Pence assume the presidency and pardon him before Biden gets sworn in. And if thereafter Vance gets too close to him, he may well skip the country rather than face a multidecade prison term in New York.

(Of course all of the above is just a fantasy, since Vance is a State’s Attorney. If Trump were convicted in state court, only the Governor of the State can pardon him. Trump can’t pardon anyone convicted in state court either. Also Trump would first have to be convicted of a crime before he can be pardoned for it. Last time I checked, presidents are still not able to hand out preemptive pardons. But still.)

( But more seriously )

fridi

Russia banned from 2020 Olympics and 2022 World Cup over doping scandal

An adequate consequence of Russia's systematic doping transgressions, it would seem, right? "We reacted in the most severe way possible", the WADA chairman Craig Reedie assured. Indeed, 4 years in exile from all Olympics and world sports events sounds very draconian. It's also a huge blow on the many Russian athletes who've diligently trained to make a dream come true, and stand at the medals podium under the five Olympic rings one day. It's a blow on everyone in Russia who sincerely wants to be welcoming guests from around the world, come big sporting events. It's a blow on sports overall.

Of course, there are allegations of a grand global anti-Russian conspiracy circling around the Russian political circles. It's the usual "us against the world" schtick, as one might expect. Some have even mentioned the word "war". But that probably shouldn't be worrying WADA. Russia was actually given ample chance to put an end to the doping practices, and it didn't. Instead, it chose to keep cheating and keep denying. Even the new Russian anti-doping chief, Yuri Ganus recently admitted he has no arguments against WADA.

( Read more... )

asthfghl

At the first secret vote for chairperson of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen was nominated and approved. Her nomination was a surprise - initially, a number of famous names of prominent Euro bureaucrats were being circulated as possible successors to Jean Claude Juncker, but then vd Leyen suddenly sprang up as a "compromise" option.

The whole thing happened after the Euro bureaucrats quietly changed the procedure at the end of Juncker's term. This allowed them to hand-pick their next boss at a secret vote, the idea being that they could now break party discipline by recruiting every EMP separately to the cause, and convince them to vote in favor of the nominee preferred by the powers that be. It's no surprise, then, that the whole idea was promoted by the dominant ENP, as well as the German socialists and the Greens.

The new chairperson being a chairlady was something that was widely discussed and promoted as an important priority for the new EU administration - in fact it was decided that the new boss should be a woman, long before it was known which woman it should be. Once she was hand-picked, she promised that at least half of the new EU commissioners would be women. That was a neat trick meant to conceal the otherwise predictable lack of political diversity in the future "EU cabinet", and the absence of representation of the various public interests that exist in Europe. As if by making a superficial cosmetic change in the cabinet, the EU would somehow conceal the fact that they'll actually be offering the people the same old stuff.

( Read more... )

nairiporter

A corruption scandal engulfing Canada's Justin Trudeau is refusing to go away, and has claimed 2 members of his cabinet

It's been a complicated issue, and not enough facts have come out to definitively state that there is an instance of corruption.

That has not stopped the Conservative party from going all to pieces on the issue and doing everything in their power to pretend it is all a disaster of unprecedented proportions.

Personally, I believe that there was a certain amount of involvement... not sure how much I would call it interference. The AG in Canada is appointed by the Prime Minister, so it is not a completely independent position by the very nature. It comes across as an expressed desire to use existing legislation to help offer protection to jobs.

Now... are those jobs of Liberal voters in Liberal ridings? Absolutely. Would the same consideration have been taken if this had happened in the heart of Alberta? Probably not.

That is the corruption I see in this. Not the scandal of doing something illegal, but instead the long-standing tradition of political parties not always looking out for all Canadians. And this is valid not only in Canada.

mahnmut

So far, President Trump has been caught up in a corruption scandal involving two of his associates, Michael Cohen and Paul Manafort. The White House is sinking further into the Washington swamp that he promised to drain.

Day after day, month after month, we watch his family use and abuse a system that's supposed to bhe based on checks and balances, tearing down anything or anybody who doesn't bow down to them and lick their boots and allow them to line their pockets and deflect attention from the truth.

( Read more... )

luzribeiro

This week's news summary includes the fallout from the NFL's new rule to fine teams when a player takes a knee, Jeff Sessions' decision to separate immigrant children from their undocumented parents, and the off-again-on-again North Korean summit. Will Donald meet Kim? Will Kim take a knee? And will Trump be separated from his new baby, the Indonesian theme park being financed by China's ZTE? All that, plus the derivation of "Oy vey, Maria!" on this week's More Perfect Union.

But my fave part is this:

Ivanka Trump Wins China Trademarks, Then Her Father Vows to Save ZTE

American foreign policy has essentially been turned into a tool of 45's family. This is not only disgusting, but illegal. This is what the Emoluments Clause in the US Constitution is all about. Where's the GOP on this? That uber patriotic political party that is in charge and should be protecting the country?

There's one thing you can count on. His supporters don't give a damn.

( But that is not all... )

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June 2025

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Summary

mahnmut - Ketamine, collapse, and blood on their hands: Trump, Musk, and the DOGE disaster +1 comment
fridi - The scandals in boxing
mahnmut - Business as usual +1 comment
asthfghl - Careful, FIFA is not happy +6 comments
airiefairie - This is potentially huge: the Uber files +3 comments
luzribeiro - The queen has spoken +3 comments
mahnmut - Afghanistan was always doomed +2 comments
fridi - Navalny's biggest hit +1 comment
luzribeiro - It doesn't get any swampier than this +2 comments
luzribeiro - The loser businessman +3 comments
johnny9fingers - Linguistic and Memetic diseases: Viruses of social thinking. +12 comments
luzribeiro - Corruption to the power of corruption +1 comment
fridi - Russia's half-assed sports exile +4 comments
asthfghl - The Untouchables: Rise of the EU neo-aristocracy +19 comments
nairiporter - Justin in trouble +1 comment
mahnmut - Drain the swamp, eh? +4 comments
luzribeiro - Don't preach to us about corruption ever again, mkay? +2 comments

Talk politics.

A place to discuss politics without egomaniacal mods.

Entries tagged with corruption

Ketamine, collapse, and blood on their hands: Trump, Musk, and the DOGE disaster

The scandals in boxing

Business as usual

Careful, FIFA is not happy

This is potentially huge: the Uber files

The queen has spoken

Afghanistan was always doomed

Navalny's biggest hit

It doesn't get any swampier than this

The loser businessman

Linguistic and Memetic diseases: Viruses of social thinking.

Corruption to the power of corruption

Russia's half-assed sports exile

The Untouchables: Rise of the EU neo-aristocracy

Justin in trouble

Drain the swamp, eh?

Don't preach to us about corruption ever again, mkay?

Credits & Style Info

Links

June 2025

Summary