Occupy Banksters & Crony Capitalism & GREED

It's Time to Admit That Half-Measures Can't Stop Climate Change
TheIntercept | Kate Aronoff | 04/17/18

... AMERICA MAY WELL be the only country in the world where climate deniers making claims similar to Müller enjoy access to the reins of power. Given its status as the world's largest economy and its second-largest polluter, that's not something to be taken lightly; former EPA administrators estimate that the damage wrought by agency head Scott Pruitt in his first year could take three decades to repair. A few dozen miles from the EIKE confab, though -- at a sprawling U.N. campus along the Rhine -- was a preview for the kinds of climate politics that will dominate the 21st century once Trump and Pruitt are out of office. Unfortunately for the rest of us, they're only marginally more in touch with scientific reality than our German revelers.

The relevant question isn't whether the Earth is heating up, but what we intend to do about it. That's a radically different conversation about climate change than the one that's been had in America to this point. Here, decades of propaganda from the fossil fuel industry and the denialist think tanks they support have forced the debate to orbit around whether there's a problem at all, prying open the Overton window to accommodate conspiracy theorists and Nobel Prize winners alike. .... Read more

A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership by James Comey

In his forthcoming book, former FBI director James Comey shares his never-before-told experiences from some of the highest-stakes situations of his career in the past two decades of American government, exploring what good, ethical leadership looks like, and how it drives sound decisions. His journey provides an unprecedented entry into the corridors of power, and a remarkable lesson in what makes an effective leader.

Mr. Comey served as director of the FBI from 2013 to 2017, appointed to the post by President Barack Obama. He previously served as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, and the U.S. deputy attorney general in the administration of President George W. Bush. From prosecuting the Mafia and Martha Stewart to helping change the Bush administration's policies on torture and electronic surveillance, overseeing the Hillary Clinton e-mail investigation as well as ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, Comey has been involved in some of the most consequential cases and policies of recent history.

The Michael Cohen Case: A Definitive Guide to Key Players
TheAtlantic | Natasha Bertrand | 04/17/18

The criminal investigation brings together the president of the United States, an adult-film performer, several lawyers, and a combative Fox News host.

The longtime attorney for President Donald Trump's real-estate empire, Michael Cohen, went to federal court on Monday in a bid to block federal prosecutors from reading documents and other materials that were seized from Cohen's home in a sweeping raid. The porn star Stormy Daniels, whom Cohen allegedly paid off to protect Trump, was there to watch. And the hearing was presided over by Judge Kimba Wood, who ordered Cohen to reveal the name of a client he'd tried to keep secret: the Fox News host Sean Hannity.

In a blow to Cohen and Trump, who asked to review the seized documents before the government had a chance to look at them, Wood ruled that Justice Department staffers divorced from federal investigators--known as a "taint team"--could be trusted to sift through the seized materials and determine what is and isn't protected by attorney-client privilege. ... Read more

Why Japan Is Begging Trump for Help
Politico | William Pesek | 04/17/18

Escaping overseas as scandals explode at home is perhaps the oldest of political strategies. Japan's Shinzo Abe hopes to make it seem new again as he arrives at Mar-a-Lago this week.

There are few better distractions -- or shinier objects -- than President Donald Trump. And Prime Minister Abe hopes getting a warm welcome at Trump's "Winter White House" will remind 127 million Japanese back home he's still got some diplomatic game.

Abe's approval ratings show a distinct lack of faith. A year-long cronyism controversy involving a sweetheart land deal drove his numbers below even Trump's. Nor are voters happy with Abe's enthusiastic embrace of a leader whose bombast is bringing Japan nothing but grief -- a scandal all its own. A month ago, Abe seemed a shoo-in for a third term, putting him on course to be Japan's longest-serving leader. Now, Tokyo is buzzing about who's next. ... Read more

Billion-Dollar Blessings
Propublica | Alec MacGillis | 04/17/18

How Jerry Falwell Jr. transformed Liberty University, one of the religious right's most powerful institutions, into a wildly lucrative online empire.

It was the start of the 2017 Fall Family Weekend at Liberty University, the school founded by Jerry Falwell Sr. 47 years ago in Lynchburg, Virginia, and the lines were especially long to get into the basketball arena for the mandatory thrice-weekly student convocation. There was a festive feel in the air -- as usual, a live band kicked things off with some Christian rock.

Penny Nance, a newly named Liberty trustee who is the head of the socially conservative group Concerned Women for America, took the stage to say that with Donald Trump in the White House, the country was much closer to overturning Roe v. Wade and putting "true limits on the abortionist's hand." Tim Lee, a Texas preacher and evangelist who lost his legs in the Vietnam War, gave a sermon bemoaning "homosexuals and pornographers," declaring that one problem with "pulpits today is that they've got a lot of girlie men in them." ... Read more