Occupy Banksters & Crony Capitalism & GREED

Warren: No Confirmation Hearings for Trump Appointees Until They're Vetted for Conflicts of Interest
AlterNet | David Ferguson / Raw Story | 01/08/17

Sen. Elizabeth Warren threw down the gauntlet to the Trump transition team on Saturday when she called for a moratorium on confirmation hearings for his cabinet appointees until they can be thoroughly screened for conflicts of interest.

She was responding to a letter from the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) expressing grave concern that confirmation hearings will take place before it has a chance to screen nominees for ethical conflicts. ... Read more

10 Trump Fails and Lies from Just This Week... Tip of the iceberg.
AlterNet | Kali Holloway | 01/07/17

Every post-election week with Donald Trump feels like an eternity. The details change but the story stays the same: Trump whines, lies and pleads for attention, scrambling facts, fiction and conspiracy into a fatiguing, but now familiar blend. Last week followed the same formula, with Trump pretending not to know what he knows and to be an expert in everything he doesn't know, all while waging petty wars using time that could be spent boning up on policy.

Trump Lashes Out At Meryl: 'Her Lover' | Watch: Streep Trashes Trump In Powerful Golden Globes Speech...
HP | Lauren Weber | 01/09/17

Meryl Streep Goes After Donald Trump At The Golden Globes... While receiving the Cecil B. DeMille Award for her lifelong achievements in acting, Meryl Streep went after Trump for his treatment of a disabled reporter and immigrants. Twitter had a field day imagining the president-elect's response. Trump did tweet this morning about her speech and spoke to The New York Times about it. As for the actual awards, "La La Land" took home more Golden Globes than any film, ever. Here's who else won the rest, and what we thought about the red carpet stunners. [Matthew Jacobs, HuffPost] ... Read more

The Deep State: The Fall of the Constitution and the Rise of a Shadow Government (2016) by Mike Lofgren

The New York Times bestselling author of The Party Is Over delivers a no-holds-barred exposé of who really wields power in Washington

Every Four years, tempers are tested and marriages fray as Americans head to the polls to cast their votes. But does anyone really care what we think? Has our vaunted political system become one big, expensive, painfully scriped reality TV show? In this cringe-inducing expose of the sins and excesses of Beltwayland, a longtime Republican party insider argues that we have become an oligarchy in form if not in name. Hooked on war, genuflecting to big donors, in thrall to discredited economic theories and utterly bereft of a moral compass, America's governing classes are selling their souls to entrenched interest while our bridges collapse, wages, stagnate, and our water is increasingly undrinkable.

Drawing on sinsights gleaned over three decades on Capitol Hill, much of it on the Budget Committee, Lofgren paints a gripping portrait of the dismal swamp on the Potomac and the revolution it will take to reclaim our government and set us back on course.

The American Deep State: Wall Street, Big Oil, and the Attack on U.S. Democracy by Peter Dale Scott

This provocative book makes a compelling case for a hidden "deep state" that influences and often opposes official U.S. policies. Prominent political analyst Peter Dale Scott begins by tracing America's increasing militarization, restrictions on constitional rights, and income disparity since the Vietnam War. He argues that a significant role in this historic reversal was the intervention of a series of structural deep events, ranging from the assassination of President Kennedy to 9/11. He does not attempt to resolve the controversies surrounding these events, but he shows their significant points in common, ranging from overlapping personnel and modes of operation to shared sources of funding. Behind all of these commonalities is what Scott calls the deep state: a second order of government, behind the public or constitutional state, that has grown considerably stronger since World War II. He marshals convincing evidence that the deep state is partly institutionalized in non-accountable intelligence agencies like the CIA and NSA, but it also includes private corporations like Booz Allen Hamilton and SAIC, to which 70 percent of intelligence budgets are outsourced. Behind these public and private institutions is the traditional influence of Wall Street bankers and lawyers, allied with international oil companies beyond the reach of domestic law. With the importance of Gulf states like Saudi Arabia to oil markets, American defense companies, and Wall Street itself, this essential book shows that there is now a supranational deep state, sometimes demonstrably opposed to both White House policies and the American public interest.

GOP Congress, Trump Already Pushing Koch Industries' Bill to Hobble Regulatory Agencies
desmogblog.com | Steve Horn | 01/05/16

One of the first orders of business for the freshly convened 115th Congress -- now that it's no longer attempting to gut an independent ethics office -- is to pass a bill which could weaken the ability of federal regulatory agencies to do their jobs.

That law, the REINS (Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny) Act of 2017, has long been a legislative priority for Koch Industries, Koch-funded advocacy groups such as Americans for Prosperity, and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Its latest iteration, H.R. 26*, has the backing of Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) and 159 co-sponsors (five Democrats and 154 Republicans) and has reached full debate on the House floor.

REINS dictates that a "major rule shall not take effect unless the Congress enacts a joint resolution of approval" and won't become law if Congress does not pass that resolution by "70 session days or legislative days, as applicable." ... Read more

Like father-in-law, like son-in-law: Jared Kushner named senior adviser to Donald Trump after making deals with China-linked company
Salon | Taylor Link | 01/09/17

Ignoring federal nepotism rules, Jared Kushner -- Donald Trump's son-in-law -- has been named a senior adviser to the president in the upcoming administration. Kushner had reportedly met with lawyers to devise a plan to circumvent a law that prohibits public officials from hiring family members, including son-in-laws, to an office over which that official has authority.

Shortly after the election, President-elect Trump hinted that Kushner was being groomed for an important role, saying that his son-in-law was so talented that he could help "do peace in the Middle East." The president-elect reportedly requested that Kushner receive top secret clearance to join him for his daily briefings. ... Read more

Jesse Ventura Trump risks assassination if establishment likes Pence more than him (12/24/16) [28:45]