Whiskey & Wry — corruption

It's a movie moment you're sure to recognize. Breathing heavily, carrying himself as a man accustomed to getting his own way — and destroying those who stand in his path — the Supervillain strides ominously to the microphone. With sweeping gestures and self-righteous rhetoric, he informs those assembled that the evil he commits is really for their benefit. He solemnly vows to free his audience from their troubles and suffering, and he pledges to hold those responsible accountable. The Supervillain understands their pain and he shares their anger. They're angry about taxes. They're angry about crime. They're angry about corrupt...

“Whatever else you do -- vote!” This common exhortation should raise suspicion. As the great American philosopher George Carlin observed, "'Bipartisan' usually means that a larger-than-usual deception is being carried out." It that's the case, whatever politicians urge you to do – don't. An evil donkey or an evil elephant? We'll take neither, thank you, as we have no interest in sanctioning the scam. Contrary to popular belief, your vote won't change a thing. Bureaucrats will still regulate business and sex, propagandize children, violate privacy, confiscate wealth, punish savers to bail out elites, bomb civilians, quash free speech, inflate the money...

Boss Tweed (1823–1878) and his NY political machine, Tammany Hall, epitomized corruption through which the Boss gorged on taxpayer money and graft. More than anything else, he feared being ridiculed because there was no defense against weaponized wit. Thomas Nast – called the "Father of the American Cartoon” – made Tweed the brunt of relentless laughter through wildly popular caricatures of Tweed's bloated body amid sacks of cash. Bribery and threats could not deter Nash. Eventually, a weakened Tweed was indicted and fled to Spain; there, he was recognized from a Nast cartoon and extradited back to face jail. The...

In a recent interview with Democracy Now!, Wikileaks’ Julian Assange asserted that the whistle-blower organization has evidence that Hillary Clinton's State Department helped arm the Islamic State (a.k.a., ISIS): “So, those Hillary Clinton emails, they connect together with the cables that we have published of Hillary Clinton, creating a rich picture of how Hillary Clinton performs in office, but, more broadly, how the U.S. Department of State operates. So, for example, the disastrous, absolutely disastrous intervention in Libya, the destruction of the Gaddafi government, which led to the occupation of ISIS of large segments of that country, weapons flows going over to Syria,...