Skip to content

Corruption

Indicators For Measuring Injustice And Societal Decay

August 17, 2020 Ralph Nader, Nader Page. , ,
Economic indicators – data points, trends, and micro-categories – are the widgets of the big information industry. By contrast, indicators for our society’s democratic health are not similarly compiled, aggregated, and reported. Its up and down trends are presented piecemeal and lack quantitative precision. We can get the process started and lay the basis for qualitative and quantitative refinement. Years ago, when we started “re-defining progress” and questioning the very superficial GDP and its empirical limitations, professional economists took notice. Unfortunately, with few exceptions, economists cling to the yardsticks that benefit and suit the plutocrats and CEOs of large corporations. Here are my offerings in the expectation that readers will add their own measures:

Beirut Explosion: It Is Late, But It Is Early Morning If We Insist

August 16, 2020 Vijay Prashad, Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. , , ,
Nothing happens in Beirut and Lebanon that is transparent; plots of all kinds unravel against the ordinary hopes of the population. After the deadly explosion, it was impossible to imagine that the most reasonable explanation would be accepted. Rumors flew around, except the rumors did not have their impact. It was clear to the people that this time — unlike so many times previously — it was their own political system that had to be held accountable for the enormous explosion, which came in the midst of a pandemic, a currency and economic crisis, and a long-standing and unresolved political quagmire.

Lebanese Demand Change After Government Quits

August 13, 2020 Al Jazeera. , , ,
A protest with the slogan "Bury the authorities first" was planned near the port, where highly explosive material stored for years exploded on August 4, killing at least 163 people, injuring 6,000 and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless. Prime Minister Hassan Diab, announcing his cabinet's resignation, blamed endemic corruption for the explosion, the biggest in Beirut's history and which compounded a deep financial crisis that has collapsed the currency, paralysed the banking system and forced up prices.

Lebanese Protesters Occupy Government Buildings As Army Uses Live Ammunition

August 10, 2020 By Menas Solidarity Network. , , , ,
Massive demonstrations rippled through Beirut on 8 August as protesters took to the streets calling for revenge on the politicians who bear collective responsibility for the huge explosion at the port on 4 August. Protesters stormed the Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of the Economy, the Ministry of the Environment and set the Association of Banks headquarters on fire. “This is the heart of corruption. The centre of fraud and plunder”, commented one of the demonstrators as he filmed inside the Ministry of Energy. 

‘Execute Them’: Lebanon Protesters Demand Revenge After Blast

August 10, 2020 By Agence France Presse. , , , ,
Mock gallows nooses tied to brooms: Lebanese protesters on Saturday clamored for bloody revenge against a leadership they blame for the massive blast that engulfed their capital. "There is hatred and there is blood between us and our authorities," said Najib Farah, a 35-year-old protester in central Beirut. "The people want revenge." On a street leading to parliament, young men lobbed stones at security forces who replied with tear gas, a familiar sight in Lebanon since last October. Thousands of young men and women earlier revived the main camp of a months-long protest movement, some of them carrying portraits of blast victims and a banner bearing the names of the dead. They pinned the blame for Tuesday's mega-blast at Beirut port on leaders they say deserve nothing less than the fate of the 158 people who died as a result.

For Egalitarians, A Sudden Sense Of Possibility

August 4, 2020 Sam Pizzigati, Inequality.org. , , ,
Something seems to be in the air these days — besides coronavirus. A hopefulness. A boldness. A conviction that we now have a real opportunity for blunting the corporate power that’s done so much to make the United States the world’s most unequal wealthy nation. How can we seize that opportunity? New reports from two veteran national advocacy groups — Public Citizen and Oxfam America — are offering up a gameplan. Public Citizen released its “blueprint for reform” last week on the tenth anniversary of the Dodd-Frank Act, the 2010 legislation that tried to clean out the corporate and financial rot that birthed the Great Recession.

Hold The Halos

August 1, 2020 John Kiriakou, Consortium News. , , ,
Last week I received an invitation to attend the annual whistleblowers luncheon hosted by the National Whistleblower Center (NWC).  The luncheon is always a big deal.  It’s held in Washington, D.C., in the Russell Senate Office Building’s Kennedy Caucus Room, the same room that hosted the Watergate hearings, the Army-McCarthy hearings, the Iran-Contra hearings and other momentous events in American political history.  It’s attended by hundreds of whistleblowers from all over government and the private sector, as well as more than a few politicians.

Blockbuster Oil Bribery Scandal Exposes Corrupt Double-Dealing Of Guaidó ‘Attorney General’

July 16, 2020 Anya Parampil, The Grayzone. , ,
Below the radar of US media, a district court in Florida tossed out a multibillion-dollar bribery case in March 2018 thanks to testimony delivered by a former member of the shadow administration of Venezuelan coup leader Juan Guaidó. That ex-official, Jose Ignacio Hernandez, served as attorney general in the US-backed Guaidó junta until July of this year. As this investigation will reveal, Hernandez’s testimony was bought and paid for by foreign oil giants with an interest in defrauding Venezuela’s state petroleum company out of billions of dollars. These corporate titans, which included some of the world’s largest oil companies, bribed corrupt officials within Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), the state-run Venezuelan oil company, to rig contracts in their favor.

COVID19 Corruption: Wealthy And Well Connected Get Rich While People Suffer

July 12, 2020 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, Popular Resistance. , , , ,
While corrupt elected officials and elites feed at the public trough, the economic collapse is hitting people in the United States hard. According to the newly released Bureau of Labor Statistics figures 47.2 percent of working-age people are without work and businesses are finding it impossible to pay their rent or keep their employees. The basic ability to feed children is in crisis, as nearly 14 million children in the United States went hungry in June, an increase of 10 million since 2018, and nearly three times the number of children who went hungry during the Great Recession, according to an analysis of Census data, Newsweek summarizes: "Nearly half of U.S. households' incomes have declined during the pandemic, with survey data showing both low-and high-income households being affected at about the same rate.

Israel’s Attacks On Iran’s Nuclear Sites Signal A New Phase Of Conflict

July 9, 2020 Richard Silverstein, Middle East Eye. , , ,
Over the past week, mysterious explosions and fires have wracked key infrastructure connected to Iran’s nuclear programme at Natanz and Parchin, key facilities engaged in uranium enrichment and the production of rocket fuel for ballistic missiles. The US and Israel have accused Iran of violating UN resolutions and the nuclear deal in testing new ballistic-missile technology. Although Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has repeatedly denied any intent to create nuclear weapons, even going so far as to issue a fatwa against it, Iran’s enemies are convinced it plans to “go nuclear”.  The recent attacks appear to be an attempt by a hostile state to degrade that programme and delay Iran’s ability to potentially send such weapons to targets outside of Iran.

Gavin Newsom Hands Out Fracking Permits To Connected Driller

June 22, 2020 By Steve Horn, Capital & Main. , , ,
On June 1, in the midst of the turmoil created by the coronavirus pandemic and the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration quietly issued 12 fracking permits to Aera Energy, a joint venture owned by ExxonMobil and Shell. The fracking permits are the latest example of California’s oil industry benefiting from regulatory or deregulatory action during the COVID-19 pandemic and came just months after the Newsom administration said it supported taking actions to “manage the decline of oil production and consumption in the state.” Aera, which also received 24 permits from the California Geologic Energy Management Division (CalGEM) on April 3 during the early days of COVID-19, has well-connected lobbyists in its corner who work for the firm Axiom Advisors.

Solidarity And The Absent State In Puerto Rico

June 17, 2020 Pedro Cabán, Dissent Magazine. , , ,
Puerto Rican artists, entertainers, and athletes have been conspicuous in calling for protests against the government, which the pro-statehood New Progressive Party (PNP) firmly controls. Indeed, January 2020 was uncannily similar to last July, when El Residente, Bad Bunny, Ilde, Daddy Yankee, Ricky Martin, and other artists roused scores of thousands of their fans to rise in opposition to Governor Ricardo Rosselló. Seven months later, as the government failed to take any decisive action toward a relief effort, anger was building against Rosselló’s hapless successor. Even more damaging for the practice of democracy is people’s awareness that Puerto Rico is ruled by an entrenched and hard-hearted political class that holds them in contempt. After a seemingly endless swarm of earthquakes battered the southwest coast, the colonial state was once again absent. The people were, as always, presente, caring for one another when the authorities failed to do so.

Members Of Congress Receive COVID-19 Small Business Loans

June 15, 2020 Jessica Buxbaum, Shadowproof. , , ,
Members of Congress obtained disaster loans for their businesses through the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The program has been embroiled in controversy since it launched in March. Large corporations received multimillion-dollar loans. Minority-owned businesses were shut out of aid. Seventy-four members of Congress own businesses or have relatives or spouses who own businesses. Of this number, only 14 of them responded to repeated inquiries stating that they did not apply for federal loans, including those with considerable wealth. The CARES Act does contain a conflict of interest provision prohibiting members of Congress or their immediate families from receiving aid. However, as detailed in a House Ethics Committee memorandum released in April, this clause is only restricted to emergency relief funds. This subtle loophole has permitted lawmakers to circumvent potential conflicts of interest and access government relief.

Ethics Groups Call On Coronavirus ‘Vaccine Czar’ To Disclose Potential Conflicts

June 1, 2020 Soo Rin Kim, Olivia Rubin, Katherine Faulders and Matthew Mosk, ABC News. , , ,
The Trump administration's decision to hire its new "vaccine czar" as a private contractor, rather than a government employee, has alarmed some ethics experts who say the designation will involve him in programs that could channel millions of federal dollars into the development of coronavirus vaccine and treatments without requiring he disclose financial holdings or potential conflicts. When it was announced two weeks ago that Moncef Slaoui would head up "Operation Warp Speed" to find and distribute a vaccine, the administration described him as “chief advisor,” but did not explicitly say he would not be a formal government employee. As a private contractor, he is not bound to the same disclosure regulations and criminal ethics laws as many formal executive branch employees, ethics experts told ABC News. That decision marks the latest concern with what ethics experts are describing as a blind spot into the coronavirus response.

A Delusional Nation In Decline

May 16, 2020 By Jared Yates Sexton, The Muckrake. , , ,
In recent weeks, the fabricated “Reopen America” movement, funded and focused by Right Wing billionaires and conservative media, has led to protests around the country, including in Michigan, where white supremacist militias have used it to their advantage for the purposes of recruitment and action. These militias have stormed the Michigan state legislature, interrupted business, and, as of this week, shut down the government of Michigan for fear of possible violence. Any student of history understands the process by which nations slide into authoritarian abyss. It comes, most often, after years of political and social decay, wherein the people lose faith in their corrupted governments and systems, are won over by a budding authoritarian, and watch lawlessness, both in the form of corruption and in out and out fascism, comes into full and unavoidable view.
«12345678910»

Urgent End Of Year Fundraising Campaign

Online donations are back! Keep independent media alive. 

Due to the attacks on our fiscal sponsor, we were unable to raise funds online for nearly two years.  As the bills pile up, your help is needed now to cover the monthly costs of operating Popular Resistance.

Donate Here

Urgent End Of Year Fundraising Campaign

Online donations are back! 

Keep independent media alive. 

Due to the attacks on our fiscal sponsor, we were unable to raise funds online for nearly two years.  As the bills pile up, your help is needed now to cover the monthly costs of operating Popular Resistance.

Donate Here
Sign Up To Our Daily Digest

Independent media outlets are being suppressed and dropped by corporations like Google, Facebook and Twitter. Sign up for our daily email digest before it’s too late so you don’t miss the latest movement news.