BONUS: This is Trump's biggest scandal
Warren County proclaims June to be Pride month
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It's a get-out-of-jail-free card and President Donald Trump has used it to repeatedly benefit his own interests and it didn't stop with the pardons for the January 6 rioters.
If the price is right, you can have Trump's ear and the bigger message might be that anyone considering committing a crime in the name of Trump, well, there is an expectation of being pardoned.
The list of those excused include fraudsters, crooked politicians, extremists and unrepentant cop beaters (See. Jan. 6).
And it all has been done legally.
Frank Bowman, in an essay in Slate labeled it, “The biggest political scandal of Trump’s term has gone completely ignored.”
Not completely, but mostly.
The Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee recently did an analysis of the pardons and what it means financially, not only to the government, but for victims.
Consider what was lost by the victims - police officers and their families - from the Jan. 6 cases. Only 15 percent of the $3 million owed in restitution to victims had been paid. The remaining $2.6 million to victims was liquidated by the pardons.
The pardons have so far wiped out $1.3 billion in restitution owed by the convicted criminals.
“In one case, Donald Trump pardoned a white-collar fraudster who took $4.4 million from his employees’ paychecks to purchase a yacht and other luxury items," the report says. "Trump’s pardon not only saved the convicted fraudster and tax cheat from serving a single day of his 18-month prison sentence but allowed him to skip out on paying back the $4.4 million he stole from the victims."
You probably heard about this one since it was well reported that the fraudster's mother donated $1 million at a Trump fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago where she got the ear of the president.
I suspect if President Donald Trump was given the chance, he would deny convicted murderer Andy Dufresne a pardpon until he got a share of those Shawshank kickbacks.
Politifact made the pardon issue its fact-check of the week:
Since the Trump administration fired her in March, longtime Justice Department attorney Liz Oyer has publicly criticized the administration’s approach to pardons, not only because they short-circuited the justice system but also because of their financial impact. "President Trump has granted pardons that have wiped out over $1 billion in debts owed by wealthy Americans who have committed fraud and broken the law," said Oyer in a TikTok post shared April 30 and recently boosted by U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J. We rated her statement Mostly True.
"Trump’s twin ambitions are to be a dictator and to become ever more fabulously wealthy," Bowman writes in his Slate essay. "Thus, in addition to using state power to crush his perceived enemies, he wants to be able to accept or extort political favors, both monetary and intangible, that keep him in office and centralize authority in his person."
At the end of his first term, Trump pardoned colleagues Steven Bannon, Michael Flynn, Roger Stone and his son-in-law's father, Charles Kushner
Trump issued pardons to seven Republican congressmen including New York's Chris Collins and the former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich who tried to sell a senate seat.
Trump also pardoned major campaign donors.
Consider these cases:
Ross Ulbricht, who operated a underground online marketplace used by drug dealers to traffic narcotics and opioids, was sentenced to life in prison and orders to pay $184 million in restitution. Trump forgave him and his debt.
Jason Galanis, another con man, was sentenced to 15 years for his $80 million fraud against union pension funds and a Native American tribe. He had served as a witness in Republicans failed impeachment investigation of President Biden. The pardon relieved him of $84.4 million restitution to regular union workers and Native Americans.
Todd and Julie Chrisley, reality TV stars, got pardons after their daughter spoke at the Republican National Convention and said her parents were victims of political persecution even thought they were indicted during the first Trump administration. The pardon relieved them of more than $22 million owed to victims of their tax fraud and tax evasions scheme.
Presidents have abused the pardon power in the past as well.
Many will remember President Bill Clinton's last second pardon of billionaire fugitive tax cheap Marc Rich, who had fled to Switzerland after being indicted on charges he avoided paying $48 million in taxes following an oil deal with Iran as it held U.S. hostages. He never returned.
That's pretty awful, but Trump is making up for it in volume with 60 more pardons - many where Trump had a relationship with the recipients - since the Jan. 6 forgiveness on inauguration day.
The Justice Department even has an ongoing list. After all, it has only been five months.
Bowman breaks down the pardons into four categories:
Pardons “dangled,” and later awarded to associates who could implicate Trump in conduct either impeachable or criminally prosecutable (Steve Bannon, Paul Manafort, Roger Stone and Michael Flynn).
Pardons to Trump’s violent supporters from Jan. 6.
Pardons granted as rewards for financial contributions to Trump or his political operations or for political support of other kinds.
Trump has a special place in his heart for white collar criminals Trump has issued multiple pardons to defendants convicted of bribery and high-value financial crimes, notably fraud and crypto because they have been railroaded by deep-state liberal prosecutors or that the crimes were not so much crimes but just breaking the rules.
I guess it takes one to know one.
Pride month
The Warren County Board of Supervisors issued a proclamation on June 20 proclaiming June to be "Pride month."
It might have caught a few people off guard since Warren County's board is almost entirely made up of Republicans and they have not been the most vocal supporters of the LGPBTQIA community.
The proclamation signed by chairman Kevin Geraghty included this:
WHEREAS Lower Adirondack Price (yes, they included that typo) has had a regional impact and ongoing commitment to uplifting
LGBTQIA+ residents throughout the North Country, in 2024 alone serving over 10,000 people, completing 459 hours of advocacy, and saving 32 lives across our service region, outcomes that reflect the growing need for affirming spaces and the power of community-led efforts to make lasting change.
Summer Blast
If you love the fireworks on Lake George, but hate the hassle of getting in and out of the village, sign up now for he Chapman Museum "Summer Blast" as it celebrates its 60th anniversary with a 1960s-themed evening.
The event includes dinner, entertainment and fireworks to cap the evening.
The "Summer Blast" will be held Thursday, Aug. 7 from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the Fort William Henry Hotel Carriage House in Lake George and include a Beatles tribute band.
Tickets are $95 per person ($85 for Chapman members), $90 for guests under 35 or a table of 8 for $700.
Thou shalt not sue
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans has a reputation for being one of the most conservative courts in the country.
So it was a little bit of a surprise on Friday when it ruled that the state of Louisiana's law requiring the Ten Commandments to be posted in each classroom of the state was overturned by the 5th circuit as unconstitutional.
In its decision, the 5th Circuit wrote, “unwanted exposure to government-sponsored religious displays” would violate students’ First Amendment rights.
The state of Louisiana will appeal.
Fact check
Politifact reported this week that President Trump said in a Truth Social post that if the "Big Beautiful Bill" doesn't pass "there will be a 68 percent tax increase."
Politifact reported that estimate is about 10 times larger than independent analysise of the expected tax increase if the 2017 tax cuts expire.
The Tax Policy Center projects that increase would be about 7.5 percent overall to the more affluent of society. Politifact rated Trump's statement "False."
Austrian shooting
Eleven were killed in a school shooting in Austria earlier this month. Mass shootings in Europe are relatively rare compared to the United States.
What was even more unusual - at least compared to the United States - the Austrian government proposed a bundle of new laws on private gun ownership just eight days after the shooting.
The measures include:
- Raising the minimum age to own firearms to 25.
- Strengthening a mandatory psychological test.
- Instituting a four-week waiting period between the purchase and deliver of a first weapon.
None of those measures has even been considered in the U.S.
Ken Tingley spent more than four decades working in small community newspapers in upstate New York. Since retirement in 2020 he has written three books and is currently adapting his second book "The Last American Newspaper" into a play. He currently lives in Queensbury, N.Y.
If some people who were swayed by the current administration's campaign lies still can't see who and what they serve, then they are not only complicit, they have lost their souls to open corruption and venality. I'm glad Warren County has recognized the good work of the Lower Adirondack Pride organization. Yet to come: conflict of interest practices.
I wonder what many people really feel about our country's gun culture compared to other countries considered less powerful or influencial than ours. Isn't it feeding the self-centered, bully/coward, paranoid mindset all too prevalent in a society that idolizes self-aggrandisement as the ultimate personal achievement?
The Trump administration is planning to repeal the ban on asbestos, a toxic material that causes cancer. The Administrator of the EPA, New York's own Lee Zelden heads the EPA. MAGA = Make Asbestos Great Again. Every day is a new worry for our country.