I have to let loose a big horse-laugh when friends and acquaintances express moral indignation at Trump’s chutzpah in pardoning members of his criminal gang. Hey, at least he deserves credit for transparency and flagrant mindlessness. So, in a perverse way I have to give "The Donald" some credit for doing the nasty where everybody can see it. But folks, this is nothing new! It’s the norm! But other administrations did essentially the same thing in a wink-wink-nod-nod sort of way. Letting high-powered gangsters off the hook is an American tradition.
But allow me to connect some dots - a process that most Americans find baffling. Iran/Contra - illegally selling arms to Iran to supply arms to death-squads in Central America. Chief gangster- Ollie North. Chief enabler: Ronald Reagan - consequence - convicted but all charges dismissed by a compliant judge. The Savings and Loan scam. Cost to the tax payers 140 Billion - Senate gang members Alan Cranston, Dennis De Concini, John Glenn, John McCain, Donald Riegle - no jail time! The Tobacco Hearings - 4 CEO’s of R.J. Reynolds, Phillip Morris and Brown and Williamson, under oath, lied to a Congressional Committee about tobacco being addictive! It was estimated that nicotine addiction cost 400,000 lives a year. Chief enabler: - Bill Clinton. No jail time. Sub-Prime mortgage scam causing the near collapse of the world economy and the bankruptcy of tens of millions. Gang members - lloyd Blankfein, Richard Fuld, Jamie Dimon,Angelo Mozilo,, Kerry Killinger, Stephen Rotella, David Schneider, Alan Greenspan,(Head of the Federal Reserve) James Gillian (Office of Thrift Supervision) John Reich (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation).
Chief enablers: George W. Bush and Barak Obama whose Attorney General indicted no one, not one single gangster, because they were “too big to jail!”
I hope I’ve made clear that we live in a place that is under the control of a “den-of-thieves” who will lie, steal, cheat with impunity while your neighbors serve long jail sentences for selling pot.
Al Salzman
Fairfield
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