The Sports Stadium Scam

Billionaire sports team owners extort millions of taxpayer dollars to construct stadiums and arenas for their pro sports franchises. Your city would rather build schools, health clinics, and transit lines? The rich guys threaten to take their games elsewhere. Robert Reich explains.

Related:

“Caps, Wizards complex in Virginia could get largest arena subsidy ever,” Jonathan O’Connell, Teo Armus, Laura Vozzella and Sam Fortier, Washington Post

“Fields of Failure: The Scandal of Taxpayer Funded Stadiums,” Citizens Against Government Waste

“So Your City Wants to Build a Stadium. Here’s What to Know,” JC Bradbury, Global Sport Matters

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Berlusconi Goes on Vacation, Gets COVID-19

Berlusconi in Sardinia

Billionaire octagenarian, former football team owner, Bunga-Bunga Party host, one-time cruise ship crooner, Trump-before-Trump, and disgraced 3-time former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi went to Sardinia with all the other oligarchs and contracted Coronavirus.

More:

“Silvio Berlusconi admitted to hospital with coronavirus,” Angela Giuffrida, The Guardian

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Image (“Pasha Berlusconi and His Harem, after François Gabriel Lepaulle”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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DC Shut Down? The GOP Does Davos.

The president has shut down the U.S. government by refusing to authorize federal spending, but presidential aides and cabinet officials are spending $3-4 million and change to go to the World Economic Forum at Davos, kind of a Coachella for billionaires and financial heavies at a resort in the Swiss Alps.  Administration figures scheduled to attend include: Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Small Business Administrator Linda McMahon, DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner.

U.S. officials at Davos will have a significant weight lifted from their shoulders at this year’s WEF. Unlike last year, President Donald Trump will not attend. Swiss protesters must be crestfallen.

Because of the Democrats intransigence on Border Security and the great importance of Safety for our Nation, I am respectfully cancelling my very important trip to Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum. My warmest regards and apologies to the @WEF!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 10, 2019

More:

“Trump’s team is still running up bills for Davos during the government shutdown,” Justin Rohrlich and Heather Timmons, Quartz

“Davos, other Swiss ski resorts warned of high avalanche danger,” Xinhua

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Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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Steve Mnuchin Inadvertently Tells the Truth

Steve Mnuchin and wife  view the tax refunds of average Americans.

“… government operates for the disproportionate benefit of oligarchs and government elites,” admits U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

Mr. Mnuchin was referring to the Russian government, but we fail to see any distinction from the way he and other Trump Administration billionaires operate in the USA. “Oligarchy” is not just a Russian word.

And the world’s oligarchs are globalized:

“U.S. sanctions ensnare Russians with ties to Trump world,” John Hudson and Paul Sonne, Washington Post

“Mueller’s team questioning Russian oligarchs,” Kara Scannell and Shimon Prokupecz, CNN

“NRA’s ‘Man in Moscow’ Hit by New U.S. Sanctions,” Daily Beast

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Jeb Drops Out

John Ellis “Jeb” Bush, 3th Earl of Bush son of the 41st US president and brother of the 43rd, has suspended his campaign for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. The Republican Party establishment faces a grim choice: Hold its nose and back Rubio, pretend John Kasich can win, or move even more of its personal wealth to Cayman Island banks.

More:

“Jeb Bush never really had a chance in the 2016 presidential race,” Chris Cillizza, Washington Post

“Unforced errors and miscalculations end Bush’s White House hopes,” Steve Holland, Reuters

“Jeb Bush: The big campaign that just couldn’t,” Janelle Ross, Washington Post

“Fall of the house of Bush: how Jeb fell victim to hype, hysteria … and himself,” Sabrina Siddiqui and Adam Gabbatt, The Guardian

“The overhyped rise and spectacular fall of Jeb Bush, in 19 devastating quotes,” Becca Stanek, The Week

“Bush’s Befuddled Goodbye and the Risks of Trump Denialism,” Amy Davidson, The New Yorker

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Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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Sheriff Andy’s Health Care Posse

There’s been a heap o’ loose talk ’round Mayberry ’bout the new health care reform law. Barney Fife’s friend Sara has pore Aunt Bea plumb scairt to death, and lil’ Opie, he cain’t hardly sleep a wink.

Let’s all just simmer down here, now, and see what Sheriff Andy has to say ’bout this: