There’s all kinds of graft, both legal and illegal. The Trump family seems to have mastered the art of legal graft. Tech billionaires and others have fallen to their knees to kiss Trump’s ring and to humbly offer him $1 million to help pay for his inauguration ceremonies. So far, the inauguration fund has swelled to $170 million, probably the most in history.
The ABC network paid Trump $1 million for his inauguration and, for good measure, gave $15 million to Trump rather than fight a lawsuit defending George Stephanopoulos for saying on air that Trump had “raped” E. Jean Carroll. ABC might have won in court on First Amendment grounds, but it capitulated.
Amazon, owned by Jeff Bezos, was even more ingenious. It agreed to pay the Trumps $40 million to license a documentary about Melania. She will be the executive producer. Of course, Bezos had already paid his $1 million into the inauguration fund. He is the publisher of The Washington Post, the guy who prevented the publication of an editorial endorsing Kamala.
The documentary will surely be a glowing reprise of the life of Mrs. Trump, since she is in charge. But will it include her career as a nude model? The photos are all over the internet, and no kidding, she has a stunning body. But will they be in the documentary? Doubtful.
Remember that part of the Constitution called the “Emoluments Clause”? It has been generally understood to mean that the President should not take any gifts or compensation from anyone, presumably to avoid the appearance of a bribe.
However, Trump flouted that clause with the permission of the Supreme Court, which never found a conflict in Trump’s ownership of a hotel in close proximity to the White House, where foreign leaders rented elaborate suites.
Trump can accept major gifts now because he is not President yet. However, he sought to block his sentencing in a New York court in the grounds that the President-elect enjoyed the same immunity from criminal proceedings as a sitting President. Trump is ingenious.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I shudder to think what that &#@**! will do in the next four years and what his willing pack of §¶∞•£¡ will support. The Democrats should play as dirty as they can while appearing pleasant and ineffectual since the rule of law will exist only in their minds.
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The Democrats don’t know how to fight dirty.
That’s how Trump wins.
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Dirty? I’d settle for aggressive, decisive, calling out stupidity, promising the moon (and attacking grocery prices) (with or without a plan), defiant & not necessarily dirty, but defiant!
Ex. Greenland? Seriously? How about lower my food bill first?
Renaming canals and mountains, how about fixing waterways, tunnels, bridges, faster medical access for rural resident, and infrastructure.
And, illustrating with socials and billboards every example where he/they duped their “base” and supporters whom quite frankly, unless they’re worth more than a few million, they could care less about them.
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@speduktr — I “infinity and beyond” your emotions. Really? I mean really? 40 million for “who gives a shiitake mushroom” about someone who “cut” in line to get to America. Imagine all the people who could be helped. But as they say, “Charvet, what are you thinking — help the needy from these clowns.” But it’s his money. Simply dumbfounding.F@4^
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@speduktr — I “infinity and beyond” your emotions. Really? I mean really? 40 million for “who gives a shiitake mushroom” about someone who “cut” in line to get to America. Imagine all the people who could be helped. But as they say, “Charvet, what are you thinking — help the needy from these clowns.” But it’s his money. Simply dumbfounding.F@4^
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I am not really into watching porn these days. There are much better things to watch on TV. Of course, Bozo (Amazon)(no I did not misspell the name) now he will be able to get even closer to his clown mentor, Trump.
I have been wondering how much classified material Terrorist Trump is going to steal this time around and give away. I am sure Putin is looking forward to the exchange of said documents.
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Moeone2015: Maybe someone behind the scenes can “reprieve” what is really dangerous in those documents.
Rump, Muck, and Bozo. CBK
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speduktr: You know how you feel when you see the words “sponsored content” in an online essay or whatever? That’s what anyone with a brain will feel when they think of watching “a documentary about Melania’s life.”
I think they are really pushing the envelope, however. We’ll see. CBK
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Paying this $40 million is definitely distasteful, a version of legal bribery. But you have no moral authority on a matter like this. You have defended everything Joe Biden and his family have done that at the very least is attempted bribery. Why was Hunter Biden paid millions of dollars by suspicious entities when he had no business expertise of any kind?
“I will never criticize Joe Biden” – Diane Ravitch on this blog
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I think Joe Biden was a great president. I never defended Hunter. I don’t know the facts, although I think the amount of energy spent by Republicans attacking him was ridiculous. I note, however, that the guy who accused him of taking millions in bribes was convicted of lying and sentenced to six years in prison. Did you know that?
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You don’t know the facts about Hunter Biden because you’ve never made the effort to be informed about the Biden family’s chicanery. Nobody pays millions of dollars to a no-talent son of a major politician without hoping for something in return. Joe Biden knew about what his son was doing. You are a hopelessly blind partisan who refuses to see Biden family corruption and Joe Biden’s cognitive decline. Trump has similar blind partisans like you on his side.
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Here is the story:
https://search.app/ViRfVZzBWnB3Xp9N6
WASHINGTON —
A former FBI informant who admitted lying about U.S. President Joe Biden and son Hunter Biden’s interactions with a Ukrainian energy company was sentenced to six years in prison Wednesday, court records showed.
Alexander Smirnov pleaded guilty last month of causing the creation of a false record after falsely telling his FBI handler that he had knowledge of bribes paid by executives at Burisma Holdings to Joe and Hunter Biden, according to court documents.
Hunter Biden served on the board of Burisma, a role that has attracted years of scrutiny from Republican lawmakers.
Smirnov also admitted tax evasion.
Prosecutors working with special counsel David Weiss, who investigated matters related to Hunter Biden, had asked U.S. District Judge Otis Wright in Los Angeles to sentence Smirnov to six years in federal prison.
“The defendant decided in 2020 to exploit the position of trust he enjoyed with the FBI in order to provide false information about one of the candidates for president of the United States in an attempt to influence the outcome of the election,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing, referring to Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign.
Lawyers for Smirnov sought a four-year prison sentence, arguing Smirnov had accepted responsibility and suffered a “personal downfall” resulting from the case.
Smirnov falsely claimed in conversations with the FBI that executives at Burisma told him in 2015 or 2016, while Joe Biden was vice president, that they’d hired Hunter Biden to “protect us, through his dad, from all kinds of problems.”
Smirnov also fabricated a claim that Joe and Hunter Biden were each paid $5 million in bribes from Burisma executives, according to court documents.
Republican lawmakers learned of an FBI record documenting Smirnov’s claims, which briefly became a focus of a since-abandoned effort to impeach Joe Biden.
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Actually I criticized Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona.
I have no reason to criticize Joe Biden.
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From my view- Diane is as objective as can be. Heck, SHE WAS CRITICAL OF OBAMA on education.
Hunter? Let it go. We’ve got dozens of “whaddabouts” or “if so and so were a democrat the republicans would be all over them – you know, imagine Kerry, Clinton, Biden calling their and wink-wink nod-nod come to DC on January 6 for a vacation and a speech? Imagine ONE person protesting at the capitol after those democrat losses. Imagine ONE IMMIGRANT protesting at the capitol about anything.
But the boys will all get pardoned and the tv game show host gets another $40million
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$40 million is chump change compared to the $2 billion Jared Kushner got from the Saudis.
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That $2 billion was to invest for the benefit of the Saudis. It was not a grant of money to Jared Kushner. Make the effort to actually know what you write about.
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Oh yeah, the Saudis liked Jared–with zero experience as a money manager–so they handed him $2 billion to invest on their behalf. Other Arab nations chipped in another billion.
Makes sense. Jared likes money. Like his father, the new Ambassador to France, who spent two years in federal prison for sending a prostitute to seduce his brother, filming it and blackmailing him.
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Don’t believe anything from the lying Trumps or the murderous Saudis. Sure, it’s an investment, wink, wink.
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Diane Ravitch is a “hopelessly blind partisan”? Really?
Jesus, get it together.
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Just canceled Amazon prime. Not another dime to this pos.
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I very much look forward to not watching this.
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