#grift

[poorrichardjr]

The Banana Republic

In 1977 the Republicans in Congress forced then president Jimmy Carter to sell his families peanut farm because they feared that some entity would use it to funnel money to the president. Well, not really, but it was a justifiable concern. Carter, did the right thing and sold it because he didn't want to give even the appearance of impropriety. The country had just come off of the Nixon scandals and Ford's unsolicited pardon to "heal" the country.

In 2016, a new president decided differently. Instead of divesting in his businesses or at least putting them in a blind trust where he wouldn't have undo influence on their profits, Trump decided to hand off his businesses to his sons, but did not take himself out of the loop. In fact, it is more than speculated that a few foreign nations and local oligarchs paid Trump, his businesses, or his hotels large amounts of money to "influence" him. There were halted investigations that proved that foreign nations paid Trump in various ways to get what they wanted.

This is the sort of thing that goes on in corrupt nations, and sadly, America is just as corrupt as any Eastern European nation during the reign of Communist Russia. Tomorrow, Trump is getting back into office, but this time he isn't just content to get millions of dollars from foreign nations through his hotels, or tax funded trips to Saudi Arabia or Davos. Nope, now he has a new con, and a much better way to hide the vast amounts of money nations like China or Russia will be willing to pay him just to get what they want.

Cryptocurrency is a godsend for someone like Trump. Anyone from anywhere can buy into it, but it doesn't really exist. It's like money for nothing. Except it isn't going to be nothing. We aren't going to be able to monitor who buys this illusionary currency put out by Donald Trump, and it is absolutely guaranteed that someone in Trump's orbit is going to suggest to all those entities who have business in America exactly what they have to do to get what they want. It's just modern day bribery in the Banana Republic of America.

President's often got out of office with major debts they had to repay. That didn't happen to Trump last time, and it's absolutely guaranteed that it isn't going to happen this time. The man doesn't know anything about running the country, but he sure knows how to pull off a con, often badly. A lot of very bad things are going to happen to this country. After all, a man who's only concern is how much money he can make, doesn't have the countries interests at heart.

[fernthewhimsical]

PSA: Andara crystal is just glass

In the latest of scams in the rockhound/crystal world, we have "Andara crystal". A very pretty transparent "crystal" said to be found in Mount Shasta in California. But truly... it's just glass. Glass slag or cullet glass sold at rediculous prices:

Like, that is a grift.

That's what non-scammers call pink opalite, which is known to be glass and therefore cheap.

Anyone who tries to sell you "Andara Crystal" or "Blue/green/red/etc Obsidian" at high prices is trying to rob you

And of course a New Age crystal scam wouldn't be complete with pseudoscience, and a whole bucket of "spiritual savage" racism. If you want to know the full break down, here is a wonderful article

[caffeccino]

Cotton Candy trying a new grift!

[tomorrowusa]

« Contrary to the cliché, authoritarian rulers do not always make the trains run on time. In place of good governance, they offer a combination of propaganda, graft, and intimidation. The less they can satisfy legitimate public demands for prosperity and well-run public services, the harder they must squeeze their opposition. As Trump’s approval ratings have continued to sink, he has accordingly continued to discover new forms of vengeance.

Trump’s first 100 days have set the country on an unsustainable course. The clash between the president’s determination to rule and his inability to govern has generated two opposing forces: a weaponized, illiberal state, and a smoldering political backlash. One of them will have to break. »

— Jonathan Chait at The Atlantic. (archived)

It's our democratic duty to encourage backlash. Speak in short sentences and with words people don't have to look up in the dictionary. There are far more people with HS diplomas than with doctoral degrees.

It's not necessary to stand on a milk crate and harangue the crowd in a Target parking lot. But if somebody in the checkout line refers to high prices, just nod and say, "Yeah, the Trump tariffs".

People who complain about the devastation to them caused by Trump policies should politely be asked, "What do you plan to do about it?". If they seek guidance from you, refer to the Republican senators or Republican House member – if your state or district are represented by the GOP on Capitol Hill. Add mention that every member of both chambers of Congress has one or more home offices back in their state or district. A visit to such an office carries a thousand times more weight than a phone call or email.

You don't have to be an activist to fight the power. Just unemotionally remind people of the person who is responsible for the destructive chaos when you detect an opening.

[porterdavis]

[geezerwench]

[ectochoir]

Did another graphite portrait of one of my boys. This is such a fun way to revisit these OCs, with in-universe sketches done by Helter 😌

[bigtickhk]

A civil war has erupted and this time it's not North vs South, it's not Ironman vs Captain America, it's MAGA Racists vs MAGA tech bros. And in his own inimitable style, Truth Telling Trump has decided to get in on the grift with a brand new fragrance to commemorate his stance on HB-1 immigration — Capitulate! Capitulate! Capitulate!

[backtonormallife]

And it all started with Reagan.

You can’t have a group of people say they hate Trump, but only privately.

Trump made hate okay. I won’t be sad to see him lose. Maybe someday his followers will realize it was all about the grift for him and his debt to Putin.

[thelemmallama]

I don't like dismissing people believing dumb shit as the victims of grift. I used to be anti-SJW and I disagree with my former beliefs, but I did not watch a single SJW cringe compilation or fall down any "pipeline" because I was "brainwashed" by skeptic channels on youtube or whatever. I came to those beliefs on my own through my own observations and personal experiences, but that would mean there *are* actually a significant proportion of people out there doing social justice activism in an emotionally abusive way, and acknowledging that would undermine the cause! (In fact, one of the reasons I stopped being anti-SJW is because I kept seeing them being all like "kids are being brainwashed into being trans" or whatever, and this dismissal of people's agency just disgusts me no matter which side it comes from)

[crystalight-official]

Some doodles of my lovely dorkies. They don't take life seriously 😭

[tomorrowusa]

A few days we learned about Trump selling "Trump Coins" (worth under $32) for $100. Now he's selling "Trump Watches" for up to $100,000. 🙄

He's already tried to sell out the country, so everything is up for grabs with Trump.

[porterdavis]

No grift too low for the GQP

RE:...the current demand by House Republicans that funding for Israel in this moment of crisis be tied to budget cuts that would undermine the ability of the Internal Revenue Service to crack down on wealthy tax cheats. This should be a major scandal, but my suspicion is that many voters just won’t accept the idea that G.O.P. leaders would do something so cartoonishly villainous. Paul Krugman

Yes, yes....the GQP is that villainous.

[millionmovieproject]

NEW EPISODE INCOMING!!

How do you do, fellow Lefties?

Join us tomorrow at 1pm est for an all new LIVE episode of SOCIAL CONTRACT!

We'll be digging into Bernie & AOC conning the public into parting with their money with another round of false promises, the public response, & bad faith commentators.