We may be heading into 2016 (or the year of the arrogant orange), but it’s the same as it ever was for our spectacularly rotten Congress. Proving once again they’re beholden to the pimps on Wall Street, our Republican-controlled Congress looks to be getting Koch Brother coal in their stockings yet again. Is it really any wonder their popularity is somewhere between Ebola and herpes simplex 1?
Congress has officially approved the latest omnibus budget deal, which is all but guaranteed to be signed by President Obama since anything less would mean another government shutdown. In what’s now slowly becoming an annual tradition, Republicans in Congress attached a variety of riders to this inevitable spending bill- all in order to cram in very unpopular legislation that would not otherwise get passed on its own.
Three Sneaky Things Our Dirty And Rotten Congress Just Snuck In
1. MORE SECRET (AND POSSIBLY FOREIGN) POLITICAL MONEY
Never has Bernie Sanders’ line about “Congress not regulating Wall Street, but Wall Street regulating Congress” been so depressingly true. For example, furtively buried in the spending bill is a provision that strictly prohibits the Internal Revenue Service from reigning in on the political activity of 501(c)4 organizations. As you know, 501(c)4 ordinations are considered public welfare groups and thus tax-exempt. However, these organizations are about public welfare like the Democratic Republic Of North Korea is democratic. Although these organizations are non-profit and not permitted to engage in political activity, they’ve become a hive for any unctuous scumbag looking to buy Congress. Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS, which apparently isn’t an outdoor sporting store, is just one glaring example.
2. CORPORATIONS CAN NOW HIDE POLITICAL ACTIVITY FROM THEIR OWN SHAREHOLDERS
We already know that corporations are people, but now we know just what kind of people they are: sneaky and underhanded scumbags who will sleep with your wife and kill your dog. Another surreptitiously hidden provision prohibits the Securities and Exchange Commission from requiring corporations to disclose their political spending. Basically, it’s Citizens United on steroids.
3. FULL TEXT OF THE CONTROVERSIAL CISA-A MUCH HATED AND INVASIVE GOVERNMENT SURVEILLANCE BILL
To refresh your memory, CISA (Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act) is a law that allows the sharing of Internet traffic information between the U.S. government and technology and manufacturing companies. In other words, it encourages tech companies to secretly share data on their users. Although civil libertarians and huge tech companies such as Apple and Google have expressed their displeasure with CISA, the Telecommunications Industry Association and Financial Services Roundtable love it so naturally it got shoved in.
Alas, Bernie Sanders is the only 2016 presidential candidate who has a history of standing up against Wall Street. But hey-it’s Syrian refugees who are ruining America.
They also snuck in a provision that would mean that anyone living in a “Visa Waiver” country (EU, UK, etc.) would have to request a visa if they were a dual national of Iraq or Syria, or had visited either place in the last 5 years! Even US citizens with dual nationality or who visit these countries can be held to greater scrutiny. Plus, we could be forced to get visas to visit the EU or UK. Fell fine about that? Well, a colleague going to the US was forced to give his FB password and they went through it. Is this too much? Why are they penalizing people for doing something that was never and still is not illegal? I have been in Iraq for 6 years on various educational projects. Now I am going to have to start getting a visa every time I need to transit through London, and then have to allow them to hack my personal information?