Hello Patrick Fennell, and to the news media for publication (if they stop their blacklisting of my political email letters),
Sarcasm and Satire. I am a corrupt career politician. I go to the Swamp to tax you. Instead of investing in your family's well-being, I spend your tax dollars on the vested and special interests. The American Dream has been slowly dying over the past 50 years, so instead of investing in the American People, I vote to send your living wage jobs overseas so that the financial, corporate and ruling elites can enrich themselves at the public trough. Don't cry too hard because I still put your tax dollars into Social Insurance programs, but I also do nothing about the trillions of dollars in unfunded liabilities in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and so on. Instead of blaming the elites for corrupting the government for their own Money and Power, I engage you in wedge issues such as abortion, the death penalty, race, gender, and the ongoing immigration crisis. I tell you that the U.S. Government stands for Democracy, Human Rights, and Diplomacy, but the truth is that the U.S. Government's number one non-farm export is arms sales to the world. The U.S. Military Industrial Complex is how the U.S. Government makes most of its money. Without war, the U.S. Government would be likened to a third world country. I tell you about the Green New Deal without explaining that the Pentagon pollutes more greenhouse gas emissions than 140 countries combined. The U.S.A. is the second biggest polluter of greenhouse gas emissions in the world behind China. The U.S.A. and China combined greenhouse gas emissions account for a little less than 50 percent of the world's global warming pollution output. I tell you to drive and ride in electric cars, while I charge you $5 in gas. I have spent tens of trillions of federal dollars since Joe Biden became U.S. President, but I blame everyone else for the 41-year high U.S. inflation. While Joe Biden attacked then sitting U.S. President Donald Trump in 2020 for his close ties to "the Pariah State" Saudi Arabia and Crown Prince MBS, on July 15th, 2022, Joe Biden is going visit Saudi Arabia and Crown Prince MBS to give him billions of additional federal tax dollars for them to increase its oil and gas exports on the condition that they purchase billions of dollars in additional arms from us. The U.S. National Debt is over $30.5 trillion and rising U.S. Dollars, but don't worry because your children and grandchildren will happily pay for the Swamp's record high level of federal spending. My colleagues are either said to be billionaires or multimillionaires from the Swamp's legal insider trading, legal bribes by K Street lobbyists, and our multimillion-dollar campaign war chests. If you wish to contact my office, I will send you a banal form letter saying how great I am. I spend decades in elected office whereby I enrich myself and my wealthy campaign donors at the public trough. If I have to retire for some reason that I will not tell you about, I will become a greedy registered lobbyist, or a marijuana business owner, or a consultant for a big business I gave huge tax breaks to during my corrupt political career. By the time I pass away, I will be worth more money than all of the people who live in your neighborhood combined. Please keep paying me your tax dollars so I will continue to enrich myself at the public trough.
Thank you,
Jonathan A. Melle
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July 4, 2022
Happy Independence Day! Instead of King George III we now have wealthy corrupt career politicians, including Joe Biden who has been in the Swamp for almost 50 years. Pittsfield politics has Queen Linda Tyer living in a mansion in Pittsfield's only elitist Gated Community within a few feet of the Hancock border, while the fictional/proverbial Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski are paying record high municipal taxes and fees to City Hall for Level 5 public schools and substandard city services. It pays to be a rich and powerful Democrat from little old Pittsfield on down to the Swamp; just ask said to be billionaire 82-year-old Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The Founding Fathers signed and passed the Declaration of Independence into law 246 years ago, despite most of them owning Slaves, after Massachusetts went bankrupt and King George III refused to bailout his indebted British Colony. King George III told his Massachusetts government to raise taxes from only 2 weeks of their yearly income to pay off his British Colony's debts. The Founding Fathers rebelled by saying "No taxation without representation"; but we still pay taxation without representation because we have an Oligarchy of wealthy corrupt career politicians instead of a real Democracy. The American Revolutionary War went on for years until the British Crown finally surrendered to General George Washington, who went onto be our country's first Constitutional U.S. President. The American Experiment of Democracy - with Oligarchs serving in government as wealthy corrupt career politicians - lives on 246 years later on July 4th, 2022.
Jonathan A. Melle
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"Expert Analysis: Raising Interest Rates To Combat Inflation Is Bad Move When Supply Chain Considered"
By Josephine Nesbit, Yahoo! News, July 5, 2022
The Federal Reserve voted to raise the benchmark interest rate by 0.75 percentage points in June, but some say this isn’t the right solution to fight off record inflation rates. According to one analyst, high prices have mainly been driven by supply chain constraints, CNBC reported.
“Supply is very difficult to manage, we are finding across a whole bunch of industries, a whole bunch of businesses, they’re having very different challenges just turning the taps back on,” Paul Gambles, managing partner at advisory firm MBMG Group, told CNBC’s “Street Signs.
Higher demand for goods and pandemic-related disruptions to the supply chain caused a shortage of goods across the globe. Record cargo volumes at major U.S. ports and a shortage of workers caused shipping costs to skyrocket in 2021.
By raising interest rates, the Federal Reserve hopes to reduce consumer demand, which has overwhelmed the supply chain.
In a June 15 [2022] statement, the Fed said it elected to raise rates as “overall economic activity” appeared to have picked up in the first quarter of 2022, with rising inflation reflecting “supply and demand imbalances related to the pandemic, higher energy prices and broader price pressures,” CNBC noted.
However, Gambles said that adjusting monetary policy is “the wrong solution to the problem,” pointing out that demand is lower than what it was even before the pandemic. Economists are also saying that using interest rate hikes to curb inflation could put us into an economic recession.
“If we look at where employment would have been in the States, if we hadn’t had COVID, and we hadn’t had the lockdowns, we’re still about 10 million jobs short of where we would be. So there’s actually quite a lot of potential slack in the labor market. Somehow that’s not translating to the actual slack,” he said, as reported by CNBC.
“And, again, I don’t think that’s a monetary policy issue. I don’t think monetary policy would make a great deal of difference to that.”
This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com
Reader's Comment: "Jackie" wrote: Lower energy prices - use previous administrations dance card. This will help with supply chain issues. Raising interest rates fast and in big amounts will kill the economy. Remember Paul Volcker's plan - raise interest rates until everyone is unemployed - crash the economy.
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July 12, 2022
Beacon Hill lawmakers still have not passed a state budget for fiscal year 2023 that began 12 days ago on July 1st, 2022. On Wednesday (7/13/2022) afternoon, the State House of Representatives - including the Berkshire's state legislative delegates (hacks) Trippy Country Buffet, Shitty Pigpen, Paul Marxism & the Career Mayor - will mostly likely all vote to rubber stamp Speaker Ronny Mariano's state tax giveaway bill authored by outgoing Governor Charlie Baker with legislative amendment riders to shovel even more tax dollars to the politically connected Boston area big businesses who fill the corrupt career politicians' campaign coffers with a lot special interest money. Beacon Hill lawmakers are still sitting on billions upon billions of dollars in surplus state cash, while they are still scheming on the late $50 billion state budget.
In the Swamp, Joe Biden will visit Saudi Arabia and Crown Prince MBS later this week, despite his 2020 attacks against Donald Trump 2 years ago for his (Trump's) close ties with the "Pariah Saudi State" which has the largest oil and gas reserves in the world, and his (Biden's) promise to stand up to MBS about his abusive record of Human Rights violations and the Saudi's involvement in the 9/11/2001 terrorist attacks against the U.S.A. Donald Trump must be fuming about Joe Biden's 2020 attacks against him, and Joe Biden's outright hypocrisy on the matter. So are a lot of people who believed Joe Biden's lofty promises that he will be breaking by visiting Saudi Arabia and MBS later this week. So much for the Democrats Green New Deal nonsense because the Swamp wants more Saudi oil and gas to lower energy prices prior to the 2022 midterm elections that heavily favor the Republican Party.
Jonathan A. Melle
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July 14, 2022
Hello Patrick Fennell,
I respect your views on and support for Donald Trump. I wish to point out the facts that Donald Trump is the leader of the racist White Nationalist political movement in the U.S.A. - MAGA really stands for NAZI; he had Nazis also known as alt-right work on his campaigns and administration; he affirmed the Nazi hate marchers in Charlottesville, Virginia, where an innocent young woman lost her life; he affirmed the Nazi hate protestors who stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, 2021, where 5 innocent people lost their lives, including a Capitol Hill Police Officer; he has a record of using sexist, racist and violent words in his political speeches and attacks on his political adversaries; he uses the word "globalists" in his political speeches and attacks against his opponents despite everybody pointing out that it is a long used anti-Semitic word used against the Jewish People; his inhumane immigration policies and actions were Crimes Against Humanity; his foreign policies targeted Peoples and people from Islamic countries from entering the U.S.A., which hasn't been seen since the 1920s; and, he appointed far right religious Supreme Court Judges that will take our country back to the 1950s to the 1920s, which fits right into the cultural conflicts model of Divide and Conquer used against the American People with his and other extremist ideologies that only serve to distract us from the Ruling Elites' corruption and greed.
Why cannot we have a U.S. President who doesn't use cultural conflicts that end up hurting everyone, but instead, he (or she) uses the rule of law, economics and finance, and democracy to help everyone achieve the American Dream of everyone having the equal opportunity to live a middle-class lifestyle during our brief time on Earth? You know that I have been critical of both Donald Trump and Joe Biden's respective public records, but you only write political emails defending Donald Trump like he is perfect when he has a history of scandals, conflicts, racism, and so on in the Swamp and beyond.
As for the lovely Linda Tyer, I disagree with her blocking the people from sending her political emails. So does Smitty Pignatelli (Shitty Pigpen). So does Tricia Farley Bouvier (Trippy Country Buffet). So does Paul Mark (Paul Marxism). So does Ed Markey (Maryland Markey). The corrupt career politicians from Pittsfield politics to Beacon Hill to the Swamp have all enriched themselves at the public trough, while the people they block from emailing them have fallen behind. That is NOT how the government is supposed to work, and they know it, but power and the Almighty Dollars is too much for any of them to pass up.
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
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July 14, 2022
Jonathon;
Linda is a BRIGHT BLUE Democrat! How could this happen. Democrats claim to be the party of free speech and democracy! They claim Trump is a racist Nazi!
Dr. Jill just called Latinos breakfast tacos. Who can forget Joe's visit to a 7/11. Robert Byrd was Joe's mentor.
So again how can Linda block you from free speech, she a democrat?
Sounds like you are bad mouthing the wrong politicians. At no time did Trump ever censure the press, or anyone on BIg Tech. Linda has though.
Patrick Fennell
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July 14, 2022
Yes, the lovely Linda Tyer, the wealthy Mayor of Pittsfield politics, has blocked my political emails to her at times. I don't live in her elitist Gated Community lined with Mansions and Lexus luxury cars. I am not a provincial state and local Ruling Elite either. I never receive any kind of reply from her office. I am not an important person in her world of overtaxing the people and small businesses in Pittsfield, Massachusetts in return for Level 5 public schools and substandard municipal services. I have criticized her secretive public financial management shell games full of Creative Accounting schemes and multimillion dollar $lu$h Fund$ that tries to hide Pittsfield's hundreds of millions of dollars in public debts and other liabilities that will never be paid off in our lifetimes. I point out that North Street is sarcastically called "Social Services Alley" and that dangerous downtown Pittsfield is surrounded by the sarcastically called "Ring of Poverty" neighborhoods that most people avoid. I have written about the 24-year-old PEDA debacle that has millions of dollars in always increasing liabilities with no financial plan to pay for the polluted postindustrial so-called business park. I have written about Nuciforo's Berkshire Roots stinking up abutting residential neighborhoods with his skunk-like marijuana odors with no action taken by City Hall. I have written both praises and criticisms of the lovely Linda Tyer over the years.
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
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July 16, 2022
Someone replied emailed me: Good letter - would like to understand your thinking on 'shell games'.
My reply is that big government (billions of dollars in Boston and trillions of dollars in the Swamp) gives away a large percentage of the state and federal budgets to enrich the Financial, Corporate and Ruling Elites at the public trough. To illustrate, Beacon Hill lawmakers use (voluntary) regressive taxation schemes (i.e., the state lottery, casino gambling, excise taxes on marijuana, tobacco and alcohol taxes) in order to be able to giveaway a little less than $18 billion dollars per fiscal year in state tax breaks to Boston area big businesses that do not benefit most regions of Massachusetts, such as my mostly rural native Berkshire County. To illustrate, the Swamp deficit spends trillions of dollars per year, while the middle-class families in America have been systemically decimated over the past 50 years. The gap between the Haves and Have Nots now parallels the 1920s, which was one hundred years ago, and the tens if not hundreds of trillions of dollars in federal debts will be paid for by the forthcoming generations of American households who will have to struggle to not fall into our nation's huge and always growing larger underclass.
The last time the world's underclass was decimated, the world saw evil dictators such as Stalin, Hitler, and Chairman Mao, among other malevolent despots, who killed hundreds of millions of innocent Peoples and people. In 2024, the news media is warning us that our American Democracy could end in dictatorship. One hundred years prior to 2024 was 1924, which was the beginning of Adolf Hitler's rise to power in Germany. We still have a chance in 2022 to fight for Human Rights, Democracy, the Rule of Law over the rule of men, economic equity and rebuilding the middle-class like we did post WW2, and holding the corrupt career politicians at all levels of government in check when they sell us out with their corrupt and inequitable financial shell games!
Jonathan A. Melle
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July 16, 2022
Hello Patrick Fennell,
The sad thing about everything we wrote today is that most people don't understand how and why big government is so corrupt and inequitable. Abortion should be a nonissue, but it is used as a wedge issue to keep us in cultural conflicts to distract the people about what is happening on Beacon Hill and in the Swamp.
Elizabeth Warren is NOT part of Main Street, and she has been criticized for playing both sides of the Wall Street versus Main Street political game. Joe Biden took in more money from Wall Street than any other candidate in U.S. history, and it is a fact that Elizabeth Warren fully supports him.
Ed Markey lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland, which is a wealthy suburb in the Swamp. Ed Markey campaigned on the Green New Deal, but the U.S.A. is the second biggest polluter of greenhouse gas emissions in the world; China is number one. Combined, China and the U.S.A. pollute a little less than 50 percent of the entire world's greenhouse gas emissions. Ed Markey has not changed anything except spew more of his HOT AIR nonsense in the Swamp. Ed Markey - as well as Shitty Pigpen, the lovely Linda, PAC Man Richie Neal and company - supports GE putting a toxic waste dump full of industrial chemicals that cause cancer and other illnesses inside of the watershed in the polluted Housatonic River in Lee, Massachusetts. How in the Hell is Ed Markey not being called on the proverbial carpet for selling out the people who live in Lee and Lenoxdale, Massachusetts? If Ed Markey was a Republican U.S. Senator, the Boston news media would have crushed him on his real public record, but he gets a pass for being a corrupt career Democrat Swamp politician.
PAC Man Richie Neal is K Street's Golden Boy, especially with the insurance companies! The problem with PAC Man Richie Neal being in K Street's pocket is that it has NOTHING to do with his mostly rural Western Massachusetts legislative district that he has been doing DISSERVICES against for over three decades.
Chrome Dome Adam Hinds married a wealthy woman who is a college professor at Amherst College, and he left Pittsfield behind faster than Jack Welch did decades ago. Shitty Pigpen is a rubber stamp for Boston's corrupt State House leadership, which systemically underfunds his mostly rural legislative district that borders New York State and Connecticut. Trippy Country Buffet did and accomplished nothing for a little over one decade in Boston, but she went bananas over passing a bill into law earlier this year of 2022 giving illegal/undocumented immigrants Massachusetts Driver's Licenses effective on July 1st, 2023. Paul Marxism is all about representing the politically connected labor unions and the all-powerful State House leadership, which is symbolic of a true Socialist or even a Communist comrade. The Career Mayor (John Barrett III) is in his fifth decade of being a career politician who supports the political establishment over grassroots democracy.
Pittsfield Mayor Linda Tyer passes record high municipal budgets that are not financially sustainable over the long-term. Moreover, the Pittsfield taxpayers are paying top dollar for Level 5 public schools and substandard city services. She lives in a mansion in an elitist Gated Community, while inner-city Pittsfield has over 1,000 gang members living there and shooting up the streets 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
What does all of this mean for the people of Berkshire County? It means that the China-like one political party system is systemically screwing them over without the people having a voice to change their corrupt and inequitable government to represent their low to moderate income households' political interests.
This Summer, the Democratic candidates named challenger Alf Barbalunga and Incumbent Tom "Pudge" Bowler are campaigning for the no-show plum to be Berkshire County Sheriff, which is akin to a commoner winning the state lottery jackpot plus public perks. The Democratic candidates named challenger Tim Shugue and Incumbent Andrea Harrington are campaigning for the plum to be Berkshire County District Attorney, which is also akin to a commoner winning a large financial windfall plus public perks.
Challenger Tim Shugrue, who ran for D.A. many years ago is saying that the Incumbent D.A. Andrea Harrington's progressive policies are causing an increase in violent crime in Pittsfield and the Berkshires, but it has been trending in that wrong direction for decades. D.A. Andrea Harrington is running on gender and racial equality and justice without touching on the root causes of violent crime in Pittsfield and the Berkshires. Why don't Alf, Pudge, Tim, and Andrea call out Pittsfield and North Adams for what they are: Politically corrupt and economically distressed and unequal cities that most young adults with the means to do so flee so that they will be able to earn a living wage, not send their children to Level 5 public schools, and not be at a high risk of being victims of violent crimes?
When I talked to Pittsfield powerbrokers such as Cliff Nilan, he told me that no one cares anymore. I couldn't disagree with him more. The answer to stopping the corrupt career politicians and one (Democratic) party system in Berkshire County is for the people to care about what is happening in local, state and Swamp politics. We must demand that the politicians at all levels of government stop being so corrupt and inequitable, and that the politicians start investing in the people and communities they are supposed to be representing at Town/City Hall, Beacon Hill, and in the Swamp.
While I respect Cliff Nilan as a friend of my family, I have a difficult time trusting him when it comes to Pittsfield politics and beyond. I believe that Cliff Nilan is a good and honorable man who loves and is loyal to Pittsfield. I have heard stories over the years of Cliff Nilan helping people in need, which means that he has a good heart. But I have also heard from people who oppose the provincial one-party political system of Cliff Nilan not being nice to them, which means he is a political agent. The real problem is that Pittsfield politics has put the Berkshires into the proverbial ditch over the past over 50 years.
Beacon Hill politics is all about the Boston Pols enriching themselves and their wealthy financial backers at the public trough, while almost everyone else falls behind financially. Swamp politics is all about the U.S. Government selling billions upon billions of dollars in arms to the world, bailing out and subsidizing Wall Street Investment Banks and Insurance Companies, and corrupt career politicians such as Speaker Nancy Pelosi being said to be a billionaire from her legal insider trading of Pentagon and related stocks. The Ruling Elites do NOT care about people such as you and me, but I like that we keep writing about it year after year.
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
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July 18, 2022
Hello Patrick Fennell,
Is it true that Joe Biden's visit to Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince MBS last Friday, July 15th, 2022, whereby he asked - paid MBS billions of federal dollars - for more exports of oil and gas, is really a realpolitik shell game? I read that Saudi Arabia not only sells oil and gas, but also, Saudi Arabia purchases oil and gas from Russia and other oil and gas rich countries as part of their country's economic trade. When Saudi Arabia's MBS increases oil and gas exports, they may be also selling us more Russian oil and gas. If true, it would mean that Joe Biden paying Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince MBS billions of federal dollars for more oil and gas exports would also greatly benefit Russia's dictator, Putin, who is still at war with Ukraine.
Also, when Joe Biden used the U.S. Strategic Energy (Oil) Reserve to supposedly lower gas prices, it was mostly sold overseas to countries such as China and India, which also still purchases a lot of Russian oil and gas. U.S. gas prices are down from the recent peak of $5 per gallon to $4.63 per gallon as of 18-July-2022. That is only a savings of 37-cents per gallon of gas for the U.S. consumers, while overall U.S. inflation is near 10 percent, but it is really probably 4 percent higher than what is being reported by the federal government.
What the Hell is really going on? Why is Wall Street making billions of dollars off of the global oil and gas trade? Why is Wall Street making billions of dollars off of Russia's Putin's war in Ukraine? Did Joe Biden pull another fast one late last week by giving Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince MBS billions of federal dollars for more oil and gas - on the condition that they use a portion of the money to buy U.S. arms - that will lead to Saudi Arabia purchasing even more of Russia's oil and gas that will continue to finance Putin's war machine in order for Joe Biden to lower gas prices before the 2022 midterm elections to help the Democratic Party hold onto more seats in the Swamp? If what I read is true, then Joe Biden is morally bankrupt!
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
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July 19, 2022
Hello Patrick Fennell,
Joe Biden will be in Massachusetts tomorrow. How do you like the following statement: “The President will deliver remarks on tackling the climate crisis and seizing the opportunity of a clean energy future to create jobs and lower costs for families.”? The truth is that Joe Biden has oversaw the current energy crisis whereby he killed tens of thousands of U.S. energy jobs and raised energy prices on U.S. consumers that have not been seen since the 1970s. The low to moderate income energy ratepayers who live in Massachusetts should send Joe Biden their energy bills tomorrow!
Best wishes,
Jonathan Melle
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President Joe Biden will be in the Bay State tomorrow, the White House announced Tuesday.
“On Wednesday, July 20, [2022], President Joe Biden will travel to Somerset, Massachusetts,” the White House said in a release.
Joe Biden is expected to speak about climate change and clean energy while visiting the commonwealth. The White House has not yet provided details about the trip.
“The President will deliver remarks on tackling the climate crisis and seizing the opportunity of a clean energy future to create jobs and lower costs for families,” the White House said in a release. “Additional details to follow.”
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July 28, 2022
Hello fellow U.S. Army Veteran Patrick Fennell,
The Swamp just stabbed American Veterans in the back today. There is outrage after the bill to save Veterans lives that cares for burn pit victims that goes back the Vietnam Conflict era - where over 5 million Vietnamese People were killed and almost 60,000 Armed Forces Members were killed to make the Elites billions of dollars in war profits - failed in the U.S. Senate today. As a 100 percent service-connected disabled Veteran who served our country honorably, I am disappointed by this breaking news today. We need to vote out the corrupt career politicians in the Swamp! The Swamp will go on their monthlong August 2022 vacation next week. I hope the Swamp will take a permanent vacation because we will all be a lot better off without the corrupt career politicians in the Swamp. Today marks one of the WORST days in Swamp politics! What the Hell?
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
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August 11, 2022
I betcha y'all didn't know that the 4 families who run Pittsfield politics pays me a lotta money to give them my advice on government. I am kinda a big deal in Palookaville. I attend secret society meetings in Naples, Florida with the Godfather of Rolodexes. I get invited to elite parties in an exclusive Gated Community neighborhood with a few feet of the Hancock border. I take a certain State Representative who likes to eat out to the Country Buffet. I shine Chrome Dome's jewelry and big bald head. I play PAC Man with the corporate owned Congressman from Springfield. I have dinner out with Chevy Chase along with the Senator from Maryland who promised us all he will save the world with the Green New Deal. I play financial shell games with the Senator who has a plan to make the Swamp work for Main Street, but somehow Wall Street always wins. I even lend the Prez $10 trillion to spend so that big government will solve all of our problems. I am a legend in my own mind!
Jonathan A. Melle
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August 24, 2022
Hello Patrick Fennell,
I did not forget about your brief political email reply to me today. BeaCON Hill lawmakers & Swamp lawmakers are all on their taxpayer-funded summer vacation. The Swamp lawmakers will return after the long Labor Day weekend. The Swamp is supposed to pass the fiscal year 2023 federal budget before September 30th, 2022, but we all know that is about as likely as a snowball in Hell not melting. Record setting federal deficit spender Joe Biden said this year's federal budget deficit will "only" be a little above $1 trillion. I had a good laugh at that one! BeaCON Hill lawmakers are sitting on billions upon billions of dollars in state government surplus dollars, but they failed to pass the over $4.5 billion economic stimulus and development with tax relief for low to moderate income taxpayers, including Senior Citizens and Veterans. Boston's corrupt career politicians are not scheduled to meet again in formal state legislative session until after the New Year, 2023. The Solons in Boston are all enjoying their 5 monthlong taxpayer-funded vacation, but maybe some of them will be ousted in the November 8th, 2022, elections and then they can take a permanent vacation. It would be too good to be true. The only people who win anymore are the same people who always win over the past 50 years. The Financial, Corporate and Ruling Elites receive almost all of the income gains, while the rest of have to pound sand. They should rename state capitals and the Swamp's legislative buildings "The Country Clubs for the Elites" to get their greedy hands on as much taxpayer loot as possible, while the rest of us struggle to survive. In closing, I wonder if any of the powerbrokers actually believe they are really representing us anymore in the Corridors of Power? I hope the answer is none of them.
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
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August 28, 2022
Hello Patrick Fennell,
The average voter in Massachusetts and beyond is no match for the corrupt career politicians that get voted in year after year.
What is the difference between a politician and a prostitute? The prostitute takes her hands out of your pockets when you run out of money, while the politician still keeps his hands in your pockets. At least with a prostitute, you leave her with a smile on your face, but not with a politician. How do you know that a politician isn't stealing your money? The politician has his hands in his own pockets - playing pocket pool. How do you know when a politician isn't lying? The politician's lips are not moving.
At this point, I think we would all be happier with a high paid hooker than a politician. At least we would get a Happy Ending with our money instead of more hot air in return for 40-year high U.S. inflation. Hunter Biden may have had it right by spending all of his money on sex workers in the U.S.A., China, Ukraine and Russia. Hunter Biden may not have money laundered over $1 billion dollars from overseas after all if he spent all of his money on Happy Endings and a whole lot more.
Joe Biden said he is proud of his only surviving son, Hunter, who published a book in 2021 whereby he wrote that he used to smoke crack cocaine every 15 minutes and drown himself in alcohol. Joe Biden and all of the other corrupt career politicians out there are making our country into an international embarrassment, but at least they are all enriching themselves at the public trough while we have to pound sand.
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
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August 28, 2022
Hello Patrick Fennell,
The Student Relief will cost anywhere between $600 billion to over $1 trillion over the next decade, which will be long after Joe Biden will be a memory that we will all be happy to forget about. Joe Biden is spending over $10 trillion federal dollars a year. When the U.S. Congress returns to the Swamp after the long Labor Day weekend, they are supposed to be working on and passing the fiscal year 2023 federal budget prior to October 1st, 2022. I read that they will most likely fail to pass the federal budget on time, but rather, they will pass continuing resolutions for a couple of months, and then they will pass the federal budget sometime after the Holiday Season in early-2023. Also, the U.S. Congress won't pass the federal budget on time because the 2022 midterm elections are the most important event in the Swamp. Neither political party wants to look bad until after the 2022 midterm election.
In Massachusetts, PAC Man Richie Neal will be elected to his 1,000th term in U.S. Congress representing K Street corporate lobbyist firms, especially Insurance Companies. Maryland Markey will be spewing more HOT AIR from the Swamp. Elizabeth Warren will be giving her useless speeches about Main Street versus Wall Street. Joe Biden will be spending tens of trillions of federal dollars like a drunken Sailor on leave. None of the federal delegation to the Swamp will be helping the common people who are paying thousands of dollars more for the same products than we did one year ago. But what else is new? What else do we expect? Most voters are idiots, and most of us are no match for the Financial, Corporate and Ruling Elites to screw us over with all of their propaganda and lies.
Jonathan A. Melle
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August 30, 2022
Biden Buck$ have been used for a lot more controversial and questionable things than his bribe to young adults to vote for Democrats in the 2022 midterm elections for forgiving $10,000 to $20,000 of their student loan debts that will cost federal taxpayers between $600 billion to over $1 trillion over the next decade while doing nothing to contain the always rising cost of higher education that benefits greedy college administrators and overpaid Ivory Tower Professors who get paid to indoctrinate college students with their various academic ideologies.
Biden Buck$ went to a 4-Star hotel in Florida, renovations to a minor league park in New York State, relief funds that paid off debts for the Ted Kennedy Institute in Massachusetts, and relief funds to pay off overdue child support debts for deadbeat dads (& moms) in St. Louis, and so on. Biden Buck$ were supposed to go to saving jobs, helping those in distress, opening schools, and increasing vaccinations, but instead, they went to disastrous pork barrel spending boondoggles.
Mayor Linda Tyer's secrecy behind her municipal administration's spending of Pittsfield's Biden Buck$ kept the fictional Mary Jane & Joe Kapanski family in the dark and without any tax and fee relief.
Jonathan A. Melle
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September 10, 2022
Hello Patrick Fennell,
Thank you for sharing your open political letter to the editor with me. I agree with the points that you made. China is the number one polluter of greenhouse gas emissions in the world, and the U.S.A. is number two. Combined, China and the U.S.A. pollute a little less than 50 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. The Pentagon pollutes more greenhouse gas emissions than 140 countries combined. China's large military is also a huge polluter of greenhouse gas emissions. Those are all facts that cannot be disputed.
During this upcoming Winter of 2022/2023, many low to moderate income people are at risk of freezing to death during the energy crisis, especially in Europe due to Putin's realpolitik energy wars and his ongoing unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. Where is the plan to deal with the home heating costs during this upcoming Winter season? If you have heard of a plan(s) by the Biden administration, please let me know about it. If your answer is the Green New Deal, the Swamp's Hot Air propaganda will make things even worse than ever.
I concede that the things you wrote about were better during the Trump administration than during the Biden administration. That doesn't mean that I support Donald Trump, which is something that I will never do. I respect your political views and your support for Donald Trump. I hope that we will have a new U.S. President in 2025!
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
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9/10/2022
To the Editor;
China dominates Solar Panel Production. China is far from a Green country. Electric Vehicles are expensive, costs out of reach for most Americans. Other green ideas flawed. Hardly a platform for running for office in 2022.
Most Americans today are worried about high inflation, high crime, a dangerous open southern border and taking taxpayers' money to forgive student loans. Why should we have to pay for spring break when we were working?
Why are democrat candidates ignoring the economy, gas prices, high crime, bad DAs, out of control college costs, and still suffering from bad Covid-19 decisions, like closing schools and closing small businesses.
Remember democrats control Congress and the White House and the legislature in Massachusetts is democrat and Veto proof. They are responsible for the bad economy, high crime, a dangerous open southern border and Covid-19 short comings.
Were we better off before January 20, 2021 or now?
Patrick Fennell
Great Barrington, MA
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September 11, 2022
Hello blogger Dan Valenti,
Happy Patriots Day! It has been 21 years since 9/11/2001, which was a tragic day that changed the world.
You posted on your blog: "THE PLANET shall be addressing this ominous turn in Democrat tactics in our Monday column."
I assume that you will be writing a blog post that will defend Donald Trump from the Swamp Democrats who have impeached him twice, ordered the FBI to raid his home in Florida, and Joe Biden is warning us that Trump's MAGA extremism is dangerous to our nation's politics prior to the November 8th, 2022, midterm elections.
Please understand that after the 2022 midterm elections, the Republican Party will most likely have majority powers in both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate Chambers, which will mean that the tables will turn against Joe Biden and the Democrats. Earlier this year of 2022, Joe Biden already hired Attorneys to prepare his legal defense for next year's predicted impeachment case. I found that very interesting because it appears like Joe Biden is guilty of political corruption and other illegal activities at least one year before his would-be impeachment hearings begin sometime in 2023.
Why are our nation's leaders always engaging in political conflict? The divide and conquer theory is as old as human history. When two or more sides fight each other, the Financial, Corporate and Ruling Elites win everything by distracting us from the issues that matter the most. I believe that we are being manipulated by the Donald Trump is a dangerous MAGA extremist versus Joe Biden is a 50-year corrupt career politician in the Swamp ongoing media coverage. What if both sides are right about Trump and Biden? What the Hell can anybody really do about any of it, anyways?
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
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September 11, 2022
Hello Patrick Fennell,
I agree with your points. Beacon Hill is Exhibit A in political corruption. Boston's corrupt career politicians are sitting on billions of dollars, which is the most state surplus dollars in the over 400-year history of Massachusetts. The State Legislature is currently enjoying their 5 monthslong taxpayer-funded vacation. When they return to Beacon Hill early next year of 2023, they will receive up to three public pay raises. Given all of this nonsense, Beacon Hill lawmakers did not pass any form of tax relief for low to moderate income people, including Senior Citizens and Veterans. They did not pass any form of economic stimulus and economic development legislation. If Boston's political establishment were dominated by Republicans, the Boston Globe and the other MSM newspapers such as the Dirty Bird (Berkshire Eagle) would be crying foul.
The Swamp has less than 3 weeks to pass the fiscal year 2023 federal budget on time. They will most likely pass continuing resolutions to keep the federal government from shutting down prior to the 2022 midterm elections. We are in an energy crisis. Millions of people in millions of households are at risk of freezing to death this upcoming Winter season of 2022/2023. Europe doesn't have the energy supplies needed to keep the people who live there warm in their homes during the coldest months of the year. Given all of these problems, why aren't we all working together to increase our energy supplies to save millions of lives from the cold winter months? Can low to moderate income residents even afford to purchase energy this upcoming winter season? I wish the 2022 midterm elections were held on Valentine's Day 2023 instead of on November 8th, 2022! That way the Swamp would stop its immature finger pointing and finally get back to work on the federal budget and the energy crisis.
Donald Trump's supporters shouldn't be called names such as racists and fascists by Joe Biden and his supporters. Both Trump and Biden have histories of racism in politics. I respect your views. I respect that you support Donald Trump. It is something that I can never do. Donald Trump's racist white nationalist MAGA-movement is immoral, and it stands against Human Rights. Donald Trump had neo-Nazis work on his campaigns and in his presidential administration. Donald Trump's response to the hate march in Charlottesville Virginia and his involvement in the 1/6/2021 insurrection of Capitol Hill is unconscionable. That is not to say that his opposing political contemporaries do not have a history of racism in politics. Two wrongs do not make a right - even for the billionaire Donald Trump. My wish is that we have two new presidential candidates in 2024, which means that I hope for the political retirements of both Donald Trump and Joe Biden in 2024. We need change. We need new leadership in the Swamp in the 2024 elections.
Lastly, I am upset about the troubles of Hunter Biden, who is the son of U.S. President Joe Biden. Hunter Biden is an alleged money launderer of over $1.2 billion U.S. Dollars from adversarial countries such as Russia and China, as well as Ukraine. Hunter Biden spent his cut of the alleged laundered money on sex workers, alcohol and a lot of drugs. A U.S. Senate report stated that some of Hunter Biden's sex workers from Russia may have been sex trafficked. Hunter Biden wrote and published a book in 2021 whereby he stated he used to smoke crack cocaine every 15 minutes and drown himself in alcohol. Hunter Biden has a daughter from a young woman half his age who he says he has no memory of being with, and he lied to a Judge in a court of law that he wasn't the father of her baby girl, but the court ordered paternity test proved otherwise. Hunter Biden has at least 5 children by at least 3 different women. Joe Biden openly said that he is proud of his last surviving son, Hunter Biden. We need a new U.S. President!
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
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September 11, 2022
Both political parties are scary because there are radical extremists in both political parties in the Swamp. Donald Trump is innocent until proven guilty under the law. Joe Biden's anti-Trump speeches and federal law enforcement actions are too close to the 2022 midterm elections to have legitimacy for the public to believe that Joe Biden is not using political retribution for the Democratic Party's political advantage, but it will probably backfire very badly. Joe Biden's "Divide and Conquer" speeches will help bolster the Republican Party in the 2022 midterm elections. The only U.S. President, who is a convicted Felon (twice over), is on the Democrat's side: Bill Clinton, who also has 26 flight log entries on Jeffrey Epstein's - who is deceased under questionable circumstances - private jet. Earlier this year of 2022, Joe Biden hired Attorneys for his predicted impeachment hearings in 2023 after the Republicans will most likely have predicted majority status in both legislative chambers in the Swamp. Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden is an alleged money launderer of over $1.2 billion from adversarial foreign countries including China and Russia, as well as Ukraine. Hunter Biden is a recovering addict who chronically used crack cocaine and alcohol. Hunter Biden hired many sex workers, including ones from Russia, that a U.S. Senate report says may have been victims of sex trafficking. Hunter Biden says he has no memory of the woman who is half his age whom he fathered a baby girl with, and he lied to a Judge in a court of law by saying he wasn't the father of the baby girl, but a court ordered paternity test proved otherwise. Joe Biden openly said that he is proud of his only surviving son, Hunter Biden. Joe Biden has no legitimacy because he has no credibility, and his judgments are misguided by his loyalty to his family and politics. I hope that two new political candidates will run for U.S. President in 2024. It is time for change!
Jonathan A. Melle
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September 17, 2022
To the Editor of the New Hampshire Union Leader,
I do not reside in the New Hampshire Congressional District where Karoline Leavitt is challenging two-term incumbent Chris Pappas in the November 8th, 2022, general midterm election. If she is elected, Karoline Leavitt would be the youngest Member of U.S. Congress in U.S. history. She would be New York's Elise Stefanik 2.0, which means that she would be a far-right Trumper in the Swamp, and she would bring the same controversial politics to NH that Congresswoman Elise Stefanik brought to N.Y. State.
Karoline Leavitt is from a wealthy family whose money and political connections got her positions with Stefanik's office and Trump's administration. Chris Pappas is also from a wealthy family. Chris Pappas is NH's first openly gay man to be in U.S. Congress. There will be a lot of big money spent on this race that has flipped back and forth between the two political parties since 2006.
To be fair, Karoline Leavitt is calling for much needed reforms in the Swamp, which is something that I agree with her about. Chris Pappas votes with Speaker Nancy Pelosi 100 percent of the time, which shows that he represents corruption in the Swamp. But the controversial leadership that Congresswoman Elise Stefanik and would be Congresswoman Karoline Leavitt both bring to national politics is something I will never support in government.
We should all support candidates for elected office that will work together to find common ground and purpose to form an agenda that best serves the government's interests to represent the people and taxpayers of the U.S.A. (but that would be too good to be true). Controversial leadership from Donald Trump to Elise Stefanik to Karoline Leavitt stands against good governance. I feel relieved that I don't have to vote in this midterm election race between the corrupt Congressman Chris Pappas and the controversial candidate Karoline Leavitt.
Jonathan A. Melle
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September 19, 2022
Hello Patrick Fennell,
This week in the Swamp, the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate are both back in session. They have 11 days left to pass the fiscal year 2022 federal budget on time by October 1st, 2022. Of course, they won't pass the federal budget on time, but they won't shut down the federal government this time around because the November 8th, 2022, midterm elections are only weeks away. I wonder how many federal taxpayer dollars will be spent by Uncle Sam over the next 12 months. I also wonder where the tens of trillions of federal dollars also sarcastically called Biden Bucks went since January 21st, 2021. I do understand all too well that the 41-year high U.S. inflation rate is not helping the common people save money.
Billionaire John Forbes Kerry warned African nations not to rely on natural gas that would bring electric power to millions of people there. Unbelievable! John Kerry owns at least 5 homes. Just last year in early-2021, John Kerry had millions of dollars in personal investments in oil and natural gas stocks prior to being Joe Biden's chief climate bureaucrat. John Kerry should tell the world that it is an undisputable fact that the U.S.A. is the number two polluter of greenhouse gas emissions in the world, while China is the number one polluter, and combined, the U.S.A. and China account for a little less than 50 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. The Pentagon pollutes more greenhouse gas emissions than 140 countries combined. But God forbid that John Kerry - the biggest elitist, flip-flopping hypocrite and phony in human history - would support millions of people in Africa having electric power through the use of natural gas.
Joe Biden is continuing his ongoing threats of World War 3 with China over China's military aggression against Taiwan. Joe Biden called Putin a "KILLER" and a "BUTCHER" over Russia's ongoing unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. Joe Biden's relations with China and Russia are ugly and his campaign promises of uniting our nation and world have been proven to be another false tagline. The fact is that the U.S.A., Russia and/or China cannot fight each other in a war because it would result in the deaths of billions of people around the world. World War 3 means nuclear weapons warfare. Joe Biden should not be so hostile with his name calling and ongoing threats of World War 3 with China.
Joe Biden, John Kerry and Hillary Clinton all voted for George W. Bush's war authorization against Iraq 20 years ago. The U.S.A. invaded Iraq, which has the second largest oil reserves in the world next to Saudi Arabia, which has the largest oil reserves in the world. Earlier this year, Russia invaded Ukraine. China is threatening to invade Taiwan. Why was O.K. for Joe Biden and John Kerry to have voted 20 years ago for the U.S.A. to invade Iraq, but it is not O.K. for Putin's Russia to have invaded Ukraine and Xi's China planning to invade Taiwan? I feel like it is the pot calling the kettles black.
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
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September 19, 2022
Hello Patrick Fennell,
I wish for new political leadership who will fight for democracy, liberty, justice for all, the rule of law, and middle-class families. I know it would be too good to be true, but I can still make wishes for good things to happen in life. I do not want Donald Trump back as U.S. President. I do not want Joe Biden back, either. I wish both of these old bags of HOT AIR would retire from politics.
I agree with you, Pat, about the Financial, Corporate and Ruling Elites' systemic class warfare that is decimating the middle class. Systemic class warfare has been in place in our country for the past 50 years, which is the same amount of time Joe Biden has been in the Swamp. It makes perfect sense that Joe Biden would favor the elites as the 46th U.S. President because he is one of the elites. I wish that the middle class, elderly, disabled American Veterans, and the working poor had more power in the Swamp, but, in reality, we have little power among the elites who always only want more money and power for themselves as the years pass us by.
Joe Biden is hostile to call Putin a "KILLER" and a "BUTCHER" on the world stage. Joe Biden is wrong to continue to threaten World War 3 against China if China invades Taiwan. Joe Biden, John Kerry and Hillary Clinton were all wrong to vote for George W. Bush's invasion of oil-rich Iraq 20 years ago. What is the difference between the U.S. invading Iraq versus Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine or China's planned invasion of Taiwan? If Biden starts WW3 against China and/or Russia, it would be a nuclear weapons war that would result in the deaths of billions of people around the world. Why is Joe Biden being so ugly towards China and Russia when his threats against them would end with WW3? It makes no sense to me.
Joe Biden should step down from the American Presidency because he is a failed leader. It is predicted that Joe Biden will be impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives sometime next year of 2023. He already hired his impeachment Attorneys earlier this year of 2022. I wonder who will ultimately take Joe Biden's place if he resigns his office like Richard Nixon did nearly 50 years ago. If it is V.P. Kamala Harris, I wonder how long she would last as the next U.S. President. What is this political gamesmanship really all about? I don't know the answers.
I am a disabled American Veteran. I didn't deserve any or all of this failed leadership, Pat.
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
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September 20, 2022
Howie Carr missed the facts: "AOC graduated from BU cum laude with degrees in economics and international relations. Her dad was an architect with, heaven help us, a college degree. He died while she was in school. She then went home and worked as a waitress and bartender to help her mother fight foreclosure. If you don't like her fine but don't try to paint her as some one who grew up privileged. Quoting James Michael Curley? What, no Henry Cabot Lodge? James Taylor was born in Boston and lives in Lenox MA. Speaking of privilege, how did you get into Deerfield Academy. Must have known someone." - Brian Mahoney
Howie Carr missed the facts: [Donald Trump] Inherits over $400,000,000 from father, doesn't pay his bills, inflates value of assets to get loans, deflates value of assets at tax time, has people donate $250,000,000 for his fight to overturn election and then transfers money to one of his PAC, Save America leadership PAC raised over 100,000,000 during 2022 election cycle of which millions have been used to pay legal bills, says he donates to charity but doesn't and starts up Digital World Acquisition Corp with the help of ARC Capital a Shanghai firm specializing in listing Chinese companies on American stock markets that the SEC has investigated for misrepresenting shell companies. Call up Wharton and ask if all that is taught to their students. - Brian Mahoney
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September 21, 2022
Hello Patrick Fennell,
New York State Officials announced that they are investigating Donald Trump and three of his five oldest children in a civil lawsuit case for allegedly fudging the value of their assets to commit tax fraud. Meanwhile, Hunter Biden is still being investigated by the Feds for allegedly money laundering over $1.2 billion from Ukraine, Russia and China. Joe Biden's "Crime" Family are all fabulously wealthy. It looks to me that the Trumps and Bidens all allegedly play financial shell games with their political power and money. I don't have any money so I cannot play financial shell games with nothing in the bank. I wouldn't be able to be a financial fraudster politician anyway because I need to sleep at night with a good conscience. I even try to help people with my limited money who are truly in financial need. I have always given my money to charity, even when I was in the U.S. Army many years ago.
Joe Biden took in more money from Wall Street, K Street and the billionaires than any other politician in U.S. history. K Street corporate lobbyist firms bragged about their record earnings in 2021. The Federal Reserve raised rates again today, which is killing the common people's personal finances to benefit Wall Street's trillions of dollars investment banks and insurance companies. The federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour has not been raised since over 13 years ago in 2009, which was when Wall Street and even foreign banks received huge taxpayer-funded bailouts. The billionaires wanted Joe Biden over Donald Trump in 2020 because Joe Biden is in their pocket, while Donald Trump was seen as a loose cannon in the White House. The Democrats are facing a backlash in the 2022 midterm elections, but the Financial Elites may not be able to buy enough votes to stop a Republican Party majority victory in U.Sad. Congress.
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
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September 27, 2022
What is wrong with this picture? Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski will soon be paying hundreds of dollars more per month than last year to heat their home this upcoming winter, while the Swamp is always sending tens of billions of dollars in so-called aid to Ukraine that really goes into the pockets of the military industrial complex and other special interests.
Jonathan A. Melle
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"Cha-ching! Biden embraces his election-year fundraising role"
By Seung Min Kim and Aamer Madhani, Associated Press, October 1, 2022
WASHINGTON (AP) — Whenever a donor’s unsilenced cellphone goes off at a fundraiser while President Joe Biden is talking, he has the same joke ready to go: It’s Donald Trump on the other line.
“If that’s Trump calling me again, tell him I’m busy,” Biden said at an event this past week for the Democratic Governors Association, repeating a variation of the quip he also relayed during receptions in Illinois and New York earlier this year. The crowd of a few dozen, as they always do, chuckled as the president continued with the rest of his remarks.
It’s one glimpse of Biden as fundraiser in chief — a man who schmoozes with aplomb while raking in millions at receptions that will be a fixture of his political schedule during the final stretch before Election Day, Nov. 8. At these events, celebrities are spotted and alcohol is consumed, while Biden gets the one-on-one interactions he had missed for much of his campaign and presidency due to COVID-19.
The fundraisers — held in lavish Manhattan apartments, drab conference centers and backyard tents glammed up with chandeliers — have been one of the most visible ways Biden has been deployed this election year at a time when his approval ratings remain underwater and many Democrats aren’t eager to stand by him on the campaign trail.
“Joe Biden is Joe Biden. He’s real, he’s down to earth, if he knows the people in the room … he’s even more relaxed,” said Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., a close ally. “He gets all kinds of questions, he answers them honestly, he probably gives his staff heart attacks.”
So far this year, Biden has headlined 11 receptions to raise cash directly for the Democratic National Committee, and they have brought in more than $19.6 million, according to the committee. The events have ranged from a $300,000 haul at a yacht club in Portland, Oregon, to a cozy, 18-person affair (with four others on video screens) at Hotel Washington near the White House that took in more than $3 million. A pair of fundraisers at mansions in Southern California during the Summit of the Americas in June raked in $5 million in a matter of hours.
Separate from the DNC events, Biden spoke at a fundraiser in September benefiting Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer that brought in more than $450,000 for the state Democratic Party.
The governors association event raised $1 million, and Biden was to have appeared on Tuesday at a fundraiser on behalf of Charlie Crist, the nominee for governor in Florida who has not been shy about wanting the president to campaign with him. That political trip was postponed due to Hurricane Ian.
The DNC also enlists Biden for solicitations sent to its grassroots donor list, with emails signed by the president consistently raising the most money for the committee, party officials say. As of this past week, the DNC has raised more than $107 million, the most at this point in any year and an amount that Democratic officials credited in large part to Biden’s direct involvement.
Biden seems to particularly relish the in-person interactions that a private fundraiser offers.
A famously chummy politician, Biden makes sure at any big-dollar event that his hosts are made to feel special and recognized. For instance, at a late August fundraiser in the Washington suburbs, Biden first spent some time giving a child near the front of the gathering a bit of attention and then the president gave his remarks for several dozen big-dollar DNC supporters.
“Honey, what’s your name?” Biden asked a little girl, sitting through what he joked had to be the most “boring” event. “Well, let me tell you something. Is that your daddy? He owes you big for having to sit here.”
At a June fundraiser in Beverly Hills, California, at the home of billionaire media mogul Haim Saban, the president mused to Saban’s wife, Cheryl, that both men had “married way above our station.” And standing in the 65th-floor apartment of Henry and Marsha Laufer overlooking New York’s Central Park, Biden gushed over the “magnificent” view, noting: “I don’t know if there’s a better view in New York than here.”
Indeed, the residence is a “piece of heaven” for the Laufers, who appeared fastidious about keeping their place spotless. Attendees checked their shoes – expensive Jimmy Choo mules and Saint Laurent pumps among them — at the door and listened to Biden while in socks or slippers provided by the couple. A small group of reporters in attendance were asked to place “booties” over their shoes to protect their hardwood floors and light-colored carpets. (None of the shoe rules applied to Biden, who kept his on and did not wear the disposable coverings.)
At Biden fundraisers, celebrities such as the actor Robert De Niro (in New York) or filmmaker Ken Burns (in Boston) make the occasional cameo, although neither stayed long enough to hear the president speak.
To donors, Biden's comments, which can run from a few minutes to a half-hour, are a much more casual, off-the-cuff version of the campaign speech that he delivers in front of the cameras. Journalists have access to Biden fundraisers, although just with a notepad and pen, meaning cameras are barred.
Especially as of late, Biden takes care to underline his administration’s accomplishments — a $1.9 trillion pandemic relief package, a bipartisan infrastructure law, a climate and health care bill that came after months of internal Democratic wrangling. He then stresses to donors how the upcoming November midterms are a choice, not just between keeping his achievements and Republicans unraveling them, but on other issues such as abortion and guns.
While aides dispute that his message varies in more private settings, Biden frequently speaks extemporaneously and can be far less guarded than at his formal remarks at a lectern or on a stage.
It’s been at fundraisers where Biden has invoked variations of fascism – be it “semi-fascism” or “tint of fascism” -- to refer to Trump-fueled forces within the Republican Party that Biden has said are a threat to the nation’s democratic foundations. While his spokeswoman declined to assess the implications of the recent election in Italy, where a political party with neo-fascist roots won the most votes, Biden at the DGA fundraiser pointed to the results as he warned about the fate of democracy both in the United States and abroad.
At the Laufers’ home, Biden – who tends to avoid talking about his faith when discussing policy — notably referenced the Catholic Church’s position while castigating Republicans who had pushed for broad bans on abortion.
“I happen to be a practicing Roman Catholic. My church doesn’t even make that argument,” he said, referring to abortion bans that leave “no exceptions.”
The quintessential Biden qualities — his candor and his warmth with the crowd — become more pronounced once the press is kicked out and audience members have a chance to ask Biden questions, say people who have attended such gatherings.
The questions Biden gets vary from event to event and they veer from political strategy to the news of the day. During a Manhattan fundraiser at the home of businessman and social justice activist Henry Munoz, Biden was pressed on his plans on immigration and how he would describe his closing message to voters, as well as the impact of the overturning of Roe vs. Wade, according to a person who spoke on condition of anonymity to relay details of a private event.
The bulk of Biden's fundraising activity has been for the DNC, and Biden earlier this year greenlighted a $15 million transfer from it to the party’s House and Senate campaign committees, a sign of his personal investment in trying to ensure Democrats retain their majorities this fall. A White House official said Biden receives “quite a few” requests from Democratic candidates to appear at fundraisers, and aides work to accommodate as many as possible depending on his schedule and other factors.
Whitmer took priority because she was a co-chair of both Biden's presidential campaign and his inauguration.
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October 28, 2022
Sarcasm: Please Vote for all of the corrupt career politicians running for reelection in the 2022 midterm elections because they have vast institutional knowledge of how to get rich off of the government. Our politicians should serve decades upon decades in elected office because they spend 90% of their time raising money and the other 10% of the time doing nothing but DISSERVICES to the people and taxpayers. Just look at our 80-year-old Prez who has spent the last 50 years in the Swamp. Joe Biden is rich, powerful, and he has all of us paying hundreds of dollars more per month for the same goods and services than prior to January 21st, 2021. I wish to thank all of the corrupt career politicians for decimating the middle class since Joe Biden entered the Swamp 50 years ago. I like reading about the hundreds of U.S. billionaires and all of the multimillionaire corrupt career politicians who run our country. Thank you, once again, to all of the corrupt career politicians, greedy lobbyists, and the government for everything that all of you elites do for yourselves at our expense while we have to pound sand about it all.
Jonathan A. Melle
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February 19, 2024
Dear Congresswoman Annie Kuster,
Please read the letter, below, that states that in less than 2 weeks from now on March 01st, 2024, WIC benefits for millions of women and children will be lost, as well as cut by $1 billion, due to the ongoing 2024 federal budget negotiations in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Why is the U.S. Congress so dysfunctional? Shouldn't the federal budget have been passed into law by October 1st, 2023? The answer that I believe to be true is because career politicians spend most of their time raising money instead of governing. It is called "Play to Pay" politics in the Swamp whereby K Street corporate lobbyist firms recently reported record earnings, while hungry babies are an afterthought to the ruling elites.
Best regards,
Jonathan A. Melle
Amherst, New Hampshire
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Letter: "We must prevent a decrease of WIC funding due to congressional inaction"
The Berkshire Eagle, February 17, 2024
To the editor: We rapidly approach March 1, when millions of women and infants may lose their nutrition benefits as WIC — the special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children — runs out of funding due to the 2024 budget negotiations.
“If funded at the same level as the January 2024 continuing resolution, WIC would face a shortfall of $1 billion, equivalent to 1.5 months of benefits for the nearly 6.7 million people that rely on the program,” according to the deputy under secretary for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services and the assistant secretary for health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. That shortfall would mean 2 million pregnant and postpartum women and their children won’t get necessary food and health assistance.
This one of many problems arising from congressional dysfunction should be a nonpartisan issue: decreasing child poverty and nourishing women and children. Yet it has become a victim of Congress’ inaction. Our future depends on the well-being of our children, which in turn depends on healthy nutrition prenatally and after.
Recently, the House passed a bipartisan tax package including an expansion of the child tax credit, 357-70. The Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024 expands the credit over the next three years so that more families with low incomes, including those with multiple children, can access the full credit amount. This would ensure that 16 million children receive some amount of this benefit. And we know from the 2021 expanded credit that this money contributes to decreasing food insecurity.
Now, with no time to spare, we must push the Senate to pass this law as well.
As one of the wealthiest nations in the world, it is a travesty for us to rank so poorly on measures like child poverty, infant and maternal mortality, and food insecurity. We can and must do better. I invite you to not only participate actively in the upcoming elections but to continue to advocate for these measures post election. We have the privilege of constituency, which means that our voices are counted when reaching out to our legislators. They are in Congress because of us and to work for us.
Leslye Heilig, Great Barrington
The writer is the Massachusetts Group co-leader of RESULTS.org, a nonpartisan anti-poverty advocacy organization.
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February 20, 2024
Hello Congresswoman Annie Kuster,
Is it true that the Democrats since Bill Clinton was the sitting U.S. President many years ago now have created issues that can be blamed on the Republicans?
Is Governor Maura Healey cutting Massachusetts health benefits for citizens so she can spend more state dollars on public schools and the like?
Are illegal immigrants and Ukraine taking away federal dollars from programs like WIC, U.S. Veterans, housing, etc.?
My dad, Bob, who will turn 80 this Summer 2024, was a Berkshire County, Massachusetts, politician several decades ago. That is why blog posters in the Berkshires refer to my father being a Democrat elected official.
Disgraced former Pittsfield (Massachusetts) State Senator (and failed candidate for U.S. Congress in 2012) Andrea Francesco Nuciforo Junior has persecuted me ever since the Spring 1996 when I was 20 years old back then. He also tried to ruin my dad's life by filing multiple state "ethics" complaints to multiple Massachusetts state agencies from the Fall 1997 - Spring 1998. He also tried to jail me by lying about me to the Pittsfield Police Department during the Spring 1998 - Summer 1998. Due to his many abuses, mean-spirited actions and corruption, Nuciforo's political career ended in disgrace a long time ago. Nuciforo is sarcastically called "Luciforo" and Pittsfield's Pot King, and he is currently suing the City of Pittsfield.
The then U.S. President, George W. Bush, ordered a hearing at the VA Central Office near The White House that I attended (with my mother) in the Summer 2004. I am a 100 percent totally and permanently disabled Veteran who served honorably. Your office has helped me with matters before the VA over the years. Thank you.
Are the Democrats in DC going to eliminate my VA benefits?
Thank you for your time,
Jonathan A. Melle
Attn: Congresswoman Annie Kuster:
I posted my letter to you on the PlanetValenti.com blog. These are the responses that I read.
* Just the Democrat mantra JM since Clinton, create an issue you can blame the Republicans for and it always seems to be aimed at the poor and weak. Our current Governor played the Dem play and cut MA Health benefits so she can give more money to scohols. Keep voting for them JM so at least you will have stuff to write about!
* JM, you do realize that the cuts to programs like WIC, help for US veterans, housing, etc, are being cut by the people YOU VOTED FOR, in favor of illegal aliens and Ukraine.
Let that sink in before you pen your next letter and look like a fool. YOU VOTED FOR THIS.
Actions have consequences. This isn’t your father’s democRAT party.
Get off MSNBC and go ask a recent Vet how he feels about democRATS and their policies.
Have you considered allowing a few illegals to live with you? You’d be a democRAT hero.
You could tell them your tales of woe and misery. Starting with your Army DI’s offending you by screaming and cussing at you in basic training. Followed by the Andy “Luciforo” Nuciforo story and how he has tormented you for 35 years and counting.
* I - Jon Melle - wrote: I served honorably just like you did, but I believe that you were the better Soldier than I; thank you.
As for Nuciforo, I am not the only one who feels like vomiting when his name is mentioned. Please ask him how his lawsuit versus the City of Pittsfield is going? I am not suing anyone.
The U.S. Congress should pass the late federal budget already.
* John, the current Junta in DC are treating the CRIMINAL ALIENS better than American citizens. Maybe they will eliminate your VA benefits and give those to the invaders too!
Guess what? YOU VOTED FOR THEM!!!!
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