#political-corruption

#political-corruption

A former aide to New York Governors Kathy Hochul and Andrew Cuomo is on trial facing charges she acted as an undisclosed agent to the Chinese government in exchange for millions of dollars in business transactions and benefits secured through Chinese officials. Sun is accused of political activities intended to influence the public on China's behalf, and committing wire and visa fraud, money laundering and other financial crimes in procuring a bounty from the Chinese government.

The federal indictment lists four other co-conspirators. It alleges that Williamson was part of a scheme involving Sean McCluskie, who was Becerra's chief of staff at the time of the alleged conduct. Becerra is a former California attorney general who was appointed health secretary by former President Joe Biden. He is not implicated in the indictment. The indictment alleges that Williamson and McCluskie took money from Becerra's dormant campaign account and funneled it to McCluskie, about $225,000 over a period of more than two years.

The speed at which Trump tore down a part of the people's house is also in keeping with the speed at which he's been tearing down democracy. Trump just assumes unrestrained power, and no one stops him, even if his actions are lawless. What we've learned from Trump is that it's easy to wreck something. But rebuilding something is going to be much, much harder. How do you put the rubble back together?

On 1 November 2024, a concrete canopy collapsed at the railway station in Novi Sad, Serbia's second-largest city, killing 16 people. The tragedy triggered the longest wave of protests the country had seen in a decade a spontaneous uprising against corruption, negligence and the arrogance of power. One year on, the cracks in Serbia's concrete have turned into fissures in its political foundations.

Trump's shameless corruption is not a deviation from American history but its fulfilment. Every era of American government has had its scandal. Trump's innovation is to make scandal itself a governing philosophy. Although it is tempting to see the Trump regime's corruption its open profiteering, its use of the state as an instrument of vengeance and self-enrichment as a perversion of American democracy, the truth is more unsettling: it's a mirror.

A television commercial is a way of selling a product. A candidate's bid for votes should be a higher order of expression...with moral implications for the kind of people we are...and the kind we want to become. But, increasingly, candidates are merging the two...selling themselves like an underarm deodorant... in commercials just long enough to pound in some mindless slogan...that cheapens candidate... and voter alike,

Martin Vizcarra has been ordered to serve five months in pre-trial detention over bribery allegations, marking him as the fifth former president jailed in Peru.

The alleged bribery involved a $5,000 cash payoff hidden in a branded travel mug, aimed at influencing a councilmember regarding the DeNova Homes’ Aviano development.

The actions against President Arevalo reveal a chilling truth about power in Guatemala; democracy is at risk when legal systems are weaponized for political ends.

Federal investigations have expanded from Oakland to include San Leandro and Contra Costa County, highlighting a widespread concern regarding political corruption in the East Bay.