Grifters Golden Age: It's Easier Now Than Ever to Scam People Through Fundraising

The 21st century has turned out to be a golden age for grifters and con artists.

Prior centuries had their famous grifters like the infamous Charles Ponzi, but their numbers weren't that high and most con artists historically suffered the consequences of their actions.

Thanks to the internet just about anyone can start a fake fundraiser that'll rake in some serious money.

It's been a grifter's paradise, especially for political grifters (most of Congress and radical political activists in the country today). 

When it comes to cheating people out of their money under false pretenses the former twice-impeached president is without rival.

Trump has been giving master classes in the Art of the Con to his minions for six years now.

Prior to sites like GoFundMe and the other spinoffs, fundraising scams were easier to bust. 

The quasi-legal world of fundraising websites has given a false legitimacy to ripping off gullible donors. Quasi-lawyers defending these websites are as common as fleas on a wild dog.

Recommended reading on the subject

Trump's Sleight of Hand: Shouting Fraud, Pocketing Donors' Cash for Future

How Trump's election scam is still making him money

It's not just politicians getting rich off of donors. Just about anyone can cheat their way to dollars.

To avoid being a victim check out these articles:

GoFundMe Scams: How to identify Fake Fundraisers

Protecting Yourself from Online Scams

Crowdfunding: A Cover for Money Laundering?

If you're a generous person who likes helping others you should do your due diligence before parting with your hard-earned cash. Here's some more tips from AARP.

The Book of Trump: How the Republican Party Ended Up Wandering in a Political Wilderness

The GOP has lost its way.

Like the Nation of Israel in the Bible, Republicans have been lured away from their core values by a false god.

Nationalistic Evangelicals are partly responsible for the rise of Trumpism. They and their alt-right cronies have preached from The Book of Trump for six years now.

By worshipping Trump - the golden idol with tiny hands - conservatives have tossed their core beliefs into the fires of hell. They chose to bow before his Trumpness and to espouse lies from the new gospel of Trump.

As the Republican Party proved in their last national gathering, reality has no place in their world. 

By calling the insurrection a legitimate form of protest and blessing the rioters, the once party of Lincoln has wandered into a political wilderness where there doesn't appear to be a way out.

As Trumpian acolytes continue to collect converts in every state, the message is clear, all hail the Master! We are now the Party of Trump.

Every staunch supporter must read - or listen to the right-wing media -from the Book of Trump (which features a lot of images for those who can't read).

These zealots employ violence like it's their sacred duty, which it is if they've chosen to join the cult.

It's up to the rest of Americans who believe in truth, the constitution, democracy, and freedom for all, to refute the Party of Trump every day.

One way to combat the Trump cult is by voting. Democrats and Independents need to turn out in record numbers for the midterm elections in November.

It's not going to be easy. History is against the party in power during midterm elections.

The Party of Trump is busy creating voter suppression laws in red states where the cult has taken control of governors and state legislative offices.

Knowing this the Democratic Party has to reach into the hinterlands and let people know they have a real agenda for America - unlike the revenge tour Trumpies are planning if they take back the House and/or Senate.

Please. Stand up for America and vote this fall for democracy. 

'Trump Judges' Delivering for Former Grifter-in-Chief

Trump's appointed judges have been paying dividends for his authoritarian agenda.

Yesterday one of those Trump judicial jerks dealt another blow to Biden's climate agenda, barring the administration from using a metric that estimates the societal cost of carbon emissions.

The metric uses economic models to put a value on each ton of carbon dioxide emissions, to help quantify the economic harm caused by the climate crisis: sea level rise, more destructive hurricanes, extreme wildfire seasons and flooding, for example.

Legal experts say there's not much legal precedent to support the Trump judge's ruling. Now it's up to the justice department to correct the right-wing attempt to stall legislations pertaining to fighting climate change laws.

A federal court in Missouri last year struck down a similar lawsuit by Republican-led states, finding that they did not have standing to challenge the Biden administration's interim metric.

Meanwhile another Trump-appointed federal judge has temporarily blocked several Texas counties from pursuing criminal charges against public officials who encourage voters to use mail ballots in next month's primary election.

Biden's immigration agenda has faced one setback after another from courts with Trump-appointed judges.

When it comes to taking presidents to court over their policies, savvy lawyers know that location is everything: Choosing the right courthouse, and landing a case with the right judge, can make all the difference.

In Biden's first year Trump-appointed judges have ruled against the president on immigration, COVID relief, the environment and more.

Trump's appointment of three Supreme Court justices has swung the court over into a right-wing platform that is tearing the constitution apart and polarizing Americans from coast-to-coast.

Therefore, it's no wonder that the approval ratings for the highest court in the land has plummeted to 40 percent, an historic low.

Related articles:

Trump busted an immigration judge's union. His holdovers are blocking it again.

Biden administration policies struggle with Trump-appointed judges

Conspiracy-Driven Truck Convoy is a Sign of the Times

Like all dangerous attempts to rewrite history and current reality, a vocal minority in America is making inroads with a blatant attempt to harm the Canadian and American economies.

Trump supporters and an assortment of conspiracy trolls in Ottawa are assaulting both countries with misinformation in an effort to destabilize democratic economies.

What started out as a supposed protest against getting vaccinated for COVID-19 has quickly morphed int a stage for right-wing Americans to spread their hate to another country.

A small group of about 200 Canandian truckers (90 percent are already vaccinated) decided to block commerce between the two counties by parking their rigs on international borders.

It didn't take long to realize that vaccine mandates were just a cover to spread chaos and discontent in a brazen move to start a worldwide attack on democracies.

The result thus far is frightening. Workers in the Michigan auto industry could lose up to $51 million in wages this week due to the trucker protest, according to Anderson Economic Group. 

This serious interruption couldn't have come at a worse time with both countries struggling with supply chain challenges. Adding to the problem it's nearly impossible to get semiconductor chips - which is needed in all cars. 

In a chilling development the so-called "Freedom Convoy" scam is spreading to other counties like Australia and Great Britain where right-wingers have been inspired to copy the attack on democratic governments.

Meanwhile the right-wing American actors are busy spreading their poison in Canada. 

Observers need only look at the flags being carried by the protesters to see whose behind it. Trump flags, Nazi flags, and Confederate flags are waving in the wind.

A corrupt minority is wielding undue influence on societies inspired by the cancer these alt-right lunatics have spread across America.

The organizers of the chaos are on a roll and already threatening to disrupt the Super Bowl and shut down the city. They're emboldened by our First Amendment which they've twisted into a pretzel to serve their ends.

Homeland Security is aware of the threat the extremists pose, but it's not clear how they'll deal with an attempt to take over the city of Los Angeles.

The fact that a minority of nuts can seriously threaten everything America (and other democratic countries) stands for is a sign of the times. Trump's corrupt legacy lives on.

What Tales the White House Toilets Could Tell!

It was a dark and stormy night when Trump flushed the toilet sending secret messages to a watery grave.

Once again, a White House toilet was forced to cover up Trump's foul deeds. It was a crappy habit Trump carried over from his days of training under the notorious conspiracy maverick Roy Cohn.

But the paperwork didn't go right down. Instead, it clogged the toilet which overflowed, and forced the house "engineer" (DC talk for a plumber) to get up and unclog the unholy combination of Trump's turds and state secrets.

The engineer quietly swore epitaphs at the creator of the soggy correspondence that would never see the light of day.

The next day.

Trump makes an announcement from the Rose Garden that all the low flow toilets in the White House will be replaced with "normal high flow" shitters. He also railed against showers that he said made him feel like he was getting pissed on.

Who knows what was flushed down the toilets during Trump's four-year regime? Love letters to dictators, like the one he got from Kim Jong-un?

It's fascinating to think about what tales the executive commodes could tell. If only there was some way the Jan. 6 Select Committee could subpoena the White House cesspool and put restoration experts on the job.

They could even get help from the White House staffers who spent years taping together ripped up paperwork Trump threw in the trash cans.

Imagine. The toilets could get some measure of revenge after enduring years of the biggest ass in the nation besmirching them!

Why Do We Fart and other Intense Questions

Welcome to a curious old man's questions about the world we live in. I admit, these questions won't ever appear on a SAT test or on reputable scientific website. 

But they still beg for answers somewhere on the planet. Let's get started.

Why do we fart?

I suspect mankind has wondered about that since emerging from caves that were hotboxed by smelly farts.

Doctors will tell you we fart because of a build-up of gas in our guts. But is that all there is? 

Is it possible farts could be a genetic form of self-defense? Or perhaps, is mankind cursed with farts for offending the gods in ancient times? 

Why are there so many articles telling us how to view an event?

Personally, I think those info pieces are absurd.

One explanation could be that the general public is so stupid they need to be guided like sheep on how to observe something.

Why do we only have five toes?

There are some scientific assumptions, but no definitive answer. As far as I know we should have six, or even seven toes, on each foot for added balance and climbing.

After observing my polydactyl cat Ernie, who has eight toes on each paw, it became obvious we could have used some more toes for traction. It appears we got shorted in that department.

Why does Donald Trump have such small hands?

Observers have always commented on Trump's tiny hands, but I've yet to hear a satisfying reason for their size.

Some scientific types have suggested it's a family affair, but I'm skeptical of that explanation. Look at everyone else in the Trump clan. Even the women have bigger hands than Stump.

My guess is there's a corrupted correlation between those tiny hands and his minuscule brain.

                     How high is high?

After burning a bowl of chronic ganja, a person gets high. But how high? It's an ancient mystery that needs to be answered.

Is the sky high?

Is the Empty State Building high?

Who's to say what high is?

---------------------------------------------------

That's all I've got for you today. Thanks for stopping by and stay tuned for another As It Stands post that will ask the question, WHY?

Alternate Education Efforts Focusing on a National Partisan Academy

A pro-Trump activist is trying to get parents nationwide to take their children out of public schools and to place them in K-12 academies that will have an "America First education. In other words, a right-wing agenda.

The effort is being led by a punk named Charlie Kirk who founded the alt-right group "Turning Points USA." 

The pilot school was supposed to start up this fall, but Kirk and his lunatic followers suffered a setback when an education firm in Arizona backed out of the plan.

The firm, StrongMind had programmers working on the project for months. They estimated the potential of Kirk's fever dream could generate $ 40 million in gross revenue at full capacity (10,000 students).

Kirk's attempt to start brain-washing academies hit a snag after The Washington Post conducted an investigation into the business venture. 

It turned out that StrongMind employees were concerned about the prospect of a Turning Point-directed lesson plans.

When a key subcontractor tapped to prepare course material backed out after learning about Kirk and his vile group's involvement it was the straw that broke the camel's back.

Undeterred by the rejection, Kirk is seeking other sources of revenue to finance his nefarious plan.

His blueprint is as simple as the man himself.

He believes there's a growing market for partisan education and media serving families disgruntled with public schools that insist on presenting facts, and not the Trump worldview.

Kirk's webpage claims that students are taught "a false narrative about America" and that his academies will promote a "reliable, honest, and quality America-first education."

The Charlie Kirk's in this country are gleefully pushing Trump's fascist agenda to divide and conquer America. 

"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.”
― James Waterman Wise

Wanted: Tech Wizard to Create an App to Save Democracy

Apps are super popular in the world of high tech these days.

There's an app for nearly anything you can think of. Here's some examples:

A digital Grocery Coupons App

A digital Drawing App

A digital Signature App

A digital Marketing App

Here's the top 10 Most Popular Apps in 2022

1.Uber

2.Amazon

3.Netflix

4.airbnb

5.TikTok

6.Instagram

7.YouTube

8.Dropbox

9.Spotify

10.WhatsApp

We're a society that trusts apps to guide us with multi-task software, quick connections, and an endless trove of information. It seems like there's an app for everything we want to accomplish.

With that thought in mind I'd like to locate a tech wizard to develop the mother of all apps that will save our democracy.

This special app is going to require a fact-checker that works like a virus when introduced to right-wing media outlets.

It should feature a mental health connection for Trumpies looking to get control of their brains again.

Other functions desired:

Bullshit detector, reality alerts, voter suppression alarms, conspiracy monitors, and advanced criminal search features.

If you think you have what it takes to develop this app contact me via this blog or at richarddavestancliff@gmail.com 

Blaming the Damn Pandemic

The pandemic is one good explanation for the massive anger in America today.

Right or wrong, everyone is pissed at something and looking to lay blame on others for their woes.

Sometimes however, it's hard to find a scape goat. Two popular fallbacks are blaming ideologies and the rise of full-blown tribalism.

Still, it seems the pandemic is a player in any conversation.

Example:

This article Why More Kids are Getting Eating Disorders  talks about eating disorders related to the pandemic lockdowns.

There's really no doubt the pandemic has led to prolonged stress which leads to significant psychological and social effects.

There's also no doubt our prolonged pandemic is affecting healthcare workers trying to combat it.

Business pundits are stressed out by the pandemic's toll on the economy. Supply chain problems still plague most cities.

Worse yet, the pandemic could be ongoing for years because a large population of Americans are refusing to get vaccinated. The idea of no hope in sight even discourages those with positive attitudes.

In a long succession throughout history, pandemic outbreaks have decimated societies, determined outcomes of wars, and wiped-out entire populations. See History.com Editors (2020)

Paradoxically pandemics have cleared the way for innovation and advances in society (including medicine and public health), economy, and political systems.

It's becoming increasingly common to blame the pandemic for ANY PROBLEM we have.

In the search for normality and restoration of our society to pre-pandemic times, many disgruntled American's patience has worn thin. 

These disgruntled Americans are searching for cures in all the wrong places. Experts in healthcare are reviled. Scientists haven't been this unpopular since the Catholic Church declared they were heretics in medieval times.

People often need a boogieman to blame for all their miseries. There's no better candidate today than the damn pandemic.

Clarence Thomas: Corrupt Justice Siding with DeSantis and GOP Radicals

    (Clarence Thomas and wife Ginni and Ron De Santis)

Supreme Court Clarence Thomas doesn't care about equal justice for all. He's an extremist who sides with conservative conspiracy-riddled radicals.

One of the many reasons we know this is his wife, Ginni, is a die-hard Trump fan who applauded the Jan. 6 rioters and encouraged them weeks before the insurrection attempt.

She runs her own consulting firm which has been working with Gov. DeSantis in helping him encourage groups, including Judicial Watch (an extremist group) that uses information requests and lawsuits to investigate liberal public officials.

As for Thomas, he's completely ignored the obvious conflict of interest his wife is causing, and actually encourages her right-wing activities.

How do we know that?

Because his wife admits Thomas has been in contact with DeSantis regularly. The fact that Thomas is supposed to be neutral doesn't even phase him. He made his decision a long time ago to be a political whore for the Republicans.

DeSantis knows how to stroke egos. He has had plenty of practice with Trump. It's evident in his public statements.

During a 2020 Federalist Society conference held in Disneyworld, DeSantis gushed over his Supreme Court connection stating, "Thomas is the greatest living justice."

To Supreme Court observers Thomas has always been the squeaky wheel who rolls with right-wing politicians and conspiracy loons. His track record of rulings clearly points that out.

It's plain to see that DeSantis is working with Thomas's wife, and him, to achieve his goal of running for president. He believes a direct connection to the Supreme Court will bolster his campaign.

He's probably right.

Breaking News! Rudy Giuliani Exposed as a Gremlin

Since losing his sanity about two decades ago Rudy Giuliani has since morphed into a gremlin.

As you may be aware gremlins are mischievous creatures that are known to cause malfunctions in aircraft or other machinery. 

The term "gremlin" originated with the Royal Air Force whose pilots used the term as a slang for sabotaging aircraft in WW I.

To be exact, gremlin Giuliani is an updated version sabotaging American politics and the constitution, instead of aircraft.

Despite all the court cases he faces for helping sabotage our electoral system, he still pops up in unexpected places.

For example, I just found out he was a contestant for the TV series The Masked Singer! WTF! Apparently, a couple judges walked out during the show's taping when Giuliani revealed his ugly mug.

The question is, why isn't Giuliani in jail yet? His litany of crimes over the past few years should have resulted in an extended stay in prison instead of doing a guest appearance on a game show.

Yes, it's a sign of the times when insurrectionists are called patriots, and the former president is spreading lies about the election he lost in an effort to destroy democracy.

Giuliani is Trump's gremlin. Always ready to attack reality if the boss says too. The conversion from being a real patriot and America's mayor to one of Trump's creatures is complete.