BloggeRhythms

Richard Pollock, posted a story @dailycaller.com this morning that causes many to smile broadly. Because it exposes and underlines the flagrant hypocrisy of Democrat leadership. And while those very same leaders pledge their commitment to supporting those in most need, simultaneously condemning greedy Republican selfishness, they’re precisely the same, if not worse.  

In that regard, Mr. Pollock writes: “Secretary of State John Kerry and his wife Teresa Heinz have invested millions of U.S. dollars through family trusts in at least 11 offshore tax havens, according to an analysis by The Daily Caller News Foundation. 

“The revelation comes on the heels of the release of the Panama Papers,” documenting how some of the world’s richest and most powerful people have used offshore bank accounts to conceal their wealth and avoid taxes. 

“A DCNF investigation has confirmed that the former Massachusetts Democratic senator and his billionaire wife, using an elaborate set of Heinz family trusts, have invested “more than $1 million” each into 11 separate offshore accounts — mainly hedge funds in the Cayman Islands."

While “[t]he investments were made during both Kerry’s tenure in the Senate and in his present position as the nation’s chief diplomat, the “DCNF also acquired the detailed 2015 financial disclosure documents produced by Kerry, which he filed before the Department of State’s Office of the Assistant Legal Adviser for Ethics, known as the Annual 278 form. The form was acquired from the federal Office of Government Ethics — the repository of all Annual 278 forms. 

“The trusts funneled millions of dollars over the years into various offshore investment vehicles through a Heinz trust called the “Heinz Family Commingled Alternative Investment Fund.” 

Susan Harley, deputy director of Congress Watch, a progressive lobby organization founded by Ralph Nader said: “Well I say it doesn’t look good by any means. There’s always a question of whether it’s tax avoidance or tax evasion. We would expect our government servants to uphold the law. Those folks need to be held to the same standards as everyone else.” 

The situation, however, may lead to other significant ramifications, whereas: “Obama recently lashed out at U.S. citizens who use tax havens. 

“On April 5, a few days after the Panama Papers were released, the president said the rich “have enough lawyers and enough accountants to wiggle out of responsibilities that ordinary citizens are having to abide by.” He said they were “gaming the system.” 

“Harley said the president might not be pleased with some of his cabinet members investing in tax havens: Given what the president has said, it doesn’t sound like he would be in favor of that kind of behavior as far as people in his cabinet.” 

Typically, “State Department Spokesman Adm. John Kirby told The DCNF Kerry is not a beneficiary of the investments and does not own them. 

“Secretary Kerry has no offshore investments. He is not, nor has he ever been a beneficiary of Heinz Family and Marital Trusts and he has no decision-making power over them since they are entirely controlled by independent trustees,” said Kirby. 

Nonetheless, Kerry, through his marriage to Heinz, is certainly a beneficiary of the offshore investments. 

And making the embarrassment quite worse, here’s what one of the investments is comprised of: “HP Imperial,” another Heinz trust, invests in Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand and South Korea. Its biggest investments are in communist China, including the Alibaba Group; Boer Holdings, a Chinese electrical distribution company in Wuxi, Yixing and Shanghai; Hubao International Holdings, a tobacco company; Labixiaoxin Snacks Group, a Chinese snack food provider; Sands China, with six casinos in Macau; and Tibet 5100 Water Holdings, a Chinese-owned company trying to sell Tibetan premium water like Evian.” 

Now, at this point, it remains to be seen how the POTUS, as well as the current Republican presidential candidates react to the politically explosive revelation. But, in any case, Kerry’s quandary is much like when Lucy Ricardo was told by her husband Ricky: "Lucy, I think you've got some 'splainin' to do."   

On anther recurring topic, Will Knight  writes about automation engineering in the MIT Technology Review @technologyreview.com, as follows: 

“Wages in Shanghai have more than doubled in the past seven years, and the company that owns the factory, Cambridge Industries Group, faces fierce competition from increasingly high-tech operations in Germany, Japan, and the United States. To address both of these problems, CIG wants to replace two-thirds of its 3,000 workers with machines this year. Within a few more years, it wants the operation to be almost entirely automated, creating a so-called “dark factory.” The idea is that with so few people around, you could switch the lights off and leave the place to the machines.” 

At present, there are still many bugs to be worked out as the technology develops, however: “Despite the huge challenges, countless manufacturers in China are planning to transform their production processes using robotics and automation at an unprecedented scale. In some ways, they don’t really have a choice. Human labor in China is no longer as cheap as it once was, especially compared with labor in rival manufacturing hubs growing quickly in Asia. In Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia, factory wages can be less than a third of what they are in the urban centers of China. One solution, many manufacturers—and government officials—believe, is to replace human workers with machines.”

Therefore, what’s glaringly obvious is that rising labor costs are the major stimulus for the move to worker replacement in China. And those same conditions exist here in the U.S., primarily accelerated by politicians seeking votes from those whose incomes will increase significantly. But, that income boost will likely be quite short-lived, as the following Chinese labor quandary indicates.   

“The transition from human to robot workers may upend Chinese society. Some displaced factory workers could find employment in the service sector, but not all of the 100 million now employed in factories will find such jobs a good match. So a sudden shift toward robots and automation could cause economic hardship and social unrest. “You can make the argument that robotic technology is the way to save manufacturing in China,” says Yasheng Huang, a professor at MIT’s Sloan School of Management. “But China also has a huge labor force. What are you going to do with them?”

And while that last question should be asked of Bill Clinton’s wife, Governor's Jerry Brown of California and Andrew Cuomo of New York, it’s beyond certainty that all three have no answer whatsoever.

Which brings us to today’s update on Bill Clinton’s wife.

Loyalists complain that Judicial Watch, and Republicans in general, are on a mission to smear Bill Clinton’s wife without cause for political purposes. However, the long drawn out process of gathering evidence, much of it caused by the stalling in producing requested information, seems to be slowly but surely building toward proof that a requested key email was purposely withheld. 

An article @judicialwatch.org, today states that: “The Obama State Department last week admitted it withheld a key Benghazi email of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton from Judicial Watch since at least September 2014.  If the State Department disclosed the email when first supposedly found, Clinton’s email server and her hidden emails would have been disclosed nearly two years ago, before Clinton authorized the alleged deletion of tens of thousands emails.  

“Last week’s document production also includes material from a records cache of thousands of new Clinton State Department records supposedly only discovered in December 2015.  The new material shows the State Department compiled extensive Libya/Benghazi-related dossiers on Republican and Democrat senators.” 

Judicial Watch President, Tom Fitton, said, “Now we know the Obama administration consciously refused to give up key information about Hillary Clinton’s email in 2014. It covered up this email both from the court and Judicial Watch. Judge Lamberth was right when he suggested that Obama’s State Department acted in bad faith. This cover-up provided Hillary Clinton enough time to hide potentially thousands of government records.  One aim of our court-order discovery will be to get to the bottom of this cover-up.” 

Thus, after all the time that’s passed since this “scandal” began, Judicial Watch’s persistence seems to be proving that it’s initial suspicions of illegality were justified from the very beginning. 

Where all this will lead, obviously remains to be seen. However, with the growing accumulation of probable misconduct in office by Bill’s wife, the continuing question needs asking again: Joe Biden, Mayor Bloomberg, Jerry Brown, and Starbuck’s chairman and CEO, Howard Schultz, are you guys reading this?  

That’s it for today folks.      

Adios