Snowden Stuck, Amash Fails, Mayorkas Under Investigation

Dear Mr. President,

Not a good day for justice or democracy. Edward Snowden’s still stuck in the transit terminal of the Moscow airport and the Amash amendment to strip the NSA of funds for illegally collecting phone call metadata was defeated, the USPS will no longer deliver mail to the front door of new homes and I write my representatives but it does no good—Feinstein is your spearchucker, a true believer on national security, Pelosi’s a faithful party hack waiting to get the Speaker’s seat back from Boehner and Boxer seems to have lost her way. But the vote today was close; it lost by only 12 votes and more Democrats voted for it than against it in spite of your intense lobbying to kill it. What’s discouraging though, is that no one (except for outsiders like ex-Sen. Humphrey) is defending Snowden’s act of moral courage that brought all this on. Like the Mexican woman living under the freeway that I wrote about yesterday, Snowden just doesn’t have the right connections and so, he’s left to twist in the wind. Having the right connections is what it’s all about; it gets you places. Like that SEC guy who took a $5 million a year job with a law firm representing Wall Street clients before the SEC. Or your pick for the #2 spot at DHS, Alejandro Mayorkas who, it turns out, is under investigation for helping a Chinese investor gain a special visa after the initial application had been denied and the appeal rejected. Turns out these special EB-5 visas are for rich people who invest $500,000 to $1 million in U.S. businesses. And this rich Chinese guy was investing his money not with just any U.S. company but with Gulf Coast Funds Management LLC whose CEO is none other than Anthony Rodham, your pal and former Secretary of State Hilary’s brother. And not only did Mayorkas cut a shady deal here, but also, as a U.S. Attorney, drew heat for lobbying Hilary’s hubby Bill while he was president to commute the prison sentence of the son of a heavy Democratic donor. The donor had also hired another of Hilary’s brothers, Hugh Rodham to lobby on his behalf. Mayorkas is now Director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, being bumped up by you either for his connections or his service to the country. In any case, what’s obvious from all this is that you folks back in D.C.-land have got everything wired while we out here on the hustings are still trying to connect the dots. But fissures keep appearing in the dykes, Mr. President, and stuff happens. Keep Hope Alive!