Welcome back, dear hearts! Hoping you all had an amazingly relaxing and productive weekend. Thank you, Alex and the rest of Golden Age of Gaia staff, for you hard work and dedication to the Light! I AM grateful to you all.
Politics & Ethics: Hush Money Pay-Out by Former Congressman.
As we’ve discussed many times before, scandals continue to be exposed, and will continue to be revealed, in order to release said lower vibrations from our energy fields.
“Former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert agreed to pay $3.5 million in apparent hush money to a longtime acquaintance to cover-up wrongdoing in his past, then lied to the FBI when asked about suspicious cash withdrawals from several banks, federal prosecutors alleged Thursday.
“The stunning indictment of the longtime Republican powerhouse alleged he gave about $1.7 million in cash beginning in 2010 to the acquaintance, identified as Individual A in the charges, to ‘compensate for and conceal (Hastert’s) prior misconduct’ against Individual A from years earlier.”
“Individual A was described in the charges as having lived previously in Yorkville, where Hastert worked as a high school teacher and wrestling coach from 1965 to 1981. The individual has known Hastert ‘most of Individual A’s life,’ the indictment said.”
From 2010 to 2012, Hastert made 15 withdrawals from 15 different banks of $50K each. After such activity, Hastert was questioned by bank officers regarding said withdrawals. In an effort to avoid detection from the bank’s mandatory reporting policy, he changed the withdrawal amount to increments of under $10K.
He was charged with one count each of evading transaction reports and making false statements to FBI, and will be arraigned later at U.S. District Court in Chicago.
While such revelations continue to occur, it saddens me to begin to understand just how ubiquitous these incidents are. It helps me to realize how power can so easily be misused and abused. I’m appreciative to know that is exactly what we are clearing on this planet: Unethical and inappropriate behaviors keeping us tethered in the lower vibrations.
I AM most grateful to witness our world shifting toward mutual respect and love, albeit, it’s shifting much slower than I’d like –as far as we can see!!
Politics: Rand Paul Steps Up to Deny NSA Extension.
This is music to my ears, or rather beauty to my eyes, while reading this story. Thank you Rand Paul for your hard work in seeing to it that this lack of privacy is changed. Speaking for the majority of the country, and for the potential ripple effect across the world: We are most obliged!
It’s been observed that GOP hawk leader, John McCain, and libertarian wing leader, Rand Paul, have never really been able to stand on common ground, and the potential NSA extension has been no different. “99 people [in the Senate] who were basically willing to have this put off for a period of time so there could be negotiations and one person decided that he didn’t want to have it happen,” stated McCain this past Saturday morn.
McCain suggested that Paul’s 10-hour filibuster last Wednesday was a fundraising ruse, while taking the opportunity to slam Texas Republican Ted Cruz.
“There’s a new breed in the Senate,” McCain mourned. “Some time ago senators would try to sit down and work things out and obviously these individuals don’t believe in that, and I’m sure it’s a great revenue raiser. The emails are out now and they were out during the 11-hour performance a couple days ago.”
Feud Between John McCain and Rand Paul Worsens After NSA Reform Fiasco by Ben Jacobs. The Guardian.
Military & Congress: Mixing ‘Pros & Cons’ in One Bill Causes Delays in It Being Passed
A country’s sons and daughters willing to give their lives in military combat are very much not expendable. Thank you for your upstanding decision of halting the exorbitant spending of $89 billion toward more strikes against another country.
Having witnessed war (from afar) for basically the past three decades as an adult, this would result in the inevitable loss of some of our servicemen and women, due to ultimately being sent over to clean up, enforce new regulations, and expectantly face resurgent forces.
The hard part about this decision to halt spending on more war is that it is interwoven with genuine benefits for our troops’ families. We need to give them their well-deserved added benefits and even raises, as it’s been noted that this bill would include; however, Congress has acknowledged that this bill entails mixed messages.
Can we please separate the needs and funding of our servicemen and women from the funding of war? Can’t we passed one bill which financially supports the families of our troops, and address the sticky and controversial topic of “more war” in another bill?
“This is the [National Defense Authorization Act]. This is the bill. This funds the wars. This notion that this doesn’t belong here, well, where the hell does it belong?” asked Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.). “We treat war as if it’s nothing. We have men and women in harm’s way. … This is disgraceful.”
Across this beautiful world, We Are All One.
Gavin