You’d like to die rich,
right? One of the best ways to do that is to retire as a successful
politician. Can you name many recent ones who died poor? If you can, it’s
probably because they squandered the loot they got after leaving office.
Of course, some rake in
the money while still in office. But let’s discount those because we want
to count only the honest Abes, not the Moscow Mitches.
The best real job in the
world is ex-president of the United States. You get retirement bucks, get
to charge a lot for giving speeches, write books which don’t often sell but you
get to keep the inflated advances. The Secret Service protects you and
yours. Where else can you legally be
treated like that except maybe in the witness protection program?
Members of congress
often turn into lobbyists, often for causes they claimed to oppose while in
office. Of course, they can’t just jump ship and start lobbying. They are legally required to ease into
things. One noted defeated US Senator
from an important eastern state formed a strategic consultancy. He’s
rolling in dough. Perfectly legal. And he went right from the Senate to the new
job.
And then there’s
America’s Mayor, Rudolph Giuliani, the pretend New Yorker now working on yet
another divorce… from a woman he’s been married to for 16 years.
When Garden City-raised
Rudy made the previous divorce announcement at a news conference, he was still
married to his previous wife who hadn’t yet gotten the memo.
The current battle is
being fought in public, because if it weren’t, it wouldn’t be Rudy, early on
described by Jimmy Breslin as “A small man in search of a balcony.”
The guy is up to his
nose in dollars. To the point, says the NY Times, that he’s working hard
to reduce his income so as to pay lower alimony. His target figure is
somewhere between three and six million dollars, down from about three times
that only a few years ago.
What does he do for all
that money? Sorry… that’s classified. But he did serve trump without pay
which is okay because trump often doesn’t pay even people who do charge
for their service.
But back to Rudy. Of
course, we all believe that his current “very good friend” is just, well, a
very good friend. Can’t be any hanky panky, right? After all, the woman is the
mother of one of his employees. At least he’s dating in his own
demographic. Oh, wait! Did I say “dating.” My mistake.
SHRAPNEL:
--A man burned down a
117-year-old synagogue in Duluth, MN. Nothing left. The police say it wasn’t a
hate crime.
GRAPESHOT:
-In solidarity with our
worker brothers and sisters at GM.
I’m Wes Richards. My
opinions are my own but you’re welcome to them. ®
Please address comments
to wesrichards@gmail.com
© WJR 2019
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