That Smell

 Something smelled bad from the beginning.  It was like the slight whiff that you pick up when your stove burner accidentally gets turned on and the pilot light hasn’t ignited the burner yet.   At first, you barely notice it, but gradually, the odor gets stronger and stronger until it becomes unmistakable and  you rush to the kitchen to turn off the stove before your kitchen blows up.

Vlodomor Zelenskyy emitted that odor pretty early on, but few picked it up.  

The first signs were the gushing press.  Not since Barack Obama had the media been so effusive in its praise, swooning over this two bit comedic actor cum courageous leader.  “Churchillian" was the word most frequently used to describe him.   Photos of him in his green shirt and combat helmet among his fighters were plastered all over the media.  It was all so believable.   The brave young inspirational warrior fighting back against the unprovoked attack from the dark and sinister ex-KGB totalitarian Vladimir Putin.     

But then things began to take a slight turn.  Rather than make a plea for help, Zelenskyy started making demands on the West.   Even conservative commentators found that a bit odd.  Then, like Dr. Fauci, the MSM began glamorize him and feature him on the cover of magazines, reaching unseemly levels with the Vogue photoshoot with his wife last summer.  All the while, the U.S. was shoveling billions into the war torn country. Certainly, we all have sympathy for the people of Ukraine, desire to see an end to the fighting and roll back Putin’s aggression.  But when Rand Paul had the temerity to even suggest that we ask for an accounting of where the money was being spent, he was shouted down by Democrats as a “Putin lover” and an “obstructionist.”

Zelenskyy started to take on the appearance of that ungrateful pro bono litigation client.  Pro bono litigants have NO incentive to make any concessions while someone else is paying the freight.

Most revealing of late was Zelenskyy’s demand that the West take action immediately after missiles fell in Poland, killing two people and injuring several others.   Without confirming with his own military, Zelenkyy recklessly attempted to bait the Western alliance into a hot war with Russia.   The missiles turned out not to be an attack on Polish soil by Russia but rather an anti-aircraft missile from Ukraine itself.  Those are the things you need to get right.

Grift is easy to bury within a moral imperative.  And what better moral imperative than to turn back the kleptomanic Vladimir Putin.  Yet, Zelenskyy shut down the opposition party.

Closely linked to the unending and unaccountable flow of funds to the corrupt Ukraine has been the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX.  Founder Sam Bankman Fried (SBF) learned from Elizabeth Holmes and Bernie Madoff and scaled it.   The facts are still unfolding but we do know that Ukraine placed some funds with FTX.  SBF was the second largest Democratic donor behind George Soros.  SBF’s parents were vocal leftists at the Stanford law school and SBF’s father had a close relationship with SEC chairman Gary Gensler.  SBF’s parents along with other FTX executives bought property in the Bahamas worth $121 million.  Caroline Ellison, SBF’s 28 year old ex-girlfriend, ran FTX’s trading arm, Alameda.  While we are unraveling the threads of this debacle, we know that SBF cloaked himself in virtue signaling—ESG, anti-racism, the whole lot.  He asserted that he only wanted to make money in order to give it away to pet progressive causes.   It gave him the smokescreen needed to enrich himself and his family and launder money back to the Democratic party which was providing air cover for him, rather than investigating his financial shenanigans.

Finally, there was BLM, which was showered with millions in the wake of the death of George Floyd (notice, I did not say murder).   Corporate America and wealthy individuals skipped over normal due diligence that is standard in the giving world to demonstrate their solidarity with the BLM movement.  Large corporate donations always have strings and a specific purpose attached.  Not this time.  The result was predictable.  Not a single project that attempted to better actual Black lives materialized.  Not a scholarship fund.  Not a health care center.  No endowments to HBCUs.  What did happen, just as with SBF, is that the leaders of BLM became wealthy beyond their wildest dreams.  To date, Patricia Cullors has not been indicted, or even seriously investigated for perpetrating this fraud.

The radical Left, camouflaged in virtue, has gotten very skilled at washing money, using tax dollars and charitable contributions to buy influence, fund its candidates, and enrich its leaders.

Rand Paul is one of the only ones that understands the scale of this.