GOP Senator: AIG Execs Should Follow Japanese Model — Suicide or Apology

The sense of entitlement that these coupon-clippers have is astounding.

Mr. Obama’s judgement is now very questionable. As a leader, he should have at least asked these critical questions at the beginning even before using the hard-earned bailout money. It happened then to Merille Lynch then and now to AIG. He’s like a grandfather who took his grandchildren’s money and goes to a casino to ensure his grandchildren’s children’s future.

Check your facts ‘young_voter’, Obama was still a US Senator & president elect when AIG first received funds from the US Govt. To somehow connect that lack of oversight to Obama is unfair and untrue. I’m sorry to see the agendas of a few bleed through to show their true motive of undermining a new president who has done astonishingly well in the face of immense adversity. Place the blame where it should be, on the personell of AIG. Their lack of shame, lack of integrity and lack of personal moral code is horrific. I feel sorry for their children, who will learn their values in a house of greed and learn their morals from parents who disassociate failed performance in the workplace with undue compensation.

I live in Japan. Suicide is not a joke, and we have too much of it already. Holding up the Japanese as an example in this area will only convince more people they are duty bound to do it.

Mr. Obama’s judgement is now very questionable. As a leader, he should have at least asked these critical questions at the beginning even before using the hard-earned bailout money
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BS; this money was allocated last Sept Oct time frame it is not from Tarp 1, Tarp, 2 or the stimulus. It was given under Bush from the treasury.

That suicide thing is way out of line. What he H*** is an apology? Give me 20 million dollars and I will make all the apoligizes your a** can hear. I will gravel at your feet, I will be sub servient to you. And I will be laughing all the way to the BANK! CAUSE I WANT MY 20 MILLION DOLLARS!

Stop the Madness. If AIG is too big to fail then break AIG up. The Congress broke up Bell Standard Oil and others. Stop the “Promised 30 Billion” that has not been paid and DO NOT give them any more money. Wall Street is continuing to try and Steal EVERY penney in the country. Why should we care if the economy crashes, we do not have any more money to lose.

Does Sen. Chuck Grassley think this should apply to failed politicians, too?
I’d really love to see all of the active, pre-2008 election Senators and Representatives line up on the steps of Capital Hill and get busy with the whole “apology or suicide” thing.

These funds were done when the Bush administraion was in. Obama had no control over this. Now he does and I think he is doing a good job. My question is when were these contracts signed? Were they signed before the bailout or after. If signed after, they should not be entitled to any bonuses. Even if they were I think these people should have a little more respect for the American people & not take there bonuses.

So, if someone runs a business into the ground, they should bow deeply and apologize, but if someone runs the country into the ground they should move to Dallas and start a Freedom Foundation?????

Apology or suicide – do we get to take a vote?

govenment should not care about it

Frankly, I find the whole thing rather amusing! AIG Execs are no different than any other greedy, slave to “attachment” of temporal goods history is replete with! Suicide, really, people suffering with “attachments to goods” wouldn’t consider leaving their possessions. No, No, way too far from their concepts of reality! Somewhere, in their “minds” they think they “earned” this money. No matter where it comes from.

go hell, wealthy aig’s ceo

Insurance giant AIG is the poster child of corporate irresponsibility. It gambled on the housing market and lost, big time. That’s why the government had to dole out nearly $200 billion in bailouts just to keep the company afloat.
But word broke yesterday that despite being crowned the “Bailout King,” AIG is going to pay out more than $400 million in bonuses.
We’ve had enough. On Thursday, March 19, thousands of people nationwide will demonstrate outside major banks and demand real change. We want you to join us.
Watch this video about our actions and sign up to attend a demonstration near you:
Watch the video and join
TakeBackTheEconomy dot org
The outrage doesn’t stop at the bonuses. We finally found out how AIG has spent its bailout funds – it gave billions of dollars to other bailed out banks, including banks like Bank of America and Citigroup that are actively organizing against change for working families.
Just last week it was revealed that Citigroup organized a call to “build opposition to the Employee Free Choice Act.” Bank of America did the same thing just days after it received its first bailout from the government.
We have major banks and financial institutions taking government money with one hand, and slapping working people in the face with the other. The very same people who destroyed our economy are now actively working to prevent its recovery.
Enough. Join our demonstration against corporate excess on Thursday.
TakeBackTheEconomy dot org

Pro-life!

AIG should not be given any more bailout money. The heads of AIG are thieves and have totally misappropriated monies given to them. They should be punished, not given more money. I want to see them punished to the full extent of the law. Were this an average citizen, they’d be in the “graybar hotel”

For those that say that Mr. Obama was not yet the president when the bailout for AIG started, was he not in the Senate? Did he not vote for the bailout package? Was he not in a democrat controlled senate since 2006? Did he not vote for the budgets (and deficits)? Did he not insert many earmarks into the budget? Did he not accept campaign contributions from many lobbyists and special interests?

I think the Japanese have honor. Our top dogs…not so much.

Well said, actually. If people had honor these days the world would be a better place

These fat cats are all republicans.
All republicans are crimnals.

Were they signed before the bailout or after. If
signed after, they should not be entitled to any
bonuses. Even if they were I think these people
should have a little more respect for the American
people & not take there bonuses.
Posted by: diana
*********************************
Diana, I believe the contracts were signed prior to
the bailout, but after threatening Bush as well as
our country, that the US would go down the toilet
unless they received the first $85 Billion, I can
almost assure you, they were very comfortable
knowing that they were receiving both bailout and
bonuses. Not to divert the responsibilities of
Congress, but being slime Executives, I’m
wondering if their (revised) contracts were ever
shown to the congressional committee in the first
place.
Until they show us exactly where the money is
going, the government must charge them 28% in
taxes for ANY money they took, because it seems
to be used for income, and not the bailout.

Hmmmmm, why would the President not make a copy of his original birth certificate available? Is he hiding something? What could it be? Why would he send lawyers into court to block availability of this document? Do the American people have the right to view this so-called public record?
Posted by: Terry |
****************************************
Terry, are YOU hiding something, like being
anal retentive in this subject. It tabloid news
with no merit. Adapt a pet, or do something,
please get help.

Their resignation and suicide is acceptable. If not, I suggest that everyone that services these holes in any capacity from waitresses to auto mechanics refer to the movie ‘Fight Club’!

I strongly agree with Grassley that AIG and other disgraced executives should follow the Japanese model for handling disgrace – suicide or apology. But first, I think the formal apologies should start with Bush, Cheney, Rove and the other members of his Republican posse. They are just as disgraced as the failed CEOs but they still make their rounds on the news shows as if they were stars. They have no shame just like the fatcats they coddled!!

M webb – Obviously, truth is not important to you. There are lots of fat cats supporting and doing favors for both parties. There are criminals in both parties. The problem is too many people concerned about their own power and wealth, and not enough that want to serve the needs of all honest hardworking people.

This is our governments fault. The money was handed out with no accountability. That’s the bottom line. This is a terribly ignorant statement by Grassley. Who cares if they apologize or commit suicide? How is that going to change anything? The problem occured when the money was handed out with no oversight. Any bonus contracts that were already in place should have been void as a condition of the bailout.

Hey, M webb:
Just for the record, most of these financial clowns are almost certainly Democrats and have donated accordingly. This is especially true of hedge fund managers who gave almost exclusively to the Dems. As long as we’re handing out bailouts to losers and crooks, we will continue to see this sort of looting. I especially like how bailout money has gone to foreign banks and Goldman-Sachs. Is there ANYBODY in DC that hasn’t taken money from or worked for these guys?

The lawyers at AIG are just “considerably” smarter than Bush and Congress.
American Capitalism at Work!

Just for the record, most of these financial clowns are almost certainly NOT Democrats. You live in a dream world mate.

Neither party has a monopoly on greed and ambition. But under Bush, the GOP took it to a whole new level. If you have an administration that’s letting industry CEOs write policy and has chucked regulation, you’re sending a giant green light to the fatcats. The CEOs are of the same mindset as Bush and Cheney and will never get it. Cheney’s only regret is that “they left Scooter hanging” not that he rushed to war in Iraq, not that New Orleans drowned, and not that the economy collapsed!

I don’t think this should be a political issue. The executives should voluntarily decline their bonuses or be held in contempt by everyone.

Giggles – While it does not seem right or unAmerican to bail out these companies, you have to consider the Great Depression. One of the major problems was the banks failing because of panic of bank customers. If government had not stepped in when they did, it would have been far worse. Something has to be done to assure customers of these companies that they will not fail completely. The government may not be using the best job, I am not sure it would have been wise to let them declare bankrupcy to voided all promises to customers.

Christian Conservative wrote:
3/4 of AIG is extremely profitable!
1/4 of it is dragging it down.Why punish the people that made the 3/4 profitable???
*******************************
I have a question for you:
- One reckless company is dragging down the entire global financial system.
- Millions of honest taxpayers are losing their jobs or working their butts off to make ends meet.
Why punish the taxpayers so those whining idiots at AIG can get bonuses, ON TOP of their big fat salaries?

The corrupt politicians dump money into these companies with no strings, no controls and no oversite.
What do they freakin expect?
Congress is, was and shall remain the problem until the citizens vote like they give a damn.

The bankruptcy laws would have settled this immediately, if AIG is too big to fail then is everyone else too small to succeed? New York and this bunch of corruption and stupidity appear to be from another planet, send them back there.

Wow, that’s not even a slightly impressive sleight of hand -
Congrats to the stupid sheep now focusing their anger on AIG. Demand a hearing from your elected officials – y’know, the ones you keep electing who keep screwing you over.
Also, keep investing your money in multinational banks rather than your local Credit Unions, etc. – oh and throw all of your money into mutual funds, trusting that a bunch of Ivy League morons actually have a clue as to how to best manage your portfolio.
Wow…

WE are all at fault for this economy. We were living like we all had trust funds and that money was limitless. How many of you refinanced your homes and sucked all of the inflated value out of it so that you could keep living it up with no regard to the future? Yes, these bozos on Wallstreet and in Congress and the White House (I’m talking Bush/Cheney) have a lot to answer for…but, until WE all get our houses in order…we are all to blame.

Believe me, there is a lot to be upset in this economy, however, AIG has me more upset than I can remember being about this or any other issue in our economy. Can someone PLEASE explain to me how in the world a company such as this (that we the unwitting American Tax payers BAILED OUT) think that they have the audacity or the right to give out $165 MILLION DOLLARS in bonuses. We are talking about one particular division who lost most of the companie’s money. In what world could they possibly think they deserve to be compensated for it? The way I see it, if they have to legally receive these bonuses then give it to them, fire their sorry butts & black ball them from EVER working in that financial field or any other such field ever again!! And if the bonuses have been given out then let AIG look somewhere else for another handout! Because not only has this ship sailed, People who don’t pay for their tickets don’t get to ride for free!!

you have to be kidding the goverment is not stupid they knew that those banks had to stand by their contracts why donn’t they just arrest the ones who started the banks fall as i said the goverment is not stupid they knew that those banker were doing this and knew what they were doing wrong find the correct charge then charge them and convict them like they did martha steward with that insider trading stuff

All the names of those receiving bonuses should be put on the front page of every newspaper. They should be willing to return those bonuses, considering the company got a bailout and if it had not happened they would have lost their job. Any person of AIG, employee or executive, who keeps the bonus should be shamed publicly. In the future, all company bonus contracts should be known before any bailout money is given.

Gimme a break. Bush junior has not committed suicide yet.

if the us gov’t owns 70% of aig, why can’t obama fire all those big shooters from the ceo down to the very responsible executives who caused this meltdown. they all corrupt, irresponsible & no heart. americans are starving.

The most humorus comment was the one about publicly shaming the execs. Like they care as long as they get there millions at your expence. They are lauphing at all of us right now. They know they got away with it and no one will do anything about it. Sure your government is going to yell and scream and call it an outrage to you. But make no mistake they are behind AIG. They dont care about you they want you to hear them yell so you will re-elect them but they will do nothing to stop this outrage. The only ting that will fix this is revolution period. When the american people take back there country from the criminals that run it then mabye things will get better. But the sad truth is you are all to lazy and or scared to do anything about it. The american people are to blame here no one else. If you would stop and realize that in order to fix things you are going to have to get up off the sofa and fight and bleed and mabye die to bring this country out of the sorry state that its in then mabye we might have a chance. When we are all starving to death on the street then mabye we will consider weather or not it is worth it to fight and bleed and die to save ourselves from the corrupt government and rich company CEOs that enslave us. Try reading the constitution and the declaration of independence they will tell you that it is you right it is your duty to through off this corrupt government and provide new gaurds for your future prosparity

For Sen. Grassley to suggest that U.S. CEO’s mimic Japan’s preferred method of suicide for misdeeds and corruption is totally immoral and unconscienable and against everything Americans and our country stands for. This extremely harsh statement will surely result in severe backlash nationwide. His suggested drastic measures upon the corruptors and his “I wish you were all dead” attitude displays immaturity, lack of control and is an affront to our traditional beliefs and principles. It’s also un-American. Since when does this country wish to use the Japanese’s extreme behavior of “harakiri” as an example? Shame upon you, Sen. Grassley.

The Politicians that gave AIG the money should be made to resign. This is 100% their fault.
Posted by: jeffrey1234
================
This should include the president who just days before declared that AIG was spending the money responsibly.

Amen brother! Totally agree with Grassley. I know people will rip him up over it but I couldn’t agree more. I am sick of the crooks on Wall St and the clowns in Washington who have been in bed with them. I think they’re all lucky they haven’t faced lynch mobs already.

First, for all you folks who think just letting AIG fail is a good idea, this would have consequences much, much worse than the failure of Lehman Bros. last fall. For those of you with short memories, that event nearly cratered the credit markets and the economy. If AIG were to go bankrupt the loss in GNP would far exceed whatever is being paid for the bailout. Second, not everyone at AIG, even at the executive level, is responsible for AIG’s mess. The vast majority had nothing to do with the derivatives that are causing this mess. While AIG is majority owned by the US government, it’s not legally bankrupt, therefore it cannot just go willy nilly abrogating employment contracts. If it tried it would undoubtedly lose in court, resulting in far greater payments in the long run. Unwinding the AIG mess needs to be done as expeditiously as possible. That can only be done with the assistance of the people who were working at AIG when all these deals were cut. What Obama and other government leads need to focus on at this point is how to craft regulations and oversight to prevent the financial markets from collapsing like this again.

Just like Democrats sowed the seeds of the HOUSING MARKET MELTDOWN a few years ago.
Obama is now sowing the seeds of the America to go bankrupt with these multi trillion dollar loans.

GOP Senator: Should of said Obama and Democrats need to Follow Japanese Model — Suicide or Apology

who gets this 165 million bonus . is it spread out to all mangers that work for AIG or only a top few. If it is most or all the managers that work for AIG. Then 165 million spread out to thousands is not much.
DOES ANYBODY HAVE AN ANSWER>

FLASH. FLASH> FLASH.. FLASH—
Return the 165 million says Obama then we will mail you 30 BILLION> Sounds like a good trade. Do you really have to be a fool to believe in Obama now.

Obama-messiah’s Plan to Charge Wounded Military Vets for Medical Treatment

All executives at banks and financial institutions are labeled as VP of this and VP of that, even when first hired. These clowns went to the same Ivy League schools and use the same Country Club. You want to know where they got their morals, look at their upbringing – privileged. This kind of attitude started long before Bush’s presidency. This is just more gamesmanship from the current adminstration. Next week this will be old news.

I’m sure Grassley voted to give them the money in the first place which 76% of Americans were against. He’s just trying to save face and his job because he didn’t listen to the people in the first place. Had we let them fail in the first place we would be starting a recovery process now instead of still paying out billions. All of Congress that voted to give them the money should be the ones paying it back. AIG is useless and Congress is useless.

We do not need the government to be able to fix AIG. AIG is an insurance company. We the people are their customers. Like all customers we have a way to show a company how upset we are, and a way to drive them to change.
CANCEL
If people call to express their indignation and cancel then they will start to hear us. If enough people and organizations cancel, they will not be too big to fail anymore will they? I know canceling in reality may not be that easy because ther are paid out in advance. Play stupid. Call AIG and ask them when your policy is up because you intend to cancel when it is up. If you have a 401k with them, call to ask for information about transferring your funds out. Always let them know why. If your employer uses some of their services call or send a letter asking why they are still with them and if they plan to switch. Get others you work with to do the same. Heck, even if you know you are tied to something you can not get out of, call and ask what you can do and threaten to cancel anyway.
We the people just have to stop looking to others who have agendas of their own, and take action ourselves.

That was one of the funniest quotes I’ve heard from a Congressman in a long time. Sepuku would be a great idea.

AIG INSURES CONGRESS..CHECK THE RECORDS. AIG, SEC, NYSE, SENATE, CONGRESS….STRANGE BEDFELLOWS AND LINING THE POCKETS OF EACH OTHER. SO…HOW DO I GET BACK THE MONEY I LOST. WE NEED TO CLEAR ALL THE “GOOD OLE BOYS/GIRLS” WHO ARE FULL OF SELF-INTEREST AND SEND THEM PACKING WITH NO SALARIES, BONUSES, PERKS, HEALTH COVERAGE, SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS AND SEE HOW THEY DO. SELF-SERVING IS COSTING US BILLIONS AND THEY DON’T SEEM TO CARE. LET’S SEE HOW THEY’D DO IF WE WERE NOT PAYING FOR THEIR CRIMES. HEY…THEN WITH THE COST OF THEIR MEDICAL CARE WE COULD AFFORD TO GIVE LOW COST MEDICAL CARE TO CITIZENS THAT REALLY NEED/DESERVE IT. LET THE POLITICIANS PAY THEIR OWN WAY NOT KEEP GIVING PAY RAISES FOR NOTHING DONE, NOTHING EARNED, NOTHING DESERVED.

The senator’s comment is overly harsh and inappropriate. To those of us who have lost loved ones, the suggestion that people deserve to die – no matter what they did – is offensive and saddening. How would the senator like it if he were told he should die?

‘even playing field’, not Socialism”
Explain the differences.
“Again, the rich get richer and the poor gets poorer.”
Same tired old contribed marxist belief system. Poor don’t get “poorer”. There will always be people who make bad decisions or accept and complain about a life of poverty, there are those who rise up out of poverty, and there are those try hard but don’t succeed, and for those I truely feel for them. Some of the hardest working people I know are around the poverty line. They are carpenters, tile and floor workers, but that is the life they have. A friend of mine from high school did roofing work. After a couple of years, he realized he didn’t want to do that the rest of his life. He took out a loan, went to night school, finished his degree a little longer than usual, about 6 years, he’s now a financial advisor at a state bank making triple figures. He made his life, it wasn’t given to him, there wasn’t an even playing field, he had to overcome adversity.
So take your tired old claim that some invisible force is keeping people down, what’s keeping them where they are at is them.

Stupid is soooooooo bipartisan.

Classis misdirection from the criminals in Congress. The idiots should have thought about bonus rules BEFORE they handed out the money. And the politicians are no less dirty. Sorry idiots in Washington, the majority of America is smarter than you and we won’t fall for your insulting tricks.

Send them to China for proper judicial processing.

sngeorgia; What I think now is Wall Street is making a statement that business in America is more influential than government. The government relies on business prosperity for tax income and for private sector jobs. Without businesses the government has no operating funds. Without business there is no economy. It’s not nice to bite the hand that feeds you. That’s the message Wall Street is sending to Washington concerning salary caps, bonuses and lending. Obama’s redistribution of wealth has enraged a mighty giant whose co-operation is critical.

“While the Senate constructed the $787 billion stimulus last month, Dodd unexpectedly added an executive-compensation restriction to the bill. That amendment provides an “exception for contractually obligated bonuses agreed on before Feb. 11, 2009,” which exempts the very AIG bonuses Dodd and others are seeking to tax. The amendment is in the final version and is law.”
—————————————
At least Grassley didn’t vote for AIG bonuses.
Ant lawmaker who voted for the stimulus bill did vote for the AIG bonuses.
And the president signed the bill.

No problem as long the bonuses came directly from their EFFORTS & profit. But the thing is, it’s TAXPAYERS billed out money and those taxpayers millions of them right now are suffering from OUT OF JOB – actually Sen. Grassley statement was PERFECT for those NUMBED aig’s executives….

The GOP really don’t have a plan. Is this all they got?

Sen. Chuck Grassley should take a pill from his own prescription. Make that 2 pills, just in case…
Who voted for that imbecile?

Grassley has to apologize, or resign, immediateley!

“Grassley has to apologize, or resign, immediateley!”
I think you mean he should apologize, then resign or commit suicide.

“If he won’t outright apologize, then he should resign, or be forced to resign.”
Please. I despise most of the Republicans on the hill and even I think that’s ridiculous. If we booted every congressman for being an #######, there’d be nobody left.

Grassley should be ashamed of himself. His words are inflammatory and irresponsible. Regardless of whether funds were misused, to suggest suicide even in jest is unacceptable when coming from someone in a position of leadership. This is especially true during this time of severe financial stress, when many feel responsible for making bad decisions. Suicide should never be presented as an acceptable response. Grassley should resign.

windrider–”As we now learn, after the fact, AIG just didn’t have enough money to pay all these bonuses.”– you make it sound like these bonuses were a huge part of the bailout.. they weren’t.

silky–”Please. I despise most of the Republicans on the hill and even I think that’s ridiculous”– SILKY !!!
There’s hope for you yet…

kevia1124-”Have any of you complainer’s heared anything from your MR Bush since he left office? I didn’t think so, and also why didn’t you complain when Mr Bush was running this country in the ground…….not a peep out of you, so now you got all this to complain about with Mr Obama.Least we forget he STEP INTO THIS MESS.”– WOW.. Umm i am pretty sure that ANY president whose term is over is no longer involved in running the country… and exactly how did he run it into the ground… 6 years of low unemployment ..even after 9/11. Not exactly what i call running it into the ground… and yes Obama did step into this mess.. but it was caused by people in his own party, not the president…

Arkie — I disapprove of what Grassley said, not of his party affiliation. My opinion of his comments would be the same whether he was R, D, I, G or any other party affiliation. All those with the power to reach millions of people must actually think about the impact of their words.
BTW, I dont agree with the comment you reference by Reid either, but that is (was) not the topic of this particular blog post.

He has a point. These people nearly took down the US financial system through their greed and short-sightedness. At a minimum we should claw-back their bonuses, but I’d prefer to see them indicted for treason (and not just AIG either). I don’t buy for one minute that this was just a big surprise to everyone. They knew the risks and took them anyway. If a company cannot honor it’s contracts with it’s clients, execs should have no reasonable expectation of bonuses, taxpayer funded or otherwise.

Treason — Are you kidding?
I think these people were irresponsible too. But who made them that way? The investors! Investment stratagies became short term because every idiot with a computer could make his own trades. Intellegent investing based on the long term potential of a company has been forgotten. Every time a company has a bad quarter, the stock drops, and management heads roll (courtesy of boards and shareholders). This forced them to think very short term, including making very risky deals just to prop up the bottom line on a quarter by quarter basis. And it worked for a long time and the shareholders were fat and happy. Sure, the desire for big bonuses played a large role, but so did the desire to keep their jobs. You can see this a bit more clearly when you look at non-financial companies where the bonuses are not so ridiculous. They too suffer from the short-sighted shareholder problem. We all share the blame for this mess! By the way, I am not an executive and dont get paid with bonuses, just someone who knows how to see both sides of the issue.

No Bob, we do NOT all share the blame for this mess. Don’t so easliy lump us all into this responsibility.
AIG was operating within the law, otherwise there would have been congressional investations till the cows came home.
Obama and the unDemocrats decided AIG was too big to fail, and took it upon themselves to offer cash to a struggling insurange giant.
The mess became THEIRS when they assumed RESPONSIBILITY. They have spent our money (did they ask permission??) in ways we haven’t dreamed, and thanks to the G-Gang, we’ll likely never see it again.

There is one thing that has screwed this up and thats these turkeys (CEOs) dont own their company so of course they take absurd risks. We need to legislate into the western world that if you take a position on a public company then you have to really own it, so if you take on a board position, non-exec or exec then you take a stake and a big stake based on your position of course – for example, if you are offered a salary of $5m, $2m is cash $3m is stock, you can never sell while in office and must hold 2-3 years after leaving, you’ll still take risk but not the completed screwed up decisions that these morons made (I say morons, but really they are probably the smart ones, the only ones on the planet walking around with a @#@# loads of cash) – America spread the word, tell congress, tell Obama – You want to rule then own it first!!!

Maybe the coments weren’t p.c. but maybe the time for being such is over. Let them commit to something they may actually be able to make the public happy about. Clean house, get them out and start over. Tax 100%? Won’t work. Too many loopholes. Maybe we could put a judgement on their wives jewlery. I’m really angry about all of this! I’m not republican but I think I could vote for this guy whose time may have come.

Suicide is Painless!

It may be nothing you can fix, Mr. Jake Tapper, but after finding this article on a Google search and glancing over it, I associated your face with the statements for several days before searching for the article again and re-reading it. It’s my fault for not reading absolutely every paragraph on the site, but for future reference, readers who are not familiar with you or your work may experience similar problems! Just for your reference.