They say that all politics is local. This is true. Equally true is the notion that the government closest to you is the entity of government that affects you the most. So, when local politics and the power brokers behind local politics are corrupt the people suffer.

Corrupt politicians are nothing new to politics. They are chronicled back to the Roman Empire and before. Power plays during the times of the Pharaohs were commonplace and the Ides of March saw Caesar on the wrong end of a multitude of daggers. So, too, are power brokers infamously enshrined in the annals of history (I should have used a play on the word anal, but I assume you all did anyway).

One of the most significant double-edged swords to emerge in recent years where politics and government are concerned is social media.

On the one hand, it obliterates the monopoly on information that the mainstream media held to date. No longer can the “Big 3” networks propagandize ideologically about things like the Tet Offensive (actually a significant victory for the United States but characterized as a loss by Walter Cronkite and the rest of the mainstream media) and get away with molding the opinions of the American people. Social media has allowed the people to call the propagandist media out on manipulation.

On the other hand, we have disingenuous power players (or “trolls,” which I have written about recently) who seed disingenuous content on social media to further the poison-politics of their “operative” candidates, most often elected officials running for re-election who would serve as a gateway to monetary benefit to special interest parties. A perfect example of this would be the politician running for re-election who is bankrolled by deep pocket developers who expect quid pro quo when zoning variances and other legislation come before the local authority. “You give me a contribution and I will see the good in your project for the community,” or, in other words, “You wash my back and I’ll wash yours.”

Traveling over to CNN’s Jim Acosta’s Twitter account, this is his pinned tweet:

Then yesterday, he retweeted this:

And he retweeted this:

The Slovak foreign ministry says it is “disturbing” that the Night Wolves – a Russian nationalist biker gang close to President Vladimir Putin – now have a base in Slovakia.

The base has old military vehicles and lies in Dolna Krupa, a village 70km (44 miles) from the capital Bratislava.

The Russian government calls it the Night Wolves’ “European headquarters”.

The bikers are under US sanctions, accused of providing military help for the pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine.

So close in fact, Putin rode with them and endorses the group.

Earlier this year, the Night Wolves did a 9-day tour. Bosnia? Yes.

Members of the Night Wolves motorcycle gang visiting a monastery in Serbia. The gang’s tour, funded with a grant from the Kremlin, was billed as a “pilgrimage” meant to showcase the shared Orthodox faith of Russia and the region. Credit: Laura Boushnak for The New York Times