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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open Thread: Gosh, and He Seemed Like Such A Nice Man

Open Thread: Gosh, and He Seemed Like Such A Nice Man

by Anne Laurie|  May 8, 201410:56 pm| 46 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Republican Venality, #notintendedtobeafactualstatement, Assholes

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From Caroline Bankoff at NYMag, “Representative Michael Grimm Reportedly Banned From FBI Offices, for Some Reason“:

Recently indicted Representative Michael Grimm likes to talk about his years as an FBI agent, but the organization might remember the walking Staten Island joke less fondly: According to DNAinfo, Grimm is barred from visiting the FBI’s Manhattan headquarters, as well as a satellite office in Queens. An anonymous former FBI officer told the website that Grimm’s photo is hanging in the buildings’ security offices, along with around two dozen other images of “employees who were fired, or they were under circumstances where they were forced out or felt they should leave, and all are no longer welcome back.”…

Grimm, who is currently facing 20 federal charges over the many illegal things he allegedly did while running an Upper East Side health-food restaurant called Healthalicious, left the FBI in 2006. While Grimm has said that he decided to quit because he wanted to start a family, DNAinfo’s sources said that he was actually under “internal scrutiny” for telling a woman that he worked undercover, as well as some sketchy expenses he submitted….

More fun stories at the link.

Were Mark Twain writing today, he’d have to change that famous quip to “There is no distinctly American criminal class, except the GOP.”

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Reader Interactions

46Comments

  1. 1.

    Howard Beale IV

    May 8, 2014 at 11:01 pm

    This dude’s a piece of work.

  2. 2.

    SFAW

    May 8, 2014 at 11:06 pm

    I sometimes miss New York, but mofos like Grimm help me get over that.

  3. 3.

    Betsy

    May 8, 2014 at 11:13 pm

    “Healthalicious”? Seriously?

  4. 4.

    some guy

    May 8, 2014 at 11:18 pm

    Michael Grimm is a GOP volk hero

  5. 5.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 8, 2014 at 11:23 pm

    John Doe lawsuit judge’s assistant married to Walker campaign lawyer. This is simply un-fucking-believable.

  6. 6.

    Mike in NC

    May 8, 2014 at 11:34 pm

    Just the quintessential Republican of the 18th 21st Century right there.

  7. 7.

    TheMightyTrowel

    May 8, 2014 at 11:34 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: Conservative ethics: Whatever I think will serve me best on any given day.

  8. 8.

    Howard Beale IV

    May 8, 2014 at 11:40 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: Sex was involved, as all good scandals require.

  9. 9.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 8, 2014 at 11:41 pm

    @TheMightyTrowel: As the article notes, it is not a per se violation of the rules, but depending on the specifics, it could be a violation. Also, it just looks bad. Judge Randa looks more and more like someone who is interested in shutting down the John Doe investigation. I would say that these circumstances will cause the appellate panel to be a bit more gimlet-eyed at some of Randa’s calls.

  10. 10.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 8, 2014 at 11:43 pm

    @Howard Beale IV: I am missing the connection.

  11. 11.

    Hill Dweller

    May 8, 2014 at 11:45 pm

    Colbert just interviewed a role-playing tea party House candidate in FL. Obviously, it was hilarious.

  12. 12.

    Howard Beale IV

    May 8, 2014 at 11:45 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: Doesn’t have to be illicit.

  13. 13.

    ranchandsyrup

    May 8, 2014 at 11:46 pm

    There is a baseball player named Rougned Odor
    Which is kind of awesome.

  14. 14.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 8, 2014 at 11:50 pm

    @Howard Beale IV: It would have been just as much a problem if it was siblings instead of husband and wife.

  15. 15.

    Feebog

    May 8, 2014 at 11:52 pm

    Things are looking pretty Grimm.

  16. 16.

    opiejeanne

    May 9, 2014 at 12:03 am

    @ranchandsyrup: It is.

    I’m guessing his first name is pronounced Roog-ned, but it could just as easily be Smith.

  17. 17.

    BruinKid

    May 9, 2014 at 12:06 am

    Didn’t get a chance to say it in last night’s open thread with the Game of Thrones photoshop, but I thought Ron Paul fans were the conservatives who had a sense of humor. And yet they seem outraged, OUTRAGED that the White House would dare to put out a photoshop like that. All they can do is call him a war criminal, mass murderer, etc. They’ve even photoshopped Michelle Obama’s picture of the #BringBackOurGirls campaign to make yet another mass murderer reference. And notice that’s Lew Rockwell’s photo, the man who even Ron Paul fans will admit DID write those horribly racist newsletters. But they still have no problems associating themselves with him.

  18. 18.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 9, 2014 at 12:12 am

    @BruinKid: I haven’t found libertarians to be endowed with a sense of humor. The only conservatives who have ever had a sense of humor as far as I can tell have been the traditional ones. Churchill or maybe Boris Johnson. They don’t seem to exist here since Buckley died.

  19. 19.

    Villago Delenda Est

    May 9, 2014 at 12:19 am

    @TheMightyTrowel: “Conservative ethics” are an utter joke. Say what you will about the tenets of National Socialism, at least it was an ethos.

  20. 20.

    Steeplejack

    May 9, 2014 at 12:27 am

    Maybe the legal eagles can weigh in, but shouldn’t Randa have recused himself? Or should whoever assigns the cases have assigned this one to another judge in the first place?

  21. 21.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 9, 2014 at 12:32 am

    @Steeplejack: Randa was not obligated to recuse himself. I think that he should have done so. Since he did not, he is obligated to take a number of measures to keep the wife away from anything to do with the case. But fuck it, I think he was complete in the wrong not to have bowed out. I think he wanted to stay on and the way he has conducted the case is indicative of a desire to get a certain result – procedure be damned.

  22. 22.

    xenos

    May 9, 2014 at 12:33 am

    When I clerked in probate court two friends of mine came in for their divorces. I did not touch the files and switched with another clerk for the session. No big deal.

    If the assistant here was involved in this case then there are all sorts of problems, but I do not see how they could keep that a secret from everybody else in the courthouse.

  23. 23.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 9, 2014 at 12:37 am

    @xenos: I am sure that she hasn’t touched the case files, but, Jesus, a judge keeping a case where the spouse of one of his clerks represents a party? On a really controversial matter? Randa is an idiot; he should have recused himself.

  24. 24.

    Violet

    May 9, 2014 at 12:41 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: This should mean there are plenty of avenues for investigation in an appeal, right?

  25. 25.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 9, 2014 at 12:47 am

    @Violet: Aside from this, there are a shitload of appealable issues. You should also note that all of this is preliminary shit – injunctions, stays, and such. The trial has not happened and no final verdict has been rendered.

  26. 26.

    Villago Delenda Est

    May 9, 2014 at 12:59 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I think he wanted to stay on and the way he has conducted the case is indicative of a desire to get a certain result – procedure be damned.

    Yup, that’s my read too. These bastards have no ethical compass to speak of…they want power, and they’ll do anything to get it.

    Randa is an idiot; he should have recused himself.

    Seeing as he doesn’t appear to have an ethical bone in his body, and his allegiance is to the Partei, not to the Constitution or the people, what would one expect?

    Furthermore, he doesn’t think he’ll suffer the slightest consequence for his actions. These are arrogant bastards, too.

  27. 27.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 9, 2014 at 1:02 am

    @Villago Delenda Est: Randa is being so obvious that he is screwing himself, IMO.

  28. 28.

    Calouste

    May 9, 2014 at 1:04 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Churchill was a liberal for 20 years, that’s when he made all his jokes. And Boris Johnson is the but of jokes more than anything else.

  29. 29.

    Villago Delenda Est

    May 9, 2014 at 1:04 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: He thinks he’s under the protective umbrella of the Kochs.

  30. 30.

    mai naem

    May 9, 2014 at 1:06 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: Sounds like the Alabama Siegelman case. IIRC, the prosecutor’s husband was the campaign manager for Siegelman’s opponent in his last race. BTW, I am really disappointed that Obama hasn’t commuted Siegelman’s sentence last year. I hope he does by the end of his term.

  31. 31.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 9, 2014 at 1:13 am

    @Calouste: No. Churchill made funnies before, during, and after his time as a Liberal. Johnson is capable of laughing at himself, thus showing he has a sense of humor – that being my only point. Christ, do you actually want to fight over the idea that Churchill and Johnson might be conservatives with a sense of humor when the overall point of the comment was that they are exceptions? Is that really worth your time?

  32. 32.

    Frankensteinbeck

    May 9, 2014 at 1:14 am

    @BruinKid:
    No. Ron Paul is not known for being more liberal than conventional conservatives. He is known for being so fucking crazy that only as the Tea Party has gone off the rails has he been anything but a joke. As such, his fans are not known for being more enlightened than regular conservatives in any way, including their sense of humor.

  33. 33.

    Yatsuno

    May 9, 2014 at 1:15 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: Sure why not?

  34. 34.

    mai naem

    May 9, 2014 at 1:17 am

    The attorney was the US AG for the Eastern Wisconsin district under Alberto Gonzales and Dubbya.

  35. 35.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 9, 2014 at 1:18 am

    @Yatsuno: Good fucking god. Or as some might say, “Oy.”

  36. 36.

    Yatsuno

    May 9, 2014 at 1:24 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: Oy. Oy is proper here.

  37. 37.

    srv

    May 9, 2014 at 1:24 am

    I’m literally standing behind a guy with a steelers jersey with pfunk on it. Sun ra let George Clinton borrow the mothership going on two and a half hours now. Suck it, john

  38. 38.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 9, 2014 at 1:25 am

    @mai naem: He did that. He also has been adjudicated by a WI court as representing Walker. He, his firm, and the court have decisions to make. But some may be out of their hands. If this was not disclosed and waivers granted, the whole case might be punted.

  39. 39.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 9, 2014 at 1:38 am

    @srv:

    Ow, we want the funk
    Give up the funk
    Ow, we need the funk (let us in we’ll tear this mother out)

  40. 40.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    May 9, 2014 at 1:47 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: Getting a bit funky here.

  41. 41.

    srv

    May 9, 2014 at 1:53 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: this band goes to 11. George has pocketed 14 blunts for the mothership fuel

  42. 42.

    NotMax

    May 9, 2014 at 1:58 am

    Every single person have ever met from Staten Island (and that numbers well past 100) has been off-kilter in some manner, whether minor or major.

    Every single one of them.

  43. 43.

    Jordan Rules

    May 9, 2014 at 2:01 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: Gotta have that funk!

  44. 44.

    Jordan Rules

    May 9, 2014 at 2:07 am

    @srv: As he should. #15 for you sir! More live blog por favor!

    Steelers and Mothership crossroad is everything! Yass!

  45. 45.

    CASLondon

    May 9, 2014 at 4:59 am

    Now that this vid of Michael Grimm threatening cute little Mikey Scotto has resurfaced, I’d like to take the opportunity to point out that this roidrager would-be tough guy is threatening the nephew of Anthony Scotto, former Gambino family mafia captain and “Boss of the Waterfront” after Tough Tony Anastasia. In fact, he married Anastasia’s niece. Apparently more or less retired out of Mob life now, but was the Big Man for a long long while.

    Smart move.

    So you have a former FBI agent acting and talking just like a mafia thug to the relative of an actual mafia thug, who takes the role of a normal, decent citizen. Only in NYC, people

  46. 46.

    grape_crush

    May 9, 2014 at 12:58 pm

    Is it time to bring out the “Republican culture of corruption” talking point yet?

    It worked pretty well in 2006, IIRC.

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