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T R E 4 5 O N

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You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Open Thread: More of the ‘Philanthropic’ Stylings of the GOP’s Presidential Nominee

Open Thread: More of the ‘Philanthropic’ Stylings of the GOP’s Presidential Nominee

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If this guy’s pretending to be a billionaire wasn’t such a profitable grift, his adult children would have him under supervised guardianship, because some of these stunts seem distinctly pathological. Kudos to the Washington Post‘s David Fahrenthold for staying focused:

… For as long as he has been rich and famous, Donald Trump has also wanted people to believe he is generous. He spent years constructing an image as a philanthropist by appearing at charity events and by making very public — even nationally televised — promises to give his own money away.

It was, in large part, a facade. A months-long investigation by The Washington Post has not been able to verify many of Trump’s boasts about his philanthropy.

Instead, throughout his life in the spotlight, whether as a businessman, television star or presidential candidate, The Post found that Trump had sought credit for charity he had not given — or had claimed other people’s giving as his own…

In the books he wrote or co-wrote about himself, Trump frequently praised charitable giving in the abstract — casting it as a moral response to his vast wealth… In the same books, Trump seemed to regard charity differently when he encountered it in his day-to-day life. In those cases, it sounds like a hassle. A game he can’t win, and hates playing.

“The people who run charities know that I’ve got wealthy friends and can get them to buy tables,” Trump said in “The Art of the Deal,” explaining why he’d turned down a charity request from New York Yankee Dave Winfield. “I understand the game, and while I don’t like to play it, there is no graceful way out.”

“I can remember a friend who asked me why I had so many charity events at my properties,” Trump wrote. “I said to him, ‘Because I can!’. . . It’s a great feeling, and it makes all the work that goes into acquiring all those beautiful properties and buildings worth it.”

But that’s not entirely a story about how Trump gives money away. It’s also a story about how Trump makes money.

Charities pay him to rent out his clubs and banquet rooms for fundraiser galas. At the Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, they can pay $275,000 or more for a single night. Sometimes, Trump has given donations from the Trump Foundation to the charities that are his customers. But in some of those cases, he still comes out ahead…

Reader Interactions

242Comments

  1. 1.

    Darrin Ziliak (formerly glocksman)

    Trump’s one cheap motherfucker if he used his foundation to pay his son’s $7 Scouting fee.

  3. 3.

    Baud

    Kudos to the Washington Post‘s David Fahrenthold for staying focused:

    He along with Kurt E. are definitely the heroes of this election mediawise. Hope they don’t end up like Woodward and Bernstein.

  5. 5.

    Another Scott

    @Darrin Ziliak (formerly glocksman): What are you talking about? Donnie has given bigly, yoogely. Nobody gives more, believe him!:

    Trump’s charitable giving has now become a campaign issue, largely due to a series of Post articles written by David Fahrenthold and his colleagues. Back in April, Fahrenthold and Rosalind S. Helderman reported that they couldn’t find a single cash donation to charity that Trump personally had made over the previous five years. The Trump campaign had provided the newspaper with a list of donations made by the candidate, but many turned out to be gifts-in-kind from Trump’s businesses, such as free rounds of golf at Trump courses donated to charity auctions, and land-conservation agreements to forgo development rights on Trump-owned properties. The only cash donations were from the Donald J. Trump Foundation, the family charity that Trump established in 1988. But the Post also pointed out that Trump hadn’t given any of his own money to the Trump Foundation since 2008 — almost all of its funding came from other people, including some of his business associates.

    He’s given away “millions” – of other people’s money. He rightfully takes credit, “that makes [him] smart”!! What’s not to like? You don’t understand business, do you?!?!

    :-/

    Cheers,
    Scott.
    (“But emails” is right.)

  6. 6.

    Iowa Old Lady

    @Corner Stone: Lord yes. It’s bizarre. Is it that none of this crap about Trump is surprising so people shrug and move on? They already know what he’s like and they’re either horrified or vote for him anyway.

    This campaign has really showed me the power of the exiting narrative to control what gets talked about.

  7. 7.

    Ruckus

    @Darrin Ziliak (formerly glocksman):
    That’s just the minimum thing that makes him the fucking asshole that he is. The fact is that he’s been the shit head that we all think he is for decades. IMO, at least since he became an adult. But I suspect a long time before that. He is the poster child for assholes of privilege. The only difference now is that he jumped on the big stage and far more people who he can’t pretend to buy have seen how big an asshole he is.

  8. 8.

    Mary G

    It’s astounding how Fahrenthold is still pantsing all the other reporters on this stuff. He looks at public records, calls ordinary people up and gets the scoop. The rest of the “press” sits on their asses protecting their precious access to people who they must know are constantly lying to them.

  10. 10.

    Corner Stone

    “Bring the rain!”
    Still my favorite part of all the really terribad Transformer movies. I mean, besides Megan Fox running at any given time. Of course.

  11. 11.

    donnah

    All of these facts about Trump should have come out when he first ran for President. Maybe his loyal followers would still have applauded him for being a misogynistic, cheap, phony slimeball, but maybe some Republicans with any degree of decency might have had second thoughts. But no one was asking him the hard questions or digging as hard as they were against Hillary.

    Where were all of these stories, accusations and testimonials about Trump last year, when he was getting a toehold? No one in the press was willing to listen or do some fact-checking? It was probably simpler to rehash the same old Clinton accusations and useless charges. And that’s how Trump got this far. And it’s too late to change that.

    Let as many people as possible come forward and speak the truth about Trump. At least let it be on the record.

  12. 12.

    Ian

    7 F&*(ing dollars??!?!?! This reminds me of the Spy story where Trump cashed a 5 cent check. How fucking cheap and greedy a human being can be is a question now answered.

  13. 13.

    Corner Stone

    @Mary G: It’s really weird. Like he has a hookup with the mafia or something. And anytime another reporter starts making calls or doing “research” some muscle shows up, rips up their notepad and asks them “You really want to be looking into that?”
    It’s such a wide open target for like 40 years of public records. All DF is doing* is making phone calls and taking notes. “You know Donald Trump? Has he ever donated to your charity? No? Ok, thank you.”
    It’s fucking mind boggling that no other “investigative” journalist has had the thought that maybe there’s an angle one fucking guy has not yet had the time to make phone calls about.

    ETA, *no offense to DH, he’s doing the damned thing. But it’s not exactly as difficult as keeping Cole out of the ER come winter.

  17. 17.

    Corner Stone

    @efgoldman:

    His whole life is a series of small, petty frauds.

    It’s all so petty. Who the F bothers to go through their foundation for $7 freaking dollars?

  18. 18.

    dmsilev

    In 1997, for instance, he was “principal for a day” at a public school in an impoverished area of the Bronx. The chess team was holding a bake sale, Hot & Crusty danishes and croissants. They were $5,000 short of what they needed to travel to a tournament.

    Trump had brought something to wow them. “He handed them a fake million-dollar bill,” said David MacEnulty, a teacher and the chess team’s coach. The team’s parent volunteers were thrilled. Then disappointment. Trump then gave them $200 in real money and drove away in a limousine. Why just $200? “I have no idea,” MacEnulty said. “He was about the most clueless person I’ve ever seen in that regard.”

    The happy ending, he said, was that a woman read about Trump’s gift in the New York Times, called the school and donated the $5,000. “I am ashamed to be the same species as this man,” MacEnulty recalled her saying.

    He hasn’t changed much in the last 20 or so years.

  20. 20.

    Immanentize

    @aimai: I did not know that. Makes me want to both know you better and never risk saying a stupid thing in your presence ever again.

  22. 22.

    Timurid

    Reposting (since the thread I posted it in died minutes later):

    It still amazes me how the White Establishment has lost its collective mind during this election. They’ve gone all in for the worst Presidential candidate since Franklin Pierce. It’s as if losing this election means that white babies will be trampled under Morlock jackboots for eternity. Did #blacklivesmatter and the terrorist attacks in Dallas and Baton Rouge mess with their heads that badly?

    And the culminating blow is Comey launching a literal kamikaze attack against Clinton. He threw away his career on a plot to tilt the election… that almost certainly will not work. It’s like going all in with a 5-8 off suit, pushing your house, car and kids’ college fund into the pot. Because if you lose the hand… your wife and kids will be ravished by savage Negros? Or something?

    This level of desperation is hard to comprehend. They’re acting like it’s 2056 instead of 2016, as if these really were the Last Days of White Privilege…

  24. 24.

    Immanentize

    @JPL: So either he paid $7 for his son as his big charitable contribution or he stiffed his son and paid for some other, maybe unknown, kid? Which makes him the bigger butt?

  26. 26.

    Mary G

    @Corner Stone: You might be right:

    As it rose again, the Trump Foundation continued to be used to benefit its namesake.

    The best illustration of that was the charity to which the foundation gave its two largest gifts of the 1990s. The Trump Foundation gave $50,000 in 1995, and another $50,000 in 1999, to a nonprofit called the National Museum of Catholic Art and History.

    Those gifts, not previously reported, seemed like an odd choice for big charitable dollars.

    The museum was housed for much of the 1990s in a former headquarters for “Fat Tony” Salerno of the Genovese crime family in East Harlem. It had few visitors and little art. A Village Voice reporter, visiting in 2001, said the collection included a photo of the pope, some nun dolls bought from the Home Shopping Network, and — just off the dining room — “a black Jacuzzi decorated with simmering candles, gold-plated soap dishes, and kitsch angel figurines.”

    Trump is not Catholic.

    But he and the museum had a mutual friend.

    Ed Malloy, who was then the chairman of the museum’s board, was the head of the powerful labor group, the Building and Construction Trades Council.

    “Black jacuzzi off the dining room” just screams Tony Soprano associate to me.

  29. 29.

    Patricia Kayden

    The most charitable thing the Orange Bigot could do is to disappear from our t.v. screens after November 9th. I bet he won’t even do that.

  38. 38.

    Timurid

    @Anoniminous:

    Not that they were exactly polite, but they weren’t nearly this nuts in 2008 and 2012… with an actual black candidate running.

    The same guy who happily accepted a job from Barack Obama just became a suicide bomber in a Hail Mary plot to flip the election to a white supremacist demagogue. What. The. Actual. Fuck.

  41. 41.

    Mai.naem.mobile

    If Farenthold contributes to Trumpy not winning, he should get the Nobel Peace Prize.

    As far as Trumpy, hes a scam artist,plain and simple. A conman. A crook. Used car salesman.

  42. 42.

    bystander

    @Patricia Kayden: That’s why I like the idea of TrumpTV. The networks are not going to give free airtime to Trump the way they do now when he’s their competitor. If all goes right, Trump and Epshteyn and the Shoplifter and Kelly with the hair that looks as if she stole it from a much abused doll will all be fading in the rear view mirror.

  43. 43.

    Anoniminous

    @Timurid:

    I know Conservative Republicans in DC and their Hillary Hate is mind boggling. Actual, visceral, hatred. In 20 years I have yet to have one of them give me any rational explanation. Ten years ago it was Whitewater and Vincent Foster. Now it’s Benghazi and emails.

  44. 44.

    Mai.naem.mobile

    Why do Dem presidents appoint GOP FBI directors? Secs of Defense? How come the GOP just appoint a Dem to a non important cabinet position(DOT)?

  47. 47.

    JPL

    @Mai.naem.mobile: Comey was the head of an organization that was doing very important work to prevent terrorism in our country. He also appeared to be above politics, so at the time, he seemed to be the right choice. I agree with Psi.. it won’t happen again.

  48. 48.

    mdblanche

    When I dance they call me Trumparena
    And the charities they say que tengo dinero
    They all want it, they can’t have it
    So I come and dance beside them
    Move with me, sniffle with me
    And if you’re good I’ll pretend to give you money

    Dale a tu hurón ahogado alegría, Trumparena
    Que tu hurón ahogado es pa’ darle alegría y cosa buena
    Dale a tu hurón ahogado alegría, Trumparena
    Hey Trumparena!

  49. 49.

    Baud

    Just got an email from Podesta about the Comey thing. They are fighting back hard. Amazing. I hope it works, but it makes me happy.

  51. 51.

    Corner Stone

    @Baud:

    Just got an email from Podesta about the Comey thing.

    God, you’d think he would’ve learned by now…

  54. 54.

    Corner Stone

    @Baud: HRC is still going to win this election. And hopefully, the Senate will also flip.
    If those things happen, Arne Duncan will still be, by far, the worst fucking thing Obama has done wrt domestic policy and personnel.

  55. 55.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I don’t know how these things work, but the whole damn caucus should’ve signed this letter

    Sam Stein ‏@ samsteinhp 48s48 seconds ago
    Sens Carper, Leahy, Feinstein and Cardin write Lynch and Comey asking for an update on new email investigation by Monday

  57. 57.

    The Pale Scot

    @donnah:

    Where were all of these stories, accusations and testimonials about Trump last year, when he was getting a toehold? No one in the press was willing to listen or do some fact-checking?

    All those NYC based reporters avoided taking the elevator down walk out onto the street and just ask a local, don’t get no road trips out of that. The Hamptons probably banned the entire clan from NE L.I. Those bodies are in very shallow graves.

    I’m going to make some lemon drops tonite and slide on over to WBGO to watch some Jazz in America videos. Start of with Shannon Powell and John Boutté and then maybe some Leroy Jones at the Dew Drop Social & Benevolent Jazz Hall.

  58. 58.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Yglesias isn’t even trolling here, but I hope somebody sends this to Trump, it’ll drive him crazy every time he sees
    it

    Matthew Yglesias ‏@ mattyglesias 36m36 minutes ago Washington, DC
    I think President Clinton should formally pardon Trump of criminal tax evasion for the good of the country

  59. 59.

    NW Phil

    @Anoniminous:

    It’s the last days of total white control. And it is driving the bigots total batpoop bumphuck.

    I personally don’t expect any change (I’m very white). It’s just these clowns with no self-esteem who expected the “others” to bow to them, and were always angry when it didn’t happen.

  60. 60.

    Timurid

    @JPL:

    it won’t happen again

    Because some time this December Obama is going to drive him out into the woods, and he’s going to make him dig his own grave.

    And not to repeat myself, but Comey had to know this would be the outcome, and he did it anyway. Because his biggest regret is that he has but one life to give for his race…

  61. 61.

    Jeffro

    @Darrin Ziliak (formerly glocksman):

    Trump’s one cheap motherfucker if he used his foundation to pay his son’s $7 Scouting fee.

    I think Mark Cuban put it best – something like, “If he were a real billionaire, he wouldn’t mess with this nickel-and-dime stuff”. I think he was talking about Trump flacking his “Trump Steaks” line, but really it applies to everything.

  62. 62.

    different-church-lady

    It should have been obvious, I should have seen it a lot sooner, but it all makes perfect sense now: it’s nothing but a manifestation of Cleek’s Law. They don’t really care if Trump becomes president beyond the idea that it would be the ultimate way to drive liberals up a wall. They don’t actually comprehend the idea of a Trump presidency beyond that one simple fact.

    In that light, one can see that Trump’s bad behavior does not affect their support one bit. In fact, the worse he behaves, the better it is for them, because it will drive liberals even crazier.

  63. 63.

    Jeffro

    @Mai.naem.mobile: @JPL:

    Damn skippy this won’t happen again…plenty of talent out there, and no more need for bipartisan overtures. They aren’t listening to anything but power, so let’s let Hillz know we have her back. Fire at will, Madam President.

  64. 64.

    Jeffro

    @different-church-lady:

    They don’t really care if Trump becomes president beyond the idea that it would be the ultimate way to drive liberals up a wall. They don’t actually comprehend the idea of a Trump presidency beyond that one simple fact.

    They think that somehow they would be able to control him, with no adverse consequences to the GOP or the country. It’s an exciting concept. So is letting my 11-year-old have a bottle of whiskey and the keys to my car.

  65. 65.

    Waldo

    @Baud:

    Just got an email from Podesta about the Comey thing. They are fighting back hard.

    After all the scandal hype yesterday, it was a relief to hear both Podesta and HRC essentially challenging Comey to put up or shut up. They must know exactly what he’s got: nada.

  66. 66.

    lollipopguild

    I think that there is a large group on the Right that would rather see the country destroyed(literally) than see a Clinton in the white house. If they can’t own and run the country then burn it to the ground.

  67. 67.

    Corner Stone

    @Jeffro:

    It’s an exciting concept. So is letting my 11-year-old have a bottle of whiskey and the keys to my car.

    May I humbly suggest that you get out a little more?

  70. 70.

    PsiFighter37

    @lollipopguild: They had their chance the first time around and failed (although, I suppose, by stealing the election for Bush in 2000, they very nearly succeeded in a sense).

  71. 71.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    economic anxiety part the Ican’teventh

    Byron Tau ‏@ ByronTau 6m6 minutes ago Phoenix, AZ
    Man at the Trump rally chanting JEW-S-A at the press.

  75. 75.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Jeffro:

    Damn skippy this won’t happen again…plenty of talent out there, and no more need for bipartisan overtures.

    Except that political appointees need to be confirmed by the Senate, and she may not have one on her side. And #NeverTrump Republicans are going to be crowing that she owes them a favor for deigning to not support her opponent.

  77. 77.

    RK

    Off topic but I found this a bit surprising. Fox’s pregame panel has three former baseball stars, two disgraced: Pete Rose and Alex Rodriguez.

  78. 78.

    lollipopguild

    @PsiFighter37: They made sure that Bush won but then after bush was reelected he started screwing up and by 2005 it was obvious that Iraq was a mess. Obama can thank Bush for helping to get him elected. They were going to make Obama a one termer but that did not quite work out. If Clinton does win then Nov. 9th it will be an all out war on her.

  79. 79.

    jl

    @RK:

    ” Fox’s pregame panel has three former baseball stars, two disgraced ”

    At this point, that is probably just the producers booking guests consistent with their branding.

  81. 81.

    JPL

    New chant at the Trump rally… Rather than CNN sucks now one of Sarah’s patriots and also a white supremacist is chanting Jew S A to the press. link

  82. 82.

    jl

    @lollipopguild: If they think they can make it work electorally for them in the next midterms, the GOPers in Congress will continue their ruthless war of obstruction and malfeasance on responsible governance, with full backing from the GOP party apparatus.

    At some point, the Democrats need to go back to the good old days, like back to FDR and Truman, who were willing to throw away a lot of the kabuki political theater of niceness and civility when necessary, and just use facts history, and logic and what people see with their eyes and hear with their ears, to argue that the GOP is full of no good bums up to no good, and time to throw them out of office. That will be hard since there are swarming hordes of hacks in the corrupt big corporate media and lobbying industries who will look funny at Dem politicians at their goofy parties and retreats. But it is hard work that needs to be done.

    If Trump loses (God willing), he will be running around ginning up all sorts of outrageous incitement. There will have to be a response to that. First on the list is calling the GOP to account for Trump. Fact is, not a lot of difference on substance between Trump and establishment GOP, more just style and presentation (in addition to issue of Trump personal foibles, such as self-indulgence, severe mental sloth, and lack of self control).

  83. 83.

    Corner Stone

    @Jeffro: Sure, sure. Everything is hyperbole until the 11 yr old brings home a pink slip won at the outlaw race meets.

  89. 89.

    hovercraft

    @Corner Stone:

    “Bring the rain!”
    Still my favorite part of all the really terribad Transformer movies.

    I have a confession, I have watched those terrimovies way more than I can count, in my defense my 10 year old was obsessed with Bumblebee for years. They were dumb, but we had so many hours together watching them that I have a special place in my heart for them. I am therefore much more tolerant of Shia Le Bouf than most people, though I drew the line at Eagle Eye, I only watched that once.

  90. 90.

    Mr Stagger Lee

    @aimai: A Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest medal given to civilian, in this country should bestowed on him, he contributed to saving the Republic.

  94. 94.

    Iowa Old Lady

    I’m watching Good Girls Revolt on Amazon Prime. It’s the story of women “researchers” suing Newsweek over job discrimination. Some bad memories there.

  95. 95.

    debbie

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    That was right around the time I moved to NYC and the building was just a couple blocks from where I worked. They didn’t get a whole lot of support as I remember.

  100. 100.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Ian: I don’t know about Corner Stone, but I would say supporting the expansion of charter schools, over reliance on standardized testing (including using it as way of judging teacher performance), and effectively working to kneecap public schools.

  102. 102.

    JPL

    @efgoldman: My little neighborhood had a FL and a UT flag hanging outside. It wasn’t like this when I moved here. In the olden days we were GA flag people.

  105. 105.

    Eric S.

    It’s in the 60s here in Chicago so I have the windows open. I can easily here the crowd at Wrigley. I know something has happened at least 10 seconds before Fox shows me.

  108. 108.

    Tilda Swinton's Bald Cap

    This is a big deal.

    FBI hadn’t obtained judicial authority to review emails when Comey sent letter to Congress

    Link

  113. 113.

    redshirt

    @Eric S.: I used to live right next to Fenway and had this same experience all the time. Hear the roar of the actual crowd, see them going crazy in the bleachers, then the TV would catch up. Was like having the ability to see 5 seconds into the future.

  114. 114.

    Eric S.

    @JPL: I never include proofreading as a skill set on my resume.

    Yes, typing and watching the game at the same time will be my excuse.

  117. 117.

    redshirt

    @Doug R: Poor Uranus. Used to be a perfectly respectable God name, which then got attached to a perfectly respectable planet, and then…. memes happened.

    I wonder if the Astronomers Union should just rename it at this point. How about Vulcan?

  118. 118.

    Jeffro

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Except that political appointees need to be confirmed by the Senate, and she may not have one on her side. And #NeverTrump Republicans are going to be crowing that she owes them a favor for deigning to not support her opponent.

    I like the odds of at least a 50-50 Senate if not a 53-47 one. And there’s going to be a few GOP Senators who have had enough of this nonsense – not a lot, but a few. As for the NTR’s, they can crow all they want, she’ll just welcome them into the newest wing of the Democratic Party and tell them they’d better tow the line or see how well they are welcomed back by the Trumpistas.

  119. 119.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Corner Stone: A good number of childless people pay little attention to education policy, so I was extending the benefit of a doubt. If asked why the things I mentioned were bad, I will be at give me a fucking break.

  120. 120.

    Eric S.

    @raven: I knew what I was moving in to when I bought here. My only complaint is the news helicopters. Those bastages are parking on my roof, I’m sure of it. If I could confiscate every ounce of helicopter fuel for then next 3 days I would do it without hesitation.

  123. 123.

    redshirt

    @Eric S.: Revel in it. It’s a short term annoyance for a historical event. I was glad to hear all the helicopters above me when the Sox won in 2004. And oh yeah, just coincidentally a blood red lunar eclipse at the same time. Freaking magical.

  130. 130.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @redshirt:

    when the Sox won in 2004. And oh yeah, just coincidentally a blood red lunar eclipse at the same time. Freaking magical.

    Sounds more a sign of the apocalypse.

  131. 131.

    Eric S.

    @redshirt: I’m a St. Louis Cardinals fan, but I’m trying. My National League loyalties have me pulling, if somewhat reluctantly, for the home team. Go … go… I can’t type it. Go hometown team!

  133. 133.

    redshirt

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: It was pretty weird. I went out on my roof. You could hear the entire city celebrating in this low pitched roar; up above in the blackness was the sound of a dozen or more helicopters, but they were hard to see. And then the blood red moon.

    Then the party on the streets started. I’ll never forget it.

  139. 139.

    raven

    @redshirt: We had 4 WW2 planes here for a couple of days this week and they flew around a good bit. It was $4000 for 1/2 hour in the P 51 Mustang!

  145. 145.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @raven: My last apartment in Columbus was only a couple of blocks from a downtown hospital and when they would practice, they would more or less take off, circle around my building, and then land.

  149. 149.

    different-church-lady

    @redshirt: * Player who made the final out for the Cards wore #3. So did Babe Ruth.
    * Lunar eclipse ended just before the end of the game, taking off any voodoo it might have caused.
    * 18 years (to the day) since the last WS lost for the Sox in ’86, 86 years since their last WS win in ’18.
    * 1918 penny found stuck to a Fenway Park concession stand earlier in the season.
    * Gabe Kapler (RF, #19) and Johnny Damon (CF, #18) would frequently stand next to each other in the outfield.

    It was in the numbers for the BoSox that year.

  150. 150.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @raven: Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and the 4th the flyboys fly around their WWII airplanes here. I’m midway between two cemeteries.

  154. 154.

    DCrefugee

    @Tilda Swinton’s Bald Cap:

    One tidbit I’ve not seen in any of the news coverage is *when* did the FBI obtain access to the Weiner/Abedin computer? When did they take possession of it? Under what circumstances? If it is evidence in the investigation into Weiner’s sexting of a minor, is/was a search warrant necessary? If not, and that investigation has been ongoing for months, as seems to be the case, presumably the FBI has searched the computer by now, probably as soon as it came into their possession.

    Why is this coming out now?

  156. 156.

    The Pale Scot

    @dmsilev:

    ‘That’s a dick thing to do’ is Trump’s family motto.

    I envision the motto in Latin over a stylized pen!s with orange fur on top.

  162. 162.

    redshirt

    @different-church-lady: Awesome! It did really feel like magic. And I was right there – lived in the Fens. After the Sox beat the Yanks I hit the streets and it was like a music video – everyone else pouring out of their apartments. At first traffic is flowing on Boylston, but then by sheer mass the crowd takes over. I remember seeing the eyes of this Asian lady freak out as the crowd totally surrounded her and I’m not sure she had any idea what was happening.

  169. 169.

    redshirt

    @Eric S.: I understand how this would be difficult then. I can’t recommend you cheer for the Cubs given your allegiance. Maybe look at it as an interesting people watching time.

  170. 170.

    Steeplejack

    @RK:

    And Rose sounded like he was high. Or maybe just giddy at the prospect of being allowed out in (semi-)respectable society.

  176. 176.

    Steeplejack

    @efgoldman:

    Yes, it will.

    And, though probably this is not relevant, I have occasionally seen FYWP choke on random YouTube addresses (which don’t contain recognizable words).

  178. 178.

    Steeplejack

    @Jeffro:

    Can you buy a clue on your link-fu?! I haven’t seen you get one right all this week.

    Fixed: “Trump Campaign Final Days.”

    Pro tip: When you create a link, erase/overwrite the http:// prefix that FYWP supplies. You are getting double prefixes in all your links (or, in this case, a missing colon).

  181. 181.

    Jeffro

    @Steeplejack: Thanks! I’ll work on the erase/overwrite thing. Normally I have people who take care of this sort of thing for me, but it’s late…

    anyway, test…

    ETA – nailed it! Thanks SJ

  182. 182.

    different-church-lady

    @Steeplejack:

    Not the worst superpower ever, but in the ballpark.

    In High School a friend and I invented “Neutrino Man”, a superhero who couldn’t help anyone because he was “Just passing through!”

  189. 189.

    Steeplejack

    @redshirt:

    Okay on the fight, and sports in general. I don’t see what it gets you in poker.

    ETA: Remember that poker is a bad word and must be neuterized to avoid moderation.

  197. 197.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Steeplejack: I didn’t link to anyone. I am just trying to clear it up. Maybe I should have replied to more folks, but I figured that anyone in the conversation would see it.

  201. 201.

    Steeplejack

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    NeutronFlux had a link to I.F. Stone, which is what I replied to. Can someone just tell me the name of aimai’s father? That would “clear it up.”

  205. 205.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Steeplejack: I based my comments on things that aimai has said. It is quite possible that her mom is Stone’s child and the Nobel winner is her dad. She has never specified as far as I know.

  206. 206.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    I’m currently reading Lynn Povich’s book/memoir of the same title. I didn’t work in media or advertising specifically in the 1960s, but I was close enough to MadAve to identify closely with the era, and the role of women.

  212. 212.

    Steeplejack

    @redshirt:

    If someone drops it in a thread that her father has a Nobel Prize, I don’t think it’s out of line to ask who it is. Curiosity is piqued.

  215. 215.

    amk

    years and millions of income tax evasion. multiple charity scams. so many bankruptcies. and yet the deadbeat of a fraud lives in a grand lifestyle publicly.

    major IRS fail.

  216. 216.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Steeplejack: I don’t feel that it is appropriate to dig further into her background. I see that Celia Gilbert is married to a Nobel winner. The Stone connection doesn’t enter into it.

  217. 217.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @redshirt:

    I always hate hearing the medical copters cause you know someone’s life is on the line.

    I am the same way about sirens of any kind — cops, ambulances, fire trucks. Someone is hurting or scared, almost by definition.

  221. 221.

    different-church-lady

    @Steeplejack: This is a lot of fun, considering I didn’t know the first thing about any of these people (real or fictional) 20 minutes ago…

  223. 223.

    JR in WV

    @different-church-lady:

    No FBI agent has read the first email from Weiner’s devices, as they do not yet have a search warrant for the device(s). So Comey’s letter was based upon – well, on smoke coming out of his ass, frankly.

    He doesn’t actually know if any emails related to Clinton in any way are on the devices he speaks of. No evidence whatsoever exists in his control, yet.

    Firing offence in my book. On Monday, for cause.

    ETA: speling, etc.

  228. 228.

    Lizzy L

    @JR in WV:

    No FBI agent has read the first email from Weiner’s devices, as they do not yet have a search warrant for the device(s). So Comey’s letter was based upon – well, on smoke coming out of his ass, frankly.

    Source, please. I haven’t seen this anywhere.

  229. 229.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @different-church-lady: I’ve met people from here at meet-ups and elsewhere. I just would not consider outing them. aimai has provided certain info about her background (as have I), I checked out enough to find out whether the statement about a Nobel that she made was true. It seems quite probable. I will not pry further.

  237. 237.

    Aleta

    This is a clearer description than many of Comey’s action: http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/james-comeys-letter-and-the-problem-of-leaks

    The issue is the propriety of Comey’s letter and the leaks that followed it.
    …
    No one likes to talk about law-enforcement leaks. Journalists rarely discuss the issue for fear of burning existing sources or discouraging future ones. If asked, Comey would no doubt affect to be shocked that leaking was taking place at the F.B.I. But the issue is critically bound up with the current controversy. The journalistic follow-up to Comey’s bombshell letter was predictable, even inevitable.

    Even if Comey did not specifically make or authorize the leaks himself, he had to know that they would take place—and he must take responsibility for them. In other words, Comey wasn’t just releasing a letter. He was beginning a process that was certain to include many more disclosures from the F.B.I., but in the haphazard and deniable form of leaks. The F.B.I. can keep secrets when it’s in its interest to do so. There are almost never any disclosures from the bureau’s national-security investigators, who deal with terrorism and related matters. But when it comes to criminal investigations, especially high-profile political matters like this one, the bureau has long been a semi-open book.

    Because of Comey’s announcement, the days leading up to the election will now feature piecemeal disclosures of fragments of the investigation. If Comey heeds the calls from both the Clinton and Trump campaigns to elaborate on his cryptic letter, he will likely succeed only in generating more leaks, as reporters seek to answer the central questions of whose e-mails are at issue and if they incriminate anyone, especially Clinton. The inevitability of leaks is one reason why the Justice Department (of which the F.B.I. is supposedly a part) has a formal policy of avoiding public law-enforcement activity on the eve of elections. As my colleague Jane Mayer wrote, this policy exists because the activity itself—like the issuance of indictments or even subpoenas—can affect the outcomes; but it also exists because the activity sets off a process that amounts to even greater interference than the official actions themselves.

    On Friday night, Comey sent a peculiar and unusual memorandum to F.B.I. employees…. Alternately self-righteous and self-pitying, the message portrayed Comey’s decision as obligatory under the circumstances.
    …
    Comey says that he didn’t “want to create a misleading impression,” but that’s precisely what he did. He had to know that his vague letter to Congress virtually demanded elaboration from “senior government officials,” who would apply their own gloss, in the form of leaks. The responsibility for the confusion sown by these leaks, if not for the leaks themselves, belongs only to Comey. If the outcome of the Presidential election turns on Comey’s action, that’s his burden, and the nation’s, too.

  238. 238.

    Lizzy L

    @Aleta: That last paragraph says it all. I agree with efg, Comey’s departure will almost certainly wait until after the election, but I bet No-Drama Obama is Not Happy with his FBI Director at all.

  240. 240.

    John

    @efgoldman: My exact thoughts. Every time I think I can’t be more shocked at what a giant piece of shit Trump is, I find out I can. I mean, he actively HURT this charity by barging into their event. Damaged their relationship with a REAL major donor by stealing a photo op AND exploiting sick children while not giving a penny. What the fuck is wrong with this guy?

  241. 241.

    Ruckus

    @John:

    What the fuck is wrong with this guy?

    The list of what is right with him is much shorter. Not one fucking thing.

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