Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

White supremacy is terrorism.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Infrastructure week. at last.

This really is a full service blog.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

In my day, never was longer.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

You are here: Home / So I Elected an Axe Murderer

So I Elected an Axe Murderer

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Well attempted. And with a hammer:

The Broward County Republicans are in turmoil today after revelations that a freshly elected member of their executive board is a man who once was charged with attempted murder in the savage claw-hammer beating of a then-classmate at a Los Angeles prep school for multi-millionaires’ children.

Four months after 28-year-old Rupert Tarsey was elected secretary, party officials have found out the young philanthropist and supporter of President Donald Trump is really Rupert Ditsworth.

And a decade ago, the then-Beverly Hills teenager was charged with attempted murder in Los Angeles after hitting Harvard-Westlake School classmate Elizabeth Barcay over the head at least 40 times, splitting her skull open.

I audibly snorted and woke the pets when I got to this part of the story:

For years, he quietly volunteered on Republican campaigns, including Trump’s. Then in May, Tarsey presented himself at the election for the party’s executive board. He won a three-candidate race for secretary with 75 votes.

Tarsey’s real identity was discovered by a member who alerted local GOP Chairman Bob Sutton over the Labor Day weekend.

“We were blindsided,” said Sutton, a schoolteacher. “He’s a member of the Knights of Columbus, for Christ’s sake…

I’m laughing again.

Reader Interactions

105Comments

  2. 2.

    Frankensteinbeck

    That attempted murder story is horrific. And you, of all people, Cole, know why shit like this is baked into Republicanism. When you build your philosophy on being mean and hateful and hypocritically self-righteous, this is exactly the kind of person who rises to power.

  3. 3.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Four months after 28-year-old Rupert Tarsey was elected secretary, party officials have found out the young philanthropist and supporter of President Donald Trump is really Rupert Ditsworth.

    so he was born in a Wodehouse novel and changed his name to Game of Thrones?

  5. 5.

    ? Martin

    I don’t understand why they’re upset about this. After all, they elected an admitted sexual assaulter to the White House. Seems like the shame over prior misdeeds boat sailed quite a while ago.

  8. 8.

    SiubhanDuinne

    John, you left out the most telling paragraph from that story:

    Now, local GOP bigs are desperate for Tarsey to resign and worried about the image of the party in the overwhelmingly Democratic turf of former DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz.

    They can’t just kick him out? A fucking attempted murderer?

  11. 11.

    Another Scott

    @SiubhanDuinne: Who also (based on the excerpts here) (apparently) tried to hide his identity under an assumed name?

    :-/

    This is another example that “80% of life is showing up”. There are lessons for our team, also too. If good people don’t show up, bad people win…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  15. 15.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    Did I miss something? Did this loser get convicted, do time? Did his victim recover from 40 claw hammer blows to the head? Has he been on the lam this whole time? Have they started procedures to remove him from his position?

  18. 18.

    GregP

    Remember. A roofing hammer has straighter claws so that they will, when swung vigorously, dig into plywood to prevent a fall.

    Team roofing claw.

  19. 19.

    Mnemosyne

    @West of the Rockies (been a while):

    Affluenza at work:

    According to the Times, Tarsey’s parents rushed him into psychiatric treatment as Barcay recovered painfully and eventually attended the school prom in a wheelchair.

    At first, California prosecutors filed the case in juvenile court, but it was dismissed. They tried it again in adult court.

    “In the end, I pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor,” Tarsey said. “It’s not the charges that matter, it’s what happens in court.”

  26. 26.

    ? Martin

    Tsunami warning issued for southern mexico/central america

    EVALUATION
    ———-

    * AN EARTHQUAKE WITH A PRELIMINARY MAGNITUDE OF 8.0 OCCURRED
    OFF THE COAST OF CHIAPAS, MEXICO AT 0449 UTC ON FRIDAY
    SEPTEMBER 8 2017.

    * BASED ON THE PRELIMINARY EARTHQUAKE PARAMETERS… WIDESPREAD
    HAZARDOUS TSUNAMI WAVES ARE POSSIBLE.

    TSUNAMI THREAT FORECAST
    ———————–

    * HAZARDOUS TSUNAMI WAVES FROM THIS EARTHQUAKE ARE POSSIBLE
    WITHIN THE NEXT THREE HOURS ALONG SOME COASTS OF

    MEXICO… GUATEMALA… EL SALVADOR… COSTA RICA…
    NICARAGUA… PANAMA… HONDURAS AND ECUADOR

  29. 29.

    Mnemosyne

    @? Martin:

    Well, c’mon, she should have had a better story than, I don’t remember what happened because I suffered a massive traumatic brain injury. How is a judge and jury supposed to figure out what happened when it’s he said/she said like that?

  31. 31.

    Mnemosyne

    @Wapiti:

    I’m also guessing there was a quiet civil settlement between the parents to pay for her medical bills, past and future. That would tend to estrange a son from his parents.

    But now I’m worried about the guy’s pregnant wife. I’m assuming he either didn’t tell her about this or told her a very sanitized, self-serving version.

  32. 32.

    LurkerNoLonger

    Holy shit! The future of the Republican Party. Tarsey/Ditsworth 2024. He can be his own running mate.

  33. 33.

    John Revolta

    Damn. If I was the lawyer, I’d argue that somebody who hit someone in the head 40 times with a claw hammer and didn’t kill them must really not have been attempting to murder them at all. Maybe even TRYING NOT to.

  34. 34.

    Ruckus

    Now that’s a privileged fucking asshole.
    He’s 6ft fucking 2 and he beat her in the head with a hammer 40 times and got off with a fucking misdemeanor?
    That’s some privilege, that rich white fucking privilege.
    I mean I know it existed, sure. Of course I know it’s wrong. But it’s this wrong?
    I know he’s a republican and of course a drumpf supporter, that’s a given, but I’m flabbergasted that he only got a misdemeanor. They let him fucking walk and she’s in a wheel chair. And that’s in blue CA. Would he have gotten a ticker tape parade in say Alabama?

  36. 36.

    Roger Moore

    @? Martin:

    I don’t understand why they’re upset about this. After all, they elected an admitted sexual assaulter to the White House.

    And they had a serial pedophile as Speaker of the House. They just can’t help themselves when it comes to choosing criminals as leaders. Seriously, fuck these guys.

  38. 38.

    ? Martin

    @Roger Moore: Well, to their credit, they didn’t know that the serial pedophile was such when they elected him. Trump, on the other hand, admitted to it on tape, and they still elected him.

  41. 41.

    NotMax

    OT: Home again, home again, jiggedy freaking jig. 16 hours from walking in the doors at JFK to waling in the door of the abode.

  42. 42.

    lgerard

    “He’s a member of the Knights of Columbus, for Christ’s sake“.

    You don’t often see people quoted saying that in a newspaper, it made me laugh….even though this is serious

  43. 43.

    Ruckus

    @Mnemosyne:
    I’m not all that surprised that he did it, but that he got away with it so fucking easily. His life doesn’t seem to have been altered at all. Her life?
    I don’t disgust easily. I’m not surprised all that easily, even, or especially, about evil people.
    I am however disgusted with the courts and prosecutors. And fucking republicans.

  44. 44.

    danielx

    From what I’ve read and heard of Florida politics, I can’t see why an attempted murder charge a decade ago would necessarily disqualify one for elected office in Broward County.* Stranger things have happened down there.

    However…

    Rupert Fucking Ditsworth?

    If there was ever a name that positively dripped with money and entitlement, that’s it. It lacks only a III or IV at the end to be perfect. As witnessed by the fact that he was “….rushed into psychiatric treatment by his parents.” Where he was safe from all that legal unpleasantness and indeed convicted of no more than a misdemeanor to which he plead no contest. Clearly favored of the gods and with access to high quality legal talent as well, with excellent connections. Grandfather owned the Dunes? Most excellent damn connections.

    It appears Rupert agrees this is no big thing, as he sits in his two million dollar beachfront condo.

  47. 47.

    Roger Moore

    @Ruckus:

    I’m not all that surprised that he did it, but that he got away with it so fucking easily. His life doesn’t seem to have been altered at all. Her life?

    The prosecutors were so worried about not ruining his life with a felony conviction that they ignored what he had done to her life. It’s a paradigm case of privilege.

  52. 52.

    seaboogie

    @Roger Moore: So basically Betsy DeVos rescinding Title IX so those dear, dear boys don’t have their futures ruined based on their “youthful indescretions”.

  57. 57.

    Ruckus

    @Roger Moore:
    Sure is.
    So if you are white and rather wealthy you can quite possibly get away with attempted murder. Good to know if I ever get rich and have an occasion to attempt to beat a girl to death with a hammer. That I was carrying in my back pack for no apparent reason. Now I own a fair number of hammers from decades of working with metal and wood but if I’d have known that I could attempt murder with no significant penalty whatsofuckingever, I’d have worked much harder to be rich so i wouldn’t have missed the opportunity if it ever became necessary. Of course I would also have had to have been a major fucking asshole, a republican, a drumpf supporter, and really just an all around major jack off.
    But I repeat myself.

  58. 58.

    Amir Khalid

    I don’t get why the party is just crossing its fingers and hoping he resigns. Have they no procedure in place for removing him? Can’t the party chair have a quiet word in his ear about the good of the local party? Does the membership not want him to go?

  62. 62.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Another Scott: damn

    The United States Geological Survey issued a tsunami warning right after the quake hit. The Associated Press reported that the quake was felt in the capital, Mexico City.
    “I felt the earthquake in our neighborhood near downtown,” said Joel Petterson, a New York Times employee on vacation in Mexico City. “Our building started swaying about 20 minutes ago, and many people went out into the street.”

  63. 63.

    Ruckus

    @Amir Khalid:
    He’s a wealthy white boy, with an attempted murder in his past. He’s their kind of guy. They don’t want to can him, that would be uncouth. If he resigns, there is no real controversy and everybody just gets on with the whatever it is that republican politicians do. Besides they don’t want to ruin his life, it must be worth it, the courts didn’t do anything. Oh and I forgot, for christ’s sake he’s in the knights of columbus! ETA They must be so fucking proud!

  68. 68.

    Mary G

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: I saw Bowie at the Santa Monica Civic really early in the 70s, before my date had ever heard of him. It was a New Year’s Eve show and I had to refuse to leave because he freaked out in the parking lot about what the other concertgoers were wearing. He ended up loving the music, though.

  69. 69.

    danielx

    @lgerard:

    About ten different articles, but his exact quote in the Miami Herald was:

    “In the end, I pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor,” Tarsey said. “It’s not the charges that matter, it’s what happens in court.”

    Self entitled little monster, isn’t he? From another source:

    If Tarsey acted in self-defense in 2007, why did he and his mother settle the civil action case? “To make it go away,” he told me.

    Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/ent-columns-blogs/jose-lambiet/article171549182.html#storylink=cpy

  70. 70.

    Amir Khalid

    @Ruckus:
    If what Rupert Ditsworth did was so embarrassing to his family that they made him change his name, I don’t imagine he gets much moral support from them now, or any benefit from their influence.

  72. 72.

    Mary G

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Only a Republican with serious affluenza and sociopathy could still be refusing to quit a party position and not even apologize for hitting a woman in the head 40 times with a hammer with a claim of self-defense. I smell a YOOGE civil settlement for a lot more than just medical bills to get the victim to go along.

    @Amir Khalid: Catholic adult fraternity, most really rich guys. Alleged to be for charitable purposes, but mostly drinking. telling racist/sexist jokes in comfort (overheard that, no personal knowledge) and networking AKA bragging about how much money they have. Lots of bishops and cardinals.

    ETA: Wiki via Google

    The Knights of Columbus is the world’s largest Catholic fraternal service organization. Founded by Father Michael J. McGivney in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1882, it was named in honor of the mariner Christopher Columbus.

  74. 74.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    @Amir Khalid:
    http://www.kofc.org/un/en/todays-knights/what-we-do.html

    From the moment of our founding in 1882, charity has been the first principle of the Knights of Columbus. We are Catholic men of faith and men of charitable action.

    In 2016, the Knights of Columbus set a record in charitable giving for the 18th consecutive year. Our charitable donations increased from $175 million in 2015 to a new total of $177,500,673 in 2016. In addition, we achieved our highest level of charitable service in 2016, volunteering more than 75 million hours of service. The number of service hours contributed by Knights rose in 2016 by more than a million over the previous year’s total.

    Our charitable activities encompass an almost infinite variety of local, national and international projects. Our own unique charities include the Christian Refugee Relief Fund, Disaster Relief, Ultrasound Initiative, and Coats for Kids. We also partner with international charities including Special Olympics, the Global Wheelchair Mission and Habitat for Humanity.

    Through our Building the Domestic Church initiative, Knights and their families have greater opportunities to participate in a variety of activities that deepen their faith, promote the New Evangelization, and strengthen our parishes. These activities include the Family Fully Alive Devotional Program, Father’s Day Affirmation of Wedding Vows, Food for Families and the Keep Christ in Christmas Campaign.

    “We are answering Pope Francis’ call to go to the peripheries,” Supreme Knight Carl Anderson said. “We can reach half way around the globe to help those in need and we can reach to our neighbor next door. And we do that every day. That makes us witnesses to the faith.”

    If you’d like to be a part of an international organization of nearly 2 million Catholic men whose principal work involves helping others in need, we’d like to meet you and invite you to join us.

  76. 76.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @sukabi:

    I am presently incarcerated, imprisoned for a crime I did not even commit. “Attempted murder,” now honestly, did they ever give anyone a Nobel prize for “attempted chemistry?”

    — Sideshow Bob

  77. 77.

    lgerard

    @danielx:

    This is all based on his statements, not on court records.

    I suspect he spent a considerable time, like 3 years in the mental hospital after he was charged
    He then plead guilty to a felony afterwards, but only received an extended period of probation due to the time he spent locked up in the hospital
    The period of probation expired recently, and that is why he has come out of the shadows

    He hopefully committed voter fraud, and will give Kris Kobach someone to investigate

  78. 78.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Mary G: they sound nice

    The Knights have also been active in political campaigns across the United States against gay marriage, contributing over $14 million to the cause. In 2008, they were the largest single donor in support of Proposition 8. A financial contribution of over $1 million was made to support the successful initiative to define marriage within the California State Constitution as a union solely between a man and a woman.[103][104] The Knights have also made financial contributions of $1 million to support similar ballot campaigns in Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, and Washington.[3][105] […]
    Many famous Catholic men from all over the world have been Knights of Columbus. In the United States, some of the most notable include John F. Kennedy; Ted Kennedy;[114] Al Smith;[118] Sargent Shriver;[119] Samuel Alito; John Boehner;[120] Ray Flynn;[121] Jeb Bush;[122] and Sergeant Major Daniel Daly,[123] a two-time Medal of Honor recipient, once described by the commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps as “the most outstanding Marine of all time”.[124]

  81. 81.

    scav

    Born to be a Trump supporter, over and above mere team R. It’s not just pusies one can grab but heads one can hammer if one is a rich and white male (someone whose future is important enough to matter and not be imperiled). Why should shooting somebody in the street or beating them there matter at all to their right-minded supporters? Even to bring such incidents up is mere politics and a distraction from more important matters. Clearly the Broward County GOP has picked up a bad case of political correctness if not outright socialism and needs to be drained.

  82. 82.

    Mary G

    @? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: “Ultrasound Initiative” jumped out at me from your post, and it’s as disgusting as I thought:

    The Knights of Columbus established its Ultrasound Initiative to equip medically certified prolife
    pregnancy care centers (PCCs) with modern technology that will enable expectant mothers to
    see and hear their babies in utero.     When a state or local council raises half of the cost of
    purchasing an ultrasound machine for a PCC, the Supreme Council will match that amount,
    enabling the PCC to buy the ultrasound machine.

    Nothing says cheapskate rich Republicans like “we’ll pay half, if you pay half.” That’s a commitment to life, all right.

    While I was looking at their website, the biggest controversy was the change in the 4th degree uniform, which was controversial. Evidently the younger members refuse to wear it. I couldn’t find a picture, but I’m imagining something out of Gilbert & Sullivan. The new one is basically a dark suit that regularly costs $510, but is on sale for $382.50. You must be measured by a professional tailor before ordering, and you may still wear an ornamental sword with it if you wear gloves. Good grief.

  83. 83.

    seaboogie

    Your modern (and probably always) GOP:
    Munny.
    Assload of munny.
    Egregious act that would shock anyone, and a possible innocent ruined for life
    Welp – this happens, sometimes – we shouldn’t ruin his future.
    He should probably run for office – from the sanitorium – it’s like crafts, for the wealthy.
    Yeah – he’s more whack than we thought.
    Hope he quits – fingers crossed – what else can we do?

  84. 84.

    seaboogie

    Your modern (and probably always) GOP:
    Munny.
    Assload of munny.
    Egregious act that would shock anyone, and a possible innocent ruined for life
    Welp – this happens, sometimes – we shouldn’t ruin his future.
    He should probably run for office – from the sanitorium – it’s like crafts, for the wealthy.
    Yeah – he’s more whack than we thought.
    Hope he quits – fingers crossed – what else can we do?

    Thank GOD we don’t have a black president anymore!

  87. 87.

    mai naem mobile

    Rupert’s wife’s name is Beata. Spelled like that Beata. You couldn’t make this shit up.

  90. 90.

    Sab

    My late father in law considered joining the Knights of Columbus after converting to Catholicism to marry his wife. Part of the initiation/hazing process was staging a fake murder that everyone was sworn to secrecy to cover up. He was a tough guy but this shocked him enough that he didn’t join. A religious allegedly philanthropic organization with a fake murder cover up as part of its initiation rites. Weird. And Alito went along with that and is now on the Supreme Court.

  91. 91.

    Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]

    @Sab: That’s messed up. The only way I could see that being anyway OK is if you refused that messed up idea, you passed the rite.

  92. 92.

    bjacques

    Sometime in the 1980s, the Harris County Democratic Party elected as chairman one Claude Jones, whose name was, er, easier on the ear that that of his rival. Jones turned out to be an avid Lyndon LaRouche supporter, but they couldn’t get rid of him. Instead they reorganized the executive structure to effectively strip him of his power.

    I’m guessing the Catholic Church realized they couldn’t ignore that secular fraternal organizations were the bread and butter of American working class and petit-bourgeois men’s life, all the way back to the Loyal Order Of Water Buffaloes in prehistoric times, so decided to go with the flow. It’s unfair to call them fascist for using the fasces that was a common symbol in the US, until 1945 anyway, but damn, that kind of hazing would really do a number on anyone who had been in a war zone.

    Anyway, they’re stuck with Patrick Bateman for awhile.

  93. 93.

    Sab

    @bjacques: Actually, he had been in a war zone. South Pacific in WWII.

    And although he didn’t become a Knight of Columbus, he did remain a devout Catholic for the rest of his life.

  98. 98.

    NorthLeft12

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: In my former days as a Roman Catholic I was invited to join the Knights. Their stance [the same as the Church] on SSM and abortion made my decision relatively easy. It was tougher to quit the church all together….because…….history.

  99. 99.

    J.

    Bang bang Rupert’s claw hammer came down upon her head,
    Bang bang Rupert’s claw hammer made sure she was almost dead.

  102. 102.

    opiejeanne

    @bjacques: My understanding is that the K of C was formed because of the oath that the Masons use that declares no man between us and God, i.e., no priests above us. The Catholics found that disturbing so they formed their own club. I have heard of Masons who are Catholics but they are rare.

  103. 103.

    J R in WV

    @Amir Khalid:

    Probably already answered, the KoC is a fraternal order for Catholic men, probably mostly Italian to begin with (Columbus, right>? haha) but now less exclusive perhaps. Like the Ancient and Free Masons, which Catholics are forbidden to join as the Masons worship science and knowledge, or did once. Much folderol going on at both groups. Masons are split into many substrands. KoC are still intact, raise lots of money for their church.

  104. 104.

    J R in WV

    @bjacques:

    all the way back to the Loyal Order Of Water Buffaloes in prehistoric times

    And what exactly do you have against the Water Buffaloes? They work hard, they donate that work to the community, they almost never cause any trouble, and they don’t have any sketchey belief systems about other buffaloes OR human beings.

  105. 105.

    workworkwork

    My dad was a member of the KoC. In his defense, we lived in a small town and he was one of the few folks who didn’t work for Huge Chemical Co. I think he did it for the networking.

    As far as I know, he wasn’t a member when I was a kid. But I found the sword and he explained it was a KoC thing but he didn’t say much more about it.

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