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You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Trump Crime Cartel Open Thread: Judge Orders Trump Foundation to Dissolve

Trump Crime Cartel Open Thread: Judge Orders Trump Foundation to Dissolve

by Anne Laurie|  December 18, 201810:50 pm| 130 Comments

This post is in: C.R.E.A.M., Excellent Links, Open Threads, Republican Venality, Trump Crime Cartel

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New York attorney general says Trump Foundation “has signed a stipulation agreeing to dissolve under judicial supervision, with review and approval by the attorney general of proposed recipient charities of the foundation’s remaining assets,” and lawsuit will still move forward. pic.twitter.com/2D5IYWylnl

— Breaking News (@BreakingNews) December 18, 2018

(More) major props to Dave Fahrenthold!

UPDATE: NY AG says that @realDonaldTrump's Fdn will have to sell off its 3 physical possessions, including a Tim Tebow-signed helmet, and 2 paintings of Trump himself.
Trump paid $42K for them, using foundation $.
Now says they're worth $975 combined.https://t.co/eL3sirHwYS

— David Fahrenthold (@Fahrenthold) December 18, 2018

Someday there will be a best-seller on the Trump presidency subtitled “Two Overpriced Portraits and a Tim Tebow-Signed Helmet”.

This isn’t voluntary. It’s Trump shutting down foundation because it is squarely in the dangerous crosshairs of NY Atty General investigation.

It’s like Michael Cohen’s plea in that sense — coming forward at the end, reluctantly, because caught red handed https://t.co/adY2kU3b4a

— Neal Katyal (@neal_katyal) December 18, 2018

May this be the start of many, many painful and embarrassing decisions against Donald Trump, his offspring, his underlings, and his GOP enablers…

Forcing Trump to actually give money to charity might be the most devastating punishment he’s ever faced https://t.co/U4ft6lXf6c

— molly (@isteintraum) December 18, 2018

Now, now, be fair, the evidence suggests that the foundation gave millions of dollars to *checks notes* Donald Trump. https://t.co/CHKRPkZ6cd

— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) December 18, 2018


But given that hes spent the rest of his career in traditionally squeeky clean ventures like casinos and nyc real estate we should probably give him the benefit of the doubt

— InmanRoshi (@InmanRoshi) December 18, 2018

What was the first time the words "Donald J. Trump Foundation" appeared in print? 1999. @tsgnews called out Trump for giving much less to his charity than other rich folks did. pic.twitter.com/J6tlIorVWc

— David Fahrenthold (@Fahrenthold) December 18, 2018

This tweet did not age well https://t.co/VfRTlHaZzf

— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) December 18, 2018

Also fun fact: one of the largest donors to Trump’s shady foundation that’s being forced to dissolve is currently the head of the Small Business Administration.

— Adam Smith (@asmith83) December 18, 2018

There are some very serious tax implications here as well… No surprise the NY AG has also referred this to the IRS. https://t.co/CemZFs5Oxc

— Brad Thor (@BradThor) December 18, 2018

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Previous Post: « Lily Chemo Update, Website Redesign Update, Fundraiser Update, All in One Thread
Next Post: (More) Repub Venality Open Thread: Roger’s Stones »

Reader Interactions

130Comments

  1. 1.

    randy khan

    December 18, 2018 at 10:56 pm

    I actually suspect that the portraits could fetch a fair amount of money from some MAGAheads, if the foundation were inclined to auction them.

  2. 2.

    NotMax

    December 18, 2018 at 10:57 pm

    50 shades of red-handed.

  3. 3.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    December 18, 2018 at 10:59 pm

    this detail from Farenthold’s story…

    The largest donation in the charity’s history — a $264,231 gift to the Central Park Conservancy in 1989 — appeared to benefit Trump’s business: It paid to restore a fountain outside Trump’s Plaza Hotel. The smallest, a $7 foundation gift to the Boy Scouts that same year, appeared to benefit Trump’s family. It matched the amount required to enroll a boy in the Scouts the year that his son Donald Trump Jr. was 11.

    That detail come out a while ago, I think in Farenthold’s original story about trump’s charitable giving, but what a cheap fuck.

  4. 4.

    Mike J

    December 18, 2018 at 11:00 pm

    It’s sort of voluntary. NYS wouldn’t allow them to dissolve so Trump couldn’t burn all the records before they got a look. The fact that they are now saying go ahead and dissolve means they’ve got all the info they need.

  5. 5.

    zhena gogolia

    December 18, 2018 at 11:00 pm

    Okay, I didn’t want to post this violent story in the Lily thread, but Daniil Kharms’s story “Vindication” is the perfect expression of the Trump-Giuliani-Flynn mindset (I think this is George Gibian’s translation):

    Vindication

    I don’t want to boast. But when Volodya hit me in the ear and spat in my eyes, I let him have it in a way he will never forget. It was then that I beat him with the little gas stove; yesterday I beat him with a flatiron. So he did not die right away. And where is the proof that I cut off his leg that day? He was still alive. And I beat Andryusha to death only because I was carried away by my momentum. I am not at all responsible for that. Why did Andryusha and Liza Antonovna come in there? Who was forcing them to come in that door?
    I’ve been accused of being bloodthirsty. It’s been said I drank the blood. That is a lie. I only lapped up the puddles and the spots. It’s natural to want to wipe off the traces of even the most innocent transgression. And I did not rape Liza Antonovna. First of all, she wasn’t a virgin any more.
    Secondly I was dealing with a corpse. So the accusation is beside the point. So what if she was about to have a baby! I took the child out of her. And if it wasn’t capable of living, that’s not my fault. I did not tear off its head. It’s the fault of the thin neck. It was simply unfit for life. It’s true I stomped on the dog. But its simply cynical to accuse me of murdering a dog, when right alongside it three human lives had been lost. I’m not counting the baby. Let us say, and I might even agree, that there was certain amount of cruelty on my part. But to try me because I defecated on those victims is, if you pardon me, absurd. Defecation is a natural human need. So how can it be something indecent?
    I do understand certain fears my defense attorney has, but I believe I shall be completely vindicated.

  6. 6.

    NotMax

    December 18, 2018 at 11:01 pm

    One of those portraits has got to be the one he made an initial bid of ten grand on to try to get the price up, and no one else bid on it.

    Linked to the story some time back, too lazy to look it up again.

  7. 7.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 18, 2018 at 11:02 pm

    I’ll just leave this here…

    Chris Cuomo has the Trump Tower Moscow letter of intent with Trump's signature. pic.twitter.com/Xt12u8tRZr

    — Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) December 19, 2018

  8. 8.

    different-church-lady

    December 18, 2018 at 11:03 pm

    [PHOTO OF GENE WILDER AS WILLY WONKA]

    “Now, tell me again about the Clinton Foundation being corrupt?”

  9. 9.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    December 18, 2018 at 11:05 pm

    I won’t hold my breath that this will force Lindsey Graham and Susan Collins to stop pretending they don’t believe their lyin’ eyes, but… drip, drip, drip….

    Josh Marshall @ joshtpm
    Chris Cuomo has the Trump Tower Moscow letter of intent with Trump’s signature.

    Also, too, it sounds like someone leaked on trump.

  10. 10.

    Mart

    December 18, 2018 at 11:05 pm

    @zhena gogolia: WTF?

  11. 11.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 18, 2018 at 11:08 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: See comment 7.

  12. 12.

    different-church-lady

    December 18, 2018 at 11:08 pm

    @zhena gogolia: That dude was Marilyn Manson’s grandfather.

  13. 13.

    Cheryl Rofer

    December 18, 2018 at 11:09 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Looks like a copy of the letter, but still.

  14. 14.

    zhena gogolia

    December 18, 2018 at 11:09 pm

    @Mart:

    It’s a story from 1941 by one of Russia’s greatest writers, that I think suits our present-day situation.

  15. 15.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 18, 2018 at 11:10 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Here’s the actual letter:
    http://cdn.cnn.com/cnn/2018/images/12/18/attachment.1.pdf

  16. 16.

    zhena gogolia

    December 18, 2018 at 11:11 pm

    @different-church-lady:

    Oh, yeah, he was seriously strange. But a wonderful writer. I recommend Today I Wrote Nothing, trans. Matvei Yankelevich. I posted the only version I could find on the internet, but the Yankelevich edition is the best.

  17. 17.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 18, 2018 at 11:11 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer: Here’s the link a pdf of the signed letter of intent:
    http://cdn.cnn.com/cnn/2018/images/12/18/attachment.1.pdf

  18. 18.

    Mart

    December 18, 2018 at 11:11 pm

    Got a line or two in and had to stop. I breezed over “violent story” description. Maybe a better trigger warning for this old snowflake.

  19. 19.

    Bess

    December 18, 2018 at 11:12 pm

    Perhaps it’s time for a go fund me to raise money and purchase the Trump portraits.

    Sell the opportunity to pee on them for $1 per pee and make a fortune to support unfortunate kitties and puppies.

  20. 20.

    zhena gogolia

    December 18, 2018 at 11:12 pm

    @Mart:

    Oh, I’m sorry!

  21. 21.

    NotMax

    December 18, 2018 at 11:13 pm

    @zhena gogolia

    If Ambrose Bierce had been raised Russian…

    ;)

  22. 22.

    zhena gogolia

    December 18, 2018 at 11:14 pm

    @NotMax:

    Should I ask to have it removed? I thought it was so absurd that it’s just funny, but I guess it’s upsetting people.

  23. 23.

    SFAW

    December 18, 2018 at 11:14 pm

    @different-church-lady:

    “Now, tell me again about the Clinton Foundation being corrupt?”

    Well, of course, silly.

    Selling access to … umm … Bill Clinton? (or perhaps Harold Stassen) is SO much more corrupt than using a “non-profit” as one’s personal piggy bank.

    What I’m trying to figure out is how Fuckhead pocketed the 40-plus thousand $$$ that he “paid” for the portraits. I doubt the “artist” got more than $500, so was there a middleman involved? Probably, I’m a-guessing.

    In a just/sane world, these revelations would shove Fuckhead’s approval below 25 percent. But in certain parts of America, I’m guessing his approval has probably bumped up.

  24. 24.

    zhena gogolia

    December 18, 2018 at 11:15 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    I didn’t mean to trigger people. Should you remove it?

    I guess I read worse than that on here every day . . . . And most of it is nonfiction!

  25. 25.

    NotMax

    December 18, 2018 at 11:15 pm

    @zhena gogolia

    I’ve got no prob with it being there. At all.

  26. 26.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 18, 2018 at 11:15 pm

    @zhena gogolia: I can remove it if you like.

  27. 27.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 18, 2018 at 11:16 pm

    @zhena gogolia: Well we did ask that commenter to dial it back.

  28. 28.

    Mart

    December 18, 2018 at 11:16 pm

    @zhena gogolia: It’s alright. I remember my family making fun of me when I bolted out of the TV room when the flying monkey’s attacked in Wizard of Oz. Never recovered!

  29. 29.

    zhena gogolia

    December 18, 2018 at 11:18 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Okay.

  30. 30.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 18, 2018 at 11:19 pm

    @SFAW: He pocketed the money, or made money if you will, because he gave no money to his own charity. It was all collected from other people and/or other people’s charitable foundations. So when the money sat in the charity’s account, he made interest off of it. And, because he did actually use his money to fund the charity, the charities money that he did use to pay for the two portraits and Tebow’s helmet, were someone else’s. And, I suspect, he then wrote the purchases off his taxes as a charitable deduction.

  31. 31.

    different-church-lady

    December 18, 2018 at 11:19 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    I thought it was so absurd that it’s just funny…

    There was a time before the current one in which that would have still been so.

  32. 32.

    Platonailedit

    December 18, 2018 at 11:19 pm

    Fahrenthold in particular must be feeling vindicated and happy. He has been chronicling the traitor thug’s corruption for a long time.

  33. 33.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 18, 2018 at 11:20 pm

    @Mart: When I was a kid, I used to puke when August Gloop would go up the chocolate shoot in Willy Wonka. It just did something really weird to me. Same thing with the flying monkeys in Wizard of Oz. Eventually I grew out of it.

  34. 34.

    NotMax

    December 18, 2018 at 11:20 pm

    @Mart

    Found it confusing when a kidlet that they were dressed as art deco bellhops.

  35. 35.

    Villago Delenda Est

    December 18, 2018 at 11:22 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: My experiences in the world of telecom taught me that the well to do are the most cheap people in the world. They expect discounts because they have money.

  36. 36.

    zhena gogolia

    December 18, 2018 at 11:22 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    It’s still there — I guess you want me to keep torturing people.

  37. 37.

    Yarrow

    December 18, 2018 at 11:22 pm

    It really is all crashing down around him, isn’t it? He’s running around trying to prop up this piece while ten other pieces fall down. It’s not going to work, Donald.

  38. 38.

    different-church-lady

    December 18, 2018 at 11:24 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    When I was a kid
    I used to puke
    when August Gloop
    would go up
    the chocolate chute

    Poetry. Composition. Self-awareness. All that all that.

  39. 39.

    Another Scott

    December 18, 2018 at 11:24 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: “Old news. Fake news. I told everyone in 2016 that I had no business in Russia. I never said that I didn’t try everything in my power to get business in Russia. The bastards never let me – they kept stringing me on, telling me they were thinking about it but just needed a little more help and evidence of my good intentions! That’s why I was so nice to Putin and all of his oligarchs!! That’s why we sold them so many overpriced condos!!11 It’s just business!!1! I was working on the greatest deal in history!!!111ONE!! …”

    Just wait.

    :-/

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  40. 40.

    NotMax

    December 18, 2018 at 11:24 pm

    @Adam L. Silverman

    A little something for next Halloween (or any other occasion which might be apropos).

    ;)

  41. 41.

    K488

    December 18, 2018 at 11:26 pm

    @NotMax: I remember wondering that as well, until I realized that depictions of monkeys (usually associated with organ grinders) were often wearing such little uniforms. So, I think the film was picking up on something preexisting.

  42. 42.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 18, 2018 at 11:26 pm

    @NotMax: During the off season, the Wicked Witch was running a B&B out of her castle that was a favorite of the Winkies.

  43. 43.

    Another Scott

    December 18, 2018 at 11:26 pm

    @zhena gogolia: Sometimes art – even disturbing art – is the best way to explain reality.

    I think it should stay, myself.

    Thanks.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  44. 44.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 18, 2018 at 11:27 pm

    @zhena gogolia: I haven’t removed it because I wasn’t clear on whether you want me to, in fact, take it down.

  45. 45.

    zhena gogolia

    December 18, 2018 at 11:28 pm

    @Another Scott:

    Kharms himself had a difficult life and died of starvation in prison during the Siege of Leningrad, so he wasn’t just going for cheap laughs.

  46. 46.

    Mart

    December 18, 2018 at 11:28 pm

    @NotMax: Instead of the guards singing “All we owe, we owe to her”, I heard “Oreo, Nabisco”. Now, realizing the true horror of those fucking monkey uniforms, I will have to leave the lights on to get to sleep.

  47. 47.

    different-church-lady

    December 18, 2018 at 11:28 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Leave the first couple of lines and then link to the rest somewhere.

  48. 48.

    SFAW

    December 18, 2018 at 11:28 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Yeah, my (attempted) point was that he was triple- or quadruple-dipping: not only did he use Foundation money to pay for the portraits, but most of the $42K ended up (as cash) right back in his own pocket, as opposed to being paid to the “artist” who drew the portraits. Not sure what the actual mechanism would be — I am/was an engineer, not a bean-counter or a forensic accountant — but I would be surprised if he actually parted with that much of “his” money.

    Maybe you’re saying the same thing, but it looked like you were talking about all the “standard” grifts.

  49. 49.

    zhena gogolia

    December 18, 2018 at 11:30 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    I said “okay,” but maybe that wasn’t clear enough. But now another commenter said they think it should stay. What do you think?

    I realize this is getting ridiculous. I was just inspired by Giuliani’s constant reinterpretation of what is and isn’t a crime.

    OKAY REMOVE IT

  50. 50.

    SFAW

    December 18, 2018 at 11:32 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    During the off season, the Wicked Witch was running a B&B out of her castle that was a favorite of the Winkies.

    Trying to figure out how I can work “Winkie Defense” into the conservation, but it ain’t coming. Damn.

  51. 51.

    Yarrow

    December 18, 2018 at 11:34 pm

    According to the NYT, although Facebook was supposed to stop this type of access by 2014:

    As of 2017, Sony, Microsoft, Amazon and others could obtain users’ email addresses through their friends.

    Facebook also allowed Spotify, Netflix and the Royal Bank of Canada to read, write and delete users’ private messages, and to see all participants on a thread — privileges that appeared to go beyond what the companies needed to integrate Facebook into their systems, the records show.

    TreasonBook:

    Facebook even recategorized one company, the Russian search giant Yandex, as an integration partner.

    Facebook records show Yandex had access in 2017 to Facebook’s unique user IDs even after the social network stopped sharing them with other applications, citing privacy risks.

    Taking Russian money, partnering with Russian search company and allowing them significant access. Totally not undermining our security.

  52. 52.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 18, 2018 at 11:34 pm

    @zhena gogolia: I’m just going to start posting youtube embeds of horrific violence. In comparison to that, your story excerpt will be fine.//

    I think it is perfectly fine to leave it up. Mart himself said he was okay with it staying up.

  53. 53.

    Another Scott

    December 18, 2018 at 11:35 pm

    @Mart: I thought it was:

    “Oreo!

    Or Ooo Rump!!”

    It never made any sense to me. ;-)

    Thanks!

    (BTW, Project Gutenberg has the original book online.)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  54. 54.

    NotMax

    December 18, 2018 at 11:36 pm

    @K488

    Yeah, the organ grinders’ monkeys were trained to hold out the little hat for coins.

    Sadly, there was a dearth of organ grinders in the neighborhood in which I was a wee one, so had no experience of that at the time.

    @Adam L. Silverman

    With plans to franchise throughout Oz as Worst Western hotels.

  55. 55.

    Yarrow

    December 18, 2018 at 11:36 pm

    @zhena gogolia: Just leave it up. You explain what it is. People can skip right over it. It’s not nearly as horrible as encountering Trump’s ugly mug in the middle of the comments when some frontpager embeds a tweet with a picture or still video of him.

  56. 56.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)

    December 18, 2018 at 11:37 pm

    Fahrenthold tonight on Lawrence O’Donnell said nobody knows even now, almost three years later, where all the money Donald Tяump raised the night he skipped one of the Republican debates to hold a fundraiser for disabled veterans went. The guy just cannot help himself. If it’s money, he has to take it. It’s a disease.

  57. 57.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 18, 2018 at 11:37 pm

    @SFAW: Check and mate.

  58. 58.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 18, 2018 at 11:38 pm

    @NotMax: We won’t leave the light on for you.

  59. 59.

    Aleta

    December 18, 2018 at 11:38 pm

    @Mart: Hey it was much too dangerous to be in the same room with those homicidal flying monkeys.

  60. 60.

    SFAW

    December 18, 2018 at 11:39 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    I was just inspired by Giuliani’s constant reinterpretation of what is and isn’t a crime.

    I don’t know. I think the narrator has the same sociopathic/psychopathic personality of Shitgibbon, but with the “technique” Rudy learned at his Daddy’s knee. [Shitgibbon is too fucking cowardly and weak to do any of the stuff the narrator did.]

  61. 61.

    Platonailedit

    December 18, 2018 at 11:39 pm

    Reminder: Flynn chanted “lock her up” at the RNC, said “If I did a tenth, a tenth of what she did, I would be in jail.” pic.twitter.com/zsSscAHgMl— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) December 19, 2018

    assholes video warning

  62. 62.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 18, 2018 at 11:40 pm

    @Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.): Mueller knows.

  63. 63.

    SFAW

    December 18, 2018 at 11:41 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Check and mate.

    You forgot the “libtard!”

  64. 64.

    Mart

    December 18, 2018 at 11:41 pm

    Just another one of the thousand little things – Trump Winery petitions for 6 more foreign workers on top of the 23 they asked for last January. Because of course they did.

  65. 65.

    Platonailedit

    December 18, 2018 at 11:42 pm

    Giuliani told @DanaBashCNN two days ago that for Trump Tower Moscow, "there was a letter of intent to go forward, but no one signed it." False. Don Jr. already told Congress his dad signed the deal. And today, @ChrisCuomo obtained the signed letter itself. https://t.co/YY2dcBMIgH pic.twitter.com/hScKgXAQ86— Marshall Cohen (@MarshallCohen) December 19, 2018

  66. 66.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 18, 2018 at 11:46 pm

    @SFAW: I’m Jewish. I’m not Ben Shapiro. You know how you can tell? 1) I’ve actually gone through puberty, 2) I actually have lean muscle mass, 3) I’m not a self righteous, disingenuous, smug douche.

  67. 67.

    FlipYrWhig

    December 18, 2018 at 11:49 pm

    @Mart:

    Instead of the guards singing “All we owe, we owe to her”

    What??? They’re saying words??? All I have ever heard was something like “Oh-ee-oh, ee-yo-oh!”

  68. 68.

    Mike in NC

    December 18, 2018 at 11:50 pm

    If there are about 17 separate investigations of the Trump properties in progress, can we hope for consecutive sentences as the verdicts come in?

  69. 69.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 18, 2018 at 11:50 pm

    @FlipYrWhig:

    All I have ever heard was something like “Oh-ee-oh, ee-yo-oh!”

    Ho Chi Minh.

  70. 70.

    Yarrow

    December 18, 2018 at 11:52 pm

    @Mike in NC: Yep! Both federal and state charges. And don’t forget the Traitor Tots. They’re in it up to their eyeballs. Treason Barbie is the worst.

  71. 71.

    Duane

    December 18, 2018 at 11:52 pm

    @Another Scott: It isn’t ” Oh we love the old one?” If not I’ve been wrong a long time. Again.

  72. 72.

    B.B.A.

    December 18, 2018 at 11:53 pm

    Crack legal theory: “But corporations are people, and New York has abolished the death penalty!”

    Um, I meant to say, that’s a legal theory on crack.

  73. 73.

    Mary G

    December 18, 2018 at 11:53 pm

    @Platonailedit: I still chortle at Fahrenthold’s crowd strategy of having his readers go out and look for the portraits and the Tebow helmet, sort of a “Where’s Waldo” of charity scams. I think a reader did track down a portrait at Trump Doral for him.

    I am also heartened that the new NY AG, Barbara Underwood, says that this isn’t a settlement – she still wants to fine him $2.8 million. Kay is right that these kinds of crimes often go completely unpunished, or if they are punished it’s a slap on the wrist. I am sure the government could bring in quite a bit of money by doing more of this.

  74. 74.

    Luthe

    December 18, 2018 at 11:53 pm

    @Another Scott: In Putin country, Russia have business in in you! /Yakov Smirnoff

  75. 75.

    Miss Bianca

    December 18, 2018 at 11:55 pm

    @Mart: is that what they are actually saying? I had no idea! I thought it was just a wordless chant.

  76. 76.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    December 18, 2018 at 11:55 pm

    @Yarrow:
    Tick and tock

  77. 77.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    December 18, 2018 at 11:57 pm

    @SFAW:

    You forgot the “libtard!”

    Ahem. It’s “libturd“, heretic.

  78. 78.

    Mart

    December 18, 2018 at 11:58 pm

    @FlipYrWhig: The Oz monkey words changed about 20 years ago. It changed my life. So glad I am not the only one.

    I am such a movie wimp, when the Alien popped out that guys gut I bolted for the popcorn. After ten minutes I started back down the aisle, but had to turn back. Finally made it back to my seat (with no popcorn) and my fear of the movie was eased by my wife and two teenage girls laughing at me, and shouting that I was a wuss, but much much worse verbiage. I had it coming.

  79. 79.

    Ken

    December 19, 2018 at 12:00 am

    @Duane: I always thought it was “There’s a bathroom on the right.”

  80. 80.

    dww44

    December 19, 2018 at 12:04 am

    Thanks to today’s 2 big Trump stories there were lots of replays of Trump and others talking about “Clinton lied to the FBI several times” and” the Clinton Foundation is under investigation”. I get so tired and frustrated of hearing the unchallenged false equivalencies between Trump’s misdeeds versus the Clinton’s.

    I’d like to see someone push back, or better yet, make the rounds of cable news and directly refute that HRC lied repeatedly to the FBI and the Clinton Foundation committed these inferred egregious acts. Heck, I’d like to know the answers to these questions myself.

  81. 81.

    Duane

    December 19, 2018 at 12:04 am

    @Platonailedit: The judge in Flynn’s case should remind him of that fascist lock her up crap, then give Flynn a taste of it.

  82. 82.

    Ken

    December 19, 2018 at 12:04 am

    There are some very serious tax implications here as well

    Does he mean that if it’s determined that the Trump Foundation was not a charity, all those donations to it suddenly become taxable income?

  83. 83.

    Chetan Murthy

    December 19, 2018 at 12:10 am

    @Mart: Dude, you’re not alone. I watched Aliens (II) without trepidation. But when it came to Alien III (the one on the prison colony), and early in the movie Ripley’s right there and the xenomorph is about to get her with jaws-within-the-jaws, only to back off [not gonna give spoilers] , I had to bolt for the lobby, b/c geez, I really identified with her and it was too stressful.

  84. 84.

    SFAW

    December 19, 2018 at 12:11 am

    @Adam L Silverman:

    I’m Jewish.

    Yeah, I’m stunned to read that. But I am not sure how you get there from “libtard.” [I assume the Ben Shapiro comment is relevant, but I don’t necessarily associate the use of “libtard” with him.]

  85. 85.

    smike

    December 19, 2018 at 12:12 am

    @SFAW:
    There was most certainly a ‘middleman’ involved – Ivanka.

  86. 86.

    Emma

    December 19, 2018 at 12:12 am

    @Mart: My best friend had just found out she was pregnant when we saw that movie — I mean, literally. That morning. When the thing popped out she grabbed my arm and towed me out to the bathroom, making heaving noises all the way. I couldn’t laugh, because she would have belted me one, so I nearly sprained a rib holding the cackles in.

  87. 87.

    SFAW

    December 19, 2018 at 12:14 am

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??:

    Ahem. It’s “libturd“, heretic.

    Only to you, youngster. The adults know I’m right, however.

    And that’s “MISTER Heretic” to you, bub.

  88. 88.

    Adam L Silverman

    December 19, 2018 at 12:16 am

    @SFAW: I believe he likes to use it with his facts don’t care about your feelings schtick.

  89. 89.

    SFAW

    December 19, 2018 at 12:18 am

    @Adam L Silverman:

    OK.

    I stopped reading him, oh, about … wait a minute — I never STARTED reading the Virgin Ben.

    ETA: Although with so many people saying “Fuck you” to him (or “Fuck HIM” about him), one woulda thought he wouldn’t have retained his virginity for so long.

  90. 90.

    Anne Laurie

    December 19, 2018 at 12:21 am

    @K488:

    I remember wondering that as well, until I realized that depictions of monkeys (usually associated with organ grinders) were often wearing such little uniforms. So, I think the film was picking up on something preexisting.

    Bingo! See also: Aladdin’s monkey sidekick in the Disney movie.

    (I may be one of the last Americans alive to have seen an actual working organ grinder monkey perform. Some kind of Greenwich-Village performance art sideshow, when I was very young — around 1960 or so. He seemed more into the gig than the musician on the other end of his chain, but then, what does a preschooler know about the dignity of work?)

  91. 91.

    different-church-lady

    December 19, 2018 at 12:21 am

    I had no trouble with Alien. But when the ear-cutting scene started up in “All The Money In The World” I ‘decided’ it was a very good time to check out the cinema’s rest rooms.

  92. 92.

    Burnspbesq

    December 19, 2018 at 12:23 am

    Can’t wait to see what the IRS tax-exempt organization exam group does to the Trump Foundation. At a minimum, it should lose its exemption, and have to pay taxes, interest, and penalties. It also seems likely that there are prohibited acts of self-dealing that haven’t been corrected. The excise tax could be more than the income tax.

  93. 93.

    SFAW

    December 19, 2018 at 12:27 am

    @Burnspbesq:

    Can’t wait to see what the IRS tax-exempt organization exam group does to the Trump Foundation.

    Maybe I’m jaded, but since the Lois Lerner bullshit, I am not optimistic that the IRS will check into any non-liberal/left-side organization, because of the insane howler monkeys that the RWMFs will unleash.

    [Not to be confused with the Winkies, of course.]

    ETA: I mean, I hope you’re right, but this corrupt regime has dismantled a lot of stuff, so …

  94. 94.

    Schlemazel

    December 19, 2018 at 12:27 am

    @randy khan: I have seen the paintings and I doubt even a true blew MAGAt would give you$50 for either.

  95. 95.

    Schlemazel

    December 19, 2018 at 12:30 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:
    The line of people who want to leak on him is very long

  96. 96.

    Anne Laurie

    December 19, 2018 at 12:31 am

    @Emma: When Alien was still fresh and surprising, some of my college friends decided it would be a good idea to reenact the ‘birth’ scene in their dorm’s dining hall. During dinner, of course. Only *some* of the witnesses knew what they were witnessing…

    I’m still in touch with the guy who played the John Hurt character, and now he’s a very successful tech-hi finance businessman. Which probably follows a predictable character arc…

  97. 97.

    oldgold

    December 19, 2018 at 12:32 am

    Flynn’s attorneys have been universally criticized for their role in today’s sentencing debacle. Criticism they richly deserve.

    Very little has been said about the prosecutors. In my opinion their performance was less than above reproach.
    They seemed to lack clarity of purpose and appeared not to be paying appropriate attention to timing.

  98. 98.

    lgerard

    December 19, 2018 at 12:33 am

    The most interesting aspect of the foundations crookedness has not really been brought to light yet. The disbursement of charitable contributions at campaign events being directed by the campaign.

    I am looking forward to Allen Weisselberg’s explanation how he, the treasurer, took direction from Corey Lewandowski, who has no role in the foundation. Should be interesting.

  99. 99.

    Uncle Jeffy

    December 19, 2018 at 12:33 am

    @Bess: From Robocop:

    “I’d buy that for a dollar!”

  100. 100.

    Kelly

    December 19, 2018 at 12:40 am

    @Mart: My brother and I went to Alien together. He’d been chatting up a couple ladies our age sitting next to us before the show started. He maintains to this day we’d of had drinks with them if only I hadn’t screamed when the chest burster popped out.

  101. 101.

    Schlemazel

    December 19, 2018 at 12:42 am

    @oldgold:
    Honesty I think they were not expecting what happened. An easy day, we go in the judge asks if he still wants to plead Flynn says yes judge gives him 0 to 6 months and I have the rest of the day free.

    So, yeah, unprepared.

  102. 102.

    Platonailedit

    December 19, 2018 at 12:42 am

    On the same day:

    Sarah Sanders: “President is using all of his efforts to fulfill his constitutional mandate to protect the American people.”

    NY AG: “Trump and his family criminally used the assets gifted to the Trump Foundation like their own piggy bank”.

    — Rogue Ivanka Trump (@MarALagoPoolBoy) December 18, 2018

  103. 103.

    Platonailedit

    December 19, 2018 at 12:43 am

    Finally someone mentioned TREASON!!
    Doesn’t bode well for @realDonaldTrump who did a lot worse than Flynn. Thanks to Judge Sullivan for saying what Americans feel

    — Olga Lautman (@olgaNYC1211) December 18, 2018

  104. 104.

    Emma

    December 19, 2018 at 12:45 am

    @Anne Laurie: Now that would have had me screaming my head off. And then punching the closest actor in the goolies.

  105. 105.

    Platonailedit

    December 19, 2018 at 12:46 am

    Hackers successfully targeted the European Union’s diplomatic communications over a period of several years, The New York Times reports.

    Thousands of messages were intercepted in which diplomats referenced a range of subjects from US President Donald Trump to global trade.

    The breach was reportedly discovered by the cyber-security company Area 1.

    European officials say that information marked as confidential and secret was not affected by the three-year hack.

    One expert told the New York Times that the methods used by the hackers were similar to those previously used by the Chinese military.

    “After over a decade of experience countering Chinese cyber-operations… there is no doubt this campaign is connected to the Chinese government,” he said.

    The intercepted messages, known as diplomatic cables, reveal one exchange in which diplomats describe July’s meeting between Mr Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin as “successful (at least for Putin)”.

  106. 106.

    Mandalay

    December 19, 2018 at 12:58 am

    A RWNJ has set up a gofundme account for donations to be used solely for building Trump’s wall. So far it has raised $371,944 in two days, with a target of one billion dollars.

    The person who started the fund claims:

    I’m not a “conservative.” I’m not a “liberal.” I’m an American, with deep beliefs in what our country stands for. I proved this by vowing to protect and fighting for America’s greatest tenet: free speech.

    The snag is that the same RWNJ has created another gofundme grift going for himself because Facebook closed his accounts for being a RWNJ.

    I’m no fan of Facebook myself, but they did have this to say about the grifter:

    A Facebook spokesperson provided the following statement to Breitbart News: “Facebook has been in touch with Mr. Kolfage repeatedly and provided him a warning months ago that if he continued to engage in behavior that violated our policies that we would take action on his account, which is what we did last Thursday. ”

    RWNJ is now crying that his free speech rights have been violated.

    p.s. If the grifter raises a billion dollars for the wall, gofundme’s commission will be $29 million.

  107. 107.

    NotMax

    December 19, 2018 at 1:01 am

    @Platonailedit

    Constitutional mandate?

    I defy SHS to point out anywhere in the Constitution’s description of the office of President any mention of or allusion to “protecting the American people.” The oath of office does mention protection – of the Constitution.

  108. 108.

    James E Powell

    December 19, 2018 at 1:04 am

    My sisters ran and hid when the flying monkeys appeared, but I thought they were wicked cool. I wanted a couple for my own.

  109. 109.

    Anne Laurie

    December 19, 2018 at 1:08 am

    @Emma:

    Now that would have had me screaming my head off. And then punching the closest actor in the goolies.

    Since that was notoriously a ‘jock dorm’ (apart from the insurgent cell of Tolkienerds / D&Ders), I was sincerely surprised none of the participants ended up beaten in a dumpster. Although, IIRC, they *were* banned from the dining hall for some time — not a small punishment for dead-broke college students…

    P.S. I lived in a different dorm, so I didn’t actually witness the incident. Blessed!

  110. 110.

    Platonailedit

    December 19, 2018 at 1:13 am

    @NotMax:
    It’s all gish gallop word salad from this totus thug admin and his minions.

  111. 111.

    ruemara

    December 19, 2018 at 1:19 am

    @zhena gogolia: Well. That was disturbing. And since I’ve been listening to the Serial Killers podcast, it’s also very correct regarding their mindset.

  112. 112.

    Yarrow

    December 19, 2018 at 1:22 am

    @Mandalay: I wonder if GoFundMe has any policies about pages that are political in nature. Also wondering if they screen for interference by foreign governments.

    Seems like this sort of page would be ripe for a foreign government to use to stir up trouble in the US. Like convince someone to set up a page, dump a bunch of foreign money into it, and, in this case, Trump gets to say, “See! The American people want the wall! They funded it themselves.” Chaos ensues.

  113. 113.

    NobodySpecial

    December 19, 2018 at 1:23 am

    I wonder how much of Judge Sullivan’s ire was directed towards the right wing punditry assuming he’d toss the case? Judges don’t like to be perceived as easy marks.

  114. 114.

    Dr. Ronnie James, D.O.

    December 19, 2018 at 1:30 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: “what a cheap fuck.”

    Decades ago, Spy magazine sent checks for some comically small amount (IIRC $1.07) from a fake business to various notorious New Yorkers to see who’d actually cash them.

    Donald Trump and Woody Allen cashed theirs; Christopher Reeve showed up at their office, and said “nice try, guys.”

  115. 115.

    Aleta

    December 19, 2018 at 1:34 am

    Today Ivanka worked harder than she ever has, tweeting 4-5 times about crim justice reform, and on top of that, a silhouette of Jared holding a phone to his ear. Big win for women who work!

  116. 116.

    WaterGirl

    December 19, 2018 at 1:35 am

    @Yarrow: My blood is boiling after reading that.

  117. 117.

    Yarrow

    December 19, 2018 at 1:41 am

    @WaterGirl: They are not to be trusted. It’s worse than just selling users’ data and so forth. They took Russian money and actively worked to undermine our democracy. They are traitors.

  118. 118.

    WaterGirl

    December 19, 2018 at 1:41 am

    @Aleta: Thanks for the laugh! Heading to bed with a smile on my face.

  119. 119.

    sigyn

    December 19, 2018 at 1:50 am

    @zhena gogolia: It’s fine. It’s art. Sometimes art is pretty stuff; sometimes it isn’t. I read a short story by Kathe Koja decades ago that was a two page punch in the gut. The final sentence still runs through my mind once in a while…

    I think it should stay.

  120. 120.

    sm*t cl*de

    December 19, 2018 at 1:56 am

    @zhena gogolia:
    There is also a very similarly-themed Oglaf.
    https://www.oglaf.com/insummary/

  121. 121.

    prostratedragon

    December 19, 2018 at 3:01 am

    The flying monkeys in the aisles at the Goodman nearly sent me packing when I was about 9. I had an aisle seat, and one of them got right in my face for a moment!

    Something snapped somewhere in the long interregnum though, and I must admit that “Vindication” got a horror belly laugh out of me. Especially when I checked the title again after having read it.

  122. 122.

    Mel

    December 19, 2018 at 3:39 am

    @Mart: The flying monkeys were right up there with clowns of any variety in my childhood hall of horrors.

  123. 123.

    Mel

    December 19, 2018 at 3:41 am

    @Aleta: Clearly, today was a “leaning in” day for her…

  124. 124.

    sphex

    December 19, 2018 at 5:33 am

    @sigyn: If you remember the title of the piece, I’d love to read it.

    and @zhena gogolia, I agree it should stay!

  125. 125.

    JR

    December 19, 2018 at 6:09 am

    @different-church-lady: The Dekalog has the most brutal depiction of murder that I have ever seen. Not easily forgotten.

  126. 126.

    Tarragon

    December 19, 2018 at 7:41 am

    @Mart: OMG. I’ve never realized they were chanting words. I’ve always just heard it as noises.

  127. 127.

    BretH

    December 19, 2018 at 8:05 am

    Of course, if you get your news from Fox you would have no knowledge of the Trump Foundation because there simply isn’t any mention of it there.

  128. 128.

    zhena gogolia

    December 19, 2018 at 8:22 am

    @Yarrow:

    The weird thing is that when it’s in context in a book of Kharms’s strange tales, it doesn’t come across as realism! But there’s a psychological truth to it that I keep feeling as I hear what Giuliani (and all Trumpanzees) have been saying about these crimes.

  129. 129.

    Ken

    December 19, 2018 at 8:31 am

    @Aleta:

    a silhouette of Jared holding a phone to his ear

    All I can think of are those TV shows where someone in a witness protection program is anonymously testifying about the capo’s crimes. I take it that wasn’t her intent?

  130. 130.

    J R in WV

    December 19, 2018 at 11:56 am

    @Schlemazel:

    Regarding the “paintings” – I think all that paint has permanently ruined that nice canvas for any profitable uses. A Real Shame!!

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