President Trump said Monday he was likely to hold next year’s Group of Seven summit at his struggling Doral resort, meaning he would personally profit from one of the world’s most prestigious gatherings of foreign leaders. w/@Fahrenthold: https://t.co/mjvTO1rLNK
— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) August 26, 2019
… That decision would be an unprecedented use of American power to create private revenue for the American president. If Trump does choose Doral, he would be directing six world leaders, hundreds of hangers-on and massive amounts of money to a resort he owns personally — and which, according to his company’s representatives, has been “severely underperforming.”
Trump spoke from Biarritz, the French resort town that hosted this year’s G-7 meeting. It was typical of other recent summit sites: Luxe but secluded, pretty enough for photo shoots, and sufficiently isolated to be sealed off for security. The past two meetings hosted by the United States have been held at Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland, and on a resort island in Georgia.
But Trump said his advisers have searched the nation and decided the most suitable spot for the 2020 summit is something different: A golf club set among drab office parks near the Miami airport.
It just happened to be his golf club, Trump said.
“They went to places all over the country, and they came back and they said, ‘This is where we’d like to be,’ ” Trump said. “It’s not about me. It’s about getting the right location.” He praised the club’s ample parking — as if world leaders generally lost time at summits while circling the parking lot…
Actually, the Russians and Chinese probably have it wired too https://t.co/wbW0DJI58A
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) August 26, 2019
This is the official account for the White House promoting Trump’s private resort in Miami as location for next G7. Your tax dollars at work… for Trump. https://t.co/sJlie0dxLR
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) August 27, 2019
This rant about how much it has cost him to be president is epic. Instead of reassuring the American people that he will not profit from the presidency, he’s making a case for why he deserves to wet his beak a little bit on next year’s G7.
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) August 26, 2019
I’ve stayed at the Doral. It’s a glorified Ramada with a nice golf course. https://t.co/jyLiEDh6ac
— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) August 26, 2019
"Trump personally enriching himself while hobnobbing with globalist elites isn’t exactly what those 'forgotten men and women' … voted for, is it?"
—@ThePlumLineGS on POTUS using the G7 to promote his Doral resort. https://t.co/LJVja84Lbv— Will Saletan (@saletan) August 26, 2019
Can't wait to see how much he charges the GSA for work to bring it up to standards required for such an event. https://t.co/zSZMckrXwm
— Schooley (@Rschooley) August 26, 2019
Trump, asked about inviting Russia back into the G8 ahead of the 2020 election, says he doesn’t think about the political aspect: “I think I’m winning based on polls.”
— Miriam Elder (@MiriamElder) August 26, 2019
Remember when the President said that he’d happily accept foreign interference on behalf of his re-election campaign and would only tell the FBI if the information turned out to be wrong? That was two months ago.
— Seth Masket (@smotus) August 27, 2019
A Ghost To Most
So, what is the diplomatic protocol for declining provided accomodations due to infestation?
Kay
When we look back and ask what happened to our treasured “norms” and “institutions” ELITES deserve a heaping helping of blame. They suck. Our elites are low quality, self-interested grifters who refuse to accept a real meritocracy and instead get special favors for their own children and friends, which may have created the situation where….our elites are low quality, self-interested grifters.
The norms and institutions were WEAK. That’s how this reality tv show moron was able to tip them over with one finger.
Trump voters are only half the problem. This was partly an inside job. We need better people to run our institutions.
It’s all so fucking PETTY. It’s never even a big conspiracy. It’s always some shitty, sleazy individual looking for a nepotism hire or a payday.
Jerzy Russian
Green Balloons! That is still the safe word, isn’t it? We still are using safe words, aren’t we?
Kay
The Trump property was losing money so the payday lending industry helped him out and put their convention there.
Just perfect. A full circle of corruption and sleaze, plus…bedbugs! Enjoy your stay, fellas.
JGabriel
I think all the G7 members should boycott the next meeting if Trump insists on holding it at the Doral. Or, they could organize an alternate summit to attend. Or, if nothing else is feasible, they should all stay at the Doral’s local competitors, and only come to the Doral for meetings – bringing their own lunches or leaving the premises for meals, and taking every step possible to avoid spending any money at Trump’s properties.
Kay
I would think this might run afoul of some other countries corruption rules, ya know, countries that are functioning and actually enforce laws. Countries with institutions that haven’t collapsed under the awesome and mighty stress brought on by a sleazy real estate developer and his horrible adult children. Why were our institutions so weak that they didn’t hold? What are they FOR if not to protect against this? Why do we have them? They’re useless.
Hoodie
I think they should check out the Monster Mini Golf. It’s not quite as close to MIA, but has laser tag and a Starbucks and McD’s across the street. There are also some massage parlors nearby to allow his guests to relax.
SFAW
“Stealing taxpayer dollars to enrich myself and my family means I’m smart! And a great businessman!”
to be followed by the inevitable
“Libtards are just jealous/deranged that the world’s most successful businessman is ‘eating their lunch,’ those snowflakes.”
to be followed by
“We need to buy Greenland, especially if any revenue goes directly into the bank account of the King of Israel.” (as a distraction from bedbugs).
Chyron HR
I’m pretty sure next year’s G6 summit will be hosted by one of the member countries, Don-Don.
Baud
@Kay:
I’ve always felt that my high quality is what has kept me out of elite circles.
Daoud bin Daoud
I hope the G6-of-7 send only interns to their next meeting – IF it’s held at a Trump property.
JGabriel
@Kay:
My guess would be because Republicans have been weakening our institutions and norms for the past 5-6 decades.
Jerzy Russian
@JGabriel:
And miss out on iceberg lettuce bowls and bags of chips?
Spanky
@Kay: That’s a very good point. I’m so old that I remember when the US had very specific rules to avoid corruption while in foreign countries.
Kay
My son and his wife live in Denmark. At the time President Trump was insulting the whole country, Denmark had a corruption scandal. The scandal revolved around an incident where a lawmaker used public funds to take a detour on a “state business” trip, thereby using public funds for her own enrichment. We could have higher standards for these people. We don’t have to accept such low quality, sleazy hires and behavior. We could RAISE THE BAR on hiring and firing. There’s no rule that says the US has to have the absolute bottom of the barrel as far as employees.
Baud
@JGabriel:
Also weakening our electorate through propaganda.
Kay
@Spanky:
I want rules and laws enforced. What do they lack? Investigators? Prosecutors? HIRE SOME.
This ridiculous idea that this can just get more and more corrupt every year without us PAYING for this is a fairy tale. It shows. The sleaze shows. “An institution” is made up of individuals. If they’re low quality, IT is low quality. It has to be. If you make lemonade and replace the lemons with crabapples the thing itself is worse. That isn’t changed by simply insisting it’s lemonade, because that’s what it’s always been. It’s a new (and worse) thing.
All of this moaning about “our institutions” never seems to reach the individuals who make up the institutions. They’re low quality people, hence low quality, weak and corrupt institutions. It can’t be any other way.
K488
I’d make a Bret Stephens joke here, but he might contact my provost.
rikyrah
Absolutely ridiculous!
????
Sana Saeed (@SanaSaeed) Tweeted:
An incoming Harvard freshman, a 17 year old Palestinian boy, had his visa cancelled & was deported because US officials searched his phone/laptop & said his friends had social media posts that were critical of the US.
Yup.
https://t.co/FUGZNtE132
https://twitter.com/SanaSaeed/status/1166326940292268033?s=17
rikyrah
We wouldn’t have even thought of this during 44’s Administration.
I absolutely agree with this. WHO is making money from his actions???
Andrew Gillum (@AndrewGillum) Tweeted:
Somebody is making money from @realDonaldTrump tweeting the markets into panic. We should find out.
#FollowTheMoney https://t.co/pZ5XuB2lVW https://twitter.com/AndrewGillum/status/1166100046183636992?s=17
rikyrah
Yes???
Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) Tweeted:
One underutilized word in today’s political convo is “corruption.” It’s the hosting of international events at Trump properties, the tax giveaway, the healthcare lawsuit. It’s how they change the rules to help Wall Street, polluters, PHRMA. Say it with me. Corruption. https://twitter.com/brianschatz/status/1166098059073179648?s=17
Spanky
@Kay: The man at the top is the low quality hire. He’s put his own lackeys in as the heads of institutions specifically to insure that those institutions don’t do their jobs. The one exception to this – and it’s a critical one – is Moscow Mitch, who was put in by the low-quality voters of one specific Confederate state. He does the same thing with the Senate, but for his own nefarious purposes.
rikyrah
“Hard head makes a soft behind”
– –Ancient African American proverb
These folks have lost their livelihood because they wanted to cling to the Whiteness. Just gotta shake my head in disgust.
rikyrah
@Kay:
Tell the truth, Kay. Tell it.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@JGabriel: That seems right. I’d say aided by Fox, but Fox and the Rs are the same thing.
Baud
@rikyrah:
Disagree. It’s overutilized. People use it to mean anyone with any relationship with a rich person or corporation. That’s how they diluted the term in 2016 to equate Hillary and Trump.
PaulWartenberg
@A Ghost To Most:
“Dear trump: Fuck no. We’re crashing at the Motel 6 three blocks away.”
?BillinGlendaleCA
(Looks at Google Maps…) What a dump! MIA is pretty close, are they going to shut that down while the G-7(or 8) is there?
EthylEster
@JGabriel: Why not jut have a webinar? Theses “leaders” should stay home. What is served by dick fencing before the cameras?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: This is true.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@EthylEster: Yup, do it via Skype.
rikyrah
@EthylEster:
BWA HA HA HA HA AH AHAH A
Anonymous At Work
A comment about Warren’s rise to possible President: She would have served 1 term as head of Consumer Finance Protection Bureau before returning to teaching if Mitch McConnell hadn’t filibustered her appointment.
All the more reason for her to win.
Frankensteinbeck
@Kay:
Only one institution failed: The US Senate, which along with the House is the institution charged with stopping a president from doing this stuff. The Emoluments Clause is not enforceable in the courts, because it has no legal standard or punishment. That’s all up to Congress, and the Republican Senate functions solely as a partisan organization under McConnell.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Damn. You found me out.
Immanentize
@Kay:
Exhibit One:
Yale Law Professor Amy Chua, who supported Kavanaugh, now has her daughter (who got into Yale Law) going to clerk for Kavanaugh
Now how do those things happen?
zhena gogolia
Anne Laurie, I sent you a good Kamala clip, but this one is golden — “Dude gotta go”
https://twitter.com/blackwomenviews/status/1158350477781798915?
zhena gogolia
@zhena gogolia:
I got it from this column by Jonathan Capehart:
https://beta.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/08/26/dude-gotta-go/
lumpkin
I hope the rest of the G7 leaders agree to have the meeting somewhere else. They might as well. The US no longer contributes anything of value. In fact it’s nothing but an annoying distraction. It’s time the rest of the world treat USA like the pariah nation it is.
Anonymous At Work
@PaulWartenberg: “Donnie, we asked the Obamas for their choice of better accommodations and we’ll be sending a junior staffer to all events that you plan to attend. We’ll be there for the environmental impact meeting and the private lunches behind your back where we mock your reelection chances.”
rikyrah
@Immanentize:
How did she get out of her military appointment?
Hoodie
@Baud: The electorate includes a huge chunk of people who are either psychopaths or ignorant schlubs who are easily manipulated. The psychopaths used to be a small group and where somewhat homeless between the two parties. The GOP used to be able to win without huge numbers of the psychopaths but, in the process of trying to max out the psychopaths to get an electoral majority, they resorted to propaganda that has helped turn a bunch of the schlubs into psychopaths, like biting nuns. On the Dem side, too many of the elites were too cozy with corporate interests instead of doing something about this, like addressing income inequality.
Booger
@K488: “K488, can you show us on the doll where the bedbug contacted your provost?”
Immanentize
@rikyrah:
I have no clue. Maybe that was a lie?
Amir Khalid
Trump should charge extra for the bedbugs. Hey, it worked for M. Thenardier.
Yarrow
@Baud: I agree. The phrase that needs a lot more attention is “white collar crime.” It also needs prosecution. A lot of it.
germy
germy
rikyrah
@Amir Khalid:
BWA HA HA HA AH AHA H AH
I love the smarts of the people on this blog.
germy
germy
SFAW
@rikyrah:
While that statement is generally correct, I think Maine went for Hillary. No idea how lobstermen voted. And, no indication in the article whether the owner voted for the Liar-in-Chief.
Baud
@SFAW:
IIRC Maine splits its electoral votes and one vote went to Trump. MomSense has said that lobstermen are like Patriot Farmers. Not sure how the guy quoted voted however.
SFAW
@germy:
Bolsonaro has apparently been taking “How to Be a Fucking Asshole” lessons, probably given by Shitgibbon University. Everything I’ve heard about him, so far, makes me think he watches the Fuckhead-in-Chief, and says “Hold my beer.”
germy
SFAW
@germy:
Well, he was on his way there, but it was a warm day, and His Snowflakeness melted into a puddle.
SFAW
@Baud:
I had missed that comment, but on the other hand, it’s not as if MomSense knows anything about Maine.
ETA: Northern Maine is, I think, generally much more conservative. I think LePage drew most of his support from there, for example. [Noting that for the EV thing, not because I think lobstahmen are in Aroostook or Piscataquis counties.]
germy
@SFAW: He quit twitter once before. He’ll be back.
rikyrah
Black Women Owned the MTV Video Music Awards
Corey Townsend
The VMAs are an unseasoned event, but throughout the night, black women continuously proved that we invented music.
Lizzo Made That Stage Her Bitch
“My girl Lizzo is 100 percent that bitch,” yelled H-Town hottie Megan Thee Stallion. And she did not lie. When Lizzo hit the stage, she asked the question that many of us have been wondering since the dawn of time: “Why men great ’til they gotta be great?!” I feel once we answer this question we’d be better off as a people. She got on that stage and showed her ass, figuratively and literally, as she performed in front of an inflatable butt. She started out the performance giving us an Olivia Pope moment in a full-length trench and then revealed a yellow swimsuit to presumably show the world that color was invented for black women. “It’s so hard trying to love yourself in a world that doesn’t love you back,” screamed Lizzo. She continued by letting us all know that this was her time to feel good as well because she, like all of us, deserved this feeling.
………………………………
Missy Finally Got Her Flowers
Once again for the cheap seats, Missy Elliott invented the music video. While the rest of us were in the ’90s, Melissa was sitting pretty in 2057. For over two decades she has consistently delivered hit after hit, paired with eye-catching visuals that have captivated audiences and kept her name relevant way after her debut. When you think creativity in the music industry, Missy is who comes first to mind. She didn’t just deliver hits, she flipped it, dipped it, and reversed it to tell a story that brought her music to life. This Video Vanguard award was long overdue, but still very well-deserved. Missy is the same woman who made a trash bag iconic, and in my opinion, invented the GMail logo with her 1997 “Sock it to Me” outfit. Missy became the first female rapper to receive this prestigious/overdue honor and it was well-deserved. During her performance, she took us on a whimsical, supa dupa fly journey throughout her career and gave us visuals worthy of the Missy brand.
germy
The G7 countries pledged 20 million dollars to help fight wildfires in the Amazon.
Sounds like a lot, but
germy
rikyrah
The man had on underwear. Didn’t know that the average robber now works in their underwear. If I’m a cop and someone comes down in their DRAWERS, my first thought isn’t that this is a robber….but, that this is someone WHO PHUCKING LIVES THERE…
Lips pursed.
#AtHomeWhileBlack: Police Drag Black North Carolina Homeowner From His Own House After False Alarm
Dara Sharif
Yesterday 9:00pm
rikyrah
Sigh…
Sigh…
This just fills me full of rage.
Late Charge: Judge Says Prosecutors’ Demand to Free ‘Innocent’ Man Jailed for Murder Comes 24 Years Too Late
Dara Sharif
Yesterday 7:00pm
…………………
How THE PHUCK do you STEP OVER THE LINE TRYING TO SET SOMEONE FREE FOR A CRIME THEY DIDN’T COMMIT?
burnspbesq
@Kay:
Actually, there is. It’s called The Law of You Try Raising a Family on a GS-12 Salary in a High Cost of Living Area. It’s ironclad, unless you qualify for the I Married a Trust Fund Baby Exception.
rikyrah
Reading the tweets about this just broke my heart :(
Former NFL Fullback Le’Ron McClain Posts Heart-Wrenching Plea for Help on Twitter: ‘My Head Is Crazy…Help Me Please!’
Stephen A. Crockett Jr.
Yesterday 3:00pm
burnspbesq
@rikyrah:
Just curious … why the heck was this filed in state court? Did they have to exhaust state remedies before filing a Federal habeas petition?
burnspbesq
@SFAW:
There is very little that Trump can teach Bolsonaro on the subject of being an asshole. He’s had that down for a number of years.
SFAW
@burnspbesq:
Somehow, that doesn’t make me feel better.
Betty Cracker
@Yarrow: It’s not necessarily the same thing, though, corruption and white collar crime. For example, nepotism is a form of corruption that isn’t always illegal, as we can see from that pair of vacant-faced ignoramuses occupying the West Wing. Bob McDonnell’s exoneration for wildly corrupt acts also illustrates that corruption doesn’t necessarily equal white collar crime. (As does the continued presence of Senator Menendez (D-NJ) in the US Senate, unfortunately.)
I’m with Schatz — Democrats need to lead on this, and if that means our politicians need to distance themselves from rich people and corporations because the media/GOP will both-sides it, okay then, let’s do that.
Hoodie
@germy: Recently was in central Wyoming and witnessed a range fire started by some numbnutz shooting at tannerite targets. Took over a week to contain, thousands of dollars in personnel and equipment costs. The nexus of climate change and gun nuttery.
GregB
Now that Pedophile Island is closed, the global criminal class needs a new locale for their blackmailing schemes. Why not let Degenerate Donnie get some taste?
Searcher
Has anyone pointed out yet that a real successful business man, a billionaire, the leader of the free world, would offer the entire resort gratis, simply because it would be a baller move?
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Kay: Maybe anti-bribery laws, similar to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act that used to be an enforced law in our country?
Amir Khalid
@germy:
I agree.
Yarrow
@Betty Cracker: I agree with you that the Democratic party should lead on being anti-corruption. Unfortunately, as you noted, corruption isn’t always illegal and can be harder to define. I also agree with Kay’s assessment that we have an epidemic of white collar crime. Unlike the more vague “corruption,” white collar crime is actually illegal and can be punished. And should be.
germy
Betty Cracker
@Searcher: I’d be against it even if Trump did offer to host the whole thing gratis, which he’d do if he’s smart. You can’t buy that type of advertising for a property. It’s akin to when the orange shit-stain brags about donating his presidential salary. I don’t give a fuck about the comparative pittance of $400K to the US Treasury — he’s using his office to rake in dog only knows how much from people seeking — successfully! — to influence policy. And he probably justifies sitting around on his ass retweeting Fox & Friends by telling himself he’s not getting paid anyway. I want public servants who are accountable on the job.
Betty Cracker
@Yarrow: Agreed, and that’s one of the reasons I support Warren: the Anti-Corruption and Public Integrity Act.
Amir Khalid
@Searcher:
Yes, it would be a baller move. That’s why Trump won’t do it: he’s a no-baller.
SiubhanDuinne
NO BEDBUGS! NO BEDBUGS! YOU’RE THE BEDBUGS!!
Searcher
@Betty Cracker: Oh yeah, there’d still be an element of corruption there, a successful businessman and hotel owner should be able to make bank off of the prestige of hosting a G7 conference without any direct transfers, and you’d also have the implied personal favor to the world leaders staying at the hotel, which would probably be a novelty, for Trump to be on the other side of the emoluments for once.
But I can conceive another President, an FDR or a Perot, in another time, who could do the same thing and while there’d still be the same underlying problems, instead of fuming that he was still enriching himself, I’d say, “Yeah, technically problematic, but it’s a baller move that makes the US look cool in front of the other nations, I’ll allow it.”
mrmoshpotato
@SiubhanDuinne: Not nice!
Do you ever think Putipoot is embarrassed at having such a childish Soviet shitpile mobster conman as his bitch?
Yarrow
The other leaders should just say their countries’ anti-corruption laws won’t allow them to stay at Doral. Has to be a more neutral site.
Kay
@Immanentize:
Gosh, I wonder why elites suck so bad- could it be because they constantly promote their own family members?
The point of a meritocracy wasn’t so you could say you had one. The point was you would end up with people who earned a place on MERIT. If “merit” is suffering, well, why wouldn’t it? That isn’t what they’re using.
Kay
It must be so dispiriting to “work” in the federal government under The Trump Family. Now they have to do a fake competitive process for the location when the “winner” is already pre-determined. All that paper. Just pretend.
Yarrow
@Kay: The rich and well-connected are fine with a meritocracy so long as their kids aren’t negatively affected by it. Current example is the “Varsity Blues” scandal that has involved all sorts of wealthy people who paid to get their kids’ SAT scores and athletic abilities faked so they could get into a better college.
Kay
We had two golf courses here auction for next to nothing. One was a “country club” so not just a golf course. They were fucking giving them away.
Isn’t golf less popular than it used to be?
Yarrow
@Kay: I wonder what happens if Trump holds a G7 and no one shows up.
Yarrow
@Kay:
Yes. At least in the US. I think it’s more popular in Asia than it used to be.
Kay
@Yarrow:
It would seem to be so embarrassing for these elite colleges. Professor/Mom was out stumping for the SCOTUS justice in order to get daughter a job? I mean, Christ. It’s such petty sleaze. It’s not even “ideological”. It’s wholly personal among this tiny group of people. The whole country exists solely for their personal use and advancement.
Gelfling 545
@PaulWartenberg: Given Trump’s nature & known foibles, they might be more secure picking a nice Air B&B.
germy
It begins:
https://wnyt.com/sports/rensselaer-cancels-varsity-football-due-to-lack-of-players/5470481/?cat=10114
Baud
@SiubhanDuinne:
I can’t believe how bedbugs is trending. I’ve now heard them mentioned more in the last two days than I have in the last two years.
Kay
@Yarrow:
No one wanted the courses. The country club I could understand because it’s a silly, huge complex that was always ridiculous, but the other course was just a standard golf course and it sat for 2 years with ZERO offers before they gave up auctioned for it nothing.
germy
@SFAW:
I wonder how many of the bedrooms at the Doral have hidden cameras.
SiubhanDuinne
I would dearly love to see a complete list of the venues that Trump’s advisors considered and rejected for Chateau Cimex — line-by-line comparisons of facilities, amenities, costs, locations — and get someone on the record as to why none of the other places made the cut.
Oh wait … the advisors never did visit or consider any other venues, did they? Never mind.
burnspbesq
@SiubhanDuinne:
There are photos.
SiubhanDuinne
@Baud:
I don’t think I’ve ever written the word until today.
SiubhanDuinne
@germy:
Works for Mar-a-Lago.
Baud
@SiubhanDuinne:
Baud!/Bedbug! 2020!
SiubhanDuinne
@burnspbesq:
I know. I’ve seen them. Yeccch.
Yarrow
@germy: Like Trump’s other properties, it’ll be fully wired and infiltrated by our enemies’ intelligence services.
Gin & Tonic
Can’t help wondering how Bret Stephens’ day is going. Probably not the way he anticipated.
SiubhanDuinne
As for Doral being “perfectly located”:
1. High summer*
2. In Miami
3. At the height of hurricane season*
*(I know the specific 2020 dates are yet TBD, but it’s almost always held in summer, at least in recent years)
germy
I’m glad the Doral has plenty of free parking. It’s always annoying when a head of state rushes out mid-speech to put more quarters in the meter.
Baud
@Gin & Tonic:
He’s a conservative and he’s at the NYT. All publicity is good publicity.
Yarrow
@Gin & Tonic: He will forever and always be BretBug or Bret “Bedbug” Stephens.
SiubhanDuinne
@Gin & Tonic:
This morning I read the Stephens-Collins fortnightly “conversation” in FTFNYT, and he seemed decidedly off his feed.
Yarrow
@SiubhanDuinne: Even Trump doesn’t go to Mar-a-Lago in the summer. He switches to his NJ Bedminster property. That he’s saying the G7 should be at Doral in the August makes it even more obvious it’s a grift. No one wants to go to Miami in August. Not even Trump.
gvg
@Kay: Some golf courses have always been going broke. I don’t think it means golf is on the downside. Clubs need good management, like any business. they need profits and reinvestment, refurbishment to keep up, plus sometimes plush areas go downward and clubs in a “bad” area or even just not the fanciest anymore, become less desirable.
Florida has a lot of golf courses and I am not sure I would know what is typical, but I do know that their season is winter and in the summer, a lot of them have cheaper deals for permanent Florida residents to use the courses when the snowbirds are gone. Consequently, I have seen how some of them actually court the poorer nearby areas to use them when its super hot and the elite won’t. this goes back decades.
I have never played golf but there sure are a lot of people around me that do.
Gelfling 545
@mrmoshpotato: Well, if so he certainly has the means of ridding himself of the embarrassment.
mrmoshpotato
@Yarrow: Can we start turning golf courses into housing for the homeless yet like George Carlin wanted?
mrmoshpotato
@SiubhanDuinne: ,?
Kay
@Immanentize:
Kavanaugh’s opponents had ideological grounds or temperament grounds or the fact that he’s dishonest/unfit grounds. Say what you will, at least those aren’t narrowly self interested. His supporters? “well, my daughter needs a fancy job”
Oh, how the mighty have fallen, right? Good God. We all exist to serve these people, apparently. Their careers matter more than anything.
rikyrah
@Yarrow:
BWA HA HA AH HA HA HA H
I love it…..
rikyrah
@Kay:
Haven’t gotten an answer, but, the excuse that they used when it first came up was that the daughter was going to get a military appointment, so her mother couldn’t possibly be supporting the rapist on the Supreme Court to try and curry favor for said daughter to get a clerkship. I want to know now, was that a phucking lie?
NotMax
Who are “they?” Name one of them.
Note: Jared or Ivanka not acceptable responses.
Betty Cracker
@gvg: In Florida at least golf is definitely on the decline, and courses are shutting down or consolidating management under increasingly race-to-the-bottom terms. I think it’ll get worse in the next couple of decades too as there are fewer people who can afford to retire and shorter attention spans. If I ran the zoo, I’d convert them into bird sanctuaries as they go broke.
catclub
@SiubhanDuinne:
oh, come on! Everybody knows the height of hurricane season is mid-September. Totally different from late August.
Never mind Katrina was Aug 28-29 and so was Hurricane Andrew.
bemused
I watched the clip of Bret Stephens on msnbc, so “demonizing” to be called a bedbug. Chris Jansing had a somewhat skeptical look on her face when she asked him if that’s the worst thing he’s been called on social media.
Devin Nunes’ lawyers in cow parody case argued that it’s an orchestrated campaign of “stunning breadth and scope” that no human “should have to suffer and bear”.
Sniveling snowflakes.
catclub
@rikyrah:
an exception to the general rule. Consider 43, the Iraq war contractors, and Halliburton == Dick Cheney.
TenguPhule
@Kay:
Actually there is.
IOKIYAR.
And until we get rid of Republicans, they will continue to plague us.
TenguPhule
@Kay:
Had them, didn’t do any good.
The problem is that we teach “forgiveness” as a moral principle and these assholes have consistently taken advantage of that soft spot.
Draconian punishment enforced without any favorites was ever the only solution.
TenguPhule
@Kay:
Welcome to the Soviet Union! //s
TenguPhule
@Baud:
I recall there were a flood of stories a few years ago after several major infestations were discovered in various hotels/motels across the country.
sherparick
@Kay: The moral collapse of the elites the last 50 years have been amazing. It started with Vietnam, where WWII generation parents both spoiled and then did their best to use clout and privilege to keep their sons who are the current elite out of that war by hook or by crook. At the same time ideologies of selfishness arose, Ayn Rand’s narrow and Milton Friedman’s broader doctrines, which as J.K Galbraith observed were in service of a very ancient project: ” … is engaged, on the contrary, in one of man’s oldest, best financed, most applauded, and, on the whole, least successful exercises in moral philosophy. That is the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness…” After that, natural human selfishness, social favor exchanges, and family feelings without the discipline of shame and integrity got the better of them. And so we now live in the world where Nature is dying.
catclub
@sherparick:
This sure sounds like every other ‘these whippersnappers TODAY, are the worst’ complaint since Socrates.
I would only argue that now that human capabiities to ruin the Earth are much larger, the same weaknesses have larger impacts.
Gin & Tonic
@bemused: These people need to spend some time in the archives and look at the state of political commentary and cartooning in 19th C US newspapers.
burnspbesq
@Kay:
Lose the quotes around the word work or you can fuck right off, Kay. Federal employees bust their asses for below-market salaries.
Just One More Canuck
@Immanentize: it’s amazing how little people will sell their souls for
rikyrah
Hundreds of dancers take part in ballet flash mob in Times Square in protest at US TV presenter’s mocking comments about Prince George
TV host admitted she ‘screwed up’, calling her reaction ‘insensitive’ and ‘stupid’
Spencer then tried to make further amends by interviewing three male dancers
They then led hundreds of ballet dancers outside the GMA studio on Monday
Dancers told Spencer they ‘wish people would be open-minded and understand’
Lara had laughed and stifled giggles while talking about George’s dance classes
By DANYAL HUSSAIN FOR MAILONLINE and LAUREN FRUEN FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 08:03 EDT, 27 August 2019 | UPDATED: 09:10 EDT, 27 August 2019
Skepticat
@SFAW:
Maine split its electoral votes—three for Clinton and one for ____, but in May, the state Senate passed a bill giving all four of them to the winner of the popular vote. Clinton won only along the coast, which is where the wealth and the lobster industry are. Almost all my lobstering friends are fairly conservative older white men.
Zinsky
This is political corruption – plain and simple. Impeach and imprison this deeply criminal and sexually deviant man!
Zinsky
Ivanka has cooties – pass it on…
J R in WV
@Spanky:
Actually, IIRC, Kentucky never joined the confederacy, as there were too many Union troops there when the secession occurred.
Google returns:
Actually, Misery and Indianoplace are both more redneckistan than KY to me.
J R in WV
@rikyrah:
Judge Elizabeth Hogan needs to show her KKK membership card immediately; and Then be removed from office based upon being too corrupt to hold such a position.
This is worse than the Judge in CA who sentenced a WHITE GUY to no jail time for raping a drunk co-ed by a dumpster behind the Frat house. Who lost his job to a recall election.
J R in WV
@Betty Cracker:
But what if President Macron gets 42 (or even just 3?) bedbug bites the first night in that fleabag dump? On the plus side, it would shut down all of Trump’s hotel business in about 24 hours. Imagine the flood of cancellations, or even just no shows!!!
J R in WV
@burnspbesq:
You are objectively incorrect, Burns, as Kay isn’t talking about actual employees. She is talking about Republican appointees, who spend all their time grifting for a promotion, for a vacation spree on the government nickle flying on private AF jets to meetings on the Costa del Sol, etc, etc.
You’re correct about actual career employees of the Federal government. Kay is talking about people who will only work for the extent of a Republican’s term in office. Get it together!!
How hard do you think Jarvanka works? How hard will that Yale Professor’s daughter work for Bret “Rapist” Kavanaugh work?
Not so hard in my book!!
More like TrumpLand in the West Wing!
J R in WV
Can you all tell I was away from the computer for much of the mid day? So now I’ve closed this thread out.