This would be career-ending for a normal president, but we live in the Nothing Matters era [The Post]:
President Trump has been ordered by a New York State judge to pay $2 million to a group of charities, settling a lawsuit alleging Trump misused his foundation for personal and political gain, according to a court document filed on Thursday.
The case, brought against Trump and his three eldest children by the New York State Attorney General’s office last year, alleged that the foundation had misspent funds and ignored their oversight duties under New York charity laws…
The lawsuit was filed in June and it alleged “persistently illegal conduct” at the foundation.
Since it’s Trump, and everyone already knows he’s a scammer, this isn’t even the lead story. The top tabs at The Post are about a top diplomat saying “Giuliani was engaged in a campaign ‘full of lies and incorrect information’” and John Bolton’s alleged willingness to testify before Congress if a judge clears it. Interesting times!
Anyway, Trump is a lazy fuck who’s probably lolling around in his short-hemmed, white terry-cloth bathrobe with the karate sleeves and live-tweeting Fox News right now. But he is a persistent criminal, albeit of the low-energy variety.
On a more personal note, is it just me, or is this week an endless shit-parade? I can’t fucking believe it’s only Thursday! Anyhoo, open thread.
Thursday Morning Open Thread
Baud
More precise.
LuciaMia
For the past six months or more, I persistently think Thursday is Friday. Thanks, now I blame Trump!
MattF
‘Trump Foundation’ is a two-word joke– anyone with a cerebral cortex knows immediately that it’s just a pot of money to do whatever. The problems are caring about the inevitable illegality and then proving it- and the NYSAG managed to do both. So, bravo.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
Sure, but every week is like that. Has been since, oh, Nov 2016 but it really accelerated in the last few months.
Not “endless” though. The usual parade of horrifying revelations about this administration was lightened considerably by all the good news from the elections.
In 2016 our county council was 5-0 Republican, the way it had been for over a century, and no hope of even getting a single Democrat on. As of Wednesday, it’s 5-0 Democratic. And that was not the only turnaround like that in this region. So I’m still riding high on that news.
Election Day 2016 was my birthday. Can I just say that I’ve enjoyed my political birthday presents a lot more since 2016. Each one has been better and better. Thanks guys. I’d appreciate it if you deliver me all three branches at the national and state level for 2020. OK? Thanks. Do I need to set up one of those registry things?
SFAW
I thought it was already next Thursday, what with all the shit flowing from the Traitor-in-Chief.
Betty Cracker
Have y’all heard about the latest scam — the “win a dinner with Trump if you donate to the campaign RIGHT NOW” thing they’ve been running for months but can’t point to a single winner? Everything about Trump is a scam. Everything.
LuciaMia
How are they planning to collect that judgement? Considering Trumps track record…
SFAW
@Betty Cracker:
Didn’t Kay or DAW mention something about that yesterday? [My apologies if it was someone else. I’m lucky if I can remember my own name some days.]
The spokesgrifter said there had been lots of winners, but probably declined to name any. Nor (as far as I know) say anything like “We need to get a release signed by the winner(s), but after we get that, we’ll give you some names.”
geg6
Yeah, really shitty week that looks like it will end in our first snow of the year (albeit, snow that is not supposed to stick). Just gloomy and wet, kind of like it should be at the end of the month. Am seriously considering taking a mental health day tomorrow and laying around the house with the dogs, binge watching something.
I can’t deal with politics today. I’m depressed enough as it is.
SFAW
@LuciaMia:
They’ll threaten to have him parade around in his birthday suit, and charge people money to have him NOT do it?
MattF
@SFAW: I suppose ‘dinner’, ‘with’, and ‘Trump’ are all subject to interpretation. But ‘donate’ has an invariant meaning.
smintheus
@Betty Cracker: The real prize would be not having to spend a moment in his presence. But yeah, he’s a con artist.
geg6
@SFAW:
All the other candidates that use this type of fund raising post lots of pics with the winners, either on their websites or social media or both. Hard to believe the Shitgibbon would pass up the opportunity to get some sweet, sweet free press.
Mary G
I said it in the last thread, but this would have gone on forever if David Fahrenthold hadn’t started asking questions and filling up his legal pads with help from his Tweeps. Every scumbag rich person who’s supporting his extended family with “jobs” at their fake foundation has to be thanking Dog they didn’t run for president.
It says a lot about our society that there are seven cops in the NYC subway to make sure that no one skips out on a $2.75 fare, but the IRS doesn’t have the funding to audit these.
smintheus
Speaking of she who persists, this is an absolutely fabulous response to the crying billionaire who criticized her mean wealth tax plan. She is really good at politics, because she’s really smart and waaaaay over prepared.
https://twitter.com/ewarren/status/1191514889816289282
Sab
On Tuesday, our mental health, addiction and drug treatment renewal levy passed, They do good work.
We replaced the small-business-owners-with-no-employees on the school board with people who actually know something about education.
Also our amazing city council candidate won. He beat out an elder statesman in the primary who was hoping to move from school board to city council. That was sad, but the new guy is potentially amazing.
So good week here.
waspuppet
“On a more personal note, is it just me, or is this week an endless shit-parade? I can’t fucking believe it’s only Thursday!”
I think that’s in large part because of Election Day. Holding them on Tuesdays means every day of the rest of the week feels like Friday, but they aren’t.
WereBear
Isn’t it a win if you don’t have to eat dinner with him? Like first prize is a week in Philadelphia, and second prize is two weeks?
geg6
In good news, my old friend (well, actually her brother is one of my oldest friends, but she has been around almost as long), Laura Tocci, has won her race for judge of the Court of Common Pleas. It was the only local bright spot in Tuesday’s results.
MJS
@LuciaMia: My preference would be that they seek to garnish his wages. If I’m recalling correctly, as a publicity stunt, he currently donates them to an agency (VA?). It would be wonderful if the story would now become that he can no longer do that because his charity was a scam.
Sab
However, I failed to rescue My begonias. So bad week for plants. Used to bring them in for winter. Plant-eating cats preclude that. Only learned this year I could bring them in as tubers/bulbs. But it poured this week, after a summer long drought, now it is sleeting.. So I was too late.
kindness
I’m feeling more stressed. How do I get MORE stressed during this shitshow of and administration?
Ruckus
@Betty Cracker:
His breathing is a scam?
That sounds about right.
?BillinGlendaleCA
Been that way dating back to November 2016.
Gravenstone
@SFAW: Definitely refused to report any actual winners. Apparently they trotted out the name of someone who attended an event Trump never showed for, and another person who met Trump at some event prior to the alleged “sweepstakes” being started.
Sab
@geg6: Yay for you and her. Judges matter.
Jay
Gravenstone
@MJS:
The far more likely outcome.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
I’ve actually had a pretty good week. On Tuesday night we went to a concert, went to hear Josh Radin in a small intimate venue. His opening acts, Lily Kershaw and The Weepies (that’s two different groups) were both outstanding as well.
Mostly older white crowd and the basic admission price gets you only standing room. Seats were an extra $40-$50 apiece and we, like most others, were too cheap to pay it. So it being a weeknight a lot of the crowd unfortunately tired out by the time Radin’s set started. We made it to 10 pm.
So not your really wild rock and/or roll type concert night.
MattF
WaPo has a summary of current grift.
Jay
?BillinGlendaleCA
@MJS: I’m going with a lien on Trump Tower.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Gravenstone: Somewhere in the coverage of this scam I read that they might be in violation of state law in at least some of the states where they pulled it.
Oh please, oh please, somebody press the charges.
mrmoshpotato
@Betty Cracker: And dinner would be what – McDonald’s hamberders and Trump-branded bottled tap water – unfiltered?
Topic of conversation – thanks for destroying my livelihood with your stupid tariffs?
JustRuss
JFC Betty, I don’t think I can ever forgive you for conjuring up that image.
BR
@Jay:
Maybe people need to start reporting them as “thousand-millionaires” rather than billionaires. Because saying that he would have 6 billion left over is less easy to understand for the average person who doesn’t even have a million (but can understand that quantity) — 6,000 million dollars really hits home.
Gravenstone
@JustRuss: I didn’t want to blockquote the line simply because I didn’t want to subject myself to it every time I read the replies. So now I get to double up on the brain bleach. Thanks?
Amir Khalid
@Sab:
My condolences.
chopper
@SFAW:
there’s john barron, that’s one, also…david dennison, that guy.
SFAW
@Gravenstone:
What’s that expression you kids say? Oh, yeah: “This is my shocked face.”
SFAW
@chopper:
Good point.
Probably also Dick Dulvaney, Rick Rulvaney, and SickO’Sulvaney
Jay
rikyrah
@Betty Cracker:
The pettiness. The smallness. The absolute…I can’t find the words to describe taking folks money and then not even bothering with the Dinner. How fundamentally corrupt that is. And, it’s corrupt on such a level…like I wrote above, I hope someone finds the words to describe just how wrong this is.
rikyrah
@Mary G:
Some of my favorite tweets from following that story are of his legal pads. I just love the old-fashionedness of that kind of research/reporting. Just plugging away. Calling person after person, trying to find answers.
Sab
@Amir Khalid: Not so sad on the worldwide scale. Cats okay. Next year I wil not fail my plants.
rikyrah
@LuciaMia:
I do believe Attorney General James isn’t playing with him. She’ll get NY State’s money.
RedDirtGirl
Well, I took a personal day on Monday, so this 4 day week is moving pretty fast. But it is still a shit show. I’ll give you that.
trollhattan
@Betty Cracker:
Say what you will about Orangemandias, but has he ever once worn a tan suit?
Hilfy
@Sab: Try digging the tubers up right now, bringing them indoors. Sleet on top of the pots doesn’t necessarily mean they’re frozen. Good luck.
Jay
@Sab:
If it’s not a hard frost, ( ground frozen), the begonia tubers are probably okay. Trim off the vegitation, let dry, toss any mushy ones, store in a brown paper bag in a cool dark place, over winter.
schrodingers_cat
@Sab: Grow succulents my cats are not interested in them. I have some palms which they like to nibble on when their cat grass supply runs dry.
Sab
@Hilfy: @Jay: @Jay: @schrodingers_cat: I’l try today. This is new to me. They would be frozen otherwise.
Jay
https://apnews.com/800354d636af47f3afbd19338a377887
mrmoshpotato
@trollhattan: Or been a black man who had the nerve to be elected President with the largest popular vote count in US history.
gvg
Hey, just to be contrary, I just found a positive Trump story in the WaPo. He did this criminal justice reform bill which allowed people who had been sentenced to longer times due to it being crack instead of powdered cocaine, and had served enough time, to get out. Called first step law or something. Passed with bipartisan support, he did some publicity events with people released.
Only his low quality hires in the Justice department hated it and are trying not to release any more people and also trying to put the ones released back in. Both Sessions and Barr now are trying to sabotage it, plus some others. However it is the first time I have ever read about anything he did that seems good. totally weird. won’t happen again I am sure.
The Moar You Know
@Betty Cracker: In this case, I’d be willing to accept the explanation that nobody donated as the “prize” was far too punitive.
Ben Cisco
@gvg:
Huh. Credit where due.
Annnnd there it is.
TS (the original)
@Betty Cracker: While the court’s solutions to these issues are fines – they will continue. Seems like three strikes and you’re in prison would be the only way to stop the trump grifting.
Uncle Cosmo
Sure Happy It’s Thursday!
David ??Booooooo?? Koch
run the gobmint like a business!
Immanentize
@RedDirtGirl:
How goes the efforts of your niece?
danielx
But hey, it was a Noo Yawk judge and EVERYBODY knows they hate His Orangeness. It wouldn’t have happened that way in a Florida/Alabama court!
TS (the original)
@smintheus: reply on that tweet links to this
Historian Rutger Bregman wasn’t afraid to confront the billionaires at Davos about their greed
And what should be repeated all day every day
dogwood
@gvg:
That legislation was formed during the Obama administration and slow walked by McConnell cuz they were hoping for a Republican president who would get the credit. But it was indeed bipartisan. What I do remember was being shocked by Sessions in one of the hearings when he agreed that different sentencing for crack and cocaine was was unjust.
JanieM
@Mary G:
This is pretty much a summary of the current state of our society, maybe the best I’ve seen. I hope it doesn’t turn out to be our epitaph.
jonas
@Betty Cracker: What they meant by “dinner with Trump” was “overcook a cheap steak and turn on Fox.” It’s in the fine print.
Jay
Kraux Pas
And the general public goes on believing “both sides” because perpetual “scandal” existed under Obama too.
But while Obama’s were the right making hay about non-issues like mustard choice and filling gaps of knowledge with innuendo a la Benghazi, Trump is awash in constant verifiable (indeed verified) crime with witnesses and documentary evidence and fucking confessions.
How do more people not see the difference? Not least the media?
Mary G
@rikyrah: The FTFNYT could learn a lot from those legal pads.
Jay
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Step_Act
catclub
@smintheus: you mean this!
Kay
@The Moar You Know:
I can’t believe they can’t find someone to lie and say Trump showed up. Sondland would do it. We know he’ll lie for Trump, and under oath.
“Kellyanne Conway won – here she is lunching with the President. She won all 15 contests”
TomatoQueen
@gvg: This bit of reform has been floating around for years and finally passed. The Talking Yam seized on signing it as a cheap way of stealing crim justice reform as an issue, without doing any of the heavy lifting. No credit due.
NotMax
@Ben Cisco
Let us not forget that was a sentencing policy and law promulgated and endorsed by none other than Joe Biden.
Ohio Mom
@JanieM: And then NYC throws gobs of money into the black hole of bringing the turnstile jumpers “to justice.”
During my high school years, running through the subway exit doors and then down the steps to the platform was something of a pastime for me and my friends. What thugs we white, middle-class, A-students were!
Jay
Calouste
@TS (the original): Related to that, I think someone suggested to publish a yearly list of people who paid the most tax, as in making that a good thing. A lot of philanthropy for the super rich is just about ego-stroking. You know, $50 million so they can see their name on a new hospital building. I’m fine if instead the highest tax payer every year gets to pick a 10 mile stretch of interstate to attach their name to.
trollhattan
Polls, polls, get yer polls.
Sure Lurkalot
@BR: Another way to make people recognize how big the billion:
Put that $6 billion in a preferred money market account at your favorite bank earning a paltry 1% per year…$60 million per year, $5 million per month to spend on all those little things that make life worthwhile. How could you make ends meet on $164,000 a day?
SiubhanDuinne
Oh jeebus, Bloomberg is filing to run. Timing is linked to AL Primary.
Jay
trollhattan
@Jay:
Oof. Quite a compare/contrast.
Kay
@Jay:
Open Secrets has only 25% of Gabbard’s donors as women, which is quite the outlier among Democrats. I’m taking it as (more) evidence that only women should vote. As if more is needed.
debbie
@geg6:
Our first snow (non-sticking) was today. It’s already too gray here.
Mai naem mobile
Fuck Bloomberg if he really runs. Jeezus they just don’t get that people are mad because they aren’t getting ahead at all while rich people have nine homes and seven yachts.
trollhattan
@SiubhanDuinne:
Saw that. JUST what we need, another billionaire to save us. What, Schultz and Steyer are “doin’ it rong?”
Mary G
Kay
@Mai naem mobile:
Democratic primary though, so he’s not a spoiler. They’re the only ones I would really loathe.
Martin
@LuciaMia: He’s got property in NY to place liens against. Plus that large building in Manhattan doesn’t qualify as a primary residence any longer.
Ryan
This entire post is about some unidentified individual labeled as “Florida Man.” You can’t prove Trump is Florida Man!
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/the-daily-shows-president/cklaahipljbhommdkomdkmdnceohigek
dogwood
@gvg:
And also too, in terms of Trump doing something decent. There was one moment in a Republican debate when Ted Cruz started disparaging “New York values” and Trump lit into him with a full-throated defense of New Yorkers without mentioning himself. Weird, I know, but it was fun to see that smug look wiped off Ted’s face.
satby
@Sab: not too late for the tubers! They’re fine until the soil in the pot freezes, so get those in ASAP and let them dry in an area like a basement where it’s cool but won’t freeze.
Sab
@Kay: Very sexist of me to think trolls are male, but whatever. All those sad little guys dreaming of their goddess on the surfboard. Most of whom are in the midwwrst and couldn’t surf if their life depended. Can any of them actually swim?
I am female, live on the midwest, and can swim.
Cacti
Putinist propaganda mill posing as left wing magazine declares:
Sanders and Warren Have to Tame Nancy Pelosi
Yep. Evil Nancy wins too many elections for the Dems. She needs to be more fringe.
senyordave
If Trump run in 2020, this story should be used in ads A LOT. Normal people can relate to this – Trump stole from a charity.
Mary G
@SiubhanDuinne: Senator Warren really scares these guys. I hope Bloomberg gets the Howard Schultz point-and-laugh treatment, but he is probably going to ensure Twitler’s reelection with this stunt.
Kay
I’m okay with this punishment although I am of the opinion we don’t put enough white collar criminals in prison, but I would like to see more creative sanctions, like taxing any money that flowed through the Trump Administration for the life of the foundation, retroactively, and billing the Trumps.
We have a white collar crime problem. I want a crack down. I want zero tolerance/tough on crime to apply to someone other than 21 year old drug addicts.
BroD
This needs more play! Ripping off vets fer crissake? I’m a vet and I’m pissed (also glad he got busted–props to NY AG Letitia James!)
debbie
@Jay:
What’s this about a fake video, please?
SiubhanDuinne
@Mai naem mobile:
@trollhattan:
CNN backed off slightly from their initial “breaking” reporting. Now saying Bloomberg’s “considering” getting into the race, not that’s he’s yet taken decisive steps. But agreed. There are so many great things these guys could be doing on the unglamorous ground, like putting serious resources into state and local races and party organisations.
Marcopolo
@SiubhanDuinne: Yeah, just saw this. It may be my lack of imagination but even if Bloomberg dumps a couple hundred million into the race I can’t see him catching on enough to be a serious candidate. Let’s just start with who his natural constituency might be—gun control folks are the only group he has substantial ties to. Don’t see anyone else. Not like he is likely to pull support from Sanders, Warren, Harris, Yang.
In terms of other candidates I’m spitballing here but this hurts Biden the most. Maybe Buttigieg a little.
In other words just another old white guy—albeit with a lot of cash—which is as big a negative or positive.
Raven
@BroD: These motherfuckers don’t give a shit.
Kraux Pas
@trollhattan:
And yet the PA GE poll the FTFNYT posted the other day has Biden outperforming Warren vs Trump. (She’s still my current preferred) It’s almost like the primary electorates and general electorates are different.
Kay
@Sab:
They’re conservatives who are too cool to back Trump publicly, although they all probably secretly vote for him.
SiubhanDuinne
@Mary G:
Andrew Yang was just on CNN knocking Warren. She’s tough and clear-eyed and knows her own power. She scares the bejesus out of them.
anarchoRex
The fact that two different billionaires think they have a good chance of securing the Dem nomination really tells you all you need to know about the party in its current state
Jay
@Mai naem mobile:
Bezo’s new house, his 17th, has 13 bathrooms,
Female employees at the WaPo earn 35% less than their male counterparts,
Amazon Distribution workers pee into empty bottles and throw them in the trash as they get fired if they take “too many” bathroom breaks, ( more than 10 min. a day”.
Eat the Rich is making a big comeback.
https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.gq.com/story/eat-the-rich-digital-generation/amp
satby
@Mary G: he got a reply to that:
Replying to @TayAnderson2019 and @PeteButtigieg
Congratulations! You got basically the exact same percentage of votes as Pete.
(Pop Denver: 716,492 Pop SB: 101,860).
Kay
@Sab:
My youngest boy can vote next year and he’s being very earnest about it. Very serious. He’s a Bernie man, though- Tulsi is not on his list :)
He kind of flirted with Yang but turned against him. I don’t know why.
Jay
@debbie:
https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tory-video-keir-starmer-cut-general-election-piers-morgan-twitter-a9186531.html%3famp
Keep in mind that the election has started, so this is a criminal violation of the Elections Act.
Jeffro
@trollhattan: looks like a Biden/Warren race to me
Mary G
@SiubhanDuinne: Haven’t read the article, but the FTFNYT sounds pretty sure he’s happening.
I let him know what I think:
Marcopolo
@anarchoRex: WTF? What a dumb comment.
This only says a lot about Steyer & Bloomberg & their egos but last I checked Steyer wasn’t particularly catching fire w/ D voters. No reason to believe Bloomberg would either.
Mary G
@satby: I was posting it not to drag Mayor Pete, but I guess I didn’t make it clear. The young man is impressive, annd I’m thankful him and all the zoomers who’re poaying attention to politics, and participating.
debbie
@Jay:
Thanks. James O’Keeffe has become an Influencer, I guess. //
anarchoRex
@Marcopolo: yeah, he was only mayor of NYC for a decade, no history of electoral success there
Marcopolo
@Mary G: A person elected to a local school board who has immediate recent real life experience with those local schools as a consumer of their product. Love to see it!
Matt McIrvin
@Kraux Pas: What? Biden is also ahead of Warren in that PA primary poll. Warren is just ahead in some other states. But they’re not necessarily the ones that will determine the Democratic primary.
(My personal theory is that head-to-head general election polls during the primary period don’t tell you much other than who is ahead in the primary. The numbers tend to track one another pretty well, and if Elizabeth Warren really has some kind of position that will make her general-election poison, she’s probably not going to get the nomination either. Not in my lifetime have the Democrats lost a presidential election because they nominated someone who was too radical–I don’t even think that was the case for McGovern in ’72, since Nixon was really popular at that point–he probably could have crushed Muskie or anybody. What happens more often is that when they’re dealt a poor hand, they make the safe “electability” choice and lose anyway.)
Marcopolo
@anarchoRex: Lol, you make it too easy. Ever hear of Bill DeBlasio?
anarchoRex
@Marcopolo: didn’t realize he was also worth $53 billion dollars
Kraux Pas
@Marcopolo: Bloomberg is the type of guy my Trumpy dad thinks may be an acceptable Democrat. Even though my Dad hates big government and Bloomberg likes to push government even into little nooks and crannies of daily life (soda ban, really?)
It’s almost like the point isn’t reducing the scope of government, but just making sure it isn’t doing anything to help low income workers make a life for themselves or barring well connected companies from despoiling our environment.
Kraux Pas
@Matt McIrvin: Sorry I think Michigan is what i was thinking.
Gotta be more careful and/or not post after naps
anarchoRex
@Marcopolo: my point is, it’s a culture thing. It’s an indictment of the nature of the party org that he even feels comfortable running in the d primary at all. And dollars to donuts he at least gets enough support to qualify for a debate, steyer did
trollhattan
@Jeffro:
Hard to argue, at least as of now. I’d thought Biden would continue shedding points but it seems like he’s even rebounded in places.
Lots of time left and changes aplenty to come, but we’re at a point I’d have never guessed last spring.
Matt McIrvin
@anarchoRex: Right now we have a situation in which there is a Deranged Fascist Party and an Everyone Else Party. Everyone Else is going to be a frustrating big tent that includes people you and I don’t like–that any given person doesn’t like. That’s the nature of the equilibrium that American elections force parties into. We don’t have elections that support a strong multiparty system. If the party org tries to drive too many people out it starts losing.
anarchoRex
@Matt McIrvin: how many votes would we lose if we drove the ultra-rich out?
Marcopolo
@anarchoRex: You said:
I replied:
You replied:
I replied:
Now you come back with:
AND
So I am back to my original reply that this says more about the billionaires and their egos & nothing about the “nature” of the Democratic party. It’s a free country, billionaires can run as D’s, R’s or I’s (Perot anyone?). There is no evidence, outside of idiotic talking heads on cable tv that Bloomberg has any serious constituency in the D party, notwithstanding your own ridiculous assertions. Finally, considering Bloomberg spoke at the DNC in 2016, do you really think he’d have chance in hell as an R candidate?
I get you don’t like the Democratic party but the point you asserted above purports facts not in evidence.
Matt McIrvin
@trollhattan: It’s not a nice analogy but, just in numerical terms, Biden ’20 reminds me of Trump ’16. Trump was ahead in a divided Republican field almost from the moment he got in, and so many people saw those numbers but simply refused to believe that he’d stick with it all the way to the nomination without his campaign imploding somehow. They kept waiting for the collapse and it never came.
Kraux Pas
@anarchoRex:
I have no data but I’m gonna throw out a number, 0.01%
Eta: Yeah, I know they can fund a lot of advertising and propagandize people and swing some votes to someone more amenable to their preferences. But I feel like most of those people are already voting R anyway
The Lodger
@dogwood: I remember hearing about that bill, during an overly lengthy interview with Tim Ryan on NPR. Ryan said he’d actually worked with Trump to get it passed. (OK, he didn’t use the word “actually”.)
anarchoRex
@Marcopolo: it isn’t just “idiotic talking heads.” There will be plenty of Dem party officials that will have nothing but nice things to say about Bloomberg
Matt McIrvin
@anarchoRex: How do “we” do that? The Democratic Party doesn’t have an apparatus that can really forbid people from running as Democrats. Bloomberg is actually reacting to the party moving to the left, which he doesn’t like at all.
Ladyraxterinok
@gvg:
Wasn’t that what Kardashion woman met with him about??
anarchoRex
@Matt McIrvin: see my comment above yours. It’s not that he’s running, he should be able to! I’d be a hypocrite to say that he shouldn’t be able to run, while supporting Sanders. My point is that he’s comfortable running, and there will be plenty of Dem politicos that make sure he continues to feel that way.
SiubhanDuinne
@Jay:
Kamala Harris = Tulsi Gabbard?
Zerlina Maxwell = Breitbart?
This is false equivalency with a hey nonny nonny.
smintheus
@catclub: Yes, I liked that response too.
Ladyraxterinok
@catclub:
Why do billionaires think regular people care if they cry over tax they pay?
It may be true that many ‘regulars’ care because each firmly believes s/he will soon be a billionaire and doesn’t want to lose any of ‘their future money’ to taxes!
Spinoza Is My Co-pilot
@JanieM: People get on and off the busses in San Francisco on occasion without paying the fare, and I’ve never seen anyone bother these “freeriders” about that (including the bus driver). I don’t live in the Bay Area, but I’ve been there many times on business over the past decade or so, and almost always find time to visit the city via public transportation. I have to say, I don’t think I’ve ever taken a bus in SF without a “freerider” or two catching that bus undisturbed.
It’s just my anecdotal observation, but I can’t imagine my experience of this is some unusual outlier, and anyway it doesn’t appear to be a problem — the vast majority of us (I take it) pay our fare, those who don’t could (most likely) use a little help, everyone seems to find this acceptable.
On a related note, the metro light rail in the Phoenix area (where I live) is on the honor system for the riders — there are no turnstiles or any such thing. You buy your paper ticket from the vending machine at the station and stick it in your pocket on the off- chance some transport authority “cop” asks to see it.
I’m not a regular rider, but have been on the train scores of times and only once witnessed one of these security people ask someone for their ticket (and that someone had been causing a bit if a disturbance). No doubt there are some “freeriders” using the light rail on occasion, but again, so what? The fares are very reasonable, the vast majority (I’d be willing to bet) pay their fare, and the system is doing fine.
I can often be cynical (and these days practically nihilistic) but these two situations allow me a slight smile for my fellow humans.
Marcopolo
@anarchoRex: There are D party officials who support Congressman Dan Lipinski (D-IL), whose political views I consider much more problematic than Bloomberg’s. There are literally hundreds, more likely thousands, of D party officials. You are attempting so smear an entire political party over the attitudes of a handful of people.
anarchoRex
@Marcopolo: I’m not sure why you think your example undercuts my point. And “handful,” ha, I’d be willing to bet the DNC is stoked about this.
SiubhanDuinne
@Mary G:
What an excellent comment! Wonder whether Bloomberg might actually see it?
Ladyraxterinok
@SiubhanDuinne:
Getting voter IDs, supporting getting marginalized registered and to polls
Too mundane. No glam and glitter
SiubhanDuinne
@Ladyraxterinok:
But the most important work we can do right now.
Ladyraxterinok
@Spinoza Is My Co-pilot:
In 90 in Munich they had undercover cops riding city transportation to catch people riding without paying. A young woman in our group did it frequently. One day she was caught. IIRC there was a meaningful fine to be paid when caught!
Jay
@SiubhanDuinne:
I think it went whooshing by,
At the same time, in the same building, where Kamela Harris is sitting down to do an interview with a progressive journalist,
Tutti Frutti Gabbard is sitting down with Still Dead Briebart.
I guess Russia Today was booked up.
Matt McIrvin
@Ladyraxterinok: When I went Eurailpassing around in 1991 I remember jumping the fare on a couple of metro systems because there were no barriers and I just couldn’t figure out how to pay or what the fare was. Never got caught.
And then in Berlin, there was a dual fare system with a special lower fare for former DDR citizens only, and for a while I was paying that without realizing it because I was staying in what used to be East Berlin and I just did what I saw people doing.
SiubhanDuinne
@Mary G:
Here’s what I sent:
J R in WV
@Marcopolo:
Marco, anarchoRex is a fairly mindless troll, perhaps a hireling of the Russians, perhaps merely a Russo-Republican enthusiast, but you’re wasting your carpal tunnel typing long serious replies to anarchoRex. I feed some trolls too, but I try hard to break the habit.
One thing anarchoRex is not is a voter in a Democratic primary, nor voting for a D in the general election.
Mnemosyne
@anarchoRex:
Pretty much every asshole billionaire in the US looked at Trump and said, Hell, I can do that — I even have actual billions to run with!
Why this is the Democratic Party’s fault, I’m not sure.
anarchoRex
@J R in WV: lmao, that’s rich. Everyone who disagrees with you is Russian I guess? My local Dem party is sure gonna be surprised to find that out next time they call me to work as an election judge in the primary.
Gvg
@dogwood: WaPo story said McConnell killed it under Obama. Also said Kushner pushed Trump to do this for quite awhile and when he finally said he would sign it, McC wouldn’t schedule the vote till Trump spoke to him personally and said he supported it.
Of course now he isn’t paying attention and the justice department is getting more blatant in sabotage.
laura
@anarchoRex: Hey everybody, check out the big brain on Brad!