Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Infrastructure week. at last.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

After roe, women are no longer free.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

“woke” is the new caravan.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

This really is a full service blog.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

If you are still in the GOP, you are an extremist.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

“Squeaker” McCarthy

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

We still have time to mess this up!

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

In my day, never was longer.

The revolution will be supervised.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

You are here: Home / Open Threads / A Nice Cocktail Hour Read

A Nice Cocktail Hour Read

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If your favorite cocktail goes down better when accompanied by the tears of a clown, the Post’s review of Trump’s inability to hire good counsel might be worth your time. A couple of deep cuts:

[OAN host/moron] Bobb’s prior legal experience at the federal level consists mainly of a handful of trademark infringement cases on behalf of CrossFit during a stint at a San Diego law firm. […]

Trump’s other lawyer currently based in Florida is Lindsey Halligan, whose practice, according to a professional biography, focuses on insurance claims at residential and commercial properties. She was admitted to the Florida bar in 2014. A search of federal court records found no filings under her name. […]

[…] Trump is also being represented in the records dispute by Alina Habba, who leads a three-attorney firm with an office near Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, N.J. Her professional experience includes serving as general counsel to a parking garage company.  […]

He also has a couple of real attorneys, “real” in this context meaning that they’re former federal prosecutors. But, as the piece points out, he has a track record of not listening and not paying, which catches up with you after a while. That’s not new information, but the revelation that one of his lawyers signed a document saying that the classified material had been handed over, and it wasn’t, is new information about every lawyer’s nightmare client.

This made me chuckle:

Many of the president’s former lawyers, such as Pat Cipollone, Pat Philbin and Justin Clark are not expected to be involved in the investigation’s defense, people familiar with the matter said.

No shit, because they’re probably witnesses!

Anyway, this is all self-inflicted. When Trump is desperate, he might just pay a giant retainer and fire his current set of slip-and-fall litigators. Until then, this is an amusing little sidelight to our common disaster.

Reader Interactions

123Comments

  4. 4.

    raven

    So, another round well played by the attorney whom Trump’s other lawyers sayis so “pointlessly aggressive, and sloppy” that her “mere presence on the team increases the likelihood of Trump and his family facing court losses and legal peril.”

  5. 5.

    Dangerman

    I bet they can find an attorney at Four Seasons*

    * or at least a deal on some rainbirds.

  9. 9.

    narya

    Anyone who was WH counsel is gonna be out anyway–their “client” technically isn’t TFG.

  10. 10.

    JPL

    If trump is accused of a crime, and if it goes to trial, the jury should be sequestered.

    just sayin

  12. 12.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Also, too, Patsy Baloney, Philbin, and Clark have professional reputations they need to mend, and representing TFG now will make that impossible.

  13. 13.

    Scout211

    Oh wow,  this is amazing.  Some really good court rulings in the past two days. Yesterday, the appellate court ruling that transgender  people are covered under ADA and now this:

    Two Pennsylvania judges who orchestrated a scheme to send children to for-profit jails in exchange for kickbacks were ordered to pay more than $200 million to hundreds who fell victim to their crimes.

    U.S. District Judge Christopher Conner awarded $106 million in compensatory damages and $100 million in punitive damages to nearly 300 people in a long-running civil suit against the judges, writing the plaintiffs are “the tragic human casualties of a scandal of epic proportions.”

    Mark Ciavarella and another judge, Michael Conahan, shut down a county-run juvenile detention center and accepted $2.8 million in illegal payments from the builder and co-owner of two for-profit lockups. Ciavarella, who presided over juvenile court, pushed a zero-tolerance policy that guaranteed large numbers of kids would be sent to PA Child Care and its sister facility, Western PA Child Care.

  14. 14.

    Ken

    @Dangerman: I was looking through the Wegner’s Groceries twitter earlier, and they re-posted one from Four Seasons Total Landscaping saying they were popping down to Wegner’s for some crudités. Now I’m waiting for Matt “Not That Guy” Gertz to chime in.

  15. 15.

    The Moar You Know

    “This story is totally untrue. Alina Habba is not only an incredibly competent attorney, she has our utmost trust and confidence and has the fortitude to take on some of the most politically corrupt and unethical institutions in this country,” read a statement attributed to Eric Trump, one of the president’s sons.

    They had to go to the dumb one to find anyone who would say anything good about her.

    TFG will end up with the death penalty over a parking ticket.

  16. 16.

    Redshift

    @cain:

    Also I suspect he hasn’t paid them!

    The article does mention his habit of not paying as one of his obstacles to getting good representation.

    Though I thought the RNC was still paying his legal bills. At least, there was a story not long ago about RNC chair Ronna “Romney who?” declaring they would stop doing that if he became a candidate. (Which is a laughably empty threat, but still.)

  19. 19.

    dmsilev

    Please, please, please, let him end up with Alan Dershowitz and Jonathan Turley as his attorneys.

  21. 21.

    West of the Cascades

    I’m disappointed at the Writers – “Jim Trusty” is a lazy pseudonym to use for a criminal lawyer right after the end of “Better Call Saul.”

  22. 22.

    Betsy

    Jeff Jackson who is in the NC state senate now, and is running for congress in NC’s new 14th district.  He’s dynamic and progressive, sends a tightly written and informative newsletter to his constituents. Great communication style. Super smart!

    https://www.jeffjacksonnc.com

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Jackson_(politician)

    ETA: dangit! I posted this in two incorrect threads.  Probably due to my habit of keeping 500 tabs open.

    Oh well.  This is an open thread.

  23. 23.

    Redshift

    @JPL:

    If trump is accused of a crime, and if it goes to trial, the jury should be sequestered.

    just sayin

    Ooooooh, yeah! All the protections of (other) mob cases – sequestered, identities protected permanently, taken in and out of the courthouse through a non-public entrance, the whole works.

  24. 24.

    bbleh

    Until then, this is an amusing little sidelight …

    An amuse-bouche, as it were.  Or perhaps given that it’s Trump, crudités.

  26. 26.

    dm

    @MattF:

    Apparently, Trump thinks Habba is hot.

    Presumably the presence of the word “Trump” primed my visual system to read the conclusion of your sentence as “Jabba the Hut”.

  27. 27.

    Ken

    @The Moar You Know: I hadn’t realized that parking garages were the most unethical institutions in this country. Is it the “each hour or any fraction thereof” charges? Those always irritated me.

  28. 28.

    sdhays

    @The Moar You Know: Would a competent attorney sign a legally binding document professing a total lie concerning highly-sensitive national security documents? Or would a competent attorney keep representing a client who lied to her so that she signed such a document?

    I suppose you could argue competent vs. ethical, but a competent unethical lawyer would be more clever than this, I would think.

  30. 30.

    Ken

    @sdhays: That sounds like one of Raymond Smullyan’s logic puzzles. The incompetent unethical attorney plans to lie because they are unethical, but inadvertently tells the truth because they are incompetent…

  31. 31.

    Mike in NC

    Sadly, this country has an endless supply of unethical lawyers and dirty ex-cops ready, willing, and able to go to bat for TFG.

  32. 32.

    Cacti

    Trump is a nightmare client for a few reasons:

    1. MFer doesn’t pay
    2. Thinks he’s smarter/knows the law better than his attorneys
    3. Consequently, he doesn’t listen and never knows when to STFU
  33. 33.

    HumboldtBlue

    Jared Kushner wrote a book and it’s gonna get panned, badly.

    “Breaking History” is an earnest and soulless — Kushner looks like a mannequin, and he writes like one — and peculiarly selective appraisal of Donald J. Trump’s term in office. Kushner almost entirely ignores the chaos, the alienation of allies, the breaking of laws and norms, the flirtations with dictators, the comprehensive loss of America’s moral leadership, and so on, ad infinitum, to speak about his boyish tinkering (the “mechanic”) with issues he was interested in.

    This book is like a tour of a once majestic 18th-century wooden house, now burned to its foundations, that focuses solely on, and rejoices in, what’s left amid the ashes: the two singed bathtubs, the gravel driveway and the mailbox. Kushner’s fealty to Trump remains absolute. Reading this book reminded me of watching a cat lick a dog’s eye goo.

  34. 34.

    Old School

    According to her online bio, Alina Habba served as lead counsel on Trump vs. Mary Trump, The New York Times Company, et al.

    So I’m going to assume she’s received some payment from Trump in the past.

  35. 35.

    VOR

    TFG embodies the 3 worst things about a client for a lawyer.

    1. He doesn’t listen.
    2. He doesn’t keep quiet.
    3. He doesn’t pay.
  36. 36.

    japa21

    @Jackie: ​
     The Florida poll is nice but probably meaningless at this point in time. The Marquette poll is a different story. First, they have a good reputation. Second, for a challenger who just won his primary to be over 50% now is rare and very encouraging.

  39. 39.

    RaflW

    Isn’t Trump functionally broke, though? Maybe Kush can advance him some cash from the sure-to-be-bestseller he had ghostwritten.

  40. 40.

    sdhays

    I have to admit, I’m a little surprised by his reputation for not paying his lawyers. Obviously, he has a well-deserved reputation for robbing any other type of vendor blind, but I was always given to understand that he didn’t play those games with his lawyers since they were the ones protecting him for the other vendors he stole from (Dummy 9/11 excepted since he “agreed” to represent Trump for free because the whole point was to abuse attorney-client privilege to discuss committing crimes and Rudy’s just incredibly stupid, even for the group of people who would jump at working for Trump “for free”).

  41. 41.

    Roger Moore

    @Ken:

    The incompetent unethical attorney plans to lie because they are unethical, but inadvertently tells the truth because they are incompetent…

    More likely, they plan on lying, but their lies are unconvincing.  They don’t necessarily let the truth out, but everyone knows they’re lying so the lies have no effect except possibly getting them in trouble.

  42. 42.

    columbusqueen

    @VOR: Yep, the client from hell.  No one is going to touch him with a ten foot pole now, not even if he offers a huge retainer up front.

  43. 43.

    Anonymous At Work

    Were I a desperate attorney with an interest in fame from OAN, I’d still insist on a retainer 4~5 times larger than needed and a clause that lets me keep it if Trump makes public statements about the case against advice.  There’s no other way to control him that put a direct financial cost on his public (mis)conduct.

  44. 44.

    Roger Moore

    @RaflW:

    Isn’t Trump functionally broke, though?

    I don’t think we really know.  His finances are so complex, it’s very difficult to know how much he owns and how much he owes.  And then there’s the stuff like PACs he controls, which he may be able to use to cover his legal expenses.  I don’t think his failure to pay people has typically been because he can’t; it’s because he’s too cheap.  Even if he were clearly billions in the black, he would still try to avoid paying.  That’s just who he is.

  45. 45.

    sdhays

    @japa21: There is definitely something going on in Florida, although I wouldn’t bet on Demings leading either. There was another poll a week or two ago that showed her within the margin of error with Rubio, with, I think, a third of voters not really sure who she is. Rubio had a 52% unfavorable rating, which surprised me since I thought he was the least unpleasant Republican statewide office-holder in that state.

    Rubio is much weaker than I thought he was, which means Demings actually has a chance – I’ve been pretty skeptical up to now that she has a chance at all. Still an uphill battle, but much more plausible than I had thought.

  46. 46.

    Captain C

    @MattF:

    Apparently, Trump thinks Habba is hot.

    “Don’t worry about your fee.  I’ll pay you in sex.  Sex with me.  It’s the best, the very best.  Everyone says this, they say, ‘Sir, you’re the best ever, please consider me on call for you whenever you need me.'”

  48. 48.

    Danielx

    I seem to recall that a firm representing him during (one of) his bankruptcy proceedings finally made a rule that he had to meet with at least two of the firm’s attorneys present because the fool lied so much that two independent participants needed to be able to attest to what was said during meetings.

  49. 49.

    Cameron

    @Scout211: Damn, that has been a long-running case.  I think it had already been around for a few years when I moved to Florida – and that was in 2016.

  50. 50.

    Captain C

    @The Moar You Know:

    They had to go to the dumb one to find anyone who would say anything good about her.

    Ivanka’s probably jealous of the attention that Daddy is giving his new attorney.

  51. 51.

    RaflW

    @HumboldtBlue: That was how I started my day. Definitely brightened up an otherwise moderately unpleasant adventure in succumbing to the ‘rona after 30 months of being careful & lucky.

  52. 52.

    Captain C

    @sdhays:

    I suppose you could argue competent vs. ethical, but a competent unethical lawyer would be more clever than this, I would think.

    This reminded me of a line from a book I read long ago:

    “Frankly, as an ethical attorney, I can’t tell you what I think you should do.  An unethical attorney, were he here, would advise you to leave the country immediately.”

  57. 57.

    Baud

    @NYCMT:

    Oh good. The initial reporting was that they didn’t secure his cooperation as part of the deal.

    ETA I see, he will testify against the company but not Trump.

  58. 58.

    Betty Cracker

    @sdhays: Rubio is arguably the least odious high-profile Republican in Florida, certainly less evil and destructive than DeSantis or Rick Scott. But he’s a weak, empty suit, so people in every faction on both sides are contemptuous of him for different reasons.

    If he’s reelected, it will be because DeSantis turns out the MAGA dopes and they bother to fill out the whole ticket, not because of Rubio’s personal appeal. It wouldn’t be the first time Rubio failed upward in that way.

    I keep hoping that massive blowback on DeSantis and the rest of the Republican ticket for their radicalization over the past four years is flying under the radar. I don’t expect it, but I think it could happen.

  59. 59.

    David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    Speaking of lawyers, I once got to sit next to Vincent Bugliosi on a plane. What a guy – very sweet, great sense of humor, epitome of dynamic.​

  60. 60.

    Doug R

    Trump is also being represented in the records dispute by Alina Habba, who leads a three-attorney firm with an office near Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, N.J. Her professional experience includes serving as general counsel to a parking garage company.

    So even at age 76, trump is still searching for validation?

  61. 61.

    Roger Moore

    @Baud:

    ETA I see, he will testify against the company but not Trump.

    I think it was always going to be hard to nail Trump personally on that stuff, but getting his company will hurt him deeply.

  62. 62.

    David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    BREAKING: Trump is trying to find criminal defense lawyers and is getting turned down by everyone.Maybe this is what happens when you get a reputation for not paying your lawyers and other vendors…
    — Tristan Snell (@TristanSnell) August 17, 2022

    News accounts say Dump was rejected as a client by the law firm of Dewey, Cheatum, and Howe

  65. 65.

    Ken

    @Roger Moore: We will get to see all sorts of explanations about how the Trump Organization isn’t legally the same thing as Trump, which may not pass some people’s smell tests.

    We may also get to see excuses about how the businessman wasn’t aware of what was going on in his company, which should at least be good for a laugh, and may erode some support.

  68. 68.

    David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    @Ken: ​
      Dump, himself, will say “I don’t know the Trump Organization, I wouldn’t know what it looked like if it was standing next to me, and it’s not my type.”

  69. 69.

    dmsilev

    @Ken: Most rich people when setting up corporate shells who feel the need to self-brand chose names like “DJT Holdings” or something like that. Trump’s ego is such that he needed his full name plastered over all of it. Good luck separating him from it…

  70. 70.

    jonas

    @RaflW: ​
      He (somehow) recently renegotiated a bunch of debt that was coming due and sold assets (like the Trump hotel in DC) that have left him in pretty good shape financially, apparently. And then there’s all the political fundraising grifts, and so on. Trump’s not short of cash. He doesn’t pay his lawyers and contractors not because he doesn’t have the money, but because stiffing people beneath him is a power trip.

  73. 73.

    danielx

    @Baud: ​ Might change his mind after a few days in Rikers.

    As part of Weisselberg’s plea deal —

      for which he’s expected to serve five months on Rikers Island

    — Weisselberg will agree to testify against the companies when they goes to trial in October if he is called as a witness, according to a source who spoke on the condition of anonymity.​

    ​
    ​

  74. 74.

    danielx

    @jonas: ​
     He doesn’t pay his lawyers and contractors not because he doesn’t have the money, but because stiffing people beneath him is a power trip. he’s a cheap prick.

    Shorter.

  76. 76.

    sdhays

    @Roger Moore: Aren’t most of his assets tied up in the Trump Organization? They’re going for the corporate death penalty, so theoretically it could wipe out most of his wealth.

  77. 77.

    Mallard Filmore

    @Betty Cracker: I saw an article not very long ago about DeSantis.  Put “desantis” “court” “forgery” into Google and out pops

    https://www.muckrock.com/foi/florida-34/desantis-corrupt-felony-courthouse-forgery-cover-up-executive-office-of-the-governor-of-florida-127252/

    Ahh. There is what I saw:
    https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142957259
    “Ron DeSantis’ Watergate: His cover-up of felonies of Lee County State’s Attorney”

    Hopefully this problem will grow.

  79. 79.

    sdhays

    @jonas: It pisses me off so much that he was allowed to keep the DC hotel after he became President. It was explicitly barred by the terms of the lease, not to mention the Emoluments Clause Suggestion in the Constitution, but laws aren’t supposed to apply for cosplay rich Republicans.

  81. 81.

    Layer8Problem

    @danielx:  Yeah, I don’t know that Rikers has special accommodations for delicate-looking accountant types.  He may find his new neighbors to be a little rough-edged.

  82. 82.

    Another Scott

    @NYCMT: Thanks for the pointer. Twitter version:

    Source confirms Allen Weisselberg will implicate the Trump Organization and Trump Payroll Corp when he pleads guilty to criminal tax fraud charges in the morning — and he will agree to testify against them at trial in October if called as a witness. https://t.co/c7HCjwfm0n

    — Molly Crane-Newman (@molcranenewman) August 17, 2022

    (via Popehat)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  83. 83.

    eclare

    @Ken:   Wasn’t that part of Kenneth Lay’s defense in the trial over Enron?  That as CEO he had no idea what the company was doing?

  85. 85.

    Ruckus

    @jonas:

    Considering how he operates I imagine that even with recent incomes that you noted, he might be rather skint. He’s never been actually known to have a lot of loose cash laying around, he’s so often trying to screw someone that I’d bet his unseen outflow is rather close in amount to any income of any kind. IOW he’s not the smartest shark in the pool.

  86. 86.

    Ken

    @Another Scott: I see Popehat has stuck with “18Hat793” for another day.

    Maybe it’s like those displays some sound mixers use, where they have an indicator of the highest volume so far seen? Popehat will change the nym when a more serious crime comes along.

  91. 91.

    danielx

    @eclare: ​
     It was. Didn’t work, he died of a heart attack while awaiting sentencing. While on vacation in Snowmass CO near Aspen, in case there was any doubt that the rich are different from you and me.

  92. 92.

    eclare

    @danielx:   I thought I remembered that.  When the Enron debacle happened, I was working for one of their competitors.  It filed for bankruptcy soon after, and I quit soon after that.

  93. 93.

    NYCMT

    The Times, late as usual, with a longer story. 

    “The plea deal will allow Mr. Weisselberg, who was facing up to 15 years in prison, to spend as little as 100 days behind bars, according to people with knowledge of the matter. And it does not require Mr. Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s longtime chief financial officer, to cooperate with the Manhattan district attorney’s office in its broader investigation into Mr. Trump, who has not been accused of wrongdoing.

    But Mr. Weisselberg will have to admit to all 15 felonies he was charged with and if called as a witness at the company’s trial will have to testify about his role in a scheme to avoid paying taxes on lavish corporate perks, the people said. That requirement will put the Trump Organization at a disadvantage and make Mr. Weisselberg a central witness at the October trial, where the company will face many of the same charges.

    Mr. Weisselberg will not implicate Mr. Trump or his family if he takes the stand in that trial, the people said.”

    So strange, like the mob prosecutions in the 60s and 70s.

  97. 97.

    trollhattan

    @Jackie: Is there any way Rubio agrees to debate Demings? Because the idea of him trying to tough-guy her has me giddy at the chance to watch. Mind, that little prick (that would be Rubio, for those scoring at home) has enough ego to believe he can. C’mon Marco, fulfill some dreams here.

  98. 98.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Ruckus:

    I’d bet his unseen outflow is rather close in amount to any income of any kind.

    An article I read during his administration said that the golf courses he loves so much bleed money like water.  All of his regular business ventures were in bad shape already before his behavior as president made his name radioactive.  The assholes traveling from rally to rally don’t golf on his courses.  Supposedly he was losing money faster than he was making it with his direct grifts like charging the Secret Service, it’s that bad.

  108. 108.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Chip Daniels: the NYT article suggests he will testify against the trump companies, but not The Beast itself or its spawn. “Mr trump knew nothing! nothing! about the trump organization” ? I don’t get it.

  109. 109.

    Another Scott

    @Frankensteinbeck: Plus he has – at best – creative financial books.  How would he know if someone else were skimming vast amounts off the top?  He wouldn’t.

    I’m reminded about the story of Long’s Chevrolet (from 1986):

    Jim Long, who once owned the nation`s largest Chevrolet dealership, is making a comeback. But rather than sell Chevies, Long will be a Dodge car and truck dealer. The closest he`ll come to Chevy will be when he passes his new neighbor, Z-Frank Chevrolet, in the 6100 block of N. Western Avenue.

    Long, now 55, was selling 30,000 cars and grossing $220 million in 1981 at Long Chevrolet in Elmhurst. His claim to fame was a lot bulging with 2,000 new cars and trucks.

    Then, on Nov. 11 of that year, General Motors Acceptance Corp., GM`s financing arm, demanded that Long pay up on an $8.7 million loan or turn over all the cars and trucks on his lot.

    Long defaulted on the loan, lost his inventory and on Nov. 30, 1981, filed for reorganization under the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process. In paying off creditors, Long filed a Chapter 7 personal bankruptcy last September.

    ”I was worth $15 million to $20 million prior to the episode and got down to zero,” Long said in an interview. ”But why dream about what I lost? I prefer to think that I took the $5,000 my mother lent me in 1947 and blew it. It`s not so painful that way.”

    Interest rates were soaring–22 to 23 percent financing was the norm–and consumers simply weren`t buying cars in 1981. The rates affected Long, who had borrowed from GMAC to keep those 2,000 cars on his lot. His floor planning, or interest on the loans to stock his inventory, was $500,000 a month.

    But while interest rates and poor sales were forcing 758 dealers nationwide out of business in 1981, Long`s biggest problem turned out to be employee theft, specifically embezzlement. James Elza, a former finance manager for Long, was charged with embezzling $500,000 from the company. He later was sentenced to one year`s imprisonment, serving nights and weekends.

    That wasn`t all, though. Someone within or outside the dealership ordered cars in Long`s name from Chevrolet but had them shipped elsewhere, where they were sold and the money was pocketed.

    ”Cars were diverted. Who did it, I`ll never know for sure,” Long said.

    ”There was evidence of mob involvement, but it wasn`t pursued. When you sell 30,000 cars a year, if 1 percent go unnoticed, you`re talking 300 cars. That`s $2 million or $3 million out of $220 million in annual sales, and you don`t miss it.”

    […]

    Spy Magazine had TFG cashing checks for 13-cents, but that doesn’t mean he actually knew where the money was going…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  110. 110.

    cain

    @Jackie: You know what that means! Operation Voter Suppression are in the works! Sometimes these polls encourage this kind of shit.

    If they piss off white women, that’s going to be the death of them.

  112. 112.

    Roger Moore

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    An article I read during his administration said that the golf courses he loves so much bleed money like water.

    That sounds completely believable, both that the courses lose money and that he keeps them anyway for the status.  Seeing this made me read about his course in the LA area, which sounds like a total money pit.  It’s located on a cliff above the ocean on the Palos Verdes peninsula, which has a beautiful view but is geologically unstable.  He was able to pick the course up for a relative song- $27 million for over 100 acres, which is fantastically cheap anywhere in LA- because it needed a couple hundred million dollars in repairs.  The whole thing could easily collapse in a big earthquake.

  113. 113.

    Steeplejack

    @sdhays:

    Two odd things that continue to plague me with fits of rage when I’m reminded of them are the Trump International Hotel fiasco and the fact that Chris Christie completely skated on Bridgegate.

    Trump International opened just weeks before the 2016 election; it seems like there should have been a way to block that until after the election to see who won and then force Trump to divest if he won. But it was a giant “fuck you” through his whole term.

    And Christie is now rehabilitated back to being a bookable pundit on most of the channels, not just Fox. Blecch.

  114. 114.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Roger Moore: I remember reading that the one in LA had a huge drop off in business once he started campaigning. The courses in Ireland and Scotland are losers, and Doral in particular is a sinkhole, just a bad course a bad spot even before he got into politics, as I recall. I think the ones in NJ and VA do better because of catering– your MAGAt bridezillas can’t pay enough for the chance of a photo op at their wedding, I guess. And he doubled the admission and/or annual fees at MAL before he was even inaugurated.

  115. 115.

    Redshift

    @WaterGirl:

    Maybe one of our attorneys can clarify the distinction between those terms!

    IANAL, but I listen to Preet Bharara’s podcast, but from what I understand, if you cooperate, you have to testify to everything you’ve done, you don’t get to pick and choose.

  116. 116.

    Roger Moore

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    The thing with golf courses in the LA area is that all the land that’s within the TMZ that plausibly can be developed already has been.  If there’s enough land open to build a golf course, it means there’s something wrong with the property that keeps people from building houses there.  Here in Pasadena, for example, the only golf courses are built in floodplains where housing development is forbidden.  It’s smart planning, really; they’ve found a somewhat productive use for land that would otherwise be unusable*.  But it means that beautiful looking place you’ve decided would be perfect for a course has some kind of problem.

    *Though I would be happier if the land were used for public parks that are usable by more people at one time.

  117. 117.

    Pennsylvanian

    @danielx: yes that Enron fucker. I think he is also the one that died the year there was no estate tax. Fucker even got to take it with him. I like to think he’s choking on it I hell.

  120. 120.

    Dadadadadadada

    And now I read that an ex-employee of Habba’s is suing her for racial and sex discrimination.

  121. 121.

    jayne

    I still think there’s about a 50-50 shot Donnie pulls a “Hitler in the bunker.” You know he’s got a cyanide tablet lined up for Jared already.

  123. 123.

    Quicksand

    @NotMax:

    “This looks promising. ‘Tarbaby, Quicksand and Sinkhole, A Law Corporation.’”

    Sadly I’m not admitted in Florida.

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