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You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Repub Venality Open Thread: Harlan Crow’s (Bought & Paid For) Defenders: It’s A Small, Small World

Repub Venality Open Thread: Harlan Crow’s (Bought & Paid For) Defenders: It’s A Small, Small World

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There is much to be said about ‘Justice’ Clarence Thomas being outed as a wholly-owned vassal of a particularly venal Texas real-estate development scion, but the subsidiary blowback among the Respectable Right-Wing Media Class tm is… also worth noting, IMO:


Reader Interactions

178Comments

  1. 1.

    Ruckus

    Isn’t this a wonderful democracy, where money buys you the ability to screw over as many people as your pocket change will allow?

    I mean normal humans are limited to thinking about it, but those who have managed to be wealthy enough to purchase a Supreme Court justice have all the fun.

  2. 2.

    John Revolta

    if he were sympathetic to Hitler why would he have a deep 25 year friendship with the courts’s only black justice?

    Keep thinking……………you’re almost there!……………..

    Including people of the left

    Who I’m sure will all be speaking up soon………….any minute now………………

  3. 3.

    p.a.

    So KOA Thomas is just the tip of the iceberg.  And Crow’s lapdogs are yipping in defense.  Will Thomas head to a safe space and start whinging à la Scalito?

  4. 4.

    The Moar You Know

    “Wealthist” is a thing?  Oh fuck me.  These mooks have an infinite capacity for grievance.

  5. 5.

    MagdaInBlack

    So another “every accusation is a confession?”  They blame everything on Soros, while being bankrolled by this guy.

    Am I the only one who has never heard of Harlan Crow before?

  6. 6.

    J R in WV

    I start my chemo tomorrow,  cisplaten and something else less toxic.  Wish me luck!

  16. 16.

    Another Scott

    Good luck J R!

    The thing is even if Harlan Crow collected Precious Moment figures the point remains that Clarence Thomas is corrupt.

    — Schooley (@Rschooley) April 9, 2023

    +1

    Eyes on the prizes.

    (via nycsouthpaw)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  20. 20.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @J R in WV:

    I will be thinking of you tomorrow (as I have been since you shared your diagnosis). You have my best possible wishes!

  23. 23.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Brachiator:

    Am I the only one who has never heard of Harlan Crow before?

    Never heard of the guy before this current controversy.

    Nor I.

  26. 26.

    Tehanu

    @J R in WV: Best of luck. I have two very close friends who went through it and it’s no fun, but they’re still here which is the whole point.  Hope your experience is even better.

  27. 27.

    Ken

    I feel that there is some version of the Streisand effect in play here, with all these people rushing to Crow’s defense and thereby drawing attention to Crow, and to their own past with him, and to how many of them there are.

    Sending best wishes your way, J R in WV.

  30. 30.

    Mr. Bemused Senior

    I find it revealing that Clarence Thomas felt impelled to offer a response, and in so doing was so transparently lying. Does he himself even think anyone believes his explanation that he “sought guidance?”

    P.S., best wishes to J R

  31. 31.

    Steeplejack

    @Brachiator:

    I hadn’t heard of Harlan Crow before, but “Crow” and “real estate” set the spidey sense tingling. I knew about Trammell Crow decades ago, and when I read that Harlan Crow was a real-estate guy I assumed they were related. (Harlan is Trammell’s son.) Trammell presented as a standard-issue Texas Republican rich guy and kept any extreme nuttiness (if any) on the down low.

  32. 32.

    BruceFromOhio

    harlan crow opening the ark of the covenant and accidentally liquefying 2/3 of the national review masthead and three supreme court justices

    I am so down for this. How can I help?

  38. 38.

    frosty

    @J R in WV: Best of luck to you! I know a couple of people who have gone through chemo and come out the other side. I expect you to be the next.

  40. 40.

    Suzanne

    @J R in WV: .May your infusions be painless and your side effects be minimal and — ultimately — may this shit knock that cancer to the curb!

  43. 43.

    Ruckus

    @J R in WV:

    I got 9 weeks of radiation therapy. It’s always good times, just keep thinking positive thoughts, follow the entire protocol exactly and good luck.

  44. 44.

    Suzanne

    The piece is loaded with words and phrases intended to convey that this is all somehow disreputable: “superyacht”; “luxury trips”; “exclusive California all-male retreat”; “sprawling ranch”; “private chefs”; “elegant accommodation”; “opulent lodge”; “lavishing the justice with gifts.” And more.

    What fucken dumb shit. Not a single word or phrase quoted has any definition or even a shading of disreputability. Unless the WSJ thinks it’s disreputable to be rich. Which…. Oh shit, telling on themselves.

  46. 46.

    Poe Larity

    Hitler’s China is as close to Ming Dynasty quality as any Texas realtor doofus will ever get.

    Leave Trammel Harlan alone!

  48. 48.

    Jackie

    @J R in WV: Sending good luck and minimal yukkiness and side effects your way. And double good luck for a positive outcome!🤞🏻🤞🏻

  49. 49.

    RaflW

    @SiubhanDuinne: As a former resident of Texas (but never a Texan), his daddy’s name was inescapable in the DFW area in the 80s. Fred Trammel Crow. Though to be more accurate, back then I thought Trammel Crow was just a corporate name, like it was a partnership and those were two last names, not a middle and last of one guy.

  50. 50.

    Kriger09

    All of Crow’s defenders are (probably deliberately) trying to muddy the waters by focusing on the “garden of evil.” The statues of dictators, which he says are to ensure we remember how terrible they are, are almost all Communists. No Nazi, or rightwing fascist, statues there. So I believe him that he hates them, but because of the Communism. But he apparently doesn’t think the Nazis need a statue in his garden of evil, unlike Communists.

    The Nazi and Hitler stuff is various memorabilia housed in his home, ie alongside things he likes and supports (Thatcher paintings, historical documents, etc.). He has Hitler’s paintings and a signed copy of Mien Kampf, not a signed copy of the Communist Manifesto or drawings by Stalin.

    By equating the Nazi memorabilia with his separate shrine to how much he hates communist figures, and making it seem like the Nazi stuff is alongside the Communist stuff, his defenders are intentionally misconstruing the context. They are qualitatively different.

  52. 52.

    Ruckus

    @Suzanne:

    Oh shit, telling on themselves.

    They know very well and have since the inception of the WSJ what is going on in their world. They just think it’s absolutely fine.

  55. 55.

    Hitchhiker

    Helpful analogy w/respect to the Clarence Thomas corruption:

    Suppose the NFL owners learned that a very rich dude with an interest in one particular team was taking a certain referee on vacation every summer, to the most expensive and elite resorts on the planet.

    Would everybody be fine with that?

  57. 57.

    Betsy

    Why are all these super-rich people so very WEIRD?? They’re so weird!

    Musk, deVos, Crow, that Koch (?) sister with the giant forehead — is there any such thing as a normal billionaire?!?

     

  59. 59.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @RaflW:

    Trammel Crow was the developer of Peachtree Center in downtown Atlanta, an area which I used to know well. But like you, I too thought Trammel Crow was just a corporate name, like it was a partnership and those were two last names, not a middle and last of one guy.

    :-)

  61. 61.

    SpaceUnit

    Nothing weird about a ton of folks who make a living sucking at the fascism tit coming to the defense of a really wealthy conservative dude who collects nazi memorabilia.

  64. 64.

    Gvg

    What I find great is that the media are connecting all the dots for me like they are supposed to. Explaining who all these defenders are and how sleepy they are and their nasty connections to natzi type stuff, writing torture memos and other things I had forgotten….that is really great and much better and even more important than the original story about Thomas. I hope this gets spread widely.

    That the WSJ is spreading some of it is also great. Does that mean Rupert is not a friend of Crow’s?

    I want to see lots of stories about each of these people who are in that group.

    why the heck would even rich white people be into Hitler? He was not as smart as he thought and killed a bunch of rich people too and wrecked their country. Is their life too pampered and they have to have hate to make it less boring?

  67. 67.

    different-church-lady

    @Gvg:

    why the heck would even rich white people be into Hitler? He was not as smart as he thought and killed a bunch of rich people too and wrecked their country.

    Rich white people are really into two out of those three things.

  68. 68.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Betsy:

    that Koch (?) sister with the giant forehead

    By any chance are you thinking of Rebekah Mercer? She has a decidedly outsized forehead in the pictures I’ve seen.

  72. 72.

    Ruckus

    @Gvg:

    I imagine, not being anything like monied, that if one is rich one wouldn’t want to hang out with normal people. Which would mean if you hang out with other people of wealth you’ll find out what they do with their money and find something to do with yours. Because I imagine that owning 8 or more houses and having enough money that you can do most anything you can imagine doing with money becomes a chase for that “high” like drug users look for, that one thing that makes it worthwhile. Taking drugs would require a high of epic proportions and hoarding money would require spending some in a way that no more than a few might select to spend theirs. IOW, some sort of kink. Like nazi crap. Cause ya know that hitler was a bit nuts so his memorabilia is likely suited to a wealthy collector looking for something unusual to spend money on. Either that or he liked the concept of hitler. And defending a rich guy who is known in his rich circles to collect hitler crap as if it is no big deal seems so normal…..

  74. 74.

    Another Scott

    @SpaceUnit: I can’t find it now, but someone on Twitter said something like:

    “Collecting Hitler’s stuff doesn’t make Crow a bad person.  Being a close personal friend of Clarence Thomas for more than 20 years is what makes Crow a bad person.”

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  78. 78.

    Steeplejack

    Jay Willis:

    Genuinely funny that Harlan Crow’s Nazi fetish has other right-wingers coming out of the woodwork like “How can he be weird when I, too, am somewhat of an appreciator of historical racists?”

    “I’m just a history buff, what’s the big deal? Sure, all the eras about which I’d call myself an ‘enthusiast’ have a very specific thing in common, but obviously that’s a coincidence.”

  80. 80.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @J R in WV: More than luck, grace , miracle, science! We all need something to believe in to send our power forth.

    ETA I beat the evil C once, so far.

  84. 84.

    JeffH

    @MisterForkbeard: I haven’t followed it too closely, but I believe that’s essentially what has happened in Spanish soccer with Barcelona. Needless to say, people are very much not ok with it.

  87. 87.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @Betsy: Why are all these super-rich people so very WEIRD?? They’re so weird!

    I think you legitimately need to be a sociopath to accrue a billion dollars. That number can probably be smaller, too.

  90. 90.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Betsy: Rick&Joanie thought their son was coming in to bitch about the Dilbert author getting canceled, not Garfield.

  93. 93.

    Spadizzly

    “Harlan Crow is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I’ve ever known in my life.”

    Mike Pence

  94. 94.

    Steeplejack

    @Betsy:

    I think the joke is that the kid is referring to Scott Adams but thinking Garfield instead of Dilbert. I wasn’t clear on how that related to your question, unless it’s about Adams stanning for Elon Musk.

  95. 95.

    Roberto el oso

    @Suzanne: the funny thing is is that if you go thru the quoted bits and remove the adjectives it still comes across as a very wealthy lifestyle … I have a feeling that the WSJ’s attempt to make anyone feel bad about being ‘wealthist’ may not succeed.

  97. 97.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Steeplejack: @Betsy: Sorry, i was just referring to the thesis of the parents, that people have to always be editing themselves, not just putting out whatever they think all the time.  And that …. well, that’s what gazillionaires like Crow don’t ever have to do, b/c they’re surrounded by people who’ll say “yes sir, brilliant idea!” no matter what it is.

  98. 98.

    Kineslaw

    I know people that worked for and absolutely adored and respected Trammell Crow.  They never, not once, mentioned Harlan Crow, which I suspect is a tell.

  99. 99.

    Hilbertsubspace

    I hesitate to mention it, but the villain’s name in The Dead Pool (Dirty Harry 5) was Harlan Rook.  Rook being another species of Genus Corvus like the crow.  Rook was obsessed with horror (movies) and Crow seems obsessed with actual horror.  Such an unusual coincidence.

    There was a good article on coincidence by mathematician Marvin Gardener about 15-20 years ago before he passed.  He stated that the sheer number of potential strange coincidences should cause us to observe more than are actually reported or seen.

    The gap is caused by peoples poor observation skills and poor memory (My statement not Gardener’s).  People with above average observation and memory will see more coincidence and if they are ungrounded can be lured in conspiratorial thinking.  Like the idea we live in a computer simulation (We don’t).

  100. 100.

    piratedan

    so in keeping with the running theory that everything that the GOP throws out as an accusation is simply a projection of their own misdeeds because if they’re doing it then EVERYONE else must be doing it as well….

    does this mean that decades of George Soros accusations are actually projections of the activities of Mr. Harlan Crow?

    cripes…..   wonder if this plays into the appendix that all of these conspiracy theories floated by the far right over Soros, Clinton and da Juice being pedophiles and sex traffickers and seeking to subvert the rule of law and turn us all into heathen snowflakes where men can’t be men and be served beer outta their fridges by wimmen…. into…… nah…….

  102. 102.

    Chetan Murthy

    @piratedan: Well, it seems Harlan’s brother is involved in a massive sex-slavery scandal (how can it be a scandal, when it’s a massive crime?  Shouldn’t it be “criminal conspiracy?”)  Him and several other Texas businessmen apparently held several women captive, raped them, etc, etc, etc.  Somehow, this isn’t a massive national story.  So yeah, EAIAC.

  104. 104.

    StringOnAStick

    @J R in WV: Best of luck and best of medical science to you tomorrow, and every day of your treatment journey, from now until you emerge cancer -free at the other side.

  105. 105.

    Hilbertsubspace

    @SpaceUnit:TL;DR version: It’s a weird world.

    He has the name of a literal movie villain.

    Like I said, I hesitated because people think coincidence is meaningful.

    And good luck to J R in WV.  I’ll be rooting for you also.

  107. 107.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    The only thing I’ve ever read by Charles Murray was his history of the Apollo program, and it took some time for me to realize it was the same Charles Murray. I’m at a loss as to what to do with that book, which I really liked.

  109. 109.

    Hilbertsubspace

    @Bruce K in ATH-GR: Wernher von Braun was a Nazi and America treated him better then England treated Alan Turing who was just gay.

    Human societies have issues.  Humans are the problem there is no solution for.*  Killing isn’t an answer just like multiplying both sides of an equation by zero isn’t an answer, it solves nothing.

    *Don’t @ me for sentence structure.  Natural language is my weakness.

  112. 112.

    Chris T.

    @Hilbertsubspace:

    Don’t @ me for sentence structure. Natural language is my weakness.

    OK, but how about “a” vs “the”? You said “the” problem without a solution; surely there are many more….  Then again, perhaps that’s a natural language issue. 😀

    (ETA: adding this comment should cause a new thread to spring into being, let’s see if that works!)

  113. 113.

    AlaskaReader

    Wilson H. Taylor, chairman of the Board of Trustees of the American Enterprise Institute, announced the retirement of four AEI trustees and the election of four new trustees following the Board’s annual meeting on December 6. Retiring are Raymond E. Cartledge, former chairman and CEO, Union Camp Corporation; James W. Kinnear, former president and CEO, Texaco Incorporated; Paul F. Oreffice, former chairman, Dow Chemical Company; and Henry Wendt, former chairman, SmithKline Beecham. Mr. Oreffice, who served as AEI chairman from 1990 to 1994, and Mr. Wendt were named emeritus trustees of AEI.

    The new AEI trustees are Dick Cheney, Harlan Crow, Harvey Golub, and William S. Stavropoulos.

  114. 114.

    a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)

    @J R in WV: Good luck! I know I’m not the only one here who’ll have you in mind these coming weeks.

  115. 115.

    Hilbertsubspace

    @Chris T.: Good point.  There is no general solution to the quintic equation but they all have solutions.  The three body problem exists so does it’s solution, but we don’t have it and might not understand it if we saw it.  You cannot trisect a general angle with compass and straight edge.  But the solution is that it can be proven impossible.  But you are correct, there are many problems we don’t currently have a solution too.

    Like where is the next open thread, and why am I awake?

    To quote Jim Carrey in The Mask

    “Somebody, Stop ME!”

  119. 119.

    Citizen Alan

    @MagdaInBlack: Honestly, there are so many evil RW billionaires, it’s impossible to keep up with him. I mean, seriously, “Harlan Crow”?!? He doesn’t even sound real! That’s the name of the villain in a Stephen King novel who turns out to be possessed by a literal demon!

  121. 121.

    Citizen Alan

    @Betsy: The main reason I support confiscatory tax rates is because I truly believe that wealth beyond a certain point (well below billionaire status) literally makes people become deranged and evil. Every single member of the 0.1% should be viewed as a dangerous psychopath armed with resources equivalent to a small nation and committed to destroying America.

  123. 123.

    JaySinWA

    Meanwhile back at the ranch: let’s not forget Texas Gov Abbott wants to fast track a pardon of a man convicted of murdering a BLM protester. cnn.com/2023/04/09/us/greg-abbott-pardon-daniel-perry/index.html

    It shouldn’t get lost in all the bribery and authoritarian stuff that has been going on in the background with Crow. There should be as much outcry against that as possible.

    As to Crow, it strikes me that we have many examples of “righteous” men that have been found to have the very things they rail against in their possession. Like the man arrested for child porn who was a victim advocate. miamiherald.com/news/local/crime/article273753550.html

    Hiding his obsession with authoritarians in plain sight while claiming his garden of evil and other collected works was some kind of anti authoritarian scene, while talking a good game seems quite plausible to me. I don’t remember hearing any thing about Crow before this, but apparently he has a history of being exposed in print, as well as CT’s relationship with him and then both skittering away from the light.

  126. 126.

    AlaskaReader

    Matthew Sitman

    @MatthewSitman

    Me: the conservative movement is smaller than you think

    Me:             That’s just wrong,

    …it’s just the opposite,

    and that means we all have to work just that much harder.

  127. 127.

    AlaskaReader

    @Origuy: …changing of the guard,

    …age doesn’t count as much as purity of ideology and wealth that can be brought to bear.

  129. 129.

    Hilbertsubspace

    @AlaskaReader:

    Perhaps rather then small…  Incestuous might be the correct term here.  On multiple levels.  They live inside a thought bubble while accusing others of the same.

    Since we don’t have a new thread I will tell a relevant math joke.  You have been warned.

     

    A Rancher wants to use fencing to contain his herd with the minimum materials.  Since he has a friend who’s a mathematician, he invites him to his ranch to look at the land.  The mathematician says sure and heads out to take a look saying this will be easy.  He doesn’t look at anything except the gate for the fencing and asks the rancher if he wants it squared off.  The rancher says yes and so he says “Great.  A square 15 feet on a side will work”.  “Impossible,” says the rancher. “Build it and I’ll show you”

    The rancher tells his men to put it up like he said and it only take about 20 minutes.  He then turns to the mathematician and says, “Well, We’re waiting on you.”  And the mathematician walks into the enclosure and shut it behind him and says “Done”.  The rancher responds, “This is stupid, the cows won’t fit just because you do, I got over a thousand head.”

    “You don’t understand,” said the mathematician from behind the gate, “I’m on the outside.”

     

    “Please Clap”

    -John Ellis Bush (JEB)

  135. 135.

    Tony Jay

    @J R in WV:

    Cargo of non-denominational luck on its way to you right now. It’ll feel terrible for a while, but then it’ll get better.

  137. 137.

    Baud

    Now I’m starting to wonder whether my shrine to serial killers will be misinterpreted.

  138. 138.

    JWR

    @JaySinWA:

    … Texas Gov Abbott wants to fast track a pardon of a man convicted of murdering a BLM protester.

    TX governor Greg Abbott to TN: Hold our beer.

    And yes, I know the victim was White, but he was marching with the BLM protesters. Dumb idea bringing his AR, though, no matter the legality.

  139. 139.

    Honus

    Crow went to an all-white all-male “white flight” military prep school in Virginia:

    “Like the other six military schools in Virginia, Randolph-Macon Academy was able to maintain a large and steady enrollment primarily because of forced public school integration“

    Oddly, the staunchly anti-communist anti-authoritarian Crow never served in Vietnam, despite graduating from military school in the mid sixties.

    ETA: Good luck JR, my hillbilly friend.

  140. 140.

    Tony Jay

    @Kriger09:

    Ding Ding Ding, we have a winner.

    “He can’t be racist! His beloved wife may be ivory pure but all of the women he keeps in the slave cabins are darkest ebony! Can’t you see he loves them equally?”

  141. 141.

    bjacques

    It seems like every prominent conservative stepped up to defend Harlan Crow’s collecting taste even more eagerly than they did his patronage of Clarence Thomas.

     

    EDIT: And I hope the Feds get Perry on violation of civil rights. Abbott can’t pardon him on that.

  142. 142.

    JWR

    @bjacques:  Exactly. NBC news waited until it’s 11:30PM  edition to report on this, but a former TX prosecutor(?) noted that his pardon board likely will grant Abbott’s request, which made me wonder if there was anything the feds could do about it.

    Boy, this country is going backwards faster than I ever dreamed could happen.

  143. 143.

    Baud

    This is my shocked face.

    An analysis that was the basis of a highly criticized recommendation from Florida’s surgeon general cautioning young men against getting the COVID-19 vaccine omitted information that showed catching the virus could increase the risk of a cardiac-related death much more than getting the mRNA shot, according to drafts of the analysis obtained by the Tampa Bay Times.

  144. 144.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    Who among us hasn’t collected memorabilia of Josef Mengele

  146. 146.

    Wanderer

    @J R in WV: I wish you the very best. I hope that all goes as smoothly as possible and you have all the benefits with the least side effects.

  147. 147.

    LiminalOwl

    @Hilbertsubspace: By any chance do you remember the name if the Martin Gardner article? Or do I have to read all of his non-puzzle books? (What a fate… yes, I love Gardner when I can understand him). Thanks very much for the reference. I’m fascinated by this idea.

  148. 148.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

     It’s not a tribute to evil or something to be mocked. It’s an attempt commemorate the horrors of the 20th century in the spirit of “never again.”

    Hmmm, why do I get the feeling Crow doesn’t have autographs of Osama bin Laden and Ayatollah Khomeini – you know for “commemorate” purposes.

  150. 150.

    Richard Grant

    Crow funding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from one large benefactor. When several such large benefactors fund a project or venture, it is called a murder of Crows. What is most important to the large benefactor is the Caws. Reportedly, the legality of Crow funding had been determined by a member of the U.S. Supreme Court wearing a glossy black robe while Raven about RV parks.

  151. 151.

    Kay

    The antiwoke ninnies meet at Crow’s Old Parkland. It has a Reagan Hall.

    The Forbidden Courses Summer Program brings together undergraduates to cultivate the habits of civil discourse. In discussion-based seminars and practical workshops, students will discuss and debate the most vexing questions of our time.
    Students will have the opportunity to meet with and learn from leading innovators in tech, business, entrepreneurship, engineering, education, and more.
    This year, we’re proud to host the event at the beautiful Old Parkland campus in Dallas, Texas.

    Small world on the Right, huh?

  152. 152.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    Sounds a lot like Balloon Juice.

    ETA: Seriously, the right invests a lot of money into training and networking for young fascists.

  153. 153.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    engineering

    Bari Weiss says they’re teaching “engineering” at the fake college. lol. They just can’t help themselves- they have to go over the top. So when the students get there they realize 1. the school is not in Austin but is instead at the mall of a Right wing nepotism baby billionaire 2. it’s a bunch of Substack grifters delivering anti woke screeds which they can get free on Youtube.

    “Excuse me- can you show me to the engineering building?”

  157. 157.

    Princess

    One bonus — obviously Crow has deliberately been flying under the radar. He must HATE all the current attention on him and that brings me joy. And Clarence Thomas is a grifter and a crook.

  159. 159.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Gvg: why the heck would even rich white people be into Hitler?

    The History channel makes Nazis cool.

  160. 160.

    Kathleen

    @Baud: “What I meant to say was ‘Cereal Killers’. Here’s my whistle from a Captain Crunch box circa 1977.”

  161. 161.

    Jay C

    @Brachiator:

    @MagdaInBlack:

    Am I the only one who has never heard of Harlan Crow before?

    Never heard of the guy before this current controversy.

     

    Oddly, I have: and in fact, have actually met him (Only a couple of times: my gallery worked on an art-related project for one of Trammell Crow’s Dallas buildings forty years ago: most of my dealings were with his office/people/assistants).

    Though I never caught any hint of any political leanings, the Crows were rich Texas developers: it was unlikely that many/any of them were flaming leftists…. ISTM that Harlan has kept his political/ideological support programs fairly under-the-media-radar til now.  No more, I’m guessing.

     

    PS: just my personal opinion, but I think the facile dismissal of Crow as a “neo-Nazi” is a bit glib and likely inaccurate (though how inaccurate is debatable) – I agree with that comment that Crow collecting Hitler paintings or kitsch Communist statuary is less salient an in issue that his “collecting” of a SCOTUS Justice…

  162. 162.

    sdhays

    I’m sure this thread is dead, but…you don’t spend all of that money for a private shrine to Nazis because you hate them. Harlan Crow has this personal collection because, as Marie Kondo puts it, it gives him joy.

    Oh, and it’s not very convincing when neo-fascists claim that their buddy with a Nazi fetish hates evil in ALL FORMS, INCLUDING FASCISM.

  164. 164.

    Chris Johnson

    @David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch: Bingo. Where’s his life-size Idi Amin animatronic? Funny how a bunch of conservatives would mysteriously not have a whole bunch of Castro in their ‘name and shame garden’.

    ‘dictators we think a lot about’ garden just wouldn’t have the right flavor with black faces in there. I wonder if my guess here is legit. Does he have a bunch of African dictator memorabilia, or South American? Or does he just like certain kinds of dictators that feel right to him?

  165. 165.

    artem1s

    @different-church-lady: ​

    Why are all these super-rich people so very WEIRD??

    We hear more about the very weird ones. Soros is a great example of an extremely rich guy who, but for the ReichWingNut screeching about Sorobucks all day every day, no one would know anything thing about him. I have no idea where he makes his money. I do know he has very little to hide because he release ALL his tax returns going back to when he was TWELVE because TFG was claiming he couldn’t possibly because release his before the election for….reasons….I imagine we’re hearing a lot more about the ones who were aligned with GOPer causes, crypto failures, and Epstein right now because all the dirty laundry tends to come out when the shit is hitting the fan. TFG’s indictment is making a lot of big money people very, very nervous.​

  168. 168.

    Jay C

    @Chris Johnson:

    From reports I’ve read, Harlan Crow’s “Garden of Evil” is populated mostly by ex-Communist-Dictator statuary which he was able to pick up (relatively cheaply) from former East-Bloc countries: most of the works were likely to simply end up on the scrap heap (or the recycling foundry) – Castro statues are probably still occupying pedestals in Cuba.

  169. 169.

    StringOnAStick

    @Jay C: Now it makes a tiny bit of sense; his buying up these statues on the cheap is how an arrogant rich guy makes fun of these figures and of how far the country that produced them has fallen. I can see it now; “these stupid bastards sold me this crap because they’re scrambling for food because they were dumb enough to have followed these leaders!  Ha! Morons and untermenchen !”

  172. 172.

    JustRuss

    I find it fascinating that the WSJ thinks superyachts, luxury trips, sprawling ranches, and elegant accommodations are “disreputable”.  When did this happen?  Will we be seeing editorials from them condemning such decadence?

  177. 177.

    Anomalous Cowherd

    @J R in WV:  Good luck. I had cisplatin and radiation for OPSCC last year and I’m apparently in remission now.

    My medical oncologist didn’t know that atorvastatin provides protection from the nerve damage caused by cisplatin (which could result in loss of hearing) – but I was already taking it so that didn’t affect me. The B vitamins appear to help – but discuss that with your doctors. Also, there is some evidence that carvedilol protects you from side effects of platinum-based chemo as well. Don’t get dehydrated. Avoid taking antioxidants like vitamins C and E. There’s scant attention paid to ameliorating the side effects of chemo.

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