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You are here: Home / Politics / Trump Indictments / Not a Good Day for Donnie

Not a Good Day for Donnie

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First Biden mocks him (see previous post) and now this.

Judge Gives Trump Organization’s Babysitter ‘Enhanced’ Control  (Daily Beast)

Barbara S. Jones, a former federal judge, now has the authority to review the company’s “day-to-day operations,” internal records, and financial accounting.

The Trump Organization will now be under even more control of a former federal judge who has been monitoring Donald Trump’s eponymous family company, following a court order on Thursday that punishes the former president for committing bank fraud.

Barbara S. Jones, who has been babysitting the real estate company for more than a year, was granted enhanced powers by New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur F. Engoron—the same judge who ordered Trump to pay $464 million for lying about his wealth for years.

While the company previously had to notify Jones anytime it shifted more than $5 million or engaged in business deals, she now has the right to essentially do whatever she deems necessary to keep the Trump Organization from engaging in dirty business practices.

Judge Engoron’s new order.

New York Attorney General takes initial step to prepare to seize Trump assets (CNN)

The New York attorney general’s office has filed judgments in Westchester County, the first indication that the state is preparing to try to seize Donald Trump’s golf course and private estate north of Manhattan, known as Seven Springs.

State lawyers entered the judgments with the clerk’s office in Westchester County on March 6, just one week after Judge Arthur Engoron made official his $464 million decision against Trump, his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, and the Trump Organization.

Entering a judgment would be the first step a creditor would take to attempt to recover property. Additional steps, such as putting liens on assets or moving to foreclose on properties, or taking other actions in court would follow, if the asset is going to be seized.

The judgment is already entered in New York city where Trump’s properties including Trump Tower, his penthouse at Trump Tower, 40 Wall Street, his hotel abutting Central Park, and numerous apartment buildings are located.

Judgments have not been entered in Florida counties including Miami or Palm Beach where Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property and the Trump National Doral Golf Club and resort are located or Cook County, Illinois, where Trump’s hotel in Chicago is located, according to a review of records Thursday by CNN.

Trump now has four days to satisfy the judgment or sway an appeals court to allow him to post a smaller amount or defer posting the payment until after the appeal.

Update: it’s hard to keep up!

Open thread.

Reader Interactions

227Comments

  2. 2.

    JPL

    Fani is moving forward with her case, and she has asked the judge for a summer trial date.

  4. 4.

    WaterGirl

    @WaterGirl: Hell hath no fury.

    edit:  And now we see whether Judge McAfee has gone to the dark side as it seems like he might have, with his gratuitous comments when he made his ruling.  Apparently a recent graduate of the Comey School of saying shit to damage people even when they are not being prosecuted.

  6. 6.

    BethanyAnne

    Some good news on the Pride front.

    https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/massive-defeat-for-anti-trans-and?r=56cg&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

    The big spending bill was just released by Congress, and Dems stood firm against the anti-trans riders. They defeated 40 out of 41 riders. The one not allowing US foreign embassies to fly the Pride flag over the embassy did pass. But that’s small potatoeoes compared to the crap sandwich the GQP was trying to pass. Woot!

  7. 7.

    Jeffro

    It’s still a mystery to me why Mr. Innocent doesn’t want a speedy trial and exoneration…what more could you ask for, O Angelic One?  Complete and total vindication to brag about for the next eight months!  Landslide territory!  1984’s presidential election results were nothing compared to what’s waiting once the nation hears just how innocent this poor, persecuted man really is!!

    =)

  8. 8.

    WaterGirl

    @HumboldtBlue: It’s hard to convince people that you are killing them for their own good.  ~Molly Ivins

    Slight paraphrase:

    It’s hard to convince people that you are HURTING them for their own good.  ~Molly Ivins

  10. 10.

    West of the Rockies

    I hope this development likewise brings misery to Eric and Dumb Donny Jr.

  11. 11.

    JPL

    @WaterGirl: He should not have heard the case since she did nothing wrong.   In some ways, it might help though.   There is no more dirty laundry to air, and let’s remember that she has a 93 percent conviction rate.

  22. 22.

    mrmoshpotato

    Not a Good Day for Donnie

    Well, if the mirror showed me that disgusting, orange, fascist face all the time…

  23. 23.

    mrmoshpotato

    @HumboldtBlue:

    President Biden just announced the White House has approved the cancellation of nearly $6 billion in federal student debt for 78,000 eligible public service workers — including teachers, nurses, and firefighters. 

    What have teachers, nurses, and firefighters ever done for anyone?  This is an outrage!

  28. 28.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    @BethanyAnne: Somewhat sad about the flags. I was passing by the embassy in Athens and there was a large Pride flag on display. Got a decent photo of it, too, though it can’t really be put in a comment here. Had me thinking that it’s something TFG and the GOP wouldn’t allow…

  34. 34.

    WaterGirl

    @TaMara: I so hope you are right!

    I’m still pissed about what they dragged her through, and it wasn’t even my personal life that was out there for everybody to use to try to humiliate me.

    edit:  I was super glad when Wade backed out of Press the Meet.  Even the idea of doing that shows poor judgment.

  35. 35.

    Mai Naem mobile

    Donnie cannot pass by a rake without stepping on it. Didn’t have to run for POTUS. Didn’t have to do Jan 6th. Could have just retired to Mar A Loco playing golf with all his billionaire pals who he had given yuuge tax cuts. Didn’t have  to run again. At any point he could have just been a rich guy with a trophy wife,  living off his trust fund.

  37. 37.

    trollhattan

    @catclub: My 1st thought was “Just straight up raiding the  S.S. trust fund?”

    We’re dialing the clock back to GW Bush admin stupidity.

  38. 38.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Baud:

    This is the direct result of sports, at the amateur, collegiate and professional levels, all allowing gambling companies to enter the arena as partners. For decades, gambling was anathema to sports at all levels because of the ever-present danger of gambling losses leading to influencing the game on the field.

    They brought this on themselves, and now every major sports league and their attendant TV and online broadcasters are fully bought by gambling.

    Their players, managers, executives, staff at every level can now gamble and despite the bullshit guide rails they ostensibly put up, it’s going to be an ever-growing ulcer on the entire sorting landscape.

    Ohtani stands out because of his stature, his reputation and the fucking contract he signed (also, being the best baseball player on the planet by a mile, helps) and I ain’t buying it was “the interpreter” who was gambling, he’s just the fall guy.

    MLB and the Dodgers will do every fucking thing they can to ensure none of the shit splashes back on Ohtani, and it’s going to be interesting to see it play out.

  39. 39.

    eclare

    Thank you for all the good wishes.  My finger is still hurting like crazy, I will go to the Dr tomorrow if it isn’t better.  Although I’m not sure what a dr could do.

  42. 42.

    Tony G

    @Mai Naem mobile: Trump is (I assume) a fake Billionaire, not a real one — but an awful lot of Billionaires seem to be unable to keep their mouths shut.  It’s almost as though mental illness is an attribute of a personality that pursues obscene amounts of wealth.

  43. 43.

    japa21

    @Tony G: There are a lot of billionaires who keep their mouths shut.  The ones who can’t are the ones that think they actually earned their money all on their own.

  47. 47.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @HumboldtBlue: Tennis has historically been one of the worst offenders for gambling and rigging because it’s so easy for players (many who don’t make much $) to purposely miss just a shot or two to tank a match.  But right now I’m watching the Miami Open and there are constant betting line mentions and a commentator just noted how “smart” the sport is for embracing online gambling sponsors became well…it’s not going away.  I bet (see what I did there) we will see a major gambling scandal at some point in professional tennis.

  48. 48.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @BethanyAnne: It’s great news.

    Also, just a reminder that Republicans had declared all the anti-trans riders one of their red lines that they were willing to shutdown the government over. Yes, they hate us that much (at least until they fold).

  49. 49.

    HumboldtBlue

    @UncleEbeneezer:

    I bet (see what I did there) we will see a major gambling scandal at some point in professional tennis.

    We’re going to see it in every sport. Every network, regardless of the sport being broadcasted, has a dedicated show to the odds match/game and what Vegas thinks.

    It’s appalling.

  60. 60.

    David 🏈 Mahomes! 🏈 Koch

    Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter Ippei Mizuhara to star in remake of “The Fall Guy”

  67. 67.

    Anoniminous

    @UncleEbeneezer:

    “Trump fraudulently inflated the value of Seven Springs by more than 400% in 2014, when he said in his financial statement it was worth $261 million despite a professional appraisal valuing it at or below $30 million.”

    According to Reuters

  68. 68.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    @WaterGirl: Feel free to use it if it’s appropriate elsewhere. I’m granting permission.

    And I suppose technically that flag isn’t quite “flying”, but it’s the thought that counts, right?

  70. 70.

    coin operated

    @Anoniminous:

    Trump fraudulently inflated the value of Seven Springs by more than 400% in 2014, when he said in his financial statement it was worth $261 million despite a professional appraisal valuing it at or below $30 million.

    Maddow spotlighted the Seven Springs property valuations sometime last year. Happy to see Reuters catching up….

  73. 73.

    David 🏈 Mahomes! 🏈 Koch

    @UncleEbeneezer: ​
      that said, Caitlin Clark owns the casino (photo)

    WNBA Demanding $100 Million from ESPN for [television rights for] Caitlin Clark First Season

  77. 77.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @eclare: I graduated with about 10k of debt. I hope all these kids get theirs forgiven.

    The forgiveness is missing those of us… eh hem… with private loans. Maybe time to start calling Congresscritters and candidates. Ask ’em to buy it up and wash it away.

    I haven’t quite finished my bachelors and am taking some time off. I’m out of school and thry’re charging us up and my job prospects only improved marginally. My retirement age mom has taken it on. I don’t know what to do.

    Edited for formatting.

  78. 78.

    HumboldtBlue

    @trollhattan: ​ 

    I watched the opening episode and then decided to wait for until the entire series was out to go back and watch the whole thing. I started Masters of the Sky in the interim.

  82. 82.

    WaterGirl

    @Bruce K in ATH-GR: Oh, I wasn’t denigrating the flag or the photo with my comment.

    Just… why the fuck do they care if a rainbow flag is in a window in another country???

    There’s something very insecure about all of the Republicans, so easily threatened.

  85. 85.

    trollhattan

    Ruh-roh

    California Republican Senate candidate Steve Garvey owes state and federal taxes incurred 13 years ago totaling at least $350,000 and as much as $750,000, according to his February financial disclosure statement. Such a large tax liability on a federal financial disclosure form from a senator or a candidate is extremely rare, said Robert Maguire, research director at the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a nonpartisan watchdog group.

    The tax liability is the latest development involving the financial controversy Garvey has endured in the past. It’s unclear how he incurred these tax liabilities. The Garvey campaign did not respond to a request for answers to several questions about the disclosure statement.

    The statement, filed with the Senate Office of Public Records in February, shows Garvey incurred between $250,001 and $500,000 in federal tax liability in 2011. It also said that he owes $100,001 to $250,000 to the California state government, also for taxes incurred in 2011. The statement says he owes 8% interest on the balance due. The disclosure statement rules require that the candidate “report the highest amount owed during the preceding calendar year and current calendar year through the date of filing.” The statement does not specify the source of the taxes or whether the taxes are personal or business liabilities.

    https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article286960880.html#storylink=cpy

    Really, it’s all a misunderstanding because we’re a republic, not a democracy and also, taxes are for losers.

  88. 88.

    Geminid

    I was sorry to see the Nationals trade Juan Soto, and now he’s with the despised Yankees. I don’t like the Dodgers either, but it’s still kind of neat to see Soto and Ohtani playing for baseball’s two most visible teams.

  90. 90.

    Tony G

    Donald Trump really needs to calm down.  Otherwise, he might get a heart attack and die.  That would be tragic.

  91. 91.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    @NotMax: My first job at the Smithsonian was at the National Museum of American History, early enough that there was a lunch center just for staff.  Being born in Virginia, I ordered my barbecue sandwich with slaw on top.  The lunch ladies were loudly happy that they had a customer who knew what was what.

  92. 92.

    moops

    @mrmoshpotato:

    What have teachers, nurses, and firefighters ever done for anyone? This is an outrage!

     

    I’m unsure why these specific citizens are so much more deserving of debt relief.   Where’s the debt relief for IRS auditors, or water treatment engineers, or forestry workers?  What about horse breeders?  or food inspectors?

  93. 93.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @rikyrah: Would certainly be a good help. I’m still a fan of the Confucian ideal where all that should be required to learn is willingness.

  94. 94.

    David 🏈 Mahomes! 🏈 Koch

    @Anoniminous: the tv rights deal for the NBA is 2.7 bill per year.

    but 100 million here, 100 million there and pretty soon you’re talking serious money.

  100. 100.

    David 🏈 Mahomes! 🏈 Koch

    @brantl:

    goddamn, did I hate Pete Rose

     

    I saw Rose in the 70s when I was a kid. He was a lead off batter and when he was announced the crowd mercilessly booooed him. I ask my mom, “why are they booing him, he hasn’t done anything, yet?” As an Italian expat she said, “they’re booing him because he’s good.” He was good on the field. That said, he is a horrible person.

  101. 101.

    Ghost of Joe Liebling’s Dog

    @JPL ,
    @eclare
     

    Perhaps better to think that the friend was a friend, until they weren’t anymore. An ending like that, that wasn’t your fault in any way, doesn’t wipe out the beginning and the middle. It’s just that it’s an ending, and senseless, and that’s sad.

  102. 102.

    Ishiyama

    @HumboldtBlue:

    This is what I know, from media reports:
    Mizuhara was born in Japan and moved to the Los Angeles area in 1991 so his father could work as a chef. He attended Diamond Bar High School in eastern Los Angeles County and graduated from the University of California, Riverside, in 2007.
    After college, Mizuhara was hired by the Boston Red Sox as an interpreter for Japanese pitcher Hideki Okajima. In 2013, he returned to Japan to translate for English-speaking players on the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters. That’s where he first met Ohtani, who joined the team that same year.
    After Ohtani signed with the Angels in 2017, the team hired Mizuhara to work as his personal interpreter. ESPN said Mizuhara told the outlet this week he has been paid between $300,000 and $500,000 annually.
    ESPN said it spoke to Mizuhara on Tuesday night, at which point the interpreter said Ohtani had paid his gambling debts at Mizuhara’s request. After the statement from Ohtani’s attorneys saying the player was a victim of theft, ESPN says Mizuhara changed his story Wednesday and claimed Ohtani had no knowledge of the gambling debts and had not transferred any money to bookmakers.
    Mizuhara said he incurred more than $1 million in debt by the end of 2022 and his losses increased from there.
    “I’m terrible (at gambling). Never going to do it again. Never won any money,” Mizuhara said. “I mean, I dug myself a hole and it kept on getting bigger, and it meant I had to bet bigger to get out of it and just kept on losing. It’s like a snowball effect.”
    Do you know anything different?

  104. 104.

    Old School

    @moops:

    I’m unsure why these specific citizens are so much more deserving of debt relief.   Where’s the debt relief for IRS auditors, or water treatment engineers, or forestry workers?  What about horse breeders?  or food inspectors?

    The student loan forgiveness is for public-sector workers.  Probably doesn’t include many horse breeders, but should include those other folks.

  105. 105.

    WaterGirl

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: We want only the best for him. :-)

    And since he didn’t learn the basic rules of responsibility, or even the basic rules that most of us learned in kindergarten, we are just applauding that the former guy will soon start to understand the basic principles of responsibility, accountability, and consequences.

    edit: Next up?  Object permanence, perhaps?

  106. 106.

    Dangerman

    @Tony G: Otherwise, he might get a heart attack and die.  That would be tragic.

    Same reason I don’t play the lottery; I might win and turn into an asshole. Could I live with myself? I suppose I could afford the counseling.

    Can’t wish a Cardiac Event on Donnie; third Cardioversion yesterday, second T-E-E (if you are squeamish, don’t look it up), and know I’m having my fourth Ablation in the near term future.

    So, bad karma to wish someone a Cardiac Event.

    I’ll limit my wishes to projectile vomiting, explosive diarrhea, or a pissed off wife who should be realizing that she might be getting diddly shit when Donnie checks out.

  107. 107.

    Betty

    @WaterGirl: She is talking about the latest GOP attack on Biden that he paid to transport immigrants by plane. Not sure what the facts are or supposedly from  where to where.

  108. 108.

    sdhays

    @HumboldtBlue: It’s disgusting that this piece of shit walks free, but at least he has to suffer the risk of people yelling he’s a killer wherever he goes (outside the Nazi bubble) – hopefully for the rest of his life.

  110. 110.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Ishiyama:

    Do you know anything different?

    No, and thanks for the update, I have been focused on the college games and haven’t kept up with the story.

  113. 113.

    Dangerman

    @WaterGirl: I’m sorry you are having to deal with all of that!

    Me, too!

    I should add that I am completely Asymptomatic. Same as I was with Covid, oddly enough.

    No cause for concern other than taking pills that could off me but that is fairly unlikely.

  114. 114.

    WaterGirl

    Maybe not so great for Donnie if this news comes out in such a clean and unambiguous way.

  115. 115.

    Bupalos

    @HumboldtBlue: is there some new development I don’t know about? It seems entirely likely to me that the interpreter was skimming and gambling. Those are two great tastes that taste great together and would  likely mean prison. And I’m not even sure Ohtani losing money gambling would be a problem, would it?

  122. 122.

    cain

    @HumboldtBlue: Why would you cut caps on pharma fees? Why is that better than the current system – I feel like even their own people should be asking questions like this.

    GOP people are so weird – they don’t want to pay high taxes but seem open to have corporation raise fees on them.

  123. 123.

    Jackie

    @Baud: At this time, Ohtani is the victim? His interpreter is accused of stealing $4M from Ohtani.

    Or is there an update changing Ohtani‘s innocence?

  125. 125.

    Jay

    @Bupalos

    League Rule 21 states that players and team employees are prohibited from placing wagers, even legal bets, on baseball and from wagering with illegal or offshore bookmakers. It also mentions the possible punishments, which may be largely left up to the league’s front office.

  128. 128.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Cheryl from Maryland: I know southerners sniff at the idea of Maryland being any kind of southern state, but it was while living in Maryland that I learned about the existence of things like slaw on BBQ, biscuits & gravy, and collard greens.

    Come to think of it, I haven’t had those first two things since leaving MD.

    Also, we took the family to Baltimore’s Civil War Museum when it first opened and it was ridiculously pro-South. Which I understand was a problem for Lincoln back in the day.

  131. 131.

    Captain C

    @David 🏈 Mahomes! 🏈 Koch: I don’t know, but as far as I’m concerned, Ham Fighters is just about the best team name in sports (yes, I know its the Nippon Ham FIGHTERS, but I don’t care, in my headcanon they’re the Ham Fighters).

  133. 133.

    bjacques

    Well, it is an open thread…

    Hungarian President and anthropomorphic blowfish Viktor Orbán congratulated Putin on his historic win. To be fair, Putin ran a lean and disciplined campaign, focusing on the issues as an outsider and promising change. The strategy clearly paid off with the electorate, sweeping him into office with an unprecedented 120% of the vote.

  135. 135.

    gvg

    @japa21: You never hear about the ones who keep their mouths shut. In fact the really smart ones probably don’t even admit they are billionaires.

  137. 137.

    Jackie

    @HumboldtBlue: Gawd, I sincerely hope TIFG doesn’t anoint her as his VP pick! I don’t think I could handle looking at her and hearing her fundie voice on a regular basis during Silly Season!

  138. 138.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Mai Naem mobile: At any point he could have just been a rich guy with a trophy wife, living off his trust fund.

    And ripping off contractors for the rest of his unfulfilling, sad life.

  139. 139.

    cain

    @WaterGirl: Only Trump would get away with this kind of thing. This would never happen in the Democratic party. The GOP has gone so off the rails that – I’m sure even people in the party who aren’t part of the cult are really shaking their heads.

  140. 140.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @mrmoshpotato: And ripping off contractors for the rest of his unfulfilling, sad life.

    Trump in jail will be fulfilling for many of us.  Hopefully this leads to a nationwide crackdown on white collar crime

    @gvg: I’ll look into that. Thank you.

  141. 141.

    gvg

    @The Kropenhagen Interpretation: 30 years ago, certain schools and employers would buy up a certain amount each year for employees. Places where they were having trouble getting employees, such as inner city Miami. I think that is all that can be done. The President and even Congress can only do so much.

  144. 144.

    Jay

    @Jackie:

    because Ippei Mizuhara changed his first “confession” from Ohtani kindly paid his gambling debts for him, to admitting to stealing from Ohtani to pay his own gambling debts,

    and being such a highly paid interpreter, ($300k to $500k a year),

    there are suspicions that Ohtani made the bets and paid Ippei to be the fall guy if they were ever caught.

     

     

  145. 145.

    BethanyAnne

    Yeah, Erin pointed out that the embassies can still display the flag several ways, as they have done in the past. It’s nice to have a little good news for once.

  148. 148.

    rikyrah

    Serious question:

    With the Orange Menace robbing the RNC Blind..

    where’s the money for the GOP Convention coming from?

  152. 152.

    Jeffro

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:I know southerners sniff at the idea of Maryland being any kind of southern state, but it was while living in Maryland that I learned about the existence of things like slaw on BBQ, biscuits & gravy, and collard greens.

    It’s definitely a southern state, with the exception of the far western part, which is essentially all of the worst stereotypes about West Virginia.

    Maryland’s not the Deep South, though.  (and yes there is a difference  ;)

  153. 153.

    Nettoyeur

    @Tony G: I remember a time when billionaires prided themselves on keeping their names and the size of their fortunes OUT of the papers…..among other things, it’s a whole lot safer.

  154. 154.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @Geminid: Maybe they’ll sell the naming rights: “The Republican Convention, presented by Fan Duel thr Kremlin….”

    Edited for likelihood.

  155. 155.

    frosty

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: ​ Yes, it’s a southern state.A) The second verse of the state anthem “Maryland My Maryland” starts with The despot’s heel is at thy door. The despot that is referred to is Abraham Lincoln.B) When the Union occupied Baltimore they turned the cannons of Federal Hill away from the harbor entrance and faced them toward the city.C) The first battle of the Civil War was on Pratt Street when the Baltimoreans pulled up the cobblestones and attacked the 6th Massachusetts marching from the PW&B train station to the B&O, which connected to Washington.​
     
    ETA OTOH when my brother and I bragged to a high school friend (who came from Tennessee) that we’d moved from PA to a Southern state her mom snorted “Maryland’s only south on the map.”

  156. 156.

    JPL

    @rikyrah: Maybe they will make Elon masters of ceremony.   Nah, two guys with balloon size egos wouldn’t be able to share the stage.

  157. 157.

    Kathleen

    @Old School:

    From Google search on the Webs:

    If people in Congress really cared about improving or expanding forgiveness programs they could, you know, write legislation.

    Who started the student loan forgiveness program?

    Congress created the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program in 2007 to encourage people to work in public service. If federal student loan borrowers make payments on their loans for 10 years while working in public service and meeting other requirements, Education forgives the remaining balance on their loans. 

  159. 159.

    p.a.

    Latest from S Whitehouse newsletter on judicial reform:

     

    Last week, I sat next to Chief Justice Roberts in the grand Supreme Court reception room, and addressed the Judicial Conference – the policymaking body for federal courts – about the ethics issues at the Supreme Court. I don’t publicize what I say there, but I can tell you that at the last six meetings I’ve continually raised this topic, to an increasingly warm and interested response.

    The results are coming in. Justice Scalia had a trick where an intermediary would wangle a “personal invitation” for him to a hunting resort, and Scalia would pretend that made it “personal hospitality” that did not need to be disclosed, even if he’d never met the resort owner. The Judicial Conference blew that trick to smithereens.

    The creepy billionaires instruct their chosen justices how to rule through “amicus briefs,” filed in little flotillas by groups who don’t disclose their common donors. Think of amicus briefs as judicial lobbying. In one case, an entity filed a brief under a “fictitious name”; in another, a 501c3 nonprofit entity was the petitioner, and the amicus flotilla failed to disclose funding from the 501c3’s own 501c4 counterpart organization. The Judicial Conference has announced it’s working to clean that scheme up.

    In the “Scalia trick” matter, Justice Thomas instantly claimed it was a new rule, though the Conference had called it a “clarification.” It’s a big difference: if it was a clarification, Thomas (and Alito) would have to go back and clean up years of false filings. The Conference is looking into that, too, and it could be a big deal if justices have to reveal past gifts.

    This is just to let you know that in addition to my legislative and investigative work on clean-up at the Supreme Court, I’m making progress in this unexpected forum. Separately, I had a red state federal Circuit Court of Appeals judge grasp my arm at an event and tell me how important this all was – “don’t let up” was his message. I won’t.

    Thanks for your support as I persist in getting this done.

  161. 161.

    Baud

    @Jackie:

    As far as i know that’s correct. But he’s closer to a bad situation than he wants to be. They’re will be an investigation, I assume.

  165. 165.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Greece only just this year legalized gay marriage, and there was quite a bit of opposition. There’s a deep conservative and religious component to the society here, plus the Church is intertwined with the State in ways that American Dominionists only wish they could manage here. (Religious primacy of Christianity is even written into the Constitution.)

  166. 166.

    jonas

    @UncleEbeneezer: Seven Springs, his 212-acre forested family estate

    I think that’s the property that because he didn’t put condos and golf courses all over part of it, claimed as a huge tax write-off using some environmental preservation loophole. The undeveloped portion was worth umpty zillion dollars of course.

  170. 170.

    bmoak

    @Captain C:  Similarly, there used to be a team in the Japan Hockey League called the Oji Paper Cranes.  They were owned by the Oji Paper Company.

  171. 171.

    jonas

    @trollhattan: I thought these days if you pulled tax shit like that you got indicted in federal court by a special counsel and raked over the coals by a bunch of different congressional committees! I wonder how Garvey gets away with it?

  172. 172.

    topclimber

    @Jackie: I hope Milwaukee insists on upfront funding (a bond perhaps) to cover the extra security the Convention will demand.

    You don’t want them to be like the many cities that are still waiting for Trump to pay the municipal costs his rallies incurred.

  173. 173.

    Geminid

    Istanbul’s Fenerbahce F.C., one of Turkiye’s top football teams, are called the Golden Canaries. Cross-Bosphorus rival Galatasary F.C. are the Lions. One popular Fenerbahce meme shows a big, tough-looking canary pinning a bedraggled lion to the turf with one foot..

  177. 177.

    karen marie

    @Anoniminous:   This is where Trump is going to rook his groupies again.  When the properties are sold to satisfy the judgment, he’s going to wave around his inflated valuations and claim he was robbed.

    Will this ever be over?  I don’t think it will.  At least not in my lifetime.

  180. 180.

    Ken

    @Betty: the latest GOP attack on Biden that he paid to transport immigrants by plane.

    That would be Gov. Abbott of Texas and Gov. DeSantis of Florida. Possibly others, but those two have been loud about it.

  181. 181.

    Old School

    @Kathleen: Pretty sure that’s the program Biden is utilizing in the latest round of forgiveness.

    John Oliver had a segment on student loans in the past couple of weeks.  It might have this program that had only granted forgiveness to 32 people.  So there was room for expansion.

  182. 182.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @Ken: Biden’s mistake is failing to lie to the migrants about their destination, accomodations, and steps to pursue their legal status.

  183. 183.

    jonas

    @Jackie: Why even have a convention? The nomination is not in question. The GOP doesn’t even have a real platform anymore — it’s just retreaded boilerplate from 2020, maybe with the homo-, trans-, and xenophobia turned up to 12 instead of just 11. Not that that takes much work anymore. I wouldn’t be surprised if Trump just scraps it and has all the money channeled into his accounts.

  190. 190.

    Geminid

    Colorado Republican Congressman Ken Buck just signed both of the discharge petitions that could put the Ukraine aid package on the House floor. Tomorrow is Buck’s last day in Congress, but WaPo reporter Marianne Sotomayor says the signatures are good until Buck’s seat is filled.

  193. 193.

    karen marie

    @jonas:   That “retreaded boilerplate” is from 2016.  Remember, in 2020 they just slapped a new year on that old “platform.”

    I guess Trump might be forgiven for thinking he was running against Obama in 2020 and, of course, thinks he’s running against Obama in 2024, given the RNC in 2020 wasn’t clear on who the president or the Democratic candidate were.

    WHEREAS, The media has outrageously misrepresented the implications of the RNC not adopting a new platform in 2020 and continues to engage in misleading advocacy for the failed policies of the Obama-Biden Administration, rather than providing the public with unbiased reporting of facts; and

    WHEREAS, The RNC enthusiastically supports Individual-1 and continues to reject the policy positions of the Obama-Biden Administration, as well as those espoused by the Democratic National Committee today;

  196. 196.

    Jackie

    @jonas: I could see TIFG holding it at one of his properties* and tell Milwaukee to FO.

    *Properties not YET confiscated by Latitia James – if there’s any left 😁

  197. 197.

    Kay

    @JPL:

    Fani is going to surprise a lot of critics. She wins these RICO cases. I think she’s a formidable opponent.
    It’s super interesting to watch this unfold.

  198. 198.

    Kay

    @JPL:

    I figured one of the Trump cases would grab me and that’s the one that did – because of Willis. I think she’s underrated.

  203. 203.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @HumboldtBlue: Can one of the two new frigates of the Черноморский флот be far behind (or below)? I refer of course to the Soyubin-Dzherkinoff and the Fuktaround-Foundout…

  204. 204.

    p.a.

    @WaterGirl:

    How does one get to be a recipient of that newsletter?

     

    As his constituent (& registered D), I get his general newsletters.  Once I commented, I got more;  many on climate change & judicial reform, his focus areas.  I guess you just find him at “wherever”dot-gov and sign up.

  206. 206.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Cheryl from Maryland: ​I first encountered slaw on barbecue as a teenager when the family went to NC to follow my cousin playing in the Carolina League. And I loved it – one of the few things I remember from that vacation. I just wish we could find Mom’s recipe for pressure-cooker barbecue…

  207. 207.

    Kay

    @Steve in the ATL:

    Our local Republican lawyers have rediscovered their committment to civil liberties and are telling me the GA RICO statute is too broad.

    Of course it’s too broad. Oddly, they never objected when it was used to go after public school teachers and rappers/gang members however. They’re all for law n order until one of theirs is the defendant, then they’re petitioning the ACLU.

  208. 208.

    Kay

    @Steve in the ATL:

    I get a kick out of how comfortable she is in her home court. I watched part of her testimony and the Trumpista asked her some ridiculous, imprecise question and she sort of waved her hand and said “I’m not going to go into that… in here”. Like it was beneath them. I was just grinning.

    Ahem. They better be ready.

  209. 209.

    wjca

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: southerners sniff at the idea of Maryland being any kind of southern state.

    Don’t I recall that the Mason-Dixon Line is Maryland’s northern border?   Seems like that makes them, by definition, southern.

  211. 211.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: …we took the family to Baltimore’s Civil War Museum when it first opened and it was ridiculously pro-South. Which I understand was a problem for Lincoln back in the day.

    It’s not well known outside of MD that the Old Line State aka Free State was the site of the first fatalities of the War of Attempted Southron Secession (“War of ASS”) as a result of the Pratt Street Riot of 1861. By the time the MD legislature got around to considering secession, the issue was moot, for the state and city were under Union occupation, with cannons emplaced at Fort McHenry trained on downtown Baltimore; habeas corpus had been suspended for the duration; and the Governor and most of the state legislature​ were under arrest.

    (FTR the President Street Station still stands, and is the site of the Baltimore Civil War Museum you visited.)​​​​

  212. 212.

    wjca

    @HumboldtBlue: This is the direct result of sports, at the amateur, collegiate and professional levels, all allowing gambling companies to enter the arena as partners. For decades, gambling was anathema to sports at all levels because of the ever-present danger of gambling losses leading to influencing the game on the field.

    They brought this on themselves, and now every major sports league and their attendant TV and online broadcasters are fully bought by gambling.

    “Judge Landis!  Paging Judge Landis!  Clean-up on aisle 2!”

    Can they find another Kenesaw Mountain Landis?  Let alone enough clones to cover all the other sports.

  213. 213.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Jeffro: ​It’s definitely a southern state, with the exception of the far western part, which is essentially all of the worst stereotypes about West Virginia the northern Appalachians.

    FTFY. FTR my parents both grew up along the Monongahela River, about 50 miles apart. NB West Virginia was comprised of 50 counties that split off from Confederate Virginia in 1861 and were admitted to the Union as a separate state during the Civil War. Those counties were quite unlike the rest of Virginia – most importantly, the land was too poor and mountainous to make a slaveholding economy viable – and the Mountaineers by and large saw no reason to go to war on behalf of the tidewater aristocrats they had damn little in common with.

    Maryland’s not the Deep South, though. (and yes there is a difference ;)

    Among other things, MD’s primary cash crop was tobacco rather than cotton as in the Deep South, and its primary routes of travel ran west (Potomac River, National Road) and north (Chesapeake Bay, Susquehanna River). And it was significantly urbanized: in 1950 Baltimore was the 6th largest city in the US with a population of 949,000 and had the third highest population of Jews in the nation.

  214. 214.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Uncle Cosmo: ​Upon further review, mebbe we should call it the War of Unsuccessful Southron Secession (WUSS) and call the perpetrators WUSSies…

  216. 216.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @frosty: [W]hen my brother and I bragged to a high school friend (who came from Tennessee) that we’d moved from PA to a Southern state her mom snorted “Maryland’s only south on the map.”​

    For sure we don’t much do Southron drawls. Then again, no one is all that sure just where Bawlmerese gets its roots. (Baltimore – more properly, “Bawlmer Merlin Hon” – is the only location in the risible universe where a man keeps his paramour in the garage and uses it to mow the lawn…;^p)

  218. 218.

    Craig

    @Uncle Cosmo: walked into my favorite bar in SF today and the folks that run the grille were making their Carolina pulled chicken BBQ. Slaw on top. From the blog to my life.

  219. 219.

    Ironcity

    @trollhattan: As I understand it the cash money collected from us working stiffs and our employers for Social Security is loaned to the U.S. Treasury.  If the SS Administration really had a Scrooge McDuck money bin it would be full of IOUs from the Treasury to furnish cash to pay for goods and services the government needs to buy.    So the SS Administration doesn’t take the SS tax proceeds and invest them prudently and wisely in some kind of super duper big IRA.  They do provide a monsterous piggy bank for the Congress to play with.

  220. 220.

    Lyrebird

    @Betty: ​ @WaterGirl: She is talking about the latest GOP attack on Biden that he paid to transport immigrants by plane.

    Wow, talk about every accusation from them is a projection! I mean, there’s Abbott, there’s deSantis, who else was busy doing just that?
    And I did not turn on her voice, but just a few moments of watching her – yuck. More creepy than Palin. At least her (Palin’s) flirty wink type stuff was mixed in with cavalier bullsh_t and kinda fit in. This (AL Sen’s) mixing of demure smiles with the gory accusations seems really off.​

  222. 222.

    Jackie

    @Lyrebird: I read somewhere today, that due to NY’s lawsuit, a bus company will stop busing migrants from Texas to NY.

    Hopefully Chicago and other cities will take note and follow suit. THEN maybe Abbott will push for Mike Johnson to allow the Border bill to be put on the House floor for a vote.

  224. 224.

    Lyrebird

    @Jackie: Hopefully Chicago and other cities will take note and follow suit.

    Here’s hoping!  And I hope something comes of that Texas Sheriff’s lawsuit (I think he’s a Sheriff?)  suing DeSantis for trampling the civil rights of the people he sent off elsewhere under false pretenses.

    I am not pretending that immigration policy is easy to do well.  I am angered by these House hypocrites and libelers like the AL Senator, though, who repeat xenophobic lies for fun.  I saw the photo at DKos over an AP story about the block on SB4 in Texas.  A man is carrying his (I assume) toddler girl with one arm and leading his maybe 8 yr old ?? son with his other hand.  I don’t know if he’s seeking asylum (a legal right) or a job or what, but I am torn.  Rep. Gaetz or Greene or Sen. CreepyFace should by  rights go down and wash that man’s feet.  If they ever say, “gosh I am tired”, they should go carry that man’s children for a few weeks.  Walking through a river.  Past who knows what threats.  Then again, that man has probably suffered plenty and shouldn’t have to be touched by attention-loving sociopaths!

  225. 225.

    SFAW

    @brantl: ​

    Cobb could be a mean SOB, but he wasn’t a corrupt mofo like Rose. And as far as their relative standing in the pantheon of baseball greats, Rose couldn’t (as we used to say) carry Cobb’s jock. If Cobb had as many ABs as Rose (*spit*), he would have probably had close to 5,000 career base hits. [Although I have to confess, I don’t know if playing in the dead-ball era would have helped or hurt Cobb’s numbers, when comparing them to the 1960s and 1970s.]

  226. 226.

    Chris T.

    @Uncle Cosmo:

    Then again, no one is all that sure just where Bawlmerese gets its roots.

    Bawlmer is the only place that a policeman’s truncheon / shillelagh becomes an “espantoon”.

    (I grew up in MD, but not in Baltimore, which always seemed far away until I was a mostly-grown-up visiting people who could actually pick up Channel 11 on their roof antennae. I did most of my growing-up in G-burg, near the NIST (nee NBS) offices.)

  227. 227.

    Chris T.

    @Ironcity:

    As I understand it the cash money collected from us working stiffs and our employers for Social Security is loaned to the U.S. Treasury.

    Sorta-kinda.

    If you like, you can buy yourself a Treasury Bond from https://www.treasurydirect.gov/ – this thing has a guaranteed return of principal over whatever term you select, plus interest.

    If you do buy one, this money is “loaned to the treasury”, right? Or not right? Do you believe you’ll get it back? (Choose one, yes or no.) Millionaires and billionaires buy these sometimes, and trade them; they’re quite liquid on trading markets. Do people get paid back when they mature? Historically, everyone has always been paid. These government securities are considered the most sure thing in the entire world (hence sometimes foreign countries buy them, and a lot of foreign investors use them).

    Social Security does exactly the same thing, except that it builds very special T-bonds that come in enormous denominations. Rather than $100 or $1000 or $10,000 at a time, the SS “trust fund” buys multi-million dollar Treasuries. When they mature, they are paid back and right on time! This is what the Rs in Congress keep threatening—when they talk about defaulting, they mean people (not just SS, also those millionaires and corporations that deal in these things) might not get paid back on time.

    It’s a really bad, stupid idea. Which I suppose is redundant with saying “Republican”, but there you have it.

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