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You are here: Home / John Cole Presents "This Fucking Old House" / Tuesday Night Open Thread

Tuesday Night Open Thread

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Another exciting day here in WV, as it election day, so I dutifully went to the polls and voted for a bunch of people who will NEVER EVER EVER get elected here because I vote in the Democratic primaries, so that was eventful. Afterwards I had to drive to Morgantown because in my infinite wisdom while in Arizona in December I scheduled a bunch of appointments today, not knowing that it was election day and every place would be packed.

Regardless, it was a nice drive, made better by the fact that I spent the whole drive down and back listening to a fabulous podcast by none other than a Balloon Juice commenter (I honestly forget her handle) Rose Judson. It’s called “Books of All Time,” and it is described as “Books of All Time tackles classic literature in chronological order. Each month, host Rose Judson summarizes a classic work of literature in one episode and then dives into the story behind it in the second episode.”

It’s REALLY good. The stories are fun and informative, the background episodes are equally fun, and what I like most about it is that it is SOOO ACCESSIBLE. It’s not super inside baseball- someone with only a passing knowledge of some of the texts will be on the same footing as an expert or someone who has never heard about them. Plus, Rose has a delightful voice and the time just passes by.

I was just chatting with her the other day and she mentioned her podcast, and I am glad she did! I’ve also asked her if she would like to do a zoom book club with us at some point, and she said yes and seemed excited about it, so we are going to try to schedule something in July/August. That way all of you should have plenty of time to listen to the podcasts if you are so inclined.

You can find it on Spotify here, Apple here, and you can search your other podcast delivery places on your own. I give it two thumbs up.

***

The first appointment was with a dermatologist to check two tiny rough patches on my back to see if they were something I should be concerned about, and they are in fact basically aging spots that everyone gets, but while I was there I had them remove some skin tags that had grown on my back. My doctor was super nice and she had a nice young PA who was only on her second day, and I told them that it would be perfectly fine with me if the PA did them to help her learn, and they were very excited. I lay down on my stomach and I didn’t feel a thing and it was over in a jiffy, and I was told that I “did a great job,” to which I responded that I am very good at lying down in fact I was a natural and practiced as often as I could.

Next up was the eye doctor, and that was kind of irritating because they did the whole numbing drops and dilated my pupils. I hate that. At any rate, everything was ok and I am developing cataracts, albeit very very minor ones, but I should keep an eye on them to which I said “ehh what’s another torpedo in a sinking ship,” which seemed to upset her a little as she winced. She’s young. She’ll understand one of these days.

***

Back to WV politics. By the Way of Joe My God, I learned this about my Governor, Jim Justice, who may one day be my Senator:

The son of a coal magnate, Mr. Justice took over the family business in 1993 and expanded its interests beyond coal, with acquisitions in agriculture and high-end hospitality. Like many sprawling enterprises, the Justice companies have taken on prodigious debts. But they have also taken on a reputation for not paying them — and that may be catching up to them.

A bank in neighboring Virginia that has served the Justice family for decades has begun the process of collecting on more than $300 million in defaulted loans. Some of the family business’s prized assets, chief among them the 246-year-old Greenbrier resort, are in the bank’s sights, and collections on the governor’s personal bank accounts and even his house are now a possibility. Efforts have already been underway in Virginia to seize properties belonging to Mr. Justice’s son, James C. Justice III, the president of the family companies.

In West Virginia, the tax authorities have placed liens on Greenbrier properties for millions in unpaid taxes, only months after auctioning off tax-delinquent properties owned by the governor elsewhere in the state.

Collecting on such substantial debt has pitted creditors against one another, at times to the Justices’ benefit. One bank sued Mr. Justice along with a number of banks last month after discovering that the collateral for one of its loans, some land near the Greenbrier, had also been pledged to a host of other lenders.

I’m officially over right wing fake billionaires running the world, I really am.

That’s it for me. Battlestar Galactica is streaming for free on Amazon Prime, so I am off to rewatch Caprica first before starting that. Take care.

Reader Interactions

94Comments

  1. 1.

    Another Scott

    Speaking of historic facilities with problematic ownership… CommercialObserver.com:

    CGI Merchant Group’s Waldorf Astoria hotel in Washington, D.C. is headed to a foreclosure auction in June after months of financial difficulties.

    Chicago-based BDT & MSD Partners, the main lender of $285 million in financing backed by the hotel, filed an affidavit of nonresidential mortgage foreclosure on Friday, according to the Business Journals, which cited records filed with the D.C. Recorder of Deeds. The auction is scheduled for June 20 at the District office of Alex Cooper Auctioneers.

    SEE ALSO: Report: Office CMBS Delinquency Reaches Highest Rate Since 2018

    Miami-based CGI defaulted on $252.7 million in outstanding debt on the property earlier this year. CGI, in partnership with Hilton, purchased a leasehold on the 269-room hotel, at 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, in 2022 for $375 million from former President Donald Trump. Within a month of acquiring the hotel, CGI rebranded it from the Trump International Hotel to the Waldorf Astoria.

    “CGI is engaged in productive discussions with the property’s manager, Hilton, and several other parties who want to reach a consensual financing solution that reflects the realities of today’s challenging, rising rate environment,” a CGI spokesperson told Commercial Observer in a statement. “MSD’s unilateral decision to file a foreclosure notice is inconsistent with the discussions and possibly invalid. Although our goal is to continue advancing constructive negotiations with all parties, including MSD, we’re prepared to take all necessary steps to protect the rights of CGI and its partners.”

    Representatives for BDT & MSD did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    The hotel is located within D.C.’s historic Old Post Office, which remains one of the tallest buildings in the District. The federal government in 2012 leased the property on a 60-year term to the Trump Organization, which then spent some $200 million renovating it into a luxury hotel.

    The Trump International Hotel opened in 2016 just a few months before Trump was elected president. It was a source of controversy while Trump was in office because his family profited from the hotel, which was often visited by foreign dignitaries and their entourages.

    Trump is currently facing a $355 million penalty for real estate fraud, with the hotel being one of the assets implicated in the case. The New York judge in that case ruled that he won the contract from the General Services Administration due to false information, rendering Trump and his children liable for the profit he received from the property.

    […]

    [ womp, womp ]

    Fingers crossed that WV is starting to get ready to approach the idea of turning the corner. Gotta start somewhere…

    Good luck!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  2. 2.

    Geminid

    Polls in Maryland just closed, except for anyone in line. The Democratic primary race between Rep. David Trone and Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks has gotten a lot of attention.

    There are also primaries for 3 open Congressional seats, One is in Trone’s western Maryland 6th CD,  another is in John Sarbanes’ 3rd CD between DC and Baltimore. That’s where former Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn is running.

  3. 3.

    TaMara

    Love the podcast recommendation. And does WV not have computer dilation? Where they take a photo of your eyes and it tells you everything. Diabetes? Nope. Cataracts? Nope. Macular degeneration? Nope. Thining from old age. Unfortunately, yup.

    It is sooo much better than dilation which usually gives me a migraine.

  4. 4.

    sab

    Son of a coal magnate seems problematic. I knew some of their wives in law school. Nice girls, but they were wary of spouses. Not that spouses were bad. Some people keep thir heads down because of what they do for a living.

  5. 5.

    Scout211

    Wow. That is very interesting about the Justice family finances.

    Why do all of these banks allow these fake billionaires to put up encumbered collateral?  Trump and his family have done it for years but I guess it must be common in the fake billionaire world.

    Good thing the Republicans had their retreat at Greenbrier before the place was sold out from under them.

    I’m so old I remember debt like this kept people out of politics.

  6. 6.

    Manyakitty

    And Washington Post just sent out an alert that Justice won the GOP primary. Away we go…

  7. 7.

    Math Guy

    Ophthalmologists can look at your retina without having to dilate your pupils; they have a camera that can snap a detailed image. Every time I go in for an examination they offer me that option for an additional $35. It irritates me that insurance does not cover the cost, but I pay the difference anyway to avoid having to get my pupils dilated.

    I like your torpedo reference. Yeah, sometimes I feel like a slowly sinking ship.

  8. 8.

    CaseyL

    @Scout211: I assume it has as much, or more, to do with currying favor than “sound investing.”

    There’s also the old aphorism that if you owe a bank $1,000, they own you; but if you owe the bank $100,000,000 you own them.  They’re desperate to keep debt-saddled billionaires from actually defaulting, because they’d have to reflect that on their balance sheets, and their own bottom line would… bottom out.

  9. 9.

    Marleedog

    I am on the ‎Eastern Shore of MD, CD1, aka North Alabama, R+14, represented by the odious back bench teabagger Andy Harris.  I do not think that we can elect a Democrat in otherwise blue Maryland.

     

    But the Senate is another story and I am glad to see Cardin gone.

    We have been spammed by a deluge of David Trone flyers in the mail for the past 3 months.  Alsobrooks,  not so much, but her yard signs were better. I will be glad when that is over.

    I early-voted for Alsobrooks, and I think, hope, she will win tonight.   The last thing we need is yet another pasty white scion of wealth when an equally if not more  competent, and younger woman of color is a much better choice to represent the people of Maryland.

  10. 10.

    Jay

    Late on April 30, Sean Tabibian called 911 to say police were needed urgently at the University of California at Los Angeles. “All hell had broken loose,” Tabibian recalled in an interview. Masked agitators were attacking pro-Palestinian protesters on a campus quad, video footage shows, and a team of hired security guards had retreated.

    The call at 11:09 p.m. was the first of 11 that Tabibian made to police that night as the violence escalated, according to his cellphone’s call log. Other witnesses called 911 as well, records show.

    “They said they were responding,” said Tabibian, a local business executive and UCLA alumnus who was near campus around the time commotion erupted at the encampment, and who said he was concerned that protesters had been discriminating against Jewish students. “They kept saying they’re responding, they’re responding.”

    While a small UCLA patrol could be seen in footage briefly early on, law enforcement agencies did not move in to stop the violence until 3 hours and 34 minutes after Tabibian’s first 911 call, a Washington Post examination has found — a delay that prolonged one of the most violent altercations since pro-Palestinian protesters began setting up encampments on college campuses across the country this spring.

    The examination — based on evidence including more than 200 videos, emergency radio transmissions, text messages and interviews with more than a dozen witnesses — illuminates the stakes for university and local officials as they decide if and when to call police to deal with pro-Palestinian encampments. Elsewhere police have been accused of using heavy-handed tactics, but at UCLA, where university policy discourages calling police preemptively, campus police as well as the Los Angeles Police Department and California Highway Patrol are facing scrutiny for their hands-off approach that night.

    It’s not clear why police waited so long to respond. But in the hours before they took action, at least 16 people were visibly injured, the majority of them pro-Palestinian, including two protesters who could be seen with blood streaking across their faces and soaking into their clothes, videos and images show. The counterprotesters ignited at least six fireworks; struck protesters at least 20 times with wooden planks, metal poles and other objects; and punched or kicked at least eight protesters.

    https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2024/05/wilhoits-law-and-campus-protests

    Free WAPO gift link at LGM.

  15. 15.

    Ruviana

    John, at least in my experience cataract surgery was a piece of cake. So you’ve got that going for you when the time comes.

  17. 17.

    zhena gogolia

    JL Cauvin: “Michael Cohen is a lying sleazeball! That’s why I hired him!”

  19. 19.

    Spanky

    @Marleedog:

    I early-voted for Alsobrooks, and I think, hope, she will win tonight.   The last thing we need is yet another pasty white scion of wealth when an equally if not more  competent, and younger woman of color is a much better choice to represent the people of Maryland.

    I could have written this, except you were more eloquent. Don’t need another aging white guy in the Senate.

    I’m pretty sure the race won’t be decided until the early and mailed in ballots are counted, so no need to wait up late tonight.

     

    ETA the obligatory Fuck Larry Hogan.

  20. 20.

    bbleh

    I have registered in PA since I’m moving there next month, so I was happy not to have to waste time casting a vote in WV.  Justice will be better than Mooney — he may be corrupt, but he’s not a nitwit MAGAt.  And as for the local races, it just wasn’t worth the time to sort out the merely reactionary and revanchist from the truly lunatic.  Into the lifeboat, and leave them to their fate.

  21. 21.

    West of the Rockies

    Open Thread?

    I cannot stand the Otezla commercial with Ned and his plaque psoriasis!!

    Swing your arms when you walk.  Don’t cringe and lean away from everyone else.   Don’t look at your blind date with obvious surprise that she is normal and pretty.  Don’t just shrug and hug her goodbye when you part in front of the theater.

    Rant over.  Thank you for listening.

  22. 22.

    Geminid

     

     

    @Spanky: Personal profile aside, I thought Alsobrooks’s professional experience makes her more qualified for the post. She is in her second term as the elected executive of a county of almost 1 million people. Before that she was County prosecutor which I think gives her an important perspective on public safety issues, and polls show that issue is important to Maryland voters.

    After 3 terms, David Trone seems like an average Democratic congressman. That’s not neccesarily a slam, because I have a high opinion of most of the Democratic House caucus. I just don’t think he would bring as much to the Senate as would Alsobrooks.

  23. 23.

    Parfigliano

    It must be nice to skate through live as being percieved to be wealthy.  Pledge what you allegedly own as collateral to multiple lenders…no problem.  Sign under oath what you pledge as unencumbered to multiple lenders…no problem.  Stiff creditors and dont pay taxes of any kind no problem.

    You dont own shit but get treated like you own everything.

  24. 24.

    Spanky

    @Geminid: I guess we’ll dispense with the Trone/Alsobrooks comparisons soon enough, but Alsobrooks worked her way up as a lawyer, Trone made his fortune selling booze. Either would be a reliable Dem vote, but since I want someone in there who I think can make things happen, I’m going with the one with the legal background.

  25. 25.

    Tim in SF

    Hey JC, was Caprica any good? I watched two episodes, but it seemed like they were trying to squeeze an existing story into a Cylon dress, and shoved in some current events, like Arab suicide bombers. I know Ron Moore loves to shoe-horn today’s headlines into what (I think) should be escapist fiction (like that whole season of Iraq-style Cylon-occupation in BSG) but what the hell do I know?

  27. 27.

    wjca

    @Parfigliano: Stiff creditors and dont pay taxes of any kind no problem.

    Another reason to get the IRS more staff.  Not only will going after these rich scoff laws net the Federal government more money.  It will also bring the states (well, except those with no income tax) more, since their tax returns tend to use the Federal return as a basis.  And, for no additional charge, it will shut some entitled reactionary scum out of office — if they can’t run on being rich, they got nothing.

  30. 30.

    MinuteMan

    @Math Guy: ​
      There’s another gadget that measures retina pressure without having to numb the eyes. That one they usually don’t charge extra for. It’s a lot better than having them touch your eye with the pressure sensor. I don’t think I’ve done it the numbing way more than a time or two and those were a long time ago.

    The other advantage to the retina camera is that they will have a record to they can look back over time if something shows up.

  31. 31.

    Spanky

    @Starfish:

    Following the 2020 redistricting cycle, it now includes Howard County, most of Anne Arundel County including Glen Burnie and Annapolis, and part of Carroll County, specifically the areas around Mount Airy, and its incumbent representative John Sarbanes no longer lives in the district.

    – Wikipedia

  32. 32.

    Scout211

    @West of the Rockies:I cannot stand the Otezla commercial with Ned and his plaque psoriasis!!

    LOL.  Me too.

    I don’t watch tv much, but I do watch a design show or two in the evening (HGTV or Magnolia) and those networks must be the best networks for all the pharma commercials.  They are everywhere on those networks and it seems like all of the pharma commericials are very strange or creepy.  A broadway musical in the workplace to extoll the virtues of Jardiance?  Huh?

    I think they all decided to go over the top and so crazy that you just can’t forget the medication to talk to your doctor about.  It’s a feature, not a bug.

    Lately I have made an effort to DVR most of the shows that I like on those networks just to avoid those creepy commercials.

  33. 33.

    Geminid

    @Starfish: Yes, and a dozen or so Democrats want to replace him. Harry Dunn and a local state legislator are thought to be the leading candidates.

    Rep. “Dutch” Ruppersberger(sp?) is also retiring from his 2nd CD seat, so Maryland has primaries tonight for 3 open seats.

  34. 34.

    Spanky

    WaPo reports that Larry Fucking Hogan has won the GOP senate primary here in MD.

  35. 35.

    Starfish

    @Spanky: Interesting. I lived on the South side of Baltimore and was in Sarbanes’s former district. It was very messed up the way they had divided the city of Baltimore into three separate districts.

  38. 38.

    schrodingers_cat

    Only the final phase of voting remains in the Indian elections. Keep your fingers crossed. There is lot of dissatisfaction against the BJP incumbent. The coverage in the MSM is lazy and awful. I have been listening to Twitter Spaces after every phase where people have been making on the ground reports in various states.

  39. 39.

    Spanky

    @Another Scott: WaPo currently has Alsobrooks 50.1% / Trone 46% with 29% counted, but I’m pretty sure it’ll come down to early and mailed in ballots.

  41. 41.

    zhena gogolia

    So the NYT tells me orange turd is ahead in swing states. Somebody talk me down.

  42. 42.

    Geminid

    Dave Wasserman has “seen enough,” and projects Alsobrooks as the winner over Trone. That was quick.

  43. 43.

    lowtechcyclist

    One bank sued Mr. Justice along with a number of banks last month after discovering that the collateral for one of its loans, some land near the Greenbrier, had also been pledged to a host of other lenders.

    IANAL, but I’d think this would qualify as fraud.

    It’s really stealing, just under a different name, since the whole point of collateral is: that’s what you get if the debtor can’t pay back the loan. And obviously the same piece of property can’t go to each one of the creditors to whom it was promised at collateral. So each one of the creditors that doesn’t get that property was defrauded out of the value of the property, that is, effectively stolen from.

    The guy should be locked up. But of course he won’t, because rich white guy. Like Woody said, some will rob you with a six-gun, and some with a fountain pen. And we all know which ‘some’ is more likely to see the inside of a prison cell.

  47. 47.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Geminid:

    If Wasserman has ‘seen enough,’ that’s enough for me, I’m going to bed.  Yay Alsobrooks!  (And no more damned junk mail from David Trone – thank you Lord!)

  49. 49.

    Mr. Bemused Senior

    @zhena gogolia: … Somebody talk me down.

    It’s 5+ months to election day. Trump has plenty of time to melt down and we’re seeing it happening. Some people will vote for a puddle but far from a majority.

    I’m an optimist so discount my advice as you see fit.

  50. 50.

    Geminid

    @schrodingers_cat: There is an interesting open seat primary on the Virginia side of the Potomac, where 10th CD Rep. Jennifer Wexton is retiring for health reasons. She just endorsed 37 year-old state Senator Suhas Subramanyam to succeed her.

    Subramanyam was born in Houston, attended Tulane and law school at Nortwestern University, then worked for President Obama. He ran for state Delegate in 2019 and became the first Indian-American to serve in Virginia’s General Assembly.

  51. 51.

    Spanky

    I think Wasserman is premature, but I hope he’s right

    ETA WaPo says 51/45 with 33% counted. I also have no idea how turnout was today.

  52. 52.

    Scout211

    @zhena gogolia: So the NYT tells me orange turd is ahead in swing states. Somebody talk me down.

    Lately, political polling has skewed Republican and in close races, the Democrat over-performs the polling.

    And also, don’t read the NYT.

  54. 54.

    Geminid

    @lowtechcyclist: I wonder if Trone’s incessant advertising campaign hurt him. People here have complained about it for months. Once voters found out Trone had a qualified opponent, they could express their resentment by voting for her.

  56. 56.

    Baud

    @Geminid:

    I actually doubt that’s a real thing. People complain about political advertising, but I don’t think it moves votes as a backlash.

  58. 58.

    Spanky

    Just as a comparison, Hogan won his first term in 2014 51/47 against Anthony Brown, an African- American who was Lieutenant Governor at the time.

    Race is always a factor in this old slave state.

  59. 59.

    Barbara

    @Spanky: It looks really close in suburbs outside of Prince George’s County so I expect you are right.

    ETA: Alsobrooks is now projected to win!

  60. 60.

    Barbara

    @Spanky: Yes, but it was also generally a horrible year for Democrats.  Hogan is going to have a different electoral composition in a presidential election year.

  61. 61.

    John Cole

    @Tim in SF: I liked it but two things- it’s a prequel so it is the perfect place to create backstory, and 2.) I am very forgiving of creators and writers and just accept what they present. I don’t get worked up about what I think a story should be as opposed to what it ends up being. If it bothers me so much I can write my own fucking tv show.

  63. 63.

    eclare

    @zhena gogolia:

    It is way too early, and the NYTimes Siena poll weights toward Republicans.

    Morning Joe laughed at it, for what that’s worth.

    Do you really think TFG is up by double digits in Harry’s old state?  No fucking way.

  64. 64.

    Hoppie

    @zhena gogolia: Dukakis was ahead by double digits at this point in 1988.  Then ratfucking.  Polls at this point have, er, interesting information, but are not predictive.

    The Biden team seems confident.  I believe them, but it is assumed we all work very hard.  Believe and work!

  65. 65.

    SpaceUnit

    Polling isn’t working well these days, and not just for political issues.

    There was a referendum recently in Jackson County, MO to determine if tax money should be used to build a new stadium for the Royals and fund around 800 million in renovations for Arrowhead Stadium.  Polls leading up to the election indicated that it was a dead heat, too close to call.

    Voters defeated the proposal by a margin of 16 points.  Wasn’t close at all.  Shows you what polling is worth.

     

    I don’t live there – I just read about it on a sports blog.   But good on those voters for telling the billionaires to pay for their own damn stadiums.

  69. 69.

    eclare

    @SpaceUnit:

    I have no idea, but that is what we called the gorgeous stadium built for the 1996 Olympics track and field and then repurposed for the Braves.  Centrally located, and you could get to it using MARTA, the local subway and bus system.

    A few years ago, The Ted was too old at twenty years, like the stadium was dating Leo (and too many of those people could get there).  So ATL built a new stadium in a county where MARTA does not run.  Problem solved.  Well, one problem, I cannot imagine the traffic getting to a game with no public transportation.

  70. 70.

    SpaceUnit

    @eclare:

    Yikes.  Sounds like some really bad planning.

     

    Also, dating Leo!  Took me a minute or two to get that.  Nice.

  71. 71.

    eclare

    @SpaceUnit:

    When I left ATL in 2004, the area was around eighteen separate counties, so it has issues.

    Thanks!  I liked that one too!

  72. 72.

    Jackie

    @zhena gogolia:

    So the NYT tells me orange turd is ahead in swing states. Somebody talk me down.

    Polls don’t vote. And the polls have been predominantly wrong since 2012.

  73. 73.

    wjca

    @Baud: People complain about political advertising, but I don’t think it moves votes as a backlash.

    Except for those of us who worry about the forests cut down to make paper for all that snail mail spam junk mail.  There’s more than one kind of backlash.

  75. 75.

    Kristine

    @Scout211: 

    I don’t watch tv much, but I do watch a design show or two in the evening (HGTV or Magnolia) and those networks must be the best networks for all the pharma commercials.

     

    No more pharma commercials was one of the best things about dropping cable. No more ads for walk-in bathtubs reverse mortgages was another.

  77. 77.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Kristine:

    No more pharma commercials was one of the best things about dropping cable. No more ads for walk-in bathtubs reverse mortgages was another. 

    Tell me how you avoid pharma ads without having cable.  I’m interested. :)

  78. 78.

    Spanky

    Alsobrooks is declared winner with 58% counted. She’s at +12%.

    Harry Dunn lost to Sarah Elfreth in the MD 3rd race

    ETA: From WaPo coverage

    ETA2 also from WaPo:

    State Sen. Sarah Elfreth (D), who gradually rose to prominence after becoming the youngest woman elected to the chamber in 2018 at 30, bested Dunn despite his national celebrity as a former Capitol Police officer who defended the Capitol from pro-Trump rioters on Jan. 6, 2021.

    Elfreth and Dunn were the top candidates in a crowded field of 22 Democratic candidates in the primary, as outside money poured into the race. Elfreth got a lift from more than $4 million in independent expenditures from the United Democracy Project, a super PAC affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, though Elfreth said she did not coordinate with the PAC or ask for the money. Still, the millions in spending boosted Elfreth as she contended with Dunn’s $4.5 million war chest, which grew thanks to his national profile.

    But while Dunn benefited from a meteoric rise with a compelling message about protecting democracy, Elfreth was well-known in the district for her prolific record in the General Assembly, passing dozens of bills since taking office in 2019. She’s worked on issues ranging from protecting the Chesapeake Bay to funding trauma medical care for Medicaid patients with excise taxes on firearms.

  79. 79.

    wjca

    @Baud: You tree huggers won.

    Trees are nice.  But if I wanted to hug them, I’d live east of the Mississippi, where they’re thick on the ground.

  82. 82.

    SpaceUnit

    @mrmoshpotato:

    I’ve no biographical knowledge or feelings concerning Ted Turner, other than agreeing with the very accurate notion that every billionaire represents a policy failure.

     

    ETA:  In other words he ought to be taxed down to his last remaining yacht and summer mansion.

  83. 83.

    Martin

    @Jay: So, whether police respond to a 911 call is not a matter of campus policy, which I think is what’s being skirted over here. A 911 call overrides any administrative policy.

    This is filing in some of what I was wondering about during this period – were the reports of 911 calls accurate (sounds as though they were) and the police didn’t respond because they didn’t know or did police get the call and choose to not respond.

    My hypothesis at the time was that the police, butthurt because they were sidelined in favor of private security who could still keep the encampment free of outsiders and not escalate tensions that cops habitually do, decided that they didn’t need to respond to 911 calls ‘because the campus made their decision with the private security, let them live with it’.

    This doesn’t confirm that hypothesis, but it does sound a bit more like that is what happened. The decision after the event by the Chancellor to restructure campus safety (and how it was restructured) also suggests this is roughly what happened.

  84. 84.

    Martin

    @Martin: I’ll also note, a 911 call on campus will route to the campus dispatcher, not the city one, at least typically (there are exceptions). So if that is what happened, the nominal response would be UC PD, not LAPD. The UCLA dispatcher could transfer that call to the city if they felt it was a city, not campus matter, and the UC PD can request LAPD assistance if they feel they need it.

    Each UC campus PD is integrated with the city PD to various degrees.

  85. 85.

    thruppence

    @SpaceUnit: The San Francisco Giants’ owners tried for years to get a tax funded stadium, was voted down every time. Eventually they built their own. I think owning a sports team is a competitive status symbol for billionaires. If they can force the locals to pay for it, even more status.

  86. 86.

    SpaceUnit

    @thruppence:

    Yeah.  Taxpayers and voters currently seem to be less agreeable to it than they’d been in the past.  As well they should be.

    It’s a good trend.

  87. 87.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @lowtechcyclist: On large financings, there can be layers of debt, senior and mezz, often involving different lenders with different priorities as creditors (who gets paid 1st). There are some big boy banks involved and banks often get into disputes when the house of cards collapses and it’s collection time.

    Justice sounds like a real sleaze, from the FTFNYT article I followed from JC’s post.

    https://archive.is/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/12/us/jim-justice-west-virginia-senate.html

  88. 88.

    SectionH

    @thruppence: Well, y’know, the Chargers owner wanted a new stadium, and San Diegans to pay for it, or he’d take his toys elsewhere… and we said “Buh bye!”  It happens.

    We still have Petco for the Padres, and it seems to stay busy in football season, and new SnapDragon for the Wave (US women’s soccer) and a lot of other cool sportsball stuff.

  89. 89.

    wjca

    @SpaceUnit: Taxpayers and voters currently seem to be less agreeable to it than they’d been in the past.  As well they should be.

    It’s a good trend.

    But one which does not seemed to have quite reached the State of Nevada.  Or, at least, their legislature.

  90. 90.

    R-Jud

    @Spanky: ​
      I’ll try to fix that.

    This was so wonderful to wake up to. John, you really are a mensch. Thanks for the recommendation – hope some of you will listen to BoAT and tell your friends about it if you like it!

    Rose

  92. 92.

    Paul W.

    Just chiming in to say Caprica was a lot of fun, and actually did the VR world stuff much better than most! Sad it never took off…

  94. 94.

    Ksmiami

    CPI came in less than expected… NY fucking Times  and  NPR are economically illiterate

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