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fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

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Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

“woke” is the new caravan.

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Their freedom requires your slavery.

We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you don’t.

“I never thought they’d lock HIM up,” sobbed a distraught member of the Lock Her Up Party.

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You are here: Home / Archives for Politics / Trumpery / Trump Crime Cartel

Trump Crime Cartel

Chese & Krakens

by Betty Cracker|  September 15, 20232:09 pm| 153 Comments

This post is in: 2020 Elections, Open Threads, Politics, Republican Stupidity, Republican Venality, Trump Crime Cartel, Trump Indictments

Fulton County Judge McAfee is creating a hellish charcuterie board, and the cheese doesn’t want to be paired with the crispy Kraken, but the judge says that’s too damn bad. (Daily Beast)

Attorney Kenneth Chesebro, the alleged architect of the so-called fake elector scheme launched in a frenzied attempt to keep former President Donald Trump in office, just can’t get away from Sidney Powell.

After ruling last week that the two will be tried together, Fulton County Supreme Court Judge Scott McAfee on Thursday further ruled that their trial will be conducted apart from Trump and 16 other co-defendants in the sprawling racketeering prosecution brought by District Attorney Fani Willis over attempts to subvert the state’s 2020 presidential election returns…

“Mr. Chesebro has never physically met Sidney Powell; Mr. Chesebro has never sent an email to Ms. Powell; Mr. Chesebro has never received an email from Ms. Powell; Mr. Chesebro has never called Ms. Powell; Mr. Chesebro has never received a phone call from Ms. Powell; Mr. Chesebro has never texted Ms. Powell; Mr. Chesebro has never received a text message from Ms. Powell; and Mr. Chesebro has never communicated with Ms. Powell through any social media or telecommunications application,” Chesebro’s motion stated. “In sum, there has never been any direct contact or communication between Mr. Chesebro and Ms. Powell. Similarly, there is no correlation or overlap between the overt acts or the substantive charges associated with Mr. Chesebro and Ms. Powell.

The defense lawyers consulted for the article (i.e., not affiliated with either coup plotter) imply the Cheese Bro is desperate to separate himself from the Kraken Lady because he expects a lot more damning evidence to emerge in her case and fears it will taint him in the eyes of the jury. Unfortunately for Cheese Bro, the judge interpreted his severance motion (and Kraken Lady’s much less vociferous one) as evidence that the risk of evidence overlap is minimal.

It’s starting to look like that speedy trial motion will not redound to Chesebro’s benefit. Womp-womp-womp-woooooomp!

Open thread.

Chese & KrakensPost + Comments (153)

Sunday Evening Open Thread: What Does Chuck Grassley Know About the Attempted Insurrection, And When Did He Know It?

by Anne Laurie|  September 10, 20239:43 pm| 97 Comments

This post is in: Domestic Terrorism, Jan 6: Insurrection, Open Threads, Republican Venality, Trump Crime Cartel

Grassley Says He Was ‘Never Involved In Any Conversations’ About Him Presiding Over Congress On Jan. 6 https://t.co/yN4EDPEFtO via @TPM

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) September 7, 2023

Grassley’s worked his ‘kindly, if slightly addled, Grandpa Simpson’ cosplay to great effect for almost as long as I’ve been paying close attention to Republican political maneuvering… but all great performances must eventually be ended, by audience demand if not the wishes of the performer.

Would Grassley throw himself into plotting a coup against a Democratic president? Probably not — if only because he and/or the powerful Iowa family dynasty he heads, wouldn’t get much of a return for that risk. Would he happily accede to a coup, if there was enough of a reward offered to Chuck Grassley? IMO: Does a CAFO pig dump produce sh*t lagoons?

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) told reporters on Capitol Hill Thursday he was not involved in any conversations with Trump allies about the possibility of him presiding over the Jan. 6, 2021 joint session of Congress.

“We were talking about presiding over the Senate but a lot of people get that mixed up with some idea that I was going to preside over the joint session,” Grassley said as he got out of the Senate subway for the first votes of the day. “You know that’s not what I ever intended to do. I was never involved in any conversations on that or anything.”

When pressed about how the mix up happened, Grassley was led away by a staffer and reporters were told the senator’s office could send out a statement to elaborate.

Questions around Trump allies’ discussions about Grassley presiding over Congress instead of then former Vice President Mike Pence on Jan. 6 resurfaced on Tuesday when Trump lawyer John Eastman was asked about those conversations during his disbarment trial in California.

Eastman evaded the question and claimed conversations on that topic were protected by attorney-client privilege, according to Politico. When pressed further about which client he was referring to Eastman said, “President Trump.”…

How long are you cruel reporters gonna keep harrying a poor old man whose memory might not be what it once was?…

That doesn’t mean they had an actual plan in place to do that, but too many people take it as a given that Grassley is a quirky old man and not a hack.

— Clean Observer (@Hammbear2024) September 7, 2023

A guy who employed Barbara Ledeen can’t be per se ruled out as a participant.

See also the cadre of ex-Grassley staff running the rat fuck operation on Biden via made up claims about Hunter. https://t.co/qkgr0DVdKm

— Clean Observer (@Hammbear2024) September 7, 2023

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Analysis: Critics of Donald Trump have focused on comments Sen. Charles E. Grassley made to suggest that Grassley was in on a plot to sideline former vice president Mike Pence, who had been resisting Trump’s entreaties to help overturn the 2020 election. https://t.co/FYLCHNTNXf

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) September 8, 2023

… There’s no real evidence of Grassley’s involvement. But that doesn’t preclude the possibility that some people in Trump’s orbit were angling for that outcome, as evidence suggests they did.

Grassley set off a momentary controversy on Jan. 5 by saying: “If the vice president isn’t there — and we don’t expect him to be there — I will be presiding over the Senate.” Roll Call initially cast this as Grassley saying he personally expected to preside over the certification of electoral votes. (In the absence of the vice president, that duty falls to the Senate president pro tempore, which was Grassley.)

But Grassley’s actual comments appeared to refer to a separate session of the Senate rather than the crucial joint session of Congress, something his office clarified then and Grassley himself reiterated Thursday. His office said he would fill in for Pence in the Senate only if Pence stepped out for a period of time.

(Grassley on Jan. 6 would indeed wind up briefly presiding over the Senate, after Pence was evacuated amid the growing unrest at the Capitol. But Grassley, too, was soon removed from the chamber.)

Grassley and his office have repeatedly denied that anybody approached him about presiding over the joint session so he could decline to certify the results on Jan. 6.

But other evidence makes clear that some Trump allies entertained the idea of Pence stepping aside — and that even Pence at one point at least discussed the possibility…

Why wasn’t Chuck Grassley hauled in front of the January 6 Committee and asked why he said “we don’t expect” Pence “to be there” on January 5, 2021? What did Grassley know and what was his involvement? https://t.co/1nGpSP1sv2

— 😱 Scary Larry 😱 🇺🇦✊🏻🇺🇸🗽 (@aintscarylarry) September 7, 2023

Naow, naow — let’s not argue and bicker about ‘oo kilt ‘oo!…

Sunday Evening Open Thread: What Does Chuck Grassley Know About the Attempted Insurrection, And When Did He Know It?Post + Comments (97)

Saturday Evening Open Thread: Enrique Tarrio, Another ‘Freedumb Martyr’

by Anne Laurie|  September 9, 20236:16 pm| 146 Comments

This post is in: domestic terrorists, Jan 6: Insurrection, Open Threads, Trump Crime Cartel

Saturday Evening Open Thread: Enrique Tarrio, Another 'Freedumb' Martyr

(Clay Bennett via GoComics.com)

 

Khalid Sheikh Muhammed wasn't even in New York on 9/11

He was in Pakistan.

But none of that matters https://t.co/K9GzQNFNhh

— The okayest poster there is (@ok_post_guy) September 6, 2023

Story in the NYTimes, “Seeking Link to Trump, Prosecutors Questioned Proud Boys Leader”:

Last October, a few months before he went to trial on sedition charges linked to the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the Proud Boys, got an invitation: The federal prosecutors in charge of his case asked him and his lawyers to sit down for a meeting.

During that meeting, Mr. Tarrio recounted on Friday in a phone interview from jail, the prosecutors told him that they believed he had communicated in the run-up to the riot with President Donald J. Trump through at least three intermediaries.

The prosecutors, Mr. Tarrio said, offered him leniency if he could corroborate their theory.

Mr. Tarrio said he told them they were wrong. And the discussion with prosecutors — which took place in Miami, Mr. Tarrio’s hometown — apparently went nowhere. Mr. Tarrio was later convicted of seditious conspiracy in federal court in Washington and was sentenced on Tuesday to 22 years in prison.

But his account of his interaction with the Justice Department suggests that prosecutors took extraordinary steps in seeking out evidence of ties between Mr. Trump and the Proud Boys, the far-right group that was instrumental to the violence that erupted at the Capitol. To have approached Mr. Tarrio soon before his trial in search of information that could implicate the former president shows the government’s interest in connections between Mr. Trump and the extremists at the center of the riot…

Of course, there is now a Great Flapping on right-wing media, insisting that Tarrio is ‘being punished for refusing to lie about President Trump.’ I personally doubt TFG masterminded the insurrection — even if he had that much focus, he would never have been able to bring himself to conspire with grubby, low-level People Like That — but it’s pretty clear he was more than happy to be the beneficiary of other GOP criminals’ earnest efforts. And since Tarrio, as the Brits would put it, has form as an informant, I assume his jailhouse interview (with, AFAICT, Gateway Pundit, aka The Dumbest Man on the Internet) is intended to cover his own hide while simultaneously signalling to his coconspirators not yet under carceral supervision.

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Latinos always out ahead of everyone! #SoProud pic.twitter.com/7thq2VOuia

— Lalo Alcaraz (@laloalcaraz) September 5, 2023

WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO
STAB ME https://t.co/WlfCWRWMTW

— Jean-Michel Connard ?? (@torriangray) September 6, 2023

The coolest thing your lawyer can say right before you go to jail https://t.co/A7Zsbqz9cD

— elle hardy (@ellehardy) September 6, 2023

Reminder: Before Tarrio became the Proud Boys leader, he used to snitch to the Feds that helped prosecute 13 people on federal charges in 2014 so he could get his own 2014 fraud case sentence reduced. https://t.co/9tlYm5iPCr

— José (@josecanyousee) September 5, 2023

A photo thread for no reason pic.twitter.com/IFTfwiU51R

— Tim Dickinson (@7im) May 4, 2023

Saturday Evening Open Thread: Enrique Tarrio, Another 'Freedumb' Martyr 1

(Nick Anderson via GoComics.com)

Saturday Evening Open Thread: Enrique Tarrio, Another ‘Freedumb Martyr’Post + Comments (146)

Tuesday Evening Open Thread: Proud Boy Enrique Tarrio Sentenced

by Anne Laurie|  September 5, 20238:25 pm| 157 Comments

This post is in: domestic terrorists, Jan 6: Insurrection, Open Threads, Trump Crime Cartel

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio gets 22 years in prison, longest sentence yet in Jan. 6 Capitol riot. pic.twitter.com/RDgYXUS9N9

— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) September 5, 2023

BREAKING: 39-year-old Enrique Tarrio, once the top leader of the Proud Boys, was sentenced to 22 years in federal prison for orchestrating the failed plot to forcibly block the peaceful transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election. pic.twitter.com/gw07M2zS4K

— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) September 5, 2023

That sentence could keep Tarrio behind bars thru next 5 Presidential elections

— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) September 5, 2023

There was considerable speculation that Tarrio’s trial, and then his sentencing, had been delayed because he was a ‘cooperating witness’, providing (or at least promising) information to implicate coconspirators higher up the food chain. Whether that had anything to do with his ‘lighter’ sentence, I certainly don’t know. Per Politico:

Enrique Tarrio, the national leader of the Proud Boys on Jan. 6, 2021, was sentenced Tuesday to 22 years in prison for masterminding a seditious conspiracy aimed at derailing the transfer of power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden.

The sentence, the lengthiest among hundreds arising from the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, is a reflection of prosecutors’ evidence that the Proud Boys, helmed by Tarrio, played the most pivotal role in stoking the violent breach of police lines and the Capitol itself…

Hundreds of Proud Boys from across the country, vetted and assembled by Tarrio and a group of top lieutenants, became a vanguard of sorts as a mob of Trump supporters descended on the Capitol, and members of the group were involved in nearly every breach of police lines that day. Dominic Pezzola, a New York Proud Boy who triggered the breach of the Capitol itself by smashing a Senate window with a stolen police shield, was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison.

Tarrio, unlike most of his co-conspirators, was not at the Capitol on Jan. 6. Upon his arrival in Washington on Jan. 4, 2021, he was arrested for his role in the theft and burning of a Black Lives Matter flag from a church after an earlier pro-Trump march. Tarrio was released the next day and ordered to leave Washington D.C., so he headed with a group of allies to a hotel in Baltimore.

Prosecutors say despite his absence, he remained in touch with his men and monitored their actions on Jan. 6. And after the attack, he repeatedly celebrated the attack, defended his allies and regretted that it didn’t fully derail the transfer of power. He was convicted in May of seditious conspiracy, conspiring to obstruct Congress’ proceedings and destroying government property, among other charges.

Tarrio’s sentence closes a significant chapter in the investigation of the Jan. 6 attack. His 22-year sentence is likely to remain the lengthiest for anyone charged in connection with the attack itself — a mark that exceeds the 18-year sentences handed down to Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and Tarrio’s ally Ethan Nordean.

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Prosecutors portrayed Tarrio as a uniquely influential figure who singularly organized a group of hardened Proud Boys members and aimed them at the Capitol on Jan. 6. They said his sentence had to serve as a deterrent to anyone who might target America’s system of government in the future…

Kelly, a Trump appointee, appeared largely unmoved by Tarrio’s words of contrition. He emphasized that as the attack unfolded, he used his platform to tell his allies “Don’t fucking leave.” And that night, Tarrio privately told a confidant, “Make no mistake. We did this.” Despite Tarrio’s contrition, Kelly again slammed him for comparing Pezzola to George Washington…

The judge added that he doesn’t see evidence, despite Tarrio’s apologies, that he feels remorse for the seditious conspiracy for which he was convicted.

The Proud Boys traced their rise in large part to Trump himself, gaining national notoriety for street brawls against left-wing protesters who they accused of aligning with antifa. The group saw a recruitment surge in September 2020 when Trump told them to “stand back and stand by” on a debate stage — a comment that became a rallying cry for Tarrio and other Proud Boys leaders…

After Trump urged supporters to descend on Washington on Jan. 6 for a last-ditch effort to cling to power, the Proud Boys began mobilizing — and in prosecutors’ view, conspiring to help Trump derail the transfer of power at any cost. Stung by the violence they witnessed in December, the group also said they wanted to ensure they only brought disciplined men who would follow orders, and they established a new chapter — “The Ministry of Self-Defense” — aimed at organizing their Jan. 6 efforts.

Prosecutors also homed in on Tarrio’s receipt of a document from a girlfriend — Eryka Flores — titled “1776 returns,” a blueprint for occupying federal buildings in order to block Congress’ Jan. 6 proceedings. The document described the Capitol as “The Winter Palace,” a reference to the Russian Revolution of 1917. Tarrio, when texting with an exhilarated ally on the evening on Jan. 6, responded simply, “Winter Palace.”

A glass-half-full argument from Shane Burley, “author of “Fascism Today: What It Is and How to End It””, at NBC:

… The convictions of Tarrio, Biggs, Rhodes, Nordean and others have been hailed as justice. And it’s true that efforts to hold far-right leaders accountable are promising signs for anyone concerned about the rise of far-right street violence. But the hefty sentences prosecutors asked for could have, potentially, complicated other efforts to undermine groups like the Proud Boys. Which is why the lighter (but still historically long) sentence for Tarrio and his comrades could be seen as a win, not a loss.

Backing up slightly, the high-profile Oath Keeper and Proud Boys trials elicited complicated reactions from some left-wing advocates. Prosecutors went after leaders like Tarrio — who was not at the Capitol on Jan. 6 — by arguing they used violent rioters as “tools” of a broader conspiracy. Similar approaches have been used against left-wing and antifascist activists in the past, including against demonstrators who took to the streets of D.C. during Trump’s inauguration. Right-wing media figure Andy Ngo also used similar logic in a recent civil case, where he tried to connect large numbers of activists as part of a broader conspiracy and alleged assault. (Ngo ultimately lost his claim, although he still won default judgments against several people named in the case.) For these reasons, left-wing activists are wary of any legal strategy that argues participation in a demonstration makes you an accomplice to violence, even if there isn’t evidence of your direct participation.

Another reason Tarrio’s sentence could be viewed as a win has to do with the far-right’s increasingly caustic dive into conspiracy theories, particularly claims that the entire federal apparatus has been taken over by the shadowy “deep state.” The related belief that Trump is being railroaded by politically motivated and disingenuous attacks has become far too common on the right. And even before law enforcement agencies started hunting down Jan. 6 protesters, the violence of the insurrection was being downplayed by MAGA fanatics. While conspiracy theories have always been endemic to American politics, we’re witnessing the rise of what scholar Michael Barkun calls the “superconspiracy”: a conspiratorial theory of everything. The overwhelming nature of today’s conspiracies can lead to desperation, and desperation can lead to more violence. If the political and legal system is hopelessly corrupt, this thinking goes, the only thing left to do is tear the whole thing down.

Of course, the vast denialism that exists on the far-right makes most attempts at accountability difficult. This is not a community that is likely to learn from or take responsibility for its actions. And there is always the risk that these groups could splinter into even more decentralized, and radical, far-right cells. The Proud Boys may remain a relatively decentralized version of their gang, now leaderless, or it may rebrand.

But there’s no doubt the efforts of the Department of Justice have had an impact. The chances that another Jan. 6 could take place, in full public view of cameras and press, feels more unlikely than previously. Hopefully, the sentences handed down this summer will further deter the next generation of far-right activists — and not just drive them deeper underground.

Thus, historically harsh sentences run the risk of validating and further entrenching this mindset, playing right into the hands of those who wish to paint themselves as the heroic, patriotic victims of a malevolent government…

Of course, the vast denialism that exists on the far-right makes most attempts at accountability difficult. This is not a community that is likely to learn from or take responsibility for its actions. And there is always the risk that these groups could splinter into even more decentralized, and radical, far-right cells. The Proud Boys may remain a relatively decentralized version of their gang, now leaderless, or it may rebrand.

But there’s no doubt the efforts of the Department of Justice have had an impact. The chances that another Jan. 6 could take place, in full public view of cameras and press, feels more unlikely than previously. Hopefully, the sentences handed down this summer will further deter the next generation of far-right activists — and not just drive them deeper underground.

Here’s hoping Roger Stone is having a very bad evening, the first in a series of same:

Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, Roger Stone’s one-time “volunteer,” will be sentenced today. Tarrio has been convicted of seditious conspiracy for his role in the events of Jan 6. The photo below is from Stone’s 2018 video address to the gang. 1/ https://t.co/zlPLTxOaUj pic.twitter.com/N18r58uFlU

— [email protected] ✍🏻 📢 (@jennycohn1) September 5, 2023

pic.twitter.com/n8AQBGINpH

— Lynda Thomas (@lynda8130) September 5, 2023

Tuesday Evening Open Thread: Proud Boy Enrique Tarrio SentencedPost + Comments (157)

Late Night Open Thread: Rep. Jamie Raskin Is A Mensch

by Anne Laurie|  September 4, 20231:54 am| 32 Comments

This post is in: Grifters Gonna Grift, Proud to Be A Democrat, Republican Venality, Trump Crime Cartel

Jared Kushner, on the other hand, is a goniff. A very successful one — so far.

Raskin asks Comer to subpoena Kushner for information on firm’s Saudi ties

Of course, Slippery Jim Comer figured mouthing a few pieties about “crossing the line” should be enough, since IOKIYAR, but Rep. Raskin has seized the moment. Per Rolling Stone:

House Oversight Democrats are calling on committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) to use his subpoena power to investigate the foreign business dealings of Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner — an investigation Comer has been personally stalling for more than a year…

But earlier this month, Comer himself acknowledged that Kushner had “crossed the line of ethics” in his foreign business dealings, a statement Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) is looking to capitalize on.

In a Thursday letter to Comer, Raskin requested that he issue a “subpoena to Jared Kushner’s investment firm, A Fin Management LLC (Affinity), to compel the production of documents regarding the extraordinary funding it received from foreign governments — including billions of dollars from sovereign wealth funds controlled by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E) — shortly after Mr. Kushner left government service.” Democrats originally sought information from Affinity in June of last year, a request Kushner ignored…

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Raskin, the ranking Democrat on the committee, added that the Saudi private investment fund’s own advisors had raised objections about giving Kushner the money, airing concerns about “Affinity’s ‘excessive’ management fees, as well as ‘the inexperience of the Affinity Fund management.’”

Raskin referenced Comer’s fixation on Hunter Biden in his appeal to the chair. “I trust that you will recognize that the Committee cannot claim to be “investigating foreign nationals’ attempts to target and coerce high-ranking U.S. officials’ family members by providing money or other benefits in exchange for certain actions” without examining the former Administration’s plethora of foreign financial entanglements,” he wrote.

In a statement provided to Rolling Stone, a spokesperson for the House Oversight Committee called the letter “nothing more than an attempt to distract from the mounting evidence of Joe Biden’s involvement in his family’s influence peddling schemes. If Ranking Member Raskin was truly concerned about ethics in government, then he would join Republicans in our investigation of the Bidens’ blatant corruption.”

To the fainting couches, Repubs! Don’t clutch those pearls so hard, you’ll choke yourselves.

Sharing is caring:

Jared Kushner needs to be investigated now, and here’s why. (Video: MSNBC) pic.twitter.com/7BWofpiKic

— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) September 1, 2023

If you're wondering how Jared Kushner got $2 billion from Saudi Arabia when he left the White House, remember what he was doing in the White House pic.twitter.com/luLUq09FHF

— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) September 1, 2023

Former Senator Claire MacCaskill weighs in on WHY the U.S. Senate is hesitant to investigate Jared Kushner & Steve Mnuchin’s criminal ties to MBS, UAE & Qatar. Why did MBS freely give $2Bill to Jared w/ no experience in fund mgmt. ?? pic.twitter.com/rwTQZbCk11

— Beep?????? (@fiercefreckled) August 23, 2023

Thank you @RepRaskin for renewing your request to @RepJamesComer and The House Oversight Committee on the unholy alliance between #kushner and #MBS. Who gives someone with ZERO experience 2+ Billion dollars to manage? No one without a quid pro quo! #TeamCohen pic.twitter.com/mEAznkdw2H

— Michael Cohen (@MichaelCohen212) September 1, 2023

Late Night Open Thread: Rep. Jamie Raskin Is A MenschPost + Comments (32)

Grey Dawn Open Thread: The Face on the Post Office Waaaaahll

by Anne Laurie|  August 27, 20233:59 am| 38 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Republican Venality, Republicans in Disarray!, Trump Crime Cartel, Trump Indictments, Schadenfreude

Grey Dawn Open Thread:  The Face on the Post Office Waaaaahll

We're going to find so many pins and mugs and shirts with his mugshot on them at estate sales in three to five years and none of us will know if it's because the dead person absolutely loved him or absolutely hated him

— Mike Drucker (@MikeDrucker) August 25, 2023

Or — splitting the difference — Lincoln Project shot glasses…

"The Kubrick Stare" is one of director Stanley Kubrick's most recognizable directorial techniques. A method of shot composition where a character stares at the camera with a forward tilt, to convey to the audience that they are at the peak of their derangement pic.twitter.com/qd2XWc3oHU

— Cry-Baby Chloe ?? (@ChloeNumberIII) August 25, 2023

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In my 11+ years as a detention aide I've processed a lot of detainees and done a lot of mug shots. The body language in this particular mug shot is from someone who's reluctant to hold up his head in order to show his face on camera. pic.twitter.com/PUmH6bsSvD

— Ragnarok Lobster (@eclecticbrotha) August 25, 2023

Trump abhors the 'rule of thirds.' He has to be dead center and looking straight on in pics.

That's why, paired with White House lighting and his general robber baron aesthetic, every official WH photograph looks like 'The Shining.' pic.twitter.com/r5Curb3zIl

— zeddy (@Zeddary) October 27, 2019

The levels of offensiveness is off the charts! This is high score reset the game type of foolishness

— kevin daniels (@kevinddaniels) August 25, 2023

He might be 8 million years old but you really should not leave one over the plate at 87 mph because he’ll put it in the parking lot https://t.co/O9jq1msgQ2

— Screamer Jim (@HeheWaitWhut) August 25, 2023

Legitimately, be as kind and supportive as possible to every tattoo artist in your life for the next year+ https://t.co/SIBJ9p6K5F

— Nick Farruggia (@nickfarruggia) August 24, 2023

Grey Dawn Open Thread:  The Face on the Post Office Waaaaahll 1

Grey Dawn Open Thread: The Face on the Post Office WaaaaahllPost + Comments (38)

Late Night Open Thread: A False Trail (Probably)

by Anne Laurie|  August 26, 202312:49 am| 43 Comments

This post is in: C.R.E.A.M., Open Threads, Trump Crime Cartel

Cocaine wishes, cowboy caviar dreams…

Zillow reports ⁦@realDonaldTrump⁩ sold Mar-a-Lago to Don Jr for $422 million before the old man’s latest arrest
The price seems greatly inflated. Trump bought it, furniture & all, with an unrecorded $10 million mortgage.
There’s a tax story, and maybe a tax crime in this. pic.twitter.com/sbul784amD

— David Cay Johnston (@DavidCayJ) August 25, 2023

Naaah…. Never say never, when it comes to TFG criming, but let’s be real: TFG would be the last person deluded enough to trust his namesake in even a legal fiction concerning his real estate ‘crown jewel’ / moneyspinner. Palm Beach news station WPTV, “Zillow amends ‘incorrect’ listing amid Mar-a-Lago sale rumors”:

A Friday morning listing on Zillow showed that Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate was sold on Aug. 4 for $422 million. However, Zillow has since called the listing “incorrect,” and the property is now listed as “off the market.”…

The 58-bedroom, 33-bathroom estate is in the spotlight as rumors swirl that the property was sold or transferred to a company owned by Trump’s son, Donald Jr.

The rumor was fueled by a Friday morning post on Zillow showing a $422 million sale, which has since been deleted.

“The timing, I think, is something that struck all of us,” Jason Weisser, a former prosecutor and current partner at Schuler Weisser Zoeller Overbeck & Baxter, said. “You know, just days before the indictment in Georgia, here you are transferring your Mar-a-Lago property and you’re transferring it to a company owned by your son.”…

“If he feels that there’s a possibility or probability that he might owe a judgment to a creditor, this would be a way that he could move assets so that they couldn’t get that from him,” Weisser said.

Palm Beach County property records show no sale since 1995 when Trump converted the property to a club. That company, Mar-a-Lago Club, Inc., does appear to be operated by Donald Jr., according to records on Sunbiz.

Palm Beach County’s property records website does note that sales are not posted until one to three weeks after the closing date…

Wouldn’t come as a total surprise if the Dark Lard, or one of his overambitious minions, had floated the idea of such a transfer, of course. Pretty sure it won’t be in the family once the creditors, and future political litigants, get their time in court!

Late Night Open Thread: A False Trail (Probably)Post + Comments (43)

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