;)
The Conversation -- May 11, 2024
The only years anybody's ever seen [of Donald Trump's tax returns] showed he didn't pay any federal income tax. -- Hillary Clinton, Sept. 2016 presidential debate
That makes me smart. -- Donald Trump, response
I think he ripped off the tax system. -- Walter Schwidetzky, law professor & partnership taxation expert ~~~
~~~ Donald Trump, Super Tax Cheat. Russ Buettner of the New York Times & Paul Kiel of ProPublica: "... Donald J. Trump used a dubious accounting maneuver to claim improper tax breaks* from his troubled Chicago tower, according to an Internal Revenue Service inquiry uncovered by The New York Times and ProPublica. Losing a yearslong audit battle over the claim could mean a tax bill of more than $100 million.... [The project was] a vast money loser. But ... Mr. Trump ... wrote off the same losses twice.... [In his] tax return for 2008..., he claimed that his investment in the condo-hotel tower met the tax code definition of 'worthless,' [and] report[ed] losses as high as $651 million for the year.... But in 2010..., he shifted the company that owned the tower into a new partnership.... Then he used the shift as justification to declare $168 million in additional losses over the next decade.... The Times and ProPublica, in consultation with tax experts, calculated that the revision sought by the I.R.S. would create a new tax bill of more than $100 million, plus interest and potential penalties." ~~~
* The link above is to the ProPublica article. The same New York Times article is here.
~~~~~~~~~~
Yesterday we learned that some House Republicans want to impeach President Biden because he has said he would withhold some military aid to Israel if Israeli forces carry out Netanyahu's plan to make a massive attack on the Gaza city of Rafah. Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.) has said he has drawn up articles of impeachment. So ~~~
~~~ Impeach Reagan! And Bush I! And Ford! and Ike! Peter Baker of the New York Times: President Ronald "Reagan used the power of American arms several times to influence Israeli war policy, at different points ordering warplanes and cluster munitions to be delayed or withheld.... Dwight D. Eisenhower threatened economic sanctions and an aid cutoff to force Israel to withdraw from the Sinai Peninsula after it invaded Egypt in 1956. Gerald R. Ford warned that he would re-evaluate the entire relationship in 1975 over what he considered Israel's recalcitrance during peace talks with Egypt. George H.W. Bush postponed $10 billion in loan guarantees in 1991 in a dispute over settlements in the West Bank." (Also linked yesterday.)
Kevin Freking of the AP: "The independent office that reviews allegations against House members found probable cause that Rep. Troy Nehls [R] of Texas converted campaign funds to personal use, triggering an investigation by the House Ethics Committee, a new disclosure revealed Friday. The recommendation and the full report from the Office of Congressional Ethics were both released Friday, as required under the law.... The office said Nehls declined to cooperate with its investigation.... Nehls, a second-term Republican lawmaker, was a county sheriff for eight years before serving in the House. He's a staunch Donald Trump supporter who attended this year's State of the Union address wearing a T-shirt decorated with Trump's mugshot."
The Trials of Trump & the Trump Mob, Ctd.
Jesse McKinley & Jonah Bromwich of the New York Times: "In a startling precursor to what could be the most explosive testimony in Donald J. Trump's criminal trial, the judge on Friday told prosecutors that he was personally asking that a key witness [-- Michael Cohen --] stop speaking out against the former president.... 'That comes from the bench,' Justice [Juan] Merchan said.... [During Friday's proceedings, prosecutors] prepared for Mr. Cohen's arrival by calling a round of custodial witnesses, whose testimony allowed the prosecutors to introduce important documents, phone logs, and text and email messages -- much of it relevant to Mr. Cohen.... Between the riveting testimony of the porn star, Stormy Daniels, and Mr. Cohen's looming appearance, Friday's session was a moment of calm, the eye of the storm that is the first criminal trial of an American president." The AP's report is here.
New York Times reporters liveblogged developments yesterday in what may be The Last Criminal Trial of Donald Trump. You can read many of their entries in yesterday's Conversation. Links to transcripts of court proceedings, via the courts, up to & including Thursday, May 9, are here. Links to exhibits are here.
Dan Mangan of CNBC: "A federal appeals court on Friday upheld the criminal contempt of Congress conviction of former Trump White House senior aide Steve Bannon for refusing to testify and provide documents to the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.... The ruling by a three-judge panel on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit makes it more likely that Bannon will soon have to begin serving a sentence of four months in jail for his conviction of two counts of contempt." (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times report is here.
Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "Rudolph W. Giuliani was suspended by WABC radio on Friday and his daily talk show was abruptly canceled after the station said he violated its policy by trying to discuss discredited claims about the 2020 presidential election on air. John Catsimatidis, the billionaire Republican businessman who owns the station, said he had made the decision after Mr. Giuliani refused to avoid the topic despite repeated warnings.... Mr. Giuliani's removal from WABC, one of his only current sources of income, is almost certain to add to the mounting legal and financial woes that have engulfed him in the years since. The suspension will deny him one of his last mainstream public platforms.... In a statement, he called WABC's policies 'a clear violation of free speech.'... 'Obviously I was never informed on such a policy, and even if there was one, it was violated so often that it couldn't be taken seriously,' he wrote." The Guardian's report is here. Thanks to Akhilleus for the link. See his commentary below.
~~~ Marie: "A clear violation of free speech." Really? Once again, it is not possible to know whether Giuliani, a former federal prosecutor, is completely ignorant of the law or is just pretending to be. Within limits, the First Amendment prohibits government entities from curbing speech; it does not prohibit individuals or corporations from refusing to provide platforms for speakers.
Presidential Race
Michael Gold of the New York Times: "Barron Trump..., Donald J. Trump's youngest son who has stayed out of the spotlight since his father entered politics, will not serve as one of Florida's delegates to the Republican National Convention, the office of Melania Trump announced on Friday. In a statement released two days after Barron, 18, was selected to be an at-large delegate by the Florida Republican Party, Mrs. Trump's office said that Barron was 'honored' to be chosen but that he 'regretfully declines to participate due to prior commitments.'" A BBC News story is here. ~~~
~~~ MEANWHILE, NBC News reports that Donald Trump told Telemundo yesterday that he was "all for" Barron's new role as GOP convention delegate. "'He's pretty young, I will say. He's 17,' Trump said.... 'But if they can do that, I'm all for it.'... [Barron] turned 18 in March." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Yes, but what about me? While Don & Melanie may be at odds over critical child-rearing practices, Melanie's decision to pull the boy from the Florida delegation puts a serious strain on me: Yesterday, I announced an update of Reality Chex Policy re: Barron: since he had entered the political realm, it was okay to bash him. Now I don't know whether or not to pick on the kid. He is a legal adult, even if his own father doesn't know it. However, if the young man is going to remain a schoolboy and not become a political player, then I suppose we ought to leave him to his studies.
No, Trump Is Not the Teflon Don. Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "In the folk wisdom of recent American politics, Donald Trump is a figure of herculean invulnerability to traditional scandal.... Let's look at the situation as it stands. Despite his best efforts, Trump has not been able to summon the grass-roots activity that signals political strength. There are no febrile crowds demanding justice for him at the courthouse door, no mob poised to wreak havoc in his name -- not that he didn't try to make one appear. And the broader public does not appear to have a problem with either the trial or the prospect of jail time for the former president.... On Tuesday, nearly 22 percent of Republican primary voters in Indiana pulled the proverbial lever for Nikki Haley, who left the race in March.... It is bad, for his political prospects, that Trump is on trial. It hurts him, with voters, to face allegations of criminal wrongdoing and sexual misconduct in a court of law." (Also linked yesterday.)
Everybody's Picking on Clarence & Ginni. Abbie VanSickle of the New York Times: "Justice Clarence Thomas denounced on Friday 'the nastiness and the lies' that have shadowed him in recent years as public scrutiny has mounted over his wife's efforts to subvert the 2020 election and luxury gifts he has accepted from billionaire friends. 'My wife and I, the last two or three years, just the nastiness and the lies,' said Justice Thomas, who did not specify what he was referring to in addressing a full ballroom of lawyers and judges gathered for a judicial conference in Alabama. 'There's certainly been a lot of negativity in our lives, my wife and I, over the last few years, but we choose not to focus on it.'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: Oh, shame on me! It turns out all these reports about Thomas' many corrupt acts were out fault. Why, even the Pulitzer committee is in on it. Seriously, Thomas' reaction to reports & commentary exposing his corruption is typical: it was not his crimes that were egregious; it was the reports and criticism of his crimes. Remember, this is how Thomas got on the Supreme Court: pretending he was the victim, not the criminal. Nothing has changed.
Ed Pilkington of the Guardian: "Police moved in to disband several pro-Palestinian student encampments on US campuses on Friday morning as the tumult over protests against academic ties with Israel stemming from the war in Gaza continued to roil academia. Tent encampments at the University of Pennsylvania, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the University of Arizona, Tucson, were all dismantled in early morning raids that saw cordons of police sweep in and clear the makeshift protest settlements. In Tucson teargas was used, and demonstrators responded by throwing bottles at officers."
~~~~~~~~~~
Virginia. Nicole Chavez of CNN: "School board members in Virginia's Shenandoah County voted early Friday to restore the names of two schools that previously honored Confederate leaders -- four years after those names had been removed. The 5-1 vote came after hours of public comment during a meeting that began Thursday evening from people speaking on both sides of the issue.... The schools had been named after Confederate Gens. Thomas 'Stonewall' Jackson, Robert E. Lee and Turner Ashby." (Also linked yesterday.)
~~~~~~~~~~
Israel/Palestine, et al.
CNN's live updates of developments Saturday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "Israel's military on Saturday ordered the immediate evacuation of several more neighborhoods in Rafah, where it has been stepping up operations ahead of an anticipated ground offensive. At least 110,000 people have already fled. The Biden administration said Friday it is 'reasonable to assess' that US weapons have been used by Israeli forces in Gaza in ways that are inconsistent with international humanitarian law -- but the highly anticipated report stopped short of officially saying Israel violated the law. Also on Friday, the White House said a CNN report on alleged systematic abuse at an Israeli prison was 'deeply concerning' and that the US is reaching out to Israeli officials for answers. CNN spoke to three Israeli whistleblowers who revealed how prisoners are blindfolded, handcuffed and forced to wear diapers. Elsewhere, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution calling on the Security Council to reconsider Palestinian membership in the UN, a significant but ultimately symbolic move that the US is expected to veto."
Philip Nieto of Mediaite: "Hillary Clinton faced criticism after she slammed student protesters by claiming young people 'don't know very much' about the Middle East. On Thursday, the former secretary of state joined Morning Joe where she shared her views on the nationwide student protests over U.S. support for Israel amid the war in Gaza. She noted that young people are ignorant of Middle Eastern history but also 'many areas of the world, including in our own country.'... Her comments drew criticism from the left who accused Clinton of having 'overwhelming contempt' for 'anyone who isn't her.' Others slammed Clinton for lacking 'basic humanity' regarding the humanitarian crisis in Gaza." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Hillary Clinton has burdened herself with two Achilles' heels. One of them is telling impolitic truths. Not only does she think she is better than the rest of us, she says so. And the inconvenient truth is that she's right, at least most of the time. She was right in 1992 to suggest that she was too accomplished to stay home and bake cookies. She was right about "the vast right-wing conspiracy" in 1998. She was right in 2008 when she said the civil rights movement would not have advanced as it did without Lyndon Johnson. She was right in 2016 to slam Trump supporters as "deplorables." And in 2024 she's right about Americans not knowing much about Middle East history -- or at least not nearly as much as she knows. I suppose if she were a man, she might have got away with remarks like these.
But then there's her other Achilles' heel: she thinks that because she is better, brighter, more accomplished that most of the rest of us, she is also above abiding by the rules that govern us. So insider trading in cattle futures was okay if she did it. Whitewatergate was okay. Travelgate was okay. The dodgy Clinton Foundation is okay. The private computer server was okay. And that combination of acting as if you're better than everyone else and then saying so, too, just doesn't work for most politicians. Or most people.
Share Article
Reader Comments (12)
Disgraced NYC mayor and ongoing Trump flunky, Rudy Giuliani burns another bridge with his continued lying about the 2020 election which the Fat Fascist lost badly.
Runny Hair Dye Man used to have a radio show on WABC (must have been a pip. Sorry I missed it) in New York, but after refusing to stop promoting the Big Lie, he finally got the boot.
“John Catsimatidis, a New York billionaire, Republican donor and owner of WABC, told the New York Times: ‘We’re not going to talk about fallacies of the November 2020 election. We warned him once. We warned him twice. And I get a text from him last night, and I get a text from him this morning that he refuses not to talk about it.
So he left me no option. I suspended him.’”
Rudy even lied about his suspension, whining that he was fired.
“Claiming ‘a clear violation of free speech’, Giuliani said he would address the situation further on social media on Friday night.”
Social media? What happened to the Four Seasons?
Another Trump loser.
Waaahhhh!! Lies! All lies!
Coke Can Clarence is having a sad. Mean people are saying things he doesn’t like being said. He calls them lies.
Really, Clarence? Pray tell, which are the lies? The information about your 38 swanky destination vacations, your yachting around the Bahamas? Your dozens of flights on private jets and helicopters? Scads of VIP tickets to sporting events? Luxury seats in skyboxes? Trips to billionaire enclaves in Florida and Jamaica? Membership at an exclusive golf club? All paid for. Are those all lies?
How about the renovation of your mother’s house? Tuition at an exclusive school for your grand nephew, all paid for. Lies? What about your wife’s personal and extensive involvement in an attempted overthrow of the government? Is that a lie? And what about your refusal to recuse yourself in deciding multiple cases involving the head insurrectionist? Another lie?
And what about your refusal to report such luxurious gifts? That’s a huge ethical violation. Is that a lie?
Sorry Clarence. All true.
You are a crook and and a disgrace.
The nastiness and the lies come directly from you and your treason loving, grifting, mooching wife.
Now fuck off.
So why do we so often place obviously defective people in high office?
So we can whine constantly about how disappointed we are that they act exactly as we might have predicted?
Could there be something wrong with our hiring practices?
Or are we--the electorate-- equally defective?
Is Clarence saying that updates to his disclosures were lies? Screw these whiny losers. Kavanaugh is also giving a whining tour. The article is a waste of a Q and A with their fellow politicals. It mentions that Clarence's end of year interview will be done by one of his former clerks. And the article goes on to mention how Sotomayor and Coney Barrett and doing a friendship tour to show that liberals and conservatives can live together in harmony. Please don't look behind the curtain or pay attention to the shot we make up to screw people's lives.
Nothing to worry your ignorant little heads over.
Donald the historian. I'm reading Mary L. Trump's book, Too Much
but Never Enough.
Donald once hosted a birthday party for one of his sisters (thanks
taxpayers). While the group was touring the White House, Donald
remarked that 'this place has never looked betted since George
Washington lived here.'
The historian leading the tour was too polite to point out that the
house hadn't been opened until after Washington had died. The first
resident was John Adams.
The book is interesting except for the fact that she keeps blaming
the dysfunctional Trump family for the way Donald turned out.
I personally don't agree with that theory, since many of us came from
dysfunctional families. You grow up, get over it and never look back.
But I'm not a psychologist, but I once dated one.
Ken Winkes says 'or are we-the electorate-equally defective?'
I think most of us are just too trusting. A politician says they want
to overhaul the tax system. I would assume they want to make it
more equitable, because lots of people are earning so little and still
paying lots of taxes. But it turns out that's not what they will do.
The billionaires are supporting their run for office, so that's who will
get the tax breaks.
We should learn from their examples but we're just too trusting.
Hillary Clinton is no doubt quite correct about the woeful lack of historical knowledge among most Americans where the Middle East is concerned. History, and learning in general, has suffered greatly over the last decade or so, what with attacks on actual American history to the point where, in some states, the official policy is to not teach factual history.
A few years ago, here in my blood red state, I was in a restaurant eating lunch, sitting at the bar. I was reading a book on Arab history (Albert Hourani’s “History of the Arab Peoples”, an excellent place to start). I got two responses from people who noticed the title. The first guy was visibly angry, demanding to know what I was doing reading stuff about “Fucking Arabs”. I thought he was going to try to grab the book from my hands. I calmly explained that every day, it seems, there’s something in the news about Islam, Arabs, and various aspects dealing with Middle Eastern culture, I told him I thought I’d try to get a better understanding of that area of the world. He wasn’t buying it. “They all need to die. And so do you!”
Well, okay then. That didn’t go so well.
Guy number two sees the title and asks why I’m reading this book. I give him the same explanation. He says “That makes sense. I really don’t know much at all about it.”
Okay. A normal person. And really, I didn’t know all that much about it either. I thought I had a reasonably decent idea of that region, but every page had a surprise.
We operate every day on a pretty uneven knowledge and understanding of history, two different things: knowing and understanding. It’s not so bad if you know what you don’t know, but it gets really sketchy if, like Trump, you don’t know jack but you either think you’re an expert, or it doesn’t matter if you don’t know anything about it.
A few years ago the Woodrow Wilson Foundation conducted a survey on Americans’ knowledge of our history. Wow. They found that only four out of ten (of the 41,000 in the study) got a passing grade. Only 27% of those under 45 could demonstrate even the most basic knowledge of American history. And that’s AMERICAN history, not Middle Eastern history. Residents in only one state had a majority of test takers who could pass a citizenship test, Vermont.
The lowest scoring states were all red, Louisiana being dead last. Surprised?
And yet every day, it seems, pols in those states put the kibosh on teaching factual history, demanding, instead that fake history be piped into young brains, the better to lay the foundations for propaganda.
No wonder they all love a guy who is an ignoramus.
Re: Barron Trump
I’m inclined to agree with Marie about leaving the kid alone, at least until he actually does something to help the Trump Crime Family as they crime their way across the land.
The kid has a perpetually lost and sad look on his face. Melanie might be a grasping grifter, but if she’s trying to keep this kid out of the clutches of Fatty and away from associating with Junior, Stoopid, and Princess Ivanka, good for her.
But it’s curious that Trump named him Barron, the sleazy pseudonym he used to adopt when planting fake stories about his own wonderfulness and wealth in the press. Maybe he needed to prove that there really was a Barron. Interesting, in’it?
Is Clarence saying that all the updates to his disclosures were lies? Screw these whiny losers.
Kavanaugh is also giving a whining tour. The article is a waste of a Q and A with their fellow politicals. Kegs just gaslights the realities of what the supremes have been doing. It mentions that Clarence's interview will be done by one of his former clerks. And the article goes on to mention how Sotomayor and Coney Barrett are doing a friendship tour to show that liberals and conservatives can live together in peace and harmony. Please don't look behind the curtain or pay attention to all the crap we make up to screw people's lives. Nothing to worry your ignorant little heads over.
Melanie saw Marie's open season sign on Barron and raced to get his name stricken from the delegates list. He needs a few more decades of neglect from daddy before he is ready to swim those waters.
RAS,
He’s already had 17 years of neglect from Fatty (Otto keeps wanting to refer to him as “Farty”. He must be reading reports of noxious Trumpy flatulence stinking up the trial and causing permanent damage to his defense teams’ olfactory nerves). He reportedly calls Barron “retarded”. I thought Eric was the uber stupid one. A couple more decades of abuse and neglect and he could end up a serial killer. Or a Republican politician. Pretty much the same thing.
Everyone should read the NYT article on DiJiT's tax audit, that Marie just posted. DiJiT and companies' shell game tax avoidance (or possibly, probably, evasion) with respect to his Chicago white elephant seems the definition of double-dealing tax fraud.
My favorite little factoid in the NYT story is that a main reason the commercial spaces in DiJiT's pile are unsold, unrented losses is that they are not accessible by foot or vehicle traffic. What a genius!
Best summary of Hilary Clinton I've ever read!
Many of the same things could be said about her husband, too.
Certainly, they both have their positives. I mean that sincerely. But, a lot of their flaws are easily sniffed out by most everybody. Hilary's arrogance probably cost her the election. As a result, that arrogance probably cost a lot of lives and left us with a bigger continuing mess with the Trumpster that probably could've been avoided. (Maybe!) Some legacy...