According to my pill caddy, it is a Wednesday in the Realm. According the my headlight switch, it is early in the morning.
Here are the headlines that caught my eye this morning:
- Judge rules Donald Trump defrauded banks and insurers while building real estate empire
- Trump fights Jack Smith request for narrow gag order in Jan. 6 case
- Feds sue Amazon
- US judge throws out Texas ban on drag acts, calls it unconstitutional
- North Korea says it will expel Travis King, U.S. soldier who ran across border in July
- Canada’s House speaker has stepped down after inviting a Nazi veteran to Parliament
- How Much Coffee Is Too Much Coffee?
- Russia Appears Ready To Accept Crimea as Ukraine’s—On One Condition
- Russell Wilson’s time with Broncos has gone from bad to worse
- How to watch tonight’s second Republican presidential debate
Here is my commentary based solely on the headlines:
-
- There really wasn’t any other conclusion the judge could reach. Trump has been engaging in fraud and deceit for most of his adult life
, and he carried that into the White House and beyond. If there was any question as to why he is currently facing ninety-one felony charges in four separate jurisdictions, you only have to look at his entire life story.
- The Donald was warned — has been consistently warned — that his mouth is going to get him in trouble. Even if he wasn’t under indictment for ninety-one felony charges, a person does NOT get away with inciting his followers to assassinate people like Mitch McConnell and Mark Milley, like he’s done over the past week. You’ve seen plenty of cop shows on television where the criminal is read his rights. I’m sure you can recite the Miranda Warning by memory:
“You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you. Do you understand the rights I have just read to you? With these rights in mind, do you wish to speak to me?” – Double emphasis mine
The fact is, that everything you’ve said and/or done will be used against you in court. Everything. The smart defendants know when to cut bait and plead. They also know that from the moment they’ve been arrested, they NEED to stop talking to ANYONE other than their attorney. The stupid ones think they can game the system, and they end up doing a lot of time behind bars for their stupidity.
- Finally, we can start getting back to some anti-trust enforcement. But this case has the potential of dragging itself into the next decade and by the time any of it gets resolved, many of us will have long-since died.
- FUN FACT: Most drag performers are gay men. But there are more than a few who are straight men. Very few drag performers are transsexual. Drag performances are not sexual in nature. They are basically ‘performance art’, a schtick, if you will. Drag shows are deliberately exaggerated and flamboyant, and designed to shock the audience. Take for example, Marilyn Manson, or even Alice Cooper. Neither men are gay, both are straight, and are simply putting on an act. Smart people realize this. Stupid people do not.
- North Korea can hardly feed and house its own people. If the US isn’t actively pursuing the release and return of this soldier, then it has no real political reason to keep him. There is no upside for holding on to him.
- When I first heard this story on NPR the other day, my immediate thought is that some clown went to ‘central casting’ to look for an old Ukrainian soldier to prop up and applaud for Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to Cannookistan.
- When I saw this headline I almost spit a mouthful of coffee onto my computer screen. I have a Keurig coffee maker I got off of my old boss several years ago when he got pissed off at some political thing Keurig had done. (Remember that?) I buy those BIG boxes of K-cups at Costco 120 cups for about $30. I can go through a box in about a week. Yes, that’s about twenty cups of coffee a day. I’m drinking coffee from when I get up at 0400 until I go to bed at 2100. I know that it is a “problem”.Last month I decided I needed to make a major change in my coffee drinking habit. I needed to cut down and switch to decaf. The problem is that there isn’t a great selection of “good” decaf coffee available in K-cups. Until I found the ONE.
- Russia is running out of bodies and ammo to fling at Ukraine. For being a “superpower”, Russia has exposed itself as myth more than a reality.
- The Russell Wilson story has me laughing. He was such the GREAT quarterback with the Seahawks, until he started getting old, in more ways than one. Seattle couldn’t hurry up and get rid of him fast enough. HE thought he would just continue on in Denver like he did in Seattle, and it just didn’t work for him.
- LOL! This is a trick question, right? What do I consider the best way to watch the Republican debate tonight?By not watching it at all. I have Netflix.
- There really wasn’t any other conclusion the judge could reach. Trump has been engaging in fraud and deceit for most of his adult life
Need a funny video? Sound is required for this one:
Discover more from The Anti-Idiotarian Rottwiler
Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.
WARNING: I’m not going to be showing up here every morning to provide some kind of content here. It’s not my site, it’s not my politics even. It’s weird to me that I have to provide content to a political website like this at all.
Misha is going to have to make a decision soon as to whether he wants to keep this site up and running or to do the kind thing and retire it once and for all. As it stands now, the server software hasn’t been updated in several years and it is literally about ready to quit.
I don’t know when I will give this up, but it will be soon. I will let you know.
Regarding the judge in that fake fraud case. He decided that Mar-a-lago was only worth $18 million. Every single real estate broker in the area went “WTF?? They estimated it at $300 million. If the judge botched that, then the whole thing is garbage.
And regarding tonight’s debate, I’ve made a little post to assist you in viewing it.
http://angry.net/blog2/?p=41323
The land alone is worth that, add the buildings and historical background and likely it is worth double the 300MM you cited.
Going to be interesting to see what comes of this. All the valuations by the judge seem to have been pulled out of his ass and to top that, there are no injured parties claiming anything against the Trump organization in NY. They made money, were paid on time and are all fat and happy.
I haven’t really paid that close attention to this case — or any of the others, to be honest. But I have read the ruling from the judge in this case, and I think I can clear up some of this for you, given from what I read.
There are a LOT of numbers floating around following this ruling. Apparently, there were a lot of different numbers floating around prior to the lawsuit — which prompted the suit.
The question in this case is what is the property actually worth?
That figure not only varies between different people, but figures also varies depending on who Donald Trump reported was reporting it to. If he was attempting to use it as collateral for a loan, then it was worth a massive amount of money. But for tax purposes, the place was pretty much a dump. Even today, if you don your PPE and go check out “X” or “Truth Social”, you will find the Trump family claiming the place is now worth between $1 billion and $1.5 billion bucks. He’s previous claimed to the banks that the property is worth between $426.5 million to $612.1 million.
So where did the $18 million come from?
Not to nitpick, but the judge did NOT state the value at $18 million. He valued the property at between $18 million and 27.6 million. Of course the Trumps just went with the low end of the range to increase their attempt at rage.
But here’s the thing: The court didn’t pull that figure out of thin air. The judge did what every other court in the nation would have done in this case: he went to the county assessor’s office and got those figures. That’s right, the Palm Beach County assessor appraised Mar-a-Lago’s market value at $18-27 million. Those are the official figures that the state and county use to assess property taxes. It’s really the only hard number that the court could have used.
As someone who has been in the real estate business for decades, Trump would have been the first person to tell you that a true property value is what another person is willing to pay for that property, not what the property is actually worth. For me, the value of that property is worth about ten bucks, because that’s all I’d be willing to pay for it. Apparently, Eric Trump would be willing to pay $1.5 billion for it, since that is what he he said on Twi-X
Forbes has the property valued at around $300 million give or take 50 million or so. Most real estate companies in Palm Beach figure that’s probably the market value. The county still lists the assessed value at the $18-27 million range — which has suited Donald Trump just fine over the years. Maybe they should raise that assessment up to the $1.5 Billion range and charge Trump for all the back taxes on that new figure?
Zillow has Mar-a-Lago valued at $24.1 million.
If you think Trump is whining now, watch what happens if the county changes its assessment to match what Trump thinks it’s worth.
I know there are now a lot of Social Media Floriduh Real Estate Experts that have just popped up online to bolster Trump’s argument on the value of Mar-a-Lago. Almost every one points out what other property in that area is worth.
I’ve seen people try to compare the values of other property in the area currently up for sale with the size and scope of Mar-a-Lago. They are missing a VERY important part of the equation:
Almost all of the other property in the area have no development restriction. Mar-a-Lago has one major restriction:
In 1969, Mar-a-Lago was designated a “National Historic Landmark” that would make it less valuable to most potential buyers. While $27 million is probably an undervaluation of the property, Mar-a-Lago can’t be re-developed or turned into a single family estate. The deed requires it to remain a club, and this greatly reduces its resale value. It is this restriction that allowed Trump to buy it on the cheap when he did.
T’was not a DEBATE, that was a DE BAIT, as in a total screaming over each other clown show. Listened to it live for about 1/2 hour then turned it off in disgust. There may be one or two on that stage that could develop into presidential leadership material in a few years, and most who should exit stage left immediately.
I will support whomever gets the “conservative” primary nod but suspect it will not be one of that bunch this time.
The unknown unknowns are that if Kennedy does take the leap to independent party route, whom does he strip more votes from? The D party or the R party? Hard to tell since they seem to be sides of the same America destructive coin of late.
You have more fortitude than I…
Wasn’t that what you expected? A circus of wanna-be clowns? If the dems have a debate, it would be pretty much the same.
You are right: these are NOT ‘debates’. I wish they were. I wish they had structure, and talked about actual, real-life issues and not just a cage match where everyone is trying to belch out that sound byte that carries the night and the next 24-48 hour news cycle. I’m fairly certain you didn’t see anyone acting remotely ‘presidential’ up on that stage. On the Republican side, everyone is trying to out-Trump Trump and it comes off even worse.
I don’t know if the dems are having a ‘debate’. If so, it wouldn’t be any different. I don’t see anyone there, either.
I read a headline yesterday where Ralph Nader was offering to help Biden win. :em05:
Most of the people who theoretically support him now are not the type that normally show up to vote in a presidential election. It’s hard to tell this far out who the actual nominees will be in 2024. There is so many things going on that could change things for both Republicans and Democrats.
Who knows, Michelle Obama may run if Joe drops out. :em05:
It’s what happens when we engage in zero-sum politics and see the “other side” as “enemies”.