Science
You'll NEVER GUESS What The Anti-Abortion & Stem Cells Crowd Thinks Of The President's Stem Cell Smoothie!
How do they like them apples? They like 'em GREAT!
October 13, 2020 03:27 PM
Oh, so baby parts risotto is a perfect entree when it's the GOP hosting the dinner party. Duly noted!
With the president out touting the wonders of an antibody cocktail developed using kidney cells from an aborted fetus, the forced birthers are contorting themselves into pretzels to explain why this is perfectly fine and totally consistent with their previous opposition to stem cell research which "destroys human life."
Just last year the Trump administration announced an almost complete ban on the use of fetal stem cells in government funded projects, installing a 14-member Human Fetal Research Ethics Advisory Board to review applications for just the kind of research used to develop the Regeneron cocktail Trump touts as a "cure" which made him "immune" to COVID. The board, appointed by Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, must contain a lawyer, and ethicist, and a theologian, and currently counts among its members representatives from the Catholic Medical Association and the National Catholic Bioethics Center.
When HHS announced the policy, Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, called it "a major pro-life victory and we thank President Trump for taking decisive action. It is outrageous and disgusting that we have been complicit, through our taxpayer dollars, in the experimentation using baby body parts." But she and her compatriots seem less upset now that it's Donald Trump using taxpayer dollars to "cure" himself using drugs derived from "baby body parts."
<p>Vice has a <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/4ayk5p/qanon-fans-try-to-explain-why-trump-took-a-drug-developed-with-fetal-tissue" target="_blank">fun flipbook</a> of reaction shots from the No Choice For You Crew. </p><p>At Breitbart, they're simply <a href="https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/10/08/fact-check-left-falsely-claims-trumps-coronavirus-treatments-developed-using-fetal-tissue/" target="_blank">denying realit</a>y, relying on a wildly disingenuous <a href="https://lozierinstitute.org/cli-responds-to-misinformation-regarding-president-trumps-covid-19-treatment/" target="_blank">statement</a> from the Charlotte Lozier Institute, an outcrop of the SBA List, which states that the drug was tested on mice, and <em>ipso facto propter hoc</em>, "<strong>No</strong> human embryonic stem cells or human fetal tissue were used to produce the treatments President Trump received–period." Which conveniently elides the fact that cloned cells from the electively aborted fetus were used to develop particles which mimic the virus, and those particles were then injected into the mice to test the efficacy of Regeneron's antibody cocktail.</p><p>Over in Wingnuttistan, in the Province of Q, where it is dogma that Democrats are sustaining themselves with chemicals derived from murdered babies, there seems to be tension between those calling this an eleventy-dimensional chess move to beat the Deep State at their own game — if Trump got cured without the virus, than it doesn't matter that Fauci is blocking release of the vaccine to throw the election! — and <a href="https://boards.4chan.org/pol/thread/281655120/trump-acts-now-as-a-shill-for-big-pharma-they-got" target="_blank">those</a> who are sure Trump is now an adrenochrome swilling demon.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDUxMjc5Mi9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwNjEyNjA1MX0.2_0YiBB_rAJDvFC8HWhZMq80Kzi4qT5SvhAeKgG5q3s/img.png?width=980" id="b43e3" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c2e242b2444fa3ae48639ece2899e208" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
</p><p>(This person is allowed to walk freely among us!)</p><p>Business Insider got <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/anti-abortion-groups-dont-mind-trump-drug-tested-fetal-tissue-2020-10?utmSource=twitter&utmContent=referral&utmTerm=topbar&referrer=twitter" target="_blank">the skinny</a> from the loons in suits. Most declined to comment on the record, although they pointed out that these particular fetal cells were grandfathered in because they came from an abortion performed in 1972. The Lozier Institute stuck to its line that the drug itself was acceptable because it didn't contain any baby parts, while Texas Alliance for Life's Joe Pojman said it was totes cool because GORSUCH (and Kegstand and Barrett).</p><p>"We continue to be very enthusiastic about endorsing president Donald Trump for reelection. He has been sensational on the life issues, and we're very grateful to him for that," he told <em>Insider</em>.</p><p>Only one forced-birth doofus was willing to take the bait. But he was <em>very, very willing.</em></p><p>"In the case of President Trump, the doctors who are providing those medicines to him, those treatments to him, they were not involved with that abortion that took place decades ago," Eric Scheidler, the executive director of Chicago's Pro-Life Action League said. "They didn't assist in it. They didn't choose for it to happen. They may even wish that it had never happened, even if they're benefiting from something that came from that injustice."</p><p>It is fine to use cells from an abortion as long as Donald Trump didn't actually perform the abortion with his own tiny hands. </p><p>In summary and in conclusion, it is totally fine for Republicans to use drugs derived from fetal stem cells. But Democrats are baby killers who hate marriage and children and apple pie and America and probably kill children in the basement of a one-story pizza parlor and use their body parts to make risotto. The end.</p><p>[<a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/06/trump-administration-restricts-fetal-tissue-research" target="_blank">Science</a> / <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/4ayk5p/qanon-fans-try-to-explain-why-trump-took-a-drug-developed-with-fetal-tissue" target="_blank">Vice</a> / <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/anti-abortion-groups-dont-mind-trump-drug-tested-fetal-tissue-2020-10?utmSource=twitter&utmContent=referral&utmTerm=topbar&referrer=twitter" target="_blank">Insider</a>]</p><p><strong>Follow Liz Dye on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/5DollarFeminist" target="_blank">RIGHT HERE!</a></strong><br></p><p><strong>Please click here to support your Wonkette. And if you're ordering your quarantine goods on Amazon, <a href="https://amzn.to/2wbH77j" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">this is the link to do it.</a></strong></p><p></p><form name="donation" method="post" class="donation-form"><p class="subheadline">How often would you like to donate?</p><div class="form-row row--plan"><label class="plan-type__label"><input type="radio" name="plan_type" value="once" class="plan-type" required="" checked> Just once
</label><label class="plan-type__label"><input type="radio" name="plan_type" value="monthly" class="plan-type" required=""> Monthly
</label></div><div class="form-row row--amount"><p class="subheadline">Select an amount (USD)</p><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="200" data-value="2.00" data-amount="Two Dollars">$2</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="2500" data-value="25.00" data-amount="Twenty Five Dollars">$25</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="500" data-value="5.00" data-amount="Five Dollars">$5</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="5000" data-value="50.00" data-amount="Fifty Dollars">$50</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="1000" data-value="10.00" data-amount="Ten Dollars" checked>$10</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="10000" data-value="100.00" data-amount="One Hundred Dollars">$100</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="1500" data-value="15.00" data-amount="Fifteen Dollars">$15</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="50000" data-value="500.00" data-amount="Five Hundred Dollars">$500</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="2000" data-value="20.00" data-amount="Twenty Dollars">$20</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="100000" data-value="1000.00" data-amount="One Thousand Dollars">$1000</label></div><div class="row--buttons"><button type="submit" class="donate-button" data-payment="strip"><img src="https://assets.rbl.ms/18208879/2000x.png" alt="Credit cards" class="donate-button__img"></button><button type="submit" class="donate-button" data-payment="paypal"><img src="https://assets.rbl.ms/18208880/2000x.png" alt="PayPal" class="donate-button__img"></button></div></form><p></p>
Keep reading...
Show less
News
Federal Judge Halts Ohio Voter Suppression Scheme
Secretary of State tried to limit the ability of city dwellers to vote. It ... didn't work.
October 10, 2020 01:00 PM
For decades, Republicans have made it clear that they don't give a flying fuck about the principles underpinning our democratic system. To the GOP, the will of the people doesn't matter; the only thing that actually matters is gaining and holding onto power.
As part of the Republican Party's plan to steal the 2020 elections by any means necessary, earlier this week, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose issued a directive limiting every county in the state — with no regard for geography, population, or feasibility — to just one drop box each to collect absentee ballots.
After initially dismissing the case, Ohio federal Judge Dan Aaron Polster reversed course on Friday, reinstating the lawsuit filed by civil rights organizations and individual voters alike, and striking down LaRose's one Dropbox per county rule. Finding that LaRose's ratfucking violates the rights of voters under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the US Constitution, the court held that the directive “significantly burdens the right to vote, and, ultimately, may have the effect of deterring many people from voting or forcing them to risk their health by voting in-person." As such,
The Secretary is enjoined from enforcing that portion of Directive 2020-16 that prohibits a county board of elections from installing a secure drop box at a location other than the board of elections office, and the Secretary is also enjoined from prohibiting a board from deploying its staff for off-site ballot delivery.
Suck it, LaRose.
<h2>Here's the deal</h2><p>
Like most states, Ohio is dealing with an unprecedented number of people voting absentee because of the pandemic. In addition to allowing absentee ballots to be mailed in, Ohio law allows county election boards to set up drop boxes for voters to return their ballots.
</p><p>
The main job of the Ohio Secretary of State is to facilitate voting statewide. Rather than using his position as the state's top election official to protect the voting rights of Ohioans, LaRose instead decided to use his power to try to disenfranchise as many people of color as he possibly can.
</p><p>
Ohio has 88 counties, with populations ranging from under 10,000 to over 1 million residents. Obviously, with the huge differences in the makeup and geography of these counties, they are all going to have different needs when it comes to procedures for receiving ballots. That's why each county in the state has its own county election board to determine the needs of its voters.
</p><p>
Purposefully Ignoring the fact that Vinson County, population 13,000, has different needs from Cuyahoga County, population 1.28 million, LaRose limited every county in the state to just one ballot drop box each. If LaRose's directive were to remain in place, it would have the clear and obvious effect of disenfranchising people in the state's most populous cities and counties. While we are <em>totally sure </em>that this is entirely incidental and not at all the entire purpose of LaRose's order, these counties are where most of the state's Black, LatinX, and Democratic voters are located.
</p><p>
As the court found,
</p><blockquote>
<em>The burden that the Directive imposes on large counties is exhibited by the fact that it may be said that the 7,903 registered voters in Noble County may find a single drop box location sufficient, the record demonstrates that the 858,041 registered voters in Cuyahoga County will likely not.</em>
</blockquote><p>
Multiple lawsuits challenging this bullshit were filed almost immediately. In a parallel case filed in state court, the Ohio Court of Appeals ruled that state law did not require completed ballots to be dropped off to the physical locations of election boards and that off-site drop boxes were totally fine. Despite that order, LaRose was like, "Nah, I think we're just gonna make it as hard as we can for people in urban areas to drop off their ballots" and refused to accommodate requests from large counties to set up additional drop box locations.
</p><p>
Earlier this week, Judge Polster had dismissed the lawsuit without prejudice (meaning it could be re-filed by the same plaintiffs), believing the state court order would result in LaRose allowing counties to set up more drop boxes. After it became clear that LaRose had no intention of changing his directive the judge reversed his earlier ruling, saying it was based on his "incorrect interpretation" of LaRose's action.
</p><p>
And Judge Polster pulled no punches, noting at the beginning of his order that:
</p><blockquote>
The power of a federal judge to enjoin an order of a duly elected state official should be exercised only when it is essential to vindicate a vital constitutional right, and when all methods short of doing so have been tried. That is the case here.
</blockquote><p>
Judge Polster's ruling also makes it clear that he gave LaRose plenty of occasions to stop fucking up before issuing an injunction.
</p><blockquote>
The Court has given the Secretary every opportunity to address the problem identified at the September 23 hearing, and he has been unwilling or unable to do so. At this late date, with voting already underway, the Court has no alternative but to address the constitutionality of Directive 2020-16, and any subsequent directives which emanate from it. The right to vote guaranteed by the First and Fourteenth Amendments is without question one of the most important rights guaranteed by our Constitution. The COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with the anxiety over whether the U.S. Postal Service will be able to handle the unprecedented number of ballots being returned by mail, is posing unprecedented challenges to voters and boards of election. Under these unprecedented circumstances, Plaintiffs have made a substantial showing that Secretary LaRose's prohibitions on off-site drop boxes and ballot delivery are unconstitutional, and Plaintiffs have demonstrated all the other conditions necessary to warrant the Court issuing a preliminary injunction.
</blockquote><p>
As anyone with a tinge of common sense who is not drinking the GOP kool-aid can see, the only purpose of LaRose's limit on ballot drop boxes had nothing to do with anything other than trying to fix the election and keep his party in power.
</p><blockquote>
The record reflects that, absent injunctive relief, registered voters who reside in larger counties will be forced to spend an unreasonable amount of time traveling to a single drop box location at the board – ultimately 1) leading voters to forgo their fundamental right to vote or 2) substantially burdening voters with long commutes and long lines leading to a form of voter suppression. Voting began on October 6, and absent injunctive relief, registered voters will be deprived of a fair election.
</blockquote><h2>Let's lawsplain this</h2><p>
Here in the United States, we have this handy little thing called a constitution. And while the US Constitution is far from perfect, it nonetheless clearly prohibits these kinds of blatant attempts to fix elections (at least until <a href="https://www.wonkette.com/if-amy-coney-barrett-writes-an-opinion-her-husband-doesnt-like-will-he-cut-off-her-finger" target="_blank">Justice Handmaiden Barrett</a> is on the bench).
</p><p>
As Judge Polster noted, "it is beyond dispute that federal courts have jurisdiction over suits to enjoin state officials from interfering with federal rights." And that is pretty clearly what LaRose is trying to do, here. Like the court summarized,
</p><blockquote>
<em>The state's procedures must be fair. [...] </em><em>They must not place any burden upon voting beyond what is necessary to ensure a fair election, and they may not impose an undue burden upon any suspect class of citizens. [...] Even facially neutral procedures may have a disparate adverse impact upon certain groups of voters. And that impact must be analyzed in the context of the unprecedented conditions surrounding the November 3, 2020 election.</em>
</blockquote><p>
In examining the effect of the state's ratfucking on voters, the court found that LaRose's directive “particularly burdens the right to vote of Ohio residents who are poor and people of color." Judge Polster also noted that LaRose had “gloss[ed] over the risks and obstacles that those options present under today's unprecedented conditions[,]" and recognized that COVID-19, like LaRose's actions, “particularly burdens the right to vote of Ohio residents who are poor and people of color."
</p><p>
The judge also recognized that Donald Trump and Louis DeJoy's attempts to destroy the Post Office make ballot drop boxes even more important for voters this year.
</p><blockquote>
It is also indisputable that we are living in the unprecedented juxtaposition of the worst pandemic in a century coupled with reasonable concern and anxiety over the ability of the U.S. Postal Service to handle what will undoubtedly be the largest number of absentee voters in Ohio's history[.] This year, the drastic procedural changes recently implemented by the Postal Service and the resulting disruption and delay in delivery has created reasonable anxiety over the ability of the Postal Service to get ballots delivered to voters in a timely fashion, and then to deliver those ballots to the Board of Elections in each county. The obstacles that voters face if they chose to vote by mail is evident by the fact that, as stated above, two federal judges have recently enjoined the U.S. Postal Service from implementing procedural changes which they found would adversely impact the delivery of ballots leading to disenfranchisement.
</blockquote><p>
The challengers presented a ton of evidence showing how LaRose's plan would disenfranchise voters, particularly non-white voters in the state's most populous counties.
</p><blockquote>
Plaintiffs introduced testimony that approximately 15% of Cincinnati and Cleveland's voting population (who are primarily poor and person of color), will have to travel more than 90 minutes to and from their single drop box location.
</blockquote><p>
LaRose had the audacity to claim that his order disenfranchising voters was necessary to equal the playing field for voters across the state. The court roundly rejected that ridiculous argument.
</p><blockquote>
Secretary LaRose contends that the Directive is necessary to ensure that all Ohioans have the same opportunity to securely cast their votes in drop boxes. The problem with this rationale is that all counties are not equal in population or in geographic size. Giving all voters an equal opportunity would require multiple drop boxes in heavily populated counties to account for their population. The federal guidelines in fact call for one drop box for every 15,000–20,000 voters. The Secretary offers the rationale that the prohibition promotes uniformity. However, uniformity without a valid underlying reason for the chosen rule is not a justification. While voters have no right to a drop box, "[h]aving once granted the right to vote on equal terms, the State may not, by later arbitrary and disparate treatment, value one person's vote over that of another."
</blockquote><p>
As for LaRose's claim that drop box limits are necessary to stop voter fraud?<br>
</p><blockquote>
It is even easier to reject the Secretary's second justification. No evidence was introduced at the hearing to support the conclusory reference to fraud in the Secretary's brief.
</blockquote><p>
And that's not all!
</p><blockquote>
The Secretary's justifications for the Directive are further undercut by his own recent public statements that his preference was for multiple drop boxes, assuming they were permitted under the law or ordered by a court. Specifically, in late August, the Secretary stated "I think it would be a great thing if we could if the state legislature were to authorize it, or a judge's order. I would be happy to see more drop boxes in more places throughout the state. As long as it had the bipartisan support of those boards of elections, and as long as those drop boxes were secure and under video surveillance." The Secretary said nothing about uniformity, security, or fraud.
</blockquote><h2>Suck it, LaRose</h2><p>
At a court hearing, LaRose asked the court to stay the order if it issued a preliminary injunction, which would stop the order from going into effect while he appealed. Judge Polster gave LaRose a firm LOLNOPE to that request, writing:
</p><blockquote>
The Court will not issue a stay. As stated above, we are in the middle of the worst pandemic in a century coupled with reasonable concern over the ability of the U.S. Postal Service to handle what will undoubtedly be the largest number of absentee voters in Ohio's history. The Secretary has not advanced any legitimate reason to prohibit a county board of elections from utilizing off-site drop boxes and/or off-site delivery of ballots to staff. Voting began October 6, the Cuyahoga County board voted to begin collecting ballots at public libraries on October 13, other county boards may now vote to implement plans for off-site collection, and it is time for this litigation to end.
</blockquote><p>
Republicans have shown, time and time again, that they have absolutely no qualms with using every tool at their disposal to steal elections, the will of the people be damned. Although LaRose has already stated his intent to appeal the decision, we sincerely hope the Sixth Circuit joins Judge Polster in telling him to go to hell.
</p><p>
Here's the order:
</p><iframe class="scribd_iframe_embed" data-aspect-ratio="null" data-auto-height="true" data-rm-shortcode-id="1992dbf19088465768513cde11c119f6" frameborder="0" height="600" scrolling="no" src="https://www.scribd.com/embeds/479370397/content?start_page=1&show_recommendations=true" width="100%">
</iframe><p>
<br>
</p><p>
[ <a href="https://www.ohiosos.gov/globalassets/elections/directives/2020/dir2020-22.pdf" target="_blank">LaRose Directive</a> ]
</p><p>
<br>
</p><p>
Follow Jamie on <a href="http://twitter.com/jamielynncrofts" target="_blank">Twitter</a>!
</p><p>
</p><p><a href="https://amzn.to/33mKzZe" target="_blank">Do your Amazon shopping through this link, because reasons</a>.</p>
<p></p><p>
</p><form name="donation" method="post" class="donation-form"><p class="subheadline">How often would you like to donate?</p><div class="form-row row--plan"><label class="plan-type__label"><input type="radio" name="plan_type" value="once" class="plan-type" required="" checked> Just once
</label><label class="plan-type__label"><input type="radio" name="plan_type" value="monthly" class="plan-type" required=""> Monthly
</label></div><div class="form-row row--amount"><p class="subheadline">Select an amount (USD)</p><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="200" data-value="2.00" data-amount="Two Dollars">$2</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="2500" data-value="25.00" data-amount="Twenty Five Dollars">$25</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="500" data-value="5.00" data-amount="Five Dollars">$5</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="5000" data-value="50.00" data-amount="Fifty Dollars">$50</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="1000" data-value="10.00" data-amount="Ten Dollars" checked>$10</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="10000" data-value="100.00" data-amount="One Hundred Dollars">$100</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="1500" data-value="15.00" data-amount="Fifteen Dollars">$15</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="50000" data-value="500.00" data-amount="Five Hundred Dollars">$500</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="2000" data-value="20.00" data-amount="Twenty Dollars">$20</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="100000" data-value="1000.00" data-amount="One Thousand Dollars">$1000</label></div><div class="row--buttons"><button type="submit" class="donate-button" data-payment="strip"><img src="https://assets.rbl.ms/18208879/2000x.png" alt="Credit cards" class="donate-button__img"></button><button type="submit" class="donate-button" data-payment="paypal"><img src="https://assets.rbl.ms/18208880/2000x.png" alt="PayPal" class="donate-button__img"></button></div></form>
<p></p>
Keep reading...
Show less
Trump
Trump's Tax Returns: The 'Not Staying In Vegas' Edition
Yeah, it's not a mystery why he fought like hell to keep those tax returns under wraps.
October 09, 2020 04:00 PM
"Donald's word is his bond. If Donald tells you something, you can put it in the bank," Las Vegas casino magnate Phil Ruffin gushed at the 2016 RNC. "I love the man."
Quit laughing, you guys, it's time for the third installment of the New York Times series, "We Got President Trump's Taxes, And They Are Hinky AF!" Oh, that's not what it's called? Well, those eggheads need to learn to write heds good like your Wonkette!
In broad strokes: Trump and his campaign were both out of cash in the fall of 2016; a company he owned with Ruffin put $21 million in his pocket more or less out of the blue; Trump suddenly had $10 million to spend on his election; and in 2017 a long-stalled project to build a train into Las Vegas suddenly got greenlighted.
Could those things be related? Maaaaaaaaaaaybe. Will we ever be able to prove it? Nope. Is it a fairly good example of the kind of deal Trump would be so averse to explaining that he'd sue half of New York to keep it hidden? Ding ding ding.
<p>In the early 2000s, Trump and Ruffin partnered up to build the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas together. The venture was never particularly profitable, but the friendship was apparently genuine. Trump introduced Ruffin to his third wife and was best man at his wedding — held at Mar-a-Lago, natch. So naturally Ruffin was a big supporter of Trump's campaigns.</p><p>"You won't hear this in the media, but Donald gave $20 million to the St. Jude children's home," Ruffin told rallygoers in 2015. "He could have used that $20 million for television ads, but he decided to give it to the children of cancer."</p><p>That was bullshit, of course. As was Trump's assertion that he was so fabulously wealthy he didn't need anyone else's money to mount his campaign.</p><p>"He's driving me crazy," Trump said of Ruffin <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvc_kDU8nOk" target="_blank">at a rally in February 2016.</a> "He said, 'Donald, I want to put $10 million into your campaign.' I said: 'Phil, I don't want your money. I don't want to do it. I'm self-funding.' Every time I see him, it's hard for me to turn down money, because that's not what I've done in my whole life. I grab and grab and grab."</p><p>Interesting choice of words. </p><p>Anyway, according to the <em>Times,</em> Trump had sold a shit ton of stock and was totally out of cash by that summer, particularly since the Republican establishment thought he was a talking sack of dogshit that had no chance of beating Clinton. </p><p>Seven weeks before the election, Trump and Ruffin's partnership borrowed $30 million from City National Bank in Los Angeles. The partnership was barely operating in the black, but Ruffin personally guaranteed the loan. Shortly after that, the hotel started kicking cash up to an entity called Trump Las Vegas Sales and Marketing, which then sent it on to Trump himself, after which he was able to write a $10 million check to his campaign.</p><p>Here's how the <em>Times</em> described the company.</p><blockquote>It was created in 2004, as Mr. Trump and Mr. Ruffin were drawing up plans for the Trump International Hotel. Precisely what it did, though, is obscure. It had no employees, or at least no payroll. And while the Trump-Ruffin joint venture certainly spent several million dollars a year to promote its room rentals and condominium sales, that money did not go to Trump Las Vegas Sales and Marketing. The company's tax records show that it had little income over the years, posting modest profits only twice: $54,924 in 2007 and $420,756 in 2008.<br><br>Then, in 2016, came a payment of $13,756,623.</blockquote><p>Trump also received other unusual payments from the hotel including a $4.8 million "development fee," and $2.7 million described to the IRS as a "loan fee," and in the president's 2017 public disclosures as a "sponsor fee." </p><p>The hotel only started the year with $6.3 million in cash reserves, so the $21 million in payouts put it well into the red. Nevertheless, it deducted the entire $21 million in payments to Trump as business expenses. <em>Because rich people write the tax laws in this country.</em></p><p>Ruffin's spokeswoman says that her client doesn't involve himself in the day-to-day operations of the hotel, and "all tax statements go to the people who work on his taxes." Which is ... well, make of that one what you will.</p><p>Brass tacks, if one could <em>prove</em> that these were sham expenses deducted as regular business expenses and that Ruffin deliberately tried to give Trump money to put into his own campaign, that might well constitute crimes. But don't hold your breath, because these people are crazy but they're not THAT stupid.</p><p>There's also an alternative explanation having to do with the Trump University.</p><blockquote>The subject of the Trump-Ruffin financial relationship came up, albeit obliquely, when the president's estranged personal lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, <a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4782864/user-clip-michael-cohen-testimony-full" target="_blank">testified before Congress</a> in 2019. Had a businessman from Kansas given Mr. Trump the $25 million to settle the Trump University lawsuit? "I am not familiar with that, no," he said.<br><br>Shortly after that, Mr. Ruffin <a href="https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/congress/article226888739.html" target="_blank">told The Kansas City Star</a> that he was the Kansas businessman in question. He offered a muddled explanation about some money that had been sent to Mr. Trump in 2016.<br><br>"He had $28 million in back fees that he never collected," Mr. Ruffin said. "The hotel paid him [what] was owed to him. I don't know what he did. … It was his money."</blockquote><p>Back fees. Okay.</p><p>In the background of all this, Ruffin and basically every other businessperson in Las Vegas has been trying since forever to build a train that would connect Los Angeles (or thereabouts) to their town. The Obama administration tried to get it financed with a $5.5 billion federal loan, but Jeff Sessions and Paul Ryan killed that deal in 2013. </p><blockquote>"We tried and tried and couldn't get it done," Mr. [Harry] Reid said in a recent interview. Along the Strip, though, he joked that the only dissension was over whose casino would be closest to where the train would stop. "They know it would be a godsend to their businesses," he said.</blockquote><p>Trump himself famously <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/16/trump-administration-pulls-california-high-speed-rail-funding.html" target="_blank">killed</a> high speed rail in California, but when it comes to the project that would benefit Las Vegas — where he himself still owns a stake in that hotel — his views are different. After Ruffin personally lobbied Trump, Steven Mnuchin, and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, the Transportation Department approved the last billion dollar tranche of tax free bonds to finance the project. KA-CHING.</p><p>Lotta coincidences. In a row. Again. HUH.</p><p>[<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/10/09/us/donald-trump-taxes-las-vegas.html" target="_blank">NYT</a>]</p><p><strong>Follow Liz Dye on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/5DollarFeminist" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">RIGHT HERE!</a></strong><br></p><p><strong>Please click here to support your Wonkette. And if you're ordering your quarantine goods on Amazon, <a href="https://amzn.to/2wbH77j" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">this is the link to do it.</a></strong></p><p></p><form name="donation" method="post" class="donation-form"><p class="subheadline">How often would you like to donate?</p><div class="form-row row--plan"><label class="plan-type__label"><input type="radio" name="plan_type" value="once" class="plan-type" required="" checked> Just once
</label><label class="plan-type__label"><input type="radio" name="plan_type" value="monthly" class="plan-type" required=""> Monthly
</label></div><div class="form-row row--amount"><p class="subheadline">Select an amount (USD)</p><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="200" data-value="2.00" data-amount="Two Dollars">$2</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="2500" data-value="25.00" data-amount="Twenty Five Dollars">$25</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="500" data-value="5.00" data-amount="Five Dollars">$5</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="5000" data-value="50.00" data-amount="Fifty Dollars">$50</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="1000" data-value="10.00" data-amount="Ten Dollars" checked>$10</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="10000" data-value="100.00" data-amount="One Hundred Dollars">$100</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="1500" data-value="15.00" data-amount="Fifteen Dollars">$15</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="50000" data-value="500.00" data-amount="Five Hundred Dollars">$500</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="2000" data-value="20.00" data-amount="Twenty Dollars">$20</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="100000" data-value="1000.00" data-amount="One Thousand Dollars">$1000</label></div><div class="row--buttons"><button type="submit" class="donate-button" data-payment="strip"><img src="https://assets.rbl.ms/18208879/2000x.png" alt="Credit cards" class="donate-button__img"></button><button type="submit" class="donate-button" data-payment="paypal"><img src="https://assets.rbl.ms/18208880/2000x.png" alt="PayPal" class="donate-button__img"></button></div></form><p></p>
Keep reading...
Show less
justice department
Simmer Down, Gippers. We Survived Mueller. You'll Survive John Durham.
Oh, that thing you've been waiting years for is kind of a flop? Thoughts 'n' prayers.
October 09, 2020 10:48 AM
“This is the nightmare scenario. Essentially, the year and a half of arguably the number one issue for the Republican base is virtually meaningless if this doesn't happen before the election," a GOP congressional aide whined to Axios about news that US Attorney John Durham won't be finished with his inquest into the origins of the Russia investigation by November.
And, honestly, honey, we feel ya. We put a lot of faith in Robert Mueller to actually turn over all the rocks and find out what the hell happened in 2016 — and after, since nothing in the intervening four years has disabused us of the notion that Trump is scared of pissing off Vladimir Putin — only to find out that the Special Counsel wouldn't even try to look at the president's finances. Having amassed a mountain of evidence of obstruction of justice, the guy we'd built up as a fearless paragon just handed it to Congress and said, "I trust you guys will know what to do with this."
We'll probably never find out who Trump is in debt to up to his beady eyeballs. And dollars to doughnuts it ain't Deutsche Bank using house money to lend a reprobate like Trump $420 million.
It is what it is. And so it will be with our fellow partisans on the Right, who believe that if they only keep digging they'll find evidence that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton illegally spied on the Trump campaign and tried to frame poor, innocent Putin for election interference. It's a dastardly plot!
Meanwhile over at Fox Business, Maria Bartiromo is doing her darnedest to keep the dream alive.
<blockquote>
<strong>BARTIROMO: </strong>Mr. President, we now know from these documents that John Ratcliffe unveiled that it was Hillary Clinton's idea to tie you to Russia in some way. It was successful. The whole country was talking about it for two and a half years. But what comes next, Mr. President? We can have all of these documents, we can see exactly what happened but unless John Durham comes out with a report or indictments, unless Bill Barr comes out with a -- a -- some kind of a ruling here, do you think this is resonating on the American people?<br>
<br>
<strong>TRUMP: </strong>Unless Bill Barr indicts these people for crimes, the greatest political crime in the history of our country, then we're going to get little satisfaction unless I win and we'll just have to go, because I won't forget it. But these people should be indicted, this was the greatest political crime in the history of our country and that includes Obama and it includes Biden. He recommended prosecute and they didn't prosecute. I was -- I couldn't believe it, but they didn't do it, because they said we have much bigger fish to fry.
</blockquote><p>
Hmmmm, we remember the Horowitz report <a href="https://www.wonkette.com/ig-report-takes-476-pages-to-destroy-every-conspiracy-theory-in-donald-trumps-stupid-leaking-brain" target="_blank">slightly differently</a>. But good to know that Donald Trump spends all his time leaning on the attorney general to LOCK HER UP his political rivals for ... trying to LOCK HER UP their political rivals, a thing which very much did not happen.
</p><p>
Anyway, according to "a friend of Barr's," the attorney general is real broke up about Trump leaning on him to launch politically motivated prosecutions in the absence of evidence that IRL laws were broken. AP <a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-donald-trump-voting-fraud-and-irregularities-elections-archive-bb887a6d591b4532627e9a23a401d418" target="_blank">reports</a>:
</p><blockquote>
Barr has privately expressed frustration over the president's public pronouncements on the Durham investigation. Though Barr is broadly in agreement with Trump on the need to investigate the origins of the Russia probe, he's often bemoaned Trump's lack of understanding about the intricacies of the legal system and the steps that need to be taken to complete an investigation.<br>
<br>
A friend of Barr's said there has been obvious "tension" between the president and the attorney general, and while Barr himself believes deeply in the importance of the Durham investigation and in the president's authority to exercise control over federal agencies, he will not tolerate interference in specific investigations.<br>
<br>
The friend said the Justice Department officials were eager for Durham's work to be completed while Trump is still in office for fear the investigation would be shuttered in a possible Biden administration.</blockquote><p>
UH HUH. Was this "friend" named Biff Carr? Burt Farr? Cliff Bar?
</p><p>
Look at this asshole trying to do damage control with his own side while simultaneously reassuring the public that he is a faithful servant of the law, just calling balls and strikes, impervious to political pressure. Hey, remember right before Barr <a href="https://www.wonkette.com/bill-barr-discovers-sentencing-reform-but-only-for-roger-stone" target="_blank">blew up</a> the Roger Stone investigation, when all those <a href="https://apnews.com/article/1af22f727511099b03998f9e072a69c1" target="_blank">stories</a> appeared about the attorney general being <em>this close</em> to resigning because it's hard to ratfuck on the DL when your boss keeps tweeting RATFUCK HARDER! </p><p>Third verse, same as the first.</p><p>
Over at the White House, they've hit the panic button. Dump it all out there and see if Devin Nunes and the <em>Epoch Times </em>can Clinton Cash it up into something for the rubes.</p><div id="d0873" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="2e17625b8ac144ef0983a104831120d6"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1313640512025513984" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">I have fully authorized the total Declassification of any & all documents pertaining to the single greatest politic… https://t.co/uHyx3fUoK7</div> — Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump)<a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/statuses/1313640512025513984">1602031278.0</a></blockquote></div><p>"Bill Barr should follow the instructions of the president to declassify and release all the documents the FBI are sitting on. There's no good reason for him to withhold this information," the omnipresent senior White House official told Axios. <br></p><p>Compromise an ongoing criminal (or so they tell us) investigation by releasing all the evidence publicly in hopes of weaponizing it to win and election? Cool, cool.</p><p>TWENTY-FIVE MORE DAYS.</p><p>[<a href="https://www.axios.com/barr-durham-report-election-3c02ec6a-7613-4083-b35c-4844de6da16b.html" target="_blank">Axios</a> / <a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-donald-trump-voting-fraud-and-irregularities-elections-archive-bb887a6d591b4532627e9a23a401d418" target="_blank">AP</a>]</p><p><strong>Follow Liz Dye on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/5DollarFeminist" target="_blank">RIGHT HERE!</a></strong><br></p><p><strong>Please click here to support your Wonkette. And if you're ordering your quarantine goods on Amazon, <a href="https://amzn.to/2wbH77j" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">this is the link to do it.</a></strong></p><p></p><form name="donation" method="post" class="donation-form"><p class="subheadline">How often would you like to donate?</p><div class="form-row row--plan"><label class="plan-type__label"><input type="radio" name="plan_type" value="once" class="plan-type" required="" checked> Just once
</label><label class="plan-type__label"><input type="radio" name="plan_type" value="monthly" class="plan-type" required=""> Monthly
</label></div><div class="form-row row--amount"><p class="subheadline">Select an amount (USD)</p><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="200" data-value="2.00" data-amount="Two Dollars">$2</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="2500" data-value="25.00" data-amount="Twenty Five Dollars">$25</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="500" data-value="5.00" data-amount="Five Dollars">$5</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="5000" data-value="50.00" data-amount="Fifty Dollars">$50</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="1000" data-value="10.00" data-amount="Ten Dollars" checked>$10</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="10000" data-value="100.00" data-amount="One Hundred Dollars">$100</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="1500" data-value="15.00" data-amount="Fifteen Dollars">$15</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="50000" data-value="500.00" data-amount="Five Hundred Dollars">$500</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="2000" data-value="20.00" data-amount="Twenty Dollars">$20</label><label class="amount__label"><input type="radio" name="amount" class="amount" value="100000" data-value="1000.00" data-amount="One Thousand Dollars">$1000</label></div><div class="row--buttons"><button type="submit" class="donate-button" data-payment="strip"><img src="https://assets.rbl.ms/18208879/2000x.png" alt="Credit cards" class="donate-button__img"></button><button type="submit" class="donate-button" data-payment="paypal"><img src="https://assets.rbl.ms/18208880/2000x.png" alt="PayPal" class="donate-button__img"></button></div></form><p></p>
Keep reading...
Show less
Newsletter
©2018 by Commie Girl Industries, Inc
