Oh, what a weekend it’s been. Turns out having a belligerent ignoramus in the Oval Office leads to lots of legal liability. After Ol’ Stubby Fingers tweeted out that he knew Mike Flynn lied to the FBI, about a million lawyers pointed out that he had just admitted to obstructing justice. The White House then went into disaster-confinement mode. First they thew lawyer John Dowd under the bus, claiming he wrote the memo. When that didn’t work — lawyers pointed out that Dowd could get disbarred by doing something that stupid (which of course he didn’t do) — Dowd switched to the old Nixon defense, the president is above the law. When you’re trotting out explanations that didn’t work a much smarter, more devious guy like Nixon, you’re getting barrel-bottom with what you’ve just scraped up.
Whatever happened to John Kelly imposing order on the chaos? Turns out that, like any misbehaving child, Trump has found away around the rules, which of course don’t apply to him because — ask John Dowd why.
Remember when Republicans wanted Roy Moore to drop out of the Alabama special Senate election? Good times, but they’re long gone: Tower of integrity Mitch McConnell now says the voters should decide, a position he reached by the simple route of noticing Moore is likely to win. The Republican “principles” are simple ones: It’s all about the money, and we don’t get the money unless we win. So winning is everything.
When asked what he would do with his World Series money after the Phillies won it in 1980, Tug McGraw said he would spend 90% on booze and women, and just waste the rest. Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley thinks that’s what all of us who aren’t rich do –and he says that’s why we shouldeliminate the estate tax. Because, lord knows, the rich never drink or fuck or waste their money. Ever.
How clueless are Trumpkins? This clueless: Wall Street dipshit Gary Cohn last week asked a CEO panel how many would use their tax cuts to increase investment. Few hands went up, and Cohn couldn’t understand why. Video of the day.
This story about Doc Magrogan’s restaurant closing at Dover Downs contains some interesting material. Apparently management played hardball over the lease terms, but that’s not what’s interesting. Here’s a quote from chiseling weasel Denis McGlynn:
“It should be apparent that the state’s gaming revenue sharing formula is unsustainable when considering that the company has paid out $56.4 million to the state and the horsemen, while incurring a pretax loss of $366,000 through the first nine months of the year,” company President and CEO Denis McGlynn said in a statement. “We will continue to pursue a more equitable approach to this industry.”
You see what’s absurd here, I hope. A legitimate company that was running at the break-even point, as Dover Downs has for several years now, would trim a few executives and return to profitability. This is all for show — why manage your business responsibly when you can make a big show of losing money, the better to steal more from taxpayers.
Add anything you find interesting.