DL Open Thread: Sat., Feb. 19, 2022
Trump’s MAGA PAC Subsidized Empty Office Space In Trump Towers. The $$’s were supposed to go to Junior Trumps:
“It’s a huge scam,” said one former aide with direct knowledge of Trump’s political spending. “I can’t believe his base lets him get away with it.” (He’s kidding, right?)
After the 2020 election, the Trump presidential campaign committee was reformulated as the Make America Great Again PAC and continued leasing the space. Only now it is not used at all, except to store campaign memorabilia, the former aide said. “No one works at that office,” he said. “It sits there locked up.”
Noah Bookbinder, the president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said that although Trump is still using his position to funnel donors’ money to himself, it does not appear to be illegal. “There’s no law that says you can’t use this as a scam to enrich yourself. He’s allowed to do this. It’s sleazy, but it’s legal.”
Trump insisted on having the campaign continue renting there ― as it had during the 2016 election ― because the building was having trouble finding tenants, he said. “They knew they couldn’t lose that money because the building is hurting so bad.”
Look Who’s Gonna Lead Georgia’s Universities:
An agribusiness tycoon, Perdue is best known for his political work as a former two-term Georgia governor during which he urged on pay cuts for school teachers; expressed nostalgia for the Confederacy; pioneered voter-suppression laws; responded to a brutal drought by holding a public ceremony to “pray for rain”; and promoted policies that made life miserable for immigrants. While helming the USDA, he denied climate change (including taking time to bury publicly funded research on it); gutted a key federal agricultural-economic research institution; attempted to limit food aid; and cut farm worker wages at the height of the pandemic.
Why would he would be qualified to head one of the nation’s premier public higher education systems? His career highlights don’t include anything related to university administration. Beyond Georgia, his tenure at the USDA was often about maintaining a fulsome reverence for Donald Trump. He even appeared at a Nov. 6, 2020, Georgia rally, where he echoed false charges of fraud in the states’ presidential election vote count. Yet this week, Perdue got his wish. After a months-long, drama-packed process, over protests from faculty, students, and a university accreditation agency, the University System of Georgia board of regents has settled on Perdue as its sole finalist to for the chancellor post, virtually ensuring he’ll get the job.
Knowledge is a dangerous thing. The solution? No-nothings in charge of suppressing it.
Yet Another Epstein Perv Kills Himself. Buh-bye.
Social Media For Fish. What do they like to talk about? Sex. Plankton:
What are fish talking about? Mainly sex and food, it seems. “We see more elaborate sounds being produced in reproductive contexts,” says Rice. How these noises actually sound to humans varies widely; scientists use a variety of onomatopoeic descriptors like “boops”, “honks” and “hoots” to convey what they’re hearing. Some fish, like the three-spined toadfish, sound similar to croaking frogs, whereas others, like the midshipman fish, emit low, haunting, foghorn-like hums. Prior research on the noises produced by highly vocal codfish even found fish can have regional accents strong enough that others in their species may find them hard to understand.
I suspect most fish have trouble deciphering the accent of the catfish. And the French stylings of the crawfish. And the New England lobster linguistics. And the–oh, just shut up already.
Our PAL Val Seeks To Blame One Person For Ft. DuPont Fiascos. No, she didn’t look in the mirror. At least, didn’t look in the mirror and point a finger of blame at herself:
“We’re putting more stakeholders on the table to look at the best avenue for Delaware City, for Fort Dupont, for the emergency responders,” said Longhurst.
Local fire officials said they’ve been against the idea of the roundabout since day one.
“Originally we weren’t presented with other options,” said Longhurst. “I think there was a decision made early on with just one person that the roundabout was the way to go.”
I needn’t remind loyal readers that this whole crazy scheme was cooked up by Longhurst, Nicole Poore, the Crabby Dick’s guy, and Dick Cathcart. But I will. Now that people are paying attention to the ethical bankruptcy behind this boondoggle, Longhurst is reverting to her go-to: Blaming everyone else.
What do you want to talk about?
