The walls are not tumbling down just yet, but there's an awful lot rumbling and bits of rock and mortar plopping on the ground all around us.
ProPublica: Documents obtained by ProPublica show stark differences in how Donald Trump’s businesses reported some expenses, profits and occupancy figures for two Manhattan buildings, giving a lender different figures than they provided to New York City tax authorities. The discrepancies made the buildings appear more profitable to the lender — and less profitable to the officials who set the buildings’ property tax.
For instance, Trump told the lender that he took in twice as much rent from one building as he reported to tax authorities during the same year, 2017. He also gave conflicting occupancy figures for one of his signature skyscrapers, located at 40 Wall Street.
Lenders like to see a rising occupancy level as a sign of what they call “leasing momentum.” Sure enough, the company told a lender that 40 Wall Street had been 58.9% leased on Dec. 31, 2012, and then rose to 95% a few years later. The company told tax officials the building was 81% rented as of Jan. 5, 2013.
A dozen real estate professionals told ProPublica they saw no clear explanation for multiple inconsistencies in the documents. The discrepancies are “versions of fraud,” said Nancy Wallace, a professor of finance and real estate at the Haas School of Business at the University of California-Berkeley. “This kind of stuff is not OK.”
Cult45 devotees aren't doing all their shit out in the open - not yet anyway. But even with the shit they try to hide, they're not shy about any of it once it does come out.
Then if they can no longer deny it outright, they just deny that it's important. I didn't do it - you're crazy. I didn't know about it - you're crazy. Nobody told me not to do it - you're crazy. You're crazy if you think it's a big deal. So that shouldn't be a law anyway - you're crazy. You're crazy to get all bogged down in all this process stuff. Daddy State gas-lighting. Let's review.
When we turn our heads the other way when we see the law flouted; when we tolerate what we know to be wrong; when we close our eyes and ears to the corrupt because we are too busy or too frightened; when we fail to speak up and speak out, we strike a blow against freedom and decency and justice.
When John Bolton is the one warning you about White House fuckery, you've got big fuckin' problems.
Breaking: Bolton instructed aide to report Giuliani pressure campaign to White House lawyer. “I am not part of whatever drug deal Rudy and Mulvaney are cooking up,” Bolton said, according to testimony to House investigators. @npfandoshttps://t.co/GO1pnMSyBl
Lots of attempts to "understand" the other side. And I get that. I really do.
But grownups have to be able to recognize their errors and admit it when they've fucked up. It's not unreasonable to expect grownups to act like fucking grownups. They put themselves on that hook, and I ain't lettin' 'em off easy. Especially considering the damage they're doing to all of us.
You can't shut down Smarmspace altogether, but in general, trying to make it smaller is a very good idea. Common Dreams: One went up and one went down. Each enjoyed similar benefits as a result of their travels. I refer to Brett Kavanaugh and Maryanne Trump Barry. Brett ascended to the United States Supreme Court and Maryanne descended from the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Their travels enabled them to escape the consequences of their misconduct.
Because of his ascension, Brett avoided facing any consequences for claims of sexual misconduct that followed him through his confirmation process, and more pertinently, complaints about his ethical misconduct during his confirmation hearing.
The misconduct during his confirmation hearing came about because of his inadequately developed sense of propriety that manifested itself when, during the hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee which was considering his appointment to the United States Supreme Court, he modeled himself after the White House juvenile (who in a recent moment of petulance described himself as having "great and unmatched wisdom"). Equally petulant during his confirmation hearing, Brett screamed and yelled at the committee which was trying to determine whether he was fit to serve on the United States Supreme Court. He said the hearing was "a calculated and orchestrated political hit job ...revenge on behalf of the Clintons and millions of dollars in money from outside left-wing opposition groups."
By the time the Senate voted on Brett's confirmation, 83 complaints had been lodged against him with the Committee on Judicial and Disability because of, among other things, his puerile conduct before the senators. After his ascension, the committee said he was no longer subject to the federal judiciary's internal ethics review process. That is because the act does not give the committee the ability to investigate grievances against members of the Supreme Court. Brett is home free for life. So is Maryanne.
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Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has now come up with a plan to put an end to the immunity for consequences of bad behavior by federal judges that now protects them. She wants to close the loophole through which Brett and Maryanne crawled. As she explained: "My plan extends the authority of the Judicial Conference to former judges so that individuals under investigation cannot simply resign from the bench to avoid accountability." She also wants to extend the Code of Conduct for United States Judges to Justices sitting on the Supreme Court. If Sen. Warren's proposals were adopted, Brett–Maryanne results would no longer occur.
