trump (convicted felon, defamer, insurrectionist, contemnor, and rapist - $537M)

[bob]

What kind of self-proclaimed business genius doesn't know that Bud Light for the last 15 years has been owned by European company?

[raison de arizona]

This is my astonished face:
https://x.com/PopularLiberal/status/175 ... 06049?s=20

BREAKING NEW: According to leaked sources, on Tuesday, a PAC linked to Donald Trump directed $2.3 million to cover the legal expenses of Ivanka Trump, his daughter.

The Save America PAC, in 2023, utilized $2.3 million to pay for two law firms representing Ivanka Trump, as per Federal Election Commission records reviewed by Business Insider's Jacob Sherman.

The PAC also allocated an additional $5.3 million to the law firm Robert & Robert, which represented Trump's three eldest children and the Trump Organization in various lawsuits unrelated to his 2024 presidential campaign.

► Show Spoiler

[Suranis]

Suranis (though if he's a Republican, it's a different type)

Nope, I said that even if she does write her own songs, its not that remarkable that she does so. Plus anything she writes these days would be washed through a dozen committees before being handed back to her if she does at all. I believe it as much as Turnip wrote "Art of the Deal."

Plus, My cynicism was raised on this shit by the way they used to say here that Boyzone and Westlife "wrote their own songs" when in fact they were singing cover versions of old songs they had changed one word for. So you can use other peoples songs and claim you wrote them. By contrast, The rolling stones can claim they wrote a song because the Song used 12 notes from an orchestral cover version of one of their songs.

Its just one of the first things the Swifties bring up is "SHE WRITES HER OWN SONGS!!!" as though its the most marvelous thing on the planet and proof of her godlike status. As I said, lots of artists are singer songwriters without it being brought up as the bestest thing ever or a reason you should Love them unconditionally and place their faith in them. Its just part of her marketing. And in the rule of "Every accusation is a confession," then every marketing gimmick is a lie.

Anyway, I am sick to death about hearing about her all of a sudden. I don't care for her music, she barely existed in my world view till a month ago when suddenly everyone on facebook etc was nattering on about her. Fuck off, I don't care, it's all a bunch of nonsense. Someone just said "They hate Taylor Swift so show you are different by supporting Taylor Swift!!!" and suddenly every idiot was proving their loyalty.

Let me tall you the origin of this. This all started because She attended a couple of football matches because her Boyfriend plays for the Kansas City Chiefs American Football Team. That's it. Opposing fans growled a bit about it and then shut up. But because fans growled about her, Social Media took off going crazy about them growling about the Holy Immaculate TAYLOR SWIFT!! And its turned into a tornado based on fucking nothing.

That's it guys, you are unknowingly yelling because some opposing team fans talked smack about the Girlfriend of a Football player whose team beat their team and who is now going to the Super Bowl. That's the stupid origin of this holy crusade. You should be proud.

God, I hate Social Media hysteria.

And 25% of the Souper Bawl will be the TV Cameras stuck on her face in the Viewing Box. Gotta love the Media.

[Suranis]

What kind of self-proclaimed business genius doesn't know that Bud Light for the last 15 years has been owned by European company?

The same people who were waving around graphs showing that Bud light was losing sales and "HAD LOST 20% SALES" based on that ad, and then laughed at me and called me an idiot when I told them the Graphs they were waving actually showed the sales decline was a continuing sales decline from 2016. Therefore proved the sales decline had nothing to do with the advert. And I thought the advert was goddam stupid, so I got it from both sides. Go me.

[raison de arizona]

The Bud Light thing has a very simple explanation, of course.

Incredible. After leading a year-long right-wing boycott of Bud Light, Trump says that the company deserves a “second chance.”

Why? Their top lobbyist is hosting a fundraiser for him—and it turns out he owns $5M in Anheuser-Busch stock.

[MN-Skeptic]

-
See update below -

A Troubling Trump Pardon and a Link to the Kushners
A commutation for a drug smuggler named Jonathan Braun had broader implications than previously known. It puts new focus on how Donald Trump would use his clemency powers in a second term.

By Michael S. Schmidt, Maggie Haberman, Jonathan Swan and Alan Feuer
Nov. 26, 2023 Updated 10:03 a.m. ET

Even amid the uproar over President Donald J. Trump’s freewheeling use of his pardon powers at the end of his term, one commutation stood out.

Jonathan Braun of New York had served just two and a half years of a decade-long sentence for running a massive marijuana ring, when Mr. Trump, at 12:51 a.m. on his last day in office, announced he would be freed.

Mr. Braun was, to say the least, an unusual candidate for clemency.

A Staten Islander with a history of violent threats, Mr. Braun had told a rabbi who owed him money: “I am going to make you bleed.” Mr. Braun’s family had told confidants they were willing to spend millions of dollars to get him out of prison.

At the time, Mr. Trump’s own Justice Department and federal regulators, as well as New York state authorities, were still after him for his role in an entirely separate matter: his work as a predatory lender, making what judges later found were fraudulent and usurious loans to cash-strapped small businesses.

Nearly three years later, the consequences of Mr. Braun’s commutation are becoming clearer, raising new questions about how Mr. Trump intervened in criminal justice decisions and what he could do in a second term, when he would have the power to make good on his suggestions that he would free supporters convicted of storming the Capitol and possibly even to pardon himself if convicted of the federal charges he faces.

Just months after Mr. Trump freed him, Mr. Braun returned to working as a predatory lender, according to New York State’s attorney general. Two months ago, a New York state judge barred him from working in the industry. Weeks later, a federal judge, acting on a complaint from the Federal Trade Commission, imposed a nationwide ban on him.

A New York Times investigation, drawing on documents and interviews with current and former officials, and others familiar with Mr. Braun’s case, found there were even greater ramifications stemming from the commutation than previously known and revealed new details about Mr. Braun’s history and how the commutation came about.



https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/26/us/p ... =url-share

An update to the above story with a gift link from the NYTimes -

Trump Pardon Recipient Fined $20 Million in Predatory Lending Case

When President Donald J. Trump, in his final hours in the White House in early 2021, commuted a 10-year drug smuggling sentence being served by a New Yorker named Jonathan Braun, he made no mention of Mr. Braun’s many other legal problems.

Months earlier, the Federal Trade Commission and the New York State attorney general had filed suits against Mr. Braun saying he swindled and intimidated borrowers who had taken money from a network of predatory lenders he ran, charging usurious interest rates and making violent threats.

On Tuesday, a federal judge in New York imposed $20 million in fines on Mr. Braun after finding him liable for the accusations made by the trade commission. Judge Jed S. Rakoff of the Federal District Court in Manhattan excoriated Mr. Braun in the ruling, depicting him as a hardened, craven man who “gleefully, with little remorse,” boasted about his illegal conduct and treated it as a “laughing matter” as he threatened the business owners he gouged.

“The court finds that it must consider the utter disregard and contempt that Mr. Braun showed for consumers,” Judge Rakoff said in a 35-page ruling. “The evidence showed that Mr. Braun blatantly ignored or disregarded consumer complaints and spewed vile threats and profanities when a consumer was purportedly unable to pay his debts. Mr. Braun’s conduct toward consumers was completely out of bounds and inappropriate.”

The judge cited a video that one of Mr. Braun’s business associates filmed of him threatening a business owner he claimed owed him money.

[MN-Skeptic]

If a PAC pays the legal fees for Ivanka, is that taxable income to her?

If the PAC pays the legal fees for lawsuits against Trump as an ordinary citizen, such as his New York State lawsuits, is that taxable income to him?

[raison de arizona]

Braun is not the only one.

Convicted con man who was pardoned by Trump is again charged with fraud
"I have a bad reputation," Eliyahu Weinstein was recorded telling others charged in what authorities alleged was a $35 million Ponzi-like scheme, officials say.

A New Jersey con man with a "bad reputation" who was pardoned two years ago by former President Donald Trump has been arrested again and accused of defrauding investors out of millions of dollars.

Eliyahu "Eli" Weinstein and four other men are charged with fleecing more than 150 people out of $35 million in a "Ponzi-like scheme," according to an arrest complaint unsealed Wednesday in federal court in Trenton and a statement from the office of the U.S. attorney for New Jersey.

Using the alias Michael Konig, Weinstein and the others formed a company called Optimus Investments Inc. and allegedly began "orchestrating another substantial scheme to defraud investors" shortly after he was released from prison in January 2021 — but still on probation, the complaint says.

“We allege Mr. Weinstein took part in a new scheme to rip off investors by hiding his real identity,” Special Agent in Charge James E. Dennehy of the FBI’s Newark field office said in the Justice Department statement. “He was aware his actions were against the terms of his release on a previous investment fraud conviction, and we allege he engaged in criminal activity anyway.”

The group is accused of "falsely claiming" it had "lucrative deals" on N95 Covid masks, "scarce baby formula" and "first-aid kits bound for Ukraine."

Officials say the men also conspired to hide Weinstein's assets "that should have been used to pay over $200 million in restitution" he owes the victims of his previous Ponzi scheme.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna95172

[bob]

If a PAC pays the legal fees for Ivanka, is that taxable income to her?

If the PAC pays the legal fees for lawsuits against Trump as an ordinary citizen, such as his New York State lawsuits, is that taxable income to him?

My WAG is "no" to both.

I presume Ivanka's bills are for suits related to her position in the various orgs.

And suits "as an ordinary citizen" aren't really a thing; he'll presumably claim (and the FEC won't dispute) his credibility is related to his campaign, and thus a campaign expense.

[raison de arizona]

(More) on^* immunity:

► Show Spoiler

IMG_7337.png (271.86 KiB) Viewed 1114 times

^*see what I did there?

Bonus: official MAGAt spokesturd CATTURD says it’s time for the 118th to pack it in and go home.

► Show Spoiler

IMG_7338.png (59.01 KiB) Viewed 1114 times

This is the mentality.

[keith]

Suranis (though if he's a Republican, it's a different type)

Nope, I said ... ... its turned into a tornado based on fucking nothing a football player..

FIFY

[sugar magnolia]

How come these people don't hate Marilyn Monroe and Jessica Simpson?

[Suranis]

Suranis (though if he's a Republican, it's a different type)

Nope, I said ... ... its turned into a tornado based on fucking nothing a football player..

FIFY

I approve. But it does mean the same thing.

[Suranis]

How come these people don't hate Marilyn Monroe and Jessica Simpson?

I dunno. I guess they don't have Football Player Boyfriends maybe?

[Dr. Ken]

How come these people don't hate Marilyn Monroe and Jessica Simpson?

You'd be surprised...


This guy believes every dumb conspiracy theory out there. He implies that Marilyn's uso entertainer ID means she was cia

[raison de arizona]

How come these people don't hate Marilyn Monroe and Jessica Simpson?

I dunno. I guess they don't have Football Player Boyfriends maybe?

Monroe had Joe DiMaggio.

[jcolvin2]

Simpson dated Tony Romo.

[Ben-Prime]

Simpson dated Tony Romo.

For which, as I recall, she was referred to as "Yoko Romo" by 'hardcore' jerks of the Romo fandom every time the team lost a game.

[raison de arizona]

On Biden's doc case being 100 times more severe than his. (press release)

► Show Spoiler

[raison de arizona]

On Biden not getting charged in the docs case.

► Show Spoiler

Screenshot 2024-02-08 at 4.35.47 PM.png (61.63 KiB) Viewed 767 times

[RTH10260]

"he wasn't protected by the Presidential Records Act"

Dear Donald, i don't think it means what you claim. You are under investigation cause the PRA exists, you stole documents that ought to have been turned over, and you hindered the investigstion into the missing stuff. That's exact the opposite from beeing protected. Joe handed over stuff that was found by his staff in storage, you continued to hide secret documents.

[bill_g]

Hang on to this image for April 1st.

[RTH10260]

after wrestling with the truth

[raison de arizona]

On our final battle.

► Show Spoiler

IMG_7359.png (193.51 KiB) Viewed 543 times

On eliminating foreign aid. Loans only.

► Show Spoiler

IMG_7360.png (340.6 KiB) Viewed 543 times

On being responsible for Taylor Swift, and all musical artists.

► Show Spoiler

IMG_7361.png (187.02 KiB) Viewed 543 times

[Slim Cognito]

I have a feeling that anyone who tries to tell Tay-Tay what to do and what not to do is going to be sorely disappointed.