Monday, August 22, 2016

"The World's grown honest? Then is doomsday near."

Roger Stone -- Roger Fucking Stone -- says that Donald Trump should release his taxes right away.

Go ahead and spend the rent money on strippers or booze. The apocalypse is right around the corner anyways, so nothing really matters.

If you clicked on the link above, lemme ask ya: Does that tie go with that suit? I don't think so. To my eye, only a solid color would work. But at least Stone didn't include a patterned shirt, which is something that Tim Gunn might have done.

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton has finally turned the tables on Donald Trump. Despite the nonsense you've been reading and hearing from the usual right-wing noisemakers, the Clinton Foundation is completely clean, having been examined carefully by Charity Watch and other groups. No charity watchdog group has investigated the Trump Foundation.

We do know, however, that Donald Trump's "charitable" gifts on The Apprentice actually came from the Trump Foundation, which Trump himself may or may not run. (Accounts differ. That's a conundrum I've been trying to resolve.) We do know that NBC donated more than enough to the Foundation to cover all of Trump's displays of ersatz magnanimity.

I'll have more to say about the Trump Foundation in the future.

A big Trump lie that you probably don't know about. I don't know why people aren't talking about this one -- if any Dem has something so shady on his resume, his political career would be over.

It all has to do with the massive Trump Tower (formally called the Trump International Hotel and Tower) in Chicago, built right beside the river -- the fourth-tallest building in the United States, and the tallest residential building in the world. I happen to think that the building is quite magnificent, from an architectural standpoint.

Trump had YUUUUGE plans for a shopping paradise at the base of the Tower.
Some dozen stories below the Trump sign is a testament to Trump’s Chicago flop.

About 70,000 square feet of space on the terrace and riverwalk levels has never been rented since the building opened in 2008. That means Trump’s organization each year leaves potentially millions of rent dollars on the table, as the vacant space generates no revenue.

Trump’s real estate experience did not guarantee the success of the commercial/retail aspect of the Chicago skyscraper, which also contains a hotel, condominiums and parking.

Trump complains about media bias. So I want to underscore that the admissions about why the Trump Tower retail space is not rented come from a legal brief filed with the Cook County Assessor by the law firm Trump’s own organization hired to seek a property tax break.

Trump’s own brief states the devastating shortcomings of the tower’s commercial and retail space.

In May, the Sun-Times’ Chris Fusco and Tim Novak reported on how Trump and his investors were able to cut millions of dollars from their Cook County property tax bills, hiring Klafter & Burke, the law firm run by clout king Ald. Ed Burke (14th), for a series of successful appeals.

In a legal brief dug up by Novak and Fusco, the commercial/retail space is described as “empty and un-leasable” with details on all its shortcomings.

“There are no direct or easy ways to reach the space from Michigan Avenue. The space has remained vacant since the hotel opened in 2008, even though the hotel has used real estate brokers from several different firms from both Chicago and New York,” the brief said.

In 2014, the real estate firm RKF was hired to market the property, but the space is “so detrimental” that no one wants it — even for offices, the brief states.
In short, Trump told the County Assessor that the offices were "unleasable," and thus deserving of a tax reduction.

At this point, you are probably asking: "But where is this 'big lie' that Cannon promised us?" It comes to this: Trump tells a very different story about these offices to any potential renters. For example, see here.
Situated at the base of the Trump International Hotel & Tower overlooking the Chicago River, this breathtaking retail space is ideal for restaurants and retailers looking for a high-profile location and direct access to Trump Tower's hotel guests, condominium residents and locals alike. Spaces range in size from 1,478 sf to 66,929 sf and can be demised or combined to fit a variety of uses.
Either Trump is lying to the assessor or he is lying to potential retailers.

8 comments:

Josh said...

You're still making bullshit posts on your bullshit blog. Joseph, you're gonna give yourself another heart attack if you don't accept the inevitable.

Trump will be Emperor of the World.

You should watch this hilarious video of Killary, erm, I mean Hillary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoXDe8HxHBA

And get that chocolate milkshake you've been craving, stop posting, and take the rest of the day off. No, take the rest of your life off. You won't ever need to work or live another day when Trump is in charge. Take care, bon voyage!

quasiblotto said...

If Stone is suggesting it, there's gotta be a catch... Doctored tax returns, showing massive wealth and great charity? Perhaps the IRS won't be able to comment on their veracity due to the audit or somesuch. An inverse Rathergate?

b said...

Does the epithet "The Donald" connote wrestling? Please can someone tell me.

Or does it only connote Trump's iconic macho superstar status, similar to how one might call Liz Hurley "La Hurley" to emphasise her status as a feminine icon?

I am beginning to think Trump's presentation relates to wrestling a lot.

His presentation doesn't only hook up with his own profile in that area of entertainment. It also depicts both him and his rivals in cartoon terms, including by means of epithets.

I don't watch wrestling. Am I in the right ballpark here?

Many of Trump's supporters also display stupidity on an astounding scale, as if at any one time they can only concentrate on a single idea expressed in about two or three words - and as if all they can do is shout it out, unwilling to hear what anyone else is saying. Because that would spoil their enjoyment of the show.

This is highly relevant to how the TV debates will go. (I note that the release of Clinton emails seems to be planned to fit in with those debates.)

Whether the answer to my opening question is "yes" or "no", I have always thought "The Donald" is far too friendly a term for Trump's critics to use. So was "Maggie" for Margaret Thatcher. It's like calling Stalin "Uncle Joe" or Hitler "Hittie".

This guy Trump is literally an insane fascist who has mass support, and who could soon become the executive president of the country with the world's second largest nuclear arsenal.

Joseph Cannon said...

"The Donald" was a pet name used by his first wife, Ivana, of Czech origin. Her English was good -- arguably better than his, since she knows how to finish one sentence before blustering on to the next thought. At times, though, she expressed herself in ways that were endearingly...foreign.

I also use "Uncle Joe" and "Adolf" from time to time. Doesn't mean I'm a fan.

b said...

But is "The Donald" used in wrestling? Origin may not explain current use.

It doesn't mean you're a fan, but such terms can express unconscious respect even when used by critics with ironic or belittling intent. The image of the charismatic fascist leader has an aspect which is very much of ordinary human size.

That Trump knows exactly what he is doing was clear from his entrance on the stage at the RNC. His style was compared by some to that of a wrestler called the "Undertaker". I also noticed that when he first came on he appeared a bit bumbling, as an ordinary person might be. His performance was quite brilliant.

Homeric scholar Bruce Louden has noticed Trump's use of epithets, but I suspect he may be unaware of the wrestling connotations.

As for "(going) ahead and spend(ing) the rent money on strippers or booze (because) the apocalypse is right around the corner", the German government seems to have noticed too. They're currently telling everyone to stockpile food, water, matches, etc.

b said...

Amy Argetsinger sources the popular usage of "The Donald" to Jonathan Van Meter's 1989 Spy piece on Ivana and subsequent adoption by the Washington Post. Van Meter wrote that Ivana called her husband "The Don", but the article's sub-editors preferred the term "The Donald". It's not clear from Argetsinger's piece whether Van Meter himself reported Ivana saying "The Donald" at all. Given that Trump owes his career to Roy Cohn, one can imagine him not liking being called "The Don". From a marketing point of view, "The Donald" helped Ivana's image as well as her husband's.

Ivana later tried to trademark "The Donald"; then they fought over it.

If there's one thing that all social climbers from Eastern Europe love, it's the mafia.

I doubt that the reason Ivana called her husband "The Don" had anything to do with her not having learnt when to use and when not to use the English definite article.

b said...

Any public call by Stone for Trump to do anything is part of the campaign. Putting out bad news earlier than the other side would want, so as to muddle it and get the discussion over and done with, is a classic PR move. Or maybe there's little or nothing there.

On "The Donald", I've now read Jonathan Van Meter's piece in Spy and he says Ivana called Trump "The Don". He does quote someone as saying she always puts the definite article before people's names, but "The Donald" is his own usage.

Caro said...

I think Ivana used The Donald as a snide comment on his high and mightiness.