Dean Clough

August 3, 2022

Portico Darwin: Is It Just Me?

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS

RIP Vin Sculley.  Almost as legendary as Bill Russell.  An American Treasure.
Flag of Ukraine.jpg

OK:  I look back on the World Trade Center being knocked down on 9/11 as a pretty bad day in American history.  A subject that should be respected with the utmost gravity.

I also feel the death of a loved one is a serious matter, and likewise, one that should not be compromised in any way.

Or is that just me?

Because a whole bunch of people (OK, sycophantic Republicans in Congress and in statehouses) are still clinging to Trump, who clearly could care less about either.

September 11, 2001
Let's start with 9/11.  Trump immediately after that awful day made a point of claiming he saw "Muslims celebrating wildly in New Jersey."  Shocker, but that was a lie.  But he saw fit to use an American tragedy as a means to bolster his standing among . . . a certain sector of the population.   

Now?  He and his moving slime swamp couldn't have been happier to host a Saudi-backed LIV golf tour stop at his ticky-tack Bedminster country club last weekend. 

Take a look at this fine group.  From our left, that's the brains of the family, Eric, Congressional thought-leader Marjorie Taylor Greene, the esteemed journalist Tucker Carlson, Don "Pharmaceutical Grade" Jr., and perhaps the best president in our nation's history (OK, maybe second, after Lincoln), Donald Trump.

Golfing.jpg

Sorry, gang, playtime is over.

With the families of the victims of 9/11 protesting just outside the gates, Trump went still lower.  Wow, is this something, and I hope you'll watch and listen.

Trump, 9/11, the Saudis, and LIV Golf

"Nobody's gotten to the bottom of 9/11," said Trump in the interview. 

This is fucking disgusting.  There is zero doubt the Saudis funded and backed the entire 9/11 operation; a decent clue is that 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi citizens.  And our own government has confirmed the current Saudi cabal murdered the journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

But yet there's Trump.  Pimping LIV Golf and their sportswashing machine, with his Bedminster dog track of a golf course as its background.  It's almost like he only cares about money and adoration?

(And please:  save me the hand-wringing over Biden's visit and fist-bump with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, with Trump's bathing in Saudi oil and blood money.  That's like comparing Lincoln to Trump.)

The Death of A Loved One
When I first saw this story about where Ivana Trump was interred, I honestly thought it was from The Onion.  Something like, "Trump Buries Ex-Wife at Own Golf Club to Save on Taxes". 

Because nobody would do that, right?
grave.jpg

There Is No Bottom

Here's an excerpt from the same Snopes article. 

A separate rumor speculates that Trump used the burial site for tax break purposes. Indeed, the New Jersey tax code does exempt cemetery land from all taxes, rates, and assessments.  Potentially, her grave could save the property from paying a significant sum in a state with high tax rates.  According to the code, a cemetery company is exempt from paying real property taxes, income taxes, sales and use taxes, business taxes, and inheritance taxes; cemetery trust funds are also exempt from taxes.

Trump has expressed his desire to be buried at the New Jersey golf course for years.  His company even described it as his “favorite property” in a 2014 filing with the state.  A 2017 Washington Post report revealed how he had been trying to convince local authorities to let him build cemeteries at the golf course since 2007.  After numerous attempts, two of his plans were approved around 2017, but construction for them had not begun.  The 2017 report said that the Trump Organization still needed to apply for state approval to make the land a public cemetery.

However, Ivana Trump is the first known family member to be buried at the Bedminster golf club.  Brooke Harrington, a sociology professor at Dartmouth and tax researcher, pointed out that the tax code has no stipulation for a minimum number of human remains needed for the tax breaks to apply.  (emphasis added)

Well, that does it.  I definitely understand why the Republican party is beholden to Trump.  It's because he's such a quality, upstanding guy.

Please remember shit like this come November. 

And by that I mean this:  I'm not worried about Trump.  He'll either be dead or in jail or in exile by 2024.  I'm worried that the hundreds and thousands of elected Republicans that have enabled this extraordinarily toxic man will be elected or re-elected.  In 2022.  In 2023.  Ever.

Sorry, but a vote for most Republicans on any ballot this fall is a vote for Trump.  And Clarence Thomas.  And Mitch McConnell.  And Kevin McCarthy.  And Ted Cruz.  And Greg Abbott.  And Josh Hawley.  And Pat Toomey.  And Jim Jordan.  And Marge Greene.  And Rudy Giuliani.  And Lauren Boebert.  And Steve Bannon.  And Ron DeSantis.  And Roger Stone.  And Matt Gaetz.

The attraction is one I do not understand.  Or is it just me?
Trump Now.jpg


FROM THE UNWASHED MASSES

Thank you to any one that is reading this newsletter.

KLUF

Here is a Killer, hand-picked playlist from yours truly of Meat Puppets.  These are some great great great songs.     

But they're extra perfect today, because of the first song in the playlist, which is called "Scum".  Funny how that rhymes with "Trump"?

Pups.jpg

PL.jpg

About Dean Clough