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October 23, 2017
At the Maple Café...
... you can talk about whatever you want.
And please consider using The Althouse Amazon Portal when you've got some shopping to do. The link is always there in the blog banner and at the top of the sidebar.
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Here’s an update on a nerdy econ beatdown of leftie economist Larry Summers.
George McGovern has passed away.
Honestly, I didn't know what had become of him for quite some time now. For those of us who were liberal at the time, his crushing defeat was quite a wake-up call. His loss also led to changes in the structure of the Democratic Party that has affected every election since then.
While my politics no longer match his, he was a bomber pilot in WWII in Europe, & somehow survived. He was from a time when all Americans, left, right, & center, took their turns in the trenches to save civilization. When he spoke of extricating us from the horrors of a war, he, at least, knew all too well of what he spoke.
Something to worry about -
This has been going on for a while -
China Quantum Development.
I was a lefty McGovern supporter in '72 and a junior in college at the time. I put a McGovern bumper sticker on my father's car. He didn't know it the time. He was a hard core union guy and a Nixon supporter. Was mortified when he found the bumper sticker.
Times have changed.
O'Reilly is really a turd.
Eric Bolling: ‘Beyond Inappropriate’ For O’Reilly To Mention My Son’s Death
George McGovern died in 2012.
I always liked Liz Wiehl. O'Reilly must have also.... to the tune of $32 mil.
I've bought a tin whistle in the key of D (apparently the dominant variety) in the hope that I can learn to play "Oh, Shenandoah" on it. Five minutes have yielded most of the melody, badly. It's difficult to take on a new instrument.
@JZ,
Daggnabit!
Never trust your FB friends, I tells ya!
Well, that explains why I hadn't heard from him in a while, doesn't it?
My only defense is that I'm out of free NYT articles for the month so I couldn't see the date. I'll leave my posting up as a monument to my stupidity. At least, the crew can get a laugh out of it.
Don't fret, YoungHegelian. Word on the street is Generalissimo Francisco Franco is also still dead.
Let’s Translate the Affidavit That Bill O’Reilly Believes ‘Repudiates’ the Allegations Against Him
Hard to imagine that this isn't just the kind of task that a legal minded feminist blogger wouldn't jump at the opportunity to undertake.
It’s Time for Bill O’Reilly To Be Weinsteined
Yet another task that a legal minded feminist blogger might be expected to show some interest in.
Good for you ARM..you've discovered David French....but did you actually read what he wrote or just the headlines? Have you ever read him before?
As far as i'm concerned he's just another pearl clutcher, longing to lose with class and dignity as usual.
"Mr. McGovern carried only Massachusetts and the District of Columbia and won just 17 electoral votes to Nixon’s 520."
Yeah, yeah, yeah, but won the popular vote?
"His loss also led to changes in the structure of the Democratic Party that has affected every election since then. "
No, his nomination and the preliminary steps that followed Eugene McCarthy's influence destroyed the Democratic Party.
The Nixon coup d'etat returned them to power but the trend has been down ever since,
Without Ross Perot, there would have no Democrat president from Carter to Obama,
Clinton is the one who ramped up the CRA and set the stage for the housing bubble and subsequent collapse.
Had Clinton dine something about Osama, we would not have had 9/11.
"Yet another task that a legal minded feminist blogger might be expected to show some interest in."
You referring to our hostess or yourself?
Humperdink wins the Café!
Humperdink said...
You referring to our hostess or yourself?
Just a general comment, although, now that you bring it up, the lack of interest in O'Reilly does seem somewhat disproportionate relative to the intensity of coverage lavished upon Weinstein by our hostess. Do I detect some anti-Irish prejudice here?
This is kinda awesome.
How Hitler's Plan To Take Over LA Was Thwarted By a Jewish Lawyer.
Under the category, Where's the News?, what's going on with the JD investigation of insider trading at Equifax?
That article is based on a book Hitler in Los Angeles.
Sounds like a cool movie!
Young Hegelian reports on the death of George McGovern: Honestly, I didn't know what had become of him for quite some time now. For those of us who were liberal at the time, his crushing defeat was quite a wake-up call. His loss also led to changes in the structure of the Democratic Party that has affected every election since then.
I was county chairman for his Presidential campaign. Though I wouldn't vote for him if he ran today, I respect his integrity and service.
The spy who foiled the plot was a German-American, John Schmidt, a US army captain.
But the spy ring itself did not come from the government. Citizens did this on their own. What an amazing story.
YoungHegelian said... [hush][hide comment]
George McGovern has passed away.
So has Nixon. Coincidence?
Last Friday, the Unz website published an interesting article, written by Mike Whitney and titled "John Brennan's Police State USA". The article's thesis is that former CIA Director Brennan instigated the RussiaGate affair because he was furious that Russia spoiled the CIA's efforts to overthrow the Syrian Government.
The article includes the following passages:
[quote]
High-ranking members of the US State Department and Pentagon threatened Moscow prior to Russia’s military intervention in October, 2015. US diplomats made it clear that if Russia helped the Syrian government, Washington would use the media and its other assets to retaliate. ...
Washington’s Sunni proxies were ... entirely a CIA confection: CIA recruited, CIA-armed, CIA-funded and CIA-trained. The defeat is ... a blot on the record of CIA Director John Brennan ...
Brennan needed to conceal his lead-role in the drama by drawing other agencies into the loop, so he included the FBI, the NSA and DIA. The strategy helped to obfuscate the real braintrust in the hacking affair, John Brennan.
According to Mother Jones, it was not the FBI that initiated the “Trump-Russia connection”.. but ..”Former CIA Director John Brennan says he was the one who got the ball rolling.” ....
[The] Russia hacking narrative is a sloppy and unprofessional disinformation campaign that was hastily slapped together by over-confident Intelligence officials who believed that saturating the public airwaves with one absurd story after another would achieve the desired result ...
Brennan and Co. appear to be exploring new frontiers in state propaganda, propaganda that relies less on semi-credible events or evidence than on incessant repetition of far-fetched allegations that reiterate the same underlying claim of Russian meddling.
The difference between the fabrications that led up to the war in Iraq and those of Russian hacking suggests that the perpetrators of this charade are convinced that frequency trumps credibility. The American people are being carpet-bombed with dodgy, almost-comical disinformation to see if it has the intended effect. Recent surveys indicate the plan is working.
[end quote]
http://www.unz.com/mwhitney/john-brennans-police-state-usa/
Great moments in Republican cinema!
Ninotchka. Billy Wilder was slapping Commies around when Ronald Reagan was still a Democrat. This is arguably the greatest anti-Communist movie ever made. Directed by Lubitsch, written by Wilder.
One, Two, Three. No, wait. This is arguably the greatest anti-Communist movie ever made! Written and directed by Wilder. Too funny.
Barcelona. When I saw this movie in the theater, there were only 2 or 3 people in the audience. But it was so damn funny. See also Metropolitan (Must see for Jane Austen fans).
Despite O’Reilly’s Claims, Megyn Kelly Reveals Email To Fox Execs, Complaining Of Harassment
This O'Reilly character seems to have been one bad hombre when it comes to sexual (mis)conduct. If only there were a feminist blogger somewhere with an all-abiding interest in this topic, preferably with some legal training, who could take up cudgels against cads like O'Reilly.
Mike S: Interesting. Never trusted Brennan for a second.
Here is a subject that Althouse has blogged previously; Trump's dumb extra-legal trashtalking about the trial of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl.
Once again, Trump hasn't been able to restrain himself and as a result, the sentencing hearing for Bergdahl is delayed while defense counsel address whether the accused can get a fair hearing when the Commander in Chief keeps talking about the case after apparently being told not to.
The military judge, Col. Jeffrey Nance called Trump's multiple remarks during the election campaign "disturbing and disappointing."
Here's the story from NBC:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/bowe-bergdahl-s-sentencing-delayed-over-trump-s-comments-n813251
Althouse has a Bergdahl tag. She's done 3 or 4 posts on this subject previously. What an incorrigible douchebag Trump is. I'll never forget reading Trump's deposition in the Trump University fraud case and thinking that he's one of the worst and most untrainable witnesses I've ever seen in a transcript.
Andrew Sullivan is back:
And this is one reason why I have dwindling hopes that the Democratic Party will be able to defeat Trump in 2020. Instead of adjusting to this new reality, and listening to the electorate, the Dems have moved ever farther to the left, and are controlled by ever-radicalizing activists.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/10/the-issue-that-could-lose-the-next-election-for-democrats.html
Really fucking mad at the universe right now.
Had radiation treatment on Friday.
Felt like crap since, then woke up this morning to my 13-year-old beloved cat having breathing problems. $1600 worth of tests and treatments and then had to put him to sleep this afternoon.
The first injection didn't kill him. They gave him a second injection. That didn't do it. Took him out of my arms to take him away to have an injection directly in his heart. That did it.
Really fucking mad at the universe right now. Maybe I said that already.
I am Laslo
ARM, the distinction between Weinstein and O'Reilly is that O'Reilly never claimed to be on the side of women's rights or supported by those who purported to be on the side of women. A cad turning out to be a cad is not surprising. His shtick was being a boorish pseudo-intellectual that really cultured people hated.
Weinstein fits the Bill Clinton problem that led Althouse (from what she has said over the years) to become very disillusioned about liberal feminism. It was the hypocrisy of fighting for women's right while at the same time knowing about Weinstein's behavior. It's the BS of the posturing vs the behind the scenes reality that stands out.
That Bill O'Reilly turns out to be an abusive jerk isn't a surprise.
Laslo, I'm so sorry! :-( I'll pray for you. It's OK to hate the universe from time to time as it can be unspeakably cruel. God bless you and help you get well.
Is Bill O'Reilly not radioactive? Is he still working in cable news? Didn't we just have a thread about him?
Harvey Weinstein was a towering figure in a huge industry, not a bloviater on a news network that gets a fraction of the audience if the networks.
Sorry Chuck that Ted Cruz will never be president.
Laslo Spatula said...
Had radiation treatment on Friday.
Really sorry to hear this. No one deserves this. One day people will look back at radiation treatment and chemotherapy the way we look at cauterization. Unfortunately that day is not here. Again, really sorry to hear this and you have my deepest sympathies.
Sorry to hear about your troubles Laslo. I hope things get better in the short-term.
I don't know if it helps, but I and a lot of people really enjoy your stories and posts. Just know you've brought a lot of joy to people.
You should read the interview with HW's driver in Cannes. HW threatened to have him killed by the mob over a misunderstanding about a couple of Russian prostitutes. The French police called him Le Porc. This is a guy who palled
Sigh, paled around with presidents.
Hard to argue that Ailes/O'Reilly had less impact on our current culture than Weinstein. Trump, our current president, is a direct product of the radicals at FOX, just as Palin was before him.
@Laslo, please accept my condolences on your beloved pet. I hope the chemo helps. Please keep us updated on how things go for you with your treatment.
Yes, it was a crime to guve deplorables a voice and Fox News is a bigger cultural shaper than Hollywood? What are you smoking?
@ARM, I think we’re all okay with raking O’Reilly over the colds, as long as we take a close look at David Letterman too. Okay?
Aurora forecast says look north tomorrow about this time. KP 6
Weinstein is not Hollywood. 21st Century Fox is a much bigger operation than Miramax ever was, much less Weinstein Films.
Amy mention of Putin's money in Clinton's bank account?
Trump, our current president, is a direct product of the radicals at FOX
But he’s president because the Democrats chose one of the most corrupt, incompetent, and mendacious presidential candidates in the entire history of this country as their nominee.
Ailes and O'Reilly are both gone. You should start a blog on what you think is important! HW was a national story that tou claimed that Althouse was only concern trolling and then it broke huge. Ailes didn't run 20th Century Fox, your news judgment seems kind if suspect.
Sorry to hear that news, Laslo -- better days will come.
Yeah, why aren't you demanding that Althouse spend more pixels on the rapist and his enabler who almost ended up in the West Wing. The real dumpster fire here is the Democratic party.
Go ahead and claim Bill was not a rapist.
"Nance said Trump’s comments were “disturbing and disappointing” but did not constitute unlawful command influence because they were uttered before he was elected."
And now you know the rest of the quote.
The first injection didn't kill him. They gave him a second injection. That didn't do it. Took him out of my arms to take him away to have an injection directly in his heart. That did it.
That sucks, Laslo, big fucking time. No one needs that, anytime, but especially in the middle of chemo!
We had to put down the family cat on June 11. Salivary gland tumor which metastasized to lung cancer. The euthanasia was no where near as traumatic as yours, but he had been my wife's constant companion through her illness, & is greatly missed. Rarely in the annals of catdom has a critter so earned his kibble.
My wife & I couldn't stand the silence & lack of motion in the background in our house. So, we went at the end of June to the animal shelter & got two Bengal tabby kittens (brother & sister) & a 12 1/2 yr old Himalayan that the shelter threw in for free just to get us to take him. There is no longer silence in the house.
When you're feeling better, it's something to think about getting another one. We all hope you get better soon.
shall we run down the list of Bill's accusers?
Are they all lying? Hillary said we should believe.
Eileen Wellstone, 19-year-old English woman who said Clinton sexually assaulted her after she met him at a pub near the Oxford where the future President was a student in 1969. A retired State Department employee, who asked not to be identified, confirmed that he spoke with the family of the girl and filed a report with his superiors. Clinton admitted having sex with the girl, but claimed it was consensual. The victim's family declined to pursue the case;
In 1972, a 22-year-old woman told campus police at Yale University that she was sexually assaulted by Clinton, a law student at the college. No charges were filed, but retired campus policemen contacted by Capitol Hill Blue confirmed the incident. The woman, tracked down by Capitol Hill Bluelast week, confirmed the incident, but declined to discuss it further and would not give permission to use her name;
In 1974, a female student at the University of Arkansas complained that then-law school instructor Bill Clinton tried to prevent her from leaving his office during a conference. She said he groped her and forced his hand inside her blouse. She complained to her faculty advisor who confronted Clinton, but Clinton claimed the student ''came on'' to him. The student left the school shortly after the incident. Reached at her home in Texas, the former student confirmed the incident, but declined to go on the record with her account. Several former students at the University have confirmed the incident in confidential interviews and said there were other reports of Clinton attempting to force himself on female students;
Broaddrick, a volunteer in Clinton's gubernatorial campaign, said he raped her in 1978. Mrs. Broaddrick suffered a bruised and torn lip, which she said she suffered when Clinton bit her during the rape;
From 1978-1980, during Clinton's first term as governor of Arkansas, state troopers assigned to protect the governor were aware of at least seven complaints from women who said Clinton forced, or attempted to force, himself on them sexually. One retired state trooper said in an interview that the common joke among those assigned to protect Clinton was "who's next?". One former state trooper said other troopers would often escort women to the governor's hotel room after political events, often more than one an evening;
Carolyn Moffet, a legal secretary in Little Rock in 1979, said she met then-governor Clinton at a political fundraiser and shortly thereafter received an invitation to meet the governor in his hotel room. "I was escorted there by a state trooper. When I went in, he was sitting on a couch, wearing only an undershirt. He pointed at his penis and told me to suck it. I told him I didn't even do that for my boyfriend and he got mad, grabbed my head and shoved it into his lap. I pulled away from him and ran out of the room."
more...
Elizabeth Ward, the Miss Arkansas who won the Miss America crown in 1982, told friends she was forced by Clinton to have sex with him shortly after she won her state crown. Last year, Ward, who is now married with the last name of Gracen (from her first marriage), told an interviewer she did have sex with Clinton but said it was consensual. Close friends of Ward, however, say she still maintains privately that Clinton forced himself on her.
Paula Corbin, an Arkansas state worker, filed a sexual harassment case against Clinton after an encounter in a Little Rock hotel room where the then-governor exposed himself and demanded oral sex. Clinton settled the case with Jones recently with an $850,000 cash payment.
Sandra Allen James, a former Washington, DC, political fundraiser says Presidential candidate-to-be Clinton invited her to his hotel room during a political trip to the nation's capital in 1991, pinned her against the wall and stuck his hand up her dress. She says she screamed loud enough for the Arkansas State Trooper stationed outside the hotel suite to bang on the door and ask if everything was all right, at which point Clinton released her and she fled the room. When she reported the incident to her boss, he advised her to keep her mouth shut if she wanted to keep working. Miss James has since married and left Washington. Reached at her home last week, the former Miss James said she later learned that other women suffered the same fate at Clinton's hands when he was in Washington during his Presidential run.
Christy Zercher, a flight attendant on Clinton's leased campaign plane in 1992, says Presidential candidate Clinton exposed himself to her, grabbed her breasts and made explicit remarks about oral sex. A video shot on board the plane by ABC News shows an obviously inebriated Clinton with his hand between another young flight attendant's legs. Zercher said later in an interview that White House attorney Bruce Lindsey tried to pressure her into not going public about the assault.
more...
Kathleen Willey, a White House volunteer, reported that Clinton grabbed her, fondled her breast and pressed her hand against his genitals during an Oval Office meeting in November, 1993. Willey, who told her story in a 60 Minutes interview, became a target of a White House-directed smear campaign after she went public.
Sorry to hear that Laslo. I held my basset hound when he was put to sleep and it is hard. Hope the best for you.
Laslo, your story brings back a childhood memory of waking up to the wheezing of our Siamese cat, Buford. Somehow, in the wee hours of the morning, I sleepily knew it was his time and didn't want him to die on my bed. I sat with him until he was still and then told my parents.
Like you, he was a purveyor of a kinky tail.
A weak attempt, I know, but you've given me lots of laughter and amusement.
Laslo, God bless. I hope you find peace. It will be better.
Laslo, grief is the price we pay for love.
Laslo, that's a sad story in every way. I suppose one could argue that if you're able to invest that much love in a cat, you're ahead on points. Many of us didn't have such reserves. Life sucks, but there are intermittent bright patches and they show up at unexpected times. Good luck on your journey.
Hang in there Laslo. We're rooting for you,
Speculate on what sexual experience could be worth $32 million dollars. Weinstein paid that guy $400,000 to vet and certify his call girls. I thought that was extremely luxe, but that's nothing like 32 million......Roman Polanski only paid that thirteen year old a few hundred thousand dollars hush money--although he's probably had to supplement those payments from time to time........Weinstein got to rape a movie star and only had to pay her $100,000 to keep it on the qt........Either O'Reilly did something monstrously evil, or he doesn't know how to drive a bargain........Charley Sheen seems to have gotten the most bang for his bucks, and you can't really say he damaged his reputation.
Laslo: I will pray robust Catholic prayers for you, and for your beloved cat.
We will all see our pets again, at Rainbow Bridge. We will see them again, and when we do it will be forever.
I pray that the radiation treatment you are undergoing will succeed and that you kick cancer's ass.
Know this: you are not alone.
Does ARM have his own blog?
’Cause there sure are a lot of stories he’d like to see written, apparently.
I use the Amazon portal of a very nice, right wing Christian, but very needy homesteading couple with 7 children and a YouTube channel. No nice pension for this young hardworking family. I figure they could use the help more than others with Amazon portals.
Note to Christian commentators on this thread,if any of you want to pray for Ladlo this non-proselytizing atheist is cool with that. I’ve been wrong before (e.g., I once voted for a Democrat for president).
"My only defense is that I'm out of free NYT articles for the month..."
Clear your browsing history to start fresh again.
ARM and Ritmo should start a blog. Then I wouldn't have to see their comments ever again.
Sorry for your loss, Laslo. And how the vets made a bad situation triply worse.
Good luck to you Laslo.
Very sorry to hear this.
Sorry for your loss, lazlo,
Good grief weinsterpin practically mainstreamed hyperviolent pulp fiction, sociopathic (talented Mr. Riley traitorous adulterers (English patient) the last wee the only one i actually went to see. Sort of range of characters in her image.
I use the Amazon portal of a very nice, right wing Christian, but very needy homesteading couple with 7 children and a YouTube channel.
Well isn't that special. Bless your heart.
His image, its not surprising he helped build up bill Clinton. Who as mike k, points out
Has me h to answer for. Lets not even consider whatvpath he took Robert Rodriguez on
AReasonableMan said...Do I detect some anti-Irish prejudice here?
--
Please consult Trad' guy/Great Scot! re:this.
Laslo: Only an occasional, random commenter, but I can't say how much of a kick I get out of your posts (both the raunchy and the serious, not that the raunchy aren't themselves serious!). And hope to continue to do so for as long as Althouse soldiers on.
--gpm
Big Mike said......Democrats chose one of the most corrupt, incompetent, and mendacious presidential candidates in the entire history of this country as their nominee.
I don't think "Democrats" chose her so much as the party leadership rolled over and let her have her alleged entitlement. Unfortunately, there is no new leadership emerging with the spine to stand up to her and her minions, and so she may emerge again as the party standard bearer. At a minimum, she will anoint a successor.
@Laslo: Sorry to hear of your troubles. I've been a fan since your Betamax days.
Brick and mortar education/information is due a severe reckoning...
U-Mad did erect some fine biz buildings to shadow my old humble apartment above Shanghai Minnie's.
The maples look marlavous -- a blend of orange and blonde!
Like you, he was a purveyor of a kinky tail.
I saw what you did there.
I hope Laslo enjoyed it as much as I did.
chickelit said..The maples look marlavous -- a blend of orange and blonde!
--
Heh..thought of Donald and Marla's Tiffany
Laslo,
Been there with my cats. It's tuff.
Hope the rad treat works out.
@Laslo:
When my wife came home after chemo/radiation I got her two (orange tabby) kittens. Then she thought I was crazy, now she says they saved her life.
When one of them died unexpectedly, and another cat died as expected this May we got two more orange kittens.
To paraphrase Goethe: "More cats, more cats!"
Laslo - very sorry, very sorry indeed. Prayers for you.
Hang in there Laslo.
If America must go as does California, then the world forever will sit its ass down and do whatever the hell us Americans want it to. Newtonian politics.
Now, if we up our game and say California has become radically transformed (and deserves the results of its unGodliness) from circa Govs. Reagan and Nixon compared to currently while at the same time America as a whole has become, as measured via the election of R's vs. D's even though an imperfect correlation, less like California as measured politically, then logic determines we won't all further doubt Jesus Christ's power when continuing to bless the United States of America.
And I mean power as in "the power, the glory" type power.
@AReasonableMan
Strange that you refrained from participating in the post about O'Reilly that went up at 8:20 a.m. There are 96 comments there. But somehow you need to complain as if there aren't any O'Reilly posts and I'm protecting him.
Laslo, I'm sorry to hear about your suffering. I hope you're doing better today.
So sad to hear about your troubles, Laslo. Cat euthanasias can be difficult to perform but that sounds extraordinarily bad, and coming at such a bad time for you.
You have my prayers as well.
Laslo, get better.
The nice thing about cats is they don't fake affection at all. It's on or it's not. Your cat must've really loved you.
So sorry life fucked you in the ass yesterday, Laslo.
Sorry for your loss. I hope you're getting healthy.
I am very sorry to hear about Laslo's suffering. At first read, I was thinking it must be a satire since it was too terrible to be real. Getting older is not for sissies.
Are they all lying? Hillary said we should believe.
Notice even ARM won't take on that fight. I would love Althouse to post about how the emails and records of meetings that Herself illegally destroyed likely covered contacts with people who gave her foundation 154 million dollars and wanted favors from her as Secretary of State, but I won't hector her about it... too much.
Laslo, good luck.
I am sorry to hear that my favorite commentor has hit a patch of badness. Hang in there, my friend.
http://caseymulligan.blogspot.com/2017/10/what-does-summers-1981-say-about-long.html
correct link for
rehajm said... Here’s an update on a nerdy econ beatdown of leftie economist Larry Summers.
Let me add to the wishes to Laslo to have a better day today. I'll give my 18-yo cat some extra kibble tonight. Maybe we'll have salmon and she can get some scraps.
My sympathies Laslo.
Laslo, sorry about you feline friend but more importantly good luck with your battle.
Thanks everybody for the kind words -- I sincerely appreciate the thoughts and prayers.
Radiation isn't for cancer, thank God --thyroid, Grave's disease. Symptoms were overlapping with my neurological disorder.
Missing my little one. He was a rescue cat, so he had a second chance at life, and he made the most of it.
It gets better: I know that.
I am Laslo.
Just need to spill this story.
There is a state program that pays benefits to low income elderly homeowners to pay part or all of their property taxes. Details are not relevant; lots of states have similar programs.
The state wrote regulations saying basically that the benefits end when the old person dies. Not unreasonable since the purpose is to keep the old person in their home, and once they relocate to a casket there's no point.
A class action lawyer got a hold of this and filed suit on behalf of the estates of several deceased old people. Notwithstanding that the beneficiaries of the estates are likely to be non-elderly, non-poor, and possibly not even home owners, the judge certified the class.
The law firm convinced the judge that the potential payout could be $20 million. The state argued it was much less but lost. This is important because the lawyers get 30% of the potential, not 30% of actual payout.
So at the end of the process, the state loses. The law firm gets $6 million as its fee. Actual payouts of benefits to the estates are in fact less than $2 million. Lawyers get rich; class members get pennies; taxpayers get ripped off.
There is a case to be made that the state had incompetent representation by politically appointed lawyers, but even stipulating that, it is crazy that this kind of thing can happen. Just making the small adjustment in the system to set attorney fees based on actual benefits delivered would go a long way to avoid lawyers milking the system.
I would normally be philosophical about this sort of thing, but today I am just pissed off.
See, wouldn't it be great if Althouse blogged about this?
News broke last week about possible Russian wrongdoing in the U.S., and it didn’t involve the Trump campaign. The Hill reported that in 2009 the FBI “gathered substantial evidence that Russian nuclear industry officials were engaged in bribery, kickbacks, extortion and money laundering designed to grow Vladimir Putin’s atomic energy business inside the United States.”
The FBI kept that information from Congress and the public, the Hill reported, even as Hillary Clinton’s State Department in 2010 approved a deal that transferred control of more than 20% of America’s uranium supply to a Russian company. The Hill also reported the FBI had documents showing that during this period Russia engineered the transmission of millions of dollars to the Clinton Foundation.
The FBI director at the time: Robert Mueller, now special counsel in charge of investigating “Russian interference with the 2016 presidential election and related matters.” The revelations can only heighten anxieties about Mr. Mueller, the FBI and the rule of law. . . .
But I know that I could start my own blog anytime I wanted, so I don't whine about what she posts.
'I am mad at him': Bill O'Reilly blames GOD for not protecting him from sexual harassment allegations
O'Reilly really did deserve all those Worst Person in the World awards.
You could look at a pattern with the Clintons of this kind of behavior:
When the President [WJC] signed the Executive Order designating 1.7 million acres of land in southwest Utah as the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, his action placed the area off limits to mineral extraction and development.
The New York Times reported that the monument encloses the largest coal field in the nation, the Kaiparowitz Plateau, which contains at least 7 billion tons of coal worth over $1 TRILLION.
....
Moreover, the coal at Kaiporowitz Plateau is a kind of coal that is not found "everywhere." It is very low sulfur, low ash - hence, low polluting - coal, the kind in high demand for power plants, such as one being designed for Ensenada, Mexico. That megawatt giant, presently on the drawing boards, will supply electricity across northern Baja, an area plagued by brownouts.
Had it not been taken off the world market, the logical source of coal for the Baja plant would be the Kaiparowitz Plateau. Once mined it could be transported by rail to the ports of Long Beach or Los Angeles, then by barge to Ensenada. Thanks to Clinton, there will be no exporting of Kaiparowitz coal, which means the facility's procurement people will have to look elsewhere for clean non-polluting fuel.
.....
The Democrats' question: What has Clinton done for Indonesia that harms the United States? The answer is - with a stroke of his pen he wiped out the only significant competition to Indonesian coal interests in the world market before it even got started, a move that at the same time relegates this country to importer status.
.....
Now let's go to the Washington Post:
Last year, however, the Indonesian mogul finally made it to Arkansas. He traveled there during the first of two previously unreported trips he made in 2009 to the United States. He was allowed in only after receiving a waiver from a rule that forbids entry to foreigners guilty of "a crime involving moral turpitude," a term that government lawyers generally interpret to include fraud.
Riady's return to the United States poses a prickly question for Hillary Clinton's State Department: How and why did a foreign billionaire stained by Clinton-era scandals get a U.S. visa after being kept out for so long under the Bush administration?
The ethnic Chinese magnate's ties to the Clintons have been a source of heated controversy since the late 1990s, when Riady became embroiled in one of the murkiest episodes of the Clinton presidency -- a campaign fundraising scandal that caused a big political ruckus in Washington amid Republican Party allegations, never proved, of meddling by China's intelligence services in American politics.
So it's an old playbook that the Clintons run, on selling out the United States for foreign campaign contributions.
O'Reilly really did deserve all those Worst Person in the World awards
Are you expecting somebody to defend him here or. something? Him or Ailes?
Ann Althouse said...
@AReasonableMan
Strange that you refrained from participating in the post about O'Reilly that went up at 8:20 a.m.
Didn't participate in the Weinstein threads either, other than one. The partisanship that surrounds these outbreaks of men behaving badly is more interesting than the men themselves. The men all just seem pathetic.
Didn't participate in the Weinstein threads either, other than one.
Other than to suggest that Althouse was insincere in posting about it.
Not insincere, I think she is sincerely partisan.
There you did it again, claimed that she doesn't care about the issue. Probably because you don't find it even worth discussing the beliefs betrayed by his actions of the producer of over three hundred Hollywood film. Same with Bill Clinton, I am sure. "Where's the harm?"
You prove her point that feminism and the Democrats sold out on this issue in the 90s.
"Didn't participate in the Weinstein threads either, other than one. The partisanship that surrounds these outbreaks of men behaving badly is more interesting than the men themselves. The men all just seem pathetic."
You missed the point!
You're criticizing me here for not doing an O'Reilly post, when the day started with an O'Reilly post.
Do I have to bonk you over the head with it?
A simple apology would be appropriate.
Ann Althouse said...
You missed the point!
You're criticizing me here for not doing an O'Reilly post,
Not at all. It is the relative intensity of focus on Weinstein versus O'Reilly/Ailes/FOX that I am referencing, not criticizing. Given the extraordinary number of Weinstein posts, it would have been difficult to completely ignore O'Reilly/Ailes/FOX. The bare minimum was one.
The world isn’t working out the way ARM thinks it should work. In lieu of adjusting his worldview to align with reality, he chooses to fulminate against those who present the world as it is.
Laslo @ 6:55 AM
I had posted something earlier expressing my concern and dead cat jokes. Somehow it got lost on this innerwebs thingy.
I'm glad to hear what you have isn't immediately life threatening.
I enjoy your posts here and your websiter. or blog, or whatever that is.
Get another cat.
A big one.
"Didn't participate in the Weinstein threads either, other than one. The partisanship that surrounds these outbreaks of men behaving badly is more interesting than the men themselves."
And yet, here you are. You're not good at this game, ARM. I'm surprised you so insistently clown yourself.
Laslo,
Have you thought about turning your Betamax posts into a book?
And your Laslo posts into another book?
I would buy them.
The Cracker Emcee Activist said...
And yet, here you are.
Not a Weinstein thread, dumbass.
Saint Croix said...
"Laslo,
Have you thought about turning your Betamax posts into a book?
And your Laslo posts into another book?
I would buy them."
It started as a joke, but I have been putting together pieces of a project tentatively called "My Life As An Internet Commenter".
Starts with encountering the Althouse site, and proceeds to the meta of commenting, with various comments from the past.
Seriously.
I am Laslo.
No: "My Life As An Internet Commenter"
Yes: "I Am Laslo"
Or: "Laslo's Surefire Guide To Sex On The Internet"
Laslo Spatula said...
Really fucking mad at the universe right now.
Does the universe care?
Had radiation treatment on Friday.
We do that most afternoons, sitting in the sun and keeping an eye on Mesa Verde. Sometimes both eyes.
Felt like crap since, then woke up this morning to my 13-year-old beloved cat having breathing problems.
That's sad, but at least it's just a cat and not the type of animal that people can get attached to.
Sorry to read that, Laslo. Sounds like your cat enjoyed life with an adoring owner. Having to put an animal down is the worst. Hope today was better than yesterday.
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