Okay, then. More on the SAME two bits I wrote about just this last Thursday. That’s never happened to me before…
I’m sorry to hear that Princess Catherine has cancer. It’s still none of my business but now she can have the whole world hold good thoughts for her during her fight and, hopefully, eventual recovery…
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The second thing? Donny has a legal team out arguing to a judge that he just doesn’t have the money to pay his $454 million dollar (and climbing) bond. Donny, himself, is simultaneously out there claiming he has $500 million in cash and he plans to use “most of it” on his campaign. When it comes to trump, it’s possible those two sentences contain three lies. Maybe he has the money, maybe he doesn’t. That’s the first sentence. AND, from the second sentence, maybe he has THAT money and maybe he doesn’t, but since he has been directing more and more money to his legal defense, I doubt he has suddenly decided to focus on his campaign. Three lies in two sentences…
He used his popularity in “Ze Party” to install Lara Trump, his daughter-in-law, as the new head of the GOP and the first thing SHE did was re-vamp the revenue sharing arrangement of the GOP. If you give to the GOP, for any campaign, some of that money (say, $.99 cents of every dollar) is being funneled directly to Donny for his legal defense and expenditures. Some of it never even reaches the GOP. It goes straight into Donny’s PAC, which he’s using to pay lawyers.
I’m guessing that GOP candidates across the land and up and down the ticket are going to be greatly underfunded so Donny has enough to cover he legal debts. The truth is, it’s hard for me to get my head around that. This dude is fleecing his flock to the tune of millions of dollars every month. They seem to know it, yet they KEEP giving to him from their Social Security checks so HE doesn’t have to touch any of his personal wealth. They won’t give a dollar to a homeless person but they’ll hand their entire Social Security check over to a self-proclaimed “Billionaire.” ‘A fool and his money…’ Indeed…
Oh, I’ve ALSO learned that, no, in fact, the bond companies don’t want his buildings as collateral. They’re not set up to handle hard assets. Of course, I ALSO learned that that’s not the way it’s done, anyway. See, Donny goes to a bank (which he’s allowed to do now) and gets a Guaranteed Letter of Credit, secured by some or all of his buildings as collateral, and takes that to the bond agencies.
The bond guys get cash, the banks get the buildings, should that need arise. Banks, at least, have the capability of dealing with Real Estate in ways bond companies don’t. Neat and tidy. Also, he doesn’t have to get all the money from one bond agent. He can go to several. The thing is, each bond agency is going to want their own fee. Donny doesn’t want to pay ONE fee, let alone several.
So NOW all he has to do is find a bank willing to guarantee $500 million dollars to a person literally JUST found liable for defrauding banks and he’s good. I know, that sounds silly but I’d bet there are banks out there that will do that deal, assuming New York Real Estate is the collateral. The problem is, they don’t have time to get the buildings independently valued and they’re greedy, not stupid. The one thing every rational (and probably MAGA) American knows, by now, is that if Donny is talking, he’s lying. So you would need independent valuations.
One avenue we know Donny could take is to turn to Putin or one of his Saudi buddies. Under normal circumstances, I would have said that taking such a drastic step would harm his attempts to re-gain the White House. But we don’t live in normal circumstances, now, do we? We live in bizarro America, where ‘crazy’ bends the knee to ‘stupid’ and ‘stupid’ rules the day! Who, I wonder, would vote for an American leader completely – and rather desperately – beholden to a foreign power? MAGA, that’s who.
So, we’ll see but I’ll tell you this: For now, I’m sticking to my story. I think he’ll post that bond as close to the last minute as he can. But I think he’ll post the bond…
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Okay, let’s lighten this up a bit. I heard, recently, that the castaways on ‘Gilligan’s Island’ (see? Lighter!) each represented one of the Seven Deadly Sins. (MY, that darkened up quickly.)
I’m not buying. Granted, the case starts off strong. Mr. Howell clearly represents Avarice. That was easy. The Skipper is a big guy, suggesting he might be Gluttony. One could make a case that Ginger represented Pride. After that, though, it falls apart pretty quickly. The suggestion was that Gilligan represented Sloth, but Gilligan wasn’t lazy, he was stupid.
So who was Envy? Mary Ann? Envious of, I presume, Ginger? No. There’s the immortal (but only for Boomers, apparently) question, “Ginger or Mary Ann?” I’m a Mary Ann guy. Ginger had NOTHING on Mary Ann and Mary Ann was too down to earth to spend time being envious of Ginger.
Nobody was Wrath. Yes, the Skipper got frustrated from time to time but that was always after Gilligan had done something stupid. He wasn’t walking around angry all the time. Hell, the Skipper was a pretty chill guy. Besides, he’s already Gluttony.
That leaves Lust. Right. On this “family show?” We’ve just covered the Ginger/Mary Ann thing but they were the objects of lust, not Lust itself. In fact, the inhabitant of Gilligan’s Island all seemed pretty asexual, to me. I was just a boy when that show ran originally and even I wondered why we never saw either Ginger nor Mary Ann (or, what the hell, maybe both!) sneaking out of the Professor’s hut from time to time. They were on that island for years. Really? Never once?
So if you want to see the personification of the Seven Deadly Sins, don’t bother with ‘Gilligan’s Island.’ Watch Donald J. Trump. He’s ALL of them; Pride, Envy, Gluttony, Lust, Avarice, Wrath, AND Sloth. At this point, all we have to do is strand him on a tropical island, somewhere, and leave him there. Now THAT’S a show I’d watch…

While it’s no secret, little has been reported on Barbara Jones, the retired federal judge who will monitor the Trump Organization’s finances for the next three years. She was appointed to provide the “productive and enhanced monitorship” by New York Judge Arthur Engoron in his new order on Thursday and is already part of his February ruling.
As Man from Wasichustan (a Daily Kos Community member) hilariously contributes, “The order is clear, comprehensive, and leaves zero room for ANY Trumpian horse shit. He. Is. Burnt. Pop Tarts. Applying for a bond? We’ll need to know everything about who you applied to. What was offered as collateral? WHO offered the collateral if it’s not you? I’ll need a sworn affidavit from whoever denied you including why. This also applies to the bond Chubby gave him and the 30 bonds he allegedly already applied for.”
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/3/21/2230850/-New-Engoron-Order-Donnie-Needs-Permission-from-Monitor-Judge-Jones-to-Scratch-His-Smelly-Butt
Trump has to be loving having a Clinton-appointed retired woman judge assess and then essentially tell the Trump organization how to run their businesses. I look forward to learning of the details of what she reports to Engoron when it is made public.
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I think she’s done a very good job. I’m glad there’s someone watching but I continue to be surprised at the various moves he manages to make, anyway…
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