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Jack is a graduate of Rutgers University where he majored in history. His career in the life and health insurance industry involved medical risk selection and brokerage management. Retired in Florida for over two decades after many years in NJ and NY, he occasionally writes, paints, plays poker, participates in play readings and is catching up on Shakespeare, Melville and Joyce, etc.

Thursday, September 22, 2022

09-22-2022 - Two Legal Actions Concerning the DFP, the '1619 Project' Re-Visited and Some Election News

 

Mob Bosses, their Kids,
Puffery, Marxism, and Lawn Mowers

Usually, mob bosses go to great pains to keep their family, especially their children, out of their activities.  Better that they should become doctors, dentists, or go into some legitimate business or profession … or even become clergy.  It adds a bit to their very thin veneer of legitimacy. The Defeated Former President, whose dishonest activities are being increasingly revealed, looks more and more like such a boss.  But he seems to have lacked the wisdom to keep his kids out of his activities, having deluded himself into believing that what he was doing was actually legitimate. 

His attorneys’ tactics are devoted to the strategy of bringing about repeated delays in his day of reckoning, hopefully moving it to a point beyond his lifetime.  But because of his stupidity, that will not get his children off of the hook!

Look for at least one of them to renounce their American citizenship and seek refuge in some other country which, for a price, will give them the protection of another nationality.

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And getting back to the Defeated Former President’s ‘dishonest’ activities, specifically those in New York State, some seem to believe they are no more than an extension of the ‘puffery’ and exaggeration which seems to be an acceptable part of the real estate business where, up to a point, lying is always okay!  The acceptance of this by other parts of the economy, particularly banks, discredits the real estate business, and along with it, business practices in other parts of the private sector as well, and encourages those who would like to see capitalism replaced by a totalitarian Marxist system.  Should that ever happen, we would have the DFP to partially blame for it.

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Simplifying the details of the DFP’s woes, particularly in New York State, the Trump Organization consistently overvalued its properties to get loans and consistently undervalued the same properties so they would be taxed for less, and this practice, it appears was carried out at the DFP’s direction.  It is obviously illegal. 

The big question to my mind, however, seems to be who was harmed by his lies and acts.  Except for the money-hungry dummies at Deutschbank who knew that he was a deadbeat but gave him credit anyway, no lenders fell for them, so the real victims seem to have been the citizens of New York State, New York City, and elsewhere (possibly making it a federal case involving the IRS?) who were deprived of tax revenue because of his undervaluing of properties.  

As for the wealth his fraudulently acquired reputation as a billionaire businessman brought him, I cannot see those who believed his lies as victims entitled to recompense.  Any business or personal decisions they made, based on his lies, is still their fault, not his.  

In my opinion, although this is presently a civil matter, it might eventually morph into criminal cases, where stronger evidence is required, on both the federal and State levels.  (It had earlier been a criminal case in New York State but had been dropped.  With new and stronger evidence coming out almost daily, however, it may again become one.)

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And on the same day that the New York State Attorney General swung into action, the decision of the inexperienced Florida federal judge appointed by the DFP was thrown out by the federal Eleventh District Court of Appeals.  Her ruling had limited the Department of Justice from using some of the stolen government documents they had recovered using a court-issued search warrant (not a ‘raid’ as the DFP and those on FoxSnooze refer to it) from Mar-a-Lago,  Now they can get back to work!  My gut reaction to that is that the Supreme Court will refuse to accept a further appeal of that decision, if the DFP looks in that direction, leaving him up the creek without a paddle.


Summing up, as we used to say in Newark, ‘his ass is grass and they’re coming after him with a lawnmower.’  In this case, from several directions.

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Yesterday amidst all of this news, during a commercial break, I switched from MSNBC to Fox to see what they had to say about the two big legal actions mentioned above.  There was Laura Ingraham sarcastically pointing out how President Biden had mumbled too much during his address to the UN regarding cooperating to bring about peace in Ukraine.  

Earlier, I understand that Sean Hannity had hosted the DFP on Fox where he claimed he could ‘de-classify’ documents by just saying, or even just thinking in his head, that they were 'de-classified.'   Sooner or later, the courts are going to say that Fox has crossed the line between being protected by the First Amendment and aiding or abetting criminal actions.

JL

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Adding to the Material in the Last Blog

Posting Concerning the ‘1619 Project’

Nicole Hannah-Jones’ Pulitzer Prize winning essay that introduced the ‘1619 Project,’ made it clear that Blacks in the United States, prior to the end of the Civil War, were not considered part of the American people, despite evidence that the new nation’s success was dependent to a great extent upon their labor.  They received no credit for that. How could they, being held in bondage, as chattels, someone else’s property, from the first importation of slaves to what ultimately became the United States in 1619 until the Civil War ended that bondage?  Only then, when their bondage ended, did an identity emerge, and that was as ‘Americans,’ having been here for generations, going back to 1619, finally making them part of the American people.

Her essay claims that our democracy was not really declared in 1776, but only after the end of slavery 89 years later, when the definition of those ‘who were created equal’ was changed to include those whose skin was not white.

Her essay concluded with these words: “ We were told once, by virtue of our bondage, that we could never be American.  But it was by virtue of our bondage that we became the most American of all.”

To some, this implies that other Americans, whose forebearers did not share the experience of coming here in chains, were ‘less American’ than the freed slaves whose ‘American identity’ was born right here on these shores after the Civil War   This bothered many. Some turned to today’s extremist Republicans, including their white supremacist component, who offered a home to those who disagreed with her ideas.

There has been criticism of the ‘1619 Project,’ including that of its historical accuracy.  Some of the essays are not as convincing as Nikole Hannah-Jones’ Pulitzer prize winner.  I suggest that you might review the previous posting on this blog, on September 18, 2022, where the ‘1619 Project’ is mentioned and also read the Pulitzer winning essay itself.  It can be found by 'googling' 'Nicole Hannah-Jones’ 1619 Project essay' (Since originally  including a link to the essay on the blog, I have received several malware warnings from my virus protection program so I have deleted the link.)

There are numerous articles available online, some critical, relating to the ‘1619 Project’ which you might want to check out as well.  Then, make up your own mind as to this proposed revision in the teaching of American history.

JL

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Keeping Voting Simple and Effective

In reading books, newspapers, magazines, and watching television, I am overwhelmed by the number of, and the enormity of, the many real and the many fabricated issues challenging democracy in America today.  It boggles the mind.  I could make a list, as you probably could too, of them and it would fill this page.   

Whenever I see a ‘talking head’ on television in their home with bookcases filled with impressive volumes in the background, I wonder when, if ever, they get the time to read them.  Reading books takes time!  Being overwhelmed with issues seems to be the default position these days.

I do note, however, that when I find time to look into these issues, I usually find that consistently, Democratic candidates are usually on one side and Republican candidates on the other.  Nowadays, there is no such thing as a consensus being reached.  Most of the time, I find that I agree with the positions of the Democrats on issues at which I do look.

If you are unwilling or unable to spend the hours of time and effort needed to understand these issues, the simpler and most effective course of action is to always vote for Democrats and leave it at that.

The positions of Democrats in regard to abortion rights, gun violence, and voting rights clearly are in the best interest of most Americans, including you!  They are far superior to the position of the Republicans, who have allied themselves with every group imaginable that is opposed to democracy! 

So get to work.  

  • Register voters.  
  • Make telephone calls, 
  • Send emails, 
  • Write postal cards, 
  • Knock on doors.  

Don’t know where to start?  Ask me by email. (jacklippman18@gmail.com)

Today, right now, plan how you will vote (mail, early voting, or at the polls).  Make sure your friends, neighbors, and relatives who might agree with you are prepared to vote.  Those who are willing to trade in democracy for a form of authoritarian government are out there hustling and spreading lies.  You must outdo them with the truth.

 JL

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 America Afloat 


 
(A poem that is always worth repeating in these blog postings. To learn more, visit this blog's posting of July 30, 2022, accessible from the Archives off to the right.)       JL

 

 

 


America Afloat 

Jack Lippman

The greatness of America

Is that it does survive

Attacks upon democracy

Whose flame it keeps alive.

 

The laws that blossom from the words

The Founding Fathers wrote

Still serve us well today to keep

America afloat.

 

This doesn’t happen by itself,

We cannot wish it true,

The bottom line, my friends, is that

It all depends on you.

 

 JL                        

  

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To How Many People Have You Forwarded This Blog Posting? 

 

                         That’s Not Enough!

                                By a Longshot

 

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