December 15, 2021
Late Morning Update:
~~~ PolitiFact has a print story here.
Betsy Klein of CNN: "President Joe Biden on Wednesday suggested Mark Meadows was 'worthy' of being in held in contempt of Congress after the Democratic-controlled House referred the ex-White House chief of staff to the Department of Justice for failing to appear for a deposition with the committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol."
John Hudson of the Washington Post: "Secretary of State Antony Blinken cut short his trip to Southeast Asia on Wednesday after a member of the press corps accompanying him on his visits tested positive for the coronavirus. Blinken dropped a slate of planned meetings with government officials in Thailand from his swing through the region, which included stops in Indonesia and Malaysia.... The journalist had tested negative in Blinken's previous stop in Jakarta but, after testing positive in Kuala Lumpur, began a quarantine for at least 10 days before returning to the United States.... In a statement, [State Department spokesman Ned] Price said Blinken and his 'senior staff' tested negative, leaving open the possibility that other members of his crew tested positive."
Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times: "Governors from five states have written a joint letter to Lloyd J. Austin III, the defense secretary, asking that their National Guard troops be exempted from a federal coronavirus vaccine mandate, greatly escalating what had been a single state conflict over inoculations. 'Setting punishment requirements for refusing to be Covid-19 vaccinated, and requiring separation from each state National Guard if unvaccinated are beyond your constitutional and statutory authority,' wrote the governors of Alaska, Wyoming, Iowa, Mississippi and Nebraska, all Republicans, to Mr. Austin, and asked that their states be given an exemption from the requirement. The Pentagon has yet to respond to the letter, which was dated Tuesday."
Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs of the New York Times: "Derek Chauvin pleaded guilty on Wednesday to a federal charge that he used his position as a Minneapolis police officer to violate George Floyd's constitutional rights, a move expected to extend Mr. Chauvin's time in prison beyond a decades-long sentence for murdering Mr. Floyd. Mr. Chauvin, 45, pleaded guilty in the U.S. courthouse in St. Paul, an appearance that was most likely among the longest periods he has spent outside a prison cell since a jury found him guilty of second-degree murder in April. Since then, he has been held in solitary confinement in Minnesota's only maximum-security prison, where he is allowed out of his 10-foot by 10-foot cell for one hour a day. A federal prosecutor said that as part of a plea agreement reached with Mr. Chauvin, prosecutors would ask a judge to sentence him to 25 years in prison, a term that would be served in federal prison. The sentence would run concurrent to the state sentence of 22 and a half years for murder, meaning the guilty plea on Wednesday would add about two and a half years to his sentence." An AP story is here.
KTRK Houston: "A former Houston Police Department captain accused of running a man off the road and pointing a gun at his head in an effort to prove false election claims has been indicted. A Harris County jury indicted Mark Aguirre Tuesday for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.... According to court documents, Aguirre told police that he was part of a group of private citizens called the 'Liberty Center,' who were conducting a civilian investigation into the alleged ballot scheme. Aguirre said he had been conducting surveillance for four days on [air-conditioning] repairman David Lopez Zuniga because Aguirre thought Zuniga was somehow the mastermind of a giant voter fraud scheme. Aguirre told authorities the man was hiding 750,000 fraudulent ballots in a truck he was driving.... No ballots were in Zuniga's truck. According to Tuesday's indictment, Aguirre never told police that he had been paid a total of $266,400 by Liberty Center, $211,400 of which was deposited into his account the day after the alleged incident."
** Scott Bauer of the AP: "Wisconsin's Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul said in an interview Tuesday that he would not investigate or prosecute anyone for having an abortion should the U.S. Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade and a currently unenforceable state ban takes effect. The comments to The Associated Press are Kaul's strongest to date about how he would react to the Supreme Court undoing the landmark 1973 ruling that legalized abortion nationwide. A Wisconsin ban enacted in 1849 has been unenforceable under Roe v. Wade, but would take effect again if conservative Supreme Court justices decide to overrule Roe, as they suggested during oral arguments this month in a case over Mississippi's 15-week ban on abortions. A decision is expected this summer." MB: If Wisconsin voters decide to elect a Republican attorney general in 2022, they can expect a nostalgic return to the back-alley abortions of the 19th century. ~~~
~~~ AND, Bauer reports, "Wisconsin is one of 21 states with laws or constitutional amendments already in place that would make them certain to attempt to ban abortion as quickly as possible, according to an analysis from the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights. Wisconsin is one of nine states with an abortion ban law that predates Roe v. Wade, according to the analysis."
The Bishop Wore Grinch Vestments. Jason Horowitz of the New York Times: "All that separated the giddy Sicilian school children from meeting Old Saint Nick -- arriving on horseback with his long white beard, crimson robe and bag full of gifts -- was a Christmas message from the bishop of Noto. 'Santa Claus,' thundered Bishop Antonio Staglianò, 'is an imaginary character.' Children's jaws dropped ... as, for many long minutes in the Santissimo Salvatore Basilica, the bishop continued to stick it to Santa, who he said had no interest in families strapped for cash. 'The red color of his coat was chosen by Coca-Cola for advertising purposes,' the bishop said. Big soda, he added, 'uses the image to depict itself as an emblem of healthy values.' The bishop's broadside against Babbo Natale, as Father Christmas is called here, constituted only the latest installment in what has become a new Italian holiday tradition. Just about every year, Roman Catholic clerics insist that for Italians to keep Christ in Christmas, Santa must be kept out of it."
~~~~~~~~~~
Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "The House voted on Tuesday night to recommend holding Mark Meadows, who served as chief of staff to ... Donald J. Trump, in criminal contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate with its investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, escalating a legal battle against a potentially crucial witness in a widening inquiry. The vote of 222 to 208 sent the matter to the Justice Department to consider whether to prosecute Mr. Meadows, who would be the first former member of Congress to be held in contempt of the body he once served in nearly 200 years, according to congressional aides." (The story covers some of the content in the WashPo & CBS News stories linked below.) ~~~
~~~ And the Hits Just Keep on Coming. Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "During floor debate on the contempt resolution Tuesday, members of the Jan. 6 committee sought to portray [Mark] Meadows as involved in or aware of all the plotting [Donald] Trump and his allies were doing to keep him in power. Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) read one message to Meadows from an unidentified sender regarding the possibility that Jeffrey Clark -- the former acting head of the Justice Department's Civil Division, who appeared open to pursuing Trump's attempts to overturn the election results -- would replace Jeffrey Rosen, then the acting attorney general. 'I heard Jeff Clark is getting put in on Monday. That's amazing. It will make a lot of patriots happy. And I'm personally so proud that you are at the tip of the spear and I could call you a friend,' Schiff said the Jan. 3 text read." ~~~
~~~ Zak Hudak & Ellis Kim of CBS News: During the House hearing Tuesday, "Congressman Jamie Raskin [read a] message from an unknown lawmaker on November 4. 'HERE's an AGGRESSIVE STRATEGY: Why can't [sic] the states of GA NC PENN and other R controlled state houses declare this is BS (where conflicts and election not called that night) and just send their own electors to vote and have it go to the SCOTUS.'" MB: IOW, the plot to use GOP-controlled state legislatures to overturn election results was hatched the day after the election, even while votes were still being counted. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Patrick made a comment in yesterday's thread that reminded me of something I first heard on the teevee Monday night or Tuesday morning. Eli Honig, a former prosecutor & a CNN pundit, pointed to a question Liz Cheney asked in her prepared remarks Monday (update: and again, word-for-word, in her remarks during a House debate Tuesday): "Did Donald Trump, though action or inaction, corruptly seek to obstruct or impede Congress's official proceeding to count electoral votes?" Good question, said Honig. If it sounded like legalese, that's because it was; according to Honig, the language comes right from the federal criminal code: it's a crime to obstruct Congress. Honig said Congress may make a criminal referral to the DOJ. More Trumpty-Dumpty news linked below.
David Corn of Mother Jones contrasts Mark Meadows' account in his $28 dollar book of what-all happened on January 6 against what we know, including some newly-revealed text messages, about what really happened. "Meadows is hiding what happened in the White House on January 6. It's no wonder he does not want to testify.... This book is disinformation.... Meadows is conning the public." MB: Meadows should send Corn's review to Trump with a note, "See, I told you the book was covering your ass. Will you quit dissing me now?"
Mariana Alfaro & Seung Min Kim of the Washington Post: "President Biden, in a video message Tuesday, sent his sympathies to the families of the victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting in Newtown, Conn., and demanded that Congress take action on his gun-control agenda. 'No matter how long it's been, every one of those families relives the news they got that day: 20 precious first-graders, six heroic educators, a lone gunman and an unconscionable act of violence,' Biden said. 'Everything changed that morning for you, and the nation was shocked.' Calling Dec. 14, 2012, one of the 'saddest days' of the Obama presidency, Biden said he found hope in the families' fight 'to change the laws of a culture around gun violence.'" Video of President Biden's remarks is here.
Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: "On Thursday, more than 16 years after he died in a Texas burn center, his widow, Tamara, will accept the Medal of Honor from President Biden at a ceremony celebrating [Sgt. 1st Class Alwyn] Cashe, 35, and two fellow soldiers heralded for their valorous acts in separate battles. Joining Cashe's family will be Master Sgt. Earl Plumlee, 41, who faced down suicide bombers at close range during a Taliban assault in Afghanistan in 2013, and the family of Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Celiz, 32, who will posthumously receive the award, for protecting a medical evacuation helicopter there in 2018 until he was cut down by gunfire. All three cases have met congressionally mandated standards, including a risk to one's life that is 'above and beyond the call of duty.' But Cashe's actions, especially, have captured the imagination of a generation of U.S. troops, while raising an often-repeated question about his award: What took so long?... Notably, Cashe will become the first Black service member since 9/11 to be recognized with the military's top combat award."
Brian Slodysko of the AP: "Congress averted a catastrophic debt default early Wednesday morning after Democratic majorities in both chambers voted to send a $2.5 trillion increase in the nation's borrowing authority to President Joe Biden over lockstep Republican opposition. Capping a marathon day, the House gave final approval to the legislation early Wednesday morning on a near-party-line 221-209 vote, defusing a volatile issue until after the 2022 midterm elections. The action came just hours shy of a deadline set by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who warned last month that she was running out of maneuvering room to avoid the nation's first-ever default." MB: Of course the Senate had to suspend the filibuster to pass the bill.
Devlin Barrett, et al., of the Washington Post: "D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine (D) on Tuesday sued the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers over the Jan. 6 attack on Congress, seeking to use a law written to cripple the Ku Klux Klan to exact stiff financial penalties from the far-right groups that Racine alleges were responsible for the violence. The lawsuit filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., cites the modern version of an 1871 law known as the Ku Klux Klan Act, which was enacted after the Civil War to safeguard government officials carrying out their duties and protect civil rights. Two similar suits have been filed already this year related to Jan. 6 -- one by Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.), the chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, and another by a number of police officers who fought the rioters that day." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Jessica Schneider of CNN: "More than two dozen members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers are being sued by District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine in an effort to recover the millions of dollars the city spent to defend the US Capitol during the January 6 attack. The lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal court in Washington, DC, accuses 31 members of the extremist groups of 'conspiring to terrorize the District' on January 6, calling their actions 'a coordinated act of domestic terrorism.'" (Also linked yesterday.)
Hannah Rabinowitz of CNN: "A Georgia man who drove cross-country with an assault rifle and threatened to kill House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was sentenced to 28 months behind bars in an emotional hearing on Tuesday. Cleveland Meredith Jr. pleaded guilty in September to sending threatening communications. Though he missed the January 6 rally because of car troubles, Meredith was one of the first people charged in relation to the Capitol riot after his mother reported concerning texts to the FBI on January 7. Agents found Meredith in a hotel one mile from the Capitol with thousands of rounds of ammunition, a handgun and an assault rifle stashed in his trailer.... He will get credit for the 11 months he has already spent behind bars." (Also linked yesterday.)
The Travails of Trump, Ctd.
William Rashbaum, et al., of the New York Times: "As prosecutors in Manhattan weigh whether to charge Donald J. Trump with fraud, they have zeroed in on financial documents that he used to obtain loans and boast about his wealth, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The documents, compiled by Mr. Trump's longtime accountants..., could help answer a question at the heart of the long-running criminal investigation into the former president: Did he inflate the value of his assets to defraud his lenders?... If the prosecutors seek an indictment, the case's outcome could hinge on whether they can use the documents to prove that ... his penchant for hyperbole ... was so extreme and intentional when dealing with his lenders that it crossed the line into fraud.... Prosecutors found that the accountants who put together the statements relied on underlying information provided by the Trump Organization, Mr. Trump's family business.... The prosecutors, working with the office of the New York State attorney general, Letitia James, have examined the possibility that Mr. Trump and his deputies ... essentially [misled] the accountants into presenting an overly rosy picture of his finances." ~~~
~~~ Oh Dear, Oh Dear. David Fahrenthold, et al., of the Washington Post: "A longtime accountant for ... Donald Trump -- who helped prepare Trump's taxes and the financial statements his company used to woo lenders -- testified recently before a New York grand jury investigating Trump's financial practices, according to two people familiar with that investigation. Accountant Donald Bender, of the firm Mazars, appeared before a grand jury that was impaneled this fall by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. (D) to weigh potential criminal charges, the people said. In addition, in recent weeks prosecutors have interviewed Rosemary Vrablic, a former managing director at Deutsche Bank who arranged hundreds of millions of dollars in loans to Trump, according to people familiar with the investigation. Vrablic's interview was not before the grand jury. Instead, one person said, prosecutors pressed Vrablic about Trump's role in dealings with the bank." A CNN story is here.
Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit by Donald J. Trump that sought to block Congress from obtaining his tax returns, ruling that the law gives a House committee chairman broad authority to request them despite Mr. Trump's status as a former president. In a 45-page opinion, Judge Trevor McFadden of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia held that the Treasury Department can provide the tax returns to the House Ways and Means Committee, which could vote to publish them. Judge McFadden, however, stayed his ruling for 10 days to give Mr. Trump time to file an appeal, which he is very likely to do." Politico's report is here. MB: If you think you've read this before, it's because this case, in two different iterations, has been going on for two-and-a-half years.
More Voter Fraud News. Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: "On Tuesday, Click Orlando reported that there are now three separate reported cases of Republicans in the Florida retirement community The Villages who have been arrested for fraudulently casting multiple ballots in 2020. The three suspects have been identified as Jay Ketcik, 63, Joan Halstead, 71, and John Rider, 61. Each of them are [is!] accused of casting more than one ballot in the election.... Previous reporting revealed Halstead was an avid Trump supporter on social media...."
The New York Times is live-updating Tuesday's developments in the aftermath of the Midwest tornadoes. The Washington Post's live updates are here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Jim Duncan of the Washington Post explains why the U.S. has the world's highest tornado risk: "Tornadoes tend to form where cold, dry air clashes with warm, humid air. These contrasts are maximized over the mid-latitudes, where the majority of Earth's tornadoes occur. A good-size portion of the Lower 48 sits smack-dab in the center of that not-so-sweet ordinate zone. Add in the proximity to the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, mid-level dry air sloping down from the Rockies, plus unfettered access to cold air from northern environs (particularly notable due to the flat topography of the Great Plains), and you bring together a nearly perfect set of otherwise harmless ingredients that can suddenly become a volatile mix of atmospheric terror."
A Teensy Bit of Press Freedom Is Okay, Judge Rules. Michael Grynbaum & Marc Tracy of the New York Times: "A New York trial court judge on Tuesday issued a clarification in an order that has temporarily prevented The New York Times from seeking out or publishing certain documents related to the conservative group Project Veritas, allowing The Times some latitude to report on the organization until a final ruling is reached. The clarification, by Justice Charles D. Wood of State Supreme Court in Westchester County, came in response to a formal request from Times lawyers on Monday. In the request, The Times asked that the order be dissolved, while also requesting that the court clarify what it could and could not publish."
The Pandemic, Ctd.
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here: "The proportion of coronavirus cases in the United States caused by the Omicron variant has increased sharply, and may portend a significant surge in infections as soon as next month, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. During the week that ended on Saturday, Omicron accounted for 2.9 percent of cases across the country, up from 0.4 percent in the previous week, according to agency projections released on Tuesday. In the region comprising New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, the percentage of Omicron infections had already reached 13.1 percent." ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Wednesday are here.
Heather Hollingsworth of the AP: "The U.S. on Tuesday hit another depressing pandemic milestone -- 800,000 deaths. It's a sad coda to a year that held so much promise with the arrival of vaccines.... [By the spring,] case numbers began falling.... The delta variant struck just as vaccination rates were stalling amid a wave of misinformation, devastating poorly immunized portions of the Midwest and South.... Now, as the year ends, the delta variant is fueling another wave of hospitalizations, court battles are brewing over vaccine mandates and fresh questions are swirling about the new omicron variant."
Michael Nedelman of CNN: "Pfizer's updated results for its experimental treatment for Covid-19 showed it cut the risk of hospitalization or death by 89% if given to high-risk adults within a few days of their first symptoms, the company announced in a news release Tuesday. Pfizer hopes it can eventually offer the pills, under the name Paxlovid, for people to take at home before they get sick enough to go to the hospital. Paxlovid combines a new antiviral drug named nirmatrelvir and an older one called ritonavir. After a month of follow-up, the study found five hospitalizations and no deaths among 697 people who received the drug within the first three days of symptoms. Among 682 who received placebo, 44 were hospitalized, including 9 who died. All of the adults in this study were unvaccinated." (Also linked yesterday.)
Beyond the Beltway
Nevada. Ken Ritter of the AP: "O.J. Simpson is a free man. The 74-year-old former football hero and actor, acquitted California murder defendant and convicted Las Vegas armed robber was granted good behavior credits and discharged from parole effective Dec. 1, Nevada State Police spokeswoman Kim Yoko Smith said Tuesday."
New York. Ouch! Grace Ashford & Luis Ferré-Sadurní of the New York Times: " New York State ethics board ordered former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Tuesday to turn over millions of dollars in profits from his coronavirus pandemic memoir, giving him 30 days to comply. The extraordinary directive is the latest development in a fall from grace for the former governor, who in the span of just four months lost his job and reputation, and who is now facing a criminal trial after being accused of groping an aide in the Executive Mansion.... By a 12-1 vote on Tuesday, the stat's Joint Commission on Public Ethics stripped him of all of the book's proceeds. The board had previously ruled that Mr. Cuomo had received authorization for the deal under false pretenses, and it decided on Tuesday that he was not entitled to keep any of the profits from it. The board's decision rests on Mr. Cuomo's application for approval of the book deal, in which his lawyer vowed that 'no state property, personnel or other resources may be utilized for activities associated with the book.' The commission contended that Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, broke that promise when he availed himself of administration officials and lower-paid aides to help him with writing, editing and publication." The Huffington Post's report is here.
News Lede
New York Times: "bell hooks, whose incisive, wide-ranging writing on gender and race helped push feminism beyond its white, middle-class worldview to include the voices of Black and working-class women, died on Wednesday at her home in Berea, Ky. She was 69."
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Reader Comments (8)
The NYT article clipped above includes the issue, "Did he inflate the value of his assets to defraud his lenders?"
This appears to me to be a stupid question:
1. No professional investor who knew DiJiT and his businesses could be defrauded by him. Every lender knew even then that he was a liar, welsher, prevaricator and fraud. If you represented a major lender and you went along with his valuations, you were party to the con. Not defrauded.
2. No major lender relies upon the valuations of the borrower. For that kind of money the lender pays an independent appraiser. Even the best of them are notoriously wobbly in the Manhattan market, but they do have reputations to maintain and provide data-backed rationales for their estimates.
So yes he inflated but no it was not fraud.
With respect to the lowballing on property tax valuations, I suspect he is totally guilty of fraud or bribery or both. His strategy always is to drag out all court actions, and the taxers generally want to close cases. If they aren't willing to use a DiJiT case as an example of fraud, a la Helmsley, "pour encourager les autres," they will let it nudge along until it dies of old age. Tax prosecutors tend to go after the easy prey. DiJiT ain't easy.
I think the most disheartening thing about hearing that Mark Meadows or any other scumbucket supporting the habitually lawbreaking former chief executive is that every time something is uncovered that happened between November 2016 and January 6 of this year, it turns out to be something uncovered by the media in real time and totally ignored as a symptom of the right's evil ways. The latest thing I noticed that I knew is that MM went to Georgia, and it was reported at the time, and then it totally disappeared until the latest news reported it. So frustrating for those of us who have been aware of the worst excesses of those seeking to overturn a fair election all along... All those people we have been abiding for years have all sorts of crap lodged in their throats and minds and the rotten deeds have continued, especially since a patsy was found to be real good at the lying and killing and cheating they have dreamed of. Like Ken and others, I too dream...of the untimely death of Dumpsterfire and his followers. It's easy to hope, though, and life doesn't work that way. Nothing short of miraculous PR will convince at least some idiots that they are backing the wrong horses going forward, although some are beyond redemption. OF COURSE we are after TFG, but he has lots of help, and they all deserve jail at the very least...
@Patrick: I never thought of that. I've obtained several mortgages over the years, and never once did the lender ask me, "And what do you think the property is worth, Marie?" Obviously, a big real estate deal is different from my little house purchases, but even if the prospective mortgagor questioned the bank's appraisal, he would have to get real, certified appraisals to make his point.
The prospective buyer's stated plans for the property might have some impact on the property valuation, too, but that could be a negative impact. For instance, if he wanted to tear down a sound building on the property to replace it with something bigger and "better" (when is "Build Back Trumpier" ever better?), the property would likely lose value the minute the first wrecking ball hit the side of the existing building.
@Jeanne: I agree that nothing disclosed by the committee is shocking news, and the media have exposed the gist of it all -- all that we didn't see in real time, anyway. The difference is that the House committee now has "receipts": documented evidence & testimony about some of these shenanigans. So if DOJ doesn't just sit on those receipts, the committee's documentation actually is news that should matter. I'll admit it doesn't seem like much progress, but it is -- some.
Forest: thanks for your post––interesting.
Jeanne: There are few wishes I harbor more than the demise of the Donald and I continue to feel frustrated and angry that this fool is not behind bars BUT it looks to me things are happening that just may do him in. We are on the brink here and if those who shat upon our democratic rules of engagement don't get their just deserts* then ....
I also take great delight imagining Fatty fuming about the Meadow's papers 'reveal' especially during Jan 6–––pleas to him to call it off, even the little Foxes––(how tender their veins) and Donny Jr. If I remember correctly, someone––was it Ivanka?–-was with him and pleaded with him to intervene and some one else who was there said "it looked like he was enjoying it throughly."
And I'm wondering–-when all is said and done and those in congress that participated in the Coup will be held responsible, will we see a sea change in the Republican Party? Or am I just whistling dixie.
*I used to write Desserts but discovered Deserts is correct in this case.
Marie, re your 2nd para above, a proper valuation of a commercial property should include several values, and one of them is for the "highest and best use" of the property. So if you own a downtown lot with a shack on it and are using it as a paved parking lot, if that downtown is Manhattan, the HBU valuation of the LOT would be based on the most valuable property you could build, not what is currently built. If the lot was in a dwindling town in, say, mid-Nebraska, the HBU is probably the same as current use ... because there is no investment potential.
None of which necessarily bears on what the tax assessment would be. Hence, that Nebraska lot owner probably pays "too high" taxes; that Manhattan owner probably pays whatever he/she can persuade the the city assessor.
Correction: I meant Patrick.
Have been trying to locate when the Republican Party took its nosedive into rank and shameless corruption. Smooth, polished PR, the kind that money can buy, was always a part of Republican appeal (tho the taint of outright thuggery did dominate the Nixon years), a trend that culminated with Reagan's election to a governorship and a presidency. With his election, a media personality, Reagan, successfully put the "con" in "conservative" and cemented the relationship between Republicanism and showmanship, a trend that reached its apogee with the Pretender's elevation to the highest office in the land.
But what were the interim steps?
Here are a few. Reagan's abolition of the fairness doctrine. The explosive growth of right wing radio. The birth of Faux News. The Sinclair broadcasting conglomerate. All marriages of fabulation and money, over time more and more extreme, the lies more outrageous, and all protected by a deliberately distorted First Amendment. (James O'Keefe calls himself a "journalist!)
How distorted? Breitbart News with its manufactured reality (the misleadingly edited Shirley Sherrod tape) . The shenanigans of James O'Keefe whose videos told the lies that brought down Acorn. Then by the Pretender's time, a full flowering of the alternate reality and bare-faced "alternate facts" that culminated in the "stolen election" lie, all of which boosted hits on the rudderless social media platforms of Facebook and Twitter from their addicted and ill-informed followers.
During the Pretender's reign, with the exception of tax cuts for the rich, the Republican Party entirely abandoned policy or any proposal whose merits could be debated.
The Party now depends instead on appeal to untutored and raw emotion. It calls names. It distracts. It lies. It sows fear. It corrupts. Its entire "platform" is one sort of subterfuge or another.
No wonder its best friends are courts that grind slowly and the Fifth Amendment.