… running through this defense of the politicized humanities.
[A]dministrators — in thrall to university donors at private institutions, and who at public ones serve at the whim of state governments — represent the beachhead by which the academic Trumpism [William] Deresiewicz lusts for will arrive on campus.
Orwell, in “Politics and the English Language,” couldn’t have found a better example of a sentence squirrely with militancy (lusts? beachhead?), and intellectually lost in a strange old world. “Academic Trumpism” might as well be Revisionist Menshevism.
This H Street burger bar became a right-wing darling during the pandemic for openly defying the city’s vaccine and mask mandates. Rand Paul and Thomas Massie were among the Republican members of Congress who made a point to stop by after the DC health department shut it down for violating Covid rules.
(WHOA. Says here on Amazon it’s a collectible! Only two copies available, one of which sells for more than $200! The second asks almost $500! Hell – how do I sell my copy? In ‘thesda that’s one excellent dinner out for one.) The meeting concluded with a manifesto, signed by many of the participants, calling for the reconstruction of the Roman colosseum, along with much else of ancient Rome. Once rebuilt, these sites would assimilate into the modern city — they would be libraries, supermarkets, courts, cafes.
Leon Krier loves the idea, feeling only “sad and frustrated” when looking at “expensive to keep up” ruins. “Ruins mean nothing.” O.M. Ungers disagrees and alludes to “memory … romance … [the colosseum’s] patina, its aspect of time,” the continuity of that particular auratic history-charged object over centuries. I.e., ruins of many kinds mean a whole lot to many of us, and the colosseum arguably sits at the top of the world’s ruin-lists.
Of course most people are scandalized by this very idea. You will notice nothing’s come of it.
And indeed the very latest, far more modest, repurposing of the structure also has much of Rome colossally pissed: The city’s agreed to let Airbnb rent out the place to customers who want to pretend to be gladiators in the colosseum: Check-in’s 9 PM; must check out by 1 AM. Details.
Multiple news outlets are reporting the impending bankruptcy/abandonment of Portola Valley, California, where housing prices are starting to crash (“In July, the co-founder of Sun Microsystems reportedly sold his Portola Valley mansion for $35 million—which was 65% less than the $100 million it was initially listed for in 2018.”), and where the city council despairs of paying even basic bills. Perhaps they can apply for federal emergency funds. A GoFundMe page?
The Russian soldiers talk disdainfully about the incoming North Korean soldiers, … at one point referring to them as “the f**king Chinese.”
The intercepts also reveal plans to have one interpreter and three senior officers for every 30 North Korean men…
“The only thing I don’t understand is that there [should be] three senior officers for 30 people. Where do we get them? We’ll have to pull them out [of combat],” one Russian serviceman says.
“I’m f***ing telling you, there are 77 battalion commanders coming in tomorrow, there are commanders, deputy commanders and so on,” a serviceman says in another extract.
Deason built a small private, elevated beach for lounge chairs. Not a fan of the coarse California sand, the billionaire spent about $40,000 to import the Georgia sand found at Augusta National Golf Club …
Pity the reporter who had to pack all of this into her lead.
A Seattle doctor whose medical license was suspended after she participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol was shot and killed after pointing a gun at two people delivering paperwork at her West Seattle home on Tuesday.
Which sounds like a lot. But there’s more.
Tuesday’s shooting happened less than two weeks after Towers Parry’s home was foreclosed on and scheduled to be sold at a Sept. 20 auction, King County housing records show. Towers Parry had failed to make about $24,000 in mortgage payments and still owed more than $225,000 on the home, which she previously shared with her ex-husband, according to the records.
A photo taken of the house on Tuesday showed a large U.S. flag hanging from the home’s front window underneath the word “QAnon,” the name of a far-right conspiracy theory that gained traction online after the 2016 election of former President Donald Trump.
Her pissed ex-husband filed a complaint about her failure to pay on the house:
“[My ex-wife] has demonstrated that she is unwilling to execute the documents necessary to alleviate me of the debt on the Hudson property. She has simply chosen to ignore the issue, and instead traveled to Washington, D.C. to be part of an uprising to overthrow the government.”
… Association. It is addressed to owners and residents, and expresses gratitude to everyone involved in making life in this pricey Florida high-rise so pleasant.
And, for the association president himself, so lucrative: He was just arrested for embezzling over $1.5 million from the place. Over many years. The same absenteeism that gave him a free hand (“He was able to pull off the schemes because many residents were absentee owners.”) will presumably leave this sweet thank you note in a prominent position on the building’s website for some time, a real advertisement for anyone thinking of buying (“May I speak to Mr Arzumanov?” “Hold for the Miami-Dade Jail.”).
Consult this for the many bogus businesses, intimidation of anyone who threatened his scheme, and Dead Mrs Bates strategy, that made it all work…
Dead Mrs Bates?
Arzumanov had rent payments being made out to his deceased mother, despite no building units being in her name.
Norman would understand.
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Update:
During his court appearance Wednesday morning, Arzumanov’s attorney, Sam Raymond, asked Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Mindy S. Glazer to lower his bond.
“He’s not a flight risk, he’s a U.S. citizen.”
… Also present during Arzumanov’s court hearing was Assistant State Attorney Elvia Medina Marcus, who argued that he would be a flight risk.
“He has three passports from Georgia, Russia and the United States,” she said. “He has flown solo. He takes flight lessons. Part of the allegation is that he would charge airline fuel to the association using the association credit card.”
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LOL. You know, mes petites, this one’s a keeper. Stay tuned.
“I can say it’s a historical day. We’re very happy,” said a resident. “What I can tell you is that we were living a daily nightmare, being persecuted daily by the board that was absolutely corrupted.”
The local police chief apologizes:
“I do apologize for taking so long, but this was an intricate fraud case, where he took over not just the building, but all, everything going on around the building, every asset used in and around the building. It was a complete takeover. I’ve never seen anything like this in my entire career.”
A postmodern cautionary tale, Да? When the cat’s away, the Russian mafia’s at play. Money + Nobody Home = ‘money laundering, grand theft, racketeering, organized fraud and credit card fraud.’ As long as one prominent pomo status marker is having so much property/travel/business activity/divorce complication/ongoing bankruptcy proceedings/whatever that you’re never there, that there’s no there there, local in-place larcenists will … larcen.
‘Derrick Anderson, an Army veteran, is attempting to flip a blue district red in 2024 after its current occupant, Abigail Spanberger, announced she would vacate to run for governor in 2025.
Anderson recently released a campaign ad that featured footage of himself with a woman and three children – what appeared to be a family photo – in an effort to play to women voters and family values.
However, the mom and three girls are in no way related to him with Anderson forced to admit they are the wife and three children of an old friend…
Has a revoked Firearm Owner’s Identification (FOID) card and no concealed carry license.
The McHenry County [Illinois] State’s Attorney’s Office filed a petition to detain Reyes pending trial, calling him a real and present threat to the safety of the community, and a judge granted the petition to detain Reyes in the McHenry County Jail.
McHenry County Judge Tiffany Davis later released Reyes from jail [four months later,] in December 2023, only for prosecutors to file a petition to revoke his release after they learned he was arrested in January 2024 for a domestic battery incident in Cook County.
Davis denied the request to revoke Reyes’ pre-trial release after saying there was insufficient evidence to justify the request.
Prosecutors filed another petition to revoke his release earlier this month after Reyes was arrested on an aggravated battery to a peace officer charge.
Davis again denied the request after saying there was insufficient evidence to justify the request.
Court records show Reyes appeared in court on Tuesday where he was expected to enter into a plea deal.
He showed up in court while smelling strongly of alcohol and admitted to consuming alcohol. His blood alcohol content was 0.319 and Davis found him in contempt of court and sentenced him to six days in jail.
Eventually the judge managed to eke out three years, which means he’ll be out and ready to go back to the hospital in six months.
