Hats off to Chicago CEO Ravin Gandhi for going public about the racist hate he got after writing an oped for CNBC (for whom he's a contributor) that had been bluntly critical of Trump's response to Charlottesville.  In a interview with the Chicago Tribune, he noted that among the many hate-filled smears were those telling him to go back home to India with other Buddhists, he wasn't wanted here -- but I burst out laughing when learning that he's actually from Waukegan. This, by the way, is the exotic birthplace of Jack Benny.  And Mr. Gandhi is also not a Buddhist -- nor, as far as I know, was Jack Benny.  Not that it matters for either man, of course, but it's always nice to know of utterly inaccurate a really full-fledged racist can be.

For those not from the area, Waukegan is a northern suburb of Chicago, though quite a ways north, along Lake Michigan. In fact, it's closer to the Wisconsin border.  I've only been there once, years ago on a high school speech/debate competition, and the concept of confusing it with the mysticism of India has perhaps given me my biggest laugh of the past dismal week.

The company Gandhi runs is GMM Nonstick Coating, to give it full credit.  The Chicago Tribune article by Heidi Steven is detailed, fascinating, and admirable.  You can read it here.

If you didn't watch the Weekend Update: Summer Edition broadcast last night -- or didn't watch the video of Tina Fey's return to SNL that has been making its way around the Internet today -- here is it below.  And even if you did see it, it's just a hoot.  Basically, it's Tina Fey ranting about politics while gorging on sheet cake for 3-1/2 minutes.

Fey was a surprise guest -- much to the delight of the live audience -- because she's a graduate of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, where the rally took place over the weekend, so ostensibly she was there to comment.  And she starts off fine and straight-forward, if upset about it all.  And then it all takes a u-turn, and she gives co-host Colin Jost a lesson in dealing with your anger by "sheet-caking."

(Fun too is watching her masterfully maneuver the cake with her fork like a pro, to get the biggest portions of cake, which suggests pretty clearly that this is not just a first-time sketch for TV, but she's someone who has probably sheet-caked before in her life at moments of angst...)

It's pretty hard not to love Tiny Fey for her relentless normalcy and self-effacement, while rising above it to wonderful levels.  I have no doubt there are people who can't stand her.  After all, there are people who don't like pizza and puppies.  And no doubt there are people who hate her take-down of white supremacists, Nazis and hate mongers.   But political as this is -- and it's very political -- it is still first and foremost a comedy routine.  And it's one thing to hate (or love) the words, but another to be able to step back and revel in the comedy.  And this just ratchets Tina Fey joy up a few notches -- pigging out on sheet cake for 3-1/2 minutes on national television while taking down all that's mean and nasty in what can only be described by one of today's cliches:  an epic rant.

But to be clear, it's not the rant that makes this.  Anyone can rant.  But doing it while stuffing your face with sheet cake, that's high art.  Or low art.  Or just a plain goofy joy.

It was a double-dip day on Thursday.

In the morning, I read this article here on Raw Story about Felix Sater.  If you find the name somewhat familiar, that's because it came up during the election.  Sater is a particularly-sleazy businessman who has occasionally partnered with Donald Trump and has a long-history of legal troubles, though Trump claimed not to really know who he was -- despite photos of them together and despite Sater being...well, an occasional business partner.

(By the way, just to clarify the term "legal troubles," Sater -- for one example -- plead guilty to racketeering in a $40 million stock fraud scheme that the Mafia organized, though he never went to jail for it -- that's because he became an informant for the FBI and CIA.  This is never a good thing when you find yourself a business partner of Felix Sater if you ever are under federal investigation yourself.  Oh, and in an interesting related-issue, Andrew Weissmann -- who was the prosecutor who handled Sater's plea deal -- has been hired by Special Counsel Robert Mueller...)

Okay, so that's who Felix Sater is.  Well, as it happens, Felix Sater has been questioned by Robert Mueller, and the Financial Times reported that he is "cooperating" with the investigation. Indeed, according to the sources, "Sater may have already flipped and given prosecutors the evidence they need to make a case against Trump."

But, hey, don't take the reporter's word for it.  Just listen to...oh, Felix Sater.  In an interview he gave with New York magazine, Sater himself hinted, "In about the next 30 to 35 days, I will be the most colourful character you have ever talked about. Unfortunately, I can’t talk about it now, before it happens. And believe me, it ain’t anything as small as whether or not they’re gonna call me to the Senate committee.”

It gets worse, if that's possible.  (We'll..."worse" depending on your point of view.  Others may be chomping at the bit.  According to a source for The Spectator magazine, Sater has already told his family that he knows he and Trump are going to prison, "someone talking to Mueller's investigators informed me."  ("Me," being the reporter, not Sater, just to clarify pronouns.)

Now, to be clear, a lot of this is "reportedly," and Felix Sater also appears to be someone who likes to talk big about himself.  But, on the core issues, he is cooperating with the investigation, and he does have a history of making plea deals to give up his associates and keep himself out of jail.

Not good for Trump.

But as I said, Thursday was a double-dip day for Trump, and the other story may actually, remarkably even be worse -- and it has a twist.  (In fact, because of the twist, that may be what makes it worse.)

Mind you, even without the twist, it's pretty terrible on its own.

Over lunch yesterday, a friend told me about a story that began with Bloomberg News and moved to other outlets, including Vanity Fair -- so these aren't fly-by-night news sources -- though it hasn't gained national traction yet, however it was discussed that morning on Thom Hartmann's radio show, where my friend heard about the article.  He said the story presents a massive conspiracy bank fraud problem for the Trump family -- pretty much all of them: Donald, Eric, Don Jr., and Ivanka.  And it's not based on rumor, but the article includes leaked emails from the Trump Organization -- not merely talked about, but the actual emails itself. 

Later, after lunch, my friend tracked down the article and sent me a link to it. The story was very convoluted -- as most bank fraud stories are -- but to give you a general overview:

The story concerns Trump's involvement with a $350 million fraud over the Trump Soho Hotel deal (a facility he talked about at length on The Apprentice TV show -- something which probably isn't a good thing to have done at this point).  Basically, his partner in the deal had committed the bank fraud with the help of the Mafia, and ultimately with other money laundering sources in Russia.  And the leaked emails show that Trump, Eric, Don Jr, and Ivanka all knew about it, and even held a meeting on it.  And not only did they never report it to the authorities, but kept it quiet to pretty much shake down their business partner and continue defrauding the banks.

Oh, one other thing.  This is that "twist" part which makes it even worse for Trump.  (Yes, even worse...)

When I got home from lunch and received the email from my friend with a link to the article, I burst out laughing about four paragraphs in.  That's where I read that the business partner is...Felix Sater!!!!!

Yes, really.

Well, that's not good for Trump.

There's something else that's very important in the article.  It talks about federal RICO racketeering charges that could be pending, and also notes that the state of New York has its own RICO racketeering laws.  Recall what I wrote here a couple weeks ago -- a presidential pardon ONLY covers federal crimes, not state or local.

​Not good for Trump, the sequel.

Also, for anyone who tries to claim these are outside the purview of Mueller's Russia investigation, they aren't.  The first story on the Trump Soho Hotel bank fraud overlaps with Felix Sauter doing money laundering with Russia.  As for the second story, not only does any story with Sater now raise the trail to Russian with his money connections there, but any story with Trump's finances and money difficulties points to the foundation of why he likely had to go to Russian oligarchs for raising money, since banks in the U.S. and around the world wouldn't lend him any.

You can read the article and leaked emails here in this piece from The Stern Facts, which puts the entire story together from the various sources.

At the moment, this is not a national story.  Neither is the one about Felix Sater cooperating with the Mueller investigation.  But that doesn't make them any less real.  The emails are real. Bloomberg News and Vanity Fair have reported them.  Felix Sater is talking with the investigators.  And Sater does have a history of making deals with the authorities -- one of whom is on Robert Mueller's staff.  It's just that all these real stories simply haven't broken through "as news" ALL the other even bigger stories that have been making the headlines.  But being a news headline is actually secondary to what the very real FBI investigators are doing, whether the stories have become headlines yet or not.  And as Felix Sater himself says, "In about the next 30 to 35 days, I will be the most colourful character you have ever talked about."

It was not a double-good day for Trump.  For other people reading about it all...that's another matter entirely.

What with removing statues of Confederate Civil War generals being so prominently in the news, I thought I would do a kindness for all those so upset about it and present a joyful Broadway musical number on behalf of one such statue.  It's the wonderful "Jublilation T. Cornpone" from the show Li'l Abner.  And keep reading because, believe it or not, there's an even funnier and more pointed connection to it all...

But first, to give credit where credit is due, the song is performed by Stubby Kaye, and written by Johnny Mercer , who did the words, and music by Gene de Paul.

Okay, now the loopy part.

To make this all the more whimsical, pointed and, yes, even bizarrely newsworthy, I take you to the plot of the show.  

One of the storylines is that this tiny, nothing, backwoods of a hamlet, Dogpatch U.S.A. has been deemed so useless and unnecessary that the government has chosen it to be the site for testing an atomic bomb.  At the very end of the show, government officials arrive to clear out Dogpatch, and as the villagers prepare to leave, they... remove the statue of Jubiliation T. Corpone!  And -- when doing so, they discover a plaque that had been hidden away underneath which shows that Abraham Lincoln had honored this Southern general for being so incredibly incompetent that his ineptitude helped win the war for the North.  As a result of finding this plaque, it's determined that the site is a national monument, and so Dogpath is saved.

In other words...removing the statue of a Confederate general saved the day!!!  Saving the town of hundreds of fictitious people.

I was going to post something else tonight, a fun song, but when checking it out online again first, I came across this, and felt it had to have priority.

It's an episode of Dragnet 1967 with Jack Webb and Harry Morgan.​  No need to watch the whole thing, although it's enjoyable to scroll through.  As for the plot line -- well, you can see the premise (and the reason for posting this) from the image below.  

It all starts when explosives are stolen from a warehouse, and Joe Friday and Bill Gannon go to investigate.  Along they way, they come across a witness who had confronted the perpetrator in a car accident and got shot in the arm.  It turns out there hadn't been an argument, but the reason for the shooting, as the on-site officer explains, "is because he said he was a Negro."  Eventually, Joe and Bill track the suspect down to his home where its full of dynamite, guns and Nazi paraphernalia -- all intended to blow up a school...that was going to be integrated. And yes, happily, they stop the plot.

My favorite line comes at the very end, in fact the last line before the Epilogue, and it's 100% pure Joe Friday.  The neo-Nazi clearly has no intention of doing any more talking, after gloating about how he knows his rights and that Friday will want a motive.  Joe jumps right in -- "Hate'll do for a start.  And try to put that walnut-size brain of yours to work on this.  You keep harping about minorities."  (The guy says, "That's right.")  "Well, mister, you're a psycho.  And they're a minority, too."  

Cue the music.  And then the narrator....

"The story you have seen is true..."

Fifty-four years ago, back in 1963, the legendary political cartoonist, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Bill Mauldin drew what many consider one of the most memorable op-ed cartoons, when he worked for the Chicago Sun-Times.  Though it addressed a very different situation, the assassination of President Kennedy, it occurred to me that the drawing holds another resonance today, as the Party of Lincoln saw its leader give aid and comfort to white supremacists, neo-Nazis and the KKK, marching with swastikas, Confederate flags, giving sieg heil salutes and calling out Nazi chants.

I offer Bill Mauldin's powerful, heart-breaking work about another time which still holds its meaning for a very different world. 

I came across this video a few months back, but didn't get around to posting it.  It's historically wonderful, from the perspective of Broadway theater, featuring Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, but the video itself is pretty low-key.  But I realized that this would be as good a time as any to post it.

It's additionally timely since, over the weekend, former President Barack Obama posted a tweet which Twitter stats show to be the Most-Liked Tweet ever.  Mr. Obama quoted Nelson Mandela, saying -- "No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion..."

This video looks like it comes from around 1950.  It's a little featurette, probably made for movie theaters, on behalf of the National Conference of Christians & Jews, for National Brotherhood Week.  Hammerstein introduces the song, and explains its important within the show he and Rodgers wrote, South Pacific.  And then with Rodgers at the piano, Hammerstein introduces William Tabbert who sang the song, "Carefully Taught," in the original production.