Welcome to Lost in the Sauce, keeping you caught up on political and legal news that often gets buried in distractions and theater… or a global health crisis.
Figuring out how to divide the COVID-19 content from the “regular” news has been difficult because the pandemic is influencing all aspects of life. Some of the stories below involve the virus, but I chose to include them when it fits into one of the pre-established categories (like congress or immigration). The coronavirus-central post will be made again this Thursday-Friday; the sign up form now has an option to choose to receive an email when the coronavirus-focused roundup is posted.
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Let’s dig in!

MAIN COURSE

Congress passes stimulus

Last week started out with a Republican-crafted stimulus bill that was twice-blocked by Senate Democrats, who objected to the lax conditions of aid to corporations, too little funding for hospitals, and a $500 billion “slush fund” for big companies to be doled out by Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin with no oversight.
Conservative-Democrat Joe Manchin (WV) even criticized the GOP bill:

“It fails our first responders, nurses, private physicians and all healthcare professionals. ... It fails our workers. It fails our small businesses… Instead, it is focused on providing billions of dollars to Wall Street and misses the mark on helping the West Virginians that have lost their jobs through no fault of their own.”

Through negotiations, Democrats shifted the bill in a more-worker friendly direction. The version that passed includes the following Democrat-added provisions: expanded unemployment benefits, $100 billion for hospitals, $150 billion for state and local governments, direct payments to Americans without a phase-in (ensuring low-income workers get the full amount), a ban on Trump and his children from receiving aid, and oversight on the “slush fund” (see next section for more info). Senate Democrats also managed to remove a provision that would have excluded nonprofits that receive Medicaid funding from the small-business grants.

• Further reading: After Senate Democrats blocked the Republican-crafted bill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi led the House Democrats in releasing their own version, a best-case scenario of their dream coronavirus stimulus bill. It is interesting to contrast what the Democrats prioritized to what the Republicans focused on: “How the House Democrats' stimulus plan compares to the Senate's”

Echoing sentiments expressed during debate on the previous coronavirus bill (the second, for those keeping track), Republican senators derided the $600 a week increase in unemployment payments as “incentivizing” workers to quit their jobs. Sens. Ben Sasse (Neb.), Rick Scott (Fla.), Tim Scott (S.C.) and Lindsey Graham (S.C.) delayed passage of the bill in order to force a vote on an amendment removing the extra unemployment funding. "This bill pays you more not to work than if you were working," Graham said. Fortunately for American workers, the amendment failed and the improved bill passed the Senate and the House.

• Note: In 2009 only three Republicans helped Obama pass his stimulus bill in his first month in office.

The giveaways in the bill

While Senate Democrats were able to add worker-friendly provisions, the bill still required bipartisan support to pass the chamber and some corporate giveaways remained in the final version.

• NYT: “Senate Republicans inserted an easy-to-overlook provision on page 203 of the 880-page bill that would permit wealthy investors to use losses generated by real estate to minimize their taxes on profits from things like investments in the stock market. The estimated cost of the change over 10 years is $170 billion.”
  
• NYT: “...if a company owns multiple hotels, even if the overall hotel or restaurant chain has more than 500 employees — the limit to qualify for treatment as a small business — it will still be able to take advantage of the small-business benefits offered in the rescue package. ...The provision could benefit the Trump Organization, which operates a relatively small chain, with six hotels in the United States in cities including New York, Washington and Chicago.”
  

Politico:

• “A provision for the FDA to approve ‘innovative’ sunscreens—which would benefit L’Oreal, which has operations in Kentucky—appeared in the bill, which was steered in the Senate by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.”
  
• “The $25 billion allocated in loans and loan guarantees for the airlines will also benefit eligible businesses "approved to perform inspection, repair, replace, or overhaul services, and ticket agents.” The last two words — ‘ticket agents’ — mean that travel agents who book flights will also be able to apply for a piece of the $25 billion.”
  
• “The credit reporting industry got a win by defeating a total ban on negative credit reports during the crisis. Instead, a watered down version made it into the final bill: Consumers wouldn't get a negative credit report if they have an agreement with a lender to delay payments or make partial payments.”
  

Trump’s signing statement

While signing the latest coronavirus relief bill, the president also issued a signing statement undercutting the congressional oversight provision creating an inspector general to track how the administration distributes the $500 billion “slush fund” money.
The newly-created inspector general is legally required to audit loans and investments made through the fund and report to Congress his/her findings, including any refusal by the executive office to cooperate. In his signing statement, Trump wrote that his understanding of constitutional powers allows him to gag the special IG:

"I do not understand, and my Administration will not treat, this provision as permitting the [inspector general] to issue reports to the Congress without the presidential supervision required" by Article II of the Constitution.

The signing statement further suggests that Trump does not have to comply with a provision requiring that agencies consult with Congress before it spends or reallocates certain funds: "These provisions are impermissible forms of congressional aggrandizement with respect to the execution of the laws," the statement reads.
While some have said that Congress fell short in this instance, one Democratic Senate aide told Politico that Congress built in multiple layers of oversight, including “a review of other inspectors general and a congressional review committee charged with overseeing Treasury and the Federal Reserve's efforts to implement the law.”
Legal experts have pointed out that a signing statement is “without legal effect.” But that ignores the fact that oversight is not equal to enforcement. The problem, in my opinion, isn’t that Congress won’t be notified of any abuses of power by Trump. The problem is that congressional Republicans and the judiciary have largely failed to hold him accountable and enforce our laws even after learning of his abuses.

Concerns about the IG

Another potential weakness in the oversight structure is the inspector general position itself. The special inspector general for pandemic recovery, known by the acronym S.I.G.P.R., is nominated by the president and confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate. As we’ve seen from Trump’s previous nominees, particularly judicial, many unqualified individuals have been confirmed. The Democrats will not have the power to stop the president and Mitch McConnell from jamming through a loyalist to fill the SIGPR role.

Former inspector general at the Justice Department Michael Bromwich: “The signing statement threatens to undermine the authority and independence of this new IG. The Senate should extract a commitment from the nominee that Congress will be promptly notified of any Presidential/Administration interference or obstruction.”

You may recall that Trump has already proven that he’s willing to interfere with the legally-mandated work of an inspector general. When the Ukraine whistleblower filed a complaint last year, the IG of the Intelligence Community, Michael Atkinson, investigated and determined the complaint to be “urgent” and “credible.” Atkinson wrote a report and gave it to Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire to hand over to Congress. However, the White House and DOJ interfered and instructed Maguire not to transmit the report to the Senate and House Intelligence Committees. Chairman Adam Schiff had to subpoena Maguire to turn over the report and testify before his committee.
Further, there are already five IG vacancies in agencies that have a critical role in responding to the pandemic. The Treasury itself has not had a permanent, Senate-confirmed IG for over eight months now, and Trump hasn’t nominated a replacement. The Treasury Dept. has taken a lead role in the coronavirus response, with Secretary Mnuchin handling most of the negotiating with Congress on Trump’s behalf. The fact that the lead agency doesn’t have IG oversight should be troublesome in itself; replicating the situation with a special IG doesn’t seem to be a promising solution.

• The other four coronavirus-related agencies without a permanent IG: Department of Health and Human Services’ IG has been vacant for nine months, Department of Defense’s IG has been vacant for four years, Department of Education’s IG has been vacant for one year, and Office of Personnel Management’s IG has been vacant for four years. Overall, there are twelve IG vacancies in the 37) presidentially-appointed offices.

UPDATE: The nation's inspectors general have appointed Glenn Fine, the Pentagon's acting IG, to lead the committee of IGs overseeing the coronavirus relief effort.

This is one of several oversight mechanisms built into the new law. They include:
A committee of IGs (now led by Fine), a new special IG (to be nominated by Trump), a congressional review panel (to be appointed by House/Senate leaders)

Direct payments

Included in the stimulus bill is a $1200 one-time direct payment for all Americans who made less than $75,000 in 2019 (less than $150,000 if couples filed jointly). More details can be found here. I have read that the Treasury will use 2018 information for those who have not filed yet this year, but I am not 100% sure that’ll happen.
Mnuchin has said that Americans can expect to receive the money within three weeks, but many experts expect that timetable to be pushed into late April. Additionally, that only applies to Americans who included direct deposit information on their 2019 tax returns. Those who did not include their bank’s information will have to be sent a physical check in the mail… which could take anywhere from two to four months.
Other options are being discussed, including partnering the Treasury Dept. with MasterCard and Visa to deliver prepaid debit cards. Venmo and Paypal are reportedly lobbying the government to be considered as a disbursement option.
Future payments?
House Speaker Pelosi is already planning another wave of direct payments to Americans, saying that the $1,200 is not enough to mitigate the economic effects of the pandemic: “I don’t think we’ve seen the end of direct payments.” Republicans, meanwhile, are taking a ‘wait and see’ approach, using the next couple of weeks to measure the impact of the $2 trillion bill passed last week.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy: “What concerns me is when I listen to Nancy Pelosi talk about a fourth package now, it’s because she did not get out of things that she really wanted...I’m not sure you need a fourth package...Let’s let this work ... We have now given the resources to make and solve this problem. We don’t need to be crafting another bill right now.”
For the fourth legislative package, Democrats have said they would like to see increased food stamp benefits; increased coverage for coronavirus testing, visits to the doctor and treatment; more money for state and local governments, including Washington, D.C.; expanded family and medical leave; pension fixes; and stronger workplace protections.

Trump’s signature
Normally, a civil servant signs federal checks, like the direct payments Americans are set to receive. According to a Wall Street Journal report, Trump has told people that he wants his signature to appear on the stimulus checks.

THE SIDES

War on the poor continues

Amid the coronavirus crisis, Trump has defended his continued support of a Republican-led lawsuit to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, which would result in 20 million Americans losing health insurance if successful. The Supreme Court agreed to hear arguments in the case this fall. Contrasting with his position that the ACA is illegal, Trump is considering reopening enrollment on HealthCare.gov, allowing millions of uninsured individuals to get coverage before potentially incurring charges and fees related to COVID-19.
Joe Biden called on Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is leading the charge against the ACA, and President Trump to drop the lawsuit:

“At a time of national emergency, which is laying bare the existing vulnerabilities in our public health infrastructure, it is unconscionable that you are continuing to pursue a lawsuit designed to strip millions of Americans of their health insurance and protections under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), including the ban on insurers denying coverage or raising premiums due to pre-existing conditions.”

The Trump administration is also pushing forward with its plan to kick 700,000 people off federal food stamp assistance, known as SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program). The USDA announced two weeks ago that the department will appeal Judge Beryl Howell’s recent decision that the USDA’s work mandate rule is “arbitrary and capricious."
Additionally: The Social Security Administration has no plans to slow down a rule change set for June that will limit disability benefits, the Department of Health and Human Services still intends to reduce automatic enrollment in health coverage, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development will continue the process to enact a rule that would make it harder for renters to sue landlords for racial discrimination.

Lawmakers’ stock transactions

The Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission are beginning to investigate stock transactions made ahead of the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic. CNN reports that the inquiry has already reached out to Senator Richard Burr for information. “Under insider trading laws, prosecutors would need to prove the lawmakers traded based on material non-public information they received in violation of a duty to keep it confidential,” a task that won’t be easy.
Sen. Burr is facing another consequence of his trades: Alan Jacobson, a shareholder in Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, sued Burr for allegedly using private information to instruct a mass liquidation of his assets. Among the shares he sold were an up to $150,000 stake in Wyndham, whose stock suffered a market-value cut of more than two-thirds since mid-February.

Environmental rollbacks

Using the pandemic as cover, the Trump administration has begun to more aggressively roll back regulations meant to protect the environment. These are examples of what Naomi Klein dubbed “the shock doctrine”: the phenomenon wherein polluters and their government allies push through unpopular policy changes under the smokescreen of a public emergency.
On Thursday, the EPA announced (non-paywalled) an expansive relaxation of environmental laws and fines, exempting companies from consequences for pollution. Under the new rules, there are basically no rules. Companies are asked to “act responsibly” but are not required to report when their facilities discharge pollution into the air or water. Just five days before abandoning any pollution oversight, the oil industry’s largest trade group implored the administration for assistance, stating that social distancing measures caused a steep drop in demand for gasoline.

• Monday morning update: In an interview with Fox News this morning, Trump said he was going to call Putin after the interview to discuss the Saudi-Russia oil fight. A consequence of this "battle" has been plummeting prices in the U.S. making it difficult for domestic companies (like shale extraction) to turn a profit. It's striking that the day after Dr. Fauci told Americans we can expect 100,000 to 200,000 deaths from COVID-19 (if we keep social distancing measures in place), Trump's first action is to talk to Fox News and his second action is to intervene in an international tiff on behalf of the oil and gas industry.

Gina McCarthy, who led the E.P.A. under the Obama administration, called the rollback “an open license to pollute.” Cynthia Giles, who headed the EPA enforcement division during the Obama administration, said “it is so far beyond any reasonable response I am just stunned.”
The EPA is also moving forward with a widely-opposed rule to limit the types of scientific studies used when crafting new regulations or revising current ones. Hidden behind claims of increased transparency, the rule would require disclosure of all raw data used in scientific studies. This would disqualify many fields of research that rely on personal health information from individuals that must be kept confidential. For example, studies that show air pollution causes premature deaths or a certain pesticide is linked to birth defects would be rejected under the proposed rule change.
Officials and scientists are calling upon the EPA to extend the time for comment on the regulatory changes, arguing that the public is unable to express their opinion while dealing with the pandemic.

“These rollbacks need and deserve the input of our public health community, but right now, they are rightfully focused on responding to the coronavirus,” said Representative Frank Pallone of New Jersey, the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Other controversial decisions being made:

• A former EPA official who worked on controversial policies returned as Administrator Andrew Wheeler’s chief of staff. Mandy Gunasekara helped write regulations to ease pollution controls for coal-fired power plants and vehicle emissions in her previous role as chief of the EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation. In a recent interview, Gunasekara, who played a role in the decision to exit the Paris Climate Accord, pushed back on the more dire predictions of climate change, saying, “I don't think it is catastrophic.”
  
• NYT: The plastic bag industry, battered by a wave of bans nationwide, is using the coronavirus crisis to try to block laws prohibiting single-use plastic. “We simply don’t want millions of Americans bringing germ-filled reusable bags into retail establishments putting the public and workers at risk,” an industry campaign that goes by the name Bag the Ban warned on Tuesday. (Also see The Guardian)
  
• Kentucky, South Dakota, and West Virginia passed laws putting new criminal penalties on protests against fossil fuel infrastructure in just the past two weeks.
  
• The Hill: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said Friday that it will extend the amount of time that winter gasoline can be sold this year as producers have been facing lower demand due to the coronavirus. It will allow companies to sell the winter-grade gasoline through May 20, whereas companies would have previously been required to stop selling it by May 1 to protect air quality. “In responding to an international health crisis, the last thing the EPA should do is take steps that will worsen air quality and undermine the public’s health,” biofuels expert David DeGennaro said.
  
• NYT: At the Interior Department, employees at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have been under strict orders to complete the rule eliminating some protections for migratory birds within 30 days, according to two people with direct knowledge of the orders. The 45-day comment period on that rule ended on March 19.
  
• WaPo: The Interior Department has received over 230 nominations for oil and gas leases covering more than 150,000 acres across southern Utah, a push that would bring drilling as close as a half-mile from some of the nation’s most famous protected sites, including Arches and Canyonlands National Parks… if all the fossil fuels buried in those sites was extracted and burned, it would translate into between 1 billion and 5.95 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide being released into the air. That upward measure is equal to half the annual carbon output of China
  

Court updates

Press freedom case
Southern District of New York District Judge Lorna Schofield ruled that a literary advocacy group’s lawsuit against Trump for allegedly violating the First Amendment can move forward. The group, PEN America, is pursuing claims that Trump “has used government power to retaliate against media coverage and reporters he dislikes.”
Schofield determined that PEN’s allegation that Trump made threats to chill free speech was valid, providing as an example the White House’s revocation of CNN correspondent Jim Acosta’s press press corps credentials:

”The threats are lent credence by the fact that Defendant has acted on them before, by revoking Mr. Acosta’s credentials and barring reporters from particular press conferences. The Press Secretary indeed e-mailed the entire press corps to inform them of new rules of conduct and to warn of further consequences, citing the incident involving Mr. Acosta… These facts plausibly allege that a motivation for defendant’s actions is controlling and punishing speech he dislikes.”

Twitter case
The president suffered another First Amendment defeat last week when the full 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals declined to review a previous ruling that prevents Trump from blocking users on the Twitter account he uses to communicate with the public. Judge Barrington D. Parker, a Nixon-appointee, wrote: “Excluding people from an otherwise public forum such as this by blocking those who express views critical of a public official is, we concluded, unconstitutional.”
Trump-appointees Michael Parker and Richard Sullivan authored a dissent, arguing the free speech “does not include a right to post on other people’s personal social media accounts, even if those other people happen to be public officials.” Park warned that the ruling will allow the social media pages of public officials to be “overrun with harassment, trolling, and hate speech, which officials will be powerless to filter.”
Florida’s felon voting
U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle ripped into Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s administration for failing to come up with a process to determine which felons are genuinely unable to pay court-ordered fees and fines, which are otherwise required to be paid before having their voting rights restored.
“If the state is not going to fix it, I will,” Hinkle warned. He had given the state five months to come up with an administrative process for felons to prove they’re unable to pay financial obligations, but Florida officials did not do so. The case is set to be heard on April 28 (notwithstanding any coronavirus-related delays).

ICE, Jails, and COVID-19

ICE
One of the most overlooked populations with an increased risk of death from coronavirus are those in detention facilities, which keep people in close quarters with little sanitation or protective measures (including for staff).
Last week, U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee ordered the federal government to “make continuous efforts” to release migrant children from detention centers across the country. Numerous advocacy groups asked for the release after reports that four children being held in New York had tested positive for the virus:

“The threat of irreparable injury to their health and safety is palpable,” the plaintiffs’ lawyers said in their petition… both of the agencies operating migrant children detention facilities must by April 6 provide an accounting of their efforts to release those in custody… “Her order will undoubtedly speed up releases,” said Peter Schey, co-counsel for the plaintiffs in the court case.

On Tuesday, 13 immigrants held at ICE facilities in California filed a lawsuit demanding to be released because their health conditions make them particularly vulnerable to dying if infected by the coronavirus. An ACLU statement says the detainees are “confined in crowded and unsanitary conditions where social distancing is not possible.” The 13 individuals are all over the age of 50 and/or suffering from serious underlying medical issues like high blood pressure.

“From all the evidence we have seen, ICE is failing to fulfill its constitutional obligation to protect the health and safety of individuals in its custody. ICE should exercise its existing discretion to release people with serious medical conditions from detention for humanitarian reasons,” said William Freeman, senior counsel at the ACLU of Northern California.

Meanwhile, ICE is under fire for continuing to shuttle detainees across the country, with one even being forced to take nine different flights bouncing from Louisiana to Texas to New Jersey less than two weeks ago. That man is Dr. Sirous Asgari, a materials science and engineering professor from Iran, who was acquitted last year on federal charges of stealing trade secrets. The government lost its case against him, yet ICE has had him in indefinite detention since November.

Asgari, 59, told the Guardian that his Ice holding facility in Alexandria, Louisiana, had no basic cleaning practices in place and continued to bring in new detainees from across the country with no strategy to minimize the threat of Covid-19...Detainees have no hand sanitizer, and the facility is not regularly cleaning bathrooms or sleeping areas…Detainees lack access to masks… Detainees struggle to stay clean, and the facility has an awful stench.

Jails
State jails are making a better effort to release detained individuals, as both New York and New Jersey ordered a thousand people in each state be let out of jail. The order applied only to low-level offenders sentenced to less than a year in jail and those held on technical probation violations. In Los Angeles County, officials released over 1,700 people from its jails.
A judge in Alabama took similar steps last week, ordering roughly 500 people jailed for minor offenses to be released to lessen crowding in facilities. Unlike in New York and New Jersey, however, local officials reacted in an uproar, led in part by the state executive committee for the Alabama Republican Party and Assistant District Attorney C.J. Robinson. Using angry Facebook messages as the barometer of the community’s feelings, Robinson worked “frantically” to block inmates from being released.

• Reuters: As of Saturday, at least 132 inmates and 104 staff at jails across New York City had tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus… Since March 22, jails have reported 226 inmates and 131 staff with confirmed cases of COVID-19, according to a Reuters survey of cities and counties that run America’s 20 largest jails. The numbers are almost certainly an undercount given the fast spread of the virus.

Tribe opposed by Trump loses land

On Wednesday, The Federal Bureau of Indian Affairs announced the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe’s reservation would be "disestablished" and its land trust status removed. Tribal Chairman Cedric Cromwell called the move "cruel" and "unnecessary,” particularly coming in the midst of a pandemic crisis. Rep. Bill Keating (D-Mass.), who last year introduced legislation to protect the tribe's reservation as trust land in Massachusetts, said the order “is one of the most cruel and nonsensical acts I have seen since coming to Congress.”
The administration’s decision is especially suspicious as just last year Trump attacked the tribe’s plan to build a casino on its land, tweeting that allowing the construction would be “unfair” and treat Native Americans unequally. As a former casino owner, Trump has spent decades attacking Native American casinos as unfair competition. At a 1993 congressional hearing Trump said that tribal owners “don’t look like Indians to me” and claimed: “I might have more Indian blood than a lot of the so-called Indians that are trying to open up the reservations” to gambling.
More than his past history, however, Trump has current interests at play in the Mashpee Wampanoag’s planned casino: it would have competed for business with nearby Rhode Island casinos owned by Twin River Worldwide Holdings, whose president, George Papanier, was a finance executive at the Trump Plaza casino hotel in Atlantic City.

In the Mashpee case, Twin River, the operator of the two Rhode Island casinos, has hired Matthew Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union and a vocal Trump supporter, to lobby for it on the land issue. Schlapp’s wife, Mercedes, is director of strategic communications at the White House.

I'm not a conspiracy nut. I think the social distancing and closures are doing good at making sure COVID doesn't run rampant. That being said, Phil Murphy needs to at least acknowledge the unique challenge that Atlantic City is facing. Every weekday I watch the governor's addresses and check the Twitter updates and absolutely nothing for the shore region except when talking about beaches or some fool trying to open his gym/knick knack shop. No sign of life from the DGE, either.
27,000+ workers out of work currently and could potentially out of work entirely if the casinos don't start to see better revenue. The huge growth in revenue from last year is basically wiped out across the board, with a lot of properties still turning around from the last catastrophe. The "busy season" is approaching and hotels don't know whether or not people should make reservations. The reopening plan laid out has no mention of casino gaming/nightlife except in the end stage with "limited entertainment". It would be nice to have some information as to what's happening or going to happen with our area.
End of rant. Stay safe folks.

This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 68%. (I'm a bot)

New Jersey will not reopen indoor dining this week as planned in the first major reversal of the state's Phase 2 coronavirus reopening plan, Gov. Phil Murphy announced Monday.
Indoor dining was scheduled to resume Thursday along with several other big reopening steps including Atlantic City casinos, amusement parks, boardwalk rides and arcades ahead of the busy July 4th weekend.
Murphy cited recent scenes from expanded outdoor bar and restaurants showing packed crowds not wearing masks and ignoring social distancing as a reason from pausing indoor dining indefinitely.
Murphy had provided the detailed restrictions for indoor dining at restaurants on Saturday, but changed his mind just two days later.
"So the national situation, compounded by instances of knucklehead behavior here at home, are requiring us to hit pause on the restart of indoor dining for the foreseeable future."
Murphy warned people last week the administration would crack down on those violating safety guidelines after the first round of viral videos surfaced from the Jersey Shore and other bar-heavy locations showing large unmasked crowds jammed into newly opened outdoor dining areas.

Summary Source | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: dining^#1 indoor^#2 Murphy^#3 restaurant^#4 outdoor^#5
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Great Canadian Gaming (T.GC) has 25 gaming, entertainment and hospitality facilities in Ontario, B.C. and Atlantic regions of Canada.
Over 95% of the revenue & EBITDA comes from BC & Ontario, of which each province has signaled that casino's will be among the last things to open in their provinces. There is NO prospective reopen date!
Heading into this weekend Great Canadian shares are off just 30% YTD without a dollar of revenue for almost 4 months and no visibility on when revenue or profitability will return.
In comparison, Gamehost Inc (T.GH), which operates casinos in Alberta that are open is also off 30% YTD. MGM Resorts (MGM), which also has its casinos open is off 42% YTD and Las Vegas Sands (LVS) which also has its casinos open is down 30% YTD.
Additionally, when the Casinos can reopen, one can expect very stringent rules that reduce revenues and increase costs, such as when Atlantic City Casinos reopened this weekend. Rules, are likely to include temperature checks on entering, mandatory wearing of masks, half capacity at table games, no smoking, drinking, or eating while inside the casinos and a cap on overall capacity of 50% occupancy.
This feels like a solid candidate to short sell over a medium time horizon. Any opinions from the community?

This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 85%. (I'm a bot)

Properties across the country shut down - some voluntarily, most by order of their state governments - in the second half of March and have reopened region by region in May, June, and early July, with 831 of 989 casinos welcoming customers at latest check.
After a 78-day shutdown, the Vegas casinos reopened at 12:01 a.m. on June 4 with no restrictions on where customers could travel to Nevada from.
On June 24, after the casinos had been open almost three weeks, Gov. Sisolak finally mandated the wearing of masks in casinos, with the order going into effect on June 26.
The first were in Arizona, where Gila River Hotels and Casinos closed three properties after a security guard died of COVID, and Desert Diamond Casinos also closed one site.
As veteran Vegas insider Anthony Curtis observed in his Las Vegas Advisor newsletter, "Some casinos check temperatures at the door; others don't. At those that do, the techniques vary. I've been checked in five different ways."
It's not ideal for business in the short term, but it's been effective for preventing viral spread. Atlantic City, where eight of nine casinos reopened over the long holiday weekend, has the benefit of being part of a multi-state pact to institute 14-day quarantines for visitors from a number of states where the outbreak is growing most rapidly.

Summary Source | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: casino^#1 state^#2 Vegas^#3 reopened^#4 Nevada^#5
Post found in /Coronavirus, /vegaslocals and /vegas.
NOTICE: This thread is for discussing the submission topic. Please do not discuss the concept of the autotldr bot here.

It had been a while since I have been to Atlantic City, but got there this weekend. It has changed a lot. Much heavier crowds, shopping still lags but it is improving somewhat. I stopped in every Boardwalk casino and each was crowded. I also noticed that the casinos are doing a much better job of advertising their shows. They seem to have taken a page from Las Vegas and learning that shows can attract people. I also noticed that the new Ocean Casino has plenty of meeting space, which is something that the Las Vegas casinos do very well. It is quite often the Las Vegas casinos host conventions. It looks like at least one Casino in Atlantic City is going to try to do the same.
I left AC impressed, and feeling positive about it's future. It still has plenty of issues to tackle but it is possible for it to be great with proper investment. Just a few observations: --the city desperately needs to get on convention maps --the train to NYC should be reopened, why did it close? --offering residency to a few shows would help, since it is less than two hours from both Philly and Manhattan --it has a surprising lack of classic boardwalk finds, it would help to have a few true arcades, a water park, and such --why is there no museum to Miss America? Surely the pageant can afford this
Anyway y'all, I plan to visit again!

Fallout: Great Lanta is an idea for a Fallout game (or maybe even a mod) that popped up in my head after I discovered that my hometown had it's own location in the Fallout universe. The reason for me doing this is because of u/_TheRealScythe_'s posts and fanmade Fallout: The Isles lore that I saw and thought was pretty interesting and kind of inspired me to share this with y'all. And because I had pretty much made up all of this Great Lanta stuff up before so I figured I could post it here and see what your opinions and insights are on the whole thing.
I know some people say that Great Lanta is likely referring to Atlanta, Georgia, but since Great Lanta was described as being on the shores of the ocean I'm going to say that it's Atlantic City mostly because Atlanta is over a hundred miles from a shore and like 600 miles away from Washington, DC so how could they even get such a story across the vast wasteland given the insane creatures and raiders that may litter the way?
Since I am no way a writer some of this stuff may sound stupid, all over the place, or not as descriptive as I want it to be, and the lore won't be as extensive as I want it to, but here we go.
Setting:
The game is set in and around post-apocalyptic retro-futuristic New Jersey in a region called Great Lanta which sort of encompasses South Jersey. The part of Great Lanta in which the game is set in will pretty much be the entirety of Atlantic County based on this Google Maps snapshot I took. The year will be 2291, 4 years after the events of Fallout 4, but I'm not really set on that time. The reason why is because if the entire Fallout universe is continuing to move forward then I think there will be less chaos in the wasteland and more order which I don't think is a bad thing but it makes it harder for any sort of conflict to realistically occur if humanity does get it together 200 years after the apocalypse instead of just 100 and something.
Story:
The story is quite similar to that of New Vegas' actually. The reason why is because in the description of Great Lanta, slavers were described to have invaded the region. In here I want to keep the slavers because it can already set them up as faction. In the in-game lore surrounding them it will say that they have invaded Great Lanta multiple times only to be pushed back by some of the strongest factions in the region, only to appear years later stronger than ever and ready to decimate the people who drove them away. In the story that I have come up with this sudden power is explained to be the Slavers (who I couldn't really come up with a legitimate name for yet) being exposed to a new strain of the FEV that doesn't turn them into supermutants instead they are pretty much superpowered with enhanced strength, accuracy, speed etc., making them really dangerous and extremely hard for the factions to beat. This also poses a good question of where the hell did these slavers (or just the select ones) get this strain from? This is my only idea of how they can still pose a threat after so many years and I guess it will be really cool if the FEV is explored again in a future Fallout game. I guess this is the only difference they have against Ceasar's Legion, but it still doesn't change the fact that a powerful slaver group exists and is actively trying to take over.
Now the whole casino thing is similar too but in the lore of Resort City (the name that the Atlantic City casino owners decided on after coming together as a settlement) the reason why the casino's survived the bombs were because the people who made the casino's decided to band together and had hired some former bootleggers to steal a prototype Nike missile launcher (aka something that could have been used in Fallout 4 because research yielded one was in the Boston area in real life and could have been something interesting to add to that bland story) which will be erected on one of the casinos and shoot down the nuke that will be heading for Atlantic City and the casinos that they spent their lives raising from the ground up. This had pretty much made them the "saviors" of Atlantic City but with the fallout coming from Ocean City, Philadelphia, etc. really irradiating the whole place, the casinos opened their doors to bring in the survivors outside, only for things to go wrong even more after some of those guys started turning into ghouls. This had caused major conflict with the ghoul population (even the non-feral ones) and the casinos for a long time didn't trust anyone who didn't look entirely human. They eventually had set to eliminate the ferals surrounding the casinos eventually coming up with the earliest settlement and them getting on rebuilding. Luckily the casinos stayed intact, except for one or two, because of the reinforcements made on them due to the paranoia of the casino owners during the rising tension and fear of nuclear armageddon. As time went on Resort City's leaders decided to piece Atlantic City back together and it worked for quite some time until the Slavers had shown up and ruined everything. This had caused Resort City to close down its walls not letting anyone in and pretty much shooting anyone that neared their settlement. Eventually they warred it out with the Slavers and decided to band with other settlements throughout the region to run them away to wherever they came from (a place that will be visited to later toward the end of the game where an awesome battle will occur). This temporarily worked until the Slavers attempted time and time again to invade only to win when they came back stronger than ever like I mentioned above. Despite all of those problems Resort City still manages to maintain its infrastructure, economy (people even have to pay rent and work), their almost uncorrupt police force, and their small military till today. They also reopened the actual casinos which I guess could be the way they earn the name Resort City instead of them deciding upon it. Even though there are these major differences I still believe it is too much like New Vegas where it also includes a casino themed powerhouse.
So I don't really an actual story story, but saying that it is fairly similar to New Vegas' is enough. But the even sadder part is that I have no idea who or what our protagonist is.
In fact it feels like everything is taken in terms of a cool Fallout protagonist. "The Sole Survivor", "The Lone Wanderer", "The Courier", "The Chosen One", "The Prisoner" (from the canceled Van Buren project), "The Warrior", and "The Initiate". I could go for something different, like one of the first ideas I had was a ranger-type but then I found out that in the ongoing Fallout Cascadia project they might be doing something similar (well maybe an NCR ranger) so I scrapped it. Of course I had an idea in which we play as a vault dweller but I just didn't like the sound of that because it feels like to easy a story. You leave, discover the world for the first time, etc this, etc that, overused story. The one protagonist story that I have for this is this though: Slavers blew open the vault door, raided the place, killed some dwellers, took the last few dwellers as slaves, of course, and you are one of the last survivors. Maybe we can be "The Last Survivor" or maybe just "The Survivor" or if we were too capture by the Slavers, "The Slave", or if we escape, "The Escapee", but if so that will be the first ever time a protagonist will have the word "pee" in their name. So I don't know. Maybe I'm going to much in the name. You can come up with something if you want. I also had another version in which as well as stealing your family to be slaves the Slavers also took your vaults GECK (Garden of Eden Creation Kit) because your vault were among the few to repopulate the world after the bombs fell but because of plain paranoia Overseer after Overseer expressed and to an extent vault residents they chose that we stay closed. So a new mystery also shows up here, in which we ask ourselves "How the hell they knew we had one in the first place?" and "What they hell are they gonna use it for?"
Well that is all I have for now. It isn't really much and there were two other factions that I have which include some sort of Institute-like "Mega Vault" and a settlement of Chinese ghouls called the Yangzte that washed ashore in their submarine only to become a full fledge settlement in the current year (I guess I'll make that timeline at some point) and grudgingly trading with the people who they still view as enemies.
So that's all for now. Tell me what you think. I might be adding more here and there in the future as well as lore and other major locations in the world, like my favorite HamTown, post-war Hammonton (top right of that map), which is a friendly although silly supermutant settlement and Bader City, the stadium in Atlantic City, which will be a Diamond City, Megaton, and Nellis Air Force Base mix.

In this pack:

• Deadline | White House
• MTP Daily
• The Beat with Ari Melber
• Hardball with Chris Matthews
• All In with Chris Hayes
• The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell
• The 11th Hour with Brian Williams

Deadline | White House

“He shouldn’t say anything at this point” Nicolle Wallace discusses a new report from the FBI that details the impact of the government shutdown and why it is a threat to national security. Plus, Rudy Giuliani is still trying to undo the damage from his revelation that Trump’s talks about building Trump Tower Moscow went on through Election Day. And a new tell-all describes what Trump considers “modern day presidential” behavior. Nicolle is joined by New York Times chief White House correspondent Peter Baker, former FBI assistant director for counterintelligence Frank Figliuzzi, former chief of staff at the CIA and Pentagon Jeremy Bash, former aide in the George W. Bush White House and State Department Elise Jordan, Washington Post associate editor Eugene Robinson, and Bloomberg Opinion executive editor Tim O’Brien.
FBI sounds warning on shutdown consequences as Trump digs in NYT’s Peter Baker, MSNBC national security analysts Frank Figliuzzi and Jeremy Bash, MSNBC analyst Elise Jordan, and WaPo columnist Eugene Robinson on the FBI’s 72-page report detailing the damage caused from the partial government shutdown
‘Even if he did do it': Giuliani’s new new line about Trump Tower Moscow Bloomberg’s Tim O’Brien, NYT’s Peter Baker, MSNBC national security analysts Frank Figliuzzi and Jeremy Bash, MSNBC analyst Elise Jordan, and WaPo columnist Eugene Robinson on Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani’s attempt to clean up his previous comments on Trump’s ties to Russia
Russia policy: Where Trump and his administration diverge Bloomberg’s Tim O’Brien, NYT’s Peter Baker, MSNBC national security analysts Frank Figliuzzi and Jeremy Bash, MSNBC analyst Elise Jordan, and WaPo columnist Eugene Robinson on the Trump administration being tougher than the president on Russia
It’s ‘modern-day presidential’: New tell-all shows chaos inside the Trump White House Bloomberg’s Tim O’Brien, NYT’s Peter Baker, MSNBC analyst Elise Jordan, and WaPo columnist Eugene Robinson on the constant turmoil inside the Trump administration

MTP Daily

NYT reporter: Despite walk back, Giuliani 'did move the timeline' New York Times reporter Michael Schmidt discusses Rudy Giuliani's slip and take back of the Trump Tower Moscow deal, and how it affects our knowledge of the Russia probe.
Panel: Did candidate-Trump really have 'nothing' to do with Russia? The MTP Daily panel contrasts candidate Trump's behavior towards Russia during the campaign with the information we now know
Full Wittes: Giuliani’s strategy could be ‘being combative and pleasing the president’ Lawfare Editor in Chief Ben Wittes joins MTP Daily to discuss Rudy Giuliani’s recent comments and what the Trump legal team’s possible strategy could be or whether they have one at all.
The 2020 B's are buzzing Four potential big-name candidates have yet to enter the Democratic field, but they could lead to a big reshuffling.
Wittes: Mueller 'has advantage' of knowing Giuliani's legal strategy Lawfare editor-in-chief Ben Wittes explains why Giuliani's strategy in disclosing details of Trump's illicit campaign dealings.
Panel: McConnell calling vote to open government 'halting' 'real and measurable progress' Jake Sherman and Michael Steel give their opinions on why Mitch McConnell is calling votes for a bill to reopen the government.
How do early campaign announcements take the oxygen out of the 2020 field? The MTP Daily panel discusses how the early campaign announcements burden other 2020 Democratic hopefuls.
Chuck is obsessed with the NFL: Bad calls, overtime rules, slow refs and no replays Tonight Chuck is obsessed with the New Orleans' Saints' season and that their almost certain trip to the Super Bowl was ruined by one historically bad call.

The Beat with Ari Melber

0.00 - Ari Melber breaks down how the key decoding Giuliani’s media statements is to ignore the talking points and focus on the secrets Giuliani seems to spill by accident. 15.00 - Senator Chris van Hollen tells Ari Melber the Trump admin. did an "all out push" to ease Russian sanctions and it was a "shameful day" when Republicans "fell in lockstep". 24.25 - Federal workers are on track to miss yet another pay check. 35.30 - Former Trump Casino Executive, Jack O'Donnell, tells Ari Melber Trump "crushed" his business with "reckless spending" and says Trump finds women in executive roles "perplexing". 42.15 - New details on a mystery Mueller-related subpoena.
Fmr. Trump Exec on Pelosi: Trump 'sensitive' to powerful women The Government shutdown echoes Trump’s Atlantic City casino bankruptcy. Former Trump Casino Executive, Jack O’Donnell tells Ari Melber Trump is handling the shutdown like the Casinos he ran into the ground. O’Donnell says Trump “crushed” business with his “reckless spending” and is “doing the same thing with our Country”. O’Donnell also comments on Trump facing off with Speaker Nancy Pelosi, telling “The Beat” Trump is “sensitive” to women being in executive roles and likely finds it “perplexing” to be dealing with Pelosi on the shutdown.
Backlash: Trump aide trashes Giuliani’s Trump-Russia flip flops Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, is walking back comments that suggested Trump talked to Michael Cohen about a Moscow project up until the 2016 election. Ari Melber breaks down how the key decoding Giuliani’s media statements is to ignore the talking points and focus on the secrets Giuliani seems to spill by accident. Former DOJ Spokesperson Matt Miller, tells Melber Giuliani creates “entirely damaging news cycles” based on information that might not “even be true”.
Republicans confronted by nationwide Trump shutdown protests Trump is moving forward with plans to deliver his State of the Union, dismissing Nancy Pelosi’s decision postpone, as protests erupt across the Country over the Government shutdown. Federal workers are on track to miss yet another pay check. Rev. Al Sharpton tells Ari Melber that it’s a “moral failure” by the Trump administration.

Hardball with Chris Matthews

John Brennan: Trump acts like he has ulterior motives The timeline of Trump's Moscow project raises new suspicions about his foreign policy proposals during the 2016 campaign.
Jill Wine-Banks says Giuliani’s role is to distract us What is Rudy Giuliani’s role as Trump’s lawyer? Jill Wine-Banks says his role is to distract the American public and act as a “PR agent” for the President.
Claire McCaskill: Trump stretching national security with the shutdown With the partial government shutdown left unresolved, President Trump is still moving forward with plans to deliver his State of the Union address one week from today despite House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's request to delay it.
New book from former staffer sheds light on chaos inside West Wing The Washington Post got an advance copy of of the Cliff Sims book ‘Team of Vipers,’ which describes a White House the author calls "absolutely out of control."

All In with Chris Hayes

Trump's latest attempt at a bait and switch 32 days into the Trump Shutdown, Stephen Miller makes a sneak attack. Then, as the president's lawyer obfuscates, the growing calls for House Democrats to start public hearings yesterday. Plus, Chef Jose Andres on his mission to feed federal employees in crisis.
Sen. Tim Kaine on why you can't negotiate with Trump The never-ending shutdown just keeps dragging on - because President Deals is not a good faith negotiator.
Rev. Dr. Barber blasts politicians for hypocrisy about MLK "Politicians can't say they love Dr. King and how he stood for love and unity but then...refuse to support his agenda," said Rev. Dr. William Barber at an event honoring Dr. King on Monday.
Chris Hayes on race, retribution, and privilege in America Chris Hayes comments on the Covington Catholic student controversy and what that and other flashpoints say about privilege and justice in America.
Chef Jose Andres on feeding workers hurt by shutdown Chef Jose Andres tells Chris Hayes the government is "supposed to be helping the people," but instead, during the shutdown, it's "taking them hostage."

The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell

Rpt: Trump “apoplectic” after Giuliani interviews Tonight on The Last Word: Giuliani continues to change his story on Trump’s involvement in Trump Tower Moscow negotiations. McConnell is bringing two bills to a vote in the Senate, one supported by Trump, the other supported by Pelosi. And new reporting that “The Apprentice” producer Mark Burnett sought to arrange a meeting between a Trump advisor and a banker with ties to Putin’s inner circle. Tim O’Brien, Mimi Rocah, Ron Klain, Matt Viser, Evan McMullin and Norm Ornstein all join Lawrence O’Donnell.

The 11th Hour with Brian Williams

Day 733: White House reportedly has no way out of Trump's shutdown Voters are furious and begging lawmakers to reopen the government as federal workers face another missed paycheck. Plus the shutdown starts to hurt law enforcement and threaten the IRS's ability to issue tax returns. Shannon Pettypiece, Jonathan Lemire, Eliza Collins, Shawn Henry, Cynthia Alksne, Jon Meacham, and Eugene Robinson all join.
Why a prolonged government shutdown poses a national security risk MSNBC National Security Analyst and former FBI official Shawn Henry joins to discuss the national security risks that come from a prolonged government shutdown.
POLITICO: Trump WH aide bemoans dealing with Giuliani's 'f--- ups' Is Trump's personal attorney doing more harm than good for the president? Fmr. federal prosecutor & MSNBC Legal Analyst Cynthia Alksne joins to react.
Trump plans to go ahead with State of the Union amid shutdown fight Trump says he's going ahead with his State of the Union speech even though Speaker Pelosi suggested rescheduling it during the government shutdown citing security concerns. Jon Meacham & Eugene Robinson react.
Link

Revel Casino has been struggling for years and 2014 was by far the worst, with the last nail in their coffin being the auction scheduled for September. Contrary to what many expected the casino owners to do, they didn't try to postpone the deadline, in fact they asked for a quick resolve of this issue. The reason for why they were not interested in keeping the casino open is that a lot of money was being lost on a daily basis and these losses tend to accumulate at a fast-pace. Revel casino is going to go on auction on September 24, which means that time is quickly running out for those who plan on buying it. There are not many investors willing to take a leap of faith with a business that proved to be not profitable for such a long time. The most optimistic ones expected creditors attracting investors, but it is very likely that there won't be too many competing for Revel Casino. The Atlantic City gambling industry as a whole is struggling and there are many casinos in this position, which means that this is a buyer's market. Those who organize the auction are concerned by the prospect of few investors showing up and that the price they might be willing to pay will be insignificant. The creditors are also trying to get their share as soon as possible, because it's been a while since they recuperated the money invested. Revel's bankruptcy has been a roller coaster the seer, with the casino fighting unsecured creditors and having most of his assets sold already. Those who are willing to make their own bids during the auction are carefully monitoring everything that happens to this former giant. While the business itself has no future whatsoever, the building and the property can be interesting for those who plan on starting something entirely new here. There are some who think that parts of the building might reopen shortly after the auction completes, but nobody knows whether a casino would operate here in the future. There are fewer people traveling to Atlantic City to gamble and as a result, the existing casinos are simply trying to stay afloat. American players are more enthusiastic about the prospect of online gambling being legalized and their enthusiasm is shared by online casino operators. Among those who are willing to establish a dominant presence on the East Coast and nationwide is Cosmik Casino.
from
via Casinoreviews

Build the Trump Memorial Now!
by [email protected] (Jack Shafer) via POLITICO - TOP Stories
URL: http://ift.tt/2tSlvdx
Is it too soon to propose a President Donald Trump Memorial on the National Mall?
President George Washington waited 49 years after his death for ground to be broken for his memorial and another 36 years for the spire’s completion. President Thomas Jefferson was dead 117 years and President Abraham Lincoln 57 years before receiving their honors in stone. President Franklin D. Roosevelt spent 52 years on hold. A spot along the Mall has been reserved for President Dwight D. Eisenhower, dead 48 years, but what good is the dedicated real estate doing him? The feds have blown more than $40 million on the hamstrung project, a Frank Gehry-designed atrocity, and nobody knows when it will be built.
Some might say, Why can’t it wait? Nobody can deny that Trump is as pioneering president who has ever inhabited the White House. He’s the first president to own social media. He’s our first true citizen-president, elected without a day of public service to his name. To those who carp that he hasn’t much in the way of accomplishment to show for his first five-plus months in office, hey, it’s early yet! Proceeding on the assumption that 62,984,825 voters can’t be wrong, and that he’ll eventually sweep something of real consequence into his presidency, it’s not too early to start designing a granite, marble, and bluestone salute to the man.
And one more thing: He’s colossally impatient: He’d want this thing to go up in a hurry, like Wolman Rink revisited. If we get cracking now on a Trump memorial, we could dedicate it as his first term ends. A president as unique as Trump deserves a memorial that’s hugely unique. So what would it look like? A few modest proposals:
The Fairway to Heaven
The most natural fit for his presidency would be a memorial with a golf theme. In the first 165 days of his presidency, Trump has spent 36 of them on one of his golf properties, driving on a green, and blinding the traveling press pool to his swing by sticking them in a basement room with blacked out windows. Trump has a way of turning his negatives—a foul mouth, a boorish manner, a short attention span—into positives. He could do the same with his golf habit, which the commentariat can’t stop complaining about, but his votaries clearly don’t mind.
Never mind the pedestrian 18-hole course tucked nearby in East Potomac Park. A champion golf course would, in true Trumpian fashion, sprawl across the whole place. The Mall’s 146 acres would make a superb wooded, scenic course, with ample room for a several double dogleg par 5 holes. Existing water hazards—the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, the Jefferson Memorial’s Tidal Basin, and Constitution Gardens—could be incorporated into the course, as could the Potomac River, adjacent to West Potomac Park. Tiber Creek, which once ran from the foot of Capitol Hill to the Potomac, was rerouted to a sewer tunnel in the late 1800s. It could be reopened to give the Trump Memorial additional aquatic grandeur, putting the “hazard” back into water hazard. Convert the swale that forms the Vietnam Veterans Memorial into a grand sand trap. Obviously, the flat-as-a-fritter greenway would have to be terraformed to add the contours a top-quality course must have, which shouldn’t be a problem because so much of the Mall is already landfill. And for a clubhouse—well, the White House has a perfect location, and could double for a suburban country club anyway.
The “Mine’s Bigger” Tower
Should a golf course be considered too intrusive, we could scout other Mall locations. In his essential guide to the interconnected meanings of the Mall memorials, Charles L. Griswold Jr. sees the whole system as a form of “recollective architecture” through which we tell our nation’s story. All of the memorials radiate from the center marked by the Washington Monument, which symbolizes both the nation’s founding and its founder. The Lincoln and Jefferson memorials extend like “like planets in orbit around this obelisk.” Naturally, the monument they should be orbiting is Trump’s.
Because everything with the Trump name on it must be—or claim to be—bigger than what has gone before, the Washington Monument will have to surrender its centrality and its spot to the bigger Trump Tower. The design specs for this one are pretty straightforward: Slightly more of everything. This newest Trump Tower needs to stand taller than the 555 feet and 5 1/8 inches of its competitor; if it’s going to be white, it should be whiter than the Washington Monument. If made of marble, only flawless extra virgin marble will do. (Or at least a veneer of it.) The real debate will be what happens to the Washington Monument itself—do we take the trouble to move it to a new location? Or just raze it, like Trump did to Bonwit Teller? Maybe one way to assuage the preservationists would be to cover the Washington Monument in just enough gold leaf to make it reflect the new Trump monument, and rebrand it with a subtle onyx “T.”
The Conqueror of All Media
Monuments often represent the triumphs of the men they commemorate—nearly every big Roman arch depicts some emperor’s defeat of a hated foe. For Trump, that enemy is clear. The perfect spot for the Trump Memorial would be next to the Canadian Embassy, near the U.S. Capitol. Yes, that’s where the Newseum currently stands; building on its ashes would signify Trump’s triumph over the pesky scribblers and yellers of the Fourth Estate. Something domed, Roman style, would echo the imperial Trump style and harmonize with the other domes (Jefferson, Capitol, National Gallery, et al.) that decorate the city’s monumental core. Domed, but bigger. A statute of Trump in toga and scandals, perhaps, place at its center, with fast food wrappers scattered at his feet—a symbol of his prolitarian cred, and an actual record of his eating habits.
Many presidential memorials enshrine their man with inspiring quotations he’s uttered or written. Trump’s most famous tweets and other lines (“Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything”; “Fake media”; “You’re fired!”; “Frederick Douglass is an example of somebody who’s done an amazing job and is getting recognized more and more, I notice”) could be chiseled into his shrine. And most gratifyingly, building on the Newseum site would permanently expunge the giant copy of the First Amendment etched on its exterior.
Pyramid Power!
In 1978, as Chicago considered building a monument to its long-time mayor and despot, Richard J. Daley, one proposal came from Chicago Sun-Times columnist Mike Royko. His solution was as elegant as it was fitting: He proposed a two-mile high statue of Daley placed two miles off the Chicago coastline in Lake Michigan. At sunrise, the giant Daley would rise from its submerged depths; at sunset it would disappear under the waters. During the day it would rotate 180 degrees to reveal a giant mistletoe on his rump at which citizens could throw kisses.
This approach might be too subtle for Trump, but it’s a start. Perhaps the fullest expression of Trumpian grandiosity currently exists in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, where longtime strongman Saparmurat Niyazov transformed the capital into a white-and-gold monument to Saparmurat Niyazov. It includes the “Arch of Neutrality“ (topped with a giant statue of Niyazov), “Giant Ruhnama“ (a large sculpture of his unreadable book), “The Independence Monument“ (augmented with another Niyazov statute), and “The Walk of Health,” an uphill trail that the president forced his government members to walk, as he ascended to the top by helicopter.
To do the Trump presidency justice, a mere memorial on the Mall, or even series of memorials, would not suffice. Griswold notes that in 1783 the House voted to build a mausoleum shaped like a pyramid to honor Washington, but the Senate did not concur. Why not revive the pyramid idea for Trump to connect his legacy to antiquity? A Trump Pyramid—taller than any structure in the DC area—could rise on the site of the current RFK Stadium, which lies right on the emblematic line that strings the Lincoln Memorial to the Washington Monument, the World War II Memorial, and the Capitol. The Trump Pyramid would be first to greet the first light of the rising sun, evoking his perpetually tanned face. The structure would contain a TV studio to honor his Apprentice years; an interactive diorama of his business, media, and political careers; a functioning casino to remember his Atlantic City years; a small, corrupt university; a constantly scrolling textual history of his tweets; and acres of shopping space for Trump-branded steaks, water, mattresses, ties, Ivanka shoes and jewelry, and whatever global enterprises his sons manage to launch during his reign.
At the pyramid’s center, of course, would rest Trump’s preserved body, standing with thumbs up—a vertical version of Lenin’s Mausoleum. On weekdays they could dress him in a suit and long red tie; on weekends in golf garb. And every day they could rotate his gilded corpse to expose the mistletoe pinned to his butt. Let the design competition begin!

Hello Redditor’s I’ve never ask for anything in a public forum before but, I know you guys are gonna do the right thing:)I’m a 28 year employee of Showboat Hotel Casino in Atlantic City. Caesars Entertainment is mulling it over wether they close the doors at out property in order to cut operating costs. Keep in mind we are a profitable operation (although down from years past). They bought and shutdown the Atlantic Club and put 1400 people out of work and just resold it with a deed restriction that it cannot reopen as a casino. We of course would like the property sold to a company that isn’t 23 billion in debt and can see that the business and the over 2000 employees should be saved. It’s a great little property that has awesome dedicated employees.We know this is s shot in the dark. Its a David vs. Goliath situation, but we’re not gonna go without a fight.You folks know what to do:)
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