Always good to find humor when you don’t expect it.
On Friday, Arthur Engoron, a fascinating and unexpected judge, issued an amazing verdict:
With interest, the former president was ordered to pay $450 million dollars in a civil fraud case. For three years Trump cannot run any New York company. For two years, his sons can’t run them either.
Engoron himself is an unusual man.
Here’s what he said about the Trump family, in court:
“The English poet Alexander Pope (1688-1744) first declared, ‘To err is human, to forgive is divine.’ Defendants apparently are of a different mind. After some four years of investigation and litigation, the only error (‘inadvertent,’ of course) that they acknowledge is the tripling of the size of the Trump Tower Penthouse, which cannot be gainsaid. Their complete lack of contrition and remorse borders on pathological. They are accused only of inflating asset values to make more money. The documents prove this over and over again,”. …“This is a venial sin, not a mortal sin. Defendants did not commit murder or arson. They did not rob a bank at gunpoint. Donald Trump is not Bernard Madoff. Yet, defendants are incapable of admitting the error of their ways. Instead, they adopt a ‘See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil’ posture that the evidence belies.”
Arthur Engoron is 74 years old and Jewish. He was born in Queens. He’s driven a taxi cab, played in a band and protested the Vietnam War. Engoron also taught piano and drums and played keyboard in what he describes as a “moderately successful” bar band. He’s been married three times and has four children,
As a New York City judge, Arthur Engoron has resolved hundreds of disputes, deciding everything from zoning and free speech issues to a custody fight over a dog named “Stevie.”
Here’s what Donald Trump said about him:
“I have a Deranged, Trump Hating Judge, who RAILROADED this FAKE CASE through a NYS Court at a speed never before seen,” the 2024 Republican frontrunner wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Engoron frequently uses song lyrics, movie quotes and the occasional New York City history lesson. He’s quoted Bob Dylan and Shakespeare and movies like “City Slickers” and the Marx Brothers classic “Duck Soup.” He signs his rulings with a logo of sorts, his initials, AE, drawn together in a circle.
In 2017, Engoron turned to the Frank Sinatra hit “Love and Marriage” which, the song notes, “go together like a horse and carriage” for a ruling restricting protests on horse-drawn carriages in Central Park. He titled a subsection “Balancing of the Equines, er, Equities.”
Meanwhile, on Valentine’s Day Attorney General Letitia James, who’s been working on Trump cases for some years now, sent out this tweet:
Roses are red.
Violets are blue.
No one is above the law.
Even when you think the rules don’t apply to you.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Are things better, even a little? Maybe yes.
Here’s the ALTE website including the latest issue on Non-Human Beings.
https://www.altegettingoldtogether.com
And a song from a band I didn’t hear of until now.
Love to all,
Esther
For the past 2 months, during the NY-03 special election, I felt embarrassed to say I live in Great Neck, the same place as Mazi Pilip. Now I am proud to say I live in Great Neck, the same place as Arthur Engoron! (In fact, I grew up directly across the street from the house where Judge Engoron now lives, and I used to play in that house 60 years ago when someone else lived there.)
I only hope the crazies leave him alone... his home has already been "swatted" once. He is my new hero.