<[Event "Lew Schultz Memorial"] [Site "Boston Mass"]
[Date "1984.03.17"]
[EventDate "1984"]
[Round "2.3"]
[Result "0-1"]
[White "Dymond, David"]
[Black "Shaw, Alan"]
[ECO "B13"]
[WhiteElo "?"]
[BlackElo "?"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 b6 5.Bd3 Bb7 6.Nf3 Ne4 7.O-O f5 8.Qc2 Bxc3 9.bxc3 O-O 10.d5 Nc5 11.Ba3 Nba6 12.Nd4 Rf6 13.f4 g6 14.e4 fxe4 15.Bxe4 Qf8 16.Rae1 Re8 17.g3 e5 18.fxe5 Rxe5 19.Bg2 Rxf1+ 20.Rxf1 Qe8 21.Bc1 Re1 22.Bh6 Rxf1+ 23.Kxf1 Nb8 24.Nb5 Ba6 25.Qd2 Bxb5 26.cxb5 d6 27.Qf4 Qf7 28.Ke2 Nbd7 29.Qh4 Qf6 30.Qxf6 Nxf6 31.Bg5 Kf7 32.c4 Ncd7 33.Kd3 Ne5+ 34.Kd4 Kg7 35.h3 Nf7 36.Bd2 Nh5 37.g4 Nf6 38.Bf3 g5 39.Be4 h6 40.Bf3 Ne5 41.Be2 Ng6 42.Bf3 Ne5 43.Be2 Nfd7 44.Ke4 Kg6 45.Kd4 Nf6 46.Be3 h5 47.gxh5+ Nxh5 48.Bf2 Nf4 49.Bg4 Nh5 50.Be2 Nf4 51.Bg4 Kf6 52.Bc8 Nfg6 53.Be3 Ne7 54.Bg4 Nf5+ 55.Ke4 Nxe3 56.Kxe3 Nxc4+ 57.Kd4 Na3 58.Be2 Nc2+ 59.Ke4 Nb4 60.Bc4 Nc2 61.Be2 Ne1 62.Bg4 Ng2 63.Be2 Nf4 64.Bg4 Ng6 65.Be2 Ne5 66.Bg4 Kg6 67.Kd4 Nf7 68.Ke4 Nh6 69.Kd4 Ng8 70.Ke4 Nf6+ 71.Kd4 Nh5 72.Ke4 Ng7 73.Kd4 Kf6 74.Ke4 Kg6 75.Kd4 Nf5+ 76.Ke4 Ne7 77.Kd4 Kf6 78.Ke4 Ng6 79.Kd4 Ne5 80.Ke4 Nc4 81.Kd4 Na3 82.Be2 Kf5 83.Kc3 Ke4 84.Kb2 Ke3 85.Bf1 Kf2 86.Bd3 Kg2 87.Kxa3 Kxh3 0-1>

Dump! Dump! Dump! that database!

<Conservative media personalities are raging over a new enemy and onetime Biden endorser whose power has never been more undeniable: Taylor Swift.

The teams behind the two 2024 presidential frontrunners are zeroing in on a pop mega-star with a feverish fan base that actually does heed her calls to go out and vote.

Swift has not yet endorsed anyone in the 2024 presidential race.

The New York Times reported Monday that Biden's campaign is courting her for a 2020 repeat, even jokingly considering the president appear at an Eras tour stop.

Meanwhile, Rolling Stone reported that Trump allies are closely watching for Swift's move.

Swift has countless young, passionate fans who not only are willing to spend big money to support her — but also are highly active online.

Former President Trump and Biden will be vying for the youth vote as that bloc's enthusiasm for either candidate is plummeting. MAGA acolytes ranging from ex-presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to Trump lawyer Alina Habba to Fox News host Jeanine Pirro are publicly fuming over the singer, asserting she needs to "stay out of politics" or implying she's not what America needs.

Among the most extreme conspiracy theories surrounding Swift and her boyfriend, Super Bowl-bound Kansas City Chiefs' Travis Kelce, is that their relationship is a deep state psy-op orchestrated by the NFL and Democrats to work in President Biden's favor.

Kelce has already been loathed by conservatives for partnering with Pfizer for a pro-COVID vaccine campaign.

Fox News contributor Tomi Lahren said during a broadcast Monday that Swift should skip endorsements altogether and "stick to her singing," The Daily Beast reported.

Meanwhile, former ESPN host Charly Arnolt reportedly told Fox's Martha MacCallum that she hoped the Baltimore Ravens win the Super Bowl because he's "had enough of Taylor Swift." Arnolt then went on ragging about Swift but acknowledged her political influence as "scary."

Swift previously caught heat after she did not publicly endorse a candidate during the 2016 election — and for her silence on other political issues.

She has been much more vocal on her political leanings, including endorsing two Tennessee Democrats during the 2018 midterms and driving voter registration by simply posting.

She's also expressed regret for staying quiet on Trump in 2016.>

<The timing of Judge Aileen Cannon's Wednesday closed-door meeting with special counsel Jack Smith raises a red flag in Donald Trump's Florida classified documents case, signaling the Trump's appointee's potential bias toward the former president, ex-federal prosecutor Joyce Vance argues. The meeting — which Trump and his legal team were prohibited from attending — to discuss which classified materials will be shared with the defense is a standard procedure for such cases. But it being "oddly scheduled" indicates Cannon is delaying the case's pretrial procedures, Vance said.

“One of the biggest objections to Judge Cannon’s handling of the case has been the exceptional amount of delay she has indulged Trump with in what should have been a fairly straightforward case,” the former U.S. attorney wrote in the Monday edition of her Substack newsletter, pointing to the case's Classified Information Procedures Act proceedings. Section 4 of the act allows Smith to argue for the exclusion of classified information from the case or its replacement with unclassified summaries, but requires the special counsel to first get permission from Cannon. "I anticipated a CIPA ruling ahead of the holidays. … But here we are at the end of January, with the hearing itself still weeks away," Vance writes.

Despite Smith and Trump, who has pleaded not guilty to all charges, both filing a motion and response under section 4 of CIPA on Dec. 6, Cannon scheduled the subsequent hearings for approximately eight weeks later on Feb. 15 and 16. “She offered no reason for allowing that amount of time to elapse,” Vance said. “Instead of proceeding promptly to get to the point where she could rule on the Section 4 motions, she has permitted the matter to drag on," Vance went on, adding: "That delay has been particularly troubling when it comes to CIPA.” >

<Donald Trump’s lawyer backtracked from her suggestion that a new trial may be warranted in writer E. Jean Carroll’s defamation suit against the former president because the presiding judge in the case worked at the same law firm as the New York writer’s attorney three decades ago.

Trump attorney Alina Habba changed course Tuesday two hours after Carroll’s lawyer Roberta Kaplan blasted her in a court filing for raising “utterly baseless” questions about her past ties to US District Judge Lewis Kaplan, with whom she worked at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison for less than two years in the 1990s. Kaplan — who isn’t related to the judge — raised the prospect of seeking sanctions against Habba over her “false allegations.”

“Since Ms. Kaplan has now denied that there was ever a mentor-mentee relationship between herself and Your Honor, this issue has seemingly been resolved,” Habba said in her letter to the judge.

Habba questioned the relationship in a letter to the judge on Monday, three days after a jury ordered Trump to pay Carroll $83.3 million in damages for defaming the former Elle magazine columnist in 2019 statements denying her claim that he sexually assaulted her decades earlier. Habba cited a New York Post article that said the lawyer had a “mentor” type relationship with the judge when they were at the law firm. Habba was quoted calling the relationship “insane” and “so incestuous.”

“If Your Honor truly worked with Ms. Kaplan in any capacity — especially if there was a mentor/mentee relationship — that fact should have been disclosed before any case involving these parties was permitted to proceed forward,” Habba, who frequently clashed with the judge during a trial this month, said in her first letter.

Trump denies wrongdoing and has said he’ll appeal the verdict.

Roberta Kaplan’s letter Tuesday accused Habba of cooking up a bogus controversy to back a likely appeal. Carroll’s lawyer, who joined Paul Weiss in October 1992, said she overlapped with the judge at the firm for less than two years, at a time when she was a junior litigation associate and he was a senior litigation partner. The judge left the firm to take the bench in August 1994. Kaplan said they did not work closely together on any case. She has since founded her own firm.

“From the very start of the recently concluded trial, Donald Trump and Ms. Habba have pushed a false narrative of judicial bias so that they could characterize any jury verdict against Trump as the product of a corrupt system,” Kaplan said in the letter. “While that strategy has now moved into its post-verdict phase, it is now time for Defendant’s false and vexatious claims of bias or impropriety to stop.”

Jennifer Rodgers, a former federal prosecutor who isn’t involved in the case, said the type of relationship described by Roberta Kaplan isn’t the kind that would require a judge to disclose it because they didn’t work closely together.

“And, in any case, even if the Judge had disclosed the fact that he and Roberta Kaplan worked at Paul Weiss at the same time, and Trump had objected and asked for recusal, I suspect Judge Kaplan would have declined to recuse himself and would have been on solid ground in doing so, given that this tenuous a connection does not raise a conflict of interest requiring recusal,” Rodgers said.

Habba, who runs her own law firm in New Jersey, complained frequently about what she described as unfair treatment of herself and Trump during the trial. On the last day of trial, the judge threatened to throw Habba behind bars after she continued to press an argument about evidence after he’d shut her down, leaving both her and Trump fuming.

“We believe, and will argue on appeal, that the court was overtly hostile towards defense counsel and President Trump, and displayed preferential treatment towards plaintiff’s counsel,” Habba said in the letter.

Roberta Kaplan said Habba’s earlier bias complaints are just like the new one: frivolous. Notably, Habba and Trump were hit with nearly $1 million in sanctions in a failed suit filed against Hillary Clinton.>

<Evergrande, the embattled Chinese real estate giant with debts of $300 billion, has just been ordered to liquidate by a court in Hong Kong. What effect will this have, both within China and across the global economy?

This latest twist is no surprise. Evergrande has long been dead in the water. The point to grasp is that Evergrande’s latest setback will not trigger a financial crisis in China; it is rather the result of the financial crisis which has been deepening for at least four years.

For far too long, up to 30 per cent of the Chinese economy had depended on a grossly inflated domestic property bubble. By 2020, when the government finally took urgent measures to limit this debt, its corrosive effects had distorted and disabled both the formal banking sector and also the much less accountable and manageable Shadow Banking system. Both are now in serious disarray as a result.

Ramifications of this unregulated borrowing and lending crisis have spread across the economy at large. The collapse of the property and construction bubble has weakened domestic economic confidence, deepening the unemployment crisis and posing major challenges to local government budgets. These domestic concerns have led to the current implosion of the Chinese stock market. In turn this has compelled foreign investors to take a more realistic position on China risk than believing the golden goose fables still being peddled by Beijing. Meanwhile, with some notable exceptions such as EVs, contraction of markets abroad for Chinese products has highlighted how much China remains export-dependent in a cooling global economy.

All of this calls into question the capacity of the Chinese leadership to halt and reverse the decline of the wider economy. Western commentators have been saying for years that China still has significant potential to revitalise its stagnant economy. Provided swift and deep-rooted reform policies are driven through, China could still pull itself out of the current downward spiral.

But this prospect is rapidly vanishing. The piecemeal efforts Beijing has made to prop up failing property giants like Evergrande and their backers, including the likes of Zhongzhi and Wanxiang, have had no fundamental impact. The CCP needs to devolve more economic powers to the private sector, and reverse the trend to ever-tightening centralisation. Yet Xi Jinping, seemingly unable to relinquish the self-defeating Marxist-Leninist ideology of strengthened Party and personal control, has abandoned the former and doubled down on the latter.

Evergrande had effectively defaulted by late 2021. It lost around 66.3 billion that year. Its founder sold $343 million of shares that November. Losses in 2022 were around 14.6 billion. Complex efforts since to manage debt down have all failed, which is reflected in Monday’s Hong Kong ruling. Evergrande’s operation in the US applied for bankruptcy in August last year. The chances are minimal that Evergrande creditors, whether in China or abroad, will see any of their money back.

The Hong Kong ruling may not in itself deliver the death-blow to Evergrande; the chances of full PRC co-operation in the process of liquidation in mainland China are slim. Some other formula will probably be adopted to disperse its toxic fragments more discreetly. But this too symbolises the issue of credibility the CCP is facing. Beijing remains astride the obsolete economic tiger on which Party power and authority has long depended. Now the tiger’s days are plainly numbered, the Chinese leadership still lacks both the vision and courage to dismount.

But the risks of clinging to this misguided orthodoxy are growing. The new generation of Chinese workers, who should drive forward the revival of their nation, no longer enjoys the growth which brought their parents out of poverty and into the now disintegrating housing market. Their inheritance has been frittered away buying millions of properties that will never be completed. Local government, in default of any more realistic strategy, has become largely dependent for its budgets on questionable land sales to developers who are now going under in their tens of thousands. Public resentment and disaffection with the CCP is on the rise. Xi and his henchmen, as yet safe in their Party citadel, may have fewer and fewer choices to make.>

Speaking of evil: how's tricks? You shall never post here--makes no difference whatever how much whingeing you do.

<As New York Judge Arthur Engoron deliberates on Donald Trump’s civil fraud case, new allegations of uncovering potential tax fraud in his company may bolster the case against the former president and his family business, The New York Times reported.

Barbara Jones, a former federal judge who was assigned as a special monitor in the Trump Organization fraud case, wrote a letter to Engoron, suggesting that Trump's team might have provided false information regarding the existence of a $48 million loan.

"When I inquired about this loan, I was informed that there are no loan agreements that memorialize the loan, but that it was a loan that was believed to be between Donald J. Trump, individually, and Chicago Unit Acquisition for $48 million," Jones wrote. Her report also highlighted other paperwork issues including incomplete disclosures, typos and math errors. The inconsistencies “reflect a lack of effective governance” at the company, she wrote.

“The allegations from the independent monitor's report could reinforce the judge’s previous findings of fraudulent practices within the Trump Organization,” trial attorney Tray Gober told Salon. “The report suggests a pattern of misleading financial representations, which would bolster the case against the organization. That explains why Trump’s attorneys have come out so hard against Barbara Jones.”

The report is “very important and potentially damaging” to Trump, David Schultz, a professor of political science at Hamline University, told Salon. It might also produce evidence that could lead to new criminal charges or evidence in his forthcoming criminal trial in New York.

A lawyer for the Trumps shot back in a court filing Monday, calling Jones’ report on the family company a "demonstrable falsehood," adding that the monitor’s “deliberate mischaracterization casts further doubt on her competency and veracity” and “simply fails to support continued oversight,” according to documents obtained by Business Insider.

“The monitor now twists immaterial accounting items into a narrative favoring her continued appointment, and thereby the continued receipt of millions of dollars in excessive fees,” an attorney for Trump Clifford Robert wrote in a letter to Engoron, adding that she has earned over $2.6 million in 14 months on the job.

James has requested Engoron to mandate Jones to oversee the Trump Organization for a minimum of five years as part of his judgment in the case.

The Trump team also recruited a public accountant, Jason Flemmons, to review Jones's report, who supported their claims, The Daily Beast reported.

“Based upon my education and experience, my review of the various reports, and the express language contained in those reports, the Monitor did not identify any financial reporting misconduct, suspicious activity, or any suspected or actual fraud,” Flemmons wrote.

Last month, Engoron criticized Flemmons for contradicting himself multiple times and appearing overly accommodating to the Trumps. Engoron expressed frustration with the accountant consistently defending the Trump family....>

<....Jones’ report comes shortly before Engoron is expected to issue his decision on financial penalties in the civil fraud case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who has asked that Trump be banned from doing business in the state and pay $370 million for inflating valuations on financial statements for personal gain.

While Engoron has determined that the Trump organization committed fraud, he now has to deliberate on the appropriate penalty.

Unlike the trial phase focused on establishing liability, the rules of evidence are “not as strict” when determining “punishment or penalty,” Schultz said. The court has far more leeway to admit evidence or information that could be useful in determining an “appropriate penalty.”

“These new accusations are significant,” he continued. “They may speak less to the fine but more to a determination whether the Trump Organization retains or loses its right to do business in New York. If this report speaks to ongoing and continuous tax fraud or deception, the judge could conclude that the Trump Organization can no longer be trusted to do business in New York.”

On top of this, the report may “enhance” the financial penalty because of continued “bad behavior” by the Trump Organization, he added.

Trump, who was ordered last week to pay $83 million for defaming writer E. Jean Carroll in 2019, has often resorted to social media to frame his ongoing legal battles as a “witch hunt”

On Sunday, he targeted the attorney general’s accusations, writing on Truth Social: “I AM WORTH MUCH MORE THAN THE NUMBERS SHOWN ON MY FINANCIAL STATEMENTS,” adding that the banks were “paid back in full” and were not victims.

The report could be “pivotal” in the judge's decision regarding the $370 million penalty requested by prosecutors, Gober said. The Trump Organization, a major player in New York City real estate, faces the possible dissolution of many parts of his business empire, all because of false statements to lenders.

“But the lenders haven’t really cried foul, and Trump’s attorneys are saying it was a victimless crime,” Gober continued. “In that context, the independent monitor’s report is important because it highlights problems with the organization's financial dealings that may be systemic, which could justify a substantial penalty. However, the judge's decision will be based on the totality of evidence presented in the case.”

While Trump’s team initially had some “confidence in her,” they are now “comparing her to Javert, the villainous police inspector in ‘Les Misérables’ who wouldn’t cut a hungry thief a break. But everyone knows Trump is not a hungry thief, or at least he’s not hungry,” Gober said.

It will be difficult for Trump’s attorneys to convince the public that Jones is all that villainous because everyone expects a financial auditor to do their work by the book and not cut anyone a break, he added.

Trump and his lawyer’s attacks on Jones will serve as “further evidence” for his supporters to conclude that their candidate is being “persecuted,” Schultz said. However, for the rest of the public, the report and the complaints will “get lost in the noise” of the 2024 presidential election.>

It's a-comin', boys. Nothing yew can do.

<[Event "53rd New England Open"] [Site "?"]
[Date "1993.??.??"]
[EventDate "1993"]
[Round "6"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[White "Ivanov, Alexander"]
[Black "Hertan, Charles"]
[ECO "B18"]
[WhiteElo "?"]
[BlackElo "?"]

<[Event "63rd Greater Boston Open"] [Site "Boston Mass"]
[Date "1996.??.??"]
[EventDate "1996"]
[Round "3"]
[Result "0-1"]
[White "Frenklakh, Valery"]
[Black "Hertan, Charles"]
[ECO "B12"]
[WhiteElo "?"]
[BlackElo "?"]

1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d5 3.cxd5 Nxd5 4.g3 e5 5.Bg2 Nxc3 6.bxc3 c6 7.Nf3 Nd7 8.0-0 Be7 9.d3 0-0 10.Nd2 Re8 11.Nc4 Bf8 12.Kh1 Nb6 13.Ne3 Be6 14.Bb2 Nd5 15.Nc4 f6 16.e4 Nb6 17.Ne3 Qd7 18.Qc2 Bh3 19.Rad1 Bxg2+ 20.Kxg2 c5 21.c4 Qc6 22.Kg1 Red8 23.f4 exf4 24.gxf4 Qe8 25.Rf3 Rd7 26.Rg3 Kh8 27.Nf5 Qf7 28.Rd2 Rad8 29.Bc3 Nc8 30.Rdg2 g6 31.Qb2 Bg7 32.Nxg7 Kxg7 33.f5 Ne7 34.fxg6 hxg6 35.Rf2 Ng8 36.Rgf3 Rxd3 37.Rxf6 Nxf6 38.Bxf6+ Kg8 39.Bxd8 1-0>

1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 h6 4.Bc4 d6 5.d4 g5 6.g3 g4 7.Nh4 f3 8.0-0 Bg7 9.Nc3 Nc6 10.Be3 Nf6 11.Qd2 d5 12.exd5 Ne7 13.Rae1 Kf8 14.Bf4 a6 15.Be5 Nexd5 16.Nxd5 Nxd5 17.Bxg7+ Kxg7 18.h3 Nb6 19.Bb3 Qd6 20.Kh2 Bd7 21.hxg4 Bxg4 22.Rxf3 Bxf3 23.Nf5+ Kf8 24.Nxd6+ cxd6 25.Qf4 1-0>

Definitely a 'tainted game'.