Bloomberg: Carlyle Group/David Rubenstein In Talks To Purchase Orioles

[Moose Milligan]

4 minutes ago, Pickles said:

1. I don't have concrete evidence of his corruption.  I am free to speculate though.  We do have direct evidence, indisputable, that this guy has made a lot of money in the "defense" industry.  He also happened to be in a meeting on 9/11/01 with a member of the Bin laden family, who was the "guest of honor" at their investors gathering.  I can't help it if you're not as curious a cat as I am.

2. He works for the government.  He starts a company and makes a lot of money, often off government contracts.  He turns around and "donates" some of that money back to the government.  That's interesting to me.  You don't have to find it so, but I do.

3. It doesn't seem unfathomable at all.  Seems to happen a lot.

4. Public money being given to a private individual who then in turn funnels it back to the bureaucrats who handed it to him in the first place is the tidy little loop.  Again, you don't have to be curious about these things, but I am.

 

1.  You're free to speculate as much as you want, this is true.  But asking questions and pointing to things like "he made a lot of money in the defense industry" isn't evidence of anything.  

In regards to the bin Laden family, they're a very well off, very prosperous family.  They're, like, Saudi royals and pretty westernized, some of them are Swiss citizens and, IIRC, some of them were living in the States, too.  Osama bin Laden was the black sheep of the family to put it lightly.  So to try and draw some connection to Rubenstein to Osama bin Laden and 9/11 by asking questions is a bit silly.  Sins of the brother/father and all that, but whatever.  

On the flip side, I just came across an article where Carlyle brought in none other than Colin Powell for a speaking engagement in 2000.  

2.  I don't know if I've ever heard of anyone ever donating money to the government.  I mean, I pay taxes and everything but I've never heard of anyone "donating" to the government.  Unless you're talking about his donations to the Kennedy Center (receives federal funding for certain things), the National Zoo, repairing the Washington Monument, repairs at Arlington National Cemetary, and to the National Park Foundation.  If by "donating" to the government you're highlighting these things...well, what's the problem? 

In regards to working for the government, I don't know if that was actually the case.  It looks like while he was a policy advisor to Jimmy Carter, he also worked in a private practice in DC.  It's hard to tell if he was actually paid by the US government as an employee of the government.  

3.  Fine.  I don't see the harm here.

4.  I am not curious about these things.  What people do to earn their money and how they do it isn't really much of my business.  

It appears that you're insinuating (look at me putting words in your mouth!) that things were done illegally or done with a blind eye, as if Rubenstein was greasing some palms along the way.  But I don't think you get to the level that he's at by doing things flat out illegally.  Like @Sports Guysaid, maybe cutting some corners, but to make like he's some shady, nefarious businessman seems to be a bit of a reach.  From everything I've been able to surmise about him this afternoon, he seems to be someone who's done things on the up-and-up and who's also philanthropic.  I'm assuming he gets along with both sides of the aisle in DC.

If you look at his Wikipedia page at the list of affiliations, he's affiliated with everything from Bloomberg to Harvard University to the Kennedy Center to Johns Hopkins to Sloan Kettering to the National Gallery of Art and the Smithsonian Foundation.

I'm not a gambling man but I'd bet that you don't get all of the honors and awards he's received and all of the chair positions and committee positions he holds by being some shady, corrupt individual.  There's a chance he's Bernie Madoff, too, but that's an outlier. 

 So pardon me while I put the lampshade back on my head and dance around naked at the impending demise of the Angelos ownership.

 

 

[Moose Milligan]

31 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I think Pickles made up his mind here without knowing much about David Rubenstein.  Personally, I’m praying this goes through.   I can’t say Rubenstein is perfect, but I do know he doesn’t need to live off profits from a baseball team, unlike John Angelos.

That's absolutely correct.

[RZNJ]

1 minute ago, interloper said:

Elias isn't a one-man show and he created the front office that way. They are a collaborative group who are all smart (for once) and pulling on the same rope (for once). The whole point of the Elias rebuild was he was modernizing the whole organization, not just the players but the structurally. That's complete now and if he leaves, the organization is in good shape. 

You think they would let Elias go and keep everyone else or that if Elias goes a lot of his lieutenants won’t follow him to his next gig.  Elias knew Sig and Koby Perez from before.  That’s how it works.

[eddie83]

4 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Sure but you can argue that our window is open for the next 4-7 years with or without him..many of the players are already in place.

True. I would just trust him more to manage those years and beyond. 

[Too Tall]

6 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

I don’t depend on one.  I read them all.  You know the bias before you read them.  CNN goes one way. Fox and NY Post go another.  It’s up to the reader to sort through the BS and figure out what makes sense to them.  When I read the article you posted I could see right away that there was no objectivity whatsoever.  Doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot of truth in there.  Just that I certainly wouldn’t trust everything in there without getting a lot of other reading material on the guy.

It's like reading this thread. There's 12 pages with about one page of relevant information. OH at it's finest!!!!

[One eyed Bird]

2 hours ago, interloper said:

If true, does this mean Peter would be close to passing? Otherwise, aren't there massive tax implications or whathaveyou?

Pete been dead for a couple years they just been waiting for the right time to pull the plug, hopefully this is it

[Sports Guy]

4 minutes ago, eddie83 said:

True. I would just trust him more to manage those years and beyond. 

But that’s my point…who knows if he will be here that long. A lot of times these guys leave for new challenges.  Beane is seemingly the only one who stays.

[Can_of_corn]

4 minutes ago, One eyed Bird said:

Pete been dead for a couple years they just been waiting for the right time to pull the plug, hopefully this is it

That's pretty gross.

[eddie83]

3 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

But that’s my point…who knows if he will be here that long. A lot of times these guys leave for new challenges.  Beane is seemingly the only one who stays.

They do. 
I think we are seeing in Houston what will be a demise of that franchise. Crane has taken over more and more. To be fair they only have one place to go and it’s down. That said they don’t seem to be operating like they did in the past. You can also have quality front office people and the ownership can ruin that. It’s hard to work for some owners. 

[jabba72]

30 years of bad ownership hopefully coming to an end. I'll be happy if his goes through. 

Have to give JA props for hiring Elias though. Im slightly torn on it for that reason.

[Frobby]

36 minutes ago, eddie83 said:

Is it silly his now ex wife bought the newspaper in Alaska and used it to promote her preferred candidate or not? Than that candidate carried out her wishes? 
 

Unfortunately we have little to no objective and independent media left in the world. 

The NY Post certainly has a point of view.  

[eddie83]

1 minute ago, jabba72 said:

30 years of bad ownership hopefully coming to an end. I'll be happy if his goes through. 

Have to give JA props for hiring Elias though. Im slightly torn on it for that reason.

The sad thing is a combo of Peter off the field and John letting baseball ops do their job would have been a solid combination. 

[Sports Guy]

Just now, Frobby said:

The NY Post certainly has a point of view.  

Best NY paper

[Tryptamine]

Happy for you guys that tidbit from a month or so turned out to be true. Now maybe you'll get an owner who is willing to take you from contender to favorite. 

[eddie83]

Just now, Tryptamine said:

Happy for you guys that tidbit from a month or so turned out to be true. Now maybe you'll get an owner who is willing to take you from contender to favorite. 

I just want someone who will try to extend young players and take some dips here and there in FA.