Unsealed court documents reveal that the FBI tracked down Ghislaine Maxwell through her mobile phone usage. I'm not sure what's more surprising - that she didn't use a series of burner phones or that they found her in her own house.
I am always surprised at how mundane most investigation work seems to be, and how easy it would be to avoid creating easy work for investigators. My BIL is an FBI agent, several years ago he was working on eastern European mob bank fraud stuff. When they had enough that the US attorney said to arrest and charge people, they picked up the guys they had been watching, who proceeded while being questioned to admit to and provide evidence of many more crimes, and people involved than they were aware of.
there was some hubbub on twitter about a bunch of upper middle class ladies rebranding mahjong (I decided that I didn't really need to read any further) which led to this thread in which a woman digs a little into the adoption of mah jong in the US in the 20s especially by Jewish American women, which I found rather interesting:
I tried to play when I lived in Hong Kong. It's a bit like gin rummy. I also learned that no self-respecting Hong Konger will go easy on you because you're new to it. I was ruthlessly and repeatedly destroyed until they broke my spirit. Nice old ladies are not so nice when you put green felt in front of them.
Georgia is the Peach State, but it is not in the top 3 US states for peach production. California grows 5 times as much as Georgia. The #2 and #3 are South Carolina and... of all places... New Jersey.
Peach Airline - I flew on it about a year ago between Japan and Taiwan. It's the Japanese version of Spirit/Frontier/EazyJet. Because my entire trip was decided quite late, mid-December for a trip that flew on Christmas and New Year Eve, it was still relatively pricy (my international roundtrip to Japan was more discounted). The terminal is kind of out of the way at Narita airport (and I arguably cut it a bit too close that I almost thought that I might not get on the flight). We shall see if this airline is still around by the end of the COVID pandemic.
"More than 1.3 million people moved through U.S. airport security checkpoints Sunday — the most since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, the Transportation Security Administration announced Monday.
The number was far below what it was on the same day in 2019, when more than 2.4 million people were screened. Still, the increase came despite recommendations by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local health officials that people not travel during the holiday season.
It also came as the U.S. death toll from the virus surpassed 350,000 on Sunday, according to data compiled and reviewed by The Washington Post.:
You would think professional training and licensing processes would catch ignorance and lunacy, not just provide technical competency. Clearly, process failed here.
my father, who worked in medical products for many years, is fond of saying that doctors are very extensively trained plumbers. We think he means that there's no reason to assume that being good at [medical specialty] makes you good at understanding the underlying science or engineering for whatever you're using to deliver care.
Apparently in Zack Snyder's original, temporary take on Wonder Woman (before Patty Jenkins took over), the origin story was the Crimean War and WW was collecting the heads of her enemies. Interesting production photo of that in this tweet https://twitter.com/TheNerdQueens/status/1346240209529286657
Finished Legend of Korra over the holiday break (as I'd started watching it on the original broadcast but never finished once it went online-only). Good series that gets better as it goes. It's also inspired me to go back and re-start Avatar: The Last Airbender, and after watching the first 7-8 episodes it's clear this show was a masterpiece from the start.
Listening to podcasts about The Mandalorian has also pushed me to start watching the Clone Wars series (the 3D computer animated one) to catch up on what Star Wars lore I've been missing. Enjoying it so far.
Oh my, and the first 15-20 mins of WW 84 were as good as it gets...the remaining 130 mins comprised arguably the worst stretch of cinema in the past 30 years. The entertainment industry should hit writers Patty Jenkins, Geoff Johns & Dave Callahan with show-cause orders like the NCAA levied at Bruce Pearl, Art Briles & Hugh Freeze.
At least Patty Jenkins with the first Wonder Woman and Geoff Johns with the Stargirl series have some track record of producing good comic book related things, I don't understand how guys like Simon Kinberg and Zak Penn with the X-men franchise got to make that many movies.
I'm with g.oso - I was hesitant to watch it because I thought it would be just a cringe-fest of competing stereotypes, but it gets stronger from the first couple of episodes. One thing that I think it gets very right is how Brits can be horribly rude to you but switch from hostility to affection as the source of the hostility.
I agree with these two. It does get better after a few episodes. I think they were trying to find themselves in the first couple, sorta like the first episodes of The Office or Seinfeld.
The whole fish out of water theme wears off quickly and it allowed a larger group of characters to develop instead of letting them languish in the background or periphery. I'd say keep going
I started Helstrom on Hulu...it’s all demonicky...at the make-it or break-it stage, so will see how ep. 5 of 10 goes....
The Unicorn & The Rookie are the only two broadcast tv shows I watch, & they’re both mindless but uplifting in this dumpster fire we’re currently warming ourselves by. I’m convinced the writers of The Rookie make that shite up as they go bc really, how many shootouts can rookie patrol officers get into?
I started watching The Unicorn because Walton Goggins was in Vice Principals and he was an ass in that. I do like it.
I do have a bunch of broadcast TV shows I watch most nights. I actually download them that night and watch them throughout the week. Most are mindless and some actually are really good like This Is Us.
I'll repost what I wrote (then deleted) because I accidentally pasted the wrong link.
I said I got a few episodes into the Unicorn, but then faded on how many times they can flog the overall hot-but-clueless-dad-dating premise. The lead actor's veneers were distracting. Rob Corddry is a severely underrated actor.
Agreed...for me, the fact that he’s a recent-ish widower was enough of a wrinkle to make The Unicorn interesting enough, at least for a 20 min. episode. That and the fact that I avoided previous broadcast efforts for the dad-dating premise! It is odd to see Walt Goggins as a normal, sympathetic character...different role for him. Corddry great, as is the guy who played one of Eminem’s buddies in 8 Mile...
Cobra Season 3 - I thought the new season started a bit slow, but got better by the end and immediately make me crave season 4. Also, because I watched the first two seasons when they first came out on YouTube, I have been waiting a long time for this.
The Flight Attendant (on HBO Max) - I thought the pilot was excellent but I almost quit the show if it wasn't such a short series (and there was the overarching mystery of whodunit). Kaley Cuoco was not charming enough to compensate for how annoying her character was, but she eventually went on the expected redemptive path. The show is apparently already renewed for another run (may or may not be based on the book again).
The Good Place [17/19]. Initially watched 4 episodes but then paused because it didn't quite catch. But started up again last night and was swept away by their cliffhangers into a binge-fest last night.
Pineapple Express [3/19]. What a piece of shit. I have realized that Rogen is a funny bit part actor, but he reached Adam Sandler level fame where he got too much Producer power too early with Superbad and nobody could tell him to work on his writing more. His screenplays are awful, which makes for horrible films.
Taco Chronicles, season 2. [15/19]. Not as good as season 1, but still a very good job describing history and process to making a single specific dish.
Bridgerton [incomplete]. I had to work over the holiday season, but my wife watched the whole first season while I worked upstairs. It sounded like she was watching Pornhub as I could hear a LOT of bodice-ripping, gasping, and humping sounds.
About Time [15/19]. Sweet, sad, and sappy time-travel romantic comedy. Like Click [10/19] meets Groundhogs Day [19/19]. Fairly formulaic, but I'm okay with that.
Bridgerton: 11/19, probably won't watch the second season but maybe I will. It was pleasant enough but not that interesting other than all the humping. The Duke is a smokeshow. The next seasons, if they exist, will focus on different of the Bridgerton siblings, none of whom I felt were very compelling.
Only on the third episode of Bridgerton, but it's well done, and I'm guessing 15/19 overall. Set in the Regency period, but this ain't Jane Austen's Regency. One funny thing I noticed (same with Sanditon) is the male lead gets to wear a modern hair style, but the others are more accurately period.
Watched the first 6 episodes of Cobra Kai season 3 last couple of days. I really like it. Was excited to see old characters and the flashbacks. Curious to see how the new Miyagi-Do things that Daniel learns gets used in the last 4 episodes.
I find the writing and storyline to be cheesier than the first two seasons which were YouTube Red produces seasons. I'm gonna say Netflix is kinda ruining it for me.
I think it was going to be impossible to capture the magic of the first season and the novelty of attacking that world from the opposite side. Like 99% of TV shows and to a lesser degree of movies (shorter art form to allow for more variety), this show is bound to get cheesier as the show progress toward an expected end...world domination by the Cobra Kai dojo.
The end of the Wonder Teams saw the 1929 Cal football team play in the Rose Bowl against Georgia Tech. This was the infamous game that Cal's center recovered a fumble and ran the wrong way. The safety that resulted from the poor field position was the difference in the game 8-7.
I went down along the Mall to the Capitol and back on my run this morning. Some MAGAs out and about but not too many yet. Also some law enforcement around and some streets blocked off but still pretty quiet. To my extreme surprise, every single person wearing some kind of Trump gear was white, a vast majority of them older folks. Since that also describes me I actually got quite a few nods as I ran by.
If I'm understanding the lockdown rules correctly, simply owning the golf course is not reason enough to be there for work as you can provide executive direction remotely. He could make the argument that he's only going to play golf, but his Secret Service detachment would probably breach the rules about contact with family groups.
Of course the Scottish government can't actually stop him from entering the UK, but they seem to have plenty of opportunities to make it a pain in the ass.
The part that surprises me about all this is that based on public records disclosures about company accounts, quite a few people in Scotland have demanded an Unexplained Wealth Order - which is the legal mechanism for digging into people's finances to determine if they have been laundering money or otherwise up to mischief.
I can't see Trump setting up shop in the UK at all.
This is also my take, that he wouldn't be eligible for the business trip rules. He theoretically has nothing to do with running the Trump Org right now.
Unsealed court documents reveal that the FBI tracked down Ghislaine Maxwell through her mobile phone usage. I'm not sure what's more surprising - that she didn't use a series of burner phones or that they found her in her own house.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-the-fbi-tracked-down-ghislaine-maxwell-alleged-madam-of-jeffrey-epstein
I am always surprised at how mundane most investigation work seems to be, and how easy it would be to avoid creating easy work for investigators. My BIL is an FBI agent, several years ago he was working on eastern European mob bank fraud stuff. When they had enough that the US attorney said to arrest and charge people, they picked up the guys they had been watching, who proceeded while being questioned to admit to and provide evidence of many more crimes, and people involved than they were aware of.
Spitting truths here: https://twitter.com/WhatsGabyCookin/status/1346577467742543872
Man, especially carnitas tacos at Xholo when they have them. Which isn't often.
🌮🌮🌮
he seems nice https://twitter.com/BBCWalesNews/status/1346493923364057088?s=20
jfc.
A&E?
Accident and Emergency
Do you guys remember this? https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/seahawks/the-great-maple-bar-caper-seahawks-golden-tate-caught-in-3-am-visit-to-top-pot-doughnuts/
I'm surprised this Pete Carroll tweet only got 5 likes! https://twitter.com/PeteCarroll/status/15739932926
Funny thread:
https://twitter.com/edsbs/status/1345540476431196161
Tanya Roberts has died. Again.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2021/01/04/tanya-roberts-alive-misreported-death/
death redux. may she rest in peace.
there was some hubbub on twitter about a bunch of upper middle class ladies rebranding mahjong (I decided that I didn't really need to read any further) which led to this thread in which a woman digs a little into the adoption of mah jong in the US in the 20s especially by Jewish American women, which I found rather interesting:
https://twitter.com/jeannette_ng/status/1346400748205178881?s=20
I've been informed that one of the mahjong girls is married to Cooper Manning
When I get a moment, I'm going to read about framing it as "racial plagiarism" https://twitter.com/ximuoicay/status/1346555254930698240?s=20
Sigh
Very interesting, thanks for sharing!
I tried to play when I lived in Hong Kong. It's a bit like gin rummy. I also learned that no self-respecting Hong Konger will go easy on you because you're new to it. I was ruthlessly and repeatedly destroyed until they broke my spirit. Nice old ladies are not so nice when you put green felt in front of them.
Tell me about the rebranding. Some of the women in my book club play but they call it something not quite mah jong and I've always been curious why.
I appreciated this take: https://twitter.com/radbrowndads/status/1346332648248139776?s=20
I used to play the in college - haven't in decades.
Something made with peaches
Movin' to the country, gonna eat a lot of peaches
Movin' to the country, gonna eat a lot of peaches
Georgia is the Peach State, but it is not in the top 3 US states for peach production. California grows 5 times as much as Georgia. The #2 and #3 are South Carolina and... of all places... New Jersey.
When I lived in Atlanta for a couple of years I never saw a growing peach tree.
Boiled peanuts at road stands in Appalachia, but no peaches.
I guess something has to be growing in those New Jersey Gardens for them to be the "Garden State".
On the other hand, Georgia might have much more movie production on-site than California now with all the Marvel movies filmed there.
Peach Airline - I flew on it about a year ago between Japan and Taiwan. It's the Japanese version of Spirit/Frontier/EazyJet. Because my entire trip was decided quite late, mid-December for a trip that flew on Christmas and New Year Eve, it was still relatively pricy (my international roundtrip to Japan was more discounted). The terminal is kind of out of the way at Narita airport (and I arguably cut it a bit too close that I almost thought that I might not get on the flight). We shall see if this airline is still around by the end of the COVID pandemic.
Graeter's Peach Ice Cream. Big chunks of peach in it. It's only available during the summer months.
Peach-lemon smoothie...pretty refreshing.
Peach pie. Highly under-rated.
I think I've heard that peach emojis are a thing for some reason...
Today in Covid
"More than 1.3 million people moved through U.S. airport security checkpoints Sunday — the most since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, the Transportation Security Administration announced Monday.
The number was far below what it was on the same day in 2019, when more than 2.4 million people were screened. Still, the increase came despite recommendations by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local health officials that people not travel during the holiday season.
It also came as the U.S. death toll from the virus surpassed 350,000 on Sunday, according to data compiled and reviewed by The Washington Post.:
WaPo
we're all gonna die.
Florida county vaccination registration sites are crashing because of high demand.
https://www.tampabay.com/news/health/2021/01/04/vaccine-train-wreck-leaves-tampa-bay-seniors-scrambling-for-shots/
just like their unemployment site I guess
i heard that anyone can get in line and get the vaccine. not limited to old people
Patient Zero returned to work yesterday. Of course we were never supposed to know who he is so we can't really give him any shit.
🤬
That nutter who tried to spoil the 500 or so vaccine doses was a conspiracy theorist follower. Of course.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/wisconsin-pharmacist-who-tried-destroy-covid-vaccine-conspiracy-theorist-authorities-n1252770
You would think professional training and licensing processes would catch ignorance and lunacy, not just provide technical competency. Clearly, process failed here.
my father, who worked in medical products for many years, is fond of saying that doctors are very extensively trained plumbers. We think he means that there's no reason to assume that being good at [medical specialty] makes you good at understanding the underlying science or engineering for whatever you're using to deliver care.
Are you ready kids? I can't hear you!
Which one of you has a prominent spot in your house that needs decorating and a spare million?
https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/95144568_spongebob-the-movie-big-dave
Amazing. How do you find these things? I sent the link to my (grown up) kids, who grew up on Sponge Bob.
DBD AV Club
Apparently in Zack Snyder's original, temporary take on Wonder Woman (before Patty Jenkins took over), the origin story was the Crimean War and WW was collecting the heads of her enemies. Interesting production photo of that in this tweet https://twitter.com/TheNerdQueens/status/1346240209529286657
Finished Legend of Korra over the holiday break (as I'd started watching it on the original broadcast but never finished once it went online-only). Good series that gets better as it goes. It's also inspired me to go back and re-start Avatar: The Last Airbender, and after watching the first 7-8 episodes it's clear this show was a masterpiece from the start.
Listening to podcasts about The Mandalorian has also pushed me to start watching the Clone Wars series (the 3D computer animated one) to catch up on what Star Wars lore I've been missing. Enjoying it so far.
Yep, Avatar was a deep complex series
Clone Wars really varies between great episodes and hella annoying ones, overall good show.
Recently finished Ted Lasso which I did like quite a bit.
Made it through about 15-20 minutes of WW84 and my god what a shite movie
Oh my, and the first 15-20 mins of WW 84 were as good as it gets...the remaining 130 mins comprised arguably the worst stretch of cinema in the past 30 years. The entertainment industry should hit writers Patty Jenkins, Geoff Johns & Dave Callahan with show-cause orders like the NCAA levied at Bruce Pearl, Art Briles & Hugh Freeze.
Dreadful film.
At least Patty Jenkins with the first Wonder Woman and Geoff Johns with the Stargirl series have some track record of producing good comic book related things, I don't understand how guys like Simon Kinberg and Zak Penn with the X-men franchise got to make that many movies.
I made it to the robbery scene at the mall and rage quit
Must say, g.oso, that’s like Barzini sending Tesio to set up the meeting with Michael!
hahahaha - show cause
I watched the first two seasons of Ted Lasso and didn't really get the hype. Does it start out slow and get better, or is it just not my cuppa?
I'm with g.oso - I was hesitant to watch it because I thought it would be just a cringe-fest of competing stereotypes, but it gets stronger from the first couple of episodes. One thing that I think it gets very right is how Brits can be horribly rude to you but switch from hostility to affection as the source of the hostility.
that should say "as the source of the rudeness"
I agree with these two. It does get better after a few episodes. I think they were trying to find themselves in the first couple, sorta like the first episodes of The Office or Seinfeld.
The whole fish out of water theme wears off quickly and it allowed a larger group of characters to develop instead of letting them languish in the background or periphery. I'd say keep going
is it only on Apple? Or can I access through other platforms? Seems like this would be my kind of show
i think its Apple TV only
I'm excited for Ted Lasso season 2. I read it's only going to go 3 seasons so I have a feeling I know exactly how those seasons will go, team-wise.
I started Helstrom on Hulu...it’s all demonicky...at the make-it or break-it stage, so will see how ep. 5 of 10 goes....
The Unicorn & The Rookie are the only two broadcast tv shows I watch, & they’re both mindless but uplifting in this dumpster fire we’re currently warming ourselves by. I’m convinced the writers of The Rookie make that shite up as they go bc really, how many shootouts can rookie patrol officers get into?
Your Honor on Showtime good.
I started watching The Unicorn because Walton Goggins was in Vice Principals and he was an ass in that. I do like it.
I do have a bunch of broadcast TV shows I watch most nights. I actually download them that night and watch them throughout the week. Most are mindless and some actually are really good like This Is Us.
Walter Goggins is brilliant in Justified
I never watched Justified. I guess I don't remember him in anything before Vice Principals.
DUDE, stop watching whatever else you're watching and watch Justified; 17/19 it's great fun.
Is that the Western one? I'm not into Westerns.
agree on all of this
I'll repost what I wrote (then deleted) because I accidentally pasted the wrong link.
I said I got a few episodes into the Unicorn, but then faded on how many times they can flog the overall hot-but-clueless-dad-dating premise. The lead actor's veneers were distracting. Rob Corddry is a severely underrated actor.
Agreed...for me, the fact that he’s a recent-ish widower was enough of a wrinkle to make The Unicorn interesting enough, at least for a 20 min. episode. That and the fact that I avoided previous broadcast efforts for the dad-dating premise! It is odd to see Walt Goggins as a normal, sympathetic character...different role for him. Corddry great, as is the guy who played one of Eminem’s buddies in 8 Mile...
Corddry was one of his buddies in 8 Mile? Boy I really don't remember that.
I will have to say I like The Unicorn's new love interest.
I still agree on all of this
Cobra Season 3 - I thought the new season started a bit slow, but got better by the end and immediately make me crave season 4. Also, because I watched the first two seasons when they first came out on YouTube, I have been waiting a long time for this.
The Flight Attendant (on HBO Max) - I thought the pilot was excellent but I almost quit the show if it wasn't such a short series (and there was the overarching mystery of whodunit). Kaley Cuoco was not charming enough to compensate for how annoying her character was, but she eventually went on the expected redemptive path. The show is apparently already renewed for another run (may or may not be based on the book again).
"Kaley Cuoco was not charming enough to compensate for how annoying her character was"
I too almost quit the show bc of how annoyingly terrible her character was. Overall good show.
I liked The Flight Attendant as well. Definite plot twists I didn't see coming.
The Good Place [17/19]. Initially watched 4 episodes but then paused because it didn't quite catch. But started up again last night and was swept away by their cliffhangers into a binge-fest last night.
Pineapple Express [3/19]. What a piece of shit. I have realized that Rogen is a funny bit part actor, but he reached Adam Sandler level fame where he got too much Producer power too early with Superbad and nobody could tell him to work on his writing more. His screenplays are awful, which makes for horrible films.
Taco Chronicles, season 2. [15/19]. Not as good as season 1, but still a very good job describing history and process to making a single specific dish.
Bridgerton [incomplete]. I had to work over the holiday season, but my wife watched the whole first season while I worked upstairs. It sounded like she was watching Pornhub as I could hear a LOT of bodice-ripping, gasping, and humping sounds.
About Time [15/19]. Sweet, sad, and sappy time-travel romantic comedy. Like Click [10/19] meets Groundhogs Day [19/19]. Fairly formulaic, but I'm okay with that.
Bridgerton: 11/19, probably won't watch the second season but maybe I will. It was pleasant enough but not that interesting other than all the humping. The Duke is a smokeshow. The next seasons, if they exist, will focus on different of the Bridgerton siblings, none of whom I felt were very compelling.
Mrs. chowed down Bridgerton in one day. She liked it, well enough, but said it wasn't something that she needed to watch again.
Well, that's 99% of all TV shows.
not for her. If she likes a show, she'll rewatch it multiple times back to back.
  😯
Only on the third episode of Bridgerton, but it's well done, and I'm guessing 15/19 overall. Set in the Regency period, but this ain't Jane Austen's Regency. One funny thing I noticed (same with Sanditon) is the male lead gets to wear a modern hair style, but the others are more accurately period.
Watched the first 6 episodes of Cobra Kai season 3 last couple of days. I really like it. Was excited to see old characters and the flashbacks. Curious to see how the new Miyagi-Do things that Daniel learns gets used in the last 4 episodes.
I won't ruin it for you...the last episode is excellent.
I find the writing and storyline to be cheesier than the first two seasons which were YouTube Red produces seasons. I'm gonna say Netflix is kinda ruining it for me.
I think it was going to be impossible to capture the magic of the first season and the novelty of attacking that world from the opposite side. Like 99% of TV shows and to a lesser degree of movies (shorter art form to allow for more variety), this show is bound to get cheesier as the show progress toward an expected end...world domination by the Cobra Kai dojo.
I flagged towards the end of season 2. Still need to finish that before delving into season 3
i am just getting started on season 2. i like it overall.
Georgia
The end of the Wonder Teams saw the 1929 Cal football team play in the Rose Bowl against Georgia Tech. This was the infamous game that Cal's center recovered a fumble and ran the wrong way. The safety that resulted from the poor field position was the difference in the game 8-7.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Riegels
Let's see if Georgia can get it done.
I'm not holding my breath.
Elsewhere in college
OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY
Don't look now, but Dems are about to win both Senate seats.
oh please say it's so. I haven't looked at results all day. Want to be pleasantly surprised.
Dave Wasserman is very reliable about these things.
https://twitter.com/Redistrict/status/1346681326934650880
Shenanigans in PA: https://twitter.com/abgutman/status/1346519659005284353
Isn't this the same body that in effect sued itself over changes in election law that it passed last year?
Nashville PD: Xmas day bomb terrorist is not a terrorist
https://twitter.com/tnnaterau/status/1346205190345678850
If Dick Cheney says your moral compass is off, you should probably pause a moment.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/10-former-defense-secretaries-military-peaceful-transfer-of-power/2021/01/03/2a23d52e-4c4d-11eb-a9f4-0e668b9772ba_story.html
No comment. Dick Cheney was a great american hero (not).
more or less my wife's comment when she saw that story
I went down along the Mall to the Capitol and back on my run this morning. Some MAGAs out and about but not too many yet. Also some law enforcement around and some streets blocked off but still pretty quiet. To my extreme surprise, every single person wearing some kind of Trump gear was white, a vast majority of them older folks. Since that also describes me I actually got quite a few nods as I ran by.
Nice to see that skin color is still a very important characteristic. Keep that racism alive!
🙄
https://media.giphy.com/media/3og0IUd5D9Y77EXtRK/giphy.gif
🙄
[Sunday Post] Trump to travel/flee to Scotland the day before Biden inaugurated
https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/donald-trump-could-be-planning-turnberry-trip-as-scots-airport-told-to-expect-a-high-flyer-the-day-before-joe-bidens-inauguration/
[First Minister of Scotland]: "Uh, no."
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/trump-biden-inauguration-scotland-sturgeon-lockdown-b1782602.html
Since he owns the course, he would be within the definition of a business trip.
Given his selection of other properties, I find the idea of using Scotland as a base of near term ongoing operations an unlikely choice.
But I defer to DC-T for analysis of all things Great Britain, not just obscure soccer, so I'm looking forward to getting his take on this.
https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance/
If I'm understanding the lockdown rules correctly, simply owning the golf course is not reason enough to be there for work as you can provide executive direction remotely. He could make the argument that he's only going to play golf, but his Secret Service detachment would probably breach the rules about contact with family groups.
Of course the Scottish government can't actually stop him from entering the UK, but they seem to have plenty of opportunities to make it a pain in the ass.
The part that surprises me about all this is that based on public records disclosures about company accounts, quite a few people in Scotland have demanded an Unexplained Wealth Order - which is the legal mechanism for digging into people's finances to determine if they have been laundering money or otherwise up to mischief.
I can't see Trump setting up shop in the UK at all.
This is also my take, that he wouldn't be eligible for the business trip rules. He theoretically has nothing to do with running the Trump Org right now.
As Georgia votes, Trump tries to destroy America's faith in democracy...
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/05/politics/donald-trump-georgia-election/index.html
PRO
COVID hits the Cleveland Browns coaching staff. Special team coach may act as the head coach for their playoff game at the Steelers. https://twitter.com/Browns/status/1346488144259145729
Waiting for Johnny Manziel to call plays sandlot style.
CAL
Go Bears!
https://twitter.com/taylorswift13/status/1344667704372957190
Go Bears!