That’s not even remotely sleazy. You did the work that the people who bought their golf balls back from you were unwilling to do. They weren’t paying for the golf balls so much as they were paying you for fishing them out.

I’ve read more than one article that says grandpa left Germany at 16 to avoid compulsory military service. Once in the US, he lied about his age to become a citizen, built a ‘hotel’ on land he did not own, and went on to run a few bars with ‘sporting ladies’ (prostitutes) in the back room. When his German wife…

Well, first of all those people you sold the balls to knew where you got them, and they bought them because it was cheaper than buying new ones. Plus, whether they ever let on to you or not that they knew you were selling them their own stuff, they liked your salesmanship and wanted to encourage it.

Oh well I have something to watch now!

So this draft dodging thing runs in the family.

They think it illustrates their entrepreneurial spirit.

Why on earth would they think that’s an appropriate story to tell the press????

She is a con-artisan all dressed up for Pinterest and instagram and world domination.

So she’s been passing off fakes since before she got into the fashion business.

I think that’s unfair to Ferengi. To borrow from The Big Lebowski, say what you will about the values of profit above all, but at least it’s an ethos. Beyond ‘make things better for wealthy white (mostly) guys,’ her family, party, and administration have got nothin’.

Clearly the talent for the grift runs in the family.

Is that real? If so, the story reveals everything anyone needs to know about the Trump kids.

My favorite part of that story is that she tells it willingly, with no embarrassment, bragging about how entrepreneurial she and her siblings are. Those apples didn’t fall far from the grifter tree, and have about the same amount of self-awareness.

But not too many, especially if they’re ‘hot’.

It only stuck me last week how... constructed her voice is.

Con-artistism runs in the family.

In another early business story, she and her brothers made fake Native American arrowheads, buried them in the woods, dug them up while playing with their friends, and sold the arrowheads to their friends for five dollars each.

damn. that’s quite an, er, “business story”

The second part of that lemonade stand story In The New Yorker is kind of revealing, too, but in a different way:

They persuaded their bodyguard to buy lemonade, and then their driver, and then the maids, who “dug deep for their spare change.”