Trendy Socialist-theme Nightclub in Hepatitis A scare
posted at 1:40 pm on February 22, 2008 by see-dubya
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This story is only making headlines because of a celebrity connection, but there’s more. First the mainstream hit:
Earlier this month, Kutcher celebrated his 30th birthday at Socialista, a fancy New York nightclub. A-list celebs flocked to the event. Among those reportedly in attendance: Bruce Willis, Gwyneth Paltrow, Madonna and, of course, Kutcher’s wife (Willis’s Ex) Demi Moore.
Today, the New York City Health Department said a bartender at Socialista might have passed hepatitis A to club patrons early this month. The bartender only worked on three nights when he might have been infectious, but one of those nights — Feb. 7 — was the night of Kutcher’s party.
Wait…a club called what? Is that “Social List A”? Why no, it’s a Cubano-commie-themed West Village hot spot where the Che T-shirt crowd can mingle with Obama campaign volunteers and toast La Revolucion with a “Red Star” cocktail.
I hope the celebrities recover (even though they must do so without the miraculous benefits of Cuban Communist health care), and I hope the restaurant doesn’t. It was an ill-considered plan, to say the least. A commenter on this restaurant review couldn’t believe the bad taste of celebrating not Cuban culture, but Cuban communism:
Making a buck off the misery of millions of Cubans trapped amid the Castro dictatorship is not only offensive, it wreaks of callous indifference. Those of us who have suffered jail time as political prisoners on the island will never forgive those who open bars and restaurants meant to celebrate the crimes committed against us, the Cuban people.
So, while your enjoying your Mojitos and Cuba Libres, take a moment to reflect on the thousands of Cuban men, women and children murdered by the Castro regime. This is beyond sick. Its as if the owners view the Cuban people as nothing more than sub-human animals, bred for their enjoyment like some sort of sick circus sideshow. For shame.
I see the project was backed by the Cipriani family, who made their money opening Harry’s Bar in Venice, which became world famous because it opened in a location close enough to Saint Mark’s Square for Ernest Hemingway to stumble into before he fell into a canal. Well, they’ve gone from celebrating the mercantile Venetian Republic to celebrating Castro’s post-colonial dump. What’s next for the Cipriani Corporation after this misguided project closes down: “The Gulag Archipel-a-Go-Go”? “Sis-Boom-Baaa, the Intifada Kebab House”?
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It’s like the symphony going to N. Korea.
No respect for the oppressed masses.
jgapinoy on February 22, 2008 at 1:44 PM
I was hoping Michael Moore to have been at the party…
Entelechy on February 22, 2008 at 1:44 PM
I heard on the radio this morning that some of the celebs that are currently in movie productions are being barred from the sets until they get tested and get an all-clear, the insurance companies are pretty adamant on that.
bbz123 on February 22, 2008 at 1:46 PM
There’s an irony in famous actors, who make all of their money and fame off of American capitalism, celebrating Communism.
amerpundit on February 22, 2008 at 1:47 PM
As if a bunch of those folks didn’t already have Hep A when they walked in the door.
doufree on February 22, 2008 at 1:50 PM
Hope the price of the drinks was worth all the hassle.
pilamaye on February 22, 2008 at 1:51 PM
hotspot for liberal fascist.
jp on February 22, 2008 at 1:51 PM
It is my hope that these pigs realize their Communist Utopia, in its full splendor:
The fear of speaking their minds, even to their own families;
The fear of jackboots kicking in their door, at 4:00 a.m.;
The fear of being thrown into the American Lubyanka, followed by the requisite torture, or trip to the Gulag.
The fear of cold, pistol muzzles, contacting the base of their skulls.
That these peoples and places exist is more of a threat to our freedom and our country than the Soviet Union ever was. These misfits are the rot that will destroy our country, from within.
I am livid, and sickened.
OhEssYouCowboys on February 22, 2008 at 1:52 PM
Hep A is more prevalent because illegal immigrants who are infected are hired to work these types of jobs and are unknowingly carrying it and spreading it. It happened to Wolfgang Puck’s event last year. Wow, isn’t open borders compassionate?
PattyJ on February 22, 2008 at 1:55 PM
“Chavez Choco-latte”
“Argentine Cuisine”
“Castro Bistro”
“Serbia Herbias”
“Hamas Hot
DogsTubes”davidk on February 22, 2008 at 1:59 PM
Oh yeah…I know this place. If you want a table, it’s a $600 minimum.
Heh, the owner…a former doorman for Bungalw 8, Armin Amiri…had this to say when he was opening:
“What I’d like to be done is a socialism as far as the door…What socialism really means is, I give you this and you give me that. And as the door goes, I’m gonna bring you into this nice atmosphere; hopefully, you’re going to bring your great energy in here. And that’s it…that’s the only even exchange I want with people.”
JetBoy on February 22, 2008 at 2:00 PM
I hope these idiots have the opportunity to meet Karl Marx very soon.
NTWR on February 22, 2008 at 2:01 PM
May they all contract something Ajax won’t remove. Oh yeah, they already have. Its called liberalmania.
Defintion:
A disease that effects the brain negatively. In a short time, the brain is unable to distinguish right from wrong, morality from immorality, goodguys from badguys and so on. This disease eventually causes the body to sit on its glutemus maximus and live off taxpayer funded programs.
kcd on February 22, 2008 at 2:02 PM
Classic!
An homage to the old Johnny Carson bit?
SailorDave on February 22, 2008 at 2:03 PM
Well I hope this fella(I assume it’s a he) didn’t pass it on to anyone. Not discounting the celebs, but I imagine his co-workers and their families are in a panic.
As far as the nightclub, this will nail the doors shut.
Anyone have any stats on HepA rates in the U.S. in 88 compared to HepA rates in 08?
Limerick on February 22, 2008 at 2:06 PM
Kim Jong’s Korean Hotpot
Ho Chi Mints
Stalin’s Gulag Grub
Frozen Tex on February 22, 2008 at 2:06 PM
How would you get Hepatitis from a bartender? What kind of bloody mary’s do they serve there?
Hollowpoint on February 22, 2008 at 2:07 PM
Well at least they HAVE healthcare.
TroubledMonkey on February 22, 2008 at 2:10 PM
They’re not the first ones to do the Communist theme. In L.A.’s Venice, Mao’s Kitchen is a favorite. I’ve eaten there a number of times, though I’ve pointed out to my fellow patrons that you wouldn’t expect to find a Hitler theme or, West of the Danube, a Stalin theme. Like any socialist scheme, the restaurant started out with promise but has gone downhill in quality with time.
calbear on February 22, 2008 at 2:11 PM
According to Wikipedia, Hep A transmits via faecal-oral (EEEEWWWWW!!!!) contact, so he might not have been washing his hands, or some such…
EEEEEWWWWW!!!!
Frozen Tex on February 22, 2008 at 2:13 PM
Sailor Dave–
“Sound made by an exploding sheep.”
Hollowpoint–
From the WSJ blog link above:
The Red Star Cocktail may have a secret ingredient…
Actually no one has caught it from Socialista’s bartender, it’s just that the bartender has it and now everyone who went to the bar has to be tested for it.
see-dubya on February 22, 2008 at 2:13 PM
Hitler’s Cross in New Delhi.
Limerick on February 22, 2008 at 2:14 PM
Yeah, I saw this story too, I was a bit surprised by the name of the club, perhaps I shouldn’t have been. No surprise the Hollywood set likes it though.
doubleplusundead on February 22, 2008 at 2:14 PM
Eww. Hope no one ordered a “dirty martini” or even worse- a “black russian”.
Hollowpoint on February 22, 2008 at 2:19 PM
600 bucks just to reserve a table?
Er, I’m really pleased to say that I’ve never been “cool” enough to need to spend 600 bucks to get into a bar.
funky chicken on February 22, 2008 at 2:23 PM
Maybe it’ll spread while these pinheads are walking the red carpet Sunday.
JammieWearingFool on February 22, 2008 at 2:26 PM
Bruce Willis ? I’m very disappointed. I thought he was kinda, sorta a conservative. Stike his movies off my list. I’m down to Patricia Heaton & Kelsey Grammar (”BACK TO YOU” !!!)
stenwin77 on February 22, 2008 at 2:26 PM
Kahlua mudslide? Chocolatini? Ewwww…of course, those are ones metros and ladies have to watch for. Not that anyone here would be caught dead in a bar named Socialista anyway.
doubleplusundead on February 22, 2008 at 2:27 PM
Speaking of trendy socialists, Buy Danish found some good stuff down in the Obama Ayers thread:
funky chicken on February 22, 2008 at 2:28 PM
No, Bruce is okay; I’d be pretty sure he was there ’cause he’s kinda friendly with Kutcher (who spends a lot of time with Willis’ kids, after all). That, and Bruce loves a party.
Frozen Tex on February 22, 2008 at 2:30 PM
To be fair, the People’s Republic Bar in Cambridge, MA is pretty tongue-in-cheek even if it is in Cambridge. Also, the only bar on Mass Ave. that won’t give you a funny look if you order a Moscow Mule.
Techie on February 22, 2008 at 2:30 PM
I remember seeing that on Carson when I was a teen. It was my absolute favorite joke from him. I still tell it at times.
These Hollywood stars make me sick.. why can’t we go back to the good old days when being an actor was considered a taboo profession and shunned? We certainly have enough reasons for it.
GoodBoy on February 22, 2008 at 2:33 PM
Not to mention he looks grrrrreat in a tux! ; )
kcd on February 22, 2008 at 2:33 PM
Do they make a profit at this club or is that against the rules?
THE CHOSEN ONE on February 22, 2008 at 2:35 PM
More like a dirty
sanchezChavez.I also hear the Calderon Cauldron is lethal.
BKennedy on February 22, 2008 at 2:35 PM
The Arkansas Democratic Party had their election night victory party at a commie-themed bar in Little Rock.
someguy on February 22, 2008 at 2:35 PM
I have a secret…sometimes late at night, I dream about bringing back Hollywood blacklisting.
malan89 on February 22, 2008 at 2:35 PM
I didn’t know Mike Huckabee ran a bar.
BKennedy on February 22, 2008 at 2:37 PM
But you know, of course, that if they did it now, it would run the opposite way, and conservatives wouldn’t be able to work.
Frozen Tex on February 22, 2008 at 2:40 PM
2:15-3:45 p.m.
IV. Intellectuals in Times of Crisis
Experiences and applications of intellectual work in urgent situations.
William Ayers, UIC, College of Education; author of Fugitive Days
Douglass Cassel, Northwestern University, Center for International Human Rights
Cathy Cohen, University of Chicago, Political Science
Salim Muwakkil, Chicago Tribune; In These Times
Barack Obama, Illinois State Senator
Barbara Ransby, UIC, African-American Studies (moderator)
http://www.uic.edu/classes/las/las400/conferencealt.htm
Can anybody get a screen cap, and send the link to Politico? The Obama-Ayers-Dohrn relationship wasn’t just a 1995 thing.
funky chicken on February 22, 2008 at 2:45 PM
I’m sorry where you people live there are commy bars.
THE CHOSEN ONE on February 22, 2008 at 2:48 PM
I screencapped and will post on it tonight (if Allah doesn’t first), but I don’t think it’s quite that huge a deal. I wouldn’t appear on a panel with a terrorist like Ayers, but if I did, it still wouldn’t mean we were friends.
see-dubya on February 22, 2008 at 2:50 PM
see-dubya it’s just a piece of the puzzle. It’s a pretty good piece though. Launched his political career in 1995 at this couple’s house. Served on a board with Ayers. Joint appearance in 2002. Rezkowatch quoted a Times Online article (I think?) showing a political donation from William Ayers.
funky chicken on February 22, 2008 at 2:53 PM
It’s true. You have to ingest the Hepatitis A Virus. This can be in the form of contaminated food or beverage. It was probably on the bartender’s hands. Most likely the cause was that they exceeded their daily ration of toilet paper. Sheryl Crow has it right, y’all!
Dr.Cwac.Cwac on February 22, 2008 at 2:53 PM
I don’t know if there are commie bars here in Alabama, but I’ve been disgusted that there are two “adult” shops that have been running ads on the pop music station here.
So much for public decency in the Bible Belt.
funky chicken on February 22, 2008 at 2:54 PM
I think it’s fitting: a 3rd world disease for a 3rd world themed establishment. Give it street cred, sorta like being right there in the disease ridden slums of central america. I wonder if they have $3 donkey shows in the VIP room?
Alden Pyle on February 22, 2008 at 2:56 PM
I understand there’s a guy named “superman” who does a show there. Johnny Ola told me about it.
see-dubya on February 22, 2008 at 2:57 PM
How could you forget Chuck Norris?
Three beacons of red in a sea of blue that is Follywood.
jgapinoy on February 22, 2008 at 2:58 PM
Oh, and once again, just to be clear and free of litigation–no one caught hepatitis at this restaurant. A bartender came back from vacation and discovered he had it, so now pepole are being tested for it.
see-dubya on February 22, 2008 at 2:58 PM
Should a child ever be called a “super predator?”
A panel at the University of Chicago debates the merits of the juvenile justice system
Children who kill are called “super predators,” “people with no conscience,” “feral pre-social beings”–and “adults.”
William Ayers, author of A Kind and Just Parent: The Children of Juvenile Court(Beacon Press, 1997), says “We should call a child a child. A 13-year-old who picks up a gun isn’t suddenly an adult. We have to ask other questions: How did he get the gun? Where did it come from?”
Ayers, who spent a year observing the Cook County Temporary Juvenile Detention Center in Chicago, is one of four panelists who will speak on juvenile justice at 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 20, in the C-Shop of the Reynolds Club, 5706 S. University Ave.
The panel, which marks the 100th anniversary of the juvenile justice system in the United States, is part of the Community Service Center’s monthly discussion series on issues affecting the city of Chicago.
The event is free and open to the public.
Ayers will be joined by Illinois State Sen. Barack Obama, Senior Lecturer in the University of Chicago Law School, who is working to block proposed legislation that would throw more juvenile offenders into the adult system; Randolph Stone, Director of the Mandel Legal Aid Clinic at the University of Chicago; Alex Correa, a reformed juvenile offender who spent 7 years in Cook County Temporary Detention Center; Frank Tobin, a former priest and teacher in the Detention Center who helped Correa; and Willy Baldwin, who grew up in public housing and is currently a teacher in the Detention Center.
The juvenile justice system was founded by Chicago reformer Jane Addams, who advocated the establishment of a separate court system for children which would act like a “kind and just parent” for children in crisis.
One hundred years later, the system is “overcrowded, under-funded, over-centralized and racist,” Ayers said.
Michelle Obama, Associate Dean of Student Services and Director of the University of Chicago Community Service Center, hopes bringing issues like this to campus will open a dialogue between members of the University community and the broader community.
“We know that issues like juvenile justice impact each of us who live in the city of Chicago. This panel gives community members and students a chance to hear about the juvenile justice system not only on a theoretical level, but from the people who have experienced it.”
http://www-news.uchicago.edu/releases/97/971104.juvenile.justice.shtml
funky chicken on February 22, 2008 at 3:06 PM
ok, done with ot
funky chicken on February 22, 2008 at 3:08 PM
Here in the City of Salt, we have a high-end (read: way too expensive) martini bar called The Red Door, that is commie-themed. As you walk in, everything is painted red with a giant Che vissage painted on the wall. There’s also a floating monkey prayer shrine in the corner (don’t knwo what it represents, if anything). It does really well and has been there for a decade. Salt Lake, believe it or not, is quite the hotbed for pseudo-radical leftism, or whatever the hell you want to call it. Just read the comments about any Mormon or Republican themed news story in the SL Trib. An article on Fidel kept me busy for a couple of days. What can I say? I love nothing but to agitate vapid faux-revolutionaries.
INFDL on February 22, 2008 at 3:14 PM
Pure. Unadulterated. Win.
spmat on February 22, 2008 at 3:16 PM
Bruce is good to go, he attended a homecoming for a celebrated Army unit and always portrays the military in a good light in his movies. he has a weird habit of hanging out with his ex-wife and her boy-toy Ashton.
Besides, the owner of this establishment in the world’s most cynical socialist to charge $600 a table. It’s the ironic moustache of nightclubs. he and his buds probably get a good laugh out of it as they count their green every night.
joewm315 on February 22, 2008 at 3:16 PM
Well I’ll bet where you live, there are a$$holes. Oh yeah, that would be you. Does’nt feel good does it? To be insulted? If you want to make a point just make it. Don’t be insulting.
kcd on February 22, 2008 at 3:21 PM
Socialism is always about hypocrisy. The more impoverished a communist country, the more luxury the governing elite enjoy. Look at N. Korea.
jgapinoy on February 22, 2008 at 3:22 PM
That being the point of socialism: the protection of the wealthy elite behind a firewall of bureaucracy and military force. Collectivists want to keep the poor as poor and powerless as possible while sucking the life from them, making themselves richer. Essentially, a strong and upwardly mobile middle class is the problem.
The trope of “rich get richer, poor get poorer” is precisely the point of socialism. And to do that, they have to cripple the middle class, put up a glass ceiling of regulation and taxation and let entropy do its work.
spmat on February 22, 2008 at 3:45 PM
kcd on February 22, 2008 at 3:21 PM
Gary Bauer fan.
THE CHOSEN ONE on February 22, 2008 at 3:48 PM
they have a Red Square Bar at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Vegas but that’s much more Russian themed then Soviet. They do have a big ass statute of Lenin outside it but beyond that and hte occasional piece of soviet memorabilia there’s nothing ‘communist’ like out there.
Defector01 on February 22, 2008 at 3:52 PM
I`m alittle surprised Willis was there.
ThePrez on February 22, 2008 at 3:53 PM
How could you forget Chuck Norris?Three beacons of red in a sea of blue that is Follywood.
jgapinoy on February 22, 2008 at 2:58 PM
I wouldn’t call Norris a conservative. Maybe a social conservative. If you support Huckabee, you can’t be much of a fiscal or national security conservative. Wait a minute…I think somebody is breaking in….oh no….no…goodbye…Chuck Norris is here….I’m dead.
malan89 on February 22, 2008 at 3:59 PM
Those were ment to be quotes, not strikes.
malan89 on February 22, 2008 at 3:59 PM
Good catch, but it’s a panel, so he probably didn’t know who was on it until after he’d accepted. Besides, you cross paths with a lot of people in politics, and he probably didn’t even recall who they were.
calbear on February 22, 2008 at 4:02 PM
I hope Tool wasn’t there. They are gods.
THE CHOSEN ONE on February 22, 2008 at 4:06 PM
Now THAT cracked me up. Poor ol’ Fredo is nowhere to be found. Gone fishin’ I heard.
Brat on February 22, 2008 at 4:38 PM
They don’t have to be friends. The fact is that after everything Ayers did as a Weatherman, and after this 2001 comment, “I don’t regret setting bombs. I feel we didn’t do enough.”, Obama continued to associate with Ayers (and Dhorn) both on panels and on the Woods Fund board of directors.
Read this response at the other thread.
Certainly some Democrats are worried about it, and it is very neatly laid out by Taylor Marsh.
Buy Danish on February 22, 2008 at 4:57 PM
calbear, how about the panel that had Ayers and Obama that was organized by Obama’s wife? I’d guess they knew who was gonna be on that one…..and it was in 1997.
So we have contact in 1995, 1997, served on the same board of an organization from ? 98-2001, then on a panel together in 2002.
Hard to argue they don’t know each other well.
funky chicken on February 22, 2008 at 5:17 PM
Ayers will be joined by Illinois State Sen. Barack Obama, Senior Lecturer in the University of Chicago Law School, who is working to block proposed legislation that would throw more juvenile offenders into the adult system; Randolph Stone, Director of the Mandel Legal Aid Clinic at the University of Chicago; Alex Correa, a reformed juvenile offender who spent 7 years in Cook County Temporary Detention Center; Frank Tobin, a former priest and teacher in the Detention Center who helped Correa; and Willy Baldwin, who grew up in public housing and is currently a teacher in the Detention Center.
The juvenile justice system was founded by Chicago reformer Jane Addams, who advocated the establishment of a separate court system for children which would act like a “kind and just parent” for children in crisis.
One hundred years later, the system is “overcrowded, under-funded, over-centralized and racist,” Ayers said.
Michelle Obama, Associate Dean of Student Services and Director of the University of Chicago Community Service Center, hopes bringing issues like this to campus will open a dialogue between members of the University community and the broader community.
“We know that issues like juvenile justice impact each of us who live in the city of Chicago. This panel gives community members and students a chance to hear about the juvenile justice system not only on a theoretical level, but from the people who have experienced it.”
http://www-news.uchicago.edu/releases/97/971104.juvenile.justice.shtml
funky chicken on February 22, 2008 at 5:20 PM
Try the Dead Che.
Kid from Brooklyn on February 22, 2008 at 5:22 PM
Buy Danish oh ho!
funky chicken on February 22, 2008 at 5:28 PM
I guess you never worked in Hollywood then. I have and yes, you have to keep your political leanings very hush hush. My husband worked as an executive at a fledgeling studio that is/was owned by very big names, and they gave the DNC all his info so they could beg him for money. I’m sure they knew he didn’t give any.
Ann NY on February 22, 2008 at 5:56 PM
jgapinoy on February 22, 2008 at 2:58 PM
There are ways to tell when someone is conservative in Hollywood. One, they never talk politics. Two, they had a promising career and disappeared off the face of the earth for no reason. There are some, like Vince Vaughn, who got too big too fast for them to not work with him even though he tortures people with Rush Limbaugh quotes. Comedians get more slack than others do though.
Ann NY on February 22, 2008 at 6:03 PM
Austin Powers – (tastes specimen) “It’s a bit ‘nutty’.”
Coronagold on February 22, 2008 at 6:15 PM
Some day I want to open a chain of Chechen Chicken Jihad! stores where the chicken is grilled with blow torches and cattle prods and the waitresses are Black Widows.
BL@KBIRD on February 22, 2008 at 6:20 PM
Incubation period for Hep A is 2-6 weeks. So unless the people in question have been treated prophylactically, someone could theoretically still come down with it.
As to the idea of Socialista in general? Only a moron would patronize such an establishment. Remember all of those idiots in history class who were screwing around in the back of class? Well, here they all are in one tiny place.
GeeWhiz on February 22, 2008 at 11:20 PM
I’m sure that for many of the celebrities who frequent a place like that, Hep A is the least of their infectious disease worries.
greekinfidel on February 23, 2008 at 11:38 PM
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