Donald’s madness hiding the Epstein files tells us it’s something horrible he’s hiding.
Whatever it is, it’s so mortally serious he’s openly breaking the federal law that all file contents should have been disclosed already – and with minimal redactions.
Several of Donald’s appointees still cover for him, but congressionally elected Republicans now increasingly dropping out tell us something worse. Though what Donald’s dirt it is they don’t know, they do know it’s horrific. And because Donald knows its horrors, he’s made himself toxic – paranoid, fearful, vicious, untrustworthy to all these Republicans now jumping ship.
Dems? They’ve only got to keep standing up with, voicing support for the former girl victims. Keep reminding us how at Donald’s heart – instead of one – rot, rapists, humanly foul billionaires, and worse all writhe and wrap around each other in ways we cannot imagine.
He’s helplessly self-destructing.
But what do cornered rats do? They have ICE terrorize more brown-skinned people. Sic more U.S. troops on us. Assassinate more men on Caribbean small boats. Commit piracy on oil tankers. Set tariffs to hurt our working class. Wreck federal buildings. Spend all night seeing ghosts.
May I suggest that we henceforth refer only to "The Trump–Epstein Files"?
This gives an appropriate focus on whose posterior is parked on the files preventing their unedited release, it acknowledges Trump’s desire to make it all about himself, and it echoes Trump’s recent narcissistic renaming of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
In fact, I recommend that cities, counties and states throughout America follow up by renaming sewage treatment plants, landfills, recycling centers, parking lots, psychiatric hospitals and more after Donald J. Trump!
The women survivors of the torture they endured as young girls are STILL waiting for their day of justice from all the criminal abusers involved which are many more than Epstein, Trump, and Maxwell according to testimony. For that reason, I think “The Epstein Files” more fairly encompasses the (hopefully) entire disgusting horde of criminals that must be punished. I still am trying to understand, however, why these men have not yet been at least indicted as these women have already given sworn statements and named their abusers and have witnesses in many cases as well. Why is this not already in progress?
Bizarrely enough, the UK has done more. King Charles has stripped his disgraced younger brother Andrew of his royal title. Not that this is sufficient punishment...
Jenga is a classic stacking game where players remove one wooden block at a time from a tall tower and place it on top, making the structure increasingly unstable until it falls.
MAGA is a classic stacking game where players remove one constitutionally derived law at a time from a tall (conceptual) tower thereby placing their Dear Leader on top, making the structure increasingly unstable until it falls.
And it’s gonna fall right on top of you James, exactly where it should fall for your blatant extreme hate… which you carry around like some badge of courage, which is infecting every single organ in your body starting with your brain
Rick Sender, please stop projecting your metal delusions on me. I’m not the one supporting DJT while he protects perverts from the justice they deserve for sexually abusing children. Want to criticize one of those people? Criticize the guy in the mirror.
For the record, I don’t hate anyone. I just hate what sick bastards like you do because I care about the innocent victims of your delusion. I hope you all seek retribution for their sake and for your own.
So, get a competent psychiatrist or spiritual advisor, but you’re old, so do it now. Or go to hell. I’m good with your choice. Either way, you’ll be making the world a better place.
That inspires me to hire a few farmers with their biggest tractors and heavy ploughs, maybe add in a few steam traction engines -- and send them to plough up all Trump Golf courses. This man's name needs to join a certain Adolf's in the Halls of Infamy, to be expunged from every building, property and public space and his family to be barred from any public office.
By the way, I almost forgot now Van Halen wants to impeach Trump for renaming the Kennedy Center. I keep telling you epstein's gonna be last on the list and going nowhere I didn't hear too many complaints when they renamed Cape Canaveral
I tried once reasoning with you at one time but it was useless. You give praise to a person who only has destruct ion as his goal besides forcing anyone to pay homage with money like a 2nd rate corner mafia street boss. Destruction and money are his only ambitions and you support this.
For this, you have no shame. You are disgusting as disgusting as the one you follow.
Right?? At least “ex-Prince” Andrew is now having to live with unrelenting shame and disgust from not only his family but the entire UK as well. The next best thing to prison 👍. But here WE are still with the child rapists and sex abusers remaining free as birds. For now 😡
He still has not been held accountable for his actions. yes, he lost his title and place to live, BOO HOO, He needs to be brought into court, face those he abused and then sent to prison for what he has done.
This is what happens when you live on ancient history. I don’t understand the lot of you wishing for things that are absolutely never ever ever going to happen. And provide you’ll probably die nothing more than a morose in dividual wasting your time and your life
Our problem would seem to be more related to an inability to assess character in our choice of elected leaders. Kinda like the saying: One gets what one pays for. At the moment, we're 'paying dearly' for our mistakes. Not to hi-jack your thread.
Yes, exactly. That's what we get when we kick humanities out of schools, and replace all humane arts with the group-abstracting, neutered rationalizing, and linear-imposing testing.
Well, if there was ever a bad choice of leaders recently, it was the one that just left office that poisoned our entire culture. They took money out of our own citizens that help kill innocent victims that needn’t to be killed or raped or murdered or Trafficked. 40 years of nothing it is Legacy and your heat of Donald Trump put an individual who was not in his right mind. If he even had a mind at the time he was president should never have been there he destroyed almost every fabric of America in every sense, culturally economically and inhumanely.
All of this was predictable...and should keep the issue alive.
Every one of the people mentioned in the files, is a potential witness that can lead to even more witnesses.
DOJ is still supposedly processing thousands of documents related to the case and has identified over 1,200 names of individuals who are either victims or their relatives for redaction purposes, but the total number is believed to be higher.
By obfuscating, every DOJ/FBI employee invoved is exposed to a potential prosecution for the coverup.
At a minimum, obstruction of justice rings the cash register in civil litigation.
Yup, Daniel, all of this - all that Trump has done/is doing is predictable. Good point about “every DOJ/FBI employee involved” being possibly held liable.
I spent yesterday reading everything I could put my hands on by Dean Blundell, Lev Parnas, Zev Shalev, Steve Schmidt, Robert Reich, Ellie Leonard, . . about the Epstein files dump. I read HCR, this morning at 7:15 AM, then skimmed all the comments to the end, had breakfast and now I'm here posting at 9:45 AM to say that no one else mentions the sources noted above who have been preparing for Friday for weeks and my sense, regrettably, that while HCR does her daily up-to-date work for us . . . but, bluntly, where the hell are WE and what are WE doing??? Are we just a silo, raising our same old tired points with one another?? I'd love to be corrected, but I don't believe I'm wrong on this.
We are being toyed with by the Trump regime. The cynicism shown by Patel, and Bondi, etc. is breathtaking. Each day that goes by without Congress being supported by (1) plans developed to assure a crushing midterm win, then (2) the plans for the use of the two years following to complete the dozens of oversight hearings to document the damage done and/or revealed/understood about our 250-year-old Republic to underpin and assure winning the 2028 election to begin (3) the first four years of rebuilding America for another 250 years of liberty and a restored American democratic experiment? Where is it? Who's doing it? Is there still time for it? I don't see any signs of that kind of thinking/planning being done . . .
They're also not afraid of deposing their tyrants when they get really bad. Charles I clashed with Parliament over power, religion, and finances, leading to war and his eventual trial and conviction for tyranny.
Interesting Harvey. I just noted that cost of living in the UK is considered to be about 13% lower than here in the US. And, although the UK seems to be a bit too preoccupied with 'royalty/kings/queens/duchesses/etc'.., they're pretty-nice people, struggling like the rest of us with differing cultures, colors, and religions.
Actually, the UK has done nothing. The King took care of family business. The government has said not a word and you can bet your last dollar that they would like us to believe that no other British subject is involved.
As to how "they would like us to believe that no other British subject is involved" we have "The Enablers," by Frank Vogl, and we also have Oliver Bullough's "Butler to the World: How Britain Became the Servant of Tycoons, Tax Dodgers, Kleptocrats and Criminals."
No, you are right; it isn’t sufficient punishment. Like many others I may not know of, Andrew as an example, is being shielded by the royal family. After all, he is still family. In Andrew’s case, all pressure against him has been used. Now, the real pressure needs to be against the royals themselves. No one should be allowed to hide *anywhere.*
Of course Clinton liked young girls.got his jollies with an intern with big lips. He wasn’t someone I supported. But Al Gore would have made a great president.
You should buy my new edition book, Donald’s Vanity Tantrums. You would like it.
Since, at least the 1990's the victims of Epstein's, Maxwell's and Trump's crimes have suffered and lived with the fact that powerful Republicans don't give a flying fuck about anyone but themselves and other oligarchs.
The victims deserve justice and not just tabloid BS and pictures of people that are basically innocent bystanders. Is there little doubt that Clinton had extra-marital affairs? If he did so with underage girls, then he should be prosecuted, but prosecute them all.
Would ANYONE be surprised if Trump pardoned Maxwell before Christmas as his way of saying, "I am the king and the rest of you can go fuck yourselves."
The fact remains -- ALL REPUBLICAN POLITICIANS AND OLIGARCHS love sexual predators and don't consider pedophilia a crime.
Over 1000 victims and all the Republcans can do is cover it up. No apology to the victims at all.
GJ, there is no doubt that Bill Clinton was trained as a lawyer before he entered politics in an era when breaking the law would end the career of either a lawyer or a politician.
There is no doubt that Clinton couldn't keep it in his pants. When Clinton was Arkansas' governor, my home was 6 blocks from the governor's mansion. Almost every morning, he jogged down my street followed by a security detail in a black Suburban. Two blocks east of my home was Gennifer Flowers' high-rise apartment and my friend, Connie Hamzy lived next door to me. These were two of many women (both well past legal age) Clinton pursued (contrary to Stephanopoulos' off-the-record claims). Long before I met Connie, she had burned away all her guile and filters with drugs, which prompted her to regale me with stories of her encounters with Clinton, Neil Diamond, Don Henley, Huey Lewis and many other rock stars. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connie_Hamzy
Unlike Epstein, Clinton didn't have a taste for underage girls. There is no doubt that Clinton is many things, but stupid isn't one of them. He had no need – or interest – in tangling with "jailbait" when so many women (and men) were more than willing to provide the services he desired.
Epstein's money and power provided access to other money and power, including the presidency. No doubt, he invited Clinton to his island, and Clinton, being a sex addict, accepted the invitation. Did Clinton participate in the activities there? Probably. But I'm convinced that the girls Epstein proffered weren't to Clinton's taste and he didn't keep coming back for more, unlike his orange-hued successor.
Connie was one of the most interesting people I have ever known, Phil. And I have known a whole arena full of interesting people.
Connie lived hard and fast, but she had a heart of gold. When we were "snowed in" and without power, Connie was the only one of my friends who called to check and make sure I was alright. We lived only 6 blocks from several concert venues and Little Rock's nightclub district, so it was not unusual for Connie to ring my doorbell at ungodly hours after she'd been to a concert, almost childlike in her breathless excitement to tell me who she'd seen and what she'd done. I never minded because her stories were well worth waking up for.
The Penthouse Magazine crew came to interview her while I was out of town on business. Their photographer saw my Jaguar XJ6 in the driveway next door and shot Connie spread-eagle on the bonnet. When I got home, she told me about her Penthouse interview and the photoshoot. I said, "Where's the photo release I need to sign for the use of my car?"
Connie's eyes widened and she looked panicked. I laughed and said, "I was just kidding. It's fine. I want a copy when the issue comes out."
One night, she showed up at my door after a ZZ Top concert and handed me a key fob, THE key fob from the "Sharp Dressed Man" video. She laughed and said, "You wouldn't believe what I had to do to get this, but I thought you should have it for your Jag."
Yes, GL, “victims deserve justice,” but I also subscribe to the notion that wrongdoers must be held accountable for their illegal/immoral acts. I know Jesus believed - strongly - in forgiveness, but, Satan and Hell are still part of Christian teaching. (Not that Christianity is the only moral standard out there. It’s just that Trump’s “religion” is Christianity, so….)
Trump has no religion in any sense of the word "religious" Christian! He lies to the extreme. Why would/does anyone think or believe he has any Judo/Christian beliefs, let alone values? He is a god in his own mind. He will and does say whatever he thinks or believes his followers want to hear. All the crosses being worn by his bevy of blonds prove nothing as their “actions speak louder than words.” Christ might forgive them, but the majority of Americans I believe will not. Why should we when their actions are intended to serve Trump, a false god, and deceive us for their own benefit? Christians? Yeah, right! Better to Write them off!
Correct, Trump has no religious tendencies other than any religion that will keep him in office, get him a Nobel Peace Prize, keep him out of jail, etc. (see more below)
Papa, Christianity is utterly irrelevant when talking about Donald. Mary Anne Trump was a member of the Presbyterian church solely because it was socially beneficial. She occasionally made an appearance with her children at worship only to maintain the appearance of respectability. With ADD, Donald didn't absorb anything he may have heard at church.
Donald's only relationship with Christianity is that it encompasses a gullible bloc of voters he has exploited to his electoral advantage. Other than that, he has no knowledge or use for it.
And in fact, Christian superstition has no place in our judicial system. Criminal behavior must be punished according to the law.
I don’t agree that Christianity or ANY RELIGION is irrelevant to Trump. Spiritually, yup, irrelevant. Politically - very, very relevant. That Billy Graham’s son is so deep into Trump. That tons of Evangelicals and Catholics are so deep into Trump, he is virtually aligned with Christianity to say nothing about Trump and Netanyahu aligned Jews. Plus, those Kushner and MBS aligned Muslims…..
I've seen several videos where victims are asked, has DOJ contacted you?
In every case the victims have shaken their heads no. Neither they nor any fellow victims they know have even been contacted -- at any level -- by anyone from the DOJ.
The U.S., in having its schools all fall to the conceits of testing, standardized testing, has created a meritocracy where most all at the top have learned to become neutered rational, group-abstracted, and linear-limited only.
All have also learned to be humanities ignorant, unable ever to reference any works on human beings in any apt reference to the damages our ruling elites so regularly learn to inflict.
Some "men" are good in their intentions.., others, not so much. In the case of Shitt'-for-brains (grab em by the crotch), character-assessment didn't play well.
There may be statute-of-limitations issues in some jurisdictions. Many jurisdictions have eliminated them entirely for sex trafficking and child rape, but not all. There may be no physical evidence unless the perpetrators kept souvenirs or contemporaneous confirmation from diaries or disclosures to others.
Those are the fig leaf reasons. But they can't be true for all 1000 survivors.
I don’t want to hear that, Georgia! As with everything, there are all always exceptions to the rules. I mean, look what the DOJ took it upon themselves to do…defy court orders!
Seriously? And who is going to change them? Boomer (and older) women often mentally organize their lives according to before/after which workplace rape it was. As the youngest Boomers just turned 60 that means that there are a lot of men out there that would be charged for rapes that happened in the 60's, 70's and 80's.
Including, I bet, most of Congress.
I mean.. after my first rape at work I went to therapy where the Doctor spent the sessions grooming me and got seriously pissed off when I refused and threatened to have me committed.
And my response was to walk away from therapy and change jobs. Because my boss had already told me that I dared to report the sales manager's son to the police that he would fire both me AND the young, married mechanic with three young kids who had come in for change for the soda machine and pulled the arsehat off me.
And 'oh by the way' my request to not work alone on Saturday mornings was refused because he wasn't going to waste money on extra payroll to sooth some woman's hurt feelings as everyone knew I was a flirt and was "asking for it".
I was 19 years old, plain as a post and extremely introverted. And 40 years later I still get queasy every time I have to drive by the dealership.
After the rapes the question often wasn't 'should I go to the cops?' There was usually no point as management would support the men no matter what. It was 'should I tell my boyfriend/fiancé/husband'?
Do you blow up your entire relationship for something that wasn't your fault? Generally no. But hiding it creates its own stresses both internal and external. "Work stress" encompassed more than just snarky cubemates.
And this was NORMAL. This is what we went through for the privilege of earning a living and keeping a roof over our heads. Many woman my age and older have a similar story.
My daughter is 27 and still lives at home. I will never throw her out. I never want her to be in the same position I was. Having to choose between rape and homelessness. She's a sweet girl and it would break her. People say 'oh it's gotten so much better after #metoo'... Has it though? We have a literal rapist in office right now.
There is no way that these men, who have lived their lives exerting power over women in various ways, would change the law to put themselves into legal jeopardy.
If things really have changed after #metoo? Then yeah.. maybe in 40 years today's young men will change the law and things really will change.
My wish is every female who has experienced ANY kind of unwanted sexual assault (verbal or physical) would "Like" BLB's comment above. If you are male, if you personally know any female who has experienced unwanted sexual assault, my wish is you would also "Like" BLB's comment above.
I am a survivor of rapes, the first one when I was 9 (NINE) years old, by my oldest brother who was 14. My parents did NOT care, and they did nothing to stop him. I made sure I was never home alone with him again. I am 63 now and I learned this summer that he is deceased. Good riddance, that's one more evil entity that no longer walks the earth.
My second rape occurred when I was 15, on Martha's Vineyard. My parents left me and a girlfriend up there for a week by ourselves. We hitchhiked from town and were picked up by two guys in a van (this was common in 1977) and when they drove us home, they moved in for the week. We had no ability to stop them, so we were raped for a week.
At age 30, my christian therapist (whom I had been seeing for 4 years trying to figure out how to avoid perpetrator men) decided he "had feelings for me" and wanted to "share joy with me." After three months of "sharing joy with him" I wound up in a locked psychiatric hospital with severe suicidality.
When a female has been used and abused by so many men, it makes her think she is worthless. Or that only a part of her body is of any value. I learned that in my family. I got excellent trauma-based treatment in the hospital and one year later, I sued that therapist. My lawyers believed me completely and we were very successful at trial. I fought back and I won.
I still think most men are shitty and foul creatures. Based on my trauma-based therapy, I learned many of the ways men attempt to coerce women into a sexual relationship. It is insidious and all based on the power dynamics, or the power imbalance between the man and the woman.
If you're not allowed to say "NO," how can you ever say, "yes?"
It pains me that you’ve suffered all this that you never, ever should have had to experience. So have many other women I’ve known, and girlfriends. There is so much violence and misogyny beneath the everyday social veneer.
BLB, I wish, but I doubt it. I know several women who have been raped/sexually abused. Only one had a mother who turned the stepfather in and he then committed suicide. But he had already done damage to the sister who said nothing. I also know a few men who have been abused. I have heard women blame themselves. I have heard them admit that their female relatives are in jeopardy, yet silence. Victims know they will not be believed, that they will be on trial. They are told that they are not attractive enough for anything to happen to them. And for heaven's sake, no woman should ever get in the way of a man pursuing his career.
Because money = power in America. There are two systems of “justice” in this country: one for us plebs and one for the super rich and powerful. They buy their way out of trouble while the rest of us have to face the music.
Trump, for example, would be rotting in a prison cell if not for his wealth and power. He’s committed so many crimes it’s astounding, the most egregious (that we know of!) is, of course, inciting an insurrection, and an attempted coup d’état on January 6, 2021! He should have been swiftly tried and convicted of treason and punished accordingly. But instead, here we are.
It’s infuriating.
Yes, as they continue to arrogantly shove in our faces: the rich and powerful are, in fact, above the law.
Whewww Jen, now there's a coupla creeps for ya. Wishing they'd be gone along with any remnants of Shitt'-for-brains and his family. Be gone! Good riddance!
Terry, this is a characteristic of patriarchy which has ruled nearly every culture since humans have existed.
It was institutionalized in the biblical legend of Adam and Eve, where the stupid woman first sinned by foolishly listening to the lies of Satan in the form of a talking snake, then ran home to her noble, innocent man and seduced him into joining her in her sin. That view of women and men is the foundation of the entire Judeo-Christian culture.
How decent can even "good" progressive Christians be when they continue to follow scripture that includes that misogynistic tale?
Dale, your "good progressive Christians" quote sounds like a "good" candidate for an Oxymoron Award. Having beliefs is fine, but facts along with the great unknown absolutely need recognition and consideration. Freedom from religious dogma would be a start. FFRF comes to mind. And, I agree.., a "misogynistic tale" it is. Tabloid material in our Stormy Daniels living room.
What gets me more than anything is how OPENLY the DOJ is showing contempt for EVERYBODY--Congress, MAGA, voters, and most shamelessly the survivors. This pressure cooker is not going anywhere....
So where was Biden? Where was Garland? They had these files for four years you fucking people can’t even answer a simple question. Do you know why cause you don’t wanna answer a simple question because you know the answer to the question. This is exactly why Gerry’s in Manhattan lie and don’t work. And will eventually be over turned
What the hell is the matter with you people you’ve tried 10 or 15 different false accusations that Trump and none of them hold any water. None of them are correct none of them have been proven, true, including Russia, including peeing on a couple of prostitutes, including working with Putin, including hunters, laptop, being false including Joe Biden’s declining health, it was a complete cover up, including the lies of the border being secure
You guys are so pathetic you’re just hoping and hope to hurt somebody where you have no proof that there’s anything going to show but you’re negative in advance like no horror movie ever produced
Theresa, how come they didn’t get any justice during the Biden administration even though the files were sitting on his desk for the four years they were there? Ooooooooops!
Yep so we’re going to call them the moniclinton files or the Marilkennedy files.
It’s horrible when you’re holding on by one fingernail, knowing that nothing is going to come to help you. Pathetic and it’s people like you, Marlene, that live in California that I haven’t got a clue what’s going on in the rest of the world
I lived in Calabasas for 20 years, and saw the degradation of the state, the ignorance of the state governments, and the wretched refuse of what is left there compared to what it used to be.
And in the process, she forgot what justice is. It’s called innocent until proven guilty, and that’s just not gonna happen. and just so you know, and you can probably keep repeating this again and again first long as you live. The epstein files have gone as far as they are going to go. You’ve lost about 10 or 11 battles recently trying to Dent the president and all you’re trying to do is Dent him with hate and emotion and a total lack of any facts and evidence whatsoever. Put that in your hash pipe and smoke it
ArcticStones, I agree with calling them "The Trump-Epstein Files," but I am strongly opposed to putting Trump's name on any building or other establishment.
When he disappears from the American scene, his name should be removed from every structure that bears it. The Trump name should – and will – carry the same stigma and dishonor as the name Hitler. It should never be memorialized in any way, except in history books, as the name of one of the world's worst human beings.
Calling the files the “Trump-Epstein files” is fine. Let’s call the Kennedy Center what it really is, “the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts National Monument.” I believe it was a National monument to honor JFK.
Not recycling centers or psychiatric hospital, please. But maybe specific wings of said hospitals—the ones for psychopaths and those harboring narcissistic psychopathic delusions…
And there needs to be some serious study on the brains of the MAGA cultists, this affliction given a real name. They may have already coined it themselves: Trump Derangement Syndrome. Can’t you just see it? The Donald J. Trump Derangement Syndrome Hospital.
Fabulous and succinct follow up suggestion ArcticStones ! And that my friends is "our part" to recognize fully and act upon, working your digital devices all day up till HCR posts or not tonight and thereafter. On every media outlet actual and social, we must push the "T_rump-Epstein" narative till it goes absolutely 'viral' and unstoppable, dominating MSM noise with said narrative, and moreover pushing the indigestibility OF SHAME ! Shame is one of the very most powerful emotions known to humankind. USE it - with anything one can attach to the narrative, which shouldn't be difficult given all the ammunition freely granted by this awful, shameless "Coalition" that is using the distractions of the firehose in nearly every state in the union, covering up, distracting us all from deplorable grabs and nibbles nationwide; All for the benefit of the hegemons within the coalition. *Sheeww; I hope before proof-reading that this rant was as understandable to many as it was to moi' as it tumbled off my brain to keystrokes ~ lol. Ponder and heap on shame from every state that can be added to the coalition's scoreboard of shame - everything. Look outside your particular state if you're unaware. Montana: Refusing the will of their voters. Ohio, ignoring the very clear will and referendums of their voters.. You can't make this stuff up, but the coalition is doing this nationwide - find it expose it with massive 'shame' !
The problem with referring to them as the "Trump-Epstein" files is that it keeps attention from all the rich men (almost certainly big political donors for BOTH parties) who participated in the sexual abuse of these girls. There is a reason presidents of both parties chose to ignore calls for the release of this information for 10-15 years; the info would be disasterous to people who pour money into campaigns. A handful of famous men could not have personally abused 1,000 girls. Keeping the spotlight on Trump allows lots of very influential men whose names we might not recognise continue to hide in the shadows.
Yeah, we’re not calling at the Clinton Lewinsky file or the Kennedy Monroe files either. I have never seen such desperation and human beings, like you pure desperation, clinging onto any infinitesimal possibility that you can put a dented to Trump. Alas, you’re not worthy to kiss his ass or his feet, and you should be thanking God that he is present in the United States instead of trying to crap on the United States
Tell you what will call them the Trump Epstein files if you want to call it The Kennedy- Monroe files, or the Clinton Lewinsky files or maybe the FDR Rutherford files a guy who built karz for example, bills is the excellent president that he was but he over it looks belong lengthy affair. He had defiling Eleanor in the process.
I hope you’re not around when they put him on Mount Rushmore for your own sake
However, it appears Trump can get away with this. Donald can do this because our founding fathers set things up to give the president too much power as it is, claims Tad Stoermer. He is saying Trump, the Congress, and the Supreme Court are doing what they are doing because of the way that the government was set up in this short video.
Stoermer tells us, "The office was built by white, protestant men who understood that controlling federal power meant controlling federal resources. It's part of the point of consolidating all of that power into one place..."
I am left thinking once again that we need to also use all of the tools available to us. We should have a class action lawsuit against paying federal taxes because we are being taxed without representation. Trump has told Blue states he does not represent us, and I think people in Red States can make a good case that they are not being represented either. Without our tax dollars Trump cannot do what he is doing and the government will need to be more responsible to the people, as the power will be more fully with the states.
We, in CA, have been tossing that idea around for quite some time, Linda. in fact, I believe even Gavin Newsom made a comment to that extent. I would much rather put my money into our state budget for healthcare and housing rather than give those SOBs any further dollars.
Same. Historically we did not always have this large Federal budget. I believe Lincoln increased it to fund the Civil War. Many US states have larger GDPs than countries with similar sized populations that take good care of their people, including Universal health care, free university education, good schools, old age pension, and all of the things a country provides. Scandinavian countries do not tend to have large federal taxes, and more comes from local taxes.
Marlene and Linda, I’ve been talking about this with my political group, with my democrat state senator (who laughed at me! Misogyny once again!), and in calls plus a letter to my democrat-governor as well as to all congressional reps and senators.
Not a single response! Not whisper. No acknowledgment from Massachusetts
Elected officials I voted for.
I said over and over:
‘I’d like to send this State my federal taxes since the federal government is bent on destroying not only The People’s house but also our democracy.’
I do not want one penny of my income tax going to an illegal fake war that’s killing people at random to cover up corruption in the dark heart of this gang in DC.
What now? I believe my reps & senators and governor are afraid of ice etc…
Yes, Marlene, I mentioned the other day that those of us in “Giver” States, become “Keeper” States. I know we should as UNITED States help one another, but, Gov. Newsome may have a good point about secure his state’s budget.
Trump indicated at Charlie Kirk’s funeral in response to the statement of forgiveness by Erika Kirk, how he feels about any American who doesn’t bow to him: he hates all “dissenters.” Add to that his obvious racism and subservience to Papa Putin. Because of the money and power involved for both men, we must support Ukraine and use Russian money to help Ukraine rebuild. The pair of tyrants and their enablers can destroy everything that democracy has built.
As bad as it is, we are better to keep Trump right where he is in order to create a super majority in Congress next year. Many must I’m afraid suffer the pain inflicted on the people in order to cleanse the system.
Yeah, Bill Kayz, it is sad that so many of our citizens will have to suffer in order for them to be interested in how their ignorance of the political policies of their representatives keep all but the most wealthy down.
I hope that they wake up before our nation has failed completely.
I’m not sure the MAGA crowd will do right by Vance. Trump needs to be in their foreground to maintain their fantasies, delusions, and blindness to what his policies are actually doing to them. Once he’s gone, they’ll have nothing to gaze upon but a very painful reality. He’s rode far on the fuel of their hate for “others” but I don’t believe Vance would get anything close to the same mileage.
It’s pure horror. One year only and look at the damage. If I go on like this I scare a lot of seniors here. But we are in it for 3 more years. Trump probably dies. Maybe he launches a full scale war and this could happen momentarily now that Epstein is taking full center stage again. He might attempt to launch a nuke. It’s a mess. And our stock market will pop and implode sooner than later.
We'll see- you may be right. I try not to look too far into the future though or I'll be useless to anyone. I do what I can today and be as ready as I can for whatever might come- that's quite the task in itself.
Bill I agree-- enough people have to suffer before we get the massive reaction we need. If it is getting closer, we are not there yet. We have a lot of people. And not everyone who will suffer has to be a voter. They are connected to voters in one way or another and this will have it's effect.
It's a great idea - but how would it work? You'd need to have millions refusing to pay, because if only a few did, they'd a) do no good and b) end up in jail, or garnished.
Lady Emsworth, I am not saying "refusing to pay." I am saying, millions filing a class action lawsuit against the Federal government for imposing taxes without delivering on them to us in a representative way. Trump is stealing from us, but we are then not supposed to have to pay if he is just representing himself. Someone had suggested Norm Eisen as the lawyer leading the charge. He is a Contrarian as well.
Norm is great... I have come to really appreciate him. And Jen Rubin. But people complain about there being no leader- maybe one will arise. In the meantime let a "thousand flowers bloom".
Ah Linda Weide, excellent. A name, if he’s willing? I’m praying he is…. Also Lady Emsworth, that’s exactly why I have not been brave enough to go it alone. You would think our state that’s now one of those NOT receiving Fed $$ because the narcissist in diapers doesn’t have our knees bent kissing what’s left of him would take him to court? Nope. I’m ready to move to CA, if only….
Sure. That is one possibility. Another be that we be relieved of paying federal taxes, and shift the money to our states. States can then decide to pool resources for shared investments that they see beneficial.
Lady.., we do still have laws, and courts functioning. Not at the 'levels' we might like to see. I'll point to Ms Tina Peters, who is still in jail for her role in fraudulating the election. The disaster/tragesty in MN involving the Somali's and some white-folks too needs some arrests. Jack Smith just might prevail. Any 'rebellion' is a long ways off. Because, as you said ICE will simply cart your malevolent-butt off to some detention facility somewhere..., by oneself, a martyr? Nah. Too easy to piddle-into-the-wind with this bunch. Facial recognition, Flock cameras, u-name it.
Mostly because of a political party who accepts and promotes a mentally unfit criminal. They are the problem without a doubt. A criminal supreme court should get at least an honorable mention for the destruction of a once proud and grand nation. Time is running out to save ourselves, I fear.
Linda, the Founding Fathers were more in the Enlightenment camp; they knew that nations ruled with a central religious authority always resulted in evil results. Had they been predominantly protestant, they would have made it their state religion, and it would have been enshrined in the Constitution.
Instead, freedom of religion has been the law of the land from the very beginning. We can not allow the freedom of religion to be changed in any way. I wouldn't be shocked if today's fascist Supreme Court Justices try to justify the implementation of a state religion.
So, which founding fathers were not Protestant? If not, what were they?
While freedom of religion has been the law of the land, in practice Christianity has been favored. I don't know if you have ever had to say the Pledge of Allegiance in school, but one is saying, "One Nation, Under God" I notice school holidays at Christmas, but not holidays of other religions. The work week revolves around the concept of Christianity. Being in court you swear on the bible and swear to God. I do not see separation of Church and State as much as people seem to think it has been. There is a reason that every politician says, "God Bless" and all sorts of other references to God.
In NYC we had, and they may still have,Jewish holidays.. the holy ones.. off. There were so many Jews, that the schools made those days holidays for all. Teachers and students were going to be absent anyway.(We sang Christmas songs galore in school. ) The Pledge never had one nation "under God" until 1954 when it was changed ( during the Eisenhower Administration. The work week gives Saturday and Sunday off.. Saturday being the Jewish sabbath. Ford in 1926 gave Saturday to his workers and the government in an act in 1938. People saying "God bless" and such (like now Oh God!) others tolerate if they don't believe. That is in fact the toleration we want and not serious enough to bother about. God still has real reverence (and relevance) for many and as well meaning for those who don't even believe instead of "may the powers of the Universe be good to you" or "whatever". Muslims agree about God. Maybe not Buddhists here who have their gods- which I like. I don't hear Buddhists being loud; it's not in character.
In fact what is the good? You have to go back to religion, ancient Western religion to find out the beginning of what is good and bad.Eastern religions do not disagree. But observance is another thing.
We have *evolved* to respect and tolerate and even accommodate more fully when necessary and when people are loud and numerous enough.
The country has evolved since the founders. We seem to selectively go back to them. They gave us guidance and structure. We have filled in and made some progress.
Respectfully disagree, the Framers granted few powers to the executive in Article 2. The problem has been the exponential increase in power over the years. If the Constitution had not been perverted we wouldn't be in this position.
Stoermer's reasoning is flawed. First, he argues from the ad hominin perspective, second he classifies the Framers as nationalists, they were anything but, the Constitution established a federal system in the form of a democratic-republic, not anything like a common law constitutional monarchy. Third, that the president had more power than the king, a lifelong hereditary position to whom prime ministers had to get permission to form a government with no federal system of state sovereignty to consider. And last he argues the perversion of the Constitution is proof that it's intent was perversion, that's simply illogical.
Yes Gary. That it has happened does not prove intent, but it does not disprove it either. From everything I know about the framers they certainly intended the power and wealth to be kept among the powerful and wealthy and it has been the case mostly. I am struck by how much more mobility there can be in a different system.
A reading of the Constitutional Debates, Montesquieu, Polybius [of who the Framers did most of their references to], the Federalist Papers and Constitution itself in fact disprove it. The logic and reasoning expressed in the debates proves it. There is simply no evidence that the Framers wanted the executive we have today, in fact there is plenty to prove otherwise. One need only read article 1 and 2 to begin to see this.
I'm curious, In what different governmental system do you see more mobility? And what do you mean by mobility? Social? Economic? Geographic?
I'm a fan of the parliamentary system, but I don't see how that system provides more mobility?
Gary, I have not read the Constitutional Debates that you are referring to. However, when we look at the set up of our country and the practice, it was one in which only propertied White Men could vote. How do you see that as not intending the power and the wealth to be kept among the powerful and wealthy? Please tell me specific things that they said that show otherwise. I do not think we can read the minds of someone back then through todays eyes. What we can do is see the way things have played themselves out to today. When you say executive we have today, which things are you referring to would not be things they supported?
By more mobility, I mean social and economic mobility exists for people in the many countries that provide free and quality public education through university. Our system is one of less and less mobility as the cost of education skyrockets without other options opening up.
I agree with your assessment of presentism, too often the fringes, both right and left make judgements based on modern circumstances without considering the conditions under which events occurred.
That said, we can know the intent of the Framers; we do not have to 'read their minds' nor guess. They told us and wrote down what their intents were. This is why reading the content of the debates is critical to understanding their intent. The debate minutes detail the arguments both pro and con of every decision of what to include, and exclude from the Constitution; what the reasoning was and the intent. Furthermore, proponents went on to write and make clear in great detail their intent in that series of explanations in The Federalists Papers.
We don't have to guess , they told us, and then wrote it down.
Consider our initial founding document, the very idea that all men are created equal was a radical enlightenment idea unknown anywhere else in the world, not just Europe, but in every continent, including the Americas. Your comment regarding presentism is relevant here as men meant humanity, not just men. The change in common understanding is less than 50 years old.
So, to be specific, the contention that the Framers intended the vote to be restricted to White Propertied men is nowhere to be found in the Constitution. specifically in Article 2 Section 2, voting was open to all people. representatives are to be, "...chosen every second Year by the People...". It clearly says people, not White men of property.
This is critical in understanding the Constitution. The intent that all people had a right to vote has always existed, it was states that denied the right. Indeed, the 15th and 20th Amendments don't grant to right to vote to people based on race, color, condition of previous servitude or sex, they prohibit the denial of the existing right to vote. This is a critical logical distinction. If the Framers had wanted to restrict the right to vote they would have said and wrote so, but they didn't, they did the exact opposite. They foresaw the days when slavery would come to and end and women would take their place in the franchise, they were however in their present.
When we take the time to read what they actually said and intended it is very different than what the critics claim. That the Constitution restricts voting right to White men of property is simply a myth.
Let's take a moment and think through what Stoermer posits, that the Anti-Federalists were correct. What would the result have been had they succeeded in their efforts to nullify the ratification and the Articles of Confederation continued?
It isn't pretty.
Regarding social mobility, I respectfully disagree that it's our system of government that keeps us from having the things you want, which I agree with totally.
These are economic policies that could be changed using our system, they are cultural choices not systemic ones.
What's more horrible than everything that's already been openly visible and obvious since 2016, if not before?
The ships are deserting the Sinking Rat because they can sniff defeat and disaster ahead -- not because of what's in those files (or not). The myth is failing, and with it their loyalty. Expect more cracks, more abandonment, more nobodys and nebbishes mumbling about the need to spend precious time with their families.
A focus on what's coming, rather than what's already transpired, will turn a good crisis into good use. Fulminate all you like -- it doesn't remove the obligation to work to widen the cracks. We have a lot of crowbars to use. They don't.
It's amazing what a fella can do with a good stout pry bar. Especially if you can get a good oak 4x4 under it in just the right place. Archimedes or somebody talks about that....
The civil servant underpinnings are still there, despite all the firings and layoffs and retirements. Trust me, those folks will be happy as can be when this Republican-led criminal enterprise crumbles.
James Vanderbilt Poel, now I might be able to breathe more normally today. I’ll carry this with me ‘the civil service underpinnings’ through this winter’s solstice.
ICTT, I agree with your point & using what metaphorical crowbars we have. + I agree with the point above about Dem states organizing to deprive pirated federal government of tax revenue, a complex thing: 1) 77.3 million voters were conditioned to choose a life-long criminal as president. 2) He & corrupt authoritarian associates have tacitly seceeded from the union by cumulative fact of multi-direction law breaking. 3) They are committing extortion on Dem states which produce 70% of national GDP. 4a) If Dem states organize to resist extortion it would not be seccession. It would be defense of our constitution. 4b) It seems Dem states would have to change state laws to take authority to direct private businesses to divert fed tax witholding into state controlled escrow accounts. 4c) Logic branching off of 4b is myriad. Some aspects: 4c1) Archepelego of Dem states declare defensive alliance as USA. 4c2) Create custodial accounts of witheld funds. 4c3) Trump maladministration declares war on USA. 4c4) All hell breaks loose or US military leadership refuses to obey unlawful orders from illegitimate, pirate Trump fascist mafia state. <> I delved into most of this six months ago & used MS Copilot to generate an image of 47 as a disturbed 9 year old boy living a vile fantasy as pirate king of America on a Lord
Of The Flies model. MSC persisted in having the Donny Pirate character’s pirate dagger being a prybar to widen the crack in memorial Liberty Bell / Philadelphia Continental Congress. I left it at that because it is in fact, an appropriate visual metaphore. Here’s the link to my Substack post last June 23 with the image: https://open.substack.com/pub/johnrich/p/lord-of-the-flies-as-policy-matrix?r=41pd0&utm_medium=ios
Problems here. Some signed non-disclosure agreements that could jeopardize their settlements. If any of them could create a non revocable trust then immigrat to a safe place and then open up about Trump. Just one woman would blow the lid and made Donny’s head finally explode.
Their attorneys have that information, but they are afraid to publish it because their clients will be sued for defamation, and are still being stocked, harassed and threatened of harm to them and their families.
It seems the perpetrators of sex crimes against young girls and women are participating in the very expensive cover-up by continuing to extort as many as a thousand victims of their crimes.
What's being hidden in the Epstein Files is much bigger than presumed evidence of sexual abuse of minor girls by individual perpetrators. These acts were committed by individuals' participation in a vast, well-funded, and well-protected enterprise of human trafficking and collection of kompromat. Follow the money. We've seen fleeting mentions of bank transactions. Mapping the money flow will be key to dissecting the network for both criminal prosecutions and exposure in the court of public opinion, with the goal of disempowering what recently has been labeled the Epstein class for their prevailing actions with impunity due to privileges of wealth and power.
With the recent release of files by the DOJ, including their heavy redactions, the financial records and the kompromat appear to be buried. Michael Sellers reports that these DOJ files are evidence of evidence, such as photos of tubs, boxes, and hard drives, but not their contents.
True justice for the Epstein survivors will be the neutralizing of the criminal enterprise, which may seem like an exercise in futility, but you don't score if you don't take the shot.
So much this. The crimes against children committed by rich, powerful men who see themselves as above the law are but the tip of the iceberg. The financial shenanigans are the foundation of that criminal enterprise.
Yes, Ellie, as to "a vast, well-funded, and well-protected enterprise."
Do American schools (goodbye humanities, hello testing) pave the way for our hegemony of such inter-linked criminality? Do our Congress and state legislatures (hello lobbyists) smooth the way for our most morally empty?
Answers to such (defeatism) Qs come abundantly:
films like “The Florida Project,” “Knives Out,” “The Verdict,” and “Winter’s Bone”;
novels like Barbara Kingsolver’s “Demon Copperhead,” Walter Mosley’s “Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned,” Tom Hanks’ “The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece,” and many by Richard Russo and Stephen King;
memoirs like Mary Karr’s “The Liars’ Club,” Joan Didion’s “Where I Was From,” Jeannette Walls’ “The Glass Castle,” Sarah Kendzior’s “The Last American Road Trip,” Tia Levings’ “A Well-Trained Wife,” Erin Gruwell’s “The Freedom Writers Diary,” and Beth Macy’s “Paper Girl: A Memoir of Home and Family in a Fractured America”;
essay collections such as Arlie Russell Hochschild’s “Stolen Pride,” Barbara Ehrenreich’s “Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America”; Sarah Smarsh’s “Bone of the Bone, and George Packer’s “The Unwinding”;
biographies such as Lindsey Stonebridge’s “We are Free to Change the World: Hannah Arendt’s Lessons in Love and Disobedience”;
histories like Jane Mayer’s “Dark Money,” Rachel Maddow’s “Prequel,” Heather Cox Richardson’s “How the South Won the Civil War,” and Timothy Snyder’s “The Road to Unfreedom”;
poems such as Philip Levine’s Detroit factory poems,
songs like Tim Grimm’s “Broken Truth,” Bob Seger’s “Feel Like a Number,” Carsie Blanton’s “Rich People,” Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “You’ve Got to be Carefully Taught,” "Anonymous Public Servant's" recent, new song for our Heather, and any number of Bruce Springsteen or hip hop Ari Melber will cite.
I was reminded of "Glass Castle" as I read Virginia Giuffre's "Nobody's Girl". Victimization of the less powerful exists at many levels of society. I fear what T will do to divert attention from the Epstein files-War in Venezuela? We seem to have lost all effective checks and balances.
My understanding is that Bessent has to release Treasury files that will allow us to “follow the money.” This information will not come from Bondi’s DOJ files.
Honestly I'm scared of what will be found in the Epstein files. As MAGA has no problem with the raping of underaged 'women'... what is in there must be worse than a little rape.
Yes, the red-herring 2023 fundraiser photos of Michael Jackson included in the Epstein file release are red meat for the base. They won't put it together that not only are the photos from a fundraiser, but Jackson died in 2009.
Yes, it must be something really horrible he’s hiding. I am thinking it may turn out to be something about Melania. Maybe Epstein got her the “genius visa” and/or her citizenship? Maybe she is a trafficking victim? Or it’s related to the financing of the real estate deal when Trump outbid Epstein with Russian money.
It's not just T**** who's doing the hiding. There are a lot of very rich, very influential people who hold sway over this criminal enterprise (I refuse to call it an 'administration', and even 'regime' does not do justice to it) and whose identity would bring down the very structure of government and finance. We'd have something on the order of a world war. Which we may get anyway if this menace in the Oval is not removed.
If the truth will tear down governments and finance I say let it all come tumbling down...then we can rebuild our country and the world on a more healthy and just foundation. Just as our country was built on a foundation of gencide and slavery, the whole world has been built on the subjugation and rape of women, children and poor people - time to tear down the whole f'n thing called patriarchy.
James, when you say "removed" , to me that means he becomes "replaced" and suffers the humiliation and embarrassment attendant to that. We cannot forget that should he suddenly be 'gone' we just deal with another shit-show, directed by the same ones running this one. Best if he tumbles downhill with his mis-deeds entertaining us all the way. We have to take hold of this country at his expense. I know we have the wherewithal to do that. We need to be smart and not back this rat into a corner. Especially in an inept fashion!! And to that I would only offer the two impeachments (previously) and his trials-du-jour in NYC prior to the past election. Stupid. Ineffectual. Maybe take example from Caitlin Clark & Sophie Cunningham!
I doubt T KNOWS what’s in the files—look how voluminous this single dump is. Rather, As Michael Sellers says (thanks Ellie), they are “evidence of the evidence.” I think he doesn’t know for sure what’s there but knows the extent of his participation, and that of other powerful men, and fears what MIGHT be there. That allows his imagination to make him deranged, which may partially explain his recently accelerating crazy.
''Epstein Files Released, Transparency Reported Missing, Sharpie Found at Scene''
(Satire)
For one shining moment, Congress passed a law that read like it was written by someone who had finally lost patience.
Release everything. Set a deadline. No hiding behind embarrassment. No protecting reputations. No pretending “political sensitivity” is a national security doctrine. Thirty days. All records. Period.
It was the legislative equivalent of locking the exits.
And then the Trump administration showed up with a blindfold, a fog machine, and a box of industrial-strength markers.
When the deadline arrived, the Department of Justice unveiled its long-awaited disclosure, which turned out to be less a release and more a performance piece titled Absence in Black Ink. Journalists were treated to page after page of documents so fully redacted they could double as modern art. One hundred pages of nothing. Not metaphorical, nothing. Literal nothing.
If transparency were a beverage, this was an empty cup held up proudly while insisting it was very refreshing.
The law required survivor interviews. Gone. Internal charging decisions. Missing. Communications about evidence being destroyed, misplaced, or concealed. Apparently misplaced again. Photographs of certain powerful men with Epstein. Briefly visible, then spirited away like a magician’s assistant who knew too much.
What remained was not evidence but suggestion. Grainy photos from decades past, carefully selected to point attention in one direction only. A random fundraiser image slipped into the pile to imply guilt by proximity, involving people and children who had nothing to do with Epstein at all. It was less investigative journalism and more a ransom note assembled by Twitter.
This was not disclosure. This was narrative laundering.
Even better, at least sixteen files quietly vanished from the Justice Department website after being posted. No explanation. No notice. Just gone. Including materials that inconveniently showed Trump with Epstein. The files did not fail to load. They fled.
This is what happens when transparency is managed by people who think accountability is a branding problem.
The administration insists it is still releasing more material later, which is Washington speak for “we hope you get tired before we do.” Deadlines, like laws, are apparently optional now. Congress passes them. The executive branch squints at them. Democracy shrugs.
And let us pause for the truly remarkable part. This was not a betrayal of critics. This was a betrayal of believers.
MAGA voters were promised the Epstein files like a holy relic. The truth would come out. The elites would be exposed. The swamp would drain itself on live television. Instead, they got a blackout, a few Clinton photos from the Bush administration, and a disappearing website.
That is not incompetence. That is contempt.
Survivors asked for accountability and were handed redactions. Congress asked for compliance and was handed excuses. Voters asked for transparency and were handed theater. Everyone was told to be grateful.
The law explicitly forbade withholding documents due to embarrassment or political sensitivity. The administration responded by withholding documents in the most politically sensitive and embarrassing way possible, while insisting that this somehow still counted.
If the goal was to restore trust, the effect was the opposite. If the goal was to demonstrate respect for the law, the message was crystal clear. Laws are suggestions. Oversight is annoying. And the public is expected to clap anyway.
In the end, the Epstein Files Transparency Act worked perfectly. It did not expose Epstein. It exposed power.
It showed us exactly how an administration behaves when cornered by a law it cannot spin. It blacks out the page, deletes the file, blames the clock, and hopes the audience mistakes darkness for disclosure.
"Don't give us anything we don't ask for" sums up this administration's approach to dealing with Congress. This of all things is the last they would and so they taking the opportunity of it to show who is in control of Government. Who in the world thought they would they would comply with the law ? Is there to be a confrontation here ? If so, they are determined to win at all cost.
That cost will be the Republican party, for it has been set ablaze by this scandal and it will burn itself out on a funeral pyre of Epstein files.
Phil, its true that he's helplessly self - destructing and in the meantime he is destructing this nation but the question is that we can't wait for the inevitable final result, our congress representatives and we the people need to push harder to put an end to this nightmare. Finally there's light at the end of the tunnel.
I fear that DJT could be much more dangerous to all of us than the things you mentioned above...As he is truly unhinged...national safety or worse....it is all up in the air...
That's why I think we need to annul the election, thereby firing the whole administration and undoing the actions done by them (the ones that can be undone).
Who is "We"? The GOP who are in power now - and totally subservient to trump? Or the Democrats, who can shout all they like, but have no power to do anything? We the People - who marched and protested to no avail? The Judiciary - a joke. . .?
This. I do not understand why people expected anything other than this moment. Pages of redacted material, references to Trump clearly removed. Not a speck of this was unpredictable, much less unpredicted.
The sea of malevolence, criminality, idiocy, cruelty and incompetence is the real fire, the real smoke. It began in January, and is accelerating rapidly. They never did care. Now they've given up any pretense of caring.
Right there with you. What I will never understand is why January 6 2021 did not make a dent in any of the heads which are now aghast at the lying and criminality spewing from that stinking fetid sack of shit. Everything the dictator was, is and forever will be was on display that January 6. Even that 2 X 4 over the head failed to get through. Veterans voted for him in 2024, the (stupid) farmers voted for him (again!!! - third time!!!) in 2024, brown people voted for him in 2024…..how this country got this stupid will be the task of future historians to explain.
Professor Richardson is writing what will be the lead chunk of research information by those future historians. Your assessment of the facts of 6 January 2021 is 100% accurate.
Exactly what I was thinking, ICTT. I cannot understand how people can be surprised about this. I mean, there’s this malignant narcissistic orange goblin in the White House whose only joy in life is lying and treating people like shit, and now you’re surprised he’s lying and treating _you_ like shit? Hell, what did you expect??
Use/share this spreadsheet (bit.ly/Nokings) as a resource to contact members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Call. Write. Email. Protest. Unrelentingly.
Reach out (beyond your own) to as many in the Senate and House as you can. All of this is bigger than “I only represent my constituents” issues.
Honest question - do you think ANY of the Republicans in Government give a damn? Are any of them lying awake at night worrying over the state of the country, rather than their careers?
Hello all reading this who aren’t planning to march in the next No Kings demonstrations or be out otherwise demonstrating: there are elections everywhere in the country which you can support with money (if you have it), or by GOTV postcard writing. The more Dems in state and National posts in ‘26, the better the chances of the democratic “takeover” essential to getting our country back. As a Virginian by birth with some Virginia postcards, I already have found two candidates in my home state for whom to write. How do you think the first Democrat in 30 years is to be mayor of Miami? Partly at least POSTCARDS TO VOTERS. If you can print, you can do postcards. TonyTheDemocrat and SwingLeft can help you get started. Those are the two organizations I know. Likely there are others.
Absolutely Virginia! I've been sending postcards to unregistered likely Democrats for the last 3 years using names supplied by Fieldteam6. Worn out several pens. Small efforts by 'the little people ' add up.
I am outraged at the lawbreaking of the Department of Justice!
Congress passed a law mandating the release of the Epstein Files with only the victims' names redacted. The DOJ agreed to it. Trump signed it. A deadline was set. And then what was turned over was worthless: page after page of pure black or blacked-out text.
Is this a joke? The DOJ had months to make any necessary redactions and on top of that they had an additional 30 days by law. And this is what we get: an insult.
It's bad enough that Republicans have allowed this coverup, but now THEY ARE BREAKING THE LAW.
The American people deserve to know the truth! Hundreds of girls were RAPED by powerful men and Republicans are denying those girls justice. Does the GOP approve of child rape? They are trying to make sure the rapists are not revealed and not punished.
I appeal to you and to every Member of Congress to see that all the files are released and that the rapists are outed and put in prison just as any rapist should be, regardless of wealth or social status.
Georgia you are my kind of lady! My dogs watch my head explode and then I grab for their leashes!
And I set my knitting needles aside to pick up a crochet hook to see if this old head could figure it out. Learning is the best distraction I have come up with yet!
I know them personally. Write if it helps. Maybe it does. But does it motivate them. Well, they aren’t doing a damn thing that I can see. They could be. I think that’s your answer. Those who do write, including you and me, deserve better!
If there is even a chance it will help, I'll write. I march too, and that might not make a difference either. But I'm doing it as much for me as for the politicians. I also donate, and THAT definitely makes a difference!
Lev Parnas has published a MUST READ analysis of how the DOJ is shaping the narrative contained in the Epstein Files! This is MUCH WORSE THAN WATERGATE (with the 18 minute gap in the audio recording)!
“Now, with their disregard for the Epstein Files Transparency Act, [members of the Trump Administration] are also treating voters, especially their own MAGA voters who stood behind Trump because he promised to release the Epstein files, with outright contempt.”
One more impeachable offense and the Republican Congress, yet again, does nothing. They go home for Christmas.
And Trump still has what, over 30% approval polling?
This all says more about my country than about Trump than I care to contemplate.
I think Trump and Co have weighed the risks and decided that no one can really do anything to make them do what they don't want to do or stop them from doing what they do want to do, so they are thumbing their nose at us all. Until GOP Congress finds its spine and starts impeachments, we are in a very bad place.
Agreed. I lay all blame on the current sorry state of the nation on the Republican congressional conference, especially Mitch McConnell. McConnell, more than any other individual, had ample opportunities to put Trump away for good. History will not be kind to McConnell or the rest of the Republican Party.
WE are the ones who can do something about Trump and his band of thieves. Neuter the bastards with a clean sweep of the House and enough seats in the Senate to bring their arrogance to a sudden end.
I think those are the ones who are happy with what’s happening. They want to burn it all down. It is frightening that so many want this for our country. I believe those are the white supremacists, and probably half of them don’t see themselves as such, they’re too ingrained and believe the propaganda.
They are white Christian nationalists, they are racist, they are misogynistic, and their aim is for white evangelical men to have more political power than all other citizens. They worship wealth with their property doctrine. They are delusional religious zealots.
Remember the Lord acts in mysterious ways. If only the remaining 80% understood that Jesus is trying to tell us something in picking Trump as His instrument. /s
30% seems too high an approval to me, but his job approval rating is still over 40% today. His approval rating for his economic policies is about 31% last I heard.
We Democrats are caught in Orwell’s doublethink. We know intellectually that the Supreme Court gave Trump the power of a monarch and implicit permission to overrule Congress and the Judicial Branch. Yet we can’t accept that truth and instead still pretend we soperate as a democracy. High stress holding those two opposites in our heads each day. All our pressure and tension should be on Republican Congress members, not Trump. We’re seeing cracks with Greene and Stefanik, with the discomfort they have with the double tap in Venezuela and the Epstein coverup. We need to to keep pressing into those cracks.
A professor and member of the Bar told us in college that the real power of the law lies in public perceptions of legitimacy, and that this was a factor to be treated with care in any legislation. I have yet to have reason to doubt him. Law enforcement can contain just so many. Tyrants are weakened the more public sentiment turns against them.
Some of the sociopaths at the top are incapable of shame, just frustration and calculation. Incapable of real remorse. We can bear witness that their behavior is shameful.
You are absolutely right. Whom do we blame for 47’s out-of-control behavior? Republicans in Congress. Much as we’d like to abolish Trump, it is the congressional repubs who have enabled Trump’s lawlessness through TWO administrations. THEY are who needs to be thrown out of office next year.
I agree with all of these replies. What I notice is that the Trump administration has only one domestic goal: to break the resistance of the American people by degrees to ultimately accept loyalty to a monarch. The Supreme Court Trump V United States ruling made Congress and the Judicial Branch irrelevant. But to subdue 250 years of democracy, Trump uses them as fig leaves to dampen alarm and give hope that at some point, the other Branches will somehow come to their senses.
We hear this conviction in Dr. Richardson's superb essays, so rich in historical context. She feels we are at a tipping point. Yet look how far we've already come to accepting a dictatorship! There are now domestic concentration camps for immigrants; an American military turned against US in cities; destruction of governmental support and approval for science, medicine, and the arts; acts of war and murder in foreign countries with no Congressional check; the literal destruction of the White House. Add to all of that the overt intention to rig the midterm elections with radical redistricting, blessed by our fig leaf Supreme Court. Hate to say it, but it doesn't look like a tipping point to me. And let's say we Democrats do win all of Congress in the midterms...just how would we be able to enforce any legislation when we consider how a year from now just how much more control Trump has of the military and law enforcement? It's a nightmare, for sure. But better to face it head-on than pretend it isn't happening.
Where corruption is rampant I'm inclined to follow the money, and a lot of intervention in the electoral and legislative process, as well as who wears judge's robes, so yeah, the public gets sold out. Really sold out. Of course, engagement, integrity, and vigilance is needed on our part to keep that from happening.
"Nip the shoots of arbitrary power in the bud, is the only maxim which can ever preserve the liberties of any people." -- John Adams
Sadly Greene and Stefanik (and I dislike them both intensely) are leaving rather than staying and convincing other members to join them and then using their votes to stop the Trump damage.
And they won't be the last to leave. It's up to us to discredit and denigrate their Republican replacement wannabes to insure victories in the House and Senate.
The whole RICO party administration is about as far from the party Lincoln helped to found as it could be. It's simply corrupt as hell. Heather says that:
"A February 2025 report from RAND, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization, written by Carter C. Price found that if the system in place before 1975 had stayed in place, the bottom 90% of Americans would have had almost $80 trillion more in 2023 than they did. "
If even a tiny fraction of that is accurate (like 1/80th) we've been way hornswaggled. That's say nothing of lives lost due to political follies.
He hasn't needed to overrule Congress because the majority are in lockstep with him and their donors. Just as the corrupt fascist six Supreme Court Justices are in lockstep with the powerful political donors who helped place them on the Court.
You make a good point. Should we perhaps go farther and realize that Congress and the Supreme Court are fig leaves for the American Heritage Foundation, Claremont Institute, and Turning Point USA? That these private conservative "think tanks" are actually running our government in a "deal" they made with Trump long ago to give him full power in exchange for reshaping the country in their ideology?
I think Todd Blanche is the one at DOJ who needs to be publicly hanged. Bondi is a turd who should just be put in a windowless 8x10 on the third sub-basement at the Florence SuperMax, our traditional prison facility for America's Enemies, for life without parole. But Blanche and Stephen Miller need something more, "for the encouragement of the others." Actually, I expect both to either attempt to flee to Russia in the aftermath of the Democratic victory in 2028, or to commit suicide like most of the top Nazis did.
After the Battle of Stalingrad, and the encirclement of of the German 6th Army, 250,000 or so German prisoners were made to march thru the streets of Moscow followed up with trucks spraying disinfectant down where they had trod on their way to Siberia. That was a statement of no mean order. Kind of appropriate today I should think.
This whole episode makes my mind spin, wondering who is in the files. We all know it's powerful people, but who, and there my mind just exploded. I could start throwing names down, but I would still be here tomorrow and be no closer to the truth.
In the face of all of this, I'm still a positive thinker and I can tell the tide is turning and faster than the criminals realize. We are barreling along now at about 75 mph and it's time to go 100 mph. Republicans are in control, yes, but privately I bet they know they aren't now, i.e., why would rats jump ship if they thought they were?
Pedal to the metal until they all jump ship and the republican party boat sinks.
Too bad the days of being drawn and quartered have passed.
I personally would like to see the corrupt,fascist six Supreme Court Justices tared, feathered, and run out on a rail for betrayal of our Constitution.
“Everyone has a microphone, nobody has patience, and the national posture is a permanent forward lean toward the next outrage. Into this circus walked a dozen Buddhist monks who decided the correct response was to shut up and start walking. Walking. Two thousand three hundred miles of it, from Fort Worth, Texas, to the marble pressure cooker known as the United States Capitol.
WHY WALKING WORKS WHEN TALKING FAILS. Walking is slow. It denies the modern addiction to immediacy. This walk bypasses the outrage economy entirely. No algorithm can speed it up.
Peace isn’t being argued. It’s being demonstrated at three miles an hour.
There’s no safety net here except community. Which means every mile is a quiet referendum on whether people still know how to be people.”
Yesterday, Saturday 12/19/25, per Politico's Gregory Svisnovskiy, 5:00, PM, trump has seized another oil tanker in the Caribbean the MS SIMON.
The MS SIMON sails under the flag of Liberia.
*********************************************
UPDATE - At 12/21 6 pm Pacific, the USCG is still pursuing the 3rd Oil Tanker:
Per Reuters earlier this afternoon, the U.S. Coast Guard is in "active pursuit" of a 3rd Oil Tanker believed to be the tanker "Bella". U.S. authorities have withheld the exact location but, the pursuit is "near Venezuela".
Note, the new development as U.S. Officials state that vessel is NOT "on the U.S. Treasury's list of sanctioned vessels". Cargo?
Vainglorious, careless, and foolish, but with enough guile to sabotage all three branches of government. Underneath it all is "the people" who have to make their will heard and their complicity withheld.
No J L. Trump didn't sabotage the 3 branches of government. 45 years worth of Heritage minions funded by billions of dollars from libertarian oligarchs like the Kochs and now the tech bros did.
Exactly this. Rump is just a stupid liar, he doesn’t know anything about political strategy other than riling people up. The real puppet masters paid the money, Rump is just the wrecking ball they need to destroy democracy. After that job is done, they will probably dispose him.
Just in case anyone is interested and hasn't seen this, Michael Sellers has begun applying his investigative skills to files and he has a short video explaining at the first link.
The investigator is "DEEPER LOOK with Michael Sellers". Michael concludes the [t]rump Gang deleted Epstein "File EFT00004688 a photo wherein Trump was (barely) visible ...".
This helps immensely to make some sense of what was released. I appreciated the video that explained how to begin to understand the data and its organization. I’d have looked at a bunch of zip files and given up.
I thought the lack of metadata was interesting. That seems very odd for a dataset of this size even though it's small for an investigation of this nature.
Surely, it wasn't like this originally? How could the DOJ have used it if had so little metadata? It makes me wonder if metadata was stripped from files to make the datasets hard for the public to use.
I'll be very interested to hear what Michael and other investigative types make of this as they start building meaning of the data dumps.
I expected the DOJ to claim open investigations as an excuse not to release the files. But the evident effort to implicate Bill Clinton suggests that they are not pursuing investigations in Democrats as trump said he wanted them to do.
That surprised me too. Perhaps Bondi and Blanche are just too ignorant to know ordinary people would have questions and people with expertise will recognise what's going on? I bet the people who did the work had more insight into what knowledge is sitting out in the community and were expecting the questions people are now asking.
I wonder if their data dumping strategy changes in reaction to community responses? I suppose that might produce ammunition for legal challenges coming their way? This has a long, long way to play out. I really feel for the victims, it's more abuse on top of everything they've experienced so far, but maybe it shows they have a chance yet. What's the saying about it being the cover up that gets you?
Of course, they're treating their own voters now, like they've been treating the elected members of the House and the Senate, like SHIT. No worries on that because all but a very, very few of that large amount of people are billionaires.
This has been - and always will be - a class war that has been disguised as a culture war. Anybody who's not in the top 1% income-wise can and will be ignored - at least; and treated like SHIT as the circumstances will have it.
Certainly I would follow the money in just about any case of despotism and/or corruption. Last night Heather said:
"A February 2025 report from RAND, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization, written by Carter C. Price found that if the system in place before 1975 had stayed in place, the bottom 90% of Americans would have had almost $80 trillion more in 2023 than they did."
That's one hell of a price. What did we get for our money?
100% my brother. We got nothing in return. What has been "rebranded" (to use JDinTX accurate terminology) as a big transfer of wealth from the rich to the poor ,has actually been the exact opposite. Born out by facts versus rhetoric.
" But, alas, this wealth, instead of blessing the race, has been the means of enslaving it. The few have come in possession of all, and the many have been reduced to the extremity of living by permission." Eugene V. Debs That is what we have gotten.
Rebranding as a culture war has been the goal every day for decades. James O’Keefe, Christopher Rufo, old guard repubs, and rich tech bros have played us for the fools we are. The shiny objects of hateful christanity and jealous fear have brought us here. Lady Liberty’s message has never been more needed or relevant.
100% brother. Christians, White Nationalists, anti-immigrants, INCELS, etc. Brought together by the common theme of hating the "other". The rich are the puppet masters. We've all been played for fools. UNTIL NOW. Not too late to turn this big ship around!!!
The founders made many errors but the schematic they provided for governance has proved to be an admirable and workable prototype, and they were wise enough recognize that the original constitution was version 1.0, subject to legitimate revision. But there are no precepts that that cannot be turned on their head in bad faith. Look at what cosplay "Christians" have done with "love thy neighbor" (and who loved his neighbor in the story? A hated foreigner). The Constitution is a recipe, but we the living make the cake. We have to do are parts in good faith, and respond with wisdom and integrity to emerging novel circumstances, and the problems that seem to never, entirely, go away.
Political revolutions have often elevates a new boss, same as the old boss. This one decidedly didn't; but those who would be kings are still with us.
you make very valuable points..it's a wirk in progress. Sadly there are those in power that what to go backwards. This fascist era will end but at such a terrible cost. People can no longer ask how is it that Germans didn't stop Hitler.
Or go forward (as time compels all of us to do, in backward ways, some it perhaps reaching to ethics before the Magna Carta, or even further back to the caves. "The better angels of our nature" have always been aspirational, but on the long arc I would say we have progressed. Even to the present day; yet much progress has been trashed and and more threatened since we were last majorly conned into allowing the power of money to tr*mp the common weal. When so many lost sight of the mission statement of the Constitution.
Totally understand your sentiment. That said, blaming the founders (and rightfully so) doesn't help us much moving forward. We need to continue to call out the current Regime and any other future authoritarians who want to continue supporting the rich at the expense of the majority. Independent media does a much better job at doing this than mainstream media. Given the true facts, then it's up to the public to vote based on facts. I still believe we can and will get there. Just not as fast as we'd like! ;-)
people need to be reminded that this corruption goes back to the founding. They've been gaslit to believe they had everyone's best interest at stake. And yes fight for making a new country. But use that anger anoutvthe founders and this current admin to make it happen. I fear though that America will never hold their elite to account. Nixon was pardoned and IMO that lead to this moment. America needs to put its bigboy pants on and incarcerate these degenerates
Every society, and likely every human seems to harbor some measure of self-centered sociopath, but law, conscience and compassion keeps keeps it civil to varying degrees. That was the message of Jekyll and Hyde. The sociopathic part of American colonization is salient, but so too was an effort to tame the internal abuses of government. Over time we have incrementally sought more perfect union and equal protection under law. Lincoln helped a lot, as well as numerous "grass roots" movements. The "Gilded Age" should have taught us to keep the 1% away from the steering wheel, but "somehow" we lost the plot.
Social justice has always been far from perfect in this or any society, but there was a time when even most Republicans recoiled from the abuses of McCarthy and Nixon, and government was less openly for sale.
We SOOO need campaign finance reform and measure to discourage de facto bribery, especially now the tortured definition of bribery by $COTUS put nearly all bribery in that category. Even in private industry there can be strict rules about "conflicts of interest" and even for lower echelon government employees. The Constitution makes a thing out of bribery, so why, oh why, don't we?
The flying monkeys of the Trump administration are no longer even hiding their contempt for Congress, the voters, and the law. Because no one is going to hold them to account, they will continue to defy all. All the opposition legal maneuvers are pointless, except pro forma, because the Subprime Court has given Trump blanket immunity. And he will be able to pardon his minions indefinitely as long as he is in office.
I’ve been saying the same thing for a while now… bc Trump can pardon anyone at anytime for any reason, the game is already won. His band of criminals will do his bidding even though it’s against the law, and he will pardon them. WHAT can we do about it? Nothing. But vote them out of office, if we are allowed to hold a free and fair election ever again?
100% agree. The rules of the game are clear and we can't change them (at least not yet) so whining about how unfair it is seems like wasted energy. But we still have elections and we CAN fight on that battlefield.
If we win, THEN we need to make SURE that things are changed for the future.
I wish I could be as confident as you about "we still have elections " Jon. Common sense and knowing the horde we have to deal with tells me that the posibility of a clean and fair election is almost impossible given the long planning and huge investment from them to take power. They are not going to risk it all by being fair and decent (by nature they are not). Let's just hope, because there're no other possibilities.
And that battlefield is where public oversight and participation, at the precinct level and on up is crucial. To make sure, starting now, they will be free from interference and bias. At all levels. There is plenty to do here.
Since January, an ocean of wanton illegality, cruelty, delusion and incompetence have marked the worst, most corrupt administration in our history. An alcoholic, insecure, demented personality has been free to do as he pleases -- without guardrails, restraints or Congressional oversight. Those under him use our institutions to mount near daily assaults against us.
This is the real fire taking place all around. The violation of the Epstein Act -- just one more scene in an unending drama of criminality and contempt. MAGA has long believed there was some awful secret (leading straight to Hillary Clinton, I guess) hidden in these "files." Those who know who Trump is have assumed the secret is there, it just leads back to the source. Ever since the 🙀grabbing tape in 2016, those who haven't self-lobotomized have understood who he is.
That fire has been burning a long time. There is no aha moment here, no single denouement where a single piece of tape would be found that would prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt that....No, that was back in 1974, when a tape was found and turned over, and 10 honorable Republicans did march into the Oval Office to read its occupant the riot act, and a shamed, humiliated Nixon did resign and departed into oblivion the next day.
So eyes still on the prize. Elections, like winter, approach. They are not prepared. 2026 will not be a good year for them. Pray -- if that is your tradition -- as though everything depended on forces outside your control. But work as though they actually are. Our task remains the same.
I have been reading that Vladimir Putin is in “a precarious situation” or getting there with because of his wasteful, narcissistic, empire building War with Ukraine.
Trump is facing those “Epstein files”. That law he signed should enable people to access the information. I suspect that the information is not just in the United States?? Plus the victims aren’t very old.
These two men who have been allowed to ransack their countries (there’s and articles about Putin’s closer circle getting smaller) and demand “tribute”.
The Republican Party in this country has done nothing to stop the Executive Branch from “appropriating” taxpayer dollars and now possibly getting our country into a “not war, but a repatriation of seized assets?”
How much did it cost the United States Taxpayers for our military to sit waiting and then shot a missile that blew apart 2 men hanging on to a blown apart boat, how far from land???
Donald’s madness hiding the Epstein files tells us it’s something horrible he’s hiding.
Whatever it is, it’s so mortally serious he’s openly breaking the federal law that all file contents should have been disclosed already – and with minimal redactions.
Several of Donald’s appointees still cover for him, but congressionally elected Republicans now increasingly dropping out tell us something worse. Though what Donald’s dirt it is they don’t know, they do know it’s horrific. And because Donald knows its horrors, he’s made himself toxic – paranoid, fearful, vicious, untrustworthy to all these Republicans now jumping ship.
Dems? They’ve only got to keep standing up with, voicing support for the former girl victims. Keep reminding us how at Donald’s heart – instead of one – rot, rapists, humanly foul billionaires, and worse all writhe and wrap around each other in ways we cannot imagine.
He’s helplessly self-destructing.
But what do cornered rats do? They have ICE terrorize more brown-skinned people. Sic more U.S. troops on us. Assassinate more men on Caribbean small boats. Commit piracy on oil tankers. Set tariffs to hurt our working class. Wreck federal buildings. Spend all night seeing ghosts.
May I suggest that we henceforth refer only to "The Trump–Epstein Files"?
This gives an appropriate focus on whose posterior is parked on the files preventing their unedited release, it acknowledges Trump’s desire to make it all about himself, and it echoes Trump’s recent narcissistic renaming of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
In fact, I recommend that cities, counties and states throughout America follow up by renaming sewage treatment plants, landfills, recycling centers, parking lots, psychiatric hospitals and more after Donald J. Trump!
The women survivors of the torture they endured as young girls are STILL waiting for their day of justice from all the criminal abusers involved which are many more than Epstein, Trump, and Maxwell according to testimony. For that reason, I think “The Epstein Files” more fairly encompasses the (hopefully) entire disgusting horde of criminals that must be punished. I still am trying to understand, however, why these men have not yet been at least indicted as these women have already given sworn statements and named their abusers and have witnesses in many cases as well. Why is this not already in progress?
Bizarrely enough, the UK has done more. King Charles has stripped his disgraced younger brother Andrew of his royal title. Not that this is sufficient punishment...
Jenga is a classic stacking game where players remove one wooden block at a time from a tall tower and place it on top, making the structure increasingly unstable until it falls.
MAGA is a classic stacking game where players remove one constitutionally derived law at a time from a tall (conceptual) tower thereby placing their Dear Leader on top, making the structure increasingly unstable until it falls.
It can’t happen soon enough. Thank you James R. Carey.
Not gonna happen Zamani cool your jets and stop hating
Good news for us. James is going to fall directly right on your ass, burying every untruthful word you utter
And it’s gonna fall right on top of you James, exactly where it should fall for your blatant extreme hate… which you carry around like some badge of courage, which is infecting every single organ in your body starting with your brain
Rick Sender, please stop projecting your metal delusions on me. I’m not the one supporting DJT while he protects perverts from the justice they deserve for sexually abusing children. Want to criticize one of those people? Criticize the guy in the mirror.
For the record, I don’t hate anyone. I just hate what sick bastards like you do because I care about the innocent victims of your delusion. I hope you all seek retribution for their sake and for your own.
So, get a competent psychiatrist or spiritual advisor, but you’re old, so do it now. Or go to hell. I’m good with your choice. Either way, you’ll be making the world a better place.
‘Twaz The Night Before… Oppsie Daisy - What Was It?
December 19, 2025
‘Twaz the night or just a few nights before the Big One
When all through the house
Not a creature was stirring
Not even a mouse
I drank down some booze
A poor thing to do
But slept like a babe
In a manger would snooze
Went into a dream world without any clue
Of what was about to enter my view
A convoy of trucks and pay loaders too
Moved into place on South Ocean Avenue
Wrecking balls and cranes
Excavators as well
On count one steamed ahead
Demolishing all of Mar Lago views
From the road to the sea
Every manicured ground inch was plowed
Even the toilet room where once stacked
Government files were found
All were destroyed and pushed into the sea
I twitched and I turned
In my delirious state
Was I mentally confused
Had I wished against fate
It finally came true
All the floating debris
Still on the high seas
‘Round it did float
To the Gulf of… Whatchamacallit
Mexico
(continued for some reason it was cut off)
I twitched and I turned
In my delirious state
Was I mentally confused
Had I wished against fate
It finally came true
All the floating debris
Still on the high seas
‘Round it did float
To the Gulf of… Whatchamacallit
Mexico
(Soon to be included in my book, “Donald’s Vanity Tantrums “)
That inspires me to hire a few farmers with their biggest tractors and heavy ploughs, maybe add in a few steam traction engines -- and send them to plough up all Trump Golf courses. This man's name needs to join a certain Adolf's in the Halls of Infamy, to be expunged from every building, property and public space and his family to be barred from any public office.
By the way, I almost forgot now Van Halen wants to impeach Trump for renaming the Kennedy Center. I keep telling you epstein's gonna be last on the list and going nowhere I didn't hear too many complaints when they renamed Cape Canaveral
Let’s try a couple of starters. Perhaps you can figure out the name of the song.?
There is a house in Delaware
for him and his addict son
And it’s been the ruins for many aboard
Where millions have succumbed
Such a positive endearing Christmas message, Mr. Katz.
Try this one instead and many more to come. short little Walt Whitman- like tropes. You may like the first one, but you’re not gonna like the rest.
And seriously talk about an oxymoron… you in a manger? Wow.
Today we’ll start a chapter
Of rhymes and solemn verse
To spread throughout this country
To you who seem adverse
To common sense and logic
And to joining hands as one
Instead of hate, and anger
And to fix what’s come undone
And plant the flag of freedom
When guiding this cherished land
For love of God and country
So together we can stand
To help guide our Mother Earth
Rekindling hope, from up above
For our beloved American rebirth
In a warm embracing hug
A Number of the next little ditties will come from popular songs. Perhaps may be a quatrain or two of message.
Sincerely, expressed. Feel free to hum them as they will become quite memorable lol
I tried once reasoning with you at one time but it was useless. You give praise to a person who only has destruct ion as his goal besides forcing anyone to pay homage with money like a 2nd rate corner mafia street boss. Destruction and money are his only ambitions and you support this.
For this, you have no shame. You are disgusting as disgusting as the one you follow.
Right?? At least “ex-Prince” Andrew is now having to live with unrelenting shame and disgust from not only his family but the entire UK as well. The next best thing to prison 👍. But here WE are still with the child rapists and sex abusers remaining free as birds. For now 😡
He still has not been held accountable for his actions. yes, he lost his title and place to live, BOO HOO, He needs to be brought into court, face those he abused and then sent to prison for what he has done.
Can a person can be prosecuted in England for something he did outside the country, if the action is illegal under English law?
This is what happens when you live on ancient history. I don’t understand the lot of you wishing for things that are absolutely never ever ever going to happen. And provide you’ll probably die nothing more than a morose in dividual wasting your time and your life
Our problem would seem to be more related to an inability to assess character in our choice of elected leaders. Kinda like the saying: One gets what one pays for. At the moment, we're 'paying dearly' for our mistakes. Not to hi-jack your thread.
Nice, alex: "an inability to assess character."
Yes, exactly. That's what we get when we kick humanities out of schools, and replace all humane arts with the group-abstracting, neutered rationalizing, and linear-imposing testing.
Well, you are correct. You did choose Joe Biden, didn't you at least that's the theory
Well, if there was ever a bad choice of leaders recently, it was the one that just left office that poisoned our entire culture. They took money out of our own citizens that help kill innocent victims that needn’t to be killed or raped or murdered or Trafficked. 40 years of nothing it is Legacy and your heat of Donald Trump put an individual who was not in his right mind. If he even had a mind at the time he was president should never have been there he destroyed almost every fabric of America in every sense, culturally economically and inhumanely.
I sometimes think we need to go back to using stocks. I would gladly donate all my tomatoes.
They still have laws and norms.
All of this was predictable...and should keep the issue alive.
Every one of the people mentioned in the files, is a potential witness that can lead to even more witnesses.
DOJ is still supposedly processing thousands of documents related to the case and has identified over 1,200 names of individuals who are either victims or their relatives for redaction purposes, but the total number is believed to be higher.
By obfuscating, every DOJ/FBI employee invoved is exposed to a potential prosecution for the coverup.
At a minimum, obstruction of justice rings the cash register in civil litigation.
Yup, Daniel, all of this - all that Trump has done/is doing is predictable. Good point about “every DOJ/FBI employee involved” being possibly held liable.
I spent yesterday reading everything I could put my hands on by Dean Blundell, Lev Parnas, Zev Shalev, Steve Schmidt, Robert Reich, Ellie Leonard, . . about the Epstein files dump. I read HCR, this morning at 7:15 AM, then skimmed all the comments to the end, had breakfast and now I'm here posting at 9:45 AM to say that no one else mentions the sources noted above who have been preparing for Friday for weeks and my sense, regrettably, that while HCR does her daily up-to-date work for us . . . but, bluntly, where the hell are WE and what are WE doing??? Are we just a silo, raising our same old tired points with one another?? I'd love to be corrected, but I don't believe I'm wrong on this.
We are being toyed with by the Trump regime. The cynicism shown by Patel, and Bondi, etc. is breathtaking. Each day that goes by without Congress being supported by (1) plans developed to assure a crushing midterm win, then (2) the plans for the use of the two years following to complete the dozens of oversight hearings to document the damage done and/or revealed/understood about our 250-year-old Republic to underpin and assure winning the 2028 election to begin (3) the first four years of rebuilding America for another 250 years of liberty and a restored American democratic experiment? Where is it? Who's doing it? Is there still time for it? I don't see any signs of that kind of thinking/planning being done . . .
Am I just looking in the wrong places?
They're also not afraid of deposing their tyrants when they get really bad. Charles I clashed with Parliament over power, religion, and finances, leading to war and his eventual trial and conviction for tyranny.
Eva, and off with his head. What England got afterwards was a Puritan theocracy which they threw off as soon as Cromwell died.
And, Eva, the Brits welcomed Kazuo Ishiguro.
You know some of his books, yes?
Interesting Harvey. I just noted that cost of living in the UK is considered to be about 13% lower than here in the US. And, although the UK seems to be a bit too preoccupied with 'royalty/kings/queens/duchesses/etc'.., they're pretty-nice people, struggling like the rest of us with differing cultures, colors, and religions.
Actually, the UK has done nothing. The King took care of family business. The government has said not a word and you can bet your last dollar that they would like us to believe that no other British subject is involved.
Let's be more specific, Christine.
As to how "they would like us to believe that no other British subject is involved" we have "The Enablers," by Frank Vogl, and we also have Oliver Bullough's "Butler to the World: How Britain Became the Servant of Tycoons, Tax Dodgers, Kleptocrats and Criminals."
I'm pretty much at the point that I think the whole world is the servant of tycoons, tax dodgers, kleptocrats and criminals. Oh, and grifters.
No, you are right; it isn’t sufficient punishment. Like many others I may not know of, Andrew as an example, is being shielded by the royal family. After all, he is still family. In Andrew’s case, all pressure against him has been used. Now, the real pressure needs to be against the royals themselves. No one should be allowed to hide *anywhere.*
It's appropriate punishment. And there's much more to it than just the royal title.
So what's gonna happen at the Clinton when they find more photos? Lol
Of course Clinton liked young girls.got his jollies with an intern with big lips. He wasn’t someone I supported. But Al Gore would have made a great president.
You should buy my new edition book, Donald’s Vanity Tantrums. You would like it.
And its relevance to America or Trump? Nothing as usual just another attempt AND a successful failure
Since, at least the 1990's the victims of Epstein's, Maxwell's and Trump's crimes have suffered and lived with the fact that powerful Republicans don't give a flying fuck about anyone but themselves and other oligarchs.
The victims deserve justice and not just tabloid BS and pictures of people that are basically innocent bystanders. Is there little doubt that Clinton had extra-marital affairs? If he did so with underage girls, then he should be prosecuted, but prosecute them all.
Would ANYONE be surprised if Trump pardoned Maxwell before Christmas as his way of saying, "I am the king and the rest of you can go fuck yourselves."
The fact remains -- ALL REPUBLICAN POLITICIANS AND OLIGARCHS love sexual predators and don't consider pedophilia a crime.
Over 1000 victims and all the Republcans can do is cover it up. No apology to the victims at all.
GJ, there is no doubt that Bill Clinton was trained as a lawyer before he entered politics in an era when breaking the law would end the career of either a lawyer or a politician.
There is no doubt that Clinton couldn't keep it in his pants. When Clinton was Arkansas' governor, my home was 6 blocks from the governor's mansion. Almost every morning, he jogged down my street followed by a security detail in a black Suburban. Two blocks east of my home was Gennifer Flowers' high-rise apartment and my friend, Connie Hamzy lived next door to me. These were two of many women (both well past legal age) Clinton pursued (contrary to Stephanopoulos' off-the-record claims). Long before I met Connie, she had burned away all her guile and filters with drugs, which prompted her to regale me with stories of her encounters with Clinton, Neil Diamond, Don Henley, Huey Lewis and many other rock stars. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connie_Hamzy
Unlike Epstein, Clinton didn't have a taste for underage girls. There is no doubt that Clinton is many things, but stupid isn't one of them. He had no need – or interest – in tangling with "jailbait" when so many women (and men) were more than willing to provide the services he desired.
Epstein's money and power provided access to other money and power, including the presidency. No doubt, he invited Clinton to his island, and Clinton, being a sex addict, accepted the invitation. Did Clinton participate in the activities there? Probably. But I'm convinced that the girls Epstein proffered weren't to Clinton's taste and he didn't keep coming back for more, unlike his orange-hued successor.
I have a burning high new level of respect for you, Dale.
I'd had no idea of the vitality and multiple presence of this Connie, whose fuller bio appears in the link you provide.
She was eight years and five days younger than me, but had a life as full as any Cameron Crowe has narrated.
Connie was one of the most interesting people I have ever known, Phil. And I have known a whole arena full of interesting people.
Connie lived hard and fast, but she had a heart of gold. When we were "snowed in" and without power, Connie was the only one of my friends who called to check and make sure I was alright. We lived only 6 blocks from several concert venues and Little Rock's nightclub district, so it was not unusual for Connie to ring my doorbell at ungodly hours after she'd been to a concert, almost childlike in her breathless excitement to tell me who she'd seen and what she'd done. I never minded because her stories were well worth waking up for.
The Penthouse Magazine crew came to interview her while I was out of town on business. Their photographer saw my Jaguar XJ6 in the driveway next door and shot Connie spread-eagle on the bonnet. When I got home, she told me about her Penthouse interview and the photoshoot. I said, "Where's the photo release I need to sign for the use of my car?"
Connie's eyes widened and she looked panicked. I laughed and said, "I was just kidding. It's fine. I want a copy when the issue comes out."
One night, she showed up at my door after a ZZ Top concert and handed me a key fob, THE key fob from the "Sharp Dressed Man" video. She laughed and said, "You wouldn't believe what I had to do to get this, but I thought you should have it for your Jag."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wRHBLwpASw
I still have the fob and think of Connie every time I get it out.
Gary, it’s more than republicans believe me.
But 'all Republican politicians' is a hell of a good start. Scum of the earth, the lot of them.
Yes, GL, “victims deserve justice,” but I also subscribe to the notion that wrongdoers must be held accountable for their illegal/immoral acts. I know Jesus believed - strongly - in forgiveness, but, Satan and Hell are still part of Christian teaching. (Not that Christianity is the only moral standard out there. It’s just that Trump’s “religion” is Christianity, so….)
Trump has no religion in any sense of the word "religious" Christian! He lies to the extreme. Why would/does anyone think or believe he has any Judo/Christian beliefs, let alone values? He is a god in his own mind. He will and does say whatever he thinks or believes his followers want to hear. All the crosses being worn by his bevy of blonds prove nothing as their “actions speak louder than words.” Christ might forgive them, but the majority of Americans I believe will not. Why should we when their actions are intended to serve Trump, a false god, and deceive us for their own benefit? Christians? Yeah, right! Better to Write them off!
Ted H. I am truly surprised that those crosses do not catch on fire because they are to a blond lying immoral hypocrites.
Correct, Trump has no religious tendencies other than any religion that will keep him in office, get him a Nobel Peace Prize, keep him out of jail, etc. (see more below)
Papa, Christianity is utterly irrelevant when talking about Donald. Mary Anne Trump was a member of the Presbyterian church solely because it was socially beneficial. She occasionally made an appearance with her children at worship only to maintain the appearance of respectability. With ADD, Donald didn't absorb anything he may have heard at church.
Donald's only relationship with Christianity is that it encompasses a gullible bloc of voters he has exploited to his electoral advantage. Other than that, he has no knowledge or use for it.
And in fact, Christian superstition has no place in our judicial system. Criminal behavior must be punished according to the law.
I don’t agree that Christianity or ANY RELIGION is irrelevant to Trump. Spiritually, yup, irrelevant. Politically - very, very relevant. That Billy Graham’s son is so deep into Trump. That tons of Evangelicals and Catholics are so deep into Trump, he is virtually aligned with Christianity to say nothing about Trump and Netanyahu aligned Jews. Plus, those Kushner and MBS aligned Muslims…..
I've seen several videos where victims are asked, has DOJ contacted you?
In every case the victims have shaken their heads no. Neither they nor any fellow victims they know have even been contacted -- at any level -- by anyone from the DOJ.
The U.S., in having its schools all fall to the conceits of testing, standardized testing, has created a meritocracy where most all at the top have learned to become neutered rational, group-abstracted, and linear-limited only.
All have also learned to be humanities ignorant, unable ever to reference any works on human beings in any apt reference to the damages our ruling elites so regularly learn to inflict.
Rich and powerful men don’t have to play by the rules.
Until they do… sometimes.
Harvey Weinstein is still waiting for his pardon!
It won’t come unless he has money for Trump. Somehow, I doubt one will be forthcoming.
I far prefer Garik Weinstein! (Look him up. Famous under another name.)
Russell, I believe Weinstein’s convictions were in state courts, for which Trump has NO pardon power.
Equal justice before the law, unless you are wealthy.
Some "men" are good in their intentions.., others, not so much. In the case of Shitt'-for-brains (grab em by the crotch), character-assessment didn't play well.
That will soon be reversed as well, but I thought you were talking about Adam Schiff who hasn't found a truth to be told yet
There may be statute-of-limitations issues in some jurisdictions. Many jurisdictions have eliminated them entirely for sex trafficking and child rape, but not all. There may be no physical evidence unless the perpetrators kept souvenirs or contemporaneous confirmation from diaries or disclosures to others.
Those are the fig leaf reasons. But they can't be true for all 1000 survivors.
I don’t want to hear that, Georgia! As with everything, there are all always exceptions to the rules. I mean, look what the DOJ took it upon themselves to do…defy court orders!
The question is, could DOJ’s wrongful conduct toll (halt) the running of the statute? That would be a decision a judge would need to decide.
DOJ in name only.
Those laws should be changed - there should be no statute of limitations on rape and sexual abuse.
Seriously? And who is going to change them? Boomer (and older) women often mentally organize their lives according to before/after which workplace rape it was. As the youngest Boomers just turned 60 that means that there are a lot of men out there that would be charged for rapes that happened in the 60's, 70's and 80's.
Including, I bet, most of Congress.
I mean.. after my first rape at work I went to therapy where the Doctor spent the sessions grooming me and got seriously pissed off when I refused and threatened to have me committed.
And my response was to walk away from therapy and change jobs. Because my boss had already told me that I dared to report the sales manager's son to the police that he would fire both me AND the young, married mechanic with three young kids who had come in for change for the soda machine and pulled the arsehat off me.
And 'oh by the way' my request to not work alone on Saturday mornings was refused because he wasn't going to waste money on extra payroll to sooth some woman's hurt feelings as everyone knew I was a flirt and was "asking for it".
I was 19 years old, plain as a post and extremely introverted. And 40 years later I still get queasy every time I have to drive by the dealership.
After the rapes the question often wasn't 'should I go to the cops?' There was usually no point as management would support the men no matter what. It was 'should I tell my boyfriend/fiancé/husband'?
Do you blow up your entire relationship for something that wasn't your fault? Generally no. But hiding it creates its own stresses both internal and external. "Work stress" encompassed more than just snarky cubemates.
And this was NORMAL. This is what we went through for the privilege of earning a living and keeping a roof over our heads. Many woman my age and older have a similar story.
My daughter is 27 and still lives at home. I will never throw her out. I never want her to be in the same position I was. Having to choose between rape and homelessness. She's a sweet girl and it would break her. People say 'oh it's gotten so much better after #metoo'... Has it though? We have a literal rapist in office right now.
There is no way that these men, who have lived their lives exerting power over women in various ways, would change the law to put themselves into legal jeopardy.
If things really have changed after #metoo? Then yeah.. maybe in 40 years today's young men will change the law and things really will change.
My wish is every female who has experienced ANY kind of unwanted sexual assault (verbal or physical) would "Like" BLB's comment above. If you are male, if you personally know any female who has experienced unwanted sexual assault, my wish is you would also "Like" BLB's comment above.
I am a survivor of rapes, the first one when I was 9 (NINE) years old, by my oldest brother who was 14. My parents did NOT care, and they did nothing to stop him. I made sure I was never home alone with him again. I am 63 now and I learned this summer that he is deceased. Good riddance, that's one more evil entity that no longer walks the earth.
My second rape occurred when I was 15, on Martha's Vineyard. My parents left me and a girlfriend up there for a week by ourselves. We hitchhiked from town and were picked up by two guys in a van (this was common in 1977) and when they drove us home, they moved in for the week. We had no ability to stop them, so we were raped for a week.
At age 30, my christian therapist (whom I had been seeing for 4 years trying to figure out how to avoid perpetrator men) decided he "had feelings for me" and wanted to "share joy with me." After three months of "sharing joy with him" I wound up in a locked psychiatric hospital with severe suicidality.
When a female has been used and abused by so many men, it makes her think she is worthless. Or that only a part of her body is of any value. I learned that in my family. I got excellent trauma-based treatment in the hospital and one year later, I sued that therapist. My lawyers believed me completely and we were very successful at trial. I fought back and I won.
I still think most men are shitty and foul creatures. Based on my trauma-based therapy, I learned many of the ways men attempt to coerce women into a sexual relationship. It is insidious and all based on the power dynamics, or the power imbalance between the man and the woman.
If you're not allowed to say "NO," how can you ever say, "yes?"
It pains me that you’ve suffered all this that you never, ever should have had to experience. So have many other women I’ve known, and girlfriends. There is so much violence and misogyny beneath the everyday social veneer.
BLB, I wish, but I doubt it. I know several women who have been raped/sexually abused. Only one had a mother who turned the stepfather in and he then committed suicide. But he had already done damage to the sister who said nothing. I also know a few men who have been abused. I have heard women blame themselves. I have heard them admit that their female relatives are in jeopardy, yet silence. Victims know they will not be believed, that they will be on trial. They are told that they are not attractive enough for anything to happen to them. And for heaven's sake, no woman should ever get in the way of a man pursuing his career.
BLB. O get you. I really do. I am so sorry for you, which is just digital words, but trust me, the feeling is very real.
Thank you for the details, BLB.
Remorseless the patriarchy, the entitlements, the human emptiness, the lack of concern, the blow-it-off cynicism.
Cause our current government is not a democracy, witness, a fascist dictatorship in action.
Because money = power in America. There are two systems of “justice” in this country: one for us plebs and one for the super rich and powerful. They buy their way out of trouble while the rest of us have to face the music.
Trump, for example, would be rotting in a prison cell if not for his wealth and power. He’s committed so many crimes it’s astounding, the most egregious (that we know of!) is, of course, inciting an insurrection, and an attempted coup d’état on January 6, 2021! He should have been swiftly tried and convicted of treason and punished accordingly. But instead, here we are.
It’s infuriating.
Yes, as they continue to arrogantly shove in our faces: the rich and powerful are, in fact, above the law.
I can't stop seeing Alan Dershowitz and Rudy Giuliani.
Whewww Jen, now there's a coupla creeps for ya. Wishing they'd be gone along with any remnants of Shitt'-for-brains and his family. Be gone! Good riddance!
BC men and some women never believe the victims. They think women lie to ensnare men in law suits. Women get zero respect in this misogynist society.
Terry, this is a characteristic of patriarchy which has ruled nearly every culture since humans have existed.
It was institutionalized in the biblical legend of Adam and Eve, where the stupid woman first sinned by foolishly listening to the lies of Satan in the form of a talking snake, then ran home to her noble, innocent man and seduced him into joining her in her sin. That view of women and men is the foundation of the entire Judeo-Christian culture.
How decent can even "good" progressive Christians be when they continue to follow scripture that includes that misogynistic tale?
Dale, your "good progressive Christians" quote sounds like a "good" candidate for an Oxymoron Award. Having beliefs is fine, but facts along with the great unknown absolutely need recognition and consideration. Freedom from religious dogma would be a start. FFRF comes to mind. And, I agree.., a "misogynistic tale" it is. Tabloid material in our Stormy Daniels living room.
What gets me more than anything is how OPENLY the DOJ is showing contempt for EVERYBODY--Congress, MAGA, voters, and most shamelessly the survivors. This pressure cooker is not going anywhere....
Why indeed. Cherchez le Donald.
Yes! In fact, why weren’t these prosecutions sought during the Obama and Biden administrations?!
People cannot hear human pain if their schools have no humanities, Ron.
So where was Biden? Where was Garland? They had these files for four years you fucking people can’t even answer a simple question. Do you know why cause you don’t wanna answer a simple question because you know the answer to the question. This is exactly why Gerry’s in Manhattan lie and don’t work. And will eventually be over turned
Why don't you ask Merrick Garland about that? Uh oh. Who did nothing for four years about it I guess you forgot about that little detail, huh?
What the hell is the matter with you people you’ve tried 10 or 15 different false accusations that Trump and none of them hold any water. None of them are correct none of them have been proven, true, including Russia, including peeing on a couple of prostitutes, including working with Putin, including hunters, laptop, being false including Joe Biden’s declining health, it was a complete cover up, including the lies of the border being secure
You guys are so pathetic you’re just hoping and hope to hurt somebody where you have no proof that there’s anything going to show but you’re negative in advance like no horror movie ever produced
Theresa, how come they didn’t get any justice during the Biden administration even though the files were sitting on his desk for the four years they were there? Ooooooooops!
I think that’s an excellent question for AG Merrick Garland to answer! 😠
Theresa, I think there’s a whole cadre of people that need to address that question honestly directly and publicly.
Simple $$$$ & connections
I read where someone mentioned that they should be called “The Trumpstein Files”.
trump enjoys adding his name to things, "The Trumpstein Files" are a perfect addition.
Trumpensteun Files
Good name. I concur!
Yep so we’re going to call them the moniclinton files or the Marilkennedy files.
It’s horrible when you’re holding on by one fingernail, knowing that nothing is going to come to help you. Pathetic and it’s people like you, Marlene, that live in California that I haven’t got a clue what’s going on in the rest of the world
I lived in Calabasas for 20 years, and saw the degradation of the state, the ignorance of the state governments, and the wretched refuse of what is left there compared to what it used to be.
And in the process, she forgot what justice is. It’s called innocent until proven guilty, and that’s just not gonna happen. and just so you know, and you can probably keep repeating this again and again first long as you live. The epstein files have gone as far as they are going to go. You’ve lost about 10 or 11 battles recently trying to Dent the president and all you’re trying to do is Dent him with hate and emotion and a total lack of any facts and evidence whatsoever. Put that in your hash pipe and smoke it
Contempt: the feeling that a person or a thing is beneath consideration, worthless, or deserving scorn.
Trump certainly feels this way toward his voters, his political "enemies", professional journalists, judges, juries, the Constitution itself.
Contempt: the offense of being disobedient to or disrespectful of a court of law and its officers.
Yes, a good word to use in describing the fascist felon, and all of his henchmen as well.
More than that, they just think we are outright stupid and easily fooled by their amateurish attempts to hide the truth.
Love this idea
ArcticStones, I agree with calling them "The Trump-Epstein Files," but I am strongly opposed to putting Trump's name on any building or other establishment.
When he disappears from the American scene, his name should be removed from every structure that bears it. The Trump name should – and will – carry the same stigma and dishonor as the name Hitler. It should never be memorialized in any way, except in history books, as the name of one of the world's worst human beings.
Calling the files the “Trump-Epstein files” is fine. Let’s call the Kennedy Center what it really is, “the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts National Monument.” I believe it was a National monument to honor JFK.
I'd much prefer to not see one single thing that reminded me of that POS, to include any of his offspring. Be gone - Please. And good riddance!
And the roots that produced him and his ilk, alex?
Not recycling centers or psychiatric hospital, please. But maybe specific wings of said hospitals—the ones for psychopaths and those harboring narcissistic psychopathic delusions…
Sewage plants seems appropriate to me
And there needs to be some serious study on the brains of the MAGA cultists, this affliction given a real name. They may have already coined it themselves: Trump Derangement Syndrome. Can’t you just see it? The Donald J. Trump Derangement Syndrome Hospital.
Yeah Diedra, and on the Presidential walk of fame substitute his with a white sheet of paper with the words REDACTED for both of them.
You make an important point. Thanks!
Exactly how we should call it. You know there is ABSOLUTELY something in there and he is scared shitless.
That is how I've been referring to the files online so much that if I type felon47'S name, -Epstein is the predictive text.
Fabulous and succinct follow up suggestion ArcticStones ! And that my friends is "our part" to recognize fully and act upon, working your digital devices all day up till HCR posts or not tonight and thereafter. On every media outlet actual and social, we must push the "T_rump-Epstein" narative till it goes absolutely 'viral' and unstoppable, dominating MSM noise with said narrative, and moreover pushing the indigestibility OF SHAME ! Shame is one of the very most powerful emotions known to humankind. USE it - with anything one can attach to the narrative, which shouldn't be difficult given all the ammunition freely granted by this awful, shameless "Coalition" that is using the distractions of the firehose in nearly every state in the union, covering up, distracting us all from deplorable grabs and nibbles nationwide; All for the benefit of the hegemons within the coalition. *Sheeww; I hope before proof-reading that this rant was as understandable to many as it was to moi' as it tumbled off my brain to keystrokes ~ lol. Ponder and heap on shame from every state that can be added to the coalition's scoreboard of shame - everything. Look outside your particular state if you're unaware. Montana: Refusing the will of their voters. Ohio, ignoring the very clear will and referendums of their voters.. You can't make this stuff up, but the coalition is doing this nationwide - find it expose it with massive 'shame' !
I like that idea! Particularly ones that aren't working properly.
I really like that. Let's add The Trump Epstein Pedophile Files.
The problem with referring to them as the "Trump-Epstein" files is that it keeps attention from all the rich men (almost certainly big political donors for BOTH parties) who participated in the sexual abuse of these girls. There is a reason presidents of both parties chose to ignore calls for the release of this information for 10-15 years; the info would be disasterous to people who pour money into campaigns. A handful of famous men could not have personally abused 1,000 girls. Keeping the spotlight on Trump allows lots of very influential men whose names we might not recognise continue to hide in the shadows.
Yeah, we’re not calling at the Clinton Lewinsky file or the Kennedy Monroe files either. I have never seen such desperation and human beings, like you pure desperation, clinging onto any infinitesimal possibility that you can put a dented to Trump. Alas, you’re not worthy to kiss his ass or his feet, and you should be thanking God that he is present in the United States instead of trying to crap on the United States
Tell you what will call them the Trump Epstein files if you want to call it The Kennedy- Monroe files, or the Clinton Lewinsky files or maybe the FDR Rutherford files a guy who built karz for example, bills is the excellent president that he was but he over it looks belong lengthy affair. He had defiling Eleanor in the process.
I hope you’re not around when they put him on Mount Rushmore for your own sake
However, it appears Trump can get away with this. Donald can do this because our founding fathers set things up to give the president too much power as it is, claims Tad Stoermer. He is saying Trump, the Congress, and the Supreme Court are doing what they are doing because of the way that the government was set up in this short video.
https://youtu.be/444ve4KLSgo?si=N1HwjCTu9DwKChDj
Stoermer tells us, "The office was built by white, protestant men who understood that controlling federal power meant controlling federal resources. It's part of the point of consolidating all of that power into one place..."
I am left thinking once again that we need to also use all of the tools available to us. We should have a class action lawsuit against paying federal taxes because we are being taxed without representation. Trump has told Blue states he does not represent us, and I think people in Red States can make a good case that they are not being represented either. Without our tax dollars Trump cannot do what he is doing and the government will need to be more responsible to the people, as the power will be more fully with the states.
We, in CA, have been tossing that idea around for quite some time, Linda. in fact, I believe even Gavin Newsom made a comment to that extent. I would much rather put my money into our state budget for healthcare and housing rather than give those SOBs any further dollars.
Same. Historically we did not always have this large Federal budget. I believe Lincoln increased it to fund the Civil War. Many US states have larger GDPs than countries with similar sized populations that take good care of their people, including Universal health care, free university education, good schools, old age pension, and all of the things a country provides. Scandinavian countries do not tend to have large federal taxes, and more comes from local taxes.
Marlene and Linda, I’ve been talking about this with my political group, with my democrat state senator (who laughed at me! Misogyny once again!), and in calls plus a letter to my democrat-governor as well as to all congressional reps and senators.
Not a single response! Not whisper. No acknowledgment from Massachusetts
Elected officials I voted for.
I said over and over:
‘I’d like to send this State my federal taxes since the federal government is bent on destroying not only The People’s house but also our democracy.’
I do not want one penny of my income tax going to an illegal fake war that’s killing people at random to cover up corruption in the dark heart of this gang in DC.
What now? I believe my reps & senators and governor are afraid of ice etc…
Yes, Marlene, I mentioned the other day that those of us in “Giver” States, become “Keeper” States. I know we should as UNITED States help one another, but, Gov. Newsome may have a good point about secure his state’s budget.
I wanted to do this last year, but my accountant told me I couldn’t!
All blue states should! He’s public said that he hates Democrats!
Well, the feelings are mutual!
Trump indicated at Charlie Kirk’s funeral in response to the statement of forgiveness by Erika Kirk, how he feels about any American who doesn’t bow to him: he hates all “dissenters.” Add to that his obvious racism and subservience to Papa Putin. Because of the money and power involved for both men, we must support Ukraine and use Russian money to help Ukraine rebuild. The pair of tyrants and their enablers can destroy everything that democracy has built.
As bad as it is, we are better to keep Trump right where he is in order to create a super majority in Congress next year. Many must I’m afraid suffer the pain inflicted on the people in order to cleanse the system.
Yeah, Bill Kayz, it is sad that so many of our citizens will have to suffer in order for them to be interested in how their ignorance of the political policies of their representatives keep all but the most wealthy down.
I hope that they wake up before our nation has failed completely.
I’m not sure the MAGA crowd will do right by Vance. Trump needs to be in their foreground to maintain their fantasies, delusions, and blindness to what his policies are actually doing to them. Once he’s gone, they’ll have nothing to gaze upon but a very painful reality. He’s rode far on the fuel of their hate for “others” but I don’t believe Vance would get anything close to the same mileage.
It’s pure horror. One year only and look at the damage. If I go on like this I scare a lot of seniors here. But we are in it for 3 more years. Trump probably dies. Maybe he launches a full scale war and this could happen momentarily now that Epstein is taking full center stage again. He might attempt to launch a nuke. It’s a mess. And our stock market will pop and implode sooner than later.
We'll see- you may be right. I try not to look too far into the future though or I'll be useless to anyone. I do what I can today and be as ready as I can for whatever might come- that's quite the task in itself.
Bill I agree-- enough people have to suffer before we get the massive reaction we need. If it is getting closer, we are not there yet. We have a lot of people. And not everyone who will suffer has to be a voter. They are connected to voters in one way or another and this will have it's effect.
It's a great idea - but how would it work? You'd need to have millions refusing to pay, because if only a few did, they'd a) do no good and b) end up in jail, or garnished.
Lady Emsworth, I am not saying "refusing to pay." I am saying, millions filing a class action lawsuit against the Federal government for imposing taxes without delivering on them to us in a representative way. Trump is stealing from us, but we are then not supposed to have to pay if he is just representing himself. Someone had suggested Norm Eisen as the lawyer leading the charge. He is a Contrarian as well.
Norm is great... I have come to really appreciate him. And Jen Rubin. But people complain about there being no leader- maybe one will arise. In the meantime let a "thousand flowers bloom".
But again - with trump's grip on the SC and the "Justice" system?
Ah Linda Weide, excellent. A name, if he’s willing? I’m praying he is…. Also Lady Emsworth, that’s exactly why I have not been brave enough to go it alone. You would think our state that’s now one of those NOT receiving Fed $$ because the narcissist in diapers doesn’t have our knees bent kissing what’s left of him would take him to court? Nope. I’m ready to move to CA, if only….
The tax money should be paid to a separate fund respecting reservations of the taxpayer.
Sure. That is one possibility. Another be that we be relieved of paying federal taxes, and shift the money to our states. States can then decide to pool resources for shared investments that they see beneficial.
Lady.., we do still have laws, and courts functioning. Not at the 'levels' we might like to see. I'll point to Ms Tina Peters, who is still in jail for her role in fraudulating the election. The disaster/tragesty in MN involving the Somali's and some white-folks too needs some arrests. Jack Smith just might prevail. Any 'rebellion' is a long ways off. Because, as you said ICE will simply cart your malevolent-butt off to some detention facility somewhere..., by oneself, a martyr? Nah. Too easy to piddle-into-the-wind with this bunch. Facial recognition, Flock cameras, u-name it.
Mostly because of a political party who accepts and promotes a mentally unfit criminal. They are the problem without a doubt. A criminal supreme court should get at least an honorable mention for the destruction of a once proud and grand nation. Time is running out to save ourselves, I fear.
Mike, as Tad says, all of the sociopaths, and I will add in psychopaths are watching Trump and getting ideas. The Supreme Grift with no consequences.
Linda, the Founding Fathers were more in the Enlightenment camp; they knew that nations ruled with a central religious authority always resulted in evil results. Had they been predominantly protestant, they would have made it their state religion, and it would have been enshrined in the Constitution.
Instead, freedom of religion has been the law of the land from the very beginning. We can not allow the freedom of religion to be changed in any way. I wouldn't be shocked if today's fascist Supreme Court Justices try to justify the implementation of a state religion.
So, which founding fathers were not Protestant? If not, what were they?
While freedom of religion has been the law of the land, in practice Christianity has been favored. I don't know if you have ever had to say the Pledge of Allegiance in school, but one is saying, "One Nation, Under God" I notice school holidays at Christmas, but not holidays of other religions. The work week revolves around the concept of Christianity. Being in court you swear on the bible and swear to God. I do not see separation of Church and State as much as people seem to think it has been. There is a reason that every politician says, "God Bless" and all sorts of other references to God.
In NYC we had, and they may still have,Jewish holidays.. the holy ones.. off. There were so many Jews, that the schools made those days holidays for all. Teachers and students were going to be absent anyway.(We sang Christmas songs galore in school. ) The Pledge never had one nation "under God" until 1954 when it was changed ( during the Eisenhower Administration. The work week gives Saturday and Sunday off.. Saturday being the Jewish sabbath. Ford in 1926 gave Saturday to his workers and the government in an act in 1938. People saying "God bless" and such (like now Oh God!) others tolerate if they don't believe. That is in fact the toleration we want and not serious enough to bother about. God still has real reverence (and relevance) for many and as well meaning for those who don't even believe instead of "may the powers of the Universe be good to you" or "whatever". Muslims agree about God. Maybe not Buddhists here who have their gods- which I like. I don't hear Buddhists being loud; it's not in character.
In fact what is the good? You have to go back to religion, ancient Western religion to find out the beginning of what is good and bad.Eastern religions do not disagree. But observance is another thing.
We have *evolved* to respect and tolerate and even accommodate more fully when necessary and when people are loud and numerous enough.
The country has evolved since the founders. We seem to selectively go back to them. They gave us guidance and structure. We have filled in and made some progress.
We have Martin Luther King Day!
Respectfully disagree, the Framers granted few powers to the executive in Article 2. The problem has been the exponential increase in power over the years. If the Constitution had not been perverted we wouldn't be in this position.
Stoermer's reasoning is flawed. First, he argues from the ad hominin perspective, second he classifies the Framers as nationalists, they were anything but, the Constitution established a federal system in the form of a democratic-republic, not anything like a common law constitutional monarchy. Third, that the president had more power than the king, a lifelong hereditary position to whom prime ministers had to get permission to form a government with no federal system of state sovereignty to consider. And last he argues the perversion of the Constitution is proof that it's intent was perversion, that's simply illogical.
Yes Gary. That it has happened does not prove intent, but it does not disprove it either. From everything I know about the framers they certainly intended the power and wealth to be kept among the powerful and wealthy and it has been the case mostly. I am struck by how much more mobility there can be in a different system.
A reading of the Constitutional Debates, Montesquieu, Polybius [of who the Framers did most of their references to], the Federalist Papers and Constitution itself in fact disprove it. The logic and reasoning expressed in the debates proves it. There is simply no evidence that the Framers wanted the executive we have today, in fact there is plenty to prove otherwise. One need only read article 1 and 2 to begin to see this.
I'm curious, In what different governmental system do you see more mobility? And what do you mean by mobility? Social? Economic? Geographic?
I'm a fan of the parliamentary system, but I don't see how that system provides more mobility?
Gary, I have not read the Constitutional Debates that you are referring to. However, when we look at the set up of our country and the practice, it was one in which only propertied White Men could vote. How do you see that as not intending the power and the wealth to be kept among the powerful and wealthy? Please tell me specific things that they said that show otherwise. I do not think we can read the minds of someone back then through todays eyes. What we can do is see the way things have played themselves out to today. When you say executive we have today, which things are you referring to would not be things they supported?
By more mobility, I mean social and economic mobility exists for people in the many countries that provide free and quality public education through university. Our system is one of less and less mobility as the cost of education skyrockets without other options opening up.
I agree with your assessment of presentism, too often the fringes, both right and left make judgements based on modern circumstances without considering the conditions under which events occurred.
That said, we can know the intent of the Framers; we do not have to 'read their minds' nor guess. They told us and wrote down what their intents were. This is why reading the content of the debates is critical to understanding their intent. The debate minutes detail the arguments both pro and con of every decision of what to include, and exclude from the Constitution; what the reasoning was and the intent. Furthermore, proponents went on to write and make clear in great detail their intent in that series of explanations in The Federalists Papers.
We don't have to guess , they told us, and then wrote it down.
Consider our initial founding document, the very idea that all men are created equal was a radical enlightenment idea unknown anywhere else in the world, not just Europe, but in every continent, including the Americas. Your comment regarding presentism is relevant here as men meant humanity, not just men. The change in common understanding is less than 50 years old.
So, to be specific, the contention that the Framers intended the vote to be restricted to White Propertied men is nowhere to be found in the Constitution. specifically in Article 2 Section 2, voting was open to all people. representatives are to be, "...chosen every second Year by the People...". It clearly says people, not White men of property.
This is critical in understanding the Constitution. The intent that all people had a right to vote has always existed, it was states that denied the right. Indeed, the 15th and 20th Amendments don't grant to right to vote to people based on race, color, condition of previous servitude or sex, they prohibit the denial of the existing right to vote. This is a critical logical distinction. If the Framers had wanted to restrict the right to vote they would have said and wrote so, but they didn't, they did the exact opposite. They foresaw the days when slavery would come to and end and women would take their place in the franchise, they were however in their present.
When we take the time to read what they actually said and intended it is very different than what the critics claim. That the Constitution restricts voting right to White men of property is simply a myth.
Let's take a moment and think through what Stoermer posits, that the Anti-Federalists were correct. What would the result have been had they succeeded in their efforts to nullify the ratification and the Articles of Confederation continued?
It isn't pretty.
Regarding social mobility, I respectfully disagree that it's our system of government that keeps us from having the things you want, which I agree with totally.
These are economic policies that could be changed using our system, they are cultural choices not systemic ones.
Thanks for the conversation, best.
https://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2010/08/the-word-man-was-originally-gender-neutral/#google_vignette
https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/articles/article-i
What's more horrible than everything that's already been openly visible and obvious since 2016, if not before?
The ships are deserting the Sinking Rat because they can sniff defeat and disaster ahead -- not because of what's in those files (or not). The myth is failing, and with it their loyalty. Expect more cracks, more abandonment, more nobodys and nebbishes mumbling about the need to spend precious time with their families.
A focus on what's coming, rather than what's already transpired, will turn a good crisis into good use. Fulminate all you like -- it doesn't remove the obligation to work to widen the cracks. We have a lot of crowbars to use. They don't.
It's amazing what a fella can do with a good stout pry bar. Especially if you can get a good oak 4x4 under it in just the right place. Archimedes or somebody talks about that....
Hopefully soon the ship (of state) will also desert the sinking rat.
Yet, the admin will still remain in place. The country will end up run by ten or twenty mad men. (if it isn't already. . .)
The civil servant underpinnings are still there, despite all the firings and layoffs and retirements. Trust me, those folks will be happy as can be when this Republican-led criminal enterprise crumbles.
James Vanderbilt Poel, now I might be able to breathe more normally today. I’ll carry this with me ‘the civil service underpinnings’ through this winter’s solstice.
Thank you 🙏🏼
It has been for a long time, even more since Citizens United.
ICTT, I agree with your point & using what metaphorical crowbars we have. + I agree with the point above about Dem states organizing to deprive pirated federal government of tax revenue, a complex thing: 1) 77.3 million voters were conditioned to choose a life-long criminal as president. 2) He & corrupt authoritarian associates have tacitly seceeded from the union by cumulative fact of multi-direction law breaking. 3) They are committing extortion on Dem states which produce 70% of national GDP. 4a) If Dem states organize to resist extortion it would not be seccession. It would be defense of our constitution. 4b) It seems Dem states would have to change state laws to take authority to direct private businesses to divert fed tax witholding into state controlled escrow accounts. 4c) Logic branching off of 4b is myriad. Some aspects: 4c1) Archepelego of Dem states declare defensive alliance as USA. 4c2) Create custodial accounts of witheld funds. 4c3) Trump maladministration declares war on USA. 4c4) All hell breaks loose or US military leadership refuses to obey unlawful orders from illegitimate, pirate Trump fascist mafia state. <> I delved into most of this six months ago & used MS Copilot to generate an image of 47 as a disturbed 9 year old boy living a vile fantasy as pirate king of America on a Lord
Of The Flies model. MSC persisted in having the Donny Pirate character’s pirate dagger being a prybar to widen the crack in memorial Liberty Bell / Philadelphia Continental Congress. I left it at that because it is in fact, an appropriate visual metaphore. Here’s the link to my Substack post last June 23 with the image: https://open.substack.com/pub/johnrich/p/lord-of-the-flies-as-policy-matrix?r=41pd0&utm_medium=ios
Hopefully the Epstein survivors will compile their own list. It is possible that copies of parts of these files exist and might be leaked. If anything, this deflection will amp up the momentum for full disclosure. https://www.c-span.org/clip/news-conference/user-clip-the-victims-becoming-the-victors-2minvid/5179947
Problems here. Some signed non-disclosure agreements that could jeopardize their settlements. If any of them could create a non revocable trust then immigrat to a safe place and then open up about Trump. Just one woman would blow the lid and made Donny’s head finally explode.
I didn't think NDA's were valid if a crime had been committed?
Their attorneys have that information, but they are afraid to publish it because their clients will be sued for defamation, and are still being stocked, harassed and threatened of harm to them and their families.
It seems the perpetrators of sex crimes against young girls and women are participating in the very expensive cover-up by continuing to extort as many as a thousand victims of their crimes.
Do you think that there is a court or jury anywhere that would uphold those “NDA” agreements that were obviously signed under duress and threats?
Sue and be damned.
What's being hidden in the Epstein Files is much bigger than presumed evidence of sexual abuse of minor girls by individual perpetrators. These acts were committed by individuals' participation in a vast, well-funded, and well-protected enterprise of human trafficking and collection of kompromat. Follow the money. We've seen fleeting mentions of bank transactions. Mapping the money flow will be key to dissecting the network for both criminal prosecutions and exposure in the court of public opinion, with the goal of disempowering what recently has been labeled the Epstein class for their prevailing actions with impunity due to privileges of wealth and power.
With the recent release of files by the DOJ, including their heavy redactions, the financial records and the kompromat appear to be buried. Michael Sellers reports that these DOJ files are evidence of evidence, such as photos of tubs, boxes, and hard drives, but not their contents.
https://michaeldsellers.substack.com/p/i-spent-all-day-in-the-epstein-files?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&shareImageVariant=overlay&r=gfzoo&triedRedirect=true
True justice for the Epstein survivors will be the neutralizing of the criminal enterprise, which may seem like an exercise in futility, but you don't score if you don't take the shot.
So much this. The crimes against children committed by rich, powerful men who see themselves as above the law are but the tip of the iceberg. The financial shenanigans are the foundation of that criminal enterprise.
"evidence of evidence" - that's so good.
Yes, Ellie, as to "a vast, well-funded, and well-protected enterprise."
Do American schools (goodbye humanities, hello testing) pave the way for our hegemony of such inter-linked criminality? Do our Congress and state legislatures (hello lobbyists) smooth the way for our most morally empty?
Answers to such (defeatism) Qs come abundantly:
films like “The Florida Project,” “Knives Out,” “The Verdict,” and “Winter’s Bone”;
novels like Barbara Kingsolver’s “Demon Copperhead,” Walter Mosley’s “Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned,” Tom Hanks’ “The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece,” and many by Richard Russo and Stephen King;
memoirs like Mary Karr’s “The Liars’ Club,” Joan Didion’s “Where I Was From,” Jeannette Walls’ “The Glass Castle,” Sarah Kendzior’s “The Last American Road Trip,” Tia Levings’ “A Well-Trained Wife,” Erin Gruwell’s “The Freedom Writers Diary,” and Beth Macy’s “Paper Girl: A Memoir of Home and Family in a Fractured America”;
essay collections such as Arlie Russell Hochschild’s “Stolen Pride,” Barbara Ehrenreich’s “Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America”; Sarah Smarsh’s “Bone of the Bone, and George Packer’s “The Unwinding”;
biographies such as Lindsey Stonebridge’s “We are Free to Change the World: Hannah Arendt’s Lessons in Love and Disobedience”;
histories like Jane Mayer’s “Dark Money,” Rachel Maddow’s “Prequel,” Heather Cox Richardson’s “How the South Won the Civil War,” and Timothy Snyder’s “The Road to Unfreedom”;
poems such as Philip Levine’s Detroit factory poems,
songs like Tim Grimm’s “Broken Truth,” Bob Seger’s “Feel Like a Number,” Carsie Blanton’s “Rich People,” Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “You’ve Got to be Carefully Taught,” "Anonymous Public Servant's" recent, new song for our Heather, and any number of Bruce Springsteen or hip hop Ari Melber will cite.
I was reminded of "Glass Castle" as I read Virginia Giuffre's "Nobody's Girl". Victimization of the less powerful exists at many levels of society. I fear what T will do to divert attention from the Epstein files-War in Venezuela? We seem to have lost all effective checks and balances.
My understanding is that Bessent has to release Treasury files that will allow us to “follow the money.” This information will not come from Bondi’s DOJ files.
Honestly I'm scared of what will be found in the Epstein files. As MAGA has no problem with the raping of underaged 'women'... what is in there must be worse than a little rape.
I assume some of the victims were never found.
Yes, the red-herring 2023 fundraiser photos of Michael Jackson included in the Epstein file release are red meat for the base. They won't put it together that not only are the photos from a fundraiser, but Jackson died in 2009.
And the children in the picture were his own children!
And kill children through withholding vaccines.
Yes, it must be something really horrible he’s hiding. I am thinking it may turn out to be something about Melania. Maybe Epstein got her the “genius visa” and/or her citizenship? Maybe she is a trafficking victim? Or it’s related to the financing of the real estate deal when Trump outbid Epstein with Russian money.
It's not just T**** who's doing the hiding. There are a lot of very rich, very influential people who hold sway over this criminal enterprise (I refuse to call it an 'administration', and even 'regime' does not do justice to it) and whose identity would bring down the very structure of government and finance. We'd have something on the order of a world war. Which we may get anyway if this menace in the Oval is not removed.
If the truth will tear down governments and finance I say let it all come tumbling down...then we can rebuild our country and the world on a more healthy and just foundation. Just as our country was built on a foundation of gencide and slavery, the whole world has been built on the subjugation and rape of women, children and poor people - time to tear down the whole f'n thing called patriarchy.
People more powerful but less visible than T**** are counting on him and his to hold the line.
Such as?
James, when you say "removed" , to me that means he becomes "replaced" and suffers the humiliation and embarrassment attendant to that. We cannot forget that should he suddenly be 'gone' we just deal with another shit-show, directed by the same ones running this one. Best if he tumbles downhill with his mis-deeds entertaining us all the way. We have to take hold of this country at his expense. I know we have the wherewithal to do that. We need to be smart and not back this rat into a corner. Especially in an inept fashion!! And to that I would only offer the two impeachments (previously) and his trials-du-jour in NYC prior to the past election. Stupid. Ineffectual. Maybe take example from Caitlin Clark & Sophie Cunningham!
I doubt T KNOWS what’s in the files—look how voluminous this single dump is. Rather, As Michael Sellers says (thanks Ellie), they are “evidence of the evidence.” I think he doesn’t know for sure what’s there but knows the extent of his participation, and that of other powerful men, and fears what MIGHT be there. That allows his imagination to make him deranged, which may partially explain his recently accelerating crazy.
''Epstein Files Released, Transparency Reported Missing, Sharpie Found at Scene''
(Satire)
For one shining moment, Congress passed a law that read like it was written by someone who had finally lost patience.
Release everything. Set a deadline. No hiding behind embarrassment. No protecting reputations. No pretending “political sensitivity” is a national security doctrine. Thirty days. All records. Period.
It was the legislative equivalent of locking the exits.
And then the Trump administration showed up with a blindfold, a fog machine, and a box of industrial-strength markers.
When the deadline arrived, the Department of Justice unveiled its long-awaited disclosure, which turned out to be less a release and more a performance piece titled Absence in Black Ink. Journalists were treated to page after page of documents so fully redacted they could double as modern art. One hundred pages of nothing. Not metaphorical, nothing. Literal nothing.
If transparency were a beverage, this was an empty cup held up proudly while insisting it was very refreshing.
The law required survivor interviews. Gone. Internal charging decisions. Missing. Communications about evidence being destroyed, misplaced, or concealed. Apparently misplaced again. Photographs of certain powerful men with Epstein. Briefly visible, then spirited away like a magician’s assistant who knew too much.
What remained was not evidence but suggestion. Grainy photos from decades past, carefully selected to point attention in one direction only. A random fundraiser image slipped into the pile to imply guilt by proximity, involving people and children who had nothing to do with Epstein at all. It was less investigative journalism and more a ransom note assembled by Twitter.
This was not disclosure. This was narrative laundering.
Even better, at least sixteen files quietly vanished from the Justice Department website after being posted. No explanation. No notice. Just gone. Including materials that inconveniently showed Trump with Epstein. The files did not fail to load. They fled.
This is what happens when transparency is managed by people who think accountability is a branding problem.
The administration insists it is still releasing more material later, which is Washington speak for “we hope you get tired before we do.” Deadlines, like laws, are apparently optional now. Congress passes them. The executive branch squints at them. Democracy shrugs.
And let us pause for the truly remarkable part. This was not a betrayal of critics. This was a betrayal of believers.
MAGA voters were promised the Epstein files like a holy relic. The truth would come out. The elites would be exposed. The swamp would drain itself on live television. Instead, they got a blackout, a few Clinton photos from the Bush administration, and a disappearing website.
That is not incompetence. That is contempt.
Survivors asked for accountability and were handed redactions. Congress asked for compliance and was handed excuses. Voters asked for transparency and were handed theater. Everyone was told to be grateful.
The law explicitly forbade withholding documents due to embarrassment or political sensitivity. The administration responded by withholding documents in the most politically sensitive and embarrassing way possible, while insisting that this somehow still counted.
If the goal was to restore trust, the effect was the opposite. If the goal was to demonstrate respect for the law, the message was crystal clear. Laws are suggestions. Oversight is annoying. And the public is expected to clap anyway.
In the end, the Epstein Files Transparency Act worked perfectly. It did not expose Epstein. It exposed power.
It showed us exactly how an administration behaves when cornered by a law it cannot spin. It blacks out the page, deletes the file, blames the clock, and hopes the audience mistakes darkness for disclosure.
Transparency was not denied.
It was mocked.
https://essayx.substack.com/p/epstein-files-released-transparency
"Don't give us anything we don't ask for" sums up this administration's approach to dealing with Congress. This of all things is the last they would and so they taking the opportunity of it to show who is in control of Government. Who in the world thought they would they would comply with the law ? Is there to be a confrontation here ? If so, they are determined to win at all cost.
That cost will be the Republican party, for it has been set ablaze by this scandal and it will burn itself out on a funeral pyre of Epstein files.
Phil, its true that he's helplessly self - destructing and in the meantime he is destructing this nation but the question is that we can't wait for the inevitable final result, our congress representatives and we the people need to push harder to put an end to this nightmare. Finally there's light at the end of the tunnel.
Just hope that that "light at the end of the tunnel" isn't a train coming. . .
Hello Phil... Pray for Divine Intervention SOON....
We are in a very dangerous place.
I fear that DJT could be much more dangerous to all of us than the things you mentioned above...As he is truly unhinged...national safety or worse....it is all up in the air...
What did you expect? Really?
or worse ...He may be a danger to us all as he is so unhinged and bound to get worse...
IMPEACH AND REMOVE T**** IMMEDIATELY.
And then indict, arrest, try, convict, and IMPRISON HIM FOR LIFE WITHOUT POSSIBILITY OF PAROLE OR PARDON.
That's such a lovely dream.
Maybe after the mid terms - till then, the Republicans are in the majority in the House, and are either too afraid or too corrupt to vote for it.
If there is a Supreme being then she should kill Trump and the rest of the turds will get flushed down the toilet.
This is a rock and a hard place. Crazy trump drops dead - and not-crazy but very ambitious JD steps in for three years.
Trump stays alive - three more years of crazy, but more and more voters decide to vote Democratic.
Maybe. But, I don't think JD is smart enough and definitely not charismatic enough to pull off a small fraction of what Trump has done.
No, but he's smart enough to take advice - and maybe turn the 2028 into an actual fight, rather than a slam-dunk.
The thought of a free and fair election is quaint.
That's why I think we need to annul the election, thereby firing the whole administration and undoing the actions done by them (the ones that can be undone).
Who is "We"? The GOP who are in power now - and totally subservient to trump? Or the Democrats, who can shout all they like, but have no power to do anything? We the People - who marched and protested to no avail? The Judiciary - a joke. . .?
Well, that's a good point. I wish there was an all-powerful “we” or a “they” that could and would do such a thing. Maybe if we (the people) demand it.
Well, that's a good point. I wish there was an all-powerful “we” or a “they” that could and would do such a thing. Maybe if we (the people) demand it.
Oh, I wish! That would be great!
Charge with TREASON and remove the entire regime. Rs are jumping the BSS Trump. Time to blow up that ship.
Perhaps in a prison for sex offenders…
and all the disgusting people helping him do this.
I agree! This is MUCH WORSE THAN WATERGATE! Read Lev Parnas’s analysis!
https://levremembers.substack.com/p/breaking-they-hit-publish-then-started
You're dreaming sir..
" “For as in absolute governments the King is law, so in free countries the law ought to be king; and there ought to be no other.” - Thomas Paine
Tell the SC
"We ARE "The Law".
Heather is pissed.
As we should all be.
Did anyone really expect anything else?
This. I do not understand why people expected anything other than this moment. Pages of redacted material, references to Trump clearly removed. Not a speck of this was unpredictable, much less unpredicted.
The sea of malevolence, criminality, idiocy, cruelty and incompetence is the real fire, the real smoke. It began in January, and is accelerating rapidly. They never did care. Now they've given up any pretense of caring.
Our work remains the same as it did yesterday.
Right there with you. What I will never understand is why January 6 2021 did not make a dent in any of the heads which are now aghast at the lying and criminality spewing from that stinking fetid sack of shit. Everything the dictator was, is and forever will be was on display that January 6. Even that 2 X 4 over the head failed to get through. Veterans voted for him in 2024, the (stupid) farmers voted for him (again!!! - third time!!!) in 2024, brown people voted for him in 2024…..how this country got this stupid will be the task of future historians to explain.
Professor Richardson is writing what will be the lead chunk of research information by those future historians. Your assessment of the facts of 6 January 2021 is 100% accurate.
Today my biggest regret about dying is the fact I will not be here to read the history books in 100 years.
At the rate we are ruining the environment will people still even be here?
Her stated intent is 150 years in the future for the historian’s work.
We’re reading it in real time.
people accepted him even when he said he could grab women by the pussy! From that moment the country was f'd
What were they promised that made them act against their best interests? Is it a religious thing, just old fashioned racism, or plain old ignorance?
Yes, John, it boggles the rational mind.
Exactly what I was thinking, ICTT. I cannot understand how people can be surprised about this. I mean, there’s this malignant narcissistic orange goblin in the White House whose only joy in life is lying and treating people like shit, and now you’re surprised he’s lying and treating _you_ like shit? Hell, what did you expect??
we're not surprised! We're pissed off!! If you lose that then we're normalizing this !
I know. But I am surprised that there are MAGAts and Republicans who are surprised.
Exactly. Compliance without complying.
this began the day he said he could grab a woman by the pussy!!!
Walk off your anger. Knit, Drink non-caffeinated beverages, Meditate, Do yoga. Watch a silly movie.
Then write your Representatives and Senators.
Then walk off your anger. Knit, Drink non-caffeinated beverages, Meditate, Do yoga. Watch a silly movie.
I don't want to see a spike in the mortality rate today.
Oh wait....
From Megan Rothery:
Demand serious people. We deserve better ❤️🩹🤍💙
Use/share this spreadsheet (bit.ly/Nokings) as a resource to contact members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Call. Write. Email. Protest. Unrelentingly.
Reach out (beyond your own) to as many in the Senate and House as you can. All of this is bigger than “I only represent my constituents” issues.
Honest question - do you think ANY of the Republicans in Government give a damn? Are any of them lying awake at night worrying over the state of the country, rather than their careers?
That’s rhetorical, right? We know the answer.
They must have themselves convinced their families will be ok no matter what.
Thank you!
Hello all reading this who aren’t planning to march in the next No Kings demonstrations or be out otherwise demonstrating: there are elections everywhere in the country which you can support with money (if you have it), or by GOTV postcard writing. The more Dems in state and National posts in ‘26, the better the chances of the democratic “takeover” essential to getting our country back. As a Virginian by birth with some Virginia postcards, I already have found two candidates in my home state for whom to write. How do you think the first Democrat in 30 years is to be mayor of Miami? Partly at least POSTCARDS TO VOTERS. If you can print, you can do postcards. TonyTheDemocrat and SwingLeft can help you get started. Those are the two organizations I know. Likely there are others.
Absolutely Virginia! I've been sending postcards to unregistered likely Democrats for the last 3 years using names supplied by Fieldteam6. Worn out several pens. Small efforts by 'the little people ' add up.
Kathleen, thank you for adding to my tiny list of sources. Maybe other subscribers will pay attention.
I have been writing postcards through “Postcards to Swing States” who have been well-organized and fair. Informed voters are our best hope.
This is what I wrote to my Reps:
==============
I am outraged at the lawbreaking of the Department of Justice!
Congress passed a law mandating the release of the Epstein Files with only the victims' names redacted. The DOJ agreed to it. Trump signed it. A deadline was set. And then what was turned over was worthless: page after page of pure black or blacked-out text.
Is this a joke? The DOJ had months to make any necessary redactions and on top of that they had an additional 30 days by law. And this is what we get: an insult.
It's bad enough that Republicans have allowed this coverup, but now THEY ARE BREAKING THE LAW.
The American people deserve to know the truth! Hundreds of girls were RAPED by powerful men and Republicans are denying those girls justice. Does the GOP approve of child rape? They are trying to make sure the rapists are not revealed and not punished.
I appeal to you and to every Member of Congress to see that all the files are released and that the rapists are outed and put in prison just as any rapist should be, regardless of wealth or social status.
Georgia you are my kind of lady! My dogs watch my head explode and then I grab for their leashes!
And I set my knitting needles aside to pick up a crochet hook to see if this old head could figure it out. Learning is the best distraction I have come up with yet!
"Just the one, dear?"
Use that anger to organize for a more robust democracy.
Agree with everything except writing to Senators and Reps. They really don’t care.
No, Gary, they don't care. But they still take note of how many people are moved to write. Or so they say....
I know them personally. Write if it helps. Maybe it does. But does it motivate them. Well, they aren’t doing a damn thing that I can see. They could be. I think that’s your answer. Those who do write, including you and me, deserve better!
If there is even a chance it will help, I'll write. I march too, and that might not make a difference either. But I'm doing it as much for me as for the politicians. I also donate, and THAT definitely makes a difference!
Yes, I said this too.Did anyone actually expect anything more from this lawless group of traitors? Smh
And if anyone was expecting transparency and adherence to the law, they must have been living under that proverbial rock for the last 11 months?
More like 10 years
omg, people knew that they wouldn't comply! But never f'n normalize it!!
Lev Parnas has published a MUST READ analysis of how the DOJ is shaping the narrative contained in the Epstein Files! This is MUCH WORSE THAN WATERGATE (with the 18 minute gap in the audio recording)!
https://levremembers.substack.com/p/breaking-they-hit-publish-then-started
“Now, with their disregard for the Epstein Files Transparency Act, [members of the Trump Administration] are also treating voters, especially their own MAGA voters who stood behind Trump because he promised to release the Epstein files, with outright contempt.”
One more impeachable offense and the Republican Congress, yet again, does nothing. They go home for Christmas.
And Trump still has what, over 30% approval polling?
This all says more about my country than about Trump than I care to contemplate.
I think Trump and Co have weighed the risks and decided that no one can really do anything to make them do what they don't want to do or stop them from doing what they do want to do, so they are thumbing their nose at us all. Until GOP Congress finds its spine and starts impeachments, we are in a very bad place.
Agreed. I lay all blame on the current sorry state of the nation on the Republican congressional conference, especially Mitch McConnell. McConnell, more than any other individual, had ample opportunities to put Trump away for good. History will not be kind to McConnell or the rest of the Republican Party.
I completely agree.
I blame ALL of it on McConnell, Paul Ryan, The Supreme Court, Leonard Leo.
WE are the ones who can do something about Trump and his band of thieves. Neuter the bastards with a clean sweep of the House and enough seats in the Senate to bring their arrogance to a sudden end.
The most shocking thing about this power grab, over 20% approve…. Propaganda machine still at full bore…
I think those are the ones who are happy with what’s happening. They want to burn it all down. It is frightening that so many want this for our country. I believe those are the white supremacists, and probably half of them don’t see themselves as such, they’re too ingrained and believe the propaganda.
They are white Christian nationalists, they are racist, they are misogynistic, and their aim is for white evangelical men to have more political power than all other citizens. They worship wealth with their property doctrine. They are delusional religious zealots.
Remember the Lord acts in mysterious ways. If only the remaining 80% understood that Jesus is trying to tell us something in picking Trump as His instrument. /s
😅
30% seems too high an approval to me, but his job approval rating is still over 40% today. His approval rating for his economic policies is about 31% last I heard.
We Democrats are caught in Orwell’s doublethink. We know intellectually that the Supreme Court gave Trump the power of a monarch and implicit permission to overrule Congress and the Judicial Branch. Yet we can’t accept that truth and instead still pretend we soperate as a democracy. High stress holding those two opposites in our heads each day. All our pressure and tension should be on Republican Congress members, not Trump. We’re seeing cracks with Greene and Stefanik, with the discomfort they have with the double tap in Venezuela and the Epstein coverup. We need to to keep pressing into those cracks.
A professor and member of the Bar told us in college that the real power of the law lies in public perceptions of legitimacy, and that this was a factor to be treated with care in any legislation. I have yet to have reason to doubt him. Law enforcement can contain just so many. Tyrants are weakened the more public sentiment turns against them.
We all need to shame Republican politicians at ALL levels of government even if they don't seem to be on-board with the national Republicans agenda.
They should ALL be concentrating on making life more affordable for EVERYONE and not with all this other BS.
Some of the sociopaths at the top are incapable of shame, just frustration and calculation. Incapable of real remorse. We can bear witness that their behavior is shameful.
You are absolutely right. Whom do we blame for 47’s out-of-control behavior? Republicans in Congress. Much as we’d like to abolish Trump, it is the congressional repubs who have enabled Trump’s lawlessness through TWO administrations. THEY are who needs to be thrown out of office next year.
One name: Mitch McConnell. The second name: Mike Johnson.
All right-wingers are responsible and should be held accountable.
Yes, definitely, but they have lots of help.
I agree with all of these replies. What I notice is that the Trump administration has only one domestic goal: to break the resistance of the American people by degrees to ultimately accept loyalty to a monarch. The Supreme Court Trump V United States ruling made Congress and the Judicial Branch irrelevant. But to subdue 250 years of democracy, Trump uses them as fig leaves to dampen alarm and give hope that at some point, the other Branches will somehow come to their senses.
We hear this conviction in Dr. Richardson's superb essays, so rich in historical context. She feels we are at a tipping point. Yet look how far we've already come to accepting a dictatorship! There are now domestic concentration camps for immigrants; an American military turned against US in cities; destruction of governmental support and approval for science, medicine, and the arts; acts of war and murder in foreign countries with no Congressional check; the literal destruction of the White House. Add to all of that the overt intention to rig the midterm elections with radical redistricting, blessed by our fig leaf Supreme Court. Hate to say it, but it doesn't look like a tipping point to me. And let's say we Democrats do win all of Congress in the midterms...just how would we be able to enforce any legislation when we consider how a year from now just how much more control Trump has of the military and law enforcement? It's a nightmare, for sure. But better to face it head-on than pretend it isn't happening.
Where corruption is rampant I'm inclined to follow the money, and a lot of intervention in the electoral and legislative process, as well as who wears judge's robes, so yeah, the public gets sold out. Really sold out. Of course, engagement, integrity, and vigilance is needed on our part to keep that from happening.
"Nip the shoots of arbitrary power in the bud, is the only maxim which can ever preserve the liberties of any people." -- John Adams
The public needs to wake up to how corrupt our political system is and demand reform.
Sadly Greene and Stefanik (and I dislike them both intensely) are leaving rather than staying and convincing other members to join them and then using their votes to stop the Trump damage.
And they won't be the last to leave. It's up to us to discredit and denigrate their Republican replacement wannabes to insure victories in the House and Senate.
The whole RICO party administration is about as far from the party Lincoln helped to found as it could be. It's simply corrupt as hell. Heather says that:
"A February 2025 report from RAND, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization, written by Carter C. Price found that if the system in place before 1975 had stayed in place, the bottom 90% of Americans would have had almost $80 trillion more in 2023 than they did. "
If even a tiny fraction of that is accurate (like 1/80th) we've been way hornswaggled. That's say nothing of lives lost due to political follies.
He hasn't needed to overrule Congress because the majority are in lockstep with him and their donors. Just as the corrupt fascist six Supreme Court Justices are in lockstep with the powerful political donors who helped place them on the Court.
You make a good point. Should we perhaps go farther and realize that Congress and the Supreme Court are fig leaves for the American Heritage Foundation, Claremont Institute, and Turning Point USA? That these private conservative "think tanks" are actually running our government in a "deal" they made with Trump long ago to give him full power in exchange for reshaping the country in their ideology?
And behind the fig leaves? The naked power of money.
I think Todd Blanche is the one at DOJ who needs to be publicly hanged. Bondi is a turd who should just be put in a windowless 8x10 on the third sub-basement at the Florence SuperMax, our traditional prison facility for America's Enemies, for life without parole. But Blanche and Stephen Miller need something more, "for the encouragement of the others." Actually, I expect both to either attempt to flee to Russia in the aftermath of the Democratic victory in 2028, or to commit suicide like most of the top Nazis did.
They don’t have Hitler’s sense of duty. More like Sadaam’s rat hole.
After the Battle of Stalingrad, and the encirclement of of the German 6th Army, 250,000 or so German prisoners were made to march thru the streets of Moscow followed up with trucks spraying disinfectant down where they had trod on their way to Siberia. That was a statement of no mean order. Kind of appropriate today I should think.
This whole episode makes my mind spin, wondering who is in the files. We all know it's powerful people, but who, and there my mind just exploded. I could start throwing names down, but I would still be here tomorrow and be no closer to the truth.
In the face of all of this, I'm still a positive thinker and I can tell the tide is turning and faster than the criminals realize. We are barreling along now at about 75 mph and it's time to go 100 mph. Republicans are in control, yes, but privately I bet they know they aren't now, i.e., why would rats jump ship if they thought they were?
Pedal to the metal until they all jump ship and the republican party boat sinks.
Not just who is in them but the details of what, how, how often, and all the facts of the abuses. This will open the eyes of any who still cry “hoax”.
I agree.
only one word for Bondi. CUNT
Another word for Bondi: IMPEACH.
That and incarcerate!
Too bad the days of being drawn and quartered have passed.
I personally would like to see the corrupt,fascist six Supreme Court Justices tared, feathered, and run out on a rail for betrayal of our Constitution.
“America is loud right now. Not productive loud. Leaf-blower-at-6-a.m. loud.”
https://open.substack.com/pub/closertotheedge/p/2300-miles?r=kxzps&utm_medium=ios
“Everyone has a microphone, nobody has patience, and the national posture is a permanent forward lean toward the next outrage. Into this circus walked a dozen Buddhist monks who decided the correct response was to shut up and start walking. Walking. Two thousand three hundred miles of it, from Fort Worth, Texas, to the marble pressure cooker known as the United States Capitol.
WHY WALKING WORKS WHEN TALKING FAILS. Walking is slow. It denies the modern addiction to immediacy. This walk bypasses the outrage economy entirely. No algorithm can speed it up.
Peace isn’t being argued. It’s being demonstrated at three miles an hour.
There’s no safety net here except community. Which means every mile is a quiet referendum on whether people still know how to be people.”
2,300 Miles | WALKING FOR PEACE
CLOSER TO THE EDGE
By ROOK T WINCHESTER
DEC 20 2025 | Substack
https://open.substack.com/pub/closertotheedge/p/2300-miles?r=kxzps&utm_medium=ios
+Follow their journey on FB, the page is called ‘Walking for Peace’.
Yes!
More on this: Tricycle: The Buddhist Review: The Power of a Quiet Life by Lewis Richmond.
https://www.zencommuter.com/blog/2112
Heather: "... ignoring the War Powers Act".
Yesterday, Saturday 12/19/25, per Politico's Gregory Svisnovskiy, 5:00, PM, trump has seized another oil tanker in the Caribbean the MS SIMON.
The MS SIMON sails under the flag of Liberia.
*********************************************
UPDATE - At 12/21 6 pm Pacific, the USCG is still pursuing the 3rd Oil Tanker:
Per Reuters earlier this afternoon, the U.S. Coast Guard is in "active pursuit" of a 3rd Oil Tanker believed to be the tanker "Bella". U.S. authorities have withheld the exact location but, the pursuit is "near Venezuela".
Note, the new development as U.S. Officials state that vessel is NOT "on the U.S. Treasury's list of sanctioned vessels". Cargo?
Ugh
Disgusting actions. Thanks, Counselor.
President Trump is a child rapist.
Let us cease referring to the child rapist as “President”. He has proven himself utterly unworthy of the title. He is just Trump or Donnie the felon.
Late night dubious good news take-away (?): the evildoers are a stupid lot and assume we are as well. Thank you for this, Heather.
Vainglorious, careless, and foolish, but with enough guile to sabotage all three branches of government. Underneath it all is "the people" who have to make their will heard and their complicity withheld.
No J L. Trump didn't sabotage the 3 branches of government. 45 years worth of Heritage minions funded by billions of dollars from libertarian oligarchs like the Kochs and now the tech bros did.
Georgia-- you're right. Trump just thinks he's the puppet master, but he's just the puppet albeit a very disgusting cruel and moronic one.
He can't even do Fascism well, and he holds almost all of the levers of power.
Exactly this. Rump is just a stupid liar, he doesn’t know anything about political strategy other than riling people up. The real puppet masters paid the money, Rump is just the wrecking ball they need to destroy democracy. After that job is done, they will probably dispose him.
You don't mention the corrupt politicians.
Just in case anyone is interested and hasn't seen this, Michael Sellers has begun applying his investigative skills to files and he has a short video explaining at the first link.
The second link is about the 'tampering'.
https://open.substack.com/pub/michaeldsellers/p/i-spent-all-day-in-the-epstein-files?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&shareImageVariant=overlay&r=gfzoo
https://open.substack.com/pub/michaeldsellers/p/oops-doj-deletes-file-eft0000468?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&shareImageVariant=overlay&r=gfzoo
This is fantastic and fascinating. Thank you for sharing!
The investigator is "DEEPER LOOK with Michael Sellers". Michael concludes the [t]rump Gang deleted Epstein "File EFT00004688 a photo wherein Trump was (barely) visible ...".
Spot On, Thank you Sandra.
This helps immensely to make some sense of what was released. I appreciated the video that explained how to begin to understand the data and its organization. I’d have looked at a bunch of zip files and given up.
I thought the lack of metadata was interesting. That seems very odd for a dataset of this size even though it's small for an investigation of this nature.
Surely, it wasn't like this originally? How could the DOJ have used it if had so little metadata? It makes me wonder if metadata was stripped from files to make the datasets hard for the public to use.
I'll be very interested to hear what Michael and other investigative types make of this as they start building meaning of the data dumps.
I expected the DOJ to claim open investigations as an excuse not to release the files. But the evident effort to implicate Bill Clinton suggests that they are not pursuing investigations in Democrats as trump said he wanted them to do.
That surprised me too. Perhaps Bondi and Blanche are just too ignorant to know ordinary people would have questions and people with expertise will recognise what's going on? I bet the people who did the work had more insight into what knowledge is sitting out in the community and were expecting the questions people are now asking.
I wonder if their data dumping strategy changes in reaction to community responses? I suppose that might produce ammunition for legal challenges coming their way? This has a long, long way to play out. I really feel for the victims, it's more abuse on top of everything they've experienced so far, but maybe it shows they have a chance yet. What's the saying about it being the cover up that gets you?
Of course, they're treating their own voters now, like they've been treating the elected members of the House and the Senate, like SHIT. No worries on that because all but a very, very few of that large amount of people are billionaires.
This has been - and always will be - a class war that has been disguised as a culture war. Anybody who's not in the top 1% income-wise can and will be ignored - at least; and treated like SHIT as the circumstances will have it.
Certainly I would follow the money in just about any case of despotism and/or corruption. Last night Heather said:
"A February 2025 report from RAND, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization, written by Carter C. Price found that if the system in place before 1975 had stayed in place, the bottom 90% of Americans would have had almost $80 trillion more in 2023 than they did."
That's one hell of a price. What did we get for our money?
100% my brother. We got nothing in return. What has been "rebranded" (to use JDinTX accurate terminology) as a big transfer of wealth from the rich to the poor ,has actually been the exact opposite. Born out by facts versus rhetoric.
" But, alas, this wealth, instead of blessing the race, has been the means of enslaving it. The few have come in possession of all, and the many have been reduced to the extremity of living by permission." Eugene V. Debs That is what we have gotten.
"What did we get for that money?"
We got a corrupt Congress, a corrupt President, a corrupt majority on the Supreme Court, and $38 trillion plus in national dept.
All in service to the ultra-rich and corporations.
Yep. We need to make a "thing" out of that.
Rebranding as a culture war has been the goal every day for decades. James O’Keefe, Christopher Rufo, old guard repubs, and rich tech bros have played us for the fools we are. The shiny objects of hateful christanity and jealous fear have brought us here. Lady Liberty’s message has never been more needed or relevant.
100% brother. Christians, White Nationalists, anti-immigrants, INCELS, etc. Brought together by the common theme of hating the "other". The rich are the puppet masters. We've all been played for fools. UNTIL NOW. Not too late to turn this big ship around!!!
the rich have been the puppet masters since the founding of the country. They said they knew better on how to run a country than the farmer, worker.
Blame the f'n founders, they should have known to put in more stop gaps against tyranny having just fought a war against a king!!
The founders made many errors but the schematic they provided for governance has proved to be an admirable and workable prototype, and they were wise enough recognize that the original constitution was version 1.0, subject to legitimate revision. But there are no precepts that that cannot be turned on their head in bad faith. Look at what cosplay "Christians" have done with "love thy neighbor" (and who loved his neighbor in the story? A hated foreigner). The Constitution is a recipe, but we the living make the cake. We have to do are parts in good faith, and respond with wisdom and integrity to emerging novel circumstances, and the problems that seem to never, entirely, go away.
Political revolutions have often elevates a new boss, same as the old boss. This one decidedly didn't; but those who would be kings are still with us.
you make very valuable points..it's a wirk in progress. Sadly there are those in power that what to go backwards. This fascist era will end but at such a terrible cost. People can no longer ask how is it that Germans didn't stop Hitler.
Or go forward (as time compels all of us to do, in backward ways, some it perhaps reaching to ethics before the Magna Carta, or even further back to the caves. "The better angels of our nature" have always been aspirational, but on the long arc I would say we have progressed. Even to the present day; yet much progress has been trashed and and more threatened since we were last majorly conned into allowing the power of money to tr*mp the common weal. When so many lost sight of the mission statement of the Constitution.
Totally understand your sentiment. That said, blaming the founders (and rightfully so) doesn't help us much moving forward. We need to continue to call out the current Regime and any other future authoritarians who want to continue supporting the rich at the expense of the majority. Independent media does a much better job at doing this than mainstream media. Given the true facts, then it's up to the public to vote based on facts. I still believe we can and will get there. Just not as fast as we'd like! ;-)
people need to be reminded that this corruption goes back to the founding. They've been gaslit to believe they had everyone's best interest at stake. And yes fight for making a new country. But use that anger anoutvthe founders and this current admin to make it happen. I fear though that America will never hold their elite to account. Nixon was pardoned and IMO that lead to this moment. America needs to put its bigboy pants on and incarcerate these degenerates
Every society, and likely every human seems to harbor some measure of self-centered sociopath, but law, conscience and compassion keeps keeps it civil to varying degrees. That was the message of Jekyll and Hyde. The sociopathic part of American colonization is salient, but so too was an effort to tame the internal abuses of government. Over time we have incrementally sought more perfect union and equal protection under law. Lincoln helped a lot, as well as numerous "grass roots" movements. The "Gilded Age" should have taught us to keep the 1% away from the steering wheel, but "somehow" we lost the plot.
We are so inured to corruption we forget about the stink.
Social justice has always been far from perfect in this or any society, but there was a time when even most Republicans recoiled from the abuses of McCarthy and Nixon, and government was less openly for sale.
BINGO
Only pubic financing for all political positions can truly reform our democracy and put power in the people's hands where it belongs.
We SOOO need campaign finance reform and measure to discourage de facto bribery, especially now the tortured definition of bribery by $COTUS put nearly all bribery in that category. Even in private industry there can be strict rules about "conflicts of interest" and even for lower echelon government employees. The Constitution makes a thing out of bribery, so why, oh why, don't we?
Exactly
The flying monkeys of the Trump administration are no longer even hiding their contempt for Congress, the voters, and the law. Because no one is going to hold them to account, they will continue to defy all. All the opposition legal maneuvers are pointless, except pro forma, because the Subprime Court has given Trump blanket immunity. And he will be able to pardon his minions indefinitely as long as he is in office.
I’ve been saying the same thing for a while now… bc Trump can pardon anyone at anytime for any reason, the game is already won. His band of criminals will do his bidding even though it’s against the law, and he will pardon them. WHAT can we do about it? Nothing. But vote them out of office, if we are allowed to hold a free and fair election ever again?
100% agree. The rules of the game are clear and we can't change them (at least not yet) so whining about how unfair it is seems like wasted energy. But we still have elections and we CAN fight on that battlefield.
If we win, THEN we need to make SURE that things are changed for the future.
I wish I could be as confident as you about "we still have elections " Jon. Common sense and knowing the horde we have to deal with tells me that the posibility of a clean and fair election is almost impossible given the long planning and huge investment from them to take power. They are not going to risk it all by being fair and decent (by nature they are not). Let's just hope, because there're no other possibilities.
I am not sure we had a free and fair election in 2024. Why did pos thank musk profusely?
And that battlefield is where public oversight and participation, at the precinct level and on up is crucial. To make sure, starting now, they will be free from interference and bias. At all levels. There is plenty to do here.
There is nothing to stop them from rigging the elections with blessings of the Supreme Court who granted this asshole immunity.
But, not for private behavior nor acts.
Remember it was the Flying Monkeys who started the celebration of the demise of the Wicked Witch.
It will be interesting when this falls apart which Republicans will first shout, "Hail to Dorothy, the Wicked Witch is dead."
Since January, an ocean of wanton illegality, cruelty, delusion and incompetence have marked the worst, most corrupt administration in our history. An alcoholic, insecure, demented personality has been free to do as he pleases -- without guardrails, restraints or Congressional oversight. Those under him use our institutions to mount near daily assaults against us.
This is the real fire taking place all around. The violation of the Epstein Act -- just one more scene in an unending drama of criminality and contempt. MAGA has long believed there was some awful secret (leading straight to Hillary Clinton, I guess) hidden in these "files." Those who know who Trump is have assumed the secret is there, it just leads back to the source. Ever since the 🙀grabbing tape in 2016, those who haven't self-lobotomized have understood who he is.
That fire has been burning a long time. There is no aha moment here, no single denouement where a single piece of tape would be found that would prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt that....No, that was back in 1974, when a tape was found and turned over, and 10 honorable Republicans did march into the Oval Office to read its occupant the riot act, and a shamed, humiliated Nixon did resign and departed into oblivion the next day.
So eyes still on the prize. Elections, like winter, approach. They are not prepared. 2026 will not be a good year for them. Pray -- if that is your tradition -- as though everything depended on forces outside your control. But work as though they actually are. Our task remains the same.
Consider this:
I have been reading that Vladimir Putin is in “a precarious situation” or getting there with because of his wasteful, narcissistic, empire building War with Ukraine.
Trump is facing those “Epstein files”. That law he signed should enable people to access the information. I suspect that the information is not just in the United States?? Plus the victims aren’t very old.
These two men who have been allowed to ransack their countries (there’s and articles about Putin’s closer circle getting smaller) and demand “tribute”.
The Republican Party in this country has done nothing to stop the Executive Branch from “appropriating” taxpayer dollars and now possibly getting our country into a “not war, but a repatriation of seized assets?”
How much did it cost the United States Taxpayers for our military to sit waiting and then shot a missile that blew apart 2 men hanging on to a blown apart boat, how far from land???
How much Republicans???
How much???
You have to come home sometime!!!
I'm certain there's are multiple copies in the hands of people like Putin, Musk, Thiel. Plus a few intelligence services.
Trump and Putin together in Epstein files?