I keep reflecting on the most bizarre "fact" of all. His zombies don't care about him abducting children off of playgrounds and stuffing them into unmarked vans and think Kristi in her $80,000 Rolex and green Barbie rescue suit are cute. They don't know or don't give a rat's ass that thousands of children in Africa have already died because USAID got destroyed. Don't know what habeas corpus means, don't care about the separation of powers, think vaccines cause autism and couldn't give a flying flamingo about Medicaid.
But boy, do they care about this "list" (that contains only Democrats in it, of course) and are as certain it's a real thing as they are that the earth was zapped into existence in 4004 BC and Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the back of a triceratops.
“Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the back of a triceratops.”
Yes, brandishing two large machine guns, shooting them in the air, shouting: “ ‘Muricaaaa!” It’s true. Everybody knows it. You had to be there. I was there. It was beautiful.
As shocking as the daily reviews of the atrocities committed against the people of our country has become, even more shocking, is the silence of so many Americans, and members of Congress. With no checks, balances, or respect of our laws, we are no longer the United State of America. We have fallen so far in such a short time. I never dreamed I'd ask myself, "Can we find a way back?"
Sadly, I ask the same question to myself every day. It IS just unbelievable really that we have fallen this far as a country in just 6 months. I wonder what our country will look like when the midterms roll around TBH.
Yes, and now celebrating the cuts to NPR and PBS. MAGAs can’t handle the truth or understand complex ideas. They prefer slogans provided by con men who despise them.
Dutch.., I know you were there.., you had 'the Book' in your hands. Did you happen to notice the copyright date.., the publisher.., the writer.., any of that? All we have now is the one that was printed in China. Anybody out there have Gideons number?
Thank you so much for that laugh-out-loud image, building on It's Come To This's powerful image of Jesus on the triceratops. Thank you both! I need so desperately to laugh these days.
Connection, ICTT. Thank you. I laughed out loud at Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a triceratops, but it was only to keep from crying. To think there are some folks who actually believe it to be true.
When I read statistics in this country, that approximately 54% of our population, age 17 -73, read at a 7th grade level or below & that within that percentage, approximately 34% read at a 3rd grade level (or less); yes, I can believe there are many in this country, who’s ability to think critically is seriously compromised. And yes, they vote based on any number of conspiracy theories/ lies they choose to believe, but not investigate. Trump has been caught in so many obvious & bald faced lies, and yet Trump believers continue to support the illusion, created by the Brit, Mark Burnette’s fake, reality tv show, “The Apprentice.” Many down South, were relatively unfamiliar with Trump, until Burnette threw Trump this life line, that created the illusion that Trump was somehow a “boss” in the business world. Those of us who actually knew of him prior to that show, knew of his numerous business failures & several bankruptcies. ( Including 2 casinos in Atlantic City. Knew of his close friendship with Jeffrey Epstein ( I believe he was categorized as a class 3 pedophile, but felt few consequences until he ended up in prison & dead ( How is questionable, though the story sold in the media is largely by suicide.) And prior statements by Trump about Epstein, prior to Trump distancing himself from Epstein, suggest he may well have known his preference for younger (teenaged) women/ girls. But stories were swirling prior to Trump’s first election in 2016, that a young woman had surfaced, first in California & then NY, where a judge was open to hear her story about being a young runaway ( about age 13) who’d gone to NYC by bus I believe & someone in Epstein’s employ had approached her in the early when she arrived at a terminal to attend a party, where she claimed to be a virgin still. She claimed it was at that party at Epstein’s, she was raped by both men. When she resurfaced in 2016, with this story, she then hastily disappeared shortly after, supposedly out of fear for her & her families life; not to be heard from again as far as I know. But her story was th
I read about "Katie Johnson" in People magazine in the '90's where the story of her being raped by Trump and Epstein was told. Could never understand how he was on a TV show and then run for President and get elected the first time with this information out there.
Yes Gloria. Like you,I read about it but it never got any 'traction'.., never 'made any money'. The media needed stuff that would pay their salary.., they had car payments and mortgages to make.., it wa just 'low noise level' back then. This too will be tossed into a sound-proof box and Trump will see to it that Ghislaine has her case thrown out. You watch. Ghislaine holds the cards. I saw a "reel" with a woman with large breasts was holding a sign that said "Big tits matter".., welp. Ghislaine has some.., and they matter. Wait for that!
NO ONE IS MORE UNEDUCATED THAN TRUMP. Buying our entry to a good school but having others do your work is more likely what happened but he is not educated at all. Has no class at all either judging by his changes to OUR White House. Why was he ever allowed to deface it both inside an outside like that.
I live in a very upscale community where the schools were often highly rated. Now, there is no attendance policy; students skip school daily and the teachers are supposed to send them their assignments and the students can finish them at their leisure - before the end of the school year. Cell phones are a huge distraction and teachers are powerless to prevent their use. Middle Easterners have successfully won a Supreme Court ruling that their children don't have to be present during the reading of certain books they find offensive. I believe the country's failure to educate is also coincident with our moral and physical decay. People have given up the intellectual tools to cope with the complexity of the world; and people have given up the printed word for a hedonistic lifestyle - endless fun. People do not buy or read a book, instead they rely on the manipulation of images on social media, etc. Well, I'll step off my soap box now.....
Stephanie, our governor just issued an executive order about cell phones during the school day. We will see how that works out. One parent is suing a Portland area school district because they use some kind of digital hall pass.
He could never read past the third grade level. Now, of course, he probably has dementia/Alzheimer's. The ability to read is one of the first things to go when one has Alzheimer's (my mother died from it). . . When he can no longer read from teleprompters, we'll know it's close to the end. When he can no longer speak or swallow, expect Vance to invoke the 25th Amendment. Unless he does it sooner.
I have previously mentioned my own past experiences that help me understand how U.S. politics works, but I'll review.
I worked for an ad agency that was frequently retained by political campaigns. We allowed the candidates to use our conference room for meetings they did not want to be publicly known. My office was adjacent to the conference room and the walls were not ... umm ... soundproof. I heard a lot of things I wasn't supposed to hear. From those forbidden conversations, I learned two things: 1. Political candidates tailor their message to whatever audience they're about to address, often claiming to be for and against the same thing. 2. Campaign donations pay for a lot more than TV ads and yard signs; donors fund a lot of activities of questionable ethics and relevance.
In the past few days, I told of my friendship with Connie Hamzy, who was "America's Groupie," having backstage access to any concert anywhere, performed by a Who's Who of entertainers. She related to me the story of her encounter at a local park with then Governor Bill Clinton. Later, when Clinton announced his presidential candidacy, a publisher convinced Connie to write a book about her adventures, including with Clinton. The book was finished and ready to go to press when the Clinton presidential campaign contacted Connie and made her "an offer she couldn't refuse." She was paid a handsome sum to kill publication of her book.
Our electoral process is corrupted by abuse of the Electoral College, silencing of votes via gerrymandering and suppression of information paid for with obscene amounts of money unleashed by the corrupt Clarence Court in "Citizens United."
I posted yesterday and again today, questioning how Epstein died. If the method was reported, I've forgotten. And yes, it does matter--and I hope Doc Ryan (or another person here can clarify)--as I would imagine he would have been strip searched and body cavity probed before being put in the cell, so it wasn't drugs. (If it was drugs, I doubt they'd act that quickly, if he was being "closely monitored"). Did he hang himself, and if so, how? Was it a "natural death" via a heart attack, and anyhow, was there an autopsy?
Miselle, his death was ruled a suicide by asphyxiation, similar to hanging. I believe he had the means in his cell to effect his asphyxiation (I believe it was a sheet or article of clothing).
There was enough malfeasance by the corrections facility staff to provide enough suspicion that Epstein was, at the very least, assisted in his suicide by either omission or commission. This includes the mysterious gap of two minutes in the video at the time of his death, and the strange absence of both of the staff assigned on his "suicide watch" at the time of the event along with his cell having he material in it that would be usable in fashioning the means of his death.
I started my 30+ law enforcement career in corrections at the county level. When someone was on a "suicide watch" they were checked at regular intervals which were then documented. Depending on the level of suicide risk, the checks ranged from 30 minute checks to "constant watch" posts, where two officers were assigned, alternating the responsibility by hours; one would watch for an hour, the other would run the rest of the 12 bed post; then switch.
My opinion: Jail staff did not kill him; they let him kill himself by providing him the opportunity to do "the right thing" as it is sometimes rather gruesomely described.
Yeah.., "effectively Silenced". Should "the truth" come forth from one or two of these "girls" (by now young women) it will be so easy to have it discredited. It'll take a "woman" with strong character to be able to withstand the assault, but it could happen. Not all of those "little girls" were naive. Some just wanted to "have fun". Wait for it....
I hear what you’re saying, GJ; however , you know as well as I that voting is a right and not an allowance. It is one of the visceral conundrums in our Constitution .
I agree that voting is a right and not an allowance. To that I would add that voting is a responsibility and not an inconvenience. In other words, I'm more concerned about the people that don't vote and less concerned about the people that do.
I am more concerned that we do not teach civics in most of our schools. It should be American History (up the the current day) in fifth grade, Civics in 8th and 12th. Don't get me started!
I'd agree, James. But what's shocking to me is that, according to a recent poll (by Pew, if memory serves,) even if every eligible voter had voted last November, he would have won anyway.
The administration reportedly is asking states for their voter data bases and for access to their voting machines. Don't be so sure that we will continue to have a right to vote--remember Trump's "joke" that "we will never have to vote again."
Riad, it’s not that they [today’s conservatives] would kick you—and probably Wm. F. Buckley, Jr.—out of their Party; but they probably wouldn’t admit you with the use of terms like “visceral” and “conundrum”…you would not be speaking with or to them—but so far over most of their heads that many would think that you’d be insulting them—or praising them!?!
Where's Phil Balla? As Miselle points out, testing has been used to prevent the "wrong" voters from voting. Testing won't solve the problem, and would only intimidate and disenfranchise voters.
Rather than testing voters, the solution is teaching them, starting with a robust Civics curriculum in the schools. I would even advocate a compulsory "refresher" at the college level.
A populace that KNOWS HOW government works and WHY voting matters would demand a better government and better candidates who work for them, and be less likely to fall for candidates "they'd like to drink a beer with."
Nothing, absolutely nothing, in the New Testament was written by anyone who ever saw or spoke with Jesus. It's all hearsay, some of it coming many decades after Jesus' alleged crucifixion, in the Matthew account (27: 32-56), or his hanging from a tree (after he had been crucified) by the Sanhedrin, in the Acts 5:30 account, and in a language that Jesus didn't speak. Hearsay is not admissible in a court of law. How in the world, then, can it be taken as "the word of God?" Why does anyone believe anything that Trump says? It's because they want to and not because it has one iota of credibility/truth.
Richard, to put a fine point on it, "the word of God" is a phrase that is misunderstood by all evangelicals and most mainline believers. Most Western theologians interpret "The Word" as a reference to Jesus the Christ, not to the Bible.
John 1:1 provides the most obvious clue. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Even the most uneducated person could understand that the Word isn't the Bible because it was written long after God existed.
However, yours is only the germ of the argument against putting any stock in Western religion – or any religion, for that matter. In order to be a "believer," one must suspend one's disbelief.
One must convince oneself that the Judeo-Christian deity, known as Jehovah, Yahweh or God, is somehow different from the deities imagined by ancient Norsemen, Romans, Greeks, Arabs, et al, which to the critical thinker is implausible.
The only proof Christians have of the existence of their deity is an encyclopedia of books which includes the Hebrew Scriptures, a collection of Jewish myths, legends, poetry and proverbs, also know as The Old Testament, and a collection of post-dated accounts and letters, plus a coded commentary on Roman occupation titled "The Revelation."
Given that these writings were lost, found, translated from other languages, edited, abridged and appended numerous times, and given that scholars couldn't agree on which books should be included or omitted, one has to suspend one's disbelief to accept that the texts in the canon known as the Bible even vaguely resemble the content written by the original authors.
The only reasonable conclusion is that Yahweh was an invention of ancient Jews to explain what couldn't be explained otherwise.
True, the Ancients had no way of knowing that the earth is about 4.5 billion years old, that life (LUCA) came to life about 3.5 billion years ago and that all life now on earth (plants, animals, insects) all have "her" DNA. So, they invented the myth about the Garden of Eden, etc. They knew nothing about DNA, about the dinosaurs, about the evolution of the creatures on earth, all descending from LUCA (Last Universal Common Ancestor.) Scientists believe that LUCA was not the only living organism on earth, but is the only one with survivors, and the DNA proves it.
Ha, ha! Well now Doug G, my guess is you've never been to the Creation Museum in Petersburg, KY. where visitors have seen many unbelievable things. This is only a guess on my part as I've never been there either.
Because, as you say, the list "only contains Democrats". They've been hating on Democrats for years and are now salivating at the thought that FINALLY they will get their "proof."
If somehow this list does get published and shows mostly MAGA names (including trump) I will choke myself laughing.
And it will be REAL interesting to see what excuses they come up with why the list has got it all wrong.
My thoughts exactly! Once scrubbed, and embellished, Blondi will make a huge show of it's release. We need Ms. Comey to step up, and give the world the REAL facts. And as many others involved in the investigations, dating back to 2004, to also step up.
I believe the deal that was cut says she says nothing EVER, and she'll be pardoned before '28. Things may now be changing, but I'll be surprised if she has anything to say any time soon. My opinion.
And, my kids used to (and still do occasionally) admonish me for keeping hard copies of things and a file system on my computer (not in the cloud. There is also a treasure trove of historical newspapers that is becoming more and more rare given the direction the Fourth Estate is headed!!
There should be more than one way to reconstruct the file. There was a lot of civil litigation on behalf of victims and I bet there has been a lot of "discovery" that should be available.
Like I said the other day, Acosta and AUSAs who worked on the initial language could have a list of potential codefendants. It's possible to open the grand jury transcripts.
The starting point should be the Miami Herald:
In her year-long investigation of Palm Beach multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein, Miami Herald reporter Julie Brown tracked down more than 60 women who said they were victims of abuse and revealed the full story behind the sweetheart deal cut by Epstein’s powerhouse legal team. Since the Herald published ‘Perversion of Justice’ in November 2018, a federal judge ruled the non-prosecution agreement brokered by then South Florida U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta was illegal, and on July 6 Epstein was arrested on sex trafficking charges in New York state. On July 12, Acosta resigned as U.S. Secretary of Labor. And on Aug. 10, Epstein died by suicide in his Manhattan jail cell. Investigative journalism makes a difference.
QUESTION: Daniel, was Epstein arrested in 2005-2007? I read they couldn't get Epstein on a federal offense, so Acosta or someone like him got him on a state offense in Florida. AUSA-What does it mean? Association of United States Army?
Keep hammering that list. Then we want independent parties to go over everything including AI scrubbed lists and videos. I don’t want Trump sliding out of this one
He’s already setting that up. Blaming Democrats. Let’s see if his by now proven strategy works. I suspect it will, as it will be a life raft for his fiercest followers.
Trump's followers are doing what they've been trained (groomed?) to do for over 10 years now. Conspiracy has been part of his political DNA since before he first ran for president. Remember the birther movement? Trump has pivoted from one conspiracy to another ever since. He built this narrative which he now cannot control. I hope the Democrats and other pro-democracy groups are watching and taking copious notes...
"Trump's followers are doing what they've been trained (groomed?) to do for over 10 years now. "
10 years? Easily as far back as Ronald Reagan and arguably as far back as the Daughters of the Confederacy replacing history with hagiography by elevating national traitors as heritage heroes.
Do people believe what they need to believe? Helping the poor is a core tenet of Christianity. But for Christian nationalists, it translates to handing over their hard-earned tax dollars to what they see as lazy, undeserving people of color. The cabal running this regime isn’t even subtle—they’re blatantly racist. MAGA? Morons Are Governing America.
My husband was telling us about a debate Charlie Kirk had with a Columbia University student where he got cornered and beat down. Apparently this student got Kirk to admit these “Christians” he claims to be a part of only believe in the Ten Commandments. Then he was grilled on those too. I’d put up a link but I’m not sure which one it is. My search brings up too many.
I got on quite late yesterday and posted the two thoughts below. Nobody had an answer to the first one, so I'm going to try again.
#1 Does anyone know the method of Epstein's "suicide"? I've never heard it. Did he hang himself with clothing, and if so, on what? I ask because years ago when I worked as a phelbotomist and I drew blood in a psychiatrict ward, there was strict controls over clothing and sheets, and if I recal correctly, even the shower head was recessed into the wall somehow.
#2 I take no credit for this idea, but I forwarded a recent Dan Rather Substack about the anniversary of Live Aid to a friend. She said "wouldn't it be wonderful if the entertainment world did this AGAIN to benefit Gaza, and the Ukraine, or any area hurt by the USAID cut?" Isn't that a spectacular idea? Any famous people or friends/family of those lurking in the comment area and can get something like that going? Anyone have a connection to Bono?
Reading about the high-nutrition bisquits destroyed while people STARVE was incredibly disheartening to me yesterday, for so many reasons.
Your first paragraph describes my former work cohort of retired cops to a "T". They are fine cutting USAID (feed our own kids, except the ones on welfare, of course) and all aboard the "medical freedom" to not be required to vaccinate. They hate Medicaid, because they worked hard and disabled folks are "leeches". The evangelical components of Christianity run strong in them as well.
It has stunned me that they see nothing wrong with the staged event with police and military at MacArthur Park. I had commented that there were kids playing in the park; my former sergeant said "No kids, just homeless and druggies".
You know it, we know it, why isn't the broadcast and print news covering these events? Why isn't the news talking about his building a trump structure in Romania? As Judd Legum printed "any suggestion of financial entanglements between a US president and foreign nationals has been considered a scandal. Historically, major media outlets have provided extensive coverage of the issue." This story has legal and ethical implications ... but not under trump - WTF!
Read the article, thank you for posting it. Of course, it's murky, lacks consistency, reckless disregard for some good people imploring him to reveal the true story, unsettling, a cacophony of voices and opinions.....
Maybe it's because he had some emergency treatment today for swollen ankles, which poison may have seeped into his brain. This condition is not insignificant.
How does this happen? Is it genetic to fall victim to brainwashing? Is it hatred looking for a target? Is it crowd mentality? This more than any of the bizarre behavior around us now is what's most crazy.
It's Come to This, don't forget that his zombies are currently in the process of burning tons of food that was to be distributed to starving children, but was deemed wasteful by DOGE and, of course, had been funded by the Biden administration.
Frau Katze, I know some like that. However, the rest of this country does care, and I firmly believe that the enormous number of chickens who do care will send them to the proverbial slaughter. They'll experience the "falling sky."
I'm not sure I understand the obsession with "the list" either; but whether it exists or not, Ghislaine Maxwell does and is pretty easy to track down. So odd no one's interested in hauling her in front of a sub-committee. To paraphrase Jordan Klepper's opening on the Daily Show Tuesday night, "Sure, the Democrats made up the list and never pulled it out during the first election, the first time he was in office, or the last election."
Note the numerous times Dr. Richardson used the word ‘believe’ to describe Trump’s supporter’s acceptance of data. It is unfortunate that society has no inoculation against ignorance, in media or religion. The reward for believing is instant gratification.
Lady, I am cracking up and boy, do I need that this morning! In fact, the entire comment section is full of amusement today. I think we are all sinking into a situation I used to see back before I retired from the medical laboratory. At times it might be fiction, but in my experience, full moons/summer heat bring babies and/or violent crazies. We'd be so overwhelmed from the ED and L&D floors that we'd get slap happy with dark humor jokes.
Back in the day, Sunday mornings in the Chicago area major medical trauma center saw waaaayy too many GSWs. I'd come in and ask the overnight techs how it went.
I recall one morning being inundated with extremely frequent and complex tests. A GSW can practically bring a lab to a standstill with the demand for blood, clotting tests, hemoglobin levels, etc. Have a couple of them, and it made the techs loopy.
I recall being across the lab and heard a tech running the cell analyzers call a critical to the ED staff and say "CAN YOU TELL EVERYONE TO STOP SHOOTING EACH OTHER?!!!"
That’s one the problems with our nation; we’ve bought into the need for instant gratification. It’s just that republicans have turned their”need” into a an addiction for stupidity wholly based in ignorance.
Same as religion. The political missionaries have the instant cure for everything, greed, grief, pain, envy, jealousy, you name it. Jesus (now chump) has the solution. Elmer Gantry on steroids. Reality, not fiction in chump world.
Professor Richardson wrote a sentence that totally describes why Trump's supports will never turn on him. They are "psychologically committed to him."
Some Republicans may turn on him, but his most ardent supporters never will. They're in too deep, like cultists. I think that Trump needs to be "psychologically committed" to a mental institution or a nursing home. Wait, there may not be nursing homes left after the Medicid cuts come hacking in.
A true nut is running this country to the ground and this is just the beginning. Will republican lawmakers continue to support him in order to a appease a dissolved MAGA base? With a panicked rat in the corner the possible scenarios are endless. This is when I turn to prayer....
His downfall will happen I never considered he would be in office for 4yrs. The next thing i’m worried about are the people who enable him/really pull the strings. what will they do when he’s pushed to the side …
Thanks 'TC'... "Trump seems to be in full panic mode over the idea that information from the Epstein investigation might come to light."... Since some of DJT's Strongest Supporters are Evangelicals, how will they feel to find out that they backed a Pedophile, and Sexual Predator when their Delusional Bubble Bursts?....
I’m flummoxed by why preying on children matters to them when grabbing women by the genitals, and all his other assaults on morality and humanity, did not.
It's not preying on children that bothers them. It's Democrats raping babies and then eating them. This is a logical conclusion for the anti abortion lobby - and runs alongside the "In some Blue states abortions are legal up to four weeks AFTER birth" routine.
Apparently having sex with prostituted minors is the walk away from him line that Trump knew wouldn't be crossed when he bragged that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and get away with it
New headlines will give them the needed excuses. I never believed that any of them really bought his freak show anyway. Just a way to legitimize hatred.
You show that empathy everyday by not remaining silent. As history has proven, silence is complicity. We speak for those who have no voice when we oppose this nazi regime. Sending hugs from Florida! 💙
He's only a dangerous puppet just like Regan. JD Vance is waiting in the shadows. We do t hear a lot about him. Even if he dhave the public persona to be a leader, he is and will be propped up by the likes of Peter Theil.
Since they have been supporting a sexual predator and perpetual con man for over 8 years now it will not faze the drooling base. It may however, finally convince a lot of Republican voters that their party is off the rails and is in need of a purge.
They (Evangelicals) didn’t give a shit about the “grab them by the pussy” video. It was clear he was a sexual predator, but they dismissed it as a discretion that god (their “god”) had already forgiven.
So why would they change that position now? After all god sent trump to lead them back to the “promised land”. If they admit to themselves he was not sent by god they’ll be lost. No promised land, no hero, no idea what to do.
I don't want to buy into lies and death as the solution to political problems which would be better solved by getting out the vote for better candidates.
I understand the sentiment and the temptation. I sometimes entertain the notion of Trump 'bursting with pride.' It seems a fitting end. But Trump is only the personification of our problem - which is the Republican party.
lin, there are many newer faces on here who don't know your history--but long time readers like me do. You are a true warrior to have personally taken on Leo. You have courage that this mouse lacks. I am honored to share this space with you.
Now, he is damned if he releases the files, and damned if he doesn't. Finally, hopefully, those who have stuck with his lies all this time will either change their tune or stay home in 2026. Either way, I agree with you...don't care what destroys him, as long as it destroys him. And totally.
I think the Epstein files could bring down more than just the felon rapist. From what I've read Mossad and Israel is all over this...why have republican congress made it illegal to criticize Israel? Why do the repubs all bow down to the felon rapist? Presidential immunity...they gave him that bc he has some pretty nasty dirt on all of them. Rich and powerful men went to epstein's rape island, got wined and dined and then a little girl put in their laps...all videoed of course and walla, some one you can black mail for life. I think they are all in on it. why do you think every republican in congress voted against releasing the files...
Right on! In one day, any day, Don Old has done more strange things and told more lies than any president in history. His “debates” were not debates as he bullied his way through. “They’re eating the dogs. They’re eating the cats.” I can still hear it. Closing USAID should have been enough for impeachment and conviction and he’s done much worse. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
He can go, but the sewage remains in P25 and the people he has in place. Watch how quickly they take to court any attempt for a democratic president to remove them.
Extremely important to get them all at once. JD Vance, Steven Miller, all of them. What can we do about the Supreme Court, they've become his enablers. I love that he (or the ghost writer) adds "Thank you for your attention to this matter". In the latest post Heather mentioned does not sound like him, he can't write, much less think coherently.
... (full text of oral argument preview below follow link - hearing is on July 21, DC)
I will just leave you with one parting thought in relation to Lincoln’s last public address, just 3 days before he was assassinated as well as a quote in dissent from McMahon v Newyork Stay decision granting cert that all but (temporarily) eliminates protections for faithful public servants from arbitrary and capricious dismissal and ask you to consider both quotes and how they relate and further reflection on the purpose of 14sec3 as to Donald Trump and co-conspirators who occupy Federal offices, and encourage you to review Emil Bove’s testimony before congress regarding his nomination to the federal bench, and Pamala Bondi’s dismissal of all ethics oversite personnel today.
"The people of these United States are the rightful masters of both Congresses and courts, not to over-throw the Constitution, but to over-throw the men who pervert that Constitution" – Abraham Lincoln
“When the Executive publicly announces its intent to break the law, and then executes on that promise, it is the Judiciary’s duty to check that lawlessness, not expedite it. Two lower courts rose to the occasion, preliminarily enjoining the mass firings while the litigation remains ongoing. Rather than maintain the status quo, however, this Court now intervenes, lifting the injunction and permitting the Government to proceed with dismantling the Department. That decision is indefensible. It hands the Executive the power to repeal statutes by firing all those necessary to carry them out. The majority is either willfully blind to the implications of its ruling or naive, but either way the threat to our Constitution’s separation of powers is grave. Unable to join in this misuse of our emergency docket, I respectfully dissent.” Justices Sotomayor/Jackson/Kagan
The historical echo, is breathtaking.
But we should take heart that the constitution has spoken so clearly, history so timelessly and so eloquently, and that this all can be fixed, starting with one sweep of the pen to open the door to what 14sec3 anticipated, and provided an unshakable remedy for.
Thank you, Phil for an interesting take on Dr Richardson's essay. 🤝Like the good professor, l went straight to the non-hoax of the Mueller report. ⚖️
Frankly, Phil, I do not understand how the Supreme Court can see the rightness in what it is saying. 🤬 These decisions are not 'originalist'; now that is a sham. 🙄
They are anti-democratic and may sink us into dick-tatorship 🤫 and, worse, widespread violence, if not civil war. 😱
Even if one can pull a reference nominally to justify this wrong-doing from one or two lines in the Federalist Papers or from notes on some obscure discussion during the Constitutional Convention, then one can rest easy in the tell-tale fact of the humility of the human condition: 🤔 hey, everybody makes mistakes, even founding fathers. 🤭
I used to have a coworker who didn't wish him assassinated either, but her fervent wish that upon exiting Air Force One, he'd attempt to take Melania's hand, and she'd forcefully swat it away...causing him to lose footing, tumble down the stairs to the tarmac where he snapped his neck. Causing, if not immediate demise, at the very least him having a major stroke rendering him unable to talk OR text.
I wish the would-be assassin who got himself into position on that rooftop had been competent. For the first time in history, stochastic terrorism would have benefited people on the side of decency in government.
There have been photos of his swollen ankles, questions about the bruise on his hand (from an IV?), continued explorations into his mental health and a source noted some "hardware" under his pants when he received a belt after one of these ridiculous wrestling matches. Could his demise occur before the end of his term?
We’ve all seen the photo of Trump fondling then-15-yr-old daughter Ivanka by her hips.
We’ve all heard the Access Hollywood tape where he openly brags of grabbing them – “they let you do it” – by their p . . . ..
Evangelical, “Christian” America has always just lapped it up. “Christian.”
Many have seen and heard his legal disposition where he professes his view that throughout history great celebrities like himself have always done whatever they like to women – any age.
The corrupt Clarence court has always abetted his vulgarity, his crimes.
The Republican party has totally caved in connivance to his police state, all his cruel-for-cruelty’s-sake authoritarian endeavors.
America’s schools have failed to educate alternative models. Legacy media, social media billionaires, and elite law firms have paid-to-play. But the courts have held (except corrupt Clarence’s).
But now even MAGA America draws the line at sex with teen daughters including their own. We get this correctly?
All I can say is that it's a good thing that my head can't fall off from shaking it, otherwise since the inauguration of a blatant fraud amongst all the other negatives, it would surely have fallen off and rolled away … probably still shaking. I honestly, cannot fathom how this terrible and bad joke of a human could have conned his way to the most esteemed political position in America.
Because nobody else ever before trump told them it was OK to let their hatred rip. Previous politicians criticised other politicians - but didn't encourage the electorate to actually HATE them. Let alone encouraging Americans to hate each other.
I think that after ten years of this malarkey, we are in real danger of forgetting what political discourse USED to be like.
I think it was more common than we remember as our history gets less known, less clear and more compacted as time passes. Thats why it is awesome to have HCR pull up moments from the past that give comparison to the future—we are a rebellious snd Wild West country snd have often taken the gloves off on the way to more civil behavior in the past maybe 75 years. New means of communication have affected our discourse both for the good snd for the detrimental. How did most of the country learn about candidates when it was only through newspapers? ( well they read better in them thar days …)
As YouTuber "BElle of the Ranch" sometimes points out, you shouldn't take down fences until you realize why they were put up---in reference to the cuts DOGE made and then had to rehire people.
I've often thought the Cabinet should have a Secretary of National History, who could inform the rest of the Cabinet why/how things are the way they are.
More than one decade, as even our famed historian has been saying...."the South Won the War." Bigotry, distrust or downright hatred of non aligned ideas, continues to poisonthe very tenets of "democracy".
Roberts has long been concerned about the “legacy” of “the Roberts court.” It is becoming clearer each day, this court’s legacy will be the weakening of two of the branches of government and the establishment of an executive powerful enough to simply ignore congress and the courts.
Trump looks ready for complete control of the government, the judicial branch, and Congress. Once ICE expands as designed, he will have a massive secret police force, and immigrants aren't the only people this Police force will target. They already have trump's blessing to deal with protesters using any means necessary. Today, it is anti deportation protesters, tomorrow it may be pro-democracy demonstrators.
Trump has called his supporters stupid and said he doesn't need their support anymore. Looks to me like he is confident that he and the rest of the fascists will take power permanently very soon.
Phil, TCinLA posted an account of the Berlin airlift, entitled “when America became the good guys.” It is awesome and I sent to my daughter since her daddy was a WW2 history buff. She thanked me profusely and said that she had never heard of it. She is educated and was raised in a household that was knowledgeable about the period and the aftermath. I was shocked. How sad that current crises roll right over the lessons of the past. Pogo was right. “Those who don’t study history are doomed to repeat it.” Added by Tom Toro from The New Yorker “yet those who do study history are doomed to stand by helplessly while everyone else repeats it.”
Couldn’t agree more. His posts are gold, as are the ones from scholar, Greg Olear. I take more than I can attend to, but sanity isn’t cheap these days.
She was not eager to watch WW2 history shows with her Dad. She certainly absorbed his values, but was on the fringes of the family traumas as a result of WW2, whereas her dad and I were marinated in the family pain. Same with my MAGAt bro who was named after my cousin who was killed at 18 in Italy. So many don’t have the connection one would hope.
Two things to consider: Maybe there is a slight connection between T Skunk and the Lolita Express gang who knows. But now that this is blowing up, I think it may just explode his administration or at least tarnish it heading into midterms. And God only knows he already may be paying off any under age girls he had sex with through an emissary.
Hum… I loss my virginity with an older girl when I was under age I’m proud to report. Do ya think I can sue Betty after 55 plus years if she is still alive?
It seems almost daily I see another republican preacher or influencer getting arrested for child rape...it's in their blood to abuse young girls. I think castration for first time offenders would end this BS.
What they were counting on was “proof” that it was all Bill Clinton and Democrats who were involved with underage girls. They have already decided that Clinton was a regular customer of Epstein. Now that it looks like Trump is involved in possibly more ways than one, the Right Wing is burying the thing as fast as they can. The amusing thing is that they make it worse day by day.
Trump is in serious mental decline and it is more and more obvious. Vance is no bargain, but he is so much less charismatic, and he is so lustful for power that he can not stand up to forceful and rational pushback.
It could have changed since the 1970’s but then there were future MAGA’s in some parts of the country who routinely had children with their teen daughters.
You have identified the line that Trump supporters would not cross. That is, they would not take a child sex trafficker as their leader, let alone president of their country.
“Why is Trump lying about who investigated Epstein?
In his 400-word unhinged tirade posted on Truth Social…
…For years, it’s Epstein, over and over again…
Trump closed his frantic post…. Let’s keep it that way, and not waste Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that nobody cares about. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
(Edited for length)
…More perplexing is why is Trump lying about who investigated Jeffrey Epstein?
Trump says the Epstein investigation files were prepared by President Obama, Hillary Clinton, FBI Director James Comey, and CIA Director John Brennan.
Epstein was first investigated in March 2005 when a 14-year-old girl’s family reported that Epstein had molested her at his Palm Beach mansion. This prompted a 13-month undercover investigation by the Palm Beach Police Department which found over 30 underage girls had been brought to Epstein’s home. In July 2006 Epstein was arrested on state charges (felony solicitation of prostitution).
Palm Beach Police Chief Michael Reiter also referred the case to the FBI for federal prosecution. A federal investigation — “Operation Leap Year” — was opened. A 53-page federal indictment followed.
This was in 2006. George Bush was president, not Barack Obama.
In 2005, Bush had appointed Alexander Acosta, a Republican, to be the U.S. Attorney (federal prosecutor) for the Southern District of Florida.
In 2007 and 2008 (Bush was still president) Acosta worked out the now infamous sweetheart deal that allowed Epstein to plead guilty to two Florida state charges — soliciting a minor for prostitution and procuring a person under 18 — and face no federal charges whatsoever. The deal granted immunity to all co-conspirators (even those unnamed) and stipulated that it be kept secret from all victims, in violation of the federal Crime Victim’s Rights Act. In exchange for his plea, Epstein would serve 13 months, in the county jail (not a state prison), and be allowed to roam free, outside the jail, 12 hours a day, six days a week, on “work release.”
Acosta represented the government in the deal.
On the other side was one of the most high-profile well-connected legal teams ever assembled:
Alan Dershowitz (Harvard law professor and appellate specialist; helped negotiate legal strategy; later accused (and denied) involvement in alleged misconduct himself; currently saying, “hand to God, I know the names of people whose files are being suppressed in order to protect them, and that's wrong”);
Roy Black (Famed Miami criminal defense attorney (also defended William Kennedy Smith); one of Epstein’s primary trial lawyers);
Kenneth Starr (Former independent counsel during the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal; joined Epstein’s team as a legal adviser);
Jay Lefkowitz (Partner at Kirkland & Ellis and former White House adviser; involved in plea negotiations);
Gerald Lefcourt (Noted criminal defense lawyer; also involved in high-profile civil rights and defense work);
Martin Weinberg (Boston-based criminal defense attorney; known for federal white-collar cases); and,
Jack Goldberger (West Palm Beach-based lawyer; directly involved in negotiating Epstein’s plea deal with state prosecutors).
President Obama was inaugurated January 20, 2009.
Over the next ten years, there were no criminal investigations into Epstein.
Public interest flared up again in 2014 when Virginia Giuffre claimed she had been forced by Epstein to have sex with Prince Andrew and Alan Dershowitz.
Civil suits were filed and investigative reporting was done, but there were no criminal investigations of Epstein the entire time President Obama was in office.
The renewed interest in the criminal charges against Epstein came about solely due to Trump’s actions.
Trump was elected in 2016 and took office on January 20, 2017. In February of 2017, Trump appointed Alexander Acosta — the US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida who had approved the sweetheart deal for Epstein in 2008 — to be his Secretary of Labor.
Acosta’s sweetheart deal with Epstein came to public light during his 2017 senate confirmation hearings.
In November of 2018, the buzz in Washington was that Acosta was being considered for the position of Trump’s Attorney General, to replace Jeff Sessions. This led to the Miami Herald publishing an investigative article detailing Acosta's role in the Epstein case.
The Miami Herald reported on an email from Epstein's attorney — Jay Lefkowitz of Kirkland & Ellis — to Acosta after they had met for breakfast in West Palm Beach: “Thank you for the commitment you made to me during our Oct. 12 meeting. You ... assured me that your office would not ... contact any of the identified individuals, potential witnesses or potential civil claimants and the respective counsel in this matter.”
A lawsuit followed and on February 21, 2019 US District Court Judge Kenneth A. Marra ruled that Alexander Acosta had violated the Crime Victims’ Rights Act when he reached a deal with Epstein — which stopped federal prosecution in exchange for him pleading guilty to state charges — without telling the victims.
This meant Epstein was now wide open to be re-investigated for the federal crimes that had been originally alleged against him back in 2006.
This was in 2019.
Barack Obama was not president; Trump was.
The re-investigation of Epstein’s crimes was handled by the Trump administration, not the Obama administration.
With Sessions gone and Acosta no longer under consideration, William “Bill” Barr had been sworn in as the new Attorney General on February 14, 2019.
That was one week before the federal judge ruled that the federal charges against Epstein from back in 2006 had to be re-opened.
Barr had recused himself from taking part in the federal government’s position on the issue of whether the old sweetheart deal from 2008 should be declared a violation of the victims’ rights for being kept secret — Barr had previously worked at Kirkland & Ellis which had represented Epstein in the deal through attorney Jay Lefkowitz…. the attorney who sent the email to Acosta thanking him for agreeing to violate the victims’ rights by keeping the deal secret.
But Barr was poised to go forward with prosecuting Epstein for the federal crimes that were alleged to have taken place in the early 2000s.
The FBI, under the authority of Attorney General Barr and through the auspices of the Southern District of New York, began re-investigating Epstein.
On July 6, 2019, Epstein was arrested by the FBI-NYPD Crimes Against Children Task Force on sex trafficking charges stemming from activities alleged to have occurred in 2002–2005.
On August 10, 2019, Epstein was found dead in his jail cell.
Let’s look again at Trump’s lie:
“Why are we giving publicity to Files written by Obama, Crooked Hillary, Comey, Brennan, and the Losers and Criminals of the Biden Administration?”
Epstein was originally investigated in 2005 and 2006 when Bush was president. His sweetheart deal was worked out in 2007 and 2008 while Bush was president. He was re-investigated in 2019 when Trump was president. He was re-arrested in 2019 when Trump was president. He died in 2019 when Trump was president.
President Obama was not in any way whatsoever associated with the investigation of Jeffrey Epstein.
Hillary Clinton was not in any way whatsoever associated with the investigation of Jeffrey Epstein.
James Comey was not in any way whatsoever associated with the investigation of Jeffrey Epstein — he first became FBI Director in 2013 (long after the 2006 investigation) and Trump fired him in 2017 (long before Epstein was re-investigated in 2019)… Trump’s Christopher Wray was the FBI Director when Epstein was re-investigated in 2019.
Exact same for CIA Director John Brennan — he served from 2013 to 2017 — he had nothing whatsoever to do with the original 2006 Epstein investigation or the 2019 re-investigation.
Why is Trump lying about this?
Why is he saying the investigative files on Epstein were compiled by Obama and Hillary and Comey and Brennan when that is such an obvious bald-faced lie?
Epstein was originally investigated by the Bush FBI/justice department. He was re-investigated by Trump’s own FBI (Christopher Wray) and Trump’s own Attorney General (Bill Barr).
Why does Trump want so much to discredit the Epstein files for his base by claiming they were compiled by his political enemies?
Could it be because Trump knows his own name is in the files?
Trump’s former confidant, Elon Musk — who had unprecedented access to all the secrets of every department in the US government — says Trump’s name is in the Epstein files.
After all, Trump and Epstein were best friends for 17 years, from around 1987 to 2004. Trump bought Mar-a-Lago in 1985. Epstein bought a mansion a mile away in 1990. In 2002 Trump called Epstein a “terrific guy” and said they had known each other for 15 years. Their real estate “falling-out” didn’t happen until 2004 — they were close friends before that. The crimes for which Epstein was arrested by the FBI in July 2019 were allegedly committed from 2002 to 2005, a four-year period that overlaps three of the years that Epstein and Trump were best friends.
If Trump is not in the Epstein files, there is no reason whatsoever for him to keep the files secret.”
This is actually from the Facebook post of Craig Cree Hardegree (not vetted. I’ve requested that he cite his references) I, too, was impressed with the detail and history of the case.
Trump was actually a competitor -- was in the teen pagent biz, owned a modelling agency that imported underage girls using "talent" visas.
The Miami Herald identified 60+ victims, most who had litigation.
From Google, here's a summary of key areas in ongoing civil litigation:
1. Lawsuits against Epstein's estate
After his death, several civil lawsuits were filed against Epstein's estate by alleged victims seeking compensation for the harm they suffered.
The Epstein Victims' Compensation Fund was established as a voluntary restitution program, paying out over $120 million to 136 survivors.
While many claims were settled through this fund or privately, some lawsuits against the estate remain active, and the estate is still under probate court supervision in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
2. Suits against financial institutions
Several of Epstein's victims have sued banks that handled his finances, alleging that these institutions ignored red flags about his illicit activities and profited from his crimes.
JPMorgan Chase settled a class-action lawsuit brought by Epstein survivors for $290 million.
Deutsche Bank also reached a $75 million settlement with Epstein's accusers.
3. Lawsuits against alleged enablers and associates
Beyond Epstein and the banks, victims have pursued legal action against individuals believed to have facilitated or participated in his sex trafficking operation.
In 2024, lawsuits were filed against Epstein's former lawyer, his longtime accountant, and a renowned psychiatrist, accusing them of aiding and abetting his activities.
Former Labor Secretary Alex Acosta faced scrutiny and a Department of Justice probe regarding his handling of an earlier non-prosecution agreement with Epstein.
4. Other notable civil litigation
Virginia Giuffre, a prominent Epstein victim, filed a civil lawsuit against Prince Andrew, accusing him of sexual abuse. This case was settled out of court, and Prince Andrew expressed regret for his association with Epstein.
Giuffre also filed a defamation lawsuit against lawyer Alan Dershowitz, though this case was eventually dismissed after Giuffre stated she may have been mistaken in identifying him.
Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's former girlfriend and convicted accomplice, also faced a defamation lawsuit from Giuffre which was settled in 2017.
5. Status of the litigation
While significant settlements have been reached, civil litigation related to Epstein's crimes continues.
Epstein's estate is still involved in legal battles, and some individuals and institutions continue to face accusations and lawsuits.
Legal representatives for victims emphasize their commitment to pursuing justice and accountability from all those involved in Epstein's sex trafficking ring.
OF COURSE Trump is in the Epstein files. He can’t make it any more obvious. He even said he likes the girls just as young as Epstein did! But nobody batted an eye when he said that back then… I’m absolutely convinced Epstein catered for Trump, delivering underage girls to him. And I wouldn’t be surprised if the Republicans who voted against making the Epstein files public, are on that list themselves, too. And much to MAGA’s chagrin, they won’t find many democrats on that list…
Oh, as soon as the Convicted Felon claimed that the Epstein files were somehow written by Obama, Clinton, Biden, and the rest of his perceived “enemies”, I knew his name was on just about every page. He’s not a bright man.
Projection…..the MAGA playbook. Whatever they are accusing others of doing, it is precisely because they are doing it. So if called out, they just say (falsely) both sides do it.
Claimed Democrats legalized the FBI and DOJ….meanwhile…Garland was OVERLY cautious to the point of negligent and HE wiped out any and all people who simply followed the law and crimes based on loyalty to him not the country.
Claimed Biden was out of it…maybe…to cover the fact he’s not even close to running the show and completely demented.
Claimed Democrats were snowflakes and stifling free speech. They cry any time someone questions their illegal methods and are detaining people for essays and what they say in protest.
Don the Con won't let his DOJ prostitute release those files until his name is redacted. I also suspect that part of the delay is ensuring that leading Democratic names are inserted into the files that get released. We're dealing with a Mafia Don here, not a real American President.
It makes no difference if there are Democrats, Independents, Preachers, Priests, Captains of Finance, even Supreme Court Justices on the list. It would surprise me more if there weren't more than just Republicans on the list.
Nobody is perfect, but we do need to find the most outrageously imperfect ones that are more corrupt in their performance of official duties.
I believe that Musk has copies of these files. He probably has evidence that he can use politically for his new Party and/or even for blackmailing some individuals.
Most of us hope you are right, BUT time and again the Republican politicians, SCOTUS (I realize that is redundant) and our fucking corporate media has bailed DonOLD out of messes like "Grab 'em by the pussy."
To mention musical phrase first associated with the Opera.
IT'S NOT OVER UNTIL THE FAT LADY SINGS."
In this case, the fat orange turd is 6 feet under, impeached (which ain't gonna happen), or he resigns.
I hope this drags out into the 2026 elections and brings down several Republican House and Senate members.
Well detailed. I’d read much of what you’ve written, in 2016, prior to Trump’s election & much of what you’ve so aptly covered, was from numerous, credible sources.
Sadly, facts no longer matter to so much of this country.
This man has never had any business being near a position of power in a sensible democratic government. He is a stain on our country. His followers truly are know nothing deplorable, racists, religious thugs, liars, fraudsters and thieves.
It is actually shocking these christo fascists even care about Epstein with their creepy virginity pledges and “marrying” daddy as little girls. They raise their young girls to be subservient to them, their brothers and later their husbands and sons. Are we expected to think they actually care that 13-17 year old girls were giving massages and sexual favors to creepy old men when they sort of promote it themselves?
The draw of the Epstein files for them is that Democrats were in it and they could support their ridiculous theories Democrats were lizard people, they were pedophiles, they eat children. This is about Democrats, not children and a desperate attempt to justify why they follow a party that treats them like dirt and votes against their interests.
Most MAGA cannot justify why they follow MAGA based on facts and policies.mso they NEED a villain. What’s more villainous than a child molester. Even cold blooded killers hate them and get prison justice of pedophiles. That’s the ONLY reason they care. Because they can’t pin any actually bad thing on Democrats.
They want to feed kids? What monsters!
They want a social safety net? Ghastly!
They want health care to be affordable and available? Craziness?
They want the mega rich to just simply pay the taxes they already own? Traitors!
Oh, wait…that’s exactly what the entire country, including MAGA wants too. So how to make the “other” the enemy? Pedophilia! That’s the ticket. Except Epstein was an equal opportunity scumbags. He courted Harvard as much as he south Florida. Clinton AND Trump. And for sure, he was a massive blackmailer. How else did a teacher with basically no credentials start working at Dalton and then become insanely wealthy based on no real job I heard of. Advisor to Leslie Wexler of Victoria Secret…the original teen girls in underwear. That was like his only job for decades. That gets a private island and tons of well connected friends who fly there for parties?
As I mentioned, I can’t take the credit for this work…This is actually from the Facebook post of Craig Cree Hardegree (not vetted. I’ve requested that he cite his references) I, too, was impressed with the detail and history of the case.
The original case was handled in Florida, under Bush. Its outcome was a slap on the wrist. The new investigation was opened under TACO, when Virginia Giuffre filed suit.
The creation of, and ongoing reinvigorating of the Constitution is explicitly the providence of The People. The legitimacy of the powers of a democratic government is the consent of the governed. It's too easy to leave the adult stuff up to somebody else while we pursue happiness in whatever way. Yet power is observed to corrupt, and democracy, despite our delegation of tasks to ostensibly faithful fiduciaries, in DIY in the end, or it's not democracy.
Yes, the consent of the governed by their consent to those they duly elect to stand up for them, the voice of the people. We the people! Get it together Congress now before WE find you lacking. That is our warning that is our virulent demand. Bring this administration in its entirety down .NOW!!! Do our bidding or bye bye baby goodbye. Can you hear me congressman. You do not have the divine right to not show up any longer.
And don't forget to keep a close eye on your STATE governments, as well. Here in The Most Corrupt State of Ohio, we are in dire need of a thorough cleansing of the Republican (Nazi) rot that has infested our Statehouse. I'm certain at least HALF of our Union is in similar treacherous straits. We need a complete eradication of the vermin chewing at our Democracy, local, state, AND federal.
I regret the statehouse perfidies as much as you, Daniel.
But, even worse is the money and organization of ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) which since the Powell memo of 1971 has worked assiduously on all U.S. statehouses. (Actually, ALEC legally commenced its lobbying and bribing in early 1973.)
My point exactly, Mr. Balla. And I believe Ohio was one of the first states to allow the corruption of ALEC into the Statehouse. The schools here were once rated in the top 5 of the nation. Now, around 22, and falling fast.
Fellow Ohioan here to say Ohio is one of the states rushing to implement or even anticipate the actions needed to quickly apply the P 2025 mandates. I’ve seen the fast tracks that first made Turner first mayor of Dayton and now a Congress-yes-man and of course JD who skyrocketed from Hollywood’s money machine through the Ohio (Heritage foundation) fast track. When Trump goes JD will complete the climb and the mission.
On the state level, I'm dishonored to be represented in the Senate by one Jerry Cirino, who has become one of the lead Nazis in Columbus. The problem is, here in Lake County, red is the 'color de jour', and those of us brave enough to wear blue may as well be wearing Auschwitz stripes. And to compound the problem, our Dem House rep is retiring, and the favorites to replace him are both loud and proud trump-lickers. If it weren't for my elderly parents, both 89, I'd be out of this awful state.
Daniel, your parents are lucky to have you. Also, so is Ohio. You could possibly move to CA or MA, but I believe you’re more important in OH. There might be others like you close by? Maybe get together one by one? I’m sure you’re not alone!
Watching Trump flail about so pathetically is both amusing and satisfying, but we must keep two things in mind: He is in a powerful position and is capable of doing great damage in his rage (and there is no one who will try to stop him). And we need to keep an eye on what Vought and Miller are doing and not be distracted by Trump pratfalls.
Yesterday, as a former USAID guy, I was asked to sign a letter to Marco Rubio, copied to the leaders of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, protesting the absurd destruction not just of USAID, but Rubio's decision to dismantle the State Department's Bureau for Population, Refugees and Migration, leaving the country without a single tool to address human displacement, humanitarian crises, reduce disorder, facilitate or coordinate relief efforts by other governments and NGOs both.
As I looked at the list of signatories, there's not a single one of us, out of nearly 200 diplomatic, military, security and international affairs specialists, that is a "current." All of us are "formers" --- every one. That alone tells you how strong the authoritarian spell we've already sunk to really is. No one with a job wants to put himself/herself on the line to save America's institutions and its republic. The same is true in Congress. Dark days.
Hello 'Its Come To This'... The HeadCount Reduction doesn't begin to represent the Centuries of Experience, and Expertise being lost.... It may take a Generation or More to Rebuild Organizational Capability....
Or never. After Rome burned has Italy ever returned to greatness?
Or we will find a way to topple the oligarchs and their benefactors.
Should voters be required to pass a test to vote? 10 simple True/False questions about the Constitution. 7 out of 10 to be allowed to receive a Federal ballot every election?
Dismantling and defunding research and universities is one of my biggest fears.
Can’t LIKE your comment Apache. We need a Vehemently Agree button. Thank you for the reality check! Humpty Dumpty USA has had a great fall which the Supreme Court supported right from the beginning. 🤮🤯😢💩🤡
🚩 I agree James, and I was going to mention to Constance, we need to keep the pedal-to-the-metal, and not let the Trumpsters think we are not going to pause on any checks-and-gatekeeping. The vengeful Heritage Foundation is doing the overtime work for the Republican and the White Christian Nationalists. Any doubts? Check out our Substack colleague, Olga’s ‘Trump Tyranny Tracker’ - this will show you a weekly journal of how the Republicans Wrecking Ball is attacking our liberties, our democracy, our family and friends:
There are many comments on the internet suggesting that the style of writing over Don the Con's signature on his "Falsehoods Social" account resembles Millers style more than Don's. I seriously doubt the Con man does much more than play at playing golf and watching the autopen do his signatures for him.
Right, presidency by corrupt committee, fully endorsed by our supine court, and blessed by our MAGAt run House, Senate, and incompetent cabinet of Dixie cups.
We also have to accept the fact that SCOTUS SIX actually agree with a lot of this and stop pretending they must be nobly walking some fine line of risk to avoid a constitutional crisis.
When Mrs. Alito hung her flag in distress, it is because she actually believe this shit. Mrs. Thomas was actually part of the insurrection. Don’t tell me these women are so brazen and brave to AGAINST their husbands. They belief it.
Roberts wrote the decision to make Trump immune because he believes in an all powerful executive. He has been in this circles for a very long time. The ONLY way Heritage, Leo, Project 2025 can be accomplished is through a single branch with the help of the judiciary. When it is left to the people, these guys lose, hands down. They know it. It is why they needed to create ALEC to take over states by severe gerrymandering. It is why they are circumventing Congress because the people actually hate their ideas. So the quicker America wakes up to the fact the majority of SCOTUS aren’t making decisions based on laws. They are rewriting the Constitution to favor the minority rule.
I don't think MAGA believe the files will show trump's name - i think the are confused because to them he appears to be "protecting the Democrats." And I don't think they care about children being raped. I think they care about DEMOCRATS raping children.
Agreed. Only "other people" doing it is wrong. I am willing to bet, based on the front row seat observing criminal conduct that I enjoyed for 30+ years, that it is never a crime when they (or their figurehead) do it.
It will last until the corporate media sane washes it like they have with everything else on your list. It will last until the traitorous Republicans in the House, Senate, SCOTUS and the administration sane wash it and tell us it's just a hoax. It will last until the oligarchs bring the Epstein files into the light. It will last until the low information, low IQ MAGAs turn on the DonOLD.
This isn't an "OR" situation. It's an "AND" situation. ALL of this has to happen to bring down the Republicans I fear.
Right On George, and Robert Jaffee —>>> the Trump loyalists, the SCOTUS, the Republican congress all need to bring so much destruction and murder into our world to stop supporting the ugliness on this religious planet, that they may say “Enough!” when young ladies get traumatized sexually and live with the fear…now there may be a ‘line in the sand’ to stop?
If I may, George... There is no line. There will be excuses, reasons, explanations, justifications, rationalizations that will blur that line. It is only <pick your offense> when someone ELSE does it. And if there is incontrovertible evidence that he DID do it, it will be that he was coerced, bribed, lied to, entrapped, you name it and it will be OK.
I met a blind man at this morning's protest. He had a sign (in shorthand as far as I could read Braille) that said Be Good Trouble (b Gd truble), atop his white cane. I suggested adding " Even a blind man can see through your lies"
The irony is that for all the damage Trump has done to this nation in little over six months; its the Epstein file that has these clowns throwing a tantrum of such great proportions, the likes of which no one has ever seen before (added Trump sized hyperbole for effect).
And to add insult to injury, MAGA is calling for a Special Prosecutor to investigate this crime against humanity. And as luck would have it, Trump will only bring his best, which is why it appears they’re going to nominate Matt Gaetz to lead the charge!
Now last I checked, Gaetz was under investigation for…..what for it…wait for it…having sex with and trafficking underage girls!
In fact, I’m pretty sure his best friend and “wing-man”Joel Greenberg pleaded guilty to six federal charges, including sex trafficking a minor, stalking, identity theft, wire fraud, and conspiracy to bribe a public official in 2022. Coincidence? I think not!
Another fun fact about Trump is that he was credibly accused of raping or sexually assaulting 16 women and at least one teenager (13 years old) he met through Epstein; Jane Doe aka Katie Johnson. She filed the suit in October 2016 before the election, and dropped it soon after.
"Jane Doe" aka "Katie Johnson" – 1994. Lawsuit filed June 2016, refiled October 2016 as reported by Buzzfeed and others, then dropped in November 2016.
Jane Doe is an unnamed plaintiff, who has also gone by "Katie Johnson" in legal papers. She claims she was repeatedly raped by Trump and Jeffery Epstein at Epstein's New York City apartment in 1994, when she was 13 years old. A witness, also given a pseudonym — "Tiffany Doe" — said she recruited "Jane Doe" and others. Doe, using the name "Johnson," gave an interview to the Daily Mail in which she said she did not know who Trump was at the time of the alleged attack but identified him later when she saw him on television. It is not known why she withdrew the lawsuit. She has not spoken publicly or withdrawn her rape allegation since then.”
Robert, the horrible truth is that I’ve known about this lawsuit for nigh on a decade; it wasn’t a secret, and many people knew about it. It didn’t stop him from being elected twice. I will believe Epstein is his kryptonite when he is dethroned. Because we already knew he raped children. And grown women. And it didn’t matter. Just like all the rest of it didn’t matter either.
I will never, ever understand why the Republican Party sold their souls to the devil for this person. This utterly vile, incompetent person.
I agree, eventually all of them will fall in line. All of the influencers of MAGA are joined at the hip to Trump. If he goes down, so does MAGA.
Not to mention, their entire financial livelihoods depend on access to the president. This story will die down by the end of the week. If not, Trump will do something extremely dangerous to distract all attention from this issue.
It's already happening. It's now the legacy media and the Lunatic Left - us - that's keeping the story alive. Meidas posted this morning that yesterday MAGA (or bots impersonating them) have been "reporting" Meidas for ... whatever on platforms like TikTok. And apparently Bongino has gone back to work. By the end of this week Trump will have wrestled the mess back around into Democrats' lap.
GL, shortly after Bob Packwood's resignation, we had a (female) local state representative who had to resign for some campaign violations. The joke of the day was "Why did Packwood resign? He heard Jolin's seat was up for grabs".
Just for the record, the Matt Gaetz thing is a red herring. Yes, Rep. Boebert (R-CO) had suggested Gaetz to be the special prosecutor for a renewed Epstein investigation but that was probably a jest and in fact, no one really took it seriously. Gaetz will never get near a special prosecutor's office except to be questioned there.
We see in Trump's concoction of a conversation between himself and his MIT professor uncle about Unabomber Kaczynski just how Trump weaves together fragments that occur to him to present a plausible narrative to the people he's intent on lying to. He's very good at that, but no one, apparently, can concoct plausible fantasies 24/7, and that's what Trump - as U.S. president in the world spotlight - has been tasked to do on local, national, and global levels. He is getting tired. He's worked hard at his narratives. They're starting to cancel each other out. Time to give him some rest, gently impeach him (he may never even know), and let him return to his so-called golf game near Alligator Alcatraz (so near, yet so far!).
What are the odds that the billionaires behind P 2025 threaten him with the Epstein situation and give him an ultimatum so they can put Vance in place?
Janet, I think you’ve discovered the ultimate “distraction” to the administration’s current crisis. They could 25th amendment him, send him home to his pretend Oval Office at Mar-a-lago, keep all the despicable cabinet secretaries in place and let Vance, Stephen Miller, Howard Lutnick and Russell Vought accelerate the implementation of Project 2025. We the people would become little more than roadkill.
If those gentlemen can get Trump in jail he will most likely be Epsteined. You know like that fellow in Wyoming the stockmen hired to kill their detractors. What was his name. Tom Horn?
Well said, Constance McCutcheon. Such comments are welcome not only for their content but for their literate and temperate (usually) style. They say what they mean....how refreshing, after any dip in the murky untreated sludge that passes for much/most discourse from the other side.
" ... an especially odd tale" was also highlighted by Jen Psaki this afternoon detailing a series of psychotic delusions & confusion over the last 48 hours.
Is this the End?
Earth 1 Jen Psaki Realty Check:
Trump's Uncle that would be Dr. John Trump did NOT teach Ted Kaczynski, the "Unabomber".
Spoiler Alert: Trump's Uncle John died in 1985 that would be eleven (11) years before the Unabomber was even identified down here on the surface of our Planet Earth.
Lying about everything every day of your long, rotten, cruel life means you not only have to keep lists upon lists of bizarre fantasies constantly aloft and spinning, but keep them all straight. Once you get dementia, you start mixing up the lists. The filters fall away and you end up publicly calling your own supporters dumb assholes. You threaten the Chairman of the Fed and Rosie O'Donnell both in long, bizarre, incoherent, late-nite screeds on social media punctuated with "thank you for your attention to this matter."
Fundamentally, there is nothing new about Trump and his movement that aren't already explained by The Emperor's New Clothes, Shakespearean tragedy and the Holocaust. The miracle to me is the longevity of our latest national nightmare. How much longer can this rinky-dink, rickety Rube Goldberg contraption of falsehoods, incompetence and moronism keep creaking along before it blows up like the Hindenburg?
It's Come To This, it really has. I think your mention of the "Holocaust" is spot-on. I still Zoom with the ex-Yale lecturer, Bandy X. Lee & a group of psychiatrists on Fridays.
On 6/24/25 Bandy has already delivered her opinion:
Bryan, what is the take on Miller? I can have my own crazy tinfoil ideas to go along with MAGA and here's mine: Miller is the reincarnation of Hitler. Too bad he isn't taking this life to redeem his soul; apparently he's falling for the same bad actions. Rinse and repeat for millenia for this dude.
TCinLA has good knowledge of Miller's SoCal biography & Miller's "arrested development" during his time at CA, Santa Monica High School.
I do not have sufficient facts to outline my several theories about his & others' conflicted & suppressed life experiences, the personal turmoil of "Robertson Boulevard" experiences in West LA.
I can confirm, some 2025 facts:
Stephen Miller's wife is Katie Rose Miller (nee Weldman).
Katie Rose Miller has served in a range of high level roles for R politicians.
2 Sources: Katie Rose's 2025 persona has pulled her into the strong pull of the Elon Musk Orbit which is in a galaxy far far away.
though Biden was not confused. He was slow to respond - his lifelong stammer being worse in recent years. And there have been some senior slips of the tongue/mind like getting names wrong, for a moment. But generally speaking, he has known what he was talking about.
Biden’s speech was more impeded by his turncoat democratic naysayers than he ever was by his struggle to communicate. Glaring example: Hubble the ambulance chaser out to make a buck referring to Biden’s advancing age ostensibly defending while making sure he brought it up daily. Go ahead throw stones. It won’t change the fact that he still owes me 50.00 for tossing me because we disagreed. He did agree to the refund. I am still waiting.
That too. As for his performance with the football trophy, he didn't miss any signals, he wanted to be seen as the prime mover of what appeared to be a big popular success. Exactly like when he elbowed his way to the front row of the "family photo" at his first international conference, strutting and dusting down his lapels.
Sharks like seals & they can be located well off shore on small islands where they congregate. No, no not Pier 39.
Anyway, I hope the "talking about" contains a chemistry lesson of what happens to metal that is impegnated Iron it that is constantly pummeled by the wet, salty winds sucked into the SF Bay daily by the hot Central Valley of California.
I would like to see Solokoff weigh in on the subject; she is the expert on what happened "After the Gold Rush".
More cheesy political theater, at our expense. Very bad ideas still sell; like methamphetamine. The high brief, the consequences disastrous. For his part, uber-priviledged Trump thinks the world is his personal toy-box, and far too many let themselves be played. A very poor option long-term.
Arg. This posted twice. I was not done when the tab crashed; but it somehow posted anyway. I have new RAM memory arriving today because of a pattern of tab crashes I can't explain.
Trump is the diversion. Better to keep an eye on Stephan Miller and legislation being passed by Republicans in Congress.
The DoJ recently asked for voter lists from various states. Why? Are plans to subvert the 2026 elections already under way?
This from my own Senator Chris Murphy; “Republicans are codifying Elon Musk’s DOGE cuts into law via a rarely used rescission process.” A 60% vote would no longer be required to pass budget issues.
While Trump focuses media attention on his various tantrums and “hoax, hoax, hoax,” ad infinitum, our democracy is being quietly dismantled.
Ignore the orange fat man, he hates that more than anything any way. Eyes on Congress and the DoJ.
Yes, I saw Chris Murphy's letter yesterday, and he really calls out the MAGAtcans for what they are. Miller, Vought and their Billionaire oligarchs are using Don the Con as a fumbling distraction while they burn down Democracy from the inside with their direct control of both the House and the Senate. They warned us it would be a hostile takeover if they won the election and they have been frustratingly true to their word. At present I give the USA a 10% chance of ever recovering from this atrocious disaster of cruelty and spite.
Call. Write. Email. Protest. Unrelentingly. About everything ❤️🩹🤍💙
Use/share this spreadsheet as a resource to call/email/write members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Reach out to those in your own state, and those in a committee that fits your topic.
Who/What is actually coaching him on how to destroy this country? To know about all the goofuses to appoint to destroy the agencies they were given control over? Well..."It Takes a Village"... and a whole lot of corrupt stooges to help all get confirmed.
Have you forgotten about Project 2025? His “coaches” are the Heritage Society, Stephen Miller, Russel Vought, Howard Lutnick and the cryptocurrency billionaires who can never be satisfied and want to own the world. I’m beginning to think that they see the Epstein “crisis” as conveniently serendipitous to accelerating their plan.
I read most of Project 2025 a couple years ago, but since it requires reading, I doubt he has read it. Some say he gets his marching orders from Putin. I'm more inclined to think Netanyahu, who wanted protests against genocide ended by police and the military through use of force. The Congress of the cartel parties just created a federal police force that neither party would deny Netanyahu the use of if he pressed for it. The 75 Democrats falling all over themselves to support ICE are largely AIPAC's bought stooges. Stephen Miller is surely a good person to suspect is an overseer.
Don’t trust Musk for a second. He’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Musk is doing this for leverage so Trump can’t take away all his government welfare, I mean subsidies. He’ll turn on a dime if given the proper incentives.
Agreed, although he also has other issues that are just as pressing to deal with in the immediate future. The Chinese have surpassed his technology: AI (self driving vehicles) and batteries.
China is producing better, more luxurious and cheaper EV’s than Musk will ever be able to produce, and he knows it; which is why he’s focusing most of his attention on AI, Starlink and SpaceX. The only reason Tesla trades at such a high P/E ratio is his AI technology, as well as his outstanding profit margins; and based on all evidence, his competitive advantages are gone.
Honestly, I’m shocked WS hasn’t dumped him yet. Tesla has a market capitalization is over $1 trillion, while their largest competitors; GM and Toyota have market capitalization’s of $51 billion and $32 billion, respectively.
Compare Tesla’s revenue of $95 billion versus Toyota $265 billion and GM $165 billion. The only category that Tesla surpassed Toyota and GM was profit margins, and now that the EV tax credit is gone, Tesla no longer has any competitive advantage.
And given his popularity and support from his existing Tesla owners; he’s in deep trouble as they all head for the proverbial parking lot exits…:)
Will enough MAGA folks lose faith in Trump because of the Epstein affair to make any kind of difference? If they do, how will it matter? I can't think of what even a substantial fraction of these supporters can or will do to lessen Trump's power, much less bring him down. I'm also wondering to what extent the preoccupation with Epstein is just a diversion to keep people from learning about/thinking about more serious issues--I don't have time to name them here, but I'm guessing that everyone reading this can come up with half a dozen or more.
As in the past, there is a tendency for these things to be avalanche-like. I.e., they start VERY small, and slowly, showing only minimal signs of serious impact. Some then just die out. But others, at least on occasion, continue to swell and the impact becomes larger and larger and then, all of a sudden (sometimes without any real warning) everything caves in and the avalanche comes down (often on the heads of those standing underneath).
This needs to proceed very slowly. The slower it happens, the more MAGA politicians will fall. Trump and Bondi need to hold out releasing the files to take down the maximum number of MAGAs.
If they do release the files and the worst happens to Trump, then the MAGAs will have 16 months to redeem themselves by rescinding the most unpopular parts of the BUB (big ugly bill) and JD could actually gain some credibility.
This needs to be like a slow festering wound--slow and painful.
The "enough people" will be the non-MAGA majority. I think Betsy is right. We're all over here with the legacy media talking about Epstein because it's gotten a rise out of Trump and we love to see it. 🤮 But what we're not talking about is Congress being the best-trained Presidential dog ever and a Supreme Court that has devolved to issuing one-line orders in his favor without even the pretense of providing legal reasoning. We're not talking about the nearly-instant creation of an internal "law enforcement" apparatus that has a bigger budget than the Department of Defense. Bigger than ALL other federal law enforcement agencies combined, for the ostensible purpose of deporting immigrants. Anyone who thinks they will be limited to immigrants is delusional. And we're not talking about federal election control, to make sure that We the People are disemboweled. Epstein is a dangerous distraction.
I thnk you are quite right that the lawlessness and cruelty of the whole authoritarian/plutocratic setup is both stunning and the ultimate threat, and THAT has to maintained as a persistent focus in this period. That said, I don't think the Epstein thing is entirely irrelevant, especially as is proving, at least for now, MAGA's unshakable thrall with Trump. Trump's declaration of "hoax" is not having the same effect. News cycles and memes can obsess while missing the point, which just adds to clutter, but Epstein has some potential to be Trumps Achille's heel. He is certainly blowing it at this point. Yet the context, and we always need to see context, is the clear and present danger and destructive current reality of sociopathic, pervasive corruption and cruelty we tolerate at our own peril.
Betsy, it’s tRumpy’s GOP enablers in Congress that we must be speaking to.
Call them, write them, post to their Xwitter accounts, etc. with the message: “it’s over, you don’t have to fear him anymore”.
The GOP has been so fearful that tRumpy controls an army of faithful voters to carry out his bidding that they have turned their backs on reason, decency, and the Constitution. Those of us who love America must effectively use the Epstein rift to show that WE are the stronger army of voters to fear.
Never sure if Trump is truly afraid like the Epstein files or things like the Epstein files are a distraction so he can do other things without attention.
I don't care what issue brings him down, I don't care if the Epstein files exist or not, so long as they damage him and keep damaging him.
He can't end up six feet under too damned soon.
I keep reflecting on the most bizarre "fact" of all. His zombies don't care about him abducting children off of playgrounds and stuffing them into unmarked vans and think Kristi in her $80,000 Rolex and green Barbie rescue suit are cute. They don't know or don't give a rat's ass that thousands of children in Africa have already died because USAID got destroyed. Don't know what habeas corpus means, don't care about the separation of powers, think vaccines cause autism and couldn't give a flying flamingo about Medicaid.
But boy, do they care about this "list" (that contains only Democrats in it, of course) and are as certain it's a real thing as they are that the earth was zapped into existence in 4004 BC and Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the back of a triceratops.
“Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the back of a triceratops.”
Yes, brandishing two large machine guns, shooting them in the air, shouting: “ ‘Muricaaaa!” It’s true. Everybody knows it. You had to be there. I was there. It was beautiful.
Bigly beautiful.
As shocking as the daily reviews of the atrocities committed against the people of our country has become, even more shocking, is the silence of so many Americans, and members of Congress. With no checks, balances, or respect of our laws, we are no longer the United State of America. We have fallen so far in such a short time. I never dreamed I'd ask myself, "Can we find a way back?"
Sadly, I ask the same question to myself every day. It IS just unbelievable really that we have fallen this far as a country in just 6 months. I wonder what our country will look like when the midterms roll around TBH.
In my humble opinion, this is what a collapse of an empire looks like. Gradually, and then very suddenly.
And yuuuuge... Absolutely yuuuuuge...
I don't believe Bernie Sanders belongs in this thread.
Great script. Boy, how they prefer it to real headlines.
Yes, and now celebrating the cuts to NPR and PBS. MAGAs can’t handle the truth or understand complex ideas. They prefer slogans provided by con men who despise them.
(I think you mean "can't"?) Agree with you wholeheartedly.
Yes, thanks. Can I blame spellcheck?😉
And wearing a red hat made in China. But China hadn’t been invented yet.
Everybody says so
Dutch.., I know you were there.., you had 'the Book' in your hands. Did you happen to notice the copyright date.., the publisher.., the writer.., any of that? All we have now is the one that was printed in China. Anybody out there have Gideons number?
That number was disconnected long ago 😅.
Gideon checked out
and he left it no doubt
to help with poor Rocky's revival
LOL I love this comment...Picture perfect. I needed that laugh this morning!
And damn those young cavegirls were Hot!
"Some might say on the younger side."
Ya… Trump would know, wouldn’t he?
I love it!
Thank you so much for that laugh-out-loud image, building on It's Come To This's powerful image of Jesus on the triceratops. Thank you both! I need so desperately to laugh these days.
Did the Orange fellow say that? Hard to separate fact from fiction with that fella. Someone should put a net over his head and haul him off stage.
🤣🤣🤣
😂😂😂
hahahaha. Comments here making me laugh. What a visual.
thank you for the bigley belly laugh. Good one.
Connection, ICTT. Thank you. I laughed out loud at Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a triceratops, but it was only to keep from crying. To think there are some folks who actually believe it to be true.
My wife’s uncle’s girlfriend, when visiting us said, “Trump has never told a lie.” This was in 2019.
And we allow these morons to vote.
When I read statistics in this country, that approximately 54% of our population, age 17 -73, read at a 7th grade level or below & that within that percentage, approximately 34% read at a 3rd grade level (or less); yes, I can believe there are many in this country, who’s ability to think critically is seriously compromised. And yes, they vote based on any number of conspiracy theories/ lies they choose to believe, but not investigate. Trump has been caught in so many obvious & bald faced lies, and yet Trump believers continue to support the illusion, created by the Brit, Mark Burnette’s fake, reality tv show, “The Apprentice.” Many down South, were relatively unfamiliar with Trump, until Burnette threw Trump this life line, that created the illusion that Trump was somehow a “boss” in the business world. Those of us who actually knew of him prior to that show, knew of his numerous business failures & several bankruptcies. ( Including 2 casinos in Atlantic City. Knew of his close friendship with Jeffrey Epstein ( I believe he was categorized as a class 3 pedophile, but felt few consequences until he ended up in prison & dead ( How is questionable, though the story sold in the media is largely by suicide.) And prior statements by Trump about Epstein, prior to Trump distancing himself from Epstein, suggest he may well have known his preference for younger (teenaged) women/ girls. But stories were swirling prior to Trump’s first election in 2016, that a young woman had surfaced, first in California & then NY, where a judge was open to hear her story about being a young runaway ( about age 13) who’d gone to NYC by bus I believe & someone in Epstein’s employ had approached her in the early when she arrived at a terminal to attend a party, where she claimed to be a virgin still. She claimed it was at that party at Epstein’s, she was raped by both men. When she resurfaced in 2016, with this story, she then hastily disappeared shortly after, supposedly out of fear for her & her families life; not to be heard from again as far as I know. But her story was th
I read about "Katie Johnson" in People magazine in the '90's where the story of her being raped by Trump and Epstein was told. Could never understand how he was on a TV show and then run for President and get elected the first time with this information out there.
Yes Gloria. Like you,I read about it but it never got any 'traction'.., never 'made any money'. The media needed stuff that would pay their salary.., they had car payments and mortgages to make.., it wa just 'low noise level' back then. This too will be tossed into a sound-proof box and Trump will see to it that Ghislaine has her case thrown out. You watch. Ghislaine holds the cards. I saw a "reel" with a woman with large breasts was holding a sign that said "Big tits matter".., welp. Ghislaine has some.., and they matter. Wait for that!
It certainly does baffle the mind. Too many people have been malicious or duplicitous in hiding or promoting false information.
Simple. There are legions of men just like him in powerful positions.
I remember that. I truly believe that any female who had a word to say has been silenced.
Or committed suicide, as reported recently, with the woman who had moved to Australia.
And don’t forget, Trump said to his followers “I love the uneducated”
NO ONE IS MORE UNEDUCATED THAN TRUMP. Buying our entry to a good school but having others do your work is more likely what happened but he is not educated at all. Has no class at all either judging by his changes to OUR White House. Why was he ever allowed to deface it both inside an outside like that.
I live in a very upscale community where the schools were often highly rated. Now, there is no attendance policy; students skip school daily and the teachers are supposed to send them their assignments and the students can finish them at their leisure - before the end of the school year. Cell phones are a huge distraction and teachers are powerless to prevent their use. Middle Easterners have successfully won a Supreme Court ruling that their children don't have to be present during the reading of certain books they find offensive. I believe the country's failure to educate is also coincident with our moral and physical decay. People have given up the intellectual tools to cope with the complexity of the world; and people have given up the printed word for a hedonistic lifestyle - endless fun. People do not buy or read a book, instead they rely on the manipulation of images on social media, etc. Well, I'll step off my soap box now.....
"No attendance policy"?!!!
Wow!
Stephanie, our governor just issued an executive order about cell phones during the school day. We will see how that works out. One parent is suing a Portland area school district because they use some kind of digital hall pass.
tRump cannot read either!
He could never read past the third grade level. Now, of course, he probably has dementia/Alzheimer's. The ability to read is one of the first things to go when one has Alzheimer's (my mother died from it). . . When he can no longer read from teleprompters, we'll know it's close to the end. When he can no longer speak or swallow, expect Vance to invoke the 25th Amendment. Unless he does it sooner.
I have previously mentioned my own past experiences that help me understand how U.S. politics works, but I'll review.
I worked for an ad agency that was frequently retained by political campaigns. We allowed the candidates to use our conference room for meetings they did not want to be publicly known. My office was adjacent to the conference room and the walls were not ... umm ... soundproof. I heard a lot of things I wasn't supposed to hear. From those forbidden conversations, I learned two things: 1. Political candidates tailor their message to whatever audience they're about to address, often claiming to be for and against the same thing. 2. Campaign donations pay for a lot more than TV ads and yard signs; donors fund a lot of activities of questionable ethics and relevance.
In the past few days, I told of my friendship with Connie Hamzy, who was "America's Groupie," having backstage access to any concert anywhere, performed by a Who's Who of entertainers. She related to me the story of her encounter at a local park with then Governor Bill Clinton. Later, when Clinton announced his presidential candidacy, a publisher convinced Connie to write a book about her adventures, including with Clinton. The book was finished and ready to go to press when the Clinton presidential campaign contacted Connie and made her "an offer she couldn't refuse." She was paid a handsome sum to kill publication of her book.
Our electoral process is corrupted by abuse of the Electoral College, silencing of votes via gerrymandering and suppression of information paid for with obscene amounts of money unleashed by the corrupt Clarence Court in "Citizens United."
I posted yesterday and again today, questioning how Epstein died. If the method was reported, I've forgotten. And yes, it does matter--and I hope Doc Ryan (or another person here can clarify)--as I would imagine he would have been strip searched and body cavity probed before being put in the cell, so it wasn't drugs. (If it was drugs, I doubt they'd act that quickly, if he was being "closely monitored"). Did he hang himself, and if so, how? Was it a "natural death" via a heart attack, and anyhow, was there an autopsy?
Waaaaaayyyyy too many unanswered questions.
Miselle, his death was ruled a suicide by asphyxiation, similar to hanging. I believe he had the means in his cell to effect his asphyxiation (I believe it was a sheet or article of clothing).
There was enough malfeasance by the corrections facility staff to provide enough suspicion that Epstein was, at the very least, assisted in his suicide by either omission or commission. This includes the mysterious gap of two minutes in the video at the time of his death, and the strange absence of both of the staff assigned on his "suicide watch" at the time of the event along with his cell having he material in it that would be usable in fashioning the means of his death.
I started my 30+ law enforcement career in corrections at the county level. When someone was on a "suicide watch" they were checked at regular intervals which were then documented. Depending on the level of suicide risk, the checks ranged from 30 minute checks to "constant watch" posts, where two officers were assigned, alternating the responsibility by hours; one would watch for an hour, the other would run the rest of the 12 bed post; then switch.
My opinion: Jail staff did not kill him; they let him kill himself by providing him the opportunity to do "the right thing" as it is sometimes rather gruesomely described.
According to a report from CNN on August 15, 2019 -
"An autopsy performed on Jeffrey Epstein showed he 'sustained multiple breaks in his neck bones,' the Washington Post reported Wednesday.
People familiar with the autopsy report told the newspaper the bones broken in Epstein’s neck included the hyoid bone, which is near the Adam’s apple.
This sort of break can happen when a person hangs themselves or dies by strangulation, forensics experts told the Post."
https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/15/us/jeffrey-epstein-autopsy-broken-neck
Yeah.., "effectively Silenced". Should "the truth" come forth from one or two of these "girls" (by now young women) it will be so easy to have it discredited. It'll take a "woman" with strong character to be able to withstand the assault, but it could happen. Not all of those "little girls" were naive. Some just wanted to "have fun". Wait for it....
"Thinking" for many is simply counting. I heard it on Fox and on my car radio so it must be true, is the logic.
Of course, Trump lies prodgiously but this anecdote about his uncle was something else - a work of fable.
A work of feeble also fits.
I'm sure Henry Goddard would have reached the same conclusion.
Alzheimer’s?
My diagnosis is idiocy, but not the congenital type - he's had to put in a good deal of work to be that stupid.
I hear what you’re saying, GJ; however , you know as well as I that voting is a right and not an allowance. It is one of the visceral conundrums in our Constitution .
I agree that voting is a right and not an allowance. To that I would add that voting is a responsibility and not an inconvenience. In other words, I'm more concerned about the people that don't vote and less concerned about the people that do.
I am more concerned that we do not teach civics in most of our schools. It should be American History (up the the current day) in fifth grade, Civics in 8th and 12th. Don't get me started!
"I'm more concerned about the people that don't vote and less concerned about the people that do."
Both are worthy of concern.
I'd agree, James. But what's shocking to me is that, according to a recent poll (by Pew, if memory serves,) even if every eligible voter had voted last November, he would have won anyway.
The administration reportedly is asking states for their voter data bases and for access to their voting machines. Don't be so sure that we will continue to have a right to vote--remember Trump's "joke" that "we will never have to vote again."
This is what keeps me up at night....
Yes Ann, I do remember. If we're denied the right to vote, I fear the belief that, that's where the rubber will surely meet the road.
Riad, it’s not that they [today’s conservatives] would kick you—and probably Wm. F. Buckley, Jr.—out of their Party; but they probably wouldn’t admit you with the use of terms like “visceral” and “conundrum”…you would not be speaking with or to them—but so far over most of their heads that many would think that you’d be insulting them—or praising them!?!
Is it? The conservatives sure spend a lot of time trying to define who gets to vote.s
Honestly voters should be required to pass the same test immigrants take to become citizens on the facts of our government
Where's Phil Balla? As Miselle points out, testing has been used to prevent the "wrong" voters from voting. Testing won't solve the problem, and would only intimidate and disenfranchise voters.
Rather than testing voters, the solution is teaching them, starting with a robust Civics curriculum in the schools. I would even advocate a compulsory "refresher" at the college level.
A populace that KNOWS HOW government works and WHY voting matters would demand a better government and better candidates who work for them, and be less likely to fall for candidates "they'd like to drink a beer with."
I sort of agree with you but recall that tests were used to exclude voters after the Civil War.
I totally agree.
We can thank those morons for this dictator.
Cult crazy
...and reproduce!
....and breed!
Yes, we all know it was actually an ankylosaurus. Triceratops, how ridiculous! Obviously they've never seen Dinotopia :)
Nothing, absolutely nothing, in the New Testament was written by anyone who ever saw or spoke with Jesus. It's all hearsay, some of it coming many decades after Jesus' alleged crucifixion, in the Matthew account (27: 32-56), or his hanging from a tree (after he had been crucified) by the Sanhedrin, in the Acts 5:30 account, and in a language that Jesus didn't speak. Hearsay is not admissible in a court of law. How in the world, then, can it be taken as "the word of God?" Why does anyone believe anything that Trump says? It's because they want to and not because it has one iota of credibility/truth.
Richard, to put a fine point on it, "the word of God" is a phrase that is misunderstood by all evangelicals and most mainline believers. Most Western theologians interpret "The Word" as a reference to Jesus the Christ, not to the Bible.
John 1:1 provides the most obvious clue. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Even the most uneducated person could understand that the Word isn't the Bible because it was written long after God existed.
However, yours is only the germ of the argument against putting any stock in Western religion – or any religion, for that matter. In order to be a "believer," one must suspend one's disbelief.
One must convince oneself that the Judeo-Christian deity, known as Jehovah, Yahweh or God, is somehow different from the deities imagined by ancient Norsemen, Romans, Greeks, Arabs, et al, which to the critical thinker is implausible.
The only proof Christians have of the existence of their deity is an encyclopedia of books which includes the Hebrew Scriptures, a collection of Jewish myths, legends, poetry and proverbs, also know as The Old Testament, and a collection of post-dated accounts and letters, plus a coded commentary on Roman occupation titled "The Revelation."
Given that these writings were lost, found, translated from other languages, edited, abridged and appended numerous times, and given that scholars couldn't agree on which books should be included or omitted, one has to suspend one's disbelief to accept that the texts in the canon known as the Bible even vaguely resemble the content written by the original authors.
The only reasonable conclusion is that Yahweh was an invention of ancient Jews to explain what couldn't be explained otherwise.
True, the Ancients had no way of knowing that the earth is about 4.5 billion years old, that life (LUCA) came to life about 3.5 billion years ago and that all life now on earth (plants, animals, insects) all have "her" DNA. So, they invented the myth about the Garden of Eden, etc. They knew nothing about DNA, about the dinosaurs, about the evolution of the creatures on earth, all descending from LUCA (Last Universal Common Ancestor.) Scientists believe that LUCA was not the only living organism on earth, but is the only one with survivors, and the DNA proves it.
Not to argue with you, just a thought I had reading your comment: many Native American tribes, and other indigenous peoples have no written language.
True, their myths were all handed down by word of mouth.
KInd of like the repeated myth that Trump is "a successful businessman"?!
LOL
The frivolity here continues. I hope we don't hit an emotional wall. Life is hard these days.
Why, Kamila, it WAS true. It was a beautiful thing, the likes of which have never been seen.
Ha, ha! Well now Doug G, my guess is you've never been to the Creation Museum in Petersburg, KY. where visitors have seen many unbelievable things. This is only a guess on my part as I've never been there either.
Go to the Museum of the Bible in DC. It is all there in its innerent glory
Thanks for the recommendation, Martha Joan, but I'll pass. It must be quite something.
F
Because, as you say, the list "only contains Democrats". They've been hating on Democrats for years and are now salivating at the thought that FINALLY they will get their "proof."
If somehow this list does get published and shows mostly MAGA names (including trump) I will choke myself laughing.
And it will be REAL interesting to see what excuses they come up with why the list has got it all wrong.
The “list” is currently being scrubbed by AI with backstory alibis for any Trump billionaire that “used to be on it, including Andy the Prince
My thoughts exactly! Once scrubbed, and embellished, Blondi will make a huge show of it's release. We need Ms. Comey to step up, and give the world the REAL facts. And as many others involved in the investigations, dating back to 2004, to also step up.
Or Ghislaine herself. I would be very accepting of having her sentence shortened for her outing the list....
I believe the deal that was cut says she says nothing EVER, and she'll be pardoned before '28. Things may now be changing, but I'll be surprised if she has anything to say any time soon. My opinion.
And, my kids used to (and still do occasionally) admonish me for keeping hard copies of things and a file system on my computer (not in the cloud. There is also a treasure trove of historical newspapers that is becoming more and more rare given the direction the Fourth Estate is headed!!
I'm afraid you may be right.
Although this lot are so incompetent, they may come up with something truly unbelievable.
There should be more than one way to reconstruct the file. There was a lot of civil litigation on behalf of victims and I bet there has been a lot of "discovery" that should be available.
Like I said the other day, Acosta and AUSAs who worked on the initial language could have a list of potential codefendants. It's possible to open the grand jury transcripts.
The starting point should be the Miami Herald:
In her year-long investigation of Palm Beach multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein, Miami Herald reporter Julie Brown tracked down more than 60 women who said they were victims of abuse and revealed the full story behind the sweetheart deal cut by Epstein’s powerhouse legal team. Since the Herald published ‘Perversion of Justice’ in November 2018, a federal judge ruled the non-prosecution agreement brokered by then South Florida U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta was illegal, and on July 6 Epstein was arrested on sex trafficking charges in New York state. On July 12, Acosta resigned as U.S. Secretary of Labor. And on Aug. 10, Epstein died by suicide in his Manhattan jail cell. Investigative journalism makes a difference.
https://www.miamiherald.com/topics/jeffrey-epstein
QUESTION: Daniel, was Epstein arrested in 2005-2007? I read they couldn't get Epstein on a federal offense, so Acosta or someone like him got him on a state offense in Florida. AUSA-What does it mean? Association of United States Army?
However, the more unbelievable it is, the more likely the MAGAs are to believe it.
Debbie, you and I think alike.
Dems should be breathing a sigh of relief because if Dems were on it, it would have been public on Jan 21st.
I'm sure many high ranking politicians from BOTH sides of the aisle are on it.
Most likely, but Dems on it are likely relieved that Repubs are so terrified.
How do they not know that Trump was a Democrat until 2015?
Keep hammering that list. Then we want independent parties to go over everything including AI scrubbed lists and videos. I don’t want Trump sliding out of this one
One can be sure that scrubbing is going on now.
He’s already setting that up. Blaming Democrats. Let’s see if his by now proven strategy works. I suspect it will, as it will be a life raft for his fiercest followers.
On a site that has lots of MAGAs they’re saying they’re not buying Trump’s story. But also, “he’s the only game in town.”
The most radical are suggesting secession for white nationalists.
His dementia has made him forget that HE was a Registered Democrat back then!
Trump's followers are doing what they've been trained (groomed?) to do for over 10 years now. Conspiracy has been part of his political DNA since before he first ran for president. Remember the birther movement? Trump has pivoted from one conspiracy to another ever since. He built this narrative which he now cannot control. I hope the Democrats and other pro-democracy groups are watching and taking copious notes...
"Trump's followers are doing what they've been trained (groomed?) to do for over 10 years now. "
10 years? Easily as far back as Ronald Reagan and arguably as far back as the Daughters of the Confederacy replacing history with hagiography by elevating national traitors as heritage heroes.
"Those who fail to remember history are doomed to repeat it" or words to that effect.
Remember, cult followers can't think for themselves. So they become "brainwashed". Glad the Epstein files are making them turn on the liar.
The pandered to MAGA…”F*CK OFF YOU STUPID BITCHES!” Thank you for your attention to this matter.
The Central Park Five…. Remember that one 😤
Do people believe what they need to believe? Helping the poor is a core tenet of Christianity. But for Christian nationalists, it translates to handing over their hard-earned tax dollars to what they see as lazy, undeserving people of color. The cabal running this regime isn’t even subtle—they’re blatantly racist. MAGA? Morons Are Governing America.
My husband was telling us about a debate Charlie Kirk had with a Columbia University student where he got cornered and beat down. Apparently this student got Kirk to admit these “Christians” he claims to be a part of only believe in the Ten Commandments. Then he was grilled on those too. I’d put up a link but I’m not sure which one it is. My search brings up too many.
The abused children are all white American girls. They don’t care about other children.
I thought some of them were from Eastern Europe.
Ok - white girls
… and don’t forget…Jesus was white!
Yeah, and that makes him the first white person in history to speak Aramaic.
I got on quite late yesterday and posted the two thoughts below. Nobody had an answer to the first one, so I'm going to try again.
#1 Does anyone know the method of Epstein's "suicide"? I've never heard it. Did he hang himself with clothing, and if so, on what? I ask because years ago when I worked as a phelbotomist and I drew blood in a psychiatrict ward, there was strict controls over clothing and sheets, and if I recal correctly, even the shower head was recessed into the wall somehow.
#2 I take no credit for this idea, but I forwarded a recent Dan Rather Substack about the anniversary of Live Aid to a friend. She said "wouldn't it be wonderful if the entertainment world did this AGAIN to benefit Gaza, and the Ukraine, or any area hurt by the USAID cut?" Isn't that a spectacular idea? Any famous people or friends/family of those lurking in the comment area and can get something like that going? Anyone have a connection to Bono?
Reading about the high-nutrition bisquits destroyed while people STARVE was incredibly disheartening to me yesterday, for so many reasons.
Miselle, I answered your question farther upthread (chronologically). I hope you get the notification.
I did. Thank you. It IS all very suspicious to me, but you answered my question and obviously hold the same suspicions.
If the files contained only Democrats, he would have been waving it like a banner at every opportunity.
Your first paragraph describes my former work cohort of retired cops to a "T". They are fine cutting USAID (feed our own kids, except the ones on welfare, of course) and all aboard the "medical freedom" to not be required to vaccinate. They hate Medicaid, because they worked hard and disabled folks are "leeches". The evangelical components of Christianity run strong in them as well.
It has stunned me that they see nothing wrong with the staged event with police and military at MacArthur Park. I had commented that there were kids playing in the park; my former sergeant said "No kids, just homeless and druggies".
You know it, we know it, why isn't the broadcast and print news covering these events? Why isn't the news talking about his building a trump structure in Romania? As Judd Legum printed "any suggestion of financial entanglements between a US president and foreign nationals has been considered a scandal. Historically, major media outlets have provided extensive coverage of the issue." This story has legal and ethical implications ... but not under trump - WTF!
NYT has this:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/07/17/us/politics/trump-epstein-files-maga.html
Read the article, thank you for posting it. Of course, it's murky, lacks consistency, reckless disregard for some good people imploring him to reveal the true story, unsettling, a cacophony of voices and opinions.....
Those Truth Social posts by Trump have never sounded more unhinged!
Maybe it's because he had some emergency treatment today for swollen ankles, which poison may have seeped into his brain. This condition is not insignificant.
How does this happen? Is it genetic to fall victim to brainwashing? Is it hatred looking for a target? Is it crowd mentality? This more than any of the bizarre behavior around us now is what's most crazy.
Don’t look for logic, when superfake writing the script. That’s the chump version of Superman. Fake through and through…
It's Come to This, don't forget that his zombies are currently in the process of burning tons of food that was to be distributed to starving children, but was deemed wasteful by DOGE and, of course, had been funded by the Biden administration.
Mentioned that to a MAGA who said “The sky is falling! The sky is falling!”
They don’t care.
Frau Katze, I know some like that. However, the rest of this country does care, and I firmly believe that the enormous number of chickens who do care will send them to the proverbial slaughter. They'll experience the "falling sky."
Yabba Dabba Doo!
I'm not sure I understand the obsession with "the list" either; but whether it exists or not, Ghislaine Maxwell does and is pretty easy to track down. So odd no one's interested in hauling her in front of a sub-committee. To paraphrase Jordan Klepper's opening on the Daily Show Tuesday night, "Sure, the Democrats made up the list and never pulled it out during the first election, the first time he was in office, or the last election."
Note the numerous times Dr. Richardson used the word ‘believe’ to describe Trump’s supporter’s acceptance of data. It is unfortunate that society has no inoculation against ignorance, in media or religion. The reward for believing is instant gratification.
I believe I'm a size 8. Got a wardrobe full of size 8 dresses.
I never wear them. I just KNOW they would fit if I did. . .
Yes and I'm 5'8" -- though my doctor says I'm 5'2". Believe me.
Do you have long red hair and green eyes as well?
I think I may have.
But strangely, they don't show up in a mirror. .
Uh, you go to the same doc that Trump has?
:-D
I had a health watch that would always report my BP as 120/80.
Wow! I’m 5’8” and have raven tresses! What a coincidence🎊💕🤣
Lady, I am cracking up and boy, do I need that this morning! In fact, the entire comment section is full of amusement today. I think we are all sinking into a situation I used to see back before I retired from the medical laboratory. At times it might be fiction, but in my experience, full moons/summer heat bring babies and/or violent crazies. We'd be so overwhelmed from the ED and L&D floors that we'd get slap happy with dark humor jokes.
Cops too. Those two summer full moons (July and August) were the absolute bonkers ones. Also March; spring crazies.
Back in the day, Sunday mornings in the Chicago area major medical trauma center saw waaaayy too many GSWs. I'd come in and ask the overnight techs how it went.
I recall one morning being inundated with extremely frequent and complex tests. A GSW can practically bring a lab to a standstill with the demand for blood, clotting tests, hemoglobin levels, etc. Have a couple of them, and it made the techs loopy.
I recall being across the lab and heard a tech running the cell analyzers call a critical to the ED staff and say "CAN YOU TELL EVERYONE TO STOP SHOOTING EACH OTHER?!!!"
This is wonderful!, I’m going to borrow your analogy now when I speak with my MAGA daughter.
You got one, too, eh? I commiserate.
Yep
🤣🤣🤣 From all of us who haven’t lost hope. Thank you for the universal proof of unyielding vanity.
That’s one the problems with our nation; we’ve bought into the need for instant gratification. It’s just that republicans have turned their”need” into a an addiction for stupidity wholly based in ignorance.
We used to…….it was called Public Education.
Same as religion. The political missionaries have the instant cure for everything, greed, grief, pain, envy, jealousy, you name it. Jesus (now chump) has the solution. Elmer Gantry on steroids. Reality, not fiction in chump world.
Education is the vaccine.
Professor Richardson wrote a sentence that totally describes why Trump's supports will never turn on him. They are "psychologically committed to him."
Some Republicans may turn on him, but his most ardent supporters never will. They're in too deep, like cultists. I think that Trump needs to be "psychologically committed" to a mental institution or a nursing home. Wait, there may not be nursing homes left after the Medicid cuts come hacking in.
A true nut is running this country to the ground and this is just the beginning. Will republican lawmakers continue to support him in order to a appease a dissolved MAGA base? With a panicked rat in the corner the possible scenarios are endless. This is when I turn to prayer....
Maybe that's why his MAGot crew gutted them?
They all need to get Carl Sagan's Baloney Detector installed.
As Jimmy Buffett wrote in a great song, Permanent Reminder (of A Temporary Feeling), “There’s no dumbass vaccine.”
Some song lyrics better than poetry. The music adds a welcome dimension
Media and religion are the tools the right wing uses to spread its propaganda.
Agreed! Whatever turns out to be his kryptonite. Perhaps this will be his version of Al Capone’s tax fraud…
Fingers crossed!
I don't care what--just hurry up already!
His downfall will happen I never considered he would be in office for 4yrs. The next thing i’m worried about are the people who enable him/really pull the strings. what will they do when he’s pushed to the side …
Thanks 'TC'... "Trump seems to be in full panic mode over the idea that information from the Epstein investigation might come to light."... Since some of DJT's Strongest Supporters are Evangelicals, how will they feel to find out that they backed a Pedophile, and Sexual Predator when their Delusional Bubble Bursts?....
They are already accustomed to backing pedophiles and sexual predators. Too many religious leaders fall into those categories.
They do indeed. How much more proof do we need…
I’m flummoxed by why preying on children matters to them when grabbing women by the genitals, and all his other assaults on morality and humanity, did not.
Hypocrisy turns out to be a very flexible, one-size fits all doctrine?
Just a ruse, they though it was a trap for Dems
It's not preying on children that bothers them. It's Democrats raping babies and then eating them. This is a logical conclusion for the anti abortion lobby - and runs alongside the "In some Blue states abortions are legal up to four weeks AFTER birth" routine.
Apparently having sex with prostituted minors is the walk away from him line that Trump knew wouldn't be crossed when he bragged that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and get away with it
Hello Paul... Seems that many of Them are Delusional... Could a 6X Bankrupt Nepo Baby be a Business Genius?... Delusion Is A Security Blanket....
Try "He wasn't! He isn't! I's a hoax/lie/actually about Joe Biden. It's a hologram! The Chinese! God made him because. . .! God has forgiven him! "
New headlines will give them the needed excuses. I never believed that any of them really bought his freak show anyway. Just a way to legitimize hatred.
100%, JD. They love to hate and to be angry-such toxic lives!
Hating focuses their attention on the perceived enemy. I like to think that my hatred of chump and crew leaves room for empathy for their victims…
You show that empathy everyday by not remaining silent. As history has proven, silence is complicity. We speak for those who have no voice when we oppose this nazi regime. Sending hugs from Florida! 💙
Thank you, it is painful to know the suffering, not only for the victims, but for America as I watched it sink lower and lower…
He's only a dangerous puppet just like Regan. JD Vance is waiting in the shadows. We do t hear a lot about him. Even if he dhave the public persona to be a leader, he is and will be propped up by the likes of Peter Theil.
Yep
Yeah, "it's egg prices" versus " I am so comfortable being racist"
They voted for a Convicted Rapist- what more did they need to know?
Since they have been supporting a sexual predator and perpetual con man for over 8 years now it will not faze the drooling base. It may however, finally convince a lot of Republican voters that their party is off the rails and is in need of a purge.
They (Evangelicals) didn’t give a shit about the “grab them by the pussy” video. It was clear he was a sexual predator, but they dismissed it as a discretion that god (their “god”) had already forgiven.
So why would they change that position now? After all god sent trump to lead them back to the “promised land”. If they admit to themselves he was not sent by god they’ll be lost. No promised land, no hero, no idea what to do.
I don't want to buy into lies and death as the solution to political problems which would be better solved by getting out the vote for better candidates.
I understand the sentiment and the temptation. I sometimes entertain the notion of Trump 'bursting with pride.' It seems a fitting end. But Trump is only the personification of our problem - which is the Republican party.
Voting used to work, not in Texas any more in most cases.
lin, there are many newer faces on here who don't know your history--but long time readers like me do. You are a true warrior to have personally taken on Leo. You have courage that this mouse lacks. I am honored to share this space with you.
Now, he is damned if he releases the files, and damned if he doesn't. Finally, hopefully, those who have stuck with his lies all this time will either change their tune or stay home in 2026. Either way, I agree with you...don't care what destroys him, as long as it destroys him. And totally.
Whatever it is, it needs to bring down his whole cabal. Otherwise we just end up with the same crap in a new package.
I think the Epstein files could bring down more than just the felon rapist. From what I've read Mossad and Israel is all over this...why have republican congress made it illegal to criticize Israel? Why do the repubs all bow down to the felon rapist? Presidential immunity...they gave him that bc he has some pretty nasty dirt on all of them. Rich and powerful men went to epstein's rape island, got wined and dined and then a little girl put in their laps...all videoed of course and walla, some one you can black mail for life. I think they are all in on it. why do you think every republican in congress voted against releasing the files...
Right on! In one day, any day, Don Old has done more strange things and told more lies than any president in history. His “debates” were not debates as he bullied his way through. “They’re eating the dogs. They’re eating the cats.” I can still hear it. Closing USAID should have been enough for impeachment and conviction and he’s done much worse. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BrCvZmSnKA
Since a sense of perhaps desperate sillyness (dark humor) is running through the comment section today, I offer the above.
Ha, he is so transparently stupid
My biggest concern is the evil neanderthals behind him just waiting to step in when he goes.
He can go, but the sewage remains in P25 and the people he has in place. Watch how quickly they take to court any attempt for a democratic president to remove them.
Extremely important to get them all at once. JD Vance, Steven Miller, all of them. What can we do about the Supreme Court, they've become his enablers. I love that he (or the ghost writer) adds "Thank you for your attention to this matter". In the latest post Heather mentioned does not sound like him, he can't write, much less think coherently.
Someone at DoJ--please, please, please leak the files.
... (full text of oral argument preview below follow link - hearing is on July 21, DC)
I will just leave you with one parting thought in relation to Lincoln’s last public address, just 3 days before he was assassinated as well as a quote in dissent from McMahon v Newyork Stay decision granting cert that all but (temporarily) eliminates protections for faithful public servants from arbitrary and capricious dismissal and ask you to consider both quotes and how they relate and further reflection on the purpose of 14sec3 as to Donald Trump and co-conspirators who occupy Federal offices, and encourage you to review Emil Bove’s testimony before congress regarding his nomination to the federal bench, and Pamala Bondi’s dismissal of all ethics oversite personnel today.
"The people of these United States are the rightful masters of both Congresses and courts, not to over-throw the Constitution, but to over-throw the men who pervert that Constitution" – Abraham Lincoln
“When the Executive publicly announces its intent to break the law, and then executes on that promise, it is the Judiciary’s duty to check that lawlessness, not expedite it. Two lower courts rose to the occasion, preliminarily enjoining the mass firings while the litigation remains ongoing. Rather than maintain the status quo, however, this Court now intervenes, lifting the injunction and permitting the Government to proceed with dismantling the Department. That decision is indefensible. It hands the Executive the power to repeal statutes by firing all those necessary to carry them out. The majority is either willfully blind to the implications of its ruling or naive, but either way the threat to our Constitution’s separation of powers is grave. Unable to join in this misuse of our emergency docket, I respectfully dissent.” Justices Sotomayor/Jackson/Kagan
The historical echo, is breathtaking.
But we should take heart that the constitution has spoken so clearly, history so timelessly and so eloquently, and that this all can be fixed, starting with one sweep of the pen to open the door to what 14sec3 anticipated, and provided an unshakable remedy for.
https://randoliberal.substack.com/p/updates-on-trump-disqualification
Thank you, Phil for an interesting take on Dr Richardson's essay. 🤝Like the good professor, l went straight to the non-hoax of the Mueller report. ⚖️
Frankly, Phil, I do not understand how the Supreme Court can see the rightness in what it is saying. 🤬 These decisions are not 'originalist'; now that is a sham. 🙄
They are anti-democratic and may sink us into dick-tatorship 🤫 and, worse, widespread violence, if not civil war. 😱
Even if one can pull a reference nominally to justify this wrong-doing from one or two lines in the Federalist Papers or from notes on some obscure discussion during the Constitutional Convention, then one can rest easy in the tell-tale fact of the humility of the human condition: 🤔 hey, everybody makes mistakes, even founding fathers. 🤭
I don’t want him assassinated but I look at the obituaries every day with hope…perhaps choking on a French fry?
I've posted this before, but it bears repeating:
I used to have a coworker who didn't wish him assassinated either, but her fervent wish that upon exiting Air Force One, he'd attempt to take Melania's hand, and she'd forcefully swat it away...causing him to lose footing, tumble down the stairs to the tarmac where he snapped his neck. Causing, if not immediate demise, at the very least him having a major stroke rendering him unable to talk OR text.
I wish the would-be assassin who got himself into position on that rooftop had been competent. For the first time in history, stochastic terrorism would have benefited people on the side of decency in government.
That whole miracle of the ear incident needs some serious investigating.
Amen!
There have been photos of his swollen ankles, questions about the bruise on his hand (from an IV?), continued explorations into his mental health and a source noted some "hardware" under his pants when he received a belt after one of these ridiculous wrestling matches. Could his demise occur before the end of his term?
The Lily is losing it’s Gild, as he exposes himself to the last of his former supporters
We’ve all seen the photo of Trump fondling then-15-yr-old daughter Ivanka by her hips.
We’ve all heard the Access Hollywood tape where he openly brags of grabbing them – “they let you do it” – by their p . . . ..
Evangelical, “Christian” America has always just lapped it up. “Christian.”
Many have seen and heard his legal disposition where he professes his view that throughout history great celebrities like himself have always done whatever they like to women – any age.
The corrupt Clarence court has always abetted his vulgarity, his crimes.
The Republican party has totally caved in connivance to his police state, all his cruel-for-cruelty’s-sake authoritarian endeavors.
America’s schools have failed to educate alternative models. Legacy media, social media billionaires, and elite law firms have paid-to-play. But the courts have held (except corrupt Clarence’s).
But now even MAGA America draws the line at sex with teen daughters including their own. We get this correctly?
All I can say is that it's a good thing that my head can't fall off from shaking it, otherwise since the inauguration of a blatant fraud amongst all the other negatives, it would surely have fallen off and rolled away … probably still shaking. I honestly, cannot fathom how this terrible and bad joke of a human could have conned his way to the most esteemed political position in America.
Millions of us will be pondering that one until the day we're no longer around to ponder anything.
Because nobody else ever before trump told them it was OK to let their hatred rip. Previous politicians criticised other politicians - but didn't encourage the electorate to actually HATE them. Let alone encouraging Americans to hate each other.
I think that after ten years of this malarkey, we are in real danger of forgetting what political discourse USED to be like.
I think it was more common than we remember as our history gets less known, less clear and more compacted as time passes. Thats why it is awesome to have HCR pull up moments from the past that give comparison to the future—we are a rebellious snd Wild West country snd have often taken the gloves off on the way to more civil behavior in the past maybe 75 years. New means of communication have affected our discourse both for the good snd for the detrimental. How did most of the country learn about candidates when it was only through newspapers? ( well they read better in them thar days …)
As YouTuber "BElle of the Ranch" sometimes points out, you shouldn't take down fences until you realize why they were put up---in reference to the cuts DOGE made and then had to rehire people.
I've often thought the Cabinet should have a Secretary of National History, who could inform the rest of the Cabinet why/how things are the way they are.
Chesterton’s Fence. Indeed.
More than one decade, as even our famed historian has been saying...."the South Won the War." Bigotry, distrust or downright hatred of non aligned ideas, continues to poisonthe very tenets of "democracy".
We do know, Musk helped with money and technology.
Your last sentence is why I ALWAYS refer to this worthless man as Don the Con.
It's all in Mary Wald's book, Sowing Hate and Chaos. Everyone needs to read this book.
Disagree. Call it Robert’s court because he is the chief justice and he’s proving himself just as bad as Thomas and Alito.
Roberts has long been concerned about the “legacy” of “the Roberts court.” It is becoming clearer each day, this court’s legacy will be the weakening of two of the branches of government and the establishment of an executive powerful enough to simply ignore congress and the courts.
Roberts is a joke perpetuating a tragicomedy
Huge gulf, Dave, between the millions in bribes Clarence has taken, & everyone else.
Yes Phil, but without John Roberts enabling the corruption, Clarence Thomas wouldn’t be able to get away with it.
Roberts is just as corrupt as Thomas; look at his judicial record.
You got that right, Dave
Trump looks ready for complete control of the government, the judicial branch, and Congress. Once ICE expands as designed, he will have a massive secret police force, and immigrants aren't the only people this Police force will target. They already have trump's blessing to deal with protesters using any means necessary. Today, it is anti deportation protesters, tomorrow it may be pro-democracy demonstrators.
Trump has called his supporters stupid and said he doesn't need their support anymore. Looks to me like he is confident that he and the rest of the fascists will take power permanently very soon.
Phil, TCinLA posted an account of the Berlin airlift, entitled “when America became the good guys.” It is awesome and I sent to my daughter since her daddy was a WW2 history buff. She thanked me profusely and said that she had never heard of it. She is educated and was raised in a household that was knowledgeable about the period and the aftermath. I was shocked. How sad that current crises roll right over the lessons of the past. Pogo was right. “Those who don’t study history are doomed to repeat it.” Added by Tom Toro from The New Yorker “yet those who do study history are doomed to stand by helplessly while everyone else repeats it.”
"Those who don't remember the past are condemned to repeat it." George Santayana
I posted above that I wished the POTUS Cabinet included a national historian role.
Thank you, I had the cartoon but not the original..
Pogo: “We have met the enemy and it is us.”
That one is burnished in my heart.
TC is a gem! Everyone on this community should read him!
Couldn’t agree more. His posts are gold, as are the ones from scholar, Greg Olear. I take more than I can attend to, but sanity isn’t cheap these days.
JDinTX :
Confused here. Who raised your daughter ?
She was not eager to watch WW2 history shows with her Dad. She certainly absorbed his values, but was on the fringes of the family traumas as a result of WW2, whereas her dad and I were marinated in the family pain. Same with my MAGAt bro who was named after my cousin who was killed at 18 in Italy. So many don’t have the connection one would hope.
Two things to consider: Maybe there is a slight connection between T Skunk and the Lolita Express gang who knows. But now that this is blowing up, I think it may just explode his administration or at least tarnish it heading into midterms. And God only knows he already may be paying off any under age girls he had sex with through an emissary.
Hum… I loss my virginity with an older girl when I was under age I’m proud to report. Do ya think I can sue Betty after 55 plus years if she is still alive?
Too much visual evidence. The connection is clear, and not slight.
I read in another post the full history of this. It seems that Trump is fully involved. We got him. His goose is cooking.
💥💥💥 DONT MISS THIS!!! 🧨🧨🧨
Please check out Trump-Epstein meme ...
https://kathleenweber.substack.com/p/they-just-arent-buying-it
It seems almost daily I see another republican preacher or influencer getting arrested for child rape...it's in their blood to abuse young girls. I think castration for first time offenders would end this BS.
What they were counting on was “proof” that it was all Bill Clinton and Democrats who were involved with underage girls. They have already decided that Clinton was a regular customer of Epstein. Now that it looks like Trump is involved in possibly more ways than one, the Right Wing is burying the thing as fast as they can. The amusing thing is that they make it worse day by day.
Trump is in serious mental decline and it is more and more obvious. Vance is no bargain, but he is so much less charismatic, and he is so lustful for power that he can not stand up to forceful and rational pushback.
Sooner or later that is where we are headed.
I think so.
It could have changed since the 1970’s but then there were future MAGA’s in some parts of the country who routinely had children with their teen daughters.
You have identified the line that Trump supporters would not cross. That is, they would not take a child sex trafficker as their leader, let alone president of their country.
The corrupt Clarence
I posted this yesterday but it needs repeating. It’s long but worth the time. This is a brief history of the Epstein case.
From FB post of Craig Cree Hardegree (not vetted. I’ve requested that he cite his references)
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1FG4EufgH9/?mibextid=wwXIfr
“Why is Trump lying about who investigated Epstein?
In his 400-word unhinged tirade posted on Truth Social…
…For years, it’s Epstein, over and over again…
Trump closed his frantic post…. Let’s keep it that way, and not waste Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that nobody cares about. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
(Edited for length)
…More perplexing is why is Trump lying about who investigated Jeffrey Epstein?
Trump says the Epstein investigation files were prepared by President Obama, Hillary Clinton, FBI Director James Comey, and CIA Director John Brennan.
Epstein was first investigated in March 2005 when a 14-year-old girl’s family reported that Epstein had molested her at his Palm Beach mansion. This prompted a 13-month undercover investigation by the Palm Beach Police Department which found over 30 underage girls had been brought to Epstein’s home. In July 2006 Epstein was arrested on state charges (felony solicitation of prostitution).
Palm Beach Police Chief Michael Reiter also referred the case to the FBI for federal prosecution. A federal investigation — “Operation Leap Year” — was opened. A 53-page federal indictment followed.
This was in 2006. George Bush was president, not Barack Obama.
In 2005, Bush had appointed Alexander Acosta, a Republican, to be the U.S. Attorney (federal prosecutor) for the Southern District of Florida.
In 2007 and 2008 (Bush was still president) Acosta worked out the now infamous sweetheart deal that allowed Epstein to plead guilty to two Florida state charges — soliciting a minor for prostitution and procuring a person under 18 — and face no federal charges whatsoever. The deal granted immunity to all co-conspirators (even those unnamed) and stipulated that it be kept secret from all victims, in violation of the federal Crime Victim’s Rights Act. In exchange for his plea, Epstein would serve 13 months, in the county jail (not a state prison), and be allowed to roam free, outside the jail, 12 hours a day, six days a week, on “work release.”
Acosta represented the government in the deal.
On the other side was one of the most high-profile well-connected legal teams ever assembled:
Alan Dershowitz (Harvard law professor and appellate specialist; helped negotiate legal strategy; later accused (and denied) involvement in alleged misconduct himself; currently saying, “hand to God, I know the names of people whose files are being suppressed in order to protect them, and that's wrong”);
Roy Black (Famed Miami criminal defense attorney (also defended William Kennedy Smith); one of Epstein’s primary trial lawyers);
Kenneth Starr (Former independent counsel during the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal; joined Epstein’s team as a legal adviser);
Jay Lefkowitz (Partner at Kirkland & Ellis and former White House adviser; involved in plea negotiations);
Gerald Lefcourt (Noted criminal defense lawyer; also involved in high-profile civil rights and defense work);
Martin Weinberg (Boston-based criminal defense attorney; known for federal white-collar cases); and,
Jack Goldberger (West Palm Beach-based lawyer; directly involved in negotiating Epstein’s plea deal with state prosecutors).
President Obama was inaugurated January 20, 2009.
Over the next ten years, there were no criminal investigations into Epstein.
Public interest flared up again in 2014 when Virginia Giuffre claimed she had been forced by Epstein to have sex with Prince Andrew and Alan Dershowitz.
Civil suits were filed and investigative reporting was done, but there were no criminal investigations of Epstein the entire time President Obama was in office.
The renewed interest in the criminal charges against Epstein came about solely due to Trump’s actions.
Trump was elected in 2016 and took office on January 20, 2017. In February of 2017, Trump appointed Alexander Acosta — the US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida who had approved the sweetheart deal for Epstein in 2008 — to be his Secretary of Labor.
Acosta’s sweetheart deal with Epstein came to public light during his 2017 senate confirmation hearings.
In November of 2018, the buzz in Washington was that Acosta was being considered for the position of Trump’s Attorney General, to replace Jeff Sessions. This led to the Miami Herald publishing an investigative article detailing Acosta's role in the Epstein case.
The Miami Herald reported on an email from Epstein's attorney — Jay Lefkowitz of Kirkland & Ellis — to Acosta after they had met for breakfast in West Palm Beach: “Thank you for the commitment you made to me during our Oct. 12 meeting. You ... assured me that your office would not ... contact any of the identified individuals, potential witnesses or potential civil claimants and the respective counsel in this matter.”
A lawsuit followed and on February 21, 2019 US District Court Judge Kenneth A. Marra ruled that Alexander Acosta had violated the Crime Victims’ Rights Act when he reached a deal with Epstein — which stopped federal prosecution in exchange for him pleading guilty to state charges — without telling the victims.
This meant Epstein was now wide open to be re-investigated for the federal crimes that had been originally alleged against him back in 2006.
This was in 2019.
Barack Obama was not president; Trump was.
The re-investigation of Epstein’s crimes was handled by the Trump administration, not the Obama administration.
With Sessions gone and Acosta no longer under consideration, William “Bill” Barr had been sworn in as the new Attorney General on February 14, 2019.
That was one week before the federal judge ruled that the federal charges against Epstein from back in 2006 had to be re-opened.
Barr had recused himself from taking part in the federal government’s position on the issue of whether the old sweetheart deal from 2008 should be declared a violation of the victims’ rights for being kept secret — Barr had previously worked at Kirkland & Ellis which had represented Epstein in the deal through attorney Jay Lefkowitz…. the attorney who sent the email to Acosta thanking him for agreeing to violate the victims’ rights by keeping the deal secret.
But Barr was poised to go forward with prosecuting Epstein for the federal crimes that were alleged to have taken place in the early 2000s.
The FBI, under the authority of Attorney General Barr and through the auspices of the Southern District of New York, began re-investigating Epstein.
On July 6, 2019, Epstein was arrested by the FBI-NYPD Crimes Against Children Task Force on sex trafficking charges stemming from activities alleged to have occurred in 2002–2005.
On August 10, 2019, Epstein was found dead in his jail cell.
Let’s look again at Trump’s lie:
“Why are we giving publicity to Files written by Obama, Crooked Hillary, Comey, Brennan, and the Losers and Criminals of the Biden Administration?”
Epstein was originally investigated in 2005 and 2006 when Bush was president. His sweetheart deal was worked out in 2007 and 2008 while Bush was president. He was re-investigated in 2019 when Trump was president. He was re-arrested in 2019 when Trump was president. He died in 2019 when Trump was president.
President Obama was not in any way whatsoever associated with the investigation of Jeffrey Epstein.
Hillary Clinton was not in any way whatsoever associated with the investigation of Jeffrey Epstein.
James Comey was not in any way whatsoever associated with the investigation of Jeffrey Epstein — he first became FBI Director in 2013 (long after the 2006 investigation) and Trump fired him in 2017 (long before Epstein was re-investigated in 2019)… Trump’s Christopher Wray was the FBI Director when Epstein was re-investigated in 2019.
Exact same for CIA Director John Brennan — he served from 2013 to 2017 — he had nothing whatsoever to do with the original 2006 Epstein investigation or the 2019 re-investigation.
Why is Trump lying about this?
Why is he saying the investigative files on Epstein were compiled by Obama and Hillary and Comey and Brennan when that is such an obvious bald-faced lie?
Epstein was originally investigated by the Bush FBI/justice department. He was re-investigated by Trump’s own FBI (Christopher Wray) and Trump’s own Attorney General (Bill Barr).
Why does Trump want so much to discredit the Epstein files for his base by claiming they were compiled by his political enemies?
Could it be because Trump knows his own name is in the files?
Trump’s former confidant, Elon Musk — who had unprecedented access to all the secrets of every department in the US government — says Trump’s name is in the Epstein files.
After all, Trump and Epstein were best friends for 17 years, from around 1987 to 2004. Trump bought Mar-a-Lago in 1985. Epstein bought a mansion a mile away in 1990. In 2002 Trump called Epstein a “terrific guy” and said they had known each other for 15 years. Their real estate “falling-out” didn’t happen until 2004 — they were close friends before that. The crimes for which Epstein was arrested by the FBI in July 2019 were allegedly committed from 2002 to 2005, a four-year period that overlaps three of the years that Epstein and Trump were best friends.
If Trump is not in the Epstein files, there is no reason whatsoever for him to keep the files secret.”
Thank you for all the hard work involved in laying this out for the American public.
You have been of great service to the gleaming god of truth!
This is actually from the Facebook post of Craig Cree Hardegree (not vetted. I’ve requested that he cite his references) I, too, was impressed with the detail and history of the case.
Check it out here:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1FG4EufgH9/?mibextid=wwXIfr
Craig Cree Hardegree is a pearl beyond price when it comes to elucidating the complexity of American law Thanks for introducing me to his writing.
I am banned from Facebook. See my comments above.
Trump was actually a competitor -- was in the teen pagent biz, owned a modelling agency that imported underage girls using "talent" visas.
The Miami Herald identified 60+ victims, most who had litigation.
From Google, here's a summary of key areas in ongoing civil litigation:
1. Lawsuits against Epstein's estate
After his death, several civil lawsuits were filed against Epstein's estate by alleged victims seeking compensation for the harm they suffered.
The Epstein Victims' Compensation Fund was established as a voluntary restitution program, paying out over $120 million to 136 survivors.
While many claims were settled through this fund or privately, some lawsuits against the estate remain active, and the estate is still under probate court supervision in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
2. Suits against financial institutions
Several of Epstein's victims have sued banks that handled his finances, alleging that these institutions ignored red flags about his illicit activities and profited from his crimes.
JPMorgan Chase settled a class-action lawsuit brought by Epstein survivors for $290 million.
Deutsche Bank also reached a $75 million settlement with Epstein's accusers.
3. Lawsuits against alleged enablers and associates
Beyond Epstein and the banks, victims have pursued legal action against individuals believed to have facilitated or participated in his sex trafficking operation.
In 2024, lawsuits were filed against Epstein's former lawyer, his longtime accountant, and a renowned psychiatrist, accusing them of aiding and abetting his activities.
Former Labor Secretary Alex Acosta faced scrutiny and a Department of Justice probe regarding his handling of an earlier non-prosecution agreement with Epstein.
4. Other notable civil litigation
Virginia Giuffre, a prominent Epstein victim, filed a civil lawsuit against Prince Andrew, accusing him of sexual abuse. This case was settled out of court, and Prince Andrew expressed regret for his association with Epstein.
Giuffre also filed a defamation lawsuit against lawyer Alan Dershowitz, though this case was eventually dismissed after Giuffre stated she may have been mistaken in identifying him.
Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's former girlfriend and convicted accomplice, also faced a defamation lawsuit from Giuffre which was settled in 2017.
5. Status of the litigation
While significant settlements have been reached, civil litigation related to Epstein's crimes continues.
Epstein's estate is still involved in legal battles, and some individuals and institutions continue to face accusations and lawsuits.
Legal representatives for victims emphasize their commitment to pursuing justice and accountability from all those involved in Epstein's sex trafficking ring.
JPMorgan reaches $290
OF COURSE Trump is in the Epstein files. He can’t make it any more obvious. He even said he likes the girls just as young as Epstein did! But nobody batted an eye when he said that back then… I’m absolutely convinced Epstein catered for Trump, delivering underage girls to him. And I wouldn’t be surprised if the Republicans who voted against making the Epstein files public, are on that list themselves, too. And much to MAGA’s chagrin, they won’t find many democrats on that list…
Oh, as soon as the Convicted Felon claimed that the Epstein files were somehow written by Obama, Clinton, Biden, and the rest of his perceived “enemies”, I knew his name was on just about every page. He’s not a bright man.
Projection…..the MAGA playbook. Whatever they are accusing others of doing, it is precisely because they are doing it. So if called out, they just say (falsely) both sides do it.
Claimed Democrats legalized the FBI and DOJ….meanwhile…Garland was OVERLY cautious to the point of negligent and HE wiped out any and all people who simply followed the law and crimes based on loyalty to him not the country.
Claimed Biden was out of it…maybe…to cover the fact he’s not even close to running the show and completely demented.
Claimed Democrats were snowflakes and stifling free speech. They cry any time someone questions their illegal methods and are detaining people for essays and what they say in protest.
Exactly!
Don the Con won't let his DOJ prostitute release those files until his name is redacted. I also suspect that part of the delay is ensuring that leading Democratic names are inserted into the files that get released. We're dealing with a Mafia Don here, not a real American President.
It makes no difference if there are Democrats, Independents, Preachers, Priests, Captains of Finance, even Supreme Court Justices on the list. It would surprise me more if there weren't more than just Republicans on the list.
Nobody is perfect, but we do need to find the most outrageously imperfect ones that are more corrupt in their performance of official duties.
I believe that Musk has copies of these files. He probably has evidence that he can use politically for his new Party and/or even for blackmailing some individuals.
Musk won’t release the Epstein because if he does he will lose his government contracts.
Mama Mia perfecto I see ya. Is it to premature to sing the song from the Wizard of Oz:
Ding dong the witch is dead
Which oh which the wicked witch
Ding dong the wicked witch is dead
Wake up you sleepy head
Rub your eyes get out of bed…
Wake up the wicked witch is dead
Most of us hope you are right, BUT time and again the Republican politicians, SCOTUS (I realize that is redundant) and our fucking corporate media has bailed DonOLD out of messes like "Grab 'em by the pussy."
To mention musical phrase first associated with the Opera.
IT'S NOT OVER UNTIL THE FAT LADY SINGS."
In this case, the fat orange turd is 6 feet under, impeached (which ain't gonna happen), or he resigns.
I hope this drags out into the 2026 elections and brings down several Republican House and Senate members.
Wasn’t that my distant relative, Sophie Tucker?
Sorry, Bill - far, far too early. Teflon Don has slithered out from a lot of things before this.
I AM hopeful though that this time the mob seems to be turning. . .
My thought exactly, Lady E! I had hopes with Mueller.........
Well detailed. I’d read much of what you’ve written, in 2016, prior to Trump’s election & much of what you’ve so aptly covered, was from numerous, credible sources.
Sadly, facts no longer matter to so much of this country.
This man has never had any business being near a position of power in a sensible democratic government. He is a stain on our country. His followers truly are know nothing deplorable, racists, religious thugs, liars, fraudsters and thieves.
It is actually shocking these christo fascists even care about Epstein with their creepy virginity pledges and “marrying” daddy as little girls. They raise their young girls to be subservient to them, their brothers and later their husbands and sons. Are we expected to think they actually care that 13-17 year old girls were giving massages and sexual favors to creepy old men when they sort of promote it themselves?
The draw of the Epstein files for them is that Democrats were in it and they could support their ridiculous theories Democrats were lizard people, they were pedophiles, they eat children. This is about Democrats, not children and a desperate attempt to justify why they follow a party that treats them like dirt and votes against their interests.
Most MAGA cannot justify why they follow MAGA based on facts and policies.mso they NEED a villain. What’s more villainous than a child molester. Even cold blooded killers hate them and get prison justice of pedophiles. That’s the ONLY reason they care. Because they can’t pin any actually bad thing on Democrats.
They want to feed kids? What monsters!
They want a social safety net? Ghastly!
They want health care to be affordable and available? Craziness?
They want the mega rich to just simply pay the taxes they already own? Traitors!
Oh, wait…that’s exactly what the entire country, including MAGA wants too. So how to make the “other” the enemy? Pedophilia! That’s the ticket. Except Epstein was an equal opportunity scumbags. He courted Harvard as much as he south Florida. Clinton AND Trump. And for sure, he was a massive blackmailer. How else did a teacher with basically no credentials start working at Dalton and then become insanely wealthy based on no real job I heard of. Advisor to Leslie Wexler of Victoria Secret…the original teen girls in underwear. That was like his only job for decades. That gets a private island and tons of well connected friends who fly there for parties?
"The re-investigation of Epstein’s crimes was handled by the Trump administration, not the Obama administration."
ETTD.
Thank you for this clarifying distillation. I must ask, however, if Pam Bondi would actually release unedited, unredacted files.
As I mentioned, I can’t take the credit for this work…This is actually from the Facebook post of Craig Cree Hardegree (not vetted. I’ve requested that he cite his references) I, too, was impressed with the detail and history of the case.
Check it out here:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1FG4EufgH9/?mibextid=wwXIfr
Just sharing what I think is important information for us all!
Yes, thank you Kari.
Facts, shmacts. 🙄 His "base" isn't interested in facts. It's much easier for them to believe all those conspiracy theories.
Anyone know if Kirkland & Ellis is one of the firms Trump went after?
According to Politico, yes.
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/11/trump-big-law-deals-033630
thanks. I was curious. A friend has a kid who is a very high paid attorney with them.
Why didn't Obama investigate Epstein?
The original case was handled in Florida, under Bush. Its outcome was a slap on the wrist. The new investigation was opened under TACO, when Virginia Giuffre filed suit.
When the government fear the people, there is LIBERTY!
When the people fear the government, there is TYRANNY!
Thomas Jefferson
The creation of, and ongoing reinvigorating of the Constitution is explicitly the providence of The People. The legitimacy of the powers of a democratic government is the consent of the governed. It's too easy to leave the adult stuff up to somebody else while we pursue happiness in whatever way. Yet power is observed to corrupt, and democracy, despite our delegation of tasks to ostensibly faithful fiduciaries, in DIY in the end, or it's not democracy.
Yes, the consent of the governed by their consent to those they duly elect to stand up for them, the voice of the people. We the people! Get it together Congress now before WE find you lacking. That is our warning that is our virulent demand. Bring this administration in its entirety down .NOW!!! Do our bidding or bye bye baby goodbye. Can you hear me congressman. You do not have the divine right to not show up any longer.
And don't forget to keep a close eye on your STATE governments, as well. Here in The Most Corrupt State of Ohio, we are in dire need of a thorough cleansing of the Republican (Nazi) rot that has infested our Statehouse. I'm certain at least HALF of our Union is in similar treacherous straits. We need a complete eradication of the vermin chewing at our Democracy, local, state, AND federal.
I regret the statehouse perfidies as much as you, Daniel.
But, even worse is the money and organization of ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) which since the Powell memo of 1971 has worked assiduously on all U.S. statehouses. (Actually, ALEC legally commenced its lobbying and bribing in early 1973.)
My point exactly, Mr. Balla. And I believe Ohio was one of the first states to allow the corruption of ALEC into the Statehouse. The schools here were once rated in the top 5 of the nation. Now, around 22, and falling fast.
Fellow Ohioan here to say Ohio is one of the states rushing to implement or even anticipate the actions needed to quickly apply the P 2025 mandates. I’ve seen the fast tracks that first made Turner first mayor of Dayton and now a Congress-yes-man and of course JD who skyrocketed from Hollywood’s money machine through the Ohio (Heritage foundation) fast track. When Trump goes JD will complete the climb and the mission.
On the state level, I'm dishonored to be represented in the Senate by one Jerry Cirino, who has become one of the lead Nazis in Columbus. The problem is, here in Lake County, red is the 'color de jour', and those of us brave enough to wear blue may as well be wearing Auschwitz stripes. And to compound the problem, our Dem House rep is retiring, and the favorites to replace him are both loud and proud trump-lickers. If it weren't for my elderly parents, both 89, I'd be out of this awful state.
It coiuld be worse -- you could live in East Palestine.
Daniel, your parents are lucky to have you. Also, so is Ohio. You could possibly move to CA or MA, but I believe you’re more important in OH. There might be others like you close by? Maybe get together one by one? I’m sure you’re not alone!
Isn’t that the dude that knew the value of human property?
Watching Trump flail about so pathetically is both amusing and satisfying, but we must keep two things in mind: He is in a powerful position and is capable of doing great damage in his rage (and there is no one who will try to stop him). And we need to keep an eye on what Vought and Miller are doing and not be distracted by Trump pratfalls.
Yesterday, as a former USAID guy, I was asked to sign a letter to Marco Rubio, copied to the leaders of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, protesting the absurd destruction not just of USAID, but Rubio's decision to dismantle the State Department's Bureau for Population, Refugees and Migration, leaving the country without a single tool to address human displacement, humanitarian crises, reduce disorder, facilitate or coordinate relief efforts by other governments and NGOs both.
As I looked at the list of signatories, there's not a single one of us, out of nearly 200 diplomatic, military, security and international affairs specialists, that is a "current." All of us are "formers" --- every one. That alone tells you how strong the authoritarian spell we've already sunk to really is. No one with a job wants to put himself/herself on the line to save America's institutions and its republic. The same is true in Congress. Dark days.
https://www.refugeesinternational.org/statements-and-news/former-senior-u-s-officials-call-on-congress-to-avert-total-collapse-of-u-s-humanitarian-and-refugee-leadership/
Hello 'Its Come To This'... The HeadCount Reduction doesn't begin to represent the Centuries of Experience, and Expertise being lost.... It may take a Generation or More to Rebuild Organizational Capability....
Or never. After Rome burned has Italy ever returned to greatness?
Or we will find a way to topple the oligarchs and their benefactors.
Should voters be required to pass a test to vote? 10 simple True/False questions about the Constitution. 7 out of 10 to be allowed to receive a Federal ballot every election?
Dismantling and defunding research and universities is one of my biggest fears.
Hello GJ.... I can see Your Points... I'm being Hopeful... DJT, and MAGA could usher in a Dark Age in the USA.... Assuming it stays United....
Can’t LIKE your comment Apache. We need a Vehemently Agree button. Thank you for the reality check! Humpty Dumpty USA has had a great fall which the Supreme Court supported right from the beginning. 🤮🤯😢💩🤡
Agreed. The loss of institutional knowledge is irreplaceable.
🚩 I agree James, and I was going to mention to Constance, we need to keep the pedal-to-the-metal, and not let the Trumpsters think we are not going to pause on any checks-and-gatekeeping. The vengeful Heritage Foundation is doing the overtime work for the Republican and the White Christian Nationalists. Any doubts? Check out our Substack colleague, Olga’s ‘Trump Tyranny Tracker’ - this will show you a weekly journal of how the Republicans Wrecking Ball is attacking our liberties, our democracy, our family and friends:
https://open.substack.com/pub/trumptyrannytracker/p/trump-tyranny-tracker-day-176?r=kxzps&utm_medium=ios
Given T*ump's tendency to nod off at meetings and ignore briefings, I suspect that Vought and Miller are the ones who are actually running the show.
There are many comments on the internet suggesting that the style of writing over Don the Con's signature on his "Falsehoods Social" account resembles Millers style more than Don's. I seriously doubt the Con man does much more than play at playing golf and watching the autopen do his signatures for him.
Wouldn't surprise me one bit.
So much for the concept of a Unitary President!!!
Right, presidency by corrupt committee, fully endorsed by our supine court, and blessed by our MAGAt run House, Senate, and incompetent cabinet of Dixie cups.
All too true - they activated this situation in the first place.
We also have to accept the fact that SCOTUS SIX actually agree with a lot of this and stop pretending they must be nobly walking some fine line of risk to avoid a constitutional crisis.
When Mrs. Alito hung her flag in distress, it is because she actually believe this shit. Mrs. Thomas was actually part of the insurrection. Don’t tell me these women are so brazen and brave to AGAINST their husbands. They belief it.
Roberts wrote the decision to make Trump immune because he believes in an all powerful executive. He has been in this circles for a very long time. The ONLY way Heritage, Leo, Project 2025 can be accomplished is through a single branch with the help of the judiciary. When it is left to the people, these guys lose, hands down. They know it. It is why they needed to create ALEC to take over states by severe gerrymandering. It is why they are circumventing Congress because the people actually hate their ideas. So the quicker America wakes up to the fact the majority of SCOTUS aren’t making decisions based on laws. They are rewriting the Constitution to favor the minority rule.
Well, in the past he called them "poorly educated" and they proudly adopted that label.
I miss the days of when education was something people admired and strived for.
Thank you Professor Richardson.
While I expect the MAGA divide to be short-lived it is good to note there is a "line in the sand".
It's not bribery
It's not repeated violations of the emoluments clause.
It's not soliciting donations from Oil, Gas, and Coal in exchange for eliminating environmental protections.
It's not abandoning allies and international agreements.
It's not constant lying.
It's not cowardice for running to a Doctor for a note to stay home from Vietnam.
It's not calling soldiers who paid the ultimate sacrifice "losers and suckers".
It's not for coddling tyrants and dictators.
It's not for withholding weapons from allies.
It's not for decimating Federal government.
It's not for pardoning violent insurrectionists.
It's not for appointing a group of sociopaths, idiots, alcoholics, and TV show hosts to vital leadership positions.
It's not for selling cars out of the White House.
It's not for adding trillions to the national debt.
It's not for committing fraud.
It's not for "grabbing women" because you're famous.
It's not for weeks and months of "Executive Time" and golf.
It's not for receiving "gifts" like jets from faraway places.
It's not for supporting the ethnic cleansing of Gaza to build some Trump/Kushner resorts.
It's not for abandoning climate action threatening future generations with a dystopian future.
It's not for eliminating women's body autonomy.
It's not for an array of other lies, betrayals, and offenses against the United States.
Apparently the line is raping children.
It's just a relief that there is a line. I wonder how long it will last?
I don't think MAGA believe the files will show trump's name - i think the are confused because to them he appears to be "protecting the Democrats." And I don't think they care about children being raped. I think they care about DEMOCRATS raping children.
Agreed. Only "other people" doing it is wrong. I am willing to bet, based on the front row seat observing criminal conduct that I enjoyed for 30+ years, that it is never a crime when they (or their figurehead) do it.
It will last until the corporate media sane washes it like they have with everything else on your list. It will last until the traitorous Republicans in the House, Senate, SCOTUS and the administration sane wash it and tell us it's just a hoax. It will last until the oligarchs bring the Epstein files into the light. It will last until the low information, low IQ MAGAs turn on the DonOLD.
This isn't an "OR" situation. It's an "AND" situation. ALL of this has to happen to bring down the Republicans I fear.
Quite the list -- and I wonder too. He's slithered out of everything else -- will this just take a bit longer?
Right On George, and Robert Jaffee —>>> the Trump loyalists, the SCOTUS, the Republican congress all need to bring so much destruction and murder into our world to stop supporting the ugliness on this religious planet, that they may say “Enough!” when young ladies get traumatized sexually and live with the fear…now there may be a ‘line in the sand’ to stop?
If I may, George... There is no line. There will be excuses, reasons, explanations, justifications, rationalizations that will blur that line. It is only <pick your offense> when someone ELSE does it. And if there is incontrovertible evidence that he DID do it, it will be that he was coerced, bribed, lied to, entrapped, you name it and it will be OK.
Frighteningly true Ally. A line means nothing to a cult (unless it is forming for the kool aid).
Oh George, you’ve done it again!
Thanks Pat -I’ve been admittedly bad. Repeatedly.
"Good Trouble" George.
Bravo.
Thank you Miselle. Always trouble. But a heavy gravitational lean toward “Good Trouble”. :)
I met a blind man at this morning's protest. He had a sign (in shorthand as far as I could read Braille) that said Be Good Trouble (b Gd truble), atop his white cane. I suggested adding " Even a blind man can see through your lies"
I wish I believed that is a real line, but I don't. I don't think the crime matters, but that it was a strong story line to accuse their "enemies".
The irony is that for all the damage Trump has done to this nation in little over six months; its the Epstein file that has these clowns throwing a tantrum of such great proportions, the likes of which no one has ever seen before (added Trump sized hyperbole for effect).
And to add insult to injury, MAGA is calling for a Special Prosecutor to investigate this crime against humanity. And as luck would have it, Trump will only bring his best, which is why it appears they’re going to nominate Matt Gaetz to lead the charge!
Now last I checked, Gaetz was under investigation for…..what for it…wait for it…having sex with and trafficking underage girls!
In fact, I’m pretty sure his best friend and “wing-man”Joel Greenberg pleaded guilty to six federal charges, including sex trafficking a minor, stalking, identity theft, wire fraud, and conspiracy to bribe a public official in 2022. Coincidence? I think not!
Another fun fact about Trump is that he was credibly accused of raping or sexually assaulting 16 women and at least one teenager (13 years old) he met through Epstein; Jane Doe aka Katie Johnson. She filed the suit in October 2016 before the election, and dropped it soon after.
"Jane Doe" aka "Katie Johnson" – 1994. Lawsuit filed June 2016, refiled October 2016 as reported by Buzzfeed and others, then dropped in November 2016.
Jane Doe is an unnamed plaintiff, who has also gone by "Katie Johnson" in legal papers. She claims she was repeatedly raped by Trump and Jeffery Epstein at Epstein's New York City apartment in 1994, when she was 13 years old. A witness, also given a pseudonym — "Tiffany Doe" — said she recruited "Jane Doe" and others. Doe, using the name "Johnson," gave an interview to the Daily Mail in which she said she did not know who Trump was at the time of the alleged attack but identified him later when she saw him on television. It is not known why she withdrew the lawsuit. She has not spoken publicly or withdrawn her rape allegation since then.”
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/assault-allegations-donald-trump-recapped
You just couldn't make shit like this up if you tried. Nobody in Hollywood would buy the script if it were a movie. Beyond absurdity, yet real.
Agreed! Every accusation is a confession!…:)
Robert, the horrible truth is that I’ve known about this lawsuit for nigh on a decade; it wasn’t a secret, and many people knew about it. It didn’t stop him from being elected twice. I will believe Epstein is his kryptonite when he is dethroned. Because we already knew he raped children. And grown women. And it didn’t matter. Just like all the rest of it didn’t matter either.
I will never, ever understand why the Republican Party sold their souls to the devil for this person. This utterly vile, incompetent person.
I agree, eventually all of them will fall in line. All of the influencers of MAGA are joined at the hip to Trump. If he goes down, so does MAGA.
Not to mention, their entire financial livelihoods depend on access to the president. This story will die down by the end of the week. If not, Trump will do something extremely dangerous to distract all attention from this issue.
I fully agree. Probably bomb some poor sods in Iran or Yemen in hopes of distraction. Or invade California or something idiotic like that.
It's already happening. It's now the legacy media and the Lunatic Left - us - that's keeping the story alive. Meidas posted this morning that yesterday MAGA (or bots impersonating them) have been "reporting" Meidas for ... whatever on platforms like TikTok. And apparently Bongino has gone back to work. By the end of this week Trump will have wrestled the mess back around into Democrats' lap.
When have sex crimes by Republican politicians ever been a crime? It's a badge of honor.
Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh, Matt Gaetz, Dennis Hassert, Bob Packwood, to name a small handful.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_federal_political_sex_scandals_in_the_United_States
GL, shortly after Bob Packwood's resignation, we had a (female) local state representative who had to resign for some campaign violations. The joke of the day was "Why did Packwood resign? He heard Jolin's seat was up for grabs".
Funny!
Agreed…:)
Just for the record, the Matt Gaetz thing is a red herring. Yes, Rep. Boebert (R-CO) had suggested Gaetz to be the special prosecutor for a renewed Epstein investigation but that was probably a jest and in fact, no one really took it seriously. Gaetz will never get near a special prosecutor's office except to be questioned there.
Agreed, I was just adding to the absurdity of it all since Gaetz was floated as a possible candidate.
Obviously, If there is a special prosecutor it will most likely be Judge Jeanine Pirro from Fox & Fiends….:)
😂
Don't be against him, I believe he's keeping his red uniform!
We see in Trump's concoction of a conversation between himself and his MIT professor uncle about Unabomber Kaczynski just how Trump weaves together fragments that occur to him to present a plausible narrative to the people he's intent on lying to. He's very good at that, but no one, apparently, can concoct plausible fantasies 24/7, and that's what Trump - as U.S. president in the world spotlight - has been tasked to do on local, national, and global levels. He is getting tired. He's worked hard at his narratives. They're starting to cancel each other out. Time to give him some rest, gently impeach him (he may never even know), and let him return to his so-called golf game near Alligator Alcatraz (so near, yet so far!).
Beautifully put! ("He may never even know"). Rather like "Whoever you are, I have always depended on the kindness of strangers".
What are the odds that the billionaires behind P 2025 threaten him with the Epstein situation and give him an ultimatum so they can put Vance in place?
Janet, I think you’ve discovered the ultimate “distraction” to the administration’s current crisis. They could 25th amendment him, send him home to his pretend Oval Office at Mar-a-lago, keep all the despicable cabinet secretaries in place and let Vance, Stephen Miller, Howard Lutnick and Russell Vought accelerate the implementation of Project 2025. We the people would become little more than roadkill.
If those gentlemen can get Trump in jail he will most likely be Epsteined. You know like that fellow in Wyoming the stockmen hired to kill their detractors. What was his name. Tom Horn?
Well said, Constance McCutcheon. Such comments are welcome not only for their content but for their literate and temperate (usually) style. They say what they mean....how refreshing, after any dip in the murky untreated sludge that passes for much/most discourse from the other side.
Just as it was some other president with the same name who appointed Jerome Powell. Not Me did it!!!
" ... an especially odd tale" was also highlighted by Jen Psaki this afternoon detailing a series of psychotic delusions & confusion over the last 48 hours.
Is this the End?
Earth 1 Jen Psaki Realty Check:
Trump's Uncle that would be Dr. John Trump did NOT teach Ted Kaczynski, the "Unabomber".
Spoiler Alert: Trump's Uncle John died in 1985 that would be eleven (11) years before the Unabomber was even identified down here on the surface of our Planet Earth.
Lying about everything every day of your long, rotten, cruel life means you not only have to keep lists upon lists of bizarre fantasies constantly aloft and spinning, but keep them all straight. Once you get dementia, you start mixing up the lists. The filters fall away and you end up publicly calling your own supporters dumb assholes. You threaten the Chairman of the Fed and Rosie O'Donnell both in long, bizarre, incoherent, late-nite screeds on social media punctuated with "thank you for your attention to this matter."
Fundamentally, there is nothing new about Trump and his movement that aren't already explained by The Emperor's New Clothes, Shakespearean tragedy and the Holocaust. The miracle to me is the longevity of our latest national nightmare. How much longer can this rinky-dink, rickety Rube Goldberg contraption of falsehoods, incompetence and moronism keep creaking along before it blows up like the Hindenburg?
It's Come To This, it really has. I think your mention of the "Holocaust" is spot-on. I still Zoom with the ex-Yale lecturer, Bandy X. Lee & a group of psychiatrists on Fridays.
On 6/24/25 Bandy has already delivered her opinion:
"Donald Trump. Like Hitler, is a psychopath."
Bryan, what is the take on Miller? I can have my own crazy tinfoil ideas to go along with MAGA and here's mine: Miller is the reincarnation of Hitler. Too bad he isn't taking this life to redeem his soul; apparently he's falling for the same bad actions. Rinse and repeat for millenia for this dude.
TCinLA has good knowledge of Miller's SoCal biography & Miller's "arrested development" during his time at CA, Santa Monica High School.
I do not have sufficient facts to outline my several theories about his & others' conflicted & suppressed life experiences, the personal turmoil of "Robertson Boulevard" experiences in West LA.
I can confirm, some 2025 facts:
Stephen Miller's wife is Katie Rose Miller (nee Weldman).
Katie Rose Miller has served in a range of high level roles for R politicians.
2 Sources: Katie Rose's 2025 persona has pulled her into the strong pull of the Elon Musk Orbit which is in a galaxy far far away.
Not far enough.
And they said Joe Biden was confused.
though Biden was not confused. He was slow to respond - his lifelong stammer being worse in recent years. And there have been some senior slips of the tongue/mind like getting names wrong, for a moment. But generally speaking, he has known what he was talking about.
Trump is not confused, he is demented.
Biden’s speech was more impeded by his turncoat democratic naysayers than he ever was by his struggle to communicate. Glaring example: Hubble the ambulance chaser out to make a buck referring to Biden’s advancing age ostensibly defending while making sure he brought it up daily. Go ahead throw stones. It won’t change the fact that he still owes me 50.00 for tossing me because we disagreed. He did agree to the refund. I am still waiting.
And a @#$%^&* Liar, on which he prides himself. He is a one tick phony, but he turns that trick with historic hubris. And sadly, his fans love it.
But yeah, he stumbles even now. Somehow the press found jarring signs of (what turned out to be Reagan's early Alzheimer's) endearing.
I don't think Trump is confused at all. I think that he's simply a very glib and adept liar.
That too. As for his performance with the football trophy, he didn't miss any signals, he wanted to be seen as the prime mover of what appeared to be a big popular success. Exactly like when he elbowed his way to the front row of the "family photo" at his first international conference, strutting and dusting down his lapels.
I recall that embarrassing and insecure moment.
Or him pushing past the Prime Minister of Montenegro at a NATO conference.
Always a favorite of mine.
A liar with dementia is still a liar.
Self-evidently. And Trump "takes the cake".
J L, Trump's minions are out here in SF today to check out "Alcatraz" for whatever reasons that generates in Trump's untethered mind.
A couple of sources reported yesterday that the administration is again talking about its resurrection. With Sharks!🙄🤣
Why not alligators?
🤣👏
Sharks like seals & they can be located well off shore on small islands where they congregate. No, no not Pier 39.
Anyway, I hope the "talking about" contains a chemistry lesson of what happens to metal that is impegnated Iron it that is constantly pummeled by the wet, salty winds sucked into the SF Bay daily by the hot Central Valley of California.
I would like to see Solokoff weigh in on the subject; she is the expert on what happened "After the Gold Rush".
Ah the dreaded spalling! The performative nonsense continues. I imagine TACO said jump and this is their show of obedience. What a dumb idea.
Keep us posted, Bryan!
There is so much junk going on all the time, it's simply impossible to swim through it all. TCinLA does keep us abreast as well.
Trump's blitzkrap.
More cheesy political theater, at our expense. Very bad ideas still sell; like methamphetamine. The high brief, the consequences disastrous. For his part, uber-priviledged Trump thinks the world is his personal toy-box, and far too many let themselves be played. A very poor option long-term.
More frick'n theater at our expense. Uber-privileged Trump thinks the the world is his personal toy-box.
Arg. This posted twice. I was not done when the tab crashed; but it somehow posted anyway. I have new RAM memory arriving today because of a pattern of tab crashes I can't explain.
As a proud member of the Lunatic Left, I approve this message.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
lol, no one who wishes to be taken seriously will ever use that phrase again.
:-D
I see what you did there!
A welcome change from the Ridiculous and Reprehensible extreme Right.
Trump is the diversion. Better to keep an eye on Stephan Miller and legislation being passed by Republicans in Congress.
The DoJ recently asked for voter lists from various states. Why? Are plans to subvert the 2026 elections already under way?
This from my own Senator Chris Murphy; “Republicans are codifying Elon Musk’s DOGE cuts into law via a rarely used rescission process.” A 60% vote would no longer be required to pass budget issues.
While Trump focuses media attention on his various tantrums and “hoax, hoax, hoax,” ad infinitum, our democracy is being quietly dismantled.
Ignore the orange fat man, he hates that more than anything any way. Eyes on Congress and the DoJ.
Yes, I saw Chris Murphy's letter yesterday, and he really calls out the MAGAtcans for what they are. Miller, Vought and their Billionaire oligarchs are using Don the Con as a fumbling distraction while they burn down Democracy from the inside with their direct control of both the House and the Senate. They warned us it would be a hostile takeover if they won the election and they have been frustratingly true to their word. At present I give the USA a 10% chance of ever recovering from this atrocious disaster of cruelty and spite.
Call. Write. Email. Protest. Unrelentingly. About everything ❤️🩹🤍💙
Use/share this spreadsheet as a resource to call/email/write members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Reach out to those in your own state, and those in a committee that fits your topic.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13lYafj0P-6owAJcH-5_xcpcRvMUZI7rkBPW-Ma9e7hw/edit?usp=drivesdk
Who/What is actually coaching him on how to destroy this country? To know about all the goofuses to appoint to destroy the agencies they were given control over? Well..."It Takes a Village"... and a whole lot of corrupt stooges to help all get confirmed.
Have you forgotten about Project 2025? His “coaches” are the Heritage Society, Stephen Miller, Russel Vought, Howard Lutnick and the cryptocurrency billionaires who can never be satisfied and want to own the world. I’m beginning to think that they see the Epstein “crisis” as conveniently serendipitous to accelerating their plan.
I read most of Project 2025 a couple years ago, but since it requires reading, I doubt he has read it. Some say he gets his marching orders from Putin. I'm more inclined to think Netanyahu, who wanted protests against genocide ended by police and the military through use of force. The Congress of the cartel parties just created a federal police force that neither party would deny Netanyahu the use of if he pressed for it. The 75 Democrats falling all over themselves to support ICE are largely AIPAC's bought stooges. Stephen Miller is surely a good person to suspect is an overseer.
Elon Musk is getting his revenge. He's paying influencers. It's working. What a great thing to watch.
Unfortunately Trump will destroy our country clinging to the power he is rapidly losing.
Don’t trust Musk for a second. He’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Musk is doing this for leverage so Trump can’t take away all his government welfare, I mean subsidies. He’ll turn on a dime if given the proper incentives.
I'm not advocating trusting Musk. I'm observing what he's doing.
Not sure anyone can put this genie back in the bottle at this point.
Agreed, I just hear people saying that it’s wonderful to have Musk back on our side; to which all I can muster is a shrug and an eye roll…:)
Musk will soon implode as the goal to create an AI god is shown to be a pipe dream. https://www.apolloacademy.com/ai-bubble-today-is-bigger-than-the-it-bubble-in-the-1990s/
Agreed, although he also has other issues that are just as pressing to deal with in the immediate future. The Chinese have surpassed his technology: AI (self driving vehicles) and batteries.
China is producing better, more luxurious and cheaper EV’s than Musk will ever be able to produce, and he knows it; which is why he’s focusing most of his attention on AI, Starlink and SpaceX. The only reason Tesla trades at such a high P/E ratio is his AI technology, as well as his outstanding profit margins; and based on all evidence, his competitive advantages are gone.
Honestly, I’m shocked WS hasn’t dumped him yet. Tesla has a market capitalization is over $1 trillion, while their largest competitors; GM and Toyota have market capitalization’s of $51 billion and $32 billion, respectively.
Compare Tesla’s revenue of $95 billion versus Toyota $265 billion and GM $165 billion. The only category that Tesla surpassed Toyota and GM was profit margins, and now that the EV tax credit is gone, Tesla no longer has any competitive advantage.
And given his popularity and support from his existing Tesla owners; he’s in deep trouble as they all head for the proverbial parking lot exits…:)
Musk is a wolf in wolf’s clothing.
Two backstabbers, looking for an opening.
Will enough MAGA folks lose faith in Trump because of the Epstein affair to make any kind of difference? If they do, how will it matter? I can't think of what even a substantial fraction of these supporters can or will do to lessen Trump's power, much less bring him down. I'm also wondering to what extent the preoccupation with Epstein is just a diversion to keep people from learning about/thinking about more serious issues--I don't have time to name them here, but I'm guessing that everyone reading this can come up with half a dozen or more.
It seems to me that at some point, if enough people turn against a tyrant, they're done.
As in the past, there is a tendency for these things to be avalanche-like. I.e., they start VERY small, and slowly, showing only minimal signs of serious impact. Some then just die out. But others, at least on occasion, continue to swell and the impact becomes larger and larger and then, all of a sudden (sometimes without any real warning) everything caves in and the avalanche comes down (often on the heads of those standing underneath).
One can hope...
This needs to proceed very slowly. The slower it happens, the more MAGA politicians will fall. Trump and Bondi need to hold out releasing the files to take down the maximum number of MAGAs.
If they do release the files and the worst happens to Trump, then the MAGAs will have 16 months to redeem themselves by rescinding the most unpopular parts of the BUB (big ugly bill) and JD could actually gain some credibility.
This needs to be like a slow festering wound--slow and painful.
"JD could actually gain some credibility."
Surely you jest :-)
The "enough people" will be the non-MAGA majority. I think Betsy is right. We're all over here with the legacy media talking about Epstein because it's gotten a rise out of Trump and we love to see it. 🤮 But what we're not talking about is Congress being the best-trained Presidential dog ever and a Supreme Court that has devolved to issuing one-line orders in his favor without even the pretense of providing legal reasoning. We're not talking about the nearly-instant creation of an internal "law enforcement" apparatus that has a bigger budget than the Department of Defense. Bigger than ALL other federal law enforcement agencies combined, for the ostensible purpose of deporting immigrants. Anyone who thinks they will be limited to immigrants is delusional. And we're not talking about federal election control, to make sure that We the People are disemboweled. Epstein is a dangerous distraction.
I thnk you are quite right that the lawlessness and cruelty of the whole authoritarian/plutocratic setup is both stunning and the ultimate threat, and THAT has to maintained as a persistent focus in this period. That said, I don't think the Epstein thing is entirely irrelevant, especially as is proving, at least for now, MAGA's unshakable thrall with Trump. Trump's declaration of "hoax" is not having the same effect. News cycles and memes can obsess while missing the point, which just adds to clutter, but Epstein has some potential to be Trumps Achille's heel. He is certainly blowing it at this point. Yet the context, and we always need to see context, is the clear and present danger and destructive current reality of sociopathic, pervasive corruption and cruelty we tolerate at our own peril.
Betsy, it’s tRumpy’s GOP enablers in Congress that we must be speaking to.
Call them, write them, post to their Xwitter accounts, etc. with the message: “it’s over, you don’t have to fear him anymore”.
The GOP has been so fearful that tRumpy controls an army of faithful voters to carry out his bidding that they have turned their backs on reason, decency, and the Constitution. Those of us who love America must effectively use the Epstein rift to show that WE are the stronger army of voters to fear.
Never sure if Trump is truly afraid like the Epstein files or things like the Epstein files are a distraction so he can do other things without attention.
Seems to be both.
Sandra, the answer is "yes".