Yes, Vance could be worse, whether by character and happenstance or by plan and design. Still, Trump must go down. We need to dismantle MAGA and the whole authoritarian movement one step and one brick at a time.
Apparently Vance does not have the charisma that Trump does, and MAGA won’t follow him nearly as much. I cannot see any of Trump’s charisma, but that’s what I’ve read.
That is the truth Anabel and very simply and clearly put. It would benifit us all to go back over the last week and listen again to Dr Richardsons videos. The review of Authoritarianism is a reminder of their desire to distract, confuse and continue to finish taking over the last of our democracy. While the shit show goes on and the media capitalizes on it we need to press our Democratic Representitives to increase the frequency and urgency of clearly explaining to the American people what has already been lost, through the Big Beautiful Disaster as well as everything else that has transpired in the last six months. It's signifigant that the POTUS is demonstrating serious cognitive as well as physical decline. The Musk Rat is not well put together either. The
SCOTUS has three incredibly brave Justices but the others are beyond incompetant, and we the people must keep our eye on the ball. Because all the balls are in the air right now and close observation is necessary. The Authoritarians seek to finish what they have started and are hoping all the confusion ans sensationalism will occupy us while they finish the job. It is imperative that we continue to call, write and speak out to our representitives as well as demonstrate. Now.
The emperor has no clothes. And what is being revealed metaphorically is the shit bag tittered to his leg. The golden question now that the fog has lifted and MAGets are dispersing like cockroaches from a flashlight, will he choose the easy way out via suicide or spend brief remaining moments in his castle hoarding the gold and demanding bucket after bucket of Kuntucky Fried Chicken.
After 6 months and then, three and one half more years of destruction of this once imperfect democracy. He was only the figurehead. This insidious poison that has manifested in our body politic for so long from the innocent days of Nixon (and before) through Reagan’s anti government slander to the Gingrichs and Bush era destruction now culminating in the final act. It’s no wonder and how predictive Ben Franklin’s admonishment to the woman passing by Constitution Hall asking what did they get to which he allegedly replied, “A republic if you can keep it.”
Even Rome burned.
My daily life consists of trying to buy local as much as possible. Staying away from factory foods filled with sweeteners that fatten one so we need to eat and buy more to satiate our ever growing appetites. Then take diet pills to lose weight how rediculas . I know have developed a taste for black coffee no additives. I’m frugal; I’m not a materialist and don’t surround myself with such. I reuse things. I even dump the vacuum cleaner bag out and reuse that as well. And no I’m not cheap I just don’t need to buy what others tell me I’m supposed to buy. I drive an old Toyota van because it’s only going to get smashed anyway and has already encountered a fender bender last year. I donate to good causes and one new one is public television. I serve nature as much as I can.
As despairing as I sound, I sense that the inevitability of the pendulum will shortly begin shifting back to some sense of decency.
“…Excuse me, while I kiss the sky.” Jimmie Hendrix.
I'm with you. I killed my Prime when my husband died. They did deliver needed supplies quickly. I did buy a 2011 Honda Pilot when I wrecked our 2010 Honda van on the way home from husband's funeral. I reuse and recycle almost everything. Hope daughter and grands notice. It took me a while, but now a vegetarian and hate that I waited so long. Donate to Parks, ACLU, PBS, Wildlife, and getting ready to ditch Paramount. The ads and commercialism are horrid and I never buy what is pushed ad nauseam. I read that unregulated capitalism is incompatible with democracy. I agree. Waiting for that pendulum to slow and reverse, but change is slow unless you are behind P2025.
Bill, I fear something a little worse: Trump giving Hegseth the order to call out the troops and circle the WH. I have a vision that the populace will soon surround the WH, Capital, and the Supreme Court building to insist on impeachment. At some point in time, the officers of our nation's military will have to make a choice as to who to represent. I see a future where Hegseth is toast. When that happens, Trump also will be toast. As for the rest, it will be up to Federal law enforcement to 'round up the usual suspects.
“A republic if you can keep it.” which requires unceasing, good -faith, collaborative effort. We get to differ, even quarrel, in a free society, so long as we collaboratively agree that some things should never be for sale, and some lines should not be crossed. The open secret hiding in plain sight is that we sustain freedom in any meaningful sense by respecting and guarding the rights of one another. That's the deal, and so called "Republicans" are treading on it. That's tyranny.
Ah, Jimmie. Sweet bird of youth (but the whole trip is well worth the taking). we never left Eden, if we could just restrain ourselves (our egos) from screwing it up.
Hi Bill, I'm with you on so much of this. I'm reusing everything I can, especially in my art, which is usually either a poke in the eye to the right wing or a tribute to the natural world those creeps are trying to destroy. I have pledged to buy as little as possible this summer and only from local stores. I'll be in a small town in Montana until after Labor Day, and I'm not going to journey to big box stores for anything. I swore off Amazon years ago.
I hope that the pendulum is about to swing the other way. What I'm not sure about is what will happen to that surprisingly (to me) large group of MAGAts. I, too, believe in reusing things, as does my husband. However, that does not apply to vacuum cleaner bags. We've got plenty of dust around here, so I don't need any more to make breathing more difficult.
How's this for saving the ecology a little bit. I walked by young girls selling lemonade to help the Texan flood victims. I was walking and had no money with me. When I got home, I grabbed a few dollars and my own cup so I didn't need to use theirs. I reuse the plastic bags I use to save my recycled bottles. Just little things.
Trump is not Crazy. He is evil. There is a difference. The very Republican SCOTUS members ("Justices" is not an accurate term) are all in to erase the last vestiges of democracy and cement the power structure of the oligarchs and whatever figure head they put in office.
And why? What's in it for the Supreme Court ... vengeance for Clarence Thomas's gifts having been revealed; Alito, when he and his wife flew this ridiculous flag and was called out for it? Every day the democrats need to read out loud the Declaration and Constitution......
Trump is "off" upstairs- not qualified to give a diagnosis but definitely not within the realm of normal-particularly with increasing age. This is not disconnected with his evil. I agree he is evil/cruel vengeful etc... but so much more that combines with that need plus the power WE gave him and let him keep at the moment. That is crazy.
Oldsalt65, I agree with you, except for your assertion that Trump is not crazy. A person can be crazy AND evil. He is a malignant narcissist and a sociopath, and probably some other diagnoses that a competent psychologist (as is his niece) could diagnose. Crazy and evil are not mutually exclusive.
Sadly, trump has control over and the sympathy of the Supreme Court. Law suits and appeals could eventually reach the Supreme Court, but it will always find for trump and MAGA. And they can't be voted out and impeachment seems like a long shot. Listen to Heather and Scott Galloway on youtube. Brilliant conversation.
Has anyone thought, perhaps, more likely probably, that the Supreme Court Justices, as well as all members of Congress and the Senate, and their families have been constantly threatened by the mob boss bully and his goons? That used to be illegal!!!
Yes Lou. It's a part of the big plan- to deny, offer alternate scenarios & such to keep us off kilter. I'm keeping both my feet on the ground & will continue to pay attention to the Truth Givers.
What we have on our side is the growing pro-democracy movement. We are getting stronger, louder, and better organized daily. I took my first of three trainings with Indivisible on Good Trouble Day. I'll take the remaining two during the next two weeks. These trainings are open to anyone, and they record the sessions if you can't make the Zoom. I found the initial training inspiring and helpful. Now is the time for all of us to work together in whatever ways make sense.
Had a wonderful time 7/17 in Des Moines, WA! Lots of very happy people sharing their views by signs or shirts. Wore my bright pink shirt with pictures of banned books that said "I'm with the banned". Good compliments.
I believe that it is the tech bro Oligarchs, along with the rest of the ultra-rich, the white christian nationalists, and pro-fascist politicians, cooperating in a cabal to end US democracy and seize permanent control. It has been a long-term right-wing project since 1971, and now they are on the verge of accomplishing their goal.
As digital technology evolved, they used Social Media to harvest all of the personal data to analyze it to find efficient ways to influence people and help advertisers sell to people on the platform. In 2015, Facebook provided Cambridge Analytica with the data on the people using Facebook, and Cambridge Analytica used it to find the people who were more likely to believe conspiracy theories and used facebook's sales tools to sell about thirty percent of our population to throw rationality to the wind and go whole hog onto the road of destroying everything worthwhile our country has accomplished and invested in for the last eighty years.
When ICE scales up as expected, the cabal will have everything they need to take power permanently, and by the time the trump chumps, Q-twits, and freedom caucus types who thought they were going prosper under fascism, wake up to how badly they have betrayed themselves and the country, it will be far too late.
It will take something big to happen now to stop them now.
ICE will be ready within six months. The midterms are too far away, with a year more to implement the fascist coup, I'm not optimistic that our democracy will survive.
Well said Lou. We must now keep our eye on the biggest of prizes, THE ABILITY TO VOTE. They are working hard all over the country to create new voting laws that restrict or supress votes and gerrymander so the electorate picks their voters, not the voters picking the electorate. We must be very loud and clear that we see what they are doing and will not tolerate it. 2024 should have opened our eyes to the lengths they will go to rig elections. So don't even think they will not continue to do this with every election. Please continue to press your representative, state and federal, regarding voter interference/suppression.
The 6 are not incompetent: they have managed to mangle the Constitution so that the Executive is vested with unprecedented power and they, the extreme right wing of SCOTUS, are the final arbiters as to whether specific exercise of that untrammelled power is lawful.
Annabel, I think it might be more accurate to state ‘they no longer seek the consent of the governed.’ As far as needing it — well, that appears to be a cynical calculation now badly misfiring.
In Dr. Richardson’s perhaps ghastliest piece since January, I glommed onto this:
“Fuck you [Trump]. You suck. You are fat, you are a joke, you are stupid, you are not funny, you are not as smart as you think you are…we are going to look back on the MAGA movement as the biggest scam in American history…[The] liberals were right. The MAGA supporters were had. They were.”
This will be the only time in my life I find myself in total agreement with somebody from the cult who describes his job as “influencer.” But it contains what I’ve longed to hear. The spell is breaking. This is great news. For he DOES need them, even now. At least, I hope so.
The dark side of the Force has to end sometime. It can’t last forever. In all this ghastly, sordid, awfulness, this is what I hope for.
Along with Fuentes, this is the first time I've also agreed with trump--MAGAs have demonstrated acute stupidity, but I'm willing to give them space to wake up. For those who remain loyal despite trump's disparaging them, there is no hope....
Fuentes is in his own white supremacist cult of his own. No religion there, just a hack who couldn’t hold down a real job so spreads hate. Oddly they make a lot of money doing this.
One of the things I found most disturbing in this newsletter is that the DOJ pressured the FBI to put 1000 agents in charge of combing hundreds of thousands of documents and "flag" any time trump's name is mentioned. Just what does this mean?
Miselle, thank you for saying that, and I understand. I give credit for Ruth Ben Ghiat's stamina to face it all so she could write it! That is service on behalf of all. Knowing how bad it is helps me sustain motivation. Fortunately, I'm able to renew myself daily.
Yes. Power is that which motivates all conservatives, be they rank-and-file MAGA, tech bros, theo bros, Trump's enablers or SCOTUS benchwarmers. The different groups have differing ideas about what they will do with that power, but power is the common goal.
Why? Because their world-views are unpopular with the majority of Americans, and without power, they can't get what they want.
Vance has all the charisma of unseasoned blotter paper. He couldn't lead a thirsty person to water if he were standing next to the faucet. He will be a malleable tool of marginal utility for the Steven Miller regime, at best.
"...Hitler favoured killing 10,000 politically unreliable Czechs, but after he consulted Himmler, the idea was dropped because Czech territory was an important industrial zone for the German military, and indiscriminate killing could reduce the productivity of the region..."
Heydrich paid the Czechs the same as the German workers because they needed the more skilled workers than slave laborers.
I don't think Stephen Miller is smart enough to be concerned about keeping the most productive workers on the critical jobs.
In preparation for Nixon resigning they got Agnew to resign.They, whoever they are will get rid of Vance and come up with someone else. Next in succession is Mike Johnson.
Stanley, in my estimation, there are two groups of "they's." The Tech Bros, including Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, David Sacks, et al. JD Vance is their boy.
The Theo Bros are less well-known but equally powerful. Doug Wilson is the godfather (no pun intended), with followers like Russel Vought and Pete Hegseth. Mike Johnson is their boy.
Unfortunately, if one were to draw a Venn diagram of the two groups, only one individual would appear in the overlap: JD Vance. If Trump is removed from the presidency, Vance is the likely winner, as are both the Tech and Theo bros. They would make it their business to turn the U.S. into an oligarchal theocracy, dividing Americans into two groups: true citizens and infidels. The legislative and judicial branches would be relegated to merely ceremonial roles.
Understood, but when that happens, Vance will step in and he'll do whatever his handlers tell him to do. He took their money and now they own him. We need to get rid of the entire lot of them.
Stephen Miller's family fled Russia to escape people like him. Of course, under a Nazi regime, he would have been a death camp Kapo, conscientiously hurrying his fellow Jews to the shower doors.
Vance, his Senate seat, and his vice presidency are bought and paid for by Peter Thiel, the NAZI German American oligarch.
Vance is the oligarch's choice to be their front man post-Trump.
Unless things change immediately, he will be the next POTUS.l
Between trump and Musk/DOGE, Thiels' company, Palintear a Pentagon defense contractor specializing in high-tech data analysis and war planning using AI, has been given open access to every American's private data from all federal agencies.
It is hard to see what the cult has projected on trump, but there are many photos of adoring Trump fans, similar to film I seen of fans of Hitler. Some are appalled by a successful bully, while others are enthralled. But bullying and scamming is pretty much all Trump knows how to do, and that may wear thinner as our quality of life dissolves.
I honestly think Trump could have easily laughed off and owned that little birthday drawing as a fun joke for Epstein’s 5th. He laughed off the “grab ‘em by the….” And the cult fell for it and made him their savior. He made it way worse with his vehement denials and accusations.
I think both Nixon and Clinton would have fared better had they just admitted something was off, and, sheepishly, tried to put it behind them. So far, Trump's fan base has gone with "The King can do no wrong", but the Orange Orifice has rather painted himself into a corner here. It's not mate in one yet, but he is tripping over his own defenses.
And while I think that he might laugh off his sleazy "birthday card" successfully, I think there is a lot more than a puerile "pubic hair" signature to which he wants to draw no further attention. Excuses for child abuse is a hard sell to any human audience.
Rosalind, I agree. Charisma is a word that's difficult to apply to that raping orange tub of lard, but when used about a politician is more about a certain hypnotic power than about attractiveness. And Vance just doesn't have it. Not at all.
Mind boggling that the "righteous" don't think that God can identify and punish hypocrisy. What a dumb-ass God, or is it the dumb-ass adherents. As per The Grateful Dead, " Let it be known that there is a Fountain that was not made by the hands of man."
It’s likely, at least to me, that in Trump’s cult there are many who swerve way to the right of Trump. There are many others who were using him as their avatar to bring power to the religious industrial complex.
Charisma? A little YMCA goes a long way. After that you just walk up and down, clapping, and pointing your finger at the crowd as if you've seen somebody you know.
This is why the midterm elections are so important. If we get organized, find good, young, attractive candidates, we could even take the Senate. We can tie MAGA to one thing they despise, sex trafficking.
Rosalind, I hate to use the word charisma for death star, but I cannot come up with another word for the pull he has on people. And yes, Vance does not have it.
No really, Vance is not the future winner - and Trump himself said he didn’t see Vance as his heir. Why? Because Trump sees himself as the one and only Leader. Thank heaven that he’s old!
True, but he's not well into dementia, either, which means he could likely steamroll over people faster while disregarding the law entirely on his own.
False. Poll after poll shows that he's leading (and by far) if GOP primaries would be held today. And he is THE ideal candidate for the three pillars of today's neofascist GOP, since he's part of all three. So it's difficult to find someone more suited to take over from Trump. And contrary to Trump, Vance IS a convinced neofascist, and quite smart.
There is a growing body of evidence and video of Trump himself saying he did not expect to win the 2024 election but it was rigged and he won. Why is this not being aggressively investigated with hand recounts in select districts? Only Waterford Co. in New York has undertaken this. It should be happening in a sample of counties where anomalies in vote counts have been reported, and expanded if documented evidence is confirmed. If the election was proven to be invalid it would have to be nullified. The entire administration would be in question and a new election would be called. This has happened in other countries. Unprecedented times call for unprecedented actions.
I've wondered since the night of the 2024 election, why the Democrats did not immediately start calling for a full investigation into the votes in certain counties and states. Possibly trying to avoid the chaos of the GOP "Stop the Steal" years?
I agree this is a lot of the rationale, but I also believe it is short-sighted and contributes greatly to the grave situation our country is in today. And It is not too late to do what’s right.
Ann W, you've answered your own question. The "beauty" of the "Stop the Steal" campaign was its two-fold chance for success. Either it would undo the results of the 2020 election, or it would forever preempt any attempts to question the results of future elections by making those questioners look like the foolish conspiracists of 2020.
Recall is another option. I heard on NPR yesterday that this is possible. Spread the word - tell everyone and let's get this going! The child rapist has got to go!
And these votes in Rockland County are only being looked at because a private group called SMART Elections is investigating the 2024 election votes. They have been looking at election results since at least 2012. Check their website out and donate.
But ask yourself, is this just theater? Have we seen proof that Muskrat has lost his "lucrative" government contracts, Space X? Five days ago he was awarded a $200M Pentagon contract for Grok AI. It's BS, Muskrat is not being cut off, he's still getting richer.
Men like Musk have no problem still working with Us government even as they are actively work to reduce Taco's power....their motto "Its just business" which seems to mean that "anything is ok as long as it brings in money" Morality is not considered
Yes, I agree with you, Rosalind, about Trump's having some magical effect on his followers, notwithstanding how wholly lacking in charisma I, too, see Trump. Yet it seems to me that the enormous power that Trump has amassed – coupled with the genuine if misplaced dissatisfaction with our long-corrupted politics that Trump tapped into – will not die easily. Any number of other malevolent characters our there would love to seize that mantle Trump constructed, and they are likely busy right now devising just how to do so. We'll see. Interesting times ahead, and, I hope, an opportunity to counter the ever-present lust for power with a meaningful movement for real change toward making our politics and society work for all instead of the mega-powerful few.
Magalonians are a carefully conditioned cult, addicted to a fake reality tv show. Imo, it’s real mass psychosis, induced by long term psychological warfare. They are incapable of seeing through the bs.
That's why the rise of more independent sources, like podcasts and substacks, are so important. Because we know that those in power have an agenda and are rarely bound to the truth. And as legacy news outlets are reduced, it's even harder for journalists to do the hard, tedious reporting to expose those lies.
There are so many out there--and I subscribe to probably too many--both free and paid. But this is what we need to do to get change.
I could list a bunch, and I'm sure the group here would add to it, but for brevity I suggest everyone subscribe to the Meidas Touch Network on YouTube. There are a number of contributors to that channel, and it has overtaken Joe Rogan in subscription numbers. Let's push it even HIGHER.
I honestly think there’s nothing really new about Trump or his cult that hasn’t already been described and explained through the parable of the Emperor’s New Clothes, Shakespeare’s tragedies and histories, and the Holocaust.
Perhaps it’s counting chickens before they hatch, but to me it seems the spell is faltering. Voldemort’s wand is splintering. The Wicked Witch suddenly sees all those wooden buckets of cold water around her. Choose your metaphor. We must play this one VERY skillfully now, with all the strategic smartness we can muster, if we’re to really seize the day. I hope we’re up to the task. It will be the most daunting one of our lives.
Ok, I just liked the previous post about Vance not having the showy personality, now I read he is worse than trump? They're all bad, and on any given day, Trump or Vance delights in some kind of savagery or in search of more radical ideas. They will never repent; they will never reform.
Democrats putting Vance in a better position to run in 2028 would be doing a favor for Koch, Leo, Musk, Thiel, Murdoch and all in the Right wing who are beginning to see Trump as a liability.
We can better dismantle MAGA by leaving it up to the Republican majority to impeach and remove Trump from office. Or not. MAGA and the GOP are tearing themselves apart. Nothing would bring them together so much as their shared resentment of Democrats calling for or carrying out another impeachment.
Democrats calling for impeachment now would only Unite the Right just in time for the crucial 2026 midterm elections. Democrats carrying out impeachment and removal after winning the House and Senate majorities would be a waste of hard earned political capital better spent on legislative accomplishments leading up to 2028.
It is not a 'chew gum and walk' scenario. It is prioritizing allocation of limited resources. We would better concentrate on building up the Democratic record "one step and one brick at a time." One For The People action at a time.
Vance will definitely be worse. He is a white, nationalist, male dominance ideologue, whereas as trump is "just" a selfish, self-centered, power hungry egomaniac!
Fortunately, Vance does not have the cult status Trump does. None of his team does. Get rid of Trump, and they are seriously impacted. But it needs to happen sooner rather than later, before Project 2025 gets its hooks any deeper into our society.
The right wing apparatus got voters to hold their nose and elect a rancid ham sandwich - in order to win the Supreme Court and institute Project 2025. Packaging and selling Vance will be a piece of cake.
How many women had their lives ruined by Epstein and Trump? Every time I see a story on a sexual predator I weep for the victims. No amount of jail time or money will ever make these women forget the trauma these deviants perpetrated on them.
How do we break through the constant reporting to action? Many of the young girls violated by Trump and Epstein have given testimony and all we are talking about is The List now in the custody of the Trump administration? We need to believe women’s voices and act.
Cleo- I agree with you. I said women because 1) out of respect for the victims, 2) almost all of us know they were children and female, 3) because they were children and not adults it seems to have made a difference to MAGAs.
There were so many victims. How many of their encounters resulted in a pregnancy and/or a live birth? How many abortions did these evil men pay for as a result of their sexual predations? Unfortunately, most of us have known women that were victims of sexual, physical or verbal abuse. These scars rarely, if ever go away.
I didn’t mean to be critical. I know most of us see the situation clearly. I worked for many years as a social worker at a rape crisis center. It makes me very sad how little progress we have made as a culture in understanding and dealing with this horrible crime.
You did important work there, Cleo. As someone who was tasked with rape/abuse initial investigations (never a detective; there was NO WAY I could have done that level of investigation) I applaud the work you to to help victims get through those events.
Ally, my niece went from working in a home for abused children to working on preparing abused children ready to testify against their abusive parent or parents.
She trained for several months in a clinical setting on how to interview children. Up until a few months ago, her conviction rate (and the entire case team) was 100% and this included some very wealthy people that spent big bucks on attorneys.
The case they lost was one where a step father raped a baby and another child in the same family. They had video evidence that the "retiring" judge wouldn't even look at. There was no jury. The judge just found the low-life cretin not guilty.
She was so upset with the verdict she took two weeks of leave immediately after.
But she came back to work. I'm very proud of her and her fire fighting brother and police brother as well. Their brother was beaten up by three guys and was repeatedly kicked in the head about 15 years ago. He died about a year later.
Thank you for all you did Cleo. We have had a couple of friends who were abused by their husbands or partners and it is such important work that everyone does.
I didn't feel like you were being critical. I just wanted to explain why I chose to call them women even though most of them were abused and assaulted as children.
But were all their victims female? My husband sat on a jury for a male, after he was an adult, abused in a military academy. Boys won’t talk. That’s how the Catholic church got away with their abuse for so many years. Sorry to say they didn’t convict in that trial because of a stubborn old man but he was convicted in a later trial.
For sure all of the victims are not female. I’m sure some of Epstein’s victims were young boys. Seems like people just don’t talk about that as much. And boys and men are very reluctant to ask for help.
The Catholic Church has almost always covered up sexual abuse committed by priests. A co-worker was a whistle blower on the Catholic abuse in and around Springfield, MA. It was one of the few times the Catholic Church has been accountable. At last count, there were over 80 priests that were defrocked. He told me about the entire process and how it ripped the community apart.
In most places, the Church is allowed to police their own and people know it. The parents of abused boys often don't believe their kids which allows many priests to get away with it.
And, of course, the Southern Baptist Convention has had many sexual abuses cases prosecuted as well.
Last night Lawrence O’Donnell ran the entire Access Hollywood tape and I literally got nauseous… I was flooded by the realization and regret that that revelation didn’t cause him to lose the woman vote OR by men who believe in women’s rights. Now, it’s not just women he targets and violates…ALL people of color…OLD and POOR people on Medicaid, CHILDREN, VETERANS…. If the Epstein Files don’t explode him out of office…… this country could sink maybe too far for rescue this century.
AI A definitive total number of women who have filed civil lawsuits against Jeffrey Epstein, his estate, or related entities is hard to pinpoint, as new lawsuits and settlements continue to emerge. However, several sources provide insight into the scope of this litigation:
Over 200 survivors have received settlements: Attorneys for Epstein's victims have recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for over 200 survivors of his abuse and trafficking through lawsuits against his estate, the federal government, and financial institutions.
Significant settlements with banks:
In a class-action lawsuit, JPMorgan Chase agreed to a $290 million settlement with Epstein's victims, with the judge noting the number of plaintiffs could be "well over 100 people."
Deutsche Bank settled a similar lawsuit with Epstein victims for $75 million.
Compensation fund for victims: A compensation fund for Epstein's victims has been opened, with over 100 women expected to file claims.
Recent lawsuits against the FBI: Eight women have filed a lawsuit against the federal government, alleging the FBI failed to act on reports of Epstein's crimes as early as 1996.
In summary: While the exact number of women who have sued Epstein is difficult to determine, it is clear that well over 200 survivors have come forward and received some form of compensation through civil lawsuits and settlements.
A grand jury indicted Jeffrey Epstein in Palm Beach County, Florida, in 2006 on one charge of felony solicitation of prostitution. This followed a police investigation that began in 2005 after a complaint about a 14-year-old girl being molested at his mansion.
Key details
Limited Charge: Despite evidence from numerous alleged victims, some underage, the grand jury returned a single charge of felony solicitation of prostitution.
Controversy: Critics, including the then Palm Beach Police Chief Michael Reiter, publicly expressed dissatisfaction with the grand jury's outcome and the state attorney's handling of the case, which led the police chief to refer the matter to the FBI.
Plea Deal: In 2008, Epstein entered a plea deal, pleading guilty to two state prostitution-related felonies and avoiding federal charges which could have resulted in a much longer sentence. He served 13 months of an 18-month sentence in county jail, including a work-release program where he could leave for work during the day.
Unsealed Documents: In 2024, after a years-long legal battle by The Palm Beach Post and a change in Florida law, nearly 200 pages of the 2006 grand jury evidence were made public. These documents revealed that prosecutors had presented evidence from only two victims to the grand jury and questioned the victims as if they were criminals.
Subsequent Arrest & Death: Epstein was arrested in New York in 2019 on federal sex trafficking charges but died by suicide in jail before his trial.
Just finished 'The Feast of the Goat' by Mario Vargas Llosa. One of the most brutal reads ever. It goes right into the mind of the Dominican dictatorship Rafael Trujillo. Everything, including persecuting Haitians and murky, dirty world of Epstein. It almost foretells the wretched character of Trump; yet, it is more like: "Met one psychopathic authoritarian? You have met them all." For wone, I would not recommend reading beyond the three-quarter-mark of the book.
The difference between Dems and Repubs is clear. Dems want all perpetrators exposed and punished. Repubs want only the Dem perpetrators punished. They're OK with atrocities committed by Repubs. 😡
Cheryl, I think there's another key difference. Yes, Democrats want justice. But MAGA's interest in "The List" has less to do with punishing Democrats and more to do with being able to see and relish the salacious details that would be made public.
MAGA is 85% evangelical. Evangelicals are obsessed with sex and all things related to sex. That's why they are so easily focused on homosexuality, transsexuality, and abortion.
Evangelical culture's regard for sex is childish. For evangelicals, sex is "dirty," an act reserved for procreation. When you tell a child s/he can't have something, that is the thing s/he wants.
In my estimation, MAGA's interest in the Epstein scandal has always been prurient, not righteous.
You must watch the interview on Chris Hedge's youtube channel with Nick Bryant, who has done extensive reporting on Epstein/Trump and Epstein's sex trafficking. The discussion should sicken you. Mr. Bryant claims that sexual predation and pedophilia have been ubiquitous in the US. Many victims, who testified, were forced to sign nondisclosure statements, which would preclude them from receiving any financial retribution. Alan Dershowitz, a friend and participant, claimed he only traveled with his wife - a lie - because Nick Bryant has access to the manifest. These young girls' lives have been permanently damaged by rich, powerful men.
No one understands the damage done more than another victim of serial assault. It's not one and done. The damage continues to unfurl as the years go by. It never goes away.
And just like the Great and Powerful Wizard of Oz, the curtain is finally being pulled back to reveal tRump as nothing but a sick, decrepit old man with a megaphone. Thank you, journalists of The Wall Street Journal.
It has been speculated that leaks are coming from the FBI, recalling Woodward and Bernstein's "Deep Throat". There has got to be some seething dissent when a law-enforcement organization is run by organized crime.
Oh.. I like that Kazz. It's similar to one I've used for countless years to describe folks of one sort: "Hooray for me and 'eff you" ! Hmmm.... Would the similarity of thought make me 'part Aussie' ? Lol...
Agreed a ca-jillion per cent, Kazz. I have often thought of that priceless line from the eighty-six year old flic: "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!"
Vance is not only a product of Thiel. He is part of court capture operative and ChristoFascist Leonard Leo's Teneo Network of elected officials and influencers working to replicate the Federalist Society's Supreme Court success in other parts of government and society.
Well it is a thread and I still don’t have a super great understanding. The Roman Catholic Church according to the research of former priest Tom Doyle gies back centuries as well as orders such as the Legionaires and OD. And not just the Roman Catholic Church most spiritualities in some way compromised. Con men and con women a dangerous bred.
When Vance was in the Senate he was the most despited Senator by the Republicans as well as the Democrats. Assuming that Trump dies of natural causes or is impeached due to his becoming even more loonie tunes, Vance's approval rating will never be strong. If the Republicans in Congress don't see him as an asset to getting reelected, they will dump him like a hot potato.
As others have said before, this man has all the mesmerizing ability of used blotting paper, a lint drawer, whatever.
I don’t think the Maybelline Bitch has the ability to change water into wine. I don’t even think he can change the used kitty litter box. He may present himself as one whose piss can etch glass, but that doesn’t mean it is so.
I agree with you, and I could be wrong but I think he has an outsized ego. I wonder if he'd bite the hand that fed him if he gets a bit big in his britches.
The 'smart money' said it couldn't he done. Then the right wing apparatus got voters to hold their nose and vote for a rancid ham sandwich twice - to win the Supreme Court and institute Project 2025. They could package and sell Vance.
I doubt it. It's not a matter of kidding myself -- he can't kid them. The money follows the black magic, it can't create it *though it may claim otherwise. We shall see.
Agreed on Vance being as bad or worse. At least Trump is obvious. I hope that the news will be enough for Trump's dash toward dictatorship to falter. 🤞🏼
Then let Trump limp along hunch-backing lower and lower. Then the wounded, demented Trump will turn on J.D. Name-of-the-Week and try to nominate one of the sons, more likely one of the daughters or Kushner to cement his dynasty. 🤬🫨
That will split the remaining M.A.G.A.s away from the nerd-reich types, leading to the collapse of what is left of the G.O.P. Then a New Party of Lincoln and Grant and Eisenhower and Ford can emerge to restore conservatism to being cooperative in making liberal process prudent and fiscally sustainable.⚖️🤝💡
If, on the other hand, the dash toward dictatorship regains momentum, then prepare for some very ugly, likely bloody days ahead.😱😢💔🤢
I agree. And the glimmer of hope, that the people will finally shake off their fascination with the Orange Menace, grows a little brighter today. Oh to have this end peacefully, with every Republican congress critter in the dock, awaiting sentencing. A new party of Lincoln? Not with the same name, a name which should be buried in infamy, along with all of its supporters. We'll hear all the excuses for their behavior ("I was just following orders") and we should believe none of them. They have cast their lot with evil, and must face the consequences. Fascism must be stopped, and those who continue to profess it, given due process, and a fair trial.
Thank you for taking the time to write out a thoughtful answer without any typoes; I am envious. 🤝
Specifically, I reference your statements, which is certainly understandable, "We'll hear all the excuses for their behavior ('I was just following orders') and we should believe none of them. They have cast their lot with evil, and must face the consequences." ✍️
Here is where you and I differ, James. It is on all of us -- as a citizenry -- that this goat got back into power. In citing these items, James, please know that I am not imputing any of these traits or actions to you.⚖️ Trump's scum-back was . . .
> on the Democrats for not intervening to hold President Biden to his initial idea of one term;
> on the Republicans (e.g., me) for not throwing Trump out in 2016;
> on the conservatives (e.g., me) for not being vocal enough about Trump violating norms of civility and prudence as well as flouting traditions and values;
> on the M.A.G.A.s for being, well, M.A.G.A.;
> on anti-M.A.G.A.s for turning away from M.A.G.A.s with disdain and intellectual élitism;
> on the moderates for allowing voter suppression to proceed with hardly a whisper;
> on the Democratic Party's old guard for blocking Senator Sanders twice;
> on the Republicans for not booting the Tea Party after 2012; as well as,
> on the liberals for not shoving the Democratic Dinosaurs out of the way when there was still time.
Not in the dystopian spirit of double-think, we need to hold two contradictory thoughts by the two heroes of the Great Civil War of 1861-65 in our minds. We must prepare for the former and strive for the latter; with eyes and hearts and hands and minds open but adorned with armor and armed amply, we may just prevent the darkness that beset two other great powers (i.e., Germany and Japan) almost a century ago.
“If we are to have another contest in the near future of our national existence, I predict that the dividing line will not be Mason and Dixon's but between patriotism and intelligence on the one side, and superstition, ambition and ignorance on the other.” --General and President Grant, 1875.
"With malice toward none with charity for all with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right let us strive on to finish the work we are in to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan ~ to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations." -- President and Savior Lincoln, 1865.
Just like Hitler’s inner circle of evil, the Trump MAGAdministration toadies will stab each other in the back as the whole enterprise collapses. The MAGA base will search for a new leader who will “prove” the crazy conspiracies on which the movement was (at least partially) built. But housing will still be too expensive, young people (especially young men) will still feel lost, angry, and depressed, a living wage will still be unattainable for many, the racism, sexism, and homophobia that fueled MAGA will still run rampant, and America will still be an isolated laughingstock. There’s lots of work ahead to undo the damage Trump and his minions have wrought.
It won't be Vance in power, it will be Thiel, a pseudo-Libertarian woman-hating nut who makes Elon seem normal.
They are laying the groundwork for an absolute gutting of the US Treasury, siphoned off into the untraceable cryptocurrency accounts of our worst enemies.
Vance is a duplicitous snake. Read Hillbilly Elegy and then read his comments on Trump in 2016, and now read his comments. The man has forsaken any core decency he was born with.
To my everlasting regret, I read Hillbilly Elegy. It was a waste of time and an infuriating one at that. The only positive was it laid bare the real J.D. Vance for all to see, just not in the way he intended. J.D. Vance is an odious opportunist with no redeeming qualities who willingly throws anyone and everyone under the wheels of the bus for his own self-aggrandizement. He has no decency. He's a charmless weasel.
Kamila, one of the MediasTouch youtube pundits I enjoy the most is Tennessee Brando, who proudly self-describes as a hillbilly and absolutely despises the "fake" ones: Vance, Kid Rock, Duck Dynasty family. His channel has SKYROCKETED this past year, along with the entire MediasTouch network.
Brando has a lot of MAGA viewers. He might be breaking through to some of them.
Maybe Vance will be bad but he does not have the loyalty of MAGA that TACO has..usually when the head of a cult movement is removed, the second in command start fighting for that lost power while the whole movement changes. ie. Stalin's death.
that is when the sane members of congress need to be ready to push hard.
But EVERYONE hates JustaDick and the likelihood that he would have the fawning, groveling Uriah Heepish support of Congress and the SCOTUS is minimal. And The Felon's cult followers can't stand him either. AND it would be far easier to send Stephen Miller, Russell Vought, and Scott Bessant packing--and they are the real holders of presidential power, not The Felon, who is merely an old, demented sexual predator long past his sell-by date.
I have the same thought, especially since the WSJ story came on the heels of published medical report. I also noted that the "E Tu Brute" moment was provided by WSJ, not the normal "liberal fake news" NYT and WaPo.
"It seems that the overlords want to retire DT. I wonder about the timing. Sadly, Vance is as bad or worse."
Leave it to the Republican majority to decide to impeach and remove Trump. Or not. Let that continue to tear MAGA and the GOP apart. Nothing would 'Unite The Right' so much as the Democratic minority calling for impeachment. Just in time for the 2026 midterms. If Democrats win the midterms, nothing would please Koch, Murdoch, Thiel, Musk, Leo et al more than Democrats wasting hard won political capital by putting Vance in the White House just in time for the 2028 presidential election.
I support getting the child rapist out - everything he touches dies. I do not think slimy jd could do this much damage. I just heard yesterday on NPR that we can recall the felon if we get enough signatures. We must do this!. Heather could you please look into the recall process and get the ball rolling! We can do this! Let's work together and get trump out of office and into prison! Call all your senators and congress people and encourage them to help!
This is difficult to read. Thank you, Heather, for the warning. However it’s so important to spell out the details and make the connections within this tangled web.
Your interview with Jim Acosta ( link below) helps to define it further and I truly appreciate hearing your personal perspective of this topic. “…either you think that everyone should be treated fairly and be treated equally before the law, or you believe that some people are better than others and they get to rule…”. This is the crux of this moment!
The phrase "Everybody matters or nobody matters" is a personal credo of the fictional LAPD detective Harry Bosch created by Michael Connelly. This motto emphasizes Bosch's commitment to treating every victim with equal importance, regardless of their background or social status. It reflects his deep-seated belief that a justice system should apply equally to all individuals. (from Google),
But of course, the wealthy can usually buy there way out of consequences for criminal behavior. Just look at what happened to John Kraft when he was caught soliciting a prostitute.
My wife has often said, 'the opposite of justice is poverty."
Per HcR: NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Sherrilyn Ifill wrote: “They mean to be as insulting to Black people, as dismissive of our lives, as [resistant] to our status as full citizens in this country as they can be.”
The 77 million people who voted for Trump elected a profoundly racist president. On purpose.
Now that's a keeper. I have seen a good deal of abuse of poorer people I have known, in many different ways. Part of that is the failure of us as a society to sustain the values we have claimed, and part of that is the level of inequality in what is said to be the richest country in the world. The plutocrats are stealing our way of life, as well as posterity's future.
Fabulous analogy Gary ! Thanks for the appropriate and fitting 'walk back in time' - I had long ago filed that in my mental archives. That motto or credo is solid and should be the actual "American Way." Your wife is not far off in her observation; You only get as much justice as you can afford in this and past version of America, the transactional. Sadly...
Sadly, very sadly that is the absolute truth Gary, and as well a good measure of the truth throughout my life story, then and now as well. Sometime, perhaps I'll recount it. Then again, maybe I should do that in a substack of my own. I'd feel dreadful though if folks were compelled to pay to read such a tragic tale; So dreadful it would strain credibility I fear. Hell, it has strained my belief, and worse so, my ability to accept. Also, I would have deeply ingrained abhorrence to appear as "pissing and moaning" even though I would strictly recount facts in evidence. Oy vey....
I've been very fortunate to have never pissed off anyone enough to sue me and have always chosen to walk away from any lawsuits I could have filed.
I was falsely arrested going into a Kansas City Royals baseball game when I was 23 years old. At the time, the Royals and Yankees were the top two American League teams. While I was driving into the stadium I passed a slow moving school bus and signaled to pull in in front of the bus.
The Royals allowed police that volunteered to do traffic control to attend the games after the 1st inning, so there was about ten cops motioning me to either pull in to the lane as I wanted to or stay in my current lane. And half of them were doing each. Befuddled, I just stopped the car not knowing who to obey. One of the cops came up to my car and slammed his fist into the hood putting a dent in it. He ordered me out of the car and wrote me up for attempting to run over a police officer and resisting arrest. He really wanted to haul me in, but he wanted to see the game more so he just ticketed me.
It took four months to get the charges dropped and I had to pay an attorney around $1000 to get me off. And of course, I had to pay for the damage to my car.
I was bitter and terrified the entire four months.
After that, I chose to walk away from any legal battles save once when a large multi-national corporation tried to bankrupt my fledgling company. The Nebraska Attorney general came to the rescue and we kicked the ass of the multi-national corporation. And I'm sure, it didn't phase them one bit. Because that's what capitalism is all about in the US. Build a company so big that you can litigate them out of existence or buy up your competition.
!!! .. O_M_G_ That was one soul shaking experience ! How fortunate though that you had an Atty. General committed to justice for people, citizens - as opposed committed "to the business, of the business, for the business." I am in no way anti-business / anti-commerce. But I do believe they have their own 'lane' and have to be leashed to stay in it.
“…either you think that everyone should be treated fairly and be treated equally before the law, or you believe that some people are better than others and they get to rule…”.
People can voluntarily decide to live in their delusions. But right now that decision is squarely on the heads of the left, and their needless hate as this country continues to rise out of the ashes of the last administrations reckless abandonment of our borders.
Judith, the only way you’ll end them other than the three failed assassination attempts is to offer the American people an agenda that works. …. Which unfortunately for the left does not understand that that’s exactly what Trump did and that’s why he was. RE ELECTED.
Too bad there isn't a hysterical laugh emoji I could use here. "But right now that decision is squarely on the heads of the LEFT." Are you a bot? Were you in a locked ward from 2020 to 2024? That's it for me.
everything is clicking here Judith stock market hitting Records after Records tariffs bringing in 100 billion low gas prices low inflation border is closed Iran’s nukes probably dead three cease fires OBBB and $9 billion bills. Nato wins…America is winning again. 190 billion fraud waste and abuse.
I agree completely with you ratings. Do not matter. Results matter and if you really think that, that’s what people here are looking at then you’re fooling yourself. They could care less how well this country is doing how successful all the policies that are coming out of the White House are performing; the status of the economy? Mostly they care about having lost power. And one major left wing pundit was on TV today saying the same thing that Carville, and maher and Cuban are saying the only policy the left has right now is hate Trump and that policy will not win.
But people here refuse to look at the successes and rather look at a history book or the epstein file in this case, which is really rich because Joe Biden had the Epstein file in the White House in his hand on January 2024, and didn’t release anything. And if there was anything there specially against Trump, they would’ve released it to prevent to becoming president.
What success, Rick? 90 trade deals in 90 days? Ending the Ukraine war on his first day in office? Lowering prices on his first day in office? As for Epstein, you have Trump's own words that he was "a terrific guy". You also conveniently forget that a New York jury has found that Trump sexually assaulted E. Jean Carroll and then defamed her by denying it; and that Trump has was also indicted and convicted of falsifying business records to conceal a hush money payment to a porn star. None of these things are made up by his opponents - they're all on him. You can't accept that you have voted for and continue to support a deeply immoral man and a convicted fraudster. The more fool you.
Oh yeah. I was pretty sure you just forgot a zero there. So many comments going on during their discussion it was hard to keep up with how many people were watching too.
Coverups and impunity for the elite has been an ongoing theme in our country for decades. It’s time to expose it, make it front page news, condemn it and demand a change. The people need to hear about it. I know this is NOT the America “we the people” want, no matter which party you belong to. Thank you, Heather.
I believe that too Paige; Call me naive if one cares to, but I believe 'most' people are good. Now, some are also deluded / fooled; but that's another story.
I remember a time when people of differing opinions could discuss things and find common ground and come to an agreement that satisfied most everyone. The divisive political environment we’re in now was created in the last 30 years and is not conducive to democracy or the welfare of the citizens of the US. What has happened to common decency and respect for others’ opinions? We have to stop attacking each other, realize that all of us (except maybe wealthy corporations and elitists) want the same things in general. We may disagree on the best way to do things, but most of the time, we all want the same outcomes. If we find common ground and work together to achieve what we all want, we all win. Those of us that have been “deluded/fooled” believed a liar and he has used them. If they are finally able to see the cult of Trump for what it is, and turn away from it, we should welcome them. Maybe then we can start to work together again, hearing and respecting all sides, and solve things in a democratic way.
Brava Paige ! We are of mostly the same mind here, you and I. You won't read a cross word from me aimed in your direction. I've not chatted with you before that I recall, so I'm wondering how long you've followed HCR. That's not so important though. It is important to know that we do have a few trolls in here that are either compensated or hopelessly deluded, and hang out in here to stir controversy; They may attack you and others for honesty and honor. I and most will not. I hope you learn a lot here; I have, from HCR 'and' some of the brilliant good folks who find community here.
It’s an awful moment indeed. A cult founded on abuse, cruelty, incompetence, ginned-up outrage for the cameras.
There is politics, but there is also survival. The cult itself is like an abused and battered spouse, and not for the first time. I resort to metaphor to sum up the social and psychological part of all this: when will she find the self-respect to leave her vile, abusive spouse? How can we help her do that?
FYI for folks. As a retired clinical therapist trained and in depth experience with sexual abuse there are many things most folks are not aware of or information forgotten .
And if you have any anxiety stop here or come back later. Mint sense we all have been abused in some way if you include cat calls and sky comments and slaps on the behind with a towel.
Many offenders use pets or animals to keep the victim in line. See the tv film Muffin Man. Many offenders start early abd are more than likely survivors of some sort of abuse. Many have radar skills in picking out vulnerable people. Many use people as tools.
Many are addicted in their thinking processes and the excitement comes the thrill of the hunt. And therefore why it is cyclic abd many more victims than ever come out. Many use offenders use vulnerable populations. So someone you think k oh how wonderful no like Jean Vanier . Others one just gets that creepy feel.All sorts and it takes a very extensive evaluation and assessment . David Finkelhor did old great work along with a researcher called Samenow.
All if this runs through history. Each time period had its own knots abd tangles and switchboards. Snd again I think we have had as a human civilization along extended type / kind of toddlerhood abd telling the truths abd seeing all of the pieces will give us a complete puzzle that we can use as a road map fur better for all. I get impatient but still I have hope truth will continue to climb out if all her wells.
So an interview with a seemingly worthless, biased human being… that’s what you’re interested in. Sometimes the people here, waste so much time with minutia that they forget the big picture.
What is the value with this story? That is what I want to know…
This is the reason that your strongest leftist supporters and current critics like Bill Maher , Mark Cuban, and James Carville tell you that the only agendas that the left has right now is hate Trump and that is not going to win elections. Which should be the focus of all your goals. You might want to listen to their input
The sex trafficking of school girls (I think around 1000) to wealthy and powerful men that the authorities weren't even prepared to deal with seriously in the beginning isnt a story of value??? I'd say that's a story of extreme violence and corruption at the very least. That Trump's devotees aren't capable of recognising that says an awful lot.
I wonder where this leaves the newish, bro, libertarian Trump supporters who are feeling as though they were treated like mugs? Peeling off to Musk's new party should he get it off the ground?
And, where does a new far right party leave Vance, the darling of the technology feudalism billionaires? Perhaps with another political option?
With all these forces swirling around, we might yet get to the bottom of this tragedy. I certainly hope so. The victims deserve justice, and the political stripes of the vicious perpetrators matters not one jot.
Thank you Heather for a fact filled, up to date, fully referenced summary of the Trump - Epstein debacle. We the people can’t possibly thank you enough for all you are and have done. Please stay safe. Your country needs you now more than ever.
I think we can best characterize DJT’s, and others’, involvement in the Epstein Affair by using the proper terms. Under age girls are children, and should be referred to as such at all times. People who seek to have sex with children are pedophiles. People who secure children for pedophiles aid and abet pedophilia and are guilty as the pedophiles.
It is becoming more and more apparent that the President of the United States is a pedophile who had sex with children multiple times. The more desperately he tries to hide the facts, the more apparent they become.
Let this be the stake in his heart that finally kills him.
Will justice ever be served? Will those who aided and abetted Epstein and Maxwells trafficking and abuse finally be prosecuted? I just want justice, resolution and peace for the victims. For women like Victoria Giuffre it is too late. Lost in the noise is one more sexual abuse survivor killing herself. And if this shitshow is what it takes to turn MAGA on itself and give Trump a stroke, bring it on.
That’s the question or questions isn’t it? I think we all agree on these truth- Sexual abuse of minors and trafficking of another human for the sexual enjoyment of another is abhorrent. I think it is so abhorrent that a natural human response is to turn a blind eye and not want to deal with it. The last 50 years has given us the evidence for what works in response and recovery for victims. We have all the laws on the books we need to indict and prosecute the predators. In the 1980’s my sister, a social worker, worked at and wrote the grants to fund a rape crisis center in my community and personally worked with sexually abused children. Her husband toured the country in The Bubalonian Encounter, a theater program for elementary school age kids that taught good touch and bad touch. 40 years later we should be better at understanding how to work with the criminal and the victim. Sexual predation is a human problem, not an elite problem of wealth. Epstein clients and those who aided and abetted his crimes should not be separated out from any Joe blow or Jane doe in mid America. These crimes are heinous and occur across the entire socio-economic strata of humanity.
Well, I’m sure you might not agree, but justice is being served as we speak. In fact, now there’s an open investigation into the Russia hoax, and how that happened doesn’t look pretty
It's not an 'open' investigation in any sense of either word, Rick. It's a partisan report released by a corrupt Director of the CIA that actually introduces no new facts or changes any of the existing facts.
In my opinion, you’re quite a slow learner. Hate, doesn’t win elections and if Trump dies prematurely then Vance will take over and if he does a good job, he may remain another eight years in the White House. How about that? On the other hand, it’s pretty UnAmerican tuition American president to die. especially because he’s doing such a great job running the country right now.
Rick- Honestly, I don’t know you from Adam. I did not write Trump should die. I am not a person who hates. The reality of Trump is that he is a stroke or heart attack waiting to happen. Remember the midnight physical he had in his first presidency? Physical my ass. He had anxiety or some sort of mental exhaustion because he can’t handle the job. He walked out of Walter Reed looking like he had started benzodiazapenes or at least some antianxiety pills. He can’t handle pressure and this latest round of MAGA loosing its mind may be too much. That’s the reality. And what the heck with calling me a slow learner? Seriously, that is rude.
Actually, the ailment that he has is quite common. Especially one who is standing much of the day and doesn’t raise his ankles above his heart to allow the circulation to flow easier back to the heart. Many aging people have swollen ankles, but it is not an indication necessarily of a heart problem.
In many cases, all you need to do is sit in a chair with a foot rest, and raise it up level, and the swelling will subside a bit. I’m not sure that you’re aware of trumps activity level but Joe Biden, J 14 press conferences in four years and Trump has given 14 in 15 days… he even gives one on his plane in between destinations, whereas Karine Jean Pierre a.k.a. the notebook lady, with an empty notebook, gave no answers to questions that were asked, and Trump answers them directly himself versus a interpreter lol which was in great need during the Biden mental decline. There was a T-shirt going around
That said Biden speech decoder rings now available.
President Trump has the greatest winning month of any president in recent history and if you’re too obtuse or ignorant to realize that I feel sorry for you
Between closing the border between all the criminal element being shipped out of the country being the supreme court rulings one after another in his favor being the OBBB being the $9 billion bill that just puts pending for the left wing PBS and NPR it’s been an incredible winning month including the stock market including inflation including the billions of cat terrorist dollars, flowing into the country, which actually created, which is even hard for me to believe the first budget surplus in 20 years for the month of June. He arranged for three cease-fires he arranged for a NATO group to increase their contribution to the wrong defense by 3% over the next decade, and even got them to buy American weapons to protect themselves against Russian incursion. And by the way, the NATO group now calls him daddy.
Well, that might change rapidly that’s a pretty interesting indicator.
He can’t handle pressure, huh? Wowowowow. That’s all he does
He handled an assassination attempt, A nightmare of protracted made up court cases… and works 14 to 18 hours a day.
Oh, and did, I mention he bombed Iran, and took away their nuclear potential which the world applauded. Further stated that if they were found to be developing more or had hit some of their enriched uranium, that he would just simply do it again immediately.
If I am correct, does that still make me rude about you being a slow learner
I actually have. But thanks for your encouragement. I've read some of it in depth...beyond the facile. However, it's not policy as much as plain old embarrassment at how this country perceives itself. I voted for Republicans for president all of my life until the MAGA crowd decided to make this nation a laughing stock of the developed world. The soul of the nation matters. And it has rotted from within since the GOP decided to make tRump its emperor and god.
Well, no one can deny that you don’t have a good sense of humor
I’d like to know who you think is laughing? NO ONE. But feel free to weigh in on that comment and I can list you almost every single country in the world is now at his beck and call, including NATO, who recently called him, daddy for getting the countries there too, add a larger contribution of their GDP to national defense because of Russian incursion. And his dictum of peace through strength, and the destruction of Iran’s nuclear capabilities demonstrated how far he will go to protect the world from a nuclear Iran. And before you go questioning the success of that strike, he said that if it was found out that it wasn’t successful or that Iran was indeed hiding enriched uranium, he would do it again in a heartbeat.
BTW, He is neither a God nor emperor . But, let me tell you who he is: he was the overwhelming winner of the DEMOCRATIC nationally held election on Nov 5. HE won the popular vote of those that voted…he swamped the vote in the electoral college. He managed to keep both houses of Congress which has happened only five times in our history. He is only the second president ever to be elected in alternate terms. And the reason I bring that up is you have to do your old self assessment as to why that happened which to most people who voted for him know exactly why that happened. Further 85%Of EVERY county in America became redder than the previous election (including the liberal bastions of NY AND CALIFORNIA). in fact, if you have the courage to look at a national map by-county of the voting, the map is red from Coast To Coast with small blotches of blue along each coast and a small rash in the middle He also swept every battleground state/swing state. And let me dispute your assertion about the “ Maga” crowd… he also received a higher percentage of labor, black, Hispanic and Asian vote than before and stole it from the Democrats. His victory was total and complete.
The soul of the nation matters in certain aspects and to the people that voted for him they are thrilled with the soul of this nation right now and it’s direction and successes YTD in only six brief months
Perhaps you'll be confirmed to replace Leavitt. I don't know. But I think you are mostly about pro-tRump propaganda. The U.S. is the laughing stock of the civilized world. Feel free to spend all the time you want cutting and pasting tidbits and talking points from the White House Press Office, 'though. Everyone needs to make a living. And you are certainly the first person I've met who knows all "the people that voted for him [that] are thrilled with the soul of the nation...and it's direction." Impressive social network, pal!
Jeffrey lets the girls see a penis for the first time. He and Ghislaine teach them to fondle and suck. Donald, Harvey Weinstein, Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak, British royal Prince Andrew, Alan Dershowitz, and the most elite lawyers, bankers, and Congressmen all in congress with naked youth.
What do American, Brit, and Israeli elites have to do to deserve this paradise?
First, go to elite schools. Where morality plays no role, where humanities, if they exist at all are but decorative. Where all learn people are commodities.
Paradise? Nine, ten-year-old naked girls scampering, vaginas flashing. 14, 15-year-olds topless on the laps of middle-aged men. Large beds indoors and on his airplane for groups.
The girls, years later, still cannot talk about this. So for more, go to an artist. To Nabokov. “Lolita.” About two-thirds in she is just a year or two older, and only beginning to feel the loss of girl innocence, the much worse anti-social gnawing. Nabokov gauges the black holes that await such victims – in ways our elites who play, play, play never will see.
(Note: the above based on “Jeffrey Epstein, Donald Trump, and Sexual Blackmail Networks”: Nick Bryant interviewed on The Chris Hedges Report, July 18, 2025)
These are violent crimes committed by wealthy and powerful people that have never suffered any consequences for their actions. They call it sexual assault because there is a victim or in many cases - victims.
Thanks Phil. It is important to keep it real. The wounding life destroying violence against who have been wronged, whether it be Breonna and her family or the thousands of boys and girls cynically groomed and used and then publically victim shamed if they tried to gain some modicum of recognition of these crimes, let alone justice. As a survivor as yet to take The Roman Way Out, with no backward judgement on those who do choose this redemptive closure of the suffering, my feelings are best expressed by the writer John Wyndham: I’ve done nothing to be ashamed of. I am not ashamed - I am only beaten (The Chrysalids 1955).
More than a thousand girls trafficked in a 20-or-30 year period, Apache.
Many of them serviced many -- too many -- of our most unconscionably rich, powerful, and cynical. So many have held themselves above the law, above and beyond human decency. That's the kind of America we became as we let the bastards offshore the millions of jobs for real hurt to millions, to their communities, and more hurt owing to the unspeakable wealth gap the rich have more-more-more grabbed for themselves.
That's the kind of America we became, too, as we let the standardized testing bastards dehumanize, ruin the schools.
It's been a syndrome promoting the living dead.
Getting above and beyond the law made so many so depraved as to what they could do to these girls. No consciences. Maybe some shame -- which means they can do more deliberate damage if more of their names become public.
Hello Phil.... Thanks for your Thoughts... This is Dark... American Society has devolved with the Rise of Materialism which is the Worship of $$$, and Fame... Contrast Jimmy Carter, with DJT...
Phil, as a graduate of an elite women’s college I take umbrage at your characterization of elite schools: “First, go to elite schools. Where morality plays no role, where humanities, if they exist at all are but decorative. Where all learn people are commodities.”
Your very broad brush does not align with my four years of experience.
The men's Ivy League has a more sordid history, Sara.
Too many of its grads back in the 1930s directly invested their banks and corporations in Hitler's Waffen SS industries then.
That was then, yes. But now look how the criminal in the White House (also an Ivy League grad -- Wharton, from Penn.) has so easily induced pay-to-play multi-million-dollar bribes from also-Ivy-led social media, elite law, Clarence court, and legacy media.
I don’t doubt what you say, but I also knew or knew of a number of Harvard men who became professors, ministers, and medical researchers who did not turn toward Hitler. I’m just pointing out that sometimes generalizations can be a bit too general.
Sometimes, too, Sara, genocides can be a bit too widespread.
Especially when so many Ivy League elites invested in them.
Similar types who invested time in the children Jeffrey Epstein was making available disproportionally so to so many current Ivy League and other elites?
Epstein is dead. President Trump is compromised. Dozens of powerful men may be involved. Getting the names may be fun. Statutes of limitations and more information on Epstein’s death may be important. Otherwise MAGA seeing the truth behind its favorite conspiracy theory would be the point. But they would blame the Democrats for revealing the truth. None of this may happen or all of it. In the meantime healthcare and food supplies all over the world and environmental practices to avert climate change have been decimated and the American government pillaged to hide the increase in the federal debt. Vote Blue.
What is wrong with you people if Trump was compromised and Biden had the epstein filed for four years in his hands in the White House and did nothing with it. Would you please explain that to me.
Sure. Biden is a true American patriot, not a sewer rat like Trump. Biden thinks running the government is a serious business. Trump thinks is a TV show.
Biden is non-compos mentís. And has been ever since probably 2019 with his first comment about we’ve defeated Medicare. While the audience’s jaw dropped and began laughing.
And they’re finding out a lot more about his mental stability or lack of it in their investigation of the auto pen and the people close to him who know nothing about his decline. Lmao.
Like I said, they plead the fifth when pleading the fifth only protects them if they don’t tell the truth it it does not affect them personally at all it affects the people they tell the truth about. And one by one we find that Joe Biden lived in a room all by himself with no communication from anyone either way in or out. Omg.
Let me see if I can find it by using a quote/meme in a comic online the other day. One thing I keep telling you I’m not interested in Trump and I’m not supporting Trump per se. I am supporting the policies that has been. coming out of his pen and approved by Congress and the Democratic procedure
What does comic illustration showed was this: It showed that woman in the stocking cap screaming, although there was no audio, but you know the picture probably she was screaming the day Trump was elected. She was like the poster child for the left this believe in Trump’s election.
And the caption was this: stop screaming you little bitches. Donald Trump is your President. That was the cartoon that represents my quasi answer comment.
And for comical historical with the left,they become overly hypocritical, and have a double standard that’s even worse. than how they come up with the statements like this really defies credulity in many cases see if I can help you here briefly with one sentence
Did you find Bill Clinton to be a lecherous lout… having actual sex with a barely 18-year-old aid, while married, and doing it in the White House, and then lying about it, Underoath. What’s that saying about glass houses?
Let me explain what the liberals do with the term. “What about autism”? It’s ok for them to bring facts such as the sexual predator in the White House and somebody else mentions the name of any liberal leader that was demonstrating the exact behavior or worse behavior …. you go about calling it what about ism. So what aboutism translates into nothing more than this BIG FAT DENIAL.
And it doesn’t happen only about this one off issue. It happens about so many things where the liberals wanna bring up something only to find out that their Biden- like memory had disappeared….oooops.
Like when they claimed that Trump was putting children in cages, when in fact, it was Obama that built the cages and put the children there not Trump
It’s like when they blame Trump for cutting budgets of the most needy until they remember only when reminded that Clinton and Obama made the same cuts and deported more people without due process than Trump And how does that Stephen Bishop song go on and on on and on and on and on …
Once again, further illustration of willful ignorance ..
Clinton hasn't been president for over 25 years, not defending him but Monica Lewinsky was 22 years old at that time. Which is just prior to the times Epstein and Trump were hanging out and doing whatever those files have in them.
Well, Jorge, you guys are supposed to be big on history you bring up slavery all the time you bring up wars in Vietnam or Afghanistan or in Ukraine all the time, but as soon as someone brings up the exact same set of events that you to be solely by Trump while worse events happened by democrat leaders, and actually by both parties many times. Hypocrisy and double standards.
Have you ever been in business Jorge? You might find that if you as a manager have an affair with an employee you’ll find that would be very easily that the manager would be fired for doing that. There are governmental laws against behavior like that. But apparently not in your world. A soft way to label. It is a violation of professional ethics, and grounds for termination. And funny acronym was dipping your pen in the company ink well… was an old-fashioned way to say that. And it often reeks of sexual harassment and using the power of the boss to persuade “” the employee to enter into such a perhaps non-consensual agreement to remain employed.
It is also referred to at times as a hostile work environment.
And you forgive him for having this relationship actually in our national House Of worship. The White House itself.
Biden is the reason that this country is suffering horribly right now if not for his total ignorance and opening up the border, which by the way, he now regrets not to mention the cover-up by continually saying the border is secure, which is one of the reasons that caused him to not run and lose an election for the Democrats…. And , I am never anti-anything by name I am anti-everything by policy. So if the policy sucked, and if they’re the people that wrote the policy and delivered the policy that indeed they are the culprits.
You won’t admit it, but Biden is arguably the second worst president in America in our lifetime. And so not to have you think that I am partisan. I think both bushes were also horrible other than bush the younger at least loved this country, and demonstrated that with the 911 response which was seen by many and was the reason for his dominating victory for his second term. But he was pretty dumb. We should’ve never been in Iraq
Let me name one other thing Nancy that I think you’ll really get a kick out of
Many of you ultra compassionate souls were OK with Biden giving Ukraine 100 billion dollars of humanitarian aid.
Yahoo! news put out a story recently that suggested that for $20 billion a year you could eliminate completely eradicate homelessness in the United States instead, just like the people who prefer to protect illegal immigrants versus American citizens, if we had not sent that money to Ukraine and ignored the horrible homelessness conditions in many of our major cities, we could’ve resolved that problem and figure it out a way in the meantime to stop it from persisting but instead liberal idealists are so thrilled that we helped Ukraine with humanitarian aid instead of helping the United States with humanitarian aid for our own citizens totally displaced common sense
If people in power really wanted to end homelessness - and solve any of the many other problems that should not exist in any country, especially ours - it would already have happened. And money for Ukraine would still be available. I regret engaging with you again. I'll try to not do it again.
See that’s the problem with you, delusionists Nancy. No there wouldn’t be enough money to go around. We’re already 37 tree and debt.
It’s simple math Nancy if we had $100 billion and we didn’t send it to Ukraine and Congress decided we could extricate everyone from homelessness in this country for 20 billion and put the other 80 billion in the bank to earn interest. There would be heavy consideration for that.
It would certainly get my vote. And even your comment about things that would’ve already happened. There are many things that could’ve happened if there wasn’t so much divisiveness. The last president that was would’ve been able to do this is Bill Clinton and why because he worked with newt Gingrich..across the aisle to solve as many problems as possible for America to put America first even though he deported 400,000 people and fired nearly a half 1 million with no protest by the left lol. There has been so much hate since , First created by none of them than Barack Hussein Obama, a shadow racist?
So please explain to me Elizabeth exactly how he did that since he’s only been in office six months. And actually, he’s done more good for this country than any president ever has in six months.
I don’t love any nutcase. I love the current president who is democratically elected, and whose policies are saving this country and by the way it’s not your country it’s our country plural.
Well, other than the fact that the show is costing $130 million to produce, has 200 staff members …. including paying Colbert $15 million and losing net $40 million. And they’re not canceling Colbert they’re canceling the show entirely, and it will not be available anymore to anyone else. It’s a losing proposition. Perhaps as a business person, you might understand that. You might wanna try that Avenue of truth
And you are privey to CBS's financials? How about the Redstone settlement? Where did that come from?
The "avenue of of truth" I'll try is that guys like you knowingly put a lying, sexual predator in the White House; the greatest embarrassment to America in our history.
No, but I am privy to life and reality unlike many hear who are theorist and idealists. Many of them, love to try to predict the future and are usually incorrect. If I had to name this particular thread on sub stack, I would name it willful ignorance. Which is pretty sad since there are many highly educated sophisticates here. But as I’ve said before, too many people, there is a big difference between classroom, education and practical education. There is a big difference between reading history and using links to educate yourself or others and being out there actually doing the work that you’re trying to analyze. There are many people that are making many conclusions about the so-called Redstone settlement. Take your pick… I believe that was an negotiation, and apparently the parent company decided that that better result would come from this negotiation and therefore settled it accordingly
The plaintiff had a validated reason to file the suit in the first place, and if you know exactly what happened you would understand that that the network decided to protect Kamala Harris from embarrassment that they determine negatively impact her ability to win an election. You also should evaluate how the hell she got there in the first place.
In other words, theorists/idealist versus practical application in the real world
The numbers are out there relating to the financial status and cost of the Colbert show. I’m pretty sure you know how to Google. but many of you not only don’t wanna know what the numbers are but refuse to see them
And now I will respond to your second little paragraph there. I have this saying that I found years ago that seems to apply more and more each day to the liberal horde…. Liberals live at the intersection of hypocrisy and double standard and continue to prove that premise and illustrate and exemplify it all the time.
Does the name Bill Clinton ring a bell? Not only what you describe above, although I loved him as president, but also one that actually lied under oath.
Bonnie, I have my own cabinet. And at one point in my business life was the chairman of one of the largest companies in the world with a $500 million annual ad advertising budget under our complete control along with our board
And found great success in that endeavor. There are actually college courses regarding the advertising success that we accomplished.
I am not a political animal actually just the opposite I have been an independent voter independent registered voter for about 45 years
I never vote by party. I vote by policy. Because the shingle changes in the White House pretty frequently, but the only thing that remains, and that most people should really concern themselves with are the policies that impact Americans. Keeping in mind that you can’t please all the people all the time.
Two of my favorite presidents are Democrats and two are Republicans and only because of their policies nothing more.
I thought Colbert looked pretty relaxed and ready to rip. I love his humor but loved his show on Comedy Central more ...I hope he and Stewart have great time together with whatever they might or might not plan for the future. I will be greatful to both of them for standing up to power for the last 25 yrs.
Nancy feel free to look it up and that’s what I keep telling you guys the numbers are out there, but they don’t put them out for you to hear or for you to examine and nobody here wants to be curious about literally anything that’s negatively impact their life or their political views or biases
Simply google it, but it’s pretty available information.
From what I recall of the numbers, the show cost the network about 130 million of which 15 million goes to Colbert as I understand what I’ve read they have 200 people on staff and it’s ratings have been dwindling over the years and one of the other reasons it’s pretty simple to determine
Successful programs don’t get canceled… however those with negative financial implications are much easier to evaluate
And to prove my point about the left refusal to look at all the facts all I did was type in what are the financial implications of Colbert’s show
And this is the answer I got and it seems to have come from CBS itself
And that’s why more recently I’ve been referring to this thread as willful ignorance. Which is really a shame for as many, very intelligent people that are here.
You are correct about the cost and the impending death of shows such as Late Night. As you probably know - because you are the expert in all things - the internet shreds everything it touches. How lucky for CBS to be able to stop bleeding money, end the late night concept before it became unsustainable and please trump at the same time.
By the way, I’m curious as to why so many posters here say that they liked a comment when they really didn’t like the comment.. is that because they think if they don’t say they like the comment that the person wont read it? Rather silly in my estimation, but I was just curious
I think theIR $40 million loss was more important than their pleasing Trump. CBS has done anything but try to please Trump.
You have to admit that late night TV used to be a universally popular event… but in this particular case, it became overly political ostracizing potential viewers as well as advertising providers
I can’t resist. You are not the expert I thought you were - and you think you are. You are totally mistaken about the demise of late night TV. What pleasure it gives me to say that to you. Rant on.
Want to vote today? Don’t open your wallet—close it.
Turn off CBS. Skip that Skydance blockbuster. Pass on Paramount+.
Why? Because these companies are backing Trump’s agenda—and our silence is their green light.
Let’s make this a force-multiplier moment. When we act together—right now, while this issue is hot—we send a message louder than any poll: We don’t support corporations that bankroll authoritarianism.
We’ve seen the power of boycotts before. Just ask Tesla. When people walk away en masse, companies pay attention.
This is what democracy looks like.
Not just at the ballot box—but in every dollar we don’t spend.
Yea, I had a moment with that and the beginning of the season for Star Trek. It resolved with my choice for the bigger picture.
As James points out, it part of the cable package which also supports Fox News.
At some point if you keep going back you will see that everything is connected to everything else. There are no clean lines you can draw. There aren’t. Don’t waste your time over thinking it. There are more impactful things you can do.
So it comes back to choosing your actions and being responsible for their impact.
Paramount isn't something I can remove from the basic cable package I have, so I'll watch Colbert and avoid the rest of CBS (that won't be difficult). C-SPAN and PBS are most of what I watch now anyway. And "Law & Order" episodes, which remain relevant these many years on. Minnow was right - the vast wasteland has few sights worth seeing.
Yes, CSpan and PBS better than others, but repubs have tried to kill PBS for decades. Still beats 10+ minutes of ads for 30 minute show. Commercial TV is COMMERCIAL TV.
I vote watch Colbert every night that he is on, and even during the reruns. It will be interesting because he does not have to soft-foot any of his comments from this point. He (Colbert) has nothing to lose.
He is my sanity. Seth Myers does a great job too. Other comedians have been warned. Expect other critics to disappear from view. Hope other venues open up. Surely all the money is not evil. I have loved CBS Sunday Morning and 60 Minutes, even after Karl Rove got rid of Dan (my view). But what is left that can be trusted. Hope CBS goes belly up, but maybe wrestling is in the cards. Puke. Also, the sellout by Bill Maher was a blow, John Oliver still a fav, for now.
Being a sleepy head, I watch on Paramount+ at the moment. Wonder if HBO might let Colbert and any other comedian have a spot. I get John Oliver on that. Seems that CBS owns Comedy Central, so guess that will bite it too.
Personal scandal of the politically powerful often does drive heads of state from office. But it also distracts the people from even worse offenses. You were right to focus on the DOJ effort to diminish the sentence of a police officer found guilty of reckless use of his weapon.
Yet there are so many more morally worse offenses done in our name by the Trump regime. We supply the weapons that the IDF uses to slaughter innocent Gazans every day. We stand by the ethnic cleansing of the West Bank, the seizure of Palestinian homes and properties. Then too there is the Ukraine War, the cutoff of food and medical supplies to the poorest of the poor in Africa. All these evils are done in our names by our criminal regime.
And this list of evils goes on domestically. Thousands of hardworking, dedicated civil servants are jobless tonight — engineers, meteorologists, physicians, health scientists, etc. Their decades of service is dismissed as waste. These families are tossed into poverty, with kids in school, mortgages to pay, disrespected and facing homelessness.
May God forgive us for the evils done in our name by this immoral regime, evils that go well beyond the personal sexual villainy of Donald Trump.
I agree with your list, with one exception: the war in Ukraine. War is evil, but this is a war against evil. We are in the right to fight it. Slava Ukraini!
One of the things about our war was the opaqueness of the windows through which the evil hid in the villages. The nights of terror. Trying to cast an opaqueness over the windows of Ukraine now attempting to change the narrative. “but this is a war against evil.” Yes.
I agree with you certainly about the moral necessity of saving Ukraine. Trump has extorted Ukraine support at the price of mining rights of rare earths. He remains reluctant to break with Putin.
All you list is true and hideous. However, our legislative branch hasn’t been doing its job for years and the Judicial branch is compromised. So, if it takes a sex scandal to bring this executive branch down, I’ll take it with gratitude.
He won't go to jail or even trial. If he resigns Vance will pardon him. I was always more concerned for the world and democracy not whether DJT went to jail, even if he should have. Nobody will visit him in Mar-A-Lago. Memberships will be dropped at all his clubs, the middle east will drop their agreements. He will die a lonely poor man in or out of jail now.
You are correct Martha Woods. He will go to Hotel Trumslyvania where he will cry out uselessly I am Quasimodo I am not a monster, I am not a monster. I am so misunderstood. Pray for me Argentina.
I suspect there will be a small group of R's hoping they don't pull the short straw for taking the long walk to the WH and to telling him that he must resign or face being removed. I'm sure they can find a crime....and those responsible for the cover up will throw him under the bus ...a la Watergate.
But, how to fight cruelty in others without being cruel ourselves? That is the beginning of true democracy - equal protection under the law. Without that, it's just chaos and everyone out for themselves and might makes right. We are devolving. And destroying the only known home in the universe. Many times I have thought the human race is just too evil to survive anymore.
Take away every one’s shoes. Walk barefoot again. Feel the earth. Understand the shards of broken glass and the burning asphalt. Go look at the wheel tracks of the immigrants crossing the Great Plains. As a child I wondered where they came from and where they went. Abandoned in sagebrush and cactus and lonely decaying buffalo skulls waiting silently in disuse where beings human no longer trudged. First they crossed the water and then the continent these beings human. And nowadays they come from all directions seeking a home amongst human beings. To be human to have a precious share of equal protection under the law. To Linda’s nation to be a part of her dream of equality and freedom American style. We can we must and we will.
If you’re still concerned with the epstein papers, perhaps you forgot that the Democrats in the White House had the epstein file on their desk for four years (since Jan 2024) and did nothing with it so you might want to question the reason they didn’t. They sure might’ve used it to keep Trump out of the White House if there was anything there
But I know Pat hate overrides reason in some cases
The Epstein case was closed during Trump's first term, you jackass. Trump and his supporters were happy to throw out all kinds of malicious and false allegations about the Epstein files and Democrats and now it's all come back to bite him in his fat arse.
Merrick Garland was a disappointment and lackluster AG, the Epstein case wasn't just sitting on a desk for Democrats to seize upon. Let there be more investigations and Congressional hearings, let justice be done for the sexual assaults and crimes committed against all these women who were only barely teenagers at the time.
Jorge in my opinion that was an extremely ignorant comment. Do you not think that Joe Biden saw that Merrick Garland has the documents? Do you not know that everybody in the White House and their staff AND THE PUBLIC KNEW WHERE THE DOCIMENTS/FILES WERE. WE ALL knew the documents were there? In fact, it was pressure from the Republicans and from the Citizen to release the information… and the suspicion back then was they’re not releasing it, because there are a number of Highly placed Democrats and others more famous people that would be exposed Merrick Garland was anything but lazy and frankly Merrick Garland apparently as of today I think is now under investigation for some other shenanigans as I understand it. Merrick Garland was venting all his venom back to the Republicans for not allowing his place on the Supreme Court and his vengeful career will be indeed revenged I believe.
I’m not at all concerned with the papers, rather with the fates of those who performed the deeds of Epsteinian proportion and yet may be brought to justice. I recognize a new edition to the American lexicon.
Trump is forum shopping looking for a friendly Florida Judge for his "talking complaint" against Rupert Murdoch, WSJ et al filing an 18 page ramble-on in the Southern District of Florida:
Case No. 1:25-cv-23232 -xxxx.
Under the Federal Rules Civil Procedure (FRCP) & The Federal Rules of Evidence (FRE), Murdoch's counsel (already hired & on the case) has many avenues for a powerful counter attack.
It went great for him in New York. He was able to illustrate personally the unbridled bias and Lawfare of New York, and its legal officials if you want to call them that It actually illustrated the unbelievable ridiculous survival of kangaroo courts in the 98% democrat precincts. 98% Juror selection process and an apparently compromised judge…
Smart people, people with brains, and level headed people that didn’t hate Trump know that if that trial was held anywhere, but in New York and California they would’ve dismissed it before they ever even called a jury pool.
But you might try to fathom THIS. everybody with a brain knew that all these cases were BS , AND were contrived to bring them back twisting the law and the statue of limitation’s. AND THATS ONE OF THE MORE SALIENT REASONS THAT 77 MILLION PEOPLE VOTED FOR A CONVICTED FELON. ooooops
Brian, this is also unimportant and I’m not sure that Trump is doing the right thing by suing Murdoch. Kind of dumb but he does some dumb things from time to time and puts his mouth where he shouldn’t IMP . I certainly don’t know what he has the gain by this
I expect counsel for the Defendants attacked by Trump's "ramble-on" pleadings to appear soon.
I wouldn't rule out a strategic cross-complaint appropriate to the local Florida Jury pool & the Defense counsel themes trial counsel wants to drive home LIVE in the courtroom.
Recall that AILEEN MERCEDES CANNON aka "Loose Cannon" is on that FL Bench.
Hey Bryan , aren’t you the same guy that was thrilled about a family member, brother I think, ..district or federal judge of a former long ago liberal supreme, maybe a few weeks maybe a month at the most that there was an appeal. There was a lawsuit by Newsome appealed to a brother of a former liberal supreme justice that was going to handle the appeal on the use of the Marines or federal troops. Or national guard ? How did that work out for you? Oooops
Wait till you see how this turns out it’s not gonna be pretty for Clinton, Obama, Biden, and Comey or Brennan or many others perhaps. Having to do with the steel dossier , the Russia hoax. Etc. be patient my dear, but it’s gonna be ugly for you. I’m guessing you haven’t seen the latest information and the investigation is just beginning.
And different than you and other close minded people here if it turns out that the information that’s been forthcoming recently about the effort to expose the credibility of a fake Russia involvement turns out to favor Obama Biden called me or Brennan. I’ll be right there with you, but it’s not looking that way right now.
Important: reread this and replace “underage girls” or “girls” or “younger side” with the word CHILDREN. Journalists unwittingly shield these alleged child rapists from distain with the words “underage girls.” Catholic priests didn’t rape “underage” boys. They raped children. This is the same. The language should be the same.
“Girls,” like in the Beastie Boys song, is commonly used to mean “adult women,” so the reporting doesn’t land as it should—with the vile reality we are talking about helpless, trusting children sexually abused by grown men.
Most of mainstream media still refers to 47's lies as untruths or flasehoods, when they call out any lies at all. They show their ownership and allegiance to fascist mafia state oligopolists.
As titillating and salacious as this is, the Epstein story is little more than a distraction to draw attention away from the horrible destruction these jackals are causing to the government of this nation!
Surely you agree this is a matter that deserves attention though? It could prove the death knell for the current President (hopefully) and is a massive turning point in the narrative MAGA has created. The QAnon conspiracies and Epstein saga helped deliver Trump to his second term, and justice for the women and girls involved is long overdue. I’m also struck by the abrupt turn by Rupert Murdoch and the WSJ fascinating, being one of the key figures in propping up Trump and the right wing movement. Even here in Australia Fox has had a disproportionate influence, brainwashing thousands and infecting our population like a virus. It’s all connected and shouldn’t be dismissed as a distraction.
I tend to agree. It is sometimes the case that it is the seemingly least significant crack in the facade that will bring the whole edifice crashing down.
I have high hopes that the supposedly benign "venous insufficiency" that turned up on Trump's recent exam will fill the same purpose.
HCR hits the nail on the head with what this administration is about. It is what this country was founded on, freedom for those who have dominion over others.
I am so glad that something finally broke the spell of MAGAs. I suspect that it is the scary actions on the part of the administration in terms of their health and financial well being that are the scariest. People are going to lose out big with this administration.
Trump has 3 funding priorities:
1) billionaires-- don't know how big their tax breaks, but will add 3-4 tril to our deficit.
2) the military-- budget up to 1 tril
3) ICE--their budget up from 8.7 mil to 780 bil
I highly recommend Dems getting together with willing Republicans and passing a bill that ends federal taxing and allows states taxing more to cover all services, since we are getting none from this administration.
Don't forget himself as a funding priority. And as to suing the Wall Street Journal, there's a principle that public figures can't be libeled. Certainly, in his case it's abundantly clear.
Yes, but that is less about our tax dollars, as much as him using the office to develop his family businesses, particularly this crypto currency scheme.
It seems that the overlords want to retire DT. I wonder about the timing. Sadly, Vance is as bad or worse.
Yes, Vance could be worse, whether by character and happenstance or by plan and design. Still, Trump must go down. We need to dismantle MAGA and the whole authoritarian movement one step and one brick at a time.
Apparently Vance does not have the charisma that Trump does, and MAGA won’t follow him nearly as much. I cannot see any of Trump’s charisma, but that’s what I’ve read.
At this point they don’t care all that much about the cult. They seized power and no longer require the consent of the governed.
That is the truth Anabel and very simply and clearly put. It would benifit us all to go back over the last week and listen again to Dr Richardsons videos. The review of Authoritarianism is a reminder of their desire to distract, confuse and continue to finish taking over the last of our democracy. While the shit show goes on and the media capitalizes on it we need to press our Democratic Representitives to increase the frequency and urgency of clearly explaining to the American people what has already been lost, through the Big Beautiful Disaster as well as everything else that has transpired in the last six months. It's signifigant that the POTUS is demonstrating serious cognitive as well as physical decline. The Musk Rat is not well put together either. The
SCOTUS has three incredibly brave Justices but the others are beyond incompetant, and we the people must keep our eye on the ball. Because all the balls are in the air right now and close observation is necessary. The Authoritarians seek to finish what they have started and are hoping all the confusion ans sensationalism will occupy us while they finish the job. It is imperative that we continue to call, write and speak out to our representitives as well as demonstrate. Now.
The emperor has no clothes. And what is being revealed metaphorically is the shit bag tittered to his leg. The golden question now that the fog has lifted and MAGets are dispersing like cockroaches from a flashlight, will he choose the easy way out via suicide or spend brief remaining moments in his castle hoarding the gold and demanding bucket after bucket of Kuntucky Fried Chicken.
After 6 months and then, three and one half more years of destruction of this once imperfect democracy. He was only the figurehead. This insidious poison that has manifested in our body politic for so long from the innocent days of Nixon (and before) through Reagan’s anti government slander to the Gingrichs and Bush era destruction now culminating in the final act. It’s no wonder and how predictive Ben Franklin’s admonishment to the woman passing by Constitution Hall asking what did they get to which he allegedly replied, “A republic if you can keep it.”
Even Rome burned.
My daily life consists of trying to buy local as much as possible. Staying away from factory foods filled with sweeteners that fatten one so we need to eat and buy more to satiate our ever growing appetites. Then take diet pills to lose weight how rediculas . I know have developed a taste for black coffee no additives. I’m frugal; I’m not a materialist and don’t surround myself with such. I reuse things. I even dump the vacuum cleaner bag out and reuse that as well. And no I’m not cheap I just don’t need to buy what others tell me I’m supposed to buy. I drive an old Toyota van because it’s only going to get smashed anyway and has already encountered a fender bender last year. I donate to good causes and one new one is public television. I serve nature as much as I can.
As despairing as I sound, I sense that the inevitability of the pendulum will shortly begin shifting back to some sense of decency.
“…Excuse me, while I kiss the sky.” Jimmie Hendrix.
I'm with you. I killed my Prime when my husband died. They did deliver needed supplies quickly. I did buy a 2011 Honda Pilot when I wrecked our 2010 Honda van on the way home from husband's funeral. I reuse and recycle almost everything. Hope daughter and grands notice. It took me a while, but now a vegetarian and hate that I waited so long. Donate to Parks, ACLU, PBS, Wildlife, and getting ready to ditch Paramount. The ads and commercialism are horrid and I never buy what is pushed ad nauseam. I read that unregulated capitalism is incompatible with democracy. I agree. Waiting for that pendulum to slow and reverse, but change is slow unless you are behind P2025.
Bill Katz, hi bro you sound like a depression era like me. No Prime trucks stop at my house.
Bill, I fear something a little worse: Trump giving Hegseth the order to call out the troops and circle the WH. I have a vision that the populace will soon surround the WH, Capital, and the Supreme Court building to insist on impeachment. At some point in time, the officers of our nation's military will have to make a choice as to who to represent. I see a future where Hegseth is toast. When that happens, Trump also will be toast. As for the rest, it will be up to Federal law enforcement to 'round up the usual suspects.
Your ascetic choices will bring better health, deeper pockets and a clean conscience. Bravo. May these harsh chapters inspire a wiser culture.
“A republic if you can keep it.” which requires unceasing, good -faith, collaborative effort. We get to differ, even quarrel, in a free society, so long as we collaboratively agree that some things should never be for sale, and some lines should not be crossed. The open secret hiding in plain sight is that we sustain freedom in any meaningful sense by respecting and guarding the rights of one another. That's the deal, and so called "Republicans" are treading on it. That's tyranny.
Ah, Jimmie. Sweet bird of youth (but the whole trip is well worth the taking). we never left Eden, if we could just restrain ourselves (our egos) from screwing it up.
Hi Bill, I'm with you on so much of this. I'm reusing everything I can, especially in my art, which is usually either a poke in the eye to the right wing or a tribute to the natural world those creeps are trying to destroy. I have pledged to buy as little as possible this summer and only from local stores. I'll be in a small town in Montana until after Labor Day, and I'm not going to journey to big box stores for anything. I swore off Amazon years ago.
I hope that the pendulum is about to swing the other way. What I'm not sure about is what will happen to that surprisingly (to me) large group of MAGAts. I, too, believe in reusing things, as does my husband. However, that does not apply to vacuum cleaner bags. We've got plenty of dust around here, so I don't need any more to make breathing more difficult.
How's this for saving the ecology a little bit. I walked by young girls selling lemonade to help the Texan flood victims. I was walking and had no money with me. When I got home, I grabbed a few dollars and my own cup so I didn't need to use theirs. I reuse the plastic bags I use to save my recycled bottles. Just little things.
Trump is not Crazy. He is evil. There is a difference. The very Republican SCOTUS members ("Justices" is not an accurate term) are all in to erase the last vestiges of democracy and cement the power structure of the oligarchs and whatever figure head they put in office.
And why? What's in it for the Supreme Court ... vengeance for Clarence Thomas's gifts having been revealed; Alito, when he and his wife flew this ridiculous flag and was called out for it? Every day the democrats need to read out loud the Declaration and Constitution......
I long ago stopped calling them "justices." I call them either Suprettes or SCOTUS benchwarmers.
Crazy and evil are not mutually exclusive.
Trump is "off" upstairs- not qualified to give a diagnosis but definitely not within the realm of normal-particularly with increasing age. This is not disconnected with his evil. I agree he is evil/cruel vengeful etc... but so much more that combines with that need plus the power WE gave him and let him keep at the moment. That is crazy.
He's both. Satan Miller on the other hand is simply pure evil....
Oldsalt65, I agree with you, except for your assertion that Trump is not crazy. A person can be crazy AND evil. He is a malignant narcissist and a sociopath, and probably some other diagnoses that a competent psychologist (as is his niece) could diagnose. Crazy and evil are not mutually exclusive.
What about the spastic uncoiled snake Satan Miller? We need to be drudging him up ALL OF THE TIME--he is the real architect of the cruelty....
Sadly, trump has control over and the sympathy of the Supreme Court. Law suits and appeals could eventually reach the Supreme Court, but it will always find for trump and MAGA. And they can't be voted out and impeachment seems like a long shot. Listen to Heather and Scott Galloway on youtube. Brilliant conversation.
Any conversation involving Heather is brilliant. She thinks while she speaks, and listens, and the result is a fertile exchange of ideas.
Has anyone thought, perhaps, more likely probably, that the Supreme Court Justices, as well as all members of Congress and the Senate, and their families have been constantly threatened by the mob boss bully and his goons? That used to be illegal!!!
Yes Lou. It's a part of the big plan- to deny, offer alternate scenarios & such to keep us off kilter. I'm keeping both my feet on the ground & will continue to pay attention to the Truth Givers.
"You've got to deny, deny, deny and push back on these women,"
Attributed to DJT
Thanks for the reminder. I keep forgetting there are Thursday HCR videos now, too. Saw it but haven't gotten to it.
Not just Thursdays. Politics Chat. They're all dated and accessible.
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1CZACj6C5f/?mibextid=qi2Omg
What we have on our side is the growing pro-democracy movement. We are getting stronger, louder, and better organized daily. I took my first of three trainings with Indivisible on Good Trouble Day. I'll take the remaining two during the next two weeks. These trainings are open to anyone, and they record the sessions if you can't make the Zoom. I found the initial training inspiring and helpful. Now is the time for all of us to work together in whatever ways make sense.
Had a wonderful time 7/17 in Des Moines, WA! Lots of very happy people sharing their views by signs or shirts. Wore my bright pink shirt with pictures of banned books that said "I'm with the banned". Good compliments.
I believe that it is the tech bro Oligarchs, along with the rest of the ultra-rich, the white christian nationalists, and pro-fascist politicians, cooperating in a cabal to end US democracy and seize permanent control. It has been a long-term right-wing project since 1971, and now they are on the verge of accomplishing their goal.
As digital technology evolved, they used Social Media to harvest all of the personal data to analyze it to find efficient ways to influence people and help advertisers sell to people on the platform. In 2015, Facebook provided Cambridge Analytica with the data on the people using Facebook, and Cambridge Analytica used it to find the people who were more likely to believe conspiracy theories and used facebook's sales tools to sell about thirty percent of our population to throw rationality to the wind and go whole hog onto the road of destroying everything worthwhile our country has accomplished and invested in for the last eighty years.
When ICE scales up as expected, the cabal will have everything they need to take power permanently, and by the time the trump chumps, Q-twits, and freedom caucus types who thought they were going prosper under fascism, wake up to how badly they have betrayed themselves and the country, it will be far too late.
It will take something big to happen now to stop them now.
ICE will be ready within six months. The midterms are too far away, with a year more to implement the fascist coup, I'm not optimistic that our democracy will survive.
I couldn’t agree with you more! Thank you!
You're so right, Lou Schmitt, on all points. All.
Well said Lou. We must now keep our eye on the biggest of prizes, THE ABILITY TO VOTE. They are working hard all over the country to create new voting laws that restrict or supress votes and gerrymander so the electorate picks their voters, not the voters picking the electorate. We must be very loud and clear that we see what they are doing and will not tolerate it. 2024 should have opened our eyes to the lengths they will go to rig elections. So don't even think they will not continue to do this with every election. Please continue to press your representative, state and federal, regarding voter interference/suppression.
The 6 are not incompetent: they have managed to mangle the Constitution so that the Executive is vested with unprecedented power and they, the extreme right wing of SCOTUS, are the final arbiters as to whether specific exercise of that untrammelled power is lawful.
Annabel, I think it might be more accurate to state ‘they no longer seek the consent of the governed.’ As far as needing it — well, that appears to be a cynical calculation now badly misfiring.
In Dr. Richardson’s perhaps ghastliest piece since January, I glommed onto this:
“Fuck you [Trump]. You suck. You are fat, you are a joke, you are stupid, you are not funny, you are not as smart as you think you are…we are going to look back on the MAGA movement as the biggest scam in American history…[The] liberals were right. The MAGA supporters were had. They were.”
This will be the only time in my life I find myself in total agreement with somebody from the cult who describes his job as “influencer.” But it contains what I’ve longed to hear. The spell is breaking. This is great news. For he DOES need them, even now. At least, I hope so.
The dark side of the Force has to end sometime. It can’t last forever. In all this ghastly, sordid, awfulness, this is what I hope for.
Along with Fuentes, this is the first time I've also agreed with trump--MAGAs have demonstrated acute stupidity, but I'm willing to give them space to wake up. For those who remain loyal despite trump's disparaging them, there is no hope....
Fuentes is in his own white supremacist cult of his own. No religion there, just a hack who couldn’t hold down a real job so spreads hate. Oddly they make a lot of money doing this.
The good news is that none of the oligarchs own the podcasts! Freedom of Speech is still alive and well!
Truer words never spoken. Look at Texas
Revealing something about "They" in the shadows, see this Instagram video by @michaelwolffnyc: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DMIal1cOJYl/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=M2M0Y2JmOTAyOA==
One of the things I found most disturbing in this newsletter is that the DOJ pressured the FBI to put 1000 agents in charge of combing hundreds of thousands of documents and "flag" any time trump's name is mentioned. Just what does this mean?
I agree that it's disturbing -- all this is in plain sight, so I'll go swim instead of offering a list of my guesses and assumptions.
What would DOGE say, Sophia? Waste, fraud & abuse?
WOW!
I generally thank people here for adding content, but I think you just made me even sicker.
But sorta thanks, I guess.
Miselle, thank you for saying that, and I understand. I give credit for Ruth Ben Ghiat's stamina to face it all so she could write it! That is service on behalf of all. Knowing how bad it is helps me sustain motivation. Fortunately, I'm able to renew myself daily.
Or so they believe.
Yes. Power is that which motivates all conservatives, be they rank-and-file MAGA, tech bros, theo bros, Trump's enablers or SCOTUS benchwarmers. The different groups have differing ideas about what they will do with that power, but power is the common goal.
Why? Because their world-views are unpopular with the majority of Americans, and without power, they can't get what they want.
If that’s true, Annabel, they don’t expect to have another free and fair election ever again.
Vance has all the charisma of unseasoned blotter paper. He couldn't lead a thirsty person to water if he were standing next to the faucet. He will be a malleable tool of marginal utility for the Steven Miller regime, at best.
And There you have it. Stephen Miller is the Heimrich Himmler or Darth Vader or Hannibal Lecter of our time. Pure evil personified.
Please don’t forget vance’s creator, Thiel, and his enforcer Vought-along with miller, they are all truly evil personified.
The whole administration falls under the evil umbrella....
Himmler at least got Hitler to back off from killing 10,000 Czechs to just 5,000 after Heydrich was assassinated per https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Reinhard_Heydrich#CITEREFDederichs2009
"...Hitler favoured killing 10,000 politically unreliable Czechs, but after he consulted Himmler, the idea was dropped because Czech territory was an important industrial zone for the German military, and indiscriminate killing could reduce the productivity of the region..."
Heydrich paid the Czechs the same as the German workers because they needed the more skilled workers than slave laborers.
I don't think Stephen Miller is smart enough to be concerned about keeping the most productive workers on the critical jobs.
Great analogies....
Thank you for stating what I have believed since day one. tRump is Miller’s puppet.
One of the few creeps more creepy than Vance or Miller died in a jail cell on Trump’s watch.
Yep. No shortage of creepy creeps to be found in the vicinity of Trump and his gang of . . . creeps.
So many of them look like crypt-dwellers -- expecially Miller and Bove -- the cruelty has a radioactive glow.
gang of child rapists...
In preparation for Nixon resigning they got Agnew to resign.They, whoever they are will get rid of Vance and come up with someone else. Next in succession is Mike Johnson.
Stanley, yes, little johnson. It's early here and I don't know if I can handle the idea of that creep as Pres.
Stanley, in my estimation, there are two groups of "they's." The Tech Bros, including Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, David Sacks, et al. JD Vance is their boy.
The Theo Bros are less well-known but equally powerful. Doug Wilson is the godfather (no pun intended), with followers like Russel Vought and Pete Hegseth. Mike Johnson is their boy.
Unfortunately, if one were to draw a Venn diagram of the two groups, only one individual would appear in the overlap: JD Vance. If Trump is removed from the presidency, Vance is the likely winner, as are both the Tech and Theo bros. They would make it their business to turn the U.S. into an oligarchal theocracy, dividing Americans into two groups: true citizens and infidels. The legislative and judicial branches would be relegated to merely ceremonial roles.
His first act will be to remove tariffs on couches.
Oh please! Howdy Doody as Chief? Sick.
Closer to Dilly-Dally IYAM.
Yes. Vance will be the malleable tool for the real monsters.
but so is the child rapist felon. We need to recall trump and get rid of him, and send him to prison!
Understood, but when that happens, Vance will step in and he'll do whatever his handlers tell him to do. He took their money and now they own him. We need to get rid of the entire lot of them.
Thank you for this wonderful, spot-on summary of the Maybeline Bitch’s personal magnetism.
Paraphrasing Gertrude Stein, “there’s no there there.”
Stephen Miller's family fled Russia to escape people like him. Of course, under a Nazi regime, he would have been a death camp Kapo, conscientiously hurrying his fellow Jews to the shower doors.
The BobCaster, LOL, thanks for my first laughter of the am. Nicely put and i agree.
Vance, his Senate seat, and his vice presidency are bought and paid for by Peter Thiel, the NAZI German American oligarch.
Vance is the oligarch's choice to be their front man post-Trump.
Unless things change immediately, he will be the next POTUS.l
Between trump and Musk/DOGE, Thiels' company, Palintear a Pentagon defense contractor specializing in high-tech data analysis and war planning using AI, has been given open access to every American's private data from all federal agencies.
It is hard to see what the cult has projected on trump, but there are many photos of adoring Trump fans, similar to film I seen of fans of Hitler. Some are appalled by a successful bully, while others are enthralled. But bullying and scamming is pretty much all Trump knows how to do, and that may wear thinner as our quality of life dissolves.
Because the MAGAs think he exudes strength, especially through the militarization of ICE, the images of ICE grabbing and slamming immigrants.
tRump poops & pees like the rest of us. I sure would like to hear some of the conversations between his 'friends' in the WH.
Friends or syncophantic loyalists?
I honestly think Trump could have easily laughed off and owned that little birthday drawing as a fun joke for Epstein’s 5th. He laughed off the “grab ‘em by the….” And the cult fell for it and made him their savior. He made it way worse with his vehement denials and accusations.
I think both Nixon and Clinton would have fared better had they just admitted something was off, and, sheepishly, tried to put it behind them. So far, Trump's fan base has gone with "The King can do no wrong", but the Orange Orifice has rather painted himself into a corner here. It's not mate in one yet, but he is tripping over his own defenses.
And while I think that he might laugh off his sleazy "birthday card" successfully, I think there is a lot more than a puerile "pubic hair" signature to which he wants to draw no further attention. Excuses for child abuse is a hard sell to any human audience.
Rosalind, I agree. Charisma is a word that's difficult to apply to that raping orange tub of lard, but when used about a politician is more about a certain hypnotic power than about attractiveness. And Vance just doesn't have it. Not at all.
It’s the carnival barker harking his freak show.
Barnum & Bully
Sittin’ in a cesspool in a circle of Hell
Seeing things up on earth were going “a little too well”,
Two lost souls plot more pain for the living.
B.L Zebub to P.T. Barnum “Here’s my plan:
They won’t know what hit ‘em - let’s build them a man
With a rigid comb-over toupee and suspicious tan!”
”OK, OK - here’s the demon we need:
A bully built from BS and bursting with greed -
Spinning lies so weird those who hear will be blind to his evil.
Our own bastard spawn: the worst of you & me.
He’ll hyp-mo-tize folks until they can’t see,
Push them right through the egress and it damn sure won’t be free!”
“The craziness he’ll spout will set their heads spinning -
Like Linda Blair! All devils will get tired of winning!
Our guy will hawk trading cards, guitars, sneakers, and bibles.”
“Then it’s settled, P.T. - no time to think twice.
You’re a crazy devil to be sure; I like your advice.
Folks up above can’t wait to meet their Anti-Christ.”
The plan was hatched – (soon so was the man-child).
Just a few years later, things are gonna “get wild!”
“See how our boy hurls hokum and baffles ‘em all with BS,
Mass markets malarkey, damage and distress!
“Yeah, I love him too, but what will he do
When his shtick gets stale and his cult is through?”
“When that time comes, he’ll have nothing to fear:
I’m damned sure he’ll be our new boss down here.”
Mind boggling that the "righteous" don't think that God can identify and punish hypocrisy. What a dumb-ass God, or is it the dumb-ass adherents. As per The Grateful Dead, " Let it be known that there is a Fountain that was not made by the hands of man."
Charisma. Like a cobra with respect to small, furry animals. That kind of charisma. For me, it's "charisn'tma" (Thank you, Sir Terry!)
Vance has all the charisma of dryer lint.
IMO, MAGA dies with Orange. It's a cult and the cult generally can't manage after the loss of its leader.
Will the chaos that ensues post Trump give rise to a new authoritarianism or can the democrats fill that vacuum?
It’s likely, at least to me, that in Trump’s cult there are many who swerve way to the right of Trump. There are many others who were using him as their avatar to bring power to the religious industrial complex.
All interpretations welcome. Diversity of idiocy is uniquitous.
Charisma? A little YMCA goes a long way. After that you just walk up and down, clapping, and pointing your finger at the crowd as if you've seen somebody you know.
Plus anyone with true charisma has rhythm built in and can dance.
Hey. I didn’t say in front of people.
This is why the midterm elections are so important. If we get organized, find good, young, attractive candidates, we could even take the Senate. We can tie MAGA to one thing they despise, sex trafficking.
Rosalind, I hate to use the word charisma for death star, but I cannot come up with another word for the pull he has on people. And yes, Vance does not have it.
That's my thought too.
No really, Vance is not the future winner - and Trump himself said he didn’t see Vance as his heir. Why? Because Trump sees himself as the one and only Leader. Thank heaven that he’s old!
Unfortunately, in my very limited statistical sample, narcissists can live a long time. The power of positive thinking; about oneself...
Agree. But will Vance continue to follow Project 2025?
True, but he's not well into dementia, either, which means he could likely steamroll over people faster while disregarding the law entirely on his own.
My sentiments exactly.
False. Poll after poll shows that he's leading (and by far) if GOP primaries would be held today. And he is THE ideal candidate for the three pillars of today's neofascist GOP, since he's part of all three. So it's difficult to find someone more suited to take over from Trump. And contrary to Trump, Vance IS a convinced neofascist, and quite smart.
There is a growing body of evidence and video of Trump himself saying he did not expect to win the 2024 election but it was rigged and he won. Why is this not being aggressively investigated with hand recounts in select districts? Only Waterford Co. in New York has undertaken this. It should be happening in a sample of counties where anomalies in vote counts have been reported, and expanded if documented evidence is confirmed. If the election was proven to be invalid it would have to be nullified. The entire administration would be in question and a new election would be called. This has happened in other countries. Unprecedented times call for unprecedented actions.
I've wondered since the night of the 2024 election, why the Democrats did not immediately start calling for a full investigation into the votes in certain counties and states. Possibly trying to avoid the chaos of the GOP "Stop the Steal" years?
I agree this is a lot of the rationale, but I also believe it is short-sighted and contributes greatly to the grave situation our country is in today. And It is not too late to do what’s right.
Ann W, you've answered your own question. The "beauty" of the "Stop the Steal" campaign was its two-fold chance for success. Either it would undo the results of the 2020 election, or it would forever preempt any attempts to question the results of future elections by making those questioners look like the foolish conspiracists of 2020.
Apparently, it worked.
Basically, it was a rhetorical question. I agree with your assessment.
Recall is another option. I heard on NPR yesterday that this is possible. Spread the word - tell everyone and let's get this going! The child rapist has got to go!
NPR, which is no longer being funded by the government, is now free to eviscerate trump, which it did today. Yay!!
I stopped supporting NPR years ago when they became so conservative.
My apologies. The vote recount is in Rockland County NY.
And these votes in Rockland County are only being looked at because a private group called SMART Elections is investigating the 2024 election votes. They have been looking at election results since at least 2012. Check their website out and donate.
Now that Muskrat and TACo are not friends maybe the
"computer wizards of Muskrat' group will not be used to rig the 2026 election as they did the 2024
But ask yourself, is this just theater? Have we seen proof that Muskrat has lost his "lucrative" government contracts, Space X? Five days ago he was awarded a $200M Pentagon contract for Grok AI. It's BS, Muskrat is not being cut off, he's still getting richer.
Vivian, Elon must have evidence…..
I agree.
I read he was awarded another multimillion dollar one the other day. I also read yesterday that Starlink only works well if there are few users.
Ah, but the government contracts might be too lucrative to refuse…
Yes,, the attached link presents some of the evidence. The author is focused on this. This and previous posts of her's look valid: https://open.substack.com/pub/dissentinbloom/p/jack-cobb-had-no-authority-to-certify?r=41pd0&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
And did Trump admit that Musk stole Pennsylvania?
LFAA and and this Nancy G comment are right on.
Correction: it’s Rockland County. Can’t wait for other counties to follow suit.
https://rocklandtimes.com/2025/06/19/state-supreme-court-could-order-hand-recount-of-rocklands-2024-ballot/
LFAA and and this Nancy G comment are right on.
Pennsylvania should be doing a recount! Trump himself said that musk’s computer skills won the state for him!!
More trash from the Trump Saga. Trash TV. And all the good he has done for the nation! Yeck.
Rest
Marcia Kola, to clarify, I was referring to the TACo and Muskrat friendship legitimacy.
Men like Musk have no problem still working with Us government even as they are actively work to reduce Taco's power....their motto "Its just business" which seems to mean that "anything is ok as long as it brings in money" Morality is not considered
Yes, I agree with you, Rosalind, about Trump's having some magical effect on his followers, notwithstanding how wholly lacking in charisma I, too, see Trump. Yet it seems to me that the enormous power that Trump has amassed – coupled with the genuine if misplaced dissatisfaction with our long-corrupted politics that Trump tapped into – will not die easily. Any number of other malevolent characters our there would love to seize that mantle Trump constructed, and they are likely busy right now devising just how to do so. We'll see. Interesting times ahead, and, I hope, an opportunity to counter the ever-present lust for power with a meaningful movement for real change toward making our politics and society work for all instead of the mega-powerful few.
Hate sells despite being given away freely. Its popularity never wanes, it seems, especially among the “righteous.”
I would say "resentment" sells, and far too easily.
Magalonians are a carefully conditioned cult, addicted to a fake reality tv show. Imo, it’s real mass psychosis, induced by long term psychological warfare. They are incapable of seeing through the bs.
Add a dose of Russian psy ops.
That has always been 'front of mind' for me Daniel. Among my disciplines exercised, events always cause my mind to ask, "Who benefits, Who does not."
That's why the rise of more independent sources, like podcasts and substacks, are so important. Because we know that those in power have an agenda and are rarely bound to the truth. And as legacy news outlets are reduced, it's even harder for journalists to do the hard, tedious reporting to expose those lies.
Yes!
There are so many out there--and I subscribe to probably too many--both free and paid. But this is what we need to do to get change.
I could list a bunch, and I'm sure the group here would add to it, but for brevity I suggest everyone subscribe to the Meidas Touch Network on YouTube. There are a number of contributors to that channel, and it has overtaken Joe Rogan in subscription numbers. Let's push it even HIGHER.
I subscribe to Meidas and Legal AF - great sources
Love magalonians, probably better than MAGAts
Ripe for merciless spoofing: Fake ads for shirts, hats, member badges & Texas style belt buckles. Maybe a comic graphic novel.
Tee a possibility for me
I honestly think there’s nothing really new about Trump or his cult that hasn’t already been described and explained through the parable of the Emperor’s New Clothes, Shakespeare’s tragedies and histories, and the Holocaust.
Perhaps it’s counting chickens before they hatch, but to me it seems the spell is faltering. Voldemort’s wand is splintering. The Wicked Witch suddenly sees all those wooden buckets of cold water around her. Choose your metaphor. We must play this one VERY skillfully now, with all the strategic smartness we can muster, if we’re to really seize the day. I hope we’re up to the task. It will be the most daunting one of our lives.
Yes.Trump must go down.He is the head of the snake.Vance may be bad but he does not have the showy personality that his boss does.
jd vance is worse than trump !
Ok, I just liked the previous post about Vance not having the showy personality, now I read he is worse than trump? They're all bad, and on any given day, Trump or Vance delights in some kind of savagery or in search of more radical ideas. They will never repent; they will never reform.
He’d throw his own wife under the bus
Vance is smarter but so unlikeable. He will appeal to those MAGAs who really want vengeance.
Democrats putting Vance in a better position to run in 2028 would be doing a favor for Koch, Leo, Musk, Thiel, Murdoch and all in the Right wing who are beginning to see Trump as a liability.
We can better dismantle MAGA by leaving it up to the Republican majority to impeach and remove Trump from office. Or not. MAGA and the GOP are tearing themselves apart. Nothing would bring them together so much as their shared resentment of Democrats calling for or carrying out another impeachment.
Democrats calling for impeachment now would only Unite the Right just in time for the crucial 2026 midterm elections. Democrats carrying out impeachment and removal after winning the House and Senate majorities would be a waste of hard earned political capital better spent on legislative accomplishments leading up to 2028.
It is not a 'chew gum and walk' scenario. It is prioritizing allocation of limited resources. We would better concentrate on building up the Democratic record "one step and one brick at a time." One For The People action at a time.
lin, you make a very good point regarding impeachment.
ThankYou.
I like your analysis and point Lin, which doesn't surprise me.
ThankYou.
Vance will definitely be worse. He is a white, nationalist, male dominance ideologue, whereas as trump is "just" a selfish, self-centered, power hungry egomaniac!
...who has an Asian wife. The hypocrisy boggles the mind.
She’s subservient.
Fortunately, Vance does not have the cult status Trump does. None of his team does. Get rid of Trump, and they are seriously impacted. But it needs to happen sooner rather than later, before Project 2025 gets its hooks any deeper into our society.
The right wing apparatus got voters to hold their nose and elect a rancid ham sandwich - in order to win the Supreme Court and institute Project 2025. Packaging and selling Vance will be a piece of cake.
Look into recall - it's a possibility! Spread the word!
No it isn’t. Sorry to burst your bubble, but there’s no such thing for a President.
I also think his wife will have input into his tenure.
Tactics and strategy. Put out the fires, and stop the arsonists.
Agreed.
We don't have the time Ronald. It's a matter of life or dead for our Republic.
How many women had their lives ruined by Epstein and Trump? Every time I see a story on a sexual predator I weep for the victims. No amount of jail time or money will ever make these women forget the trauma these deviants perpetrated on them.
How do we break through the constant reporting to action? Many of the young girls violated by Trump and Epstein have given testimony and all we are talking about is The List now in the custody of the Trump administration? We need to believe women’s voices and act.
If it’s now nothing like administration is saying then why is Maxwell in prison for 20 years?
Get the media to interview a few of the victims blacked out and voices changed.
What is more compelling?
They were not women, they were girls, children. This is an important distinction.
Cleo- I agree with you. I said women because 1) out of respect for the victims, 2) almost all of us know they were children and female, 3) because they were children and not adults it seems to have made a difference to MAGAs.
There were so many victims. How many of their encounters resulted in a pregnancy and/or a live birth? How many abortions did these evil men pay for as a result of their sexual predations? Unfortunately, most of us have known women that were victims of sexual, physical or verbal abuse. These scars rarely, if ever go away.
I didn’t mean to be critical. I know most of us see the situation clearly. I worked for many years as a social worker at a rape crisis center. It makes me very sad how little progress we have made as a culture in understanding and dealing with this horrible crime.
You did important work there, Cleo. As someone who was tasked with rape/abuse initial investigations (never a detective; there was NO WAY I could have done that level of investigation) I applaud the work you to to help victims get through those events.
Ally, my niece went from working in a home for abused children to working on preparing abused children ready to testify against their abusive parent or parents.
She trained for several months in a clinical setting on how to interview children. Up until a few months ago, her conviction rate (and the entire case team) was 100% and this included some very wealthy people that spent big bucks on attorneys.
The case they lost was one where a step father raped a baby and another child in the same family. They had video evidence that the "retiring" judge wouldn't even look at. There was no jury. The judge just found the low-life cretin not guilty.
She was so upset with the verdict she took two weeks of leave immediately after.
But she came back to work. I'm very proud of her and her fire fighting brother and police brother as well. Their brother was beaten up by three guys and was repeatedly kicked in the head about 15 years ago. He died about a year later.
Thank you for all you did Cleo. We have had a couple of friends who were abused by their husbands or partners and it is such important work that everyone does.
I didn't feel like you were being critical. I just wanted to explain why I chose to call them women even though most of them were abused and assaulted as children.
Thanks for your lovely comment. It means a lot.
But were all their victims female? My husband sat on a jury for a male, after he was an adult, abused in a military academy. Boys won’t talk. That’s how the Catholic church got away with their abuse for so many years. Sorry to say they didn’t convict in that trial because of a stubborn old man but he was convicted in a later trial.
For sure all of the victims are not female. I’m sure some of Epstein’s victims were young boys. Seems like people just don’t talk about that as much. And boys and men are very reluctant to ask for help.
The Catholic Church has almost always covered up sexual abuse committed by priests. A co-worker was a whistle blower on the Catholic abuse in and around Springfield, MA. It was one of the few times the Catholic Church has been accountable. At last count, there were over 80 priests that were defrocked. He told me about the entire process and how it ripped the community apart.
In most places, the Church is allowed to police their own and people know it. The parents of abused boys often don't believe their kids which allows many priests to get away with it.
And, of course, the Southern Baptist Convention has had many sexual abuses cases prosecuted as well.
Last night Lawrence O’Donnell ran the entire Access Hollywood tape and I literally got nauseous… I was flooded by the realization and regret that that revelation didn’t cause him to lose the woman vote OR by men who believe in women’s rights. Now, it’s not just women he targets and violates…ALL people of color…OLD and POOR people on Medicaid, CHILDREN, VETERANS…. If the Epstein Files don’t explode him out of office…… this country could sink maybe too far for rescue this century.
How many women?
Don't know, but dozens have sued. Lots of dirt in the civil litigation.
PERVERSION of JUSTICE
Investigating Epstein
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article238237729.html
AI A definitive total number of women who have filed civil lawsuits against Jeffrey Epstein, his estate, or related entities is hard to pinpoint, as new lawsuits and settlements continue to emerge. However, several sources provide insight into the scope of this litigation:
Over 200 survivors have received settlements: Attorneys for Epstein's victims have recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for over 200 survivors of his abuse and trafficking through lawsuits against his estate, the federal government, and financial institutions.
Significant settlements with banks:
In a class-action lawsuit, JPMorgan Chase agreed to a $290 million settlement with Epstein's victims, with the judge noting the number of plaintiffs could be "well over 100 people."
Deutsche Bank settled a similar lawsuit with Epstein victims for $75 million.
Compensation fund for victims: A compensation fund for Epstein's victims has been opened, with over 100 women expected to file claims.
Recent lawsuits against the FBI: Eight women have filed a lawsuit against the federal government, alleging the FBI failed to act on reports of Epstein's crimes as early as 1996.
In summary: While the exact number of women who have sued Epstein is difficult to determine, it is clear that well over 200 survivors have come forward and received some form of compensation through civil lawsuits and settlements.
Just looked at the Motion to obtain grand jury records. https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/26002925/doj-filing-in-epstein.pdf
No mention of the 2006 SDFL grand jury.
A grand jury indicted Jeffrey Epstein in Palm Beach County, Florida, in 2006 on one charge of felony solicitation of prostitution. This followed a police investigation that began in 2005 after a complaint about a 14-year-old girl being molested at his mansion.
Key details
Limited Charge: Despite evidence from numerous alleged victims, some underage, the grand jury returned a single charge of felony solicitation of prostitution.
Controversy: Critics, including the then Palm Beach Police Chief Michael Reiter, publicly expressed dissatisfaction with the grand jury's outcome and the state attorney's handling of the case, which led the police chief to refer the matter to the FBI.
Plea Deal: In 2008, Epstein entered a plea deal, pleading guilty to two state prostitution-related felonies and avoiding federal charges which could have resulted in a much longer sentence. He served 13 months of an 18-month sentence in county jail, including a work-release program where he could leave for work during the day.
Unsealed Documents: In 2024, after a years-long legal battle by The Palm Beach Post and a change in Florida law, nearly 200 pages of the 2006 grand jury evidence were made public. These documents revealed that prosecutors had presented evidence from only two victims to the grand jury and questioned the victims as if they were criminals.
Subsequent Arrest & Death: Epstein was arrested in New York in 2019 on federal sex trafficking charges but died by suicide in jail before his trial.
The wrong-&-evil-doing turns my stomach, G. J. 🤢
Horrific, yes and: "Predatory Strongmen: Epstein’s Kindred Spirits
Part I: Mussolini and Gaddafi" posted by RUTH BEN-GHIAT. https://open.substack.com/pub/lucid/p/predatory-strongmen-epsteins-kindred?r=oa2tr&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
Just finished 'The Feast of the Goat' by Mario Vargas Llosa. One of the most brutal reads ever. It goes right into the mind of the Dominican dictatorship Rafael Trujillo. Everything, including persecuting Haitians and murky, dirty world of Epstein. It almost foretells the wretched character of Trump; yet, it is more like: "Met one psychopathic authoritarian? You have met them all." For wone, I would not recommend reading beyond the three-quarter-mark of the book.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53969.The_Feast_of_the_Goat
The difference between Dems and Repubs is clear. Dems want all perpetrators exposed and punished. Repubs want only the Dem perpetrators punished. They're OK with atrocities committed by Repubs. 😡
Cheryl, I think there's another key difference. Yes, Democrats want justice. But MAGA's interest in "The List" has less to do with punishing Democrats and more to do with being able to see and relish the salacious details that would be made public.
MAGA is 85% evangelical. Evangelicals are obsessed with sex and all things related to sex. That's why they are so easily focused on homosexuality, transsexuality, and abortion.
Evangelical culture's regard for sex is childish. For evangelicals, sex is "dirty," an act reserved for procreation. When you tell a child s/he can't have something, that is the thing s/he wants.
In my estimation, MAGA's interest in the Epstein scandal has always been prurient, not righteous.
You must watch the interview on Chris Hedge's youtube channel with Nick Bryant, who has done extensive reporting on Epstein/Trump and Epstein's sex trafficking. The discussion should sicken you. Mr. Bryant claims that sexual predation and pedophilia have been ubiquitous in the US. Many victims, who testified, were forced to sign nondisclosure statements, which would preclude them from receiving any financial retribution. Alan Dershowitz, a friend and participant, claimed he only traveled with his wife - a lie - because Nick Bryant has access to the manifest. These young girls' lives have been permanently damaged by rich, powerful men.
No one understands the damage done more than another victim of serial assault. It's not one and done. The damage continues to unfurl as the years go by. It never goes away.
Those perpetrators are still free and still going after young girls. They don’t stop until they’re locked up.
And just like the Great and Powerful Wizard of Oz, the curtain is finally being pulled back to reveal tRump as nothing but a sick, decrepit old man with a megaphone. Thank you, journalists of The Wall Street Journal.
It has been speculated that leaks are coming from the FBI, recalling Woodward and Bernstein's "Deep Throat". There has got to be some seething dissent when a law-enforcement organization is run by organized crime.
Well, as we’re seeing, “there’s no honour among thieves.”
And at long last, no decency.
Honor..... what's honor ? What can that buy you Kazz ?
Exactly, D4N. There’s an old Aussie saying that sums it right up: “I’m alright Jack, f*ck you.”
Oh.. I like that Kazz. It's similar to one I've used for countless years to describe folks of one sort: "Hooray for me and 'eff you" ! Hmmm.... Would the similarity of thought make me 'part Aussie' ? Lol...
And once again, we may owe our republic to the leakers risking ruin and maybe much more to get the truth out.
Bless them. That’s what courage looks like. I’m looking at you Paramount.
Agreed a ca-jillion per cent, Kazz. I have often thought of that priceless line from the eighty-six year old flic: "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!"
https://youtu.be/NZR64EF3OpA?t=41
There is a good sized cadre back there moving the scenery, setting the lights, buying the favors.
You got that right, to Toto in the top 1%. 😉
and a child rapist and a felon
Ah yes Kazz; There is much of it ! The goal ? As JL and I are so fond of re-stating, "Follow the money."
Vance is way worse for a number of reasons, not least of which is that he's a puppet of scary Peter Thiel.
The cast of malignant characters seems endless, but avalanches do occur, and that's what we can hope.
It may only take a burp.
Vance is not only a product of Thiel. He is part of court capture operative and ChristoFascist Leonard Leo's Teneo Network of elected officials and influencers working to replicate the Federalist Society's Supreme Court success in other parts of government and society.
Scary stuff, lin•
But true Ally. Worse, they try very hard to stay back in the shadows.
Well it is a thread and I still don’t have a super great understanding. The Roman Catholic Church according to the research of former priest Tom Doyle gies back centuries as well as orders such as the Legionaires and OD. And not just the Roman Catholic Church most spiritualities in some way compromised. Con men and con women a dangerous bred.
There you have a large part of it all Mary.
They are a web of evil that will ensnare any confusion lurking in any brain
When Vance was in the Senate he was the most despited Senator by the Republicans as well as the Democrats. Assuming that Trump dies of natural causes or is impeached due to his becoming even more loonie tunes, Vance's approval rating will never be strong. If the Republicans in Congress don't see him as an asset to getting reelected, they will dump him like a hot potato.
As others have said before, this man has all the mesmerizing ability of used blotting paper, a lint drawer, whatever.
I don’t think the Maybelline Bitch has the ability to change water into wine. I don’t even think he can change the used kitty litter box. He may present himself as one whose piss can etch glass, but that doesn’t mean it is so.
I agree with you, and I could be wrong but I think he has an outsized ego. I wonder if he'd bite the hand that fed him if he gets a bit big in his britches.
Don't kid yourself about Vance.
The 'smart money' said it couldn't he done. Then the right wing apparatus got voters to hold their nose and vote for a rancid ham sandwich twice - to win the Supreme Court and institute Project 2025. They could package and sell Vance.
I doubt it. It's not a matter of kidding myself -- he can't kid them. The money follows the black magic, it can't create it *though it may claim otherwise. We shall see.
The big money generally leads.
Selling Supreme Court and Project 2025 accomplishments will unite Republican voters for any Republican presidential candidate.
Do you really want to take the chance of putting Vance at an advantage by putting him in the White House.
What makes you think I would like to see the Maybelline Bitch in the White House? Please read more carefully.
Agreed on Vance being as bad or worse. At least Trump is obvious. I hope that the news will be enough for Trump's dash toward dictatorship to falter. 🤞🏼
Then let Trump limp along hunch-backing lower and lower. Then the wounded, demented Trump will turn on J.D. Name-of-the-Week and try to nominate one of the sons, more likely one of the daughters or Kushner to cement his dynasty. 🤬🫨
That will split the remaining M.A.G.A.s away from the nerd-reich types, leading to the collapse of what is left of the G.O.P. Then a New Party of Lincoln and Grant and Eisenhower and Ford can emerge to restore conservatism to being cooperative in making liberal process prudent and fiscally sustainable.⚖️🤝💡
If, on the other hand, the dash toward dictatorship regains momentum, then prepare for some very ugly, likely bloody days ahead.😱😢💔🤢
Trump trips all over his own ego-insecurity. It is a wonder that anyone is fooled.
He is accurate about one thing -- shooting himself in the foot.
I am VERY afraid you are right Ned. I just hope it happens quickly!
Well, I hope I am wrong, that the American people will will act in accord to de-fang these fascists.
I agree. And the glimmer of hope, that the people will finally shake off their fascination with the Orange Menace, grows a little brighter today. Oh to have this end peacefully, with every Republican congress critter in the dock, awaiting sentencing. A new party of Lincoln? Not with the same name, a name which should be buried in infamy, along with all of its supporters. We'll hear all the excuses for their behavior ("I was just following orders") and we should believe none of them. They have cast their lot with evil, and must face the consequences. Fascism must be stopped, and those who continue to profess it, given due process, and a fair trial.
Thank you for taking the time to write out a thoughtful answer without any typoes; I am envious. 🤝
Specifically, I reference your statements, which is certainly understandable, "We'll hear all the excuses for their behavior ('I was just following orders') and we should believe none of them. They have cast their lot with evil, and must face the consequences." ✍️
Here is where you and I differ, James. It is on all of us -- as a citizenry -- that this goat got back into power. In citing these items, James, please know that I am not imputing any of these traits or actions to you.⚖️ Trump's scum-back was . . .
> on the Democrats for not intervening to hold President Biden to his initial idea of one term;
> on the Republicans (e.g., me) for not throwing Trump out in 2016;
> on the conservatives (e.g., me) for not being vocal enough about Trump violating norms of civility and prudence as well as flouting traditions and values;
> on the M.A.G.A.s for being, well, M.A.G.A.;
> on anti-M.A.G.A.s for turning away from M.A.G.A.s with disdain and intellectual élitism;
> on the moderates for allowing voter suppression to proceed with hardly a whisper;
> on the Democratic Party's old guard for blocking Senator Sanders twice;
> on the Republicans for not booting the Tea Party after 2012; as well as,
> on the liberals for not shoving the Democratic Dinosaurs out of the way when there was still time.
Not in the dystopian spirit of double-think, we need to hold two contradictory thoughts by the two heroes of the Great Civil War of 1861-65 in our minds. We must prepare for the former and strive for the latter; with eyes and hearts and hands and minds open but adorned with armor and armed amply, we may just prevent the darkness that beset two other great powers (i.e., Germany and Japan) almost a century ago.
“If we are to have another contest in the near future of our national existence, I predict that the dividing line will not be Mason and Dixon's but between patriotism and intelligence on the one side, and superstition, ambition and ignorance on the other.” --General and President Grant, 1875.
"With malice toward none with charity for all with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right let us strive on to finish the work we are in to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan ~ to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations." -- President and Savior Lincoln, 1865.
I saw a headline yesterday that bets are being made on a Vance/ Trump Jr. ticket. What a joke that would be.
I would only be able to laugh at the joke of those two after I had barfed at stroke of evil. 😭🫨😢🤬🤢💔🙂
Just like Hitler’s inner circle of evil, the Trump MAGAdministration toadies will stab each other in the back as the whole enterprise collapses. The MAGA base will search for a new leader who will “prove” the crazy conspiracies on which the movement was (at least partially) built. But housing will still be too expensive, young people (especially young men) will still feel lost, angry, and depressed, a living wage will still be unattainable for many, the racism, sexism, and homophobia that fueled MAGA will still run rampant, and America will still be an isolated laughingstock. There’s lots of work ahead to undo the damage Trump and his minions have wrought.
Yes, I figure it will take 40 years to undo this mess. Unfortunately, past my lifetime.
It won't be Vance in power, it will be Thiel, a pseudo-Libertarian woman-hating nut who makes Elon seem normal.
They are laying the groundwork for an absolute gutting of the US Treasury, siphoned off into the untraceable cryptocurrency accounts of our worst enemies.
Vance is a duplicitous snake. Read Hillbilly Elegy and then read his comments on Trump in 2016, and now read his comments. The man has forsaken any core decency he was born with.
To my everlasting regret, I read Hillbilly Elegy. It was a waste of time and an infuriating one at that. The only positive was it laid bare the real J.D. Vance for all to see, just not in the way he intended. J.D. Vance is an odious opportunist with no redeeming qualities who willingly throws anyone and everyone under the wheels of the bus for his own self-aggrandizement. He has no decency. He's a charmless weasel.
Kamila, one of the MediasTouch youtube pundits I enjoy the most is Tennessee Brando, who proudly self-describes as a hillbilly and absolutely despises the "fake" ones: Vance, Kid Rock, Duck Dynasty family. His channel has SKYROCKETED this past year, along with the entire MediasTouch network.
Brando has a lot of MAGA viewers. He might be breaking through to some of them.
Hi, Miselle. Thanks for this. I watch Meidas Touch regularly but not Tennessee Brando. I will check him out. Thanks again.
Maybe Vance will be bad but he does not have the loyalty of MAGA that TACO has..usually when the head of a cult movement is removed, the second in command start fighting for that lost power while the whole movement changes. ie. Stalin's death.
that is when the sane members of congress need to be ready to push hard.
Nobody likes Vance so they won’t follow him or vote the way he tells them. That is half the problem solved.
But EVERYONE hates JustaDick and the likelihood that he would have the fawning, groveling Uriah Heepish support of Congress and the SCOTUS is minimal. And The Felon's cult followers can't stand him either. AND it would be far easier to send Stephen Miller, Russell Vought, and Scott Bessant packing--and they are the real holders of presidential power, not The Felon, who is merely an old, demented sexual predator long past his sell-by date.
I have the same thought, especially since the WSJ story came on the heels of published medical report. I also noted that the "E Tu Brute" moment was provided by WSJ, not the normal "liberal fake news" NYT and WaPo.
Message sent.
Vance does not enjoy the rabid devotion that felon 45-47 does.
But, he doesn't have tRump's magical 'charisma' over the MAGAts. The rethugs are far less likely to cooperate with him.
"It seems that the overlords want to retire DT. I wonder about the timing. Sadly, Vance is as bad or worse."
Leave it to the Republican majority to decide to impeach and remove Trump. Or not. Let that continue to tear MAGA and the GOP apart. Nothing would 'Unite The Right' so much as the Democratic minority calling for impeachment. Just in time for the 2026 midterms. If Democrats win the midterms, nothing would please Koch, Murdoch, Thiel, Musk, Leo et al more than Democrats wasting hard won political capital by putting Vance in the White House just in time for the 2028 presidential election.
I support getting the child rapist out - everything he touches dies. I do not think slimy jd could do this much damage. I just heard yesterday on NPR that we can recall the felon if we get enough signatures. We must do this!. Heather could you please look into the recall process and get the ball rolling! We can do this! Let's work together and get trump out of office and into prison! Call all your senators and congress people and encourage them to help!
This is difficult to read. Thank you, Heather, for the warning. However it’s so important to spell out the details and make the connections within this tangled web.
Your interview with Jim Acosta ( link below) helps to define it further and I truly appreciate hearing your personal perspective of this topic. “…either you think that everyone should be treated fairly and be treated equally before the law, or you believe that some people are better than others and they get to rule…”. This is the crux of this moment!
https://open.substack.com/pub/jimacosta/p/historian-heather-cox-richardson?r=9vmv5&utm_medium=ios
The phrase "Everybody matters or nobody matters" is a personal credo of the fictional LAPD detective Harry Bosch created by Michael Connelly. This motto emphasizes Bosch's commitment to treating every victim with equal importance, regardless of their background or social status. It reflects his deep-seated belief that a justice system should apply equally to all individuals. (from Google),
But of course, the wealthy can usually buy there way out of consequences for criminal behavior. Just look at what happened to John Kraft when he was caught soliciting a prostitute.
My wife has often said, 'the opposite of justice is poverty."
Per HcR: NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Sherrilyn Ifill wrote: “They mean to be as insulting to Black people, as dismissive of our lives, as [resistant] to our status as full citizens in this country as they can be.”
The 77 million people who voted for Trump elected a profoundly racist president. On purpose.
Now that's a keeper. I have seen a good deal of abuse of poorer people I have known, in many different ways. Part of that is the failure of us as a society to sustain the values we have claimed, and part of that is the level of inequality in what is said to be the richest country in the world. The plutocrats are stealing our way of life, as well as posterity's future.
Wonderful words, and more importantly true. As Martin Luther King, Jr. once told us: “injustice in one place threatens justice everywhere.”
As illustrated in the daily filing of lawsuits by 47. These take time and money, often wasting such valuable resources.
And Sherree.., "TIME" is the best tactic to 'wear us out'. Cost little other than filing some form to "delay", review, object, postpone!
He will have to find new lawyers. All of his former lawyers are either disgraced or appointed to positions in the government.
Your wife is a very wise person.
Agree RB
I was thinking of the same Bosch saying literally the second before I saw your comment.
Fabulous analogy Gary ! Thanks for the appropriate and fitting 'walk back in time' - I had long ago filed that in my mental archives. That motto or credo is solid and should be the actual "American Way." Your wife is not far off in her observation; You only get as much justice as you can afford in this and past version of America, the transactional. Sadly...
I like the way you put that D4N -- "You only get as much justice as you can afford."
Sadly, very sadly that is the absolute truth Gary, and as well a good measure of the truth throughout my life story, then and now as well. Sometime, perhaps I'll recount it. Then again, maybe I should do that in a substack of my own. I'd feel dreadful though if folks were compelled to pay to read such a tragic tale; So dreadful it would strain credibility I fear. Hell, it has strained my belief, and worse so, my ability to accept. Also, I would have deeply ingrained abhorrence to appear as "pissing and moaning" even though I would strictly recount facts in evidence. Oy vey....
I've been very fortunate to have never pissed off anyone enough to sue me and have always chosen to walk away from any lawsuits I could have filed.
I was falsely arrested going into a Kansas City Royals baseball game when I was 23 years old. At the time, the Royals and Yankees were the top two American League teams. While I was driving into the stadium I passed a slow moving school bus and signaled to pull in in front of the bus.
The Royals allowed police that volunteered to do traffic control to attend the games after the 1st inning, so there was about ten cops motioning me to either pull in to the lane as I wanted to or stay in my current lane. And half of them were doing each. Befuddled, I just stopped the car not knowing who to obey. One of the cops came up to my car and slammed his fist into the hood putting a dent in it. He ordered me out of the car and wrote me up for attempting to run over a police officer and resisting arrest. He really wanted to haul me in, but he wanted to see the game more so he just ticketed me.
It took four months to get the charges dropped and I had to pay an attorney around $1000 to get me off. And of course, I had to pay for the damage to my car.
I was bitter and terrified the entire four months.
After that, I chose to walk away from any legal battles save once when a large multi-national corporation tried to bankrupt my fledgling company. The Nebraska Attorney general came to the rescue and we kicked the ass of the multi-national corporation. And I'm sure, it didn't phase them one bit. Because that's what capitalism is all about in the US. Build a company so big that you can litigate them out of existence or buy up your competition.
!!! .. O_M_G_ That was one soul shaking experience ! How fortunate though that you had an Atty. General committed to justice for people, citizens - as opposed committed "to the business, of the business, for the business." I am in no way anti-business / anti-commerce. But I do believe they have their own 'lane' and have to be leashed to stay in it.
“…either you think that everyone should be treated fairly and be treated equally before the law, or you believe that some people are better than others and they get to rule…”.
Seems to come up a lot. Like in 1776.
Hello Kari... Watch Lawrence O'Donnell's Show on MSNBC for 18-July-2025... It is difficult too...
https://youtu.be/Cu4bNF9IDO0?si=XUs_tLDNjQmueWmw
Being as this is now 19-July-2025, how are we supposed to watch something 3 months in the future? Is this an AI thing?
Good Catch BobCaster... S/B 18-July-2025...
https://youtu.be/Cu4bNF9IDO0?si=XUs_tLDNjQmueWmw
Thanks for the link, Apache.
It is so incredible to me the personalities that you are attracted to !!
No wonder your favorability rating continues to disintegrate, as Trump rises.
I think you've peed on the carpet more than once!
Rick, "...as Trump rises." "Delusions are inexhaustible, I vow to end them."
Please don't encourage "it" with response.... please.
People can voluntarily decide to live in their delusions. But right now that decision is squarely on the heads of the left, and their needless hate as this country continues to rise out of the ashes of the last administrations reckless abandonment of our borders.
Judith, the only way you’ll end them other than the three failed assassination attempts is to offer the American people an agenda that works. …. Which unfortunately for the left does not understand that that’s exactly what Trump did and that’s why he was. RE ELECTED.
And the Democrats still haven’t figured that out
Too bad there isn't a hysterical laugh emoji I could use here. "But right now that decision is squarely on the heads of the LEFT." Are you a bot? Were you in a locked ward from 2020 to 2024? That's it for me.
everything is clicking here Judith stock market hitting Records after Records tariffs bringing in 100 billion low gas prices low inflation border is closed Iran’s nukes probably dead three cease fires OBBB and $9 billion bills. Nato wins…America is winning again. 190 billion fraud waste and abuse.
And the economy is confounding the experts
Rick... I Am A Ghost... Ratings Don't Matter...
I agree completely with you ratings. Do not matter. Results matter and if you really think that, that’s what people here are looking at then you’re fooling yourself. They could care less how well this country is doing how successful all the policies that are coming out of the White House are performing; the status of the economy? Mostly they care about having lost power. And one major left wing pundit was on TV today saying the same thing that Carville, and maher and Cuban are saying the only policy the left has right now is hate Trump and that policy will not win.
But people here refuse to look at the successes and rather look at a history book or the epstein file in this case, which is really rich because Joe Biden had the Epstein file in the White House in his hand on January 2024, and didn’t release anything. And if there was anything there specially against Trump, they would’ve released it to prevent to becoming president.
What success, Rick? 90 trade deals in 90 days? Ending the Ukraine war on his first day in office? Lowering prices on his first day in office? As for Epstein, you have Trump's own words that he was "a terrific guy". You also conveniently forget that a New York jury has found that Trump sexually assaulted E. Jean Carroll and then defamed her by denying it; and that Trump has was also indicted and convicted of falsifying business records to conceal a hush money payment to a porn star. None of these things are made up by his opponents - they're all on him. You can't accept that you have voted for and continue to support a deeply immoral man and a convicted fraudster. The more fool you.
Don't engage him. maybe he'll go away!
As much as I hate to admit it, Rick has a point. Why didn't the Biden admin try to expose the Epstein situation when they had the chance?
The conversation with Jim Acosta was excellent.
Yea, I watched it also as did so many others. I think there were over 2000.
I watched also, really great hearing what those 2 had to say. Over 27,000 watching by the end. A record for Substack, I think.
Plus all the people who watched after-the-fact. No idea on numbers, but I was among them.
Oh yeah that must be a lot more viewings. I need to rewatch it myself since I missed the first few minutes.
I am saving it to watch tonight--along with her interview with David Pakman, her July 15th AND July 17th Politics Chats!!
I believe I will need to open a bottle of wine for them.
Oh wow! I was off by 25,000! :) Next time, I need to wear glasses.
Oh yeah. I was pretty sure you just forgot a zero there. So many comments going on during their discussion it was hard to keep up with how many people were watching too.
Coverups and impunity for the elite has been an ongoing theme in our country for decades. It’s time to expose it, make it front page news, condemn it and demand a change. The people need to hear about it. I know this is NOT the America “we the people” want, no matter which party you belong to. Thank you, Heather.
I believe that too Paige; Call me naive if one cares to, but I believe 'most' people are good. Now, some are also deluded / fooled; but that's another story.
I remember a time when people of differing opinions could discuss things and find common ground and come to an agreement that satisfied most everyone. The divisive political environment we’re in now was created in the last 30 years and is not conducive to democracy or the welfare of the citizens of the US. What has happened to common decency and respect for others’ opinions? We have to stop attacking each other, realize that all of us (except maybe wealthy corporations and elitists) want the same things in general. We may disagree on the best way to do things, but most of the time, we all want the same outcomes. If we find common ground and work together to achieve what we all want, we all win. Those of us that have been “deluded/fooled” believed a liar and he has used them. If they are finally able to see the cult of Trump for what it is, and turn away from it, we should welcome them. Maybe then we can start to work together again, hearing and respecting all sides, and solve things in a democratic way.
Brava Paige ! We are of mostly the same mind here, you and I. You won't read a cross word from me aimed in your direction. I've not chatted with you before that I recall, so I'm wondering how long you've followed HCR. That's not so important though. It is important to know that we do have a few trolls in here that are either compensated or hopelessly deluded, and hang out in here to stir controversy; They may attack you and others for honesty and honor. I and most will not. I hope you learn a lot here; I have, from HCR 'and' some of the brilliant good folks who find community here.
It’s an awful moment indeed. A cult founded on abuse, cruelty, incompetence, ginned-up outrage for the cameras.
There is politics, but there is also survival. The cult itself is like an abused and battered spouse, and not for the first time. I resort to metaphor to sum up the social and psychological part of all this: when will she find the self-respect to leave her vile, abusive spouse? How can we help her do that?
https://substack.com/home/post/p-168648284
FYI for folks. As a retired clinical therapist trained and in depth experience with sexual abuse there are many things most folks are not aware of or information forgotten .
And if you have any anxiety stop here or come back later. Mint sense we all have been abused in some way if you include cat calls and sky comments and slaps on the behind with a towel.
Many offenders use pets or animals to keep the victim in line. See the tv film Muffin Man. Many offenders start early abd are more than likely survivors of some sort of abuse. Many have radar skills in picking out vulnerable people. Many use people as tools.
Many are addicted in their thinking processes and the excitement comes the thrill of the hunt. And therefore why it is cyclic abd many more victims than ever come out. Many use offenders use vulnerable populations. So someone you think k oh how wonderful no like Jean Vanier . Others one just gets that creepy feel.All sorts and it takes a very extensive evaluation and assessment . David Finkelhor did old great work along with a researcher called Samenow.
All if this runs through history. Each time period had its own knots abd tangles and switchboards. Snd again I think we have had as a human civilization along extended type / kind of toddlerhood abd telling the truths abd seeing all of the pieces will give us a complete puzzle that we can use as a road map fur better for all. I get impatient but still I have hope truth will continue to climb out if all her wells.
So an interview with a seemingly worthless, biased human being… that’s what you’re interested in. Sometimes the people here, waste so much time with minutia that they forget the big picture.
What is the value with this story? That is what I want to know…
This is the reason that your strongest leftist supporters and current critics like Bill Maher , Mark Cuban, and James Carville tell you that the only agendas that the left has right now is hate Trump and that is not going to win elections. Which should be the focus of all your goals. You might want to listen to their input
The sex trafficking of school girls (I think around 1000) to wealthy and powerful men that the authorities weren't even prepared to deal with seriously in the beginning isnt a story of value??? I'd say that's a story of extreme violence and corruption at the very least. That Trump's devotees aren't capable of recognising that says an awful lot.
I wonder where this leaves the newish, bro, libertarian Trump supporters who are feeling as though they were treated like mugs? Peeling off to Musk's new party should he get it off the ground?
And, where does a new far right party leave Vance, the darling of the technology feudalism billionaires? Perhaps with another political option?
With all these forces swirling around, we might yet get to the bottom of this tragedy. I certainly hope so. The victims deserve justice, and the political stripes of the vicious perpetrators matters not one jot.
Yes Sandra, hahaha.., the "jot". Pilloried. They need to be pilloried. Two by two.
Thank you Heather for a fact filled, up to date, fully referenced summary of the Trump - Epstein debacle. We the people can’t possibly thank you enough for all you are and have done. Please stay safe. Your country needs you now more than ever.
SO TRUE DR. RICHARDSON! Forever grateful are WeThe People.
I think we can best characterize DJT’s, and others’, involvement in the Epstein Affair by using the proper terms. Under age girls are children, and should be referred to as such at all times. People who seek to have sex with children are pedophiles. People who secure children for pedophiles aid and abet pedophilia and are guilty as the pedophiles.
It is becoming more and more apparent that the President of the United States is a pedophile who had sex with children multiple times. The more desperately he tries to hide the facts, the more apparent they become.
Let this be the stake in his heart that finally kills him.
I agree we should use the proper terms. On that note, adults do not 'have sex with children'. They rape them.
Spot on! Excellent point!
We very likely have a child raper in the White House.
You can get rid of the descriptive modifiers.
His MAGAts will likely say these nymphomaniacs enticed him. Cult logic is not a mystery
The Christian myth that it’s women who entice men into sin.
Ralph: Not only Christian, but any other religion where women have to cover up, to “be modest” lest they seduce men who can’t control their impulses
Yup. Back to Eve, and original sin.
I’ve seen some of that already. “A 19 year old I’d not a child” crap. As usual only trees. No forest.
Wonder why so many prostitutes have a history of sexual abuse, often by a trusted relative. Duh, damage is generational in many cases.
My God ! Was he not convicted of Rape? A sad comment .
Excellent comment. Thanks
Will justice ever be served? Will those who aided and abetted Epstein and Maxwells trafficking and abuse finally be prosecuted? I just want justice, resolution and peace for the victims. For women like Victoria Giuffre it is too late. Lost in the noise is one more sexual abuse survivor killing herself. And if this shitshow is what it takes to turn MAGA on itself and give Trump a stroke, bring it on.
The Alex Acosta thing was a major scandal in itself. Corruption of historic proportions.
One more sickening story, from not that long ago.
I think about Virginia Guiffre as well. She was entangled at an early age and very brave in her testimony.
Not if SCOTUS remains the same at least no justice for women.
How do we protect the survivors so that they don’t end up dead, supposedly of suicide?
That’s the question or questions isn’t it? I think we all agree on these truth- Sexual abuse of minors and trafficking of another human for the sexual enjoyment of another is abhorrent. I think it is so abhorrent that a natural human response is to turn a blind eye and not want to deal with it. The last 50 years has given us the evidence for what works in response and recovery for victims. We have all the laws on the books we need to indict and prosecute the predators. In the 1980’s my sister, a social worker, worked at and wrote the grants to fund a rape crisis center in my community and personally worked with sexually abused children. Her husband toured the country in The Bubalonian Encounter, a theater program for elementary school age kids that taught good touch and bad touch. 40 years later we should be better at understanding how to work with the criminal and the victim. Sexual predation is a human problem, not an elite problem of wealth. Epstein clients and those who aided and abetted his crimes should not be separated out from any Joe blow or Jane doe in mid America. These crimes are heinous and occur across the entire socio-economic strata of humanity.
Well, I’m sure you might not agree, but justice is being served as we speak. In fact, now there’s an open investigation into the Russia hoax, and how that happened doesn’t look pretty
It's not an 'open' investigation in any sense of either word, Rick. It's a partisan report released by a corrupt Director of the CIA that actually introduces no new facts or changes any of the existing facts.
https://apnews.com/article/russia-putin-trump-cia-2016-obama-cbb79bc0e957f1d8178a70e0b40b96c0
In my opinion, you’re quite a slow learner. Hate, doesn’t win elections and if Trump dies prematurely then Vance will take over and if he does a good job, he may remain another eight years in the White House. How about that? On the other hand, it’s pretty UnAmerican tuition American president to die. especially because he’s doing such a great job running the country right now.
Rick- Honestly, I don’t know you from Adam. I did not write Trump should die. I am not a person who hates. The reality of Trump is that he is a stroke or heart attack waiting to happen. Remember the midnight physical he had in his first presidency? Physical my ass. He had anxiety or some sort of mental exhaustion because he can’t handle the job. He walked out of Walter Reed looking like he had started benzodiazapenes or at least some antianxiety pills. He can’t handle pressure and this latest round of MAGA loosing its mind may be too much. That’s the reality. And what the heck with calling me a slow learner? Seriously, that is rude.
Actually, the ailment that he has is quite common. Especially one who is standing much of the day and doesn’t raise his ankles above his heart to allow the circulation to flow easier back to the heart. Many aging people have swollen ankles, but it is not an indication necessarily of a heart problem.
In many cases, all you need to do is sit in a chair with a foot rest, and raise it up level, and the swelling will subside a bit. I’m not sure that you’re aware of trumps activity level but Joe Biden, J 14 press conferences in four years and Trump has given 14 in 15 days… he even gives one on his plane in between destinations, whereas Karine Jean Pierre a.k.a. the notebook lady, with an empty notebook, gave no answers to questions that were asked, and Trump answers them directly himself versus a interpreter lol which was in great need during the Biden mental decline. There was a T-shirt going around
That said Biden speech decoder rings now available.
President Trump has the greatest winning month of any president in recent history and if you’re too obtuse or ignorant to realize that I feel sorry for you
Between closing the border between all the criminal element being shipped out of the country being the supreme court rulings one after another in his favor being the OBBB being the $9 billion bill that just puts pending for the left wing PBS and NPR it’s been an incredible winning month including the stock market including inflation including the billions of cat terrorist dollars, flowing into the country, which actually created, which is even hard for me to believe the first budget surplus in 20 years for the month of June. He arranged for three cease-fires he arranged for a NATO group to increase their contribution to the wrong defense by 3% over the next decade, and even got them to buy American weapons to protect themselves against Russian incursion. And by the way, the NATO group now calls him daddy.
Well, that might change rapidly that’s a pretty interesting indicator.
He can’t handle pressure, huh? Wowowowow. That’s all he does
He handled an assassination attempt, A nightmare of protracted made up court cases… and works 14 to 18 hours a day.
Oh, and did, I mention he bombed Iran, and took away their nuclear potential which the world applauded. Further stated that if they were found to be developing more or had hit some of their enriched uranium, that he would just simply do it again immediately.
If I am correct, does that still make me rude about you being a slow learner
Rick Sender, my sense is that you are an AI troll. You responses are not human.
Why thank you but in the past, I have been called superhuman by some people. Lol. I hope that helps. Confirm your argument.
Pretty good cheerleader
Read a little bullet points assessment they are Bonnie and enjoy
I actually have. But thanks for your encouragement. I've read some of it in depth...beyond the facile. However, it's not policy as much as plain old embarrassment at how this country perceives itself. I voted for Republicans for president all of my life until the MAGA crowd decided to make this nation a laughing stock of the developed world. The soul of the nation matters. And it has rotted from within since the GOP decided to make tRump its emperor and god.
Well, no one can deny that you don’t have a good sense of humor
I’d like to know who you think is laughing? NO ONE. But feel free to weigh in on that comment and I can list you almost every single country in the world is now at his beck and call, including NATO, who recently called him, daddy for getting the countries there too, add a larger contribution of their GDP to national defense because of Russian incursion. And his dictum of peace through strength, and the destruction of Iran’s nuclear capabilities demonstrated how far he will go to protect the world from a nuclear Iran. And before you go questioning the success of that strike, he said that if it was found out that it wasn’t successful or that Iran was indeed hiding enriched uranium, he would do it again in a heartbeat.
BTW, He is neither a God nor emperor . But, let me tell you who he is: he was the overwhelming winner of the DEMOCRATIC nationally held election on Nov 5. HE won the popular vote of those that voted…he swamped the vote in the electoral college. He managed to keep both houses of Congress which has happened only five times in our history. He is only the second president ever to be elected in alternate terms. And the reason I bring that up is you have to do your old self assessment as to why that happened which to most people who voted for him know exactly why that happened. Further 85%Of EVERY county in America became redder than the previous election (including the liberal bastions of NY AND CALIFORNIA). in fact, if you have the courage to look at a national map by-county of the voting, the map is red from Coast To Coast with small blotches of blue along each coast and a small rash in the middle He also swept every battleground state/swing state. And let me dispute your assertion about the “ Maga” crowd… he also received a higher percentage of labor, black, Hispanic and Asian vote than before and stole it from the Democrats. His victory was total and complete.
The soul of the nation matters in certain aspects and to the people that voted for him they are thrilled with the soul of this nation right now and it’s direction and successes YTD in only six brief months
Perhaps you'll be confirmed to replace Leavitt. I don't know. But I think you are mostly about pro-tRump propaganda. The U.S. is the laughing stock of the civilized world. Feel free to spend all the time you want cutting and pasting tidbits and talking points from the White House Press Office, 'though. Everyone needs to make a living. And you are certainly the first person I've met who knows all "the people that voted for him [that] are thrilled with the soul of the nation...and it's direction." Impressive social network, pal!
Paradise. Nine, ten-year-old girls, naked. 14-, 16-year olds topless and naked.
Jeffrey lets the girls see a penis for the first time. He and Ghislaine teach them to fondle and suck. Donald, Harvey Weinstein, Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak, British royal Prince Andrew, Alan Dershowitz, and the most elite lawyers, bankers, and Congressmen all in congress with naked youth.
What do American, Brit, and Israeli elites have to do to deserve this paradise?
First, go to elite schools. Where morality plays no role, where humanities, if they exist at all are but decorative. Where all learn people are commodities.
Paradise? Nine, ten-year-old naked girls scampering, vaginas flashing. 14, 15-year-olds topless on the laps of middle-aged men. Large beds indoors and on his airplane for groups.
The girls, years later, still cannot talk about this. So for more, go to an artist. To Nabokov. “Lolita.” About two-thirds in she is just a year or two older, and only beginning to feel the loss of girl innocence, the much worse anti-social gnawing. Nabokov gauges the black holes that await such victims – in ways our elites who play, play, play never will see.
(Note: the above based on “Jeffrey Epstein, Donald Trump, and Sexual Blackmail Networks”: Nick Bryant interviewed on The Chris Hedges Report, July 18, 2025)
These are violent crimes committed by wealthy and powerful people that have never suffered any consequences for their actions. They call it sexual assault because there is a victim or in many cases - victims.
Thanks Phil. It is important to keep it real. The wounding life destroying violence against who have been wronged, whether it be Breonna and her family or the thousands of boys and girls cynically groomed and used and then publically victim shamed if they tried to gain some modicum of recognition of these crimes, let alone justice. As a survivor as yet to take The Roman Way Out, with no backward judgement on those who do choose this redemptive closure of the suffering, my feelings are best expressed by the writer John Wyndham: I’ve done nothing to be ashamed of. I am not ashamed - I am only beaten (The Chrysalids 1955).
Thank you for sharing your pain. You are making a difference.
Bless you for your honesty! And thank you for helping all to see & understand. Courage! You are worthy!💕
Hello Phil.... I Wonder how much DVD Evidence will be Destroyed?.... Just DJT's?, and other Notables?...
More than a thousand girls trafficked in a 20-or-30 year period, Apache.
Many of them serviced many -- too many -- of our most unconscionably rich, powerful, and cynical. So many have held themselves above the law, above and beyond human decency. That's the kind of America we became as we let the bastards offshore the millions of jobs for real hurt to millions, to their communities, and more hurt owing to the unspeakable wealth gap the rich have more-more-more grabbed for themselves.
That's the kind of America we became, too, as we let the standardized testing bastards dehumanize, ruin the schools.
It's been a syndrome promoting the living dead.
Getting above and beyond the law made so many so depraved as to what they could do to these girls. No consciences. Maybe some shame -- which means they can do more deliberate damage if more of their names become public.
Hello Phil.... Thanks for your Thoughts... This is Dark... American Society has devolved with the Rise of Materialism which is the Worship of $$$, and Fame... Contrast Jimmy Carter, with DJT...
I'm more concerned about DNA evidence.
😣🤢🤮
Phil, as a graduate of an elite women’s college I take umbrage at your characterization of elite schools: “First, go to elite schools. Where morality plays no role, where humanities, if they exist at all are but decorative. Where all learn people are commodities.”
Your very broad brush does not align with my four years of experience.
The men's Ivy League has a more sordid history, Sara.
Too many of its grads back in the 1930s directly invested their banks and corporations in Hitler's Waffen SS industries then.
That was then, yes. But now look how the criminal in the White House (also an Ivy League grad -- Wharton, from Penn.) has so easily induced pay-to-play multi-million-dollar bribes from also-Ivy-led social media, elite law, Clarence court, and legacy media.
I don’t doubt what you say, but I also knew or knew of a number of Harvard men who became professors, ministers, and medical researchers who did not turn toward Hitler. I’m just pointing out that sometimes generalizations can be a bit too general.
Sometimes, too, Sara, genocides can be a bit too widespread.
Especially when so many Ivy League elites invested in them.
Similar types who invested time in the children Jeffrey Epstein was making available disproportionally so to so many current Ivy League and other elites?
Lordy, no wonder chump was impressed. Nauseatingly expressed. I have lived a sheltered life, but have known of such evil, just not so graphic.
Epstein is dead. President Trump is compromised. Dozens of powerful men may be involved. Getting the names may be fun. Statutes of limitations and more information on Epstein’s death may be important. Otherwise MAGA seeing the truth behind its favorite conspiracy theory would be the point. But they would blame the Democrats for revealing the truth. None of this may happen or all of it. In the meantime healthcare and food supplies all over the world and environmental practices to avert climate change have been decimated and the American government pillaged to hide the increase in the federal debt. Vote Blue.
If I can. Got my passport, did any other woman with a married last name.
What is wrong with you people if Trump was compromised and Biden had the epstein filed for four years in his hands in the White House and did nothing with it. Would you please explain that to me.
Sure. Biden is a true American patriot, not a sewer rat like Trump. Biden thinks running the government is a serious business. Trump thinks is a TV show.
Biden is non-compos mentís. And has been ever since probably 2019 with his first comment about we’ve defeated Medicare. While the audience’s jaw dropped and began laughing.
And they’re finding out a lot more about his mental stability or lack of it in their investigation of the auto pen and the people close to him who know nothing about his decline. Lmao.
Like I said, they plead the fifth when pleading the fifth only protects them if they don’t tell the truth it it does not affect them personally at all it affects the people they tell the truth about. And one by one we find that Joe Biden lived in a room all by himself with no communication from anyone either way in or out. Omg.
What is wrong with you defending a lecherous lout like Trump.
RS is a troll. Please ignore.
Let me see if I can find it by using a quote/meme in a comic online the other day. One thing I keep telling you I’m not interested in Trump and I’m not supporting Trump per se. I am supporting the policies that has been. coming out of his pen and approved by Congress and the Democratic procedure
What does comic illustration showed was this: It showed that woman in the stocking cap screaming, although there was no audio, but you know the picture probably she was screaming the day Trump was elected. She was like the poster child for the left this believe in Trump’s election.
And the caption was this: stop screaming you little bitches. Donald Trump is your President. That was the cartoon that represents my quasi answer comment.
And for comical historical with the left,they become overly hypocritical, and have a double standard that’s even worse. than how they come up with the statements like this really defies credulity in many cases see if I can help you here briefly with one sentence
Did you find Bill Clinton to be a lecherous lout… having actual sex with a barely 18-year-old aid, while married, and doing it in the White House, and then lying about it, Underoath. What’s that saying about glass houses?
There is a tragic case of what-about-ism in your brilliant defense of all things tRump.
Let me explain what the liberals do with the term. “What about autism”? It’s ok for them to bring facts such as the sexual predator in the White House and somebody else mentions the name of any liberal leader that was demonstrating the exact behavior or worse behavior …. you go about calling it what about ism. So what aboutism translates into nothing more than this BIG FAT DENIAL.
And it doesn’t happen only about this one off issue. It happens about so many things where the liberals wanna bring up something only to find out that their Biden- like memory had disappeared….oooops.
Like when they claimed that Trump was putting children in cages, when in fact, it was Obama that built the cages and put the children there not Trump
It’s like when they blame Trump for cutting budgets of the most needy until they remember only when reminded that Clinton and Obama made the same cuts and deported more people without due process than Trump And how does that Stephen Bishop song go on and on on and on and on and on …
Once again, further illustration of willful ignorance ..
I defer to you, an articulate victim of willful ignorance.
I defer to you, an articulate victim of willful ignorance.
Clinton hasn't been president for over 25 years, not defending him but Monica Lewinsky was 22 years old at that time. Which is just prior to the times Epstein and Trump were hanging out and doing whatever those files have in them.
Well, Jorge, you guys are supposed to be big on history you bring up slavery all the time you bring up wars in Vietnam or Afghanistan or in Ukraine all the time, but as soon as someone brings up the exact same set of events that you to be solely by Trump while worse events happened by democrat leaders, and actually by both parties many times. Hypocrisy and double standards.
Have you ever been in business Jorge? You might find that if you as a manager have an affair with an employee you’ll find that would be very easily that the manager would be fired for doing that. There are governmental laws against behavior like that. But apparently not in your world. A soft way to label. It is a violation of professional ethics, and grounds for termination. And funny acronym was dipping your pen in the company ink well… was an old-fashioned way to say that. And it often reeks of sexual harassment and using the power of the boss to persuade “” the employee to enter into such a perhaps non-consensual agreement to remain employed.
It is also referred to at times as a hostile work environment.
And you forgive him for having this relationship actually in our national House Of worship. The White House itself.
Pathetic hypocrisy my friend
🤡
Get a life.
Here it is: your usual anti-Biden so-called question.
Biden is the reason that this country is suffering horribly right now if not for his total ignorance and opening up the border, which by the way, he now regrets not to mention the cover-up by continually saying the border is secure, which is one of the reasons that caused him to not run and lose an election for the Democrats…. And , I am never anti-anything by name I am anti-everything by policy. So if the policy sucked, and if they’re the people that wrote the policy and delivered the policy that indeed they are the culprits.
You won’t admit it, but Biden is arguably the second worst president in America in our lifetime. And so not to have you think that I am partisan. I think both bushes were also horrible other than bush the younger at least loved this country, and demonstrated that with the 911 response which was seen by many and was the reason for his dominating victory for his second term. But he was pretty dumb. We should’ve never been in Iraq
Let me name one other thing Nancy that I think you’ll really get a kick out of
Many of you ultra compassionate souls were OK with Biden giving Ukraine 100 billion dollars of humanitarian aid.
Yahoo! news put out a story recently that suggested that for $20 billion a year you could eliminate completely eradicate homelessness in the United States instead, just like the people who prefer to protect illegal immigrants versus American citizens, if we had not sent that money to Ukraine and ignored the horrible homelessness conditions in many of our major cities, we could’ve resolved that problem and figure it out a way in the meantime to stop it from persisting but instead liberal idealists are so thrilled that we helped Ukraine with humanitarian aid instead of helping the United States with humanitarian aid for our own citizens totally displaced common sense
If people in power really wanted to end homelessness - and solve any of the many other problems that should not exist in any country, especially ours - it would already have happened. And money for Ukraine would still be available. I regret engaging with you again. I'll try to not do it again.
See that’s the problem with you, delusionists Nancy. No there wouldn’t be enough money to go around. We’re already 37 tree and debt.
It’s simple math Nancy if we had $100 billion and we didn’t send it to Ukraine and Congress decided we could extricate everyone from homelessness in this country for 20 billion and put the other 80 billion in the bank to earn interest. There would be heavy consideration for that.
It would certainly get my vote. And even your comment about things that would’ve already happened. There are many things that could’ve happened if there wasn’t so much divisiveness. The last president that was would’ve been able to do this is Bill Clinton and why because he worked with newt Gingrich..across the aisle to solve as many problems as possible for America to put America first even though he deported 400,000 people and fired nearly a half 1 million with no protest by the left lol. There has been so much hate since , First created by none of them than Barack Hussein Obama, a shadow racist?
Stop it Rick Sender do you love the nut case who ruined my country? and my husband's and puppy also give me a break
So please explain to me Elizabeth exactly how he did that since he’s only been in office six months. And actually, he’s done more good for this country than any president ever has in six months.
I don’t love any nutcase. I love the current president who is democratically elected, and whose policies are saving this country and by the way it’s not your country it’s our country plural.
By firing Steven Colbert, It's comforting to see CBS/Paramont/Redstone are yet again standing up for their bottom line vs the truth about Trump/MAGA.
I guess the settlement payoff wasn't enough.
For DJT it's never enough.
At least Colbert has until next May to really stick it to them and Donold...
Wondering whether to cancel now or next May. Chump may demand an early exit.
Only watching Colbert on CBS until May and then it’s boycott cancellation time. Hoping Donold has an early exit instead.
Well, other than the fact that the show is costing $130 million to produce, has 200 staff members …. including paying Colbert $15 million and losing net $40 million. And they’re not canceling Colbert they’re canceling the show entirely, and it will not be available anymore to anyone else. It’s a losing proposition. Perhaps as a business person, you might understand that. You might wanna try that Avenue of truth
And you are privey to CBS's financials? How about the Redstone settlement? Where did that come from?
The "avenue of of truth" I'll try is that guys like you knowingly put a lying, sexual predator in the White House; the greatest embarrassment to America in our history.
No, but I am privy to life and reality unlike many hear who are theorist and idealists. Many of them, love to try to predict the future and are usually incorrect. If I had to name this particular thread on sub stack, I would name it willful ignorance. Which is pretty sad since there are many highly educated sophisticates here. But as I’ve said before, too many people, there is a big difference between classroom, education and practical education. There is a big difference between reading history and using links to educate yourself or others and being out there actually doing the work that you’re trying to analyze. There are many people that are making many conclusions about the so-called Redstone settlement. Take your pick… I believe that was an negotiation, and apparently the parent company decided that that better result would come from this negotiation and therefore settled it accordingly
The plaintiff had a validated reason to file the suit in the first place, and if you know exactly what happened you would understand that that the network decided to protect Kamala Harris from embarrassment that they determine negatively impact her ability to win an election. You also should evaluate how the hell she got there in the first place.
In other words, theorists/idealist versus practical application in the real world
The numbers are out there relating to the financial status and cost of the Colbert show. I’m pretty sure you know how to Google. but many of you not only don’t wanna know what the numbers are but refuse to see them
And now I will respond to your second little paragraph there. I have this saying that I found years ago that seems to apply more and more each day to the liberal horde…. Liberals live at the intersection of hypocrisy and double standard and continue to prove that premise and illustrate and exemplify it all the time.
Does the name Bill Clinton ring a bell? Not only what you describe above, although I loved him as president, but also one that actually lied under oath.
Hoping for a cabinet post, are we, Me Sender?
Bonnie, I have my own cabinet. And at one point in my business life was the chairman of one of the largest companies in the world with a $500 million annual ad advertising budget under our complete control along with our board
And found great success in that endeavor. There are actually college courses regarding the advertising success that we accomplished.
I am not a political animal actually just the opposite I have been an independent voter independent registered voter for about 45 years
I never vote by party. I vote by policy. Because the shingle changes in the White House pretty frequently, but the only thing that remains, and that most people should really concern themselves with are the policies that impact Americans. Keeping in mind that you can’t please all the people all the time.
Two of my favorite presidents are Democrats and two are Republicans and only because of their policies nothing more.
I thought Colbert looked pretty relaxed and ready to rip. I love his humor but loved his show on Comedy Central more ...I hope he and Stewart have great time together with whatever they might or might not plan for the future. I will be greatful to both of them for standing up to power for the last 25 yrs.
Rick, what revenue does Colbert’s show bring in? Where does your net loss figure come from?
Nancy feel free to look it up and that’s what I keep telling you guys the numbers are out there, but they don’t put them out for you to hear or for you to examine and nobody here wants to be curious about literally anything that’s negatively impact their life or their political views or biases
Simply google it, but it’s pretty available information.
From what I recall of the numbers, the show cost the network about 130 million of which 15 million goes to Colbert as I understand what I’ve read they have 200 people on staff and it’s ratings have been dwindling over the years and one of the other reasons it’s pretty simple to determine
Successful programs don’t get canceled… however those with negative financial implications are much easier to evaluate
And to prove my point about the left refusal to look at all the facts all I did was type in what are the financial implications of Colbert’s show
And this is the answer I got and it seems to have come from CBS itself
https://latenighter.com/news/cbs-reportedly-lost-40-million-on-colberts-late-show-this-year/
And that’s why more recently I’ve been referring to this thread as willful ignorance. Which is really a shame for as many, very intelligent people that are here.
You are correct about the cost and the impending death of shows such as Late Night. As you probably know - because you are the expert in all things - the internet shreds everything it touches. How lucky for CBS to be able to stop bleeding money, end the late night concept before it became unsustainable and please trump at the same time.
By the way, I’m curious as to why so many posters here say that they liked a comment when they really didn’t like the comment.. is that because they think if they don’t say they like the comment that the person wont read it? Rather silly in my estimation, but I was just curious
I think theIR $40 million loss was more important than their pleasing Trump. CBS has done anything but try to please Trump.
You have to admit that late night TV used to be a universally popular event… but in this particular case, it became overly political ostracizing potential viewers as well as advertising providers
I can’t resist. You are not the expert I thought you were - and you think you are. You are totally mistaken about the demise of late night TV. What pleasure it gives me to say that to you. Rant on.
Want to vote today? Don’t open your wallet—close it.
Turn off CBS. Skip that Skydance blockbuster. Pass on Paramount+.
Why? Because these companies are backing Trump’s agenda—and our silence is their green light.
Let’s make this a force-multiplier moment. When we act together—right now, while this issue is hot—we send a message louder than any poll: We don’t support corporations that bankroll authoritarianism.
We’ve seen the power of boycotts before. Just ask Tesla. When people walk away en masse, companies pay attention.
This is what democracy looks like.
Not just at the ballot box—but in every dollar we don’t spend.
Let them hear us.
Let them feel it.
Let’s vote with our wallets—today.
The best tool I've found to "vote" correctly with my wallet: https://www.goodsuniteus.com
I've been shocked to discover some brands' party support and was able to make smarter, more patriotic buying decisions.
Yes Dale, I have this app on my phone!
Dilemma- watch this season of Colbert or kill Paramount now.
Yea, I had a moment with that and the beginning of the season for Star Trek. It resolved with my choice for the bigger picture.
As James points out, it part of the cable package which also supports Fox News.
At some point if you keep going back you will see that everything is connected to everything else. There are no clean lines you can draw. There aren’t. Don’t waste your time over thinking it. There are more impactful things you can do.
So it comes back to choosing your actions and being responsible for their impact.
I ditched cable, now I have to pay for each show, well almost. Just like the "streamers" want. I have an antenna, but I hate it too. Doing more music.
JD, I watch Colbert on YouTube. It's not the "cleanest" solution, but I feel better about it.
Paramount isn't something I can remove from the basic cable package I have, so I'll watch Colbert and avoid the rest of CBS (that won't be difficult). C-SPAN and PBS are most of what I watch now anyway. And "Law & Order" episodes, which remain relevant these many years on. Minnow was right - the vast wasteland has few sights worth seeing.
Yes, CSpan and PBS better than others, but repubs have tried to kill PBS for decades. Still beats 10+ minutes of ads for 30 minute show. Commercial TV is COMMERCIAL TV.
I vote watch Colbert every night that he is on, and even during the reruns. It will be interesting because he does not have to soft-foot any of his comments from this point. He (Colbert) has nothing to lose.
He is my sanity. Seth Myers does a great job too. Other comedians have been warned. Expect other critics to disappear from view. Hope other venues open up. Surely all the money is not evil. I have loved CBS Sunday Morning and 60 Minutes, even after Karl Rove got rid of Dan (my view). But what is left that can be trusted. Hope CBS goes belly up, but maybe wrestling is in the cards. Puke. Also, the sellout by Bill Maher was a blow, John Oliver still a fav, for now.
I don’t stay up late to watch these shows, but can enjoy the Best of Late Night in the daily NYT newsletter.
Being a sleepy head, I watch on Paramount+ at the moment. Wonder if HBO might let Colbert and any other comedian have a spot. I get John Oliver on that. Seems that CBS owns Comedy Central, so guess that will bite it too.
HCR: Thank for a superb summary/analysis, and for your several-year willingness 'to speak truth to power."
Personal scandal of the politically powerful often does drive heads of state from office. But it also distracts the people from even worse offenses. You were right to focus on the DOJ effort to diminish the sentence of a police officer found guilty of reckless use of his weapon.
Yet there are so many more morally worse offenses done in our name by the Trump regime. We supply the weapons that the IDF uses to slaughter innocent Gazans every day. We stand by the ethnic cleansing of the West Bank, the seizure of Palestinian homes and properties. Then too there is the Ukraine War, the cutoff of food and medical supplies to the poorest of the poor in Africa. All these evils are done in our names by our criminal regime.
And this list of evils goes on domestically. Thousands of hardworking, dedicated civil servants are jobless tonight — engineers, meteorologists, physicians, health scientists, etc. Their decades of service is dismissed as waste. These families are tossed into poverty, with kids in school, mortgages to pay, disrespected and facing homelessness.
May God forgive us for the evils done in our name by this immoral regime, evils that go well beyond the personal sexual villainy of Donald Trump.
I agree with your list, with one exception: the war in Ukraine. War is evil, but this is a war against evil. We are in the right to fight it. Slava Ukraini!
One of the things about our war was the opaqueness of the windows through which the evil hid in the villages. The nights of terror. Trying to cast an opaqueness over the windows of Ukraine now attempting to change the narrative. “but this is a war against evil.” Yes.
I agree with you certainly about the moral necessity of saving Ukraine. Trump has extorted Ukraine support at the price of mining rights of rare earths. He remains reluctant to break with Putin.
All you list is true and hideous. However, our legislative branch hasn’t been doing its job for years and the Judicial branch is compromised. So, if it takes a sex scandal to bring this executive branch down, I’ll take it with gratitude.
Way beyond, Pandora’s Box flung wide open
If Trump ends up in jail it is likely he will be Epsteined.
He won't go to jail or even trial. If he resigns Vance will pardon him. I was always more concerned for the world and democracy not whether DJT went to jail, even if he should have. Nobody will visit him in Mar-A-Lago. Memberships will be dropped at all his clubs, the middle east will drop their agreements. He will die a lonely poor man in or out of jail now.
I think they will use his dementia as a stay-out-of-jail card. Like he's too old and sick to be incarcerated.
You are correct Martha Woods. He will go to Hotel Trumslyvania where he will cry out uselessly I am Quasimodo I am not a monster, I am not a monster. I am so misunderstood. Pray for me Argentina.
I suspect there will be a small group of R's hoping they don't pull the short straw for taking the long walk to the WH and to telling him that he must resign or face being removed. I'm sure they can find a crime....and those responsible for the cover up will throw him under the bus ...a la Watergate.
For our lips to God's ears, Pat.
AND be disappeared . Now that is justice!
"Make it so, number one." Captain Picard from Star Trek, TNG
We are such a cruel lot.
But, how to fight cruelty in others without being cruel ourselves? That is the beginning of true democracy - equal protection under the law. Without that, it's just chaos and everyone out for themselves and might makes right. We are devolving. And destroying the only known home in the universe. Many times I have thought the human race is just too evil to survive anymore.
Take away every one’s shoes. Walk barefoot again. Feel the earth. Understand the shards of broken glass and the burning asphalt. Go look at the wheel tracks of the immigrants crossing the Great Plains. As a child I wondered where they came from and where they went. Abandoned in sagebrush and cactus and lonely decaying buffalo skulls waiting silently in disuse where beings human no longer trudged. First they crossed the water and then the continent these beings human. And nowadays they come from all directions seeking a home amongst human beings. To be human to have a precious share of equal protection under the law. To Linda’s nation to be a part of her dream of equality and freedom American style. We can we must and we will.
My goodness! You've brought a tear to my eye. It's a happy tear. Your words are very much appreciated.
If you’re still concerned with the epstein papers, perhaps you forgot that the Democrats in the White House had the epstein file on their desk for four years (since Jan 2024) and did nothing with it so you might want to question the reason they didn’t. They sure might’ve used it to keep Trump out of the White House if there was anything there
But I know Pat hate overrides reason in some cases
The Epstein case was closed during Trump's first term, you jackass. Trump and his supporters were happy to throw out all kinds of malicious and false allegations about the Epstein files and Democrats and now it's all come back to bite him in his fat arse.
Merrick Garland was a disappointment and lackluster AG, the Epstein case wasn't just sitting on a desk for Democrats to seize upon. Let there be more investigations and Congressional hearings, let justice be done for the sexual assaults and crimes committed against all these women who were only barely teenagers at the time.
Jorge in my opinion that was an extremely ignorant comment. Do you not think that Joe Biden saw that Merrick Garland has the documents? Do you not know that everybody in the White House and their staff AND THE PUBLIC KNEW WHERE THE DOCIMENTS/FILES WERE. WE ALL knew the documents were there? In fact, it was pressure from the Republicans and from the Citizen to release the information… and the suspicion back then was they’re not releasing it, because there are a number of Highly placed Democrats and others more famous people that would be exposed Merrick Garland was anything but lazy and frankly Merrick Garland apparently as of today I think is now under investigation for some other shenanigans as I understand it. Merrick Garland was venting all his venom back to the Republicans for not allowing his place on the Supreme Court and his vengeful career will be indeed revenged I believe.
Keep on singin’. You’re gonna be a star someday.
Hate? Seriously.. my gawd.. even when the bastard insults idiots like you , you stick with him..
Indeed, MAGAts prove that last remark every day
I’m not at all concerned with the papers, rather with the fates of those who performed the deeds of Epsteinian proportion and yet may be brought to justice. I recognize a new edition to the American lexicon.
Friday Evening Update:
Trump is forum shopping looking for a friendly Florida Judge for his "talking complaint" against Rupert Murdoch, WSJ et al filing an 18 page ramble-on in the Southern District of Florida:
Case No. 1:25-cv-23232 -xxxx.
Under the Federal Rules Civil Procedure (FRCP) & The Federal Rules of Evidence (FRE), Murdoch's counsel (already hired & on the case) has many avenues for a powerful counter attack.
Bryan, this may be the only ever time that I will root for the WSJ.
Ditto Marlene
That’s a quite open minded, Marlene
Never happen. Trump couldn’t possibly handle a deposition. This is just “hoping it will go away show”
Discovery would be entertaining!
A actually, he spent eight weeks in a courthouse in New York where were you?
Tgat didn’t go very well for him, did it. Think he wants a repeat either children instead of Stormy?
It went great for him in New York. He was able to illustrate personally the unbridled bias and Lawfare of New York, and its legal officials if you want to call them that It actually illustrated the unbelievable ridiculous survival of kangaroo courts in the 98% democrat precincts. 98% Juror selection process and an apparently compromised judge…
Smart people, people with brains, and level headed people that didn’t hate Trump know that if that trial was held anywhere, but in New York and California they would’ve dismissed it before they ever even called a jury pool.
But you might try to fathom THIS. everybody with a brain knew that all these cases were BS , AND were contrived to bring them back twisting the law and the statue of limitation’s. AND THATS ONE OF THE MORE SALIENT REASONS THAT 77 MILLION PEOPLE VOTED FOR A CONVICTED FELON. ooooops
If I was betting, I'd put my money on Murdoch.
Yup, he has been here taken some big hits & given some as well in the UK.
Brian, this is also unimportant and I’m not sure that Trump is doing the right thing by suing Murdoch. Kind of dumb but he does some dumb things from time to time and puts his mouth where he shouldn’t IMP . I certainly don’t know what he has the gain by this
If anyone should be sued for defamation and $20 billion, it's Trump by Clinton, Obama, Biden and Comey.
I expect counsel for the Defendants attacked by Trump's "ramble-on" pleadings to appear soon.
I wouldn't rule out a strategic cross-complaint appropriate to the local Florida Jury pool & the Defense counsel themes trial counsel wants to drive home LIVE in the courtroom.
Recall that AILEEN MERCEDES CANNON aka "Loose Cannon" is on that FL Bench.
https://t.co/pltiM3s42t Enjoy a Touch of reality
Hey Bryan , aren’t you the same guy that was thrilled about a family member, brother I think, ..district or federal judge of a former long ago liberal supreme, maybe a few weeks maybe a month at the most that there was an appeal. There was a lawsuit by Newsome appealed to a brother of a former liberal supreme justice that was going to handle the appeal on the use of the Marines or federal troops. Or national guard ? How did that work out for you? Oooops
Wait till you see how this turns out it’s not gonna be pretty for Clinton, Obama, Biden, and Comey or Brennan or many others perhaps. Having to do with the steel dossier , the Russia hoax. Etc. be patient my dear, but it’s gonna be ugly for you. I’m guessing you haven’t seen the latest information and the investigation is just beginning.
And different than you and other close minded people here if it turns out that the information that’s been forthcoming recently about the effort to expose the credibility of a fake Russia involvement turns out to favor Obama Biden called me or Brennan. I’ll be right there with you, but it’s not looking that way right now.
Important: reread this and replace “underage girls” or “girls” or “younger side” with the word CHILDREN. Journalists unwittingly shield these alleged child rapists from distain with the words “underage girls.” Catholic priests didn’t rape “underage” boys. They raped children. This is the same. The language should be the same.
“Girls,” like in the Beastie Boys song, is commonly used to mean “adult women,” so the reporting doesn’t land as it should—with the vile reality we are talking about helpless, trusting children sexually abused by grown men.
You nailed it! At least they’ve mostly stopped calling those children “underage women.”
Most of mainstream media still refers to 47's lies as untruths or flasehoods, when they call out any lies at all. They show their ownership and allegiance to fascist mafia state oligopolists.
As titillating and salacious as this is, the Epstein story is little more than a distraction to draw attention away from the horrible destruction these jackals are causing to the government of this nation!
Surely you agree this is a matter that deserves attention though? It could prove the death knell for the current President (hopefully) and is a massive turning point in the narrative MAGA has created. The QAnon conspiracies and Epstein saga helped deliver Trump to his second term, and justice for the women and girls involved is long overdue. I’m also struck by the abrupt turn by Rupert Murdoch and the WSJ fascinating, being one of the key figures in propping up Trump and the right wing movement. Even here in Australia Fox has had a disproportionate influence, brainwashing thousands and infecting our population like a virus. It’s all connected and shouldn’t be dismissed as a distraction.
I tend to agree. It is sometimes the case that it is the seemingly least significant crack in the facade that will bring the whole edifice crashing down.
I have high hopes that the supposedly benign "venous insufficiency" that turned up on Trump's recent exam will fill the same purpose.
Yes Bob.. I nice big Deep Vein Thrombosis throwing off bilateral pulmonary embolisms would do the job!
Yes. I don't know the technicalities of it, but yes, something like that would do the trick I think.
Thanks.
Rupert and Ailes set the stage, wrote the script, cast it, and watched the money roll in. The “entertainment” was captivating and lethal
The detraction derby rolls on, but the crack is welcome.
I agree 100% with what Sherrilyn Ifill has said.
HCR hits the nail on the head with what this administration is about. It is what this country was founded on, freedom for those who have dominion over others.
I am so glad that something finally broke the spell of MAGAs. I suspect that it is the scary actions on the part of the administration in terms of their health and financial well being that are the scariest. People are going to lose out big with this administration.
Trump has 3 funding priorities:
1) billionaires-- don't know how big their tax breaks, but will add 3-4 tril to our deficit.
2) the military-- budget up to 1 tril
3) ICE--their budget up from 8.7 mil to 780 bil
I highly recommend Dems getting together with willing Republicans and passing a bill that ends federal taxing and allows states taxing more to cover all services, since we are getting none from this administration.
Willing Republican? Seen any in captivity lately?
Power-hungry and will do anything to keep what they cheated, lied, and manipulated to get.
Don't forget himself as a funding priority. And as to suing the Wall Street Journal, there's a principle that public figures can't be libeled. Certainly, in his case it's abundantly clear.
Yes, but that is less about our tax dollars, as much as him using the office to develop his family businesses, particularly this crypto currency scheme.
Agreed, but to him I think it is all one big pile of money. The Supreme Court bears a huge responsibility for this in Citizens United.