WHO DID THIS pic.twitter.com/NxzdtiFIIk
— Adam Parkhomenko (@AdamParkhomenko) November 12, 2025
Andrew Egger of the Bulwark: "Ordinarily, a person who responds to serious accusations by telling colossal, ridiculous lies, trying frantically to change the subject, demanding an end to all inquiries, and trying to obstruct all investigation into the matter is all but telling you that those accusations are true. But ... Trump ... does that sort of thing all the time.... But ... my resolve in this department is starting to crack. Because as astonishing revelations about Trump’s relationship with Epstein keep piling up, a few simple facts keep getting clearer. Trump has never given and still cannot give a satisfactory account of his friendship with the late sexual predator, about which he continues to tell the most brazen lies. His behavior toward the investigation ... has grown steadily more frantic.... And we shouldn’t lose sight of one more thing: Trump, at least, seems very much to believe there are still more damaging revelations to come. He wouldn’t have cranked up the pressure on Boebert and company yesterday if he thought the stuff we’d already seen was the worst of it." ~~~
Jill Filipovic on Substack: “The coverup effort is happening right out in the open. And [many] ... MAGA supporters ... decided to put the issue to bed the second it seemed Trump might be implicated.... This is an administration that has built its identity on white male power unfettered by 'political correctness' or basic decency, unimpeded by the law or old norms, and unchallenged by the women or racial minorities who were increasingly competing with white men for power.... This is a MAGA-cult problem for sure, and the clearest test yet of whether there are any limits to what Trump can do and still maintain the support of his base. But it’s also a problem of the conservative He-Man Woman-Hater ideology this administration has embraced. Trump is a notorious moral reprobate..., and using his current position to pardon violent criminals, do favors for 'friends' he expects to repay him many times over, and enrich himself and his family. It is no surprise that his leadership has made a party that once boasted about their superior morality and 'draining the swamp' into a pedophile protection racket.”
Ry Rivard & Matt Friedman of Politico: “A federal judge on Thursday declined to toss federal assault charges against New Jersey Rep. LaMonica McIver. The first-term Democrat was charged with assaulting law enforcement officers following a chaotic scrum outside an immigration detention facility in May. McIver argued that the prosecution — led by Alina Habba, a former personal attorney to ... Donald Trump whom he picked to be the state’s top federal prosecutor — was unfair and that she was shielded from the charges by the Constitution’s 'speech or debate' clause, which grants members of Congress a form of immunity that is mostly impenetrable in investigations relating to the official duties of lawmakers. U.S. District Judge Jamel Semper, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, disagreed and refused to toss two of the three counts, while reserving judgment on a third until he sees more evidence. 'Defendant’s active participation in the alleged conduct removes her acts from the safe harbor of mere oversight,' he said. 'Lawfully or unlawfully, Defendant actively engaged in conduct unrelated to her oversight responsibilities and congressional duties.'”
~~~~~~~~~~
Catie Edmonson & Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: “The federal government began reopening Wednesday night after President Trump signed into law a spending package that narrowly passed the House, ending the longest shutdown in the nation’s history.... Mr. Trump used the bill signing to attack Democrats for what he called 'extortion,' blaming them for harm inflicted on air travel and the loss of paychecks for federal workers.... 'When we come up to midterms and other things, don’t forget what they’ve done to our country.'... Polling, however, shows most Americans blame Republicans for the shutdown.... [The] only two Republicans [who] voted against [the bill were], Representatives Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Greg Steube of Florida.... The six Democrats who voted to reopen the government were Representatives Adam Gray of California; Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington; Jared Golden of Maine; Henry Cuellar of Texas; Tom Suozzi of New York; and Don Davis of North Carolina. All represent swing districts.” ~~~
~~~ Mike Lillis of the Hill: “The House on Wednesday passed a sweeping spending package to reopen the government, setting the stage to end a marathon shutdown — the longest in U.S. history — that churned economic turmoil around the country and sparked an internal battle among Democrats over the future of the party and how best to take on ... [Donald] Trump. The vote in the lower chamber was 222-209, almost strictly along party lines. Only two Republicans opposed the measure, to protest deficit spending, while six Democrats hopped the aisle to support it, citing the importance of getting federal funding flowing again.” (Also linked yesterday.) The AP report is here. ~~~
~~~ Theodoric Meyer, et al., of the Washington Post: “A provision tied to the investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol buried deep in the bill to end the longest government shutdown in U.S. history has sparked bipartisan outrage, with House Republicans vowing to try to repeal the provision later even as the House passed the bill that includes it. The bill allows Republican senators whose phone records were seized by the FBI as part of an investigation led by special counsel Jack Smith into Jan. 6 to sue the federal government for damages. Each of them could receive $500,000 as well as legal fees. House members whose phone records were obtained would not be eligible.... The House will try to pass a bill early next week to repeal the provision, [Speaker Mike] Johnson said. 'I don’t think it was the right thing to do and the House is going to repeal that,' Johnson said. 'And I’m going to expect our colleagues in the Senate to do the same thing.'” ~~~
~~~ Daniel Hampton of the Raw Story: "A secret meeting [on October 29] that occurred after the Senate and reporters cleared out of Capitol Hill for the day reportedly became the 'turning point' in the government shutdown.... '... after the Senate adjourned for the day and most reporters had emptied out of the halls, a small group of breakaway Democrats and an independent slipped unnoticed into the office of Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R., S.D.)," the [Wall Street Journal] report said.... Moderate Democrats joined Sen. Angus King (I-ME), who caucuses with Democrats, in filing into Thune's office to hash out a solution. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Maggie Hassan (D-NH) joined the talks, along with Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND). [Minority Leader Chuck] Schumer, who wanted to keep the shutdown going, was "read in" to the talks, but didn't directly participate, the senators insisted."
Nicholas Wu of Politico: “The House is on track to vote on disclosing files related to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein after a newly sworn-in Democrat completed a bipartisan effort Wednesday to sidestep Republican leaders over the opposition of ... Donald Trump. Rep. Adelita Grijalva of Arizona signed the discharge petition immediately after she was sworn in by Speaker Mike Johnson after a record 50-day wait and delivered remarks critical of the GOP attempts to keep Justice Department files under wraps.... The vote is expected in early December, according to aides from both parties.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
So then this:
~~~ Update. Jennifer Amatuli of the Guardian: “Mike Johnson, the US House speaker, said on Wednesday he would put the bill compelling the release of government files related to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on the House floor next week. 'We are gonna put that on the floor for [a] full vote next week, [as] soon as we get back,' Johnson told reporters, as the chamber gathered to debate legislation to reopen the government. Johnson, who opposes the bill, made the announcement just hours after swearing in Arizona Democrat Adelita Grijalva.... Under the rules governing discharge petitions, Johnson would not have been mandated to require a vote until early December, so his announcement that the vote would take place next week is earlier than expected.... Even if the bill passes the House, it still needs to get through the Senate and be signed by Trump. Senate leaders have shown no indication they will bring it up for a vote, and Trump has decried the effort as a 'Democrat hoax'.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: I would assume that Johnson is "speeding up the process" because he knows the Senate won't pass (or even bring up) the bill, and everybody knows Trump won't sign it. But don't get why the bill has to become law. Can't a House committee -- on its own -- subpoena the DOJ to release all the Epstein files to one of its members?
Steve M. writes about a YouGov survey and explains why he's not writing about a few Epstein emails. I think he's right. (Also linked yesterday.)
Michael Gold of the New York Times: “House Democrats on Wednesday released emails in which Jeffrey Epstein wrote that ... [Donald] Trump had 'spent hours at my house' with one of Mr. Epstein’s victims, among other messages that suggested that the convicted sex offender believed Mr. Trump knew more about his abuse than he has acknowledged. Mr. Trump has emphatically denied any involvement in or knowledge of Mr. Epstein’s sex-trafficking operation.... In one of the messages, Mr. Epstein flatly asserted that Mr. Trump 'knew about the girls,' many of whom were later found by investigators to have been underage. In another, Mr. Epstein pondered how to address questions from the news media about their relationship as Mr. Trump was becoming a national political figure.” The AP story is here. the Guardian's story is here. Mediaite's story is here. Thanks to Akhilleus for the link. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ This press release from House Democrats on the Oversight Committee contains all the emails that mention Donald Trump. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: In an email dated April 2, 2011, Epstein wrote to Maxwell that "that dog that hasn't barked is trump," apparently referring to the fact that the "police chief, etc." had not named Donald Trump in any of the charges nor in their public statements about the sexual abuse of minors. (If that explanation -- which one expert on the Epstein saga hypothesized, then Epstein's metaphor isn't perfectly apt. The reference originates in a Sherlock Holmes story where the dog's silence is the main clue to solving the mystery of the disappearance of the horse "Silver Blaze.") Yet Trump did indeed become "the dog that didn't bark" when he would not take questions after the bill signing last night. You don't have to be Sherlock to figure out why Trump didn't make a peep. ~~~
~~~ Marcy Wheeler: "The most damning [email] describes Epstein, discussing with Ghislaine Maxwell in 2011 one of the victims spending 'hours at [Epstein’s] house with['] Trump.... That conversation transpired in April 2011, just a month before Trump dropped out of the presidential race." Wheeler then traces bread crumbs that suggest why Trump may have decided to make sure Maxwell got some new plum prison digs & privileges. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ David Enrich, et al., of the New York Times: “In more than 20,000 pages of Mr. Epstein’s typo-strewn emails and other messages released by a congressional committee on Wednesday, Mr. Epstein insulted Mr. Trump and hinted that he had damaging information on him. By turns gossipy, scathing and scheming, the messages show influential people pressing Mr. Epstein for insight into Mr. Trump, and Mr. Epstein casting himself as the ultimate Trump translator, someone who knew him intimately and was 'the one able to take him down.'... [Release of the messages is] unlikely to quell the furor around the Trump-Epstein relationship. A core part of Mr. Trump’s base believes the mother lode of documents, audio files and video related to Mr. Epstein are in the possession of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Justice Department. A slice of those documents has been released only in small, curated batches.” ~~~
~~~ Isaac Arnsdorf & Matthew Choi of the Washington Post: “Investor Jeffrey Epstein wrote that Donald Trump knew about the sexual abuse of underage girls but never participated, according to thousands of pages of documents released Wednesday by the House Oversight Committee. 'Trump knew of it. and came to my house many times during that period,' Epstein wrote in an email to himself on Feb. 1, 2019, several months before he was arrested on sex trafficking charges and killed himself in jail. 'He never got a massage.'” ~~~
~~~ Kyle Cheney & Erica Orden of Politico: “The broader tranche of emails reveal Epstein’s vast web of connections to power centers around the world: He bantered with former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and invited billionaire Peter Thiel to visit him in the Caribbean. He connected far-flung associates such as [writer Michael] Wolff with Trump ally Tom Barrack and attorney Ken Starr. And he gabbed about current events with Soon-Yi Previn, Woody Allen’s wife.... A review of hundreds of emails Epstein exchanged — with lawyers, foreign dignitaries, prominent business executives and political power players — underscores his dim view of Trump, whom he repeatedly disparaged as shallow, unintelligent, needy and, in one exchange, 'borderline insane.'... [In] the tranche of emails released Wednesday..., Wolff appears to operate as a sort of image consultant, advising Epstein on how to respond to damaging storylines, how to weave Trump into his PR pushback and how to use his relationship with Trump to his benefit amid his legal travails. The two exchanged scores of messages....” ~~~
~~~ Jesse Bedayn & Safiyah Riddle of the AP offer some takeaways gleaned from the documents released Wednesday. ~~~
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) credits Lawrence O'Donnell and O'Donnell's credits his producer Amy Shuster with being responsible for yesterday's release of Epstein documents. ~~~
~~~ Annie Karni & Devlin Barrett of the New York Times: Donald “Trump and his administration on Wednesday ramped up a pressure campaign on congressional Republicans who are pushing for a full release of the Justice Department’s files about the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, rushing to head off a House vote on the matter. Top officials met in the White House Situation Room on Wednesday with Representative Lauren Boebert, a Colorado Republican who is backing an effort to force a House vote on whether to demand the release of the files. She was summoned to sit down with top Justice Department and F.B.I. officials, according to two people familiar with the matter. One of the people said the session included Attorney General Pam Bondi and F.B.I. Director Kash Patel. Both people spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment on the private discussions." Read on. The link is a gift link to a story about an administration in full panic mode. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ The story has been updated to add the following right after the lede sentence: “But even as the White House made last-ditch moves to block action, proponents of a vote reached a critical threshold to force [a vote], winning the final signature on a petition that will require the House to bring up the matter in the coming days. By Wednesday night, Speaker Mike Johnson, who has opposed considering the measure, said he would relent and bring it to a vote next week.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: I never imagined I would say this about Lauren Boebert, of all people. But what that update means is that despite all of Donald Trump's efforts to persuade her to remove her signature from the discharge petition -- a phone call he made to her Tuesday, a summons to the White House Wednesday, a visit to the imposing Situation Room, pressure from the Attorney General of the United States, pressure from the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (both of whom further besmirched themselves by so boldly participating in this political coverup) -- despite all that -- nevertheless, she persisted. AND, according to what I heard on the teevee yesterday, House members filed the discharge petition yesterday after Adelita Grijalva signed it, and once a discharge petition has been filed, signatories cannot remove their names. ~~~
~~~ AND wouldn't it be something if Trump cared at least half as much about millions of children going hungry or millions of Americans going without affordable health insurance as he does about the public learning more about his own sordid sex stories? The Situation Room? Really?
Kyle Cheney & Nahal Toosi of Politico: “Nearly a month before ... Donald Trump met Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Helsinki in 2018, Jeffrey Epstein attempted to pass a message to Russia’s top diplomat: If you want to understand Trump, talk to me. I think you might suggest to putin that lavrov can get insight on talking to me,' Epstein wrote in a June 24, 2018, email to Thorbjorn Jagland, a former prime minister of Norway who was leading the Council of Europe at the time of the exchange. Lavrov was an apparent reference to Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s longtime foreign minister. In the email exchange, one of hundreds released Wednesday by congressional investigators, Epstein indicated he had previously talked about Trump with Vitaly Churkin, Russia’s forceful ambassador to the United Nations, before Churkin died in 2017.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Rebecca Falconer of Axios: Donald "Trump said in a Fox News interview that aired Tuesday evening H-1B skilled worker visas are necessary because 'you don't have certain talents' in the U.S." Read on. MB: Trump makes a good argument. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ BUT MAGA is very upset. MB: One of the biggest problems on the right is that wingers are completely unreasonable. This is partly because Republicans have fed them a pack of lies and partly because the little MAGA-ts bought the lies and in general are susceptible to tall tales that fit into a wholly unrealistic and simplistic worldview. One result is that when anyone -- even their Dear Leader -- tries to reason them out of a prejudice, s/he will fail. (Also linked yesterday.)
Jeremy Kohler of ProPublica: "In his second term..., Donald Trump has largely used his clemency power to benefit allies, donors and culture-war figures — including Jan. 6 defendants.... Few of Trump’s pardons have gone to people who met the Justice Department’s criteria and properly petitioned the Office of the Pardon Attorney.... Trump could have reformed clemency by moving it out of the Justice Department and having an independent panel in charge of it. Instead, experts say he has exploited it." (Also linked yesterday.)
Janay Kingsberry & Rich Maese of the Washington Post: “FIFA will not pay a rental fee when it takes over much of the Kennedy Center later this month for the 2026 World Cup draw, according to a copy of the venue use agreement ... and other internal documents. The center’s arrangement with soccer’s international governing body will disrupt its performance schedule, forcing the relocation or postponement of several concerts at an institution that has seen a sharp decline in ticket sales since it was taken over by ... Donald Trump earlier this year. To prepare for the draw, which is scheduled for Dec. 5, FIFA will occupy performance spaces and other sections of the Kennedy Center for almost three weeks.... The draw is essentially an invite-only event, and neither FIFA nor the Kennedy Center is expected to generate any ticket revenue.... In response to questions about Trump’s role in facilitating the agreement, White House spokeswoman Liz Huston said the president was honored to bring the event to the Kennedy Center....”
Michael Crowley of the New York Times: “Secretary of State Marco Rubio left a meeting of major foreign allies on Wednesday saying that he had heard no objections to ongoing U.S. military strikes targeting what the Trump administration has described as drug smuggling boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. But speaking to reporters on the sidelines of their official meetings at the Group of 7 foreign ministers meeting in Canada, two senior European diplomats called the Trump administration’s lethal attacks illegitimate.... France’s foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, told reporters in Ontario that the U.S. strikes in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific 'violate international law.' And in an interview with NBC News at the G7 event, the European Union’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, also said the American strikes lacked any legal basis and that she had discussed the issue with fellow ministers.... But Mr. Rubio showed little concern about charges that the strikes, which Pentagon officials say have killed dozens of drug smugglers tied to Venezuela’s government, lack legal justification.... Mr. Rubio, when asked about her remarks, said, 'I don’t think the European Union gets to decide what international law is.'”
Lauren Gurley & Hannah Natanson of the Washington Post: “The Trump administration directed visa officers to consider obesity — and other chronic health conditions ... — as reasons to deny foreigners visas to the United States. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told U.S. consulates and embassies around the world about the changes in a Nov. 6 cable.... The move broadens current medical screening beyond contagious diseases and gives visa officers new justification to reject applicants, in the Trump administration’s latest effort to curb the flow of immigration.... The cable was drafted by the agency’s political leadership and did not go through normal channels for review....
“'You must consider an applicant’s health,' the State Department cable said. 'Certain medical conditions — including, but not limited to, cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases, cancers, diabetes, metabolic diseases, neurological diseases, and mental health conditions — can require hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of care.' The cable then suggests that consulates consider obesity in determining whether to grant visas, mentioning that it can cause sleep apnea, high blood pressure and clinical depression.... The State Department’s guidance also directs visa officers to consider applicants ineligible to enter the U.S. for several new reasons, including whether they are past retirement age, how many dependents — children or elderly parents — they have, and whether any dependents have 'special needs' or disabilities.”
“Operation Midway Blitz”? How About “Operation Midway Bust.” Mitch Smith of the New York Times: “A federal judge in Chicago indicated on Wednesday that he would order the release of hundreds of immigrants who were arrested during the Trump administration’s Operation Midway Blitz. Earlier this year, the judge, Jeffrey Cummings of U.S. District Court, identified several instances in which immigration agents made arrests without warrants issued in advance, in apparent violation of a consent decree. Judge Cummings said that he planned to order the release of most people in a group of 615 immigration detainees. Those released would have to post a bond and would be electronically monitored while their cases proceeded in immigration court. It was not clear how many of those people, many of whom are believed to have been arrested during the administration’s recent crackdown on illegal immigration in the Chicago area, are still in the United States. The judge agreed to give government lawyers time to note anyone they believe poses a public safety threat but barred the government for now from deporting anyone in that group.” The Guardian story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
ABC7 Chicago: "Federal Judge Jeremy C. Daniel has ordered the Trump administration to provide a bond hearing for the Chicago day care worker who was detained by federal immigration agents last week. Judge Daniel ruled, as he has in other recent high-profile cases, that Diana Patricia Santillana Galeano's detention without a bond hearing is unlawful because it violates her right to due process."
Elizabeth Dias of the New York Times: “America’s Roman Catholic bishops on Wednesday rebuked the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation campaign in a rare and near-unanimous statement that framed the immigration crisis in starkly moral terms. The statement, passed at the bishops’ annual conference in Baltimore, did not call out ... [Donald] Trump by name, but the context was clear. The bishops said they 'oppose the indiscriminate mass deportation of people' and 'pray for an end to dehumanizing rhetoric and violence, whether directed at immigrants or at law enforcement.'... The bishops, who were often divided by American politics in the Pope Francis era, showed a united front in standing behind Pope Leo XIV, the first pope from the United States, who has spoken out for immigrants and urged U.S. bishops to do the same.” An Axios report is here.
Jason DeParle of the New York Times: “The Trump administration has developed plans for a wholesale shift in homelessness policy that would slash support for long-term housing programs, according to a confidential grant-making plan, and critics say it could quickly place as many as 170,000 formerly homeless people at risk of returning to the streets. Pivoting from housing aid, the administration’s approach would shift billions to short-term programs that impose work rules, help the police dismantle encampments, and require the homeless to accept treatment for mental health or addiction. The expected shift, which would be the most consequential in a generation, is detailed in a 100-page notice from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, slated for release in coming days, that would govern more than $3.5 billion in Continuum of Care funds, the main source of federal money for homelessness.”~~~
~~~ Marie: Now what I'd like to see is the administration shift away from tax breaks for the ultra-rich and pump an additional $3.5 billion into imposing strict financial rules on billionaires, helping authorities dismantle their tax evasion & avoidance schemes, and require the billionaires to accept treatment for compulsive greed.
Ivan Penn & David Gelles of the New York Times: “Top U.S. government officials are skipping the annual United Nations climate summit for the first time in 30 years. And many American corporate executives appear to be following their lead. Though few executives have joined ... [Donald] Trump in calling climate change a hoax, some have recently suggested that it is perhaps not deserving of as much attention as it has been getting. Their attitude is not so much climate denial as it is a rejection of the past framing of the issue, a stark shift from the advocacy and commitments made at summits held under different political conditions.... At this year’s U.N. climate summit, no prominent American leaders made the trip to in Belém, Brazil, a city on the edge of the Amazon rainforest. 'Obviously, it has to do with the political climate in the U.S.,' said Sonia Dunlop ... of the Global Solar Council, a trade organization.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
Somini Sengupta of the New York Times: “Gov. Gavin Newsom of California on Tuesday cast himself as the 'stable and reliable' American partner to the world, called a reported White House proposal to open offshore drilling in the waters off California 'disgraceful' and urged his fellow Democrats to recast climate change as a 'cost of living issue.' Mr. Newsom, a Democrat who is widely considered to be weighing a 2028 presidential bid, used his appearance at the United Nations climate summit in Belém, Brazil, to paint ... [Donald] Trump as a threat to American competitiveness by letting China dominate electric vehicles, solar panels and other clean energy technologies of the future. 'The United States of America better wake up at that,' Mr. Newsom said at one of his many packed sessions at the climate conference, known as COP30. 'It’s not about electric power. It’s about economic power. We, as the state of California, are not going to cede that race to China.'” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: I suppose Barack Obama remains, in most people's minds, the leader of the Democratic party, but Gavin Newsom, of whom I am not a particular fan, certain is making himself at least a close second. And generally, he says the right things.
Brad Plumer of the New York Times: “Global fossil fuel emissions are on track to soar to record highs in 2025 and show no signs of declining overall, although there are indications of a recent slowdown in China’s emissions, researchers said on Wednesday. This year, nations are projected to emit roughly 38.1 billion tons of planet-warming carbon dioxide by burning oil, gas and coal for energy and by manufacturing cement, according to data from the Global Carbon Project. Those sources are the largest contributors to human-caused climate change. The total is roughly 1.1 percent more than the world emitted in 2024. Not everywhere saw a large increase. Emissions appear to have stayed nearly flat in China and Europe, but rose significantly in the United States and much of the rest of the world.”
Maryclaire Dale of the AP: “The U.S. ended production of the penny Wednesday, abandoning the 1-cent coins that were embedded in American culture for more than 230 years but became nearly worthless. When it was introduced in 1793, a penny could buy a biscuit, a candle or a piece of candy. Now most of them are cast aside to sit in jars or junk drawers, and each one costs nearly 4 cents to make. 'God bless America, and we’re going to save the taxpayers $56 million,' Treasurer Brandon Beach said at the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia before hitting a button to strike the final penny. The coins were then carefully placed on a tray for journalists to see. The last few pennies were to be auctioned off.” (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times story is here.
No Country for Young Women. Emily Peck of Axios: Forty percent "of young women say they'd like to leave the U.S. permanently, more than twice the share of American men, a new Gallup survey finds.... It's a sign of a widening divide between the genders in the U.S., driven by growing political dissatisfaction among American women.... Women's desire to leave the country started surging right before ... [Donald] Trump's first term in office, and increased again in the years after the Supreme Court overturned abortion rights in the Dobbs decision."
Marie P.S.: Thank you to everyone who helped me out yesterday with my difficulty with the English language. Thoughtful responses, all.
~~~~~~~~~~
California. Tran Nguyen & Jaimie Ding of the AP: “A former top aide to California Gov. Gavin Newsom has been indicted on federal charges alleging her involvement in a scheme to steal campaign money from former federal Health Secretary Xavier Becerra. Dana Williamson was arrested and appeared in court Wednesday in Sacramento. She pleaded not guilty to all charges, and a judge ordered her released from custody. The federal indictment lists four other co-conspirators. It alleges that Williamson developed a plan with Sean McCluskie, a longtime Becerra aide, to siphon money from one of Becerra’s dormant state campaign accounts to give to McCluskie to pad his salary after he accepted a job as his chief of staff in Washington. McCluskie signed a plea agreement Oct. 30 in which he admitted to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and wire fraud, accordiing to court filings. He agreed to pay back the $225,000 he took from the account.... Becerra ... is now running for California governor in next year’s election. He is not implicated in the indictment.”
20 comments:
The curious incident of the pedophile in the night-time...
Epstein's use of the phrase "the dog that didn't bark", has other implications besides that to which he refers, ie, that Trump's name hadn't appeared in any police reports, which, as Marie points out is a clunky application of Holmes's famous observation.
"The dog that didn't bark" is often used as an example of a negative fact, something that didn't happen, as opposed to something that did. In the story, the dog in the night-time didn't bark because it knew the person committing the crime. In that respect, Trump, the dog, being present during the commission of a crime, is a much more apropos application. My guess is he was that same dog in the night-time many, many, many times during the commission of many, many, many crimes. Statutory or actual rape being just one.
Elementary, dear Watson.
Unfortunately, even if rock solid video evidence were to surface, the drooling MAGAts wouldn't be moved an inch. They'd find some escape clause for their Dear Leader. Maybe those 15 year old girls forced him so rape them, or maybe it was god's will. Who knows? Who cares? He won't suffer any consequences with that crowd of numb nimrods.
But my fervent hope is that the constant clamoring sounds of "Epstein, Epstein, Epstein" follow him around making his disgusting life miserable every goddam day for the rest of his sorry existence. He is a raper of young girls, complicit in their sex trafficking and abuse. There are many reasons for a quick descent by this ignorant load of blubber into some horrific sulphuric chamber in the underworld, there to reside in agony for eternity, but raping young girls and contributing to the horror of their lives is up at the top of the list.
I guess even in hell that dog won't bark. He's already well acquainted with the proprietor of that region. He's one of his best pupils.
Speaking of evidence
"Jeffrey Epstein sent to Landon Thomas of the New York Times in 2015: “would you like photos of donald and girls in bikinis in my kitchen?” -Jeffrey Epstein"
Man, oh man, how much would youse guys have loved to have been in the room when Himmler Miller heard that a judge in Chicago was releasing over 600 brown people he hoped were already either dead or deported? He must have blown a gasket. That swastika on his armband must have been spinning like a top.
Speaking of Himmler Miller, I just watched a trailer for this new film about the trials at Nuremberg. Looks great. At the very end of the trailer, Michael Shannon, playing Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson, who as the US Chief of Counsel for the prosecution of war crimes, makes the case for why they needed those trials: "So it will never happen again".
Hmm...now don't get me wrong, in no way are we in that same situation. Jews are still alive. But concentration camps HAVE been built for "undesirables". People ARE being rounded up. It isn't a Holocaust, but the same impulse of racial cleansing and hatred of the other is at work. The same rhetoric is being spouted by the Leader, about how those undesirables are "poisoning the blood of 'real Americans'". Never happen again? There will always be some force of hatred waiting to resurface. I don't want to say that those Democrats who caved are modern Chamberlains (I'll let Marie do that--Ha!) but giving in to these evil sons of bitches allows their hatred to continue and fester and affect all of us.
So good for that judge in Chicago.
And fuck those Nazis in the White House.
The arrangement with the Kennedy Center makes me more certain that Fat Hitler has been assured a personal payment by the president of FIFA. FIFA announced a short time ago that they will be giving away a newly created peace prize they just made up and the recipient's name will be announced during the draw in DC at their free Kennedy Center digs. Infantino already gave FH the original trophy for the Club World Cup held in the US earlier. It was probably at that time that with tears in his eyes that Fat Hitler cried into Infantino's shoulder asking "why sir, why couldn't this have been a peace prize? I want one, I want one, (sounding just like Veruca Salt) I want one NOW."
"All 27 Trump Judicial Nominees Won’t Say Biden Won
Today Demand Justice released a new report which finds that all of Donald Trump’s judicial nominees during his second term have provided dishonest and misleading answers about the 2020 election and the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021. The analysis shows that of the 27 nominees who have responded to the Senate Judiciary Committee thus far:
When asked who won the 2020 election, not a single judicial nominee stated the affirmative fact that Joe Biden won. When asked what transpired on January 6th, 2021, not a single nominee spoke to the events that occurred on January 6th."
Criminals Protecting Criminals
"DOJ: Troops Not Liable In Lethal “Drug Boat” Strikes
The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) stated in a classified opinion drawn up in the summer that personnel taking part in military strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats in Latin America would not be exposed to future prosecution. The decision to pursue an opinion, drafted in July, reflects the heightened concerns within the government raised by senior civilian and military lawyers that such strikes would be illegal."
Ding, Ding, Ding! Grifty Bell is ringing!
The Guv'mint is open again, and so is the Fat Hitler dinner bell. Come one, come all, any who have business before the Fatty Administration, and deposit your million dollars in his pocket. He may deign to take care of your problem, the bigger the problem, the bigger the contribution. But no money, no favors. No tickee, no laundry.
"A Financial Times team reported back in October:
At least 30 individuals or companies that have collectively donated more than $116mn to Trump’s causes have received benefits or advantages from White House moves, according to FT analysis. Sometimes, the administration acted just days after donations were made.
The donors range from crypto and tech billionaires who have developed close ties to the first family and been granted access to the president, to big insurance firms, tobacco companies and even a manufacturer of bandages from human tissue. Funds were given both before and after his inauguration.
There is no evidence of bribery or illegal conduct, but the volume of favourable outcomes for donors raises the question of whether a culture of quid pro quo exists at the heart of the administration."
Sure, sure....not illegal. And not a bribe. Just a little cheese for your consideration. But how about the pardons? You're a crook? You've been duly tried, convicted, and sentenced, and now you're wearing an orange jumpsuit. A little sugar in the Trump bowl and you too can get a full pardon.
Hurt fee-fees? EZ. Grab a few hundred million from taxpayers courtesy of the Injustice Department.
You helped stage an attempted coup? Here's your million.
And the corruption is up and down and all around. Just consider the incessant finger wagging and attacks by KKKaroline, Fatty's TACObelle. She is constantly lecturing everyone to shut up about corruption allegations, but oops....
"...her unsuccessful 2022 congressional campaign owes more than $300,000 in unpaid debts, with Leavitt failing to disclose for years that her campaign took in hundreds of thousands of dollars in inappropriate donations and never paid the money back.
The vast majority of that debt, about $200,000, is owed as refunds to contributors who appear to have donated above the legal limits. Those excessive contributions went unreported for years — until Thursday — when Leavitt’s campaign amended every campaign filing she had ever made with the Federal Election Commission."
Now that the government is open again, so is the Trump Grift Factory. I know you've heard it all before, but it's worth not allowing the astonishing corruption of this administration to get shoved into the memory hole.
Interesting arithmetical side note on the deportation extravaganza: A friend who slavishly supports the Pretender prompted me to do the math. So far this year each of the roughly 400,000 deportations the government claims it's managed has cost taxpayers over one million dollars.
Heck of a deal.
Will Portland sue Fox News?
"“Riots Raging”: The Misleading Story Fox News Told About Portland Before Trump Sent Troops
As The Guardian and The Oregonian/OregonLive have reported, Fox News on Sept. 4 used footage from the 2020 protests after the police killing of George Floyd and said it was from 2025. We found two clear cases from that night as well as one that seemed to match a scene filmed at a key site of the 2020 protests. Fox also mislabeled two other dates of actions shown on screen, and one broadcast implied that a protest from elsewhere was happening in Portland.
Fox News chyrons about Portland the week of Trump’s remarks carried phrases like “violent demonstrators,” “protesters riot,” “anti-I.C.E. Portland rioters” and “war-like protests.” One host said protesters were attacking federal officers.
This portrayal of protesters as routinely instigating violence or rioting was also misleading."
Thanksgiving
"Epstein spent Thanksgiving with Trump [at Mar-a-lago] during president's first term in office: emails
White House records and contemporaneous media reports show Trump spent Thanksgiving 2017 at Mar-a-Lago, but the White House did not disclose a guest list."
The demise of the penny. So far this year I have used actual cash only one time.
A kid with a chainsaw cut up a limb that had fallen over my driveway. I paid
him in cash and fed him lunch.
@RAS: The Raw story claim on "Thanksgiving with Donald and Jeffrey" is interesting. Epstein never really asserts that he & Trump were in the same room, though if Epstein really was in Palm Beach, then they were in the same town for Thanksgiving 2017.
This New Republic item (firewalled, so I'll probably never be able to click on TNR again) reports on the same email chain as Raw Story does, but notes "It’s not clear whether Epstein was referring to people that he spent time with during this period, or just who was in Palm Beach for the holiday."
However, TNR adds context that does suggest Epstein maintained (or revived) his relationship with Trump up through the beginning of Trump's first Oval Office gig:
"That wasn’t the only message that suggested Trump and Epstein were still spending time together. In another email chain from December 2017, a guest of Epstein’s claimed they didn’t want to risk running into Trump at Epstein’s Paris apartment. In other emails sent just days after the presidential election, Epstein claimed he was headed for New York as 'Trump gives many new things to do,' and later said he was visiting Trump Tower."
Of course, Epstein could be blowing smoke, but some of his assertions could be checked out if somebody put some witnesses under oath. There's nobody who can do that now, of course, what with Bongo & Kash in charge of the investigatin' arm of the federal government.
All this parsing of when was Donald here with Epstein and when were they together is all unnecessary. Fat Hitler and his underage sex trafficker pal were besties for years. That's it. Trump took advantage of the availability of underage girls to rape and sexually abuse. That's it. He's a convicted rapist, a self-described sexual abuser of strange women on the street. If this were anyone else, there'd be no wondering about what's in the Pedo-files. But the fact is that he has never paid a price for his habit of raping young girls, spying on them, grabbing women by their privates, or any of his other many disgusting actions. He was found guilty of sexually assaulting E. Jean Carroll and then defaming her, but he has yet to pay a penny, in fact he's running to HIS justices on the Supine court to get them to erase his convictions, after which he'll sue Carroll for daring to take him to court. He is a soulless monster. From what he wrote in his emails, Epstein thought so too. He saw him as an ignorant lout. How bad is it when a guy who trafficks underage girls for sex thinks you're a creep?
Comfy sofas: NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT! Call out the Marines!
I must have missed this one. His Royal Fatness believes that upholstered furniture and bathroom vanities constitute a national security threat. I am not even kidding.
Fat Hitler has been basing his illegal and unconstitutional tariffs on the spurious claims of some kind of national emergency, which he has extended to couches and comfy chairs. Seriously.
My guess is that Fatty not so secretly sees Shady Vance and his predilection for humping furniture as a threat to the nation. Might as well make couches more expensive in the hopes that his VP will fuck fewer sectionals.
And as usual, the Orange Orangutan gets it all wrong. He somehow believes that making furniture and kitchen cabinets more expensive will instantly create a domestic industry for those products.
"Linq Kitchen, a Los Angeles-area company that designs, builds and installs modern-style kitchen cabinets, uses plywood and melamine panels from Asia and Europe in its projects, co-founder Josh Qian said. A suitable domestic alternative does not exist, he said.
'The kitchen cabinet industry is highly globalized, and even U.S.-based manufacturers depend on imported materials, hardware, and finishes,' Qian said. 'These tariffs may sound protective, but in reality, they often raise costs across the entire supply chain.'"
But what of domestic suppliers who don't rely on foreign materials?
"The Curio Design Studio has its custom cabinets made in Minnesota and Wisconsin, but [Allison Harlow, an interior designer in Michigan] worries about the tariffs costing her customers.
'I think it will decrease consumer confidence and create a narrative that the work is going to get inherently more expensive,' Harlow said. 'I think we will have to work harder to attract potential clients with messaging of how this blanket statement, ‘Kitchen cabinets will go up 50%,’ does not impact our particular business model.'"
Little Donnie Trumpy: Economoist.
Hey, at least it'll be costing Vance more to assault a settee.
@Akhilleus wrote, "Trump took advantage of the availability of underage girls to rape and sexually abuse."
You can state that as an opinion, but not as a statement of fact, as it appears here.
Trump told Howard Stern that he took advantage of teenage girls when he owned the Miss Teenage Whatever franchise. But that "advantage," according to Trump, was barging in on them when they were in their dressing rooms and not fully-clothed. Not raping them.
So far, I have seen nothing in the Epstein files that asserts Trump raped teenaged girls.
Of course it would be foolish to take the word of Jeffrey Epstein, but he himself denied that Trump participated in the rape of girls. According to the Washington Post (linked above): “... Jeffrey Epstein wrote that Donald Trump knew about the sexual abuse of underage girls but never participated, according to thousands of pages of documents released Wednesday by the House Oversight Committee. 'Trump knew of it. and came to my house many times during that period,' Epstein wrote in an email to himself on Feb. 1, 2019, several months before he was arrested on sex trafficking charges and killed himself in jail. 'He never got a massage.'”
It is really pissing me off that people -- and yeah, that is plural -- are making unfounded assertions on this page about Trump's criminal culpability.
Besides the crippling financial jeopardy in which these accusations place me, I hate being in the position of having to defend such a despised public figure.
I'm right at my wit's end. Cut it out, please.
Marie,
Consider it cut. I will keep my opinions to myself.
Granted, I never thought anyone creepier than Nixon would ever occupy the White House. Some a little slimy and undoubtedly some a bit dumb, but the Pretender is creepy enough to set my teeth on edge every time I see his picture or hear him speak. I have no truck for the man or the way he has managed to sully the office he holds and the country he represents to the world.
That said, I'm not that interested in the Epstein drama. Releasing the FBI files or not doesn't matter a whit to me. I already know the man is sleazy and corrupt. More details won't matter.
I know he's worried those files will place him in a bad light, but how could anything but a videotaped rape of any woman, underaged or not, lower my opinion of him. It's already as low as it could go. A rape might put him in the minus territory but he's already at zero.
His mouthpiece worries that the Epstein news is a distraction from the wonderfulness of all he's done for the country. It is a distraction from all that wonderfulness, like once again trying to subvert elections, pardoning bushels of convicted criminals, wantonly murdering now just short of a hundred alleged drug smugglers, showing how weaponizing the Justice Department should oughta be done, deploying badged and masked thugs to American cities, wrecking the economy with his stupid tariffs, destroying not just healthcare but even the Center for Disease Control, decimating government services, taking an axe to the environment, rewriting American and world history, and collecting billions in bribes along the way. Yes, his relationship to Epstein, whatever it was, is a distraction and as long as speculation about it monopolizes the headlines it will continue to be.
Compared to all the harm he's doing to the country I love, Epstein doesn't matter to me.
I agree with Ken - I'm not interested in the drama, except, except, except ----- Andrew Eggar----- has a point. There must be more there than a bawdy birthday card and a few suggestive emails. It has become something of an engaging mystery.
It's Tribune Festival time here. I was looking forward to attending a few of the sessions today -- especially Jasmine Crockett - but the entirety of the speakers from the House had to cancel since they returned to wdc.
But - Mayor Pete and Chris Murphy tomorrow ought to be interesting, along with all the other sessions.
Apologies if this has been posted previously posted. In this link, each president of the last 75 years comment on t****
presidents dead club
Worth your 5 minutes, if you need a laugh
oops ^^^ presidents of the last 65 years who are dead
Post a Comment