I think this mayor can do some things that are going to be really great.... I'll be cheering for him. -- Donald Trump, on Zohran Mamdani, in an Oval Office press availability, Friday ~~~
~~~ Queens Men Meet in D.C. Tyler Pager & Emma Fitzsimmons of the New York Times: Donald “Trump and Zohran Mamdani, the mayor-elect of New York City, put on a remarkable display of bonhomie in the Oval Office on Friday, with Mr. Trump showering praise on the democratic socialist and promising to help him succeed. Just weeks ago, Mr. Trump was warning New York voters that electing Mr. Mamdani would amount to an existential threat to the nation’s largest city.... For his part, Mr. Mamdani, who had vowed on the campaign trail to stand up to the president, called their meeting 'productive' and said that he looked forward to working with Mr. Trump to improve life in New York.... For Mr. Trump, the public rapprochement was an opportunity to align himself with a charismatic young politician who has tapped into many of the same economic concerns that have animated the president’s base.... Since then, Mr. Trump and his allies have sought to frame the G.O.P. as the party addressing high costs.... For Mr. Mamdani, the high-stakes trip to the White House, which has bedeviled multiple foreign leaders, could be hugely consequential for the nation’s largest city, as could his relationship with the president in the coming months.... At multiple points during the meeting, Mr. Trump jumped in to defend Mr. Mamdani from pointed questions from reporters.” ~~~
~~~ Nick Reisman & Joe Anuta of Politico: “... Mamdani appeared — at least for the time being — to neutralize [Trump's] threats during the closed-door tête-à-tête by sticking to a strategy of staying laser-focused on issues of affordability, according to a top aide who sat in on the talk. After they emerged from the private meeting, Trump even told reporters that Mamdani had played up their unlikely political similarities: Mamdani 'said a lot of my voters actually voted for him,' said the evidently pleased president.... “We had some interesting conversation, and some of his ideas really are the same ideas I have,” Trump said. “The new word is affordability.'... [Trump] was practically smitten by the Queens state assemblymember, who was a virtual unknown a year ago.... Trump ... appeared to go beyond simply agreeing with the mayor on broad issues. He was practically smitten by the Queens state assemblymember, who was a virtual unknown a year ago.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: The press availability, which partly took place during Nicolle Wallace's MS-NOW show, was met with amazement & peels of laughter by Wallace & her panel. The panel included Mollie Jong Fast, Al Sharpton & John Heilemann. They felt Mamdani owned Trump: Mamdani didn't give an inch, and Trump was profusely complimentary of him. You can watch the full presser here. (It begins with Trump telling some lies. Because Trump.) ~~~
Annie Karni of the New York Times: “Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, the hard-right Georgia Republican, said on Friday night that she would resign from Congress in January, an announcement that came days after ... [Donald] Trump branded her a 'traitor' for breaking with him and helping to force a vote to compel the Justice Department to release its files related to Jeffrey Epstein. Ms. Greene, who was elected in 2020 and positioned herself as a die-hard Trump supporter until a series of recent ruptures with the president on a variety of issues, made the abrupt announcement in a video and statement she posted online, filmed from her home in Georgia, her Christmas tree on display behind her. 'Loyalty should be a two-way street, and we should be able to vote our conscience and represent our district’s interest,' Ms. Greene wrote in a long post. She said that if she had been cast aside by 'MAGA Inc,' it was indicative that 'many common Americans have been cast aside and replaced as well.' In a phone interview on Friday night with an ABC News reporter, Mr. Trump called Ms. Greene’s plans 'great news for the country.'”
No Surprise Here. Abbie VanSickle of the New York Times: “The Supreme Court on Friday evening temporarily allowed Texas to use its newly redrawn, Republican-friendly congressional voting map for the 2026 midterm elections. The decision blocked, for now, a lower-court ruling that had said Texas could not use the map. Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., who is assigned to handle emergency applications from that region of the country, issued the administrative stay, a temporary ruling meant to give the full court time to consider the issue. The Texas attorney general earlier in the evening had filed an emergency application with the justices, asking them to allow the state to use the new map. Justice Alito requested that the civil rights groups that had challenged the map respond to the attorney general’s request by Monday at 5 p.m., signaling the court would likely consider the issue speedily.”
Release the Tape! Robert Jimison of the New York Times: “Representative Eugene Vindman, Democrat of Virginia, called on Friday for the declassification of what he described as a 'highly disturbing' 2019 phone call between ... [Donald] Trump and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia after the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi. At a news conference on Capitol Hill with Mr. Khashoggi’s widow, Mr. Vindman said that the transcript, which he reviewed as part of his duties serving on the National Security Council during Mr. Trump's first term, 'would shock people if they knew what was said.' He said it was one of two disturbing phone call transcripts he had read during his time in the first Trump administration, the other being the 2019 call with Ukraine’s president that became the basis of a whistle-blower complaint by his twin brother, Alexander Vindman, that led to Mr. Trump’s first impeachment. Mr. Vindman did not divulge what was said in the call between Mr. Trump and Prince Mohammed, who U.S. intelligence concluded approved the killing. But in a letter to Mr. Trump on Thursday, he and dozens of other House Democrats demanded its release. That push is exceedingly unlikely to succeed....”
Amy Wang & Meagan Flynn of the Washington Post: “Several Democratic lawmakers sought police action Friday over social media posts by ... Donald Trump, in which he said they should be arrested and potentially punished by death for encouraging the U.S. military to disobey illegal orders. At least two lawmakers, Reps. Jason Crow (D-Colorado) and Chris Deluzio (D-Pennsylvania), have requested that U.S. Capitol Police investigate 'intimidating, threatening, and concerning' posts made by Trump on his Truth Social platform, according to a copy of a letter sent from Crow’s office to police Thursday and obtained by The Washington Post. Axios first reported the request.... Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pennsylvania) also said Friday that her office had filed a complaint about a threat from the president with Capitol Police. ”
At least two lawmakers, Reps. Jason Crow (D-Colorado) and Chris Deluzio (D-Pennsylvania), have requested that U.S. Capitol Police investigate “intimidating, threatening, and concerning” posts made by Trump on his Truth Social platform, according to a copy of a letter sent from Crow’s office to police Thursday and obtained by The Washington Post. Axios first reported the request.
Lydia Polgreen of the New York Times: “... the Thucydides trap refer[s] to the violent clash that comes when a rising power challenges the ruling hegemon. In Thucydides’ time, it was Athens that successfully challenged the pre-eminence of Sparta. But it is a pattern that has played out repeatedly through history, with the ambition and aggression of the challenger almost always ending in bloodshed.... [Donald] Trump’s second term has upended this assumption. With its litany of chaos, the administration has pursued all on its own a root-and-branch destruction of the global order America made — threatening invasions, deploying punitive tariffs indiscriminately and all but abandoning longstanding alliances. China, by contrast, has responded mostly with a steely insistence on the status quo. In a startling reversal.... At the world’s summit, America is overthrowing America.... As its primacy fades, the United States now faces a choice: meet rising nations as respected partners in building a new, more equitable multipolar world or seek the costly, brittle power that comes from domination. Trump has chosen the latter; China, it seems, seeks the former.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: There's an interesting thesis embedded in Polgreen's column: that "China’s stated territorial concerns ... do not extend beyond its long-held claim to Taiwan and relatively small border areas." Given its various aggressive moves within the region -- which Polgreen addresses -- I remain skeptical. But it's -- for me -- new information, and I'll keep it in mind.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Marie: Not a late morning, just a long one. I was posting till almost 10 am ET.
Marie: If you weren't tuned in here yesterday afternoon, I especially commend the Comments, which condemn a range of outrageous Trumpitydoodah.
Marie: Of all the anti-democratic, fascistic, totalitarian, imperialistic, immoral, jingoistic actions Donald Trump has taken, this is probably the worst and will have the longest, deepest effects. If Europe lets it happen: ~~~
Maegan Vazquez of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump accused a group of Democratic lawmakers on Thursday of 'seditious behavior' and called for their arrest for appearing in a video in which they reminded members of the U.S. military and intelligence community that they are obligated to refuse illegal orders. 'It’s called SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL,' Trump wrote on Truth Social. 'Each one of these traitors to our Country should be ARRESTED AND PUT ON TRIAL. Their words cannot be allowed to stand.'... On his social media platform Thursday, Trump echoed other Republicans who have called for the Democrats to be removed from office, dishonorably discharged from the military and charged with treason — a crime punishable by death.... Trump ... wrote in another post on Thursday: 'SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!' He also reposted a post from a Truth Social user proclaiming: 'HANG THEM GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD !!'... [Members of the armed services] are obligated to not follow 'manifestly unlawful orders,' but such situations are rare and legally fraught. Members of the military take an oath to the Constitution, not the president.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Here's another way to put it: ~~~
~~~ Matthew Kupfer of Democracy Docket: “In a feverish flurry of social media posts and reposts Thursday morning..., Donald Trump expressed support for imprisoning and executing a group of Democratic lawmakers for what he termed 'seditious behavior.' The behavior in question? Urging U.S. military service members to defend the U.S. Constitution and disobey orders that violate the law.... House Democratic leaders denounced Trump’s posts in a statement, saying they contacted the Sergeant at Arms and the U.S. Capitol Police to 'ensure the safety of these Members and their families.' 'Political violence has no place in America,' they added. 'We unequivocally condemn Donald Trump’s disgusting and dangerous death threats against Members of Congress and call on House Republicans to forcefully do the same.'” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ AND Another Way. Shawn McCreesh of the New York Times: “Senator Chuck Schumer of New York ... condemned the president’s threats from the floor of the senate and called on members of Congress on both sides of the aisle to do the same. 'Let’s be crystal clear, the president of the United States is calling for the execution of elected officials,' Mr. Schumer said. 'This is an outright threat, and it’s deadly serious.' He added: Every time Donald Trump posts things like this, he makes political violence more likely. None of us should tolerate this kind of behavior.' Mr. Trump’s posts about imprisonment and death by hanging were difficult to square with his recent calls to lower the temperature of political rhetoric in this country. After the conservative activist and Trump ally Charlie Kirk was murdered in September..., Mr. Trump said ... that it was 'long past time for all Americans and the media to confront the fact that violence and murder are the tragic consequence of demonizing those with whom you disagree.'” ~~~
~~~ Heather Cox Richardson: “And so an American president called for the arrest and execution of elected lawmakers. Restating the law is not sedition, and Fox News Channel legal analyst Andy McCarthy promptly wrote: 'There is no insurrection or sedition without the use of force. Disobeying a lawful order is insubordination, not insurrection or sedition. Disobeying an unlawful order is required. That is all.'... By noon, the White House was doing cleanup. At 1:58, CBS News senior White House and political correspondent Ed O’Keefe reported from Reuters: 'TRUMP DOES NOT WANT TO EXECUTE MEMBERS OF CONGRESS, WHITE HOUSE SAYS,' an astonishing sentence to see coming from the government of the United States of America.”
Cat Zakrzewski, et al., of the Washington Post: “White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Thursday defended ... Donald Trump’s decision to call a female reporter 'Piggy' on Air Force One.... 'Look, the president is very frank and honest with everyone in this room,' Leavitt said when a Washington Post reporter asked about the comments during a news briefing. 'You’ve all seen it yourself. You’ve all experienced it yourselves. And I think it’s one of the many reasons that the American people reelected this president, because of his frankness.' As he faces political blowback for his handling of the files related to deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Trump has escalated his disparagement of female reporters.... Days [after Trump shushed Catherine Lucey, a Bloomberg News reporter, with the admonition, 'Quiet, Piggy,' he] called Mary Bruce, the chief White House correspondent for ABC News, a 'terrible person and a terrible reporter' and called her network 'fake news.' He also urged his Federal Communications Commission chairman, Brendan Carr, to revoke ABC’s broadcast licenses in response to Bruce’s question.... On Wednesday, the White House issued a news release calling ABC 'fake news' and a 'Democrat spin operation.'” ~~~
~~~ From the "Why Can't We Have Better Journalists?" file: ~~~
~~~ Marie: The New York Times report by Michael Grynbaum is here. Grynbaum -- perhaps unintentionally -- used his NYT real estate to provide a masterful example of both-siderism. When critics "scolded" Trump for shutting down Lucey & calling her "Piggy," Grybaum writes, "Leavitt put a different spin on the remark." That is, describing Trump's remark as "disgusting" (as Jake Tapper did) is one "spin"; calling it "frank and honest" is merely a "different spin." As Akhilleus wrote in yesterday's comments, "... stepping in quickly to help out, Grynbaum whatabouts his ass off." Then, Akhilleus notes, Grynbaum steps in to help Leavitt out where she failed to fully explain her "Piggy" defense.
Marie: While Trump was rambling on & on Wednesday at a U.S.-Saudi investment forum, he told one of his most fantastic "sir" stories yet. This from a raw C-SPAN transcript, which I've edited only for some obvious spelling & punctuation corrections:
I'll never forget we met with pollsters the day before we got the news about Covid. We met with two pollsters because we were thinking of the next election. They said, Sir, if George Washington and Abraham Lincoln came back from the dead and they aligned and went for the president, vice president as a combination, you'd be beating them by 25 points. ~~~
~~~ Yes, yes, Donald Trump is way more popular than George Washington & Abraham Lincoln combined. I'm just not sure how that jibes with the fact that nobody wants him at their party. I mean, imagine you hold an event and invite everybody from Rachel Maddow to Dan Quayle, but you don't think to invite the current President* of the United States. Huh. ~~~
~~~ Peter Baker of the New York Times: “An unlikely mix of Republicans and Democrats came together on Thursday to pay tribute to former Vice President Dick Cheney, who helped shape the nation’s aggressive response to terrorism after Sept. 11, 2001, and transformed his office into a powerful platform to drive policy. Led by former President George W. Bush, the mourners who gathered in the grand and cavernous Washington National Cathedral included an array of veterans of their administration as well as a number of Democrats who once despised Mr. Cheney but came to admire him late in life for his outspoken opposition to ... [Donald] Trump. In a sign of how much politics has changed in recent years, Mr. Trump and Vice President JD Vance, the stewards of the current Republican administration, were not invited, but Rachel Maddow, the liberal television host who used to skewer Mr. Cheney for his support of the Iraq war, was on hand as a guest of the family. Others in attendance included former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his wife, Jill Biden, and former Vice Presidents Kamala Harris, Mike Pence, Al Gore and Dan Quayle. A number of lawmakers from different parts of the political spectrum showed up as well, including former Speakers John A. Boehner, a reliable Republican ally of the Bush-Cheney White House, and Nancy Pelosi, one of its staunchest Democratic opponents.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Peter Baker of the New York Times: Donald “Trump did not attend a memorial service for former Vice President Dick Cheney on Thursday. In fact, he wasn’t even invited.... A person close to the Cheney family had initially said that Vice President JD Vance was invited, but aides to the vice president said on Thursday morning that he was not and he did not attend. Mr. Trump ordered flags to be lowered to half-staff after Mr. Cheney’s death, as required by law, but issued no statement and has refrained from commenting publicly.” MB: I guess we have to give Trump some credit: he's held his tongue for more than two weeks. That must be a record. (Also linked yesterday.)
New York Times Editors: “Ten months after Mr. Trump took office, prices are still climbing. Groceries are more expensive. Electricity bills have spiked. It costs more to buy a new car. The annual rate of inflation was 3 percent in September — almost exactly the same as it was on Inauguration Day. The president’s failure was predictable.... Mr. Trump is responsible for misleading the American people. But he has not merely failed to keep an impossible promise [to bring down prices 'fast.'] Mr. Trump has pursued policies, starting with tariffs, that are making the problem worse by making life in America less affordable.... The pain is acute because price increases are outpacing wage gains for most American households, especially those with lower incomes.... Mr. Trump also has been rolling back federal programs that help households make ends meet.” ~~~
~~~ Jeff Cox of CNBC: "The U.S. economy added substantially more jobs than expected in September, according to a long-awaited report Thursday from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Nonfarm payrolls increased by 119,000 in the month, up from the 4,000 jobs lost in August following a downward revision. The Dow Jones consensus estimate for September was 50,000. The July total also was revised down to 72,000, a decrease of 7,000 from the prior release. In addition to the headline jobs number, the BLS said the unemployment rate edged higher to 4.4%, the highest it’s been since October 2021. A broader measure that includes those not looking for jobs or working part-time for economic reasons edged lower to 8%." (Also linked yesterday.)
Natalie Allison & Cat Zakrzewski of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump on Wednesday defended his decision to continue welcoming foreign workers to the United States for tech manufacturing jobs and potentially stirred up more upset within his base by maintaining that American workers aren’t up to the task. 'You can’t come in and open up a massive computer chip factory for billions and billions of dollars, like is being done in Arizona, and think you’re going to hire people off an unemployment line to run it,' Trump said at the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum, an event coinciding with the visit of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. 'They’re going to have to bring thousands of people with them, and I’m going to welcome those people.'” (Also linked yesterday.)
Joan Walsh of the Nation was on the teevee Wednesday evening and asked a rhetorical question: Bible Mike Johnson refused to swear in Adelita Grijalva to prevent her from being the 218th signature on a discharge petition to bring to the floor a a bill requiring the DOJ to release the Epstein files. Once the petition came to the floor, all but one House Republican voted for it. So where the hell were these gung-ho save-the-children "pro-transparency" Republicans all the time Johnson was holding up Grijalva's swearing-in? Any one -- or all -- of them could have signed the petition before Grijalva did.
Matthew Goldstein of the New York Times: “The top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee issued a report on Thursday calling for an investigation into whether JPMorgan Chase deliberately underreported more than $1 billion in suspicious transactions by Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender. The report from the senator, Ron Wyden of Oregon, said the compliance failures by the nation’s largest bank during its nearly 15-year relationship with Mr. Epstein were 'alarming' and impeded law enforcement’s ability to examine the 'financial infrastructure that enabled Epstein’s cross-border sex trafficking organization.'” The link appears to be a gift link. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ The Wyden report is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Alexander Bolton of the Hill: “Republican senators are warning Attorney General Pam Bondi not to slow-walk the public release of records and documents related to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein following votes by the House and Senate demanding the documents. The calls come amid speculation that the Justice Department may cite ongoing investigations or other reasons to hold back material. Bondi said Wednesday that 'new information' obtained by investigators had spurred the Justice Department to reverse its earlier decision to close investigations related to Epstein.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Tracey Tully & Jonah Bromwich of the New York Times: “A New Jersey fraudster who was pardoned by ... [Donald] Trump in 2021 was sentenced to 37 years in prison this month for running a $44 million Ponzi scheme, one of a growing number of people granted clemency by Mr. Trump only to be charged with new crimes. The man, Eliyahu Weinstein, was pardoned by Mr. Trump in 2021 and was re-indicted by the U.S. attorney’s office in New Jersey three years later. He was accused of swindling investors who thought their money was being used to buy surgical masks, baby formula and first-aid kits bound for Ukraine, and a jury convicted him in April of several crimes, including conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud.... The group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington said in June that at least 10 of the more than 1,500 who were pardoned [for their partcipation in the Trump Jan. 6 insurrection] had been rearrested and charged, and the number has only grown since then.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Perhaps to give you an idea of the kind of character Trump thinks is worthy of mercy, the reporters end on this anecdote (edited for, well, accuracy):
When one of Mr. Weinstein's victims confronted him, Weinstein responded “What do your wife and I have in common?” “I don’t know,” the victim said. “We both fucked you,” Mr. Weinstein said.
This next report sounds like a sick joke. It is sick, but it's no joke. It's real. Apparently, DHS figures it must be more considerate of the feelings of white supremacists. ~~~
~~~⭐Tara Copp & Michelle Boorstein of the Washington Post: “The U.S. Coast Guard will no longer classify the swastika — an emblem of fascism and white supremacy inextricably linked to the murder of millions of Jews and the deaths of more than 400,000 U.S. troops who died fighting in World War II — as a hate symbol, according to a new policy that takes effect next month. Instead, the Coast Guard will classify the Nazi-era insignia as 'potentially divisive' under its new guidelines. The policy, set to take effect Dec. 15, similarly downgrades the classification of nooses and the Confederate flag, though display of the latter remains banned, according to documents reviewed by The Washington Post....
“The Coast Guard is a military service branch under the Department of Homeland Security and the purview of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem. But the service ... has been swept up like the others in the administration’s rash of leadership firings and broader targeting of military culture. Former Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Linda Fagan, the first woman to lead a branch of the U.S. military, was fired on Trump’s first day in office for what administration officials said then was her focus on diversity initiatives and her handling of sexual assault investigations. Within days, [acting commandant Adm. Kevin] Lunday ordered the suspension of the Coast Guard’s hazing and harassment policy that, among its other guidance, said explicitly that the swastika was among a 'list of symbols whose display, presentation, creation, or depiction would constitute a potential hate incident.' Nooses and the Confederate flag also matched that description under the previous policy.” The link is a gift link. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Sunlight is a great disinfectant. ~~~
~~~ Update. Harry Raj & Victoria Bisset of the Washington Post: “The U.S. Coast Guard issued a new, more stringent policy on hate symbols including the swastika Thursday night, prohibiting 'divisive or hate symbols or flags.' The change came hours after The Washington Post reported that the service would instead classify such symbols as 'potentially divisive' under new guidelines set to be released next month.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Oh, it's not over. I'm sure guardies got the message: white supremacists welcome. Racism, antisemitism okay here. As this Rand Corp. press release, dated August 2021, stated, "Women and racial and ethnic minorities are underrepresented at all levels of the United States Coast Guard (USCG)—especially in higher ranks and among senior leadership—and comprehensive changes across the organization are needed to improve diversity rates among all ranks, finds new research from the Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center (HSOAC)." Trump's answer to that, of course, was to immediately fire the female commandant for her focus on improving Coast Guard diversity.
Boasberg Sends a Gift to Trump, Bondi, Pirro, et al. Zach Montague of the New York Times: “A federal judge in Washington ruled on Thursday that the Justice Department could prosecute a man in federal court using a city grand jury, finding that the District of Columbia’s unusual legal system allowed prosecutors to use the workaround in many other cases, potentially including ones involving serious crimes like sedition and treason. The decision by Chief Judge James E. Boasberg of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia applied immediately only to Kevontae Stewart, a Washington resident who was indicted in the local District of Columbia Superior Court on a weapons charge in September, but only after a federal grand jury rejected a similar charge. A federal magistrate judge ... refused to accept the indictment in federal court since it had been secured in another court. But Judge Boasberg wrote on Thursday that the magistrate had erred — a ruling that could have far-reaching implications in President Trump’s expansive approach to law enforcement in the nation’s capital.” ~~~
~~~ BUT. Jenny Gathright & Meagan Flynn of the Washington Post: “A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to halt its National Guard deployment to Washington while a lawsuit over the matter plays out in court, siding with D.C.’s Office of the Attorney General and writing that the administration has 'exceeded the bounds of [its] statutory authority.' The order does not mean troops will leave D.C. immediately; [U.S. District Judge Jia M. Cobb] opted to pause her ruling from going into effect for 21 days to give the Trump administration time to appeal. While not a final decision, the court opinion is a significant legal win for D.C. in a case that could end up setting guardrails on ... Donald Trump’s use of the National Guard to impose his will on the city.” A CBS News story is here. ~~~
~~~ AND. Michael Kunzelman of the AP: “A federal judge ruled Thursday that police in the nation’s capital illegally seized a gun from a man they stopped outside a laundromat, blasting the officers’ account as unreliable and sharply criticizing Justice Department prosecutors for relying on testimony from an officer who has been discredited by other judges.... U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes ... chided prosecutors for putting on the stand an officer whose credibility has been questioned by at least two other judges.... The judge said she would entertain a defense motion to dismiss the charges against [defendant Deandre] Davis if [U.S. Attorney Jeanine] Pirro's office doesn't drop the case in the next 30 days.... The case raises fresh questions about how federal authorities vet the officers they rely on — especially as Washington has become a test case for national debates over crime, enforcement and public trust.”
Madison McVan of the Minnesota Reformer (Nov. 18): “Dozens of federal agents surrounded the St. Paul headquarters of paper distributor Bro-Tex on Tuesday morning and were quickly met by a couple hundred protesters. The agents wore uniforms marked with the insignias of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI.... One witness told the Reformer that she saw at least two people zip tied and loaded into a van by agents.... At around 9 a.m., agents marked off a large perimeter around Bro-Tex with crime scene tape. Protesters chanted messages expressing opposition to ICE, and heckled agents, most of whom were masked. As the officers attempted to leave the scene, protesters linked arms to block their vehicles. Agents shot chemical irritants into the crowd, and in some cases, pepper sprayed protesters in the face. Some officers exited their vehicles to shove protesters out of the way, and drivers forced their way through the crowd, pushing some people to the ground with their vehicles.” Here's video of the confrontation. Thanks to Akhilleus for the lead: (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
A Message from Your Transportation Secretary:
~~~ Here's a Washington Post story on Sean Duffy's civility campaign. A Yahoo! News story is here. Marie: The old-timey music is in keeping with the administration's attempts to bring back the good old days when Black people had to sit at the back of the bus and women couldn't get "men's jobs." So in that respect, it's awful. But -- as someone who started flying in the 1940s (and quit shortly after 9/11) -- I'll admit I tend to agree with Duffy's call for mile-high civility. I do favor casual, comfortable clothing, especially for long flights, but that comfy clothing can be modest, clean & becoming. And, seriously, in tight quarters, where some people are stressed out, courtesy is just sensible, even if you're by nature a mean girl.
Here are a couple of essays very much worth reading to get a sense of "where we're at":
(a)⭐Pema Levy & Ari Berman of Mother Jones: “Today, as the Roberts court rewrites the Constitution in the image of Trumpian autocracy, it’s become clear that [John] Roberts’ promise to be a neutral umpire was a lie. We are watching a rigged game, and Roberts set it up. The Roberts court has spent Trump’s second term not applying the law so much as clearing it out of his way. In a matter of months, the court’s 6–3 GOP-aligned majority has permitted a long list of lawless actions, including firing independent agency commissioners, using racial profiling in immigration sweeps, disappearing immigrants to authoritarian and war-torn nations, and defying Congress’ power of the purse.... Roberts has been embedding white-dominant authoritarianism into the country’s source code for two decades. It’s impossible to imagine today’s crisis without the Roberts court having first undermined the foundations of our democracy.” Thanks to RAS for the lead. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
(b) Sophie Gilbert of the Atlantic: “Some men, possibly many men, have always believed that women are simply not their equal. Some women have believed or internalized this idea, too: that women can and should be fetishized, sexualized, domesticized, but not respected. In the recent past, as women gained rights and men seemed to gain enlightenment, the public tended to frown on these belief.... The impulse to dehumanize women used to be something that people had to hide.... The fact that many men believe they no longer even have to pretend to respect women in order to participate in public life makes it unlikely that anything will change anytime soon.” MB: Gilbert's essay needs some fleshing out, IMO. But she got at the heart of the matter, and using the super-arrogant Larry Summers -- the uber-misogynist who has again found his way onto the front pages for just that -- is perfect. She should keep going. Thank you to akaWendy for this gift link. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Then there's this: ~~~
~~~ ⭐Gilded Age II. Beth Reinhard, et al., of the Washington Post: “The concentration of wealth among the richest Americans is unlike anything in history — and so is billionaires’ influence in politics.... In an era defined by major political divisions and massive wealth accumulation for the richest Americans, billionaires are spending unprecedented amounts on U.S. politics. Dozens have stepped up their political giving in recent years, leading to a record-breaking surge of donations by the ultrarich in 2024.... Economists say wealth is now more concentrated at the very top than at any time since the Gilded Age.... U.S. politicians are more dependent on the largesse of the billionaire class than ever before, giving one-four-hundredth of 1 percent of Americans extraordinary influence over which politicians and policies succeed.... At least 44 of the 902 U.S. billionaires on Forbes magazine’s 2025 list, or their spouses, have been elected or appointed to state or federal office in the past 10 years.... Trump’s Cabinet is the wealthiest in U.S. history....”
Benjamin Mullin, et al., of the New York Times: “Netflix, Paramount and Comcast submitted bids to acquire [Warner Bros. Discovery,] the Hollywood colossus, which owns the Warner Bros. movie studio, HBO, and cable networks like CNN and TNT, four people with knowledge of the proposals said. The outcome of the sale could alter the trajectory of the entertainment business.... Any bidder would need approval from federal regulators.... David Ellison [-- who runs Paramount --] has cultivated a relationship with ... [Donald] Trump, who has praised his family's ownership of Paramount. Brian Roberts, the chief executive of Comcast, has found himself at odds with Mr. Trump, with the president calling him a 'disgrace' to broadcasting.” ~~~
~~~ Hugo Lowell of the Guardian: “Senior White House officials have discussed internally their preference for Paramount Skydance to acquire Warner Bros Discovery in recent weeks, and one official has discussed potential programming changes at CNN with Larry Ellison, the largest shareholder of Paramount.... Ellison often speaks to connections at the White House and in at least one phone call engaged in a dialogue about possibly axing some of the CNN hosts whom Donald Trump is said to loathe, including Erin Burnett and Brianna Keilar....” Thanks to RAS for the link, who wrote in part, “... on brand with everything else going on, the two hosts Trump wants to get rid of by name are women.”
Annals of “Journalism,” Ctd. Laura Wagner, et al., of the Washington Post: “This was supposed to be a season for celebration at the New Yorker. A year’s worth of 100th-anniversary festivities for the crown jewel of Condé Nast’s media empire is set to culminate on Dec. 5 with the release of a Netflix documentary..., and a moment of pride for the people who work for a standard-bearer of magazine journalism. Instead, the abrupt firing earlier this month of a senior fact-checker and New Yorker union member [for what Condé Nast called 'extreme misconduct'], Jasper Lo, has set off a swell of outrage among magazine staffers and contributors, including some of the most famous writers in America.” MB: The story is a bit complicated, so I've provided a gift link to let you decide for yourself if Lo & the others are guilty of "extreme misconduct." I know nothing whatsoever about Stan Duncan, so I'm not casting asparagus. But if it turned out that the human resources director at a venerable New York City publishing house was the most easily-offended person in the continental United States, I would not be surprised.
All I want for Christmas is my own AI. ~~~
~~~ Will Oremus & Faiz Siddiqui of the Washington Post: Elon “Musk’s social network [X] on Thursday was flooded with examples of Grok [-- his AI chatbox --] replying to users’ questions by lavishing praise on the billionaire entrepreneur. Asked about his intellect, appearance and accomplishments, Grok consistently hailed Musk as 'strikingly handsome,' extolled his 'lean, athletic physique,' raved about his 'genius-level intellect' and ranked him as the No. 1 human, ahead of Leonardo da Vinci. The fawning responses, which the chatbot replicated in separate conversations Thursday with three Washington Post reporters, sparked criticism and hilarity on X as users vied to elicit absurd claims about the world’s richest man.” MB: AI is only as good as its programmers. For those of us discomfited by scatological references, “piece of grok" might work as a substitute for the original idiom.
~~~~~~~~~~
New York. In case you thought the first big scandal to come out of a new New York City mayoral administration would be something about communistic propaganda, you'd be wrong. As Akhilleus notes in today's Comments, it's more serious. It's that Mayor-Elect Mamdani is not planning to try to pull the wool over the eyes of New York City adults. No, he's plotting to indoctrinate the city's vulnerable children. Ones as young as five and six years old, I'll bet. He's planning to make them -- gasp! -- learn Arabic numbers! Arabic! Like Akhilleus, I expect Trump to do something about this shocking development. This part is true: Anti-Muslim Trump confidante Laura Loomer was very upset about it.
36 comments:
By now we're all familiar with Hannah Arendt's thoughts on totalitarianism. Why? Because we have a totalitarian regime running things from Washington, unfortunately. And one of her most repeated insights involves the way dictators use uncertainty and disinformation to disillusion the populace, to make us wonder whether we can trust anything at all, the better for them to castigate truth and reason and line up the experts and shoot them.
Certainly, we have Cadet Bonesaw to thank for much of this, him and his media flunkies in the rightwing bullshit-o-sphere. But we also have the son of one of the great Americans of the last century, a guy who had no problem defining the difference between human truth and the real world, and dictator style lies and disinformation.
RFKJ may, in some ways, be even more dangerous than Fat Hitler in the ways he is forcing respected sources of real world information to join the army of the night. To lie for money and position and to get people killed.
"Last goes on to explain why trust is so important to a democracy. If people cannot make informed decisions without having to verify every piece of information (if that’s even possible) the whole system becomes very inefficient and unproductive, not to mention stupid and dangerous.
Politicians exaggerate, distort, and lie all the time. This is—however regrettable—an accepted part of our democratic politics.
But until 2025, it was assumed that important, apolitical government agencies did not lie. If the Bureau of Labor Statistics said that inflation was up by 2 percent, then that’s what its best methodology could determine. If the NIH said that measles had an r0 between 12 and 18, then that’s what the best science showed."
And now, Polio Bob has forced the CDC to reverse course on one of its most existential tenets, the value of vaccines in making us a healthier population, less likely to succumb to easily conquered diseases. The CDC now mimics the idiot vaccine deniers by telling Americans "Well, we don't really know anything. Do your own research".
"What I’m talking about is that in the legal world, judges have seen so many lies from federal prosecutors that they are grappling with the end of regular order.I’m talking about the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics being fired after her agency released data the president did not like. And now, the CDC changing its guidance on vaccines and autism to fit with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s anti-vaccination project.
These lies at the CDC are going to get kids killed. I can’t believe any scientist or medical doctor would put up with it. And the rest of this is making everyone unable to make reasoned decisions, including American businesses."
We really don't know.
But they do. Assholes like RFKJ just don't want you to know about it. It makes him money. And kids die.
Arendt was right.
The ongoing Ukraine "peace plan" fiasco is upon us for one reason alone.
Fatty can't be bothered with details. Give this moron a world map--with place names. Ask him to find Ukraine. He couldn't do it. He'd call you a pig. But because he can't be bothered with anything outside of killing his enemies and filling his pockets while playing golf, he just wants it to go away. And the easiest way to do that is to get Steve (Condo Man) Witkoff to ram this stupid, stupid, stupid plan down Zelensky's throat. And if Ukraine says "Fuck off", he'll have another temper tantrum, bang his tiny fists on the high chair tray and say and do even more stupid things.
And it would be one thing if we were talking contested water rights for sheep herders over some stream in Tajikistan, but handing Ukraine to Russia will have world shaking consequences. But does he care? "Can't we get a gold golf cart for me to ride in?"
What a fucking disgrace.
The five sages of MAGA scandal grief.
How they deal with it.
Grrrr...Stages, not sages...
Hahahaha....
Wonder if this will come up today when the Mamdani meets the First Idiot.
Idiots in the rightwing blogosphere are outraged, OUTRAGED, I tells ya, that that Mooslim commie terrorist, Zohran Mamdani will force kids in NYC schools to learn....wait for it....ARABIC numerals.
Hahahaha...seriously, you can't make this shit up.
Fatty is breaking up the Education Department, to keep people stupid so they vote Republican? Someone beat him to it.
The South African Chainsaw Man has developed an AI tool, Grok, which apparently has become his very own Wicked Queen's Mirror, Mirror on the Wall...
Ask Grok who is the best as a...
Runway model
Baseball player
Father (*cough-cough*)
Standup comedian
Best at resurrection (does it faster than Jesus)
Answer: Elon Musk!
Next question. Is Grok a reliable source of AI information?
Answer: Elon Musk
Yeah, What I thought.
Their Reverence For The Constitution
No Consequences
"Trump DOJ Defies Another Court Order in Abrego Garcia Case
If the Justice Department had brazenly defied a judge’s order a year ago the way it did again today in the Abrego Garcia case, it would have been a banner headline and the buzz of legal circles.
But 10 months into the Trump II presidency, it’s become all too normal for his Justice Department to refuse to comply with direct court orders, to engage in bad faith charades in court, and to dare judges to do anything about it."
Gregory Pratt
"This is a thread detailing a series of incidents where federal Judge Ellis rules that Gregory Bovino and his agents lied or misrepresented what was happening on the streets of Chicago."
"The Border Patrol Is Now Stopping Drivers Based On Secretive New “Suspicious Travel Patterns” Program
The U.S. Border Patrol is monitoring millions of American drivers nationwide in a secretive program to identify and detain people whose travel patterns it deems suspicious, The Associated Press has found.
The predictive intelligence program has resulted in people being stopped, searched and in some cases arrested. A network of cameras scans and records vehicle license plate information, and an algorithm flags vehicles deemed suspicious based on where they came from, where they were going and which route they took. Federal agents in turn may then flag local law enforcement."
Just in time for Thanksgiving with the family. If your cousin and his family don't show up you might check the Border Patrol lockups along the way.
Dr. Seuss
"Dr. Seuss Satirized “America First” Decades before Donald Trump Made It Policy"
Isaac Stanley-Becker, in The Atlantic, updates us on the hard-knock life of prisoner Ghislaine Maxwell Yippe skipee
"FPC Bryan, as Maxwell’s prison is known, houses about 650 women. It’s surrounded by a black fence, not particularly tall or imposing. People locked up inside have been convicted of crimes including embezzlement and fraud. Two of the more well-known inmates are Elizabeth Holmes, the Theranos founder convicted of defrauding investors, and Jen Shah, the former Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star who pleaded guilty to wire fraud."
....
Then quoting from Maxwell's email - "
“The food is legions better, the place is clean, the staff responsive and polite.” It was safer, too, because “you are not allowed to steal, beat people up and attack them with home made weapons.” She felt she was finally on the right side of “Alice in Wonderlands looking glass,” she wrote to her brother. “I am much much happier.”
"
Also in The Atlantic, Phillips Payson O’Brien's take on Trump’s Devastating Plan for Ukraine
"In recent months, Trump has been under bipartisan pressure to support a bill, proposed by Senators Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal, that would enable the White House to impose devastating sanctions on countries and companies that do business with Russia. Graham, normally a Trump ally, has described the bill as a “sledgehammer” to use against Russia. But the president did not appear to want such a tool and long danced around whether he would support a vote on the bill.
Then, just this week, Trump told reporters that the Graham-Blumenthal bill would be “okay with me.” The statement came as the president was poised to sign off on the 28-point plan, which threatens to transform Ukraine into a Russian vassal state. In other words, Trump was publicly offering hope to pro-Ukrainian voices while privately getting ready to reward Putin."
Another woman publicly talking about the death threats she is receiving thus week because of Trump
"“Look, over the years, I’ve had threats here and there. It was instantaneous [this time]. I mean, hundreds, if not at this point, thousands of calls, emails, texts, obviously online postings. Capitol Police came to us and said, ‘We’re gonna put you on 24/7 security.’ We’ve got law enforcement out in front of my house. I mean, it changes things immediately. And leadership climate is set from the top. And if the president is saying you should be hanged, then we shouldn’t be surprised when folks on the ground are going to follow suit and say even worse.” – Rep. Elissa Slotkin, last night on MS Now."
Cory Mills, congressman of ill repute.
"Mills Was “Caught” Overseas With Sex Workers
Following President Joe Biden’s chaotic 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan, a group of individuals sought to make an unannounced trip to the Taliban-run country to extract Americans who were stranded inside. One of those people involved in the unofficial mission was Rep. Cory Mills, an Army veteran and a then-congressional candidate. En route to Afghanistan, Mills and the rest of the group he was with stopped in Tbilisi, Georgia. One night while awaiting to continue their rescue mission, Mills was caught with sex workers, a source with direct knowledge of the incident and two sources briefed on the matter told NOTUS.
When the other members of the group saw Mills in the hallway with the sex workers, they were furious. Their mission was already sensitive, given the state of the country they were trying to enter. The group decided to part ways with Mills, the sources said, and Mills appeared to go to Afghanistan separately."
Schnorkles O'Bork
"I can't help but think the reason the White House was very clear to put out a statement tonight that DJT does not want anyone to be hanged or harmed is because DOJ has spent months trying to lay the groundwork in court that his 'truths' are official government pronouncements."
Guardian
"The FBI spied on a Signal group chat of immigration activists, records reveal
Exclusive: Agency accessed private conversations of New York ‘courtwatch’ group that was observing public hearings
A “joint situational information report” from the FBI and the New York police department (NYPD), dated 28 August 2025, quoted from a chat on Signal, the encrypted messaging app, and also characterized the court watchers as “anarchist violent extremist actors”. The two-page report was distributed to other law enforcement agencies across the US."
Think of the children.
"Newly released bodycam footage shows a Fairhope police colonel confronting and arresting a 61-year-old grandmother dressed in an inflatable penis costume during a protest last month. The footage, provided to AL.com by Renea Gamble’s legal team, captures Col. Andrew Babb telling Gamble her costume would not be tolerated in a “town that has values.”"
The Pretender is really a very simple man.
Won't attend the G20? Of course not. He can 't expect the adulation he thinks he deserves there.
The Pretender goes only where the suck-ups are. With money and gold crowns he can grift.
Wait, a lady in an inflatable penis costume?
Hahaha!
She should have told that arresting prig of a colonel that she was just looking for Douthat’s inflatable girlfriend. Even entities full of hot air need to have a little fun now and then.
I wonder if those MAGAts who are so upset about kids learning Arabic numbers
are also upset about learning cursive. We MAGAts be against cursing, say they.
Or maybe give them a choice: Arabic numbers or Roman numerals.
Westcoastman,
Or they could learn Trump math:
.000000005% for you. Everything else for me.
Ghislaine Maxell, in an email from her cushy digs furnished by Epstein buddy Fat Hitler:
“The food is legions better, the place is clean, the staff responsive and polite.” It was safer, too, because “you are not allowed to steal, beat people up and attack them with home made weapons.”
She forgot to add "No procurement of underage girls by snake in the grass operatives working for billionaire sex traffickers".
Akhilleus,
Of course grandma had to pair her "no dick-tators" sign with an inflatable dick. She probably went to the shop looking for a costume for the protest and found the perfect piece for the occasion. It is not just frogs that frighten law enforcement.
RAS,
Arresting grannies in a dick costume is just their speed, but they see pricks every day in their cowardly masked hordes. What would really scare them would be a granny (or any woman) with a big set of balls.
Posted by Rep. Jason Crow on Blue Sky.
“Trump called for my arrest, prosecution, and execution.
Almost immediately, the threats exploded—against me, my family, and my office.
All Americans must condemn this political violence.
Listen to some of the actual threats we’ve received:”
https://bsky.app/profile/crow.house.gov/post/3m65yvc37ds24
Fatso believes (or says he does) that he’s more popular than George Washington, but there is incontrovertible proof that Washington, relying on an 18th century education, was light years smarter than the bloated fart factory currently darkening the linen in the Blight House.
In PBS’s “American Revolution”, I was reminded that one of the most l dangerous problems facing Americans, even more lethal than British bullets and cannonballs, was smallpox.
Washington had survived smallpox as a teenager, and knew firsthand how bad it could be. He refrained for months from implementing troop inoculation, but in 1777, ordered that every member of the Continental Army be inoculated against smallpox, which was devastating his troops.
British troops, many of which had contracted smallpox in England, had herd immunity. Americans did not. Washington’s decision to inoculate his army led to victory in the revolution.
Had Fat Hitler or Polio Bob been in charge in 1777, we would all be “God bless the king” instead of “God bless America”.
And had MAGA influencers and morons like Laura Loomer been screaming that it was against their rights to be inoculated, we’d all be British subjects today.
What can we expect as we enter an era when the smarts that made us a nation are cast aside so Polio Bob and his anti-vaccine grifters and morons can “own the libs” and make themselves rich?
18th century intelligence far exceeds the sort of whinging MAGA assertions that inoculation against deadly diseases is some kind of scam.
Julie's link didn't work for me. But here's a YouTube short that reproduces some of the remarks made to Rep. Crow. Don't listen to it if you're especially sensitive.
Trump is so readily played in person and Mamdani played him like a fiddle. Obviously Fat Hitler's people will do damage control now and attack the future mayor in the next few days to try to rollback all the things FH said today in front of the press. But Mamdani came out a win today no matter what they do in the future.
I, too, found the Polgreen column interesting. If she been a long-time Times columnist, I'd missed her. Won't any more.
Responded to her thesis this way:
The author may or may not have China's leader's intent correct. Time will tell. It does seem they have a vision of where their country is heading, but right now we're guessing.
But she sure nailed our own leader who has no goals that extend beyond the limits of his own skin. Trump's vision is always inward. Not in any way that might smack of self-examination; always in terms. of what's good for me? Never to the country's future.
RAS,
Yeah, as far as I can tell from the Times updates, Mamdani did a superb job in putting that fat ignoramus at ease. I've heard Mamdani speak a number of times, and in both public appearances and interviews he comes across in a most authentic and serious manner, clearly a smart, knowledgeable guy who has his ducks in line, but without the off-putting smarminess of some politicians. He really is a guy you'd want to have a beer with. I think Fatty was impressed by how well Mamdani handled the media, and that goes a long way with him. I'm guessing as you suggest, that once he's gotten an earful from bigots and hate spewers like Vance and Himmler Miller, Fat Hitler might alter his course, but for the nonce, Mamdani has emerged victorious.
It's a curious thing, this stated antipathy and hatred of socialism, when so much of our society and so many of the best parts of it, are socialistic in nature. We have street lights at night, police and fire protection, public schools...the list is long, of things that make our lives better but would have been called socialistic at one time. Indeed, Fat Hitler himself has burrowed his way into private businesses as a way of developing some sort of five year plan (for his personal enrichment).
Friederich Engels has a word on that topic:
“Certainly, if the taking over by the State of the tobacco industry is socialistic, then Napoleon and Metternich must be numbered among the founders of Socialism.”
It ain't rocket science. What it needs is an effective and smart guy like Mamdani to remind those who call themselves dead set against "socialism" that every night that they drive home and don't smash into a tree, or can call the cops when strangers hang about their neighborhood, or take a bus or subway for a couple of bucks when visiting big cities, they can thank socialist public policies.
Remember in the before times, months ago, when all tgis administration was worried about was waste and abuse if public funds?
The media doesn't.
"Trump's National Guard deployments have cost over $473 MILLION.
A disgusting misuse of federal resources, taxpayer dollars, and US troops’ service.
Doing this while firing federal workers and kicking millions off of healthcare is just the cherry on top of the dumpster fire that is the Trump admin."
Happy Holiday$$$
"Study: Tariffs Will Cost Xmas Shoppers Extra $41 Billion
With the holidays approaching, the grinch is taking a new form: tariffs. In fact, according to a LendingTree analysis, consumers and retailers would have faced an estimated extra $40.6 billion burden on gifts during the 2024 winter holidays if current tariffs had been in place.
For shoppers, the $28.6 billion burden translates to $132 each."
Honestly, it's impossible not to get choked up watching this final episode of the immense telling of our origin story, the American Revolution, coming as it does at a most propitious time, reminding us of our legacy when a would be dictator seeks to tear down all that had been constructed in blood and toil.
As with all things MAGA, they can only destroy, there is no attempt to build, to push forward on the promise of freedom handed down to us. A quote towards the end of the program, from Thomas Jefferson, suggested that what had been accomplished in those years after the Declaration (which now hangs like a dorm room poster above an idiot who has never read it, could never understand it, and will never appreciate all that has been gifted to him because of what is in it) will survive the attempts of despots to rip it up. I certainly hope so.
We seem to be at a crossroads where true patriots are condemned to death for upholding the law and where thugs and criminals are hailed as patriots, their crimes blithely swept away. We cannot rely on the media or on congress. Lower courts stay the true course while the highest one seeks to drag us over a cliff. What we have, what can save us, likely the only thing that can save us, is the power of the vote. Over the next year, we'll see if Jefferson was right, and if we can survive the current assaults on a great and free America.
It's well documented evidence that The Orange has no shame, so the extensive flop sweat & strategeries to impede the release of the Epstein Files deserves contemplation. I have a (tinfoil hat) theory that hasn't at all been discussed in the media (maybe it's too hot of a potato to touch w/o evidence...) but seems certainly plausible and borderline likely (my apologies if you've all already unearthed this one as I've not kept up with the Informed Commentariat): One or both of The Orange's closest women, Ivanka and/or Melania, are going to make a a sordid appearance in the files.
We already know Melanie (sic) is connected to Epstein and a British biographer of Epstein claims he passed her on to The Orange as seconds. Ivanka too was close to the modeling world in her youth and was seemingly surrounded by her dad's acquaintances, ie pedos & perverts. I bet they too have something to hide in this horrific affair (*removes tinfoil hat*).
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