The Conversation -- July 19, 2025
Benjamin Weiser & Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: “The Justice Department asked a federal judge on Friday to unseal grand jury testimony from the prosecution of the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.... The request was filed in Federal District Court in Manhattan, where Mr. Epstein was awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges six years ago when he was found dead by hanging in his jail cell about a month after he was arrested.... The government also sought the unsealing of grand jury testimony from the case of Ghislaine Maxwell, the socialite who in a 2021 trial was convicted of helping Mr. Epstein facilitate his sex-trafficking scheme and sentenced to 20 years in prison. She has appealed her conviction.... [Pam Bondi & Todd Blanche filed the motion.] In their motion, Ms. Bondi and Mr. Blanche said the Justice Department would work with the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York, which prosecuted Mr. Epstein and Ms. Maxwell, to make 'appropriate redactions' of information related to victims and 'other personal identifying information' before releasing the transcripts.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ The motion is here, via the courts. ~~~
~~~ Marie: It's hard to exaggerate what a sham this is. As the Times reporters write, "Judges rarely agree to grant public access to such materials." AND "The unsealing effort could take months, and the materials being sought are most likely only a small part of the evidence collected in the investigation." You know who has custody of all that other evidence? Pamela Jo Bondi. (See, for instance, Dan Mangan's report, next.) If Blondie wanted to release some revelatory Epstein documents, she could immediately make public some of the thousands and thousands of documents that are under her control. PLUS. As Kyle Cheney of Politico remarks, the motion's caveat that DOJ would make "appropriate redactions" of "other personal identifying information" implies that Bondi would redact any references to say, Donald Trump.
Dan Mangan of CNBC: “FBI agents assigned earlier this year to review investigative files in the criminal case against notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were instructed to 'flag' any documents that mentioned ... Donald Trump, Sen. Richard Durbin said Friday. Durbin’s claim came as the Illinois Democrat sent the Justice Department and FBI letters asking them to explain what his office calledapparent discrepancies regarding the handling of the Epstein files and findings from a July 7 Department of Justice (DOJ) memorandum and instructions reportedly received by FBI personnel.'... 'According to information my office received, the FBI was pressured to put approximately 1,000 personnel in its Information Management Division (IMD) … on 24-hour shifts to review approximately 100,000 Epstein-related records in order to produce more documents that could then be released on an arbitrarily short deadline,' Durbin wrote to [FBI Director Kash] Patel. 'This effort, which reportedly took place from March 14 through the end of March, was haphazardly supplemented by hundreds of FBI New York Field Office personnel, many of whom lacked the expertise to identify statutorily-protected information regarding child victims and child witnesses or properly handle FOIA requests,' the letter said. 'My office was told that these personnel were instructed to “flag” any records in which President Trump was mentioned.'” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marcy Wheeler has some details. And she's happy to know there are a thousand witnesses to this hoohah.
It isn't only the DOJ that is sitting on Epstein files. The Treasury Department also is holding onto records of thousands of Epstein's bank transactions representing the movement of nearly two billion dollars. Sen. Ron Wyden wants to follow the money: ~~~
~~~ Ashleigh Fields of the Hill: “Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) on Thursday slammed the Trump administration for not making deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s financial records available to Congress and the public. 'Big news from my investigators on Epstein’s sex trafficking operation: the Trump administration has an Epstein file detailing 4,725 wire transfers and almost $1.1 billion flowing through just one of his banks. Hundreds of millions more through others,' Wyden alleged in a post on the social platform X. 'Epstein had to pay for all his sex trafficking somehow. Further evidence shows he used Russian banks to process hundreds of millions in payments. Again, this is info in the possession of the Trump administration, but they’re refusing to investigate,' he added in a later post.” MB: Wyden made the same claims on the floor of the Senate Thursday. ~~~
~~~ Matthew Goldstein of the New York Times (July 17): “Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, the top Democrat on the powerful Senate Finance Committee, has been digging into Mr. Epstein’s financial network for the past three years.... In particular, filings by four big banks flagged more than $1.5 billion in transactions — including thousands of wire transfers for the purchase and sale of artwork for rich friends, fees paid to Mr. Epstein by wealthy individuals, and payments to numerous women, the senator’s office found. The filings came after Mr. Epstein was arrested in 2019 on federal sex trafficking charges.... The bank records reviewed by Mr. Wyden’s staff — called suspicious activity reports or SARs — are meant to be an early warning system for law enforcement about signs of illegal activity. As dictated by federal law, the reports are so confidential that banks can’t even acknowledge filing them.... To some degree, Mr. Wyden is hamstrung by those rules, which is why he wants the Trump administration to make the reports available to Congress.... The confidential bank reports filed with a Treasury Department agency ... provide the most comprehensive look at the enormous financing machine behind Mr. Epstein’s sex-trafficking operation....”
Winston Cho of the Hollywood Reporter: Donald “Trump has sued the Wall Street Journal owner News Corp. for defamation over a report detailing a 2003 letter from him to Jeffrey Epstein in which he wrote that they share a 'wonderful secret.' With the lawsuit, filed on Friday in Florida federal court, the Journal becomes the latest media outlet targeted by Trump for adversarial reporting, joining ABC News and CBS News. It sets the stage for another legal battle in which media’s incentives to stay out of Trump’s crosshairs by settling will be questioned, this time featuring Journal parent News Corp., owned by close Trump ally Rupert Murdoch.... The lawsuit names Murdoch alongside Journal reporters Khadeeja Safdar and Joe Palazzolo, who wrote the story. It brings claims for libel, assault and slander. Notably, it was filed in the Southern District of Florida, where a jury might be more receptive to defamation claims than one in New York, where News Corp., which didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment, is based.” (Also linked yesterday.) MB: I am looking forward to the discovery phase. ~~~
~~~ Here's the New York Times story. The AP's report is here. Oh, Trump is suring for $10 billion. Trump's court filing is here, via the Guardian. News of another Trump lawsuit linked below. ~~~
~~~ Mike Masnick of TechDirt: “This is the exact type of behavior that Trump’s supporters spent years ... [decrying] when they falsely accused the Biden administration of doing far less.... The underlying claim in the [Missouri v. Biden (later, Murthy v. Missouri)] case from the states, and a few social media users who had their accounts restricted in some form or another, was that there was a huge First Amendment violation by the Biden administration because it had spoken to social media companies asking them about their policies regarding fighting disinformation on things around Covid. The case was built on out-of-context communications and outright lies, but Trump-appointed Judge Terry Doughty ruled that the Biden administration asking social media companies to explain their editorial policies was 'arguably the most massive attack against free speech in United States history.'... The Supreme Court dismissed the case for lack of standing.... By the legal standard Trump’s own lawyers established, any government request to suppress media coverage violates the First Amendment.... [Trump] didn’t just ask [the WSJ] not to publish the thing, he told them he would sue them if they published and has now said he’s going to sue Murdoch’s 'ass off.'... And yes, part of the problem is that the media keeps capitulating every time Trump does this.”
~~~ "An Enigma Wrapped in a Wonderful Secret." Andrew Egger of the Bulwark: "The idea that Murdoch and the Journal would publish a story like this — knowing Trump’s penchant for retributive lawsuits — without being on rock-solid legal footing is laughable; a small army of lawyers no doubt inspected every word of the report.... In the coming days, it will be fascinating to see how Epstein true believers handle these questions. Which will be stronger? Their years-long conviction that there’s more to the Epstein story and determination to see it brought to light? Or their Pavlovian response to radicalize against any story the president dubs “FAKE NEWS”? Call it an enigma." (Also linked yesterday.)
Giselle Ewing of Politico: “... Donald Trump continued to rage over the Jeffrey Epstein case Friday.... 'If there was a “smoking gun” on Epstein, why didn’t the Dems, who controlled the “files” for four years, and had Garland and Comey in charge, use it? BECAUSE THEY HAD NOTHING!!!' Trump wrote on Truth Social on Friday morning, echoing his previous attempts to pin blame for the lack of information in the case on Democrats.... Trump continued to attack the [Wall Street Journal] Friday, writing in a separate Truth Social post: 'I look forward to getting Rupert Murdoch to testify in my lawsuit against him and his “pile of garbage” newspaper,' adding that it 'will be an interesting experience!!!'” MB: It will indeed be an interesting experience. Think of how many damaging stories the WSJ will get out of all the discovery the court will certainly allow. Yes, indeedy, everybody will finally get a look at some pertinent Epstein files (or “files,” as Trump calls them). (Also linked yesterday.)
RAS has an idea: "... if JD wanted to see [Trump's 2003 note to Epstein,] he could just ask Bondi for the original or at least a photograph of the birthday book." MB: Of course Trump could do something similar; he could ask Bondi to certify that there was no such album of letters and/or no such letter from him in the DOJ's Epstein files. As far as I know, Bondi hasn't commented on the note. I suspect there's a very good reason for that.
Trump loves to draw. Just saying pic.twitter.com/jMJh3XWvBW
— Adam Kinzinger (Slava Ukraini) 🇺🇸🇺🇦 (@AdamKinzinger) July 18, 2025
~~~ Tyler Pager of the New York Times finds some more pictures Donald Trump "wrote." (Also linked yesterday.)
Lee Moran of the Huffington Post: “Pranksters this week trolled ... Donald Trump by placing Jeffrey Epstein-themed postcards in the gift shop at Trump Tower in New York City. The cards were surreptitiously inserted onto a souvenir carousel and featured an old photo of Trump with the late convicted sex offender Epstein, when the pair were close friends, said comedy duo Davram Stiefler and Jason Selvig, known as The Good Liars, who were behind the stunt.”
Heather Cox Richardson summarizes some of the developments in her daily "letter." At the top of it she mentions something I've heard several times on the teevee: "Now we know why ... Donald J. Trump earlier this week began saying nonsensically that Democrats he dislikes wrote the Epstein files. Apparently, Trump was trying to get out in front of the story Khadeeja Safdar and Joe Palazzolo broke last night in the Wall Street Journal...." The teevee pundits have noted that the WSJ reporters called Trump for comment on Tuesday, the same day he started blaming Obama, Clinton, Comey, Brennan & unnamed Biden officials for making up the "Epstein hoax." IOW, as soon as he realized he was in trouble, he went to his tried-and-true "Democrats-did-it/hoax" fallback excuse.
Brianna Tucker of the Washington Post: “A federal judge on Friday dismissed a lawsuit brought by ... Donald Trump that attempted to sue Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward for publishing interviews during his first administration in an October 2022 audiobook called 'The Trump Tapes.' According to the court filing [by U.S. District Judge Paul G. Gardephe for the Southern District of New York], Trump did not demonstrate that he and Woodward intended to be co-authors or that Trump had any copyright interest in his on-the-record responses during the interviews with Woodward.... The suit also named Woodward’s publisher, Simon & Schuster, and its former parent company, Paramount Global, as defendants. The judge, however, gave Trump the chance to amend and refile his complaint by Aug. 18, though he said it appears 'unlikely' that Trump could 'adequately plead a plausible copyright interest.'” The Hill's story is here.
Doktor Zoom of Wonkette is very skeptical of Donald Trump's claim that Coca Cola has agreed to follow his advice to change the sweetener for its signature U.S. product from corn syrup to "REAL Cane Sugar": “In yet another seeming effort to change the subject from his close friendship with the late child sex abuser Jeffrey Epstein, Donald Trump yesterday announced what sounded like a really big trade deal if it was real, which of course it wasn’t. On his fake Twitter substitute (archive link), Truth Social — which many people consider as far from The Real Thing as Tab was from Coca-Cola (making 'X' more like 'New Coke,' but full of Nazis) — Trump ...[announced Coke's capitulation].... Big surprise: Coca-Cola hasn’t confirmed any change in its recipe. But the company, which is very aware of Trump’s fondness for Diet Coke, has also been careful not to explicitly deny it either.” (Also linked yesterday.)
The Klepto King. Brian Slodysko & Will Weissert of the AP: “If one theme has emerged in ... Donald Trump’s second term, it’s this: He’s leveraged the power of his office for personal gain unlike anyone before in history. From crypto coins to bibles, overseas development deals to an upcoming line of cellphones, Trump family businesses have raked in hundreds of millions of dollars since his election, an unprecedented flood of often shadowy money from billionaires, foreign governments and cryptocurrency tycoons with interests before the federal government. 'He ... is supposed to be working in the public’s interest,” said James Thurber, an emeritus professor at American University.... 'Instead, he is helping his own personal interest to grow his wealth. It’s totally not normal.' The sums amassed by the Trump Organization, the collection of companies controlled by the president’s children, are far greater than those collected by the family during the president’s first term, when patronage of his hotels, resorts and golf courses was de rigueur to curry favor with the famously transactional commander-in-chief.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Mattathias Schwartz of the New York Times: “An executive order by ... [Donald] Trump seeking to punish people who work with the International Criminal Court is most likely a violation of the First Amendment, a federal judge found on Friday. Judge Nancy Torresen of the Federal District Court in Maine shielded two U.S. human rights activists from any penalties for violating the directive, saying that by threatening to punish anyone who provides 'funds, goods or services' to I.C.C. officials under sanctions, the order restricts a swath of speech-based activity that goes beyond its stated aims. The ruling marked a striking, if tentative and limited, blow to Mr. Trump’s efforts to penalize and isolate the world’s highest criminal court. It has drawn his ire by issuing arrest warrants for high-ranking Israeli officials and conducting preliminary investigations into U.S. personnel at secret C.I.A. sites overseas years ago. The court, in turn, has said Mr. Trump is trying to harm its 'independent and impartial judicial work.'”
2016 Presidential Election. Russophile Tulsi Gabbard Is Still Crazy. Julian Barnes & David Sanger of the New York Times: “The Office of the Director of National Intelligence on Friday issued the latest in a series of reports from the Trump administration attempting to undermine the eight-year-old assessment that Russia favored the election of Donald J. Trump in 2016. Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, said the information she was releasing showed a 'treasonous conspiracy in 2016' by top Obama administration officials to harm Mr. Trump. Democrats denounced the effort as politically motivated, error-ridden and in contradiction with previous reviews of the assessment. Representative Jim Himes of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, called Ms. Gabbard’s accusation of treason 'baseless.'... Multiple reviews, including a Republican-led Senate report, backed the findings of American spy agencies in late 2016 that Russia was trying to influence the election by damaging Ms. Clinton’s campaign and bolstering Mr. Trump. Among the Republican senators on the Intelligence Committee that produced the various reports on Russian influence operations was Marco Rubio of Florida, now the secretary of state.” ~~~
~~~ Update. Jacob Wendler & Amy MacKinnon of Politico: “Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard called for several Obama administration officials to face criminal prosecution for participating in a 'treasonous conspiracy' surrounding the 2016 election on Friday afternoon, the latest example of the Trump administration targeting critics of the president. In a newly declassified report, Gabbard on Friday alleged the officials 'manipulated and withheld' key intelligence from the public related to the possibility of Russian interference in the election. In a Friday afternoon statement, Gabbard said she would provide all related documents to the Justice Department 'to deliver the accountability that President [Donald] Trump, his family, and the American people deserve.'... The ODNI’s memo names former DNI James Clapper, former CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey, among others allegedly involved in the White House’s review of possible Russian meddling in the election.”
Minho Kim of the New York Times: “A federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to restore funding for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, a federally funded newsroom that provides independent reporting in countries with limited press freedom, such as Russia, Iran and Afghanistan. The judge, Royce C. Lamberth of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, berated the Trump administration in his ruling, calling its legal arguments 'nonsensical' and its decision to withhold funds 'unprecedented.' The news organization, also known as RFE/RL, is a private nonprofit that has independence over its editorial decisions and hiring practices but receives nearly all of its funding from Congress. Since March, the administration has refused to enter into a new funding contract with RFE/RL after the previous agreement expired, effectively denying funding to the news group. Before denying the funds..., [Donald] Trump signed a budget bill in March that provided funding to the news group until Sept. 30, the end of the current fiscal year. Judge Lamberth found that the Trump administration lacked legal authority to refuse funding that Congress approved without providing a clear basis for such a drastic measure.”
Julie Turkewitz & Hamed Aleaziz of the New York Times: “Ten Americans and U.S. permanent residents who had been seized by the Venezuelan authorities and held as bargaining chips were freed Friday in exchange for the release of more than 250 Venezuelan migrants whom the Trump administration sent to a prison in El Salvador. The release of the Americans and permanent residents was described by the State Department, while the release of the Venezuelans was announced by the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, on X. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement that the 10 U.S. citizens and permanent residents had been arrested and jailed in Venezuela 'without proper due process' and called for the 'restoration of democracy in Venezuela.' The capture and imprisonment of the Americans had been part of the Venezuelan government’s efforts to gain an upper hand in negotiations with the Trump administration, while the detention of the Venezuelans in El Salvador played a high-profile role in ... [Donald] Trump’s promise to deport millions of immigrants.” MB: No telling what will happen to the Venezuelans now that they've been sent back to Venezuela, a country from which they fled, many because they believed they were in danger in their home country. (Also linked yesterday.) The AP's report is here.
Terrence McCoy of the Washington Post: “Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Friday evening that the United States has revoked the visa of a Brazilian judge overseeing the prosecution of former president Jair Bolsonaro, echoing ... Donald Trump’s allegations that his hard-right political ally was the victim of a 'political witch hunt.' The announcement came hours after the judge, Brazilian Supreme Federal Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, accused Bolsonaro of conspiring with his son to incite U.S. hostilities against Brazil, ordering the conservative politician to wear an ankle bracelet and barring him from contacts with foreign governments.... Friday’s back-and-forth marked an extraordinary escalation in a rapidly widening political rift between the Western Hemisphere’s two most populous nations, rupturing both economic and political ties between the longtime allies in a stunningly short amount of time.”
Adam Taylor of the Washington Post: “The Trump administration’s dramatic reorganization of the State Department, including this month’s firing of more than 1,300 workers, was engineered primarily by a handful of political appointees lacking extensive diplomatic experience and chosen for their 'fidelity' to the president and willingness to 'break stuff' on his behalf, according to people with knowledge of the process.... Critics say it was done arbitrarily, in furtherance of Trump’s polarizing brand of conservatism and will damage the United States’ standing in the world by shedding invaluable expertise across the department. Central to the effort was Jeremy Lewin, a 28-year-old former agent of Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service who earlier this year oversaw its rapid, messy dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) — one of the administration’s first and most drastic acts to impose ... Donald Trump’s 'America’s First' agenda on the government’s foreign policy institutions.... Already, Trump officials have had to backtrack on dozens of job eliminations, acknowledging to those employees that the layoff notices they received were sent in error.”
Zach Montague of the New York Times: “A senior State Department official testified Friday that his office, which the Trump administration has tasked with vetting foreign students’ social media posts and revoking student visas, has operated this year without a working definition of 'antisemitism' and routinely considers criticism of Israel as part of its work. The testimony, at the end of a two-week trial focused on the Trump administration’s efforts to deport students such as Mahmoud Khalil, Rumeysa Ozturk and others, helped build the case by the academic groups behind the lawsuit, who have argued that the government systematically targeted students based on their remarks about Israel. During a heated back-and-forth in Federal District Court in Boston, John Armstrong, the senior bureau official in the Bureau of Consular Affairs, said that the State Department regularly took into account speech or actions that it saw as hostile toward Israel. Pushed for examples of things he might consider in weighing whether to deny or revoke a student’s visa, Mr. Armstrong testified that calls for limiting military aid to Israel or 'denouncing Zionism' could all factor in his agency’s decisions.”
Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will replace the first woman to lead the U.S. Naval Academy, defense officials said, with the Trump administration nominating a Marine Corps general to oversee the institution for the first time in its nearly 180-year history. Vice Adm. Yvette Davids has led the Naval Academy since January 2024, and is about 18 months into serving in a job that typically rotates about every three to four years. Hegseth said Friday in a statement that President Donald Trump has selected Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Michael Borgschulte, who oversees personnel issues for his service.... The unexpected decision comes as Trump, with Hegseth in the lead, has purged the military of numerous top military leaders — including a disproportionate number of women — whom they have accused of focusing too heavily on diversity.”
Karoun Demirjian of the New York Times: “The Trump administration is trying to recruit recently retired immigration officers to fix a labor crunch, offering hefty signing bonuses and other financial incentives to staff its nationwide deportation campaign.... [Donald] Trump has outlined a plan to expand Immigration and Customs Enforcement by 10,000 officers and detail many of them to large, urban areas to accelerate efforts to remove migrants living illegally in the United States.”
Sarah Mervosh of the New York Times: “The Trump administration said Friday that it would release $1.3 billion in frozen federal funding for after-school programs across the country, after facing growing bipartisan pressure. The Trump administration, which wants to slash spending and reduce the federal government’s role in education, had abruptly withheld the money, along with billions in other education dollars. It said it was conducting a review and had found instances of federal dollars being 'grossly misused to subsidize a radical left-wing agenda.'”
Lisa Friedman & Maxine Joselow of the New York Times: “The Environmental Protection Agency said on Friday that it would eliminate its scientific research arm and begin firing hundreds of chemists, biologists, toxicologists and other scientists, after denying for months that it intended to do so. The move underscores how the Trump administration is forging ahead with efforts to slash the federal work force and dismantle federal agencies after the Supreme Court allowed these plans to proceed while legal challenges unfold. Government scientists have been particular targets of the administration’s large-scale layoffs.... The E.P.A.’s science office provides the independent research that underpins nearly all of the agency’s policies and regulations.... The science office 'is the heart and brain of the E.P.A.,' said Justin Chen, president of [the American Federation of Government Employees Council] 238.” MB: Well, that may be, but Lee Zeldin, the E.P.A.'s administrator, has neither heart nor brains. So definitely not attributes Zeldin wants around the place.
This Is Terrible. Selena Simmons-Duffin of NPR: "Health insurance premiums are going way up next year for people who buy their insurance on Healthcare.gov or the state-based marketplaces, according to an analysis out Friday. The average person who buys Affordable Care Act insurance will be paying 75% more for their premium, according to the analysis from KFF, a nonpartisan health policy research group.... 'Pretty much every insurance company is talking about the expiration of enhanced premium tax credits in the ACA markets[, according to researcher Cynthia Cox of KFF]. Those markets are where people go to buy Obamacare plans, which serve people who can't get health insurance through their jobs and who don't qualify for Medicaid or Medicare.... People who are generally healthy might well decide that the higher premium is not worth it. They'll go without health insurance and risk it. The Congressional Budget Office estimates letting the subsidies expire would increase the number of uninsured by 4.2 million people. If healthy people opt out, the insurance pool is left with those who cost insurance companies more.... Congress could extend the enhanced subsidies, but that would mean ... [Donald] Trump and Republican lawmakers supporting the Affordable Care Act, which is unlikely." (Also linked yesterday.)
David Graham of the Atlantic: “CBS’s current ownership seems determined to demolish [its] legacy [of excellent broadcast journalism. Thursday] evening, the network announced plans to end The Late Show With Stephen Colbert when the host’s contract ends next May.... Colbert ... has consistently led competitors in his time slot. CBS said this was 'purely a financial decision,' made as traditional linear television fades. Perhaps this is true, but the network that once made [Walter] Cronkite the most trusted man in America no longer gets the benefit of the doubt. CBS’s owners have made a series of decisions capitulating to ... Donald Trump, and the surprise choice to allow Colbert — a consistent, prominent Trump critic — to walk seems like part of that pattern.” Thank you to laura h. for this gift link. (Also linked yesterday.)
New York Times television critic James Poniewozik wonders whether CBS's claim that it is cancelling Stephen Colbert's show for “purely financial” reasons is truthful or an exercise in truthiness. “What we do know is that the president, who has long cried for political comics’ heads — won’t someone rid him of these turbulent hosts? — has gotten another item on his wish list. 'I absolutely love that Colbert’ got fired,' [Trump] wrote on his platform Truth Social.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Amalia Huot-Marchand of the Hill: “The Writers Guild of America East and West called on New York Attorney General Letitia James to launch an investigation Friday into why CBS canceled 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,' accusing the network’s parent company of offering a 'bribe' to the Trump administration. The guild, whose members include writers for the Colbert program, asked whether the cancellation was meant to help Paramount, the owner of CBS, with ... [Donald] Trump.”
Justin Baragona of the Independent: “CBS staffers aren’t buying the network’s claims that the cancellation of Stephen Colbert’s top-rated, late-night show was purely a 'financial decision,' but rather a continuation of the 'Trump shakedown' that began with parent company Paramount’s settlement of the 60 Minutes lawsuit, according to multiple sources.”
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Reader Comments (8)
Brandy Zadrozny talks about the potential fallout of releasing the Epstein Files. The conspiracy theorists will create their own narratives and the potential exposure of hundreds of women who were part of the investigation.
Here is her opinion piece on it.
"I want to know what’s in the Epstein files. But there could be a price.
“Democrats have no idea of the cesspool they’re playing in, or what they’re normalizing.”
For many on the far right and far left, it won’t matter what’s actually in those files. What will matter is what people want to find in them, and how fast they can spin it into content.
Conspiracy theories in the digital age thrive on a process where communities collaborate to interpret ambiguous evidence and create narratives. Sometimes known as participatory misinformation, the goal isn’t necessarily to uncover truths, but to create content that resonates with the community’s existing beliefs and to transform complex, sometimes totally unrelated information into pertinent, digestible and often misleading lines that can move the story along."
Little Donnie Trumpy: Artiste!
Like so many other corners of his Richie Rich, spoiled rich kid, NPD existence, little Donnie’s (“ahem”) artwork, although rudimentary, crude, and repetitive, seems, in his childish mind, to be museum ready.
He seems to think his elementary, simplistic contour tracings of New York buildings worthy of elegant frames. And really, if a five year old had scratched out one of these things, complete with the gigantic “By Tommy” signature, I suppose the proud parents would be happy to have it matted and framed.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not crapping on people who enjoy doodling and sketching, it’s a great exercise in basic creativity and a fine way to relieve stress. But dragging a sharpie across a piece of paper and then giving this doodle a huge “signed by the artist” finish (the fact that the enormous signatures are typically the most prominent and developed part of these contour doodles is best left for commentary by a psychiatrist) then taking the trouble to have it matted and framed as if it were one of those quick sketches Picasso used to leave at restaurant tables, later sold for thousands, reminds us that this is a (*cough-cough*) “work of aht” by the same barely literate nincompoop who insists he has “all the best words”.
So if he was doodling naked chicks in a birthday message to impress his rapist buddy, I wouldn’t be a bit surprised.
After all, he has all the best aht. A wicked good ahtiste.
If I were a right-wing conspiracy theorist, I would not pick Donald Trump as the avenger of the international Jewish elite cabal who control the world's economy, operate the deep state and run an international pedophile ring (and whatever other depraved enterprises that please them).
Nope. I would pick Donald Trump as the leader of the cabal. And I would have all kinds of "proof":
He's the president of the most powerful country in the Western world; it is he who runs and controls the U.S. "deep state." He runs it with an iron fist, the way a mafia boss would. Everybody bows down to him: the Cabinet, the senators, the judges.
Trump, like all of the cabal's leaders, is ultra-rich. He has financial dealings with bankers all over the world. Trump is at the top of the global elite hierarchy.
The people he knows are the richest, most powerful people in the world. They're from all over the globe. They have oversized spheres of influence. Some of them are known murderers.
Most of the powerful people he knows are not Christians with laudable Christian values. They are Muslims (maybe terrorists! or sponsors of terrorists). And a lot of them are Jewish! Even Trump's family is Jewish: his daughter, his son-in-law, his grandchildren. His close friends.
These shady bigwigs give Trump huge gifts. A jet plane! They engage in all manner of strange financial transactions with him. They put his name on buildings and pay him tribute money for luxury towers he does not build or finance himself. Some of these strange financial transactions are made using something called "cryptocurrency." It might not even be based on the good old U.S. dollar bill. What is that all about?
Trump is not really a Christian. My God, he's a New Yorker! New Yorkers aren't even real Americans, much less Christians! Trump has a penthouse apartment with a helipad. For all the gold on display, it doesn't have a crucifix in it. He's never read a word of the Bible.
Trump was a long-time close friend of a Jewish pedophile who ran an international sex-trafficking ring. The two of them traveled and partied together with a revolving coterie of under-aged girls. There are photos. There is videotape. There are testimonials.
Someone pretended to prosecute the pedophile, but that someone let him off with barely a slap on the wrist. Trump later gave the so-called prosecutor a top job in the deep state Trump controlled.
While Trump was president, the well-known Jewish sex trafficker died mysteriously in a federal prison under Trump's control. Videotape that might have given a clue as to what happened was doctored, with a critical 3 minutes missing.
To hide all this, Trump makes up cover stories that don't make sense. Trump and the people he controls won't release files that point to his culpability. Trump even employed a thousand deep-state actors to flag/cover-up anything that might tend to incriminate him.
Oh, I'm sure there are more "proofs." But for sure, for sure, Trump is the guy. He is the villain we have been seeking.
Marie,
When you put it that way it does seem suspicious to put it mildly.
This will help the sagging tourism.
"Visitors to the United States will need to pay a “visa integrity fee,” according to a new law.
The fee will be at least $250, is on top of other visa fees, and may be reimbursable.
However when the fee starts, and how to get a refund, remain unclear."
Long Term Care
"President Trump’s immigration crackdown is beginning to strain the long-term care work force, raising concerns about how the effects could ripple across the nation’s senior population. Providers that operate nursing homes and home care agencies say they have lost staff members as the Trump administration has moved to end deportation protections for hundreds of thousands of migrants with temporary legal status."
"FCC Chair Likely Demanded Colbert’s Cancellation
Skydance CEO David Ellison and his lawyer met with Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr and an FCC lawyer on Tuesday, a new regulatory filing shows. The meeting came two days before CBS abruptly announced that it is canceling “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” after the next season in May 2026, citing “financial” reasons."
@Marie
And it's no stretch at all....because as superficially silly as it might seem, all of what you say is true.
Just watched an old Adam West "Batman" (maybe the first I'd ever seen) with grandchildren, and its arch spoofery and deliberately over the top portrayal of heroes and villains had much the same flavor as the recent daily news, especially that coming out of the revived Epstein saga and the entire Right's reaction to it.
Will try this one again:
Have long said that one of the Right's great weaknesses is its inability to get the joke, both when others laugh at them and especially in failing to see the absurdity in their own behavior.
The Right is not funny, but it is a joke.