Quesadillas in the Kitchen
2 hours ago
Sunday, November 16, 2025
Saturday, November 15, 2025
Chump and his roll dog Epstein
Donald Chump's friend and roll dog Jeffrey Epstein remains in the news. Andrea González-Ramírez (THE CUT) notes:
This narrative persists in the 23,000 pages of emails and documents from Epstein’s estate that were released by Congress on Wednesday. The documents appear to show just how sprawling Epstein’s reach was, including communications with the former prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, Trump’s ally Steve Bannon, right-wing billionaire Peter Thiel, several members of previous Democratic administrations, and prominent media personalities and artists. Many of these influential men have since disavowed Epstein, said they regret their interactions with him, and denied that they knew about his sex crimes. They were simply taken in by his unmatched philanthropism and intellect, they’ve explained. Renowned academic Noam Chomsky, for example, wrote in an undated character reference that the financier “quickly became a highly valued friend and regular source of intellectual exchange and stimulation.”
A lot of exposure as a result of those e-mails. Including the one where Epstein notes Chump "knew about the girls." Schuyler Mitchell (MOTHER JONES) explains how Chump has elected to respond:
For months, President Donald Trump begged America to forget about Jeffrey Epstein. But this week a House committee released a trove of the late sex offender’s emails, and Trump’s name was all over them. Now, he’s suddenly once again very interested in figuring out who enabled or even partook in Epstein’s prolific sexual abuse of underage women—as long as the only people being investigated for crimes are Democrats.
On Friday, Trump directed the Department of Justice, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to “investigate Jeffrey Epstein’s involvement and relationship with Bill Clinton, Larry Summers, Reid Hoffman, J.P. Morgan, Chase, and many other people and institutions, to determine what was going on with them.” Bondi quickly hopped on the case, announcing on X that she had assigned a prosecutor to “pursue this with urgency and integrity.”
Trump, a friend of Epstein for many years, has strenuously denied any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes. But his Friday directive reversed the Trump administration’s previous stance that there was nothing left to see in the Epstein case: In July, Bondi’s DOJ and the FBI released a memo claiming it had exhausted all of the evidence in the government’s possession and determined that “no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted.” That move was itself a stunning reversal, angering many of Trump’s supporters who believed he would fulfill his campaign promise to release all files from the government’s Epstein investigation. After the July announcement, Trump blasted his supporters who felt betrayed as “stupid” and “foolish” for still believing in the “Jeffrey Epstein hoax.”
A bipartisan coalition of lawmakers emerged to push for the full Epstein files. Following the long-awaited swearing in of Arizona Rep. Adelita Grijalva on Wednesday, a Democrat whose support was needed to advance the release, the House will soon vote on a bill that could compel the DOJ to release what it has.
Strange. So were his other responses. He tried to persuade Republicans who signed onto the bill. US House Rep Nancy Mace apparently had the common sense to avoid his calls. US House Rep Lauren Boebert got called to the White House Situation Room where they tried to pressure her to take her signature off -- pressured her to the point that she found the entire encounter worrying. US House Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene, he's been attacking her online.
Clearly, he's got something to hide You don't order Speaker of the Closet Mike Johnson to send Republicans members of the House home for weeks and refuse to swear in Adelita Grijalva for weeks in order to continue the cover up unless you have something to hide. And you don't then distract the people (and abuse the Justice Dept) by ordering a government agency to go after your political rivals.
You have to be hiding something and clearly Chump is hiding a great deal. Robert McCoy (THE NEW REPUBLIC) reports:
As President Donald Trump and Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene’s feud over Jeffrey Epstein boils over, survivors of the late sex criminal have reportedly issued a collective statement of support for the Georgia Republican.
The bizarre development comes amid a deepening internal rift in the MAGA movement.
The letter, as reported Saturday by MeidasTouch News, thanked Greene “for standing up against the intimidation, silencing, and abuse that Epstein survivors have endured for decades.”
“When you speak the truth and refuse to bow to threats, you become a survivor by proxy—an ally who carries part of the fight with us,” the message continued. “That courage matters. You have our full support. We stand united with you against any attempt to bully, rewrite history, or shut down accountability.”
The 27 reported signatories, who faced or were otherwise impacted by Epstein’s abuse—such as Maria and Annie Farmer, Courtney Wild, and the family of Virginia Roberts Giuffre—promised to defend Greene “with everything we have” and offered “to help and to talk.”
Meanwhile, Ryan Coopeer (TAP) wonders about how some newly surfaced facts have been buried for so long:
Well, now we have it. On Wednesday, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released another batch of documents related to notorious pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Among them were several emails about Donald Trump. One was from Epstein to his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell back in 2011. He wrote: “i want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is trump.. [victim] spent hours at my house with him ,, he has never once been mentioned. police chief. etc. im 75 % there[.]” (Excuse the spelling and grammar errors, that’s all Jeffrey.)
By now, we’re all familiar with what “spent hours” meant in the context of rich, powerful men and Epstein’s victims—particularly given the reference to ‘barking,’ which has to mean going to prosecutors or the media.
Chump lies and his underlings lie. Travis Gettys (RAW STORY) reports on Deputy AG Todd Blanche:
"An important side note about today's Epstein/Trump revelations," noted conservative attorney George Conway on X. "They show that Todd Blanche's questioning of Ghislaine Maxwell was either (a) completely incompetent; or (b) intentionally crafted not to elicit facts incriminating Trump. Either way, he is not fit to serve as Deputy Attorney General of the United States."
Blanche spoke to Maxwell over two days in July at a prison where she's serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking and other charges, and he publicly asserted that she had told him she never saw Trump act inappropriately, and he disputed Conway's criticism.
"George, you’ve never been confused for a trial lawyer, and these kinds of posts explain why," Blanche replied. "When I interviewed Maxwell, law enforcement didn’t have the materials Epstein’s estate hid for years and only just provided to Congress. Stop talking. It’s unbecoming."
The Justice Department official's explanation didn't pass the smell test for many social media users, however.
"Todd, didn't the Justice Department have these emails when they seized Epstein's computers, phones, iPads, and other electronic devices from his homes in Manhattan and the US Virgin Islands?" posted Business Insider's Jacob Shamsian.
"Mr. Blanche - When you questioned Maxwell you simply let her spew a narrative contradicted by evidence already in your possession," said retired attorney Tirah Att. "I'm not sure what the point of the interview was, but we know the result - she was moved to a cushy prison not meant for sexual predators."
If she lied to him, Todd has croaked for months, she could face legal consequences. Well she did lie. Jen Psaki (MS NOW) points that reality out noting the photo of Virginia Giuffre with the King of England's brother Andrew and Ghislaine Maxwell:
I’ll spare you the rest of the truly wretched details, but Giuffre said that she and Andrew had sex that night at Epstein and Maxwell’s direction. It was the first of three such encounters.
Both Maxwell and Andrew have vehemently denied that any of this ever happened. A key part of that denial has been asserting that the photo of the trio is fake.
Even just this summer, in an interview with Donald Trump’s personal lawyer-turned-deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, Maxwell flat-out denied it and told him she believed it was “literally a fake photo.”
However, according to one of the emails included in the trove of documents released on Wednesday, that doesn’t appear to be the case.
On July 1, 2011, just months after the photo was first published in the British tabloids, Epstein allegedly sent an email in which he wrote: “Yes she was on my plane, and yes she had her picture taken with Andrew.”
Epstein denied everything else that took place and seemed to defend the photo by adding that many of his employees had taken pictures with Andrew.
It should be noted that Epstein himself is not exactly a reliable or trustworthy source. But the idea that Epstein, way back in 2011, said this photo was real throws into question everything both Andrew and Maxwell have said about the rest of that story.
The fact that, just months ago, Maxwell told Blanche that the photo was fake now adds all the more reason to be skeptical that anything she told the deputy attorney general in that meeting was true.
Back to a real prison for Ghislaine? No, that would mean Donald wasn't scared of her and what she might squeal about.
The following sites updated:
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Senator Murray Slams Outrageous Political Retaliation at NIH, Demands Answers from Trump Administration
Senator Murray Slams Outrageous Political Retaliation at NIH, Demands Answers from Trump Administration
Vice Chair Murray in June to NIH Director Bhattacharya: “You just received a letter signed by hundreds of your own staff who believe this administration’s actions risk breaking NIH and the lifesaving work it does. I really hope you heed their warning, and it should go without saying, but I expect none of them to face retaliation for raising those concerns.”
Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA)—Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and a former chair and senior member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee—released the following statement on the news that the Trump administration has placed on administrative leave a National Institutes of Health (NIH) employee who helped organize The Bethesda Declaration, an open letter signed by nearly five hundred NIH employees in June protesting the Trump administration’s politicization of science and research funding at the NIH.
“The Trump administration is burning down our country’s most important public health agencies from the inside and pushing out anyone who dares to pull the fire alarm. Standing up for science is not a fireable offense and it should be seriously troubling to everyone who wants America to remain the world leader in biomedical research that this administration is not only running the NIH into the ground, but punishing anyone who has the courage to speak up about their concerns. When Director Bhattacharya testified before Congress in June, I made clear that not one employee who signed the Bethesda Declaration should face retaliation—yet that’s exactly what appears to be happening this week.
“If this administration thinks that summarily ousting NIH employees whose only offense is calling on the agency to respect science and academic freedom will go unnoticed, they can think again. I am demanding answers from the Trump Administration and Secretary Kennedy about NIH employees who signed the Bethesda Declaration being placed on administrative leave and any further plans for retaliation—we need answers immediately.”
In June, at a Senate Appropriations Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee hearing on the president’s fiscal year 2026 budget request for NIH, Senator Murray grilled NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya on the staff reductions and abrupt termination of clinical trials and grant funding at NIH, and warned him against retaliating against employees who signed The Bethesda Declaration, saying: “You just received a letter signed by hundreds of your own staff who believe this administration’s actions risk breaking NIH and the lifesaving work it does. I really hope you heed their warning, and it should go without saying, but I expect none of them to face retaliation for raising those concerns.”
Senator Murray, a longtime congressional leader on health care, has been fighting back tirelessly against the Trump administration’s efforts to gut lifesaving research at NIH and push out nearly 4,000 skilled scientists, grants administrators, and other employees at the agency. She led the entire Democratic caucus in a letter in February raising the alarm over the Trump administration’s actions to threaten American biomedical research infrastructure and set us back generations. Senator Murray released a statement decrying the Trump administration’s all-out assault on the NIH upon meeting with Bhattacharya in February, and at his nomination hearing in March, she pressed Dr. Bhattacharya on the Trump administration’s efforts to cut billions from biomedical research through an illegal cap on indirect costs, and their unprecedented halt on NIH Advisory Council Meetings, among other issues. She has sent numerous oversight letters and hosted numerous press conferences and events to lay out how the administration’s reckless gutting of HHS is risking Americans health and safety and will set our country back decades, and lifting up the voices of HHS employees who were fired for no reason and through no fault of their own. In September, Senator Murray took to the Senate floor to slam the Trump administration for abandoning the fight to end cancer by cutting vital NIH grants for cancer research and clinical trials.
Throughout her career, Senator Murray has led Congressional efforts to boost biomedical research. Over her years as Chair of the Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee, she secured billions of dollars in increases for biomedical research at NIH, and during her time as Chair of the HELP Committee she established the new ARPA-H research agency as part of her PREVENT Pandemics Act to advance some of the most cutting-edge research in the field. Senator Murray was also the lead Democratic negotiator of the bipartisan 21st Century Cures Act, which delivered a major federal investment to boost NIH research, among many other investments.
###
Friday, November 14, 2025
The Snapshot
Friday, November 14, 2025. Chump's special treatment for Ghislaine Maxwell continues as does his lies to the American people and his was on immigrants, the rule of law and the right to worship.
There
are two primary causes for that price inflation: Extremely volatile
weather has eaten into the harvest of an already labor-intensive,
hard-to-grow crop. That’s been happening for a few years. And Trump’s
tariffs on Brazil (50%), Colombia (10%) and Vietnam (20%)— the three
biggest coffee exporters — are piling added costs on top of that. And
since coffee only grows in a few places on Earth, it’s not like we can
just mow down a few cornfields out in the heartland and start up our own
domestic supply.
Trump
is also wrong to claim that "we're at a perfect number" on inflation,
which no longer dominates headlines. But it's still affecting people.
Since early 2021, average hourly earnings are up about 21.8%. Consumer
prices have risen faster, with grocery prices up nearly 30% since 2020.
This morning Michelle Goldberg (NEW YORK TIMES) ponders the special treatment a convicted sex trafficker is currently receiving:
This week, Jamie Raskin, Democrat of Maryland, revealed that a whistle-blower gave the House Committee on the Judiciary information about the special treatment that Ghislaine Maxwell is receiving at the minimum-security federal prison she was recently transferred to.
In a letter to Donald Trump, Raskin wrote that Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence for her role in Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking operation, has had custom meals delivered to her cell. The warden, he said, personally arranged for Maxwell to meet privately with family members and other visitors and even provided snacks and refreshments. According to Raskin, her guests were allowed to bring computers, potentially allowing her unauthorized communication with the outside world.
Maxwell was allegedly taken to the prison’s exercise room after hours so she could work out alone, and “allowed to enjoy recreation time in staff-only areas,” wrote Raskin. An inmate who trains service dogs was reportedly instructed to give her special access to a puppy. Raskin claimed that a top official at the prison said that he is “sick of having to be Maxwell’s bitch.”
This special treatment is something everyone should be pondering. Nia Prater (NEW YORK) highlights some of these special perks:
The use of high-level staff for menial tasks, along with special mail privileges
According to Raskin, the whistleblower said Maxwell used high-ranking prison staff for certain tasks, employing FPC Bryan warden Tanisha Hall as her “personal secretary and administrative assistant.”
Ms. Maxwell’s correspondents would email documents directly to the Warden, who would provide them to Ms. Maxwell, who would then review and edit them and provide them back to the Warden to scan and provide to the original sender. For other inmates, simple mail can take weeks to arrive and is frequently lost
Special rules for her visitors
In his letter, Raskin said the prison’s preferential treatment of Maxwell extended to her visitors as well. In one instance, the warden personally arranged a private meeting for Maxwell and a group of visitors, some of whom were relatives. Allegedly, the warden “provided a special cordoned off area for visitors to arrive, as well as an assortment of snacks and refreshments for her guests.”
Unmonitored internet access
According to Raskin’s letter, Maxwell’s visitors were also allowed to bring computers into the facility with Raskin noting the “security risk and potential” for her to use the internet unmonitored.
Less restricted movement
Last month, The Wall Street Journal reported on one specific incident in August where inmates were placed on lockdown, limiting their time for visits and recreation, while Maxwell met with visitors in the prison chapel. According to the outlet, Maxwell was allowed to shower after 8 p.m., when other inmates were mandated to be in their bunks.
Donald Chump's doing all that for Maxwell. Imagine what he'd be doing for Jeffrey Epstein if he were still alive -- midnight blow jobs? As Zeeshan Aleem (MS NOW) points out Chump now has an Epstein problem and a Ghislaine Maxwell problem
In July, the House Oversight Committee voted to subpoena Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence
for helping Epstein prey sexually on children and young women, for a
deposition. Just days later, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche
swooped in to interview Maxwell in prison over the course of two days.
Maxwell said in her interview with Blanche that she never saw Trump behave inappropriately. Shortly after the interview, her lot in life improved significantly, as MSNBC’s Ken Dilanian explains:
After the interview, she was transferred from a low-security prison in Florida to a minimum-security federal prison camp in Bryan, Texas. The Federal Bureau of Prisons has not explained the transfer, which MSNBC and other outlets reported deviated from a policy that generally forbids sex offenders from serving in prison camps. Days after her arrival, she said in emails to friends and relatives that she was much happier at the less-restrictive facility.
The timing of Blanche’s interview combined with Maxwell’s exceptional transfer reeks of a potential quid pro quo. (A senior administration official told NBC News in August, “Any false assertion this individual was given preferential treatment is absurd.”) New details of special treatment in her new prison camp only strengthen suspicions of an arrangement.
Chump is desperate to distract from these realities as Ben notes in the MEIDASTOUCH NEWS video below that went up about an hour ago.
It's not good for Chump. And it's only going to get worse. Earlier today on MORNING JOE (MS NOW), it was noted that the Epstein-Maxwell scandal comes at "the worst possible time" for Chump.
Jonathan Lemire is among the people offering observations in the clip above. At THE ATLANTIC, his latest piece is "Epstein Returns at the Worst Time for Trump." This story is not going away We said that when they thought they could bury it over the July 4th holiday and we're still saying it. We were right back than and we are right now. It is not going away. Every day, it chips away at him a little more.
Coming up? US House Rep Ro Khanna has already noted this week that he's planning another press briefing with some of the Epstein and Maxwell survivors. Khanna and US House Rep Thomas Massie have been working on the release of the government documents on Epstein for some time now. Sarah Fortinsky ITHE HILL) notes:
Rep.
Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who is leading the effort to force a vote on the
full release of the files tied to the late convicted sex offender
Jeffrey Epstein, said he is hopeful the number of Republicans backing
the measure “could snowball.”
“I’ve already had
a couple Republicans tell my office privately that they’re going to
vote for it,” Massie told CNN’s Manu Raju outside the Capitol on
Wednesday.
“And I think that could snowball,” he added.
Speaker
Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Wednesday he will call a vote on the measure
next week, speeding up the process after a discharge petition garnered
the final signature needed to force action on the matter from newly
sworn-in Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.).
It's not going away. It will follow Chump to the grave.
Moving over to immigration, this is from Ava and my "Media: Un-American?:"
Emily Prescott (KANSAS CITY STAR) reports, "Federal
immigration officers reportedly shot and wounded U.S. citizen Carlos
Jimenez during an enforcement stop near a school bus route, sparking
Democratic outrage. Civil rights groups condemned the shooting as an
example of excessive force. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
confirmed that an internal investigation is underway to determine
whether agents followed protocol."
As is far too often the case, DHS
Assistant Liar Tricia McLaughlin is quoted in the article. We no longer
quote her because she's been revealed as a liar repeatedly (see our "Media: They fail to note the pattern of ICE lies but make time to defend
this year's John Fetterman"). Julianne McShane (MOTHER JONES) notes what happened:
The
victim was a 25-year-old named Carlos Jimenez, who is a father of
three. He was shot after getting out of his car to tell ICE agents, who
had pulled over a vehicle, that children would soon be gathering in that
spot for the school bus, his lawyer, Cynthia Santiago, told the newspaper.
The agents’ cars had blocked a southern lane on the road and jutted
into a second lane, according to the LA Times. “He was telling them,
‘Excuse me. Can you guys please, you know, please wrap this up.’ And
immediately, the masked agent pulls out a gun and exchanges some words,”
Santiago told the newspaper.
That? That's un-American. And it's un-American in a very bad way.
We
have laws and regulations for a reason. But a convicted felon like
Donald Chump doesn't care about those -- as he goes around pardoning one
crook after another, he makes that clear.
And as he lets ICE and the 'border' patrol (Illinois shared no border with
another country) terrorize American citizens and immigrants, he makes
clear just how un-American he is.
We
have freedom of worship in the United States. Donald Chump is trying
to destroy that but we do have the right to worship in this country as
we please (and that choice also includes the right not worship). That's
what makes Charles Thrush's report for BOOK CLUB CHICAGO so dispiriting:
Federal
authorities told demonstrators Friday that there would be “no more
prayer” in front of or inside the Broadview ICE facility, in a move that
mystified local leaders and raised legal questions.
A
federal representative delivered the news to a huddle of faith leaders
and activists standing outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement
facility Friday, speaking after faith leaders were denied entry to the
building for the third time Friday.
Broadview
Police Chief Thomas Mills, whose department helped facilitate the phone
call, said that he was “trying to figure out” in discussions with Mayor
Katrina Thompson and an attorney if a federal agency could legally ban
religious gatherings on land owned by the village. Religious groups
previously have been allowed to practice outside the facility, he said.
[. . .]
Protesters
expressed concern that the direction from federal officials could be in
violation of the First Amendment, which guarantees both freedom of
religion and assembly. The move also comes days after the AP reported that Pope Leo XIV urged authorities to allow pastoral workers to be able to access detained migrants.
Are
we a nation of laws or not? Every day Chump remains president, that
question has to be asked because he disregards every law and regulation
as though they never existed. And what of his MAGA children of the
corn? They're screaming for THE TEN COMMANDMENTS to be posted in
schools but they won't defend the right to pray in Chicago? Seems
hypocritical but if there were no hypocrites in the US, Chump would
never get a single vote in any election.
With that in mind, let's move to Christopher Wells' VATICAN NEWS report:
Invoking a “particularly urgent way of speaking as a body of bishops”, the US Bishops’ Conference has issued a “Special Message” addressing their “concern for the evolving situation impacting immigrants in the United States.
It is the first Special Message released by the bishops since "a similar communication in 2013, published in response to the federal government’s contraceptive mandate. Such Messages can only be issued at the Conference’s plenary assemblies, and then only with the approval of two-thirds of those bishops present and voting at the Assembly. The current Message passed with almost 97% in favour, and only five bishops voting against the measure.
The Special Message assures immigrants that they are not alone, with the Bishops saying they "stand with you in your suffering.” The very beginning of the letter highlights the Bishops’ concerns about immigrants living in “a climate of fear and anxiety”, the current state of the debate over immigration, including the “vilification” of immigrants, conditions in detention centres, lack of access to pastoral care, and other attacks on the dignity of immigrants.
Precisely because of their love for their country, and recalling their prayers for “its peace and prosperity,” the Bishops say they feel “compelled” to raise their voices “in defence of God-given human dignity.”
“Catholic teaching exhorts nations to recognize the fundamental dignity of all persons, including immigrants,” the Bishops write. At the same time, they maintain that “human dignity and national security are not in conflict,” and that “both are possible if people of good will work together.”
The Bishops contend that “safe and legal pathways” for immigration can serve as an “antidote” to the risks of trafficking and exploitation immigrants face, while acknowledging the need for nations to “regulate their borders and establish a just and orderly immigration system for the sake of the common good.”
This is the United States. Chump is forever insisting that some other county is doing Christians wrong (and some are, some countries are) but Chump's doing Christians wrong right here in this country. It's outrageous.
But even in this abuse, Chump's finding it hard to get his way. Matt Shuham (HUFFINGTON POST) notes:
A
federal judge on Wednesday outlined plans to release hundreds of people
who have been arrested by immigration agents in Chicago, saying that
federal authorities had violated a years-old settlement that prohibited
certain warrantless immigration arrests.
The
arrests made national news as part of the Trump administration’s
“Operation Midway Blitz,” which has flooded Chicago with immigration
agents who have antagonized local residents and made hundreds of arrests
across the city.
U.S.
District Judge Jeffrey Cummings said that federal authorities violated a
2022 settlement prohibiting arrests made without probable cause to
indicate that someone is both in the United States illegally and a
flight risk. The settlement is known as the Castañon Nava consent
decree, after a 2018 lawsuit featuring a plaintiff of that name.
The
order could apply to over 600 people — the vast majority of whom have
no criminal record, plaintiffs have said — who have been arrested by
immigration authorities as part of the operation. However, there are
potentially thousands of people who have been arrested and could
ultimately be affected by the judge’s decision. Cummings gave the
government until Nov. 19 to provide plaintiffs with a list of people
arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement or Customs and Border
Protection in Chicago since June 11. Both sides of the suit have until
Nov. 21 to file a status report.
Chump's gestapo force has been told they can get away with anything so they behave accordingly. Alana Loftus (THE MIRROR) notes:
A
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent directed his gun at a
woman who he accused of following him, prompting the police to get
involved, according to shocking video footage.
A
Fullerton police officer who was accused of aiding in an ICE raid said
that he was forced to intervene after the ICE agent pointed a gun at a
woman. The incident occurred in Orange County on Sunday, and the police
department said that the officer involved had noticed two vehicles
stopped in an intersection in Santa Ana.
The
officer saw the man exit one of the vehicles and point a firearm at the
other driver, the agency said in a statement. He did not immediately
know the identity of the armed man who was dressed in plain clothes. The
man soon provided credentials to show that he was an ICE agent.
In
a video that quickly circulated on social media, the officer appeared
to assist the agent, sparking widespread panic and outrage.
“What
are you doing?” the woman being held at gunpoint asked in the video.
“Are you for real right now? And now these cops are helping them … I’m
just driving.”
The ICE agent insisted that the
woman had been following and filming him. The Fullerton police officer
told the agent that he could not assist him if no crime had been
committed. The woman left soon after, followed by the officer, according
to the statement from the police department.
As usual, the DHS's paid liar shows up:
Tricia
McLaughlin, the DHS assistant secretary, also released a statement,
saying, “To defend himself, following the aggression of the driver and
her refusal to follow law enforcement commands, our officer followed his
training and drew his weapon. The driver fled the scene before local
police arrived and is still at large. No shots were fired."
The
video, which has garnered a lot of attention on social media, appears
to contradict McLaughlin's statement, as the driver can be heard in the
video when the police officer was at the scene.
Lies are all that props Chump up now. Each day, it's as though we are living in North Korea as Chump delivers another proclamation about how good the economy is and how groceries and gas have gone down and inflation. Allison Morrow (CNN) delivers the bad news:
With
renewed verve for the word “affordability” after the GOP got absolutely
trounced in last week’s off-year elections, the Trump administration is
scrambling to show it’s doing something, anything, to bring prices
down.
One solution on offer: reversing its own policy of taxing coffee imports.
“You’re
going to see some substantial announcements over the next couple of
days in terms of things we don’t grow here in the United States — coffee
being one of them, bananas, other fruits, things like that,” Treasury
Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News on Wednesday. “So that that will
bring the prices down very quickly.”
This is interesting for a couple of reasons:
Bessent
here is implicitly acknowledging that tariffs do increase prices on
American consumers — a fact the Trump administration has long denied.
Bessent didn’t offer details about what the tariff reductions would look
like or which countries would be included, but he said — seeming to
acknowledge the financial strain that helped secure a Democratic sweep
last week — that “the American people are going to start feeling
better.” (The White House, when asked for more details on the plan,
referred CNN to an executive order from September laying out potential
tariff adjustments based on national security and economic goals.)
Even
if Trump and Bessent made a giant carve-out for coffee, it is highly
unlikely that prices will go down significantly. And that’s because
Americans, as a people, love coffee too much.
To state the obvious: Coffee has become annoyingly expensive. Retail prices are up about 20% year-over-year.
It's
a shame that the Chump administration's default position is to lie to
the American people. Over and over. They could be treating adults like
adults but that would require owning up to the damage that Chump's
tariffs really did and are really doing.
Morrow concludes her analysis with this:
More
than nine months into his second term, Trump is losing the
affordability argument -- the issue that, by his own telling, won him
re-election. A CNN poll
last week found that 61% of Americans say his policies “worsened
economic conditions in this country.” That number topped out at 58%
under Biden in CNN polling, and it was generally in the low-to-mid-50s
during Biden’s term.
If Trump lowers coffee
tariffs thinking he’s going to get Americans relief, he picked the wrong
product. We the people may not like paying more for coffee, but we do
it anyway. And ultimately, the extra dollars and cents we’re spending on
coffee pale in comparison to the big-ticket issues — namely housing,
energy and health care -- that helped secure Democrats’ wins last week.
The American people are fed up. As a group, we'll pull together and work together on a number of things. But, no, we're not going to play the recipients of North Korea style government propaganda. And you saw that last week in the various elections across the country. Veronique de Rugy breaks it down:
The
Nov. 4 election results are a reality check for the Trump
administration. Democrats didn't just run up the score in deep-blue
enclaves. With power prices soaring, they flipped two Georgia
utility-regulator seats in rare statewide victories. In New York City,
more than half of voters told exit pollsters that their top worry is the
cost of living. Seven in 10 Americans say their grocery bills have gone
up this past year. Six in 10 say their utility costs have increased.
The
Nov. 4 election results are a reality check for the Trump
administration. Democrats didn't just run up the score in deep-blue
enclaves. With power prices soaring, they flipped two Georgia
utility-regulator seats in rare statewide victories. In New York City,
more than half of voters told exit pollsters that their top worry is the
cost of living. Seven in 10 Americans say their grocery bills have gone
up this past year. Six in 10 say their utility costs have increased.
So,
yes, the affordability issues that dominated the 2024 election remain
central. But President Donald Trump insists there's no problem.
"Thanksgiving dinner under Trump is 25 percent lower than 2024
Thanksgiving dinner under Biden, according to Walmart," he declared on
Truth Social. "My cost(s) are lower than the Democrats on everything,
especially oil and gas! So the Democrats' 'affordability' issue is
DEAD!"
Trump's referring to Walmart's
"inflation-free Thanksgiving meal," said to feed 10 people for $40, plus
fees. This year's standard basket is less expensive than last year's
eight-person bundle, but it no longer contains pecan pie, whipped
topping, muffin mix, poultry seasoning, chicken broth, sweet potatoes,
onions and celery, all of which have been quietly dropped.
The
2025 food basket is a perfect metaphor for the broader economy. The
president insists that "every price is down," but that's incorrect.
While chicken breasts cost a bit less than a year ago, eggs, bacon,
orange juice and beef are all more expensive. Trump's policies didn't
trigger these price hikes, but they sure do perpetuate them.
He can't stop lying. It's weeks now with the Walmart lie. MEIDASTOUCH NEWS' JD Wolf rightly called it out and corrected the record immediately after Donald lied about the first time. Many other outlets have called out the lie. But he continues to repeat it over and over.
Related, Aarthi Swaminathan (MARKETWATCH) reports:
Nearly 900,000 homeowners are underwater on their mortgage as home prices fall, signaling a worrying turn in the housing market.
That
figure represents 1.6% of all mortgage holders in the U.S. While the
share may seem like a small part of the overall market, it’s also the
highest rate in three years, according to a new report by
Intercontinental Exchange
As
existing-home sales remain on track to hit a 30-year low, home prices
are losing steam due to years of tepid demand from home buyers. A
homeowner is underwater on their mortgage when they owe more on their
mortgage than their home is worth.
The housing crisis. Suzanne Blake (NEWSWEEK) explains:
Amid
a nationwide housing crisis, President Donald Trump has suggested a
50-year mortgage as a way to make homeownership more affordable.
Federal
Housing Finance Agency director Bill Pulte, who oversees Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac, said they were “working on it,” and that it would be “a
complete game-changer.”
However, financial experts are warning that it could leave Americans in significant financial trouble in the long term.
Longer-term
mortgages can dramatically lower the monthly payment for homeowners,
allowing more Americans to afford the cost of buying their own home.
A
50-year mortgage could shift monthly payments to $1,823 based on the
median sale price of a home from September, $415,200, compared to a
30-year fixed loan, according to CNBC. Based on today’s current interest
rates of roughly 6.3 percent, that would amount to a $233 monthly
savings.
However, experts are warning that this
would prevent homeowners from building equity as quickly. The interest
paid over time would also be 40 percent higher.
The one problem that seems to have his attention is the one with a 'solution' or 'plan' that will only make things worse. He's destroyed our economy so badly that we should be able to sue him for the damage he's done. Mary Anthony (MARKET REALIST) offers this reality:
Tariffs
are about to dampen the Christmas spirit for the average American
consumer as holiday decor prices soar for the first time in decades.
Artificial Christmas trees are expected to cost more since businesses
are cutting down on imports. Consumers will now have to pay between 10%
and 20% more than they did a year ago due to tariffs. A tree that cost
about $299 in 2024 might cost up to $359 this year.
And still he lies. Frank Yemi (INQUISITR) explains:
Advisers
to President Donald Trump are working hard to rein in his tendency to
downplay Americans’ financial struggles. They are urging him to stop
denying that a cost-of-living crisis exists.
They
want him to shift his message to one that recognizes the pain people
feel at the checkout line. “You can’t convince people that their
experience, what they’re feeling at home, isn’t reality,” one official
told CNN via DailyBeast. This warning reflects the panic inside the West
Wing after a tough election night for GOP candidates.
The
push comes as the White House considers changing its strategy. Aides
are suggesting a nationwide shift to focus on the economy and highlight
policies the president claims will lower prices. Trump’s team wants him
to stress solutions for affordability, even though inflation remains
high and voters continue to struggle. Recent reports indicate plans for
new tax break proposals and a broader affordability effort to change the
narrative ahead of the 2026 midterms.
Trump,
meanwhile, insists everything is fine; in a Fox News interview with
Laura Ingraham, he dismissed worries about prices as a Democratic “con
job” and ignored surveys showing voter anxiety. “I don’t know that they
are saying that. I think polls are fake. We have the greatest economy
we’ve ever had,” he stated.
Inside the White
House, advisers worry that this kind of talk is politically dangerous.
After Republicans and Trump-aligned candidates faced significant losses
this month, aides have warned that downplaying grocery and rent issues
could turn a difficult situation into a disaster. Public polling
supports these concerns.
Chump suffered a devastating blow last week. He lies to everyone. Not just the American people, to everyone, and that includes to members of his own party in Congress. He has told them they will suffer consequences if they go against him, he has threatened and bullied. And they've believed him even though polling indicated otherwise. Now they look back on last week and realize it was obvious the GOP was going to suffer. Now they have to face reality because the results were cold water thrown in their face. Euan O'Byrne Mulligan (THE I PAPER) explores Chump as a lame duck:
Donald
Trump could become a “lame duck” president within a year unless he
turns the political tide before next year’s mid-terms, experts have told
The i Paper.
Following a difficult few weeks,
during which the continuing issue of Trump’s links to Jeffrey Epstein
resurfaced, the government shutdown cut off low-income citizens from
welfare, inflation continued to eat into Americans’ earnings, and the
Democrats stormed to victory in key elections by promising to address
the cost of living, the US President has suffered from tanking polls
numbers.
Even
though he has reached a deal to end the record-breaking shutdown,
criticism from high-profile figures in his Republican Party and Maga
base has highlighted fractures that are only likely to widen during the
second half of his presidential term.
On
Wednesday, Trump was once again linked to Epstein, as Democrats on the
House Oversight Committee released a further 20,000 pages of documents
from the estate of the convicted sex offender.
Democrats
made public three emails referencing the President, including one
Epstein wrote in 2011 where he told his confidante Ghislaine Maxwell
that Trump had “spent hours” at his house with Virginia Giuffre, a
prominent accuser who died by suicide this year.
In
another email, from 2019, Epstein told a journalist that Trump “knew
about the girls” – though what he knew — and whether it pertained to the
sex offender’s crimes — remains unclear.
Let's wind down with this from THE BLACK COMMENTATOR:
Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "MAGA Christians" went up yesterday. The following sites updated:
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JD and FettyCrap5 hours ago
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Don't get it twisted5 hours ago
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Sausage Cheese Puffs in the Kitchen5 hours ago
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Chump will be expelled from the pride6 hours ago
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Ghislaine Maxwell7 hours ago
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SOUTH PARK, JUDGE JUDY and more7 hours ago
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