The Common Ills: 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.

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 is 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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:

The Black Commentator

Issue #1063

is now Online

November 13, 2025