Friday, December 05, 2025

The Snapshot

Friday, December 5, 2025. The focus on Epstein and Maxwell -- Chump's best friends -- returns and most people are worrying about the masks, everyone's worrying about the economy which Chump has destroyed,  Pete Hegseth is attempting to survive not one, but two scandals that both go to the fact that he's not fit to serve as Secretary of Defense, and much more. 

Let's start with Chump's buddies -- the late Jeffrey Epstein and the semi-incarcerated Ghislaine Maxwell.  Both pedophiles, both sex traffickers. Sociopaths like Convicted Felon Donald Chump aren't able to form real and true bonds.  So they drift in-and-out of relationships that last along as one side can milk the other.  Maxwell got Chump to move her from a prison for sex offenders like herself into Camp Fed in Texas where she's allowed to order others around -- even the staff. When you're friends with a bottom feeder like Chump and you actually have dirt on him, he'll dance surprisingly well considering his massive, overweight body frame.  Alison Durkee (FORBES) reports:

Releasing grand jury materials in Ghislaine Maxwell’s case would cause “severe” harm as she tries to get a new trial, the socialite’s lawyer argued in a court filing Wednesday, as the Trump administration has asked for materials in Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein’s cases to be unsealed in order to comply with the new federal law forcing the Epstein files’ release.
Maxwell’s attorneys filed a letter Wednesday responding to the Trump administration’s request to unseal the grand jury materials, which include evidence shown to the grand jury as they decided whether to indict Maxwell, and a transcript of the proceedings.

The Trump administration asked a federal judge to release the grand jury materials and modify a protective order that has kept materials in the case under wraps, citing the newly passed law, which requires the federal government to make almost all of its Epstein-related materials public this month.

Even the Supreme Court refused to grant certiorari.  It's over and if it's not, too damn bad.  In fact, we all remember, right, that Ghislaine refused to take the witness stand in her own trial.  She didn't want to be under oath before a body that might punish her.  We now know she lied repeatedly when she spoke to Todd Blanche, deputy AG, for two days last summer.  And while we know it, Todd has refused to hold her accountable for lying -- even though he claimed he would.

She's a liar and she exploited children. 

Her nonsense was address on MS NOW yesterday.



She and Epstein are back in the news because of a release this week from Democrats on the House Oversight Committee. Iker Seisdedos (EL PAIS) explains:

First, there were 10 photographs and four videos, made public for the first time. Hours later, there were another 200 files. The two batches consisted of interior and exterior shots of a property in Little St. James, one of two private islands in the Caribbean owned by the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. They were released Wednesday by House Democrats on the Oversight Committee as Washington anxiously awaits the Justice Department’s legally mandated release of the Epstein files.
There, in a sinister corner of the Virgin Islands that locals dubbed “Pedophile Island,” he committed dozens, perhaps hundreds, of the crimes for which he was going to be tried when he died in 2019 in a maximum-security cell in what the coroner determined to be a suicide, alleged to be the leader of a child sex trafficking ring.
The first of the released batches includes images of the mansion’s garden and a “No Trespassing” sign, snapshots of two different bedrooms, a bathroom, another bathroom inside what appears to be a storage room, and a living room decorated in questionable taste, as well as two close-ups: one of a telephone with the speed dial keys crossed out, and another of a chalkboard with enigmatic words scrawled on it (“power,” “deception,” “plants”). Perhaps the most unsettling photo is of what appears to be a dental office with several masks of men’s faces hanging on the walls. According to The New York Times, it might have been used by Epstein’s last girlfriend, Karyna Shuliak, who “was a dentist who shared an office on St. Thomas with Mr. Epstein’s shell company.”


A lot of people are commenting on the masks.  Peta Rasdien (THE NIGHTLY) notes:

One of the most bizarre rooms pictured in the was the “dentist room”, a room that contained a dental chair and creepy masks of men’s faces lining the walls.

Now, a former FBI agent has put forward a sickening theory about how the masks might have been put to use by the paedophile billionaire and visitors to his lair dubbed “Paedo Island”.

The New York Times has reported that Epstein’s final girlfriend was a dentist tied to one of his shell firms.

Jennifer Coffindaffer, who was the FBI’s Supervisory Senior Resident Agent for the Virgin Islands between 2011 and 2012, told The Daily Mail they may have been used to conceal offenders’ identities as they carried out sex crimes against victims.

The dentist’s chair itself was not overly surprising given many wealthy people had items like this, including hairdressing chairs for their private use but the the masks were “very interesting to me”, Ms Coffindaffer said.

“It is not unusual for those involved in these kinds of sex crimes, especially those involving minors, to wear masks,” she said.

While they could be innocent and there was no evidence they had been used in crimes, Ms Coffindaffer theorised about the far more horrifying use.

“In the context of what went on at that island, I would be looking for a meaning behind them, as well as any similarities to those who may have been involved in criminal behaviour on that island,” she added.

 


While Maxwell wants it all shut down, Michael R. Sisak and Larry Neumeiste (AP) report:


One of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell 's most vocal accusers urged judges on Wednesday to grant the Justice Department's request to unseal records from their federal sex trafficking cases, saying “only transparency is likely to lead to justice.”

Annie Farmer weighed in through her lawyer, Sigrid S. McCawley, after the judges asked for input from victims before ruling on whether the records should be made public under a new law requiring the government to open its files on the late financier and his longtime confidante, who sexually abused young women and girls for decades.
Farmer and other victims fought for the passage of the law, known as the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Signed last month by President Donald Trump, it compels the Justice Department, FBI and federal prosecutors to release by Dec. 19 the vast troves of material they’ve amassed during investigations into Epstein.

Chump thought he'd finally escaped his Epstein connections.  Nope.  He only wishes that were the case.  But it's not going away.  It has refused to go away.  Clare Walsh (THE I PAPER) notes:



Former NBA player and member of the United States House of Representatives Tom McMillen reacted with alleged shock when confronted with his name appearing in the Jeffrey Epstein files.

McMillen, 73, was a guest on the "Pablo Torre Finds Out" podcast on Tuesday, December 2, when he was confronted with his name appearing in the files, which were released by Congress in November. 

He stormed off the show.  Instead of explain it, he stormed off the show.  A few people do have a valid explanation when asked.  McMillen had no explanation -- valid or otherwise.  

Trainor notes:

In a separate email, McMillen criticized Torre for the nature of the podcast interview. 

"I agreed to do the interview and was disappointed that the primary focus of the interview and the follow up questions was a combination of Epstein and 30 year old incidents that were insubstantial but could be made to look bad." McMillen wrote. "In addition, the interview went well past the 20 minutes I had been asked to do - running at least twice that long."

He added, "I ended the interview in a manner that could be made to look abrupt, and when I did so I also made it very clear to Mr. Torre that I felt misled about the substance of the interview…The interview seemed to be looking for gotcha angles and not substance."


So McMillen partied with him and had nothing to get off his chest in the years since.  Were that true, it shouldn't be difficult to assemble a believable response. 

McMillen behaved like someone who had something to hide.  Conclusions that follow his actions this week are the result of his own actions.



Let's move over to the US economy that Chump has destroyed. Hafiz Rashid (THE NEW REPUBLIC) explains:

  

A new report from payroll processor ADP found that private employees lost nearly 32,000 jobs in November, far off analyst projections that they would add 10,000 jobs. The data is a sharp decline from October, where businesses overall added 47,000 jobs according to the ADP’s revised estimate.
[. . .]
Domestic manufacturing, as measured by the Institute for Supply Management Manufacturing index, fell for the ninth month in a row, showing that the tariffs are hurting an area that Trump boasts they will improve. And private companies, including wholesale retailer Costco, are suing the government to get a refund of the tariffs they’ve paid.

 

Announced job cuts from U.S. employers moved further ahead of 1 million for the year in November as corporate restructuring, artificial intelligence and tariffs have helped pare job rolls, consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported Thursday.

The firm said layoff plans totaled 71,321 in November, a step down from the massive cuts announced in October but still enough to bring the 2025 total up to 1.17 million. That total is 54% higher than the same 11-month period a year ago and the highest level since 2020, when the Covid pandemic rocked the global economy.
In November, Verizon's announcement that it would slash more than 13,000 jobs helped drive the total. Tech companies, driven by innovations in artificial intelligence, listed 12,377 reductions, pushing the sector's 2025 total up 17% from a year ago. AI itself has been cited for 54,694 layoffs this year.

Tariffs were cited as the driver of more than 2,000 cuts in November and nearly 8,000 year to date. The most-cited reason for the month was restructuring, followed by closings and market or economic conditions.

"Layoff plans fell last month, certainly a positive sign. That said, job cuts in November have risen

above 70,000 only twice since 2008: in 2022 and in 2008," said Andy Challenger, workplace expert and chief revenue officer at Challenger, Gray & Christmas.



The American people have had it with Chump not only because his actions have destroyed job numbers but also because he and his administration keep trying to lie about reality.  Rachel Khan (THE NEW REPUBLIC) notes:



Director of the National Economic Council Kevin Hassett is fighting for his life trying to put a positive spin on the latest economic data—and even Fox News isn’t having it.

Fox host Martha McCallum asked Hassett on Thursday about the brutal new layoff numbers from consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. “Year-to-date job cuts show an increase of 54 percent,” McCallum asked Hassett. “That seems like a troubling number. What’s your take on it?”
 Hassett waffled, claiming that jobs were in flux. “Don’t forget that there’s hires and there’s fires, there’s separations and new jobs, and so net job creation for the year is very positive. But the flow of jobs in and out is a little bit higher, there’s a little bit more turnover. A lot of times that happens because people feel that they’re able to get another job if they leave this job,” Hassett said.
Hassett seems not to realize that the report does not measure the normal ebb and flow of people choosing to leave a job, but job cuts—layoffs. Layoffs this year have surpassed 1 million for the first time since Covid-19.

McCallum hit Hassett with another unpleasant truth: that despite Hassett and the Trump administration’s attempt to spin the affordability crisis, voters still know who’s to blame. Looking at a Fox News poll, McCallum noted that 76 percent of respondents see the economy as “only fair” or “poor.”


He keeps lying and spinning and only makes the administration look even more deceitful.  You can't lie to people about their  money.  They know how much they're spending and they know how much they're suffering.  Will Neal (DAILY BEAST) reports:

The MAGA base is turning on Donald Trump over the cost of living crisis, which nearly half of Americans say is the worst they’ve ever seen, a stunning opinion poll reveals.

A staggering 46 percent of all Americans say soaring unaffordability across the United States is firmly the responsibility of the Republican president, the Politico survey found.

And even 37 percent of people who voted for Trump in 2024 say they have no memory of things ever being worse than they are right now.


That's the latest POLITiCO poll.  And you can't spin it.  No matter how hard you try.

It's a lesson Pete Hegseth should take to heart.  The Secretary of Defense (for now, at least) was the subject of an inspector general's investigation over the non-secure chat Hegseth held on Signal where he shared classified details about a bombing the US was about to carry out.  

Despite the damning report, Pete attempted to lie about it. Anne Flaherty (ABC NEWS) walks us through:

Eight months after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth typed up detailed military plans to attack Houthi rebel sites in Yemen then shared them with his wife and several work colleagues on separate Signal chats, his chief spokesperson said Wednesday that he's totally exonerated.

According to sources familiar with an internal Pentagon investigation, the Defense Department's inspector general office concluded this week that the information had initially been classified. It also concluded that Hegseth's decision to relay the details of a pending strike in a commercial messaging app risked putting troops in danger -- an allegation he denies.
A major concern, according to investigators, is that if the details of the upcoming attack leaked or were hacked from the commercial app, which is not designed to transmit classified information, the Houthis would have known when to expect U.S. pilots overhead and fired back.
 
Rep. Adam Smith, the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said in a statement, "The way he chose to communicate this information put service members at risk."
But sources say also included in the report was an acknowledgement that even though sharing such sensitive information was potentially risky, the defense secretary is granted certain declassification powers under the law. Sources said the IG ultimately determined that while Hegseth violated his own agency's protocols, he didn't break the law.


.



Political analysts and observers bashed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday after he claimed an Inspector General report on his conduct during Signalgate exonerated him.

Hegseth's tenure as Defense Secretary has been embroiled in scandal since it began. One of the most egregious scandals occurred in April when Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor of The Atlantic, was mistakenly added to a group chat on the encrypted messaging platform Signal, where multiple Trump officials discussed a bombing campaign against Houthi rebels in Yemen. The instance became known as Signalgate.
The Inspector General's report found Hegseth likely put American troops in harm's way, and said that the Secretary violated department policies.

Yet Hegseth thinks he can lie and get away with it.  Just like the White House which keeps changing their story on Hegseth's other big problem this week -- striking a boat and two people surviving the strike and hanging onto the boat so a second strike was called out. 

 




In early September, the day after the first strike of the Trump Administration’s bombing campaign against alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth appeared on Fox News to give a detailed account of the deadly incident.

“I watched it live,” he said during the interview. “We knew exactly who was in that boat, we knew exactly what they were doing, and we knew exactly who they represented.”
But months later, after a Washington Post investigation revealed that Hegseth and others had possibly committed a war crime by allegedly ordering that no survivors be left on the vessel, he offered a different version of that story.


“I watched that first strike live,” Hegseth said. “As you can imagine, at the Department of War, we got a lot of things to do, so I didn’t stick around for the hour and two hours, whatever, where all the sensitive site exploitation digitally occurs, so I moved on to my next meeting.”
Hegseth insisted he had learned a “couple of hours later” that Admiral Frank M. Bradley, commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, had ordered a second strike, adding: “which he had the complete authority to do.”


Although many experts have questioned the legality of the entire bombing campaign against alleged drug boats in the Caribbean, the September 2 strike has come under scrutiny because it targeted injured and shipwrecked people—a clear breach of the laws of war and of U.S. law.
The updated version of events offered by Hegseth takes the Defense Secretary out of the room at a key moment in an operation that some experts say constitutes a war crime, and that has sparked bipartisan investigations in both houses of Congress.


The Trump administration is coming under increased scrutiny over senior officials’ shifting explanations for the actions surrounding two September strikes by U.S. forces on a boat that was allegedly smuggling drugs in the Caribbean Sea.

The Washington Post reported Friday that after an initial strike, the boat appeared to have been disabled, and some crew members were killed. But when two survivors were identified, the Special Operations commander overseeing the attack ordered a second strike to comply with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s spoken directive before the first strike to kill everybody. The Pentagon has said 11 crew members were killed.


And it's the whole administration with their changing stories:

The Post reported Friday that a live drone feed of the Sept. 2 operation showed two survivors from an original crew of 11 clinging to the wreckage of their boat after the initial missile attack.

To comply with the spoken order from Hegseth, which The Post reported was given on a secure conference call before the first missile strike, Adm. Frank M. “Mitch” Bradley, the Special Operations commander overseeing the mission, ordered the second strike which killed the two survivors, according to two people with direct knowledge of the operation. Those people, along with five others in the original Post report, spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity.

Bradley told people on the secure conference call that the survivors were still legitimate targets because they could theoretically call other traffickers to retrieve them and their cargo, according to two people.

Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell declined to address questions about Hegseth’s order and other details of the operation, including Special Operations involvement. “This entire narrative is completely false,” he said in a statement. “Ongoing operations to dismantle narcoterrorism and to protect the Homeland from deadly drugs have been a resounding success.”

After The Post’s report was published, Hegseth wrote on X that “these highly effective strikes are designed to be ‘lethal, kinetic strikes,’” adding: “Every trafficker we kill is affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization.” He claimed that the military operations in the Caribbean are “lawful” and denounced “the fake news.”

People can only endure so many lies.  Bob Cronin (NEWSER) states,  "Republican lawmakers are expressing exasperation with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and his management of the Pentagon—with some suggesting he may not be able to keep the job even if their investigations clear him in the fatal attack on apparent survivors of a US strike in the Caribbean. "  Neither Congress nor the American people are in the mood for this repeated lying from Hegseth and others in the administration.  Tom Boggioni (RAW STORY) notes:

During an appearance on MS NOW on Thursday morning, Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH), the former chair of the House Intelligence Committee, admitted to the hosts of “Morning Joe” that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is ignoring demands to turn over critical information about his conduct in office.
Speaking with “Morning Joe” co-host Joe Scarborough, the Ohio Republican refused to say if Donald Trump’s appointee to head up the Pentagon was fit to hold his office, offering up, “I think there are a number of things that have raised concern that Congress is struggling with. And I think the secretary is going to have to answer those questions and address them. And I think that the president is going to be struggling with that over the next month.”

Those low on patience currently include Senator Rand Paul.  Alexander Bolton (THE HILL) covers Paul's statements:

Republican Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) said Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth should testify before Congress “under oath” about the orders to strike suspected Venezuelan drug boats.

Paul, who has criticized the Trump administration’s policy of using lethal force to take out suspected drug smuggling boats, added that the Pentagon should make the full video of a Sept. 2 follow-up strike on survivors in the Caribbean Sea available to the public.
“I think he should testify under oath about the orders that were given, and I think that the video of the distressed, shipwrecked or incapacitated people on those boats being bombed, that video should be shown to every American,” Paul said Thursday after Dan Caine, the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Adm. Frank Bradley, who oversaw the Sept. 2 strike on initial survivors, briefed the chair and ranking members of Senate and House committees.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) called on Hegseth on Tuesday to release the tapes of the Caribbean boat strikes and testify publicly about the incident.

“If he refuses to release the tapes, if he stonewalls, if he keeps hiding the facts, then the question becomes unavoidable: What is Pete Hegseth hiding? What does Pete Hegseth not want the American people to see? Is it that his story doesn’t add up?” Schumer said on the floor earlier this week.


What's Pete hiding?  Multiple things.  Mainly one man.  Rhian Lubin (INDEPENDENT) reports:

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth asked a top U.S. Navy admiral to step down after the military chief expressed concern about the “murky” legality of the lethal strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean, according to a report.

The shock departure of Admiral Alvin Holsey one year into his tenure as head of U.S. Southern Command, which oversees military operations in the Caribbean, was announced by Hegseth on Oct.16.
It followed “months of discord” between the pair that intensified in the summer when the Trump administration began bombing the alleged drug boats, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing two Pentagon officials and former officials.

“You’re either on the team or you’re not,” Hegseth reportedly told 60-year-old Holsey during a meeting this year. “When you get an order, you move out fast and don’t ask questions.”





Scott Anderson, fellow in governance studies at Brookings Institution, said the attack on survivors is a "textbook" definition of an illegal order.

The Department of Defense's Law of War Manual offers examples of orders and actions that are considered violations of the international laws of armed conflict. This includes targeting civilians or combatants who are "hors de combat," meaning they are injured or disabled and do not pose a threat.

"Even if this were a war with an enemy army and these were uniformed soldiers, U.S. soldiers should not be targeting them," Anderson told UPI. "It is really concerning that this is something that could be implemented."

 


Questions were asked after Hegseth announced on social media in October that the four-star officer would be retiring at the end of the year after 37 years in the Navy. Holsey, 60, only started the job, which usually has a three-year term, in November last year—meaning he was leaving two years early.
At the time, rumors flew that his departure was due to clashes with Hegseth over the Caribbean mission.


Let's note this from Senator Elizabeth Warren's office:


Your brazen attempt to dismantle the Department by transferring to other federal agencies complex and foundational responsibilities that Congress specifically charged to the Department [w]ill undermine public education.”

“We urge you to immediately reverse course and to focus your time and attention on actions that actually help states, school districts and educational institutions improve educational outcomes and support for students.”

Text of Letter (PDF)

Washington, D.C. - Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) joined Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee; Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies; Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP); Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.); and their colleagues in a letter slamming Secretary Linda McMahon following the recent announcement that the Department of Education has signed interagency agreements (IAAs) to illegally outsource core functions that students and their families rely on. The senators are demanding Secretary McMahon reverse these latest steps to dismantle the Department of Education.

“Let’s be very clear: You are choosing to create even more bureaucracy that states, school districts, and educational institutions across America will have to expend time and resources navigating at the expense of students and families,” wrote the senators.

In the letter, the Senators make clear that, as McMahon has previously acknowledged, dismantling the Department would require an act of Congress, which has not been proposed—or even seriously pursued—by the administration. Appropriations law prohibits the transfer of funds to another federal agency unless expressly authorized in appropriations law.

The senators detail how the myriad departmental responsibilities McMahon is now seeking to spin off to other agencies that lack the expertise, capacity, and legal mandate to successfully administer key programs will risk support, funding, and oversight that our laws provide to students and families across America. They note, in particular, that there have been negative consequences for states, schools, colleges, and students as these IAAs roll out. The first IAA inked earlier this year between the Department and DOL on career and technical education and adult education has been plagued with serious challenges.

“We once again demand that you reverse these detrimental plans and refocus your efforts on supporting state and local efforts by properly implementing federal laws intended to improve educational opportunities and outcomes for all students, especially those who count on the Department doing its job most,” concluded the senators.

In addition to Senators Warren, Murray, Baldwin, Sanders, and Schumer, the letter was signed by Senators Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Angus King (I-Me.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), and John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.).

Senator Warren has led the fight to make our higher education system more affordable, cancel student loan debt, and hold student loan servicers accountable for incompetence and malfeasance. She launched the Save Our Schools campaign in a coordinated effort to fight back against President Trump’s attempts to abolish the Department of Education

###


Finally, THE BLACK COMMENTATOR notes:


The Black Commentator

 Issue #1066

 is now Online

December 4, 2025

Read issue 1066

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