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“I know they wanted JFK Jr, but RFK Jr is a nice addition to the trump campaign.” John Buss, @repeat1968
Good Day, Sky Dancers!
The Trumplican Party continues to devolve. I doubt my father would even recognize it if he were alive. The latest example is the addition of RFK Jr., a conspiracy nut with habits that the word eccentric can’t even begin to describe. This headline from The Wrap, written by Stephanie Kaloi, is something regular folks can’t wrap their head around. “RFK Jr.’s Daughter Says Dad Cut Off a Whale’s Head, Drove It 5 Hours Home. When they would accelerate, “whale juice would pour into the windows of the car, and it was the rankest thing on the planet,” Kick Kennedy explained to Town & Country Magazine.”
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s daughter Kick Kennedy may or may not be spending time with Jennifer Lopez’s estranged husband Ben Affleck (as reported by Page Six), but she certainly spent time with Town & Country Magazine for a profile that has been resurfaced and made waves on social media, in which she shared an anecdote about her father and a dead whale that still checks out with what we know about the odd politician — especially when it comes to his love for dead animals.
When she was 6, her dad chopped off the head of a whale that washed up on Squaw Island in Hyannis Port. Due to RFK Jr.’s love of studying animal skulls and skeletons, they then strapped the dead whale’s head to the car and spent five hours driving it to their home.
“Every time we accelerated on the highway, whale juice would pour into the windows of the car, and it was the rankest thing on the planet,” Kennedy said. “We all had plastic bags over our heads with mouth holes cut out, and people on the highway were giving us the finger, but that was just normal day-to-day stuff for us.”
RFK Jr. made headlines earlier this month when he shared the story of taking a dead bear that he found as roadkill, intent on saving it to eat, before ultimately dumping it in a bizarre prank in New York City’s Central Park. On Friday, the independent candidate dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed Donald Trump.
RFK Jr. approached the Harris/Walz campaign, but they didn’t answer his calls. That’s just some American common sense with nothing to do with political savvy. What possible benefit could his addition add to a campaign? But he’s just another (yawn) Maga Sideshow full of weirdos who generally wind up in trouble with the law, one way or another. His J6 “gala” next month will undoubtedly highlight the number of criminals that actually might actually violate his terms of release. Also, Rudy Guilliani will be there. He is definitely on the Trumplican weirdo and felon list. This information popped up on Alternet, and I just had to share it. “Trump’s ‘gala’ honoring ‘courage and sacrifice’ of J6 rioters may violate his terms of release” is written by Carl Gibson and answers my call out to all the parole officers in charge of these folks.
Convicted felon and 45th President of the United States Donald Trump is planning on hosting a gathering of other convicted felons next month. One legal expert is pointing out that the event may frustrate his efforts to remain a free man.
According to NJ.com, the ex-president is hosting a “J6 awards gala” at his Bedminster, New Jersey golf club next month. Progressive group MeidasTouch reported that on September 5, Trump will be joined by former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani and MAGA influencer Anthony Raimondi at the event, where he is expected to personally address participants in the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
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However, if Trump follows through with the gala, it may complicate his own legal situation. According to attorney Tristan Snell – who prosecuted the former president over his sham Trump University while at the New York Attorney General’s office — New York state law would prohibit such an event given the expected guest list.
“Someone should alert Trump’s probation officer — because convicted felons are legally prohibited from associating with other felons,” he tweeted.
While Trump has been convicted by a jury on 34 class E felony counts, he won’t be sentenced until September 18. At that point, assuming the former president isn’t ordered to serve time behind bars (Judge Juan Merchan has the ability to sentence him to as much as 20 years in prison), he will then be issued a probation officer, who he will be required to check in with on a regular basis. This means the September 5 event will be legal, though it likely won’t help his case when he appears before Merchan less than two weeks later.
The former president narrowly dodged the ire of prosecutors at last month’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Former U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade pointed out that some of the convention’s attendees included indicted “fake electors,” and that Trump seen associating with them may have resulted in Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith and/or Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis petitioning the court to incarcerate Trump prior to his trial for consorting with criminal defendants.
DonOld is facing new lawsuits from musicians who don’t want their music to be associated with MAGA craziness. The first to take action was the son of Issa Hayes. This is reported in the Daily Beast by Clay Walker. “Isaac Hayes Estate Marks Victory in Suit Against Trump.” The candidate and the campaign continue to act like laws don’t matter.
The estate of the late soul singer Isaac Hayes is moving forward in their lawsuit against Donald Trump for using a song co-written by the artist. “The Federal Court has granted our request for an Emergency Hearing to secure injunctive relief,” the late singer’s son, Isaac Hayes III, wrote on X Friday. According to Hayes III, Trump himself will have to appear in court in September. The lawsuit was originally filed earlier this month and sought $3 million for the former president’s campaign’s unauthorized use of “Hold On, I’m Coming,” a 1960s song originally performed by duo Sam & Dave, more than 100 times. Prior to the filing, the Trump campaign was asked to discontinue the use of the song, but things came to a head on August 10, the anniversary of the singer’s 2008 death, when Trump used it again at a Montana rally. “Donald Trump represents the worst in integrity and class with his disrespect and sexual abuse of Women and racist rhetoric. We will now deal with this very swiftly,” Hayes III wrote on X.
Next up in court is the band Foo Fighters. This is from The Hill. “Trump campaign disputes Foo Fighters claim song use was unauthorized.” Laura Sforza writes on the Foo Fight.
A spokesperson for the Foo Fighters said in a statement to The Hill late Sunday the band did not give permission to the Trump campaign to use the song at a Friday campaign rally in Arizona. The spokesperson said any royalties the band earns off the song would be donated to Vice President Harris’s campaign.“Foo Fighters were not asked permission, and if they were they would not have granted it,” the spokesperson said.
However, the Trump campaign said it had permission to play the song.
“We have a license to play the song,” Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung said in an email to The Hill.
He also took to the social platform X to dispute the claim.
“It’s Times Like These facts matter, don’t be a Pretender. @foofighters,” he wrote, referring to two other songs by the band.
“My Hero” could be heard playing at Trump’s rally in Glendale on Friday as the former president introduced former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who suspended his campaign earlier in the day and threw his support behind Trump.
And there’s more in the Weirdos and Felons news. We have this from the LGBTQ Nation. Seriously, we’ve gone way past the deplorable basket at this point. “MAGA ex-GOP party chair calls gay lawmaker a “f*g” on social media. She called Pete Buttigieg a “weak little girl” in 2022, before she got indicted.” This is written by Alex Bollinger.
A former high-ranking state Republican official who has been indicted in an alleged conspiracy to steal the 2020 election used an anti-gay slur to describe a gay Democratic lawmaker.
Meshawn Maddock used to be the head of the Michigan Republican Party until shortly after she was charged in connection to a scheme to make Michigan’s votes go to Donald Trump in 2020 instead of President Joe Biden, who won the state. Now she is now using slurs on social media.
She was responding to a post on X from Michigan state Rep. Jason Morgan (D), who is an out gay lawmaker and the vice chair of the state’s Democratic Party. Morgan posted a picture of the Michigan congressional delegation at the DNC last Friday, where they were smiling and holding American flags.
“F*gs and hags,” Maddock responded. X responded by reducing the visibility of her post due to a potential violation of the platform’s Hateful Conduct policy. However, the post has not been deleted by the platform.
Stay Classy you god-fearing Christians you! I have to agree with this Op-Ed headline at The Hill. “The right’s killjoy politics only fuel Harris’s momentum.” It’s written by Svante Myrick.
It’s been a couple of days since I flew home after attending the Democratic National Convention. And at the risk of sounding corny, I think I could have done it without the plane. To attend that convention was to experience a sense of joy so powerful that it made you feel like you had wings.
My organization, People for the American Way, was very excited to bring to the convention posters designed especially for us by the artist Victoria Cassinova, which we felt represented the pride and hopefulness of this campaign.
The posters featured a portrait of Harris with the single word: “Freedom.”
We had fun posting them all over the city. We were thrilled to see lots of residents and convention-goers admiring them and taking pictures and selfies. Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) shared hers on Instagram.
Then, on the third night of the convention, something sad happened. A group calling itself Artists for Kennedy and Trump defaced a wall of these Harris portraits.
Capturing themselves on video, the vandals spray-painted crimson streaks across the images, focusing on the portrait’s face and eyes. They used words like “war” to describe what they were doing.
It was an ugly but galvanizing reminder of what we’re up against in this race.
I — we — have had enough of creepy authoritarians trying to censor art, ban books and steal our joy.
Because while art does give joy, it also gives strength. It has always been a tool to challenge injustice and enforced conformity, to resist oppression and authoritarianism. That’s why dictators down through history have suppressed and banned art and even murdered artists.
It’s why artists and creators face an enormous threat today, not just from vandals roaming the streets of Chicago but from the deadly serious, powerful operatives behind Project 2025, who are intent on stigmatizing and suppressing vast numbers of artworks by calling them “pornography.”
I remember being shocked and stunned by Trump stalking Hillary on the debate stage and the lack of response to it by the debate’s moderators. Now I think we know exactly how low they go, and as far as I can tell, there is no bottom. If they stage an insurrection and try to nullify votes, they’ll do anything, and we should all be prepared. So, the Harris/DonOld debate with ABC is now in jeopardy. I bet we all had this on our bingo card. This is from Marianne Levine, who is writing for the Washington Post. “Trump suggests he might skip ABC debate with Harris. The Sept. 10 debate with ABC is the only one both campaigns have agreed to.”
Former president Donald Trump suggested Sunday evening that he might skip a Sept. 10 ABC News debate with Vice President Kamala Harris (D), after agreeing earlier this month to participate.
“I watched ABC FAKE NEWS this morning, both lightweight reporter Jonathan Carl’s (K?) ridiculous and biased interview of Tom Cotton (who was fantastic!), and their so-called Panel of Trump Haters, and I ask, why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network?” Trump asked in a social media post Sunday evening.
During a campaign stop Monday after visiting Arlington National Cemetery, Trump reiterated his criticism of ABC News, calling it “the single worst network for unfairness” and saying that ABC “really should be shut out.”
The Sept. 10 debate is the only one that both campaigns have officially committed to. Trump’s renewed questioning of the ABC News debate comes as Harris has increased her lead in national polls and is gaining ground in key swing states. As of Sunday, The Washington Post polling average has the vice president leading in Wisconsin by three percentage points, in Pennsylvania by two points and in Michigan by less than one point. Trump continues to lead in four Sun Belt swing states, but Harris has significantly narrowed the gap.
The latest rift between the campaigns is about the terms and conditions about how the debate would work. Brian Fallon, the Harris campaign’s senior adviser for communications, said in a statement that the campaign has told ABC and other networks that “both candidates’ microphones should be live throughout the full broadcast.”
“Our understanding is that Trump’s handlers prefer the muted microphone because they don’t think their candidate can act presidential for 90 minutes on his own,” Fallon said.
When asked by a reporter Monday about whether he wanted his microphone muted, Trump replied, “Doesn’t matter to me, I’d rather have it probably on.”
Jason Miller, senior adviser to the Trump campaign, said the campaign agreed to the “the ABC debate under the exact same terms as the CNN debate,” referring to a June 27 debate between Trump and President Joe Biden, before Biden ended his reelection campaign.
Oh, I officially quit the New York Times a while ago. I would like to say that seeing the headline on a guest’s op-ed today reinforced my excellent decision. Here’s a brief statement: I agree with her. I can’t say
more because I refuse to read it. Rich Lowry can bite his crank for writing “Trump Can Win on Character.” RIFF NYT. Rest in Fuckery and Failure.
Now, back to the normal news. This is from Salon’s Charles R. Davis. As the Vice President said, she’s been a prosecutor and knows his type. “”He’s now terrified of debating her”: Trump’s debate flip-flop is a sign Harris has him figured out. The former president suggested Sunday that he would not attend his scheduled Sept. 10 debate with Kamala Harris.”
Donald Trump is not feeling great. This year alone he’s been found liable by a jury for sexual assault, convicted by another jury on 34 felony counts of fraud, and shot at by a young registered Republican at a campaign rally, the one previously safe space where the president could comfortably rant and complain to certain applause. Then he had to spend a week at home watching Democrats pull off their convention without a hitch, just a month after an unprecedented switch at the top of the ticket.
The former president’s own campaign is publicly predicting that Vice President Kamala Harris will now surge in the polls (after already leading, nationally, by an average of about 3.6%). In a similar situation, the current president and his team decided it was time to debate, saying a televised contest would “reset” the race; the subsequent performance cost Joe Biden the Democratic nomination.
Perhaps that’s why Trump himself is doubting his own commitments.
“Why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network?” Trump posted on social media Sunday night, complaining about an ABC News interview with Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and panel discussion earlier that day, saying the former was “biased” and the latter full of “Trump Haters.” The Republican nominee filled the rest of his post with tedious name calling — “Crooked,” “Marxist” — and attacks on the insufficiently fawning journalists of ABC.
“They’ve got a lot o questions to answer!!!” Trump posted just after 10 p.m. Eastern. “Why did Harris turn down Fox, NBC, CBS, and even CNN? Stay tuned!!!”
The former president already agreed to debate Harris on Sept. 10, which was originally slated to be the second of two televised confrontations with Biden. He did so after previously trying to pull out of the event when Harris became the presumptive Democratic nominee, initially claiming the debate was off because Biden was out of the race and then trying to move it to the friendlier waters of Fox News, a media platform that was forced to pay out $787 million after admitting that it cynically aired what its knew to be MAGA lies about the 2020 election.
This last read is from the New Republic‘s Michael Tomasky. “Finally, the Democrats Have Found Trump’s Achilles’ Heel: Ridicule Him. Kamala Harris gets it. Yes, we should fear Trump—but we should also mock him mercilessly because it drives him nuts.”
Donald Trump is in free fall. Read this description from Sunday’s Washington Post of how the GOP nominee spent last week: “[A]ides did not want a situation where he was watching the convention every night, getting angry, and then just golfing all day and stewing, according to people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private interactions. Trump also had grown annoyed with the news coverage that depicted him as not working as hard as his opponent, one person who talked to him said.”
If you didn’t know that the article was about Trump and you just read it cold without knowledge of the context, you might think it was a description of parents trying to figure out how to handle an ungovernable four-year-old. So they convinced Trump to get out of Bedminster and hit the road, trading suck-ups with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. In the past, Trump has called Kennedy the “dumbest member” of the Kennedy family and a “radical left lunatic.” Kennedy has called Trump a “terrible human being” and “probably a sociopath.”
Will RFK’s endorsement get Trump a few votes? It might. But these two unprincipled freakos deserve each other, and if it ever looks like RFK might matter, all Kamala Harris and Tim Walz have to do is say something like that.
Harris’s campaign so far has been a work of genius on several levels, but maybe the most ingenious stroke of all has been the decision to mock Trump—to present him not only as someone to fear but also to ridicule. Harris perfectly encapsulated this two-pronged attack in these memorable lines from her acceptance speech: “In many ways, Donald Trump is an unserious man. But the consequences—but the consequences of putting Donald Trump back in the White House are extremely serious.… Just imagine Donald Trump with no guardrails.”
But the emphasis has been on ridicule (Tim Walz’s “weird” comment, Maryland Governor Wes Moore’s jab at Trump’s bone spurs, Barack Obama’s hilarious hand gesture when he was talking about Trump’s obsession with crowd size). It’s great on three levels. The first is that it must drive Trump nuts, and when he goes nuts, he says especially nutty things. Second, it’s arguably more persuasive to swing voters than calling Trump a fascist. Trump is a fascist, make no mistake. But he’s also ridiculous. Mocking him over his Hannibal Lecter obsession will stick in apolitical people’s minds far more strongly than warning about his plans to wreck the Justice Department, and in its way, it’s just as disqualifying. Do we really want a president who thinks an eater of human flesh, however fictional, was misunderstood?
And third and most of all: Sustained ridicule has the potential to reinforce the downward spiral Trump is now in. He probably likes it when we call him a fascist or authoritarian, because it expresses fear of him, and he aches to be feared. It acknowledges his power. This motivates him and makes him stronger.
Ridicule makes him weaker. Ridicule makes him small. Ridicule makes him desperate. He’ll try to respond with ridicule of his own, but he is not a clever man. He’s a stupid man. He has no wit. He has no sense of mischief. He doesn’t read. He doesn’t think beyond first reactions. These nicknames of his, which the press has made such a big deal of over the years—they’re nothing. They’re dick contests put into words. Little Marco, Sleepy Joe. There’s nothing remotely clever about any of them.
And now he reportedly thinks he’s come up with a great one in “Communist Kamala.” Well, it’s alliterative, I’ll give him that. But I doubt very much that it’ll play beyond the base. First of all, people under 40 barely know what a communist was. Even for older people who do know, is communism the specter it once was?
Brilliant! When he goes low, we make fun of him and call him weird. He becomes lethargic and fussy. He says weird things and makes weird decisions. That’s a daily event in Day Cares everywhere and evidently in not-so-posh Jersey Golf Clubs with Galas for Criminals. This is getting fun.
Embrace the JOY!!!!
What’s on your reading and blogging list today?
https://skydancingblog.com/2024/08/26/mostly-monday-reads-the-weirdo-trifecta/
#2024ABCPresidentialDebate #2024PresidentialCampaign #Repeat1968 #DonOldWeirdo #J6FelonsGala #JDVanceWeirdo #JohnBuss #KamalaHarrisForThePeople #RFKJrWeirdo
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Mark Finkelstein on Twitter: ""Don't put it on the screen! That's going to KILL people!" -- CNN's John Berman frantically orders producer not to show Trump taking off mask. #tcot #Trump #TrumpCovid19 #MasksSaveLives #Masks @JohnBerman @NewDay https:
https://mobile.twitter.com/markfinkelstein/status/1313429668037644288
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TOO LATE BLUES - John Cassavetes (1961) ★★★★
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More formatted than his improvised, unfinished film chronicles, this Cassavetes is sublime to savor, thanks to the sensitive treatment of disenchanted and lost characters, skilfully placed in the frame, for the psychological quality of its script and for its jazz ambience. Bobby Darin, Stella Stevens and Everett Chambers are very much alive to their characters.#movie #film #movies #filmphotography #cinema #JohnCassavetes
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Rest in peace Gena Rowlands. You were a great artist, and I’m grateful for what your work brought to us.
I’m also remembering how much my mum liked you (« Elle est formidable ! ») and the sense I got that her dream life was close to yours. “Gloria” is a movie that always makes me think of her. All this makes your departure a bit harder today 😢
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Gena Rowlands, ‘The Notebook’ and ‘A Woman Under the Influence’ Star, Dies at 94
#Variety #News #Obituaries #PeopleNews #GenaRowlands #JohnCassavetes #NickCassavetes -
𝑺eance 𝑫e 𝑴inuit 𝑫u 𝑽endredi 𝑺oir
𝐅𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐞
Film de Brian De Palma en 1978
Avec Kirk Douglas , Amy Irving , John Cassavetes et Carrie Snodgress*Très bon film qui rappelle "Scanner" de Cronenberg.
#Furie #TheFury #BrianDePalma #KirkDouglas #AmyIrving #JohnCassavetes #CarrieSnodgres
#cinegenres #vidéothèqueidéale #cinema #culte #classic𝐄n 𝐒avoir 𝐏lus:
https://cinegenres.com/film-du-jour/ -
𝑺eance 𝑫e 𝑴inuit 𝑫u 𝑽endredi 𝑺oir
𝐅𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐞
Film de Brian De Palma en 1978
Avec Kirk Douglas , Amy Irving , John Cassavetes et Carrie Snodgress*Très bon film qui rappelle "Scanner" de Cronenberg.
#Furie #TheFury #BrianDePalma #KirkDouglas #AmyIrving #JohnCassavetes #CarrieSnodgres
#cinegenres #vidéothèqueidéale #cinema #culte #classic𝐄n 𝐒avoir 𝐏lus:
https://cinegenres.com/film-du-jour/ -
𝑺eance 𝑫e 𝑴inuit 𝑫u 𝑽endredi 𝑺oir
𝐅𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐞
Film de Brian De Palma en 1978
Avec Kirk Douglas , Amy Irving , John Cassavetes et Carrie Snodgress*Très bon film qui rappelle "Scanner" de Cronenberg.
#Furie #TheFury #BrianDePalma #KirkDouglas #AmyIrving #JohnCassavetes #CarrieSnodgres
#cinegenres #vidéothèqueidéale #cinema #culte #classic𝐄n 𝐒avoir 𝐏lus:
https://cinegenres.com/film-du-jour/ -
𝑺eance 𝑫e 𝑴inuit 𝑫u 𝑽endredi 𝑺oir
𝐅𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐞
Film de Brian De Palma en 1978
Avec Kirk Douglas , Amy Irving , John Cassavetes et Carrie Snodgress*Très bon film qui rappelle "Scanner" de Cronenberg.
#Furie #TheFury #BrianDePalma #KirkDouglas #AmyIrving #JohnCassavetes #CarrieSnodgres
#cinegenres #vidéothèqueidéale #cinema #culte #classic𝐄n 𝐒avoir 𝐏lus:
https://cinegenres.com/film-du-jour/ -
https://www.europesays.com/nl/67684/ Is het eindelijk zover? Netflix dropt deze parel van een dramaserie: ‘Moest m’n tranen inhouden’ | Netflix Nieuws #2010Series #AmerikaanseDramaserie #Amusement #DarleneHunt #Dutch #Entertainment #FamilieEnZiekte #FeelGoodDrama #HartverwarmendeSerie #HBOSerie #JohnBenjaminHickey #KomedieDrama #LauraLinney #Nederland #Nederlanden #Nederlands #Netflix #NetflixNieuws #Netherlands #NL #OliviaPlatt #TerminaleKankerSerie #TheBigC #tragikomedie #TV
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John E. Benson; cut slate demonstrating four stages of inscription: painting, initial cutting, finished cutting, gold leaf; 7 × 14.25 in; Newport, Rhode Island; ca. 1996. Gift of Dennis Ichiyama.
#Lettering #RomanCapitals #Inscription #JohnBenson #JohnStevensShop #SPQR
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Finally Friday Reads: He Said, She Said
“It might happen sooner.” John Buss, @repeat1968
Good Day, Sky Dancers!
It’s one of those days where I really wonder if I should actually get up, even though today Temple and I beat the garbage collectors to the street for a walk. We usually manage to shadow the postman. I saw a question on C-SPAN’s Facebook page that’s really worth asking. “Are you better off financially today than a year ago?” The answer for everyone I know is absolutely no. Our democracy and ability to get justice are getting worse by the minute, also.
So, yesterday, Hillary Clinton testified in a closed session about her complete lack of a relationship with Epstein, which she framed as a basic waste of everyone’s time and money. She stated that, to her knowledge, she’d never even met the guy, then told them to ask Bill. Meanwhile, we’re getting more calls for an investigation into Trump’s obvious associations. This headline from Bill Sher writing at the Washington Monthly says it all. “It’s Time for the Media to Press Trump on Allegations of Abusing a Minor. The president should be scrutinized with the same intensity as others in the Epstein Files.”
I was skeptical that the Jeffrey Epstein files would implicate President Donald Trump in illegal sexual abuse of a minor. It’s not that one cannot imagine Trump being untoward; on the contrary, a jury found him to be liable for sexual abuse. But Trump committing sex crimes against underage girls seemed dubious.
Yet inconclusive but tantalizing evidence exists in a 21-slide presentation, apparently created last summer by two joint Federal Bureau of Investigation-New York Police Department task forces, summarizing four “Jeffrey Epstein Investigations.”
A “Timeline” slide of developments in the case, from July 24, 2006, to July 22, 2025, spanning the initial Epstein investigation through Ghislaine Maxwell’s conviction and appeal, indicates that the presentation was created after that date. To put it in context, the allegations against Trump appear to come from a single witness and don’t include physical evidence, such as notes or texts.
One slide titled “Prominent Names” dishes allegations against several famous people and leads with two regarding Trump:
1. [REDACTED] stated Epstein introduced her to Trump who subsequently forced her head down to his exposed penis which she subsequently bit. In response, Trump punched her in the head and kicked her out. (date range 1983-1985, [REDACTED] would have been 13- 15)
2. [REDACTED] remember Epstein introduced her to Trump saying “This is a good one, huh” and Trump responded “Yes”. (date range roughly 1984, [REDACTED] would have been 14)
An email thread from July 24, 2025, circulating in the FBI’s New York field office, appears to include a draft of the “Prominent Names” slide text. The Trump text, which has a typo, is identical to what is in a slightly different, probably draft, slideshow.
When the latest Epstein files were released on January 30, the allegations against Trump immediately drew attention. For example, that same day, the progressive MeidasTouch Network posted the email thread on X and CNN’s Jake Tapper, among others, highlighted an email thread covering August 6 and 7, 2025, about “NTOC Names,” which refers to tips collected by the National Threat Operations Center, the bureau’s hub for receiving and vetting public tips regarding federal crimes. The thread includes Epstein-related tips and, in some cases, how federal authorities responded. One emailer notes that in one document, some rows have “yellow highlighting … for the salacious piece,” which appears to refer to the “Prominent Names” slide. (An emailer in July asks for “a sentence or two” for each of the names with “salacious statements.”)
Several tips mention that federal authorities were unable to follow up with the tipsters or verify their stories; those items were not on the “Prominent Names” slide. But one entry on Trump tracks what’s in the slide:
[REDACTED] reported an unidentified female friend who was forced to perform oral sex on President Trump approximately 35 years ago in NJ. The friend told [REDACTED] that she was approximately 13-14 years old when this occurred, and the friend allegedly bit President Trump while performing oral sex. The friend was allegedly hit in the face after she laughed about biting President Trump. The friend said she was also abused by Epstein.
The table’s “Response” column notes, “Spoke with caller who identified [REDACTED] as friend. Lead was sent to Washington Office to conduct interview.”
Some media outlets, including The Mirror, The Telegraph, The Daily Beast, and Mediaite, covered the allegation. But most reporters elided the bit-penis-hit-in-the-face allegation in favor of vague references to multiple unsubstantiated claims while the Justice Department sought to inoculate the president by stating, “Some of the documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims against President Trump.” The media’s attention gravitated to other famous names mentioned in the Epstein files, regardless of whether the files contained evidence of sexual misconduct. Several prominent figures have since resigned from their positions due to their associations with Epstein.
Then, starting on February 15, Roger Sollenberger, the independent journalist, pieced together information indicating that the FBI interviewed the accuser four times in 2019. Sollenberger suggests this means that the FBI found her “credible.” Furthermore, records of three of those interviews were not in the Epstein Files release. He also found a “Jane Doe 4” in a lawsuit against Epstein with similar biographical details, making similar allegations against an unnamed Epstein friend. Jane Doe 4 was deemed ineligible for the Epstein Victims’ Compensation Program, but the suit nonetheless appears to have led to a settlement for her from Epstein.
Bolstering the case that the FBI found the accuser credible, Nina Burleigh and Katie Chenoweth, the independent journalists, noted that, uniquely, her redacted name is routinely followed by the phrase, “PROTECT SOURCE,” which is “typically used for high-risk informants such as mafia rats.”
There is so much more to this story that I hope you take the time to read it all. The Guardian also has more information on the claim. “Epstein files contain explicit but unsubstantiated claim that Trump abused minor. Department of Justice did not release FBI memos when it uploaded millions of pages of files beginning in December.”
Three memos that describe four interviews conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 2019 contain explicit but unsubstantiated claims that Donald Trump sexually abused a woman when she was a minor in the early 1980s with the assistance of Jeffrey Epstein, according to a Guardian review of those documents.
The Department of Justice did not release those records when it uploaded millions of pages of files related to Epstein beginning in December. The existence of the missing documents was first reported by independent journalist Roger Sollenberger and subsequently confirmed by NPR, causing outrage in Washington and sparking an investigation from congressional Democrats.
The Guardian obtained the missing FBI Form 302 reports, which memorialize 25 pages of agents’ notes from the four interviews conducted in the summer and fall of 2019. The notes describe how the woman came forward to tell agents she recognized Epstein from a photo sent by a childhood friend. Only the first session, in which she did not name Trump, made it into the public release. The Guardian has chosen not to publish the woman’s name.
All we know about the Hillary Testimony comes from Clinton herself. This is from the New York Times and reported by Annie Karni. “In Tense Deposition, Hillary Clinton Denies Knowing Epstein or His Crimes. After resisting testifying for months, the former secretary of state entered the session defiant and grew irate after a Republican leaked a photo from inside the room.”
In a lengthy opening statement her aides distributed in advance, Mrs. Clinton accused House Republicans of using her as a prop in “partisan political theater” and excoriated their investigation as “designed to protect one political party and one public official, rather than to seek truth and justice for the victims and survivors.”
“You have compelled me to testify, fully aware that I have no knowledge that would assist your investigation, in order to distract attention from President Trump’s actions and to cover them up despite legitimate calls for answers,” she said.
She added: “You have made little effort to call the people who show up most prominently in the Epstein files,” noting that not a single Republican had attended a closed-door session last week in Ohio to depose Leslie Wexner, the retail billionaire and prolific G.O.P. donor who helped Mr. Epstein build his wealth.
In a day’s worth of questioning that she later called “repetitive” and unproductive, Mrs. Clinton told the committee that she did not recall ever encountering Mr. Epstein and “never flew on his plane or visited his island, homes or offices.”
“I don’t know how many times I had to say I did not know Jeffrey Epstein,” she told reporters after the session had ended. “It’s on the record numerous times.”
The deposition briefly went off the rails when, as Republicans questioned her, Mr. Johnson’s post of the photograph showing Mrs. Clinton’s testifying while wearing a weary expression prompted an eruption in the room. Her lawyers vociferously objected and called for journalists to be allowed inside to document the proceedings. House Democrats noted that Republicans had refused to grant the Clintons’ request for a public hearing.
“We are sitting through an incredibly unserious clown show of a deposition,” Representative Yassamin Ansari, Democrat of Arizona, said, claiming Republicans were “more concerned with getting their photo op” than with holding anyone accountable.
This is from the Washington Examiner. It’s reported by David Zimmermann. “Clinton says she was asked about UFOs and Pizzagate at ‘unusual’ Epstein deposition.”
After exiting her deposition on Thursday, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton suggested some members of Congress were more concerned with UFOs and Pizzagate instead of Jeffrey Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell in their questions.
The high-profile witness called the House oversight committee deposition “quite unusual” as it concluded.
“I started being asked about UFOs and a series of questions about Pizzagate, one of the most vile bogus conspiracy theories that was propagated on the internet, that was serving as the basis of a member’s questions to me,” Clinton said in Chappaqua, New York, where the closed-door deposition hearing was held.
It’s unclear why Clinton was questioned on extraterrestrial life, as UFOs have nothing to do with the late convicted sex offender’s crimes. Last week, President Donald Trump said he would start declassifying government files related to the existence of aliens.
The Pizzagate conspiracy theory refers to a child sex ring linked to members of the Democratic Party, and it went viral during the 2016 presidential election cycle when Clinton was running against Trump for president. At one point, a pizza restaurant in Washington, D.C., named Comet Ping Pong was caught up in the right-wing conspiracy theory.
Clinton did not name the member who asked the unusual questions, nor whether the lawmaker was a Republican or a Democrat.
The hearing was disrupted earlier when Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) shared a photo of Clinton with conservative commentator Benny Johnson, who then posted the image on social media. As a result of the stunt, the hearing was paused for about 30 minutes. Closed-door hearings forbid unauthorized photography as it could violate House rules and confidentiality agreements.
Clinton denied she ever met Epstein and claimed to never have “any connection or communication” with the convicted sex offender, although she admitted knowing Maxwell “casually as an acquaintance.”
She criticized the GOP-led committee’s decision to reject her and her husband’s bid for public hearings.
“It was disappointing that they refused to hold a public hearing, so I wouldn’t have to be out here characterizing it for you. You could have seen it for yourself,” she told reporters. “We had asked for that. We think it would have been better for the committee and its efforts to gather whatever information they are seeking.”
The former Cabinet secretary also slammed oversight committee Republicans for skipping the recent deposition of former Victoria’s Secret CEO Les Wexner, whom the FBI labeled a co-conspirator of Epstein. Chairman James Comer (R-KY) did not attend that deposition due to an already scheduled medical procedure.
Despite her criticisms, Clinton noted the “best exchange” came toward the end of the hearing, when Comer asked a “series of significant questions” related to the investigation’s focus.
Since I’ve already mentioned polls, I think I’ll share the results of an interesting one analyzed by G. Elliott Morris in his Substack, Strength in Numbers. “New poll: Democrats’ real problem isn’t being too liberal — it’s being seen as too weak. Americans, including swing voters, see the Republican Party as 20 points more extreme than Democrats — and the Democrats as weak and ineffective. So why would the *Democrats* moderate?”
In our February poll, we asked voters whether each of 10 adjectives describes the Democratic and Republican parties. Each person was asked to rank how well each word — such as “extreme”, “elitist”, “tough”, and “weak” — described both parties on a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 indicating the word described the party very well.
The Republican Party’s defining traits in voters’ minds are extreme (60% agree), elitist (57%), tough, (56%) and cruel (51%). The percentage of Americans agreeing with descriptions of positive traits is comparatively smaller: just 41% say the party is competent, 41% say principled, and only 31% — less than a third — say the GOP can be considered empathetic.
The average American sees Democrats in a much different light. The top descriptors of the party are empathetic (54%) and principled (49%). Comparatively few people think of it as “tough” (31%), and nearly half the country calls the Democrats weak (48%) and ineffective (47%). Democrats’ competence rating is 46% — five points higher than the GOP’s — but it’s the weakness and ineffectiveness labels that dominate voters’ impressions and national discourse about the party.
The chart above is ordered by the gap between the percentage of Americans who say each descriptor applies to each party — and these gaps are revealing. Democrats lead on empathetic by 23 points (54% versus 31%) and on principled by 8 (49% versus 41%). The GOP leads on exactly one positive trait: toughness (56% versus 31%). That’s it.
Being seen as tough is an advantage in a politics where voters want parties to deliver for them no matter what, but it’s likely not worth being called cruel and elitist. In our poll, Democrats lead the Republicans on the U.S. House generic ballot by 10 percentage points among registered voters. At least in the short term, that’s a worthwhile trade.
But the Democrats’ weakness problem stands out as a particularly strong signal of intra-party dissatisfaction. When we look at how each party’s own identifiers rate their own party, the weakness gap for the Democrats really jumps out. Just 53% of Democrats call their party tough, compared to 80% of Republicans. And 31% of Democrats say their own party is weak — almost three times the 13% of Republicans who say the same about theirs.
On most traits, partisans rate their own party similarly. Democrats and Republicans are within a few points of each other on being competent, principled, and cynical. But on toughness and weakness, Democrats are far more self-critical. That matters electorally: a party whose own base doubts its strength will struggle to turn out its base. And in an era of close elections, that is not a loss a party can afford.
Those results were not much of a surprise to me. Today, it’s Bill Clinton’s turn to testify in the Epstein Investigation. NBC News has live updates on its website. “Trump administration live updates: Bill Clinton testifies in House Jeffrey Epstein probe. Clinton is the first sitting or former president to testify before members of Congress in more than 40 years.” This is reported by Rebecca Shabad.
Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, said this morning that Democrats have “real questions that deserve serious answers from former President Clinton” during his closed-door deposition in Chappaqua today.
“We have said from day one that Democrats want to talk to anyone, whether they are a Republican or a Democrat, no matter how powerful they are, whatever position that they’ve been in,” Garcia told reporters ahead of the deposition.
Garcia said that they don’t want to see another “sideshow” today like what happened during Hillary Clinton’s deposition yesterday, in which he said Republicans asked her about UFOs and conspiracy theories.
Because “Republicans have now set a new precedent, which is to bring in presidents and former presidents to testify,” Democrats are again demanding that Trump testify before their panel about his relationship with Epstein, Garcia said.
Trump appears in the Epstein files “almost more than anybody else,” Garcia said.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing, and authorities have not accused him of any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.
They’re also reporting that lots of Diet Cokes have been brought into the building for the former President. I guess we’ll see what happens.
That’s about all I’m good for today. The entire Epstein show is getting old. I do have a local source from WDSU, the news station I watch here in New Orleans. At least a few of these sick, powerful pedophiles are feeling a bit of justice. “Here’s who has faced fallout from the Epstein files. Since Congress and the Department of Justice released the Epstein files, several high-profile people have been burned by past links to convicted sex-offender.” Please note the word several. I guess that’s a start though.
Several individuals in government, private companies and universities have faced fallout over alleged links to convicted sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein.
The Get the Facts Data Team has created a timeline of reports on individuals who have faced professional or reputational consequences or legal action since Epstein’s arrest in 2019.
Among those who faced professional or reputational consequences were CEOs who resigned or sold their companies, faculty who were suspended and public figures who issued apologies.
You may read the list and the ‘consequences’ at the link.
What’s on your Reading, Action, and Blogging list today?
#2026Polls #JohnbussBskySocial #BillClintonTestimony #HillaryClintonTestimony #RepRobertGarcia #TheEpsteinFiles -
Bemerkenswert, wie konsequent der Film sich dem Heldenbegriff verweigert. https://letterboxd.com/andrepitz/film/flags-of-our-fathers/
#AdamBeach #BarryPepper #ClintEastwood #filme #filmkritik #FlagsOfOurFathers #JamieBell #JesseBradford #JohnBenjaminHickey #JohnSlattery #LettersFromIwoJima #MelanieLynskey #NealMcDonough #PaulWalker #RobertPatrick #RyanPhillippe #Letterboxd
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Bemerkenswert, wie konsequent der Film sich dem Heldenbegriff verweigert. https://letterboxd.com/andrepitz/film/flags-of-our-fathers/
#AdamBeach #BarryPepper #ClintEastwood #filme #filmkritik #FlagsOfOurFathers #JamieBell #JesseBradford #JohnBenjaminHickey #JohnSlattery #LettersFromIwoJima #MelanieLynskey #NealMcDonough #PaulWalker #RobertPatrick #RyanPhillippe #Letterboxd
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Johnny Staccato (1959) a stylish gritty jazz-fuelled film noir-inflected PI TV series with John Cassavetes as a piano player/private eye. Similar to Peter Gunn but better - more neurotic, edgy and noirish.
My review: https://cult-tv-lounge.blogspot.com/2019/07/johnny-staccato-1959-revisited.html
#Noirvember #filmnoir #culttv #JohnCassavetes #PeterGunn #50stv #1950stv #retrotv #privateeyes #classictelevision #vintagetv #classictv
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https://www.europesays.com/iran/27239/ As Iran war expands, thinned State Department struggles to keep up #APInvestigations #ChrisBackemeyer #DonaldTrump #DylanJohnson #GeneralNews #GovernmentAndPolitics #Iran #IranWar #JeanneShaheen #JohnBass #MarcoRubio #MaxStier #MikeHuckabee #Politics #TommyPigott #USDepartmentOfState #UnitedStates #UnitedStatesGovernment #WashingtonNews #WorldNews #YaelLempert
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Elaine May, Chicago Gangsters, and the Unbelievable True Story of What Inspired ‘Mikey and Nicky’
#IndieWire #Features #General #ElaineMay #Film #JohnCassavetes #Metrograph #QuentinTarantino -
Was ist, wenn der tosende Applaus plötzlich abebbt, gänzlich versiegt und die große Leere zum Vorschein kommt? https://letterboxd.com/andrepitz/film/opening-night/
#BenGazzara #filme #filmkritik #GinaRowlands #JoanBlondell #JohnCassavetes #JohnTuell #LauraJohnson #OpeningNight #PaulStewart #ZohraLampert #Letterboxd
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Was ist, wenn der tosende Applaus plötzlich abebbt, gänzlich versiegt und die große Leere zum Vorschein kommt? https://letterboxd.com/andrepitz/film/opening-night/
#BenGazzara #filme #filmkritik #GinaRowlands #JoanBlondell #JohnCassavetes #JohnTuell #LauraJohnson #OpeningNight #PaulStewart #ZohraLampert #Letterboxd
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Was ist, wenn der tosende Applaus plötzlich abebbt, gänzlich versiegt und die große Leere zum Vorschein kommt? https://letterboxd.com/andrepitz/film/opening-night/
#BenGazzara #filme #filmkritik #GinaRowlands #JoanBlondell #JohnCassavetes #JohnTuell #LauraJohnson #OpeningNight #PaulStewart #ZohraLampert #Letterboxd
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Was ist, wenn der tosende Applaus plötzlich abebbt, gänzlich versiegt und die große Leere zum Vorschein kommt? https://letterboxd.com/andrepitz/film/opening-night/
#BenGazzara #filme #filmkritik #GinaRowlands #JoanBlondell #JohnCassavetes #JohnTuell #LauraJohnson #OpeningNight #PaulStewart #ZohraLampert #Letterboxd
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Read my ★★★★★ review of John Cassavetes' 1976 "The Killing of a Chinese Bookie," in which I once again approach the work of this social-realist pioneer but, instead of all my other attempts, this time find something brilliant and mesmerizing. Wow, this movie! https://boxd.it/41tZsJ
#review #movie #film #TheKillingOfAChineseBookie #JohnCassavetes #1970s #SocialRealist #CharacterHeavy #drama #BenGazzara #amazing #mesmerizing #brilliant
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Read my ★★★★★ review of John Cassavetes' 1976 "The Killing of a Chinese Bookie," in which I once again approach the work of this social-realist pioneer but, instead of all my other attempts, this time find something brilliant and mesmerizing. Wow, this movie! https://boxd.it/41tZsJ
#review #movie #film #TheKillingOfAChineseBookie #JohnCassavetes #1970s #SocialRealist #CharacterHeavy #drama #BenGazzara #amazing #mesmerizing #brilliant
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Happy Halloween! Film Seizure has been talking witchy movies all spooky month long. All roads lead to the mother of all satanic witch covens with this week's episode for Roman Polanski's 1968 horror masterpiece Rosemary's Baby.
Listen to the new episode at https://on.soundcloud.com/JNQ2WmpvRUyb69Er5
#podcast #horror #thriller #60s #romanpolanski #miafarrow #johncassavetes #ruthgordon #halloween
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Happy Halloween! Film Seizure has been talking witchy movies all spooky month long. All roads lead to the mother of all satanic witch covens with this week's episode for Roman Polanski's 1968 horror masterpiece Rosemary's Baby.
Listen to the new episode at https://on.soundcloud.com/JNQ2WmpvRUyb69Er5
#podcast #horror #thriller #60s #romanpolanski #miafarrow #johncassavetes #ruthgordon #halloween
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Happy Halloween! Film Seizure has been talking witchy movies all spooky month long. All roads lead to the mother of all satanic witch covens with this week's episode for Roman Polanski's 1968 horror masterpiece Rosemary's Baby.
Listen to the new episode at https://on.soundcloud.com/JNQ2WmpvRUyb69Er5
#podcast #horror #thriller #60s #romanpolanski #miafarrow #johncassavetes #ruthgordon #halloween
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Apartment 7A (2024): No Need to Look at This Baby https://mikesfilmtalk.com/2024/09/30/apartment-7a-2024-no-need-to-look-at-this-baby/ #DianneWiest, #IraLevin, #JimSturgess, #JohnCassavetes, #JuliaGarner, #KevinMcNally, #MarliSiu, #MiaFarrow, #NatalieErikaJames, #RomanPolanski, #RosemarysBaby, #RuthGordon
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Apartment 7A (2024): No Need to Look at This Baby https://mikesfilmtalk.com/2024/09/30/apartment-7a-2024-no-need-to-look-at-this-baby/ #DianneWiest, #IraLevin, #JimSturgess, #JohnCassavetes, #JuliaGarner, #KevinMcNally, #MarliSiu, #MiaFarrow, #NatalieErikaJames, #RomanPolanski, #RosemarysBaby, #RuthGordon
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Cherokee / Ko-Ko (Charlie Parker) I SWR Big Band feat. Jakob Manz & John Beasley - April 3rd 2022, Porsche Arena Stuttgart
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Maraming netizens ang napa-wow sa makukulay na dekorasyon ng bahay ng mag-asawang ito mula Pozorrubio, Pangasinan.
Kuwento ni Bayan Patroller Michael Sta. Ana, bunga ito ng imahinasyon nila ng asawang si Jobessa. Gumamit sila ng pinagsama-samang vintage, surplus, at handmade items para rito.
Para sa mga kaugnay na ulat ng @bayanmoipatrolmo: https://www.abscbn.news/BMPM