Jeff Bezos bows and scrapes before his owner Donald Chump
Meryl Streep is an idiot. Remember when she was praising
Jeff Bezos and his 'democracy dies in darkness' slop? He didn't mean
it. Anyone with a brain knew that. She doesn't have a brain. She
slammed Rowan Farrow, it's in his book, for investigating Harvey
Weinstein as well. She's an overly praised do nothing who's mechanical
impersonations entertain only the most deluded. Brian Stelter (CNN) reports:
The
Washington Post is announcing mass layoffs Wednesday morning, dealing
another big blow to a storied media company and a newsroom that has
reached a breaking point.
Executive Editor Matt
Murray and human resources chief Wayne Connell sent an email to
staffers Wednesday morning instructing employees to “stay home today”
but attend an 8:30 a.m. ET meeting via Zoom during which the Washington
Post’s leadership will announce “significant actions across the
company.”
Those actions include shutting down
almost the entire Sports section, closing the Books section and
cancelling the daily Post Reports podcast, sources at the newspaper
said.
One of the most severe cuts comes in the
form of a “restructuring” of the Post’s Metro desk, which covers D.C.,
Maryland and Virginia.
The Post’s international coverage will also be markedly reduced, though some bureaus outside the US will remain open.
Chump became Bezos' buddy and he showed his true self:
A
year ago, Bezos outlined a new vision for the Post’s once-esteemed
opinion section, promoting libertarian ideals, including free markets
and personal liberties. That decision led opinion editor David Shipley
to exit the company.
Bezos’
change came months after he canceled a planned editorial page
endorsement of Kamala Harris in late 2024. That decision led to mass
cancellations from subscribers, hurting the Post’s bottom line.
Some
current and former journalists at the Post have pinned the drastic
changes and steep cuts on Bezos’ efforts to appease President Donald
Trump, given Bezos’ and Amazon’s complex relationships with the Trump
administration.
“Bezos is not trying to save
The Washington Post. He’s trying to survive Donald Trump,” former Post
fact-checker Glenn Kessler said in a column earlier this week.
Comments on the article include:
T R
14 minutes ago
i'm
very sorry for all the people affected; they are paying the price for
management's repeated poor choices over the last few years especially
alienating half of their readership with their fawning support of trump
and the gop
Bryan Richter
1 hour ago
Lost $40 mil doing an unnecessary 'mockumentary' but gonna lay off 1/2 the workforce
Jeff Bezos’s e-commerce giant Amazon said it will cut 16,000 roles across the organization in its latest round of layoffs.
The
news was confirmed in a blog post on Wednesday by Beth Galetti, senior
vice president of people experience and technology at Amazon. Corporate
roles are those affected by the new cuts. Back in October, Amazon had
cut 14,000 corporate roles. The layoffs are Amazon’s biggest since 2023,
when the company cut 27,000 jobs.
The ostensible reason for the layoffs is that the Post, like many other newspapers, is losing money. But unlike other newspapers, the Post is also in the midst of a demoralizing destruction
of its brand that has alienated hundreds of thousands of subscribers
and left even its staff unsure of what the paper is trying to do, both
journalistically and business-wise. “I’m increasingly finding it hard to
justify the cuts from a journalistic perspective,” said one staffer.
“Of course, financially, the Post is in a deep hole and I understand that. But some of that hole, if not a lot of it, is because of Jeff Bezos.”
,
The Post
was once known for its independent accountability journalism, dating
back to the Pentagon Papers and Watergate and running all the way
through to January 6. It was also once known for being the foremost
authority on goings-on in the nation’s capital. Now it no longer has a
clear identity, a crucial component for any paper’s success, whether
it’s the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal. The Post
finds itself in this no man’s land largely because of a series of
editorial and business decisions made outside the newsroom, at the
highest level of the company — most notably, Bezos’s 11th-hour decision
to pull
the editorial board’s endorsement of Kamala Harris in 2024, which led
to 250,000 digital readers cancelling their subscriptions in protest of
Bezos’s apparent kowtowing to Trump.
The
cuts were announced in a video message to staff, without any comments
from the newspaper’s owner, billionaire founder of Amazon.com Jeff
Bezos, who has been criticized for cozying up to President Trump in his
second term and shifting the newspaper’s opinion section rightward
towards “personal liberties and free markets.”
“The
actions we are taking include a broad strategic reset with a
significant staff reduction,” the Post’s executive editor, Matt Murray,
said on the call.
Bezos’s silence on the cuts
follows his silence last month after the FBI raided the home of a Post
reporter, Hannah Natanson, who covers the White House’s efforts to cut
the federal workforce. One staffer at the time said it was “nauseating
and irresponsible to have our owner remain silent given this
unprecedented event.”
Now, Bezos is silently
presiding over cuts to the once venerable Post, which has lost thousands
of subscribers due to its owner’s decision to court the Trumpian right.
Remaining staff are obviously not happy with the move, with the Post’s
unionized staff issuing a statement calling out the billionaire: “If
Jeff Bezos is no longer willing to invest in the mission that defined
this paper for generations and serve the millions who depend on Post
journalism, The Post deserves a steward that will.”
But
Bezos has remained silent, and did not respond to a series of letters
sent by staffers representing the newspaper’s foreign, local and White
House reporting teams.
On Monday, though, he
was there in person to warmly greet Pete Hegseth, the US defense
secretary, on a tour of another one of the companies he owns, his Blue
Origin spaceflight startup in Florida.
Wednesday, February 4, 2026. The lies of Homeland Security are exposed
further in a Democratic Party hearing, day drinking FOX "NEWS"
personality creates more problems for Donald Chump, the Epstein scandal
continues to haunt Chump, and much more.
As we've noted throughout 2025, ICE lies. They lie over
and over. They've lied to the American people repeatedly and they have
lied to the courts. That's why we're no longer interested in what they
say took place on the day someone's kidnapped or wounded or killed.
They are known liars and they are demonstrable liars. The courts should
not believe a word from their mouths because they have lied
repeatedly. Those who aren't getting it still should refer to Sam Levin's report for THE GUARDIAN:
Immediately
after a US border patrol agent shot two people in Oregon last month,
the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said the targets were
“vicious” gang members connected to a prior shooting and alleged they
had “attempted to run over” officers with their vehicle.
In the weeks since, key parts of the federal government’s narrative have fallen apart.
The
events took place on the afternoon of 8 January, one day after a US
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer fatally shot Renee
Nicole Good in Minneapolis.
According
to a DHS press release and social media posts issued the following day,
border patrol agents were conducting a “targeted” stop of a vehicle in
Portland occupied by two members of Tren de Aragua, the Venezuelan gang.
Yorlenys Zambrano-Contreras, a woman in the passenger seat, had been
“involved” in a Portland shooting last year, the agency wrote.
During
the border patrol stop, the driver, Luis Niño-Moncada, “weaponized
their vehicle against” officers, DHS said, prompting an agent “to defend
himself and others” by shooting the occupants. Zambrano-Contreras was
hit in the chest, Niño-Moncada was hit in the arm and both were
hospitalized, then taken into federal custody, DHS noted. The agents
were uninjured.
But court records obtained by the
Guardian reveal a Department of Justice prosecutor later directly
contradicted DHS’ Tren de Aragua statements in court, telling a judge,
“We’re not suggesting … [Niño-Moncada] is a gang member.” An FBI
affidavit issued following the incident also suggests that in the
previous shooting cited by DHS, Zambrano-Contreras was not a suspect,
but rather a reported victim of a sexual assault and robbery. Neither
Niño-Moncada or Zambrano-Contreras have prior criminal convictions,
their lawyers have said.
Immigration and
criminal justice experts who reviewed the case records characterized the
federal government’s communications as a “smear campaign” against the
two Venezuelan immigrants, with mischaracterizations of their pasts and
unsubstantiated allegations of criminality.
Niño-Moncada,
the 33-year-old driver, who is undocumented, remains detained, facing
charges of aggravated assault of an officer based on claims he tried to
“intentionally” hit agents with his car. Zambrano-Contreras, 32, was not
criminally charged, but has pleaded guilty to improper entry to the US,
a misdemeanor. Prosecutors have said the two were dating.
“The
federal government cannot be trusted. Our default position should be
skepticism and understanding they lie very regularly,” said Sameer
Kanal, a Portland city councilor. “There’s a playbook of demonizing
people … and claiming vehicles were used as ‘weapons.’ We see a pattern
of victim-blaming, and it’s important we push back, because it’s
propaganda.”
In September, DHS claimed that Silverio Villegas González,
who ICE killed by shooting him in the neck while he was coming home
after dropping off his two children at school and day care, had hit and
dragged an officer with his car. But there was no video evidence of
this despite multiple angles of the incident being caught on camera,
and one of the officers reported that his own injuries were “nothing
major.”
Over the last year, immigration officials falsely accused protesters in Los Angeles of assaulting border patrol officers. They also inflated the number of assaults against officers nationwide and mislabeled footage of ICE operations in their advertisements.
Time and again, they
have been caught lying. And it's what they're encouraged to do. And
it's what Pam da Bimbo Bondi, as Attorney General, wants prosecutors to
do. It's why prosecutors keep quitting on her. They understand the
importance of ethics. They also aren't her age. At her age, she can be
stripped of her ability to practice law and it won't harm her. She's
corrupt and she's made quite the nest egg for herself. But others fear
following her orders and risking their ability to continue to practice
the law. Daniel Hampton (RAW STORY) reports:
Chaos
continues at the Minnesota U.S. Attorney's Office, which is
hemorrhaging more talent, with eight more federal prosecutors heading
for the exits, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported Monday.
The
latest wave of departures comes on the heels of a startling mass exodus
last month, when six veteran prosecutors walked away in protest over
controversial Justice Department directives — including a widely
condemned refusal to launch a civil rights investigation into the
killing of 37-year-old mother Renee Good, who was gunned down in her car
by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
Among
the prosecutors abandoning ship is Ana Voss, the civil division chief,
who has frantically juggled hundreds of wrongful detention petitions
since federal immigration enforcement operations ramped up across
Minnesota.
On Monday, Department of Homeland
Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced that all federal agents in
Minnesota would be outfitted with body-worn cameras effective
immediately, a move that raisedeyebrows given the mounting legal
fallout.
Pam
Bondi’s Department of Justice is hemorrhaging prosecutors in Minnesota
as more attorneys have decided to leave their jobs rather than defend
the Trump administration’s violent immigration enforcement tactics.
Eight
veteran prosecutors have either left or announced they are leaving the
U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota, The Minnesota Star Tribune
reported, bringing the total to 14 outgoing prosecutors after six others
quit in mid-January.
That’s more than the office
typically loses in a year, let alone a month, according to the Star
Tribune. Key staff members, including a victim-witness coordinator and
an evidence technician, also recently left.
The
mass exit was triggered in part by the DOJ’s refusal to open a civil
rights investigation into the killings of U.S. citizens Renee Nicole
Good and Alex Pretti, who were fatally shot by immigration agents in
January.
The departing attorneys had also
voiced their concerns to U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen about the Trump
administration’s efforts to prevent state and local investigators from
probing the killings as potential homicides, and about orders to rush
through charges against defendants accused of assaulting federal
officers without conducting a full investigation.
The attorneys also thought they should consider whether the agents’ conduct contributed to the encounters.
da
Bimbo continues to be both a menace and an embarrassment. People have
grown tired of da Bimbo and her attacks on the rule of law. They have
grown tired of the law breaking ICE. Yesterday, Democrats in Congress
heard from some of the people whose lives have been damaged and
destroyed by ICE.
Nearly one month
after a federal immigration agent shot and killed Renee Good, 37, in
Minneapolis, two of her siblings, Brent and Luke Ganger, appeared on
Capitol Hill on Tuesday and urged lawmakers to move to rein in the
deportation crackdown.
“In the last
few weeks, our family took some consolation thinking that perhaps Nee’s
death would bring about change in our country,” Luke Ganger told members
of Congress, using a nickname for his sister. “And it has not.”
Reading
from the eulogy he said he had given for his sister days earlier, Brent
Ganger called Ms. Good “unapologetically hopeful.” Choking back tears
as he described Ms. Good as a devoted mother, he likened his sister to a
dandelion.
“They keep coming back stronger, brighter, spreading seeds of hope everywhere they land,” he said.
Ms.
Good’s brothers spoke at a public forum held by congressional
Democrats, which was focused on the use of force by federal agents
conducting the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
Though Democrats have demanded limits on
Immigration and Customs Enforcement throughout President Trump’s second
term, their calls intensified after Ms. Good’s death and the killing
weeks later of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old I.C.U. nurse who was also an
American citizen.
During his
testimony, Luke Ganger made clear that he viewed the shooting of Ms.
Good, who was shot by an ICE agent while she was driving, as part of a
larger pattern of abuses by immigration officers.
“This
is not just a bad day or a rough week or isolated incidents,” Mr.
Ganger said. “These encounters with federal agents are changing the
community and changing many lives, including ours, forever.”
Tuesday’s
event, led by Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and
Representative Robert Garcia of California, came as Democrats threatened
to block long-term funding from the Department of Homeland Security if
Republicans do not agree to new restrictions on immigration enforcement
efforts.
The forum comes as congressional Democrats, including Blumenthal and
Garcia, demand reforms to the Department of Homeland Security to put
stricter guardrails on Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border
Patrol agents. On the same day as the hearing, the House passed a
spending package to end a partial government shutdown and fund DHS
through Feb. 13, giving lawmakers less than two weeks to negotiate
changes to the agency.
Marimar Martinez, who was shot
five times in Chicago, said agents rushed medical staff to dress her
wounds, so that blood was soaking through her bandages when officers
took her from the hospital after less than three hours. She said she
overheard agents discussing whether a jail would accept her with her
wounds bleeding and she had to plead to be taken to a second hospital
for proper medical care.
She
testified that she had been on her way to deliver some clothes she’d
collected from her home to a church, when she spotted immigration
enforcement vehicles and tried to warn friends and neighbors of their
presence by honking her horn and shouting “La Migra.”
Martinez
said the Border Patrol agent swerved twice into her lane and that,
after she stopped her car, “it seemed time stopped.” Initially she
thought the sensations in her arms and legs were from being hit by
pepper balls. She tried to continue driving, but heard her back
passenger window shatter and felt “bullets continue to pierce my body.”
“I
was losing this battle. I saw my life flash before me and slowly began
to think, ‘This is the end of me,’” she told the panel.
Senator Blumenthal's office issued the following:
Today, Blumenthal & U.S.
Representative Robert Garcia are hosting a forum to hear public
testimony from Americans who have experienced the violence &
brutality of ICE & CBP agents firsthand
[WASHINGTON, DC] – Today, U.S.
Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Ranking Member of the Permanent
Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI), and U.S. Representative Robert
Garcia (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and
Government Reform, held a bicameral public forum to receive testimony on
the violent tactics and disproportionate use of force by agents of the
Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The following Americans shared their personal experiences with the lawless and deadly tactics used by DHS agents:
Marimar Martinez: Ms.
Martinez is a U.S. citizen and resident of Chicago, Illinois. In
October, she was shot five times by Customs and Border Patrol (CBP)
agents. After being shot by the Border Patrol Agent, Ms. Martinez was
later charged with assaulting the agents who shot her. All charges were
dropped by the U.S. Attorney's Office six weeks later.
“I know that what happened to me
in the matter of seconds on October 4 will unfortunately be with me for a
lifetime. The physical scars will always be there,” Ms. Martinez said. “And
perhaps even worse, the mental scars will always be there as a reminder
of the time my own government attempted to execute me and when they
failed at that to vilify me.”
“I know that by being a survivor
it is my duty to be here today to let you elected officials know what is
happening on the streets of our country because silence is no longer an
option. This needs to stop now!”
Ms. Martinez’s written testimony is available here.
Aliya Rahman: Ms. Rahman
is a U.S. citizen and resident of Minneapolis, Minnesota. She is also a
person with autism and a traumatic brain injury. In January, she was
violently dragged from her car by immigration agents after telling them
she had a disability; she was then detained without immediate access to
medical care or accommodations.
“I now cannot lift my arms
normally. I was never asked for ID, never told I was under arrest, never
read my rights, and never charged with a crime,” Ms. Rahman said.
“Before I blacked out on the cell
floor, my cell mate pleaded over and over to get me emergency medical
care. A voice outside said ‘We don't want to step on ICE's toes.’ When I
opened my eyes at Hennepin County’s emergency room, I learned I was
brought there to be treated for assault.”
Martin Daniel Rascon: Mr.
Rascon, who goes by Daniel, is a U.S. citizen and resident of San
Bernardino, California. Last August, Mr. Rascon was in a car with family
members unlawfully stopped by ICE and CBP agents when a CBP agent fired
on the car multiple times.
“I will never forget the fear and
having to quickly duck my head as the shots were fired at the passenger
side of the car. Any one of those bullets could have killed me or two
people that I love,” Mr. Rascon said.
Luke and Brent Ganger: Luke
and Brent Ganger are brothers of Renee Nicole Macklin Good, a U.S.
citizen and resident of Minneapolis, Minnesota who was shot and killed
by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent in January.
“Our family is a very American
blend. We vote differently, and we rarely completely agree on the finer
details of what it means to be a citizen of this country. We attend
various churches and some, not at all. Despite those differences, we
have always treated each other with love and respect,” said Luke Ganger. “We
have gotten even closer during this very divided time in our country,
and we hope that our family can be even a small example to others to not
let political ideals divide us. To be Good, like Renee.”
“Renee is not gone from us—she’s
in the light that finds us on hard days. She’s in the resilience we
didn’t know we had until we needed it. She’s in the laughter, the
memories, the love that continues to grow,” said Brent Ganger.
Luke and Brent Ganger’s written testimony is available here.
Antonio Romanucci: Mr.
Romanucci is an attorney representing the family of Renee Nicole Macklin
Good, a U.S. citizen and resident of Minneapolis, Minnesota who was
shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent in
January.
“I have handled excessive force
cases across the country for decades. My colleagues and I are deeply
distressed at these invasions onto fellow Americans’ civil rights by our
own government that have gone well beyond the initial scope of removing
criminals,” said Mr. Romanucci. “The occupation by ICE
and CBP in our cities is way beyond their mission, leading to
unnecessary provocation that causes needless harm and death.”
Mr. Romanucci’s written testimony is available here.
Seth Stoughton: Mr.
Stoughton is a former police officer and Professor at the University of
South Carolina School of Law, where he is the Faculty Director of the
Excellence in Policing & Public Safety (EPPS) Program.
“The current administration’s
approach to immigration enforcement falls far short of professional
norms This is not policing. It is not normal. And it is not
professionally acceptable,” said Mr. Stoughton.
Mr. Stoughton’s written testimony is available here.
Sen. Blumenthal
called the hearing “extraordinary and unprecedented” because Good and
Pretti were “murdered by their own government” and “were killed in cold
blood.”
He
called for a complete overhaul of DHS and a revamping of policies,
resulting in bodycams for each ICE agent, “masks off all the time,” and
additional training and monitoring for all officers.
“These
stories are not just about Minneapolis,” he said. “The nation is
Minneapolis. We are all Minneapolis. These stories are a call to
action.”
Chicago
Mayor Brandon Johnson announced that he will direct city police to
investigate alleged wrongdoing by federal immigration agents in the
city.
This past weekend, Mayor Johnson signed
an executive order that he said will lay the groundwork for prosecuting
agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or Customs and
Border Protection (CBP). Johnson said in a statement, “Nobody is above
the law. There is no such thing as ‘absolute immunity’ in America.”
[. . .]
Before
signing the “ICE on Notice” executive order, Johnson said, “We need to
send a clear message: If the federal government will not hold these
rogue actors accountable, then Chicago will do everything in our power
to bring these agents to justice.”
He added in
his official statement, “We are putting ICE on notice in our city.
Chicago will not sit idly by while Trump floods federal agents into our
communities and terrorizes our residents.”
Adeola Adeosun (NEWSWEEK) notes another development, "Department
of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced Monday that all
federal immigration enforcement officers will be equipped with body-worn
cameras, marking a significant policy shift for the agency. The
immediate deployment will begin in Minneapolis, with plans to expand the
program nationwide as funding becomes available."
As Senator Blumenthal noted, Renee Nicole Gold and Alex Pretti were murdered by their own government. Amy McCarthy (PEOPLE) reports:
The
official cause of death for Alex Pretti, the man shot and killed by
federal agents amid protests against increased immigration enforcement
activity in Minneapolis on Jan. 24, has been released.
The
Hennepin County Medical Examiner's office released the results of its
inquiry into Pretti's death on Monday, Feb. 2. The cause of death was
listed as "multiple gunshot wounds," and the manner of death is listed
as "homicide," according to the medical examiner's report obtained by
PEOPLE.
The medical examiner's report also
noted that Pretti was "shot by law enforcement officer(s)." No other
"significant conditions" that could have contributed to his death were
listed on the report.
Pretti, 37, was killed on Jan. 24 as he stood among a group of protesters with his phone in his hand.
ICE has resulted in many victims being targeted. Tracey Ashlee (INQUISITR) notes one who had praised Donald Chump and told people that only "crooks" were being targeted by ICE:
For
months, Júnior Pena told his followers there was nothing to fear as far
as Trump’s immigration policies were concerned. The Brazilian
influencer, who built a large online audience by documenting immigrant
life in the United States, repeatedly defended President Donald Trump’s
immigration crackdown. When reports surfaced that ICE agents were
detaining Brazilians, Pena waved off the concern.
“They’re
all crooks. The lot of them.” he said in a video posted in Portuguese.
“Don’t panic.” But it seems as if he should have had every reason to
panic.
On Saturday, Pena was
arrested by ICE in New Jersey. Pena, whose full name is Eustáquio da
Silva Pena Júnior, was taken into custody and transferred to the Delaney
Hall detention facility in Newark, according to friends and local
Brazilian media. One friend told an outlet, per The Guardian,
that Pena was detained after missing a court hearing related to his own
immigration status. His absence from the hearing proved to be his
biggest mistake.
[. . .]
Supporters
posted messages asking followers to pray and launched a fundraising
campaign seeking $50,000 to cover legal fees. Others were less
sympathetic. Left-leaning Brazilians flooded his social media accounts,
accusing him of backing policies that ultimately caught up with him.
“You
supported Trump and suffered the consequences,” one commenter wrote.
Another added, “What goes around comes around.” For years, Pena insisted
ICE was only coming for criminals. Now, his own case sits inside the
system he once told others not to fear.
FAFO.
And now he knows. After he's made excuses for Donald Chump, after he's
defended Donald Chump and after he's refused to see reality in front of
his own eyes. Wonder what he tells himself now that reality has
slapped him hard across the face? Is he honest with himself now? Or is
he still trying to excuse the actions of Donald Chump?
For
months, the federal government has faltered in its attempt to comply
with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the bipartisan bill signed by
President Donald Trump that mandated the full release of the Justice
Department’s enormous trove of documents and media related to its
investigation of Jeffrey Epstein. The Trump administration blew past the
congressionally mandated deadline and is staggering its Epstein
releases, dropping millions of pages in batches that have included some problematic redactions
along with the expected disturbing revelations. But the Trump
administration’s latest release — an imposing tranche containing more
than 3 million pages and 180,000 images — revealed another level of
government sloppiness.
A Wall Street Journal analysis
found that the Justice Department failed to redact the full names of 43
victims in Friday’s file release. The Journal reported that some of the
women’s names appeared more than 100 times throughout the batch of
documents. Of the victims left exposed, the Journal reports that the
names of more than two dozen minor victims were unredacted and some were
accompanied by identifying information including home addresses.
,In addition, the New York Times reports
that the federal government published at least 40 photos that showed
the nude bodies of young women, including their unredacted faces. Per
the Times, the images show at least seven different individuals
appearing in different locations, including bedrooms and what’s believed
to be the beach on Epstein’s private island. Many of the images were
removed from the Justice Department’s website after the Times flagged
them.
As we've noted, all the files have not been released. There are at least three million pages that have not been released. Meryl Kornfield (WASHINGTON POST) notes:
But
the Trump administration won’t release millions of other files in its
possession and many other records were released with heavy redactions,
exacerbating concerns from those critical of the administration who
argue the releases have not answered some of the most significant
questions around Epstein’s sexual abuse of young girls, his interactions
with rich and powerful people and the ways he avoided any serious legal
consequences despite years of scrutiny.
The
disclosure of most of the government’s Epstein documents was forced by
the bipartisan Epstein Files Transparency Act. Reps. Ro Khanna
(D-California) and Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky), the architects of that
law, told The Washington Post that they have spoken to victims who have
not yet seen their statements to law enforcement released to the public,
raising their concerns that the disclosure has been incomplete. The two
argued that the redactions appeared to not comply with the law, which
requires that no document should be withheld or redacted based on
“embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity.” Officials
should instead make redactions to protect the privacy of victims, the
law mandated.
“They, through incompetence,
failed to redact the victims’ names,” Massie said, “while at the same
time intentionally withholding documents and redacting documents that
contain names of people that should probably be investigated.”
Massie
pointed to the 2007 draft indictment of Epstein, one of the most
anticipated records of the release, which had described a number of
allegations of sex crimes federal prosecutors had compiled before
Epstein reached a plea deal for lesser charges. Massie said he believed a
number of the redactions had included co-conspirators, who he thinks
should be publicly named.
Alex Bollinger (LGBTQ NATION) quotes US House Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez asking, "Why
is Pam Bondi and the Department of Justice continuing to hide the
majority of the Epstein files still, which they admit to the public
contain much more, even more direct evidence of shocking, genuinely
shocking crimes and sexual abuse of women, minors, and also increasingly
men that are saying they were trafficked in connection to the Epstein
orbit? And so we need to get to the bottom of it."
Khanna
told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that the files show communications between
Epstein and “some of the most powerful people in technology, in finance,
in real estate, emailing Jeffrey Epstein to go to his island, knowing
that Jeffrey Epstein is a pedophile, and knowing that underage girls
were being raped on that island. They showed up in many cases to parties
where underage girls were being paraded around.”
“At
the very least, every single person who went to Epstein‘s island should
have an investigation, and they should be asked who else was on that
island who raped these underage girls?” Khanna continued. “Did you see
people raping underage girls? Do you know anyone who raped these
underage girls? But just to say, ‘Oh, these were just rich people who
were playboys,’ that‘s just disrespectful to these survivors.”
Khanna
also dismissed Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s comments on
Sunday that it “isn’t a crime to party with Mr. Epstein,” calling it
“one of the most offense things that the deputy attorney general said.”
Newly released FBI documents allege that Jeffrey Epstein played matchmaker for Donald and Melania Trump.
The explosive claim directly contradicts the couple's long-told origin story.
According
to the 11-page, heavily redacted record, a former Epstein assistant —
who worked for him from 2005 to 2006 — told federal authorities that
Epstein "introduced MELANIA TRUMP to DONALD TRUMP," in files seen by The
Daily Beast.
The woman gave her statement under immunity in July 2019, just days after Epstein was arrested on child s-- trafficking charges.
The
woman's statement, part of a "proffer agreement," was made to both FBI
agents and federal prosecutors. The record details her year-long
employment under Epstein and her experiences as a sexual abuse victim,
including a disturbing incident in Paris where Epstein allegedly "took a
"vibrating thing" and "rubbed it on her."
The claim clashes with Melania's 2024 memoir, in which she describes meeting Donald at a party in 1998.
"'Hi.
I’m Donald Trump,' the man said when he reached my table. 'Nice to meet
you.' I recognized the name, and I knew he was a businessman or
celebrity, but not much else. He put his hand out to shake mine," she
wrote.
She recalled that he "took the seat next to mine and started a conversation."
Day
drinking again? And on the clock? Jeanine Pirro's stepped into it
again. Chump's administration is again declaring war on gun rights
advocates. Anna Commander (NEWSWEEK) notes, "U.S.
Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Ferris Pirro, an
appointee of President Donald Trump, threatened to arrest law-abiding
gun owners, as violent crime in the nation’s capital has decreased." NEWSWEEK's Khaleda Rahman picks up the story:
U.S.
Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s threat to jail law-abiding gun owners who
travel to Washington, D.C., with firearms has sparked anger from
Republicans, including some of President Donald Trump’s staunchest
supporters.
Pirro, the chief federal prosecutor
in the District of Columbia and a Trump appointee, said on Monday that
anyone who brings a gun to the nation’s capital should “count on going
to jail” even if they are licensed elsewhere.
The
comments also drew pushback from gun rights advocates, including the
National Association of Gun Rights, which called them “unacceptable and
intolerable.”
Pirro
made a video on X Tuesday, seeking to clarify her comments, saying in
part, “I want to be crystal clear. I am a proud supporter of the Second
Amendment. I have guns myself.“
“President Trump’s goal here, and my goal as well, is to make sure we take guns out of the hands of criminals,” she continued.
Republicans
across the board sprang forth to condemn Pirro’s anti-gun rights
remarks, from libertarian champion of the Epstein files Rep. Thomas
Massie to MAGA-loving Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“The
District of Columbia has been ‘shall issue’ since 2017 when the
requirement that you must have a ‘good reason’ to carry a handgun was
struck down,” Massie, the Trump administration’s latest congressional
harassment target, said on X. “Non-residents can obtain a permit in DC —
don’t ask me how I know."
DeSantis
also slammed Pirro’s comments, saying, “Second Amendment rights are not
extinguished just because an American visits DC. American gun owners
who conceal carry are among the most law-abiding citizens in the nation.
They are friends of law enforcement; they should not be targeted by law
enforcement.”
Even some Democrats got in the
mix, with Rep. Brendan Boyle saying he was “Old enough to remember the
‘Obama is going to grab your guns’ hysteria. Turns out it was the Trump
White House.”
Pirro’s
inflammatory remarks come only nine days after federal Border Patrol
agents shot and killed VA ICU nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, a legal
gun owner who was carrying a concealed firearm that was disarmed when he
was killed.
Trump and other administration
officials argued that Pretti’s firearm justified his killing, but gun
rights organizations, including the National Rifle Association, disputed
their claims on the basis of the Second Amendment.
“The
NRA unequivocally believes that all law-abiding citizens have a right
to keep and bear arms anywhere that they have a legal right to be,” the
group said in a statement shared on X.
Let's wind down with this from Senator Patty Murray's office:
Murray: “We cannot fund DHS if we do not rein in DHS.”
Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray
(D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, delivered the
following remarks at the Senate Democratic Leadership press conference
regarding negotiations for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
appropriations bill.
Senator Murray’s remarks, as delivered, are below:
“Last week, we wrapped up 11 of our 12
funding bills, and passed those bills that rejected the devasting cuts
from Trump and the House Republicans, it ended the slush fund continuing
resolution, and it took Congress’ power of the pen back from Russ
Vought, and rejected every far-right poison pill.
“But our work is not done—there is one bill left: DHS. Because we cannot fund DHS if we do not rein in DHS.
“That is a clear, hard line. Law enforcement cannot be lawless—but that’s exactly what we have been seeing from ICE and CBP.
“What is happening in Minneapolis has not been subtle, federal agents
are going door to door—asking for papers. And just as often ignoring
papers—taking in people who are legally seeking asylum—like little
5-year-old Liam and his father, who a judge forced them to release this
week.
“We have people that have done nothing wrong being abducted by masked
agents with no warrant, shipped across the country, and herded into
overcrowded detention centers, for who knows how long. Some of
them—taken in Minneapolis mind you—are being left out in the street in
Texas, no way to get home when ICE is forced to grapple with the reality
that they were here legally all along.
“The response to this lawless catastrophe has been
understandable: outrage from everyone who believes this is a country
where law, order, due process, and basic human decency matters.
“People have protested peacefully, people have documented the
chaos as legal observers, and the Trump Administration’s response to
that has only grown more unhinged and infuriating.
“We saw protesters tear gassed—even as they were
pinned on the ground. We saw the shocking murders of Renee Good and Alex
Pretti, and we heard the Administration lie every step of the way. They
lied about little Liam and his dad being here illegally. They lied
about Alex Pretti brandishing a weapon and called him a terrorist.
“Just this week, we all saw a video of a woman who
was abruptly cut off and pulled over, guns immediately drawn on her,
nearly arrested before the local police stepped in and saved her from
ICE. And yet—the Trump Administration is trying now to lie about that
too.
“Enough. We are not going to fund a rogue Department with its unchecked agents and officers.
“We
are going to have accountability at DHS or there will not be Democratic
votes to fund a lawless agency. If Republicans refuse to make the
changes the American people are demanding—they are forcing a Republican
shutdown of DHS.
“The chaos, the brutality—all of it has happened at the
explicit direction of this President and a Republican Congress that
wrote him a blank check. If Republicans want Democratic votes to fix
this—then they need to understand that half-measures won’t cut it. It
really is that simple.
“This is somber stuff—legal immigrants being brutalized, American
citizens being detained, American citizens being shot and killed by our
own immigration enforcement. The Trump administration needs to take
these abuses seriously and understand that what Democrats are demanding
is reasonable and it is necessary.
“End the roving patrols. Hold federal agents accountable and hold
them to the same standards as local law enforcement on the basic things
like use of force. Get ‘masks off,’ get body cameras on, and ensure
proper identification.
“So, my message to Trump and this entire administration: Stop
the lying. Stop slandering American citizens and lawful immigrants.
Stop insulting our intelligence and spitting on the Constitution. This
country sees right through this. The people recognize that Democrats are
fighting to protect basic, American principles and basic American
rights.
“My message to Republicans: We are at the
table, and we are ready to negotiate serious measures to rein in these
rogue federal agencies. We are focused on getting a bill—and it has to
be a bill that reins in the abuses we are seeing done by ICE and CBP.
“Americans deserve accountability, we will settle for nothing less.”
###
Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Cosplay Expert" went up last night and the following sites updated:
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