(click on images to enlarge)
(Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
(John Deering, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)
(Jimmy Margulies, King Features)
(Matt Davies, Newsday)
(Clay Bennett, Chattanooga Times Free Press)
(Drew Sheneman, Tribune Content Agency)
(Jesse Duquette, @misterjesseduquette)
(Bill Day, caglecartoons.com)
(Pedro Molina, gocomics.com)
(Pia Guerra and Ian Boothby, @mannequinonthemoon)
The Epstein-Trump files coverup / over 5 million pages / worse than expected / Trump: "My (pedo) friends will get hurt" --
Veteran Epstein Reporter Says New Files Are ‘Worse’ Than Expected ‘OVERWHELMING’ www.thedailybeast.com/veteran-epst...
— Anne Grete (GoogeliArt) 🦋💙PD (@googeliart.bsky.social) December 31, 2025 at 7:40 AM
[image or embed]
How much time does it take a corrupt DoJ to redact Trump's name from 5.2 million pages of Epstein documents? www.nytimes.com/2025/12/30/u...
— StrictlyChristo 🇺🇦🌻🚫👑 (@strictlychristo.bsky.social) December 31, 2025 at 4:02 AM
[image or embed]
In any other reality, this statement would cause a major uproar, investigations, a demand for trump's resignation. Here? It's just Tuesday.
— BrooklynDad_Defiant! (@mmpadellan.bsky.social) December 30, 2025 at 4:17 AM
[image or embed]
To be clear, Trump saying that the release of the Epstein files will hurt his friends is an admission that there is no hoax and that he knows what's in the files.
— Allyship (@allyship.bsky.social) December 31, 2025 at 8:01 AM
Epstein Survivor Dani Bensky: "Trump is caring for and protecting predators. We need serious oversight, and we need to make sure people are upholding the law."
— Craig R. Brittain (@craigbrittain.com) December 30, 2025 at 11:18 PM
[image or embed]
Trump's retribution tour gets to Minnesota, shuts off childcare payments --
BREAKING The Trump administration says it has frozen all childcare payments to Minnesota in the aftermath of allegations of fraud by some in the Somali community. Important: allegations along these lines have existed for years, which has resulted in prosecutions starting with the Biden DOJ.
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yasharali.bsky.social) December 30, 2025 at 6:34 PM
[image or embed]
All based on a “gotcha” video claiming that 3 daycares had no kids. One hadn’t opened yet for the day; one is actually closed. Dude arrived with no I.D. No call ahead. They DIDN’T LET HIM IN! The fraud they’re referencing was investigated & prosecuted by the Biden DOJ. The ringleader was white.
— Sherrilyn Ifill (@sifill.bsky.social) December 30, 2025 at 7:11 PM
[image or embed]
The epic corruption of Trump and his regime, cont. --
He was supposed to serve 10 years and pay $36 million in restitution for defrauding investors. Never served a day. Won't pay restitution to his victims. Not Somali. But he gave lots to Trump, and that's what counts.
— Scott Horton (@robertscotthorton.bsky.social) December 31, 2025 at 10:09 AM
[image or embed]
Another iconic newspaper's last print edition --
There it is. The final print edition, after more than 150 years, of the Atlanta Journal Constitution elink75f.mail.breakermedia.com/ss/c/u001.o7...
— Bill Grueskin (@bgrueskin.bsky.social) December 30, 2025 at 7:44 PM
[image or embed]
We will tear Trump's disgraced name off the Kennedy Center and undo every other disgusting vanity project he's wasted taxpayer time and money on. #ResistTrump
— The Democratic Coalition (@thedemcoalition.bsky.social) December 31, 2025 at 8:00 AM
[image or embed]
Happy New Year! --
Our friends in New Zealand were the first ones to enter 2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣6️⃣ Happy new year 🥳🎉🎊 to everyone! #2026#newzealand #happynewyear
— 🍁🇨🇦Team Canada Forever🇨🇦🍁 (@teamcanadaforever.bsky.social) December 31, 2025 at 9:19 AM
[image or embed]
Happy New Year, Tokyo! 🇯🇵
— Olga Nesterova (@onestpress.onestnetwork.com) December 31, 2025 at 10:21 AM
[image or embed]
As we enter a new year, the fight against the Malignant Fascist's autocracy, bigotry and un-Constitutional actions is gaining ground, but far from over. A song that came to mind as our last offering of 2025 is a song released 80 years ago, "The House I Live In," from a short film that promoted tolerance, and that depicts a better America than we find ourselves in now. Not perfect, but much better, where neighbors, regardless of color, religion or nationality are accepted and valued in the American "house." Naturally, the song was reviled by the right-wing of the day for calling for ethnic and racial harmony. Although the song has been covered since by many artists like Mahalia Jackson, Bing Crosby and Sam Cooke, the original and most famous version was sung by Frank Sinatra in the film.
“President Trump decided to veto a completely non-controversial, bipartisan bill that passed both the House and Senate unanimously. Why? Because nothing says ‘America First’ like denying clean drinking water to 50,000 people in Southeast Colorado, many of whom enthusiastically voted for him in all three elections.
“I must have missed the rally where he stood in Colorado and promised to personally derail critical water infrastructure projects. My bad, I thought the campaign was about lowering costs and cutting red tape.
“But hey, if this administration wants to make its legacy blocking
projects that deliver water to rural Americans; that’s on them..." -- Rep. Lauren Boebert (MAGAt-CO), in a statement responding to her cult leader's veto of a bill to fund a clean water conduit to southeastern Colorado. Actually, "the campaign" wasn't about "lowering costs and cutting red tape." It was about seizing power for a corrupt, deranged would-be autocrat in order to destroy American democracy -- but nice try. The real reason the Malignant Fascist vetoed the bill sponsored by Boebert was in retribution for her being one of the few original Republicans who sponsored the discharge petition for the DOJ to release the Epstein files. That was enough to mark her for this petty, vindictive action, something that the MF is so well- known for. Another selling point for the MF: Colorado has never voted for him in 3 elections.
Here's some background on the project, in case anyone believes the MF used only the second veto of the year to save big taxpayer dollars:
President Donald Trump vetoed a bipartisan, unanimously-approved bill sponsored by Rep. Lauren Boebert and Rep. Jeff Hurd that would have secured funding to bring clean water to communities on the Eastern Plains, according to a statement made to FOX31 by Boebert’s office.
The Finish the Arkansas Valley Conduit Act passed unanimously in the House and the Senate.
The bill would have secured funding to continue building the Arkansas Valley Conduit, a water pipeline that would bring access to clean water for 39 communities between Pueblo and Lamar, an area that is known to have high concentrations of salt in the groundwater.
It is not a new idea that has been recently created, but rather the end of a project that was developed just over 60 years ago, in 1962, as part of the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project.
Colorado Democrats and Republicans alike have been working side-by-side on this project for decades, with Boebert the latest on the scene. Most of the land used for the pipeline site falls under her district...
Now, it remains to be seen if her fellow Republicans have the sack to override the veto. (Don't bet on it.)
Some good news to end the year. More over-performance by a Democrat in a special election, once again in Iowa:
Democrat Renee Hardman was elected to the Iowa state Senate on Tuesday in a year-end special election, denying Republicans from reclaiming two-thirds control of the chamber.
Hardman bested Republican Lucas Loftin by an overwhelming margin to win a seat representing parts of the Des Moines suburbs. The seat became vacant after the Oct. 6 death of state Sen. Claire Celsi, a Democrat.
Hardman, the CEO of nonprofit Lutheran Services of Iowa and a member of the West Des Moines City Council, becomes the first Black woman elected to the 50-member Senate.
“I want to recognize that while my name was the one on the ballot, this race was never just about me,” Hardman told a room of supporters in West Des Moines after declaring victory.
With 99% of votes counted, Hardman led by about 43 percentage points.
Her win is the latest in a string of special election victories for Iowa Democrats, who flipped two Senate seats this year to break up a supermajority that had allowed Republicans to easily confirm GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds’ appointments to state agencies and commissions... (our emphasis)
Here's how Hardman's victory compares with the 2024 election vote:
"[O]verperform Harris by nearly 30 points." Every special and off-year election that Democrats win or over-perform in is another sign of a landslide coming in November 2026, to begin to turn the tide in this country that won't stop until the Malignant Fascist and his regime of goons is deposited on the ash heap of history.
(Image: via Facebook)
(click on images to enlarge)
(Jack Ohman, smerconish.com)
(Dave Whamond, caglecartoons.com, Canada)
(Paul Duginski, caglecartoons.com)
(John Darkow, Columbia Missourian)
(Clay Bennett, Chattanooga Times Free Press)
(Jonathan Brown, caglecartoons.com)
(Jimmy Margulies, King Features)
(Joe Heller, hellertoon.com)
(Dave Granlund, politicalcartoons.com)
(Patrick Corrigan, Toronto Star, Canada)
(Mort Gerberg, @mortgerberg)
Here's how the Malignant Fascist's approval rating in the first year of his second go-around compares to other presidents at the end of their first year in office (Gallup):
Negative economic sentiment contributed significantly to Mr. Trump’s poll numbers. At 36 percent, his approval rating is the lowest of any president at the end of his first year in the past five decades, lower than it was at this point in his first term and lower even than Mr. Biden’s 40 percent when he left office.
Worst in 50 years! Rack up another accomplishment by the Malignant Fascist and his misfit clown circus! The best worst is yet to come!
Trump passed Putin's test, and is looking to cash in --
Not sure people are getting the real importance of the Russians fooling Trump about the Ukrainians attacking Putin's house. It was to demonstrate just how much they control his thinking--how much he is in their pocket. And it worked.
— Phillips OBrien (@phillipspobrien.bsky.social) December 30, 2025 at 6:29 AM
Trump is ending 2025 the same way he started 2025: vouching for Putin’s interest in “peace” in defiance of reality. The pièce de résistance came when he declared, in apparent seriousness, “Russia wants to see Ukraine succeed.” www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...
— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) December 29, 2025 at 4:09 PM
[image or embed]
This is not idle speculation. The intercepts of the Witkoff/Kushner/Dmitriev conversations leaked by NATO intel services to various European and US publications show that this is _exactly_ what is going on. It's the most humiliating chapter in the whole history of US diplomacy.
— Scott Horton (@robertscotthorton.bsky.social) December 28, 2025 at 2:28 PM
[image or embed]
A banner year for Trump corruption --
This year, instead of lowering costs for you, Donald Trump has worked hard to make himself, his family, and his billionaire buddies even richer.
— Elizabeth Warren (@warren.senate.gov) December 29, 2025 at 4:07 PM
[image or embed]
Trump's plans for his Big Bribery Ballroom --
Whose inauguration?
— digby (@digby56.bsky.social) December 29, 2025 at 11:55 PM
[image or embed]
Epstein - Trump files release are eleven days late. Coverup, with redactions, continue --
Trump told you to elect him so he can release the Epstein files. Since his election, he has spent a full year covering them up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oibZ76Td6pg&list=PLmHDGpDOjacoTxbrY068uPDU6lYhubjg4&index=17
— The Lincoln Project (@lincolnproject.us) December 29, 2025 at 4:00 PM
[image or embed]
Cadet Bone Spurs' racist policy denigrates fallen black soldiers --
U.S. removal of panels honoring Black soldiers at WWII cemetery in the Netherlands draws backlash.
— NBC News (@nbcnews.com) December 30, 2025 at 9:00 AM
[image or embed]
It's all Joe Biden's fault --
Page One. @financialtimes.com
— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla.bsky.social) December 30, 2025 at 3:10 AM
[image or embed]
More artists refuse to perform at Trump's renamed Kennedy Center --
NBC: “More musicians cancel concerts at the Kennedy Center after its board voted to rename the venue to include Trump’s name.” KRISTY LEE: “Losing my integrity would cost me more than any paycheck… I can’t stand on that stage and sleep right at night.” www.nbcnews.com/politics/tru...
— The Tennessee Holler (@thetnholler.bsky.social) December 30, 2025 at 9:18 AM
[image or embed]
The “fun” thing about the kennedy center freakout is that conservatives have been carving out “creative” exceptions to anti discrimination laws so they can be bigots to ordinary people just trying to make a purchase, but if actual artists don’t want to perform for the god king they must be punished
— Adam Serwer (@adamserwer.bsky.social) December 30, 2025 at 8:42 AM
Those Onion polls --
Trump Still Polling Well With Working-Class American Pedophiles https://theonion.com/trump-still-polling-well-with-working-class-american-pedophiles/
— The Onion (@theonion.com) December 29, 2025 at 7:30 PM
[image or embed]
Corporate bankruptcies soared to a 15-year high in 2025 as companies struggled to cope with President Donald Trump’s trade wars, among other factors, according to a new report.
No fewer than 717 companies filed for Chapter 7 or Chapter 11 bankruptcy between January and November, according to S&P data reviewed by The Washington Post. This marks a 14 percent increase from the same period in 2024 and the highest rate since 2010, when the country was recovering from the Great Recession.
Firms that went bust pointed to inflation, interest rates and Trump’s trade policies — which have hampered supply chains and increased costs — as drivers of their financial troubles.
Business experts and economists told the Post that the Republican president’s broad tariffs have strained import-dependent companies. While inflation recently came in lower than expected — it was up 2.7 percent year-over-year in November — experts said many firms continue to shoulder added expenses to avoid raising prices for consumers.
“These companies are acutely aware of the affordability crisis confronting the average American,” Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a professor at Yale University’s school of management, told the outlet. “They are doing their best to offset the cost of tariffs and higher interest rates but can only do so much. Those with pricing power will pass on the costs over time … others will fold.” [snip]
The increase in bankruptcy filings was most notable among industrials — firms linked to construction, manufacturing and transportation, the Post noted. The industry ranks among those hit hardest by Trump’s tariffs, with the manufacturing sector posting 70,000 job losses year-over-year in November.
Consumer-oriented companies offering “discretionary” services or products, including those in home furnishing or fashion, made up the second-biggest group. There was also a sizable surge in “mega bankruptcies” — filing by firms with over $1 billion in assets... (our emphasis)
It's an economy that works for the elite few and increasingly less for the many, just as the oligarchs and kleptocrats intended. We haven't seen the end of the stagflation -- the job losses, inflation, and contracting consumer spending -- which could make 2026 look even worse than 2025.
The mentally ill narcissist Malignant Fascist wants to proclaim himself the "peace President," futilely campaigning for the Nobel Peace Prize and extorting fake "participation" trophies (i.e., bribes) from the likes of FIFA, Israel, South Korea, the UAE, and other foreign governments wanting to get something from him. But that designation is becoming increasingly hard to see as the MF has gone all- in on attacking or threatening to attack other countries. For example:
There will be more dangerous, aggressive moves by him in the coming year, as his mental health deteriorates further and as his approval numbers continue to tank, so prepare for the long siege.
(photo: man of peace)
Democrats in a dozen states are working hard (while Republicans are hardly working) to mitigate the steep rise in health insurance costs starting on January 1, due to Republicans' determination to end Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) subsidies:
At least a dozen states are working to shield people from soaring health insurance costs following Congress’ failure to extend Obamacare subsidies for tens of millions of Americans.
The efforts, which include actions taken by state leaders in California, Colorado and Maryland, in nearly every case come with a major caveat: They will only be able to help a portion of the people whose health insurance will be too expensive without the enhanced subsidies that Congress opted not to renew before leaving Washington for the year.
“We can carry the cost for a little bit, but at some point, we will need Congress to act,” said Javier Martínez, speaker of the House in New Mexico, the only state so far to cover all lapsed subsidies. “No state can withstand to plug in every single budget hole that the Trump administration leaves behind.”
The speed at which the mostly Democratic states have taken action underscores the mounting national anxiety about the medical and political impact the end of these subsidies will have. Millions of Americans will no longer be able to afford health insurance, straining the budgets of state welfare programs and hospitals that are already in the red, and threatening to erode access to care to a level not seen in years.
Responses have so far been uneven, reflecting political and economic realities across the country. Georgia and Washington, for instance, are not likely to cover the subsidies, though for very different reasons. Other states, like Connecticut and New Mexico, have already acted, allocating money in sessions earlier this year in preparation for the possibility, and may add more in the upcoming year.
California, predicting that the GOP-led Congress would allow the subsidies to lapse, was one of the first to experiment with ways to protect people from rising monthly premiums. The Golden State is allocating nearly $200 million to replace the expired federal subsidies for roughly 300,000 of its poorest residents, but the rest of the state’s 2 million residents enrolled on the Obamacare exchange could be hit hard...
In some states, one problem, other than Republican sociopathy, is lack of funding, but in others, there's a concern that the Trump regime and its toadies in Congress are trying to take the pressure off them by forcing states to make their own subsidy programs. We're not convinced the monsters in the regime have the bandwidth to engage that much strategic thinking; rather they likely just want to rip the bandage off regardless of the pain endured, just to end a hated popular program named after a hated popular president. It's one piece in the Republicans' "Project 2025" social Darwinist blueprint to strip the poorest and most vulnerable people of their affordable health insurance.
It's important that Democrats at least make the effort, even if it's short term or turns out to be futile, in order to keep as many people from dying because they can't afford health insurance (ironically many in rural and red states). That's the simple truth.
(Photo: Kevin Lamarque / Reuters)
"... To a degree few of us have appreciated, our political parties have offered our democracy some protection from its vulnerabilities, largely by narrowing the window of just whom can be nominated for president. They have not always been the fairest or most enlightened gate-keepers, but even in the era of primary elections, they’ve generally steered nomination contests toward people with reasonable credentials and experience and away from demagogues and conspiracy theorists.
"When that broke down during the 2016 Republican presidential contest, we finally saw what the parties had been protecting us from. As with previous presidents, a large chunk of the electorate was willing to steer its preferences toward the beliefs of the leader they liked. But now those beliefs included things like: elections I don’t like are fraudulent, undocumented immigrants are subhuman, our streets should be patrolled by armed unaccountable masked men, any investigation into my potentially criminal behavior is a conspiracy by the deep state, vaccines are more dangerous than helpful, and more.
"This past
year has reminded us of how dependent our democratic system is on
nominees who value democracy, or at least don’t want to be perceived as
tyrants..."-- Seth Masket, Director of the Center on American Politics at the University of Denver, in his "Tusk" Substack, on one of the things we learned about American politics in 2025. In addition to the state of our democracy, Masket also discusses what we learned about the Democratic Party and what we don't understand about the economy. Good read.
The Epstein-Trump files coverup / "My friends will get hurt" says Trump --
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) revealed new details about her split with President Donald Trump over the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
— Raw Story (@rawstory.com) December 29, 2025 at 4:00 PM
[image or embed]
Mainstream media malpractice: Trump's regular IV infusions --
The President of the United States appears to be getting regular IV infusions, the public doesn’t know anything about it, & the DC media evidently doesn’t care. We are months into the mystery of Trump’s hands, the White House is lying, & I’ve seen a grand total of one serious news story about it.
— Garrett M. Graff (@vermontgmg.bsky.social) December 28, 2025 at 8:40 PM
[image or embed]
The generosity of Putin and his puppet Trump --
Just exactly where does Putin insert his hand to make this happen? (I’d like to see the bit where Vlad drinks a glass of water and Don keeps talking.)
— David Rothkopf (@djrothkopf.bsky.social) December 29, 2025 at 4:15 AM
[image or embed]
Ask yourself: If Donald Trump was a Russian asset, what would he be doing differently? If your answer is “nothing,” then ask yourself this: If the US President is a Russian asset, what should *I* be doing differently?
— David Slack (@slack2thefuture.bsky.social) December 28, 2025 at 10:19 PM
[image or embed]
— Hookcity - 🚫“War Plan” DMs Please 👊🏻🇺🇸🔥 🫣 (@hookcity.bsky.social) December 28, 2025 at 9:55 PM
Trump's DOJ trying to protect the January 6 pipebomber --
Meanwhile, DOJ wants to push the first public hearing for accused pipe bomber Brian Cole past the date (January 5) when 5-year statutes of limitation would expire. legacy.www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...
— emptywheel (@emptywheel.bsky.social) December 28, 2025 at 11:53 PM
[image or embed]
The man accused of placing two pipe bombs in Washington on the eve of Jan. 6, 2021 told investigators someone needed to "speak up" for people who believed the 2020 election was stolen, prosecutors said Sunday. n.pr/45ij2ZU
— NPR (@npr.org) December 29, 2025 at 2:47 AM
[image or embed]
They're not sending their best (or maybe this is it) --
Ladies and gentlemen, the head of DOJ’s Civil Rights Division
— Eric Columbus (@ericcolumbus.bsky.social) December 28, 2025 at 10:45 PM
[image or embed]
“You are not entitled to a response from us, or anyone, ever,” is what a US Education Department spokesperson wrote to one of our reporters, @megomatz.bsky.social, after she repeatedly tried to get comment from the department and its officials. My column on the condemnation of good journalism.
— Charles Ornstein (@charlesornstein.bsky.social) December 29, 2025 at 9:58 AM
[image or embed]
The MAGA fascist white nationalist aesthetic --
They sure have an aesthetic...Lani Reifenstal would have been impressed Reminds me of certain episodes, in the alternative universe, from S2 of the show Peacemaker #IYKYK
— Joshua B. Hoe (@joshuabhoe.bsky.social) December 28, 2025 at 11:46 PM
[image or embed]
So long, Gov. Red Vest! You won't be missed, you weasel! --
Politico Gives Youngkin “The Milk Carton Award for Missing Politicians”; Says His “star faded as he hemmed and hawed about running for president last year” – and Badly Lost the 2025 Elections bluevirginia.us/2025/12/poli...
— Blue Virginia (@bluevirginia.bsky.social) December 29, 2025 at 7:21 AM
[image or embed]
Congrats (?), PM Starmer! --
it took the Tories 15 years of fucking everything up to obliterate their party. Keir Starmer did it in 18 months
— ryan cooper (@ryanlcooper.com) December 29, 2025 at 8:34 AM
[image or embed]
End of an era in Minneapolis --
Our photographer Alex Kormann captured the exact moment the presses stopped for the last time in Minneapolis, ending a 158 history of locally printed newspapers.
— Ashley Miller (@amreports.bsky.social) December 28, 2025 at 10:25 AM
[image or embed]
During yesterday's press conference, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy can't help but smile knowingly when Russian asset the Malignant Fascist claimed that war criminal and Russian thug Putin "was invested in seeing Ukraine succeed." Unlike the corrupt MF, President Zelenskyy's no fool and the people of Ukraine know Putin well, and know that he's seeking the subjugation of Ukraine, not its prosperity.
The MF has been talking before and after the meeting with Zelenskyy with the Russian dictator to inform him of developments and to get further instructions. (You'll remember that when Zelenskyy met with the MF earlier this year regarding obtaining Tomahawk missiles, Putin was informed by his greedy stooge Steve Witkoff, who urged that Putin call the MF prior to meeting Zelenskyy to sabotage the request).
(screen grab via MS Now)
(click to enlarge)
To imagine that the deranged Malignant Fascist's brain is a black hole, sucking everyone into it, is horrifying, but his constant need for attention and love and demanding that his way be followed isn't far from having a black hole. But the black hole is showing signs of weakening at a good clip, and may let us escape earlier than we imagined.
Please consider supporting Tom's work by going here.
CNN data analyst Harry Enten was left floored Sunday after new polling showed President Donald Trump’s support among independents has plummeted to staggering lows just shy of a year into his second term.
According to the new data, Trump’s net approval rating among independent voters fell by a stunning 42 points from January to December, from -1 to -43, a drop so severe that Enten compared the president to French oceanographer and filmmaker Jacques Cousteau, known for his undersea expeditions.
“We're talking about 43 points underwater come December, that is a decline of 42 points on his net approval rating!” Enten exclaimed. “Donald Trump is hanging out with Jacques Cousteau; that is how far underwater Donald Trump is with independents at this point!”
Driving Trump’s plummeting approval ratings were two key issues: the economy and immigration. On the economy, Trump enjoyed a +9 approval when he took office in January, an approval that fell by 25 points to -16 by December. On immigration, Trump’s approval fell by 15 points in the same time period, from +9 in January to -6 by December.
On overall approval, Trump suffered an 18-point decline from January to December. And, based on history, Enten concluded that it was likely Trump’s party would suffer a major defeat in the upcoming midterm elections.
“Based upon history, it doesn't look too good for the man in charge of the White House right now,” Enten said. (our emphasis)
"The man in charge of the White House." Stephen Miller? Oh, he means the Malignant Fascist! No, and it's only going to get worse because the truths will eventually come out on the Epstein files, and the economy will continue to suffer job-losing stagflation thanks to the dimbulb's 19th Century politico- economic philosophy. Though we live in stupid times, enough voters are wising up in time for the mid-terms and beyond.
Across the United States, someone is missing.
One year into President Trump’s immigration crackdown, construction firms in Louisiana are scrambling to find carpenters. Hospitals in West Virginia have lost out on doctors and nurses who were planning to come from overseas. A neighborhood soccer league in Memphis cannot field enough teams because immigrant children have stopped showing up.
America is closing its doors to the world, sealing the border, squeezing the legal avenues to entry and sending new arrivals and longtime residents to the exits.
Visa fees have been jacked up, refugee admissions are almost zero and international student admissions have dropped. The rollback of temporary legal statuses granted under the Biden administration has rendered hundreds of thousands more people newly vulnerable to removal at any time. The administration says it has already expelled more than 600,000 people.
Shrinking the foreign-born population won’t happen overnight. Oxford Economics estimates that net immigration is running at about 450,000 people a year under current policies. That is well below the two million to three million a year who came in under the Biden administration. The share of the country’s population that is foreign born hit 14.8 percent in 2024, a high not seen since 1890.
But White House officials have made clear they are aiming for something closer to the immigration shutdown of the 1920s, when Congress, at the crest of a decades-long surge in nativism, barred entry of people from half of the world and brought net immigration down to zero. The share of the foreign-born population bottomed out at 4.7 percent in 1970. Stephen Miller, a top adviser to Mr. Trump, has extolled those decades of low immigration as the last time the United States was “an undisputed global superpower.”
Whether or not restrictions will restore some of what Mr. Miller views as a midcentury idyll, there’s little doubt that major changes are in store. Immigration has woven itself so tightly through the country’s fabric — in classrooms and hospital wards, city parks and concert halls, corporate boardrooms and factory floors — that walling off the country now will profoundly alter daily life for millions of Americans... (our emphasis)
Trump and his regime's monsters are inexorably changing the fabric of America for the worse, and doing it a cruel, arbitrary, and lawless way that will be a stain on our country for as long as it exists. On this and too many other fronts, we're the bad guys now, thanks to him.
By the mid-2000s, Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse of teen girls was routine. From 2002 to 2005 alone, the late financier victimized “dozens” of underage teens by luring them into sex acts for payment under the auspices of massage work, some as young as 14, prosecutors said.
Epstein leaned on a coterie of employees and associates – including British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell – to secure a “steady supply of minor victims”. He also enlisted his victims to recruit other girls under the false pretense of providing massages, prosecutors said.
While the breadth of Epstein’s crimes is well-documented, papers in recently unveiled investigative files from the Department of Justice have put into sharper relief how he and his associates had an almost assembly line-like process for procuring victims.
These documents – released over the past week by a Trump administration under intense political pressure from both Democrats and Republicans – also make clearer how girls and young women were perceived as commodities: mere bodies meant to serve a predator’s twisted predilections – and possibly those of his associates.
One document from 2001 described how Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for aiding Epstein’s crimes, accosted three female students on a Palm Beach, Florida, college campus.
“Maxwell said she needed young, beautiful unmarried women to answer phones and do office work at her home on Palm Beach,” a police report stated. At least one of the students went to the house on several occasions and “described the telephone calls as men call[ing] in saying when they were going to drop of[f] particular girls”.
“All three girls said Maxwell and Epstein were secretive about what was going on at the house, and at least two of the girls complained about Epstein touching them inappropriately. They said Maxwell asked for a list of other girls who she could call to work on short notice,” the report continued. Maxwell “said she needed a large pool of girls to call as she did not know how many she would need at any given time”... (our emphasis)
These new reports on the Malignant Fascist's bff Epstein's and his assistant and chronic liar Ghislaine Maxwell's method of procuring victims are damning enough that they should put an end to Maxwell's attempt to get a new trial. In a better country, they'd be more than enough to send her back to the prison where she was serving her sentence before the MF had her sent to a "Club Fed" in exchange for her lying to the MF's lawyer Todd Blanche that she never saw the MF doing anything untoward. One of the first acts of a Democratic administration must be to send this evil person back to the prison where she belongs.
(click on image to enlarge)
[Image description: Near the center is an object that resembles an edge-on view of a hamburger. There is a diagonal dark strip (the meat patty) of dust, running from 1 o’clock to 7 o’clock, that obscures a central star. Curving away from either side of the dark strip are glowing white clouds (the buns) where dust is reflecting starlight. Bright blue finger-like wisps of material extend far above and below the dark center plane. A few dozen stars, some with four diffraction spikes, are scattered on the black background of space.]
Credit: NASA, ESA, STScI, K. Monsch (CfA). Image processing: J. DePasquale (STScI).
Superb lawyer and commentator Joyce Vance looks at the deranged Malignant Fascist's Christmas post on his failing social media site ("Merry Christmas to all..." followed by a fusillade of lies, accusations that can be seen as confessions, etc.), and says he should be put in the witness chair:
"In his social media post, Trump offered up some specifics that he might have more information about:
People who loved Jeffrey Epstein
People who gave Jeffrey Epstein bundles of money
People who went to Jeffrey Epstein’s island and parties
Why Trump dropped Jeffrey Epstein long before it became fashionable to do so
Given this public comment and the long-term relationship between the two, if I wanted to understand more about possible co-conspirators and accomplices, funding, and the full range of Jeffrey Epstein’s criminality—what his long time party buddy learned that was so bad that Trump dropped Epstein before the Florida prosecution made it all public—I would want an interview with Donald Trump. If I were still a prosecutor, I’d send out two FBI agents to have a chat with him. As far as I’m aware, the Supreme Court has never said presidents can’t be witnesses."
Vance goes on to say that won't happen, with the Department of Justice being in a full defense mode for the Malignant Fascist. But what a show that would be.
