Sunday, December 28, 2025

Happy New Year

First up, Katie Phang.


 

Back in July, C.I. reviewed  Robert W Fieseler's AMERICAN SCARE: FLORIDA'S HIDDEN COLD WAR ON BLACK AND QUEER LIVES.  I don't know if Mom or Dad bought it, but they both read it and since I was hear for Christmas, I grabbed it off the shelves and read it too.  

It's a great book and I recommend it but I'm noting it now because Chris Bull (LGBTQ NATION) has an interview with the author:


No one can accuse Robert W. Fieseler of taking the easy road.

The journalist and historian’s first book, Tinderbox: The Untold Story of the Up Stairs Lounge Fire and the Rise of Gay Liberation, chronicled the horrific mass incineration of gay men at a New Orleans gay bar and the extraordinary bigotry exhibited by public officials and religious leaders in the aftermath.

His latest book is no beach read either. In American Scare: Florida’s Hidden Cold War on Black and Queer Lives, Fieseler draws on a treasure trove of previously undisclosed documents to expose the Johns Committee. This state legislative organization used the cover of anti-communism to attack political opponents. Spearheaded by Charley Johns, a multi-term smear artist in a gerrymandered legislature, the Committee tried to eliminate threats to the hegemony of the state’s white, conservative regime just as minority groups were starting to assert power.

Sound familiar? Well, that’s part of the point.

With the publication of American Scare, Fieseler, who lives in New Orleans with his partner, Ryan, has joined the ranks of the nation’s top investigative reporters, chronicling our most tragic episodes while taking home multiple awards. In fact, American Scare in November was named a Kirkus “Best Book of 2025.”

LGBTQ Nation chatted with Fieseler via Zoom to understand the historical gravity of his work and the parallels to today’s politics, a time when MAGA employs many of the same strategies of demonizing and discriminating against marginalized groups to gain and retain a stranglehold on power.

LGBTQ Nation: Dostoyevski would have a lot to say about American politics. There are moments in our history that explain the cycle of queer liberation and backlash, such as the Florida Johns Committee, the Matthew Shepard murder, the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, or the Upstairs Lounge fire disaster in New Orleans. Both your books cover such tragedies. What do they reveal about LGBTQ+ life? 

Robert W. Fieseler: Especially today, our news cycle continually chases its tail and fails to account for the historical background needed to understand any given headline. We’re in a time now where deep undercurrents are affecting our present moment more than our daily tidal shifts, and that’s why historical context is so important to factor in: It reveals the seeds and sources of contemporary phenomena.

I wrote about the 1973 Upstairs Lounge tragedy – a notoriously unsolved arson fire in New Orleans that claimed 32 lives – for my first book Tinderbox, right around the time of the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting. I felt disoriented when contemporary news accounts of the Orlando tragedy offered me none of the substantive societal subtext I needed to understand and process the massacre.


That's the opening so use the link to read it in full.  

I'm in Boston with my daughter.  I spend Christmas here.  Elaine stays at C.I.'s because they've spent pretty much every Christmas together since the first year of college.  There was one or two years when -- due to pregnancies -- they spent it together via the phone.  But outside of that, they are always physically together.  

And I come out to Boston and visit my family.  It lets Mom see her granddaughter.  She has a ton of grandchildren and loves them all but she points out that she gets to see our daughter so little.  I feel bad about that.  I take her to Boston about three times a year.  And  Mom can come to C.I.'s anytime she wants out in California or if we're back at our place in Hawaii, Mom can come there.  But I know she wants more and don't blame her.  

I'm explaining that because a lot of e-mails are wondering if I'm sick and/or complaining about the lack of posts.  That's what's going on.  It happens each year but more so this year because we're all drained from the convicted felon returning to the White House.  We're all trying to give ourselves time when we need it.  

And tlaking about Chump or spending time with my folks and my siblings and their children?  I'd rather spend time on the family that I don't see as much as I should.  

I hope everyone had a great Christmas.  And that we all have a great new year.  It's been a tough year because of Chump's efforts to destroy our country  We accomplished a great deal by standing up to him but a lot of people still suffered.  He is pure evil. 


Remember that on New Year's Eve, ABC is airing DICK CLARK'S ROCKING NEW YEAR'S EVE and among the guests?  Post-Malone (yea!) and the one and only Diana Ross!!!  My dad's loved Diana's singing for years -- has everything she's released -- solo or with the Supremes -- and he's getting the word out so let me help him with that.


Let me note this remix of Diana Ross' "The Boss."

 



 


Here's C.I.'s "The Snapshot:"


Friday, December 26, 2025.  Epstein files produce some pushback on lies Chump has told, the non-prince Andrew appears caught making an order for a number of girls to prey on -- making the order to Ghislaine I-Am-As-Innocent-As-Donald Maxwell, more lies from Homeland Security, and much more. 



Let's start with the bizarre Gizzy Pants, convicted sex trafficker and pedophile Ghislaine Maxwell.   It takes a special kind of trash to prey on others for sex but Ghislaine has always been that trash.  Her trashy father disgraced the family and Ghislaine went in a search of a man who could make her whore and maybe something more.  She found that in Jeffrey Epstein.  She joined in forcing girls and women into sex with men.  She preyed on girls and women, she groomed them and so much more.  And she's just utter trash.  Sarah, Duchess of Nowhere, has learned that the hard way as has No-Longer Prince Andrew.  


Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor asked Jeffrey Epstein’s fixer Ghislaine Maxwell to arrange meetings with “inappropriate friends” while she sought “friendly and discreet and fun” girls on his behalf, the latest documents from the Epstein files appear to show.

The largest release yet of files concerning the financier and convicted child sex offender – which also raise fresh questions for the US president, Donald Trump – include emails in the name of “A” exchanging detailed messages with Maxwell that appeared to identify the author as Andrew.

The emails from 2001 and 2002 appear to give further insights into the relationship between the former prince and Epstein, which has been under scrutiny since it emerged in 2011.

The files also show that the FBI sought to question Mountbatten-Windsor about his links to a second millionaire sex offender, Peter Nygard.

 

We're ignoring Chump's social media posts.  



Yea





I was dictating about one of the posts for this snapshot and we got into the weeds -- specifically outing a Chump supporter who is semi-beloved by those who know his acting.  They don't know his life.  I'm not opposed to outing him -- and already did earlier this year when he was cozy publicly with Chump.  But let's save that for another time.  It'll be funnier this way as a mutual friend let's him know that I'm toying with him at present.  At present. 

A lot of news in the Epstein scandal -- much more than just the fact that Donald was on Epstein's plane much more than had been reported.  Sarah Fitzpatrick (THE ATLANTIC) notes:

Nearly two years ago, Donald Trump kicked off the presidential-campaign season with a declaration: “I was never on Epstein’s Plane, or at his ‘stupid’ Island,” he posted on Truth Social in January 2024. Reports to the contrary, he insisted, were the fault of AI—and of his political rivals: “This is what the Democrats do to their Republican Opponent, who is leading them, by a lot, in the Polls.”

But this week, the documents released by Trump’s own Justice Department—including flight logs and emails—told a different story. Federal prosecutors determined in January 2020 that Trump had been a passenger on the notorious private jet owned by Jeffrey Epstein—who would later be charged with sex trafficking—far more often than they had realized.

 

His travels on Epstein's plane spanned the time that would likely be covered in any criminal charges against Epstein's co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell. Trump was listed as a passenger on at least eight flights between 1993 and 1996, and on at least four of those flights, Maxwell was also there, according to the email.

On one of those eight flights, in 1993, Trump and Epstein were the only two passengers listed in the flight logs. On another flight, the three passengers listed in records are Epstein, Trump, and a redacted individual, who was 20 years old at the time. Two other flights included two women -- whose names were redacted in follow-up emails — identified as potential witnesses in a Maxwell case.


This morning, Kanyshai Butun (ANADOLU AJANSI) reports that recently released documents note several alleged co-conspirators who have not been prosecutred, "The list from the recently released Epstein files included two prominent men named as co-conspirators in 2019 Justice Department documents: US billionaire Leslie Wexner – a longtime Epstein business associate – and French modeling scout Jean-Luc Brunel, who committed suicide in 2022.  Wexner said through his lawyer that he has been cleared of any wrongdoing. In 2007, four women – Sarah Kellen, Lesley Groff, Adriana Ross and Nadia Marcinkova – were named by prosecutors as co-conspirators."  This week's releases included a curious letter -- one that led to outrage from Chump over MEIDASTOUCH NEWS's coverage:


 

 

 

There's been a lot of important coverage over the last two days including the following. 




 



 

 


 

 
 



The holidays don't bring a halt to Chump's multiple wars on the people.  Guy Trebay (NEW YORK TIMES) reports: 

“He is one of those people that make this small town click,” said Nelson Hammell, who runs an antiques shop in West Palm Beach, Fla.

Mr. Hammell was referring to José Gonzalez, the manager and public face of Bice Ristorante, an upscale Italian restaurant in Palm Beach, the winter home to President Trump and some of the world’s wealthiest people.

On Dec. 10, Mr. Gonzalez, 53, was stopped by Florida Highway Patrol while driving a nephew’s pickup truck. The apparent offense was having tinted car windows. Mr. Gonzalez was arrested and turned over to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Then, as has happened to thousands of others in Florida, he was taken deep into the Everglades to the state-run immigration detention center known as Alligator Alcatraz.


This is the biggest scam in the world.  Chump pretends to protect the country as he attacks innocents.  DHS insists that these people are the worst of the worst and have various charges against them but it turns out that th majority do not.  It's all smoke and mirrors intended to make Chump look better while people suffer -- innocent people suffer.  Treybeh's article notes:


“What I have been hearing from people in the community, most of whom are Trump supporters, is that it went too far,” said Eddie Schmidt, the owner of Table26, a restaurant in West Palm Beach. “When we’re not talking about deporting gang members, drug dealers, pedophiles but members of the community, faces we all know, it’s harder to turn your back.”


The lies were obvious for many from the start.  The number of people who can see reality has only increased throughout 2025.  If Chump really thinks he can continues these attacks for a four year term, he is rudely mistaken.  

It's all spectle and falsehoods which is why Kristi Noem is so perfect to lead the corrupt department. Melissa Gira Grant  (THE NEW REPUBLIC) notes:

Before the 2024 election, the idea that Kristi Noem would someday head the Department of Homeland Security seemed beyond unlikely. But her cruelty once handed this power was foreseeable. If Noem’s name rang any bells for most people before the Senate confirmed her to head DHS this January (to their enduring shame), it was because she shot her 14-month-old dog to death in a gravel pit and included the grisly scene in her election-year memoir. She defended the book, No Going Back, as “a blueprint for America of what citizens can do here to take their country back.” In the past year, she has emerged in what will likely go down in history as her true form: an entity first caught on camera in March 2025 in a torture prison in El Salvador, and now shorthanded as “ICE Barbie.” Heavily made-up, styled in a tight white shirt, $50,000 Rolex watch, and an Immigration and Customs Enforcement ball cap atop long, flowing locks, she stood in front of cells filled with men imprisoned on her orders, and delivered a direct-to-camera threat to immigrants in the United States: “This facility,” she said, “is one of the tools in our toolkit that we will use if you commit crimes against the American people.”

Under Noem, ICE has become the most lavishly-funded law enforcement agency in the United States. ICE agents have arrested around 220,000 people, between Trump taking office and October 15. (That doesn’t include arrests by Border Patrol agents, a separate DHS agency who often accompany ICE; since January 20, the administration has claimed to have arrested 595,000 immigrants.) On any given day, Noem’s DHS is responsible for holding around 65,000 people in immigration detention—a record high. Breaking another record, ICE has detained at least 600 children this year. The agency claimed to have deported more than 600,000 people since Trump returned to office. Noem has overseen the opening and expansion of several new immigrant detention facilities and camps; two Florida facilities notorious for employing torture techniques borrowed from CIA black sites are now under her purview. Other DHS agencies have indefinitely suspended immigration applications from a growing number of countries Trump has targeted, and abruptly canceled immigration ceremonies. Noem has purchased planes for DHS to use for deportation flights, including two new luxury G700 Gulfstream jets for $200 million, and ten Boeing 737’s from a bankrupt budget airline, each without an engine. DHS press releases are now filled with open taunting of immigrants; their social media accounts are dominated by white nationalist slop. Noem has since admitted she directed the removal—more a mass abduction than deportation—of 261 people to the prison camp in El Salvador in March, in defiance of a court order.

While DHS anti-immigration agents may hide their faces in balaclavas, Noem is front-and-center promoting the agency and Trump’s promised mass deportations. ICE Barbie is somewhere between the enabler and the cover for the agency’s campaign of “assault and kidnapping”—the words used by one woman who was grabbed by masked, armed agents on her commute in Chicago. Tens of thousands of people have been taken by masked and armed men working for DHS on the streets of Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Baltimore, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Charlotte, and others. Thousands of people across the country have been vigilant in identifying and tracking these agents as they terrorize their neighbors. In the last few weeks alone, federal immigration agents loosed an attack dog on a Washington state resident, according to his senator; chased a Louisiana woman (a U.S. citizen) while she was walking home from the corner store; unleashed pepper spray on residents in a Somali neighborhood in Minneapolis; violently yanked a Key Largo woman from her car on her way to work, still wearing her hospital scrubs; and chased a man out of a Home Depot parking lot and into the street, where he was reportedly hit by a car.


If you celebrated Christmas today, how did you celebrate it?  Shared time with loved ones?  Well there's no love in Kristi's faux heart so she celebrated it with a shooting.  Sarah Fortinsky  (THE HILL) reports ICE admits to shooting a man in a car in Baltimore.  

Sarah does some strong work.  This isn't strong work.  This is pathetic.  It's a betrayal of journalism.  Maybe she was on the clock and didn't want to be?  I don't know.  I don't care.  I had announced last night, "In 2026, we're going to start putting a real spotlight on those journalists who repeat Homeland Security's lies without (a) noting they're claims and not factual proven statements and that (b) Homeland Security lied non-stop in 2025 and so they aren't to be believed."


Yea!  I don't have too.  This morning, MEIDASTOUCH announced that they're going to do that.




Yea!  They'll do it better and I'll use it as an excuse to focus on something else.  My plate is full and, like Vanessa, I got work to do.



Back to the lies of Homeland Secuirty, that is how it works and that is why you're told not to lie.  If you are caught lying -- and Homeland Security has been caught lying repeatedly in 2025 -- no one has to believe you.  It's a truism that the courts are beginning to enforce.  It's a shame that journalists -- who are supposed to traffic in the truth -- are so slow to note a habitual liar when were talking about the government. 


Meanwhile, Melissa Cooney (NBC CONNECTICUT) reports:

A Meriden 16-year-old is back in Connecticut after being detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for six months.

With the help of three law firms in Connecticut, one in Texas, and a senator, Maloney High School graduate Kevin is released from one of the federal government's ICE detention facilities in Texas.

"I’m happy, very happy,” Kevin said. “Thank you all,” he said in Spanish.

You might remember Kevin’s story. He was detained at a scheduled, non-criminal immigration hearing in Hartford in June with his father. It happened days before his high school graduation, sparking outrage in the community from his classmates, teachers, and city officials, who held a march in his honor and left his seat open at the graduation ceremony.

“ICE took Kevin in the middle of the night with his father to deport him in secret. The agent told him he could make one last call, and he called me. While other kids might have called their family or friends, he made a call to his lawyer at 3 a.m.,” said Meagan Faitsch, one of Kevin’s attorneys.

 16 years old, kidnapped and imprisoned.  What a proud moment for Kristi and Chump.  


Still on Texas,  Berenice Garcia (TEXAS TRIBUNE) reports:


One morning in mid-November, Mario Guerrero, the executive director of the South Texas Builders Association, was checking a group chat when a video of federal agents detaining people from a construction site popped up.

He watched the video of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detaining workers who were pouring cement in front of a home in an idyllic neighborhood here in the Rio Grande Valley.

For nearly a year, Guerrero had seen similar videos or read news reports of arrests and raids. This was the last straw.

The raids and the specter of more to come have struck fear in construction workers, causing many to stay home. ICE agents have arrested more than 9,100 people in South Texas — nearly one-fifth of all such arrests in the entire state since Trump took office, according to government data provided by ICE in response to a FOIA request to the Deportation Data Project and analyzed by the Texas Tribune.

Without enough workers, construction has slowed, sending a ripple effect throughout the economy. Economists suggest that this will drive housing costs up — even as Texas officials focus on bringing such costs down.


Let's wind down with this from THE BLACK COMMENTATOR:


The Black Commentator

December 18, 2025

 Issue #1068

 is now Online


Happy Holidays from BC


We are in our winter hiatus


The next issue


will be Published Jan 8

Read issue 1068

Our email address is BlackCommentator@gmail.com

Our voicemail number is 856.823.1739

The Black Commentator | P.O. Box 2635, A weekly publication dedicated to economic justice, social justice and peace.,
Tarpon Springs, FL 34688-2635


Along with Betty's "And who is served by this Chump decision?," tThe following sites updated:

Posted by at

Tuesday, December 23, 2025

Fools Johnson and JD Vance

Let me start with Katie Phang.

 




Vice President JD Vance no longer commands the support of the majority of Republicans in a hypothetical GOP presidential primary, according to a poll.

The survey by AtlasIntel shows that, while the largest proportion of Republicans (46.7 percent) would pick Vance in a hypothetical contest between him, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and other figures, this is less than the 54.6 percent of support he accrued in AtlasIntel’s September polling.

Who would have thought a male politician who tries to play macho wearing eye liner wouldn't be sure thing.  

Some comments on the article:

Avery Brown
Just Now
I'm surprised that anyone would support this fraud. He's a human chameleon - becoming whatever is popular for self-preservation and longevity. When calling the draft-dodging felon "Hitler" was no longer fashionable, he switched his position and became a MAGA sycophant.


Charles Stockton
4 hours ago
JD is probably worse than DJT.  He told the truth about DJT back in 2021 but then he flipped his rhetoric to align with the golden cow everyone else was praying to.  That means that we really don't know who he is, but everyone has know what DJT was all along and getting worse.



Mike Johnson took a rare break from sitting on the fence to deliver a brimstone and fire speech about the destruction of the country if the GOP doesn’t win the midterms.

Speaking at Turning Point USA’s summit in Phoenix on Sunday, the House Speaker was impassioned as he warned about what was on the other side of the Republican “split screen.”

“On the other side of that split screen and—quick summary—you see the radical left Marxist Democrats, and they are being overrun by the Marxists, they truly are. This is not your father‘s Democratic Party anymore.”
Johnson, 53, continued: “And they want to dismantle the very foundations of our Republic and everything that we all stand for and that Charlie Kirk evangelized.

“Everything that’s been said here, everything is on the line in the midterms of 2026. And we have much more to do.”


Moving to strength, Jasmine Crockeet.


Texas Democratic Representative Jasmine Crockett has torn into JD Vance after the vice president hurled a “racist” insult at her during a conservative event.

Trump’s No. 2 thought it appropriate to call Crockett, who is vying to take Texas Republican John Cornyn’s Senate seat, a “street girl” at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest conference in Phoenix, Arizona, on Sunday.
“Jasmine Crockett! Oh, Jasmine Crockett, the record speaks for itself. She wants to be a senator, though her street-girl persona is about as real as her nails!” he said to thunderous applause from the young Republican crowd.

The Senate hopeful didn’t take the comments lying down, replying with a sharp rebuke on MS NOW. Crockett, 44, told The Weekend: Primetime host Antonia Hylton that Vance was “trying to rile up his base.”
She defended her “credentials” and added, “At the end of the day, I am who I am, and I am authentic. And that is actually what they are fearful of, my authenticity. Because it rings true with every single American, whether they’re a Texan or not.

“It rings true that I am fighting for real, everyday people. And instead of talking about policy, when you’re talking about the record speaks for itself, baby, let’s talk about your record.”


Here's C.I's "The Snapshot:"


Monday, December 22, 2025.  Chump's war on the economy leaves few survivors, his crowd size dwindles, ICE can't protect those in its custody as evidenced by four recent deaths, Pam Bondi and others release redacted photos of Diana Ross and Michael Jackson at a charity event with former President Bill Clinton, and much more. 

As he's learned recently, Chump can no longer attract a crowd.  Vendors left an event early last week when the turnout was in the hundreds and not the thousands.  In fact, the big rallies these days are the protests against his actions.  For example, Minnesota Saturday.  

Feven Gerezgiher (MPR NEWS) reports;

Thousands rallied in south Minneapolis on Saturday to protest increased immigration enforcement in Minnesota.

The Trump administration launched “Operation Metro Surge” on Dec. 1, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement effort in Minneapolis, following President Donald Trump’s disparaging remarks about Somalis.

At least 400 people have been arrested during the operation, according to ICE, though advocates say the majority had no criminal records.

Protestors carried signs reading “ICE out MSP” to denounce the operation.

“Our people are getting snatched every day from the streets. We have people who are missing; we don’t know where they are,” said Nimco Ahmed, an organizer with the Somali American Coalition Action Fund. “We’re here to protect our community, our assets and everything that we stand for.”

Silvia Ibanez, a Minneapolis teacher, said immigrants feel under attack. She said many of her students are afraid and families are also concerned about sending them to school.


 Kyeland Jackson and Susan Du (MINNESOTA STAR TRIBUNE) offer:


On a frigid, blustery Saturday, Rick Vandendolder stepped outside to follow in his immigrant father’s footsteps.

“My dad was with the Dutch resistance, and he helped hide Jews and others who were fleeing Nazi persecution,” the 73-year-old said. “I met some of the people that he saved, and I never dreamt that I’d be seeing the same thing going on in this country.”

Thousands descended on East Lake Street on Saturday to march against ongoing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in Minnesota.

“It’s cold out, people are hungry, our economy is suffering. Those are things we should be working on,” said Je’taylor Coylewright, 49. “But instead, we’re coming out to have to fight against masked officers taking people off the street. That’s horrible. What a waste of time.”


Ada Duxter (CBS NEWS) adds:

Groups on hand pushed back on the idea that ICE is detaining "the worst of the worst."

"Most of the immigrants here are working very hard," said Silvia Ibanez of the Immigrant Defense Network. "They are here because they are trying to find a better future for their family, and that's not a crime."

Saturday's march ended at Karmel Mall, which organizers said was symbolic of the way the city's Latino and Somali communities have both been targets of the latest DHS enforcement.

 

The gestapo snatches people off the street.  Illegally.  ICE doesn't suddenly develop a code of ethics once they've snatched you.  Which is why the deaths in ICE custody are not at all surprising.  Marianne LeVine and Doublas McMillan (WASHINGNTON POST) report, "Four people in immigration detention have died over a four-day period this month, increasing concern among advocates and some members of Congress over detention conditions. One death took place Dec. 12, another two took place on Dec. 14 and the fourth on Dec. 15, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement news releases."  I'm sorry, wasn't the sanctimonious liar Todd Blanche just on NBC'S MEET THE PRESS claiming it was his job to guarantee the safety of those who were locked up?


 


From the transcript:

KRISTEN WELKER:

All right, a couple more and we're almost out of time. I do want to ask you about Ghislaine Maxwell who was of course convicted in 2021 for her role in helping Jeffrey Epstein traffic his victims. In July, you interviewed her in Florida where she was serving a 20-year sentence in federal prison. Just a week later, Maxwell was moved to a more permissive prison camp in Texas. Why was she moved just days after you interviewed her, Mr. Blanche?


DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL TODD BLANCHE:

So that's a Bureau of Prison security issue that I will not talk about –


KRISTEN WELKER:

Did you have anything to do with it?


DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL TODD BLANCHE:

– but I think it’s fair to say –


KRISTEN WELKER:

Did you have anything to do with it?


DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL TODD BLANCHE:

Let me finish. First of all, I am responsible for the Bureau of Prisons. So every decision that they make lands on my desk to the extent it needs to. But just let me talk about the security issue. At the time that I met Ms. Maxwell, there was a tremendous amount of scrutiny and publicity towards her. And the institution she was in, she was suffering numerous and numerous threats against her life. So the BOP is not only responsible for putting people in jail and making sure they stay in jail, but also for their safety. And so she was moved. She is in federal prison. She was in federal prison before. And she's in federal prison now. She's doing 20 years because she was convicted. And the fact that she was moved, she might be moved to another institution tomorrow if security requires it. And that's true of any federal inmate across this country.


A convicted pedophile has more rights to protection in US custody then someone's whose 'crime' was walking on a US street.  How telling and how sad. 


Tracey Tully and Luis Ferré-Sadurní (NEW YORK TIMES) report:


A 41-year-old man from Haiti who had been detained by immigration officials died last week after a medical emergency, federal officials said, in what is believed to be the first death linked to the troubled, privately run migrant detention facility in Newark where he was held.

The man, Jean Wilson Brutus, was taken to a hospital within hours of arriving at Delaney Hall, a two-story jailhouse where six months ago four men escaped through a flimsy wall during unrest over crowded conditions and a lack of regular meals. He died last Friday, according to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

Mr. Brutus was one of four men detained by ICE and facing deportation to die in custody in the past week across the country. Deaths of migrant detainees have spiked this year as ICE has ramped up its deportation campaign, filling detention centers to record levels. The agency was holding more than 65,700 people as of Nov. 30.


And WLS (ABC7) reports:


A Bulgarian man from Chicago arrested during the recent fall immigration enforcement 'blitz' has died while in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at a Michigan private prison.

Nenko Gantchev, 56, died Monday at the North Lake Correctional Facility in Baldwin, MI, which is contracted by ICE to hold undocumented migrants.

After multiple inquiries from the ABC7 I-Team, a DHS statement published online said Gantchev's death is "suspected to be from natural causes," but "the official cause of death is still under investigation."

But Gantchev's family and friends tell the I-Team questions are mounting surrounding his deteriorating medical condition the past few months while he was in custody at North Lake, leading up to what happened the day he died.


Next topic . . .


The release of the Epstein files is a joke.  The administration is non-compliant and breaking the law with the trickle they provided starting Friday.  The release included a photo having nothing to do with Epstein -- but picturing Diana Ross, her son Evan and Michael Jackson with two of his children as they met with Bill Clinton. Katie Francis (THE DAILY BEAST) explains:

The White House has been accused of “having no shame” after a redacted image of Diana Ross and Michael Jackson released in the latest Epstein files wave was found to be a photo of the duo with their own children.

In the photo, which is publicly available unredacted, the iconic musicians and longtime friends stand on either side of Bill Clinton alongside their kids Evan Ross, Michael “Prince” Jackson Jr., and Paris Jackson.

The shot was taken in Washington, D.C. on Dec. 19, 2003, by photographer Jonathan Exley, who took multiple photos of Jackson throughout his career.

Alongside multiple online users identifying the image, Ross’s son Evan clarified that the redactions were not hiding potential victims. “That’s me, not unidentified women,” he commented on an Instagram post.

White House Deputy Press Secretary Abigail Jackson was also corrected by a community notice when she shared the redacted image on X on Friday.

“Per the Epstein Files Transparency Act, DOJ was specifically instructed only to redact the faces of victims and/or minors. Here is a picture of Bill Clinton with his arm around Michael Jackson, and redacted individuals,” she wrote alongside the photo.


What?  Pam Bondi didn't have access to "We Are The World" footage?  Next up, she releases footage from THE WIZ?  





Trickery and deceit, it's all Chump has left to offer.  On the topic of photos, Alan Feuer, David Enrich and Dylan Freedman (NEW YORK TIMS) report:


More than a dozen photos — including one featuring President Trump — were removed without explanation from the large collection of files connected to the investigations of Jeffrey Epstein that the Justice Department released on Friday.

A total of 16 photos were taken down at some point on Saturday from the website that the department created to house files — among them, one of the few that contained Mr. Trump’s image. It was a photo of a credenza in Mr. Epstein’s Manhattan home, with an open drawer containing other photos, including at least one of Mr. Trump.

The Justice Department did not explain on the site why the images had been removed, and a department spokesman did not respond to a message seeking comment.

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee immediately seized on the missing photo of Mr. Trump, reposting it on social media and asking Attorney General Pam Bondi if it was true that the image had been removed.


Here's the photo Bondi apparently decided to remove.




While rushing to protect Chump, they once again didn't give a damn about the survivors.  David McAfee (RAW STORY) reports:

Donald Trump's administration committed a "grave and indefensible violation" with a mistake it made in the production of certain Epstein files, according to a survivor of the deceased financier's abuse.

Lawyer and journalist Aaron Parnas flagged the letter from the Epstein survivor on social media. Parnas wrote, "Jane Doe Epstein Survivor, who reported Epstein to the FBI in 2009, sent the following letter to the Department of Justice today after it failed to redact her name in the release of the files. I have confirmed her name is currently not redacted in multiple public files."

The letter itself says in part, "I am a survivor of Jeffrey Epstein. I write to place the Department of Justice on formal notice of a grave and indefensible violation arising from the December 19, 2025 release of records under the Epstein Files Transparency Act."


The White House reduces it all to a political stunt.  But there are some things in the release that are news worthy.  Edith Olmsted (THE NEW REPUBIC) reports: 

Surprise, surprise: President Donald Trump was in Jeffrey Epstein’s contact list.

Buried in the massive trove of documents released by the Department of Justice Friday was Epstein’s 90-page contact book filled with names of high-profile celebrities—including Donald Trump and his family members. 

Contact information for “Trump, Donald,” now redacted, was kept separately from the information on how to reach Trump’s daughter Ivanka, his ex-wife Ivana, his brother Robert, and Robert’s wife, Blaine. 

A handwritten note indicated the contact book was from Palm Beach, dated 2004–2005.

There also appeared to be contact information for Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, where Epstein reportedly scouted young women to abuse and traffic, and from where he was supposedly banned in October 2007. 


The whole family was connected to him.  That's not a casual acquaintance.  Not at all.  And this wasn't the release ordered.  Ordered by an actual act of Congress.  "That's going to take an act of Congress."  You may have heard that before in your life.  Well this had an actual act of Congress and still the administration refused to comply and they got Speaker of the Closet Mike Johnson to send the House home so that Chump could try to escape the outrage of Congress.  Will it work?  MOTHER JONES' Clint Hendler notes:


According to Rep. Thomas Massie, the Kentucky Republican who broke with his party to champion the Epstein Files Transparency Act, what the government has so far provided “grossly fails to comply with both the spirit and the letter of the law.”

Epstein’s victims have similar complaints. “They are proving everything we have been saying about corruption and delayed justice,” Jess Michaels told the New York Times. “What are they protecting? The coverup continues.”  

The release is being overseen by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, the president’s former personal defense attorney, who represented him in the criminal case related to Trump’s attempt to coverup his affair with Stormy Daniels, the adult film star. Blanche has said that the Justice Department remains at work preparing more files for disclosure in the “coming weeks,” in apparent violation of Friday’s deadline.

 

Moving over to the economy . . . 


Donald Chump keeps insisting he's save the economy when, in fact, he's wrecked it.  And all of his lies are not going to make people deny what they see with their own eyes, the pain they feel in their own pocketbooks.  Making tamales this Christmas?  Prepare to spend a lot more this year.  Rob McMillan KABC logo (ABC 7) notes, "CNN recently reported that a pound of masa, on average, costs about $1.99. That's up about 30 cents from this time last year. Plus, rising business costs across the board aren't making it any easier."  The Mexican cuisine staple is consumed year round but, yes, tamales are a Christmas tradition for many in the US.  Chump thinks he can out argue people who know what they're experiencing, people who are having to make difficult choices when doing basic grocery shopping.  Like that morning coffee but  not that morning coffee price?  Well doesn't look like coffee prices are going down anytime soon.   NEWS.AZ explains, "US consumers — the world’s largest coffee drinkers — are expected to face higher prices well into 2026, limiting the White House’s ability to ease food inflation ahead of the November midterm elections."  Nathan Layne and Aleksandra Michalska (REUTERS) notes, "On a recent snowy morning in a Trump-loving part of rural Michigan, three dozen cars idled outside a firehouse-turned-food pantry. Inside, volunteers packaged lettuce, apples and other household staples that have surged or stayed high in price this year."  Food pantries at Christmas -- Donald Chump's America.  They trusted him.  He didn't deliver.  He didn't even try to deliver.   

He destroyed our economy.  He destroyed us as a travel destination.  What foreign tourist wants to come to the US when his gestapo attacks foreigners and perceived foreigners on the streets?  No one.  He's destroyed the travel industry.   Christine Chung (NEW YORK TIMES) reports:

The United States routinely tops the list of foreign travelers’ dream destinations. They can’t seem to get enough of Manhattan’s skyscrapers, the mountains of Vermont, the hedonistic nightlife of Las Vegas, Hawaii’s pristine beaches and the dreamscapes of Disney parks.

But that’s changing.

Steep new fees, travel restrictions, visa hurdles, uncertainty at the border, and President Trump’s aggressive language toward Canada and other countries are all taking a toll.

Postpandemic travel growth has stalled and 4.5 million fewer international visits are expected this year compared with 2024, according to industry estimates.


He doesn't know what he's doing and he never has.  Hannah Broughton (THE MIRROR) reports,  "World-renowned whiskey brand Jim Beam has announced plans to pause production in 2026, amid struggles in the face of the Trump administration's trade wars. Operations at the company's Happy Hollow distillery in Clermont will cease on January 1, while the visitor center will remain open."  Chump's destroyed the economy.  He continues to believe he can lie about it and get away with it.  Diccon Hyatt (INVESTOPEDIA) notes:


On Wednesday evening, Trump took to the airways to defend his economic policies, responding to criticism from Democrats and others that the cost of living has risen too quickly under his administration, and has been exacerbated by his tariff campaign. Trump said he is tackling inflation, blamed his predecessor, Joe Biden, for the problem, and singled out groceries as an example of his success.

"Democrat [sic] politicians also sent the cost of groceries soaring, but we are solving that too," Trump said. "The price of a Thanksgiving turkey was down 33 percent compared to the Biden last year. The price of eggs is down 82 percent since March and everything else is falling rapidly and it's not done yet, but boy, are we making progress."

If you have noticed your groceries have gotten more expensive this year, the government's consumer price surveys back up your gut feeling with hard data.


Chump just doubles down on his lies.  Sarah Sharkey (MONEYWISE) adds:

 

Over the weekend, the president posted to Truth Social that “tariffs have made our Country Rich, Strong, Powerful, and Safe.” Later in his post, he pressed the Supreme Court to rule in his favor relating to emergency tariff powers. (1, 2)

But governors across the country are reporting impacts that differ from the White House’s assessment. Here’s what they’re saying.

[. . .]

But prices aren’t down. The latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showed an inflation rate of 3.0%. Some categories with spiking costs include food, with food at home costing 2.7% more than this time last year and food away from home costing 3.7% more than last year. Electricity prices are also up 5.1% from last year. (7)

A recent survey of Colorado businesses found that the effects of import taxes have had negative financial impacts on their business. Additionally, the governor of Michigan’s office recently found that the state’s residents are facing higher grocery prices, more expensive housing, and uncertain employment due to tariffs. (8, 9)


He keeps lying.  And we're supposed to ignore the prices when we go grocery shopping and ignore all the news of closings and layoffs.  PENNYWISE notes, "On November 21, 2025, Tyson Foods announced it will close its Lexington, Nebraska plant and cut Amarillo, Texas to one shift by January 20, 2026, eliminating 4,900 jobs."  PENNYGEM adds, "Under pressure Wendy’s shuts 300 restaurants—8,000 workers face layoffs."  Ash Frost (PENNYWISE) has a report that begs the question of where was the federal oversight: :

Farmers across the Midwest and South faced a sudden financial crisis in late October when payments for their harvested grain failed to arrive. From Nebraska to Texas, producers who had delivered crops to a major grain buyer found themselves waiting for checks that never came. Phone calls to the company went unanswered, and as days passed, concern turned to alarm. By early November, the scale of the problem became clear: thousands of farmers and agribusinesses were owed millions, with no explanation in sight.

When the creditor list finally surfaced, it revealed the breadth of the disaster. Kansas alone had 128 unpaid creditors, Nebraska 87, and Texas 72. The list included both small family farms and agricultural giants—Cargill was owed $2.6 million, while Viterra Canada awaited $4.7 million. Beyond the largest claims, there were dozens of pages of smaller operations, all left in limbo after trusting the wrong buyer. In total, court documents would later show liabilities between $100 million and $500 million, with as many as 5,000 creditors affected.





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