This Epstein Affair has shown a pattern where men of wealth and power created a zone of impunity that protected them for decades while destroying vulnerable people like Virginia Guiffrey…
I keep posting. According to Congressman Eric Swalwell (D-CA) Trumpepstein may cause an "Epstein bomb" causing over 100 Republican members to "jailbreak" from Trump.
Others say it is at least 30 Republicans coming over.
This really is the sh*t hitting the fan---going in all directions. At the center, will be TRump, Epstein, Putin, oligarchs, politicians, millionaires and billionaires, blackmail, trafficking, money laundering, and espionage. All of this led to billions in arms deals and the sale of spyware. Epstein ended-up dead---TRump ended up able to sell arms and participate in the crypto scam legally.
As a mental health therapist I pride myself in understanding human behavior. However, I feel completely inept in analyzing this one. Can someone help me out? Haven't trump and his above-the-law cronies paid attention to the democratic sweep of the last election? When you can't convince MTG, Mace and Boebert to vote your way you have a problem. Besides everyone watching trump fight to keep SNAP from hungry people, don't these idiots see the writing on the wall and the burgeoning schism of the GOP in broad daylight? Are they purposefully seeking its extinction? I am basking in satisfaction....
This is classic CULT behavior, Sophia. They are immune to common sense or common decency.
Recently read a typical problem with psychopaths is "they don't see it coming"---it's not that they are fearless.
Best show on TV or YouTube, GOP: Guardians Of Pedophiles.
I didn't think it was funny until President Petro of Columbia called them a "Clan of Paedophiles". Wish I could tell him Olé! for punching the bullies.
Worst off all, we forget it took two years for Woodward and Bernstein to get Watergate all together. That was child's play compared to the global reach, number of people, and the amount of money involved here.
Some House and Senate Dems started on this a while ago. Senator Wyden especially, he's been chasing the money.
And "Deep Throat" on this is deceased. I'm pretty certain that the records will speak for themselves, or already are. What happened to representatives who are "beyond reproach", especially at the top?
Now it is up to us Daniel? You sure have changed your tune, from there are a 100 Republican congressmen that are Nutzo and all we need to do is release the Epstein files, now that they have been released, somewhat, and we have had the damning Epstein email, there is no doubt that Trump raped girls, yet there he stands, the Republicans that supported him haven't moved an inch.
So now it's our responsibility to make them move, you know that they won't, so don't make it our responsibility. Your the one that crowed that all it would take is to sign the discharge petition.
Let us see now, if any Republican Congressmen, will sign HR 4405, if the Senate will sign it, and if Trump will sign it.
Isn't that how bills work, both houses approve it and the president signs it.
The roll call vote on H.R.4405, the Epstein Files Transparency Act, is expected to occur in the U.S. House of Representatives the week of Monday, November 17, 2025. A specific date has not yet been designated by the Speaker.
if H.R. 4405 passes the House of Representatives, it must also be approved by the Senate in an identical form to become a law
a bill can become a law without the President's signature through one of two ways: if the President takes no action on a bill while Congress is in session, or if both the House and Senate override a presidential veto. If Congress adjourns within the 10-day period and the President doesn't sign the bill, it is known as a "pocket veto" and does not become law.
Scenario. Bill passes house and senate, hits the presidents desk, Mikey boy adjourns congresss for 10 days.
I will cop to that, now you cop to your rant being wrong, misconceived and even a heat sink
So I am an asshole, now where am I wrong, in that the discharge petition will not solve the problem, because after the house passes HR 4405, if it does, it has to pass the senate, then be signed by Trump, and Mikey will recess congress to spare Trump from , vetoing the bill. thus enabling a pocket veto.
So while we are busting our balls, chewing up time, over procedure that goes no where, we could have mobilized for a national intifada, a general strike. The longer we wait Daniel, the more entrenched the dictatorship becomes.
Like the way he has converted the W H to his personal residence. First it was paving over the Rose Garden and making it into a giant patio with gold trimmed umbrellas, then there was planting two giant flagpoles in front and back, and while the media was kvetching and we were clucking over tearing down the East Wing, he remodeled the Lincoln Bedroom, built a Presidential Hall of fame, and who knows what else to the W H.
These are the actions of a person who knows that he isn't going anywhere, and the house is his, and that the only way he will leave is on a gurney.
And why does he believe that, well there is not only 40% of the population that identifies with him,. a heavily armed militia standing back and standing by, but a Department of Jusitice (national police force) and Dept of Defense, an international police force,which he has turned into a national police force.
Do you think a measly 22nd Amendment, the constitution and the law are an impediment?
All we want to get started is the subpoena power in the House. That is step 1 in the Jerry Weiss scenario. That could completely stop Trump in his tracks.
You keep creating strawmen. Must not have played monopoly as a kid.
Your attempt at insult is cute Daniel. but beneath you, and doesn't playwell.
It is tragic to see a septuagenarian act like a middle schooler.
Your scenario was getting Congresspersons on record voting against HR 4405, now it is subpoena power.
Pam Bondi's response to subpoenas has been characterized by a lack of compliance with congressional subpoenas regarding the Jeffrey Epstein case files, where critics allege the Department of Justice (DOJ) has "refused to comply with the Oversight Committee's lawful congressional subpoena to release the full Epstein files," according to House.gov. The DOJ has made some document productions but they were often insufficient or already public, prompting ongoing demands for greater cooperation from committees like the House Oversight Committee.
From roll calls to subpoenas, you keep moving the goal posts and accuse me of being what.... not believing the you or Jerry Weiss have the silver bullet.
I don't waste my time chasing snipes or will o the wisps.
The system has failed us, have you no clue. Time for positive direct action.
Some very trenchant quotes on corruption, going back to Tom Paine and Alexander Hamilton, so we have always known that this was possible. But our mistake was perceiving men of wealth as being men of honor, and in so doing, giving them leave to do as they pleased. We might have been better served to have paid attention to Honore de Balzac, who said, "behind every great fortune is a great crime".
People who don't have much, and do not know those who are wealthy, are often conditioned to defer to their "betters". See all the TV shows about the "rich and famous". It's exactly the equivalency that Trump made with supporters who weren't educated or experienced enough to know better. And they are mad that they're not doing well, thinking they are allied with the rich in going after "The Other" who is responsible for their problems.
For sure, some are decent but it is easy to grow up insulated and have breathtaking arrogance. And when you see them up close the image of deserving privilege disappears. An old English proverb goes, "No man is a hero to his valet."
I often think Thom's best Report is the one he writes "tomorrow". But sometimes, there are Reports that are - I don't know - just other-level type insight, yet Thom finds a way to make them simple. I am forever grateful that somehow, in the whatever this is, my existence overlaps with Thom's.
The links in your comment were very good, Jon. Took two years for Woodward and Bernstein to gather the pieces for Watergate. This goes all over the world, huge number of people/agencies, and more money than god. Here's your links again for people:
Tom,your comments today are just so insightful and again make us realize what we are dealing with in these : Neo Fascist" times.The treatment of those with money,the billionaire class should be met with outrage by every last one of us. They think and treat Americans like they are sheep to be moulded into followers or disciples of their philopsophy or agenda. Perhaps AI and robots which threaten to destroy 30-60 million jobs will wake the American people up,not sure,the addictions to cellphones,Fox,have managed to dumb down so many. Can critical thinking return?
How much does the public understand the gravity of a relative hand full of “morbidly rich” people spending +40 years to buy politicians, judges, and news media? If this could have been talked about 15, 10 or even 5 years ago, there would have been snickers and cries of conspiracy theory. Now, we know a conspiracy is in place and has been for a long time, and all to protect a relative hand full of bloated money hoarders.
We have come to believe and accept lack of ethics in business and politics as the norm. We as a people are being educated to accept that a relative handful of billionaires should rightly have power over the vast population of this country, and thus be able to manipulate and use all of us for their tiny purpose—the purpose of their preservation and hierarchy of power.
These billionaires are successfully doing what has been done all through the ages in order to protect privilege by wealth. An economic system is in place that supports this way of thinking and living, and the rest of humanity not only accepts it but actually believes this is the best way of living.
We feel powerless to change even small injustices because of all of the divisions in our population. Divisions created by manipulation and greed by people who must have power over the disparity in our numbers. Anger, mistrust and even rage over these many injustices have been perpetrated over the years and even centuries. The injustice of bloated wealth and how it’s supported by us and, yet, used against us as a whole.
‼️”Thus, the most urgent threat to our republic isn’t the past behavior of Epstein or even Trump’s proximity or alleged participation with it. The real danger is that Trump is now rewriting the rules of political accountability in real time in ways that have already corrupted the Republican Party for a generation, and threatened to corrupt our entire nation in ways we may never recover from.”
~ Thom Hartmann
Amen.
We were too late in shutting down the government. We should have shut it down BEFORE the bill was passed in the House.
When the initial investigation of Epstein was made, there were allegatioins of money laundering. Ex AUSA Marie Villafaña prepared a sex-trafficking indictment against Epstein that was not filed. Her boss, Alex Acosta killed it.
Wyden is my senator too. We are lucky to have Jeff Merkley too. Thom and I both live in Portland. It takes me 20 minutes to get to where he lives and and where his studio is. Re: national security implications, all we can hope is that this will covered in the media as much as the sex parts. Obviously the GOP in Congress or DOJ won't investigate this.
The wild part isn’t the sleaze. It’s the impunity. Epstein was a symptom of a system that teaches powerful men the rules don’t apply to them. When a president calls every investigation a hoax, he isn’t defending himself. He’s normalizing corruption. That is the real danger here.
I found this troublesome: "From Socrates’ collapsing Greece and Caligula’s Rome...." Although I'm sure you had no intention to imply such, the wording leads to the inference that Socrates was somehow responsible for the collapse of Greece (Athens, actually) as Caligula clearly was in Rome.
There is nothing new here. The evangelical MAGAs heard Trump's taped boast numerous times that he is such a celebrity that he can get away with grabbing women by their genitals. They voted for him anyway and even accepted his denials of sexual assault despite being convicted of raping E Jean Carroll as more evidence accumulated. Trump's infidelities, pedophilia, and whoring are on him and his oxymoronic "Christian Nationalist" supporters.
That Lauren Boebert, of all people, appears to have stood up to Trump is not a good sign that Congress will vote against release of the Epstein files. Let's face it, she has little to lose. Neither does "Karen" Mace. I suspect that the apparent disarray among House MAGAs is motivated by the legislators being tired of Trump's lies, extortion, and bullying.
Recent articles have bemoaned the Dem's cave-in on the shutdown as evidence of disunity and a leadership failure in contrast to the unified front among MAGAs. I guess it had not occurred to the MSM that MAGA unity is due solely to brutal extortion from their Führer. Moral leaders do not lead by extortion threats - only fascist ones do. Maybe that is why they always seem to end up hanging by their heels in the town square.
Perhaps our "Apprentice" president will finally hear "You're fired" from voters.
It looks like we are beyond firing Tom. He has converted the W H into his permanent residence. A dictator can't be ousted, when he controls the police and the military..
He even has his own government paid Waffen SS,,not to mention the millions of Sturmabeitlung, heavily armed, standing back and standing by., his personal GESTAPO, armed with the latest and greatest technology and data base , to snoop and monitor on every last one of us
If it weren't for my age, my health, Medicare and Tricare for life, I would be packing my bags for Belize or Costa Rica.
I think that Canada would be a safer option than any place near Colombia or Venezuela. You would be moving from the frying pan into the fire.
I think that if the files are valid and public, the MAGAs will turn on Trump - bigly. The only lies for MAGAs are the facts the rest of us believe. If the MAGAs realize that Trump lied about lying - that should cause brain meltdown and subsequent rage at having to accept that life really is stressful, and that their homes might be totalled by the Climate Change Hoax.
Thank you! Very good post and comments. Reminding us that corruption and bribing is a vrey old story in that (and other!) country. But the scheme has been brought to new stratospheric levels thanks to those fucking corrupt republicans and their useful narcissic demented fascist convict idiot. They will never rescind power peacefully. Never ever. The cost for them would be much too high. All of them accomplices of a nasty coup? Including scotus! But… Time will come to bring back guillotine from the dusty archives and tchop tchop heads by batches. Viva la revolućion! Lol
Robespierre first sent defendants to the guillotine, then met his death under it.
It pains me to have to say that many of the MAGAs have been salivating to call William Jefferson Clinton to account for his Epstein ties.
Down here in Baghdad By the Sea, we've been asking whether anuy of our local politicians have (had) Epstein/Maxwell/(and Trump) ties.
Julie Brown is our local hero. Perversion of Justice: Jeffrey Epstein
In her year-long investigation of Palm Beach multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein, Miami Herald reporter Julie Brown tracked down more than 60 women who said they were victims of abuse and revealed the full story behind the sweetheart deal cut by Epstein’s powerhouse legal team. Since the Herald published ‘Perversion of Justice’ in November 2018, a federal judge ruled the non-prosecution agreement brokered by then South Florida U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta was illegal, and on July 6 Epstein was arrested on sex trafficking charges in New York state. On July 12, Acosta resigned as U.S. Secretary of Labor. And on Aug. 10, Epstein died by suicide in his Manhattan jail cell. Investigative journalism makes a difference.
It was no suicide wiih 2 broken neck bones, etc. It was MURDER‼️for a massive cover up involving presidents, money laundering, sex trafficking, Russia, JP Morgan, etc.
And the cowardly media doesn't mention the facts, also the ligature marks are too low on the neck for a suicide. And you can't commit suicide in a suicide cell, that is why the built them to prevent suicides.
Jeffries brother Mark is on top of this, including the fact that he was murdered, he has the evidence, but media is not interested, not even MSNBC, such is the fear of Trump, and the rich and powerful that are in the Epstein files. It is not just Trump, but politiciians, millionaires, sports league owners, heads of state,
Even Epstein noticed Trump's "cognitive decline." Perhaps neurosyphilis is responsible for Trump’s cognitive decline? Dementia is one of its symptoms, particularly in its late stages. Other symptoms include personality changes, mood disturbances, and noticeable cognitive decline. Like the young who still suffer from their wounds from the Vietnam War, Trump may be suffering from the STD wounds of what he called his own "personal Vietnam War."
Even if this Epstein affair does bring down Trump, the corruption machine that started with Gerald Ford's pardon of Nixon will repair itself and continue on in its decade long mission to turn this country into an autocratic oligarchy.
Maxwell LIED. So the “deal” should be OFF! Maxwell should go BACK to the MAXIMUM SECURITY PRISON‼️
WHY isn’t Todd Blanche being grilled by the Judiciary committee over WHY he would go to Maxwell and MAKE that DEAL?!
This is Trump’s Watergate. But only if we take action.
Ann,with the issues like raping 15 yr old girls,this has a more ominous note than Watergate.
Tom Massie, R. Ky says many Republicans will vote to open the records.
If we don't try to convince House Republicans, it's on us.
Jeffries says he'll hold the line. May lead to further negotiations.
Many Congressional Republicans privately admit Trump is nuts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNzVt7q0W5A
I keep posting. According to Congressman Eric Swalwell (D-CA) Trumpepstein may cause an "Epstein bomb" causing over 100 Republican members to "jailbreak" from Trump.
Massive Congressional visits November 18.
https://www.instagram.com/flare.usa/p/DP_mdOyjdiG/
Visit CongressionalRepublicans.
https://www.mobilize.us/indivisible/event/851451/
If we play our cards right, many can be convinced by the election outcome to come forward.
Others say it is at least 30 Republicans coming over.
This really is the sh*t hitting the fan---going in all directions. At the center, will be TRump, Epstein, Putin, oligarchs, politicians, millionaires and billionaires, blackmail, trafficking, money laundering, and espionage. All of this led to billions in arms deals and the sale of spyware. Epstein ended-up dead---TRump ended up able to sell arms and participate in the crypto scam legally.
As a mental health therapist I pride myself in understanding human behavior. However, I feel completely inept in analyzing this one. Can someone help me out? Haven't trump and his above-the-law cronies paid attention to the democratic sweep of the last election? When you can't convince MTG, Mace and Boebert to vote your way you have a problem. Besides everyone watching trump fight to keep SNAP from hungry people, don't these idiots see the writing on the wall and the burgeoning schism of the GOP in broad daylight? Are they purposefully seeking its extinction? I am basking in satisfaction....
This is classic CULT behavior, Sophia. They are immune to common sense or common decency.
Recently read a typical problem with psychopaths is "they don't see it coming"---it's not that they are fearless.
Best show on TV or YouTube, GOP: Guardians Of Pedophiles.
I didn't think it was funny until President Petro of Columbia called them a "Clan of Paedophiles". Wish I could tell him Olé! for punching the bullies.
I believe it's going all in ONE direction - toward a house in D.C.
Maybe as a boomerang effect, Tim.
Worst off all, we forget it took two years for Woodward and Bernstein to get Watergate all together. That was child's play compared to the global reach, number of people, and the amount of money involved here.
Some House and Senate Dems started on this a while ago. Senator Wyden especially, he's been chasing the money.
And "Deep Throat" on this is deceased. I'm pretty certain that the records will speak for themselves, or already are. What happened to representatives who are "beyond reproach", especially at the top?
Alis, I don't know if you get the NYT, but they have been going all out on this since last evening. Great info in the emails.
Now it is up to us Daniel? You sure have changed your tune, from there are a 100 Republican congressmen that are Nutzo and all we need to do is release the Epstein files, now that they have been released, somewhat, and we have had the damning Epstein email, there is no doubt that Trump raped girls, yet there he stands, the Republicans that supported him haven't moved an inch.
So now it's our responsibility to make them move, you know that they won't, so don't make it our responsibility. Your the one that crowed that all it would take is to sign the discharge petition.
Let us see now, if any Republican Congressmen, will sign HR 4405, if the Senate will sign it, and if Trump will sign it.
Isn't that how bills work, both houses approve it and the president signs it.
The roll call vote on H.R.4405, the Epstein Files Transparency Act, is expected to occur in the U.S. House of Representatives the week of Monday, November 17, 2025. A specific date has not yet been designated by the Speaker.
if H.R. 4405 passes the House of Representatives, it must also be approved by the Senate in an identical form to become a law
a bill can become a law without the President's signature through one of two ways: if the President takes no action on a bill while Congress is in session, or if both the House and Senate override a presidential veto. If Congress adjourns within the 10-day period and the President doesn't sign the bill, it is known as a "pocket veto" and does not become law.
Scenario. Bill passes house and senate, hits the presidents desk, Mikey boy adjourns congresss for 10 days.
You really are an asshole.
I will cop to that, now you cop to your rant being wrong, misconceived and even a heat sink
So I am an asshole, now where am I wrong, in that the discharge petition will not solve the problem, because after the house passes HR 4405, if it does, it has to pass the senate, then be signed by Trump, and Mikey will recess congress to spare Trump from , vetoing the bill. thus enabling a pocket veto.
So while we are busting our balls, chewing up time, over procedure that goes no where, we could have mobilized for a national intifada, a general strike. The longer we wait Daniel, the more entrenched the dictatorship becomes.
Like the way he has converted the W H to his personal residence. First it was paving over the Rose Garden and making it into a giant patio with gold trimmed umbrellas, then there was planting two giant flagpoles in front and back, and while the media was kvetching and we were clucking over tearing down the East Wing, he remodeled the Lincoln Bedroom, built a Presidential Hall of fame, and who knows what else to the W H.
These are the actions of a person who knows that he isn't going anywhere, and the house is his, and that the only way he will leave is on a gurney.
And why does he believe that, well there is not only 40% of the population that identifies with him,. a heavily armed militia standing back and standing by, but a Department of Jusitice (national police force) and Dept of Defense, an international police force,which he has turned into a national police force.
Do you think a measly 22nd Amendment, the constitution and the law are an impediment?
All we want to get started is the subpoena power in the House. That is step 1 in the Jerry Weiss scenario. That could completely stop Trump in his tracks.
You keep creating strawmen. Must not have played monopoly as a kid.
Your attempt at insult is cute Daniel. but beneath you, and doesn't playwell.
It is tragic to see a septuagenarian act like a middle schooler.
Your scenario was getting Congresspersons on record voting against HR 4405, now it is subpoena power.
Pam Bondi's response to subpoenas has been characterized by a lack of compliance with congressional subpoenas regarding the Jeffrey Epstein case files, where critics allege the Department of Justice (DOJ) has "refused to comply with the Oversight Committee's lawful congressional subpoena to release the full Epstein files," according to House.gov. The DOJ has made some document productions but they were often insufficient or already public, prompting ongoing demands for greater cooperation from committees like the House Oversight Committee.
From roll calls to subpoenas, you keep moving the goal posts and accuse me of being what.... not believing the you or Jerry Weiss have the silver bullet.
I don't waste my time chasing snipes or will o the wisps.
The system has failed us, have you no clue. Time for positive direct action.
Some very trenchant quotes on corruption, going back to Tom Paine and Alexander Hamilton, so we have always known that this was possible. But our mistake was perceiving men of wealth as being men of honor, and in so doing, giving them leave to do as they pleased. We might have been better served to have paid attention to Honore de Balzac, who said, "behind every great fortune is a great crime".
After all the lessons of history, I don't understand why people assume the wealthy are somehow more honorable than anyone else. 🤷♂️
People who don't have much, and do not know those who are wealthy, are often conditioned to defer to their "betters". See all the TV shows about the "rich and famous". It's exactly the equivalency that Trump made with supporters who weren't educated or experienced enough to know better. And they are mad that they're not doing well, thinking they are allied with the rich in going after "The Other" who is responsible for their problems.
After dealing with the very wealthy while working in the airlines, those who think they're my betters due to their wealth may self-fornicate.
For sure, some are decent but it is easy to grow up insulated and have breathtaking arrogance. And when you see them up close the image of deserving privilege disappears. An old English proverb goes, "No man is a hero to his valet."
It's always the cover-up.....
Or is it? This psychopathic President and his Nazis are doing this out in the open. Real time. Real crimes. One after the other.
People keep telling you, Thom, "this is your best Report ever!". They are wrong, because you just wrote it.
In a five minute read, you summed up where we've been, where we are, and where we are going.
We have to share this. Thank you for your bravery, intelligence, and work. Same to your crew. See you in the streets.
I often think Thom's best Report is the one he writes "tomorrow". But sometimes, there are Reports that are - I don't know - just other-level type insight, yet Thom finds a way to make them simple. I am forever grateful that somehow, in the whatever this is, my existence overlaps with Thom's.
The links in your comment were very good, Jon. Took two years for Woodward and Bernstein to gather the pieces for Watergate. This goes all over the world, huge number of people/agencies, and more money than god. Here's your links again for people:
https://www.commondreams.org/news/epstein-israeli-intelligence-investigation
https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/israeli-spy-yoni-koren-stayed-jeffrey-epstein-apartment-ehud-barak
https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/jeffrey-epstein-ehud-barak-putin-israel-russia-syria-war-depose-assad
Tom,your comments today are just so insightful and again make us realize what we are dealing with in these : Neo Fascist" times.The treatment of those with money,the billionaire class should be met with outrage by every last one of us. They think and treat Americans like they are sheep to be moulded into followers or disciples of their philopsophy or agenda. Perhaps AI and robots which threaten to destroy 30-60 million jobs will wake the American people up,not sure,the addictions to cellphones,Fox,have managed to dumb down so many. Can critical thinking return?
I guess it is worth remembering that ultimately the “coverup” was the thing that brought Nixon down, not the crime….
How much does the public understand the gravity of a relative hand full of “morbidly rich” people spending +40 years to buy politicians, judges, and news media? If this could have been talked about 15, 10 or even 5 years ago, there would have been snickers and cries of conspiracy theory. Now, we know a conspiracy is in place and has been for a long time, and all to protect a relative hand full of bloated money hoarders.
We have come to believe and accept lack of ethics in business and politics as the norm. We as a people are being educated to accept that a relative handful of billionaires should rightly have power over the vast population of this country, and thus be able to manipulate and use all of us for their tiny purpose—the purpose of their preservation and hierarchy of power.
These billionaires are successfully doing what has been done all through the ages in order to protect privilege by wealth. An economic system is in place that supports this way of thinking and living, and the rest of humanity not only accepts it but actually believes this is the best way of living.
We feel powerless to change even small injustices because of all of the divisions in our population. Divisions created by manipulation and greed by people who must have power over the disparity in our numbers. Anger, mistrust and even rage over these many injustices have been perpetrated over the years and even centuries. The injustice of bloated wealth and how it’s supported by us and, yet, used against us as a whole.
Maybe that's why the markets are being crushed today.
‼️”Thus, the most urgent threat to our republic isn’t the past behavior of Epstein or even Trump’s proximity or alleged participation with it. The real danger is that Trump is now rewriting the rules of political accountability in real time in ways that have already corrupted the Republican Party for a generation, and threatened to corrupt our entire nation in ways we may never recover from.”
~ Thom Hartmann
Amen.
We were too late in shutting down the government. We should have shut it down BEFORE the bill was passed in the House.
My Sunstack is also about the Epstein matter: Much ado about dirty document dumping, here> https://halbrown.substack.com/p/much-ado-about-dirty-document-dumping
Here's a time line. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/12/jeffrey-epstein-donald-trump-timeline
As several commenters said yesterday, this also has national security implications. Thom's senator, Ron Wyden has been following the money. https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/wyden_letter_to_doj_-_follow_the_money_on_jeffrey_epstein_7-21-25pdf.pdf
When the initial investigation of Epstein was made, there were allegatioins of money laundering. Ex AUSA Marie Villafaña prepared a sex-trafficking indictment against Epstein that was not filed. Her boss, Alex Acosta killed it.
Wyden is my senator too. We are lucky to have Jeff Merkley too. Thom and I both live in Portland. It takes me 20 minutes to get to where he lives and and where his studio is. Re: national security implications, all we can hope is that this will covered in the media as much as the sex parts. Obviously the GOP in Congress or DOJ won't investigate this.
The wild part isn’t the sleaze. It’s the impunity. Epstein was a symptom of a system that teaches powerful men the rules don’t apply to them. When a president calls every investigation a hoax, he isn’t defending himself. He’s normalizing corruption. That is the real danger here.
I found this troublesome: "From Socrates’ collapsing Greece and Caligula’s Rome...." Although I'm sure you had no intention to imply such, the wording leads to the inference that Socrates was somehow responsible for the collapse of Greece (Athens, actually) as Caligula clearly was in Rome.
That's why the grammar god made apostrophes.
There is nothing new here. The evangelical MAGAs heard Trump's taped boast numerous times that he is such a celebrity that he can get away with grabbing women by their genitals. They voted for him anyway and even accepted his denials of sexual assault despite being convicted of raping E Jean Carroll as more evidence accumulated. Trump's infidelities, pedophilia, and whoring are on him and his oxymoronic "Christian Nationalist" supporters.
That Lauren Boebert, of all people, appears to have stood up to Trump is not a good sign that Congress will vote against release of the Epstein files. Let's face it, she has little to lose. Neither does "Karen" Mace. I suspect that the apparent disarray among House MAGAs is motivated by the legislators being tired of Trump's lies, extortion, and bullying.
Recent articles have bemoaned the Dem's cave-in on the shutdown as evidence of disunity and a leadership failure in contrast to the unified front among MAGAs. I guess it had not occurred to the MSM that MAGA unity is due solely to brutal extortion from their Führer. Moral leaders do not lead by extortion threats - only fascist ones do. Maybe that is why they always seem to end up hanging by their heels in the town square.
Perhaps our "Apprentice" president will finally hear "You're fired" from voters.
It looks like we are beyond firing Tom. He has converted the W H into his permanent residence. A dictator can't be ousted, when he controls the police and the military..
He even has his own government paid Waffen SS,,not to mention the millions of Sturmabeitlung, heavily armed, standing back and standing by., his personal GESTAPO, armed with the latest and greatest technology and data base , to snoop and monitor on every last one of us
If it weren't for my age, my health, Medicare and Tricare for life, I would be packing my bags for Belize or Costa Rica.
I think that Canada would be a safer option than any place near Colombia or Venezuela. You would be moving from the frying pan into the fire.
I think that if the files are valid and public, the MAGAs will turn on Trump - bigly. The only lies for MAGAs are the facts the rest of us believe. If the MAGAs realize that Trump lied about lying - that should cause brain meltdown and subsequent rage at having to accept that life really is stressful, and that their homes might be totalled by the Climate Change Hoax.
Thank you! Very good post and comments. Reminding us that corruption and bribing is a vrey old story in that (and other!) country. But the scheme has been brought to new stratospheric levels thanks to those fucking corrupt republicans and their useful narcissic demented fascist convict idiot. They will never rescind power peacefully. Never ever. The cost for them would be much too high. All of them accomplices of a nasty coup? Including scotus! But… Time will come to bring back guillotine from the dusty archives and tchop tchop heads by batches. Viva la revolućion! Lol
Robespierre first sent defendants to the guillotine, then met his death under it.
It pains me to have to say that many of the MAGAs have been salivating to call William Jefferson Clinton to account for his Epstein ties.
Down here in Baghdad By the Sea, we've been asking whether anuy of our local politicians have (had) Epstein/Maxwell/(and Trump) ties.
Julie Brown is our local hero. Perversion of Justice: Jeffrey Epstein
In her year-long investigation of Palm Beach multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein, Miami Herald reporter Julie Brown tracked down more than 60 women who said they were victims of abuse and revealed the full story behind the sweetheart deal cut by Epstein’s powerhouse legal team. Since the Herald published ‘Perversion of Justice’ in November 2018, a federal judge ruled the non-prosecution agreement brokered by then South Florida U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta was illegal, and on July 6 Epstein was arrested on sex trafficking charges in New York state. On July 12, Acosta resigned as U.S. Secretary of Labor. And on Aug. 10, Epstein died by suicide in his Manhattan jail cell. Investigative journalism makes a difference.
It was no suicide wiih 2 broken neck bones, etc. It was MURDER‼️for a massive cover up involving presidents, money laundering, sex trafficking, Russia, JP Morgan, etc.
And the cowardly media doesn't mention the facts, also the ligature marks are too low on the neck for a suicide. And you can't commit suicide in a suicide cell, that is why the built them to prevent suicides.
Jeffries brother Mark is on top of this, including the fact that he was murdered, he has the evidence, but media is not interested, not even MSNBC, such is the fear of Trump, and the rich and powerful that are in the Epstein files. It is not just Trump, but politiciians, millionaires, sports league owners, heads of state,
Russia Russia Russia
True True True
Treason Treason Treason
That's my sign I carry, Marlo---people like it. Think you are right right right.
Wasn't Robespierre stabbed to death in the bathtub by a female.
Even Epstein noticed Trump's "cognitive decline." Perhaps neurosyphilis is responsible for Trump’s cognitive decline? Dementia is one of its symptoms, particularly in its late stages. Other symptoms include personality changes, mood disturbances, and noticeable cognitive decline. Like the young who still suffer from their wounds from the Vietnam War, Trump may be suffering from the STD wounds of what he called his own "personal Vietnam War."
Oops, I typed "young" when this old man meant to type "veterans."
Hopefully, sex with teen-agers will rid us of the p*ssy grabber-in-chief.
Even if this Epstein affair does bring down Trump, the corruption machine that started with Gerald Ford's pardon of Nixon will repair itself and continue on in its decade long mission to turn this country into an autocratic oligarchy.
I meant to say "decades" not "decade"