Again Thom, you have laid this out perfectly! I do so hope that the glimpse of hope in the latter part of this piece holds true. And I also hope to live long enough to see an end to this current debacle. Currently, I cannot truly say that I am proud to be an American 😰😰
Yes, history is repeating itself, but why? Why do we ignore history as a teacher? We ignore history not because we lack access, but because we’ve exiled the ritual that makes memory sacred. In a culture addicted to novelty and abstraction, history becomes a museum piece—curated, sanitized, and stripped of emotional weight. We remember dates, not grief. We cite facts, not fractures.
The real danger isn’t ignorance—it’s amnesia masquerading as progress. Without communal rites of reckoning, we metabolize nothing. Genocide follows genocide. Pandemics echo pandemics. The mirror cracks, and we call it innovation.
To restore memory, we need more than curriculum—we need cadence. Mythic language. Civic ritual. The Trickster’s eye to rupture comfort. The poet’s tongue to stitch dignity back into public speech. Until then, we’ll keep repeating what we refuse to feel.
Museums are only as legitimate as their curators. In its newest configuration, slavery was good for the slaves, "degenerate" art is an attempt to erode the moral fabric off the nation, and so many other variants of War is Peace.
I would argue that ignorance points to the real dange — the evisceration of education in general and history in particular: If one never knew something in the first place amnesia could not possibly exist: You can't forget what you never knew in the first place. Just to be clear, I'm not referring to K-12 education but to the transference of knowledge from generation to generation.
Perhaps you're walking along a razor's edge: Who determines the cadence, the mythos, the civic ritual? It seems this is specifically what Project 2025 is striving to do.
I wonder to what degree these are qualities that can be implanted from without or that must necessarily rise organically from the cultural matrix.
Acosta is supposed to testify, in secret, on the 17th. Acosta’s “non-prosecution agreement” immunized several of his alleged co-conspirators from federal prosecution, and Maxwell alleges she is one of them in her SCOTUS appeal. Maxwell was named in at least eight civil lawsuits alleging sex trafficking and abuse, filed by victims such as Virginia Giuffre, Sarah Ransome, Jennifer Araoz, Annie Farmer, and Jane Doe, as well as others. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghislaine_Maxwell She also initiated one lawsuit, Maxwell v. Epstein's Estate, in 2020.
I don't think Acosta will come clean unless he is closely cross examined. Years after the fact, DOJ performed an Office of Professional Responsibility investigation that was papered over, but he denied that he had a secret meeting with Epstein's lawyers. I get this from the Miami Herald, that tracked it. OPR concluded that “Acosta exercised poor judgment when he failed to make certain that the state intended to and would notify victims identified through the federal investigation about the state plea hearing. His decision left victims uninformed about an important proceeding that resolved the federal investigation, an investigation about which the [United States Attorney’s Office] had communicated with victims for months. It also ultimately created the misimpression that the [Justice] Department intentionally sought to silence the victims.”
The summary said the Office of Professional Responsibility had reviewed “hundreds of thousands of records,” including emails, letters, memos and investigative materials, and conducted “more than 60 interviews of witnesses,” from FBI case agents to a former deputy attorney general. In a statement, the Justice Department said it shared the executive summary of the report with victims on Thursday and the full report with a congressional committee. “
"Among the federal prosecutors who avoided being targeted for criticism in the executive summary were Acosta’s former top assistant, Jeffrey Sloman; ex-criminal chief Matthew Menchel; former case prosecutor Marie Villafaña, who had prepared a sex-trafficking indictment against Epstein that was not filed; and her boss, Andrew Lourie. They and their actions, however, are detailed in the full, unreleased report."
Hopefully the Dems will interview Villafana and the others before they question Acosta.
Every person who used the spa at Mar a Lago during the time that Virginia Giuffre worked there is a potential witness. Same for her co-workers. What do the states' attorneys and AUSAs know about that?
Several Epstein lawyers have passed away. Did they have files? Dershowitz is still around. Was he privy to the secret meeting?
Were Maxwell and/or Trump lawyered up at the time?
Thanks-really had that wrong. Made me look up more on the immunity deal, so I have that straight.
All I have to say about Gonzalez is, oh hell no. He was a big fan of the CIA and their practices during the war. And speaking of the wars, intel and compromising people would have been a priority for the Bush Administration. Weighed against teens that got paid for sex? Burning the johns and the marks? Justification could have been national security. I'd put Acosta in a closed door session too and let everyone think it's for the girls protection.
Even if the victims were over 18, it's still a crime under Fl law -- prostitution. With 2 or more conspirators, could be a RICO. The get out of jail provision listed 4 names and a class of unindicted co-conspirators that could include lots of people. What if Mar a Lago were used in furtherance of a conspiracy?
This doesnt have anything to do with Epstein or Maxwell but
A recurring thought is that Project 2025 wouldn't invest all their energies and credibility if all they were to gain would be a Trump presidency. Although I do not have any sense of how it would assure itself of long-term ideological supremacy, they must have considered the necessity of having a means of transferring authority from person to person. Trump would be useful to them since he has a strong reputation of destroying most anything he touches. The Project definitely wants the government stripped down and beholden to the executive branch so he is the perfect choice. In the end, Trump is expendable, a useful tool and nothing more.
In 1984, There was no actual Big Brother, just the illusion of one.. Consider that the goal of Project 2025 is much the same: to have a figurehead that projects authority but in the end is nothing more than a marionette.
Yes, I think this is the situation we face now. Elsewhere today it was noted that trump has been out of public eye for a week; likely at Walter Reed treated for venous insufficiency. Unfortunately it is not immediately fatal; treatment will likely keep him going for awhile. The focus of the resistance now needs to be on fighting for fair elections in the near future and this is difficult especially considering Texas and the red states increased gerrymandering. Democrats desperately need strong leadership.
Were the truth to be known, I also have venous insufficiency and have had it for several years. Something is going to kill me but it isn't going to be that. Trump, that goodie, is distinctly different from me so his outcome may be considerably different from mine. Many of us look forward to his immediate departure from this plane of existence, not knowing what will come next. I'm not so sure it is going to be an improvement
This subject has to be on the minds of millions today and not just in the USA. I feel like we are a bunch of vultures still soaring above just WAITING. Whatever is going on with Dear Leader's health needs to happen soon, because we want to save our democracy, dammit!
Project 2025 Tracker claims it is 47% complete. Corruption as far as the eye can see, and the torture has just begun. Vance, if he sticks with Thiel, is going to be a big problem, so we have to have a plan to undermine everything they try. The Democratic Governors and Attorney Generals have been working on one for quite a while.
Remember that poster with two seedy-looking vultures lurking on the limb of a dead tree? It said "Patience, my ass, I'm going to kill something!". Let's not do THAT, but don't stop doing everything else. Thank you, brave Thom and Company. See you in the streets.
My favorite analogy Alis, Vultures and Eagles. I identify with eagles, screw this I am going to go out and catch something.
In reality as I sit here I can look out my living room window and watch eagles, hawks and vultures looking for a meal, and once in a while I see a vulture capture live prey
When there is nothing dead to eat, they still have to eat.
Me too. Kept rooting for the eagles till I saw what thieves they are. Watched a river otter kill a poor little grebe and then an eagle tried to steal it. Otter kept it by diving.
Animals, we are all animals. Nature can be a bitch.
Here is my concept of a god, if there be one, it is a psychic vampire with it's wings spread over the earth, and the planet is it's garden. It feeds off the pain, the fear, the anger of all creatures, great and small, for nothing on this planet does not exist except at the expense of other creatures. The gazelle taking down by the cheetah, the Gazan killed by the Israeli, the Israeli killed by the Muslim,
The fly killed by the spider, and all of those animals that walk up the ramp of the abbatoir to receive a killing blow (they know what is happening they can smell and hear the horror )
This rock, third from the sun, is a planet of horrors, not to mention the horror animals inflict on each other to eat, there is the violence we inflict on others of our kind because of ideology (and religion is a sectarian ideology), and differences in language, culture, color, sexuality, etc.
Have you ever read H P Lovecraft. I have all his books:
The most well-known creature in H.P. Lovecraft's work is Cthulhu, a colossal, slumbering cosmic entity resembling a combination of a dragon, a human, and an octopus, with tentacles around its head and wings. Cthulhu is a Great Old One, a powerful ancient deity that predates humanity, and the central figure of the "Cthulhu Mythos". While Cthulhu is his most famous creation, Lovecraft's universe also includes other beings like the amorphous shapeshifters known as Shoggoths and the blind, idiotic god Azathoth
"Congress spoke clearly in 1878 when it passed the Posse Comitatus Act, prohibitingthe use of the U.S. military to execute domestic law. Nearly 140 years later, Defendants—President Trump, Secretary of Defense Hegseth, and the Department of Defense—deployed the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles, ostensibly to quell a rebellionand ensure that federal immigration law was enforced. There were indeed protests in LosAngeles, and some individuals engaged in violence. Yet there was no rebellion, nor was civilian law enforcement unable to respond to the protests and enforce the law.Nevertheless, at Defendants’ orders and contrary to Congress’s explicit instruction,federal troops executed the laws.
"Nevertheless, at Defendants’ orders and contrary to Congress’s explicit instruction,federal troops executed the laws. The evidence at trial established that Defendantssystematically used armed soldiers (whose identity was often obscured by protectivearmor) and military vehicles to set up protective perimeters and traffic blockades, engagein crowd control, and otherwise demonstrate a military presence in and around LosAngeles. In short, Defendants violated the Posse Comitatus Act."
_________
Today we have another chance to ask Congressional Republicans to stop the insanity.
Fox: With Congress back in session this week, Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California and Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky are reigniting their push for the Justice Department to release files in the Jeffrey Epstein case.
Khanna says that "people are going to be outraged" after seeing a news conference he and Massie are holding on Wednesday with 10 victims of the late convicted sex offender.
The news conference is part of the effort by Khanna and Massie to pass through the House a bill requiring the Justice Department to release its files on the Epstein case.
___
We should hold Rep. Sen Cassidy responsible for the RFK Jr. insanity -- in essence he made the call for the Seante. Cassidy, a doctor, was the swing vote on the Senate Finance Committee.
Now he wants to do oversight. But the deck is stacked. RFK Jr has diplaced the agency with anti-vax ideolueges.
"Cassidy needs to do more than oversight said Dr. Thomas Farley, the former top public health official in New York City and Philadelphia. “Cassidy now, I think, does bear some responsibility to stop (Kennedy) from causing more damage,” Farley said, arguing Kennedy needs to be fired.
___
Trump needs Congress
Reuters: ARLINGTON, Virginia (Reuters) -U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday expressed confidence that the Supreme Court will uphold President Donald Trump's use of a 1977 emergency powers law to impose sweeping tariffs on most trading partners, but said the administration has a backup plan if it does not.
Bessent told Reuters he was preparing a legal brief for the U.S. solicitor general, who will oversee the government's appeal to the Supreme Court, that will underscore the urgency of addressing decades of trade imbalances and stopping the flow of deadly fentanyl into the United States.
“If our religion is based on salvation, our chief emotions will be fear and trembling. If our religion is based on wonder, our chief emotion will be gratitude.”
— Carl Jung
Grace and gratitude—ruptured.
“To live is to suffer, to survive is to find meaning in the suffering.” ~Nietzsche
Suffering and meaning—ruptured.
We have built a civic faith on fear.
Fear of irrelevance.
Fear of consequence.
Fear of silence.
Awe is absent in such a structure.
Lost in the architecture.
We no longer recognize it.
We suffer—without meaning.
We survive—without reverence.
We do not bow.
We are a people trying to survive without meaning and awe.
For awe learn about cosmology. There a great number of lectures on the subject from easy to follow to ones that require effort. The Stanford series with Leonard Suskind is an in depth discussion of the universe, its size and origin (a bit more than 6000 years ago).
The writing is on the wall. The Orange Menace is clearly on his way out. There is reason for optimism. Thanks for clearing that up for us. Leadership is sorely needed and there is danger in putting too much focus on one charismatic figure and investing too much in our own cult of personality. But this is where we are. The people are badly shaken and "we the people" do not have a clear unified picture of what we want. The big money will be aggressively trying to fill the vacuum and control the direction. We can only hope that a specific set of principles and objectives will emerge from a specific set of leaders who are sincere and not also egotists. I didn't see the name AOC in the piece, but there are several new and familiar names worth paying close attention to. And there are plenty of projects and programs which Biden had worked on and even put into effect which could easily be revived, assuming the people give Democrats both houses of Congress in 2026. MAGA may go away but there are still many on the right with huge resources and followers who will put up a fierce fight. We are a very long way from being out of the woods. Institutional change must happen, or we are just changing the scenery in a bad play.
The reality is that Project 2025 has taken hold very quickly, amassing a lot of centralized power. The good thing is that magas are angry as seen at republican rep meetings with constituents. IF the epstein hearings are well prosecuted, and that is a huge if, they will become more angry. The strategic problem is the next election. Republican gerrymandering and election sabotage such as poll purging are skewing election results in favor of rethugs and this is a huge challenge.
All true. I want to believe that the tide is turning and that the overwhelming sentiment is a desire to return to some semblance of normalcy, even for MAGA nuts. However, it may still all hinge on the election and the anti--democracy coalition has been very effective in rigging the system. If tRump is truly out of the picture and Democrats get a strong message out the negatives may be outweighed by the positives with a little luck. Waiting to see how much tRump is implicated in the Epstein scandal. A lot can change in a year.
I've posted psychological/sociological studies about the power of negative persuasion. So has Thom. In Cracking the Code, drawing on his background in psychotherapy and advertising, he argues that effective political messaging often bypasses rational thought and appeals directly to emotions, using subtle cues and framing to influence public perception. Jung, hatred of the "other;" collective subconscious.
Highlight all the reasons that everyone, even Congressional Republicans tied to MAGA, are upset with Trump. Today is a good day to get started.
RESTORE DEMOCRACY is a fantastic idea and a memorable slogan. One problem is that the idea that the tech bros and others have a satisfactory plan for improving on democracy has gotten some traction in some circles. They are greatly outnumbered. But too many people have a fuzzy conception of democracy, and some have bought into the ludicrous ideas being sold as "freedom", "liberty", and "justice", and the preponderance of biased and xenophobic people is scary. Our odds are better than those for winning that billion on the lottery, but it is still a big gamble and a lot of Americans are gamblers.
That's a comment I fully agree with Daniel. But it is going to take more than highlighting the reasons that two congressional republicans are upset with Trump.
There was Cheney and Kizzinger, and what did that begat?
The problem solvers caucus is the problem in the party, they are the fox in the hen house. Comprising Demo pubs, and IIRC they were financed by the petroleum business, maybe not, but still the same.
The Problem Solvers Caucus is a group of Members of Congress — split between Republicans and Democrats
AI generative"
The House Problem Solvers Caucus has engaged with the petroleum industry and related energy issues through its efforts to reform energy permitting, promote domestic production, and highlight U.S. standards. Some of its members receive significant campaign contributions from the fossil fuel industry, which also heavily lobbies Congress on relevant legislation.
It has been my ambition to strengthen the spine, the resolve of the DNC and break their addiction to donor funds and playing nice, all I have is substack.
I know that if I write a letter, it will go in the round file, after first looking for a check. If I make a phone call, it might answered by a human, who might and might not take notes.
Leadership are locked in their own echo chamber having dinner or drinks at a swank hotel where all the important people go.,saying hello to their "friends" across the aisle.
Fighters are few, and my fear is that though they enter the ring ready to rumble, after a year or two they get sucked into the system and become part of the animal.
The last two paragraphs a big if, Thom. From what I have seen of the Democratic party it is moribund, stagnate with tradition, and that tradition is to work your way up,pay your dues, don't challenge the status quo, don't take any position that threatens the donor class. The animosity of the professional democrats to AOC, Mamdani, Sanders is palpable.
I will never forget or forgive Nancy for using DCCC funds to support a DINO, Joe Kennedy II, trying to replace a tried and true progress, Sen Markey of MASS.
Then she supported a raging homophobe against a gay in a congressional race.
It is past time for a change of guard, the old guard needs to be put out to pasture, if we are to have any chance of protecting what is left of our democratic Republic (and there is not much left)
Business as usual, the same old playbook, the same old tradition of waiting in line, paying your dues, gaining credentials is not a winning formula.
The Republicans abandoned that playbook with Reagan, and look where we are.
"Evil" Communism did indeed provide housing, medical care, food, employment, and education to every citizen. In exchange, people worked for a flat wage and lived better than they did under the Tsar. Almost all Soviet men were equal. It worked so well that the Soviet Union was rebuilding after WWII faster than Western Europe. "OMG! We cannot let the evil commies show us up!" said America's leaders. "Quick! Somebody invent the Marshall Plan."
Even today, MAGAs call Democrats "radical socialists" (meaning evil communists) because they want to create a decent quality of life for all citizens. "The American Dream" is what justifies the existence of billionaires. MAGAs conflate socialism - governments providing free medical care, food, unemployment insurance, and K-12 education - with undermining capitalism, and thus promoting communism.
However, America's "free public education" promoted the spin on history that America won WWI. It glosses over that it was the Russians who first broke through the lines and took Berlin. No! It was capitalism and US Democracy that won WWII. America is so great that we won WWII and saved the world from a different dictatorship than Soviet communism - fascist Nazism.
Now we have a president of German extraction trying to do what Hitler failed to do - take over all business, religion, social, and economic status, while Wormbrain promotes eugenics to justify purging America of all nonwhite citizens - Trump's idea of "great."
The old folk in the Soviet Union, pine for the good ole days.
Russia did beat us into space,and then the first man. No body asks why they didn't try to get to the moon. Perhaps because it was a waste of resources with no pay back.
Like all of the money we are wasting on a Mars project, for what benefit. Man can never ever live on Mars, visit maybe, live there no,never ever.
We spend trillions to satisfy curiosity and answer the question "Why is the sky blue Daddy"
WWI was won, because a naval blockade starved out Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. It was starvation that forced them to Versaille.
D-Day forced Hitler to defend two fronts, thus weakrning the Eastern front and enabling Stalin to reach Berlin, of which Eisenhower commanded the Army to stop at the Elbe and let the Russians take Berlin
Stalin's tactics then are the same as Putin's now, peasants are meat, throw them into the grinder. Evidently you can wars as long as you are willing to waste lives, and have the lives to waste.
The average birth rate in Russia today is ,1641 people, Russia.it is estimated that Russia is losing 1,000 soldiers a day, and the loss is offset with North Koreans, and mercenaries from Africa, Asia and chechnya.
Soviet Russia was in a perpetual depression, I've posted why many times, short story long, a shortage of rubles, as , because they were Marxist purists, they defined a ruble as .9851 grams of fine gold, and only printed enough rubles as there was gold on hand.
Smuggling of rubles out of Russia was felony, because you could exchange a ruble for gold at the NordBank in Paris, and that reduced he supply of gold, thus the supply of rubles.
Just a note: I think we went to the Moon to save face after Sputnik and Yuri in space. Mars is just more Musk gaslight. After Trump, I expect it to fade a bit.
I totally agree with your note. The Mars project might fade, but not after it has done it's massive damage.
Trump is spending billions of our money on his Starship launches, the purpose of which is to build a rocket powerful enough to launch a huge payload to Mars, and to haul building materials, construction equipment and life support equipment and fuel to Mars.
Brilliantly stated, Thom. Thank you. And the root of this 'strongman' problem as you've said/written many times is the money necessary to succeed in this political system. We MUST get the money out to prevent this from occurring ever again in this country. Fund election by government or by our taxes once again, but any other money can never be allowed.
I wanted to add that a candidate must also NOT be allowed to use their personal funds for a campaign as that would allow the wealthy, whom we don't want anywhere near the reins of government, a tremendous advantage over average citizens running for office.
The problems of America requires a completely different constitution or update. The economic rights of the people and structure of government. Rank choice voting where votes like a parliamentary system where votes are for a party and their individual members either get the majority votes or the overall votes give the party to choose a member to represent the seats won. Mind you the people would vote on it so fundamentalists could not force their failed ideas and ideology on us.
With the Supreme Court having embraced and expanded the Nixon Doctrine (“When the president does it, that means it is not illegal”) while steadfastly ignoring/expanding its ongoing corruption en route to reshaping America, Democrats would do well to forcefully address its malfeasance and plan for the its expansion. Starting now.
The reality is more complicated. The Republican party has spent 45 years crafting a political religion using the framework of Christianity to control voters accustomed to religious tenets. So when Trump came along the Party saw him as a perfect Savior. A babbling incoherent character with a face seen on TV for a decade. If you read the Sermon on the Mount in the context of the first century Roman Empire, it was madness spoken by a madman. But it planted a seed that grew into the Holy Roman Empire, ten centuries of human misery and war. Trumpism will not disappear with with his demise. As long as roughly half of the population believes the world was created 6000 years ago they will also believe that Donald Trump is their Savior sent to them by God. A long period of misery and war will prevail.
Again Thom, you have laid this out perfectly! I do so hope that the glimpse of hope in the latter part of this piece holds true. And I also hope to live long enough to see an end to this current debacle. Currently, I cannot truly say that I am proud to be an American 😰😰
Yes, history is repeating itself, but why? Why do we ignore history as a teacher? We ignore history not because we lack access, but because we’ve exiled the ritual that makes memory sacred. In a culture addicted to novelty and abstraction, history becomes a museum piece—curated, sanitized, and stripped of emotional weight. We remember dates, not grief. We cite facts, not fractures.
The real danger isn’t ignorance—it’s amnesia masquerading as progress. Without communal rites of reckoning, we metabolize nothing. Genocide follows genocide. Pandemics echo pandemics. The mirror cracks, and we call it innovation.
To restore memory, we need more than curriculum—we need cadence. Mythic language. Civic ritual. The Trickster’s eye to rupture comfort. The poet’s tongue to stitch dignity back into public speech. Until then, we’ll keep repeating what we refuse to feel.
Museums are only as legitimate as their curators. In its newest configuration, slavery was good for the slaves, "degenerate" art is an attempt to erode the moral fabric off the nation, and so many other variants of War is Peace.
I would argue that ignorance points to the real dange — the evisceration of education in general and history in particular: If one never knew something in the first place amnesia could not possibly exist: You can't forget what you never knew in the first place. Just to be clear, I'm not referring to K-12 education but to the transference of knowledge from generation to generation.
Perhaps you're walking along a razor's edge: Who determines the cadence, the mythos, the civic ritual? It seems this is specifically what Project 2025 is striving to do.
I wonder to what degree these are qualities that can be implanted from without or that must necessarily rise organically from the cultural matrix.
Did you really write that David. It is poetry in prose form. Memorable. Every paragraph an amen.
Yes, I too am retired with time to reflect . That was not a blurt. I represents a full dat’s work….lots of questions🤩
Trump-Picked Advisor Defends Israeli Official in Las Vegas Child Sex Sting
https://hotbuttons.substack.com/p/trump-picked-advisor-defends-israeli
Acosta is supposed to testify, in secret, on the 17th. Acosta’s “non-prosecution agreement” immunized several of his alleged co-conspirators from federal prosecution, and Maxwell alleges she is one of them in her SCOTUS appeal. Maxwell was named in at least eight civil lawsuits alleging sex trafficking and abuse, filed by victims such as Virginia Giuffre, Sarah Ransome, Jennifer Araoz, Annie Farmer, and Jane Doe, as well as others. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghislaine_Maxwell She also initiated one lawsuit, Maxwell v. Epstein's Estate, in 2020.
I don't think Acosta will come clean unless he is closely cross examined. Years after the fact, DOJ performed an Office of Professional Responsibility investigation that was papered over, but he denied that he had a secret meeting with Epstein's lawyers. I get this from the Miami Herald, that tracked it. OPR concluded that “Acosta exercised poor judgment when he failed to make certain that the state intended to and would notify victims identified through the federal investigation about the state plea hearing. His decision left victims uninformed about an important proceeding that resolved the federal investigation, an investigation about which the [United States Attorney’s Office] had communicated with victims for months. It also ultimately created the misimpression that the [Justice] Department intentionally sought to silence the victims.”
The summary said the Office of Professional Responsibility had reviewed “hundreds of thousands of records,” including emails, letters, memos and investigative materials, and conducted “more than 60 interviews of witnesses,” from FBI case agents to a former deputy attorney general. In a statement, the Justice Department said it shared the executive summary of the report with victims on Thursday and the full report with a congressional committee. “
"Among the federal prosecutors who avoided being targeted for criticism in the executive summary were Acosta’s former top assistant, Jeffrey Sloman; ex-criminal chief Matthew Menchel; former case prosecutor Marie Villafaña, who had prepared a sex-trafficking indictment against Epstein that was not filed; and her boss, Andrew Lourie. They and their actions, however, are detailed in the full, unreleased report."
Hopefully the Dems will interview Villafana and the others before they question Acosta.
Every person who used the spa at Mar a Lago during the time that Virginia Giuffre worked there is a potential witness. Same for her co-workers. What do the states' attorneys and AUSAs know about that?
Several Epstein lawyers have passed away. Did they have files? Dershowitz is still around. Was he privy to the secret meeting?
Were Maxwell and/or Trump lawyered up at the time?
I can go on for a month.
Daniel, do you think Acosta's boss AG McCollum played a part?
Don't know. Mc Collum was only the state AG. Was not Acosta's boss. Acosta was US Atty. Federal.
Alberto Gonzalez was AG under GWB, 2005-2007. I don't know whether he had to approve any deal.
Thanks-really had that wrong. Made me look up more on the immunity deal, so I have that straight.
All I have to say about Gonzalez is, oh hell no. He was a big fan of the CIA and their practices during the war. And speaking of the wars, intel and compromising people would have been a priority for the Bush Administration. Weighed against teens that got paid for sex? Burning the johns and the marks? Justification could have been national security. I'd put Acosta in a closed door session too and let everyone think it's for the girls protection.
Even if the victims were over 18, it's still a crime under Fl law -- prostitution. With 2 or more conspirators, could be a RICO. The get out of jail provision listed 4 names and a class of unindicted co-conspirators that could include lots of people. What if Mar a Lago were used in furtherance of a conspiracy?
This doesnt have anything to do with Epstein or Maxwell but
https://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/trump-model-management-barbara-boxer-227830
https://www.cnn.com/2016/03/23/news/trump-model-case#:~:text=But%20on%20Wednesday%2C%20a%20federal,youtube
i don't know this as a fact but I bet some of those models have stories to tell.
A recurring thought is that Project 2025 wouldn't invest all their energies and credibility if all they were to gain would be a Trump presidency. Although I do not have any sense of how it would assure itself of long-term ideological supremacy, they must have considered the necessity of having a means of transferring authority from person to person. Trump would be useful to them since he has a strong reputation of destroying most anything he touches. The Project definitely wants the government stripped down and beholden to the executive branch so he is the perfect choice. In the end, Trump is expendable, a useful tool and nothing more.
In 1984, There was no actual Big Brother, just the illusion of one.. Consider that the goal of Project 2025 is much the same: to have a figurehead that projects authority but in the end is nothing more than a marionette.
Yes, I think this is the situation we face now. Elsewhere today it was noted that trump has been out of public eye for a week; likely at Walter Reed treated for venous insufficiency. Unfortunately it is not immediately fatal; treatment will likely keep him going for awhile. The focus of the resistance now needs to be on fighting for fair elections in the near future and this is difficult especially considering Texas and the red states increased gerrymandering. Democrats desperately need strong leadership.
Were the truth to be known, I also have venous insufficiency and have had it for several years. Something is going to kill me but it isn't going to be that. Trump, that goodie, is distinctly different from me so his outcome may be considerably different from mine. Many of us look forward to his immediate departure from this plane of existence, not knowing what will come next. I'm not so sure it is going to be an improvement
"When one man becomes the state ...."
This subject has to be on the minds of millions today and not just in the USA. I feel like we are a bunch of vultures still soaring above just WAITING. Whatever is going on with Dear Leader's health needs to happen soon, because we want to save our democracy, dammit!
Project 2025 Tracker claims it is 47% complete. Corruption as far as the eye can see, and the torture has just begun. Vance, if he sticks with Thiel, is going to be a big problem, so we have to have a plan to undermine everything they try. The Democratic Governors and Attorney Generals have been working on one for quite a while.
Remember that poster with two seedy-looking vultures lurking on the limb of a dead tree? It said "Patience, my ass, I'm going to kill something!". Let's not do THAT, but don't stop doing everything else. Thank you, brave Thom and Company. See you in the streets.
My favorite analogy Alis, Vultures and Eagles. I identify with eagles, screw this I am going to go out and catch something.
In reality as I sit here I can look out my living room window and watch eagles, hawks and vultures looking for a meal, and once in a while I see a vulture capture live prey
When there is nothing dead to eat, they still have to eat.
Me too. Kept rooting for the eagles till I saw what thieves they are. Watched a river otter kill a poor little grebe and then an eagle tried to steal it. Otter kept it by diving.
Animals, we are all animals. Nature can be a bitch.
Here is my concept of a god, if there be one, it is a psychic vampire with it's wings spread over the earth, and the planet is it's garden. It feeds off the pain, the fear, the anger of all creatures, great and small, for nothing on this planet does not exist except at the expense of other creatures. The gazelle taking down by the cheetah, the Gazan killed by the Israeli, the Israeli killed by the Muslim,
The fly killed by the spider, and all of those animals that walk up the ramp of the abbatoir to receive a killing blow (they know what is happening they can smell and hear the horror )
This rock, third from the sun, is a planet of horrors, not to mention the horror animals inflict on each other to eat, there is the violence we inflict on others of our kind because of ideology (and religion is a sectarian ideology), and differences in language, culture, color, sexuality, etc.
Have you ever read H P Lovecraft. I have all his books:
The most well-known creature in H.P. Lovecraft's work is Cthulhu, a colossal, slumbering cosmic entity resembling a combination of a dragon, a human, and an octopus, with tentacles around its head and wings. Cthulhu is a Great Old One, a powerful ancient deity that predates humanity, and the central figure of the "Cthulhu Mythos". While Cthulhu is his most famous creation, Lovecraft's universe also includes other beings like the amorphous shapeshifters known as Shoggoths and the blind, idiotic god Azathoth
If there is a god it is a Cthulhu
Flash. USDC rules rules Trump violated the Posse Comitatus Act when he federalized the National Guard in LA. https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/26080338-breyer-ruling-on-national-guard/.
"Congress spoke clearly in 1878 when it passed the Posse Comitatus Act, prohibitingthe use of the U.S. military to execute domestic law. Nearly 140 years later, Defendants—President Trump, Secretary of Defense Hegseth, and the Department of Defense—deployed the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles, ostensibly to quell a rebellionand ensure that federal immigration law was enforced. There were indeed protests in LosAngeles, and some individuals engaged in violence. Yet there was no rebellion, nor was civilian law enforcement unable to respond to the protests and enforce the law.Nevertheless, at Defendants’ orders and contrary to Congress’s explicit instruction,federal troops executed the laws.
"Nevertheless, at Defendants’ orders and contrary to Congress’s explicit instruction,federal troops executed the laws. The evidence at trial established that Defendantssystematically used armed soldiers (whose identity was often obscured by protectivearmor) and military vehicles to set up protective perimeters and traffic blockades, engagein crowd control, and otherwise demonstrate a military presence in and around LosAngeles. In short, Defendants violated the Posse Comitatus Act."
_________
Today we have another chance to ask Congressional Republicans to stop the insanity.
Fox: With Congress back in session this week, Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California and Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky are reigniting their push for the Justice Department to release files in the Jeffrey Epstein case.
Khanna says that "people are going to be outraged" after seeing a news conference he and Massie are holding on Wednesday with 10 victims of the late convicted sex offender.
The news conference is part of the effort by Khanna and Massie to pass through the House a bill requiring the Justice Department to release its files on the Epstein case.
___
We should hold Rep. Sen Cassidy responsible for the RFK Jr. insanity -- in essence he made the call for the Seante. Cassidy, a doctor, was the swing vote on the Senate Finance Committee.
Now he wants to do oversight. But the deck is stacked. RFK Jr has diplaced the agency with anti-vax ideolueges.
"Cassidy needs to do more than oversight said Dr. Thomas Farley, the former top public health official in New York City and Philadelphia. “Cassidy now, I think, does bear some responsibility to stop (Kennedy) from causing more damage,” Farley said, arguing Kennedy needs to be fired.
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Trump needs Congress
Reuters: ARLINGTON, Virginia (Reuters) -U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday expressed confidence that the Supreme Court will uphold President Donald Trump's use of a 1977 emergency powers law to impose sweeping tariffs on most trading partners, but said the administration has a backup plan if it does not.
Bessent told Reuters he was preparing a legal brief for the U.S. solicitor general, who will oversee the government's appeal to the Supreme Court, that will underscore the urgency of addressing decades of trade imbalances and stopping the flow of deadly fentanyl into the United States.
Put Congressional Republicans on the hot seat.
Is there a legal restriction why Ro can't hold that conference inside the Capitol, and on the house floor.
He will have 10 of Epstein's (Trump's) victims.
I fear that SCOTUS will over rule the USDC's ruling.
America: A Ruptured Culture
“If our religion is based on salvation, our chief emotions will be fear and trembling. If our religion is based on wonder, our chief emotion will be gratitude.”
— Carl Jung
Grace and gratitude—ruptured.
“To live is to suffer, to survive is to find meaning in the suffering.” ~Nietzsche
Suffering and meaning—ruptured.
We have built a civic faith on fear.
Fear of irrelevance.
Fear of consequence.
Fear of silence.
Awe is absent in such a structure.
Lost in the architecture.
We no longer recognize it.
We suffer—without meaning.
We survive—without reverence.
We do not bow.
We are a people trying to survive without meaning and awe.
To restore meaning, we must restore awe.
Not by defining it—
but by making it felt.
For awe learn about cosmology. There a great number of lectures on the subject from easy to follow to ones that require effort. The Stanford series with Leonard Suskind is an in depth discussion of the universe, its size and origin (a bit more than 6000 years ago).
No argument there. Thanks
The writing is on the wall. The Orange Menace is clearly on his way out. There is reason for optimism. Thanks for clearing that up for us. Leadership is sorely needed and there is danger in putting too much focus on one charismatic figure and investing too much in our own cult of personality. But this is where we are. The people are badly shaken and "we the people" do not have a clear unified picture of what we want. The big money will be aggressively trying to fill the vacuum and control the direction. We can only hope that a specific set of principles and objectives will emerge from a specific set of leaders who are sincere and not also egotists. I didn't see the name AOC in the piece, but there are several new and familiar names worth paying close attention to. And there are plenty of projects and programs which Biden had worked on and even put into effect which could easily be revived, assuming the people give Democrats both houses of Congress in 2026. MAGA may go away but there are still many on the right with huge resources and followers who will put up a fierce fight. We are a very long way from being out of the woods. Institutional change must happen, or we are just changing the scenery in a bad play.
The reality is that Project 2025 has taken hold very quickly, amassing a lot of centralized power. The good thing is that magas are angry as seen at republican rep meetings with constituents. IF the epstein hearings are well prosecuted, and that is a huge if, they will become more angry. The strategic problem is the next election. Republican gerrymandering and election sabotage such as poll purging are skewing election results in favor of rethugs and this is a huge challenge.
All true. I want to believe that the tide is turning and that the overwhelming sentiment is a desire to return to some semblance of normalcy, even for MAGA nuts. However, it may still all hinge on the election and the anti--democracy coalition has been very effective in rigging the system. If tRump is truly out of the picture and Democrats get a strong message out the negatives may be outweighed by the positives with a little luck. Waiting to see how much tRump is implicated in the Epstein scandal. A lot can change in a year.
IMHO the unified position is "RESTORE DEMOCRACY."
I've posted psychological/sociological studies about the power of negative persuasion. So has Thom. In Cracking the Code, drawing on his background in psychotherapy and advertising, he argues that effective political messaging often bypasses rational thought and appeals directly to emotions, using subtle cues and framing to influence public perception. Jung, hatred of the "other;" collective subconscious.
Highlight all the reasons that everyone, even Congressional Republicans tied to MAGA, are upset with Trump. Today is a good day to get started.
RESTORE DEMOCRACY is a fantastic idea and a memorable slogan. One problem is that the idea that the tech bros and others have a satisfactory plan for improving on democracy has gotten some traction in some circles. They are greatly outnumbered. But too many people have a fuzzy conception of democracy, and some have bought into the ludicrous ideas being sold as "freedom", "liberty", and "justice", and the preponderance of biased and xenophobic people is scary. Our odds are better than those for winning that billion on the lottery, but it is still a big gamble and a lot of Americans are gamblers.
That's a comment I fully agree with Daniel. But it is going to take more than highlighting the reasons that two congressional republicans are upset with Trump.
There was Cheney and Kizzinger, and what did that begat?
https://problemsolverscaucus.house.gov/
https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/op-ed/article304271841.html
The problem solvers caucus is the problem in the party, they are the fox in the hen house. Comprising Demo pubs, and IIRC they were financed by the petroleum business, maybe not, but still the same.
The Problem Solvers Caucus is a group of Members of Congress — split between Republicans and Democrats
AI generative"
The House Problem Solvers Caucus has engaged with the petroleum industry and related energy issues through its efforts to reform energy permitting, promote domestic production, and highlight U.S. standards. Some of its members receive significant campaign contributions from the fossil fuel industry, which also heavily lobbies Congress on relevant legislation.
Friends like that we don't need enemies.
If we don't try, we lose. Most privately admit Trump is nuts. The issue for some of them is how to protect them -- from MAGA.
First step is to stop it.
That is a problem, but perhaps not as great a problem as the weakness of the DNC and lack of strong Dem leadership.
It has been my ambition to strengthen the spine, the resolve of the DNC and break their addiction to donor funds and playing nice, all I have is substack.
I know that if I write a letter, it will go in the round file, after first looking for a check. If I make a phone call, it might answered by a human, who might and might not take notes.
Leadership are locked in their own echo chamber having dinner or drinks at a swank hotel where all the important people go.,saying hello to their "friends" across the aisle.
Fighters are few, and my fear is that though they enter the ring ready to rumble, after a year or two they get sucked into the system and become part of the animal.
The last two paragraphs a big if, Thom. From what I have seen of the Democratic party it is moribund, stagnate with tradition, and that tradition is to work your way up,pay your dues, don't challenge the status quo, don't take any position that threatens the donor class. The animosity of the professional democrats to AOC, Mamdani, Sanders is palpable.
I will never forget or forgive Nancy for using DCCC funds to support a DINO, Joe Kennedy II, trying to replace a tried and true progress, Sen Markey of MASS.
Then she supported a raging homophobe against a gay in a congressional race.
It is past time for a change of guard, the old guard needs to be put out to pasture, if we are to have any chance of protecting what is left of our democratic Republic (and there is not much left)
Business as usual, the same old playbook, the same old tradition of waiting in line, paying your dues, gaining credentials is not a winning formula.
The Republicans abandoned that playbook with Reagan, and look where we are.
I am happy to see Prtizker & Newsom pushing back, but we need to be ready to critique Democratic office holders who have been captured by corporations: https://48hills.org/2025/09/lurie-is-damaging-transit-the-environment-and-democracy-on-market-street/
Apparently they are plotting a soft secession: https://medium.com/@carmitage/its-time-for-americans-to-start-talking-about-soft-secession-8d0183ac94cf
Sorry medium.com is behind a paywall. But I can copy and paste via the message feature, the article.
Psy ops. The ENEMY IS MAGA.
"Evil" Communism did indeed provide housing, medical care, food, employment, and education to every citizen. In exchange, people worked for a flat wage and lived better than they did under the Tsar. Almost all Soviet men were equal. It worked so well that the Soviet Union was rebuilding after WWII faster than Western Europe. "OMG! We cannot let the evil commies show us up!" said America's leaders. "Quick! Somebody invent the Marshall Plan."
Even today, MAGAs call Democrats "radical socialists" (meaning evil communists) because they want to create a decent quality of life for all citizens. "The American Dream" is what justifies the existence of billionaires. MAGAs conflate socialism - governments providing free medical care, food, unemployment insurance, and K-12 education - with undermining capitalism, and thus promoting communism.
However, America's "free public education" promoted the spin on history that America won WWI. It glosses over that it was the Russians who first broke through the lines and took Berlin. No! It was capitalism and US Democracy that won WWII. America is so great that we won WWII and saved the world from a different dictatorship than Soviet communism - fascist Nazism.
Now we have a president of German extraction trying to do what Hitler failed to do - take over all business, religion, social, and economic status, while Wormbrain promotes eugenics to justify purging America of all nonwhite citizens - Trump's idea of "great."
The old folk in the Soviet Union, pine for the good ole days.
Russia did beat us into space,and then the first man. No body asks why they didn't try to get to the moon. Perhaps because it was a waste of resources with no pay back.
Like all of the money we are wasting on a Mars project, for what benefit. Man can never ever live on Mars, visit maybe, live there no,never ever.
We spend trillions to satisfy curiosity and answer the question "Why is the sky blue Daddy"
WWI was won, because a naval blockade starved out Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. It was starvation that forced them to Versaille.
D-Day forced Hitler to defend two fronts, thus weakrning the Eastern front and enabling Stalin to reach Berlin, of which Eisenhower commanded the Army to stop at the Elbe and let the Russians take Berlin
Stalin's tactics then are the same as Putin's now, peasants are meat, throw them into the grinder. Evidently you can wars as long as you are willing to waste lives, and have the lives to waste.
The average birth rate in Russia today is ,1641 people, Russia.it is estimated that Russia is losing 1,000 soldiers a day, and the loss is offset with North Koreans, and mercenaries from Africa, Asia and chechnya.
Soviet Russia was in a perpetual depression, I've posted why many times, short story long, a shortage of rubles, as , because they were Marxist purists, they defined a ruble as .9851 grams of fine gold, and only printed enough rubles as there was gold on hand.
Smuggling of rubles out of Russia was felony, because you could exchange a ruble for gold at the NordBank in Paris, and that reduced he supply of gold, thus the supply of rubles.
The Russians did try to go to the moon. https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/space-missions/soviet-luna-programme
Just a note: I think we went to the Moon to save face after Sputnik and Yuri in space. Mars is just more Musk gaslight. After Trump, I expect it to fade a bit.
I totally agree with your note. The Mars project might fade, but not after it has done it's massive damage.
Trump is spending billions of our money on his Starship launches, the purpose of which is to build a rocket powerful enough to launch a huge payload to Mars, and to haul building materials, construction equipment and life support equipment and fuel to Mars.
Here in Baghdad By the Sea looks like Bolivar, Franco, Castro, Batista.....caudillos.
Brilliantly stated, Thom. Thank you. And the root of this 'strongman' problem as you've said/written many times is the money necessary to succeed in this political system. We MUST get the money out to prevent this from occurring ever again in this country. Fund election by government or by our taxes once again, but any other money can never be allowed.
I wanted to add that a candidate must also NOT be allowed to use their personal funds for a campaign as that would allow the wealthy, whom we don't want anywhere near the reins of government, a tremendous advantage over average citizens running for office.
The problems of America requires a completely different constitution or update. The economic rights of the people and structure of government. Rank choice voting where votes like a parliamentary system where votes are for a party and their individual members either get the majority votes or the overall votes give the party to choose a member to represent the seats won. Mind you the people would vote on it so fundamentalists could not force their failed ideas and ideology on us.
A way for the voters to declare "no confidence" in the President and provide for immediate removal from office.
From your lips to God’s ears, Professor Hartmann.
With the Supreme Court having embraced and expanded the Nixon Doctrine (“When the president does it, that means it is not illegal”) while steadfastly ignoring/expanding its ongoing corruption en route to reshaping America, Democrats would do well to forcefully address its malfeasance and plan for the its expansion. Starting now.
The reality is more complicated. The Republican party has spent 45 years crafting a political religion using the framework of Christianity to control voters accustomed to religious tenets. So when Trump came along the Party saw him as a perfect Savior. A babbling incoherent character with a face seen on TV for a decade. If you read the Sermon on the Mount in the context of the first century Roman Empire, it was madness spoken by a madman. But it planted a seed that grew into the Holy Roman Empire, ten centuries of human misery and war. Trumpism will not disappear with with his demise. As long as roughly half of the population believes the world was created 6000 years ago they will also believe that Donald Trump is their Savior sent to them by God. A long period of misery and war will prevail.