Like Maria Said Paz

Tuesday, December 16, 2025

ICE and Greene

Now – in the midst of newly aggressive immigration enforcement – the U.S. Air Force veteran is more likely to hear insults and slurs from the public than thanks. He became an ICE deportation officer because he thinks of himself as "a law-and-order guy." And because ICE is the family business.

His father is an ICE deportation officer. And his sister. And his twin brother.

"All we want to do is create a safer America," said John, who asked that USA TODAY withhold his full name for fear of being targeted for his work. His fellow officers and family "put their lives on the line," he said, "and I'm willing to do the same."

Stop trying to make your guilt go away. It's not going away. You are destroying lives and theres no excuse for that.

Good for Greene:

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) rebuked President Trump on Monday for suggesting acclaimed actor and director Rob Reiner was killed this weekend because of his political opposition to the president — what Trump calls “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”

In a post on the social platform X, Greene pushed back on Trump’s statement, calling the deaths of Rob and Michele Singer Reiner “a family tragedy, not about politics or political enemies,” after news surfaced that their son, Nick Reiner, was in police custody Monday.

Reiner, 32, has been “booked for murder” and is being held on $4 million bail, according to Los Angeles Police Department Chief Jim McDonnell.

“Rob Reiner and his wife were tragically killed at the hands of their own son, who reportedly had drug addiction and other issues, and their remaining children are left in serious mourning and heartbreak,” Greene said in the statement.

“Many families deal with a family member with drug addiction and mental health issues. It’s incredibly difficult and should be met with empathy especially when it ends in murder,” she added.

Goo for Marjorie.

"The Snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):

Monday, December 15, 2025. Who's running the Justice Dept? I think you mean: Who's ruining it?

Ben Meiselas: Donald Trump's FBI screwed up again. They brought the wrong person into custody following the mass shooting at Brown University. The FBI turned over surveillance and identified who they claimed was the person of interest in the shooting at Brown and again it was the wrong person. Ka$h Patel keeps on screwing this up over and over again. They had to release the person who was in custody. This is not something that normally happens but this happens all the time under the incompetent Trump regime.

For more on the Brown University shooting you can refer to this live update page at THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL.

Meanwhile, Janna Brancolini (THE DAILY BEAST) reported Saturday:

Senate Democrats appear likely to deal yet another blow to Lindsey Halligan, President Donald Trump’s embattled pick to lead the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.

A federal judge has already ruled that Trump illegally appointed Halligan—a former beauty contestant and insurance lawyer with no prior prosecutorial experience—as interim U.S. attorney and threw out her cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York State Attorney General Letitia James.

The Justice Dept sure has a lot of problems these days. Ka$h is part of it, Lindsey's part of it. And Pam da Bimbo Bondi heads it.

Linda Jacobson (THE 74) reports:

Discrimination doesn’t have to be intentional to cause harm.

That’s the principle the federal government has long used to investigate and remedy disparities based on race, color or national origin in education and other programs receiving federal funds. But no longer, according to a new rule Attorney General Pam Bondi posted last week.

The regulation does not “sufficiently serve the public interest” and violates President Trump’s executive order about promoting meritocracy, she wrote. The law, she said, “promises that people are treated as individuals, not components of a particular race or group.”

The provision stems from Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination in education, housing, health care and transportation. Historically, federal agencies used the law to warn districts that they could lose federal funds if they didn’t comply with orders to desegregate schools. Under the Department of Justice rule, officials could use data to determine whether discrimination exists.

In a 2014 case, for example, an investigation in New Hampshire showed that under the Manchester district’s policy for assigning students to Advanced Placement and honors courses, Black students were enrolled in those classes at far lower rates.

While Title VI applies to multiple programs and activities, from access to advanced classes to enrollment procedures, school discipline has been at the forefront of the debate over using data to prove discrimination exists. Federal data consistently shows that Black students are disciplined at higher rates than their peers, disparities that districts have been under pressure to address.

Bondi’s move to rescind the 50-year-old rule means that the government will no longer hold schools responsible for any neutral policies or behavior that, according to data, negatively affect students of a certain race or nationality. The action, without offering any opportunity for public comment, aligns with the Trump administration’s push to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives from the nation’s schools. Fear of a federal investigation, conservatives argue, can interfere with districts’ ability to manage their schools.

Others argue rescinding the rule decreases the chances all students will receive an equal education.

Pam doesn't see herself as serving the American people, she is put in plce to protect Donald Chump and We The People be damned.

As we were noting on Friday, Attorney General Pam da Bimbo Bondi keeps attacking the judiciary and pretending she's done everything by the books when, in fact, she hasn't. Judicial review happens in every administration; however, if Pam feels it's happening more for her, maybe she could stop breaking the laws and stop lying? Eric Tucker (AP) reports:

The Justice Department violated the constitutional rights of a close friend of James Comey and must return to him computer files that prosecutors had hoped to use for a potential criminal case against the former FBI director, a federal judge said Friday.

The ruling from U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly represents not only a stern rebuke of the conduct of Justice Department prosecutors but also imposes a dramatic hurdle to government efforts to seek a new indictment against Comey after an initial one was dismissed last month.

Pam's department "violated the Constitutional rights" of a US citizen. And Pam feels persecuted? The Constitution is the highest law of the land. Pam took an oath to uphold the Constitution and yet, not even one full year in as AG, she's violated the Constitution. She's lawless and she's ignorant and she's a huge fake ass.

And all she does is lie. Under her, the Justice Dept lies non-stop. Emily Prescott (THE KANSAS CITY STAR) notes:

NYU law professor Ryan Goodman claimed to have found dozens of rulings where judges claimed the DOJ provided false information. Goodman said, “We found over 35 cases in which the judges have specifically said what the government is providing is false information.” Goodman added, “It might be intentionally false information, including false sworn declarations time and again.”

That kind of record? We've talked about it before. When you get that kind of record, the courts should take every claim you make with a grain of salt. The burden of proof in any case should be even more on you because of the fact that you have knowingly and repeatedly lied to the court. It's the sort of thing that Pam could lose her license over and should.

She doesn't stand for America and she doesn't stand for democracy. She's a disgusting whore who violates her oath to serve Convicted Felon Donald Chump and not the American people. SOUTH PARK rightly portrays her as such a brown noser to Chump that she has s**t on her nose.

Warnings are being made but I don't know that people are paying attention. Thomas E. Brzozowski (LAWFARE) reports:

The Dec. 4 Bondi memo—leaked earlier this month—is confusing when you first read it.

On the surface it looks familiar: another directive on “Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence,” sprinkled with the right statutory citations and the usual disclaimers about respecting First Amendment rights. But taken together with Trump’s executive order designating Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization, National Security Presidential Memorandum 7 (NSPM-7), and a string of European “Antifa cell” designations, the memo does something more serious. It quietly turns domestic terrorism authorities into a standing program for targeting one broad ideological camp while the administration’s own National Security Strategy claims, almost in the same breath, to reject “ideological monitoring” and “pretextual” uses of power.

That contradiction has real consequences. It signals that the formal rules that grew out of the Church Committee era—the rules that resulted in things such as the Privacy Act, the Attorney General’s Guidelines, and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) —are now being hollowed out from within.

For 10 years, I served as counsel for Domestic Terrorism in the National Security Division. Before that, I worked in the FBI’s Office of General Counsel and as an Army judge advocate. My work was to help the government stop genuine threats without slipping into domestic intelligence work that treats belief itself as the problem.

I left when I could no longer tell myself that line still held.

Domestic terrorism investigations and prosecutions are inherently fraught. The line between protected speech and association as well as true threats and acts of violence is vanishingly thin, so every step carries real civil liberties risks. The system functioned, roughly, because the government had rails to run on: the Attorney General’s Guidelines, the Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide, FISA , the Privacy Act, and lessons taken from the Church Committee. Those guardrails stood for a simple proposition: investigate and prosecute conduct tied to crime or violence, not ideas and beliefs.

The Bondi memo takes that settlement and bends it.

Use the link and read on to really be disgusted by da Bimbo Bondi. You can also refer to the US Communist Party's REVOLUTION article:

On December 4, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi issued an extremely dangerous memo to federal law enforcement agencies. The memo's subject is "Implementing National Security Presidential Memorandum-7: Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence."

If you have been wondering when “the outlawing and crushing of dissent” part of fascism comes fully into force, read this memo. And if you want to do something—urgently—to prepare to fight against that and prevent it? Then not only read the memo, but read this article and get it out to others.

A major U.S. law firm, Arnold & Porter, described this memo from Bondi as "one of the most consequential internal directives in recent years—an aggressive operational blueprint directing federal law enforcement agencies to implement [Trump’s] National Security Presidential Memorandum-7..." This Justice Department memo "reshapes how domestic terrorism will be defined, investigated, charged, and resourced across the federal government.”

“The key message is unmistakable: federal law enforcement will target individuals, organizations, and funders whom the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) contends are ‘domestic terrorists,’ under a definition that links political violence to ‘anti-fascist’ ideologies.” (Boldface in original; italics added.)

Bondi is an embarrassment but she is so much more than that. She's actively defying the Constitution. She is rejecting the oath she took to uphold it and she's trying to destroy it. This is not a one time thing, this is something she pursues on a daily basis. David Kurts (TPM) notes:

In two of the high-profile cases where Bondi tried to sidestep the judges and lost, she continues to try to come up with workarounds to control the appointments herself, rather than ceding the power to the district judges.

In New Jersey — even after the Third Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed in the Giraud case that Alina Habba was not validly appointed as U.S. attorney and she resigned this week — Bondi took the unusual step of appointing a troika of attorneys on Monday to run the U.S. attorney’s office.

In a Dec. 8 memo approved by the Office of Legal Counsel, Henry C. Whitaker, who serves as counselor to the attorney general, wrote that the appointment of three lawyers who hold titles as special attorney, special counsel, and executive assistant U.S. attorney would be in compliance with the Constitution’s Appointment Clause: “This proposed order would divide the responsibilities of the United States Attorney among three officials so that the district may have continuity of leadership while the Department considers next steps in the Giraud litigation.”

On one level, you can understand why the administration would not want to cede appointment power to judges before it has decided whether to appeal the Third Circuit’s decision on Habba. Once it gives up that power and an interim U.S. attorney is appointed by the judges, the administration can’t get it back. But when you step back a bit, the pattern of refusing to yield to the statutory scheme that gives federal judges a role in naming interims after 120 days becomes more clear.

In the Eastern District of Virginia, Lindsey Halligan’s name continues to appear on government legal filings as interim U.S. attorney despite a court ruling that she was invalidly appointed. Federal judges in the district have called her out in recent days, and one judge went as far as saying Halligan should resign like Habba did. “That’s the proper position, in my view,” U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema said during a hearing Tuesday.

Another federal judge outside Halligan’s district drew attention to Halligan’s zombie status in an order yesterday. In a case related to the Trump administration’s dismissed prosecution of former FBI Director James Comey, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of D.C. noted that Halligan’s improperly filed notice of appearance didn’t include her name but that of Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche:

Pam is, of course, up to her elbows in the Epstein scandal. so let's turn to developments there.

Philip Elliott (TIME) notes:

The most unwilling sorority in the country met three months ago on the rooftop of a law firm, just a block away from the White House’s campus. Survivors of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell mingled under the September dusk. Some were meeting each other for the first time. They had ostensibly gathered to make posters for the next day’s rally at the Capitol, but something more meaningful unfolded. Slowly, and without many words, the survivors came to understand their shared trauma and see around them a support network they didn’t know they needed. The realization seemed to harden their resolve, and jelled into one of the most efficient political movements to hit Washington in decades.

“These victims have spoken. They've been very clear about who has caused them harm, and we need to believe these women,” says Lauren Hersh, who founded World Without Exploitation to combat human trafficking and sexual exploitation in 2016. She was the organizer of the gathering, where she served as poster-board distributor and marker replacer. She is also one of the strategists whose efforts on behalf of the women on that roof and those like them helped upended the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term.

In short order, these women helped force the hand of Congress, Trump, and all Americans to move toward disclosing the sins of Epstein and Maxwell—and possibly others in power. By Dec. 19, the Department of Justice must, by a bill passed by Congress and signed into law by Trump, disclose what it knows about the sex trafficking operations that sprawled across years and states. Three times this month, judges have sided with those who have asked to see previously secret grand jury records, in part opened because of the Trump-backed measure. And on Thursday, Senate Democrats wrote to Justice’s internal watchdog asking for an independent check to make sure everything is handled properly.

Friday night on MS NOW's THE 11TH HOUR WITH STEPHANIE RUHLE, Alex Wagner selected the late Virginia Giuffre as her MVP for 2025:

Virginia Giuffre. If you think of one person sort of single handedly through the bravery of telling her own story and and, posthumously, though the release of her book, has held the highest -- people at the echelons of power accountable, has renewed the debate around accountability has centered -- has re-centered victims and has been, I think, the beginning of the crack in the MAGA façade, it's her. And she withstood abuse, violence, predation, like everything you could possibly withstand in a life -- and took her own life earlier this year. And I do think that if there is anyone who owns the year and should own the year, it's her.

Friday, the House Oversight Committee released photos. The Democratic Party wing of the Committee issued this press release:

Washington, D.C. — Today, Rep. Robert Garcia, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, released the following statement after the Oversight Committee received new photos from the Epstein estate. This latest production contains over 95,000 photos, including images of the wealthy and powerful men who spent time with Jeffrey Epstein. Images also include thousands of photographs of women and Epstein properties. Oversight Democrats are reviewing the full set of photos and will continue to release photos to the public in the days and weeks ahead. Committee Democrats are committed to protecting the identities of the survivors. 19 photos can be accessed here.

“It is time to end this White House cover-up and bring justice to the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and his powerful friends,” said Ranking Member Robert Garcia. “These disturbing photos raise even more questions about Epstein and his relationships with some of the most powerful men in the world. We will not rest until the American people get the truth. The Department of Justice must release all the files, NOW.”

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Even with all released on Friday, Democrats withheld some items. David Gilmour (MEDIAITE) explains what happened Friday on CNN:

CNN host Kasie Hunt was left unnerved after pressing Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA) for details on the “disturbing” and “sexually explicit” nature of images from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate seen by House Democrats that they chose not to include in Friday’s release.

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee on Friday released two batches of photographs, offering a new glimpse into the convicted sex offender’s social orbit. The images show Epstein alongside a range of powerful figures, including former President Bill Clinton, former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, and billionaires Bill Gates and Richard Branson.

President Donald Trump appeared in several of the photos, one of which includes Epstein. Another shows Trump standing with a woman whose face has been redacted, while a third depicts him with six women, all similarly obscured.

The release awaits curating by the media. Anna Kaufman (USA TODAY) notes one early standout:

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's ties to Jeffrey Epstein were resurfaced Friday, when House Democrats released a trove of photos from the late sex offender's estate.

"These disturbing images raise even more questions about Epstein and his relationships with some of the most powerful men in the world," the Democrats wrote in a post to X announcing the cache of images. Their move comes amid a battle with the White House over the release of the so-called "Epstein Files" – documents from the once-powerful financial adviser's estate connected to his years long abuse of young women.

At THE INTELLIGENCER, Elie Honig writes of ow Attorney General Pam da Bimbo Bondi changing positions -- she insisted she had the ist on her desk (list of Epstein clients) and would be releasing it, she didn't (but she informed Chump he was featured in the files much more than they expected), around the July 4th holiday she insisted there was nothing to release, a handful oof Republicans and all House Democrats stood up to Chump and passed a law forcing the release of the documents, Pam announced they were investigating various Democrats, now Pam and Chump claim they want the documents released:

When asked to explain her reversal, Bondi stammered, “Information. That has come, uh, information. Umm. There’s information that, new information, additional information.” (This, folks, is the nation’s top prosecutor.)

So now that the DoJ apparently has opened some new criminal investigation into somebody or something, it will have the power under the new law to withhold any Epstein-related documents that might touch on those probes. Yet we don’t know exactly who is under investigation or how broadly those inquiries might span. Anyone outside the DoJ therefore will be essentially blind. We won’t know what we won’t know, and we’ll all just have to take Bondi’s word for it.
But surely the Justice Department — this Justice Department — isn’t investigating Trump himself. So any documents about his relationship with Epstein wouldn’t be covered by the criminal-investigations clause. And that brings us to the second exception: The law permits the Justice Department to withhold or redact any information that could compromise “national defense or foreign policy” or “the national security of the United States.”
Well, one might reasonably wonder, how could information about Trump and Epstein going club-hopping and female-ogling in the 1990s possibly put the country’s safety at risk? The answer, again, lies with Bondi alone. Couldn’t our servile attorney general conclude that any materials that might embarrass the president — our commander-in-chief and chief foreign diplomat — could harm his standing with other nations, thereby undermining our foreign policy?
Roll your eyes if you will — I’m with you — but that decision, again, will be Bondi’s alone. And, again, neither you nor I, and neither Congress nor the victims and anyone else in any position to object, will know what documents Bondi has chosen to withhold and why. All she needs is a hook, and the new law provides her with enough of those to do essentially whatever she wants.
We’ll see the Epstein files, or some portion of them, next week. We can reasonably expect to learn new details about Epstein’s criminal ring and about bad conduct by prominent men. But the new law, by its broad exemptions, ensures that we won’t get the most important answers — especially when Pam Bondi is the one who gets to decide.

Epstein is dead. His criminal co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell remains behind bars -- Chump's transferred the vile woman to a cushy Club Fed prison. RAW STORY's Matthew Chapman reports:

Disgraced financier and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein's longtime accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell has gotten a sweetheart upgrade in prison in return for an interview with the Justice Department in which she distanced President Donald Trump from Epstein's crimes. But living it up in a luxury Texas prison camp likely isn't enough for her, Miami Herald reporter Julie Brown told MS NOW's Ali Velshi on Friday — she wants an outright pardon.

And she may have a strategy in the works to try to force Trump's hand on the issue, she continued.

"Julie, let's talk about Ghislaine Maxwell, because there's a lot of headlines about her," said Velshi. "There's a lot of machination on her part to get commutation of her sentence. Nobody in the administration has said that's a nonstarter. But this is a convicted sex offender who already, as a result of a very unorthodox interview with the deputy attorney general, seems to have been getting preferential treatment."

"What's your sense of what Ghislaine Maxwell's role in this current set of developments can be?" Velshi asked.
"Well, I think that she's aiming for a pardon," agreed Brown. "I think that she has — I think she knows a lot of information. She obviously knows who was involved with Epstein, who helped Epstein. She really can provide a key for exactly how it operated. But of course, during her trial and even after, she's claimed she didn't know anything, she had no information."

Let's wind down with this from Senator Patty Murray's office:

NEW FROM JEC: Declining Canadian Tourism is Harming American Businesses in States Along the United States-Canada Border

ICYMI THIS WEEK: Senator Murray Grills Trump’s Trade Representative Over Administration’s Reckless Tariffs Driving Up Prices, Devastating Small Businesses

Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, released the following statement in response to a new report from the U.S Congress Joint Economic Committee (JEC) which found that Trump’s tariffs on Canada and trade war provocations with our neighbor and close ally have led to a steep drop in Canadian tourism that is harming American businesses in Washington state and other states along the United States-Canada border.

The JEC report found that every state along the United States-Canada border is facing declines in tourism and rising economic pressures. Many states along the border, like Washington state, are home to hundreds of businesses that rely on Canadian tourism to survive. Canadian tourism contributed $20.5 billion to the U.S. economy and supported 140,000 jobs in 2024. In 2025, between January and October, the number of passenger vehicles crossing the United States-Canada border declined by nearly 20 percent compared to 2024. In Washington state, passenger vehicle border crossings were down more than 24 percent for that time period.

“While Trump hikes up tariffs via tweet and threatens to annex our close allies—businesses and communities in the United States are the ones who suffer. It’s both stupid and wrong. In Washington state, so many small businesses along the border rely on Canadian tourism and trade to survive—but Trump’s attacks on Canada have pushed our neighbors away and forced business and tourism to plummet.

“I’ve heard firsthand this year how many small businesses in our state are being forced to raise prices or close their doors altogether. This isn’t just bad economic policy, it is real American families’ livelihoods being hurt, lost revenue for local businesses, less hotel demand, fewer visitors at events, lost jobs, and fewer dollars being invested into our Northern border communities. Trump doesn’t know the first thing about trade, and businesses and consumers in Washington state are being forced to pay the price. Here’s what people need to understand: we could end this pointless trade war with Canada tomorrow if Republicans would stop blocking a simple vote to reverse Trump’s tariffs and reclaim Congress’ power over trade. Republicans need to stop bending the knee to Trump and start listening to their own constituents who are begging them to put an end to these tariffs.”

In Washington state, the JEC report found:

Estimates have found Seattle will see an almost 27 percent decrease in international overnight stays in 2025 compared to 2024, almost exclusively driven by the loss of Canadian tourists.
Spokane saw 33 percent fewer visitors in March 2025 than in March 2024.
Ridership on the Clipper between Victoria and Seattle is down 30 percent this year, causing Clipper Navigation to have to lay off a quarter of its workforce.
Over 30 businesses in Bellingham reported losses due to a decline in cross-border travel.
The Bellingham Chamber of Commerce has found the city has seen a drop in visits, overnight stays, and spending by Canadian travelers—a downturn which has been devastating for many businesses.

Kevin Coleman, Executive Director of SeaFeast in Whatcom County, told JEC that the area has seen a drastic decline in Canadian traffic: “Since March of this year, we have not only seen Canadian traffic drop drastically, but we have also seen a drop in our number of attendees at our festival this year in late September. We knew that after March, we could not rely on our Canadian business because of fear at the border and lack of understanding of what is happening with tariffs and Canada drawing a strong line of promoting Canada first.”

A nonpartisan analysis by the Washington State Office of Financial Management found that if the current Trump tariffs stay in effect for the next four years, they will cost Washington state up to 25,000 jobs—and if Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs are fully implemented, they would cost Washington state $2.2 billion and 31,900 jobs over the next four years and significantly drive up the cost of food, clothing, cars, and much more.

Washington state has one of the most trade-dependent economies of any state in the country, with 40 percent of jobs in the state tied to international commerce. In 2024, Washington exported $57.8 billion of goods to the world, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), making Washington state the 9^th-largest state exporter of goods last year. Washington state is also the top U.S. producer of apples, blueberries, hops, pears, spearmint oil, and sweet cherries—all of which risk losing vital export markets due to retaliatory tariffs from key trading partners, including Canada.

Senator Murray has been vocal in responding to Trump’s trade war, holding events in every part of Washington state, and hammering the Trump administration for driving up the cost of just about everything through their chaotic and thoughtless trade policies. When Trump first announced new tariffs, Senator Murray brought together leaders across Washington state to discuss how Trump’s trade war threatens Washington state’s economy, and spoke out on the Senate floor against Trump’s chaotic trade war, calling on Republicans in Congress to join Democrats in reasserting Congress’s power over trade. She has held several events across Washington state to hear directly from constituents and small business owners about how Trump’s tariffs are harming them—including in Tacoma, Yakima, Vancouver, Seattle, Skagit County, and Blaine, just across the border from Canada. On August 1^st, as Trump hiked “reciprocal” tariffs on some of our closest trading partners, Senator Murray held another virtual press conference with Washington state businesses to sound the alarm. She held another roundtable with small business owners in Vancouver in September, and slammed Trump for the new port fees that had been hitting ships at West Coast Ports as a result of Trump’s trade war with China. Last month, Senator Murray released a statement criticizing Trump’s tariffs and calling on Republicans to step up to put an end to them after the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the legality of Trump’s disastrous tariffs.

Earlier this week at a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies hearing, Senator Murray grilled U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on how President Trump’s trade war with Canada is hurting Washington state businesses and consumers—VIDEO HERE.

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The following sites updated:

Saturday, December 13, 2025

Grace Slick

Grace Slick is now a critically praised painter. She started out as a rock and roller. She was in The Great Society, then Jefferson Airplane, then Jefferson Starship and finally Starship. She was a lead singer in those bands. She also did a few solo albums.

I love "White Rabbit" (which Grace wrote) and "Somebody To Love" -- two monster hits by Jefferson Airplane in 1967. I'm not going to include them because if you know Grace's singing you probably know those two songs.

1) "We Can Be Together."

2) "Hey Frederick" -- "either go way or go all the way."

3) "Lather."

4) "Crazy Miranda" and it and te three above are all Jefferson Airplane tracks.

5) "love Rusts" -- my favorite song Starship ever did -- from their first album KNEE DEEP IN THE HOOPLA.

"The Snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):

Friday, December 12, 2025. Another day, another million or so Chump scandals. Kristi Noem refuses to recognize the sacrifices of some veterans of the US military, Chump continues to flounder in the polls, Pam da Bimbo Bondi remains ignorant of the law, Pete Hegseth remains unfit for his job, and much, much more.

Something to remember as we're on the verge of the weekend, "Sweeping taxes on imports have cost the average American household nearly $1,200 since Donald Trump returned to the White House this year, according to calculations by Democrats on Congress' Joint Economic Committee," reports Paul Wiseman (AP). Daniel Orton (NEWSWEEK) notes:

Republican voters are growing noticeably less confident in Donald Trump’s economic stewardship, a troubling shift for a president who has long cast himself as the party’s chief dealmaker and financial fixer.

A new AP-NORC poll shows GOP approval of Trump’s handling of the economy has dropped 9 points since March—from 78 percent then to 69 percent now—as overall public approval of his economic agenda sinks to a record low of 31 percent. The erosion suggests that frustration with persistent inflation, concern over Trump’s escalating tariff strategy, and pessimism about the pace of economic recovery are cutting into his base’s support.

Ben notes the polling numbers this morning on MEIDASTOUCH NEWS.

And despite those and other realities, Chump's trying to renamed the Republican party to Tpublican. Is that pronounced T-P-ublican for toilet paper? Adam Lynch notes:

Former Illinois Lt. Gov. Bob Kustra (R) says he is surprised President Donald Trump is mulling naming the Republican Party after himself at a time when the party should be going out of its way to avoid him.

“Some will write off Trump’s ruminations about changing the name to ‘Tpublican’ ... as another of his egomaniacal rants to distract the media from learning about playboy Trump’s earlier years with Jeffrey Epstein,” said Kustra. “Yet, few believed Trump would tear down the entire East Wing of the White House to create a Mar-a-Lago North."

“This is the American president who has plastered the Oval Office with gold, now converted to the Trump family cash register with real estate deals and crypto scams ringing up sales for the billionaire family,” Kustra added. “Most Americans would not expect a sitting president to approve a new dollar coin with his portrait on it, but it is in the planning stages. There seems no end to Trump disgracing the office of the presidency with his monumental ego and tacky taste.”

Instead, Kustra argued Trump’s latest attempt to stamp his name on the party ought to be the spark that finally “ignites a serious reconsideration of just what the Republican Party stands for and what the future holds for” the GOP.

Turning to that wet mess Pete Hegseth

Before he was facing allegations of War Crimes but after he was a TV personality, Secretary of Defense Pete was using his blabber mouth in texts -- a non-secure text -- and blabbing all the plans of when to bomb. Those actions were supposed to result in serious reviews. Oops! Wet mess Hegseth cut a few corners yet again. Zachary Cohen and Haley Britzky (CNN) report:

The Pentagon did not conduct a routine investigation into the impact of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s disclosure of sensitive military information in a group chat on Signal earlier this year and whether it damaged national security – in part because Hegseth never authorized it, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.

A classification review and damage assessment would typically be initiated following any unauthorized disclosure of sensitive defense information, in part, to examine whether sources and methods or ongoing US military and intelligence operations have been compromised in a way that would require mitigation.

Hegseth did not order an assessment, two former senior officials who were working at the Pentagon at the time and a current US official with knowledge of the situation said.

After the Signal messages came to light, Hegseth, instead turned his attention inward and focused on formally investigating suspected leakers on his own staff, even threatening to polygraph defense officials he believed were disclosing potentially embarrassing details about him, multiple current and former officials said. Those threats had a “chilling effect” among DoD officials who became increasingly wary of doing anything that could be perceived by Hegseth as an attempt to undercut him, according to those officials.

Let's stop for a moment because what Hegseth did was wrong. I know it. You know it. But Pam da Bimbo Bondi doesn't know it. She's an idiot.

And what's even sadder? That doesn't make her stand out in this administration because there are so very many idiots.

This week da Bimbo Bondi raged to the press about how 'activist judges' were hurting the country. No, Pammy, you and the other idiots are hurting the country. Don't become Attorney General of the United States when you're both an idiot and a serial liar.

Earlier this week, UPI quoted da Bimbo:

Bondi then posted on X: "Following the flawed Third Circuit decision disqualifying Alina Habba from performing her duties in the U.S. Attorney's office for the District of New Jersey, I am saddened to accept Alina's resignation. The Department of Justice will seek further review of this decision, and we are confident it will be reversed. Alina intends to return to lead the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey if this occurs."

Farrah Tomazin (THE DAILY BEAST) quoted that and the following:

“The court ruling has made it untenable for her to effectively run her office with politicized judges, pausing trials designed to bring violent criminals to justice.

“These judges should not be able to countermand the president‘s choice of attorneys entrusted with carrying out the executive branch’s core responsibility of prosecuting crime.”

Pam is a highly stupid woman. The judges are doing their job: Judicial Review. Do we need to hire a tutor for Pam? If we did, would she just try to seduce her tutor?

Every administration requires judicial review. Most of the time, when judicial review finds something wrong you can consider it an innocent mistake. There are no innocent mistakes in the Chump administration. Which makes judicial review all the more important.

Alina Habba, by the way, is what had da Bimbo so bent out of shape. Habba did not quit this week. Habba did not have a job. The court ruled it. So all she did was comply with a court order and that should have been the headline: Someone In The Trump Administration complies with a court order finally. But instead the press offered headlines like "Habba Quits" -- no, she wasn't quitting. They, the administration, were breaking the rules. She did not get confirmation -- because of her problems as a Kurd with a family back in Iraq linked to violence -- and the Turkish government has said terrorism -- from the Senate. She's inexperienced and was put in place for a limited amount of time. Per the law you can do that.

But her days were up. And then some. And Pam Bondi, the bimbo playing at Attorney General, ignored the law and tried to keep her in place.

Activists judge, da Bimbo, try unqualified Attorney General.

And time to talk about another of your 'brilliant' employees, da Bimbo. Remember Lindsey Halligan? She was completely unqualified. "Chump wanted her!" You're the Attorney General and should have pointed out she wasn't qualified.

Having failed at that, Pammy, you failed further by letting her appear before her first grand jury alone. Did you not understand that, Pam?

We've all made jokes about Hiligan but, da Bimbo, you are the AG, having gone along with making this unqualified person an AG, you damn well should have held her hand and walked her through. You've been allowed to define your duties which just goes to how lousy a president Chump is. You are reckless and you are offensive. And when you're gone people in law schools will never stop laughing at you.

You've made clear that you are highly and overly concerned about your looks but you don't see to give a damn about the Constitution. And, I know we've already pointed this out once again, but for the Attorney General of the United States to reference hate speech laws and not grasp that's Canada in North American, not the United States? What the hell do you even know about our country's history?

You will forever be mocked for your tantrum in front of the Senate and for showing up with a notebook of pre-written insults and accusations -- accusations that weren't correct. You got on your high horse at one point to tell Adam Schiff that he couldn't understand what you do because you are a lawyer and -- And you were shocked to discover that he is an attorney. Now as I noted in the snapshot covering that hearing, I didn't know Adam had been an attorney. But here's the difference, I didn't sit in front of cameras and insult him for not being an attorney when he was in fact an attorney.

How stupid are you, Pam? Seriously, how stupid are you? You prepared that attack ahead of time, wrote it out ahead of time.

And yet you didn't even have the facts right?

And you think your actions don't require judicial review?

You aren't just an idiot, Pam, you're a f**king idiot. ATLANTA BLACK STAR NEWS explains:

Attorney General Pam Bondi barreled into controversy on Thursday when she walked straight into a reporter’s trap and tried to match President Donald Trump’s signature rage—only to unleash a tirade so over-the-top it immediately raised questions about how far she’s willing to go for him.

What should have been a routine Fox News appearance turned into a constitutional faceplant as Bondi began echoing Trump’s attacks on critics and threatening consequences for anyone who crossed them.

It happened during an interview on “Fox & Friends,” where a leading question about progressive backlash to Trump’s National Guard deployments sent Bondi into a spiraling monologue.

Instead of answering, she launched into a sweeping denunciation of unnamed “lawmakers” and “news anchors,” accusing them of endangering the country and hinting the administration was now scrutinizing “everything they have said.”

[. . .]

They should be praising our men and women in law enforcement,” she demanded.

“And we are looking at everything they have said and why they said it and if they encouraged acts of violence,” the attorney general firmly threatened.

“But it is, it’s actually sad what our country has come to with these progressive left idiots,” she added in an elevated tone and emphasized speech.

No, dear, what is sad is that a dumb and unqualified bimbo is now our Attorney General.

“I’ve never liked her, but this is just laughable and sad. Like, is she ok? It’s so unserious and lacks any sort of power. Is she high? Is she drunk? Has her soul left her body? This does not seem like a human,” this Threads user wondered.

The whole country laughs at you. And you've never understood Ka$h so let me explain him to you: One way or another, he will bury you. And it will be the most hilarious thing in the world to watch.

In the meantime we register your attacks on six members of Congress for stating the law -- it is illegal to follow unlawful orders. You have attacked them and lied about them. Yet? Let's turn it over to Adam Liptak (NEW YORK TIMES):

When six Democratic lawmakers issued a video last month telling members of the military that they must refuse unlawful orders, President Trump said they had committed “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!”

But Pam Bondi, the attorney general, said the same thing as the lawmakers last year in a friend-of-the-court brief in the Supreme Court as a lawyer for the America First Policy Institute, a conservative think tank that represented three former military leaders.

“Military officers are required not to carry out unlawful orders,” she wrote.

She elaborated: “The military would not carry out a patently unlawful order from the president to kill nonmilitary targets. Indeed, service members are required not to do so.”

The brief was filed in support of Mr. Trump, who was asking the Supreme Court to grant him immunity from prosecution on charges of trying to subvert the 2020 election. It was, more specifically, an effort to address a statement by one of Mr. Trump’s private lawyers, D. John Sauer, now the solicitor general, at an appeals court argument in January 2024.

See? You're unfit for your job, you're unfit for any job, pretty much.

When I think of the battles Janet Reno had to fight -- and win -- in order for women to be taken seriously as the Attorney General of the United States only for us to end up with you, I just shake my head in disbelief over Pam's lazy and ignorant approach to the law.

Jonah E. Bromwich, Devlin Barrett and Glenn Thrush (NEW YORK TIMES) note:

A federal grand jury in Alexandria, Va., declined on Thursday to indict Letitia James, the New York attorney general, the second time in a week that jurors had rejected the effort — a rebuke of President Trump’s bid to order up prosecutions against his political enemies.

The jury refused to charge Ms. James, who had brought a civil case against Mr. Trump, in connection with making false claims on a mortgage application, according to people familiar with the matter, exactly one week after another set of jurors did the same.

The back-to-back failures by prosecutors to secure an indictment amounted to a striking rejection of the administration’s retribution campaign. It highlighted the Justice Department’s unusual strategy of pursuing second indictments despite earlier failures in court and suggested the department would face major hurdles in bringing charges against President Trump’s foes.

da Bimbo, your department is a joke. And if you yourself are not the biggest joke in the administration, it's due to the fact that the administration also includes Pete Hegseth, Kristi Noem, Robert Kennedy Junior, Tom Homan and so many other idiots and fools. In fact, let's catch up on the H*A*R*L*O*T of Homeland Security. Because she was at a Congressional hearing yesterday. And at that hearing? She made news for all the wrong things.

Sarah Ewall-Wice (THE DAILY BEAST) reports:

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem brought her husband Bryon to her grilling on Capitol Hill after a report that Donald Trump is considering firing the top administration official over her problematic alleged lover.

Noem showed up before the House Committee on Homeland Security with members of her family in attendance on Thursday.

One person who did not appear to be in the hearing room: Corey Lewandowski.

Lewandowski has been referred to as the secretary’s “gatekeeper,” and their alleged affair has been referred to as Washington, D.C.’s “worst-kept secret.”

“I have my husband Bryon, who’s with me, and also two of my children,” Noem shared in her opening statement. She noted that her daughters’ husbands and one grandchild had also joined her there.

Bryon Noem was also in attendance, sitting just behind Noem, as she testified on Capitol Hill in May.

Byron Noem was spotted? Well thank goodness for that, he was becoming the most noted missing person since Shelly Miscavige.

As Nicole Wallaces noted on MS NOW yesterday, Kristi ducked on the hearing but not before making clear that she intended to continue deporting veterans.

And grasp that she refused to acknowledge the service veterans of the military have contributed to this country.

Let's go back to Pete, then one more topic so we can wrap up this morning. THE DAILY BEAST notes:

The secret adviser who is guiding Pentagon Pete Hegseth’s hardline “warrior” approach to the U.S. military is a retired colonel with a controversial past, The Swamp can reveal.

Michael Steele, who led the 3rd Brigade, 187th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, has been described by Hegseth as a “certified bad a--.” But while his men adored him, Steele, now 65, was regarded with suspicion by his superiors for his uncompromising approach.

The “Screaming Eagles” commander, who led the 1993 U.S. mission in Mogadishu immortalized in the book and movie, Black Hawk Down, is infamous in Army circles for his tough-as-nails approach and was said to have inspired the use of “kill boards” for troops to tally how many enemy soldiers they killed.

It may come as no surprise that Hegseth’s military posturing is heavily based on his fanboy admiration for his old boss. Hegseth was a platoon leader under Steele. In his 2014 book, The War on Warriors, the Pentagon chief wrote of his former boss: “He suffered no fools. If you engaged the enemy and destroyed it under his command, you got a ‘kill coin’.”

[. . .]

The idea that Steele is now playing a key role in reshaping the U.S. forces in his image will shock many—even those within the military—because he left under a cloud after four of his men were charged with murdering unarmed Iraqis. In sworn statements, members of a combat unit under Steele’s command claimed at a military hearing in 2006 that he “ordered them to kill all military-age males.” Steele denied giving the order and was never charged, but he was formally reprimanded.

A clue to Hegseth’s loyalty to his hero was revealed in a dig he made after getting all his generals to travel to Quantico so he could lecture them about warcraft in September. He specifically called out retired U.S. Army General Peter Chiarelli, Steele’s nemesis—the senior officer who reprimanded him over the “kill order” deaths. “The new compass heading is clear—out with the Chiarellis, the McKenzies, and the Milleys. And in with the Stockdales, the Schwarzkopfs, and the Pattons,” Hegseth told the generals.

Gen Peter Chiarelli had more awareness and wisdom in deep sleep than Hegseth has at anytime during the day -- even before he starts one of his drunken benders. Asleep. Chiarelli truly cared about the troops under his command and his desire to learn about PTS and his efforts to champion it as PTS were praiseworthy and we noted that in real time.

If you're late to the party, we use PTS. It is conduction, you become hyper aware as a result. I grasped it the first time I spoke with veterans -- "disorder" was the wrong term and would make some not seek treatment. So Chiarelli championed Post-Traumatic Stress and that's how I heard of him because that's the term we were using when we spoke to groups including veterans and service members. By removing the stigma, you could understand what it was -- you were in a dangerous place and your body helped keep you alive by making you hyper aware. Now that you were back home, you just needed some help on learning how to handle this g

Next topic?

Oh, how sweet. Just like his father, Barron Trump is drawn to sexual predators. Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell remain in the news. Yes, Donald's close friends remains in the news -- despite Epstein being dead and Maxwell vacationing behind bars. Adam Van Eekeren (EXTRA.IE) reports:

Less than six months after being transferred to a low-security prison in Texas, sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell is set to go before a judge and request that she be released. According to a letter from her high-powered attorney, Maxwell will represent herself in the matter.

Former lover and accomplice to Jeffrey Epstein, Maxwell was originally transferred from Florida to Federal Prison Camp Bryan in August after she agreed to be interviewed by Attorney General Todd Blanche. Previously released letters from a prison nurse revealed that the Texas facility was treating Maxwell to a life of luxury.

It was alleged that Maxwell was being waited on ‘hand and foot’ at Camp Bryan, even receiving ‘customized and prepared’ meals that were delivered straight to her cell. The nurse's letter claimed that the convicted sex trafficker was also allowed to play with a puppy while in her cell.

Ari provided a strong overview of this Chump scandal yesterday on MS NOW.