Just one question before I surrender the con to you…
Can anyone think of a more ridiculous, desperate, annoying Axis “Get Trump!” engine than the current obsession with the “lists/files/whatever” of dead sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein? Because I can’t. The “Breaking!” headlines are like smoking gun evidence that the nation’s median IQ has dropped into double figures….low double figures. Trump wrote a naughty birthday card to Epstein! That does it: I am no longer responding to email requests for birthday messages and videos from relatives of distant friends and acquaintances until I have done a background check on what they have been up to lately. Trump went to Epstein’s wedding!
As I stated before (when I thought this nonsense would at worst be a week-long distraction), there is some condign justice in Trump being bedeviled by this since he allowed his campaign to crow about Epstein conspiracy theories. Nevertheless, any non-Trump Deranged citizen who expends any energy getting upset about this guilt-by-association assault needs a priority inventory.
Morons.
Ethics Alarms 
I don’t know. It seems like it’s worth finding out the contents of a list or people that seem oddly protected by both parties.
I would think the only *legitimate* reason not to release is that it’s a list of non-criminal conduct but blackmail worthy conduct that while not criminal probably has enough salacious-looking-but-not-actually-salacious content to smear a ton of people. Which seems to be Epstein’s method of earning money.
The next most legitimate reason not to release is that all the evidence in the hands of the Biden admin has been thoroughly cleansed of anything salacious relating to democrats and therefore the release would only harm Republicans. And that’s only a utilitarian reason not to given the cold civil war raging in our government right now.
There are also legal reasons why the Epstein files cannot be released, such as reliance on hearsay, as reported by Townhall. Here is the money quote:
“Reportedly, Attorney General Pam Bondi reviewed the “truckload” of new Epstein documents, told the president his name is in them, but later added that the files are riddled with hearsay that cannot be corroborated. It’s not just about him, but scores of other people, along with a plethora of child pornography. This, plus the unverified information, made total disclosure impossible. “
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2025/07/24/we-know-what-happened-after-bondi-reviewed-the-truckload-of-epstein-docs-n2660853
One motive why the mainstream press has so much attention for the Epstein files is that it takes the attention away from the real political scandals such as the Russia collusion hoax and the whole autopen fiasco. Sorry for being cynical again.
Exactly!
Yesterday Sara B posted:
So I am curious, not as a whataboutism, but as a priority setting measure, which is the worse problem?
First we have the Russian collusion issue mentioned in this article with Hilary Clinton, Barak Obama, et al who tried to stop a duly elected president from being elected through shady dealings and then from governing.
Second we have Slo-Jo the puppet president who had the country under the control of shady backroom dealings of unelected bureaucrats.
There is a proverb of chasing two prey and getting neither. Congress should focus on one of these at least for the moment, and figure out what happened, who to hold accountable, and how to avoid this in the future. Which is the problem that is of higher priority?
I personally haven’t the wisdom to determine which issue is worse. They both seem reasonably Republic-shattering.
I contend that both problems have the same genesis. Barack Obama! The problem is that there is little you can do to him personally, save to expose his duplicity and craven subversion of our republic. Exposure of both problems is critical for the preservation of our republic.
I have long maintained that Obama was calling the shots regarding Biden’s administration. Obama selected Biden and Harris to run in 2020 for the same reason: they would both do what they were told to do. In July of 2022, I compiled a list of Biden administration cabinet positions and supporting staff, i.e., secretary and undersecretary positions. Of the 42 positions, I tabulated 30 or 71% held positions in Obama’s administration. Only three cabinet departments did not contain Obama holdovers: Commerce, Labor, and HUD. I remember seeing the clip of Obama’s first visit to the Biden Whitehouse and how sorry I felt for Biden.
Biden appears ‘lost’ in White House event as guests swarm around Barack Obama instead
I firmly believe Obama was calling the shots in the Biden administration. I also believe he forced Biden to drop out of the 2024 race. He was the architect of much of the cultural destruction that has occurred since he was elected President. The only way to help the republic is to fully expose his manipulations of government officials, and no doubt the media. This can only be done by the relentless prosecution and conviction of Obama’s underlings, who are not eligible for the King’s Pass.
I do not think there is a snowball’s chance in hell that any of the major culprits such as Brenner, Clapper, Comey will be convicted of a crime and see prison. You need to have fully cooperating juries and judges for this. All it takes to prevent conviction is one holdout in the jury box, one judge unwilling to convict, or one appeals court willing to overturn a guilty verdict. Judgments will be made based on political ideology instead of fact. Jury nullification will rule.
This renders Sarah’s concern about priorities moot. The only chance for a conviction will be a conviction in the court of public opinion. Sunlight is often the best disinfectant. That means that we need a media to cover all the hearings and proceedings. Plus witnesses who are willing to talk. And this will not happen if no immunity or preemptive pardons are offered to lower rank witnesses such as Joe Biden’s physician, so we coerce a testimony using contempt of Congress charges as a stick behind the door.
And even then I am concerned that the media except Fox News and NY Post is trying to bury the stories.
Regarding the major players, you may be correct. It will all be dependent on who or how many prosecutors or Congress members can get to flip.
Ultimately, it could provide the exposure you suggest. I do know, however, if you don’t try, then nothing will happen. No convictions. No exposure.
Just to add to the jury nullification, any trial would be in DC.
This is a major problem that the Republicans need to figure out. The fact that you can have bogus convictions of republicans in DC or NYC while simultaneously having legit prosecutions of democrats fail need to be fixed. I don’t know how.
Personally, I never heard of partisan juries before the 2020’s.
As I wrote in my previous comment on this subject, if there were any proof of wrongdoing on the part of Trump, it would have been released prior to the November election. The Biden administration had this file, whatever the heck is in it, for four years. There’s no question they would have leaked it or had a Breaking News Press Conference five days before the election or done something with it other than what they did.
I definitely believe there are Republicans and Democrats implicated in the Epstein scandal, as well as high-profile celebrities, athletes, etc.
But this guilt by association thing is ridiculous. I have an autograph of Allison Mack of “Smallville” fame that was signed at a convention a couple of years before she was arrested for the NXIVM scandal. Plenty of fans got their photos taken with her. I didn’t, though I often do have pictures taken with the guests at conventions. If I had, would someone pull up a picture of Allison and I together, arms around the shoulders, smiling at the camera and take that as evidence that I was part of NXIVM? There are probably tons of photos out there of fans with celebrities who were later canceled or arrested for terrible acts.
So Trump sent Epstein a birthday card! So it possibly had crude humor in it! Does anyone believe Trump doesn’t use crude humor in his personal life? I don’t like it but it doesn’t mean he’s guilty. So he had his photo taken with him! Plenty of people had their photos taken with Weinstein, too, that doesn’t mean they helped him sexually harass and rape actresses.
There are also a great many people who had their photos taken with Epstein and whose names are probably in the files, too. Focusing on President Trump to the exclusion of anyone else shows me that this is mock outrage and just a new addition to the many plans to undermine his presidency.
For a few weeks, I have heardpeople claiming that ICE has been kidnapping people, as if they feel that ICE itself was illegitimate.
I have heard a similar thing before five years ago.
When DHS agents arrested people on suspicion of rioting and arson in connection with the attacks on the Mark O. Hatfield Courthouse in Portland in 2020, so many people were accusing DHS agents of kidnapping pEaCeFuL pRoTeStOrS and putting them in uNmArKeD vAnS. It was exactly the same rhetoric.
I wonder why these people feel that deporting illegal aliens, or apprehending rioters, are illegitimate.
Two reasons:
As for protesters: They have a romantic notion of protesters as portrayed by the media over the past 50-plus years as being protected by the First Amendment even if their protesting is not peaceful. My aforementioned comment in a previous post about Jon Stewart promoting ignorance by saying the Constitution does not say protests have to be peaceful combined with the rose-colored glasses view of the ’60s protest movement as Speaking Truth to Power instead of disrupting, vandalizing and setting fires while getting nothing accomplished but getting a man they hated elected President. There is also a racial component that allows for protests to turn into riots and be minimized if they are done in support of non-white people.
When did Jon Stewart say that protests do not have to be peaceful?
Michael T. Ejercito,
The kidnapping propaganda worked to gin up the partisan hate back then, what not use it again?
The progressive left has a verifiable pattern of presenting pure fear mongering propaganda that’s false and if people would simply pay attention a little bit they’d easily see it.
There have been three notable deaths – I’m sure among many others – for me in the last two weeks.
A pastor: John MacArthur.
A wrestler: Hulk Hogan.
A musician: Chuck Mangione
All were giants in their respective disciplines and all will be sorely missed.
you forgot Ozzie Osborne
The mainstream media is running with the story about the starvation in Gaza. There is all sorts of hand wronging and editorializing about how “Israel really needs to do something”. Nothing about how Hamas could end this at any time.
I’d love to hear what positions they think Israel has that are unreasonable? Babylon Bee ran with the headline “Gaza is starving, but not release the hostages starving.” Yeah, it is satire but not far from the truth. Hamas is continuing to prove that killing a whole bunch of their own children is totally worth it if they can take a few Jews with them.
How many media stories were there about the suffering of civilians in Germany and Japan during the first half of the 1940’s?
Hamas can end the “starving” by releasing the Israeli hostages; this is hundred percent in the hands of Hamas.
That is my exact point. Yet strangely all the articles I scanned laid the blame squarely at the hands of Israel, with some throwing the US in.
Hamas needs some tough love. Right now those not laying reality out for them are aiding the ongoing suffering. They need to be told clearly: you started a war, and your only out is complete surrender. If you continue, you all will die.
Imagine if the Allies said that to Germany and Japan during the first half of the 1940’s.