Media: Two spectacles America really didn't need

Some things make no sense.  For instance?  KING OF THE HILL on HULU or Donald Chump back in the White House.

 

 

Both are flaming out. Valentina Kraljik (FICTION HORIZON) reported:

According to Parrot Analytics’ Streaming Economics data, King of the Hill has brought in nearly $100 million in streaming revenue since the first quarter of 2020.

That puts it on the same level as “American Dad!,” which is still producing new episodes, and far ahead of Mike Judge’s earlier hit, “Beavis and Butt-Head,” which has earned just over $50 million for Paramount+ since 2020, including its reboot.

For Hulu, these numbers show why it made sense to revive “King of the Hill.” Bringing Arlen, Texas, into the modern world is a smart move for a platform looking for proven shows that keep viewers coming back. “Fans have been waiting for years for new episodes, and that creates a huge initial spike in interest,” industry analysts say.

But they didn't bring back KING OF THE HILL.

Brittany Murphy is dead as is Tom Petty.  Singer-songwriter Petty had played Lucky, husband to Luanne.  Luanne, a character with the show from the first season back in 1997 was very important to the show.  She was Peggy's niece but she was more than that, she was the show's voice of hope.  Brittany Murphy played her and when the talk of a KING OF THE HILL revival first started, many wondered how they could do the show without Brittany Murphy.

Spoiler: They can't.

The revival already suffers bad word of mouth over the animation.  

That's not a minor thing for an animated show.  And Mike Judd whining that they aren't able to do the art the way they once were?  Really doesn't cut it.  

But nothing about the show cuts it.

Supposedly, it's the return of the Hill family.  They've tried to make Bobby look a little cuter but you've got Peggy talking and forcing you to wonder what's wrong with Kathy Najimy's voice?  Is she trying to make Peggy sound older?  Hank?  Did he come back with the revival?

Yes, there's a character named Hank Hill but he makes no sense.

In the first scene, he's now the angry grandpa trying to navigate a world with Uber.  But far worse than the world having past Hank by is this character voiced by Mike Judge that seems nothing at all like Hank.  We cringed over Hank having to defend himself for watching CNN -- didn't really seem like an issue that should matter to his friends Boomhauer and Bill.  It might matter to Dale Gribble, it might not.  But Bill and Boomhauer?

What would matter to them -- and should have matted to Hank -- was leaving the United States.  Forget the US, in what world does Hank leave Texas?

Mike Judge thinks it's a great move (plot device) but heavy pot smokers often think something's far out when it's really nothing.

Hank Hill would not move to Saudi Arabia.  Hank Hill would not live there for years, finally return to the US and think about returning to Saudi Arabia.

Judge likes to insist that many people leave Texas for Saudi Arabia.  

We're sure a few do each year.  We're also sure that they aren't the super-patriots Hank is.  

Judge thinks it's a great move (plot device) because it's let's you see Arlen, Texas through the eyes of the returning Hank.  

He really is that stupid.

And we blame Austin.

Austin, Texas has many things going for it.  The creative community really isn't one of those things.  Remember ROOSTER TEETH?  That Austin based 'content creator' burned through millions for 20 years before finally shutting down in 2023.  It was so great, so wonderful, so this and so that.

At least if you were White.  And straight.  And male.

They created a lot of crap and a few tolerable programs as well.  However, the content-creators never seemed to be living in the same time as the rest of us and they weren't interested in the voices of anyone who wasn't a straight, White male.  For the 21st century, that was embarrassing.

KING OF THE HILL returns with a similar problem.  All these years later, they finally find a Black character who can appear on more than one episode. Black people might make up over 15% of the population of Garland, Texas (one of three cities that Judge has cited for the fictional town of Arlin, Texas); however, they just didn't exist during the 13 seasons KING OF THE HILL originally aired. 

Women -- of any race -- barely existed.  

Having lost one of the major character -- LuAnn -- and her having been a her, you might think that they worked hard to create a new female character.

You would be wrong.

A long with the new Black male character (who lived in Hank and Peggy's house while they were in Saudi Arabia), you've also got Bobby's boss and Bobby's boss' son.  And you've got Bobby's co-worker.  

But no real effort has been made to create a replacement for LuAnn.  In the fall of 2023, Johnny Hardwick passed away.  He had voiced Dale Gribble.  Dale's one of the worst characters on the show -- we'll get to why in a second -- but they hired a replacement (Toby Huss) so that the character could continue.

Why is Dale so awful?  A storyline that's not really cute and should have been wrapped up long ago.  Dale is married to Nancy (Ashley Gardner) who has a child Joseph (voiced by an Anglo White actor until the revival and now the character's voiced by Tai Leclaire who actually is Native American).  Why does that matter?  Dale is not the boy's father, Native American John Redcorn is the child's father and for 13 seasons, the joke has been that Dale doesn't know.  

How is that funny?

Dale still doesn't know in the revival (season 14) and, worse, neither does Joseph. 

Jonathan Joss took over the role in season two when the original voice actor Victor Aaron passed away.  Problem is, Joss was murdered back in June.  So the voice actors for John Redcorn and Dale Gribble are dead.  Dale's recast for the revival.  As is Joseph.  

But this storyline should have been cleared up long, long ago.  

When you watch, you mainly grasp that Judge doesn't know how to be a show runner -- not a good one.

Here's one example.  Unlike in the original show, Bobby no longer lives at home with his parents.  He has an apartment with Joseph. The show did not need to be more spread out.  And are we all forgetting season three of HAPPY DAYS?  Episode one?  "Fonzie Moves In"?  The whole point was to get Fonzie closer to the Cunninghams and make the action tighter so Fonzie moves in with the Cunninghams.  It probably would have been smarter to have moved Bobby back in with the Hills.  It would have made the show move smother and work better.  

KING OF THE HILL didn't do send up and spoofs the way Seth MacFarlane's programs so often do.  They generally had a main story and supporting story.  And they followed them through in the manner that THE SIMPSONS and BOB'S BUGERS do.  Unlike those shows -- or AMERICAN DAD -- KING OF THE HILL did not produce many classic episodes.  There's "A Beer Can Named Desire" and that may be it.  The writing was never bad but it was never focused.  With Bobby living in an apartment, the show becomes even more scatter shot.

Back to HAPPY DAYS, season five, episode three was entitled "Hollywood: Part 3."  But it's remembered as the episode where water skiing Fonzie jumps a tiger shark with the phrase "jumping the shark" deriving from that episode -- it's the moment that's supposed to kick off a decline.

We bring that up because of Friday when Convicted Felon Donald Chump had his jump the shark moment in Alaska as he met with War Criminal Vladimir Putin.

Chump, based on his statements repeatedly last week, thought he was going to Russia.  As Ruth noted Saturday, "Chump spread his legs for Putin" -- so clearly Chump had many things on his mind going into that date.  Still, give him props for going blonder with his hair color -- we're guessing it was his equivalent of Marinly Monroe's platinum blond look for when she sang "Happy Birthday" to President JFK.  He might not have known where the plane was dropping him off but he knew he wanted to look pretty for his man.  Giddy might have been the reason for Donald repeatedly misspeaking (lying) in the lead-up to the meet-up.

This might also explain how documents got left unattended and forgotten.  Naomi LaChance (ROLLING STONE) explained:

 

Guests at a hotel in Alaska found eight pages of documents from President Donald Trump's meetings Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a printer, NPR reported Saturday.

The documents show the schedule of the summit with times and locations. They also show the lunch menu, the lunch seating chart, and the phone numbers of three of Trump administration staffers. The documents were found in a printer at Hotel Captain Cook, a four-star hotel in Anchorage that is near the military base where the summit took place. 

Trump and Putin have had a hot and cold relationship, with Trump alternately taunting him and praising him. On Friday, the two leaders walked a red carpet together, as they met to discuss a potential end to Russia's war in Ukraine. The meeting ended abruptly without a Ukraine ceasefire deal. Trump told reporters it was "an extremely productive meeting," but they "didn't get there."

 

Tom Boggioni added:

According to Jon Michaels, a professor of law at UCLA who lectures about national security, a government official leaving the documents laying around is a massive security breach.

"It strikes me as further evidence of the sloppiness and the incompetence of the administration," he told NPR. "You just don't leave things in printers. It's that simple."

Love was on the brain but there were also egos involved as Daniel Hampton reminds:

 

A New York Times reporter flagged what she called one "unusual" element of a high-stakes meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin — it was awfully quiet.

Trump and Putin participated in a bizarre standoff, with each trying to outwait the other on deplaning in Alaska. As the two walked down the tarmac and shook hands, Times reporter Katie Rogers, who is traveling with Trump, flagged a notable facet of their meeting.

It was like a moment in 1939 on the MGM lot when Laszlo Willinger needed photographs of the three primary stars of THE WOMEN for poster art.  Rosalind Russell shows up late to make a big entrance as she apologizes for being late.  Though late, she's actually the first to arrive because Joan Crawford and Norma Shearer are both circling around the building in their cars, each refusing to go in before the other.  Laszlo has to go outside and flag the cars down to stop the diva behavior. 

 

Divas.

Between  Chump and Putin's sexual tensions, the need to sparkle and, most of all, the incompetence, it's no wonder that Chump embarrassed himself on the world stage and accomplished nothing.  Andrew O'Hehir (SALON) notes:

Donald Trump’s supposed strength lies in showmanship and stagecraft, or at least in shamelessly whoring for attention, which is not exactly the same thing. The fact that “we” — meaning the entire ecosystem of media and public opinion, including you and me — keep giving him attention, like a bunch of aging addicts chasing an unachievable high, says more about us than about him.

But while Trump’s second administration is undeniably nastier and more destructive than his first, it’s not entirely clear who’s driving the bus to dystopia. Because it ain’t him. Trump has always seemed more like a sump pump of received wisdom and reprocessed opinions than an actual human adult, but even by those standards he now appears enormously diminished. His so-called summit meeting with Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday was an abject failure (for everyone but Putin), making clear that the president’s performance skills have degraded nearly as much as his already-damaged cognitive abilities.

It seems almost beside the point to report that Trump and Putin failed to achieve a breakthrough in resolving the Ukraine conflict, and that Trump appears to have pivoted back to Putin’s view of the war, at least for the moment, after a brief personal flirtation with the orthodox pro-Ukraine position of other Western leaders. Did anyone genuinely expect a different outcome? It’s not entirely a rhetorical question; a lot of people at least pretended to.

The endlessly disproven notion that Trump is a master negotiator, uniquely skilled at making “deals” (whatever that even means), is like a fading folk belief or sectarian doctrine. For MAGA believers, it’s a received truth that requires no evidence and can never be contradicted by facts. For mainstream journalists, it’s an aspect of the Trump legend that must be treated with reverence, and demands the perpetual suspension of disbelief. Even after all these years, they remain mystified and mesmerized by the Trump phenomenon, and follow him around like a flock of children hoping to learn Harry Houdini’s secrets: Maybe this time, the magic will be real!

It wasn’t real this time either, and the consensus view that Trump was thoroughly pantsed by the Russian leader is correct, or close enough. Putin was welcomed back to the Western world with a literal red carpet, while giving nothing away and making no concessions. Amid the baffled and disgruntled commentary coming in from all directions, I was especially struck by New York Times fashion reporter Vanessa Friedman, who goes straight to the heart of the matter in far more economical fashion than most of her peers. The point of the whole show, she writes, was the photo op depicting Putin and Trump

in complementary dark suits — single-breasted, two-button — matching white shirts and coordinating ties … giving the impression of kindred spirits: just two statesmen meeting on the semi-neutral ground of an airport tarmac to go talk cease-fire, their respective planes looming in the background.

Both men, Friedman continues, understand “the power of the image” and “have made themselves into caricatures through costume and scenography, the better to capture the popular imagination.” What she does not say, perhaps to avoid throwing shade on her colleagues from the supposed grown-up desks, is that Trump’s image-making fell flat during this particular spectacle, and the whole world was watching.

Bobby Ghosh (TIME)  graded Chump similarly:

The Alaska meeting, which concluded without the Ukraine ceasefire Trump had promised, represents the latest chapter in a troubling pattern: the 45th and 47th president’s persistent confusion of stagecraft for statecraft. Where Reagan walked away from Reykjavik rather than accept a bad deal, Trump seems perpetually seduced by the optics of the moment, the handshake photo, the joint press conference that suggests progress where none exists.

Putin emerged from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson having achieved precisely what he came for: legitimacy on American soil, the erosion of Western unity, and a platform to present his territorial demands as reasonable “agreements.” Trump, meanwhile, offered the unconvincing assurance that they had made “many, many points that we agreed on”—diplomatic speak for admitting you’ve been played.

The choice of venue itself revealed Trump’s weakness for symbolism over substance. Alaska, purchased from Russia 158 years ago for $7.2 million, was supposed to be a clever metaphor for American strength. Instead, it became the stage for Putin to pitch his own “land deal of the century”—demanding Ukraine surrender the very territories his forces have failed to fully capture. The irony was lost on Trump, but certainly not on Putin, who understands better than most that in diplomacy, symbols matter only when backed by resolve.

Retired US Army Lt General Mark Hertling graded just as harshly but was a bit more succinct, "This whole thing is despicable."

Media: PARAMOUNT and its over valued assets

Can we change?  I've been running for 32 years -- in and out of prison like a junkie jack-in-the-box.  Change?  Strength of an ape.  Let's see, where was I?  Oh, right, change, change rising from -- Oh, this doesn't turn out good.  Can we change? I'm Jerri Blank and this is my story.  STRANGLERS WITH C -- guess we'll never know. 

 

A film we love,  new on streaming last week, opens with that passage.

 

  

 

 

Sometimes you can change.  Sometimes the answer's no.  Wanting to change doesn't mean you change but it can help.

We say all that to note that change isn't something that concerns the current administration.

Sure, they'd like to change the topic away from Donald Chump's relationship with the late pedophile and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein; however, they've tried to do that for four weeks now and Donald's decision at the end of last week to move convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell to Federal Prison Camp, Bryan isn't going to change the topic anytime soon.  That glorified day care in Texas is for those serving short terms (Maxwell is sentenced to twenty years) and has "the lowest security rating of all the federal institutions, other than community corrections centers as those are known as halfway houses. Due to the low classification, most of these facilities have no fence and a low staff-to-inmate ratio."

So she got what she wanted from Chump, didn't she?  

The Eurotrash didn't get what the American justice system wanted her to have because Chump rescued her.  

Just like Chump got what he wanted -- a huge $35 million bribe from  Shari Redstone.  July 24th, Senator Elizabeth Warren's office issued the following: 

 

 

Washington, D.C. – Today, in response to the news that the Trump administration approved Paramount Global’s (Paramount) $8 billion merger with Skydance Media (Skydance), U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) released the following statement:

“Bribery is illegal no matter who is president. It sure looks like Skydance and Paramount paid $36 million to Donald Trump for this merger, and he’s even bragged about this crooked-looking deal. I’ve been ringing the alarm bell for months, launching a Senate investigation into possible corruption, and this merger must be investigated for any criminal behavior. It’s an open question whether the Trump administration’s approval of this merger was the result of a bribe.”

Senator Warren has led the charge to determine if Paramount bribed President Trump in exchange for approval of its multi-billion-dollar megamerger with Skydance, and has fought relentlessly against President Trump's corruption:

• On July 23, Senator Warren published an op-ed in Variety: “Elizabeth Warren on Colbert 'Late Show' Cancellation: Is the Paramount Trump Payoff a Bribe?”
• On July 21, Senators Warren, Sanders (I-Vt.), and Wyden (D-Ore.) pressed David Ellison, CEO of Skydance, about reports of a secret deal between Skydance and President Trump — and how it may be related to Paramount’s recent multi-million-dollar settlement agreement with Trump.
• On July 17, Senators Warren and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), along with Representatives Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.), Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), Melane Stansbury (D-N.M.), and lawmakers in Congress unveiled the Presidential Library Anti-Corruption Act to close loopholes that allow presidential libraries to be used as tools for corruption and bribery.
• On July 2, Senator Warren called for an investigation into Paramount’s settlement with Trump.
• On May 19, Senators Warren, Sanders, and Wyden wrote to Shari Redstone, Chair of Paramount, with concerns regarding whether Paramount may be engaging in potentially illegal conduct involving the Trump Administration in exchange for approval of its megamerger with Skydance.

###

 

 

 

Can we change?  Can PARAMOUNT change?  It's a little nothing in the streaming wars -- a company that struggles to deliver hit films, a broadcast network whose viewers, for over three decades now, have been mocked for their advanced age.  Can PARAMOUNT change?

 

 

 

PARAMOUNT+ wants to be a streamer but it really doesn't have much.  Were it not for Lucille Ball, they wouldn't have the MISSION IMPOSSIBLE and STAR TREK film and TV franchises that provide content for the streamer.  Back in the 70s, the studio was building up to something but it never really arrived.  Dawn Steele had a vision but she left for COLUMBIA.  Sherry Lansing delivered hit films but Les Moonves regularly destroyed CBS -- repeatedly making advances to women and then cancelling their shows because they wouldn't have sex with him.  Start stop.  Stop start.  They never got anywhere, just idled loudly at a red light that never changed.

 

 

Stephen Colbert has worked at PARAMOUNT and its subsidiaries for decades and the question now is why?

Eddie Murphy was to PARAMOUNT what Goldie Hawn and Clint Eastwood were to WARNER BROTHERS.  The studio worked to build a relationship with him.  But that was long ago.  Eddie's more likely to work with DISNEY, AMAZON or NETFLIX.  Tom Cruise?  PARAMOUNT had a long standing relationship with Tom before Sumner Redstone tried to destroy Tom's career.  What Sumner couldn't do, age has.  It's not TROG time but most people assume Tom's at least getting ready for his WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? period.  They've got nothing.  

Who hangs a shingle at PARAMOUNT anymore?  Who has a boutique deal with PARAMOUNT these days?

STRANGERS WITH CANDY is a great TV show.  It ran for 30 episodes on COMEDY CENTRAL in the 90s and was created by Stephen Colbert, Paul Dinello, Amy Sedaris and Mitch Rouse and starred Stephen, Paul and Amy.  When the third season wrapped up in the fall of 2000, that wasn't it.  A 2005 film followed written by Paul, Stephen and Amy -- it's the film we quoted at the top and will be referencing throughout this essay.

What was STRANGERS WITH CANDY the TV show?  A spoof of those after school specials and scared straight specials.  Following her release from prison, 46-year-old Jerri decides to go back to her high school and apply herself this time.

In the film, Jerri introduces herself to the teenagers she's now going to be in school with declaring:

 

 

Hello, I'm Jerri Blank and-and I'm an alcoholic. I'm also addicted to amphetamines as well as main line narcotics. Some people say I have a sex addiction but I think all those years of prostitution was just a means to feed my ravenous hunger for heroin. It's kinda like the chicken or the nugget? The point is, I'm addicted to gambling. Thank you.

The film's not for everyone -- probably the show isn't either.  But our main point here is the failure of PARAMOUNT.

 

They carry the TV show.  It's one of their more popular offerings in the last five years.  But the film?  It came out last week on streaming finally.  We had it on DVD and watched it often but wanted it on streaming.  SHOUT TV has it for streaming purchase on AMAZON.  

SHOUT TV.

Not PARAMOUNT+.

 

How does that happen?  How do you not have the streaming rights to the movie made by WORLDWIDE PANTS and COMEDY CENTRAL?  How do you not have those rights?

 

Can SKYDANCE explain that?  They're the ones wanting to buy the mess that is PARAMOUNT.  Do they really know what they're purchasing?

 

A lot's being made of the deal -- a merger -- about to take place whereby PARAMOUNT+ gets absorbed by SKYDANCE MEDIA but a lot seems to be missed.

Elaine's noted that the rush to kill Stephen Colbert's late night show has created ill will and that the company does not benefit from that.  What does it benefit from?  THE GOOD FIGHT? A  show so bad that the streamer had to rebrand from CBS ALL ACCESS to PARAMOUNT+ just in the hopes of distancing itself?  That six season hot mess never won a single award despite The Water Cooler Set trying to hype it.  It couldn't garner awards and it couldn't find viewers.

 

 

PARAMOUNT's assets are widely overvalued. 

 

It's library of TV and film exclusives remains a sad joke.

 

 

For the last three years, one of PARAMOUNT's top streaming films has been . . . 2004's MEAN GIRLS.  

 

Despite launching over a decade ago, PARAMOUNT just can't seem to nail down streaming success when it creates streaming TV shows.  It has no HOUSE OF CARDS, it has no GRACE & FRANKIE, it has no HANDMAID'S TALE, it has no THE BOYS.  It's created nothing that's sparked the country's interest.

 

 

When they seem to be on the verge of finally delivering, they drop the ball.  Most recently?  WOLF PACK, for example, showed promise, got buzz, brought Sarah Michelle Geller back to series television and . . . "ended."  That's the fate of pretty much all of PARAMOUNT's programs.  

 

 

SKYDANCE seems to be the one risking a lot by buying PARAMOUNT.  You have to wonder why they weren't advised to wait a year or more when PARAMOUNT+ et al would be worse even less than it currently is?  

Jerri Blank: Are you the grief counselor?

 

Peggy Callas: Oh, god, it never ends. Have a seat. I should tell you up front, each student gets ten minutes, that last student took fifteen, so you get five.

Jerri Blank: Well, that's not fair!

Peggy Callas: Take it up with Les. He's the one that's frigid.

 

  

That's from Jerri's scene with Sarah Jessica Parker who plays Peggy Callas the grief counselor.  And plays the role very well.  It's right up there with her performances in ED WOOD and FIRST WIVES CLUB.   The film charts Jerri's lack of growth throughout the three act structure and along with Amy, Paul, Stephen and Sarah, the film also has, among others, Matthew Broderick, Allison Janey, Gregory Hollimon, Justin Theroux, Kristen Johnston, Philip Seymour Hoffman and a fat assed Chris Pratt before the stylists gave him a working hair color and eye brows that looked mannish. 

 

 

Jerri wants to be on the science team -- convinced working on a winning project will pull her father out of a coma.  However, her teacher Mr. Noblet (Stephen Colbert) doesn't want her on the team and kicks her out of the classroom.

 

That's when she accesses the services of the grief counselor.  

 

Okay, so who do we have that we can take up the actions of the administration with? 

 

Specifically, who's going to address our concerns regarding the country's security?

 

Chump nominated (and the GOP controlled Senate rubber stamped) a list of losers for security positions.  The Director of National Intelligence is the woefully unqualified Tulsi Gabbard, Loose Lips Hegseth is the Secretary of Defense, Secretary of State and acting National Security Advisor Marco Rubio . . .  

None of those people instill trust.  Especially not Tulsi who launched a ludicrous claim that Barack Obama committed treason in 2016.   Her evidence was neither new nor accurate.  But she shrieked and hollered like only a crazed cult member can.  And it all just reminded us that while she spent all her time in the last six months focused on nine years ago, who the hell was focusing on the very real threats to the United States right now?

9/11 was a shock to many.  Even to the Bully Boy Bush White House, you could argue, since they weren't overly concerned about August 6, 2001 PDB "Bin Laden Determined To Strike in US."

We were told never again but how secure do you feel with Chump and his goons in the White House?   You read Tom Nichols' "The Pentagon Against the Think Tanks" (THE ATLANTIC) and how secure do you feel?

Last week, Jack Detsch, Paul McLeary and Felicia Schwartz (POLITICO) reported:

A wide swath of Defense Department officials fear that new rules banning employees from participating at think tank and research events — a key way the Pentagon delivers its message and solicits feedback — will leave the military muzzled and further isolated from allies.

The move, according to more than a dozen officials and think tank leaders, hampers the department’s ability to make its case both in Washington policy circles and to allies struggling to understand how they fit into President Donald Trump’s worldview. That’s particularly important now as the Pentagon assesses whether to end decades of U.S. policy and remove thousands of troops stationed abroad.

“The DOD can’t tell its message,” said Becca Wasser, a former Army official, now a fellow at the Center for a New American Security, a national security think tank. “They can’t tell the critical points they want the general public to know. This is essentially shooting themselves in the foot.”

Uh, it's shooting us in the foot too.

Hegseth and company are neither educated nor enlightened enough to get by without input from others.  They weren't prepared to do the actual work required and now any assistance or education that could have been provided by think tanks is out the window.  

Jerri Blank: I'm Jerri Blank and my daddy's in a coma.

 

Peggy Callas: You know what, Jerri? I wish my daddy was in a coma. He's dead, Jerri. He was executed for war crimes, but for insurance purposes, we say he was eaten by wolves. Anyway, my point is, Jerri, somebody's always got it worse.

Yes, somebody's always got it worse.  And, sadly, right now that's the American people.

 =====================

 

Note: This piece mentions Stephen Colbert but does not focus on him.  Offline, one of us (C.I.) is offering feedback and advice to a member of Colbert's legal team.   

 

Media: Week four of the Epstein-Chump scandal begins

In the seventies, we were told the Devil went down to Georgia but, over the weekend, Satan headed for Scotland.  

 

Citizens there were not amused.  Seldom has a fat man provided so few laughs.

 

 

 

But the Convicted Felon has a lot on his mind these days.

 

This will be the fourth week of the dead and convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein dominating the news cycle.  That's not his full resume, let's not that his professional references would include longtime friend and neighbor Donald Chump.

 

And that's what's got Donald in hot water.

 

MAGA wanted to believe him.  Roseanne Barr was convinced he was saving children and spent his first term telling anyone who would listen that Donald was having people arrested all around the world for sex trafficking and would be bringing the global pedophile ring -- which she insisted was run out of a DC pizza parlor -- down. There was no reasoning with these idiots -- they wanted to believe, they wanted to follow, they wanted to be tricked.

 

And they were.

 

Because (a) Chump was Epstein's roll dawg and (b) Chump doesn't care about women being assaulted (he cares about assaulting them -- there's a difference). 

 

Chump ran on releasing the files about Jeffrey Epstein.  Pam Bondi, the woman he made Attorney General, told FOX "NEWS" in February that she had the Epstein client list -- a list of all the big names who paid for sex -- on her desk and would be releasing it just as soon as she vetted it.

 

But then something strange happened.  

 

Pam tried to do her job for once.  And reviewing the files on Epstein, she kept coming across one name: Donald Chump, Donald Chump and Donald Chump.

 

She went to him in May and told him.  We didn't find that out in May.  Or in June.  Or even at the start of this month when Pam suddenly announced that there was nothing to see in the files and she had nothing to release.  No, we found out when Sadie Gurman,  Annie Linskey,  Josh Dawsey and  Alex Leary (WALL STREET JOURNAL) reported last week that Pam informed Chump he was in the files -- informed him back in May.

 

There is so much wrong with that.  First off, there's the hiding.  They hid from the American people that this tip-off took place.  They pretended that they weren't releasing the files because there was nothing in it.  Second there's the lying.  Repeating, Attorney General Pam Bondi told him in May that he was in the files and you saw him lying on camera saying that didn't happen.  As Max Matza (BBC NEWS) notes, "That contradicts an account given earlier this month by the president, who responded 'no, no' when asked by a reporter whether he had been told by Bondi that his name appeared in the files."  He lied to the American people.  And third, there's this as noted on Thursday's MORNING EDITION (NPR) when host Michel Martin spoke with formal federal prosecutor Elie Honig:

 

MARTIN: So Attorney General Pam Bondi reportedly told Trump back in May that he was named in the Epstein files. I'm going to note again here that NPR has not independently confirmed that. But if true, is it normal for the attorney general to share that kind of information with the president?

HONIG: Not at all. And the question that this begs to me is why? Why would the attorney general go and tip off the president, hey, you're named in these criminal, closed criminal investigative files, whatever named may mean? That is highly abnormal. And if we look back at the history of attorneys general through both parties, that would be seen as a breach of the attorney general's independence. I mean, we can think back through history, whether it was - Bill Clinton was certainly under investigation by DOJ and the FBI. Joe Biden was during his term by Robert Hur. And there's no recent history of AGs tipping off the president, hey, there's something in our files that you may need to know about.

 

None of it felt right.  Nor did Chump dispatching Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche to visit Ghislaine Maxwell in prison.

 

Who?

 

Jonathan Edwards (WASHINGTON POST) describes her this way:

 

Maxwell’s 20-year sentence on a sex-trafficking conviction punctuated the stunning fall of a former socialite who, as the daughter of a British billionaire and former member of parliament, grew up in luxury, among power brokers. Her lawyers said she met Epstein in the 1990s after the death of her father, who was posthumously accused of embezzling large sums from his companies. Maxwell dated Epstein, a financier, and later worked as his employee, a role prosecutors said she used to traffic young sexual abuse victims to Epstein. Maxwell denied the allegations and pleaded not guilty, but in 2021, a jury convicted her of sex trafficking a minor and related crimes.  

 

Some wrongly consider her a recruiter or a pimp.  She was more than that.  She took part in the abuse.  She's a pedophile herself.  Supposedly, this is for answers and truth.  So they went to the woman who wouldn't take the stand at her own trial?  The woman who went on the lam to avoid being arrested?  

 

Answers and truth couldn't better be found by speaking to the survivors?  

 

It only makes Chump look worse to get in bed with Maxwell.

 

Former Attorney General Eric Holder discussed the Maxwell nonsense with Jonathan Capehart on MSNBC's THE WEEKEND.

 

 

 

Donald has brought this scandal on himself.  He stoked it for years and then he denied the base what he had promised them.  As Peter Baker (NEW YORK TIMES) points out, "Washington is awash in conspiracy theories these days, a cascade of suspicion and intrigue promoted or denied in the Oval Office, ricocheting around Capitol Hill and cable news and propelled at warp speed across social media. [. . .]  The conspiracy theorist in chief has not been able to shake the Epstein case, which reflects the rise of the QAnon movement that believes America is run by a cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles."

 

And that's why the right has its problems right now.  But can we take a moment to reflect on our side?

 

One poll after another telling us how hated Democrats are?  That's a given.  When you're supposed to represent the people but you have very little power because you don't control the White House and you don't have control of even one house of Congress.  

 

But that's not the only reason.  Another reason?  Rat f**kers.

 

Roseanne Barr is misguided.  That didn't happen by chance.  She didn't go from left to right on one day.  She was steered there by supposed leftists.  That's how you end up with Socialist Roseanne going Green and then going MAGA.  John Stauber?  We're still the only ones on the left calling him out.  He's a raging a transphobe, a raging homophobe, a pro-MAGA piece of trash.  It's time to stop saying, "Oh, well he was good on the Iraq War."  Isn't the Iraq War over?  We see that the idiotic Ray McGovern is still in the 'mix' of crap that passes for the left.  CONSORTIUM NEWS publishes him -- and other 'left' voices that are pro-Trump.  McGovern loves to go over the Larry I Broke The Whitey Tape Story (LIE) Johnon's podcast and address the most pressing issues of the day like how great Tulsi Gabbard is and how awful Hillary Clinton is.  

 

It's past time to cull the herd.  People such as McGovern, Medea Benjamin, Chris Hedges, Katie Halper,  Nick Cruse, Niko House, Aaron Mate, etc are not friends of democracy.  They rush to break bread with racist right-wingers, they rush to insult our representatives -- no Democrat or Socialist in Congress is ever good enough for them.  And they rush to turn vile and disgusting right-wingers into 'cuddly friends' -- what POST-LEFT WATCH calls "leftwashing:"

 

 Leftwashing: When people who claim to be on the "left" claim that far-right figures are actually left-wing, based on a few shared positions.

Tucker Carlson is the biggest figure, also includes Candace Owens, Thomas Massie, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Ron Paul, Steve Bannon, Josh Hawley, and Alex Jones.
July 24, 2025 at 8:22 PM
 

 

Reality, to save this country, we have to back Congress in the midterms.  That means turning out to vote and motivating others to vote as well.  We don't have time or the luxury in the lead up to the November 2026 mid-terms for all these 'left' voices using YOUTUBE, SUBSTACK and other outlets to attack our side.  We just don't.  

 

We need to instead be supporting and promoting the voices that are actually on our side like MEIDASTOUCH NEWS.

 

 

 

Chump is a threat to democracy.  The one thing that's saved our country is that Chump is deeply, deeply stupid.  And that stupidity is why he thinks any second he's going to pivot away from the Epstein scandal.  It's not gone away yet and it's not going away this week either.

 

 

 

 

Media: Why America's turned on Chump's war on immigrants

NBC canceled FOUND May 9th.  That's the show about a crisis manager who has a team working under her that try to find missing people while she herself has kidnapped (and imprisoned) a man who kidnapped her years ago.  What was once considered Must TV has morphed into Sick F**k TV.

 

FADE IN

INT SQUAD CAR - DAY

Tension and energy fill the squad car as OFFICER NOLAN looks at DETECTIVE LOPEZ.  

NOLAN: Ready?

Lopez nods.  The two pull dark masks over their faces and throw open the doors of their squad car

EXT. TREE LINED STREET -- DAY

Nolan and Lopez run towards a 2024 blue Ford Crown Victoria.

INT. CROWN VICTORIA - DAY

MASON, 25, sits in parked car listening to music and finishing some french fries when a big thud is hear.

EXT. TREE LINED STREET - DAY

NOLAN: Roll down the window!!!

Nolan and Lopez stand beside the parked car yelling.

NOLAN:  Roll down the window!

Lopez looks at Nolan.  He nods.  He breaks the window with his gun, reaches inside and grabs Mason by the t-shirt collar.  Lopez reaches in and grabs Mason by the neck, joining Nolan in pulling a scared Mason out of the car.

MASON: What's going on!  What did I do?  

DETECTIVE HARPER runs over towards them as Nolan and Lopez hurl Mason to the ground.

LOPEZ:  Down!  Stay down!

MASON: Who are you?

NOLAN: Shut up!

Lopez begins tazing Mason while Nolan and Harper kick him.

Would you accept that scene on THE ROOKIE?

How about this on a STARSKY & HUTCH reboot?

 

INT - 1975 FORD GRAN TORINO - DAY

STARSKY scrolls through his cell phone while Hutch drums on the dashboard.

STARSKY:  These dating apps are wack.

HUTCH:  Ever think maybe it's you?

STARSKY: [Muttering] Maybe it's you, maybe it's you.

EXT - STREET - DAY

A FORD MINI-VAN drives slowly past Starsky's TORINO.  We see SULTAN in the driver's seat of the van.

INT - 1975 FORD GRAN TORINO - DAY

Hutch leans over and swats Starsky on the arm repeatedly.  Starsky shoots him a look and starts the car.

EXT - STREET - DAY

Starsky's car closely follows the mini-van as it turns off the street into a school parking lot.  

INT - MINI-VAN - DAY

Sulton drives slowly to the front of the school while talking to his five-year-old son DANNY in the back seat.

SULTON: So what you going to learn today?

DANNY: Everything!

SULTON: You're going to learn everything?

DANNY: Yep!

SULTON: Well if you learn everything today, why would you come back tomorrow?

DANNY: To teach!

Sulton and Danny laugh.

EXT - OUTSIDE SCHOOL - DAY

The mini-van comes to a stop and Starsky immediately brakes as well.

INT - MINI-VAN - DAY

Through the car windows, we see Starsky and Hutch running up alongside the mini-van but Sultan and Danny do not.

SULTAN: Okay, buddy, we're here. 

DANNY: Yea! 

SULTON: Yea! 

Starsky begins bangind on the door of the mini-van on the driver's side.

STARSKY: Get out!  Get out!

Danny looks around scared.  Sulton rolls down his window part-way.

SULTON: Can I help you?

STARSKY:  Out of the car!  Now! Out of the car!

Sulton: Who are you?

Starsky: I said out of the car, asshole!

Starsky begins hitting the driver door window with his gun until he breaks it while Danny screams.

HUTCH: Out of the car!  He said out of the car!

SULTON: It's okay, Danny.  It's okay.

Starsky pulls open the door and pulls Sulton out of the mini-van.  Sulton lands on the ground on his back.  Hutch and Starsky stand over him with guns drawn while Danny screams.

HUTCH: Shut up, brat!  I said shut up!

FEMALE PRINCIPAL comes running up.

FEMALE PRINCIPAL:  What is going on here?  I'm calling the police.

STARSKY: Ma'am, ma'am, we're going to need you to step back.

FEMALE PRINCIPAL: What are you doing to Mr. Rahi?  Mr. Rahi, are you okay?

Hutch walks over to the woman menacingly.

HUTCH: He told you to step back.  

Only now do Starsky and Hutch register that every child going to the school, as well as teachers and and some other parents have witnessed the assault on Sultan.

TV is bad.  It's not that bad yet.  We haven't gotten to the point where that would be acceptable. 

So why are we treating it as acceptable on our streets, in our communities?

ICE agents want to be seen as heroes.  Heroes don't act out the scenes above.  But they took place on our streets in the United States.

Donald Chump is a convicted felon.  A crook.  And he doesn't have any respect for due process.  But while we need to call out the lack of due process once arrested, we also need to be calling out the procedures by which immigrants are being taken into custody.

When you are taken into custody in the United States, it generally works something like this: 1) An officer of some enforcement body utilizes probable cause -- a crime has taken place, is taking place or is about to commence.  2) If a crime has taken place, a warrant for someone's arrest has been obtained.  If a crime is taking place or is about to take place, an arrest does not require a warrant.  3) The officer must inform the suspect of their rights (basic Miranda Rights).  4) The arresting officer must use the minimum force required to carry out the arrest.  5) Would be where Due Process -- as most mean the term -- would kick in.  Appearing before someone in the judiciary, etc.

 

Why are we allowing Chump to destroy our procedures in place for decades in order to carry out cruelty.

 

And this is cruelty aimed at immigrants, yes.  But also at US citizens.  

 

THE ROOKIE scenario above?  

 

George Retes.  That's the name of the man this actually happened to.  In California.  And he's not an immigrant.  He's a US citizen and, in fact, an Iraq War veteran.  And when ICE began attacking him, they didn't listen and they didn't care.  Olga R. Rodriguez (AP) notes 

"It took two officers to nail my back and then one on my neck to arrest me even though my hands were already behind my back," Retes said.

[. . .]

Retes was taken to the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, where he said he was put in a special cell on suicide watch and checked on each day after he became emotionally distraught over his ordeal and missing his 3-year-old daughter's birthday party Saturday.

He said federal agents never told him why he was arrested or allowed him to contact a lawyer or his family during his three-day detention. Authorities never let him shower or change clothes despite being covered in tear gas and pepper spray, Retes said, adding that his hands burned throughout the first night he spent in custody.

On Sunday, an officer had him sign a paper and walked him out of the detention center. He said he was told he faced no charges.

"They gave me nothing I could wrap my head around," Retes said, explaining that he was met with silence on his way out when he asked about being "locked up for three days with no reason and no charges."

 

 
George was on CBS EVENING NEWS yesterday talking about what he endured.

 

 

 

 Again, this was done to an American citizen.  No one should have that done to them.  This is not what we expect in the United States when it comes to someone being taken into custody.

 

You do not have the right to beat someone whose hands are behind their back.  You do not not need to be breaking windows.  You do not need to be terrorizing and you do not need to be hidden behind masks.

 

It is a very slippery slope.  You accept it from ICE, you better believe it's going to transfer over to the police.

 

The STARSKY & HUTCH scenario above?

 

We didn't make that up either.   Conrad Wilson  and Holly Bartholomew (OREGON PUBLIC BROADCASTING) reported last week:

Federal immigration officers arrested a 38-year-old Iranian man outside his child’s preschool in Beaverton on Tuesday, according to school and law enforcement officials.

The man was arrested by officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement during morning dropoff at Guidepost Montessori School. The incident has deeply shaken the school community, which went into “soft lockdown to ensure the safety of all students and staff,” according to a message sent to parents.

OPB is not naming the man because his family was not immediately reachable and his immigration attorney did not return a request for comment.

The incident marks the first confirmed case of an immigration arrest at an Oregon school amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Historically, certain locations – including schools and houses of worship – have been largely off limits to immigration enforcement.

According to an ICE spokesperson, the man lawfully entered the United States in 2017, but overstayed his student visa.

Caroline Medeiros is an immigration attorney who is consulting with the family and the school. Medeiros’ child attends the same Montessori school. She said the man ICE arrested works as a chiropractor and she disputed the agency’s claim he was not in the U.S. lawfully.

“He married a U.S. citizen and his U.S. citizen wife filed a green card application for him,” Medeiros told OPB. “He attended his green card interview with his wife and they were just simply waiting for the green card to come through.”

He was dropping his child off at school.  This terrorist attack -- that's what ICE carried out -- terrorized the children present.  There is no excuse for that.  The kidnapping carried out traumatized a community.  That's outrageous.

 

 

Yesenia Amaro (OREGONIAN) notes of that arrest:

 

One of the latest immigration arrests in Oregon took place Tuesday outside a Beaverton preschool, and it appears to be the first in the state to have happened on school grounds.

Before President Donald Trump returned to office, federal authorities considered schools, churches, hospitals and courthouses to be sensitive locations and limited immigration authorities from making arrests there. The policy had been in place since 2011, with the Biden administration issuing its own guidance to further expand the protected areas.

 

We've got two choices here.  ICE carried out the raid and thought the man was a violent criminal is one choice.  If that's the case, they put an entire school at risk.  There was no need to arrest a violent criminal -- or even a suspected one -- on school property.  Chump doesn't get this but America's has had enough of students being killed in school shootings.

 

That Oregon incident?  It demands an immediate Congressional probe and we need to know who's signing off on these actions.  Who thought it was acceptable to pull that action off at a school?  That left every child there at risk of violence.

 

There's the also the second possibility: ICE knew this wasn't a violent criminal.

 

 

They like to lie -- especially Kristi Noem, Donald Chump and Tom Holman -- about the success they're having with these arrests.

 

But the figures don't back them up.  

 

The California operation that led to them beating Iraq War veteran George and holding him for three days?   Julie Watson, Amy Taxin and Olga R. Rodriguez (AP) note, "The government said four of the 361 arrested had prior criminal records, including convictions for rape and kidnapping."  The government says they nabbed 361 people.  And the government says four "had prior criminal records." 

 

 

 

 This is not about deporting violent criminals, this is about terrorizing immigrants and the American people and rewriting how people get arrested and what rights they have.  If Chump gets his way, the rights immigrants and Americans will have will be zero.

 

 

The ACLU offers this list regarding what to do when stopped by a police officer.

TV can be really sick.  There was never a reason for a TV show about Hannibal Lector to begin with.  Of course, there was no need for IN THESE TIMES to try to copy us either.  And there was no need for them to hire what was then said to be a feminist to try to copy us and outdo us.  Didn't work out too good for them.  Now their archives include praise for HANNIBAL and their feminist isn't who they presented.  We worded that as kindly as possible.  Reading her TV criticism, we didn't find her to be a feminist.

"A."  

We've always maintained -- for 20 years now -- that we offer a feminist critique -- not "the" critique.  Feminism is huge, wide, with many voices, some concurring, some at odds.  

But there are basics.  And that feminist did not meet the basics.  That feminist has now transitioned to male.  Men can be feminists.  But we don't see him as a feminist.  We see him as a pop culture critic who, from time to time, remembers that women do more than stand on the sidelines and serve dinner.  

When he showed up at IN THESE TIME, we knew about it because we got an e-mail from the magazine (shall we name the editor?  we have no trouble doing so) explaining to us that we were about to be shown how feminism is done and what feminism is about and we were going to be struggling to catch up.

It's strange to think about now.  But it was a strange e-mail even then.  

Hostile, yes, but much more than just that.

We weren't worried because we thought the writer would do a great job (we were wrong there) and we honestly feel that the more voices the better when it comes to feminism and that any other feminist writer (male or female) working to argue on behalf of female protagonists was great.

But IN THESE TIMES' new feminist critic didn't really like women and wasn't bothered when women were sidelined in TV shows.

Today, at SCREEN RANT and CINEMA BLEND, we see other questionable types writing bad commentary.  For example, praising JERICHO.  

We called that garbage show out immediately for the sidelining of women:

 

 

What's not murky, what's right there to see plainly on your TV screens, is that women do nothing and should do nothing. That message doesn't need to emerge, it's been at the forefront episode after episode where 'active' for the female characters has meant a 'damsel in distress' moment or two while we all wait for the men to arrive such as when ex-cons posed as cops and tormented a farmhouse.

Presumably, a nuclear aftermath produces a ton of dust and the women have all busied themselves with housework because, otherwise, we can't image what they do all day when not making cow eyes as they fret over the men of the town.

We think that's a really ugly message and hope that, should something like the show ever happen, women would embrace their inner Xenas and Gabrielles and come out fighting. Love her, hate her or be left indifferent, Hillary Clinton's running for president. Ditto the qualifer and note that Condi Rice is currently Secretary of State (and Anger as Wally and Cedric point out quite often). Ourselves, we'd love to see a guest spot by Gloria Steinem, Maxine Hong-Kingston or Robin Morgan where the women are gathered and questions about identity and wants and needs are explored. But, probably, such a scene would play out with Pamela Reed and the other women stalling throughout the attempted consciousness raising for the men to rescue them before any self-awareness set in.

In times of crisis, Jericho tells you, natural leaders emerge and that's based on something other than the ability to lead, it's based on whether or not you've got a Y chromosome. We don't buy into the belief that the dangling Y means extra intelligence or natural leadership but, come the nuclear aftermath, women should keep in mind that the heavily worshiped area, in this society, is also a very sensitive one. Aim the stiletto there as well. 

We wrote that back in 2007.  How very sad that a lengthy piece on JERICHO went up on a pop-culture site last week -- a site that fancies itself as being of the left -- and the writer praised the show without ever noting the sidelining of women. 

 

 

As we noted at the top, FOUND got cancelled in May -- after two unneeded seasons.  All we could think was, "Thank heaven."  We're not cruel -- or not completely cruel.  It's bad when people lose jobs.  But when you're main character is a kidnapper, we've got a problem with your priorities.  TV is ugly enough as it is.  As the slaughter in Gaza continues, we are saddened by the plight of the Palestinians and the apartheid system imposed by the government of Israel.  We don't blame or hate the Israeli people.  Well, that's our blanket statement.  As a general rule, no, we don't.

But there are some we do blame and dislike immensely.  They're certain Israeli creatives.  They do programs advancing torture.  And that's bad enough when you consider life in the region, but it's flat out disgusting when you grasp that garbage like 24 and HOMELAND and way too many other programs in the US are adaptations of Israeli torture porn. 

Torture is a sickness.  Racism is a sickness.  Attacks on empathy are sickness.  And the country can embrace Chump and his sickness or we can fight to be better than that and to try to be better than that.  The first step there is telling the hard truths about what we see with our own eyes.  And the reason the American people have turned on Chump's immigration 'plan' is because we're seeing how sick it is, how innocents are being targeted and families and communities torn apart. These are the truths we need to be telling and these are the truths we need to be sharing. 

 

 

Media: Reality slaps Chump upside the head

Democrats know all about herding cats but looks like Donald's finally learning about harnessing crazy. 

 

 

Convicted Felon Donald Chump lost the 2020 presidential election and that result led him further into the grip of insanity.  He attempted to violently overthrow the election and should have been either put in prison or faced the death penalty.  Instead, an unneeded sense of decorum and let's-just-put-it-behind-us allowed him to mingle in polite society where he nursed his wounds and enlarged his base among the criminally insane.   

 

 Thanks to grifters such as Glenneth Greenwald and Matt Taibbi, his first term was rewritten in real time.  Chump invented 'the deep state' -- a group that already existed according to the late Bill Moyers but was defined differently by Chump.  And Greenwala dn Taibbi and other grifters lied repeatedly to make him come off as a warrior against the deep state.

 

We have neither the time nor the interest to document in full what we've already spent years documenting.  So instead, we'll just pick one pet cause the three shared: Julian Assange. The grifters insisted Chump was going to pardon him and then Julian would finally be free of the UK legal system.  It was coming.  Chump was the real thing.

 

In the end, all that came was Greenwald, on the carpet as he licked the toes of a large man he paid to degrade him while both were high on meth.  

 

That drug usage -- something Taibbi knows all about -- also clouded their minds allowing them to make excuses for Chump leaving the White House without ever addressing Julian Assange.  The drugs also allowed them to refuse credit to President Joe Biden who, in the end, did not demand Assange be handed over to the US and face trial here for the 'crime' of journalism.

 

It was really something to watch the grifters celebrate Julian's release while failing to credit the Biden administration (or, specifically, Caroline Kennedy, the US Ambassador to Australia who put a lot of weight into getting Julian released).  

 

Chump was recruiting the crazy and grifters like Greenwald and Taibbi were helping him.  The crazier the theory Chump put out, the more insane the supporter he won.  The deep state was against him!  The deep state wanted to continue pedophilia!  The deep state ousted him because he was shutting down their pedophile rings!

 

If this nonsense is a shocker to you, you weren't paying attention.  

 

And you've got no real excuse.  Roseanne is a talented comedian and she's also bat s**t insane.  Her Tweets were not about racism.  They were about crazy.  You didn't grasp what was in front of you.  Because, depending upon the day of the week, she was a victim of child abuse, she's sensitive to others being abused.  And her Tweets were nothing but crazy about how Chump was saving the children!  Saving them!!!!

 

These lunatics believed this crap and even now most media won't tell you about that.  Even as Epstein has blown up, the media won't tell you that grifter outlets have spent years lying about Chump busting this pedophile ring and that pedophile ring and the government's after him for that reason and!!!!!

 

 Chump lumbered back into the White House in January.  Weeks later, Pam Bondi was telling the world that the Epstein client list was on her desk, waiting for her to peruse and release it.  She also invited grifters that she called social influencers.  

 

Our corporate media let it stop at that:  social influencers.  

 

No, these are the crazies who distributed the poisoned Kool-Aid regularly.  They are the ones who told gullible Americans over and over for years that the US government was part of a global pedophile ring and only Chump was objecting to it.  

 

The attack on trans women and others falls into that.  Every lie of "protect the girls" led to eye rolls among rational people who grasped trans girls are not a threat to non-trans girls but for his enraged and deluded base, it was coded -- he'll take on the trans just like he's taken on the pedophiles.  

 

Since everyone doesn't watch TRUE CRIME or DATELINE, let's go to WIKIPEDIA for this overview of Jeffrey Epstein:

 

In 2005, police in Palm Beach, Florida, began investigating Epstein after a parent reported that he had sexually abused her 14-year-old daughter. Federal officials identified 36 girls, some as young as 14 years old, whom Epstein had allegedly sexually abused.^[9] Epstein pleaded guilty and was convicted in 2008 by a Florida state court of procuring a child for prostitution and of soliciting a prostitute.^[10] He was convicted of only these two crimes as part of a controversial plea deal, and served almost 13 months in custody but with extensive work release.^[11]

Epstein was arrested again on July 6, 2019, on federal charges for the sex trafficking of minors in Florida and New York.^[12][13] He died in his jail cell on August 10, 2019.^[14] The medical examiner ruled that his death was a suicide by hanging.^[15] Epstein's lawyers have disputed the ruling, and there has been significant public skepticism about the true cause of his death, resulting in numerous conspiracy theories.^[16][17] The Federal Bureau of Investigation stated in 2025 that it would release video evidence supporting the conclusion that Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide in his jail cell;^[18] however, when the DOJ released the footage in July 2025, one minute of footage was missing,^[19] and the video was found to have been modified despite the FBI’s claim that it was raw.^[20]

Since Epstein's death precluded the possibility of pursuing criminal charges against him, a judge dismissed all criminal charges on August 29, 2019. Epstein had a decades-long association with the British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, who recruited young girls for him,^[21] leading to her 2021 conviction on U.S. federal charges of sex trafficking and conspiracy for helping him procure girls, including a 14-year-old, for child sexual abuse and prostitution.^[22][23][24]

 

So Jeffrey Epstein trafficked girls and women (with Ghislaine's help).  And, while out of the White House, Chump insisted a cover up too place, that Epstein was murdered and did not commit suicide, that a global conspiracy was behind it -- he insisted so many things but it boils down to Mighty Chump was going to save us all 'whether they wanted to be saved or not' as he declared at his Marvin Gardens Nazi rally. 

 

Now no one wants to deal with crazy.  We don't want to deal with crazy.  There's enough in the real world without having to carry every other burden.  But the media didn't deal with it and if they had it might not have made a difference.

 

These were crazy people begging to be lied to.  They were easy marks because they wanted so desperately to be conned that they were easily tricked.

 

Had the media dealt with every day for a full month, it might have made some headway among the Make America Insane Again crowd.

 

The media could have easily pointed out the obvious.

 

Chump is lying, you know that because this happened under him in 2019.  If he was telling the truth, he could have addressed it while president (January 2017 through January 2020).  This happened on his watch. The media could have pointed out that Chump and Epstein were neighbors, that the two men were friends. 

 

They didn't.  And if you were counting on YOUTUBE to help, you were out of luck  What you got from the 'left' on YOUTUBE tended to be praise for grifter Glenneth Greenwald -- praise from Krystal Ball, praise from THE VANGUARD boyz.  He was putting out lies, but they didn't care.  They probably still won't call him out.

 

Last week was quite the week for Chump.

 

He claimed that Secretary of Defense Losse Lips Hegseth had -- for a third time -- cut off weapons to Ukraine without informing Chump.  The flood that hit Texas on a Friday resulted in Kristi Noem yammering in front of the cameras the following Saturday but waiting three days before releasing the needed funds to start rescue efforts.  Thursday, Gabe Cohen and Michael Williams (CNN) reported:

 

As monstrous floodwaters surged across central Texas late last week, officials at the Federal Emergency Management Agency leapt into action, preparing to deploy critical search and rescue teams and life-saving resources, like they have in countless past disasters.

But almost instantly, FEMA ran into bureaucratic obstacles, four officials inside the agency told CNN.

As CNN has previously reported, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem — whose department oversees FEMA — recently enacted a sweeping rule aimed at cutting spending: Every contract and grant over $100,000 now requires her personal sign-off before any funds can be released.

For FEMA, where disaster response costs routinely soar into the billions as the agency contracts with on-the-ground crews, officials say that threshold is essentially “pennies,” requiring sign-off for relatively small expenditures.

In essence, they say the order has stripped the agency of much of its autonomy at the very moment its help is needed most.

“We were operating under a clear set of guidance: lean forward, be prepared, anticipate what the state needs, and be ready to deliver it,” a longtime FEMA official told CNN. “That is not as clear of an intent for us at the moment.”

For example, as central Texas towns were submerged in rising waters, FEMA officials realized they couldn’t pre-position Urban Search and Rescue crews from a network of teams stationed regionally across the country.

In the past, FEMA would have swiftly staged these teams, which are specifically trained for situations including catastrophic floods, closer to a disaster zone in anticipation of urgent requests, multiple agency sources told CNN.

But even as Texas rescue crews raced to save lives, FEMA officials realized they needed Noem’s approval before sending those additional assets. Noem didn’t authorize FEMA’s deployment of Urban Search and Rescue teams until Monday, more than 72 hours after the flooding began, multiple sources told CNN.

 Today, William Vaillancourt (THE DAILY BEAST) reports:

 

The Federal Emergency Management Agency didn’t answer thousands of phone calls after the Texas floods last week because it had fired call center contractors.

Records obtained by The New York Times show that FEMA laid off contractors the night of July 5, when flood waters were receding but still high, and when damage assessment was taking place. It took Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem until Thursday—five days later—to renew the contractors’ contracts.  

After taking office, Noem created a policy where she must personally approve expenses totaling $100,000 or more. 

The contrast in two-way communication between July 5 and the following days is stark. Before the contracts at four call center companies expired that night, FEMA answered 3,018 of 3,027 calls. 

On July 6, however, it answered only 846 of 2,363 calls. Data from July 7 shows an even worse level of responsiveness: 2,613 of 16,419 calls.

 

 Ariana Baio (INDEPENDENT)  reported, "Noem eventually approved FEMA’s request on Monday, nearly three days after the initial flooding occurred, sources told CNN."  Ruth pointed out, "Monday.  She was grandstanding in front of cameras last Saturday talking about the flood.  She was posting INSTAGRAM photos Sunday, showing off that artificial rat's nest she calls hair.  As a general rule, Cabinet secretaries should never look as though they could walk onto the set of a REAL HOUSEWIVES taping and be mistaken for a performer on the show." 

 

They failed -- Chump and Noem failed.  As well as the acting chief of FEMA David Richardson that no one can apparently find since the flood.  129 confirmed deaths, a Chump failure. 

 

But while that failure resulted in deaths, what really rocked Chump world last week was the Epstein client list.   US Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that there was no Epstein client list.  She then insisted people misunderstood her February public statements that the list was on her desk and waiting for her vetting before being released.  

 

She and the administration thought that was the end of it.

 

But all hell broke loose. 

 

Having harnessed the crazy to get back into the White House, Chump was shocked to learn that they wouldn't just let the Epstein matter go.  

 

In Tuesday's Cabinet meeting, the press asked about Epstein and Chump thundered -- "Are we still talking about that guy!" --  tried to distract -- "This guy has been talked about for years, we have Texas, we have this [referring to the Ukraine war], and people are still talking about this creep?”

 

Too bad for Chump, that wasn't the end of it.  The crazy outside the administration was enraged and, turns out, two crazies in the administration weren't taking the news any better.  Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino and FBI Director Kash Patel made a lot of money grifting online over the Epstein files and claiming a global pedophile ring existed that Chump would expose and dismantle if re-elected.  He got re-elected and the two men were not happy about sudden assertion that there was no "there" there  In a meeting with Bondi and White House Chief of Staff Susan Wiles  on Wednesday, tempers exploded.  Based on this came the statements and whispers that Bongino was considering quitting.  And CBS NEWS notes, "Bongino did not show up to work on Friday, according to the sources."

  

Chump tried playing Rodney King on social media with a version of can't-we-all-get-along and it didn't bury the anger from his one-time followers as MEIDASTOUCH NEWS noted today.

 

 

 

Democrats?  We are silly and foolish enough to think we can herd cats.  However, we're not insane and believe we can harness crazy.  That's Chump.  He thought he could harness crazy to get back in the White House and he thought he could stoke it and control it.  

 

While it's true that he uncorked the crazy, he's unable to shove it back into the bottle.  These things never end well.