The Epstein Saga Continues

Posted: November 17, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Donald J Trump and his then Slovenian girlfriend Melania Knauss partying at Mar-A-Lago with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell both of whom were later convicted of sex trafficking girls and young women. (Getty Images)

The House of Representatives is back from their nearly eight week paid vacation and were in session last week. Congresswoman Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ) was finally sworn in after Speaker “Little Mikey” Johnson declined to do so for more than seven weeks. It is widely discerned that he delayed her ascent to office to prevent her signature on a discharge petition that will bring a bill to the House floor for a vote on releasing the “Epstein Files.” The files in question cover the investigation and prosecution of Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex trafficker that died in a New York prison deemed a suicide.

In a separate, but related development, the Epstein Estate turned over roughly 20,000 pages of documents and emails to the House Oversight Committee that released them last week. As a result, Trump is freaking out. He is also mentioned more than any other person in those files.

Nothing in the information released so far implicates Trump in doing anything illegal. Despite speculation and some embarrassing emails, no one else has yet to be implicated in any wrong doing or direct involvement in Epstein’s sex ring. Yet. Which is why there is such a clamor for more from the estate, but especially from the Department of Justice (DOJ) which is believed to have incriminating information. But on who? Or for how many rich and powerful individuals? The common perception is that there was long-standing and wide-ranging knowledge of Epstein’s sex ring among the rich and powerful but that they all worked to protect each other. That, it is believed, is why no information is yet forthcoming. In recent polls eighty one percent of Americans want the DOJ files released. Let the chips fall where they may. For his part, Trump calls the entire Epstein case a “Democrat hoax.” That he would say that only further punishes the estimated hundreds of women and girls that were abused for many years. It implies that the survivors are all liars or in cahoots with the Democrats. Trump is totally disrespectful towards them and further abuses them by claiming that it is a hoax. However, why would he tell Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate Democrats mentioned in the documents if it is a hoax? Of course, logic is never Trump’s strongest trait.

Trump is freaking out and according to press reports is doing everything in his power to suppress the files and to make the whole thing go away. So far, no luck. Although only four Republicans joined all Democrats that signed the discharge petition, it is expected that as many as one hundred of them will vote in favor of the bill to release the files. The vote will be viewed in simple terms — do Republican Representatives support bringing pedophiles to justice or do they support pedophilia?

Trump finally realized last night that the bill was going to pass. Consequently, he announced on social media that Republicans should vote for the bill. Since many were going to do so anyway, it is a little like a military officer saying “there go my soldiers — I am their leader — therefore I must follow them.” No one has any misconceptions that Trump really wants the files released. We can openly speculate as to how they will continue to be suppressed even if the bill passes both the House and the Senate. Trump could veto it. DOJ could claim that since there is an ongoing investigation (see above) no information can be released. They could release only select portions that are favorable to Trump or damning to people he dislikes. The possibilities are endless. Passing the bill in the House of Representatives is an important first step. But only a first step.

What about Maxwell? She was sentenced to twenty years in prison. Trump’s personal attorney, now the Deputy Attorney General, Todd Blanche visited her to ask questions about Trump’s involvement with Epstein. A known liar (she was charged with perjury) who desperately wants to get a pardon or commutation to get out of prison, she was, after Blanche’s visit, transferred to a minimum security prison in Texas (commonly referred to as Club Fed — a play on the resort chain Club Med). Such a transfer is totally unheard of for a sexual predator. It is now reported that she gets custom meals delivered to her prison cell, a puppy, late-night private workouts, special accommodations to meet privately with friends and family and other perks not available to the other inmates. Reportedly, inmates or staff that complain about the situation are transferred or fired. It sure seems that somebody (could that be someone in the White House?) sure does not want Maxwell to get mad and tell the truth. When asked numerous times if he would pardon or commute Maxwell’s sentence, Trump dissembles and tries to change the subject. He never says that he will not pardon a convicted pedophile. Of course, he has pardoned a rogues gallery of hardened criminals already, so what’s one more pedophile if it keeps her quiet?

Trump denies, denies, denies. And, again, to date there is nothing that ties him to any illegal acts. However, whatever is in the files must really be bad given the full court press he is instrumenting to keep them secret. The available information to date suggests that he at least knew what was going on with Epstein, Maxwell and the underage girls.

“I’ve known Jeff [Epstein] for 15 years. Terrific guy, He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.” Donald J Trump in 2002

So let’s take a look at what we do know.

  • The Access Hollywood tapes. In 2016 a video tape of Trump bragging about his approach to women included a description of his attempt to seduce a married woman. He then bragged that he might start kissing a woman that he and his interviewer were about to meet saying, “I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. … Grab ’em by the p***y. You can do anything.”
  • In 2018 a story broke about Trump’s alleged one night stand with an adult film star named Stormy Daniels in 2006 while his wife was recovering from the birth of their son. It included a 2016 conspiracy to cover up the incident to protect his presidential campaign and resulted in a $130,000 payment to Ms. Daniels. Trump was indicted and later convicted of 34 felony counts related to the conspiracy and his illegal business activities.
  • In 2023 Trump was found guilty at trial of sexual abuse of E. Jean Carroll, a journalist and author and was ordered to pay her five million dollars. In a separate case in 2024 Trump was ordered to pay Ms. Carroll 88.3 million dollars in a defamation law suit.
  • While still married to his first wife Ivana, he took his wife on a ski trip and had his then girlfriend Marla Maples stay in the same hotel at the same time. Ivana and Trump later divorced. Trump married Ms. Maples and soon divorced. He is now on his third wife.
  • Trump owned the Miss Universe Pageant organization for nearly two decades until he sold it in 2015. The franchise included the Miss Teen USA and Miss USA pageants. Multiple contestants related how he would enter the dressing areas where the girls and young women were in various stages of being undressed. But don’t take their word for it, here is Trump explaining his activities in his own words on the Howard Stern Show, “Well, I’ll tell you that the funniest is that before a show, I’ll go backstage and everyone’s getting dressed, and everything else, and you know, no men are anywhere and I’m allowed to go in because I’m the owner of the pageant and therefore I’m inspecting it. You know, I’m inspecting because I want to make sure that everything is good. You know. The dresses. ‘Is everyone okay?’ You know they’re standing there with no clothes. ‘Is everybody okay?’ And you see these incredible looking women, and so, I sort of get away with things like that.”

The Guardian has documented nineteen credible accusations in addition to those above, that Trump forced himself on young women in various locations from the 1980s to 2013.

Need I go on? Whether he joined or not, with such a track record is it totally inconceivable that Trump knew nothing about anything having to do with Epstein’s pedophile ring?

It is going to get worse for him and for us before it gets better. He will try every gambit that he can to change the subject or to obscure his involvement by creating a barrage of other major news developments. To me, the most likely will be military activity in South America, primarily against Venezuela.

Think about that. It is straight from the Autocrat’s Playbook. If you find yourself in trouble domestically, create a military distraction to try and rally the public and to give the autocrat “emergency” powers to suppress press reports and to use extraordinary powers to prosecute the war. Meanwhile, our Sailors, Marines and Airmen are being put in harm’s way for a manufactured crisis involving fantasy narco-terrorists “attacking” the U.S. Nonsense. But dangerous nonsense. Just the word “narco-terrorists” is made up to suit some public relations effort to justify the ongoing extra-judicial killing of people in boats in international waters. As I have previously explained, it is a totally illegal operation. In fact, press reports indicate that at least the U.K. and the Netherlands, who both have interests in the area, have stopped sharing intelligence with the U.S. because they do not want to be a party to murder. Presently, an aircraft carrier strike group is in the Caribbean Sea. The carrier and escorts are strategic assets. Having them there weakens our abilities in other places around the world where there are, you know, real crises such as the Middle East or western Pacific. From my experience, there is also a tendency among civilian leaders in government that in such a situation they think “use it or lose it.” In other words, they cannot keep the strike group there indefinitely so it is time to attack. So much for Trump’s peace agenda.

I am still waiting for Congress to re-assert their power. Until they do, as Bette Davis said in the 1950 movie All About Eve, “Fasten your seatbelts. It’s going to be a bumpy night.”

Connecting The Dots

Posted: October 29, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) Picture by Petty Officer Jackson Adkins

It is another wild week in the Trump regime. On 1 November, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP — commonly called food stamps) will cease to operate for a lack of funds. There is an emergency fund of roughly six billion dollars in the Department of Agriculture, which is responsible for the program, but they insist they cannot release the money, even as the United States provides roughly 40 billion dollars in aid to Argentina. Perhaps MAGA actually stands for Make Argentina Great Again. Clearly Trump cares little for the American people. He only cares about his personal well-being by collecting money for himself and his family and being treated as royalty. To wit, if I may bring it up, he is suing the Department of Justice (DOJ) for 230 million dollars for pain and lost income relating to his indictments following his actions in attempting to overthrow the government and for stealing classified documents and storing them in his bathroom at Mar-a-Lago. The people making that decision are his personal defense attorneys that are now leading the DOJ. That money is taxpayer money. Let’s also not forget that during the shutdown, demolition of the White House continues for construction of a 300 million dollar ballroom. But we cannot feed 42 million Americans, and we do not care about the small grocers, farmers and others whose livelihoods depend on serving the people that use SNAP.

About that ballroom….

I am not a math major, but 300 million dollars for a ballroom works out to be 3,333.00 dollars a square foot. I have read that most hotel ballrooms max out at about 1,000.00 dollars a square foot for even the most luxurious locations. Additionally, reports indicate that a “patriot” donated 130 million dollars to the Pentagon, supposedly to help pay the military during the shutdown. That sounds great, but it works out to about 6 hours worth of pay. (Incidentally, a private individual paying the military — hmm, would that not make them mercenaries?) So what gives? What few people are talking about is that under the now destroyed East Wing of the White House was the Presidential Emergency Operations Center (PEOC) — also known as a bunker. It was originally built as a bomb shelter during World War II. It has been updated over the years with ever more sophisticated equipment. Most famously in recent times, it is where Vice President Dick Cheney was rushed by the Secret Service during the terrorist attacks on 9/11.

It seems to me that when Trump says he needs to upgrade the East Wing, he is really talking about having a PEOC that meets his gilded standards, like 130 million dollars of gold. You know, a command bunker worthy of any self-respecting autocrat as all of his authoritarian buddies have — historically we know how well those bunkers for dictators work out in the long run. I opine that the 130 million dollars donated to the Pentagon is not for paying the troops but for helping to pay for a grand bunker. (The patriot, by the way, is thought to be Timothy Mellon, a billionaire member of the Mellon banking family and the bank is under investigation for its connections to Jeffrey Epstein. It gets “curiouser and curiouser.”)

Meanwhile, in the Caribbean Sea, and now in the Pacific Ocean, the Trump regime continues to order the murder of alleged drug smugglers. They have yet to offer even a shred of evidence to certify their assertions and not even members of Congress can get a straight answer even as they have oversight of the military and its use. Assuming for a minute that they are in fact drug smugglers — and as I have explained in previous posts I do not think most are drug smugglers — it is still unlawful under U.S. and international law to simply blow up boats and murder people just because the president says so. It is the equivalent of standing on a street corner in Huntsville Alabama and someone points at you and claims you are drug dealer and the police shoot you on sight. Or is that the point?

Admiral Alvin Holsey, USN the head of U.S. Southern Command that is responsible for Latin America and the Caribbean resigned earlier this month only one year into a normal three year tour of duty. Reports indicate that he retired early because of his concern over the use of force against unidentified boats and would not go along with the policy. At last! Someone spoke up. I wish more senior military officers would push back. Maybe they are and we just do not hear about it, but they need to re-invigorate the over two hundred year tradition that the military is non-political and takes an oath to support and defend the Constitution, not the whims of one man. Trump continues to call it “my military” and make political speeches with uniformed military as a back drop, just like it is some kind of campaign rally. Someone needs to make it clear that the military is not his to play with.

Now, we are told that in addition to the numerous Navy and Marine units already in the Caribbean Sea, it is necessary to send the entire Ford Carrier Strike Group to the Caribbean to stop the flow of drugs into the U.S. The fact is that most drug deaths in the U.S. are from fentanyl which comes primarily from Mexico via land and smuggled mostly by U.S. citizens, and that it is made from precursors from China. Colombia and Venezuela are more into the cocaine business to Europe. Let’s do a little more math. Trump says that each boat they destroy saves 25,000 American lives that would otherwise die of an overdose. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) says that there were 73,000 drug overdoses in the year ending in April, 2025. The Secretary of Defense claims to have sunk fourteen boats at the loss of at least 57 lives. That means, according to Trump, that 350,000 American lives have been saved. There should be no more deaths for at least four and a half more years. All of it is preposterous of course.

Speaking of preposterous, a carrier and its escorts will not have any impact on the flow of drugs. Even if that were their mission, it is perhaps the least cost effective method ever devised by any human being to stop illicit drugs. (We all know that the only effective way to stop the flow of drugs is to stop the demand for them. To stop the demand, we need to improve the social safety net and our health services, especially mental health. Instead they plan to cut them.)

So why are they doing this? One, because they can. Trump gets off on being able to show his power. Two, I think something larger and far more dangerous is afoot. My thinking on this is not clear, but I am trying to connect the dots as are other Americans that spend time thinking about this.

First, remember the implementation of the Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged members of Tren de Aragua, the alleged gang allegedly connected to the president of Venezuela. They, the Venezuelan president, and the alleged drug boat personnel have all been declared terrorists. The president will use this fig leaf to attack Venezuela (and perhaps Colombia as he has been whining about their president too) and assert that he is wiping out narco-terrorists. Think about the fact as well that Trump has already put American troops onto the streets of American cities in places he does not like. He wants to put more there and elsewhere including actual, regular combat troops. Remember that he talks about “the enemy within” and how they are as dangerous as any foreign terrorists. He calls those that he considers his enemies (anyone that doesn’t agree with him) “domestic terrorists” and that the Democrats are an “extremist organization” among other demeaning and demonizing terms. I have already written about the National Security Presidential Memorandum 7 (NSPM-7) that outlines the steps that Trump wants to take against “Antifa” and “domestic terrorist organizations” by using broad and vague language that prohibits dissent and severely impacts our First Amendment right to protest. It asserts that anyone that espouses “extremism on migration, race and gender,” in other words anyone that disagrees with him, or does not match his view of “traditional American views on family, religion, and morality” is to be investigated and perhaps prosecuted.

As I look at those dots, I become increasingly concerned. I hope not paranoid, but to me the warning lights are blinking bright red and sirens are blaring. He is setting a precedent in Latin America that he can and will use the military to eliminate anyone he deems a terrorist. Why not in the U.S. as well?

Remember that the powers behind Trump’s throne are Stephen Miller and Russel Vought, the same two men that are the primary architects of Project 2025. They are well on their way to attaining their goals. Miller and Vought continue to assert that Trump has plenary authority to do whatever he wants. Absolute power. If you oppose their plans, as did Governor J.B. Pritzker (D-IL) recently, he will accuse you of “seditious conspiracy.”

Put over all of it that MAGA legislators all over the country are trying to gerrymander their House of Representatives districts to eliminate districts that voted for Democrats and thus keep control of the House. Texas succeeded in doing so and there are many more working on doing the same. That is the first sign that the 2026 elections, if held, are going to be anything but free and fair. Indeed, Speaker “Little Mikey” Johnson has declared that no Republican Representatives should return to Washington for the fourth straight week. They are getting paid during the shutdown to sit home and do nothing. Talk about freeloaders living off the public dole. Perhaps they will never return. As it is, Trump was quoted as saying “I’m the president and the Speaker,” according to two anonymous sources from within the White House.

We find ourselves in this predicament for a variety of reasons. Let us not let it happen because it is impossible to imagine that it can happen here. It is happening here. The entire picture to me looks like Trump wants to sit in his new bunker, direct the military to kill anyone he deems disloyal and ensconce himself and his cronies in power for as long as they can illegally keep it.