Preheat oven to 400°. In a large
skillet, cook sausage over medium heat, until meat is no longer pink,
5-7 minutes, breaking up sausage into crumbles; drain.
In a large bowl, combine biscuit mix and
cheese; stir in sausage. Add water and toss with a fork until moistened.
Shape into 1-1/2-in. balls. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking
sheets.
Bake until puffed and golden brown, 12-15 minutes. Cool on wire racks.
Cassie says she always takes something to a Thanksgiving dinner and that she's been taking these sausage cheese puffs to any gathering she can because people always love them.
Thursday, November 13, 2025. Donald Chump knew. Let that register.
And Donald Chump celebrated the 2017 holidays with . . . Jeffrey
Epstein. So many thing emerging.
Adelita Grijalva, let's start with her. Yesterday, she was finally sworn in.
After 50 days of waiting, Rep. Adelita Grijalva was sworn into Congress
Wednesday, bringing an end to a contentious chapter in the US House of
Representatives that included a lawsuit and rising tensions inside the Capitol over her seating.
[. . .]
“It has been 50 days since the people of Arizona’s 7th
Congressional District elected me to represent them,” Grijalva said on
Wednesday. “This is an abuse of power. One individual should not be able
to unilaterally obstruct the swearing in of a duly elected member of
Congress for a political reason.”
Immediately after being sworn in, Grijalva become the
decisive 218th member in support of an effort to force the House to vote
on the release of all of the Jeffrey Epstein case files, an issue that
has roiled the House and sparked division among Republicans. Hours
before her signature advanced the effort forward, top Trump
administration officials met with at least one Republican who had also signed onto the petition.
That
was late in the day yesterday. A lot happened yesterday so let's go
chronological for a bit and we'll mix in some videos with it. .
But
Johnson's recalcitrance about actually governing has been linked a
secondary motivation – protecting President Donald Trump from the
Epstein files, a seedy, secret dossier about his old bon vivant buddy, the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who died by suicide in federal prison in 2019.
Johnson
has stalled for seven weeks swearing in Adelita Grijalva, an Arizona
Democrat who won a Sept. 23 special election to represent her state's
7th Congressional District.
Grijalva
told me on Nov. 11 that she still hasn't heard from Johnson, who is
convening a House session at noon on Nov. 12. But her team told me
staffers for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-New York, informed
them that she is expected to be sworn in when the session starts.
That's bad news for Trump, and Johnson can no longer help him dodge it.
Grijalva
has pledged to provide the final signature needed on a discharge
petition that would force the House to vote on bipartisan pending
legislation that calls on the U.S. Department of Justice to release its
files on Epstein and his accomplice, convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine
Maxwell.
Speaker
of the House Mike Johnson (R., La.) is set to swear in Arizona Democrat
Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva at 2 pm in Washington on Wednesday.
Grijalva is succeeding her father, Raul Grijalva, who died in March. She
has waited 50 days to be sworn in since her election in September.
Grijalva
is expected to provide the decisive signature on a discharge petition
to force a floor vote demanding that the Justice Department release its
files on deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Johnson has said he
delayed Grijalva’s swearing-in because the House was out of session
during the government shutdown, which is expected to end as soon as
Wednesday.
There is no
masking this. Speaker of the Closet Mike Johnson spent fifty days
refusing to seat Grijalva because he doesn't want a House vote on the
Epstein files. This was not about helping the American people. This
was about Johnson trying to protect Donald Chump.
Prior to Grijalva being sworn in, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee issued the following press release:
Washington,
D.C. -- Today, Oversight Democrats and Ranking Member Robert Garcia
released never-before-seen emails from the latest production from
Jeffrey Epstein’s Estate, striking a blow against the White House’s
Epstein cover-up. In private correspondence with Ghislaine Maxwell,
Jeffrey Epstein wrote in 2011 that Donald Trump, “spent hours at my
house” with a victim of sex trafficking, referring to Trump as “dog that
hasn’t barked.” In a separate email with author Michael Wolff in 2019,
Epstein stated explicitly that Donald Trump, “knew about the girls as he
asked ghislaine to stop.” In another email with Wolff in 2015, Epstein
and Wolff discuss if they can “craft an answer” for Trump’s upcoming CNN
interview, with Wolff characterizing Epstein’s leverage over Donald
Trump, saying, “If he says he hasn’t been on the plane or to the house,
then that gives you a valuable PR and political currency.” The Epstein
Estate released a total of 23,000 documents that the Oversight Committee
is currently reviewing.
“The more Donald Trump
tries to cover up the Epstein files, the more we uncover. These latest
emails and correspondence raise glaring questions about what else the
White House is hiding and the nature of the relationship between Epstein
and the President,” said Ranking Member Robert Garcia. “The Department
of Justice must fully release the Epstein files to the public
immediately. The Oversight Committee will continue pushing for answers
and will not stop until we get justice for the victims.”
The three emails from the production can be found below and here.
Email #1
Email #1 is direct correspondence between Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.
The correspondence reads:
To: Ghislaine Maxwell
From: Jeffrey Epstein
“I
want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is trump..
[Victim] spent hours at my house with him ,, he has never once been
mentioned. Police chief. etc. im 75 % there
To: Jeffrey Epstein
From: Ghislaine Maxwell
“I have been thinking about that…”
Email #2
Email #2 is direct correspondence between Jeffrey Epstein and Michael Wolff.
The correspondence reads:
To: Michael Wolf
From: Jeffrey Epstein
“[Victim]
mara lago. [identifier]. Trump said he asked me to resign, never a
member ever. Of course he knew about the girls as he asked ghislaine to
stop”
Email #3
Email #3 is direct correspondence between Jeffrey Epstein and Michael Wolff.
The correspondence reads:
To: Jeffrey Epstein
From: Michael Wolff
“I hear CNN planning to ask Trump tonight about his relationship with you--either on air or in scrum afterwards.
To: Michael Wolff
From: Jeffrey Epstein
“if we were able to craft an answer for him, what do you think it should be?”
To: Jeffrey Epstein
From: Michael Wolff
“I
think you should let him hang himself. If he says he hasn't been on the
plane or to the house, then that gives you a valuable PR and political
currency. You can hang him in a way that potentially generates a
positive benefit for you, or, if it really looks like he could win, you
could save him, generating a debt. Of course, it is possible that, when
asked, he'll say Jeffrey is a great guy and has gotten a raw deal and is
a victim of political correctness, which is to be outlawed in a Trump
regime.”
House
Republicans on Wednesday released a titanic trove of 23,000 pages of
documents from the estate of the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein
after months of delays — shortly after emails surfaced suggesting that
President Trump knew more about Mr. Epstein’s sex trafficking than he
has previously acknowledged.
The documents were
obtained by the chairman of the House Oversight Committee,
Representative James Comer, through a subpoena in August. They were
published online about two hours after House Democrats released an email from Mr. Epstein in which he wrote that Mr. Trump “spent hours at my house” with one of Mr. Epstein’s victims.
House Republicans are walking a thin and perilous political line in the Epstein case.
They
are seeking to protect Mr. Trump, Mr. Epstein’s close friend until the
two men had a falling out. But they have their own political flank to
cover by appeasing a restive party base that has demanded complete
disclosure of Mr. Epstein’s interactions with other powerful men — an
issue that has at times transcended loyalty to the president.
The
release of documents appears to be intended to provide Republicans with
a defense against charges that they have not released all of the
government’s files on Mr. Epstein, his longtime associate Ghislaine
Maxwell, and the federal government’s handling of both of their cases.
As
explosive emails emerged Wednesday from late convicted sex offender
Jeffrey Epstein, CNN reports that top officials in President Donald
Trump's administration were setting a meeting to discuss a petition in
the House of Representatives that would force a vote on releasing
Justice Department case files as soon as the government reopens.
That
meeting was to include Attorney General Pam Bondi, Deputy Attorney
General Todd Blanche, FBI Director Kash Patel and Rep. Lauren Boebert
(R-CO), who has wanted the DOJ to release the files and has signed onto
the House's effort to force the vote compelling their release.
While
CNN can't confirm whether or not the meeting has taken place, they note
that "intention of a meeting underscores the Trump administration’s
concerns around the Epstein saga, which roared back Wednesday morning
when the House Oversight Committee released more documents it had
obtained from Epstein’s estate."
They are in damage control mode attempting to peel off votes. Why? Because they're scared about all that could come out.
What else could come out?
For the fifth time this week, we're noting this very important MEIDASTOUCH NEWS video
report.
This
is much, much worse than most people thought. That's why the
administration is going nuts trying to get people to remove their
signatures from the measure to force a vote. ABC NEWS' Katherine Faulders reports:
Top
administration officials met with Rep. Lauren Boebert Wednesday morning
about the effort to force a House vote on the release of Justice
Department's Epstein files, multiple sources told ABC News.
The
meeting, with top White House and Justice Department officials, was
part of an effort to get Boebert to remove her name from the petition to
release the files, the sources said.
It came just
hours before House Speaker Mike Johnson was to swear in
Representative-elect Adelita Grijalva, who has said she intends to add
the final signature to that petition to force a vote on the release of
the files.
Attorney General Pam Bondi, Deputy
AG Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel were among those present for
the meeting, which occurred at the White House, the sources said.
To
all those who scoffed at the notion that (a) there was something to
hide and (b) that Mike Johnson refused to allow the House to remain in
session because he didn't want a vote on Epstein, you might need to turn
in your deck of tarot cards because they are clearly no longer working.
Donald
Trump has weighed in on Wednesday’s release of emails in which Jeffrey
Epstein claimed that Trump “knew about the girls” and spent “hours” at
his house with one of Epstein’s victims.
Trump
wrote on Truth Social, “The Democrats are trying to bring up the Jeffrey
Epstein Hoax again because they'll do anything at all to deflect on how
badly they've done on the Shutdown, and so many other subjects. Only a
very bad, or stupid, Republican would fall into that trap.”
He also called on Republicans to avoid talking about Epstein
The
backlash intensified after a series of high-profile ICE operations in
sanctuary cities, which Democratic leaders condemned as fearmongering
ahead of midterm elections. Administration officials described the
historical analogies as baseless and divisive.
Trump
said, “Look, they call me a Nazi all the time. I’m not a Nazi, I’m the
opposite. I’m somebody that’s saving our country. But they call me
Nazi.”
As Marcia noted last night in "Kim Davis and other Nazis," people who are not Nazis don't have to spend time denying that they're not Nazis.
Instead
of releasing the files, Chump and his administration are trying to
derail the Congressional effort to release the files. What's Fatty
Chump hiding?
President Donald Trump's relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein continued into his first term in the White House, so much so that Epstein spent Thanksgiving with Trump while the president was in office, according to newly released emails written by the late financier.
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released a new batch of
emails Wednesday obtained from Epstein's estate, followed by the
Republican-led panel's release of 20,000 additional documents, and one
of those exchanges shows that he claims to have spent Thanksgiving 2017 –
Trump's first as president – at his private Mar-a-Lago resort.
Epstein
exchanged emails on Thanksgiving morning, Nov. 23, 2017, with Manhattan
modeling management guru Faith Kates, who asked where he was spending
the holiday.
If you've forgotten the lie, it has
been stated that Chump broke off contact with Epstein in the '00s --
some saying 2004 and some saying 2006. 2017? That's a decade later
and two years before Epstein died. The friendship clearly continued.
How many US presidents do you think have dinners with convicted sex
offenders?
Well, now we have it. On Wednesday, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released another batch of documents
related to notorious pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Among them were several
emails about Donald Trump. One was from Epstein to his accomplice
Ghislaine Maxwell back in 2011. He wrote: “i want you to realize that
that dog that hasn’t barked is trump.. [victim] spent hours at my house
with him ,, he has never once been mentioned. police chief. etc. im 75 %
there[.]” (Excuse the spelling and grammar errors, that’s all Jeffrey.)
By now, we’re all familiar with what “spent hours” meant in the
context of rich, powerful men and Epstein’s victims—particularly given
the reference to ‘barking,’ which has to mean going to prosecutors or
the media.
Cooper also pulls from TAP's previous Epstein coverage to note these ten stnd out pieces:
2002: Trump tells New York magazine:
“I’ve known Jeff for fifteen 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.”
2003: As part of an incredibly revolting book celebrating Epstein’s 50th birthday, Trump sends a birthday note
with a hand-drawn note of a pubescent, nude female form, and a poem
reading in part: “Donald: Enigmas never age, have you noticed that? … A
pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday—and may every day be another
wonderful secret.”
2008: Epstein is finally investigated for sexual abuse of minors. Then-U.S. attorney Alex Acosta grants Epstein one of the most bizarre sweetheart deals
in American legal history, in which Epstein not only secretly pled to a
much lesser charge of soliciting an underage prostitute, but also got
all his unnamed accomplices immunized forever.
2011: Epstein sends the above email.
2016: Epstein claims in another email that he is hanging out in Trump Tower a week after the election.
2017: Trump nominates Acosta, who has no relevant experience, to run the Department of Labor, which he does until 2019.
2019: Epstein is finally indicted for sexual abuse. A few months
later, he apparently commits suicide under the most suspicious
circumstances imaginable.
2022: Maxwell is convicted of conspiring with Epstein to abuse children, and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
2025: Trump, back in office, fires the prosecutor who successfully prosecuted Epstein. His lawyers have a meeting with Maxwell. She subsequently says that Trump definitely didn’t do anything wrong, and then she is transferred to apparently the cushiest prison cell in the Western Hemisphere, according to a recent whistleblower report, which includes a service puppy.
Let's wind down with this from Senator Elizabeth Warren's office:
Rollbacks include a rule that would have ensured workers with disabilities are paid competitive wages
Trump admin’s FY26 budget proposes a complete elimination of team that ensures compliance with disability protections
Washington, D.C. — In a new letter, U.S. Senators
Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), along with
Representatives Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), Chair of the Bipartisan
Disability Caucus, and Lateefah Simon (D-Calif.) led 56 members of
Congress in pressing Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer about the
Department of Labor’s (DOL) dismantling of key disability employment
protections. Secretary DeRemer’s rollbacks include regulations that
prohibit discrimination by federal contractors, a proposed rule that
would have ensured competitive wages for disabled workers, and funding
to teams that enforce labor protections.
“(Y)our actions as Secretary of Labor represent the most significant
retreat from opportunities for workers with disabilities and federal
disability rights enforcement in decades,” wrote the members.
In July, Secretary DeRemer proposed a rule that would eliminate directives from Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973,
including hiring goals for federal contractors and data collection
requirements to monitor compliance with disability employment
objectives.
“This provision serves as a cornerstone of federal efforts to promote
disability employment in the private sector…Without concerted action, a
growing number of disabled people would be shut out of the workforce
and increasingly reliant on social safety net programs,” said the members.
Eliminating data collection and measurable targets means there would
be no accountability mechanisms to ensure private companies are
complying with the law. This policy reversal would also run counter to
the Trump administration’s goal of reducing government dependency and promoting workforce participation, and would likely reduce employment opportunities for disabled workers, increasing their reliance on government benefits.
Secretary DeRemer has also laid off nearly 90 percent of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, leaving only 50 employees to process thousands of federal contractor audits that affect millions of workers. President Trump’s FY26 budget proposes getting rid of the office entirely.
President Trump’s FY26 budget also proposes cutting the Office of Disability Employment’s budget by more than 20 percent.
“By cutting this office’s funding, your administration is decreasing
the federal government’s leadership role in promoting competitive
integrated employment at a time when such coordination is most needed,” wrote the lawmakers.
Secretary DeRemer is also undermining workers with disabilities’ fight for competitive wages. The Biden administration had proposed
phasing out 14(c) certificates, which are waivers allowing employers to
pay a wage lower than the federal minimum wage to workers with
disabilities. In July, Secretary DeRemer abandoned this proposal, and
the DOL continues to issue the certificates.
“This exploitative practice undermines the dignity and economic
security of people with disabilities while creating perverse incentives
for employers to segregate disabled workers in sheltered workshops,
where most employees are people with disabilities,” said the lawmakers.
In July, the DOL also proposed eliminating equal opportunity
regulations in registered apprenticeships, which combine paid job
training with technical instruction, providing clear pathways to
employment. Data shows that workers who completed apprenticeships saw a 49 percent increase in their earnings.
“The disability community deserves leadership that expands employment
opportunities…you have instead continued a systematic dismantling of
decades of bipartisan progress that has measurably improved employment
opportunities and quality of life for millions of Americans with
disabilities,” concluded the lawmakers.
The coalition asked Secretary De-Remer to provide clarity by December
11, 2025 on her decisions to eliminate the above protections and how
the department plans to fulfill its legal obligations to workers with
disabilities without those regulations.
Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) joined in signing the letter.
That's Isaiah's latest THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Cupid Killer Kim Davis" and that's a comic to applaud. That awful Kim Davis didn't get her way and now she can go back to the gutter she grew up in.
Tess e-mailed to note a recipe. She writes that she's "not much of a cook and probably read your stuff for six months before I actually tried to cook something. Now I've got about two weeks of recipes I feel comfortable making, two weeks without repeating. And I like it when you offer common sense tips. I took your Thanksgiving and Christmas tips to heart. I have a brother and a cousin and an uncle and that's it in terms of my living relatives. Three years ago, I took your talk about the holidays to heart and invited the three over. I explained I'm not much of a cook but we could snack and be together. So we had snacks and we had sandwiches the first year and it went great. Then, we had snacks and we had sandwiches and a salad. Then I got brave for Thanksgiving and Christmas last year and we had a ham that I actually cooked both times. This year, I'm adding stuffing. But throughout it really just has been about the company and the getting together. When you write about that every year, I hope you know someone listens. And to anyone who reads you, I'd just like to say if you're thinking about hosting a holiday to be with the ones you love, that's the most important thing so go for it. I'm glad I did. And I'd like to share this snack -- the snack I serve every time from Popcorn.org:"
Ingredients
8 ounces raisins
6 ounces diced, dried fruit (apricots, apples, etc.)
1 quart popped popcorn (air popped)
Directions
Set freshly popped popcorn in large bowl.
Add diced fruit and raisins.
Toss popcorn and fruit until combined thoroughly.
Thank you to Tess for sharing her story. And she's right, it's about getting together.
In his Wednesday General Audience, Pope Leo continued to reflect on
the death and resurrection of Christ and how living this paschal
spirituality in our daily lives “imbues life with hope and encourages us
to invest in goodness.”
Moreover, he highlighted how this helps us nurture fraternity, which
is “without a doubt one of the great challenges for contemporary
humanity, as Pope Francis saw clearly.”
Fraternity is not an impossible dream
Pope Leo stressed that fraternity comes from something “deeply
human.” As human beings, we have the ability to form relationships and
bonds with others. Without these relationships, the Pope stated, “we
would not be able to survive, grow or learn.” When we coexist and live
together, then our humanity is “best fulfilled”.
On the other hand, if we retreat into ourselves, we risk becoming
lonely and, potentially, narcissistic as we are concerned only with
ourselves. “The other is then reduced to someone from whom we can take,
without ever being truly willing to give, to offer ourselves”, Pope Leo
explained.
Fraternity cannot and must not be taken for granted, even though
today’s conflicts, wars, social tensions, and feelings of hatred appear
to contradict this. However, the Pope noted, “fraternity is not a
beautiful but impossible dream; it is not the desire of a deluded few.”
Wednesday, November 12, 2025. Chuck Schumer should step down as
Senate Minority Leader, none of Chump's security appointees have any
experience and it shows, Senator Elizabeth Warren warns a bout the
ticking time bomb on student loans, and much more.
Let's
start with angry e-mails. I don't look at every video that goes up
here. A number of you are upset. I looked at the video after I read
some of the e-mails and you are right to be upset. I didn't stream it
before I posted it here and I didn't watch that program last night. The
host is a smart person so I had thought he wouldn't dig himself
deeper. The majority of Democrats disagree with him. We discussed this
yesterday. My plan was to note -- as I did yesterday -- that he was
wrong. And then I posted him this morning. Because he's smart. Or
usually is. I had moved on and thought he would too.
He
didn't move on and he got insulting with people who disagree with him.
That's just stupid. Grasp that he's going on about Chump calling
Americans fools while this host is doing the same thing as Chump. Those
of us who disagree with him, he says in the video I wrongly posted
here, are focused on feelings and not facts.
What the hell is that supposed to mean?
Again,
I thought he was smart enough to move on. Every host on his network
knows Chuck Schumer betrayed the American people and they noted that on
their programs.
I like the host. He's very smart.
Again, I thought he would have moved on but instead he dug in deeper.
In the future, he won't go up here automatically.
We don't have time to cover all of this. So let's deal with just one spect: We are focused on feelings and not facts!
That's his accusation. His false accusation.
He believes it's true.
Okay.
If it's true, how are you helping anyone?
Because,
guess what, MS NOW host, people vote on feelings. They are more likely
to vote on feelings than on facts. That's reality.
And
when you sneer at voters -- and viewers -- that they are feelings based
and not fact based -- how are you different from Chump calling
Americans fools?
He's not going to win on this topic. He needs to leave it alone and stop returning to it.
Ezra
Levin? More Democrats agree with him right now. He's also been on MS
NOW this week and we've noted it. We haven't noted his Jim Acosta
appearance so let note that this morning.
Ezra
Levin speaks for more people than a host trying to sugar coat the
betrayal. It is a betrayal and it feels like one because that's what it
is. Defending Chuck for the betrayal? You're just running off
viewers. We're not stupid.
And this nonsense
argument the TV host is making goes like this: Schumer had no power or
influence and couldn't -- in effect! -- herd cat and Schumer should
remain Senate Minority Leader!
He has no power or
influence? But he should remain the leader? That makes no sense at
all. He's inept and he's had eight years, time to go.
At this
late point,, you're either defending the people or you're defending the
politician. I don't have time to waste defending inept politicians who
betray the people and I'm betting that feeling is much more common among
voters than the TV host's opinions -- which, though he tries to deny
it, also stem from feelings.
My apology to community members for posting that. I hear you on this and, again, no more automatic posting for that host.
A few days ago, that question would not have been difficult to answer. The government shutdown was about cuts to Obamacare subsidies
that were poised to cause the cost of health care to skyrocket for
millions—and that would likely destroy the Affordable Care Act itself.
It was about an increasingly lawless and authoritarian administration
that had simply stopped participating in normal politics, preferring
instead to deploy armed goons in communities across the country. It was
about fighting back against a rogue regime to the enthusiastic hurrahs
of a base that only last week came out to the polls to deal a hammer blow to the GOP.
What is there to say now that eight Democratic moderates—with the barely disguised backing of party leader Chuck Schumer and all-but-certain coordination
from some of the Democratic senators pretending to have been against
the decision—voted to reopen the government in exchange for practically
nothing? A few days ago, the Democrats had all the leverage in the
world. The Republicans had none. It didn’t matter. The Democrats bailed
out Trump and his Capitol Hill supplicants. They threw millions of
people under the bus. For what? They protected the filibuster so they
wouldn’t be tempted to use it to make people’s lives better the next
time they take power. Besides that? Nothing.
There are many villains here. Abigail Spanberger, the newly elected governor of Virginia, went on Meet the Press to give political cover
to the renegades, undercutting her party, and demanding that they
reopen the government—her interview was shared widely with her fellow
Democrats. (Shivving her party after they’ve wonan election is something of a Spanberger special.)
The New Hampshire delegation should be singled out
for special excoriation—the retiring Jeanne Shaheen, along with Maggie
Hassan, led the negotiations with Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada and
the independent (and probably retiring) Angus King. They were joined by
another soon-to-depart colleague in Dick Durbin, two others whose terms
run until 2030 (Jacky Rosen and Tim Kaine), and one who is John
Fetterman (John Fetterman). Underlining every comment they have made to
the press is a staggering admission of their own sense of helplessness.
You
may have looked at the Democratic response over the last 40 days as a
party that was finally standing up for itself. There is every indication
that this caught Trump entirely by surprise, the fact that Senate
Democrats were suddenly vertebrates. But since Republicans and the
president were moving no closer to a deal, Senate Democrats decided it
was time to give up. “Most of us here … have voted repeatedly with the
Democratic strategy,” Kaine said. “But after 40 days, it wasn’t gonna work.” Angus King, meanwhile, put it even more bluntly:
“Standing up to Donald Trump didn’t work.” (“Standing up to Trump” was
previously thought to be the single biggest reason to elect opposition
senators. King offered little detail on how he and the Democratic caucus
will redefine their duties in light of this new mission.)
The
biggest villain of them all, however, is someone who cast a kayfabe
vote against the deal on Monday. No one bears the weight of the failed
shutdown as much as Chuck Schumer.
His “no” vote is
particularly galling because it leaves only two options on the table.
The first is that the eight Democrats who broke away from their party
did so without his knowledge or consent, a conclusion that could only
suggest that Schumer has lost control of his caucus. The second is that
the moderates were negotiating with Schumer’s knowledge, approval, and
encouragement and that the “no” vote was just to conceal that—and maybe
as a kind of consolation prize to the other Democrats in his caucus.
This suggests that Schumer has lost any ability to organize or think
politically or strategically. Regardless of the reason, he needs to step
down immediately.
Multiple Democratic House members have called for Schumer to step down from his leadership position, including Reps. Ro Khanna (D-CA), Mike Levin (D-CA), and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI). Democrats in other positions across the country have criticized the capitulation, including the governors of California and New York, Gavin Newsom and Kathy Hochul, and the mayor-elect of New York City, Zohran Mamdani.
Immediately after Democratic senators folded, the progressive movement Indivisible
launched what it said was the largest primary campaign it has ever run
since forming almost a decade ago. “We need you in the fight for a
stronger, better Democratic Party willing to defend our communities, our
rights, and our democracy from the fascist threat of the Trump regime,”
the group said on its sign-up page.
It called on everyone who is “fed up with being failed by our leaders
again and again” and wants to “elect the fighters we need in this
moment.”
It's not our education system that undermines American intelligence, it's the garbage like FOX "NEWS" that rots our brains. Sarah Rumpf (MEDIAITE) explains:
Fox
News Anchor Sandra Smith interviewed Secretary of the Interior Doug
Burgum on Monday, and made a comment about gas prices that was
completely and totally accurate, yet nonetheless curious.
Smith
welcomed Burgum, the former governor of North Dakota, to America
Reports, and kicked off the conversation with a question about gas and
oil prices.
“I’ll ask you a
question so many are talking about, and that is gas and oil prices,”
said Smith. “Thankfully, we have seen oil come down significantly — more
than 20 percent since election day.”
“Gas
prices are now negative under this administration, almost to the
three-dollar mark,” she continued, “How much do you believe they will
continue to go down? The president is talking about — I think I’ve heard
him talk about — $2 gas?”
As Smith spoke, the following image was shown on the screen, using data from AAA to report on the national average gas price.
The price today, according to this graphic, is $3.07. A year ago, it was $3.08.
That is a difference of $0.01. One cent. One penny.
Rumpf
also notes there is no gas below $2 and no gas at $2 despite Chump's
claims otherwise, "Unfortunately for the president -- and the American
driver -- that number does not match reality"
Chump
just lies. He never learned a lesson. He'd refuse to pay up
contractors and others. Then he'd declare bankruptcy and move on. Over
and over. He treats the American people the way he did the contractors
and sub-contractors -- always insisting he's cut the check and it must
be tied up in the mail but it will be arriving any day. He thinks he
can dodge us the way he did his creditors. It's not happening. Every
lie he tells exposes himself for the fraud he truly is. The former chair of the United States Council of Economic Advisers Jared Bernstein (MS NOW) explains:
A
mini-blue wave swept the off-year elections on Nov. 4, and the dominant
force behind the wave was Americans’ intense, lasting discomfort with
how much things cost. On Wednesday, during oral arguments at the Supreme
Court, conservative and liberal justices expressed skepticism
of the administration’s arguments that the president’s tariffs, which
the justices widely agreed raised costs, were legal. Trump made things
even worse for himself by first treating affordability as a surprising
new issue: The Democrats, he told Fox News on Wednesday, “have this new word called ‘affordability,’ and [Republicans] don’t talk about it enough.” Then, a day later, he didn’t even “want to hear about affordability.” As MSNBC’s Steve Benen cataloged,
Trump’s dismissal of cost-of-living concerns was accompanied by an
avalanche of wrong numbers, including gems like “Energy costs, as and [sic] example, are plummeting.”
I could point out that it takes one mouse click
to prove that consumers’ electricity bills have gone up 5% over the
past year while overall inflation is up 3%. But, in fact, no clicks are
necessary. Trump, whose political instincts are rarely this far off, is
making a big, basic mistake: telling people they’re better off than they
know they are. As Axios summarized the situation: “You can’t convince Americans your economic policies are working if they’re paying 20% more for a cup of coffee.” Especially when that price is largely a function of the 50% tariff you levied on Brazil (with which, for the record, the U.S. runs a trade surplus).
But here’s the thing about gas prices. In 2022, thanks to both the
pandemic and Russia’s war in Ukraine, a gallon of retail gas peaked at an extremely uncomfortable $5.
It soon after starting sliding down and, by late 2023, landed at just
about the same price it is today. Despite that 40% ($2 per gallon)
decline, do you remember Americans feeling like their affordability
problems were solved? Me neither.
“Walmart
said Thanksgiving this year will be 25 percent cheaper than last year
under ‘Sleepy Joe Biden,’” he announced confidently. He also added that
“Walmart is respected.”
However, NBC News
reporter Monica Alba began the push back and pointed out that the
Walmart basket this year has fewer items and the store is misleading its
customers with shrink-flation.
Reminder that MEIDASTOUCH NEWS broke
the Walmart story last week and you can see a full list of what was
offered in 2024 and what will be offered this year. You can also refer
to Eleanor Tolbert and Averee Nelson report yesterday for THE MIRROR who
note the reduction in items this is "a 28.6% decrease, so customers are
still paying 3% more than what the basket is worth."
Of course, morons of a feather flock together. Markwayne,
Markwayne? And just like that, he enters in a fog of stupidity. JD Wolf (MTN) reports:
Sen.
Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) was hit with a Community Note on X after
echoing Donald Trump’s false claim that Walmart’s holiday price cuts
prove the “Trump economy is working.” Mullin was attempting to counter
Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene who has refused to play
along with the GOP narrative on the economy.
Appearing on
Fox News, Mullin said the Walmart CEO told him grocery prices were “down
across the board” and repeated Trump’s boast about Walmart’s lower
priced Thanksgiving basket. However, fact-checkers quickly noted that
Walmart’s special Thanksgiving basket, which the company has promoted as
cheaper than last year, includes 11 fewer items, making the comparison
misleading.
Republicans
not staggering around in a stupor are worried that Donald Trump's
focus on his "legacy" is distracting the president from dealing with the
cost-of-living crisis.
A White House official
has suggested the president needs to shift his focus from foreign policy
to domestic issues. Speaking to MSNBC, the insider said, "I predicted
this. The president needs to focus on domestic issues versus his foreign
policy legacy." The comment comes following Democratic Party election
wins in the New York mayoral race and governor elections in Virginia and
New Jersey.
It's caused some worry for Republicans,
with Vice President JD Vance suggesting the government will be "judged"
on its economic successes as early as next year. Vance stated the party
needs to "focus on the home front" and fix domestic issues like the
cost-of-living crisis urgently.
What
they should be panicking over is there long standing conspiracy with
regards to judicial nominees. I've noted that for several years now.
It's an issue a number of us have been working on offline. It is a
crime to conspire to defraud that American people and the US Senate.
But several judicial nominees -- including Supreme Court nominees --
were part of an active conspiracy. Demand Justice has a report on a number of coaches justices who deceived intentionally. Demand Justice notes:
A
new Demand Justice report analyzed the Questions for the Record
(“QFRs”) submitted by President Trump’s Article III judicial nominees in
2025, finding that all 27 respondents provided answers about the 2020
election and January 6, 2021 that were dishonest or misleading.
The
analysis finds that nominees’ responses appear nearly identical, with
many nominees using verbatim phrasing, repeating key words, and,
overall, using unusual and evasive language that’s almost entirely
outside the normal, historical, and common lexicon used to describe such
events.
For instance, every
nominee provided near-identical phrasing to avoid a direct answer about
the 2020 election, instead referencing the results of the Congressional
“certification” process, or answering by noting that President Biden
“served” as President. And 21 of 27 nominees provided extremely similar
responses in re gard to January 6, often describing what transpired as a
“political issue” and refusing to comment further.
All
27 nominees omitted key phrases and descriptions commonly used to
describe the factual events of the 2020 election and January 6.
In
short, not a single answer provided by the nominees on the 2020
election or January 6 was a direct, factual response – all nominees used
similar language and sentence construction to avoid contradicting
President Trump’s false narratives about both events.
Background
As
part of the confirmation process, senators on the Senate Judiciary
Committee are able to submit written questions to nominees after their
hearing. These QFRs are another chance for senators to elicit
information from nominees beyond their brief 5 minutes of in-person
questioning.
Historically, judicial nominees
have avoided providing direct answers on questions of unsettled law or
constitutional interpretation that may come before them if confirmed.
Yet, on these two subjects, President Trump’s second term judicial
nominees repeatedly avoid providing answers on basic questions of
documented, established, and historical fact.
In
their QFRs in 2025, nominees were asked numerous questions related to
the 2020 election and January 6. To ensure as uniform a comparison as
possible, in re gard to the election, this report focuses on one
question that all nominees were uniformly asked: “Did D onald Trump lose
the 2020 election?” In re gard to January 6, we evaluated the answers
to two questions, one of which at least all nominees were asked: ” Was
the U.S. Capitol attacked by a violent mob on January 6, 2021?,” or “Do
you agree with me that the attack at the U.S. Capitol on January 6,
2021, was an insurrection? Why or why not?”
Our
analysis finds that answers to these questions are strikingly uniform.
On the 2020 election: nominees’ answers use nearly identical phrasing
that avoids plainly acknowledging President Biden’s victory. On January
6, responses universally fail to acknowledge the plain facts on what
occurred during the attack on the Capitol.
Again
this was a conspiracy as is the plot with regards to the Supreme Court
-- nominees were coaches on what to say, on how to evade and on how to
lie.
The
Department of Justice has been hemorrhaging staff under President
Donald Trump, with thousands of attorneys leaving and few being hired to
replace them, according to a new report.
Since
January, nearly 5,500 DOJ career employees have quit, taken a buyout,
or been fired, according to Justice Connection, an advocacy group
composed of department alumni.
A
Justice Connection spokesperson told The Independent that its estimates
are based on both public reporting and non-public information the group
has gathered.
As a result, the department is
grappling with sweeping vacancies amidst a dearth of qualified
applicants, according to The Washington Post.
Everything
Chump touches, he destroys. It wasn't bad enough that he put people
with no qualifications in charge of security -- Trashy Garbage aka Tulsi
Gabbard for example. Again, if there is an attack on US soil like 9/11
again, we need to remember that Chump put people in charge with no
experience and we need to add to that how he ran off needed employees.
Ka$h
Patel's not qualified. He's also now part of 'the deep state.' Let's
note -- for the fourth time -- a very important MEIDASTOUCH NEWS video
report.
Grasp what all he knows and has covered up. He is 'the deep state' he used to decry. Who is his girlfriend, by the way? Marni Rose McFall (NEWSWEEK) reports:
Alexis
Wilkins, the girlfriend of FBI director Kash Patel, has filed multiple
lawsuits over what she says are damaging and false claims that she is an
agent of Israeli intelligence, working as a “honeypot,” to compromise
Patel.
Newsweek has previously contacted legal and media representatives for Wilkins via email for comment.
Wilkins,
26, is a country music singer, podcast host, writer, and conservative
political commentator. Wilkins has over 90,000 followers on Instagram,
where she regularly shares political content and videos of her
performing at conservative events, including ones organized by Turning
Point USA.
She's
not a honey pot. She might be a munchkin, but she's no honey pot.
Ka$h can't protect the American people nor can Prissy Pot Pete Hegseth.
In fact, should the country be attacked, the first question from
Senator Elizabeth Warren in an open hearing should be, "Pete, you think
maybe you spent too much time playing Secretary of War to actually
defend our country? Because that's what you were, Pete, Secretary of
Defense. There is no Secretary of War." Pete's in the news because he
continues to discriminate. Janna Brancolini (DAILY BEAST) reports:
A
Navy captain who was the first woman to serve with the elite SEAL Team
Six as a troop commander is being pushed out of the military.
The
officer, whose identity has not been revealed, was supposed to take
over a new role that would have made her the first woman in a Naval
Special Warfare command overseeing Navy SEALS, CNN reported.
But
just two weeks before the command was supposed to begin, the Pentagon
abruptly revoked her orders, suggesting that Defense Secretary Pete
Hegseth had killed the command because he didn’t want a woman in the
role, sources told CNN.
The circumstances under
which the decision was made and the way it was communicated—through a
series of phone calls instead of through the usual channels—seemed
designed to avoid leaving a paper trail.
Loose
Lips Hegseth done screwed up again. Wonder how Joni Ernst feels about
that vote for Petey now, knowing, as she should, that she destroyed
opportunities for women in the military when she voted for Hegseth.
Let's turn to Stewart Rhodes. Who? Once upon a time, I didn't have to know the names of these nut jobs. Carl Gibson reports:
One
participant in the January 6, 2021 siege of the U.S. Capitol is now
calling on President Donald Trump to establish an armed vigilante squad
that exclusively reports to the president.
During
a recent appearance on the far-right Gateway Pundit podcast, Stewart
Rhodes — who founded the "Oath Keepers" paramilitary group — told host
Jim Hoft that not only was he relaunching the Oath Keepers, but issuing a
direct call to Trump to deputize his loyal followers to enforce federal
laws. Progressive group Media Matters for America noted that Rhodes
explicitly urged Trump to use a power that the Constitution assigns to
Congress.
Stupid
Stewart Rhodes, where do we start with you? Chump already has an armed
vigilante squad, they call it "ICE." So that's one. Second, a militia
would report to Pete.
Stewart, you do own a mirror, right?
You're what, sixty pounds overweight? Seventy? And you've got a beard.
In Pete's eyes, you're a "beard-o." Did you miss all that last month?
In
late September, he flew in almost 800 generals, admirals, and their
senior enlisted leaders from around the world to lecture them in person
about grooming and physical fitness standards.
“It
all starts with physical fitness and appearance,” Hegseth told the
gathered generals. “If the Secretary of War can do regular, hard PT, so
can every member of our joint force.”
During
the speech, he also called for a “return” to “male” fitness standards
for combat roles, even though there have never been lower standards for
women in combat.
Get it, Stewie? You're too damn fat and that scraggly beard would have to go as well.
Dakota
Adams has said that his father was abusive to him, his mother, and his
siblings; he stated that Rhodes has sabotaged his children's
homeschooling and that the family "lived in extreme isolation in one
particular cultural bubble in increasingly paranoid and militant
right-wing political spheres everywhere we moved in the country until
eventually we ended up in Montana."[49] Rhodes required them to line up
with their backs to him at ATMs and gas pumps to look for assassins and
unload groceries from the family vehicle one-armed to have hands free in
case of attack.[51] The children suffered severe medical neglect and
were illiterate, and Dakota only learned his multiplication tables at
age 19 so that he could pass his high school equivalency test. In the
spring of 2024, Dakota Adams announced he was running for the Montana
House of Representatives.[49]
Let's wind down with this from Senator Elizabeth Warren's office:
Borrowers who earn income-driven repayment cancellation after decades of payments could be hit with tax bills as high as $10,000
“The Treasury Department and
Internal Revenue Service should move immediately to avoid this financial
disaster for working-class Americans.”
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren
(D-Mass.), a member of the Senate Finance Committee, led her colleagues
in a letter urging Secretary of the Treasury & Acting IRS
Commissioner Scott Bessent to use the IRS’s existing legal authorities
to stop the looming “tax bomb” facing borrowers who obtain income-driven
repayment (IDR) discharges of their student loan debt. Senators Bernie
Sanders (I-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate HELP Committee; Jeff
Merkley (D-Ore.); Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.); Chris Van Hollen
(D-Md.); Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.); Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii); Cory Booker
(D-N.J.); and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) joined the letter as well.
In 2021, Congress passed into law a provision excluding student debt
cancellation from taxable income. As a result, borrowers who received
student debt relief after years of repayment were not faced with high
and unexpected tax bills.
However, that provision is set to expire at the end of this year.
Absent action from President Trump or Republicans in Congress, this
expiration will mean that borrowers on IDR plans who have legally earned
debt cancellation after 20 or 25 years of repayment will be hit with
significant tax bills.
“If neither the Trump Administration nor the Republican-controlled
Congress act soon, families who earn student debt cancellation after
paying their loans for decades will be hit with surprise tax hikes—as
high as $10,000 in many cases—starting next tax year,” wrote the senators. “The
Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service should move
immediately to avoid this financial disaster for working-class
Americans.”
New data from Protect Borrowers reveal that a typical family headed
by a borrower receiving IDR cancellation (i.e., a married parent with
two children earning $50,000 a year) could see their tax bill spike by
$8,789. A similar family making $40,000 a year could shoulder a net tax
increase of $10,295. Lower-income borrowers and borrowers with children
would likely be forced to pay the most, as they stand to lose access to
critical programs like the Earned Income Tax Credit and the refundable
portion of the Child Tax Credit.
In their letter, the senators laid out the legal case for the Trump
administration’s options to defuse the IDR “tax bomb.” In particular,
they argued that the insolvency exclusion, scholarship exclusion, and
general welfare exclusion were all options to declare IDR discharge as
non-taxable income. The senators also noted that, in 2020, the Trump
Administration delivered similar relief to recipients of closed school
discharge and borrower defense to repayment, excluding those discharges
from taxable income using its administrative authorities.
“By punishing IDR beneficiaries with massive tax bills, the federal
government undermines the very purpose of the IDR program and reneges on
its promises to borrowers,” the senators concluded.
“Instead of compounding this problem by denying legally owed IDR
discharge to borrowers, the Administration can and should deliver
certainty and relief to these families as soon as possible.”
“President Trump and his allies in Congress passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act
to cut taxes for billionaires while hiking taxes for thousands of
student loan borrowers who have earned debt relief after paying for
decades,” said Persis Yu, Deputy Executive Director and Managing Counsel for Protect Borrowers.
“This tax bomb will force working families to trade their crushing
student loan debt for a crushing tax debt. We applaud Senator Warren for
taking the lead and demanding the Trump Administration take immediate
action to protect these borrowers from being needlessly pushed further
into debt. Policymakers must address this tax bomb before it is too
late.”
