Grifters. You got to teach them to grift. Fortunately, the Republican Party teaches them while they're still young. Hafiz Rashid (The New Republic) reports:
The
University of Florida kicked its College Republicans chapter off of
campus over the weekend over a photo of a member performing a Nazi
salute, and now the organization is suing the university.
The
UF College Republicans filed a lawsuit in federal court Monday,
alleging that their First Amendment rights were violated. The salute
photo had circulated on social media along with photos of the group’s
members with neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes and far-right podcaster Myron Gaines.
In
a statement, the university’s interim president Donald Landry said that
the Florida Federation of College Republicans, which oversees campus
GOP groups in the state, told the university that it had disbanded the
UF chapter. Landry said that UF then moved to deactivate them.
“The
University of Florida has emphatically supported its Jewish community
and remains committed to preventing and addressing antisemitism and
other forms of discrimination and harassment that are threatening and
disruptive to our students,” Landry said in his statement.
The
chapter is being represented in court by Anthony Sabatini, who alleged
to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that the Nazi photo was the “final
straw” for the university, and the“edgy” student group felt they had
been targeted for some time. Sabatini, a conservative Lake County,
Florida commissioner, also claimed the chapter was really shut down
because it hosted Florida Republican gubernatorial candidate James
Fishback on March 11.
They just want their 'right' to be on campus glorifying Nazis. Is that so wrong? (Yes, it is.) Atlanta Black Star News adds:
Only
days after the chapter was demobilized, its members filed a lawsuit
against the university’s president, seeking a judge’s order to halt the
group’s deactivation on free speech grounds.
“The
University of Florida punitively deactivated and shut down the UFCR, in
response to alleged viewpoints expressed by a member of UFCR, and in an
effort to silence the club and chill its future speech,” the group
wrote in its lawsuit, per The Associated Press.
The
complaint also alleges that the university deactivated the group
without sufficient notice and did not allow them to confer with campus
officials to tell their side of the story.
This is the second instance of bigoted student conduct that’s been investigated by a Florida university this month.
Just
last week, Florida International University (FIU) in Miami launched an
investigation after learning that several conservative students were
involved in a lengthy racist and anti-semitic group chat on WhatsApp.
The Miami Herald reported
that the chat included FIU’s Turning Point USA chapter president and
the former recruitment chair for the campus’s College Republicans
chapter. It was reportedly started in September 2025 by the secretary of
the Miami-Dade County Republican Party, who is also a student at FIU’s
College of Law.
Members of the chat traded
several messages that included homophobic, anti-semitic, sexist and
racist remarks. The N-word was used more than 400 times in disturbing
variations.
Wednesday, March 18, 2026. Chump loses a supporter in the
administration over the war on Iran, the State Dept is now -- now, just
now -- advising US embassies to conduct security evaluations, Ka$h Patel
comes under scrutiny, a whistle-blower appears to have some information
on Epstein's New Mexico ranch, Senator Patty Murray calls out the GOP's
effort to make voting more difficult for Americans, and much more.
Joe
Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, announced
his resignation on Tuesday, citing his concerns about the justification
for military strikes in Iran and saying he “cannot in good conscience”
back the Trump administration’s war.
“Iran
posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started
this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby,”
Kent said in a statement posted on social media, making claims President
Donald Trump has denied.
Kent, a former Green
Beret and political candidate with connections to right-wing extremists,
was confirmed last July on a 52-44 vote. As head of the National
Counterterrorism Center, he was in charge of an agency tasked with
analyzing and detecting terrorist threats.
“I
cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. Iran posed
no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this
war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby,” writes
Kent, who faced criticism over ties to white nationalists before he was
tapped for the senior post in the Trump administration.
“Early
in this administration, high-ranking Israeli officials and influential
members of the American media deployed a misinformation campaign that
wholly undermined your America First platform and sowed pro-war
sentiments to encourage a war with Iran.
“This
echo chamber was used to deceive you into believing that Iran posed an
imminent threat to the United States, and that should you strike now,
there was a clear path to a swift victory. This was a lie and is the
same tactic the Israelis used to draw us into the disastrous Iraq war
that cost our nation the lives of thousands of our best men and women.
We cannot make this mistake again,” Kent claims.
Chump was taken by surprise by the remarks and action. As the shock wore off, he found time to blame someone. Alex Griffing (MEDIAITE) reports:
Fox
News White House correspondent and anchor Aishah Hasnie reported on
Tuesday in the wake of Joe Kent’s scathing resignation that the Trump
White House had pushed Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard
to fire him.
Kent, a MAGA influencer who served
as Trump’s director of the National Counterterrorism Center, became the
first major administration official to resign in protest over the Iran
war on Tuesday morning. Gabbard, along with Kent, has long been a
leading isolationist figure inside the Trump administration. Having once
been aligned with the Bernie Sanders wing of the Democratic Party,
Gabbard has been a vocal anti-interventionist in DC and was once a
fierce critic of Trump’s foreign policy in the Middle East.
Hasnie
reported that, according to a “senior administration official,” Kent
was long cut off from intelligence briefings and was suspected of
leaking. Hasnie wrote on social media that the official told her:
-a known leaker and he was cut out of POTUS intelligence briefings months ago.
-the WH told DNI Tulsi Gabbard he should be fired for suspected leaks but she never did.
-he has not been part of any Iran planning discussions or briefings at all.
The
White House went into attack mode following Kent’s letter, which
accused the administration of misleading the public about the threat
Iran posed to the U.S. Kent claimed in his letter, “I cannot in good
conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. Iran posed no imminent
threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to
pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.”
Isaac Schorr (MEDIAITE) notes
that an unnamed intelligence official is saying that the FOX "NEWS"
report was not accurate and that Tulsi was never asked to fire Joe Kent.
Five minutes into the video below, Jen Psaki covers Kent and, seven minutes in, notes Tulsis suck up public remarks.
In other news, Ewan Palmer (DAILY BEAST) reports on the response of US allies -- or US allies before Chump got sworn in and started attacking them:
Major allies have no intention of getting directly involved in Donald Trump’s war on Iran—and are telling him so bluntly.
The
response to the president’s demands for military help to reopen the
vital Strait of Hormuz shipping lane has ranged from skepticism to
“Hell, no,” sources familiar with the diplomatic talks told Axios.
The
narrow passage between Iran and Oman through which a fifth of the
world’s oil passes has been closed off by Iran as a retaliatory measure
since U.S. and Israel began bombing the Middle Eastern country on Feb.
28. The closure of the Strait has resulted in a worldwide oil crisis,
with crude oil prices rising past $100 a barrel and gas prices surging
in the U.S.
Former
National Security adviser John Bolton on Monday said President Trump
failed to make a “compelling case” to the American people about the
threat Iran’s nuclear program and terrorist network pose to the United
States.
“Trump made some critical mistakes that
are becoming – the effects of which are becoming more apparent. Before
the war, he didn’t prepare the American people,” Bolton said during a
Monday appearance on NewsNation’s “The Hill.”
“And
I don’t mean by telling them what the operation would be or how long it
would be, but by making what I think is a very compelling case that the
Iranian nuclear threat and the Iranian terrorism threat affect us
directly, affect our friends and allies, like Israel, like the Gulf
Arabs, like Europe in particular, and that, after 25 or 30 years of
negotiation, we were coming to the view that the only way this was going
to be solved would be by eliminating the regime,” Bolton added in his
comments to anchor Blake Burman.
Bolton, a
longtime Iran hawk, has criticized Trump’s war on Iran for a lack of
planning, arguing the administration did not lay the groundwork for a
new government to replace the hardline Islamic regime.
The
State Department has ordered all U.S. diplomatic posts worldwide to
“immediately” undertake security evaluations, citing “the ongoing and
developing situation in the Middle East and the potential for spill-over
effects,” according to a cable sent Tuesday that was reviewed by The
Washington Post.
The
cable stated that “ALL posts worldwide” should convene Emergency Action
Committees (EAC), multidisciplinary teams designed to identify and plan
for threats, and to review their “security posture.” The cable was
signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and stated that the order had
come from Undersecretary for Management Jason Evans.
Though
similar orders have been sent to diplomatic posts in the Middle East
over past weeks, Tuesday’s order appeared to mark the first time that
all posts globally had been ordered to review their security due to the
Iran war.
Multiple U.S. embassies have been
targeted by Iran and its proxies since the U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign
started Feb. 28, with several missions temporarily closing and U.S.
personnel ordered to leave several countries.
This
is being done now? Not before the war started? Not when the war
started? Not when the first US Embassy got attacked? It would appear
to me that Secretary of State Marco Rubio has admirers in the press who
promote and applaud him. Where are the actual journalists? I can't
imagine Condi Rice, Hillary Clinton or John Kerry getting away with this
kind of a misstep.
FBI
insiders had sharp critiques of FBI Director Kash Patel's leadership
amid rising terrorism threats, according to reports on Monday.
Patel
has come under fire after four separate terror-related incidents since
the Iran war began four weeks ago, and an overall increase in terrorism,
The Daily Beast reported. Experts warned that Patel's missteps could lead to even bigger problems ahead.
A
former FBI agent told Miranda Devine, conservative commentator for The
New York Post, during her podcast Pod Force One that the FBI should have
acted more urgently to review its surveillance methods, including its
flagging systems, investigative and screening processes, and its threat
monitoring systems.
“The FBI should be directly
questioned on these matters on their prior knowledge and applicable
actions,” the agent said. “If not, then this violence will continue to
happen and intensify.”
A
veteran FBI special agent claims the agency is “consumed by politically
motivated revenge and conspiracy theories, distracting the F.B.I., once
again, from the danger of terrorism.”
Writing
in The New York Times, Jacqueline Maguire said the spreading war with
Iran significantly elevates the regime’s threat to Americans at home and
abroad.
That means, she claims, “the F.B.I. must
return its focus to its core work: protecting Americans from terrorists
and cyberattacks and halting foreign intelligence operations and
espionage.”
But nothing in the age of Trump 2.0 is ever that simple.
Although
the FBI in her 2000-era tenure was admittedly “distracted from the
threat by Al Qaeda that had taken root in the United States,” the agency
quickly got up to speed after 9/11. It bolstered its national security
work, she claimed.
However, the author of the
piece was among those “pushed out” of the FBI last year when the Trump
administration started its second term in January 2025. Among the dozens
who departed were Iran specialists.
You may remember Rachel Maddow noting the Iran experts being pushed out of the FBI two weeks back.
President
Donald Trump’s Iran war consistently polls in the low 40s, historically
poor for a nascent military campaign — and a prominent columnist
predicts his efforts to bully Americans into changing their minds will
not work.
“On Sunday night, during a tirade on
his Truth Social website, the president attacked The Wall Street Journal
for reporting on an Iranian military strike against American planes in
Saudi Arabia, and called on other news outlets to be charged with
‘TREASON,’” seasoned columnist Michelle Goldberg wrote for The New York
Times. “Brendan Carr, Trump’s thuggish Federal Communications Commission
chairman, threatened to revoke broadcasters’ licenses over their war
coverage. Criticizing CNN’s reporting on the war last week, Defense
Secretary Pete Hegseth made clear that he’s hoping its new owners quash
its independence: ‘The sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the
better.’”
Goldberg argued that “rarely in modern
history has an American administration made such blatantly authoritarian
efforts to subdue its critics. Such naked coercion is a screaming sign
of democratic breakdown. But we shouldn’t lose sight of how Trump is
failing to bend the country to his will. Even as he’s wrecking American
institutions, Trump is revealing the limits of his cultural influence.”
Goldberg
went on to list prominent conservatives who are splitting with Trump on
the war, including Megyn Kelly, a right-wing streamer; Tucker Carlson, a
right-wing podcaster; and Joe Rogan, a fellow right-wing podcaster.
[. . .]
“One
reason the old hawkish canards no longer work is that Trump has so
degraded the aura that used to surround America’s commander in chief,”
Goldberg explained. “A recent fund-raising email for Trump’s political
action committee used a photograph of the president — wearing a white
baseball hat — receiving the remains of American service members. With
his war raging, he’s spent the last two weekends golfing. Trump refuses
to treat his role with reverence, so others don’t feel much need to
either.”
Meanwhile, SEEKING ALPHA notes the impact the war is having on American farmers:
The
Trump administration is seeking alternative fertilizer supplies for
U.S. farmers as the war in Iran disrupts a key global trade route just
weeks before the spring planting season.
“We’ve
been all over the fertilizer problem,” White House National Economic
Council Director Kevin Hassett said on CNBC Tuesday. “I’m not saying
that we can eliminate what disruption there is so far, but we can
minimize it for sure.”
The
effort reflects growing concern in Washington that supply bottlenecks,
particularly those tied to the Strait of Hormuz, could tighten
availability and push up costs for farmers at a critical moment in the
agricultural calendar.
The
U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign in Iran is now in its third week, and the
consequences of the war for Americans are beginning to hit home. Not
only have we lost servicemen and women, we have expended billions of
dollars on weapons and logistical costs. And the closing of the Strait
of Hormuz, through which about 20% of the world’s oil and natural gas
travels, has reduced exports, raising gas prices and, indirectly, almost
all prices
President
Donald Trump’s energy policy has left the country unprepared for his
war. At a time when the country desperately needs alternatives to oil
and gas, his policies have left us naked to the storms of war.
Pope
Francis was a prophetic voice on behalf of peace and the environment,
and Pope Leo XIV has taken up this mission. Diplomacy should always be
preferred to war. And if Francis’ warnings about climate change had been
heeded by Trump, our country would be better prepared for the current
energy crisis. Even if you do not accept the popes’ moral arguments,
green energy is not only good for the planet, it is good for national
security.
The closing of the Strait of Hormuz
has caused the price of crude oil to go over $100 a barrel. This means
higher prices for gasoline, diesel and everything in the economy that
runs on oil or is made from oil. Not only will it cost more to drive
your car, it will cost more to deliver goods by rail and truck to
consumers.
Chump never learns lessons. Which is why Ari Natter (BLOOMBERG NEWS) reports, "US
President Donald Trump said he wanted to have no wind turbines built
during his presidency, reiterating his distaste for the renewable energy
source after his administration has made multiple moves to thwart its
development."
The
Trump administration has admitted that agents with the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) threatened to put Maine women observing their
activities onto a federal watchlist.
In a
24-page court filing, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) sought to
convince a judge that a temporary restraining order (TRO) and immediate
relief by the legal observers are unnecessary. Though conceding that DHS
officers "suggested" that citizens' information would be taken during
interactions at immigration-enforcement operations, the DOJ maintains
that no such promises were followed up on.
"While
DHS, as do other law enforcement agencies, maintains databases relevant
to law enforcement investigations, the officers involved in the
encounters with Plaintiffs did not enter their information into a
database or watchlist related to those encounters," the filing states.
"Defendants acknowledge that officers on the ground suggested otherwise,
however, those statements were contrary to DHS policy."
The
Trump administration went so far as to share declarations from DHS
Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) and Homeland Security
Investigations (HSI) leaders stating that neither Elinor Hilton nor
Colleen Fagan were placed on any database. Moreover, the federal
immigration agency sent a memo to agents reminding them of "First
Amendment Protected Activities."
So
the US government is saying 'We lied to the women when we told them
that we were putting their names on a watchlist. We are telling the
truth now, however, when we say we didn't do that.' Were I Elinor or
Colleen, I don't know that I'd be so quick to take them at their word.
A
hacktivist group claims to have breached a Department of Homeland
Security portal used by private companies to pitch surveillance and
research technologies, exposing two structured databases that detail
proposals for biometric phone adapters, AI-powered airport monitoring,
and geospatial heat maps built from 911 calls. The leaked data, drawn
from the Office of Industry Partnership within DHS’s Science and
Technology Directorate, has reignited questions about how federal
agencies solicit and vet invasive tools, particularly those that could
be deployed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. No official DHS
response to the breach has been made public as of this writing.
[. . .]
The claimed breach produced two structured databases, according to reporting from The Guardian.
Entries in the leaked dataset include proposals for
biometrics-on-phones adapters, which would allow field agents to capture
and match fingerprints or facial data using mobile devices. Other
entries describe AI surveillance systems designed for airport
environments and a tool that ingests 911-call data to generate
geospatial heat maps, potentially giving agencies a real-time picture of
emergency activity across regions.
Each
of these technologies carries direct implications for how DHS
components, including ICE, could expand monitoring capabilities. A
biometric phone adapter, for instance, would let officers verify
identities during street-level encounters without returning to a fixed
terminal. Airport AI surveillance proposals suggest automated tracking
of individuals through transit hubs, potentially combining video feeds,
travel records, and watchlist data. And 911-call heat mapping could
layer emergency response information into immigration enforcement
patterns, raising civil liberties concerns that go well beyond the
original purpose of those emergency calls.
The
databases do not appear to contain finalized contracts or deployment
records, based on available reporting. Instead, they reflect the
proposal pipeline: what companies offered and what DHS was willing to
consider. That pipeline, however, reveals the agency’s appetite for
specific surveillance capabilities in ways that official procurement
announcements rarely do. Even unsuccessful bids can indicate areas where
the department is actively exploring new ways to collect, analyze, and
share data about people’s movements and associations.
Today,
Senator Markwayne Mullen is set to appear before the Senate Homeland
Security Committee as senators determine whether or not to support his
bid to be the new Secretary of Homeland Security.
After
Jeffrey Epstein’s death, Svetlana Pozhidaeva said she finally felt free
and started building her life. The former Russian model, who became one
of Epstein’s “assistants” and a victim of his abuse, changed her name
and moved to another city.
Then the Epstein files dropped.
She
didn’t pay much attention, preferring not to revisit that period—the
years from 2008 to 2019, when she had been caught in Epstein’s web. She
assumed her name would be redacted like the other women who were vetted
by settlement administrators in previous victim lawsuits.
The
Justice Department did redact her name as the sender and receiver in
most emails, but mistakenly left it in the body of some messages. She
was among the dozens of victims whose personally identifiable data was
initially left unredacted in the Jan. 30 release.
Since
the files dropped, Pozhidaeva said she has been playing whack-a-mole
with the Justice Department, sending emails to flag redaction errors.
The Justice Department addressed initial errors, but when it reposted
corrected files, some instances of her name remained exposed.
The
Justice Department has said only a fraction of the released files had
redaction errors and it is fixing any mistakes when notified by victims
or their attorneys. The department didn’t respond to requests for
comment.
For
Pozhidaeva, the pressure reached a breaking point in recent days, when a
blogger started contacting her family and announced plans to expose her
new name on the grounds that she was in her 20s at the time of the
abuse and said her links to Russia disqualified her from victim
protections. The Wall Street Journal isn’t publishing her current name.
“I
am so exhausted. I haven’t slept or eaten properly for weeks,” she said
in a recent interview. “I’d rather tell this embarrassing story myself
and get it over with once and for all so I can finally be free and close
this chapter.”
It's
a shame that the Justice Dept made life harder for the survivors. It's
a greater shame that Attorney General Pam da bimbo Bondi couldn't
apologize to those women. Maybe she'll get another chance this year?
In the meantime, she's been asked to be deposed by the House Oversight
Committee. Rebecca Beitsch (THE HILL) reports:
The
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Tuesday formally
subpoenaed Attorney General Pam Bondi to answer questions about the
Epstein files.
The committee voted earlier this
month to subpoena Bondi, following a motion from Rep. Nancy Mace
(R-S.C.), who said it was unclear whether the Justice Department had
turned over all records related to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey
Epstein that were required under a law mandating their release.
“The
Committee has questions regarding the Department of Justice’s handling
of the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein and his associates and its
compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act,” Chair James Comer
(R-Ky.) wrote in the cover letter of the subpoena.
“As
Attorney General, you are directly responsible for overseeing the
Department’s collection, review, and determinations regarding the
release of files pursuant to the Epstein Files Transparency Act, and the
Committee therefore believes that you possess valuable insight into
these efforts.”
The subpoena requests Bondi appear for an April 14 deposition.
A whistleblower has claimed to have discovered 'grave-like plots' at Jeffrey Epstein's former Zorro Ranch in New Mexico,
sharing photos with state lawmakers investigating the late financier.
The images, which have not been independently verified, reportedly show
several dug-up burial sites on the property.
The revelation comes amid renewed attention on Epstein's activities and
raises fresh questions about the FBI and other authorities' handling of
evidence linked to the controversial estate.
The tipster, whose identity has been redacted, reportedly
broke into the ranch in 2020 and discovered multiple plots they
believed had been used for burials. They sent the images to Democratic
Representatives Andrea Romero and Marianna Anaya last month, along with
an email stating that the sites appeared to have had bodies removed.
'I realise this might be illegal,' the tipster wrote, 'but men like that
don't deserve the protection of the law.' Romero, who heads a
bipartisan commission investigating Epstein in New Mexico, forwarded the
correspondence to Kyle Hartsock, director of special investigations at
the state Department of Justice, who assured her that the tip was 'being
looked into.'
Let's wind down with this from Senator Patty Murray's office:
NYT: Republicans, Braced for Losses, Push More Voting Restrictions in Congress
AP: The biggest change to voting in Republican election bill could become a burden for many US voters
PBS: How Trump’s SAVE America Act would reshape voting and why critics are concerned
NPR: Trump wants to stop states from voting by mail and using voting machines
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray
(D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, took to the
Senate floor to slam Republicans for trying to ram through the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility(SAVE) America Act to make it harder and more expensive for Americans to register to vote and cast their ballots.
Trump and Republicans’ SAVE America Act would purge American
citizens from the voter rolls, kill voter registration by mail and
online, reject common IDs used to register to vote—often making
Americans pay for new IDs and therefore making it more expensive to
vote, force Americans to register to vote in person, and penalize
married women who have changed their last names.
Senator Murray’s remarks, as delivered, are below:
“When it comes to broken promises, it seems like Trump and Republicans have raised every price they ever said they would lower.
“[They raised] costs on groceries with Trump’s sweeping tariffs—the
largest tax increase on working families in American history. They sent
energy costs higher by cancelling clean energy projects. They sent gas
prices skyrocketing by starting a new war in the Middle East, and they
let health care premiums skyrocket for patients doubling, tripling, and
more through sheer indifference!
“And now, desperate to avoid the wave of angry voters who
Republicans had promised lower prices and no new wars, Republicans are
even going to raise the cost of voting.
“Because their SAVE Trump Act would nickel and dime Americans
who are just trying to vote but have to slog through one new Republican
roadblock after another. Under Republicans’ bill, one
of our citizens’ most basic freedoms now comes with a price and it comes
with a lot of brand-new hurdles that serve no purpose but to trip
people up.
“Some folks will have to shell out for a copy of their birth
certificate. Some will have to get a passport— and that is $165 by the
way. Some folks will have to travel hours away to register in person,
costing time, travel fare, or maybe gas costs—which Trump is sending
through the roof.
“And that’s not the half of it. Just consider all the people who will face new challenges to vote—for no good reason.
“If you are a student who just moved to start college,
Republicans will make it harder for you to vote. Because if this bill
passes, you will need to show a photo I.D. and proof of citizenship in
every single state—but a student I.D. won’t count. Many Tribal I.D.’s
also won’t be enough under the new Republican restrictions.
“If you are a married woman who changed her last name, like
me and the overwhelming majority of moms across the country, Republicans
will make it harder for you to vote. Because you would now have to
bring an ID, proof of citizenship, and some additional paperwork showing
your name change. That could affect 70 million people.
“If you are a senior who just moved into a new nursing home
and has mobility issues. Republicans will make it harder for you to
vote. Because you can no longer just register online or by mail. You now
have to show up in person to show your papers.
“Voting will also be harder for rural families far from any place
where they could show their papers and register in person. In Washington
state—we have lots of families who might have to take a ferry just to
register to vote.
“Or heaven forbid you are someone living abroad maybe working for an
American company, or working at a nonprofit, or even serving our nation
as a diplomat, you may just have to buy a flight all the way back home
so you can register.
“And the inconvenience doesn’t stop at registration. Because
Republicans would make voting by mail harder for everyone as well. They
are going to require you to photocopy your IDs when you apply for that
mail in ballot, and they are going to require another photocopy when you
send in your mail in ballot. At least—as long as Trump doesn’t get his
wish to scrap mail in voting altogether!
“And if you are someone who doesn’t know where your birth certificate
is, or doesn’t have easy access to it, or if you are one of the half of
Americans who doesn’t have a passport—that is 146 million people—you
are going to have to pay fees and fill out a lot of paperwork.
“And what is the Republican plan for when the State Department gets
flooded with a record-breaking number of passport applications by the
way? Because there is no money for surge capacity in this bill! What are
Americans supposed to do when their paperwork gets delayed for weeks on
end? Or heaven forbid—this President slow walks it.
“Oh—and by the way, under the Save Trump Act there’s a perfectly
awful chance that you do everything right and still get robbed of your
vote by Republicans. Because this bill pushes states to rely on a DHS verification tool—that just frankly is a dumpster-fire.
“States that tried it—got results with huge errors, where DHS
was wrongly saying many citizens were not citizens. The Trump
Administration tool—has already wrongly advised states to purge lawful
voters from the voter rolls.
“But the biggest problem with this bill goes to its roots,
because the biggest problem is that Republicans’ whole premise is built
on a lie.
“Trump has been lying for years about our elections. Lying about
winning in 2020. Lying about winning in states like California. Lying
about crazy conspiracies that have been debunked time, and time again.
“He’s been debunked by Republican election commissioners. He has
been debunked by thorough news investigations and carefully conducted
audits. He has been debunked by million-dollar legal cases where other
liars were sued for defamation. That has not stopped Trump.
“And
instead of calling out the lies—like so many of them once actually did,
first Republicans started ignoring them, and then they started
normalizing them, and now—many of them are repeating the lies and
conspiracies.
“M. President—our elections are free, and they are fair. That
is beyond question. Anyone who values our democracy—should be shouting
that from the rooftops.
“But instead of defending our democracy, instead of defending
our elections from misinformation, and conspiracies, and a President
who has stated quite directly he wants to take control over the
elections, Republicans are joining Trump in the same sort or ruse he
pulled to rile people up on January 6th.
“The biggest fraud here is: Republicans who know their agenda
is unpopular, Republicans who know that when entrusted by the voters to
fulfill their promises, all they’ve done is break them—raising prices,
starting new wars, Republicans who know they will not
keep their majorities in a free and fair election, and so they are
pushing for this bill instead.
“M. President, this is not how elections work.This is not how
America works. In this country we fight for change—with our voices and
our votes.
“And if Republicans think, for a second Democrats will let them take
away people’s votes, they better buckle up—because you can bet we will
use our voices to block this bill, for as long as it takes.”
“Leave
Britney alone!” — remember that one? — seems to be the thrust of a
judge’s recent ruling in an ongoing legal feud between Elon Musk and
OpenAI.
At a Friday hearing in California, US
District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said that Musk’s use of ketamine
will be off limits to OpenAI’s legal team and its CEO Sam Altman as the
case is set to go to trial next month, Bloomberg reports, which will likely save Musk from heaps of further embarrassment.
Musk
allegedly has, or had, a heavy ketamine habit. Many had long
speculated, including those close to the man himself, that Musk
recreationally used the tranquilizer, which is known for its
hallucinogenic effects, claims fueled by his own admitting to using the
drug under a prescription to treat depression.
For years, major media outlets intensified the scrutiny. In 2024, The Wall Street Journal reported that
Musk used LSD, cocaine, ecstasy, and mushrooms, often at drug-fueled
parties. Sources close to him said that his use of ketamine was still
ongoing, raising the possibility that Musk could be jeopardizing his
companies’ federal contracts with his illegal habit.
But in 2025, the story hit another level. That May, a report from the New York Times claimed Musk
was using recreational drugs far more than what was previously known.
He reportedly brought a daily pillbox that held about 20 capsules with
him wherever he went, stuffed with drugs like Adderall. He was taking
ketamine almost every day, according to the reporting, sometimes
combining it with other substances of choice — a drug habit so severe
that he reportedly confided in others that it was causing bladder
issues.
Another
new message from Sarah Ferguson to Jeffrey Epstein has been revealed
following the release of a 'revolting' email exchange between the pair.
The former Duchess of York has found herself under increased scrutiny in
recent months after a tranche of files released by the US Department of
Justice exposed the extent of her relationship with the now-deceased
convicted sex offender.
Once
one of the most popular figures to come out of Buckingham Palace, Sarah
has been forced out of her 30-room mansion at Windsor Great Park,
alongside Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, her former husband. The pair were
also stripped of their Royal Titles and Honours, with sources allegedly
claiming that 'Fergie' has now been branded 'persona non grata' by the
future King of England, William.
Now,
a new selection of files from millions of documents related to Epstein
has revealed yet another message to Epstein, indicating that the pair
remained friends after he was released from prison. It comes following
speculation that the New Yorker fathered a child before his death,
despite his brother, Mark, claiming that this was never the case.
The
former Duchess, now 66, wrote to Epstein in September 2011,
congratulating him on becoming a dad, penning: 'Don't know if you are
still on this BBM, but heard from the Duke today that you have had a
baby boy.' Sarah then added what appears to be a polite message,
potentially exposing how friendly she was with the convicted felon. She
said: 'Even though you never kept in touch, I still am here with love,
friendship, and congratulations on your baby boy. Sarah xx.'
This
message, however, is not the only correspondence between the pair
unearthed this week, with another 'revolting' message torn to shreds by
royal experts. The message, which remained totally unseen until the
release of the documents, saw Sarah refer to Epstein as a 'legend'
before praising the billionaire. She wrote: 'My dear, spectacular, and
special friend Jeffrey, you are a legend. I am so proud of you.'
Jo
Elvin, the former Editor-in-Chief of Glamour UK and You Magazine, told
the Palace Confidential podcast that the message made her unwell. 'I
mean, I just want to be sick. It's a convicted sex offender she's
writing to. It's hard to believe that she cared at all about his
crimes,' Elvin said.
Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie are worried that Sarah Ferguson could ruin their relationship with the royal family.
As
more emails were released by the U.S. Department of Justice connecting
the former Duchess of York to Jeffrey Epstein, her daughters fear she
may sell a book about life within The Firm.
A source told Rob Shuter‘s Naughty But Nice Substack, “The girls are terrified. They’ve pleaded with Sarah not to do it.”
“Sarah knows everything. She knows exactly how the family would react if another tell-all came out,” the insider said.
A
second source added, “If Sarah writes the book, the daughters will pay
the price. Sarah has very little to lose — except her daughters.”
Tuesday, March 17, 2026. Chump's run off all the US' long term allies,
the generals are telling Chump to wrap up the war on Iran, another
person dies in Homeland Security detention, Bank of America announces a
settlement with some of the victims of Jeffrey Epstein and much more.
President
Trump on Monday disparaged U.S. allies that he said had relied too long
— and too expensively — on American defense, as several of those
countries have declined to meet his call to send warships to escort
merchant vessels in and out of the Persian Gulf.
“We
don’t need anybody; we’re the strongest nation in the world,” Mr. Trump
said. He suggested his request for assistance in reopening the Strait
of Hormuz instead amounted to a loyalty test of America’s allies. “I’m
almost doing it in some cases not because we need them but because I
want to find out how they react,” he said.
He
went from pleading on Saturday to lying on Sunday and early Monday
about how he had lined some up to admitting that no one wants to help.
And now he says he never wanted them, just "want to find out how they
react"? Sure Baby Chumps.
He
treated them like garbage -- and we noted it here -- and some people
said, "Oh, don't focus on it. It's just Chump. We have to focus on
this or that." No, when he insults the long term allies of the US, it
is news and we will note it here and we did note it. It did matter.
And we pointed out that he might need them. A year later and he does.
And they're not eager to make nice with someone who spat on them over
and over -- nor should they be. When he's out of the White House, the
next president can make clear that the US is a friend to other nations.
Until then, we need to accept that Chump has made it very difficult for
our allies to reach out and help us at this point in time.
This mess was created by Chump and was completely predictable.
The
threat was a continuation of Mr. Trump’s bullying style of diplomacy.
During trade negotiations last year, the president repeatedly berated
leaders who complained about his tariffs. More recently, he lashed out
at Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain, essentially accusing him of
caution and cowardice. Upon hearing that Mr. Starmer was considering
sending naval ships to the Middle East, he mocked the prime minister.
“That’s
OK, Prime Minister Starmer, we don’t need them any longer,” Mr. Trump
wrote on social media on March 7. “We don’t need people that join Wars
after we’ve already won!”
For Mr. Trump’s
counterparts around the world, the tricky part of the diplomatic dance
is how to react to the president’s whims while meeting the needs of
their own countries. Mr. Starmer has arguably been the European leader
most eager to please Mr. Trump. And yet, on Monday, he vowed at a news conference that his country “will not be drawn into the wider war” with Iran.
American
oil executives delivered a bleak message to Trump officials in recent
days: The energy crisis the Iran war has unleashed is likely to get
worse.
In a series of White House meetings
Wednesday and recent conversations with Energy Secretary Chris Wright
and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, the CEOs of Exxon Mobil, Chevron and
ConocoPhillips warned that the disruption to energy flows out of the vital Strait of Hormuz waterway would continue to create volatility in global energy markets, according to people familiar with the matter.
In
response to questions from the officials, Exxon CEO Darren Woods said
that oil prices could rise past current elevated levels if speculators
unexpectedly bid up prices and that markets could see a supply crunch of
refined products. Chevron CEO Mike Wirth and ConocoPhillips CEO Ryan
Lance also conveyed their concerns about the scale of the disruption,
these people said.
President Trump didn’t
attend the Wednesday meetings. U.S. oil prices have climbed from $87 a
barrel that day to $99 a barrel Friday.
Ouch. More and more observers are noting how this illegal war that Chump and Netanyahu chose to start is a disaster. Simon Marks (THE I PAPER) points out:
As Donald Trump’s war on Iran enters its third full week, the US leader has been hoisted with his own petard.
With
no sense of history and no interest in learning about it, Trump was
always doomed eventually to repeat it. By choosing to join the Israelis
in wading into Iran without any fact-based reason, and without any plan
either for exiting troops, or for the day after their withdrawal, his
ludicrously named Operation Epic Fury can already be considered
“Operation Epic Fail”.
In reality, Pentagon chiefs
should probably have named it “Operation 52-Card Pickup”, for that is
exactly what it has turned out to be: a hope-for-the-best chucking of
all the Middle East cards into the air. Having started with a possible
American war crime against innocents in a girls’ school, it now runs the
risk of dragging the country into the kind of “forever conflict” that
Trump promised voters he would, at all costs, avoid.
The
weekend witnessed more of the nonsense that is already the daily
hallmark of this administration’s wartime demeanour: that everything is
going according to plan, coupled with continuing assertions about
America’s military prowess.
Despite its furious
attacks against the growing media reports that reveal the panicked
reality taking place behind the scenes in the White House, the truth
will always out.
On Saturday, Trump showed himself to
be an increasingly naked emperor. In one social media post,
contradictory claims that Iran’s military capacity had already been
“destroyed 100 per cent” sat right alongside a warning that the regime
still finds it “easy to send a drone or two, drop a mine, or deliver a
close-range missile somewhere”. A non sequitur for the ages.
On MEIDASTOUCH NEWS this morning, Ben notes that the generals are telling Chump to wrap it up but Chump's ignoring them.
The
war in Iran may be thousands of miles away, but its economic impact
could soon show up much closer to home – at the grocery store. While
rising oil prices are already pushing gas prices higher, experts warn
food prices could be next.
President Donald
Trump has said he expects the war to wrap up by the end of the month,
but economists say if the conflict drags on longer, grocery prices could
start to climb.
"If we're
talking just a few weeks, very likely you're not going to see this show
up in your grocery receipts," Dr. David Ortega, an agricultural
economist and professor at Michigan State University, told Fortune. "But
if we're talking a month or more, a few months, then it's a different
story."
That warning comes as food prices in the U.S. have already risen 29.4% between March 2020 and December 2025, outpacing increases for the broader market, according to Forbes.
Yes, he is an idiot and, yes, he is a liar. But his increased dementia just make it more obvious.
For
years, the agricultural sector has faced a tight labor market as
farmworkers age and fewer new immigrants and younger Americans are
willing to toil in the fields. Top Trump administration officials vowed
that mass deportations would help, leading to “higher wages with better benefits” and a “100 percent American work force.”
But
the administration has quietly acknowledged in recent months that its
immigration raids and crackdown on the border have aggravated the issue.
So it has instead turned to an alternative source, making it cheaper
for farmers to hire immigrant farmworkers on temporary visas.
Many
farmers have celebrated those changes, made to an increasingly popular
visa program known as H-2A, noting the difficulty in hiring American
workers and tough economic conditions for the industry. But immigration
hawks and labor unions alike are opposed, arguing the move will only
increase the share of foreign workers and hurt native workers and
suppress their wages.
The simmering debate
underscores how some of the administration’s top goals of reducing
immigration, keeping food prices low and helping American workers may
inevitably conflict. The competing interests at play also show the
spillover effects of Mr. Trump’s hard-line approach to legal and illegal
immigration.
So he needs the labor
now. And yet it's the labor that suffers under Chump who allows them to
be paid less and allows things like 'lodging' to be counted as payment
now. Let's stay with immigration but move over to Homeland Security. Travis Gettys (RAW STORY) reports:
The
Justice Department will receive a recommendation Monday to investigate
whether recently ousted Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem perjured
herself in the congressional testimony that already cost her job.
Sen.
Dick Durbin (D-IL), the ranking member on the Senate Judiciary
Committee and Rep. Jamie Raski (D-MD), the ranking member of the House
Judiciary Committee, will submit the recommendation to Attorney General
Pam Bondi asking the DOJ to look into whether Noem knowingly made false
statements two weeks ago before their congressional panels, reported
journalist Scott MacFarlane on his Substack page.
"The
recommendation for a criminal investigation will cite at least four
statements made by Noem, including her responses to questions about a
controversial, taxpayer-funded $220 million ad campaign, which
prominently featured Noem," MacFarlane reported. "The proposal ... will
also recommend a probe of Noem’s statements about the conditions of U.S.
immigrant detention facilities, the Trump Administration’s detention of
U.S. citizens and the Department of Homeland Security’s alleged
defiance of federal court orders."
Shortly before he removed her from her post, Trump told Reuters that he “never knew” of the plans for the $220 million ad, contracts for which were funneled to allies of Noem.
“These
two statements are clearly inconsistent; one of them has to be false,”
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top Democrat on
each panel, wrote in the letter.
It goes on to hammer Noem for claims that the contracts were awarded through the proper channels.
“She flatly misrepresented that the contract had been subject to a competitive bid,” the lawmakers wrote.
“New
public reporting, however, indicates that those statements may have
been false. It has been reported that not only did the Secretary
‘handpick’ four companies for the ad campaign, but procurement records
show the ‘ad work was awarded using ‘other than full and open
competition,’ and the four companies were politically connected to Noem
and her allies.”
Will
Pam Bondi do her job? If not, maybe she can be fired like Kristi Noem
before her? Kristi's roll dog Gregory Bovino is rolling out the door. Tom Latchem (THE DAILY BEAST) reports:
Gregory
Bovino, the most notorious face of Donald Trump’s immigration
crackdown, is set to retire—weeks after the president sent him packing
following the death of two American citizens.
Bovino,
55, the Border Patrol chief patrol agent and self-styled
“commander-at-large” who became one of the most polarizing figures of
the administration’s hardline deportation push, broke the news to
Breitbart, announcing he would leave the agency at the end of March
after a career of nearly 30 years.
The Daily Beast has followed Bovino relentlessly since he first burst onto the national scene, tracking him across courtrooms, city streets, and Las Vegas bars.
While
the news cycle has largely moved on from the horrific violence in
Minneapolis that dominated our screens early this year, the danger has
not disappeared. Our nation’s children still live in fear of Immigration
and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents abducting classmates, parents and
teachers on schoolhouse grounds. Some kids are too afraid to leave the
house, and others can’t focus on their schoolwork, sick with anxiety
about whether their family will be there to greet them when they get
home.
We all remember
the image of 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, abducted alongside his father
when they arrived home one day, the boy still wearing his Spiderman
backpack and favorite bunny ear hat. Unfortunately, Liam’s story is far
from unique. Thousands of children have been abducted and incarcerated
in squalid detention centers without a clue as to what their or their
families’ futures hold. Their absence is a constant reminder to their
classmates, friends, and neighbors that their communities’ children are
still in danger. What happens to our communities when our public spaces
aren’t safe, our neighborhoods aren’t safe, and now we know our schools
aren’t safe either?
Safe spaces should be safe
for everyone. That’s why we, along with our partners at Innovation Law
Lab, National Education Association, and the American Federation of
Teachers filed an emergency motion in our federal lawsuit, PCUN v. Noem
last month to demand an immediate end to ICE violence in places like
schools and hospitals. These so-called sensitive locations used to be
off-limits to ICE’s brutal tactics, keeping our sacred community spaces
safe for all our neighbors. But now, nowhere is free from danger. We’re
seeking reinstatement of these protections.
While
the situation in Minneapolis prompted our emergency motion, the
declarations we received from people across the country proved that the
problem is a whole lot bigger. In our legal filing, we shared the stories of 60 educators and healthcare providers representing 18 states.
We heard the same fears and anxieties from people from Alaska to Ohio
to Maryland. It didn’t matter if it was a “red” or a “blue” state; or if
the stories came from cities or rural communities — ICE violence is
impacting every corner of the United States.
An
Afghan man who served alongside US special forces and fled his native
country after its takeover by the Taliban died over the weekend shortly
after being detained by immigration authorities, according to his family
and an advocacy group.
Mohammad Nazeer
Paktyawal died on Saturday, less than a day after he was detained by
Immigration and Customs Enforcement outside of his Dallas-area
apartment. His family said the 41-year-old father of six had no known
health conditions and had been seeking asylum since his arrival to the
US in August 2021. The Department of Homeland Security said his
humanitarian parole expired last August.
[. . .]
Paktyawal’s death marks the 12th of a detainee in ICE custody this year.
It
has prompted widespread grief in the close-knit Afghan diaspora
community in Texas, where many of the more than 190,000 Afghans who fled
to the US after the country’s government collapsed in August 2021
settled, said Rahmanullah Zazy, a leader in the Dallas-area Afghan
community who knew Paktyawal and his family.
Mohommad
Nazeer Paktyawal, 41, served as an Afghan special forces soldier from
2005 and worked alongside U.S. Army Special Forces for more than a
decade before he was evacuated by the U.S. and resettled while he sought
asylum, according to the AfghanEvac nonprofit.
Having
moved to America to start a new life with his family, he had been
preparing to drive his children to school on Friday, March 13, when
agents in unmarked vehicles surrounded him and detained him.
Within 24 hours, he was dead.
In
a statement, his family said, “We still cannot understand how this
happened. He was only 41 years old and was a strong and healthy man.
Kristia, Gregory and Tricia may be gone but the lies at the heart of Homeland Security remain. Latchman notes, "ICE
released a statement Sunday describing Paktyawal as a 'criminal illegal
alien' that made no mention of his history helping U.S. troops in
Afghanistan. The statement began with a breakdown of what the agency
described as Paktyawal’s 'known criminal history' before getting to the
circumstances of his death." He had no criminal history. AfghanEvac president Shawn VanDiver spoke with THE INDEPENDENT's Josh Marcus:
“This
is the problem with DHS when you can’t trust a thing they say,”
VanDiver said. “They lie to us every day. Chances are, the first thing
they tell us is going to be a lie.”
He alleged
Paktyawal and other Afghans have been singled out because of their
heritage to keep up with President Donald Trump’s goal of unprecedented
deportations.
VanDiver said he’s been tracking
“thousands” of cases where Afghans were able to successfully legally
challenge their arrests using habeas corpus requests and be released
from detention, a sign they were taken in on flimsy grounds.
Meanwhile
Markwayne Markwayne remains the person set to replace Kristi Noem as
Secretary of Homeland Security provided he can get the votes in the
Senate. Kate Plummer (NEWSWEEK) reports:
Senator
Markwayne Mullin from Oklahoma has been encouraged to divest from
certain stocks in his portfolio over conflict of interest concerns that
could arise because of the Republican’s new role as secretary of the
Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Last
week, President Donald Trump nominated Mullin, who has been a senator
from Oklahoma since 2023, to replace Kristi Noem, after she became the
first Cabinet secretary to be fired from Trump’s second administration. Mullin is expected to assume the post on March 31, pending Senate confirmation.
Under
18 U.S. Code § 208, a federal conflict of interest statute, members of
the executive branch of the U.S. cannot participate in matters including
stock holdings where they have a direct financial interest. There is no
suggestion Mullin is in breach of this statute.
Ahead
of Mullin’s confirmation, ethics experts have raised concerns after a
Newsweek analysis found Mullin has purchased at least $305,009 worth of
stock in companies that could intersect with his role at DHS.
Richard
Painter, a chief ethics lawyer under former President George W. Bush,
told Newsweek: “He should probably divest from all of these stocks as
there is too great a risk that they will be impacted by his work at
DHS.”
Dua Lipa has hit
out at the discourse and media coverage around the Epstein files, saying
that it is “doing such a disservice to all the victims”.
The ‘Radical Optimism’
pop star brought up the late billionaire and convicted sex offender
Jeffrey Epstein on the latest episode of her book club podcast, Service 95. She was speaking to author Roxane Gay about her book Bad Feminist.
Lipa discussed what she believed to be a lack of consideration for
the victims named in the Epstein files, as many of these were underage.
“The way that the crimes have been reported, and the language that’s
been used, has been doing such a disservice to all the victims,” she
said.
“I keep thinking about all the stories that talk about the underage
girls and the sex parties, rather than writing about the victims that
were children who were trafficked.”
Lipa continued: “It’s putting everything under some kind of veil to
protect – I don’t know who, [maybe] the reader – or trying to mask what
is happening.”
This morning, NPR posted a discussion on the beauty industries relationship with Epstein.
Also
this morning, Australia's A CURRENT AFFAIR speaks with Epstein survivor
Marina Lacerda who was only 14 when Epstein began assaulting her.
The posters cover walls across Washington DC. Donald Trump’s war in
Iran is not “Operation Epic Fury”, its official name, but it is
“Operation Epstein Fury”.
Another sign shows a picture of an
American serviceman killed in the conflict, standing in front of the
Stars and Stripes. “Cody Khork did not have to die fighting Iran for the
Epstein class”, it reads.
Four days before the bombing of Iran on
Feb 28, a report revealed that the Department of Justice (DoJ) removed
more than 50 pages of interviews about Mr Trump from the files,
including one victim who claimed the now president abused her when she was a child decades ago.
Was it a coincidence that Mr Trump decided to bomb Iran when the Epstein files threatened to expose him?
It
sounds like pure conspiracy theory, but the idea that Mr Trump began
the war — hitting Tehran from the skies — to distract from Epstein has
also circulated among respected pillars of American society: from
Republicans to Democrats, and influential podcasters.
[. . .]
A recent poll for Zeteo, a Left-wing website, and other outlets found
that 52 per cent of people in the US believe the president attacked
Iran because of the headlines about Epstein.
It found that 81 per
cent of Democrats thought the war was a deliberate distraction, compared
with 52 per cent of independent voters and 26 per cent of Republicans.
CNN
reporter Kyung Lah provided an exclusive interview with architect and
interior designer Robert Couturier, who was hired by convicted
sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein to work on his infamous island. CNN
reports Couturier backed out of the project after a few months and then
alerted the FBI of what Epstein had requested he build.
“There's
no mistaking,” Couturier told Lah. “You don't put women on bunk beds.
I'm sorry. Everybody knew what was happening on that island. Even his
staff people worked for him.”
When Couturier first noted all the puzzling bunk beds he asked who they were for.
“There
were bunk beds and I said to him, I said, ‘oh my god, are you expecting
grandchildren?’ And he said, ‘no, these are for my — these are for the
girls.”
Lah reports a former staffer said the
main home had “many pictures of young girls, some topless, looking about
15 to 16 years old” in room after room of the island home.
According
to CNN, files show “visible signs of something off,” including Epstein
in his kitchen chasing girls or young women, which his staff noticed. A
former chef, said Lah, claimed every hour Epstein would take a girl down
to his master bedroom then order his maid to clean up. Another staffer
worried about Epstein’s guests.
Bank
of America settled a proposed class-action lawsuit from Jeffrey Epstein
accusers who alleged the bank facilitated the now-dead pedophile's
sex-trafficking operation, court records show.
Lawyers
for the bank and a group of Epstein accusers told the judge overseeing
the case during a pretrial conference last week that they "reached a
settlement in principle," according to a Monday update to the case's
docket.
The terms of the settlement were not made public.
US
District Judge Jed Rakoff, who is overseeing the case, gave a March 27
deadline for the parties to file public documents laying out the
settlement's terms, and an April 2 hearing to decide whether to approve
them.
"The
women entrapped and abused by Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell
started a monumental reckoning with their brave voices and
fearlessness," Sigrid McCawley, an attorney at Boies Schiller Flexner
representing the Epstein accusers, said in a comment. "The road to
justice for these women has been long and trying. Today's resolution of
the case against Bank of America is one more step on the road to much
deserved justice."
Let's wind down with this from Senator Elizabeth Warren:
“I am concerned that Grok’s
apparent lack of adequate guardrails could pose serious risks to the
safety of U.S. military personnel and to the cybersecurity of classified
systems.”
Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren
(D-Mass.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and Ranking
Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee,
pressed Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on the Department of Defense
(DoD) granting Elon Musk’s xAI chatbot Grok access to classified
security systems — reportedly ignoring concerns raised by multiple
federal agencies, including the National Security Agency (NSA) and the
General Services Administration (GSA).
“Were Grok to leak government information, this could reveal
sensitive military plans, U.S. intelligence efforts, and potentially put
service members in danger,” wrote Senator Warren.
Last month, the Pentagon signed an agreement with xAI granting Grok
access to confidential military security systems. Numerous reports have
found Grok to pose serious safety concerns, including data bias and
manipulation, generating offensive and illegal content, and leaking
private chat conversations on the Internet.
Grok reportedly has given users advice on how to commit murders and
terrorist attacks, generated antisemitic content, and created child
sexual abuse material. According to recent reports, the National
Security Agency “conducted a classified review… [and] determined Grok
had particular security concerns that other models…didn’t.”
Multiple reports have indicated that xAI may not have imposed
adequate safeguards for Grok. DoD’s Chief of Responsible AI reportedly
stepped down after circulating internal memos warning about Grok’s
safety issues and receiving little to no attention on the matter, and
other analysts have raised concerns that “xAI didn’t have the kind of
reputation or track record that typically leads to lucrative government
contracts.”
But it is still unclear what assurances or documentation xAI has
provided to the Department of Defense about Grok’s security safeguards,
data-handling practices, or safety controls — and whether DoD evaluated
those assurances before reportedly allowing Grok access to classified
systems.
“I am concerned that Grok’s apparent lack of adequate guardrails
could pose serious risks to the safety of U.S. military personnel and to
the cybersecurity of classified systems, especially if Grok is given
sensitive military information and access to operational systems,” wrote Senator Warren. “I
write to request that you immediately provide information on how DoD
plans to mitigate these potential national security risks.”
Senator Warren pushed DoD to provide Congress with a copy of the
agreement reached between the Department and xAI; copies of all
communications with xAI regarding said agreement; clarification of what
safeguards are in place to guard against classified data leaks and
cyberattacks; and whether the DoD required Grok to mitigate the security
and safety concerns by March 30, 2026.
In September, after a high-profile incident where Grok created antisemitic and other offensive content, Senator Warren raised concerns
about DoD’s decision to award Musk’s xAI a contract worth up to $200
million to use Grok. At the time, Senator Warren also raised concerns
about xAI’s access to sensitive government data and sounded the alarm on
the fact that the contract may be another example of Musk improperly
benefitting from his time in government.
