Friday, March 27, 2026

Grifter Sarah Ferguson

barron enlists

 

 Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Barron Does His Duty And Enlists" went up this afternoon.  I love it. 

Grifter Sarah Ferguson's been lying low. Nicky Morris (Hello Canada!) reports:

Sarah Ferguson has been stripped of her Freedom of York honour. Councillors in York voted unanimously to remove the title over the former duchess's friendship with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein. 

Sarah, 66, was bestowed the honour in 1987, a year after her marriage to the then-Prince Andrew, who lost the title in 2022. 
The honour recognises notable service by local residents, distinguished people, and royalty. Other recipients include Sir Winston Churchill and actress Dame Judi Dench.

The decision follows growing scrutiny over Sarah's friendship with convicted sex offender Epstein, following the release of millions of documents by the US Department of Justice earlier this year. Sarah's name was mentioned several times in the files. 
In one email, she told the convicted sex offender to "just marry me", while in others, she referenced her daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie.


Blaise Cloran (PA) reports on the debate that took place on whether or not to strip Sarah of her title:

Speaking during the debate, Liberal Democrat councillor Darryl Smalley said: “We now know, following the release of thousands of documents, that Sarah Ferguson too had a close friendship with Epstein, which continued well beyond his conviction.
“We don’t expect recipients of York’s highest honour to be saints. We simply do not want them to be best friends of convicted paedophiles.

“We stand with victims. We stand for the rule of the rule of law.
We stand for decency.”

He added: “York will have hopefully have etched out our city’s connections to both Andrew and Sarah.
“We must wipe the slate clean, draw a line. Remember our duty to victims of sexual abuse, and move forward with our highest honour reserved for those that truly deserve the privilege.
I urge all councillors to vote for the motion.”

Labour councillor Anna Baxter said: “We are not living in 1987, and it is right that the honours associated with our city reflect the values of York today.

“It is reserved for those considered to be people of distinction, but those who have rendered eminent service, and it reflects the values we wish our city to be associated with.”


Princess Beatrice is currently flanked by problems nobody would ever want to deal with - the discovery of her parents, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Sarah Ferguson, being involved with convicted offender, Jeffrey Epstein, and the distance that the royal family subsequently made with the Yorks after the scandal. 
Beatrice has naturally been struggling after her father’s connection to Epstein was revealed. Earlier this year, the Epstein files were released, revealing correspondence between the latter and Fergie. The emails also mention that she was going to take Beatrice and her younger sister, Princess Eugenie, to see Epstein when he was in house arrest after pleading guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor. OK! Magazine quoted royal commentator, Helena Chard, who claimed that Beatrice was “deeply worried and distraught about her wider family life.” Chard further mentioned, “She can’t come to terms with negative revelations, which have certainly taken a toll.” 
Mountbatten-Windsor was stripped of his title in October last year, and last month, he and Ferguson were ousted from their 30-room mansion, Royal Lodge. Earlier this year, the former Duke of York was arrested on the suspcision for misconduct in public office, suggesting that more legal repercussions of the scandal will be on his tail sooner than later. The royal family has all but washed their hands of Mountbatten-Windsor and Ferguson, leaving a looming question in the form of the York princesses. 

This is C.I.'s "The Snapshot:"


Friday, March 27, 2026.  Chump's illegal war of choice is harming the economy while exposing him as an idiot who has no idea what he's doing or how to fix it, Kristi's Corey got fired from the US government this week but, through March 31st, they can still travel on a private plane on the taxpayers' dime, Chump's friend Jeffrey Epstein continues to remain in the news cycle, and much more.



The war in Iran will lead to a surge in inflation this year, as the closure of the Strait of Hormuz pushes up prices for oil, gas and other commodities, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said on Thursday.

The inflation rate in the United States will average 4.2 percent this year, more than 1 percentage point higher than the group’s previous forecast, made late last year, the Paris-based organization said. Across the Group of 20 nations, inflation is forecast to average 4 percent this year, 1.2 percentage points higher than previously expected.


The war in the Middle East continued to weigh on the U.S. housing market, as mortgage rates climbed for the fourth week in a row, squeezing Americans already struggling with high housing costs.

The average 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage rate climbed to 6.38 percent, according to the mortgage-financing giant Freddie Mac, up from 6.22 percent the week before and the highest level since the first week of September.

That rate is still significantly below its peak of 7.79 percent in October 2023. Until the war started, rates had been gradually declining, falling below 6 percent in the last week of February. The drop in rates had offered hope that more prospective buyers would enter the market, but rates have since marched steadily higher.

Along with the financial cost, there's also the cost in human lives.   13 US service members have been killed and at least 200 injured.  At least 1500 Iranians have been killed as well.  Because there was no real planning for this war so many developments have arisen -- ones that should have been planned for if you're going to war.  That does include the concerns now on the part of the US government regarding the Strait of Hormuz.  (Malaysia states the Iranian government has given it permission to utilize the shipping lane.) 


The Iraqi government on Wednesday accused the United States of attacking a clinic on a military base in western Anbar province, killing seven members of the Iraqi military and injuring 13. The incident could strain relations between the two nations amid the war in neighboring Iran.
The airstrike constituted “heinous aggression,” to which Iraq reserved “the right to respond by all available means,” said Sabah al-Numan, a spokesman for the commander of Iraq’s armed forces. It “undermines the relationship between the peoples of Iraq and the United States of America,” he added.

The U.S. denied targeting a clinic but did not provide details. “We’re aware of the reports. U.S. forces did not target a medical clinic in Iraq,” Navy Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesman for Central Command, which oversees U.S. operations in the region, said Wednesday.

The incident may further complicate the dynamic between Washington and Baghdad. The U.S. military operates from installations within Iraq, including a strategic air base located northwest of where the strikes occurred. The Iraqi government has for years publicly said that it wanted U.S. forces to withdraw from the country, though it has relied on American troops in a shared fight against Islamic State militants in the region.

Jessie Williams (INDEPENDENT) notes, "Two people have been killed in Abu Dhabi after Iran launched a fresh barrage of missiles during its ongoing conflict with the US and Israel.  Another three people were injured in the attacks on the Emirati capital when debris from an intercepted missile fell, the emirate’s media office said."  


This morning, Ben (MEIDASTOUCH NEWS) notes Chump's lies about negotiations.




Donald Chump did not make a case to the American people.  He did not address the American people.  He taped a video that he posted to his social media in the dead of night.  He has not made the case for this war.  Can he?  Apparently, he cannot and that's why he's refused to make the case.  


Senior Republicans have gone public with a stinging rebuke of the Trump administration for keeping Congress in the dark over its Iran war strategy.

The salvo from Rep. Mike Rogers, 67, of Alabama—chair of the House Armed Services Committee and one of Trump’s most stalwart congressional backers of the strikes on Iran—is the starkest indication yet of an emerging divide within the party over the now four-week conflict, as NOTUS reported.

“We want to know more about what’s going on, what the options are, and why they’re being considered,” Rogers told reporters on Wednesday. “And we’re just not getting enough answers on those questions.”
His comments came after a weekly behind-closed-doors session for senior House and Senate defense lawmakers on Wednesday.

Rogers said he was asking not for sensitive operational specifics—those he understood were off-limits—but for some basic sense of direction. “We just wanted them to tell us what’s the plan, and we didn’t get any answers,” he said.


Senator Lindsey Graham is said to have spoken to Benjamin Netanyahu, prime minister of Israel, and coached him on how to approach Chump to get him to go to war.  March 7th, David McAfee (RAW STORY) noted:


Republican U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina has been exposed by the Wall Street Journal for "coaching" a foreign leader on how to influence Donald Trump.

The WSJ ahead of the weekend published a story called, "Lindsey Graham's Quest to Sell Trump on Striking Iran." In that piece, there is a nugget about the senator engaging in a campaign to help Netanyahu to persuade Trump to launch an Iran war.

"To help make the case on Iran, Graham traveled several times to Israel in recent weeks, meeting with members of the country's intelligence agency," the Journal reported Friday.

Graham is quoted in the article as saying, "They'll tell me things our own government won't tell me."

The report further states, "He spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, coaching him on how to lobby the president for action. Netanyahu showed the president intelligence that persuaded Trump to go ahead, Graham said."

McAfee quotes some people objecting to what Lindsey did and they're right to object, but let's be clear on what happened.  Lindsey is not a private citizen.  He is a US senator and has been one for 23 years and counting.  A member of the US government, who took an oath to the Constitution, collaborated with the leader of another nation on how to trick Donald Chump into going along with the foreign leader's plans to start a war.  Since the war started, Lindsey has become rabid and calling for killings.  There is some pushback against him from his own party.   Sophie Brams (THE HILL) notes:


Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) issued an indirect plea to President Trump on Wednesday to stop Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) from advising on the conflict with Iran, as the senator presses for a more aggressive approach to the war.

“I want President Trump to take Lindsey Graham out of the Situation Room,” Mace told CNN’s “Laura Coates Live.”
[. . .]
Mace argued that Graham has not “thought through or war gamed the consequences” of an operation on Kharg Island, which some have asserted would likely require putting American troops on the ground.

“Has he thought through what the Houthis are going to do? Has he thought through where Hezbollah is?” she said, also warning about Iranian retaliation that could further disrupt the economy.



Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) suggested Wednesday that Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) should have less access to President Trump as the conflict with Iran persists.

“I absolutely think he should have his Oval Office credentials revoked,” Cammack told Migrant Insider’s Pablo ManrĂ­quez as she departed the Capitol.




My deepest sympathies lie with the Iranian people, whose hearts are torn in many directions. Many long for freedom and dignity, yet they remain wary of the long history of Western imperial intervention across the world, including their own country.

The Iranian people who took to the streets in recent years did not call for one form of domination to replace another. They demanded an end to oppression in all its forms, not the beginning of a new round under the Western thumb. Nor did they want change at any cost.
At every step, history teaches us – these promises of freedom offered by the West are never fulfilled.

The reason is simple. The freedom of others is simply not on the Western agenda, no matter its public rhetoric. Imperialism of this nature does not want freedom; it wants control, domination, power and profit.

On March 4, as bombs were falling around him in Tehran, Mohamad Maljoo, an Iranian dissident, was finally able to connect to the internet. He wrote on his Telegram channel: “Those who claim that one can rain fire on the body of Iran in the name of striking the Islamic Republic while imagining that the people will remain unharmed either do not understand the reality of war or deliberately choose to ignore it. Bombs do not discriminate. Destruction does not operate selectively.”

The truth of his warning echoes from Palestine to Iran: “Life does not flourish in the shadow of oppression. Nor does it grow beneath the rubble of bombs.”


And what do the American people think?  Steven Shepard and Andrew Daniller of The Pew Research Center note a new poll:


Weeks into the U.S. military campaign against Iran, majorities of Americans say striking that country was the wrong decision and disapprove of President Donald Trump’s handling of the conflict.

About six-in-ten Americans (61%) disapprove of Trump’s handling of the conflict, while 37% approve.
The new Pew Research Center survey of 3,524 U.S. adults, conducted March 16-22, also finds a similar balance of opinion on whether the initial decision to use military force was right (38%) or wrong (59%).

And by nearly two-to-one, more say the military action is not going well (45%) than say it is going extremely or very well (25%).


Tomorrow, No Kings Protests will take place across the country.  Rachel Maddow noted this on Monday on MS NOW.


THE BULWARK noted the protests last night.


David Pakman noted the Saturday protests.


Robert Reich notes the protests.



Protests will be taking place across the country and you can visit the No Kings website to find a protest in your area. 



Immigration?  Donald Chump's war on immigrants is one of the things fueling the No Kings protests.  And for good reason.  Chump and ICE have been lawless liars.   Chloe Atkins (NBC NEWS) reports:


The Trump administration admitted in a court filing that it had erroneously relied on an ICE memo to justify arrests at immigration courthouses as part of an ongoing federal case brought by groups seeking to block the tactic.

Federal prosecutors said Tuesday that they had used the memo, titled “2025 ICE Guidance,” to defend the Trump administration’s deployment of ICE agents at courthouses, which led to numerous arrests of immigrants attending hearings.
The memo indicated that "ICE officers or agents may conduct civil immigration enforcement actions in or near courthouses when they have credible information" that a targeted individual would be "present at a specific location.”

But, the Department of Justice said in the court filing, the memo “does not and has never applied to civil immigration enforcement actions in or near” immigration courts.



The DOJ threw ICE under the bus for "agency attorney error," a "material mistaken statement of fact" repeatedly cited in briefs that undermines a "core" defense of civil arrests at or near the executive branch's immigration courthouses.

U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton, once the SEC chairman during President Donald Trump's first term, submitted a letter to U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel on Tuesday to "regrettably" inform the jurist that he issued a ruling in September based on false information from the government defendants.
"We write respectfully and regrettably to correct a material mistaken statement of fact that the Government made to the Court and Plaintiffs. Specifically, this morning, counsel from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement informed the undersigned of the following: the memorandum entitled Civil Immigration Enforcement Actions in or Near Courthouses, dated May 27, 2025 – which the Government relied on in presenting its arguments in this case and referred to as the '2025 ICE Guidance' – does not and has never applied to civil immigration enforcement actions in or near Executive Office for Immigration Review immigration courts," the letter said, acknowledging that a do-over will be needed to decide the plaintiffs' claims "on the merits."


And a change in the Secretary of Homeland Security hasn't changed much so far.  Isabel van Brugen (DAILY BEAST) reports:

Healthcare workers in Michigan warned of a “chilling effect” as patients increasingly stay away from hospitals and clinics amid a rise in ICE agents showing up at medical facilities.

President Donald Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) goons are increasingly showing up in and around the state’s hospitals and clinics, healthcare providers and immigration advocates said during a press conference Tuesday, Bridge Michigan reported.

It follows the Trump administration’s rollback last year of prior protections that limited enforcement in so-called “sensitive locations.”
Dr. Lauren Snyder, a family physician in Michigan, said she’s having to monitor for what she described as a “basic fear of safety” during routine check-ups at her office, and adjust to the presence of ICE agents at her workplace.

“They are here,” she said.

The Michigan Immigrant Rights Center and the ACLU of Michigan held a briefing as they released new guidance to more than 400 hospitals and providers statewide in response to the rising ICE encounters. The 12-page document outlined how facilities should respond to law enforcement activity.


ICE was hard on a lot of people.  It was hard on immigrants, it was hard on those perceived as immigrants, it was hard on families and friends.  So when Kristi Noem rightly lost her job as Secretary of Homeland Security, there was some relief that someone was paying for the illegal actions and the cruelty.  Kristi had been traveling in 'her' airplanes with her man Corey Lewandowski -- her alleged boyfriend -- and now Corey has been fired.  Laura Esposito (DAILY BEAST) reports:

Corey Lewandowski was fired from the Trump administration after he was spotted jetting off on a tropical getaway with his alleged lover, ousted Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

A White House official and three sources close to the Trump administration confirmed Lewandowski’s ousting to the New York Post—Donald Trump’s favorite newspaper—after the special government employee was spotted with Noem, 54, in balmy Guyana, where temperatures ranged from 75°F to 83°F.

The final decision on Lewandowski’s future as a special government employee, where he served as Noem’s de facto chief of staff, reportedly came on Tuesday or Wednesday.
[. . .]
In Guyana, photos show the alleged couple meeting government and corporate officials.

The business meeting in the tropical country marked the first such public outing for Noem in her new role as Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas—a position created by Donald Trump after booting her from DHS and replacing her with former MAGA Senator Markwayne Mullin.
Lewandowski’s presence in Guyana was made public by the U.S. Embassy in Guyana on Wednesday, which shared several photos on X from the trip.



The photos marked the first time Noem was seen in public as she assumed her new role as Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas, a new position created by the Trump administration.

It remains unclear whether the recent firing will impact Lewandowski's ability to travel with Noem, who still enjoys exclusive government perks.
[. . .]
After persisting for more than four years, rumors over the affair peaked earlier this month when Noem refused to deny the affair while testifying under oath before a Senate committee.

Lewandowski is married to Allison Hardy, whom he met when he was in ninth grade and with whom he has four children. Noem married Byron Noem in 1992, and they have three children.


Photos of Noem’s visit to Guyana with Lewandowski sparked backlash online on Wednesday.

Meghan McCain, the daughter of the late Senator John McCain, asked on X, “GIRL WHAT IS YOU DOING?”

Billy Binion, a reporter for the libertarian Reason magazine, wrote on X, “Why are my taxpayer dollars funding Corey Lewandowski's travel to Guyana? How is that remotely acceptable?”


Chump's administration continues to waste money.  And on that, Simon Lewis and Ted Hesson (REUTERS) noted:


Noem, who continued to travel on a DHS jet with top aide Corey Lewandowski at her side, met Ecuadorean President Daniel Noboa on Wednesday, who awarded her an order of merit.

The former congresswoman and governor of South Dakota, who arrived in Washington in January 2025 as one of Trump's most prominent loyalists, now reports not to the president but to Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau as special envoy to the Shield of the Americas, according to a Trump official who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity to discuss internal operations.

Noem is expected to return to the United States later on Wednesday and is not anticipated to retain access to DHS aircraft afterward, the official said.

The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Noem's new role. Asked about Noem's use of the government plane and whether DHS officials had staffed the trip, an agency spokesperson said: "We are not going to comment on the whereabouts of our plane or DHS staff."


"We are not going to comment on the whereabouts of our plane or DHS staff."  Because they don't believe that they have to answer to the people.  Kristi's been allowed to break every rule there is including not supervising someone you're sleeping with.  Chump is a chump, an idiot and a buffoon. And this refusal of a federal agency to answer questions?  It's a motivating factor for people to turn out tomorrow and note that we have No Kings in the United States and that are government is supposed to serve us and be responsive to us.



Turning to Donald Chump's friend of so many years, the late Jeffrey Epstein.  The survivors of his abuse want justice.  Joe Sommerlad (INDEPENDENT) reports that Victoria Derbyshire spoke with five Epstein survivors on BBC NEWSNIGHT Wednesday:

All of the women interviewed said their experiences with Epstein began with them giving him a paid massage and escalated into sexual assault.

The group was also unanimous in their belief that Epstein did not take his own life in August 2019. They maintained that the personal arrogance he displayed in their presence indicated he always believed he would get away with his crimes.

Another victim, Joanna Harrison, who had never previously come forward but had felt “forced” to do so after her name appeared in the recently-released Epstein files unredacted by mistake, said: “It’s not normal to see your abuser’s face every day for six years on TV, hear their name, you walk in a store and you see him on a magazine.

“There was once, I even went to my mailbox, and there was a flyer with his face on it in my mailbox and that was devastating for me. And so it just kind of gets to a point where you’re being suffocated, and you need to breathe, and I feel this is my way of trying to breathe.”


Anna Betts (GUARDIAN) reports on another interview that aired Thursday on THE SHADOW SESSIONS podcast:


After casting her vote for Donald Trump in 2024 in hopes that he would bring transparency around the Jeffrey Epstein case, Epstein survivor Jena Lisa Jones said in an interview this week that she now fears “we’re not going to get justice in all of this”.

“I wanted my day in court,” said Jones, who has said she was abused by Epstein when she was 14, in an interview on the Shadow Sessions podcast that aired on Thursday morning. “I didn’t get that, and we were so close to it, it really got ripped from us, and then after [Epstein] passed, everything just went into a circus show.”
Jones said she backed Trump in the 2024 election because of his promises to release the files related to Epstein – who died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal charges of sex-trafficking minors – and his network.
“Trump ran his whole freakin’ election on the release of these freakin’ files,” she said. “And it sparked it back all up again, gave us hope, gave me hope at least.

“He runs his campaign on this, and he runs it really, really hard to the point that a lot of us voted for him,” she added.

However, after the election, Jones said that she felt a shift.

“As soon as he gets in, we started pushing for the release of the files, and now it’s a ‘Democratic hoax’,” she said, referring to remarks Trump made in the fall in which he dismissed some calls to the release additional Epstein files as a Democratic “hoax”.

Meanwhile, questions remain regarding Epstein's final hours and the hours after his death, the immediate hours.  Isabelle Khurshudyan (CNN) reports: 


In the years since disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein was found dead from what was ruled a suicide in his prison cell on August 10, 2019, conspiracy theories have abounded about whether the convicted sex offender actually killed himself.

That speculation is likely to get new life now that Tova Noel, one of the prison guards on duty the night of Epstein’s death, has been asked to testify before the House Oversight Committee. Her testimony had been scheduled for Thursday but has been postponed due to scheduling issues.

[. . .]


The materials released in the files have only raised more questions, including new details about cash deposits Noel made in the months surrounding Epstein’s death. The files also show Noel Googled “latest on Epstein in jail” less than an hour before his body was found in his jail cell at around 6:30 a.m.

The files also include allegations from an inmate who reported that prison officials were shredding documents relating to Epstein in the days after his death.

In 2019, both Noel and Thomas were charged with conspiracy and falsifying records indicating they had checked on Epstein every 30 minutes as required that night.
Both were fired, but the federal criminal charges were later dropped under the terms of a deferred prosecution agreement that required community service and cooperation with a Justice Department inspector general review of the circumstances surrounding Epstein’s death.


Pam Bondi's refused to comply with the law passed requiring the release of the government's Epstein files.  She slow walked them and then only released about half.  She has been subpoenaed to testify before the House Oversight Committee.   THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS offers:


Yet the nation's top law enforcement official has already signaled that she has no intention of complying with Congress' order, with Democrats walking out of a meeting with her Wednesday after she indicated that she would not abide by the subpoena.
There seems to be some confusion here; just because she leads the Justice Department does not mean that Bondi gets to decide what the law is or what constitutes compliance with subpoenas. She may be shocked to learn this, but her staff are not the only ones that have the capacity to conduct investigations in our government of checks and balances.

Once again, we must wonder what exactly is in the remaining and unredacted files that Bondi and the rest of the administration are willing to go to immense lengths, including unlawful ones, to prevent their release.

Of course, we all know broadly what this is about: it has to do with the man at the top. Trump was a longtime pal of Epstein's and features prominently in the files. This is the one story that seems to have really shaken the faith of the MAGA faithful, who once upon a time believed that Trump was a kind of savior that would finally shed light on the trafficking ring.

No matter how Trump tries to spin things now, his followers feel betrayed that he is so clearly attempting to protect his own self interest here. If Trump thinks even that loss of confidence is worth keeping the contents confidential in perpetuity, then all the more reason for lawmakers to zealously pursue full compliance with the law requiring total transparency.


Let's wind down with this from Senator Patty Murray's office:

Washington, D.C. — Today, Senator Patty Murray, Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, issued the following statement on funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

“Democrats have been clear for weeks: there is absolutely no reason that TSA agents’ paychecks should be held hostage to Republicans’ demands to provide another blank check for ICE and Border Patrol—and it is just plain wrong that their pay has been held up this long. But finally, Republicans have relented, and we are now on track to fund the areas we agree on and get TSA agents paid, get our airports moving again, and fund important disaster relief and cybersecurity work.

“This is very good news for the TSA agents who’ve been working without pay and all the families who are looking forward to spring break travel.

“But it is a shame that instead of working with Democrats to land the plane on several common-sense reforms to ICE and Border Patrol that the White House had already agreed to, Republicans walked away from constructive conversations and ultimately rejected some basic steps to reform these agencies. I will keep fighting to secure real, meaningful steps to help rein in these rogue agencies—we just need Republicans to join us.

“Because the American people spoke up and because Democrats stood their ground and stood united, we have already forced changes to the way this administration is conducting immigration enforcement, and we have rejected the ridiculous false choice that the only way to prevent chaos at our airports is by cutting another blank check for President Trump and Stephen Miller. Speaking up matters. We’ve got to keep fighting—and demanding the accountability the American people deserve. That’s exactly what I’ll keep doing.”

The funding bill released and passed by the Senate tonight mirrors the bill that Senator Murray introduced on March 5—and that Democrats have repeatedly tried to pass through unanimous consent, but that Republicans have blocked on each occasion.

The bill funds all of the Department of Homeland Security, except for ICE and Border Patrol, which receive no new appropriations in the bill. It includes necessary “start-up” language after a lapse of appropriations, guarantees backpay to workers who went without pay during the shutdown, and retains the new accountability measures included in the legislation introduced in January.

###



The following sites updated:






on No comments:

Thursday, March 26, 2026

Grifter Mark Robinson

Mark Robinson is a grifter.  In 2024, while running for governor, CNN reported on him, on his porn usage, on his racism, on how he loved transgender porn while raging publicly against transgender people, and so much more.  Robinson announced he was suing and it wasn't true.  But he withdrew the lawsuit and now he's admitting it was true.


Daniel Villarreal (LGBTQ Nation) reports:

MAGA hate Pastor John Amanchukwu recently criticized former North Carolina’s Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, an anti-LGBTQ+ MAGA extremist, for not appearing on his videocast after Robinson recently admitted to lying about his 2024 porn scandal to aid the election chances of President Donald Trump. “He betrayed my trust,” Amanchukwu said.

Late last week, Robinson admitted that he had lied in September 2024 about a bombshell CNN article linking him to comments on a porn website on which Robinson declared himself a “Black Nazi,” expressed support for slavery and Adolf Hitler, used racist language to mock civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., admitted to spying on women in showers, declared his love of transgender porn, and shared details of possibly-fantasy threesomes with his sister-in-law.

Robinson immediately denied the report, claiming that artificial intelligence had generated the online comments attributed to him by somehow hacking into his private accounts and creating comments that were then timestamped as being posted over a decade ago.

He refused to drop out of his race to become his state’s next governor and threatened to sue CNN, but later dropped his lawsuit. Though the state Republican party stood behind him, his campaign staff largely abandoned him soon afterward.

Trump had repeatedly endorsed Robinson, calling him “better than [Black civil rights icon] Martin Luther King” and “Martin Luther King on steroids.” But when the scandal broke, Trump pretended not to know much about him. Less than a month later, Robinson lost the election to his Democratic opponent, Josh Stein, by nearly 15 percentage points.

Last week, Robinson admitted, “I won’t say that I completely lied … [but] some of the things about the whole story, some of it, there’s some truth to it.” Robinson explained that “the most expedient thing to do for the people around me was to just continue to fight,” adding, “I felt like it was the right thing to do. ‘We can deal with this on the back end, but I certainly don’t want to be the person that cost the president of the United States the election.’” 

In a recent broadcast, Amanchukwu — who has previously claimed that school theater programs are “incubation systems for perversion” and who has asked God to “break” the wrists of “Satanic” gay men — criticized Robinson saying, “Me and him had an explosive conversation this past Friday, and he was supposed to come on my show to address this issue….  He betrayed my trust.”


In "Media: Going Through The Motions -- deceivers who aren't as smart as they think they are," Ava and C.I. covered Robinson:


Let's start with the purity tour.  A cheap and sleazy politician running for higher office gets outed by the press and denies it and threatens to sue only to quietly drop the lawsuit after the election and now, nearly two years later, shows up playing the God card.

 

Em Steck and  Andrew Kaczynski (CNN) report:

 

Former North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson admitted he lied about a bombshell CNN KFile investigation during the final months of his 2024 gubernatorial campaign, uncovering his extensive history of posting inflammatory and racist comments on a pornography website.

Robinson initially denied the report and sued CNN for $50 million that fall as he marched on with his gubernatorial campaign. Robinson eventually lost to current Democratic Gov. Josh Stein by more than 14 points.

Now, in a recent podcast interview, Robinson has acknowledged his deception and that he had an “obsession” with pornography and sex. He says he lied about the CNN report to protect those around him, including President Donald Trump, because it was “the most expedient thing to do.”

“I won’t say that I completely lied, some of the things about the whole story. Some of it — there’s some truth to it,” Robinson said on Thursday.

But “if I had to ignore the truth at that moment for their expediency, I felt like it was the right thing to do,” said Robinson.

 

 Christopher Wiggins (THE ADVOCATE) notes:

 

The reported posts also included explicit sexual commentary, including statements about watching pornography involving transgender women. That detail drew intense scrutiny because Robinson had repeatedly attacked transgender people in public speeches and policy positions.

As lieutenant governor and a gubernatorial candidate, Robinson made opposition to LGBTQ+ rights central to his political brand. He described LGBTQ+ identities as immoral, opposed protections for transgender people, and backed policies restricting their rights, framing those positions as part of a broader moral crusade.

 

 And he wants to play this as a redemption tour.  by talking about his porn obsession now, he can help others he believes.   Edward Helmore (GUARDIAN) notes:

 

He added that he believes people like him, who struggled and came back from a porn “obsession”, are the best messengers to help others in the same situation.

“The only shame in it is staying in it,” he said on the podcast.

Asked if he would make the same decision again to deny authorship of the comments in furtherance of the larger political cause, he confirmed he would.

“It wasn’t about me,” Robinson said. “They knew that they could use me to destroy, the people around me, up to and including the president, they would do it. And so I’d make the exact same decision.”

 

 People like him?  Raging hypocrites trying to take away the rights of transgender people while getting off on transgender porn?  

 

Or people like him who admit that they'd do the whole thing over?  William Vallencourt (DAILY BEAST) notes:

 

The story, he claimed, “wasn’t about me.”

“For the people who were doing it to me, it wasn’t about me. It was about a cause much bigger than that,” he said. “And they knew that they could use me to destroy the people around me, up to and including the president. They would do it. And so I’d make the exact same decision.”

 

[. . .] 

Robinson, when asked if he would deny the initial report again if he could go back in time, said he would do “the exact same thing.” 

 

 And this is the redemption tour?  He'd do the exact same thing  He'd lie again.  Then he hasn't learned anything except possibly that everyone already saw him as a liar before that interview and he thought he might get some sympathy if he copped to the fact that he lied.  Any sympathy he might have garnered for that admission instantly vanishes when he maintains he'd do it all again.

 

Robinson's full of it and the fact that he's saying he would do it all over the exact same way goes to how this is not someone following the Lord or doing Jesus' work.  Robinson is just a grifter who lies.  And then lies again.  

This is C.I.'s "The Snapshot:"


Thursday, March 26, 2026.  Did two of Epstein's employees perjure themselves in testimony to Congress,  during Chump's first term the Justice Department told New Mexico to cease their investigation into Epstein' ranch and, in the prison Epstein died in, personal papers were trashed -- this was while Bill Barr was AG and maybe it's time for Barr to testify in public, calls build for a special counsel to be assigned, Iran is a trap of Chump's own making (just like Epstein), Stephen Miller is getting on Chump's bad side, and much more. 



Let's start with Donald Chump's buddy Jeffrey Epstein.  The pedophile has been dead for six years but he remains in the news.  In fact, Chump was  talking about him in December.  Kevin Liptak (CNN) noted:

President Donald Trump bemoaned Monday the potential reputational damage inflicted on people who appear in photos released as part of the Jeffrey Epstein files, which he insisted were only made public because of an effort to distract from his accomplishments.
The comments mark the first time Trump has addressed the files since his Justice Department released hundreds of thousands of them on Friday pursuant to a new law compelling them to do so. The measure cleared both the House and Senate with support from all but one Republican and Trump signed it into law; his administration had previously said it did not plan to release any more Epstein materials after a thorough review.
“A lot of people are very angry that pictures are being released of other people that really had nothing to do with Epstein. But they’re in a picture with him because he was at a party, and you ruined a reputation of somebody,” Trump said during an event in the library at Mar-a-Lago, his Palm Beach club that he claims to have ejected Epstein from in the early 2000s.
“A lot of people are very angry that this continues. A lot of Republicans,” he said, claiming the issue was meant to “deflect against a tremendous success.”

That was in December.  When the press could still write sentences like : "Trump has long sought to downplay his own connection to Epstein – noting, as he did the two had a falling out years ago – and he has previously warned that releasing files might be unfairly damaging to those referenced in them."

Noting?

That would be claiming.

He's claimed that forever.  However, a week ago, we learned otherwise via US House Rep Dan Goldman.  Adam Nichols (RAW STORY) reported: 

An unredacted email appears to reveal testimony that contradicts President Donald Trump's longstanding narrative about Jeffrey Epstein's relationship to Mar-a-Lago. The 2009 correspondence from Epstein's attorney Jack Goldberger was substantially redacted in the Justice Department's initial Epstein files release.
Representative Dan Goldman displayed the complete email on the House floor Wednesday, exposing its contents. The correspondence documents a telephone conference involving Trump, his attorney Alan Garten, and a person presumed to be Brad Edwards, representing Epstein's victims.
According to Goldberger's summary, when asked whether Epstein was ever expelled from Mar-a-Lago, Garten stated, "No he was not a member. May have been his guest. Never asked to leave." A manager at the Florida estate confirmed to Edwards that Epstein was "never asked to leave Mar-a-Lago."

The email, reported on by The Daily Beast, documents Trump's responses regarding his relationship with Epstein. When questioned about flying on Epstein's plane, Trump stated, "I've been on a lot of planes. May have been on his plane. No young girls on plane." Regarding visits to Epstein's residence, Trump said, "I may have been there with my wife," adding, "May have been children of guests but that's it."
Trump has publicly maintained different positions. He stated he was not "friendly" with Epstein and was "never" on his plane. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt asserted, "President Trump did nothing wrong and he kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of Mar-a-Lago for being a creep."
However, the new evidence contradicts these claims. Trump appears thousands of times throughout Epstein files. Photographs document Trump and Epstein socializing together from the 1980s through the 2000s. Flight logs place Trump on Epstein's aircraft. Membership documents indicate Epstein maintained Mar-a-Lago membership until October 2007, more than one year after his indictment for soliciting prostitution.


He hasn't been asked about that.  Nor has he commented on the other discovery this month -- the Jane Doe who came forward and spoke to the FBI four times.  The first time she mentioned being assaulted by Epstein and that document was released by Pam Bondi's Justice Department in January.  But three more documents -- where she goes into her assault at the hands of Donald Chump -- were not released.  It took NPR and MS NOW calling out the Justice Dept to get those three documents released.

Chump has insisted that he was "exonerated" by the release of the files.  There was no investigation so he couldn't have been exonerated of anything.  But the fact that at least one woman complained to the FBI about him -- and the FBI interviewed her three times about this alleged assault  means that the release of the files did not 'clear him.'  There does not appear to be much effort -- on the part of the US Justice Dept -- to do anything with regards to Epstein but cover up.



Police searched the offices of Swiss bank Edmond de Rothschild as part of an investigation into a French diplomat who used to work at the bank and was an associate of Jeffrey Epstein.

The raids took place Friday at Edmond de Rothschild’s offices in central Paris and a number of other locations, said Pascal Prache, the French financial prosecutor.

French authorities have been examining whether Fabrice Aidan, a diplomat and former employee of the bank, was involved in the corruption of a “foreign public official,” Prache said. The prosecutor didn’t disclose further details or name the official in question.

Files released by the U.S. Justice Department from its investigation into Epstein included hundreds of emails between Aidan and the sex offender. The disclosure sparked an uproar in France; the foreign minister called for an investigation, saying “the facts are extremely serious.”

Aidan, a longtime diplomat, was seconded to the United Nations from 2006 to 2013 and then worked for Edmond de Rothschild until 2016, when the bank dismissed him, and he returned to the French foreign ministry. He was working for the French energy company Engie until he was dismissed last month after the extent of his relationship with Epstein became public.

The Justice Dept does not do much of anything about Epstein under Chump.  That was true during Chump's first administration and it's true under his current administration.   OK notes:


Jeffrey Epstein's tragic death has prompted renewed scrutiny as a newly released report from the Department of Justice reveals unsettling details surrounding the conditions at the Metropolitan Correction Center.

Among the discoveries, investigators found that the disgraced financier had excessive bed linens in his jail cell, where he was found unresponsive on August 10, 2019. Epstein was awaiting trial on s-- trafficking charges at the time, and the city's medical examiner later ruled his death a suicide by hanging.
The 2023 Justice Department report outlines significant oversights by prison officials, contributing to a narrative of negligence. According to the findings, Epstein’s cell failed to undergo necessary safety checks, allowing multiple hazards to remain unaddressed. "A search of Epstein’s cell following his death revealed Epstein had excess prison blankets, linens, and clothing in his cell, and that some had been ripped to create nooses," the report stated.
Compounding these issues, the report indicates that Epstein was isolated in his cell and not adequately monitored, despite conflicting claims from the jail regarding his treatment. Notably, on August 9, 2019, the day before his death, Epstein's cellmate was transferred out, yet "no action was taken to ensure Epstein was assigned another cellmate," the report read.



A guard who was on duty at New York’s Metropolitan Correctional Center when Jeffrey Epstein died is set to testify before the House Oversight Committee on Thursday.

Committee chair Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., issued a letter to Tova Noel on March 13 stating, “Due to public reporting, documents released by the Department of Justice, and documents obtained by the Committee, the Committee believes you have information that will assist in its investigation.”

Questions surround Epstein co-executors’ potential payment to ‘Jane Doe 4’
Noel, along with another guard, is accused of sleeping and browsing the internet instead of monitoring Epstein the night he died in August 2019.

The guards are also accused of falsifying prison records to make it appear they had conducted required security checks before Epstein was found dead in his cell.




Ari discussed these developments on MS NOW yesterday with THE MIAMI HERALD's Julie K. Brown.




Again, that would have been during Chump's first administration.  It was also during Chump's first administration that officials in New Mexico were told by the federal government to cease their investigation into Epstein's ranch in New Mexico.






Jeffrey Epstein's former attorney and co-executor Darren Indyke might have committed perjury in his testimony to Congress, legal expert Lisa Rubin told MS NOW's Alicia Menendez on Tuesday's edition of "Deadline: White House" — but it's unclear partly because the FBI never bothered to look at him as closely as they should have.
Indyke and another Epstein associate, his accountant Richard Kahn, spoke to Congress behind closed doors, with their testimony only now becoming available. They both claimed to have had no knowledge of the deceased financier and accused sex trafficker's crimes against children — but there are holes in their story, Rubin said.
"We discovered that at least two victims told the FBI specifically that Darren Indyke had instructed them not to talk to law enforcement, not that he said to them that it was their option and that a lawyer would be provided for them if they wanted one," said Rubin.

This pattern of alleged obstruction appeared to extend beyond victims.
"There was also a former personal chef of Jeffrey Epstein's, who also spoke to law enforcement and gave them a very similar narrative that he remembers an interaction with Darren Indyke, during which he was told, do not speak to law enforcement if you are approached," Rubin continued. "That was during a period of time where they were concerned that this particular gentleman might be served with papers and Darren Indyke, according to this man, the former personal chef, told him, if somebody tries to approach you with something, do not accept it."


Did they commit perjury?  Who knows.  But Alexander Willis (RAW STORY) notes:


During their testimony, both Kahn and Indyke revealed that at no time were they ever contacted by federal investigators, an admission that “raises questions about the depth of the Justice Department’s review of Epstein,” NBC News reporter Raquel Coronell Uribe wrote in a report Tuesday.

Last July, President Donald Trump’s Justice Department said in a memo that, after having conducted an “exhaustive” and “thorough” review of matters related to Epstein, no evidence existed to pursue criminal charges against any potential co-conspirators. The recent testimony from Epstein’s advisors, however, appears to suggest that the Justice Department’s (DOJ) investigation may not have been as “exhaustive” as claimed.

At no time were they ever contacted by federal investigators.  Sounds like Bill Barr, the US AG under Chump in 2019, needs to be called to testify.  He says he and Chump only spoke of Epstein twice -- once when Chump volunteered -- for no reason -- that he and Epstein were no longer friends and a second time when he called him to tell Chump that Epstein had died.  Barr was in charge when Epstein died.  And now that we have all of this information calling in the details of his death and circumstances into question, one wonders why Barr didn't know this?  Or did he know it all along?  We do know that, under Barr, the Justice Dept asked New Mexico investigators to stop their investigation into Epstein's ranch -- where it was rumored dead bodies were buried.  We don't know why.  But we do know that Barr's Justice Dept asked that the investigation be halted.  


US House Rep James Walkinshaw addressed these witnesses yesterday.



Congressional Democrats are losing patience and tired of the stonewalling.  Srimoyee Datta (INQUISITR) notes:


U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., recently posted on X seeking clarity about Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s relationship with financier Jeffrey Epstein. Documents suggest Lutnick maintained ties with Epstein as recently as 2018. The two were reportedly involved in business dealings even after Epstein had been charged. Despite emails and other records, Lutnick has said he had “limited interactions” with Epstein.
On Jan. 30, the Justice Department released more than three million pages of documents related to Epstein, including thousands of videos and images. The department said it would cooperate with legal authorities following public pressure. 

Emails between Lutnick and Epstein have drawn renewed attention. Records indicate they arranged calls, discussed meeting for drinks, and that Epstein made donations in Lutnick’s honor.
[. . .]

​Among the released materials are emails suggesting Lutnick discussed a potential family visit to Epstein’s private island. The emails are dated 2012, years after Lutnick had said he cut ties with Epstein. 

Documents from 2012 also show signatures from both Epstein and Lutnick on a contract related to the acquisition of an advertising technology company, Adfin. According to CBS News, Epstein signed on behalf of Southern Trust Co., while Lutnick signed for a limited liability company known as CVAFH I. 
Epstein invited Lutnick to lunch on Dec. 24, 2012. Afterward, Epstein’s assistant sent a message thanking Lutnick, writing, “It was nice seeing you.” 

In a 2018 email, Lutnick wrote to Epstein, “You should put in a letter. I’m sending a lawyer. Don’t ignore this,” referring to an expansion plan involving the nearby Frick Collection museum.



Two Democrat congressman, when asked by MeidasTouch reporter Pablo ManrĂ­quez, expressed support for appointing a special prosecutor over the Epstein files. Rep. Jim McGovern says he supports the idea of a special prosecutor to handle the, Epstein files, arguing the administration appears to be ignoring the law by not turning over documents Congress voted to release.
McGovern said he does not know the exact legal path to appoint one but suggested members of the Judiciary Committee, including Rep. Jamie Raskin, would be better positioned to outline next steps. He added that lawmakers believe the administration is stalling in hopes the issue will fade, but warned “it won’t go away.”
Rep. Robert Garcia also backed the idea of pursuing a special prosecutor and said Congress should use every available tool to force the release of the Epstein files. 



A special counsel would be the best move that could be made on the Epstein issue.  It could cut through the nonsense that Chump's previous Justice Dept threw up and the nonsense that Chump's current Justice Dept throws up.



This, of course, brings us to Donald Trump, whose first real collision with his own supporters came over the Epstein files. Here was a conspiracy theory he’d elevated during his campaign — transparency and accountability, the whole nine yards — only to appear to suppress it once he took office.

That’s the kind of reversal that makes people reach for explanations. And it didn’t help that the surrounding circumstances were even more suspicious.
Epstein gets a sweetheart deal from the Bush administration. He dies mysteriously in custody. Trump’s attorney general says she has the client list sitting on her desk, then says the client list doesn’t exist. Ghislaine Maxwell gets moved to a facility that sounds less like prison and more like a retirement villa.

None of this proves anything, of course — but it certainly looks curious.

From there, the imagination fills in the blanks with whatever narrative best justifies the confusion. In Epstein’s case, that meant whispers about intelligence agencies, Israeli kompromat and shadowy financial dealings.


It's amazing that Chump got away with using Epstein to portray others as guilty and untrustworthy for as long as he did.  After all, he was closer to Epstein than anyone else for decades.  And Epstein died in prison while Chump was president.  If there were these scary monsters in the shadows that Chump wanted to expose, why hadn't he exposed them in his first term as president?  But Chump's base was never all that bright to begin with.



Turning to Chump's war, TAG 24 NEWS reports:

Iran said on Wednesday it fired a volley of cruise missiles at a US aircraft carrier, as strikes rained down across the Middle East despite alleged back-channel diplomatic efforts to end the nearly four-week war.
Iran's military said its cruise missiles at the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier group had "forced it to change its position", warning of "powerful strikes" when the "hostile fleet" comes into range.

Meanwhile, Iranian newspapers on Wednesday ridiculed what they called President Donald Trump's "lies" about ongoing diplomatic discussions to end the war.
A caricature of Trump with an Pinocchio-style nose looming over a map of the Strait of Hormuz appeared on the front page of the conservative daily Javan, under the headline "The world's most pathetic and dishonorable liar."

On Monday, just hours before the expiry of an ultimatum he had set – threatening strikes on power plants if Iran did not reopen the strategic strait – Trump unexpectedly announced talks with Tehran. Iranian authorities have denied there are any negotiations, direct or indirect.

Javan accused Trump of lying to calm the markets and push down oil prices, which is exactly what happened in the minutes before the Republican's post about negotiations.


 Katherine Doyle, Courtney Kube and Dan De Luce (NBC NEWS) report on how Chump's shielded by those around him:

Each day since the start of the war in Iran, U.S. military officials compile a video update for President Donald Trump that shows video of the biggest, most successful strikes on Iranian targets over the previous 48 hours, three current U.S. officials and a former U.S. official said.
The daily montage typically runs for about two minutes, sometimes longer, the officials said. One described each daily video as a series of clips of “stuff blowing up.”

The highlight reel of U.S. Central Command bombing Iranian equipment and military sites isn’t the only briefing Trump gets about the war. He’s also updated through conversations with top military and intelligence advisers, foreign leaders and news reports, the officials said.
But the video briefing is fueling concerns among some of Trump’s allies that he may not be receiving — or absorbing — the complete picture of the war, now in its fourth week, two of the current officials and the former official said.

They said the videos are also driving Trump’s increasing frustration with news coverage of the war. Trump has pointed to the success depicted in the daily videos to privately question why his administration can’t better influence the public narrative, asking aides why the news media doesn’t emphasize what he’s seeing, one of the current U.S. officials and the former U.S. official said.
[. . .]
The current and former U.S. officials said the military can’t brief Trump on every strike — there are hundreds every day — and so the curated video, while it showcases U.S. capabilities, doesn’t reflect the full scope of the conflict.

“We can’t tell him every single thing that happens,” a current U.S. official said. The official noted that Trump’s briefings tend to draw better feedback from his aides when they focus on U.S. victories.

Overall, the official said, the information Trump gets about the war tends to emphasize U.S. successes, with comparatively little detail about Iranian actions.



Donald Trump’s top war goons are briefing the president with two-minute-long highlight reels showing frontline victories in the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, U.S. officials told NBC News.

Three current U.S. officials and a former official told the news outlet that the president is being fed a daily video mash-up summarizing the most successful strikes on Iranian targets over the previous 48 hours of the military operation in the Middle East, now in its fourth week.

The footage depicts “stuff blowing up”, one official revealed, while others said Trump’s allies are concerned that the clips may not fully capture the overall situation on the ground.


And Travis Gettys (RAW STORY) notes some reactions to the news NBC reported:

"Every day the Pentagon makes a video of cool explosions from Iran for the president of the United States to watch, so he can bounce up and down in his high chair, clap his little hands, and cry 'Yay! Make it go boom again!'" posted MS NOW's Paul Waldman.

"They are literally keeping Trump in a cocoon of ignorance in order to not upset him the same as you would do with any other elderly dementia patient," marveled Daniel Gilmore, a media studies and communications professor.

"'Last week Trump said that he called a top military general after he saw video of the USS Abraham Lincoln in flames and that the general told him Iran fabricated the video using artificial intelligence,'" said physics and astronomy professor Britt Lundgren, quoting from the report.

"Good job. We have a President who falls for AI propaganda first and asks questions later," added military historian Michael E. Carter.




For this, as ever, Trump can only blame himself (though that won’t stop him from offloading it if needs be and he’s already started subtly pulling Pete Hegseth into the role of scapegoat). First, it is his war of choice, and he has prosecuted it most likely in direct defiance of warnings from his military commanders and diplomats of the inevitable consequences on Gulf allies, other Western partners, the risks of casualties and getting drawn into an endless conflict, and the dangers to the world economy.

Trump knew best, as ever, and now he’s landed in a trap of his own making. He cannot easily escalate the war without inflicting further damage on the world, including America and his domestic standing, but the Iranians won’t allow him to declare victory and cut his losses. So long as they control the Strait of Hormuz, they control Trump.
Trump knows all this, but obviously cannot admit it. So he goes around declaring, “We’ve won this. This war has been won”, when it patently has not, and mumbles about some “very big present” the Iranians had gifted to him – “I’m not going to tell you what that present is, but it was a very significant prize, and they gave it to us. That meant one thing to me,” he added. “We’re dealing with the right people.” Obviously, this is easy for the Iranians to mock, and of the rest of the world to be, at best, puzzled by.


A trap of his own making?  Like The Epstein Files.  Or like sending ICE to the airports.  Amanda Marcotte (SALON) writes:

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have been deployed by the Trump administration to airports around the country, and the idea appears to have started during call-in segments on right-wing radio shows.

This is no exaggeration.

Journalists Ben Smith of Semafor and Brian Stelter of CNN traced the ICE-in-airports idea to “Linda from Arizona,” who called into a D-list conservative radio show hosted by Clay Travis and Buck Sexton on March 20. Both Linda and the hosts were blunt that the goal was not actually helping the Transportation Security Administration run more efficient checkpoints but to trigger the liberals.
“I think it would set their hair on fire,” Linda said, full of glee at the idea.

“Democrats would go absolutely insane,” agreed one of the hosts.

It’s unclear why Linda and Clay-and-Buck thought that annoying Democrats would pressure or persuade them to drop their opposition to funding the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE operations. DHS has been shut down since Feb. 14, when the GOP refused to meet Democrats’ demands for significant reforms following the fatal shootings of American citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis by federal immigration agents. Although Linda and Clay-and-Buck did try to argue that ICE agents would help TSA with security, their proposal makes little sense in practice. Shorter lines would actually relieve pressure to get a funding deal done by taking away a major pain point.

Liberals hate ICE, the logic went, so why not inflict ICE on liberals and make them squeal? But the MAGA coalition has not been known for its logic, and it’s clear from the conversation that no one involved was really thinking this through. Instead, the scheme was rooted in a childish — and sadistic — impulse to bully.
Donald Trump often seems composed of little more than sadistic impulses, and he has only gotten angrier with age. After the idea percolated up from Linda to Clay-and-Buck and then to Fox News, Trump thought it was a stroke of genius. Since he couldn’t admit that he got the idea from a random woman in Green Valley, Arizona, he took credit for it on Monday, comparing himself to the man who invented the paperclip in the process.

What is remarkable is that everyone involved — all of them, from Linda to Trump himself — are so consumed with the desire to trigger the liberals that no one stopped to wonder if the plan to put ICE in airports would backfire, as it appears to be doing.

Early reports show ICE is doing nothing to speed up security lines, many of which have hours-long waits due to Republicans’ refusal to pass a Democratic proposal to fund the TSA directly while still withholding DHS funding. The presence of ICE is instead ratcheting up tensions at the already stress-laden airports. Federal immigration officers can’t do the real work of screening passengers, but they can harass and manhandle people suspected of being immigrants.

Scapegoats, Chump needs a lot of them.  Because nothing is ever his fault -- not in his mind.  And with that let's note Stephen Miller.  Srijony Das (INQUISITR) reports:


Reports suggest Donald Trump is facing tensions with Stephen Miller. The President is reportedly concerned about Miller’s efforts that could undermine his time in the White House. However, it is also said that Trump is miles away from taking any concrete steps to avoid clash with Miller.
To put things in perspective, Trump is not on board with Stephen’s take on immigration policies. A Wall Street Journal report suggests that the 79-year-old doesn’t support a mass deportation agenda for anyone under suspicion. He wants the process to scale back instead of randomly snatching up undocumented people.



Stephen Miller's hard line on immigration policy is considered unsettling for voters, according to an internal document seen by The Wall Street Journal and noted by analyst Greg Sargent. The New Republic columnist suggested the president may have been swayed by Chief of Staff Susie Wiles to soften the admin's stance.
Sargent believes Trump is set to throw Miller "under the bus" as a result.

Sargent wrote, "Trump wants to 'lower the profile of his mass deportation effort,' the Journal reveals. He wants voters to think the targets of these deportations are 'bad guys,' not noncriminal undocumented residents.
"He wants less visibility for ICE raids in cities, fewer public confrontations with local officials, and less public talk about “mass deportations,” which, he now grasps, are hideously unpopular.

"Tellingly, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles now sees deportations as a liability for the midterms, per the report," Sargent wrote. "That Trump is siding with her on the politics here is a sign of political panic and a rebuke to Miller, who apparently delights in flaunting the administration’s vicious sadism and overt white nationalism — and seems certain that latent majorities are quietly cheering along.
In his report, Sargent wrote, “To be clear, this report deserves serious skepticism. It very much bears watching whether ICE will actually end up deprioritizing the removal of noncriminal immigrants. Trump mostly wants the appearance of a pivot: According to the Journal, he wants a focus on ‘criminals’ in GOP ‘messaging.’ But recalibrating the ‘messaging’ won’t address the public’s broad rejection of Trumpism’s deeper anti-immigrant project. And all signs are that this project is fully forging ahead.”
"To be clear, this report deserves serious skepticism. It very much bears watching whether ICE will actually end up deprioritizing the removal of noncriminal immigrants. Trump mostly wants the appearance of a pivot: According to the Journal, he wants a focus on 'criminals' in GOP 'messaging.'"



Let's wind down with this from Senator Patty Murray's office:

Senator Murray: “I don’t think we can ignore the immediate threat to Social Security. And that really is President Trump. Because seniors right now, today—are having a very hard time getting their benefits. Why? Because Social Security has pushed out—without any kind of plan—7,700 workers since Trump took office.”

Los Angeles Times: ‘It’s a shambles’: DOGE cuts bring chaos, long waits at Social Security for seniors

***WATCH: Senator Murray’s remarks and Q&A at the hearing***  

Washington, D.C. — Today, at a Senate Budget Committee hearing on Social Security, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, slammed the Trump administration’s cuts to the Social Security Administration (SSA) workforce and emphasized how it is making it harder for seniors to get the help they need to access their Social Security benefits. Senator Murray questioned witnesses on the very wealthiest Americans paying their fair share into Social Security and how to address SSA solvency—noting that tens of millions of hard-working Americans rely on Social Security for the majority of their income, and have paid their entire careers into Social Security—but could lose 24 percent of their benefits if Congress doesn’t act. Murray made clear there is no reason for working people to face drastic benefit cuts when the very wealthiest could simply pay their fair share.

In opening comments, Senator Muray said:

“Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman. We absolutely need do need to talk about how we protect Social Security. But in addition to the long-term solvency that people are focusing on here, I don’t think we can ignore the immediate threat to Social Security. And that really is President Trump.

“Because seniors right now, today—are having a very hard time getting their benefits. Why? Because Social Security has pushed out—without any kind of plan—7,700 workers since Trump took office. We now have just one field office representative per 4,000 Social Security beneficiaries, and there are at least [40] field offices that lost more than 25% of their staff.

“And that’s just the beginning. The Trump administration wants to cut field office visits in half. That would mean over 15 million people who were able to go to a desk and speak to a person last year—would be out of luck this year. This is really a slow moving trainwreck. Last summer the Social Security Administration moved 1,000 field office employees to the phone lines. At the end of the year it moved 500 more. In January—it moved nearly 800 more employees from the processing centers and the field office support and workload support—to phone duty—often with very little training.

“That’s trying to fix one problem they created—worsening telephone service—by creating new problems and backlogs everywhere. This is really hurting seniors—who can no longer get an SSA meeting close to home when they need it. It is hurting people with disabilities—as people who could be processing their claims, are now answering phones. And it’s burning out the hardworking staff Trump hasn’t pushed out.

“But this is all the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Trump’s Social Security sabotage. Because there was the attempt to punish a state by revoking contracts to report births and deaths. There was a proposal to end many of the phone services—an idea that was quickly reversed because it was so bad. And then there was the DOGE purge—which wrongly kicked seniors off Social Security—including a constituent of mine they incorrectly declared as dead!

“And mind you—that’s just the sabotage in the light of day. But thanks to a whistleblower report, and ongoing internal investigations, we know there was even more damage happening in the shadows. Like when Trump let Elon and DOGE muck around with highly sensitive, Social Security data. That is private, personally identifiable information on hundreds of millions of Americans.

“We are talking about potentially unprecedented data breaches here. Blatantly unqualified people getting practically unfettered access—even after court orders. Private data copied onto unauthorized third-party servers, or, according to reports even copied onto a thumb drive!

“Believe me: I want everyone to know; I’m watching this investigation closely and demanding accountability. If we want to protect Social Security for decades to come, yes, we do need to talk about solvency. But we also need to talk about the President who is gutting the Social Security Administration right now—today—and callously putting our seniors’ benefits, and their personal data—at risk.”

[BILLONAIRES PAYING THEIR FAIR SHARE]

Senator Murray began her questioning by asking Dr. Molly Dahl, Chief of Long-Term Analysis at the Congressional Budget Office, about who is and isn’t paying their fair share into Social Security, “Now with that, Dr. Dahl, I want to turn to you, I do have a few questions, particularly about who is and isn’t paying their fair share into Social Security, and I want to make sure I have a few numbers right. Is it right that those making under $184,500, their effective payroll tax rate is roughly 12.4 percent?”

“That’s right, the statutory rate is 6.2 percent, but consensus view is that the employee pays, basically the employer cost is passed onto the employee, so the employee basically faces a rate of 12.4 percent,” responded Dr. Dahl.

“12.4 percent, for anybody earning under $184, 500. What is the effective payroll tax for someone making a million dollars a year?” asked Senator Murray.

“So, they would pay the 12.4 percent on that first $185,00 roughly and then would not pay additional tax on the labored income above that amount, and so that math would work out to about 2.2 percent,” answered Dr. Dahl.

Senator Murray replied, “Ok so, 12.4 percent for someone under $184,500, a millionaire would be about 2.2, what if you’re a billionaire—like Trump or Musk—your Social Security tax would be effectively, on my understanding—”

“Very, very much smaller,” Dr. Dahl interjected.

“0.002 percent?” Senator Murray finished.

“Yes,” Dr. Dahl replied.

“That just doesn’t make sense to me. I mean when the richest people in the country have the smallest effective tax rate—that does not seem to me like a very fair system. Especially when we are now six years away from retired workers facing this 24 percent cut in their Social Security benefits, so I hope we all understand that and focus on that,” Senator Murray concluded.

Last year, Senator Murray released a new report featuring testimonials from Washington state residents—including employees at the Social Security Administration who were recently fired through no fault of their own—and detailing how the Trump administration’s wide-ranging attacks on SSA risk depriving Washingtonians of the Social Security benefits they have earned and deserve. More than 70 million Americans, including 1.4 million—or one in six—people in Washington state rely on Social Security benefits. Half of seniors nationwide rely on Social Security for most of their income, and a quarter of seniors rely on Social Security for at least 90 percent of their income. Senator Murray has an extensive record of protecting Social Security benefits and fighting to secure essential funding for the Social Security Administration—and she has been tirelessly raising the alarm about the threat Elon Musk’s DOGE poses to Americans’ hard-earned benefits. Last March, Senator Murray held a press conference to lift up the stories of SSA employees who are being pushed out by Elon Musk through no fault of their own and hear from Washington state residents who rely on Social Security. Last February, Murray released a fact sheet warning of the Trump administration’s plans to make it harder for Americans who’ve paid into Social Security to get the benefits they have earned.

Senator Murray has fought throughout her career—including as top Democrat on the HELP Committee from 2017-2022—to ensure a secure retirement for all Americans for decades. She was instrumental in establishing a special financial assistance program to the Central States Pension Fund in the American Rescue Plan, saving the pensions of over half a million workers and retirees in 2022. Murray has long held that we can protect and expand benefits for working Americans by responsibly rightsizing our tax system to ensure that giant corporations and billionaires simply pay their fair share.

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