She
doesn't care about Democrats. She's never felt the need to weigh in on
violence against them. She just cares about conservatives.
B-B-but she's sometimes kind of nice to gays!
So what?
Do people not realize that for all of Chump's attacks on the LGBTQ+ community, he's surrounded himself with that community.
Yeah, he attack them in public to trick and fool MAGA.
Richard
Grenell? First term, Chump made him an ambassador. This term he's put
him over the Kennedy Center. And Richard is gay with Matt Lashy as his
partner. Tammy Bruce? State Dept spokesperson that he plucked from FOX
"NEWS" -- oh, also lesbian. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent? Gay. Deputy Assistant to the President Trent Morse and Under Secretary of State Jacob Helberg? Gay and gay.
And those aren't the only ones.
So
Amy's part of that generation that will accept gays as long as they're
self loathing. I guess the Log Cabin Republicans spent many years
demonstrating to the GOP how much self-loathing gays could contribute.
Tuesday, September 16, 2025. Pam Bimbo Bondi attacks the First
Amendment, Chump journeys overseas to do more damage to the US economy
and image, Democrats need to pay better attention and to fight better,
and much more.
By
the way, I support free speech and always have. So when Ben goes off,
in the video above, about "would I personally," it's not helpful. It's
weak, it's defensive and it helps the attack on free speech. And by the
way, you can have a religious objection to racism. That's established
in the US going back to the 1800s. Don't step away from free speech or
issue qualifiers.
Conservative
talkshow host Erick Erickson tore into “moron” Attorney General Pam
Bondi on Monday after she claimed “hate speech” did not count as “free
speech” and would be targeted by her office.
During an interview with former White House official Katie Miller,
Bondi said, “There’s free speech and then there’s hate speech, and
there is no place, especially now, especially after what happened to
Charlie, in our society.”
She
warned, “We will absolutely target you, go after you if you are
targeting anyone with hate speech, anything, and that’s across the
aisle.”
Erickson responded to Miller’s comments in a social media post,
writing, “Our Attorney General is apparently a moron. ‘There’s free
speech and then there is hate speech.’ No ma’am. That is not the law.”
Don't
know who this right-wing Erick Erickson is but he's correct and I stand
with him on that point. This is not Canada. We have not criminalized
hate speech.
Bill Maher is a practitioner of hate speech. Ava and
I have covered the media for 20 years now at THIRD. We have noted Bill
several times. We have not siad the answer is for HBO to fire him. We
have said that the answer is for HBO to bring in other shows with other
hosts -- especially from communities that Bill marginalizes. I believe
in free speech and I support free speech. In 2012, I was not among the
idiots -- many who were on the left -- I think all of them were, in
fact -- calling for a film to be boycotted -- I was not WORLD CAN'T
WAIT's Debra calling for a film I hadn't seen to be censored. Some of
us do believe in free speech. And, no, the way to fight for free speech
is not to to do so weakly.
It's the First Amendment --
it's the most important amendment. And how sad that the right is
willing to fight for the Second Amendment harder than the left is
willing to fight for the First Amendment.
Chump will never get the Nobel Peace Prize but Donald Chump's already earned the
title War Criminal. Chump has yet again attacked a Venezuelan boat. As
with the previous attack, he's insisting the speedboat was carrying
drugs. AP notes:
Trump
said the strike was carried out Monday, nearly two weeks after another
military strike on what the Trump administration says was a
drug-carrying speedboat from Venezuela that killed 11.
The
Trump administration justified the earlier strike as a necessary
escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States.
But
several senators, Democrats and some Republicans, have indicated their
dissatisfaction with the administration’s rationale and questioned the
legality of the action. They view it as a potential overreach of
executive authority in part because the military was used for law
enforcement purposes.
The elderly dunce has
destroyed our image around the world. I find it hilarious that
DEADLINE, VARIETY and THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER are coming up with every
reason they can to explain the poor showing of SUPERMAN and THE
FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS overseas. Of course they didn't do as well
overseas as previous superhero films did. The film audiences overseas
aren't willing to celebrate the US when the menace that is Donald Chump
is in the White House.
How do you miss that? VARIETY,
THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER and DEADLINE, how do you miss that? US income
for foreign travelers is down and has been down. People don't want to
come in 2025. What changed? Chump. So, yes, US films are not going to
do as well overseas as they did before Chump was sworn in for this
second term.
US
Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau on Sunday expressed regret
over the recent detention of hundreds of South Korean workers in
Georgia.
Landau,
in Seoul for a Korea-US vice foreign ministerial meeting, said that the
316 South Koreans who returned home Friday on a chartered jet after
being detained in Georgia will face no disadvantage when re-entering the
US, according to South Korea’s foreign ministry.
Earlier this month, US immigration authorities carried out a sweeping
raid on a Hyundai Motor Co.-LG Energy Solution Ltd. battery plant under
construction in Georgia. Images of detained workers being lined up and
restrained sparked public outcry in South Korea, as the workers had been
dispatched to help get the plant up and running.
Regrets?
You've had a few, have you? And Chump as well as he took to his social
media to insist this was wrong -- this raid. But this raid was carried
out by his gestapo. If they got it wrong, heads should be rolling.
As
diplomatic tensions between Washington and New Delhi spiked in recent
months, a long-buried mistrust of the United States has surged back to
life in the world’s most populous country.
For older Indians, the barrage of abrasive remarks
from President Donald Trump and his allies has revived painful memories
of past slights, analysts said; for younger generations, it has called
into question a relationship many had come to take for granted. The
harsh rhetoric from U.S. officials has dovetailed with escalating hate
speech online targeting Indians and Indian Americans, according to
researchers, hardening the divide.
In recent days, Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have signaled a possible reconciliation. The president said
on Sept. 5 that the United States and India have a “special
relationship” and that there is “nothing to worry about.” On Tuesday, he
announced that stalled trade talks would resume; Modi expressed confidence on X that the negotiations would unlock “the limitless potential of the India-US partnership.”
But real damage has already been done, according to analysts and former officials.
This is how Chump interacts with the world and how he's seen. Other than despots, no one likes him.
Let's note Rachel Maddow from last night on MSNBC.
And, by the way, as Rachel noted in the program, next Monday her guest will be former Vice President Kamala Harris.
While
Chump continues to threaten and harm allies, casualties continue to
mount in Donald Chump's war on the economy. For example, Candice Featherhold (BUzz60) reports:
Kroger
has thousands of supermarkets across the U.S. and is a daily stop for
millions of families. With more than 2,700 stores in early 2025, it
remains one of the country’s largest grocery operators. Its size makes
any changes ripple far beyond individual locations.
Inflation
impacts various sectors of the economy differently, with groceries
often experiencing the most significant price hikes. As basic
necessities, food items are subject to a complex web of factors that
exacerbate inflationary pressures, making grocery shopping a growing
challenge for consumers.
One of the
primary reasons groceries are particularly susceptible to inflation is
the intricate nature of their supply chain. As fuel prices climb, the
expense of transporting goods from farms to grocery stores increases.
This cost is inevitably transferred to consumers, making everyday items
more expensive. For instance, the logistics involved in transporting
fresh produce from California to the East Coast are heavily influenced
by fluctuating fuel prices, meaning that any spike in oil prices can
quickly ripple through the system.Logistical challenges further
complicate the supply chain. Shortages of truck drivers, as experienced
during the pandemic, and shipping delays contribute to increased costs
and product scarcity. These disruptions can lead to empty shelves,
forcing consumers to buy alternative, often more expensive brands.
Additionally, the global nature of food supply chains introduces
vulnerabilities. Many grocery items depend on international suppliers,
and any changes in trade policies or global market fluctuations can
cause significant price shifts.
The
factors influencing grocery prices extend back to the farms where food
is produced. One critical concern is the increase in input costs.
Fertilizers, feed, and other necessary agricultural inputs have risen,
which, in turn, affects the cost of production for farmers. Rising input
costs mean that farmers must charge more for their products to maintain
profitability. This increase is then reflected in grocery store prices,
affecting consumers directly. Climate impacts further exacerbate the
situation. Unpredictable weather patterns and natural disasters can
significantly reduce crop yields, driving up prices for affected
products. Farmers are at the mercy of climate variability, and when a
drought hits major agricultural areas, the ripple effect can lead to
significant price hikes in grocery stores. Labor costs also play a role.
With rising wages and labor shortages in the agricultural sector, the
cost of farm-produced goods continues to climb, further adding to the
inflationary pressures on grocery items.
The
latest national Fox News poll found that a 52% majority of Americans
believe Trump has made the economy worse rather than better, while only
30% believe the opposite.
During a Fox
News appearance last week, the president boasted, “We have the best
economy we’ve ever had.” The claim was plainly ridiculous, and if the
White House intends to persuade the public, it will have to do far
better than this.
Let's move over to campaign politics. These days, it
seems like the two parties are "the liars" (GOP) and "the stupids"
(Democrats). If that seems harsh, it should. Democrats need to stop
letting Chump dance circles around them. They've already allowed him to
put them on the defense over last week's shooting because, say it with
me, they're so damn stupid. He's attacking the left as terrorists and
calling us all sorts of names and idiots on YOUTUBE and MSNBC are happy
to help him with that. He's laying the ground work for 2028 and is
apparently -- and sadly -- smarter than Dems.
Let's start with his attack on an NYC candidate. Kathy Hochul is the Governor New York. On Sunday, Democratic Party member Hochul endorsed Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani to be the next mayor of NYC: ""In
the past few months, I've had frank conversations with him. We've had
our disagreements. But in our conversations, I heard a leader who
shares my commitment to a New York where children can grow up safe in
their neighborhoods and where opportunity is within reach for every
family. I heard a leader who is focused on making New York City
affordable — a goal I enthusiastically support."
President
Donald Trump lashed out on social media Monday after Zohran Mamdani,
the Democratic nominee for New York City mayor, scored a key
endorsement.
New York Gov.
Kathy Hochul announced Sunday that she would be endorsing Mamdani for
mayor, an announcement that comes amid hesitancy from many establishment
Democrats to publicly back the Democratic Socialist mayoral hopeful in
his bid for office.
President
Donald Trump slammed New York Governor Kathy Hochul after she publicly
endorsed democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani for mayor of New York City,
calling the move "a very bad one for New York City" and suggesting that
federal funding to the city could be in jeopardy.
In
a Truth Social post early Monday, the president wrote: "Governor Kathy
Hochul of New York has Endorsed the 'Liddle' Communist,' Zohran Mamdani,
running for Mayor of New York. This is a rather shocking development,
and a very bad one for New York City. How can such a thing happen?
Washington will be watching this situation very closely. No reason to be
sending good money after bad! President DJT."
Is that what happened? Kind of but maybe not.
Zohran is Chump's whipping boy for the Democratic Party and, as usual, Dems are too damn stupid to see what's going on.
I
will vote for the 2028 presidential nominee from the Democratic Party
no matter who it is. If it's AOC, I'll vote for AOC. I'm not committed
to anyone at this point. Donald wants it to be AOC. He's laying the
groundwork for it to be her. And he's using Zohran to do it. His
attacks on Dems at the end of last week -- attack Dems enabled -- was
about that. He's calling Zohran a Communist. He's attacking
Socialists. This is all to prepare the country should AOC win the
nomination.
Any reasonable
person knows that the president of the United States, no matter who it
is, should shut their damn mouth when it comes to races for mayor. Know
your lane. But Donald can never pass up the chance to attack. So he
"scandalized and criticized" and taught his minions to despise (not to
Ashford & Simpson who wrote Diana Ross' "No One Gets The Prize").
This is about destroying the Democrats chances.
So we shouldn't nominate AOC!!!!
I'm
not saying that. I'm saying we need to be smart about what's going
on. We're not though. We've given how much attention now to TD? And
everytime we do that, we tell the country -- most of whom didn't know
the guy until he got shot dead last week -- this is someone important,
this is someone you need to know about. And we do this as Donald uses
TD to attack the Democratic Party -- see what I mean about us being "the
stupids"?
We
don't help the part when we let the media identify the governor of New
York as a Democrat and Zohran as a Democratic Socialist. It makes it
sound like they're the same thing. They are not the same thing. And we
need to be educating on that. There are people who are Democratic
Socialists. And there are people who are Democratic Party members.
They are not the same thing. DS is to Democratic Party members what the
Libertarians are to the Republicans.
I
noted after the 2024 elections that we needed to educate. We still
need to. Your obsession with politics and my obsession with politics?
It's not the norm. Not for most Americans. Which is why we have to
educate and why we have to work on turn out the vote.
As I noted then, Socialists needed to be honest about what they were or AOC had no real chance in 2028.
It's taken forever, but a lot more people get it and a lot more people of come about being DSA or whatever.
Chump
is demonizing Zohran all the time now and doing that to harm AOC and to
try to make the Democratic Party seem radicalized and out of touch with
the American people.
So
before the next YOUTUBER wants to bore us all with their thoughts about
how TD was really, really cool or repeat yet again that murder is wrong
-- something our laws already note -- they might try educating their
audiences on Democrats, Socialists, Democratic Socialists and much more
because while they're being silent on that topic, Chump's already laying
the ground work for 2028. And that's what his attacks on Zohran are
about.
Last night, on MSNBC, Lawrence O'Donnell noted how Chump has spent the last days attempting to distract from reality.
And
also addressing the Epstein-Maxwell scandal last night was MSNBC's THE
WEEKNIGHT which featured US House Rep Roberto Garcia discussing where
the House Oversight Committee's investigation into this matter currently
stands.
Staying with the topic of sex traffickers Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein -- close friends of Donald Chump, Alexander Bolton (THE HILL) reports:
Some
Republicans now say privately that it’s inevitable Congress will pass
legislation directing Attorney General Pam Bondi to release all files
the Department of Justice (DOJ) possesses related to convicted sex
offender Jeffrey Epstein.
President Trump has
repeatedly tried to wave aside calls from Republicans and MAGA activists
to make all the Epstein files public, but GOP lawmakers say privately
that Trump is losing the battle to move on from the controversy that has
been a White House annoyance since earlier this summer.
One
Republican senator who requested anonymity to comment on the sensitive
topic told The Hill that Congress will sooner or later pass legislation
directing Bondi to release all unclassified files related to Epstein.
The
senator pointed out that many Republican lawmakers who followed Speaker
Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) instructions and declined to sign a discharge
petition to bring the Epstein matter to the House floor for a vote have
nevertheless been “very vocal” in demanding the Justice Department
release all Epstein-related materials.
“Whole
bunches of them have been very vocal about this. Most of the Freedom
Caucus has been,” the senator said. “The problem for some of these folks
is that this has been an issue for years.”
The
senator observed that when Bondi said in February that a list of
Epstein’s clients “is sitting on” her “desk right now to review,” she
created a huge expectation that the administration would reveal the
names of the well-connected and wealthy men who participated in
Epstein’s sexual exploitation of girls and teenagers.
“That was really unwise,” the lawmaker said.
Unwise?
There's a reason they call her Pam Bimbo Bondi. Now for a dumb Bondi
joke: Why can't Pam Bondi dial 911? Because she can't find the button
for eleven.
And unwise is everything that Chump and his
administration have done including dispatching AG Todd Blance to play
footsie with Maxwell for two days and to agree to transfer her to a
lower level prison (one she's not qualified for because she's a
convicted pedophile) in exchange for her answers and/or silences. We
really don't know because they lied to everyone about the meet up
insisting no deal was made -- just lying to our faces. It's outrageous
and it's impeachable -- grasp that. It's an abuse of office. Laura Mitchell (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER) reminds what we learned last week:
President
Donald Trump and Department of Justice officials have faced scrutiny
after convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell was moved to a
minimum-security federal prison following a multihour interview with
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. The transfer has prompted
criticism from lawmakers and victims’ advocates who argued it raises
questions about whether Maxwell received a benefit tied to cooperation
and has increased calls for the release of Epstein-related records.
Maxwell was moved after nine hours of questioning by Department of
Justice (DOJ) officials and the transfer is being examined for any link
to her cooperation.
When speaking
on CNN regarding the case, Maxwell attorney Arthur Aidala stated, "When
anybody who’s represented by a lawyer who knows what they’re doing goes
in and meets with the government, there’s always a quid pro quo."
Aidala
added, "You don’t just take your client in and say, ‘Let me talk to you
about something.’ They wanted information from—hypothetically, anytime
the government wants information from a citizen, the citizen says,
‘Well, I have a right to remain silent. If you want me to give up that
right, I need something in return.’"
Former
Biden administration adviser Neera Tanden said, "You just admitted to a
quid pro quo with the Trump administration," to which Aidala stated,
"But that’s how the whole system works!"
Todd
Blanche is Chump's personal shyster and never should have been sent to
question Maxwell to being with as Rachel Maddow pointed out last week.
Maxwell
notes that Epstein clients are in Chump's current administration and,
as Rachel notes, Blanche doesn't ask for their names. What does he
instead say?
Just completely ignores it because that's what Chump sent him to do.
The person who should have been questioning Maxwell? Maurene
Comey who had worked on both the Epstein and the Maxwell cases. But
Chump fired her July 16, 2025 when he discovered her father was his
mortal enemy James Comey. Kevin Breuninger (CNBC) reports:
Maurene
Comey, a federal prosecutor involved in criminal cases against Jeffrey
Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, sued the Department of Justice on Monday
to get her job back after she was fired from the Trump administration in
July.
"In truth, there is no legitimate explanation," they wrote.
"Rather,
Defendants fired Ms. Comey solely or substantially because her father
is former FBI Director James B. Comey, or because of her perceived
political affiliation and beliefs, or both."
The
lawsuit names the Department of Justice, the Executive Office of the
President and their respective leaders as defendants, along with the
Office of Personnel Management and the Executive Office for U.S.
Attorneys.
President
Donald Trump has been trolled with a giant image of him and Jeffrey
Epstein together, ahead of the president’s U.K. state visit.
Activist
group Everyone Hates Elon crowdfunded the equivalent of $40,000 from
the British public to commission a 4,300 square-foot photograph of the
men together at Mar-a-Lago in 1997.
And, in a
bid to “ruin Trump’s U.K. visit,” it was placed on the grounds of
Windsor Castle, where Trump will meet the British king and queen on
Tuesday.
A spokesperson for Everyone Hates Elon
said: “It’s time to celebrate the special relationship-the relationship
between pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and President Donald Trump. Trump’s
supporters are tearing themselves apart over the Epstein files. Now he’s
hoping to escape it all to have tea with the King.
“But
there’s no way we’re letting him use our country to polish his image.
Most people here hate what he stands for.” They added: “We’re ready to
make sure Epstein haunts him everywhere he goes.”
Let's wind down with this from Senator Patty Murray's office:
ICYMI: Murray, Wyden, Senate Colleagues Slam Social Security for Improperly Declaring Thousands Dead, Call for Watchdog Investigation
Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray
(D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, joined
Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), Ranking Member on the Senate Finance
Committee, and 10 other senators in a letter to the Office of Inspector
General (OIG), criticizing the Social Security Administration’s watchdog
office for declining to launch an investigation into the Trump
administration’s efforts to use the Death Master File (DMF) to purge
thousands of legal immigrants’ Social Security numbers in order to make
them leave the country.
The senators raised concerns about the OIG’s ability to act as an
independent agency safeguarding the Social Security programs that
millions of people rely on. The watchdog agency relied on previous
statements made by the Social Security Administration (SSA) to forego
addressing serious concerns about laws that the Trump administration may
have broken by declaring thousands of legal immigrants as dead.
“SSA OIG appears to have taken SSA’s word as fact instead of
conducting an independent review,” the senators wrote to SSA Acting
Inspecting General Michelle L. Anderson. “This
decision is a stark departure from the office’s history and mission of
conducting independent oversight of the Social Security Administration
and its programs.”
Instead of reviewing Social Security’s recent actions, OIG instead
announced its decision to review incorrectly recorded deaths from the
previous administration that excludes the past seven months. This new
audit by OIG raises serious questions on whether its oversight work has
been politicized in light of Social Security’s unlawful use of the DMF.
SSA OIG has long served as an agency that conducts oversight of SSA,
especially if possible laws, regulations, or policies were violated.
“If federal laws were not followed, or if an individual’s
constitutional rights were violated due to an agency action, the public
needs to know. These instances may result in ongoing harm, regardless of
whether an action or initiative is still operative,” the senators concluded.
Senators joining the letter in addition to Murray and Wyden include:
Peter Welch (D-VT), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL),
Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Angus King (I-ME),
Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), and
Jeff Merkley (D-OR).
OIG’s response to the senators’ initial request is available HERE.
The senators’ full letter to OIG is available HERE and below.
Michelle L. Anderson
Acting Inspector General
Social Security Administration
6401 Security Boulevard
Baltimore, MD 21235
Acting Inspector General Anderson:
We write in response to your letter dated August 18, 2025, in which
the Office of Inspector General (OIG) declines our April 30 request to
conduct a full investigation into reports that the Social Security
Administration (SSA) placed living noncitizens on the Death Master File
(DMF) in an effort to have them “self-deport.” Based on your response,
it appears your office did not conduct a thorough and independent review
in response to our request. Consequently, we are concerned about the
independence of the OIG and its ability to safeguard the Social Security
programs and the millions of beneficiaries who rely on them.
In your letter, you write that your office had requested information
from SSA regarding reports that it has placed noncitizens who are
“lawfully present in the United States; have lawfully obtained Social
Security numbers; are authorized to work in the country; and are not
known to be deceased” in the DMF. However, based on your response, we
are concerned that your “review” was not done thoroughly or
independently. Instead, it appears SSA OIG relies primarily on a
statement from SSA summarizing its actions and does not address any of
our serious due process concerns or concerns related to possible
violation of federal laws. In other words, SSA OIG appears to have taken
SSA’s word as fact instead of conducting an independent review.
This decision is a stark departure from the office’s history and
mission of conducting independent oversight of the Social Security
Administration and its programs. As you know, SSA OIG has regularly
initiated and completed audits of initiatives and actions that are no
longer active. Lessons can still be obtained from investigating an
inactive initiative or action as SSA may resume, either in whole or in
part, the reviewed action or initiative in the future. Indeed, as your
letter acknowledges, after it removed those individuals from the DMF,
SSA implemented an alternative approach a few weeks later to manipulate
its records of the same individuals to achieve the same outcome:
rendering their SSNs unusable in an effort to have them self-deport.
Second, instances in which federal laws, regulations, or SSA policies
were potentially violated should be investigated, regardless of whether
the action or initiative is no longer active. As our letter noted,
numerous federal laws may be implicated by this action as well as
individuals’ due process rights. If federal laws were not followed, or
if an individual’s constitutional rights were violated due to an agency
action, the public needs to know. These instances may result in ongoing
harm, regardless of whether an action or initiative is still operative.
In such cases, actions that are not thoroughly investigated for their
adverse impacts threaten to recur. There is no statute of limitations
for an Inspector General to investigate wrongdoing.
Finally, rather than investigating this current, ongoing process, you
instead announced a review of incorrectly recorded deaths during the
previous administration and excluding the past seven months, during
which time the Trump administration used the DMF to effect the
“financial death” of SSN-holding immigrants in this country. We agree
that the accuracy and reliability of SSA’s death master file is
critically important, which is why we requested the investigation in the
first place. However, this audit seems somewhat duplicative, as OIG
already continuously audits death records submitted by federal agencies
and States. Since January 2020, OIG audited the death records submitted
by the State Department, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services, Puerto Rico, New York City, and 18 states. The timing of this
new audit and its review period raises questions about whether this
audit was made due to political considerations rather than independent
oversight, especially in light of significant action to unlawfully
corrupt the SSA’s DMF by this administration warranting immediate and
thorough review.
We resubmit our April 30 request for the OIG to investigate SSA’s
decision to place living individuals on the Death Master File and to
review the current process to apply special indicator codes to certain
individuals.
We look forward to your prompt response to our request.
