Genocidal Israelis Show Anti-Black African Racism in Dealing with Protesters

Like their German Nazi progenitors, Zionists have a hierarchy of "acceptable" versus "unacceptable" enemies. While white-skinned protesters like Greta Thunberg are treated with moderate respect, Black African protester Chris Small is treated like an animal.

I think they are trying to please Trump and his MAGA white supremacists. 

===================================================

 

Opinion

Israel Detains, Chokes, and Beats Up [Black African] Amazon Union Leader Chris Smalls
Malcolm Ferguson
Tue, July 29, 2025 



On Saturday night, the Israeli Defense Forces surrounded, beat, and choked American labor leader Chris Smalls as they unlawfully boarded the Handala, the most recent aid ship trying to reach Gaza as part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition. Smalls was the only Black person on the flotilla and was punished much more severely than any of the other 20 members detained.

“When he reached the Israeli prison, U.S. human rights defender Chris Smalls was physically assaulted by seven uniformed individuals,” the Freedom Flotilla Coalition announced Tuesday morning. “They choked him and kicked him in the legs, leaving visible signs of violence on his neck and back. When his lawyer met with him, Chris was surrounded by six members of Israel’s special police unit. This level of force was not used against other abducted activists. We condemn this violence against Chris and demand accountability for the assault and discriminatory treatment he faced.”

“Pretty hard to believe that the particularly heinous and brutal treatment Christian Smalls was subjected to by Israeli authorities was not a function of racism given it was not inflicted on other Handala detainees,” University of New Brunswick professor Nathan Kalman-Lamb wrote on Bluesky. “And the US media dgaf.”

Smalls entered the public eye in 2022 after successfully founding a labor union at a Staten Island Amazon factory, garnering national praise and even a White House invitation from President Biden. Now he remains beaten and battered in IDF custody.

The IDF targeting the one Black man on the aid ship is sadly unsurprising, as is the lack of uproar from U.S. politicians and large media outlets. Yet another U.S. citizen assaulted and detained by the IDF, yet not a peep from either side of the aisle because Smalls is a Black American leftist who was standing up to Israel’s campaign of mass starvation and trying to deliver baby food and flour to suffering Palestinians in Gaza.

“I’m thinking of Chris Smalls. And about how, because he’s Black, no Greta Thunberg, no celebrity, no darling of the liberal class, he might not make it out alive,” author Camonghne Felix wrote on X. “Blackness, when vulnerable and on its knees, is a white supremacist fantasy.”

While smaller unions have spoken up to condemn Smalls’s arrest, Teamsters—which worked with Smalls on the Amazon Labor Union—has yet to make a statement on his violent detainment, failing spectacularly to meet the moment.

While Smalls and other flotilla members remain in IDF custody, the coalition plans to send another aid ship very soon, yet another direct challenge to the Israeli government.

“We are calling on others around the world, definitely our countries, to live up to their obligation of enforcing international law, of protecting human rights, but also other institutions that are founded to do the same,” said Huwaida Arraf, a Palestinian American attorney and Handala member who was released from IDF custody due to her Israeli citizenship. “We should not be waiting for Israel to give permission for food or other humanitarian aid to enter … we need to be breaking, challenging and breaking the blockade.”

“And our governments not only have not been doing anything about it … the U.S. government did not make contact with any of the seven American citizens on board, but the [others], like France, Spain, Italy, contacted their citizens on board and told them that they are ready to provide consular services when Israel kidnaps us, which we found to be completely obnoxious,” she added. “They were legitimizing Israeli piracy on the high seas. And that is unacceptable to us. And that is the kind of impunity that our governments, all governments, really, have been allowing Israel to just violate international law.”

Buddhism Too: When Idiotic Religion Meets Greedy Capitalism

The phenomenon of evangelical christianity turning faith into scavenging fortunes with megachurches of the southern united states is not unique to christianity. All religions are founded on illusions, false promises of eternal life, mythology, and voodoo practices: They provide humans with a sedative to go through an otherwise predictably aimless life. 

That is fine as long as religion provides such relief, but when greedy criminals get involved, they turn religion into an enterprise of greed, abuse and personal gratification at the expense of others.

The Catholic Church has its share of such convergence of BS-based faith and money-driven enrichment with terrifying episodes peppering its history blending sex scandals, warmongering and military power, persecution of non-Catholics, and other refined methods of "spreading the message".

Shi Yongxin below may have "learned" his trade from the Evangelical monsters of the United States: 
===================================================== 
 

Money, sex and a Buddhist monk: Head of China’s famed Shaolin Temple under investigation

Nectar Gan, CNN
Mon, July 28, 2025 


The abbot of Shaolin Temple, Shi Yongxin, speaks at the famous Buddhist monastery in central China's Henan province on November 8, 2009. - Peter Parks/AFP/Getty Images

China’s famed Shaolin Temple announced on Sunday that its abbot is under investigation for suspected embezzlement and “improper relationships” with women, reviving decade-old allegations against the controversial, high-profile monk.

Shi Yongxin, known as “CEO monk” for his entrepreneurial endeavors that transformed the Buddhist monastery into a commercial empire, is suspected of criminal offenses including embezzlement and misappropriation of project funds and temple assets, the temple’s authority said in a statement.

The 59-year-old monk was also accused of seriously violating Buddhist precepts by maintaining “improper relationships” with multiple women over an extended period and fathering at least one child, according to the statement.

Buddhist monks in China have traditionally been expected to take a vow of celibacy.

“(Shi) is currently under joint investigation by multiple departments. Further information will be released to the public in due course,” the statement added.

CNN has not been able to contact Shi.

Established more than 1,500 years ago in the forested mountains of central China, the Shaolin Temple is both a religious and cultural icon, renowned for its age-old tradition of Zen Buddhism and Shaolin kung fu – a distinct form of Chinese martial arts.

Shi, who became the abbot of the Shaolin Temple in 1999 and was a member of China’s rubber-stamp parliament for two decades, has frequently appeared in the media spotlight.

Known as the first Chinese abbot to hold a Master of Business Administration degree, he was often seen globetrotting with an iPhone in hand, meeting world leaders and industry titans – from the late Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain, late South African president Nelson Mandela, and Henry Kissinger to Apple CEO Tim Cook.

In February, Shi led a delegation of monks from the Shaolin Temple to the Vatican to meet with Pope Francis.

Shaolin Temple abbot Shi Yongxin attends a meeting of the National People's Congress at the Great Hall of the People on March 8, 2008 in Beijing, China. - Feng Li/Getty Images

But unflattering headlines have dogged the Buddhist monk for years – including his acceptance of a 1 million yuan ($140,000) car from the local government as a reward for promoting tourism in 2006.

Responding to a public outcry at the time, Shi told state media: “Monks are also citizens. We have fulfilled our duties and made contributions to society, so it is only right that we receive rewards.”

His focus on promoting the Shaolin brand and turning it to multimillion-dollar business has attracted fierce criticism, especially from some followers who saw excessive commercialization as corrupting the spiritual integrity of the religious institution.

He staged Shaolin kung fu performances around the world, licensed the temple’s name out to cartoons, movies and video games, and established a business empire that includes publishing, traditional Chinese medicine, tourist development and real estate.

For his part, Shi has defended his efforts to commercialize the Shaolin brand and promote it globally.

After writing a $3 million check to an Australian town in 2015 to build a Shaolin branch there, Shi Yongxin told state-run Xinhua news agency: “If China can import Disney resorts, why can’t other countries import the Shaolin Monastery?”

“Cultural promotion is a very dignified undertaking,” he said.

Later that year, a self-identified Shaolin insider posted a series of explosive allegations on Chinese social media, depicting Shi as an embezzler and womanizer with illegitimate children.

The accuser included documents dating back to the late 1980s purportedly showing Shi being kicked out of Shaolin following theft and other accusations from his own master. Among the documents posted online was a birth certificate for one of the abbot’s supposed illegitimate children, as well as photos of the alleged mother and the child.

The allegations prompted an angry denial from the Shaolin Temple and an investigation from the country’s religious affairs authorities. Asked by BBC Chinese at the time about the allegations, Shi said: “If there were a problem, it would have surfaced long ago.”

The authorities dropped the case in 2017, citing insufficient evidence. Three years later, Shi went on to be re-elected as the deputy head of the Buddhist Association of China – the state supervisory body on the religion – a position he has held since 2002, according to state media.

On Monday, the Buddhist Association of China said in a statement that Shi had been stripped of his ordination certificate – an official proof of a monk’s or nun’s qualification to enter monastic life.

“Shi Yongxin’s actions are of an extremely egregious nature, severely tarnishing the reputation of the Buddhist community and damaging the image of monastics,” the association said.

“The Buddhist Association of China firmly supports and endorses the decision to handle Shi Yongxin’s case in accordance with the law.”

Steven Jiang contributed to this report.

MAGA Moron JD is Wrong: Without H-1B Immigrants, Microsoft Would Crash

 ...but that is not what the imbecile rube from the sticks J D Vance is saying.



JD Vance Slams Microsoft For Firing Americans, Relying on H-1B Workers: Satya Nadella Says Layoffs Are 'Weighing Heavily' On Him
Namrata Sen
Sat, July 26, 2025



Vice President, JD Vance has criticized Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) and other tech giants for laying off American workers while heavily depending on immigrant labor through the H-1B visa program.

What Happened: Speaking at a bipartisan event hosted by the Hill and Valley Forum on Wednesday, Vance questioned the ethical and economic justification of companies conducting mass layoffs while simultaneously increasing applications for employment-based visas.

“You see some big tech companies where they’ll lay off 9,000 workers, and then they’ll apply for a bunch of overseas visas. And I sort of wonder; that doesn’t totally make sense to me,” Vance said.

[Sorry, JD, but H-1B immigrant scientists are by far smarter and better educated than your toilet-paper-bible-raised Americans. You reaaaallly want to Keep America Great? You have to put up with these darker-skinned Asians, Indians, Arabs, Africans and some Europeans! The same "Great Replacement" of white English moron settlers by "others" has been taking place since the mid-1800s and has propelled America to become what it is. It's not morons like you who will Keep America Great. That is what happens in a capitalist market economy: You get replaced by better people]

While he did not specifically name Microsoft at first, he later agreed when the host mentioned it and said that he read about their mass layoffs.

He quoted the president, emphasizing the need for the best and brightest to make America their home and build great companies, but criticized companies that lay off thousands of American workers and then claim they can’t find workers in America.

“That displacement and that math worries me a bit....I don’t want companies to fire 9,000 American workers and then to go and say, ‘We can’t find workers here in America.’ That’s a bullshit story,” said Vance.

Meanwhile, Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella, addressed the recent job cuts in a memo to employees on Thursday. ” I want to speak to what's been weighing heavily on me, and what I know many of you are thinking about: the recent job eliminations. These decisions are among the most difficult we have to make.”

Why It Matters: Microsoft’s layoffs have been a point of contention. The company’s second round of downsizing in 2025 affected less than 4% of its workforce, or 9,000 workers. The company attributed the layoffs to cost control measures affecting various teams, geographies, and tenures.

Notably, the Nadella-led company has fired over 15,000 people until now in 2025, as per CNBC.

Despite these layoffs, Microsoft has been actively expanding its artificial intelligence team, reportedly hiring around two dozen employees from Alphabet Inc.’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) DeepMind. This expansion has raised questions about the company’s strategic decisions amid the layoffs.

In the memo, Nadella reflected on Microsoft's decade-long mission to empower every individual and organization worldwide to achieve more, and discussed how the rise of AI is reshaping that vision

On a year-to-date basis, Microsoft stock surged 22.5% while crossing the $500 mark on July 9.

Foreign Jewish Terrorists Burn Last Christian Town in Palestine

Who is more of a threat to the dwindling Christians of the Near East? Sunni Muslim Jihadis? Hezbollah's Shiite Muslim radicals?

Wrong. Foreign Jewish colonial settlers are practicing equal opportunity terrorism against Muslims and Christians in Palestine.

After bombing the last Catholic church in Gaza last week, now is the turn of the last Christian town in the West Bank.

Evangelical Christian mother------ Mike Huckabee prefers his primitive Jewish Zionist pets to the oldest Christian churches in the world. He supports the demolition of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and its replacement by a new Jewish temple. He believes that his friggin' Jesus will not return to earth from his black hole somewhere in the universe unless a new Jewish temple is rebuilt there.

There is no better recipe for perpetuating for many more centuries the disgusting primitive warfare that has been going on for millennia between the three monotheistic cults. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

And to my Zionist Evangelical imbeciles, Catholics are Christians too.
=======================================================

Israeli settlers burn West Bank’s last Christian town
Iona Cleave
Thu, July 24, 2025

The Israeli settlers crept up to the ancient church perched above the West Bank’s last Christian-majority town.

As they reached the outer walls, they crouched down to light a ring of fire. Then they revved the engines of their secret weapons brought to fan the flames: garden leaf blowers.

Residents watched in horror as the blaze spread closer to the Church of St George, which dates back to the fifth century.

The flames were doused, but not for long. That evening, settlers returned to the town of Taybeh with assault rifles. The same happened the next day and three days after that.

Israeli settlers used leaf blowers to spread the fire around the church - Nabd El-Haya

Bashar Fawadleh, the parish priest, told The Telegraph: “Each time we called the Israeli police, but they did not come.

“If they attack our sacred site, they can attack anything of ours.”

Settler attacks on Palestinians are on the rise across the occupied West Bank, where roughly half a million Israelis live in Jewish settlements among three million Palestinians.

Five Palestinians have been killed in the last two weeks in villages and towns not far from Taybeh, including Sinjil where two men, including a dual US citizen, were beaten to death by settlers on July 12, prompting fury from the Trump administration.


While most of the violence is directed against Muslims, settlers have started to attack Palestinian Christian villages like Taybeh.

The once-flourishing Christian community in the West Bank has dramatically shrunk to less than 2 per cent of the population as many emigrated abroad to escape the violence and religious discrimination.

The same has happened in Gaza, where its roughly 1,000 Christians are mostly sheltering in the war-battered Strip’s last three churches, one of which was attacked by Israeli forces last week, killing three civilians.

Father Bashar Fawadleh fears the attacks will drive Christian families from his parish - Maya Levin for The Telegraph

Walking around the scorched earth that now encircles the Church of St George, Father Bashar warned: “This is just the beginning. They want to put fear in our hearts to live here.

“These attacks will bleed the town of people as they leave scared. We have lost 10 families already in the past two years.”

Emboldened settlers have set up illegal outposts closer to the town. A makeshift sign written in Hebrew erected outside the ancient town in June read: “There is no future for you here.”

2407 Church of Saint George

David Khoury, the leader of Taybeh’s Greek Orthodox Church, also fears an exodus.

“The settlers are making problems for us every day. Assaulting, vandalising, terrorising, terrifying our families, destroying our fields of olive trees, damaging our properties,” he said.

There were more than 750 incidents of settler violence recorded in the first half of this year, up from 216 for the whole of 2023, according to the United Nations.

Israeli settler settlers have grazed their cattle at the church, in what residents said is a desecration of the holy site - Nabd El-Haya

The settler community is seizing the moment to annex land Israel has occupied since the 1967 Six Day War, encouraged by hard-Right ministers in Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government, including Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, who come from settler backgrounds.

The Israeli settlers first attacked Taybeh, north east of Ramallah – the de facto capital of the Palestinian territory – just before the Oct 7 massacre in southern Israel.

During the devastating war that followed in Gaza, the situation has grown dire.

Visiting Taybeh, the Patriarchs and heads of churches in Jerusalem condemned the most recent violence as “clearly part of the systematic attacks against Christians that we see unfolding throughout the region”.

Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel who is an evangelical Christian and staunch advocate of Israeli settlement construction, also toured the blackened church site on Saturday.

He called the attacks an “act of terror” and demanded “harsh consequences” for the perpetrators. But he did not attribute the attack to settlers.

Mike Huckabee joined religious leaders on a visit to the site of the fire - X

The town is waiting to see if the condemnation will have an effect. The reality, however, is that settlers rarely face any legal consequences.

Last week, the settlers grazed their cattle at the church, in what residents said was a desecration of the holy site.

Throwing his hands in the air, Suleiman Khouryeh, Taybeh’s mayor, said: “We cannot protect the town, they are armed, we are not.”

He believes the settlers are taunting the residents, trying to get them to answer with violence. “And we will not,” he said.

The mayor is on high alert after the recent killings in Sinjil. “What happened there could at any moment happen to us – the settlers don’t care whether we are Christian or Muslim. We are under attack because we are Palestinian.”

Affirming what other witnesses had told The Telegraph, he said that Israeli police provided no help. “We call the Israeli guards for help and no one comes. Who will protect us?”

The future of the community is in peril, he warned. “The youth has lost hope, there is no work, no safety, no life, no future and they want to leave.”

Standing on an arid hill above Taybeh, Ramiz Akhoury pointed towards a huge swath of land to the east of the town, which hosts thousands of olive trees, sheep and chicken farms and fields of crops – the lifeblood of the local economy.

The fifth-century church was attacked by settlers as they violently claim more territory in the West Bank - Nabd El-Haya

“They have taken it all,” the 37-year-old olive oil producer said forlornly. Over the past two years, he estimates that the settlers have seized 3,000 acres, which includes 70 per cent of his own land.

“They steal our farming equipment, cut our trees, burn them…We are all scared,” he said. In an attack last year, his uncle and aunt were badly beaten while working on the land.

He showed The Telegraph dozens of videos showing the settlers grazing their cattle through Palestinian land, destroying vegetation and olive trees, as well as gun-wielding settlers burning land.

“Why do they come to us carrying guns. Do they want peace? I do not think so,” he said.

In the face of the persistent violence and intimidation, farmers like Mr Akhoury have been forced to surrender most of their best land, ridding many of their livelihoods.

The fire started by Israeli settlers burned right up to the perimeter of the 5th century church in Taybeh - Maya Levin for The Telegraph

Eid Kabnaeh, a 63-year-old Muslim-Palestinian, lives with 100 members of his extended family, creating their own small village on the outskirts of Taybeh.

A tightly-wired fence has been erected around their open front room to stop settlers throwing stones at them when they drive-by, sometimes in a Jeep that was stolen from the family in April.

They said they have been the target of settler attacks for four years, despite their home being 50 yards away from an Israeli military barracks.

The family lives in constant fear of the next attack, not knowing when or how it will come. “We are scared to move, we do not take our sheep to the valley to graze, they steal our cars, detain our children, behave like the military,” Mr Kabnaeh said.

On June 25, dozens of men attacked the family while they prayed. “We smelt the fires before we felt them,” Mr Kabnaeh said.

Footage shows masked attackers setting fire to their cars and then trying to burn their homes. Many of the women and children suffered badly from smoke inhalation.

“It is hard to talk about what happened. The children were the most afraid, now they have nightmares,” Mr Kabnaeh added.

Before leaving, the settlers painted a large Star of David on their outside wall. Mr Kabnaeh claimed that Israeli police just stood and watched from their base.

Eid Kabnaeh, a Taybeh resident, said the Israeli police stood by while the village was terrorised by settlers - Maya Levin for The Telegraph

The grandfather looked drained; his role as the leader of his household has taken its toll. “I cannot manage this situation,” he said.

If it is not the settlers, he said the Israeli Police harassing the family sometimes daily, often weekly.

“They come at night for checks all the time,” he said, describing how they pulled the house apart and separated the men from the women and children. “We don’t know what they are looking for, they never find anything.”

Despite the relentless threats and violence, when asked if he would move, he shook his head and said: “I will continue to live here, this is my land, this is my home, my future.”
Illegal actions given legitimacy

A report in December by Peace Now and Kerem Navot, Israel-based rights groups, said that settlers, with the backing of the Israeli military and government, have seized 14 per cent of the West Bank through establishing outposts and driving Palestinian farming communities out.

Yonatan Mizrachi, the co-director of Settlement Watch at Peace Now, said the levels of settler violence that has been seen since Oct 7 “cannot happen without government support, indirectly or directly”, and the [coalition’s decision not to enforce the law”.

“The settlers right now feel strong and that their illegal actions have been given legitimacy by the government,” he added.

Israel Police confirmed it had received reports from residents of an arson attack near the church and said a “thorough investigation” would be carried out.

“If arson is confirmed, justice will be pursued regardless of race or background,” a statement said.

The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement: “Contrary to claims regarding the arson of a church in the village area, such incidents are not known to the IDF. Fires near the church are known and were extinguished by Israeli civilians.”

It confirmed it had received reports of fires being set in an open area near Taybeh on July 8 and several suspects setting fire to land on July 11. In the latter incident, the IDF said it dispatched forces but “found no suspects in the act of arson”.

It added: “Regarding the question of military presence around the village, the IDF operates continuously in Judea and Samaria against terrorist activity and to improve the security of all area residents.”

Jasmine Crockett: During Summer Shutdown, Trump to Destroy Epstein Files Evidence

Jasmine Crockett Floats Bombshell Accusation Against Trump Amid Epstein Scandal

Pocharapon Neammanee

Wed, July 23, 2025

Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) made a stunning accusation against President Donald Trump’s handling of convicted sex abuser Jeffrey Epstein’s case files, claiming he is already destroying the evidence. 

“We may still be talking about it come September, when we come back into session, but to go from ‘it’s on my desk’ to ‘it doesn’t exist,’ they may be engaging in destroying evidence. We know that he’s not above that,” Crockett said in a clip teasing a full interview with internet personality Russell Ellis, known online as the Jolly Good Ginger.

Crockett’s claim follows a decision by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to shut the House down on Tuesday for a five-week recess until September to block a bipartisan effort to force a vote on releasing files related to Epstein.

Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi have come under fire in recent days for their handling of Epstein’s sexual abuse case files after a Department of Justice and FBI memo stating that the disgraced financier’s 2019 death behind bars was definitively a suicide, and that he was not in possession of a “client list.” In February, Bondi had claimed that such a list was “sitting on” her desk.

The memo enraged Trump’s MAGA fanbase, many of whom have turned on the president. News outlets subsequently began to dig deeper on his past relationship with Epstein, fueling greater speculation of a cover-up.

Speaking to Ellis in the short clip, Crockett recalled the FBI raiding Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in 2022 to uncover classified documents. The president’s indictment over the classified documents was dismissed last year, but Crockett accused the president of destroying evidence in that case as well.

“Everybody remembers all of the secret documents that he decided to hoard down in his bathroom, that funky little stage in Mar-a-Lago, right? What did he do? He decided he wanted to engage in destroying evidence,” Crockett said. 

The Trump administration attempted to show transparency by calling on federal courts to release all “pertinent” grand jury transcripts in Epstein’s criminal cases, but the request was denied. The administration is also reaching out to Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving 20 years in prison.

“‘Buy us a month, we’ll destroy everything, and then we can go ahead and release it.’” Crockett said, mocking the president. “I mean, the fact that they now want to, all of a sudden, talk to the former co-defendant who is serving approximately 20 years in prison. Yeah, none of this seems fishy at all.”

Trump to Maxwell: Get me out of Epstein, I'll Get you out of Jail

The sudden interest by the Trump administration in convicted sex criminal Ghislaine Maxwell has only one explanation. Maxwell was Jeffrey Epstein's "roper" who butt-hunted young underage girls for Epstein and his "friends". She is serving a 20-year sentence for her association with Epstein.

Maxwell has been pleading with Trump from her prison cell to pardon her or somehow get her out of jail. He, on the other hand, is flailing about like a headless chicken, terrified at the public disclosure of his "wonderful secrets" with Epstein.

Here comes "Bond girl" Pam Bondi to the rescue. She's Trump's Attorney General and has said that she is interested in interviewing Maxwell or even subpeona her to testify in Congress. Obviously, Maxwell knows ALL of Epstein's secrets and the identity of those of his "friends" with whom he shared young underage girls, including Trump himself who once told Howard Stern that he liked them young, younger than 24 but older than 12.

Therefore a "deal" is emerging. If Pam Bondi can get Maxwell to somehow exculpate Trump, Bondi will arrange for Trump to pardon Maxwell and get her out of jail. Win-Win. Stay tuned. With Trump, as his crimes age, they get sleazier.

=========================================================


Bondi Pleads for Ghislaine to Bail Her Out of Epstein Crisis
Farrah Tomazin
Tue, July 22, 2025

Attorney General Pam Bondi has sought an urgent meeting with convicted sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell in another bid to quell the political firestorm over the Epstein files.

Two weeks after issuing a memo declaring there was no further incriminating evidence regarding the crimes or death of Jeffrey Epstein, Bondi’s department has reached out to Maxwell, who was his girlfriend and accomplice, hoping she may spill his secrets.

Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell in 2005. The department has now asked her for an urgent meeting. / Patrick McMullan / Patrick McMullan via Getty Image

“President Trump has told us to release all credible evidence. If Ghislaine Maxwell has information about anyone who has committed crimes against victims, the FBI and the DOJ will hear what she has to say,” deputy attorney general Todd Blanche said in a statement on Tuesday.

“Therefore, at the direction of Attorney General Bondi, I have communicated with counsel for Ms. Maxwell to determine whether she would be willing to speak with prosecutors from the Department. I anticipate meeting with Ms. Maxwell in the coming days.”

Maxwell was convicted in 2021 on federal charges of sex trafficking and conspiracy for helping Epstein recruit and abuse underage girls. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks to the media, in the Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington D.C., June 27, 2025. / Ken Cedeno / REUTERS

The 63-year-old had been urging the Supreme Court to review her case, but the Department of Justice had asked the court to turn away her appeal just over a week ago.

Now, it is seeking a meeting with her as the Trump administration continues to face a MAGA backlash over its handling of the case.

“Call me crazy... but wouldn’t you have talked to Ghislaine BEFORE writing a memo that there was no Epstein list and that the investigation was closed?” Matt Van Swol, a former nuclear scientist for the US Department of Energy, wrote on X.

Trump loyalist Laura Loomer, who previously called for Bondi to be sacked over the issue, agreed.

“Why wasn’t this “interview” with Ghislaine Maxwell done on day 1?" she asked.

MAGA outrage over the Epstein files began earlier this month, after Bondi’s department issued a July 6 memo declaring there was no evidence to suggest that the disgraced financier was murdered or that he had a “client list”, something that many Trump supporters have long believed.

Trump, who promised to be transparent about the case, has since tried to brand the issue as a Democratic hoax, and has become so frustrated by the issue that he accused “past” supporters of buying into “bullshit”.

But in his statement, Blanche said the department stood by its July memo.

Statement from @DAGToddBlanche:
This Department of Justice does not shy away from uncomfortable truths, nor from the responsibility to pursue justice wherever the facts may lead. The joint statement by the DOJ and FBI of July 6 remains as accurate today as it was when it was…
— Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) July 22, 2025

“The joint statement by the DOJ and FBI of July 6 remains as accurate today as it was when it was written,” he said.

“Namely, that in the recent thorough review of the files maintained by the FBI in the Epstein case, no evidence was uncovered that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties.”

If Maxwell agrees to meet with the department, her evidence could shed light on a Wall Street Journal article, published last week, with details of a letter Trump allegedly wrote Epstein 20 years ago.

The letter, which Trump denies was his, was organized by Maxwell and given to Epstein for his 50th birthday in 2003, before he was convicted in Florida for sex with an underage girl.

According to the Wall Street Journal, it contained several lines of typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman.

“We have certain things in common, Jeffrey,” Trump is alleged to have written on the gift. “Enigmas never age, have you noticed that? … Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.”

Donald Trump with his then-girlfriend (and now wife), Melania Knauss, Jeffrey Epstein, and Ghislaine Maxwell. / Davidoff Studios/Getty Images

Trump ,however, insists the “fake story” has filed a $10 billion lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal and its owner, Rupert Murdoch, for publishing it.

He also asked Bondi to “produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval.”

“This Department of Justice does not shy away from uncomfortable truths, nor from the responsibility to pursue justice wherever the facts may lead,” Blanche said.

============================================================= 
Further,

Jailed sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell has higher hopes of a release from prison if she tells President Donald Trump what he wants to hear, according to an MSNBC host.

The Last Word host Lawrence O’Donnell claimed that disgraced socialite Maxwell, currently serving a 20-year jail sentence, knows Trump “has the power to release her from prison immediately.”

“Donald Trump can commute her sentence,” O’Donnell said on Tuesday. “Donald Trump can pardon her, he can say she’s been punished enough.”

The host also pointed out that Trump said of Maxwell after she had been jailed, “I wish her well,” but has never commented on any of the victims in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.

Lawrence O'Donnell discusses Ghislaine Maxwell on The Last Word. / MSNBC

In 2022, Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison for conspiring with Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse minors. The trial found she had enticed and groomed minor girls to be abused. She pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Last week, Maxwell’s family insisted she did “not receive a fair trial” in a statement released by her siblings.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has announced he is due to meet with Maxwell “in the coming days.” Blanche represented Trump in his 2024 criminal trial in New York City.

On Tuesday, Blanche posted on X, “Justice demands courage. For the first time, the Department of Justice is reaching out to Ghislaine Maxwell to ask: What do you know? At Pam Bondi’s direction, I’ve contacted her counsel. I intend to meet with her soon. No one is above the law—and no lead is off-limits."

Bondi also posted on X, “President Trump has told us to release all credible evidence. If Ghislaine Maxwell has information about anyone who has committed crimes against victims, the FBI and the DOJ will hear what she has to say.”

Many in Trump’s MAGA base are angry the official investigation has not been more fully released, and that it did not back up the conspiracy theory of an international pedophile ring linked to Epstein and a client list being kept from the public’s eye.

Ghislaine Maxwell has previously refused to talk to federal prosecutors. / Paul Zimmerman / WireImage

O’Donnell claimed, “The only reason for Maxwell’s criminal defense attorney to talk to Todd Blanche is to get her out of prison. Any criminal defense lawyer would be able to tell Ghislaine Maxwell exactly what she has to say to get out of prison.”

He clarified, “She has to say Donald Trump knew nothing about it, knew nothing about what we were doing to those girls. And it would be very helpful to Donald Trump if Ghislaine Maxwell was also willing to say something incriminating about other prominent people who knew Jeffrey Epstein, like maybe Bill Clinton.”

The host pointed out that Maxwell had refused to talk to federal prosecutors or the Justice Department in the past. O’Donnell said, “Ghislaine Maxwell and her criminal defense lawyer now know they are dealing with the most corrupt Department of Justice in American history and the only incentive that Ghislaine Maxwell and her lawyer have to speak to Todd Blanche is to give Todd Blanche the magic words that he can pass on to Donald Trump to get Ghislaine Maxwell out of prison.”

In April, Maxwell asked the Supreme Court to hear an appeal over her criminal conviction.

Americans Can no Longer Afford Tomatoes: Trump's Tariffs Kicked in

Americans get all their illegal drugs from Mexico and Latin America by ignoring the smuggling of weapons from the US to the drug cartels. Yet, Donald Trump's crackdown aims at stopping the supply of illicit drugs, but it doesn't address the huge demand for those drugs by US-born white Americans of all social classes: From the white collars of Wall Street to the middle class suburbs and down to the trailer white trash, all white Americans use illegal drugs.

But Donald Dumb thinks ge should only address the supply, not the demand. As a failed businessman, he doesn't seem to understand how the market works. Along with cracking down on the supply side, he should be super-criminalizing drug use by his own Great Americans. But we know why he doesn't do that: It is easier to beat up on the darkies from south of the border than on his electoral base, the pure white "real" American drug addicts.

With Donald Dumb's tariffs, Americans may have to start growing their own tomatoes because they can no longer afford the Made-in-Mexico tomatoes.
=======================================================

Starting today, most tomatoes from Mexico will cost more at the border—and soon, at the store.

Stephanie Gravalese
Updated July 15, 2025

It’s official: Tomato tariffs take effect today—here’s what it means for your grocery bill (Reinhard Krull via Getty Images)

On July 14, 2025, the United States officially ended the Tomato Suspension Agreement with Mexico, a trade pact that had governed fresh tomato imports for nearly 30 years. In its place: a 20.91% anti-dumping tariff on most imported tomatoes, now in full effect.

With Mexico supplying the majority of America’s fresh tomato imports—especially outside the summer growing season—consumers, grocers, and restaurants are bracing for price increases that could hit shelves as early as this week.

What Happened Today?

The U.S. announced back in April that it would withdraw from the Tomato Suspension Agreement, the trade deal that had governed how fresh tomatoes moved across the U.S.–Mexico border for nearly 30 years. That withdrawal takes effect today, July 14, and with it comes a 20.91% anti-dumping tariff on most imported Mexican tomatoes, right as peak summer demand hits.

The change follows an April announcement from the U.S. Department of Commerce, which argued that the agreement no longer protected domestic growers. A Federal Register notice confirmed that the termination would proceed as scheduled.

Why It Happened

The Tomato Suspension Agreement, first signed in 1996 and last updated in 2019, paused anti-dumping duties in exchange for Mexican exporters agreeing to minimum prices. Domestic growers—especially in Florida—have long argued that those minimums were routinely undercut, hurting U.S. farms and eroding market share.

Supporters of the tariff say the rollback levels the playing field. But growers in Arizona and Texas, along with major importers and grocery retailers, opposed the move. They warned it would disrupt supply chains and raise prices for U.S. consumers, without actually resolving the deeper challenges facing American agriculture. Analysts at the American Action Forum echoed those concerns, citing the potential for broad price hikes and limited benefit to domestic growers already struggling with labor shortages, high costs, and climate pressures. 

What It Means for Prices

Expect to pay more for the tomatoes you reach for most. Industry estimates suggest a 7–10% increase in prices across popular varieties like Roma, plum, and vine-ripened tomatoes. The actual bump could vary based on region, time of year, and retailer, but major importers have already said the cost will be passed along.

Companies like NatureSweet told analysts they cannot absorb the new tariff, meaning the cost increase will likely show up not just in the produce aisle but on restaurant menus and in processed items like salsa, marinara, and soup if it persists. Because tomatoes are so perishable and so widely used—especially in foodservice—even a modest pricing shift can ripple quickly through the system.

What to Watch at the Store

Not every tomato will be affected, but the varieties most likely to get more expensive include Roma, plum, and vine-ripened tomatoes, many of which come from Mexico. These types are especially common in prepared foods, fast casual meals, and fresh salsa.

This tariff comes just weeks after a June 2025 tomato recall temporarily removed some tomatoes from shelves due to salmonella concerns. While the recall was limited, it still put pressure on supply, a pressure that now looks likely to grow.

What's Next

For many shoppers, this isn’t just policy shift that's far away, it’s a price hike they’ll feel at checkout. With no new deal in place and Mexico considering a response of its own, today’s tariff could be the start of broader disruptions in the produce aisle. Even if you don’t usually follow trade policy, this one hits close to home: on your plate, in your pantry, and likely in your wallet.

Zionist Nazi Stephen Miller Is Confused about Americans as Non-Immigrants

For the Nazi Fascist with Zionist undertones Stephen Killer, "real white" Americans can never be immigrants, even as they, their parents or grandparents came over to this country from somewhere else. His image of "immigrant" is that of a darker-skinned or other "colored" person who, by definition, cannot belong to the "white" United States.

He rejects the fact that the United States was entirely built by the sweat, tears and blood of people from somewhere else. No one but the native indigenous Amerindians can claim to be "real" Americans. Stephen Killer says that the Empire State Building was built by Americans, not immigrants. Yet, history tells us that the Irish and Italian immigrants, many of whom illegally in the country, built the Empire State Building. Therefore, Stephen Killer doesn't think of Irish and Italian immigrants as immigrants because they're white. In contrast, he might consider the Chinese immigrants who built the railroad as non-Americans and immigrants who were used then deported and turned back under the Chinese Exclusion Act.

Nazis, Fascists and MAGA criminals always try to distort history to make it match their racist halluinations. For example, the German Nazis sent pseudo-scientific expeditions to Tibet in an attempt to prove that Tibet was the cradle of the "Aryan race", including measuring skulls cranial measurements and making facial casts of local people. 

The Soviet communist fascists resurrected a form of Lamarckism, dubbed Lysenkoism, which is a debunked theory of evolutionary change, because it was compatible with their notion that "change" could be brought about by will and effort, a Marxist tenet. They rejected Darwinian genetics in which random mutations, followed by selection, cause change, which is more compatible with the "struggle for survival" that capitalism seems to have embraced.

Stephen Killer's rejection of the historical facts behind the coming of America is as slippery as his bald head under which is a bald brain. ALL AMERICANS ARE IMMIGRANTS, some current and some 3  generations removed. Why does this asinine Nazi claim otherwise? Like his Nazi progenitors, he needs pretexts and justifications for his inhumane, hateful assault on all those Americans whose "status" he gets to decide. 

The Nazis decided to make enemies of their own Jewish citizens for the sole purpose of trying to prove that only the Aryan race can save Germany and make it great again. All the Germans had to do is wipe off the intruder Jewish community, and life in Germany will be restored to its ancient "Aryan" glory. The Nazis needed an enemy to scare off the German people, and so Jews were made the enemy

Similarly, Trump and Miller are imbued with the notion that only the "real (i.e. white) American race" can save America and make it great again, that same America that was undeniably built by ALL ITS IMMIGRANTS. All that these "real Americans" have to do is wipe off their own "darker-colored" intruder immigrants, and life in America will be restored to its ancient glory (somewhere between the late 1700s and 1950s). The MAGA criminals needed an enemy to scare off their peasants in the backwoods, and so immigrants are made the enemy.

=====================================================

Critics School Stephen Miller For Building Up These Absurd American History Claims

Ben Blanchet

Tue, July 22, 2025

Donald Trump’s senior White House aide Stephen Miller pushed a bonkers, racist claim on Monday after he suggested that he could spot someone’s immigration status just by looking at a picture of them.

Miller, in a Fox News appearance, reacted to an ABC News clip of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D) emphasizing that LA is a “city of immigrants” and it won’t get rebuilt “without immigrant labor” after devastating wildfires earlier this year.

“If you look at photos of the Empire State Building being constructed — in record time, by the way — you know what you don’t see there? Any illegal aliens,” Miller told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham.

“You look at the photos of us landing a man on the moon, you look at the NASA control room, you don’t see any photos of illegal aliens. Americans built this country, Americans sustained this country, Americans have powered this country for two and a half centuries.”

In reality, immigrants played a key role in the construction of the Empire State Building, a project that — at its peak — had a workforce of 3,500 people.

Many of the workers were Irish and Italian immigrants, who were notably joined by Mohawk ironworkers, according to the Museum of the City of New York.

The iconic skyscraper was also designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon: a firm founded by Canadian-born architect Richmond Shreve and William F. Lamb, whose father was an immigrant from Scotland, before Chicago native Arthur Loomis Harmon joined in 1929.

The Empire State Building took just over 13 months to build between March 1930 and April 1931, becoming the world’s tallest building at the time. It held that title for nearly four decades until the construction of the World Trade Center.

MILLER: If you look at photos of the Empire State Building being built, you don’t see any illegal aliens. When you look at the photos of the NASA control room during the moon landing, you don’t see any illegal aliens. Americans built, sustained, and powered this country for two… pic.twitter.com/CGMUNlSAG8 — Acyn (@Acyn) July 21, 2025

Social media users ripped Miller’s skyscraper talk and also took aim at his NASA comments, referring to the secret U.S. intelligence program ‘Operation Paperclip’ that brought Nazi scientists to America that played be a key part in the beginnings of NASA and its Apollo missions in the years after World War II.

* Immigrants built this country. https://t.co/9l2nl8dCwZpic.twitter.com/DGqdVIS5W2 — WeThePeople🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@PrincessBravato) July 21, 2025

* The Empire State project employed ~3,400 construction workers, many Italian and Irish. Mohawk ironworkers, ‘sky boys’, were vital crew members.  One bricklayer, Aniello Conte, was an Italian undocumented immigrant. His papers are not visible in photos. https://t.co/TL3EzfGxxhhttps://t.co/pnx1FsUf5Bpic.twitter.com/6P5wRcuqjo — Bad Fox Graphics (@BadFoxGraphics) July 21, 2025

* Everything from the history of agricultural labor prior the Founding, through the post-slavery Industrial Revolution, through Wernher von Braun at NASA is a direct refutation of this ahistorical bullshit. https://t.co/d1t1Sj8B9H — Jason Goldman (@goldman) July 22, 2025

* NASA’s storied moon landing was powered by legal immigrants. They were Nazi war criminals brought to the US through Operation Paperclip, but they were legal https://t.co/P1dUZnCDaw — Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) July 22, 2025

* "When you look at the photos of the NASA control room during the moon landing, you don’t see any illegal aliens." Just actual, bona fide, Hitler-era German full Nazi rocket scientists. https://t.co/efvhlQoG3w — Dr David Berger, aBsuRdiSTe cROnickLeR (@YouAreLobbyLud) July 22, 2025

* How does someone know people are "Illegal aliens" from a picture?— Machine Pun Kelly 🇺🇦 (@KellyScaletta) July 22, 2025

* According to Stephen Miller you can see a person’s legal status https://t.co/Xx7aB0OJrW— PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes) July 21, 2025. My grandfather immigrated to US from Poland. He came through Ellis Island but gave a false age so he could work; so technically he was an “Illegal alien” He served in WWI and worked as a mason on both the Empire State and the Chrysler Buildings. You think he was the only 1? So…

==========================================================

Meanwhile, Miller's Gestapo-ICE is rotting from within.

Federal immigration officials are looking for their own path away from the Trump administration.

Veronica Cardenas, a former Immigration and Customs Enforcement prosecutor, told MSNBC Sunday that many ICE agents are “unhappy” and experiencing “very low” morale.

“I have been contacted by people on the inside, stating, ‘How did you leave?’ and ‘What process did that take?’” Cardenas said.

“Even at the time that I left, people were, number one, surprised—because when you join the government, people believe that there’s this sort of trajectory to it. When you leave, it does catch people off guard,” she continued. “I think people are going through that struggle, and what I would say to them is that your voice has so much power. You don’t have to do things that are unjust or wrong. Believe in yourself, step out of that.”

Although President Donald Trump has heaped endless praise on the federal deportation agency, ICE agents have reportedly never been so miserable, forced to primarily detain noncriminal immigrants in order to meet their quota of 3,000 arrests per day, in line with White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller’s demands.

Speaking to her own experience exiting the agency, Cardenas said that taking the jump to leave boils down to a “moral conflict.”

“We all take oaths, right? When we step into that job, we are taking an oath to protect the Constitution and to follow the rule of law,” Cardenas told MSNBC. “And then when you get into that space, and you’re looking at these decisions that are being made, and the way that they’re being made: People are being harmed, people are dying in ICE detention, in custody.

“You have this conflict with yourself: ‘These laws cannot be right, and I don’t want to enforce it anymore,’” Cardenas told the network. The former assistant chief counsel then underscored that institutional change against America’s immigration is “not coming from the inside” but the outside.

Jeff Daniels: Kamala Harris Would Have Governed like Honest Abe

Actor Jeff Daniels laments Kamala Harris’ loss, suggests she would have governed like Abraham Lincoln
Rachel del Guidice
Mon, July 21, 2025 

Actor Jeff Daniels lamented former Vice President Kamala Harris losing the 2024 presidential election in a new interview, saying she would have governed like President Abraham Lincoln.


"I still think about Kamala, and how I think she would have been a good choice," Daniels told MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace in an episode published Monday of her podcast, "The Best People." "I don't care what they say, because she would have done what Lincoln did."

"Liz Cheney would have been secretary of state," Daniels said.

Actor Jeff Daniels lamented former Vice President Kamala Harris losing the 2024 presidential election and suggested that she would have governed like Abraham Lincoln.

"Team of Rivals," Wallace interjected, referencing the book by Doris Kearns Goodwin, "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln," which looks at how Lincoln included former political opponents in his cabinet.

"Team of Rivals," Daniels agreed. "That's what Lincoln did, surrounded himself with the people who would disagree with him, not the people who would, you know, take a knee and go, ‘Yeah, more tariffs, sir, more.’"

Harris' campaign heavily used Liz Cheney, one of President Donald Trump's fiercest Republican critics, on the campaign trail in 2024. Once a conservative star in the House, Cheney was one of only two Republicans who served on the special committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, which resulted in her losing her seat in Wyoming. Harris also pledged to appoint a Republican to her Cabinet if elected.

Daniels, known for his prominent movie, television and stage roles, said the Republican Party was deteriorating under Trump.

"It's the madness of King George, and just the deterioration of the Republican Party," he said. "I mean, look, I'm just an actor. What do I know? But when Mitch [McConnell] started stacking the courts 25 years ago, I said it on your show once, they can see it coming. The new America that is diverse and treats everyone with equality and respect and dignity, you know, kind of like Jesus did. We're ready for that."

He also said wealthy backers are "losing money" under Trump.

"And Mitch and company could see it coming," he said. "They were going to be the minority, so they just started and then here we are, and now you got it, and now you're losing money. I hope you're losing tons of money, those of you who thought this would be OK."

Daniels is playing President Ronald Reagan in the upcoming movie "Reykjavík," about the summit between Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1986. His recent roles include playing former FBI Director James Comey in Showtime's "The Comey Rule," and fictional newscaster Will McAvoy on HBO's "The Newsroom," in addition to his numerous film roles going back to the 1980s.

Another George Floyd Murder in Alabama

ASSOCIATED PRESS



Alabama man's death is ruled a homicide after police kneeled on his neck
SAFIYAH RIDDLE
Mon, July 21, 2025




This undated photo shows Sandra Lee Reeder and her husband, Phillip Reeder, who was killed on August 4, 2024 after a police officer restrained Phillip Reeder by pressing a knee to his neck. (Mike Wukela via the AP)

The death of an unarmed 52-year-old man who died after an Alabama police officer kneeled on his neck was ruled a homicide by a county coroner, according to an official autopsy reviewed by The Associated Press. The finding led lawyers representing Phillip Reeder's family on Monday to compare his death to that of George Floyd in 2020.

The report issued by the Jefferson County medical examiner’s office concludes Reeder, of Irondale, Alabama, died last August of heart failure "associated with cocaine use and restraint during altercation."

Officers in the Alabama suburb 10 miles (16 kilometers) from Birmingham were dispatched to a local highway just after 5 a.m. on August 6, 2024, after one of Reeder's colleagues called 911 to report a medical emergency, according to Reeder's wife, Sandra Lee Reeder. Phillip Reeder, who owned a construction company, was driving home from a job in Memphis, Tennessee, she said.

At the time, police said Reeder was wandering in and out of traffic when they approached him, according to AL.com.

Body camera video of Reeder's death has not been released publicly, but Sandra Lee Reeder and her attorneys said they reviewed it last week. A 2023 state law that governs release of police recordings says the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency may choose to not disclose the recording if it would affect an active law enforcement investigation.

An email seeking comment from the Irondale police chief was sent Monday morning.

Sandra Lee Reeder said that the body camera footage shows her husband running from police when they arrived. Police then shocked Reeder with a Taser, placed him in handcuffs and laid him on his stomach, she said. One officer put his knee on Reeder’s neck for over three minutes, she said.

Sandra Lee Reeder said her husband can be heard saying “I can't breathe” three times.

The autopsy said Reed had multiple non-leathal wounds and bruising from the attempted arrest by the police. Sandra Lee Reeder said she could see he was bleeding from his face in the video.

Reeder was unresponsive when the officer rolled him over onto his back, according to the coroner's report. He was pronounced dead at a local hospital just after 6:30 a.m.

Harry Daniels, an attorney for the Reeder family, compared the fatality to the death of George Floyd in 2020, which prompted months of protests and widespread scrutiny over police tactics.

“This world was captivated and shocked about what happened in 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In 2024, the exact same thing happened,” Daniels said at a news conference outside Irondale City Hall on Monday.

Daniels said that the only difference between what happened to Reeder and Floyd is race: Reeder was white and Floyd was Black. Reeder may have committed misdemeanor disorderly conduct by wandering into traffic, but “it is not warranted for a knee in the back — that is deadly force,” he said.

Reeder's two sons said that they also reviewed the body camera video of their father's last moments this month after almost a year of asking the local police department and state agency for more information.

“What I have gone through these past 11 months should not happen to any 19-year-old,” Zachariah Phillip Reeder said.

Riddle reported from Montgomery, Alabama. She is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

 

Underage-Girls Pimp Epstein to Trump: She's Not for You!

 More Trump-Epstein victims could come forward soon.

=======================================================
 

'Reeks Of A Cover-Up': Ex-Trump Official Suspects 'Embarrassing' Info In Epstein Files
Ed Mazza
Updated Mon, July 21, 2025

President Donald Trump has backtracked on his promise to release files related to late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and one former official from his first term thinks he knows why.

There might be “embarrassing” details about Trump in those documents, according to Miles Taylor, who served as Homeland Security chief of staff in 2019.

MSNBC’s Alex Witt asked Taylor about a report that Attorney General Pam Bondi pressured FBI Director Kash Patel into getting 1,000 employees to sort through 100,000 Epstein records and flag any mention of Trump.

“This data point, to me, reeks of a cover-up,” Taylor said Sunday.

If the report is true, he said, that doesn’t necessarily mean there was criminal behavior, but the agents could have uncovered information that the president doesn’t want made public.

“Again, it doesn’t have to be criminal,” he said. “It could just be embarrassing.”

He pointed to a report in The Wall Street Journal of a strange birthday letter Trump allegedly sent to Epstein as an example of something that’s not criminal but “very embarrassing.”

Trump has denied sending the latter and is suing over it.

“The keyword searches looking for Trump’s name, I think, strongly suggest that somewhere, something could have been found that has affected his behavior in this case,” he said, and warned that the case could consume the president in the same way that the Russia investigation did during his first term.

The good news, he said, is that it might keep Trump distracted and unable to follow through on some of the most extreme parts of his agenda.

“The bad news is it’s going to make Donald Trump desperate to create other distractions because he doesn’t want people to focus on this,” he said.

One way Trump will do that is by attacking the free press ― including his lawsuit against the Journal, Taylor said.

“This is the new ‘witch hunt,’” he said, a reference to the term Trump used to describe the Russia investigation. “When the president is supposed to be focused on national security and protecting the American people, he’s going to be obsessing about the Epstein investigation and obsessing about getting revenge against the people who’ve shone a light on his involvement.”



Trump-Epstein latest: FBI agents were told to 'flag' any files that mentioned the president, Sen. Durbin says, as an Epstein accuser recalls an encounter with both men

Pressure continues to mount on the administration to release more files.

Dylan Stableford

Reporter

Mon, July 21, 2025  

While reviewing files related to the late accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, about 1,000 FBI agents were instructed by Attorney General Pam Bondi to "flag" any records that mentioned President Trump, according to Sen. Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

In letters sent to Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino on Friday, Durbin said that his office had received information that the attorney general “pressured” the agents to conduct a review of about 100,000 Epstein-related records on 24-hour shifts.

“These personnel were instructed to ‘flag’ any records in which President Trump was mentioned,” Durbin said. The effort, he added, was “haphazardly supplemented by hundreds of FBI New York Field Office personnel, many of whom lacked the expertise to identify statutorily protected information regarding child victims and child witnesses.”

Durbin concluded his letters by demanding to know why the agents were told to flag records in which Trump was mentioned and what happened to any such records that were flagged.

He requested that Bondi and the top FBI officials provide any new information and materials related to the matter by Aug. 1.

The fallout over Epstein

President Trump and Attorney General Pam "Bondage" in the White House briefing room. (Ken Cedeno/Reuters) (REUTERS / Reuters)

The inquiry comes amid an ongoing fallout that has engulfed the Trump administration over its handling of the investigation into Epstein, who died by suicide in federal custody in 2019 while awaiting trial.

Epstein has long been the focus of unfounded conspiracy theories — fueled by Trump and some of his prominent supporters — which claim the disgraced financier was murdered to conceal the names of powerful people on a secret “client list.” Trump said he would consider releasing additional government files on Epstein and directed the Justice Department to conduct an exhaustive review of any evidence collected in its investigation.

Earlier this month, the DOJ and FBI released a two-page joint memo, concluding Epstein “committed suicide in his cell" and had no such “client list” and that "no further disclosures" were warranted in the case.

The memo enraged Trump supporters, who accused the president and his administration of breaking their promise to release all of the Epstein files, and it put Trump’s relationship with Epstein back in the spotlight.

Last week Trump lashed out at his supporters for their focus on what he now describes as the “Jeffrey Epstein Hoax.”

On Friday, the president sued the Wall Street Journal over a report that he sent Epstein a racy birthday letter. He then directed Bondi to unseal grand jury testimony in Epstein’s criminal case.

Epstein accuser says she told FBI about an encounter with Trump

Donald and Melania Trump, Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell at Mar-a-Lago in 2000. (Davidoff Studios/Getty Images) (Davidoff Studios Photography via Getty Images)

The New York Times reported Sunday that Maria Farmer, a former Epstein employee and accuser, had told the New York Police Department and the FBI about an encounter she said she had with Trump in Epstein’s office:

The encounter with Mr. Trump, Ms. Farmer said, occurred in 1995 as she was preparing to work for Mr. Epstein. She said she told the authorities that late one night, Mr. Epstein unexpectedly called her to his offices in a luxury building in Manhattan, and she arrived in running shorts.

Mr. Trump then arrived, wearing a business suit, and started to hover over her, she said she told the authorities.
Ms. Farmer said she recalled feeling scared as Mr. Trump stared at her bare legs. Then Mr. Epstein entered the room, and she recalled him saying to Mr. Trump: “No, no. She’s not here for you.”

Farmer told the Times that she had no other alarming interactions with Trump and did not see him engage in any inappropriate conduct.

The White House denied the account of the meeting in Epstein’s office while pointing to Trump’s assertion that he had a falling out with Epstein years before his 2019 arrest and ultimately banned him from Mar-a-Lago.

“The president was never in his office,” White House communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement to the paper. “The fact is that the president kicked him out of his club for being a creep.”

Pressure from Republicans and Democrats in Congress

A protester with a sign outside the White House on July 18. (Alex Wroblewski/AFP via Getty Images) (ALEX WROBLEWSKI via Getty Images)

Meanwhile, there is increasing bipartisan pressure from Congress for more transparency from the Trump administration on the Epstein matter.

Appearing on ABC’s This Week on Sunday, Republican Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee called the possible unsealing of grand jury material a “good start” but made clear he wants the release of as many files as possible.

Burchett is one of at least 10 House Republicans to join an effort launched by Kentucky GOP Rep. Thomas Massie and California Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna to force a symbolic vote on whether the Trump administration should release all of the Epstein files.

Congress does not have the authority to compel the Justice Department to release the files, but any vote would amount to a loyalty test among House Republicans regarding the Epstein case.

Last week, Trump said Republicans "got duped" by Democrats on the Epstein conspiracies.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., scoffed at the idea Democrats were to blame for Trump’s Epstein troubles.

“The president blaming Democrats for this disaster is like that CEO that got caught on camera blaming Coldplay,” Klobuchar said on CNN’s State of the Union Sunday. “This is of his own making.”

Jeffrey Epstein on March 28, 2017. (New York State Sex Offender Registry via AP) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Americans Deeply Regret Electing a Criminal Moron President

For the world, Donald Trump personifies the "dumb and ugly" label that most people around the world attach to Americans. I think the French created it from their own "Bête et Méchant", having experienced first-hand their WWII liberators. Indeed, just as Americans think they're smart by using, abusing and exploiting other people like immigrants for their own petty little "interests", forgetting that they themselves started as illegal migrants to this land, so do the Europeans use, abuse, and exploit Americans as "liberators" when needed, as in the twentieth-century's two world wars, then rediscover the price of such liberation: Cheap, tacky, unhealthy, but very sincere dumbness and ugliness.

Even the English colonial crooks who genetically engineered Americans by digging up slime from the bottom of their gene pool barrel admit that they are disappointed by how degenerate their American mutant progeny turned out to be. 

How do you know that Trump's policies are dumb and ugly? By their cheap unwarranted hateful racist cruelty. All European countries are deporting illegal migrants. During their terms, Barack Obama and Joe Biden were deporting as many illegals as Trump is today. But all these countries and people did it, or are doing it, with dignity, with respect for the human being, with compassion. But Trump and his inbred mongrels love to hate: Racism is in their DNA, and they love to brag about it. Trump's team of hoodlums and thugs have to  dehumanize other people in the disgusting grotesque violent fanfare of their burlesque show.

Deep down, Donald Trump is onto something when he claims that the whole world is taking Americans for fools: He and the whole world know that Americans are shallow fools whose only measure of success is show-off and money. They have no other referential value with which to measure civilization. They are after all from a line of up-and-coming backward peasants who "arrived" and discovered civilization upon reaching these shores and quickly proceeded to exterminate it.

As the stench from the Donald Trump show begins to stink to high hell, many Americans are searching for whatever residual value might remain in the fleeting idea of America as humanity's last resort and a beacon on a hill. So far, only the inbred backwoods white trash of the slavery racist secessionist states still hang on to Trump like grim death, while Trump's policies reinforce to the world the idea that Americans are very much a dumb and ugly people to be avoided at all costs.

=======================================================

Opinion

Trump is unpopular, polls show, and he's building an America most Americans hate
Rex Huppke, USA TODAY
Mon, July 21, 2025

President Donald Trump, in the eyes of Donald Trump and the toadies who populate his administration, is overseeing the most successful stretch of any president in our lifetimes.

That bent-reality view of what’s actually happening is, of course, pure and predictable propaganda. Even the kindest interpretation of public opinion polling on Trump and his unhinged leadership thus far tells us this: The president is wildly unpopular, and he is creating a crueler version of America that a sizable majority of voters reject.

Trump spent the weekend posting wildly on Truth Social and sharing glowing images of himself with the words “6 MONTHS OF WINNING” alongside AI-generated videos showing former President Barack Obama being arrested. You know, the kind of normal presidential stuff that self-confident, emotionally stable presidents usually post.

Trump thinks he's winning, but Americans see a big-time loser

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters during a meeting with Crown Prince of Bahrain Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa in the Oval Office of the White House on July 16, 2025, in Washington, D.C.

His vampiric deputy chief of staff and most-favored henchman, Stephen Miller, posted on X: “The most incredible opening 6 months to an American presidency in history.”

Like Miller, the architect of Trump’s draconian and increasingly cruel mass deportations, numbers don’t have a soul. But unlike Miller and all who’ve sold they’re souls to work with an opportunistic bully like Trump, numbers don’t lie.

So let’s take a look at what the numbers are saying about this allegedly amazing six months of presidential winning.
Trump's approval after six months stinks, by any measure

A CBS News poll conducted July 16 through July 18 found 58% of Americans disapprove of the way Trump is handling his job as president. Only 42% approve, a drop of a whopping 11 percentage points since a February CBS News poll.

That’s not good.

People hold a banner with the pictures of missing people during a "Good Trouble Lives On" protest against U.S. President Donald Trump and in remembrance of late U.S. Congressman and civil rights pioneer John Lewis, in New York City, July 17, 2025.

Citing Gallup polling, USA TODAY reported Trump’s June approval ratings during the first year of each of his two terms “are lower than any other modern president at the same time in their administrations.”

And polling averages from the New York Times to CNN to YouGov show Trump’s approval wallowing in the low 40s.
Trump's support on immigration – his big issue – has tanked

If you’re the person who is supposed to be president for all Americans, that is a far cry from “winning.” Although if you care only about yourself and legislated cruelty, as Trump clearly does, I suppose such things don’t matter.

People gather for a "Good Trouble Lives On" protest outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Phoenix Field Office on July 17, 2025.

Diving deeper into polling numbers, you can see how unpopular much of Trump’s “Golden Age” agenda is, even when it comes to issues he has long polled well on, like immigration and the economy.

The recent CBS News poll found only 44% approve of Trump’s handling of immigration, down from 10 percentage points from March.

Americans disapprove of Trump's hateful immigration policies

A Gallup poll released July 11 found only 35% of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of immigration, with 62% disapproving and 45% strongly disapproving. Now that Americans are seeing masked ICE agents round up hardworking migrants and shuttle them off to foreign countries or lock them in detention centers surrounded by alligators, only about 30% of Americans say immigration should be reduced – that number was at 55% last year.

And there’s this from the same Gallup poll: “a record-high 79% of U.S. adults say immigration is a good thing for the country.” Support for hiring more border agents has dropped 17 percentage points since last year, and only 38% of respondents want to see all undocumented immigrations deported.

A Pew Research Center survey last month noted: “About a quarter of U.S. adults (23%) say they worry a lot or some that they or someone close to them could be deported.”

Again, this is winning only if you want things your way and don’t care what a majority of your fellow citizens want, which has long been a defining characteristic of the MAGA movement.

Most believe Trump's policies will hurt them, their families and their friends

A recent AP-NORC poll found that about half of Americans “feel Trump’s policies have done more to hurt them” than help them, while only a quarter of respondents said Trump’s policies have helped them.

The CBS News poll found 60% of Americans oppose Trump’s tariffs on imported goods, only 36% approve of his handling of inflation, and only 25% of voters believe the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” Trump recently signed will do anything to help them, while 47% think it will hurt them.

A Quinnipiac University poll released July 16 showed Trump sizably underwater on immigration, trade, the economy, deportations, foreign policy, the Russia-Ukraine war, the Israel-Hamas war and tariffs.

On the Epstein scandal, Trump is flailing and failing

A protester holds a sign outside the White House demanding the release to all files related to Jeffrey Epstein in Washington, DC, on July 18, 2025.

And lest we forget the ongoing Jeffrey Epstein scandal, the Quinnipiac poll found 63% of voters disapprove of the Trump Administration’s handling of the case.

Taken in total, there’s one inescapable conclusion: This has been six months of losing for President Trump and his administration, on virtually every issue. He is unpopular, the things he’s doing are unpopular, and that lack of popularity isn’t going to help him as the Epstein scandal continues to envelop his presidency.
Trump lies – numbers don't. Remember that next time he brags.

Trump can brag all he wants and keep declaring his own greatness, but anyone who has paid attention to him over the years knows these numbers are an assault on his fragile ego. That’s why he’s flailing so much right now, why his social-media account is a stream of babbling, self-congratulatory or authoritarian wish-casting nonsense.

Trump won’t tell you the truth. He won't even consider the truth himself.

That should make Americans like him even less.

Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on Bluesky at @rexhuppke.bsky.social and on Facebook at facebook.com/RexIsAJerk

You can read diverse opinions from our USA TODAY columnists and other writers on the Opinion front page, on X, formerly Twitter, @usatodayopinion and in our Opinion newsletter.