Ringing in the New Year!

It's Been a Long One For Sure

A Bear Crisis Has Seized Japan

A bear crisis has sparked national alarm in Japan-- at least 13 people have been killed and more than 200 wounded injured in bear encounters the past year alone. Videos of bears rummaging through supermarket aisles, roaming school grounds and plucking persimmons from suburban backyards have gone viral on Japanese social media. Some schools have also closed temporarily, while residents in parts of northern Japan avoid going out after dark. Japan’s defense minister has deployed the Self-Defense Forces to hard-hit regions, and lawmakers are scrambling to find long-term solutions. The US and UK embassies have also issued advisories to travelers in rural areas. 

For many, the crisis feels both frightening – and predictable.  “There are just too many bears now, it’s an emergency situation,” bear hunter Haruo Ikegami says.  Japan’s bear population has skyrocketed, while the number of licensed hunters has plummeted. With more than a third of Japan’s population now over 65, rural towns are shrinking. Few young residents remain, and even fewer are willing to take up hunting, Ikegami said, a dangerous job with low pay and little appeal compared to urban life in places like Tokyo. “If the government had taken this seriously earlier, it wouldn’t have gotten this bad,” Atsushi Kanno, a 37-year-old bear hunter, told CNN. “It’s nonsense that they’re responding now, only after things have escalated.” 

There are several factors driving the surge in encounters. One is simply numbers-- the population of the Hokkaido brown bear, one of two bear species in Japan, has more than doubled in the last 30 years, with nearly 12,000 of the animals now roaming the country’s northernmost prefecture.  Experts say climate change is another factor. Poor harvests of nuts and fruit are pushing bears to seek food elsewhere. 

“When it’s scarce, bears must find food. I believe bears are taking a step closer to human settlements,” Hiroo Tamatani, a bear conservationist said. Japan’s demographic shifts also compound the problem. Rural towns and farmland once formed a natural buffer between deep forest and populated centers. But as those areas empty out, bears are moving in, taking advantage of the new real estate.

Public opinion largely supports culling. Many in Japan now fear hiking or traveling to prefectures with recent attacks, and a growing number prefer visiting “no-bear prefectures,” areas with no known bear populations.  Japanese officials continue searching for solutions that protect human life while allowing wildlife to survive.  “Humans and animals have lived side by side for a long time. Sometimes we harmed each other, but we still must respect and acknowledge one another,” Tougen Yoshihara, a Buddhist monk who was attacked by a bear, told CNN.

 

Post Christmas Vibe

Right Back at Ya

Lady A - Wouldn't Be Christmas

Mickey Guyton - Feels Like Christmas

Have a Banging Christmas!

The Jonas Brothers - Coming Home This Christmas

Keeping it Real on Christmas

Let's Be Honest This Xmas

Have a Very Vulcan Xmas

 

Happy Star Trek Holiday

Brad Paisley - Leave the Christmas Lights on For Me

Don't Be A Grinch This Xmas

Merry Christmas From the Heartland

 

From The North Pole

Trump Shows What a Sick Bastard He Really Is

Convicted felon Donald Trump showed us once again what an ignorant jackass he is-- and that he is no leader.  Commenting on the tragic death of Rob Reiner and his wife yesterday, Trump posted: 

 

1. Rob Reiner was neither tortured and struggling (but Trump certainly appears to be himself);

2.  There is no such thing as "Trump Derangement Syndrome"

3. Reiner did not pass away due to a "mind-crippling disease"-- he was stabbed by his son;

4. The Trump administration is not surpassing any goals or expectations-- in fact, the administration is falling behead on most of his promises (lowering prices, staying out of foreign wars, deporting criminals)

5. America is definitely NOT in a "Golden Age" 

All of this hateful bullshit is what everyone has come to expect from a man who danced on the grave of the late Sen. John McCain, called military members who died “suckers and losers,” and seems to delight in the pain he inflicts on others daily. 

Of all people, even Marjorie Taylor Greene called out Trump’s post. “Rob Reiner and his wife were tragically killed at the hands of their own son, who reportedly had drug addiction and other issues, and their remaining children are left in serious mourning and heartbreak. This is a family tragedy, not about politics or political enemies,” Greene wrote in a post on X. “Many families deal with a family member with drug addiction and mental health issues. It’s incredibly difficult and should be met with empathy especially when it ends in murder.”

 

GOP Keeps Fucking Up Health Care

As millions of Americans are bracing to see their health insurance premiums more than double due to Republicans' refusal to extend enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits, GOP lawmakers insisted this week that they will fix health care in the United States. 

Never mind that Republicans for the past 15 years have failed to come up with a health care plan that Americans want or one that improves on the ACA, also known as Obamacare. Republicans are insisting that if they're given just a little more time they will fix the whole health care system.

"We're gonna have a vote before the end of the year for sure, and then we're going to continue to do improvements along the way. In the first quarter, second quarter, there's a lot to fix in health care, we've all acknowledged that," House Speaker Mike Johnson told Punchbowl News.

At a closed-door meeting, House Republicans presented 10 possible ideas, none of which included extending the enhanced ACA tax credits to prevent the coming premium increases.  Yet Republicans left the meeting no closer to an agreement on how to move forward as the clock ticks down for Americans who rely on those credits to stay insured.

“The consensus is we need to come up with something,” Rep. Ralph Norman, Republican of South Carolina, said. 

Senate Republicans, meanwhile, voted on a plan that would give low-income Americans $1,000 to put in health savings accounts. But the proposal failed, receiving fewer than the 60 votes it needed to avoid a filibuster.   Yet, even if it had passed, it wouldn’t have been sufficient to help all of the millions of Americans who are about to be hit with massive premium increases.

"Under the Senate Republican ACA plan, premium payments would still more than double next year. Healthy people could be better off in a high deductible plan with a health savings account. People who are sick would face big premium increases or a deductible they can't afford," Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy at KFF, wrote in a post on X.

To the mainstream media's credit, reporters grilled Republicans on why, after more than a decade and a half of bitching about the perils of Obamacare, they still have no plan to replace it.

"I'm not sure what we can say," Sen. Roger Marshall, Republican of Kansas, told CNN's Kaitlan Collins after she asked why the GOP still has no concrete proposal. Republicans will not like the result of their health care failures next November, when voters will get the chance to make their displeasure known at the ballot box.  “We've got to solve it,” retiring Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina told CNN.

  

Trump is More Unpopular Than Ever

Convicted felon Donald Trump's approval on the economy and immigration have fallen substantially, according to a new AP-NORC poll, the latest indication that two signature issues that got him elected barely a year ago could be turning into liabilities as his party begins to gear up for the 2026 midterms.

Only 31% of U.S. adults now approve of how Trump is handling the economy, the poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds. That is down from 40% in March and marks the lowest economic approval he’s registered in an AP-NORC poll in his first or second term. The Republican president also has struggled to recover from public blowback on other issues, such as his management of the federal government, and has not seen an approval bump even after congressional Democrats effectively capitulated to end a record-long government shutdown last month.

Perhaps most worryingly for Trump, who’s become increasingly synonymous with his party, he’s slipped on issues that were major strengths. Just a few months ago, 53% of Americans approved of Trump’s handling of crime, but that’s fallen to 43% in the new poll. There’s been a similar decline on immigration, from 49% approval in March to 38% now. 

“Taking people out of kindergarten, and people going home for Thanksgiving, taking them off a plane. If they are criminals, sure,” said 83-year-old Georgia resident Jim Rollins, who said he supported Trump in his first election but not since then. “But the percentages — based on the government’s own statistics — say that they’re not criminals. They just didn’t register, and maybe they sneaked across the border, and they’ve been here for 15 years.”  

About 3 in 10 U.S. adults approve of how Trump is handling health care, down slightly from November. The new poll was conducted in early December, as Trump and Congress struggled to find a bipartisan deal for extending the Affordable Care Act subsidies that will expire at the end of this month.  That health care fight was also the source of the recent government shutdown. About one-third of U.S. adults, 35%, approve of how Trump is managing the federal government, down from 43% in March.

 

Willie Nelson - Christmas Love Song

Man Charged With Wiping His Own Phone Before CBP Could Search It

Whatever happened to the right against self incrimination?  A man in Atlanta has been arrested and charged for allegedly deleting data from a Google Pixel phone before a member of a secretive Customs and Border Protection (CBP) unit was able to search it, according to court records and social media posts reviewed by 404 Media. The man, Samuel Tunick, is described as a local Atlanta activist in Instagram and other posts discussing the case.The exact circumstances around the search—such as why CBP wanted to search the phone in the first place—are not known. But it is uncommon to see someone charged specifically for wiping a phone, a feature that is easily accessible in some privacy and security-focused devices.

The indictment says on January 24, Tunick “did knowingly destroy, damage, waste, dispose of, and otherwise take any action to delete the digital contents of a Google Pixel cellular phone, for the purpose of preventing and impairing the Government’s lawful authority to take said property into its custody and control.” The indictment itself was filed in mid-November.Tunick was arrested earlier this month, according to a post on a crowd-funding site and court records. “Samuel Tunick, an Atlanta-based activist, Oberlin graduate, and beloved musician, was arrested by the DHS and FBI yesterday around 6pm EST. Tunick's friends describe him as an approachable, empathetic person who is always finding ways to improve the lives of the people around him,” of Tunick’s arrest on social media.

The indictment says the phone search was supposed to be performed by a supervisory officer from a CBP Tactical Terrorism Response Team. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) wrote in 2023 these are “highly secretive units deployed at U.S. ports of entry, which target, detain, search, and interrogate innocent travelers. These units, which may target travelers on the basis of officer ‘instincts.’ raise the risk that CBP is engaging in unlawful profiling or interfering with the First Amendment-protected activity of travelers.”  The Intercept previously covered the case of a sculptor and installation artist who was detained at San Francisco International Airport and had his phone searched. The report said Gach did not know why, even years later. Court records show authorities have since released Tunick, and that he is restricted from leaving the Northern District of Georgia as the case continues.

 

 

Mark Zuckerberg Shown to Be a Hypocrite, Once Again

Tech nerd Mark Zuckerberg has found himself at the center of an embarrassing climate change flip-flop, thanks to his $300 million mega yacht. The 41-year-old Meta boss, worth roughly $230 billion, has reportedly been burning hundreds of thousands of gallons of diesel fuel since launching his personal, 387-foot vessel last year.

The yacht, dubbed Launchpad, runs on four diesel engines that use about 291 gallons of fuel every hour, which allegedly emits 40 tons of CO₂ over that same period of time.

Zuckerberg, an outspoken advocate for climate change policies such as the Paris Agreement and scaling carbon dioxide removal technologies to limit global warming, has been roasted on social media over the yacht's massive carbon footprint.

 "Another reminder that Net Zero is only for the peasants," one person wrote on X next to a video of the massive luxury vessel sailing near Florida.  "Meanwhile ordinary people drive electric cars and recycle, because the planet matters. But for him, apparently, the planet doesn't matter," another social media user added.  Others called the multi-million-dollar yacht the ultimate "symbol of hypocrisy," as Zuckerberg has spent more than $100 million funding climate advocacy and related initiatives through his philanthropic organization.

Some critics of Zuckerberg's lavish mode of transportation noted that Launchpad was just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to climate hypocrisy.  The mega yacht has been accompanied on its journeys by a 220-foot, $30 million support ship called Wingman, which can carry smaller boats, a miniature submarine for exploration and even a helicopter.  "Rich people when they say "we’re all in this together" then fire up four diesel engines," an X user commented.

In just nine months between 2024 and this year, the $300 million super-yacht burned more than 528,000 gallons of diesel fuel, before docking in France’s La Ciotat shipyard in August, according to the Greek Reporter.  That usage amounted to more than 5,300 tons of carbon emissions being released by the one ship alone, the same as nearly 400 US households over one year.

The revelations about Zuckerberg's boat sharply contradict the Meta CEO's past comments about the dire situation Earth faces because of climate change, which has been largely blamed on human activities such as burning fossil fuels.  "Stopping climate change is something we can only do as a global community, and we have to act together before it’s too late," Zuckerberg said in 2017 while condemning President Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris Climate Accord.

 

Trump Trough

A Trump Christmas

Somewhere Near the North Pole . . .

 

Jesus Gets Down

 

Pentatonix - Bah Humbug

Godzilla Christmas

Try and Enjoy the Holiday Season!

Sinking Ships

Feliz Navidad

Humor From Those College Days

Pull Out Your Pocketbooks Everyone

Kings of Leon - To Space

Happy Turkey Day

Christmas Season is Almost Here

Ice in the Veins

Thanksgiving is Coming

Going Off the Deep End Over a Toilet

The American presidency is currently going through some of the most troubling challenges in its history. For the first time ever we have, in Donald Trump, a White House occupant who is emulating the behavior of notorious totalitarian dictators such as Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, and Kim Jong Un, all of whom he frequently reminds us are leaders that he admires.  

Having an avowed autocrat as the American PINO (President in Name Only) is creating unprecedented challenges that portend seriously disturbing consequences, especially since no one close to Trump is calling him on his BS or seemingly trying to steer him to safer waters. And topping the list of the Trump Sycophants Brigade is his Propaganda Secretary, Karoline Leavitt.  With all of the trauma and turmoil that this nation is currently undergoing, Leavitt made a point of highlighting what she regards as among the most worrisome problems that America is facing. And she tweeted her relief that Dear Leader was addressing that problem head on, saying, "When I first learned a toilet like that existed inside the White House, I was horrified.  President Trump is making the People’s House more elegant and beautiful for generations of Americans to come!" 

Thank gawd! Now, along with building an elegant ballroom for Trump to throw parties paying tribute to him. he and his guests will be able to defecate in the luxury to which they are accustomed. How could anyone even contemplate the horror of the loathsome lavatory on the left in the photos above? But now "generations of Americans" will delight in the gaudy "elegance" of the marble amenities that Trump has installed. Well, actually only a handful of privileged elites with access to the Lincoln Bedroom in the White House.

Trump posted seven separate comments about his facility upgrade on his failing Twitter ripoff, Truth Social.  So naturally, Leavitt backed him up expressing how "horrified" she was by the prior state of the rest room. For the record, let's explore just a few of the things that did not "horrify" Leavitt:

• Trump's government shutdown that cut off food aid for children and seniors
• Trump's termination of funding for the USAID that will result in thousands of deaths
• Inflationary tariffs that raise the cost of living of most Americans
• Healthcare premiums skyrocketing by as much as 400%
• Trump's "Justice" Department prosecuting his political foes
• Ministers getting shot in the face by ICE agents
• Trump sending the military into American cities
• Palestinians suffering genocidal attacks in Gaza
• Trump halting military support for Ukraine at the behest of Vladimir Putin
• Murder of Venezuelans in the Caribbean who may have been innocent fishermen
• Trump and Republicans calling peaceful protesters "terrorists"
• Trump suppressing the media that he calls "the enemy of the people" 

It is SO comforting that Leavitt and her ilk will no longer have to suffer from using a toilet that isn't embedded in a marble mausoleum.  And we can now rest assured that Trump is focusing like a laser on the matters that truly impact the lives of the American people. And now he has a place to deposit his excrement-- rather than on top of the people who were protesting his authoritarian aspirations.

New Type of ATM Theft Getting Traction with Local Gangs

ATM "jackpotting" is the exploitation of physical and software vulnerabilities in ATM machines that result in the machines dispensing cash. These attacks can happen at any time and typically take very little time so culprits can quickly commit the crime.  ATM jackpotting uses the elements of both physical crime and cybercrime to get an ATM to dispense cash. The offenders use a portable device to physically connect to the ATM. This "rogue" device can be a laptop, a smartphone or a tablet PC. They also use malware to target the machine's cash dispenser and force it to dispense cash.

Furthermore, attackers will often use deception to limit risk, like dressing as service personnel to avoid scrutiny while selecting easier targets, such as ATMs in isolated locations or unprotected by human security guards.  With physical access to a machine, ATM jackpotting enables the theft of the machine's cash reserves, which are not tied to the balance of any one bank account. Successful thieves who remain undetected can potentially walk away with all the cash that was stored in the machine at that time.

Gorillaz & IDLES - The God of Lying

Patel is Such a Douchebag

FBI Director Kash Patel is not a smart man. He failed upward by parroting Trump’s conspiracy theories, but his time at the FBI is just a litany of hilarious failures.

His latest misstep—actually, his latest giant mistake—is that he publicly disclosed the details of the “potential” Michigan terrorist plot outside Detroit before investigators were done gathering info about whether the attack was imminent.   Actually, it might be a bigger mistake than that. It might actually be that there was never a terror plot to begin with. 

Patel simply cannot help himself. He loves nothing more than posting and bragging and, ideally, bragging while posting.   Patel posted very early on Halloween:  “This morning the FBI thwarted a potential terrorist attack and arrested multiple subjects in Michigan who were allegedly plotting a violent attack over Halloween weekend. More details to come.”  He also added the now-required boasting that also manages to sound very Nazi: “Thanks to the men and women of FBI and law enforcement everywhere standing guard 24/7 and crushing our mission to defend the homeland."

In reality, the investigation was in the early stages, and no criminal charges had been prepared, nor did the government know what the suspects planned to do. So, he basically publicized an open investigation before it concluded, and cut it off at the knees by doing so before the suspects did anything.

Patel doesn’t appear to have gotten approval from Main Justice before hopping on X, because Patel is not just stupid. He’s also a glory hound.   It isn’t just that Patel may have prematurely cut off an active FBI investigation into a terror plot. It’s also that the terror plot may be nonexistent. 

Of the five extremely deadly terrorists arrested on Halloween, two have already been released. And, according to a lawyer for one of the men, it sounds a lot more like these five were not mastermind Islamic super-terrorists but instead five young men, ages 16-20, who like to play video games and talk shit. Indeed, two unnamed law enforcement sources told CBS that there was “no concrete plan for an attack.”

Of course, this isn’t the first time Patel has absolutely embarrassed himself on social media.  After James Comey was indicted by Lindsey Halligan, Patel went to his favorite social media site to remind everyone that the FBI did too help with this sham indictment: “Career FBI agents, intel analysts, and staff led the investigation into Comey and others. They called the balls and strikes and will continue to do so.”  What investigation you might wonder? Cause it’s certainly not reflected in the indictment filed by Halligan. But sure, Patel, please proceed.

After right-wing activist Charlie Kirk was shot, Patel could not get on social media fast enough to say that there was a “subject” in custody (hoping no one would notice he didn’t say "suspect"). And Patel probably really wishes no one had noticed that the  so-called “subject” was cut loose a couple of hours later and was definitely not a suspect.  

Or who could forget when he breathlessly posted photos of unused bullet casings after a shooting in Texas, bullet casings where the suspect had helpfully scrawled “ANTI-ICE” in sharpie marker. 

At least he has a government jet he can fly all around the country to see his girlfriend and catch some sports. But you won’t know about that any longer, since Patel was so embarrassed at people mocking him for his little girlfriend boondoggle trip on the taxpayer’s dime that he decided to fire the person overseeing the FBI’s airplane fleet. 

That’s an awful weenie baby move for such an alleged tough guy. Surely a big warrior like you can take a little heat about your jet trips all around the country on the taxpayer’s dime. 

 

Quiet Piggy!

Musk Gets Savaged by Old Lady on Social Media

It’s keyboards at dawn, folks!  Elon Musk has been comprehensively trolled on his own social media platform, and if that irony wasn’t delicious enough, his online nemesis isn’t some Fortnite-playing 12-year-old boy but an octogenarian literary icon. American author Joyce Carol Oates branded the tech boss “totally uneducated” and “uncultured” in a damning post which has evidently got under Musk’s skin.

The spat began when Musk bullishly defended his proposed trillion-dollar Tesla pay package. That inspired 87-year-old Oates to post a savage indictment: “So curious that such a wealthy man never posts anything that indicates that he enjoys or is even aware of what virtually everyone appreciates”, such as “praise for a movie, music, a book (but doubt that he reads)”.

Oates ended her attack: “In fact he seems totally uneducated, uncultured. The poorest persons on Twitter may have access to more beauty & meaning in life than the ‘most wealthy person in the world.’” The fact that she referred to the platform by its original name, Twitter, rather than Musk's attempted rebrand, was the icing on the cake.

The post about Musk went viral, with 5.5 million views, plus 11,000 retweets and 89,000 likes – and the subject of her stinging rebuke has not taken it well. In a series of erratic posts, Musk first went on the counter-attack, writing the following day: “Everything she says in her post about me can be shown to be demonstrably false with a simple search. Oates is a lazy liar and … an abuser of semicolons!” He followed that up with the cattier post: “Eating a bag of sawdust would be vastly more enjoyable than reading the laboriously pretentious drivel of Oates.”

However, Musk appeared to take Oates’s words to heart. Amusingly, right after the veteran author accused him of being culturally inert, Musk took great pains to demonstrate his bona fides. He shared such profound film insights as “Man on Fire is great”, "Edge of Tomorrow is a “great movie”, and “Fifth Element has great style”. Top tip for Musk: perhaps try using more than a single adjective when you’re feuding with a four-time Pulitzer finalist.

In an astonishing coincidence, X then promoted an ad from the book app Blinkist claiming that “Elon reads a lot” and sharing his nine non-fiction recommendations. Musk also advised his followers to listen to an audiobook of Homer’s Iliad at 1.25 speed, but linked to Homer’s Odyssey instead; he has since deleted the post. 

If Musk hoped that this burst of cultural engagement would silence Oates, he was sadly mistaken. The author landed another right hook on November 11, replying to a post about Musk always wanting to leave an event by saying: “That’s because when he gets there, he has brought his own self along; & whatever club he’s invited to join has been devalued by the invitation.” Oates also said of Musk’s estranged transgender daughter Vivian Wilson: “A normal parent would be very proud.” 

Musk clearly didn’t know who he was messing with. This particular literary lion simply loves to sharpen her claws on social media, and Oates has proved to be oddly well-suited to the medium thanks to her combination of intellectual acuity and unapologetically blistering, often outrage-sparking, opinions. 

 

Release the [Unredacted] Epstein Files!

Now that the House is being forced to take a vote on releasing the Epstein files,  convicted felon Donald Trump has changed course and now seemingly supports the release.  But many feel that there are other reasons for the Trump capitulation-- there are fears that Trump officials have spent the months-long delay redacting/deleting the names of Trump and other Republications.  

“They’ll [DOJ] redact every Republican or conservative person in those files, leave all the liberal, Democratic people in those files, and have a very slanted version of it come out… without really seeing any of their bad behavior,” admitted Joseph Schnitt, Acting Deputy Chief at the Office of Enforcement Operations for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), on hidden camera to an undercover OMG journalist. Schnitt confirmed that the government is in possession of an extensive trove of Epstein-related documents but warned that any release would be politically manipulated.

Schnitt admitted that “There’s thousands and thousands of page-open files,” and further described how the department would handle disclosure of the material: “If they’re released in any way, it’s going to be very redacted.”

He further revealed new information regarding Epstein co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell. “She got transferred to a minimum security prison,” Schnitt said, despite her conviction as a sex offender. “It’s against BOP policy because she’s a convicted sex offender. And they’re not supposed to get minimum security prisons, which is an interesting detail because she’s getting a benefit, which means they’re offering her something to keep her mouth shut.”

Schnitt also revealed internal conflict within federal law enforcement over the release of said files. “The head of FBI [Kash Patel] really wants to… second-in-command [Dan Bongino] at FBI has been causing problems, because he’s like, ‘No, these [Epstein Files] have to be released.’ He added, “The FBI wants them out. The top two guys that will do it. But they work for Bondi, so… Bondi wants whatever Trump wants. Internally there’s a lot of conflict.”

Despite public assurances that the government has been transparent, Schnitt admitted that nothing substantive has been revealed: “Whatever they’ve released has already been publicly released anyway, so they haven’t released anything new. Even though they were the ones that were claiming that they were going to release everything.”

Another tidbit on the Epstein files has made news-- Mark Epstein (the brother of Jeffrey Epstein) made a public statement to shut down one of the most controversial interpretations of newly released Epstein estate emails, issuing a statement insisting that the now-viral “Bubba” reference in a 2018 exchange with his brother Jeffrey had nothing to do with former President Bill Clinton. In the statement, Epstein said the exchange was being misread entirely. “They were simply part of a humorous private exchange between two brothers and were never meant for public release or to be interpreted as serious remarks,” he wrote. He added, “For the avoidance of doubt, the reference to ‘Bubba’ in this correspondence is not, in any way, a reference to former President Bill Clinton.”

Other messages now public paint a darker and more politically treacherous picture. In a 2019 email to author Michael Wolff, Jeffrey Epstein claimed that Trump “knew about the girls as he asked Ghislaine to stop.” Another email, sent in 2011 to Ghislaine Maxwell, alleges Trump spent hours at Epstein’s house with one of his sex-trafficking victims.

Despite the protestations of the White House, the latest revelations are damaging to Trump and the pressure seems to be on the rise. On Friday night, he launched into a caustic Truth Social tirade, complete with anti-transgender rhetoric, pulling his endorsement for and attacking Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, one of his staunchest allies, after she joined a bipartisan move to force a House vote compelling the DOJ to release all unclassified Epstein files. 

 

Kim Kardashian's TV Show Gets Trashed by the Critics

To be fair, Kim Kardashian is not an actress-- she is basically a reality internet star who got famous when her sex tape with Ray J was leaked on the internet. She filed a lawsuit against a distributor for selling copies of the tape, despite many in the industry telling her that the suit had no merit.  But guess what?  She dropped the lawsuit three months later (just as sales were peaking) in exchange for a financial settlement (i.e., a cut of the profits, perhaps?).  A mere four months later, her reality show debuted on cable TV.  Numerous media outlets later criticized her and her family for using the sex tape's release as a publicity stunt to promote their forthcoming reality show. 

Kardashian tried to raise her profile as an activist in 2017 during a visit to Uganda.  She was widely criticized for lending her celebrity to legitimize an increasingly authoritarian government, which had recently begun cracking down on political opponents and gay people.  Two years later, it was reported that she began studying for the bar exam (without going to law school).  Two years after that, she passed the "baby bar" on her fourth attempt.  After a further four years of "study," Kardashian failed to pass the actual bar exam.  But now, she is trying her hand at being an actress . . . I'll give you one guess on how that has turned out.

The reviews of Ryan Murphy's divorce drama have been universally horrible.  On Rotten Tomatoes, the show has garnered a shocking 4% rating.

The Guardian's zero-star review was titled "Kim Kardashian’s Divorce Drama is Fascinatingly, Existentially Terrible."  For context, I should tell you that the Guardian (in its 75 years of reviewing TV programs) has only given out two other zero-star reviews.  On the reality star's performance:  "Kim K as Allura . . . is as expressionless as you might expect, but is at least inoffensively useless."  On the overall cast: "No one seems to know what they’re doing; the performances seem to respond to about nine different ideas of what the show is and the plots are dismal. The trio (“You’re the best divorce lawyers in town – maybe the country”) wrap up multiple cases in the time it takes Kim K’s nail varnish to dry."  The show has also been derided for a jarring obsession with brand names (“Let’s get those Goyard travel cases and start stuffing!”), conspicuous consumption (“Oh my God – didn’t this belong to Elizabeth Taylor?”), and a concept of female empowerment (“I settled … Did I not love myself enough?”) that would have shamed the Spice Girls thirty years ago.

Empire magazine said that Kardashian performance makes "Keeping Up With The Kardashians" look like Citizen Kane.  "Then there’s Kim Kardashian herself, the show’s inexplicable lead. In one early scene, an absurd number of candles are lit around her, presumably to create the illusion of emotion on her otherwise bored face. “She’s a dominatrix, I love that for her,” says Kardashian at one point, yet no “love” or expression of any kind is apparent. So wooden is her acting that the furniture around her looks positively alive by comparison," it added.

The Hollywood Reporter said that Kardashian’s performance was "stiff and affectless without a single authentic note."

USA Today said "the dialogue is stilted to the point of laughability . . . the plots are offensively dull and idiotic, and . . . it’s all wrapped in expensive and tasteless fashion."

You get the idea-- no need to pile on.  Good luck to Kim K in her future endeavors.

China Played Trump Like a Chump (Again)

Convicted felon Donald Trump has been trying to claim victory in his ongoing trade tantrum with China, but look past the bravado and it’s clear that Chinese Premier Xi Jinping played the president—again. Even worse, it looks like Trump just surrendered some of the United States’ most advanced technology to our largest adversary for a literal hill of beans.

Trump’s new Chinese trade deal would see the U.S. selling its most advanced Blackwell artificial intelligence chips to China in exchange for a Chinese commitment to resume the country’s purchases of American soybeans, which ground to a halt during the latest trade unrest. Cybersecurity experts and U.S. business leaders now warn that giving China easy access to AI technology will make it even harder for American companies to compete in global markets while making it easier for Chinese operatives to compromise national security.  “The defining fight of the 21st century will be who controls artificial intelligence,” Delaware Sen. Chris Coons told CNN. “It would be a tragic mistake for President Trump, in order to get some soybean orders out of China, to sell them these critical cutting-edge AI chips.” 

Trump’s short-sighted soybean deal is just the most visible part of a trade deal that appears to benefit China on nearly every front. As The New York Times notes, Xi’s scheme to block American access to Chinese rare earth metals worked perfectly, bringing U.S. negotiators to the table without China actually needing to offer anything new. Xi’s team effectively offered Trump the chance to return to a deal the two nations already had in place, while American negotiators offered up a host of new concessions that will allow Xi to expand China’s growing tech dominance.

In addition to giving China access to the world’s most advanced AI chips, Trump also announced he would cut his more recent 20% tariff on Chinese goods by half, while also agreeing to remove export limits on key Chinese products. Those penalties were put in place earlier this year in an effort to stop the flow of fentanyl from Chinese ports, a fight Trump is now abandoning after only a few short months. It was a stinging defeat for a president who absolutely hates losing. 

The changing power dynamic was visible in Trump’s new and weaker language about Chinese fentanyl. Just months after threatening to shut down all trade with China unless they immediately halted the flow of fentanyl, Trump now seemed to acknowledge that it was China—not the United States—setting the terms of the negotiation.  “I believe that they’re going to help us with the fentanyl situation,” Trump told reporters. “They’re going to be doing what they can do.”

Trump’s sudden backtracking on everything from technology security to drug trafficking stunned Jeremy Mark, a nonresident senior fellow at the nonpartisan Atlantic Council.   “However the White House chooses to portray the agreement in the coming weeks, there is no avoiding the fact that Beijing has tremendous advantages in the ongoing negotiations,” Mark recently wrote.

So why did Trump fold so quickly on an issue as important to American national security as controlling the flow of highly advanced AI technology to foreign powers? One word: Nvidia. 

Katy Perry - bandaids

Fishing in the Caribbean

Hegseth’s Sexism is Pushing Qualified Women Out of the Military

Everything was set for the Navy officer to take over a new role that would have capped an already distinguished career— and made her the first woman in a Naval Special Warfare command overseeing Navy SEALs.  Ranked the top officer for promotion in her cohort, she received a Purple Heart after being injured in an IED attack during a combat tour in Iraq. She then became the first woman to serve with SEAL Team Six in the role of troop commander, one of several senior positions within the squadrons that make up the elite naval unit.   A formal ceremony marking her new position was planned for July. Invitations went out two months in advance.  

But just two weeks before the ceremony, her command was abruptly canceled with little explanation (according to a new report by CNN). The decision didn’t come through formal channels but by a series of phone calls from the Pentagon, which was designed to omit a paper trail, according to multiple sources.  With no command slot to take, under the Navy’s “up or out” policy, the officer’s more than two-decade military career is now effectively over.  As the news spread through the tight-knit world of Naval Special Warfare, a consensus began to form: The command was likely yanked by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth because of the officer’s gender.  

The command she was set to take over is closely aligned with recruiting for elite operations roles, including the Navy SEALs — and the impression those in the Naval Special Warfare community got from the Pentagon was that Hegseth did not want a woman fronting that role.  

A Pentagon official familiar with the situation said the command was pulled because the Navy captain wasn’t herself a SEAL, and that Hegseth was not involved.  But multiple people familiar with the dynamics of Navy personnel matters scoffed at those explanations. A broad panel of the most elite Navy SEAL leaders selected her for the new command.  “They can [try to] justify it by saying she’s not qualified because she’s not a SEAL,” said one retired SEAL. “But the SEALs thought she was qualified.”  To this person, the revoked command was a clear symptom of Hegseth’s views about women in the military. He said he believes the commander was removed because Hegseth is sexist.  “I’m sure they would repeal the whole women in combat thing [if they could], but this is what they can do,” the retired SEAL added.  

Her story is further evidence of what many in the military now fear is a culture of misogyny permeating the armed forces under Hegseth.  Many active-duty women have said they also know of other female service members who had recently been passed over for deserved promotions. Others said they are now considering leaving the military.  

Hegseth has already removed several women from prominent leadership roles, including firing Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the highest-ranking officer in the US Navy and the first woman on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. That currently leaves the US without a female four-star general, the military’s highest rank.  Two years ago, there were four.  

In a speech to generals in Quantico, Virginia, in September, Hegseth announced his vision for rolling back policies aimed at promoting diversity or accommodating troops.  Among these were fitness standards that he claimed were eased in recent years to make it possible for women to serve in combat roles. In his speech, Hegseth vowed to implement fitness tests that would be judged to “the highest male standard.”  “If that means no women qualify for some combat jobs, so be it,” Hegseth said.  But the fact is that Hegseth’s claims are blatantly false—the physical standards for combat positions are already gender-neutral.  For the Navy captain whose command orders were revoked, she met every physical standard (according to multiple sources)-- including being able to perform 25-pound weighted pull-ups.  

According to a retired senior enlisted Navy SEAL who served with the Navy Captain denied a promotion, there was never any question about her qualifications for the role. “She was the best man for the job. There is absolutely no DEI ,” the retired SEAL said, adding that the captain spent her spare time competing in IRONMAN races.  She would have overseen bomb disposal technicians and divers in addition to Navy SEALs, three communities in which she had worked. “She’s a badass, and also extremely smart and capable,” the retired SEAL said.

For Hailey Gibbons, an Army veteran who was among the first women to graduate from Ranger School after it was opened to women a decade ago, the idea that women aren’t meeting the same standards as men is “laughable.” Her initial physical test at Ranger School – a grueling two-month training course – was the same as her male comrades, she said: 49 pushups, 59 sit-ups, and a five-mile run in under 40 minutes, plus six chin-ups. 

Another woman in the Army (an enlisted soldier in a combat arms unit) said that she is already feeling real-life effects of Hegseth’s September speech.  Following the secretary’s remarks, she said a male non-commissioned officer in her unit told her: “All you women are getting out now.”  “I want nothing to do with the military after this,” she said.   

For the Navy captain whose change of command was canceled she’s now unexpectedly winding down a trailblazing career in the Navy.  It makes her former SEAL Team Six teammate furious.  “It’s fuckin’ bullshit. That’s horse shit,” the former senior enlisted SEAL said.  He voted for and supports Trump, but says he thinks Secretary Hegseth’s personal views are blinding him from retaining obvious talent at the expense of some of the military’s most elite war fighters.  “I think my job is to protect women and children but occasionally there’s badass [women] out there, and we should capitalize and not limit ourselves,” he said. 

The Navy special operations source familiar with the matter lamented that one of the captain’s passions had been recruiting women to special operations roles. Now pulling the woman’s command could cut off access for other female service members, the person said.  “It pisses me off because it is clearly someone who is capable and has done extraordinary things and is being punished because of — and I hate that I have to say it this way — weak-ass men,” they said.

 

Using Your Credit Card May Get More Complicated

A settlement between Visa, Mastercard and U.S. merchants has been announced, which could usher in a new era of tiered pricing at the register and give businesses more power to charge fees depending on the credit card you use. The agreement comes after a two-decade antitrust battle over interchange fees, the charges banks collect from merchants every time a customer pays with plastic.

The settlement still needs court approval, and is likely to be contested by some merchant groups, which have disagreed over the fees and other terms in the past. A deal last year fell apart after lawyers for some merchants objected.

Merchants have always had the right to refuse to do business with a payment network entirely.  Costco, for example, only accepts Visa credit cards in stores. But current network rules say that if a store accepts one Visa credit card, it has to accept all Visa credit cards. The settlement could change that practice by allowing merchants to pick and choose which categories of cards to accept within a network. The settlement doesn’t affect debit cards.

A more likely outcome is that people will start to see more fees, according to analysts. Some merchants already tack on small fees when customers pay with a credit card instead of cash, but those tend to apply broadly across credit cards. The settlement would go a step further, allowing different surcharges depending on the category the card falls into. A basic, no-frills credit card, for instance, might come with a surcharge of 2.5% of the transaction amount, versus 3% for a rewards card.

The settlement would require banks to add clear visual markers to cards to help consumers and merchants determine what category a card falls into, but that could take years to update, analysts said.  For merchants, adding a surcharge would help offset their costs, but it also risks alienating customers. A recent survey commissioned by TD Cowen found that roughly two-thirds of consumers would switch payment methods if faced with a 3% to 4% surcharge.

The settlement also requires an average 0.1 percentage-point reduction in interchange fees phased in over five years. The banking industry has long argued that limiting interchange fees would threaten rewards for consumers. Analysts, however, say that the reductions spelled out in the settlement aren’t enough to result in sweeping changes to card rewards or annual fees. That means the travel points, cash-back bonuses, and lounge access that have come to define rewards and premium cards are likely to stay put.

 

Return of the Trump Curse; Fans Boo and Flip Him Off

The Trump Curse in the sporting world continues-- and has now struck once again.  The convicted felon  was the first sitting president to attend a regular-season NFL game since former President Jimmy Carter.  As expected, the orange man's presence led to the Washington Commanders' fifth straight loss, an embarrassing whipping by the Detroit Lions.

Many members of the crowd vocally booed when Trump and the rest of his entourage were projected onto the stadium’s screen in the first half, while smaller numbers clapped and yelled in apparent support.  During halftime, Trump also participated in an enlistment ceremony for members of the military, inspiring a similar response as he was shown conducting it. At times, the sound of the boos appeared to overpower that of Trump’s voice as he gave remarks over the speaker system.  People in the crowd could be seen giving a “thumbs down” gesture as Trump presided over the ceremony, while one fan was seen shaking both middle fingers at the president, according to a pool report from The New York Post’s Steve Nelson.

People in the crowd could be seen giving a “thumbs down” gesture as Trump presided over the ceremony, while one woman was seen shaking both middle fingers at the president, according to a pool report from The New York Post’s Steve Nelson.

Prior to his attendance at the game on Sunday, Air Force One did a flyover over the stadium, which Trump touted as “the greatest flyover ever.” Trump boasted about his smooth flight on Air Force One from Palm Beach to Washington while airline cancellations stranded thousands of Americans.  He also joined Fox commentators in the booth during the game’s third quarter and praised certain players while discussing his high school football experience. Trump took advantage of that occasion to tell a few whoppers.  He tried to claim (yet again) that “prices are coming down” and that over $17 trillion is being invested in the country, both fabrications that he has been repeating over and over again.  According to ESPN, he’s also reportedly eager for the team’s new football stadium to be named after him (which is almost certainly NOT going to happen). 

 

Qatar and Saudi Arabia Use Their Pocketbooks to Cheat Their Way into the World Cup

The unparalleled spending of Qatar and Saudi Arabia in the soccer world over the past decade has brought them influence, attention, and access that few other nations can rival.  But for the first time, it appears to have had an effect on events on the field as well.  

To many, Qatar and Saudi Arabia appear to have cheated their way into the World Cup, buying influence in FIFA's Asian Football Confederation (AFC).  The Qatari and Saudi national teams have secured places in next summer’s World Cup after AFC (a recipient of “lavish funding” from the two Gulf states) “changed qualification rules to give them home-field advantage, extra rest days and access to more tickets for fans,” according to the New York Times. 

The moves enraged opponents and brought new scrutiny to how power works atop global soccer.  "I simply can't understand it," said Carlos Queiroz, the coach Oman's national team, "I am absolutely convinced that this playoff format was the worst possible [thing] that football leadership could have done to its own credibility."   

The AFC had eight guaranteed spots for its members in next year's World Cup.  The Federation established the qualification process for its 47 member member countries a year before the qualification matches began in 2023.  After the early qualifiers, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates would have locked up hosting rights and top seeding for the final round of matches, based on their performances in those earlier qualifiers.  But the federation suddenly changed course in March.  Rather than giving hosting rights to the Iraqi and Emirati teams (as per the previously announced qualification process), it instituted a bidding process.  Guess who won the bids to host the final round of qualification matches?  The Asian federation awarded hosting rights not to Iraq and the Emirates, but to Saudi Arabia and Qatar, without explanation.  

Even worse, AFC went against their own qualification process, awarding Saudi Arabia top seeding (despite being outranked by Iraq in the early rounds). The higher seed comes with double the number of days off between games, compared with its opponents.  Host teams also have the privilege of selecting the venues for its games.  As a top seed, Qatar hosted its final qualifying match against UAE in one of its smallest stadiums (despite having a number or larger ones it built for the 2022 World Cup).  The small stadium limited the attendance by UAE fans, whose access to tickets was further restricted by the Qatar's ticketing policy.  UAE ended up losing the match in the face of highly aggressive Qatari fans, who disrupted the final stages of the game by throwing debris on the field.  Qatar's captain, Akram Afif, acknowledged later that he had goaded fans into the misbehavior, underlining the benefit of Qatar's home-field advantage.

National federations, competing teams and fans were furious with AFC's unprecedented last-minute changes to the qualifying process.  Miguel Maduro, FIFA’s former Head of Governance under current President Gianni Infantino, said that the “sudden change of regulations is the latest example of how soccer’s leaders have backpedaled from promises to be more transparent following a global corruption scandal in 2015."

Qatar and Saudi Arabia's lavish spending has repeatedly called into question soccer's credibility, particularly after FIFA (its global governing body) awarded the tiny Qatar the hosting rights to the 2022 World Cup in a bidding process widely seen as corrupt.  More outrage ensued when FIFA short-circuited its own rules and delivered the 2034 tournament to Saudi Arabia without competition.