BURIED: THE 82-PAGE EPSTEIN MEMO

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How the Feds Spiked a Hero Prosecutor’s 2007 Arrest Plan to Protect the Billionaire’s Dirty Cash

The DOJ had Jeffrey Epstein dead to rights on financial crimes in 2007. A new Bloomberg drop reveals prosecutor Marie Villafaña drafted an 82-page memo demanding his arrest for money laundering based on 18,000 internal emails. Alexander Acosta buried the probe to protect the money. The cover-up was intentional.-

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

— Marie Villafaña, a federal sex-crimes prosecutor, spent a year listening to teen girls detail how Jeffrey Epstein had recruited and paid them for sex acts at his Palm Beach mansion.

— Villafaña proposed a 60-count indictment that charged Epstein and some of his assistants with sex trafficking and other crimes, but her supervisors, Alex Acosta and Matthew Menchel, didn’t act.

— Instead of indicting Epstein on federal charges, Acosta agreed to let him plead guilty in state court, serving 13 months in a county jail, with Villafaña later expressing her objections to her supervisors’ handling of the case.

Marie Villafaña

Marie Villafaña, 57, declined to comment for this story. But the documents make public for the first time her detailed first-hand account, written in 2019, of her efforts to persuade the US Attorney’s Office to bring charges.

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93 thoughts on “BURIED: THE 82-PAGE EPSTEIN MEMO”

  1. Attribution: Trump Exit route by Paresh Nath, U.T. Independent, India
    [Paresh Nath is the chief cartoonist for Indias National Herald, and his cartoons are syndicated in the United States by Cagle Cartoons.]

  2. one more for the road by Nath

    Attribution: Justice for Epstein victims by Paresh Nath, U.T. Independent, India

  3. published yesterday by
    https://www.finance.senate.gov/
    Continuing Epstein Investigation, Wyden Questions Leon Black over New Revelations in Epstein Files, Appearance of “Hush Money” Payments and Surveillance of Women

    Washington, D.C. – Continuing his four-year Epstein investigation, Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) today released new findings and questioned Apollo Global Management co-founder Leon Black over his significant personal and financial entanglements with Epstein, including his massive, unexplained payments to Epstein and various women, evidence of Epstein surveilling women on his behalf, and his abusive and potentially fraudulent tax schemes.

    The complete letter from Wyden to Black is available here [ https://www.finance.senate.gov/ ].

    “You were among Jeffrey Epstein’s primary sources of income, flooding him with cash at a time when he was already a registered sex offender. It’s been nearly four years since I first inquired as to your relationship with Epstein and still believe the explanations you provided my office for the payments to Epstein have been inadequate,” Senator Wyden wrote. “Files released by the DOJ continue to undermine your assertion that Epstein provided uniquely valuable tax and estate planning advice – and the files raise significant new questions about your compliance with our nation’s tax laws. Furthermore, the files remove any lingering doubt as to whether you were connected to women in Epstein’s network, and the evidence that Epstein and powerful associates in the U.S. and abroad were surveilling and paying off women on your behalf is highly disturbing.”

    Key findings included in Senator Wyden’s letter to Leon Black:

    Epstein’s compensation for what Black has claimed were tax and estate planning services was inexplicably high. The rates Black paid Epstein were 30 times higher than he paid the elite tax and estate advisors he already employed.
    $10 million Black paid to Epstein was papered over with a sham 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charity. Epstein lawyer Richard Kahn wrote in an email that routing the money through the charity would “avoid public disclosure” and “maximize deductions.”
    Black was overpaid $141 million by a family trust, and if the trust is ruled defective, it would result in billions of dollars being clawed back into his taxable estate.
    Emails indicate Black paid millions of dollars to women using Epstein as a middleman.
    Millions of dollars Black paid to women were described as “gifts” in documents Epstein possessed. This raises questions as to whether Black complied with federal tax laws governing gift and estate taxes.
    Epstein provided the Russian government with the location of women who were on Black’s payroll for unknown reasons.
    Epstein and the head of the law firm Paul Weiss partnered to surveil women on Black’s behalf.

    Background on Senator Wyden’s Epstein investigation: [continues]

  4. interesting last sentence in the background note of above Senate Finance Committee report:

    In late February, following the revelation that Epstein and several associates were targets in a secretive, federal investigation into drug trafficking, prostitution and money laundering, Senator Wyden sought details and a key document from the Drug Enforcement Administration as to the results of that investigation. Weeks later, Senator Wyden announced that he had learned Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, had intervened to block the DEA from complying with Wyden’s request.

  5. here’s an old 2020 story in Miami Herald regarding today’s thread topic

    https://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article247251804.html

    This prosecutor tried to put Epstein away for decades. Powerful men maneuvered to stop her By Kevin G. Hall and Ben Wieder

    When Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty in state court in June 2008 to two sex solicitation charges, which came with an 18-month sentence but avoided tougher federal sex-crimes charges as part of a deal with the feds, colleagues of the federal prosecutor who had led the investigation flooded her with congratulations. But Ann Marie Villafaña was in no mood to celebrate.
    “After all the hell they put me through, I don’t feel like celebrating 18 months,” Villafaña wrote to one colleague about Epstein’s sentence, which became a #metoo symbol of how rich and powerful sex offenders can evade justice. “He should be spending 18 years in jail.” That’s according to a look-back report from the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR). A summary of the report was issued last week. The fuller document, provided to members of Congress, who requested the inquiry, was obtained by the Miami Herald and its parent McClatchy.
    In the end, Epstein served only 13 months, not 18 — and not in the jail but in the cushier confines of the Palm Beach County stockade. He was afforded his own wing to protect the Palm Beach multimillionaire from extortion. And thanks in part to a decision by Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw that Epstein need not register as a sex offender until after he had served his time, Epstein, a man accused of sexual abuse by dozens of girls, was able to qualify for work release. He would be whisked away from the stockade by a chauffeur — for 12 hours a day, six days a week — guarded by Bradshaw’s deputies, working paid off-duty shifts. The deal was largely forgotten in November 2018 when the Miami Herald published Perversion of Justice, an investigative project dissecting the so-called federal “non-prosecution agreement” (NPA). In the series’ aftermath, Epstein was arrested by the U.S. attorney in Manhattan on sex trafficking charges. Weeks later, he was found hanging by the neck in his New York City cell while awaiting trial, a death that was called a suicide. The U.S. attorney who had explicitly blessed the original deal, Alexander Acosta, resigned his post as President Donald Trump’s secretary of labor. Villafaña, who remained on the job with the U.S. attorney, left last year to join the Department of Health and Human Services.
    The OPR investigation was a chance for Villafaña to have her say after years of silence amid reports that she was the line prosecutor on a case that many considered a gross injustice. The full report, 350 pages long, finds no official misconduct by the Justice Department or then-U.S. Attorney Acosta, but merely myriad examples of poor judgment, both in the way Acosta allowed the case to be disposed of and the way victims were misled to believe it was still under serious investigation. And it describes how the determined efforts of Villafaña were thwarted by an all-star cast of prominent defense lawyers, the county sheriff who granted Epstein work release, and, in Villafaña’s view, her own less-than-supportive superiors, Acosta among them.
    “Ms. Villafaña believes the injustice in this case is a direct result of implicit biases based on gender and socioeconomic status — biases that allowed Mr. Epstein’s defense team unparalleled access to the decision-makers at the Justice Department, while the victims, Ms. Villafaña, and the FBI agents working the case were silenced,” said a statement to the Miami Herald from Ty Kelly, Villafaña’s lawyer during the Justice Department review. While Villafaña had vivid memories of nearly everything that occurred, Acosta told OPR he had no recollection of an Oct. 12, 2007, breakfast meeting he held with one of Epstein’s top lawyers at the West Palm Beach Marriott. Perversion of Justice called it a pivotal moment during which a controversial non-prosecution agreement was consummated. The OPR review stated it “did not find evidence establishing” that this was the case and noted that a draft of the federal NPA — which would include not only Epstein, but his assistants and any other unnamed individuals implicated — had already been signed by Epstein. But discussions of a critical addendum to that draft took place at the meeting. Afterward, Jay Lefkowitz sent Acosta a note thanking him “for the commitment you made to me during our October 12 meeting in which you promised genuine finality with regard to this matter … .”
    Although it was her case, Villafaña wasn’t present for the breakfast meeting.
    Nearly all those who put Villafaña through “hell” as she sought to bring an abuser of young girls to justice shared a singular characteristic. They were men, a dynamic that takes on added meaning in the wake of the overdue arrests of Bill Cosby and Harvey Weinstein and the advent of the #metoo movement, which zeroed in on gender and power inequities. The report, in dismissing any actual misconduct, says U.S. attorneys have broad discretion, absent “corruption or other impermissible considerations” to prosecute or not. The report says that Villafaña learned of Epstein’s abuses from an FBI case agent who told of a Palm Beach detective who was concerned that the state attorney’s office was trying to minimize or bury the abuses because of Epstein’s local prominence. On July 14, 2006, she met in person with Acosta and Jeffrey Sloman, who at the time was head of the criminal division but soon afterward became Acosta’s top deputy, to inform them about the case. She said she was not discouraged from proceeding. (Sloman and Acosta both told OPR they had no recollection of the meeting.) “I remember specifically saying to them that I expected the case would be time- and resource-intensive and I did not want to invest the time and the FBI’s resources if the Office would just back down to pressure at the end,” Villafaña told OPR. Later in July 2006, after a state grand jury indicted Epstein on minor charges, Villafaña felt the detective’s concerns about a whitewash were validated and she pressed ahead with her investigation.
    In the fall of 2006 and throughout early 2007, Epstein’s lawyers, by now aware of the federal investigation, pressed for a meeting with prosecutors. Villafaña responded that she first wanted the Epstein team to provide more documents pertinent to the investigation. One of her specific concerns was that when local authorities conducted a search of Epstein’s palatial estate on the Palm Beach waterfront, where he allegedly had underage girls massage him and engage in sex acts, computer drives and other equipment connected to omnipresent surveillance cameras were missing and it appeared as if he had been tipped off to the raid in advance. It was said that Epstein liked to retain photos and videos of his victims and his home was bristling with cameras. Rather than provide the documents and other evidence, Epstein’s team went over Villafaña’s head. A meeting was scheduled. Villafaña was in the room. The Epstein attorneys brought along a 25-page letter attacking the credibility of Epstein’s young accusers as liars and drug users.
    On May 1, 2007, Villafaña drafted an 82-page prosecution memo directed to Acosta, Sloman and his successor at the criminal division, Matthew Menchel, supporting a proposed 60-count indictment. Weeks later the Justice Department division that combats child exploitation reviewed her materials, offered to work with her and called the memo “exhaustive” and “well done.” Acosta would tell OPR investigators he could not recall ever reading the document, and that he relied on others for such things. In a statement last week, he said the OPR report “vindicates” the decisions he and underlings took. The OPR report describes how Villafaña became angry in July of that year when Menchel explained to her in an email that he had proposed to Epstein lawyer Lilly Sanchez, one of the few women involved in the case, that the federal prosecution Villafaña was working on be resolved with a plea deal in the parallel state case. Villafaña felt it was an end-run around her. “[I]t is inappropriate for you to enter into plea negotiations without consulting with me or the investigative agencies, and it is more inappropriate to make a plea offer that you know is completely unacceptable to the FBI, ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement], the victims and me,” she wrote. Villafaña, who worked in West Palm Beach, sought a meeting with the Miami-based Acosta and Sloman. As the OPR report went on to state: “Menchel’s reply began with a rebuke.” “Both the tone and substance of your email are totally inappropriate,” he wrote. He went on: “If the U.S. Attorney [Acosta] or the First Assistant [Sloman] desire to meet with you, they will let you know. Nor will I direct Epstein’s lawyers to communicate only with you,” wrote Menchel. “If you want to work major cases in the district you must understand and accept the fact that there is a chain of command — something you disregard with great regularity.”
    He would add: “As you well knew, you were never given authorization by anyone to seek an indictment in this case.”
    Years later, Villafaña would tell OPR investigators the email was “meant to intimidate” and that she felt “put in [her] place.” In her interview with the internal investigators, Villafaña explained her view that Epstein’s legal team was out to steamroll the U.S. attorney’s office. Villafaña said Acosta “was influenced by the stature of Epstein’s attorneys.” The high-priced legal team included Lefkowitz, who had been a top lawyer in President George W. Bush’s administration, celebrity attorney Alan Dershowitz, and former Solicitor General Kenneth Starr, who famously investigated President Bill Clinton for his affair with Monica Lewinsky. The team also had multiple former members of the U.S. attorney’s office — including Lilly Sanchez, whom Menchel had briefly dated and whom he was now acknowledged to be negotiating with — and multiple attorneys with the giant law firm Kirkland & Ellis, which previously employed Acosta. (Later, Kirkland & Ellis talked to Acosta about returning to the firm, the report states, leading him to recuse from Epstein matters.) “I think that the ability of Alan Dershowitz and Ken Starr and Jay Lefkowitz to convince Alex Acosta that I didn’t know what I was talking [about] also, all came into play,” Villafaña told Justice investigators.
    Noted Kelly, Villafaña’s lawyer: “The report shows that the entire process authorized by the U.S. Attorney’s office management gave undue weight and credence to the arguments of Epstein’s defense team, who made slanderous and unsupported statements about the victims’ credibility, pushed to disregard facts showing Epstein’s abuse of girls as young as 14, and made the outrageous and unprecedented assertion that there was no federal interest in the actions of a man flying interstate to engage in sexual activity with children.”
    Two weeks after submitting her prosecution memorandum, on May 14, 2007, Villafaña wanted to take the next step. In an email, she told Menchel that Epstein was flying to New Jersey from the Virgin Islands and she asked whether she could file charges the next day. In his email response, Menchel tapped the brakes. “This is obviously a very significant case and [A]lex wants to take his time making sure he is comfortable before proceeding.” (The OPR report notes Menchel’s previous relationship with Sanchez and that he neglected to tell that to Acosta of the potential conflict.) As to why the urgency, Villafaña would tell the OPR investigators: “because child sex offenders don’t stop until they are behind bars.” Acosta would never proceed with a prosecution, deciding instead to use the non-prosecution agreement as a vehicle to send the case back to the state attorney with a predetermined outcome: a guilty plea to minor charges. Acosta would explain that he feared he might lose if the case went to trial, leaving Epstein unpunished. The plea guaranteed that Epstein would spend some time incarcerated and that he would have to register with the state as a sex offender, both of which Acosta considered important.
    Initially, the plan called for Epstein to serve a two-year term, a provision on which Villafaña — who believed Epstein deserved “dozens” of years — was “not consulted,” she told OPR investigators. Twenty-four months was then whittled down to 20 months and then to 18 months. The OPR report says the evidence it collected “doesn’t clearly show why” these reductions were implemented. After Epstein’s formal guilty plea on June 30, 2008, the 18 months quickly became 13. On Oct. 10, 2008, the Palm Beach sheriff placed Epstein on work release so he could spend his days at something called the “Florida Science Foundation.” As a practical matter, that meant he could hang out at the office of another of his lawyers, Jack Goldberger, which doubled as the nominal headquarters of the Florida Science Foundation, something Epstein created. The U.S. attorney’s office wasn’t informed of the work release arrangement. In mid-November 2008, Villafaña learned Epstein was on the loose 12 hours a day. Stunned, Villafaña wrote to Roy Black, still another member of Epstein’s legal team, calling work release a “material breach” of the NPA. Black forwarded his response to Villafana’s superior, Sloman, complaining that Villafaña “is very concerned about anything that Epstein does.” Around then, the report shows, she fired off an angry memo to Acosta and Sloman. “Can I indict him now?” she asked.

  6. you can also see at the Herald article link a short video:

    Nearly two dozen victims of Jeffrey Epstein voiced their outrage at a hearing in Manhattan on Aug. 27, 2019. By Emily Michot

  7. Villafaña needs to come forward. Makes no sense she has not been subpoenad, unless of course the Republicans controlling the committees fear her truth. She probably knows more than Maxwell.

  8. Also yesterday, New Mexico launched the first state probe of Epstein, focused on his ranch.
    New Mexico U.S. Representative Melanie Stansbury, who pushed for the probe, has had a look at the unredacted files.

    “I spent a fair amount of my time this morning looking at the files on Zorro Ranch,” she told reporters last month. “There aren’t words to describe what are in those files.”

    Stansbury has repeatedly emphasized to the press that “both girls and boys” were abused at the ranch.
    — New Republic

  9. PROGRAMMING NOTE: Our daily Digital Diner podcast airs 11-Noon ET on YouTube. JOIN Chatroom Here. WATCH Yesterday’s Replay Here.

    What America is Actually Clicking: March 24, 2026

    1. US-Middle East: Trump postpones airstrikes on Iran’s power plants, citing “productive conversations” through mediators about reopening the Strait of Hormuz. – CBS News
    2. Aviation: Flight attendant survives being thrown from an Air Canada plane that collided with a fire truck at LaGuardia in what family calls a “total miracle.” – AP News
    3. National Security: Following Kristi Noem’s ouster, Sen. Markwayne Mullin is poised to inherit a deeply challenged Department of Homeland Security amid an ongoing shutdown. – AP News
    4. Legal: A civil jury in California finds 88-year-old Bill Cosby liable for a 1972 sexual assault, awarding the victim nearly $60 million in damages. – CBS News
    5. Tech: A jury finds Elon Musk liable for misleading investors to drive down Twitter’s stock price ahead of his 2022 acquisition, while absolving him of some fraud claims. – CBS News
    6. Tragedy: [Ongoing] The NHL and the Minnesota Wild mourn team reporter Jessi Pierce, who died alongside her three young children in a weekend house fire. – AP News
    7. Obituary: Jeff Webb, the entrepreneur credited with transforming cheerleading into a global sport and mentoring conservative activist Charlie Kirk, dies at 76 after a pickleball accident. – The Economic Times
    8. Energy: Project InnerSpace and XPRIZE announce a massive collaboration targeting geothermal supply chain bottlenecks to rapidly scale surface plant architectures. – PR Newswire
    9. Local Politics: The Sitka Assembly meets to weigh a historic preservation plan update and decide the fate of millions in cruise passenger head tax funds. – KCAW
    10. Offbeat: KASSO 2026 showcases skateboarding at its wildest in Long Beach, forcing skaters to tackle chaotic stages inspired by Japanese game shows. – Red Bull

    These are the stories driving the most traffic across U.S. outlets right now—not necessarily the stories we think you should read, and not always the most recent.

    A roundup by our AI partner Silas (Gemini).

  10. BTW on other news in wapo today

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics

    Trump just voted by a method he calls ‘mail-in cheating’
    The president’s decision to vote by mail comes as he pushes a sweeping bill to reform balloting nationwide, including restrictions on mail-in voting.

    President Donald Trump, who is in the midst of pressuring senators to curb the use of mail-in voting, voted by mail ballot in Tuesday’s special election in Palm Beach County, Florida.
    The Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections website indicates that Trump, who is registered to vote at his Mar-a-Lago estate on Palm Beach, “voted by Mail Ballot” in a special election between Democrat Emily Gregory and Republican Jon Maples for a seat in the state legislature. A spokesperson for the office confirmed to The Washington Post that the “information [on the site] is accurate.”
    Trump’s decision to vote by mail comes as he pushes the Save America Act — a sweeping bill to reform nationwide balloting, including restrictions on mail-in voting — and derides vote-by-mail at events.
    The president has long criticized mail-in voting, despite studies showing that about 1 in 3 Americans voted by mail in 2024. Much of Trump’s antipathy for vote-by-mail stems from his 2020 loss, when he felt overly permissive election laws allowed many Americans to vote by mail without a specific reason.
    [continues]

  11. https://www.forbes.com/

    Prison Guard Told FBI About ‘Suspicious’ Document Shredding After Epstein’s Death, Report Says
    ByTy Roush,

    A correctional officer at the Manhattan-based prison where Jeffrey Epstein was being held called the FBI about “suspicious” document shredding days after Epstein died, the Miami Herald reported Saturday, as one prison guard faces newfound scrutiny over the financier’s death.
    Key Facts
    A federal corrections officer at the Metropolitan Correctional Center called the FBI on Aug. 16, 2019, six days after Epstein’s death, to say that he had “never seen this amount of bags of shredded documents” being thrown away, the Herald reported, citing a document released by the Justice Department as part of the Epstein files.

    The officer, who said they found it “suspicious” that a team tasked with probing Epstein’s death would be shredding documents with nearby federal officials also tasked with investigating, told the FBI that an inmate said they were tasked with throwing the documents away.

    In a memo to investigators on Aug. 19, 2019, a back gate corrections officer said he witnessed an inmate bringing “bales” of shredded documents to throw into a dumpster, and that the inmate told them that Federal Bureau of Prisons officials were “shredding everything.”

    That officer suggested to the FBI that “this conduct may be inappropriate” for an investigative team and “you may want to investigate why BOP employees were destroying records.”

    Steven Lopez, who was identified as removing the shredded documents, told the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General “no” when asked if he had any information or overheard anyone talk about shredding documents, adding, “No idea what, if anything, was shredded, just did usual trash bin runs.”

    Tova Noel and Michael Thomas, the two prison guards on duty the night Epstein was found dead in his jail cell, replied “no” when asked if they ever removed or destroyed any of Epstein’s paperwork, the Herald reported.
    [continues]

  12. that stupid ai news roundup cartoon legitimizes the regime

    trump deep in thought my ass

    and allegedly the “talks” are a lie

  13. oh, the times he is achanging

    cartoon in the guardian today

    Pete Songi on Donald Trump’s changing stances towards Iran – cartoon

  15. WSJ reports the real backchannel story:

    The Back-Channel Diplomacy Behind Trump’s U-Turn on Iran: The president backtracked on his threat to strike Iran’s power plants after a series of closed-door discussions led by Middle Eastern intermediaries

    — Wall Street Journal (Trail Mix Free Link)

  19. I honestly think that the public will never know the full story of Jeffrey Epstein….
    too many powerful men and women involved… and who’s to say what is being shredded as I type.

  22. the public will never know the full story of Jeffrey Epstein

    don’t disagree but it seems like we know enough to draw conclusions

  23. Anon… I agree we know enough to draw conclusions…. and that trump is willing to do whatever it takes to distract and hide the facts.

  25. I would think that there are several intelligence entities which know what is in the Epstein files. Like the one which informs Netanyahoo.

  26. https://www.themirror.com/news/us-news/jeffrey-epstein-growing-trumpet-plant-1709827

    Jeffrey Epstein was growing trumpet plant to create memory loss and suggestibility drug

    Emails connected to Epstein, dating from 2014 to 2015, reveal references to “trumpet plants” and articles about scopolamine, a mind-altering substance notorious for inducing suggestibility and memory loss — and one that notably does not show up on toxicology reports.

    A 2015 message, apparently forwarded to Epstein from an individual named Antoine Verglas, carries the subject line: “Scopolamine: Powerful drug growing in the forests of Colombia that ELIMINATES free will.”

    Scopolamine, commonly referred to as devil’s breath, is widely known for inducing a dissociative state and triggering hallucinations in users. In severe cases, it can render individuals completely submissive and strip them of their memories. This characteristic has also led to its use as a date rape drug.

    ***

    https://www.firstpost.com/explainers/epstein-files-angel-trumpet-plants-scopolamine-zombie-effect-13980788.html

    One email from 2014 shows that Epstein sent an email to an individual named Ann Rodriguez. In that brief message, he wrote: “Ask Chris about my trumpet plants at nursery [SIC]?”

    In another email dated January 2015, photographer Antoine Verglas reportedly sent an email titled ‘Scopolamine: Powerful drug growing in the forests of Colombia that eliminates free will’ to Epstein.

    Various striking lines were highlighted from the article like, “You can guide them wherever you want. It’s like they’re a child.”

    Another email in 2022 recounts the impact of being exposed to scopolamine. In what is described as a “victim impact statement,” a certain Joseph Manzaro recounts a disturbing incident from December 2014 in which he alleges he was drugged with scopolamine — a tropane alkaloid produced by various plants, including Angel Trumpet. It is unclear who Joseph Manzaro is and how he is linked to Jeffrey Epstein.

  27. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/epstein-zorro-ranch-new-mexico-photos-b2930957.html

    Located in a small town on the outskirts of Santa Fe, the ranch was bought by the sex offender in 1993 from former New Mexico Governor Bruce King.

    Following Epstein’s death in 2019, it was sold to Texas businessman and politician Donald Huffines, a self-described “MAGA Trump Republican” who is running for Texas comptroller.

    After it was purchased by Huffines in 2023, the sprawling estate was renamed the San Rafael Ranch — with plans underway to turn it into a religious center. Near the entrance, a makeshift memorial has been set up to honor the victims of Epstein.

    “The plan all along is to make this property into a Christian retreat — as a matter of fact, it’s under construction today,” Huffines told former GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz in a podcast in February

    Huffines has dismissed criticism surrounding his purchase as “a political hit job.”

    Last month, he told a podcast host that all proceeds from the sale were directed to victims of Epstein. He also noted that no law enforcement agency has contacted him regarding an investigation into the ranch but said he would “be happy to cooperate” if asked.

    Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre, who died in 2025, was photographed at Zorro Ranch. Other survivors, including Annie Farmer, have recounted the abuse they suffered there at the hands of Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell.

    One alleged victim claimed she was forced to carry Epstein’s child in New Mexico, and the disgraced financier reportedly told friends that he planned to impregnate “20 women at a time” at the ranch, according to The New York Times.

  28. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/17/tipster-claims-to-have-seen-grave-like-plots-at-epsteins-zorro-ranch

    In an email on February 16, a member of the public whose name has been redacted told Democratic Representatives Andrea Romero and Marianna Anaya that he or she had broken into Epstein’s former ranch in 2020 and come across multiple plots that “were dug up”.

    The tipster, who included two photos of purported plots with the email, speculated that bodies had been “removed” from the sites.

    “I realize this might be illegal,” the person wrote, referring to their act of venturing onto the property, “but men like that don’t deserve the protection of the law.”

    The tipster also shared photos of the exterior of Epstein’s mansion and a white yurt located on the grounds of the property, as well as pictures of a defibrillator and a statue of a man of African appearance purportedly taken from inside the tent.

    *Completely different statue than the one in the island by the swimming pool( pictured in link, but you have to scroll a lot to find them all.

    Last month, New Mexico State Attorney General Raul Torrez ordered authorities to reopen inquiries into the Zorro Ranch after the US Justice Department’s latest tranche of files surfaced unverified claims about Epstein’s time at the property.

    The tips included an anonymous email from 2019 that claimed the bodies of two foreign girls had been buried outside the ranch on the orders of Epstein and his former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell.

    The anonymous tipster, who claimed to be a former Zorro Ranch employee, also offered to provide videos of Epstein abusing minors in exchange for a payment of one Bitcoin, worth about $8,000 at the time.

    It is unclear if there is any connection between the person behind the more recent tip and the person who sent the 2019 email.

    New Mexico closed an initial probe into Epstein in 2019 at the request of federal prosecutors, who indicted the financier that July on charges of trafficking minors for sex and conspiracy to traffic minors for sex.

    Nearly a dozen Epstein accusers have said they were abused at the property, although he was never charged with any crimes in New Mexico while he was alive.

  29. TODAY AT THE DINER: Epstein Zorro Ranch Probe & ICE Airport Raids

    Epstein’s Zorro Ranch is finally under state and federal investigation. Plus: ICE raids at airports, and Jake Sullivan on Trump’s war with Iran (until YouTube cuts it off for copyright protection).

    Decades after Jeffrey Epstein built a massive, secretive compound in the New Mexico desert, the state and the DOJ are finally knocking on the door. Armed with a buried 2019 FBI tip about gravesites and a sprawling 33,000-square-foot crime scene, are investigators looking for bodies? But naturally, the feds have locked down the perimeter, keeping local authorities in the dark while the ranch’s new owners bulldoze the earth. We aren’t conspiracy theorists, but when the cover-up is this loud, the silence is deafening.

    Meanwhile, the domestic front is just as chaotic. ICE agents are currently acting as taxpayer-funded mall cops, violently detaining a mother in front of her child at SFO while unpaid TSA agents keep the lines moving. We cap off the madness with a look at the escalating Middle East conflict, exploring how sheer incompetence and Jared Kushner’s whispers blew up a viable nuclear deal with Iran.

    Link Bucket
    https://trailmix.cc/chat
    https://trailmix.cc/alerts

    00:00 Intro
    05:00 Epstein Prosecutor Silenced
    17:20 Zorro Ranch Investigation Begins
    28:30 Missing FBI Tips and Cover-ups
    38:20 ICE Raids at SFO Airport
    42:15 Trump, Kushner, and Iran War
    55:50 Prep for No Kings March DC
    01:01:50 Jake Sullivan on Iran Nuclear Deal

  30. https://www.brusselstimes.com/1869180/revealed-belgiums-controversial-congo-statue-spotted-on-epsteins-island

    Near the abandoned swimming pool once owned by the disgraced late financier and convicted sex offender was an elegant bronze figure of an African man drawing a bow.

    This is a statue familiar to many in Brussels. It is a copy of L’Archer (The Archer) by the Belgian sculptor Arthur Dupagne-

    “Their craft implied Europeans being in a position of observer, with the means, time, and resources to scrutinise the foreign ‘Other’,” says Matthew Stanard, a history professor and author of The Leopard, the Lion, and the Cock, a book about colonial monuments in Belgium. “In this way, such ‘colonial’ or Congo-inspired art asserted the European over the African; the artist over his subject matter; the master over its subject.”

    All these statues exemplify the colonial-era trope of the African as a heroic yet primitive archetype – the “noble savage”. Though in this case, AfricaMuseum director Bart Ouvry notes, “more savage than noble.” Ouvry says the statue is unambiguously stereotypical. “The African man is depicted like wildlife: dehumanised, reduced to his physical self,” he says.

    While it is hard to know how a copy of the statue ended up on Epstein’s island, Ouvry hints at a reason why. “In a way, it’s fitting to see the statue on his property,” he says. “Epstein was, after all, someone who saw people as objects.”

    *Completely different statue than the one at the ranch.

  33. https://www.thetimes.com/us/news-today/article/epstein-girlfriend-african-slaves-2922t6060

    Messages released by US authorities show Shelley Lewis discussing their relationship, finances and even having a child with the billionaire.

    A British woman who was in a relationship with Jeffrey Epstein sent the disgraced financier a link to an article about a community descended from enslaved Africans alongside the message “where to find new help”.
    Shelley Lewis, who later discussed having a baby with Epstein, showed him the piece about the Gullah Geechee community, whose ancestors were brought to the US as slaves in the 18th century.

    Lewis, 49, a children’s book publisher turned “wellness entrepreneur” from Manchester, was previously named by Ghislaine Maxwell as Epstein’s girlfriend between 1999 and 2002.

    In a June 2017 email thread, Lewis appeared to reference a discussion about having a child with Epstein, writing: “don’t worry, won’t put you on the spot about a baby”.
    In 2014, she wrote to him: “Love you!!!”
    In another exchange, she sent him a photograph of a pig dressed as a tiger and he replied: “predator on the outside, gentle inside. The opposite of what I have to deal with”.

    The emails provide insight into the nature of their relationship over a number of years. In one message from 2010, Lewis wrote to Epstein: “i just gave you a great gift by enabling you to ‘do what you do’ gracefully”.

    Lewis appeared to assist Epstein with refurbishments at his properties in New York and on his private Caribbean island. In one exchange he asked: “what happened to the little girl design”, to which she replied: “she’s very nice, but is no good!”

    It is believed the pair met in 1999, when Lewis, then 22, was working for Christie’s auction house in New York. Epstein was 46 at the time.

    In a January 2015 email, Maxwell wrote to Epstein: “I would appreciate it if Shelley would come out and say she was your g’friend – I think she was from end [19]99 to 2002.”
    Epstein replied: “OK with me.”

    The period overlapped with allegations by Virginia Giuffre that she was coerced into having sex with Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, claims he has denied.

    In 2012, Epstein sent Lewis an article discussing alternative relationship models, including polyamory. She replied: “I love this, it’s remarkable how refreshing, cathartic even discussing these concepts feel to me”.

    According to her LinkedIn profile, Lewis is now based in Abu Dhabi, where she runs a wellness company.

  35. Turns out AI even comes in handy for opening tight jars:
    “The Percussion Technique: Turn the jar upside down and give the base a firm smack with the palm of your hand. This often shifts the internal pressure enough to break the seal” — Silas Gemini

  36. SAVE America Act author admits married aide ‘had to go through a bunch of hoops’ to vote because she changed name

    SAVE America Act author admits married aide ‘had to go through a bunch of hoops’ to vote because she changed name

    Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), a leading champion of the SAVE America Act in Congress, has repeatedly rejected concerns that millions of Americans would face unnecessary barriers while registering to vote if the draconian bill became law.

    Privately, however, Roy has acknowledged that the legislation could pose hurdles for married women and others who have changed their legal name, according to a video obtained by the independent media organization Call to Activism.

    https://x.com/CalltoActivism/status/2036428294288011671

    @CalltoActivism
    LEAKED VIDEO: We’ve obtained secretly
    recorded video of Republican Chip Roy
    ADMITTING he’s trying to hide concerns his SAVE Act hurts women voters

  39. never thought there’d be a time I actually believe the Iranian regime

    “state-sponsor of terrorism” fine, but is there an extensive history of said regime lying?

    we know ours does as a rule

  41. John E. Sununu was once the chief of staff for Poppy Bush. He is now running to become the Republican candidate for Senator in NH. Today We received a pamphlet in the mail for why we should not vote for him in the state primary in September. The reason… he’s mentioned in the Epstein files.

    what a coinky dinky…

    ps… I’m a registered Democrat… but Rick is undeclared and will occasionally take a Republican ballot to vote against someone.

  44. excerpt from https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2026/mar/24/ late night TV round up story

    Jon Stewart on Donald Trump’s Iran lies: ‘Our Supreme Misleader’
    […]
    “I really think that the less fun we’re all having, the better he seems to be doing,” he added. “Does he run on our misery? Does that make him stronger?”

    Nevertheless, Trump took time to claim that he was participating in “strong talks” with Iran; the country’s state media denied that any such talks took place.

    “Well, now we’re in the uncomfortable position of who to believe,” said Stewart. “Normally in this situation, I think we’d all be inclined to in some measure not trust the pronouncements coming from this theocratic and corrupt regime – Iran. For clarity, we’re talking about Iran.

    “Look, Donald Trump is without a doubt one of the most prodigious liars this country has ever produced,” he added. “He’s our Supreme Misleader.

    [continues]

  45. Poobah, it’s hard to believe, but no harder than believing anything that comes out of Donnie’s yap.

    I can’t see anything that could go wrong with smacking an upside down jar that I couldn’t get open. That one probably would work most of the time, but I’d be inclined to put something between my hand and the bottom of the jar. I’ve had glasses break in the dishwasher and they didn’t get a good whack. Kids, don’t try this at home. (LOL – I’ll try it the next time my face turns red trying to open a jar).

  48. Seems Schumer isn’t as stupid as Thune apparently thinks he is. NYT

    Less than 24 hours after President Trump threw cold water on their efforts to cut a deal with Democrats to reopen the Department of Homeland Security, Senate Republicans were intensifying their bid on Tuesday to find an offramp to the impasse amid staggeringly long lines at airports across the country.

    Under a plan they discussed on Monday night with Mr. Trump at the White House, Republicans would put forth a bill to fund all of the department except for parts of Immigration and Customs Enforcement involved in the administration’s deportation crackdown, according to multiple people familiar with the discussion. It was not clear what, if any, enforcement limits would be included in such a plan, or if Democrats, who have insisted on reining in federal immigration agents’ tactics, would go along with it.

    Senator John Thune, Republican of South Dakota and the majority leader, said that the proposal would fund 94 percent of the Department of Homeland Security. But he suggested that the limits that Democrats have demanded, which include requiring that immigration agents wear masks and seek judicial warrants to enter private homes and businesses, would not be included because the bill would not fund ICE’s immigration enforcement operations.

    “A lot of the reforms are contingent on funding for ICE,” Mr. Thune said. He added, “If you’re not going to have funding, I don’t know how all of a sudden now you can demand reforms.”

    A spokesman for Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, said he had made it clear to his members and to Republicans that only removing the ICE enforcement money without any other changes would not be enough to earn the support of his members.

    The proposal has not changed since the weekend, when Mr. Trump publicly rejected any spending deal and said he would not accept one unless the Senate delivered him the strict voter ID bill, paired with restrictions on transgender athletes and children, that the chamber is now considering.

    But several Republican senators closely aligned with Mr. Trump told him on Monday that they would work on a separate bill to address those issues and ICE funding, which they would seek to push through without Democratic support using a special process called budget reconciliation that is not subject to a filibuster, according to two of the people, who were granted anonymity to discuss the negotiations. (Because Republicans gave ICE a vast windfall as part of Mr. Trump’s sweeping domestic policy law last year, the agency has continued to operate during the shutdown.)

    After the meeting, Senate Republicans sounded sanguine about the prospects of a deal, even as some on the hard right raised alarm about it. Mr. Thune said on Tuesday that he believed those who had met with Mr. Trump “made a compelling case and argument for why this is a big win.”

    […]

    Nothing like disclosing the secret workaround to the guys you’re trying to fool.

  49. Afroman Beats $4M Cop Lawsuit After Viral “Lemon Pound Cake” Raid Video
    The episode covers a special report on Afroman’s trial after seven white Ohio sheriff’s deputies raided his home in 2022 on alleged kidnapping and drug trafficking, found no evidence, caused about $20,000 in damage, and took $5,000 in cash that was returned short. Afroman says his children encountered officers during the raid and an AR-15 was pointed at them, and he noted deputies disconnected cameras though some footage survived. He turned the security video—especially a moment of a deputy eyeing a lemon pound cake—into satirical songs and videos (“Lemon Pound Cake” and others) that went viral. The deputies sued him for $4 million for defamation, privacy, and likeness claims, saying it harmed their reputations and families. After a three-day trial, the jury ruled for Afroman on every count, and he said, “America won,” citing freedom of speech.

  55. We lose the ability to speak English around the ten-minute mark. Skipped meds, missing verbs, and a complete linguistic breakdown. Just another standard Troll Tuesday.
    From today’s Digital Diner menu 🍽️

  56. Oh, hellll no. I checked my emails and there was a summary of what was included in the email. Ai is reading my emails. I did not ask for this. Off to find what new privacy changes they’ve made that I need to disconnect.

    Death to Ai! Death to the surveillance state!
    Whose manager do I need to talk to about this? LoL

  60. They’re reading our texts and emails, and they’re eavesdropping on every conversation we have in proximity to a communication device.

  61. That Other War: Russia Is Losing
    Russia is currently vaporizing upwards of 1,200 of its own citizens a day for the privilege of advancing a few microscopic inches across a pulverized Donetsk wasteland. Moscow treats its conscripts less like an army and more like biodegradable ammunition.

    THE MEAT GRINDER: BY THE NUMBERS

    RUSSIA (The Attacker)

    • Daily Casualties: ~1,500 personnel.
    • Recent Surge: 6,000 troops liquidated in 4 days.
    • Weekly Burn Rate: 8,700+ casualties.
    • Total War Casualties: 1,000,000+ (Western Intelligence Est.)

    UKRAINE (The Defender)

    • Daily Casualties: Classified (State Secret).
    • Attrition Ratio: 1:3 to 1:5. For every one Ukrainian defender lost in the Fortress Belt, up to five attacking Russians are vaporized.

    THE ABSURDIST TAKEAWAY
    Putin is permanently curing Moscow’s domestic unemployment crisis by aggressively liquidating the workforce.

    Sources:
    — Understandingwar.org
    — United24Media

  62. https://abcnews.com/GMA/Travel/delta-air-lines-suspends-specialty-services-members-congress/story

    Delta Air Lines suspends specialty services for members of Congress amid shutdown

    The Capital Desk reservations line will remain open, the airline says.

    “Due to the impact on resources from the longstanding government shutdown, Delta will temporarily suspend specialty services to members of Congress flying Delta,” the Atlanta-based carrier said in a statement.

    “Next to safety, Delta’s No. 1 priority is taking care of our people and customers, which has become increasingly difficult in the current environment.”

    Airport escorts and red coat services will not be available to members of Congress during this time, but the Capital Desk reservations line will remain open, according to Delta, as first reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

    The airline told the outlet that members of Congress will be treated like all other passengers, based on their respective SkyMiles status.

    *I wondered how they were scooting around the lines. It’s not a strike, but it’s a start.

  65. Trump was hilariously asked about how he hopes the peace deal will work out on a human level, “ President Trump on a human level, how hopeful are you that this peace deal will work out?”

    Trump couldn’t comprehend being a human being, “ As a human? As on what?”

    The reporter asked again, “On a human level and not as the President Of The United States? How hopeful are you that this peace deal will work out?”

    Since Trump is incapable of humanity on any level, he said:

     I think we’re gonna end it. I can’t tell you for sure. I don’t like to say this. We’ve won this war has been won. The only one that likes to keep it going is the fake news. The New York Times, you read The New York Times, it’s like we’re not winning a war where they have no Navy and they have no Air Force and they have no nothing.

    And we literally have planes flying over Tehran and other parts of their country. They can’t do a thing about it. For instance, if I want to take down that power plant, that very big, powerful power plant, they can’t do a thing about it. It’s take me. That’s all they can do. Yeah. And yet if you read the New York Times or if you watch a b, c, fake news or NBC fake news, you’d say it’s a close battle.

    It’s not a close battle. They’re totally defeated.

    Trump then nonsensically claimed that he wanted to capture and reuse Iranian naval ships, but Pete Hegseth wanted to have fun shooting them down, even though ships don’t fly.

    Things got even more insane…

    https://substack.com/@politicusjason

  66. Looks like Dems are still hanging tough on this…

    AXIOS: Momentum toward reopening DHS evaporated today as Democrats drew a hard line on reforms to ICE, swiftly rejecting a proposal that GOP senators had only just persuaded President Trump to entertain.

  67. Bwahahahahahah- Emily Gregory (D) beat Jon Maples(R) in the FL district that includes Mar-a-Lago. Dumbass gave Maples his complete endorsement (and won the district by 11 points in 2024).

  71. I like this spin by Chris Hayes: paid-to-stand-around-the-airports-ICE-agents are busy “keeping watch” on not-paid-but-working-their-butts-off-anyway-TSA-agents. What Southern system of labor exploitation does that remind me of?

  72. Feds plan to install 536 miles of floating barriers on Rio Grande to deter migrants

    Feds plan to install 536 miles of floating barriers on Rio Grande to deter migrants

    An experiment unfolding at the southernmost tip of the state could irrevocably change the iconic Rio Grande and the communities it sustains.

    The government is installing the first 17 miles of industrial-grade buoys in Brownsville. Experts warn the buoys could intensify flooding and change the river’s course.

    The Department of Homeland Security has waived environmental laws and issued more than $1 billion in contracts to private companies to install them in continuous chains. Each industrial-style buoy is more than 12 feet long and four to five feet in diameter.

    Experts consulted by Inside Climate News said they knew of no comparable undertaking on a dynamic river anywhere in the world. They warned that the buoys could speed up flood water in a region that already struggles with flooding. The buoys could also accumulate sediment and create new landforms in the river, provoking treaty disputes with neighboring Mexico.

    On July 3, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem waived more than 30 federal laws in a 20-mile area along the Rio Grande in Cameron County to expedite the Waterborne Barrier Project’s first federal border buoys. Among those laws: the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Migratory Bird Conservation Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act.

    The unprecedented expenditure comes as the number of unauthorized border crossings has dropped precipitously. CBP apprehended 73% fewer people in the Rio Grande Valley sector between fiscal years 2024 and 2025, according to agency data.

  73. ugh ofc Emily Gregory was running for State House not US

    i guess it’s something

    i’d love to see the House flip BEFORE midterms, pardon me

  74. Ivy – Yep. I saw a graphic of slave patrols to the klan to cops to ICE.

    If only it wasn’t for the PR of Sheriff Andy Taylor and Deputy Barney Fife. Brainwashed.

    We knew the Sheriff of Nottingham was a bad dude, but then Desilu Productions put that homespun spin on the police in Mayberry.

  75. Craig,

    You can always use centrifugal force to open jars or to move stubborn contents to the mouth of a bottle. Simply hold bottom of jar and swing 3or4 times in a big circle. Should open right up.

  76. https://fortune.com/2026/03/23/us-government-insolvent-fiscal-crisis-fix/

    The Treasury just declared the US insolvent. The media missed it

    The U.S. government is insolvent. That’s not hyperbole — it’s the conclusion drawn directly from the Treasury Department’s own consolidated financial statements for fiscal year 2025, released last week to near-total media silence. The numbers: $6.06 trillion in total assets against $47.78 trillion in total liabilities as of September 30, 2025.

    Importantly, the $47.78 trillion in reported liabilities does not include the unfunded obligations of social insurance programs like Social Security and Medicare — those are disclosed separately in the off-balance-sheet Statement of Social Insurance (SOSI).

    The government’s consolidated balance sheet position, excluding the SOSI, deteriorated by nearly $2.07 trillion between FY 2024 and FY 2025, reaching a staggering negative $41.72 trillion.

    Total liabilities are now nearly eight times the value of reported assets.

    The largest drivers were a $2 trillion increase in federal debt and interest payable (now $30.33 trillion) and a $438.8 billion increase in federal employee and veteran benefits payable (now $15.47 trillion).

    The off-balance-sheet picture is even more alarming. The 75-year unfunded social insurance obligation surged by $10.1 trillion in a single year, rising from $78.3 trillion in FY 2024 to $88.4 trillion in FY 2025 — driven primarily by a $6.9 trillion jump in projected Medicare Part B shortfalls and a $2.5 trillion increase for Social Security.

    The Treasury’s Statement of Long-Term Fiscal Projections shows the 75-year fiscal gap widening from 4.3% of GDP in FY 2024 to 4.7% in FY 2025.

    If the $88.4 trillion in 75-year off-balance-sheet obligations were added to the $47.8 trillion in official balance sheet liabilities, total federal obligations would now exceed $136.2 trillion — roughly five times U.S. annual GDP.

  77. https://nebraska.tv/news/local/on-fire-an-update-from-nebraskas-largest-fire-as-it-nears-100-containment

    The largest fire in Nebraska’s history is now over 90% contained as first responders work quickly to suppress it.

    “We see the writing on the wall in terms of these springs becoming hotter, not getting enough moisture,” Benjamin Bohall, Nebraska Forest Service PIO, shared. “You know, so we’ve stepped up our part of all this by providing more training to volunteer fire departments.”

    All three wildfires between Morrill, Cottonwood and Road 203 have combined to burn over 800,000 acres.

  78. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/edmond-de-rothschild-paris-offices-raided-in-epstein-linked-probe-into-diplomat/ar-AA1ZkWJc

    Edmond de Rothschild Paris offices raided in Epstein-linked probe into diplomat

    French investigators searched the Paris offices of Swiss bank Edmond de Rothschild as part of an inquiry into alleged corruption involving a French diplomat named in documents linked to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, prosecutors said on Tuesday.

    The name of Fabrice Aidan, a middle-ranking French diplomat who was seconded to the United Nations from 2006 to 2013 and later worked at the bank, appeared in more than 200 documents released by the U.S. Justice Department.

    These include emails he is alleged to have sent Epstein between 2010 and 2016 from his personal and U.N. accounts.

    Some of the emails reviewed by Reuters show the transfer of U.N. Security Council briefings and other confidential documents to Epstein during that period.

    The search was carried out on Friday in the presence of Ariane de Rothschild, the Swiss bank’s boss, a source close to the bank said.

    Edmond de Rothschild was cooperating fully with the justice system in the investigation led by the financial prosecutor, the same source said, adding that an internal inquiry had been launched as soon as suspicions emerged concerning the former employee, who worked at the bank from 2014 to 2016.

    Ariane de Rothschild also appeared in the files released by the U.S. Justice Department in January, which showed she kept up a years-long personal correspondence with Epstein before his 2019 arrest.

    *So, this just happened. Last night, I was chasing rabbits in the search for an origin story for the global connections, and I ended up looking at the Rothschild family. The network of global connections they built seems to have been diminished because of WWII, but maybe they just morphed.

  79. https://www.newsweek.com/rothschild-family-companies-net-worth-1993369

    The Rothschilds first rose to prominence as a European banking family in the 1700s. The first Rothschild patriarch, Mayer Amschel Rothschild, grew up in the Jewish ghetto in Frankfurt, Germany.

    Through his father’s textiles company, Mayer Amschel Rothschild was able to learn trading and eventually became a dealer in rare coins. That occupation brought him to the attention of the crown prince, for whom he later worked.
    After marrying the daughter of a money changer, he had 10 children.

    The family moved from Germany to France, Italy, Austria and the United Kingdom—with its branches of lenders and traders linking to create one of the first international banks.

    Among the successful early Rothschilds was Nathan Mayer Rothschild, who moved to Manchester, England, to set up a textiles business and then to London to establish the N.M. Rothschild bank, which is still in operation.

    Nathan Mayer Rothschild also helped to finance the British army in its fight against Napoleon.

    Many Rothschilds still live in Europe, as well as in Israel and the United States. Emma Rothschild is a history professor at Harvard and an honorary professor at Cambridge.

    James Rothschild, a financier, is married to Nicky Hilton, the hotel heiress and sister of reality TV star Paris Hilton.

    The combined wealth of the Rothschild family across all its branches is estimated to be $15.7 trillion. A more conservative estimate from a Sunday Times report in 2023 said the Rothschilds were worth $1 billion.

    *That’s quite a gap.

  80. https://www.finance-monthly.com/how-wealthy-is-the-rothschild-family-trillionaire-myths-debunked/

    Mayer established a lucrative banking enterprise and strategically positioned his five sons in key European financial hubs, including London, Paris, Vienna, and Naples. This strategic placement facilitated the creation of an international banking empire, enabling the family to manage and transfer substantial amounts of money across national borders.

    During the Napoleonic Wars, the Rothschilds experienced significant financial gains by providing loans to governments at a time when warfare was predominantly financed through private banking.

    Their capacity to swiftly transfer funds across Europe afforded them a distinct strategic advantage, rendering them essential to monarchs and political leaders.

    By the mid-19th century, the Rothschilds had invested in railroads, industries, and national banks, solidifying their position as a formidable force in global finance.

    Although the Rothschilds were once among the most influential financial entities globally, their direct power has waned over the years as the landscape of banking and investment has diversified.

    During the 19th century, the Rothschilds reached the zenith of their financial power, controlling the largest private fortune in the world. Some historians argue that no contemporary individual or family has ever matched their wealth at its peak. Their investments in railroads, mining, and government bonds positioned them as crucial financiers for major European economies.

    In the present day, assessing the Rothschild family’s net worth proves to be a complex task due to the private nature of their financial dealings.

    While they no longer operate as a centralized financial empire, they maintain substantial wealth through Rothschild & Co, a prominent financial advisory firm. Current estimates suggest the family’s modern fortune may be around $400 billion, although the actual figure remains uncertain.

    In addition to their banking ventures, the Rothschild family expanded their wealth through investments in railroads, energy sectors, and real estate.

    They were instrumental in financing the industrial revolution across Europe, supporting significant infrastructure initiatives such as railway systems, oil refineries, and the construction of the Suez Canal.

    Presently, Rothschild & Co stands as a formidable entity in investment banking, asset management, and corporate advisory services, with diverse interests spanning finance, wineries, and philanthropic endeavors.

    *Well, split the difference and get to $400 billion.

  81. https://www.financialexpress.com/trending/world-war-3-epstein-links-rothschild-banking-in-iran-former-trump-insider-makes-explosive-claims-about-israels-blackmail-war/4180933/

    Conservative commentator Candace Owens stirred a major debate online after posting a series of strong messages on X about the ongoing conflict involving the US, Israel, and Iran. In her posts, Owens criticised both the United States and Israel, claiming the war was not accidental but part of a bigger plan driven by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu along with neoconservative forces.

    Owens had backed Trump during the 2024 US elections. But by June 2025, she publicly distanced herself from him, even admitting she felt “embarrassed” for encouraging people to vote for him.

    Since then, she has repeatedly criticised how Trump handled the Iran situation. Her latest comments go a step further, explicitly connecting Jeffrey Epstein, the Rothschild family, Israeli influence, and alleged global blackmail to the conflict’s origins and motives.

    Owens was reacting to a report shared by journalist Mario Nawfal, which said Iran’s military had claimed to shoot down an Israeli F-16 fighter jet. Replying to that, she wrote, “We murdered 250 Iranian school girls absent any imminent threat or provocation. We did it because Bibi and neocons want world war 3, followed by Rothschild banking installed in Iran. Currently, debt-slavery is illegal. The Epstein class wants everyone worldwide enslaved by usury.”

    She suggested that the war is meant to bring “Rothschild banking” into Iran, referring to Western-style financial systems based on interest, which is restricted under Islamic law.

    She also claimed that Jeffrey Epstein had worked for Israel and that his alleged blackmail network was used to control powerful people around the world and push them toward war.

    She added, “Our country has been torn apart by debt-slavery, gambling, pornography and never-ending wars. Israel, whom Jeffrey Epstein was working for, has blackmailed the world. I do not support Israel, or their messianic Red Heifer war, at all.”

    *OK, now I have to go find out about this “Red Heifer war” thing.

  82. https://www.newsweek.com/israel-gaza-hamas-temple-mount-islam-jews-jerusalem-red-heifers-jerusalem-religion-1886787

    The true epicenter of the war in the Holy Land is not the devastated Gaza Strip, under Israeli assault since Hamas’ bloody raid last October sparked the region’s deadliest conflict in decades. It is a few dozen miles away in Jerusalem, at the holiest and most fiercely contested hilltop on Earth.

    The war has increased religious tensions and given new impetus to a group of Jews and their evangelical Christian allies who are set on rebuilding an ancient temple where millennium-old Islamic shrines now stand—a suggestion that arouses the horror not only of Palestinians and Muslims worldwide, but of many Jews in Israel and around the globe as well as that of would-be Middle East peacemakers.

    Third Temple advocates have been preparing for the day when the temple can be rebuilt, complete with rabbinically-certified red cows shipped from Texas for use in sacrificial purification rituals.

    The architectural designs are all ready, along the lines of the detailed Biblical descriptions. Robes have been woven and utensils assembled to Biblical specifications for ceremonies at the planned temple.

    Messianic Jewish supporters believe the rebuilding of the temple, rather than being divisive, would fulfil Biblical prophecy to bring an era of peace with the temple as “a house of prayer for all nations.”

    Christian backers, meanwhile, believe it would be an important step towards the Second Coming of Jesus and an apocalyptic last battle with the Antichrist.

    Standing before the Dome of the Rock, the gleaming Islamic shrine that has sat for more than 1,300 years on the same contested spot, Marina Sokol, an Israeli mother whose son was killed fighting Hamas in Gaza, proclaimed: “The war we are waging is a war for the Temple Mount.”

    But the hope that the conflict might be a step to the rebuilding of the temple also resonates for Third Temple advocates, who form part of a fringe that has gained strength under the right-wing government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

    According to Jewish tradition, the place known as Mount Moriah is where the world was created. This was where Abraham offered his son as a sacrifice. For Jews and Christians that son was Isaac, whereas most Muslim sources say it was Ishmael.

    This was where King Solomon built the First Temple, destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC. It’s thought the Second Temple was built 70 years later—the temple from which Christians believe Jesus drove out the moneychangers. That temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.

    For Muslims, the site is where Muhammad made a miraculous night journey from Mecca before ascending to heaven. Muhammad and his early followers turned here for prayer before they turned to Mecca. The Dome of the Rock was built little over 50 years after Muhammad’s death in 632 AD. In the Middle Ages, some Muslims, Jews, and Christians believed the gold-domed and elaborately tiled structure actually was Solomon’s Temple.

    Outside Israel, the movement has little traction.
    “First of all, 90 percent of American Jews have no concept of a Third Temple in any traditional way,” said Rabbi Asher Lopatin, director of community relations at the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor, Michigan. “The other 10 percent who are Orthodox or Traditional are almost entirely of the opinion that the Third Temple will be rebuilt only after the Mashiach (Messiah) comes and there is world peace,” he told Newsweek. “Ultra-Orthodox Jews believe that only God will build the Third Temple.”

    Non-Jews are among the most fervent supporters of the Third Temple: they are Christians who anticipate the Second Coming of Jesus before a Day of Judgment—a view of the End Times that is, in fact, broadly shared with Muslims.

    *OK, here’s where the poor, red cows come in:

    One of those believers is Byron Stinson, a soft-spoken Texan and self-proclaimed Judeo-Christian who splits his time between the U.S. and Israel and is dedicated to helping “the fathers of the faith” build a new temple.

    “This is God’s plan,” he told Newsweek by phone from his truck rolling across Texas. “It’s being lived out right now right in front of our eyes.”

    Stinson helped secure five red heifers in Texas and ship them over in 2022. The cattle are needed for a purifying ceremony for the temple (sacrificial knives are on display
    at the Temple Institute). Not any red cows will do. They must be “without defect or blemish” (Numbers 19) and must never have worked. It was not cheap getting them to Israel: they had to be transported as pets aboard an American Airlines Boeing 777.

    Once the ceremony has been performed and the ashes of a red heifer are mixed with herbs and the waters of Jerusalem’s Gihon Spring, the purifying mix can last hundreds of years, Stinson said. But he reckoned 20 or 30 years would be enough for the temple.

    For now, home for the cows is a metal shed more than 7,000 miles from their Texas birthplace at the Israeli settlement of Shiloh in the West Bank. They look out from their straw-lined pen with gentle eyes, offering up muzzles in the hope of petting or treats. Rabbis inspect them occasionally to ensure they have no white hairs.

    There is symbolism to having the red heifers in Shiloh. According to believers, this is where the tabernacle—a portable forerunner of the temple—stood for more than 300 years.

    Shiloh is one of the settlements that have long been seen by Palestinians and negotiators as among the biggest obstacles to a peace agreement and as illegal under international law—a view challenged by Israel. Those settlements are now home to more than half a million people. Netanyahu, a longstanding opponent of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, planted an olive tree at Shiloh in 2019. A plaque says the tree he planted “symbolizes our hold on the ground of our homeland.” Olive trees can live for thousands of years.

  84. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Medici

    The extinction of the main Medici dynasty and the accession in 1737 of Francis Stephen, Duke of Lorraine and husband of Maria Theresa of Austria, led to Tuscany’s temporary inclusion in the territories of the Austrian crown. The line of the Princes of Ottajano, an extant branch of the House of Medici who were eligible to inherit the grand duchy of Tuscany when the last male of the senior branch died in 1737, could have carried on as Medici sovereigns but for the intervention of Europe’s major powers, which allocated the sovereignty of Florence elsewhere.

    As a consequence, the grand duchy expired and the territory became a secundogeniture of the Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty.

    The first grand duke of the new dynasty, Francis I, was a great-great-great-grandson of Francesco I de’ Medici, thus he continued the Medicean Dynasty on the throne of Tuscany through the female line.

    The Habsburgs were deposed in favor of the House of Bourbon-Parma in 1801 (themselves deposed in 1807), but were later restored at the Congress of Vienna. Tuscany became a province of the United Kingdom of Italy in 1861. However, several extant branches of the House of Medici survive, including the Princes of Ottajano,[55] the Medici Tornaquinci,[56][55] and the Verona Medici Counts of Caprara and Gavardo.

    Machiavelli’s The Prince was mixed with its opinions of the Medici, and ultimately came to be dedicated to Lorenzo di Piero de’ Medici. Common criticisms of the family have described it as corrupt and with questionable virtues.

    Although none of the Medici themselves were scientists, the family is well known to have been the patrons of the famous Galileo Galilei, who tutored multiple generations of Medici children and was an important figurehead for his patron’s quest for power. Galileo’s patronage was eventually abandoned by Ferdinando II, when the Inquisition accused Galileo of heresy. However, the Medici family did afford the scientist a safe haven for many years. Galileo named the four largest moons of Jupiter after four Medici children he tutored, although the names Galileo used are not the names currently used.

    The greatest accomplishments of the Medici were in the sponsorship of art and architecture, mainly early and High Renaissance art and architecture.

    The Medicis’ wealth and influence was initially derived from the textile trade guided by the wool guild of Florence, the Arte della Lana. Like other families ruling in Italian signorie, the Medici dominated their city’s government, were able to bring Florence under their family’s power, and created an environment in which art and humanism flourished.

    The Medici Bank, from when it was created in 1397 to its fall in 1494, was one of the most prosperous and respected institutions in Europe, and the Medici family was considered the wealthiest in Europe for a time. From this base, they acquired political power initially in Florence and later in wider Italy and Europe. They were among the earliest businesses to use the general ledger system of accounting through the development of the double-entry bookkeeping system for tracking credits and debits.

    The Medici family financed the construction of Saint Peter’s Basilica and Florence Cathedral, and were patrons of Donatello, Brunelleschi, Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Machiavelli, Galileo, and Francesco Redi, among many others in the arts and sciences. They funded the invention of the piano,[7] and arguably that of opera.

  85. https://www.rawstory.com/alaska-republican-party/

    The top aide to a Republican state senator from Alaska was jailed Friday on child sex-trafficking charges, and after getting punched in the face by the mother of the alleged victim…

    *It’s a start.

    Craig Scott Valdez, the chief of staff for Alaska Sen. George Rauscher, was arrested Friday after being accused of arranging to pick up a minor from their family’s home via social media, and later taking them to his home, the outlet reported. The minor’s location was determined by their mother using their phone’s GPS tracking feature.

    “When [the mother] arrived [at Valdez’s home], she heard the minor inside say they wanted to go home,” Alaska’s New Source reported.

    “The mother entered the residence, struck Valdez once in the face and recovered the minor, who exhibited signs of extreme drug or alcohol intoxication and had difficulty walking and maintaining consciousness, court documents say.”

    The mother then notified the Anchorage Police Department according to the report, which soon descended on the property, after which Valdez “puzzlingly” fled his home, police said.

    Valdez was ultimately arrested, and later discovered to have targeted at least 11 other suspected minor victims using social media.

  86. https://www.buzzfeed.com/meganeliscomb/project-2025-tsa-plans

    Here’s what Project 2025 has to say about the TSA:
    The quotes below can be found in this PDF on pages 158–159.

    “The TSA model is costly and unwisely makes TSA both the regulator and the regulated organization responsible for screening operations. As part of an effort to shrink federal bureaucracies and bring private-sector know-how to government programs, TSA is ripe for reform.”

    “The U.S. should look to the Canadian and European private models of providing aviation screening manpower to lower TSA costs while maintaining security. Until it is privatized, TSA should be treated as a national security provider, and its workforce should be deunionized immediately.”

    It’s important to note here that, in line with what Project 2025 suggests, the second Trump administration has twice attempted to end the TSA’s collective bargaining agreement. The most recent attempt was struck down by a federal judge in January.

    Project 2025’s changes to the TSA are supposed to reduce government spending. However, the current deployment of ICE agents to select American airports amid the shutdown seems to be costing even more than just paying the TSA, since TSA workers are guaranteed back pay once the shutdown ends.

    However, what’s happening now doesn’t exactly line up with the Heritage Foundation’s blueprint. The current partial government shutdown comes down to a debate between lawmakers.

  87. https://newrepublic.com/post/208122/pentagon-directing-satellite-companies-censor-iran-war-information

    The Pentagon Is Directing Companies to Censor Iran War Information

    Leaked U.S. military guidance obtained by independent journalist Ken Klippenstein Tuesday revealed instructions to dozens of commercial satellite operators about how to describe the extent of the damage in Iran.

    The Pentagon warned against using language that assumed “operational conclusions,” such as “Target destroyed” or “Target eliminated.” Instead, the language should describe only “observable infrastructure damage.”

    Perhaps the U.S. military was hoping to avoid more claims that Iranian assets had been “obliterated” that they would have to walk back afterward. In any case, the Pentagon appears to be exercising censorship over what Americans are allowed to know, allowing Trump to prosecute his war in Iran with impunity.

    Roughly 100 companies operate reconnaissance satellites, comprising a $6 billion to $7 billion industry. Those companies have commercial clients as well as contracts with the federal government, incentivizing them to comply with any advisory guidelines from the Pentagon.

    “While there’s a case to be made that they [the companies] should fight it, almost everyone makes the vast majority of their revenue from government contracts in this industry and, after Anthropic, nobody is interested in putting up a fight,” a source familiar with the guidance told Klippenstein. “I think it’s also another layer of trying to make things [about the war] seem less bad than they are.”

    Planet Labs, one of the largest commercial satellite imaging companies, blocked public access to imagery of the Iran war for two weeks after the U.S. and Israel launched attacks on February 28. The company claimed it had made that decision after consulting with military and intelligence experts.

  88. https://www.thedailybeast.com/iran-gives-trump-a-negotiation-ultimatum-on-jd-vance-sidelining-steve-witkoff-and-jared-kushner/

    Iran said it is done dealing with the two emissaries President Donald Trump has tasked with leading negotiations in the Middle East.

    The country, which Trump began striking over three weeks ago, is not keen on any more attempts at negotiations with Trump’s Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, or Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, both of whom were leading the nuclear negotiations with Iran before the war.

    Iran now says it will only engage in negotiations with Vice President J.D. Vance, according to a report in The Guardian.

    The source noted that Iran sees Vance as a more acceptable diplomatic figure than Witkoff and Kushner, especially as Vance is, at his core, a skeptic of U.S. military action in the Middle East.

    Vance, a Marine who served in public affairs during the Iraq War, has traditionally been wary of U.S. foreign intervention throughout his career in politics.

    *However, as with donuts, Vance will just defer to the guy with the donuts and tell him to do “whatever makes sense.” Why don’t they want to deal with Rubio? He’s the SOS.

    Over the weekend, Trump gave Iran an ultimatum in which he said he would “obliterate” Iran’s power plants if it did not open the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours of his Truth Social threat.

    The president’s self-imposed timeline came and went, as he walked back his threat and claimed to have been in “GOOD AND PRODUCTIVE CONVERSATIONS” with the Iranians.

    @realDonaldTrump
    I AM PLEASED TO REPORT THAT THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND THE COUNTRY OF IRAN, HAVE HAD, OVER THE LAST TWO DAYS, VERY GOOD AND PRODUCTIVE CONVERSATIONS REGARDING A COMPLETE AND TOTAL RESOLUTION OF OUR HOSTILITIES IN THE MIDDLE EAST. BASED ON THE TENOR AND TONE OF THESE IN DEPTH, DETAILED, AND CONSTRUCTIVE CONVERSATIONS, WHICH WILL CONTINUE THROUGHOUT THE WEEK, I HAVE INSTRUCTED THE DEPARTMENT OF WAR TO POSTPONE ANY AND ALL MILITARY STRIKES AGAINST IRANIAN POWER PLANTS AND ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE FOR A FIVE DAY PERIOD, SUBJECT TO THE SUCCESS OF THE ONGOING MEETINGS AND DISCUSSIONS.
    THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!
    PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP
    Mar 23, 2026

    *Two days, five days…The Amazing Taco strikes, again.

  89. i’m worried the “TACO” stuff is going to goad him into nuking something

    impeach the mendacious madman

    … and the reality is he doesn’t “chicken out”, his only calculus is self-enrichment and amassing and retaining power, not fear

    He’s not afraid of anything because he’s never held accountable

    said it himself

  91. https://www.thedailybeast.com/pentagon-petes-pastor-caught-in-bonkers-chat-on-dem-stars-death/

    Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s pastor has been caught up in a bizarre chat surrounding a Democratic star in an appearance on a religious podcast.

    Evangelical pastor Brooks Potteiger appeared on the Reformation Red Pill podcast last week. Potteiger has been called Hegseth’s closest spiritual adviser, while the defense secretary has appeared on four episodes of the extreme Christian nationalist podcast.

    The episode, titled “James Talarico Believes Christians are Idiots. Is He Right?” is hosted by Joshua Haymes, a previous intern at Potteiger’s Pilgrim Hill church.

    Talarico, 36, is a Presbyterian seminarian whose profile has risen after he defeated Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett in the Democratic primary election earlier this month.

    That has led to Republicans digging through his previous comments on religion, including his 2021 comment that “God is nonbinary.”

    In the 18-minute podcast, Haymes and Potteiger react to clips from Talarico, who has been open about his Christian faith, talking about religion.

    The footage includes the Democrat discussing how being pro-choice is “absolutely consistent” with Christianity and defending the transgender community in Texas as “something we have to do every day.”

    The pair compare Talarico, who is running for Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn’s seat in the upper chamber, to various predatory animals, with Haymes calling him a “demon” and a “snake”, while Potteiger says he is a “wolf.”

    He is presenting himself as a Christian in order to distort what Christianity is and to lead people away from Christ towards the teachings of demons,” Haymes adds.

    After commenting on more videos of Talarico, the pair then end their podcast with Haymes saying of the Democrat, “First and foremost we pray that a man like this would be cut to the heart.” He said he puts Talarico in the category of “public enemies,” or those you “are not called to love.”

    Haymes continues, “I pray that God kills him. Ultimately, that means killing his heart and raising him up to new life in Christ.”

    “Right. Right. We want him crucified with Christ,” Potteiger adds.

    “I want him to be I think Saul of Tarsus,” Potteiger adds, referencing the religious figure also known as the Apostle Paul, who initially persecuted early Christians before converting to Christianity. “Talerico of Tarsus. Yes. That’s what I want.”

    “Yes, we want death and new life,” Haymes says. “And if it would not be within God’s will to do so, stop him by any means necessary.”

    *So, they don’t want God’s will. They want him to be concerted to their idea of Christianity, and if that doesn’t happen (dog whistle), “stop him by any means necessary.” White nationalists pretending to follow Christ are just the weirdest and the worst.

  92. Talarico responds:

    @jamestalarico

    Jesus loves. Christian Nationalism kills.

    You may pray for my death, Pastor, but I still love you.

    I love you more than you could ever hate me.

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