67 thoughts on “Don’t See Consensus Like This Very Often”

  1. thanks, Craig, not surprising given what’s known already.

    in case you missed how the daily show has been keeping the EP issue alive:

    In Part 3 of the Trump-Epstein saga, America learns that Pam Bondi’s DOJ informed Donald Trump he was in the Epstein files back in May 2025, MAGA Karens and the QAnon Shaman demand answers, and folksy GOP loyalists use their twang to defend the president’s questionable past. #DailyShow #Trump #Epstein

  2. I am surprised that the “files”, or parts of the documents, have not been released yet. A lot of eyes have seen things, but maybe don donnie put a death threat out for anyone leaking stuff.

    The more this drags on and the more mangomoron throws distractions out, the more I am convinced there are movies and pictures of him with a “young boy or dead girl”. There are more than a handful out there guessing much worse. I hope they are wrong.

  3. Thanks PatD for the heads up on Daily Show. I am working on a short reel for chat room today trying to explain why Epstein matters, clips from that will be helpful.

  6. The Epstein files are starting to look a lot like the hunt for Big Foot. crossed with a witch burning.
    One thing history has proved over and over, no matter their politics, Americans love the smell of burning witches.
    It is one of our scarier traits.

    Jack

  7. Jack… I don’t disagree with what you wrote above…
    except, I would replace the word “Americans” with the words Human Beings…

  8. Ya know, some guys got together and made up this test, the IQ test, which measures the “intelligence “ of whoever takes the test . The results of that test then follow a test taker the rest of his or her life . Follows him or her right down to the urn, grave, or mausoleum.

    Those guys or others like them since they’ve all gone on should sit down and not leave the room until they have come up with a fool-proof ASSHOLE TEST.

    So a possible employer could look at your application (test results would not be secret) and your other papers and greet you with something like, “So….it says here that you’re an asshole.”

  9. Came in my in-box this morning. Often I don’t take time to read, but today I did.

    Heroes and Monsters
    by William Kristol
    It’s sad but true: Contemptible men occupy the highest offices in our land.
    Before becoming Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. lied repeatedly and vociferously about the coronavirus vaccine, calling it the “deadliest vaccine ever made,” and claiming it contained “poison.” During his presidential campaign that ended with his endorsement of Donald Trump in return for the promise of a cabinet position, Kennedy slandered those serving at the Centers for Disease Control, boasting, “As President, I will clean up the cesspool of corruption at CDC” and “I’ll hold responsible those who lied or concealed critical health information.”
    Last Friday, an American who believed the lies spread by Kennedy and others, 32-year-old Patrick Joseph White, took five firearms to the CDC campus in Atlanta and fired some five hundred shots at the complex. Two hundred shots hit six buildings. Amazingly, no CDC employees were injured. But White killed a DeKalb County police officer who rushed to the scene, David Rose.
    After waiting eighteen hours, Kennedy tepidly condemned this attack on his department. On Monday, he paid a brief and perfunctory condolence visit to the CDC. He immediately followed this visit by giving an interview in which he chose once again to reiterate his view that “the public health agencies have not been honest.”
    The next day, a CDC employee, Jessica Rogers-Brown, wrote on a local Atlanta online news website about the situation she and her colleagues had been confronting, expressing anger that for months, public servants like me have been painted as villains—called liars, conspirators, even criminals—for doing unglamorous, necessary work. Anger that repetition turns rumor into permission; that lies, said often enough and loud enough, chamber a round as surely as a hand on a trigger.
    Ms. Rogers-Brown continued, “Moments like this demand unambiguous sentences from the highest office in the land: Public servants are not the enemy. Attacks on them are attacks on America. Say it plainly. Say it loudly. Say it now.”
    President Trump has said not a word about this attack on federal public servants.
    Nor has he offered condolences or praise for Officer Rose.
    Rose was 33 years old. He was married with two children, and his wife is expecting their third child. He had served in Afghanistan as a Marine, and graduated from the policy academy in March. In a graduation speech for his academy class, Officer Rose said, “From the very first day, we learned that policing isn’t just about enforcing the law. It’s about protecting the vulnerable, standing for justice, and being the person who runs towards danger when others run away.”
    For their whole lives, Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have run away not merely from danger (recall Trump’s bone spurs) but from responsibility and accountability. They have gotten away with contemptible behavior. They occupy high public office after living sordid lives of wealth and privilege. They have paid no price for their irresponsibility and cowardice.
    The contrast with David Rose, Marine and police officer, who lived far too short a life of courage and public service, is striking.
    One would like to think that David Rose represents the real and lasting America. One would like to think that Trump and Kennedy are sad historical aberrations whose current prominence and power we will one day—perhaps one day soon—look back on with horror and disgust.

    IMG_2911

  11. Unpleasant stuff we need to study and know now that Stephen Miller is calling the shots.

    As the Nazis worked to consolidate their power and build a cohesive “national community,” suppression of dissent played a key role. In 1933, the Nazis issued a decree that required Germans to turn in anyone who spoke against the party, its leaders, or the government (see reading, Outlawing the Opposition in Chapter 5). That decree, “For the Defense against Malicious Attacks against the Government,” stated:

    Whoever purposely makes or circulates a statement of a factual nature which is untrue or grossly exaggerated or which may seriously harm the welfare of the Reich or of a state, or the reputation of the National government or of a state government or of parties or organizations supporting these governments, is to be punished, provided that no more severe punishment is decreed in other regulations, with imprisonment of up to two years and, if he makes or spreads the statement publicly, with imprisonment of not less than three months.
    If serious damage to the Reich or a state has resulted from this deed, penal servitude may be imposed.
    Whoever commits an act through negligence will be punished with imprisonment of up to three months, or by a fine.
    To enforce the decree, the Nazis set up special courts to try people who were accused of “malicious attacks.” In December 1934, the government replaced the decree with the “Law against Malicious Attacks on State and Party,” adding a clause that criminalized “malicious, rabble-rousing remarks or those indicating a base mentality” against the Nazi Party or high-ranking government or party officials.

    Alfons Heck, then a member of the Hitler Youth, recalled the effects of the law. In 1938, he was living with his grandparents when his father came to visit.

    In retrospect, I think it was the last time my father railed against the regime in front of me. . . . He wasn’t much of a drinker, but when he had a few too many, he had a tendency to shout down everyone else, not a small feat among the men of my family. “You mark my words, Mother,” he yelled, “that goddamned Austrian housepainter is going to kill us all before he’s through conquering the world.” And then his baleful eye fell on me. “They are going to bury you in this goddamned monkey suit [his Hitler Youth uniform], my boy,” he chuckled, but that was too much for my grandmother.

    “Why don’t you leave him alone, Du dummer Narr [you stupid fool],” she said sharply, “and watch your mouth; you want to end up in the KZ [the German abbreviation for concentration camp]?”

    He laughed bitterly and added: “So, it has come that far already, your own son turning you in?” My grandmother told me to leave the kitchen, but the last thing I heard was my father’s sarcastic voice. “Are you people all blind? This thing with the Jews is just the beginning.”

    In thinking about the incident, Heck wrote:

    My grandmother had every reason to warn him about talking loosely, for his classification as “politically unreliable” surely would have sent him to a KZ had anyone reported his remarks, even within the family. But there were also two of our farmhands at the table, and Hans, the younger of the two, had recently announced his decision to apply for party membership. He had ambitions to attend an agricultural school and knew full well [that] party membership would help him get in. Perhaps luckily for my father, Hans was getting pretty drunk himself, although I doubt he would have reported my father had he been stone sober. Despite the fact that I later attained a high rank in the Hitler Youth, which required me to be especially vigilant, I never considered my father to be dangerous to our new order. I merely thought him a fool who had long since been left behind.

    https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/spying-family-friends

  12. Here is what twit grok thing came up with as an answer to this question: “@grok
    on a scale of 1 to 100 what are my political leanings based on my posts and comments? 1 is far left, 100 is far right.”
    Based on analyzing your recent posts—strong anti-Trump views, pro-Ukraine stance, support for trans rights, vaccines, and veteran issues like PTSD—I’d rate your political leanings at 25. Solidly left, with some centrist veteran influences.

  13. The Epstein files are starting to look a lot like the hunt for Big Foot. crossed with a witch burning.

    We know the files exist and we know Trump is in them

    It’s just that they control the federal government and Trump is teflon

  14. fool-proof ASSHOLE TEST.

    corporate and government human resources have been using such tests for decades. It’s just that you don’t need to take one to run for office.

  15. Any information will be worthless except to incriminate Dodo enemies.* The files will have been thoroughly cleansed and sanitized of any Dodo-involvement by the time they are released, if that day ever arrives.

    * which is all maggers ever wanted so they’ll be satisfied with that result

  16. ugh i like Olbermann but he’s so goddamned silly: arresting Putin would likely compel the threat of a nuclear response, wise up

  18. From my morning read.
    Axios Macro newsletter

    Another problem with the potential politicization of government data: There is no private sector source readily available to replace it.

    Why it matters: Private sector data, like the employment reading from payroll processor ADP, helps inform our understanding of the economy’s health. But nothing yet measures up to traditional government indicators.

    What they’re saying: “At the end of the day, all roads lead back to the government data,” Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, tells Axios. “If we don’t have that data, we’re going to be lost.”

    Businesses, state and local governments, the Federal Reserve and beyond will substitute private data that might be less reliable and “make decisions that are just plain wrong when it matters the most,” Zandi says.
    No company can create nationally representative datasets without the government-produced benchmarks.
    For example: Tractor Supply, an agricultural retailer, tells Axios it relies on Morning Consult sentiment data to understand its customers, like figuring out whether they could absorb tariff-related price increases. But that alone is not sufficient.

  19. A little bit about why we are playing with twit grok. It “learns” from inputs, the more pro-Ukraine, anti-krasnov, liberal ideals, etc, we feed it the better. The main reason that the program is “woke” or liberal and anti-musk, anti-sfb, is we keep playing with it. Every day we work on feeding it our side of thinking keeping the algorithm leaning left. Although the programming works to keep it fascist, we do our best to fight it. Sometimes they over do it and have to take it down due to it wanting to be hitler. That is when we turn it left.

  20. Reliable Sources
    Brian Stelter

    Fake Everything
    ‘Fake’ everything?

    Deny the data. Disrupt the data collectors. And demand a different result.
    That is what we’re seeing now from some federal officials. It’s a common theme in several of this week’s biggest stories, and it has big implications for news coverage.

    “Crime stats in big blue cities are fake,” President Trump’s deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said yesterday on X, clearly reacting to the news media’s fact-checking of Trump’s extreme exaggerations about crime in DC. “The real rates of crime, chaos & dysfunction are orders of magnitude higher,” Miller insisted.

    “Coupled with the attack” on the Bureau of Labor Statistics, CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein said, “this is rapidly advancing deeper into the territory of insisting that all data that doesn’t conform to Trump preferences is inherently invalid and that only the leader can tell you the truth.” Brownstein called it “a hallmark of authoritarians” throughout history.

    He invoked the BLS for good reason: Trump’s commissioner choice, E.J. Antoni, is being scrutinized from left to right. Numerous economists have criticized him “for misunderstanding the data he would now oversee,” the NYT’s team reported.

    >> For more on the jobs data controversies, check out Alicia Wallace and David Goldman’s latest piece for CNN here. One of their subheds: “Federal data under siege.”

    ‘Nullify the real’

    President Trump’s rhetoric about “fake news” keeps expanding to new categories. In the past month, he has assailed “fake intelligence agents,” dismissed “fake polls,” claimed “the Russia thing was fake,” and declared that “the Democrats are fake.”

    More on link

    The effect is to sow doubt about anything and everything. As veteran journalism professor Jay Rosen said in a Q&A with Mark Jacob earlier this week, “with this doubt comes friction, controversy, commotion, emotion, backlash, accusation, disgust, momentum. And with the energy released by these reactions you can power your political movement.”

    Rosen asserted that Trump has trained the MAGA movement to “reject reality on a sweeping scale, and discredit the whole idea that we can know what’s happening in our world.” The idea, he suggested, is to “nullify the real.” Republicans often argue that this distrust in institutions was well-earned and is well-deserved. But the process of restoring trust? That’s a whole lot harder.

    MAGA editor at the Smithsonian?

    Do you want Trump White House political aides vetting the tone and framing of museum exhibits? That’s really the question now that the WH has notified the Smithsonian that it is reviewing eight museums with an eye toward making “content corrections where necessary” and “replacing divisive or ideologically driven language with unifying, historically accurate, and constructive descriptions.” CNN’s Betsy Klein has more here.

    >> Last night on “AC360,” Cornell William Brooks called it “censorship tied to a celebration,” namely, the America250 anniversary. “The White House is essentially engaged in a kind of cultural micromanagement,” he said.

    >> The Smithsonian is not part of the executive branch, as I noted on “CNN News Central” this morning. The museum says it will work “constructively” with the White House, but that could mean a lot of things. It also reaffirmed a commitment to “accurate, factual presentation of history.”

  23. Updated Aug. 13, 2025, 1:55 a.m. ET
    By Graham Bowley Jennifer Schuessler and Robin Pogrebin

    White House Announces Comprehensive Review of Smithsonian Exhibitions
    The Trump administration is giving museums 120 days to replace “divisive or ideologically driven language with unifying, historically accurate and constructive descriptions.”

    Cars drive by a large square building with trees surrounding it.
    The National Museum of African American History and Culture is one of the eight Smithsonian museums whose exhibitions will be reviewed by the Trump administration.

    The Trump administration said on Tuesday that it would begin a wide-ranging review of current and planned exhibitions at the Smithsonian Institution, scouring wall text, websites and social media “to assess tone, historical framing and alignment with American ideals.”

    White House officials announced the review in a letter sent to Lonnie G. Bunch III, the secretary of the Smithsonian. Museums will be required to adjust any content that the administration finds problematic within 120 days, the letter said, “replacing divisive or ideologically driven language with unifying, historically accurate and constructive descriptions.”

    The review, which will begin with eight of the Smithsonian’s 21 museums, is the latest attempt by President Trump to try to impose his will on the Smithsonian, which has traditionally operated as an independent institution that regards itself outside the purview of the executive branch.

    Kim Sajet, the head of the National Portrait Gallery, resigned in June after Mr. Trump said he was firing her for being partisan. The Smithsonian’s governing board said at the time that it had sole responsibility for personnel decisions.

  27. All the discussion about census and counting only citizens made me think about registration.

    In the earliest years of the United States, there was no formal voter registration system as we know it today. Instead, individuals who wished to vote would appear at the polls and declare that they met the requirements to be a voter, often by swearing an oath. These requirements varied by state but commonly involved being a white male landowner or taxpayer over the age of 21. Local election officials, who often knew the eligible voters in their communities, could then verify their eligibility.
    The concept of formal voter registration began to emerge in the early 19th century, with Massachusetts being the first state to institute a pre-registration requirement in 1800. Other states followed suit over the following decades, according to Wikipedia.
    The primary stated reasons for these early registration laws were administrative – to create accurate voter lists and prevent fraud. However, it’s also important to note that some historians suggest these laws were also used as a means of disenfranchisement, particularly targeting immigrant and poor voters, by creating barriers to participation.

    Depending on local laws, elections while restricted to white male land owners or tax payers, it did not necessarily prevent declared foreigners from voting.

  29. I saw a lot of boxers, from an early age (1952 we got a tv. Friday night fights—every Friday in the early and mid- 50’s) thru the end of Ali . There may be that he lost some fights here and the there but Ali was the best there ever was. He truly was The Greatest.

    His life was as great as his boxing .

  34. Tried. More work to do.
    Today’s Live On Tape, I tried to sell WhskyJack and Jamie on why the Epstein story is a political grenade. They weren’t buying it — yet.

  35. Hey, Craig
    We are getting better, It won’t be long and we can take this show on the road
    ;-0
    But before that I do need to get busy on that kitchen or find a different corner of the house.

    Jack

  38. LOL, that is a sad comment about our country.
    Half thought out and never finished.

    Back to chopping tomatoes for pico de gallo.

  39. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-host-kennedy-center-honors-event-he-expands-his-reach-washington-2025-08-13/

    WASHINGTON, Aug 13 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he will host this year’s Kennedy Center Honors ceremony after announcing a lineup of honorees he approved as part of his effort to remake cultural institutions he has deemed too liberal.

    Trump, who installed himself as chairman of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in February, tapped country singer George Strait, action movie star Sylvester Stallone and rock band KISS for one of the highest accolades in American culture.

    “I Will Survive” singer Gloria Gaynor and English stage actor Michael Crawford, who originated the lead role in musical “The Phantom of the Opera,” will also receive the honor meant for lifetime achievements in the performing arts.

    Trump said he rejected some candidates he considered “too woke,” invoking a term sometimes used as a pejorative for anyone who appears politically left-leaning on race, gender and sexuality.

    *So, he picked Gloria Gaynor? Does he understand the impact of “I Will Survive”?
    Does he also understand we’ll use it when he’s on his deathbed and we’re not? Will any of the nominees show up? I guess Stallone is a MAGAt n&zi putz, but not sure about the others. George Strait’s core audience is probably MAGAts, so he wouldn’t want to tick them off.

  40. Goodness, those guys got old fast. They weren’t near that old the last time I saw them in concert that was let see, befor, yeah and before then, way back, uh, hmm, has it been that long?
    Yeah about 1995, 30 years ago.
    Jack

  42. Too bad Frank ain’t with us.
    Or maybe it is just my day, I started the day irritated and Zappa seems to have soothed it out, except for those Grainger work clothes commercials. Don’t those folks know I put away the steel toed shoes a long time ago, I work in flip flops now or at least when I work.

  43. So what’re the odds that the capacitors on 2 A/C units installed 20 years ago on the same day would go bad within 2 days of each other? In my world, 100%.

  44. BTW, if you really want something strange play zappa and Craigs short at the same time. It was by accident but it was definitely counter cultural. It took me a few seconds to realize it was not Zappa being Zappa.
    Jack

  45. Pogo
    I used to have that problem with my rental properties. Something go wrong with one of them then another one went, “Hey that looks fun, let me mess with him too.”

    Jack

  47. I can’t imagine the Kennedy Honors names would be announced unless the recipients had accepted.

    I notice there is no one from opera, dance or symphonic represented.

  48. Been playing around with family research, reading old 1920’s Oklahoma Newspapers. Not a good time for nonwhites in Oklahoma. Ran across a mention of one of my Great grandfathers first cousins involved with this,

    The Osage Indian murders was a serial killing event that took place in Osage County, Oklahoma, United States, during the 1910s–1930s

    He was a business partner of W K Hale a man on trial for murder of Osage tribal members to get possession of their tribal mineral rights ( oil).
    In one of the local papers along side the murder trial was a story about a mob lynching a black man. It is why I think original sources are important and why I’m still optimistic about the internet. But you do have to work to find them.
    Which brings us back to Trump and his attempt to cover up uncomfortable history. It doesn’t do any good, it is out there for all. It will just take guts for teachers and others to talk about it. We have a lot of ugly history, we have a lot of good history too. We need to teach it all.

    Jack

  51. Well, Jack, oddly enough we lost one of the A/C units at the office – installed within a year of the two the failed at home – that croaked the same week. I can only chalk it up to the Full Sturgeon Supermoon – it was on 8/9. 🤣What say ye Sturg?

  54. In the “You really couldn’t write this” file… WaPo.

    Man who hurled sandwich at law enforcement in D.C. charged with felony
    “I did it. I threw a sandwich,” the man allegedly said to police after his arrest.

    August 13, 2025 at 6:22 p.m. EDT

    By Joe Heim and Sophia Solano

    A man arrested in D.C. on Sunday night is facing felony charges for throwing a wrapped Subway sandwich at a federal law enforcement officer, Jeanine Pirro, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, announced in a video posted on X on Wednesday afternoon.

    Video of the incident, which took place near the corner of 14th and U streets NW, shows a man in a pink collared shirt, shorts, crew socks and New Balance running shoes yelling at several law enforcement officers while holding a sandwich. As he turned to walk away, he hurled his hoagie at the chest of one of the officers and then ran off with the officers in pursuit. The video, which has gone viral, does not show the man being arrested.
    …

    Violent street crime DC style. Law and order under Dumbass and Pirro. Jesus H…

  56. https://knewz.com/ghislaine-maxwell-cellmate-says-she-has-dirt-on-trump/

    “I heard her tell another inmate that she had dirt on Trump and that it was going to get her a pardon from [former President Joe] Biden,” Kathryn Comolli told DailyMail.com, adding that the former president refused to get involved. “I guess Biden’s camp just didn’t want to go down that route,” Comolli added. The 44-year-old, who served two years in the same prison as Maxwell for “conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine,” said the only way Maxwell could have been moved to the minimum-security facility is if she spilled the Epstein tea. “I believe Maxwell made a deal with the devil to get that transfer out of Tallahassee,” she said.

  57. Move her to a prison camp.

    Put her on work release. (What does a sex trafficker do for work? Can’t be a school lunch lady.)

    Next step, SCOTUS overturns her conviction, or Adolf pardons her after the 2028 election.

  58. Jamie
    My mother grew up on a farm just north of Osage county on the Kansas side of the state line. So I knew that cheating Indians was the state sport of Oklahoma at the time but until the movie came out I had never heard of the murders. Until yesterday hadn’t bothered to do more than listen to discussions about the movie. Yesterday I ran across a file someone had shared on ancestor.com a paragraph from the federal investigation that listed my relative as part of the gang that was intimidating witnesses. So I started doing some newspaper research and It was easy to find, it was in all the papers. Not as damning as the BOI report but bad enough he was a witness for the defense.
    That particular branch of the family is a bit crazy. His father moved to Kansas with his family in the 1880’s. I don’t think he got along with any of his neighbors, the papers are just full of him getting in disputes with people. So given where they move to in OK, yesterday didn’t surprise me much

    Jack

  60. a man in a pink collared shirt, shorts, crew socks and New Balance running shoes

    The jokes just write themselves don’t they

    Jack

  61. BiD
    I don’t think she will have a bit of trouble finding work. If I was a super rich wall street type that wanted to keep my name out of the papers, I would set up a nonprofit (donations are hidden) that would hire her.
    You really are too focused here, there are probably several hundred folks out there that are richer than DT and have more of a need for her silence.
    BTW, It is perfectly safe to do this because no matter how I try to silence her, Donald Trump will get the blame. Now that is a real win/win solution!

    Jack

  62. Just a thought, Given my above comment, the lady might find it safer to return to a maximum security prison.
    Jack

  66. @GovPressOffice
    WOW! TOMORROW HISTORY WILL BE MADE.
    KaroLYIN LEAVITT WILL HAVE NO ANSWERS FOR THE SUPPOSED “FAKE MEDIA” ABOUT CALIFORNIA’S BEAUTIFUL MAPS. PEOPLE ARE SAYING THEY ARE THE GREATEST MAPS EVER CREATED — EVEN BETTER THAN CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS’. DONALD “THE FAILURE” TRUMP BE WARNED, TOMORROW MAY BE THE WORST DAY OF YOUR LIFE. ALL BECAUSE YOU “MISSED THE DEADLINE.” LIBERATION DAY FOR AMERICA!!! —
    GCN
    8:17 PM • 8/13/25

    *KaroLYIN! It was right there, and I missed it. Gavin is trolling tRUMPsky online and the folks in the Cotswolds are trolling JD IRL.

Comments are closed.

Join the Trail Mix

Get an alert when Craig goes live, and the link when our Open Thread heats up.