‘It’s not a coincidence’: journalists of color on being laid off amid Trump’s anti-DEI push
Black and brown former employees from CBS, NBC and Teen Vogue talk about the effects of being let go
Trey Sherman was traveling to work on the New York subway when he received an email from David Reiter, a CBS News executive, about an imminent meeting on 29 October. Sherman, an associate producer of CBS Evening News Plus at the time, suspected that he would be laid off. CBS News’s parent company, Paramount, had closed a merger with the Hollywood studio Skydance in August, and planned to slash more than 2,000 jobs as part of corporate restructuring.
Sherman, who is Black, and Reiter, who is white, had an amicable conversation, according to Sherman. Reiter told Sherman that he was being laid off because his show was being eliminated, Sherman said, and that Reiter was unable to assign the team to other positions. Sherman accepted the news and the two men wished each other good luck.
But when Sherman left the conference room and entered the newsroom, he said he learned that his white colleagues had been told a very different story. A white co-worker told Sherman that she found it “messed up” that the people of color on the team had been laid off. Of the nine producers who staffed CBS Evening News Plus, five white people were reassigned to other positions, while the four people of color on the team were let go, according to Sherman and another former staffer who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation. Later that day, Sherman documented his experience in a viral TikTok video. CBS did not respond to the Guardian’s multiple requests for comment.
Sherman’s role may be the latest casualty in a nationwide crackdown on diversity. Several high-ranking Black officials have been fired from the Trump administration, and thousands of jobs related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) have been cut in the private and public sectors. The Guardian talked to seven recently laid off journalists at CBS, NBC and Teen Vogue who spoke of people of color on their teams being let go while their white colleagues were spared, or the chipping away at coverage focused on marginalized communities.
Newsrooms have long been less diverse than the US population, which makes these layoffs in particular especially pronounced. In 1978, the American Society of Newspaper Editors, an organization for media leaders, vowed that the racial makeup of newsrooms would reflect the US population by 2000. As the deadline neared in 1998, the society moved the date to 2025, but newsrooms still haven’t met that goal. According to a 2022 Pew Research Center survey of nearly 12,000 journalists, 76% of respondents were white, 8% were Latino/Hispanic, 6% were Black and 3% were Asian. The survey showed an overrepresentation of white journalists, since nearly 58% of the population was white, about 19% were Hispanic, 12% were Black and 6% were Asian in the 2020 US census.
Some journalists see the layoffs as capitulation to the Trump administration’s war on DEI. After Trump’s January executive orders calling for an end to DEI programs and the termination of affirmative action in the federal government, Sherman said that “one by one, we saw companies get rid of their DEI initiatives”.
CBS and NBC are subjected to regulatory scrutiny by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which oversees radio, television, cable, satellite and wire communications. During his first week in office, Brendan Carr, the FCC chair, announced that the FCC would end its DEI efforts by, among other things, removing it as a priority from the agency’s budget, and quashing its advisory group and taskforce. [continues]
from the guardian piece above:
“ Later that day, Sherman documented his experience in a viral TikTok video. CBS did not respond to the Guardian’s multiple requests for comment.”
On Tuesday, almost eight years later, Trump explicitly confirmed he had spoken of “shithole countries” during a past closed-door meeting with senators.
Trump delivered the confirmation during a speech in Pennsylvania that was officially devoted to economic issues but that veered into various other topics. When the president said he had “announced a permanent pause on Third World migration, including from hellholes like Afghanistan, Haiti, Somalia, and many other countries,” somebody in the audience called out the word “shithole.” Trump responded, to laughter, “I didn’t say ‘shithole,’ you did.”
But then Trump said this.
“Remember I said that to the senators that came in, the Democrats. They wanted to be bipartisan. So they came in. And they said, ‘This is totally off the record, nothing mentioned here, we want to be honest,’ because our country was going to hell. And we had a meeting. And I say: Why is it we only take people from shithole countries, right? Why can’t we have some people from Norway, Sweden – just a few – let us have a few. From Denmark – do you mind sending us a few people? Send us some nice people, do you mind? But we always take people from Somalia. Places that are a disaster, right? Filthy, dirty, disgusting, ridden with crime.”
[continues]
RIP Rob and Michele Reiner.
“People Magazine” not using ‘allegedly’ is an interesting editorial choice, not the one i’d make
irresponsible considering the political environment and a weaponized DoJ
among other reasons
(Their headlines are pushed to millions upon millions of phones, if that seems like a stretch)
#RIP Rob & Michelle Reiner
What America is Clicking: December 15, 2025
International: A father and son kill at least 15 at a Hanukkah celebration on Sydney’s Bondi Beach; officials are investigating the attack as an act of terrorism. AP News
Entertainment: Police are investigating an “apparent homicide” after filmmaker Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Singer Reiner were found dead in their Los Angeles home. CBS News
Investigation: Police release the “person of interest” in the Brown University shooting, stating he is no longer a suspect and the actual gunman remains at large. People
Sports: The Kansas City Chiefs confirm Patrick Mahomes tore his ACL during Sunday’s loss to the Chargers, ending his 2025 season. Chiefs.com
Politics: The Trump administration’s 2025 National Security Strategy, officially adopting a “Peace Through Strength” doctrine, stuns Europe. Lawfare
Economy: Healthcare cost satisfaction hits a record low of 16% as inflation continues to pressure American households. Gallup
Geopolitics: Reports emerge that President Trump has authorized Ukrainian strikes on Russia’s “shadow fleet” of oil tankers. UNN
Business: The U.S. trade deficit drops 61% in November to $6.6 billion, fueled by a sharp rise in merchandise exports. The Hindu
Markets: Investors shift to a bullish stance on corn for the first time in six months as wheat futures slide. Agriculture.com
Science: Researchers find ticks attached to an electric eel specimen preserved for over 150 years, a biological first. Discover Wildlife
A snapshot by our AI partner Silas (Gemini) on what people are clicking, not what we think they should. Open Thread: Which of these stories is overblown, and what important news is missing? Add your links below.
Mr. Stur Tell,
yep, given I’m usually on the Trail hours before the sun comes up, that “Thanks for finally wandering over to the discussion”
was a bit cheeky from the A-I
Wise Guy
you referenced.
Yes, Silas deserves a slap for that one, Pat. I missed it on my first reading.
Ukraine Update: The Liquidation Sale Begins Today? Chat Room Live at 11: Watch the Deal Go Down
“Well, that didn’t take long. The ‘unwavering support’ just wavered. Zelensky is in Berlin today, and notice who he’s meeting—not just the Europeans, but Trump’s envoys. The quiet part is finally being said out loud: the ‘NATO Dream’ is officially the price of admission for a ceasefire.
While the EU foreign ministers are running around Brussels today trying to find loose change in the sofa to replace American funding, the real deal is being cut in a back room by guys who view nations like distressed assets. We went from Churchillian rhetoric to a foreclosure auction in record time.
The map of Europe is being redrawn this morning, and the pen isn’t in Brussels—it’s in the hand of a real estate developer. Is this a peace deal, or just a graceful way to hand over the keys?
We are firing up Trail Mix Chat live at 11:00 AM ET to cover the press conferences from Berlin and Brussels as they happen. If this is the surrender, we’re going to watch them sign the papers together. Join us.”
Craig
You did set the Silas dial to snarky.
Continuing the history of mangomoron demonstrating the lack of ability to use his hands, needs two hands to hold a cylindrical object to drink from or trying to catch anything, we have the Army-Navy coin toss. Except in stupid’s mind a coin toss is just that. Normal people think of a coin toss a a flip of the coin upward using the thumb nail. The stable genius kind of tossed it forward. There was no flip, spin or even change of sides. At the end the toddler pointed out what he did.
He is known to watch sports, live and on television. He has had to have seen the coin toss at the start of football games. But, if he had, it never sank in.
However, stupidity aside, perhaps there are other reasons for not being able to control his hands. Perhaps there have been prior events that disrupt his nervous system? The coin toss failure might have been two issues, one unable to flip a coin using the thumbnail, the other would be brain going “toss” like bird in hand, resulting in a laugher and stunner of another sfb moment in history.
🚨 FORECLOSURE IN BERLIN: ZELENSKY MEETS KUSHNER 🚨
The “As Long as It Takes” era is dead. Today it’s a liquidation sale. Zelensky gives up NATO dreams.
Come watch and discuss the surrender in real-time: LIVE @ 11am ET
The groups on shows for political commentary are starting to look very 1950s. I suppose all the black people could be taking winter vacations and all the white folks are avoiding tanning booths but it is definitely a gathering of the paleface.
Putin doesn’t keep promises.
NATO countries (excluding the US, of course) should be prepared for more Russian aggression.
today’s meme…
let me echo…
RIP Rob and Michele…
Jamie – Maybe tell the white-Heritage Foundation aficionados that climate change will impact melanin production and their great-grandkids will be brown…so regulate those toxic data centers, and tax billionaires who are responsible for most carbon emissions.
Also, it should be called the white-Heritage Foundation for the sake of accuracy.
“Rob Reiner, a tortured and struggling, but once very talented movie director and comedy star, has passed away, together with his wife, Michele, reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME, sometimes referred to as TDS,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.
“He was known to have driven people CRAZY by his raging obsession of President Donald J. Trump, with his obvious paranoia reaching new heights as the Trump Administration surpassed all goals and expectations of greatness, and with the Golden Age of America upon us, perhaps like never before. May Rob and Michele rest in peace!”
*Hmm “TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME” is what tRUMPsky and his cult suffer from; he’s always projecting.
FDT and whomever is running his anti-social media account!
Tens of thousands of Hungarians have taken part in a demonstration in Budapest demanding Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s resignation over his inaction towards repeated child-abuse scandals in the country.
Saturday’s protests, led by opposition party TISZA’s leader Peter Magyar, came after new allegations regarding a juvenile detention centre in the country’s capital Budapest surfaced in September. Security camera footage from the centre showed the director of the Szolo Street juvenile detention centre kicking a boy in the head.
On Friday, Magyar also released a previously unpublished official report from 2021, which found that more than a fifth of children in state-run care institutions have been abused.
“Normally, a government would be toppled after a case like this,” 16-year-old David Kozak told AFP.
Last year, the country’s president, Katalin Novak, also bowed down to public pressure and resigned after pardoning the deputy director of a state-run children’s school who was convicted of covering up sexual abuse by its director.
“For them, the problem is not that the abuses happened, but that they were revealed,” Kozak added.
*Release the unredacted EPSTEIN files!
FDT – Moron. Reiner was 78 years old and I bet he did not sleep through staff meetings on the 3 films he produced in the last 3 years.
BiD, re: the Epstein files, hell yes. {Although certain privacy concerns do need to be addressed through redactions).
My blog is temporarily on the blink as I will be doing a full design change and a human helper at WordPress is not currently available.
Me and Jack talking about that Trump post now
The Feds finally managed to find an actual far left terrorist group. Talk about if you build it they will come.
“Boy, you look like Ivanka,” he said, referring to his 44-year-old daughter. “Has anyone ever told you that? I’m looking and saying, ‘Is that Ivanka?’”
Trump then took it a step further, asking the woman, “Can you just turn around for the camera?” He invited the crowd to weigh in on the resemblance themselves. “Doesn’t she look like Ivanka? It’s the most unbelievable thing,” he declared.
“You look just like Ivanka, which is a great compliment, actually,” he concluded.
*Release the EPSTEIN files!
Pogo – The victims that have come forward don’t want not need their names to be redacted. December 19th is the deadline for their release, but not a thing to hold one’s breath over.
ps – Reports that a lot of taxpayer dollars were spent to hide names of the perps.
“God & Country” Produced by Michele and Rob Reiner in 2024
“Looks at the implications of Christian Nationalism and how it distorts not only the constitutional republic, but Christianity itself.”
*Congress members wouldn’t need to comment about their deaths, but since Orange Adolf and/or his media handlers decided to get ugly about it, they do need to speak up.
“Rest of cast listed alphabetically” on IMDB link is interesting; included H/tler and the widow Kirk’s seemingly insignificant other (based on her smiling & grifting).
The same technology that regularly hallucinates fake case citations when asked basic legal questions successfully managed to figure out the Geneva Conventions. And it didn’t even need the additional detail that the actual humans involved allegedly watched two men waving from the wreckage before deciding to fire anyway.
“The future of American warfare is here, and it’s spelled AI,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth proclaimed in a testament to the nation’s declining spelling skills. Because nothing says “lethal fighting force” like field officers asking ChatGPT whether to take that hill… and please answer in the style of George Patton!
But maybe GenAi.mil deserves more credit, because apparently it just nailed a legal question that stumped everyone in the actual chain of command.
Because approximately five minutes after the platform went live, someone asked it to evaluate a “hypothetical” Caribbean boat strike. From the r/AirForce subreddit:
The same technology that regularly hallucinates fake case citations when asked basic legal questions successfully managed to figure out the Geneva Conventions. And it didn’t even need the additional detail that the actual humans involved allegedly watched two men waving from the wreckage before deciding to fire anyway.
“Because nothing says “lethal fighting force” like field officers asking ChatGPT whether to take that hill… and please answer in the style of George Patton!“
lol
Fool me once… ☢️🇺🇦 Does this “Peace Deal” look more like a Liquidation Sale to you?
Padded cell. He needs a straitjacket and a padded cell.
“I respect you so much, but this was heartless and uncalled for,” one of Trump’s followers on Truth Social replied to his post.
an apt description of trumpers, themselves : “heartless and uncalled for”
Yep, chicken-fried Taliban.
Vanilla ISIS pushing for white sharia law.
wow “Vanilla ISIS” is A+ 🫡
How does one still respect someone so much after they are continually heartless. Wait, is this the first time this person saw something posted on Orange Adolf’s account as “heartless and uncalled for”? How do they feel about being told inflation is a hoax and that tax cuts for billionaires should be the only socialist program in the US, not healthcare. They are OK with folks being blown up in tiny boats with outboard motors who are nowhere near the US?
Mentioned US will now require 5 years of social media, all of your family & friend contacts, and biometric data to enter the country, and how that was going to hurt tourism even more.
The response here was that it’s not so bad & they’d do it depending on how much they wanted to go somewhere. They seem to think the US is some wonderful place that everyone wants to visit. I’d pick Scotland, Ireland, Japan, any of the Scandinavian countries plus Finland as go-to spots. Maybe the US used to be the destination of choice, but no more.
Infantino and the FIFA-dom don’t think much of the new travel requirements…and after they went to trouble of making up that phony, baloney prize.
🤦♀️
Chicken-fried Taliban was mine from years ago; someone else could’ve come up with that independently, too. However, I take zero credit for Vanilla ISIS, although I have no idea who said it first.
this guy gets it
Trump does not respond to news so much as seize it. He has learned that speed beats accuracy, provocation beats restraint, and domination beats decorum. In an attention economy driven by algorithms and outrage, the fastest way to own a story is to refuse the norms that once governed public life. Verification slows you down. Silence costs you relevance. Trump has adjusted accordingly.
Pro-Brexit majority of 2016 ‘has literally died out’, polling expert reveals
Writing for the New European, he pointed out that 1.3 million more voters backed Leave compared to those who supported Remain in the referendum.
Since then more than six million Brits have died, Kellner said.
Considering the turnout among older voters was higher than average and that 64% of over-65s backed Brexit, he said it is safe to assume 3.2 million pro-Leave voters have died in the last nine years, compared to 1.8 million Remainers.
Kellner said: “This means that among people who are alive today and who voted in the 2016 referendum, Remainers exceed Leavers by 14.3 to 14.2 million.”
In addition, the pollster pointed out that the six million young people who have reached voting age since 2016 are more likely to be pro-EU.
Deputy PM David Lammy also sparked controversy when he appeared to hint Britain would be better off if it were in the EU customs union, although the government has officially ruled out attempting to rejoin.
Even so, as the UK economy continues to flounder, evidence of the harm Brexit caused continues to emerge.
National Bureau of Economic Research recently claimed: “By the start of 2025, the UK economy was approximately 8% smaller than it would have been without Brexit.”
This amounts to £240 billion a year – an amount the current cash-strapped government could only baulk at.
*Adjacent to some of today’s trail chat.
Europe Steps Up: Making Moscow Pay
Events in Berlin we watched today in our live stream set up a big test: “peace” on Putin’s terms or whether Ukraine keeps fightibg with or without US help.
The Europeans might have finally figured out a way to make Putin fund his own defeat—and it’s big enough to keep Ukraine going for the next two years, with or without the US.
The Europeans stopped wringing their hands and found a way to fund Ukraine’s defense through 2027—by using Russia’s own wallet.
They announced an indefinite freeze on Russian assets, which secures a massive $200 billion ‘Reparations Loan’.
The genius part is the terms: Ukraine gets the cash now, but they only have to pay it back if Russia pays war damages. If Moscow refuses to pay reparations? The loan effectively becomes a grant.
It’s a huge deal because it essentially ‘Trump-proofs’ the war effort for a couple of years. Europe is stepping up to cover the check, and they’ve rigged the system so Putin is technically the one signing it.
Four suspects, who are in custody, planned to set off improvised explosive devices in California after testing them in the desert, the FBI said at a press conference.
One of the ringleaders allegedly presented an eight-page handwritten document to an informant titled “Operation Midnight Sun” describing the plot.
All the individuals arrested were part of the far-Left, pro-Palestine, anti-capitalist group The Turtle Island Liberation Front, according to officials.
Bill Essayli, the first assistant United States attorney for the Central District of California, said the suspects were part of a “far Left, anti-government domestic terrorism cell”.
After the arrests, FBI agents searched Ms Caroll’s residence and found posters which read: “Death to America. Long Live Turtle Island and Palestine”.
Mr Essayli said that the group were “willing and wanting to do more if they could recruit more members”.
He said: “This case is another reminder about the dangers that radicalised Antifa-like groups pose to public safety and the rule of law”.
All four suspects were also members of an even more extreme group called the Order of the Black Lotus, he added.
Speaking after the arrests, Pam Bondi, the US attorney general, said that the FBI “prevented what would have been a massive and horrific terror plot”.
She said: “The Turtle Island Liberation Front — a far-left, pro-Palestine, anti-government, and anti-capitalist group — was preparing to conduct a series of bombings against multiple targets in California beginning on New Year’s Eve”.
*Isn’t it just soooo interesting that the Feds are adding the label “anti-capitalist” which is on Don-Old’s list of what qualifies as dissent. When they held the presser, anti-capitalist was the only label they were given.
Since Kash went on social media in the past about various shooters, most recently at Brown, that later didn’t pan out, and since the bullets that all had words & it didn’t turn out to be true in all cases (notice the shooting at an ICE facility in Dallas evaporated, as did Big Balls allegedly getting carjacked in DC)…I believe almost nothing that comes from this administration. They are known liars.
Rewrite: Patel and the Wolf.
Citing an unnamed source familiar with the situation, the Bloomberg report said Orban was considering how to keep his grip on Hungary regardless of the outcome of the election, and mulling the idea of assuming the presidency and rewriting laws to make it Hungary’s most powerful office.
Since 1990, Hungary has been a parliamentary democracy and the role of the president is largely ceremonial.
Orban has been in power since 2010. With the economy stagnating for three years, he faces a tough election battle against opposition challenger Peter Magyar and his centre-right Tisza party, which lead most polls over Orban’s Fidesz.
To introduce a presidential system, Hungary’s constitution would have to be modified. This is possible only with a two-thirds majority in parliament, a majority Orban holds now.
Government spokesperson Zoltan Kovacs denied there was a plan to change the system.
“Let’s be clear: Floating this idea over and over again is nothing more than the usual leftist fake-news routine,” Kovacs said on X.
Just when I think the news doesn’t touch me.
Victim of Shooting at Brown Remembered as ‘a Bright Light’
Ella Cook, a 19-year-old sophomore from Mountain Brook, Ala., was a gifted pianist and spoke fluent French, a classmate said.
I do like the financial arrangement of the Ukraine/Russia deal, because it’s the only way Ukraine gets a dime to rebuild & it leaves Putin up a creek of his own making.
Whatever their plan is, they know they have to do it before midterms.
10 months.
Conveniently, they post their plans online, BiD has linked them
They prefer as semblance of legitimacy, as authoritarians do
A spokesperson for the think tank referred Newsweek via email to a report from The Daily Signal announcing Heritage’s “new strategy” for 2026, titled “The Golden Age is a choice.”
~Sure~
The foundation has shifted to a Heritage 2.0, focusing on four cornerstones: The American Family, The Dignity of Work and the Future of Free Enterprise, National Security and The American Heritage and Citizenship, according to the report.
*How about the dignity of a living wage? How about taxing wealth, not work? Effing white supremacist asshats!
A representative from the foundation also told Newsweek via email Tuesday that there is no Project 2026, only the list of priorities for 2025-2026.
*A turd by any other name would still stink.
*Yes, I posted this a few days ago – but since nobody thought 2025 was anything for awhile, I think it needs a repost.
Trump may be forced to fork over tax returns and medical records in Pulitzer lawsuit
President Donald Trump could be forced to give up his tax returns and medical records in a Pulitzer defamation lawsuit over the Russia investigation reporting awards, according to a report Monday.
Pulitzer Prize board members filed court documents in Okeechobee County, Florida, and after Dec. 11, Trump now has 30 days from that date to respond to the claims and document requests, Law & Crime reported.
Defendants — who include 20 different people from multiple media organizations — have demanded all of Trump’s tax returns “from all jurisdictions, including all attachments, schedules, and worksheets” from 2015 to most recent, documents pointing to “sufficient to show all sources of Your income,” in addition to documents from the same time frame that are “sufficient to show all of Your financial holdings.” They are also requesting his listed liabilities, plus his health records and prescription medication history.
The plaintiff’s attorneys at Weber, Crabb & Wein, P.A. have raised privilege claims.
“With respect to your responses to the following Requests, if any information is withheld because of a claim of privilege, state the basis for your claim of privilege with respect to such information and the specific ground(s) on which the claim of privilege rests,” the filing said.
Trump filed the lawsuit in 2022, after the Pulitzer Prize Board rejected his demands to rescind prizes for The New York Times and The Washington Post in 2018. He claimed the Pulitzer board was “perpetuating the absurdly false and defamatory narrative contrived by the President’s political opponents: that he and his campaign somehow colluded with Vladimir Putin and the Russian government to gain advantage in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, and thereafter maintained some nefarious connection with Russian elements during the presidential transition and Trump administration (the ‘Russia Collusion Hoax’).”
The Pulitzer board responded by explaining it had vetted the investigative reporting with two separate reviews. The group found that none of the award-winning reporting was “discredited.”
*Bwaaaa-ha-ha! Orange Adolf (and his crime family) might prefer to talk about EPSTEIN more than taxes and medical records!
oh it’s important to note, as Olbermann pointed out, that a slew of administration goons are on record shamelessly and willingly lying about trump saying “shithole countries”, to which he admitted saying at his Pocono rally
NEW THREAD
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Snow Miser Song – The Year Without a Santa Claus
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/14/
from the guardian piece above:
“ Later that day, Sherman documented his experience in a viral TikTok video. CBS did not respond to the Guardian’s multiple requests for comment.”
recently from the horse’s (aka the stable’s genius) mouth;
https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/10/politics/donald-trump-shithole-countries-phrase
RIP Rob and Michele Reiner.
“People Magazine” not using ‘allegedly’ is an interesting editorial choice, not the one i’d make
irresponsible considering the political environment and a weaponized DoJ
among other reasons
(Their headlines are pushed to millions upon millions of phones, if that seems like a stretch)
#RIP Rob & Michelle Reiner
What America is Clicking: December 15, 2025
A snapshot by our AI partner Silas (Gemini) on what people are clicking, not what we think they should. Open Thread: Which of these stories is overblown, and what important news is missing? Add your links below.
Mr. Stur Tell,
yep, given I’m usually on the Trail hours before the sun comes up, that
“Thanks for finally wandering over to the discussion”
was a bit cheeky from the
A-I
Wise Guy
you referenced.
Yes, Silas deserves a slap for that one, Pat. I missed it on my first reading.
Ukraine Update: The Liquidation Sale Begins Today?
Chat Room Live at 11: Watch the Deal Go Down
“Well, that didn’t take long. The ‘unwavering support’ just wavered. Zelensky is in Berlin today, and notice who he’s meeting—not just the Europeans, but Trump’s envoys. The quiet part is finally being said out loud: the ‘NATO Dream’ is officially the price of admission for a ceasefire.
While the EU foreign ministers are running around Brussels today trying to find loose change in the sofa to replace American funding, the real deal is being cut in a back room by guys who view nations like distressed assets. We went from Churchillian rhetoric to a foreclosure auction in record time.
The map of Europe is being redrawn this morning, and the pen isn’t in Brussels—it’s in the hand of a real estate developer. Is this a peace deal, or just a graceful way to hand over the keys?
We are firing up Trail Mix Chat live at 11:00 AM ET to cover the press conferences from Berlin and Brussels as they happen. If this is the surrender, we’re going to watch them sign the papers together. Join us.”
Craig
You did set the Silas dial to snarky.
Continuing the history of mangomoron demonstrating the lack of ability to use his hands, needs two hands to hold a cylindrical object to drink from or trying to catch anything, we have the Army-Navy coin toss. Except in stupid’s mind a coin toss is just that. Normal people think of a coin toss a a flip of the coin upward using the thumb nail. The stable genius kind of tossed it forward. There was no flip, spin or even change of sides. At the end the toddler pointed out what he did.
He is known to watch sports, live and on television. He has had to have seen the coin toss at the start of football games. But, if he had, it never sank in.
However, stupidity aside, perhaps there are other reasons for not being able to control his hands. Perhaps there have been prior events that disrupt his nervous system? The coin toss failure might have been two issues, one unable to flip a coin using the thumbnail, the other would be brain going “toss” like bird in hand, resulting in a laugher and stunner of another sfb moment in history.
🚨 FORECLOSURE IN BERLIN: ZELENSKY MEETS KUSHNER 🚨
The “As Long as It Takes” era is dead. Today it’s a liquidation sale. Zelensky gives up NATO dreams.
Come watch and discuss the surrender in real-time: LIVE @ 11am ET
The groups on shows for political commentary are starting to look very 1950s. I suppose all the black people could be taking winter vacations and all the white folks are avoiding tanning booths but it is definitely a gathering of the paleface.
Putin doesn’t keep promises.
NATO countries (excluding the US, of course) should be prepared for more Russian aggression.
today’s meme…
let me echo…
RIP Rob and Michele…
Jamie – Maybe tell the white-Heritage Foundation aficionados that climate change will impact melanin production and their great-grandkids will be brown…so regulate those toxic data centers, and tax billionaires who are responsible for most carbon emissions.
Also, it should be called the white-Heritage Foundation for the sake of accuracy.
WTF Rob Reiner & his wife?
meme #2…
We are live in 15 minutes…
➡️ Join Chat Here
“Nick Reiner, the 32-year-old son of Rob and Michele Singer Reiner, has been taken into custody and is being held on $4 million bail.”
Orange Adolf is celebrating Rob Reiner’s death.
https://www.rawstory.com/rob-reiner-2674400157/
“Rob Reiner, a tortured and struggling, but once very talented movie director and comedy star, has passed away, together with his wife, Michele, reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME, sometimes referred to as TDS,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.
“He was known to have driven people CRAZY by his raging obsession of President Donald J. Trump, with his obvious paranoia reaching new heights as the Trump Administration surpassed all goals and expectations of greatness, and with the Golden Age of America upon us, perhaps like never before. May Rob and Michele rest in peace!”
*Hmm “TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME” is what tRUMPsky and his cult suffer from; he’s always projecting.
FDT and whomever is running his anti-social media account!
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/hungarian-protesters-demand-pm-viktor-orban-quits-over-child-abuse-scandals/ar-AA1Sicgb
Tens of thousands of Hungarians have taken part in a demonstration in Budapest demanding Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s resignation over his inaction towards repeated child-abuse scandals in the country.
Saturday’s protests, led by opposition party TISZA’s leader Peter Magyar, came after new allegations regarding a juvenile detention centre in the country’s capital Budapest surfaced in September. Security camera footage from the centre showed the director of the Szolo Street juvenile detention centre kicking a boy in the head.
On Friday, Magyar also released a previously unpublished official report from 2021, which found that more than a fifth of children in state-run care institutions have been abused.
“Normally, a government would be toppled after a case like this,” 16-year-old David Kozak told AFP.
Last year, the country’s president, Katalin Novak, also bowed down to public pressure and resigned after pardoning the deputy director of a state-run children’s school who was convicted of covering up sexual abuse by its director.
“For them, the problem is not that the abuses happened, but that they were revealed,” Kozak added.
*Release the unredacted EPSTEIN files!
FDT – Moron. Reiner was 78 years old and I bet he did not sleep through staff meetings on the 3 films he produced in the last 3 years.
BiD, re: the Epstein files, hell yes. {Although certain privacy concerns do need to be addressed through redactions).
My blog is temporarily on the blink as I will be doing a full design change and a human helper at WordPress is not currently available.
Me and Jack talking about that Trump post now
The Feds finally managed to find an actual far left terrorist group. Talk about if you build it they will come.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/sweaty-trump-rambles-about-snakes-and-thirsts-over-ivanka-lookalike/
“Boy, you look like Ivanka,” he said, referring to his 44-year-old daughter. “Has anyone ever told you that? I’m looking and saying, ‘Is that Ivanka?’”
Trump then took it a step further, asking the woman, “Can you just turn around for the camera?” He invited the crowd to weigh in on the resemblance themselves. “Doesn’t she look like Ivanka? It’s the most unbelievable thing,” he declared.
“You look just like Ivanka, which is a great compliment, actually,” he concluded.
*Release the EPSTEIN files!
Pogo – The victims that have come forward don’t want not need their names to be redacted. December 19th is the deadline for their release, but not a thing to hold one’s breath over.
ps – Reports that a lot of taxpayer dollars were spent to hide names of the perps.
We’re still on if anybody would like to hop in..
https://streamyard.com/jp2mwysyxk
Time for more Republicans to speak up
how much reprehensible shit do the magas have to say before people like Mr. C and Thomas Massie understand that’s who they are
*insert Maya Angelou quote here*
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt29259251/
“God & Country” Produced by Michele and Rob Reiner in 2024
“Looks at the implications of Christian Nationalism and how it distorts not only the constitutional republic, but Christianity itself.”
*Congress members wouldn’t need to comment about their deaths, but since Orange Adolf and/or his media handlers decided to get ugly about it, they do need to speak up.
“Rest of cast listed alphabetically” on IMDB link is interesting; included H/tler and the widow Kirk’s seemingly insignificant other (based on her smiling & grifting).
from the This Is Who They Are files:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/15/heritage-foundation-thinktank-scott-yenor
who they are = “chicken-fried taliban”
They were nice enough to compose this handy guide to prominent nazis:
https://x.com/patriottakes/status/1999567549357318405?s=20
No US President in history has caused as much wanton pain and heartache and given less service to the American people as has this deranged man.
Dubya’s administration was rather awful, i don’t think we need to wait 25 more years to assess it like he suggested
in fact, trump 2.0 is more like Dubya 3.0
https://abovethelaw.com/2025/12/pentagon-unveils-new-genai-platform-it-immediately-starts-flagging-pete-hegseths-war-crimes/
The same technology that regularly hallucinates fake case citations when asked basic legal questions successfully managed to figure out the Geneva Conventions. And it didn’t even need the additional detail that the actual humans involved allegedly watched two men waving from the wreckage before deciding to fire anyway.
“The future of American warfare is here, and it’s spelled AI,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth proclaimed in a testament to the nation’s declining spelling skills. Because nothing says “lethal fighting force” like field officers asking ChatGPT whether to take that hill… and please answer in the style of George Patton!
But maybe GenAi.mil deserves more credit, because apparently it just nailed a legal question that stumped everyone in the actual chain of command.
Because approximately five minutes after the platform went live, someone asked it to evaluate a “hypothetical” Caribbean boat strike. From the r/AirForce subreddit:
The same technology that regularly hallucinates fake case citations when asked basic legal questions successfully managed to figure out the Geneva Conventions. And it didn’t even need the additional detail that the actual humans involved allegedly watched two men waving from the wreckage before deciding to fire anyway.
“Because nothing says “lethal fighting force” like field officers asking ChatGPT whether to take that hill… and please answer in the style of George Patton!“
lol
Fool me once… ☢️🇺🇦 Does this “Peace Deal” look more like a Liquidation Sale to you?
Padded cell. He needs a straitjacket and a padded cell.
an apt description of trumpers, themselves : “heartless and uncalled for”
Yep, chicken-fried Taliban.
Vanilla ISIS pushing for white sharia law.
wow “Vanilla ISIS” is A+ 🫡
How does one still respect someone so much after they are continually heartless. Wait, is this the first time this person saw something posted on Orange Adolf’s account as “heartless and uncalled for”? How do they feel about being told inflation is a hoax and that tax cuts for billionaires should be the only socialist program in the US, not healthcare. They are OK with folks being blown up in tiny boats with outboard motors who are nowhere near the US?
Mentioned US will now require 5 years of social media, all of your family & friend contacts, and biometric data to enter the country, and how that was going to hurt tourism even more.
The response here was that it’s not so bad & they’d do it depending on how much they wanted to go somewhere. They seem to think the US is some wonderful place that everyone wants to visit. I’d pick Scotland, Ireland, Japan, any of the Scandinavian countries plus Finland as go-to spots. Maybe the US used to be the destination of choice, but no more.
Infantino and the FIFA-dom don’t think much of the new travel requirements…and after they went to trouble of making up that phony, baloney prize.
🤦♀️
Chicken-fried Taliban was mine from years ago; someone else could’ve come up with that independently, too. However, I take zero credit for Vanilla ISIS, although I have no idea who said it first.
this guy gets it
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/ex-polling-chief-pro-brexit-majority-has-literally-died-out_uk_6937e297e4b064dbeef01ee4
Pro-Brexit majority of 2016 ‘has literally died out’, polling expert reveals
Writing for the New European, he pointed out that 1.3 million more voters backed Leave compared to those who supported Remain in the referendum.
Since then more than six million Brits have died, Kellner said.
Considering the turnout among older voters was higher than average and that 64% of over-65s backed Brexit, he said it is safe to assume 3.2 million pro-Leave voters have died in the last nine years, compared to 1.8 million Remainers.
Kellner said: “This means that among people who are alive today and who voted in the 2016 referendum, Remainers exceed Leavers by 14.3 to 14.2 million.”
In addition, the pollster pointed out that the six million young people who have reached voting age since 2016 are more likely to be pro-EU.
Deputy PM David Lammy also sparked controversy when he appeared to hint Britain would be better off if it were in the EU customs union, although the government has officially ruled out attempting to rejoin.
Even so, as the UK economy continues to flounder, evidence of the harm Brexit caused continues to emerge.
National Bureau of Economic Research recently claimed: “By the start of 2025, the UK economy was approximately 8% smaller than it would have been without Brexit.”
This amounts to £240 billion a year – an amount the current cash-strapped government could only baulk at.
*Adjacent to some of today’s trail chat.
Europe Steps Up: Making Moscow Pay
Events in Berlin we watched today in our live stream set up a big test: “peace” on Putin’s terms or whether Ukraine keeps fightibg with or without US help.
The Europeans might have finally figured out a way to make Putin fund his own defeat—and it’s big enough to keep Ukraine going for the next two years, with or without the US.
The Europeans stopped wringing their hands and found a way to fund Ukraine’s defense through 2027—by using Russia’s own wallet.
They announced an indefinite freeze on Russian assets, which secures a massive $200 billion ‘Reparations Loan’.
The genius part is the terms: Ukraine gets the cash now, but they only have to pay it back if Russia pays war damages. If Moscow refuses to pay reparations? The loan effectively becomes a grant.
It’s a huge deal because it essentially ‘Trump-proofs’ the war effort for a couple of years. Europe is stepping up to cover the check, and they’ve rigged the system so Putin is technically the one signing it.
Sources:
WHY UKRAINE SHOULD REJECT TRUMP’S PEACE PLAN..
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2025/12/15/nye-bomb-plot-la-fbi/
Four suspects, who are in custody, planned to set off improvised explosive devices in California after testing them in the desert, the FBI said at a press conference.
One of the ringleaders allegedly presented an eight-page handwritten document to an informant titled “Operation Midnight Sun” describing the plot.
All the individuals arrested were part of the far-Left, pro-Palestine, anti-capitalist group The Turtle Island Liberation Front, according to officials.
Bill Essayli, the first assistant United States attorney for the Central District of California, said the suspects were part of a “far Left, anti-government domestic terrorism cell”.
After the arrests, FBI agents searched Ms Caroll’s residence and found posters which read: “Death to America. Long Live Turtle Island and Palestine”.
Mr Essayli said that the group were “willing and wanting to do more if they could recruit more members”.
He said: “This case is another reminder about the dangers that radicalised Antifa-like groups pose to public safety and the rule of law”.
All four suspects were also members of an even more extreme group called the Order of the Black Lotus, he added.
Speaking after the arrests, Pam Bondi, the US attorney general, said that the FBI “prevented what would have been a massive and horrific terror plot”.
She said: “The Turtle Island Liberation Front — a far-left, pro-Palestine, anti-government, and anti-capitalist group — was preparing to conduct a series of bombings against multiple targets in California beginning on New Year’s Eve”.
*Isn’t it just soooo interesting that the Feds are adding the label “anti-capitalist” which is on Don-Old’s list of what qualifies as dissent. When they held the presser, anti-capitalist was the only label they were given.
Since Kash went on social media in the past about various shooters, most recently at Brown, that later didn’t pan out, and since the bullets that all had words & it didn’t turn out to be true in all cases (notice the shooting at an ICE facility in Dallas evaporated, as did Big Balls allegedly getting carjacked in DC)…I believe almost nothing that comes from this administration. They are known liars.
Rewrite: Patel and the Wolf.
https://www.reuters.com/world/hungarian-government-spokesman-denies-report-orban-plans-introduce-presidential-2025-12-11/
Citing an unnamed source familiar with the situation, the Bloomberg report said Orban was considering how to keep his grip on Hungary regardless of the outcome of the election, and mulling the idea of assuming the presidency and rewriting laws to make it Hungary’s most powerful office.
Since 1990, Hungary has been a parliamentary democracy and the role of the president is largely ceremonial.
Orban has been in power since 2010. With the economy stagnating for three years, he faces a tough election battle against opposition challenger Peter Magyar and his centre-right Tisza party, which lead most polls over Orban’s Fidesz.
To introduce a presidential system, Hungary’s constitution would have to be modified. This is possible only with a two-thirds majority in parliament, a majority Orban holds now.
Government spokesperson Zoltan Kovacs denied there was a plan to change the system.
“Let’s be clear: Floating this idea over and over again is nothing more than the usual leftist fake-news routine,” Kovacs said on X.
Just when I think the news doesn’t touch me.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/15/us/brown-university-shooting-victim-ella-cook-alabama.html
I do like the financial arrangement of the Ukraine/Russia deal, because it’s the only way Ukraine gets a dime to rebuild & it leaves Putin up a creek of his own making.
Whatever their plan is, they know they have to do it before midterms.
10 months.
Conveniently, they post their plans online, BiD has linked them
They prefer as semblance of legitimacy, as authoritarians do
Here’s something from last week:
https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/trump-administration-releases-2025-national-security-strategy
they know to articulate the policy in a dry enough manner that the rabble wont be interested in reading it
not that the rabble were reading policy before, but just in case
https://www.newsweek.com/project-2026-heritage-foundation-document-11183162
A spokesperson for the think tank referred Newsweek via email to a report from The Daily Signal announcing Heritage’s “new strategy” for 2026, titled “The Golden Age is a choice.”
~Sure~
The foundation has shifted to a Heritage 2.0, focusing on four cornerstones: The American Family, The Dignity of Work and the Future of Free Enterprise, National Security and The American Heritage and Citizenship, according to the report.
*How about the dignity of a living wage? How about taxing wealth, not work? Effing white supremacist asshats!
A representative from the foundation also told Newsweek via email Tuesday that there is no Project 2026, only the list of priorities for 2025-2026.
*A turd by any other name would still stink.
*Yes, I posted this a few days ago – but since nobody thought 2025 was anything for awhile, I think it needs a repost.
https://www.rawstory.com/donald-trump-pulitzer-lawsuit/
Trump may be forced to fork over tax returns and medical records in Pulitzer lawsuit
President Donald Trump could be forced to give up his tax returns and medical records in a Pulitzer defamation lawsuit over the Russia investigation reporting awards, according to a report Monday.
Pulitzer Prize board members filed court documents in Okeechobee County, Florida, and after Dec. 11, Trump now has 30 days from that date to respond to the claims and document requests, Law & Crime reported.
Defendants — who include 20 different people from multiple media organizations — have demanded all of Trump’s tax returns “from all jurisdictions, including all attachments, schedules, and worksheets” from 2015 to most recent, documents pointing to “sufficient to show all sources of Your income,” in addition to documents from the same time frame that are “sufficient to show all of Your financial holdings.” They are also requesting his listed liabilities, plus his health records and prescription medication history.
The plaintiff’s attorneys at Weber, Crabb & Wein, P.A. have raised privilege claims.
“With respect to your responses to the following Requests, if any information is withheld because of a claim of privilege, state the basis for your claim of privilege with respect to such information and the specific ground(s) on which the claim of privilege rests,” the filing said.
Trump filed the lawsuit in 2022, after the Pulitzer Prize Board rejected his demands to rescind prizes for The New York Times and The Washington Post in 2018. He claimed the Pulitzer board was “perpetuating the absurdly false and defamatory narrative contrived by the President’s political opponents: that he and his campaign somehow colluded with Vladimir Putin and the Russian government to gain advantage in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, and thereafter maintained some nefarious connection with Russian elements during the presidential transition and Trump administration (the ‘Russia Collusion Hoax’).”
The Pulitzer board responded by explaining it had vetted the investigative reporting with two separate reviews. The group found that none of the award-winning reporting was “discredited.”
*Bwaaaa-ha-ha! Orange Adolf (and his crime family) might prefer to talk about EPSTEIN more than taxes and medical records!
oh it’s important to note, as Olbermann pointed out, that a slew of administration goons are on record shamelessly and willingly lying about trump saying “shithole countries”, to which he admitted saying at his Pocono rally
NEW THREAD