Stephen Colbert mocked a $16 million payout from Paramount to Trump — calling it a “Big Fat Bribe.”
This isn’t just business. It’s the strongman playbook.
A few days later? He’s fired.
If we let this slide, the joke’s on us. 🎤📺
91 thoughts on “If we let this slide, the joke’s on us. 🎤📺”
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There’s a call to boycott ParamountPlus to punish CBS. I would add to that, use your ParamountPlus money to make a donation to PBS, because…
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2025/07/18/finally-trumps-rescissions-package-clears-the-house-heads-to-trumps-desk-for-signature-n2660580
216-213:House approved the Trump WH’s 1st round of DOGE spending cuts, $9B in foreign aid & public broadcasting from previously approved funding by Congress.
*All the Dems had to do was run out the clock, which was tomorrow at midnight. Senate just needed to keep adding amendments instead of golfing at 2am. House just needed to do another “magic minute” like Jeffries did last week. Together, they could’ve run out the clock and the month wouldn’t gave been clawed back. It’s time for new Dems, because this batch is too lazy to do a little parliamentary procedure play.
the last fango?
A heat wave is baking most of the continental U.S., President Trump has a mysterious wound on his hand, and the MAGA world is not ready to forget about Jeffrey Epstein’s client list despite the president’s effort to distract them with a big announcement about Coca-Cola.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jimmy-kimmel-stephen-colbert-cancellation
6879dec7280000b8ffc6da14
my guess is that parent company paramount’s legal beagles had the vapors when they heard colbert use the B-word and needed to distance themselves and company from a fate like Fox co’s 787.5 million dollar settlement or license loss, tax bennies et al if they didn’t dump him plus what else might have been threatened by he-who-was-allegedly bribed. the lot of bribers nowadays ain’t pretty.
may the shades of lenny bruce, george carlin and tommy smothers haunt them all.
also relevant to colbert’s cancellation an interesting concept from various writers
https://essayx.substack.com/
Taking Down Tyrants with Laughter: The Art of Public Mockery
Activism | Political Humor
by Michael Corthell
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2015/02/srdja-popovic-on-using-laughter-to-topple-slobodan-milosevic-the-power-of-laughtivism.html
Why Dictators Don’t Have a Sense of Humor
Because laughter trumps fear every time.
By Srdja Popovic
and an excerpt from armanitalks:
stewart too?
https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/us-news/jon-stewart-next-stephen-colberts-late-night-show-cancellation-leads-to-daily-show-speculation-101752798701014.html
old saying: first kill all the lawyers
now: cancel all the comedians
I would say boycotting CBS helps too, make the new buyer jittery, could freak out Shari — who needs to be made seriously famous right now
Hello Shari, welcome to the spotlight.
https://deadline.com/2025/05/senators-trump-lawsuit-cbs-60-minutes-1236405644/
I still haven’t forgotten their canning of the Smothers Bros. That’s how long my boycott has been.
Fuck CBS Pigs.
Effem then, and double effem now.
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/07/17/trump-epstein-wall-street-journal-00461787
Trump: “These are not my words, not the way I talk. Also, I don’t draw pictures.”
so what was this, DODO, another fake NOAA hurricane map?
Jul 26, 2017 #InsideEdition
President Donald Trump’s sketch of the New York City skyline is going up for auction and Inside Edition has gotten a close-up look. The drawing depicts Trump Tower as one of the largest buildings in the city, but it’s actually New York’s 64th tallest skyscraper. The opening bid for the artwork, created in 2005 for a charity auction, is $9,000. He signed the drawing with a gold marker. #InsideEdition
Yep. Don’t watch CBS (except Colbert & 60 Minutes).
If you have ParamountPlus, cancel it.
Give that money to your local PBS station.
And to someone’s point yesterday, it’s streaming podcasts…which helped Adolf win (unless it was Elon responsible for those odd, swing state wins)…but MAGAts may come after him with pitchforks now that they are waking up.
BTW others described where his signature was more explicitly using the phrase “in the pubic area” rather than the euphemism by politico “a drawing of a naked woman, with Trump’s name signed below the woman’s waist.”
https://www.newsweek.com/right-wing-influencer-denounces-trump-epstein-liberals-were-right-2100489
During Wednesday night’s episode of the America First podcast, Fuentes responded to Trump’s post, sharing a number of four-lettered words for the president, starting off with a strong: “F*** you. You suck.”
“You are fat, you are a joke, you are stupid, you are not funny, you are not as smart as you think you are,” Fuentes said, later adding, “This entire thing has been a scam.”
“When we look back on the history of populism in America, we are going to look back on the MAGA movement as the biggest scam in history,” Fuentes said. “And the liberals were right. The MAGA supporters were had. They were.”
*I smell bonfires fueled with MAGAt hats.
Nice catch about the Smothers Brothers, Sturg
No accident Colbert had Sen. Schiff on last night – he has been calling for bribery investigation of Shari Redstone
No Paramount here, but CBS has some of our favorites, including Sunday Morning.
today’s meme…
what I hate about this picture isn’t only the guy… it’s all that gaudy gold leaf he has put in the Oval Office. This guy couldn’t be more trashy if he tried…
and Renee, i fear he won’t stop at the Oval Office — the whole White House is in grave danger of his trashery
Old Saying:
“Those are not my words.”
only the best and the brightest…
he wants a Russian-style palace because he thinks he deserves it- i guess he does because he took over the whole country because we are all THAT stupid- the right helped him and the left let him
I saw a picture of masked ICE goons terrorizing farm-workers and they are the biggest dweebs without that body armor, fucking losers
“what do you wanna be when you grow up?”
“ a fucking loser that has to be a paid thug!”
i have 100x more respect for a migrant farm worker than some fat video-gamer in body armor standing around with a club
Cycle after cycle, their relentless maneuvering has pushed the statehouse so far to the right that consultants like to joke that Karl Rove couldn’t win a local race these days. Brandon Darby, the editor of Breitbart Texas, is one of several conservatives who has compared Dunn and Wilks to Russian oligarchs. “They go into other communities and unseat people unwilling to do their bidding,” he says. “You kiss the ring or you’re out.”
***
Fuentes is a prominent and avowed admirer of Adolf Hitler who has called for a “holy war” against Jews; questioned if the Holocaust happened and compared its 6 million victims to cookies being baked in an oven; encouraged his followers to beat women; and fantasized about marrying a 16-year-old when he is 30 because that’s “right when the milk is good.”
“All I want is revenge against my enemies and a total Aryan victory,” Fuentes said last year.
Two months after its leader was caught hosting white supremacist Nick Fuentes, a prominent consulting firm for far-right candidates and groups is operating under a new name.
*Fuentes isn’t terribly self-aware, but he is terrible…but if he’s telling other terrible folks that MAGA is a scam…
Hegseth – fucking idiot.
In the TDF today, Tadej Pogacar extended his lead over Jonas Vingegaard by winning the stage and besting him in the individual time trial by 36″, extending his lead in the General Classification to 4’07”. Remco Evenepoel now sits third overall at 7’24” behind Tadej. Tomorrow is a grueling mountain stage with 4 categorized climbs over the last half of the 184 km stage, starting and ending with 2 HCs with a 1 and 2 thrown in for good measure. Stay tuned.
https://apnews.com/article/mike-johnson-house-speaker-2d1a3399e8fe61bf0619d66ba29a1520
Before House Speaker Mike Johnson was elected to public office, he was the dean of a small Baptist law school that didn’t exist.
The establishment of the Judge Paul Pressler School of Law was supposed to be a capstone achievement for Louisiana College, which administrators boasted would “unashamedly embrace” a “biblical worldview.” Instead, it collapsed roughly a decade ago without enrolling students or opening its doors amid infighting by officials, accusations of financial impropriety and difficulty obtaining accreditation, which frightened away would-be donors.
There is no indication that Johnson engaged in wrongdoing while employed by the private college, now known as Louisiana Christian University. But as a virtually unknown player in Washington, the episode offers insight into how Johnson navigated leadership challenges that echo the chaos, feuding and hard-right politics that have come to define the Republican House majority he now leads.
***
In private, in a French café in New Orleans in 1967, Pressler planned the takeover of the largest Protestant group in America with Baptist college president Paige Patterson. He came up with the political strategy for the “conservative resurgence.”
In 1970, he was appointed a judge. From that position, he believed he had the independence to lead an attack on the “liberals” in the Southern Baptist Convention.
In private, in an airport hotel in Atlanta in 1978, Pressler and Patterson gathered a group of ministers and established an informal network.
In private, in a sauna at a Houston country club in the late 1970s, Pressler touched a young man’s penis, according to sworn testimony given in a lawsuit that was settled last year. (While he was organizing the vote for Rogers, he was fired from a youth ministry position at an independent Presbyterian church (where he worked while maintaining his membership with the Southern Baptists). An 18-year-old had told the pastor that Pressler assaulted him in a sauna.
And in private, around the same time, Pressler started to molest and rape a 14-year-old, telling the teenager he taught in his Southern Baptist youth group that he was “special” and their “relationship” was special but needed to be kept secret because “no one but God would understand,” according to the allegations in the lawsuit filed in 2017.
Eight men ultimately came forward to accuse Pressler of sexual misconduct. All of them did it publicly using their names: Gareld Duane Robbins, Toby Twining, Chris Davis, Peter Wilcox, David Stripling, Sam Tejas, Mason Tabor, and Brooks Schott. The allegations stretch over decades and range from unwanted invitations to join Pressler naked in a hot tub to sexual assault.
Then, in 1989, Pressler was nominated by President George H. W. Bush to head his administration’s Office of Government Ethics. Before he could be confirmed, Pressler withdrew.
In 2004, the dark allegations threatened to come out again. A student in Pressler’s youth ministry at Houston’s First Baptist Church reported that Pressler pressured him to strip and spend time with him naked in a hot tub. A church committee reprimanded Pressler, telling him that a “vast majority” of the congregation would consider “naked behavior” to be “morally and spiritually inappropriate.” However, the church leadership also promised to protect “the cause of Christ and your reputation by not disclosing our conversation or other information pertaining to this matter outside of our committee.”
***
Anne Nelson’s 2021 book, Shadow Network, alleges that Pressler convinced the senior Republican Party leadership to attempt the same practices to establish minority as in the SBC, one-party control of the United States federal government. -wiki
*Mike Johnson, the man with no bank account, was the dean of a law school that never existed.
Christians = groomers
THIS…
we need trump to live long enough to be replaced by a Democrat (or an independent unaffiliated with the fascists)🙏
We should be elevating transformative, reasonable voices on the left in the meantime
i made sauce from my glut of cherry tomatoes last night and it was very tasty- trick was cooking on low for 3 hours
add a bit of oil salt and sugar to taste
made some the same way but only simmered for an hour and it was not as good
didnt bother peeling the tomatoes, ain’t got time for that.
40 cherry tomatoes yielded about 12 oz of finished sauce
that’s my “news you can use” 🫡 ✌️
oh, and since it will be hot from cooking, it is really easy to can in a recycled jar with an undamaged lid, make sure you bring the jar up to temperature so it doesn’t crack
The move to cancel one of television’s last remaining crown jewels of broadcast programming came just days after Colbert publicly criticized CBS’s corporate owner, Paramount, for agreeing to pay President Donald Trump $16 million to settle an outrageous $20 billion lawsuit against the company. Trump has now long claimed that 60 Minutes producers unfairly edited their interview with then-presidential nominee Kamala Harris, a complaint widely viewed by legal and media experts as completely baseless. The agreement was the latest in a series of bootlicking moves by Paramount as its chairwoman, Shari Redstone, desperately tries to sell the company to Skydance Media, a deal that requires federal approval.
If that sounds like the groundwork for a bribery, Colbert agrees. In his opening monologue on Monday, the host called the settlement a “big fat bribe.” CBS has since claimed that Colbert’s cancellation is “purely financial,” even though the Late Show currently clocks in as the highest-rated show on late-night.
But Paramount’s future aside, the end of Colbert signals a dark new chapter in Trump’s authoritarian slide.
The only upside is that Colbert will soon be free to go scorched earth against a president he detests. Every other network stands to gain enormously right now. Here’s to hoping a spine emerges.
*Kimmel has a way of phrasing something hateful in a smart way, so that Adolf is oblivious. Besides, he’s decaying at this very moment. The tertiary syphilis is kicking in, and he will be gone soon. Who will step in to lead the MAGAts? JD is universally hated. Will impeachment of JD and underlings manifest?
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/07/18/donald-trump-epstein-wsj-reaction-00462205
“If there was a ‘smoking gun’ on Epstein, why didn’t the Dems, who controlled the ‘files’ for four years, and had Garland and Comey in charge, use it? BECAUSE THEY HAD NOTHING!!!” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Friday morning, echoing his previous attempts to pin blame for the lack of information in the case on Democrats.
*If there’s nothing, then why doesn’t Adolf release it? He’s now telling Blondi Bumstead to release “pertinent” info. So, scrubbing it it first. Got it.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/live-blog/trump-bove-epstein-powell-npr-pbs-congress-iran-tariffs-live-updates-rcna218569
President Donald Trump said he was directing Attorney General Pam Bondi to seek the release of “pertinent” grand jury testimony from the Jeffrey Epstein case after he denied reporting from The Wall Street Journal that said he sent Epstein a letter in 2003 with a drawing of a naked woman.
The Senate passed a bill overnight that would make $9 billion in cuts to previously approved funding for public broadcasting and foreign aid. The House voted 216-213 to give final passage to the legislation just after midnight.
*So, we need a telethon for public TV & radio. I think that the loss of public funds will change the face of many things, including prosperity ministries that grift rather than give. An awakening that the far-right can not afford is happening. They got greedy; they are their own destroyers.
Is mTg trying to be the new MAGAt leader?
BiD…
Lawrence O’Donnel explained last night that because Ghislaine Maxwell is appealing her case, the Grand Jury cannot release any of the testimony. A lawyer must have explained this to SFB and that is why he is asking for the testimony to be released… he knows the Grand Jury will refuse.
“We are the banana peel in the coal mine. When a society is under threat, comedians are the ones who get sent away first. Authoritarians are the threat to comedy, to art, to music, to thought, to poetry, to progress.”
-Jon Stewart
rr – Thanks. That makes sense. Ahhh, so Adolf has someone to blame for not releasing docs.
even if it is or could be released, asking for the testimony to be released isn’t the same as demanding the turnover of the files with all the documents, tapes, bank info, black books, data, investigatory material, etc. where the real meat is.
Why is he not immediately off the air? Maybe CBS will let him off the chain for the next months to settle scores and speak unvarnished truth to power?
CBS cannot be happy that Paramount has turned them into a whipping boy.
yesterday, craig and carolyn discussed the outrageous deal for epstein. here’re bits and pieces of a PBS newshour transcript made in 2019 about that deal to refresh our memories.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/the-completely-unprecedented-plea-deal-jeffrey-epstein-made-with-alex-acosta
what a guy
more on the deal reported in 2019 by
https://meaww.com/all-you-need-to-know-about-jeffrey-epstein-2008-sweetheart-plea-deal-alex-acosta-scandal-trump
would be interesting to see the files of that civil case.
excerpt from today’s Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/18/trump-jeffrey-epstein-letter
Russian banks. Eastern European models like Melania.
What do we know about Bill Barr’s dad, who gave Epstein a teaching position at the elite Dalton School, while having no college degree?
https://time.com/5650974/william-barr-jeffrey-epstein/
And Barr’s father was the headmaster of an elite New York City school that hired college dropout Epstein to teach math and physics.
*Math & PHYSICS?
***
wiki –
Donald Barr was born to a Jewish family, but later converted to Catholicism. He sent his children to a Catholic elementary school and his son William would later describe him as “more Catholic than the Catholics.”
Barr graduated from Columbia College in 1941 with a degree in mathematics and anthropology.
Barr served in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during World War II.
In 1973, Barr published Space Relations, a science fiction novel about a planet ruled by oligarchs who engage in child sex slavery. It has been noted that the plot of the novel anticipates the crimes of Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.
In 1983 President Ronald Reagan nominated Donald Barr to be a member of the National Council on Educational Research.
*Bill Barr’s daddy & Epstein. Ew.
https://fortune.com/2025/07/07/peter-thiel-palmer-luckey-erebor-digital-bank-lord-of-the-rings-dark-history/
Peter Thiel has signed on to back Palmer Luckey’s latest startup, a digital bank for startups and cryptocurrency companies named Erebor.
Like Palantir, Erebor takes its name from The Lord of the Rings series, specifically the prequel. Also known as the Lonely Mountain, it’s a prime setting for The Hobbit. While it’s described in that book as the greatest kingdom in Middle-Earth, it also has a dark history.
…you might recall that Smaug, the treasure-loving dragon, calls it home and destroys a nearby settlement, setting it ablaze and killing … well, a lot of folks. And when he is killed via an arrow to a weak spot in his armor-like scales, he falls on the town and crushes it.
As for Erebor the bank, its charter says it plans to serve technology businesses, as well as the people who work at or invest in them. Among the areas of interest are AI, crypto, and defense. The bank will hold stablecoins on its balance sheet and will be headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, though it’s not planning any brick-and-mortar locations at present.
*More funny money.
Trump is denying drawing a birthday card for Epstein. Would love to see WSJ publish. It may or may not be from a suspect source, but it should see the light of day.
You can’t be God’s chosen one and a pedophile at the same time.
In all honesty, I may have to be slowly weaned off of Paramount plus or they will do it for me. I’ve kept it for the NCIS shows but I’m down to only the original and don’t plan to start Tony & Ziva when it premiers. The whole Yellowstone franchise 1883 and 1923 are finished, but 1943 is upcoming. Still watching Georgie & Mandy but don’t plan to start the new Sheldon spin off. When Colbert goes, that kills late night. So that is four shows and I’m out.
From behind the Financial Times paywall.
Slava Ukraine
Jack
Going live now to talk Colbert, cancel culture, and clapping back—grab a seat and bring your take: https://streamyard.com/9nfrf223qq
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5409002-trump-epstein-files-ag-bondi-patel-bongino-fbi-agents-durbin-wall-street-journal/
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, says he has received information that Attorney General Pam Bondi “pressured” approximately 1,000 FBI personnel to comb through tens of thousands of pages of documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and flag any mention of President Trump.
Durbin made the explosive allegation in three letters that he sent Friday to Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino seeking more information about the administration’s handling of files related to Epstein and asking why senior officials were allegedly focused on looking for documents connecting Trump to Epstein.
Citing “information my office received,” Durbin said Bondi “pressured the FBI to put approximately 1,000 personnel in its Information Management Division” on 24-hour shifts to review approximately 100,000 Epstein-related records as part of a broader effort to release documents publicly by what Durbin called “an arbitrarily short deadline.”
Jamie, we enjoy seeing Kathy Bates in Matlock and Carrie Preston in Elspeth which co-stars Wendell Pierce. Had been considering a switch to Paramount but after this debacle, not at this time.
Emil Bove.
I thought Lady MawMaw sounds Australian.
Emil Bove is 44. Why do they all look so old? Stephen Miller is only 39. Thomas Fugate is only 22. All look a decade older and ugly to the core.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/veteran-us-citizen-arrested-ice-144336470.html
Veteran and US citizen arrested by ICE warns it could happen to anyone
A U.S. Army veteran who was arrested during an immigration raid at a Southern California marijuana farm last week said Wednesday he was sprayed with tear gas and pepper spray before being dragged from his vehicle and pinned down by federal agents who arrested him.
George Retes, 25, who works as a security guard at Glass House Farms in Camarillo, said he was arriving at work on July 10 when several federal agents surrounded his car and — despite him identifying himself as a U.S. citizen — broke his window, peppered sprayed him and dragged him out.
“It took two officers to nail my back and then one on my neck to arrest me even though my hands were already behind my back,” Retes said.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom spoke on the raids at a news conference Wednesday, calling Trump a “chaos agent” who has incited violence and spread fear in communities.
“You got someone who dropped 30 feet because they were scared to death and lost their life,” he said, referring to the farmworker who died in the raids. “People are quite literally disappearing with no due process, no rights.”
Retes was taken to the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, where he said he was put in a special cell on suicide watch and checked on each day after he became emotionally distraught over his ordeal and missing his 3-year-old daughter’s birthday party Saturday.
He said federal agents never told him why he was arrested or allowed him to contact a lawyer or his family during his three-day detention. Authorities never let him shower or change clothes despite being covered in tear gas and pepper spray, Retes said, adding that his hands burned throughout the first night he spent in custody.
On Sunday, an officer had him sign a paper and walked him out of the detention center. He said he was told he faced no charges.
Because they think taking care of oneself is “gay”
That and not sleeping
44⁉️ I thought he was in his 60s ❗️
I enjoyed seeing y’all on you tube today. When my afternoons get less chaotic I will figure out how to sign on. Does it help to have a you tube account? Presently, I don’t have one.
This was Trail Mix Livestream—where the nuts are stale but the takes are fresh. We unpacked the Colbert cancellation, the $16 million Trump payout, and why Paramount’s “just business” smells more like a Big Fat Bribe. The mic keeps getting yanked from truth-tellers—so who’s really in control of the stage? Plus, Lady MawMaw Looks Back at the Smothers Brothers and CBS, and we asked: are we watching media history repeat itself… or just reruns? Tomatoes were sliced. Viewers clapped back.
Catch the full episode here: https://youtube.com/live/j-qcVnuaUD0
Dodo doesn’t care what anyone says about him as long as they’re still talking about him.
We’re at a 160 viewers and climbing for today’s Livestream
No Ivy, no need for any account, just a Firefox, Edge or Chrome browser, and reliable finger for clicking the mouse
if you have a google or gmail account you have a youtube account, same login
I’ll mess around, if I mess it up, I’ll call MeeMaw.
Can’t believe they don’t offer a persona from the holler.
Thanks, Anon.
Re the Paramount bribe / WSJ dust up – Has Trump devised a way to make millions? This is he 4th or 5th time he has sued for liable and collected millions in settlements that keep issues out of court.
Are the entities being sued in on the scam with a way to give him funds direct rather than campaign money with all those pesky regulations!
Whyskyjack flashes his garden-grown prize and dinner plans spiral into pure summer envy. Tomatoes were harmed in the making of this livestream.
He’s a high seas pirate!
They’ll put a stop to it only when it costs them more than it’s gaining. They’re getting something out of it or they wouldn’t be putting up with it.
Jamie – They can just buy tRUMP crypto crap. They don’t need to go through the song & dance of litigation. (If he’s not implicated in the Epstein files, why hasn’t he sued Elon?)
https://www.newsweek.com/trumps-move-open-retirement-crypto-investments-comes-great-risk-expert-2100982
Historically, retirement investments have been limited to traditional stocks and bonds.
While opening up the market to alternative investments could help some seniors live a more comfortable retirement, it could also carry more risk due to the different nature of crypto and private equity markets.
“I’ve seen retirees lose sleep over 2 percent market dips. Imagine explaining to your 67-year-old mom that their crypto allocation just lost half its value because Elon tweeted about his breakfast.”
***
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-signs-stablecoin-bill-into-law-capping-string-of-crypto-week-victories-192642044.html
President Trump on Friday signed into law a bill that establishes the first federal framework for dollar-backed stablecoins, one of the biggest victories yet for a crypto industry that has pushed for more favorable oversight in Washington, D.C.
“I pledged that we would bring back American liberty and leadership and make the United States the crypto capital of the world, and that’s what we’ve done,” Trump said during a signing ceremony for the GENIUS Act at the White House.
It’s extortion regardless
do these media conglomerates want to give him money for nothing? no, greedy people don’t give anything for nothing.
https://www.nj.com/politics/2025/07/magas-defense-of-trump-over-1-word-is-immediately-debunked.html
Some of Trump’s base appeared to latch onto his defense, arguing that the president would never use the word “enigma” in his typical vocabulary.
One user wrote: “And apparently uses the word ‘enigma.’”
“I dare anyone to find anywhere Trump has written or said the word enigma, at any time,” Matt Van Swol, a conservative influencer, said.
Another user posted: “Does anyone actually think Donald Trump would use the word ‘enigma’??”
Meanwhile, an X account with the moniker “This You?” pointed to an instance of Trump’s past, in which he use the word.
“Now Carson is an enigma to me. I didn’t say it! Carson’s an enigma,” Trump said of former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson in November 2015, before he was elected to his first term.
Other accounts began jumping on the video clip, with the “Republicans against Trump” account posting “Roll the tape.”
*Van Swol FFS! Ha!
Time to harvest my cilantro seeds upon which they magically become “coriander”
but only in North America
was always coriander everywhere else
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5409002-trump-epstein-files-ag-bondi-patel-bongino-fbi-agents-durbin-wall-street-journal/
Citing “information my office received,” Durbin said Bondi “pressured the FBI to put approximately 1,000 personnel in its Information Management Division” on 24-hour shifts to review about 100,000 Epstein-related records as part of a broader effort to release documents publicly by what Durbin called “an arbitrarily short deadline.”
*The evening news failed to pick up on the attempted coverup. Typical.
My cilantro still looks like spindly weeds. Plenty of radish seeds. The pods were delicious, but I left quite a few to mature.
mine never looked like that for reference
26g of seeds from one seed packet 🤷♂️
a better gardener would have gotten double that yield
https://www.forbes.com/sites/virginialatorrejeker/2025/07/12/bombshell-denaturalized-citizen-forced-to-exit-cant-escape-exit-tax/
Denaturalized Citizens Forced To Exit, Can’t Escape Exit Tax
If the expatriation regime applies to a denaturalized citizen, it imposes an exit tax through a deemed sale of worldwide assets as well as a transfer tax (current 40% rate) on gifts or inheritances received by U.S. individuals from the former citizen.
Can those stripped of their U.S. citizenship be subject to the U.S. tax expatriation rules even though they are not voluntarily giving up U.S. citizenship? If so, can they argue their U.S. citizenship was void from the outset, meaning they were never a citizen to begin with, thereby escaping the potentially crippling tax consequences?
The current expatriation regime is embodied in IRC Section 877A, enacted in 2008 to deter wealthy Americans from renouncing citizenship to avoid taxes. The law imposes an “exit tax” on “covered expatriates” which includes U.S. citizens or long term residents who relinquish citizenship or green cards, respectively, and meet any one three criteria: (1) having an average annual net income tax liability above a threshold ($206,000 for 2025, adjusted for inflation), (2) having a net worth of $2 million or more, or (3) failing to certify tax compliance for the five years preceding expatriation. The tax operates as a mark-to-market regime, treating the individual as if he has sold all worldwide assets at fair market value the day before expatriation. Gain exceeding a certain exclusion amount is subject to income tax.
Another provision of the expatriation tax regime is a separate transfer tax under Code Section 2801 imposing a 40% tax on U.S. citizens or residents who receive gifts or bequests from a covered expatriate. This provision complements the Section 877A exit tax by targeting wealth transfers occurring any time in the future after expatriation.
Can the expatriation tax regime apply to an individual who was denaturalized involuntarily through a court order? Apparently, this seems so.
*No escape.
RFK Jr and I are now in wholehearted agreement about something totally unexpected. By personal p0referene, I’ve always liked R C Cola over both Coke or Pepsi. Today, I learned that RC has always used cane sugar. Whether or not it is better for you than high fructose corn syrup, I don’t know, but it definitely tastes better.
Here’s my conspiracy theory: Coca-Cola knew that New Coke tasted like crap, and had no intention of that being the final product. It was a two-pronged marketing gimmick; sell the new stuff and create a demand for the old stuff.
This is the conspiracy part: I think they did it to switch recipes so the old Coke could be made more cheaply, but it would still taste much better than the new version. I never thought Coke tasted the same.
Absolutely hate Pepsi; it tastes like kerosene smells.
Probably had an RC Cola in childhood, but don’t remember seeing it in stores in TX nor here.
I prefer tea, anyway.
https://apnews.com/article/epa-zeldin-trump-reorganization-science-research-acf0ad3a649f940e138b2a917169405f
The Environmental Protection Agency said Friday it is eliminating its research and development arm and reducing agency staff by thousands of employees.
The agency said Friday it is creating a new Office of Applied Science and Environmental Solutions that will allow it to focus on research and science “more than ever before.”
Once fully implemented, the changes will save the EPA nearly $750 million, officials said.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a statement that the changes announced Friday would ensure the agency “is better equipped than ever to deliver on our core mission of protecting human health and the environment, while Powering the Great American Comeback.’’
The EPA also said it is beginning the process to eliminate thousands of jobs, following a Supreme Court ruling last week that cleared the way for President Donald Trump’s plans to downsize the federal workforce, despite warnings that critical government services will be lost and hundreds of thousands of federal employees will be out of their jobs.
*Applied science, as in what we already know but probably aren’t going anymore because of deregulation. This is some bullsh/t.
Remember what Barr did to the Mueller report?
The Occam’s Razor Forecast is:
That’s what’s happening now to the Epstein material.
@realDonald Trump
BREAKING NEWS: We have just filed a
POWERHOUSE Lawsuit against everyone involved in publishing the false, malicious, defamatory, FAKE NEWS “article” in the useless “rag” that is, The Wall Street Journal. This historic legal action is being brought against the so-called authors of this defamation, the now fully disgraced WSJ, as well as its corporate owners and affiliates, with Rupert Murdoch and Robert Thomson (whatever his role is!) at the top of the list. We have proudly held to account ABC and George Slopadopoulos, CBS and
60 Minutes, The Fake Pulitzer Prizes, and many others who deal in, and push, disgusting LIES, and even FRAUD, to the American People. This lawsuit is filed not only on behalf of your favorite President, ME, but also in order to continue standing up for ALL Americans who will no longer tolerate the abusive wrongdoings of the Fake News Media. I hope Rupert and his “friends” are looking forward to the many hours of depositions and testimonies they will have to provide in this case. Thank you for your attention to this matter. We will, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
*Ten billion sounds frivolous. Again, as litigious as Adolf is, why didn’t he sue Elon for saying he was in the Epstein files? Because the files would have to be produced. If the letter was in a scrapbook for Epstein’s 50th birthday, and the signature in the crotch is proven to be Donald’s, the Rupert should counterfeit him for everything he has. FDT
That’s what Senator Durbin is warning. There’s a cover-up. Fortunately, I guess, there are court records from Maxwell’s trial, as well as all of the women and girls who’ve told what Donald did to them. Believing the women way back when, might have saved democracy.
Senator Sasha Renée Pérez
@SashaReneePerez
Remember when Trump lifted accused human trafficker Andrew Tate’s travel ban? Remember when Trump nominated accused human trafficker Matt Gaetz to be his AG? Remember when Trump directed Republicans to block the release of the Epstein files?
*He has a type.
not too different than asking if pure cocaine is healthier than crack
corn syrup gives American farmers a market for their subsidized corn, and it’s cheaper since corn is easier to grow than sugar cane
Fun Fact:
When Sam the Sham was composing “Wooly Bully” he used the phrase “Scrambled Eggs” until he settled on the final lyric
The sugar quota was originally intended to protect beet and cane sugar producers from foreign competition, somewhere along the line grain millers such as ADM started making corn sugar, fructose not sucrose. It could undersell the price of sugar made from beets and cane so became the sweetener of choice for the beverage industry. The Republican support of the sugar quota is one of those “I’m a rugged individualist /protect me protect me” dualities in the American heartland. It is probably only a few cents a 12oz. can but given the tanker full quantities that the average American consumer drinks a few cents adds up.
If you want cane sugar in your coke bring the sugar industry into the modern age
Wiki’s explanation
USDA, fact sheet
Jack
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jon-stewart-addresses-possible-daily-show-cancellation_n_687a9c40e4b02a75a1fada14
Jon Stewart isn’t sure if “The Daily Show” can survive the proposed merger of Skydance Media and Comedy Central parent company Paramount Global.
*Well, if Stewart and Colbert both get canned, they can both run for office…or be free from corporate restraints to make a lot more noise for other candidates.
https://www.rawstory.com/dr-oz-2673203945/
U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz appeared on Fox Business on Monday, where he presented a carrot cake to celebrate Medicaid’s 60th birthday and brushed aside concerns about the millions of Americans likely to lose their healthcare coverage under recently passed Republican legislation—by telling people to not eat carrot cake.
The idea that avoiding carrot cake in favor of healthier foods will somehow render Americans immune to health problems is insulting in the extreme,” Occupy Democrats continued. “Rather than ‘let them eat cake,’ he’s telling us ‘do not eat cake,’ but the sentiment is every bit as out of touch as Marie Antoinette’s apocryphal quote.”
“MAHA stands for ‘Make America Healthy Again,’ an Orwellian phrase deployed by an administration that is actively making Americans sicker by stripping away their healthcare,” the account added. “This is what Republicans really think of the American people. They ram through policies making our lives worse in countless ways, then they laugh at us and spit in our faces. There has never been a more gleefully spiteful political movement.”
“Why don’t you pry carrot cake out of my cold, dead hands and give us back Medicaid coverage for millions instead,” Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) wrote on Bluesky.
Another Bluesky user wrote, “Carrot cake didn’t give me cancer, dumba–.”
Yet another said, “Um… your boss eats McDonald’s every chance he gets and you are judging people eating carrot cake,” a reference to Trump’s legendary fondness for Big Macs, Filet-O-Fish sandwiches, and vanilla shakes.
Still another quipped, “First he came for my crudites, now my carrot cake.”
allegedly so did McCartney when writing “Yesterday”
which is not this song:
NEW THREAD