Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills)

Monday, September 08, 2025

Paula Deen playacts as honesty

In the summer of 2013, I was at Walmart or Target with my friend Toni and saw some pots and pans very cheap. Less than 20 dollars. I put them in our cart and Toni says, "No, no,no!" Why? They're Paula Deen. Who's Paula Deen? I knew she was some celebrity because they were in a big box, over $100 bucks and marked down.

Paula was seen as a racist at that time which is why Toni was saying "no." Didn't know. She was a chef who cooked with a ton of butter and sugar -- that's the most I may have known of her. She'd gotten famous on The Food Network and had her own magazines. At the store, that day, Toni explained to me how awful Paula truly was how she was being sued and in depositions had noted she had used the n-word.

She now has a documentary. I'm not enthused. I also think THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER needs to fire Steven Zeitchik is he thinks his write up qualifies as journalism:

I guess it was less about the deposition and more the fact that you had used the word in the past, which you obviously felt bad about, right? That was what the apology was about?

PAULA DEEN They asked me a question [at the deposition]. This group of attorneys from an established well-thought-of firm. They were horrible; they were horrible. The lawyer sitting there with me never opened his mouth. Not one time. So when they asked that question [about the N-word] I said, "Yes, of course." I'm 65 years old [at the time] and raised in the South, I said, "Yes, of course." BUT that word has been out of our vocabulary now for a long time, and I said you can ask my oldest grandchild, you could say that word to him, and he would ask what it meant and not have a clue. My daddy taught me when I was a teenager, he told me, "I don't ever want to ever hear you being mean or rude to anyone." That's how I was raised.

Many people who know you will say you don't have hate in your heart. But do you understand from the other side how people might be uncomfortable about someone who is so direct about the usage of the word. Did that make sense to you as a reaction? Or is that something you still don't quite get?

PAULA DEEN Oh no, I got that. Because the word always kind of made me shiver. But there was a time that the Black community was changing its name. First it started out as Negro, and then Black and then I don't know, there were many words. But that one word, it made my skin crawl. It was just so far from who I am. So far. And I have many Black friends. Many Black friends that I love very much. And they love me.

Did you talk to them while this was going on?

PAULA DEEN I don't remember. All of a sudden my team was gone and my agent was gone and they brought in these people. I don't know who they were One crisis manager told me I had done something very bad.

That's a cute little story, Paula, it's just not accurate. 1987 is the last time, per your own sworn testimony, that you used the n-word. You were a forty-year-old woman. Check WIKIPEDIA for the quote where she says she last used it when she was robbed at a bank -- that was 1987

Ask Google AI for confirmation:

Paula Deen worked as a bank teller in Albany, Georgia, beginning in 1986. She was robbed at gunpoint while working there the following year, in 1987.

1986: Paula Deen was well enough to take a job as a bank teller.

1987: She was held up at gunpoint during a bank robbery while working as a teller.

After the robbery: The incident was a significant factor that led to her dealing with her agoraphobia and helped prompt her move to Savannah.

So there's that. 40 years old is not a young woman.

But there's more. I had to Google again because you know my memory. I distinctly remember some party was part of the lawsuit. I remember Toni telling me about it that day. June 19, 2013, Clare Kim (NBC NEWS) reported:

A true 'southern plantation-style wedding' would include waiters dressed as slaves, Deen says in a deposition. A former employee is suing the TV chef and her brother, alleging workplace discrimination.

Celebrity chef Paula Deen has a mess she needs to clean up. A deposition was obtained Wednesday in which she admits to using a racial slur. The National Enquirer first reported Deen’s deposition, in which she responds to recent allegations of racism in the workplace–and admits to using the N-word and expressing a wish for a wedding served by waiters dressed as slaves.

The legal deposition was held on May 17 after one of Deen’s former restaurant managers, Lisa Jackson, sued the TV chef and her brother Earl “Bubba” Hiers for sexual and racial workplace discrimination in a $1.2 million lawsuit. During the three-hour-long questioning, Jackson’s lawyer asked Deen if she had ever used the N-word.

Deen responded, “Yes, of course,” and detailed the instances in which she had used the racial slur. Below are Deen’s responses, as recorded in the deposition.

Jackson subsequently asked Deen what type of uniforms she preferred the servers to wear.

“Well what I would really like is a bunch of little n—–s to wear long-sleeve white shirts, black shorts and black bow ties, you know in the Shirley Temple days, they used to tap dance around.” Paula Deen laughed and said “Now that would be a true southern wedding, wouldn’t it? But we can’t do that because the media would be on me about that.”

Deen responded to Jackson’s allegations.

“I remember telling them about a restaurant that my husband and I had recently visited. And I’m wanting to think it was in Tennessee or North Carolina or somewhere, and it was so impressive. The whole entire wait staff was middle-aged black men, and they had on beautiful white jackets with a black bow tie. I mean, it was really impressive. And I remember saying I would love to have servers like that, I said, but I would be afraid somebody would misinterpret.”

“That restaurant represented a certain era in America,” Deen said. The servers in that era “were slaves,” she conceded. “But I did not mean anything derogatory by saying that I loved their look.” She denied having used the N-word to describe the restaurant’s wait-staff “because that’s not what these men were. They were professional black men doing a fabulous job.”

The celebrity chef also said she didn’t know what kinds of jokes minority groups might find offensive.

That party idea was and remains offensive. It probably did her in more than the use of the n-word. But somehow, THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER ignores it.

Closing with C.I.'s "The Snapshot:"

Monday, September 8, 2025. Chump threatens war on Chicago as he launches an attack on Boston, his efforts to hide the crimes of his friends Ghislaine Maxwell and the late Jeffrey Epstein expose him as the criminal he is, the economy in tatters, he's booed at the US Open with the whole world watching, and much, much more.

Nancy Armour (USA TODAY) reports on a spectacle that's become much more common in the last months:

Resistance takes many forms.

Sometimes it’s people taking to the streets in protest, as they did this weekend in Chicago and its suburbs. Sometimes it’s governors banding together to ensure their citizens have access to vaccines that have been thoroughly vetted, as the governors of California, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii have.

And sometimes it’s ABC and ESPN not muting the full-throated chorus of boos that occurred when the president of the United States was shown at the U.S. Open on Sunday.

The U.S. Tennis Association’s request that broadcasters “refrain from showcasing any disruptions to the President's attendance in any capacity" was an embarrassment. This is not North Korea or Russia, and it is not ABC’s, ESPN’s or any other broadcaster’s job to stroke President Donald Trump’s ego. His vice president, Cabinet secretaries and Republican House leadership have that covered.

As we noted Saturday: "We are onto you, Donald, and we are done with you" There's always a point of no return. We've reached it with Donald. The Iraq War? We got to a tipping point in public opinion and the needed support was over for the Iraq War. Sadly, it didn't end then but serious players in Congress knew that they had to start planning and heed public will. We've reached that point with Donald Chump. He needs to get used to that booing.

Ben (MEIDASTOUCH NEWS) covers that, Epstein and Chump's war on Chicago this morning.

One more time on Chump's latest booing, Peter Wade (ROLLING STONE) notes:

A chorus of boos and sparse clapping greeted Donald Trump when the president arrived at the U.S. Open men's final at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York City on Sunday. Later, the boos continued and could be heard on the national telecast during the national anthem. The crowd booed again when the president was shown on an arena screen during a set break.

Whenever we reach one of these tipping points, I'm always reminded of a Carole King song that she wrote and recorded for her TOUCH THE SKY album.

The rebel cry of desolation
To which we used to hearken
Echoes now in isolation
As the skies in fury darken
A thousand acts of desecration
Hundreds more continue
When y'know that you are all creation
You're gonna fight 'em with all that's in you

I remember a time gone by
When peace and hope and dreams were high
We followed inner visions and touched the sky
Now we who still believe won't let them die

Waters dammed to overflowing
Like tears brimming over in our eyes
Sometimes it's so hard to keep on going
When promises turn to lies
Go ahead, give in to confusion
And put aside your ideals, too
Soon you'll see only illusion
Don't care who's hurt
As long as it's not you

I remember a time gone by
When peace and hope and dreams were high
We followed inner visions and touched the sky
Now we who still believe won't let them die

Sometimes a leader emerges
And is followed for awhile
Doesn't matter what he encourages
As long as he's got style
Young ones conceived in a passion
Of directions we thought enlightened
Grown-up, they follow the mood in fashion
But beneath their bravado
You know they're frightened

I remember a time gone by
When peace and hope and dreams were high
We followed inner visions and touched the sky
Now we who still believe won't let them die

Chump is the epitome of corruption. No shock, he is a convicted felon -- on multiple counts. He is trash and he is vile. And he dirties the nation with his unwashed ways.

For awhile there, he could fool the slightly crazy. Now it's just the full on nuts who still believe in fat boy. His friendship with Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein has made it clear who's side he's on. He's not on the side of the American people. Despite years and years of pretending publicly to be outraged by pedophiles, despite QAnon and others -- Roseanne Barr -- pushing the lie going back to his first term that he was going after pedophiles and what they claimed was an international pedophile ring, he did nothing. He still does nothing to stop pedophiles. Epstein and Maxwell? Pedophiles. Epstein died in prison after his convictions. Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison and Chump spent the summer moving her to a camp in Bryan -- one she didn't qualify for because it doesn't take sex offenders. He rescued her. And that and his refusal to release the Epstein files have combined to expose the reality of Chump to everyone and, at this point, only those with a non-functioning brain still trust him.

Lilly Phillips was interviewed on MSNBC's Alex Witt today and revealed that the survivors of Epstein and Maxwell are tired of waiting for Chump to do what he should have done and that they are compiling their own list of Epstein and Maxwell clients.

Maybe this will put a fire under Chump's fat ass and lead him to start releasing real papers -- not the ones that already in the public record that he tries to pretend are a 'new release.' As Lawrence O'Donnell and others have pointed out, the birthday book? The one with Chump's greeting per THE WALL STREET JOURNAL? Congress is getting it due to the Jeffrey Epstein estate -- not as a result of any move on the part of Donald Chump. Kendall Wright (ABC NEWS) reports:

Republican Rep. Thomas Massie said Sunday that those who might be in the Jeffrey Epstein files need to be held accountable regardless of their social status.

"We can't avoid justice just to avoid embarrassment for some very powerful men," Massie told ABC News' "This Week" anchor George Stephanopoulos.

Appearing in the files is not indicative of wrongdoing or a crime.

Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna said there are enough votes in the House to force a vote on his and Massie's discharge petition, a rare bipartisan effort they've led to compel the Justice Department to release all records related to the convicted sex offender.

Instead, the gut-busting president insists that it's all a "hoax." Lisandra Gomez-Tate (2PARAGRAPHS) notes US House Rep Thomas Massie has denounced that lie:

Massie posed the question: “Is it a hoax that Jeffrey Epstein was involved in underage sex trafficking, and there is unreleased evidence that would likely expose rich and politically connected perpetrators to indictments or convictions?”

With the results below (94 percent replied, “No, Release Epstein file”), Massie wrote: “The people know this is not a hoax (see poll), and as the survivors said this week, calling this a hoax dehumanizes the victims.”

Two weeks ago, Jagit Singh (BERKELEY DAILY PLANET) observed:

The case of Jeffrey Epstein is not just a sordid tale of sex trafficking and privilege—it is a window into a justice system rigged to protect the powerful at the expense of the vulnerable. And despite his death nearly six years ago, the true story remains buried beneath a fog of sealed files, silenced voices, and unanswered questions. Julie K. Brown, the tenacious journalist who helped reopen the Epstein case through sheer investigative will, recently outlined nine critical questions we still need answered. Every one of them demands public reckoning.

Why did the FBI wait nearly a decade to act after Epstein’s infamous 2008 sweetheart deal? Why were his victims ignored in violation of federal law? Why did the Department of Justice allow him to be placed in a jail so riddled with “coincidences” that even seasoned correctional officers called it suspect? Why hasn’t Ghislaine Maxwell -- convicted of trafficking girls to unnamed, unindicted men—been compelled to testify about the clients she and Epstein serviced? And what happened to the troves of hard drives, videos, and surveillance footage seized from Epstein’s homes -- materials rumored to contain evidence of high-profile sexual abuse? What powerful names are being protected, and why?

The American public doesn’t need conspiracy theories. We need transparency. The idea that Epstein died alone in his cell with broken cameras, absent guards, a removed cellmate, and no suicide watch—just as the walls were closing in—is not a theory. It's a collection of verified facts that no responsible government would allow to go unexamined. Yet that’s exactly what has happened. The Department of Justice issued a summary report calling it suicide and closed the book. The files remain sealed. The abusers remain anonymous. And justice remains undone.

This is a case that involved minors being raped and trafficked across borders. And yet not a single man who participated in Epstein’s operations has been prosecuted. Not one. The world knows the names that floated around his private jets and mansions -- from British royalty to American tech billionaires, financiers, presidents, and prime ministers. Are we truly to believe they were just… bystanders?

We have seen a multi-tiered justice system before. But the Epstein saga might be the most flagrant example in modern memory. He weaponized his wealth to buy silence, legitimacy, and even immunity. His connections reached into intelligence agencies, Ivy League universities, Wall Street banks, and global political offices. These institutions were not innocent enablers. Many were direct beneficiaries -- financially, socially, and politically -- of Epstein’s web of exploitation. The complicity goes beyond individuals. It is systemic. The U.S. legal system allowed this predator to walk free for over a decade. The Bureau of Prisons failed to uphold even the most basic duties of care. The Justice Department's refusal to release the full investigative report into Epstein's death is a disgrace to any democracy claiming to uphold transparency and accountability. This is not just about Epstein. It is about whether the United States still has the will to hold its most powerful citizens to the same laws that govern everyone else. It is about whether our institutions are still capable of self-correction—or whether the rot has gone too deep.

As Chump's flesh rots, so does whatever passes for his soul. The files need to be released and released immediately. Failure to do, as US House Rep Jasmine Crockett points out, prolongs the suffering of those who survived the criminal abuse of Epstein and Maxwell.

Instead of releasing information, Chump and his administration are protecting pedophiles. Tom Winter (NBC NEWS) reports:

The Justice Department on Friday asked a federal judge overseeing the case of deceased sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein to deny a request from NBC News to unseal the names of two associates who received large payments from him in 2018, court documents show. The Justice Department cited privacy concerns expressed by the two individuals as the reason for not making their names public.

The first associate received a payment of $100,000 from Epstein and the second associate received a payment of $250,000, both in 2018, days after the Miami Herald began publishing a series of investigative stories where victims criticized a plea deal he received in Florida in 2008.

As part of the plea agreement, Epstein secured a statement from federal prosecutors in Florida that the two individuals would not be prosecuted.

The payments became public after Epstein was indicted and arrested in New York in 2019 and asked to be released on bail. Federal prosecutors in New York filed a memorandum on July 16, 2019, that argued Epstein should remain in jail to prevent him from tampering with witnesses.

They cited the payments he made to the two individuals, which began two days after the Miami Herald began publishing its stories on Epstein’s plea deal, also known as a nonprosecution agreement, or NPA.

Prosecutors wrote that on Nov. 30, 2018, Epstein “wired $100,000 from a trust account he controlled, to an individual named as [REDACTED] a potential co-conspirator — and for whom Epstein obtained protection in — the NPA.”

Prosecutors also wrote that “this individual was also named and featured prominently in the Herald series.”

Prosecutors added that “the same records show that just three days later, on or about December 3, 2018, the defendant wired $250,000 from the same trust account to [REDACTED], who was also named as a potential co-conspirator — and for whom Epstein also obtained protection in — the NPA.”

Chump has demonstrated that MAGA really stands for Make America Groom Again. It's a party for pedophiles. That's why they are rallying around Chump.

Saturday, THE DAILY BEAST's Joanna Coles spoke with Cleo Glyde about when Epstein introduced her to Chump.

Ravi Hari (MINT) observes, "Glyde is not the first woman to recount awkward or inappropriate interactions involving Epstein and Trump. Stacey Williams, another former model and Epstein acquaintance, said Trump groped her at Trump Tower in Epstein’s presence."

It's over for the elderly, doddering fool. Greg Sargent (THE NEW REPUBLIC) notes:

President Donald Trump understands better than anyone else alive that his hold on his supporters—and on plenty of swing voters, too—depends on the mere perception that he’s strong, wins everywhere, always acts boldly, and wields absolute mastery over his eternally feckless, disoriented enemies. Last month, after an anemic July jobs report, Trump fired the steward of jobs data, magically transforming the story from one about the Trump economy’s weakness into one about him decisively crushing a newly designated foe.

On Friday, however, the new jobs report found that only 22,000 jobs were created in August, far fewer than the 73,000 created in July. A downward revision of the previous month shows 13,000 jobs were lost in June. Shockingly, firing the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics could not disguise the impact of Trump’s own policies: As economists noted, most signs suggest his tariffs are an important reason for the slowdown.

All this suggests that Democrats have a fresh opening to undermine the foundation of Trump’s political strength by portraying him as a politically weak, failing, diminished, naked-emperor figure—and some new internal polling conducted by Senate Democrats hints at why.

The polling—conducted for the Senate Majority PAC and provided to The New Republic—probes voter attitudes toward Trump, his tariffs, and the economy. It finds that 56 percent of likely 2026 midterm voters say Trump’s tariffs are hurting the economy overall, with 44 percent saying they’re hurting a lot. Only 32 percent say they’re helping. Among swing voters—defined as voters who switched in either direction from 2020 to 2024—57 percent say they’re hurting.

In desperation to distract from Epstein and Maxwell, from his destruction of all his many failures including the economy, Chump declares war on US cities.

That's reason enough to impeach him, by the way. True, that as his dementia worsens, Chump may no longer be sure whether he's lying or not. The people in the administration, in the press and in this country need to help him out, tell him he's lying. Non-stop. For example, George Chidi (GUARDIAN) reports:

As Donald Trump threatens to deploy national guard units to Chicago and Baltimore, ostensibly to quell violence, a pattern has emerged as he describes which cities he talks about.

Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington DC and Baltimore.

But not Jackson, Birmingham, St Louis or Memphis.

An analysis of crime trends over the last four years shows two things. First, violent crime rates in America’s big cities have been falling over the last two years, and at an even greater rate over the last six months. The decrease in violence in America is unprecedented.

Second, crime in large cities in the aggregate is lower in states with Democratic leadership. But the president focuses his ire almost exclusively on large blue cities in blue states, sidestepping political conflict with red Republican governors.

Last week, Illinois

Governor JB Pritzker's office served up a few key points:

Here are the facts Donald Trump should read and the White House should include in their next press release:

Chicago does not even make the list for Most Dangerous Places in the U.S., according to U.S. News & World Report.
Illinois ranks in the top half of states with the lowest violent crime rates in the country.
Gov. Pritzker’s Reimagine Public Safety Act (RPSA) invested $250 million evidence-based programs to reduce gun violence.
The Peacekeeper Program, which trains residents to mediate and de-escalate conflicts, has resulted in a 41% reduction in gun violence in targeted Chicago and suburban Cook County neighborhoods
Over 90% of communities in Chicago that received state funding experienced declines in total firearm victimizations in July 2025 as compared to July 2024.
Chicago is on track to have the lowest number of homicides in decades with violent crime trending downward across categories as well.
Murders and shooting incidents are both down by more than 30% in the past year and have been cut roughly in half since 2021.

Read more about Illinois public safety efforts and facts here.

Gramps is so senile, we may need to repeat that several times daily. Saturday, we pointed out, "Juliana Kim (NPR) notes that Chump is floating an APOCOLYPSE NOW assault on Chicago. I guess it's a senior moment? He's that divorced from reality? People's lives are at stake and he's trying to act like it's a movie. " AP notes:

In response to the post, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat, called Trump a “wannabe dictator.”

Trump on Friday signed an executive order seeking to rename the Defense Department the Department of War, after months of campaigning to be considered for the Nobel Peace Prize. The renaming requires congressional approval.

The illustration in Trump’s post shows him against a backdrop of the Chicago skyline [. . .]

Sunday on THE TODAY SHOW, NBC filed this report.

Chump's referencing APOCALYPSE NOW and "Chicago about to find out why they call it the Dept of War." That last one. Chump's calling the Defense of Defense the Dept of War. Chump can call it whatever he likes, that's the thing about dementia. But it's the Dept of Defense unless Congress votes to change the name.

Senator Tammy Duckworth appeared on CBS' FACE THE NATION Sunday.

MARGARET BRENNAN: And we're joined now by Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth. She joins us this morning from Schaumburg, Illinois. Good morning to you, Senator.

SENATOR TAMMY DUCKWORTH: Good morning.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So you attended, as I understand, a demonstration yesterday in Chicago where thousands of people were out on the street protesting President Trump's vow to send in immigration agents. I know he's also posted on social media suggesting troops will go in. Quote, "Chicago is about to find out why it is called the Department of War." Vice President Vance says there aren't plans to send in troops. Do you have concrete indication, now, that there are plans to do so?

SEN. DUCKWORTH: Let's make it clear the president of the United States essentially just declared war on a major city in his own nation. This is not normal, Margaret. This is not acceptable behavior. No, we don't have any indications of them getting ready to send troops into Chicago. In fact, I was out at Great Lakes base yesterday, naval training base, and they were able to confirm that the only assistance they've been requested to provide is just office space for ICE, but that no barracks, no detention facilities, none of that is being requested or prepared in order to support troops into Chicago.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So, so then is this just, you know, social media trash talk? When you say he's declaring war, is this tongue in cheek?

SEN. DUCKWORTH: I think he's renaming the Department of Defense the Department of War, and did he not just say that Chicago will find out what it means to be at war? I don't- I take what the President of the United States says very seriously, because that is the respect you have to give to the office. And if that's what he's declaring, then let me make it clear, it would be an illegal order to declare war on a major city, any city within the United States, by the President of the United States.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Senator, I know you just mentioned you went out to the Great Lakes Naval training session- station, I should say, and you said the military leadership said they'll only get office space, ICE cannot bring in lethal munitions, and the resources will not be diverted from military training. So all of that together, did you breathe a sigh of relief and say this won't have a real impact on the military?

SEN. DUCKWORTH: Well, we're going to make sure that there's not an impact on the military. We need to make sure that- as, you know, Great Lakes naval training base is where every single recruit in the United States Navy goes through to get that basic training, and then later on, some advanced training. We need to make sure that not a single dollar, not a single penny of the resources that they have that should be- that should be directed towards training our nation's sailors and making them ready to dare- do their jobs, none of that money needs to be diverted in order to support ICE or any of Donald Trump's political, you know, theater efforts. We need to focus on making sure we turn out the very best sailors we possibly can out of the base.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So in terms of how Democrats are responding to this, this rhetoric, the Chicago Tribune faulted Governor Pritzker for his threats, to quote, "not stand idly by" if the guard went in. They wrote, "what does that threat actually mean? How about a conversation before the action or the response? Because it's all potentially harmful to collective health." It sounds like there's a lot of tension here. Is there an opportunity to work with the administration to avoid making this worse?

SEN. DUCKWORTH: Well, they've not- they've not responded to any of our requests. I mean, I'll give you a very concrete example. Senator Durbin, myself, Senator Schneider- Congressman Schneider, sent requests into DHS to ask them to explain what exactly are you going to be doing at Great Lakes? And can we come look at your facility so we have a better understanding of what your operations are? And they replied, no, you can't. And in fact, gave their staff the day off on the day that we went to go look at the facilities, and locked the doors and left the base. Basically, they fled the base. This is not the action of someone that's doing something legal or that they're- that they're proud of. They literally gave the people the day off, locked the doors and left. Now the Navy allowed us onto the post. They allowed us to tour the outside of the facility and also where they would be storing the non-lethal munitions. But DHS did not show up. And we certainly have sent the administration multiple inquiries about what they are planning on doing. Who are they bringing into Chicago? Are they planning to bring the National Guard in? They've- none, none of that. They've not even reached out to local law enforcement to try to coordinate. You know, if they were truly, truly interested in fighting crime, then they would work with local law enforcement and ask them, what do you need? What help do you need? And we've not gotten any- any communications or feedback from the administration, whatsoever.

MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to ask you in your armed services role about what is a significant geopolitical meeting this past week. You had a lot of America's adversaries gathering together. Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, Kim Jong Un of North Korea, all of them in Beijing. And China and Russia seem to be deepening their work together. What do you think the signal to the United States here is?

SEN. DUCKWORTH: The signal to the United States is exactly what, you know, these authoritarian regimes want to send, which is that they are the new world power, that America is losing its ground, and that they have utter disrespect for the United States. I think it was very, very clear, and it, you know, it doesn't escape me, the fact that once this meeting happened, which was humiliating to Donald Trump, he immediately responds by saying, well, then I'm going to rename the Department of Defense the Department of War and declare war on Chicago. This is what Donald Trump does when something bad happens to him in the news cycle, or when the Epstein victims come together and have a very emotional press conference, he changes the topic and distracts us by saying things like, I'm going to send ICE into Chicago, I'm going to do this or do that. The American people cannot be fooled. We cannot be allowing him to distract us from what is truly happening, which is, this is a man who has driven our economy to a point where now there are more unemployed people than there are jobs. You know, we're not selling our agricultural products overseas. Our adversaries are united against us.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, the unemployment rate is still low, but I hear you on a weaker than expected jobs number. Just very quickly, there was military action taken in America's backyard by the Trump administration. Vice President Vance says "killing cartel members who poison our fellow citizens is the highest and best use of our military." He was talking about a strike on a drug boat- alleged drug boat, off the coast of Venezuela. What do you make of that show of force?

SEN. DUCKWORTH: It was an illegal- it was an illegal move by the Trump administration. There's a thing called due process in this country, and that needed to have happened. And the fact that it happened in international order- in international waters actually opens Americans to a similar action by our adversaries. You just- we were just talking about Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping and getting together and showing us- showing a show of force against the United States. Well, there's nothing now to stop them from doing something like that against Americans in international waters. And it could be civilians, and they could say, you know what? Those were drug boats. We're just going to go ahead and blow them out of the water. You're- he's setting a precedence here that puts Americans in danger.

Chump's cry of going to war on Chicago was so offensive -- and patently illegal -- that Chicago's ABC 7's Eric Horng, Michelle Gallardo, Maher Kawash, and Lissette Nuñez report he attempted to walk it back Sunday. While everyone waits to see what happens next, AP reports:

The Rev. Marshall Hatch urged congregants of a prominent Black church on Chicago’s West Side to carry identification, stay connected to family and protest as the city readied for an expected federal intervention.

“You need to start telling people about your whereabouts, so you don’t disappear,” Hatch said during Sunday services at New Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church. “We’re not going to despair. We’re not going to feel threatened. We’re not going to give up and give in to fascism and authoritarianism.”

Saturday protests took place as Chicago and surrounding areas geared up for whatever crimes Chump plans to attempt. Susan Sarkauskas (DAILY HERALD) reported, "At least 250 people protesting on the streets of Wheaton Saturday made one message clear -- they don’t want immigration agents arresting people in their hometown. Standing along sidewalks in front of a Jewel-Osco store at Main Street and Geneva Road, they held signs, rang bells, drummed and chanted." Wheaton is a city to the west of Chicago in Illinois. And that's a very big turnout for the seat of DeKalb county which, last November, saw 48.1% of the voters turn out for Chump (Kamala Harris won the county with 50.1% of the voters, she also carried the state). Cristobal Cavazos is quoted stating that they chose the protest site as a result of ICE grabbing a man in the parking lot there on August 1st, "We saw what ICE terrorism is doing to what the Bible says re 'the least of these'." ABC 7's Christian Piekos, Maher Kawash, Evelyn Holmes, and Rob Hughes reported:

A rally and march was held Saturday evening in downtown Chicago against the anticipated surge in ICE operations. A large crowd gathered at Michigan and Ida B. Wells before marching up Michigan Avenue.

President Donald Trump says the surge in immigration enforcement activity in the Chicago area is about getting dangerous criminals off the streets.

The White House has not released any details about what's being planned. City and state leaders oppose deploying federal agents to the city.

Protests wrapped up Saturday night in the city and suburbs as federal immigration enforcement was expected to expand. The protests stayed peaceful, but demonstrators had a strong message for the president.

Massive crowds marched through downtown Chicago. At least a few thousand people protested the Trump administration.

Joanie Lum and Will Hager (Chicao's FOX 32) added that an estimated 2000 people participated in the protest and they note:

Veronica Castro, deputy director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights said, "Our job is to take to the streets, defend our space and keep each other safe."

"Our communities are still experiencing state-sanctioned trauma as a result of this orchestrated fear campaign," Viviana Barajas of Palenque USA said.

They marched through the Loop, stopping at the U.S. citizenship and immigration services office, the federal courthouse and paused at the foot of Trump Tower to send loud messages.

There’s been no sign of the National Guard in Chicago but the city is braced for it.

At TALKING POINTS MEMO, Josh Marshall observes, "Everyone is rightly shocked, disgusted, outraged by Trump's Truth Social meme threatening to turn Chicago into a war zone. But where's the National Guard exactly? Trump said he was doing this a couple weeks ago. He said they were 'going in' right away a week later. Maybe he'll do it tomorrow. I'm certainly not promising he won't." Late Saturday night, Matan H. Josephy and Laurel M. Shugart (HARVARD CRIMSON) reported that Chump was already launching an attack on Boston:

The Trump administration has begun rolling out its next surge of immigration enforcement in Boston, even as the federal government sued the city over a policy limiting police collaboration with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The surge, dubbed Operation Patriot 2.0, is expected to last several weeks, according to a Saturday report by the New York Times. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security confirmed the move Saturday afternoon.

[. . .]

Reports of ICE agents near Harvard’s campus spread quickly among students Friday afternoon.

Students saw three vehicles marked with ICE lettering and the slogan “Defend the Homeland” driving in Harvard Square on Friday. The vehicles were photographed parked on Mt. Auburn Street and filmed driving toward Central Square.

Launching an attack on Boston. Gearing up to launch one on Chicago, already carrying out attacks on Los Angeles and DC. Stop trying to normalize him. There is nothing normal about any of this. He is a dictator and the people are turning on him. The press needs to learn to read the moment.

The following sites updated:

Saturday, September 06, 2025

A January 6er proves he's garbae who should rot in prison

Friday morning, Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "What Jen Psaki Should Have Said" and "Miss Sassy JD Vance Flaunts That He's Vulgar Trash" posted.

Chump led the January 6th insurrection and should be spending the rest of his life behind bars for that. Instead, he's not only president but he's pardoned the insurrectionists who should have faced a firing squad. Since being pardoned, they have continued to harm the country. One example, Meredith Deliso (ABC NEWS) reports:

The Jan. 6 rioter seen in photos wearing a "Camp Auschwitz" hoodie inside the U.S. Capitol building has been arrested in Virginia on charges stemming from a dog attack.

Robert Keith Packer, 60, was arrested on Thursday "following an investigation into an animal-related incident" that had occurred on Monday in Newport News, a city spokesperson said.

Packer was charged with one count of animal attack resulting from owner's disregard for human life, a felony, the spokesperson said. He was also charged with attacking while at large and no city license, both misdemeanors.

Civil charges have also been filed against Packer, including dogs running in a pack and vicious dog, the spokesperson said.

Police told Newport News ABC affiliate WVEC that four people were taken to the hospital with dog bites stemming from the attack.

THE VIRGINIA-PILOT adds:

Packer faces a separate court case for an attack by two of his dogs earlier this year. According to a criminal complaint, two white or tan aggressive dogs attacked Lindy Harper and her yellow lab, Hogan, on their early morning walk May 19 at the intersection of Madison Lane S. and Goodwin Road.

He is a menace and needs to be locked up. And all of his dogs need to find real pet lovers to live with. He's clearly abused those dogs if they're out repeatedly attacking people.

Parker is garbage who should rot in prison.

Closing with C.I.'s "The Snapshot:"

Friday, September 5, 2025. Little Bobby Junior strips naked before a Senate committee to expose his big, huge ignorance, the job reports coming out this morning, a Chump staffer gets caught chatting on camera about Epstein and Maxwell, and much more.

To wake up slowly, let's start with something obvious and also needed. Rachel Siegel, Meryl Kornfield and Hannah Natanson (WASHINGTON POST) report:

They were civil rights lawyers, Social Security employees and labor experts. And now they’re all in completely different jobs.

To fill vacancies left behind by waves of firing and resignations in the Trump administration’s overhaul of the federal government, agencies are reassigning people to posts they know little about. That includes people who were forced out of jobs that are required by law or are essential to basic government functions, according to interviews with 20 federal employees across seven departments, most of whom spoke to The Washington Post on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.

Often, those moves reflect the administration’s agenda: The Department of Homeland Security, for example, has reassigned dozens of employees at the Federal Emergency Management Agency to Immigration and Customs Enforcement to help bring on new hires for the government’s mass deportation agenda. Justice Department officials gave a select group of senior career attorneys a choice between quitting or joining a new Sanctuary Cities Enforcement working group.

Many staffers have been moved from civil rights jobs, workers say. At the Justice Department, for example, attorneys who protected employees from workplace discrimination were moved to roles handling human resources complaints or Freedom of Information Act requests. At the Department of Housing and Urban Development, civil rights lawyers who pursued cases of housing discrimination were shifted to defend the agency from complaints. At the Transportation Department, an employee who spent a decade working in civil rights is now reviewing highway grants.

The result, employees said, is that work is being done less efficiently by people with little relevant experience or background, even if they have spent years in government in other positions. One former IT worker at the Social Security Administration — newly reassigned to disability benefits processing — described the changes as “leaving a Bugatti in the garage” and “a strategic decapitation of institutional knowledge.”

The reassignments are “another thing, in the long line of efforts, to get us to just quit and abandon ship,” said Paul Osadebe, a HUD civil rights attorney.

He has actively destroyed our government. That's our government, not his. He was put in place for four years to work for us and so far, day 229 of his administration (on THE 11TH HOUR WITH STEPHANIE RUEHL, Stephanie notes the number at the top of each broadcast) he's not working for us, he's not ensuring this country's future, he's just addicted to vengeance and ripping everything apart. His administration is nothing but crooks and fools -- that's not an either/or. They are all crooks, they are all fools.

His job was to bring in the best and the brightest. Instead, to ensure he'd have lackeys who flattered him, he brought in the worst and the dimmest.

As Elaine's noted, Little Junior may be the most dangerous because he's destroying public health. Last night, Lawrence O'Donnell called him "the most dangerous nepo baby in American history."

I was at the hearing yesterday. Afraid, honestly, that I'd have to cover it here because the media would be an embarrassment with their coverage. However, Lawrence had Senator Raphael Warnock on last night. And Lawrence did a great job covering the hearing (no surprise there), but it's also true that MSNBC as an outlet did a great job covering the hearing.

That's Jen Psaki.

And Jen did a great job covering Senator Elizabeth Warren's exchange with Junior. That's Stephanie Ruhl who, of course, MSNBC still hasn't posted any segments of to YOUTUBE so far. That's everyone, I saw.

I could note Chris Hayes, he did a good job on this. But he also did another segment which kind of soured me on noting him in this snapshot. He had on guest X.

Why did I fear I'd have to go through all my notes from the hearing yesterday to pull for this snapshot?

Yesterday, Senator Patty Murray's office issued the following:

ICYMI: Senator Murray Issues Statement on Launch of West Coast Health Alliance in Response to Trump and RFK Jr. Attacks on CDC

ICYMI: Senator Murray Calls for Immediate Firing of RFK Jr., Commends CDC Director Monarez’s Stand for Science and Public Health

***WATCH: Senator Murray’s full floor speech***

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member and former chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, took to the Senate floor to reiterate her call for the firing of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy (RFK) Jr. for his increasingly dangerous attacks on lifesaving vaccines and America’s public health infrastructure and his efforts to discard evidence, manipulate outcomes to fit his conspiracy-addled ideology, and force out anyone—including former Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Susan Monarez—who dares to stand up for basic science. The CDC Director is a Senate-confirmed position for the first time this year thanks to the bipartisan PREVENT Pandemics Act Senator Murray negotiated and passed into law as HELP Chair in 2022.

Senator Murray, a longtime congressional leader on health care who has led hearings on addressing vaccine hesitancy, has been a leader in raising the alarm over RFK Jr.’s nomination since the beginning—speaking out on the Senate floor, holding numerous events, raising the alarm after meeting with him, and hammering the threat he poses to Americans’ health nonstop. She led the opposition to the Trump administration’s disastrous plan to dismantle HHS and fire tens of thousands of staff in critical positions across CDC, NIH, FDA, and other agencies, and spoke out forcefully against RFK Jr.’s ousting of the entire CDC vaccine advisory board, including one ACIP member from Washington state. Senator Murray has held countless events across Washington state and in Washington, D.C. with doctors, patients, and former HHS officials to lift up how Trump and Republicans’ attacks on health care will be devastating for families.

Senator Murray’s remarks, as delivered on the Senate floor today, are below:

“Thank you, Mr. President. I rise today with a pretty simple message: Fire RFK Jr. This man is burning down our public health system from the inside. We have got to take away his matches and his keys away, and we need to do it now.

“We need to make his latest attack on public health, firing a CDC Director—why? Because she stood up for science.

“The stakes are sky-high. Our medical research, our public health, our pandemic preparedness, our food safety—RFK Jr. is putting all of that in jeopardy, and putting communities across this country in danger. We cannot put our heads into the sand.

“We absolutely need a Secretary of Health and Human Services, not a Secretary of Conspiracies, not a Secretary of Measles and Food Poisoning, certainly not a Secretary of Cancelled Research and Chemtrail Nonsense.

“It does not take a shred of imagination to see how dangerous RFK Jr.’s leadership has been. It just takes two eyes and two seconds, if that!

“I mean, one of the first things he did, right off the bat, was fan the flames of a measles outbreak by ignoring the science, peddling quack treatments, and spreading falsehoods about vaccines.

“The result, no surprise, was the largest measles outbreak we have seen in decades, one that tragically took the lives of two children.

“Did that spark one iota of reflection from RFK Jr.? Of course not. The largest measles outbreak since 1992—and do you know how RFK Jr. described the response this week? ‘Effective.’ Effective! Are you kidding me?

“I shudder to think what it would take for a man like that to admit failure. We should all hope that we never find out. Instead of learning even a single lesson, all he has done now is double down on doing as much damage as possible.

“When it comes to vaccines, he has not only spouted off nonsense and falsehoods to families who looking to him for reliable guidance, he fired every single member of CDC’s vaccine advisory board—down to the last one.

“And then, he started replacing them with a who’s-who of anti-vax alarmists, who have already started shaping federal policy to fit their anti-science conspiracies.

“And when the new CDC Director, nominated by Trump, endorsed by RFK Jr. himself, confirmed by the Senate, dared to stand up and say—you know, I think we should follow science instead of nonsense, RFK Jr. pushed to fire her too. This is unbelievable!

“Meanwhile, when it comes to medical research, he is tossing promising work and potential breakthroughs into the garbage. One example: mRNA research is on the cutting edge of medical innovation—not just for lifesaving vaccines by the way, but for lifesaving cancer treatments.

“And you don’t have to just take my word for it: President Trump’s own health leaders champion mRNA research as a groundbreaking scientific advancement.

“But with all the lives hanging in the balance, RFK Jr. pulled the plug on all federal funding for mRNA research.

“Not only is this a massive blow to our researchers and to our patients, but it is a massive win by the way for China, who we just handed a huge opening to now take the lead on biomedical innovation. And mRNA technology isn’t the only cancer research RFK Jr. has upended.

“He and Trump are cutting research grants across the board, across the country, and cutting patients off from clinical trials that were their last, best chance at beating a deadly disease.

“They are now condemning some of these patients to death. They are killing their hope for a cure. And some of these patients are kids. Children.

“Last month, the National Cancer Institute’s Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium stopped enrolling kids with brain cancer in clinical trials that could save their lives. All after Trump and RFK Jr. ended federal funding for that work. What do my colleagues want to say to these parents? I don’t even know what there is to say.

“Yes, we can fight to restore funding. Yes, we will fight here to restore funding, especially as so many of Trump’s cuts are, in fact, outright illegal.

“But we can’t restore lost time, invaluable time, for kids fighting an incredibly deadly disease. For some of them it may be too late. That is heartbreaking. And it’s a direct result of RFK Jr.’s disastrous leadership at HHS.

“To my colleagues: Sorry does not cut it, especially if you aren’t sorry enough to demand the person who is responsible be fired.

“What happened to the accountability Republicans pretend to care so much about?

“And that’s not all. RFK Jr. is sabotaging food safety. I’m glad that some companies are choosing to remove artificial dyes from some of their products, but when it comes to bedrock regulations that keep all Americans safe and prevent foodborne illnesses, RFK Jr. may as well be pro-food poisoning.

“Because on his watch, CDC is throwing in the towel on food safety monitoring.

“This summer, our food surveillance network stopped monitoring requirements for all but two dangerous pathogens.

“I know RFK Jr. doesn’t like listening to public health experts, but I don’t think it takes an expert to understand that listeria will not go away just because states don’t have to track it. It will not go away just because no one is looking. Shigella outbreaks will not disappear if you ignore them.

“Foodborne diseases will sicken people. They will actually kill people.

“This isn’t about following the science—that’s as plain as day. You don’t follow the science by defunding it. You don’t follow the science by shutting it down. You don’t follow the science by firing the scientists!

“That is exactly how RFK Jr. has been operating.

“And as I mentioned, last week we saw one of the most egregious examples yet when he fired the CDC Director, all because she chose to listen to science instead of falsehoods, all because she insisted on protecting lives instead of pandering to anti-vax conspiracies.

“And as we now continue to see the damaging aftershocks of RFK Jr.’s reckless decision to steamroll a CDC Director that refused to bow to his will. Several other experienced, respected, trusted public health experts resigned from CDC in protest.

“Some are now also shared alarming allegations of the widespread culture of conspiracy, and incompetence, and willful ignorance of science—that is now defining RFK Jr.’s leadership. And just this week, a thousand, one thousand, HHS workers demanded he resign because of how his actions are compromising the health of the nation.

“And it’s clear RFK Jr. has no intention of changing gears. Earlier today, he had a Senate hearing, and he continued to flaunt his ignorance like a badge of honor, not even knowing the COVID death toll. Outright lying about established science. Refusing to take any accountability for his actions.

“Mr. President, great leaders leave behind a track record of accomplishments. But it is painfully clear that RFK Jr. will leave behind a body count. How high will it go?

“That all depends on how long will Republicans let him go around setting fires? How much damage will my colleagues let him do? How many children will die before they finally take action?

“We should not let him have one more day in power.

“I know some of my colleagues understand the grave reality of the situation. What I don’t know is how long they are going to be willing to stay silent? You can talk about oversight—but what are you actually doing?

“You can talk about the need to follow the science—but that’s not the path you have put us down. If you want to show you are serious, if you want to save lives, you need to join us in talking about how important it is President Trump fire RFK Jr.

“Anything less is lying to yourself, while RFK Jr. lies to the American people, about things as basic, as established, and as lifesaving as vaccine safety.”

###

Senator Parry Murray has led on this issue. She wasn't at yesterday's hearing because she's not on that Committee. But, as we noted in last Friday's snapshot, on Wednesday of last week, she called for Junior to be fired.

And the only problem I've had with that call was when a woman writing for MOTHER JONES -- run by two women -- did a 'report' last Saturday that managed to ignore Patty while noting two men who followed her days after. I'm damn tired of women being stripped of their credits and their work ignored.

When we covered hearings constantly here, it was always interesting to see how many women seated on Committees were ignored. It was interesting to see media favorites shape the coverage.

The most important hearing on Iraq that the Senate had after Barack Obama became president was completely miscovered by the entire press with the exception of Elisabeth Bumiller for THE NEW YORK TIMES. I sat through that hearing, we spent days covering that hearing while the press turned it into John McCain (a press favorite) had a cat fight!

That was in the first 15 minutes of the hearing and you could see the press exiting thinking that they had their story. They didn't. They missed it. They missed the very important points Senator Kay Hagen made, for example.

That's big media. Let's not pretend little media didn't do the same.

Guest X that Chris Hayes had on yesterday? I've called him out by name here many times but I'm not in the mood to publicize him today.

He didn't like Hillary Clinton. Fine, I don't care. I do care that Guest X 'live blogged' a hearing and completely ignored her and then lied that his cable went out to excuse his not covering her in the hearing. This is the hearing where Hillary rightly noted that Nouri al-Maliki was a thug -- and used the term "thug." Her comments and questions to Gen David Petraeus and US Ambassador Ryan Crocker were very important.

But Guest X hated Hillary and refused to report on it.

Guest X has never owned it. Has never apologized for it.

John Kerry -- who chaired the hearing -- was an utter embarrassment But he and other men were covered by Guest X. So, sorry, Chris, I'll thank you but I won't advance your show in this snapshot due to your interview with Guest X. Not in a snapshot less than a week after MOTHER JONES felt sexism was more important than giving a woman credit for leading on an issue.

I think there was solid work on the Committee, that senators -- even Republican ones -- voiced serious concerns and tried to hold a non-stop liar accountable.

Senator Maria Cantwell especially had some strong moments. The strongest was this:

Senator Maria Cantwell: Following up on the same line as Senator [Bill] Cassidy because

that's exactly -- I represent one of the most science-based states in the country. That is percentage of

scientists per capita. And at your conﬁrmation hearing, we asked about this: Whether you would follow

science. You've made a statement here today in your testimony that you would follow science, and yet

you are not following science and that was what Senator Cassidy's question was. It's a simple yes or no

answer. "Do you think the President deserves to get a prize for Warp Speed and the mRNA technology

that saved so many lives?" And you won't answer that question.

HHS Junior: I answered it.

Senator Maria Cantwell: No, you are saying that there are problems with what was interpreted. You can say yes --

HHS Junior: I said the president deserves a Nobel Prize. But the mRNA vaccines that we're working on, the ones we canceled, which are for upper respiratory infections alone --

Senator Maria Cantwell: You canceled $500 million of research, because the mRNA technology is about continuing the research to be ready for the next inﬂuenza, the next pandemic, and you have to do the research to --

HHS Junior: I'm happy to have a detailed discussion with you about it. You are so wrong on your facts.

Senator Maria Cantwell: You're interrupting me and, sir, you're a charlatan. That's what you are.

Speak the truth. That's what he is, that's all he is. For me, that was the strongest moment in the hearing. When the exact term for what Junior is was applied to him. Senator Maggie Hassan also spoke the truth. She noted he was hiding information from the public. Junior kept falling back on that things were done publicly. He may have been lying, he may not have been (he was wrong regardless), we'll get to that in a moment but here's what it got heated.

HHS Junior: This is crazy talk. You're just making stuff up.

Senator Maggie Hassan: -- to prescribe this vaccine for children -- I’m not making things up. Do you know how the FDA approval process works and what --

HHS Junior: I-I-I-I --

Senator Maggie Hassan (Con't): -- an off-label prescription is?

HHS Junior: I know exactly how it works. I know exactly how it works.

Senator Maggie Hassan: So why -- so why behind closed doors do you --

HHS Junior: It's not behind closed doors. The industry makes the studies and they could not provide a study that said that it is effective for healthy kids.

Senator Maggie Hassan: So when have you produced the data that you relied on and that this FDA relied on to change those parameters? You did it behind closed doors.

HHS Junior: The data's all public!

Senator Maggie Hassan: Now, parents who decide that they do want their children to have a COVID vaccine --

HHS Junior: You’re just making stuff up, Senator.

Senator Maggie Hassan: I'm not making stuff up.

HHS Junior: You're just making stuff up.

Senator Maggie Hassan: You know, sometimes when you make an accusation, it's kind of a confession, Mr. Kennedy.

They're talking about two different things. The senator's noting that Junior and others did not make decisions in public, they were behind closed doors and we have no information regarding the discussions that went down.

When Junior is claiming things are in the public, he's referring to the drug companies studies and findings. Those are public. The drug companies were following the laws (as far as we know) That's not what she was talking about. She was talking about the deliberative process that he overseas and that he has hidden from the public. The things that provide us with an open government, a democracy. Those laws and regulations? Junior's not following them.

Much has been made of Junior's struggle to breathe in public -- yes, he kept forgetting to turn off his microphone when not speaking, but it was more than that. He was struggling and he's struggling -- as someone who knows him -- because he's off his meds. That's not a joke. And that's also why he couldn't sit still and kept bouncing when speaking. I don't make fun of his voice, it's a health issue. If others want to, go for it. I'm not stop anybody and I say we throw everything we can at these people trying to destroy our country. But I do know Junior is supposed to take meds and I do know what he's like when he doesn't. You saw a crazy fool having some form of a psychotic episode while testifying to Congress.

And what was up with his face. Remember those machines that they had for kids that would polish rocks? His face look like it had been through one.

Let's jump over to Senator Mark Warner.

Senator Mark Warner: I want to go back to just, again, some basic facts. Do you accept the fact that a million Americans died from COVID?

HHS Junior: I don't know how many died.

Senator Mark Warner: You're the Secretary of Health and Human Services. You don't have any idea how many Americans died from COVID?

HHS Junior: I don't think anybody knows that because the -- There was so much data chaos coming out of the CDC and there were so many --

Senator Mark Warner: You don't know the answer of how many Americans died from COVID?

This is the Secretary of Health and Human Services? Do you think the vaccine did anything to prevent additional deaths?

HHS Junior: Again, I would like to see the data and talk about the data. I'm not fully --

Senator Mark Warner: You've had this job for eight months and you don't know the data about whether the vaccine saved lives?

HHS Junior in a whiny voice the attacked Joe Biden. Like Betty and so many other Americans I am damn tired of people trying to blame Joe Biden. This administration destroying everything needs to bee held accountable. Joe stepped down in January.

We'll note this before moving on to the next senator.

Senator Mark Warner: Mr. Chairman, the Secretary of Health and Human Services doesn't know how many Americans died from COVID. He doesn't know if the vaccine helped prevent any deaths. And you are sitting as Secretary of Health and Human Services? How can you be that ignorant?

Junior had no answer to that question though he did continue to sport his ignorance throughout the hearing. For example? Asked by Senator Catherine Cortez Masto the amount that Medicare Part B premiums would be increasing in 2026, he responded, "I don't know." That's really his job to know.

Senator Masto: Next year, seniors and families are facing higher health care costs across the board. Twenty-three million people on Medicare with standalone Part D drug plans could see their premiums rise to $50 a month, up from $35, because the Trump Administration is cutting the federal subsidy that has been keeping costs down. Part B premiums will jump 11.6% to $206 a month in 2026, one of the largest single year increases in decades.

It's Junior's job to know the numbers that Masto cited. But instead of facts and figures, Junior just repeatedly said "I don't know" in one form or another throughout the hearing.

Junior was shrill and moody throughout the hearing. Senator Ben Ray Lujan noted that the members of the committee wanted to know the truth and Junior disputed that and at another point Junior demonstrated how he did not inherent his father's charm by snapping at Lujan, "I don't know what you're talking about, you're talking gibberish." Senator Peter Welch saw Junior as evidence and proof that of how Congress has been abdicating their duties this session, " And what has Congress done? On oversight, and advice and consent, we have confirmed a vaccine denier. On tariffs, we've given up our constitutional responsibility. On appropriations, we're bending the knee to an Administration that is rescinding and decided what to spend and what not to spend despite the way our law -- in a bipartisan

way -- was passed."

Senator Ron Wyden is the Raking Member on the Committee and he noted in his opening statement:

Instead of finding ways to help American families pay less for health care, Robert Kennedy is singularly focused on his anti-vaccine mission, fueled by a messiah complex, the consequences be damned. Amid this litany of corruption and chaos, the one point I must underline is this: Robert Kennedy puts children in harm's way every single day. To my Republican colleagues, I must ask, "What line must Robert Kennedy cross before you too sound the alarm?" This weekend, under the cover of darkness, Robert Kennedy attempted to disappear hundreds of children under his care at the Office of Refugee Resettlement facilities. These children, here without parents or family, were rounded up in the middle of the night and put on planes to Guatemala. Lawyers on the ground described unthinkable scenes. One child said to their lawyer, "Why do they want to send me back? My mom is dead and my dad abuses me. Why do they want to hurt me?" These actions were illegal, and documents show that many of these children were in the country to escape trafficking in their home country. Kennedy calls himself a "protector of children." It's a rich claim coming from someone who has flown on Jeffrey Epstein's private jet on multiple occasions. Robert Kennedy shouldn't be within a million miles of this job. Republicans on this committee had a chance to prevent the public health train wreck that Kennedy is responsible for; every one voted to confirm him. It is in the country's best interest that Robert Kennedy step down, and if he doesn't, Trump should fire him before more people are hurt by his reckless disregard for science and the truth.

Good points and now let's go back to Senator Maria Cantwell.

Senator Maria Cantwell: Do you think the women on the steps of the Capitol were a hoax yesterday?

HHS Junior: I don't know about any women on the steps of the steps of the Capitol yesterday.

Senator Maria Cantwell: The women who were talking about Epstein? Do you think they were a hoax yesterday?

HHS Junior: Do I think they were?

Senator Maria Cantwell: Do you think they were a hoax yesterday?

HHS Junior: Perpetuating a hoax?

Senator Maria Cantwell: Yeah.

HHS Junior: I have no idea what they were saying. This the first I'm hearing about it.

Senator Maria Cantwell: Your first time that you're hearing about the women on the Capitol steps saying that they believe that the Epstein information should be made public? That's the first you're hearing about it? What I'm saying is you are perpetrating hoaxes. You as the secretary of health, so you're undermining the whole health care delivery system, and you keep trying to point to chronic disease. But you're not putting solutions on the table to cover more Americans, and you're taking away the science and technology that has made us the leader, that has saved, according to the first Trump Administration Surgeon General, millions of lives! And you don't want to keep that going! So no, I don't support your continued efforts as Secretary, and I definitely think that our colleagues need to rally around science. If you want the Northwest to just continue to lead on all innovation and all healthy people. Okay, we'll do that, but it's a sad statement for the rest of America and America's leadership on technology.

Yes, Junior was connected to Epstein. Jeffrey Epstein died in prison during Chump's first term as president. He was convicted of sex trafficking and Chump had been friends with Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell for years. Epstein and Maxwell worked together as pedophiles engaged in sex trafficking. Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Weeks ago, Chump moved his friend Ghislaine to Club Fed -- a camp for low risk offenders (not registered sex offenders) in Bryan, Texas. That and his refusal to release documents on Epstein and Maxwell have outraged many including the survivors as well as Americans who believe in fairness and justice.

On YOUTUBE, MSNBC has done a compilation of some of their coverage of the Epstein survivors.

The big news as the work week winds down? Alex Griffing (MEDIAITE) reports:

James O’Keefe, the Project Veritas founder and longtime pro-MAGA activist, published a clip on Thursday of a Trump Justice Department official claiming that Ghislaine Maxwell was moved to prison “to keep her quiet.”

In the clip, an off-camera woman asks Joseph Schnitt, an acting deputy chief of special operations, about the Epstein Files and Maxwell – a convicted sex offender and Jeffrey Epstein accomplice.

“But those files do exist,” noted the woman.

“Yeah, thousands and thousands to page through. They’ll redact every Republican or conservative person in those files, leave all the liberal, Democratic people in those pages,” Schnitt replied.

“I think they visited that Maxwell person. Kind of also involved,” presses the woman.

“Transferred to a minimum security prison too recently, which is against BOP policy because she’s a convicted sex offender. They’re offering her something to keep her quiet,” Schnitt claimed.

David Edwards (RAW STORY) adds:

The Department of Justice later responded on X with a letter from Deputy Chief Joseph Schnitt that appeared to confirm that he spoke to someone who worked for O'Keefe.

"I met a woman named Skylar on Hinge, a dating app, in July 2025, her profile is no longer findable," Schnitt explained. "We had two dates (August 4 and August 16)."

"She gave no clues that she was a reporter or recording our dates. Had I a clue, the first date would have ended immediately and there never would have been a second one," he continued. "The comments I made were my own personal comments on what I've learned in the media and not from anything I've done at or learned via work."

Let's turn to the economy. BLOOMBERG is live blogging the release of the jobs report this morning. Yesterday, Nazmul Ahasan (BLOOMBERG NEWS) noted:

Applications for US unemployment benefits rose to the highest since June, adding to evidence that the labor market is cooling.

Initial claims increased by 8,000 to 237,000 in the week ended Aug. 30. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for 230,000 applications.

Companies have grown more hesitant about hiring while assessing the economic impact from President Donald Trump’s policies. Hiring plans fell to the weakest level for any August on record in data from outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas going back to 2009, while intended job cuts rose.

Elizabeth Crisp (THE HILL) adds:

Layoffs surged nearly 40 percent last month, with employers eliminating 85,979 positions — the largest August hit since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, according to research released Thursday.

The analysis from the Challenger, Gray & Christmas consulting firm noted the cuts, which have hit the pharmaceutical, financial and retail industries especially hard, are likely linked to some of President Trump’s policies since his return to office in January.

Alicia Wallace (CNN) points out, "New metrics released Thursday showed that first-time claims for unemployment benefits rose to an 11-week high; that private-sector businesses sharply reined in their hiring last month; and that last month was the worst August for layoff announcements since the Great Recession." Alex Harring (CNBC) adds, "Jobs tied to trade, transportation and utilities saw particular weakness in August, with the group losing 17,000 roles on net, according to the ADP. Education and health services followed, recording a decline of 12,000 jobs."

Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "What Jen Psaki Should Have Said" and "Miss Sassy JD Vance Flaunts That He's Vulgar Trash" went up this morning. The following sites updated: