Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills)

Monday, November 24, 2025

Chump's bitter losses and ugly body

That's Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Poll Slip" and is Donald Chump not the most physically repulsive man on the face of the planet?

He's suffering another loss and I'm not talking about Comey and James which I assume a lot of people are -- and should be. Huge loss for Chump, huge victory for justice. I want to note his attempts to destroy Hillary Clinton. Michael Davis (WITCHITA EAGLE) reports:

President Donald Trump’s legal team asked the 11th Circuit to reinstate a dismissed civil RICO suit against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Democratic National Committee (DNC), and others over alleged efforts to link his 2016 campaign to Russia. The case drew scrutiny after the judge sanctioned Trump’s attorneys for pursuing a frivolous claim. U.S. District Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks dismissed the case as a “shotgun pleading” lacking legal or factual basis.

Middlebrooks wrote, “In order to understand the scope of this abuse, multiply the above discussion by thirty-one defendants and their lawyers, forced to try to analyze and defend against the sprawling Complaints”

Middlebrooks said, “I sifted through the thread of allegations against each defendant only to find they added up to no cognizable claim. And the pleadings were drafted in a way to disguise that fact.”

Middlebrooks also fined Trump’s lawyers, ruling the lawsuit was politically motivated and unsupported by evidence.

During appellate arguments, Chief Judge William Pryor, Judge Andrew Brasher, and Judge Embry Kidd questioned Trump attorney Richard Klugh about the complaint’s lack of specific financial harm. Klugh argued the claims were sufficiently supported and deserved reconsideration.

Middlebrooks wrote, “This is a deliberate attempt to harass; to tell a story without regard to facts.”

And et me pair that with another losing battle he's begun. Tom Boggioni (RAW STORY) reports:

With Trump being criticized for his over-the-top response, Vance ran to his defense on Sunday by linking to a clip of Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) pressing her case on ABC her case against the president.

The vice president responded on X by writing, “If the president hasn't issued illegal orders, them (sic) members of Congress telling the military to defy the president is by definition illegal.”

That brought a swift response from the ex-US Attorney and University of Alabama School of Law professor Joyce Vance on her Substack platform, where she wrote, “That doesn’t make any sense.”

Noting Vance’s legal background, she added, “Anyone with a Yale Law School education should be in a position to understand that a) members of the military have an obligation not to follow an illegal order, b) that reminding them of that obligation neither violates the law nor instructs them to defy a legal order, and c) that using those false statements to claim that members of Congress who made the video they object to so strongly is not ‘by definition’ illegal, and certainly not for members of Congress who have speech and debate clause privilege even if there had been something incorrect about their statements.”

Last thing, my latest album review is "Kat's Korner: Is Chase Rice our most underrated living musician?" and it posted Sunday. See, sometimes I can keep a promise. Saturday November 15th, I wrote:

Didn't realize he was doing a new album this year.

I'll review it next weekend. I just found out about it when I opened the laptop a few minutes ago. Went to AMAZON and ordered the vinyl version ($20.99 currently). Supposedly, it's arriving Monday but this is AMAZON and Jeff Bezos doesn't care about much anymore -- not about service from Amazon, not about having a quality partner, not about democracy. It's 12 tracks.

So, for a change, lazy me did keep a promise. :D

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

Monday, November 24, 2025. Chump has psychotic break overnight, he continues to protect his Muslim extremist buddy in Michigan as his trolls lie that Marjorie Taylor Greene broke with him over the weekend because MTG supports Sharia law (again, MTG does not support Sharia law, that is the lie the Chumpians are repeating), is Ghislaine Maxwell leaking -- at Chump's direction -- info on the former prince Andrew, and much more.

This morning, Ben Meiselas addresses Chump's late night crazy.

That's an important video and it is clear that Chump is now just as crazy as his extreme supporters. Two have a radio program. I have o idea what channel I had to endure it in this morning's taxi ride.

Marjorie Taylor Greene, the two dick jockeys insisted, broke with Chump because she supports Sharia Law. This is apparently the new talking point for the extreme crazy on the extreme right. She is a secret Muslim, the two fey men trying to act butch insisted. This is how they'll take over our county, the 'men' insisted and impose Sharia law. Chump is the only thing that will save us, they repeatedly stated.

Sharia Law? Best example of un-American law attacking our country and our rights is in Hamtramck. That's where Muslim Amer Ghalib has attacked the rights of the LGBTQ+ community. He's used his post as mayor to bring in something very ugly into the United States.

So, per the dick jockeys, he must be someone Chump opposes, right? Chump has nominated this trash and filth to be the US Ambassador to Kuwait. His hearing was a nightmare and the nomination is not progressing. Considering Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait, you really can't make Amer the Ambassador to Kuwait when he insists that Saddam was a "martyr." He is the voice of hate and he's a radical who wants to destroy the country.

And Chump wants to make him the US Ambassador to Kuwait. He endorsed Chump in the 2024 election and that's why Chump hasn't focused on Michigan as he goes around from state to state destroying cities Michigan, especially in the Detroit-Hamtramck region, has a huge number of immigrants. But Chump and Kristi don't go there because, as a result of Amer, Chump carried that region in the 2024 election.

I don't spend my time worrying about Sharia Law because I don't think it could ever get a real hold in the US -- outside of a community of Muslim extremists (most Muslims in this country are not extremists) -- but I really don't think I missed some speech or press release Marjorie Taylor Greene gave or issued calling for Sharia Law. I really don't see that happening.

But this is how Team Chump works. They find the needy who will do their bidding -- in this case, two closeted gay men desperate to be accepted in MAGA and seen as straight -- and hand out the marching orders. Take Marjorie down with lies. That's what they're trying to do and that's why they're promoting these lies that Marjorie rejected Chump because she supports Sharia law (and she's joining THE VIEW -- they lied that was happening as well). The only Republican willing to support Sharia law would be Chump who is attempting to get the disgusting Amer Ghalib named US Ambassador to Kuwait.

And he's also refusing to send ICE to Hamstamck -- a city where 44.2% of the population was born outside of the United States. That's greater than the percent of the population of Los Angeles or NYC.

Elsewhere across the country, we see the appalling results of the Convicted Felon's return to the White House. Last week? A superior court judge and a court intern -- both American citizens -- found themselves harassed and bullied by ICE. Vic Verbalaitis (DAILY BEAST) notes:

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents threatened a Rhode Island Superior Court judge and an intern after they botched a detainment operation on Thursday.

Outside the Licht Judicial Complex in Providence, Rhode Island, ICE agents briefly took a high school intern into custody who worked at the Superior Court, WPRI 12 News reported.

Courthouse security had noticed someone taking photos of the intern from outside the courthouse earlier that day. The individual, when approached, identified himself as an ICE agent before he was told to stop taking pictures.

The intern, unsettled by the federal agents stalking him, was offered a ride home by Superior Court Judge Joseph McBurney. However, ICE agents surrounded the judge’s car and threatened to smash its windows if they did not exit the vehicle.

The Superior Court’s head of security intervened, telling the judge and the intern to stay in the car.

The intern was briefly handcuffed and taken into custody by ICE agents, as seen in video from bystanders.

After an argument ensued, the ICE agents confirmed they had misidentified their target and left the scene.

Oh, sure, no harm no foul, right? It's not like you didn't terrorize that kid and it's not like that was the actual intention, right? That is the intention and that was the action. CNN adds:

The agents took him out of a vehicle that was being driven by Superior Court Associate Justice Joseph McBurney, who was taking the teen to school.

The agents allegedly ignored the teen, who insisted they were detaining the wrong person.

Agents restrained the teen’s hands behind his back and took him across the street.

Katie Mulvaney (PROVIDENCE JOURNAL) notes that it was only the judge insisting that they had the wrong person repeatedly that forced ICE to check and see if this 16 year old was the predator of children that they claim they were looking for.

Steve Benham (KATU) reports, "Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers took a McMinnville high school student into custody Friday during lunch period off school grounds, McMinnville School District Superintendent Kourtney Ferrua told KATU in a statement. Students who were in the area saw what happened, Ferrua said." ICE confirms that the 17 year old that they harassed and arrested is a US citizen as was the 20 year old the student was with. 17 and American doesn't matter to the terrorists who illegally invade our communities as they pretend its for our protection. KATU notes four American citizens were arrested by ICE this week. They also quote DHS Whore Tricia McLaughlin insisting ICE does not target children though they fail to note Tricia's long term pattern of public lies this year or that she and her husband stole $220 million from American taxpayers in an illegal hidden contract handed to them by Tricia's boss at Homeland (In)Security. ICE does anything and evrything, they break every law in the book because they exist right now for one reason only: To terrorize this country. New Orleans is next to find that out.

And Americans are seeing and grasping what's going on. KGW reports protests took place in McMinnville on Saturday over the arrest of the 17 year old and they quote Abraham Mejia stating, "A 17-year-old minor being abducted in broad daylight -- whether people agree with that or not, it's just unacceptable. It hits home and it makes you feel almost fueled that you need to do something about it and that's why I'm here today." Americans are on the streets protesting, they're addressing it with family, friends and members of their communities, they're speaking out and writing letters to the editor -- such as the one below.

Imagine yourself walking down the street when suddenly you are approached by a beefy-dude who gets into your face and begins to aggressively force himself upon you. As you attempt to break away you find yourself surrounded by four other men, some who have completely covered their face behind a mask, and each of them yelling at you, taunting you, and wrestling you onto the ground to place you in handcuffs. This violent assault leaves you disoriented, traumatized and bewildered. You are aggressively thrown into a van, and taken away to a location which only upon arrival do you realize you are being detained and judged as an enemy of the State. Having lived peacefully and lawfully, having held a job, having begun the process that leads toward citizenship, you are now, with no due process of law cast into a hole, not allowed to call your family, your lawyer, or a friend. You are disappeared and have become subject to the lawless immorality that is readily, purposely and cruelly eradicating the customs, traditions and way of life that once made our nation a beacon of hope and light to all the nations.

What can we the people do about this immoral and egregious practice that is bringing shame to our beloved country? The Des Moines Indivisible Citizens Movement, those who organize democracy rallies at Big Catch Plaza, are joining up with a larger King County grass roots movement called The Whistle Warriors to develop and distribute whistles throughout our community. Our mission is to empower immigrant families and community residents with a simple, effective, community-supported tool for rapid alert, ensuring community safety and promoting neighbor to neighbor solidarity during times of ICE raids.

We encourage all citizens who witness these types of assaults to film the event, and to blow the whistle attempting to draw a crowd who can collectively document as many details as possible, texting the Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network (WAISN) hotline at 844-724-3737. Our goal is to hold ICE accountable to the rule of law, and to protect as best we can those who have lived amongst us as friends and neighbors. Such nonviolent actions on our part carry the promise that “we the people” are present and observing as we insist on upholding our higher community standards of justice and decency, particularly from those who act in our name.

The whistles can be picked up at the Big Catch Plaza whenever we rally for a return to democracy with its promise of liberty and justice for all.

– Rich Lang
Des Moines Indivisible

ICE is a threat, it hurts our democracy, it hurts people and it hurts business. Anna Ortiz (CHICAGO TRIBUNE) reports:

When children began coming to his shop by themselves holding their family’s grocery lists, bakery owner Francisco Cuadra knew “things are getting bad.”

As Operation Midway Blitz’s trail bled from Illinois into Northwest Indiana neighborhoods, Cuadra, owner of Santa Maria’s Bakery in Hammond, said some of his customers became too afraid to go out and get bread and basic necessities, regardless of their citizenship status.

“Once it started showing up on Facebook on the Hammond pages, people taking photos of ICE out on Columbia Avenue, I noticed business drop down a lot,” Cuadra said. “Just like how once the rumors began in Chicago, they saw their business drop. Our customers have had to send their kids to pick up products, because the parents are afraid to come out. It’s really sad to hear that. When kids are picking up the groceries and bread, because their families are afraid to come out — that’s horrible.”

Cuadra has owned the bakery since 2010 but rising costs and dwindling customers have made him feel like the business is a “ticking time bomb.” Despite this, he keeps grocery and bread prices affordable and donates what he can.

When news of an ICE arrest at East Chicago’s La Rancherita bakery reached him, Cuadra knew his customers would feel even less safe patronizing his shop.

“(ICE agents) are not respecting people,” Cuadra said. “If you’re Mexican, they treat you like someone here illegally, it doesn’t matter if you’re here legally. They’re even snatching American citizens if they don’t have a ‘REAL ID.’ Which a lot of people don’t have yet because they’re waiting for their license to expire to get a new one. But the government is saying if it’s not a REAL ID, and they’ll detain you, because there’s no star in the corner. They say you have to have the star in the corner of it, or they’ll basically claim it’s not real, it’s a fake.”

These are the actions that lead Americans into the streets in protest. Americans of all ages recognize this is not American behavior and it must be called out. Ana Despa and Claire Cranford (DUKE CHRONICLE) report:

A week of immigration enforcement activity across North Carolina culminated in youth-led demonstrations across Durham on Friday, as students and community members protested unannounced Customs and Border Protection and Immigration Customs Enforcement operations in the Triangle.

City-wide walkouts and an evening rally drew hundreds of Durhamites downtown. Students, workers and immigration-advocates alike demanded accountability from local and federal officials. But they vowed to continue organizing as uncertainty and fear surrounding “Operation Charlotte’s Web” continue.

CBP agents first entered Charlotte Nov. 15 before making an unannounced expansion into Durham and Raleigh Tuesday. The Department of Homeland Security has reported over 250 detentions across the state thus far.

For nearly four hours, a crowd of roughly 250 high school students gathered at the CCB Plaza in downtown Durham by the Bull statue to speak out against ICE and CBP agents targeting members of their community. They passed a megaphone from one person to another, voicing support for classmates who missed school this week as the presence of CBP agents left the city on edge.

The classrooms felt empty, they said. Durham Public Schools reported a nearly 30% absenteeism rate this week, accounting for 9,209 of roughly 31,000 enrolled students.

The demonstration came together in less than a week, growing out of a group chat of just 20 students who sought to take a stand against the immigration raid in their city. Both students from Durham and Chapel Hill were in attendance after they walked out of their classrooms around noon. Some DPS students took the “unexcused absence” to rally for their community.

The people have turned against Chump's attack on our democracy. Rhea Jha (9 NEWS) reports:

This month, American-born Pope Leo backed the U.S. bishops’ recent decision to oppose indiscriminate mass deportations under the Trump administration. Local church leaders brought that message of migrant dignity to Colorado’s only federal immigration detention center.

Hundreds of people showed up to the event, called Immigrant Stations of the Cross. It was organized by the Catholic Committee for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and took place Saturday morning outside the GEO/ICE facility in Aurora.

“I-I am… I’m moved,” said Father Luke Barder of St. Dominic Parish, his voice shaking. “I look at this crowd, and I know many of them, and I know many of them are all over the ideological spectrum. And it’s this one thing that’s uniting us, and that they’ve come, is a sign of hope for me.”

Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila and Auxiliary Bishop Jorge Rodriguez participated in the closing prayer.

“I’m really inspired to see the Catholic community, Archbishop Aquila, Auxiliary Bishop Rodriguez, many clergy and laity stand together and say that the Church is with you,” said Thomas Weiler of the Catholic Committee for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Together Colorado.

The gathering directly referenced the U.S. Bishops’ Special Message on Immigration released this month by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which stated, “To our immigrant brothers and sisters, we stand with you in your suffering, since, when one member suffers, all suffer (cf. 1 Corinthians 12:26). You are not alone… We oppose the indiscriminate mass deportation of people.”

Changing subjects, let's not Australia's 60 MINUTES.

Is, as the segment offers, Ghislaine Maxwell leaking info on Andrew to please Chump? We don't know and we can't know because she's in Club Fed in Texas where she's been given access to laptops and other devices that are not the prison's and that are not being monitored. Is that why it's happening? Did she tell Donald she could beef up troubles for Andrew if she had computer access?

The late pedophile and sex trafficked Jeffrey Epstein remains in the news. We're still waiting to follow Congress recently passed laws but, at THE NEW YORK TIMES, Anand Giridharadas weighs in on some of the e-mails already addressed:

At the dark heart of this story is a sex criminal and his victims — and his enmeshment with President Trump. But it is also a tale about a powerful social network in which some, depending on what they knew, were perhaps able to look away because they had learned to look away from so much other abuse and suffering: the financial meltdowns some in the network helped trigger, the misbegotten wars some in the network pushed, the overdose crisis some of them enabled, the monopolies they defended, the inequality they turbocharged, the housing crisis they milked, the technologies they failed to protect people against.

The Epstein story is resonating with a broader swath of the public than most stories now do, and some in the establishment worry. When Representative Ro Khanna, Democrat of California, speaks of an “Epstein class,” isn’t that dangerous? Isn’t that class warfare?

But the intuitions of the public are right. People are right to sense that, as the emails lay bare, there is a highly private merito-aristocracy at the intersection of government and business, lobbying, philanthropy, start-ups, academia, science, high finance and media that all too often takes care of its own more than the common good. They are right to resent that there are infinite second chances for members of this group even as so many Americans are deprived of first chances. They are right that their pleas often go unheard, whether they are being evicted, gouged, foreclosed on, A.I.-obsolesced — or, yes, raped.

It is no accident that this was the social milieu that took Mr. Epstein in. His reinvention, after he pleaded guilty to prostitution-related charges in Florida in 2008, would never have been possible without this often anti-democratic, self-congratulatory elite, which, even when it didn’t traffic people, took the world for a ride.

The emails, in my view, together sketch a devastating epistolary portrait of how our social order functions, and for whom. Saying that isn’t extreme. The way this elite operates is.

Jason Linkins (THE NEW REPUBLIC) notes his concerns:

As I’ve watched the Epstein story unravel across the media—through the shouting of lawmakers and the flood of tawdry emails dumped in the press—I’ve not been able to ignore how it’s all one big pile of rot at the center of polite society. My TNR colleague, Matt Ford, expressed similar sentiments in a recent piece, confessing that the truly despairing thing about the Epstein affair was that the whole idea of civic virtue seems to have been murdered, and in its place, a culture of elite impunity has risen.

For my part, I’m less worried about whether some Democratic Party luminary catches an Epstein stray and more concerned about whether Democrats bungle the opportunity to attack these corrupt arrangements and the presidential administration that has made them its North Star. This iron is, at the moment, particularly hot. A fresh Reuters/Ipsos poll released Wednesday found that Trump’s approval ratings had hit startling new lows, with respondents particularly “unhappy about his handling of the high cost of living and the investigation into the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.”

Epstein and the economy—these are the twin albatrosses around Trump’s neck. The question, however, is whether Democrats will have the stomach and the sense to exploit both avenues to Trump’s ruin. It may not seem like a problem, but Democrats seem pathologically averse to multitasking, which explains why they’re making the salience of grocery prices their priority to the exclusion of all other matters. So monomaniacal is this approach that at various times over the past year, Democratic lawmakers have called other concerns “distractions”—up to and including Trump’s rampaging paramilitary forces.

The two are connected. Epstein was the powerful and he counted out others in his class to protect him. He counted on politicians and celebrities and Noam Chomsky and others to protect and redeem him. If Brian Smith's son was guilty of pedophilia and sex trafficking, he wouldn't have gotten a sweetheart deal that reduced those actions to mere prostitution. Behind bars, Brian Smith wouldn't have been treated like royalty -- the way Epstein was and the way his co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell is being treated.

And we see Chump, Epstein's roll dog, destroy the economy for the working class. We see costs rise and employment dive. He's not serving We The People, he's enriching the 1%.

It's an abuse of power and he's involved in both. It's an abuse of power and both expose him for the liar that he is.

This is also an attack on women and girls -- something the GOP is infamous for. Chump thinks he has nothing to hide, Rachel Louise Snyder (NEW YORK TIMES) notes:

Mr. Trump is right. He has nothing to hide because he stands to lose nothing. Whatever exists in those files surely will not be enough to wrest him from his perch. At least not yet. Even those who have shown some remorse — Larry Summers, for example — took years. Other men named, like Steve Bannon, Peter Thiel, Noam Chomsky and Michael Wolff, have sought to distance themselves from Mr. Epstein or have not responded to press requests.

We’ve been here before. For so many, the Epstein saga echoes a once-hopeful #MeToo movement, when it seemed possible to reform the male-dominated systems that kept women down. The movement led to a handful of convicted men, but also fed a colossal backlash that reminds us how our country has never adequately protected women. The backlash also, arguably, contributed to the second election of Mr. Trump, who has overseen an era that might be unique in its willingness to sacrifice democratic institutions and American norms to control women.

As I write, there is a White House proposal that aims to lower the Office on Violence Against Women’s stature within the D.O.J. and cut its shoestring budget by nearly 30 percent. This would devastate shelters, advocacy programs and violence prevention measures, and escalate the danger for victims of intimate partner and familial violence in all corners of the country.

At the same time, a report on violent deaths of girls and women from 2014 to 2020 noted that laws constraining abortion providers were associated with a 3.4 percent rise in the rate of homicides related to intimate partner violence. We are being killed for our own lack of choice. An estimated one in 20 women in the United States gets pregnant from rape or sexual coercion, which equates to a whopping six million women with violence-initiated pregnancies. Six million. Two-thirds of the women who became pregnant from rape were injured during their assaults.

Again it goes to who has the reigns of power. Again, it goes to a pattern of victimization which those, like Chump, who stood by Epstein have practiced their entire lives. Their sense of entitlement allows them to harm others -- especially others with no power.

If you're wanting primary sources -- if you're wanting to read the e-mails yourself and not just depend upon reporting, James West (MOTHER JONES) notes:

Earlier this month, the House Oversight Committee released a flotilla of Epstein emails—more than 20,000 in total. The revelations created a tidal wave of news. In perhaps the most famous email, Jeffrey Epstein claimed Trump “knew about the girls.” Epstein also called Trump “the dog that hasn’t barked” and alleged that Trump had once spent “hours at my house” with a sex trafficking victim.

A trove of that size would ordinarily be difficult and time-consuming to sort, but this digital dump was especially cumbersome: packaged in oddly titled folders, and tossed with a random assortment of unsearchable detritus and system files.

What if you were able to just… read them like emails?

That’s the simple premise behind “Jmail,” a re-skinning of the documents programmed to look and feel like an everyday Gmail account, with all the design details impeccably parodied and emails displayed in sequential chains, just like your own inbox. It even includes a working search function. Its release this week created it’s own internet storm.

Let's wind down with this from Senator Ron Wyden's office:

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Ron Wyden today asked U.S. Coast Guard officials to join him this Sunday morning, Nov. 23 at the Newport Municipal Airport to provide him and this central Oregon Coast community answers about the relocation of a Coast Guard helicopter essential to local public safety.

Wyden wrote in his letter to Admiral Kevin E. Lunday, Acting Coast Guard Commandant, that he would like that Nov. 23 airport meeting with a Coast Guard representative to happen before his annual open-to-all Lincoln County town hall scheduled later that day in Newport.

“On November 12, 2025, I wrote to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Noem and you seeking timely answers about the recent change in Coast Guard assets. To date, I have not received any answers or updates from the Coast Guard or DHS,” Wyden wrote. “That ongoing silence about a decision that carries life-and-death consequences for Oregonians and visitors to this community is unacceptable to the people I’m proud to represent.

Wyden reiterated in today’s letter that the Coast Guard station in Newport serves the city and the central Oregon Coast as an essential safety net for the state’s fishing industry, coastal visitors, and local residents with boat crews and a MH-65 Dolphin helicopter aircrew that’s long been a proven lifesaver in search-and-rescue operations.

“Newport residents and small business owners remain extremely concerned about how this move threatens search and rescue operations, considering that the next closest helicopter appears to now be more than 90 miles away in North Bend, Oregon,” Wyden wrote. “The fishing community in Newport is understandably worried that if someone in the cold water of the Pacific is in need of immediate rescue, the Coast Guard crews nearby will not have the necessary assets to save their lives.“

The entire letter is here.

Related Files

coast_guard_letter_re_newport.pdf

Kat's "Kat's Korner: Is Chase Rice our most underrated living musician?" went up Sunday as did Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Poll Slip" and the following sites updated:

Sunday, November 23, 2025

Jellybean Johnson

Geoff Herbert (SYRACUSE.COM) reports:

An ‘80s musician and hit producer is dead at 69.

Garry George “Jellybean” Johnson, drummer for Morris Day & The Time and guitarist for another Prince-affiliated band group, The Family, died Friday, two days after his birthday. A cause of death has not been announced.

“I’m absolutely heartbroken! My beautiful brother Jellybean Johnson has passed,” The Family singer Susannah Melvoin wrote in a tribute. “This band was and is the kind of Family that believed we all rightfully belonged together in love, music and kindness. Jellybean was the master of loving you like no brother could! My big brother, who watched over me and anyone who he loved!”

Johnson helped pioneer the funk/rock/R&B sound coming out of Minneapolis as a member of the group Flyte Tyme, which became The Time in 1981 when Prince added drummer Morris Day and guitarist Jesse Johnson. Day became the group’s mirror-loving frontman, scoring top 20 hits with “Jungle Love” and “Jerk It Out.”

WIKIPEDIA notes:

After the breakup of the Time, Johnson worked as a producer-musician as well as songwriter and became a long-time associate of Flyte Tyme productions. His first assignment was Alexander O'Neal's No. 11 R&B hit "Innocent" (produced by fellow Time bandmates Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis), on which he contributed both drums and guitar solos for the second half of the ten-minute long song. From this recording forward, Johnson became an in-demand session guitarist, drummer, and percussionist. He also produced a number of hits for the aforementioned as well as New Edition and helmed Mint Condition's 1991 debut album Meant to Be Mint.

Johnson re-joined the Time for the Prince feature film Graffiti Bridge and its accompanying Time album, Pandemonium. Shortly after, Johnson returned to touring with Morris Day, while continuing to produce emerging artists and work as a session player.

In 2008, he collaborated with Rihanna at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards,^[4] then began work on his solo debut. Following the unexpected death of Prince in 2016, Johnson halted production. He returned to the Grammy Stage for both the 2017 tribute and the 2020 Salute To Prince, and finally released the album Get Experienced in 2021.^[2]

In 2022, Johnson founded the Minneapolis Sound Museum.^[5] That same year, he and fellow members of The Time were awarded a Soul Train Lifetime Achievement Award.^[6]

Prince was a genius. Jellybean Johnson was part of music's most inspired creative collective in the 80s -- led by Prince, it also included Sheila E, Morris Day, Vanity, Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis, Wendy & Lisa, André Cymone, Rosie Gaines and a few others. They changed the music forever and for the better. Jellybean Johsnon had a role in that and few people can ever claim to have been part of a true musical revolution.

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

Friday, November 21, 2025. Chump attacks and smears Democrats while revealing that the commander in chief has never even read the Uniform Code of Military Justice and a RAW STORY writer wants us to betray the Esptein survivors because the topic either ores him or makes him uncomfotable.

Let's start with Donald Chrump. What's the Convicted Felon done now? Senator Patty Murray's office issued the following:

Murray responds to outrageous posts from President Trump: “I am calling on every one of my Republican colleagues: show some courage. Don’t just brush this one off yet again. State plainly that the President is not above the law—it’s right there in the constitution. Don’t mince words: make it clear that calls for political violence are unacceptable.”

*** WATCH VIDEO HERE; DOWNLOAD HERE***

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, released a new video message condemning President Trump’s recent post calling for members of Congress to be arrested for stating that the President is not above the law and his later repost of a call to hang members of Congress.

WATCH HERE; DOWNLOAD HERE

In the video message, Senator Murray slams President Trump for endorsing political violence against elected members of Congress, saying:

“Just think about this, the President of the United States is using his platform to lift up people calling for political violence. And then, in his own words, he called this video: ‘Seditious behavior, punishable by death.’ This is twisted, dangerous stuff.

“As my colleagues, on both sides have said there is no room in our democracy for political violence, or for rhetoric that champions political violence. And as every single one of us remembers from our own oath, in this country we swear loyalty to the constitution, not to the President. The danger here should be obvious. Every single one of my colleagues should be here with me saying: President Trump’s behavior—his choice to amplify a dangerous call for violence—is completely unacceptable.

“There is a whole lot more I could say about how clearly unfit this President is for office. Believe me, I have some choice words. But in the interest of unity—I’ve tried to keep my message simple and restrained in the hopes that members on both sides will join me in saying this loud and clear. Because it’s clear the President needs to hear this message, but he needs to hear it from all of us. And frankly—I need to hear it from my colleagues too. I need to know my colleagues, who I work with every day, actually agree with me about the basic bedrock of our democracy.”

A full transcript of Senator Murray’s remarks in the video message is below:

“I was disturbed—genuinely horrified—to see President Trump call for members of Congress to be arrested for simply stating the fact that no one is above the law—not even the President. It is infuriating. It is enough to make your blood boil.

“I mean—I can’t think of anything more un-American, at least I couldn’t until Trump went further and reposted a call to hang members of Congress. All because Members of this Congress—veterans who served this country selflessly and proudly—did nothing other than simply state the plain letter of the law.

“Here’s what they said: ‘Our laws are clear. You can refuse illegal orders… No one has to carry out orders that violate the law or our constitution.’

“I whole-heartedly agree. I’ll say it myself. To the soldiers bravely serving our nation—thank you. As a voice for many servicemembers from Washington state let me state unequivocally: you can refuse illegal orders.

“Just think about this, the President of the United States is using his platform to lift up people calling for political violence. And then, in his own words, he called this video: ‘Seditious behavior, punishable by death.’ This is twisted, dangerous stuff.

“As my colleagues, on both sides have said there is no room in our democracy for political violence, or for rhetoric that champions political violence.

“And as every single one of us remembers from our own oath, in this country we swear loyalty to the constitution, not to the President. The danger here should be obvious.

“Every single one of my colleagues should be here with me saying: President Trump’s behavior—his choice to amplify a dangerous call for violence—is completely unacceptable.

“There is a whole lot more I could say about how clearly unfit this President is for office. Believe me, I have some choice words. But in the interest of unity—I’ve tried to keep my message simple and restrained in the hopes that members on both sides will join me in saying this loud and clear.

“Because it’s clear the President needs to hear this message, but he needs to hear it from all of us.

“And frankly—I need to hear it from my colleagues too. I need to know my colleagues, who I work with every day, actually agree with me about the basic bedrock of our democracy. Because how am I supposed to sit across the table from people who are silent when the President lifts up voices saying Democrats should be hanged?

“A President who calls a simple recitation of the law ‘treasonous behavior, punishable by death?’

“We’ve seen where this path goes—where silence in the face of escalating calls for violence can lead. I was here on January 6^th, as were many of my colleagues. I was here while they built a gallows outside and chanted ‘hang Mike Pence.’

“Are we going to sit here and say nothing while the President riles up another crowd? Lifts up new calls for violence? Are we going to say nothing as they build another gallows?

“What exactly do my colleagues think they will be chanting this time? And why exactly do they think the President will care to stop the crowd when today he is the one lifting up calls for violence?

“We cannot wait. We cannot pretend we don’t know how serious President Trump’s actions are.

“Now, I know we may not all be in perfect agreement on how to respond, but this moment really requires us to speak with one voice.

“I am calling on every one of my Republican colleagues: show some courage.

“Don’t just brush this one off yet again. State plainly that the President is not above the law—it’s right there in the constitution. Don’t mince words: make it clear that calls for political violence are unacceptable. Something I have heard members on both sides of the aisle speak passionately about recently.

“None of that should be controversial. This is not a moment where our democracy can afford cowards and sycophants.

“I really hope every Member of Congress, every CEO, every community leader lifts up their voice.

“Say it plain: this kind of rhetoric is a disgrace—it’s not even close to acceptable coming from an American President. That is the bare minimum.”

###

Same topic, this is from last night's THE NEWSHOUR (PBS).

Amna Nawaz: Half-a-dozen Democrats in Congress with military and intelligence backgrounds are urging current service members to ignore the chain of command if they're given unlawful orders.

Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-PA): Right now, the threats to our Constitution aren't just coming from abroad…

Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO): … but from right here at home.

Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ): Our laws are clear. You can refuse illegal orders.

Ren. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI): You can refuse illegal orders.

Rep. Chris Deluzio: You must refuse illegal orders.

Sen. Elissa Slotkin: No one has to carry out orders that violate the law…

Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA): … or our Constitution.

Amna Nawaz: Now, they didn't specify which orders they consider unlawful, but President Trump has fired back, writing on social media these members of Congress should be — quote — "arrested and put on trial," saying their actions are seditious behavior from traitors that is — quote — "punishable by death."

Congressman Jason Crow of Colorado is a retired Army Ranger and one of the Democrats you just heard from in that video. He joins me now. Congressman, welcome to the show. Thanks for joining us.

Rep. Jason Crow: Hi, Amna.

Amna Nawaz: So, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, was asked about all this in the briefing today. I just want to play for you her response.

Question: Just to be clear, does the president want to execute members of Congress?

Karoline Leavitt, White House Press Secretary: No. Let's be clear about what the president is responding to. You have sitting members of the United States Congress who conspired together to orchestrate a video message to members of the United States military, to active-duty service members, to members of the national security apparatus, encouraging them to defy the president's lawful orders.

Amna Nawaz: Congressman, I just want to get your response to the latest from the White House on this.

Rep. Jason Crow: Well, first off, Karoline Leavitt is just lying. We specifically said to unlawful orders — that they don't have to obey unlawful orders, which actually is what the Constitution says, what the Uniform Code of Military Justice says and what we were trained on when we were in uniform as well. This administration wants people to think that simply reminding people of their oath and what the law requires is somehow criminal and should result in treason and hanging, because, secondly, that is what the president said this morning. He called for a treason trial. He called for our arrest. And he called specifically for our execution by hanging.

Amna Nawaz: So, to be specific here, then, Congressman, which unlawful orders are you asking military members to refuse? What did you see that prompted you and others to make this video?

Rep. Jason Crow: The point of this video was not to point to specific orders. It's to prepare our service members, our young men and women, who are going to be put in very difficult positions in the years ahead to understand their oath and their obligation. And there's plenty of reason to be concerned. Donald Trump actually asked whether he could shoot protesters in the leg during the protests at Lafayette Square. Donald Trump has said he's going to go to war with Chicago and send troops into our cities, several of which have already been declared illegal by federal courts. So there's plenty of reason to be concerned. And we want to start a public conversation about what the obligation of our troops really is, in the very same way, I will say, that I did before I deployed my paratrooper platoon to Iraq in 2003, because once you get to the point where they are faced with an instant decision, it's too late if you haven't already had that conversation with them.

Amna Nawaz: Well, Congressman, for military members who are trying to navigate this now, I want to put to you what I heard from the director of The Orders Project, which is a nonprofit that offers legal advice to military service members who are unclear about their orders or worried about them. And they have been seeing an uptake in calls recently. But this person also said that any service member who disobeys an order on the basis that it's unlawful does run the risk that a military judge will disagree. And then they have to face the consequences. Are you saying to military members they should take on that risk?

Rep. Jason Crow: Well, listen, every military member takes on that risk. Service is hard. Being in the military is very hard. So what we want to do is send a message that members of Congress, their fellow veterans, we stand by them, we see them, and we are reminding them of their oath.

Amna Nawaz: Congressman, you have served honorably. We thank you for your service. So did most in that video. But so did retired Four-Star General Barry McCaffrey. And he had this to say in response to your video. He said: "This action by Democrats is unwarranted and dangerous. Focus on your own responsibilities in Congress to oppose military actions you believe are wrong or illegal. Support the judicial system to push back. Don't call on the military to stop Trump." What do you say to that?

Rep. Jason Crow: Well, we're not calling on the military to stop Trump. We're calling on the military to fulfill oaths. And, unfortunately, I think General McCaffrey doesn't understand the moment that we're in, the challenges that this administration is presenting to the troops. And I think he doesn't understand the time and the challenges that leaders face right now.

Amna Nawaz: Do you not trust that the courts will continue to push back or slow or stop Trump policies as they have been doing?

Rep. Jason Crow: They may. They may not. And even when courts issue orders, over a third of the time, this administration disregards lawful orders of the courts, right? They simply disregard court orders time and time again. So my job as a member of Congress is to do everything possible to uphold the Constitution and to defend this country. I don't rely on anybody to help me fulfill my duties, right? This is a project the entire country needs to undertake. Courts have an obligation. Citizens have an obligation. The military has an obligation. Law enforcement has an obligation. And I have mine.

Amna Nawaz: We saw Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer say today he's asked for special protections for Senators Slotkin and Kelly, who appeared with you in that video, after the president's post about seditions. Are you worried about your own safety? Have you seen any increase in threats since the president's post?

Rep. Jason Crow: Yes, we have received threats. And we take those very seriously. I mean, this is actually making the point that the president continues to incite violence in vitriolic rhetoric and partisanship over and over again. And it's very serious stuff, right? People sometimes act on what Donald Trump and others say, right? They certainly did on January 6. So I understand the threats that we face right now. I take those seriously. But I will not be intimidated. But what Donald Trump wants is, he wants to use fear and intimidation to silence dissent, to silence opposition, and to silence speech. And I am not allowed — I'm not going to allow that to happen, because the moment we allow that to happen is the moment we lose our democracy. And I will not allow it to happen. Fear is contagious, but so is courage. And I intend to lead.

Amna Nawaz: Congressman Jason Crow of Colorado, thank you for making the time to speak with us. We appreciate it.

I am so sick of stupid. Donald Chump avoided the Vietnam War. He didn't protest it and he didn't serve in it. He got his daddy to buy his way out of it because he was a coward. Someone else went in his place. Someone else may be dead as a result.

He should never have been president of the United States. But here we are and while Americans are hard working, we have a non-working president. He doesn't learn.

He's a stupid piece of filth who just wants to stay stupid. You have never had a president of the United States make the idiot remarks that Chump did yesterday regarding the members of Congress.

There was nothing controversial about their remarks. Jason got to the most important part. Yes, absolutely the Constitution is the supreme law of the land. But I'm referring to UCMJ.

Some people are just as stupid as Chump.

Lt Ehren Watada. He refused to go to the Iraq War. Do we remember why?

Because it was an illegal war and he would be betraying the service members under him by obeying an illegal order. I agree with him -- you don't have to -- and I agreed with him and we covered him constantly when the US government tried to court-martial him.

In fact, I defended him against Amy Goodman and Norman Solomon. If you've forgotten, Norman had a side piece and she was going to be put on the stand!!!! On the stand!!! So Norman and Amy made it all about how Ehren had to stop defending himself and refusing to testify to 'save' her.

You may remember those two -- Norman and Amy -- were part of the effort to defeat Kamala last November (which meant electing Chump, don't give them a pass). They do that all the time, they destroy what needs to be supported.

His side piece -- who's now at IN THESE TIMES -- was going to have to decide whether to tefisy about her sources or not. The journalistic stance -- even Judith Miller understood this -- is that you don't give up your sources. If it means you spend a week or a month in jail, that's what you do. Unless Norman's crushing on you.

Then what you do is go after a young man fighting for his rights and you start shaming him on DEMCORACY NOW! with b.s. about how he could end the side piece's 'troubles' by taking the stand and then she wouldn't have to do this or do that or wah wah wah.

Some of us on the left are so f**king stupid that we let the same people betray us over and over and make no point to call them out for it.

Ehren didn't listen and good for him.

He took a brave stand based on his convictions.

And -- this is what you need to pay attention to -- his training.

He wasn't creating new guidelines, rules or codes. He was going by the UCMJ.

The no-working Chump didn't serve in the miliary and despite being given the title of commander in chief twice now, has never bothered to even glance at the UCMJ. Our troops follow UCMJ. Ehren was exposed to it through his training.

This was more nonsense from Chump. He's an idiot and people need to be calling him out. This is his second term as president and he's objecting to a very basic thing that is part of our laws and that the US military trains people in.

Propaganda Pig Karoline Levitt declared at the White House yesterday, "Every single order that is given to this United States military by this commander-in-chief and through this command chain of command, through the secretary of war, is lawful."

The porcine ugly needs to shut her uninformed mouth. There is no "secretary of war." The position is -- legally, you idiot -- Secretary of Defense. Congress has not changed it and they're the only ones who legally can. So you don't know the law, you don't know God you hypocrite hiding behind the cross around your neck and you don't know a damn thing.

Do not follow an illegal order? That's actually the law. That.

Not whatever Karoline, snout in air, is snorting about.

I think Donald's confusing sedition with treason and, in the dementia that now possesses him, is somehow projecting his attempt to overthrow the country on January 6th onto other people today. Neither he now Porky Karoline understand military justice -- not just military law but military justice. And they disgrace the country as they babble on about what they wrongly think is the law.

You're just so damn stupid, Donald.

The only thing we can take comfort in is the fact that you went into another rage last night. Yea! He's morbidly obese and eats junk food despite closing in on 80. Each one of these rages takes another few days off his life.

Malcolm Ferguson (THE NEW REPUBLIC) notes Senator Mark Kelly's response to Donald's lies:

“We are veterans and national security professionals who love this country and swore an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. That oath lasts a lifetime, and we intend to keep it. No threat, intimidation, or call for violence will deter us from that sacred obligation,” they wrote in a joint statement posted by Kelly. “What’s most telling is that the President considers it punishable by death for us to restate the law. Our servicemembers should know that we have their backs as they fulfill their oath to the Constitution and obligation to follow only lawful orders. It is not only the right thing to do, but also our duty.” They signed it with a reminder: “Don’t Give Up the Ship!”

Kelly later responded personally to Trump adviser Stephen Miller’s claim that their comments are part of an “insurrection” and “a general call for rebellion.”

“I got shot at serving our country in combat, and I was there when your boss sent a violent mob to attack the Capitol,” Kelly wrote. “I know the difference between defending our Constitution and an insurrection, even if you don’t.”

At TPM, Nicole Lafond and Emine Yücel report:

The president repeatedly posted on Truth Social, calling for the veteran lawmakers to be arrested and suggesting they should be put to death. He also reposted other Truth Social users who said they should be hanged.

The death threats were clear and explicit.

“This is really bad, and Dangerous to our Country. Their words cannot be allowed to stand,” Trump said in the Truth Social post. “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR FROM TRAITORS!!! LOCK THEM UP???”

“SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” he continued.

[. . .]

When asked about Trump’s posts, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) tried to deflect and point the finger at Democrats who said troops can refuse to follow “illegal orders.”

“That was wildly inappropriate,” Johnson said on Thursday. “It is very dangerous. You have leading members of Congress telling troops to disobey orders. I think that’s unprecedented in American history … I know young soldiers, airmen, sailors — they don’t need that kind of nonsense from people in Congress.”

The Dems being targeted by Chump did nothing wrong. They repeated what the US military is trained on. They didn't make that up. It's actually part of the military training.

Now I get it. I know the only brigade Speaker of the closet Mike Johnson ever served in was Avon so the military escapes him. But your stupidity is not an excuse to use inflammatory and misleading speech to put people at risk. When your hate merchant was shot on stage not that long ago, you all wanted to posture about words and weeks later? Here we are with you lying to back up Chump. You're lying and you don't know what you're talking about. Mike Johnson should have pulled his usual nonsense answer out of his ass, "Uhm, golly, I didn't see that on TV. I don't know anything about that. I only knows what the TV tells me. TV and BLUE BOY and LATIN INCHES."

If you can't tell, I'm not in a good mood this morning. Chump isn't our only problem. We started with him but a stupid idiot at RAW STORY has me even more outraged.

I don't like dumb asses and I don't like f**king ass b**ches. Hope I have everyone's attention with that.

What am I talking about?

A garbage post from a garbage fool.

I don't need crap ass from crap asses who don't know s**t. It's amazing, I can remember in early 2005 when these same type of people were telling us to walk on away from Iraq as a topic. There are ways to take back the White House, these 'experts' said, but Iraq wasn't one of them. Really? Because when 2008 rolled around, it was the issue.

But crap asses were bored with the topic. Crap asses who didn't know s**t and who never know s**t.

An outlet has published a really bad article entitled "Trump will finally crash if we hammer him on this -- instead of Epstein." Oh, STFU. I hate the dualities to begin with. I hate the nonsense that it has to be this or that. I hated it when the 'revinventing government' neolibs pushed there either/or nonsense going into the Clinton years and I hated it when the soulless presented it while people were dying in the Iraq War.

Your own crap ass stupidity makes you think you can frighten people into focusing on what you want. So you try to threaten us -- oh, you're going to cost the election mumble mumble.

You don't know s**t and you should stick to coverage of what you can see because you know nothing of prognosis.

We, the American people, moved a mountain via Epstein. Those of us who focused on it and discussed it.

It has fractured MAGA.

Nothing else would have had that impact.

You're a stupid moron who doesn't understand politics.

John Kerry got Swift boated due to idiots like you.

Now we can and should focus on many issues. But idiots like the RAW STORY writer don't know a damn thing. The GOP's technique in elections has repeatedly been to take what we in the Democratic Party feel is a strength and to attack it. So John Kerry served in Vietnam and they rip apart his service.

Donald Chump claimed to be of the people -- he's not -- and couldn't shut up about Epstein and spent his first term pretending he was a savior of children. This exposed him for what he was. This became a real liability for him. It forced some people who had done everything for him to rethink him.

It has exposed him for what he is. There is probably nothing else that could have done that.

Why?

We all have an opinion on the topic. You need something shared like that so that the country can share revulsion. We can bond over it. And you saw it, you saw MAGA people -- including in Congress -- say they couldn't go along with a cover up.

It also wasn't some obscure mathematical model or something we needed to educate the public on. It had built-in appeal.

The idiot writes:

Look, I am not saying everything and anything associated with Epstein isn’t important, but I am saying it can’t become the thing.

I am saying we believe the women, who were victimized by these monsters. I am saying we keep calling for the release of everything to do with Epstein, and we keep asking the woman-abusing Trump one question, and one question only, blah blah blah

Condescending and rude. If you need to read it, click here, for SUBSTACK -- no, it's not the RAW STORY exclusive it's claimed to be at RS.

You don't like the topic. You've never liked it. You don't think it's political and you don't think it's important. Because you're a stupid idiot.

And here's the thing, we owe it to the survivors to continue to press on this issue. I never said it's the only issue. We also zoom in on Chump's war on immigrants, and many other things.. And we can do that and many other things. But here comes a RAW STORY writer -- fresh from decades at STARS AND STRIPES, with idiotic advice.

There's been no justice for the survivors. But before anything's even released, he's wanting Democrats to give up on the issue.

That'll hurt us. If we weren't really vested in it to begin with? That would mean Chump's 'hoax' talk was accurate.

This was the perfect issue to expose Chump on -- it's one that the entire nation cares about. But we picked up the issue because we care about the survivors. It was a great issue to go with politically but it was also a great issue to go with in terms of helping those in need.

We didn't that garbage from RAW STORY. And we don't need marching orders from these idiots either. Go back to your propaganda post at STARS AND STRIPES.

MS NOW last night.

As you can see, they were able to cover a number of different topics throughout their programming.

It doesn't have to be just one story.

We've got two more things. From Senator Elizabeth Warren's office:

Paramount Skydance made deals with Trump prior to gaining merger approval, now reportedly admin favorites to take over Warner Bros.

Senators warn that botched merger review could raise costs, reduce choices for Americans

“The American people deserve full confidence that the federal government is enforcing these laws independently, transparently, and free from political pressure or financial influence.”

Text of Letter (PDF)

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) led Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) in writing to U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division Assistant Attorney General Abigail Slater, warning that a potential Warner Bros. deal could be tainted by political favoritism and corruption. Warner Bros., in an upcoming formal auction process, is expected to receive bids from major media companies potentially including Paramount Skydance, Netflix, Apple, Amazon, and Comcast, raising the specter of a new, massive media giant that drives up costs and reduces choices for American families.

Recent reporting revealed that the Trump administration prefers for Paramount Skydance to win the bid, raising questions of political favoritism. The close relationship between the Trump administration and Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison could politicize the merger approval process. In July, the Trump administration approved the merger between Paramount and Skydance, just weeks after Paramount donated $16 million to Trump’s Presidential Library — and after Ellison reportedly agreed to a secret “side deal” to run millions of dollars’ worth of pro-Trump ads.

“The Department of Justice (DOJ) must guarantee that any review of a potential Warner Bros. transaction is conducted transparently, independently, and in accordance with federal antitrust and anti-corruption laws — not politics,” wrote the lawmakers. “Regardless of which bidder is selected, the combination of one of these companies with Warner Bros. would further consolidate the media market — risking higher prices and less variety for consumers.”

The lawmakers demanded that the review of any potential transaction involving Warner Bros. follow the law and avoid the taint of corruption and political favoritism. If the review is botched and a new media giant emerges, the company would have even more market power to raise costs at a time when working- and middle-class Americans are already being squeezed by skyrocketing costs across the board.

To ensure the DOJ review is fact-based and transparent, the senators are pressing for answers on interactions that might bias the transaction review process. In particular, the senators ask whether DOJ officials have discussed any matters related to a potential Warner Bros. transaction with lawyers, lobbyists, or consultants hired by Warner Bros. or any of the reported bidders. They also seek further clarification on whether conversations have been held with non-DOJ lawyers, as well as White House officials or Donald Trump, relating to transaction review at the DOJ, including a potential transaction involving Warner Bros.

“A transparent and lawful merger review process ensures that antitrust and public interest laws function as intended — to protect competitive markets, prevent concentration of power, and safeguard American families from higher prices and fewer choices,” the lawmakers concluded. “The American people deserve full confidence that the federal government is enforcing these laws independently, transparently, and free from political pressure or financial influence.”

Senator Warren has consistently fought back against corrupt corporate media consolidation:

On October 10, 2025, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) questioned Skydance’s refusal to address President Donald Trump’s reported secret side deal.
On August 1, Senator Warren released a statement in response to Paramount’s and Skydance’s responses to her letters to each of the companies, describing the responses as “dodgy” and calling for “a full, independent investigation” into whether the companies or their executives engaged in any criminal behavior connected to the approval of the companies’ multi-billion-dollar merger.
On July 24, Senator Warren responded to the Trump administration’s approval of the Paramount-Skydance megamerger, saying “bribery is illegal no matter who is president.”
On July 23, Senator Warren published an op-ed in Variety: “Elizabeth Warren on Colbert 'Late Show' Cancellation: Is the Paramount Trump Payoff a Bribe?”
On July 21, Senators Warren, Sanders (I-Vt.), and Wyden (D-Ore.) pressed David Ellison, CEO of Skydance, about reports of a secret deal between Skydance and President Trump—and how it may be related to Paramount’s recent multi-million-dollar settlement agreement with Trump.
On July 17, Senators Warren and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), along with Representatives Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.), Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.), and lawmakers in Congress, unveiled the Presidential Library Anti-Corruption Act to close loopholes that allow presidential libraries to be used as tools for corruption and bribery.
On July 15, Senator Warren released a new report exposing how companies, special interests, and foreign governments may be pledging donations to President Trump’s future Presidential Library as a corrupt tool to secure favorable outcomes from his administration.
On July 2, Senator Warren called for an investigation into Paramount’s settlement with Trump.
On May 19, Senators Warren, Sanders, and Wyden wrote to Shari Redstone, Chair of Paramount, with concerns regarding whether Paramount may be engaging in potentially illegal conduct involving the Trump Administration in exchange for approval of its megamerger with Skydance.