Something to Know - 17 January

One would wonder why Trump is filling in all of the otherwise empty space in the news cycles with an overabundance of sensational, shocking, and stupid stuff.   In my opiniont, it is because he is waging a war of distraction that we may all forget about the Epstein Files.   The content of those files must be of such harm to him that he is willing to use his powers to cover it all up.   We should not allow this to happen, and everyday should be another day of keeping everyone aware of his failure to release the files.   Congress passed a bill, which he reluctantly signed to have all files release by a certain date.  That date has passed and he has not released them.   Is there anyone in Congress who has the guts to cobble together action for his failure to obey the law?   Let's start there and pressure anyone and all to start the process of articles of impeachment.   We do not forget.

Past Deadline (Heather Diehl / Getty)

View in browser There was a moment this fall when it seemed like the public might actually get some answers—that the extent of the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's crimes might be exposed, and that his victims might see the accountability they've been waiting for. On November 19, President Trump reluctantly signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which required the Justice Department to publish a huge number of its unclassified files related to the late financier (and unrelated to ongoing investigations) within 30 days. But what actually arrived on December 19, the Friday before Christmas, was a relatively small (and sloppily redacted) tranche of files that raised far more questions than it answered. Nearly a month later, not a whole lot has changed. Despite having published a second batch, the DOJ has still released less than 1 percent of the millions of documents now under review. If the Justice Department has legitimate reasons for its delay, it hasn't thoroughly explained what they are. In a letter yesterday, Attorney General Pam Bondi and other DOJ officials framed the problem as purely logistical, citing "inevitable glitches due to the sheer volume of materials." They noted that the department has put "over five hundred reviewers" on the project, even as they declined to clarify when they would release more files. Frank Figliuzzi, a former high-ranking FBI official who has handled nationwide investigations involving massive amounts of raw data, told me he's skeptical of that defense. During his tenure, he explained, the bureau became highly digitized, bringing in all sorts of new tools to speed up the process of redactions and disclosures. "If we're led to believe that human beings have to go through all of this, I'm not buying all of that," he said. Legal experts and legislators maintain that Bondi and her department are now in clear violation of the law. Earlier this week, 19 of Epstein's victims requested that a Justice Department watchdog review the agency's work, alleging that the redactions have not adequately concealed survivors' names and identifiers. Representatives Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie, who introduced the Transparency Act as a bipartisan bill, have suggested that Bondi be held in contempt for missing the deadline. Other lawmakers have batted around the idea of impeaching her. But these moves would require real political willpower—so far, neither of them has come to pass. In lieu of consistent communication with Congress and the public about the delays, the Justice Department is providing a slow drip of updates in the form of legal memos and enigmatic new uploads to the existing database of Epstein files. The department has also equivocated about the scope of its documents: Last February, shortly after being confirmed as attorney general, Bondi declared that Epstein's fabled "client list" was "sitting on my desk right now"—but in July, the DOJ said in a memo that no such client list ever existed. That same memo claimed that the department had conducted an "exhaustive review" of the files—but earlier this month, Bondi told a judge that "more than 2 million documents" were still in "various phases of review." My colleague Sarah Fitzpatrick, who covers the DOJ, explained to me that the Epstein case has been plagued by a long list of issues, omissions, and breaches of Justice Department policy—a pattern that has persisted ever since Epstein became a focus of federal law enforcement. Although the release of the files is purportedly about "transparency," the Justice Department has been suffering from a lack of public trust. Trump has used the agency to investigate and even prosecute his enemies, and its employees have left by the thousands since he took office. This broader transformation of the DOJ has only compounded the communication issues around the Epstein files, and exacerbated conspiracy theories. (The department did not respond to a request for comment.) The Epstein saga has also recently entered a new phase of political infighting. This week, the GOP-led House Oversight Committee called on former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to testify about Epstein. They refused—and, in a statement, accused Committee Chair James Comer of selectively enforcing subpoenas. "The decisions you have made, and the priorities you have set as chairman regarding the Epstein investigation, have prevented progress in discovering the facts about the government's role," they wrote. There could be an element of truth here—Comer may be using the Clintons as a distraction from Trump's connections to Epstein—but they, like Bondi, are not above the law, and their refusal to cooperate only hampers the larger process. Each new revelation about the files seems to multiply the unknowns. The Transparency Act, which passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, represents one path to accountability. If only Congress had the will to enforce it.

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Juan Matute

CCRC

Greenland Responds

We have heard a few words from the heads of state of Greenland on the matter of Trump rudely blustering about taking over the country.  Now, we see the cool response of those from those elements of society who have prepared for the invasion who are objecting.   

https://substack.com/@oldreddragon/note/c-199153233?r=6hlv7&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action

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Juan Matute

CCRC

Something to Know - 16 January

We have long used different words to characterize Trump.   Most often you hear; "narcsisstic, deranged, ego-driven, psychopath, morally bankrupt.....etc".    Well, let's toss another word into the mosh pit of abnormal - CHARLATAN; a person falsely claiming to have a special knowledge or skill; a fraud.    In the case of DJT, it is all about self-defined optics.   His lying is done to gain self satisfaction.   If he can paint himself to please himsel, then he will think that this is what others think of him; WRONG.   So, in this latest example, someone transfers to him a Nobel Peace Prize for his ownership.   He now has a deeply cherished object, and he thinks having it confirms his dream.   Sick, sick, sick.   How about we nail him to a cross in front of the White House, or better yet where the East Room used to be, and let him feel the rush of an anointed savior.   That should kill two birds with one stone.

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	Moral Courage In. Swag Bag Out. Trump's Nobel Fantasy and the Global Cost of American Incompetence Mary Geddry Jan 16   READ IN APP   Good morning! Donald Trump finally got his hands on a Nobel Peace Prize, not by earning it, but by accepting the physical medal from Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, who apparently decided the safest place for the symbol of her life's work was in the grasp of a man who has spent years openly begging for one. Trump, evoking images of an obese Gollum clutching the One Ring, immediately announced that Machado had presented him with her Nobel "for the work I have done," and you could practically hear it: My Precioussss. At that moment, even the Eye of Sauron rolled back in disgust. Somewhere deep in Mordor, the ground shuddered, or maybe that was just what's left of the East Wing reacting to the sheer density of the cringe. The Nobel Committee, playing the role of long-suffering Elrond, gently reminded the world that while a medal can change hands, the prize itself cannot be transferred. You can hold the gold, but you cannot absorb the meaning. Trump may now physically possess the object, but he will never be a Nobel laureate, no matter how lovingly he caresses it, no matter how many times he tells himself the story at night. And that's what makes the spectacle so embarrassing for anyone watching who still has a functioning nervous system. This is the President of the United States performing visible thirst for validation on the world stage. No dignity, just naked yearning, a grown man clinging to borrowed moral authority like it might finally complete him. The exchange itself is almost too perfect. Machado hands over the most powerful symbol she has, global recognition earned through personal risk and democratic struggle. Trump, in return, almost certainly sends her off with a White House swag bag. A tote, a commemorative folder, perhaps a handful of hurricane altering Sharpies. Moral courage in. Merch out. Trump doesn't trade in reciprocity; he collects symbols the way Gollum collected promises, obsessively, possessively, and without understanding what they're for. The medal will sit somewhere prominent, silently insisting on a truth Trump cannot bear: you can seize the object, but legitimacy does not come with a gift receipt. For the average citizen watching this unfold, for anyone who remembers when the presidency required at least a passing familiarity with shame, the dominant emotion isn't outrage, it's second-hand embarrassment. The kind that makes you wince, look away, and wonder how we ended up here, watching a man who commands the world's largest military whisper sweet nothings to a prize he did not win. While Trump was busy hoarding borrowed legitimacy, his administration was doing something far more consequential: sending the FBI to search the home of a Washington Post reporter. Agents seized the devices of Hannah Natanson, whose real offense appears to be listening to terrified federal workers as Trump tries to gut the civil service and refashion the government into a personal enforcement arm. This kind of raid is vanishingly rare, even in genuine national security cases, and runs straight through decades of legal firebreaks meant to protect press freedom. Free speech experts are calling it what it is, a chilling escalation. Trump, meanwhile, casually bragged about catching "a very bad leaker," as if the First Amendment were a bug he's finally figured out how to squash. From there, the day's news widened outward, and the pattern only sharpened. Trump claimed he held off attacking Iran because Tehran personally reassured him it had stopped killing protesters, a story so generous it practically qualifies as fiction. In reality, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, and Oman all rushed to talk him down, warning that U.S. strikes could ignite a regional war. Saudi Arabia reportedly denied the U.S. use of its airspace. Qatar quietly watched Washington withdraw personnel from its massive regional base. Trump supplied the mythology; allies supplied the restraint. The U.S. military seized yet another Venezuelan oil tanker in a pre-dawn operation, the sixth such boarding in weeks. Blurry footage was released. The justification was "sanctions enforcement." The result was simpler: the United States taking physical possession of another country's oil while Trump posed as a champion of Venezuelan democracy hours later. He keeps the Nobel medal, takes the oil, and sidelines Machado anyway. Liberation, apparently, comes with a receipt. Allies elsewhere are adjusting accordingly, and I'll admit it: watching them govern with basic competence makes me deeply, irrationally envious. Canada's Mark Carney was in Beijing this week calmly building what he called a "strategic partnership" with China, not out of affection for Beijing, but out of necessity, because the United States under Trump has become a punitive, unreliable partner that treats allies like customers it's perpetually mad at. There was no bluster, no humiliation ritual, no fixation on personal glory. Just adults assessing risk and adapting to reality. France went further still. President Emmanuel Macron announced that France now provides the majority of intelligence to Ukraine after Washington repeatedly weaponized intelligence sharing to bully Kyiv into political submission. Intelligence, the most sensitive currency of trust, is now flowing around the United States rather than through it. Not because France suddenly became more powerful, but because America under Trump became less dependable. Watching other countries quietly compensate for our dysfunction is humiliating in a way satire can't fully soften. While Trump whispers My Precioussss to a medal he didn't earn, the rest of the world is doing the work we used to do, stabilizing alliances, managing crises, and planning beyond the next tantrum. It's not that leadership has vanished from the world. It's that, for now, it's happening everywhere but here. Then there's Greenland. Trump is openly threatening to seize sovereign territory belonging to Denmark, a NATO ally, prompting even Republicans to mutter that this might be, as one put it, "the dumbest thing I've ever heard." Mitch McConnell warned that such a move could incinerate NATO. Members of Congress are traveling to Copenhagen to reassure allies that the president doesn't speak for the country. Somewhere, a very old clip of Ted Cruz resurfaced, from back when Trump first ran for office, warning that Trump might one day start a war with Denmark. What once sounded like hyperbole now sounds like prophecy. The tiny pushback we're seeing hasn't gone unanswered. After five Republican senators voted to advance a war powers resolution limiting Trump's ability to launch new military actions, Trump reportedly called them, angrily, to threaten primary challenges. Within hours, at least one senator was already backpedaling. Even in this mess, there's a flicker of light, not from principle, but from polling. Trump's own team is reportedly worried that his immigration crackdown is losing support, especially among independents. The problem, aides say, isn't the policy. Trump still wants mass deportations, it's the optics. Masked agents, chaotic raids, and fatal encounters don't play well in Peoria. Even Joe Rogan is asking whether America is drifting toward "Are we really going to be the Gestapo?" When public disgust starts registering on the internal dashboards, recalibration suddenly becomes thinkable. Calls are also growing to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, architect of much of the ICE escalation, over obstruction, abuse of power, and civil liberties violations. Whether that goes anywhere is an open question, but the pressure is real, and it's building. Put it all together and the picture is unmistakable. What was once described as exaggeration has become the daily briefing. Warnings that were dismissed as hyperbole, that Trump would threaten allies, punish journalists, weaponize intelligence, govern by intimidation, and treat constitutional limits as optional have all arrived. The extraordinary has become procedural. The unthinkable now comes with a whip count. Trump can clutch a Nobel medal he didn't earn all he wants. The rest of the world is quietly adjusting to the reality that the United States no longer behaves like a country that knows what it's doing.

Geddry's Newsletter a Publication of nGenium <marygeddry@substack.com>  Unsubscribe	6:09 AM (3 hours ago)
to me

	Moral Courage In. Swag Bag Out. Trump's Nobel Fantasy and the Global Cost of American Incompetence Mary Geddry Jan 16   READ IN APP   Good morning! Donald Trump finally got his hands on a Nobel Peace Prize, not by earning it, but by accepting the physical medal from Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, who apparently decided the safest place for the symbol of her life's work was in the grasp of a man who has spent years openly begging for one. Trump, evoking images of an obese Gollum clutching the One Ring, immediately announced that Machado had presented him with her Nobel "for the work I have done," and you could practically hear it: My Precioussss. At that moment, even the Eye of Sauron rolled back in disgust. Somewhere deep in Mordor, the ground shuddered, or maybe that was just what's left of the East Wing reacting to the sheer density of the cringe. The Nobel Committee, playing the role of long-suffering Elrond, gently reminded the world that while a medal can change hands, the prize itself cannot be transferred. You can hold the gold, but you cannot absorb the meaning. Trump may now physically possess the object, but he will never be a Nobel laureate, no matter how lovingly he caresses it, no matter how many times he tells himself the story at night. And that's what makes the spectacle so embarrassing for anyone watching who still has a functioning nervous system. This is the President of the United States performing visible thirst for validation on the world stage. No dignity, just naked yearning, a grown man clinging to borrowed moral authority like it might finally complete him. The exchange itself is almost too perfect. Machado hands over the most powerful symbol she has, global recognition earned through personal risk and democratic struggle. Trump, in return, almost certainly sends her off with a White House swag bag. A tote, a commemorative folder, perhaps a handful of hurricane altering Sharpies. Moral courage in. Merch out. Trump doesn't trade in reciprocity; he collects symbols the way Gollum collected promises, obsessively, possessively, and without understanding what they're for. The medal will sit somewhere prominent, silently insisting on a truth Trump cannot bear: you can seize the object, but legitimacy does not come with a gift receipt. For the average citizen watching this unfold, for anyone who remembers when the presidency required at least a passing familiarity with shame, the dominant emotion isn't outrage, it's second-hand embarrassment. The kind that makes you wince, look away, and wonder how we ended up here, watching a man who commands the world's largest military whisper sweet nothings to a prize he did not win. While Trump was busy hoarding borrowed legitimacy, his administration was doing something far more consequential: sending the FBI to search the home of a Washington Post reporter. Agents seized the devices of Hannah Natanson, whose real offense appears to be listening to terrified federal workers as Trump tries to gut the civil service and refashion the government into a personal enforcement arm. This kind of raid is vanishingly rare, even in genuine national security cases, and runs straight through decades of legal firebreaks meant to protect press freedom. Free speech experts are calling it what it is, a chilling escalation. Trump, meanwhile, casually bragged about catching "a very bad leaker," as if the First Amendment were a bug he's finally figured out how to squash. From there, the day's news widened outward, and the pattern only sharpened. Trump claimed he held off attacking Iran because Tehran personally reassured him it had stopped killing protesters, a story so generous it practically qualifies as fiction. In reality, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, and Oman all rushed to talk him down, warning that U.S. strikes could ignite a regional war. Saudi Arabia reportedly denied the U.S. use of its airspace. Qatar quietly watched Washington withdraw personnel from its massive regional base. Trump supplied the mythology; allies supplied the restraint. The U.S. military seized yet another Venezuelan oil tanker in a pre-dawn operation, the sixth such boarding in weeks. Blurry footage was released. The justification was "sanctions enforcement." The result was simpler: the United States taking physical possession of another country's oil while Trump posed as a champion of Venezuelan democracy hours later. He keeps the Nobel medal, takes the oil, and sidelines Machado anyway. Liberation, apparently, comes with a receipt. Allies elsewhere are adjusting accordingly, and I'll admit it: watching them govern with basic competence makes me deeply, irrationally envious. Canada's Mark Carney was in Beijing this week calmly building what he called a "strategic partnership" with China, not out of affection for Beijing, but out of necessity, because the United States under Trump has become a punitive, unreliable partner that treats allies like customers it's perpetually mad at. There was no bluster, no humiliation ritual, no fixation on personal glory. Just adults assessing risk and adapting to reality. France went further still. President Emmanuel Macron announced that France now provides the majority of intelligence to Ukraine after Washington repeatedly weaponized intelligence sharing to bully Kyiv into political submission. Intelligence, the most sensitive currency of trust, is now flowing around the United States rather than through it. Not because France suddenly became more powerful, but because America under Trump became less dependable. Watching other countries quietly compensate for our dysfunction is humiliating in a way satire can't fully soften. While Trump whispers My Precioussss to a medal he didn't earn, the rest of the world is doing the work we used to do, stabilizing alliances, managing crises, and planning beyond the next tantrum. It's not that leadership has vanished from the world. It's that, for now, it's happening everywhere but here. Then there's Greenland. Trump is openly threatening to seize sovereign territory belonging to Denmark, a NATO ally, prompting even Republicans to mutter that this might be, as one put it, "the dumbest thing I've ever heard." Mitch McConnell warned that such a move could incinerate NATO. Members of Congress are traveling to Copenhagen to reassure allies that the president doesn't speak for the country. Somewhere, a very old clip of Ted Cruz resurfaced, from back when Trump first ran for office, warning that Trump might one day start a war with Denmark. What once sounded like hyperbole now sounds like prophecy. The tiny pushback we're seeing hasn't gone unanswered. After five Republican senators voted to advance a war powers resolution limiting Trump's ability to launch new military actions, Trump reportedly called them, angrily, to threaten primary challenges. Within hours, at least one senator was already backpedaling. Even in this mess, there's a flicker of light, not from principle, but from polling. Trump's own team is reportedly worried that his immigration crackdown is losing support, especially among independents. The problem, aides say, isn't the policy. Trump still wants mass deportations, it's the optics. Masked agents, chaotic raids, and fatal encounters don't play well in Peoria. Even Joe Rogan is asking whether America is drifting toward "Are we really going to be the Gestapo?" When public disgust starts registering on the internal dashboards, recalibration suddenly becomes thinkable. Calls are also growing to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, architect of much of the ICE escalation, over obstruction, abuse of power, and civil liberties violations. Whether that goes anywhere is an open question, but the pressure is real, and it's building. Put it all together and the picture is unmistakable. What was once described as exaggeration has become the daily briefing. Warnings that were dismissed as hyperbole, that Trump would threaten allies, punish journalists, weaponize intelligence, govern by intimidation, and treat constitutional limits as optional have all arrived. The extraordinary has become procedural. The unthinkable now comes with a whip count. Trump can clutch a Nobel medal he didn't earn all he wants. The rest of the world is quietly adjusting to the reality that the United States no longer behaves like a country that knows what it's doing.

--

****

Juan Matute

CCRC

Andy Borowitz

The Borowitz Report <borowitzreport@substack.com>  Unsubscribe	4:15 AM (10 hours ago)
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	Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more Greenland Suggests Trump Acquire Epstein's Island Instead Andy Borowitz Jan 15   READ IN APP   Davidoff Studios/Getty Images WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—In a counterproposal designed to ease tensions with the United States, on Thursday Greenland suggested that Donald J. Trump acquire Jeffrey Epstein's island instead. "President Trump has no roots on our island," Greenlandic government spokesman Hartvig Dorkelson said. "Epstein's island, on the other hand, must stir many happy memories for him." Acknowledging that Epstein's island "could benefit from rebranding," Dorkelson said, "More than the Kennedy Center, this is a place that should have Trump's name on it." Meanwhile, Trump ramped up his imperialist rhetoric, declaring that the US needed to own Lapland in order to corner the world market in laptops.

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****

Juan Matute

CCRC