Listen To This Story

Hasn’t this been a wonderful year? None quite like it that I can remember. 

And it’s certainly not getting any less wonderful as we count down the hours. Let’s have a look at the 2025 Grand Guignol’s final act: Could it be war? 

I mean, is it just me or does this whole Venezuela business smell like when George W. Bush’s administration cooked up a phony “urgent” reason to invade Iraq? And pretty much everyone bought it? 

Putting aside the dubious legitimacy of the cause, given all the problems facing America and the world, could clamping down on Venezuela — even if one agreed that the regime there is troubling enough to start a war — possibly be a top priority? 

And could another unprovoked invasion ever be a good thing? How could this seemingly inexorable recrudescence of past blunders not be a bigger deal in the public space? 

At least we see some pushback about the ongoing US military attacks on small civilian vessels of unproven provenance and intention. Numerous members of Congress have been demanding to see an unedited video of the September 2 strike on a suspected drug trafficking boat in the Caribbean, in which a second strike on that same boat killed two survivors who were clinging to the wreckage.

But a later strike, the one on September 15, deserves at least equal attention. The Trump administration claimed the boat was from Venezuela, that it contained “positively identified Tren de Aragua Narco terrorists,” that it was struck in international waters near Venezuela, and that “big bags of cocaine and fentanyl” were found “spattered all over the ocean.”

There’s a considerably different version of this story: The men in the boat were fishermen — from Colombia, not Venezuela, within a few miles of the Colombian shore — looking for marlin and tuna.

Relatives of one of the victims, Alejandro Carranza, recognized him in a video of the strike. And Colombian President Gustavo Petro, himself a fisherman, recognized him. According to Airwars, the “Civilian Harm Watchdog”:

Based on the video footage published by the US military, relatives pointed out that the men seem to be fixing the engines when the strike occurred because one of the engines was down and the other one was lifted, which is the universal sign that the boat was adrift and experiencing mechanical issues. The report included an image of the victim Alejandro smiling at the camera, wearing a camo-printed Nike hat and a copy of his Colombian ID.

Regarding the location of the strike — now revealed to be near the Colombian shore, and not in international waters outside Venezuela — how could the Trump administration expect to get away with such gross deception? 

I guess they didn’t expect anyone to recognize the occupants of the boat. But it was careless of them to release even an edited video of the strike.

If, as Donald Trump claims, “bags of cocaine and fentanyl” were found “spattered all over the ocean,” why have they not shown videos of this to the public?

There is no question that Americans want drug traffickers stopped — but why all the lies? And why hasn’t the media or Congress paid more attention to the major whopper about the September 15 strike?

Are we headed toward another war over oil, this time in Venezuela? It has more oil than any other country in the world. US Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller said Venezuela’s oil “belongs to Washington.”

And how about Colombia? It also has tremendous oil reserves. Recently Trump said Colombia was “producing a lot of drugs,” and said of Colombia’s president, “So he better wise up or he’ll be next. He’ll be next soon. I hope he’s listening; he’s going to be next.”

Conspiracies and ‘Conspiracies’

Heard a good joke lately? Try the Justice Department’s Epstein document dump. Thousands of files, “nothing bad about Trump,” and many totally blacked out. My initial search of the DOJ website Epstein files, shortly after they were posted, turned up exactly one hit for “Trump” — a book on Epstein’s shelf — while yielding endless photos of Bill Clinton from trips Epstein happened to join. That takes talent. And intent. And a lot of time — like the year Trump’s DOJ has had custody of the files, and particularly the months gone by since the Massie-Khanna discharge petition first got legs.

Still, hope springs eternal. 

One thing I noticed was that while The New York Times has shown a great appetite for figuring out the Epstein mystery, it still feels the need to slam others for the same thing. 

In its Saturday piece based on an initial review of the new documents, it added what by now seems an apparently required, though also obviously needless, disclaimer-slash-putdown:

Whether those who have woven elaborate conspiracy theories around Mr. Epstein and the government’s handling of the investigation will be satisfied by anything the Justice Department releases seems open to question. 

Investigative reporting basically checks out conspiracy theories. So does a lot of criminal investigation and prosecution. 

Ask anyone who has ever worked in a large organization, military or corporate: People are always secretly doing things in coordination with others. And, guess what? Trying to explain how any of those work… that’s a “conspiracy theory.”  

Sometimes they’re actually true. So enough already with this shopworn and hypocritical insult of your competitors. Let’s invite the legacy media in the new year to find a new way to differentiate between legitimate questioning and wacky, quacky fabrications based purely on an agenda rather than evidence or logic. 

Boys Will Be Boys

Speaking of things that inspire a lack of trust, have you seen Susie Wiles’s whitewashed explanation for Trump’s close relationship, since the 1980s, with the aforementioned Epstein? 

They were “young, single playboys together.”  

I guess boys will be boys. It’s understandable that places like The New York Times, while reporting on how close Epstein and Trump were, still offer disclaimers that there is no evidence Trump knew about Epstein’s wrongdoing. I get, of course, that they probably have to say that from a legal standpoint. 

But let’s face it: Trump’s whole operation outside of real estate was centered around women as commodities, essentially — the modeling agency, the pageants, the parties, the trophy girlfriends and wives. I mean: Did he ever have a healthy relationship? 

A sample from the latest release of the Epstein files. We do not know the identity of the author, or the recipient.

Another document seems to have been released by mistake — because of what it says about Trump on Page 4. The rest of the document concerns the grotesque, long-term sexual abuse of “Doe” by Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.

Case 1:20-cv-00484 Document 1 Filed 01/17/20 Page 4 of 10

During one of Doe’s encounters with Epstein, he took her to Mar-a-Lago where he introduced her to its owner, Donald J. Trump. Introducing 14-year-old Doe to Donald J. Trump, Epstein elbowed Trump playfully asking him, referring to Doe, “This is a good one, right?” Trump smiled and nodded in agreement. They both chuckled and Doe felt uncomfortable, but, at the time, was too young to understand why. 

Another illuminating sample from the recent release of files:

This notice came in late Saturday:

At least 16 files disappeared from the Justice Department’s public webpage for documents related to Jeffrey Epstein — including a photograph showing President Donald Trump — less than a day after they were posted, with no explanation from the government and no notice to the public.

Better Watch What You Say

Here’s another example of the abuse of language to create a false impression or to achieve a dubious result. Larry Bushart, a retired law enforcement officer in Tennessee, was hauled off to jail and held for 37 days. He couldn’t pay the $2 million bond. His crime: A photo and its caption.

Among the comments on Facebook about a vigil for Charlie Kirk 10 days after his killing, Bushart posted a photo of Donald Trump, alongside what Trump said after a 2024 shooting at Perry High School in Iowa: “We have to get over it.”  

Bushart captioned the image: “This seems relevant today.” Meaning (with deadly irony), get over the Kirk killing.  

But look at the contrived language authorities used in order to charge him: “Threatening mass violence at a school.” He is now suing. 

Taking Care of People With Guns

Given that Trump loves slashing people’s pay and benefits and is generally hostile to and insulting toward government employees, it’s worth paying attention when he does the opposite. 

From scattered examples I’ve seen, one could be excused for noticing that one group he consistently  takes at least some care of — is the people with the guns. They also happen to be the people upon whom he must depend if he plans to continue expanding the repression that is a hallmark of his second term, or seize power beyond his term.

In Trump’s proposed pay hike for the federal staffers who still have jobs, active duty military will get a 3.8 percent pay raise next year, plus a one-time bonus of $1,776 (get it?); federal law enforcement employees will potentially get a raise of around 3.8 percent, pegged to specific designations; while federal civilian employees will get a paltry 1 percent base pay raise. 

Who’s in Charge, Really?

For a long time, it has occurred to some of us that the title “President” Trump was a bit of a misnomer. For one thing, much of his time seems spent waging war on his perceived enemies and issuing random orders based mostly on whim, or on the advice of whomever he spoke to last. But recently, reports of the extent to which he does not make decisions or determine policy at all are becoming commonplace. 

Hence, the notion of a President Stephen Miller and a Vice President Russell Vought (or the reverse?) is beginning to spread. 

Now, it’s time for this to be front and center. A deranged felon presides over what is still the most powerful country in the world. And some power-mad underlings — like the Nazi henchmen who never quite got the attention they deserved — are carrying out what are largely their own agendas.

The Horribleness Within 

The agendas being pursued surely include Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s. And we see the resulting chaos. 

After scaring multitudes of Americans into NOT vaccinating, the Trump Centers for Disease Control is now urging everyone to get flu shots following record child deaths. But despite more than 1,900 cases of measles and over 25,000 cases of whooping cough (statistics vary) in 2025, there’s no urging from the Trump CDC to get vaccinated for these sometimes lethal diseases.

And, on the topic of Elon Musk and his “algorithms,” which I wrote about last week, this week they shoved to the top of my “notifications” Laura Loomer calling the murdered Rob Reiner a “loser” and basically blaming him for his own death. (In fine MAGA influencer style, Loomer appended a fake posting, ostensibly from Reiner’s account, with a “Fuck all of you MAGA…” quote — which we have chosen, as a matter of taste and respect, not to reprint in full.)

Loomer is obviously a sick individual. And what kind of person not only refuses to censor her, but actually goes out of his way to make sure you see whatever deranged thing she has to say at the moment? 

It’s been a long time since X (well, Twitter) actually cared if anything was true. Getting rid of the content monitors was a big part of Musk’s commitment to “free speech.” Turning what had been “a global town square” into a cesspool of rage-bait.

True Heroes

At a time when so many “influencers” embody the worst characteristics of humanity, I find myself pondering those among us who are truly role models. 

Been thinking about the magnificent individual who raced forward and brought down a mass murderer in Sydney, Australia. When two gunmen started firing at Jews during a Hanukkah celebration on Bondi Beach, Ahmed al Ahmed crept between two parked cars, jumped out and tackled one of the gunmen, and wrestled the rifle away from him. Soon after, this hero was shot several times in the arm and faces multiple surgeries in the future.

Al Ahmed wasn’t the only hero that day. During the shooting, Chaya Dadon, a teenage girl, left her safe spot under a bench, and threw herself on top of two children, and stayed there continuing to shield the children after she was shot in the thigh.

Two more heroes from that day — Boris and Sofia Gurman — tried to disarm one of the suspected shooters before the rampage began, but were shot and killed in the process. They were the first to die.

Heroes can be found in many unlikely places. In November, Samir Zitoumi, a United Kingdom train employee, was badly wounded when he saved several passengers on a train from a man with a knife, by diverting and blocking him with his own body. King Charles hailed him as a hero.

In May 2018, Mamoudou Gassama climbed up four stories on the exterior of a building in Paris, within just 30 seconds, to save a little boy who was dangling from a balcony. “I just didn’t have time to think. … I just climbed up and thank God, God helped me. The more I climbed the more I had the courage to climb up higher, that’s it.”

How many of us would do that? In fact, what will we do, at all, to stand up to bullies when the risks to ourselves are far less? Perhaps the problem is that we have too much time to think.

Unhappy With America? Putin Welcomes You

One of the biggest bullies of all, President Vladimir Putin of Russia, has introduced a new “shared values visa” aimed at Americans who feel their country is “too woke. ”One of the American families who have actually emigrated to Russia, the Hares from Texas, say they moved last year because they felt “persecuted” in America. The nature of the persecution? 

“We were noticing a great upsurge in LGBT-type policies coming into the government, especially the school system,” Leo Hare says.

“This is where we drew a line in the sand,” his wife Chantelle adds. “This is a complete demonic attack against the conservative Christian families.”

Over 2,000 other Americans, each presumably with their own justification, have joined the Hares. 

About That Nobel Prize

As we struggle to find role models, our attention turns to those awarded top prizes. And we’re all duly impressed. 

Certainly the scientific prizes have merit. And plenty of those honorees getting the more subjective liberal arts awards, like a Pulitzer or a Peace Prize, are more than worthy.  

But aren’t many establishment prizes partially bullshit, subject to the biases and agenda of the contest runners and judges? 

I bring this up because of Trump’s angling for the Nobel Peace Prize — and the chance he could actually get it. One feels the award has already been compromised by the awarding of it to the Venezuelan opposition leader María Machado. Standing up to a bully and dictator certainly is something, but is the opposition she represents actually likely to foster the public interest and rid the country of its endemic corruption? The Venezuelan monied class she represents doesn’t have a great track record.

I looked up the intent of the Peace Prize. Alfred Nobel’s will mandates that the prize focus on work for “fraternity between nations,” “abolition or reduction of standing armies,” and “promotion of peace congresses.” The Norwegian Nobel Committee stipulates that this include contributions to human rights, justice, and global stability. 

Not sure about Machado. Sure as it gets about Trump!  

American Royalty

We’re just not that good at finding appropriate heroes, it seems. In this regard, I continue to be fascinated by the slavishness and cultishness toward all things Trump. Reminds me of those slightly daffy fans of the monarchy who turn out regularly to cheer on the Windsors. 

Here is some urgently “BREAKING” news on a Trump:

Seriously…. Some Actual Good News 

But, you say, it’s the holidays; give me something to celebrate. And I shall. 

According to our new, mostly reliable commentator on the madcap Trumpscape, Marjorie Taylor Greene,  “the dam is breaking” in the GOP against Trump. 

Well, dam! 

It seems so, if one considers the Senate’s stunning demand that Secretary of War (!) Pete Hegseth produce evidence behind the decision to murder those two unknown men clinging to that small boat. 

And finally, from “headlines I’d like to see”: 

CDC to Recommend That Children No Longer Be Exposed to Trump

Ho ho ho.