Dear Everybody:
Oh, you knew they weren’t really going to release all the Epstein files today, even though they were legally required to do so. After all, this is Trump’s DOJ, so they are stalling every which way they can:
--The files were supposed to come out at 3 p.m. EST, but now they’re saying they have till midnight.
--And it won’t be ALL the files because they’re just not ready, so they’ll be releasing some today (maybe) and the others in a couple of weeks...or later...I mean, they’re really short-handed because it’s Christmas and...
--Their failure to release all the files today puts them in direct violation of federal law. The Dems plan to go to court immediately to start contempt proceedings against Bondi and Todd Blanche and the DOJ.
--GOP Rep Thomas Massie: "Time’s up. Release the files."
--MuellerSheWrote: "DOJ will NOT release all the Epstein files today. So predictable."
--They finally did release what is supposed to be a searchable database of the files they did release, but if you type in "Trump" or "Clinton" or even "Epstein," it tells you "No results found. Please try a different search."
--MuellerSheWrote actually managed to get into the files--and found page after page of black. (I don’t mean lines blacked out, I mean the entire page is black. Page after page.)
--Trump refused to take any questions at an event today because he knew the questions would all be about the Epstein release. His excuse: "I don’t want to soil it up by taking questions..."
--Meanwhile Spencer Kuvin, attorney for the Epstein survivors, is calling for FOIA litigation. "There is absolutely no reason that the Dept. of Justice has not reviewed this material for release in the last 18 years."
--And Dem Rep Ro Khanna says Attorney General Pam Bondi should be impeached. "She stood up there and said, ‘there’s nothing more to see. There are no more documents. We’ve released everything. And now, six months later, her deputy is going on TV saying, we’re releasing hundreds of thousands of documents. And by the way, there are more documents we will be releasing. Well, what changed? Did she lie back then, or what changed? How did they discover all these documents?"
--Ro Khanna also went after Bondi and the DOJ for not contacting any of the survivors or their lawyers, even though they claim to be protecting them, and even though the survivors and the lawyers are the ones who co-authored the bill demanding the release. They also have not talked to the Oversight Committee.
It looks like it will be at least till tomorrow before information, documents, and photos start coming out. Meanwhile, here are some more stories from the New York Times article I told you about yesterday:
--"For nearly two decades, as Mr. Trump cut a swath through the party circuits of New York and Florida, Mr. Epstein was perhaps his most reliable wingman. With other men, Mr. Epstein might discuss tax shelters...with Mr. Trump, he talked about sex."
--In 1993, Trump held a party at Mar-a-lago that was supposedly being held to kick off a beauty pageant. Contestants were flown in. The only other guest at the party besides Trump was Epstein. During dinner Jill Harth said he groped her under the table, then cornered her in a bedroom normally used by Ivanka and "forcibly, kissed, fondled, and restrained her" from leaving. That same night he sneaked into the room of another contestant, got into bed with her uninvited, and groped her.
--Trump demanded he be provided to a 17-year-old Czech contestant.
--Another contestant, Beatrice Keul, attended a press luncheon at the Plaza (owned by Trump) where one of Trump’s employees asked her to meet privately with him in a suite upstairs. Almost as soon as she arrived, Trump began groping her, kissing her, and trying to lift her dress. "I yelled, I screamed, I pushed him. He didn’t want to give up." She said she was withholding some details of what happened because she had been subject to anonymous threats.
--Epstein told Harth, "Don likes you very much." He told her Trump had organized parties at Mar-a-lago and "he would love me to join." Epstein told her he would take care of her, her flights, her hotel. You just need to pack and come to the party at Mar-a-lago. She said no. Epstein told her how much money he had in Swiss banks, famous friends he could arrange meetings with. "Epstein knew exactly what he was doing. He had a hunting method. It was a routine."
--One woman who was trafficked at age 17 attended Mar-a-lago parties. She said Trump was "always all over the girls." She provided a photo of herself with Trump.
--The models sent to the Mar-a-lago parties were given red-and-white striped wristbands, which advertised them as "meat." (No one else at the party had to wear a wristband.)
--One girl described feeling ill after she had a drink and thought the drink might have been spiked.
--One girl describes how she was taken by Epstein to visit Trump. "This is a good one, right?" Epstein said, elbowing Trump playfully.
--One woman, Heather Braden, said Trump and Epstein were at the same parties and dinners, including at Mar-a-lago.
--Ron Rice, head of Hawaiian Tropic, sent models and pageant contests to Mar-a-lago for parties at Trump’s request. Tina Davis, who was 14 at the time, was sent to one of the Mar-a-lago parties. She was told to "dress sexy" and was given champagne as soon as she got there. Her mother, who accompanied her, said, "All the girls were really young. Some of them could have been in training bras."
--The mother saw Marla Maples in the bathroom. She looked the mother in the eye and said, ""Whatever you do, do not let her around any of these men, and especially my husband." (Maples denies saying it, but doesn’t deny "protecting young women in any way I could."
In Rats Deserting a Sinking Ship news:
--Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming will not run for re-election in 2026. (Calling Liz Cheney...)
--GOP Elise Stefanik dropped out of the race for New York governor and will NOT be seeking re-election in Congress.
In Trump Destroys Washington, DC news:
--Trump announced this afternoon that his hand-picked board had voted unanimously to rename the Kennedy Center after him. Trump had fired the original board, put on his own people,and had himself named as chairman of the Center. He has been lobbying to have the name changed to his ever since.
--Trump claimed this came as a complete surprise: "This was brought up by one of the very distinguished board members, and they voted on it, and there’s a lot of board members, and they voted unanimously."
--Karoline Leavitt: "I have just been informed that the highly respected Board of the Kennedy Center, some of the most successful people from all parts of the world, have just voted unanimously to name the Kennedy Center to the Trump-Kennedy Center. Congratulations to President Donald J. Trump and likewise congratulations to President Kennedy because this will be a truly great team long into the future!" (Note: The board members include Maria Bartiroma, Pam Bondi, Sergio Gor, Laura Ingraham, Lee Greenwood, Dan Scavino, Usha Vance, and Susie Wiles."
--Trump’s head of the Kennedy Center chided her for "not helping." "Donald Trump had to step in and save it because you didn’t help. You should thank him."
--Kennedy Center board member and Dem Rep Joyce Beatty said the vote wasn’t unanimous at all. "I was on that call and as I tried to push my button to voice my concern, to ask questions, and certainly not to vote in support of this, I was muted. Each time I tried to speak, I was muted."
--Congresswoman Chellie Pingree: "The White House says the Kennedy Center board vote was ‘unanimous’...BULLSHIT...This is beyond absurd, totally illegal, and a disgrace to the memory and legacy of JFK.
--Dem Rep Joyce Beatty: "They have no regard for the rule of law. They are acting as what criminals do. And it’s criminal that they’re doing this. I served with Joe Kennedy when I first went on the board. He’s absolutely right. They cannot independently, as a handful of self-appointed people who giggled and laughed, the whole board meeting was a mockery of professional boards...the board meeting (a zoom meeting) was held in someone’s home, the home of the Wynns that were hosting it...Typically on a zoom, you can see the table where the board members are. None of this happened. It was a farce, just as most of the things that they have been doing. It was a dog and pony show."
--Today workmen were already hard at work putting his name up on the building, which means they intended to do this all along and the "vote" by the board was just a fig leaf.
The reaction to the "vote" has been fierce:
--CNN: ‘The move quickly raised legal concerns as to whether the board has the authority to rename the arts institution, which Congress designated in 1964 as a memorial to the Democratic president."
--timshriver: "Perhaps the board isn’t aware that the Kennedy Center is THE memorial to the President of the United States John F. Kennedy. Would they rename the Lincoln Memorial? The Jefferson? That would be an insult to great Presidents. This, too, is an insult to a great President."
--Jake Sherman: "The building is statutorily named the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing aRts. Congress did not give the board the authority to change the name."
--Kerry Kennedy: "President Kennedy proudly stood for justice, peace, equality, dignity, diversity, and compassion for those who suffer. President Trump stands in opposition to these values, and his name should not be placed alongside President Kennedy’s. President Trump and his administration have spent the past year repressing free expression, targeting artists, journalists, and comedians, and erasing the history of Americans whose contributions made our nation better and more just."
--Maria Shriver, the niece of JFK, criticized the board for agreeing to rename it in a post on Twitter. She said the decision was "beyond comprehension that this sitting president has sought to rename this great memorial dedicated to President Kennedy...It is beyond wild that he would think adding his name in front of President Kennedy’s name is acceptable. It is not."
--Joe Kennedy III, the great nephew of JFK: "It can no sooner be renamed than can someone rename the Lincoln Memorial, no matter what anyone says."
--Federal law requires that the board "assure that after December 2, 1983, no additional memorials or plaques in the nature of memorials shall be designated or installed in the public areas of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing arts."
--Desert Scientist: "This just keeps getting worse and worse! Trump is living up to all horrible behavior that I didn’t imagine and to all my worst fears."
--wvmcl: "This will be the death knell for attendance. Those like myself who had continued to patronize the center despite our distaste will now have no choice but to stay away permanently. I will not cross the threshold of an institution dedicated to a lying criminal racist who is destroying everything worthwhile and valuable about my country."
--Ron Filipkowski: "Every day Trump has to remind people that he is an obnoxious ass who only cares about himself and has no consideration for others, in case anyone forgot that."
--Pat Doyle Ford: "He’s like a dog that has to piss on everything to make it his."
In It’s a Cult news:
--Elon Musk: "It is certainly a nice gesture...but there will be no poverty in the future and no need to save money. There will be universal high income."
--Dr. Oz on Trump: "He gets taller in time."
--Commerce Secretary Lutnick, explaining Trump’s saying that he’s lowering the price of drugs by 400%, 500%, even 600% when lowering them 100% would make them free, and lowering them more than that would mean the pharmaceutical companies were paying YOU: "No, what he’s saying is you bring it--if a, if a drug was $100 and you bring the drug down to $13, right, if you’re looking at it from $13, right, it’s down, it’s down 7 times. It’s down. Well, but it’s 700% higher price before. It’s down 700% now, right? So $13 would--to go up 700% to get back to the old number. So it all depends on when you look at it. You could say it’s down 87% or you could say it’s, it would have to go up 7005 to be the same one. So it just depends on what you look at."
--Newt Gingrich: "I think we’ll keep the House and the Senate. Probably gain seats in both. If that happens, I think he (Trump) will be rivaling the top three or four Presidents in American history..."
In historical news:
--After Hitler’s death, Germany removed all monuments to Hitler and removed his name from any buildings where his name appeared.
In other news:
--37,000 more employees have been fired from the Veterans Administration. (Merry Christmas!)
--In a leaked memo, US Attorney Pam Bondi instructed the FBI to place bounties on trans activists.
--Trump sued the BBC for $5 billion pounds for what he claimed was deceptive editing of his January 6 speech to a crowd that then marched to the Capitol and helped fuel a racist riot.
In good news:
--A New York federal judge rejected Sarah Palin’s bid for a new libel trial against the New York Times and also refused Palin’s request that the judge recuse himself from the case.
--The judge in Ken Paxton’s divorce case ordered the release of all the divorce records, which media outlets had sued to get. (Paxton’s wife, if you will recall, said she had to ask for a divorce "on biblical grounds." Paxton, who’s running for office, had been fighting the release tooth and nail.)
--The first human cornea transplant using 3D printed, lab-grown tissue has restored sight to the patient. This will be a game-changer for millions of people suffering from blindness.
--It’s not the only thing using 3D printers. In every community where ICE and the Border Patrol show up, people are printing out thousands of 3D printer whistles to use to inform people that they’re in the neighborhood and warn any immigrants to take cover.
In Christmas news:
--The movie "A Christmas Story," about the little kid Ralphie who wanted an official Red Ryder carbine action two-hundred shot range model air rifle with a compass in the stock for Christmas--"You’ll shoot your eye out, kid!"--was pretty much ignored by critics who didn’t know quite what to make of it at first. They thought it was "too dark" and "too violent" and thought it wasn’t appropriate for kids due to the "strong language," and consequently it was a commercial flop when it came out. Luckily, the public was smarter, and it’s been a hit ever since, with some channels playing it nonstop for 24 hours on Christmas Day.
--The story--or rather stories--the movie was made from were in Jean Shepherd’s books, IN GOD WE TRUST--ALL OTHERS PAY CASH and WANDA HICKEY’S NIGHT OF GOLDEN MEMORIES AND OTHER DISASTERS, which were based in turn on his autobiographical radio broadcasts.
--Its legacy has been far-reaching--Ovaltine decoder rings and getting your tongue stuck to a flagpole and leg lamps in fishnet stockings and the Lone Ranger’s horse Victor and packages marked "frah-jee-lay" have become part of the Christmas vocabulary and I know a bunch of families (mine included) who go out to Chinese restaurants for dinner on Christmas Day because of this movie.
Best comment of the day, from George Takei: "As 2025 ends, the pattern is unmistakable. Trump’s second term is unraveling under its own weight. A hollowed-out President, factional chaos, and policies that keep backfiring. Step back from the daily noise, and the consequences are impossible to miss."
Keep calm and carry on,
Connie Willis