Dear Everybody:
The State of the Union is over, and we’re back to the usual madness, though people are still talking about Trump’s speech and its related disasters, but the BIG news remains the Epstein-Trump files, and it’s getting bigger by the minute. However, I’m not going to start with that. I’m going to start with an even worse story, from (you guessed it) the DHS:
The horror story of the day is a true horror story: ICE/THE BORDER PATROL/THE GESTAPO HAS MURDERED YET ANOTHER INNOCENT PERSON.
--A blind refugee from Burma who was requesting asylum, Nurul Shah Alam, was reported missing by his family on February 19th. Unbeknownst to them, and to his immigration lawyer, he had been arrested and detained in Buffalo, New York, who then released him--in the middle of the night in below-freezing temperatures. Border Patrol Agents dropped him off at a Tim Horton’s (a donut shop) 5 miles from his home and left him there to find his way home (Did I mention he was blind?) They did not notify his family or his attorney that he had been released. He had been missing ever since.
--Last night his body was found on a downtown street in the snow. Homicide detectives are investigating his death.
--ICE’s response: "He showed no signs of distress, mobility issues, or disabilities requiring special assistance," the US Customs and Border Patrol spokesman said." (Did I mention he was BLIND? Not only that, but you can tell from looking at his photo that he is blind.)
--From their official statement: "Our agents confirmed that Mr. Shah Alam entered the United States as a refugee on December 24, 2024, and was not amenable to removal. Border Patrol agents offered him a courtesy ride, which he chose to accept to a coffee shop, determined to be a warm safe location near his last known address, rather than be released directly from the Border Patrol station." (How many lies are in that paragraph? And what the heck does "not amenable to removal" mean?)
--Buffalo Mayor Sean Ryan said his death was preventable and "deeply disturbing and a dereliction of duty by the US Customs and Border Protection. A vulnerable man--nearly blind and unable to speak English--was left alone on a cold winter night with no known attempt to leave him in a safe, secure location." He called CBP’s behavior "unprofessional and inhumane."
--Nicholas Kristoff had some questions for the DHS: "1. How did your agents determine that Mr. Shah Alam wanted to be dropped off at the coffee shop, since he did not speak English? 2. Since Mr. Shah Alam presumably had no phone or money, how did the agents expect him to get home through 5 miles of snow? 3. What did they expect him to do when the coffee shop closed? 4. How did they determine that a blind man needing a cane had ‘no mobility issues or disabilities?’ 5. In the circumstances, why not notify the police or his family rather than dump him 5 miles from home? 6. Have you verified your information any better than when you declared that Alex Pretti and Renee Good were domestic terrorists?"
--As we find out more, he had been accused by ICE of being in possession of a weapon--a curtain rod he used as a walking stick.
--(Note: Mr. Alam’s death isn’t the only death that’s happened to people in ICE/Border Patrol custody. There have been six ICE deaths in Texas in the last six weeks, including three at the Fort Bliss camp. One was a homicide involving staff. So far it’s the deadliest year for ICE in two decades.)
--Ron Filipkowski: "They found him. He died. Another murder by our immigration goon squads."
--SteveG: "Depraved indifference. Tantamount to murder."
--Delicious Frizzledrip: "First, he clearly did have disabilities. Second, even if a person does not have disabilities, you do not leave them in a different location than you picked them up and you ensure they are left where they are safe from the elements."
--carl: "Fucking Gestapo. That’s what he gave us."
--Ck: "I am ashamed to be an American right now."
In the Epstein-Trump files news:
--The New York Times put the story of the missing interviews on its front page with the headline, "Epstein Files Are Missing Records About Woman Who Made Claim Against Trump," and now the Wall Street Journal confirms the reporting that the DOJ is withholding at least 3 FBI interviews which were listed on the evidence log but which are nowhere to be found in the released materials.
--Jonathan Lemire: "There’s no doubt that they were upset with the timing of these revelations; it drowned out (his) State of the Union."
--But here’s the REAL bombshell: A January 4, 2026, memo originally flagged by Lisa Rubin, instructed FBI personnel reviewing documents to specifically flag certain categories of material, among them FBI 302 forms, which memorialize witness interviews. These are exactly the materials that are missing. (The media is saying that the existence of a directive to flag them suggests an internal focus on managing or controlling the materials, but I think that’s putting it mildly.)
--The DOJ says it’s reviewing whether it improperly withheld materials that should have been released. (Yeah, it’s reviewing itself, which means the review is totally trustworthy. It can’t even say it’s having the DOJ’s inspector general do the review because Trump fired all the inspector generals last year.)
--MuellerSheWrote: "Oh, cool. The Justice Department is investigating itself. I’m sure this will be really thorough."
--zensoul: "Absolutely! I’m sure we all will have total confidence in the results of that investigation."
--Jonathan Lemire: "The DOJ’s claim of impartially handling the Epstein matter is underscored by the fact that at the DOJ headquarters in Washington, there’s a giant banner with Trump’s face on it."
--The Oversight Committee’s ranking Democratic member Robert Garcia: "We’re going to be demanding that the remaining files get released to the public. And that includes new files that were just discovered in the last couple days of a survivor that has made serious accusations against Trump. We have seen the archive manifest. That clearly shows that the interviews and information around this survivor have been removed and are missing. Where are these files? Who removed them? These questions have to be answered."
--In TOTALLY unrelated news, the FBI’s Kash Patel, who is widely suspected of redacting anything in the files pertaining to Trump and/or destroying them, tried to change the subject by firing 10 of the FBI agents who were involved in the Mar-a-lago stolen documents case. The only problem? In recent days there have been accusations that some of the documents stolen by Trump may have included damning documents regarding Epstein and him. So did Patel fire them to change the subject or to get in good with Trump by punishing agents he hates--or because those agents saw the documents and know what’s in them? Stay tuned...
In other Epstein-Trump news:
--Today Hillary Clinton testified to the House Oversight committee, even though she has never been considered a co-conspirator--Epstein told a friend he would have no luck setting up a meeting with Hillary because he didn’t have a relationship with her--and both she and Bill have already given sworn depositions.
--The committee, which is run by James Comer, who just said yesterday, "I’m gonna do whatever the president wants," is not deposing Larry Summers or Bill Gates or Bill Attia or Alan Dershowitz or Howard Lutnick or Sultan bin Salumen or former Prince Andrew. And it’s not interviewing any of the witnesses.
--Dem Rep Suhas Subramanyam: "There were no Republicans in Ohio to talk to Les Wexner, who bankrolled Epstein’s fortune for the most part. Hillary Clinton, who maintains that she doesn’t recall meeting Epstein, is here today, and we have a lot of Republicans here today."
--She is being deposed behind closed doors, but they’re promising to release both the video and the transcript of her deposition. (Note: They did release Les Wexner’s deposition video and transcript a couple of days after he testified, but the Republicans have been trying to pin this on the Clintons since Day 1, so we shall see.)
--Joe Scarborough: "She’s being deposed today while the Justice Department clearly, clearly got caught in a cover up by NPR, clearly got caught in a cover up as reported by NPR, as reported by Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal. And again, it’s just a farce. The whole thing is a farce."
--The Clintons’ lawyers temporarily halted the deposition in progress when it was discovered that Lauren Boebert had taken a photo of Hillary testifying and sent it to right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson, who posted it on social media, even though photos were strictly prohibited under the rules.
--MSNOW: "Ali Vitali reports the Hillary Clinton deposition has resumed, but that Clinton is asking press be allowed into the room for the rest of the deposition. Comer said NO--despite Lauren Boebert taking photos of Clinton and giving them to a far-right activist to post."
--Hillary gave a brief press conference outside after it was over: "I don’t know how many times I had to say I don’t know Jeffrey Epstein. I never went to his island. I never went to his homes. His offices."
--She also said: "It then got at the end quite unusual because I started being asked about UFOs and a series of questions about Pizzagate--one of the most vile bogus conspiracy theories that was propagated on the internet that was serving as the basis of a member’s questions about me." (And they haven’t even started on Bill.) Stay tuned...
In SOTU news:
--Trump has not been seen since the State of the Union.
--Aliyah Rahman, the autistic woman who was dragged out of her car by ICE on her way to a hospital appointment by ICE and who was a Democratic guest at the State of the Union address was not only removed from the chamber for standing instead of sitting down, but was manhandled by security guards.
--She was injured in the process (reports say her rotator cuff was torn) and taken to the emergency room. Afterwards, she was arrested and charged with unlawful conduct and not released until 4 a.m.
--Dem Rep Ilhan Omar said. "Reports indicate she was aggressively handled until someone intervened to secure medical attention for her. The heavy-handed response to a peaceful guest sends a chilling message about the state of our democracy. I am calling for a full explanation of why this arrest occurred."
--The Republicans are furious about Al Green holding up a sign that read, "Black people are not apes."
--MAGA podcaster Mike Gallagher: "Al Green is a national embarrassment."
--Right-wing podcaster Paratrooper Brady: "Al Green gets kicked out while his dumb sign gets tore up by Troy Nehls."
--Meanwhile, the right is "flooding the zone" with praise for Trump's State of the Union Address: Laura Ingraham said Trump’s speech "will go down as the greatest State of the Union in history."
--Dr. Oz: "It might have been the best State of the Union address ever--not just by a US President, but by any president." (Abraham Lincoln? FDR? Winston CHURCHILL? Really?)
--Stwriley: "I...was fascinated to watch the entire cabinet rising, clapping, and sitting in perfect unison like they were a Greek chorus. It was actually pretty creepy and definitely had that fascist vibe going."
In The Cruelty is the Point news:
--Kansas enacted into law its "bathroom bounty" law, which establishes a $1000 fine and up to 6 months in prison for a trans person using the wrong bathroom (it requires them to use the bathroom of their sex at birth) and offers citizens the right to "out" transgender people for using the wrong bathroom and sue for damages of up to $1000 against the trans person (hence the name of the law--the "bathroom bounty" law.)
--It also makes it illegal for a trans person to have a driver’s license that doesn’t reflect their "gender at birth." Even worse, it goes into effect immediately, so that trans people can’t even drive themselves to the DMV to get a new license. (Or use the bathroom while they’re waiting at the DMV to get their new license.)
--The bill was vetoed by the governor, but the veto was overridden. There was no public input before its passage and no grace period, like all other bills have had. In Kansas, all new laws go into effect on the following July 1. This one went into effect the same day.
--MuellerSheWrote: "Kansas must present a photo ID to vote."
In historical news:
--I’ve told you before about the red pointy, tasseled, pointy elf like hats the Norwegians knitted and wore as a symbol of resistance against the Nazis who’d occupied Norway. Today in 1942, the Nazis banned the hats, putting up an order that said: "ADVARSEL (Warning): Red top hats. The use of red top hats has increased so much in recent weeks that it is now considered a demonstration. The use of these hats is therefore prohibited as of Thursday February 26, 1942. From this day on, top hats will be taken away from anyone who appears wearing them and criminality will be imposed on the person concerned--for children under 14 years of age--against the parents as guardians."
--Norwegians outsmarted the ban with clever Christmas cards showing elves wearing hats in every other color than red--or no hats at all.
--Joyce Vance: "On February 26, 1942, red hats were banned by a government that feared dissent, that feared people who were willing to push back against its excesses. There’s an important lesson there. Dictators fear people who are willing to stand up for what’s right. Let’s make sure we’re those people."
--Or as Princess Leia would say, "The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers."
In other news:
--The Pentagon appealed the order blocking them from punishing Senator Mark Kelly for exercising his First Amendment rights and saying the military shouldn’t follow illegal orders.
--Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth just removed Vice Admiral Fred Kacher from his position as the Director of the Joint Staff after Kacher only took the post in December.
--Ron Filipkowski: "Hegseth doesn’t want career non-partisan professionals in senior military positions. He wants right-wing Christian nationalist political ideologues. Our military is being torn apart by this drunken fool."
--The Department of Labor building now has a giant Trump banner on it, too. (First the Department of Agriculture, then the DOJ, now this. And everyone is posting photos from the movie 1984 that look JUST LIKE THIS.)
--Trump is now selling "Fight, fight, fight!" watches in commemoration of his "assassination" attempt for $100,000 apiece.
In good news:
--A federal judge declared Trump’s ICE deportation of people to third countries (not their own) is illegal.
--Democrats now have a 10-point lead in a generic ballot and a 24-point advantage in enthusiasm.
--Scientists think they may have discovered how to switch off cancer genes for good by targeting epigenetic proteins.
Best headline of the day, from the Onion: "Trump delivers State of the Union Death Rattle."
Best comment of the day, from Dahlia Lithwick of Slate: "The Epstein story is...the template and the proof text for all that is happening in Minnesota and at dangerous detention centers, in efforts to punish members of Congress for lawful speech, for crypto scams, and for measles outbreaks. It is an ongoing road map for an administration that lives out the reality that they are rich and powerful and famous enough to be above the law each day, and wishes for the rest of us to ultimately learn and accept that fact..."
Keep calm and carry on,
Connie Willis