Commenter Archive

NPR says that Trump fired six four-star level people. The other five were dudes.

While I absolutely agree that Franchetti should have been treated differently because she's a woman, unfortunately Biden codified the 28th Amendment.

AVP2 is on the Dreamlist at GoG and I can't find it on Steam at all.

So go to GoG and vote for it!

Like wildfire mitigation?

The Federal League lasted two seasons: 1913-1915. This was made smack dab in the middle of that.

Motorcycle Mike was a cartoon character of Frank King's (that webpage is in French, sorry, but it has a great selection of strips). The running gag was that Motorcycle Mike would just plow through anything and everything like a juggernaut, leaving havoc in his wake.

Might be time to revisit whether Israel shares its Iron Dome tech with Ukraine.

I'm not even assuming that Acosta was telling the truth.

Maybe he was lying! You'd think that that'd be something that we'd want to know!

Hey, have you ever seen this Cindy McCain clip from C-Span?

Yeah, you know what? We should have a post dedicated to finding out what happened.

Maybe with a comment section where we talk about how we hope we learn what happened.

What say you?

The best bet is to hope that enough time has passed to get Kenya to say "Ah, but what have you done for me *LATELY*?"

Now *THAT* is a proper deep dive. When we started, I thought we were going to wander through The Wife of Bath's Tale but we went in a much less heavy direction.

Thank you.

It's a good line. The Nation used it and attributed it to an African diplomat but the further back I go, it's attributed to Kenya.

This is the earliest I can find:

As a Kenyan official put it: Every time China visits we get a hospital, every time Britain visits we get a lecture.

— Enrico60🇨🇳🇷🇺🇵🇸 (@enfree1993) March 25, 2022

That, famously, had this particular follow up:

here comes the lecture lol

— regan (@stillreezy) March 25, 2022

For what it's worth, I think that releasing the files (including the ones that were lost for 60+ years) would do a great deal to assuage my own curiousity.

"But there are other people who are even crazier than you who won't be satisfied!"
"That's true. That said, I would like to see what was considered harmful to national security back in the 60s. I mean, we all know that the only things in those files are failed leads and silly interviews... right?"

What pushback on the left do you imagine there is?

Basically arguing against there being anything worth investigating at all and accusations that there is something worth investigating as being evidence of a grand conspiracy.

Remember Alexander Acosta? He was Trump's nominee for the Secretary of Labor. He was the guy who cut a sweetheart deal back in 2008.

Wikipedia talks about it:

Acosta, then the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, agreed to a plea deal, to grant immunity from all federal criminal charges to Epstein, along with four named co-conspirators and any unnamed "potential co-conspirators". That agreement "essentially shut down an ongoing FBI probe into whether there were more victims and other powerful people who took part in Epstein's sex crimes". At the time, this halted the investigation and sealed the indictment.

Remember what he said his reason was for this deal back in 2019 when Epstein got arrested again?

Crucially, when he was vetted for his cabinet post in the Trump administration, Acosta stated “I was told Epstein ‘belonged to intelligence’ and to leave it alone.”

A pretty small conspiracy.

I'm just glad that there wasn't a real journalistic investigation into that whole thing!

Then why are you calling what you believe a ‘conspiracy theory’?

Would you mind if I quoted you directly from above?

I’m actually kinda wondering if the GamerGate-gullible people on this site actually believe Zoe Quinn sent an army of harassment against Candace. On one had, there’s no evidence whatsoever that Zoe had anything to do with it. On the other hand, [insert conspiracy]

A lot of looking into Trump?

I guess I can understand why there'd be so much pushback among the left and, indeed, incuriosity on the part of journalists in general.

It is kind of amazing. What's also kind of amazing is that it's still classified.

That's weird, right? You agree that that is odd?

You know what the official government definition of "Secret" is?

This is from the Pentagon:

SECRET
Information in which the unauthorized disclosure could reasonably be expected to cause serious damage to the national security.

What in the world could possibly be in there that could reasonably be expected to have caused serious damage to the national security back in the 1960s?

Why in the world is it kept secret in 2025?

Surely you agree that there should be *NOTHING* in those files that could conceivably cause serious damage to national security in 2025, right?

Only a crazy conspiracy theorist would think that the Kennedy Assassination has facts associated with it that would harm national security in 2025.

I certainly have considered that possibility.

But you ask: Has it occurred to you that – like the Kennedy Files – there’s nothing left to release?

Did you know that there are *MULTIPLE* documents that have *NOT* been released?

Here's the AP:

The FBI on Tuesday said it discovered 2,400 new records related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy as federal agencies work to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order last month to release thousands of files.

The FBI said it’s working to transfer the records to the National Archives and Records Administration to be included in the declassification process.

The federal government in the early 1990s mandated that all documents related to the Nov. 22, 1963, assassination be housed in a single collection at the National Archives. And while the vast majority of the collection — which includes over 5 million pages of records — has been made public, researchers estimate that 3,000 files haven’t been released, either in whole or in part.

Let me repeat that last part:

"researchers estimate that 3,000 files haven’t been released, either in whole or in part."

So it seems to me quite likely that the Epstein files are like the Kennedy files when it comes to whether there is nothing left to release.

Also: "Patel and his people"

You're assuming a union that I do not necessarily assume.

Oh, so you're saying

Anyway, I remain interested in hearing Kash's explanation as to why Bondi didn't get the files.

The guys who got given the original Phase 1 binders were all "influencers" and their responses are not "wow! We got good stuff!" but "we got jerked around and we're pissed about it".

And they were made by their audience, not the other way around.

A handful of them are somewhat pot-committed. Like, for example, Pam Bondi.

You see the letter she sent Kash above, right? I am very interested in hearing why she didn't get any new files. I'm interested in hearing Kash say what he didn't get them.

I understand why you're not, mind. But understanding why you're not isn't particularly persuasive for why I shouldn't be.

"This whole thing just goes to prove that we need an intelligence arm of the government that isn't accountable to anybody. If they're accountable, that's fascism!"

Kash has tweeted...

The FBI is entering a new era—one that will be defined by integrity, accountability, and the unwavering pursuit of justice. There will be no cover-ups, no missing documents, and no stone left unturned — and anyone from the prior or current Bureau who undermines this will be swiftly pursued. If there are gaps, we will find them. If records have been hidden, we will uncover them. And we will bring everything we find to the DOJ to be fully assessed and transparently disseminated to the American people as it should be. The oath we take is to the Constitution, and under my leadership, that promise will be upheld without compromise.

Reagan was Goldwater + Neocons.
Trump is Goldwater without the Neocons.

Eh, those were small. According to the essay.

As such we probably shouldn't count them.

As for Carter... hrm. The Constitution talks about making treaties but it doesn't talk about ending them... and this wasn't challenged?

And then I googled and saw... oh. Goldwater.

Yeah, with his name on it, it was doomed. He could have said "the sky is blue" in 1979 and the Supreme Court would have shot it down.

Apparently she still has time to tweet that she's ticked.

Pam Bondi, who has not yet searched out members of the Warren Commission, has enough time on her hands to write a letter to Kash Patel.

JUST IN - Attorney General Pam Bondi says the FBI is withholding Epstein documents from the U.S. Department of Justice. pic.twitter.com/uWz4vlkvx8

— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) February 27, 2025

Only half of them. The other half are vindicated.

This list has been public since 2015. All one has to do is Google it. 🙄 https://t.co/O4Idoljbyq

— julie k. brown (@jkbjournalist) February 27, 2025