alierak

https://www.dailykos.com/story/2025/7/16/2333715/--It-s-a-hoax-Trump-continues-to-flail-over-Epstein-files-sh-tshow?pm_campaign=blog&pm_medium=rss&pm_source=

The country, and that includes some MAGA faithfuls, aren’t letting go of the White House’s attempt to brush off the unreleased Jeffrey Epstein files and President Donald Trump is seemingly starting to squirm under the spotlight.

“It’s a hoax, I know it’s a hoax,” he said to reporters from the Oval Office on Wednesday. And if you ask Trump, he’ll tell you that it’s time to move on because Epstein is “dead and gone.”

YouTube Video

Where many were left disappointed when it was announced that Epstein, a convicted sex offender charged with trafficking minors, did not have an infamous black book containing a high-profile list, Trump seems to be ready to move on. And not only is the president pushing the idea that the client list is fake, but he’s now saying that it’s all purported by the pesky Democrats.

“It was started by Democrats, it’s been run by the Democrats for four years,” he added. “Some stupid Republicans, some foolish Republicans have fallen into the net and so they try to do the Democrat’s work.”

YouTube Video

While Democrats currently may be the ones trying to get the files released, it wasn’t too long ago that the GOP and Trump himself ran on the platform of revealing the truth and exposing the evils behind Epstein’s work.

Even the White House held a spoof Epstein file release meeting with right-leaning influencers—which, not unlike the current day, gave the public virtually no new information.

MAGA and the conspiracy theorists following the Epstein story have long awaited Trump’s promised release of the files to finally expose who was also involved in the traumatic sexual dealings of the disgraced millionaire. However, when the time came for Attorney General Pam Bondi to do her job, she released a lackluster report saying that, all along, there was actually nothing there but smoke and mirrors.

Even Epstein’s rumored suicide was reduced to a hoax as well, with the department releasing footage from the prison from the night of his death. It didn’t take long for eagle-eyed viewers to not only notice almost three missing minutes, or more, of footage, but for journalists to note the doctored metadata from the file sent by the White House.

Known conspiracist and far-right mouthpiece Alex Jones was one to call Trump and the White House’s dismissal “beyond fu@ked up.”

Even election denying, former Fox News host Tucker Carlson is fuming over the lack of findings as he leads MAGA’s furor.

“The fact that the U.S. government, the one that I voted for, refused to take my question seriously and instead said, ‘Case closed, shut up, conspiracy theorist,’ was too much for me,” he said during a Turning Point USA Student Action Summit on Friday.

But as Trump’s more faithful turn away from him, he is making his stance clear.

“They’re stupid people,” he told reporters. “All it is is the Republicans, certain Republicans, got duped by the Democrats and they’re following a Democrat playbook.”

https://www.dailykos.com/story/2025/7/16/2333715/--It-s-a-hoax-Trump-continues-to-flail-over-Epstein-files-sh-tshow?pm_campaign=blog&pm_medium=rss&pm_source=

https://www.eschatonblog.com/2025/07/all-we-have-to-do-is-keep-talking.html

Never stop.

The end is nowhere in sight, as the president’s supporters — from MAGA influencers and Republican politicians — continue to raise hell over the Justice Department’s memo announcing the administration’s belief that Epstein killed himself in prison, and that it was effectively closing its case on the convicted sex offender and accused sex trafficker. The melodrama has clearly eaten away at the notoriously mercurial president’s patience. “They won’t shut the fuck up about it,” Trump privately vented — referring to conservative influencers and media types lashing out over the Epstein memo — according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter.

https://www.eschatonblog.com/2025/07/all-we-have-to-do-is-keep-talking.html

https://xkcd.com/3116/

https://www.dailykos.com/story/2025/7/16/2333707/-Florida-GOP-steals-disaster-relief-tools-for-twisted-Alligator-Alcatraz?pm_campaign=blog&pm_medium=rss&pm_source=

Newly uncovered documents detailing the process of building Florida’s so-called “Alligator Alcatraz” immigrant detention facility show that equipment meant to be used to respond to natural disasters was diverted to the right-wing project.

Talking Points Memo examined the contracts between vendors and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration, uncovering one with Baker’s Electronics & Communications Inc. that refers to an “Atlas trunked radio system,” which is used by public safety agencies for communication.

The document indicates that the system was “pulled” from an existing disaster preparedness platform and sent to “Alligator Alcatraz.” The contract also indicated that the system had to “be back-filled to prevent a response gap during hurricane season given the unknown duration of detention center operation.”

Flooding is seen in Florida following Hurricane Irma in 2017.

No U.S. state has more hurricanes than Florida. The storms, flooding, and other destruction associated with such weather events have taken thousands of lives over the years. Despite Florida’s need for an extensive preparedness infrastructure, the contract appears to prove that the right’s pet project took priority instead.

In addition to concerns about diverted emergency equipment, recent reporting from the Miami Herald revealed that several contractors involved in the facility’s construction were also donors to DeSantis and the Florida GOP.

The detention facility is operating similar to a black site, run by the state government with little to no oversight. The reasons for why people are being detained are hidden from the public, and those inside are not informed of the terms of their incarceration. The state is receiving funding from the Trump administration as a reward for operating.

Democratic officials in Florida recently sued the state after they were denied entry to conduct standard oversight. The DeSantis administration is notoriously secretive and has threatened the press over investigations into the governor’s wife, Casey Desantis.

The tactic echoes the Trump administration’s approach at the federal level, where Democratic lawmakers have been arrested while trying to investigate ICE detention facilities.

“Alligator Alcatraz”—a brand that Florida Republicans have now monetized with merchandise—is a manifestation of Trump’s previously expressed desire for an inhumane immigration detention facility.

He and other leading Republicans have expressed glee at the prospect of violating human rights—and they’re clearly willing to hobble emergency response systems for the opportunity to do so.

https://www.dailykos.com/story/2025/7/16/2333707/-Florida-GOP-steals-disaster-relief-tools-for-twisted-Alligator-Alcatraz?pm_campaign=blog&pm_medium=rss&pm_source=

https://www.dailykos.com/story/2025/7/16/2333676/-Sure-let-the-DOGE-bros-access-another-government-database?pm_campaign=blog&pm_medium=rss&pm_source=

Though the so-called Department of Government Efficiency doesn’t grab as many headlines as it did in its Elon-Musk-led heyday, its workers cling like wood ticks on various agencies and continue to have access to a staggering amount of data.

Take the Department of Agriculture.

On Tuesday, Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin wrote a letter to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on behalf of Wisconsin farmers, expressing the legitimate concern that letting DOGE rummage around in USDA databases of private data seems not great. Baldwin also pointed out that DOGE also has access to the National Payment System, giving it control over billions of dollars in loans and payments to farmers.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, shown in February.

DOGE intrusion “not only breaches [farmers’] privacy, but also raises serious concerns about the future of USDA payments, our nation’s food security, and the consolidation of farmland and processing operations,” Baldwin wrote.

This project seems to be led by a DOGE bro named Jordan Wick. Who is Jordan Wick? Surely someone with deep experience in agriculture, the intricacies of farm finances, and/or government payment systems? Oh, heavens no. He’s a 28-year-old former software engineer for Waymo, the self-driving car company. Yes, the very same Waymo that just recalled over 1,200 vehicles because they were prone to crashing into barriers, which is really not what you want in a taxi.

Nonetheless, Wick appears to have unprecedented access to USDA data. A source provided NPR with access logs revealing that Wick can see all the private, personal, and financial information at USDA, and can change or cancel payments and loans. He has access that no one else at USDA has.

Even those tasked with the professional responsibility of explaining why Wick needs this level of access can come up with only a series of buzzwords. The “USDA Efficiency Team”—which is apparently what they’re calling the burrowed-in DOGE kids now—is reviewing “many loans, guarantees, and payments” for supposed fraud and national security concerns, per a USDA spokesperson.

Why? Because “the abuse of USDA systems and data centers is a serious issue,” said a USDA spokesperson, and the DOGE team has been “immensely supportive due to their unmatched skillset in protecting our data and ensuring those that use their positions to access systems to defraud American taxpayers.”

It’s unclear if the spokesperson is accusing farmers or USDA employees of defrauding American taxpayers, but let’s talk about that “unmatched skillset” part. What skillset, exactly? Wick’s past experience programming self-driving cars? Or perhaps the spokesperson meant Wick is a genius at keeping data safe. Well, except for the part where he may have been a part of DOGE’s illegal exfiltration of National Labor Relations Board data.

Letting Wick determine what contracts and payments are valid will probably go as well as when the government let a different DOGE bro review Department of Veterans’ Affairs contracts. The bro wrote an AI program—or rather, he co-wrote it with another AI. Said new AI program then was turned loose in the VA systems, where it promptly and incorrectly determined that over 1,000 contracts were worth $34 million apiece, when some of them were worth more like $35,000.

These tech kiddies don’t have an “unmatched skillset.” They don’t even have a normal baseline skillset for the jobs they have barged into. The Trump administration's project of firing all federal workers with specialized knowledge was bad enough, but it’s just adding insult to injury that we now have to pretend that random software guys understand the inner workings of government far better.

https://www.dailykos.com/story/2025/7/16/2333676/-Sure-let-the-DOGE-bros-access-another-government-database?pm_campaign=blog&pm_medium=rss&pm_source=

https://www.dailykos.com/story/2025/7/16/2333516/-Cartoon-The-fallout?pm_campaign=blog&pm_medium=rss&pm_source=

A cartoon by Tim Campbell.

https://www.dailykos.com/story/2025/7/16/2333516/-Cartoon-The-fallout?pm_campaign=blog&pm_medium=rss&pm_source=

Hey all,

Phone started repeatedly throwing bad errors, overheating, etc. I have a replacement on the way (god I hope I did not get ripped off cheap as it was) but if anyone wants to ask for a story in exchange for donations, my ko-fi is here and you can DM or leave a screened comment.

Normal rate is 100 words per dollar. I do typically make a limit of 5K words, but that's negotiable for the right idea.

(This on top of being shorted pay that is STILL not sorted out has made for depression icing on the depressed cake.)

Tags:

!request

https://www.dailykos.com/story/2025/7/16/2333675/-Pentagon-scales-back-its-invasion-of-Los-Angeles?pm_campaign=blog&pm_medium=rss&pm_source=

After weeks of infighting, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday night ordered the withdrawal of roughly 2,000 National Guard troops from Los Angeles—about half of the total force stationed there—amid mounting political backlash over their controversial presence.

“Thanks to our troops who stepped up to answer the call, the lawlessness in Los Angeles is subsiding,” Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement.

The move marks a major scaling back of a military operation that began in early June, after a wave of immigration raids triggered citywide protests. President Donald Trump had federalized the California National Guard and dispatched 4,000 troops, along with more than 700 active-duty Marines, in one of the largest domestic deployments in recent history.

Protesters gather near the metropolitan detention center on June 9, in downtown Los Angeles.

The White House initially signaled a 60-day mission, but it’s unclear why the drawdown began ahead of schedule—or how long the remaining forces will stay. What’s clear is that the decision follows intense criticism from state and local Democrats, who slammed the mobilization as a politically motivated show of force.

By mid-June, most protests had quieted down, and Mayor Karen Bass lifted a curfew she had imposed in parts of downtown Los Angeles. But the troops remained. According to The New York Times, National Guard members were seen standing with rifles outside federal buildings and maneuvering through Los Angeles traffic in armored vehicles, raising alarm in immigrant communities already rattled by Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity.

Trump’s decision to activate the Guard without California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s consent was unprecedented—it marked the first time a president had federalized National Guard troops over a governor’s objections since 1965. California sued, with Attorney General Rob Bonta calling the move unconstitutional and an infringement on state authority. But a federal appeals court rejected the challenge, ruling that Trump had “exercised his statutory authority.”

Despite the legal defeat, California officials kept the pressure on. Bass and other leaders demanded a full withdrawal and framed the issue as one of state sovereignty and civil rights.

“This happened because the people of Los Angeles stood united and stood strong,” Bass said Tuesday. “We organized peaceful protests, we came together at rallies, we took the Trump administration to court—all of this led to today’s retreat.”

Newsom, meanwhile, called the deployment an “assault on democracy” and accused the White House of targeting “people who are least able to defend themselves.”

The military has insisted that troops are not authorized to arrest civilians, only to detain individuals who pose a threat to federal personnel or property until law enforcement can take over. Still, the heavy presence has altered daily life in parts of the city, particularly immigrant-heavy neighborhoods. One LA-area mayor, Arturo Flores, a Marine veteran, described the actions of ICE and the presence of troops as a “campaign of domestic terror” and “psychological warfare.”

The drawdown is a meaningful shift, but not a full retreat. About 2,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines remain in the region. Los Angeles is still under military watch, but for the first time since the deployment began, there’s a sense that the end may finally be in sight.

https://www.dailykos.com/story/2025/7/16/2333675/-Pentagon-scales-back-its-invasion-of-Los-Angeles?pm_campaign=blog&pm_medium=rss&pm_source=

Wednesday has returned. What are you reading?

Posted by by Megan Rose and Debbie Cenziper

https://www.propublica.org/article/fda-drug-inspection-sun-pharma

by Megan Rose and Debbie Cenziper

ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published.

U.S. inspectors have uncovered new and dangerous breakdowns in drugmaking at an Indian factory owned by Sun Pharma that produces generic medications for American consumers.

The latest problems come 2 1/2 years after the Food and Drug Administration gave the facility a special pass to continue sending certain drugs made there to the United States, even after the factory was officially banned from the U.S. market.

The factory failed to investigate the source of bacteria found in test vials or deal with damaged equipment that had caused drugs to be contaminated with metal particles, according to the June inspection report, which ProPublica obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Workers improperly handled vials and stoppers meant for sterile medications and, in some cases, failed to disinfect manufacturing areas and equipment, according to the report. One FDA inspector saw a worker put on a sterile gown and then brush up against a waste bin and use their hands to push down the overflowing trash. Investigators also saw liquid dripping through ceiling cracks and the growth of what appeared to be fungus and mold in a storage area for samples used for testing.

The FDA in late 2022 had banned the factory in the city of Halol from shipping drugs to the United States because of similar manufacturing failures.

ProPublica reported last month that a low-profile group inside the agency at the same time exempted some medications from that ban, ostensibly to prevent drug shortages. The FDA has granted similar exemptions for drugs made at more than 20 other foreign factories that violated critical standards in drugmaking and were barred from the U.S. market.

The FDA kept the practice largely hidden from the public. The agency did not regularly test drugs coming from the banned factories or proactively monitor reports about potential harm among consumers, ProPublica found.

In Sun’s case, more than a dozen drugs were initially excluded from the Halol import ban. The company is still allowed to send five to the United States, government records show, including vecuronium bromide, a muscle relaxer used during surgery, and the cancer drug doxorubicin. Also excluded are divalproex delayed release tablets, which treat seizures and other conditions; leuprolide injection, used by people with prostate cancer, endometriosis and other conditions; and temozolomide capsules, for brain cancer.

The inspection last month marked the first time the FDA had been back to the factory in the 2.5 years since it imposed the import ban and Sun started sending exempted drugs to the United States. Inspectors found that procedures designed to prevent microbiological contamination of sterile drugs were not established or followed and that equipment wasn’t maintained to prevent malfunctions that would “alter the safety, identity, strength, quality or purity of the drug product,” according to the report.

Some of the concerns focused on the exempted drugs still being sent to the United States, according to a person familiar with the situation who did not want to be named because they were not authorized to speak publicly. The FDA blacked out the names of the drugs that were potentially compromised on its publicly released inspection report, including a medication made on a manufacturing line in which several batches had to be rejected because they were filled with black particles.

A portion of the FDA’s June inspection report redacted the names of potentially compromised drugs manufactured by Sun that continue to be released to the U.S. market. (Obtained by ProPublica)

“It’s disappointing to see issues continue to come up at this site given the site’s role in potentially manufacturing critical drugs for U.S. consumers,” said the person familiar with the inspection findings.

Sun did not respond to questions about the latest inspection or its regulatory history with the FDA. In an email, the company said that adherence to quality standards “is a top priority for Sun, and we maintain a relentless focus on quality and compliance to ensure the uninterrupted supply of medicines to our customers and patients worldwide. We continue to work proactively with the US FDA and remain committed to achieve full resolution of any FDA regulatory issues at our facilities.”

The FDA said factories that receive exemptions from import bans are required to conduct extra testing on drugs with third-party oversight before they are sent to the United States, helping to ensure patient safety. Sun’s Halol plant, however, was cited in 2022 and again last month for failing to thoroughly investigate unexplained quality problems, including impurities, found during drug testing. The FDA did not respond to a request for comment about the latest Sun inspection.

U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Michigan, who recently co-sponsored a bill to lower prescription drug costs, said in a statement to ProPublica that the FDA has a responsibility to ensure that drugs coming into the country are safe.

“We need full transparency about the extent to which exemptions enabled sub-par, unsafe, or ineffective drugs to be distributed to American patients,” she said.

Medill Investigative Lab student Katherine Dailey contributed reporting.

https://www.propublica.org/article/fda-drug-inspection-sun-pharma

https://www.dailykos.com/story/2025/7/16/2333680/-Trump-really-really-wants-to-tank-the-economy?pm_campaign=blog&pm_medium=rss&pm_source=

President Donald Trump is reportedly going to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, a likely illegal move to end the bank's independence and install a new chair who would carry out Trump’s demand for an insanely low 1% interest rate.

According to a White House official, Trump met with a group of GOP lawmakers Tuesday night to discuss a crypto bill and whether he should fire Powell.

“The president asked lawmakers how they felt about firing the Fed chair. They expressed approval for firing him. The president indicated he likely will soon,” the official said.

Trump even showed the lawmakers a letter he drafted to fire Powell, according to The New York Times. One of the GOP lawmakers present was Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, who posted on X Tuesday night that Powell's firing was "imminent."

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell

"Hearing Jerome Powell is getting fired! From a very serious source," Luna wrote after her meeting with Trump, later adding, "I’m 99% sure firing is imminent."

And on Wednesday, other GOP lawmakers publicly egged on Trump to give Powell the axe.

"Today’s a great day to fire Jerome Powell," Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama wrote on X.

But Trump, who has been railing on Powell for months, claimed on Wednesday that he isn’t firing him.

“He’s doing a lousy job, but no, I’m not talking about that,” Trump told reporters. “Fortunately we get to make a change in the next, what, eight months and we’ll pick somebody that’s good."

And though Trump said that he hasn’t fully ruled out firing Powell, he added that it’s “highly unlikely” that he will.

In yet another sign of his cognitive decline, Trump went on to tell reporters that he “was surprised he was appointed—surprised, frankly, that Biden put him in and extended him.”

In actuality, it was Trump who appointed Powell in 2017.

YouTube Video

Banking experts say that if Trump does fire Powell, it will have devastating impacts for the economy.

“We believe the market reaction would be large. The empirical and academic evidence on the impact of a loss of central bank independence is fairly clear: In extreme cases, both the currency and the bond market can collapse as inflation expectations move higher, real yields drop and broader risk premia increase on the back of institutional erosion,” Deutsche Bank head of FX research George Saravelos wrote in a memo.

When Trump seemed likely to fire Powell in April, stock markets plummeted as investors panicked. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost nearly 1,000 points in a single day, and the S&P 500 and NASDAQ each lost nearly 2.5% of their value amid the reports.

The similar situation happened after news broke Wednesday that Trump is again considering firing Powell, who has said that he is not leaving and that firing him would be against the law.

But Powell’s term expires in May 2026, at which point Trump will be able to choose his successor.

Democrats, meanwhile, are questioning the timing of Trump’s latest outburst against Powell.

“Trump is willing to destroy the independence of the Fed and tank bond markets if it would get you to stop talking about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein,” Rep. Sean Casten of Illinois wrote on X.

We’ll see if it works.

https://www.dailykos.com/story/2025/7/16/2333680/-Trump-really-really-wants-to-tank-the-economy?pm_campaign=blog&pm_medium=rss&pm_source=

I was looking for picnic recipes and decided to go for tarts, so I tried Schär’s Gluten Free Puff Pastry Dough (I have good luck with this brand, I use their sandwich bread regularly). I know it is available in the US, not sure about worldwide distribution.

Verdict: really, really good! Baked easily, and when properly thawed it ACTUALLY PUFFS UP!

Note: The first time I used it, I thawed it to room temperature in the refrigerator for a while and then tried to use it, rather than the two options given by the packaging, namely:
1. Thaw at room temperature for 4 hours
2. Thaw in microwave

I can confirm that even if you’ve thawed it in the fridge, you should make sure it’s at room temp or a little warmer, because otherwise when you try to unroll it, it will crack into pieces. The pieces are still delicious, they can just be a little small.

Obvious downside is it’s a little pricey, but I will probably buy it again.

Recipes I made with it include: Sweet onion and goat cheese tarts with thyme

Puff pastry ingredients:

water, margarine (palm oil, water, sunflower seeds oil, citric acid, sodium citrate, salt), corn starch, rice starch, rice flour, chicory inulin, dextrose, modified cellulose, soy flour, sunflower oil, guar gum, potato flakes, psyllium seed husk (vegetable fiber), rapeseed oil, ammonium bicarbonate, natural flavor

Tags:

https://www.eschatonblog.com/2025/07/eat-shit-losers.html

Gramps is having a real one.

https://www.eschatonblog.com/2025/07/eat-shit-losers.html

https://www.dailykos.com/story/2025/7/16/2333526/-Employees-at-the-nation-s-consumer-financial-watchdog-say-it-s-become-toothless-under-Trump?pm_campaign=blog&pm_medium=rss&pm_source=

The lights are on at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau across the street from the White House, and employees still get paid. But in practice, the bureau has been mostly inoperable for nearly six months. CFPB employees say they essentially spend the workday sitting on their hands, forbidden from doing any work by directive from the White House.

The bureau is supposed to be helping oversee the nation’s banks and financial services companies and taking enforcement action in case of wrongdoing. During its 15-year existence, the CFPB has returned roughly $21 billion to consumers who were cheated by financial services companies.

Instead, its main function now seems to be undoing the rulemaking and law enforcement work that was done under previous administrations, including in President Donald Trump’s first term.

One current employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the directive forbids staffers from speaking publicly about their jobs, said outsiders would be amazed at how little work is being done. Employees are reluctant even to talk to one another, out of fear that a conversation between two employees would be considered a violation of the directive.

Another employee described the drastic shift in mission, from trying to protect consumers to doing nothing, as “quite demoralizing.”

To gain an understanding of what is happening inside the CFPB, The Associated Press spoke with 10 current and former employees, as well as bankers and policymakers who used to interact with the bureau nearly every day but now say their emails and voicemails go into a black hole. The agency’s press office doesn’t respond to emails.

The CFPB took a lighter approach to its mission in Trump’s first term but continued to pursue enforcement actions. Under President Joe Biden, the agency took an expansive view of its authority, targeting profitable practices by banks such as overdraft and credit card late fees, as well as investigating companies over credit reporting and medical debt.

The bureau also turned a spotlight on Big Tech companies that have made inroads into financial services. For example, the CFPB ordered Apple to pay $89 million in fines and penalties for problems related to the Apple Card.

Banks and the financial services industry felt the Biden CFPB acted too aggressively, particularly with a proposal to cut overdraft fees to $5 from the industry average of $27 to $35. The bureau estimated the move would save consumers roughly $5 billion a year. The proposal was overturned by Congress in April with Trump’s backing.

Once Trump 2.0 began, the bureau became a main target of the Department of Government Efficiency, then run by Elon Musk, who posted on X that the CFPB should “RIP” shortly after DOGE employees became embedded at the agency. Through the bureau’s acting chief, Russell Vought, the White House issued a directive that CFPB employees should “ not perform any work tasks. ”

FILE - Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought walks at the White House, Monday, July 7, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File) — Russell Vought at the White House on July 7.

The administration then tried to lay off roughly 90% of the bureau’s staff, or roughly 1,500 employees. Courts have blocked those layoffs, but there is a feeling inside the bureau that the court rulings are only a temporary reprieve.

Companies that committed wrongdoing, or had open investigations, have lobbied the bureau and the White House for their punishments to be rescinded. Last month, the CFPB rescinded an agreement under which Navy Federal Credit Union agreed to pay $80 million to settle claims that it illegally charged overdraft fees to its members, who include Navy servicemen and women, and veterans.

In mid-May, the agency scrapped an order for the auto financing arm of Toyota to pay customers a total of $48 million for illegally bundling products onto car buyers’ auto loans.

“Companies are lining up to get out of repaying harmed customers,” said Eric Halperin, former enforcement director at the bureau, who resigned earlier this year.

The Associated Press sent a list of questions to the White House regarding President Trump’s vision for the CFPB. The White House did not respond.

While the lack of new initiatives and the scuttling of old ones frustrate employees the most, they also note that even everyday tasks have largely fallen to the wayside.

Cartoon about the Trump administration shutting down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

A report from the office of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the senior Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, found that the bureau is uploading roughly 2,200 complaints a day to its complaint database, compared to the roughly 10,500 complaints it was doing in the months before Trump took office again. Warren came up with the idea for the bureau when she was a law professor at Harvard University.

The bureau did take an enforcement action on Friday. The pawn shop chain FirstCash Inc. agreed to pay $9 million to settle claims that it charged excessive interest rates on loans to armed service members, in violation of the Military Lending Act. FirstCash operates more than 1,000 stores.

The bureau is going to be even further diminished in the coming months. The new budget law signed by Trump earlier this month cuts the CFPB’s funding by roughly half, meaning the bureau will be forced into mass layoffs. Senate Democrats are looking for ways to restore that funding.

In the meantime, employees go about their mundane routine: They continue to check their email once or twice a day to see if any of their previous work has been slated for being undone. They wait to be laid off. The only constants are the silence from bureau political appointees or the “mini funerals” that happen every Friday, when another batch of employees who have decided to leave the bureau voluntarily have their last day.

“I don’t think I’ll ever work in public service again,” said one current employee, who has been looking for a new job for the past three months.

https://www.dailykos.com/story/2025/7/16/2333526/-Employees-at-the-nation-s-consumer-financial-watchdog-say-it-s-become-toothless-under-Trump?pm_campaign=blog&pm_medium=rss&pm_source=

https://www.dailykos.com/story/2025/7/16/2333597/-Cartoon-Tanks-for-nothing?pm_campaign=blog&pm_medium=rss&pm_source=

A cartoon by Clay Jones.

https://www.dailykos.com/story/2025/7/16/2333597/-Cartoon-Tanks-for-nothing?pm_campaign=blog&pm_medium=rss&pm_source=

https://www.dailykos.com/story/2025/7/16/2333669/-Democrats-slam-Trump-and-GOP-for-cover-up-of-Epstein-files?pm_campaign=blog&pm_medium=rss&pm_source=

The scandal over President Donald Trump’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files issue is not going away. As his MAGA base rails against the Justice Department and congressional Republicans attempting to bury the issue, Democrats are amplifying their criticisms of the chaotic state of affairs.

On Tuesday, House Republicans voted as a bloc, 211 to 210, and defeated a Democratic effort to compel the government to release information on Epstein, a convicted sex offender who was charged with trafficking minors. The result echoed the outcome of a Monday vote in the House Rules Committee that also kept Epstein information under wraps.

For years, Republicans have campaigned on the claim that when in power, they would reveal the government’s Epstein information, including the contents of his purported client list. But the Justice Department, led by Attorney General Pam Bondi, has now claimed the information they touted isn’t there and that further information would be withheld. The stance has led to unusual criticism of Trump from MAGA supporters.

Democrats are now mocking the apparent Republican cover-up and calling for transparency.

“Did anyone really think the sexual-predator president who used to party with Jeffrey Epstein was going to release the Epstein files?” Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia asked at a rally on Saturday.

YouTube Video

Rep. Katharine Clark, the Massachusetts Democrat who serves as House Minority Whip, released a video on Wednesday, calling for the release of the files.

“The Republicans are fighting with themselves over what? The Epstein files,” she said. Noting that Trump and Republicans are backtracking from their previous promises on the material, Clark asked, “What is the administration hiding?”

Release the files.
— Katherine Clark (@whipkclark.bsky.social) 2025-07-15T23:00:30.397Z

Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington echoed the question in a post of her own, asking, “What are they hiding?”

Kendall Witmer, rapid-response director for the Democratic National Committee, slammed the GOP vote in a statement: “Republicans talked a big game about releasing the Epstein files during the campaign, and now they are chickening out. It doesn’t matter how the GOP tries to spin it—either they lied to the American people to get elected, or they are lying now to protect Donald Trump from any accountability for his long association with an infamous sex trafficker.”

“There’s no excuse for blocking the release of the Epstein files,” Rep. Judy Chu, Democrat of California, noted. “The public has a right to know who enabled his heinous crimes. Republicans are blocking Americans from the truth.”

Jeffrey Epstein, shown in March 2017, in a photo provided by the New York State Sex Offender Registry.

Democratic Rep. Dwight Evans of Pennsylvania accused Republicans of “choosing to protect a morally corrupt and crooked President and his administration.”

Trump fumed over the issue in a Wednesday morning rant posted to his Truth Social platform. He accused Democrats of pushing a “SCAM” that “we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax.”

“[M]y PAST supporters have bought into this ‘bullshit,’ hook, line, and sinker,” Trump lamented. “[A]ll these people want to talk about, with strong prodding by the Fake News and the success starved Dems, is the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax. Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats work, don’t even think about talking of our incredible and unprecedented success, because I don’t want their support anymore!”

Apparently, his own family is a part of the “hoax.” His daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, recently told a right-wing YouTube show that the administration needs more “transparency” on the Epstein issue.

Republicans have spent years fostering a conspiracy culture, but now that they control the government, that focus is ripping them apart—and Democrats are giving them hell for it.

https://www.dailykos.com/story/2025/7/16/2333669/-Democrats-slam-Trump-and-GOP-for-cover-up-of-Epstein-files?pm_campaign=blog&pm_medium=rss&pm_source=

https://www.eschatonblog.com/2025/07/on-road.html

Travel day, so worse than usual blogging.

https://www.eschatonblog.com/2025/07/on-road.html

https://www.eschatonblog.com/2025/07/unanlbombed.html

Sure why not

Donald Trump delivered a rambling speech in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he made several improbable claims and appeared to forget names.

Trump falsely asserted that his late uncle, Dr. John Trump, taught Theodore Kaczynski, the Unabomber, at MIT, despite Kaczynski never attending the institution.
He also claimed to have discussed

Kaczynski with his uncle, which is highly unlikely as his uncle died in 1985, years before Kaczynski was identified as the Unabomber

https://www.eschatonblog.com/2025/07/unanlbombed.html

https://www.dailykos.com/story/2025/7/16/2333660/-Bye-bye-Big-Bird-GOP-inches-closer-to-gutting-public-media?pm_campaign=blog&pm_medium=rss&pm_source=

On Tuesday, Senate Republicans moved one step closer to cutting billions in congressionally appropriated funding Dear Leader Donald Trump dislikes, after Vice President JD Vance broke a tie to advance a recissions package that defunds NPR and PBS, and cuts billions in foreign aid.

A recissions package is not subject to the filibuster, so Senate Republicans only need a simple majority for it to pass. Three Republicans—Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky—voted against moving the package to debate, requiring Vance to break the tie.

Passing this recissions package—which would make permanent some of the cuts former co-President Elon Musk tried to make through his incompetent and destructive Department of Government Efficiency—is problematic for multiple reasons.

First and foremost, it would be damaging for rural Americans who both rely on publicly funded PBS and NPR stations for weather warnings and more, and also receive billions in foreign aid money growing crops that are distributed to poor countries across the globe.

“For Republicans to turn around and slash local news and public radio in the name of fiscal responsibility is a vindictive swipe at rural America, where these stations are needed so badly. It’ll leave rural communities twisting in the wind,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement Monday night after Vance’s tie-breaking vote.

It would also be damaging for Congress' ability to pass future government funding bills down the road. It shows the Democratic senators—who voted for the government spending bill—that any deals they make in future government funding negotiations are just smoke and mirrors if Republicans will turn around and strip that funding away through the recissions process.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) called the recissions package a "dirty trick" by Republicans.

Sen. Chris Murphy calls the package a “dirty trick.”

"What they're doing is cutting out of the budget all the things that DOGE targeted. With this recissions bill they are going after all the foreign aid funding that DOGE hates, and they're going after PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. They're literally going to take Sesame Street off the air," Murphy said in a video posted on X. "Why would Democrats ever again negotiate a bipartisan budget with Republicans if Republicans two months later can just pass a partisan bill that keeps the spending that Republicans like and cuts the spending that Democrats supported in the bipartisan process? So this isn't just really bad policy, this is just another way that Republicans are corroding the rule of law, the institutional norms that have held together our democracy for decades."

And Schumer warned that this is just the start for Republicans, who could come after other critical funding in future recissions packages.

“Let me be clear, this is not just about foreign assistance, important as that is. This is the playbook that Republicans will use across the board,” Schumer said. “They will do it with healthcare. They will do it with the Department of Education. They will do it with our schools, our veterans, our housing. They will do it to research dollars. I’ve heard of more great research projects that could have saved lives now on hold, that can never be brought back again, because of the greed of the billionaires and the obeisance of Republicans to go along.”

Meanwhile, even Senate Republicans who voted to advance the recissions package to debate say it's problematic, saying that the Trump administration has not given enough information about the exact programs that would be cut.

“When George W. Bush proposed Rescissions back in 1992, he listed specific programs that would receive specific amounts of cuts. And it was a rather thick proposal. But members on both sides of the aisle in both houses … had exact information about what programs would be targeted and where the cuts would be made and by what amount. That is not present in the proposal before us tonight. And that troubles me,” Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) told Fox News’ Chad Pergram, even though Wicker voted to advance the legislation to debate.

But since defying Dear Leader is out of the question for the cultists in the GOP, they are speeding this latest crap sandwich legislation toward passage. God helps us all.

https://www.dailykos.com/story/2025/7/16/2333660/-Bye-bye-Big-Bird-GOP-inches-closer-to-gutting-public-media?pm_campaign=blog&pm_medium=rss&pm_source=

The only antidote I may have to Trump’s election
is in a small ferry to Robben Island
one that shuttles you to the former prison
where those who fought against apartheid were held
The only answers may be in one wool blanket
a basin
toilet
cell
and the tiny windows of Robben Island
in the discarded artillery
the rock and the limestone yard
where many were blinded
driven mad
Now the survivors former prisoners
give tours
their faces carved like tree roots exposed
The only answers may be in the surrounding peaks of Table Mountain
its Twelve Apostles
all now standing as testament to what
through years of struggles
can be defeated
overcome

***********

Link

'It's a hoax': Trump continues to flail over Epstein files sh-tshow

All We Have To Do Is Keep Talking

Echo Chamber

Florida GOP steals disaster relief tools for twisted ‘Alligator Alcatraz'

Sure, let the DOGE bros access another government database

Cartoon: The fallout

Commission me?

Pentagon scales back its invasion of Los Angeles

RIP (Read In Progress) Wednesday

FDA Inspectors Again Find Dangerous Breakdowns at an Indian Factory Supplying Medications to U.S. Co

Trump really, really wants to tank the economy

Gluten-free puff pastry dough review, Schär

Eat Shit, Losers

Employees at the nation's consumer financial watchdog say it's become toothless under Trump

Cartoon: Tanks for nothing

Democrats slam Trump and GOP for cover-up of Epstein files

On The Road

Unabombed

Bye-bye, Big Bird: GOP inches closer to gutting public media

Robben Island by Pamela Sneed

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