210 Comments
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Jeff Lazar's avatar

"Teflon Don seems to have finally met his match"

Maybe, but I am not holding my breath. Between the Brain Dead House and Senate and the despicable fascists in black robes accountable to nobody at all, I wish I could share your optimism, BTC.

On the other hand, time wounds all heels. :-)

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Bill Riley's avatar

I’m keeping my optimism on a very short leash. The BBB legislation gives billions of dollars — as much as the Navy is given in the same legislation — to create a 40,000-man gestapo police force immediately — no waiting till after the midterms. This is happening NOW. How about some journalistic investigating of this horrific story?

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Nick Names's avatar

And risk their lives? Did you see what they did to the female reporter in Los Angeles a couple weeks ago? I watched them shoot her with something, at close range, in the leg, which dropped her to the ground! She was hurt so bad, she couldn't get away and everyone was afraid to help her. She laid there for some time before a local distracted ICE, and I think some people dragged the wounded reporter to safety.

You do know this is going to "pop off", Bill Riley? The BBB calls for more than double the ICE agents there are now. This is fascism! They haven't been able to shut us up, so they're upping the ante. If we confront ICE or interfere in any way, they can now arrest us, too. Someone is going to get killed. I think this new ARMY of ICE agents is going to get trigger happy, and a protestor is going to be killed. Witnessing that, I think the protestors will have had enough, and some of them will retaliate...seeing that, more people will jump in...then it's GAME ON.

Too much talking going on again this morning. Talk is worthless with these people. The sooner everyone realizes this, the better. They are not listening at all. Instead, everytime we oppose them with talk, they come up with more "law" against us. "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil, is for good men to do nothing." Sir Edmund Burke. If we stand around talking much longer, it will be too late, and evil will prevail.

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Colleen's avatar

Yes an Australian journalist, she ok. However saw the footage and sure looked deliberate to me. Trumps brown shirts posing as ICE.

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Leah Baum's avatar

The reporter was intentionally shot in the leg with a rubber bullet. Law enforcement is trained to only shoot rubber bullets in the ground never at humans. Another reporter was shot in the head and required surgery.

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chris lemon's avatar

In the end, aside from the trashing the economy, the gross misallocation of resources to ICE instead of any useful law enforcement agency is going to be the worst damage Trump does. The Supreme Court will be responsible for the destruction of democracy. As an aside, the arrest and jailing of CEOs of companies who employ illegal workers would have 100X the effect of ICE raids, if the goal was to open jobs for US citizens and get aliens to leave the US. But that's not the goal. The goal is to distract people from the other damage being done.

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William Shy's avatar

the awful goal is to make the us purely white

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chris lemon's avatar

But Trump is orange?

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Janet Bergamo's avatar

During Trump’s first term the reason he stacked the Supreme Court with yes-men was so they would cover his derriere in his second regime, when his illegal actions would sprout like weeds after sufficient Spring rains.

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L.D.Michaels's avatar

I think that before talking to your MAGA friends about Jeffrey Epstein or about any other topic, you need first to understand how to talk to your MAGA friends in the first place.

Given that the MAGA folks only became the MAGA folks because they understood what Trump was communicating and how he was communicating with them, which was by inciting and legitimizing their innermost prejudices, fears and hatreds, appealing to those very same visceral emotions should be the primary themes of your talks with them.

You also need to bear in mind that Trump's vocabulary never extended beyond the 4th grade, and, therefore, you should stick to simple one syllable words that even Trump himself could understand (without a dictionary).

Insofar as the appropriate composure and tone of your conversations, you should come across as arrogant and egotistical, with frequent outbursts simulating those of your everyday blowhard. They can best relate to this.

This groundwork will go a long way toward establishing a meaningful relationship and conversations with your MAGA friends, if you have any.

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celeste k.'s avatar

I have no maga friends. I have cut off all ties to anyone maga. I have no stomach to engage in any conversation with those who would vote for and back a traitor to the United States and the Constitution. Period.

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Michelle Nee's avatar

Me ALSO! I divorced my MAGAt friends. We have very different values.

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Donnac21's avatar

Me too.

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CJ Bair's avatar

Ditto!

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Renee Meyer's avatar

I dont have maga friends. I cannot respect anyone who believes the angry yam baby man is going to make America great. Imo it WAS great now the rest of the world does not trust Donald Jim Jones Trump and doesn't understand how tf we elected him. I say we didn't it was bought and paid for by the muskrat

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celeste k.'s avatar

I agree.

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Teri Dawe's avatar

I like muskrats unfortunately they may get a bad rap because of a clueless ass with a dildo as a magic wand.

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William Shy's avatar

some say musk put trump in. "this will stick" is their substack

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Rose Strain's avatar

I have ditched all MAGA people. Let them talk amongst themselves. They’re not open to rational input.

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J’Lynn Davis's avatar

I don’t have any MAGAT friends either, but since Epstein exploded I have been on X commerserating with them. I wanted to keep stirring it up. I couldn’t believe how many likes and new followers I got . (I don’t care about that), I’m just trying to not let it get dropped.

Sadly, the talk on releasing the list has gone down. We’ll see what happens after this Wall Street Journal article breaks. Teehee

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Benjamin Smith's avatar

If Trump weren't in the files, he would release them to prove his innocence in this case.

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Scott Gilbert's avatar

Same with the Russia files.

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Joshua Couts's avatar

Donald Trump is a criminal, traitorous scumbag and so is the rest of his despicable regime! Eventually, they will have to answer and pay for their horrific crimes and treason against the American people and our friends and allies around the world!

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Anne P. Sacco's avatar

Regime. Reich. But not "administration."

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Joshua Couts's avatar

Yes, Donald Trump's despicable and disgusting criminal and traitorous regime!

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JW James's avatar

Yes. Exactly.

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Renee Meyer's avatar

Eventually is here today is the day get him out

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Joshua Couts's avatar

Absolutely! This travesty should have never been allowed to happen!

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Tracy Giddings's avatar

Only if we keep standing up and demanding it to our R representatives

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Joshua Couts's avatar

Absolutely! This despicable and disgusting criminal and traitorous behavior must never be accepted or allowed!

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Joshua Couts's avatar

We must not fail, for the sake of the United States of America and the world!

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Nick Names's avatar

CORRECT!

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Leigh Blake's avatar

As of Four YEARS ago.....

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Joshua Couts's avatar

He was a criminal and a traitor even before 01/06/2021, but the insurrection solidified it, and the fact that he was reelected as president defies all logic and reason! It should have never been allowed to happen!

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Renee Meyer's avatar

Makes my mind boggle

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Joshua Couts's avatar

It's absolutely absurd and despicable!

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Joshua Couts's avatar

He's been a criminal, traitorous, scumbag his whole adult life!

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Alex's avatar

This issue is extremely important and not any less important than all the other things that are happening in our country. The culture of normalizing the abuse of women and girls is a serious human rights issue! Demanding justice and consequences for perpetrators, despite how much power or money they possess, is not silly. So yes, we 100% should be focusing on this issue. They are not mutually exclusive.

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Kim Nesvig's avatar

One of the questions that need to be asked are who else has the information in the Epstein files? I’m betting that Putin has a duplicate set and a good deal more, given the long, well-documented presence of Russians at Epstein’s parties in NY alongside Donald, dating back to the nineties.

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Janet Wilson's avatar

There are rumours that many Senators are on the list and hence their loyalty to Trump, in spite of that risking their chances of re-election. Also rumours about some Supreme Court Justices. That would explain a lot.

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Nick Names's avatar

Here's something else that might add even more weight to your statement. When they held the RNC, they were joking that everytime they hold the RNC, usage of the adult, gay dating/hook-up site called Grindr, experiences an avalanche of new activity. When the RNC is over, the extra activity stops.

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chris lemon's avatar

That would explain the popularity of the "YMCA" song at the rallies.

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Nick Names's avatar

Yes, that's why they are fighting so vigorously! We should note this everytime we see it, and instantly set up the acquisition of whatever documents we need to take from them. We can even do it Richard Nixon style, and do our own Watergate. If Trump has the Epstein files in his possession, I have serious doubts whether they are still intact. With his name all over those files, I think he'd burn those files immediately!

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Janet Wilson's avatar

The problem is there will be more than one set of the files.

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Donnac21's avatar

Yep.

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Janet Wilson's avatar

I am sure many names friendly to the Democratic party are also on the list...alas the taste for underage girls transcends politics. But it is important that all the information comes out.

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Kufitop's avatar

Another angle is to say, "If DJT isn't protecting himself, he is so weak and scared of the people in the files and the truth." I think attacking his self-projected image as strong and fearless could be very effective.

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Nick Names's avatar

Oh he is protecting himself! He's a narcissist. He will always protect himself before anyone else, and most of the time, he won't really help anyone else either.

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Kufitop's avatar

Oh, I know, but I think attacking him this way could gain traction with his base and right-leaning independents.

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Andy's avatar

🍁 Elbows UP! 🏒

The next big action for democracy is TODAY:

Good Trouble Lives On

Thursday July 17th 2025

https://goodtroubleliveson.org/

Don’t miss the protests.

Don’t miss the moment.

Good Trouble is happening NOW.

With ICE out there - you gotta be more like Maxwell Smart, in the way Agent 86 of Control dodges KAOS:

Melbourne Ska Orchestra - Get Smart (Official FULL Version)

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CVyJkKKfRFs

Indivisible

https://www.mobilize.us/indivisible/

American Civil Liberties Union

https://www.aclu.org/action

No Kings

https://www.nokings.org/next

Women's March

https://action.womensmarch.com/calendars/free-america-weekend

50501

https://www.fiftyfifty.one/events

MoveOn

https://www.mobilize.us/moveon/

Public Citizen

https://www.mobilize.us/publiccitizeninitiative/

🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁

Juzzie Smith - SUPERHEROS Offical Video

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=37J2vb81Z8o

🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁

Here are resistance related guides from around the world:

🇺🇸 Fundamentals of physical surveillance: a guide for uniformed and plainclothes personnel

https://archive.org/details/fundamentalsofph0000silj

The RCMP has its own publications including:

🇨🇦 GCPSG-022 (2025) - Threat and Risk Assessment Guide

GCPSG-010 (2022) - Operational Physical Security Guide

🇨🇦 GCPSG-019 (2023) - Protection, Detection, Response, and Recovery Guide

https://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/physec-secmat/pubs/index-eng.htm

The non-profit Electronic Frontier Foundation also has excellent guides on:

🇺🇸 Street Level Surveillance

https://sls.eff.org

🇺🇸 Surveillance Self-Defense

https://ssd.eff.org/

🇪🇺 🇸🇪⚠️ Resistance Operating Concept

https://jsou.edu/Press/PublicationDashboard/25

🇺🇦 🇺🇲 Radio Free Ukraine Resistance Manual

https://radiofreeukraine.com/3d-flip-book/resistance-manual/

⚠️ John Hopkins University:

Assessing Revolutionary And Insurgent Strategies (ARIS) Studies

This one is used a lot by ICE, so the Trump Regime keeps suppressing it. Here are alternate links as it keeps getting moved around by the good guys:

Small Wars Journal

Assessing Revolutionary and Insurgent Strategies (ARIS) Project

https://archive.smallwarsjournal.com/blog/assessing-revolutionary-and-insurgent-strategies-aris-project

Author's website:

On Resistance, Revolutions, and Insurgencies

https://zimmerer.typepad.com/resistance/

Free PDF download of the book from the original author:

Casebook on Insurgency and Revolutionary Warfare, Volume II 1962 - 2009

http://zimmerer.typepad.com/Documents/ARIS%20Casebook%20Vol%202%202012%20s.pdf

⚠️ Civilian-Based Defense: A Post-Military Weapons System

https://www.nonviolent-conflict.org/resource/civilian-based-defense-a-post-military-weapons-system/

🏁 Simple Sabotage Field Manual by United States Office of Strategic Services

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/26184?ref=404media.co

⚠️ Library of Congress

Revelations from the Russian archives: documents in English translation

https://www.loc.gov/item/96024752

🏁 Robert Reich/Resistance School

Communicating Across Difference

https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaT8gjnOmQl3dguy0_E0vVCL5ZYEyCTzu

🏁 Bernie Sanders:

https://m.youtube.com/@BernieSanders

🏁 CPJ Committee to Protect Journalists:

Safety Kit

https://cpj.org/safety-kit/

🏁 Activist Handbook:

https://activisthandbook.org/introduction

(⚠️ These are USA sponsered websites. Some publications may have been removed by the Trump regime)

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Alison's avatar

Thanks for these links. I didn't know there was one today.

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KatVersc's avatar

Trump IS the deep state and corruption. He IS the swamp and the pedophile, sexual abuser. He is all the things he projects on others. He is trying to out run who he is; a core criminal masquerading as a President. Dems need to seize the moment and flood their social media accounts with videos of all those who are clamoring for accountability, and clips of Trump and his words regarding the Epstein files. Trump is so guilty it is coming out of his pores. We need to keep the pressure on until he breaks, and he will, his number is up.

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Virgin Monk Boy's avatar

Trump said he’d drain the swamp, then built a hot tub in it and invited Epstein’s friends over.

The rage isn’t just left vs. right anymore—it’s betrayal. His base wanted justice for the powerful. Instead, they got gaslit by the gaslighter-in-chief.

This isn’t a sideshow. It’s the main stage. When 75% of Republicans also want the Epstein files released, and Trump says no, he’s not protecting the innocent. He’s protecting the guest list.

Let the chorus grow louder. From Rogan to Von to Grandma Karen with her AOL login—everyone’s asking the same question:

What the hell is he hiding?

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Cgrlz68's avatar

It believe Ghslaine Maxwell needs to be in protective custody before they kill her also. My motto is - Believe nothing of what you hear and half of what you see . Question the source of the information

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Joan Fregapane's avatar

Excellent commentary. Yes, let’s support those who support the release of the Epstein files! Whether that’s the only thing we agree on or not, we owe it to ourselves and others to push

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Darren L Williams's avatar

Wouldn’t it be a wondrous thing if this Epstein shit ended up being Felon Trump‘s kryptonite which finally takes him down?

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Nadine Roddy's avatar

That's one reason why the issue is so important--it's the best opportunity we've had yet, or may have ever.

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Darren L Williams's avatar

He and his band of hooligans are sure making a concerted effort to keep the files‘ contents suppressed

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K McGady's avatar

Oh, myyyyy! Three QUARTERS of Republicans disapprove of how this admnistration is handling the "Epstein Files". Telling.....

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R Gary Fenske's avatar

It USED TO BE... that polls were something that affected the way politicians worked... but it seems that is no longer true under a dictatorship that has some sort of control over Congress, the Supreme Court and the Police State it has created in each department and agency. And, why wouldn't JD Vance want to begin what has been part of the plan all along... use tRump to get in and put everything and everyone in place, then toss him out using the 25th amendment... and then those that are really pulling the strings behind the curtain can complete the task of Project 2025's agenda! And, that will be worse? We need to remove the whole lot!!

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Nick Names's avatar

The entire Republican party has been compromised. They would all have to go. All the Project 2025 people need to go, too. All ICE agents have to go! We don't want these assholes on our streets, taking orders they know are wrong, and carrying them out anyway.

SCOTUS, you're done! At least three of you, possibly all of you, need to be investigated, charged, and I don't know what the punishment should be, but all of them were instrumental in assisting Donald Trump carry out his unlawful deeds. We need a force that will come in, handcuff them, and haul them to the tribunal where I hear that the most common sentence is hanging. Frankly, that's what I think they all should get. They have been instrumental in helping Trump along.

This would be a ginormous undertaking, if it's even possible.

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Leigh Blake's avatar

Watching the INFAMOUS video of Epstein and the leering felon, it's pretty easy...although apparently NOT proof... that the felon is complicit. I don't think that this will work anymore than the INSURRECTION and previous proofs that this madman is NOT a president.. Sure...he got voted in...maybe....but as things stand now and the felon and his regime are planning on replacing every "FAIR" judge they can...it will get more and more difficult the longer he sits in the White House....IT is 1933...and we have just seen the beginning...it ain't over until it's over... DO WHAT YOU CAN...WHERE YOU CAN...I hate to be negative...but there it is...

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Nick Names's avatar

It's not negative, it's reality.

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Leigh Blake's avatar

Well, let's HOPE that this REALITY Dunks the felon in the TAR and feathers he so RICHLY DESERVES... Having read all the various comments ...even NPR's take..I have to say..IT THIS GIVES the felon a HEART ATTACK...Let's PARTY!!!!

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Leigh Blake's avatar

"IF"...

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Donnac21's avatar

Agreed

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