Squatty Potty😱 ✡️🌻😱 

Epstein, Epstein, DOJ:  Just about every news outlet except Fox has confirmed NPR’s report that summaries and notes from three interviews with a South Carolina woman who says that she was sexually abused by both Epstein and Trump when she was thirteen exist but have not been released by the DOJ, a violation of the recently passed Epstein Files Transparency Act.  The DOJ’s first reaction to the omission was to deny that they’ve held anything back, now they appear to be hedging, saying that they are looking for the files in question but can’t find them. Pam Bondi and the DOJ have a problem which is just one of the reasons that Democratic Congressman Summer Lee says that she will be introducing articles of impeachment against Bondi.  While Trump continues to trumpet his “full exoneration” several more men, none of whom have been accused of being “involved” with any of Epstein’s young girls but all of whom maintained relationships with Epstein after his Florida conviction for procuring a minor for prostitution, have stepped down from their positions.  That group includes former Treasury Secretary/Harvard University President Lawrence Summers, Nobel Prize winner Richard Axel who had been the co-Director of Columbia University’s Brain Institute, and former Democratic Nebraska Senator Bob Kerrey (not to be confused with former Massachusetts Senator John Kerry) who has stepped down from his chairmanship at clean energy company Monolith. In addition, Bill Gates, another one who had a relationship with Epstein, but who has not been cited for involvement with any of Epstein’s young victims, has apologized to staff at the Gates Foundation for his two consensual affairs with Russian women, a bridge player and nuclear physicist. His apology came about as the result of an unsent email that appeared in the Epstein files; that email included an allegation that Gate’s had relations with two “Russian girls” and had gotten a sexually transmitted infection. Former Secretary of State/Senator Hillary Clinton who had no contact with Epstein but acknowledges social contact with Ghislaine Maxwell will be deposed today in a closed-door House Oversight meeting. Former President Bill Clinton who did have contact with Epstein will be deposed tomorrow. Both Clintons requested open hearings, but Committee Chair James Comer refused their requests likely because he knows they’ll make him look stupid which isn’t hard to do and because closed sessions make it easier to selectively leak whatever he wants to leak. Moreover, it’s fairly clear that there is no legitimate reason to depose Hillary except for the fact that she is Hillary and Republicans love torturing her.  In other DOJ/FBI news, ten FBI Agents who worked on the investigation into Trump’s Mar a Lago documents theft have been fired.  Judge Aileen Cannon who is still trying out for a promotion to a higher court, maybe SCOTUS, has put the kibosh on ever releasing Special Counsel Jack Smith’s report about Mar a Lago and the top-secret documents held in the Mar a Lago toilet, her decision will likely be appealed. On the subject of toilets, Robert Edwards the creator of the Squatty Potty, the product that made him a millionaire after appearing on Shark Tank, has been indicted for purchasing child abuse material. WTF, why so many pedophiles?  Lastly, DC US Attorney Jeanine Pirro has given up on trying to indict the group of six Senators and Representatives who spoke truth to power, not because she wants to but because she can’t convince any jurors to vote for an indictment.

MAHA Not:  Yesterday, Casey Means, Trump’s nominee to serve as Surgeon General appeared in front of the Senate Health Committee for her confirmation hearing.  Means who graduated from Stanford Medical School dropped out of her residency because she didn’t want to deal with sick people and became a health influencer.  She does not have an active medical license. During the hearing, she refused to endorse vaccines, even for measles, instead answering all vaccine questions with a pat reply saying that individuals should consult with their doctors about getting shots. She also questioned the safety of the birth control pill, saying “hormonal pills” are “disrespectful of life” and have “horrifying side effects” again going with her pat “talk to your doctor” answer. People should talk to their doctors, but Surgeon Generals are supposed to message preventive health so having a Surgeon General cast shade on proven vaccines and birth control methods is, to put it mildly, not a good thing.  It is however very MAHA, which is why RFK promoted a health influencer and health “entrepreneur” rather than an experienced public health doctor to Trump who took the bait. The question now is whether the Chairman of the Health Committee, Senator/Doctor Bill Cassidy, who is largely responsible for RFK making it through his confirmation process will vote for her.  He knows he shouldn’t and he knows he shouldn’t have approved RFK but he’s in the midst of a primary battle against a candidate Trump endorsed likely as retribution for Cassidy voting him guilty during his second impeachment trial so he’s compromised.  Desperate politicians do stupid things.  So do VP Vance and Medicare/Medicaid Administrator Dr Oz.  Yesterday they announced plans to “temporarily” withhold $259 million in Medicaid funds from the State of Minnesota because Minnesotans haven’t been targeted enough this year.  The purported reason for withholding the funds that help the poor including the neediest pregnant women, is to punish Minnesota, Governor Walz, and all of the states’ Somalis over the welfare fraud that was prosecuted by Biden’s DOJ and has already landed a bunch of people in jail. Remember when Trump said that he was sending Vance out to prosecute fraudsters, we knew he didn’t mean prosecuting the types of people that Trump routinely pardons.

Fog:  Something odd happened yesterday on the Cuban front. A Florida registered speedboat with ten Cuban residents of the US, assault rifles, handguns, improvised explosive devices (Molotov cocktails), bulletproof vests, telescopic sights, and camouflage uniforms was interdicted by Cuban authorities while on its way to Cuba.  Cuba says that the boat and its passengers planned to engage in terrorist activities upon arrival in Cuba. Several of the passengers were shot and killed, the rest were taken into custody by Cuban border guards.  Yesterday, Secretary of State Rubio said that the US was looking into the situation.  Gulf of Tonkin or Bay of Pigs, pick your poison.  Are we trying to come up with an excuse to invade Cuba while a substantial amount of our military assets is sailing around the Middle East poised to attack Iran? Heck of a way to win a Nobel Peace Prize or maybe that aspiration is no longer a thing.

Have a good weekend.