Let's Be Clear About One Thing: There Is No "Department of Justice" Anymore

It's Trump's Taxpayer-Paid Legal Department.

The Justice Department on Thursday sued to block new congressional district boundaries approved by California voters last week, joining a court battle that could help determine which party wins control of the U.S. House in 2026.

They've done nothing about Texas's gerrymandering, hell, Trump called for it. But gerrymandering for Democrats is illegal, according to Trump's personal lawyer, the eminently bribable Pam Bondi.

Trump, Epstein and More

First off, it's coming out that Epstein and Trump were friends for a lot longer than Trump has said. Epstein was coaching Steve Bannon on a media campaign to support Trump in 2018.

Trump has no real friends, he never has. Every relationship in his life is transactional. He keeps people in his orbit for what they can do for him. When they can't do anything more for him, they're gone. That Epstein was in his life for so long speaks volumes.

Second, I want to pivot to Jimmy Kimmel, who lost his lifelong friend and bandleader, Cleto Escobedo III. Kimmel's taking a few days off, but he did his show the day Escobedo died. His monologue was a heartfelt eulogy to his friend.

On social media, I've read some pretty brutal comments, mocking Kimmel for showing his feelings and calling him all sorts of nasty shit. I'm not going to quote or link to them. But if that's you, check your head. You're showing what kind of character that you have and it's not flattering to you.

Because It's Friday

The Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway:

Those steam engines are all original to the railroad for working service.

The Coming Epstein War

The most advanced U.S. aircraft carrier is expected to reach the waters off Venezuela in days, a flex of American military power not seen in Latin America for generations.

Experts disagree on the possibility that American warplanes will catapult off the USS Gerald R. Ford to bomb targets inside Venezuela and further pressure authoritarian President Nicolás Maduro to step down.

The classic move of an embattled autocrat is to start a war with somebody in order to wave the flag and rally the populace. The Argentinian junta played that card by invading the Falkland Islands in 1982. (The junta fell after losing that war.)

Any military action by the Trump regime will be to distract the American people from the fact that Trump is a pedophile who features prominently in the Epstein files.

Cowering These Down, Here

Trump is Clearly a Pedophile and He is Terrified That His Base Will Find Out (Updated)

So he is doing everything humanly possible to stop the vote on the Epstein discharge petition.

Q: "Why are White House officials…meeting with Rep. Boebert in an effort to try to get her to not sign this petition calling for the release of the [Epstein] files?" Leavitt: "I'm not going to detail conversations that took place in the situation room."

[image or embed]

— The Bulwark (@thebulwark.com) November 12, 2025 at 1:55 PM

The Orange Pervert dragging Handsy down to the Situation Room to pressure not to sign the petition seems a bit much.

EDITED to ADD:

One reason you hold a meeting to pressure/cajole/threaten Boebert in the Situation Room is so she can't record it.

— emptywheel (@emptywheel.bsky.social) November 12, 2025 at 4:50 PM

And this guy agrees.

As the saying go, the rubber is going to hit the road when the Epstein file bill comes up for a vote next week. Will we see a shitload of GOP reps voting for it, now that they'll have to go on the record about whether or not to keep on protecting Trump's alleged pedophilia? Because you know, Gentle Reader, that if he wasn't in it up to his hairline, that he'd not be fighting so hard to keep it under wraps.

Megyn Kelly Is a Disgusting Excuse For a Human Being

She's trying to redraw the line of what is pedophilia in order to protect Trump and Epstein.

So, in her view, fucking a child is OK if a Republican is the one who is doing the fucking.

ICE, As Unprofessional As Always

A police officer intervened when he saw a man - who later identified himself as a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent - point a gun at a driver in Santa Ana, California Sunday afternoon, officials said.
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Police said the officer saw a man exit his car while pointing a gun at the female driver behind him.
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According to police, the armed man identified himself as an ICE agent, provided credentials and told the Fullerton officer that the woman had been following and recording him.

"The Fullerton Police Officer informed the agent that he could not assist with someone following or recording him if no crime had occurred, and that local law enforcement (Santa Ana PD) was en route. The female left the area shortly after," police said.

That's not the only ICE goon to point a gun at people taking photos:

One of these days, one of these unprofessional, untrained armed nitwits will pull a gun on a cop and get ventilated for his trouble.

Trump and his lackies in Congress tripled ICE's budget. It needs to be shaved by 90%.

ICE, CBP and the rest of the goons at DHS have been trampling over the law. The law moves slowly, but it will come for them.

Staining These Down, Here

CBS: Who Needs Standards?

That's the viewpoint of CBS News's new boss.

There are growing concerns within CBS News that Bari Weiss could gut or even disband the network’s Standards and Practices team, with multiple sources telling The Independent that the new editor-in-chief has complained that the unit has “too much power” and she doesn’t see the point of keeping it around.
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“The team is responsible for ensuring editorial standards are met on scripts and provides daily reporting guidance. They literally uphold journalistic standards,” one CBS News reporter said, adding that it would be “crazy” for the network to dissolve Standards and Practices.
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“I’ve been hearing that standards will be eliminated or severely cut back. Bari has told people that she wants to get rid of standards and is shocked that they have so much power. She also asked openly, ‘What’s the point of standards?’” one CBS News insider claimed.

Weiss is on a quest to transform CBS from "the Tiffany network" to "the cracked plastic cup that a hobo fished out of a dumpster network". She wants to change CBS to Fox News 2.0, a news network that serves, not the American people, but the oligarchs and Donald Trump. But since CBS is now owned by an oligarch, that's to be expected.

There are plenty of other news sources, which you should think of pursuing.