Serious question: We know that hundreds of FBI agents were tasked with poring through the Epstein files to flag any mention of Trump. So can we trust that if the files are released, Bondi and Patel won't just remove the documents that incriminate Trump the most?

"What did Trump think Epstein was 'stealing' these girls for? Epstein did not own a resort hotel. The answer is that he was recruiting them for his sex trafficking operation. The idea that Trump would have had any uncertainty on that point is absurd." — @paulwaldman.bsky.social

Jeffries: "In 2025, this is what it's come to in America. Donald Trump is using the Situation Room to advance the coverup of the Jeffrey Epstein files. This is why Republicans are being rejected all across the country. These are both unserious and dangerous people at the same time."

NEW: 11 reasons why (the Jim Comey indictment could get tossed out). A judge found that Lindsey Halligan appeared to make "fundamental" misstatements of law to the grand jury. DOJ faces skepticism on many fronts. Also: More on Charlotte. This evening at Law Dork:

NEW—US Park Police w/ DHS officers near DC are increasingly pulling over Black and brown men, leaving their work vans on the side of the parkway + immediately calling a local towing company to take them. Families who just lost their breadwinner are stuck with the bill. @melbuer.bsky.social reports:

DOJ is attempting to weaponize the privileged and confidential communications with private counsel and plaintiffs who brought lawsuits against gender affirming care. Attorneys at DOJ Civil resigned rather than targeting trans youth and their providers. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

I'll also note that the author of this article Emily Bazelon is having a hotdog suit moment since she helped kick up the moral panic around gender affirming care with her NYT Magazine article in 2022.

It has always been so obvious that the backlash to MeToo isn’t about whether the abuse is happening but whether people are allowed to want it to stop

Elizabeth Warren has urged Harvard to oust Larry Summers after revelations that he solicited advice from Jeffrey Epstein on how to abuse his position and coerce his mentee to have sex with him. www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

license plate data merged with credit header data, marriage records, vehicle ownership, and voter registrations, in one app for ICE agents. oh and it sends push notifications when someone they're seeking is nearby. 🆒: www.404media.co/this-app-let...

NEW: Gregory Bovino is exactly who E.B. White — author of 'Charlotte's Web' — warned us about. DHS named its North Carolina anti-immigrant effort "Operation Charlotte's Web." In 1940, White wrote of the "smell" that "rises" from those who "adjust to fascism" over freedom. Tonight, at Law Dork:

Corrected* for Wed Dec. 3

The thing to understand is that there is a particular contingent within Labour who assess their own performance not based on the support they get from the right (which will always be, basically, none) but on how much they repulse the left. So they turn into Reform, without actually getting votes.

The ex-podcaster running the FBI is just as qualified as the Fox ex-host who runs the military and the insurance lawyer who’s suddenly a prosecutor and the brain-wormed, dead-bear-cub-dumping guy who’s in charge of health and the big-lipped Islamophobe who tells Trump who to fire. So don’t worry.

"Trump is historically and deeply unpopular. it’s not just that people disapprove of him; they strongly disapprove of him. This is the biggest story in US politics. [It's] bad for Rs and getting worse." On the pod @speechboy71.bsky.social is great on the big picture: newrepublic.com/article/2032...

“Please remember that these are crimes that were committed against real humans, real individuals.”

Spread this as widely as you can and urge everybody you know to do the same

We were also among the first to the story that GenderGP is expanding to the US. The controversial for-profit telemedicine service provides no frills access to hormone therapy. @rikiwilchins.bsky.social interviewed Helen Webberley of GenderGP for Assigned.

Sounds like the NYT. Plus, even if that were true, it only reminds me of the button I saw after Prop 8 passed in CA in 2008: "Can I vote on your marriage now?"

A new NYT piece on Trump’s bigoted anti-trans passport edict leans heavily on the notion that polling supports his gender ideology. That’s a simplistic and largely unsupported reading of scarce polling. Read this analysis of polling by @alysbrooks.bsky.social www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-new...

A new NYT piece on Trump’s bigoted anti-trans passport edict leans heavily on the notion that polling supports his gender ideology. That’s a simplistic and largely unsupported reading of scarce polling. Read this analysis of polling by @alysbrooks.bsky.social www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-new...

This practice was endorsed by a Supreme Court Justice. #KavanaughStop

Please read and share this story if you haven't!

Firings at Condé Nast hit trans journalists hard. When union representatives attempted to question the decision, they were fired in what the union says is illegal retaliation. That and more trans news leading off the week this Monday AM. www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-new...

I hope every Labour MP considering whether to support Shabana Mahmood's asylum plans remembers Nigel Farage's assessment that the “Home Secretary sounds like a Reform supporter.” If they support them they will too.

Same. Reporters with resources and leadership that allowed them to center the people over protecting power.

Never forget that just a week ago, Ross Douthat and the NYTimes were asking if women ruined the workplace.

The nyt has “decided” the era of elitist-enabled predation is over (and even seems a bit wistful about it) It’s just one more way the nyt enables elite impunity: The club of predators has closed, it tells us, nothing to see here But the pedophile protection racket run by the WH tells us otherwise

Re-upping my Epstein essay from August as new information emerges today. Caution: disturbing descriptions of my and others’ sexual assaults. Release all the damn files. This is the ultimate test of this nation’s useless partisanship.

NEW: We’ve uncovered the first known example of taxpayer money flowing from DHS to businesses controlled by Kristi Noem’s allies and friends. It’s part of a money trail that’s been shrouded in secrecy—and involves $220 million, a mysterious Delaware LLC & a horse named Gill.

Read the full story here: www.propublica.org/article/kris...

I should be transparent. The NYT has approached @mississippifreepress.org reporters and editors about potential reporting partnerships. We have declined to have those conversations. We know it’s a reader play and don’t want clubby NYT control/influence on our reporting choices for obvious reasons.

Rodney King Riot Videos Reveal a Lost Los Angeles

Agents rappelled from a Black Hawk helicopter in a massive show of force. Authorities said Tren de Aragua “terrorists” had taken over the building. But after the cameras were gone, federal prosecutors did not charge anyone. With @frontlinepbs.bsky.social & @blockclubchi.bsky.social

We’re still reporting on Kristi Noem, contracts at DHS, and the ad deal. If you have any information we should know, my email is [email protected] and I’m on the encrypted messaging app Signal (you can message me at js_kaplan.85)

matt yglesias' primary claim about politics is that to win elections, democrats should adopt the strategy which has given starmer a 13% approval rating in the UK

The closest thing #Florida has ever had to state media was an online outlet called, “The Florida Standard.” Now it turns out that Gov. Ron DeSastrous hasn't just dictated its content but he's also funneled $$$ to it. jasongarcia.substack.com/p/the-myster... via @jasongarcia.bsky.social

The nyt has “decided” the era of elitist-enabled predation is over (and even seems a bit wistful about it) It’s just one more way the nyt enables elite impunity: The club of predators has closed, it tells us, nothing to see here But the pedophile protection racket run by the WH tells us otherwise

I'm seeing people wonder why ICE is going after Charlotte. ICE has been at war with Charlotte's sheriff ever since he won in 2018. We'd covered this at Bolts back in the day; this quote is from that sheriff:

Chris Murphy: "He wouldn't be going through all of this effort to try to stop the release of these files if he wasn't seriously implicated in those files. This is most likely the biggest corruption scandal in the history of the country. We know that b/c Trump is going to these extraordinary lengths"

Chris Murphy: "The fact of the matter is if you don't put constraints on Donald Trump's illegality, this democracy isn't going to be here next November. It isn't going to be here in 2028. So Democrats, yes, have to draw firm moral lines in the sand right now."

CBS is the network that paid Trump $16m. CBS is the network owned by the Ellisons. CBS is the network that failed to push back in its 60 Minutes interview of Trump. Of course, CBS is asking questions like this to House Democrats.

Not Sure How They Deal With Criminals In Your Town, But ’Round Here We Use A Restorative Justice Process

a big runoff last night, in New Orleans: Calvin Duncan was exonerated after spending *28 years* in prison; he tried to get his own case records from the New Orleans city clerk—but the office dragged its feet. So Duncan ran to become city clerk himself, and yesterday ousted the incumbent.

BASH: We have seen these attacks from the president at other people. It's not new. And I haven't heard you speak out about it until it was directed at you. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: I think that's fair criticism. And I would like to say, humbly, I'm sorry for taking part in the toxic politics.

Looks like Indiana's Republicans are telling Trump to eat shit and die when it comes to redistricting. I guess not every Republican is prepared to take orders from a 79-year-old man suffering from dementia www.cnn.com/2025/11/14/p...

Starmer’s regressive, bias driven policies have driven Labour to its lowest levels in nearly 40 years.

your weekly political data roundup is here: www.gelliottmorris.com/p/trump-hits...

Teenagers are old enough to have sex with middle aged men. They are not old enough to be trans. by Megyn Kelly

In this Ohio diner, it was a tradition: waffles and eggs, big cup of Folgers, then fire up the old laptop to get email dating advice from a convicted sex trafficker. But now the woke mob is taking all of that away.