Flotsam and Jetsam - Trump on Epstein - Fuhgeddaboudit

Althouse hears Trump denounce his "PAST supporters" who "have bought into this 'bullshit'" he calls "the Jeffrey Epstein hoax." "These people are "pay dirt" hit by Democrats. They are "weaklings" who "do the Democrats work," and he doesn't even "want their support anymore." Here's the full text, from Trump, this morning at Truth Social:" Sundance at CTH, President Trump Blasts Supporters Who Continue Focusing on Epstein Story. Ace, Trump: Don't Fall For the Epstein "Hoax". Matt Vespa at TownHall proposes Is This Trump’s Reasoning Behind His Handling of the Epstein Files? "Attorney General Pam Bondi royally screwed the pooch by overpromising, and now we’re left in this lurch where, frankly, the Trump administration should take its lumps and try to move on as best as it can. We still have core tenets of the Trump agenda to pass, plus the Biden autopen scandal, and the probes into James Comey and John Brennan to uncover. If Trump were to fire Bondi, that would mean another overhaul at the DOJ." At the Fourth Rail a video, Can You TRUST The Government On Jeffrey Epstein's Client List?. Never. At the Wombat's In The Mailbox: 07.16.25 (Afternoon Edition), Don Surber: Keep Bondi I'd like to see all the Epstein files, too, but it's not worth turning the government over to the Democrats over.

Stephen Kruiser at PJM, The Morning Briefing: The Great Trump Tariff Tizzy of 2025 Has Gotten Quiet. Katie Jerkovich at RedState, 'When You Made a Mistake…': Billionaire Home Depot Founder Does 180 on Trump's Tariffs, Presidency. Ace, Home Depot Co-Founder: I Opposed Trump's Tariffs, Now That I See That They're Working -- and Are "Needed" and "Right". "He also says that Trump will likely go down as one of the "best presidents ever." I mean, it's too early to say that. His next three years could be a disaster, and his last week is pretty iffy. But going by what he did in his first term and the first half-year of his second term? He definitely could wind up being the best president in modern history, if he gets over his current habit of shooting himself in the foot and if some risky bets he's made pay off." Sundance, Suddenly, For Some Mysterious Reason, Canada Wants to Put Limits on Chinese Steel Imports. From Da Wire, Economists Wrong Again: Wholesale Inflation Remained Unchanged In June. "It's almost like the economics profession doesn't fully understand tariffs." Rusty Weiss at RedState, This Video Shows the Futility in Trying to Explain Basic Facts to CNN Analysts: ‘You Are Literally Lying’. PJM's Matt Margolis thinks you should WATCH: CNN Panel Explodes Over the Price of Eggs Under Trump. From Twitchy, CNN Panel Throws a Hissy Fit on Scott Jennings for (Correctly) Stating That Egg Prices Have Gone Down. At the Wombat's In The Mailbox: 07.16.25 (Afternoon Edition), EBL: Inflation is LESS than what Wall Street anticipated: Dems and Media are freaking out and Twitchy, CNN Panel Has A Hissy Fit Over Scott Jennings Correctly Stating Egg Prices Are Down, Louder With Crowder, Democrat narrative gets blown to smithereens as Americans learn more about the Big, Beautiful Bill.

Open Source Intel @Osint613 "President Trump has stated that Coca-Cola will switch to using real cane sugar in its U.S. products following recent talks." From PM, Trump heads to Pittsburgh to announce $70 BILLION AI, energy investment with Sen Dave McCormick "The event will "bring together the world’s top leaders in energy and AI, alongside the biggest global investors, labor and trades leaders, and government officials."" At Da Wire, Middle East Country Announces $17 Billion Investment In U.S. During Trump Talks. "The Bahrain deal will support 30,000 American jobs and was secured with help from Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick." Chris Queen at PJM reports Senate GOP Says It Has the Votes to Pass Trump's Spending Cuts Package. RCW is Pushing Back Against the Big Medicaid Lie: "1. Republicans voted to increase Medicaid spending over the next 10 years by 20%. 2. Republicans voted to preserve Medicaid for the needy by making sure that everyone using the program’s valuable resources is truly needy – and eligible. 3. Republicans voted to create an economy where more people can get jobs that provide high-quality health insurance. Emphasize this: Jobs are good. 4. Republicans treat Medicaid recipients with dignity, asking them to follow simple rules to qualify for the benefit, rather than treating them as helpless wards of the state. 5. Republicans are bending the curve downward on the national debt. Even if the CBO is right that the debt will increase by $3.5 trillion over the next 10 years, that increase is only 20% of what it was over the previous 10 years. And the Trump tax cuts are expected to stimulate the economy, so the national debt will actually decrease." From NYPo, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says ‘formal process’ to find Jerome Powell’s successor has started.

From WaPoo, As Trump turns toward Ukraine, Russians wonder if an opportunity was missed. "President Donald Trump’s new weapons deal and his increasing criticism of Vladimir Putin have sparked fear among some Russians that Putin could overplay his hand." Capt. Ed at Hat Hair, Russians Wonder: Did We Miss Trump's Off-Ramp? Jungle Journey @JnglJourney "NATO chief Mark Rutte says China could attack Taiwan, forcing Russia to strike the alliance Neocon tic-tac-toe…" I doubt it, Russia is just barely holding ground against Ukraine, let alone all of NATO. From War on the Rocks, How Iran Overplayed its Hand. 

Sundance is hosting John Solomon Interviews President Donald Trump on a variety of topics. 

Alex Thompson@AlexThomp "Inbox: top Jill Biden aide Anthony Bernal pled the 5th today. According to Comer’s office, “Bernal pleaded the Fifth when asked if any unelected official or family members executed the duties of the President and if Joe Biden ever instructed him to lie about his health.”" From NYPo, Jill Biden’s ‘work husband’ Anthony Bernal takes the Fifth in House GOP probe of Biden health cover-up. Ace, Jill Biden's Chief of Staff and "Work Husband" -- the Man Identified as Actually Running the White House Under Biden -- Takes the Fifth Rather Than Answer Congress's Questions. From LifeZette, NBC’s ‘Unexpected New Twist’ Label in Biden Autopen Scandal Called ‘Embarrassing Propaganda.’ 

Becky Noble at RedState reports AOC Parades Her New Bestie Mamdani Around Washington, DC As the DNC Keeps Their Distance. Mary Chastain at LI notices Mamdani Discourages Using ‘Globalize the Intifada’ But ‘Not the Idea Behind It’ "The idea behind “globalize the intifada” is literally destroying Israel. What happens when you destroy Israel? You murder Jews." NYPo, Zohran Mamdani intern declared activism is ‘all jihad’ in latest sign of radicalism in his movement. VodkaPundit at PJM asks are you 'Ready to Flee NYC?' Ramaswamy Has a $50K Suggestion. Move to Ohio.

Stephen Kruiser at PJM sees The Kamala Harris-ing of Gavin Newsom Is Underway "Overnight, they crafted a Kamala Harris who never existed out of whole cloth." At Shooting News Weekly, An Exceptionally Good Liar: Newsom Reimagines His Record on Gun Rights in the Run-Up to 2028. RedState's Teri Christoph thinks a New Poll Shows Democrats Are Committed to Losing Again in 2028. At Twitchy, Chuck Schumer Blames Trump's Cruelty and Downright Incompetence for Incinerated Food. A long, stupid story. From Ace, "Crowds on Demand" CEO: I Turned Down a $20 Million Contract to Provide a Rent-a-Mob to Honor "Civil Rights" Leader John Lewis "Well, the bought-and-paid-for mob was really for the purposes of attacking Trump in the guise of honoring John Lewis. The CEO of a "publicity" firm specializing in paying dregs and skels to come out to "protest" says he turned down an offer of $20 million to provide fake supporters for an event. He won't name the people who approached him. He says he turned down the offer because... leftwing mobs keep turning violent."

Tyler O'Neil at Da Signal explains 3 Perverse Ways Your Tax Dollars Fund the Left’s Dark Money Network. TNP reports DOGE Cancels Billions in Federal Contracts. Bob Spencer at PJM says The Extent to Which the State Department Wasted Your Money Was Truly Shocking. The Babylon Bee @TheBabylonBee "The Resistance Upset As Government Gets Smaller https://buff.ly/uNDTN6O." 

From NewsBusters, Texas Flood Coverage Belies Public Radio’s Boast of Unique, Emergency Reporting. Curtis Houck @CurtisHouck "NPR CEO Katherine Maher argues rural America often has no other possible source of news or connection to the outside world EXCEPT through PBS and NPR: "Large rural communities, large tribal communities" don't have "a lot of other options. Broadband service is not universal, and heck, even cell phone service is not universal. There's a real understanding of the need there as well as for emergency alerting, in which public media plays an extraordinarily important role."" Hat Hair's Dave Strom sees Democrats Gaslighting on PBS and NPR. No liberal bias here! John Kennedy @SenJohnKennedy, "NPR’s CEO Katherine Maher on CNN this morning: “As far as the accusations that we’re biased, I’d stand up and say, ‘Please show me a story that concerns you.’” I’ve got a few: (1/5)" Siraj Hashmi @SirajAHashmi, "Your Honor, I’d like to enter these into evidence." Drew Holden @DrewHolden360, "Thread.  I’m not sure people realize just how egregious some of NPR’s “journalism” has been. Amid the debate about defunding the network, I wanted to walk down memory lane to revisit some of its worst coverage. There’s a lot." From Twitchy, Give Us a Break! PBS Chief Paula Kerger Pretends to Not Know About Her Outlet’s Well-Documented Bias and Perfect Timing! Here's a Propaganda Parade From NPR and PBS Just As Trump's EO Ends Gov't Funding.

VodkaPundit at Insty finds DEI BAKED INTO LLM: Sharyl Attkisson @SharylAttkisson "By golly, I tried it too. When it didn't work, I specifically asked Grok for a photo with current US racial breakdown and it simply cannot do it. When I asked why, Grok explained it was likely trained to underrepresent whites to make up for past misrepresentations." Quote john jackson @pvtjokerus, "Asked Grok to make an image of America. This is what it spat out. Understand where we are."

At Da Fed, the Magnificent Margo Cleveland claims an EXCLUSIVE: Memo Reveals D.C. Judges Are Predisposed Against Trump Administration "Federal judge James Boasberg advised Chief Justice John Roberts and some two dozen other judges that his D.C. colleagues were “concern[ed] that the Administration would disregard rulings of federal courts leading to a constitutional crisis,” according to a memorandum obtained exclusively by The Federalist." At the Balmer Sun, a Federal judge in Maryland says she would block Trump’s birthright citizenship order nationwide. "The decision put the birthright citizenship issue on a fast track to return to the Supreme Court."

From RCP, Secret Service ‘Sloped Roof’ Saga Takes New Turn. Paul Kengor at Am Spec, Butler: The Riveting Untold Story of the Shooting of Donald Trump. "Salena Zito’s witness to the near assassination of the president is a must-read."

NewsMax reports DOJ Fires James Comey's Daughter, Who Prosecuted Epstein Case. Sundance has the
REPORT: Maurene Comey Fired from DOJ. "Perhaps the top tiers of the DOJ are hearing the outrage.  Perhaps this is a ‘tamp down’ effort? Regardless, of structural underpinning, the removal of a demonstrably, perhaps purposefully ineffective attorney from the Southern District of New York, who happens to be the daughter of one of the most political FBI Directors in history, was something very much needed."

Hat Hair's Beege Welborn says Just So We're Clear Here - Mexico Threatening to Sue US Over Illegal Who Dove Off Pot Farm Roof and died. At the Pop Times, Gavin Newsom: “Illegals Are Doing Jobs Americans Don’t Want”. I dunno, a lot of Americans have grown pot. Commonplace urges Making Illegal Employers Pay, "Immigration enforcement has to hold businesses who illegally undercut American workers accountable." Matt Vespa, After Endorsing That Trash Immigration Compromise, This GOP Congresswoman Has to Go. Ryan James Girdusky @RyanGirdusky "Maria Salazar will plot a way to sell this country out every chance she can until she’s defeated in a primary. Someone should challenge her." Quote "Rep. María Elvira Salazar @RepMariaSalazar, "Today, a bipartisan group of lawmakers and I introduced the most impactful immigration reform in a generation. Watch the video here." Matt Vespa, The DHS Was Feeling It When They Took This Ex-Biden Official to the Cleaners Over Immigration. 

“I was Humpty Dumpty. Here’s how to sit on a wall.” pic.twitter.com/jLEqar4ke9

— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) July 15, 2025

Bob Spencer at PJM, Either These Guys Were Very, Very Lost, Or They Were Up to No Good "Fox News reported that “a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) spokesman confirmed Tuesday that five Iranians were arrested while attempting to illegally cross the U.S. northern border with Canada.” CBP's Swanton Sector stated that “on July 1, Border Patrol Agents from the Champlain, New York Station, responded to suspicious activity near Mooers Forks, NY. Agents located a minivan occupied by five citizens of Iran and two citizens of Uzbekistan." Swanton, Vt., is a small town just south of the U.S.-Canadian border." At LifeZette, Alligator Alcatraz Tour Guide Dismantles Democrat Talking Points in Under Five Minutes. At the Wombat's In The Mailbox: 07.16.25 (Afternoon Edition),  Louder With Crowder: To Properly End Birthright Citizenship Abuse, We Need Congress to Pass a Law 

 At the Wombat's In The Mailbox: 07.16.25 (Afternoon Edition), Toni Airaksinen want you to Meet the Terrorist-Linked Professor Who Called for Iran to Attack American Military Bases, ""I don’t think it’s morally evil to own somebody" said Georgetown Full Professor Jonathan A. Brown." No wonder the College Fix points out Americans’ trust in Ivy Leagues is tanking: poll. But, from Campus Reform, Vanderbilt Medical Center cuts LGBTQ staff, ends 'Trans Buddy' program "The Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) laid off five staff members for its LGBTQ Health program, becoming among the latest of institutions to cut back from identity-based centers and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) ideology."