Open Thread

What’s on your mind?

Comments

[Kazinski]

Did anyone post anything about the en banc non decision in JGG v Trump?

The DC Court of Appeals left alone the 3 judge panel decision dismissing the appeal by the Trump administration of Boasberg's finding of probable cause, but then issued a mandamus vacating Boasberg's finding.

But bizarrely one of the judges on the circuit dissented saying that a majority of the circuit court of appeals thought Boasberg was right, even though they let the mandamus shut the circus down, for now:

"Despite that, as Judge Florence Pan, a Biden appointee, wrote in dissent, “a majority of the full court does not believe that the district court was in the wrong.” This is so, Pan explained, because, in addition to three dissenting judges on Friday, an opinion from three judges who voted against rehearing the case en banc nonetheless agreed on that point. With those six votes on the 11-judge court, “a majority of the en banc court believes that the panel majority erred when it issued the writ of mandamus.“
https://www.lawdork.com/p/dc-circuit-wont-review-contempt-appeal

I am not a law dork reader but he seems to be reading Boasberg right.

So I guess the question is will Boasberg read that as a sign to try to revive his probable cause order, or let it die its timely death?

According to the law dork yes Boasberg hasn't given up yet:
"Update, 10:00 a.m. November 17: Moving quickly, Chief Judge James Boasberg on Monday morning ordered the Trump administration and challengers in the Alien Enemies Act case before him to be ready “to discuss next steps in this Court’s contempt inquiry” in two days, at a hearing in the broader case already set for Wednesday.]"

And did the circuit majority just decide it wasn't worth risking this case going to the next court if they decided to throw Boasberg a life preserver?

https://media.cadc.uscourts.gov/orders/docs/2025/11/25-5124LDEN2.FINAL.pdf

[Armchair]

"So I guess the question is will Boasberg read that as a sign to try to revive his probable cause order, or let it die its timely death?"

Yes. Or some variant of that.

"And did the circuit majority just decide it wasn't worth risking this case going to the next court if they decided to throw Boasberg a life preserver?"

Absolutely. DC circuit has a heavy Democratic bias, with 7 Dem nominees to 4 GOP nominees. The "majority" here was 6 of the 7 Dem nominees. Overturning the decision in that way is just asking for the SCOTUS to hear it and reverse.

[Mark N.]

Looks like Trump finally lost in his attempt to suppress the Epstein files. Might even lose in a unanimous vote at this point, after months of barely holding on to 51% against release.

[Kazinski]

How can he lose if he told the House GOP to release the files?

Still has to get through the Senate. Be interesting to see that vote.

And after all that, Trump could veto it, which is not likely.

There is only one way for him to lose, and that is if there is some unambiguous information implicating him. I give that maybe a 5% chance.

[Mark N.]

He told the House GOP not to release the files! That's why they've blocked the release for so many months. And has said that it would be a personal affront to him to release the files, because they are a Democrat Hoax that is trying to frame him.

[Kazinski]

That's old news.

Day old news:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgv653v1vjo

[Mark N.]

Capitulation news by a loser who lost the fight. He tried to stop the release and failed.

[Commenter_XY]

One way or the other, those files will be made public. The GJ transcripts must be released, next. And the predators that molested teens will be identified. Let the chips fall where they may.

The victims who later committed suicide over the psychological trauma of their victimization deserve justice.

[Kazinski]

He could stop the release if he wanted by vetoing the bill, he doesn't think its worth it.

You can't fail if you don't try.

[Martinned]

Not if Congressional Republicans and Democrats agree he can't.

[Mr. Bumble]

Get back to us when 2/3's of Congress can agree on anything.

[Martinned]

MTG agreeing with AOC is usually a start...

[Commenter_XY]

When will Larry Summers, close confidante of Epstein, be removed from any role that involves Harvard students?

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/larry-summers-goes-hiding-messages-sought-epsteins-advice-cheating-daughter-ccp-official

The man belongs in prison, general population.

[Frank Drackman]

I thought the Federal Death Penalty was by Lethal Injection.

[Kazinski]

I'm going to pull a notguilty here and ask you what the crime was.

[Mr. Bumble]

Being a friend of Epstein?

[Commenter_XY]

You think emails are the only thing Summers did with Epstein? You are not naive.

Let's see the data, and the GJ testimony under oath by the victims themselves. How many young women are dead, by their own hand, victimized and traumatized by reprobates like him? This is not complicated. Anyone who sexually abuses teenaged girls (or boys) should be put in a cage. That predator should be in prison, general population.

Summers should not be teaching anyone, let alone young adults. Unless he is a prisoner in the 'Scared Straight' program.

[Sarcastr0]

This is the histrionics no one posted with respect to Trump but which Trump’s defenders like to pretend everyone is.

[Martinned]

Excellent question.

(Minus the implicit assumption that someone being raped and/or murdered in prison is a good thing.)

[hobie]

I suppose if Summers knows some things about Trump, he'll just get the Club Fed treatment. Or, failing that, it appears that a $1M pledge to the Trump family is the minimum required for the pardon.

[Kazinski]

This seems like a reasonable take:
"Larry Summers was texting Epstein up to July 5, 2019, the day before his arrest.

Summers wanted advice on leveraging into bed a Chinese economist whose father is a senior CCP official Summers supported & flattered

She was almost certainly playing Summers."

[Mr. Bumble]

Epstein, Epstein, Epstein....
10,000 spiders on LSD could not have woven a more tangled web which is still growing.
I think I'll wait for the Ken Burns documentary for the full story.

[hobie]

It seems poetic that the Teflon Don's undoing is his deviant sexual acts.

[ThePublius]

What deviant sexual acts did Trump commit? Got receipts?

[hobie]

I think that Donald's strange reversal on the Epstein Files signals to me that he's been assured that his name was scrubbed from the files by Patel and Bondi. However, I've said from the beginning that the worst possible outcome for Trump is if he DOESN'T appear in the files. Because it will be a sure sign that the files were criminally tampered with.

[Malika la Maize]

Yes, given his sudden about face and his known propensity to threaten careerist who don’t show him what he wants to see I think we should assume there was very embarrassing to incriminating information in them that got scrubbed.

[ThePublius]

So, if Trump's name appears in the files, he's guilty.
And if his name doesn't appear in the files, he's guilty.

See what you're doing here?

[Malika la Maize]

Just following established conspiracy theory thinking (though there’s more reason to support this than usual). This could have been easily falsified if he had released the files as he advocated instead of resisting for so long.

[Malika la Maize]

Paul Ingrassia, a conservative activist who withdrew his nomination to oversee a government watchdog agency last month after POLITICO reported he made racist comments in a group chat, said Thursday he is moving to a new job in the administration.

The 30-year-old lawyer had been serving since February as White House liaison to the Department of Homeland Security. But in an email obtained by POLITICO, he told colleagues that he is leaving to become deputy general counsel at the General Services Administration…

POLITICO also reported that Ingrassia made a number of racist remarks in a text message chain from 2023 and 2024. In one of them, he remarked, “I do have a Nazi streak in me from time to time, I will admit it,” according to the texts.

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/13/trump-ingrassia-gsa-texts-00651340

President Donald Trump on Sunday brushed aside concerns about conservative commentator Tucker Carlson’s recent interview with a far-right activist known for his antisemitic views, which has caused a schism within the Republican Party.

Trump defended Carlson, saying the former Fox News host has “said good things about me over the years.” He said if Carlson wants to interview Nick Fuentes, whose followers see themselves as working to preserve America’s white, Christian identity, then “people have to decide.” Trump did not criticize Carlson or Fuentes.

Fuentes appeared to appreciate Trump’s sentiment, posting “Thank you Mr. President!” along with video of his interaction with reporters.

https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-tucker-carlson-nick-fuentes-c48a9b61d2412f43d254b2fd472d410f

[Martinned]

The US Regime is now also murdering people in the Pacific: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/pentagon-says-it-struck-another-suspected-drug-boat-pacific-killing-three-2025-11-16/

[Martinned]

Freedom of religion for me but not for thee:

Nearly two dozen people were arrested as faith leaders protested on Friday outside a federal immigration facility near Chicago, authorities said, the latest sign of tensions over the Trump administration’s aggressive enforcement push.

The Cook County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release that 21 people had been detained outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing center in Broadview, Illinois, but did not provide identities and charges. Michael Woolf, minister at Lake Street Church of Evanston, was among those arrested, a Reuters photo showed.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/nearly-two-dozen-arrested-faith-leaders-protest-chicago-area-ice-facility_n_6917c8d7e4b0781acfd648e3

[Martinned]

The Swiss were shocked when they got banged up with some of the highest Trump tariffs in the world earlier this year. This made them re-evaluate their relationship with the EU, but it also made them rethink their strategy for dealing with Trump.

Switzerland and the US have agreed to cut President Donald Trump's steep 39% tariffs on Swiss imports to 15%, as part of a deal that involves a Swiss promise to invest $200bn (£150bn) in the US.

"It's a great relief for our economy," said Swiss Economics Minister Guy Parmelin, who said significant damage had been done since the additional tariffs had kicked in last August.

Parmelin said a move by Swiss business leaders to meet Trump in the White House last week had proved "decisive" in reaching a deal.

Industry chiefs visited the Oval Office, bearing gifts including a Rolex gold watch and a specially engraved gold bar from Swiss-based gold refining company MKS.

Initial attempts by Swiss President Karin Keller Sutter to change Trump's mind had fallen on deaf ears. Trump said she "was a nice woman, but she did not want to listen"

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce8zkrplpdyo

[Malika la Maize]

On Monday, a man named Jonathan Braun was sentenced to 27 months in prison. The charges against him included sexually assaulting the live-in nanny for his own children and attacking a nurse with an IV pole. He was also accused of assaulting a 3-year-old child.

In October, a man named Christopher Moynihan was arrested and charged with threatening via text to “eliminate” Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader, at a speaking engagement in New York City on Oct. 20.

In March, a federal jury convicted a man named Eliyahu Weinstein of defrauding investors of $41 million. As Bloomberg reported, he had falsely promised “to invest their money in Covid-19 masks, scarce baby formula and first-aid kits bound for Ukraine.”

In January, an Indiana sheriff’s deputy shot and killed a man named Matthew Huttle when he reportedly raised a firearm during a traffic stop. Huttle was being arrested for a felony traffic violation when he resisted arrest. A special prosecutor charged with investigating the case said the deputy’s use of force was “legally justified.”

Four different men. Four very different crimes. But their common trait is that each of them had previously received a pardon, commutation or clemency from President Trump.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/opinion/trump-pardons-crimes.html