MAGA bet the House on a clown and got the whole circus

                                                                                                                        

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Last week, MAGA strategist Doug Heye went on CNN and complained that my opponent Richard Hudson, the head of the NRCC, is trying to recruit “normal” Republican candidates to talk about everyday issues for the midterms, and Trump keeps barging in like a drunk uncle with a megaphone. Heye claimed that MAGA actually wants to talk about prices, jobs, and the economy but instead they have to talk about Trump sharing a racist conspiracy video or whatever he’s done today. But the truth is actually worse. Richard Hudson would rather play defense for Trump’s latest episode of foot-in-mouth than try to explain why you keep paying more for groceries and rent. Well, too bad for Richard Hudson, because that’s exactly what we’re going to talk about from now until November. Early voting is underway right now here in North Carolina, and I need all hands on deck. Chip in right now and help me flip this seat so we can take back the House and get to work on fixing the real issues working families are dealing with. HELP US FLIP THIS SEAT FROM RED TO BLUE! >> Sappers clear the way, Airborne all the way! Maj. Richard Ojeda (Ret.) Candidate for Congress, NC-09

Paid for by Ojeda for NC   Ojeda for NC PO Box 35 Aberdeen, NC 28315 United States

We're plastering Pam Bondi's face all over D.C.

                                                                                                                       

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Good morning. I want to tell you what we're planning... and why it matters that we do not look away from what happened in that hearing room. Pam Bondi sat in front of Congress and refused to answer questions about Jeffrey Epstein. She refused to look at the women he raped. She refused to commit to releasing the files. Instead, she melted down, deflected, and protected the powerful men who enabled a sex trafficking operation that preyed on children. We've been here before. A few months ago, we took on Bondi and Stephen Miller with posters in DC that called Miller a fascist and Pam Bondi complicit. And it worked — the regime noticed and tried to take the posters down. The media covered it, and the truth flooded into the city where these people operate with impunity. Now we're going back. Epstein Queen. Pedo Protector. Posters across DC calling Bondi exactly what her refusal to seek justice makes her. We need $25,000 to print them, deploy them, and make sure every person walking past the Capitol sees the truth about who Trump's Attorney General is protecting. This is not about shock value (although it’s part of it). This is about the women who sat in that room waiting for answers and got nothing. This is about a justice system that protects predators when they have the right friends. This is about a regime that puts people like Bondi in charge of the law. We're moving fast. If you can chip in $10, $25, or whatever you can afford to help us raise $25,000 for these posters, we'll have them up this week. If you've saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately: DONATE $10 » DONATE $25 » DONATE $100 » DONATE $250 » DONATE $500 » CUSTOM DONATION » The deadline is February 16. We'll keep you posted as this unfolds. Steve Schmidt Save America Movement DONATE »   Paid for by Save America Movement and not authorized by any candidate or candidates' committee. Save America Movement 600 Pennsylvania Ave SE Unit 15180 Washington, DC 20003 United States

What country is this?

                                                                                                                      

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Over the last year, this leader: - Tried to take sovereign land unilaterally. - Used the justice system to jail enemies. - Shut down independent media voices. And that leader was…Vladimir Putin. The fact that you may have thought I was talking about Trump shows the peril our democracy finds itself in. I was on CNN’s NewsNight on Friday where I said just this – and the clip has more than 2 million views. People around the country are watching Trump and his cronies blatantly disregard the checks and balances and respect for free speech and free expression that this country was built on.   I’m not content to sit back and stay silent. History is not changed by the people who sit on the sidelines, and at this moment in our history, it's on all of us to loudly call for better, and hold those accountable for injustice. Would you join our movement now? We deserve better, and we can fight for it. We can’t afford to be afraid, or shy away from going into the lion’s den. I’m going to Congress to push for accountability, justice, and a better tomorrow for every single one of us.  If you've saved your payment info with ActBlue Express, your donation will process immediately: $15 $25 $50 $100 $250 Other Thanks for tuning in, and thanks for having my back. – Dan     Committee to Elect Dan Koh PO Box 723 Andover, MA 01810 United States

                                                                                                                     

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Fool me twice, shame on…wait, what?

The David Pakman Show - February 16, 2026

Feb 16

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Renewed claims about Jeffrey Epstein’s death are not new evidence but recycled opinion. Forensic pathologist Michael Baden argued back in 2019 that fractures to Epstein’s hyoid bone were more consistent with strangulation than suicide. That is the same claim being circulated again now. The problem is that peer reviewed research shows hyoid fractures occur in about a quarter of confirmed suicide hangings. That means the injury is not exclusive to homicide.

The controversy around Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein is escalating beyond pundit debate into survivor testimony and a planned field hearing in Palm Beach organized by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee. The focus is on allegations that young women were recruited from Mar-a-Lago in the mid 2000s, including claims by Virginia Giuffre that she was approached there as a teenager. Trump denies knowledge of Epstein’s abuse, but past statements and emails show clear contradictions.

Donald Trump and allies may be laying groundwork to challenge unfavorable results in the upcoming midterms by promoting distrust, tightening voting rules, and increasing federal oversight. The fear is not tanks in the streets but erosion of norms, particularly the expectation that losers accept defeat, combined with pressure on officials if results are close.

A widely shared clip shows Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem saying officials must ensure the right people are voting. Supporters say she means eligible voters, but critics argue the phrase reflects broader efforts like stricter voter ID laws and limits on mail-in voting that disproportionately affect Democratic-leaning groups. The concern is that repeated rhetoric about fraud, despite no evidence of widespread fraud, could normalize restricting ballot access.

Former Trump ally Marjorie Taylor Greene now claims Trump personally fought hardest to block release of the Jeffrey Epstein files. That contradicts public statements suggesting he supports transparency. If her claim is accurate, it raises questions about why he would resist disclosure while saying he has nothing to hide.

Trump adviser Peter Navarro praised what he called a perfect economy and said the stock market is over $50,000, confusing the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which is measured in points, with dollars. Pam Bondi made a similar mistake during her congressional testimony last week. Such errors raise concerns about economic competence at a time when voters remain worried about inflation and cost of living.

Finally, Dan Koh, Former White House Deputy Cabinet Secretary and former Deputy Director of Intergovernmental Affairs under President Biden, joins us to discuss his candidacy for Congress to represent Massachusetts' 6th district.

On today’s bonus show:

Gallup to stop tracking presidential approval polling, European countries confirm Alexei Navalny was poisoned, Oatly banned from using "milk" in UK marketing, and much more...

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Don’t miss the full show with these stories and others, plus all of our analysis.

This episode is available completely free on Apple Podcasts or Spotify right now, OR catch the full video show at 9:00 pm eastern on YouTube.

                                                                                                                    

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Watch now

BREAKING: Rubio Cozies Up to Authoritarian Leaders and Scolds Those Who Don’t “Applaud” Trump in Overseas Trip

On a trip to Europe, Rubio signaled that America’s alliances under Trump are firmly aligned with far-right strongmen instead of countries that reflect true American values.

Matt Staab Feb 16 ∙

Since the start of Trump’s second term, Marco Rubio has benefited from a convenient myth. He’s the serious one. The adult in the room. The polished, traditional Republican who could bring some semblance to a whirlwind of Trump-driven chaos.

His trip to Europe this week should put that illusion on ice.

At the Munich Security Conference, Rubio spoke about revitalizing alliances and restoring American leadership. The words may have been comforting if Rubio’s words matched the Trump administration’s conduct.

You can’t talk about strengthening alliances while waging trade wars against core European partners. You can’t talk about stability while undermining NATO commitments. And you certainly can’t claim to be restoring global trust while cozying up to authoritarian leaders who are actively hollowing out their own democracies.

Rubio’s stop in Slovakia was revealing. When asked about countries doing things the United States might not like (and vice versa) he brushed it off with two blunt and careless words: “So what?”

He framed it as common sense. Every country should act in its own best interest, he said. His framing was absurd. Alliances exist precisely because every nation acting alone in its singular self-interest is how global instability happens. They foster shared interest and agreement that certain lines don’t get crossed because crossing them hurts everyone.

By reducing foreign policy to “we’ll do what’s good for us and you do what’s good for you,” he’s endorsed a worldview that not only doesn’t deter aggression—it invites it…

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Goodbye and Good luck, David Brooks

His musings about personal morality have been thoughtful; his views about public morality and our political economy, far less so.

Robert Reich Feb 16

Friends,

New York Times columnist David Brooks, who personifies the oxymoron “conservative thinker” better than anyone I know, has announced he’s leaving his perch there. This deserves a mention because his punditry has been influential among neocons and neoliberals.

I’ve found Brooks’s musings over the past few years about personal morality and character provocative and thoughtful.

But when he has ventured into politics and economics, as he used to do quite regularly, Brooks has displayed such profound ignorance that I’ve often felt compelled to correct the record lest his illogic permanently pollute public debate.

Such has been the case with his columns arguing that we should focus on the “interrelated social problems of the poor” rather than on economic inequality, and that the two are fundamentally distinct.

Rubbish.

When the gains from growth go to the top — as they’ve increasingly been doing over the last 40 years — the middle class loses the purchasing power necessary to keep the economy moving forward. Hence the sputtering stagflation we’ve endured for decades.

Few jobs and slow growth hit the poor especially hard, because they’re the first to be fired, last to be hired, and most likely to bear the brunt of stagnant wages and declining benefits.

In addition, when the middle class is stressed, it becomes less generous to those in need. The “interrelated social problems” of the poor presumably require public resources. But a financially insecure middle class doesn’t feel it can afford to pay more taxes (and the super-rich have had the political power to reduce their tax rates).

America’s shrinking middle class has also hobbled the upward mobility of America’s poor, who now face a more daunting challenge because the income ladder is far longer than it used to be, and its middle rungs have disappeared.

Brooks has argued that we shouldn’t be talking about unequal political power, because such utterances cause “divisiveness” that make it harder to reach political consensus over what to do for the poor.

Rubbish. Unequal political power hasn’t fuel divisiveness; divisiveness has been fueled by unequal political power.

Decades before Trump, the super-wealthy began spending vast sums on public relations, think tanks, and political campaigns, all of which vilified liberals — beginning with the Koch brothers and culminating with Elon Musk.

Simultaneously, an ever-angrier working class — justifiably angry that the game was rigged against them — was increasingly susceptible to right-wing demagogues who channeled their anger into nativist bigotry, culminating in Trump.

Bitter divisiveness is the endgame of widening inequality — its most noxious and nefarious consequence, and the most fundamental threat to our democracy.

This all predated Trump, although Trump both benefited from it and has aggravated it.

For four decades, big money has engulfed Washington and many state capitals — increasingly drowning out the voices of average Americans, filling the campaign coffers of candidates who’ll do its bidding, financing attacks on organized labor on immigrants and on trans people, Black people, and Latinos, and bankrolling a vast empire of right-wing hacks, pundits, and politicians.

That David Brooks, among the most thoughtful of all conservative pundits, has not seen or acknowledged this — despite his commendable interest in personal moral development and character — is a sign of how far even the moderate right has moved away from the reality most Americans live in every day.

I wish Brooks well in his new pursuits. Whatever they are, I hope he begins to probe the important relationships between widening economic inequality and the crisis of personal morality he has readily and accurately acknowledged. I believe they are closely intertwined.

I have news in the Epstein investigation

                                                                                                                  

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I have news in the Epstein investigation. 

I forced a vote in the House Oversight Committee to subpoena Epstein’s longtime friend, client and financial backer, and his lawyer and accountant; and we won. Even Republican Chair Comer couldn’t shut down our demand for accountability.

These are the people who helped move the money, shield the powerful, and keep the truth buried for years.

Let me be clear: no one is above accountability. Not billionaires. Not fixers. Not anyone who thought this story would quietly disappear.

I pushed for these subpoenas because the American people deserve answers — not half-truths, not delays, not another cover-up. Survivors deserve the truth. And Congress has a responsibility to dig until we get it.

But here’s the reality: accountability only happens when people are willing to fight for it.

The same forces that protected Epstein for decades are still powerful. They are counting on fatigue. They are counting on silence. And they are counting on Democrats backing down.

I won’t.

If you want leaders who will subpoena the powerful, confront corruption head-on, and keep pushing even when it’s uncomfortable — I need your help right now. Chip in today to help me keep fighting. The truth doesn’t defend itself.

DONATE

Thank you, 

Robert Garcia 

 

 

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