Fridays with Nicole Sandler

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    • harpie says:

      YESTERDAY:

      https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3lvbyyltm5d2o
      July 31, 2025 at 4:46 PM [VIDEO]

      Q: But also, the family of Virginia Giuffre released a statement overnight in response to some of the comments that you made this week. You said that Jeffrey Epstein stole people from Mara Lago. At the time, did you know why he was taking those young women, including Virginia?

      TRUMP: [0:13] [interrupting] No, I didn’t, no, I mean, I would figure it was ABC fake news that would ask that question. One of the worst. Ah, but ah no I don’t know really why ah but I said ah if he’s taking anybody from Mara Lago he’s hiring or whatever he’s doing I didn’t like it and we threw him out we said we don’t want him you know at the place. Ah, this is a story that’s been known for many years, as you know aaah but it’s ah I didn’t like it that he was doing that.

      • xyxyxyxy says:

        If he “figure”s it is “fake news that would ask that question,” then just move on, why is the knucklehead answering the question?

    • earlofhuntingdon says:

      Characterizing Ghislaine Maxwell as NOT a sex offender is to call a famous rugby team, stranded in the Andes, a team of vegans.

    • wa_rickf says:

      The Scientific Study would be required to facilitate a cure.

      Given that Trump and his cult hate science, and have decimated science in the United States in government and on the University research level, a resolution is not likely in the future.

      Sorry MAGAts, ignorance is not bliss.

  3. xyxyxyxy says:

    Today Trump was upset because after all the firings the government has done, he knows that the number of unemployed should have gone down.
    With logic like that, no wonder he bankrupts anything he touches.
    Also Eric this week about the new golf course, “we had an unlimited budget and we exceeded it.”

  4. HonestyPolicyCraig says:

    The tariff insanity is having an effect. One can only imagine the future of living in this country while our international markets are manipulated with some arbitrary arcane law.

    The drywall I purchased for my downstairs bathroom renovation was 25.60 per sheet. I used to by drywall for 7 dollars a sheet. It is a gut the pocket of middle class Americans. What would we expect from a president who talks about women as something to own.

    Perhaps some AI can predict where all this market manipulation will go, duh…

    • wa_rickf says:

      Trump, the sexual deviant, convicted felon in the White House who suffers from Dunning-Kruger effect? THAT Trump?

  6. Savage Librarian says:

    Rule of Five: Get the Files

    Jumbles what they’ve said
    and bumbles in their pitching
    All for their own damn self enriching
    Conning and ditching
    to try to cover up
    Chump’s got the power
    and the clones start stumping
    Then in their meets
    they’re all fist bumping
    But folks like us say:
    Do your job Rule of Five

    Working Rule of Five
    get the files for our retrieving
    Fairly we’ll defy
    all their faking and deceiving
    And you bet we’ll find
    what they’ve done to their discredit
    It’s enough to drown the crazy if we get it

    Rule of Five for files forward motion
    You would think that we
    would deserve this honest notion
    We could move ahead
    but the boss won’t seem to let us
    We swear sometimes
    that man is out to get us
    Mmmmm…

    They love to scheme
    Think that we don’t matter
    They have a rep: Big ugly and badder
    But we got dreams
    they’ll never take away
    On the same note with a lot of our friends
    Waiting for the day their grip and cunning
    Take a dive and wrong turn
    and it’s all gonna go our way

    Working Rule of Five
    get the files for our retrieving
    Fairly we’ll defy
    all their faking and deceiving
    And you bet we’ll find
    what they’ve done to their discredit
    It’s enough to drown the crazy if we get it

    Rule of Five, yeah
    We’ll get them where we want them
    There’s a better life
    We won’t stop until we haunt them
    It’s a rich man’s game
    and it’s time that we call it
    We will spend our lives
    until they turn tail and haul it

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQv3Lk1HESI

    Dolly Parton 9 to 5 (Live 2019 Performance from 50 year anniversary)

  7. P J Evans says:

    I understand The Felon Guy wants a 90K square foot convention facility for his cult members to not visit. That’s TWO ACRES. He claims, as usual, it will be paid for by donations, but that means sponsors for stuff. And where the F is it going to go? The only room is underground. (Or on the roof.)

  8. allan_in_upstate says:

    Meanwhile, not far from Club Fed in Bryan, not special treatment for the little people,
    but Cormac McCarthy-level dystopia:

    “Nobody came”: Hill Country flooding survivors recount anguish, neglect during emotional hearing [Texas Tribune]

    … Survivors from both Kerr and Travis Counties testified that because of the methods that emergency management teams use to identify missing persons, human remains are still in areas affected by the flood.

    “I found a hip and a leg on my property,” testified Ashlee Willis who lives near Sandy Creek in Travis County. Willis said Travis County marks people as found when they find body parts that they are able to match to DNA and that “they are not coming back to find the rest of these people.”…

    …Ann Carr noted a similar situation in Kerr County, where her property overlooks contaminated water. Carr testified there are vehicles emitting oil into a lake that abuts the Guadalupe River in Ingram.

    “What we have noticed since the flood is our lake has become a toxic pit,” said Carr. …

    https://www.texastribune.org/2025/07/31/texas-hill-country-flood-survivors-hearing/

    • Mooserites says:

      Gosh, I wonder if FEMA is aware of the after-effects of floods, and takes action to mitigate them.

  9. wa_rickf says:

    “…What we have noticed since the flood is our lake has become a toxic pit…”

    You voted for that Ann. You wanted federal government dismantled. Trump is doing that. You wanted fiscal responsibility. Your Texas cheap and chintzy state government voted not to fund a siren alarm system for the past six years in the hill country.

    Elections have consequences.

    • wa_rickf says:

      …from the link above:

      “Travis County officials failed to deploy emergency resources to the Sandy Creek area for days after the devastating July floods, leaving residents to organize their own rescue and recovery efforts, according to testimony from multiple survivors.”

      Conservative are always telling others to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. Now these folks are complaining when THEY have to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps and organize their own search and recovery efforts? Typical hypocrisy from conservatives.

      • allan_in_upstate says:

        Just to be clear – this hearing was the GOP controlled TX legislature trying to deflect blame and beat up on the Democratic judge (basically, county executive) of liberal Travis County (Austin).

        Travis County, pop. 1,350,000, had 10 deaths.

        Kerr County, pop. 55,000, had 108 deaths.

        • wa_rickf says:

          @ xyxyxyxy August 3, 2025 at 3:45 am

          Fox had an article about that last week. The MAGAts were not happy with the Kerrville city manager, call him a “leftist” and a RINO.

          Any critique of Trump or his Administration is met with circling the wagons. As I wrote about the MAGAt critique of Trump and Epstein, the critique has to be organically originated from within the MAGAt movement and it starts with their influencers.

          Once their influencers start criticizing Trump, the MAGAts fall in line and do the same. Trump immediately responds.

          What needs to be done with Trump is somehow get the influencers to turn on Trump and keep the pressure mounted and continued and sustained.

          I learned this by many hours observing the MAGAt responses on Fox and understanding how they think and reason.

          We can’t plant the seed, the influencers have to.

  10. harpie says:

    8/1/25 [All times ET]

    8:30 AM JOBS Report posted
    11:22 AM WAR ROOM podcast:

    BANNON: What in the hell is going on there? And have we put in our own person into BLS? Is a MAGA Republican, that President Trump knows and trusts, are they running the Bureau of Labor Statistics yet?

    [Heritage Foundation’s E.J.] ANTONI: No, unfortunately, Steve, we still haven’t gotten there. And I think that’s part of the reason why we continue to have all of these different data problems.
    [Antoni also talked up a previous BLS commissioner, and added]
    He’s been replaced by someone who, frankly, I think is incompetent. And that shows with the fact that the problems in the statistics — that first became evident all the way back in the spring of 2022 — those problems are still there.

    2:09 PM

    TRUMP [on TS]: I was just informed that our Country’s ‘Jobs Numbers’ are being produced by a Biden Appointee, Dr. Erika McEntarfer, the Commissioner of Labor Statistics, who faked the Jobs Numbers before the Election to try and boost Kamala’s chances of Victory. … I have directed my Team to fire this Biden Political Appointee, IMMEDIATELY. She will be replaced with someone much more competent and qualified. […]

    2:34 PM NBC confirms firing

    All links found here:
    After Steve Bannon called for “a MAGA Republican” to run the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Trump fired its commissioner Trump took this action following a weak jobs report with major downward revisions. Economists say this move will create mistrust about economic data. https://www.mediamatters.org/steve-bannon/after-steve-bannon-called-maga-republican-run-bureau-labor-statistics-trump-fired-its Zachary Pleat Published 08/01/25 4:20 PM EDT

      • harpie says:

        Here’s William BEACH himself on Xitter:
        [I don’t know how to get his original comment]

        https://bsky.app/profile/newseye.bsky.social/post/3lvekp43ut227
        August 1, 2025 at 5:08 PM

        Important intervention from the previous BLS Commissioner, William Beach.

        Important because he was a Trump appointee (in Trump’s first term).

        He tears into him for firing Erika McEntarfer: [screenshots]

        Found it at Friends of BLS:
        https[:]//www.friendsofbls.org/updates/2025/8/1/statement-on-commissioner-mcentarfers-removal

    • harpie says:

      [approx] 5:10 PM
      https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3lvekuwi6mp2w
      August 1, 2025 at 5:12 PM [VIDEO] [“that woman” ALERT]

      Q: Why did you fire the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics?

      TRUMP: Cause I think her numbers were wrong, just like I thought her numbers were wrong before the election. Days before the election, she came out with these beautiful numbers for Kamala I guess Biden slash Kamala, and she came out with these beautiful numbers trying to get somebody else elected. Then right after the election I think on the fifteenth, November fifteeneth she had an eight or nine hundred thousand dollar massive reduction, said she made a mistake.
      Aaaah, no that woman that woman’s numbers aren’t right.

      8:04 PM
      https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3lveuoews5n2x
      August 1, 2025 at 8:07 PM [VIDEO]

      Q: […] What’s your message to Americans, who might be concerned about paying more, perhaps even in the short term, for things that they need?

      TRUMP: [0:48] Well, before the message, I have to say that ah I think that these numbers weren’t correct today. Ah not that they were horrible, I’ve seen much worse numbers than this. But I I think that these numbers were incorrect today because nobody saw this coming. Nobody saw the ah the smaller numbers not only announced but going back and restating her numbers cause she made a mistake. You know, that was the bigger numbers. So I think they’re wrong.

      • Memory hole says:

        Well, if anyone would recognize big, beautiful numbers that are also wrong, it’s President Trump.

        Noone has ever seen numbers the way he randomly uses them.

        Like, the number of floors in his skyscrapers. Or the number of square feet of his penthouse apartment. Or the value of his properties, depending on whether the number is for loan collateral, or taxes due.

        His knowledge of wrong/fake numbers is unrivaled.

    • harpie says:

      1/2/21

      TRUMP [to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger]:

      So tell me, Brad, what are we going to do? We won the election, and it’s not fair to take it away from us like this. And it’s going to be very costly in many ways. And I think you have to say that you’re going to reexamine it, and you can reexamine it, but reexamine it with people that want to find answers, not people who don’t want to find answers.

      ‘I just want to find 11,780 votes’: In extraordinary hour-long call, Trump pressures Georgia secretary of state to recalculate the vote in his favor
      https://washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-raffensperger-call-georgia-vote/2021/01/03/d45acb92-4dc4-11eb-bda4-615aaefd0555_story.html
      Jan. 3, 2021 at 12:59 p.m. EST

    • xyxyxyxy says:

      Almost nobody lent Trump and/or his businesses money because they didn’t trust them or their bankruptcies or whatever.
      After firing head of BLS and fearing who he is going to stick in that position and/or what antics he’s willing to pull off, who down the road would buy any US government debt and/or at what interest rates?
      Let’s see how treasury sales go, ranging from 13 week ones on Monday through 30 year ones on Thursday this week.

  11. wa_rickf says:

    MTG is mad, and she’s not going to take it any more. Majorie suggests that she is close to being done with the GOP.

    Majorie is upset over the “screwing” of her friend Rep. Elise Stefanik. (Without the hugs and the kisses, I suppose). Trump rescinded Stefanik’s nomination for United Nations ambassador in favor of Mike Waltz—a move that has Greene furious.
    (Talk about a delayed reaction. It’s been four months).

    Isn’t the MAGA line that Stefanik would be a “DEI” hire, while the job properly went to a white male? So what’s Marj’s problem? Oh yes! As with everything else rightwing, it’s only a concern when policy starts to affect them personally.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14960689/marjorie-taylor-greene-floats-breakup-republican-party.html

  12. Magnet48 says:

    I just read this in a comment on Eschaton & cannot copy but wanted to bring it to everyone’s attention : Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts urged rightwing state legislators to “de-charter” liberal capital cities and replace them with state municipal districts. The comment goes on but a later response goes on to say that someone’s husband applied for a city job & in doing research they discovered that the 2024 audit for FY2023 hadn’t been accepted by the Federal Clearinghouse & that information is not being reported in the newsmedia. My immediate grasp of this is that this will be the manner of takeover rather than declaring martial law. Can someone here disavow my fear?

  14. pH unbalanced says:

    For anyone else who did a doublecheck when Marcy name-checked Kate Starbird, and thought “the basketball player?” Yes, the basketball player.

    Kate Starbird was a star basketball player at Stanford, played in the WNBA, and *then* became a Computer Science professor at UW specializing in disinformation networks. Very talented, and very impressive.

    • Rayne says:

      Starbird did some important work in between Stanford and UW. I didn’t know of her because of basketball, but I had been aware of her work related to the BP Deep Horizons disaster in the Gulf of Mexico (think I was still at Firedoglake then). She wrote about that research in 2017; it’s eerie reading that now, seeing the nascent Russian influence operations beginning to gel even in 2010.

  16. wa_rickf says:

    A comment I saw this weekend:

    When world leaders meet with Donald Trump, they are not thinking: Wow! This guy is a brilliant thinker.
    No, they are thinking: How did this idiot get elected?

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