1/03/2026

general hospital

c.i. noting out year in review pieces in the community:


2025 end of the year pieces include Rebecca's "hottest men of 2025," Ann's "2025 in films" and Stan's "2025 in films," Mike's "Idiot of the Year," Martha & Shirley's "2025 in books (Martha & Shirley)," Kat's "Kat's Korner: 2025 in music,"  Ruth's "Ruth's Media Report 2025," Ava and my "Media: The best and the worst of TV showed up in December"   and my "2025: The Year Of The Jig Is Up."

on my hottest men of the year post?  i've got 17 e-mails asking why i didn't include any actors from general hospital' on the list?  excuse me, are there any hot men on the show?

ryan paevey is hot  he plays nathan.  chris mckenna plays jack and he's sexy (and has made my list before).  but ididn't think of them when i was working on the list.  if people had e-mailed ahead of my making the list, ryan and chris would've made the list.  the rest?  overgrown boys and, to be prince about it, 'overcast days never turned me on.'  

'general hospital' was new friday.  stripping out laura, nothing much happened.  the mob's trying to pressure her to put in helicpads on the docks.  and in case she wants to say 'no' (which she does), they sent a message to her through her granddaughter charlotte who was watching ace.  ace, charlotte, rocco?  i know i'm forgetting some 1 but it's really saying something about genie francis that laura has grandchildren.  the reason laura and scotty and laura and luke didn't have children in the 1970s and 1980s was because denise alexander had it in her contract that she wouldn't play a grandmother - denise - who died last year - played dr. leslie webber, laura's mother.  

anyway so mobster sidwel tells charlotte to keep a close eye on ace because kids disappear in the blink of an eye and when charlotte repeats it to laura, laura knows it's a threat regarding the helicopters.

alexis is going to try shifting the focus to michael to keep willow out of prison.  


dante was on.  i hate dante.  turns out, i am not alone.  i used google ai and asked if dante was the most hated character on 'general hospital'?  here's the answer:


Based on recent viewer sentiment, many

General Hospital fans have criticized Dante Falconeri as being unbearable due to his irrational, harsh behavior toward Gio and excessive anger following the beach party incident. While long considered a fan favorite, his recent actions have led some to label him the "worst" or a "jerk" in 2025, with many blaming the writers for ruining his character. 

  • Viewer Frustration: Fans have expressed that Dante’s actions—such as blaming Gio for Rocco’s alcohol poisoning—are out of character, inconsistent, and over-the-top, according to discussions on Reddit www.reddit.com/r/GeneralHospital/comments/1knkciv/so_sick_of_dantes_ranting_and_raving/.
  • "Worst" Accusations: Some viewers on Facebook have gone as far as calling him the "worst father of the year" for his treatment of his children and his, as described by users on Facebook www.facebook.com/groups/generalhospitala/posts/4144664482417185/.
  • Character Shift: Many believe the character has been poorly written lately, turning a previously stable, heroic character into a "mean" and "nasty" one.
  • Defense of the Character: Despite the backlash, some fans continue to support the character, arguing that his behavior is either a temporary reaction to grief or simply a result of poor, repetitive writing. 
While some viewers argue that characters like Drew are worse, the prevailing sentiment in recent months indicates significant frustration with the current direction of Dante's character. 



let's close with c.i.'s 'The Snapshot:'


Friday, January 2, 2026.  As the new year begins, Chump continues his efforts to destroy American healthcare, though he'd like it to be The Epstein Scandal is not over and more details are emerging, Megyn Kelly drops her pretense to 'care' about sexual assault and to have been a 'victim' of it, and much more.



Starting with this press release issued by Senator Alex Padilla's office yesterday:


WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) issued the following statement after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals lifted its stay on a federal judge’s order barring the Trump Administration from deploying the National Guard to Los Angeles, ending the federalization of California’s National Guard and returning authority over them to the state:

“Today’s order affirms what we’ve said from the beginning: the Trump Administration’s choice to federalize and deploy National Guard troops in Los Angeles was unlawful. This deployment is reckless, harmful, and an abuse of executive power that has put service members in an impossible position.

“The fight is not over but I look forward to the remaining service members returning to their families, their jobs, and their primary critical missions as soon as possible.”

###


Moving over to the late Jeffrey Epstein who was Donald Chump's roll dog and best buddy for years and years as Epstein sex trafficked girls and women.    Meredith Kile (PEOPLE MAGAZINE) notes:

 A new report from the Wall Street Journal alleges that Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago spa had teenage workers make house calls to Jeffrey Epstein's mansion.

The report, which cites unnamed former Mar-a-Lago and Epstein employees, claims that Trump's spa would send masseuses, manicurists and other spa workers to Epstein's nearby residence.

"Epstein wasn’t a dues-paying member of the club, but Trump told staff to treat him like one, the employees said," according to the report.

It also alleges that workers "warned each other about Epstein, who was known among staff for being sexually suggestive and exposing himself during the appointments." 

[. . .]

 Though Trump has continued to downplay his longtime friendship with Epstein since taking office for his second term, there was a disturbing mention of the president in the last drop of evidence.

One of the documents, dated Oct. 27, 2020, appeared to be an FBI intake report that featured the account of a former limo driver, who claimed to have met Trump in 1995, when he said he drove the real estate mogul to Dallas Fort Worth International Airport.

The document read, "[Driver] reported some of the things President Trump had spoken about during the ride while on his cell phone were very concerning. [Driver] reported he was 'a few seconds from pulling the limousine over on the median and within a few seconds of pulling him out of the car and hurting him, due to some of the things he was saying.' " 

 While telling the story to an unnamed woman years later, the driver alleged that the woman went "stone cold."

"[Woman] stated, 'He raped me,'" the FBI intake report read. "[Driver] said, 'What?' as [Woman] replied 'Donald J. Trump had raped her along with Jeffrey Epstein.' " 


 


Chump supposedly banned Epstein from the resort but did he continue to send employees to do house visits?  Was Chump was under the impression he wasn't aiding a crime if it didn't take place on his property?  Because that's not how aiding and abetting works -- by sending his employees into a known environment for sexual assault, Donald Chump himself would be guilty as a partner to any crime.  TMZ notes:


Donald Trump's ties to Jeffrey Epstein may be even worse than previously thought ... according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal.

The WSJ says DT's Mar-a-Lago spa in Florida would send teenage workers to Epstein's mansion, despite it being an open secret among the staff that the billionaire would sometimes expose himself during appointments.


 


Shaun King (THE NORTH STAR) observes: 


But the moral question isn’t simply, “Did Trump eventually kick him out?” The question is: why was the pipeline allowed to exist at all, and why was there no real accountability when staff reported misconduct?

Because here’s another key detail the Journal reported: the 18-year-old disclosed the incident to Mar-a-Lago’s HR team, but the incident was not reported to Palm Beach police, according to former employees and police. Police didn’t begin investigating Epstein until two years later, after a parent reported Epstein molested a 14-year-old girl.

Sit with that: an 18-year-old reports pressure for sex after being sent to Epstein’s home, and there’s no police report. That is not a minor administrative choice. That’s a decision that protects the institution and leaves other young women exposed.

This is what people miss when they reduce Epstein to a cartoon villain. A villain is one man. A system is what protects him.



TMZ also notes:

One of the members of the U.S. House Oversight Committee that's been releasing photos and documents from the Jeffrey Epstein estate has a New Year's resolution for the Epstein Files ... he wants to totally expose and put away the pedophile's enablers.

Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, a Democrat from Virginia who sits on the committee, tells TMZ ... "My New Year's Resolution for the Epstein Files is to get the files released, name names, and let the courts and the court of public opinion judge those who perpetrated, covered up, and enabled these crimes so that they never happen again."

And Subramanyam says Ghislaine Maxwell is one of their targets ... despite her currently serving a 20-year sentence in prison after being convicted of sex trafficking minors and other federal charges. He says Maxwell "should absolutely be held accountable for all the crimes she committed, including newly discovered crimes."


For those who've forgotten the ongoing release of documents taking place currently took an act of Congress.  Prior to that, Chump referred to the crimes that took place as a "hoax" and refused to release documents.  Also a point to remember, the law passed by Congress mandated that all documents be released by December 19th.  That did not happen.  Attorney General Pam da Bimbo Bondi refused to comply with the law and the bulk of the documents remain hidden from the public.  

On the topic of the documents, let's note this video. 

 

 


Lastly, CBS NEWS reports there are problems regarding the official story on Jeffrey Epstein's death and the actual camera recording devices. 


Meanwhile, THE DAILY BEST has an interview that's getting media attention.



Pranita Chaubey (INQUISITR) reports:


Donald Trump’s name continues to pop up every time there is a mention of the Epstein Files, and now, longtime Trump biographer Michael Wolff has revealed that Donald Trump befriended Jeffrey Epstein for all the wrong reasons.

Longtime Donald Trump biographer Wolff revealed during Inside Trump’s Head Podcast that the two men allegedly shared a girlfriend. “This is [around] 1993, 1994, and Marla Maples (Trump’s former wife) is now coming into this picture, but it is also the moment in which Epstein and Trump are sharing a girlfriend,” said Wolff.

Wolff claimed that the two even had the same girlfriend once. The biographer revealed, “This is a Norwegian model and whatever the arrangement is, back and forth, I mean—again, they are playing with someone, and this is their shared, not only girlfriend, but kind of a shared joke.”

As a part of the bombshell Epstein files dump, an email link had a mention of a Norwegian cosmetics heiress, accompanied by a text from Epstein that read: “My 20-year-old girlfriend in ’93, that after two years I gave to Donald.”


It's a sad life but no one's mourning Chump.  Not even with all his health problems is anyone feeling sympathetic toward the vulgarian.  Hannah Demissie (ABC NEWS) reports:


For weeks, President Donald Trump has said that he received an MRI at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in October, but when asked about the procedure by the Wall Street Journal in an interview published Thursday, Trump and his doctor said that he actually got a CT scan instead.

"It wasn’t an MRI," Trump told the Journal. “It was less than that. It was a scan.”

Last month, Trump maintained that he got an MRI, telling reporters on Air Force One that he would "absolutely" release the results.

The White House has not specifically said why Trump received the scan. In November, Trump claimed the MRI was part of his yearly physical.

Trump’s physician, Navy Capt. Sean Barbabella told the Journal that the president had received a CT scan -- not an MRI. Barbabella said Trump’s doctors initially told him they would perform either an MRI or a CT scan.


 

 

 

 

THE DAILY BEAST's David Gardner adds, "Donald Trump has confirmed that he wore compression socks to treat his cankles amid growing scrutiny over his health as America's oldest president." 

 

Let's use his dementia and declining health to address his treatment of Marjorie Taylor Greene one more time.  Alex Nguyen (MOTHER JONES) notes:


Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said that her defense of survivors of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and threat to disclose the identities of some of the men who abused them broke her relationship with President Donald Trump, who said his “friends will get hurt” if she went through with it. 

Greene’s claim came in remarks from two long interviews published Monday in the New York Times Magazine. After a closed-door meeting with Epstein victims in September and a subsequent news conference where she made the threat to share the names of some of the men, Greene said Trump rebuked her. 

“The Epstein files represent everything wrong with Washington,” the congresswoman told Robert Draper of New York Times Magazine, highlighting how Epstein went unpunished for decades and was allowed to continue to sexually assault girls and young women. 

Greene announced in November that she would resign on January 5, 2026, a year before her term ends. “Standing up for American women who were raped at 14 years old, trafficked, and used by rich, powerful men should not result in me being called a traitor and threatened by the president of the United States, whom I fought for,” she stated in the video.


 

TIS PITY SHE'S A WHORE.  It's not just a John Ford play from the 1600s by John Ford, it's also Megyn Kelly's brand.  Which is why you did not find me defending her when she came forward to talk about her 'victimizing' by Roger Aisles.  It was known, even if outlets didn't report it, that Megyn was a party girl, a party girl who used her body to work her way to the top.  She wasn't a victim.  And she only came forward when others had outed Roger Aisles -- her mentor whom she was so close to in the public eye and now needed to break away from him lest people catch on that her rise at FOX "NEWS" resulted from a I'll-scratch-your-pudenda-if-you-scratch-my-testicles.  If you grasp that, then you'll understand her latest nonsense which Loren Piretra reports on in the video below.



In other news of Tramp Media, Bari Weiss is in the news.  Tom Boggiono (RAW STORY) reports:


A video from CBS News posted to X on New Year's Day, designed to introduce the journalistic path recently promoted CBS News anchor Tony Dokoupil will be taking, was greeted with no small measure of skepticism on social media.

Since the controversial Bari Weiss was picked to run the CBS News division despite a lack of experience in television news, every move has been scrutinized and Dokoupil’s pledge reaffirmed concerns about the dismantling of journalistic standards.

Coming not long after Weiss spiked a “60 Minutes” investigation into the horrific experiences of migrants detained by ICE and transferred to El Salvador's CECOT prison facility, Dokopuil’s comment that “the press has missed the story” too often set off a wave of derision and accusations of dumbing down the news. 


Ava and I noted Bari in yesterday's "Media: The best and the worst of TV showed up in December" about her censoring a 60 MINUTES news segment:


She has repeatedly insisted that her problem was news value and that the program didn't live up to it.

 

How did a town hall with the widow of a racist live up to it?

 

We may be doing another piece on racism in the near future, in terms of people trying to justify racism on the basis of a Black performer and pretending that he and a TV performer were on the same playing field when in fact the program has been notoriously racist over the years, that the power structure was racist and that the Black performer was a guest on one episode.  They try to pretend this was an equal playing field when it was no such thing.

 

We bring that up because when Chump's right wing buddies took over CBS, this was White people and they installed White Bari Weiss.  And she and the power structure chose to present the wife of a racist -- who echoes his racists opinions -- and treat her as some sort of expert who should be allowed to pontificate for one hour of prime time TV. 

 

 Mary Whitfill Roeloffs (FORBES) noted, "An hour-long interview with the widow of political commentator Charlie Kirk on CBS criticized for its editorial approach drove away big advertisers without drawing a hoped-for big audience in what could be a defining moment for Bari Weiss, the newly appointed editor in chief of CBS News."  Brian Steinberg (VARIETY) noted, "Viewership was off 11% compared to the average viewership in the hour year to date, according to data from Nielsen, and the “demo” audience was down 41% compared to its year-to-date average."  Justin Baragona (INDEPENDENT) makes the poor performance look even worse by bringing basic facts, "Making the low viewership for the Erika Kirk town hall even more striking is that CBS pulled in a large audience for the annual Army-Navy game that afternoon, drawing 7.3 million viewers per Nielsen’s early measurement. The post-game show, which served as a lead-in for the Kirk-Weiss chat, attracted a viewership of 3.5 million and 901,000 in the advertising demo, according to Nielsen." Even with a huge lead-in, the 'news' special flopped. THE NEW YORK POST explained it wasn't even a hit on YOUTUBE.

 Maybe Bari Weiss needs to answer for that?

And maybe the new owners of CBS and PARAMOUNT need to answer to shareholders about why they paid Bari $150 million for her website -- that's about $149 million more than it was worth.

 

Mainly we should all be aware that Bari Weis killing that news segment on 60 MINUTES was censorship.

 

She had all these excuse about how it wasn't news and it wasn't ready.

 

But she's the one who put on an Erika Kirk special. Three months and three days after racist Charlie Kirk was shot dead, she put on an Erika Kirk special.

 

How did that qualify as news?  

 

Are we supposed to pretend that Erika had anything to share?   She's still working through the stages of grief described by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in ON DEATH AND DYING.  She's not come out of the grief, she has no lessons to share, she's garnered no perspective.  If anything, she's avoided dealing with her grief and loss. 

  

This month alone, Sean Hannity interviewed her on December 8th, she took part in THE NEW YORK TIMES DealBook Summit, she showed on Megyn Kelly's show, she showed up on Glenn Beck's show, and on December 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st she was part of AMERICAFEST.  That's not a full listing of her events and appearances  

 

She's not taken time to grieve and she's overexposed.  

 

How was she ever going to have anything worth sharing -- let alone anything news worthy worth sharing?

 

She wasn't.  Nor will JD Vance when Bari sits down with him for another 'news special' next month.  She'll baby him as well.  Spend a whole hour babying him.  Failing to grasp that her job as an interviewer is to push back, is to question. Bari Weis has neither the skills nor the training to be an editor-in-chief as she's made that clear. And she didn't need to wait until 2026 to share that with America.



Lastly, the new year has begun and with it?  Chump's latest attempt to destroy the American people.  Reed Abelson (NEW YORK TIMES) reports this morning:

 

Renee Rubin Ross is facing the stark reality of having to pay much more for her health insurance this year, now that Congress has ended 2025 without extending the enhanced federal tax credits that brought down the cost of her coverage under the Affordable Care Act.

“I don’t even know how to get my mind around it. It’s the opposite of affordable,” said Ms. Ross, who relies on Obamacare to cover her family of four in California. Staying on the same plan for 2026 will cost about $4,000 a month, $2,700 more than the roughly $1,300 per month she had been paying.

Since the subsidies were first expanded in 2021, allowing more people to qualify and lowering their payments, millions of Americans have benefited. A record 24 million people enrolled in Obamacare for 2025, with a vast majority receiving some tax credits. Many were self-employed or worked for small businesses that did not offer health insurance.

But without the enhanced subsidies, many people are seeing the cost of coverage more than double, increasing by hundreds or even thousands of dollars a month, because the tax credits are now in line with what they were before.


2025 end of the year pieces include Rebecca's "hottest men of 2025," Ann's "2025 in films" and Stan's "2025 in films," Mike's "Idiot of the Year," Martha & Shirley's "2025 in books (Martha & Shirley)," Kat's "Kat's Korner: 2025 in music,"  Ruth's "Ruth's Media Report 2025," Ava and my "Media: The best and the worst of TV showed up in December"   and my "2025: The Year Of The Jig Is Up."


The following sites updated:


Posted by at

1/01/2026

hottest men of 2025




1) he's not even the star of  hbo's 'heated rivalry,' but damn did francois arnaud steal my heart this year.  beyond sexy. 




2) steph curry remains an nba star and if you've never watched a game, you may not grasp just how hot steph is.


3) from the world of football we have 1 of the greatest sexy men of all time: travis kelce.




4) actor ramón rodríguez stars in 'will trent' as will trent and the abc show returns with new episodes january 6th.


 





5) post malone was not only physically hot, he had the hottest song - his duet with beyonce 'levi's jeans' which got massive play in 2024 and 2025 and they're performing it at the super bowl.




6) actor jon hamm proving that a sexy daddy just gets hotter with age. 


 



 

7) spanish footballer marco asensio




8) let's not pretend here, the scene in the photos above? that was the whole reason to watch 'the accountant 2.'  jon berthnal has never looked sexier.  and let's take a look at it in motion.


Jon Bernthal in 'THE ACCOUNTANT 2' THE JIGGLE!??
0:02 / 0:04

the briefs are tommy john underwear, by the way.


Simu Liu in 'The Copenhagen Test' (2025)
128.1K
Views


9) simon liu is the star of peacock's 'the copenhagan test.'  and if that body doesn't get you to watch, let me tell you its a tight thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seats. 




10)  garrett wareing, familiar to netflix viewers.  up and  coming star who i hope goes the distance.


now read ava & c.i.'s 'Media: The best and the worst of TV showed up in December'


let's close with c.i.'s  'The Snapshot:'


Wednesday, December 31, 2025.  Diana Ross performing on ABC tonight, Chump's war on immigrants and I start the day by getting stabbed in the back.




Tonight on ABC, the legendary Diana Ross performs on DICK CLARK'S NEW YEAR'S ROCKIN' EVE  From the press release: 


ABC and Dick Clark Productions (DCP), the world's largest owner and producer of televised live event entertainment programming, announced that legend Diana Ross will illuminate Times Square and usher in the new year with a dazzling live performance as the 2026 headliner for "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest" (NYRE), the nation's most-watched New Year's Eve celebration. Ross anchors the most expansive and musically diverse telecast and lineup in the show's more than 50-year history, with 39 artists appearing across New York, Las Vegas, Chicago, Puerto Rico and more, live on Wednesday, Dec. 31, from 8:00 p.m.–4:00 a.m. EST on ABC, next day on Hulu.
Ross will step onto the world's most iconic stage to celebrate with millions and welcome a new year with style, magic and unforgettable music in what will be a defining moment in the show's history. Her headline performance promises a spectacular blend of glamour and a timeless medley of hits, including "I'm Coming Out" and "Upside Down," which has seen a 373% surge in streams since being featured in Season 5 of "Stranger Things." With 12 Billboard Hot 100 No. 1s with The Supremes — the most of any American group or female group in history — and six solo Hot 100 No. 1s, Ross remains one of the most beloved and influential artists in pop culture.
"Together we begin a new year. Let's embrace a new beginning, new opportunities, new joy — a celebration of love, where we all come together as we begin 2026," said Ross.
Ross joins the previously announced lineup of superstar performers set to deliver electrifying sets across the show's multicity broadcast: 4 Non Blondes, 50 Cent, 6lack, AJR, BigXthaPlug, Chance the Rapper, Charlie Puth, Chappell Roan, Ciara, Demi Lovato, DJ Cassidy's Pass the Mic Live! Starring Busta Rhymes, T.I. & Wyclef Jean, Filmore, Goo Goo Dolls, Jess Glynne, Jessie Murph, Jordan Davis, KPop Demon Hunters: The Singing Voices of HUNTR/X – EJAE, Audrey Nuna and REI AMI, Leon Thomas, LE SSERAFIM, Lil Jon, Little Big Town, Madison Beer, Maren Morris, sponsored by Carnival Cruise Line, Mariah Carey, New Kids on the Block, OneRepublic, Pitbull, Post Malone, Rick Springfield, Russell Dickerson, The All-American Rejects, Tucker Wetmore and Zara Larsson.

The above isn't me being paid to include advertising.  No money greased my palm.  It's me noting a tremendous talent and a wonderful friend (Diana Ross) so if you're watching TV tonight, please, make a point to check it out.


Moving on . . .  


The year comes to an end and it's a different feeling, isn't it?  Fools and marks started the year lapping at Convicted Felon Donald Chump's crotch but by mid-year, even the most devoted weren't going anywhere near it.  They'd joined the rest of America in seeing Chump for the piece of crap he is.  All it took was his destroying the economy, lying non-stop, blaming every one of his failures on Joe Biden, destroying families, putting the country at risk of an attack and so much more.  


Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia is only one person, a member of one family, that Chump has tried to destroy this year, only one person that has seen Chump break the law to attack and go after, abuse and misuse the power of his office to try to destroy.  Alan Feuer (NEW YORK TIMES) reports:


Federal prosecutors in Nashville have insisted in the past few months that senior Justice Department officials had no involvement in their decision to file charges against Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the immigrant who was wrongfully deported to El Salvador in March and then brought back to the United States to face indictment.

But on Tuesday, excerpts from several emails released by a federal judge overseeing Mr. Abrego Garcia’s criminal case appeared to directly contradict those assertions, suggesting that Justice Department leaders — including Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general — played a greater role in bringing the charges than prosecutors have acknowledged so far.

The emails, which were made public as part of a newly unsealed judicial order, largely reflected communications about the case that Robert E. McGuire, the acting U.S. attorney in Nashville, had with members of his staff and with Aakash Singh, a top official in Mr. Blanche’s office. They raised serious questions about whether the Justice Department had misled Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw Jr., who is overseeing the case, by telling him that local prosecutors had acted alone in charging Mr. Abrego Garcia.

“These documents show that McGuire did not act alone and to the extent McGuire had input on the decision to prosecute, he shared it with Singh and others,” Judge Crenshaw wrote in the unsealed order. “Specifically, the government’s documents may contradict its prior representations that the decision to prosecute was made locally and that there were no outside influences.”

The administration is lying again.  And they're lying in a court of law again.  That was not part of the oath each member -- including the president -- had to take.  It is, in fact, a violation of their oaths.  They're violating their oaths and they've destroyed their own reputations by repeatedly lying to the courts. 

And that's especially true when it comes to immigrants. At THE ATLANTIC, Nancy Gertner lists some of their crimes -- yes, crimes, "ICE agents have detained suspected illegal immigrants without cause—including U.S. citizens and lawful residents. They have, in effect, kidnapped people, breaking into cars to make arrests. They have used tear gas and pepper spray on nonviolent protesters. They have refused to identify themselves, wearing masks, using unmarked cars, and switching license plates, presumably to avoid detection. They have kept people in detention without access to lawyers. They have questioned people simply for appearing Latino, speaking Spanish, and being in areas believed to be frequented by illegal immigrants."  These are crimes, they can't be prettied up.


And the whole thing gets even uglier the closer you look.  WOSU reports:


Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in the Columbus area detained more than 214 people from December 17-23, according to the Ohio Immigrant Alliance (OIA). Among those detained were legally-authorized immigrants, people with legal work permits and pending immigration cases and at least two U.S. citizens.

[. . .]

The OIA released an analysis of those arrested in recent raids. They found 80% of those detained are Latino, and more than 90% male.

“80% of those arrests are Latino based on the internal report that we ran, which is appalling, which is considered as forced bias, we can say even racist targeting,” said Demba Ndiath, the Advocacy Director for the Ohio Immigrant Alliance.


While Latinos are the bulk of the ones being persecuted, they aren't the only ones.  Vahid Abedini, an Oklahoma University professor, was kidnapped by ICE in November and he's of Iranian descent.  The Middle East Studies Association released the following on Vahid:


The Middle East Studies Association (MESA) was disturbed to learn of the detention of Dr. Vahid Abedini, the Farzaneh Family Assistant Professor of Iranian Studies at the University of Oklahoma (OU). Dr. Abedini was detained on November 22 by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) before boarding a flight to attend the MESA Annual Meeting in Washington, DC. 

Dr. Abedini is a political scientist working in the U.S. under an H-1B visa. He earned his Ph.D. in Political Science from Florida International University and served as a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Arkansas prior to his employment at OU, where he currently teaches. 

MESA remains deeply concerned about the circumstances of the detention of Dr. Abedini, a MESA member.

Update: Dr. Abedini has been released from detention.


Three days after his kidnapping -- he was attempting to participate in a DC conference, he was released. Mark Arsenault (NEW YORK TIMES) reported: 


It is still unclear why Dr. Abedini was arrested. Dr. Abedini posted on his LinkedIn page early Tuesday morning that he was “relieved to share that I was released from custody tonight.”

“It was a deeply distressing experience, especially seeing those without the support I had,” he wrote. He thanked friends and colleagues at the university, the Middle East Studies Association “and the wider Iran studies and political science community for helping resolve this.”

[. . .]

Other international scholars have been caught up in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown this year, such as the Georgetown researcher Badar Khan Suri, a native of India, and Rumeysa Ozturk, a Tufts University graduate student from Turkey. Both were arrested and detained last spring but were ultimately released after legal challenges arose.

Sina Azodi, assistant professor of Middle East politics at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs, said Dr. Abedini’s detainment would have a chilling effect on international scholars in the United States. Mr. Azodi said he did not know Dr. Abedini extremely well but they had met several times.

Mr. Azodi, who said he was an American citizen originally from Iran, added that many international scholars were being “forced into silence” by fear of arrest. “They are afraid to speak and to write what they think in papers,” he said.


Everything about what was done to Vahid is wrong, sad and scary.  Scary?  Homeland Security's Tricia McLaughlin is a known liar who should be subject of a Congressional investigation for the sweetheart -- and unethical -- deal Homeland Security's Kristi Noem gave Tricia's husband -- is quoted stating that Vahid "was detained for standard questioning and was released."


In route to a conference, Vahid is kidnapped, held for days, and this is "standard"?  Who approved Tricia?  Did she just go through an auditing with Pam da Bimbo Bondi or did the 'church' approve her as well?  Pam, how much is your secret faith influencing our government?  How much do the American people know?  Is the cross you were an attempt to hide your ties to Scientology?  If the average American knew about those ties to that cult -- it's not a religion, it's a cult -- would they dislike you even more than you do?  I know you pretend to be Catholic, but, Pam, it's a pretense.  And Americans aren't real fond of non-Christians who try to trick them into believing that they are followers of Jesus Christ.  That cross is just a little disguise for Pam.  Did she audit Tricia?  How many Scientologists are in Chump's inner circle?


At any rate, Vahid was mistreated and William C. Wertz (THE OKLAHOMAN) notes today that ICE owes him an apology.  ICE and Chump owe him an apology, they owe the entire country an apology.


Maher Tarabishi?  He has a green card.  He's been kidnapped as well.  Priscilla Rice (KERA) reports:


The family of an Arlington man detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is making a plea to President Donald Trump for his immediate release.

Maher Tarabishi is the primary caregiver for his 30-year-old son, Wael, who was recently hospitalized for the second time since his father was detained in October. Wael is a U.S. citizen who suffers from Pompe disease, a rare genetic condition that causes muscle deterioration and has left him bedridden.

Speaking Tuesday morning outside the Methodist Mansfield Medical Center, family and advocates pleaded for Maher Tarabishi’s humanitarian release so he can care for his son while his case is underway.

“Studies tell that when the family is there, the patients survive,” said Dr. Bilal Piracha, an ER physician from another hospital who is not treating Wael but is helping the family. “And when the families are not there, the patients are in pain.”

Piracha said the trauma of his father’s detention is affecting Wael’s medical condition. He is not able to eat or drink, and his feeding tube is not working, Piracha asaid.


In a long form journalism piece for THE NEW YORK TIMES, Luis Ferré-Sadurní reports:


In just 11 months, about 500,000 people would be deported in an unrelenting campaign celebrated by those who saw it as long overdue and lamented by those who saw it as inhumane.

Over the year, the deportations forced Americans, even those who welcomed the stepped-up enforcement, to reckon with the human consequences of rounding up and expelling people from their streets.

Homes were emptied. Families were splintered. Neighborhoods were subdued.

In the kitchen of a buzzy Manhattan pub and bistro, where a Guatemalan line cook stopped showing up, a chef was left scrambling for answers.

Electric bicycles littered sidewalks in Chicago and Washington after the riders were detained while making deliveries.

In the New York suburbs, Maria Priego huddled for dinner with her four children, leaving empty the chair where her husband, Alejandro Juarez, had sat every night before he was deported to Mexico after 20 years in the United States.

And in Georgia, a family cleaned white Nike sneakers, hoping to ship them to El Salvador, where two brothers, Josué, 19, and José Trejo Lopez, 20, were deported in May after growing up in the United States.

 

Chump has turned communities into ghost towns.  He should be held accountable for his hate and for his illegal actions.



Democracy Forward's Skye L. Perryman addressed the lies of the administration in the MS NOW video above. The lies have destroyed so many lives.  Taylor Dolven and Sandra Fish (COLORADO SUN) reports:

In just one Sunday in April, immigration officers arrested at least 72 people in Colorado, data from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement shows, the busiest day for immigration enforcement in the state so far since President Donald Trump took office in January.

That day, federal agents from several agencies raided a Colorado Springs nightclub, arresting dozens of people they suspected of being in the country illegally.

“Colorado Springs is waking up to a safer community today,” Jonathan Pullen, special agent in charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s Rocky Mountain Division, said after the raid.

But newly released data shows that just nine of the 72 people ICE agents arrested in Colorado that day were marked by the agency as having any prior criminal convictions. ICE said the convictions were for a traffic offense, obstruction, assault, illegal entry, driving under the influence, heroin smuggling and marijuana possession.

 

They lie.  And then they lie again.  Chump is just a liar.  

I want to be done with this post.  Let me explain what's going on.


I feel stabbed in the back.  Not the first time.  But there's an outlet that we note about once a month because it's run by an old friend.  I started dictating the snapshot this morning hours ago.  At one point, I had to stop because 30 calls had come in -- right now it's almost seven o'clock in the morning -- I'm in the Pacific time zone.  And 30 calls that early in the morning, what is going on?


So I returned a few.  Friends who are outraged on my behalf.  Have I seen it?


Have I seen what?

At that friend's outlet, that friend has written a defense of a man.  He shouldn't be defending the man.  He's hero worshipped him for years -- the friend, now former friend, has daddy issues and he's worshiped a piece of garbage for years.  People on the left right now are sort of awakening to the fact that hero was a scoundrel.


And he was.

He's the one who tried to recruit me into the CIA -- I had huge analytical skills as demonstrated on the test I had to take to get into grad school.  His whole career has been about not calling out the CIA -- hero's career.  His work has white washed CIA actions.  And the reason is because the hero has long worked with the CIA  It's not unlike Gloria Steinem who at least has had the good sense to crawl under a rock for the last four or so years.  May she stay under that rock.

Like Gloria who worked with the CIA because she was in favor of their goals, hero did as well.




If you're new to this topic, see Ava and mine "Why Gloria Steinem's CIA past still matters (Ava and C.I.)" (2016), my "Mafia Wives (Susan Williams' WHITE MALICE)" (2023) and Ava and my "TV: The four stories of LOVE TO LOVE YOU, DONNA SUMMER    " (2023) to cite only three pieces.  Or the note to Michael Steven Smith and Heidi Boghosian's "Inside the Organized Crime Syndicate Known as the CIA: Interview with Douglas Valentine" (LAW & DISORDER transcript posted at DISSIDENT VOICE):

 Gloria Steinem was an iconic leader of the American feminist movement and co-founded Ms. Magazine. In March 1967, Ramparts magazine broke one of the first major exposes in the CIA’s history. From the early 1950s until 1967, the international program of the National Student Association and some of its domestic activities were secretly underwritten by clandestine funding from the Central Intelligence Agency.
During the years 1958-67, Steinem accepted a paid position with the CIA when she went undercover with the “Independent Research Service” as she infiltrated the student-based NSA, not the other super-secret NSA—the National Security Agency. In her covert capacity, she attended the World Youth Festival of Students and Youth, first in 1959 in Vienna, Austria, attended by 18,000 delegates coming from 112 nations, and secondly in Helsinki, Finland, attended by 18,000 delegates from 137 countries. While claiming that her CIA collaboration ended in 1962, new data suggest that her secret work lasted until 1967.
To view a revealing interview of Steinem by journalist Cory Morningstar about her CIA adventures, see link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HRUEqyZ7p8. [↩]


When THE NEW YORK TIMES reported om 2016 on Gloria and noted she had been CIA, she didn't realize the landscape had changed.  So she wrote an angry letter but was surprised to find that the newspaper didn't retract the statement.  From her letter:


In a titillating lead into an otherwise accurate article about why I love New York, John Leland writes that I started my career as “a C.I.A. operative,” got my “break as a Playboy Bunny” and married the father of a movie star. Only way down in the text does the reader learn that I was never told what to say or do at two Soviet-led youth festivals more than a half-century ago where American attendance was funded by C.I.A.-backed foundations, and that I worked at the Playboy Club to write an exposé of working conditions, and even that has been a lifelong burden. Readers never do find out that David Bale, the man I married, had an identity of his own.


As her pre-feminist interview above made clear, she worked for the CIA and did so for several years.  When we -- Ava and I -- started talking about the fact that she attended those youth conferences to get dirt on youth activists from other countries and when she reported that back, youth activists were tortured in their home countries?  That's when Gloria decided she didn't need to be in the news anymore and she slithered off like the snake she is, found herself a rock and has largely hid under that ever since.


She doesn't have the powerful friends she once did and she's no longer able to bully the press into silence or lie her way through anymore.  If Susan Faludi does an update to the classic BACKLASH, she might need to update her section on Betty Friedan and Gloria because Betty wasn't wrong when she brought the charges that Gloria had worked for the CIA.  Gloria was able to keep that past buried after she refashioned herself as a feminist because the internet didn't exist then.  Had it existed, her pre-feminist interview above would have shut her down immediately. The posting of it on YOUTUBE helped send the liar running.


So picking back up the thread,  now former friend (who's attempted to call me three times in the last hour and I'm not answering and I'm not calling back) is defending that man.


Now when I went back to hero after the interview he set up -- I thought I was just meeting one of hero's friends for lunch and praying it wasn't a romantic set up -- I confronted him and he didn't just cop to it, he tried to cop a feel.  He seemed to think he could 'comfort' me or maybe he was turned on by being discovered.


The former friend who wrote that piece?  He also knows that happened.


So he shouldn't be trying to white wash his hero and insist that his hero never did anything wrong to women.  I've been very kind about hero.  So have other women.  I slapped his face hard and that didn't deter him.  I had to fight him off.   Other women who fought his advances weren't always so lucky. 


 (Make me mad and try to physically harm me and you better kill me because I will physically destroy you -- I won't feel whatever you're doing -- punching, kicking -- I will only be focused on physically stopping you and that might mean I bite your nose until you get off me as one writer knows because he still carries that scar and when he attacked me on KPFA in the '00s, I reminded him of that -- that if I wanted to come forward about his assault, it wasn't going to be just my word or my journal entries in real time or the friends I'd told about the assault, it would also be my teeth marks that still, all these years later, are visible on his nose if you look for them.) 


Former friend should grasp that a lot of us have been kind over the years but when he writes garbage like that, it angers us and makes it more likely for us to write something like ______ Assaulted Me And The Left Needs To Stop Defending And Excusing Him.  I could write that right now.


I was just trying to get through the morning.  Get a snapshot pulled together and get on with my day.  Instead, I had to keep stopping and post another video to this page to buy some more time to try to do a simple snapshot.


I'm officially triggered.  I've used that phrase while writing and speaking of others.  But for a friend to betray me by defending a man who tried to assault me?  I haven't felt this betrayed in many, many years.  And stop calling me, former friend, there's no excuse for what you did.  The man will thankfully be dead soon.  He didn't need you rushing to his defense.  But you've needed many times.  The next time your outlet needs money, don't come to me.  We are not friends anymore.  


Again, my intent was to have a real snapshot this morning and I'm sorry that it's not.  I'm sorry that I'm really struggling to deal with the fact that someone I considered a friend has stabbed in the back rushing to defend a man who tried to assault me.


The following sites updated: 




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