I took several months off but I’m back with a slightly different format. The current plan to publish a new piece every Monday. I hope you enjoy it and find it informative. If you are someone that doesn’t follow current events as closely as I do, maybe I’ll be able to help close the gap, and don’t mind the satire.
EPSTEIN FILES
The Epstein Files could conceivably be the biggest political scandal in the history of this country. Watergate pales in comparison to the Epstein files, but how did we get here and why is this issue so earth shattering?
Well, let’s go with the Reader’s Digest version. Jeffrey Epstein was an American financier and sex offender. Alex Acosta, who was the chief Florida US attorney, ended up giving Epstein a sweetheart sentencing deal in 2005. A parent reported that Epstein had sexually abused her 14-year-old daughter. Federal officials identified 36 girls, some as young as 14 years old, whom Epstein had allegedly sexually abused. Epstein was convicted in 2008 by a Florida state court of procuring a child for prostitution and of soliciting a prostitute.
Alex Acosta took quite a bit of heat for the sentencing deal that was struck for Epstein. The deal involved Epstein pleading guilty to single state charge of solicitation in exchange for a federal non-prosecution agreement. The deal was negotiated between Acosta and Epstein’s lawyer Jim Lefkowitz.
The sweetheart deal was found to be flawed and was kept secret from the public and victims, which led to a federal judge ruling that the judgement was invalid. In 2019, Acosta by this time was confirmed as US Secretary of Labor under the Trump administration but resigned following the criticism and legal challenges. The original sentencing deal was so flawed, that Epstein was allowed on most days to go to his office to work, and return to jail in the evenings. He served a total of 15 months. Speculation is that there were people in high places influential in ensuring that the effect of the sentence on Epstein was minimal.
In July 6, 2019, Epstein is arrested on federal sex trafficking charges after federal prosecutors in New York conclude that they weren’t bound by the terms of the earlier non-prosecution deal. When Epstein was indicted by a NY grand jury in July 2019 for his alleged crimes, he was also denied bail. The judge cited Epstein as both a threat to women and a flight risk.
On July 2, 2020, despite public pressure and a variety of severe accusations, Epstein pled not guilty to the charges and had a trial date set for the summer of 2020. Unbeknownst to everyone at the time, Epstein would never make it to his trial. On August 10, Epstein was found unresponsive in cardiac arrest in his cell.
On July 2, 2020, Federal prosecutors in New York charge Ghislane Maxwell, saying she helped recruit the underage girls that Epstein sexually abused and sometimes participated in the abuse herself. On December 30, 2021, after a monthlong trial, a jury convicts Maxwell of multiple charges, including sex trafficking, conspiracy and transportation of a minor for illegal sexual activity. On June 28, 2022, Maxwell is sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Donald Trump’s close 15-year friendship with Jeffrey Epstein has since raised eyebrows with many people on both sides of the isle with speculation that there were several well-known powerful men involved in the abuse of underage girls. Pam Bondi originally stated there were the DOJ investigative files on her desk that also contained a list of perpetrators involved with Jeffrey Epstein.
Representatives Thomas Massie (R- Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) are circulating a discharge petition that would force a vote in the House to release files related to Jeffrey Epstein. They would need a total of 218 signatures. So far, they have signatures from 213 Democrats and four Republicans. They only need one more signature which will probably come from a special election, on September 23rd. Arizona will hold a special election for the 7th congressional district to replace Democratic Rep. Raúl Grijalva, who died earlier this year. At the same time, the legislation would still need to receive a vote in the Senate.
Stay tuned on this one!
TARIFFS
There is no secret that prices in the U.S. are higher than they have ever been. Donald Trump’s tariff policies are raising prices across the board, and in most cases, there is no rhyme or reason how the tariffs are being applied to most foreign countries, particularly our allies. When Trump tells you that the tariffs are paid by foreign countries, DO NOT BELIEVE IT! Tariffs are paid by the U.S. importer, and more times or not, the tariff cost is passed on to the consumer, hence; you’re looking at super high prices, and it is getting worse.
Have you noticed that coffee prices are rising in many cases substantially. Its’ because of a 50% tariff on Brazilian exports. You might ask why such a high tariff on Brazilian goods. After the 2022 Brazilian presidential election, former President Jair Bolsonaro attempted a coup after he lost the presidential election to Inacio Lula da Silva. Does this sound familiar? Bolsonaro was arrested, charged and was sentenced to 27 years in prison. Of course, Donald Trump has an affinity for fellow authoritarians, and they developed a friendship. Consequently, Trump was upset after Bolsonaro’s conviction, which is why you’re paying higher prices for coffee now. Isn’t that wonderful?
The Trump administration imposed 25% tariffs on products of Canadian origin, excluding energy products which are tariffed at 10%. Canada is retaliating with 25% tariffs on many U.S. exports to Canada, are not buying U.S. whiskey or bourbon, and they are not traveling to U.S. destinations costing the U.S. billions of tourism dollars. Las Vegas tourism is down substantially.
Earlier this month, Chinese leader Xi Jinping hosted a worldwide summit with several world leaders including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi among others. It doesn’t appear that U.S. President Donald Trump was invited. Trump has implemented sweeping tariffs on China, and significant secondary tariffs on India for buying oil from Russia. The warm interaction between the leaders was designed to turn heads in Washington.
In light of the fact that President Trump hosted Putin in Alaska a few weeks earlier and literally rolled out the red carpet in hopes of garnering a cease fire in the Ukraine/Russian war to no avail, Trump was very disappointed that Putin and Modi actually shared a limousine ride and were actually seen holding hands. What really upset Trump the most was that Putin and Modi were not only holding hands, but they were actually skipping.
CHARLIE KIRK
It is tragic that Charlie Kirk, a prominent podcaster and as some would say a divisive influencer, was assassinated a few weeks ago by a sniper’s bullet. No one should have to lose their life due to politically inspired violence.
There was a Charlie Kirk memorial held last week in Arizona with tens of thousands of supporters in the stadium, and many thousands more viewing around the country. Erika Kirk, the spouse of Charlie gave a very classy and inspiration speech when she said that she forgave Charlie Kirk’s killer. Donald Trump spoiled the mood when he followed up Erika’s speech by saying that he hated his enemies and didn’t wish his enemies well.
Much has been said both pro and con in regard to Charlie Kirk and many of his comments. Charlie Kirk had a huge following, most NFL teams were giving him a moment of silence on game day, people were getting fired from jobs for even quoting some of his statements, and late-night hosts were being pulled off the air. With that said, I was surprised how many people had never heard of him and were not aware of the opinions that he espoused.
I myself decided to research Charlie Kirk’s background in order to fully understand why he had such a huge following. Based on many of his comments that have been well documented, Charlie Kirk was pretty much a racist, homophobic community college dropout claiming to be a Christian, and I am being kind. With that said, I fully support Charlie Kirk’s or anyone else’s right to make comments that I may or may not agree with!
JIMMIE KIMMEL
I believe that Donald Trump had a temper tantrum after Jimmy Kimmel’s comments about the Charlie Kirk incident, and pressured ABC and Nexstar through FCC Brandon Chair Carr, who actually sounded like a mob boss in his comments. Nexstar had impending business related to a merger before the FCC, which was essentially Trump’s leverage. When Democrats take control of the House in a little over year, Nexstar, Disney, Brandon Carr and maybe even Sinclair will be subpoenaed to testify before congress under oath. Democrats in the House are already threatening an investigation, but I don’t know how effective that will be since Democrat’s are not in power.
Fortunately, even though Jimmie Kimme was taken off the air for several days, he is back on the air with increases in viewership totaling several million viewers between the ABC “on air” viewers and millions more on YouTube. Now, Nexstar and Sinclair, probably due to pressure from advertisers, have reinstated Jimmy Kimmel with its’ affiliates.
Donald Trump actually did Kimmel a favor, and he should actually thank Donald Trump for his support. To be honest, Donald Trump is now actually pretty pissed off over this!
I CAN’T MAKE THIS UP
— Tom Holman, Donald Trump’s border czar, was implicated in an FBI sting in September before joining the Trump administration. Holman allegedly took $50,000 from undercover FBI agents posing as businessmen wanting security business with the government steered in their direction once he joined the Trump administration if Trump wins the election. Holman had denied any wrongdoing or doing anything to break the law. Karoline Leavett, Trump’s press secretary, said that Holman never accepted any money. Maybe Leavett is lying, or she is being lied to because even Holman has not stated that he did NOT accept the money. Supposedly, the FBI has tapes of Holman receiving the money. Conspicuously, any investigation into the incident was halted once Donald Trump took office. At some point, we will see some type of investigation into the incident.
–Because of a recent change by the Trump administration, the federal government no longer explicitly prohibits contractors from having segregated restaurants, waiting rooms and drinking fountains. Because of Donald trump’s executive order on diversity, equity and inclusion, it effectively reverses a 1965 executive order by Lyndon Johnson. Even though there are state and local laws prohibiting segregation, contractually there are no longer clauses in federal contracts prohibiting segregated facilities. Donald Trump is essentially trying to make a point here.
–Because of the assassination of Charlie Kirk, Donald Trump began gaslighting the public into thinking that left-wing violence was by far the biggest crime problem, much worse that right-wing violence. Results of a study on the DOJ website clearly stated that right-wing violence is by far the biggest domestic threat in the country today. Christopher Wray, the previous FBI director, basically made the same statement to congress. Coincidentally, that DOJ study was recently removed from the website. The perpetrators of the recent Michigan and North Carolina shootings appear to clearly be right-wing. Trump just pretty much said that the incidents were tragic. In the CDC shooting incident where the shooter put 180 bullets into CDC buildings and a Black police officer was killed, Trump never said a word. Police recovered over 500 expended cartridges. There was no outcry of left-wing violence in any of these incidents. Any right-wing or left-wing violence should always be aggressively addressed by law enforcement full stop, but don’t try to erroneously claim left-wing violence is the biggest domestic crime problem in this country because it’s not.
— The Trump’s administration’s assault on DEI seems to be bearing fruit at least from Trump’s point of view. Per the Black Wall Street Times, Black women lost 319,000 jobs between February and July of this year.
All opinions herein are solely the opinions of Herb Booker. Comments are welcome and can be sent to hbooker2@yahoo.com, or at the bottom of this page.