First I've heard of it in relation to the House proposal to order them released. Not saying you're wrong just not encountered that angle

The discharge petition is just to force a vote on it in the house.
It would be a different story if a judge ordered the release, which he'd ignore anyhow.

My understanding is that H.Res.589 is a Simple Resolution and does not require a vote by the Senate or the President's signature.
https://www.house.gov/the-house-explained/the-legislative-process/bills-resolutions
https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-resolution/589/text

A simple resolution requires approval only from the members of that single chamber to be adopted. It does not need to be passed by the other chamber of Congress, nor is it sent to the President for signature or approval.

Legal Force and Scope
Simple resolutions do not have the force of law. Their effect is limited to the internal affairs, operations, procedures, or opinions of the chamber that passes them. They are essentially a way for the House or the Senate to manage its own business or express its collective sentiment on a matter.
https://govfacts.org/explainer/understanding-concurrent-joint-and-simple-resolutions-in-the-u-s-congress/

It does not have the force of law and Trump may simply ignore it, but it will trigger unrelenting demands and possible further action should he do so. Plus, maybe most important of all, it will piss off Maga World like never before.

Hasn't made a dent. His minions and zealots just brush it off. We do have to accept the fact that this admin is a sex abuse ring?
And treat that as normal?
Like WTF

IMHO, we're never going to see those files, unless someone leaks them and even then, Been A Dick Donald and his loyal MAGAt's will claim that it's fake news, call for an investigation and go after anyone who dares to call him out on this.

Semper Fi brother Marine.

Happy Birthday and Veteran's Day

and GOPers try to shield it.

I do remember some posts a few weeks ago about leaks that there are photos of trump with naked young girls. If true, I take it all back. Maybe 2% of trump voters might care if something like that were released.

Suspect, it's far worse than what we know or imagine.

It’s not going to matter what appears in there, it won’t make a bit of difference. I think it’s going to be a big dud personally. All this build up to tell us things we already know.

no matter what people say, everyone is aware of what he is.

He could rape and murder children live on national TV and lose no support whatsoever.

The people who support him are devoid of anything approaching humanity or decency.

In no small part because we'll never get the whole thing, un-doctored by Bondi and Patel.

But also because I think that even the full files would drop with a nothing-burger level thud in the first place. In the sense there will be nothing new and earth-shattering in them.

That's because I believe if they actually contained the things that people frantically speculate about, like all-powerful Pedo Cabals with the power to whack Epstein in jail, and/or Epstein running a massive child-prostitution ring to the rich and famous, this would have part of the Biden DoJ's case against Maxwell. Instead they prosecuted her for trafficking a couple of girls to Epstein himself, and got a conviction for only 1.

Also I believe Epstein's pilots, who were PROSECUTION witnesses for the DOJ in the Maxwell case, who said Giuffre is the only minor they know of who travelled without a guardian on the plane, ever. And they presumed Guiffre was over 18 because of how she dressed, carried herself, and was treated by Epstein and Maxwell, i.e. like an adult, and she travelled with them a LOT of times. And that they never found evidence of sex while cleaning up after flights, and that they were never told any area of the plane was "off-limits", ever, and that they spent time in the cabin fairly often, used the restroom in the cabin area, etc. They testified this under oath, in a massive, high-profile case against Maxwell, where any of presumably dozens of women could call them out and say "bullshit" if they were lying? And none of them did.

I think the reality of the Epstein case is considerably more mundane than people speculate. A couple of rich perverts recruiting and paying vulnerable minors for sex, with themselves. Though I do believe they shared their concubine, Virginia Giuffre, with Prince Andrew, and probably some others, since she says that happened.

Basically, I think we already pretty much know what happened even without the release of the files. What probably IS in the files though is some evidence of people KNOWING, but not saying jack about it. People like TSF, for example.

And satisfyingly enough to my chair, the talk is more often than not by my politically apathet5ic coworkers.

If he files don't prove the conspiracy theories about elite pedophile rings and Clinton and Pizza Basements and all the other weird shit Trump promised he'd expose

There are no "Epstein files," and there never have been.

There will be conspiracy theories, gnashing of teeth, and denial.

To many pretend that this is a central issue motivating politics, when it is the dismantling of liberal democracy instead. I'm sure the pedophile/fascist overlap is real and will never be studied, because, you know, cancel culture. If Trump, etc. are found fucking little boys, I bet you $10 Rogan et al. will be talking about Ancient Greece and how badass the Spartans were.

There will be no justice for Epstein's victims.

In a deeply emotional way.

The victims would at least get vindication.If not justice

I think vindication for the abuse is more important.

Trump with underaged models. He talked about how Trump and Epstein spent the 90s chasing models, many quite young. It was really disgusting. Some of the modeling agencies in the 90s were trafficking these girls. There are pictures of Trump on his yacht with these young models, but I think those are already public.

Wolff also said he personally has hours of audio of Epstein-- who wanted him to write Epstein's bio! And he said Epstein said Trump and Melania first had sex on his plane. Melania threatened to sue him, and he turned at "slapped" her with a "Slapp" lawsuit, which is something about using the court system to deprive someone of free speech: SLAPP, or Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation

He set up a gofundme to get money for this and other similar lawsuits for other people, and got $700K in a day. People are MAD at Trump hiding the files.
Wolff said the best part would be discovery... maybe deposing the "first lady". (In " " because she doesn't even live in Washington.)

then nothing matters except his next stroke.

But his base has been primed to believe it's mostly Democrats in the files. Once they realize they have been lied to and voted for pedophile protectors, they will be pissed, especially the victims of sexual assault.

That very well could erode support for the pedophile protectors, especially given the Trump Modeling Agency and Miss Teen USA Pageant were vehicles for Trump to traffic children for Epstein and himself.

I'd tell you to be ashamed of yourselves, but I don't think it would do much good.

Of my thoughts on Epstein.
[It is also how I feel about many other stories that get way more attention the stories that matter:
https://www.truthdig.com/author/christopher_ketcham/
I recently discovered Chris Ketcham’s work and he is pretty much the best environmental journalist I have come across so far, which makes him pretty much my favorite journalist.
Ditto with the horror that is modern animal agriculture which the awesome Maria Bolotnikova covers:
https://marinabolotnikova.com/writing#

I wish Ketcham, Bolotnikova etc got a fraction of the attention salacious drivel and faux stories do. Or other stuff like this should:

https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2024/11/demand-critical-metals-e-waste-recycling-clean-energy-climate-vince-beiser-book-power-metal/

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/09/us-waste-billions-unproven-climate-solutions-carbon-capture-storage-subsidies/

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-3010-5
https://www.science.org/content/article/human-stuff-now-outweighs-all-life-earth

https://www.inkl.com/news/a-new-report-says-50-billion-years-of-evolution-is-being-threatened-by-stupid-humans

https://scitechdaily.com/humans-have-erased-3-billion-years-of-evolution-and-its-getting-worse/
]


https://www.nefariousrussians.com/p/epstein-and-the-original-satanic

Prince Andrew was stripped of his title due to the Epstein files, parts not yet publicly known.

This isn't just about Trump.

imho is that, so long as the files remain secret, they can continue to be USED to blackmail or coerce any of the abusers who still retain any power to help or hurt us.

E.g., suppose the files incriminate Trump but also incriminate other powerful people in any governments, organized religions, news media, etc. Trump can keep his own misdeeds secret while using the dirt on other powerful people to coerce them to do or go along with things that harm the rest of us.

The ONLY way to neutralize the potential coercive power of these secrets is to expose them to light.

I cannot understand why so few people seem worried about this.

The economy is what burns this down. However, the files will matter enough to some to prevent any reconsideration. Remember, these people (some of them) vote for bathroom bills. They are very sensitive about little girls, and note that some who filed complaints about DJT were little boys. Will it get him impeached and removed, doubtful, it certainly should but probably won't. Could it add a couple of percent to the blue wave in 2026? This is much more likely.

He is already tanking on the economy and that party is only getting started. The firings in preparation for a recession are already started. Seasonal hiring has been cut dramatically. The Trump recession is coming quickly and it will be significant. This will not get him removed either but may render him useless.