FAM 24: Trump Pisses Off MAGA With Epstein "Closure"

Get out your popcorn for MAGA infighting, a Jurassic review, and a summer-centric playlist.

I hope everyone had an enjoyable 4th of July weekend. I fully understand that it’s hard to celebrate our nation in it’s current state, but we all need to take time to recharge our batteries.

That’s what I did part of last week and over the weekend — with a kayaking trip in northern Michigan and some time on Lake Huron in my own boat. I unplugged about as much as possible for me, so I’m keeping the politics a little light this week, but it’s dark stuff so that’s probably good.

I was working on something else but switched gears with some thoughts on Jeffery Epstein since Trump’s Department of Justice has decided it was really no big deal after all. I don’t think so.

Trump DOJ: Epstein Was All Just A Big Misunderstanding!

Anyone with half a brain knows that Trump is a serial rapist and was knee-deep in Jeffery Epstein’s sex trafficking operation for as long as it was operating — whether as simply a client or (likely) much more involved.

When Trump decided to run in 2016 his long association with Epstein naturally came up — from the Stern interview where Trump admits that they both like women but Jeff liked them even younger — to the video of them watching women on the dance floor and and pointing them out like they were at a literal meat market.

It goes much, much deeper than that.

Before we open that can of worms let’s understand what Trump and his sons and allies did when all that came out — because with 15 years of Trump under our collective belt it’s clearer than ever.

Honestly, I don’t remember what legal charge against Epstein triggered it in 2016, but I distinctly remember when another story broke that Don Jr. was shouting from the roof tops about it — of course claiming Bill Clinton was on the Epstein’s list and trying to cover it up.

Listen, we know from flight records that Clinton was on Epstein’s Lolita Express private jet. As was Trump even though he had his own big, beautiful plane.

I said at the time and I’ll say it again — I don’t give a fuck who is on the list or redacted testimony or tapes. If there’s evidence of anyone raping or abusing women or girls they need to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. That said, I doubt everyone associated with Epstein was involved in his evilness. Just like everyone who went to a Diddy party wasn’t privy or guilty of participating in his freak offs.

I do find it hard to believe that almost everyone associated with both men didn’t at least have some knowledge of their crimes — but innocent until proven guilty.

But, back to Trump. Once Don Jr. started yelling the Epstein case became a giant MAGA issue — to the point of metastasizing into truly crazy shit like the PizzaGate conspiracy.

Looking back it’s even more obvious that this was a major case of Trump world projection — accusing others of being guilty of your own crimes. Even before the 2016 election there was a lot of evidence out there that Trump’s crimes and association with Epstein went much deeper than having sex with willing women of questionable ages on his plane or on his island.

Trump Models Inc.

Given his many business failures in the past, we sometimes forget that Trump had a modeling agency from 1999 to 2017 — even though it was reportedly mostly inactive for years before it shut down.

And, yes, there were legit, big-name models on the roster in the agencies heyday including Carol Alt, Beverly Johnson, Paris Hilton, and Yasmin Le Bon. And of course Melania was a member before she married Trump and was awarded a Genius Grant to become a US citizen.

But, beyond the legit there were also multiple, solid reports back in 2016 that many young models recruited from Europe were held in terrible conditions in dorm style housing in NYC. And that those models were encouraged to attend parties with rich and powerful men as a means to establish their credentials and succeed at legit modeling work.

Let’s just be blunt. They were told that if they fucked rich men at these parties they would advance their careers — a reality for models and actresses for generations.

Back then, I shared as many of the legitimate stories as I could find, but I don’t remember every detail. Some of the parties were mixed gender — high-end cocktail parties where these women might naturally hit on some old man — which years of money and ego might actually seem legit to some of these assholes.

The Jane Doe Case

But, there were other, more nefarious parties that Epstein was known to throw — sex parties primarily for men who knew exactly what was going on and had cart blanche to do anything they wanted to with these women.

In 2016 one of these women (known as Jane Doe in records) filed a lawsuit against Trump for being brutally raped multiple times by Trump at these Epstein parties when she was thirteen.

She took a video deposition under oath and her female boss/madame corroborated her story under oath.

The mainstream media wouldn’t touch it — and frankly, I think it’s because it was so fucking explosive and they didn’t think Trump would win. Here’s an overview via Wikipedia:

In April 2016, an anonymous woman using the pseudonym "Katie Johnson" filed a lawsuit in California accusing both Trump and Jeffrey Epstein of forcibly raping her when she was 13 years old at underage sex parties at Epstein's Manhattan residence in 1994. The case was dismissed the following month. A second version of the lawsuit was filed in New York in June by the same woman as "Jane Doe" claiming to have been raped or sexually assaulted by the pair at four 1994 parties when she was 13. The lawsuit was refiled in September, and on November 2, Doe was scheduled to appear at a press conference at the office of Lisa Bloom before abruptly canceling; Bloom said Jane Doe had received multiple threats.

"I loudly pleaded with Defendant Trump to stop, but he did not," Jane Doe wrote in a formal declaration accompanying her recent suits. "Defendant Trump responded to my pleas by violently striking me in the face with his open hand and screaming that he would do whatever he wanted. ... Immediately following this rape, Defendant Trump threatened me that, were I ever to reveal any of the details of Defendant Trump's sexual and physical abuse of me, my family and I would be physically harmed if not killed."

The lawsuit was withdrawn two days later.

A July investigation by The Guardian said that the lawsuits appeared to be organized by Norm Lubow, "who has been associated in the past with a range of disputed claims involving celebrities including OJ Simpson and Kurt Cobain." Another prominent promoter of Doe's accusation was conservative, Never-Trump activist Steve Baer. Doe identified Trump from his TV show The Apprentice years after the attacks.

As someone who was following the story closely it all had the look of a Trump payoff to me — even if there were some shady character involved.

The daughter of famed lawyer Gloria Allred, Lisa Bloom was (like her mother) known for high-profile cases, often representing women accusing men or rape and assault, But, she represented Harvey Weinstein — which I’ve always thought was a way he thought would make him look more innocent. Still, disgusting she took the case.

I do know that when the case disappeared it was very hard to find Jane Doe’s video deposition after that. That’s not an easy task unless you have someone trying to scrub the internet and threatening people to take it down.

Eventually (after Trump won) it came back into circulation and even gained a bit of a new life on social media in the 2024 election. But, again, never picked up by mainstream media.

Here it is with the obvious warning, that it is very disturbing:

If this was a lone accusation in a vacuum — especially given some of the character involved — I might dismiss it. But it’s not and follows a pattern of dozens and dozens of Trump abuse survivors (including his first wife) in ways that weren’t common knowledge back then.

So, yes, it’s pretty clear why a serial rapist would want to divert attention from his own Epstein association and try to pin it on Bill Clinton or some list of other dirty Democrats.

From Suicide To The Present

Of course during Trump 1.0 Epstein mysteriously killed himself by hanging in his prison cell. And when his long-time girlfriend and madame Ghislaine Maxwell was charged, Trump couldn’t bring himself to say anything bad about her. But, did manage to wish her good luck.

I’ll just leave that out there to ponder.

Like I said, Trump and his enablers did such a good job projecting that a rabid online section of the MAGA-Verse has never let the story go. Especially a group of online MAGA influencers and crack-pot pundits.

And throughout the 2024 campaign those aligned with Trump promised that when he was re-elected the truth would finally see the light of day.

Almost immediately after being confirmed to be Trumps new Attorney General, Pam Bondi claimed that she had the infamous list on her desk and would be releasing the full contents. New FBI Director Kash Patel (who promoted the files for years) also said it was all coming out.

So much for that. Apparently, either Bondi didn’t have a list or file or there never was one. And Jeffery Epstein was a totally normal suicide and there’s no need to look into anything.

Case closed. Hey Trump friends, how about those chemtrails, the faked moon landing, COVID microchips, and how the Earth is flat!?

There’s so many more important things going on now — at it’s core saving our Democracy from Dictatorship. But, if we make it through this nightmare and Trump is brought down, I pray that the dam finally breaks and we learn the truth about everything he’s done.

Because, I bet that we don’t know the half of it.

LATE BREAKING UPDATE:

I was trying to paint with a pretty broad brush — and not getting into the Epstein suicide. But, man. I just can’t avoid this security camera footage released by the DOJ as proof that he wasn’t murdered.

For starters, we were told when Epstein died that the cameras were broken. Well, now here is 10 hours of footage that shows no one coming to his cell.

But… there is actually a minute omitted from the footage. That’s not good, right? Especially not for people who think he was murdered. Maybe it was a random glitch?

Actually, it sounds like the lost minute happens just before the footage shows Jeff dead in his cell. That’s really not good. I mean, why-would-you-ever-release-that not good.

CULTURE CLUB: Jurassic Review | Doc Recos | Summer Bangerz Playlist

REVIEW: Jurassic World Rebirth

Fifty years ago this summer Steven Spielberg invented the summer blockbuster with Jaws. Eighteen years later he had pretty much had it down to a science with the release of Jurassic Park in 1993. If you were old enough to see the original in theaters you know that it was a game-changer with special effects that took film to a whole new level. It was simply stunning to audiences back then, and those effects still hold up today.

But Spielberg has never relied only on spectacle. With a solid screenplay by Michael Crichton (author of the novel) and David Koepp a great cast and masterful directing it was a tense and thrilling ride — the summer blockbuster in its purest form for mass consumption.

We all know what happened after that. Spielberg came back with a solid sequel and then the franchise fell off a cliff with steadily worse films that still made a gazillion in box office even if they were pale versions of the original. The last three-film Jurassic World movies took the franchise even lower. I so lost interest that I didn’t even see the last two.

Which brings us to another reboot.

With David Koepp back behind the proverbial typewriter and director Gareth Edwards at the helm, we decided to beat the heat give the franchise another chance.

Edwards knows monsters, directing 2014’s not bad/not great Godzilla and the excellent Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. I knew going in that the reviews were mixed to poor, but many critics also placed this one pretty high up the Jurassic food chain. And we were in the mood for popcorn that would likely be fresh with folks hitting the theaters en masse.

I got pretty much what I expected and what we’ve come to expect from most summer blockbusters — some great effects and thrilling sequences with clunky dialogue and barely-there character development.

Two storylines weave together with a group of pharma-hired mercenaries headed to one of the few areas where dinos still live in the wild to extract DNA from the top dogs for a miracle cure and a shipwrecked family which is pretty much just a way to get some kids in the film and check that box off the Spielberg formula.

It’s a decent premise and there’s really no need to excessively bash the dialogue, characters and some weak plot points. Led by Scarlett Johansson — whose character really appreciates a tight top — the acting is fine given the material they have to work with. On these fronts they’re not the worst you’ve ever seen in a blockbuster but they’re surely bad enough to keep the film from approaching anything near greatness. Or even lower-shelf Spielberg.

But, the film does succeed on a number of levels.

Filmed primarily in Thailand the movie feels real and the scenery is beautiful. But, given the movies weaknesses pretty much everything is riding on the dino-action. And on that front Edwards really nails it.

There are four real set pieces that both look great and are exhilarating. The open ocean boat battle with a Mosasaurus is good — even if it’s pretty much a homage to Jaws from Executive Producer Spielberg.

The vertigo-inducing sequence with a mutated Pterosaur on a cliff doesn’t bring much new to that familiar setting, but it’s still exciting and features some really effective sound design.

The best set piece is a swimming T-Rex trying to get our shipwrecked family in an inflatable boat on a category four white water river. This scene is in Crichton’s original book but has never made on of the films until now.

It’s pretty damn good. One of the best sequences I’ve seen in a Jurassic movie.

The final showdown — telegraphed from an opening prologue — is with a mutated T-Rex, dubbed a D-Rex. It’s not bad, but doesn’t live up to the inherent hype knowing that it’s coming.

While the film doesn’t work hard setting up a sequel (that will be the eighth in the franchise) I wouldn’t be surprised if they lean more into the mutant dino world since there has been rumors for years. I read about screenplays and plans that go all in on that concept to the point of soldier-like dinosaur hybrids. I’m not sure if that will happen — or if it can be pulled off.

But, given the brontosaurus-sized box office for these films — good or bad — you know something coming.

No matter what they do, it would be nice if the bar was raised as high as the original.

I’m not going to hold my breath.

Some Docs You Should Check Out

There are a few docs I’ve watched recently that keep slipping through the cracks. I thought I’d give them a shout-out before they recede into the abyss that is my brain.

REVIEW: Pee-wee As Himself

I was aware of the Pee-wee Herman character from almost the beginning with Paul Reuben’s scene-stealing appearance in Cheech and Chong's Next Movie which I loved —even though I was far too young to partake of the reefer madness.

As a young Letterman fanatic his appearances on Dave’s original Late Night were fantastic. And Pee-wee's Big Adventure in 1985 was impossible to ignore — to the point of the character wearing out his welcome. Big Top Pee-wee was a bit of a let down and I was a little old to watch the Saturday morning show.

For me the character (and the man behind him and controversy that followed) somewhat faded away.

Director Matt Wolf brings both the character and man back in focus with this great two-part doc that was filmed while Reubens was secretly battling cancer. Not only does the doc attempt to decouple man and character, but there’s a through line of dramatic tension as Ruebens and Wolf spar over creative control of the project.

Oddly, these twin story arcs inform each other — making the doc all the more insightful and powerful.

For someone who was on Pee-wee’s side after his 1991 arrest for indecent exposure in a porn movie house and the bogus charge of owning child pornography in 2002 it’s shocking to remember just what a big deal those two events were — both in popular culture and just how devastating they were to Reuben’s career.

The whole controversy also shows us again just how hard it was for gay people to survive and thrive in a homophobic culture that was much worse than most of us straight people realized at the time. It’s also an unspoken reminded of just how powerful those forces of homophobia and hate remain in our country.

Reubens comes across as a very smart, quick-witted, and (rightfully) guarded man who was still tentative to expose his inner feelings. And since he rarely ever did interviews as himself throughout his career, the details of his origin story were fascinating too. It gives great insight into the LA underground scene of the mid to late 1970s that I knew very little about — and odd extension of the 60s counter-culture mixed with a punk sensibility.

It’s funny that the Pee-wee character took off in such and environment. Yes, the character and the world Reuben’s built thrived because of the ironic subversiveness of it all. But, it’s even more clear via the doc that the love and inclusiveness message was always real and heartfelt for Reubens.

And while the doc doesn’t spend a great deal of time stating the obvious, you can’t help but to be struck thinking about how many lives were likely changed for the better because of the character, world, and message Reubens imagined and promoted. He created permission, acceptance, and celebration of anyone and everyone considered different or weird by conventional society.

For most people my age, the years had already been kind to Reubens — typified by the outpouring of love for his comeback as the character in 2016’s Pee-wee's Big Holiday.

While the ending is sad and filled with thought on what might have been, it’s ultimately hopeful given Reuben’s positive message.

You should watch this film, but more importantly you should share it.

The world could use more Paul and Pee-wee right now.

Underdogs — Narrated By Ryan Reynolds

Speaking of societal misfits and actors blending with characters, I recently stumbled across the new National Geographic nature series Underdogs narrated by Ryan Reynolds.

Or Deadpool.

It’s kinda hard to tell in a chicken/egg context with actor and character.

But, if you love the sarcasm and wit of Ryan/Deadpool this doc series is for you. It really does break the norm and pushes boundaries in a way that I could see teenagers eating up and learning along the way.

I was a bit torn by it.

The writing and Ryan’s narration are spot-on Deadpool quality. But, I’m just not sure of how much of that I can handle before it gets a little annoying. The trailer nails the tone of the series. I’d love to hear from folks on what they think.

Tuesday Mix: Your Boat Bangerz Summer Playlist 2025

You don’t need a boat to enjoy this playlist.

But, if you’re over 40 the fact that you’re listening to a playlist with Bangerz in the title will make you feel that you’re hip with what the kids liked circa 2013. And likely induce dramatic eye rolling if said kidz ever see the name.

They just don’t get it. It’s detached self-deprecation!

But, seriously. This is a pretty good collection of pop and dance hits you’ll want to turn up that might have just enough modern hits to maybe keep your kids from highjacking your bluetooth speaker. And who knows, they might even find some unknown gems they might admit to liking in the process.

As for what actually constitutes a banger, who the fuck knows. That’s in the ear of the beholder. But, these make the grade for me.

Enjoy!

As always, thanks so much for reading and subscribing. I really do appreciate it. Hit the share button and spread the word. Have a great week, all!