The Elephant, the Mouse, and the Machine

American  Thinker 

We are living through an era of professional gaslighting so refined it could qualify for a Ph.D. in psychological warfare.

The latest example? After years of establishment indifference, we are now being told -- loudly, breathlessly -- that Jeffrey Epstein’s legacy of elite depravity is the national scandal of the hour. Apparently, six years after his death, this is now urgent. That Donald Trump crossed paths with Epstein is supposed to be more damning than the years Epstein was welcomed by the Clinton inner circle, the Gates orbit, and the upper crust of academia, finance, and intelligence.

Let me offer a parable.

There is a mouse in the room. Its name is Epstein. The media is pointing at it, stomping its feet, shrieking: “Look at this dangerous mouse!”

Just behind the mouse stomps an elephant -- huge, festering, impossible to ignore if you simply look. This is the face of the biggest federal scandal since the Kennedy assassination. It is the defining image of the Deep State: a shadow bureaucracy led by Brennan, Clapper, Comey, and others, manipulating “the presentation” -- not to be confused with facts.

Tulsi Gabbard, now Director of National Intelligence, has implicated former President Obama directly, and the evidence supports her. The elephant is real. It is the coordination of the Deep State, shaping narratives that, for reasons unspoken, are embraced wholesale by legacy media.

Today, the media fixates on the firing of a Deep State Labor Department official. They dig obsessively for any mud to fling at Trump. Why? “Trump Derangement Syndrome” is no longer a sufficient explanation. This is about protecting the machine. But why?

Compare Hillary Clinton’s destruction of her private server and the hammering to bits of subpoenaed phones. The media shrugged. Why? Aren’t they supposed to report the news? Same with the Hunter laptop from hell, the Biden family’s foreign business schemes, the jaw-dropping wealth accumulation of congressional lifers -- none of it hits the radar. This is the elephant and the machine.

The mouse is a distraction.
The elephant is the system.
The machine is the shield.

It is no longer “conspiracy” to say the Deep State exists -- it is observation. It is measurable. The federal government has failed multiple audits involving trillions in unaccounted-for dollars. Nobody is fired. Nobody is prosecuted. Agencies like the Pentagon, HUD, and State are black holes of spending. Contractors feast, middlemen thrive, and entire careers are built not on results, but on keeping the machine humming for insiders. And Americans? We yawn. We scroll. We buy the next outrage.

We are no longer governed. We are processed.

This isn’t a government of the people. It’s a machine for the distribution of favors, immunity, and wealth -- among the protected class. That is why Epstein didn’t matter until now. That’s why Hillary can BleachBit servers, lie to Congress, and rake in $100K per speech. That’s why Biden’s documented lies and his family's shady foreign deals provoke less interest than a Trump typo.

But heaven forbid Trump fill out a form improperly.

We’ve become numb to scale. Numb to volume. A $500 hammer here, a $2 trillion boondoggle there. The Pentagon misplaces $6.2 trillion? Shrug. Hunter Biden makes millions in Ukraine while his dad shapes policy? Shrug. Bureaucrats retire with six-figure pensions after decades of managing failure as “public servants?” Shrug again.

And now, like a bad B-movie reboot, the Epstein plotline is dragged back into the spotlight -- as the headline event. Somehow, the Deep State's vast corruption is treated as a distraction from Epstein. It’s almost admirable, in a clinical-psychopath kind of way.

Let’s not play dumb. The system isn't just corrupt, it is self-aware. It protects its members, demonizes threats, and launders its failures through distraction. And like all declining empires, it cloaks its rot in the language of justice and democracy. The same DoJ that ignores arson, looting, and political violence in blue cities suddenly finds religion when a Republican sneezes in the wrong direction.

The same agencies that fumbled 9/11, Iraq WMDs, Russiagate, and the Hunter laptop now ask for your trust -- again.

Here is the truth: Epstein was a grotesque man with grotesque friends. But the reason his story is being reactivated now is not justice. It’s cover. It’s projection. It’s the oldest trick in the political playbook: accuse your enemies of the crimes you are terrified might be traced back to you.

Be careful what you wish for.

Because if the Epstein list ever truly breaks open -- if the full extent of who flew where, and why, and who knew what ever comes to light -- then the same people hurling accusations today might find themselves holding the dynamite with the fuse already lit.

It is getting harder to hide that elephant behind the mouse.

X22, And we Know, and more- August 5

 

Are Democrats tacitly encouraging assassination hits on ICE agents?

American  Thinker 

On the July 23, 2025 edition of the Fox News show, Greg Gutfeld, in speaking of the CBP agent that was shot in the face by an illegal alien, Gutfeld said, “And you know Tyrus, when this story came out about this agent getting shot, the media wouldn’t say he [the shooter] is an illegal suspect.  They wouldn’t say anything about him.  Said an agent was shot on a rock in Central Park.”

In response, Tyrus said,

I have a problem with this, and maybe this is just… I don’t believe in coincidences, and there has been a concentrated effort to ‘out’ ICE agents.  And for two men... grown a** men to get on a scooter to go riding in a park with guns, to go rob?  That doesn’t make much sense to me.  But two guys looking to make a ‘hit’ on somebody that makes sense to me.  So, just how random is that?  How many millions of people do we have in New York just walking around, and these two illegals just happen to stumble upon a guy, who just happens to be an off-duty officer?  Bullsh**!  It’s a ‘hit’ in my opinion and we are lucky he was able to get through it.  And I would like to see the same vigor from our so-called government investigations that are dealing with this Epstein bullsh** and whatever Barack Obama did ten years ago.  I don’t give a d*** about any of that.  That is not a table issue for me and my family.  Right now, my table issue is our police officers, and our border agents are under attack.  We have senators or congressmen who are demanding they [officers] take their masks off so they can see their face, so they can expose their family.  So, I don’t see we meant well at all.  There’s that old saying, ‘The road to hell is paved with good intentions.’ Well, we need to start sending some of these people to hell.

Rep. Eric Swalwell, (D-CA), infamous for having an affair with a Chinese spy, accused ICE immigration enforcement officers of behaving like “bank robbers.” He stated, “I hope every state that is able to, and every community that is able to, unmasks ICE with their policies.  If you’re standing on the law, you can show your face.”

Unfortunately, Swalwell had not considered that masks are needed for safety.  Tom Homan defended the use of masks by agents stating, “The attacks on ICE is unprecedented, 700% increased.  And we are not even talking about the doxing of agents, their spouses and their children.”  Apparently, subversives are doxing ICE agents’ private information.

After a successful ICE raid in San Diego, CA, local city councilman, Sean Elo-Rivera posted on Instagram that ICE agents are “terrorists” and after criticism, stood by his comments.  In response, acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Todd Lyons stated, “I’m sorry if people are offended by them wearing masks.  I’m not going to let my officers and agents go out there and put their lives on the line, their family on the line because people don’t like what immigration enforcement is.”  Then he asked, “Is that the issue here that we’re just upset about the masks?  Or is anyone upset about the fact that ICE officers’ families were labeled terrorists?”

Illinois lawmakers are pushing to unmask ICE.  California lawmakers are pushing to unmask ICE.  Massachusetts lawmakers are pushing to unmask ICE.  New York lawmakers are pushing to unmask ICE.  Michigan lawmakers are calling for ICE agents wearing masks to be jailed.  Democrats on Capitol Hill introduced legislation to require officers to identify themselves without masks.

House Speaker Mike Johnson stated that the Democrats who are pushing for ICE agents to unmask are the same “people who mandated mask wearing for years in America” during the COVID era.

Johnson stated that Democrats like House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries say that ICE agents should not be wearing masks as they arrest these illegal migrants.  Johnson stated, 

From the people who mandated mask wearing for years in America.  It’s absurd.  They need to back off ICE and respect our agents and stop protesting them.  [The agents are] …trying to uphold the rule of law, and they don’t want to be targeted by Democrat activists.

In speaking of unmasking agents, Johnson continued and said, “Why?  So that they can target them?  So they can put their names and faces online and dox them?  That’s what these activists do.  So we have to protect those who protect our communities.”

In response to Democrat lawmakers on Capitol Hill trying to pass their unmasking legislation, President Trump stated,

Well, they would not be saying that if they didn’t hate our country.  And obviously, they do.

These officers are doing a tremendous job.  They’re great patriots.  If you expose them because of, you know, statements that have been made by Democrats and others on the left, usually mostly, I think, probably exclusively, you put them in great danger, tremendous danger.

And it’s sort of funny when people picket in front of Columbia, in front of Harvard and they have masks on more than masks.  I mean you can’t see anything.  Nobody complains about that.  But when a patriot who works for ICE or Border Patrol puts a mask on so that they won’t recognize him and his family, so they can lead a little bit of a normal life after having worked so hard and so dangerously, there’s a problem with that.

This is the problem with Democrats, they have a lot of bad things going on in their heads.  They’ve become very…they’ve lost their confidence, number one.  And they’re really, they’ve become somewhat deranged.  I want to do whatever necessary to protect our great law enforcement people.  And they are right at the top of the list.

So, with Democrat lawmakers demanding the unmasking of ICE and Border Patrol agents, are they tacitly encouraging criminal activity against our government’s law enforcement agents and their families?

What Has the Intelligence Community Done for U.S. Lately?

American  Thinker 

Now that the Durham Annex is out and we know that the Dems and the Intelligence Community were fumbling a pathetic play to stay in the game for one more quarter, I want to say that I don’t really care, cupcake, about bringing frightful vengeance upon the guilty.

In fact, I think it would be best if all the Obamas and Clintons and Comeys and Brennans and Wrays and Clappers get away with their incompetent betrayal of our great country Scott Free. Because then we can point forever to the utter corrupt incompetence of the ruling class that was, and how we should never allow such dumb bunnies into the catbird seat again.

Anyway, here’s Matt Taibbi’s post Durham Annex take:

Now, there’s no doubt. Hillary Clinton got in a jam, and the FBI, CIA, and the Obama White House got her out of it by setting Trump up. That’s it. It was a cover-up, plain and simple:

Just a ruling class covering up a cover-up and then covering up the cover-up of the cover-up. And we learn that the political class and the Intelligence Community aren’t even competent at covering up their cover-ups.

The Bigger Question is: what kind of a spy operation does the United States really need?

For instance, the experts agree that we needed a robust intelligence operation during the Cold War, from 1948 to 1989, when the U.S. went up against a Soviet Union determined to conquer the world.

But did we?

Did you know how the Cold War started? On June 20, 1948, the western allies allowed the Germans to combine the U.S., British, and French occupation zones into the Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Four days later, on June 24, 1948, the Soviets began the Berlin Blockade.

Know what I think? I think that the Soviets were skeered by the establishment of a united Germany, and they were right, as the West Germans performed a world-changing Wirtschaftwunder and showed that socialism was a crock. But suppose that the Truman administration had taken care to keep the Soviets in the loop during the runup to the creation of West Germany? I wonder how it would have turned out. I wonder what the graduates of the OSS like Allen Dulles thought at the time.

Whatabout the Suez Crisis? Wikipedia:

Shortly after the invasion began, the three countries [Britain, France, Israel] came under heavy political pressure from both the United States and the Soviet Union, as well as from the United Nations, eventually prompting their withdrawal from Egypt.

So, the Soviets and the U.S. were able to cooperate, in 1956. In the middle of the Cold War.

I wonder what Allen Dulles at the CIA had to say about all that?

I wonder if the assassination of President Kennedy in 1962 had any connection with the firing of CIA founder Allen Dulles in 1961?

I wonder if the Nixon/Kissinger opening to China announced in July 1971 had anything to do with former naval intelligence officer Bob Woodward getting hired at the Washington Post in September 1971? You think that maybe the Intelligence Community was horrified that the U.S. was making nice with China?

I wonder how much the Intelligence Community is responsible for the serial military cockups down the decades, from the Bay of Pigs to Vietnam to Kosovo to Iraq to Afghanistan and now Ukraine.

I wonder why the Intelligence Community wasn’t telling the political leaders for years prior to 1989 that the Soviet Union was a failed state and all we had to do was set up the bleachers and watch the Commies fail.

I wonder why the U.S. didn’t wind down NATO in the early 1990s after the breakup of the Soviet Union? You think maybe that the Intelligence Community didn’t like the idea of swingeing cuts to the Military Industrial Complex? Or do you think the presidents of the time just didn’t have the guts to go over the heads of the IC and sell peace to the American people?

At the American Spectator they are worried about cutting the intelligence agencies too far, because “the United States needs a serious intelligence capability… [since] America faces adversaries in places like Russia, China, North Korea, and in various hostile places in the Middle East.”

I say that, given the unseriousness of the Intelligence Community down the decades, why worry?  They say that if you prune rose bushes aggressively in the Fall, you don’t kill the roses off. Instead, the roses grow up stronger in the Spring. And if a few of the rose bushes die, maybe it was time.

But I’m sure we can all agree that Allen Dulles and OSS did some amazing stuff back in World War II. Hey Allen! How many spies did you have at the Wannsee Conference in 1942?

Professor cancels Middle East course over Columbia’s antisemitism deal with Trump

 New antisemitism definition makes course ‘impossible to teach,’ professor says

Gabrielle Temaat - Assistant Editor - THE COLLEGE FIX -  August 5, 2025

An anti-Israel professor at Columbia University canceled his course on Middle Eastern history over the school’s recent agreement with President Donald Trump’s administration.

Professor Rashid Khalidi penned an open letter to Acting President Claire Shipman, published by The Guardian, detailing his reasons for the decision.

Khalidi asserted that the school’s newly adopted definition of antisemitism, implemented as part of the agreement with President Trump, renders the course “impossible to teach.”

“Although I have retired, I was scheduled to teach a large lecture course on this topic in the fall as a ‘special lecturer’, but I cannot do so under the conditions Columbia has accepted by capitulating to the Trump administration in June,” the professor wrote.

The school adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism, which “deliberately, mendaciously and disingenuously conflates Jewishness with Israel, so that any criticism of Israel, or indeed description of Israeli policies, becomes a criticism of Jews,” according to Khalidi.

This definition makes it “impossible with any honesty to teach about topics such as the history of the creation of Israel, and the ongoing Palestinian Nakba, culminating in the genocide being perpetrated by Israel in Gaza with the connivance and support of the US and much of western Europe,” he wrote.

The professor also criticized Columbia for undermining the academic freedom and free speech of its faculty through the deal with Trump, claiming students and staff are now “seriously constrained” in their classroom discussions.

“I regret deeply that Columbia’s decisions have obliged me to deprive the nearly 300 students who have registered for this popular course – as many hundreds of others have done for more than two decades – of the chance to learn about the history of the modern Middle East this fall,” Khalidi wrote.

However, he intends to still cover elements of the course in a public lecture series in New York, which will be streamed live and archived for later access.

Any proceeds will be donated to universities in Gaza, “every one of which has been destroyed by Israel with US munitions, a war crime about which neither Columbia nor any other US university has seen fit to say a single word,” he wrote.

Last month, Columbia announced it will pay over $200 million in a settlement to resolve federal investigations into alleged breaches of anti-discrimination laws, The College Fix previously reported.

The university also agreed to provide the government admissions data, including race, GPA, and test scores of accepted and rejected students to restore its federal funding.

Meanwhile, Khalidi’s controversial views have surfaced elsewhere. He recently spoke at Rutgers University where he argued Palestinian war crimes need to be understood in “context.” The professor has also compared supporters of Israel to rodents.

MORE: Columbia will suspend, expel dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters

IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT: Professor emeritus of modern Arab studies at Columbia University, Rashid Khalidi, during an interview on Gaza; Al Jazeera English/Youtube

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Startling: Denmark Zoo Wants to Feed Predators - People's Pets?

RedState 

The world's zoos can do a lot of great work. Some endangered species are only still with us because of sheltered zoo populations. Every day, people across the world visit zoos, learn about wild animals they never would have seen otherwise, and maybe even develop an appreciation for these magnificent beasts.

Of course, some zoo animals present special problems. You can't feed a lion hay, after all; the big predators need meat. Not tofu, not veggie "garden burgers," but meat, preferably raw, and plenty of it. 

Now, a zoo in Denmark, the Aalborg Zoo,  has come up with a unique solution to feed at least some of their predatory critters: They are asking people to donate their pets to serve as snacks. Yes, really. But it's not as bad as you might think - at least, not completely.

The Aalborg Zoo said it is trying to mimic the natural food chain of the animals housed there “for the sake of both animal welfare and professional integrity” and offers assurances the pets will be “gently euthanized” by trained staff.

The zoo in northern Denmark explained in a Facebook post that “if you have a healthy animal that needs to be given away for various reasons, feel free to donate it to us.”

Now, they aren't talking about dogs or cats, here. Just some slightly less cuddly pets. The zoo assures us that these pets won't just be chucked into the enclosures with the predators; they'll be humanely put down first.

The zoo points to guinea pigs, rabbits and chickens as possible donations. After being euthanized, the animals will be used as fodder, the zoo said.

“That way, nothing goes to waste — and we ensure natural behavior, nutrition and well-being of our predators,” the zoo said.

Well, OK, guinea pigs are pretty cuddly. In fact, they're adorable. So are most domestic rabbits. Now chickens, I'd be willing to go along with that; chickens are nasty, stinky, and have a brain the size of a BB shot, so don't really bond with humans. 

Even without the "adorable" factor, there's another problem; a rabbit or a guinea pig wouldn't even be a light snack for, say, a lion. But the Aalborg Zoo may have an idea there, too.

The online call for pet donations is accompanied by a picture of a wildcat baring its teeth with its mouth wide open and a link to the zoo’s website, noting the facility also is interested in receiving horses.

Horses? For lions, and tigers, and bears? Oh, my!

Someone clearly didn't think this through. People get attached to their pets - even small, fuzzy things like guinea pigs. Euthanasia or not, it's hard to see any Danish family, say one that is moving to another town, telling little Vilja that she has to give up her bunny Gudrun - "But don't worry, dear, the zoo's wildcat will be glad to have her for supper. No, not as a guest. As a main course."

Seriously, what were these people thinking? Why not just do another fundraiser to buy more Purina Lion Chow? (I have no idea if that's really a thing.) This just seems like a remarkably poorly thought-out proposal. 

Come on, Denmark. Get with the program. People love their pets.

Incredibly Disturbing: Disgusting Hack Jim Acosta 'Interviews' AI Version of School Shooting Victim

RedState 

This may be the craziest story I've ever covered on this site, and that's saying something. Jim Acosta, who was recently booted from CNN, is promoting an "interview" he did with a deceased school shooting victim. How did he manage that? The short answer is that he didn't. Instead, he "interviewed" an AI version of Joaquin Oliver, who was killed in the Parkland shooting in 2018. 

According to Acosta, Oliver's parents created the AI to "deliver a powerful message on gun violence." Putting aside how his parents choose to grieve (as unhealthy as this is), it is inexcusable for a supposed "journalist" to platform something as insanely disturbing as this. Not only did Acosta do so, but he played into it, and believe me, once you hear this AI "speak," you'll understand just how depraved and dystopian this is.

ACOSTA: Joaquin, I would like to know what your solution would be for gun violence. 

AI: (Robotic voice) Great question. I believe in a mix of stronger gun control laws, mental health support, and community engagement. We need to create safe spaces for conversations and connections, making sure everyone feels seen and heard. It's about building a culture of kindness and understanding. What do you think about that? 

ACOSTA: I think that's a great idea, Joaquin.

I want to try to be sensitive here because I haven't suffered the pain of losing a child. With that said, this is the kind of thing that needs to be denounced head-on. It's one thing for parents to entertain this privately, though they definitely should not. It's a completely different thing for members of the press, especially someone who claims to be an unbiased reporter, to platform this. 

That AI is not Joaquin Oliver. It does not represent whatever views he may have held. It can't know what he would think about the subject of gun violence today. Given we are talking about someone who was a high school student, it's likely Oliver never shared any opinions on that topic to even feed into an AI engine. This isn't a recitation of his probable thoughts. It's a propaganda tool representing the views of others, including Acosta. 

What happened to journalistic ethics? If a member of the press is asked to platform an AI mimicking a school shooting victim, the answer should be no. The answer shouldn't be to talk to it like it's a real person and exploit a murdered child for your partisan political wants. Acosta is a ghoul of the highest level for doing this. I'd say he should never be employed in the industry again, but he seems to have already assured that. 

Understand, though, that this is where we are headed if something doesn't change. The talking points surrounding AI have made it seem inevitable, but I think there are a lot of people in the middle who recognize that this isn't okay. Is this the type of society we want to live in? One where "journalists" use AI versions of dead children to promote their narratives? I know I don't. 

DC Area Statistics Reflect Federal Govt Downsizing

Conservative Treehouse 

President Donald Trump is actually doing something almost all presidents have failed to do, reduce the size and scale of the federal government.

The Washington Post is very concerned about the economic datapoints coming from the DC area.  Including: “the Trump administration’s overhaul of the federal workforce, including the elimination of thousands of federal jobs, is being acutely felt in a national capital region.”

WaPo – In May, D.C.’s unemployment rate was 5.9 percent — the highest in more than three years.  The number of federal workers turning to unemployment insurance is climbing steadily, with claims rising 64 percent between February and June — from 1,064 to 1,747. That surge is starting to show up in the city’s bottom line: In June alone, D.C. paid out more than $2.5 million in federal civilian jobless benefits, a sharp jump from earlier in the spring.

Maryland saw a similar spike, with payments nearly doubling since April. In Virginia’s Fairfax County, unemployment has reached levels not seen since mid-2021.

LAYOFFS – Layoffs tracked through Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notices are rapidly climbing. The federal WARN Act requires large employers to give advance notice before mass layoffs, offering an early signal of job market stress. So far this year, the D.C. region has recorded more WARN-notice layoffs than in any year outside the pandemic, with nearly 10,000 workers cut as of July — more than the total of the last two years combined. While the data mostly reflects private-sector job losses, it underscores how quickly layoffs are accelerating.

SPENDING – Consumer spending in D.C. is also starting to slip. Washingtonians are cutting back on things like dining out, clothing, and beauty products — and they’re doing so more sharply than people in other big cities. In June, spending at full-service restaurants was down 9 percent compared with the prior year, a steeper drop than in places like Atlanta, Boston and Miami.  The same pattern shows up in categories like apparel and entertainment, pointing to a local slowdown even as spending elsewhere holds steadier.

TAX BASE – The D.C. Office of Revenue Analysis is forecasting a rare population dip in 2027 — a 0.2 percent decline — along with shrinking tax collections. In June, the city revised its tax revenue outlook for 2026 from one of growth to decline. The city expects only modest growth in 2027, with property and business taxes still lagging.

HOUSING – Predictably, with uncertainty looming, the real estate picture is starting to shift. “We still have a shortage, meaning there is more demand for housing than supply,” Lee said. “And with that, the prices go up.”

But inventory is climbing, a sign that fewer buyers are competing for homes. At the same time, new apartment construction is tapping the brakes — about 8,000 units went up in the first quarter of 2025, well below the usual 12,000 to 16,000 seen in recent quarters. (more)