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Trump’s Threats Aren’t Working

Published by Tom Sullivan on November 17, 2025

The pressure is getting to him

“There are about a thousand of us.” https://x.com/AaronParnas/status/1990203634152529965?s=20

The once and future god-emperor of Mar-a-Lago is a chocolate mess. Wag the dog, wag the pardon, investigate enemies, blow up a boat, invade another U.S. city. Donald Trump is flailing. Could it be that the prospect of the Epstein files going public has his troubled mind even more troubled?

Greg Sargent offers a rundown ahead of his Monday podcast:

Anxiety is rising among President Trump’s staunchest allies that he’s politically lost his way. The New York Times reports that his advisers fear he’s alienating key voters in his own coalition. And CNN reports that some Republicans are openly warning the White  House that the GOP is in trouble in the midterm elections. Meanwhile, Trump just erupted in a furious new tirade about the Jeffrey Epstein fiasco. In it, he ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate Epstein’s ties to Democrats. Bondi immediately did his bidding. That Trump has now formally turned the Justice Department loose in this way shows his anger over Epstein has hit new highs. Some Republicans say all these things are related: Trump is so consumed with Epstein that he’s letting everything else go to hell.

Trump on Sunday suddenly reversed himself on the coming Epstein files vote in the House:

Mr. Trump said on social media that House Republicans should vote to release files related to the sex offender “because we have nothing to hide.” It was a striking shift in his stance as he faced the possibility that dozens of G.O.P. lawmakers could support the measure in a floor vote expected this week.

“It’s time to move on from this Democrat Hoax perpetrated by Radical Left Lunatics in order to deflect from the Great Success of the Republican Party, including our recent Victory on the Democrat ‘Shutdown,’” he wrote.

Trump added, “the House Oversight Committee can have whatever they are legally entitled to, I DON’T CARE! All I do care about is that Republicans get BACK ON POINT,” meaning the economy where “where we are winning BIG!” He hasn’t forgotten to manifest his preferred version of reality by repeating his “Trump always wins” mantras. So, there’s still something of the old real estate huckster in there.

But Trump sees he is set to lose and lose big in the upcoming House vote on releasing the Epstein files. He might as well join the winning side beforehand and avoid crowning himself a lame duck. He still has a chance to arm-twist remaining allies in the Senate into killing the measure. That would avoid him having to veto the bill when it gets to his desk and give him someone else to blame for it. But there are 20 GOP senators up for reelection in 2026 and only a handful are retiring or running for higher office.

After the White House’s failure last week to put the thumbscrews to Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado — in the Situation Room, no less — or to persuade Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina to take their names of the House discharge petition, Trump’s confidence that he can stop the bill in the Senate has to be flagging. Georgia’s Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is lost to him. (She is now “Marjorie ‘Traitor’ Greene.”) But Trump’s Senate fight is for another day. His Senate whip count won’t mean much until the measure passes the House.

Again, given all the White House pardon activity and the concierge treatment for Epstein co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell at her new Club Fed digs, I still suspect Trump is working up a “the dog ate my homework” explanation for not releasing the files. Unless he believes his attempts to link Democrats to Epstein will somehow dampen the blowback from their release. If Trump’s name appears over 1,600 times in the emails released last week from the Epstein estate, he has to know there will be far more mentions in the DOJ’s trove. And that’s whether or not anything of him and sex-trafficking surfaces. (It is still possible that evidence Trump laundered money for Russian oligarchs could turn up in there.)

So pressure on Trump is building. This new PSA from Epstein survivors will turn it up another notch. And the dial hasn’t reached 11 yet.

* * * * *

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You Can’t Make This Stuff Up

Published by digby on November 16, 2025

It’s true. They are hell on mortgage fraud which coincidentally seems to be something of a Democratic crime spree. (There are evidently no Republicans who have homes in their districts and homes in DC. I guess they all live in their offices.) They do keep having problems finding prosecutors who are willing to argue the cases because they are so obviously ridiculous and clearly vindictive prosecutions against Trump’s enemies but they can always dredge up a beauty queen insurance lawyer or two to sign the indictments so it’s perfectly fine.

You won’t find them prosecuting anyone for staging a coup or storming the capital during a joint session of Congress to try to kill the Vice President though, no sirree. That would be lawfare. And any of Trump’s pals should feel free to commit as many crimes as they want because there will be no prosecutions and, at worst, they’d be pardoned anyway.

How about this fatuous garbage?

Not 4 months ago the DOJ released a report saying this:

As part of our commitment to transparency, the Department of Justice and the Federal
Bureau of Investigation have conducted an exhaustive review of investigative holdings relating to Jeffrey Epstein. To ensure that the review was thorough, the FBI conducted digital searches of its databases, hard drives, and network drives as well as physical searches of squad areas, locked cabinets, desks, closets, and other areas where responsive material may have been stored. These uncovered a significant amount of material, including more than 300 gigabytes of data and physical evidence.

The files relating to Epstein include a large volume of images of Epstein, images and videos
of victims who are either minors or appear to be minors, and over ten thousand downloaded videos and images of illegal child sex abuse material and other pornography. Teams of agents, analysts, attorneys, and privacy and civil liberties experts combed through the digital and documentary evidence with the aim of providing as much information as possible to the public while simultaneously protecting victims. Much of the material is subject to court-ordered sealing. Only fraction of this material would have been aired publicly had Epstein gone to trial, as the seal served only to protect victims and did not expose any additional third-parties to allegations of illegal wrongdoing. Through this review, we found no basis to revisit the disclosure of those materials and will not permit the release of child pornography.
This systematic review revealed no incriminating “client list.”

There was also no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions. We did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties.

Blanche was a prosecutor in the SDNY for many years and apparently highly respected. I just don’t know what to do with that.

WTF Is Happening????

Published by digby on November 16, 2025

BASH: We have seen these attacks from the president at other people. It’s not new. And I haven’t heard you speak out about it until it was directed at you.

MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: I think that’s fair criticism. And I would like to say, humbly, I’m sorry for taking part in the toxic politics.

Yes, she’s getting a taste of her own medicine. Trump hurt her feelings when he called her a traitor. And yet…

I don’t know what she’s doing. Maybe she doesn’t either. But I can’t help remembering that she spoke at a Fuentes event a year or so ago saying the the future was with that crowd. Is she putting all her cards on a Tucker-Fuentes future and leaving MAGA behind?

Who knows? But it’s something to see. Stay tuned.

The Long Knives Are Out For Suzy

Published by digby on November 16, 2025

There’s a lot of dissension in MAGA right now, what with Marge and Trump feuding, Tucker and the Nazis vs Ben Shapiro and Ted Cruz, the Heritage Foundation imploding, the manosphere edging away. But this is new and it clearly means that the base is unhappy with Dear Leader — but they just can’t say it:

Donald Trump’s longtime supporters are coming for White House gatekeeper Susie Wiles, blaming the president’s so-called “Ice Maiden” for his missteps on everything from the Jeffrey Epstein files to his America First agenda.

After a turbulent week marked by criticism of the president’s comments on “affordability,” skilled worker visas, Chinese students, and his halting response to the newly released Epstein emails, MAGA loyalists have openly accused his chief of staff of steering the president off-course.

Wiles, long viewed as one of the architects behind Trump’s 2024 campaign revival and now a central force inside the West Wing, has spent years cultivating a reputation as a disciplined, discreet operative—someone who not just advises Trump, but tries to keep him focused and filters out the noise for h

But for some hardline conservatives and MAGA loyalists, her gatekeeping is now the problem.

“Susie Wiles needs to be gone yesterday,” a MAGA acolyte wrote on X. “I have a feel (sic) a lot of the domestic crap is from her side of the party and it’s drowning out Stephen Miller.”

“I am publicly calling for Trump to fire Susie Wiles. She is doing unspeakable damage to MAHA and MAGA, in my opinion,” wrote another.

“Psssssst … hey Susie Wiles, you may wanna pivot now. The MAGA ship is sailing and several of you missed the boat,” far-right commentator Ann Vandersteel wrote on X this week. “Oh, and friendly reminder, we the people are YOUR boss. President Trump is too. And WE are his boss.”

I’m pretty sure Trump does NOT believe he works for you honey. He is the King. You best bow down.

MAGA’s rage intensified on Tuesday when the president dismissed concerns from his base that Chinese students were taking up college places that Americans wanted.

“I know what MAGA wants better than anyone else,” he said in a jaw-dropping interview with Fox News ally Laura Ingraham.

By the next day, however, that rage turned white hot when the “America First” president suggested that there were no talented workers in the U.S. after being cornered for allowing high-skilled foreign workers into the country.

This is interesting because it’s about the one thing Trump cares about as much as getting revenge: his money. But sure guys, this is all about Susie Wiles. You keep believing that.

The New Fed Chair?

Published by digby on November 16, 2025

There has been talk that Kevin Hassett is Trump’s choice:

KARL: The president claims that Thanksgiving costs are down 25%. Does he know that’s not true?

HASSETT: Well if you look at Walmart–

KARL: Wait a minute. I’ve gotta stop you. The Walmart package this year contains much less than the one last year. That’s why the price is less.

HASSETT: I don’t understand where you’re going

Then he starts babbling about Joe Biden, Joe Biden, Joe Biden and says that inflation is half of what it was in December.

That is a lie. We don’t have the official inflation rate for October because of the shutdown but the annual inflation rate in the US rose to 3% in September 2025, the highest since January.

The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 0.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis in September, after rising 0.4 percent in August, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Over the last 12 months, the all items index increased 3.0 percent before seasonal adjustment. Note that September CPI data collection was completed before the lapse in appropriations.

The index for gasoline rose 4.1 percent in September and was the largest factor in the all items monthly increase, as the index for energy rose 1.5 percent over the month. The food index increased 0.2 percent over the month as the food at home index rose 0.3 percent and the food away from home index increased 0.1 percent.

The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.2 percent in September, after rising 0.3 percent in each of the 2 preceding months. Indexes that increased over the month include shelter, airline fares, recreation, household furnishings and operations, and apparel. The indexes for motor vehicle insurance, used cars and trucks, and communication were among the few major indexes that decreased in September.

The all items index rose 3.0 percent for the 12 months ending September, after rising 2.9 percent over the 12 months ending August. The all items less food and energy index also rose 3.0 percent over the last 12 months. The energy indexincreased 2.8 percent for the 12 months ending September. The food index increased 3.1 percent over the last year.

December 2024: The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 0.4 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis in December, after rising 0.3 percent in November, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Over the last 12 months, the all items index increased 2.9 percent before seasonal adjustment.

They love to say that Trump inherited an economic crisis. The way they describe it it was worse than the great Depression. But that’s projection as usual. Biden was the one who inherited the pandemic economic crisis and successfully engineered a soft landing. Trump inherited a growing economy and then started deporting a bunch of workers and started a trade war for no reason and sent it reeling.

Here’s what happened during the Biden years:

 The shocks to food and energy prices contributed substantially to the sharp rise in inflation during the COVID-19 period. Energy price shocks were the primary cause of the high inflation rates from late 2021 to the middle of 2022. Lower energy prices in the second half of 2022 contributed to the inflation decline during that period.

2. The combined effects of increased demand for durables and shortages caused by supply-chain disruptions were the main source of inflation in the second quarter of 2021. Both the direct and indirect effects of those supply-chain problems remained substantial through the end of 2022.

3. Tight labor-market conditions, one of the main concerns of the early critics of U.S fiscal and monetary policy, contributed only slightly to inflation. In fact, the tight labor market affected the economy negatively in 2020 and early 2021. Since then, however, the traditional Phillips-curve effect has begun to reemerge, with the high vacancy-to-unemployment ratio becoming an increasingly important factor in the high inflation rates.

Bernanke and Blanchard argue that the critics’ concerns of higher inflation were correct. But the sources of the high inflation differed from those the critics had anticipated. The authors conclude that price shocks in product markets were the leading cause of the initial rise in inflation. However, as labor markets began to overheat in 2022, with unsustainable employment increases, a high ratio of job openings to unemployed workers, and low levels of quits, labor market tightness increasingly became the main cause of the persistently high inflation rates.

The Fed and the Biden administration managed to engineer a soft landing from that crisis. Trump came in inflicted a bunch of ridiculous policies and cut it off at the pass.

Now he’s going to lower the tariffs he put on some goods and take credit for lowering prices. I’ll be very curious to see if the American people really are as stupid as he thinks they are. (Not holding my breath.)

Christian Pushback

Published by digby on November 16, 2025

I’ve been wondering if we would see some actual believing Christians who are Republicans start to defect. The fact that there have been so few up to now said a whole lot about the faith of some of these people. I mean, he’s selling Bibles and signing them!

According to this some actual clergy are now running for office.

He grew up on a farm in Indiana, the son of a factory worker and eldest of five children. He studied at Liberty, a Christian university founded by the conservative pastor and televangelist Jerry Falwell, and recalls wearing a T-shirt expressing opposition to Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. Two decades later, Justin Douglas is running for the US Congress – as a Democrat.

He is among around 30 Christian white clergy – pastors, seminary students and other faith leaders – known to be potential Democratic candidates in next year’s midterm elections, including a dozen who are already in the race. While stressing the separation of church and state, many say that on a personal level their faith is calling them into the political arena.

[…]

Douglas, 41, based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, is among a new generation of the Christian left aiming to change that narrative by ensuring that the Democratic brand is not associated with only college-educated urbanites, but can also connect with white working-class churchgoers.

“We’ve seen Democrats time and time again sell out working-class people and we’ve seen Democrats time and time again look like liberal elitists who are looking down on people who think going to church on Sunday is a core part of their life,” said Douglas, who has been in ministry for more than 20 years. “Some people might feel judged for that.

“But I also think the stereotypes of Republicans being pro-faith are bullshit too. We’re seeing a current administration bastardise faith almost every day. They used the Lord’s Prayer in a propaganda video for what they’re now calling the Department of War. That should have had every single evangelical’s bells and whistles and alarms going off in their head: this is sacrilegious.

“But unfortunately, sometimes, when you’re in it, you can’t see it and it takes somebody who has an ability to communicate to that audience, to help show that you’re being manipulated.”

He’s not wrong. People from inside the evangelical faith will need to step up to challenge this.

I wish he didn’t feel he had to pull the “liberal elite”stuff but it seems to be a requirement among those running in swing districts to shit all over liberals so what can you do? At least he didn’t use the word “woke.” But the populist message seems to be resonant and I think the critique of the right is absolutely correct. They should be calling out the sacrilege and the corruption and cruelty are excellent messages with religious overtones as well.

I’ll be interested to see how this goes. Any evangelical who believes that Republicans are being Christian need to have a little chat with Jesus GpT.

Update:

In video recorded on Friday (Nov. 14) outside the embattled U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview, Illinois, the Rev. Michael Woolf stands alongside fellow protesters, fiddling awkwardly with his backpack as faith leaders and other protesters chant slogans at a line of police officers. A moment later, one officer can be seen walking forward, grabbing Woolf by the wrist and yanking.

Demonstrators attempted to hold on to Woolf, who was wearing a clerical collar, but four officers wrenched him from the crowd and tossed him to the ground. After turning him onto his stomach, officers proceeded to arrest Woolf, and removed him to the Cook County Sheriff’s Office in Maywood, Illinois.

“I’ve got bruises all over my body,” Woolf, an American Baptist minister who is pastor of Lake Street Church of Evanston, Illinois, told Religion News Service. He was speaking in his first interview since being released Friday afternoon after about seven hours in custody.

Woolf said when he asked the arresting officers to loosen the plastic handcuffs that were causing his hands to go numb, an officer replied: “Nobody wants to talk to you — shut the f–k up.”

“It’s part of the dehumanizing nature of it, and it gives me a lot of clarity around what’s happening here,” said Woolf, who has been active in protests against ICE. “It’s really a spiritual emergency.”

7 faith leaders were arrested.

This Sums It Up

Published by Tom Sullivan on November 16, 2025

Sort of

Andy Borowitz summed up the Epstein files controversy the other day:

Trump is under the mistaken impression that the Epstein scandal is about Democrats vs Republicans. Actually, it’s about pedophiles vs people who want pedophiles to spend the rest of their lives in prison

One prominent Republican who want pedophiles jailed and victims receive justice is Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R, Ga.). She indicates that that’s why she’s separating herself from Donald Trump and why he’s branded her a traitor (CNN video) for it.

MTG wants to see the toxic nature of political dialogue (if one can call it dialogue) dialed back. Borowitz responds, “Of all the heinous things Donald Trump has done, by far the most unforgivable is making me agree with Marjorie Taylor Greene.”

For as long as I can remember, the Georgia congresswoman has been a reliable firehose of assclownery. Lately, though, I’ve been subjected to the unsettling spectacle of Marge behaving in a sentient manner. It’s like enjoying a new song on Spotify and finding out it’s by Kid Rock.

But that only goes so far.

Of all the heinous things Donald Trump has done, by far the most unforgivable is making me agree with Marjorie Taylor Greene

— The Borowitz Report (@borowitzreport.bsky.social) 2025-11-15T17:47:03.610Z

Then MTG suggested that CNN interview Nick Fuentes. Anti-Trump lawyer George Conway fires back:

Greene has been uncharacteristically moderate in her tone lately. Perhaps she is privy to some damning information about Trump in the Epstein files soon to be public. Perhaps she’s positioning herself to run to replace Trump in 2028. Whatever she’s up to, Greene hasn’t quite gotten her sea legs yet. Her attempt to transition from MAGA firebrand to a national brand feel plenty uneven even if her concern for Epstein’s victims is sincere. My sense is that Marge the conspiracy theorist is simply laying low out of political expediency.

Or perhaps the death threats have awakened her from the MAGA trance.

* * * * *

Is this a private fight, or can anyone join?

No King’s One Million Rising movement 
50501 
May Day Strong
Freedom Over Fascism Toolkit
The Resistance Lab
Choose Democracy
Indivisible: A Guide to Democracy on the Brink 
You Have Power
Chop Wood, Carry Water
Thirty lonely but beautiful actions
Attending a Protest Surveillance Self-Defense

CBP/ICE: They’re Here

Published by Tom Sullivan on November 16, 2025

Bovino’s hired thugs terrorize Charlotte

By Darren Hester – Openphoto.net, CC BY-SA 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1452658

Customs and Border Patrol operatives began deportation operations targeting noncitizens in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County (roughly 15% Latino) on Saturday despite opposition from local officials and community groups. Agents made arrests in multiple locations. Citizens protested downtown.

The Associated Press reports:

Local officials including Mayor Vi Lyles criticized such actions, saying in a statement that they “are causing unnecessary fear and uncertainty.”

“We want people in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County to know we stand with all residents who simply want to go about their lives,” the statement said. It was also signed by Mecklenburg County Commissioner Mark Jerrell and Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board member Stephanie Sneed.

Crime is down in the city this year through August, compared with the same months in 2024. Homicides, rapes, robberies and motor vehicle thefts fell by more than 20%, according to AH Datalytics.

But President Donald Trump’s administration has seized upon the fatal stabbing of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on a Charlotte light-rail train to argue that Democratic-led cities fail to protect residents. A man with a lengthy criminal record has been charged with the woman’s murder.

The stage is set. The curtain has raised.

New York Times:

On Saturday, Charlotte’s immigrant hubs were largely deserted as word spread that federal agents were in town.

El Salvadoran restaurants were closed. Street vendors who usually sell mangos on weekends were absent. And residents shared videos of masked Border Patrol agents arriving at small businesses and Home Depots across the city, searching for people.

It was not immediately clear how many undocumented immigrants had been detained as of early Saturday afternoon, but the reach of the operation, dubbed “Charlotte’s Web” by the agency, appeared to be spreading.

No sooner had operations begun than CBP was harassing U.S. citizens like Willy Aceituno, 46, for living in the U.S. while brown (Charlotte Observer):

Willy Aceituno said he’d just left a Charlotte restaurant Saturday morning when federal agents approached him in his pickup, broke a window and stole his keys.

“Are you an illegal immigrant?” he said an officer asked in the parking lot outside Pollo Campero, near the intersection of South Boulevard and Archdale Drive.

Aceituno recounted the conversation to a Charlotte Observer journalist at the scene.

“I don’t have to answer your questions,” he said he replied. “Why don’t you ask other people that? Why just me?”

Aceituno said he’s originally from Honduras and has been a U.S. citizen for about six years.

Agents twice stopped him in his pickup within about 10 minutes, he said. Both times he was still in the parking lot, he said.

A different set of CBP agents smashed his window the second time, dragged Aceituno from his car, detained him for a time then let him go.

US Citizen Violently Detained, Window Smashed During Morning Stop in Charlotte, NC

— Raider (@iwillnotbesilenced.bsky.social) 2025-11-16T00:46:59.677Z

Aceituno reported the assault and property damage to local police and recounted the events to reporters. He figured to allow CBP to waste time on him while other Latinos scattered.

View on Threads

NC Gov. Josh Stein issued a statement on Friday urging residents to remain peaceful and not allow themselves to be provoked. Following the model set by Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, Stein urged people to use their phones to record inappropriate behavior and to alert local police.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection commander-at-large Greg Bovino is visible in the video below shot by a local.

 
View on Threads

WFAE reports the sort of arrests people witnessed on Saturday:

The owner of a car repair shop at the corner of Rosehaven Drive and Central Avenue said agents pulled into her parking lot around 9:30 a.m., causing customers and employees to scatter. She said agents chased her lead mechanic and tackled him after he tripped and fell. She showed a reporter surveillance video from the store’s security cameras.

The owner, who declined to give her name out of fear of retribution, said the employee had been working as her lead mechanic for about five months, and was seeking asylum from Nicaragua.

“They just jumped out of the van and took whoever they see as Latino,” she said. “The Border Patrol is not here for criminals. They are taking hard-working people.”

She said without a lead mechanic, she would have to close the store until she can find a replacement.

Hundreds assembled and marched in downtown Charlotte in protest of the federal presence.

 
View on Threads

 
View on Threads

If Bovino and his men mean to terrorize the community, mission accomplished (Newsweek):

Members of a church in east Charlotte, North Carolina, fled to nearby woods on Saturday after masked federal agents arrived and detained one congregant, according to a report from The Charlotte Observer, amid the ongoing immigration crackdown taking place in the city.

“We thought church was safe and nothing [was] gonna happen,” a 15-year-old witness told the newspaper. “But it did happen.”

[…]

“I thought, ‘Wait, why am I running? I’m a citizen,’” said Miguel Vazquez, one of the individuals who fled into the nearby woods.

Mischief managed.

Here in Buncombe County (8% Latino) 2-1/2 hours west of Charlotte, reports circulated online Saturday evening of license checks, but no reports yet of arrests. We’re watchful.

* * * * *

Is this a private fight, or can anyone join?

No King’s One Million Rising movement 
50501 
May Day Strong
Freedom Over Fascism Toolkit
The Resistance Lab
Choose Democracy
Indivisible: A Guide to Democracy on the Brink 
You Have Power
Chop Wood, Carry Water
Thirty lonely but beautiful actions
Attending a Protest Surveillance Self-Defense

Tickling the ivories and prickling the authorities: The Session Man (***) & One to One (***1/2)

Published by Dennis Hartley on November 15, 2025

Better late than never, I suppose. I was happy to learn that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame finally got around to acknowledging keyboard legend Nicky Hopkins in last week’s induction ceremonies. One could argue that Hopkins (who died in 1994 at age 50 from surgical complications ) was more a “legend” to peers and musos than to the public at large.

That said, his distinctive flourishes added essential color to classics like “Revolution” by The Beatles, “The Song is Over” and “Getting in Tune” by The Who, “She’s a Rainbow”, “Street Fighting Man”, and “Angie” by The Rolling Stones, “You Are So Beautiful” by Joe Cocker, “Imagine” by John Lennon, and “Wooden Ships” by The Jefferson Airplane, to name a few.

Hopkins also did session work on albums by George Harrison, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, The Kinks, Cat Stevens, Donovan, Martha Reeves, Peter Frampton, Art Garfunkel, Harry Nilsson, Jennifer Warnes, Graham Parker, et. al., appearing on over 250 albums, all told.

Despite such a busy schedule, he managed to shoehorn in a few official band memberships, most notably with The Jeff Beck Group and The Quicksilver Messenger Service, as well as more short-lived stints with The Jefferson Airplane (performing with them at Woodstock), The Steve Miller Band, New Riders of the Purple Sage, and the one-off supergroup Sweet Thursday (which also featured future Mark-Almond Band vocalist Jon Mark). He also released 3 solo albums; his excellent 1973 effort The Tin Man Was a Dreamer is ripe for rediscovery.

And now Hopkins has received an additional “better late than never” nod, courtesy of Mike Treen’s documentary portrait The Session Man: The story of Nicky Hopkins (opening in UK cinemas November 21, and available now in the U.S. as a pay-per-view watch on various streaming platforms including Amazon Prime, Google Play, VUDU, and Apple TV).

Treen takes a fairly by-the-numbers approach in this low-budget but affable affair, narrated by longtime, dulcet-voiced BBC presenter “Whispering” Bob Harris (a bit of a legend himself). Interviewees include Bill Wyman, Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, Dave Davies, Pete Townshend, Jorma Kaukonen, Terry Reid, Peter Frampton, Heartbreakers keyboardist Benmont Tench, Graham Parker, and Harry Shearer (yes-Hopkins even played on a Spinal Tap album!).

Hopkins’ widow Moira speaks quite movingly of his bouts with substance addiction (which he eventually beat) and lifelong health struggles (his chronic Crohn’s disease played a large part in his untimely passing). Also sprinkled throughout are archival interview snippets with Hopkins, as well as performance clips (although I wish there had been more of the latter). All in all, I think fans should be pleased and Hopkins neophytes intrigued enough to take a deeper dive into his catalogue.

In my review of the 2025 documentary Borrowed Time: Lennon’s Last Decade, I wrote:

I’ll never forget the first time I saw Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard-although I wish I could.

Allow me to explain.

I was all of 24, living in San Francisco. I didn’t own a VCR (they were exorbitantly priced), so I was still watching the tube in (*shudder*) real time. Perusing the TV Guide one December evening, I was excited to spot  Sunset Boulevard on the schedule for 8pm (I believe it was airing on independent Bay Area station KTVU).

For the uninitiated, Gloria Swanson’s turn as a fading, high-maintenance movie queen mesmerizes, William Holden embodies the quintessential noir sap, and veteran scene-stealer Erich von Stroheim redefines the meaning of “droll” in a tragicomic journey down the Boulevard of Broken Dreams (I’ve seen it many times since).

At any rate, I was comfortably ensconced on the couch, really digging the film (despite myriad commercial breaks). Approximately 20 minutes into the broadcast, the station unceremoniously cut away from the film for a news bulletin: former Beatle John Lennon had been shot and killed in New York City.

It was eerie kismet, as the film opens with the shooting death of the protagonist/narrator (played by Holden), and is ultimately a rumination on the dark side of fame.

Being an avid Fabs fan, it kind of harshed my mellow. Still does, actually-whenever the subject comes up.

It’s hard to believe that was 45 years ago (5 years longer than Lennon’s lifespan). Over the ensuing decades, there has certainly been no shortage of documentaries and biopics covering Lennon’s life and work. At this point, I think I’ve seen most of them.

Consequently, one would assume that there are very few secrets, revelations and angles left to explore. Yet, 2025 has seen the release of no less than two new Lennon documentaries (and the year is still young).

Now that the year is not so young (where does the time go?), and I’ve had an opportunity to screen One to One: John & Yoko (which had its HBO/MAX premiere November 14), I can share a few thoughts on yet another documentary about John & Yoko (enough already!).

Well I’ll be damned if co-directors Kevin Macdonald (One Day in September, The Last King of Scotland, Touching the Void, State of Play, Marley) and Sam Rice-Edwards haven’t assembled a fresh and absorbing take on an oft-told tale…but perhaps not for the reasons you may think.

Using beautifully restored performance footage from John and Yoko’s 1972 Madison Square Garden concert (a benefit for the children who were institutionalized at Staten Island’s Willowbrook facility) as a framing device, Macdonald and Edwards’ film is essentially an encapsulation of the intense sociopolitical turmoil in America from 1971-1973.

This time window encompassed an 18-month period when John and Yoko lived in a small Greenwich Village apartment, which coincided with their increasing political activism (which ultimately got them into hot water with the Nixon administration). Most of the “new” footage concerns John and Yoko’s behind the scenes plans for their “Free the People” tour, which was scrapped after a falling out with Jerry Rubin. The impetus for the 1972 Willowbrook benefit was a TV report by Geraldo Rivera on the shocking conditions in the children’s ward (believe it or not, there was a time when Geraldo was a real journalist).

On a more personal note, 1971-1973 also encompassed my high school years (I graduated in May of 1974), and watching the film triggered memories of witnessing mayhem and discord on Walter Cronkite’s nightly broadcast…images of police beating the shit out of protestors just a couple years my senior, the Attica prison massacre, hijackings, horrific scenes from Vietnam, and the emerging Watergate scandal as Nixon took office for a second term (is it any wonder many of us “of a certain age” entered adulthood with such a cynical worldview?).

The most unexpected takeaway from the documentary were the spooky parallels between then and now, vis a vis the political climate. The massive street protests against Nixon’s reactionary administration (No Kings, anyone?), the tribalism of “hardhats” (essentially the MAGAs of their day) vs. the antiwar protestors (“radical Leftist Democrats!”), footage of George Wallace from a 1972 presidential campaign speech where he goes off on a race-baiting diatribe about how Washington D.C. is (in so many words) a crime-ridden hellhole (sound familiar?).

The icing on the cake is when Nixon sics his justice department on John and Yoko and begins building a case for deportation, essentially as retaliation for their political activism . I mean, could you imagine that kind of thing happening in America in 2025?! Oh, wait…

(One to One: John & Yoko is now on the HBO schedule and available on-demand from MAX)

Previous posts with related themes:

The Killing of John Lennon

The U.S. vs. John Lennon

Revival 69: The Concert That Rocked the World

The Lost Weekend: A Love Story

The Alchemist: RIP Jeff Beck

More reviews at Den of Cinema

— Dennis Hartley

Bobby In The Tank

Published by digby on November 15, 2025
RFK Jr actually ran away when this happened. Birds of a feather.

He believes in nothing:

Last week, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nation’s health secretary, stood in the Oval Office and lauded President Trump’s new drug pricing deal for weight loss drugs.

“It is going to have dramatic effects on human health in this country,” Mr. Kennedy said, and thanked the “extraordinary C.E.O.s” of Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, who were standing beside him.

It was a stark contrast to Mr. Kennedy’s history of bashing weight loss medications and pharmaceutical companies. Just a year ago, he claimed Novo Nordisk, the maker of Ozempic and Wegovy, was “counting on selling it to Americans because we are so stupid and so addicted to drugs.”

The president’s deals with Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly would lower prices and significantly expand coverage of the obesity drugs under Medicare and Medicaid. That would appear to run counter to Mr. Kennedy’s longstanding hostility toward the weight loss drugs, a view shared by some of his supporters. But neither he nor high-profile followers of the “Make America Healthy Again’’ movement would be likely to risk seeming disloyal to Mr. Trump.

As the nation’s top health official, Mr. Kennedy has been trying to navigate a balance between promoting the president’s goals and assuaging his supporters. He shifts between labeling weight loss medications as “miracle drugs” and renewing concerns about their safety.

[…]

It was a sharp change in tone from October 2024, when Mr. Kennedy dismissed Ozempic as inferior to a healthy diet. “If we just gave good food, three meals a day, to every man, woman and child in our country, we could solve the obesity and diabetes epidemic overnight,” Mr. Kennedy said on Fox News.

His people are not happy:

“We shouldn’t be normalizing lifelong injections as a solution to the food environment that’s making people sick in the first place,” said Vani Hari, a Kennedy-allied influencer known as Food Babe and a prominent voice in the MAHA movement.

Alex Clark, the host of the popular Turning Point USA wellness podcast “Culture Apothecary,” said she was not enthused with Mr. Trump’s deal with the pharmaceutical companies. “But I understand why he’s doing it, and I understand why it’s being positioned as a MAHA standpoint,” she said.

Jillian Michaels, a fitness trainer who has become a vocal figure in the MAHA movement, said Mr. Kennedy had little leeway. “There’s no question that Kennedy’s wings have been clipped and he’s been brought to heel,” she said.

Bobby had to know that Trump didn’t give a damn about his “MAHA” policy. The man lives on Big Macs and diet coke and thinks exercise will sap and impurify his precious bodily fluids. It’s such a joke that the administration is pretending to believe in being “healthy,” especially after the right spent 8 years vilifying Michelle Obama for telling kids to eat their vegetables and go outside to play.

I can’t say I’m surprised that Bobby turns out to be a standard Trump whore. But it just goes to show that you don’t have to be a right winger to go there. Bobby spent his adult life railing against Big Pharma and now he’s going along with a drug that he and his followers have been hostile to for years.