52 Comments
User's avatar
Robert M Poormon's avatar

“The public almost never wins in these situations…”

Wow! you said a mouthful right there. Thank you once again, Matt, for your (often thankless) work.

DMC's avatar

funny of course what made it a scandal was when they investigated someone too far up the chain. Spying on the small fry NBD.

DMC's avatar

Inspirational leader? Yeah Patel aint the guy. But that's not what you need You need an Army of dedicated auditors. Kinda like the Twitter files. There's an idea!!!

GMT1969's avatar

Democrats will do their best to obstruct and deny the importance of these revelations. Same with establishment Republicans. They thrive and profit from this system since it destroys any opposition.

Andrew Dolgin's avatar

It was used against Trump and I bet you the Trump admin used it themselves.

There is no incentive for constraint and there is no delineation in complicity. To put a spin on one of George Carlin’s best lines -

“It’s one big corrupt regime and you ain’t in it.”

GMT1969's avatar

Trump may try. But the personnel are aligned with the Dems and establishment Reps. They will sabotage most of Trumps efforts to use the system.

reality speaks's avatar

If this is true we no longer have a Democratic Republic, We are ruled by a bunch unelected DC Swamp creatures who can lie at will and do whatever they want without regards to who the President is. If the President attempts to assert any control he ends up like JFK did.

Robird's avatar

A rather bleak assessment. If that is true, why is there any access( even if incomplete) becoming public at all? The fact that the group of whistle blowers and some congress members/ administration officials are releasing any of this information gives hope. Cracks in the wall of secrecy have a way of inexorably expanding.

Andrew Dolgin's avatar

Spot on.

It was used against Trump and I bet you the Trump admin used it themselves.

There is no incentive for constraint and there is no delineation in complicity. To put a spin on one of George Carlin’s best lines -

“It’s one big corrupt regime and you ain’t in it.”

Daniel's avatar

Matt, thank you for not giving in to the hysteria in the world at the moment and continuing to focus on these important stories. It’s easy to lose sight of other important events in these crazy times, keep up the great work.

Rilie J. Morgan's avatar

William Colby was the CIA Director during the "family jewels" episode. There were rumors his death was strange. A solo canoe trip in the spring, when water levels were high, and water was cold. Anyway, good luck to any FBI Director on this one!

Andrew Dolgin's avatar

Should be top comment

James Schwartz's avatar

If Patel isn’t the guy then Trump needs to get that guy. Patel though, after all the surveillance and shit that’s been done to him SHOULD be that guy. You’d think he would want to set the record straight. I hope this blows it all up.

Norma Odiaga's avatar

I think that Patel is trying to get to the bottom of these issues. It is just a huge job. People also complain and moan about AG Bondi. But the workload that she has before her is mind boggling. She and Patel do need an army to help them.

The Left sues the administration daily, it seems. And they have judges block every move that the administration makes. Overwhelming!

Tim's avatar

On Bondi, Bill Shipley at shipwreckedcrew on Substack had a great piece regarding her successes.

Andrew Dolgin's avatar

It was used against Trump and I bet you the Trump admin used it themselves.

There is no incentive for constraint and there is no delineation in complicity. To put a spin on one of George Carlin’s best lines -

“It’s one big corrupt regime and you ain’t in it.”

badnabor's avatar

Why do I get the feeling that the release of these files will change nothing. Hmmm...could it be that no one is ever prosecuted or that the releasees will be vague. I suspect that these files are just sacrificial tidbits, released in the hope of quieting the public.

steven t koenig's avatar

Shhh! You're supposed to pretend that's not how things work.

badnabor's avatar

LOL! Lord I know, but let's be honest, whoever said "the truth will set you free" was surely a liar.

Mad Dog's avatar

Matt, you really should announce publicly that you're not suicidal. Not that it seems to be any protection.

Norma Odiaga's avatar

Thank goodness for Senator Grassley. He's older than I am, but he continually works to expose problems like this.

Brandy's avatar

I have been following everything Grassley says and releases. No one is picking it up except you all and Just the News. I knew someone had a good story coming out because of the stupid NYT hit piece wannabe this week. All those words to repeat the same stuff from the same losers. Glad it was Racket. I hate to say it. I really do, but I don't think Kash is the guy for this. He wants to be liked and respected too much. We need someone who has enough of their own self-respect all on their own. This has to stop.

John Rogitz's avatar

Even with whistleblowers and uncovering family jewels and discovering prohibited access files, It would be preposterous to think the CIA and FBI wrote down every last thing they did. Because you can be sure the most sensitive stuff probably never got put into writing.

Which means we will never know about it. Which means the only effective, permanent solution to living in a panopticon state is abolition of the FBI.

Andrew Dolgin's avatar

Imagine how much they destroyed about the full truth of 9/11.

Liz LaSorte's avatar

When we set up a central power, knowing human nature is self serving (survival instinct), that power will grow and grow until we find ourselves in an utterly corrupt system.

One way out is to listen to the advice of wise founders like Robert Yates (aka Brutus) and acknowledge the problem of creating this huge central power so we can figure out how to dismantle it. Problem is, the history books vaporized his voice so hardly anyone has heard of him.

Brutus predicted everything we see today: https://lizlasorte.substack.com/p/brutus-was-right-about-everything?utm_source=direct&r=76q58&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=post%20viewer

Mary Beth Dale's avatar

What can we regular folks do to keep the pressure on?

Andrew Dolgin's avatar

organize. The left is good at this is. The right isn’t.

Americans, not left or right, not democrat or republican or independent, but all Americans should be organizing. Summon your Senators and congresspeople to town halls. Gather a few dozen people minimum and demand they return from DC to face questions and demands from their constituents on this topic, and this topic explicitly and only.

If they refuse, you escalate to the next step. We summon ourselves to DC.

Patrick's avatar

The right tend to have jobs. 🤣

Jay's avatar

President Trump didn’t want to release the “Epstein Files”, but the House voted that they should be released. So they have been released, not all of them (yet) but I think as fast as they can be vetted. As far as I know, there is no contingent workforce that can review these, so presumably whomever is reviewing them also has their regular job to do. I simply don’t understand what you are getting at when you said “the Jeffrey Epstein files fiasco collapsed expectations”. Also I don’t think World War 3 is imminent. The S&P 500 was up 32 points between last Friday night and last night. Is this a good way to measure expectations? I don’t know.

Jay's avatar

Dow Jones reactions to major shocks

Attack on Pearl HarborFirst trading reaction: Dec 8, 1941Dow change: –3.4%

Assassination of John F. KennedyFirst trading reaction: Nov 22, 1963Dow change: –2.9% (market closed early)

September 11 attacksFirst trading reaction: Sept 17, 2001 (after 4-day closure)Dow change: –7.1%

Black Monday crashFirst trading reaction: Oct 19, 1987Dow change: –22.6%

COVID-19 market panicFirst trading reaction: Mar 16, 2020Dow change: –12.9%

Last Monday (Mar 2, 2026)Dow change: –73 points (–0.1%), closing at 48,904.78. (Yahoo Finance)

DMC's avatar

My amateur input.

Pearl Harbor - Under reaction. Over confidence in American power. 1942 was a rough year. Dow went down until April

Assasination of Kenndy - thats a tough one, under reaction maybe

September 11. Bit of an over reaction. but the economy was in aor close to recession and that was the las t straw.

Black Monday - The revenge of Portfolio Insurance. a classicly stupid idea. full recovery within months.

COVID 19 over reaction pure panic. which sums up COVID 19

DMC's avatar

its a forward looking device so......

Gary Edwards's avatar

There's lots if things that Trump needs to do. The stuff like this can wait until after the midterms, unless needed for that.