stevevw said:

You really need to lighten up. I was trying to be funny. I guess you don't have a sense of humor.

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Your 'joke' was about as funny as my sprained foot is; not at all.

Apple Sky said:

Teachers have to teach what they are told too or else they could face severe disciplinary action or even termination.

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That is true, but that doesn’t mean that everything they teach is indoctrination. The other side is that students only have to agree with the teachers until the tests are finished. According to research that I have read, 20% of people will believe all kinds of indoctrination, but the majority start thinking for themselves when they get older. I’m sure, no matter how good your parents and teachers were, that you have rejected some of the things they taught you. My parents told me that sitting on concrete would give me hemorrhoids, but I’ve come to learn that it isn’t true. Hemorrhoids are actually caused from eating red beets.

eleos1954 said:

Hard to say what the "real truth" is

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The only real truth comes from God.

The Barbarian said:

He was actually first arrested for sex with young girls in 2006. He got a slap on the wrist. The prosecutor who gave him this sweetheart deal was Alexander Acosta, later Trump's Labor Secretary. The AG of Florida at the time, Pam Bondi had the power to intervene, but did not. She later became Trump's AG.
Pam Bondi, Alex Acosta, and the Shadow of Epstein
How Two Officials Rose in Power After Overlooking One of the Most Notorious Criminals in U.S. History

“The Price of Looking Away: How Bondi and Acosta Benefited from the Epstein Cover-Up”

“Promoted by Silence: The Strange Rise of Pam Bondi and Alex Acosta After Epstein”

medium.com

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Acosta was a bipartisan, swamp holdover during the 2008 Epstein sweetheart plea deal. Trump has had a lot of conflicts with former officials and his relationship with Acosta was not personal although Trump considered Acosta as a competent labor seceretary.




Pam Bondi was Florida AG from 2011-19 so what is her link to the 2008 Epstein plea debacle? Why does your article go into her foreign policy views on Israel as relevant to Epstein? If she supposedly held up on Epstein during her term in 2018, maybe because he was already near being prosecuted ( which he was in 2019)?

It has also been determined that Trump didn’t spend Thanksgiving 2017 (!) with Epstein.



Epstein himself seems to vindicate Trump from any of Epstein’s debauchery.




More rabbits will be pulled from the magic hat of course.

Hans Blaster said:

A new posting?

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No, response about Carnival cruise. They sail past the Navy base in Norfolk Virginia.

essentialsaltes said:

“We the people have put our trust in the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump. He, and only he, can stop this horror

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Sigh. From the article, "Notably, the office of the president does not have legal authority to directly remove a New York City mayor from office."

Used to be, people would only embarrass themselves in front of their families by making speeches at Thanksgiving dinner. Now they get to embarrass themselves in front of the whole world on the Internet.

The Barbarian said:

I'm guessing it was intended to be a dog whistle for their followers, not realizing that decent Americans would also know what it meant.

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What if the magazine publishers began sporting toothbrush mustaches? Would they just cancel the magazine altogether, and expel the students?

Valletta said:

They have faith enough to show up.

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Not faith but often an ego-identity attachment, or superstition.

""A report in The Lancet estimates that deep funding cuts to USAID could lead to more than 14 million additional deaths by 2030, with one-third being children, if the funding isn't restored. The cuts have already caused the immediate shutdown of essential programs, leading to a higher risk of diseases like cholera and a rise in under-five mortality rates in affected areas. As a result, some models already estimate that the dismantling of USAID has already caused 600,000 deaths, with two-thirds being children."

USAID cost the average US taxpayer $0.18 per day - Trump, with the support of Elon Musk and American Evangelicals, shut it down which has already resulted in the loss of an estimated 600,000 lives, 2/3 of them children!

How ironic that Donald Trump, a billionaire and Elon Musk, the wealthiest man in the world, were both instrumental in terminating USAID - which is credited with saving over 90 million lives of the world's most desperately poor, in the last 2 decades alone!

Trump and his MAGA supporters are now hoping that the NOBEL PEACE PRIZE COMMITTEE will be more impressed by his White House $300 million golden ballroom than the 14 million additional deaths by 2030 that USAID could have saved!

Trump is currently suing the Department of Justice for $230 million for what he considers politically motivated investigations - despite claims that the White House ballroom will be privately financed, what are the odds that it will be directly or indirectly "bankrolled" by the American taxpayer?

Whether Trump receives the Nobel Peace Prize or not, history will hold him and his supporters responsible for the millions of lives that USAID could have saved!

The White House golden ballroom, primarily built to impress the rich and powerful, will stand as a constant reminder that in "Trumpworld," extravagance took priority over lives - his campaign to receive the Nobel Peace Prize is intended to feed his insatiable personal ego, because in reality he has shown little concern for the lives and welfare of others!

FOOTNOTE: The Department of Justice is under no obligation to inform the American public as to whether President Trump's own loyal political appointees at DOJ followed his instructions and provided him with the $230 million!

Hunting deer

timothyu said:

Political ??

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At the end of days, Jerusalem will be established and will be the capital of the world, both spiritually and ‘politically’. The Gentile nations will make pilgrimages to Zion to worship and receive divine instruction. The future kingdom of Jesus on earth will not be a political kingdom in the conventional human sense, but a reign of G-d that unites political, social and spiritual dimensions.

When Christ returns, the kingdoms of this world will become ‘the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ (Rev 11:15). This points to a universal, theocratic rule that will replace all existing political systems and establish a just order according to G-d's standards.

The Barbarian said:

He's such a hypocrite.​

Justice Department quietly replaced 'identical' Trump signatures on recent pardons​

President Donald Trump is facing new scrutiny over the use of a replicated signature on several recent pardons
WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department posted pardons online bearing identical copies of President Donald Trump’s signature before quietly correcting them this week after what the agency called a “technical error.”

The replacements came after online commenters seized on striking similarities in the president's signature across a series of pardons dated Nov. 7, including those granted to former New York Mets player Darryl Strawberry, former Tennessee House speaker Glen Casada and former New York police sergeant Michael McMahon. In fact, the signatures on several pardons initially uploaded to the Justice Department's website were identical, two forensic document experts confirmed to The Associated Press.

Within hours of the online speculation, the administration replaced copies of the pardons with new ones that did not feature identical signatures. It insisted Trump, who mercilessly mocked his predecessor’s use of an autopen, had originally signed all the Nov. 7 pardons himself and blamed “technical” and staffing issues for the error, which has no bearing on the validity of the clemency actions.

The questions about Trump’s signature come amid a new flurry of clemency and weeks after the president claimed to not even know Changpeng Zhao, a crypto billionaire he pardoned last month. He said in an interview with 60 Minutes that the case had been “a Biden witch hunt.”

McMahon, a former New York City police sergeant, was sentenced this spring to 18 months in prison for his role in what a federal judge called “a campaign of transnational repression.” He was convicted of acting as a foreign agent for China after he tried to scare an ex-official into going back to his homeland.

McMahon’s defense attorney, Lawrence Lustberg, said he was not aware the pardon documents had been replaced until he was contacted Friday by an AP reporter.

“It is and has always been our understanding that President Trump granted Mr. McMahon his pardon,” Lustberg wrote in an email.

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Hard to say what the "real truth" is

Bradskii said:

How can you not understand that post. If you buy corn, it's going to come from Iowa. If you buy oranges, they'll likely come from California. Some basic foodstuffs that you buy can be home grown. But check out your pantry. I literally just walked into my kitchen and 5 of the first 6 things I looked at were from Pakistan, China, Italy, UK and Thailand. Put tariffs on those and they'll cost me more.

I'm typing this on a Dell laptop. They are made in the US but the components all come from all parts of the world. Every tariff on each country (which YOU will pay) means I will pay more for it. My T shirt was made in Vietnam. The tea I'm drinking now is from Sri Lanka. I just made a salmon sandwich for lunch. The salmon comes from Canada. I made the bread from Australian flour but the yeast comes from China.

We bought a new barbeque yesterday. A Weber. Some are made in the US, but some in China and Taiwan. Possibly using steel from Australia. If the US puts a tariff on our steel, then Weber in the US pays more for it to make them, then we'll place a tariff on your goods and the importer here pays yet more again.

Look, you are locked into the international trade to an extent which is difficult to convey. Arbitrarily messing about with tariffs on a whim, which is what Trump it doing, messes with world trade. Everyone suffers. Because we live in a global village. And when all the deals are done, all the tariffs are paid for, all the extras for the dongles and gizmos and materials and foodstuffs that you import are paid, the prices will rise and it's you who'll be paying the extra.

Plus, you completely avoided this: 'factory employment has dropped by more than 40,000 jobs since April, while the ISM index of manufacturing activity fell in October for the eighth month in a row.'

Trump told you that the tariffs would bring manufacturing back to the US. It didn't, it isn't doing it right now and it won't in the future. He lied to you. Did I really need to have to point that out to you?

He said tariffs wouldn't raise food prices. It did, it is now and it won't change until he removes the tariffs. Again, he lied to you. It's what he does.

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It's going to take longer than 6 months for manufacturing to return to the United States. I'm a patient man... Let's see how things look after 4 or 5 years of tariffs.

Jerry N. said:

Maybe because it is true. It would take a long time to tell the truth about everything Newton and Columbus did, but that doesn’t mean they are indoctrinating. In schools, they have to tell the students about the life of somebody that lived 60 years or more in less than a half an hour. It can’t be 100% correct, but it can be an introduction.

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Teachers have to teach what they are told too or else they could face severe disciplinary action or even termination.

Desk trauma said:

Shame about that thirteenth amendment.

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Yeah America has a lot of problems, such as stealing emblems, buildings from Caesar.

linux.poet said:

Hiding the Gospel and Scripture in cloaks of tradition and ritual is what gets us ready to engage in Scripture-slinging spiritual warfare, but other than that we’re pretty chill. Occasionally we might have to disown somebody like John MacArthur who spends time attacking people for no reason and makes egregious theological errors though. Starting fights with other churches makes us look bad.

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I agree. The bickering that goes on between one religious sect and another religious sect is popular but unprofitable. Although Paul did take advantage of this popular practice to divert attention away from the false accusation against him of teaching against God's Laws that the mainstream religions of his time engaged in. (Pharisees vs, Sadducees)

linux.poet said:

So as far as I know, we don’t use our schools to fight with other schools and we certainly are not interested in being like the Pharisees in our teaching styles. Well, except for the Master’s college, but that school is run by John MacArthur’s ego, so let’s just throw them out as irrelevant. I most certainly disown their elitism.

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But isn't your emotional response towards this Famous theologian who is followed and believed on by millions of people, only because you chose to adopt a different theology?

Think about that. To judge one man, who transformed himself into an Apostle of Christ, who was trained by this world's religious schools, the Talbot Theological Seminary, earning a Master of Divinity in 1964, as irrelevant, because they paid a different school to train them than one you might approve of. At least this is what I understand of your post.

What is the difference really, between the teaching of MacArthur and Swindoll, who received certification from Dallas Theological Seminary?

Where is there any evidence that these two were chosen by the Lord's Christ to teach me about God?

Isn't the teachers that Jesus and His Father chose, and gave to this world, good enough?

So here we are, back to the very beginning with my question, where did these traditions come from? It's total confusion. From the very beginning men are instructed by God to leave the religion of their fathers and follow Him. Abraham and Paul are perfect examples of this very thing. Zacharias and Simeon and Anna understood this and Yielded themselves, not to the teaching of Gamaliel, but yielded themselves to God in obedience to His Laws. And if you read Luke 1&2, you will see that they knew the Gospel of Christ that the Israelites rejected in the wilderness, and the Pharisees rejected when it was shown to them, and lived by it, long before Jesus was even born.

As a result they lived by Faith, looking for the Salvation that was prophesied to come, in obedience to God as defined by the Holy Scriptures. So when Jesus came, they knew Him. While the great theologians of the world, who had exclusive possession of the same Gospel, didn't know who Jesus was when HE was working miracles right in front of their face. Truly Peter, the rock in which Jesus built His Church, was right when he told us that God gives His Spirit to those who obey Him. And Paul was right, who Jesus also chose, when he said that it doesn't matter if we are a Jew or a Gentile, all that matters is Keeping the commandments of God, as it is also written, "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.

I truly appreciate the reply, and the thoughtful way you engaged. And I understand I am in the severe minority, believing that if the Holy Scriptures are true, and everyone submitted to them, there would no religious schools, their would be no smorgasbord of religious sects all coming in Christ's Name", but promoting different philosophies. There would be no massive religious businesses all competing against each other for contributing members without which their religion would collapse.

But that isn't the world we live in. And God said HE would leave these things to prove us, whether or not we would walk in His Laws or not.

But someday, this will be the world men live in. And I am waiting for this city, a continuing city wherein dwells righteousness, as it is written;

2 Pet. 3: 10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,

12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?

13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

14Wherefore,(Because of this) beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye "may be found of him" in peace, without spot, and blameless.

This is the Prize Paul pressed towards, and one I press towards as well. I truly believe this Prize is not found in this world's religious schools or religious sects, rather, it is found when a person chooses to "present their bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is our reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of our mind, that we may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."

But who am I, a nobody.

linux.poet said:

What I was referring to was the Dallas Theological Seminary, which is very inclusive in their doctrinal statement. I think a Christian of almost any Protestant stripe could attend there unbothered, including the SDAs and Messianics. In fact, I have reason to suspect that some actually have.

But when you build a school, there are those who teach at the school, and of the teachers, there will be researchers and scholars who decide what is to be taught. That’s just how schools work. There are people whose job is to know the worldwide mission field like a 3-D chess game and to train people for new mission opportunities, whether pastor or missionary.

And then, inevitably, these scholars will reach necessary consensus on certain issues, which are then taught to the pastors who teach it to their congregations. That is a way of keeping order and making sure that the pastors and missionaries are following the Scriptures. Most of these consensuses are practical, like refusing same-sex marriages to be conducted on church property or saying we don’t allow abuse as a valid reason for a biblical divorce, etc.

In this case, imagine yourself as a union less factory worker in 1863 when the SDA church was founded up in Michigan. Having a day of rest to the Lord would have been a relief to them from the constant toil and long hours in the workplace. That’s part of why that church has held on against the mainline work ‘em til they die American culture, by venerating the 4th commandment as a pushback. It provides relief. Likewise, the Zadok consensus appeals to the Messianic Jews and their theological needs. It’s a practical consensus for them to keep the Law to honor their heritage and keep the peace with their fellow law keeping Jews. The bottom line is:

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18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.

We are warned in the Holy scriptures about religions of this world.

Jer. 23: 16 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth "of the LORD".

17 They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one "that walketh after the imagination of his own heart", No evil shall come upon you.

I don't believe to "live peaceably with all men", means to adopt their religious philosophy, or to promote to others that it doesn't matter to God how a man lives. The hardest lesson it seems, would be to know when it is time to move on, instead of always defending oneself or having the last word. It is one of my great struggles, I say to my shame.

linux.poet said:

Likewise, the mainline consensus is practical for people in occupations that don’t allow them to consistently rest on Saturday, like emergency service workers or postal carriers. You’re not apostate for delivering the mail on Saturday, says that consensus: your Sabbath rest is in Christ. Not only that, but our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, and He is working on Saturday too. No priest was breaking the Sabbath by working in the temple, and the temple was not breaking the Sabbath by being used, and neither are we.

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Well one thing is for certain, there were thousands of sick people in Israel every day of Jesus' Life. And HE had the power to create or instruct the Body to create healing centers and hire people on God's Sabbaths to man them and keep them clean, to heal all the sick people of His Time. But HE didn't. He even spoke about this as it pertained to Elisha's time, and Naaman's. So there is a truth and a teaching here. But I don't believe the teaching was to promote God's Church to inject themselves into this world's 24/7 healthcare system.

The Pharisees were selling sacrifices on God's Holy Sabbaths, and the money exchangers were working to, and no doubt they "justified" their behavior by telling themselves they were promoting the Law of Moses.. The problem it seems, if we have been taught, by religions like the Pharisees, to "Justify" whatever lifestyle a man chooses. If a man wants to make another 52 days a year worth of wages, to increase his power, because in this world money is power, then he will work on God's Holy Sabbath, and justify it by quoting a verse in the Bible, separating it from the rest of the bible, and then point to is and say, "See, God Wants me to work on His Holy Sabbath". We are drawn away from this truth by a religious world that despises God's Judgments defining what is clean, Holy, Righteous and good, and have gone about establishing their own righteousness, holiness and clean. A world that despised the Feasts of the Lord, and have created their own high days instead. A world that has polluted God's Holy Sabbath, and have created their own. It was the same in Jesus Time, in David's Time, in Abraham's Time, in Noah's Time, and in Abel's time as well.

What I have come to understand is that the Sabbath Commandment means nothing, unless it is honored and obeyed from the heart. Just as killing a goat for your sins meant nothing, if it wasn't representative of the sorrow and repentance from a contrite heart.

At least this is become my understanding, having set apart His Sabbath in respect and honor and Love for God. Not because a theologian named Miller or White directed me to do so, but because the God and Father of the Lord's Christ, who I have Yielded myself a servant to obey, directed me to do so. At first I couldn't see the profitability of such a commandment. But having obeyed from the heart, my understanding has changed, and I am very thankful for the instruction to fast from the rigors of this evil world, on a day "God" Esteems as above others, not a religious tradition of some man who has transformed himself into an Apostle of God.

linux.poet said:

It’s a strange reality to think about the fact that a temple can deliver your mail or heal your wound or tend a garden or do all the other things that humans do, but it is true. We aren’t God, but we are serving Him now with everything we do, and that should take some pressure off.

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It is certainly good to have such discussions in such an evil world. And I appreciate your reply.

Hans Blaster said:

And have the Muslim majority of Dearborn turned that city into a theocracy?

(I oppose all theocracy and always have.)

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So, the percentage is irrelevant in your viewpoint. And that's a consistent viewpoint.

Fervent said:

There's no need for the success of the drawing to depend on force in order for it to create the possibility of success.

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It seems you didn't actually read the argument. What kind of action is "creating the possibility of success"? Does the Father merely attempt to create that possibility, with the real risk of failure? Or is the Father necessarily successful in that act?

The Father's drawing is an enabling action. The conditional statement tells us nothing about who ultimately comes. So if the drawing can fail, then you are saying God can fail in His attempt to create the very possibility of coming. The creation of that possibility is what the drawing is. "No one is able to come unless drawn." The success of the drawing is the precondition for the possibility.

So is the Father's act of enablement necessarily effective, or not? If it is, your definition of ἑλκύω collapses your own position. If it is not, then the possibility of salvation itself becomes uncertain.

You keep trying to leap to a criticism of the Calvinist conclusion that drawing equals being saved, without recognizing that that argument rests on the grammar of the text, not on the semantics of ἑλκύω. The semantic core of ἑλκύω is a decisive movement from one position to another. That is consistent with a non-Calvinist reading of John 6:44, because the decisive movement ἑλκύω describes there is a change of position from inability to ability.

DavidS said:

Jesus said that if as few as "two or three" Christians are gathered together in His name, He is present.
In one sense, He is always present as He indwells, through the Holy Spirit, in every true Christian, but when as few as two Christians come together, He is present in an even greater sense in that a group of Christians gathered in His Name is a manifestation of His corporate body. He is, in a sense, physically present through His corporate body. Furthermore, because all Christians are united in the Holy Spirit, when even two Christians come together in prayer and worship, there is a sense in which the entire church of Christians (both alive and in the Father's nearer presence) are also present through the unity of the Holy Spirit. And Jesus is the Head!
As an aside, I suggest that "church" be taken as a collective noun - a swarm of bees, a murder of ravens and a church of Christians! A "church of Christians" is a gathering of born-again believers to worship God through Jesus. Thinking in this way helps us avoid the tendency to think of "The Church" as either an organisation or a building.

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It provides a way for encouragement for like minded people. Strength in numbers (so to speak)

When God overcomes adversity, those connected to it will also be overcome. Destroy means destroy.

Matthew 10:28 - And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

essentialsaltes said:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-11-14/ponzi-schemer-who-got-trump-clemency-faces-50-years-in-new-fraud

MSN

Trump commuted Eliyahu Weinstein's 24 year sentence in the Pardonpalooza at the end of Trump 1.0. After his release, he stole another $44 million from his suckers and has now received a brand new 37 year sentence.

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As the kids say, "Game recognizes game",

Desk trauma said:

Near independence right?

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What are you even talking about. Bavarian Illuminati being founded 1776?

There are instructions. But we should both see that in the new covenant we who are saved are not saved according to our following instructions. It is with repentant faith coming to Christ. God is gracious, but would lead us, and it is desirable that we grow more, which is with learning God's will and doing what is for us to do according to that. Admittedly there will always be more to learn, in this life. There is much for it. If we assume we know all of it we are not open in the way to grow anymore. There is less reason to be left remaining here, then.

partinobodycular said:

Well, when you imagine God as being perfect falling short of that is a rather foregone conclusion. Therefore comparing oneself to God is a rather silly thing to do. Hence I make no attempt to do so. I'm simply content with accepting people as they are, myself included. For what it's worth, in my house everyone is welcome.

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Some are better off as slaves.

Servus said:

Biden and his staff and DOJ had access. Just as much access as Trump and his staff and DOJ have.

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Biden didn't run on releasing anything Epstein. Trump did. So did his head and second in command at the FBI.