Showing posts with label looks like stormy weather(daniels). Show all posts
Showing posts with label looks like stormy weather(daniels). Show all posts

Saturday, April 25, 2026

‘Americans are suffering’: Trump’s disapproval climbs to HIGHEST level of 2nd term

‘Americans are suffering’: Trump’s disapproval climbs to HIGHEST level of 2nd term


Tuesday, April 21, 2026

Epstein survivor says it's not too late to expose what happened at his New Mexico ranch

Epstein survivor says it's not too late to expose what happened at his New Mexico ranch

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/epstein-files-zorro-ranch-new-mexico-survivor-alleged-sexual-abuse-rcna266917 

 

Epstein survivor says it's not too late to expose what happened at his New Mexico ranch

Rachel Benavidez, who accused Jeffrey Epstein of assaulting her at his isolated Zorro Ranch, wants his enablers to be held accountable.
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STANLEY, N.M. — More than two decades after she was sexually abused at Jeffrey Epstein’s New Mexico ranch, Rachel Benavidez is still waiting for someone to be held responsible for crimes there.

She is among at least 10 girls and young women who have alleged they were groomed or assaulted at Zorro Ranch, Epstein’s gated compound, beginning in the late 1990s. Benavidez and others said they were lured by promises of money or career help, then found themselves trapped, surrounded by miles of dry grassland with no neighbors in sight. They said they were groped, forced into nude massages, assaulted with sex toys, raped. They overcame paralyzing fear to share their ordeals again and again. And yet authorities have never fully investigated what happened at the ranch.

Jeffrey Epstein bought Zorro Ranch in the early 1990s and built a mansion that was miles from its nearest neighbor.
Jeffrey Epstein bought Zorro Ranch in the early 1990s and built a mansion that was miles from its nearest neighbor.Adria Malcolm for NBC News

“Until we are heard, until survivors are heard and believed, then I don’t think there’s ever going to be any justice,” Benavidez, 52, said in a recent interview, her first since the Justice Department in January released millions of documents that brought renewed attention to Epstein’s activities at the ranch, and missed opportunities to investigate them.

For more on this story, watch “Hallie Jackson NOW” on NBC News NOW today at 5 p.m. ET.

The disclosures, including an unsubstantiated anonymous claim that two “foreign girls” died during sex and were secretly buried on the property, prompted state authorities to launch new investigations this year — a criminal case led by the New Mexico Department of Justice and a “truth commission” led by the state Legislature.

Benavidez says she would willingly tell investigators what she endured. Even though Epstein is long dead and his chief accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, is in prison, Benavidez says more people need to be held accountable.

“I don’t think it’s too late for the truth to come out about people that were involved and helped him and turned a blind eye to his crimes,” Benavidez said. She has not publicly shared names.

Benavidez says she will tell her story to New Mexico authorities.
Benavidez says she will tell her story to New Mexico authorities. Krysta Jabczenski for NBC News

New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez said he is committed to finishing an investigation that should have been done years ago. His office searched the ranch in March, the first time law enforcement had done so. And he promised to give survivors a safe place to share their experiences.

“We are going to do everything we can to get to the bottom of what happened there, follow every lead, no matter how uncomfortable it is or how long it takes, and most importantly, we need to center the voices of victims in this process,” Torrez told NBC News.

New Mexico has long been treated as an undercard in the Epstein saga, although allegations of abuse there date nearly as far back as allegations in Florida and New York.

He bought the ranch in 1993 and visited several times a year, often with girls or young women. In 2008, he pleaded guilty in Florida to paying underage girls for sex and cut a deal with prosecutors that spared him serious jail time and ended a more expansive federal investigation that included New Mexico. In 2019, federal authorities in New York arrested him on a new set of charges that did not mention New Mexico. The New Mexico Attorney General’s Office opened its own investigation of Epstein that year, but stopped at the request of the prosecutors in New York, ultimately sending them the case file.

Epstein returned to New Mexico after his jail sentence but was not required to register as a sex offender.
Epstein returned to New Mexico after his jail sentence but was not required to register as a sex offender.Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office

Former New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas, who led the 2019 investigation, said he expected the prosecutors in New York to share evidence that could be used to charge Epstein with state crimes, but he heard nothing from them — not after Epstein was found dead in a jail cell in August 2019, nor after they secured a conviction of Maxwell in December 2021.

Like the sweetheart deal two decades ago in Florida, the missed opportunities in New Mexico represent “a black eye in the justice system,” Balderas said. “Not everybody’s case gets reviewed the same, and sometimes law enforcement and prosecutors don’t do a good job at sharing information and working together to get the conviction.”

Torrez said he has asked the Justice Department for unredacted copies of documents in the Epstein files that mention Zorro Ranch. The Justice Department said it welcomed the new investigation and was ready to provide help.

Benavidez, a New Mexico native, first came to the ranch in late 1999 when she was a 22-year-old newly licensed massage therapist. She said she was hired first to massage Maxwell, and later Epstein. She recalled the beauty of the landscape as she drove to the ranch, which felt intimidating and isolating. In an FBI interview, she described passing through security and driving a winding dirt road to a mansion where she descended into a basement-level massage room, passing pictures of topless women.

Zorro Ranch was one of Benavidez's first paying jobs after she graduated from massage school.
Zorro Ranch was one of Benavidez's first paying jobs after she graduated from massage school.Courtesy Rachel Benavidez

At first, Benavidez said, Epstein and Maxwell seemed like eccentric rich people with powerful connections who paid good money and could help her find more opportunities. Her impression darkened as Epstein’s massages turned aggressively sexual; Benavidez said he raped her. Ashamed and scared, she said nothing. When she tried to turn down requests to return, Epstein’s staff pushed her until she relented.

Benavidez says Ghislaine Maxwell groomed her for Epstein's abuse.
Benavidez says Ghislaine Maxwell groomed her for Epstein's abuse.Department of Justice

Benavidez said that for a while she thought she was the only one being abused at the ranch. “When I would go out there and I would see all these girls who I thought were Victoria’s Secret models, there was no way he was doing that to them,” she said.

This went on for two years. She stopped going to the ranch when Epstein asked her to sign a nondisclosure agreement, but the abuse haunted her, sending her adrift. For a long time, she blamed herself.

She kept the assaults a secret until Epstein’s 2019 arrest, when more victims began speaking publicly. When she came forward, she met many of the others, including five “survivor sisters” whom she leans on for support. “They helped me to carry the weight of this very heavy issue. Without them, I couldn’t do this,” Benavidez said.

Zorro Ranch has become a rallying point for victims, families and New Mexicans demanding answers.
Zorro Ranch has become a rallying point for victims, families and New Mexicans demanding answers. Adria Malcolm for NBC News

She has given interviews and talked to the FBI. The trauma, however, never goes away.

Benavidez now works as a hospice nurse, a job she loves, and she does not want to let Epstein take her attention away from her patients.

She still speaks because she wants to be part of an effort to expose Epstein’s enablers.

Seeing Epstein in the news triggers traumatic memories for Benavidez.
Seeing Epstein in the news triggers traumatic memories for Benavidez.Krysta Jabczenski for NBC News

“I know that there’s co-conspirators, and there’s people even that I have not named, that I believe were involved and knew what was going on,” Benavidez said. “So I hope that they find the truth so those people can be brought to justice and prosecuted.”

Hallie Jackson reported from Stanley and Jon Schuppe from New York.

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673. The hotline, run by the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN), can put you in contact with your local rape crisis center. You can also access RAINN’s online chat service at https://www.rainn.org/get-help.

Sunday, April 5, 2026

I'm a loser

 

guyhair1_517UcgHYK3L._AC_UL320_SR256_320_.png 

 I'm a loser

 

 

I'm a loser I'm a loser And I'm not what I appear to be

Of all the votes I have won or have lost There is one vote I should never have crossed She was a girl in a million, my friend I should have known she would win in the end

I'm a loser And I lost to someone who's better than me I'm a loser And I'm not what I appear to be

Although I laugh and I act like a clown Beneath this mask I am wearing a frown My tears are falling like rain from the sky Is it for her or myself that I cry?

I'm a loser And I lost to someone who's better than me I'm a loser And I'm not what I appear to be

What have I done to deserve such a fate? I realize I have left it too late And so it's true, pride comes before a fall I'm telling you so that you won't lose all

I'm a loser And I lost to someone who's better than me I'm a loser And I'm not what I appear to be

thanks to the beatles

 

The Beatles - I'm a Loser


 The Beatles sing "I'm a Loser" on the "Shindig," 1964 

https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/beatles/imaloser.html

 

"I'm A Loser" lyrics

"I'm A Loser"

I'm a loser
I'm a loser
And I'm not what I appear to be

Of all the love I have won or have lost
There is one love I should never have crossed
She was a girl in a million, my friend
I should have known she would win in the end

I'm a loser
And I lost someone who's near to me
I'm a loser
And I'm not what I appear to be

Although I laugh and I act like a clown
Beneath this mask I am wearing a frown
My tears are falling like rain from the sky
Is it for her or myself that I cry

I'm a loser
And I lost someone who's near to me
I'm a loser
And I'm not what I appear to be

What have I done to deserve such a fate
I realize I have left it too late
And so it's true, pride comes before a fall
I'm telling you so that you won't lose all

I'm a loser
And I lost someone who's near to me
I'm a loser
And I'm not what I appear to be


Writer(s): Paul McCartney, John Lennon
John Lennon said in an interview in 1980 about this song, "Me in my Dylan period. Part of me suspects I'm a loser and part of me thinks I'm God Almighty."
Paul McCartney said, "We used to listen to quite a lot of country and western songs and they are all about sadness and 'I lost my truck' so it was quite acceptable to sing 'I'm a loser'."
This song was performed twice before the release: on BBC Radio and for a British edition of US music TV show "Shindig!" that was broadcasted in the USA, but not in Britain.

Monday, March 16, 2026

Jeffrey Epstein ‘Attention will swing back’: Epstein outrage unlikely to subside despite Trump’s Iran war

‘Attention will swing back’: Epstein outrage unlikely to subside despite Trump’s Iran war

 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/16/epstein-files-trump-iran-war

‘Attention will swing back’: Epstein outrage unlikely to subside despite Trump’s Iran war

Advocates say 24/7 coverage of US attacks will not last for ever – and spotlight will return to Epstein and his crimes

As the US woke to news that Donald Trump had bombed Iran, domestic discord was fast simmering.

There was unrelenting outrage over ICE raids. There was frustration with the rising cost of living. There was fear over rocketing healthcare prices, mounting household debt, not to mention many Americans’ nagging sense of desperation in a country, some warned, where democracy itself was under threat.

And then there was Jeffrey Epstein.

During his third presidential run, Trump promised to release investigative files involving someone Trump had once called a “terrific guy”. This pledge served as ideological catnip to the far-right flank of Trump’s base, many of whom believe that a cabal of elite figures participated in Epstein’s trafficking of teenage girls.

Trump’s administration botched the initial release, however, with his justice department disseminating documents in dribs and drabs before announcing in July that there would be no more disclosures – spurring backlash among longtime supporters. In a rare display of bipartisanship, members of Congress took matters into their own hands, conducting their own investigations and passing the Epstein Files Transparency Act in November.

Trump, despite repeatedly calling the Epstein files a “hoax”, signed the bill into law. His justice department had 30 days to disclose publicly all Epstein files, with rare exceptions.

Trump’s DoJ did not meet Congress’s deadline, disseminating one tranche at the 30-day mark and several others days and weeks later – including a 3 million document disclosure on 30 January – prompting still more ire from opponents and some diehard supporters who believe more files remain.

But now US headlines are dominated by the US-Israel attack on Iran – and the economic and diplomatic chaos it has unleashed. Yet advocates and observers say that Epstein-related outrage is still unlikely to die down.

Gretchen Carlson and Julie Roginsky, who pursued sexual harassment claims against former Fox News chief executive Roger Ailes and started the non-profit Lift Our Voices, told the Guardian that the Iran war can draw attention from the Epstein files – but not in perpetuity.

“We all know that the Trump administration is very good at flooding the news market with a lot of different stories every single day, and so it’s very difficult in the news media to keep up with all of them and give them what they all deserve, as far as time [is concerned],” Carlson said.

“The way the news media works, especially on 24/7 cable news, is that you are covering the biggest story of the moment. Right now that appears to be Iran.”

Carlson said she is still seeing Epstein stories – including news that authorities never searched his New Mexico ranch – and said conservative figures’ opposition to the war portends prolonged attention over Epstein.

“Influencers, especially on the right, criticize the Iranian war and the reasons that the United States got involved,” Carlson said. “I believe that will bring us right back to Epstein.”

Roginsky pointed to the US military’s capture of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores earlier this year. Maduro and Flores were brought to the US to face drug and weapons charges; both pleaded not guilty.

“When the Epstein story was kicking back up again, we had the Venezuela [action] in early January, and still that did not take Epstein off of people’s minds,” Roginsky said. “Although it flooded the news cycle for a couple of days to talk about Venezuela, this is really going to continue for the foreseeable future.”

She added: “There are people in the president’s own base who demand answers. There are people in the president’s own base who are disgusted by the war in Iran, so he will have to contend with that as well. And ultimately, there are stories that are coming out on the Epstein matter that are so close to the president that they will break through.”

Carlson credits the media for continuing to investigate Epstein.

“One of the reasons this story remains a throughline is that they continue to go through all of those documents that have been released by the DoJ,” Carlson said. “If it wasn’t for these intrepid reporters sifting through millions of documents and coming up with all of these new angles that the American public has not heard of yet, I believe that the story maybe wouldn’t still be simmering.”

Ann Olivarius, an attorney who represents sexual abuse survivors and the founder of law firm McAllister Olivarius, said the war was a distraction and would remain so – but that would not end controversy over Epstein.

“The public and the media remain interested in Epstein and what Trump did with him, and what Trump is now doing to cover it up,” Olivarius said.

Trump maintains his relationship with Epstein ended before Epstein’s 2008 plea to state-level prostitution charges in Florida. Trump has denied all wrongdoing in relation to the late sex trafficker and all other matters.

“The files keep providing new material to rekindle attention, and the war will not extinguish this,” she said. “The floodlight of attention will swing back in due course.”

Olivarius noted that more information keeps emerging, which encourages still more interest – and suspicion of wrongdoing.

“Trump campaigned on releasing the files. So did his attorney general and FBI director. Yet we’ve spent the last year watching the DoJ drag its feet, holding back millions of pages and redacting names that would provide accountability,” she said. “This behavior has united left and right into thinking a cover-up is serious and ongoing. Trump is a genius with distractions, but the Trump-Epstein files are a gift that will keep on giving.”

There is also the fact that a majority of registered voters opposes Trump’s war.

“When national security is on the table, the rights of the women and girls Epstein trafficked can more easily be sacrificed for the sake of unity,” Olivarius said. “But the war started out being unpopular and is getting more so, so appeals to patriotism to squelch criticism are unlikely to resonate widely.”

Carl Tobias, the Williams chair in law at the University of Richmond School of Law, said the Iran war might briefly take away public and political attention from Epstein. So many people are demanding answers, however, that Epstein-related controversy will not go away.

“The persistence of a dedicated group of people and entities as disparate as Marjorie Taylor Greene and Gretchen Carlson, abused women survivors of Epstein’s venal behavior, and Congress members, such as Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie, who ably forged legislation that forced [the] release of the Epstein files, notwithstanding the Department of Justice’s unclear treatment of the files,” Tobias said, “shows that the anti-Epstein coalition will weather any distraction that the Iran war creates and forge ahead to impose responsibility on Epstein and his enablers for their odious conduct.”

Indeed, Massie, the Kentucky Republican who co-sponsored the Epstein Act with California Democrat Khanna, does not seem dissuaded by the war in his fight for transparency.

“PSA: bombing a country on the other side of the globe won’t make the Epstein files go away, any more than the Dow going above 50,000 will,” Massie said in a 1 March post on X, the social media platform previously known as Twitter.

Massie also called for additional investigations, referencing authorities’ decision to stop investigating Epstein’s ranch in 2019.

“Investigate Zorro Ranch, as well as the men and women at DoJ and FBI who shut this part of the Epstein investigation down,” Massie said. “Also, the Epstein Files Transparency Act requires DoJ to release memos and emails detailing their decisions of whether to investigate and/or prosecute.”

Khanna insisted that the bipartisan push for accountability would not stop.

“Trump wants Americans to ‘move on’ from the Epstein files. But the public will not move on,” Khanna said in a statement to the Guardian. “The survivors, the American people, and leaders in both parties want to see accountability for the Epstein class. This is about rebuilding public trust and justice for the survivors.”

Asked for comment on suggestions that the Iran war was meant as a distraction, a White House spokesperson said: “This is such a ridiculous take that it could only be concocted by true morons, such as Thomas Massie and ‘reporters’ at the Guardian.”

At this unsettling time

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  • Trump news at a glance: president vows to help ‘Iranian Patriots’ in latest signal of military action against Tehran

  • Bondi announces investigation into Epstein ties to Trump’s Democratic adversaries

  • ‘No outreach’ to Epstein victims despite Trump’s vow to investigate, lawyers say

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  • Pentagon says US strikes set back Iran nuclear program ‘one to two years’

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