Middleboro Review and so on

  Fool me twice, shame on…wait, what? The David Pakman Show - February 16, 2026 Feb 16 Already a website member? Watch the show commercial-free  here  | Want to become a member? Sign up  here Renewed claims about Jeffrey Epstein’s death are not new evidence but recycled opinion. Forensic pathologist Michael Baden argued back in 2019 that fractures to Epstein’s hyoid bone were more consistent with strangulation than suicide. That is the same claim being circulated again now. The problem is that peer reviewed research shows hyoid fractures occur in about a quarter of confirmed suicide hangings. That means the injury is not exclusive to homicide. The controversy around Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein is escalating beyond pundit debate into survivor testimony and a planned field hearing in Palm Beach organized by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee. The focus is on allegations that young women were recruited from Mar-a-Lago in the mid 2000s, including claims by ...

… And For His Next Offense To maintain control of Congress Trump is trying to disenfranchise tens of millions of Americans Dan Rather and Team Steady Feb 16 Credit: Getty Images November 3 is 260 days away. Between now and then, no story is more consequential to the survival of our republic than Donald Trump’s efforts to subvert the midterm elections. These biennial contests have long been viewed as an interesting political exercise about the popularity of the president and his administration’s policies. If only things were still so innocent and uncomplicated. The current president is applying maximum pressure trying to ensure the election keeps Republicans in power, whatever the cost to our democracy. The latest misadventure by Trump and his minions was on Friday when Kristi Noem, the oft-criticized Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, made it clear she believes her agency should be involved in election integrity, claiming she has the authority to find “vulnerab...

  By  Calder McHugh  and  Charlie Mahtesian Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) questions Pete Hegseth during his Senate Armed Services confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill on Jan. 14. | Andrew Harnik/Getty Images UNFRIENDLY MAP  — If there’s any silver lining for Democrats in the gray storm cloud that is GOP-dominated Washington, it’s that in two years there’s likely to be a backlash. That’s not an assessment of Trump’s first two months in the White House so much as it is a historical fact. Midterm elections tend to be unkind to the party in power. The sitting president’s party has lost House seats in every midterm but two dating back to 1950. The last time Donald Trump was president, during the 2018 midterms Democrats flipped the House and picked up 41 House seats. The prospect of an epic comeuppance in 2026 — as in 1994, 2010 or even 2018 — gives many Democrats hope in what is otherwise a dark time. But this week brings yet another reminder that the midterm isn’t ne...

  A Campaign Ad Captures a Movement Can an appeal to unity win? Dan Rather  and  Elliot Kirschner Oct 9   Are our politics hopelessly divided?  Is there a way for a politician with a message of unity to break through?  What is the right balance between compromise and convictions?  Do most people just automatically, inevitably rally around the R or the D next to the name on the ballot? Or not? All these questions are top of mind as we enter the stretch run of a political season in which the future of American democracy is at stake and there are more storylines and potential surprises than in a season of  Days of our Lives.  Considering what’s at risk, it’s easy to lapse into cynicism, especially when you see what is happening in Georgia. There, the Republican Senate candidate — former football star Herschel Walker —  is being swamped by a tidal wave of hypocrisy around abortion rights. A series of reports from  The Daily Beast  ...