One might almost say that to live in society today is something like living inside an enormous comic strip.
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+ President Bone Spurs on Prince Bone Saws: “We have an extremely respected man in the Oval Office today. And a friend of mine for a long time. A very good friend of mine. I’m very proud of the job he’s done. What he’s done is incredible in terms of human rights.”
+ You might recall the manufactured furor that erupted in certain predictable precincts of the Right when, in 2009, Barack Obama appeared to bow (more of a curtsy, really, as was his style) before King Abdullah. Well, that questionable show of deference to Saudi royalty was totally eclipsed by Donald Trump’s grotesque and craven display of obeisance before Abdullah’s son, Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman.
MBS came to DC, wrapped in his Bedouin robes, looking to be received once again in civilized (if you can call Trump’s White House that) society, eight years after his elite hit squad killed and butchered the Washington Post columnist and Saudi dissident, Jamal Khashoggi.
MBS, who runs the kingdom with an iron fist, represents everything Trump fantasizes about enjoying himself: incalculable wealth, absolute power, impunity from even the most heinous of crimes and total loyalty, enforced at sword point.
So it’s no surprise thatTrump did more than receive MBS with diplomatic niceties. He lavished praise on the smirking Prince with the eagerness if a supplicant, asserted his innocence with the fervency (if not articulateness) of a defense lawyer, throwing his own intelligence agencies under the bus, demeaned and ridiculed an American reporter for asking obvious and obligatory questions of the Prince and even went so far as to suggest that Khashoggi may have deserved to be killed on the orders of the man sitting across from him in the Oval Office. “Things happen,” Trump shrugged.
Rarely has an American president prostrated himself so abjectly and unreservedly in front of another world leader…at least in public. The Bushes–father and son–shared an inexplicable devotion to Prince Bandar, but they largely kept their unseemly acts of fealty to the oil kingdom behind the closed doors of the now demolished East Wing.
The deniability for MBS’s complicity in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi is entirely implausible, as both the CIA and the UN concluded. It was MBS’s personal praetorial guard, the so-called Tiger Team, that detained Khashoggi after he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, interrogated him, tortured him, drugged him, killed him (likely by strangulation while wearing a hood) dismembered his body using a bone saw, and then either incinerated his body parts or dissolved them in acid and buried them on the consulate grounds beneath piles of barbecued meat.
+ MBS was the head of the Saudi security service that carried out the assassination. It’s inconceivable they would have carried out such an operation without his authority or knowledge.
+ MBS sent multiple texts before and after the killing to his top lieutenant, Saud al-Qahtani, who was supervising the hit squad and apparently gave the order to kill Khashoggi: “Bring me the head of the dog.”
+ The Tiger Team flew to and from Istanbul on the private jets of a company–Sky Prime Aviation–controlled by the Crown Prince.
+ The killers reportedly brought Khashoggi’s fingers back to Riyadh, as proof of the dissident’s death.
+ In 2018, Trump blocked the release of the CIA investigation into Khashoggi’s murder, which concluded with “high confidence” that MBS ordered Khashoggi’s assassination. The assessment reportedly included a recorded telephone call between MBS and his brother Khalid bin Salman, who then served as the Saudi ambassador to the US, where MBS allegedly ordered his brother “to silence Jamal Khashoggi as soon as possible”.
+ From the executive summary of the CIA report:
We assess that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman approved an operation in Istanbul, Turkey to capture or kill Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. We base this assessment on the Crown Prince’s control of decision-making in the Kingdom, the direct involvement of a key adviser and members of Muhammad bin Salman’s protective detail in the operation, and the Crown Prince’s support for using violent measures to silence dissidents abroad, including Khashoggi.
+ When the conclusion of the CIA report leaked out to the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Washington Post, Trump undercut his own intelligence agency, saying that the report was based only on “feelings” and that there was “no smoking gun.” Trump, in his customary manner, said of the Crown Prince, “Maybe he did and maybe he didn’t!”
+ For his book Rage, Bob Woodward interviewed Trump about MBS and the killing of Jamal Khashoggi…
“I’ve gotten involved very much,” Trump said. “I know everything about the whole situation.”
“So what happened, sir? I asked.
“I saved his ass,” Trump said. “That’s what happened.”
Saved whose ass?
“MBS,” Trump said. “They were coming down on him very strongly. But I was able to get Congress to leave him alone. I was able to get them to stop. . . You know, I’m very friendly with those guys.”
Which guys? The Saudis?
“Congress. I’m very friendly with Congress,” Trump said.
(Rage, p. 227; The Trump Tapes, p. 190)
+ Major Garrett: How did you feel when you saw Trump’s reaction to just one question about this today? How hostile he became, how defensive on behalf of the Crown Prince he became
Hanan Elatr Khashoggi: “It was a disappointment to silence the journalists. She’s doing her job. She’s being transparent and professional. I really wish Trump would listen to me, meet with me. I want to tell him who is the real Jamal Khashoggi…To say he’s controversial … it does not give anyone the right to just kidnap him, torture him, kill him and dismantle his body. This hurt me a lot. It’s taking away, as well, the freedom for the journalists to do their job. … And what is the difference then between the U.S. and any dictatorship in a Middle Eastern country? He admitted verbally, he took responsibility verbally, but he did not take any action to show the world there is rectifying of this crime.. I did not receive an official apology myself as a wife, as they destroyed my life. They’ve taken my lover.”
+ Of course, Trump is far from the only US leader to protect MBS. Obama coordinated with MBS in Saudi Arabia’s war on the Houthis in Yemen, where the death toll reached near genocidal proportions. Then, in November 2022, the Biden administration issued a written opinion attesting that MBS enjoyed diplomatic immunity for his role in Khashoggi’s murder and was therefore shielded from prosecution or civil actions in US courts. Biden, who once vowed to make MBS “a pariah,” later gave him a fist-bump when the two met in Jeddah in 2022.
+ At least 8 of Khashoggi’s killers received paramilitary training in the US.
+ Do Americans really need reminding that Osama bin Laden was a Saudi? Or that 15 of the 18 hijackers on 9/11 were Saudi nationals and the entire operation was largely financed by Saudi sources. A former Al Qaeda commander and head-chopper backed by the Saudis, who was just feted at the White House last week, is now running Syria…It’s becoming clearer and clearer who won the Forever Wars.
+++
+ As I’ve said several times, nothing unnerves Trump more than being confronted by an intelligent woman who shows no fear of his bullying manner. He quickly becomes unglued. Witness Trump’s absolutely demented attacks on ABC News White House Correspondent, Mary Bruce, for having the guts to ask two obvious questions of Trump and Bin Salman…One would hope that the press corps’ job is to ask “insubordinate” questions, though they rarely do. Let’s see if ABC stands by her.
ABC News reporter, Mary Bruce: “Is it appropriate for your family to do business with Saudi Arabia while you’re president? And to you, your royal highness, the US intelligence agencies concluded you orchestrated the murder of a journalist…”
Trump: “Who are you with?”
Bruce: “ABC News.”
Trump: “ABC Fake news. I have nothing to do with the family business. You mentioned somebody extremely controversial—a lot of people didn’t like that gentleman (Khashoggi). Whether you did or didn’t like him, things happen, but he (MBS) knew nothing about it. You don’t have to embarrass our guest.”
Then a few minutes later…
Bruce: “Mr. President, why wait for Congress to release the Epstein files? Why not just do it now?”
Trump: “It’s not the question that I mind. It’s your attitude. I think you are a terrible reporter. It’s the way you ask these questions. You start off with a man who is highly respected, asking him about a horrible, insubordinate, and just a terrible question. You could even ask that question nicely. But you’re all psyched. Somebody psyched you over at ABC. You’re a terrible person and a terrible reporter… You work for a crappy company. I think the license should be taken away from ABC because your news is so fake. So wrong. We have a great commissioner, a chairman who should look at that.
+ When Catherine Lucey, an excellent reporter for Bloomberg News, asked Trump on Air Force One last week whether he thought there was anything incriminating in the Epstein files, he jabbed his finger toward her face and sneered, “Quiet! Quiet, piggy!”
+ Trump took to his social media account early Thursday morning, clearly in a state of psychological agitation: he called for leading Democrats, including several who are veterans, to be arrested for sedition and tried for treason; demanded once again that the “bum” Jimmy Kimmel be fired; posted a fake video of him kicking a soccer ball in the Oval Office with Cristiano Renaldo (who hadn’t visited the US in 11 years because of a sexual assault allegation stemming from 2009, that was ultimately dismissed by a court in 2023), reposting a call for Democrats to be hanged (It’s what George Washington would do); then made his own call for the Democratic members of Congress to face the death penalty.
+ What’s the sedition? Urging members of the military to disobey illegal orders and actions.
+ During the same week the Republicans in the House voted down a resolution condemning fascism, the leadership of the Coast Guard decided that swastikas, nooses and the Confederate flag no longer represented symbols of hate, but were now merely “potentially divisive.” Pride flags are, of course, strictly banned.
+ One flag? Half the members of Congress have an Israeli flag in their office; the other half display Confederate battle flags…
+ Meanwhile, Vish Burra, a producer for the One America News’s “The Matt Gaetz Show” was fired after executives at the Trump-devoted network learned that Burra had posted a cartoon depicting Jews as scheming cockroaches that he later called “vermin.”
+++
+ Trump Net-Approval on the Economy:
NH: -15%
CT: -26%
RI: -27%
MA: -42%U. New Hampshire / Nov 17, 2025
+ The US unemployment rate rose to 4.4% in September, the highest in four years.
+ Alex Thompson: “Among people between 18 and 34 years old, consumer sentiment is near its all-series low—worse than the painful end of stagflation, worse than the Great Recession, and worse than the pandemic.”
+ AOC: “We’ve been hearing from the Trump administration that the economy in general is thriving and he’s been saying that the economy is booming, but it’s only seven tech companies that are booming… So the entire US economy growth can be tracked down to seven companies.”
+ Power costs are up 7.6% this year, meaning that most Americans will pay an extra a month on their electric utility bills. More than six million Americans are so delinquent on their power bills that they will soon be sent to collection agencies.
+ This week, the Florida Public Service Commission approved a billion rate hike for Florida Power & Light (FPL) customers, the largest rate hike in U.S. history. Half of every dollar requested will go toward guaranteeing FPL shareholders the highest return on equity in the lower 48 states — 10.95%.
Under the rate hike, 12 million Floridians will pay, on average, an additional 5/annually in energy, fuel, and taxes. By January, the average FPL customer bill using 1000 kWh/month will be 45% higher — 3/year more — than in December 2020.
+ According to Food and Water Watch, the Florida Public Service Commission has approved every electricity utility rate request it has reviewed in the past five years. From 2020 to 2024, Tampa Electric customer bills increased by 56%, Duke Energy by 42% and FPL by 36%. Meanwhile, half the low-income households in major cities, including Jacksonville, Tampa, Orlando, and Miami, have an energy burden greater than 7.2%, and a quarter of them, over 12%. The national average is 3.5%.
+ Bloomberg: “Rising electricity demand from data centers is raising the risk of blackouts across a wide swath of the US during extreme conditions this winter, according to the regulatory body overseeing grid stability.”
+ The monthly cost of groceries for a family of four in the US is now ,030, a record high.
+ Hiring for new graduates among the 15 largest tech companies has fallen by over 50% since 2019, according to the venture capital outfit SignalFire.
+ The top 10% of U.S. households hold 87% of all stocks, nearly 85% of private businesses, and 44% of real estate assets, according to the wealth management firm Ritholtz.
+ Peter Thiel: “Capitalism is not working for a lot of people in New York City. It’s not working for young people.”
+ Trump: “I only care about one thing: will we be number one in crypto?”
+ Martin Casado, a partner at the VC firm Andreessen Horowitz, a top investor in Silicon Valley, says 80% of the startups pitching to them are now using Chinese AI models: ‘I’d say 80% chance (they are) using a Chinese open-source model,’ says a partner at a16z.”
+ A new National Bureau of Economic Research study on the Economic Impact of Brexit found that Brexit reduced GDP in the UK by 6 to 8%, reduced investment by 12 to 18%, reduced employment by 3 to 4% and reduced productivity by 3 to 4%.
+ Thomas Piketty: “Today, I joined 500+ researchers from 70 countries in calling on world leaders to create an International Panel on Inequality modelled after the IPCC— as recommended by the G20 Committee on Inequality led by Joseph Stiglitz.”
+ With the feds refusing to release job numbers, we’re left to rely on Goldman Sachs, which estimates the US lost about 50,000 jobs in October– the biggest drop since 2020.
+ CEOs in the US are paid 280 times the annual salary of the average worker.
Screengrab of Musk on the Joe Rogan Experience.
+ With his new trillion-dollar compensation package, Elon Musk now pockets more money than every elementary school teacher in the US combined. I guess this is why so many of the Tech Bros are saying kids don’t need to learn to read anymore. AI will do it for them…
+ The combined paychecks of all 3.2 million cashiers nearly equal Musk’s average annual compensation.
+ According to Market Watch, as the cost of living in the US rises, 401(k) hardship withdrawals have more than doubled, as people raid their retirement savings to pay the mortgage or health care costs.
+ The number of packages delivered in New York City per day in 2025: 2.5 million, up from 1.1 million in 2017. More than 45,000 people are now employed in the package and freight delivery services in NYC alone.
+ Dario Amodie, CEO of the AI company Anthropic, told Anderson Cooper on 60 Minutes that AI could eliminate half of all entry-level white-collar jobs and cause the unemployment surge by 10% to 20%.
+ Google’s Sundar Pichai: “The job of CEO is one of the easier things AI could soon replace.” Just do it!
+ Since Oracle announced its 0 billion deal with OpenAI on September 10, its stock has lost 5 billion in market value.
+ Higher-income shoppers are now shopping at the Dollar Tree discount store twice as much as they were in 2021.
+ Elon Musk’s foundation gave away a record 4 million in 2024. But Bloomberg reports that the vast majority went to entities he controls.
+ The Repo Man Stage of Capitalism: More than 2.5 million vehicles were repossessed in 2024, and 2025 is on track to hit 3 million, the most since the 2009 recession.
+ John Hazard: “A more progressive repo operative, targeting luxury gas hogs, would not be a bad idea.”
+ The New York Fed reported that delinquency rates of 90 days or more for mortgages, auto loans, and student debt have all increased over the past 12 months.
+ MSNBC: What is the Treasury Department doing to lessen job insecurity?
Treasury Secretary Bessent: “President Trump is bringing back high-paying manufacturing jobs.”
MSNBC: “How many have come back?”
Bessent: “It’s just starting.”
+ As of April 2025, the US has lost more than 42,000 manufacturing jobs.
+++
+ Julie K. Brown, the Miami Herald reporter who broke the Epstein sex trafficking circle wide open, on why so many of Epstein’s victims have been reluctant to come forward or name their abusers: “The victims have been threatened. The men they were forced to be with are powerful and wealthy. They can sue them into oblivion and make their lives even more of a hell. Epstein hired people to follow the girls he abused, and to harass members of their families. He told them, “I know where you live.” He told them he would destroy them. I would hope that the public understands that these women have children — they are afraid not only for themselves, but for their families and loved ones.”
+ The Epstein/Bannon correspondence is some of the most intriguing in the whole tranche, ranging from finding a doctor for the leprous-looking Bannon to deprecating Imran Khan to the HBO film Chernobyl to an FBI episode hinting at Bannon’s role in J6…
