Coffee Talk with Tiff

December 22, 2025 12:37 pm EST Tiff News Commentary 0
Coffee. Photo by Jonathan Thursfield.

It’s Monday…

President Shitshow’s public schedule for…

12/22/2025:

7:45 AM
Out-of-Town Travel Pool Call Time
Translation: reporters gather early so nothing useful can happen later.

3:30 PM
The President receives his Intelligence Briefing
Palm Beach, Florida
Closed Press
Because intelligence is best handled far from Washington and even farther from witnesses.

4:30 PM
The President makes an Announcement with the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy
Palm Beach, Florida
Out-of-Town Travel Pool
Nothing says “calm Monday afternoon” like a surprise military announcement at a resort.

News Rewind

On Sunday, the President announced plans to name a sitting Republican governor as a “Special Envoy” to Greenland.

The Governor of Louisiana, Jeff Landry thanked the President via Twitter.

After Landry’s appointment and a social media post floating the idea of Greenland becoming part of the U.S., Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said Monday he has summoned U.S. Ambassador to Denmark Ken Howery for talks he hopes will occur Monday or Tuesday.

Løkke Rasmussen told broadcaster TV2 that the appointment of Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry as US special envoy to the self-ruling Danish territory was totally unexpected and described Landry’s public remarks as “completely unacceptable.”

[snip]

Løkke Rasmussen said he would demand an explanation in talks with US Ambassador Ken Howery, which he hoped would take place later on Monday or on Tuesday.

Arctic Today. 12/22/2025.

President Colonizer has been open about his desire to colonize Greenland.

*Flashback*

Jan 20th 2025:

The next day Rep Andy Olges (Trump Cult-TN) went on Fox Business to push the bill he introduced to give President Cult Leader permission to take Greenland.

*End Flashback*


CBS News once again becomes the story versus covering the story.

Sharyn Alfonsi one of the journalists involved in the story sent an email to colleagues.

The email:

The Text:

Thank you for the notes and texts. I apologize for not reaching out earlier.

I learned on Saturday that Bari Weiss spiked our story, INSIDE CECOT, which was supposed to air tonight. We (Ori and I) asked for a call to discuss her decision. She did not afford us that courtesy/opportunity.

Our story was screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices. It is factually correct. In my view, pulling it now—after very rigorous internal checks—has been met is not an editorial decision, it is a political one.

We requested responses to questions and/or interviews with DHS, the White House, and the State Department. Government silence is a statement, not a VETO. Their refusal to be interviewed is a tactical maneuver designed to kill the story.

If the administration’s refusal to participate becomes a valid reason to spike a story, we have effectively handed them a “kill switch” for any reporting they find inconvenient.

If the standard for airing a story becomes “the government must agree to be interviewed,” then the government effectively gains control over the 60 Minutes broadcast. We go from an investigative powerhouse to a stenographer for the state.

These men risked their lives to speak with us. We have a moral and professional obligation to the sources who entrusted us with their stories. Abandoning them now is a betrayal of the most basic tenet of journalism: giving voice to the voiceless.

CBS spiked the Jeffrey Wigand interview due to legal concerns, nearly destroying the credibility of this broadcast. It took years to recover from that “low point.” By pulling this story to shield an administration, we are repeating that history, but for political optics rather than legal ones.

We have been promoting this story on social media for days. Our viewers are expecting it. When it fails to air without a credible explanation, the public will correctly identify this as corporate censorship. We are trading 50 years of “Gold Standard” reputation for a single week of political quiet.

I care too much about this broadcast to watch it be dismantled without a fight.

Text from the email image. 12/21/2025.

CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss thru a spokesperson said the story needed additional reporting.

According to NPR that additional reporting the story needed; Weiss told colleagues this weekend the piece — planned for Sunday night’s show — could not run without an on-the-record comment from an administration official. She pushed for 60 Minutes to interview Stephen Miller, senior advisor to President Trump, or someone of his stature. That’s according to two people with knowledge of events at the network who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing job security.

From Sharyn’s email; We requested responses to questions and/or interviews with DHS, the White House, and the State Department. Government silence is a statement, not a VETO. Their refusal to be interviewed is a tactical maneuver designed to kill the story.

This morning Weiss defended the decision to the news team.

The image:

The image text:

I want to say something about trust: our trust for each other and our trust with the public. The only newsroom I’m interested in running is one in which we are able to have contentious disagreements about the thorniest editorial matters with respect, and, crucially, where we assume the best intent of our colleagues. Anything else is absolutely unacceptable. I held a 60 Minutes story because it was not ready.

While the story presented powerful testimony of torture at CECOT, it did not advance the ball—the Times and other outlets have previously done similar work. The public knows that Venezuelans have been subjected to horrific treatment at this prison. To run a story on this subject two months later, we need to do more. And this is 60 Minutes. We need to be able to get the principals on the record and on camera. Our viewers come first. Not the listing schedule or anything else. That’s my north star and I hope it’s yours, too.

Text from Image. 12/22/2025.

“Did not advance the ball”…

This is the predictable result of prioritizing mergers over news. Paramount needed the Trump administration to complete its Skydance deal earlier this year, and it needs them again now as it moves forward with a hostile bid for Warner Bros. Discovery.


Department of Justice #EpsteinFileGate

Friday the DOJ started to slowly release the Epstein Files to comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act it went poorly.

At least 16 files disappeared from the Justice Department’s public webpage for documents related to Jeffrey Epstein — including a photograph showing President Donald Trump — less than a day after they were posted, with no explanation from the government and no notice to the public.

The missing files, which were available Friday and no longer accessible by Saturday, included images of paintings depicting nude women, and one showing a series of photographs along a credenza and in drawers. In that image, inside a drawer among other photos, was a photograph of Trump, alongside Epstein, Melania Trump and Epstein’s longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell.

AP News. 12/20/2025.

This morning the survivors blasted the DOJ:

The image text:

Statement from survivors:

The Epstein Files Transparency Act imposed a Dec. 19, 2025 deadline for the United States Department of Justice to release its full records of the investigation of Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplices and enablers, with specific, narrow exceptions such as survivor identities. This law, enacted by a nearly unanimous vote in the House and unanimously in the Senate, and signed by the President, was clear. It afforded no permission for delayed disclosure.

Instead, the public received a fraction of the files, and what we received was riddled with abnormal and extreme redactions with no explanation. At the same time, numerous victim identities were left unredacted, causing real and immediate harm. No financial documents were released. Grand jury minutes, though approved by a federal judge for release, were fully blacked out – not the scattered redactions that might be expected to protect victim names, but 119 full pages blacked out. We are told that there are hundreds of thousands of pages of documents still unreleased. These are clear-cut violations of an unambiguous law.

Moreover, the partial release was done in a manner that made it difficult or impossible for survivors to find materials that would be most relevant to our search for accountability. There has been no guidance for survivors on how to locate materials pertaining to our own cases, nor have we been provided with copies of our own files despite repeated requests. There has been no communication with survivors or our representatives as to what was withheld from release, or why hundreds of thousands of documents have not been disclosed by the legal deadline, or how DOJ will ensure that no more victim names are wrongly disclosed. While clearer communication would not change the fact that a law was broken, its absence suggests an ongoing intent to keep survivors and the public in the dark as much as possible and as long as possible.

Text from survivors letter. 12/22/2025.

The image text:

It is alarming that the United States Department of Justice, the very agency tasked with upholding the law, has violated the law, both by withholding massive quantities of documents, and by failing to redact survivor identities. As women who survived the crimes perpetrated by Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, we call upon DOJ to explain to the public why they have missed a legal deadline and explain to us or our representatives how we can privately obtain copies of all documents in DOJ possession that identify us by name.

For documents that are publicly released, careful, lawful redaction is essential. Transparency must focus on institutional failures, enablers, financial records, and government conduct, not on further endangering survivors.

Moreover we call upon Congress to stand up for the rule of law. We urge immediate congressional oversight, including hearings, formal demands for compliance, and legal action, to ensure the Department of Justice fulfills its legal obligations.

This is not a partisan issue. Just as the Epstein Files Transparency Act was supported across party lines, we now ask elected officials from both parties to take decisive action to enforce the law, compel full compliance, and ensure meaningful transparency without further delay.

Survivors deserve truth. Survivors whose identities are private deserve protection. The public deserves accountability. And the law must be enforced.

Jess Michaels
Rachel Benavidez
Danielle Bensky
Lara Blume McGee
Maryk Ohanour
Anouska DeGorgio
Maria Farmer
Annie Farmer
Teresa J. Helm
Marina Lacerda
Lisa Philips
Ashley Rushing
Amanda & Sky Roberts

Sharlene Richard
Liz Stein
A.W.
Jane Doe
Jane Doe

Text from survivors letter. 12/22/2025.

About an hour later Time reported that the DOJ had restored images they had removed.

The Justice Department has restored a photograph that included President Donald Trump to the Epstein files website following backlash over its decision to remove several images from the trove of files released over the weekend.

[snip]

The Justice Department partially released the files on Friday after Blanche told Congress that the department would not be able to meet the deadline for a full release. Congress had mandated the full release by Dec. 19 under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which was signed into law by Trump after initially calling on Republicans to resist releasing the files.

Blanche said the department required more time due to the need to redact files in order to prevent victims from being identified. Blanche said the department had identified more than 1,200 victims or their relatives whose information had to be redacted. The Justice Department has also said it would redact materials depicting child sexual abuse and physical abuse, records that “would jeopardise an active federal investigation,” and classified documents pertaining to “national defence or foreign policy.”

But the incomplete release of the files and heavy redactions have drawn criticism from lawmakers and Epstein survivors.

More than 500 pages of documents included in the initial release on Friday were completely blacked out. The DOJ said one 119-page grand jury document that had been entirely redacted in Friday’s release was released with “minimal redactions” on Saturday. “Documents and photos will continue to be reviewed consistent with the law and with an abundance of caution for victims and their families,” the DOJ said.

[snip]

Reps. Ro Khanna (D, Calif.) and Thomas Massie (R, Ky.) said on Sunday that they would seek to find Attorney General Pam Bondi in contempt of Congress for failing to fully release all the files. 

“The quickest way, and I think most expeditious way, to get justice for these victims is to bring inherent contempt against Pam Bondi,” Massie told CBS. Khanna told the Washington Post that among the records that have not been released—and which he said were part of “selective concealment” by the department—is a draft of a 60-count federal indictment of Epstein and the accompanying prosecution memo from 2007, the year before Epstein pled guilty to soliciting prostitution, including one charge involving a minor.

TIME. 12/22/2025.

Allegedly more files drop this afternoon.


Jim Beam to pause production.

One of Kentucky’s largest bourbon producers apparently is pausing whiskey production at the end of the year. Jim Beam, which is one of the largest makers of American whiskey in the world, is planning to shut down production in Happy Hollow in Clermont on Jan. 1 through 2026. The visitors center on site will remain open for Kentucky Bourbon Trail visitors.

“We are always assessing production levels to best meet consumer demand and recently met with our team to discuss our volumes for 2026,” according to a statement from the company. “We’ve shared with our teams that while we will continue to distill at our (Freddie Booker Noe) craft distillery in Clermont and at our larger Booker Noe distillery in Boston, we plan to pause distillation at our main distillery on the James B. Beam campus for 2026 while we take the opportunity to invest in site enhancements. Our visitor center at the James B. Beam campus remains open so visitors can have the full James B. Beam experience and join us for a meal at The Kitchen Table.”

[snip]

Kentucky bourbon industry troubles The move comes as Kentucky’s $9 billion bourbon industry grapples with a glut of whiskey and a slump in demand at home. In response, the industry has pulled back production by more than 55 million proof-gallons (an industry unit of measurement) or more than 28% through August, the lowest level since 2018. At the same time, exports have been curtailed to major trading partners; Canada has been boycotting American spirits since March in retaliation for President Trump’s ongoing trade war and U.S. whiskey sales to that country are down by more than 60% through October. Other Kentucky companies including Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey maker Brown-Forman also have announced layoffs or shorter pauses in production earlier in the year.

Kentucky.com. 12/20/2025.

*Flashback*

We told you so…


I’ve said it a thousand times this year and I will continue to say it for next year “it’s a shitshow.”

This is an open thread

PS.

I’m sad.

part 2 of his statement:


To end this on a more positive note…

About the opinions in this article…

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About Tiff 3427 Articles
Member of the Free Press who is politically homeless and a political junkie.