Trump sues Wall Street Journal

A lawsuit demanding at least $10 billion has bene filed on behalf of President Donald Trump against the Wall Street Journal and its owner, Rupert Murdoch, over reporting of connections between Trump and financier Jeffrey Epstein, the late accused sex trafficker.

According to the Associated Press, the WSJ on Thursday published an article describing a sexually suggestive letter that the newspaper says bore Trump’s name and was included in a 2003 album for Epstein’s 50th birthday. Trump denied writing the letter, calling it “false, malicious, and defamatory.”

The lawsuit was filed in a federal court in Miami on Thursday and it claims the article contains “numerous false, defamatory, and disparaging statements,” which, it alleges, caused “overwhelming financial and reputational harm” to the president.

Justice Dept. wants testimony unsealed

The U.S. Justice Department wants the grand jury testimony from the trial of Jeffrey Epstein to be unsealed.

According to The New York Times, the DOJ has asked a federal judge in Manhattan to make public the record. Epstein, a financier, was on trial for sex trafficking charges when he died in what has been declared suicide.

The Epstein trial testimony is central to a controversy over who might be involved as conspiracy theories threaten to involve an ever-widening circle of public figures.

The government also wants the unsealing of the grand jury testimony from the case of Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted on sex trafficking charges and is serving a prison sentence of 20 years.

Why was the “Late Show” ended?

The popular CBS “Late Show with Stephen Colbert” will end in May 2026. But is the show’s cancellation do to politics – Colbert has been a steady, humorous critic of President Donald Trump – or business considerations?

According to USA Today, the parent company Paramount, says “this its purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night. It’s not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.”

However, Paramount needs approval of the federal government to complete its planned merger wirth Skydance Media.

Paramount is also the owner of Comedy Central, a network which airs the “Daily Show,” also a satiric critic of the Trump Administration.

Weather: Living in the 70s

A slow cooling trend will be in place for our West Orange County cities through the weekend and beyond. The forecast calls for daytime highs ranging from 78 to 75 with overnight lows dipping to 64 and 65. During the day, we can expect morning clouds with afternoon sun. Monday should be mostly sunny, giving way to partly cloudy skies on Tuesday.

Great Thoughts

“It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.”
 – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.”
–Marcus Aurelius

“Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something.”
  — Plato