Remember that letter Trump swore doesn’t exist? Well, the Epstein estate just released it.
At the height of Donald Trump’s scandal surrounding notorious late sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein, the Wall Street Journal in July reported that the president had written a cryptic message wishing Epstein a happy 50th birthday in 2003. The note was reportedly contained within a marker drawing of a woman’s naked torso.
Trump insisted this was a “fake thing.” “I never wrote a picture in my life. I don’t draw pictures of women,” he told the Journal. “It’s not my language. It’s not my words.” Vice President JD Vance called it “complete and utter bullshit.”
The president filed a lawsuit against the newspaper in hopes of, in his words, suing owner Rupert Murdoch’s “ass off, and that of his third rate paper.”
Murdoch and the Journal’s asses may live to see another day, as the paper on Monday released a photo of the letter.
WSJ: Lawyers for Jeffrey Epstein’s estate have given Congress a copy of the birthday book put together for the financier’s 50th birthday, which includes a letter with Trump’s signature that he has said doesn’t exist. pic.twitter.com/D07zIL4g2K
Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an insane, xenophobic Fascist.Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.Donald Trump decrees forbidden terms denying sexual diversity
David Dinsmore started as a Sun reporter in 1990, rising to the position of editor in 2013. Photograph: Sarah Lee/The Guardian
The appointment of David Dinsmore, who has served at the top of Rupert Murdoch’s News UK for years, has drawn consternation
The former Sun editor David Dinsmore has been announced as the government’s new communications chief, despite concerns about his long service at the top of Rupert Murdoch’s News UK.
Having worked as a tabloid journalist, editor and news executive since the 1990s, Dinsmore was appointed to the civil service role from a shortlist of two, beating the PR man Tim Allan, formerly an adviser to Tony Blair.
He will join the civil service as a permanent secretary for communications in the Cabinet Office in November, having served as chief operating officer of News UK, which is run by Murdoch’s ally Rebekah Brooks.
His appointment has been met with surprise and some consternation within the civil service and by some Labour figures, given the controversies that have dogged News UK over the years, from the phone-hacking scandal to its Hillsborough coverage, which led to an apology to fans.
Although Dinsmore was not editor of the Sun at the time of either episode, he has been senior at News UK for the last decade while settlements for hacking have been reached. Hacked Off, the campaign group, described his appointment as being a “dangerous misjudgment and insult to the public”.
dizzy: Not absolutely certain but it looks like Starmer is sucking up to Rupert Murdoch, possibly as a response to the new left party being formed by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana. A similar thing happened when Starmer appointed a former Israeli spy from Unit 8200 to Labour to spy on Labour members. I regard that as reporting straight to Israel, possibly taking orders directly from Israel.
UPDATE: I need to spend time on other projects for the next few years. We need left bloggers and social media activists. It’s a hard slog to get established but go for the long term. Teams of 10 or more would be ideal because you could share the work, maybe concentrate on your own area of interest. Suggest that you change passwords regularly and drop and replace people who don’t pull their weight. In a few years, ready for the next election, you should be kicking and taking on number 10’s influence and influencers reported in the article.
Reform UK chair David Bull[…]. Credit: Good Morning Britain / YouTube
Farage’s latest chairman is a TV presenter who has attacked climate “madness” and called for the ban on fracking to be lifted.
Reform UK’s new chairman has repeatedly attacked climate targets as “madness” and “a killer”, supported fracking, and falsely dismissed the role of carbon emissions on heatwaves.
David Bull, a TalkTV presenter and former doctor, was appointed as the chair of Nigel Farage’s right-wing populist party this week following the resignation of its previous chair Zia Yusuf.
Yusuf, a luxury lifestyle entrepreneur, said that working to achieve a Reform government was no longer a good use of his time, before returning two days later in a new role.
Bull is now loyal Farage supporter, despite having called the Reform leader a “dangerous, prejudiced idiot” in 2014. He was a member of the European Parliament in 2019 for the Brexit Party, the predecessor to Reform UK, and served as Reform’s deputy leader from March 2021 to July 2024.
In a series of social media posts, Bull has repeatedly attacked the UK’s target to cut carbon emissions to net zero by 2050, which climate scientists have said is needed to limit global warming to 1.5C.
On the eve of the 2024 general election, Bull posted on Elon Musk’s website X.com: “Net Zero is a killer. It’s killing British jobs, communities and the economy. Only Reform UK will scrap Net Zero.”
In reality, according to risk management experts the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA), 50 percent could be wiped off the global economy between 2070 and 2090 if runaway temperature increases are not halted, while there could be more than 4 billion deaths.
In January of this year, he shared a Telegraph story about a lull in wind power and claimed that it made “a complete mockery” of Labour’s net zero chief Ed Miliband and his “religious obsession” with renewable energy.
As revealed by DeSmog, Reform’s constitution gives sweeping powers to its chairman, who cannot be formally sacked by the party leader.
Reform wants to scrap the UK’s net zero target entirely, stop subsidies for renewable energy, impose a “windfall tax” on wind and solar companies, approve new oil and gas extraction, and open new coal mines. The party’s leaders have also repeatedly made false statements about climate change.
As DeSmog has reported, Reform received £2.3 million between the 2019 and 2024 general elections from climate deniers, fossil fuel investors, and polluting interests. It is also openly seeking donations from oil executives.
David Bull’s Climate Stance
In May 2023, Bull hosted a TalkTV segment called “the madness of net zero”. He began by saying: “I think all of us feel that the climate is changing and that we want to go to net zero”. This is out of step with Reform’s position, and the title of his segment.
But he went on to claim, of the UK’s record heatwave the previous summer, “we don’t know whether that is a result of man-made emissions”.
In the same segment, Bull suggested net zero was “subjecting people in this country to become poorer”. In reality, according to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), the UK’s net zero economy grew by 10 percent in 2024, employing almost a million people in full-time jobs with an average wage of £43,000 – £5,600 higher than the national average.
In October 2021, Bull endorsed a campaign by climate denial pressure group CAR26 for a Brexit-style referendum on net zero, and shared a poll commissioned by the group, adding: “We absolutely MUST have a referendum on the Government’s net zero policy. Retweet if you agree.”
CAR26 director Lois Perry now runs the UK-EU branch of the Heartland Institute, a notorious U.S. climate denial think tank. The UK-EU branch was launched in December by Reform’s leader Farage.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage speaking at the Heartland Institute’s 40th anniversary fundraiser in September 2024. Credit: Heartland Institute / YouTube
In November 2021, while the UK hosted the flagship UN COP26 climate summit, Bull attacked what he called “the hypocrisy of COP26”. He told TalkTV: “It is obscene. The hypocrisy that they [world leaders] fly in on private jets. People are sick and tired of being told what to do.”
In April 2022, Bull posted on X.com predicting that “Net Zero will be the new Brexit. It will be the most defining issue at the next general election”. Despite Reform’s best efforts, the pro-net zero Labour Party won a historically large majority.
Bull has also supported overturning the UK’s ban on fracking for shale gas.
In October 2022, when prime minister Rishi Sunak reversed the decision by his predecessor Liz Truss to lift the ban, Bull posted: “MASSIVE MISTAKE. We need cheap energy NOW. Fracking has allowed the US to have 100-200 years of cheap energy.”
Aside from the pollution caused by burning shale gas, fracking is environmentally controversial due to its triggering of earth tremors, and the vast amount of water that it uses. The House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee – a body of MPs that advises the government on climate matters – concluded in 2019 that fracking was incompatible with the UK’s climate goals.
TalkTV was launched in 2022 by Rupert Murdoch’s News UK as a rival to GB News, but in 2024 it switched to an online streaming service.
As DeSmog has reported, TalkTV presenters have frequently attacked climate action. In the COP26 segment, Bull was interviewed by fellow TalkTV host Mike Graham, who has declared on social media that “climate change is a load of old bollocks”.
Bull has resigned as a TalkTV presenter, following his appointment as Reform’s chair.
Nigel Farage reminds you that he’s the man that brought you Brexit and asks what could possibly go wrong.Nigel Farage explains the politics of Reform UK: Racism, Fake anti-establishmentism, Deregulation, Corporatism, Climate Change Denial, Mysogyny and Transphobia.
Extinction Rebellion has been taking on the tabloid media this morning in a series of actions calling out their blatant suppression of crucial news on the climate and ecological crisis. In London, three people met The Sun’s political investigative reporter Amir Razavi in a sting operation, where they posed as whistleblowers there to provide him with top secret information. The group questioned Razavi about his climate ethics, asking him to explain his newspaper’s 30-year campaign of climate lies and misinformation.
The Extinction Rebellion citizen journalists took the rare opportunity to ask why The Sun continues to withhold, deny and downgrade vital information on the scale of the climate crisis and its root causes, just days after Antonio Guterres likened the latest IPCC report to a “survival guide for humanity”.
Extinction Rebellion image, the Lightscraper
While this was happening, at the headquarters of Rupert Murdoch’s News UK at London Bridge, the Telegraph HQ in Victoria and the offices of the Daily Mail in Kensington, several people spray painted the buildings with green washable paint using fire extinguishers. A large banner with the words ‘CORRUPT AS FUCK’ was attached to multiple helium filled balloons at News UK and was floated up in front of the office windows on higher floors to highlight the destructive influence of media moguls such as Rupert Murdoch on democracy.
Steve Tooze of Extinction Rebellion and former Sun and Daily Mail journalist, said: “The mainstream media has a major role to play in delivering the truth to the general public about the climate and ecological emergency. They could and should be helping all of us come together around the clear need for change and providing people with the facts so we can work out how to transition away from fossil fuels and build a future that is safer, fairer, better for everyone. Instead, their business model thrives on division and click bait culture that sets people against one another. The reality is, the billionaire owned media uses this strategy to uphold the status quo so that those with power can hold on tightly to that power.
“Extinction Rebellion is saying we’re not going to accept this anymore. People need to set aside their differences and come together if we’re going to stave off the worst of the climate crisis and build a better society, so we’re inviting everyone to join us at Parliament from 21st April to start creating the change we need. The mainstream press has a responsibility to help people find a way to achieve this rather than profiting from our division.”
Extinction Rebellion image by Denise Laura Baker
Climate solutions are readily available, as outlined in the IPCC report. What is lacking is media reporting and government support, with the Telegraph suggesting for example that Monday’s IPCC report was “nothing but confected hysteria” and the The Daily Mail accused the authors of using “hysterical language”. The Sun devoted less than half a column on page two to the report. The Daily Mail has repeatedly published misleading or outright false information on the climate crisis. The Telegraph platforms and emboldens known climate deniers, and none of our national papers give this crisis the attention appropriate to the scale of the emergency.
Anna, a photographer from London who took part in the action, said:“I am taking this action to highlight the Daily Mail’s inadequate response to the climate and ecological crises. From editorials calling for an end to net zero policies, to their support of fracking, the Mail makes itself an enemy of our planet and the humans who depend on it. The news shapes our minds, and without honest reporting we risk sleepwalking into an unnecessarily difficult future.”
Tom Masters, Civil Servant from Bristol, said: “Extinction Rebellion demands that people tell the truth about the climate emergency. This shouldn’t be too much to ask of a national newspaper that exerts significant influence over its readership and over the British government.
The Telegraph has been described as ‘Fleet Street’s last dinosaur of climate change denial’ by climate science expert Dr Bob Ward, and with good reason. Only this week they downplayed the severity of the IPCC report and labelled it as hysterical. I undertook today’s action to highlight the irresponsibility of mainstream press and their unwillingness to do their job and tell people the truth and hold power to account for their inaction.”
Protesters from Extinction Rebellion spray paint on the windows of News Corp, the headquarters of The Sun, in protest at their failure to report on the climate crisis, London, England, UK. Extinction Rebellion image by Denise Laura Baker
These actions are just 30 days before thousands will descend on Parliament for four days for The Big One. On Monday this week, dozens of major NGOs, trade unions, justice movements and more made their commitment to stand with Extinction Rebellion in April to face the intersecting crises of climate breakdown, the cost of living, attacks on democracy, and the shredding of essential public services, together.
Historians will be baffled by the readiness of Britain’s largest media organisations to lick Johnson’s boots for so long, and will surely look for an explanation. Part of the reason is ideology. Murdoch and the Barclay brothers personally supported the Brexit movement which propelled Johnson to power.
Another is that Johnson cleverly ensured the major newspaper groups had a vested interest in maintaining him in office. Though lazy and incompetent, Johnson understands the press exceptionally well, and as prime minister managed it skilfully, giving the newspapers everything they wanted in exchange for their support.
This meant allowing media barons to set his agenda. The BBC has long been a target of the press—Murdoch in particular—because it occupies public space which corporate media craves for itself. Johnson’s attacks on the licence fee—and the briefing by allies of his culture secretary, Nadine Dorries, that on her watch “it’s over for the BBC” as we know it—look like gifts to his media backers. So was the appointment of an unqualified Tory donor, former banker Richard Sharp, as chairman of the national broadcaster. The same applies to the proposed Channel 4 sell-off.
