“As an adjudicated insurrectionist, Trump is an illegitimate president according to Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, and therefore every official act as president will be illegitimate.”
–Mike Zonta, co-editor of OccupySF.net
The 14th Amendment states: “No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.”
Call your Congressperson and your U.S. Senators at (202) 224-3121
Congressional candidate Connie Chan and Rep. Nancy Pelosi attend a rally supporting Chan in San Francisco on Saturday. Pelosi has endorsed Chan to fill her seat representing San Francisco in the House.Benjamin Fanjoy/For the S.F. Chronicle
During my 30 years as a journalist, I’ve heard plenty of people deny, defend and explain away corruption. But only once did I ever see a San Francisco public official explicitly praise misconduct by a government official.
Once employed by San Francisco, Thom became known as the “phantom supervisor” because, several of his underlings told me, he was often absent during his shifts due to what records said were simultaneous full-time jobs with the state fair police in Sacramento and then the state lottery police, while ostensibly working for San Francisco.
I didn’t envy Connie Chan, then the Recreation and Parks Department’s spokeswoman, who was going to be saddled with the task of defending that mess. To my surprise, she did it with relish, admonishing me for my reporting, asking how dare I tarnish the reputation of a hard-working Asian American city employee who was only trying to provide for his family.
Chan, I was later alarmed to learn, gained a seat on the Board of Supervisors in part by positioning herself as a corruption fighter, dishing weak-sauce scandals to the press.
On Wednesday, I was even more appalled to learn she advanced to a runoff against state Sen. Scott Wiener to replace Rep. Nancy Pelosi in Congress.
The endorsement is a sad epilogue to a monumental career. But it may be fitting. Pelosi, like Chan, has experience with defending the indefensible.
For years, she resisted bringing bills to the House floor that would have limited financial trading by members of Congress, stating that her colleagues should be allowed to participate in the “free market economy.”
Pelosi has, of course, achieved great things, not least of which was to usher the Affordable Care Act into law under President Obama.
Back home, however, Pelosi tended to less visible tasks, such as helping provide what ended up being at least $1 billion in public funds to prepare the former Hunters Point Naval Shipyard for what turned out to be the basis for profits of a private company connected to former Mayor Willie Brown.
Chan has promoted herself during her campaign to succeed Pelosi as having “worked for the people,” but hasn’t spent much time touting herself as a good government candidate.
Instead, she’s positioned herself as a “progressive,” savoring endorsements from Pelosi and groups like the San Francisco branch of the Progressive Democrats of America, as well as labor groups such as the San Francisco Building Trades Council.
Even so, there’s more to being an effective member of the House than picking the “progressive” lane and gathering endorsements. Chan’s opponent, Wiener, is one of our state’s most effective legislators. After decades in which Sacramento was known as the place where housing legislation went to die, Wiener arrived and pushed through housing bills with teeth, requiring communities to do their part in addressing our housing shortage.
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Guest opinions in Open Forum and Insight are produced by writers with expertise, personal experience or original insights on a subject of interest to our readers. Their views do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Chronicle editorial board, which is committed to providing a diversity of ideas to our readership.
Chan, by contrast, is a NIMBY. That alone should be enough to keep San Franciscans from voting for her. But I also keep going back to her 2011 outlandish defense of Thom and the misconduct I described in my Park Patrol article.
The best way to honor the best of Pelosi is to send to Washington another legislator who knows how to get results, rather than someone the speaker emeritus endorsed during a career moment I hope we’ll eventually forget.
Matt Smith has been a journalist for three decades, half of which time was spent as a San Francisco city columnist.
No, he’s not over over. I wish he were. But something important has changed.
Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to direct him to withdraw U.S. forces from Iran or win approval from Congress to continue the war. It was a remarkable rebuke. Four Republicans sided with Democrats.
His “short-term excursion” into Iran, which he promised in late February would last no more than “four to five weeks,” has now entered its fourth month, with no end in sight. His claim to have “destroyed” Iran’s missiles and drones is belied by Iran’s massive attack on Kuwait on Tuesday. Iran still controls the Strait of Hormuz. Its highly enriched uranium remains hidden. Even MAGAs have had enough of his forever war.
Meanwhile, Senate Republicans are rebelling. They’ve forced Trump to abandon the $1 billion request for his gilded ballroom, which was becoming ever more grotesque as Americans struggle to make ends meets.
His $1.8 billion Thug Fund is also dead, largely because a significant number of previously gutless Republicans (including — gasp! — Lindsey Graham) pushed back.
Trump’s name is coming off the Kennedy Center because a federal judge ordered it off and no Republicans came to his defense.
Even Trump’s endorsement is losing its magic. On Tuesday, Iowa voters rejected Trump’s choice for governor, Randy Feenstra, whom Trump called “MAGA all the way.” It was Trump’s first major endorsement loss.
And even with Stephen Colbert off the air, Trump has become a bigger late-night joke than ever. All the entertainers — even the B- and C-list also-rans desperate for exposure — dropped out of his 250th anniversary ego trip. So he’s going to be the headliner in a four-hour Fidel Castro speech. Good luck with that.
His Ultimate Fighting Championship event on the White House’s South Lawn has become a one-liner. To attend, military members have to pay their way to Washington and cannot have a waist size more than 55 percent of their height. (“No Fatties at UFC White House Event,” declared a Facebook page.) We’ll see how many show up.
As if all this weren’t enough, he’s nominated an unqualified sycophantic MAGA mortgage clown to be the director of national intelligence — an action so absurd that even Mitch McConnell had to object: “Anyone performing this role of such immense public trust must have the extensive national security experience required by statute, and no nominee who falls short of this requirement will earn my vote.” Get ready for a circus of a Senate confirmation fight.
No, Trump’s not done. He’ll continue to torment us with his cruelty, corruption, and criminality for some time, so we have to keep fighting.
But his power is disappearing. He’s become a lame duck whose quack no longer causes anyone to quake.
He has no one to blame but himself. His hubris finally reached its own breaking point.
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries helped Republicans tank Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s war powers resolution to limit US military involvement in Lebanon on Thursday, holding up the effort to curb the conflict for at least another several weeks.
Despite Israel’s invasion of Lebanonpushing deeper, with more than 3,500 people killed and 1.2 million displaced since early March, the Michigan Democrat’s resolution was defeated in a 324-92 vote, with a large number in her own party joining Jeffries (D-NY) and the Republican majority against it.
In a joint statement shortly ahead of the vote on Tlaib’s resolution, House Minority Leader Jeffries of New York, along with Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.), and Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), said: “We stand with the Lebanese people, the government of Lebanon, and the Lebanese Armed Forces in their efforts to live peacefully and defeat Hezbollah.” The statement included no mention of Israel.
The lawmakers said they’d support a different resolution introduced by Tlaib on Wednesday, which was crafted in tandem with Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), the ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
That resolution likewise required President Donald Trump to remove US forces “from any hostilities in Lebanon” within seven days of passage. But it also added the caveat that it could not be construed to “prevent or limit security cooperation with the Lebanese Armed Forces.”
Our government is supplying Israel with white phosphorus bombs that melt human flesh to the bone. These bombs are targeting civilians, schools, hospitals, and places of worship. The U.S. must end its complicity in these war crimes, and pass the Lebanon War Powers Resolution. pic.twitter.com/HUeBrd8Esl
— Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (@RepRashida) June 4, 2026
Jeffries, Clark, and Aguilar said, “There are no US servicemembers involved in combat operations or hostilities in Lebanon.”
However, supporters of Tlaib’s original measure have noted that the US military is heavily involved in Israel’s actions in the country without having boots on the ground.
“The US is actively cooperating with Israel on coordinating strikes, intelligence sharing, and planning, including Trump green-lighting major attacks on Lebanon multiple times,” Janet Abou-Elias, a researcher at the Democratizing Foreign Policy Project at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, told Common Dreams.
While the resolution’s passage wouldn’t “end US involvement overnight,” she said, “it fundamentally changes the landscape of accountability” by giving opponents of US collaboration a legal mechanism to conduct oversight.
And while the resolution would not cut off US military aid to Israel, Abou-Elias said Israel could continue its occupation “only for a limited period of time” without US assistance.
“Israel would be absorbing losses while also draining its broader manpower and firepower reserves,” she said. “At some point, the cost-benefit of continuing their occupation without US support would shift.”
Because war powers resolutions are privileged, they can be forced to a vote even without approval from the Republican majority.
However, committees are given 15 days to act before a resolution is forced onto the floor, followed by three days for a House vote. This means it could take until June 21 for the new version to pass. The Senate would also have to pass it, and it would then take another week to go into effect.
“The people of Lebanon can’t wait another month for Congress to act,” Tlaib said on social media following news that the proposal would be voted down. “Every day that we do nothing, 11 more Lebanese children are killed or injured by the Israeli military in this US-supported invasion. Congress must pass today’s Lebanon war powers resolution.”
Abou-Elias said that despite the setback, Tlaib’s introduction of the measure was not a wasted effort.
“Even if the resolution doesn’t pass today, the vote forces every representative on record on the US participation in the attacks on Lebanon,” she said. “That alone has value.”
Though resolution failed, proponents of the measure championed the 92 lawmakers who did vote in favor.
“Congress’s failure to act has thus far enabled multiple Israeli invasions of Lebanon and war crimes against Lebanese civilians,” said Beth Miller, political director of Jewish Voice for Peace Action, in a statement. “Tonight’s vote demonstrated that a growing block of members of Congress are beginning to listen to their constituents. Americans don’t want the US involved in atrocities against Lebanese, Palestinians, Iranians, or anyone. This vote is just the beginning, and we will continue to organize until all of Congress acts to end these atrocities.”
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An election worker processes mail-in ballots at the Los Angeles County Ballot Processing Center during California’s state primary election in the City of Industry on June 2, 2026.
(Photo by Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)
“That this administration would direct USPS to adopt measures to impede voters from casting their ballots is shameful.”
A leading civil rights organization on Wednesday accused the US Postal Service of unlawful complicity in President Donald Trump’s assault on mail-in voting, which he launched in late March with an alarming executive order that is facing its own legal challenges.
With a new legal motion filed in a federal court in Washington, DC, the NAACP is challenging rules the Postal Service unveiled last week that would require states to notify USPS “of the individuals to whom they are mailing a mail-in or absentee ballot.” The rules would also “identify new standards for the envelope design and review for outbound and return ballot envelopes.”
The NAACP’s filing—which reignites a pandemic-era legal fight—warns that under the proposed rule, “USPS would refuse to transmit mail-in ballots in states that did not use specific envelopes with specific codes, and would refuse to deliver ballots for voters not included on a state-specific Mail-In and Absentee Participation List.”
That would violate a previous USPS agreement, reached in 2021, to prioritize “timely delivery of election mail” and run afoul of federal law, the motion argues, calling for a swift injunction to stop the Postal Service from implementing the rules.
“The proposed rule manifests USPS’ intent to disregard its commitment to timely deliver mail-in ballots to all voters,” said Sam Spital, associate director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF). “This all is part of a coordinated effort by this Administration to create chaos and confusion in our elections, which creates particular dangers for Black voters who are already at the greatest risk of suffering discrimination in voting. The attempt to usurp the right of eligible voters to cast mail-in ballots is directly contrary to the legally enforceable agreement the parties reached in this case, and to USPS’ obligations under federal law. We are confident it will be rejected by the courts.”
Allison Zieve, director of Public Citizen Litigation Group—which joined LDF in filing the suit on behalf of the NAACP—said it is “shameful” that the Trump administration would “direct USPS to adopt measures to impede voters from casting their ballots.”
“And that USPS would allow itself to be used for political purposes to advance the president’s irrational objection to mail-in voting is disgraceful, unlawful, and contrary to the commitments it made to settle our [2020] litigation,” Zieve added.
The proposed USPS rules stem from an executive order that Trump issued on March 31, instructing the agency to obtain from states “a list of voters eligible to vote in a federal election in such state to whom the state intends to provide a mail-in or absentee ballot to be transmitted via the USPS.” Trump directed his handpicked postmaster general, David Steiner, to advance “provisions specifying that the USPS shall not transmit mail-in or absentee ballots from any individual” who is not included on state mail-in ballot participation lists.
Last week, a Trump-appointed federal judge in Washington, DC declined to immediately block the president’s executive order. But another federal judge in Boston “sharply questioned” Trump’s order during a hearing for a similar yet separate legal challenge earlier this week.
Attorneys representing the plaintiffs in the latter case said in a statement after Tuesday’s hearing that “the Trump administration is attempting to seize that power for itself with an unlawful and dangerous executive order.”
“Together with our courageous clients, we’re seeking a preliminary injunction to stop further chaos in our elections, uphold the rule of law, and protect the millions of citizens who rely on mail-in voting, including people with disabilities, students, rural voters, and the elderly,” the attorneys said. “We won’t let the Trump administration continue to trample on the fundamental right to vote.”
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Acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche testifies before a House Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies hearing at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, DC on June 2, 2026.
(Photo by Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“If the administration and its allies in Congress are truly walking away from the $1.8 billion criminal enrichment fund, they should have no problem joining us in banning it outright,” the Maryland Democrat said.
Though acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche has said President Donald Trump’s $1.8 billion “weaponization” slush fund is now “dead,” Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin on Thursday unveiled draft legislation that would eliminate what he describes as a “super pardon” buried in the Department of Justice settlement reached last month.
While Blanche—whom Trump said he plans to nominate for a full term as attorney general—has backed off the fund that would allow the DOJ to disburse taxpayer money to Trump allies and January 6 insurrectionists amid bipartisan backlash, a news release from Raskin’s (D-Md.) office on Thursday said the acting AG has done nothing to rescind “the mother of all sweetheart deals he tucked into his unprecedented settlement with Trump.”
The settlement, created in exchange for Trump dropping a $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for improperly leaking his tax returns, gives Trump, his entire family, and all their business ventures total and permanent immunity for “any matters currently pending or that could be pending” not only before the IRS, which Trump sued in the case that led to the settlement, but also before “other agencies or departments.”
The Maryland Democrat also said that despite retreating on the “weaponization” fund, the DOJ is still using its Judgment Fund to improperly reward the president’s allies.
According to the Washington Post, as of April, the DOJ had already paid $8.5 million to prominent Trump allies who claimed to have been wrongly targeted by the Biden administration, even though no court formally determined that they had been.
“If the administration and its allies in Congress are truly walking away from the $1.8 billion criminal enrichment fund, they should have no problem joining us in banning it outright,” Raskin said. “But no one should be fooled by Trump and Blanche’s tactical pause: Nothing has been dismantled, and nothing has been renounced. Trump’s scheme to raid the Judgment Fund, bankroll political allies using taxpayer cash, and score a sweeping Super Pardon is alive and well and remains a clear and present threat to our constitutional order.”
Raskin, who is the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, introduced a new legislative package on Thursday, aiming to destroy the remaining vestiges of the DOJ deal and ensure that future presidents can never use federal settlements to reward themselves.
The Block Lawless Agreements and Nullify Corrupt Handouts and Emoluments (BLANCHE) Act, bars sitting presidents from entering settlements for money damages with the federal government and requires independent judicial oversight of any such agreements, including ones that grant the president “super pardons” like the one granted to Trump by the DOJ.
“My legislative package would end the slush fund, outlaw collusive settlements, and make clear that no president can use taxpayer dollars to cut partisan loyalty reward checks,” Raskin said.
He also introduced the Constitutional Rights Defense Act, which would allow individuals to file suits against the federal government when their rights are violated by agents of the state.
In contrast with the January 6 Capitol riot participants who have been claiming compensation under the fund, Raskin said his bill “ensures that all people who have actually had their constitutional rights violated by the government will have access to justice.”
Raskin has previously introduced legislation that would block the use of federal funds to finance the Trump IRS settlement and prohibit payouts to January 6 Capitol riot participants and other Trump allies, including family members.
“Congress must act with urgency to shut down this presidential plunder once and for all,” Raskin said.
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The Rational National Jun 4, 2026 Every hit piece on a Democratic candidate should probably note that the candidate they’re up against in the fall votes along with Trump 99.9% of the time.
From a millennial climate activist, an exploration of how young people live in the shadow of catastrophe
“Strikingly perceptive.” –Jenny Offill, author of Weather
“Beautifully rendered and bracingly honest.” –Jenny Odell, author of How to Do Nothing
Warmth is a new kind of book about climate change: not what it is or how we solve it, but how it feels to imagine a future–and a family–under its weight. In a fiercely personal account written from inside the climate movement, Sherrell lays bare how the crisis is transforming our relationships to time, to hope, and to each other. At once a memoir, a love letter, and an electric work of criticism, Warmth goes to the heart of the defining question of our time: how do we go on in a world that may not?
“Pelosi’s late endorsement of Chan appears to have achieved its immediate goal: helping secure her [Chan’s] place in the top two and preventing Chakrabarti from turning the race into a national proxy battle between Democratic establishment figures and the party’s progressive flank.”
Left photo: Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images. Right photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images
State Sen. Scott Wiener and Supervisor Connie Chan advanced to November’s election to succeed Rep. Nancy Pelosi in one of San Francisco’s most closely watched Democratic contests.
By the numbers: Wiener secured a runoff spot with about 41% of the vote, and Chan secured about 29%, per the AP.
Chan celebrated her second place lead at an election party last night after returns showed her nearly doubling the votes of former congressional aide Saikat Chakrabarti — despite his self-funded $10 million campaign.
The big picture: The race for the 11th Congressional District is shaping up as a fight between two elected officials with similar priorities but contrasting visions of how San Francisco should wield power in Washington.
State of play: Wiener enters the runoff as the establishment favorite, backed by much of the city’s political and business leadership. If Chan advances, it’ll be with support from Pelosi, organized labor and neighborhood-based progressive groups.
Pelosi’s late endorsement of Chan appears to have achieved its immediate goal: helping secure her place in the top two and preventing Chakrabarti from turning the race into a national proxy battle between Democratic establishment figures and the party’s progressive flank.
“Nancy Pelosi’s endorsement absolutely turned the tide for us,”Chan told Axios last night.
Wienerhas built his political brand around pursuing housing construction, transit investments and statewide legislative wins.
Chan championed affordability, labor protections and public services as a supervisor while positioning herself as a more grounded voice for working-class residents.
What we’re watching: Chan’s path now depends on consolidating voters who wanted a more progressive alternative to Wiener while also expanding beyond her traditional political base.
If elected, Chan would become the first Asian American to represent San Francisco in Congress, a milestone that could resonate in a city where nearly one-quarter of residents are Chinese American.
The files still matter, but the people around them started to matter more.
Sarah Kellen Gave Congress Three New Names
Sarah Kellen, Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime assistant and one of the women named as a potential co-conspirator in the 2007 nonprosecution agreement, appeared before the House Oversight Committee on May 21 and tried to recast the role that has followed her for almost two decades. In a prepared statement, Kellen said Epstein abused her for more than a decade and described the control in language that was unusually direct:
He groomed me, sexually and psychologically abused me, controlled me, manipulated me, dominated me, and gaslit me, until I could no longer tell which thoughts were mine, and which were his.
The testimony immediately changed the temperature of the committee’s investigation. Chairman James Comer (R-KY) told reporters, “I believe she was a victim now,” and called her appearance “the most substantive, productive interview that we’ve had.”
He also said Kellen provided “three names of people that were involved in abuse,” but declined to identify them publicly or describe the allegations attached to them.
“The new names — that’s what we’ve been waiting for,” Comer said.
That leaves the committee with a very different problem than another file release. Kellen has been described for years as an operator inside Epstein’s world, but she denied being an accomplice and told Congress she was also trapped inside it. The names she gave lawmakers are now a key lead in the investigation, and the committee has said it will release the transcript “as quickly as possible.”
Andrew’s Investigation Widened Again
British police made clear that the investigation into Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is bigger than one allegation about confidential government information. Thames Valley Police are examining a range of potential misconduct connected to Andrew’s time as a trade envoy, including possible sexual impropriety, corruption, and abuse of power. Assistant Chief Constable Oliver Wright said the investigation is “by necessity hugely thorough” and “not going to be a quick investigation by any means.”
The new public appeal is directed at people who may have information about Epstein-related activity around Andrew. Police are also assessing reports that a woman was taken to an address in Windsor in 2010 for sexual purposes after a lawyer for the alleged victim said she had been sent to Britain by Epstein.
Wright said the force’s “door is open whenever a victim survivor is ready to engage with us.” The inquiry is now looking at multiple potential offenses, and police are appealing for witnesses as the investigation broadens.
The Queen’s Papers Entered the Andrew File
British government documents released recently put Andrew’s trade envoy appointment into sharper focus. The head of Britain’s trade body wrote in 2000 that, “The Queen is very keen that the Duke of York should take on a prominent role in the promotion of national interests.”
The problem is what the documents show around that appointment. Trade Minister Chris Bryant told lawmakers that “we have found no evidence that a formal due diligence or vetting process was undertaken” before Andrew received the role. That history now sits inside the police investigation into whether Andrew misused his public office while maintaining contact with Epstein. The inquiry focuses on his trade envoy role from 2001 to 2011, with released DOJ emails suggesting he shared sensitive information with Epstein.
Surrey Police Opened a Child Sexual Abuse Investigation
The United Kingdom track expanded in a second direction when Surrey Police launched a criminal investigation into two allegations of child sexual abuse connected to information in the Epstein files. One allegation relates to locations in Surrey and Berkshire from the mid-1990s to 2000, while another relates to west Surrey in the mid- to late 1980s.
The force said it has made no arrests but would work to verify information or establish corroborating evidence. Two women have come forward alleging they were the victims of attacks described in the Epstein files. The Surrey investigation is the first British police investigation into alleged sexual harm against females relating to Epstein.
France Says New Suspected Victims Have Come Forward
French prosecutors are now listening to women who were not previously known to investigators. Paris Public Prosecutor Laure Beccuau said about 20 suspected victims have come forward since she urged potential victims to speak in February, including around 10 who were new to authorities. “New victims come forward, ones we didn’t know at all,” she told RTL.
The French investigation is focused on possible offenses committed in France or involving French perpetrators who facilitated Epstein’s crimes. Beccuau said investigators had “once again pulled out Mr. Epstein’s computers, his telephone records, his address books” and were preparing requests for international assistance. Some of the suspected victims are abroad, and investigators are arranging meetings around their ability to come to Paris.
Zorro Ranch Has a Report Date
New Mexico’s Truth Commission is scheduled to release its initial report on its Zorro Ranch investigation on July 31. That is important because the ranch, unlike Epstein’s Manhattan mansion, Palm Beach home, and island, sat for years without the same level of investigative attention.
State Rep. Andrea Romero (D), who heads the commission, said it will examine systemic issues that may have drawn Epstein to New Mexico and whether anyone helped sweep things aside. “We know that there are survivors that were on the record reporting abuse,” Romero said.
Why did their case never make it to the state nor federal government to hold that to account in some way, shape or form.
New Mexico’s Department of Justice also maintains an active Zorro Ranch tip portal seeking credible information, and the department said earlier this year that it had reopened the criminal investigation after reviewing newly released federal material.
Bard’s Board Vote Changed the Botstein Story
Leon Botstein’s exit from Bard College no longer reads as a simple retirement story. Bard’s board of trustees voted to end Botstein’s 51-year tenure after board members were presented with the results of an independent review of his relationship with Epstein. Botstein had publicly framed his departure as long planned.
The review found that Botstein had done nothing illegal but that he was “not fully accurate” in describing his relationship with Epstein and did not fully “see” the risk Epstein posed to Bard’s reputation or to students. The fallout is now institutional as Bard confirmed that its longtime board chair, James Chambers, and two others resigned, while an alum has asked the New York attorney general’s charities office to investigate the board.
The Cellmate Story Became Stranger Than the Note
The purported Epstein note was already public. Recently, the story around the man who produced it became harder to ignore. The Guardian revisited the story of Nicholas Tartaglione, Epstein’s former cellmate, a retired police officer later convicted in a quadruple murder case. Epstein initially said Tartaglione attacked him after Epstein was found with neck injuries in July 2019, then retracted that claim. Prison officials later concluded Epstein had tried to kill himself.
Tartaglione reported finding a note from Epstein hidden in a graphic novel after Epstein had been removed from their cell. The note was released earlier this month after litigation, and it included the line, “It is a treat to be able to choose one’s time to say goodbye.” At the time of the release, the Justice Department said it was seeing the note for the first time. The new issue is not only what the note says. It is how something tied to Epstein’s first jail incident sat outside the DOJ’s own file release.
The Reading Room Turned the Files Into a Spectacle
A New York installation is displaying nearly 3.5 million printed pages of Epstein material in more than 3,000 volumes under the title “Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein Memorial Reading Room.” The project bills itself as “an exercise in radical transparency,” but visitors are not freely browsing the documents because of concerns from survivors that the government failed to properly redact identifying information.
The point of the exhibit is to force the public to confront the scale of the file universe. The problem is also obvious. A mountain of printed pages can dramatize opacity while doing very little to solve it. That tension is why the installation became a story in its own right.
What We’re Watching
The next pressure points are Kellen’s transcript, the three new names she gave investigators, the UK police requests for unredacted American records, and the first Zorro Ranch truth commission report due July 31. The pattern is straightforward enough as the files are still central, but witnesses, police, prosecutors, and independent researchers are now pushing the story into places the official releases did not reach.
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Pink Triangle Installation June 6 | 7-11am | 1 Christmas Tree Point Rd Sign Up Here Join Alice B Toklas LGTBQ Democratic Club and San Francisco Young Democrats as we celebrate Pride by helping install the 31st Annual 2026 Pink Triangle on Twin Peaks. The Pink Triangle is one of... Continue reading →
When you volunteer for Saikat, it’s on us to give you a great experience and a genuine chance to make a difference. We don’t want to waste a second of your time. That’s why we’re always optimizing. And I’m excited to report that this Saturday we talked with 300% more... Continue reading →
Trump Regime Takedown: Every Saturday Saturday, March 7, 2026 12:00 PM 2:00 PM Tesla San Francisco999 Van Ness AvenueSan Francisco, CA, 94109United States (map) Google Calendar ICS Keep democracy alive every Saturday by showing up, taking a stand, and sticking together for the long haul. Standing together is better than standing alone. Let’s get together... Continue reading →
This Sunday’s Town Hall: Announcing This Week’s Progressive Town Hall: Every Sunday at 4pm ET/1pm PT RSVP HERE Join PDA activists online from across the country to discuss the importance of progressives reclaiming the American story from the MAGA right, an issue of heightened importance as we’re now within one... Continue reading →
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The national conversation on health care is heating up, and we need to make sure Medicare for All is at the center of it. With a volatile primary season underway, and the midterms and a presidential primary on the horizon, some politicians and pundits are trying to steer the conversation... Continue reading →
One Million Rising: Strategic Non-Cooperation to Fight Authoritarianism Virtual Event · Hosted by No Kings Time Wednesdays 8 – 9:30pm EDT Location Virtual event Join from anywhere About this event Across the country, authoritarian forces are getting bolder and more dangerous. Trump and his allies are not hiding their agenda: mass deportations,... Continue reading →
THURSDAY, JUNE 29, 2023 AT 2 AM – 4 AM PDT How to create trust in a group? Details Event by Extinction Rebellion Empathy Circles online EMPATHY CAFE Duration: 2 hr Public · Anyone on or off Facebook How to create trust in a group? This is the question that arose in our... Continue reading →
Public Banking Coalition monthly meetings Next call: Nov 11 Excitement is building for public banking and once a month, PBI hosts an hour-long Public Banking Coalition online meeting to share the excitement and successes. Find out the latest updates on the advances being made all across the country from local advocates themselves... Continue reading →
When you volunteer for Saikat, it’s on us to give you a great experience and a genuine chance to make a difference. We don’t want to waste a second of your time. That’s why we’re always optimizing. And I’m excited to report that this Saturday we talked with 300% more... Continue reading →
