The Buzz: What the mainstream media don’t want you to know
Published 1:30 am Friday, July 11, 2025
By Jon Bauer / Herald Opinion Editor
The earth is flat. The moon landing was faked. Soylent green is part of this complete breakfast.
Sorry, just preparing ourselves for this week’s conspiracies of dunces:
Does the Illuminati know about this? The Environmental Protection Agency, which before the last election usually stuck to protecting the environment, has now joined the ranks of the myth-busters and has created two new websites meant to debunk a recent outbreak of conspiracy theories following the Texas floods that “chemtrails” and geoengineering are altering the earth’s weather and climate.
Among the leaders of those claims, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Area 51, recently said she planned to introduce legislation that “prohibits the injection, release or dispersion of chemicals or substances into the atmosphere for the express purpose of altering weather, temperature, climate or sunlight intensity. It will be a felony offense.”
“You’ll excuse us, Congresswoman,” remarked Big Oil, “but you know that is our entire business model.”
They are such troublemakers: Before his second term began President Trump vowed to expose the truth behind the death of sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and an alleged list of high-profile clients. Then after her confirmation as attorney general, Pam Bondi assured MAGA faithful that she had the list “on her desk” for review and possible release. But of late, Bondi — and Kash Patel and Dan Bongino, FBI chiefs No. 1 and No. 2, who also promoted the conspiracy — now insist the official line is true: that Epstein died of suicide and there is no list, to the consternation of MAGA conspiracy buffs. When asked about the case this week, Trump groused, “You still talking about Jeffrey Epstein?”
We’re not ones to spread conspiracies theories, but we’ll note that, as Trump has offered many times, people are saying these things, many of them MAGA supporters. We’d hate to see something like that get in his way, but a lot of people are talking about it. So, we’re not saying that Trump is on the list, or even that the list exists or that someone had Epstein killed, because that would be wrong for us to say. But a lot of people are saying that.
‘And doggone it, people like me’: President Trump has named Nick Adams, a self-proclaimed “alpha male” MAGA influencer, as the U.S. ambassador to Malaysia. Adams, an avowed fan of the Hooters chain of restaurants, described himself thus: “I am based. I have rizz. I am smart. I am charismatic. I have superior genetics. I am strong. I am bold. I am intense. I have large amounts of testosterone. I am never wrong. I don’t apologize. I am an alpha male.” He also called for a boycott of M&Ms for its “egregious” sexism for introducing female M&Ms in advertising.
Matt Gaetz is beginning to think he’s never going to get a Trump administration gig.
OpenAI for the defense, your honor: A judge in a Colorado district court has fined two lawyers for Mike Lindell — the founder of MyPillow, who allegedly spread conspiracy theories that the 2020 presidential election was rigged — for apparently using an AI chatbot in about 30 court filings that misquoted court cases, misrepresented legal principles and even cited cases that don’t exist. The filings were tied to a defamation case against Lindell for accusing a Dominion Voting Systems employee of being a “traitor to the United States,” which he lost, resulting in $2.3 million in damages.
Lindell immediately filed an appeal, claiming an AI chatbot was responsible for slandering the Dominion employee.
Party on, dudes: Elon Musk says he has formed a new political party, the America Party, although details about the steps he’s taken to do so haven’t been outlined. Musk spent part of last Sunday on his social media platform, taking feedback from X users about the party.
So far they’ve settled on an America Party platform that calls for hate speech as the official language, Medicare coverage for ketamine and Ambien, replacing the hand over the heart with an outstretched arm, purchase of a blue check mark for citizenship, a Cybertruck in every garage, nonconforming names for all infants — but X Æ A-XII, Exa Dark Sideræl and Techno Mechanicus are already taken — and Pepe the Frog as the party mascot.
Email Herald Opinion Editor Jon Bauer at jon.bauer@heraldnet.com. Follow him on Bluesky @jontbauer.bsky.social.
