Latest news with #distraction
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Obama Blasts Trump for Attacking Him to Divert Away From Epstein
Former President Barack Obama has hit back at Donald Trump's claim that he engaged in a conspiracy to subvert the 2016 election, branding the allegations a weak attempt to distract from the Epstein files. In a rare statement, Obama's office issued a stinging rebuke saying the claim was both ridiculous and bizarre. 'Out of respect for the office of the presidency, our office does not normally dignify the constant nonsense and misinformation flowing out of this White House with a response. But these claims are outrageous enough to merit one,' said the statement from Obama's spokesman, Patrick Rodenbush. 'The bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction. Nothing in the document issued last week undercuts the widely accepted conclusion that Russia worked to influence the 2016 presidential election but did not successfully manipulate any votes. 'These findings were affirmed in a 2020 report by the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee, led by then-Chairman Marco Rubio.' The claim that Obama engaged in a 'treasonous conspiracy' to rig Trump's 2016 election victory emerged over the weekend when Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard declassified emails that she said showed Obama officials had engaged in a 'years-long coup' against Trump. According to Gabbard, officials tried to bury intelligence in the final weeks of the Obama administration and then manufacture an alternative assessment of a Russian influence campaign on American voters. 'Their goal was to usurp President Trump and subvert the will of the American people,' Gabbard wrote on social media. 'No matter how powerful, every person involved in this conspiracy must be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.' Trump, who has claimed for years that the investigation into Russian interference was a 'hoax', embraced the findings, and even posted an AI-generated video of Obama being arrested in the Oval Office. On Tuesday, during a bilateral meeting with Philippines President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr., he also launched a lengthy tirade pushing the claims, while taking aim at others too, including 2016 rival Hillary Clinton, former FBI Director James Comey, former CIA Director James Clapper, and former President Joe Biden. 'The witch hunt you should be talking about is they caught President Obama absolutely cold,' Trump told reporters. 'They tried to rig the election, and they got caught. And there should be very severe consequences for that.' But Democrats agree with Obama that the issue is an attempt to distract from the political firestorm surrounding child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, which has fractured Trump's MAGA base and caused an ongoing headache for the White House. Trump came to office promising to release the criminal files on the Epstein case, but then insisted last week that it was a Democratic hoax. The president was forced to pivot again on Thursday night after the Wall Street Journal published a report claiming Trump gave Epstein a saucy birthday greeting in 2003, featuring a drawing of a naked woman with his name mimicking pubic hair. Trump, who vehemently denies the note was his, is now suing the Wall Street Journal but has asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to 'produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval.' The Department of Justice has also sought a meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's accomplice and former girlfriend, hoping she may spill further secrets. But the president remains deeply frustrated that so much attention remains on the Epstein files. 'We had the Greatest Six Months of any President in the History of our Country, and all the Fake News wants to talk about is the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax!' he posted on Tuesday.
The Guardian
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Will the ghost of Epstein finally bring down King Trump?
Brrrr. Brrrr. Brrrrrrr. That's the sound of Donald's Trump's distraction machine, which has been running at full power as the president tries his best to stop us all from talking about Jeffrey Epstein. Or, to be more specific, from talking about just how chummy he was with the dead paedophile. Though he's usually a master of controlling the narrative, none of Trump's normal distraction techniques seem to be working now. Indeed, at this point we should probably rename the Streisand effect the Trump-Epstein effect because the president's repeated insistence that there is NOTHING TO SEE HERE EXCEPT A VERY NASTY WITCH-HUNT only has people scrutinizing his dealings with Epstein more carefully. From South Park to Scotland to billboards in Times Square, Trump can't escape his past association with Epstein. Over the past couple of weeks, a lot of new information has come out about just how close Epstein and the president were. On 17 July, for example, the Wall Street Journal reported Trump allegedly sent Epstein a 50th birthday card in 2003 with a drawing of a naked woman and a message which said, in part, 'may every day be another wonderful secret.' Trump denied writing the card and filed a $10bn lawsuit against the rightwing paper and its owner, Rupert Murdoch, a day after the outlet published the story. Trump's lawsuit clearly didn't scare off the Journal because, on Wednesday, it published a new report stating Trump's name appears 'multiple times' in justice department files about Epstein. On Wednesday CNN also published newly uncovered photos and video footage of the two men together, including one of Epstein at Trump's wedding to Marla Maples at the Plaza hotel in New York in 1993 and footage from a 1999 Victoria's Secret fashion event. Then, on Thursday, the New York Times confirmed that Trump's name appeared on a contributor list for a book celebrating Epstein's 50th birthday, as the Journal first reported, along with a number of other well-known Epstein associates including Leslie Wexner, then the owner of Victoria's Secret. The Times further reported that in 1997 the president had written a note calling Epstein 'the greatest!' in a copy of Trump: The Art of the Comeback. While none of these new bits of information are evidence of criminal conduct on Trump's part, the president's furious reaction to anything Epstein-related, along with his administration's sudden U-turn on its promise to release damning evidence related to possible Epstein clients, certainly makes Trump look like he's got something to hide. And it's not just Trump, of course. The sudden flurry of reporting about Epstein means that a lot of powerful men, including Bill Clinton, who the Journal says also sent a birthday letter to the disgraced financier, have been having a bad couple of weeks. The big question now is this: will the renewed interest in Epstein blow over in a few more weeks or could this deal a serious political blow to Trump and his lackeys? Trump is nicknamed the 'comeback kid' for good reason: the man has an uncanny ability to shake off scandal. Still, nobody is completely untouchable; could the ghost of Epstein be the thing that finally topples King Trump from his throne? While that's obviously an impossible question to answer, there are a few ways this could all play out. The first, and the best-case scenario for Trump, is that interest in Epstein organically fizzles out. That seems unlikely to happen given how furious the president's base are; more than a third of them disapprove of how he's handled the Epstein files, according to a poll from Quinnipiac University. The New York Times calls this 'perhaps the most intraparty discontent Mr Trump has experienced as president'. The Democrats have also seized on the issue as a way to fight Trump and will probably do their best to keep it in the news. While the Democrats are normally placid, they have been very much been on the offense with the Epstein files. Another way (perhaps the most likely way) this could go is that the Trump administration brokers some sort of deal with Ghislaine Maxwell, the only person involved with Epstein who is in jail right now, in which she releases enough carefully curated information about the sex-trafficking case for Trump's base to be satisfied, allowing the president to move on from the matter. The deputy US attorney general has met with Maxwell twice this week to see if she might have 'information about anyone who has committed crimes against victims'. While Maxwell's lawyer has said Trump's Department of Justice has not offered clemency, Maxwell is rumored to be seeking a pardon. One can certainly imagine a situation in which she 'cooperates' in a way that is mutually beneficial to her and Trump. The third scenario, which may be wishful thinking, is that Trump can't contain the fallout over the Epstein files and the scandal massively hurts the Republicans in the midterms. One GOP senator has already warned that 'this is going to be an issue all the way through next year's election.' Another possibility is that Trump continues his distractions until one actually sticks. The gen Z Democratic congressman Maxwell Frost has joked that the 'White House is about to drop proof of aliens' to stop people talking about Epstein. Joke or not, there's certainly a non-zero chance of that happening. And if it's not aliens, maybe Trump will start a nuclear war to shut us all up. Whatever happens with Trump and Epstein, however, I think it's worth stressing that this case is about far more than the president. It's about scores of vulnerable girls who were exploited by powerful men and let down by the justice system and parts of the media, which didn't pursue the story for years. I can't help but notice how many Democrats only seemed to develop a passionate interest in the Epstein files when it became politically expedient for them to do so. Epstein's countless victims deserve far better than that. In 1965, 18-year-old Choi Mal-ja fought back against a man who she said was trying to rape her and bit off part of his tongue. Guess who prosecutors thought was in the wrong? Choi was sentenced to 10 months in prison, suspended for two years, while her alleged attacker got a lighter sentence. After being branded a criminal for 61 years, Choi, now 80, has finally received a formal apology from South Korean prosecutors. Surrogacy is booming and, thanks to many celebrities using surrogates to build their families, it feels like it has become normalized. However, surrogacy is an incredibly complex ethical issue and we should not minimize the physical and mental health risks that it entails. 'Washington rejected offers from the United Nations and family planning organisations to buy or ship the supplies to poor nations,' sources told Reuters. Instead the US government will spend $167,000 to burn them all. Sign up to The Week in Patriarchy Get Arwa Mahdawi's weekly recap of the most important stories on feminism and sexism and those fighting for equality after newsletter promotion A new study 'suggests that vitamin D supplementation may be a promising, low-cost strategy to support brain development while reducing racial disparities', according to a write-up in The Conversation. This gender-based preference feature was first introduced in Saudi Arabia in 2019. Competitor Lyft introduced a similar option in 2023. I keep seeing this ridiculous obfuscatory 'stalking' language across multiple different media outlets. Let's be very clear here: Palestinians are being deliberately starved by a US-backed Israel. They are not being 'stalked' by anything except US-funded drones. In a recent Instagram post the kids' entertainer and all-around good egg, wrote: 'To anyone asking to work with me who hasn't spoken out about Gaza: Thank you for the request. I'm not comfortable working with anyone who hasn't spoken out about Gaza.' This follows a huge harassment campaign by pro-Israel extremists against the entertainer. The likelihood of this happening is slim, but the whole charade shows you how many lawmakers think their job is to suck up to Trump rather than serve their constituents. Meet Leonardo da Pinchy: a New Zealand-based cat who can't stop purr-loining people's underwear – along with the occasional cashmere sweater. Leo da Pinchy's owner, Helen North, now spends a lot of time on a neighbourhood WhatsApp group and Facebook page asking people: 'Are these your undies?' North told reporters she hopes her cat burglar grows out of his dastardly ways soon: 'I don't want to do this for like, 15 years. This is a lot of admin.' Good thing da Pinchy is so cute, because he sounds like a real mew-sance. Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist
Forbes
4 days ago
- Health
- Forbes
Your Attention Is Being Sold: 4 Strategies To Protect It
New data underscores the booming business of attention—with advertising spend outpacing consumer ... More spend. Feeling increasingly distracted? New data suggests it's not in your head. According to PwC, global entertainment and media revenues are projected to reach $3.5 trillion by 2029. What's fueling growth? Buying and selling attention. The report highlights that advertising spend is projected to grow three times faster than consumer spend (6.1% vs 2% CAGR). When companies are willing to pay a cost per click, the world is designed to distract - and that design is profitable. Distraction isn't a personal flaw. In 2025, when attention is more commoditized than ever, the smarter move is to prepare for distraction—and sharpen strategies for when it inevitably happens. Attention: Profitable for Companies. Costly for Consumers. Consumer focus is incredibly valuable - to companies. Just as an example, Meta's 2025 revenue, over $164 billion across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and more, comes largely from ads. But what these platforms really monetize is time and attention. As a result, if attention is profitable for companies, it is costly for people in ways that add up: Lost Productivity: Research aggregated by UC Berkeley shows it can take between 8 and 23 minutes to return to deep focus after an interruption. What does this mean? Getting distracted three times in a day, even if briefly, could mean an hour of overall lost productivity. Mental Health: Studies link frequent phone connection to poor sleep quality and higher stress. Addiction: Reports suggest that it can take just 30–35 minutes of scrolling on TikTok to trigger addictive patterns. As Dr. Thekla Brumder Ross, clinical psychologist, addiction and well-being expert, shared in a Zoom interview, 'The average American spends 12 hours a day on a screen… it's rewiring our dopamine reinforcement loops. And there is no current criteria in the DSM-5 for general technology addiction." Decreased Joy: Time away from phones, especially in motion, has been tied to higher life satisfaction. Small pockets of disconnection matter. Attention Management: Four Strategies to Sharpen Focus What can you do? One tactic is simply disabling alerts; a 2025 Reuters analysis found 43% of respondents turned off news notifications. However, in work and life total disconnection is rarely possible and platforms will continue innovating ways to pursue attention. Better than unplugging is a plan: build a deliberate playbook to manage connection and handle distraction. Here are four strategies to do exactly that: At least once a day take a 5-10 minute phone-free walk. Use the time for social connection or simply enjoy your own thoughts, not someone else's. Try this: When you go get coffee, swing by a coworker's desk, or step outside, leave the phone behind at least once next week. Use your phone to help manage your focus. Try This: Go beyond 'Do Not Disturb' by programming focus modes by day, time and app for different work and life scenarios. For example, if you prioritize deep work from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. on Wednesdays but still need to be reachable for family or a key client, you can program a mode that allows only those calls and blocks social apps. As new scenarios arise, take 30 seconds to create a focus mode for it so you are ready next time. Brumder Ross recommends a strategy called 'Release the Grip' to promote intentional phone use. Try This: Instead of grabbing your device, place your palm gently on top of it, turn it face up and ask, 'What do I need in this moment?' This is a self-compassion check. Maybe you need to knock out a few transactional tasks. Maybe you don't. Maybe you simply need to write a note and handle it later. The question interrupts the impulse to scroll and clarifies intent. Every notification creates an opening. First Slack, then LinkedIn, then the pull to check one more thing. Instagram. Being reachable isn't just about responsiveness. It's about attention - and how easily it gets redirected. As a result, managing distraction means managing expectations. 'No one is going to communicate your boundaries for you. You have to do that,' Brumder Ross says. Try This: Clarify when you're reachable and how. Use tools people actually check: calendar blocks, Slack statuses or away messages like 'Heads down until 2:00 p.m., back after.' However, setting the boundary isn't enough - you have to enforce it. If you respond during focus time, you're signaling that you're available. Particularly for anyone leading a team or managing others, modeling how you manage your focus offers permission for others to do the same. Companies Have a Strategy for Your Attention. Create Your Own. The attention economy is only getting louder. However, as Brumder Ross highlights, 'You can't control what the tech companies do, but you can control where you put your attention." The news cycle will not slow. Work will not pause. Connection is part of modern life. However, you may not have to fight the current or disengage completely. The key takeaway is to simply have strategies for managing distraction and engaging with technology on your terms. Reclaiming focus isn't about perfection. It's about practice - and power.
The Guardian
5 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Seth Meyers: ‘We're just one Epstein story away from Trump announcing that UFOs are real'
Late-night hosts sort through Donald Trump's many distraction tactics as it's revealed he learned that his name was in the Jeffrey Epstein files in May. Seth Meyers opened his Late Night Closer Look segment on Thursday with clips of Donald Trump explicitly instructing Republicans to talk about Barack Obama stealing an election when asked about Jeffrey Epstein. 'It's like watching a magic trick and it's also a shitty trick,' Meyers laughed. 'But Trump seemed confident that this tactic would work.' 'It's a transparent gimmick,' he added, 'and now he's got his intelligence director fully on board,' as Tulsi Gabbard joined a White House briefing to repeat a conspiracy theory that Obama ordered an investigation into Russia and the 2016 election in order to hurt Trump. Gabbard called it 'a years-long conspiracy against the American people' and 'an attempt to undermine President Trump's administration'. 'Whatever is in those Epstein files must be really fucking bad,' Meyers mused. 'They must be finding so many mentions of Trump they're going to have to change the name to the Trump files featuring Jeffrey Epstein. They're so desperate to distract everyone, they're claiming that Barack Obama is guilty of treasonous conspiracy and leading a coup against Trump. Barack Obama? The guy couldn't even get away with smoking a cigarette in his own house.' 'I honestly think we're just one Epstein story away from Trump announcing that UFOs are real,' he quipped. The attempts at distraction keep 'falling flat' because new information about Trump's relationship with Epstein continues to emerge. On Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that in May, the US attorney general, Pam Bondi, informed Trump that his name was in the Epstein files. 'Of course he's in the files!' Meyers exclaimed. 'He knew Epstein for 15 years. Epstein called him his closest friend. I have no idea if Trump committed a crime with Epstein, but the reason we're talking about this at all is because of Republicans who hyped it up for years thinking it would damage their political opponents.' Meyers then played a clip of conspiracy podcast host turned deputy FBI director Dan Bongino from before the election, goading his audience to keep asking for the Epstein files. 'When you say 'Why have they been hiding it?' the 'they' is you now, bro,' Meyers laughed. 'Guys are going to have to start doing conspiracy theory podcasts about themselves – 'Why am I hiding the Epstein files? Why am I trying to make it go away? Who got to me?!'' On The Late Show, Stephen Colbert also reacted to the Wall Street Journal report that Bondi informed Trump that his name was in the files in May. 'I for one was shocked,' he joked. 'What are you going to tell me next – that the pope is in the Catholic files? That a bear is on the cover of this month's Modern Woodspooper?' 'So we don't know if he was doing the creepy crime, but we do have a cover-up,' he continued. 'And just like the cover-up on his face, it is patchy and there's something really ugly under there.' Colbert played resurfaced video of Epstein's deposition from 2010, in which he was asked if he ever socialized with Donald Trump in the presence of females under the age of 18. Epstein answered: 'Though I'd like to answer that question, at least today, I'm going to have to assert my fifth, sixth and 14th amendment rights, sir.' 'Not a great sign when the pedophile is being asked if you're doing a pervert ride-along, and their response is 'I'd like to invoke the entire constitution, Magna Carta, the Napoleonic code and just to cover all my bases, let's throw in the entire Cheesecake Factory menu,'' Colbert laughed. In other bad news for Trump, Epstein's brother has disputed Trump's claim that he ended the friendship with Epstein; according to Mark Epstein, Jeffrey Epstein stopped hanging out with Trump 'when he realized Trump was a crook'. 'Wow, that's extraordinary,' Colbert marveled. 'Jeffrey Epstein breaking it off with you because you're a crook? That's like walking into an intervention organized by Rudy Giuliani.' Even Pam Bondi's cornea is like, 'Release the Epstein files or I quit!' Epstein died back in 2019, 'but not since Tupac Shakur has a dead man dropped so many bangers', said Josh Johnson on The Daily Show. On Wednesday, video of the government's deposition of Epstein in 2010 started making the rounds online, including the question about socializing with Trump in front of females under the age of 18. Johnson took in Epstein's non-answer citing three different amendments – 'I'm going to put that down as a yes,' he said. 'I'll be honest, I've never heard anybody plead anything other than the fifth before,' he added. 'But this guy is so guilty, he's calling out any amendment he can think of.' Bondi, meanwhile, is nowhere to be seen after the Wall Street Journal report; her next appearance was scheduled for Wednesday night at a CPAC summit on human trafficking, but she dropped out, citing a 'recently torn cornea'. 'Even Pam Bondi's cornea is like, 'Release the Epstein files or I quit!'' Johnson joked.
The Guardian
5 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Seth Meyers: ‘We're just one Epstein story away from Trump announcing that UFOs are real'
Late-night hosts sort through Donald Trump's many distraction tactics as it's revealed he learned that his name was in the Jeffrey Epstein files in May. Seth Meyers opened his Late Night Closer Look segment on Thursday with clips of Donald Trump explicitly instructing Republicans to talk about Barack Obama stealing an election when asked about Jeffrey Epstein. 'It's like watching a magic trick and it's also a shitty trick,' Meyers laughed. 'But Trump seemed confident that this tactic would work.' 'It's a transparent gimmick,' he added, 'and now he's got his intelligence director fully on board,' as Tulsi Gabbard joined a White House briefing to repeat a conspiracy theory that Obama ordered an investigation into Russia and the 2016 election in order to hurt Trump. Gabbard called it 'a yearslong conspiracy against the American people' and 'an attempt to undermine President Trump's administration'. 'Whatever is in those Epstein files must be really fucking bad,' Meyers mused. 'They must be finding so many mentions of Trump they're going to have to change the name to the Trump files featuring Jeffrey Epstein. They're so desperate to distract everyone, they're claiming that Barack Obama is guilty of treasonous conspiracy and leading a coup against Trump. Barack Obama? The guy couldn't even get away with smoking a cigarette in his own house.' 'I honestly think we're just one Epstein story away from Trump announcing that UFOs are real,' he quipped. The attempts at distraction keep 'falling flat' because new information about Trump's relationship with Epstein continues to emerge. On Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that in May, attorney general Pam Bondi informed Trump that his name was in the Epstein files. 'Of course he's in the files!' Meyers exclaimed. 'He knew Epstein for 15 years. Epstein called him his closest friend. I have no idea if Trump committed a crime with Epstein, but the reason we're talking about this at all is because of Republicans who hyped it up for years thinking it would damage their political opponents.' Meyers then played a clip of conspiracy podcast host turned deputy FBI director Dan Bongino from before the election, goading his audience to keep asking for the Epstein files. 'When you say 'Why have they been hiding it?' the 'they' is you now, bro,' Meyers laughed. 'Guys are going to have to start doing conspiracy theory podcasts about themselves – 'Why am I hiding the Epstein files? Why am I trying to make it go away? Who got to me?!'' On The Late Show, Stephen Colbert also reacted to the Wall Street Journal report that Bondi informed Trump that his name was in the files in May. 'I for one was shocked,' he joked. 'What are you going to tell me next – that the pope is in the Catholic files? That a bear is on the cover of this month's Modern Woodspooper?' 'So we don't know if he was doing the creepy crime, but we do have a cover-up,' he continued. 'And just like the cover-up on his face, it is patchy and there's something really ugly under there.' Colbert played resurfaced video of Epstein's deposition from 2010, in which he was asked if he ever socialized with Donald Trump in the presence of females under the age of 18. Epstein answered: 'Though I'd like to answer that question, at least today, I'm going to have to assert my fifth, sixth and 14th amendment rights, sir.' 'Not a great sign when the pedophile is being asked if you're doing a pervert ride-along, and their response is 'I'd like to invoke the entire constitution, Magna Carta, the Napoleonic code and just to cover all my bases, let's throw in the entire Cheesecake Factory menu,'' Colbert laughed. In other bad news for Trump, Epstein's brother has disputed Trump's claim that he ended the friendship with Epstein; according to Mark Epstein, Jeffrey Epstein stopped hanging out with Trump 'when he realized Trump was a crook'. 'Wow, that's extraordinary,' Colbert marveled. 'Jeffrey Epstein breaking it off with you because you're a crook? That's like walking into an intervention organized by Rudy Giuliani.' Even Pam Bondi's cornea is like, 'Release the Epstein files or I quit!' Epstein died back in 2019, 'but not since Tupac Shakur has a dead man dropped so many bangers', said Josh Johnson on the Daily Show. On Wednesday, video of the government's deposition of Epstein in 2010 started making the rounds online, including the question about socializing with Trump in front of females under the age of 18. Johnson took in Epstein's non-answer citing three different amendments – 'I'm going to put that down as a yes,' he said. 'I'll be honest, I've never heard anybody plead anything other than the fifth before,' he added. 'But this guy is so guilty, he's calling out any amendment he can think of.' Bondi, meanwhile is nowhere to be seen after the Wall Street Journal report; her next appearance was scheduled for Wednesday night at a CPAC summit on human trafficking, but she dropped out, citing a 'recently torn cornea'. 'Even Pam Bondi's cornea is like 'release the Epstein files or I quit!'' Johnson joked.
