Justice Denied:A 35-year-old woman told reporters yesterday that on three occasions the accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein forced her to have sex with Britain’s Prince Andrew.

  Speaking outside a Manhattan court after a hearing in which women described their experiences with Epstein, Virginia Giuffre told reporters the prince “knows what he’s done.” Andrew has repeatedly denied it.

  Giuffre said Epstein had kept her as a “sex slave.”

  The 66 year old Epstein killed himself in jail while awaiting trial. A New York judge held the hearing to allow Epstein’s accusers a forum to speak because they lost their chance to testify in a trial.

  Courtney Wild, who says Epstein sexually abused her when she was 14, told the court, “Justice has never been served in this case.” Wild, who said she was recruited to be a masseuse for Epstein on his private plane dubbed “the Lolita Express”, called him a “coward” who was able to “manipulate our justice system”.

Déjà Vu:Puerto Rico, which is still recovering from the devastating 2017 Hurricane Maria, declared an emergency as Tropical Storm Dorian takes direct aim at the island. The storm, which might not reach hurricane strength, could still dump six inches of rain on the island.

  Even while disaster looms, the Trump administration is angling to take $155 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Disaster Relief Fund to pay for immigrant detention space, several news outlets reported.

 Pain Management: In the wake of a $572 million judgement against Johnson & Johnson for the way it marketed opioids, Purdue Pharma is ready to settle 2,000 lawsuits against the company for $12 billion, NBC Newsreports. Purdue makes Oxycontin and has been accused of recklessly selling the addictive drug in unnecessary quantities.

  NBC says that the Sackler family, which controls the company and is ranked by Forbes as the 19th richest in America, would pay at least $3 billion of the settlement and give up ownership of the company.

  In a statement to NBC News, the company said it “sees little good coming from years of wasteful litigation and appeals.”

The News Roundup:A federal judge in Missouri has temporarily blocked a state law banning nearly all abortions in the state after eight weeks of pregnancy.— Former Google engineer Anthony Levandowski was charged with stealing self-driving car technology from the company shortly before joining Uber in the race to build self-driving vehicles.Uber has already settled a lawsuit brought by a technology company owned by Google. — Cast member Leslie Jones who’s been with Saturday Night Live since 2014, announced that she’s leaving the show. Jones was a later-in-life success and an hysterical addition to the show. Most cast members join in their 20s and 30s. Jones is 51. — The College Board said it is abandoning its plan to include an “adversity” score for students in tough neighborhoods and poor schools. — Attorney Gen. William Barr has signed a contract to throw a $30,000 Christmas party at President Trump’s Washington hotel. The AG said he couldn’t find another location.  

Donald the Comic Insult President:The President has opened fire on Twitter against the three men who’ve declared they’re running against him for the Republican nomination. 

  “Can you believe it?” Trump asked. “I’m at 94% approval in the Republican Party, and have Three Stooges running against me. One is ‘Mr. Appalachian Trail’ who was actually in Argentina for bad reasons.” That’s former South Carolina governor and representative Mark Sanford, who famously said he was hiking the Appalachian trail when he was having an affair with a woman in Argentina.

  Trump continued, “Another is a one-time BAD Congressman from Illinois who lost in his second term by a landslide, then failed in radio.”

  That’s Joe Walsh from Illinois. 

  And last, Trump said, “The third is a man who couldn’t stand up straight while receiving an award. I should be able to take them!” That would be former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld.

  No issues, it’s all the politics of personal attack.

  NY Times columnist Frank Bruni writes that Trump is like “the last seasons of ‘House of Cards’ — a riveting spectacle devolved into a repellent burlesque, so unrestrained in its appetites that it devoured itself.”

 Bruni says, “I wouldn’t be surprised if voters consciously or subconsciously conclude that they just can’t continue to live like this and that four more years would be ruinous, if not to the country as a whole, then to our individual psyches.” 

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