By allowing the President to invoke national security and/or national emergency, Congress has yielded all its power to the President. Today's Congress is little more than public theater.
I knew when Trump seemed to capitulate last night that there had to be an out.
Ok, American people, here is your chance to stand up and create an uproar such as we, at least those old enough, haven't seen since the Vietnam War days. If there is anything that can put up in bright lights that we are not a country of political equals, but a country dedicated to protect the 1%, this is it. If there is not an uproar then we are truly unworthy to be called a democratic country and are a subservient obedient mass of consumers who exist to increase the wealth of the powerful few.
The litany of successes in the last 50 years of the 1% over we the people is very long, after every one of which we the people have been essentially supine. This tops everything that has come before. Will we be true to form? Will we stand for yet another slap in our faces?
Were Massie and Khanna truly courageous, they would have made this "out" known to all before allowing the bill to be presented. True national security has not been threatened since the arrest of Jonathan Pollard, hero of Israel, released to live there at Israel's request.
Has anyone seen news of this beyond Ken's reporting? I suspect the answer is no.
I wonder how much this has to do with foreigners' names being in the files. Epstein dealt with all kinds of people likely many of whom are in the arms trade or some such. How many other prominent Israelis are in there besides Ehud Barak?
I’ll say it again. The Epstein files, in their entirety, will never see the light of day. By adding the word “unclassified”, Massie and Khanna gave the government an out. This is good stuff, Ken. Unfortunately, you confirm what I’ve been saying for years.
"And so the word “unclassified” slipped into the resolution and nobody even questions the implications of including a national security term where it has no place."
Also from Tracey's piece that you linked:
"And it was Edwards who advised Massie and Khanna on crafting the language of their “Epstein Files” legislation. Which, let’s remember, does not provide for the full disclosure of “Epstein Files.” In fact, it expressly does the opposite. It carves out massive exceptions that allow the Attorney General, Pam Bondi, to continue concealing a huge cross-section of records in perpetuity, if she can claim the records somehow impinge on the “privacy” of purported victims (including Virginia Roberts Giuffre) — or if they somehow run afoul of US “national defense or foreign policy,” whatever the heck that means."
In reference to Bradley Edwards, attorney for some of the victims.
“The absurd lack of transparency by the government is a big reason for the prevalence of conspiracy theories. When the government is hiding something, people are naturally going to assume the worst.”
These two sentences are so concise but still go so hard.
Further, "conspiracy theorists" (more specifically SCAD* and financial crimes) are proven correct time after time. If anything, the truth is often worse than the fiction.
*SCAD - state crimes against democracy, as in the JFK case, Gulf of Tonkin, MLK, etc. I don't buy into the "chemtrails" and weather modification stuff (no way any current technology can meaningfully affect most weather events), etc.
Living as we do in a NISS (national intelligence surveillance state) means the we the people are not allowed to know what our government is doing while the state is allowed to know everything about what we the people are doing.
Come on, with all the crap the administration is hitting us with, they should at least entertain us with bare assed pics of Clinton, Trump and all the other peds and pervs running our country
Given how much more arbitrary executive leadership has grown in the years since then, this pattern of deference seems increasingly poised to not only degrade democracy, but also to invite the full blown autocracy to which Trump aspires. https://shahidbuttar.substack.com/p/the-rise-of-the-fragile-tough-guy
Indeed, "unclassified" is a word that does a lot of work, here. All criminals have to do is classify the evidence of wrongdoing so that it can stay covered up.
I do believe, however, that the scandal is so huge, that if we get a pablum answer, of previously disclosed stuff, The People will be so incensed that the regime may just fall.
Definitely, it would never be the same.
I'm going to encourage Ron Johnson to vote to release everything SO THAT THE MATTER CAN BE PROSECUTED when it crosses his desk. I encourage you all to do the same with any Republican Senator you have. After passing through the Senate, it will land on Trump's desk.
Let's see then just how much he really wants the files released,
My fear is that they have gestated long enough in Republican hands that any wrongdoing that this regime does not want exposed will have been whitewashed/ erased or burned...
For many years now, many countries have seen the United states as a promised land where they all wanted to live. This has given rise to a plethora of traffickers as young women and girls wanting to escape their condition have accepted what they thought was honest work as models only to be trafficked by unscrupulous jerks, like this Jean-Luc Brunel:
Jean-Luc Brunel, a French former modeling agent and associate of Jeffrey Epstein, was found dead in his Paris prison cell in February 2022 under circumstances officially ruled a "suicide" by hanging. His death in a high-security prison while awaiting trial on charges of rape and sex trafficking of minors generated significant public and media speculation, mirroring the circumstances of Epstein's own prison death in 2019.
Can you see the common points with Epstein's "suicide"?
I read the story in French and I was hit by the common points:
* Found hanging. Was about to have his day in court.
* He was held in a "vulnerable people area" of the prison, (because of several suicide attempts) where guards checked on inmates several times per night, but without cameras in his cell.
* The first allegations of sexual misconduct against Jean-Luc Brunel were made publicly in December 1988, in an interview on the CBS news magazine show 60 Minutes.
In a segment titled "American Girls In Paris," several American models represented by Brunel accused him of pressuring them into sexual encounters or risking their careers. Two women alleged he drugged their drinks, and one stated she was raped under the influence of the drugs.
Despite the public allegations at the time, no formal criminal investigation was launched, and Brunel's career continued to thrive for decades.
Virginia Giuffre testified against him.
It seems to me there is a pattern here. Was Jean-Luc Brunel the only purveyor of victims?
Considering the difficulty of obtaining a conviction in such cases, these 2 men chose suicide? That too does not tack: They could have been cleared...
While Maxwell is in prison, a number of other female "recruiters" were mentioned if you look at the Wiki on Jeffrey Epstein. That is an avenue that needs to be explored further.
I would argue that in fact this does impact national security.....Israel's.
Well done. Thanks for being on the ball for us. Great reporting.
glad you found it helpful, crispy!
By allowing the President to invoke national security and/or national emergency, Congress has yielded all its power to the President. Today's Congress is little more than public theater.
yeah, total joke
Except it's not funny and we still have to pay for it.
don't think the founders anticipated one of the branches of government voluntarily giving up their power
Or that they anticipated a President, elected by We The People being so incredibly corrupt!
Congress is an arms dealer.
I knew when Trump seemed to capitulate last night that there had to be an out.
Ok, American people, here is your chance to stand up and create an uproar such as we, at least those old enough, haven't seen since the Vietnam War days. If there is anything that can put up in bright lights that we are not a country of political equals, but a country dedicated to protect the 1%, this is it. If there is not an uproar then we are truly unworthy to be called a democratic country and are a subservient obedient mass of consumers who exist to increase the wealth of the powerful few.
The litany of successes in the last 50 years of the 1% over we the people is very long, after every one of which we the people have been essentially supine. This tops everything that has come before. Will we be true to form? Will we stand for yet another slap in our faces?
Were Massie and Khanna truly courageous, they would have made this "out" known to all before allowing the bill to be presented. True national security has not been threatened since the arrest of Jonathan Pollard, hero of Israel, released to live there at Israel's request.
Has anyone seen news of this beyond Ken's reporting? I suspect the answer is no.
I wonder how much this has to do with foreigners' names being in the files. Epstein dealt with all kinds of people likely many of whom are in the arms trade or some such. How many other prominent Israelis are in there besides Ehud Barak?
I’m unaware of other Israelis, but Glenn Greenwald brought up something interesting on his podcast yesterday.
I guess Noam Chomsky and Lula (president of Brazil) were quite close.
Lula had been imprisoned on some bogus charges in Brazil.
Chomsky visited Lula in prison, and while there, Chomsky was on the phone with Epstein.
Glenn saw this info in some of the email dumps.
Who the heck was this Epstein guy?
Epstein liked to collect brilliant people. He hung out with a lot of scientists and influential people in a variety of fields.
I’ll say it again. The Epstein files, in their entirety, will never see the light of day. By adding the word “unclassified”, Massie and Khanna gave the government an out. This is good stuff, Ken. Unfortunately, you confirm what I’ve been saying for years.
"And so the word “unclassified” slipped into the resolution and nobody even questions the implications of including a national security term where it has no place."
Also from Tracey's piece that you linked:
"And it was Edwards who advised Massie and Khanna on crafting the language of their “Epstein Files” legislation. Which, let’s remember, does not provide for the full disclosure of “Epstein Files.” In fact, it expressly does the opposite. It carves out massive exceptions that allow the Attorney General, Pam Bondi, to continue concealing a huge cross-section of records in perpetuity, if she can claim the records somehow impinge on the “privacy” of purported victims (including Virginia Roberts Giuffre) — or if they somehow run afoul of US “national defense or foreign policy,” whatever the heck that means."
In reference to Bradley Edwards, attorney for some of the victims.
“The absurd lack of transparency by the government is a big reason for the prevalence of conspiracy theories. When the government is hiding something, people are naturally going to assume the worst.”
These two sentences are so concise but still go so hard.
Really great article!
Further, "conspiracy theorists" (more specifically SCAD* and financial crimes) are proven correct time after time. If anything, the truth is often worse than the fiction.
*SCAD - state crimes against democracy, as in the JFK case, Gulf of Tonkin, MLK, etc. I don't buy into the "chemtrails" and weather modification stuff (no way any current technology can meaningfully affect most weather events), etc.
Living as we do in a NISS (national intelligence surveillance state) means the we the people are not allowed to know what our government is doing while the state is allowed to know everything about what we the people are doing.
NISS is not bliss!
Come on, with all the crap the administration is hitting us with, they should at least entertain us with bare assed pics of Clinton, Trump and all the other peds and pervs running our country
lmao
As if policymakers deferring to faux “national security” concerns were not bad enough, even reporters—who are ethically committed to independence from the government—routinely defer to them. https://shahidbuttar.substack.com/p/journalism-has-fueled-the-rise-of
That’s how Bush ended up invading Iraq & Afghanistan, creating an unconstitutional surveillance state, and adopting torture as state policy 20 years ago. https://shahidbuttar.substack.com/p/closing-the-barn-doors-after-all
Given how much more arbitrary executive leadership has grown in the years since then, this pattern of deference seems increasingly poised to not only degrade democracy, but also to invite the full blown autocracy to which Trump aspires. https://shahidbuttar.substack.com/p/the-rise-of-the-fragile-tough-guy
This is great stuff!
Thanks Nan! :)
It seems to me that it is our very National Security that is at risk if we DON’T have access to the entirety of the Epstein evidence documents. 🤔
For what it's worth, in this June 2, 2024, Fox & Friends interview, Trump said he'd declassify the Epstein files.
https://archive.org/details/FOXNEWSW_20240602_130000_FOX_and_Friends_Sunday/start/409/end/469
Indeed, "unclassified" is a word that does a lot of work, here. All criminals have to do is classify the evidence of wrongdoing so that it can stay covered up.
I do believe, however, that the scandal is so huge, that if we get a pablum answer, of previously disclosed stuff, The People will be so incensed that the regime may just fall.
Definitely, it would never be the same.
I'm going to encourage Ron Johnson to vote to release everything SO THAT THE MATTER CAN BE PROSECUTED when it crosses his desk. I encourage you all to do the same with any Republican Senator you have. After passing through the Senate, it will land on Trump's desk.
Let's see then just how much he really wants the files released,
My fear is that they have gestated long enough in Republican hands that any wrongdoing that this regime does not want exposed will have been whitewashed/ erased or burned...
By inserting “unclassified” in the text, it protects the identity of foreign pedos, such as members of Saudi royal family or Russian government
For many years now, many countries have seen the United states as a promised land where they all wanted to live. This has given rise to a plethora of traffickers as young women and girls wanting to escape their condition have accepted what they thought was honest work as models only to be trafficked by unscrupulous jerks, like this Jean-Luc Brunel:
Jean-Luc Brunel, a French former modeling agent and associate of Jeffrey Epstein, was found dead in his Paris prison cell in February 2022 under circumstances officially ruled a "suicide" by hanging. His death in a high-security prison while awaiting trial on charges of rape and sex trafficking of minors generated significant public and media speculation, mirroring the circumstances of Epstein's own prison death in 2019.
Can you see the common points with Epstein's "suicide"?
I read the story in French and I was hit by the common points:
* Found hanging. Was about to have his day in court.
* He was held in a "vulnerable people area" of the prison, (because of several suicide attempts) where guards checked on inmates several times per night, but without cameras in his cell.
* The first allegations of sexual misconduct against Jean-Luc Brunel were made publicly in December 1988, in an interview on the CBS news magazine show 60 Minutes.
In a segment titled "American Girls In Paris," several American models represented by Brunel accused him of pressuring them into sexual encounters or risking their careers. Two women alleged he drugged their drinks, and one stated she was raped under the influence of the drugs.
Despite the public allegations at the time, no formal criminal investigation was launched, and Brunel's career continued to thrive for decades.
Virginia Giuffre testified against him.
It seems to me there is a pattern here. Was Jean-Luc Brunel the only purveyor of victims?
Considering the difficulty of obtaining a conviction in such cases, these 2 men chose suicide? That too does not tack: They could have been cleared...
While Maxwell is in prison, a number of other female "recruiters" were mentioned if you look at the Wiki on Jeffrey Epstein. That is an avenue that needs to be explored further.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Litigation_involving_Jeffrey_Epstein#:~:text=The%20New%20York%20Times%20in,written%20in%20Politico%20magazine%20that: