The Trump administration’s refusal to release the Epstein files and videos is done not only to protect Trump, but the ruling class. They all belong to the same club.
No wonder the "USA" supports genocidal maniac Netanyahu - the leadership fraternity is stuffed with pedaphillic psycho/sociopaths with sadistic characteristics. Impressive, too, is Harvard's (such a glorious institution of ethical/moral rectitude!) readiness to gift academic semblance/pretend importance to Epstein for his purchase of office, keycard etc in various Harvard academic apartments - a pedophile of exalted dimensions whose sexual lures of captured vulnerable adolescents proved irresistible for the USA's finest billionaires, USA Presidents, mega attorneys, CEO's and any other interested members of that illustrious Fraternity which only money and connections can buy. Why - with such ethical/moral cripples at our helm in all sectors - would we ever expect them interested or capable of contributing their talents to creating peace, decent remuneration to workers, decent health care for all, appropriate, deep, expensive processes to ameliorate climate catastrophe, and, particularly, to doing all possible for insuring a decent future for our young people. They are - to a one - users. Maybe it's time for all presidential and congressional candidates for government, universities and corporate CEOs
be eliminated from the running with results of the PPI or the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) showing psychopathic traits. Don't we need and want our representatives to have as much emotional intelligence as possible?
I learned an interesting story about Harvard from Richard Wolff. He said his political science prof was one Henry Kissinger, and Richard, from a working class family, was the only student to debate that old fart when he badmouthed Castro and the Cuban Revolution.
Another country America has persecuted for decades, while giving Israeli crimes carte blanche.
Indeed. I've been very curious how come other than Ireland and South America, governments at large are not condemning with words and action the Israelis for their genocide. With the recent brouhaha over the Jeffrey Epstein's files (existent? nonexistent?), perhaps, USA Presidents Clinton and Trump, and the likely slew of other bigwigs from the Fraternity of We Are More Important Than You - who took advantage of the captured young girls for sex are frozen in place for fear of being outed by the Israelis. Better pay the blackmail fee than be exposed.Especially, if Epstein was in cahoots with Moosade.
I suspect its a little bit of everything......including western guilt for the holocaust....but for me, America's determination to own much of the world's oil, gave them a deep interest in having a pro-American outpost in the Middle East.
I remember marching against both Iraq wars.....sitting horrified in front of my tv imagining that I was the only one who knew Saddam had no weapons of mass destruction.........as the second Gulf War came on all of us.
But since this genocide........a see your CIA and other Deep State officials so entangled by years of support that Israel essentially calls all the shots.
In America as well. What forces would spring into action if by some miricle the United States stopped sending military equipment, money etc. etc. to Israel, until a two state, or one state solution was in place??? There are lots of Zionists in positions of power in the USA........some of them even openly sell real estate in the West Bank.
There's a wonderful interviewer (Brazilian, I think. Trained as an engineer) named Nima Alkhorshid (sp?). His platform is Dialogue Works on youtube.com. Substantive questions and let's his interviewee free to express, never interferes. He interviews experienced, mostly retired, sane CIA analysts, Diplomats, Ambassadors, Professors, ex-American military.... A favorite of mine is Col Wilkerson who had been Powell's Chief of Staff. He's convinced that it is the USA, not the Israelis, who has been and is calling most if not all the shots over there in re Israel- Gaza/ Palestinians and Israel-Iran.Yes. Zionist neocons - like Blinken et al....and more in the government and now, too, on University Boards of Trustees.
We listened to his program with Richard Wolff and Micheal Hudson, two favourites of ours, just last night. More and more of us know the deeper realities of western capitalist dominance.........but I still wonder if there will be time to turn the war planes around, and get back to feeding and educating all earth's children.
They sold us cheap trash and trinkets....much as they did to the native people....and unfortunately, most bought them.
Among other things, I’m so glad to read an intelligent, credible, essay which dissolves the imaginary line between D and R parties. Nearly every half baked journalist and pundit has chosen a side, and wastes my time trying to rationalize their choice. This is how I see the world too, and to have it expressed so thoroughly and unapologetically as the swamp that it is, encourages me. It’s actually so vile that it gives me a twisted form of hope: It must rot away; it cannot survive.
I wonder if George Carlin, when he said: “It’s a big club, and you ain’t in it” imagined just how savagely filthy it was.
I don't think I breathed through the entire reading of this article. Whew! Thank you, Chris Hedges, for pointing out what's in front of us but can't see without your stating the obvious and connecting the dots. An acquaintance knew Jeff Bezos in high school and played pool with him. I asked, "Are people born with a molecure of evil, or is it the money?" Without hesitating, "It's the money."
In many cases it's both, and often with a fair degree of early abuse (emotional, sexual, humiliation), cruelty and neglect thrown in. There are well known causes for this degree of complete lack of empathy and pathology.
Duh, there is a coverup. Duh, if there really were no Epstein Files, the DoJ could have told us so back in 2017 instead of fooling around for the better part of a decade..
However, for the hard core of MAGA, it does not matter. Nothing could shake their faith, not live little boys, not dead little girls, not action footage of Trump getting double-teamed by livestock.
Of course, the silence of Team D regarding the Epstein Files is equally deafening. They know full well that Israel does not want its sources and methods exposed, nor do they want their blackmail leverage to disappear. Team D really really doesn't want to make Israel mad.
In reading this piece did you come across any definitive material that was referenced which substantiated these women's claims? Women can accuse someone of sexual abuse but for me that is not enough under these circumstances, since these are rich, powerful and recognized men. I noticed that Trump was highly referenced compared to others, and in this regard I don't trust Hedges, others things yes, but Trump, no. I have a degree in this field and have worked with women who were sexually abused and while most are telling the truth their are some for various reasons who are not. Some even come to believe the lie, and maybe that is a desire to be part of something, or maybe something imagined especially when this was first fully recognized as a reality since psychology can be very unwilling to let go of the past. That being said the woman he referenced and her accusations against Trump are solely based on her word with no proof, not to mention the attention it brings and the money it can make.
It is not a question of holding out hope. These young girls, women, make accusations and they are automatically trusted, even if big money is to be made? You can't be so dismissive of false accusations made about Trump, not with the reality of Russia-gate, a total deception manufactured by Hilary Clinton, and national security officials. So how can you be so dismissive of what I said? Not to mention they can claim he planned an insurrection, and now recognized by real journalists as a riot, which it was. It is not holding out hope for the man, but feeling truth is what is important, not based on someone's personal distain for him.
As I said, it doesn't matter whether he was personally named in the Epstein Files or not, although Musk said Trump was, and the former First Buddy would be in a position to know.
Whether or not there's any mention of Trump, he's still engaged in a cover-up. Kerp the excuses coming!
Musk said Trump was mentioned in the Epstein files, well, in terms of that being of any significance depends on what Musk had to say. During Trump's first term in office they pushed the same theme, and I'm sure you remember the one where he hires people to go to Russia and pee on the bed Obama and his wife slept on. They often used sexual propaganda to demean him as well. I know that Hedges has a real distain for Trump and that bias can distort the truth. I never voted for Trump and I am appalled as to how he is handling the genocide in Gaza, but I didn't expect any better, especially that he accepted that 100 million from Adelson. However, when you have a strong bias against someone, no matter what you claim you lose objectivity. Notice in this piece lots of details about Trump's sexual behavior and abuse and the young girl's claims which were way more then any other rich guy with clout who was named, although the article was meant to provide a broad perspective on the rich and powerful.
I think you are making a valid point and one hard for many to entertain or hear. You see the same mechanisms at work in attitudes and beliefs with regard to the war in Ukraine.
As soon as the west picks a side, more of us than we often realize, get on board.......and start demonizing Putin. Try saying that Russia might have had some good reasons (from their perspective) for going into Ukraine, and all hell descends on your head.
I know. Because I too refuse demonization. It's how we justified the genocide of our original peoples.....and it always plays a significant role in wars of mass destruction.
Jung called it projection. It's the mechanism we use to justify the unjustifiable too often. The other side is pure evil, so we have to behave evilly in order to destroy them.
Objectivity is not something any of us can completely achieve. But listening as closely to 'our side' as it spins its justifications....is a key skill we all need to develop...........though it can be hard.
I could only watch a couple of minutes on Fox News last night as Neten Yahoo argued for Israel's innocence of war crimes, and Hamas' blame for all the civilian casualties. Demonization on Steroids...........and it always sickens me.
You ask a question, as to whether I really believe all these women are lying? Then you come to your own conclusion that I do which you claim is not credible. Why don't you reread my posts so you can pose a question that makes sense, or reach a conclusion which reflects my position on this issue.
@fran: should we really care whether #47's name is in the files? he did so many other things wrong and could be indicted for a load of other illegal activities if the USA had a supreme court functioning 'for the people'. #47 used to call mr epstein a "guy who was fun to be with". now, he wonders why people would waste their [and his] time talking about "that creep!"
consortium news recently interviewed ex-israeli intelligence official ari ben menashe. what he had to say - not only - about ex israeli prime minister ehud barak [also on the 'inexistent' epstein list] and the failed agreement between ehud barak and yassir arafat to solve the palestinian crisis sounds so far-fetched and yet seems somehow credible if and when we attach credibility to the epstein & maxwell undertakings ...
Hedges has always made it quite clear that he dislikes Trump, and has stated his dislike for the man in any number of ways. as well as acknowledging his distain for his supporters as well. In this article he does not engage in any sense of objectivity in regard to Trump, since his commentary primarily references the sexual abuse accusations made by a young woman who is suing him, and gives it quite a bit of coverage. Not true of the others he references. Sexual accusations were repeatedly used by the democrats to undermine Trump's credibility, and over 100 democrats signed on to a letter directed at the heads of the House Oversight Comm that called for an investigation into his sexual misconduct. That as you know was only one of the ways the democrats used to remove him from office. There was Russia-gate, and the June 6th riot, which they incredulously called an insurrection. Then these "superior" humans install a president in the White House who has Alzheimer's and say they didn't know, not even during his presidency where he acted like he didn't know whether he was coming or going.
PS. If Trump did enter the dressing room in Bergdorf Goodman in the middle of the day and rape a woman. well, that would certainly be poor judgement, since one scream would have set her free. I do know a woman who knew a number of women who worked for Trump and repeatedly told her he was always the gentleman. It was their experience with him.
Well for one, Glen Greenwald from the onset of the riot, called it a riot. So why don't you pursue him in your outrage, since I don't have any real clout about these things.
... well, putting the epstein episodes aside, could someone dislike #47 simply bc he personifies so much of what is wrong with [our] representatives who claim to govern "for the people" when in fact they just care for, and cater to, the mega-insatiable, mega-destructive, mega-selfish mega-rich?
i admit i found the person who is now #47 not very appealing when he said, in an interview during his first campaign for POTUS, if i remember correctly, how all he needed to do was throw in a tictac and then "grab them by ...!" nor did i appreciate that he knew he could get away with shooting sb on 5th avenue. i was actually stunned that no storm of objection arose at the time and knew then: DJT will be potus #45.
decades ago, if i am not mistaken, way before he even CONsidered becoming potus, quite a number of construction firms went out of business bc he CONtracted and then refused to pay them. didn't he also engage in tax evasion, like his immigrant father before him? more than enough grounds for an aversion against the man, i find. way before the epstein debacles.
and it just so happened that i came across chris hedges' piece on 'trump, epstein and the deep state':
"The refusal by the Trump administration to release the files and videos amassed during investigations into the activities of the pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, should put to rest the absurd idea, embraced by Trump supporters and gullible liberals, that Trump will dismantle the Deep State. Trump is part of, and has long been part of, the repugnant cabal of politicians – Democrat and Republican – billionaires and celebrities who look at us, and often underage girls and boys, as commodities to exploit for profit or pleasure. [...]"
Never voted for Trump, just didn't vote in 2016 and 2020, and definitely wouldn't vote for him in the last election. Trump's term in office in 2016 was America's disgrace since they pushed the lie of Russia-gate to DELEGITIMIZE his presidency, and yet no one so far has been held accountable. The so called liberals were on the same page as the democrats when it came to Trump, and showed little objectivity. No one is saying they have to like Trump, or give a thumbs up to his policies then or now. Just play fair. In the past there were a number of times I didn't think that was true of Hedges. Hedges is talking about Epstein and like Clinton and others that took him up on what he had to offer did not get the coverage Trump did, in terms of the accusations made. Even the "artwork" which accompanies his posts that are about Trump are too often degrading and much more so then they are, or were for people like Biden. In an article he wrote he even referenced his supporters in a degrading way, and I called that out and got some 40 thumbs up.
This is the first time I have seen an account of “Kate Johnson”’s allegations against Trump. I guess we shouldn’t be surprised, as allegations of his sexual predations have been well documented by others. And yet, knowing about those, people, including a lot of women, voted for him in both 2016 and 2020. I also hadn’t seen before this week a description of the crimes perpetrated by a lot of the January 6 insurrectionists who were pardoned by Trump. Many were convicted of sex crimes, both before and after they were pardoned. This was revealed by DOJ’s former Pardon’s Attorney, who resigned over certain pardons. Between the world’s inaction regarding the genocide in Gaza and stories like this one, disappearing people to gulags, I feel like I’ve been awakened to more evil in the last couple of years than I had been in my previous lifetime. Maybe this was just blinders and naïveté on my part, but there hasn’t been anything quite like the U.S. complicity in the a Gaza genocide, supported by both monopoly parties, including a majority of Democrats, during my lifetime. I do recall that most Democrats voted against the Iraq War, as just one example, and the party split over Viet Nam. I’d like to see an analysis of how we got here.
I fear the truth is that the USA and most if not all of its allies, have been supporting Israel for at least 70 years. I doubt Israel would still exist if it weren't for the vast sums of money that flow from western democracies into her accounts.
I know that in Canada, since this last war began, we've learned about all kinds of false 'charity' organizations who were funding Canadian boys to go and do a stint in Israel's army.......in defiance of our laws.
Our government, both Liberal and Conservative, simply ignored the illegality. I believe some of those outfits have had their charitable status pulled recently.........but you can bet Zionists like Liberal Anthony Housefather will be wailing about the injustice of that.
Millions of Canadians dollars have been funneled into Israel as 'charity'....for decades.
Why no mention of Epstein as Mossad/CIA agent and withholding of files because would expose that sinister relationship. This is also possible explanation for US allowing Israel to get away with Gaza, etc., because Israel threatens to reveal they helped Cheney and CIA sociopath neocons to do 9/11, and have evidence to prove it; Israel thinking it has nothing to lose because most of the world already hates them.
if you had read more closely you would have seen that Chris did mention the possibility of the mossad connection. he is a reporter and until there is proof he cannot say definitively that is a fact. Zionist lawyers would salivate at suing him. of course everyone knows Epstein was a mossad asset. lol
Yes, but CIA Mossad connection unspoken. For broad commentary on what happened to JE, see: https://www.truthorfiction.com/are-the-epstein-gurney-photos-fake/. The "one extremely dubious 4Chan post purporting to explain the circumstances from a prison employee’s perspective:" is not so dubious to me. It's a timely, contemporaneous comment that explains a lot. The logic is that Epstein is a lot more dangerous to the bad guys dead than alive. The risk of revelatory disclosures that would activate on his death is far greater than keeping him alive and kicking back in some tropical paradise.
Always horrible horrible stories that come from the Epstein saga. Of course, the obscenely rich are obscene, no surprise.
What is a surprise to me, is how Chris doesn't lean on Whitney Webb's deep work on the Epstein nexus. She has written and spoken in great details on the subject and hasn't been challenged because her documentation is bullet-proof. See https://unlimitedhangout.com/epstein/ for a trove of her work. She has a 2-tome book on the issue. Great hidden history to learn about how CIA/Mossad learned it all from organised crime, for example.
If I published words describing my gut-level response to this, I'd be sent to prison, unlike those mentioned in the article, Clinton, Dershowitz, Trump, et. al., who deserve to die there.
..and you've just brilliantly illustrated the reality of our two tiered judicial system in the U.S.
I will also remind those here of the recent fact that 6 Secrete Service agents that completely failed in their duties (what about the rest of the organization that contributed to this systemic issue to such an extent the director herself immediately resigned after the assassination attempt?) to protect Trump at his 2024 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania (whether you agree he should be protected, or not) were held to account by being suspended from their duties for anywhere between 10-42 days--without pay or benefits. Oh my, what consequence! What happened to Cheatle herself in terms of accountability? Does resigning mean her pension and any retirement benefits were denied. I seriously doubt it. If anyone knows, please do tell. All I've heard on the topic are crickets chirping. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy0w9ev559ro
That would be great if it could happen, but I suspect these creeps are careful to pick pretty young things with little family support..........that capitalism is set up to exploit the poor and vulnerable is an open secret I fear.
I agree 100%. But this is America. The only thing we do better than exploitation is greed. Based on my experience, there will be contingency attorneys eager to wet their beaks.
Michael Hudson called it 'grabism' on a Dialogue Works site we listened to the other night....and both he and Wolff see it as a sign of desperation. Even, or maybe especially, the fat cats know the American dream of endless wealth is almost over.
Not just lack of support. In modern societies, feminine values have been eliminated. These societies are all yang and no yin, which is what allows crap like this to happen in the first place. Not saying this is the cause of this sexual abuse and abuse of minors, but this kind of thing would never happen on anywhere near this kind of scale in a society where feminine values are equally respected.
Nor would gentle nurturing males.........and I have some in my life.......be demonized or made to fill lesser because of their kind and living natures.
I suspect that many women, as happy as I am with their partners, would tell you that it's not their biceps or their domineering ways that have endeared their partners to them.
When I see my gentle giant of a son interact with his two girls and son......I am so proud....we don't celebrate either genders real strengths often enough.
Their lust for money and power is endless; they never have enough. They're both cause and effect of the econopathy we live under, where the only supposed connections between humans are transactional. Like the old "joke" everyone is for sale, it's just a matter of price.
Consider water--something vital to life. But according to the sycophantic economists whose theoretical assumptions justify this sick system, natural resources have no value until they are processed. So the bottle of water has value, as does the petroleum derived plastic, but not the source of the water. Add that devastation of human communities and destruction of ecosystems are defined away as irrelevant externalities.
Their idea of human relationships reflects their beliefs that power is everything, vast wealth is a marker of power, and since they're by definition the best, they deserve whatever they want. What could be better to jaded appetites than fresh human produce?
And what could be more evil to the rest of us still capable of empathy, care for the common good, and a sense of purpose beyond rank materialism?
This is an extreme example of humans failing to evolve mentally and spiritually. Virtually all humans have failed in this, but these people failed much harder and more.
"Virtually all humans" have NOT failed. This claim, like one asserting the planet would be better off if all humans were to die, seem to me the product of western Euro and Euro descendant Enlightenment thinking. An either/or logic rather than both/and. Plus an unconscious sense of superiority entitling them to pass judgement; the irony of this unnoticed. There are millions of Indigenous peoples who retain their traditional respectful connections to local nature. And some Euros who live lightly on the land.
As for spiritual evolution, again not limited to either/or. Look at process theology. Or Carl Jung's //Answer to Job// which examines a God with a Shadow coming into consciousness of it. To know all humans have failed is related to those who say all religions are different paths leading to the same mountain top--they'd have to be on that divine peak looking down. Certainty is another Enlightenment habit. Whereas quantum physics has Heisenberg's uncertainty and Einstein's relativity.
Evolution is to modify current traits or to somehow acquire ones that aren't present at all. But it could be spiritual gnosis, ESP, self healing now dismissed as placebo, and savant gifts are innate. There are many cases where these abilities have been triggered by a traumatic experience. Therefore final judgement may be a bit premature.
Sounds pretty awful...proving once again that patriarchy is 1. hard to defeat, 2. in intrinsically sick ideology, 3. predatory at its base, into all forms of power, in particular, the power to sexually violate their prey.
It's becoming clearer that all claims to superiority stand in for a sickness.......whether that sickness manifest as racism, sexism, classism, speciesism.......or the endless warmongering that characterizes western civilization..........it all reduces to an ugly crime against life.
We get rid of these windigos......before they destroy the living earth...or they're taking us all to the hot place. Literal hell on earth.
Is there any way to verify if this is legit? I suppose if it can be verified, though, the propagandists will just call her a serial liar to sow FUD like they have been doing already.
When Maxwell was indicted the period during which her crimes were allegedly committed appears to have been carefully selected to avoid any dates on which Bill Clinton appears on the flight logs.
It keeps getting darker and darker, the cruelty and sadism. We in the West are living in Caligula times.
Thank you Chris. We do need to know what we are up against. fx.
No wonder the "USA" supports genocidal maniac Netanyahu - the leadership fraternity is stuffed with pedaphillic psycho/sociopaths with sadistic characteristics. Impressive, too, is Harvard's (such a glorious institution of ethical/moral rectitude!) readiness to gift academic semblance/pretend importance to Epstein for his purchase of office, keycard etc in various Harvard academic apartments - a pedophile of exalted dimensions whose sexual lures of captured vulnerable adolescents proved irresistible for the USA's finest billionaires, USA Presidents, mega attorneys, CEO's and any other interested members of that illustrious Fraternity which only money and connections can buy. Why - with such ethical/moral cripples at our helm in all sectors - would we ever expect them interested or capable of contributing their talents to creating peace, decent remuneration to workers, decent health care for all, appropriate, deep, expensive processes to ameliorate climate catastrophe, and, particularly, to doing all possible for insuring a decent future for our young people. They are - to a one - users. Maybe it's time for all presidential and congressional candidates for government, universities and corporate CEOs
be eliminated from the running with results of the PPI or the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) showing psychopathic traits. Don't we need and want our representatives to have as much emotional intelligence as possible?
I learned an interesting story about Harvard from Richard Wolff. He said his political science prof was one Henry Kissinger, and Richard, from a working class family, was the only student to debate that old fart when he badmouthed Castro and the Cuban Revolution.
Another country America has persecuted for decades, while giving Israeli crimes carte blanche.
Indeed. I've been very curious how come other than Ireland and South America, governments at large are not condemning with words and action the Israelis for their genocide. With the recent brouhaha over the Jeffrey Epstein's files (existent? nonexistent?), perhaps, USA Presidents Clinton and Trump, and the likely slew of other bigwigs from the Fraternity of We Are More Important Than You - who took advantage of the captured young girls for sex are frozen in place for fear of being outed by the Israelis. Better pay the blackmail fee than be exposed.Especially, if Epstein was in cahoots with Moosade.
I suspect its a little bit of everything......including western guilt for the holocaust....but for me, America's determination to own much of the world's oil, gave them a deep interest in having a pro-American outpost in the Middle East.
I remember marching against both Iraq wars.....sitting horrified in front of my tv imagining that I was the only one who knew Saddam had no weapons of mass destruction.........as the second Gulf War came on all of us.
But since this genocide........a see your CIA and other Deep State officials so entangled by years of support that Israel essentially calls all the shots.
In America as well. What forces would spring into action if by some miricle the United States stopped sending military equipment, money etc. etc. to Israel, until a two state, or one state solution was in place??? There are lots of Zionists in positions of power in the USA........some of them even openly sell real estate in the West Bank.
There's a wonderful interviewer (Brazilian, I think. Trained as an engineer) named Nima Alkhorshid (sp?). His platform is Dialogue Works on youtube.com. Substantive questions and let's his interviewee free to express, never interferes. He interviews experienced, mostly retired, sane CIA analysts, Diplomats, Ambassadors, Professors, ex-American military.... A favorite of mine is Col Wilkerson who had been Powell's Chief of Staff. He's convinced that it is the USA, not the Israelis, who has been and is calling most if not all the shots over there in re Israel- Gaza/ Palestinians and Israel-Iran.Yes. Zionist neocons - like Blinken et al....and more in the government and now, too, on University Boards of Trustees.
We listened to his program with Richard Wolff and Micheal Hudson, two favourites of ours, just last night. More and more of us know the deeper realities of western capitalist dominance.........but I still wonder if there will be time to turn the war planes around, and get back to feeding and educating all earth's children.
They sold us cheap trash and trinkets....much as they did to the native people....and unfortunately, most bought them.
Let's not forget that South Africa brought the case of genocide before the International Court of Justice
One can't help noticing......but it must be underlined....all these wonderkins are male.
With the possible exception of Maxwell, though its hard to imagine even her relationship with Epstein being anything other than abusive.
Amen comrade
Among other things, I’m so glad to read an intelligent, credible, essay which dissolves the imaginary line between D and R parties. Nearly every half baked journalist and pundit has chosen a side, and wastes my time trying to rationalize their choice. This is how I see the world too, and to have it expressed so thoroughly and unapologetically as the swamp that it is, encourages me. It’s actually so vile that it gives me a twisted form of hope: It must rot away; it cannot survive.
I wonder if George Carlin, when he said: “It’s a big club, and you ain’t in it” imagined just how savagely filthy it was.
This is pretty sick stuff. And no one will ever be held accountable.
I don't think I breathed through the entire reading of this article. Whew! Thank you, Chris Hedges, for pointing out what's in front of us but can't see without your stating the obvious and connecting the dots. An acquaintance knew Jeff Bezos in high school and played pool with him. I asked, "Are people born with a molecure of evil, or is it the money?" Without hesitating, "It's the money."
In many cases it's both, and often with a fair degree of early abuse (emotional, sexual, humiliation), cruelty and neglect thrown in. There are well known causes for this degree of complete lack of empathy and pathology.
More the love of the money.......we use most of us for green transition.
Duh, there is a coverup. Duh, if there really were no Epstein Files, the DoJ could have told us so back in 2017 instead of fooling around for the better part of a decade..
However, for the hard core of MAGA, it does not matter. Nothing could shake their faith, not live little boys, not dead little girls, not action footage of Trump getting double-teamed by livestock.
Of course, the silence of Team D regarding the Epstein Files is equally deafening. They know full well that Israel does not want its sources and methods exposed, nor do they want their blackmail leverage to disappear. Team D really really doesn't want to make Israel mad.
In reading this piece did you come across any definitive material that was referenced which substantiated these women's claims? Women can accuse someone of sexual abuse but for me that is not enough under these circumstances, since these are rich, powerful and recognized men. I noticed that Trump was highly referenced compared to others, and in this regard I don't trust Hedges, others things yes, but Trump, no. I have a degree in this field and have worked with women who were sexually abused and while most are telling the truth their are some for various reasons who are not. Some even come to believe the lie, and maybe that is a desire to be part of something, or maybe something imagined especially when this was first fully recognized as a reality since psychology can be very unwilling to let go of the past. That being said the woman he referenced and her accusations against Trump are solely based on her word with no proof, not to mention the attention it brings and the money it can make.
It doesn't matter whether Trump is personally named for there to be a cover-up.
But you apparently keep holding out hope for the man.
It is not a question of holding out hope. These young girls, women, make accusations and they are automatically trusted, even if big money is to be made? You can't be so dismissive of false accusations made about Trump, not with the reality of Russia-gate, a total deception manufactured by Hilary Clinton, and national security officials. So how can you be so dismissive of what I said? Not to mention they can claim he planned an insurrection, and now recognized by real journalists as a riot, which it was. It is not holding out hope for the man, but feeling truth is what is important, not based on someone's personal distain for him.
As I said, it doesn't matter whether he was personally named in the Epstein Files or not, although Musk said Trump was, and the former First Buddy would be in a position to know.
Whether or not there's any mention of Trump, he's still engaged in a cover-up. Kerp the excuses coming!
Musk said Trump was mentioned in the Epstein files, well, in terms of that being of any significance depends on what Musk had to say. During Trump's first term in office they pushed the same theme, and I'm sure you remember the one where he hires people to go to Russia and pee on the bed Obama and his wife slept on. They often used sexual propaganda to demean him as well. I know that Hedges has a real distain for Trump and that bias can distort the truth. I never voted for Trump and I am appalled as to how he is handling the genocide in Gaza, but I didn't expect any better, especially that he accepted that 100 million from Adelson. However, when you have a strong bias against someone, no matter what you claim you lose objectivity. Notice in this piece lots of details about Trump's sexual behavior and abuse and the young girl's claims which were way more then any other rich guy with clout who was named, although the article was meant to provide a broad perspective on the rich and powerful.
I think you are making a valid point and one hard for many to entertain or hear. You see the same mechanisms at work in attitudes and beliefs with regard to the war in Ukraine.
As soon as the west picks a side, more of us than we often realize, get on board.......and start demonizing Putin. Try saying that Russia might have had some good reasons (from their perspective) for going into Ukraine, and all hell descends on your head.
I know. Because I too refuse demonization. It's how we justified the genocide of our original peoples.....and it always plays a significant role in wars of mass destruction.
Jung called it projection. It's the mechanism we use to justify the unjustifiable too often. The other side is pure evil, so we have to behave evilly in order to destroy them.
Objectivity is not something any of us can completely achieve. But listening as closely to 'our side' as it spins its justifications....is a key skill we all need to develop...........though it can be hard.
I could only watch a couple of minutes on Fox News last night as Neten Yahoo argued for Israel's innocence of war crimes, and Hamas' blame for all the civilian casualties. Demonization on Steroids...........and it always sickens me.
Since Trump, not Biden, not Clinton is president now,it makes sense to focus on the president's possible misdeeds, not those of some has-been
Or are you suggesting that, say, Alan Dershowitz is more influential than Trump?
Do you really believe that ALL these girls and women are lying? Your position on this is not credible.
You ask a question, as to whether I really believe all these women are lying? Then you come to your own conclusion that I do which you claim is not credible. Why don't you reread my posts so you can pose a question that makes sense, or reach a conclusion which reflects my position on this issue.
@fran: should we really care whether #47's name is in the files? he did so many other things wrong and could be indicted for a load of other illegal activities if the USA had a supreme court functioning 'for the people'. #47 used to call mr epstein a "guy who was fun to be with". now, he wonders why people would waste their [and his] time talking about "that creep!"
consortium news recently interviewed ex-israeli intelligence official ari ben menashe. what he had to say - not only - about ex israeli prime minister ehud barak [also on the 'inexistent' epstein list] and the failed agreement between ehud barak and yassir arafat to solve the palestinian crisis sounds so far-fetched and yet seems somehow credible if and when we attach credibility to the epstein & maxwell undertakings ...
https://consortiumnews.com/2025/07/10/watch-cn-live-epstein-the-war-on-gaza/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=639c4c0a-75e8-4e71-841b-4681f7f7ec4f
Hedges has always made it quite clear that he dislikes Trump, and has stated his dislike for the man in any number of ways. as well as acknowledging his distain for his supporters as well. In this article he does not engage in any sense of objectivity in regard to Trump, since his commentary primarily references the sexual abuse accusations made by a young woman who is suing him, and gives it quite a bit of coverage. Not true of the others he references. Sexual accusations were repeatedly used by the democrats to undermine Trump's credibility, and over 100 democrats signed on to a letter directed at the heads of the House Oversight Comm that called for an investigation into his sexual misconduct. That as you know was only one of the ways the democrats used to remove him from office. There was Russia-gate, and the June 6th riot, which they incredulously called an insurrection. Then these "superior" humans install a president in the White House who has Alzheimer's and say they didn't know, not even during his presidency where he acted like he didn't know whether he was coming or going.
PS. If Trump did enter the dressing room in Bergdorf Goodman in the middle of the day and rape a woman. well, that would certainly be poor judgement, since one scream would have set her free. I do know a woman who knew a number of women who worked for Trump and repeatedly told her he was always the gentleman. It was their experience with him.
How in any, any world could you call January 6th a riot?!? "incredulously called..." indeed.
Well for one, Glen Greenwald from the onset of the riot, called it a riot. So why don't you pursue him in your outrage, since I don't have any real clout about these things.
... well, putting the epstein episodes aside, could someone dislike #47 simply bc he personifies so much of what is wrong with [our] representatives who claim to govern "for the people" when in fact they just care for, and cater to, the mega-insatiable, mega-destructive, mega-selfish mega-rich?
i admit i found the person who is now #47 not very appealing when he said, in an interview during his first campaign for POTUS, if i remember correctly, how all he needed to do was throw in a tictac and then "grab them by ...!" nor did i appreciate that he knew he could get away with shooting sb on 5th avenue. i was actually stunned that no storm of objection arose at the time and knew then: DJT will be potus #45.
decades ago, if i am not mistaken, way before he even CONsidered becoming potus, quite a number of construction firms went out of business bc he CONtracted and then refused to pay them. didn't he also engage in tax evasion, like his immigrant father before him? more than enough grounds for an aversion against the man, i find. way before the epstein debacles.
and it just so happened that i came across chris hedges' piece on 'trump, epstein and the deep state':
"The refusal by the Trump administration to release the files and videos amassed during investigations into the activities of the pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, should put to rest the absurd idea, embraced by Trump supporters and gullible liberals, that Trump will dismantle the Deep State. Trump is part of, and has long been part of, the repugnant cabal of politicians – Democrat and Republican – billionaires and celebrities who look at us, and often underage girls and boys, as commodities to exploit for profit or pleasure. [...]"
would you like to read more - or do you find mr hedges too biased here's the way to the entire article: https://substack.com/home/post/p-168163626
Never voted for Trump, just didn't vote in 2016 and 2020, and definitely wouldn't vote for him in the last election. Trump's term in office in 2016 was America's disgrace since they pushed the lie of Russia-gate to DELEGITIMIZE his presidency, and yet no one so far has been held accountable. The so called liberals were on the same page as the democrats when it came to Trump, and showed little objectivity. No one is saying they have to like Trump, or give a thumbs up to his policies then or now. Just play fair. In the past there were a number of times I didn't think that was true of Hedges. Hedges is talking about Epstein and like Clinton and others that took him up on what he had to offer did not get the coverage Trump did, in terms of the accusations made. Even the "artwork" which accompanies his posts that are about Trump are too often degrading and much more so then they are, or were for people like Biden. In an article he wrote he even referenced his supporters in a degrading way, and I called that out and got some 40 thumbs up.
This is the first time I have seen an account of “Kate Johnson”’s allegations against Trump. I guess we shouldn’t be surprised, as allegations of his sexual predations have been well documented by others. And yet, knowing about those, people, including a lot of women, voted for him in both 2016 and 2020. I also hadn’t seen before this week a description of the crimes perpetrated by a lot of the January 6 insurrectionists who were pardoned by Trump. Many were convicted of sex crimes, both before and after they were pardoned. This was revealed by DOJ’s former Pardon’s Attorney, who resigned over certain pardons. Between the world’s inaction regarding the genocide in Gaza and stories like this one, disappearing people to gulags, I feel like I’ve been awakened to more evil in the last couple of years than I had been in my previous lifetime. Maybe this was just blinders and naïveté on my part, but there hasn’t been anything quite like the U.S. complicity in the a Gaza genocide, supported by both monopoly parties, including a majority of Democrats, during my lifetime. I do recall that most Democrats voted against the Iraq War, as just one example, and the party split over Viet Nam. I’d like to see an analysis of how we got here.
I fear the truth is that the USA and most if not all of its allies, have been supporting Israel for at least 70 years. I doubt Israel would still exist if it weren't for the vast sums of money that flow from western democracies into her accounts.
I know that in Canada, since this last war began, we've learned about all kinds of false 'charity' organizations who were funding Canadian boys to go and do a stint in Israel's army.......in defiance of our laws.
Our government, both Liberal and Conservative, simply ignored the illegality. I believe some of those outfits have had their charitable status pulled recently.........but you can bet Zionists like Liberal Anthony Housefather will be wailing about the injustice of that.
Millions of Canadians dollars have been funneled into Israel as 'charity'....for decades.
Most Canadians had no idea.
Why no mention of Epstein as Mossad/CIA agent and withholding of files because would expose that sinister relationship. This is also possible explanation for US allowing Israel to get away with Gaza, etc., because Israel threatens to reveal they helped Cheney and CIA sociopath neocons to do 9/11, and have evidence to prove it; Israel thinking it has nothing to lose because most of the world already hates them.
if you had read more closely you would have seen that Chris did mention the possibility of the mossad connection. he is a reporter and until there is proof he cannot say definitively that is a fact. Zionist lawyers would salivate at suing him. of course everyone knows Epstein was a mossad asset. lol
Mr Hedges does allude to that possibility in the fourth paragraph of the piece.
Yes, but CIA Mossad connection unspoken. For broad commentary on what happened to JE, see: https://www.truthorfiction.com/are-the-epstein-gurney-photos-fake/. The "one extremely dubious 4Chan post purporting to explain the circumstances from a prison employee’s perspective:" is not so dubious to me. It's a timely, contemporaneous comment that explains a lot. The logic is that Epstein is a lot more dangerous to the bad guys dead than alive. The risk of revelatory disclosures that would activate on his death is far greater than keeping him alive and kicking back in some tropical paradise.
Where ever evil dwells so does the mossad.
Contemporary U.S. has become like imperial Rome at the time of the Julio Claudians (Caligula, Nero, etc.).
Always horrible horrible stories that come from the Epstein saga. Of course, the obscenely rich are obscene, no surprise.
What is a surprise to me, is how Chris doesn't lean on Whitney Webb's deep work on the Epstein nexus. She has written and spoken in great details on the subject and hasn't been challenged because her documentation is bullet-proof. See https://unlimitedhangout.com/epstein/ for a trove of her work. She has a 2-tome book on the issue. Great hidden history to learn about how CIA/Mossad learned it all from organised crime, for example.
If I published words describing my gut-level response to this, I'd be sent to prison, unlike those mentioned in the article, Clinton, Dershowitz, Trump, et. al., who deserve to die there.
..and you've just brilliantly illustrated the reality of our two tiered judicial system in the U.S.
I will also remind those here of the recent fact that 6 Secrete Service agents that completely failed in their duties (what about the rest of the organization that contributed to this systemic issue to such an extent the director herself immediately resigned after the assassination attempt?) to protect Trump at his 2024 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania (whether you agree he should be protected, or not) were held to account by being suspended from their duties for anywhere between 10-42 days--without pay or benefits. Oh my, what consequence! What happened to Cheatle herself in terms of accountability? Does resigning mean her pension and any retirement benefits were denied. I seriously doubt it. If anyone knows, please do tell. All I've heard on the topic are crickets chirping. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy0w9ev559ro
If only the victims could safely come forward. Some day, perhaps, after the NDAs are ruled unenforceable.
The victim who did come forward and told the vile truth recently committed suicide.
Should tell all of us how much support she was given........by any American institution.
Women and girls, particularly if we're poor, know exactly how much support exists in this patriarchal society in general.
Appalling. And unsurprising. I hope her family seeks an injunction to release the files.
That would be great if it could happen, but I suspect these creeps are careful to pick pretty young things with little family support..........that capitalism is set up to exploit the poor and vulnerable is an open secret I fear.
I agree 100%. But this is America. The only thing we do better than exploitation is greed. Based on my experience, there will be contingency attorneys eager to wet their beaks.
Michael Hudson called it 'grabism' on a Dialogue Works site we listened to the other night....and both he and Wolff see it as a sign of desperation. Even, or maybe especially, the fat cats know the American dream of endless wealth is almost over.
Not just lack of support. In modern societies, feminine values have been eliminated. These societies are all yang and no yin, which is what allows crap like this to happen in the first place. Not saying this is the cause of this sexual abuse and abuse of minors, but this kind of thing would never happen on anywhere near this kind of scale in a society where feminine values are equally respected.
Nor would gentle nurturing males.........and I have some in my life.......be demonized or made to fill lesser because of their kind and living natures.
I suspect that many women, as happy as I am with their partners, would tell you that it's not their biceps or their domineering ways that have endeared their partners to them.
When I see my gentle giant of a son interact with his two girls and son......I am so proud....we don't celebrate either genders real strengths often enough.
Their lust for money and power is endless; they never have enough. They're both cause and effect of the econopathy we live under, where the only supposed connections between humans are transactional. Like the old "joke" everyone is for sale, it's just a matter of price.
Consider water--something vital to life. But according to the sycophantic economists whose theoretical assumptions justify this sick system, natural resources have no value until they are processed. So the bottle of water has value, as does the petroleum derived plastic, but not the source of the water. Add that devastation of human communities and destruction of ecosystems are defined away as irrelevant externalities.
Their idea of human relationships reflects their beliefs that power is everything, vast wealth is a marker of power, and since they're by definition the best, they deserve whatever they want. What could be better to jaded appetites than fresh human produce?
And what could be more evil to the rest of us still capable of empathy, care for the common good, and a sense of purpose beyond rank materialism?
This is an extreme example of humans failing to evolve mentally and spiritually. Virtually all humans have failed in this, but these people failed much harder and more.
"Virtually all humans" have NOT failed. This claim, like one asserting the planet would be better off if all humans were to die, seem to me the product of western Euro and Euro descendant Enlightenment thinking. An either/or logic rather than both/and. Plus an unconscious sense of superiority entitling them to pass judgement; the irony of this unnoticed. There are millions of Indigenous peoples who retain their traditional respectful connections to local nature. And some Euros who live lightly on the land.
As for spiritual evolution, again not limited to either/or. Look at process theology. Or Carl Jung's //Answer to Job// which examines a God with a Shadow coming into consciousness of it. To know all humans have failed is related to those who say all religions are different paths leading to the same mountain top--they'd have to be on that divine peak looking down. Certainty is another Enlightenment habit. Whereas quantum physics has Heisenberg's uncertainty and Einstein's relativity.
Evolution is to modify current traits or to somehow acquire ones that aren't present at all. But it could be spiritual gnosis, ESP, self healing now dismissed as placebo, and savant gifts are innate. There are many cases where these abilities have been triggered by a traumatic experience. Therefore final judgement may be a bit premature.
Sounds pretty awful...proving once again that patriarchy is 1. hard to defeat, 2. in intrinsically sick ideology, 3. predatory at its base, into all forms of power, in particular, the power to sexually violate their prey.
It's becoming clearer that all claims to superiority stand in for a sickness.......whether that sickness manifest as racism, sexism, classism, speciesism.......or the endless warmongering that characterizes western civilization..........it all reduces to an ugly crime against life.
We get rid of these windigos......before they destroy the living earth...or they're taking us all to the hot place. Literal hell on earth.
Thank you for this fiery, evidence-based indictment of what I call the cruelites and their global blackmail child-sacrificing operation, Chris.
I’m curious what you make of the recording being circulated that’s described as Virginia Giuffre’s ‘Deadman’s Switch’:
https://substack.com/@margaretannaalice/note/c-133750255
Is there any way to verify if this is legit? I suppose if it can be verified, though, the propagandists will just call her a serial liar to sow FUD like they have been doing already.
When Maxwell was indicted the period during which her crimes were allegedly committed appears to have been carefully selected to avoid any dates on which Bill Clinton appears on the flight logs.