Submitted by Hardscrabble Farmer
“Of course, the notion that the Epstein case somehow validates every outlandish assertion uttered by the tinfoil-hat brigade is absurd.”
Nightmarish allegations against the well-connected financier show why so many Americans let their imagination run wild when it comes to elite corruption.
The more we learn about the allegations against the reclusive billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, the more he seems like a figment of the online fever swamps. The wealthy financier arrested last week for underage sex trafficking is accused of operating an international sex ring that could implicate high-powered men across business, politics, and Hollywood. Every nightmarish detail of his story—from the creepily decorated mansion to the flights on “the Lolita Express” to the stays on “Orgy Island”—sounds like it was conjured by conspiracy theorists.
Just this morning, President Donald Trump told reporters that Alex Acosta was stepping down as Secretary of Labor amid mounting outrage over the sweetheart deal he gave Epstein years ago as a federal prosecutor. The resignation will surely draw more attention to what Epstein got away with over the years—and who helped him.
It should not come as a surprise that some of America’s most outspoken conspiracists have spent the days since Epstein’s arrest taking victory laps.
“I definitely see it as a moment of vindication,” David Seaman, a chief proponent of the so-called Pizzagate conspiracy theory, told me. “I think this is a turning point.”
“This is just the beginning,” said Liz Crokin, a prominent QAnon devotee, in a video posted to YouTube. “The storm is officially here.”
“I think I’ve been unnecessarily maligned,” said Mike Cernovich, a right-wing social-media personality who has claimed that every A-list actor in Hollywood is a pedophile. “This shows I’m doing real things, man.” (Cernovich was, in fact, among those who successfully sued to unseal court documents related to Epstein.)
Of course, the notion that the Epstein case somehow validates every outlandish assertion uttered by the tinfoil-hat brigade is absurd. But squint at the recent headlines and you’ll see a story—about abuse of power, and elite impunity, and moral rot in the ruling class—that helps explain why a certain breed of conspiracy theorist has gained so much traction in this political moment.
Fears of systematic, underground child abuse have run through popular conspiracy theories for centuries. One of the oldest anti-Semitic canards held that Jews were murdering Christian children and using their blood to bake matzo. More recently, in the 1980s, America was gripped by the “Satanic panic,” as parents became convinced that their day-care centers were filled with Satanists ritualistically abusing their children. The 1999 film Eyes Wide Shut—which depicts a fictional secret society conducting a cultlike sexual ceremony—spawned fevered speculation about the real-world predation that the director Stanley Kubrick was supposedly trying to expose.
Anna Merlan, the author of Republic of Lies, says allegations of pedophilia are central to some of the most widely circulated conspiracy theories on the internet today. She attributes this in part to the simple horror of the crime. “If someone is abusing children, there is no worse thing to be,” Merlan said. Conspiracists tend to weave their narratives in ways that conveniently implicate their political enemies while sparing their allies.
But, Merlan added, “conspiracy theories aren’t based on nothing”—and with every new #MeToo allegation, convictions deepen among the true believers. “Any sort of sexual-abuse scandal that involves powerful people is taken as proof of their basic thesis,” she said. “It’s sort of a sad reality that the world is so full of rape and sexual abuse and predation of women and children that it’s possible to do this.”
For those quasi-professional conspiracy-mongers pushing some version of the “underground pedophile ring” story, the charges against Epstein could prove especially helpful. Seaman, for example, has been reupping requests for Patreon donations in recent days. When I asked him how the fundraising was going, he sounded optimistic. “The Patreon has languished for some time because people were starting to not believe me,” he explained. “They were not seeing any forward movement.” Now? “A lot of people have been Googling us.”
He’s not alone. Mark Fenster, a professor at the University of Florida who has studied the history of conspiracy theories, told me the current prevalence of paranoid thinking across the political spectrum makes this period unusual. Typically, he said, the party that’s out of power is more prone to conspiracy theories. But in the Trump era, everyone—right, left, and center—seems to suspect corrupt machinations at the highest levels of society. And, really, can they be blamed?
As Matthew Walther recently wrote at The Week, the Epstein story doesn’t fit neatly into any of the dominant partisan-media narratives. The bad guys belong to both parties. Trump is linked to Epstein, but so is former President Bill Clinton. The case has less to do with any political tribe and more to do with class and status. The story, as it’s been alleged, is one of rich, powerful men careening through the world with complete impunity, treating the young and the vulnerable as props, and protecting one another from accountability.You don’t have to believe in lizard people or baby-eating politicians to understand why so many are looking at our leaders and letting their imagination run wild.
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Hollywood Has a Weird Reaction to Jeffrey Epstein’s 2nd Arrest
Hollywood has a weird reaction to the arrest of Jeffrey Epstein. But perhaps we have seen this reaction before? It’s Harvey Weinstein all over again.
By Mary Magaline
on
July 7, 2019
They All Know Something
It’s Harvey Weinstein all over again. Jeffrey Epstein was found out, and was arrested Saturday evening in New York on child sex trafficking charges. And for the second time, Hollywood had one hell of a weird reaction. They knew – all of them knew what Jeffrey Epstein was, and what a lot of powerful people are – and they knew it for a while. And just as with Harvey Weinstein, Jeffrey Epstein was insulated and protected by those who craved his billions.
(elevate, if relevant)
(ignore, if not)
There is literally no difference between Hollywood actors, corporate actors, and political actors.
Same skill set.
Acting and lying.
Perhaps this explains Corey Feldman. Did he “know” Epstein?
I say Epstein is a gay Jewish actor who only fooled around with women if necessary/as necessary for the script.
That’s my take because they always use gay Jewish actors!
Always!
This is the best movie that describes, explains and makes clear the ruling class, the world and the way things are and will always be, forever and forever and so on…..amen.
My girl, thank you for that movie. I had never seen it before. The first part was funny as hell. The second part, scary as hell.
Perhaps someone might substitute “those children” for “that woman”?
This world is full of this shit. As far as child abuse just listen to people who have come out of secret societies or the high level Satanic organizations. Will send cold chills to the bone. Our nation ,our world is ruled by evil people and they do get away with murder.
Mat 18:6 But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
Slime journalism.
BYU alum.
I figured he was another hack from the Columbia School of Journalism.
Ted Gunderson, ex-FBI, was giving details of child kidnapping, pedophilia, and satanic sacrifices exposing TPTB in the early 1990s but they made sure nothing was done about it. The MSM is busy trying to schmooze it all over with the public and smear Trump. I’ll be surprised if any of probably 10% of TPTB who are guilty are prosecuted even now, esp given how well the Dark State authorities protected Jeffery Epstein.
If you wait long enough, an article finally comes out that resolves all your doubts and suspicions. The power agents, for lack of a better term, find ways to entrap everybody from the top down, from Hollywood to DC, from Boston to Houston. Actors get photographed sucking dick, it’s noting – just a prerequisite. Politicos get a ride on the Lolita express or a round the world in bed with peeing prostitutes, with pictures even. Judges get caught with kiddie porn on their, ahem, hard drives. The general public gets recorded by their phone camera as they peruse titillating pics of porno princesses.
There was a scene in a Mexican movie, a child had an accident in a hotel. A man who was present could have saved the kid except for one detail, he was at the time completely naked. The child’s mother excoriated the man. You could have done something instead of being so concerned with your damned body shame (pudor).
I mention this because the power the blackmailers have over their victims is their damn image. They could just be like Stucky, open and transparent. Instead, they hold on to an intangible something that becomes their private hell, public opinion. Oh, and the real threat of jail time. “Hypocrisy is a tribute vice pays to virtue.” – La Rochefoucauld
I read a story about the Jews resorting to leaving their doors open to prevent the jackboots from kicking them down. It defeated the purpose of kicking the door down; terrorizing the residents. Acquiescence that backfired later and led to a sheep round up. It would have been better to fight the jackboots then and there but hindsight is too late, they say. Maybe they suspected that work does indeed set you free.
———————————————————
But the tax collector stood at a distance, unwilling even to lift up his eyes to heaven. Instead, he beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner!’
On my 70s and 80s rewatch list!
2 Corinthians 5:21 KJB… “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
There is mercy…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXTmarDsSAQ
That’s Biblical!
A conspiracy is 2 or more people acting in furtherance of a common end…Literally everything in DC is the product of conspiracies, and quoting the CIA’s Project Mockingbird phrase “conspiracy theories” to dismiss this fact simply proves that the speaker is either bought or of low intelligence…
They are all traitors to what is decent. They still get majority support from the American people. Crazy stuff.
Thanks HF, right on cue….the collective sigh of relief is deafening.
Come on you guys, the government was there to help “him”.
They just did not tell Epstein who they meant by “ him”.
Another indication of how deep this pile is
Expecting the worst from our politicians leaves us unsurprised. I expect that there is no altruism or true patriotism among our leaders. I would be glad to be proven wrong.
The lawlessness is front and center right in the picture. Do you see it?
“U.S. v Jeffrey Epstein”
That is your lawlessness on display. The lawlessness YOU beg for because YOU don’t want to be liable for your own actions – building the expectation, resetting the precedent. They have put it on display for you, knowing that YOU beg them to “do something” about this criminality. The game is monopoly over criminal justice and they knew YOU didn’t even notice, they knew YOU would BEG them to have the monopoly over criminal justice because YOU refuse to be liable for your own actions thus you don’t expect anyone to be liable for their own actions. Hell, when they said “action” they knew that you didn’t even know that in legalease “action” means “court action” i.e. an accusation that initiates a court action for remedy to the alleged injury. They plaster on the board and on their dockets so that you will ‘understand’ their monopoly over criminal ‘justice’ because ALL the criminals REALLY care about is having that monopoly in THEIR HANDS so it is NOT IN YOUR HANDS. They also knew that YOU, in your lawlessness, didn’t even know that they took the ONLY peaceful remedy to THEIR CRIMES from you. They play the GOOD GUYS while they levy war on You. U.S. V. Jeffrey Epstein may seem normal and proper to YOU but it’s not, the U.S. is a fiction, it has no intent, no decision making capability, it’s an idea, and while its fictional status was acknowledged in earlier case precedent it was twisted into real later, just slipped in, but they knew you wouldn’t notice because YOU are lawless when ignoring the law.
Yes, the only they care about is their monopoly over criminal justice and YOUR ignorance of that being lawless because that way they will NEVER being themselves to justice, they will offer immunity to all their criminal partners and keep defrauding, robbing, extorting, kidnapping, enslaving and murdering YOU.
You don’t even know where the front line is, what winning even means or looks like hence you don’t know what their war actually is – How can you possibly win anything?
Final Judgement coming – 27 years 1 month and ?? Days. If you spend every waking second mastering the law you might just avoid your line’s end and enjoy everlasting life. It’s a long journey but very little time.