There's a split among democrats about whether, when we regain power, to seek accountability among republican enablers, or let it go and focus on rebuilding everything that's been broken. I'm glad you're on the accountability side; as I see it, our failure to hold Trump accountable (like Garland's 3 year delay) is the main reason we're in this mess.
Rebuilding without accountability would be like deciding to make dinner while barefoot in a kitchen with broken glass on the floor. You have to clean that broken glass up first.
I don't know of course but I suspect the Democrats who want to let It go and focus on rebuilding are the people who dream of restoring a system that doesn't work well enough-- of which the 30-year Epstein crime spree is surely proof.
Members of Congress wouldn't actually have anything to do once the commission is set up. Thank goodness. There aren't enough of them with prosecutorial chops. And, they'll have plenty of challenging work making what's left of America work better for all its people.
But what we may get are things that seem tangential but are actually really important, probably more important than many realize. We need to keep pulling on strings; every name is a new door.
Emma, brilliant. If I decide ‘why bother’, that’s exactly what’s happening now to many people who feel impotent in this daily onslaught of trashing our democracy.
Every attempt counts! Just like your post here counts and inspires me to keep on pushing daily. I hear my own little voice saying: It’s too much, I’m not going to waste my time calling- emailing - donating- urging others- etc.
So here I am standing with you having read Christopher’s active post with his suggestions. Let’s all take deep breaths and step by step that wall collapses, the door opens and not by magic, but by one by one by one…..one…won.
We cannot go back to before. Before did not work. We have 250 years of malfeasance to make up for, both at home and abroad. We need to rewrite our constitution. We need to expand the house of reps by at least 1131, I did the math from every census going back to that stupid cap. The original reasons for the cap are no longer valid.
Democrats who think this is simply a rebuilding exercise are going to find themselves with a third party. They are used to their constituents being lazy and willing to forget. People have been pushed too far this time, it is not like before.
The tech bros and trump families know this, hence their hard push to accumulate mad capital and start race wars here and in europe, while fleeing south and attempting to relive the 60s/ 70s in every country they can control. We need to scrap half our IC, 17/18 is ridiculous and they routinely show a propensity to find coups a viable foreign policy option.
We need trials - not 100 or 500, 2000 may do. It must be a new day, nothing less will suffice.
You make it sound like this is a political issue- “ republican enablers”and democrats “split” about accountability or “rebuilding”.
This, obviously with just what I’ve read and seen on TV, party affiliation had nothing to do with the depraved participants-as pedophiles or “legal” actors that didn’t do their jobs…..
Actually, Carole, if you look at the factual record, there is a large gap between the two parties.
Did Democrats organize to take away women's health care? Or to strip half of black Americans of representation in Congress?
Democrats have far outpaced Republican regimes in job creation, over *decades* for example. The voting record of the Most Conservative Democratic Senator is vastly better than the voting record of the most "moderate" Republican. And the explosion of anti-black legislation in Southern states after the Republican Court issued the Callais decision? The Republicans are taking away "representation" from 25 Million Americans--worse than the old "3/5ths of a man" if you know what that was. Southern states don't want any Black members of Congress, but they want to count those bodies to boost their entitlement in Congress. Louisiana just passed laws that make Dickensian-era Poorhouse laws and practices look mild.
The parties are measurably different, and the Democrats need to be much more different. Because the party formerly known as Republican is an anti-democracy, pro-fascist movement.
You know I've advocated for a "Tribunal" (aka "Commission") so I agree that such an approach is likely a way to pursue accountability irrespective of whether the perp is a government official or merely a citizen, but to wait for a bunch of politicians to authorize a Commission seems unwise.
So, my question is why wait?
Given the expansive crimes Epstein and Maxwell committed in New York State, no question that the Governor has jurisdiction and authority.
Shouldn't a focused effort to force @Gov. Kathy Hochul to recruit Mr Jack Smith as a NY State Special Prosecutor operating within the NY Attorney General’s office as the most efficient way to begin holding all the perps accountable.
Mr Smith could convene a New York State Grand Jury and work with one or more New York State District Attorneys to begin the indictment process and pursue perps for trial in New York State Court. Obviously, NY State Troopers couldn’t be dispatched to out-of-State locations to apprehend indicted persons.
But, those indicted would not be able to enter NY State without being arrested and detained.
And, if Governors of other States were willing to coordinate law enforcement apprehension of indicted individuals, the ‘dragnet’ would be enlarged.
Imagine a Blanche, a Bondi, Trump, ….. , unable to travel to MA, IL, CA, NC, …., because they’d know they’d be apprehended and jailed pending their trial by Mr Jack Smith’s Prosecutorial Team.
The momentum for accountability on behalf of the Survivors is expanding now.
If Governors like @Gov. Kathy Hochul @Gavin Newsom @JB Pritzker @Governor Maura Healey aligned and agreed to coordinate LAW ENFORCEMENT in pursuit of indicted “Maxwellstein* Class” perps, my sense is that MILLIONS of Americans would respond with “FINALLY, FFS”!!!!
You’d think after all the coaching Mr @Christopher Armitage and their grade school civics teacher taught them, they would have.
But, now they will find it inescapable that we intend to hold them accountable for their Oath and the Tax Payer funded living they each have because enough folk trusted them with their vote.
Got that — @Gov. Kathy Hochul @Gavin Newsom @JB Pritzker @Mikie Sherrill @Governor Abigail Spanberger @Governor Maura Healey @josh_Shapiro @Governor Josh Stein @Governor Jared Polis @Governor Lamont — ???
Democrats? The Republicans have no fault in this miasma? We need to work together politics aside to get justice for the survivors and that means indictments of ALL PERPS INCLUDING THOSE WHO SIMPLY TURNED THEIR HEADS
The Republicans are far more to blame for hiding the evidence in the Epstein files, but I think there are a certain number of centrist and corporate Democrats who are willing to pull their punches when it comes to punishing Trump for his corruption and lawbreaking. This is what President Biden and Merrick Garland did. They should have prosecuted Trump rapidly for his insurrection and the lawbreaking we knew of, but Garland dawdled when action was needed. These Democrats are unwilling to jeopardize the money they received from corporations and oligarchs, and they are competing with Republicans for the same sources of big money. My criticisms of the Democratic leadership is primarily a criticism of the Democratic National Committee and their reliance on pollsters and political consultants, as well as their refusal to go out to speak to ordinary people and to learn how to communicate with them. Democrats used to have that ability, some of their candidates still do have the ability to communicate and reach working people. The Democrats must do this without sacrificing their most loyal members.
There are many of us, including myself, who think Trump should face the full power of the law when it comes to his illegal and unconstitutional behavior as well as his personal corruption and that of his family. However, there is a fairly decent chance that Trump may be deemed incompetent to be criminally prosecuted due to his advancing dementia. This may make it possible only to prosecute his sons Donald Jr. and Eric, as well as his daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner for their respective involvement in the financial corruption and self-dealing during Trump’s first and second administration.
Maybe we should have three Nuremburgs. 1 for the Epstein files, 1 for war crimes, and one for members of the corrupt Trump family. Plus something to cancel that IRS immunity for the family.
It all sounds good. Now, try and get it over the door sill. There are too many guilty politicians to ever get enough votes in congress to get this done. I'm rooting for the current commission but I'll see it to believe it at this point.
I plan to sit down and write all of my Virginia congressmen and women to see if I can light a little fire under them to address all of this corruption. It's not just at the white house. Congress has a lot to answer for as well. It's time the voters find a way to overcome all of the election suppression and vote all of these corrupt politicians out from both parties.
Release ALL the files, unredact ALL the adult names, charge and punish ALL of them. This is not, and never should have been, political. It is critical that every guilty person regardless of gender and regardless of their political or community standing gets publicly NAMED. We don't want any of them in our political system or in our communities. It's pretty damned simple, right?
One would think….using Christopher’s metaphor, picking up a piece of glass or using poor tools( DOJ?) to try for a cleanup that gets even shards will just mix the mess, not get rid of it
“ All that’s missing is a body with the power to use that evidence and the willingness to prosecute”. This time, given the chance, Democrats must jettison their aversion to holding the powerful to account. They must act swiftly, relentlessly, and fearlessly. This applies to all the current administration’s crimes, as well as the Epstein travesty. Previous failures to prosecute war criminals, banksters responsible for the 2008 financial crash, etc., failure to immediately arrest the outgoing president in 2021 for attempting to overthrow the government, etc., have proven catastrophic.
I have a nagging sense that the Idiot Dems will not want to pursue justice for reasons of fear, hav ing to address innumerable catastrophes, and weakness.
Never mind how many high ranking democrats are themselves associates and close friends of Epstein. At most they’d find some sacrificial lamb to throw to the wolves and hope that appeases them, make a big show of restoring norms and institutions and congratulate America for weathering the totalitarian take over while Palantir continues it mass surveillance drag net and data centers. There is no political solution to what ails this nation because our all of our political body and institutions are 100% compromised.
But other countries have held their citizens shown to be in the files accountable. Maybe not with jail, but demanding that they leave their jobs, at least. We haven't even done that.
I heard a figure of some 5,000 Nazis to South America and points beyond; plus a similar number of “Nazi engineers and scientists” grabbed by the U.S. after the fall of Berlin (and given government jobs: see the book “Operation Paperclip”), and a likely similar number grabbed by the Soviets at about the same time!
The former Prince Andrew in the UK is getting away with it, except for having his titles removed and being kicked out of his royal lodgings (“light force” was required to get him out: these people are shameless and arrogant).
They were supposed to produce something to indicate what had been redacted - ie like sometimes you would see codes where those redactions are. Did they give that to congress? Based on a couple of those internal emails it was like they had zero direction on how to redact. I am really curious about their process. They got the assignment and then what. Where did they go to search for relevant docs etc? I am betting those were far from sitting in one office or database. I wonder if they even know what they don't have or should have produced.
You are correct. They will then face primaries. That is the difference now. The dnc has been rightfully sidelined and should continue to be in the future.
Many of those representatives, especially those who live in swing states or districts, may fear that they would look “negative”, “angry” or even “hostile” to the more rightist factions of their voters. Just like republican lawmakers, afraid of their own shadow, and also afraid of at minimum 20% of their voter base. So as a result, both parties look weak and feckless, just when they should be screaming bloody murder at Trump’s corruption.
There's a split among democrats about whether, when we regain power, to seek accountability among republican enablers, or let it go and focus on rebuilding everything that's been broken. I'm glad you're on the accountability side; as I see it, our failure to hold Trump accountable (like Garland's 3 year delay) is the main reason we're in this mess.
Rebuilding without accountability would be like deciding to make dinner while barefoot in a kitchen with broken glass on the floor. You have to clean that broken glass up first.
I don't know of course but I suspect the Democrats who want to let It go and focus on rebuilding are the people who dream of restoring a system that doesn't work well enough-- of which the 30-year Epstein crime spree is surely proof.
Members of Congress wouldn't actually have anything to do once the commission is set up. Thank goodness. There aren't enough of them with prosecutorial chops. And, they'll have plenty of challenging work making what's left of America work better for all its people.
I’m pessimistic about getting much on Epstein. Too many people want it to stay buried.
Looks like the former Prince Andrew in the UK won’t be convicted of anything, either. I’ve been following that one.
The Epstein class is powerful.
It can’t hurt to try, of course.
But what we may get are things that seem tangential but are actually really important, probably more important than many realize. We need to keep pulling on strings; every name is a new door.
Emma, brilliant. If I decide ‘why bother’, that’s exactly what’s happening now to many people who feel impotent in this daily onslaught of trashing our democracy.
Every attempt counts! Just like your post here counts and inspires me to keep on pushing daily. I hear my own little voice saying: It’s too much, I’m not going to waste my time calling- emailing - donating- urging others- etc.
So here I am standing with you having read Christopher’s active post with his suggestions. Let’s all take deep breaths and step by step that wall collapses, the door opens and not by magic, but by one by one by one…..one…won.
No letting stuff go. Biden, et Al, let stuff go and slowed things down and we got nowhere or maybe the road to hell where we are now.
We cannot go back to before. Before did not work. We have 250 years of malfeasance to make up for, both at home and abroad. We need to rewrite our constitution. We need to expand the house of reps by at least 1131, I did the math from every census going back to that stupid cap. The original reasons for the cap are no longer valid.
Democrats who think this is simply a rebuilding exercise are going to find themselves with a third party. They are used to their constituents being lazy and willing to forget. People have been pushed too far this time, it is not like before.
The tech bros and trump families know this, hence their hard push to accumulate mad capital and start race wars here and in europe, while fleeing south and attempting to relive the 60s/ 70s in every country they can control. We need to scrap half our IC, 17/18 is ridiculous and they routinely show a propensity to find coups a viable foreign policy option.
We need trials - not 100 or 500, 2000 may do. It must be a new day, nothing less will suffice.
You make it sound like this is a political issue- “ republican enablers”and democrats “split” about accountability or “rebuilding”.
This, obviously with just what I’ve read and seen on TV, party affiliation had nothing to do with the depraved participants-as pedophiles or “legal” actors that didn’t do their jobs…..
Actually, Carole, if you look at the factual record, there is a large gap between the two parties.
Did Democrats organize to take away women's health care? Or to strip half of black Americans of representation in Congress?
Democrats have far outpaced Republican regimes in job creation, over *decades* for example. The voting record of the Most Conservative Democratic Senator is vastly better than the voting record of the most "moderate" Republican. And the explosion of anti-black legislation in Southern states after the Republican Court issued the Callais decision? The Republicans are taking away "representation" from 25 Million Americans--worse than the old "3/5ths of a man" if you know what that was. Southern states don't want any Black members of Congress, but they want to count those bodies to boost their entitlement in Congress. Louisiana just passed laws that make Dickensian-era Poorhouse laws and practices look mild.
The parties are measurably different, and the Democrats need to be much more different. Because the party formerly known as Republican is an anti-democracy, pro-fascist movement.
That little prick Alex Acosta must be dealt with too....lying to Congress & protecting a felonious child trafficker.
Absolutely RIGHT
Not to mention Alan Dershowitz!
It’s about time something happened about this. It’s been delayed far too long and the more that leaks out the guiltier certain old orange men look.
You know I've advocated for a "Tribunal" (aka "Commission") so I agree that such an approach is likely a way to pursue accountability irrespective of whether the perp is a government official or merely a citizen, but to wait for a bunch of politicians to authorize a Commission seems unwise.
So, my question is why wait?
Given the expansive crimes Epstein and Maxwell committed in New York State, no question that the Governor has jurisdiction and authority.
Shouldn't a focused effort to force @Gov. Kathy Hochul to recruit Mr Jack Smith as a NY State Special Prosecutor operating within the NY Attorney General’s office as the most efficient way to begin holding all the perps accountable.
Mr Smith could convene a New York State Grand Jury and work with one or more New York State District Attorneys to begin the indictment process and pursue perps for trial in New York State Court. Obviously, NY State Troopers couldn’t be dispatched to out-of-State locations to apprehend indicted persons.
But, those indicted would not be able to enter NY State without being arrested and detained.
And, if Governors of other States were willing to coordinate law enforcement apprehension of indicted individuals, the ‘dragnet’ would be enlarged.
Imagine a Blanche, a Bondi, Trump, ….. , unable to travel to MA, IL, CA, NC, …., because they’d know they’d be apprehended and jailed pending their trial by Mr Jack Smith’s Prosecutorial Team.
The momentum for accountability on behalf of the Survivors is expanding now.
If Governors like @Gov. Kathy Hochul @Gavin Newsom @JB Pritzker @Governor Maura Healey aligned and agreed to coordinate LAW ENFORCEMENT in pursuit of indicted “Maxwellstein* Class” perps, my sense is that MILLIONS of Americans would respond with “FINALLY, FFS”!!!!
Thank you.
*H/t @Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez
Thank you. This is exactly what should be happening right now.
FYI and thank you, Emma.
https://substack.com/profile/92755196-bf/note/c-275922029?r=1j82d8&utm_source=notes-share-action&utm_medium=web
Brilliant! Why didn’t Governor Hochul and the others you suggested think of this themselves?
Wish I knew.
You’d think after all the coaching Mr @Christopher Armitage and their grade school civics teacher taught them, they would have.
But, now they will find it inescapable that we intend to hold them accountable for their Oath and the Tax Payer funded living they each have because enough folk trusted them with their vote.
Got that — @Gov. Kathy Hochul @Gavin Newsom @JB Pritzker @Mikie Sherrill @Governor Abigail Spanberger @Governor Maura Healey @josh_Shapiro @Governor Josh Stein @Governor Jared Polis @Governor Lamont — ???
cc @Zohran Mamdani
We must demand they deliver justice, and we must make an absolute commitment to refusing to let some Democrats to back down.
Democrats? The Republicans have no fault in this miasma? We need to work together politics aside to get justice for the survivors and that means indictments of ALL PERPS INCLUDING THOSE WHO SIMPLY TURNED THEIR HEADS
The Republicans are far more to blame for hiding the evidence in the Epstein files, but I think there are a certain number of centrist and corporate Democrats who are willing to pull their punches when it comes to punishing Trump for his corruption and lawbreaking. This is what President Biden and Merrick Garland did. They should have prosecuted Trump rapidly for his insurrection and the lawbreaking we knew of, but Garland dawdled when action was needed. These Democrats are unwilling to jeopardize the money they received from corporations and oligarchs, and they are competing with Republicans for the same sources of big money. My criticisms of the Democratic leadership is primarily a criticism of the Democratic National Committee and their reliance on pollsters and political consultants, as well as their refusal to go out to speak to ordinary people and to learn how to communicate with them. Democrats used to have that ability, some of their candidates still do have the ability to communicate and reach working people. The Democrats must do this without sacrificing their most loyal members.
There are many of us, including myself, who think Trump should face the full power of the law when it comes to his illegal and unconstitutional behavior as well as his personal corruption and that of his family. However, there is a fairly decent chance that Trump may be deemed incompetent to be criminally prosecuted due to his advancing dementia. This may make it possible only to prosecute his sons Donald Jr. and Eric, as well as his daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner for their respective involvement in the financial corruption and self-dealing during Trump’s first and second administration.
Excellent points!
Maybe we should have three Nuremburgs. 1 for the Epstein files, 1 for war crimes, and one for members of the corrupt Trump family. Plus something to cancel that IRS immunity for the family.
And get palentir out of irs first
Thank you for this eye opening report!
It all sounds good. Now, try and get it over the door sill. There are too many guilty politicians to ever get enough votes in congress to get this done. I'm rooting for the current commission but I'll see it to believe it at this point.
I plan to sit down and write all of my Virginia congressmen and women to see if I can light a little fire under them to address all of this corruption. It's not just at the white house. Congress has a lot to answer for as well. It's time the voters find a way to overcome all of the election suppression and vote all of these corrupt politicians out from both parties.
Release ALL the files, unredact ALL the adult names, charge and punish ALL of them. This is not, and never should have been, political. It is critical that every guilty person regardless of gender and regardless of their political or community standing gets publicly NAMED. We don't want any of them in our political system or in our communities. It's pretty damned simple, right?
One would think….using Christopher’s metaphor, picking up a piece of glass or using poor tools( DOJ?) to try for a cleanup that gets even shards will just mix the mess, not get rid of it
“ All that’s missing is a body with the power to use that evidence and the willingness to prosecute”. This time, given the chance, Democrats must jettison their aversion to holding the powerful to account. They must act swiftly, relentlessly, and fearlessly. This applies to all the current administration’s crimes, as well as the Epstein travesty. Previous failures to prosecute war criminals, banksters responsible for the 2008 financial crash, etc., failure to immediately arrest the outgoing president in 2021 for attempting to overthrow the government, etc., have proven catastrophic.
It’s not political!! Democrats and Republicans alike need to show up, stand up , and use their agency to clean up the mess that’s been made
Evidently, the Republicans have abandoned the notion of showing up.
I have a nagging sense that the Idiot Dems will not want to pursue justice for reasons of fear, hav ing to address innumerable catastrophes, and weakness.
Never mind how many high ranking democrats are themselves associates and close friends of Epstein. At most they’d find some sacrificial lamb to throw to the wolves and hope that appeases them, make a big show of restoring norms and institutions and congratulate America for weathering the totalitarian take over while Palantir continues it mass surveillance drag net and data centers. There is no political solution to what ails this nation because our all of our political body and institutions are 100% compromised.
The sexual disease is global
But other countries have held their citizens shown to be in the files accountable. Maybe not with jail, but demanding that they leave their jobs, at least. We haven't even done that.
Either there is real accountability or there isn’t. There isn’t. There is no legitimacy to be found in this system. It is wholly despotic.
Even the Nuremberg Trials only hit the top guys. Plenty of lower level cases were ignored. There were too many of them.
Whatever we CAN do, we MUST do
I heard a figure of some 5,000 Nazis to South America and points beyond; plus a similar number of “Nazi engineers and scientists” grabbed by the U.S. after the fall of Berlin (and given government jobs: see the book “Operation Paperclip”), and a likely similar number grabbed by the Soviets at about the same time!
Indeed. I’ve heard that too.
The former Prince Andrew in the UK is getting away with it, except for having his titles removed and being kicked out of his royal lodgings (“light force” was required to get him out: these people are shameless and arrogant).
Yes, transnational at the least, but that is far from the limits of their predation.
And the irs
I think the files mentioning Dems have been released. The others haven’t.
They were supposed to produce something to indicate what had been redacted - ie like sometimes you would see codes where those redactions are. Did they give that to congress? Based on a couple of those internal emails it was like they had zero direction on how to redact. I am really curious about their process. They got the assignment and then what. Where did they go to search for relevant docs etc? I am betting those were far from sitting in one office or database. I wonder if they even know what they don't have or should have produced.
We’re so far beyond “supposed to” , the very concept is laughable
Fair, but I still want to know. It is like the blind leading the blind. We need to go back to basics.
Blind? You mean pathological. Yes, it’s the pathological leading the pathological.
“Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.”
The public will demand it!
I think they'll be out 4 blood!
You are correct. They will then face primaries. That is the difference now. The dnc has been rightfully sidelined and should continue to be in the future.
Many of those representatives, especially those who live in swing states or districts, may fear that they would look “negative”, “angry” or even “hostile” to the more rightist factions of their voters. Just like republican lawmakers, afraid of their own shadow, and also afraid of at minimum 20% of their voter base. So as a result, both parties look weak and feckless, just when they should be screaming bloody murder at Trump’s corruption.
Thank you for your brilliant work. I truly hope this happens and that I live to see it.
Margaret Sims
Nashville, TN.
Yes I will call my reps and senators. I want justice for these victims so much!
Thanks for rolling thru all this Chris!
Decided to “Be like Elaine” :)
https://substack.com/profile/92755196-bf/note/c-275922029?r=1j82d8&utm_source=notes-share-action&utm_medium=web
WOW! YES!! 💯