Hey all...my daughter is getting married tomorrow...and I have a wedding rehearsal in a bit. I will be back later this evening...to reply to your comments. Thank you for your patience!
Your daughter's wedding is far more important than getting back to us. You need to enjoy this and take care of family. This is basically and hopefully a once in a lifetime event for both of your. Take care Jack.
I honestly don't know what would restore my trust, there has already been so much managing. My feeling is that some of the allegations contained in those files are so explosive, so stomach-churnigly sick, that they will never see the light of day. The girls, boys, and women raped, assaulted, and abused by the men and women pandering and flattering Jeffrey Epstein were insignificant and disposable then and are considered by them to be inconveniences to be managed now.
Power of the kind exercised by Epstein and Maxwell is protected and deployed by both governments and institutions, it tends to be "bullet proof." Julie K. Brown pulled the curtain back on just a fraction of what he'd done, and power absorbed the blow, sacrificed a scapegoat who was paid or intimidated into going away quietly and keeping his mouth shut, and the operation kept right on going.
Jodi Kantor and Megan Towhey meticulously documented Harvey Weinstein's rape and abuse. He was tried but parts of his conviction were overturned on technicalities, and the system kept right on churning. Ronan Farrow documented everything his baby sister went through at the hands of Woody Allen, including the smear campaign and the pressure on local law enforcement, and nothing happened. He even went on to marry his stepdaughter, who was underage when he started "seeing" her.
The Catholic Church protected and elevated sexual predators because the institution - theoretically god's representative on earth - was more important than the damage to scores of boys and girls.
The common denominator in all of these cases is children and women, and they have no power against obscenely wealthy and powerful (and largely white) men. They are simply objects to be used, abused, and then tossed aside. Those men secure in the knowledge that they will never be called to account for their depraved behavior. On the off chance they are, they will bargain their way out, equally secure in the knowledge that they hold cards that would hurt others and institutions that don't want to be exposed. Some days I fantasize that on his way out of congress Thomas Massie will read in to the congressional record the name of every man in those files and what the victims are charging those men did. Boy would that be a news day.
As a woman, as a mother, I probably couldn’t read the actual details of these crimes. I hate to admit that my trust was never there when it came to sexual assault being prosecuted like it should be but they didn’t have to beat us over the head with the evidence that they protect the well connected like this. My biggest reason for wanting these particular people prosecuted is that I don’t for one minute, not even one, think that this group of perpetrators stopped because Epstein is dead. Opportunity was provided by Epstein but that most likely stops nothing. My trust is nothing compared to the damage done to the victims. What kind of country are we if we just settle and seal?
I don’t say it’s a good thing or a bad thing, but a major change has been the proliferation of unfiltered information and opinion, so one person’s opinion, informed or not, is seen as being as valid as anyone else’s. The immediacy of the news cycle and the need to fill it with something - anything - means little time for reflection. You’ve given us a clear route map for what is an extraordinarily complex subject, and provided, as usual, a great service. I’d also add a further rule of thumb - don’t believe anything until it’s been officially denied. As you say, find the patterns.
Sadly other countries have let the perpetrators off the hook for the most part. Look how long it took king Charles to do something about his brother. But I do not think he is even in jail. You are right we are protecting the wrong people. Children should be allowed to be children but that is not what these horrid individuals that as far as I am concerned are evil people that have gobs of money and get away with despicable crimes against children and think they are entitled to do it. I do not believe accountability will happen in my lifetime...
Note the construction. Everyone asks what is in the files. The more precise question is who controls the answer to that question — and what they will do to keep controlling it.
This is not new. File the date: 1972. The White House does not deny the break-in. It manages the release of what is known about it. For two years, the country argues about the content of the tapes. The deeper story — that an administration had decided it was above the process of disclosure itself — takes longer to see. Most people never fully see it. They see Nixon. They do not see the structure Nixon revealed.
Jack is correct that the pattern is the larger half. Names are legible. Patterns require patience. And institutions understand this. They will always sacrifice a name before they sacrifice a system. The name becomes the story. The system continues.
Note which reflex appears in every case Jack traces: not concealment exactly, but management. The distinction matters. Concealment is a crime. Management is a protocol. You can prosecute concealment. Management has lawyers, timelines, and press releases. It is indistinguishable, from the outside, from due diligence.
This is why the credibility death spiral Jack describes is so difficult to interrupt. Each move within it is defensible. The aggregate is damning. But no one is accountable for the aggregate. Accountability requires a discrete act. The spiral is a policy.
What history adds to Jack’s account: the exit he describes — the quiet withdrawal, the private conclusion that the official story is managed fiction — is not politically neutral. It does not distribute evenly. It concentrates. The people most likely to exit are those who already had the least reason to believe the system was working for them. The people most likely to stay and argue are those for whom it mostly has.
The asymmetry is important. When trust collapses, it does not collapse uniformly. It collapses in layers. And the layer that goes last — the one that holds the longest — is the one closest to power.
That layer is now showing cracks.
The question Jack leaves open — whether anything could restore trust at this point — is the right question to leave open. A clean answer would itself be a form of the problem. The honest position is this: the mechanisms exist. Courts can hold trials. Oversight can publish findings. Local institutions can demonstrate that proximity still produces accountability. The machinery is not gone.
What is uncertain is whether anyone with the power to use it has the incentive to do so.
That uncertainty is not a gap in the argument. It is the argument.
Congratulations, Jack, weddings 💒 are a special time in a parent's life. TGIF to you and your readers, hope you have a wonderful weekend and will reStack ASAP 💯 👍
My trust would flicker back to life if there were real men and women (wealthy/powerful) that are held accountable for the atrocities in the files but also for the rampant criminality of this administration.
Hey all...my daughter is getting married tomorrow...and I have a wedding rehearsal in a bit. I will be back later this evening...to reply to your comments. Thank you for your patience!
-Jack
Your daughter's wedding is far more important than getting back to us. You need to enjoy this and take care of family. This is basically and hopefully a once in a lifetime event for both of your. Take care Jack.
I honestly don't know what would restore my trust, there has already been so much managing. My feeling is that some of the allegations contained in those files are so explosive, so stomach-churnigly sick, that they will never see the light of day. The girls, boys, and women raped, assaulted, and abused by the men and women pandering and flattering Jeffrey Epstein were insignificant and disposable then and are considered by them to be inconveniences to be managed now.
Power of the kind exercised by Epstein and Maxwell is protected and deployed by both governments and institutions, it tends to be "bullet proof." Julie K. Brown pulled the curtain back on just a fraction of what he'd done, and power absorbed the blow, sacrificed a scapegoat who was paid or intimidated into going away quietly and keeping his mouth shut, and the operation kept right on going.
Jodi Kantor and Megan Towhey meticulously documented Harvey Weinstein's rape and abuse. He was tried but parts of his conviction were overturned on technicalities, and the system kept right on churning. Ronan Farrow documented everything his baby sister went through at the hands of Woody Allen, including the smear campaign and the pressure on local law enforcement, and nothing happened. He even went on to marry his stepdaughter, who was underage when he started "seeing" her.
The Catholic Church protected and elevated sexual predators because the institution - theoretically god's representative on earth - was more important than the damage to scores of boys and girls.
The common denominator in all of these cases is children and women, and they have no power against obscenely wealthy and powerful (and largely white) men. They are simply objects to be used, abused, and then tossed aside. Those men secure in the knowledge that they will never be called to account for their depraved behavior. On the off chance they are, they will bargain their way out, equally secure in the knowledge that they hold cards that would hurt others and institutions that don't want to be exposed. Some days I fantasize that on his way out of congress Thomas Massie will read in to the congressional record the name of every man in those files and what the victims are charging those men did. Boy would that be a news day.
As a woman, as a mother, I probably couldn’t read the actual details of these crimes. I hate to admit that my trust was never there when it came to sexual assault being prosecuted like it should be but they didn’t have to beat us over the head with the evidence that they protect the well connected like this. My biggest reason for wanting these particular people prosecuted is that I don’t for one minute, not even one, think that this group of perpetrators stopped because Epstein is dead. Opportunity was provided by Epstein but that most likely stops nothing. My trust is nothing compared to the damage done to the victims. What kind of country are we if we just settle and seal?
I don’t say it’s a good thing or a bad thing, but a major change has been the proliferation of unfiltered information and opinion, so one person’s opinion, informed or not, is seen as being as valid as anyone else’s. The immediacy of the news cycle and the need to fill it with something - anything - means little time for reflection. You’ve given us a clear route map for what is an extraordinarily complex subject, and provided, as usual, a great service. I’d also add a further rule of thumb - don’t believe anything until it’s been officially denied. As you say, find the patterns.
Thanks, Jack! Thanks to your writing, I'm starting to see patterns I never saw before. Thanks for all you do!
🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬👍👍👍👍👍
Sadly other countries have let the perpetrators off the hook for the most part. Look how long it took king Charles to do something about his brother. But I do not think he is even in jail. You are right we are protecting the wrong people. Children should be allowed to be children but that is not what these horrid individuals that as far as I am concerned are evil people that have gobs of money and get away with despicable crimes against children and think they are entitled to do it. I do not believe accountability will happen in my lifetime...
Jack is correct.
Note the construction. Everyone asks what is in the files. The more precise question is who controls the answer to that question — and what they will do to keep controlling it.
This is not new. File the date: 1972. The White House does not deny the break-in. It manages the release of what is known about it. For two years, the country argues about the content of the tapes. The deeper story — that an administration had decided it was above the process of disclosure itself — takes longer to see. Most people never fully see it. They see Nixon. They do not see the structure Nixon revealed.
Jack is correct that the pattern is the larger half. Names are legible. Patterns require patience. And institutions understand this. They will always sacrifice a name before they sacrifice a system. The name becomes the story. The system continues.
Note which reflex appears in every case Jack traces: not concealment exactly, but management. The distinction matters. Concealment is a crime. Management is a protocol. You can prosecute concealment. Management has lawyers, timelines, and press releases. It is indistinguishable, from the outside, from due diligence.
This is why the credibility death spiral Jack describes is so difficult to interrupt. Each move within it is defensible. The aggregate is damning. But no one is accountable for the aggregate. Accountability requires a discrete act. The spiral is a policy.
What history adds to Jack’s account: the exit he describes — the quiet withdrawal, the private conclusion that the official story is managed fiction — is not politically neutral. It does not distribute evenly. It concentrates. The people most likely to exit are those who already had the least reason to believe the system was working for them. The people most likely to stay and argue are those for whom it mostly has.
The asymmetry is important. When trust collapses, it does not collapse uniformly. It collapses in layers. And the layer that goes last — the one that holds the longest — is the one closest to power.
That layer is now showing cracks.
The question Jack leaves open — whether anything could restore trust at this point — is the right question to leave open. A clean answer would itself be a form of the problem. The honest position is this: the mechanisms exist. Courts can hold trials. Oversight can publish findings. Local institutions can demonstrate that proximity still produces accountability. The machinery is not gone.
What is uncertain is whether anyone with the power to use it has the incentive to do so.
That uncertainty is not a gap in the argument. It is the argument.
#HOLDFAST
Congratulations, Jack, weddings 💒 are a special time in a parent's life. TGIF to you and your readers, hope you have a wonderful weekend and will reStack ASAP 💯 👍
My trust would flicker back to life if there were real men and women (wealthy/powerful) that are held accountable for the atrocities in the files but also for the rampant criminality of this administration.
I don’t say