Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

The frogs are rarely mistaken.

There is one struggling party in US right now, and it’s not the Democrats.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Putin dreamed of ending NATO, and now it’s Finnish-ed.

Trump makes a mockery of the legal system and cowardly judges just sit back and let him.

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

The arc of the moral universe doesn’t bend itself. it’s up to us.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Everybody saw this coming.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

Biden: Oh no. We’ve upset Big Pharma again.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

You are here: Home / Politics / America / Reading and Headline Writing are Fundamental: Epstein Lawsuit Edition

Reading and Headline Writing are Fundamental: Epstein Lawsuit Edition

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Earlier today The Associated Press reported that a settlement had been reached in ONE OF THE lawsuits in south Florida involving Jeffrey Epstein. The headline and the wording of the tweets breaking the news were bad:

Here’s what’s in the actual AP reporting (emphasis mine):

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — A last-minute settlement was reached Tuesday in a long-running Florida lawsuit involving a politically connected financier accused of sexually abusing dozens of teenage girls, clearing the way for the victims’ lawyers to try to unravel a once-secret agreement that prevented federal criminal prosecution of the financier.

The non-prosecution agreement protecting Jeffrey Epstein was negotiated a decade ago by prosecutors in the South Florida U.S. attorney’s office, which was then run by current Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta. It is the subject of a separate federal lawsuit in Florida filed by victims who say the deal trampled their rights to be heard.

“That injustice needs to be addressed and will be addressed,” said attorney Jack Scarola, who represents fellow lawyer Bradley Edwards in the lawsuit settled Tuesday. “There is no justification for the broad scope of immunity that was granted.”

Epstein, 65, pleaded guilty in 2008 to two state charges after reaching the non-prosecution deal with Acosta’s office while under investigation for sexually abusing dozens of teenage girls. He served 13 months in jail, was required to reach financial settlements with many of the victims and registered as a convicted sex offender.

But Epstein could have faced a possible life sentence if federal prosecutors had pursued a draft 57-page indictment that was never filed. Now, Scarola and Edwards say that possibility still exists, and the victims — some of whom were only 13 or 14 when they were molested — may yet get their day in federal court amid a national #metoo movement that seeks to hold sexual harassers and abusers to account.

“They’re willing to talk. They want to share their stories,” Edwards said.

None of the victims was in court Tuesday and it wasn’t clear if any would be available immediately for interviews.

The settlement reached Tuesday involved a lawsuit Epstein filed against Edwards almost a decade ago. Edwards filed a counterclaim, contending that Epstein sued him maliciously, trying to harm Edwards’ reputation and derail his work with Epstein’s own abuse victims.

The final paragraph is where they buried the lede, as the saying goes. The lawsuit settled this morning IS NOT the Federal lawsuit seeking to set aside the Federal non-prosecution agreement that current Labor Secretary Alex Acosta negotiated and agreed to when he was a US Attorney in south Florida in 2008. The lawsuit settled this morning was between Epstein and one of the attorneys representing Epstein’s victims. It is important to highlight all this, because, as usual, everyone read the tweets and the headline and started jumping to the wrong conclusions on social media. Including people that are normally very good at not doing these things. For instance, the normally reliable Dr. Kendzior:

I’m not trying to knock Dr. Kendzior here, she’s just the most well known of the people I’ve seen so far who bit on the AP’s inaccurate headline and tweets. Everyone is busy, everyone is overwhelmed right now with the holidays, with getting by day be day, with the fact that it’s winter, with trying not to let the insanity emanating from DC and many state capitols, as well as from abroad, overtake their daily lives. So not having time to read the article is understandable. What isn’t, and what is also not forgivable, is that our news sources, including some of the best ones, seem to have gotten into a pattern of writing inaccurate and deceptive headlines and then tweeting them out to announce their reporting in a way that further compounds the inaccuracy. It is bad enough that there are hostile foreign state and, and in some cases both foreign and domestic, non-state actors conducting ongoing information and psychological warfare, having legitimate, credible sources of news doing the same thing because they can’t get their acts together makes the hostile state and non-state actors jobs easier.

Despite, or, perhaps, because of this morning’s settlement, Epstein’s crimes and the despicable story about how he was allowed to escape proper accountability for his crimes is not going away. The Miami Herald isn’t going to let this story go. And a lot of people’s foul, stinky laundry is going to get aired out in public. And the disingenuous stories they’ve been telling to cover their own misdeeds aren’t going to hold up when this happens.

Open thread!

 

Reader Interactions

185Comments

  1. 1.

    Sanguine Situation

    Just lolling at the “normally reliable” Sarah Kendzior. She’s just this side of Louise Mensch on the reliability/over-reaction continuum, IMHO. YMMV.

  2. 2.

    TenguPhule

    with trying not to let the insanity emanating from DC and many state capitols, as well as from abroad, overtake their daily lives

    An effort doomed to fail as Fatberg has decided that his economic genius WILL NOT BE DENIED!!!

  3. 3.

    Burnspbesq

    I didnt follow the story at the time. Were there problems with the case that could have justified Acosta’s decision to accept a NPA, or is this just a case of rich-white-guy immunity?

  4. 4.

    Butch

    So last night in the ABC news story about the Florida woman who disappeared in Costa Rica the narrator repeatedly referred to “island authorities.” Apparently there’s no difference between Puerto Rico and Costa Rica.
    I’m bringing up what seems off topic because I’m learning not to expect much from our failed media.

  5. 5.

    Kay

    Other than Trump, is there anyone grosser or more loathsome than Dershowitz? I’m not amazed people no longer invite him to fancy parties- I’m amazed anyone ever did.

    It’s just this fucking rogues gallery- Trump and Dershowitz and Guiliani and Stone and the rest. Repulsive- and they’re constantly in the news. The leering old man thing- ugh.

  7. 7.

    TenguPhule

    @Kay:

    Other than Trump, is there anyone grosser or more loathsome than Dershowitz?

    Steve Bannon?

    Dick Cheney?

  9. 9.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Burnspbesq: No there were not. What is unclear is whether, because of Epstein’s deep pockets and political connections, whether Acosta was promised something in the future, was threatened because of the likelihood that prosecuting Epstein would lead to accusations, and potential prosecutions, against other elites and notables – political ones from both parties, celebrity, financial/business, etc, or a combination of the two. At the time that Acosta made the deal with Epstein the FBI was still actually investigating promising leads and had already identified at least 30 victims across the US and was working to validate a potential 20 or so others. And they hadn’t even started the international side of the investigation.

    It appears that Epstein was running one of the largest underage teenage girl sex rings in history. And he was allowed to skate on almost all of it.

  10. 10.

    TenguPhule

    @Burnspbesq:

    Were there problems with the case that could have justified Acosta’s decision to accept a NPA, or is this just a case of rich-white-guy immunity?

    Rich White Guy with shit ton of Republican connections in the Federal government.

  11. 11.

    gene108

    @Burnspbesq:

    I didnt follow the story at the time. Were there problems with the case that could have justified Acosta’s decision to accept a NPA, or is this just a case of rich-white-guy immunity?

    From the Miami Herald reporting, Epstein’s lawyers basically bullied the U.S. Attorney’s office into accepting things on their terms. I know Alan Dershowitz was on the defense team. Forget who else, but it was a lot of high powered, expensive, lawyers.

    Edit: Ken Starr was also part of the defense team. When Epstein realized he was being prosecuted by Republicans, he decided to hire lawyers, who are well connected in Republican circles.

  13. 13.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Sanguine Situation: She’s solid and reliable in the areas of her expertise. She’s also hyperbolic all too often. But the latter doesn’t invalidate her deep knowledge of the development and formation of authoritarianism.

  15. 15.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Butch: Apparently you’ve missed the merger: The United Rica of Corta and Puerto. It’s like when Egypt and Syria decided to become one country back in the 1960s.

  16. 16.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Kay: Dershowitz, of course, is not actually accurately relating what happened when that suit against him was dismissed. Not that Dershowitz inaccurately relating something will come as a surprise. The young woman never actually retracted her claim, nor did her attorneys do so for her. Nor has the young woman’s claim ever actually been litigated or adjudicated. And Dershowitz’s insurance company had to make a payout over the whole thing. Here’s a couple of links for you:
    https://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2016/04/lawyers-underage-sex-claims-against-dershowitz-a-mistake-221751

    https://www.law360.com/amp/articles/1003966

  20. 20.

    Adam L Silverman

    @gene108: At one point Egypt and Syria did the same thing. It was called the United Arab Republic. It was not united, it was not a republic. It was Arab.

  21. 21.

    TenguPhule

    National Republican Congressional Committee says it was hacked during this year’s election cycle

    The campaign organization for House Republicans was the victim of a cyberattack that exposed email accounts to an unknown intruder during the 2018 election cycle, people familiar with the matter said.

    It wasn’t known if a foreign government was behind the intrusion into the computer networks of the National Republican Congressional Committee, a person familiar with the case said. But the intruder was “sophisticated, based on their tactics and methods,” and the intrusion “was clearly designed to hide the tracks of who it was,” this person said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the matter is under investigation.

    The intrusion was first reported by Politico, which said senior House Republicans, including Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), as well as rank-and-file members weren’t told of the breach until the news organization inquired about the episode with the committee on Monday.

    Wheeeee!

  22. 22.

    C Stars

    @Kay: The GWB Was A Wonderful Man And The World Is So Much Poorer For His Passing thing was just overwhelming. Newspapers spent days and days eulogizing him…a one-term president who didn’t do that much and whose son nearly destroyed our country in his nepotistically-accessed position. I mean, I’m sure GWB was a fun grandad and his socks were cool and all, but does that merit the nonstop keening and wailing?

    To your point: Do you suppose the mourning was in fact for the passing of this generation–these white men, these war “heroes,” these guys who for no very convincing reason in particular other than being rich and white and men, were bequeathed the task of being in charge of everything? Not that there weren’t some good men among them, but lets face it: most of them look more like Epstein and Giuliani than Carter and (arguably) GWB. I feel sure a certain segment of society is mourning not GWB’s death in particular, but the fading of that system that simply granted the rich white dudes all the trust and adoration, no questions asked. A “simpler time.”

    And some of these same folks, in their dotage, are allowing themselves to be deluded into thinking Dear Tweeter will bring all that back somehow…

  25. 25.

    trollhattan

    @Kay:

    It’s just this fucking rogues gallery- Trump and Dershowitz and Guiliani and Stone and the rest. Repulsive- and they’re constantly in the news. The leering old man thing- ugh.

    List needs moar Ken Starr.

    Somebody needs to put me in charge of booking at one of the main news outlets. I have very specific changes to make and will back them with termination for any who do not follow them. This enabling simply needs to stop, as the typical viewer has no clue how badly they’re being bamboozled. .

  27. 27.

    trollhattan

    @C Stars:
    There’s always a misty eyed bout of nostalgia when a president dies, for that “simpler time” and lost youth, etc. I get it. But this “last moderate Republican” crap is a direct product of the Overton Window being shoved right off the house. Yeah, he seems great compared to the new normal. Now what does that tell us about the new normal?

  28. 28.

    C Stars

    ..AAAAANd by GWB I mean of course GHWB, or Bush senior, or whatever we’re supposed to call him.

    Talk about fake news!!

  30. 30.

    C Stars

    @trollhattan:

    Yeah, he seems great compared to the new normal. Now what does that tell us about the new normal?

    Exactly!! Why hasn’t anyone written that article yet?

  31. 31.

    Cheryl Rofer

    Some of us are also trying to decipher what the administration means in its statement about withdrawal from the INF Treaty. It looks like there will be 60 days in which Pompeo puffs about his expectations that Russia will return to compliance, without any substantive discussions, and Trump tries to pretend that nothing is happening.

  32. 32.

    schrodingers_cat

    @trollhattan: I too am getting pretty sick of the hagiographies. And isn’t the current climate change denial on part of Rs the echo of their inaction during the AIDS epidemic?
    Also appointing Thomas to the Supreme Court.
    I was little more than a child during Bush I, but these two things stand out for me.
    Which brings me to an unmistakable conclusion that most of our media is Republican.
    NPR, Vichy Times, PBS for the high brow Rs,who fancy themselves to be upper crust, educated and genteel.
    Fox News, Brietbart, Alex Jones for the low brow Rs.

  34. 34.

    Barbara

    I read yesterday about this separate lawsuit that Epstein had the chutzpah to bring against Bradley Edwards. Suing the main lawyer for the other side is a clear sign of desperation.

  35. 35.

    sukabi

    @Adam L Silverman: when (IF) the deal blows up I expect there will be a whole bunch of very prominent wealthy people who are going to “vacation” in a non-extradition venue. That’s the only reason like that gets made…

  36. 36.

    MattF

    Question: Is it a good idea to try to read up on this particular horror? I’ve read a bit, but I’m unsure whether there is much reason to try to know more about Epstein and what he did. I know there’s a Trump angle, but that’s hardly surprising– there’s always a Trump angle.

  39. 39.

    Adam L Silverman

    @MattF: Read the Miami Herald’s expose from last week. I’ve got a guest post lined up on it once the attorney whose going to right it gets a few minutes to do so.

  41. 41.

    btomdarga

    I’m not trying to knock Dr. Kendzior here

    Why not? Sara Kendzior is a pathological liar who is either totally amoral, unhinged, or both.

    I mean …… She got lost on her way to MSNBC and reacted by publicly accusing them of trying to lure her into an abandoned building for the purposes of abducting her.

  42. 42.

    Mandalay

    @Kay:

    Other than Trump, is there anyone grosser or more loathsome than Dershowitz?

    Jeffrey Epstein is a pretty obvious contender. I’d even put him ahead of Trump.

  43. 43.

    Jay

    @MattF:

    Yes and no. Knowing the details on what happened to the sex slaves, is a no. It’s as bad or worse than you can imagine.

    Knowing how they were procured, controlled, moved, rented out, and the whom’s who ran the ring, managed the ring, used the services of the ring, ignored the existence of the ring, or helped cover it up, yes.

    Knowing about all the coverups, secret bargains, deals to make it all go quiet and who/whom was involved, another yes.

  45. 45.

    daryljfontaine

    @TenguPhule:

    I will not eat green eggs with Ham, I will not eat them Salaam.

    I will not eat them; they’re haram.

    ETA: @Cheap Jim — mediocre minds are stuck in the same rut, as one of my old roommates used to say. :D

    D

  47. 47.

    Jay C

    @Burnspbesq:

    I didn’t follow the story at the time. Were there problems with the case that could have justified Acosta’s decision to accept a NPA, or is this just a case of rich-white-guy immunity?

    I’d probably go with the “rich-white-guy” scenario, especially as it seems to be case of “rich white guy with possible dirt on other r-w-g’s”

    According to Michelle Goldberg in the New York Times, not only did Epstein effectively skate on a raft of serious charges, he was able to serve his minimal (13 months) sentence in pretty much relative comfort. The title question of Ms. Goldberg’s column says it all:

    Why Does Alex Acosta Still Have a Job?

  48. 48.

    tokyokie

    Adam:

    What isn’t, and what is also not forgivable, is that our news sources, including some of the best ones, seem to have gotten into a pattern of writing inaccurate and deceptive headlines and then tweeting them out to announce their reporting in a way that further compounds the inaccuracy. It is bad enough that there are hostile foreign state and, and in some cases both foreign and domestic, non-state actors conducting ongoing information and psychological warfare, having legitimate, credible sources of news doing the same thing because they can’t get their acts together makes the hostile state and non-state actors jobs easier.

    I can tell you from personal experience, that even back when newspapers and other news outlets had fully staffed copy desks, they were constantly botching their coverage of legal matters. Unless they’d been to law school, the reporters and editors didn’t have the sophistication to correctly describe a court’s holding, or distinguish holding from dictum. But now those copy desks are minimally staffed, and the reporters are young and largely inexperienced. You get what you pay for, and in the newspaper business, they don’t want to pay for much.

  49. 49.

    Kelly

    As each outrage unfolds I keep hoping each one will have a bit of the old California Prop 187 effect. Seems like the Wisconsin Republican election stealing bills might do the job there. In general I’ve found my fellow citizens tolerance of this crap disappointing, but I’m happier if I stay optimistic.

  51. 51.

    patrick II

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Wow. Pedophile insurance. It must be expensive. I know technically it is an anti-defamation case, but when you are a pedophile it is useful to intimidate an accuser with insurance company’s money.

  54. 54.

    Mandalay

    @trollhattan:

    Yeah, he seems great compared to the new normal.

    Wait until we get a “misty eyed bout of nostalgia” and decide that Trump wasn’t so bad after all, during the seventh year of Pence’s presidency.

    Trump’s saving grace is that he doesn’t truly give a shit about any of us. He doesn’t care what we do, or whether we live or die, as long as we don’t get in his way, and he can make lots of money. OTOH President Pence would be far worse; he loves us, and he would want to save us.

  55. 55.

    Gin & Tonic

    @btomdarga: Wow, two completely brand-new nyms coming here to disparage Kendzior. How’s the weather in Yekaterinburg today? Or is it St. Petersburg?

  56. 56.

    Mary G

    There is a baby in the house and my cats are horrified.

    I had the Miami Herald story open in a tab for a couple of days and could not bring myself to read it.

  58. 58.

    Jay C

    And another question: anyone else having problems with the site today? I tried to put a link to the NYT in my #47, but when I clicked the “link” button, the link box dropped down, but zipped back up away every time I tried to Paste the link address. And then I couldn’t insert text in the Comment Box and had to kill B-J and reload .

  59. 59.

    TenguPhule

    @Mandalay:

    He doesn’t care what we do, or whether we live or die,

    He most certainly does. If only because its easier to make money off of us if we’re dead.

  62. 62.

    Mandalay

    @Jay C:

    Why Does Alex Acosta Still Have a Job?

    Not entirely O/T, why does Cyrus Vance Jr. still have a job? I guess it’s that “rich-white-guy immunity” thing, coupled with big fat donations to obtain the best justice money can buy:

    Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. was set to win re-election on Tuesday, weeks after facing scrutiny for having dropped cases against Harvey Weinstein and children of President Donald Trump. Vance ran unopposed on the ballot, but challengers had emerged in the wake of those controversies and campaigned as write-in candidates.

    Vance, the son of former President Jimmy Carter’s secretary of state, has led the Manhattan DA’s office since 2010. On October 4, WNYC, ProPublica and The New Yorker reported that Vance’s 2012 decision not to move forward with a case against Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump happened after Marc Kasowitz, a lawyer for Donald Trump, donated $25,000 to Vance’s re-election campaign. The following day, International Business Times reported that months after Vance’s office declined to prosecute a 2015 case against Weinstein, Vance received $10,000 for his re-election campaign from a lawyer who had represented Weinstein. Days later, on October 10, The New Yorker reported more details about Vance’s dropping the Weinstein case.

  63. 63.

    Ruviana

    Because I read pretty much any true crime book, I’d read about Epstein a couple of years ago here. It seemed pretty detailed to me and I’m tracking these stories now because of it.

  64. 64.

    Butch

    @Jay C: It got stuck on three comments, even though the heading said there were about 50. I had to open the thread about a dozen times to finally see comments.

  65. 65.

    trollhattan

    @Mandalay:
    Agree he does not one shit give about any of us but he nevertheless wants, badly wants us to praise him, loudly and endlessly. He eats that shit up, just watch any of his rallies. And then there’s the round-the-table cabinet praise-the-leader circles. That’s some Mussolini-level “leading.”.

  66. 66.

    Martin

    @Mandalay:

    Not entirely O/T, why does Cyrus Vance Jr. still have a job? I guess it’s that “rich-white-guy immunity” thing, coupled with big fat donations to obtain the best justice money can buy:

    Manhattan has a very odd residence demographic.

  67. 67.

    Jay C

    @NotMax:

    had to kill B-J and reload

    Yeah, you’re right: I should do a bit more proofreading.
    Whatever the problems with the site, I’m sure they’re not amenable to Second Amendment Solutions…
    I hope.

  68. 68.

    gene108

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Also appointing Thomas to the Supreme Court.

    Thurgood Marshall, the first AA Supreme Court justice and legendary civil rights attorney, was stepping down and it would have been bad optics to replace him with a white guy. And Thomas was the only AA they had groomed to be a possible SCOTUS nominee.

    It was utterly cynical nominating Thomas.

  69. 69.

    The Moar You Know

    I will not eat green eggs with Ham, I will not eat them Salaam.

    @TenguPhule: I will not eat green eggs with Ham, because that combo is haram.

    -Fixed for Islamic dietary issues

  70. 70.

    The Moar You Know

    Read the Miami Herald’s expose from last week.

    @Adam L Silverman: I did. Bring a barf bag and a crate of tissues. I’m a hardened sack of crap with a deep understanding of how awful people are, but if a tenth of what’s alleged there is true that Epstein motherfucker is an inhuman monster who needs to be executed in public.

  71. 71.

    rikyrah

    Daniel Jacobson (@Dan_F_Jacobson) Tweeted:
    The NC GOP is trying to rush through a law that would REQUIRE every county elections board in NC to be chaired by a Republican in election years. These guys just can’t stop trying to rig elections.

    The NC GOP is trying to rush through a law that would REQUIRE every county elections board in NC to be chaired by a Republican in election years. These guys just can’t stop trying to rig elections.

    — Daniel Jacobson (@Dan_F_Jacobson) December 4, 2018

  73. 73.

    C Stars

    @Mary G: I couldn’t read it either. But I’m sure I’ll experience the trauma nevertheless when nothing is done and these disgusting monsters walk away “Scott Free” in a few months. Money fixes everything. Poor women and girls are disposable.

  74. 74.

    jacy

    @Timurid:

    Anyone know what time the Flynn report is supposed to drop today?

    As per lawyer talking heads on MSNBC, they can electronically file, so sometime between now and Midnight.

  75. 75.

    NotMax

    @rikyrah

    Mentioned earlier that the R Congress has kicked the shutdown can down the road to December 21st.

    Admit surprise they haven’t (yet) timed a shutdown to take place on January 3rd.

  76. 76.

    The Moar You Know

    Wow, two completely brand-new nyms coming here to disparage Kendzior. How’s the weather in Yekaterinburg today? Or is it St. Petersburg?

    @Gin & Tonic: What’s sad is not only do I expect this kind of obvious bullshit nowadays, but I don’t even pay that much attention to it anymore. In short, I assume manipulation and go on my way.

  79. 79.

    Aleta

    It’s important to go to (and credit) the tweets of the reporter who’s been writing the story, Julie Brown for the Miami Herald. https://mobile.twitter.com/jkbjournalist

    I get that your post is about criticizing the coverage. That starts with Curt Anderson, the AP writer who rushed to put out a headline and their story. (The details of the story seem to have appeared during the next 40-50 minutes after the AP tweet, as you can see in the development of Brown’s twitter posts and her story.)

    How about criticizing Curt Anderson by name and at least linking Julie Brown’s name to highlight her good reporting by contrast.

  80. 80.

    japa21

    @The Moar You Know: What gets me is that they think they may actually have any influence here or change anybody’s thinking. They obviously don’t recognize the high intelligence level or quality of critical thinking that the jackals have. They must think we are all at Fox viewers level.

  81. 81.

    NotMax

    @japa21

    What gets me is that they think they may actually have any influence here or change anybody’s thinking.

    The AOL discs of the 2010s.

    ;)

  82. 82.

    Mnemosyne

    @tokyokie:

    I’ve actually been wondering who writes the headlines now that the copy staffs have been decimated. I’m beginning to suspect it may be the story’s editors, not the copy staff, which potentially creates some issues if the editor is trying to downplay the story.

    And I’m guessing the heds that get tweeted out are written in haste by website interns who skim the first graf of the story.

  83. 83.

    TenguPhule

    @NotMax:

    Admit surprise they haven’t (yet) timed a shutdown to take place on January 3rd.

    Depends on if their wish to punish Federal Workers on Christmas Eve wins or not.

  85. 85.

    TenguPhule

    @Mnemosyne:

    I’ve actually been wondering who writes the headlines now that the copy staffs have been decimated.

    Cheap random word algorthims.

  86. 86.

    Aleta

    @Aleta:

    “Everybody for 10 years has taken snipets of information and tried to make headlines — sometimes right and sometimes wrong.. and half the time I felt like I was just trying to correct the record,” said Brad Edwards, attorney representing victims of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein
    Via julie k. brown @jkbjournalist

  87. 87.

    I'll be Frank

    Is it bad headlining or is it good clickbaiting? I kind of like crappy headlines, it makes it very easy to know who actually reads the articles and who just reads the headline.

  88. 88.

    Spanky

    @japa21: Hey, come on! It’s a job, 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week. They troll where the boss tells them to. Don’t expect a lot of initiative from the trolls in a troll factory.

  90. 90.

    Corner Stone

    @jacy:

    You’re not doing enough baby-proofing if babies are still getting in.

    I had a dream last night that a crow had somehow got in my house and was cawing at me from the kitchen, but I could never find where exactly it was. Now I’m going room by room making sure no damned babies found their way in somehow while I was asleep.

  91. 91.

    J R in WV

    @Aleta:

    No longer intimately connected to The AP, but I would still be shocked if the actual reporter has anything to do with headlines — now tweets could be their fault, or could be a “digital” reporter/editor regurgitating the story in tiny bites, not necessarily accurately.

    Reporters have never had anything to do with headlines, typically. Blame headline writers for that. Unnamed errors with computers.

  92. 92.

    Mnemosyne

    @C Stars:

    The story is definitely worth reading because the initial one that Adam linked to spells out the political corruption very clearly.

    Another factor seems to have been that the feds wanted Epstein to testify against Bear Stearns after the 2008 crash, so they may have allowed Epstein to cover up his child sex ring so they could convict a couple of banksters. Prosecuting financial crimes was more important than sex crimes.

  93. 93.

    scav

    @japa21: If der trumpen can’t manage any quality hires, why should his backers? So long as the minions hit [post] they’re (theoretically) paid. There may — in utter fairness — be volunteers who are low-rent for love or because it’s their superpower.

  94. 94.

    NotMax

    @Spanky

    from the trolls in a troll factory

    It’s a gross misunderstanding of the dental plan, which states they are fully covered for bridge work.

    ;)

  95. 95.

    Yutsano

    @TenguPhule: I already got Christmas Eve off. All the shutdown will do is save me eight hours. Then I do the withholding trick when the backpay hits and roll in it for a bit.

  98. 98.

    J R in WV

    Adam,

    I just noticed that in your opening sentence for this piece you badly mispelled the name of the entity you are writing about:

    Earlier today the Associate Press reported that a settlement had been reached in ONE OF THE lawsuits in south Florida involving Jeffrey Epstein.

    The name of the news group is The Associated Press. Not the Associate Press. \

    Just FYI.

  99. 99.

    Yarrow

    @Gin & Tonic: Well, I’m not a new nym but I’m not a fan because I find Kendzior a real downer. I come away from reading her Twitter feed or her articles feeling much worse about everything. To me it seems like she wants people to feel down about what they can do. My term for that type of person is “doom merchant.” I find that approach to be unhelpful to my health and also to my energy and enthusiasm for getting involved and potentially making a difference, let alone just tackling my daily life. I can’t speak to her accuracy except to say if someone regularly forecasts the worst things to happen then they’ll be wrong sometimes.

  100. 100.

    Mnemosyne

    @J R in WV:

    That’s why I’m wondering who writes the headlines these days. Traditionally it was the copy staff, but they’ve all been replaced by spell check. So whose job is it now?

    I did a quick Google and it looks like the New York Times got rid of their stand-alone copy desk with 100+ copy editors last year and instead have about 50 editors who are responsible for assignments, copy editing, and fact checking. That explains a lot about their current dysfunction.

  101. 101.

    Spanky

    Here’s something fun:

    Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke on Friday fired off a hostile tweet accusing a senior House Democrat of being a drunk, hours after the congressman publicly called on him to resign.

    The extraordinary statement from a member of President Trump’s Cabinet came after Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) — who is poised to take over the committee that oversees Zinke’s agency in January — published a scathing op-ed in USA Today that called the secretary “unfit to serve” amid “ethical and managerial failings” that include multiple investigations of his conduct.

    “It’s hard for him to think straight from the bottom of the bottle,” Zinke wrote from his official Twitter account, @SecretaryZinke, at 12:02 p.m. He prefaced it, “My thoughts on Rep. Grijalva’s opinion piece.”

    My thoughts on Rep. Grijalva’s opinion piece. #TuneInnForMore pic.twitter.com/VMGxdtHwvU
    — Secretary Ryan Zinke (@SecretaryZinke) November 30, 2018

    “This is coming from a man who used nearly $50,000 in tax dollars as hush money to cover up his drunken and hostile behavior,” Zinke wrote. “He should resign and pay back the taxpayer for the hush money and the tens of thousands of dollars he forced my department to spend investigating unfounded allegations.”

    Stay classy, Cabinet secretaries!

  102. 102.

    sukabi

    @J R in WV: spelling is correct, capitalization is off. Although if they keep writing misleading headlines they will have earned their demotion from The to the.

  103. 103.

    Feathers

    @Ruviana: Question; Has James Patterson written other true crime? I don’t follow the field closely anymore and was wondering if he did it regularly, or if this case just pissed him off especially.

  104. 104.

    Gin & Tonic

    @J R in WV: Pretty embarrassing when you misspell the word “misspelled” when criticizing someone for a misspelling. Please surrender your pedantry license before close of business today.

  107. 107.

    catclub

    @Barbara:

    Suing the main lawyer for the other side is a clear sign of desperation.

    I wish. It shows he had plenty of money for intimidation of the other side.

  109. 109.

    catclub

    @Jay: Umm, it happened in 2007-8 and is only now coming to more complete light.
    So technically, it was worse then, than now.

  111. 111.

    Mandalay

    @Gin & Tonic: Heh:

    Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy. Email [email protected] to buy additional rights. Subscribers may share up to 10 or 20 articles per month using the gift article service. More information can be found at https://www.ft.com/tour.
    https://www.ft.com/content/6cc395e6-db41-11da-98a8-0000779e2340

    We can still understand misspelt words. (Incidentally, the correct spelling of “misspelt” is “misspelt”, and while, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, “misspelt” and “misspelled” are both acceptable, “misspelt” is more usual in British English and “misspelled” in American English. So, make sure you spell “misspell” correctly and don’t misspell “misspell” as “mispell”, “mis-spell” or “miss-spell”, or misspell “misspelt” as “mispelt”, “mis-spelt” or “miss-spelt”.) Indeed, even if words are badly misspelt we can still read them. This is because we read by focusing on the entire image of the word, and particularly on the first and last letters. We use an alphabet while the Chinese employ a system based around logograms (written symbols representing an element of meaning), but just like them we read by recognising the shape of an individual meaning-unit, which we describe as a word.

  112. 112.

    Aleta

    Afaict, the point that some women made on twitter — about this settlement preventing possible victim testimony — isn’t wrong.

    There’s still a chance that will happen (and there are also hopes for Epstein’s imprisonment if there’s a ruling to undo the plea deal b/cause of the Crime Victims’ Rights Act).

    But that case hasn’t been heard, so we don’t know what will happen.

    The current JD, its opposition to victim’s rights, and US treatment of women in court haven’t gone away; that’s the emotion I read behind tweets like Mimi Rocah’s, Sarah Kenzidor’s and many others’.

    The Miami H story opens with the same focus on the victims.

    (Miami Herald) A trial that could have allowed the victims of serial molester Jeffrey Epstein to finally tell their stories from a witness stand was aborted Tuesday when it was announced in court that the case had been settled.

    It ended with an apology — not to the dozens of women who were sexually abused by Epstein as underage girls, but to the lawyer who represented them. There is also a monetary settlement, which is undisclosed.

    The lawyer who took Epstein to court, Bradley Edwards, said he remains determined to give the women, now in their late 20s and early 30s, their day in court. That opportunity could come in separate litigation that seeks to undo a controversial non-prosecution agreement that was negotiated in secret 10 years ago between the Palm Beach multimillionaire’s lawyers and the U.S. attorney for South Florida, Alex Acosta. The case is pending. (Julie Brown)

    https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article222597265.html

  113. 113.

    West of the Rockies

    Is there a burgeoning drumbeat for Acosta’s head (or job anyway)? I’m not really hearing it. Zinke is foul, but Acosta is perhaps more vile still.

  114. 114.

    NotMax

    @Mnemosyne

    Barry Manilow?

    I write the headlines that the whole world reads
    i write ’em punchy for the clicks they bring
    Matching them with story I barely try
    I write the heds, I write the heds

  115. 115.

    tokyokie

    @Mnemosyne:

    I’ve actually been wondering who writes the headlines now that the copy staffs have been decimated. I’m beginning to suspect it may be the story’s editors, not the copy staff, which potentially creates some issues if the editor is trying to downplay the story.

    And I’m guessing the heds that get tweeted out are written in haste by website interns who skim the first graf of the story.

    I no longer know who writes the headlines, and many of the people who actually work at a newspaper may not know, either. At the newspaper where I was last employed, the copy-editing function has been moved to another state. Travesties like that are now common at newspapers, as the publishers have decided that accuracy is a luxury they no longer can afford.

  116. 116.

    Jay

    @Aleta:

    My take is Epstien’s Legal Team completely caved.

    – a public apology,
    – no NDA,
    – unstated amount of compensation to Edwards and the two victims he represents.

    This was a form of “lawfare”, “paper terrorism”, a “fake” libel case against the girl’s Lawyer.

    Rather than try to get testimony and evidence quashed, supressed, burying the testimony in a “sealed court”, or other legal maneuvers,

    They caved.

    And civil suits against Epstien, the FDLE, Miami Dade and Acosta and the current AG’s office are still going forward.

    @catclub:

    Sadly, justice for many, is a long lengthy process, not a 45 minute Law and Order Episode.

  119. 119.

    Barbara

    @catclub: It’s just such a long shot that it’s hard to see that you would try it unless you had run out of other tactics. On the other hand, it does lend credence to the whispers and even some of the statements made by Acosta that make it sound like he gave up and let Epstein off with basically no punishment because Epstein successfully intimidated him (which of course Epstein and his lawyers denied).

  122. 122.

    Woodrow/Asim

    @Yarrow: Not new either, and I un-subscribed from Kendzior’s Twitter for the “doom and gloom,” plus finding her findings to push the boundaries of provable/researched commentary,

    She said some really powerful and important stuff post-election. I wonder if it’s just she’s a victim of the concept that you have to stay relevant.

  123. 123.

    Mnemosyne

    @tokyokie:

    Yep. That’s why I’m currently working as a secretary who does occasional proofreading and copy editing at my job and not in journalism. At least it’s steadier work. ?‍♀️

  124. 124.

    Mnemosyne

    @Cheryl Rofer:
    @Yarrow:

    I think it may be the Epstein thing. Not only is Trump chin-deep in the shit, it’s an international case that will be embarrassing to elites in many countries that are our allies (or “allies”). So the trolls are sent forth to try and muddy the waters.

  128. 128.

    hitchhiker

    Acosta knew that Epstein had been having sex with multiple underage girls. Acosta knew that Epstein had been using girls to recruit other girls, and that he’d been introducing girls as young as 14 to prostitution, at least with himself as the main paying customer. Acosta knew that the FBi had three dozen young women ready to testify … with the likelihood of as many as a hundred more.

    Acosta knew all that.

    And he negotiated a deal through which Epstein took a plea to a single count of soliciting an underage female, got 18 months of easy time in a county jail that allowed him to leave 6 days a week for 12 hrs a day, unsupervised, and was required to register as a sex offender. Acosta approved the decision to keep all of this secret from the victims.

    Epstein’s deal extended to everyone associated with him, too. Under that deal, nobody associated with the case could be prosecuted. Not the men Epstein “shared” some of these girls with. Not the adult women who helped arrange the “massages.”

    I read today that Epstein still believes he did nothing wrong! The girls came willingly, and they got paid! He thinks he’s a more intellectual Hugh Hefner who just happens to have a taste for young flesh. No harm, no foul, go away Puritans!

    These kids were in 10th grade.

  129. 129.

    Yarrow

    @Mnemosyne: Ultimately there is sex trafficking of underage girls (mostly but some boys) involving Russia and many rich and well-connected people around the globe. That there’s even a possibility it’s being made public let alone prosecuted is probably what kicked off the trolls today. And yeah, Pizzagate = projection.

    @Woodrow/Asim: Similar. I read her post election and found her commentary powerful and helpful as I got my bearings. Not long after that I started finding her very doom and gloom, as you said, and pretty much quit reading anything from her.

    I’m not one to stop people from expressing themselves when they’re down since I’ve been there myself as well as having had plenty of WASF moments, but I do find that relentless doomsaying is wearing. It saps morale and may keep people from doing what they can to make things change. I know it’s a tactic used by people who do not the US to recover. Keep the populace demoralized. That may not be what SK is doing but the result is the same, for me at least. I don’t find her commentary insights outweigh the negative.

  130. 130.

    trollhattan

    Current actual, above-the-fold BBC headline.

    Khashoggi murder: Saudi crown prince crazy, says US senator

    Imagining a World Service presenter saying those exact words gives them a little extra oomph.

  131. 131.

    Barbara

    @JPL: It pisses me off that people like Acosta would avoid a high profile loss out of careerism. But what Acosta told the Senate confirmation committee is that he and his staff and their family members were subject to intimidation tactics. Which is still not an excuse, if anything, it’s a reason to get even nastier. I mean, do you think Janet Reno would have rolled over like Acosta did?

    P.S. Acosta’s on the record testimony about his intimidation should be front and center in getting that deal superseded.

  132. 132.

    Barbara

    @hitchhiker: When there are 18 year old high school students who get harsher sentences for having sex with their minor girlfriends, there is simply NO REASON to ever cut a deal with someone like Epstein.

  133. 133.

    Corner Stone

    @Yarrow: IMO, that’s a misreading of Kendzior and her work product. But everyone needs to manage their own self-care however best.

  135. 135.

    sukabi

    @hitchhiker: one could deduce from that that Acosta was either 1) paid handsomely to make that deal (personal benefit) or 2) was ‘persuaded’ to make the deal because of compromising material on him that would be embarrassing.
    Or a combination of both.

    Relatedly: Alan Dershowitz ‘very proud’ of deal that got billionaire serial child molester Jeffrey Epstein one year in jail

    Think he’s happy he didn’t get exposed, although he seems to like exposing himself per story this summer on his naked beach trolling.

  137. 137.

    TenguPhule

    Mick Mulvaney struck a jovial tone as he introduced the political appointees who would run the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. One was nicknamed Dreamboat, he said in an email. Another was Mumbles. A third had been a “Jeopardy” contestant.

    “They are really great people,” Mulvaney, the acting director, wrote in a holiday message to the agency’s 1,600 staffers last December.

    The levity now seems like a cruel joke to career officials.

    One year after Mulvaney’s arrival, he and his political aides have constrained the agency from within, achieving what conservatives on Capitol Hill had been unable to do for years, according to agency data and interviews with career officials.

    Publicly announced enforcement actions by the bureau have dropped by about 75 percent from average in recent years, while consumer complaints have risen to new highs, according to a Washington Post analysis of bureau data.

    Over the past year, the agency’s workforce has dropped by at least 129 employees amid the largest exodus since its creation in 2010, agency data shows.

    How Trump appointees curbed a consumer protection agency loathed by the GOP

    Whenever I hear how Trump isn’t doing much damage, relatively speaking, I just SMH.

  139. 139.

    Aleta

    @J R in WV: Yeah, I understand that. I’m sure he didn’t write the headline; I meant to imply he’s part of the AP machinery trying to rush their headline and story ‘into print.’ Brown’s tweets (which started before AP’s) were measured and she developed the full details over the next hour. My point was that part of the confusion caused by how Curt Anderson first wrote his story was due to his and AP’s rush. Adam rightly wrote about how poorly the story was written, mentioning Kenzidor by name for emphasizing the injustice of the ongoing suppression of information, but not Anderson.

  140. 140.

    Mnemosyne

    @hitchhiker:

    The really enraging thing is that Epstein’s lawyers used the fact that some of the girls were unable to escape sex work and/or got involved in drugs as proof that they were “bad girls” and none of it was Epstein’s fault. HE LURED THEM INTO THAT WORLD AND THEN BLAMED THEM FOR BEING UNABLE TO COPE WITH THE CONSEQUENCES. That was his defense! And Acosta signed off on it!

  142. 142.

    Mnemosyne

    @ruemara:

    IANAL, but I’m pretty sure that participating in an international child prostitution ring should involve a few more charges than just statutory rape. I mean, it would if it wasn’t goddamned Republicans running the fucking investigation and court case.

  144. 144.

    Aleta

    @sukabi: Dershowitz proud? It says everything that he was in charge of the effort to ruin young victims if they testified and use the unproven information to threaten them and force the prosecutors into the deal. No credibility, no character, and I hope this story ends in his ruination.

  145. 145.

    trollhattan

    Florida Man–“I’m also a sheriff” edition.

    The Broward Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday provided TPM with a copy of the disciplinary action report for a sergeant who wore a patch referring to the “QAnon” conspiracy theory in a photo with Vice President Mike Pence.

    On Monday, the sheriff’s office removed Sgt. Matt Patten from the SWAT team and another office. The reprimand document provided to TPM confirms reporting from BuzzFeed News and others that Patten intentionally put on the patch to “pose” with Pence.

    Gina Carter, a spokesperson for the office, told TPM in an email: “Sgt. Matt Patten was issued a written reprimand. He was also removed from BSO’s Strategic Investigations Division’s Office of Homeland Security. Additionally, he has been removed from our agency’s SWAT Team and will be re-assigned to the Department of Law Enforcement.”

    Patten, the reprimand says, “intentionally placed an unauthorized symbol/patch onto his agency issued SWAT vest to meet and pose with V.P.O.T.U.S. Pence.”

  146. 146.

    PJ

    @hitchhiker: I don’t know what Acosta’s motivation was in giving Epstein a slap on the wrist, but given that he has only failed upward, and is now Secretary of Labor (and just what are his qualifications for that?), and was being considered for AG until Miami Herald story dropped last week, one might conclude that he was rewarded for letting some very big fish off the hook.

  149. 149.

    Aleta

    @Mnemosyne: As well as Dershowitz searching for dirt about their alcohol use to discredit them (which Epstein and Co. gave them along with drugs).

  150. 150.

    Aleta

    Jeet Heer @HeerJeet

    To be fair, Dershowitz also had derpy views about Watergate.

    For those who have trouble reading it, that’s an AP article from 11/21/1974 quoting Dershowitz as saying, “I’m not happy seeing Nixon’s gang being tried by blacks and liberals in the District of Columbia.” (h/t @JohnCammo)

  152. 152.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Yarrow: She is depressing. And she’s hyperbolic at times in her being depressing. But in her specific areas of expertise, the development of authoritarianism, she knows her stuff.

  155. 155.

    Yarrow

    @Adam L Silverman: Yes, she’s is good in her area of expertise. I have read her work and give her credit for knowing her stuff. Post 2016 election she also was helpful for me, at least, to have a framework for what was happening. I just couldn’t keep up with her after that. Too much of a downer. I still check in with her Twitter feed off and on but when I do I end up feeling down so it doesn’t do much for me.

  156. 156.

    Aleta

    @Jay: You’re right, it’s good they caved, and it wasn’t a defeat. But I also understand why it’s important to keep a focus on the suppression of information.

    I think some activists are doing that not because they misunderstood today’s case but because it’s still possible that information will be suppressed.

    About that likelihood I don’t know either way, but I trust their insistence on the importance of that framing. The wider issue being the attention to what frequently happens in court when victims are not white or are victims of sex crimes or when police/military/powerful men are accused.

  158. 158.

    hitchhiker

    @Mnemosyne:

    The really enraging thing is that Epstein’s lawyers used the fact that some of the girls were unable to escape sex work and/or got involved in drugs as proof that they were “bad girls” and none of it was Epstein’s fault. HE LURED THEM INTO THAT WORLD AND THEN BLAMED THEM FOR BEING UNABLE TO COPE WITH THE CONSEQUENCES. That was his defense! And Acosta signed off on it!

    qft.

    Also makes me want to break things when I read that his Hispanic house”boy” got 12 years in prison for trying to blackmail Epstein with the names in his black book.

    Epstein’s rights must be protected at all costs, and b/c he’s a hedgefund manager who routinely turns away any potential customers who don’t have at least $1 Billion to play with, “all costs” is very big money indeed. The tales of his generosity in funding science and the arts are no doubt true … but it’s just play money to him.

    In any case, it’s obvious that some very important people wanted him to get out of this unscathed. I hope we find who and why.

  159. 159.

    Dave

    @Yarrow: Probably because, at least from a cursory reading, she treats the rise of authoritarianianiam as a ratchet. It can only go one way. She is very knowledgeable regarding the conditions that lead to it and the actions authoritarians take but it’s seems as if she focuses on them in a way that leaves the impression that there is nothing that can be done. That counterweights aren’t rea ll or just don’t count. And this may just boil down to a stylistic choice but I don’t find it pleasant to spend much time with and start to have the impression of someone that’s a little too enamored with the (quite good) model they’ve constructed.

  161. 161.

    Steve in the ATL

    @C Stars:

    ..AAAAANd by GWB I mean of course GHWB, or Bush senior, or whatever we’re supposed to call him.

    Bush the Elected

  162. 162.

    Mnemosyne

    @hitchhiker:

    Epstein was very smart in how he spread his money and favors around, because it means that a LOT of people will be tainted if he goes down. IIRC, he loaned his personal jet to Bill Clinton a few times. AFAIK, Clinton has not been implicated in the prostitution stuff (unlike Trump), but you KNOW that the FTFNYT and the rest of the MSM will insist that Bill is a child molester because he used Epstein’s plane.

    This is how big criminals get away with big shit — they make sure that as many people as possible are implicated or at least acquainted with them so they can threaten to ruin their reputations even if they weren’t involved in the crimes.

  163. 163.

    Dev Null

    I’m more tipsy than I would have predicted after two glasses of wine, but …

    … point 1: thanks for this, Adam.

    I had previously read the AP headline …

    … and I had missed the grafs you highlight here.

    A /bunch/ of us (technical terminology, like “done busted”) on my mailing lists are following the Epstein-Acosta story … in horror.

    FWIW, I’ve forwarded your post to my lists.

    point 2: You said that, as a front-pager, you won’t post on eg nukular matters because they’re not within your immediate domain of expertise …

    … but apparently you will – as a front-pager – post on underage sex ring matters?!?

    WTF?!?

    What exactly is your front-pager-capable experience in underage sexy-time matters?

    What are you hiding from us?!?

    Physician, heal thyself.

    [paws that refreshes]

    I’m joking, of course. [dryly]

    But sauce for the emptywheel is sauce for the silverman, amirite?

    (For anyone who might be puzzled: this is a follow-up to my previous emptywheel-centric posts in which I said I wouldn’t discuss Adam’s take on emptywheel again.

    I lied.

    Sue me.)

  165. 165.

    Ladyraxterinok

    @Adam L Silverman: Bill Clinton’s name has come up again in some reports on this story. What’s the truth on his alleged (by some) involvement with Epstein’s activities?

  167. 167.

    Anya

    Thanks, Adam. I must admit I only saw the headline and it ruined my day. I am glad there’s still a possibility these women will get their day in country and the pervert collective will face justice.

  169. 169.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Dev Null:

    point 2: You said that, as a front-pager, you won’t post on eg nukular matters because they’re not within your immediate domain of expertise …

    … but apparently you will – as a front-pager – post on underage sex ring matters?!?

    WTF?!?

    What exactly is your front-pager-capable experience in underage sexy-time matters?

    What are you hiding from us?!?

    Physician, heal thyself.

    [paws that refreshes]

    I’m joking, of course. [dryly]

    Actually this is an excellent point. Which is why I’ve now made four or five comments, including in this post itself, that I have lined up a female attorney who specializes in defending clients in Federal cases to do a guest post on this as soon as she gets the time away from her trial schedule to do the post. I am, as a criminologist, competent enough to speak about the criminogenic aspects of Epstein’s behavior, however, given the Miami Herald expose, and the questions that it raises about how the criminal justice system malfunctioned in this case, I am not comfortable writing a post about what happened and what the victims attorneys are trying to make happen to get them some justice. I’m also uncomfortable writing about this because I’m not sure that even a technical post on this should be written by a guy, which is why I reached out to a female attorney.

  170. 170.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Ladyraxterinok: I don’t know. I know Epstein loaned him the use of his private plane several times, but beyond that I’ve just seen innuendo and rumor regarding the connection between Clinton and Epstein. Moreover, my understanding, as a professional criminologist, of sexual deviancy, is that given Clinton’s well documented preferences in female companionship, there is no evidence he is interested in underage, teenage young women. The youngest woman he can be verifiably connected to is Monica Lewinsky, who was in her 20s when they had their affair. All the other women he has been both credibly and not credibly connected to where in their 30s through 40s.

  171. 171.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Amir Khalid: It doesn’t mean anything. Egyptians are predominantly Semites, just as other Arabs from the Maghreb and the Arabian Peninsula and the Levant. Modern Egyptians also incorporate ethnic descent from what is now Sudan, as well as from ancient Greece and Rome during the Ptolemaic period. However, the standard definition for who is an Arab in the modern world is someone who is a native speaker of Arabic. Which is why their are Arabs who are Christian (Syriacs, Chaldeans, Copts, Maronites, etc), Arabs who are Jews (what we refer to as Mizrahi Jews), and Arabs who are from synchretic religions such as the Druze and Yazidis. The one thing they all have in common is that they are native Arabic speakers.

  172. 172.

    Ladyraxterinok

    @Mnemosyne: Makes sense about how he used BClinton. Had seen his name often mentioned when charges about Epstein are reported.

    Thanks for pointing out this aspect of the stories.

  175. 175.

    Mnemosyne

    @Ladyraxterinok:

    I’m not the expert that Adam is, but IIRC it’s pretty common for people who are engaged in criminal conspiracies to try and implicate innocent (or at least uninvolved) people in the crimes and then threaten to “reveal” their involvement if the person doesn’t cover for them. Sort of like when a drug dealer makes a prospective distributor sniff the cocaine before they sell it to them to make sure they can’t go to cops later on and turn them in.

  177. 177.

    Dev Null

    @Adam L Silverman:

    I’ve now made four or five comments, including in this post itself, that I have lined up a female attorney who specializes in defending clients in Federal cases to do a guest post on this as soon as she gets the time away from her trial schedule to do the post.

    Perhaps it’s the wine, but it seems to me that, after 160-odd responses to your front-page post, a defense that rests on “I’ve commented in previous posts” is less than compelling.

    My take. YMMV.

    (If posts were threaded, well … mebbe… but posts aren’t threaded.)

    … my understanding, as a professional criminologist,

    “professional” carries a lot of freight, here.

    I am too am a “professional”, at least in the sense that I have a ticket and have worked in the STEM sector. I have been a Federal contractor. I taught a network security course, despite having /zero/ formal tickets in the area. (Most of my students hated me, Truth In Adverting, but whatevs.)

    … of sexual deviancy, is that given Clinton’s well documented preferences in female companionship, there is no evidence he is interested in underage, teenage young women. The youngest woman he can be verifiably connected to is Monica Lewinsky, who was in her 20s when they had their affair. All the other women he has been both credibly and not credibly connected to where in their 30s through 40s.

    WTF? This is relevant to your post or my gloss in exactly what way?!

    May I put my cards on the table? I am an middle-of-the-road Dem, leaning a bit left. I supported Hussein Nobummah in preference to HRC in 2008. I supported HRC in preference to Trump (duh).

    In 2018 I have contributed to Dem candidates to the tune of nearly tithing. I have written postcards. Yeah, I should have done more. So should we all.

    Sue me.

    (Part the First. I will post Part the Second tomorrow when I am not as angry and am perhaps less inebriated.)

  179. 179.

    Mnemosyne

    @Dev Null:

    Dude. You realize that you just accused Adam of being a pedophile, right? Re-read what you just said, and realize that any jokiness that you intended did NOT come across.

    Adam is not a lawyer, so he’s asked a lawyer friend to write a post about the legal issues.

    He is a criminologist, so he feels comfortable discussing the type of person who commits these kinds of crimes. Bill Clinton’s known sexual history does not point to him being a pedophile.

    Maybe log off until you sober up a little?

  183. 183.

    Dev Null

    @Mnemosyne:

    Dude. You realize that you just accused Adam of being a pedophile, right? Re-read what you just said, and realize that any jokiness that you intended did NOT come across.

    Perhaps you missed the emptywheel exchange, in which Adam asserted that the only peeps who are qualified to post about a topic are those who have a ticket in the specialized topic area? Which emptywheel does not have, apparently. [dryly]

    Adam is not a lawyer, so he’s asked a lawyer friend to write a post about the legal issues.

    He is a criminologist, so he feels comfortable discussing the type of person who commits these kinds of crimes. Bill Clinton’s known sexual history does not point to him being a pedophile.

    [ROFL] point to what I said about William Jefferson Clinton. Please! /snark

    I have no objection to Adam posting about sexual deviancy …

    … as long as he tolerates the rest of us posting in like fashion.

    I give Adam credit for being intellectually honest, hence my critique of his post / comments. I figure that peeps who are intellectually honest will self-correct, or – in the event that they feel that critiques are unjustified – will explain why the critique is wrong. That is, after all, what expert means: someone who understands the problem space so well that he’r’she can explain misunderstandings to others.

    If I thought otherwise I wouldn’t bother to contradict Adam.

    Maybe log off until you sober up a little?

    That’s one way of dealing with comments with which you disagree. [dryly]

    EDIT: Adam gets my point, whether or not you get my point.

  184. 184.

    Mnemosyne

    @Dev Null:

    Perhaps you missed the emptywheel exchange, in which Adam asserted that the only peeps who are qualified to post about a topic are those who have a ticket in the specialized topic area?

    So a criminologist — someone who studies and analyzes criminal behavior — is not qualified to discuss criminal behavior because … ?

    Do you also think that a climatologist is not qualified to talk about global warming because all s/he does is study climate science?

  185. 185.

    Aleta

    I have a question.

    These are from the Tuesday night reporting about the Epstein settlement:

    On Tuesday, Epstein settled a long-delayed civil suit just as jury selection was set to begin. It would have been a chance, finally, for some of Epstein’s accusers to be heard in a courtroom.
    Instead, their official silencing will continue.
    From David Von Drehle, WaPo

    Sex Offender Jeffrey Epstein Settles Defamation Suit, Silencing Women’s Testimony
    Jeffrey Epstein … reached a last-minute settlement on Tuesday in a case that had been expected to allow a handful of his alleged victims to tell their stories in court for the first time.
    From NPR

    Financier Jeffrey Epstein struck a last-minute deal Tuesday to settle a civil suit that would have exposed details of sex abuse allegations against him. Now, victims may never be heard in court. CBS News national correspondent Jericka Duncan reports.
    From CBS

    (Edwards) “If we invalidate that immunity deal, it doesn’t mean the U.S. attorney’s office has to prosecute him,” he added. “But the focus of attention on this is going to make it more difficult for the government to want anything but an appropriate prosecution.”
    Mr. Edwards’s lawyer, Jack Scarola, warned that the statute of limitations in Florida may have expired against Mr. Epstein in some cases.
    From NYT

    Amy Siskind   @Amy_Siskind
    The victims deserve to be heard. And all the men involved in this ring of sexually assaulting underage girls should be named publicly. This settlement is not justice!

    Why assume that this writer either didn’t read or misunderstood the article, and was taken in by a headline?

    Once again, none of Epstein’s victims will be able to testify, and information about this horrifying and important case will be withheld from the public.
    — Sarah Kendzior (@sarahkendzior) December 4, 2018

    Why is this hyperbolic? (Depressing, of course.)

    The assumption that the writer was “too busy to read” but retweeted w/o reading (which a good journalist or writer doesn’t do), could come off as condescending if it’s not valid. It’s possible she knows more about the Epstein case than we do. (Since she’s written about it. And since justice on the streets and in court is one thing she writes about, and violence against women and blacks is another.)

    I think the way to criticize Kenzidor or Wheeler is to choose something they write and argue against it.

    I’m not familiar with most of their work (I read K during Ferguson), so can’t speak to their overall accuracy.
    But I’d like to read a discussion about what they say, not how or whether they should say it.

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