from the lol-DOJ-lol dept
Think about having all the ability however none of the brains. That’s the present administration, the one which behaves like a blind, enraged bull set free in its personal china store. “We will at all times get extra china,” says the administration, shortly earlier than realizing it actually can’t, due to tariff efforts that guarantee China gained’t be shopping for from the US any time quickly, a lot much less promoting substitute china on the anticipated value level.
That is worse than the inmates working the asylum. That is extra akin to a bunch of Nurse Ratchets working the asylum. The asylum turns into extra merciless and fewer competent with every passing day. Cruelty isn’t usually related to intelligence. And that truism stays unbothered throughout Trump’s second ascendance to the Oval Workplace.
Trump and his followers spent years stoking conspiracy theories about Democratic occasion members and the wholesale sexual abuse of youngsters. These conspiracy theories led to precise violence that these collaborating in these conspiracy theories refuse to take accountability for.
New York financier/pimp Jeffrey Epstein was apparently a pal to everybody wealthy or highly effective. And he gave them what they couldn’t get elsewhere: sexual entry to minors. A few of this stays alleged. However a few of it was the supporting proof for Epstein’s conviction. Epstein is useless and I can think about a number of his buddies and acquaintances breathed a sigh of aid when it was reported he had (allegedly) died by suicide in jail.
A resurgence of curiosity in Epstein’s recordsdata posed a novel downside for Donald Trump. On one hand, Trump had spent years stoking curiosity in these recordsdata, claiming they’d expose an unlimited Democratic occasion cabal solely eager about sexually exploiting minors. However he additionally knew these recordsdata would reveal issues about his personal relationship with Epstein and, very doubtless, comprise implications about Trump’s curiosity in a lot youthful ladies.
After a interval of proclaiming the Epstein recordsdata to be one thing nobody was eager about (blatantly false, regardless of which aspect of the MAGA you fall on), Trump and his DOJ determined to maneuver ahead with a staggered launch of those paperwork. Congress really managed to get in on the governance sport (one thing currently utterly subsumed by Trump’s want to rule solely from the confines of the Oval Workplace through govt orders) and handed a invoice that required a full launch by December 19.
This didn’t occur. GOP leaders made positive it wouldn’t occur by declaring a Congressional vacation recess effectively upfront of the vacations to make sure GOP reps can be safely again of their dwelling states earlier than the discharge of further Epstein recordsdata.
We received regardless of the DOJ selected to launch. And that launch was a mix of stuff we’ve largely already seen, some (heavily-redacted) stuff we hadn’t seen but, and greater than 200 pages of fully-redacted paperwork. We already knew we had been in for an entire lot of opacity. What we presumably didn’t count on was the DOJ making an attempt to cover stuff after the very fact.
A minimum of 16 recordsdata disappeared from the Justice Division’s public webpage for paperwork associated to Jeffrey Epstein — together with {a photograph} exhibiting President Donald Trump — lower than a day after they had been posted, with no clarification from the federal government and no discover to the general public.
The lacking recordsdata, which had been obtainable Friday and not accessible by Saturday, included pictures of work depicting nude ladies, and one exhibiting a collection of images alongside a credenza and in drawers. In that picture, inside a drawer amongst different pictures, was {a photograph} of Trump, alongside Epstein, Melania Trump and Epstein’s longtime affiliate Ghislaine Maxwell.
Trump’s DOJ is both too dumb to know or too silly to care in regards to the Streisand Impact. The quickest approach to attract consideration to one thing you don’t need folks taking note of is to carry out a hasty deletion.
Anybody who was taking note of this launch had already saved the paperwork to a bunch of cloud providers and static storage units. Those that had been paying consideration previous the preliminary launch would know if the federal government determined to bury one thing after the very fact.
In fact, the federal government did strive to do this. The folks with essentially the most energy and cash appear to suppose they’re the neatest folks strolling the earth as a result of they’ve totally purchased into the meritocracy phantasm. They usually’re at all times mistaken. Being wealthy or highly effective doesn’t make you smarter. It simply makes it simpler to shrug off your losses.
The DOJ tried to do this after folks exterior of the imaginary “meritocracy” identified this submit facto deletion.
Deputy Legal professional Common Todd Blanche early Sunday stated the picture was faraway from the web site after studying there have been considerations about ladies within the photograph, “so we pulled that photograph down.”
“It has nothing to do with President Trump,” stated Blanche on NBC’s “Meet the Press.
That’s not possible to consider as a result of every little thing this specific federal authorities does has every little thing to do with Donald Trump. It’s a system of supposed checks and balances manned fully by individuals who demand that the second Poochie isn’t on display, everybody needs to be asking “The place’s Poochie?”
Right here’s essentially the most excessive profile picture the DOJ deleted (albeit quickly) simply in case it tries to do it once more. Have a look within the drawer to discover a photograph of the present president subsequent to somebody the DOJ now implies was “a sufferer.”
After everybody seen this untimely burial, the DOJ restored the recordsdata, pretending this was all about defending victims of crimes dedicated by Epstein and his associates (Donald Trump amongst them), fairly than a misguided try and rewrite historical past whereas this specific historical past was nonetheless being revealed.
The Division of Justice on Sunday restored on-line a photograph from the Jeffrey Epstein recordsdata that contained pictures exhibiting President Donald Trump after backlash over its removing.
[…]
“The Southern District of New York flagged a picture of President Trump for potential additional motion to guard victims,” the DOJ stated in a submit on the social media web site X.
“Out of an abundance of warning, the Division of Justice quickly eliminated the picture for additional evaluate. After the evaluate, it was decided there isn’t any proof that any Epstein victims are depicted within the {photograph}, and it has been reposted with none alteration or redaction.”
I’d love to have the ability to take the DOJ at its phrase. Nevertheless it has steadily destroyed that possibility ever since [gestures at the long history of the DOJ, but emphasizing its recent actions with much more demonstrative hand gestures] it has been the (alleged) Division of Justice. Nevertheless it will get even much less of a good thing about a doubt right here as a result of we’re completely proper to imagine this DOJ considers Donald Trump to be the sufferer of any prison acts he could have really perpetrated whereas getting cozy with Mr. Epstein.
Sooner or later, the Trump DOJ goes to insist that if Trump ever participated within the rape of underage ladies, he was compelled to do by Antifa protesters backed by billions in George Soros funding. He may have been the sufferer of a “woke” cabal that acknowledged him for the sexual predator he’s after which used his predilections in opposition to him.
This transfer by the DOJ to quickly bury a photograph of Trump makes it clear it’s going to at all times do no matter it thinks would possibly please Trump even when it’s instantly apparent it cares extra about fluffing Trump than serving the nation.
Filed Below: doj, donald trump, epstein recordsdata, jeffrey epstein, opacity, streisand impact, stupidity, todd blanche, trump administration
