The world’s largest honeytrap operation

My Sunday movie was Griffin in Summer. He’s 14 and a budding playwright. He wants to spend his summer producing a play that he’s writing and gathers friends together to make it happen. I was first concerned about the topic of his play – alcoholism and infidelity – but he writes about what he sees. Since Dad isn’t home Mom hires Brad, 25, to do some work around the house, like preparing the pool for the summer. Brad tends to use as few words as possible, but he was a performance artist in New York for a while. A friendship develops. And some of the things Brad talks about end up in Griffin’s play. Soon Griffin starts having feelings for Brad. Brad doesn’t respond. It’s an enjoyable little movie. Thom Hartmann of the Daily Kos community and an independent pundit discussed an investigative report by the British news outlet Daily Mail authored by Glen Owen, Dan Hodges, Mark Hookham, and Daisy Graham-Brown. It discusses how Putin owns the nasty guy, starting even before he ran for president in 2016.

Essentially, they’re arguing that Epstein was running an operation on behalf of the KGB/Putin that lured wealthy and powerful men to Epstein’s New York and Palm Beach mansions and his island where they were surreptitiously filmed having sex with underage girls. That material was then presumably passed along to Putin, who used it for leverage when he needed it.

Epstein ran “the world’s largest honeytrap operation” and doing it for the KGB. In exchange, Putin reportedly used Epstein to launder Russian money from theft, illicit drug and oil deals, sanctions evasions, and Russian organized crime oligarchs. Some of that money was laundered through real estate. The US has the most lax real estate transaction laws. These cash transactions would have been illegal in almost every other developed country. And some of that money was funneled through nasty guy real estate countries, to the point that the nasty sons preferred Russian banks (though part of that was American banks were tired of their bankruptcies). If Epstein gave Putin a video of the nasty guy having sex with underage girls, and the nasty guy has known about it for decades, how might that have changed his behavior? That is followed by a list of things the nasty guy has done that seem to benefit Putin. The list could be longer than it is by hundreds of items. Here are only some of them. + Compromised a US spy in Russia. + Told the world he trusts Putin over his own intelligence services. + Put a Putin fan in charge of US intelligence. + Damaged NATO and our relations with the EU that will take generations to restore. + Unleash ICE to turn Americans against each other. + Gut America’s soft power by shutting down USAID, prompting small countries to turn to Putin and Xi for help. + Outed an Israeli spy to the Russian Ambassador. The CIA became highly alarmed that the nasty guy would compromise their assets. And some were compromised. They listed the conversations between the nasty guy and Putin and the contacts between Russia and the nasty guy campaign. The discuss Paul Manafort, the 2016 campaign manager, and his ties to Russia, followed by his pardon by the nasty guy. They discussed the nasty guy’s habit of leaving top-secret info in hotel rooms in hostile nations. Were these documents to sell? Impress foreign leaders? Or because Putin told him to? The Mueller Report documented the ten instances the nasty guy obstructed the investigation.

These aren’t just “a few bad judgment calls” or a president with “strange foreign policy instincts.” These stories (and literally hundreds of others) point to a man who’s behaved, consistently and predictably, like someone under leverage, someone whose personal fear of exposure of some sort of major crime — like the ones we know Epstein was holding over other billionaires — outweighs his loyalty to the nation he swore to serve. ... This is not about politics or personality. It’s about whether a country can survive being led by someone who looks captured and compromised by a foreign power.

Scott Detrow of NPR talked to reporter Stephen Fowler about the three million pages from the Epstein files that were released last Friday. Said Fowler:

The way that they've done the release of the Epstein files has made it virtually impossible to tell a full story about anything. There's no rhyme or reason to how these pages are ordered. There's no context surrounding information released here or there. There are multiple copies of just about everything, and you have some cases where there's information redacted in one version and not redacted in another, so it's hard to know if you're looking at the most recent or most complete or most accurate version of anything. And so when you may see things on social media about XYZ person here, or file, or thing, it's taken a lot more time to try and connect all of these dots.

They then discussed some of the names that have appeared in these documents. Fowler said, “You can take a look at pretty much any industry or political ideology and they're in the files.” One of the prominent names was Elon Musk. Appearing in the files does not necessarily mean there was wrongdoing or knowledge of crimes. But see the way the files were released. Detrow also talked to Annie Farmer about the release. She testified in court against Epstein and accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. She said about victims names in these documents.

There's just no explanation for how it could have been done so poorly. They've had victims' names for a very long time. I don't think this is just about rushing to get this information out.

Then NPR host Michel Martin talked to Elie Honig, a former assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York and now a CNN legal analyst. A few things he said. There are three other codefendants who could have been indicted and were not, but their names were redacted. Epstein could have been indicted on more serious crimes than what he was charged with. The released documents were under-redacted, as in exposing victim identities, and over-redacted, things blacked out that the law said should not have been. There are documents (possibly 3 million more) that, contrary to the law, the DoJ says it will not release, and the only remedy to that is Congress. Jesse Duquette tweeted a cartoon. On one side are 15 boxes under the heading “Pictures of Trump in the Epstein Files.” Under the heading, “Pictures of Trans People in the Epstein files” is a blank space. Duquette added:

Every last one of the creepshows demonizing trans people has some dark s--- they don’t want anyone seeing on their hard drives

Walter Einenkel of Kos posted the song Bruce Springsteen created to protest ICE. It is titled “Streets of Minneapolis.” This isn’t my kind of music, I don’t think the song is all that musically good, and the video, showing ICE in action between shots of protests, is hard to watch (so I mostly didn’t). Even so, I’m glad a singer of Springsteen’s stature recorded a protest song. Because he did it there will be lots of people listening. Emily Singer of Kos reported on a special election in Tarrant County, Texas (Fort Worth) for a state Senate seat. The nasty guy had won that district by 17 points in 2024, so it’s bright red. This election gave the seat to a Democrat by 14 points, a 32 point (after rounding) swing. The winner, Taylor Rehmet, will serve only until the term ends at the end of the year. Republicans tried to brush off the loss, saying there was low turnout because it happened in an ice storm. But turnout wasn’t low. And numbers show a great number of independents and Republicans voted for the Democrat. Also Republicans spent $2 million more than Democrats. An important factor may have been the nasty guy strongly endorsed the Republican candidate. When she lost he claimed he “had nothing to do with” it. Max Burns of Kos reported a week ago on Abigail Spanberger settling into the governor’s chair in Virginia. The Gov and the Democrats in the legislature quickly passed four constitutional amendments to go before voters. One amendment protects access to abortion and states a fundamental right to reproductive rights. The issue played a role in flipping key districts to Democrats. The next amendment returns the right to vote to felons who complete their sentence. The third is for marriage equality. It would overturn the same-sex marriage ban approved by voters in 2006, which is overridden by the Supreme Court ruling permitting same-sex marriage – the ruling some on the high court would like to overturn. The fourth is more controversial, even for Democrats. It would redraw Congressional districts to give Democrats a 10-1 advantage. Yes, this is in response to Texas’ effort to redraw their maps. Spanberger and Democrats are also working on an “Affordable Virginia” agenda.

If Democrats nationwide want to replicate Virginia’s success, they’ll need to run statewide races not as a collection of individual candidates but as a governing coalition with a clear and unified plan for action. Spanberger is proving how quickly Democrats can move when they are focused. It’s time for Virginia’s strategy to go national.

The very banality of evil is its greatest weapon

In an article posted last Tuesday Oliver Willis of Daily Kos gathered together several mainstream news headlines that say the nasty guy has softened his tone in Minneapolis. Willis says to not trust that. The supposed shift in tone came after the murder of Alex Pretti when the nasty guy had a congenial talk with Tim Walz, governor of Minnesota, then pulled out Greg Bovino, the guy running ICE there, replacing him with Tom Homan, the “border czar.” I wrote about all this last Wednesday (before I read Willis’ article), saying the ongoing and huge protests in Minnesota worked. Perhaps I bought into the softened tone as well. Willis wrote:

But the administration’s pullback doesn’t change the main thrust of Trump’s policies and actions: pursuing a mass deportation campaign targeting people because of their race and ethnicity. The mainstream coverage is ignoring or minimizing this reality, even though it is the driving force behind everything that has occurred. ... Characterizing the administration’s spin as a legitimate softening of tone ignores the current situation and Trump’s track record.

Tom Hartmann of the Kos community and an independent pundit also says this is not the dawn of a new era.

Fascist governments don’t rise in one giant arc, nor do they collapse that way. It’s more of what electrical engineers and ham radio operators would call a “sawtooth pattern.” Climb an inch up toward fascism, get pushback from the public so you back down a half-inch until things quiet down, then move up another inch in another step toward the ultimate goal of total tyranny. Learn from your own mistakes, while getting the public used to each step, so Trump and his lickspittles can move onto the next falling domino in the process of ending democracy and replacing it with strongman oligarchic autocracy.

ICE agents still assume complete immunity. They still kick in doors without a legal warrant. They still can kill us without answering for it. And they know it. “We are still on the path to dictatorship.” The steps from democracy to fascism start with steps that people see as reasonable to handle a real problem. It may seem a bit weird, but makes sense. Then the mask drops and we see the true intent. By then the recognition is usually too late. A tyrant learns how far he can go before hitting resistance that can’t be bludgeoned through. Then they work out what messages to get the people to accept the changes.

Fascism doesn’t arrive with jackboots; it arrives with media and voter fatigue. As the political theorist Hannah Arendt warned, the very “banality” and “ordinariness” of such evil is its greatest weapon.

They push. We get used to it. They push some more. We begin to see resistance is pointless. They tell us the situation is so complicated we couldn’t understand, or it is bound by national security (heard that one lately?) and we should defer to their expertise. We assume the good guys will eventually win. If we didn’t resist at Step A, Step C isn’t all that much worse, so why resist Step C? Soon our principles are compromised. We still get a paycheck, socialize with friends. The world around us, the houses, stores, restaurants, cinema, and holidays still look the same. But the look is deceiving because the world is now full of hate and fear, which is so universal it is not recognized or is seen as normal. Stephen Miller mused that habeas corpus can be suspended in a time of invasion. That is to lock up immigrants and protesters without a trial. There was little reaction in the news media. If, a decade ago, Obama said that there would be swift hearings and maybe impeachment. Miller’s comments have become normalized. Democrats have shut down part of the government by demanding guardrails be put up around ICE. They may get their demands. But ICE is now so corrupt and has such a toxic culture those guardrails will have little effect. This ICE needs to be shut down and replaced, along with ICE leadership, and Homeland Security leadership. Why aren’t Democrats talking about the leadership?

The antidote to normalization is outrage and resistance. Not just in voting booths, but in the streets, in courtrooms, in classrooms, in boardrooms, in pulpits, and at dinner tables. ... History won’t forgive us for sleepwalking into tyranny. And our children won’t either. ... If we still believe in this republic, in its ideals, and in the sacred value of a free and fair society, then our answer to Trump’s authoritarianism must be more than words. It must be peaceful action.

I had mentioned this idea before, though Kos of Kos says it well. The change in Minneapolis (what little there is) was because of an increase in protests. The protests didn’t surge because of the kidnapping of five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, the boy in the hat with bunny ears. He’s brown. It didn’t happen when Renee Good was murdered. She’s a lesbian. It happened when Alex Pretti was murdered.

He was white. He was male. He owned a gun. He worked as an ICU nurse helping veterans. He fit comfortably inside the cultural boundaries conservatives instinctively protect. That made him difficult to erase.

He died doing something humane – protesting injustice. Pretti broke the script. He made denial harder. He exposed the lie that propaganda said “this violence was targeted, controlled, and righteous.”

His death made clear that the machinery of state brutality was not staying neatly confined to its intended victims, and that compliance offered no protection from a system built on brutality and subjugation rather than law. ... His loss is immeasurable. It is also the moment that cracked the narrative armor protecting Trump’s immigration campaign, forcing a public reckoning that a year of evidence alone had failed to trigger.

In Friday’s pundit roundup for Kos Greg Dworkin quoted David French of the New York Times, discussing voter reaction to ICE tactics in Minneapolis:

Voters don’t like the sight of masked officers dragging people out of homes and stores and cars. They don’t like the hype videos on social media in which ICE and the Border Patrol cosplay as low-rent versions of SEAL Team 6. They don’t like it when the administration lies and slanders the very people that it hurts and kills, and they get especially angry when cellphone video immediately debunks the administration’s spin. And to the extent that they pay attention to court proceedings, they definitely don’t like it when the administration is caught lying and defies court orders. … At each and every step along the way, the administration is squandering whatever good will it had and increasing the chances of a blue wave in the midterms. The problem, however, is that the administration is playing a different game. It’s not trying to win hearts and minds, but rather impose its will.

Dan Pfeiffer tweeted:

Here's what people don't like about ICE: - The agents are heavily armed, masked, and poorly trained. - They think the agents are unaccountable and see themselves as above the law. - That their actions are unconstitutional. - That ICE is targeting the wrong people.

George F Will of the Washington Post:

Governments around the world are using myriad technologies, some of them sinister, to surveil their populations. U.S. governments — national, state local — are not impervious to the temptation to overdo this. But today, a salutary effect of the ubiquity of smartphones is the surveillance of the government by citizens. Including those exercising their constitutional right to petition government for redress of grievances, and people watching other people do this.

In today’s roundup Dworkin quoted Politico:

“The big muscular show of force — you invite too much confrontation,” said a second person close to the White House, also granted anonymity to speak candidly. “Let’s try to be quieter about it but deport just as many people. Be a little sneakier. Don’t have the flexing and the machismo part of it. There’s a certain element of that that’s cool but as much as we can, why can’t we be stealthy and pop up all over Minnesota?” “We were almost provoking the reaction,” the person added. “I’m all for the smartest tactics as long as the end result is as many deportations as possible.” But the person warned that any perception of backtracking could depress a base already uneasy about the economy. “Our base is generally not wealthy and they’re not doing well,” the person said. “They’re struggling. If you take away immigration — if they don’t believe he means it — holy cow, that’s not good.”

Adam Klasfeld tweeted about how badly the nasty guy’s attempt of accusing his enemies of crime are going.

Let's speak plainly. In legitimate criminal cases, political appointees don't have to first hollow out U.S. Attorney offices of objecting career prosecutors with integrity; federal judges don't kill the cases at the cradle, and the government doesn't fight tooth and nail to revive them. This happened THREE times with Trump's DOJ to date. NONE of the criminal cases against Trump featured those antics.

The neurotic need for endless conflict, incompatible with joy

I’ve been thinking about the power of the social hierarchy for several years now and frequently apply my thoughts to current events. One of the questions that came to mind was whether those towards the top of the hierarchy were happy. They seemed to obsess over their position in the hierarchy. So what did it bring them? The American Declaration of Independence famously says we people have the right to the “pursuit of happiness.” It doesn’t list any other emotion. So are they happy? What online research I could find (and could understand) didn’t say much about this question. The Gaslit Nation bonus episode for last week posed the question, “Do fascists feel joy?” Yes, I was intrigued. It’s close enough to my original question and now I have the time to explore it. Because it is a bonus episode it is available only to members (which I am). So my link may not work for you. Also, bonus episodes do not get a transcript. I listened to the audio, pausing frequently to write down ideas. A lot of what follows is a summary of what was said. Only once did I check to make sure the quote was accurate. Beyond a prelude the speaker was Andrea Chalupa, host of Gaslit Nation. From that prelude: How did Communists maintain their power? It wasn’t because people believed their lies, but because too many people were willing to let the lies persist. They wanted to go along to get along, to not threaten the system so it would not threaten them. The example was shopkeepers posting signs that agreed with the lies of the regime. But one one person can break the fantasy. A shopkeeper could stop putting up the sign. On to the main discussion. Do fascists feel joy? That they don’t seems obvious. They don’t have empathy. They are cruel and they push out those not extreme enough, not cruel enough. Trump’s rallies shows people who are laughing and appearing to have a good time. But is it joy? George Orwell wrote a review of Hitler’s Mein Kampf in 1940. He noted that socialism and capitalism offer people a good time. Fascism offers struggle, danger, and death. “The fascist psychological profile is driven by a neurotic need for endless conflict, which is incompatible with the contentment or life affirming nature that we all know as joy.” Note the “endless conflict” – the nasty guy invaded Venezuela, then seemed to drop that to push an invasion of Greenland. That is like ICE using tear gas in Minneapolis after Renee Good was murdered, to maintain the level of conflict. This episode was recorded before Alex Pretti was murdered. So fascism offers a “better” time than what capitalism offers. That better time is being hyper vigilant of enemies within and without, which is endless conflict. Yeah, that doesn’t seem like a better offer. Stick with me a moment. Why do people want endless conflict? That’s how they were raised. They had a domineering father. Hitler then praised those types of fathers. A proto-Nazi movement declared that dominance is the only way to deal with a chaotic world. In this case “chaos” included feminism and LGBTQ rights. In the 1920s and 1930s Germany was the leading center of research into psychology and philosophy. So when Hitler came along these researchers began to study him and his movement. Fascism is a way for the masses to express themselves without giving them any power. The elements of their rallies are designed to create a state of mass intoxication. A researcher saw that the self-alienation was so complete people could feel their own destruction as a form of pleasure. The cruelty is a dopamine hit derived from inflicting pain on someone else. It is glee that comes from the violence of domination. What they were feeling wasn’t and isn’t joy. It was the thrill of dominance, the high of the mob. Fascism is a death cult, and requires an enemy. In contrast, joy is life affirming. That cruelty is funded by corporations that want the destruction of the labor movement, of liberals, and of feminists all wanting to challenge the patriarchy corporations want to maintain. Why discuss their lack of joy? Because it exposes their weakness. The fascist high is not sustainable. It is fast and hot. It needs continuing escalation. It needs new enemies to destroy to maintain the level of stimulation. It is exhausting. But it is also never enough. So the Democrat’s plan to wait it out won’t work. Such a movement is already dead inside. Their laughter is empty. They are brittle. Their movement will eventually collapse. True joy, the kind that sustains resistance, is a renewable energy. That comes from love and community. We must keep going and do so in joy until the fascists collapse. So find and keep joy in your life. It is the best revenge. All that was the first 19 minutes of the recording. The remaining 15 minutes was a discussion of self care with Vatican reporter Colleen Dulle. She wrote the book, “Struck Down, Not Destroyed: Keeping the Faith as a Vatican Reporter.” One thing Dulle reported on was MAGA attempting a siege of the Vatican. It seems the Vatican can’t reform fast enough to withstand the effort. And one needed reform is to let women be priests to fill the desperate need for priests. The self care discussion was about how Dulle cares for herself. I’ve seen Chalupa’s standard list of questions for these things and quickly saw one person’s self care may not apply to another. So I didn’t finish the recording. A thought from me. People who followed Hitler wanted more of what they knew from growing up. The same seems true for many of the people who adore the nasty guy. That means how we raise our children needs an overhaul with a greater emphasis on love and community while limiting dominance. And in the meantime a lot of people need a great deal of therapy and our country isn’t set up to give it. Our culture considers children raised to be highly patriarchal to be raised properly.