Sam Smith - If you want to see how the top of our culture really works, you want to watch the four part Netflix documentary Filthy Rich, the
tale of Jeffrey Epstein with his corrals of abused under aged girls and
fully aged power mongers. This is not just the story of a major
criminal but of what happened when local police tried to put a stop to
him. The Palm Beach PD ran into national law enforcement with a
dramatically different set of priorities.
After
all, Jeffrey Epstein was not just a sexual abuser, he had powerful
friends like Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton and Donald Trump as well as
hidden cameras in every room of his mansion to track what those around
him were up to in case he wanted to black mail them.
We
don't know what those like Clinton and Trump actually did, although
Clinton was listed as being on Epstein's plane more than a few time and
Trump, before the scandal, was close to Epstein, too.
As the NY Times reported in 2019:
It
was supposed to be an exclusive party at Mar-a-Lago, Donald J. Trump’s
members-only club in Palm Beach, Fla. But other than the two dozen or so
women flown in to provide the entertainment, the only guests were Mr.
Trump and Jeffrey Epstein.
The year was 1992 and the event was a “calendar girl” competition, something that George Houraney, a Florida-based businessman who ran American Dream Enterprise, had organized at Mr. Trump’s request.
“I arranged to have some contestants fly in,” Mr. Houraney recalled in an interview on Monday. “At the very first party, I said, ‘Who’s coming tonight? I have 28 girls coming.’ It was him and Epstein.”
.. “I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy,” Mr. Trump told New York magazine in 2002. “He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”
The year was 1992 and the event was a “calendar girl” competition, something that George Houraney, a Florida-based businessman who ran American Dream Enterprise, had organized at Mr. Trump’s request.
“I arranged to have some contestants fly in,” Mr. Houraney recalled in an interview on Monday. “At the very first party, I said, ‘Who’s coming tonight? I have 28 girls coming.’ It was him and Epstein.”
.. “I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy,” Mr. Trump told New York magazine in 2002. “He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”
The
documentary does not reveal the actual practices of people like Trump
while with Epstein, but we do know that we've never had two presidents
with such a relationship with someone as sleazy. We also know that
normal police behavior would have been far more aggressive and effective
than it was in this case.
As
I watched the documentary I was reminded of my own efforts to unravel
the corrupt Clinton saga of Arkansas and how totally disinterested the
mainstream media was in the story. I came to realize that the Washington
media had become too much a part of the power structure along with
national politicians and those in charge of law enforcement. And I noted
some statistics I found:
- Number of Starr-Ray
investigation convictions or guilty pleas (including one governor, one
associate attorney general and two Clinton business partners): 14
– Number of Clinton Cabinet members who came under criminal investigation: 5
– Number of Clinton Cabinet members who came under criminal investigation: 5
It was not the sort for thing the Washington media informed you about anymore.
One
of the problems with a story like Epstein's is that even good reporting
can only tell you part of the story because those meant to investigate
it have turned their back on it, leaving it up to a few honest
reporters lacking warrants or the threat of arrest.
What
happens in times like this is that the culture of the powerful blocks
the inquiries of the responsible. They have a name for this in Latin
America, as I wrote 12 years ago:
Underneath the sturm und drang of political
debate, official Washington -- from lobbyist to media to politician --
has reached a remarkable consensus that it no longer has to play by any
rules but its own.
There is a phrase for this in some Latin American countries. They call it the culture of impunity. In such places it has led to death squads, routine false imprisonment and baroque corruption. We are not quite there yet but we are certainly moving in the same direction and for some of the same causes...
In a culture of impunity the rules serve the internal logic of the system rather than whatever values ostensibly guide a country, such as those of its constitution, church or tradition...
Such a culture does not announce itself. It creeps up day by day, deal by deal, euphemism by euphemism.
There is a phrase for this in some Latin American countries. They call it the culture of impunity. In such places it has led to death squads, routine false imprisonment and baroque corruption. We are not quite there yet but we are certainly moving in the same direction and for some of the same causes...
In a culture of impunity the rules serve the internal logic of the system rather than whatever values ostensibly guide a country, such as those of its constitution, church or tradition...
Such a culture does not announce itself. It creeps up day by day, deal by deal, euphemism by euphemism.
And in a culture of impunity, what replaces the Constitution, precedent,
values, tradition, fairness, consensus, debate and all sort of arcane
stuff? Simply greed. As Michael Douglas put it in one of his movies:
"Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed
works."
Of course, there has always been an overabundance of greed in Washington. What is different today is the stunning lack of restraint on the avarice. The federal city has become a town without heroes, without conflict over right and wrong, with little but an endless struggle by narcissistic boomer bandits to get more money, more power, and more press than the next guy. In the chase, anything goes and the only standard is whether you win or lose.
The culture of impunity is not an exclusively Washington phenomenon, as demonstrated recently by the NYPD officers torturing a prisoner as they cried, "It's Giuliani time." Consider also that the UN estimates the worldwide drug trade accounts for 8% of the global economy -- roughly equivalent to the world automobile industry or, in this country, to all state and local government. Is it possible that such a huge industry -- alone among major economies -- lacks easy access to every statehouse and major city hall?
Still Washington sets the tone, the style, and many of the new rules under which the country increasingly functions. These are not the rules we were taught in civics but the laws of competing mobs in control what we once thought was our capital.
We are talking here of culture, not of conspiracies. If you have a strong enough culture you don't need a conspiracy. One of the reasons ethnic minorities and women continue to have such a hard time moving into the institutions of our country is precisely because there is no one to blame, no smoking gun, nothing on paper -- only the stone wall of implicit values and ingrained behavior.
Of course, there has always been an overabundance of greed in Washington. What is different today is the stunning lack of restraint on the avarice. The federal city has become a town without heroes, without conflict over right and wrong, with little but an endless struggle by narcissistic boomer bandits to get more money, more power, and more press than the next guy. In the chase, anything goes and the only standard is whether you win or lose.
The culture of impunity is not an exclusively Washington phenomenon, as demonstrated recently by the NYPD officers torturing a prisoner as they cried, "It's Giuliani time." Consider also that the UN estimates the worldwide drug trade accounts for 8% of the global economy -- roughly equivalent to the world automobile industry or, in this country, to all state and local government. Is it possible that such a huge industry -- alone among major economies -- lacks easy access to every statehouse and major city hall?
Still Washington sets the tone, the style, and many of the new rules under which the country increasingly functions. These are not the rules we were taught in civics but the laws of competing mobs in control what we once thought was our capital.
We are talking here of culture, not of conspiracies. If you have a strong enough culture you don't need a conspiracy. One of the reasons ethnic minorities and women continue to have such a hard time moving into the institutions of our country is precisely because there is no one to blame, no smoking gun, nothing on paper -- only the stone wall of implicit values and ingrained behavior.
