Release all the Epstein Files Now!

There are fresh reports that q secret storage locker rented by Jeffrey Epstein contained computers, video tapes, sex-slave manuals and photographs of naked women. The Telegraph revealed that Epstein paid private detectives to remove items from his Florida property in an apparent attempt to hide them from investigators ahead of a police raid in 2005.  These were kept at a nearby storage facility in Palm Beach for several years while police investigated the pedophile.

The unit was rented on Epstein’s behalf by the Riley Kiraly detective agency and was one of at least six storage lockers leased by the late financier over a 16-year period.  An inventory of the secret Palm Beach lock-up showed that the stashed items included three computers, 29 address books and a three-page list of masseuses in Florida.  The hidden storage unit also contained nude photographs, believed to be of Epstein’s victims, as well as dozens of pornographic magazines, VHS tapes and DVDs eroticizing teenagers.  An 8mm video cassette tape was also locked away in the storage unit, apparently containing footage of someone in the shower and a woman in lingerie, as well as a 2005 calendar, greeting cards, letters and laboratory results.

The New York Times has also now reported that the vast trove of documents released by the Justice Department from its investigations into the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein failed to include some key materials related to a woman who made an accusation against President Trump.  The materials are F.B.I. memos summarizing interviews the bureau did in connection to claims made in 2019 by a woman who came forward after Mr. Epstein’s arrest to say she had been sexually assaulted by both Mr. Trump and the financier decades earlier, when she was a minor.

The existence of the memos was revealed in an index listing the investigative materials related to her account, which was publicly released. According to that index, the F.B.I. conducted four interviews in connection with her claims and wrote summaries about each one. But only one summary of the four interviews, which describes her accusations against Mr. Epstein, was released by the Justice Department. The other three are missing.  The public files also do not include the underlying interview notes, which the index also indicates are part of the file.

 

Season 2 Can't Come Fast Enough!

 

Sports Always Seem to Turn the GOP Into Sore Losers

Oliver Willis of the Daily Kos opined last week on how the Olympics almost always seem to turn conservatives into sore losers.  Convicted felon Donald Trump himself started digging his own hole in this regard when he attacked Team USA skier Hunter Hess as a “loser” for speaking out about the toxicity of Trump’s presidency.  Snowboarder Chloe Kim later backed up Hess and told reporters,“Obviously, my parents being immigrants, this one definitely hits pretty close to home. I think in moments like these it is important for us to unite and stand up for one another.” Kim called on athletes to “lead with love and compassion” as their home country is roiled by violent and lawless mass deportation efforts.

Trump and other Republicans’ objections to athletes voicing their beliefs highlight conservatives’ lack of understanding about the Olympics. The games are about respectful athletic competition, global unity, and mutual respect. In contrast, the right’s world view—especially under Trump—is of an archaic past where domination, not cooperation, is the default.