Actually, we see investigative journalism more often these day. It is easy to be outraged now but we all may have contributed to the coverup in small ways by tolerating the powerful doing wrong. Just look at Harvey Weinstein. So many people tolerated him looking the other way, “he is so talented, successful, very good at what he is doing, etc., that little problem he has is nothing compared to all the good he does …” We don’t value simple everyday good as much as big things as we used to.
I don’t think the problem with sexual assaults is that we looked the other way; even famous people don’t usually assault in public. Rather, we reflexively disbelieve the victims and minimize sexual harassment, making it easier for rapists and assaulters to smear their accusers as liars who are trying to gain fame.
Relatedly, can you name one Cosby accuser off the top of your head? I can’t. If they accused him so they could gain fame and fortune, it didn’t work.
I think it says a lot about my own cynicism that I was a little surprised that Epstein’s bail request was denied. I mean, to me it was perfectly obvious that he is a huge flight risk, but there’s so much gaslighting going on these days that I assumed he would get sprung and jet off to some country with no extradition treaty.
So many people with important jobs (one male in particular who lives in DC) seem to have gotten away with malfeasance for so long that it seems like bad actors can never be called to account.
The Epstein case gives me hope.
ETA - piece with quotes from judge’s bail ruling: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/19/nyregion/jeffrey-epstein-bail-decision.html
Better late than never.
Sheriff to Investigate Jeffrey Epstein ‘Work Release’ After Allegation of Nude Meeting
Mr. Epstein was allowed to leave jail to work. A lawyer recently said that he used that privilege for “improper sexual contact,” and a Florida sheriff has opened an internal inquiry.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/19/us/epstein-palm-beach-sheriff-work-release.html
Vicky Ward wrote about Epstein in Vanity Fair in 2003. Through her reporting, she learned about the sexploitation and included it in her article. The then-editor, Graydon, Carter, removed that section of the piece.
Here is Vicky’s recent update, “I tried to Warn you About Jeffrey Epstein in 2003.”
https://www.thedailybeast.com/i-tried-to-warn-you-about-sleazy-billionaire-jeffrey-epstein-in-2003
And here’s a piece about Graydon Carter and his role in scrubbing the accusations from Vicky’s piece.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/why-i-dont-believe-graydon-carter-scrubbed-jeffrey-epstein-story-1223529
Think about how many girls would have been spared if Graydon Carter let it run back in 2003.
Vicky Ward was who I was trying to remember. She had Epstein’s black book with a list of his contact, including Trump and 22 numbers attributed to Bill Clinton. She also had his flight log. With those two, one had a skeleton of Epstein’s activities. She published her full article to gawker but main stream media never picked it up.
@oldmom4896 - Ric Bradshaw is the current Sheriff of Palm Beach County. He was also the Sheriff of Palm Beach County in 2008, when these incidents happened. He’s investigating himself! Hopefully, the feds will step in.
I predict Ric Bradshaw will discover that Ric Bradshaw did nothing wrong.
From the WaPo article linked in #86:
It’s almost as if the PB Sheriff’s office totally ceded control of the prisoner to the prisoner!
Color me “shocked”!
It ain’t over till it’s over. Let’s wait and see. I’m more skeptical than some of you that anything significant is going to come from this. And even if it does – that’s just one dude. There are gazillion others. Just think about all the women in your city, state, country who are being abused right now as we speak.
Sorry. Bad day.
Is that any different from the way Epstein’s lawyers’ dictated his terms of punishment to Acota? Or is it any more shocking than the deal he got?
Oh goodness gracious, poor little Epstein was going to have trouble adjusting to being a criminal in jail, so they had to keep his cell door open. Cool, cool, nothing unusual about that. They normally keep jail cell doors open for new prisoners, right?
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Captain-at-jail-where-Epstein-served-time-in-2008-14109610.php
Who is well versed in jail routine?!
And the double standard for the wealthy continues…
As a Florida resident, I’m always thrilled to discover all the wonderful programs and opportunities our great state offers. For a long time I’ve been suppressing many of my criminal urges out of fear that were I to be caught the revelation that I’m poorly versed in jail routine might prove awkward or embarrassing. Concerned that I’d poorly adjust to incarceration, I’d made the apparently silly and unnecessary choice to avoid it. Now I know that Florida offers such empathy and kindness to its inmates, I feel free to explore my inner Supervillain. Thanks, Florida!
One point that doesn’t seem to get much attention but I find bothersome is that Epstein was allowed to plead to a state “prostitution” charge, thereby implying that his victims were criminals.
Gawker reported on Epstein extensively from 2006ish to 2015, the year before they were shut down. Pages and pages of articles. Here’s the tag for anything with his name.
Interesting names in that little black book.
Julie K Brown was first interviewing women in prison in Florida about how they were sexually abused and mistreated there. That’s how she heard about Epstein. Many of his victims ended up there years later. His name kept coming up.
@Iglooo Vicky Ward did not write about Epstein in Gawker. I don’t think she ever published in Gawker. Nick Bryant, a journalist who specializes in sex trafficking, uncovered the black book and published it in Gawker several years ago. He did a lot of reporting on Epstein.
I’m actually surprised there were any sheriff department employees with Epstein at all. On work release, the prisoner has to get himself to and from his work station and back to the jail on time. Yes, with a personal driver or, in this modern time, an Uber. Someone from the sheriff’s office might stop by unexpectedly to make sure the person is there, but it’s not daily.
I’ve had a lot of clients on work release. They have to file a schedule and stick to it. They might have appointments with an attorney, a doctor, or some place else that the court/sheriff’s department approves (even going to high school classes!), but otherwise they are released out the jail door in the morning and return by 5 or 6 p.m. There are days when the jail is on lock down and no one leaves or visits. Yes, Epstein got to set up a business and go to go there every day but that was the deal he made before pleading guilty. It wasn’t like he could check himself out and go to the beach.
Today Colorado welcomed El Chapo to Supermax. He’s not getting any preferential treatment, but then he didn’t make a deal. Epstein made the deal to GET the preferential treatment.