Epstein

I’m having trouble taking the Jeffrey Epstein story with the seriousness it deserves, in part because of his links to to the most laughable public figure in American political history (Bill Clinton), who was and remains good for so many jokes. So among my posts on Twitter (which I mostly just use for jokes these days anyway):

But seriously, folks. How does this happen? It is hard to credit mere incompetence, though that is always my default explanation for any government screw up. But after charges were dropped against Jussie Smollette in Chicago, you begin to default instead to the explanation of corruption and conspiracy.

In the true confessions department, I once had to spend 45 minutes behind bars in a county lockup. Never you mind just how this happened! (“It was all just a misunderstanding officer! Really, I swear it!”) The intake process involved removing my tie, my belt, shoes, my wristwatch, and—in what struck me as the most unnecessary step—even my wedding ring. There wasn’t even toilet paper in the cell that I could attempt to swallow if I wanted to try to choke myself or throw spitwads at another cell dweller (who were all passed out in any case).

If a local county lockup can take these kind of precautions against self-harm, it beggars belief that a federal facility, guarding the most high-profile criminal in the country just now, couldn’t prevent a hanging. This stinks.

Attorney General Barr is asking for an FBI investigation and and Inspector General investigation. Why an IG investigation, too? Maybe he doesn’t trust the Clinton-friendly FBI? (On the other hand, if this IG report takes as long as most of them do to finish, we’ll be dead from global warming before we see it.)