[New York Post] Prosecutors on Thursday left open the possibility that Ghislaine Maxwell could cooperate in their investigation — despite indicting her on charges including perjury.
Audrey Strauss, the acting US attorney for the Southern District of New York, said she wasn’t worried that the perjury charges would undermine Maxwell’s ability to potentially testify against others.
"This sometimes happens where there are perjury charges and people can go on from there and become cooperators," Strauss said at a press conference. "And I’m not concerned about that. In the event that if she even were to become a cooperator, I think we could deal with that."
Maxwell, 58, was arrested Thursday morning in New Hampshire on charges she groomed underage women to have sex with Epstein in places like his Upper East Side townhouse, Florida, New Mexico and her home in London between 1994 and 1997. The daughter of media titan Robert Maxwell is also accused of partaking in some of the sexual abuse herself.
Strauss also stressed that the investigation into Epstein and Maxwell’s alleged sex trafficking ring remains active — meaning more charges against others could be coming down the pike.
"These charges announced today are the latest results of our investigation into Epstein and the people around him who facilitated his abuse of minor victims," she said. "That investigation remains ongoing."
I suspect you can take that one to the bank and stop somewhere for a burger, fries, and a coke.
It was was an international bidding war for positive control of the asset. Our friends in McLean, Virginia were the highest bidders. The FBI is currently handling the logistics and formal information and media releases.
Asset control can be problematic. I'm delighted a solution has finally been arrived at.
[AIER] The Internet is having a bit of fun with Rand Paul’s claim during a Tuesday Senate committee hearing that "We shouldn’t presume that a group of experts somehow knows what’s best" (here’s Tommy Beer with more). After all, they’re the experts. Shouldn’t we get out of the way and do as the experts tell us?
No. Rand Paul is right.
Friedrich Hayek was famously skeptical of experts because they have a tendency to stretch beyond their expertise and make claims, recommendations, or policies that are beyond the narrow confines of their expertise. They also tend to collapse social problems into frameworks and models that seem easy to manipulate but that leave out a lot of important on-the-ground knowledge that, Hayek argued, is of a kind that is inaccessible to an outside observer. In short, it is easy to mistake a model for the actual underlying reality. It is just as easy to identify important considerations and act as if they are the only
In a 2014 book, William Easterly highlighted and criticized The Tyranny of Experts (I reviewed it for Regulation here). His subtitle is revealing and relevant to the present moment: "Economists, Dictators, and the Forgotten Rights of the Poor." Experts can identify facts and make recommendations, certainly, but they’re not well-positioned to know the specific trade-offs and decisions people should make in light of what they know.
Probably the best illustration of this that I’ve seen is not a dense academic treatise but the February 6, 2013 installment of the webcomic Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal. A gentleman in a coat and tie stands in front of a tank of fluid in which someone is floating like Luke Skywalker in the bacta tank in The Empire Strikes Back. He says "We’ve encased everyone in a vat of gelatin, with nutrition fed directly into their mouths. Once a day, the gelatin is electrically excited so as to stimulate their bodies to aerobic exercise! They all live to at least 150."
The cartoon’s caption says "fortunately, public health advocates have no legislative power."
That’s the important point relevant to Rand Paul’s statement on Tuesday. In the cartoon, the experts have created and are enthusiastic about a technology that will lead to long lives. However, I think most of us would agree that floating in a tank of gelatin—even if you’re hooked up to Robert Nozick’s experience machine—isn’t really living.
Paul makes the important point that a bit of humility is in order. An expert is very well-positioned to say "if you do these things, then you can expect the following effects with the following probabilities." Only in the most extraordinary of circumstances—and even then, I’m still extremely skeptical—should they presume to tell others exactly which choices they should make.
On this, I think this passage from Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations is relevant. I’ll let him have the last word:
"The statesman who should attempt to direct private people in what manner they ought to employ their capitals would not only load himself with a most unnecessary attention, but assume an authority which could safely be trusted, not only to no single person, but to no council or senate whatever, and which would nowhere be so dangerous as in the hands of a man who had folly and presumption enough to fancy himself fit to exercise it."
[Politico] Tucker Carlson’s audience is booming — and so is chatter that the popular Fox News host will parlay his TV perch into a run for president in 2024.
Republican strategists, conservative commentators, and former Trump campaign and administration officials are buzzing about Carlson as the next-generation leader of Donald Trump’s movement — with many believing he would be an immediate frontrunner in a Republican primary.
"He’s a talented communicator with a massive platform. I think if he runs he’d be formidable," said Luke Thompson, a Republican strategist who worked for Jeb Bush’s super PAC in 2016.
While practically every Republican eyeing a 2024 presidential run is professing loyalty to Trump the person, Carlson has become perhaps the highest-profile proponent of "Trumpism" — a blend of anti-immigrant nationalism, economic populism and America First isolationism that he articulates unapologetically and with some snark. At the same time, he's shown a rare willingness among Republicans to bluntly criticize Trump when he believes the president is straying from that ideology.
In another twist, Carlson has established a friendship with Donald Trump, Jr., according to a source familiar with their relationship. Trump Jr. has drawn his own share of presidential buzz.
"Tucker Carlson Tonight" is currently the most watched cable news program in history, according to the second quarter ratings released this week. And on Fox News’ YouTube channel, Carlson’s segments from the past quarter have drawn well over 60 million views and are among the most popular videos in the eight years since the network began posting on the platform.
His popularity with the base would instigate a debate over the future of the party — essentially whether Trump was an aberration or a party-realigning disrupter — a fight that will be all the fiercer if Trump loses in November.
#2
And the current lot in D.C. are good "executives"? At least Tucker has the C.O.Jones to say what needs to be said. Half surprised Fox hasn't sacked him yet.
#8
^ Don't be too sure, B. The ratings transfer to almighty $$. The one color that never gets called racist. Don Jr. not withstanding..I think he'd be an inspired choice esp. give the current crop of squishy pubs that have been silent in this mess.
#11
You'd rather let Adam Schiff have it? AOC? Huh?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
07/04/2020 13:40 Comments ||
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#12
Just this morning I saw an interview Tucker did with some chump Republican Senator from Indiana from a few days ago. This senator might as well have been chucking a few bricks himself the way he was talking. Not sure when he's up for re-election, but if that is what the GOP is made of, then it almost doesn't matter who gets elected (see also, Supreme Court).
[Babylon Bee] There has been much talk about renaming the Washington Redskins, since their offensive name has no place in our modern, enlightened society that has done away with all other immorality and sin.
The District of Columbia informed the team that they cannot return to playing within the district until they have a name that is more fitting for a team representing the capital of our country. To that end, the team officially announced today they would be renaming themselves to "The Washington Lizard People."
"This is a much better name, far more reflective of the great city of Washington, D.C.," said Eleanor Holmes Norton, D.C.'s representative. "All the politicians, bureaucrats, and leaders here in the district felt the name had great appeal."
Politicians immediately expressed their support for the name change, saying they can relate to a team called the Lizard People. "I see a name like Lizard People, and I know that's a team I can be proud of," said Adam Schiff, his eyes hungrily following a fly buzzing around the room. He licked his lips. "Much better than that Redskins nonsense. Hey, look over there, is that Vladimir Putin?" As reporters turned to look, Schiff shot a long tongue out of his mouth, lightning-quick, and nabbed the fly. "Oh, must have been mistaken," he said, shrugging.
"I pushed for 'The Turtles,'" said Mitch McConnell. "But Lizard People is acceptable, I suppose. It implies patriotism, good football, and a reptilian conspiracy to enslave puny, meaningless humanity beneath the glorious, scaly claws of lizardkind, humans forever in subjugation to their cosmic superiors, MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"I mean, um... can you believe how bad Nancy Pelosi is?"
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/04/2020 00:00 ||
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#1
Washington Looters. Though may have a trademark conflict with Congress.
ATLANTA (Reuters) - Stone Mountain Confederate Memorial, a nine-story-high bas-relief sculpture carved into a sprawling rock face northeast of Atlanta, is perhaps the South’s most audacious monument to its pro-slavery legacy still intact.
Despite long-standing demands for the removal of what many consider a shrine to racism, the giant depiction of three Confederate heroes on horseback still towers ominously over the Georgia countryside, protected by state law.
The monument - which reopens on Independence Day weekend after the COVID-19 pandemic forced it to close for weeks - has faced renewed calls for removal since the May 25 killing of George Floyd, a Black man who died during an arrest by a white police officer who pinned his neck to the ground with a knee.
The brutality of Floyd’s death, captured on cellphone video, triggered a national outcry against racial injustice, and revived a long-simmering battle between those demanding the removal of racist symbols from the public sphere, and those who believe monuments honor the tradition and history of the South.
#1
Close it immediately and reactivate Project Plowshare (friendly use of nuclear detonation). Multi use, modular gentrified communities, underground Yuka Mountain annex. Quartz counter tops for the next 10,000 years. Wat are we waiting for ?
#3
#1 Close it immediately and reactivate Project Plowshare (friendly use of nuclear detonation). Multi use, modular gentrified communities, underground Yuka Mountain annex. Quartz counter tops for the next 10,000 years. Wat are we waiting for ?
Posted by: Besoeker 2020-07-04 08:06
...A couple years ago, I was flying into Atlanta and the landing path took us directly over Stone Mountain. Believe me when I tell you that no picture I've ever seen that was taken from ground level does justice to the sheer size of that thing. A nuke might just about be the only way to remove it.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
07/04/2020 9:14 Comments ||
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#4
They could hire some Taliban demolition 'experts' cheaply -- just offer them a Green Card and a house in Minneapolis/St. Paul.
#1
It carried over to the English Premier League a week or so ago where players' names were all replaced with "Black Lives Matter". Jerseys also have a BLM patch.
[Townhall] It is not transcendently stupid for the alleged anti-racism rioters to destroy a Lincoln statue, though, to normal people, it looks like the act of drooling morons. Now, a good number of these cesspeople are drooling morons, but that does not change the fact that trashing POTUS #16's statuary is brilliant.
They have confused their targets – us – by casting off the constraints of coherence.
Oh wait, you thought that these folks were trying to make a point about racism being bad. And you thought, because that's how those of us who weren't raised on Instatwitbook, soy, and critical race theory, that if you point out that something is unreasonable then that will cause the person you were instructing to rethink it. After all, trashing some Honest Abe totem in order to illustrate how racism is double-plus-ungood is about a "12" on the 1-10 scale of unreasonability. And yet, you can point that out all day and they don't care.
In fact, they laugh at you for doing so.
It's not about making sense. It never was. It's about making you kneel.
If you look at everything that is going on, the one common denominator is that every action the woke insurgents take is designed to strip you of your ability to defend your interests, or property, or rights, or life. The idea is to leave you utterly vulnerable, totally exposed, at which point they can do with you as they see fit. The nicer ones will merely reeducate you then demand humiliating submission and tribute. History (and their social media feed) teach that others will happily murder you. Doubt me? Just ask your local kulak.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[New York Post] Prosecutors on Thursday left open the possibility that Ghislaine Maxwell could cooperate in their investigation — despite indicting her on charges including perjury.
[Politico] Tucker Carlson’s audience is booming — and so is chatter that the popular Fox News host will parlay his TV perch into a run for president in 2024.
[Babylon Bee] There has been much talk about renaming the Washington Redskins, since their offensive name has no place in our modern, enlightened society that has done away with all other immorality and sin.
ATLANTA (Reuters) - Stone Mountain Confederate Memorial, a nine-story-high bas-relief sculpture carved into a sprawling rock face northeast of Atlanta, is perhaps the South’s most audacious monument to its pro-slavery legacy still intact.
