Tea at Trianon: Epstein Files: White House Implies Progress, Some Agents See Stalemate

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Wednesday, March 12, 2025

Epstein Files: White House Implies Progress, Some Agents See Stalemate

From Sharyl Attkisson:

Public news has been scant in recent days about the Jeffrey Epstein files, documents tied to the financier’s and sex trafficker’s criminal past. Those documents could reveal details about his network and any high profile figures who patronized his entourage of minors.
Epstein was arrested in July 2019 for sex trafficking minors. He died in his prison cell a month later, officially a suicide, though speculation persists.
The files—court records, witness statements, and possibly videos from his private island—have been the subject of speculation for years, with many wondering why there have been no publicly announced revelations or prosecutions tied to them.
The Department of Justice initially released 200 pages of documents two weeks ago, mostly flight logs, distributing them to Internet influencers—a move some viewed as an “embarrassing misstep” due to the lack of significant content. That was followed by a public standoff between the FBI in Washington DC and the FBI field office in New York, when it was revealed that agents there had failed to turn over all of the documents they had been holding. Attorney General Pam Bondi accused the FBI New York office of non-cooperation and set a February 28 deadline for the documents to be handed over.
In one of the few statements on the results, Bondi told Fox News’ Sean Hannity on March 4 that the FBI New York office had produced a “truckload” of documents—thousands of pages.
“We did get a ton of documents,” she stated, noting they are “under review.”
More recently, White House Senior Advisor Alina Habba appeared on a podcast and answered lingering questions about the radio silence on the documents. She asked for “patience,” suggesting the FBI might be “saving the integrity” of potential prosecutions by staying quiet while the documents are scoured for information. (Read more.)

From Right Flank:

In an ideal world, the public might have access to the bank records of all politicians. As Elon Musk has noted, judges should be impeachable similar to politicians. If justice were served, we’d also have full transparency when it comes to judges’ bank accounts. Such proposed financial transparency could be circumvented through backdoor bribes in the form of bags of cash dropped off at judges and politicians’ homes. However, doing so would be risky. The depositing of those cash bribes in bank accounts would eventually be flagged unless bankers were also bribed to remain quiet.
At this point, we’re all wondering, how far does the rabbit hole go? (Read more.)