I think a lot of us have given up expecting such high profile people to pay the price for their actions. Whether it's politicians or people like Jeffrey Epstein. Subconsciously or consciously. We don't even attempt to question it, it's a fact of life, that if you are not a regular citizen, you will get away with murder and worse. Just look at the Iraq War and those who sponsored it, whether it's George Bush on the right or Tony Blair on the left, the correct assumption is that they're not gonna pay for what they did, even if they laugh about it and rub it in our faces. 

I am not an American, but I do watch a lot of American TV shows. And for years, I've heard jokes about Harvey Weinstein on American comedies, specifically jokes about his predatory behaviour. I didn't even know who this guy was, but I correctly assumed that he was a powerful figure, and while he was brought down in the end, that's far from how this sort of thing usually goes for people like him. 

There are a lot of causes one should champion, but in the end, it's just not possible to dedicate the same mental power to every cause, the human physiological headspace doesn't allow for this. It's not a feature, it's a bug. Accordingly, I do believe it's natural for most people to subconsciously expect nothing of value to come out from Epstein being arrested or his files being released, which I wouldn't be surprised if they've been manipulated a thousand times by now, it's a lost cause to champion. Most people try spend whatever little headspace they have on issues like the war in Ukraine and what's happening in Palestine, causes in which we have a slight chance in making a small difference. Even with all this drama, I still don't believe anything meaningful will come out of the Epstein's story, it's too late. 

I would have loved to live in a world where justice is served all the time, everywhere, to everybody, equally. But I think I am old enough now to know that's never going to happen. We're never going to live in that world. Just watch the BBC interview with Prince Andrew, there is no way that anybody who spent a lot of time with Epstein did not know what this guy was about. However, him and the people he surrounded himself with know that they don't live in the same world as ours. To them, crimes like having sex with minors is just gossip and jokes like all the jokes I heard over the years about Harvey Weinstein. I'm not surprised that Trump is on tape saying things like he likes them young. It's probably what everybody in Epstein's circle knew and said and gossiped about and possibly participated in, they don't live in our world and we don't live in theirs,

I frankly don't know if I can even imagine what it means to be bathed in so much money and power. Clearly, it does something to the human psyche, even someone as smart as Bill Gates isn't immune, he continued to meet with Jeffrey Epstein after he was convicted with sex crimes after all. WTF. On the other hand, Bill's ex-wife, Melinda, seems to have kept some of her human senses and found her ex-husband's ties with Epstein to be upsetting, but she's clearly an exception. 

Finally, in politics, whenever the opposing team messes up, this is an opportunity for exploitation of the situation, it is hypocritical, but so what? Biden mishandled a lot of issues in my opinion, and that was totally exploited by the Republicans, including the war on Gaza. Do you honestly believe the Republicans care about the Palestinians now that we're six months into Trump's presidency? it's politics and it's inherently hypocritical. The Democrats would be stupid not to exploit the mishandling of the Epstein files. 

US ‘will forever be stained by its complicity’ in Gaza: CAIR

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has condemned the Trump administration for its unwavering support for Israel as starvation kills more and more Palestinians in Gaza.

“It is beyond the understanding of any moral individual how Trump administration officials can see the images of starving children and slaughtered aid seekers in Gaza without demanding an end to this man-made horror,” the US Muslim group said in a statement.

“Our nation will forever be stained by its complicity with the Israeli apartheid government’s genocide. The genocide must end and all those who carried it out or were complicit must be held accountable.”

The US provides Israel with at least $3.8bn in military assistance annually, and it has given billions more since the Gaza war began. The Trump administration also continues to shield Israel from condemnation and accountability at the UN and other international bodies.

I'm done with the US. Nice people (mostly), beautiful scenery, but now forever tainted by the monsters the people 'voted' into power.

I had hopes it would get better and actually thought it was getting better with Obama (after Bush's rampage) but Obama didn't really deliver and then Trump, Biden, Trump. USA is done. I can't see this getting better in the next 3.5 years. I can see it getting a whole lot worse.

Not just for Gaza, that's the tip of the iceberg of what's coming. All that nonchalant cruelty will come right back home, already is with Alligator Alcatraz.

@Lurker, I don't blame you for feeling tempted to giving up but I would caution that if the elites don't feel at least some kind of pressure or accountability for their actions, the days when direct accountability through representation are numbered.

Many analogies have been made between our time and the Roman Republic's but this pattern has played out over and over during history, such as Russia in the 1910s.  

There's a saying on the right: "you only elect communism once", but I think we could apply that to any form of aristocratic government coming to power.  If we forsake even the compromised representative republic (US) or democracy (elsewhere) now, the real-world consequences will hit when our kids aren't eligible for life-saving medicine under NHS policy, get designated for MAID, or are simply sold to an Amazon or Walmart smart city. 

I saw a situation I had written off in Canada turn around in such a profound way in 2022 that it led to the collapse of a crisis/reaction/solution situation around the globe, even though the panic and vitriol of those days from officials and neighbors seem insane now. 

The only hopeless situation is when we give up on the hope that things can change.  Clinton, Bush, Prince Andrew and the others can be brought to justice if we are willing to see it through. 

In the US, this means that every Republican who facilitated this cover-up needs to be primaried/dark-horsed, along with the Democrats who helped cover it up before this year.  Make it personal at the ballot box.

The party of "family values," everyone.

Oklahoma's Trump-loving, bible-thumping superintendent facing porn probe.

It was certainly for educational purposes!

As in, learning what a woman actually looks like...

I don't think you understood what I was trying to say, but then again, I don't think I explained it well.

I'll go farther than anyone has gone here; "Well done on the MAGA base for forcing the conversation on the Epstein Files". But if we're being consistent, there would and should be an almost daily blowback against politicians everywhere in the Western world. And certainly for Trump, more than any other politician, there are a thousand other instances in which he deserved similar, if not bigger, blowback.

Yes, we should aim for a future in which we hold politicians accountable for every minuscule mistake they make knowingly. But it's going to be hard if we keep fooling ourselves and electing criminals and terrible people, whether if it's a Republican or a Democrat, prevention is better than cure.

How about we elect someone like Bernie Sanders for once? I don't know about Massie, but he sounds like a good guy, even if I disagree with him on everything, why don't you elect someone like him for a change? As long as we keep electing the most famous guy, or the most experienced guy, or the guy who took the most money from IPAC and similar organizations, we'll never get anywhere meaningful besides choosing the lesser evil, and politicians will continue to get away with murder and worse.

Electing someone like Trump and then try to hold him accountable, seems such a backward way of doing things that will never work.

Thomas Massie's voting record on Ukraine is horrifically bad.

• Massie was the only member of Congress to vote against a measure refusing to recognize Russia’s annexation of Crimea. Basically he wants to officially recognise Crimea as Russian.
• He was one of three members to oppose a March 2022 resolution supporting Ukraine's sovereignty after it was invaded by Russia. The resolution also called for an immediate ceasefire.
• He parroted the baseless conspiracy theory (from Putin) that Ukraine was developing biological weapons.
• He opposed Sweden and Finland joining NATO.
• He was one of nine to vote against a House Resolution which condemned the illegal kidnapping of children from Ukraine by Russia.
• He voted against the Ukrainian Lend-Lease Act of 2022.
• Voted against Ukraine Supplemental Appropriation.
• Voted in favour of striking $300m of assistance to Ukraine.
• Voted in favour of prohibiting all security assistance to Ukraine.
• Publicly in favour of USA leaving NATO.

Statistically he is the worst US Congressman for Ukraine, likely the most pro-Russian. It would be one thing if he was just one of those heartless "We shouldn't be funding Ukraine, they should pay us" but his objections go beyond even that, it's clear he not only doesn't want to help Ukraine at all, but he also wants to dismantle NATO and hopes Russia wins in Ukraine, willing to officially recognise territory Russia stole from Ukraine as Russian.

With Trump I am conflicted whether he was/is just a complete idiot when it came to Ukraine, whether he was just a coward when it comes to Russia, whether he was a Russian asset or whether Russia had blackmail material on him. But Massie is far worse, I've no doubt that dude is a straight up Russian asset. I see he is also critical of Israel and voted in favour of lifting sanctions on Iran plus voted against military action on Iran.

it's not a bad thing to be critical of Israel, or want to lift sanctions on Iran for better relations, or being against stupid military action on Iran. But I don't think he's in favour of those things because Israel is being a genocidal maniac, I don't think he wants to lift sanctions on Iran to help make it a better place, I don't think he is against military action on Iran because it is wrong, I think he is in favour of all of those things simply because Iran is Russia's strategic ally. He has also voted against sanctions on North Korea.

I really want Bernie to start grooming more successors and guiding new Democrats, I would really dislike to see him running again, I feel like if he runs for President again it would start to come across like it's more about him and I really like Bernie but I want him to step aside now and let the younger generation takeover and for him to be a teacher to them.

AOC is a bit like that but I don't think she should run for Presidency, I think she should primary that useless fucker Chuck Schumer. The Democrat Leadership/Establishment has been flailing around for months and don't appear to have any game plan, they've been asleep at the wheel until this Epstein drama which lets be honest has been an easy thing to take advantage of.

I'm sick of establishment Democrats and useless centrists controlling the party who want to main the status quo and don't want to make radical changes despite the fact that the public is high on populism right now and calling out for radical changes, I don't believe the public by large gives a shit whether it comes from the left or right, they just want something to change.

People like Zohran Mamdani should be seen as the example for the Democrats to follow, instead the establishment spent half their time attacking him and instead backing the sex pest Andrew Cuomo because "Ah scary 'socialist' wants to change things" Democrat Establishment spends an equal amount of time attacking its own left wing base than it does attacking the Republicans.

Are we really going to be happy when the only reason the Democrats may win the next election is solely due to the fact that the Republicans were so awful and fucked everything up? Is that how we want to win elections? "Democrats suck but Republicans are worse" isn't what Democrats should be aiming for. Then some other fake populist moron comes into the Republican Party and wins again.

Look at the UK, Labour won only because Tories were so awful, now we're looking at a Reform majority in the next election.

Thank you. I certainly don't know the guy. And I only mention him because he seemed to be triggering Trump recently, which is obviously a very superficial way of favoring someone.

as for Trump, I feel like his stance on Russia can be mostly explained by his expansionist ambitions, he's probably happy for Putin to do whatever he wants to do as long as the USA gets a bigger piece of the pie and Americans get to hollow out Ukraine of its natural resources, and only angry when those ambitions clash with Putin's. 

Trump is a true capitalist. He looks at the evil around the world and his first question is not how to solve it, but how he can capitalise on it to his own/USA's corporations' advantage (of which he is certainly a major shareholder).

"Oh, look at all the destruction in Gaza and these starving people, I am going to turn it into an American Riviera in the Middle East, So go ahead, Netanyahu, finish the job, drive them all out. I have some real estate business to run"

Has anyone seen the most recent South Park episode? They really go after Trump and don't hold back a punches. It was great to watch.