Bombing Children to Cover up Raping Children
The Epstein Files have taken the political discourse by storm. The revelations in those files have created an interest in politics and brought it into the realm of popular culture unlike anything I have ever seen. Completely apolitical people, people who actively avoid any hint of political discourse, have to contend with the files and their contents in public discussions and social media as they have a reach most political issues simply do not.
That makes complete sense when you consider that taken at face value the files paint a picture of abuse of power unlike anything we have ever seen. There are literally files which seems to clearly imply that Jeffrey Epstein and his associates were eating children, let alone the undeniably credible allegations of pedophilia and human trafficking. The web Jeffrey Epstein wove entangled the highest echelons of power in business, culture, and politics.
There has long been speculation tying Jeffrey Epstein to Israeli intelligence and it seems somewhat obtuse to deny there was some connection there at this point. Whether that places him at the center of an elaborate and potentially ongoing black mail ring from Israeli intelligence is debatable, especially the depth and impact of such a network. Still, it's plausible and anyone who denies it or claims it antisemitism to discuss it simply isn't dealing with the reality of the exposures thus far.
So when people claim that Donald Trump has bombed Iran to distract from the Epstein Files, it's hard to claim there isn't at least something there, especially considering it has done a very good job at doing just that. When people suggest that Donald Trump or other high ranking American officials are being black mailed or extorted into taking such action, there obviously isn't any publicly verifiable proof of that, but it's hard to let the idea go entirely.
Whether or not the U.S. was motivated by a cover up or pushed into it by black mail is true or not is honestly almost not even as important as the fact that millions upon millions of Americans believe those things to be true. Confidence in the American ruling class is at an all time low. As is American's trust in their institutions. The fact is that it seems completely plausible to many that Donald Trump bombed Iran, potentially setting off World War III, both to distract from the growing fervor of the Epstein story and because he is subject to blackmail as a result of that very story.
The damage has been done and the domino has been toppled. American's won't easily go back to a pre-Epstein world and the beginning of this new war has seemingly only thrown gas on the fire. What is also true though is those in power will not give up their grip easily and with war powers, potential domestic attacks providing cover for further power grabs, and the discontent a crashing global economy will breed, it seems likely that even more significant state repression will flow from this.
At some point the house of cards that is American political life will really collapse. Epstein revelations themselves may have gotten people's attention, but they didn't seem to inspire much action beyond posting online and a lot of conversation. Given the reach the Epstein sage has that isn't nothing, but it certainly isn't overthrowing the pedophile regime or demanding accountability for those at the top who were involved (which it seems is basically all of them). Unfortunately the war they just started might change that dynamic significantly.
As I write this oil is hovering around $110 a barrel for the first time since 2022 and analysts do not think $150 or $200 a barrel is out of the question. Gas prices have already gone up 10-20% depending on the location and it doesn't seem at all out of the question for high price markets like California to reach $10 a gallon in some places in relatively short order. The rest of the country will experience painful price hikes as well. The Asian markets have opened and it is a blood bath reminiscent of Black Monday, causing a circuit breaker to stop trading in South Korea. If the American market bottoms out as well there is no telling what ripples will follow.
Once this economic turmoil meets the price of daily necessities, specifically once the price of diesel is factored in to still rising inflation, the conditions are ripe for significant political unrest that make the kind of natural background unrest of the last decade look like child's play. It's not an ideal situation by any means and as always working and marginalized people will be hurt the most. But it does create the potential for that pain to actually reflect back on those in power as people otherwise powerless are left with no other option.
Discord and disarray are not good things. People without power experience the most negative consequences of those forces. However, the current arrangement is untenable. Political upheaval is seldom manageable by those in power or those who start it. An arsonist is liable to burn themselves. But those at the bottom have been left with no other option for so long, and the decadence of the elite so depraved and in their face, that burning it down will likely seem like a better option than standing by and letting current trends continue. It doesn't take much interaction with regular people to see how discontent almost everyone, of every political persuasion, is at the moment. Hopefully when things break, and they will, it is in such a way that a better world can emerge from the rubble.
