Thursday, July 18, 2019

The Epstein-Barr Virus and Donald J. Trump

 

The Epstein-Barr virus, first of all, is the cause of an infectious disease, mononucleosis, which is (interestingly enough in light of what this column is principally about) called the "kissing disease." Its primary symptoms are: fatigue, fever, lack of appetite, rash, sore throat , swollen glands in the neck, and weakness and sore muscles. While in this column we are dealing with a different kind of Epstein-Barr virus, one of the political sort (credit here must go to one of my Twitter mates, JoeInWVa, for identifying it as such [although unfortunately I cannot find the link to that particular cartoon]) some of the symptoms are the same. That is if you broaden the diagnosis to include Sick-of-Trump-and-Barr Syndrome.  

But let's look at some of the particularly noticeable socio-political outcomes so far of the Jeff Epstein/Bill Barr virus that has suddenly burst on the scene, not necessarily in order of importance. 

The law firm of Kirkland-Ellis in Chicago is central. It is the world's highest-grossing law firm. It was Bill Barr's firm for a while, although not during the period when it obtained the sweetheart deal for Steve Epstein in Florida. That's why Barr at first recused himself (announcing it to the press) on one day, then quickly un-recused himself the next day (announcing through a DOJ spokesperson). One can just imagine the call from Trump that led to the second event (if that is indeed what happened). This is a clean webmagazine, so I won't conjure up the language Trump likely used. Of course, much more important than Trump's language in that hypothetical call, is why Barr un-recused himself, whether there was such a call or not. Couldn't have anything to do with being the President's lawyer rather than the U.S. Attorney General and what interest Trump might have in limiting the scope of the current case, could it?

The Epstein deal in Florida, arranged by the current Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta was illegal. If a plea deal is underway, the prosecutors by law are supposed to inform the complainants. They didn't and didn't respond to repeated "what's going on?" inquiries from some of them. Acosta's excuse was that "the times were different." Pardon me? How many African-Americans went to prison for rape back then, and much further back for the same sort, or even a lesser sort, of evidence? No, it was the person charged who was different.

Click here for the full article. 

Source: OpEdNews.com

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