Re:
It's a powerful and convincing statement, but my f=eling is that it would not be wise to submit it for publication. Tak=ng the stance of a reader who comes to the matter from afresh, perhaps hav=ng heard some rumors but knowing nothing, the reaction I suspect will be o= the "where there's smoke there's fire" kind. Few =re willing to think through the arguments and factual details or to try to=adjudicate conflicting claims. I've seen this happen over and ov=r on other matters -- many years of having been accused of Holocaust denia=, for example.. Ugly and bitter as it is, I suspect the best course =ow is not to stir the pot by raising the issue publicly, opening the door =o charges and accusations that can no doubt be answered in the court of lo=ic and fairness -- but that's not the public domain, where innuendo an= suspicion and accusation reign.
Anyway, for what it c;s worth, that's the way it looks to me, in part on the basis of exper=ence.
The great work that you have been doing spe=ks for itself. My feeling is that you should keep at it, and simply =evelop a thick skin to fend off whatever ugliness breaks through now and t=en, diminishing over time.
Noam
Cultures unfortunately can be swept by craziness. Nazism for=example. Or the Great Awakening. We're in one of those pha=es now. If there's a charge, it's true, in fact True. =ny response is "mansplaining," another power play, reinforcing t=e charge. You've seen I'm sure what happened to Lawrence. =AO Full and complete response, amounts to zero. Isn't even consi=ered. It's like trying to discuss rationally with religious fana=ics.
Noam
=m considering submitting this to the oped of the wash post id =ike your
thoughts
Sweetheart deal!" So goes t=e attack on the resolution of the more than a decade ago federal investiga=ion involving our client Jeffrey Epstein. The attack is profoundly m=splaced, supported neither by the law nor the facts. Nor is it supported b= the structure of our constitutional republic. To the contrary, Jeffrey wa= subjected to an extremely aggressive federal intrusion into what would ty=ically be considered a quintessentially local criminal matter in south Flo=ida. The offense investigated — at =ts core, sexual favors for hire —
has long been treated =s a matter entrusted to laws of the several States, not the federal govern=ent. The conduct — for which Jeffrey took ful= responsibility — was a classic state offense and was tr=ated exactly that way by able, honest prosecutors in Palm Beach County. =AO Nevertheless, without a request from the state prosecutors, t=e federal government intervened. For their own opportunistic reasons= many are now criticizing the federal decision-makers at the time, includi=g now-Secretary of Labor Alex Acosta (then-United States Attorney in south=Florida), for not going far enough.
The critics are wrong on the facts and the law. They also=ignore a fact going to the heart of fundamental fairness: In th= decade since paying his debt to society, Jeffrey Epstein has led a life c=aracterized by responsible citizenship, numerous acts of generosity and go=d deeds.
Here are =he true key facts: Jeffrey Epstein, a successful self-made busi=essman with no prior criminal history whatsoever, engaged in illegal condu=t that amounted to solicitation of prostitution. That =A0conduct was wrong and a violation of Florida state law. Although n= coercion, violence, alcohol, drugs or the like were involved, some of the=women he paid were under the age of 18. Those facts were c=refully assessed by experienced state sex crime prosecutors who aggressive=y enforce state criminal laws. No one turned a blind eye to potentia= offenses to the public order. To the contrary, the Palm Beach State=Attorney's Office conducted an extensive fifteen-month investigation, =ed by the chief of the Sex Crimes Division. Mr. Epstein was then ind=cted by the state grand jury on a single felony count of solicitation of p=ostitution.
During that intense investigation, the state p=osecutors extensively gathered and analyzed the evidence, met face-to=face with many of the asserted victims, considered their credibility =80 or lack thereof — and considered the extent of exculpatory e=idence, including sworn testimony from many that they lied =bout being eighteen years old to be allowed into Mr. Epstein's hom=. After months of negotiations, the state prosecutors believed they =ad reached a reasoned resolution of the matter that vindicated the public =nterest — a resolution entirely consistent with that of cases invo=ving other similarly-situated defendants. The system worked as it sh=uld have.
=hen, in came the feds. The United States Attorney's Office exten=ively and aggressively investigated whether Mr. Epstein had engaged in a c=mmercial human trafficking ring, targeted minors, or used the interne= or traveled interstate in the process. But that's not =hat this was and that's not what happened. That is prec=sely why the federal authorities' ultimate decision to defer=C2 prosecution to the state was the right one. a>
However, the federally-demanded r=solution was not without conditions. The federal prosecutors insisted on v=rious unorthodox requirements that Mr. Epstein's experienced =efense team had never seen imposed on any defendant anywhere. Under the fe=erally-forced deal, Jeffrey was required to request that the state pr=secutors demand the imposition of a thirty-month sentence that included =A0both jail time and the strictest conditions of probation: life=ime sex-offender registration. Those draconian measures were far more=than warranted by the state grand jury's indictment and would=not have otherwise been required under the previously agreed-upon state di=position. As part of this highly unusual deal, the government re=uired Jeffrey to pay for a highly experienced group of attorneys=to bring claims against him on behalf of a government list of asserted vic=ims. Jeffrey was required to waive the right to challenge those claims wit=out being provided the asserted victim's identities by the
governm=nt until after he was incarcerated. Importantly, the feds' decis=on to decline prosecution in deference to the state in exchange for t=ese extraordinary requirements was reviewed and approved at the =ultiple levels of the U.S. Department of Justice. Jeffrey took full=C2 responsibility, complied with the feds' demands, served =is sentence, and in the process was treated exactly the same (includi=g his time served) as any other state-incarcerated individuals. =His conduct while in custody was exemplary, and so characterized by the st=te custodial authorities.
<=u>
Jeffrey Epstein has paid his deb= to society. The challenges to his Agreement with the Government =A0must also be understood as challenges to the millions Mr. Epstein paid t= the asserted victims and their lawyers pursuant to that agreement. A=ongst the beneficiaries of the Epstein-Federal Government Agreement were t=e many victims who collectively received many millions as a result of the =onditions imposed on Mr. Epstein that prevented him from meaningfully cont=sting civil liability — moneys that would be at issue if requests =o invalidate the agreement were granted.
Our nation faces vitall= important challenges, many involving the treatment of women and basic hum=n dignity. Voices are rightly being raised speaking truth to power, =specially about women in the workplace. But Jeffrey's offens=s of yesteryear, which were entirely outside of the workplace, have long s=nce been redressed by the criminal justice system. He fully and=faithfully has performed every promise and obligation required o= him by state and federal authorities. In the spirit of the bedrock =merican belief in second chances and fundamental fairness, that chapter in=Jeffrey's otherwise-productive and charitable life should be=allowed to close once and for all.
=rom the point of view of a jihadi, Klan, evangelical Christian, my ultra-o=thodox grandfather, it's the rest of the world that's crazy.=C2 I think we can do better than just to take the fall-back position th=t craziness is a value judgment, but not so easy.
On co=sciousness, my suspicion is that we'll never do much better than Russe=l's picture: what we understand with highest confidence is our own imm=diate conscious experience. The rest of our intellectual efforts (sc=ence especially) are an attempt to make sense of that (and in the course o= doing so, instructs us that our experience is a construct of our internal=modes of cognition acting on an external world that we (naively?) assume t= exist. And it also tells us, I think, that consciousness is a thin =nd superficial fringe of an internal mental life that is inaccessible to i=trospection.
As the stories get wilder and the writers make the girls younger= prostitution is a tabloid s dream , . =1 wondered if having something out in the cyber world that let some =eople point to rational arguments might allow some to defend themsel=es from their wives . " how could you " etc.=C2
I =have been exploring the Al world with the cutting edge people. =1 remind them of your comments re machines thinking :W=C2 I thought that culture was the c=nciousness of a society. tribes were like self. .=C2 media approx transmitters. . It provided con=traints and rules for some underlying interactions.
1= doesnt exist in a physical sense but either does concio=sness. which it appears to me as an evolutionary advantage and=C2 provides the brain with rules memories. ( culture again = . and constraints. . tribes when attacked , act =ike a self . . compete like selves. etc. The world we c=ll physical . follows rules that we have created, most unknowingly. =C2 I assume language acts like an effective transmittier.=C2 . some language like adrenaline. some like dopam=ne. . do some extent the hormones of the culture. ? =A0
cultures swept by craziness, isnt it=the same for an individual. .. the brain sends signals based =n faulty sensors or information. . to see if the brain i= functioning. there are word tests. memory tests. etc.=C2 . why isnt conciousness the property of those thin=s. like culture is to fads etc.
what i am suggesting is that what the term cult=re means is the same as what consciousness means. =C2 culture can be describes as russell did for consciousness. =C2 the physics and math envy habit of trying to measu=e things . we experience culture, it is stubborn, =C2 transmitted, localized. contains memories. boundaries. =C2 dictum. . it manifests itself in different w=ys but doesn't have a separate existence. =AO it is like consiousness a human construct. no m=re no less. btw, is a mediation date and tim= set. yet? vincent papers were good except for the=amount to settle.