Writer’s Lounge – On Our Radar …

Jeffrey Epstein’s Pedo Pimp Ghislaine Maxwell Arrested

Socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, 58, – the woman who was Jeffrey Epstein’s hook up for teenage sex, has been arrested in Bedford, New Hampshire at approximately 8:30AM EST and taken into federal custody by the FBI.  Her arraignment before a federal court will have taken place by time of publication. 

The indictment and list of charges is quite extensive.  The foundation stone of the indictment is Ms. Maxwell’s action’s and activities in, as the court filing specifies, “the sexual exploitation and abuse of multiple minor girls by Jeffrey Epstein” as early as 1994.

“The victims were as young as 14 years old when they were groomed and abused by Maxwell and Epstein, both of whom knew that certain victims were in fact under the age of 18,” the indictment reads.

The indictment details six counts, including:

• “conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts.”
• “enticement of a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex acts.”
• “conspiracy to transport minors with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity.”
• “transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity.”
• “perjury” (two counts).

The charges are based on Ms. Maxwell being alleged to have functioned as Epstein’s groomer of three female minors at his residences in Florida, New York’s Upper East Side, London and New Mexico.

Not surprisingly, because this has been well documented in various accounts of the going’s on at Epstein’s properties – Maxwell herself, is accused as a participant in the sex acts perpetrated on the victims.

“In some instances, Maxwell was present for and participated in the sexual abuse of minor victims.”

So many of Epstein’s victims that I’ve interviewed & some of his staff say Ghislaine Maxwell was pure evil & in some ways worse than Jeffrey. She procured girls for him.They trusted her bc she was a woman. They say she took part in the sexual abuse. big day for survivors. more tk

— Tara Palmeri (@tarapalmeri) July 2, 2020

While there is no question that investigations such as the ones that led to the arrest of Maxwell, are time consuming, given the fact that much of the evidence was hidden in plain sight for years and that it has been eleven months since Epstein was finally successful in hanging himself in a jail cell (as far as we know), one might be forgiven for wondering what accounts for the delay in arresting this woman.

And, as a further matter of speculation, it may be that there are a number of high profile men who might be implicated in sex with underage females if the Southern District of New York decides to offer a reduction in charges in exchange for information leading to further arrests.

We’ll continue to cover this story as it moves forward.

Trump serves up more poorly conceived fantasy for his voters and for naive investors

Trump told Fox Business in a Wednesday interview, that he thinks (or more accurately, wishes his listeners to believe) that the economy he has trashed by not properly addressing COVID-19, is going to magically rebound and the virus will become bored with infecting and killing people and will leave on its own volition.

Seems like we’ve heard this before.

“We’re headed back in a very strong fashion with a V,” Trump said, using metaphor to describe what he sees as a rebound in the economy. “And I think we’re going to be very good with the coronavirus — I think that at some point that’s just going to sort of just disappear, I hope.”

Trump ludicrously claimed to Fox Business just now that “I think we’re gonna be very good with the coronavirus. I think that at some point that’s going to sort of just disappear, I hope.” (The virus will not disappear on its own.) pic.twitter.com/ZkLtjKUEDu

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 1, 2020

No reputable economist or credible voice in the world of finance, claim to see anything that resembles a “V” shaped recovery. 

The economy, most certainly will not resemble anything like what it was in January of 2017, when he took office, by the time the election rolls around in November – not even close.  It could very well be worse than it is here in July.

Trump simply believes that if you pee on someone’s leg often enough, they just might conclude that it actually is raining.

by Richard Cameron

Review – The Help

Rated PG-13 for thematic material

Now available on Netflix

With the Black Lives Matter movement sweeping the country, I thought it would be appropriate to turn to a film that both surprised, and stunned audiences upon its initial release.

Released nearly a decade ago, “The Help,” is the story of Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan (Emma Stone), an aspiring writer and the only daughter of white socialites in 1960’s Jackson, Mississippi, who’s never felt totally at home in the limits of Deep South society.

Skeeter’s world is turned upside down when her mother (Allison Janney) lets it slip that she fired the family’s longtime African-American maid, Constantine Jefferson (Cicely Tyson). Like most families, Constantine raised the Phelan children, including Skeeter, who takes Constantine’s lost particularly rough. Thus begins the writer’s quest to tell the story of the “help.”

It’s when Skeeter enlists the assistance of maid, Aibileen Clark (Viola Davis), and later Minny Jackson (Octavia Spencer, who won an Oscar for her role in this film), that the story truly takes off.

The fear that Aibileen feels for even speaking with Skeeter is eerily reminiscent of intimidation tactics used to keep African-Americans in line.

“It’s the not knowing that scares me the most,” the elderly maid admits. “Scares me more than Jim Crow.”

She then describes how her cousin’s car was set on fire, because she dared to exercise her right to vote.

The reality of “black codes” and the pseudo-science of different diseases, as if a different race of humans is an entirely different species, as a justification for segregation, and the complete and total dominance of one race over another.

Criticized today for its often rosy portrayal of African-American female maids, and the “white savior” motif (similar to other films, such as “The Green Book,” “The Blind Side,” and “Hidden Figures”) – it’s a criticism that’s not unwarranted. There are parts of the film that do come across as “Disneyfied” (it is a Touchstone/DreamWorks film).

At the same time, the selection of Skeeter as the storyteller adds a layer to the story, which would have been otherwise absent.

We are shown how this system not only imprisons “the help,” but also those dependent on it, not only through Skeeter’s eyes, but through Hily Holbrook (Bryce Dallas Howard) and Celia Foote (Jessica Chastain). It’s a relationship that is reminiscent of the attachment between slave and master in the pre-Civil War days.

In their own way, everyone confronts the reality of the system that keeps them all imprisoned. It isn’t a “coming to Jesus” moment, as some of these moments do feel forced. Nevertheless, it is something that leaves the hint, and perhaps a faint hope, that things can change for the better.

It seems that the best stories, both fact and fiction, stay with you. They have the power to bring up a slew of emotion. They can make you mad, but also, they can make you think as well.

“The Help” might not be a story in the caliber of “Roots” or “Harriet,” but it is one that allows you to think, not only about what was, but what could be, as well.

by Tiffany Elliott

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