The unique perspective and provocative opinions of Joe O’Neill
Epstein/Acosta
While
so much of the Jeff Epstein focus was on Alexander Acosta and a flawed judicial
system that goes easier on billionaire sex traffickers than on marijuana
miscreants, they were just the high-profile, legal enablers. More attention
needs to be on all the other societal enablers, without which there would not
have been such a preying monster. The coterie of amoral VIPs and jet setters,
including a past and a future president, had more than an inkling of what his
lifestyle included. There were colleagues and clients who found a way to look
the other way. There were secretarial “recruiters,” who didn’t question the
predatory dictates of their boss. And there were the parents of girls not old
enough to drive who negligently failed Parenting 101.
How
ironic that the Labor Department has a lead role in detecting and
deterring sex trafficking crimes. Surely that had something to do with the
resignation of Labor Secretary Acosta. Surely.
We
saw the Trump-orchestrated, Acosta press conference, which was a
revisionist long shot. It didn’t work. Trump can live with incompetence or even
some scandal, but Acosta would have been a constant reminder of the
Epstein-Trump connection, let alone all the other variations on a Trump “Access
Hollywood” theme.
More
irony: Acosta is the former dean of the Florida International University law
school. FIU brought him in in 2009 to help heighten the profile of its relatively
new law school. Well done. Yeah.
If
karma kicks in, Epstein and R. Kelly will share the same cell for
the duration.