Be Careful What You Wish For

Nothing like a good conspiracy to spice up the summer headlines, as if they needed spice these days. Now there is a burgeoning demand for releasing government files on the late Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender accused of the abuse and sex trafficking of minors, who died six years ago after killing himself in jail – or so we have been told.

Epstein had a large social coterie of rich and powerful people, some of whom may have  been his clients seeking sex with teenage girls. First, the government implied there was a client list, but later denied it. This has only intensified the call to release all the federal files in the case.

Those seeking the release want names, names, names – including those of people who partied with Epstein or flew to his private island or possibly committed crimes themselves -- people it is alleged that the government has been protecting from exposure. It should be noted that there are many names out there already, available not only from news accounts but from public court transcripts. But for many observers, that’s not good enough.

Just being named could cause considerable embarrassment or even shame. The court of public opinion is sometimes far less forgiving than our judicial system. Is it fair that everyone in Epstein’s circle, including those only there to hobknob with other rich and powerful people, be shamed?

There is another layer, though -- people connected to Epstein who knew about his sexual activity but failed to report it. Should they have said something?

Some names will likely never be released officially, such as those of key witnesses who contributed to the investigation and, of course, those of the victims.

Suppose the release of the Epstein files happens but doesn’t do the political damage that is expected or fails to confirm the elements of conspiracy theories. Will we be hearing about it forever, when there is so much else going on?

I certainly would like to see criminal and/or moral justice done, wherever the chips may fall, but I pray that it happens quickly. We do have to remember that the Epstein case includes real teenage victims. Those still living are adults now but could be forced by the resurfacing of this story to relive their trauma while many of the rest of us are publicly obsessing about it. That’s the part that’s really not fair.

 

Woulda-Coulda-Shoulda...and Oughta

It absolutely never fails. A great disaster comes along, followed very shortly thereafter, maybe too shortly, by the critics needing to pin the blame on somebody.  In the case of the Texas Hill Country flood, some Democratic leaders pointed to the Trump administration’s funding cuts to the National Weather Service.

If blame is to be accurately fixed, it should go way back before this and spread out among many people. It’s said that almost a decade ago, the Texas legislature failed to approve money for a siren system to alert those along the Guadalupe River to a flood emergency. There has been much talk about it since, but no impetus for action until now.

As for the Weather Service, it did issue warnings before the flood, and there were extra staff members on duty. The reported lack of an experienced NWS emergency coordinator due to his taking early retirement in the DOGE days has been cited, but I’m willing to bet that the individual didn’t leave the job with key information trapped in his head. I’m sure that procedures were written down for others to follow. It’s government, remember. But did people receive the warnings?

We are so digitally connected now that we think we will always get the message when something is wrong. Really? Even in a hilly place where connections to a cell tower may be spotty? And when people are on vacation, some are there because they DON’T want to be connected to the outside world.

Sirens seem so old-fashioned as a means of getting our attention. So what, if the job gets done? More modern but still old tech, and cheap, is the NOAA weather radio, which will wake folks up if an alarm is sounded.

All of this said, when the analysis of this Texas flood response is done, it will turn up not only procedural but human errors. You can have all the machinery in place, but it has to be used correctly. And there have to be layers of redundancy, so that if a ball is dropped, it will be picked up somewhere else.

Things have changed over the years, like the climate, ya think? Sure, the Guadalupe River area had seen flash floods before, but nothing like this. You can put the Palisades and Eaton firestorms in a similar category: Santa Ana winds, even severe, had hit Southern California many times, but nothing quite like the 100-mph blast last winter. There will be plenty more of these incidents, and we had better get on top of the learning curve about how to be ready for them.