Epstein's Asset

If I had a pantheon of super-smart lefties who influenced my life, Noam Chomsky would be right up there with Kurt Vonnegut.

I loved Vonnegut's books. Still read Slaughterhouse Five from time to time.

Vonnegut could reduce the atrocious hypocrisies of vain and rapacious men into a handful of masterfully crafted sentences, topped by the following three words, set off in a paragraph of their own...

So it goes.

As if to say, I'm not surprised this happened. It happened before and, alas, it will happen again.

So it goes.

In contrast, I found Chomsky's prose an impenetrable glob of gobbledygook. Never made it through a few paragraphs without giving up.

It was his speeches and interviews and debates I enjoyed. He was blessed with a photographic memory and could, at the top of his game, effortlessly marshal names and dates and events to put together a cogent case that slashed apart whatever facile argument his hapless foes were trying to make.

And always in his inimical tone--soft, dispassionate, cool, calm and analytical. I watched him make mincemeat of so many right wingers, especially William F. Buckley, who got so flustered he threatened to punch Chomsky in the nose.

As you have probably already figured, this is a buildup to confessing the disappointment and betrayal I feel at the revelation that Chomsky was pals with Jeffrey Epstein. 

He flew on Epstein's jet. Ate at his mansion. Exchanged emails. Took $20,000 to fund research. Got financial advice to untangle some unspecified issues with his retirement accounts. And so forth--as Chomsky liked to say.

It's coming out in the release of Epstein's emails, together with revelations about Trump, Clinton, Prince Andrew, Howard Lutnick, Woody Allen and other monumental sleaze bags.

Apparently, Epstein and Chomsky met in 2015--seven years after Epstein plead guilty to sexual-molestation charges. And they stayed friends to 2019, even after Julie Brown broke the story on how Epstein used his clout to work the system and avoid serious punishment for sex-trafficking underage girls.

On February 19, 2019, as other reporters picked up on Brown's revelations, Chomsky stood by his man, emailing Epstein...

"I've watched the horrible way you are being treated in the press..."

And...

"It's painful to say, but I think the best way to proceed is to ignore it..."

And...

"What the vultures clearly want is a public response..."

And...

"That's particularly true now with the hysteria that has developed about abuse of women which has reached the point that even questioning a charge is a crime worse than murder..."

Damn! Harvey Weinstein couldn't have said it better.

Thank goodness, Uncle Kurt wasn't in Epstein's e-mails...

Chomsky had a stroke a few years back, and is too incapacitated to speak. So his wife recently issued a statement on his behalf.

It's not his fault, she wrote. Epstein conned him. Seduced him. Entrapped him. Won him over by "sending gifts and creating opportunities for interesting discussions in areas Noam has been working on extensively."

Yes, they "had lunch at Epstein's ranch," and, yes, "they attended dinners at his townhouse in Manhattan" and, yes, there was that afternoon at Epstein's apartment in Paris.

But, no, they "never witnessed any inappropriate, criminal or reproachable behavior" and at "no time did we see children or underage individuals present."

And now, of course, they "recognize the gravity of Jeffrey Epstein's crimes and the profound suffering of his victims...."

Blah, blah, blah. 

Sorry, Mrs. Chomsky but I'm not buying what you're selling. It defies all logic. Makes no sense.

Noam Chomsky was a dogged researcher, fueled by insatiable curiosity. And now you want us to believe he wasn't remotely interested in finding out about the rich man who showered him with praise, gifts, financial advice and meals? Who invited him to some of his many homes around the world?

Chomsky, please.

Just one teeny tiny bit of research would have led Chomsky to the New York magazine story of 2002 where Trump says: "I’ve known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy...He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side."

And by 2019, when Chomsky wrote that fawning email, he would have read Julie Brown's series in the Miami Herald, which exposed how Epstein used his clout to get away with his crimes.

If Chomsky didn't know Epstein's history--and I believe he did--but if he really didn't know, it's cause he didn't want to know.

Causes he loved hanging with Jeffrey and the boys. And he wasn't about to look this gift horse in the mouth.

Many questions remain from this chapter of the Epstein saga. Most notably--what did Epstein do with this invaluable asset? Parade him around like a domesticated pet? Or pump him for intel he fed his contacts at Mossad and the CIA? The answers may lie in the Epstein emails still unreleased or redacted.

Oh, how could a man so smart be so dumb?

Obviously, the fact that Chomsky hung out with pervy douche bags doesn't mean his insights on race, media, capitalism or race are any less truthful.

Just means he's sorta full of shit.

On second thought--take sorta out of that sentence.

Like many before him, and, alas, many to follow. 

So it goes.