CHARLES LIPSON: Jeffrey Epstein’s Lolita Express and the art of unequal justice.

The billionaire financier was already convicted of similar crimes in 2008 and received a very light sentence. Epstein’s plea bargain ended the earlier investigation before any of his friends were implicated. That won’t happen again. The floodlights are on this one.

In 2008, the prosecution negotiated the plea deal while it kept victims in the dark. The underage girls Epstein exploited were not notified in advance about the agreement or allowed to object. A federal judge recently ruled the case was mishandled and the victims should have been heard.

The old case resonates today, not only because the new charges echo the old ones but because the US attorney in charge then, Alex Acosta, is now secretary of labor. The unusual deal had to be approved in Washington, though it is still unclear which Department of Justice officials gave it the green light or why. We’ll undoubtedly learn more about the old case as the new one unfolds.

One thing is certain about the new charges. They will not proceed quietly through the courts, away from inquiring eyes. This time, they are front-page news. The DoJ has already devoted serious attention to them, and they won’t be interested in a backroom deal.

Good.

21ST CENTURY RELATIONSHIPS: Being always in search of tools for female empowerment — especially when trying to get over a breakup — I decided to test a therapy form called “Yoni Mapping”, the tantric version of “Vaginal Mapping.”

Plus: “Maybe you should allow your yoni to grieve. I want you to acknowledge that she is beautiful, when she is sad and introverted as well as when she is happy and outgoing.”

ANALYSIS: TRUE. California Earthquakes Can’t Do As Much Damage As Progressive, Blue State Government.

See also:

YOU CAN HEAR ME TALK ABOUT MY NEW BOOK, with Stewart Baker on the CyberLaw Podcast. Also addressed: Weightlifting, life extension, and supplements.

SO, SECOND LOOK AT KAMALA HARRIS? Flashback: Kamala Harris Called 18-24-Year-Olds ‘Stupid’; ‘That Is Why We Put Them in Dormitories.’

Or in far worse places: Limited Edition ‘Kamala Is A Cop’ T-Shirts Now For Sale.

ELECTION MEDDLING: Mark Zuckerberg Brags: We Didn’t Allow Pro-Life Groups to Advertise Before Ireland’s Abortion Vote.

WELL, SO THEY SAY: Astronomers Have Analysed Claims ‘Oumuamua’s an Alien Ship, And It’s Not Looking Good.

WHEN NARRATIVES FAIL: Hola: Majority of Hispanic voters approve of citizenship question on U.S. census.

DEMS SET TO FLUSH MILLIONS DOWN THE CAN IN FUTILE BID TO BEAT COCAINE MITCH NEXT YEAR IN KENTUCKY:

If the name “Amy McGrath” doesn’t ring a bell it’s because she was one of the few Dems running last fall who *lost* a toss-up House race against her Republican opponent. She fell a few points short against Rep. Andy Barr in KY-6 despite her credentials as the first woman to fly in combat for the Marines and a viral campaign ad that made her a figure of national interest to Democrats. She raised big big big money as a result, making her a serious threat to knock off Barr in a rematch if the political climate is trending blue next fall.

Instead she’s going to challenge the most influential man in the Senate, who has the number of every major Republican donor in the country in his phone’s contacts and has had only one close-ish race in the last 25 years. That came in the Democratic Hopenchange wave of 2008; even with Obama fever at its peak, Dems couldn’t knock off Cocaine Mitch in Kentucky. Now here’s McGrath ready to challenge him in a presidential election year, with Trump at the top of the ballot in a state he won by just a hair under 30 points.

In the meantime, McGrath will get the full Beto/Wendy Davis/Stacey Abrams treatment by the DNC-MSM, beginning with: NYT journo compares Amy McGrath to Luke Skywalker.

Wait a second — Mitch McConnell is Amy’s father? And she’s become a full-on communist-inspired slave-owning religious terrorist, killing hundreds of thousands to protest dad’s firm but fair rule? Who’s side is the Times on here?

THE 21st CENTURY IS NOT TURNING OUT AS I HAD HOPED: English woman died after falling on eco-friendly metal straw that went through her eye, impaled brain, inquest hears.

EXIT TAX: France announces ‘eco-tax’ of up to €18 on tickets for all flights leaving country.

France will introduce an “eco-tax” of up to €18 (£16.19) on tickets for all flights leaving the country, the government has announced.

“We have decided to put in place an eco-tax on all flights from France,” transport minister Elisabeth Borne said during a news conference on Tuesday.

She added the tax, which is expected to raise around €180m annually from 2020, would finance daily transport in France.

The new tax will range from €1.50 for short-haul flights and up to €18 for long-haul journeys in business class.

The move comes amid an escalating planetary climate emergency which is disproportionally being caused by the tiny percentage of people who use planes for transport.

They should tax private flights at a punitive rate, since clearly those are the most harmful of all, and enjoyed by the very tiniest percentage.

THOMAS LIFSON: The question that must be asked: Was Epstein running ‘honey traps’ and blackmailing the power elite?

Nassim Taleb is also suspicious.

HMM: Study: Common cold strain may fight off bladder cancer. “A week prior to having surgeries to remove their tumors, the patients took CVA21 infusions through a catheter into their bladder. After the surgeries, the researchers discovered the virus killed all cancerous cells and continued to replicate itself to combat any other signs of cancer. According to the National Institutes of Health, non-muscle invasive bladder cancer makes up 75 percent of all bladder cancers.”

IF I WERE PRESIDENT I’D DRONE THESE GUYS: The FCC’s robocall offensive: text messages and international ‘spoofed’ calls targeted.

WITH ATTACK ON U.S. FLAG, COLIN KAEPERNICK‏ SHIFTS THE GOALPOSTS: Nike turned into a bunch of 4chan trolls so slowly, I hardly even noticed. Some thoughts and links over at Ed Driscoll.com.

#JOURNALISM: In a piece asking if Joe Biden is too old to run for president, The Atlantic writes that Donald Trump “was 71 when he was inaugurated.” Donald Trump was born June 14, 1946, which means that when he was inaugurated on January 20, 2017 he was still 70. As Jon Althouse Cohen points out on Facebook, “When the media get basic facts like the candidates’ ages wrong, you have to wonder how much to trust their reporting on more complex matters.” Not much. And while anyone can make a mistake, there’s a certain directionality to their errors most of the time.

THE IMPORTANT THING IS THAT NOBODY IS WEARING OFFENSIVE THEMED SHIRTS: Four Men Have Died Since An Australian Mining Safety Committee Stopped Meeting Due To Gender Quotas.

RIP: Ross Perot Dead at 89. “Perot is probably best known for his presidential runs in 1992 and 1996, reported the Dallas Morning News. Perot garnered 19% of the popular vote but no electoral college votes in 1992 and was viewed as a spoiler who helped then-candidate Bill Clinton defeat President George H.W. Bush.”

MICHAEL LEDEEN: Is Iranian Faith in the 12th Imam Stronger Than America’s Negotiating Patience? “Khamenei et al. are waging a multi-front assault on us and our friends and allies, from attacking shipping in the Gulf to preparing for aggressive acts against the Saudis during the Hajj, to active meddling in American politics. Isn’t that the upshot of the new ‘think tank’ funded by George Soros and Charles Koch, to be headed by the infamous Trita Parsi? Parsi is the pro-Iranian founder of the Council on Iranian-American Relations, and one will get you ten his new operation will work in cahoots with the Tehran mullahcracy.”

Needless to say, read the whole thing.

BREAKING: Tom Steyer Enters 2020 Promising to Destroy ‘Opposition’ to Liberal Causes.

VICE WRITER BECOMES HILARIOUS VICTIM OF TWITTER CENSORSHIP, GETS BANNED FOR THREATENING PLANTERS PEANUT MASCOT. “We on the right have been warning about this from day one. First they came for the conservatives and I said nothing. Then they came for the liberals who haven’t purged their social media comments from the last ten years and I said nothing. Then they came for the pretend peanut mascots…and there was no one left to speak for me. Good luck to Taylor as he slums it with the rest of the Twitter banned.”

THIS IS NOT THE 21ST CENTURY HEADLINE I WAS HOPING FOR: Is Russia Creating A Nazi-Style Army of Genetic Supersoldiers?

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: UNC-Asheville Should Divest Itself from Irresponsible Political Posturing. “So, rather than some great accomplishment, fossil fuel divestment is mere political posturing in defiance of state law, and the UNC-Asheville trustees have foolishly fallen for it.”

AI CHURCH FOUNDER DROPS GOD, RESTORES DRIVERS: Well, this was certainly unexpected – Artificial Intelligence (AI) church founder and driver-less car pioneer Anthony Levandowski has dropped God from his congregational statement of beliefs.

But he’s found a renewed faith in drivers, at least for now. And therein lies a couple of takeaways for senators, representatives and normal people working in Congress on transportation and technology issues.