Epstein and the Washington (TN) County School Board

   

I'm not big into conspiracy theories. I especially dismiss large-scale ones—such as the “moon landing,” “flat-earth,” “chem-trails” and a host of others—with Occam's Razor. The most likely explanation is the simplest one; the number of people and secrets required to, for example, fake the moon landing is mind-boggling. And impossible. Much more likely, we landed on the moon, just like I watched on TV in 1969.

But some conspiracy theories turn out to be real conspiracies. With some, like the Epstein files, there absolutely is a "there" there. It's bad, it was going on for years and the secrecy involved was off the charts. However, in a way, Occam’s Razor still applies. Too many people had to keep too many big, dark secrets for it to stay secret forever. Still, damage – and lots of it – was done. There's no question that powerful men, and some powerful women, have for years been keeping very dark secrets.

The Epstein files did two things. First, they blew up any logical reasoning that this was nothing more than a conspiracy; the massive amount of evidence, and the ongoing cover-up, proves that. But was this a one-off, an anomaly? Yes, it’s bad, real bad, but how societally ingrained is this behavior? We don’t know the extent just yet, but if we listen to women, it’s not isolated, rare or limited to just one group of the wealthy and powerful. How do we know?

Look no further than Washington County, Tennessee.

On April 2nd, a school board member named Keith Ervin was caught on video leaning into a female high school board member, grabbing her by her opposite shoulder to pull her into him for a “side hug” and said, “God, you're hot. You know that? Hey, where do you go to school at?” The rest of the board either chuckled uneasily or just sat there. It was not subtle. This YouTube link begins at one hour and 16 minutes into the two-hour meeting – it shows the incident that has created so much backlash for Ervin and the board.

Ervin’s defense is as much predictable as it is pathetic. He claimed “hot” simply meant she was “on a roll” with her presentation. He also threw in the tried and untrue refrain that the clip (which has gone viral) is taken out of context, that we must watch the whole two-hour meeting to understand. So I did.

And the context is actually much worse.

For the entire meeting, he wasn't paying attention to a student's performance; he was paying inordinate attention to a high school girl. He was looking at her more than anyone else. He was sitting between her and another board member, but noticeably closer to her. He touched her many times before taking his bold “next step.” And now he’s betting that no one will watch it all, that we will just accept his lame-fuck excuse. And he’s banking on this all fading away before August when he’s up for reelection to a seat he’s held for 20 years.

Many have said, as I or any rational human would: If this was a teenage boy – or any male for that matter - would Ervin have pulled him into a physical embrace and whispered, “God, you're hot, where do you go to school?” If the answer is yes, that he would do that with a boy, well, that is a problem too. He wasn’t giving this girl a “you-go, girl!” he was taking liberties in a post-Epstein world that appears to be, for some, normalized.

So, how did the institution respond? First, they didn’t until there was widespread condemnation. But, after that, in emergency session, they voted to "censure" him. A formal slap on the wrist. They claimed their hands were tied by state law, which is just another way of saying the system is explicitly designed to protect the incumbent power structure. He keeps his seat. And, predictably, this wasn't even his first offense; he was censured for a lewd classroom gesture back in 2009.

Women and girls (and some boys, too) have known about this systemic cloaking for a long time. These are not isolated anomalies. The Epstein files revealed not only how the rich and powerful have been doing what they want with impunity for a long time, the files have also unearthed the truth so many victims have been trying to tell us for a long time. There is a “secret society,” but it is not as hidden as you think. You buy their products; you see them on ballot after ballot. And the system is cooked to let them get away either Scott-free or with just a slap on the wrist. The Epstein files have given us the information we need to set things straight, but first it has uncovered something dark that lurks in the hearts of too many men. They have become emboldened to reveal who they are. In a school board meeting. Recorded, for all to see.