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Alan MacCleod: The Chomsky-Epstein Files

Posted by RaskolnikovX <iframe src='https://members5.boardhost.com/xxxxx/info/user=Raskolnikov' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on February 24, 2026, 11:54 am

https://www.mintpressnews.com/the-chomsky-epstein-files/290658/

The corporate media are complicit in the Gaza genocide.
Never forget what they did. Never forgive them for it.

To be honest, I am in a bit of a state of shock about the Chomsky/Epstein thing...

Posted by Ed <iframe src='https://members5.boardhost.com/xxxxx/info/user=Ed' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on February 24, 2026, 1:15 pm, in reply to "Alan MacCleod: The Chomsky-Epstein Files"

As the man says "No Gods & Precious Few Heroes".

Of course, still think some of Chomsky's stuff is invaluable...it's not logical to throw the baby out with the bathwater, but it's all bloody tainted now (for me, anyway), and I can't see me picking up one of his books again anytime soon.

"I won't dignify the attacker's words by repeating them, they are horrific and vile."

Re: To be honest, I am in a bit of a state of shock about the Chomsky/Epstein thing...

Posted by Keith-264 <iframe src='https://members5.boardhost.com/xxxxx/info/user=Keith-264' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on February 24, 2026, 2:19 pm, in reply to "To be honest, I am in a bit of a state of shock about the Chomsky/Epstein thing..."

I'm trying to keep an open mind but it's getting harder.

The last working-class hero in England.
Clio the cat, ? July 1997 - 1 May 2016
Kira the cat, ? ? 2010 - 3 August 2018
Jasper the Ruffian cat ??? - 4 November 2021
Georgina the cat ???-4 December 2025

At least Finkelstein stayed true to his principles and told Epstein to eff off

Posted by t <iframe src='https://members5.boardhost.com/xxxxx/info/user=TomskiD' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on February 24, 2026, 4:00 pm, in reply to "Re: To be honest, I am in a bit of a state of shock about the Chomsky/Epstein thing..."

Small mercies.

Re: At least Finkelstein stayed true to his principles and told Epstein to eff off

Posted by Keith-264 <iframe src='https://members5.boardhost.com/xxxxx/info/user=Keith-264' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on February 24, 2026, 4:10 pm, in reply to "At least Finkelstein stayed true to his principles and told Epstein to eff off "

Makes me wonder how many knew of his hob nobbing with upper class baddies.

The last working-class hero in England.
Clio the cat, ? July 1997 - 1 May 2016
Kira the cat, ? ? 2010 - 3 August 2018
Jasper the Ruffian cat ??? - 4 November 2021
Georgina the cat ???-4 December 2025

Michael Tracey on the Chomsky-Epstein thing...

Posted by Mark Doran <iframe src='https://members5.boardhost.com/xxxxx/info/user=Mark+Doran+66' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on February 24, 2026, 6:35 pm, in reply to "Alan MacCleod: The Chomsky-Epstein Files"

https://open.substack.com/pub/mtracey/p/chomsky-was-right-about-epstein?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web

M.

Re: Michael Tracey on the Chomsky-Epstein thing...

Posted by Keith-264 <iframe src='https://members5.boardhost.com/xxxxx/info/user=Keith-264' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on February 24, 2026, 6:51 pm, in reply to "Michael Tracey on the Chomsky-Epstein thing..."

I hope he's right.

The last working-class hero in England.
Clio the cat, ? July 1997 - 1 May 2016
Kira the cat, ? ? 2010 - 3 August 2018
Jasper the Ruffian cat ??? - 4 November 2021
Georgina the cat ???-4 December 2025

Tracey on Julie K Brown

Posted by Ian M <iframe src='https://members5.boardhost.com/xxxxx/info/user=Ian+M' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on February 25, 2026, 12:01 am, in reply to "Michael Tracey on the Chomsky-Epstein thing..."

Followed the link from the above article:

https://www.mtracey.net/p/julie-brown-epstein

The critique seems fair, and quite revealing in the way Brown seems to have relayed Virginia Giuffre's account as fact without acknowledging that it was 'fictionalised' in therapy as a way to help deal with trauma. Whether 'fictionalised' means invented wholesale as Tracey seems to imply, or based on factual events but embellished is unclear, and it doesn't appear to have been tested in court. He doesn't talk in the article about the early police & FBI investigations which formed the basis at least of Brown's initial report (discussed here: https://members5.boardhost.com/xxxxx/msg/1770857321.html ) and were based on testimony of around 80 young girls, mostly aged 14-16. This to me is the most telling evidence, and Tracey can't dismiss it as the rantings of a few unstable women.

Chomsky may have been on solid ground when referring to the 'hysteria that has developed about abuse of women' in some instances, and the questions Tracey raises about Giuffre and Ransome deserve to be answered. However, if we're demanding a full grasp of the facts from NC then we have to ask why he wasn't apparently disturbed by the contents of the police/FBI investigation revealed in Brown's 2018 reports. Hedges' accusation remains true in light of that:

'I can assure you he is not as passive or gullible as his wife claims. He knew about Epstein’s abuse of children. They all knew. And like others in the Epstein orbit, he did not care. [...] Noam, of all people, knows the predatory nature of the ruling class and the cruelty of capitalists, where the vulnerable, especially girls and women, are commodified as objects to be used and exploited. He was not fooled by Epstein. He was seduced.'

cheers,
I

Tell your story; Ask a question; Interpret generously
http://storybythethroat.wordpress.com/tell-ask-listen/

Re: Tracey on Julie K Brown

Posted by t <iframe src='https://members5.boardhost.com/xxxxx/info/user=TomskiD' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on February 25, 2026, 12:33 am, in reply to "Tracey on Julie K Brown"

Nice one. Absolutely zero to add. You hit all the nails squarely. Ta.

Tracey calls Chris Hedges a "self-righteous charlatan" Ha!

Posted by RaskolnikovX <iframe src='https://members5.boardhost.com/xxxxx/info/user=Raskolnikov' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on February 25, 2026, 7:53 am, in reply to "Re: Tracey on Julie K Brown"

His journalistic record and credibility pisses all over M.T's from a great height.

Tracey's gone from being curiously amusing to tediously suspicious on this subject. He's also monetising his increasingly trollish posturing on the topic and is definitely niche-carving.

The corporate media are complicit in the Gaza genocide.
Never forget what they did. Never forgive them for it.

Here's Asa Winstanley on Michael "just the facts" Tracey

https://x.com/AsaWinstanley/status/2023378670706934041

and zeisquirrel (on another, sex-crime related topic)

https://x.com/zei_squirrel/status/1268922246929821697

Fuck him.

The corporate media are complicit in the Gaza genocide.
Never forget what they did. Never forgive them for it.

longer zeisquirrel thread on MT, not holding back lol

https://x.com/zei_squirrel/status/2026046360311447793

The corporate media are complicit in the Gaza genocide.
Never forget what they did. Never forgive them for it.

Shot down in flames over 40 b/h babies, however doesn't address the epstein stuff

Posted by Ian M <iframe src='https://members5.boardhost.com/xxxxx/info/user=Ian+M' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on February 25, 2026, 6:36 pm, in reply to "longer zeisquirrel thread on MT, not holding back lol"

...not that MT didn't deserve to be dressed down for his initial credulity over the israeli atrocity propaganda and subsequent doubling down, and not that it isn't revealing about his character, but it doesn't mean he's wrong about epstein too. Just sayin'...

I

Tell your story; Ask a question; Interpret generously
http://storybythethroat.wordpress.com/tell-ask-listen/

Agreed but my point was that he is not the "just the facts" uber-reporter

Posted by RaskolnikovX <iframe src='https://members5.boardhost.com/xxxxx/info/user=Raskolnikov' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on February 26, 2026, 5:53 am, in reply to "Shot down in flames over 40 b/h babies, however doesn't address the epstein stuff"

he tries to paint himself as and is very prone to defending positions for clicks, or when he thinks it will benefit him.

Also, he's been corrected endlessly on various aspects of the Epstein stuff and he indulges in tons of cherry picking and over-reliance on the court transcript as if its a tablet of stone.

I'll take Webb & Bryant over him on Epstein and Hedges and MacCleod over him on anything.

Your mileage may vary.

The corporate media are complicit in the Gaza genocide.
Never forget what they did. Never forgive them for it.

Re: Agreed but my point was that he is not the "just the facts" uber-reporter

Posted by Ken Waldron <iframe src='https://members5.boardhost.com/xxxxx/info/user=Ken+Waldron' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on February 26, 2026, 6:16 pm, in reply to "Agreed but my point was that he is not the "just the facts" uber-reporter"

Well if Whitney Webb is right and all we've seen is 2% or so of these files, perhaps the game has always been to use this to create sensational and salacious speculation (I stop reading at the traditional witchcraft & cannibalism tropes) and an ensuing moral panic which can then be discredited and then in turn cast doubt upon whatever is in the hidden 98%?

For sure there is manipulation going on, lots of it

Posted by RaskolnikovX <iframe src='https://members5.boardhost.com/xxxxx/info/user=Raskolnikov' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on February 26, 2026, 6:46 pm, in reply to "Re: Agreed but my point was that he is not the "just the facts" uber-reporter"

but it's designed, as you say, to discredit what does come out and cover what doesn't.

Tracey's "there's no there there" stance is not realistic. At this point, barring some Snowdenesque lightning bolt I doubt we'll ever hear about most of it.

The corporate media are complicit in the Gaza genocide.
Never forget what they did. Never forgive them for it.

Re: Agreed but my point was that he is not the "just the facts" uber-reporter

Posted by Ian M <iframe src='https://members5.boardhost.com/xxxxx/info/user=Ian+M' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on February 26, 2026, 6:45 pm, in reply to "Agreed but my point was that he is not the "just the facts" uber-reporter"

Fair comment, I too would take Webb's reporting over his any day of the week (haven't looked at Bryant), if only because he comes across as an insufferable arse during interviews. Again, doesn't mean he's wrong on everything though. Aaron Mate has vouched for him fwiw, though it seems they are friends so his judgement could be clouded:

*****

https://xcancel.com/aaronjmate/status/1991652288331673694#m

Aaron Maté @aaronjmate
20 Nov 2025
I hate to be a wet blanket, but I think @mtracey has identified some significant evidentiary holes and journalistic lapses in media coverage of the Epstein thing.

Some of it reminds me of Russiagate — breathless conclusions unsupported by the available facts. Unlike Russiagate, I don’t think it’s a wholesale fraud. There’s something here. But if you’re interested in the topic, ignore @mtracey’s work at your own peril.

*****

cheers,
I

Tell your story; Ask a question; Interpret generously
http://storybythethroat.wordpress.com/tell-ask-listen/

Re: Alan MacCleod: The Chomsky-Epstein Files

Posted by Gerard <iframe src='https://members5.boardhost.com/xxxxx/info/user=GKH' width='330' height='300' border=0 style='border:none;'> on February 25, 2026, 10:04 am, in reply to "Alan MacCleod: The Chomsky-Epstein Files"

Ve call zem zee Neoliberals zame bunch zink nuclear power will help solve ze climate change and that wifi devices are a good idea...their naked emporers are leading them in to Hell! "Tally wackers!"

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