General

Re: Thoughts on Strauss-Kahn; Elite's battles spilling onto the streets

crashproof — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 02:04:28 GMT

I'm with you Clayton: for me the idea that he was set up is simply a given. The idea that it was purely a case of a sexual misdeed is laughable. I've just been wondering why ever since the story first broke. It's hard to imagine what somebody at that level (head of the IMF for chrissakes) would have to do to get thrown under the bus like that. I suppose it's too much wishful thinking for me to think that he was trying to do something good, though.

Re: Thoughts on Strauss-Kahn; Elite's battles spilling onto the streets

Clayton — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 00:25:04 GMT

This whole fiasco was an awesome illustration of the power of the praxeological method when applied to current events. My operating premise was that the Elites take care of each other unless one of them is being hung out to dry. The story quickly went south with the accuser's veracity being highly questionable and has only gotten murkier with every new detail released. What's amazing is how well trained the public is. They respond to the beck and call of the media like Pavlov's dog salivating to the bell.

Media: "He's a rapist!"

Public: "Hang him!"

Media: "Oops, maybe not."

Public: "ZZzzzzzzzzz"

Clayton -

Re: Thoughts on Strauss-Kahn; Elite's battles spilling onto the streets

z1235 — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 16:39:57 GMT

Good exposition of facts (timeline & places) and questions surrounding the events:

What Really Happened To Strauss-Kahn?

Re: Thoughts on Strauss-Kahn; Elite's battles spilling onto the streets

Clayton — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 20:38:55 GMT

Charges dismissed.

Note the callousness of the system to the plight of either the accused or the accuser. When the DA is on the side of the accuser, the accused loses all rights to free movement and is lucky not to be immediately imprisoned. Actual guilt or actual innocence is completely irrelevant and the costs of the DA/judges decisions in the life of the accused (for example, losing a high-paying and important job) are simply ignored. No one is liable for these costs.

But when the DA changes tune and switches to the side of the accused, her accusations will never receive a voice, at least, not in criminal court. This is an ineradicable problem of having a law monopoly. It has no rational incentive to consider the needs of its clients. Regardless of who was guilty or innocent in the Strauss-Kahn case, it is a dramatic object lesson because of the extremes involved. But this kind of thing happens, on a smaller scale, to countless people throughout the "civilized" world.

Many innocent people lose their jobs over legal entanglement in false criminal accusations. If they are innocent and they're lucky enough to have enough savings to feed themselves, pay the rent, the light bill and pay defense lawyers for however many months the case goes on, they might escape prison. This is why prosecutors achieve 80%-90% rates for plea deals. Considering what they can do to you in court and the odds of you actually being able to afford to exonerate yourself, you are often better off just pleading guilty even if you are actually innocent.

And, on the flip side, many genuine victims of crime never get a voice in court. If they don't have a high-powered team of lawyers, they have no chance in civil court - but civil courts can only administer civil fines. You can have all the lawyers in the world but, without a prosecutor's permission, it is impossible to prosecute a crime. So, it's all up to the prosecutor. The prosecutor holds all the Aces and has the keys to the dungeon. Then there are these TV shows like NCIS, Law & Order, etc. etc. that are supposed to make us feel so sorry for the poor prosecutors whose hands are tied all the time. The very existence of such propaganda shows on television should be disturbing to you if you think through the implications about the level of actual versus imagined freedom we have.

The prosecutor's office is the modern incarnation of the executioner and the dungeon - the root source of the power of the Prince. This is why Princes are constantly depicted holding the sceptre in their hand - the sceptre symbolizes the power to beat or punish. Bill Gates or Warren Buffet may be filthy rich but they can't put you in prison where you can be raped and assaulted by your fellow inmates with impunity while the guards turn a blind eye for years and years. It is impossible, in the modern world of "democratic government", to see the Man behind the Curtain but we can still see the curtain and we can be sure there must be someone behind it.

Clayton -

Re: Thoughts on Strauss-Kahn; Elite's battles spilling onto the streets

Clayton — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 08:29:45 GMT

It was four months in coming but, alas, the sweet taste of vindication! NY prosecutor likely going to drop charges.

Again - just a reminder - I'm not on DSK's side and I don't think he's a good guy (being head of the IMF is a bad thing) and I don't think the prosecutor charging or not charging him has any connection with his guilt-in-fact or innocence-in-fact. DSK is a political figure, a member of the Elite, and if he's in legal trouble it's only because someone wants him to be. His legal troubles will come to an end when he has straightened things out with whoever took him out as head of the IMF (probably Obama-Sarkozy-Merkel) and, even if he were guilty of a crime, he would never actually face trial for it.

Clayton -

Re: Thoughts on Strauss-Kahn; Elite's battles spilling onto the streets

EEmr — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 16:52:35 GMT

I have an idea as to what DSK was trying to do, or rather a thought. Although it might have been "just" a(nother) violent rape by this creep, I tend to agree with the opinion of Clayton(original poster), this whole affair smells of power play .
I suspect that DSK wanted to continue to the sale of gold the IMF had already done, to emerging economies. The American wing of IMF would not want that of course as this would limit their able to inflate without losing value and perhaps world reserve status to another currency. The emerging economies wing such as China, India, Sri Lanka, Brazil and the lesser economies that sit on huge dollar reserves and US debt managed to press through a certain amount of sales but not at pair to what they think it ought to be(and rightly so).

The US economy contributes less than other big economies in the form of actual goods to the world economy relative to the dollar value, and the statist solution to this is to make the relative value more equitable in the amount of gold backing its currency and enabling them to challenge the US with less losses. The US and other affiliated govts could not allow such a move and moved themselves to replace the socialist dupe with some other friendlier dupe. This is pure speculation, but the fact that DSK is a french politician and the closure of the gold window was an important event especially in the minds of the french political class and a confirmation of their emasculated positions to US power does help my imagination.

Re: Thoughts on Strauss-Kahn; Elite's battles spilling onto the streets

Caley McKibbin — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 03:38:57 GMT

So, you are saying that it would be fishy for him to be charged with something he really did? Based on the rule of what happens to people in high places I doubt that he will get the full hammer of justice at the conclusion of this. But, I'm not much for wild speculation.

Re: Thoughts on Strauss-Kahn; Elite's battles spilling onto the streets

Clayton — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 22:40:37 GMT

So, what you're saying is that Putin is a low-life, scumbag, power-mad, licentious politician? Isn't that assumed? Shouldn't it be assumed that the heads of the very agencies which are currently prosecuting Dominique Strauss-Kahn are, as well? Please note I'm not saying DSK is innocent - he may very well have committed some kind of sexual assault and possibly even on a hapless dupe. But there's no way in hell this is just "the workings of justice" and nothing more to it. This is a political hit. To deny it is to bury one's head in the sand at the widespread, systemic corruption in our police and legal systems. These crooks are pulling this kind of crap every day, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and then they cover for each other. When they stop covering for one of their own, it's not an accident. It happened for a reason. That DSK was snooping around somewhere he wasn't supposed to be and the US authorities slapped a trumped-up charge on him to keep him from leaving the borders strikes me as a much more plausible story than that he randomly threw himself on some chambermaid out of sheer out-of-control horniness in a foreign country where he does not have the high-level contacts to get out of a legal tight-spot if the usual hush-money doesn't do the trick. The official story just doesn't make sense. Putin's story is at least plausible.

Clayton -

Re: Thoughts on Strauss-Kahn; Elite's battles spilling onto the streets

Caley McKibbin — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 10:32:26 GMT

Funny you would use Putin as a validating reference and funny he all of people would speak up on this. Many years ago an actress named Peta Wilson (La Femme Nikita) told a story about being invited by Putin to a dinner party. He had her partner, Damian Harris, hauled away by his henchmen and tried making move on her. She faked illness and left in disgust.

Re: Thoughts on Strauss-Kahn; Elite's battles spilling onto the streets

Clayton — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 09:31:41 GMT

"Btw, what is it with calling these people "Elites"?"

They are the Elites-self-styled. Their only real skill is clawing their way to the top and living off the productivity of others.

Clayton -

Re: Thoughts on Strauss-Kahn; Elite's battles spilling onto the streets

Clayton — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 09:26:47 GMT

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1392463/Vladimir-Putin-claims-Dominique-Strauss-Khan-victim-conspiracy-force-out.html

What'd I say? Didn't have to wait long for some vindication. In the words of Sherlock Holmes, it's elementary. Big shots don't get in trouble unless the other Big Shots are throwing them under the bus. 1+1=2

Clayton -

Re: Thoughts on Strauss-Kahn; Elite's battles spilling onto the streets

Caley McKibbin — Sun, 29 May 2011 02:34:56 GMT

Argument from incredulity does not work in a context like this, where it is firmly established that some people are that stupidly recidivist and/or arrogant about their positions.

Try this story if you think that one is unlikely.

Btw, what is it with calling these people "Elites"?

Re: Thoughts on Strauss-Kahn; Elite's battles spilling onto the streets

Mercator — Sun, 29 May 2011 02:01:32 GMT

Mercator, do you see a difference between accusation and conviction? Or did you happen to be there in DSK's hotel room and see the whole thing with your own eyes?

Well I am in no position to do legal harm to Mr DSK, so my preconceived notions won't probably upset him too much. Of course I respect "innocent until proven guilty." My aim is to unambiguously set the following points:

1) Rape is a crime of violence. The media's attempt to frame this issue as a "sex scandal" is an attempt to put the argument on the terms of French sexual mores which are of course different than American ways. We've already seen bullshit Op-Ed pieces on the wonder of French sexual ways. What a crock. This is not about sex, or about the man's sexual tastes. It's about a serious violent crime.

2) We "small people" need to pay careful attention to what exactly a central banker is. A central banker is not a "lender," or "capitalist." He doesn't bring any capital to the table which he then lends out for a price. He doesn't do anything, bear any risk, invest anything, or perform any analytical duties. All he does is bully his way into a position of "Predator in Chief," at which point he is allowed to victimise the people of the world. This is the kind of person we are talking about.

Reports have surfaced that the woman's extended family in French west Africa have already been approached with 7-figure settlement offers.

Central banking isn't just "like" organised crime. It is organised crime.

Re: Thoughts on Strauss-Kahn; Elite's battles spilling onto the streets

K.C. Farmer — Tue, 24 May 2011 14:47:55 GMT

Could he have been considering a very unfavorable decision against the US, and was "taken out" in order to eliminate the threat?

Not that big into conspiracy theories, but either the man is a pig with really bad luck (getting caught without having friends in high places) or someone was trying to exploit a known behavior for their own benefit.

Third possible scenario is that the woman is just trying to get some money out of the situation and the story went beyond the capability of Strauss-Kahn's friends to contain it. This seems rather unlikely in that she exposes herself as well.

Fourth possible scenario it that the media found the story and decided to run with it to destroy a powerful person. Need the exact sequence of events to determine who pressed this. Did the woman file charges first and then the media reported it, or did the media report and the woman filed in order to protect herself (e.g., she had HIV and consentual sex could have been charged as a criminal act)?

But I do agree, this story seems to be hyped up to the point that it could suggest someone wants it covered...or that the media just likes to sell stories that try to bring down people in high places through sexual scandal.

Re: Thoughts on Strauss-Kahn; Elite's battles spilling onto the streets

Kakugo — Tue, 24 May 2011 09:01:58 GMT

As I posted previously Strauss-Kahn has a long (very long, actually) history as a pervert. He even went as far a loudly proposing to airline hostesses in front of tens of first class passengers. And yes, he ended up in troubles before but always got away with it, usually by settling the case out of court.

And that's why I tend to agree with you: he could have settled this case as he settled many others before, by paying up. There's also another thing that got me thinking: this kind of people always moves surrounded by an entourage. Secretaries, assistants, bodyguards... you name them. Where were his bodyguards? Are we to believe that anyone armed with a skeleton key (or its electronic equivalent) could have just walked into the room of the IMF Executive Director? Makes those airport "safety checks" sound even more ridiculous than they already are.

One thing I believe is that, just like in Stalinist Russia, Strauss-Kahn was simply a convenient scapegoat for the 2008 crisis and following depression. I am thinking about the Greek situation in particular: he had been instrumental in negotiating the "bailout package". He was also very active in "persuading" Portugal and Ireland to "accept" the rescue package, as was in selling over the Chinese and the Japanese to the idea of the new "eurobonds". After a year of mindless optimism, the debt crisis is again rearing its ugly head. Italian debt has been recently downgraded by rating agencies and we all know how the situation in Greece is progressively deteriorating.

Heads needs to start rolling.