Maybe the absolute sewer that is Washington DC needs to be dug up and gotten rid of so we can start all over again

Incredible response to my piece on Podesta and naked teen “art photos”

(To read about Jon’s mega-collection, Exit From The Matrix,click here.) I’ll get to the incredible response in a minute, but first the necessary bit of background. Yesterday, I wrote a piece about John Podesta’s brother, Tony, also a major Democrat political mover and shaker in Washington. A high-powered art collector as well, Tony had photos of naked teenagers on the walls of a bedroom in his house. As the Washington Post reported in 2004:

“‘At political events [at Tony’s home], there’s an inevitable awkwardness’, former Clinton administration official Sally Katzen said at a Women’s Campaign Fund dinner at the Podestas’ home this summer.“The art is an ice-breaker. It puts people at ease’.” “Not always. Folks attending a house tour in the Lake Barcroft neighborhood in Falls Church earlier this year got an eyeful when they walked into a bedroom at the Podesta residence hung with multiple color pictures by Katy Grannan, a photographer known for documentary-style pictures of naked teenagers in their parents’ suburban homes.” “‘They were horrified’, Heather [Tony’s wife] recalls, a grin spreading across her face.” Then, yesterday, I wrote: “Does anyone stop to ask how permission was obtained to shoot those photos in the first place? And then to print them, sell them, show them publicly? The parents of the children gave their consent? The kids gave their consent? On what basis does anyone allow teenagers to make that kind of decision for themselves—or think that teenagers have the capacity to make such a decision? Technically, the whole operation may fall within the law (although I don’t see how), but on every other level it’s insane. And it’s child endangerment.” “And a major political operative in Washington, Tony Podesta, sees no problem with it. He has the photos on his walls at home. He displays them for his Washington insider pals and donors. They may blush, but they look. And none of them raises a public objection. They keep their mouths shut, because this is Tony Podesta, and he’s a power player.”

Now we come to the incredible response. After posting the article yesterday, I emailed a person I believed could provide solid advice on the issues I raised. Could anyone be prosecuted for the naked teenager photos? Wasn’t this a crime? How could it not be a crime? And this person, who does very good work on many fronts, gave me a terse answer: “Why bother? What’s the point?” The answer was meant to indicate this was a minor blip on the radar, hardly worth dealing with. And I was overreaching to make it into a story. What?? I want to emphasize: this person I emailed yesterday is extremely bright and extremely active in working for actual justice in places many other people wouldn’t dare go. And the response was: “Why bother? What’s the point?” Oh, I don’t know, maybe the point is photos of naked teenagers on walls for anyone to see, when those kids don’t have the capacity or the right to make those decisions, and when their demented immoral parents are making those decisions for them, blithely, with happy grins on their faces, is hideous and grotesque and it’s unbelievable that no one spoke out at the time and no one thought to prosecute the parents or the photographer or the dealer that represents the photographer…

Maybe that’s the point. Maybe the absolute sewer that is Washington DC needs to be dug up and gotten rid of so we can start all over again. Maybe that’s the point. Maybe the rich little scum who walked by those photos and never said a word and were afraid of the power player who displayed them on a bedroom wall in his house were culpable, and maybe they reflect a prevalent perverse attitude that keeps anything good from happening in the political landscape of our time. Maybe that’s it. Maybe that’s the point. Maybe the fear is the point. Fear of believing in something that challenges the people in power who are out for destruction, who revel in destruction, who delight in turning life into death. Maybe that’s the point. Take any of these points. Take them all. They’re all falling below the radar, and they all need to be raised back up to a level where people can look at them again and decide whether to SAY SOMETHING BECAUSE THEY SEE SOMETHING. “Hi, nice to see you again. It’s a wonderful party, isn’t it? Say, I’m launching a new project. I’ll be doing a series of photos, art photos, of naked teenagers from the suburbs. So, ha-ha, I can’t just go door to door and call on people cold and ask them for permission. I was wondering if you knew anyone…” “Why sure. Sounds like an exciting project. Who do we know, darling? How about Bob and Marjorie? They live right up the hill near the club. They’d be interested. They have daughter, Jennifer. She’s fourteen. She’s actually quite beautiful. Stop panting, darling! My husband, he’s such a kidder…”



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