Did you know that the bank JP Morgan agreed to a settlement recently with the victims of Jeffrey Epstein to pay them $290 million?

The bank apparently chose to avoid a very ugly and public accounting in court for their business dealings with the convicted sex offender during a discovery process that would churn up facts and internal documents that show JP Morgan executives were aware of Epstein’s guilty plea and other dubious activities after his conviction.

It’s a costly settlement but the cost of the facts being enumerated in court would be even greater, including one JP Morgan executive’s email sent to Epstein shortly after a visit to Little St. James Island who said, “That was fun. Say hi to Snow White.” One can easily surmise what that means, but remember, Jeffrey Epstein killed himself.

I bring this up because people don’t last long when they’re the focal point of the attentions of the world’s Power Elite. Save your snark and eye rolls, they clearly exist and openly meet, and one can readily peruse the transcripts of their speeches that they make available to know what their desires and priorities are, and it isn’t for most of humanity to live long fulfilling lives.

Just ask the guy who had his Smart Home shut down by Amazon because a delivery driver claimed he heard something racist coming out of the Ring Doorbell speaker when the man wasn’t even home. Now imagine this power in the hands of a vengeful bureaucrat or a petulant politician who you’ll have to come groveling to when you want to take a ride in the electric car you’ve been forced to purchase or to fire up your electric hotplate to boil and reconstitute insect protein provided by the Gates Foundation.

From The Open Society’s billionaire founder George Soros and his even more activistic son Alex to WEF high priest Klaus Schwab, the endgame is a world engineered and attuned to the desires of the Davos set, forget the mass of proles huddled in the megacities of the world and the serfs toiling in the hinterlands all being led by the nose by the promise of democracy.

This is easy when the priority for so many of the elected and more commonly the un-elected is the consolidation of control over two things, power and money. Both wings of our Uni-party duopoly depend on the other to achieve their goals. They are antagonistic when appropriate, but they will cozily and consistently push the country in directions that serve only the Power Elite of Washington, the lobbyists who craft their legislation, and the industrial complexes that employ them.

Look no further than our own Congressman Kelly Armstrong, who voted against censuring one of the most decrepit supporters of the Big Lie of Russian Collusion in the House, Congressman Adam Schiff. I fired off some queries to Armstrong on Thursday morning regarding his vote, and to the credit of the congressman and his office, he replied promptly.

“The censure resolution as written is unconstitutional. It also censured him and then sent him to ethics for an investigation. That’s like convicting someone and then sending them to court for the trial,” Armstrong said. “I voted to remove Adam Schiff from the Intel committee and fought against him through two impeachments. But I won’t vote for anything that violates the constitution.”

Never mind that those impeachment proceedings were largely bolstered and incited by the climate of lies perpetuated by Schiff, but I guess we’ll all just have to depend on Armstrong to be principled when few of his colleagues would do the same under different circumstances. I know for a fact if there’s one member of Congress who doesn’t value or uphold the Constitution, it’s the man Armstrong voted against censuring.

To be fair to Armstrong, he was just one of 20 Republicans to save Schiff’s neck, and he was recently able to garner bipartisan support for an act to forestall regressive Green New Deal policies banning gas stoves. However, that only reinforces the point. Despite Armstrong’s appeals to constitutionality, the real reason Schiff was spared is that Congress more often than not will protect those who deliver the results permanent Washington wants.

Why would his colleagues ever want to see Adam Schiff’s daily support for Russian hysteria punished, when it so perfectly primed the pump for so many Americans to cheerlead us into funding yet another destabilizing, destructive and bloody conflict elsewhere in the world? Because the only way to secure World Peace is by sacrificing the nation of Ukraine and the soldiers of Russia to provide a fresh supply of blood for the Blood God and fresh skulls for his throne.

What was obvious to party rank and file from the moment Trump gutted Jeb Bush on a debate stage in 2016 was this: Trump was not one of them, and they would tolerate him in the Oval Office to the extent that they could control or direct him.

Now they have the former president right where they want him, on the precipice of prison or worse, leaving them free to go about their business without accountability or recompense, and thanks to Kelly Armstrong, that includes Adam Schiff.

They’d prefer the public just went along with it quietly but to do so is to silently and cravenly concede that this nation doesn’t represent or belong to its people anymore. It belongs to Permanent Washington. The message from the House and that Republican cohort is loud and clear, “Sit down, shut up, watch your state mandated drag show and eat your bugs. But don’t forget to vote for us. We’re on your side.”

That is the best that we can hope for when justice is upside down. So it goes.