[posted to Patreon 11/30/19]

The crime

Which one, truly. The inside flap of Ronan Farrow's Catch And Kill: Lies, Spies, And A Conspiracy To Protect Predators sounds like typical thriller-fluffing, noting that "a routine television investigation led Ronan Farrow to a story only whispered about: one of Hollywood's most powerful producers was a predator ... As Farrow drew closer to the truth, shadowy operatives, form high-priced lawyers to elite war-hardened spies, mounted a secret campaign of intimidation ... corruption and cover-ups from Hollywood to Washington and beyond." But the producer, of course, is Harvey Weinstein; the lawyers, P.I.s, and for-sale tabloid and news execs that abetted his predations also let Donald Trump get away with similar assaults (and, often, committed those assaults themselves); and then there's the squashing of the story by NBC, which is accomplished in the truest NBC fashion, not with mustache-twirling brio but with whiny, entitled double-talk and buck-passing. Not to editorialize more than Farrow does.

Eventually, the story finds a home at The New Yorker, and Weinstein finds his rightful home in handcuffs.