the attitude with arnie arnesen the friday edition noon to 1pm Nov 14
Arnie Arnesen
Holding the meal at the church also supports our environmental and financial values. We can use washable plates and silverware rather than disposable ones, reducing both waste and exposure to micro- and nano-plastics, which research increasingly links to serious health concerns. The church already has dishes and cups available, making it a natural, sustainable choice for a shared meal.
But perhaps most importantly, this gathering is about community. Many people I’ve spoken with—friends, neighbors, even parents I work with—have shared how lonely they feel and how little time they have to connect meaningfully. Sharing a meal invites us to slow down, look up from our phones, and listen to one another.
And not to mention faith—whatever your faith may be. It feels more important than ever to preserve the spaces that bring peace, reflection, and community support. Our church is one such place. Inside, there is a landmark agreement honoring the First Nations peoples who walked this land before us, it remains in the building at all times. It’s a small but powerful reminder of our shared responsibility to care for one another and the land we live on.
This Friendsgiving is open to anyone and everyone, including families with children. As an educator, I believe deeply in the importance of children seeing adults come together in kindness and cooperation. In many cultures I’ve lived in, community meals are multigenerational and full of shared laughter and learning. I hope this event offers us that same chance—to reconnect, rebuild, and remember what we’re truly grateful for.
The mission of DLAT is to bring the Democratic legal community together to build community, learn about legal issues that impact our Democratic values, volunteer and otherwise assist the Democratic Party, and promote and recruit qualified Democrats in seeking positions of public office.
part two
opening thoughts part two:
How did a Vershire man come to possess the address book of infamous pedophile, international financier and friend to the world’s most powerful people Jeffrey Epstein?
Why, eBay, of course.
Five years ago, Christopher Helali saw the book for sale online and took a gamble, spending a few hundred bucks on the off chance the artifact was the real thing.
When the “little black book” filled with the contacts of the world’s most notorious sex criminal arrived in Vershire, Helali picked it up at the post office and opened it in gloves and a mask, careful not to leave fingerprints. Though at the time the veracity of the document remained in question, Helali himself was quickly convinced.
“Within a few moments, it was very much apparent that this was a legitimate item,” he recalled. He was in possession of the only known, publicly held object of its kind.
A general manager of an international law firm, a sometimes investigative journalist and the international secretary of the American Communist Party, Helali had long been interested in Epstein and what his story said about global power and politics today.
In private life, Epstein entertained the rich and famous in his Manhattan townhouse — often called the borough’s largest — and on his private Caribbean island, Little Saint James.
The first cracks in the billionaire’s mysterious facade appeared when police in Florida began investigating Epstein for sexually abusing underage girls in 2005. He later pleaded guilty to procuring a child for prostitution and soliciting a prostitute.
For more than a decade after, Epstein continued his life of luxury. But in 2019, he was charged federally on allegations he trafficked minors for sex, drawing international attention. He died in a New York jail cell the following month, and his death was ruled a suicide, though conspiracy theories abound about the circumstances surrounding Epstein’s death.
The little black book arrived in Vershire the year after, and Helali began contacting Epstein experts, like the Miami Herald journalist Julie K. Brown; Brace Belden, co-host of the popular leftwing podcast TrueAnon; and reporters at Business Insider.
In 2021, Business Insider produced a documentary short on Helali’s find and their successful effort to confirm its authenticity through forensic analysis. The book was first discovered on a Manhattan street in the 1990s, according to the documentary, and the woman who picked it off the sidewalk eventually put it up for sale online around the time of Epstein’s most recent arrest.
Another little black book dating to the early-to-mid-2000s has drawn FBI attention and was published in redacted form by Gawker in 2015. But Helali said his version contains more than 200 additional names, expanding the scope of what’s known about Epstein’s network. Among those figures are actress Morgan Fairchild, investor Carl Icahn and former New Republic publisher Martin Peretz.
As a document, the book tells a story. A picture of an inner and outer circle emerges. Some names feature 10 phone numbers, according to Helali, and the book includes codes to buildings and hand-scribbled marginalia. There’s a list within the book of masseuses, but the names are coded, he said.
“Donald Trump’s entry in this book is enormous, for example, and his name is highlighted,” Helali said. “I think that shows a layer of relations that the current president wants to distance himself from.”
Trump has said publicly his friendship with Epstein ended some 20 years ago, before Epstein’s legal troubles began, and that the two had a falling out.
Helali plans to use the book for his own reporting. Currently, he’s focused on one name he said is within Trump’s sphere, someone whom other journalists indicate was an associate of Epstein.“There’s some more depth to what we can uncover, and I hope that we can continue to learn more,” he said. “This is not only bipartisan,” Helali said. “This is the elite of the world.”
To Helali, the importance of the Epstein case is in understanding how a web of important political leaders, academics, economists, financiers and intellectuals found themselves in the orbit of a man engaged in such sinister crimes. That is not to say all those who knew Epstein were complicit in his criminality, he emphasized. But current and former U.S. presidents, a former Israeli prime minister, a member of the British royal family and a Saudi Arabian prince have all been connected to the disgraced billionaire.
“These are ultimately people involved in public life who are engaged in this activity, and they should be held accountable for what’s going on,” Helali said. “We need to understand as the public: What’s going on behind these closed doors? What’s going on on a private island where young girls are being trafficked?”
...“The vast networks of financial interests, intelligence interests, and the military aspects that intersect with the media, with powerful people who can shape narratives and can shape people’s perceptions” all join together in the Epstein tale, Helali said. “What it ultimately raises the specter of is what people sometimes refer to as the deep state.”
Bill Curry was a Connecticut state senator, comptroller and two time Democratic nominee for governor who served as Counselor to the President in the Clinton White House. He has written for Salon, the Daily Beast, the Huffington Post and the Hartford Courant and has provided commentary on National Public Radio, MSNBC and many other news outlets.
topics:
Canada announces a $1.7 billion program to recruit top H1B visa holders from America...
Trump’s H-1B Visa Crackdown to Accelerate Wall Street’s Expansion in India
Trump organization requested record number of foreign workers in 2025 The Hill
Trump doubles down on plan for 600,000 Chinese student visas despite MAGA backlash Fox News
It’s Epstein O’Clock in Congress The Democrats want the public thinking about Donald Trump’s ties to a sex trafficker. Will it work? https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2025/11/jeffrey-epstein-files-donald-trump-democrats.html
D. ARNIE ARNESEN
15 Rumford Street
Concord NH 03301
nha...@gmail.com
(C) 603-321-7654
Host of "The Attitude with Arnie Arnesen"