“Noise is relative to the silence preceding it. The more absolute the hush, the more shocking the thunderclap. Our masters have not heard the people’s voice for generations, Evey, and it is much, much louder than they care to remember.” — from V for Vendetta
Like me, you’re watching the most stomach-turning election campaign in our history unfold and wondering what to do about it other than start drinking the minute you get out of bed and swallow a fistful of illegal painkillers. Sure, we all know Hillary Clinton heads one of the most corrupt political families in American history but what are you going to do? Vote for Donald Trump, a narcissistic lunatic who is stirring up genuinely frightened working and middle class people but along with a terrifying Brownshirt element as well?
Meanwhile, the state of journalism has never been worse. There are a few scattered reporters doing great work, but the vast majority are in the tank for one party or the other and employed by plodding, dishonest media conglomerates controlled by the very same Wall Street and tech billionaires who effectively run our political system. Even journalists who want to take on the biggest, fattest targets often can’t do so because they work for them or their friends or relatives.
Like me, you’re also tired of reading political drivel and propaganda that makes Pravda under Stalin look honest in comparison. Would you prefer something written to high reporting standards but that treats politicians, the media and the entire political class with total contempt? How fun would it be to have a vicious online tabloid that mixes highbrow political investigations with the sleaziest (but truest) Washington political gossip?
That’s where WashingtonBabylon.com comes in. I’m going to cover DC politicians and journalists like Hollywood celebrities — not the way they are worshiped by our current media masters, but the way they were mocked and exposed by the great Hollywood tabloid Confidential and by Kenneth Anger in his wonderful, lurid book Hollywood Babylon.
You want stories about Bill Clinton shacking up with two blondes at a luxury DC hotel? Coming right up. You want to know how deeply Hillary Clinton has been penetrated by Wall Street? I’m on it. You’re wondering if Donald Trump has his brain up his ass or if he doesn’t have one at all? I can answer that question. A Democrat with a coke problem? A Republican family values man whoring around town? Trust me, these things are happening right now and I will have the details.
And sure, I love this sort of high brow gossip as much as anyone but I’m also a serious writer with a long track record of success. My stories have landed people in prison, launched U.S. congressional investigations, led to FBI raids, and brought down one of the most “prestigious” banks in Washington — Riggs, which was laundering money for various foreign dictators and members of the Washington elite.”