You really have to hand it to the federal government. Just when you think the **Department of Justice (DOJ)** can’t get any worse, they find a new way to surprise you and tank their own trust metrics. They don’t just fail; they fail in a way that hurts the people who are already hurting the most. It is almost impressive how bad they are at their jobs. If you or I messed up this badly at work, we would be fired before lunch. But in Washington? It’s just another Tuesday.

Here is what happened, stripped of the legalese. It’s simple, really. The DOJ—the entity tasked with enforcing the law and protecting **victim privacy rights**—released a massive tranche of data. These were files related to the **Jeffrey Epstein documents**. You know the name. The guy who ran a ring of horror for the rich and powerful. These files were supposed to be released to the public so we could see what happened. That sounds good, right? Transparency. Truth. All those high-volume search terms politicians love to say.

But there was one rule. Just one big rule for this **FOIA release**. They had to hide the names and faces of the victims. These women went through hell. They deserve privacy. They deserve to live their lives without their faces plastered all over the internet. So, the government had one job: take a black marker—or the digital version of one—and cross out the names. Blur the faces. Keep the innocent people safe.

Guess what? They couldn’t do it. They failed.

Thousands of documents went up. And in those documents, there were names. There were **unredacted images**. That means "not hidden." The government basically took the victims and threw them to the wolves. Again. These women already suffered because the system failed to stop a monster. Now, the system is failing them again by showing the world who they are. It is sick. It is cruel. And it is entirely predictable.

Think about the level of **government incompetence** here. We aren't talking about complex rocket science or advanced algorithm updates. We are talking about reading a page, seeing a name, and covering it up. That is it. A middle school student could do this. You could hire a bored teenager to do this, and they would probably do a better job than the Department of Justice. But these are the "experts." These are the people with fancy degrees and big salaries paid for by your taxes. They sit in big offices and push paper, and they can’t even protect the identities of abuse victims.

Of course, once they realized they messed up, they panicked. They took the documents down. They pulled them off the website. They probably patted themselves on the back for "fixing" the problem. But here is the thing about the internet: it doesn’t forget. You can’t take things back.

Once something is online for five minutes, it is online forever. People downloaded those **Epstein files**. People took screenshots. The damage is done. Taking the files down now is like trying to put smoke back into a burning log. It’s useless performative nonsense. It makes the bureaucrats feel better, but it doesn’t help the victims.

This is why I don’t trust any of them. Left, Right, Center—it doesn’t matter. They are all part of a machine that is broken, rusty, and dangerous. The Right screams about conspiracies, and the Left screams about justice, but when it comes down to actually doing the work? They are all useless. The machinery of the state is too stupid to function.

Think about the priorities here. The government can track you if you owe them ten dollars in taxes. They can find you if you park in the wrong spot. But when it comes to protecting the most vulnerable people in a high-profile case? Suddenly, they forget how to read. Suddenly, they forget how to use a computer program to black out a face.

It makes you wonder if they even care. Maybe they don’t. To them, these victims are just paperwork. They are just files in a box. They aren't real people with real lives. That is the only explanation for being this sloppy. If you cared, you would double-check. You would triple-check. You would make sure that not a single name slipped through. But they didn’t. They just hit "upload" and went to lunch.

So now, the Department of Justice faces "criticism." That’s the news. Criticism. big deal. They will write an apology letter. Someone might get a stern talking-to. And then they will go back to business as usual. Nothing will change. The victims will have to deal with the fallout for the rest of their lives, and the bureaucrats will keep collecting their paychecks.

It is a perfect example of why the whole system is a joke. They promise you safety, and they give you exposure. They promise you justice, and they give you incompetence. It’s not a tragedy anymore; it’s a farce. And the punchline is always on the little guy.

***

**References & Fact-Check** * **Primary Source**: *Thousands of Epstein documents taken down after victims identified* – [BBC News](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn0k65pnxjxo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss) * **Fact Check**: The Department of Justice (DOJ) inadvertently released unredacted names and images of victims in the Jeffrey Epstein case files on a government website before removing them hours later. * **Keywords Targeted**: Jeffrey Epstein documents, DOJ leak, unredacted files, victim privacy rights, government incompetence.