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Topic: The Epstein Files (Read 37839 times)
  • OakdaleFTL
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The Epstein Files
I expect my interest in such is odd, compared to most.

What I want to know is not the salacious details or the names of celebrities... What I most want to know is which law-enforcement officers and politicians coerced or were complicit in covering up proven crimes...
And why their actions were not seen, investigated and prosecuted.

Any comments?
  • Last Edit: 2025-03-05, 14:40:36 by OakdaleFTL
进行 ...
"Humor is emotional chaos remembered in tranquility." - James Thurber
"Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts!" - Richard Feynman
 (iBook G4 - Panther | Mac mini i5 - El Capitan)

Re: The Epstein Files

Reply #25 –
Sam Harris is in the Epstein files. Not in a depraved way like Lawrence Krauss or Richard Dawkins, but the wrongness of his perception on the Epstein saga is revealing enough.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdNVfUGU_tQ

Of the entire New Atheist gang, Sam Harris was always the most far-right extremist one politically, openly pro-W and genocidally Islamophobic. This warps his perception of Trump. He thinks Trump is politically incoherent and ludicrously psychopathic, which in Harris's mind is so damning that he cannot imagine adding sexual perversions à la Epstein to it. After all, Trump is the president, and Americans would not vote for a totally-totally sick and pervert guy, right? The American "system" would not allow for it...

Except that the "system" allows for it just fine. In addition to his warped picture of politics, Harris is here exercising his defective character judgement. The corrective to the character judgement would be a more thorough familiarity with the factual extent that Epstein and Trump were close friends + business partners + the exact business they were in + how their private lives were inseparable from their business.

Re: The Epstein Files

Reply #26 –
Quote from: ersi – on
Of the entire New Atheist gang, Sam Harris was always the most far-right extremist one politically, openly pro-W and genocidally Islamophobic.
As such the shady dealings surrounding for example Israel, Russia, and Syria that are in there could also play a role.

Re: The Epstein Files

Reply #27 –
Quote from: Frenzie – on
Quote from: ersi – on
Of the entire New Atheist gang, Sam Harris was always the most far-right extremist one politically, openly pro-W and genocidally Islamophobic.
As such the shady dealings surrounding for example Israel, Russia, and Syria that are in there could also play a role.
No. Sam Harris's islamophobia was singularly informed by 9/11. He may have marginally updated his knowledge by now and maybe even introduced some nuance lately, but this was not the case even ten years ago.

This article scratches the surface somewhat.

Note: The heading "How the New Atheists merged with the far right" is wrong and the contents of the article do not bear it out. On my view, New Atheists are either politically quiet or very close to mainstream political establishment position. Harris is a meanstreamist. A "Muslim ban" and such views are perfectly mainstream in USA, not necessarily connected to Trumpism. As to misogyny and institutional grifting - and Epstein was institutionally embraced and embedded -, the article is spot on. Edit: The subheading "What once seemed like a bracing intellectual movement has degenerated into a pack of abusive, small-minded bigots" conveys the spirit of the article. Of course, I thought of New Atheism as small-minded bigotry since the moment they emerged.

On this forum we have also this foray into international relations by Sam Harris with Noam Chomsky. Sam Harris general view is very clear: When "we" attack, it's justified; when "they" do it, it is unjustified, no matter how they try to justify it. This view or sentiment was always mainstream in USA, W put it on steroids after 9/11 and Harris was 100% on board with it.

Re: The Epstein Files

Reply #29 –
Epstein+Trump situation is common knowledge. Here's what Sheldon Whitehouse (D - Rhode Island) knows.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1V8oE9PAO9k

The above account is largely true, except for a few caveats. It's not true that there are "murky" aspects to it, things that "we may never know". Epstein's and Trump's sex trafficking operations have by orders of magnitude more evidence than Lee Harvey Oswald's connection to the shooting of JFK. The affair is in broad daylight even given the missing files and active cover-up by the Trump administration.

And notice a big omission. Russia is mentioned all over the place, but Israel hardly at all. In reality, Epstein's connections to Israel are at least as dense as his connections to Russia, and it's equally common knowledge.

Re: The Epstein Files

Reply #30 –
It's common knowledge that the Earth is flat, and ersi is the quintessential honest broker... :)
进行 ...
"Humor is emotional chaos remembered in tranquility." - James Thurber
"Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts!" - Richard Feynman
 (iBook G4 - Panther | Mac mini i5 - El Capitan)
 

Re: The Epstein Files

Reply #31 –
Finally we hear from Melania, too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyn-_Tsl5A0

The text is the official transcript.

Quote from: Melania Trump
Good afternoon.

The lies linking me with the disgraceful Jeffrey Epstein need to end today.

The individuals lying about me are devoid of ethical standards, humility, and respect. I do not object to their ignorance, but rather, I reject their mean-spirited attempts to defame my reputation.

I have never been friends with Epstein. Donald and I were invited to the same parties as Epstein from time to time, since overlapping in social circles is common in New York City and Palm Beach.

To be clear, I never had a relationship with Epstein or his accomplice, Maxwell. My email reply to Maxwell cannot be categorized as anything more than casual correspondence. My polite reply to her email doesn’t amount to anything more than a trivial note.

I am not Epstein’s victim. Epstein did not introduce me to Donald Trump. I met my husband, by chance, at a New York City party in 1998. This initial encounter with my husband is documented in detail in my book, MELANIA.

The first time I crossed paths with Epstein was in the year 2000, at an event Donald and I attended together. At the time, I had never met Epstein and had no knowledge of his criminal undertakings.

Numerous fake images and statements about Epstein and me have been circulating on social media for years now. Be cautious about what you believe. These images and stories are completely false.

I am not a witness or a named witness in connection with any of Epstein’s crimes. My name has never appeared in court documents, depositions, victim statements, or FBI interviews surrounding the Epstein matter.

I have never had any knowledge of Epstein’s abuse of his victims. I was never involved in any capacity—I was not a participant, was never on Epstein’s plane, and never visited his private island.

I have never been legally accused or convicted of a crime in connection with Epstein’s sex trafficking, abuse of minors, and other repulsive behavior.

The false smears about me from mean-spirited and politically motivated individuals and entities looking to cause damage to my good name to gain financially and climb politically must stop.

My attorneys and I have fought these unfounded and baseless lies with success and will continue to maintain my sound reputation without hesitation. To date, several individuals and companies have been legally obligated to publicly apologize and retract their lies about me, such as The Daily Beast, James Carville, and Harper Collins UK.

Now is the time for Congress to act. Epstein was not alone. Several prominent male executives resigned from their powerful positions after this matter became widely politicized. Of course, this doesn’t amount to guilt, but we still must work openly and transparently to uncover the truth.

I call on Congress to provide the women who have been victimized by Epstein with a public hearing specifically centered around the survivors. Give these victims their opportunity to testify under oath in front of Congress, with the power of sworn testimony. Each and every woman should have her day to tell her story in public, if she wishes, and then her testimony should be permanently entered into the Congressional Record.

Then, and only then, will we have the truth.
Melania starts with obvious lies, such as "I never had a relationship with Epstein or his accomplice, Maxwell" and "Numerous fake images and statements about Epstein and me have been circulating on social media for years now." In reality, the images are as fake as Prince Andrew images, i.e. Melania's relationship with Epstein and Maxwell is as strong as Prince Andrew's. And the little nuance here is that Donald Trump's relationship with Epstein is a lot stronger than Prince Andrew's. Surely Melania knows this, or should know. Donald Trump is her husband after all. Or is that relationship fake too?

She goes on through her history of litigations to protect her "sound reputation" against some people and outlets "to publicly apologize and retract their lies about me, such as The Daily Beast, James Carville, and Harper Collins UK." Incidentally, this list is not a "such as". It's the entire list of her legal wins ending in settlements out of court where the other side backed down.

Besides, "retract" has a specific legal meaning - the other side should no longer repeat the statements. This is not true at least for The Daily Beast, which I have followed closely. The Daily Beast has ramped up the claims about the relationship of Melania and Epstein, specifically that Melania was one of the Epstein girls whom Epstein offered to Trump and that the first time Melania and Trump met was on Epstein's Lolita Express. Melania has not sued against these statements, but threatened to sue so many times that actually she has been sued due to those threats. See the developments of Michael Wolff vs Melania lawsuit https://allaboutlawyer.com/michael-wolff-lawsuit-author-sues-melania-trump-first-heres-why-he-can-question-her-and-trump-under-oath/

Most bizarrely, Melania's speech ends with an apparent siding with the victims, even stating, "Now is the time for Congress to act. Epstein was not alone." This is bizarre because the Trump administration's heads of DOJ and FBI have the view that the Epstein matter is closed, investigated as thoroughly as it can go, that all files demanded by the Congress have been released (at least the finances have not been released and the Zorro ranch has not been investigated), that Epstein acted alone, there are no accomplices, and the victims should look at the Dow Jones index.

Edit: Additionally, Melania's apparent siding with the victims is bizarre considering that earlier in the speech she says,  "I am not Epstein’s victim." So she's not one of them. Why then this public display? "Then, and only then, [after the hearings] will we have the truth." Which truth? Ah yes, the truth that she herself is not a victim of Epstein, not a friend of Epstein, not a sex trafficker, did not have a relationship with Epstein etc. She has precious little to do with the victims, her name does not feature much in the Epstein files, so let's have hearings so the press can talk about others.

Also the timing feels very much off. Trump started the Iran war partly to distract from the Epstein files. The war ended in a ceasefire by orders of magnitude more disastrous than any of the Ukraine-Russia ceasefires. So now Melania meant to bring up the Epstein files again to distract from the ceasefire? Was this coordinated? Wtf were they thinking? Apparently not thinking at all and not coordinating either.

But clearly Melania felt she needed to say something to protect her "sound reputation" at this time because the consequential Michael Wolff lawsuit is picking up, and because Amanda Ungaro is very upset lately, possibly because she was kicked out of USA by ICE, possibly for more reasons. Amanda Ungaro is a model in the same circles and with a similar trajectory as Melania (though categorically outclassing Melania insofar as actual modelling is concerned), but whose relationship with Paolo Zampolli - another associate and accomplice of Trump and Epstein - broke down. What if they also show up at the hearings? Did Melania think this through properly? https://x.com/JamesTate121/status/2042785222597468546

Re: The Epstein Files

Reply #32 –
A photo gallery of a nice initiative: Trump-Epstein Memorial Reading Room. It includes the Epstein files printed out in thousands of volumes, a documentation of Trump's and Epstein's life events, and a tribute to victims. 


Re: The Epstein Files

Reply #33 –
There's another nice initiative - Epstein Wiki. Currently, charges are piling on this personage, so some legal action should unfold soon https://epsteinwiki.com/knowledge-base/lesley-groff/ (I know, still far from getting to the main culprit, namely Donald Trump)