PSA: Don’t keep your incriminating evidence on unencrypted CDs in a safe!
Epstein is supposed to be so smart, yet he kept his incriminating evidence on unencrypted CDs in a safe that the FBI had no problem opening.
Use Veracrypt! It’s free, and it will make it impossible for the FBI (or your wife or anyone else) to know that you have files containing images of underage girls, or instructions on how to make bombs, or whatever else you need to hide from them!
https://www.veracrypt.fr/en/Home.html
This just proves, once again, that billionaires really aren’t all that smart. I’m poor, and not any kind of cyber-security expert at all, but even I know how to encrypt data.
Lion of the Blogosphere 
I’m poor
Let’s define poor. Not relative to a billionaire, but what’s poor for, say, a 50-year old, relative to the net worth of the average middle-income 50 y/o earner.
Less than $500K net worth? $250K? $100K?
No Where Man
July 11, 2019 at 11:24 AM
Lion. In their minds, they are untouchable. Society has shown them enough proof that they can get away for it for over a decade. No reason for him to think he ever gonna get caught. Hence the sloppiness. Also criminals get cocky too and make simple mistakes. If you watch any crime show channels you would see even high iq people make basic mistakes all the time.
My biggest takeaway from watching crime shows is – a criminal might be smarter than 1 detective, 2 detectives, a whole department but almost rarely against the whole “law enforcement system” – analysts, experts, labs, databases. Given enough time, fresh look by different professionals, advances in technology, lots of cold cases get solved all the time.
mpt
July 11, 2019 at 1:11 PM
Epstein is scum who deserves to go down. But lets’ not kid ourself, his “rape victims” are simply me-too prostitutes jumping on the gravy train.
fakeemail
July 11, 2019 at 11:40 AM
“The first time I went there, he did disgusting, horrible things to me. And it was even worse the next time!”
Calvin Hobbes
July 11, 2019 at 1:36 PM
Many if not most of the pedophile priest victims ‘willingly’ engaged in the ‘relationships’ for years. I’m not sure why this happens but am guessing it’s due to the following:
– the priests plied them with gifts, drugs and alcohol (which some got addicted to)
– veiled or outright threats. ‘we’ll both go to jail if you tell anyone ‘ ‘what will people think of you/ your family’
– maintaining the illusion of a real relationship/ offering assistance
– the victims were intimidated by the position of power the priest held. priests would tell victims that the abuse was good for their soul etc.. Apparently martin luther king said this to some of the female parishioners he and his pastor friend molested/ raped.
All this would apply to epstein, just replace the church with money and political connection.
toomanymice
July 12, 2019 at 8:41 AM
Haha let’s not ‘kid’ ourself
Jokah Macpherson
July 11, 2019 at 2:08 PM
The girls were as young as 13,14, possibly younger. Virginia Roberts was sent to Thailand to pick up a ‘little girl’ for epstein. He would turn away girls who were too developed so this wasn’t a case of a 14 year old who looked 20.
Maybe you guys think it’s ok for 13,14 year olds to have sex with 40, 50, 60 year men? If so just come out and say it. I’ve noticed aspergery types tend to have ephebophilia leanings.
toomanymice
July 11, 2019 at 4:50 PM
It was OK for Mohammed, and Mohammed is the most morally perfect human to ever live. It’s called al-insān al-kāmil. If you disagree, you are racist against Muslims.
Lion of the Blogosphere
July 11, 2019 at 5:05 PM
Roses are red
And ready for plucking
Girls who are 14
Are ready for high school.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
July 11, 2019 at 5:20 PM
Well, sometimes it’s worth correcting the equivocating that the left is prone to do.
Having sex with 14-year-old prostitutes is bad and gross. Kidnapping 14-year-old virgins from good homes and forcibly raping them — a la Elizabeth Smart — is worse. We call both of them “rape”, which implies a false equality to these crimes.
Likewise, I know two people who died of illness in their 30s. One was a gay man who died of AIDS following what I can only imagine was some risky and disgusting behavior. The other was a mother who was diagnosed with late-stage breast cancer after giving birth to her third child. Leftists are prone to say these cases are both the same, basically accidents, and it’s wrong to assign any blame to the gay man. This is nonsense, but it’s still a good exercise to find some compassion in yourself for the gay man — in this case, he was basically a good guy in all my dealings with him.
Wency
July 11, 2019 at 5:21 PM
Would it be wrong for a 16 y/o male virgin to have intercourse w/ his 13 y/o non-virgin girlfriend?
Sponge Worthy
July 11, 2019 at 5:41 PM
I think that’s illegal in some states. Many states? Most states?
In New York, it’s illegal, but it’s only a misdemeanor, and I doubt it leads to many real-world prosecutions. Theoretically, according to the statute, if two 13-year-olds have sex with each other, they have BOTH committed a crime.
Lion of the Blogosphere
July 11, 2019 at 5:43 PM
No one has to “come out and say it’s ok” NATURE SAYS IT’S OK. Teen girls are most fertile and healthy. Older men have the most wealth. Is it that complicated?
How society wants to view and manage it is a different matter.
fakeemail
July 11, 2019 at 6:47 PM
“t was OK for Mohammed, and Mohammed is the most morally perfect human to ever live. It’s called al-insān al-kāmil. If you disagree, you are racist against Muslims.”
Mohammed married a 9 year-old. (or was she 6?) Islam is a scourge on humanity.
Rosenmops
July 12, 2019 at 2:42 AM
Wency wrote:
“Having sex with 14-year-old prostitutes is bad and gross. Kidnapping 14-year-old virgins from good homes and forcibly raping them — a la Elizabeth Smart — is worse. We call both of them “rape”, which implies a false equality to these crimes.”
So you are saying it is ok to rape 13-year-olds as long as they don’t have rich parents.
Rosenmops
July 12, 2019 at 2:51 AM
Okay lion, thanks for telling us what Muhammad thought. What do you think?
gothamette
July 12, 2019 at 8:03 AM
I think it’s culturally relative. I think that Epstein thought, “Those rich men in Africa have harems of teenage girls, why shouldn’t I when I’m a lot richer and smarter and whiter than those Africans?”
Lion of the Blogosphere
July 12, 2019 at 8:24 AM
I asked what you think. You continue to deflect.
gothamette
July 12, 2019 at 8:31 AM
We call both of them “rape”, which implies a false equality to these crimes.
Epstein’s crimes seem to fall in the middle – he (and Maxwell) apparently used a lot of underage Eastern European girls to service his guests. Those women were probably brought to the US under false pretenses, usually told they would be models and then pressed into service for sex with rich men. The girls were not from good homes, but it would be ridiculous to argue they were grown women able to make an educated decision to work in the sex trade.
Peter Akuleyev
July 12, 2019 at 9:38 AM
Maxwell maybe, but Epstein seemed to like all American cheerleader types who would ask the mansion chef for cereal and milk.
gothamette
July 12, 2019 at 2:08 PM
“I think it’s culturally relative.”
Yeah. Kind of like how cannibalism is “culturally relative”.
destructure
July 12, 2019 at 1:17 PM
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/sleeping-with-cannibals-128958913/ “Our intrepid reporter gets up close and personal with New Guinea natives who say they still eat their fellow tribesmen”
Lion of the Blogosphere
July 12, 2019 at 1:23 PM
Why was Epstein an FBI informant in 2008?
https://vault.fbi.gov/jeffrey-epstein
What does a local pedo have to tell the FBI?
gothamette
July 11, 2019 at 11:45 AM
We don’t really know how rich Epstein is/was. The mansion was essentially gifted to him by Wexner. Dunno about the rest of his property.
gothamette
July 11, 2019 at 11:46 AM
I’ve read that Wexner is gay.. Is it possible Epstein was his boy toy?
Rosenmops
July 12, 2019 at 2:45 AM
Epstein might well have swung both ways.
Ghislaine Maxwell was clearly a beard. Now I had thought that she was a beard in the sense that he basically was into only very young girls, but there might have been some boy on boy action as well. Pervs gunna perv.
Still, the question that no one has answered is this. Why would so many rich people put themselves into compromising positions, knowing that that was part of the game?
gothamette
July 12, 2019 at 7:52 AM
“Why would so many rich people put themselves into compromising positions”
The simplest answer is they got intense orgasms.
Lion of the Blogosphere
July 12, 2019 at 8:20 AM
Epstein is an arrogant smug bastard. He really thought he could get away with anything. Also, if he was caught, he thought his wealth, power, and connections would get him out of any legal jam. Overconfidence was his undoing.
Oswald Spengler
July 11, 2019 at 11:51 AM
I would definitely take your Veracrypt suggestion to heart, if only I had the means to entice 14-year old girls into removing their clothes. On the other hand, even as a raging pussy hound I frankly don’t see that many attractive girls anymore compared to, say, pre-1995. To me almost all of them appear to be quasi-boys, which is doubles an artifact of Title IX.
In SF we had a political-underage sex story in 1989, The city’s chief administrative officer, a guy who also owned the Honda dealership, was running for mayor. His campaign put up a billboard, with his picture, in the Polk Gulch neighborhood, which was chiefly gay but also attracted girl runaways. A 15-year old was being questioned by a cop when she looked up and said, “Hey, that’s [alias] – I fucked him.” As I recall, he got a relative slap on the wrist, and was never heard from again. He was a WASP.
Marty
July 11, 2019 at 11:52 AM
Even a pu$$y hound like you would agree that Epstein curates ugly gold diggers. The dailymail has pics of young females who are of socialite age roaming in and out of his whore house mansion on the Upper East Side.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3405407/The-busy-life-Jeffrey-Epstein-Group-gorgeous-Manhattan-girls-billionaire-pedophile-s-mansion-flies-private-jet-attractive-brunette.html
7.5 in attractiveness scale at best, with some of them who are probably Slavic women looking for a meal ticket.
Ok, what, who's this again?
July 11, 2019 at 9:03 PM
making veracrypt work is easier said than done
tried to install it a some windows 7 and a windows 10 laptop to no avail.
i recommend a laptop with windows 10 pro which comes with bit-locker
grey enlightenment
July 11, 2019 at 12:30 PM
Epstein was supposed to be a math whiz, he couldn’t figure it out?
And with his billions, he could have paid one of the developers a few thousand dollars to tutor him.
Lion of the Blogosphere
July 11, 2019 at 1:29 PM
What’s the point of saving pics of barely legal, nubile girls? Are they wanking material for future use? He could have started a porno medium of 18 year olds with his billions and not get into this hot mess.
Ok, what, who's this again?
July 11, 2019 at 4:04 PM
“Epstein was supposed to be a math whiz, he couldn’t figure it out?”
From Wiki:
“he attended classes at Cooper Union and dropped out in 1971. He later attended the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University, but left without receiving a degree.”
Looks as if he flunked out of two schools. NOT a math whiz. But some how , with no degree, he got a job teaching (or maybe tutoring ) high school math and physics. You certainly don’t need to be a math whiz for that. I wonder if he was into young girls back then. He lasted 2 years at the school.
Rosenmops
July 12, 2019 at 3:00 AM
@Rosenmops,
If he flunked out of Cooper Union, they wouldn’t have allowed him into the Courant institute. The Courant institute has always been considered one of the top math institutes in the country. Plus, he must have been absolutely brilliant to have gotten into Cooper Union. He left Cooper Union, and left the Courant institute. This doesn’t prove that he’s stupid, but that he’s more of an intellectual dilettante.
gothamette
July 12, 2019 at 7:57 AM
ok what who’s that again, he was pimping the girls out. The pictures may have been a ‘catalogue.’
rosen, the high school teacher thing just sank in. Without a doubt that was his target audience. I recommend the miami herald articles to understand the scope of his crimes. There were likely more than a thousand girls involved over his lifetime.
toomanymice
July 12, 2019 at 9:59 AM
The Courant Institute is infested with Chinese students as we speak and the only White people who show any interest in Math are mostly Europeans from the Slavic nations and Russians. Perhaps, we are talking about the the gold digger types that date Epstein for a meal ticket. But even then, the institute hardly attracts any women, despite feminism pushing them to enter fields populated by men with low SMV.
Ok, what, who's this again?
July 12, 2019 at 11:33 AM
Gothamette wrote:
“This doesn’t prove that he’s stupid, but that he’s more of an intellectual dilettante.”
Maybe. But why wouldn’t he have finished a degree? He wasn’t rich back then, I don’t think. Maybe he is just crazy.
Rosenmops
July 12, 2019 at 11:59 PM
@Rosenmops Epstein might have been just lazy.
Frau Katze
July 12, 2019 at 8:40 PM
“@Rosenmops Epstein might have been just lazy.”
True. He also might have encountered courses that were difficult and bailed.
Rosenmops
July 13, 2019 at 12:01 AM
It’s apparently a mystery as to how much money Epstein has and how he got it.
He seems to like the young girls himself, but it also looks like he had a honey trap operation to ensnare big shots.
Did he do that just to make himself immune to serious prosecution?
Does he use blackmail to get or make money?
Is he working for Mossad, or some other foreign intelligence outfit? Or the CIA?
One reason to think he was not working for a spy outfit is that those guys would have helped hide incriminating stuff. But maybe they thought he was so bulletproof that there was no need to worry?
Maybe Epstein should remember what happened to Robert Maxwell.
Calvin Hobbes
July 11, 2019 at 12:38 PM
“Maybe Epstein should remember what happened to Robert Maxwell.”
Epstein’s going to wish that he does meet the same fate as Maxwell.
njguy73
July 11, 2019 at 2:51 PM
Your comment prompted me to look Robert Maxwell up. No one is saying very much about Ghislane Maxwell right now. But she was helping him acquire all these girls. Now, why would his ex-girlfriend help him do that? After reading the wikipedia article on her father, I’m going all in. This was a Mossad blackmail operation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Maxwell#Israeli_connection
destructure
July 11, 2019 at 7:50 PM
“This was a Mossad blackmail operation.”
That explanation does seem to be the best fit to the facts.
If it’s true, then our own intelligence and law enforcement people must have known that, yet here’s a foreign government running this massive blackmail operation on prominent Americans and we can’t/don’t stop it???
We are so cucked.
Calvin Hobbes
July 11, 2019 at 9:23 PM
This sounds like a lot of bullshit
Lion of the Blogosphere
July 11, 2019 at 11:05 PM
the Ghislane Maxwell connection to Epstein has to be more than random coincidence.
I am not buy Mossad influence, but there is some commonality of deviant interest that has these people find each other.
I wouldnt be surprised if a key to Epstein’s wealth is teh number of people he hob nobs with on a more than casual basis. Being on the Lolita Express might make for a high-trust relationship.
Lion of the Turambar
July 12, 2019 at 7:42 AM
If you’ll recall, I was the one who suggested he’d been a Mossad asset. But now I’m having second thoughts. It’s just too freaking obvious.
If it’s Mossad, they are getting very sloppy.
And again, not one person has explained how and why so many rich people would be so goddamn stupid as to frolic with underage girls with obvious security cameras recording their every movement.
It makes no sense!
But, for you Mossad groupies, the relationship between Epstein and Wexner is not even hiding in plain sight, it’s right there. And wexner gave millions of dollars to Ehud Barak.
Another thing. Acosta is taking the fall. He’s actually the least of this story. Barry Krischer really should be held up to scrutiny. Krischer himself has had credible #Metoo problems. Google Jodi Bergeron.
gothamette
July 12, 2019 at 8:01 AM
Whom do you think Mossad were trying to blackmail? Bill Clinton, Alan Dershowitz, and Prince Andrew?
Hermes
July 12, 2019 at 8:25 AM
Maybe the reason that Dershowitz is pro-Trump is because Mossad is making him do it!
Lion of the Blogosphere
July 12, 2019 at 8:31 AM
[And again, not one person has explained how and why so many rich people would be so goddamn stupid as to frolic with underage girls with obvious security cameras recording their every movement.]
Until recently, ie metoo, these girls were considered disposable and not remotely credible. Even in this thread people are saying they are whores chasing money or outright lying (which was the defense his legal team took last time he was arrested, and acosta caved). I don’t think it ever occurred to these people that the girls might one day be taken seriously, particularly when they’d been getting away with it for decades.
toomanymice
July 12, 2019 at 10:07 AM
Security cameras.
They would be considered quite credible if they subpoenaed the evidence.
Now let’s get back to the subject at hand. I do not find the blackmail to be credible because I don’t understand why Bill Clinton for example after going through the Monica Lewinsky scandal would knowingly set himself up to be blackmailed.
gothamette
July 12, 2019 at 2:39 PM
It’s not only Wexner that gave Ehud Barak money, according to the media in Israel Barak and Epstein got into business together. Netanyahu already posted half jokingly that they should investigate this connection. Barak in return posted him doing the bottle challenge. Those are our leaders…
Hashed
July 12, 2019 at 4:49 PM
gothamette – the defense was going to claim the girls lied about their age.
It’s only recently that victims of sex trafficking are being viewed as victims, not criminals themselves. Back in 90s particularly this wouldn’t have been the case. I really doubt the men involved were ever concerned about the girls speaking out much less being given a shred of credence.
toomanymice
July 13, 2019 at 8:46 AM
“Another thing. Acosta is taking the fall. He’s actually the least of this story. ”
Getting to Trump or someone in Trump’s orbit is the purpose of the Epstein arrest. The Epstein story got plenty of play on conservative media in 2015-16 but the MSM wasn’t interested because of the Clinton connection. Watching NBC/MSNBC news the past few days, I’ve seen lots of pictures of Trump with Epstein but none with Clinton and Epstein, who are much more connected.
Mike Street Station
July 13, 2019 at 9:07 AM
Business Insider was speculating a decade ago that he was running a Ponzi scheme: https://www.businessinsider.com/is-convicted-sex-offender-jeff-epstein-running-a-ponzi-scheme-2009-7
That doesn’t seem to have panned out though so the question of his finances would seem to me to be issue #1 to sort out. If you look at all his alleged properties, and the private island, and the plane, it certainly would seem to require someone who is almost a billionaire to support it, and yet there is no indication how Epstein could possibly be worth that much. This raises the possibility that Epstein is merely a front for somebody or something else. His connection to Wexner needs to be fully explored, and if he is released on bond I have a feeling he’ll be a “suicide” victim and we’ll never find out.
PerezHBD
July 11, 2019 at 6:40 PM
Don’t store your info on unencrypted CDs and don’t have sex with minors in mansions with security cameras all over the place!
gothamette
July 11, 2019 at 1:29 PM
Now that is some advice we can all find useful.
Peyton Farquahr
July 11, 2019 at 3:55 PM
As bad as this guy is, reading about his life story makes my life feel so mundane.
corporateslave
July 11, 2019 at 1:57 PM
It would be exciting and a deal breaker for Jordan Peterson to give lectures and speeches analyzing Jeffrey Epstein and his sick fetish for underage girls.
Ok, what, who's this again?
July 11, 2019 at 4:11 PM
You should check out the comment sections to various NYT articles on Epstein. Our progressive friends are in full blown frenzy over Trump–and his connection to Epstein. Rare mention of Clinton is made. It’s clear from the comments few, if any, of our lefty friends know more about Epstein than what they read in the NYT. They think this is gonna be Russian Collusion, Part II, and that they’ll get Trump this time! They don’t know this has little to do with Trump. All the evidence points to Democrats’ dirty (very dirty) deeds.
Of course, the right has known about this Epstein merde for years and has pushed it as a news item, but the MSM never more than pecked at it, as it obviously would be a disaster for Democrats if folks took a deep dive into the Epstein matter. Bill, Hillary and other Dems would look very bad, if not end up in jail, so nothing to see says MSM, just move along. Never asked Hillary about the Lolita express during the campaign or Maxwell being at Chelsea’ wedding in 2010, or a host of other questions. The Trump/Acosta connection spurred the Miami paper’s article and MSM interest and got the current ball rolling.
But here is the good part. As lefties think this all implicates Trump they will push for a deep investigation and open up a can of worms that only implicates Democrats, including Hillary. They will spawn more interest in Epstein and his ‘fortune’ (the source of which is unclear but certainly dubious) and who else is implicated. Because the MSM has avoided this matter for years they don’t really know this will hoist the left on its own petard. Pelosi’s daughter–who over the years has shown she knows the inside dope–knew right away where this Epstein matter would lead.
That said, the MSM might try and bury it when the implications become too obvious. Plus, Comey’s daughter and the SDNY know where their bread is buttered, so they might not investigate too hard the various threads leading out from Epstein.
Sam Lowry II
July 11, 2019 at 2:03 PM
We probably will never know to what extent trump knew or participated unless there are pictures/ video. So far only one woman has come forward claiming she had sexual contact with trump via epstein and said she was required to wear plastic gloves when she had contact with him. The miami herald has an excellent series of articles, including video interview of some of the girls involved. Virginia Roberts was working at mar a largo when she was ‘recruited’ by Ghislaine Maxwell. It’s unclear if this is the incident that spurred his banning from mar a largo or if that involved another girl.
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article220097825.html
There is a documentary ‘girl model’ where an agency recruiter pretty much admits that the modeling agencies funnel young girls into human trafficking. Some of the epstein victims describe being turned away from modeling agencies only to be approached shortly after on their way home. Someone in the agencies had to be tipping him off.
toomanymice
July 11, 2019 at 4:42 PM
Back in the day modeling agency was just basically a euphemism for prostitution ring.
Then Eileen Ford her husband started a real modeling agency and became millionaires from representing tall skinny girls. Eileen was tough but fair. She personally judged everyone. I mean, anybody could go into their office wearing casual clothes and absolutely no makeup, and get sized up. she would look at you & immediately decide whether or not she would represent you.
There was never a hint of scandal associated with Ford.
gothamette
July 11, 2019 at 6:14 PM
Trump doesn’t strike me as a man that would go for underage girls. Isn’t that the real problem? No one seems to care anymore about standard affairs anymore.
Young teens are a gray area. Mohammed’s incredibly low age for marriage (9 years old) would seem to indicate that our society is odd in setting the age at sixteen.
Frau Katze
July 11, 2019 at 10:23 PM
She personally judged everyone.
That’s funny, when I related how my girlfriend said Ford came to San Jose in 1970 to recruit her for the agency, you said she wouldn’t have done that.
Marty
July 12, 2019 at 12:16 AM
I’ve never heard any hints that Trump is into young teens.
Rosenmops
July 12, 2019 at 3:06 AM
“hat’s funny, when I related how my girlfriend said Ford came to San Jose in 1970 to recruit her for the agency, you said she wouldn’t have done that.”
Wow, you remember EVERYTHING I write here. I’m flattered.
I meant that Ford wouldn’t have left NYC to recruit someone. Thousands of girls flocked to her office in NYC to be sized up. Why would she fly to San Jose to look at one hopeful?
I still don’t believe you.
gothamette
July 13, 2019 at 8:45 PM
So you learn from the NYT comment too. I’m not alone. I cancelled my subscription over Sarah Jeong but I miss getting a reading on the NYT left.
Frau Katze
July 11, 2019 at 10:17 PM
Boomers and technology don’t mix.
BillyBob
July 11, 2019 at 3:17 PM
I am slowly coming around to the idea that people like Epstein are not really who they pretend to be. Epstein was never some math whiz, hedge fund manager. He was just an actor, a member of a secret society playing out a role to stage-manage public perception while doing other things to gain power on behalf of that secret society.
I would go further and tentatively speculate that guys like Bill Gates, Zuckerberg, Warren Buffet and others are not really billionaires. They, too, are actors doing what Epstein is doing.
Consider the push for charitable giving that Gates/Buffet are going on about. Why would they do this? Why would they not want to build multi-generational family dynasties that could extend centuries into the future? Why would they want to simply give their money away? Simple…it was never their money. The charitable giving is the cover story provided to facilitate transfer of that money back to the secret society.
Why would a secret society arrange billionaires to begin with? To create the American Mythology that keeps people working and slaving away in the United States. A guy who grew up in a house with a dirt floor becoming one of the world’s richest men is a storied example of America’s legitimacy for the Depression-era generation. For the Millenials, it’s the guy starting a company in a dorm room.
What we are witnessing in the political arena is a civil war inside this secret society. My suspicion is that some plan failed and a splinter group has emerged to remove the failed elements from power. My guess is that the current leadership of the secret society miscalculated the rise and influence of nationalism on a global scale. They were blind to the betrayal they were about to get from their supposed international partners. This is why Trump either recruited or influenced by this splinter group in an effort to remove these people without detonating the United States.
Of course, people in power want to stay in power, so it is a long-hard fight.
map
July 11, 2019 at 4:04 PM
“Consider the push for charitable giving that Gates/Buffet are going on about. Why would they do this?”
Philanthropy is the #1 favorite hobby of the super-rich. As a middle-class person, I don’t understand it.
Lion of the Blogosphere
July 11, 2019 at 4:22 PM
Philanthropy is buying attention and building emotional attachment.
My 2¢
July 11, 2019 at 6:28 PM
As a doctor, ie someone with a little bit of power, I think I understand it although I disagree with it. Basically, power can be addictive to a certain kind of person. What is money but a number? The value of money is in what you do with it and these people are addicted to adoration and influence. They spent their formative years making money when they could have been doing normal people things instead and now they don’t really have much else to do with their lives other than get more and more power and adoration.
hdo
July 12, 2019 at 2:29 PM
You can plausibly speculate all kinds of things about Epstein because so little is known. His business is secretive and releases no public records, much of his money is offshore, and he’s not known to be the heir of some well-known fortune.
But to say is Zuckerberg and Gates aren’t billionaires is basically lizard-people-level conspiracy theorizing. Which is maybe what you’re going for.
Wency
July 11, 2019 at 5:37 PM
Zuckerberg 100% deep state creation.
Andrew E.
July 11, 2019 at 6:06 PM
“Why would they not want to build multi-generational family dynasties that could extend centuries into the future?”
People don’t tend to care about the future beyond the next 30 years. That’s why so few people donate to it:
https://www.overcomingbias.com/2010/03/further-than-africa.html
And also why so few people want to study it. There is little “serious academic” study of the future, and what study of the future exists tend to be of the next few decades rather than centuries out.
If I were a billionaire who wanted to build multi-generational family dynasties that could extend centuries into the future, I’d concentrate my efforts on funding pundits who convince the middle class that by cutting my taxes, their taxes would somehow go down. Or I’d donate to politicians who direct government contract my way, or create regressive regulations to harm my competitors. There’s no need to bother with secrecy for what’s perfectly legal and acceptable.
Alexander Turok
July 11, 2019 at 9:32 PM
Here’s an idea for a novel: around the 1930s some of the super-rich get scared about the new deal and create a secret society to pursue their interests. But instead of behaving as the Bond Villains of conspiracist imagination, the secret society follows the Iron Law of Bureaucracy and now, circa 2020, exists only to fleece the not-very-bright descendants of the founders.
Alexander Turok
July 11, 2019 at 9:45 PM
I agree that no one really thinks that far out. I’ve always framed it as “no one really cares about anything beyond the lives of their grandchildren”. And really, that’s for old people, who often enough care that their grandchildren are happy until they’re on the cusp of being elderly themselves.
But it’s well-established that the way to support a dynasty is to create trusts, as the Rockefellers have. I don’t understand how temporarily buying an election helps with that; it might help you get richer in your lifetime though (but the smarter way to accomplish this is to convince other deep pockets to donate, not to outlay lots of cash yourself).
If I were a billionaire and interested in this “dynasty” project, I’d consider a trust that is set up to subsidize and reward my progeny for producing lots of (legitimate) children and cut off the tap if they fail to reproduce. Perhaps with other stipulations that ensure that they remain connected to one another through reunions.
Wency
July 12, 2019 at 8:59 AM
We can’t even predict the weather 2 weeks from now, forget the state of the world 100 years from now. It’s impossible and unknowable. All futurists are storytellers and charlatans. As liberals have shown us, intentionality means absolutely nothing in this world.
All we *can* do is worry about our children and grandchildren, and even that not so much (see Bryan Caplan’s books arguing it’s pretty much all set in stone from birth).
hdo
July 12, 2019 at 2:38 PM
Scumball doctor Larry Nassar, in addition to his disgusting actions with his patients, also kept child porn on his home computer. Both Epstein and Nassar are smart, but they got themselves caught in a pretty obvious trap. Serves them right!
BTW, Lion, you may be poor in wealth, but you are rich in spirit.
Black Death
July 11, 2019 at 4:04 PM
He’s NOT a billionaire
https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.forbes.com/sites/noahkirsch/2019/07/08/why-sex-offender-jeffrey-epstein-is-not-a-billionaire/amp/
And $1 billion is no longer enough to make the Forbes 400.
pumpkinperson
July 11, 2019 at 4:10 PM
My advice for anyone involved in misdeeds is to save nothing, encrypted or not! It’s always some tiny momento that busts the serial killer on tv shows.
toomanymice
July 11, 2019 at 4:54 PM
I’m not savvy enough to guess what Epstein’s all about, but I view Russians, of any age, as uniquely manipulative and emotionally resilient people. So I have a hard time thinking of sex alone, however illegal, as likely to cause any significant injury to a Russian girl, even one as young as 13. Sorry, but that’s how I feel.
Department 11
July 11, 2019 at 5:55 PM
You’ve had experience in this area? I’m not necessarily trying to insult you. You might have got to know Russian girls as a teen yourself.
Or you might be a Russian female.
Frau Katze
July 11, 2019 at 10:33 PM
I would agree. Leave absolutely no evidence. Why do so many people keep incriminating evidence? Even if they’re sure they’ll get away. What if they die suddenly? Their relatives will find it.
Frau Katze
July 11, 2019 at 10:29 PM
Well, in this case, retaining the evidence to implicate powerful people may have been the point. As far as relatives go, encrypted drives and instructions in your will to have said drives destroyed upon your death would also solve that problem.
PerezHBD
July 12, 2019 at 10:58 AM
@PerezHBD If he was keeping copies for blackmail purposes then he should have encrypted them. I wouldn’t trust surviving relatives. Unless they know how to decrypt them he’s safe. Doesn’t sound like the type of guy who would care what his surviving relatives thought.
Frau Katze
July 12, 2019 at 8:45 PM
OT media is gloating Trump will cave in on census ‘citizen question.’
Robert
July 11, 2019 at 5:51 PM
Can someone explain how this issue came before the Supreme Court and how they have the authority to rule on it? Why does the Supreme Court have the power to say what can or cannot be on the census?
Hermes
July 11, 2019 at 6:18 PM
Please see Article I, Section 2, Paragraph 3 of the Constitution of the United States.
destructure
July 12, 2019 at 12:54 PM
Evidence can be planted. Not?
My 2¢
July 11, 2019 at 6:29 PM
“This just proves, once again, that billionaires really aren’t all that smart. I’m poor, and not any kind of cyber-security expert at all, but even I know how to encrypt data.”
So am I, which is my my mind is drawn to the ‘Indiana Jones’ solution: he should have hired a warehouse and filled it full of crates of identical blank CD’s.
prolier than thou
July 12, 2019 at 3:35 PM
Keep your favorite HBD articles in it.
SlushFundPuppie
July 12, 2019 at 4:38 PM
Reading HBD stuff about the only shady activity I engage in.
Rosenmops
July 13, 2019 at 12:06 AM
You’re from Vancouver, right?
People used to call it the Vegas of the North, but no more I hear. True?
Curle
July 13, 2019 at 11:37 AM
@Curle She was brought up in Vancouver but now lives a small city in the interior of BC. She left Vancouver in the 70s after marrying a forester.
I left in the early 80s and am now in Victoria. So neither of us has much of a feel for the current Vancouver. Of our six kids, all have left Vancouver too, except for one of her sons.
Frau Katze
July 14, 2019 at 2:20 AM
Imagine thinking that there is anything electronic that the alphabet agencies can’t hack if they really want to.
Fwiw, and I could end up sticking my foot in my mouth on this one, the CDs will be a nothingburger specifically set up to get Alex Jones types in a huff only later to look foolish. The actual blackmail images are probably in an undisclosed location run by an alphabet agency through twelve layers of proxies.
Georgia Resident
July 16, 2019 at 7:48 AM