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Notes -
Given that nobody was brave enough to submit a top level comment, I figured I would start off the games this week.
I'd like to talk about the Epstein files, and general pedophilic corruption amongst the world's elite. I wasn't that surprised that Trump didn't end up releasing the full document, given his history of promising things will be declassified (like the JFK files) and then failing to deliver. (I still want to see those JFK files dangit.)
I have to admit though, I have trouble understanding exactly how this conspiracy works. I would imagine if there were a genuine sort of sex cult with underaged teenagers, demon worship, etc going on amongst the world's elite, we would have at least some hard evidence, some video footage, or some audio recording to point at, no? Common wisdom about conspiracies in rationalist circles is that it's too difficult to cover up a leak, especially over decades and with thousands of people. When the stakes get this high I would imagine it's even harder.
Then again, if the files aren't all that bad, why the heck aren't the files released? Why hasn't anything changed after the investigations? I've always been skeptical of the 'kookier' conspiracy theories about Freemason Illuminati cults ruling the world, but I have to admit after this, the UFO kerfuffle in Congress, and just general seemingly bonkers decisions about classified info, I am quite confused as to what a reasonable explanation is.
Anyway, what are your thoughts Mottizens?
Three possibilities stand out:
Actually, there are no Epstein files. We already know everything that there is to know (or at least everything that it is possible at this point to know). This is the null hypothesis.
Epstein was an Israeli intelligence asset, and thus releasing the files would damage US-Israeli relations (I’m sure some of our less-plilosemitic users will gladly explain how exactly this translates into leverage over the Trump Administration).
The contents of the Epstein files personally implicate Donald Trump.
Fourth possibility:
The files implicate one or more politically powerful figures who are not Trump or member of his administration, and negotiations (aka blackmail) are currently underway to see how much mileage can be wrung out of the files.
I think this seems most likely. The entire Epstein thing sounds like a blackmail operation with the goal of getting very highly placed people in a situation where you can easily threaten them by simply having their names on the list. This is a list of people who flew to an alleged pedophile island. And if there’s on thing that’s still career and basically life ending it’s being a pedophile. How much would a person be willing to pay or do to not have their life ruined forever? I wouLd imagine it would be a lot. As to who Epstein is doing this for, no idea. Could be Jews, Mafia, Russia, just about anyone.
It could very well be that... Epstein was doing this for himself. Charisma and balls to the wall risk taking will take you far if you have no morals and run in the right circles- both of which are true. Of course it could also blow up in your face and it eventually did.
Blackmailing rich people, especially societal elites, is just so so much easier than making an honest living. And his entire life appears to be doubling down on balls to the wall risk taking to blackmail societal elites, with himself as a major beneficiary. Living on a private island in the Caribbean with a harem and palling around with the richest and most popular people in the world while being immune from tons of laws is an appealing life for many.
I agree. If you look at Epstein’s life he was a gambler. He followed the Sam Bankman-Fried philosophy of taking every single bet that he thought had a chance of not-failing, except he was both more intelligent and (crucially) attractive and charming.
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