domain:nature.com
HMK2
5hr ago
Some species has to be the very first sapient life in the galaxy. Maybe we're just the Progenitors.
JarJarJedi
5hr ago
but I could imagine something similar for ICE.
Not the immigration branch of ICE though. It does have HSI branch that does investigations and asset forfeitures. Curiously, nobody gave a hoot about it until Trump. Trump has this peculiar quality that once he does something people start noticing how big the government is and how much abuse is possible - only to immediately forget it forever once it's not about Trump anymore. Example: https://archive.ph/QiXfH - this is from 2017. For the last 8 years, how much high profile public discussion did you hear about this? I'd assume "none at all" is not too far off the target.
you could see an argument that ICE being given too many people will lead them to go above and beyond their mandate.
If you want to go that road, you have plenty of targets beyond ICE. THe FBI itself, the ATF, the DEA, the NSA, not to speak of the leviathan in the room that is the CIA... I mean, operation Fast and Furious alone is a horrendous example, if Hollywood made a movie where a government agency forces US merchants to sell weapons to drug cartels, and then tries to prosecute them for it and use it as a basis for trying to kill the Second Amendment - people would say it's cartoonish, hammy and bordering on libel. Yet it happened, and people generally just let it slide, shrugged it off. And there are many examples on the same cartoonishly evil level. So is there a danger in a powerful government enforcement agency to go rogue? You betcha there is. Is there anything special in Trump financing immigration enforcement to increase this danger? You'd have to work a bit harder to establish any basis for it. I mean, if you have a hardcore libertarian credentials going back to 1960s on opposing any budget increase for federal law enforcement - ok, kudos for remaining consistent. If that's the first time when you're asking this question, I'd have much harder time taking it seriously.
Side question, have there ever been any people who said Epstein tried to get them to the island but they refused? Anyone whose kink turned out to be adult women? Anyone who was blackmailed but it call came out in a divorce or some other legal trouble?
faceh
5hr ago
I'm curious what you think the counterfactual world looks like, where Trump comes out instead and claims "There were malicious people at work, and it was all orchestrated by [specific actors]."
What would happen next?
And if you're going off the assumption that Trump is being truthful and fully transparent, then why'd you bring up the election issues?
Are YOU saying that his claims of the election being stolen are credible, since you're here saying that he's honest about such serious matters?
His supporters otoh, have ramped up the anti-elite conspiracy to include this assassination attempt, in order to show loyalty/outbid themselves, even here on the motte.
Neat.
Now do the people who don't think Trump was shot at all.
So long as we're addressing conspiracy theories.
magic9mushroom
If you're going to downvote me, and nobody's already voiced your objection, please reply and tell me
5hr ago
I mean, I knew about the first of those three, but the latter two are decent points. Thanks.
magic9mushroom
If you're going to downvote me, and nobody's already voiced your objection, please reply and tell me
5hr ago
· Edited 5hr ago
Similar to the push about the harm that adults having sex with kids isn't from the sex, it's from the social stigma around it which teaches the child to be ashamed and that they were harmed.
The people who push that attitude want to fuck kids without consequences.
No, I don't. One does not have to be personally benefitted by a hypothesis to believe it.
The_Nybbler
In the game of roller derby, women aren't just the opposing team; they're the ball.
6hr ago
Most spies don't "need" to be "turned" against their country; they just need to be found.
This is only two sorts, and there are conventionally four. Those who do it for the money, those who do it for the ideology, those who are coerced into it, and those who do it for ego. You can find those who do it for ideology or ego; those who do it for money or (especially) because they are coerced have to be made.
aqouta
6hr ago
Would not be possible as that is a response to my impassioned screed.
Yes, I understand how time works. I'm asserting that if you put out an OP with a lot less heat, Maybe asking what people here who support mass deportations think will be the state of the job market for jobs currently done by illegal immigrants, then you'd have gotten coffee enjoyer to respond with his view and we could have had an actual conversation without the several meta threads on whether or not people should be allowed to come in with scorching heat.
I'm repurposing it
Please don't repurpose words to mean basically the opposite of their original meaning, it's confusing and retards communication.
Tree
6hr ago
Trump on his assassination attempt:
"They briefed me and I'm satisfied with it," Trump said. "They should have had someone in the building, that was a mistake, they should have had communications with the local police—they weren't tied in—and they should have been tied in. So there were mistakes made. And that shouldn't have happened."
"But I was satisfied in terms of the bigger plot, the larger plot," he continued, "I have great confidence in these people. They're very talented and very capable—they had a bad day, I think they'll admit that." "This is a very dangerous job being president,"
Trump’s claims of stolen election have led to much recriminations that he is no mere crook or liar, but damaging to democracy. His supporters otoh, have ramped up the anti-elite conspiracy to include this assassination attempt, in order to show loyalty/outbid themselves, even here on the motte. This rejection by the principal actor/TV star sends a clear signal where the truth lies in this matter, whether you agree with Trump’s politics or not. Test is over, results are in, you can calibrate. If you bought the assassination conspiracy, consider that your brain may have been fried by the culture war.
erwgv3g34
6hr ago
Not odd at all? If the whole point is blackmail, the of course you move the operation to where it is illegal.
hydroacetylene
6hr ago
Texas does not threaten to secede. The far right in Texas threatens to secede regardless of who is in the white house and gets some measure of popular support when the white house has a democrat in it.
And that is, functionally, what Texas nationalists are- it's just the native far right. Some are russiaboos and some are white nationalists but all of them are goldbugs. Some are ruralists; none of them believe in global warming. Lots of them have conspiracy theories about pedophile rings controlling the federal government; none of them will countersignal those theories. Some are balanced budget hawks, most are christian nationalists, all of them think all gun control except maybe you can't bring a gun physically into a prison ground is unconstitutional. There's a lot of hyper-red tribe signaling about meat and pickup trucks and indie country and open carry. But the common threads in the movement are red tribe cultural supremacy(and this is, in their view, an explicitly assimilatory identity, Hispanics should learn American football and blacks should learn country music but they don't have to change their skin color), hyper-Austrian economics(this does not necessarily imply libertarianism), and extreme skepticism of the federal(not necessarily state) government. Lots of similarities to Ron Paul, but few if any of them would eg point to marijuana prohibition as government overreach. It's just a far-right movement and for much of it secession should be taken seriously but not literally. They really do have strong grievances on cultural, economic, or anti-federal overreach grounds. Daniel Miller really does believe these mean Texas needs to be an independent country, but his rank and file may not; lots of them are just there for the grievances. It's kind of similar to explicitly pro-militia sentiment in red areas of blue states.
ControlsFreak
6hr ago
My family, as much as they love me, still regularly sigh and tell me they wish I was less lazy or had more willpower.
In what contexts?
Firstly, why would I lie about my willpower?
I would not claim that you are lying.
willpower... executive function... conscientiousness
I think these are probably nonidentical concepts, though I would likely have to spend some additional time thinking about it to be able to write on it eloquently.
Whence your urge to find solutions to problems that actually work? When it comes, how does it manifest?
atelier
Jimmys: unrustled
6hr ago
That's another odd thing about this case, the operation regularly too great pains to hold their events in places where the age of concent was 18 (Florida and the USVI). It's odd that potentially two people from states where they are above the age of consent were brought together in a state or territory where the age of concent is 18 specifically to have carnal relations.
naraburns
nihil supernum
6hr ago
The Federalist Party's primary achievement (at least arguably, as the party itself didn't officially exist until after the Bill of Rights was adopted) was the replacement of the Articles of Confederation with the Constitution. If anything, the Federalists would have preferred an even stronger Constitution. They were the faction of wealthy Northern elites who wanted the nation to function in stable concert, at least militarily and economically (and under their leadership, naturally). They were broadly abolitionist and accommodated slavery within the Constitution substantially under the view that by doing so they could be instrumental in bringing about its end; consequently, they were not friends of "states rights." They were also much more interested than their opponents in healing the rift with England, to the point where some New England Federalists began to advocate for secession during the War of 1812 (although it might sound a bit like California or Texas "threatening" to secede today, depending on who is in the White House, the War of Independence was still in living memory). Siding with the enemy during a war is a good way to accrue a lot of populist hatred really fast.
Muninn
"Dick Laurent is dead."
6hr ago
Despite my plans to the contrary, it's He Who Fights With Monsters 11, by Shirtaloon, as book ten ended up being a massive setup for a boss battle book. Stupid cliffhanger endings! :/
ABigGuy4U
6hr ago
If he was just a compulsive liar, how was he squashing federal investigations and getting sweetheart plea deals where he doesn’t have to serve any time?
You do not need to blackmail rich Jewish-American billionaires to support Israel
Well-connected Jews have attempted to blackmail Jewish billionaires before. Rabbi Balkany tried to blackmail Steve Cohen into funding yeshivas. Balkany was famous for being a DC “fixer”, so this may have been par for the course for Balkany. There are some billionaire Jews who are unaligned with Zionism. I recall reading the Wikipedia of a Hollywood talent management owner who had no confirmed philanthropy whatsoever, but for the life of me I can’t remember his name, and there’s also Zuckerberg whose donations to Jewish causes are a pittance relative to his philanthropy.
The substantial majority of those alleged to have been victims of Epstein's supposed blackmail scheme were Zionist Jews
Source? If Epstein is meeting with Zionist Jews in private, this is not evidence that he is blackmailing them. Do you think he used a separate private jet to do this or a separate island? Even if they were raping the girls, do you think Mossad would prefer this to happen under the auspices of a Mossad handler, or do you think they’d prefer that they try it elsewhere? You have no evidence that the majority of blackmail victims were Zionists. The only confirmed blackmail case is Bill Gates.
He’s a liar
This is like saying James Bond is a liar. Epstein lying to his clients about why he’s loaded and what connections he has is exactly what he would do if he were Mossad. This cannot be used as evidence that he was unprofessional or untrustworthy, or that he wasn’t Mossad.
You are also ignoring very important evidence:
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Despite having connections to Israel, none of Epstein’s victims were Jewish. Even Jerry Seinfeld was dating a 17yo Jewish girl at this time. I imagine this will be excused away on account of Jewish girls not being as drawn to wealthy men, but Instagram attests to this not being the case.
-
According to Maria Farmer, a victim, there was a theme of Jewish supremacism that pervaded Epstein’s circle, among Epstein / Ghislaine Maxwell / Eileen Guggenheim. “You’re nothing because you’re not Jewish”, “useless white girl”, “anyone who was not Jewish, the way they spoke about them was really horrifying”, “it was every one of them, the way they spoke”. If Epstein’s circle was Jewish supremacist, this would explain his link to Mossad.
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You are forgetting that Wexner was linked to Mossad by way of the Mega Group, and Epstein’s connections were throughout the Mega Group.
The spy said he was tasked by the Israeli ambassador to get a copy of a secret letter given to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat by then-Secretary of State Warren Christopher for a source identified only as “MEGA.” “The ambassador wants me to go to MEGA to get a copy of this letter,” the Israeli spy said, to which the superior replied, “This is not something we use MEGA for.”
The counterintelligence report was an embarrassment for the NSA and Israel sought to deflect the identification of MEGA by claiming it referred not to an individual but to the CIA. The leak set off a major hunt for MEGA, believed to be an Israeli mole in the State Department and other agencies.
Then, in 1998, The Wall Street Journal solved the mystery. The newspaper published a story on U.S. titans of industry working for Jewish philanthropy that called themselves the “Mega Group.” It included 20 of America’s wealthiest and most influential Jewish businessmen who met twice a year.
Among the members of the group were Hollywood director Steven Spielberg, Seagram Chairman Edgar Bronfman Sr. and former hedge fund manager Michael Steinhardt. The group was founded in 1991 by two billionaires: Charles Bronfman, Edgar’s brother and Seagram co-chairman, and Mr. Wexner.
Also, 4. the attorney handling Epstein’s 2008 case was told that Epstein belonged to intelligence: In 2017, "a former senior White House official" reported that Alexander Acosta, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida who had handled Epstein's criminal case in 2008, had stated to interviewers of President Donald Trump's first transition team: "I was told Epstein 'belonged to intelligence' and to 'leave it alone'", and that Epstein was "above his pay grade".
EdenicFaithful
Dark Wizard of Ravenclaw
6hr ago
So, what are you reading?
Adding Who Killed the Berkeley School? Struggles Over Radical Criminology to my list, another open access book. It's from a radical left perspective, and sadly spends more time on the struggle than the Berkeley School itself, but its a good read.
self_made_human
Grippy socks, grippy box
6hr ago
It's pretty clear from multiple responses, including some of your own, that you don't simply lack willpower
Instead, you're trying to self-proclaim a lack of willpower, which is mostly contradicted by all available evidence.
?
I'm not sure anyone on this forum is in a better position to judge my willpower than I am. Just about the only people I would defer to in that regard would be family or close friends. My family, as much as they love me, still regularly sigh and tell me they wish I was less lazy or had more willpower.
Firstly, why would I lie about my willpower? What do I have to gain out of downplaying it? I can be accused of many things, but excessive humility isn't one of them. I don't like my relative lack of willpower, it's a curse.
One that I manage to work around, and still have a reasonably productive life and successful career. I'd be much more successful if I didn't have ADHD or laziness.
(One of the core criteria for ADHD is a lack of executive function, and trust me, my diagnosis is quite clear)
The things that George was kind enough to say were impressive about me are largely things that I am naturally inclined to do. I do them for free, as a hobby. Except medicine, which I kinda drifted into because I wasn't sure what else I'd do with my life, before eventually finding a passion for psychiatry.
There are many things which are far more important, which I don't do or put off till I can't anymore, which have major impacts on my life and wellbeing.
I'm not saying I've got literally zero willpower. I'm just saying that I probably have <25th percentile conscientiousness, which is an unfortunate failing. Every time I hear about people who made nothing of their lives, or the self-proclaimed "gifted but lazy", I shudder, because there but for the grace of God go I. That's while acknowledging that I have other strengths and talents.
atelier
Jimmys: unrustled
7hr ago
If Epstein is a con man who seduced and stole from Wexner and seduced a bunch of girls, why wouldn't the government release all their records? No one needs to protect a conman. Why was the prosecutor leaned on to go easy on him because "he's intel"? What if Wexner's funding is the means by which an Intelligence agency (or more likely agencies) were keeping an asset.
Personally, I think he was probably running a honeypot for multiple agencies including the CIA and Mossad (and possibly other 5 eyes) and that's why he's so well protected. Because the CIA participating in running hundreds of US children into sexual blackmail ops might actually bring down the government.
faceh
7hr ago
Not quiiiiite true.
The actual solution to the final exam involved Harry casting a spell directly on Quirrell, for example. If the spell effect were small enough I'd guess its something that he could actually do without triggering a major problem, OR he could have someone else do it for him, which is his MO for almost all the other stuff he pulls outside of the Azkaban rescue.
And Quirrell's initial motivation was to create a worthy opponent to play with so he wouldn't be bored in eternal immortality. And that only changed once he learned of a Prophesy that would DIRECTLY threaten that immortality, with Harry being the trigger.
Adjusting Harry's thinking so that he wouldn't discover Quirrell's secret before Quirrell had won him over is well within bounds of that motivation.
That's only evidence against her doing it mostly as part of an intelligence operation scheme, not evidence against her owning the account.
If some random Maylasian man is apparently capable of spending all day posting random articles for years and years, why couldn't Maxwell also be the type of person to do that? Rich and famous people are not immune to having normal idiosyncrasies like that.
It could have just been a normal account of hers just like it supposedly is a normal account of random Maylasian guy visiting his own country.
There's a shit ton of weird coincidences and connections, including the major evidence of "they suddenly stopped posting very shortly before public knowledge of Maxwell being arrested even came out" that all fall together to point to it being her account, and is disproven in an incredibly simple way that they refuse to do for no good reason, only resorting to an easy to fake roundabout method that doesn't make any good sense to do unless it's for the purpose of faking, and their official explanation contradicts prior comments by the very account in question.
hydroacetylene
7hr ago
There's lots of people who make moral judgements of tattooing. Older women do so quite regularly.
hydroacetylene
7hr ago
While I agree that Turok is a one trick pony, attitudes towards abortion are germane to the topic. I did grow up with the attitude that a woman seeking an abortion was not just a murderer but also a shirker(just like a boyfriend who didn't marry her when he found her with child). I don't think fetal personhood is, though.
Exactly! It's odd if we accept OPs framing that Epstein is a simple conman.
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