I think that's one way of dealing with a scandal: make it so absolutely bizarre and outlandish and give the room to the most eccentric conspiracies, you make it simply too crackpot for people to hold interest. Just remember what happened to the 9/11 truthers. — ssu

Some of the things I've heard can be described as "crackpot theories", but surely there's enough evidence to take the accusations of extreme child abuse seriously, at least? Or do you not think so?

To add to the Epstein conspiracy theories, here's a draft statement announcing Epstein's death dated a day before he died.

I wonder why they don’t want ICE to wear body cams? Because it captures the behavior of the deranged agitators.

ICE surveillance concerns shift Democrats’ demands for body cameras

I wonder why they don’t want ICE to wear body cams? — NOS4A2

They do. The article literally says:

“Obviously we want them to be wearing body cameras, but we would want restrictions placed on what that information could be used for,” Markey said. “We want to make sure that we have the accountability for how these officers conduct themselves on the streets of our country, but we don’t want it in turn to be used as a way of coming back and suppressing free speech.”

...

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer say they want to tack on restrictions to how ICE can use body camera footage, according to a letter sent to Republican leadership on Wednesday night.

“Prohibit tracking, creating or maintaining databases of individuals participating in First Amendment activities,” the letter says.

Clearly I’m not in the habit of believing everything they say.

hey want to tack on restrictions to how ICE can use body camera footage, according to a letter sent to Republican leadership on Wednesday night.

Not seeing the issue??

Are you ever going to make claims you can back up? This one would be actionable if you had any public personality.

Another one for the pile of things that don't add up.

I see trump is trying to rile up his racist followers to criticize the NFL. Maybe that explains why he randomly put out that Obama tape the other day. He was trying to get the ball rolling.

Of course the NFL does a half-time show in some dialect of Spanish, with everyone waving foreign flags. There is no better way to celebrate America’s 250th birthday and unite the country than an expression of woke globalism. Flyover football fans must be loving this one.

“If you are seriously threatened by a performance that celebrates diversity and tolerance and love and joy, maybe America is not the right place for you.”

Of course the NFL does a half-time show in some dialect of Spanish, with everyone waving foreign flags. There is no better way to celebrate America’s 250th birthday and unite the country than an expression of woke globalism. Flyover football fans must be loving this one. — NOS4A2

“If you are seriously threatened by a performance that celebrates diversity and tolerance and love and joy, maybe America is not the right place for you.” — Questioner

Hmm... Well, our MAGA-enthusiast @NOS4A2 lives in Canada, so perhaps your right.

Back to the Epstein-scandal.

Have people noticed just how international this has become?

Keir Starmer is having his share of the scandal with the British ambassador having been a close member of the Epstein-circle. (The ex-Prince is already yesterday's news.)



And Norway is having it's own royal scandal with Epstein!





What a wonderful world elite we have. But it's interesting to notice just how different countries handle the Epstein-case.

Of course, starting with the hero of the Q-anon movement who ought to have got rid of the pedophile rings in power: Donald Trump and his trusty sidekick and favorite of @NOS4A2, Kash Patel. :lol:

(Remember how things were going to be, MAGA?)

Have people noticed just how international this has become? — ssu

Yeah. I mean, some of the most key players seem to have been exonerated in some sense, but there are all these weird names popping up like some you've noted. Obviously, being in the files doesn't, in and of itself, mean there was untoward or criminal behaviour but good god. It almost makes you a right-wing conspiracy theorist.

MAGA-enthusiast — ssu

"Imagine being so hateful that you can't hear joy, just because it is in Spanish."

Obviously, being in the files doesn't, in and of itself, mean there was untoward or criminal behaviour but good god. It almost makes you a right-wing conspiracy theorist. — AmadeusD

Yes, well, Philosophy Forum itself wanted to interview one Epstein contact, namely Noam Chomsky. (If I remember correctly, Chomsky declined the PF interview because of his ill health.) Knowing somebody like Chomsky and Hawking gives respectability. Epstein seem's to have been a man that carries out many kinds of favours. A mr fix-it, who fixes also other things than being just a pimp for billionaires.



Chomsky actually was one of the few that defended Epstein after his first sentence. Reason seems to be that Epstein had helped Chomsky:

Valeria Chomsky also clarified the basis for two financial transactions between Chomsky and Epstein. On one occasion, Epstein sent Noam Chomsky a $20,000 check as part of a linguistic challenge Chomsky developed, she said. She also said Epstein helped Noam recover $270,000. Epstein helped after Noam Chomsky discovered “inconsistencies in his retirement resources that threatened his economic independence and caused him great distress”.

Of course it's called "networking". What are friends for?

But from the Epstein case comes to mind another criminal who made it Big Circles: Bernie Madoff. Who Madoff scammed were also some royal families and Madoff was also "discreet", a somewhat shadowy figure yet reputable, the one time chairman of NASDAQ. And Madoff of course, simply turned himself in. With a bit of luck, he could have wiggled away like a Bitcoin-conartist.

What is obvious is how small these circles are. I remember that in 2016 VICE News, which btw. made outstanding coverage of the start of the Russian intervention in Ukraine in 2014, simply said that the Epstein-scandal wouldn't go anywhere, because the Clinton and Trump, hence both ruling parties, were embroiled in this issue.

Now as both are deep in this stuff, one perhaps alot deeper than the other, it's hilarious to see how the partisan commentators simply aren't able to face how both parties have sex-offender presidents.

both parties have sex-offender presidents — ssu

Is this relying on the pre-Epstein stuff for Trump?

?

Well Clinton was a womanizer, and Trump, hmm, when did he meet Epstein for the first time?

Remember when Trump walked in with Paula Jones and other women claiming that they were sexually harassed by Clinton? I mean these two sexual predators... But I guess for Trump it seemed a "smart" move to get the MAGA-cult all enthusiastic about taking down pedophile rings and attack sexual predators like Clinton.

Keir Starmer is having his share of the scandal with the British ambassador having been a close member of the Epstein-circle. (The ex-Prince is already yesterday's news.)

That’s why Mandelson was made ambassador in January 2025, so he could smooth talk a better tariff deal for the U.K., it worked. The trouble is it nearly brought down the U.K. Prime Minister yesterday morning.
And Andrew Mountbatten Windsor was also forwarding market sensitive information to Epstein. While he was a UK trade envoy. There will be a lot more to come out, as he made lots of shady friends who wanted to touch royalty.

That the Epstein scandal nearly bought down Keir Starmer when Trump says that he's puzzled why people are talking about Epstein shows just how the US has turned into a banana republic.

So let's take as an example how Norway is looking at the Epstein connection of the resigned ambassador, just to give an example of how democracies act on these issues:

The ministry announced Mona Juul’s resignation on Sunday evening, days after she was suspended as Norway’s ambassador to Jordan. That followed reports that Epstein left the children of Juul and her husband, Terje Rød-Larsen, $10 million in a will drawn up shortly before his death by suicide in a New York prison in 2019.

Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said Juul’s decision was “correct and necessary.” Her contact with the convicted sex offender showed a “serious lapse in judgment,” he said, adding that “the case makes it difficult to restore the trust that the role requires.”

A ministry investigation into Juul’s knowledge of and contact with Epstein will continue, and Juul will continue discussions with the ministry “so that the matter can be clarified,” Eide said.

The ministry said it also launched a review of its funding of and contact with the International Peace Institute, a New York-based think tank, during the period when it was headed by Rød-Larsen. Eide said Rød-Larsen also had shown poor judgment regarding Epstein.

Rød-Larsen and Juul were among those involved in facilitating the landmark Oslo Accords aimed at resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the 1990s.

Norway’s National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime, or Økokrim, said Monday that it decided last week to open an investigation of Juul and Rød-Larsen.

It said in a statement that Juul is suspected of gross corruption based on her position at the Foreign Ministry, and Rød-Larsen of aiding and abetting gross corruption. Investigators will look among other things into whether Juul received benefits in connection with her position. On Monday, they searched an apartment in Oslo’s Frogner district and the home of a witness.

Juul acknowledged in a statement to Norwegian news agency NTB last week that it had been “imprecise” to describe her contact with Epstein as minimal, but said that the contact originated in her husband’s relationship with Epstein and she had no independent social or professional relationship with him. She wrote that her contact with Epstein had been sporadic and private, not part of her official duties, but acknowledged that she should have been much more careful.

So Epstein left the children of this diplomat couple 10 million dollars and them being in contact with Epstein resulted in a prompt resignation and a police investigation. Would this have happened if Juul and Rød-Larsen were Americans and Republicans?

Philosophy Forum itself wanted to interview one Epstein contact, namely Noam Chomsky. (If I remember correctly, Chomsky declined the PF interview because of his ill health.) — ssu

For the record: he agreed and was about to do it, but had a stroke before he was able to.

Also worth noting that to anyone who knows anything about Chomsky, his relationship with Epstein is a nothingburger. The only people trying to make something out of it are people with axes to grind. Show me he was involved in the trafficking in any way and I’ll certainly change my mind— But won’t hold my breath.