Epstein, Kirk, and whatever

It's been a funky week, and by funky, I mean not worn gym-socks odor funky.

From the release of the Epstein 50th birthday book with so much cringe in it (and Trumpworld's ludicrous attempt to memory-hole it... I have it in two fucking places beyotches), to another Bloomberg drop about the emails Between Ghislane and Epstein put the lie to her hagiographic interrogation by Todd Blanche (and there is more "ick" in there too), it is clear that Trump's desire for the Epstein stain to be retired is not going to be the case, even if Susan Collins' rosary beads are taking a beating from all the clutching they are getting.

Tuesday's Triad newsletter (sorry, paywalled) from The Bulwark was an onslaught of cringe, a great wall of ick. Rightly so, because outside of some early segments from pre-fame Epstein, it is full of rich, powerful men, men who clearly knew what Epstein's kink was, and how to nod and wink at his proclivities:

From the first section:

When you read the book compiled by Jeffrey Epstein’s friends for his fiftieth birthday, they have a clear shorthand understanding of the man:

* Jeffrey is super-rich.
* He likes having sex with very young girls.

I mean, this is no surprise, but it is surprising that so many famous people contributed to this tome: (from the book - link here)

• Ron Altbach (Musician - keyboardist)
• Leon Black (Private Equity)
• (redacted)
• Jean luc Brunel (Model scout)
• Bill Clinton (Former President)
• Alan Dershowitz (Attorney of dirtbags - can't get pirogi's on Martha's Vinyard)
• Bill Elkus (Venture Capital)
• Bran Ferren (Artist)
• Henry Jarecki (Academic - Psychologist)
• Nick Leese (Movie Producer)
• Peter Mandelson (politician, lobbyist, and until this week the Ambassador to the US - oopsies!)
• George Mitchel (Politician, diplomat, judge)
• Nathan Myhrvold (Early CTO and early Microsoft employee and general douchebag)
• Joel Pashcow (Professional Tennis player - and contributor of the Trump/Check image)
• Jo Pagano (presumably Mary Jo Pagano - director of the NYC Chamber Orchestra)
• Alberto Pinto (legendary interoir designer)
• Stuart Pivar (Art Collector (wealthy douchebag))
• Donald Trump (do I even needc to?)
• Henry Rosovsky (Economist)
• (redacted)
• Lesley Wexner (Billionaire CEO of L-Brands (Victoria's Secret is part of this))
• Mort Zuckerman (Billionaire. media mogul)
• Unknown

Then there are scientists, that I won't list, but they were also people that Epstein "collected" as he fancied himself as a intellectual elite.

A real who's who of powerful men (and one woman) who obviously felt safe that they could fly their freak flag for this epic tome to commemorate their buddy, Jeffery Epstein's 50th birthday bash.

Now, I am going to share a couple of pics from the book. I am warning you that this is gross, but it is important, and it does get to why Trump is so hell-bent on burying this.

Then there's this gem, a fake posterboard check, and the handwritten note that mentions the "sale" of a "depreciated [redacted]" to Trump (the art of the deal indeed):

I have seen some implications that "fully depreciated" means that she was passed around to so many people (aka the "body count" that the incels are so fucking concerned about) that she has no remaining "book value".

But I suspect it means more that she aged to the point where Epstein lost interest, so he cast her off to the clutches of a slightly less discriminating lech a.k.a. Donald Trump.

Holy fuck, I need a loooooong hot shower after that.

As JVL continues:

These are not the descriptions of a normal, well-adjusted 50-year-old man. They are the descriptions of a sociopath. A predator. 

His friends—including Donald Trump—did not treat this fact as a foible. Neither did they attempt to gloss over it, as one might try to avoid an old chum’s uncomfortable or self-destructive habits. 

No. It is clear from the entries in this book that Epstein’s friends knew he was a predator, saw his sociopathy as one of his two defining features, and celebrated it.

At absolute best, they stood around this monster and cheered on his sociopathy. At worst? Well, we know that at least one of these people actively participated in his criminality.

At the end of the day, here is what the Epstein birthday book makes undeniable: 

Everyone in Jeffrey Epstein’s circle knew. They knew that Epstein was a predator. They believed that his pathology defined him. And they joked about it, encouraged it, and egged him on.

Donald Trump knew all about Jeffrey Epstein. He was at least complicit in Epstein’s criminality. And eventually, we will know if he was more than complicit.

That feels about right.

However, the MAGA-sphere is trying really hard to brand this all as a "hoax".

Tell me how the fuck that hoax would work? Some deep state operative 22 years ago draft this letter, use a signature "sharpie" pen to draw the barely pubesent torso of a young girl, and to sign his name exactly similar to contemporary scribblings by Donald Trump and have it placed in this book, all during a period of time when Donald J. Trump was a registered Democrat, because someday in the future they knew that the radical leftists would use this fakery to come after Trump?

That just boggles the mind, but it is what the Republicans in Congress, the right wing influencers, and the Trump Administration wants us all to believe.

Look, I got no love for Maggie Haberman, but she does a yeoman's job here.

One has to wonder how much more dirt is in the bulk of the files... Trump is terrified of the truth coming out, and hoo-boy, I want to see the discovery and the depositions.

I will admit that I am tired of all this Epstein talk, but that encourages me, after so many scandals that just hit the news for 12-48 hours and then fade into the cosmic background, this one has legs, and while I am discouraged that the Republicans are all lining up to protect Trump, the public is not letting this one drop.

I guess we have to go here - Charlie Kirk

One of the things in the back of my mind is the mechanics of the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

The distance from the sniper to Kirk was flagged at 183 yards. That is a long way. I have done a little bit of long distance rifle shooting, and to hit a target the size of Kirk's "head" at that distance is about a 6" square. The marksman undershot slightly, and got him in the neck (I did click on one of the audience videos, and boy what a mistake that was. Please, do not watch it).

This spawned my internal conspiracy theorist.

What if Trump was so insistent on a change of the subject, and grabbed a sympathetic military marksman and employed a true "deep state" operation to take out an ally that would then change the tenor of the national conversation.

The fact that it took almost 2 days to apprehend a suspect, a suspect that is a young white male, steeped in 4-chan and racist/fascist discord servers, is shocking, but led me to postulate that a military specialist could have been whisked overseas to his next assignment.

Alas, the bumbling of the FBI, who has disbanded the anti-terrorism team (they are now assisting the DHS and ICE in their search and apprehension of lettuce pickers) contributed to neither picking up any chatter on this shitbag, nor being able to get their shit together in investigating. Kash Patel really needs to be held to account, but he certainly won't.

Regardless, I am staying off Bluesky, and Substack notes as there is so much poisonous rhetoric. Both sides need to chill, but the Right and MAGA are just fucking bonkers over this.

And flying the flags at half mast for Charlie Kirk? The man wasn't a stateman, wasn't a politician. He was a shitposter, a debater, and an odious human being. He didn't deserve to be murdered (assassinated) like that, but where was this concern over the former lawmakers murdered earlier this summer in Minnesota?

Oh well, I guess I will call it here for now. Too much real work to do.

I did it

I did buy a .strandgerg* Bodin Essentials guitar. It arrived on Monday, and I've been playing it all weekend. The neck is weird, but easy to get used to. So far, I love it. I kept the packing material in case I decide to return it, but so far I am diggin' it.

I will to a much more in-depth writeup over on the Guitars and Gear newsletter (go to the web, sign in, and then from the "Account" button you can add email notifications if you want to receive posts like that in your inbox!)