In 2002 Maxwell contacted all of her partner's famous friends and asked them to write letters for his birthday.
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In 2002 Maxwell contacted all of her partner's famous friends and asked them to write letters for his birthday.
She got at least two US presidents and many other famous people to do this. Epstein cultivated a reputation as a "playboy," the "harmless" role assigned to such men, you know, who run modeling agencies and who "enjoy their social life"
I don't understand why all those famous and powerful people would want to be in his birthday book.
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In 2002 Maxwell contacted all of her partner's famous friends and asked them to write letters for his birthday.
She got at least two US presidents and many other famous people to do this. Epstein cultivated a reputation as a "playboy," the "harmless" role assigned to such men, you know, who run modeling agencies and who "enjoy their social life"
I don't understand why all those famous and powerful people would want to be in his birthday book.
I say that I don't understand, but thinking about it again, maybe I do.
It's not enough to exploit young people. It's not enough to have the power of a "star" so they will "let you do it." What good is all that power if no one knows that you have it?
Trump also cultivated a "playboy" image. A playboy, a man who has never really grown up. He has all the fun he wants.
If you want people to think you have that power you need to write birthday letter.
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In 2002 Maxwell contacted all of her partner's famous friends and asked them to write letters for his birthday.
She got at least two US presidents and many other famous people to do this. Epstein cultivated a reputation as a "playboy," the "harmless" role assigned to such men, you know, who run modeling agencies and who "enjoy their social life"
I don't understand why all those famous and powerful people would want to be in his birthday book.
@futurebird Perhaps Ms. Maxwell didn’t tell them there would be a book, just that she wanted letters for his birthday?
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In 2002 Maxwell contacted all of her partner's famous friends and asked them to write letters for his birthday.
She got at least two US presidents and many other famous people to do this. Epstein cultivated a reputation as a "playboy," the "harmless" role assigned to such men, you know, who run modeling agencies and who "enjoy their social life"
I don't understand why all those famous and powerful people would want to be in his birthday book.
@futurebird Sorry if I missed some sarcasm in there, but for an explanation: Staying in Epsteins good graces for continued access to abusing his trafficking victims seems to be the obvious one.
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I say that I don't understand, but thinking about it again, maybe I do.
It's not enough to exploit young people. It's not enough to have the power of a "star" so they will "let you do it." What good is all that power if no one knows that you have it?
Trump also cultivated a "playboy" image. A playboy, a man who has never really grown up. He has all the fun he wants.
If you want people to think you have that power you need to write birthday letter.
That's why Trump said he never had the *privilege* of going to Epstein's island. And why he was open about being invited and almost embarrassed to say he turned it down. "one of my very good moments"
He also needed us to know he could pardon her if he wants to. He *could* --
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@futurebird Sorry if I missed some sarcasm in there, but for an explanation: Staying in Epsteins good graces for continued access to abusing his trafficking victims seems to be the obvious one.
That's a very practical one. But you are giving up even more evidence. And I don't think there was that much tension, I think these people really cared what Epstein thought about them because they *admired* his lifestyle.
And if you need to check the ID of a girl to find out if you admire someone or not. Well then you have already have terrible judgement as far as I'm concerned.
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@futurebird Perhaps Ms. Maxwell didn’t tell them there would be a book, just that she wanted letters for his birthday?
I don't think so? I think she mentioned who else was already writing a letter to make them worried they'd be left out.
And maybe there was a party where they gave it to him and read them all and laughed about it. I could imagine that too.
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That's a very practical one. But you are giving up even more evidence. And I don't think there was that much tension, I think these people really cared what Epstein thought about them because they *admired* his lifestyle.
And if you need to check the ID of a girl to find out if you admire someone or not. Well then you have already have terrible judgement as far as I'm concerned.
@futurebird Yeah, I don't think it would've made much of a moral difference if the girls trafficked had all been 18 when it happened to them.
I also don't buy that Epstein had so many rich and powerful visitors and none of them could figure out that something was deeply wrong there, independently of the girls ages.
At least to me it looks like we're dealing with a class of people who legitimately believe they are above law and morals.
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That's why Trump said he never had the *privilege* of going to Epstein's island. And why he was open about being invited and almost embarrassed to say he turned it down. "one of my very good moments"
He also needed us to know he could pardon her if he wants to. He *could* --
I tend to assume that people have already seen every horrible Trump quote, but in case:
"... historically, that's true with stars ... if you look over the last million years ... Unfortunately, or fortunately."
"And you consider yourself to be a star?" Trump was asked.
"I think you can say that, yeah."
The contempt in his voice at being asked to explain what he clearly saw as a law of nature haunts me.
Trump, in deposition, doubles down on 'Access Hollywood' remarks about grabbing women
Former President Trump doubled down on his remarks about women in the 2005 "Access Hollywood" video in the just-released deposition he gave in the E. Jean Carroll case.
ABC News (abcnews.go.com)
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I tend to assume that people have already seen every horrible Trump quote, but in case:
"... historically, that's true with stars ... if you look over the last million years ... Unfortunately, or fortunately."
"And you consider yourself to be a star?" Trump was asked.
"I think you can say that, yeah."
The contempt in his voice at being asked to explain what he clearly saw as a law of nature haunts me.
Trump, in deposition, doubles down on 'Access Hollywood' remarks about grabbing women
Former President Trump doubled down on his remarks about women in the 2005 "Access Hollywood" video in the just-released deposition he gave in the E. Jean Carroll case.
ABC News (abcnews.go.com)
Interesting to see the glaze of erudition he adopted in this answer, like he's Desmond Morris teaching a philosophy course.
He doesn't do that often when speaking to his base, but it's in there. The wise man of the world.
"The time has come,' the Walrus said,
To talk of many things:
Of shoes — and ships — and sealing-wax —
Of cabbages — and kings —
And why the sea is boiling hot —
And whether pigs have wings.'" -
In 2002 Maxwell contacted all of her partner's famous friends and asked them to write letters for his birthday.
She got at least two US presidents and many other famous people to do this. Epstein cultivated a reputation as a "playboy," the "harmless" role assigned to such men, you know, who run modeling agencies and who "enjoy their social life"
I don't understand why all those famous and powerful people would want to be in his birthday book.
@futurebird It's a political suicide pact.
The participants know who they are and can rely on each other for cover. (Freedom of action is a lot larger when you've got a cooperating group.) They are ALSO highly vulnerable to anyone defecting or blackmail from the operators of the enterprise. So things like the birthday book are a sort of group cooperation signal that all is well with the pact.
(Epstein wasn't the operator as such; someone supplied capital.)
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F myrmepropagandist shared this topic
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@futurebird It's a political suicide pact.
The participants know who they are and can rely on each other for cover. (Freedom of action is a lot larger when you've got a cooperating group.) They are ALSO highly vulnerable to anyone defecting or blackmail from the operators of the enterprise. So things like the birthday book are a sort of group cooperation signal that all is well with the pact.
(Epstein wasn't the operator as such; someone supplied capital.)
So things like the birthday book are a sort of group cooperation signal that all is well with the pact.
This makes sense since there were hints at that time of some of it all coming out. "Don't worry we all have each other's back."
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@futurebird Yeah, I don't think it would've made much of a moral difference if the girls trafficked had all been 18 when it happened to them.
I also don't buy that Epstein had so many rich and powerful visitors and none of them could figure out that something was deeply wrong there, independently of the girls ages.
At least to me it looks like we're dealing with a class of people who legitimately believe they are above law and morals.
THIS
He dazzled them with wealth, power, his famous friends: used that to control and degrade them. And I wonder sincerely if some of those involved, even now, understand *why* that is disgusting.
Do they even see the crime at all? Or do they think it's all a technicality, and how it would be "misunderstood" by us the prudish and simple public who "don't know how things work?"
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THIS
He dazzled them with wealth, power, his famous friends: used that to control and degrade them. And I wonder sincerely if some of those involved, even now, understand *why* that is disgusting.
Do they even see the crime at all? Or do they think it's all a technicality, and how it would be "misunderstood" by us the prudish and simple public who "don't know how things work?"
@futurebird Yeah, I'm gonna go ahead and assume that it's the latter for at least a sizable chunk of the people who were involved with Epstein.
As far as I can tell, rich and powerful people virtually always have a completely warped sense of self-esteem, with many of them seeming to think they're damn near gods, i.e. inherently better than us plebians.
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@futurebird Yeah, I'm gonna go ahead and assume that it's the latter for at least a sizable chunk of the people who were involved with Epstein.
As far as I can tell, rich and powerful people virtually always have a completely warped sense of self-esteem, with many of them seeming to think they're damn near gods, i.e. inherently better than us plebians.
I had a friend* once who invited me to some parties and after one, I made some comments about how I was uncomfortable with one of the guys there, hitting on younger women, making crude jokes. Unfathomably she really liked this guy and kept saying he was "so amazing" I wanted to know *why* she admired him. He just seemed like a creep.
"can't you just be fun?" she said to me.
And I didn't hang out with her again.
I'm no fun.
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I had a friend* once who invited me to some parties and after one, I made some comments about how I was uncomfortable with one of the guys there, hitting on younger women, making crude jokes. Unfathomably she really liked this guy and kept saying he was "so amazing" I wanted to know *why* she admired him. He just seemed like a creep.
"can't you just be fun?" she said to me.
And I didn't hang out with her again.
I'm no fun.
I was in my early 20s then and looking back I think she brought me in (she was in her 30s) because they just tried to get as many young people as they could at those parties, which it turned out this guy paid for: they were at really cool locations like the historic basement of a building with antique decor.
The creep was a casting director. I don't know what happened to him. But I recognize a pattern.
Or maybe I'm no fun.
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I had a friend* once who invited me to some parties and after one, I made some comments about how I was uncomfortable with one of the guys there, hitting on younger women, making crude jokes. Unfathomably she really liked this guy and kept saying he was "so amazing" I wanted to know *why* she admired him. He just seemed like a creep.
"can't you just be fun?" she said to me.
And I didn't hang out with her again.
I'm no fun.
@futurebird Yeah, this is the sort of thing why I'm allergic to idolizing people – not just myself, but when I see others doing it, too.
It's why Jacob Applebaum could be a rapey asshole for years on end before enough people finally spoke out and he was kicked out of the community – he was culturally entrenched because so many people idolized him…
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I was in my early 20s then and looking back I think she brought me in (she was in her 30s) because they just tried to get as many young people as they could at those parties, which it turned out this guy paid for: they were at really cool locations like the historic basement of a building with antique decor.
The creep was a casting director. I don't know what happened to him. But I recognize a pattern.
Or maybe I'm no fun.
@futurebird Yeah no, you were definitely not the problem there, that sounds hella predatory.
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In 2002 Maxwell contacted all of her partner's famous friends and asked them to write letters for his birthday.
She got at least two US presidents and many other famous people to do this. Epstein cultivated a reputation as a "playboy," the "harmless" role assigned to such men, you know, who run modeling agencies and who "enjoy their social life"
I don't understand why all those famous and powerful people would want to be in his birthday book.
Here is some more info on who is in the book. Some of the people listed have confirmed that it is real. Others say they don't remember.
Who Other Than Trump Is in Jeffrey Epstein’s Birthday Book?
‘The Wall Street Journal’ reports several prominent names were found in the birthday book for Jeffrey Epstein, including Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, and Leon Black. Here’s what we know.
Intelligencer (nymag.com)
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@futurebird It's a political suicide pact.
The participants know who they are and can rely on each other for cover. (Freedom of action is a lot larger when you've got a cooperating group.) They are ALSO highly vulnerable to anyone defecting or blackmail from the operators of the enterprise. So things like the birthday book are a sort of group cooperation signal that all is well with the pact.
(Epstein wasn't the operator as such; someone supplied capital.)
I think that "roasts" also function this way. The concept of having a roast for someone always confused me. I can't think of that many terrible things to say about any of my friends. On the occasions I've encountered people doing a roast it often seemed like between them they had a lot of things they needed to keep quiet about each other.
There is something sinister about all of this chummy BS often enough.
