Did the Times find the yellowcake this time? Oh--no mention of Epstein's "friends" in Russia and Israel. Guess those investigative lines must not have panned out. Or whatever.
Well, I'm not an extremely rich and all-wise person, but when I look at pictures of Mr. Epstein, what I see is one smarmy-looking individual with an off-putting smirk. I wouldn't give him a nickel. These geniuses evidently saw a charming, upright fellow to whom they desperately wanted to turn over all their fabulous wealth.
Les Wexner's from my town. A big deal, of course, in town.
He did a good job hiding things. Wealthy, single, he never had a partner at any social things he attended. I thought he was gay, keeping it on the downlow for business reasons.
Great exposition of the many threads detailing Epstein's business dealings and wiles with the wealthy players he craved to be one of. Superb reporting.
One little detail you left out. He was hired at the Dalton school (an all girls school) by Willian Barr senior, the father of Bill Barr. He had zero experience and no teaching experience. Dalton isn’t just any run of the mill rich peoples kids school. It’s very exclusive. So how does a man with no eduction degree and no experience let allowed to teach the children of the richest?
Rich people are not smart, they are just very letigious. They are no different than a man with a gun holding up a corner store but, with the power of the state behind them.
Most scammers have a lot of charisma. Not surprising that he and Trump were such good pals. Both scammers, cheaters, horn dogs, and con men! Can’t wait for the rest of the dirty laundry to get aired! His base is going to shit themselves.
I once met a guy who served nearly 20 years in federal prison. He was a real estate scammer, and made $35 million before he was 30. OK, he stole $35 million.
He got caught and then later took up with someone I know. What a salesman! But he's still a crook and last I heard, was trying not to be found.
I thought the Epstein Island crap would be infuriating bad. After looking at the photos released by Democrats, I think it's worse. Ryan McDonough bad. Torture bad. Evil bad.
Turns out Epstein’s superpower wasn’t finance. It was vibe. Pure con-man charisma plus rich people desperate to believe they’re special. Same scam, same marks, different decade. When greed meets flattery, math stops working and morals go on vacation.
There are always creatures like this at the periphery of the Elites. Always have been. Probably always will be. They're not just cads, though they are; they're also bounders.
Like all sociopaths, they can rise quite high and get very rich. True members of the Elites let these parasites cultivate them, because they can afford to lose the money and the Epstein types can feed the most grotesque tastes of those who no longer consider themselves to be the same species as the rest of us.
Most importantly, when the depravities are exposed, the Elites can dump the Epstein types with an outraged "Well, I never!", as we see here.
What's a little less common is that the discarded purveyor dies so conveniently before trading the spilling of the beans for the chance at a new lease on life (usually to be spent even more despicably, but not always).
It isn't true but throughout this post I kept thinking "only in New York" and "this is a New York story". I use to know people from this world. Charlm and scamming, and subterfuge yes, but also these things are maybe not that difficult in NYC, where everyone is on a hustle. Maybe it has been like this for 200 years there.
My personal contact with that world is, fortunately for me, arms-length at best.
In the weird niche of Show Business where I've washed up, NY and LA are iconic, for different reasons. NY because of "The Theatah, Dahling," of course. I never tried my luck in either place.
Working in Minneapolis, people would come through from New York, and drive everyone nuts talking about how they did things, and what phenomenal things! in New York. So why weren't these people still in New York? Usually because all they really did was tell stories. Or they came to Minnesota following a romantic partner, or more likely, to go to Hazelden out of the sight of New Yorkers.
When I did eventually run into people actually doing high-end work in New York or LA, it turned out a lot of them were from...Minneapolis (or elsewhere in the Midwest).
This was mostly because we grew up accustomed to getting to work early, working late, and not getting paid much. A good mindset to get one's foot in the door in just about any industry.
A lot of New Yorkers are very guarded about their work. They expect to get shanked and double-crossed, for people to steal their work, etc. to a level I've never even considered. The real insiders don't form a very large group, but there are hordes of people trying to get on the first rung of the ladder.
LA is similar but different, just as film is different from theater.
Scammers like Epstein? In Elite circles, everyone can see them coming a mile away. They might let them do their thing anyway, if they think it suits them somehow.
Epstein got an intolerable amount of leeway among academics though, because he was very good at flattering them. They didn't want anything from him other than financial support for their various projects, and just assumed as a matter of course that everyone wants to be around them for their brilliance. That was a trade Epstein was delighted to make.
hello fellow traveler! i've been a chicago actor for 30+ years and know exactly of what you speak. especially the quiet hard work park. and the not being very good at talking about what 'you were working on' part.
i hung in LA for a couple years. things were quite fine (LA is mesmerized by chicago theatre resumes), but of course it being LA (and me being mid 30's) it was never meant to be.
as a grace note i never expected in my life, i came back to chicago (a decade ago now) and haven't stopped working. this year - as a middle aged lady - i JUST played the biggest coolest sexiest role of my life (new work about erzsebet bathory, with all the mad, crazy, cruel, violent, funny stage shit i adore) AND we're up for a bunch of awards.
such a blessing in a horrifying year (both personal and public).
That's awesome. I haven't acted since college, and I'd dive across the table to be in a show about that all-time villain. Who wouldn't?
I've always tried to keep things simple in my mind. Do good work and the rest takes care of itself.
Not always. Not immediately. Not in necessarily any linear, discernable fashion. But I never have to remember what I told to whom, and I never have to worry that I might run into so-and-so.
So great, and I'm not at all surprised, that you're going to have to be the one who decides when you're done working, doing what you're good at doing. I'm slowly allowing myself to realize I'm in that situation too. All these years, I've used the thought that the phone might never ring again, one mistake might end it; to keep my focused.
Blessings indeed. Just enjoy them. Don't apologize or "Aw Shucks" it. Just say "Thank You." You don't get awards and recognitions for being shitty at what you do.
Thanks for all of this personal history. It is interesting. I have heard about the mid-west work ethic in other contexts. I used to explain it as a situation where it's so cold for so much of the year that there is not much else to do but stay home and work - but NYC is probably just as cold. Maybe it is just a mind set
As I've aged, though, I've realized what has helped me as much as anything else is having done a lot of budgets. I know where the money comes from and where it goes to. I can reverse-engineer to figure out how much money I should be getting. From there, I can figure out where I have to draw the line at what is my time, my effort, my peace of mind; and what of other people's problems I need to take on.
Still, it's always been very easy for people to make their troubles my troubles, and to "get the job done no matter what."
I've been able to maneuver myself into a position where I can say, "That's not a problem; it's just an expense. You have to put down a lot more money, that's how we get this done. If you can't do that, that's fine too; we just have to cut this, this, and this. It's 4:00 PM Friday and you say you need me to spend 12 hours getting something on to your desk by Monday 8:00 AM? Wednesday works much better for me, I can't do that by Monday and I don't know anyone who's available who can."
But it's taken me decades to know that I can say that, to not be bluffing, and to not be put off if it elicits a tantrum.
What I've gradually come to realize is, it's not 1982 anymore. I'm not a kid at my first job. I'm not in rural Minnesota of 40+ years ago. No, I really don't owe them gratitude for just the job, never mind actually getting paid. They really can't just replace me at the drop of a hat.
As I say, it took me a long time to realize all that was just gaslighting.
It's pretty nice to come out the other side of that.
The work ethic is a thing I'll keep. It's fun. Makes me feel good to be good at things many people are not good at. Like, you know, showing up early and finishing things.
Yes, it's weird that someone so cunning and manipulative, with so much dirt on the richest and most powerful people in the country, would take himself out.
And thanks for the song/ Nick Cave " Red Right Hand" - Look out !!Red handed men left & right
Did the Times find the yellowcake this time? Oh--no mention of Epstein's "friends" in Russia and Israel. Guess those investigative lines must not have panned out. Or whatever.
Thanks, New York Times. For nothing.
Well, I'm not an extremely rich and all-wise person, but when I look at pictures of Mr. Epstein, what I see is one smarmy-looking individual with an off-putting smirk. I wouldn't give him a nickel. These geniuses evidently saw a charming, upright fellow to whom they desperately wanted to turn over all their fabulous wealth.
Les Wexner's from my town. A big deal, of course, in town.
He did a good job hiding things. Wealthy, single, he never had a partner at any social things he attended. I thought he was gay, keeping it on the downlow for business reasons.
I guess I was wrong.
He just fit in so perfectly with the 1980's business/financial culture.
Gordon Gekko would have been on the list.
Great exposition of the many threads detailing Epstein's business dealings and wiles with the wealthy players he craved to be one of. Superb reporting.
Oh! And great addendum with Nick Cave's sublime dirge.
He does a cover of "By the Time I Get To Phoenix" that is devastating.
Thank you. Listening to Nick's version is hearing twisting pain. You can feel it.
https://youtu.be/UTnHjYIR_cE?si=7J7Y39NEwKQsgYla
One little detail you left out. He was hired at the Dalton school (an all girls school) by Willian Barr senior, the father of Bill Barr. He had zero experience and no teaching experience. Dalton isn’t just any run of the mill rich peoples kids school. It’s very exclusive. So how does a man with no eduction degree and no experience let allowed to teach the children of the richest?
Our Rasputin?
Actually, he kinda sounds like it!
You have to wonder with all that stealing how did he have time for all that child raping?
He's a multitasker!
Rich people are not smart, they are just very letigious. They are no different than a man with a gun holding up a corner store but, with the power of the state behind them.
Most scammers have a lot of charisma. Not surprising that he and Trump were such good pals. Both scammers, cheaters, horn dogs, and con men! Can’t wait for the rest of the dirty laundry to get aired! His base is going to shit themselves.
I once met a guy who served nearly 20 years in federal prison. He was a real estate scammer, and made $35 million before he was 30. OK, he stole $35 million.
He got caught and then later took up with someone I know. What a salesman! But he's still a crook and last I heard, was trying not to be found.
I thought the Epstein Island crap would be infuriating bad. After looking at the photos released by Democrats, I think it's worse. Ryan McDonough bad. Torture bad. Evil bad.
When there's no limits, it takes more and more to get the endorphin hits.
I agree 😔
Ta, Marcie. No honor among thieves, grifters, and the obscenely wealthy. But I repeat myself.
Behind every great fortune is a great crime.
They (obviously) forgot Mossad and GRU... and maybe CIA slush funds
The line to get into his cell to shut him up must have resembled the line of people waiting to calm the hysterical woman in Airplane!.
Believe it or not, this is EXACTLY what the QAnon Cretins say.
They also say it about Alex Jones.
"Capture for hire"
Turns out Epstein’s superpower wasn’t finance. It was vibe. Pure con-man charisma plus rich people desperate to believe they’re special. Same scam, same marks, different decade. When greed meets flattery, math stops working and morals go on vacation.
There are always creatures like this at the periphery of the Elites. Always have been. Probably always will be. They're not just cads, though they are; they're also bounders.
Like all sociopaths, they can rise quite high and get very rich. True members of the Elites let these parasites cultivate them, because they can afford to lose the money and the Epstein types can feed the most grotesque tastes of those who no longer consider themselves to be the same species as the rest of us.
Most importantly, when the depravities are exposed, the Elites can dump the Epstein types with an outraged "Well, I never!", as we see here.
What's a little less common is that the discarded purveyor dies so conveniently before trading the spilling of the beans for the chance at a new lease on life (usually to be spent even more despicably, but not always).
It isn't true but throughout this post I kept thinking "only in New York" and "this is a New York story". I use to know people from this world. Charlm and scamming, and subterfuge yes, but also these things are maybe not that difficult in NYC, where everyone is on a hustle. Maybe it has been like this for 200 years there.
My personal contact with that world is, fortunately for me, arms-length at best.
In the weird niche of Show Business where I've washed up, NY and LA are iconic, for different reasons. NY because of "The Theatah, Dahling," of course. I never tried my luck in either place.
Working in Minneapolis, people would come through from New York, and drive everyone nuts talking about how they did things, and what phenomenal things! in New York. So why weren't these people still in New York? Usually because all they really did was tell stories. Or they came to Minnesota following a romantic partner, or more likely, to go to Hazelden out of the sight of New Yorkers.
When I did eventually run into people actually doing high-end work in New York or LA, it turned out a lot of them were from...Minneapolis (or elsewhere in the Midwest).
This was mostly because we grew up accustomed to getting to work early, working late, and not getting paid much. A good mindset to get one's foot in the door in just about any industry.
A lot of New Yorkers are very guarded about their work. They expect to get shanked and double-crossed, for people to steal their work, etc. to a level I've never even considered. The real insiders don't form a very large group, but there are hordes of people trying to get on the first rung of the ladder.
LA is similar but different, just as film is different from theater.
Scammers like Epstein? In Elite circles, everyone can see them coming a mile away. They might let them do their thing anyway, if they think it suits them somehow.
Epstein got an intolerable amount of leeway among academics though, because he was very good at flattering them. They didn't want anything from him other than financial support for their various projects, and just assumed as a matter of course that everyone wants to be around them for their brilliance. That was a trade Epstein was delighted to make.
hello fellow traveler! i've been a chicago actor for 30+ years and know exactly of what you speak. especially the quiet hard work park. and the not being very good at talking about what 'you were working on' part.
i hung in LA for a couple years. things were quite fine (LA is mesmerized by chicago theatre resumes), but of course it being LA (and me being mid 30's) it was never meant to be.
as a grace note i never expected in my life, i came back to chicago (a decade ago now) and haven't stopped working. this year - as a middle aged lady - i JUST played the biggest coolest sexiest role of my life (new work about erzsebet bathory, with all the mad, crazy, cruel, violent, funny stage shit i adore) AND we're up for a bunch of awards.
such a blessing in a horrifying year (both personal and public).
thank you for sharing!
No, no; thank YOU for sharing.
That's awesome. I haven't acted since college, and I'd dive across the table to be in a show about that all-time villain. Who wouldn't?
I've always tried to keep things simple in my mind. Do good work and the rest takes care of itself.
Not always. Not immediately. Not in necessarily any linear, discernable fashion. But I never have to remember what I told to whom, and I never have to worry that I might run into so-and-so.
So great, and I'm not at all surprised, that you're going to have to be the one who decides when you're done working, doing what you're good at doing. I'm slowly allowing myself to realize I'm in that situation too. All these years, I've used the thought that the phone might never ring again, one mistake might end it; to keep my focused.
Blessings indeed. Just enjoy them. Don't apologize or "Aw Shucks" it. Just say "Thank You." You don't get awards and recognitions for being shitty at what you do.
Thanks for all of this personal history. It is interesting. I have heard about the mid-west work ethic in other contexts. I used to explain it as a situation where it's so cold for so much of the year that there is not much else to do but stay home and work - but NYC is probably just as cold. Maybe it is just a mind set
The Midwest work ethic is more of a cruel trap. There’s an urge (that I do my best to overcome) to get the job done no matter what.
Yeah, I know both edges of that blade.
As I've aged, though, I've realized what has helped me as much as anything else is having done a lot of budgets. I know where the money comes from and where it goes to. I can reverse-engineer to figure out how much money I should be getting. From there, I can figure out where I have to draw the line at what is my time, my effort, my peace of mind; and what of other people's problems I need to take on.
Still, it's always been very easy for people to make their troubles my troubles, and to "get the job done no matter what."
I've been able to maneuver myself into a position where I can say, "That's not a problem; it's just an expense. You have to put down a lot more money, that's how we get this done. If you can't do that, that's fine too; we just have to cut this, this, and this. It's 4:00 PM Friday and you say you need me to spend 12 hours getting something on to your desk by Monday 8:00 AM? Wednesday works much better for me, I can't do that by Monday and I don't know anyone who's available who can."
But it's taken me decades to know that I can say that, to not be bluffing, and to not be put off if it elicits a tantrum.
What I've gradually come to realize is, it's not 1982 anymore. I'm not a kid at my first job. I'm not in rural Minnesota of 40+ years ago. No, I really don't owe them gratitude for just the job, never mind actually getting paid. They really can't just replace me at the drop of a hat.
As I say, it took me a long time to realize all that was just gaslighting.
It's pretty nice to come out the other side of that.
The work ethic is a thing I'll keep. It's fun. Makes me feel good to be good at things many people are not good at. Like, you know, showing up early and finishing things.
Yes, it's weird that someone so cunning and manipulative, with so much dirt on the richest and most powerful people in the country, would take himself out.
He was good at manipulating people through their own fears and biases. Shame he didn't use this skill to help others.