Bizarre, Criminal law

Jeffrey Epstein Is Dead, But Questions Remain Very Much Alive

Jeffrey Epstein is dead. Few will likely mourn his passing but some will publicly regret it and others will privately celebrate it. The suicide comes a day after the release of documents implicating an array of powerful figures around the world. Epstein catered to friends from Bill Clinton to Prince Andrew. The timing has already caused some to question whether this was a true suicide or an effort to get rid of a man who was becoming a major threat to major players in politics and business. Close friends have already said that they believe that he was murdered. Given the low likelihood of success for Epstein, 66, in his criminal case and the prospect of spending the rest of his life in jail, a suicide attempt was likely. However, that raises the question of how a man who was once on a suicide watch could be allowed the material, let alone the opportunity, for a suicide. It appears that guards broke protocols during the night.

Prison officials say that Epstein was declared dead at 6:30 am. They say the cause was cardiac arrest but reports indicate it was a suicide. Two weeks ago, Epstein was was found nearly unconscious in his cell with injuries to his neck. 

It is the timing that is likely to spur conspiracy theories. Documents released yesterday detail allegations by Virginia Giuffre that she was told to have sex with an assortment of Epstein’s friends, including former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, former U.S. Senator George Mitchell; asset manager Glenn Dubin, modeling executive Jean Luc Brunel, the late MIT scientist Marvin Minsky, Prince Andrew and Harvard University law professor Alan Dershowitz. The next day, Epstein is dead.

The problem with the conspiracy theories is that Epstein had every reason to want to kill himself. He was looking at life in prison after a grueling legal process. For a man who had played the angles (and powerful friends) to continue to abuse underaged girls, he was out of both options and friends.

Yet, how could such a high suicide risk be allowed the opportunity for a suicide? At a minimum, a suicide would indicate gross negligence by the prison officials in Manhattan. Much like the murder of Whitey Bulgar at Hazelton, the death would only be possible with an utter lack of competence by correctional management and staff.

This is why the death of Epstein will be the birth of an uber conspiracy theory.

229 thoughts on “Jeffrey Epstein Is Dead, But Questions Remain Very Much Alive”

  3. Another excellent Caitlin Johnson article:

    August 12, 2019

    Author: Caitlin Johnstone

    Everyone’s A Conspiracy Theorist, Whether They Know It Or Not

    https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2019/08/12/everyones-a-conspiracy-theorist-whether-they-know-it-or-not/#

    Excerpt:

    The problem has never been with the actual term “conspiracy theory”; the problem has been with its deliberate and completely meaningless use as a pejorative. The best way to address this would be a populist move to de-stigmatize the label by taking ownership of it. Last month Cornell University professor Dave Callum tweeted, “I am a ‘conspiracy theorist’. I believe men and women of wealth and power conspire. If you don’t think so, then you are what is called ‘an idiot’. If you believe stuff but fear the label, you are what is called ‘a coward’.” This is what we all must do. The debate must be forcibly moved from the absurd question of whether or not conspiracies are a thing to the important question of which conspiracy theories are valid and to what degree.

    And we should probably hurry. Yahoo News reported earlier this month that the FBI recently published an intelligence bulletin describing “conspiracy theory-driven domestic extremists” as a growing threat, and this was before the recent spate of US shootings got establishment narrative-makers pushing for new domestic terrorism laws. This combined with the fact that we can’t even ask questions about extremely suspicious events like Jeffrey Epstein’s death without being tarred with this meaningless pejorative by the mass media thought police means we’re at extreme risk of being shoved into something far more Orwellian in the near future.

  4. OT: “78 percent of households headed by a non-citizen with no more than a high school education use at least one welfare program.
    58 percent of all households headed by a non-citizen use at least one welfare program.
    Half of all non-citizen headed households include at least one person who uses Medicaid.”
    —–

    President Donald J. Trump is Ensuring Non-Citizens Do Not Abuse Our Nation’s Public Benefit
    IMMIGRATION
    Issued on: August 12, 2019
    To protect benefits for American citizens, immigrants must be financially self-sufficient.
    President Donald J. Trump
    PROTECTING PUBLIC RESOURCES: The Trump Administration is taking action to help ensure that non-citizens in this country are self-sufficient and not a strain on public resources.

    The Trump Administration is releasing a final rule that will protect American taxpayers, preserve our social safety net for vulnerable Americans, and uphold the rule of law.
    This action will help ensure that if aliens want to enter or remain in the United States they must support themselves, and not rely on public benefits.
    An alien who receives public benefits above a certain threshold is known as a “public charge.”
    Aliens will be barred from entering the United States if they are found likely to become public charges.
    Aliens in the United States who are found likely to become public charges will also be barred from adjusting their immigration status.
    President Trump is enforcing this longstanding law to prevent aliens from depending on public benefit programs.
    The Immigration and Nationality Act makes clear that those seeking to come to the United States cannot be a public charge.
    For many years, this clear legal requirement went largely unenforced, imposing vast burdens on American taxpayers. Now, public charge law will finally be utilized.
    ENCOURAGING SELF-SUFFICIENCY: Self-sufficiency has long been a basic principle of our Nation’s immigration laws that has enjoyed widespread support.

    Public charge has been a part of United States immigration law for more than 100 years as a ground of inadmissibility.
    Congress passed and President Bill Clinton signed two bipartisan bills in 1996 to help stop aliens from exploiting public benefits.
    This included the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act and the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act.
    As Congress made clear at the time, it is our national policy that aliens should “not depend on public resources to meet their needs.”
    Americans widely agree that individuals coming to our country should be self-sufficient, with 73 percent in favor of requiring immigrants to be able to support themselves financially.
    PRESERVING THE SOCIAL SAFETY NET: We must ensure that non-citizens do not abuse our public benefit programs and jeopardize the social safety net needed by vulnerable Americans.

    Large numbers of non-citizens and their families have taken advantage of our generous public benefits, limited resources that could otherwise go to vulnerable Americans.
    78 percent of households headed by a non-citizen with no more than a high school education use at least one welfare program.
    58 percent of all households headed by a non-citizen use at least one welfare program.
    Half of all non-citizen headed households include at least one person who uses Medicaid.

    1. “Since World War Two, the United States has built itself into a “national security state” which recognizes no ethical or legal constraints. It’s doesn’t exist to protect the American public. It exists to protect itself. And, too often, it protects the predators among us.” -Thomas Knapp

      JULY 12, 2019

      Did Jeffrey Epstein “Belong to Intelligence?”
      by THOMAS KNAPP

      https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/07/12/did-jeffrey-epstein-belong-to-intelligence/

      Excerpt:

      Suppose you held wild sex parties on your private island and invited those wealthy and influential friends, even ferrying some of them to the island on your personal Boeing 727 airliner.

      Suppose those wild sex parties included the presence, voluntary or coerced, of young (perhaps illegally so) women.

      That’s pretty good extortion material, isn’t it?

      Now suppose a government intelligence agency offered to protect you from prosecution for your escapades — perhaps by leaning on a federal prosecutor to make the matter go away with minimal punishment — in return for that extortion material?

      Is that how things happened? Your guess is as good as mine. But if so, it would be far from the first time that innocent men, women and children have been sacrificed to the false idol of “national security.”

      Since World War Two, the United States has built itself into a “national security state” which recognizes no ethical or legal constraints. It’s doesn’t exist to protect the American public. It exists to protect itself. And, too often, it protects the predators among us.

        1. “Let me assure you that case will continue on against anyone who was complicit with Epstein,” Barr said. “Any co-conspirators should not rest easy. Victims deserve justice and will get it.”

          I’ll believe it when I see it.

          1. Just when we thought our relations with Great Britain had hit a nadir, HRH Prince Andrew’s been accused as a pedophile in US court documents. For once, the Daily Mail can have a front-page headline which isn’t entirely crap.

            But more importantly, must Prince Andrew come to the US to be deposed in this case? And depending on the grand jury’s decision, will he stand trial here? It’s a strange case when we have a member of the Windsor family having to plead before a jury box full of commoners “She didn’t look a day under 18!”. How will Parliament react? It’s arguable that the Law Lords will be less sympathetic to any plea he makes against extradition than ever before.

            1. Yesterday, there were photos of Prince Andrew heading to church with the queen…

        2. Makes you wonder if Epstein’s fatal crime wasn’t “criminal stupidity”. He allegedly got away with doing what he did and pimping his victims to the wealthy, notable and powerful who shared his tastes, took very few measures to conceal what he did, trusting in powerful others to protect him from exposure.

          For all the moral bloviation about Trump, it took his presidency for Epstein to be prosecuted to a greater degree than the prospect of being firmly slapped on both wrists and sentenced to a year of work-release in a county jail. Trump may have hired one of the US attorneys responsible for that travesty of justice to run the Labor Department, but who was minding the store when Acosta was making that deal and sealing all those accusations? Hint: not Trump.

  7. Pingback: Epstein | nebraskaenergyobserver

  8. Another Friday event wherein the Deep Deep State has all weekend to tidy up the details – the rats are scurrying.

    How long does the Deep Deep State hold dominion – is that enumerated in the Constitution?

    America really needs another set of Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, John Adams, Madison, Samuel Adams, Franklin, Hancock, Mason,

    Jay, Paine, Paul Revere, Patrick Henry et al.

    Today, the American Founders would probably get a radio or Fox News show and make tons of money bloviating rather than fight, die

    and freeze in Valley Forge.

  9. Some interesting questions received in an email without a source.

    1) Isn’t it weird that in America our flag and our culture offend so many people,?? ?????? but our benefits don’t?

    2) How can the federal government ask U.S. citizens to pay back student loans,?? ?????? when illegal aliens are receiving a free education?

    (3) Only in America are legal citizens labeled “racists” and “Nazis,” but?? ?????? illegal aliens are called “Dreamers.”

    (4) Liberals say, “If confiscating all guns saves just one life, it’s worth it.” Well then,?? ?????? if deporting all illegals saves just one life, wouldn’t that be worth it?

    (5) I can’t quite figure out how you can proudly wave the flag of another country?? ?????? but consider it punishment to be sent back there.

    (6) The Constitution: It doesn’t need to be rewritten;?? ???? it needs to be reread ??????

    ( 7) William F. Buckley said: “Liberals claim to want to give a hearing to other points of view and?? ?????? are then shocked and offended when they discover there are other points of view.”

    (8) Joseph Sobran said: ” ‘Need’ now means wanting someone else’s money. ‘Greed’ means wanting to keep your own.?? ?????? ‘Compassion’ is when a politician arranges the transfer.”

    (9) Florida has had 119 hurricanes since 1850, but?? some people still insist the last one was due to climate change.

    1. Karen/Allan, Allan/Karen, this kind of stupidity suits you. Idiot friends, who knew.

      1. YNOT, why don’t you answer the questions asked? The reason is you are too stupid and can’t think. That is OK because there are others to do the thinking for you.

        2. More of Allan’s spew, below, but he’s a classic bully…and can’t help himself.

          1. Bully, Brainless? You keep coming after me. I don’t bother with you. Go play with YNOT but try not to make the world worse off by reproducing.

            1. More of Allan’s spew, but he’s a classic bully…and can’t help himself.

              (Allan is dreaming. No one is “coming after” Allan. LOL. Only in his dreams.)

              1. Brainless, we would seldom cross paths but for your continuous attempts to connect with me. On that fact alone one would call you a bully but that would be wrong because you aren’t much more than a lonely old hag.

                1. Allan just keeps spewing.

                  This is a blog where any and all are free to comment — unless/until banned for civility infractions, such as the kind of insults that you’ve hurled above — at someone who hasn’t the slightest interest in you.

                  This must be some new right-wing meme. I see that Foxy Trotsy was using the same language with YNOT, earlier today.

                  Get over yourself and move on, Allan. No one has fantasies about you. You’re dreamin’.

                  Go scream or blabber into the void, chump.

                  screamintothevoid.com

                  1. “This is a blog where any and all are free to comment — unless/until banned for civility infractions,”

                    Brainless, in the interests of decency you would be removed from any list but this list is open and doesn’t seem to be moderated except in the most extreme cases where individuals have lost total control over themselves or at least one of their personalities. That is why you are free to follow me around which is what you do and what is done when person obsesses over another.

                    I will tell you again. I am happily married and don’t even like witless people that have no positive characteristics so if you feel I am a bully all you have to do is stay away. I doubt you will because your hunger is so great.

                    1. The only one obsessing over anything, or anyone, is you, Allan.

                      And while you might be ‘happily married’, it would defy logic to think that your spouse is also ‘happily married” — if in fact you are really married.

                      Most people don’t share that kind of info in their blog comment. Only an idiot…

                      …and a creep — which you are, Allan.

                    2. “The only one obsessing over anything, or anyone, is you, Allan.”

                      No that is not obsessions work. I try to stay away from you. You keep involving me in your fantasies. That is an obsession

                      You need not believe this but my spouse is extremely happy as am I. I am sorry that you have never found that type of comfort. I do not find it a problem to share the fact that I have a happy relationship when an unhappy person like you keeps approaching me. I think it is an appropriate response. However, we can see how paranoia has affected you by taking note of the fact that despite the fact that one can be anonymous with a name you are too paranoid to even have a phony name.

                      Now see if you can resist me.

                    4. “Creepy manchild alert!”

                      …And why do you think such an alert is needed? It is your own doing and your obsessiveness that has created the problem. You seek me out and then complain. You are a sicko and you don’t even realize it. I guess you have a right to be since you are paranoid, lonely and a bit dimwitted.

                      Will you disappear from my life or will your obsession drive you to respond?

                    5. AFIAK, no one gives two hoots about Allan’s and his marital status. His all-too-frequent accusations are beginning to border on stalking.

                      With Allan, we’ll just issue “alerts” from now on:

                      Allan is here: Creepy manchild alert!

                    6. “AFIAK”

                      Your stalking comment is true where you are concerned as you are following me, not visa versa. This present personality sounds more and more like Diane.

                      You are a bit crazy and apprently were let out of the nut house a bit too early.

                    7. Anonymous – at least he is brave enough to come out into the open. You are still hiding in the laundry chute.

                    8. Allan is Mr. I-must-have-the-last-word.

                      (Repeating: AFAIK, no one gives two hoots about nutty Allan’s marital status. His all-too-frequent accusations are beginning to border on stalking.

                      With Allan, we’ll just issue “alerts” from now on:

                      Allan is here: Creepy manchild alert!)

                      So: Creepy manchild alert!!

                    9. “Allan is Mr. I-must-have-the-last-word.”

                      Brainless, it seems only proper I have the last word. Your obsession causes you to stalk and have the first word. This is just like Diane of a year ago. She did the same repeat postings over and over again.

  10. Hey Prof. Turley

    How come you mention Bill Clinton but you don’t raise questions about the culpability of your buddy Attorney General Bill Barr? Is that because Barr is your friend? The buck stops with Barr, that’s without a doubt.

    I seem to remember your buddy Barr saying something during the last few days about the “sense of satisfaction” that Americans get from “vigilante justice” portrayed in Dirty Harry movies. Was that a signal to one or more people working for the Bureau of Prisons to let Epstein be “suicided”?

    Bill Barr has blood on his hands. His “investigation “ might be designed to uncover the “truth” the same way the Warren Commission uncovered the “truth” about the JFK assassination. Unlike others, I’m not going to pretend to know what happened. There are many possibilities. But I strongly suspect that we won’t find out the truth from any investigation run by Bill Barr.

    1. You’re “not going to pretend to know what happened,” but Bill Barr has blood on his hands.

      Really?

      1. Yes. Really. He runs the DOJ, of which the Bureau of Prisons is a part. As the Attorney General he is in the direct chain of command. The events that occurred were on his watch. He was aware of the prior apparent prior suicide attempt. And the fact that Epstein has a connection with Barr’s family creates an appearance problem, regardless of what actually happened. If Barr had an ounce of integrity he would resign and let an independent party run the investigation. And if Turley was intellectually honest, Turley would bring this topic up, even if he disagrees with my view that Barr should immediately resign.

          1. Great nom de plume, NOT. Sock puppet name, sock puppet brain, so stupid it must be Allan.

            1. No YNOT that isn’t me but who expects you to think things out. That would be above your paygrade.

        2. There are about 200,000 prisoners held in the federal prison system.
          If D.d. Drain is really eager to discredit Barr with his pet conspiracy theories, he may want draw up a list of all inmate suicides, murders, and assaults that happen “on his watch”.

  11. Two things:

    Giving a man I the situation like Epstein the means to kill him self, is the same as murder. Many ppl needed him dead, and if he was suicidal, enabling it is convenient for many.

    Second, I don’t think it’s obvious that he didn’t have any cards left to play. A plea for lifetime home imprisonment doesn’t seem impossible if he can implicate the a huge chunk of US (and Western) power structure. As a prosecutor, and as a citizen, I would accept that plea.

    1. it is decided….the Clintons did it.
      Since Mr Terrence K. Williams declared it the liberals are showing the racists they are towards him just because he is black.

      Terrence K. Williams
      ‏
      Verified account

      @w_terrence
      Follow Follow @w_terrence
      Terrence K. Williams Retweeted Terrence K. Williams
      President Trump Retweeted This & they are calling him Unfit for doing so.

      They want to know why he retweeted a “conspiracy theorists & Whacko” when did common sense become a Conspiracy

      1,000s of White Liberals are calling me out of my name but they Claim Trump is the Racist

      1. The forensic psychologist Barbara R. Kirwin, in her book of reminiscences The Mad, The Bad and The Innocent described many of the issues with Manhattan Correctional Center, including stench that got into meeting rooms where she had to give standardized personality tests to criminal suspects. The book’s a good read if you want fresh air in the discussion over the insanity defense.

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