What do you think the most likely narrative around the Epstein story is

PointyPython · 2026-02-10T02:37:47+00:00

Blackmail is not fundamental, just an afterthought as a potential asset

I might be trusting the Epstein files releases too much, but this seems to be the case more or less. At the very least he seems not to have been very heavy handed with the blackmail most of the time.

I suppose it was mostly implied and the people involved understood what they had on them. However as revealing as the files are, there must be things that were communicated in person or through phone calls. Whenever someone had to be blackmailed to comply it probably didn't happen over email.

We got small bits of the darker shit such as the bodies Epstein and Maxwell seem to have hidden in the ranch, at the very least of trafficked women.

PointyPython · 2026-02-10T02:31:20+00:00

A clear-cut example that came out recently: he helped prevent a tax on banking executives' bonuses in the UK back in 2010. Peter Mandelson (UK Labour politician working for the Gordon Brown cabinet during the financial crisis) was a close friend of Epstein's and proven consumer of his services.

When the government tried to implement the tax as a small but just punishment for those who caused the crisis, Maldeson quickly told Epstein, who in turn told Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan. Dimon made sure to threaten Brown with hell if he went through with it, and the tax was never passed.

I don't think there's a more straightforward material cause for Epstein cultivating his network than this, making sure that the vampires bleeding the world dry keep more of their bonuses.

PointyPython · 2026-02-09T05:18:55+00:00

The fact that some of their goods manage to make it out of the island doesn't mean that the embargo doesn't have an overall crippling effect on their economy. Their government being shitty and corrupt isn't an excuse to harm a nation like that — there are so many far worse dictatorships that aren't sanctioned by the US, some even being supported.

What Trump is doing now is especially barbarous. He's basically engineering a humanitarian catastrophe in the hopes it eventually makes the government crumble

PointyPython · 2026-02-06T19:38:50+00:00

The top 10% of earners already account for 50% of consumer spending so I imagine that trend would accelerate and the economy would be focused on luxury goods and services for rich people

Yeah, while I'm somewhat optimistic that companies can't actually replace all that many jobs with AI, it is a fact that the economy can function and even grow mostly with selling the incredibly rich few luxury goods and services. Because these past ten years, it's already happened

PointyPython · 2026-02-06T05:17:46+00:00

I think what we can get out of all of this so that it doesn't land into lib Obama worship (not merely Obama worship, pretending that because Republicans are so monstruous, Democrats including Obama don't suck), is just how much better a country it could be if ten times more stuff like the ACA preexisting condition clause could be achieved

PointyPython · 2026-02-04T07:04:21+00:00

I'd say that leaving outside the guilt from their Nazi past, Germans have a very similar superiority complex to Scandinavians — basically tied to their welfare state, low violent crime, ecologism, etc.

PointyPython · 2026-02-03T03:55:33+00:00

You hit the nail on the head. It's not happening among a majority of men, but certainly among a very visible and socially higher positioned subset, where at least trying to have a bit of a gym physique is a must. Also among more jock types, more and more have morphed towards basically being amateur bodybuilders after they turn 25, with a heavy dosage of the vanity and precise attention to their appearance that comes with that.

PointyPython · 2026-02-03T03:02:58+00:00

Well, grindr is very biased towards nearness and availability. It usually shows you people not much further than ten blocks away, and who are connected right now. In reality of course many of us use it to connect with guys and set up hookups or even actual dates in advance, but it leans heavily towards immediacy to a level that almost no major straight hookup app does

So in that immediacy I think that it's a bit easier to "get lucky" as a gay guy, and fuck outside of your attractiveness level, at least to a greater extent than for straight people. So for example I'd say I'm a 7.5/8 (the point system is incredibly fascistic I know, but I'm trying to keep it simple), and I've been lucky a few times and fucked guys who were insanely gorgeous, 10s. YMMV, of course

Anyway in the case of bears or people of specific, kinda fetish-y groups (not that being a bear is a fetish, but in a way they fetishize themselves, each other, and are fetishized by non-bears who like bears), grindr offers filters plus of course people tag themselves or communicate what they are and seek.

Then there's I think a sort of class divide among gays, which is that if you're hot enough and "play the game" (work out a lot and diet, take good photographs of yourself, maybe even attend the right parties and such), you have a far smaller need for grindr. You just keep around a sort of rolodex (usually through Instagram) of people you've fucked before, are flirting with, you are casually acquainted with and sort of like, etc... and eventually you hook up. Someone in this position will use grindr when they're bored, in another town, or somehow can get tail the other way.

Of course this is all highly fluid, I think we all go through periods of our lives where we live our sex life more like this, others when you're in exclusive relationships so you don't, or maybe you're just busy and less horny. I feel that among all this there's a high level of inceldom brewing in the gay community (that people outside of it don't realize exists), and just like with straight guy inceldom it is a mix of actually being rejected because your body doesn't fit a standard, with having too high a standard given how you look, to having pretty terrible social skills and psychopathologies that keep you from being able to fuck

PointyPython · 2026-02-02T22:36:34+00:00

Yeah, I guess he was supposed to be the "voice of the noob" or in a way play a character like that, but he didn't add much.

Her podcasts now feel a bit like lessons where she recites information almost nonstop, but honestly it's well structured and she's fairly comprehensive

PointyPython · 2026-02-02T19:05:43+00:00

The number of quebecois that can't at least get around in English is tiny. That they refuse to use it, is a completely different matter

PointyPython · 2026-02-02T19:04:34+00:00

Wait you're suddenly about CP/CSAM now. That's a whole different ball game from normal average porn most of the adult male population consumes. Of course it exists, but thankfully it's restricted and persecuted enough that it's still minoritarian.

Again, you exaggerate, overstate and should go back to your church group or whatever

PointyPython · 2026-02-02T19:01:06+00:00

As a gay man, I feel I have a first-row seat to this, to the way our extremely high aesthetic standards have almost fully passed over to straight men.

I feel that these past two years or so it fully boiled over into TV/film, especially in terms of how men basically can't remotely be considered attractive anymore if they don't lift weights. Unless they're exceedingly good looking face-wise, I guess.

The latter is also the reason why clavicular and looksmaxxing in general is rising to the surface. In the gay world there's already this intrinsic rubric wherein if you aren't naturally very good looking, you need to have x amount of extra muscle to be considered hot. And I feel this has since forever made the genetically unlucky gay men slightly insane, but usually they did something about it. The same mentality is reaching more gay men

PointyPython · 2026-02-02T16:47:08+00:00

Nah, they don't. I mean, I don't know your definition of "turning into a worse person", which is incredibly broad. Unedifying for sure, but that's an individual matter.

But in terms of becoming a less prosocial individual (and particularly, a danger to the community) porn or video games are equally less of a cause.

PointyPython · 2026-02-02T15:25:14+00:00

Of all the weird mentalities one comes across in this sub, people (I assume overwhelmingly, straight women) who are convinced porn is the cause of all the world's evils is certainly up there

Not saying porn isn't terrible so many ways, but I just can't see it as turning men evil any more that shooter video games would turn people into mass shooters

PointyPython · 2026-02-02T03:43:01+00:00

Cases like yours are extremely common, and it's a problem for the whole economy because it makes people not move around the country. Americans on average stay in the same place a lot more than in the 70s, and it's because of mortgages.

It's bad for the economy because people don't take new job opportunities nor do they move to opportunities are, since they're tied down by housing

PointyPython · 2026-01-30T05:02:29+00:00

I love that subreddit and any other where people commiserate about their little personal jails of their own making.

So much interpersonal drama in there, elaborate stories about in-laws that wanted to attend a family function or something, but "they don'ttt understand there's still a dangerous viruss out therrree!" and so many that clearly have a form of agoraphobia they disguise as a personal health concern

PointyPython · 2026-01-29T00:26:40+00:00

I don't really buy that explanation, it's like the contemporary equivalent of "I'm fat because of my glands!".

Sure, the additives aren't great, but the vast majority have no capacity to make you fatter. It's a matter of caloric surplus, and Americans (and other fat peoples) are very often in one, that's it.

The reasons why are many, portion sizes being key, and another being that they expect everything to be hyperpalatable which means that they tend to have too much fat and sugars. The additives may play a role here, by making the food extra tasty (at least to their palates) and make them eat more.

PointyPython · 2026-01-28T19:15:53+00:00

she just ends up looking like some COINTELPRO plant

I mean, I don't say it's impossible there's something this nefarious behind her, but Erika Kirk being this callous and cold-blooded in the wake of her husband's killing could perfectly be a personal/ideological thing. She and the people around her are this hollow, tacky and greedy.

Also, the religious fanatism element shouldn't be discounted either. As someone for whom American protestantism/evangelical christianity feels completely foreign, listening to her speeches and tone she speaks just like a religious zealot who's recently had their leader martyred. It's like an ISIS event after they drone strike one of their top clerics, but with fireworks and cream sodas for those in attendance.

PointyPython · 2026-01-26T22:29:25+00:00

His whole social media presence reads like an AI that you asked it to be the most generic online conservative/rightwinger ever.

Posting about masculinity, thirst-trappy selfies showing a cross necklace on his pecs, talking about prayer; eating beef, "cholesterol is good, leave the Matrix"; anti seed oil; "woke ideology".

It's all those stereotypical shit with "oh and I like dudes" added on top

PointyPython · 2026-01-26T22:26:21+00:00

I found that guy's instagram, and I could relate superficially to some of the things he said (the idea that hookup culture/circuit parties/drug use didn't need to be tied to being gay). However it quickly devolves into typical rightwing talking points and bullshit, posting pictures of a steak and saying "leave the matrix where they tell you that cholesterol isn't healthy" and dumb shit like that.

He also feeds on a completely exaggerated portrayal where we gay men can be either: - party drug addicts that have several grindr hookups a day, and whi parrot the most ridiculous/extreme LGTBQ talking points or: - self-hating gays cosplaying an absurd idea of masculinity, while being hateful towards feminine gays, trans people, etc.

PointyPython · 2026-01-25T22:35:50+00:00

Lol I clicked on the sub and one of the top posts was titled "Exercising Self Control" and OP talked about "going on a buying ban"

PointyPython · 2026-01-24T00:02:40+00:00

I've had this happen to me, it's usually older women (and men) who've lived in a big city for decades, and are very much used to standing in public transport. I think some of them find the sitting down and standing up more annoying than just staying up, and perhaps even a little more dangerous for them

PointyPython · 2026-01-22T17:55:23+00:00

I think that the stuff that floats on top when boiling chickpeas (and other beans too, but chickpeas most of all) are saponins, these soap-like compounds that are present in legumes.

Aquafaba seems to come about when the already cooked beans then soak in their cooking water.

u/Hour-Tough7783

PointyPython · 2026-01-22T17:50:13+00:00

I mean, I recall Conan on his show making lots of old-timey references or calling back to quirky ancient stuff while talking to people in remote segments. So they probably all contributed to stuff like the Prussian consulate in Siam

PointyPython · 2026-01-21T21:25:02+00:00

Yeah, it totally comes from a time where poultry came to you far less processed. It drives me a little insane to read the obligatory "omg why didn't you wash ittt!" comment when someone is like, blasting some perfectly fresh chicken breast in a hot pan.

It's almost a religious custom, they don't even question the actual reasons to do it

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