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MadMonzer

Epstein Files must have done something really awful for so many libs to want him released.

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joined 2022 September 06 23:45:01 UTC 

				
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MadMonzer


								

								

								
								
								

								
							
					
 
				


				
Epstein Files must have done something really awful for so many libs to want him released.

				
				
				

				

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					joined 2022 September 06 23:45:01 UTC
				


				
					

					
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				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I probably overgeneralise some of these things. I am still trying to promote "metre" as a colloquial term for 10^9 Euros.


[Joke explanation for non-traders - "yard" is a corruption of "milliard" which was used in old-school British English to refer to 10^9, with "billion" being 10^12. (This convention is still used in French and German.) So a "yard" was traderspeak for 10^9 currency units, assumed USD unless otherwise stated]


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Low/mid three figure millions. Online guesses of peak net worth are 300-500 million for Epstein and 150-250 million for Weinstein.


Dropping the last six figures when talking about client net worth/deal size is a financial professional shibboleth. (Even relatively successful financial professionals are not rich enough to do this when talking about our own money). I should probably stop doing it on the Motte.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I think they would have got the same amount of attention in the first few months after coming out. But it is the "outsider" (including fake outsiders like Trump when he was in opposition) conspiracy theory-type interest in Epstein which makes the scandal run for years, and I can see that "was he Mossad" is a huge part of that.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
And when one Duke student date rapes another, nobody cares, even though both perp and victim are celebrities by @thrownaway24e89172's definition. (Feminists claim to care, but not enough to stop getting blackout drunk at frat parties in their youth, or sending their daughters to be raped as adults.)


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Stranger rapes with a "perfect victim" (roughly, middle-class and hot) get a lot of attention locally when they happen regardless of the perp.


Nobody gives a flying flamingo about date rapes or rapes of chavettes unless they happen to reinforce a partisan narrative. The Weinstein and Epstein cases have the legs they do because "blue-state white male 'billionaire'* elites are depraved sex pests" can be used to reinforce both partisan narratives, and the (((perps))) having an obvious ethnic skew that powerful people don't want to talk about gives you double super conspiracy theory memeness.


* Epstein liked people to think he was a billionaire, and is widely referred to as one by his left-wing political opponents, but his net worth peaked in the mid three figures. Weinstein never claimed to be a billionaire, and his net worth peaked in the low three figures. This is part of a general problem talking about the super-rich, which is that the level of wealth needed to qualify is between $30 and $100 million depending on who you ask, and neither "millionaire" nor "billionaire" is a useful description at that level. The midwit leftists complaining about "billionaires" absolutely mean to include Weinstein and Epstein in the group they are complaining about.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I don't know whether "Only commit one crime at a time" is somehow difficult advice that you need to be smart to follow, or if criminals are even dumber than I think after grokking that criminals are the dumbest people alive.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Apart from the split profession in England*, which doesn't actually add much to the cost because junior barristers are cheaper than experienced litigation solicitors, this is true basically everywhere. A company can't self-represent (it has no mouth to speak in court and no hands to sign documents) and non-lawyer employees are banned from representing a company almost everywhere (for "grownup Court" this includes England, Scotland, and AFAIK all 50 US States). The English system at least allows non-lawyer employees to represent their corporate employer in small claims court, which not every US state does.


* Solicitors do general legal work, and are not usually allowed to argue in the courts that handle high-value civil cases and serious crimes. Barristers do trial work, and are prohibited from doing certain types of administrative work in a way which means only a sophisticated client can hire one directly. The normal way you litigate is to hire solicitors who will handle pre-litigation correspondence, file the case, deal with discovery and settlement negotiations, and hire a barrister for you to handle trial prep and the trial itself once it becomes clear that the case will probably go to trial.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


The easy answer there is that the maxxing-type men want sex not as an end in itself, but as a means to gain approval from other men.




Broscience has always been comfortable with the idea that the muscular figure that impresses bros is more cut than the figure which is attractive to women, which itself is more cut than the optimal athletic figure you see among e.g. World's Strongest Man contestants. Just don't suggest that a bro's interest in his bro's cut figure is homoerotic...


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


The crimes were discovered in September 2020 after Dominique was arrested for taking upskirt photographs of women in a supermarket




One crime at a time, man. One of the most egregious cases I have seen.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
You should also be scared of yourself carrying a gun if you don't know what you are doing yet. Guns are fairly high up the list of things which can kill you if handled with merely common or garden stupidity. (Consumer product safety is all about designing things so that killing yourself with e.g. mains electricity requires aggravated stupidity).


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
For track and field specifically, there is an organic interest in Olympic athletics that doesn't exist for the intervening 3 years and 50 weeks. The 100 metres final is the most expensive event ticket at the Summer Olympics (after the opening and closing ceremonies), and athletics is the only sport that regularly gets on to national broadcasts even if your country isn't a medal prospect.


For something like artistic swimming or archery, I agree with you in general. But even artistic swimming can become a big deal if your country has a good chance of an Olympic medal.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Transnational Thursday for February 12, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Given that Iolanthe is described as looking 17 (despite being an immortal fairy, and the mother of 25-year old Strephon), does this mean that Iolanthe is now banned in Australia as simulated CP? I suspect not, but I know that G&S would want to set the resulting lawyer jokes to music. Perhaps you could add a comic dance number after the Fairy Queen turns the Australian Parliament into kangaroos.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Actual paedophiles (in the sense of men primarily attracted to prepubescent children) exist, we even had one on the Motte. But they are vanishingly rare - the number of actual prepubescent kids molested by actual paedophiles each year in the UK appears to be in single figures.


Men fucking sexually mature teenage girls is illegal for good reasons, but it isn't really deviant - ephebophilia is just normal straight male sexuality, and 13 year old girls with periods used to be marriageable essentially everywhere (though rarely married in practice in cisHajnal cultures).


The other thing that is an unfortunate aspect of normalish sexuality is pederasty. The age at which a boy becomes attractive as a twink to a man who wants to fuck twinks is even younger than the age at which girls become attractive to ephebophiles - Greek boylove started when the boy was 12 or occasionally even younger. I think social scripts around modern gayness-based male homosexuality (versatile means bottom!) have developed in a way which mean that Greek-style boylove is no longer considered a normal part of male homosexuality and this has done more than horror at paedophilia to get NAMBLA kicked out of Pride.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
And we don't give the general public access to trucks, partly for exactly that reason. Even in the hoplophobic UK, it is harder to get a cat D endorsement on your driving licence (needed to drive a vehicle over 7.5T) than a rifle permit. Lahouaiej-Bouhlel had taken a job as a trucker about a year before the incident - it isn't obvious if this was a long-term evil scheme like Atta's flying lessons, or if it was a career decision that created an opportunity down the line.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Given the dates, I'm going to guess that the FBI didn't have the ABC photo when they put out the reward - they are specifically asking for something like the photo.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


and the reason it can't protect against attacks like this is that it let an ugly/unpopular Progressive token minority off the hook while acting to punish everyone else




Empirically, the only way you can protect against spree killings by psychos is to deny the general population (many of which are unfortunately, undiagnosed psychos) weapons.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Iran-Contra was a crime, but not a mistake - it succeeded in its goals. Failure to take Iran seriously as a long-term enemy was a mistake, though not, I think, a big one at the time - focusing on defeating the USSR and leaving hostile non-aligned countries alone was obviously the correct big-picture call.


From a general right-wing perspective, Reagan's biggest mistake was no-fault divorce. From a right-populist perspective, it would be GATT.


From a factual perspective, Reagan was wrong bigly about Star Wars (it couldn't be implemented with 1980's technology) and where the US was on the Laffer curve (the Reagan tax cuts blew out the deficit in a way their supporters claimed they wouldn't), but in both cases the consequences were of the "trillion dollars here, trillion dollars there" type rather than anything potentially catastrophic.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
This is SOP in the UK for three reasons:


    

  1. Laws protecting the privacy of minors. You can't publish identifying information about a minor, including a minor criminal, without the parents' explicit permission (which won't be forthcoming for criminals).
    2. 

  2. Reporting restrictions to prevent press coverage prejudicing the jury pool.
    3. 

  3. Newspapers don't have any kind privilege against defamation liability when republishing police statements. (They do when republishing statements made in open court or in court documents). Naming a suspect who turns out to be innocent is a good way to get sued, unless you have court proceedings to base a claim of privilege on. So newspapers only name names after the arraignment or if they are taking a calculated risk.
    4. 



Point 2 is how Stephen Yaxley-Lemmon (aka Tommy Robinson) was jailed for "reporting on grooming gangs" - he made podcasts (that would have been accessible to the jury) where he described the not-yet-convicted defendants as "Muslim child rapists" and continued to do so after receiving a suspended prison sentence for contempt of court. Ironically, he appealed (unsuccessfully) against his own conviction on the grounds that media coverage had prejudiced the jury pool.


All of these measures (and the debate among lawyers and journalists about whether they are a good idea) long predate mass immigration and the Great Awokening - journalists back in the 1980s were bitching about how US-style tabloid crime journalism was illegal in the UK. (The only change in recent years is that Reynolds provides qualified privilege to newspapers who practice responsible journalism and make an honest mistake, which would be relevant to point 3 if the defendant was a public figure).


In this case, I assume the assailant is a minor so nothing interesting about him will come out unless the parents waive anonymity or the judge rules (only after conviction) that the crime was so severe that it would be appropriate to override it.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Good point. You can plausibly argue that the US and Iran have been in a state of undeclared war since the embassy siege. (Which was a perfidious surprise attack)


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Most normie Americans who have thought about the issue - the denominator already excludes the vast majority. Unfortunately you can't poll "Americans who have thought about Puerto Rico".


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Yes, but not because it's terrorism.


Blowing up a cabinet secretary would be an act of war, and if Iran wants a war then "Bring It On" is a reasonable response - doubly so if they start it with a perfidious surprise attack rather than by declaring war.


Ukraine and Russia are already at war, at Russia's choice. It is a defensive war for Ukraine, and if they are successfully defending themselves by blowing up Russian cabinet secretaries, then Russia should either suck less or start fewer wars. As a matter of international law, Ukraine can defend themselves all the way to Vladivostok if they want to and have the military ability to.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Then we very much agree.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
A drop of 0.3 children per woman in 2 years seems cliffy enough to me.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
People Aligning Relationships, Employment, Ninos, Toddlers, Sprogs?


Seriously, you don't need a cute term for married parents. They should just be normal.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Anecdotally, the long-term drop is mostly driven by reduction in fertility among the parous but the cliff-edge drop some countries have seen post-pandemic is driven by reduced couple formation. I don't think the paper you linked breaks the trend out by decade.