It’s a coincidence that Maxwell is still alive while Epstein’s neck just did that. Pay no attention to who her father was or the guests in her father’s funeral.

The notion that an intelligence agency could fake the death of an asset is not one of them

Assets are supposed to be disposable though. The hierarchy is case officers > handlers > assets. I think Maxwell is the handler, owning to her closer ties to intelligence through her father, while Epstein is simply an asset. The other convincing argument for this relationship is the fact that the handler is still alive while the asset has been liquidated. Epstein, like all assets who have outlived their usefulness, becomes the fall guy.

You can see this pattern in other cases. For the Oklahoma City bombing, McVeigh and his accomplice driver were disposable assets while John Doe 2 their handler has connections with West German intelligence. And after the bombing happened, McVeigh and the driver were left to rot while the feds tried to erase all existence of John Doe 2 like confiscating security camera footage in surrounding buildings that would’ve definitively proven the existence of John Doe 2. McVeigh got executed with lethal injection while John Doe 2 got flown out of the US by a pilot working for the CIA. There are levels to this.

I’m still in the “intelligence agencies will unceremoniously liquidate assets who have outlived their usefulness and have become a liability” camp, so if they did whisk him out of jail, it’s to liquidate him at a black site where no one knows where he is. Why would they want to kill him and bury his body in an unmarked grave? It’s to liquidate him in a gruesome torturous fashion, presumably to serve as an example for assets who have become liabilities.

Because Israel wants its operatives to know they’ve got their back no matter what despicable shit they’re doing for Israel. They want them to know they will not be abandoned by Israel, even when imprisoned. It keeps them from turning to save their own skin.

They don’t need Epstein to be alive. They just need to think Epstein is still alive. Mossad isn’t going to bring Epstein out to shake hands with prospective agents to show that he’s still alive. It’s going to be through rumors like “I’ve heard that Epstein is still having coke parties at Tel Aviv.” Those rumors don’t require Epstein to be physically alive though.

Perhaps this is the real conspiracy: they liquidate Epstein at his cell so he wouldn’t squeal and they fake enough discrepancies (autopsies with anatomical inconsistencies, edited postmortem photos to make it look like it’s not him) to push a “Epstein is still alive” narrative that both gives Mossad agents cope that they aren’t disposable tools and discredits the idea that intelligence agencies were behind his death (“saying the CIA killed Epstein is a conspiracy theory like how Epstein is still alive.”).

Look at that dipshit Sneeze hiding behind the wheel like the yellow-belly class traitor that he is.

Wasn’t there a rageface of this pose?

This is the time for him to write his will/living trust and take serious steps towards planning his funeral and final resting place. Not an “I want to be buried in a hole in the ground,” but actually picking the mortuary, buying the graveyard plot, and selecting the gravestone design that will be used should he pass away.

If he is the sole living partner, he also needs to begin handing out things not covered by his will/living trust to remaining family and friends. “Here son, take my fishing rod. It’s yours now.” For the sake of his soon-to-be-grieving-should-the-cancer-proves-to-be-terminal family and friends, he also needs to get rid of his useless junk. He needs to get rid of that stool that he kept around for no reason instead of having family and friends argue over whether they should get rid of the stool because since he hasn’t gotten rid of the stool, this stool obviously has great sentimental value to him.

He shouldn’t wait until he has terminal cancer before going, “Welp, I’m gonna die. Time to settle my affairs.” He’s going to die anyways just like how we’re all going to die as well. If the cancer becomes that advance, he’s going to be very weak and in constant pain, perhaps not even mentally competent enough to make important decisions. And even if he does beat cancer, he’s going to be frailer than he is right now on top of being weaker due to being older.

However, everything I’ve read about him from you paints him as a typical boomer dude. I do not think he will take my advice to heart. Most likely, he will deny that he is very close to the edge between life and death and has to be dragged kicking and screaming to seriously reckon with his mortality and take appropriate actions.

Ultimately, the question “is X art?” just perpetuates commodity fetishism since the art in question only exists because of human labor. And as we know, commodities don’t need to be physical objects. A service or a performance could itself be a commodity.

The real question should be “is Y an artist in the context of X?” For a piano recital, the vast majority of people would say that both the composer who wrote the piece and the pianist who is actually playing the piece are artists in their own right. Some people might include the audience listening to the piece (the audience’s role in piano recitals is obscured due to bourgeois cultural norms of reducing the audience to passive listener, but it’s far more obvious in music with call-and-response). I personally would include the workers that make the instruments and perhaps even the musical “peripherals” like the piano bench as artists since the piano recital wouldn’t exist without them actually making it possible through their labor.

Perhaps you might think it’s a reach to consider a janitor who keeps the recital hall clean an artist, but if we consider a film production, I would absolutely consider stunt people and workers who labor towards constructing sets and the catering crew as much of artists as the director and writers and “the talent.” It’s honestly elitism to suggest otherwise. Stunt people put their bodies on the line to make an entire genre of film watchable, but some bigshot celebrity who phones it in for a fat paycheck is more of an artist than them?

As for " “is Y an artist in the context of X?” implies that you’ve already decided X is art," I subscribe to a fuzzy definition of art that most people use in practice (non-utilitarian product, not bad craftsmanship ie talent, made by humans, societal consensus, needs an audience to appreciate the art, has aesthetic qualities that lead to an emotional reaction with the audience). Not everything needs a precise definition nor an all-encompassing criterion.

Yes. People constantly describe certain chess matches between grandmasters as “beautiful” and various other aesthetic qualities. I don’t see why this can’t be extrapolated to board games in general.

If so, is there a limit on what kind of game could and couldn’t be used to “create art” in this sense you are using the term?

To use the instrument analogy, different instruments can do different things. A bugle is more limited than a trumpet. Banging on a pot is more limited than playing on a full drum set. The art that can be created is comparatively limited, but it doesn’t stop being art.

I would say that composers and songwriters only become artists once performers actually perform their piece with instruments made by humans, be it through artisans or factory workers. It’s a collaborative effort between composers/songwriters, the workers who make the instruments, and the performers. Hell, you could throw in the audience while we’re at it. The art, music being played, is a collaborative effort between composer, workers, performers, and audience and if any one of them is missing, I do not think the final product is art.

This is also one way to argue why AI music isn’t actually art. AI music is missing the composer who came up with the sheet music, the workers who manufactured the instruments, and the performers who actually play the piece. At best, there’s just an audience consuming AI slop.

I actually have come around to games not being art, but my argument is very different from the vast majority of people.

Games aren’t art in the same way a piano isn’t art and a guitar isn’t art and a paintbrush isn’t art. It’s an instrument to create art, and while we can engage with pedantry over whether pianos, guitars, and paintbrushes can themselves be art, nobody seriously considers them art beyond “good craftsmanship automatically becomes art.” It’s the music being played by the piano and the painting being painted with the paintbrush that is art.

So what is the game equivalent of music and paintings? It’s essentially every single instance of the game being played by the player. That is the art. The any% speedrun is the art. The speedrunner is the artist. The actual game is the instrument in which the speedrunner the artist brings forth their art the speedrun into the world.

It’s stunning how games map so well with musical instruments, especially with PC games vs pianos:

• game dev = composer

• game engine = physical construction of the piano

• level design = sheet music

• saving = playing the piece at a particular measure instead of the very beginning

• mods = writing on the sheet music

• speedrunning = playing the piece with a much faster tempo because you’re bored playing the same piece over and over again at the same andante tempo

• sound and visual from the game = sound and vibrations from the piano

• keyboard and mouse = keyboard and pedal

• gaming chair = piano bench

• videogame player = piano player

• “I play videogames” = “I play the piano”

You could probably set up a rhythm game played on a PC keyboard and a piano program also played on a PC keyboard with identical keystrokes and identical music being played. But the miscategorization would have people believe that the rhythm game itself is the art and not just an instrument like the piano program.

The first group are the strategists and puppet masters. The second group is cannon fodder.

Here’s to a new chapter of your life. May it be more nurturing and fulfilling than the previous one.

lmao yeah DC is the leading city and New York City is just a sideshow among American cities

I didn’t say that. And DC is the number one city when it comes to civic religion if we’re talking about cultural exports for a domestic audience.

And I’m talking about New York being the leading city of the American Empire, not the world

Oh, so now we’re talking about leading city? We might as well just say it’s Washington DC. You know, the actual capital.

Exactly, just like I said globally diffuse and not city specific

Literally everything you said about NYC like music, fashion, food, publishing, tourism, and art is globally diffuse. You think the rest of the world just bang on rocks for music, wear rags for clothes, and eat mud for food?

YES! NYC has free childcare, LA does not, do you bother keeping up with recent developments

So what does that has to do with being the cultural heart of anything?

My point is Minneapolis isn’t the cultural or financial heart of America, New York City is

Which you did by throwing out some non sequitor about living costs. I might as well say New Orleans is the cultural heart of the US because they like eating gumbo.

That’s not what I said, I said Hollywood is failing because of enshittification and AI oversaturation after Covid devastated the theater industry

The same theater industry that you prided NYC for bringing to the world? How is this an argument for NYC being the cultural heart of anything?

Again we’re not talking about China

Right, I’m talking about the world.

videogames are apparently the only thing you consider cultural products which is a bizarre belief on its face

I listed at least 7.

(and like film are globally diffuseand not site specific)

The AAA videogame industry revolves around Japan, China, and the west coast. No cares about Slavjank made by Polish devs.

Evangelicals are culturally marginalized hence their constant crash outs

They are growing in Latin America and still have a cultural stranglehold in the US, especially the South.

New York City is the largest site of cultural production in the country

Now you’re just asserting this without bothering to say exactly what cultural exports they actually produce since no one cares about Broadway musicals.

Los Angeles is too expensive

More than NYC? There are definitely cheaper cities than NYC like Minneapolis. Not sure what your point here is.

and again Hollywood is failing

Uh huh.

Also if you seriously haven’t heard about the continuing enshittication of Hollywood and the hollowing out of its institutions by scandal and AI obsessed executives, then you’ve been living under a rock

No one is going to boycott films just because movie execs appeared on Epstein’s island.

toe of tac of tic

Hollywood is dying and its cultural impact was always globally diffuse

What the hell does that even mean? Hollywood films are the number one cultural export of the US. People in China watch trailers of capeshit slop translated into Chinese on Douyin. Absolutely nobody in China gives two shits about Broadway. And this isn’t even getting into Disney and Paramount consolidating hold over media. Are you gonna “uh aktually” me about those media corps just because they aren’t actually located in the particular city of Hollywood but a different southern Californian city that less than a few blocks away?

claiming video games are a West Coast phenomenon is delusional

The videogame industry in the US is all headquartered at the west coast. All the big name AAA studios like Activision-Blizzard and EA have HQs in California. Valve and Microsoft are based in Washington. NYC basically only has Take-Two. Globally, the US videogame industry competes with Japanese and Chinese studios.

threading on semantics doesn’t change the fact New York City is the leading metropole in cultural production; again, music, fashion, food, publishing, tourism, art, and yes theater did you forget how many wealthy libs exist in this country? Did you forget the effect bullshit like Hamilton had on liberal consciousness?

None of that shit matters compared with Hollywood films, AAA videogames, Evangelical Christianity, academic papers, traditional news media, social media, and for lack of a better word, NGO-ism. You know, actual US cultural exports that matter. Absolutely nobody in Brazil is consuming the slop that passes for food in the states or watching Wicked. But they sure are watching US films and playing US videogames and being exposed to a particular branch of Protestant Christianity and studying so they can have the chance at getting accepted to a US university.

How does NYC contribute to the pot? Hollywood films and AAA videogames are from the west coast. Evangelical Christianity is from the south. Social media is throughout the country. This leaves traditional news media, which is centered at NYC, and academia/NGOs, which NYC partially contributes through Columbia as an Ivy League.

The number one city in overall cultural production gets to be called the cultural heart and semantics doesn’t change that, when people think of Americana, New York City looms the largest in their minds

Maybe if you only talk to New Yorkers lmao. Absolutely nobody in the rest of the country thinks New York represents Americana. The center of Americana is the Midwest. Everybody knows that. Everybody except for New Yorkers apparently.

The fact the mayoral election became a national phenomenon that had even dumb southern hicks thinking they could vote in it proves New York is the leading city of the American Empire

That’s because traditional news media is centered at NYC. It’s like how Hollywood films always seem to portray LA and California in general in a positive light.

It’s almost like it’s a big ass country and despite New York being the cultural heart, there are other major poles like Los Angeles

It hasn’t been the cultural heart for a century. It lost out when the film industry moved from NYC to Hollywood. That was my point. Since then, it existed as a major pole alongside other cities. At best, you could say it was first among equals until the 2010s, when a combination of videogames being an established artform with a base in the West coast, professional sport viewership moving away from baseball to football and basketball, and social media eroding trust of traditional news media further diminished its cultural status as first among equals. The US doesn’t have a real cultural heart. NYC certainly isn’t the center of Americana and it has never been.

Like, are you really going to use theater as an example of cultural influence? People stopped giving a shit about theater when the first films dropped. Frank Sinatra’s generation already didn’t give a shit about theater.

New York is one the major poles of cultural production in this country; from music, theater, to food culture, and it’s political influence is enormous considering the financial powerhouses that squat downtown

So we went from “cultural heart” to “one of the major poles.” Good, progress has been made. Why do I have a feeling you don’t value the mayors of those other “major poles” as much as this particular major pole?

“Insignificant” meanwhile he’s mayor of the most important city of the American empire

Mayor isn’t a significant political office in the US. Mayors of Beijing and Shanghai sit in the Central Committee and even they get outranked by party secretaries of the Beijing and Shanghai Municipal Committee respectively.

And you don’t think New York fuckin City doesn’t meet that criteria? Mayor of the financial and cultural heart of the country isn’t prestigious enough?

Mayors do not become president. Governors and senators do. The last mayor who became president was Coolidge over a century ago.

And let’s be real, NYC hasn’t been the cultural heart of the US for a century at this point. Tin Pan Alley tunes and Yiddish vaudeville stopped being the forefront of Burgerlander pop culture more than half a century ago.