Images, undated and uncaptioned, include Vladimir Nabokov lines written on women and show Bill Gates and Noam Chomsky

Democrats on the House oversight committee have released a new batch of photos from the estate of convicted sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein, as the deadline for the justice department to release its files related to Epstein looms.

The images, released on Thursday, are undated and lack captions or context. Among them are photographs of what appear to be lines from Vladimir Nabokov’s novel Lolita written on different parts of a woman’s body.

In a statement after the release Robert Garcia, a US representative and ranking member of the committee on oversight and government reform, said that “oversight Democrats will continue to release photographs and documents from the Epstein estate to provide transparency for the American people.”

“As we approach the deadline for the Epstein Files Transparency Act, these new images raise more questions about what exactly the Department of Justice has in its possession,” he said.

  • daannii@lemmy.world
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    9 hours ago

    Media illiteracy is so low in the elites.

    Lolita book was about a man who deludes himself.

    It’s 1st person. Humboldt tells us how lolita loves being with him yet he reports her behaviors which contradict many of the things he says.

    Ultimately my interpretation of the book was a story about a person who is incapable of genuine self reflection and lives in a constructed reality that is far from truth.

    A constructed reality that allows him to not feel bad about the bad person he is nor the harm he inflects.

    This would not be a book to quote during sexual conquests of girls.

    It’s a book about a sad pathetic person.

    It’s like when incels try to align themselves with America psycho Bateman.

    Dude the book is about being a product of manipulation.

    Not being a real person. But an empty machine.

    Why align yourself with that. Wtf?

    Media literally. Seriously.

    • IntrovertTurtle@lemmy.zip
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      30 minutes ago

      Not just the elites, saw an article earlier this year that claimed 40% of Americans are functionally illiterate, and they want to keep us that way. As my world history teacher in high school loved to reiterate: “kings and dictators act to control people, and if you keep people people dumb, fed, and happy, you can control them.” I carry that skepticism everywhere now.

    • David_Eight@lemmy.world
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      20 hours ago

      Seeing Noam Chomsky with Epstein is pretty wild. If they release a photo of Dolly Parton on Epsteins jet I’m packing up my stuff and leaving this planet lol

      • vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works
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        19 hours ago

        Eh Chomsky has always been a bastard IMO. Fun fact I first came across his name when doing research on the Cambodian genocide in middle school (I was that kid who chose the worst things to write about in open ended essays) wherein he sided with the fucking Khmer Rouge. Seriously the one fucking time siding with the Soviet Union is the correct choice and you align yourself with the fucking Khmer Rouge.

        • David_Eight@lemmy.world
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          14 hours ago

          AFAIK he during that time (1970s-ish) said the number of deaths were exaggerated at by western media because there was a lack of (hard) evidence. Not that he was a fan Khmer Rouge and did call their acts atrocities.

          I’m not like a Chomsky super fan or anything though, so if you can send a source that says otherwise I’d love to read it

    • Raiderkev@lemmy.world
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      18 hours ago

      I’m shocked! The man who married his adopted daughter like Elon’s dad did? That really doesn’t track.

  • Optional@lemmy.world
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    21 hours ago

    Steve Bourbon, with his cocktail, water, and coffee, helping Epstein get away with everything

  • EtAl@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    21 hours ago

    I’m always bemused by people that think that Lolita promoted sex with minors. Like, did you not finish the book? Come to think of it, they probably didn’t.

    • UnspecificGravity@piefed.social
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      20 hours ago

      U.S. Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino, the guy that wears a Nazi costume as part of his official uniform has a favorite movie and book. That favorite book AND movie is Starship Troopers.

      Think he understands that one is a satire of the other?

      These guys aren’t big on media literacy.

      • vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works
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        19 hours ago

        In the defense of Heinlein all his books are weird regardless of the politics within, looking at you Stranger from a strange land. Seriously that whole book goes from Heinleins vaguely horny thought experiment to psychic sex cult real fucken quick, also why do I get the feeling Heinlein and Roddenberry shared a surprising number of friends.

        • UnspecificGravity@piefed.social
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          19 hours ago

          why do I get the feeling Heinlein and Roddenberry shared a surprising number of friends

          Probably because Heinlein was a hack that stole unashamedly from everyone around him. His politics are literally just a reflection of whatever was most popular with whoever he was associating with at the time. He went from being a new deal democrat to libertarian because he changed who he was dating.

          I think his closest literary “friend” was Philip K Dick who was grateful that Heinlein (who never actually was friends with) once loaned him money.

  • Optional@lemmy.world
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    21 hours ago

    lines from Vladimir Nabokov’s novel Lolita written on different parts of a woman’s body.

    What an enigma

    Who are these people?

    Looks like Sergey Brin to me. With whats-his-face- . . David Brooks? Dunno about either, just a guess.

    There’s other photos of them in there, yeah definitely Brooks.

    • adhd_traco@piefed.social
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      20 hours ago

      Enigma? He liked to think he was an intellectual, like Noam Chomsky and guests like him. He wanted his slaves to consider him as a mentor. He didn’t even do well at Uni. His places look like museums or some shit, not like a home. Pretentious, power-hungry piece of shit who ran an information network and had a scheme with Maxwell to enslave, often underage girls which he could then also adorn his information network with.

      So this Lolita shit fits just in line with this. He would read monologues to his slaves and also, of course, from Lolita.

      A cog in the wheel who personally just puts on airs.

    • adhd_traco@piefed.social
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      20 hours ago

      First image: Google Co-founder Sergey Brin in the centre. To the right, New York Times Columnist David Brooks (who wrote about Epstein story being unimportant, and comparing it to QAnon). Left person I don’t know.

      • pelespirit@sh.itjust.works
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        21 hours ago

        Thank you, I hate dropbox. Also, they locked me out of a couple of photos to repost. That’s why it’s a screenshot.

      • pelespirit@sh.itjust.works
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        21 hours ago

        First pic has Sergey Brin, cofounder of Google and David Brooks from the NYT.

        That’s what I thought, but then I didn’t think it could be. These are threat pics, I wonder what’s in all of the files. Isn’t one of the pics showing the Saudi guy too?

        • criscodisco@lemmy.world
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          21 hours ago

          Sorry I deleted my comment because I had seen someone below already answered it.

          First pic has Sergey Brin, cofounder of Google and David Brooks from the NYT.

            • ChunkMcHorkle@lemmy.world
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              17 hours ago

              Yep. I have to add that David Brooks is not the only one at NYT doing their best to tamp down not just what will affect those in public office right now, but the many more not in office who were either directly involved with Jeffrey Epstein’s financial and recreational interests and happy to go along with it, or obviously blackmailed by their complicity in it.

              For example, yesterday NYT published this long expose called Scams, Schemes, Ruthless Cons: The Untold Story of How Jeffrey Epstein Got Rich (here’s an archive link) but for as deep as they insist they delved into it, they completely avoided Epstein’s time at Dalton (the school where he was hired by Bill Barr’s father to teach as a very young man and from where he was brought into Bear Stearns, an almost impossible leap for anyone else as unconnected as Epstein was at the time, as a man in his early 20s just out of school himself) and elided ANY mention of the vast troves of photos, films, and other material Epstein historically collected on everyone who entered his personal residences, not just the island but in NYC and Paris, etc.

              Instead, the authors maintain that he was just a thief, and only stole and conned his victims throughout, painting picture after picture of wealthy “dupes” and “victims” of Epstein’s financial crimes. Throughout they use the refrain “inexplicable” and the like when the very rich victims of Epstein’s financial crimes realize and even speak publicly of their huge losses, but somehow never, not once, bring themselves to report these massive and provable thefts to law enforcement, and only rarely even take him to court to try to recoup some of these losses.

              In the case of a select few like Les Wexner, it’s tens and possibly hundreds of millions they allege Epstein stole.

              Yet we are to believe it’s only theft, nothing more, Epstein was just that charming, and that all these very rich men who will sue anyone else at the drop of a hat all just shut up and stand back when Jeffrey Epstein steals their money. According to NYT, it’s a total mystery.

              Yeah, no. For anyone who’s been paying attention, these omissions were glaringly obvious.

              And to make it even more ridiculous, when the authors were called out in the comments, they “explain” that Epstein’s financial victims did not want to be involved in lengthy court cases . . . even though they are all high-dollar people who are already involved in lengthy litigation, and often of their own making.

              It’s not just this expose, it’s a current that runs through all NYT reporting on Epstein. They NEVER mention Epstein’s death without the word “suicide” very firmly attached to it, and they’ve always swerved pretty widely around anything that directly points to blackmail, but yesterday’s magnum opus obviously dedicated to making readers believe he was a thief and only a thief makes me think it’s a directive there now.

              One thing about the NYT it’s good to remember is that while they do not make up facts, they absolutely can and do omit relevant facts when it suits them. New York City is a city of billionaires; it’s where Epstein played and many of these rich “victims of only theft” reside. It’s not a far stretch to think that NYT has interests other than pure reporting at play in their editorial decision making about Jeffrey Epstein.