• Substance_P@lemmy.world
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    17 hours ago

    OK critical thinking, stay sharp people and yes I do reference this author a lot, however, where is the proof?

    By Rachel Hurley:

    The Soviets called it “dezinformatsiya.” We call it salting. And somebody just salted the shit out of the Epstein discourse.

    Here’s how this trick works in spy school.

    Take nine true things and one lie. When someone finds the lie, they throw out all ten. Or flip it: take nine lies and one verifiable truth. When someone confirms the truth, they assume the rest must be legit too.

    This isn’t conspiracy theory.

    The KGB literally had a department for this. A Czech intelligence defector named Ladislav Bittman wrote a whole book about it - said that for any disinfo campaign to work, “every message must at least partially correspond to reality.” You mix the poison with sugar so it goes down smooth. Churchill called it “a bodyguard of lies.”

    Now. The Sascha Riley audio tapes.

    If you’ve been anywhere near political social media this week, you’ve seen people losing their minds over these recordings. Supposedly a decorated Iraq War vet recounting childhood trafficking connected to Epstein, naming names including Trump, claiming he’s testified to the House Oversight Committee. People are crying. People are demanding investigations. The emotional temperature is through the roof.

    One small problem.

    Not a single claim has been verified by anyone. Not courts. Not law enforcement. Not the FBI. Not a single mainstream outlet.

    The “journalist” who published the audio, Lisa Noelle Voldeng, has no verifiable professional background.

    Fact-checkers have flagged mismatched dates, references to military figures who may not exist, and claims so “over the top” they’re raising red flags everywhere. When supporters demand proof, they point to… the audio itself. Which is not how evidence works.

    I can t but keep asking - why would someone release so much unverifiable testimony right now?

    Think about it. If you wanted to protect Trump from the actual Epstein evidence - the stuff that’s documented - what would you do?

    You’d flood the zone with something so sensational it drowns out the receipts. You’d make the claims so extreme they can never be proven. Then when the whole thing collapses - and it will collapse if it’s fabricated - everyone who shared it looks like an idiot. Suddenly all Epstein investigation becomes “that conspiracy theory people fell for.” The real journalism gets buried under the rubble of something designed to blow up.

    That’s salting. That’s the technique.

    “But Rachel, survivors should be believed.”

    Survivors with depositions and court records should absolutely be believed. Virginia Giuffre’s testimony withstood cross-examination. The victims in the Maxwell trial provided evidence that led to conviction. That’s what real survivor testimony looks like when it’s legitimate. It goes through legal process. It gets verified. It holds up.

    Audio recordings published by someone with no credentials, containing allegations no outlet will touch, expecting you “just believe” without verification? That’s not survivor testimony. That’s a test of how gullible you are.

    The reaction alone is a tell. “I listened and cried.” “I felt physically sick.” “I believe completely.” These are emotional responses, not evidentiary ones. And content that’s optimized for emotional virality rather than accuracy is… well, that’s exactly what disinfo looks like. The KGB would be so proud.

    Here’s what I know for sure: the real Epstein evidence doesn’t need help from this story. The real connections are documented. The receipts exist. And anyone trying to get you to share unverifiable claims instead of documented evidence is either not paying attention or doing someone’s work for them.

    You want to nail Trump on Epstein? Use the depositions. Use the flight logs. Use his own words on tape. Use the evidence that holds up.

    You want to protect Trump on Epstein? Get everyone sharing sensational claims that collapse under scrutiny, then watch the whole discourse get dismissed as hysteria.

    Know the difference. Please.

    I believe that Sascha Riley believes what he is saying. But that doesn’t make it true.

    And not one piece of evidence that he has shared proves a damn thing.

    Periodt.

    • maccentric@sh.itjust.works
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      2 hours ago

      Not a single claim has been verified by anyone. Not courts. Not law enforcement. Not the FBI. Not a single mainstream outlet.

      Sadly, those institutions can no longer be trusted to verify anything anymore. They are all captured, corrupt and/or complicit to some degree.

      Great post btw, thanks

    • mojofrododojo@lemmy.world
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      15 hours ago

      yep. they’re salting some fakes in and around the actual shit, trying to sour the entire topic in “well there’s so much disinfo who can tell”

    • pelespirit@sh.itjust.works
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      17 hours ago

      I believe that Sascha Riley believes what he is saying. But that doesn’t make it true.

      This, for sure. I listened to the first tape yesterday and he mentions Jane Goodall studying him because he was like a monkey. He was severely abused when he was young, that much is clear. The head trauma alone could cause all of this. I have my doubts.

    • daannii@lemmy.world
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      14 hours ago

      I made a longer comment regarding possible issues with his report from a psychologist perspective. I have a masters in cognitive neuroscience and am finishing up my PhD. If you read it and have any thoughts, please reply to it.

      I read your comment about how this person is intended to make further victim claims distrusted by the public. And I also did consider this too.

      However I think this individual has some mental health problems. And I discuss why this is an issue with adult victims credibility as they often also have false memories that are proven false.

      I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he believes what he said and wants people to be held accountable. But it’s possible it’s all a farse with the intent to keep other victims from being taken seriously.

      People don’t realize that there are a lot of mentally unstable people out there who have psychosis and can believe a lot of strange things. It’s honestly not surprising that someone might believe they were trafficked by Epstein even though they lived in a different part of the country and time frames are questionable.

    • jordanlund@lemmy.worldM
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      16 hours ago

      In addition to this, the Epstein Files are, collectively, everything that was reported about Epstein to the feds.

      Say we released “The Obama files”. Everything the feds collected about Obama. You’d find Larry Sinclair, who claims he did cocaine and had gay sex with Obama.

      It’s utter bullshit, but the feds still collected the reports on it.

      Just because somebody said it and the FBI collected statements on it, doesn’t make it factual. All they recorded was “hey, somebody said this.”

      • wheezy@lemmy.ml
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        13 hours ago

        I feel like the safe bet is to just remove anyone that is named in the Epstein files from having the ability to hold public office or a high position in any company. Sure, some collateral damage, but really, it’s the only solution.

        I know that would literally take a revolution and a change of government to achieve. But, we just purge everyone named in it that wasn’t a clear victim.

        I’m even for the extreme position that if you were a person in a powerful position and your name is listed we just put you in prison for the rest of your life. Sorry. It’s my new revolutionary government and I’m making the rules. We’re not risking anything. The collateral damage of some “innocent” rich people is far less concerning to me than our new society letting rich pedophiles be free.

        We can be slightly unjust for a generation while we figure out our new revolutionary government.

        We’ll also reform prisons to not be complete shit holes where we let everyone get raped and treat them like animals. So, it won’t be so bad. We’ll let you read books and watch TV and shit.

        • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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          11 minutes ago

          Collateral damage by blunt force of law without trial is tyranny. I fully support trying all people named, but I don’t want to trade the restraints we hold on the government for an emotional attack on people who may or may not have participated in an evil conspiracy. When you surrender such protections you don’t get them back without a long and difficult fight

          We try people, by jury, with firm rules. And we accept that some guilty free are better than some innocent punished.

    • Ancalagon@lemmy.world
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      17 hours ago

      I mean release the files, unredacted so I can make up my mind for myself. This doesn’t change anything. It still isn’t released and it would be foolish to discount them until we have seen the evidence fully.

    • ieatpwns@lemmy.world
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      16 hours ago

      Grok is probably salting twitter so that when someone is tired of all the lies and they leak real unredacted evidence the perps can point to Elon and say it’s just grok making stuff up

    • Rhoeri@piefed.world
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      17 hours ago

      You could have just said it’s like that episode of The Office called “Gossip”.